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Objective: The project aimed to compare marginal structural models, and propensity score adjusted models with Cox Proportional Hazards models to address confounding by indication due to time-dependent confounders. These methods were applied to data from approximately 120,000 women in the Women’s Health Initiative to evaluate the causal effect of antidepressant medication with respect to diabetes risk. Methods: Four approaches were compared. Three Cox Models were used. The first used baseline covariates. The second used time-varying antidepressant medication use, BMI and presence of elevated depressive symptoms and adjusted for other baseline covariates. The third used time-varying antidepressant medication use, BMI and presence of elevated depressive symptoms and adjusted for other baseline covariates and propensity to taking antidepressants at baseline. Our fourth method used a Marginal Structural Cox Model with Inverse Probability of Treatment Weighting that included time-varying antidepressant medication, BMI and presence of elevated depressive symptoms and adjusted for other baseline covariates. Results: All approaches showed an increase in diabetes risk for those taking antidepressants. Diabetes risk increased with adjustment for time-dependent confounding and results for these three approaches were similar. All models were statistically significant. Ninety-five percent confidence intervals overlapped for all approaches showing they were not different from one another. Conclusions: Our analyses did not find a difference between Cox Proportional Hazards Models and Marginal Structural Cox Models in the WHI cohorts. Estimates of the Inverse Probability of Treatment Weights were very close to 1 which explains why we observed similar results.

Problemformulering: Hur påverkar kvinnors styrelserepresentation i börsnoterade företags hållbarhetsarbete och ansvarstagande?  Syfte: Syftet med studien är att förklara ifall det finns ett samband mellan kvinnors representation i styrelser och ESG. Genom en ökad förståelse av styrelsers sammansättning ska studien utöka befintligt empiriskt underlag kring påverkan av kvinnors styrelserepresentation på deras agerande i hållbarhetsarbete och ansvarstagande. Metod: Studien har genomförts med en deduktiv forskningsansats och kvantitativ metod. Data har insamlats för 498 börsnoterade företag, i Norden, om deras ESG-score samt styrelseinformation. Vidare har statistiska analyser genomförts i SPSS och ligger till grund för studiens resultat.  Slutsats: Studiens visar att börsnoterade företag i Norden påverkas positivt av att inkludera minst tre styrelserepresentanter som är kvinnor i styrelsen samt att beakta kvinnors medelålder för att öka påverkan på hållbarhetsarbete och ansvarstagande. Företagen bör lägga mindre energi på resurser i hänsyn till vem som driver ledarskapet inom styrelser, även andelen kvinnor samt sammansättningen över tid är av mindre betydelse.

This composition is a symphonic setting of three original poems within the confines of an expanded sonata-allegro form and is an approximately twenty-two minutes in duration. The three poems are designed with certain cyclic implications which are related formally to the recurrence of musical ideas. The main application of this plan is found in the duality of formal roles assigned to each of the three major sectional divisions of the work. This is an expanded sonata-allegro, but each section (exposition, development, and recapitulation) is enlarged and individualized to the point of becoming a complete movement in itself. Each is intended to have the internal formal capacity to stand alone and at the same time serve as a section part of the whole. Formal unity is established without excessive dependence upon the poems, as both the music and the texts are formally evolved from the principles of sonata-allegro procedures. The poems were written specifically for this musical setting by the composer and are as an integral part of the compositional process itself; however, the poetry is didactic in purpose and is something of a jeremiad. Each poem relates principally to one of three aspects of existence: a ritual of history, a sermon for the present, and a prophecy of the future.

New York City: A Collage of Cultures is a single-movement programmatic orchestral work that features polytonality, prallelism, sound-mass, micro-tones, polychordal rhythmic ostinato, neo-impressionism, and folk themes and anthems from sundry cultures and nationalities. The simultaneity of contextual material at one point necessitates the employment of three conductors. The composition portrays America as a "melting pot" through its busiest immigration center, itself a microcosm of diverse international elements. This is achieved by the depiction of three different settings: a boat sailing from a foreign port, bound for New York Cty; New York itself in all of its awesome fury; and a capsule image of a conglomerate of turn-of-the-century emigrants and their interaction throughout the voyage.

