Disaster researchers have established the determinants of preparedness and mitigation at the household level of analysis. However, at the organizational level, there is limited research and no theory to guide research on the determinants of preparedness and mitigation. The main goal of this study is to answer the question "what are the determinants of mitigation and preparedness at the organizational level?" The data come from a survey of 227 organizations in Memphis, Tennessee. This study uses Tobit regression technique to identify the determinants. This study finds that organizational size and concern over disaster impact are strong positive determinants of mitigation and preparedness in organizations. In addition, there is a significant and non-linear relationship between organizational obstacle and mitigation and preparedness activities. The study concludes with policy implications and recommendations for future studies.

Societies frequently implement land use policies to regulate resource extraction or to regulate development. However, two important policy questions remain unresolved. First, how effective are land use regulations? Second, how do land use regulations affect socioeconomic conditions? Three issues complicate the evaluation of land use policies: (1) overt bias may lead to incorrect estimates of policy effects if implementation is nonrandom; (2) the policy may affect outcomes in neighboring unregulated lands; and (3) unobservable differences between regulated and unregulated lands may lead to biased assessments. Previous evaluations of land use policies fail to address these sources of bias simultaneously. In this dissertation, I develop an approach, using matching methods, which jointly accounts for these complications. I apply the approach to evaluate the effects of Costa Rica s protected areas on land use and socioeconomic outcomes between 1960 and 2000. I find that: (1) protection prevented the deforestation of only 10 percent or less of protected forests; (2) protection resulted in reforestation of only 20 percent of non-forest areas that were protected; (3) protection had little effect on land use outside protected areas, most likely because, as noted above, protected areas had only small effects on land use inside protected areas; and (4) there is little evidence that protected areas had harmful impacts on the livelihoods of local communities: on the contrary, I find that protection had small positive effects on socioeconomic outcomes. Furthermore, the methods traditionally used to conduct such evaluations are biased. In contrast to the findings above, those conventional methods overestimated the amount of avoided deforestation and erroneously implied that protection had negative impacts on the livelihoods of local communities. This dissertation contributes to policymaking by providing empirical measures of protected area effectiveness. Although annual global expenditures on protected areas are about $6.5 billion, little is known to date about the returns on these investments. This study also indicates that policymakers should give careful consideration to current proposals to compensate communities living in or around protected areas: contrary to widely held assumptions, the findings suggest that protection may not have harmful effects on socioeconomic outcomes.

This thesis presents a challenge to policy initiatives that presume that patient-centered care will reduce racial disparities in health. Data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey were used to test patient assessment of provider behavior defined as patient-centered care according to the National Health Disparities Report of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality of the Department of Health and Human Services. Results indicated patient-centered care improves self-rated health status, but blacks still report worse health status than whites experiencing comparable patient-centered care. Further, black-white differences in patient-centered care had no affect on health status. Rival theories of black-white differences in health, including social class and health literacy, provided better explanations of disparities than assessment of provider behaviors. These findings suggest that policies designed to financially incentivize patient-centered care practices by providers should be considered with caution. While patient-centered care is better quality care, financial incentives could have a negative effect on minority health if providers are deterred from practices that serve disproportionate numbers of poor and less literate patients and their families. Measurement of the concept of patient-centered care in future health disparities research was also discussed.

The United States has been a very attractive destination for foreign science and engineering graduate students and postdoctoral scholars for a considerable period of time. Despite the important role of foreign doctoral students in the U.S, relatively little is known about the factors influencing their decision to attend an institution. One factor that is rarely explored is the effect of networks on institution selection. This study aims to provide both qualitative and quantitative information about the role networks play in foreign doctoral students institution selection. This three-part study utilizes different methodologies: (1) focus group interviews conducted with Turkish doctoral students at the Georgia Institute of Technology; (2) a web study of research laboratories in science and engineering; and (3) the estimation of Random Utility Model (RUM) of institution selection. Guided focus group interviews provide important qualitative information about the ways students, alumni, faculty and local community of same nationality influence institution choice. The web study of research laboratories provide evidence that labs that are directed by foreign-born faculty are more likely to be populated by students from the same country of origin than are labs that are directed by native (U.S. born) faculty. The results from RUM of institution selection provide strong and significant evidence for the relationship between the number of existing students from a country of origin at an institution and the probability of attending that institution for potential applicants from the same country of origin. Also, in some of the models there is evidence that the alumni and faculty from the same origin also play a role in student choice. The results of this study have several policy implications related to integration of foreign doctoral students, future enrollments, institutional mismatch , and the role foreign-born faculty play in U.S universities.

