abstract: This dissertation examines the communication of U.S. Corporate executives in quarterly conference calls and in public forums at the World Economic Forum. Using grounded theory, the executive's core conceptual framework is identified and analyzed in the conference calls. Broadly speaking, it was found that an underlying aggressive orientation to the organization conceptualizes the executive as being the source of organizational activity. It places the executive in a causal-force relation to other organizational groups, which at once, inflates the role of the executive and poses a dilemma with respect to executive status and the communicative vitality of the organization. This project of organizational communication is situated within the broader areas of ideology, critical organizational scholarship, and communicative constitution of communication. The set of data consists of communication of executives of U.S. corporations in the S&P500 in 171 conference calls with shareholder agents. Grounded theory is used to identify the executives' conceptual view of the organization as it emerges from the data analysis. The findings from the analysis of the conference call data are presented in relation to two core categories, a causal-driving force and an ultimate objective category, including sub-categories that form an overall conceptual framework. An exploration of executive communication at the World Economic Forum extends these findings by demonstrating how it is transformed and mediated in a public venue in the presence of other stakeholders. One important finding from the study involves the emergence of a rival concept that poses an organizational dilemma for the future of the executive's communicative framework. And lastly, the issue of ideology is applied to the findings. This examination uses the sensitizing concepts of reification and fetishism drawn from the literature on ideology, which is developed into a systematic algorithm. The application of the findings to the model adds new insight into the relation between the executive and organizational communication. The results from this examination reinforce and highlight the conceptual dilemma the executive faces in relation to the organization and its future implications on organizational communication. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Communication 2019

Earnings conference calls are salient sources of firm-specific information that provide both hard and soft information to investors. In this paper, I find that institutional investors participate more actively in earnings conference calls held by firms that receive less attention than their peers prior to conference calls. I construct a measure of relative inattention using the Bloomberg Heat Score, which captures the aggregate search activities of institutional investors at the firm level. Using a broad set of earnings conference call transcripts, I identify participants affiliated with institutional investors and their dialogue to examine the association between institutional investors' inattention and their activities during earnings conference calls. I show that institutional investors appear more often, ask more questions, and request more guidance in conference calls held by firms that receive less attention before the calls. Collectively, the results indicate that institutional investors compensate for the lack of firm-specific information with conference call participation, despite potential costs of publicly revealing their information acquisition.

The number of children in the United States with an incarcerated parent continues to rise. Currently, more than 1.7 million children have at least one incarcerated parent. In addition, research has found that children with criminally involved parents are at a higher risk of also becoming offenders (Glaze & Maruschak, 2010). Research has shown that incarcerated parents' abilities to maintain communication with their children may decrease negative behaviors while incarcerated and may decrease the negative effects of being removed from their families. The current study utilizes secondary data to explore the types of communication incarcerated parents use in order to stay connected with their children. The goal is to understand gendered differences regarding how incarcerated mothers versus incarcerated fathers choose to communicate with their children, and to understand which forms of communication (letter writing, face to face visits, and phone calls) are utilized most often by incarcerated parents to maintain and strengthen the bonds with their children. Logistic Regressions identified that incarcerated mothers are more likely to have at least one visit, phone call, and will utilize more forms of communication in a month's time, with their children. These findings both support and contradict previous studies. Implications of the findings and further suggestions are discussed.

