In the undertaking a recent history of such a fundamental law as one that deals with food, drugs and cosmetics in its relationship to the human race, we should realize that such a field has a history possibly as old as man himself. There have always been individuals in the good and welfare of others, and there have always been individuals interested in taking advantage of their fellow man for personal gain, frequently in an exceedingly unscrupulous manner. The Solicitor General of the United States, in a recent paper read at the commemoration the the fortieth anniversary of the original Federal Food and Drugs Act of 1906 pointed out that "the attempts of organized society to prevent the adulteration of food and drugs date back to ancient times. The racket implicit in the purveying of adulterated and misbranded commodities is now a new one by any means -- it has been practiced from the commencement of recorded times." The officials goes on and recites specific instances, telling how Pliny the Elder complained of "white earth" in his bread, the pepperers and spicers of London in the year 1316 began to regulate the quality of their produce, brewers were subject to fines for adulterating beer in the days of William the Conqueror, food control statutes were passed in France and Germany in the thirteenth century. The first pharmacopoeia was published in England by the College of physicians in 1613. In the fourteenth century the Provost of Paris forade the artificial coloring of butter. In the United States, Congress enacted a law to prevent the importation of adulterated and spurious drugs and medicine as far back as 1846. The Department of Agriculture through its Division (later Bureau) of Chemistry from 1863 to 1906 in its reports kept calling to the attention of the various Secretaries of Agriculture, and in a measure to the attention of Congress and the people of the United States, the need for remedying conditions of food and drug frauds perpetrated upon the consumer.

This study seeks to provide a brief overview of academic standards and performance of veterans of the United States military and civilians who attend the University of Central Florida. Whether a student is a veteran or a civilian, he or she must learn how to adapt to the requirements of an academic community in order to be successful in that environment. It may be difficult for some. In able for society to discern the importance of the academic performance of both veterans and civilians alike, research is vital. There are various assumptions about veterans. For example, it can be assumed vets do not know how to adapt after leaving the military. It is important to demonstrate that most military veterans are very good at adapting and overcoming stressful situations. Time is evident for adaptability for some. As veterans re-enter society, most make clear and decisive decisions as to the life they desire to have. The modus operandi of veterans is intrinsic as it pertains to an academic setting. This research compares the academic success of both veterans and civilians at the University of Central Florida to begin this conversation. While there has been some research conducted on this topic, there seem to be various ecological fallacies pertaining to conclusions of the research that has been conducted. Academic performance needs to be researched further as well as the effects of standards regarding the performance of veterans and civilians in an academic setting.

The Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) is an innovative, team-based health care model that was applied during the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). However, the competencies for PCMH health care social worker team members are not identified within this model. Thus, the purpose of this phenomenological study focused on identifying the core competencies that will enable social workers to perform competently in PCMHs. This study also explored the roles and training needs as related to improving the competence of social workers. Sandberg’s and Parry’s conceptualization of the competency model was used as the theoretical framework. Data were acquired through interviews with 10 PCMH social workers. These data were then inductively coded and analyzed using a modified Moustakas method. Key findings indicated that these social workers believed that improvements in competencies may include training and knowledge with mental health and physical health knowledge which consist of diagnoses, interventions, medications, symptoms, and terminology. It was also noted that knowledge of evidence-based practices for mental health interventions and patient-centered, team-based principles were essential to ACA policy implementation. The positive social change implications of this study include recommendations to health care leadership, educational institutions, and other PCMH providers to develop competency-based training for social workers. Recommendations are also put forth to adapt social work curriculum to ensure the effective implementation of the principles of the ACA policy and to improve social work practice in PCMH health care settings.