This study investigates the impacts of regional characteristics on the early-stage performance of New Technology-Based Firms (NTBFs) in catch-up regions where a mature industrial cluster has yet to be formed. It hypothesized that the average NTBF performance in a region is a function of its scientist job market conditions, cultural diversity, venture capital, academic research, industrial structure, and local entrepreneurial climate. Using the events of Initial Public Offerings (IPO) and Merger & Acquisitions (M&A) as an indicator of early-stage success of NTBFs, this study constructs a set of Zero-Inflated-Negative-Binomial (ZINB) models to predict the spatial distribution of such events in the U.S. biopharmaceutical and Information Technology (IT) service industries during the period from 1996 to 2005. Several empirical findings emerge from this study. First, the local entrepreneurial climate plays a significant and positive role on NTBF performance in both industries. Second, the positive impact of cultural diversity is more significant in the IT service industry than in the biopharmaceutical industry. Third, the scientist job market size and absolute salary level have positive impacts on NTBF performance, but the effect of relative salary level is negative. Fourth, proximity to venture capital firms has positive but non-linear effects, but the adverse effect of excess venture capital is stronger in the IT service industry. Fifth, there is little evidence of the direct effects of academic research in determining the NTBF performance in both industries. Finally, industrial specialization is significant and positive only in the IT service industry. The results suggest that promoting local entrepreneurial climate and cultural diversity are two effective policy instruments for catch-up regions to foster their NTBF growth.

The federal government is often criticized for performance that fails to meet the public's expectations. Its traditional pay system receives much of the blame for rewarding seniority instead of performance. While everyone agrees that performance matters, they don't always agree on the best way to improve it. My research investigates human resource management strategies designed to motivate better performance and productivity. Specifically, I examine the credibility and feasibility of implementing pay for performance throughout the federal government and identify ways that managers can promote greater productivity through human capital investment. I conduct an extensive review of work motivation theories and synthesize findings from previous academic and government studies in order to develop models that are tailored to the federal workplace. I test these models using federal survey data from the Merit Principles Surveys of 2000 and 2005. A variety of attitudes, perceptions, expectations, and work environment factors are expected to influence job performance. Findings reveal that pay for performance belief and success are greatly affected by performance management, fair treatment in all personnel matters, supervisory fairness in decision-making, and organizational culture. Further results indicate that managers can markedly improve productivity by ensuring employees are highly engaged in their work, delivering effective performance management, providing a supportive organizational culture, and giving employees adequate resources and training. With federal agencies constantly striving to improve performance and productivity, these findings have practical implications for government as they suggest ways that public managers can achieve better performance and greater productivity through increased work motivation.

The central research question is the extent to which gifted programming affects student academic outcomes of gifted as compared to not-gifted students and how this differs by race/ethnicity and/or poverty status. Since the identification of elementary school students as gifted is not random, propensity score matching is used to remove this bias in the estimates of the effects. A matched sample of North Carolina middle school students based on individual level data of both gifted and not-gifted students of varied racial/ethnic groups and income levels is used for this analysis. This enables a comparison of sixth, seventh, and eighth grade student achievement to determine the extent to which participating in gifted programming differentiates effects by race/ethnicity and poverty status. I show the additional test score gain, if any, from being in gifted programming compared to students not participating in gifted programs. Variations in gifted program effects across race/ethnicity and income are assessed. This research adds empirical evidence to the more qualitatively focused gifted debate by analyzing differences in student outcomes between gifted and not-gifted students in North Carolina. Since black and lower income students are less likely to participate in gifted programs, they disproportionately encounter less experienced teachers, lower expectations, and fewer resources. The extent to which these additional learning supports translate to differences in student outcomes are analyzed.