Developmental Dyslexia (DD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and Educational Attainment (EA) are highly prevalent conditions that have a significant impacton individuals' academic and social functioning. These conditions have a complex genetic basis and are often comorbid. To assess the polygenic architecture of these traits, psychiatric genetics researchers utilize a sophisticated tool known as polygenic scores (PGS). By combining numerous genes of individually modest effects, PGS summarizes an individual's genetic risk as a single score. In this study, we aimed to examine the association between PGS for ADHD and EA with typical DD traits. Using a meta-analytic approach, we analyzed data from earlier studies and found that PGS-ADHD accounts for 1.2% of the variance in DD, with a pooled effect size of r = -0.11 (95% CI = [-0.171, -0.050]). Similarly, PGS-EA accounted for 3.2% of the variance in DD, with a pooled effect size of r = 0.18 (95% CI = [0.070, 0.288]). Although these effect sizes are relatively small, it is important to note that PGS are not typically strong predictors on their own, but rather capture a small portion of the genetic variation that contributes to a trait or outcome. My findings suggest that PGS for ADHD and EA are associated with DD, indicating that DD has a complex genetic basis. However, these findings also raise questions about the impact of PGS on psychiatric research moving forward. To address these questions, I provide recommendations for future researchdirections.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to gain a holistic understanding of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) related narratives applied in OMXS30 firms’ annual reports. The understanding contributes to the existing literature by highlighting which main narrative strategies firms’ use to gain and maintain legitimacy, and whether or not the legitimacy gained and maintained from the narratives are in line with the firms’ ESG performance. Research questions: How do Swedish OMXS30 firms employ narratives in their annual reports as a means of legitimizing their ESG performance? How are the annual report narratives of OMXS30 firms related to their true ESG performance? Methodology and method: An inductive qualitative exploratory study was carried out to gain understanding of the most common ESG related disclosure narratives used by OMXS30 firms. To highlight how the narrative strategies are used to gain legitimacy, a thematic analysis of three OMXS30 firms’ annual reports for fiscal year 2022 was conducted. Discrepancies and similarities among the sample firms’ narratives was contrasted to the firms’ Refinitiv ESG score, which is used as a yardstick of ESG performance.The sample was based on the conceptually driven approach, where the authors of thisstudy assessed that data from firms with a high ESG score deviation compared to each other was the best base for further exploration. Conclusion: Our conclusion shows that there is no generalizable stringent alignment between firms’ ESG related narratives and their true ESG performance across the ESG score spectrum. This is shown by the many similarities in ESG related narratives between the firms, despite their highly deviating Refinitiv ESG scores. Furthermore, our study shows that narratives employed as a means of legitimizing ESG efforts are exclusively related to the Environmental and Social pillar of the ESG framework. Our main finding shows that the lowest rated firm narrative deviates from their ESG performance, by applying a narrative in line with the highest rated firm in terms of frequently addressed disclosure topics as well as applied linguistics.

This composition for Wind Ensemble (like Concert Band but usually only one player on a part) was Scott Master's Thesis for completing a Master of Music degree in Composition at Butler University. Written in 2010, the piece is a combination of styles, philosophies, and techniques, all in balance with each other. Avant-garde and traditional techniques are used; tonality and atonality vie with each other, resulting in a combination of the two; specific musical directions are balanced by a degree of choice available to each participant. “The Memory of Persistence” is about a journey. No specific personal story is presented, nor is the piece programmatic, but the progress and development of the piece could mirror many life situations and be accessible to anyone from that point of view. There is a progression from simple to complex, from innocence to maturity, that is demonstrated in the instrumentation as well as the melodic and harmonic elements. The title of the composition is an allusion to Salvador Dali’s painting called “The Persistence of Memory.” Even the font of the score’s title page is based on Dali’s own handwriting. Dali was a major player in the Surrealism movement of the twentieth century, combining classical elements of art with unusual, surprising, or even outrageous twists. “The Memory of Persistence” does the same thing in a musical setting. Yet, even without knowledge of Dali, the listener can understand the title because the piece demonstrates persistence through difficulty while retaining the memory of the past and incorporating it into current life.

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