Between 1994 and 2003, two related concerns were in the educational spotlight. The first concern was participation rates of low income students in higher education. The second was the apparent disparity in Internet usage by low income and other disadvantaged individuals, highlighted in the report Falling Through The Net (United States Department of Commerce, 2000). The purpose of this study is to identify the economic factors and demographic attributes that influence participation of low income students in online distance learning courses offered by a Mississippi community college. This study centers on the hypothesis that there is no statistically significant difference between low income and non low income student participation rates in online distance education courses and that the economic factors, other than income, between low income participates and non low income participants will be statistically similar. Survey data collected from analyzed through the use of logistical regression to determine the relationship of demographic and economic factors to the decision to enroll in future online courses. It was found that students who are older and married are less likely to choose to enroll in future online distance learning courses. Students with higher numbers of courses completed and who paid for college with personal funds are more likely to enroll in future online distance learning courses than those with fewer numbers of distance learning hours completed and those who experience less difficulty traveling to campus are less likely to choose to enroll in future distance learning courses.

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AbstraktBakgrund: DMFT (Decayed, Missing, Filled Tooth) har minskat i många delar av världen under det senaste århundradet. Resultat från flera studier visar att DMFT kan vara beroende av socioekonomiska faktorer. Emellertid har de flesta studierna bara granskat några faktorer och på subnationell nivå medan studier på global nivå saknas.Syfte: Att undersöka om det finns ett samband mellan kariesminskning och socioekonomiska faktorer.Material och metod: Socioekonomiska faktorer har valts och data för varje variabel har erhållits med hjälp av World Bank. DMFT-värdena mellan 1960–2017 för olika stater och provinser har erhållits från Oral Health Country/area Profile Project (CAPP). Endast perioder då kariesminskning har inträffat inkluderades. DMFT har fastställts som en beroende variabel och socioekonomiska faktorer som oberoende variabler där linjär regression användes för att analysera insamlad data. P-värdet sattes till 0,05. Tidigare studier och forskning inom ämnet användes för att formulera hypoteser.Resultat: Totalt 6 st variabler visades ha samband med DMFT under perioder av kariesminskning och följande värden för signifikansen erhölls för dessa variabler: Fattigdom (p=0,027), Gini (6x 10-6), andel av jordbruk i Bruttonationalproduken (BNP) (p=0,017), andel av industri i BNP (p=7x10-7), förväntad livslängd (p=1,35x10-4), sockerkonsumtion (p=0,012). Bland de variabler som inte har visats samband med DMFT under perioder av kariesminskning erhölls följande värden av DMFT: BNP per capita (p=0,440), BNP per capita tillväxt per år (p=0,419), arbetslöshet (p=0,699), läskunnighet (p=0,304).Slutsats: De oberoende variablerna fattigdom, Gini, andel av industrin i BNP, andel av jordbruk i BNP och sockerkonsumtion hade en korrelation med DMFT, där större värde på dessa parametrar innebar ett högre DMFT under perioder då det skedde kariesminskning. Livslängden hade ett omvänt samband dvs ju större värde på livslängden, desto mindre DMFT under motsvarande perioder. BNP per capita, årlig BNP-tillväxt per capita, arbetslöshet och läskunnighet hade ingen korrelation med DMFT-värdena under de perioder det skedde kariesminskning. / AbstractBackground: The index Decayed, Missing, Filled, Tooth (DMFT) has declined in many parts of the world in the last century. Results from several studies indicate that DMFT can be dependent of socioeconomic factors. However, most of the studies have only examined a few factors and on a subnational level while studies on a global scale are lacking.Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is a correlation between caries decline and socio-economic factors. Material and method: Socioeconomic factors have been chosen and the data for each variable have been obtained using World Bank. DMFT- value between 1960-2017 for various states and provinces has been obtained using Oral Health Country/area Profile Project (CAPP). Only periods of time when decline of caries has occurred were included. Linear regression was used to analyze data. DMFT has been set as a dependent variable and socioeconomic factors as independent variables. P-value was set to 0.05. Previous studies and research in the subject were used to formulate hypotheses.Results: A total of six variables proved to have a correlation with DMFT during periods of caries decline, and the following statistical significance values were obtained for these variables: Poverty rate (p=0.027), Gini (6x 10-6), share of agriculture in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (p=0.017), share of industry in GDP (p=7x10-7), life expectancy (p=1.35x10-4), sugar consumption (p=0.012). Among variables proved not to have a correlation with DMFT during periods of caries decline, the following significance values were obtained: GDP per capita (p=0.440), annual growth of GDP per capita (p=0.419), unemployment rate (p=0.699), literacy rate (p=0.304).Conclusion: The independent variables poverty rate, Gini, share of industry in GDP, share of agriculture in GDP and sugar consumption had a positive correlation with DMFT. That means the higher value of these variables, the higher DMFT, during the timespans of caries decline. Life expectancy had a conversely correlation during corresponding periods. GDP per capita, annual growth of GDP per capita, unemployment rate and literacy rate had no correlation with the DMFT-value, during periods of caries decline.

