Myostatin is a major player in the regulation of mammalian muscle growth and development, maintaining the balance between proliferation and differentiation prenatally and the quiescence of satellite cells in adults. An absence or overexpression of myostatin results in double-muscling and cachexia respectively, placing myostatin as a promising target in the treatment of muscle wastage diseases. As a transforming growth factor-β superfamily member, myostatin is produced as a precursor protein, consisting of a propeptide region N-terminal to the growth factor domain. Cleavage of the precursor between the domains forms the myostatin latent complex, an inhibitory structure which is exported from the cell where a second cleavage event releases the active myostatin growth factor. The precursor protein, propeptide, and latent complex play important roles in the regulation of myostatin. However, their structure and function are poorly understood, and a possible role for the myostatin precursor protein in the muscle wastage disease sporadic inclusion body myositis, suggests that pre-growth factor forms of myostatin may be additional important therapeutic targets. This thesis presents an investigation into the structure and function of the myostatin precursor protein, the latent complex, and the propeptide region within these, with comparisons to a mutant form of myostatin responsible for the naturally-occurring double-muscled phenotype of the Piedmontese cattle breed. Results suggest that the diverse functions of the propeptide region are facilitated by regions of intrinsic disorder within a primarily structured domain, and that conformational alterations accompany the precursor to latent complex transition, resulting in a tighter inhibitory structure. Comparative analyses between the wild-type and mutant proteins suggest that the Piedmontese phenotype is due to a reduced capacity for covalent dimerisation and significant structural alterations within the type I receptor-binding domain. Investigation into misfolded myostatin precursor protein found that the precursor is able to form cytotoxic amyloid aggregates and mature fibrils under partially denaturing conditions, suggesting a possible mechanism for the role of the myostatin precursor in sporadic inclusion body myositis. Together, these novel results contribute important information towards an understanding of myostatin structure, function and regulation in both normal and disease scenarios.

Myostatin is a major player in the regulation of mammalian muscle growth and development, maintaining the balance between proliferation and differentiation prenatally and the quiescence of satellite cells in adults. An absence or overexpression of myostatin results in double-muscling and cachexia respectively, placing myostatin as a promising target in the treatment of muscle wastage diseases. As a transforming growth factor-β superfamily member, myostatin is produced as a precursor protein, consisting of a propeptide region N-terminal to the growth factor domain. Cleavage of the precursor between the domains forms the myostatin latent complex, an inhibitory structure which is exported from the cell where a second cleavage event releases the active myostatin growth factor. The precursor protein, propeptide, and latent complex play important roles in the regulation of myostatin. However, their structure and function are poorly understood, and a possible role for the myostatin precursor protein in the muscle wastage disease sporadic inclusion body myositis, suggests that pre-growth factor forms of myostatin may be additional important therapeutic targets. This thesis presents an investigation into the structure and function of the myostatin precursor protein, the latent complex, and the propeptide region within these, with comparisons to a mutant form of myostatin responsible for the naturally-occurring double-muscled phenotype of the Piedmontese cattle breed. Results suggest that the diverse functions of the propeptide region are facilitated by regions of intrinsic disorder within a primarily structured domain, and that conformational alterations accompany the precursor to latent complex transition, resulting in a tighter inhibitory structure. Comparative analyses between the wild-type and mutant proteins suggest that the Piedmontese phenotype is due to a reduced capacity for covalent dimerisation and significant structural alterations within the type I receptor-binding domain. Investigation into misfolded myostatin precursor protein found that the precursor is able to form cytotoxic amyloid aggregates and mature fibrils under partially denaturing conditions, suggesting a possible mechanism for the role of the myostatin precursor in sporadic inclusion body myositis. Together, these novel results contribute important information towards an understanding of myostatin structure, function and regulation in both normal and disease scenarios.