State and local governments play an important role in financing and delivering public services in the United States. In 2008, state and local governments collected 57 percent of total federal, state, and local revenue (Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, Tax Policy Center, 2009). The decentralization of fiscal responsibility has enabled a high degree of variation in state and local tax structures to emerge. This dissertation presents two empirical studies that extend the positive literature on state and local tax policy. The extant literature contains evidence of a direct relationship between voter ideology and state and local tax progressivity. However, the measures of voter ideology that were used either did not capture differences in the intensity of voter liberalism across states, did not vary over time, or were beset with other limitations. This study uses the measure of average voter liberalism developed by Berry et al (1998). I find that average voter liberalism is significantly and positively-related to progressivity. However, the effect is small in magnitude. The ethnic congruence between the poor and the non-poor is positively-related to progressivity and the effects are economically significant. The degree of tension between ethnic groups, measured with an index of ethnic residential segregation, is significantly and inversely-related to progressivity. Both variables are statistically significant even with average voter liberalism held constant. It is possible that the ethnic demographic context reflects aspects of voters’ redistributive preferences that are not captured by measures of ideology. Researchers have found relationships between states’ tax exporting capacities and the tax structures they adopt. Chapter 4 is the first study to examine the relationship between state tax exporting capacities and the business sales taxes. I find that the effective sales tax rate that governments impose on business purchases is not significantly influenced by a state’s capacity to export business taxes. It is, however, significantly and positively affected by a state’s ability to export taxes on households through the deductibility of state and local taxes under the federal income tax. A decrease in this offset is predicted to lead to an increase in the effective business sales tax rate, ceteris paribus.

The local government tax-exempt debt market is a growing, and complex, sector of public finance. As local governments turn to debt financing the factors that contribute to interest costs of that debt have become important considerations for local government officials and politicians. Governance at the local level involves a network of overlapping governments some of which share a tax base. This system of overlapping governments that share a tax base are subject to externalities that arise from taxation, expenditures, and debt. These externalities are usually analyzed in terms of tax or expenditure reactions, but there are implications for local government debt as well. For example, it can be shown that overlapping governments that share a tax base and issue debt can increase the interest costs paid on bonds by a higher level government. Further complicating the debt situation of local governments is the prevalence of a variety of special districts with the authority to issue tax-exempt debt. These special districts may have the authority to issue debt, but little is known about their financing processes. By comparing how different types of government approach the credit rating process this dissertation compares risk assessment of traditional municipalities and special districts. Through this comparison similarities and differences in the credit rating process across types of local governments can be identified. To explore these issues of local government debt several advanced econometric techniques are used to estimate various models.

本研究之問題意識為消費主義與公共事務涉入之關係。藉由消費主義轉化公共事務涉入的相關論點，分析中國大陸城鄉白領青年在感染相異消費主義的程度後，進而解釋他們對公共事務涉入的態度和行為；透過此，以闡述中國大陸兼蓄併存的城市消費個人主義與農村集體主義的價值體系差異。 研究發現，消費主義的確抑制個人對公共事務涉入的程度。其中，透過本文假說進而涵蓋三組不同層次的意義：首先，城市白領青年高感染消費主義，因此對城市公共事務涉入消極；其次，農村白領青年低感染消費主義，致使對農村公共事務涉入積極熱情；第三，農村白領青年低感染消費主義，但因非我家園之故，導致他們疏離城市公共事務的涉入。 城市白領青年對公共事務低涉入的原因體現在生活即消費的個人本位思想，並藉追求與他者的品位區隔和消費符號以突顯自我，致使他們對經濟穩定的現狀有著較高需求，因此不會出現反抗、異議或關於改變政治情況的訴求。此外，城市白領青年對群體的身分認同訴求亦透過消費達成，並出現諸如攀比、競逐消費等情形。另一方面，當物質條件不足以融入某群體的消費方式時，便會出現被排斥在外、或納入其內的群體身分認同現象。當城市白領青年考量如何兼顧、維持自身的社會資本網絡時，他們多數會投注時間關切自身所認同或歸屬的團體，最終導致對公共或社區集體事務涉入的冷漠回應。 另一方面，農村白領青年高涉入家鄉公共事務的原因，主要來自於農村的集體主義特色。出生、成長於農村集體主義環境的白領青年，由於低感染消費主義，所以對公共事務有著較高的熱情。無論是村事務抑或國政相關的討論均賴以農村群體網絡頻繁往來的特色，以及因集體主義所創造出的集體價值信念。 再者，當農村白領青年在城市工作時，卻因仍受集體主義思維所影響，使他們對消費少有符號性追求或無節制的購買行為。此外，由於生長於經濟匱乏的內地農村，所以他們會將自己在城市工作所得部分匯回家鄉以維繫、改善家鄉父母兄弟的生活環境，並同時將消費限制在理性的購買之上。同時，從外地省份大舉遷入城市工作的農村白領青年，由於其在人口意義上仍呈現流動性質，再加上多透過租賃的方式居住，因此他們最終不一定會在城市落戶或常住久居。這便致使他們沒有動因涉入小區的公共事務，因而出現農村白領青年在城市低涉入、農村高涉入公共事務的情形。然而，他們亦可將對集體的熱情轉移在國政事務的關注上，透過此際以排解他們對於公共事務的熱情追求。 / The dissertation focuses on the relationships between consumerism and the involved in China’s local governance—the residents’ committee and the owners’ committee of young middle class came from city and the rural area. Through discovering the different levels of infecting consumerism explaining how the young middle class’ origins from city and the rural area have diverse attitudes and behaviors in public affairs respectively. Based on several case studies, I defined that the three hypotheses explaining my arguments given above. First of all, the urban young middle class has been infected more consumerism that they rather pay attention to consume than involve in public issues. Secondly, the rural young middle class has been affected by the Chinese collectivism from traditional village; consequently, they take notice of public matters in their hometown. On the other hand, despite the rural young middle class has been infected the lower consumerism in contrast to the urban one, however, living and working in the city where not their hometown but only a temporary residence is. Therefore, the rural young middle class lacks for the reasons to involve in public affairs in the city; nevertheless, they transfer their passion and positive behaviors in collective matters to take more care of political issues of the nation during the period when they stay on in the city. In conclusion, after being infected the higher level of consumerism, the urban young middle class involves negatively in public affairs of their own communities which is a common phenomenon. Furthermore, conversely to the urban one, the rural young middle class puts their positive convictions of involved in public matters into action. It is interesting to note that there are great differences between the former and the latter; indeed, the two types of young middle class came from distinct regions have been infected diverse consumerism leading their involved in public affairs to proceed in opposite directions.