No / After more than 3500 years of occupation in the Neolithic and Bronze Age, the many lake-dwellings’ around the Circum-Alpine region ‘suddenly’ came to an end. Throughout that period alternating phases of occupation and abandonment illustrate how resilient lacustrine populations were against change: cultural/environmental factors might have forced them to relocate temporarily, but they always returned to the lakes. So why were the lake-dwellings finally abandoned and what exactly happened towards the end of the Late Bronze Age that made the lake-dwellers change their way of life so drastically? The new research presented here draws upon the results of a four-year-long project dedicated to shedding light on this intriguing conundrum. Placing a particular emphasis upon the Bronze Age, a multidisciplinary team of researchers has studied the lake-dwelling phenomenon inside out, leaving no stones unturned, enabling identification of all possible interactive socio-economic and environmental factors that can be subsequently tested against each other to prove (or disprove) their validity. By re-fitting the various pieces of the jigsaw a plausible, but also rather unexpected, picture emerges.

This thesis aims to provide an approach to real estate residential modeling and forecasting covering property types’ correlation, time series attributes within a region or a city, and socio-economic attributes of preferred real estate locations. The thesis covers residential estate markets and concentrates on property types, while previous studies that have considered country wide house price indices. There is a gap identified in the literature in the need to study correlations between property types within a region or a city and whether they will provide diversification benefits for real estate investors such as risk reduction per unit of returns. The thesis concentrates on property type seasonality in addition to modeling time series attributes within a region or city instead of real estate index seasonality. This thesis the first to combine modern information systems techniques such as geographic information systems (GIS) with socio-economic factors to help understanding causal relationships that can be used to forecast real estate prices. The results show that it is more achievable to forecast real estate prices within a city than for the real estate market of the entire country. The GIS and socio-economic modeling results show that higher property prices are awarded to real estate with more green spaces, residents with higher disposable incomes, lower council tax bands, fewer tax benefits claimants, and better health services. Previous studies have examined real estate price indices at the macro level (the general, all real estate house price indices). There has not been a study that examines real estate price forecasts by property types within a city. The contribution of this thesis is its focus on time series analysis as well as causal modeling within a city with the objective of providing a better understanding of the dynamics of real estate price changes.

Electronic payment systems (EPS) have received considerable attention from researchers and business owners worldwide, because of their potential to support economic development and growth. Despite the significant contribution of the growth in EPS to the ability to complete transactions via the Internet, Libya lags significantly behind developed countries in its adoption of EPS. This research focuses on factors affecting EPS adoption and use in Libya, explaining how they positively or negatively affect Libyan customers and organisations‟ willingness to adopt EPS. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews with different stakeholders, including consumers, organisational staff (e.g. Telecommunications Companies, Banks, the Ministry of Telecommunication and Informatics, etc.), and strategic decision-makers (e.g. the Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Communications, Director of Islamic Banking at Bank of Republic). The research implements Grounded Theory methods (GT), in particular the Straussian approach, to analyse, explore, and investigate the socio-organisational, technical, political, and economic factors affecting the adoption of EPS in Libya, and importantly the relationship between these factors. It discusses the impact of the factors identified, from both organisational and consumer perspectives, highlighting the factors and issues that need to be overcome to support successful adoption of EPS. The findings confirm that, for consumers and organisations alike, economic factors (e.g. perceived benefits, cooperation with existing entities, mutuality of stakeholders, Internet costs, standard of living, marketing businesses, awareness, withdrawal control, XX feasibility studies on EPS implementation, Islamic banking services and competition) are the core factors influencing the system‟s adoption. Furthermore, the findings revealed three new and significant factors of relevance to Libya, including standard of living, post coding and the unstable political situation in the country. These represent a unique contribution to the body of knowledge, illustrating the attitude of the Libyan people toward Internet usage, and current obstacles to EPS adoption. The use of substantive GT, in particular the Straussian approach, for data collection and data analysis in the field of EPS adoption, and the assessment of organisational and consumer attitudes, is unique to this research to the best of the researcher‟s knowledge. Thus, the research embodies a substantial contribution to the body of knowledge. The interpretive analysis of data using a Straussian approach has permitted the researcher to attain a deep understanding of the socio-organisational, economic, political, and technical factors affecting adoption of an E-payment system in Libya, as implemented by different stakeholders: Consumers, and Organisational. The benefits that the adoption of EPS in Libya will bring, include facilitation of online transactions, the availability of more secure websites, easier payment and access to the global markets. Furthermore, detailed recommendations are also being offered to assist decision-makers in the development and introduction of EPS in Libya, i.e. including the Communications and Informatics Ministry, which is hoped will advise internet service providers and companies to discount the cost of using the internet for limited bandwidths, in order to insure everyone access to the internet, and EPS.