In the current pluralistic societies, public policy-makings had to take into account various stakeholders as well as the social values. In this thesis, based on the integrated framework for public affairs management(PAM), and Value Capacity Support¡]V.C.S.¡^strategy management and Simple multi-attributes rating technique(SMART), defined the applicable operational variables which includes three major factors of Value, Capacity, Support, and twelve derivative attributes, three situations. Although they will influence the stakeholders as decision-makers while deciding if they should advance tax reform of efficiency and fairness. For research design, we employed in-depth interview to call on stakeholders, and analyze the feasible strategy for three major factors and twelve derivative attributes of tax reform. And then, we will design questionnaire and survey to the stakeholders in SMART, so that understanding the cognition judgment of decision-makers. At last, we will select the best alternative. Finding of this thesis include¡G 1. As the Statute for upgrading Industries carried on expiration, to assess among the three situations of all cancel, retain four items factor, government direct subsidy of tax incentive. The most is ¡§all cancel¡¨, the second is ¡§government direct subsidy¡¨, and then the third is ¡§retain four items factor¡¨. 2. Reform of the Statute for upgrading Industries reached the efficiency and fairness, eleven interviewers of all twelve considered only efficiency. 3. Under three situations, analyze weights of three factors and twelve derivative attributes in SMART. ¡]1¡^situation one¡]all cancel¡^¡GThe most is ¡§sound government finance¡¨, the second is ¡§government internal integrated opinion and establish consensus¡¨, and then the third is ¡§reducing poverty gap¡¨. ¡]2¡^situation two¡]retain four items factor¡^¡GThe most is ¡§economic continuing grow¡¨, the second is ¡§sound government finance¡¨, and then the third is ¡§estimate the loss of reducing tax and draw a complete alternative¡¨. ¡]3¡^situation third¡]government direct subsidy¡^¡GThe most is ¡§sound government finance¡¨, the second is ¡§economic continuing grow¡¨, and then the third is ¡§estimate the loss of reducing tax and draw a complete alternative¡¨. 4.In theoretically and method¡GThis is a new try and approach for V.C.S. combined with SMART, and make use of the strategy management for decision-makers and cognition judgment for stakeholder.

In the current pluralistic societies, public policy-makings had to take into account various stakeholders as well as the social values. The research, based on the integrated public affairs management¡]PAM¡^ framework (Wang et al., 2004a) and place marketing strategy (Kotler, 1999), defined the applicable operational variables which includes three major factors of economical, social and political, and government, and nine derivative attributes, two situations of direct three-links between Taiwan and Mainland China, and status quo are used as the scenario. Altogether they will influence the stakeholders as decision-makers while deciding if they should invest, live, or work in Kaohsiung. For research design, we employed three major multiple-attribute theories or methods for individual stakeholders¡¦information processing and integration, Information Integration Theory¡]IIT¡^, Analytical Hierarchy Process¡]AHP¡^, Simple Multi-Attribute Rating Technique¡]SMART¡^, and Rating. In particular, the way the information is integrated cognitively is empirically examined instead of assumed with the averaging model of the IIT (Anderson, 1991a), and the scale values (equivalent to the utility component in MAUT or AHP) and the weights are concurrently separated and measured as results of the examination. Such separation rendered measurement of the psychological weights with theoretical validity possible, and could be used as the standard so that weights measured with the other three methods are evaluated and compared. Findings of the research are as follow, in the aspect of multiple-attribute weight measurement methods applied in the place marketing of Kaohsiung¡G 1. Among the three major factors, the most important is ¡§economic development¡¨, the second is ¡§government function¡¨, and then the third is ¡§social and political development¡¨. 2. For economic development, under the situation of maintain status quo, the most crucial derivative attribute is¡§ the level of economic globalization of Kaohsiung¡¨. The second one is ¡§the industrial structure of Kaohsiung city¡¨. The last one is ¡§the competitiveness of Kaohsiung Port and Airport project¡¨¡FUnder the situation of opening for three direct-links, the most crucial derivative attribute is still ¡§the level of economic globalization of Kaohsiung¡¨. The second one is ¡§the competitiveness of Kaohsiung Port and Airport project¡¨. The last one is ¡§the industrial structure of Kaohsiung city¡¨. 3. For the factor of social and political development, the most important attribute is ¡§the level of citizen participation in public affairs and the extent they influence public policies¡¨, the second is ¡§the public values and culture¡¨, the last is ¡§the operational mechanism of politics and election¡¨. 4. As for government function, the most essential attribute is ¡§the provision of public infrastructures¡¨. The second is ¡§the elected officials¡¦ perception of place marketing and capabilities of policy planning¡¨. The third is¡§the career officials¡¦ identifications for the elected officials¡¦ ambitions and abilities to carry out the place marketing policies¡¨. 5. The second group examinees think that direct-links has positive effects on the developments of Kaohsiung and most of them approve of the policy of three direct-links¡Fthe first group examinees have diverse opinions on it. 6. Based on PAM framework, we will sum up the problems of place marketing of Kaohsiung and brings out policy suggestions for Kaohsiung city. In the aspect of Multiple-attribute weight measurement methods theory¡G 1. Take the weight parameters derived from IIT¡¦s averaging model as the standard, weights from rating¡BAHP and SMART are all theoretically valid. The theoretical validity of rating outperforms that of AHP, AHP outperforms that of SMART. Among the convergence validity or consistence of four methods, between rating and AHP with IIT¡¦s averaging model fit better in convergence validity, between SMART and IIT¡¦s averaging model don¡¦t. 2. All three models had fairly high predictability and notable for subjects¡¦ holistic judgments. The predictability of IIT is the a little bit higher than SMART, the third one is AHP, and the last one is rating. 3. For convergence, measured with accumulative weights derived from subjects selected 15-20 examinees randomly, IIT was better than SMART, and SMART was better than AHP. 4. In terms of perceived performance, degree of operational easiness and fondness, the three models are not significantly different. As for the degree of confidence, IIT outperformed AHP, and AHP outperformed SMART.

