Ng Cheuk-yin Peter. / Thesis submitted in: Dec 2000. / Thesis (M.Mus.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter Composition 1 --- The City that Never Sleeps 《不夜城》 for Chinese Orchestra / Chapter Composition 2 --- The Clouds 《行雲》 for Chinese Orchestra / Chapter Composition 3 --- Flowers 《花》 for and Harp / Chapter Composition 4 --- Static Days for orchestra

As the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is often used as a determiner for university admissions, this study observes the effect on the international student population at a large private university through the examination of the international student admissions data including TOEFL and first-year GPA from 2005-2015. With the anonymous data of 9,837 students, researchers analyzed the result of a cut-score change at the university. Results indicated that the number of international students decreased at the university. As expected, the TOEFL data revealed a normal distribution for the overall (combined) score and subsection scores, while the GPA data did not. The ANOVA for the TOEFL revealed that the change in cut-scores was not completely implemented in 2010. The GPA results from the ANOVA did not appear to be increasing. Correlation analysis reflected a decrease in the correlation coefficient when comparing results from before and after the cut-score change. Correlations of the subsection TOEFL score presented interesting findings. Multiple regression analysis indicated similar conclusions.

Recent studies of bassoon music in twentieth-century Russia have unearthed a rich trove of previously little-known repertoire. Despite the abundance of original Russian bassoon music, little of it approaches the sophistication of the bassoon writing within the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Russian symphonic tradition. One work which does come close to equaling those aesthetic standards is Lev Knipper’s Concerto for Bassoon and String Orchestra (1970), which confronts the bassoonist with far greater expressive and technical demands than previous Russian solo bassoon works. In order to facilitate this concerto’s incorporation into the standard bassoon repertoire, the present study has produced the first-available critical edition of the score, piano reduction and solo bassoon part to this concerto. The edition is framed by a concise biography of the composer, including an overview of his various compositional style periods, historical background on the concerto itself and an assessment of its musical contents.

Health care providers gather and track quality patient indicator scores to monitor patients' safety and outcomes and decrease the number of adverse events. Nursing leaders implemented a Quality Workbook Committee (QWC) within a hospital setting to improve patient outcomes and the facility's reported scores for nurse-sensitive patient indicators. The practice-focused question for this quality improvement evaluation project examined whether the implementation of the QWC improved nurse-sensitive patient indicator scores. Watson's theory of human caring was used to evaluate the gap in practice, and Rosswurm and Larabee's model for evidence-based practice change provided guidance for planning the project. Sources of evidence were 2017 end-of-year organization report cards. The 4 specific areas chosen for evaluation were: patient falls, hospital-acquired pressure ulcers, pain reassessment scores, and medication scanning rates. Results from an analysis of variance showed improvements in 3 of the 4-nurse-sensitive patient indicator scores. Hospital-acquired pressure ulcers decreased by 13 pressure ulcers, pain reassessment rates increased by 18.42%, and medication scanning scores increased by 4.03%. However, patient falls increased by 15, suggesting the need for further evaluation measures. Project findings may help nursing leaders to improve nurse-sensitive patient indicator scores and promote social change by reducing hospital adverse events, length of hospitalization stays, and wasted healthcare resources.

There are an estimated 1.2 million children with one or both parents enlisted in military service. These children are more geographically mobile than civilian children on average, and previous research suggests that mobility can have great effects on an individual's academic performance. This study seeks to answer the question: How does the standardized test performance of Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools compare to those of public schools with high concentrations of military children (funded by Impact Aid). It is hypothesized that due to higher average levels of funding, a standard curriculum, and both embedded and intentional social support, DoDEA schools will have higher standardized test scores than public schools with high concentrations of military children. Consistent with previous literature that finds a standardized test bias in favor of white students, it is also hypothesized that schools that are located in ZIP Codes with high percentages of Black and Hispanic residents will have lower test scores. This research will contribute to a growing body of literature on childhood migration, as well as the literature focused on the effects of the military on personnel's families and children. Through a series of bivariate correlations and nested regression analyses, I find that Impact Aid schools had higher percentages of students proficient in reading, math, and science than DoDEA schools. ZIP Code Tabulation Area measures of racial and ethnic composition, as reported in the American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (2007- 2011), were statistically significant predictors of proficiency in reading and math. As the percentage of non-White community composition increased, the percentage of students proficient in reading and math decreased (β = -11.328*, p ≤ .05). Controlling for these community-level variables still resulted in higher overall standardized test proficiency in Impact Aid schools

