John Bongaarts' proximate determinants model of fertility has accounted for over 90 percent of variation in the total fertility rate (TFR) of primarily developing nations and historical populations. Recently, dramatically low fertility rates across the globe have raised questions regarding whether this model could be applied to exclusively below-replacement nations. This study follows Knodel, Chamratrithirong, and Debavalya's 1987 analysis of fertility decline in Thailand by conducting in-depth case studies of the proximate determinants in two low fertility countries over time: South Korea, where fertility is well below the level of replacement, and the United States, where fertility has hovered around replacement level for many years. Then, the fertility-inhibiting effect of the proximate determinants is assessed by comparing the quantitative index representing each determinant measured in the 1960s/1970s with its measurement in the 2000s. For both years, I consider the fertility level that would prevail in the determinant's presence as well as the level that would exist in its absence. Finally, I use each of the indices to calculate the TFR and assess how the strength of the model varies over time in the two countries. Ultimately, results indicate that the proximate determinants model does not offer a clean picture of the fertility level in either South Korea or the United States; when trends uncovered by the case studies are compared to the results of the quantitative analysis, a number of inconsistencies are revealed. This suggests that certain components in the model may need to be respecified for more effective application in low-fertility contexts. However, that is not to say that it offers no insight into fertility at all or that it is no longer a useful tool. On the contrary, it is shown that the proximate determinants model holds a lot of potential for analysis in low-fertility nations. The implications of these results, as well as the need for improvements in international data collection efforts, are also discussed.

Housing price studies is the first step of housing market analysis. Prices are determined at the intersection point of supply and demand curves, which determine equilibrium point that represents equilibrium price and quantity level. At a point in time demand factors are more important in determining the prices because short-run supply curve is almost vertical. However, in the long run supply of housing, and its certain attributes, will increase if price premium arises in the previous periods. In most of the studies, house prices are analyzed by using hedonic price index technique, which enables us to have information about the demand side of housing sector. In the hedonic price framework, heterogeneous goods are considered as aggregations of characteristics, and implicit marginal prices for these characteristics are calculated. When &lsquo / Hedonic Price Analysis&rsquo / is applied to the housing sector, it shows us the price of each housing attribute and gives information about the preferences and willingness to pay of the people for each attribute. Therefore, at the end of such an analysis it is possible to see which attributes are valued most by house buyers in the city. The aim of this thesis is to reveal the implicit prices of housing attributes in the housing market of Ankara, for the year 2006, with the purpose of gaining more information about the demand side of the housing sector. For this purpose, hedonic pricing method is used with the data that are extracted from appraisal reports which include information about main attributes and estimated price of each dwelling unit.

Main purpose of this thesis is to analyse the main determinants affecting innovation behaviour by utilizing the results of Technological Innovation Survey of Turkey for the periods 2004-2006 combined with the results of Annual Business Statistics Surveys conducted for the year 2003. The total number of the observations of the matched data of the two Surveys is 947. Main underlying reason for the time lag introduced between the two surveys is to be able to relate firm and sector characteristics to the innovation behaviour in following years. Logit model is established with three main dependent variables as firms doing product innovation, process innovation and either one of them. According to result of the analysis, four main areas are found to be promoting the innovation behaviour in firms. Firstly, as the firm size increases, the probability of engaging in innovation is found to be affected positively. Secondly, firms having foreign share also has more tendency for innovation. This result is surprising and disproof the initial assumption related with foreign share, since foreign investment is found to be a hindering factor in some previous studies in developing countries. Thirdly having intellectual property rights is positively related with innovation behaviour. Last positively affecting factor is engaging in R&amp / D, which is presumable. Three factors are found to be insignificant as Export Status, Import Penetration and Tariff Rate. The relationship between foreign trade and innovation behaviour could not be justified which is mainly due to lack of data reliability.