This thesis examines Google’s Executive Chairman Eric E. Schmidt’s speech at the European Innovation Convention 2011 from the perspectives of Kenneth Burke’s dramatism and identification theories. In the wider context it aims to contribute to the analyses of human progress traced through the history of our technologies and inventions. These breakthroughs do not happen or spread without beneficial influences from societal institutions in spheres like culture, philosophy, politics and law. Language is the creator and carrier of these institutions. A complicated “ecosystem” of culture, science, financing, laws and regulations, affects the possibilities for economic growth through innovation. Perhaps due to the contested legitimacy of corporations in the democratic process, the study of the messages of corporate entities in the political arena seems to be a fairly unexplored dimension of traditional rhetorical analysis of politics. Through rhetorical criticism the author seeks to better understand Google’s communication in this area, and to gain further insights into the communication strategies that companies may use to influence such complex fields of politics as Innovation Policy.

This thesis draws on the concept of product stewardship and its focus on incorporating all of the actors in a product’s lifecycle into steps to take responsibility for waste management. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) recognizes the producer’s distinct potential to consider and drive change in waste management. Producers often serve like mediators between the design and use phases of a product’s lifecycle. Through EPR policies, the producer takes on the costs of ensuring safe end-of-life waste disposal. In this way, EPR can be expected to help relieve the public of some of the costs of waste disposal, and to support consideration of social and environmental impacts that a product may incur. This thesis examines EPR policy adoption and effectiveness in order to understand its ability to meet its theoretical expectations. Exploring the consideration and implementation of EPR policy measures, and particularly a case study of these policies in California, this thesis identifies several emerging challenges and trends that define openness to, and the success of, EPR. EPR policy proposals often encounter resistance that limits their strength and reach. In order to realize the full potential benefits of EPR, regulatory bodies will need to wholeheartedly support competition and enforcement to preserve the incentives within these policies. This thesis suggests that EPR still holds strong potential to bring together the social, environmental, and economic costs of waste management, both in theory and in practice, and offers broad recommendations for efforts to support this alignment.