Background: Among patients with multiple chronic conditions, care coordination and integration remains one of the major challenges facing the U.S. health care system. A home-based, patient-centered primary care program has been offered through the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) since the 1970s for frail veterans who have difficulty accessing VHA clinics. The VHA Home Based Primary Care (VHA HBPC) aims to integrate primary care, rehabilitation, disease management, palliative care, and coordination of care for frail individuals with complex, chronic diseases within their homes. Early research suggested that VHA HBPC was associated with positive outcomes (e.g., reduced resource use and patient satisfaction). However, evidence regarding the effect of the VHA HBPC program on health services use (especially hospital and nursing home use), expenditures, and other patient outcomes remains limited. The present study is designed to fill this gap as the rise in the number of veterans with complex health care needs will likely increase in the coming decades. Objectives: The current study aimed to examine the impact of VHA HBPC on health services use, expenditures, and mortality among a cohort of new VHA HBPC enrollees identified in the national VHA data system. The specific aims of this study were: 1) to examine the effect of VHA HBPC on major health service use (hospital, nursing home, and outpatient care) paid for by the Veterans Administration; 2) to examine the effect of VHA HBPC on total health services expenditures; and 3) to examine whether VHA HBPC enrollees experienced similar mortality and survival as compared to a matched concurrent cohort. Methods: This study used a retrospective cohort design. A new VHA HBPC enrollee cohort (the treatment group) and a propensity matched comparison cohort (the comparison group) were identified from VHA claims in fiscal years (FY) 2009 and 2010 and were followed through FY 2012. Data on health service use, expenditures, and mortality/survival data were obtained via the VHA administrative datasets (i.e., Decision Support System, Purchased Care, and Vital Status Files). Propensity scores of being enrolled in the VHA HBPC were generated by a logistic regression model controlling for potential confounders. After 41,244 matched pairs were determined adequate through several diagnostic methods, means tests, relative risk analyses, and generalized linear models were used to estimate the effect of VHA HBPC on outcomes. Additionally, a Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to estimate the effect of VHA HBPC on survival. Subgroup analyses were conducted stratifying by age (85 and older), comorbidities (2 or more), and the receipt of palliative care. Based on the results of the original analyses, a series of sensitivity analyses were conducted that modified the described sample selection criteria and matching algorithm. Results: Analyses of the original cohort revealed that VHA HBPC patients had significantly higher risks of being admitted into a hospital (RR 1.53, 95% CI 1.51-1.56) or nursing home (RR 1.65, CI 1.50 - 1.81). The average total expenditures during the study period were significantly higher for the VHA HBPC group as compared to the control group ($85,808 vs. $44,833, respectively; p < .001). In terms of mortality and survival, VHA HBPC enrollees had higher mortality (RR 1.45, CI 1.43 - 1.47), and shorter survival (HR 1.89, CI 1.86 - 1.93) as compared to those in the comparison group. Subgroup analyses found that these relationships generally remained when stratified by age 85 or older or having two or more comorbidities. However, for those who received palliative care, VHA HBPC participants had significantly lower risk of VHA hospitalization overall (RR 0.84, CI 0.81 - 0.87) and immediately prior to death. Finally, exploratory post-hoc analysis suggested that VHA HBPC recipients were at higher risk of VHA hospitalization at 30 (RR 1.11, CI 1.06 - 1.16), 60 (RR 1.16, CI 1.11 - 1.20), and 90 days (RR 1.16, 1.12 - 1.21) prior to death relative to the comparison group. After selecting only those that had a baseline hospitalization and refining the matching algorithm to account for time to death and additional comorbidities, VHA HBPC participants who had been enrolled in the program for at least six months had lower risks for hospital (RR 0.89, CI 0.88 - 0.90) and nursing home admissions (RR 0.74, CI 0.67 - 0.81). However, total expenditures remained significantly higher among those in VHA HBPC relative to the comparison group ($89,761 vs. $85,371, respectively; p < .001). Discussion: This study found that without accounting for important covariates such as initial hospitalization, time to death, and a range of comorbidities, VHA HBPC was associated with higher health service use, higher expenditures, higher mortality, and shorter survival as compared to a similar group of patients not receiving VHA HBPC. After accounting for these factors, VHA HBPC was associated with a lower risk of nursing home use, and after six months, VHA HBPC was associated with lower risk of both nursing home and hospital use. These findings suggest that while VHA HBPC may improve quality of life and patient satisfaction through patient-centered integrated primary care, it may not generate cost savings for the healthcare system. Future research is needed to understand variation in program implementation and how this affects the impact of VHA HBPC on service use and cost.