The purpose of the present investigation was to attempt to improve the adjustment of students transferring to a new high school part way through the year by the introduction of a buddy scheme. During the period between March 7th and September 18th, 1978, 54 new students were randomly allocated to an experimental group (i.e. paired with a buddy) or to a 'no buddy' control group for three weeks from the date of their enrolment. The buddies consisted of 12 volunteers from each of years seven to ten, who attended four training sessions with the counsellor (four for each form). The training centred round a discussion of their feelings and needs when encountering new school situations and led to a delineation of practical things which could be done to help new students. Emphasis was also given to communication skills. After the new students had been at the school for a month (or 20 school days), they completed L.S. Wrightsraan's School Morale scale and a student questionnaire which provided two measures of adjustment, viz. the students' perception of whether or not they had formed new friendships and their 'adjustment' to school. At the end of their first two months, the number of days absent (apart from those for sickness) were noted. There was no significant difference between the adjustment of transfer students in the experimental group compared to the control group as measured by the four outcome measures. That is, there was no significant difference between the two groups as measured by School Morale scores, their perception of the formation of new friendships, adjustment to school (a questionnaire measurement) or the mean number of days absent. Buddies with effective communication skills were successful in helping new students make a satisfactory adjustment to their new school. The continuation of the scheme was favoured both by the buddies and by the transfer students. Buddies felt that the scheme helped new students to settle in more quickly to the classes and to make friends. Transfer students felt that the scheme helped them to learn about the school very quickly, to meet the teachers and to make friends.

隨著商業活動的蓬勃發展、國際間貿易往來頻繁, 銀行所提供的服務及金融商品, 亦順應這些需求不斷增加, 其所扮演的角色及涵蓋的產業已非昔日可比擬; 若是金融產業遭受到衝擊、面臨危機, 很可能會對整個經濟體造成嚴重影響; 因此, 本文將探討何種解釋變數對於銀行營運發生狀況時, 有較佳的解釋能力。文中所選取的解釋變數主要有兩種: 其一來自於常被業界用來分析公司狀況的Altman Z-scores 模型, 本文將採用Altman 對於非 製造業所歸納出的四種財會比率變數, 另一種變數為KMV 模型利用Black and Scholes選擇權評價公式所導的違約距離(distance to default)。於過去的論文, 此兩種模型都常被探討其對公司發生危機時是否具解釋能力, 但於兩者間之比較則少有著墨; 故本文利用2000至2008年台灣的17間上市銀行為樣本, 於Logit 迴歸模型下, 同時以Altman Zscores模型的財會比率變數和KMV 模型的違約距離為解釋變數, 探討何者對於公司的營運狀況發生問題時, 有較佳的解釋能力。實證結果發現, 違約距離對於銀行營運變差的情況, 有較佳且顯著的解釋能力, 故透過檢視違約距離的高低, 將有助於銀行產業及早發現其營運之問題, 以避免情況惡化, 釀成更大的危機。 / As highly development in commercial activities and international trade become more frequently, the role of banks has become much more important than before. If banks are influenced by shocks, the whole economy might encounter serious financial crisis. Therefore, this research aims to discover what variable will have better explanatory power for banks’ operating situation. In the thesis, two kinds of explanatory variables are selected: one is based on the financial accounting ratios from Altman Z-scores model, and the other is distance to default which is derived from Black and Scholes’ option pricing formula. In prior thesis, both types of model have been usually discussed about their individual explanatory power to corporate default risk, but there are few papers comparing them and finding which one is better. Hence, this research takes 17 banks in Taiwan from 2000 to 2008 as samples, and puts them in the same Logit model to find which type of variables has better explanatory power for bank’s operating situation. According to the empirical result, distance to default would perform better than financial accounting ratios, so supervising the distance to default of banks will be useful for banks to find if there are problems in its operation and prevent it from becoming a big trouble in advance.