Myostatin is a major player in the regulation of mammalian muscle growth and development, maintaining the balance between proliferation and differentiation prenatally and the quiescence of satellite cells in adults. An absence or overexpression of myostatin results in double-muscling and cachexia respectively, placing myostatin as a promising target in the treatment of muscle wastage diseases. As a transforming growth factor-β superfamily member, myostatin is produced as a precursor protein, consisting of a propeptide region N-terminal to the growth factor domain. Cleavage of the precursor between the domains forms the myostatin latent complex, an inhibitory structure which is exported from the cell where a second cleavage event releases the active myostatin growth factor. The precursor protein, propeptide, and latent complex play important roles in the regulation of myostatin. However, their structure and function are poorly understood, and a possible role for the myostatin precursor protein in the muscle wastage disease sporadic inclusion body myositis, suggests that pre-growth factor forms of myostatin may be additional important therapeutic targets. This thesis presents an investigation into the structure and function of the myostatin precursor protein, the latent complex, and the propeptide region within these, with comparisons to a mutant form of myostatin responsible for the naturally-occurring double-muscled phenotype of the Piedmontese cattle breed. Results suggest that the diverse functions of the propeptide region are facilitated by regions of intrinsic disorder within a primarily structured domain, and that conformational alterations accompany the precursor to latent complex transition, resulting in a tighter inhibitory structure. Comparative analyses between the wild-type and mutant proteins suggest that the Piedmontese phenotype is due to a reduced capacity for covalent dimerisation and significant structural alterations within the type I receptor-binding domain. Investigation into misfolded myostatin precursor protein found that the precursor is able to form cytotoxic amyloid aggregates and mature fibrils under partially denaturing conditions, suggesting a possible mechanism for the role of the myostatin precursor in sporadic inclusion body myositis. Together, these novel results contribute important information towards an understanding of myostatin structure, function and regulation in both normal and disease scenarios.

Myostatin is a major player in the regulation of mammalian muscle growth and development, maintaining the balance between proliferation and differentiation prenatally and the quiescence of satellite cells in adults. An absence or overexpression of myostatin results in double-muscling and cachexia respectively, placing myostatin as a promising target in the treatment of muscle wastage diseases. As a transforming growth factor-β superfamily member, myostatin is produced as a precursor protein, consisting of a propeptide region N-terminal to the growth factor domain. Cleavage of the precursor between the domains forms the myostatin latent complex, an inhibitory structure which is exported from the cell where a second cleavage event releases the active myostatin growth factor. The precursor protein, propeptide, and latent complex play important roles in the regulation of myostatin. However, their structure and function are poorly understood, and a possible role for the myostatin precursor protein in the muscle wastage disease sporadic inclusion body myositis, suggests that pre-growth factor forms of myostatin may be additional important therapeutic targets. This thesis presents an investigation into the structure and function of the myostatin precursor protein, the latent complex, and the propeptide region within these, with comparisons to a mutant form of myostatin responsible for the naturally-occurring double-muscled phenotype of the Piedmontese cattle breed. Results suggest that the diverse functions of the propeptide region are facilitated by regions of intrinsic disorder within a primarily structured domain, and that conformational alterations accompany the precursor to latent complex transition, resulting in a tighter inhibitory structure. Comparative analyses between the wild-type and mutant proteins suggest that the Piedmontese phenotype is due to a reduced capacity for covalent dimerisation and significant structural alterations within the type I receptor-binding domain. Investigation into misfolded myostatin precursor protein found that the precursor is able to form cytotoxic amyloid aggregates and mature fibrils under partially denaturing conditions, suggesting a possible mechanism for the role of the myostatin precursor in sporadic inclusion body myositis. Together, these novel results contribute important information towards an understanding of myostatin structure, function and regulation in both normal and disease scenarios.