Sjuksköterskor inom akutsjukvården har ett varierande yrke. Ingen dag är den andra lik och av sjuksköterskor krävs snabba beslut och ett lugnande arbetssätt. I ett rum kan en patient vårdas för en fiskekrok i fingret medan patienten i rummet bredvid är döende. Detta kan göra att personalen mår dålig och blir stressad vilket kan leda till brister i omvårdnaden mot patienterna. Syftet med studien var att undersöka och beskriva sjuksköterskors upplevelser av avlastningssamtal. För att nå syftet gjordes en intervjustudie. Sju sjuksköterskor från tre olika akutmottagningar intervjuades. Graneheim och Lundmans (2004) analysmetod användes och intervjuerna resulterade i sex kategorier: Tillhörighet i arbetsgruppen, trivsel, stimulans, enkelhet, att växa i sin yrkesroll, tidslig och rumslig uppfattning. Avlastningssamtalen sker både informellt och formellt bland personalen. Arbetsgruppen har stor betydelse och ett bra klimat på arbetsplatsen bidrar till att underlätta spontana avlastningssamtal. För personal som varit med om samma händelser kan samtalet ge en ökad förståelse för var och ens insats och det bidrar till att sjusköterskor mognar och växer i sin yrkesroll. Det upplevs också som en trygghet och lättnad att känna förtroende för kollegorna och kunna prata om sådant som känns tungt. Det behövs mer forskning inom det här området särskilt vad sjuksköterskor har för behov av avlastande samtal. / Nurses in acute care have a vary profession. No days are the same and from  nurses needs quick decisions and a composed approach. In a room is a patient sitting with a fishing hook in his finger while the patient in the next room is dying. This can make the staff feel bad and become stressed which can lead to deficiencies in nursing care to patients. The aim of the study was to explore and describe nurses' experiences of relief calls. An interview study was made. Seven nurses from three different acute care were interviewed. The analysis of Graneheim and Lundman (2004) was used and the interviews resulted in six categories: Membership of the working group, comfort, stimulation, simplicity, to grow in their professional, time and spatial perception. Relief calls is both informally and formally among staff. The working group is of great importance and a good climate in the workplace helps to facilitate spontaneous relief calls. For staff who have been through the same events can call give a better understanding of everyone's effort and it helps nurses to mature and grow in their professional capacity. It is seen also as a security and relief to have confidence in their colleagues and to talk about things that feel heavy. Further research is needed in this area particularly what nurses have a need for relief calls.

The point of the study is to investigate educational and vocational counselors' strategies on drop in calls. In order to answer the purpose, the issues concerning the educational and vocational counselors' strategies and guidance models/methods at drop-in calls investigated. Qualitative interviews were conducted with six educational and vocational counselors'. In the study it appears that the educational and vocational counselors' are unable to have any strategies for drop-in conversation because the applicant will come spontaneously and the educational and vocational counselors' lack information about the individual and its purpose of the interview. Guidance models/methods designed to facilitate for the applicant and give them a sense of understanding about them selves there environment and results in a clarification of the election, not often used during the drop-in calls.These are not often used due to the lack of time because the intention of the call is to provide with information to the applicant in as little time as possible. In an educational and vocational counselors’ perspective the guidance that is offered at drop-in calls defective.

Syftet var att undersöka hur sjuksköterskor, inom hemsjukvården, uppfattar sin egen kompetens och sitt behov av stöd i relation till sina arbetsuppgifter. Metoden är en enkätstudie. Enkäten förmedlades via e-post. Urvalet utgjordes av 131 sjuksköterskor inom hemsjukvården i en större stad i Mellansverige, varav 15 av sjuksköterskorna deltog i studien. Resultatet visar att den egenuppfattade kompetensen hos deltagarna var hög och majoriteten av de sjuksköterskor som medverkade känner sig trygga i att arbeta självständigt och att utföra sitt uppdrag som sjuksköterska inom hemsjukvården. Stödet från sjuksköterskekollegor anses som viktigt, dock önskas mer tid eller möjlighet att diskutera patienters vårdproblem. Att ha en bra arbetsrelation med sin läkare upplevs som mycket viktigt hos deltagarna. Majoriteten önskade ett mer omfattande samarbete med läkaren. Slutsatsen är att sjuksköterskorna inom studien uppfattade sin egen kompetens som bra och samtliga känner sig bekväma med att jobba självständigt. Att ha bra arbetsrelationer med kollegor och läkare är mycket viktigt för studiedeltagarna däremot anser några deltagare att de inte alltid kan räkna med sina sjuksköterskekollegor i svåra situationer. Majoriteten av sjuksköterskorna önskade ett mer omfattande samarbete med läkaren. Urvalet i studien var litet och bortfallet var stort, därför behövs en mer omfattande studie inom området. / Aim: The purpose of this study was to describe registered nurses (RNs) perceptions of their competence within the municipal elderly care and their need of support in relation to their job assignment. Method: A questionnaire survey. The questionnaire was delivered electronically as an email. The sample consist of 131 RNs within the municipal elderly care in a large city in the middle of Sweden. 15 of the RNs engaged in the study. Results: The RNs perceive their competence as high and the majority feel secure to perform their job assignment. The support from their nurse colleagues is considered important, however more time and opportunities to discuss care issues is desirable. A good labour relation with the physician is considered important among the respondents. The majority wishes a better physician-nurse teamwork. Conclusion: The RNs perceive their competence as good and the majority feel secure to perform their job assignment independent. A good labour relation with the colleagues and physician is considered important. However some RNs doesn’t believe that they can count on their colleagues in difficult situations. The majority of the RNs desires increased teamwork with the physician. Future interventions are needed with larger sample and a lesser falling off.