Small area estimation is an arena that has seen rapid development in the past 50 years, due to its widespread applicability in government projects, marketing research and many other areas. However, it is often difficult to obtain error-free data for this purpose. In this dissertation, each project describes a model used for small area estimation in which the covariates are measured with error. We applied different methods of bias correction to improve the estimates of the parameter of interest in the small areas. There is a variety of methods available for bias correction of estimates in the presence of measurement error. We applied the simulation extrapolation (SIMEX), ordinary corrected scores and Monte Carlo corrected scores methods of bias correction in the Fay-Herriot model, and investigated the performance of the bias-corrected estimators. The performance of the estimators in the presence of non-normal measurement error and of the SIMEX estimator in the presence of non-additive measurement error was also studied. For each of these situations, we presented simulation studies to observe the performance of the proposed correction procedures. In addition, we applied our proposed methodology to analyze a real life, nontrivial data set and present the results. We showed that the Lohr-Ybarra estimator is slightly inefficient and that applying methods of bias correction like SIMEX, corrected scores or Monte Carlo corrected scores (MCCS) increases the efficiency of the small area estimates. In particular, we showed that the simulation based bias correction methods like SIMEX and MCCS provide a greater gain in efficiency. We also showed that the SIMEX method of bias correction is robust with respect to departures from normality or additivity of measurement error. We showed that the MCCS method is robust with respect to departure from normality of measurement error.

The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) and the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare (NBHW) have published a yearly report called “Open Comparisons of Quality and Efficiency in Swedish Health Care –Regional Comparisons” since the year 2006 to compare medical outcomes, patient experience, availability and costs among hospitals and counties. In this paper, inspired by the region profiles attached to the report, we describe several possible measurement methods for comparing dichotomous data: Risk Difference (RD), Relative Risk (RR), Relative Risk Reduction (RRR) and Odds Ratio (OR), mainly by using a geometric approach as a basis for further discussion. A standard scores method is also presented as a means for more efficient comparisons.

This dissertation has four interrelated studies, namely (1) the characterization of milk purchase choices which included the purchase of organic milk, both organic and conventional milk and conventional milk only; (2) the estimation of a single-equation household demand function for organic and conventional milk; (3) the assessment of binary choice models for organic milk using the Brier Probability score and Yates partition, and (4) the estimation of demand systems that addresses the censoring issue through the use of econometric techniques. In the first paper, the study utilized the estimation of both multinomial logit and probit models in examining a set of causal socio-demographic variables in explaining the purchase of three outcome milk choices namely organic milk, organic and conventional milk and conventional milk only. These crucial variables include income, household size, education level and employment of household head, race, ethnicity and region. Using the 2004 Nielsen Homescan Panel, the second study used the Heckman two-step procedure in calculating the own-price, cross-price, and income elasticities by estimating the demand relationships for both organic and conventional milk. Results indicated that organic and conventional milk are substitutes. Also, an asymmetric pattern existed with regard to the substitution patterns of the respective milk types. Likewise, the third study showed that predictive outcomes from binary choice models associated with organic milk can be enhanced with the use of the Brier score method. In this case, specifications omitting important socio-demographic variables reduced the variability of predicted probabilities and therefore limited its sorting ability. The last study estimated both censored Almost Ideal Demand Systems (AIDS) and Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) specifications in modeling nonalcoholic beverages. In this research, five estimation techniques were used which included the usage of Iterated Seemingly Unrelated Regression (ITSUR), two stage methods such as the Heien and Wessells (1990) and the Shonkwiler and Yen (1999) approaches, Generalized Maximum Entropy and the Dong, Gould and Kaiser (2004a) methods. The findings of the study showed that at various censoring techniques, price elasticity estimates were observed to have greater variability in highly censored nonalcoholic beverage items such as tea, coffee and bottled water.