The amount of electricity used in individual UK homes varies considerably. Previous UK energy research has identified that high electricity consuming homes not only use more electricity, compared with others, but appear to be consuming even more electricity over time. Furthermore, there is additional evidence which shows that high consuming dwellings also have a greater potential to make energy savings than those who consume less. It has been suggested that future UK energy policy might focus on reducing the demand of high electricity consumers in order to reduce overall CO2 emissions. Therefore, understanding what drives high usage in domestic buildings is essential to support informed decisions. This thesis asserts that to improve knowledge and understanding of the factors affecting high electrical energy consumption in UK domestic buildings, it is necessary to combine an analysis of the occupants socio-economic characteristics, dwelling technical characteristics and appliance related aspects, with detailed monitoring of the ownership, power demand and occupants use of electrical appliances. Using a sample of 315 UK homes, the influence of socio-economic, technical and appliance related characteristics on the probability of a household being a high electrical energy consumer was investigated (Odds ratio analysis). Detailed appliance monitoring data was collected from 27 UK homes to establish the contributions of appliance ownership, power demand and use to high electrical energy demand (Appliance Electricity Use Survey). The current research found similar skewed electricity distributions towards high electricity consumers for both the 315 and 27 home cohorts. Conflicting results were however obtained from the two household samples with regard to whether high electricity consumers are increasing electrical energy demand over time. The results of the odds ratio analysis and Appliance Electricity Use Survey suggest that high electricity consumption in domestic buildings is related to a combination of the socio-economic characteristics of the building occupants, technical characteristics of the dwelling and the ownership, power demand and use of electrical appliances.