Bingo game is a popular and interesting game. This paper considers some interesting properties of the Bingo game played in Taiwan. We discuss how to use the computer to calculate some interesting probability value for various sizes of bingo games. For example, the expectation of the calls to hit a Bingo and the expectation of the Bingo number after the $k$th number is called. Some interesting results are also discussed.

The promising development of wireless technologies has brought in an increasing demand of multimedia traffic. Since various types of traffic are inherently distinct in bandwidth requirements, delay sensitivities, and error tolerances, an adequate bandwidth allocation scheme is essential for the limited radio resource to fulfill different QoS (quality of service) requirements in mobile wireless networks. In this dissertation, we present a generalized channel preemption scheme (the GCPM) and a jamming-based medium access control with dynamic priority adjustment (the JMDPA) for the two different medium access models of a mobile wireless network, grant/request-based and contention-based, respectively. In the proposed GCPM, a mobile call is identified by four parameters, call type, traffic class, channel requirement, and preemption ratio. To effectively reduce dropping probability, high-priority handoff calls are allowed to fully or partially preempt low-priority ongoing calls when the mobile network becomes congested. An analytical model with multi-dimensional Markov chains is introduced to simultaneously investigate the effect of full and partial preemptions on the performance of a mobile wireless network. On the other hand, the proposed JMDPA scheme prioritizes a mobile node with two priorities, local and global; both of the local and global priorities can be dynamically changed based on the outcome in every contention round. Thus, any possible starvation of low-priority traffic or any ineffective contention of high-priority traffic can be avoided. A multi-dimensional Markov model, together with the scalability analysis, is introduced to evaluate the performance of the proposed JMDPA. The analytical results provide very useful guidelines to tune the QoS parameters for supporting prioritized multimedia traffic.

<p>Sjuksköterskor inom akutsjukvården har ett varierande yrke. Ingen dag är den andra lik och av sjuksköterskor krävs snabba beslut och ett lugnande arbetssätt. I ett rum kan en patient vårdas för en fiskekrok i fingret medan patienten i rummet bredvid är döende. Detta kan göra att personalen mår dålig och blir stressad vilket kan leda till brister i omvårdnaden mot patienterna. Syftet med studien var att undersöka och beskriva sjuksköterskors upplevelser av avlastningssamtal. För att nå syftet gjordes en intervjustudie. Sju sjuksköterskor från tre olika akutmottagningar intervjuades. Graneheim och Lundmans (2004) analysmetod användes och intervjuerna resulterade i sex kategorier: Tillhörighet i arbetsgruppen, trivsel, stimulans, enkelhet, att växa i sin yrkesroll, tidslig och rumslig uppfattning. Avlastningssamtalen sker både informellt och formellt bland personalen. Arbetsgruppen har stor betydelse och ett bra klimat på arbetsplatsen bidrar till att underlätta spontana avlastningssamtal. För personal som varit med om samma händelser kan samtalet ge en ökad förståelse för var och ens insats och det bidrar till att sjusköterskor mognar och växer i sin yrkesroll. Det upplevs också som en trygghet och lättnad att känna förtroende för kollegorna och kunna prata om sådant som känns tungt. Det behövs mer forskning inom det här området särskilt vad sjuksköterskor har för behov av avlastande samtal.</p> / <p>Nurses in acute care have a vary profession. No days are the same and from  nurses needs quick decisions and a composed approach. In a room is a patient sitting with a fishing hook in his finger while the patient in the next room is dying. This can make the staff feel bad and become stressed which can lead to deficiencies in nursing care to patients. The aim of the study was to explore and describe nurses' experiences of relief calls. An interview study was made. Seven nurses from three different acute care were interviewed. The analysis of Graneheim and Lundman (2004) was used and the interviews resulted in six categories: Membership of the working group, comfort, stimulation, simplicity, to grow in their professional, time and spatial perception. Relief calls is both informally and formally among staff. The working group is of great importance and a good climate in the workplace helps to facilitate spontaneous relief calls. For staff who have been through the same events can call give a better understanding of everyone's effort and it helps nurses to mature and grow in their professional capacity. It is seen also as a security and relief to have confidence in their colleagues and to talk about things that feel heavy. Further research is needed in this area particularly what nurses have a need for relief calls.</p>