Once a year for over forty years public relations’ practitioners in Sweden gathers, the political week in Almedalen, in the town of Visby. There they exchange knowledge and experience on all types of subjects using different and common communication models whether they are aware of them or not. The research on communication models is sparse, with one exception: Grunig’s model. Both practitioners and researches believe them to be important, even strategic. But too little knowledge about the models as such negatively impacts the understanding of public relations’ activities. It also contributes to the view that public relations is frittered. The thesis studies and analyses communication models of public relations. Models have been created by theorists and practitioners to describe the phenomenon, to understand communication as such and to facilitate communication between humans. The thesis addresses basic questions such as which models there are, where they stem from, who the originators were and the characteristics of each respective model. The basis of the study is comprehensive Anglo-American literature. All in all, over twenty different models have been analyzed in three different ways, i.e. the structure of a model, its historical deposits (sediment) and the application of the model. The result is manifold, since many characteristics form ten attributes and three families of models (a reduction). The characteristics can be seen as the models’ building blocks, e.g. the direction of the communication, the number of contacts and synchronism. Three model families are built on three differentiating characteristics, and the families are named correspondingly. Directional model (Riktningsmodellen), the Co-orientational model (Saminriktningsmodellen) and the Connectivity model (Konnektivitetsmodellen). The classification is of course not set in stone. It should be regarded as a first step to reduce the number of models in use and concentrate on the important characteristics of the models that help public relations researchers and professionals to solve problems and theorists to explain, foresee or guide to better public relations. Finally, five areas of future research are presented: a multinational study of models, a study of practitioners’ model use, a deeper history study according the concept of sediment, a notational system for models and, last but not least, a development of the Connectivity model. The last subject is the one that once inspired me to write a thesis. / <p>QC 20170426</p>

The study examines the influences of the Qianmen urban renewal project on its original residents, which is one of a few demonstration projects under the new policy orientation of urban renewal practices in Beijing, China, entering the new century. It employs "residential satisfaction" as an evaluative indicator to understand the residents' experiences before and after urban renewal. Seventy-two residents were interviewed. Among them, 25 remained in Qianmen; 20 relocated to Hongshan, a neighborhood in the central city area; 21 moved to Longyue, a neighborhood in one of the suburban areas; and 6 residents relocated to other locations. The study found that the participants' level of residential satisfaction was skewed toward dissatisfaction before the urban renewal, whereas participants showed a much higher satisfaction level after the urban renewal, which means that overall the Qianmen urban renewal project had positive impacts on the residents' residential environment. However, among the three neighborhoods, there are no statistically significant differences. The policy arrangements of the Qianmen urban renewal project contribute to the results. Under the new policy orientation, the policy arrangements of the Qianmen urban renewal project featured a government-led approach with a large amount of public investment, which formed a good basis to provide better compensation to the residents, in particular to provide extra aid to low income residents. Therefore, the residents got their housing conditions improved to a large extent contributing to their higher level of residential satisfaction after the project was implemented. Because of the extra aid, the low income residents were even more satisfied than the middle-high income residents. On the other hand, the policy arrangements took into account the opinions of the original residents, in other words, most residents made their own decision about where to live after the urban renewal. In this circumstance, they actually saw the urban renewal as an opportunity to improve their residential environment, in spite of the fact that the urban renewal project was initiated by the municipal government. Therefore residents stayed or relocated voluntarily, which significantly predicts the resulting higher level of residential satisfaction. The findings in the Qianmen case remind us that we do need a more open, balanced perspective for analysis of urban renewal processes and outcomes, rather than a predominantly negative displacement view embedded in a gentrification discourse; and that policy arrangements toward more redistribution and social equity are more likely to achieve positive outcomes for disadvantaged people. However, the improvements in unit size and housing quality are the main achievements of the urban renewal. Many residents still face the shortage of community facilities in the short run, and in the long run they might continue to suffer from poorer accessibility to public facilities and other resources. Furthermore, the urban renewal inevitably caused social disturbances for many residents, in particular for disadvantaged people (low income residents, and the elderly, etc), although the negative impacts of relocation on social networks were mitigated by the benefits of escaping the social conflicts and annoyance in the original neighborhood, and were compensated by the improved housing conditions. Generally, the key argument of this study is that policy makers need to pay more attention to the disadvantaged class; in other words, the government needs to assume its role more actively in redistribution and social equity.