The determinants of the use of atypical employment and the effectiveness Abstract Atypical employment has been popular all over the world. Although there are plenty of articles about the current situation of the use of atypical employment, we still lack the studies about what determines of the use , how atypical employment influences labor costs, and what determines its future growth. Due to my interests upon the issues above, I made some analysis and got some conclusions: I. The determinants of the use of atypical employment 1. Contingent workers usually don¡¦t do nuclear work 2. Companies usually don¡¦t use atypical employment on professional jobs. 3. Companies usually use atypical employment when workload increases temporarily. 4. Temporary work is usually clerical and industrial. 5. Organizational size has positive effect upon atypical employment. 6. Labor collective contracts have positive effect upon atypical employment. 7. Companies in business-service industry use more atypical employment. 8. Benefit level has positive effect upon atypical employment. II. The determinants of cost saving after using atypical employment 1. The lower level of wage and benefits of contingent workers is the main reason to explain why cost saving happens after using atypical employment. 2. The use of professional temporary work has negative effect on cost saving after using atypical employment. 3. Low-skilled temporary work help firms to save labor costs. 4. Atypical employment causes higher mobility among regular workers and it has negative effect on cost saving. 5. Organizational size has positive effect upon cost saving after companies use atypical employment. 6. It is easier for companies of business-service and manufacturing industry to save labor costs after using atypical employment. III. The determinants of the future growth of atypical employment 1. Atypical employment growth is due to the need to get more employment flexibility and cost control. 2. Professional temporary work will grow significantly in the future. 3. Bad influences of atypical employment have positive effect on its future growth. 4. Collective labor contracts have positive effect on the future growth of atypical employment. 5. Both Taiwanese and foreign companies will increase atypical employment significantly in three years. 6. Organizational size has positive effect on the growth of atypical employment.

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More and more industries have collaborated aggressively with other fields, and try to strengthen their relationship recently in cultural creative industries. However, people always focus their attention on the successful reason of executing alliance, but they ignore the successful reason of concluding alliance. The process of concluding alliance usually come fault because of the gap in their concept. For the reason, this thesis will research the factor of concluding alliance successfully. According to the process of concluding alliance, we have known the result of concluding alliance would have affected by motive, partner selection and the type of alliance. The alliance could conclude when the factor match up with each other. Base on this structure, the thesis try to explore which reason affecting the alliance conclusion. This thesis applied in-depth interview method to gather the firsthand information of the cultural creative industries. According to the research structure and firsthand information, it could generalize five successful factor of concluding alliance. Finally, it would have examined the development of cultural creative industries in Taiwan and found them lack for a channel to connect.

<p><p>The thesis examines the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and, in order to achieve a better understanding of how MENA economies may attract FDI, attempts to identify their possible location-specific de-terminants. The analysis is based on the results of the cross-section OLS regression meth-od. The examined empirical model is based on the eclectic theory developed by John Dun-ning and the previous empirical studies. To test the relevant location-specific determinants of FDI inflows into MENA region, eighteen countries are sampled for the period 1996-2006. The results of the regression analysis show that physical infrastructure and trade openness are significant determinants of FDI in the MENA countries.</p></p>

Oral health is an important aspect of overall health, but many vulnerable populations such as migrant farmworkers are without access to oral healthcare. Although some non-government organizations such as faith-based organizations have attempted to fill gaps left by government and private sectors, a lack of a dental safety net creates limited access to oral health services for migrant farmworkers. Access to care is further constrained by structural factors including low wages, migration route, and high costs of care. Building off a critical medical anthropology approach in understanding oral healthcare access, I argue that limited oral health access for migrant workers in the Tampa Bay area is the result of economic constraints and not cultural beliefs or educational shortcomings. This research therefore demonstrates the social determinants of oral health, and how social disparities can become embodied in marginalized groups such as migrant farmworkers.

In this paper, we examine Fox colorings of virtual knots, and moves called k-swap moves defined for virtual knot diagrams. The k-swap moves induce a one-to-one correspondence between colorings before and after the move, and can be used to reduce the number of virtual crossings. For the study of colorings, we characterize families of alternating virtual knots to generalize (2, n)-torus knots, alternating pretzel knots, and alternating 2-bridge knots. The k-swap moves are then applied to prove a "virtualization" of the Kauffman-Harary conjecture, originally stated for classical knot diagrams, for the above families of virtual pretzel knot diagrams.

Preterm birth continues to be an important public health concern globally. Born only 3 to 6 weeks premature, findings increasingly demonstrate that the late preterm population (34-36 weeks gestational age) is not exempt from long-term risk, as the last few weeks of gestation are important for both physical and cognitive development. This study examined whether late preterm birth was associated with poorer health, development and educational outcomes in the early childhood period, after controlling for a range of medical and social factors. / February 2016