Thesis (Ph. D.)--Middle East Technical University, 2003. / Keywords: Inert groups, involution, locally finite groups, commensurable prop-erty.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oklahoma, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 389-396).

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio State University, 1950. / Advisor: W.C. Batchelor, School of Social Administration. Text made available in compliance with Section 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 256-272). Online version of print reproduction.

Elections are one way in which interest groups seek to advance their policy goals. Policy studies and election studies have approached this issue differently, leaving unanswered questions about the relationship between interest group policy goals and electoral involvement. This report helps to fill the gaps by applying conventional wisdom to the unstudied question of interest group support for primary challengers. Its findings amend the conventional wisdom in a few key ways. While legislative access does have a negative effect on challenger support, a group-specific measure of access rather than a type-based inference shows the effect to extend beyond groups traditionally thought of as access-seekers. Further, interest in legislative access does not preclude targeted support for challengers by these groups. This suggests that groups may be more sensitive to political circumstances and willing to achieve policy goals through elections than previously thought. / text

Understanding participation behavior in online communities has become increasingly of interest to IS scholars. A central puzzle related to the existence and development of virtual communities is why community members are willing to share their valuable knowledge with other members for free. In other words, what are the factors influencing members’ decisions to participate in discussions? This dissertation theoretically articulates how habit will affect individuals’ participation behavior in online communities. In addition, it proposes that a threshold of behavioral repetitions is required for individuals to develop a participation habit. A methodology of estimating the threshold is also developed. The proposed habit hypothesis is tested empirically using panel data reflecting 130,882 postings by 22,457 members over a 6-month time period. The empirical context is a firm-hosted online community, Dell Community. It includes 115 discussion boards. The results show that a threshold does exist for the formation of a participation habit. Once the habit is formed, it has significantly positive impacts on community members’ participation behavior. In larger and more active online communities, community members demonstrate a stronger habit effect. The effects of habit are also stronger among highly-ranked community members than among low-ranked community members. In addition, the results show that posting behavior in the more distant past has less impact on current posting decisions. This research extends the existing literature on online communities by considering the effects of a new factor, habit. It also deepens the current understanding of habit formation by articulating the role of a threshold on habit formation. / text

Dissent is a common feature of intragroup relations. The consequences of dissent, positive or negative, depend largely on group reactions to dissenters. The current study examined whether geographical distance as well as social dominance orientation (SDO) influence group responses toward a dissenter. I hypothesized that geographical distance would exacerbate negative reactions toward a group member who dissent from—rather than conform to—group norms. Further, I predicted levels of social dominance orientation would moderate group reactions. Findings were not consistent with our predictions; however, the current results did elucidate several interesting lines of future research. Specifically, the findings from the current study reveal that people were more likely to attribute blame to and perceive more harm done to the ingroup by a distal group member, regardless of whether he dissented or not. Further, those high in SDO, relative to low in SDO, were more likely to reprimand and perceive more harm done to the ingroup by a non-dissenting member when he was faraway compared to nearby. These results suggest that geographical distance, as well as individual differences, such as SDO, is important, albeit complex, factors in group reactions to dissenters. / text

published_or_final_version / Mathematics / Master / Master of Philosophy

1.1 Background: Since Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs) systems were firstly introduced in USA in 1983, they have begun to be implemented in more developed countries and some developing countries among the world during two decades. As one of the prospective payment systems, it focuses on enhancing the efficiency through reduction in the length of stays in hospitals, and improves the health care services by decreasing and controlling the unnecessary treatments. This paper reviewed the impacts of DRGs both in the countries with long period’s implementation and in China, including the above beneficial outcomes and negative influences in health care delivery. Furthermore, considering the current concerns of health care delivery in Mainland China, this paper discussed the difficulties and challenges in widely implementation over the whole country. 1.2 Methods: This study focused on the published papers in English through Pubmed, Google scholar, Google and in Chinese through CNKI. The articles in Chinese were searched from 1994. A literature search of all articles was conducted using keywords such as DRGs, impacts, efficiency, and quality both in English and in Chinese, so that relevant studies had been chosen according to the aims of the review. 1.3 Result: This review revealed the beneficial outcomes within health care delivery after the implementation of DRGs, which focused on the decrease in average length of hospital stay and the medical expenses per case. In addition, the relevant adverse outcomes had been reflected simultaneously through the studies, which were mainly indicated through the increase in emergency visits and mortality rates. The findings included both the benefits DRGs brings and negative outcomes, and the current effects of DRGs in Mainland China. 1.4 Conclusion: Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs) system plays the different roles in different kinds of health care systems. It controls the medical expenses through less hospital activities, which can be indicated by the decreases in both the lengths of hospital stay and medical expenditures per case through the literatures. However, this system may produce the adverse outcomes within health care delivery due to insufficient, intentional, and cost-saving services. Furthermore, China has introduced this payment system since 1994, and needs to overcome the challenges through the gradual implementation process. / published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

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