A reutilização de resíduos orgânicos para alimentação animal é uma prática comum desde os tempos mais longínquos. Com a identificação das perdas e desperdícios de alimento como uma estratégia chave diante da crescente preocupação em relação à Segurança Alimentar Global, este mecanismo de reaproveitamento do resíduo gerado é posto como uma importante alternativa. No município de Porto Alegre (RS/ Brasil) é conduzido o Projeto de Reaproveitamento de Resíduos Orgânicos de Restaurante via Suinocultura, no qual o departamento de limpeza municipal intermedeia a transferência de resíduos alimentares para suinocultores da região (vinculados ao grupo Associação de Suinocultores da Zona Sul de Porto Alegre), produzindo produtos cárneos de origem e qualidade controladas. Para avaliar como está disposta a estrutura de governança desta cadeia produtiva, como ela se relaciona com o ambiente institucional que a delimita e se esta estrutura afeta a forma como o projeto é conduzido, foram utilizados conceitos da Nova Economia Institucional e da Economia de Custos de Transação. Foi possível identificar que o alto nível de especificidade de ativos e de incertezas nas transações são fontes significantes de custos de transações. Além disso, os estabelecimentos geradores de resíduo e os produtores agem de forma oportunista ao participar do Projeto e investimentos específicos demandados não são realizados devido à incerteza do ambiente. Em decorrência destes aspectos, emergem falhas organizacionais, identificadas nesta pesquisa como entraves na condução do projeto. Os principais entraves identificados para a condução do Projeto foram "alta de Licenciamento Ambiental", "Tratamento do Resíduo" e "Características da Associação", estando estes diretamente vinculados ao ambiente institucional. / The reuse of organic waste as animal diet is a common practice since the most ancient times. The identification of losses and food waste became a key strategy in the face of growing concern about the Global Food Security, and this mechanism that recycle of the waste generated is na important alternative. In Porto Alegre (RS State / Brazil) is leading the “Projeto de Reutilização de Resíduos Orgânicos de Restaurante via Suinocultura”, in which the municipal cleaning department mediates the transfer of food waste to pig farmers in the region (all of them linked to a Producers Association) to produce meat products with origin and quality controlled. To evaluate how is addressed the governance structure of this production chain, how is its relationship with the Institutional Environment and is this structure affects how the project is lead, were used concepts of the New Institutional Economics and the Economics of Transaction Costs. We observed that the high level of asset specificity and uncertainty in the transactions are significant sources of transaction costs. In addition, the waste generators establishments and producers act opportunistically to participate in the project and some demanded specific investments are not made due to environmental uncertainty. The main barriers identified (called in this study as organizational failures) for the well maintenance of the Project were ―Lack of Environmental Licensing‖, ―Treatment of Waste‖ and ―the Association Features‖, and these are directly linked to the institutional environment.

A reutilização de resíduos orgânicos para alimentação animal é uma prática comum desde os tempos mais longínquos. Com a identificação das perdas e desperdícios de alimento como uma estratégia chave diante da crescente preocupação em relação à Segurança Alimentar Global, este mecanismo de reaproveitamento do resíduo gerado é posto como uma importante alternativa. No município de Porto Alegre (RS/ Brasil) é conduzido o Projeto de Reaproveitamento de Resíduos Orgânicos de Restaurante via Suinocultura, no qual o departamento de limpeza municipal intermedeia a transferência de resíduos alimentares para suinocultores da região (vinculados ao grupo Associação de Suinocultores da Zona Sul de Porto Alegre), produzindo produtos cárneos de origem e qualidade controladas. Para avaliar como está disposta a estrutura de governança desta cadeia produtiva, como ela se relaciona com o ambiente institucional que a delimita e se esta estrutura afeta a forma como o projeto é conduzido, foram utilizados conceitos da Nova Economia Institucional e da Economia de Custos de Transação. Foi possível identificar que o alto nível de especificidade de ativos e de incertezas nas transações são fontes significantes de custos de transações. Além disso, os estabelecimentos geradores de resíduo e os produtores agem de forma oportunista ao participar do Projeto e investimentos específicos demandados não são realizados devido à incerteza do ambiente. Em decorrência destes aspectos, emergem falhas organizacionais, identificadas nesta pesquisa como entraves na condução do projeto. Os principais entraves identificados para a condução do Projeto foram "alta de Licenciamento Ambiental", "Tratamento do Resíduo" e "Características da Associação", estando estes diretamente vinculados ao ambiente institucional. / The reuse of organic waste as animal diet is a common practice since the most ancient times. The identification of losses and food waste became a key strategy in the face of growing concern about the Global Food Security, and this mechanism that recycle of the waste generated is na important alternative. In Porto Alegre (RS State / Brazil) is leading the “Projeto de Reutilização de Resíduos Orgânicos de Restaurante via Suinocultura”, in which the municipal cleaning department mediates the transfer of food waste to pig farmers in the region (all of them linked to a Producers Association) to produce meat products with origin and quality controlled. To evaluate how is addressed the governance structure of this production chain, how is its relationship with the Institutional Environment and is this structure affects how the project is lead, were used concepts of the New Institutional Economics and the Economics of Transaction Costs. We observed that the high level of asset specificity and uncertainty in the transactions are significant sources of transaction costs. In addition, the waste generators establishments and producers act opportunistically to participate in the project and some demanded specific investments are not made due to environmental uncertainty. The main barriers identified (called in this study as organizational failures) for the well maintenance of the Project were ―Lack of Environmental Licensing‖, ―Treatment of Waste‖ and ―the Association Features‖, and these are directly linked to the institutional environment.