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Um dos temas mais discutidos na área de finanças é a forma como os mercados se estruturam sob perspectiva informacional, precificando ativos financeiros. Uma das teorias centrais de discussão é a Hipótese de Eficiência dos Mercados (HEM) de Eugene Fama (1970), derivada da teoria de utilidade. Um dos pontos centrais de discussão e critica da HEM são seus pressupostos quanto à modelagem do comportamento humano, totalmente racional e oportunista. Uma segunda linha de estudos apresenta um contraponto a esse modelo de ser humano utilizado nas teorias neoclássicas de finanças, utilizando um modelo de agente que possui falhas no processo de tomada de decisão financeira em função de uma racionalidade limitada e de vieses cognitivos, que impactam sobre o preço dos ativos negociados (Tversky & Kahneman, 1979; Thaler, 1985). A Hipótese de Mercados Adaptativos (HMA), de Andrew Lo (2004, 2005), é uma das teorias que conciliam a estrutura neoclássica da HEM com o comportamento não ótimo do agente, considerando novas estruturas de tomada de decisão financeira pelo investidor, como aprendizado, adaptação e vieses comportamentais, apresentando dinâmicas de mercado semelhantes a características biológicas, com impactos do ambiente e seleção natural como direcionadores da eficiência dos mercados. Desta forma, esse trabalho tem como objetivo verificar se existe aderência do conceito de evolução e do impacto do ambiente macroeconômico sobre a eficiência informacional dos mercados financeiros, verificando a capacidade de adaptação do mercado a mudanças do ambiente, e quais fatores apresentam maior grau de explicação no processo de adaptação e eficiência dos mercados em diferentes países. Para isso foram analisados os índices de preços e retornos de 48 economias, assim como informações econômico-institucionais sobre os países aos quais estavam relacionados, por meio do desenvolvimento de uma métrica de ineficiência informacional relativa dos mercados e posterior análise por meio de modelos descritivos e multinível. Foi identificado que há comportamentos cíclicos de eficiência ao longo do tempo, e os graus de eficiência diferem-se entre as economias estudadas, assim como há evidências de que há variação do comportamento de eficiência quando da mudança do cenário econômico. Adicionalmente foi identificado que características ambientais (como instituições e comportamento geral da economia) também apresentam efeitos sobre o grau de ineficiência relativa de mercados, e sua relação está associada ao comportamento previsto na HMA. / One of the most discussed topics in finance research is the way of markets are structured from an informational perspective, pricing financial assets. One of the central theories of discussion is Eugene Fama\'s Market Efficiency Hypothesis (HEM) (1970), derived from utility theory. One of the central points of discussion and critics of HEM is its assumptions about the modeling of human behavior, totally rational and opportunistic. The second line of studies shows a counterpoint to this model of human behavior used in neoclassical finance theories, by an agent model that has flaws in financial decision-making process due to a bounded rationality and cognitive biases impacting on the price of the traded assets (Tversky & Kahneman, 1979; Thaler, 1985). The Andrew Lo\'s (2004, 2005) Adaptive Market Hypothesis (HMA) is one of the theories that reconcile the neoclassical structure of HEM with the agent\'s non-optimal behavior, considering new structures of financial decision-making by the investor, such as learning, adaptation and behavioral biases, presenting market dynamics like biological characteristics with environmental impacts and natural selection as drivers of market efficiency. In this way, the objective of this work is to verify if there is adherence to the concept of evolution and the impact of the macroeconomic environment on the informational efficiency of the financial markets, observing the adaptability of the market to changes in the environment, and which factors present a greater degree of explanation in the process of adaptation and efficiency of markets in different countries. To do so, we analyzed the price and return indices of 48 economies, as well as economic-institutional information about the related countries, through the development of a metric of relative informational inefficiency and subsequent analysis through descriptive and multilevel models. It has been identified that there are cyclical efficiency behaviors over time, and the efficiency levels differ between the studied economies, and evidence about the changes in the efficiency behavior when the economic scenario changes. Additionally, it was identified that environmental characteristics (such as institutions and general economic behavior) also have effects on the degree of relative market inefficiency, and their relation is associated with the behavior predicted in the HMA

O contínuo aumento na produção leiteira, associado à diminuição no número de produtores na atividade, acaba por levantar um questionamento no tocante à produtividade. Afinal, quais os fatores socioeconômicos que podem estar afetando esta produtividade? A fim de investigar mais sobre o assunto, o presente trabalho analisou o comportamento das funções de produtividade, de custo e de lucro. Além das variáveis econômicas propriamente ditas - como escala de produção, nível e tipo de tecnologia, essas funções incluíram algumas especificidades do produtor - como escolaridade, idade, experiência, domicilio etc. Para sintetizar tais especificidades, utilizou-se o método dos componentes principais da análise fatorial. Em seguida, os fatores obtidos foram incorporados nos modelos de lucro, custo e da produtividade. As variáveis econômicas tiveram efeito predominante sobre a produtividade. Observaram-se ganhos moderados de escala, que reduzem os custos e aumentam os lucros. Dessa forma, há uma tendência moderada de longo prazo de expansão de volume produzido em maiores propriedades, ficando os pequenos produtores em desvantagem competitiva. A permanência desses produtores na atividade dependerá da capacitação que venham a receber, o que costuma ser oferecido por cooperativas e laticínios. Esse treinamento deveria ser estendido também aos filhos. Investimentos nesse sentido trariam ganhos na receita e um impacto social positivo por reter o jovem no campo e/ou prepará-lo para que, em melhores condições, busque outras formas de ocupação nas áreas urbanas. / The continuous growth of the milk production along with the reduction of the number of producers raises questions concerning productivity. What factors might be affecting productivity? This work aimed to analyze the effects of economic variables on the cost, the profit and the milk productivity functions. In addition some specificities of the farmer - such as age, experience etc. - were considered in those functions. The method of principal components of the factorial analysis was used to group the specificity variables in factors that later entered the models of profit, cost and the productivity. As for the economic variables, they are the main variables that affect the productivity. Moderate increasing returns to scale were observed. Therefore there is a tendency in the long run of increasing production in large farms. The permanence of small producers in the activity will depend on the training they will receive, which is usually offered by cooperatives and some milk companies. It is essential that this training also be extended to their children. Investments in this direction would bring gains in income either by enhancing farm productivity or by improving the chances of success in urban activities.