National Health Insurance (NHI) can be said to play the most significant role among all the other social securing systems. People pay great attention to its policy and institution. NHI is an obligatory social insurance, protecting all the citizens in Taiwan. The insured is required to enroll into the NHI only by their employers¡V be it a school, a business company, an institution, an organization, private business employer or any other work unit. When the insured are underwritten by or withdrawing from the system, all the changes must be made through the employers who refer to and enroll their employees with the NHI. The Bureau of National Health Insurance, operating in coordination with the e-government policy that aims to provide much more convenience to the Taiwanese people and to improve government efficiency, as well as for the sake of energy conservation and carbon reduction, has been encouraging people to use on-line applications for the NHI affairs. As much effort as they have put on promoting such policy to the employers who are responsible to insure their employees with the NHI, currently, the popularity of using on-line applications for NHI affairs is barely satisfactory, as a matter of fact. Many parties are involved in the procedure of processing on-line applications for NHI affairs; therefore, this dissertation uses Nominal Group Technique (NGT) and Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) from Interactive Management (IM) theories conducting the research. All participating parties will have conversations with one another; therefore, there will be a workshop. The purpose and subject for this workshop is to explore practical strategies that would effectively promote the usage of on-line applications with the NHI affairs. Through such an interactive dialogue collecting diverse viewpoints, there are thirteen strategies concluded to be effectively helpful achieving the aim: The NHI sectors responsible for on-line applications should (1) provide favorable incentives for on-line applicants, (2) simplify the net identification procedure and the NHI operational network and (3) the logging-in system, (4) increase the network bandwidth, (5) resolve NHI insurers¡¦ qualms of network security using online-applications. Also, they may need to redesign the network platform and (6) simplify procedure for users, and (7) more frequently promote the advantages using on-line applications and expand contents of their service, so that (8) the web search function for the NHI will be able to provide wider, faster, more efficient service. (9) the relative NHI sectors should really receive guidance and assistance carrying out this project, and (10) negotiate the assigned policy with their superior supervisory sectors to give clear order to their subordinate sectors using on-line applications and (11) set up trainings for instructors to establish future training resource, and (12) hold workshops to give more information and verification on the scene permitting the participants of the workshops to use on-line applications, and (13) finally achieve the aim that to have applications for NHI affairs completely done on-line. Among them all, strategy 3, ¡¥simplifying logging-in system¡¦, ranks 11 using NGT sequencing (strategy 11, 12, 13 all get the same points in the vote). However, in the enhancement structure, strategy 3 ranks number 1, has net score points 10. Therefore, strategy 3 should be given as much priority as to and carried out with strategy 1 ¡¥providing favorable incentives for online applicants¡¦ that gets the most points, in the NGT sequencing process. This research has given the participants questionnaires at two stages during the interactive workshop. The participants¡¦ concern, or understanding of using on-line applications for NHI affairs, appears to have risen after the workshop. There is unexpected, significant satisfaction over the promising conclusions from the workshop, which proves the workshop to be non-redundant and have reached consentient results. Also, the research, primarily using ISM program, has reduced the voting numbers when comparing two strategies from 156 times to 58. This has saved great amount of the time from the voting procedure in discussion, so that the workshops was able to finish in one day and hence did not exhaust the participants¡¦ enthusiasm. ISM is therefore proved to be efficient in saving time and assures that not losing the participants in different stages of the workshop.