A reutilização de resíduos orgânicos para alimentação animal é uma prática comum desde os tempos mais longínquos. Com a identificação das perdas e desperdícios de alimento como uma estratégia chave diante da crescente preocupação em relação à Segurança Alimentar Global, este mecanismo de reaproveitamento do resíduo gerado é posto como uma importante alternativa. No município de Porto Alegre (RS/ Brasil) é conduzido o Projeto de Reaproveitamento de Resíduos Orgânicos de Restaurante via Suinocultura, no qual o departamento de limpeza municipal intermedeia a transferência de resíduos alimentares para suinocultores da região (vinculados ao grupo Associação de Suinocultores da Zona Sul de Porto Alegre), produzindo produtos cárneos de origem e qualidade controladas. Para avaliar como está disposta a estrutura de governança desta cadeia produtiva, como ela se relaciona com o ambiente institucional que a delimita e se esta estrutura afeta a forma como o projeto é conduzido, foram utilizados conceitos da Nova Economia Institucional e da Economia de Custos de Transação. Foi possível identificar que o alto nível de especificidade de ativos e de incertezas nas transações são fontes significantes de custos de transações. Além disso, os estabelecimentos geradores de resíduo e os produtores agem de forma oportunista ao participar do Projeto e investimentos específicos demandados não são realizados devido à incerteza do ambiente. Em decorrência destes aspectos, emergem falhas organizacionais, identificadas nesta pesquisa como entraves na condução do projeto. Os principais entraves identificados para a condução do Projeto foram "alta de Licenciamento Ambiental", "Tratamento do Resíduo" e "Características da Associação", estando estes diretamente vinculados ao ambiente institucional. / The reuse of organic waste as animal diet is a common practice since the most ancient times. The identification of losses and food waste became a key strategy in the face of growing concern about the Global Food Security, and this mechanism that recycle of the waste generated is na important alternative. In Porto Alegre (RS State / Brazil) is leading the “Projeto de Reutilização de Resíduos Orgânicos de Restaurante via Suinocultura”, in which the municipal cleaning department mediates the transfer of food waste to pig farmers in the region (all of them linked to a Producers Association) to produce meat products with origin and quality controlled. To evaluate how is addressed the governance structure of this production chain, how is its relationship with the Institutional Environment and is this structure affects how the project is lead, were used concepts of the New Institutional Economics and the Economics of Transaction Costs. We observed that the high level of asset specificity and uncertainty in the transactions are significant sources of transaction costs. In addition, the waste generators establishments and producers act opportunistically to participate in the project and some demanded specific investments are not made due to environmental uncertainty. The main barriers identified (called in this study as organizational failures) for the well maintenance of the Project were ―Lack of Environmental Licensing‖, ―Treatment of Waste‖ and ―the Association Features‖, and these are directly linked to the institutional environment.

An attempt is made in this thesis to study the optimization and estimation of stochastic models of manpower systems incorporating one or more of the following aspects: (i) recruitment, (ii) promotion, (iii) training and (iv) wastage The thesis contains eight chapters and brief summaries of which are given below: Chapter 1 is introductory in nature and gives review of the literature. The techniques used in the analysis of manpower systems are also provided. Two models are studied in chapter 2. Model 1 is the extension of Ragavendra (1991) where maintainability of grade is considered. In model 2 we give importance to efficiency and skills of the employees by allowing multiple promotions. That is, an employee has been promoted to the next higher grade due to seniority and efficiency, whereas he is promoted to other higher grades due to efficiency only. The promotional probabilities and recruitment vectors and cut-off levels of seniority and efficiency for promotions are found. The study of intermittently busy manpower system is studied in chapter 3. By identifying the important random variables, busy and lean periods, the amount of crisis has been obtained in the stationary case. The asymptotic confidence limits are also obtained for the crisis. A non-Markovain model is also studied by assuming that some of the distributions are arbitrary. Various system measures have been obtained using the correlated alternating renewal process. In chapter 4, an attempt is made to analyze impact of category and grade dependent promotion probabilities on the grade structure of hierarchical manpower systems. To be specific, we consider a multi-grade manpower system in which each grade is subdivided into several categories according to length of service in that grade. The last category of each lower grade consists of persons who have completed a specified period of service in that grade and do not get promotion. An employee in a lower grade is eligible for promotion to the most junior category of the next higher grade and the probability of promotion is dependent on the grade and category of the employee. Un-promoted employee of a category of a lower grade will move to the next higher category of the grade in the next unit of time until he reaches the last category of the grade from where he is either promoted or leaves the system. The unit of time may be taken as a year. The movement of an employee from one category to another category is called transition. New entrants to the system are allowed in the lowest category of the lowest grade. Wastages are allowed from any category of any grade and no demotions take place. The probability distribution of the state of the system is derived. The recurrence relation for the moments of the grade sizes is derived and the expected time to reach the top-most grade by a new entrant in the lowest grade is found. A numerical example is provided to highlight the impact of category and grade dependency on the grade structure of a particular organization. Analysis of optimal promotion policy using queuing approach is studied in chapter 5. Queuing approach is used for the first time in Manpower systems. Various system measures have been studied and cost analysis is also studied. Numerical example illustrates the results obtained. The wastage and attrition rates in various manpower categories of higher educational institutions are analyzed using life tables technique in chapter 6. It is justified that persons with higher qualifications can get better jobs. Numerical example is shown to illustrate the results obtained. In some situations the optimal period of training for the newly recruited persons should be found out. In such cases the cost of training should be considered and incorporated into the model in order to obtain the optimal period of training. This aspect has been introduced in chapter 7. In chapter 8, voluntary retirement schemes have been introduced so as to reduce the grade size to avoid surplus staff strength. The optimal time intervals for introducing such schemes have been worked out taking cost into considerations. In brief, the present work is an attempt to provide the optimal policy for recruitment, training, promotion and wastage in manpower planning models, with special provisions such as intermittently busy, efficiency and seniority, introduction of queuing approach, attrition in manpower systems etc. / Thesis (PhD (Mathematical Statistics))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Statistics / unrestricted

Abstract This degree project is about having meetings in The Swedish Social Insurance Agency, which is awide organisation. This work will concentrate on one of the projects going on within theorganisation which is travel-free meetings, where they are building a video meeting system thatallows the employees in the organisation to be able to meet with each other through the use ofvideoconferencing instead of physical meetings. In this work we will show how Kaikaku (radical system changes) along with Kaizen (continuouschange) can support an organisation to become more efficient and reduce wastage. We have donethis work in an organisation that is present in over one hundred locations in Sweden.The Social Insurance Agency has over 13 000 employees at over one hundred locations inSweden. The organisation has to be close to their customers and provide the best service aspossible. To be able to work in a uniform way, the employees get together and have meetings.Some meetings are just progress meetings and takes perhaps no more than two hours to complete.However, if seven employees from seven different locations need to have meetings, in the worstcase, they all have to meet in a common place. This is expensive for the organisation in travel costs, time and absence from work, but thetravelling also contributes to environmental pollution if the employees are travelling by a fuelpoweredvehicle. A whole day could go lost for having a meeting in about two hours if all sevenemployees went from their own cities to e.g. Stockholm for the meeting.Muda (wastage) of travel created several different types of Muda, namely:  Wastage with anticipation when the employees had to wait for e.g. a bus, train or airplaneetc.  Wastage with transportation, because they had to travel.  Wastage of unnecessary movements, as employees had to travel to another city to do theirchores.  Waste of time, then their traveling stole a lot of their working time.  Wastage of energy and water, then carbon emissions from travel had a negative impact onther environment. These wastage also led to the employees becoming overloaded (Muri) when they could not dosome of their jobs when travelling took a lot of their time. This meant that they had have to havefewer meetings, which in turn led to increased variability (Muri), since they did not have astandard for shared work and worked in different ways at the various offices.This project’s purpose was to reduce travels with 10% and bring efficiency in the meetings. Thisby introducing new technologies with videoconferencing in the organisation, where employeeseffectively can schedule appointments and see, share documents and have meetings right wherethey are instead of traveling and having physical meetings. The project succeeded to reducetravels with 15%.The project was limited to the Business support division within the authority, which is locatedthroughout the country and has about 615 employees. / Sammanfattning Detta examensarbete är genomfört på Försäkringskassan som finns på över hundra platser iSverige. I detta arbete benämns Försäkringskassan som ”organisationen” på många ställen.Försäkringskassan har över 13 000 anställda och finns på över hundra platser i Sverige. Dettaför att organisationen ska finnas nära sina kunder och ge den bästa möjliga servicen. För attkunna jobba på ett enhetligt sätt måste de anställda träffas och ha möten. Vissa möten är baraavstämningsmöten och tar kanske inte mer än två timmar i anspråk. Men om t.ex. sjuanställda från sju olika orter ska träffas och ha möten, åker i värsta fall de alla till engemensam plats där de möts.Förutom att detta kostar organisationen pengar i resekostnader samt tid och arbetsbortfall, såbidrar resanden även till miljöföroreningar i vart fall när de anställda använder sig avbränsledrivna fortskaffningsmedel. En hel arbetsdag kunde gå åt för att ha ett möte på cirkatvå timmar om alla åkte från olika städer i landet till t.ex. Stockholm.Så Muda (slöserier) med resandet skapade flera olika typer av Muda, nämligen:  Slöserier med väntan, då de anställda var tvungna att vänta på t.ex. buss, tåg och flygmed mera.  Slöserier med transporter, då de var tvungna att resa.  Slöserier med onödiga rörelser, då medarbetarna var tvungna att resa till en annan ortför att utföra sina sysslor.  Slöseri med tid, då deras resande stal en hel del av deras arbetstid.  Slöseri med energi och vatten, då koldioxid utsläppen från resandet hade negativpåverkan på miljön. Dessa slöserier ledde också till att medarbetarna blev överbelastade (Muri) då de inte hannmed sina arbetsuppgifter då resandet tog en hel del av deras tid. Detta ledde till att de hadefärre möten som i sin tur ledde till att variationerna ökade (Mura), eftersom de inte hade enstandard för gemensamma arbetssätt och jobbade på olika sätt på de olika kontoren. Målet med projektet var att främst minska resandet med 10% och få effektivitet i mötena.Detta genom att införa ny teknik med videmöten i organisationen, där de anställda på etteffektivt sätt kan boka möten och se, dela dokument och ha möten precis där de är istället föratt resa och ha möten. Projektet lyckades minska resandet med 15%.Projektet begränsades till avdelningen verksamhetsstöd inom myndigheten, som finns överhela landet och har cirka 615 medarbetare.

The purpose of this exploratory, retrospective study was to determine if student demographics and academic variables predicted student persistence and success in an associate degree nursing program in Florida and to investigate the variables in Tinto's Longitudinal Model of Dropout (1975).The sample population (N=304) for this study was students enrolled in one of the initial courses of the associate degree nursing program at Daytona Beach Community College (DBCC) in Daytona Beach, FL from August 2002 through August 2003. Students were assigned to one of three groups (a) passing group, (b) failing group, or (c) withdrawing group. The convenience sample of (N=304) included: 242 students who successfully completed the nursing program, 32 students who failed a nursing course, and 38 students who withdrew from a course prior to successful completion. Demographic variables, admission and college science course grade point averages, and Nurse Entrance Test (NET) scores were collected on the sample population. Descriptive statistics were used to identify any unique differences that may have existed between the three groups, and multinomial logistic regression was used to determine the variables that best predicted success in the associate degree nursing program. Students in the passing group were found to be slightly older than students in the failing and withdrawing groups. The passing group had a higher percentage of females; the failing and withdrawing groups had higher percentages of males. The failing and withdrawing groups also contained higher percentages of minority students and students with English as a second language. Ethnicity was considered a significant predictor for student success in this study. Grade point average (GPA) score at the time of admission to the nursing program and college mean science course GPA scores were significant predictors. Students in the passing group had higher mean admission grade point averages than the failing and withdrawing groups. Students in the passing group also had noticeably higher mean grade point averages in all college science courses. NET scores were not considered significant predictors, at least for students who met the requirements for admission, and minimal differences were noted between the three groups in the study. The results of the study supported the use of variables identified in Tinto's Longitudinal Model of Dropout (1975) for predicting program success with nursing students. Individual attributes and pre-college experiences were predictors of student success for this sample, and demographic differences were identified between successful and unsuccessful students. Based on the results, the nursing department should consider placing more emphasis on admission and college science course grade point averages during the application process. A future conceptual model should include college science course GPAs, specifically anatomy and physiology and microbiology, and admission grade point average. Remedial or support services should be emphasized for minority students and students with English as a second language. Strategies should be implemented to retain men in the nursing program.