For a generation in many sociological literatures, China has provided the example of traditional family with good intra-familial relationship, filial piety and extended family support which is unusually stable and substantially unchanged. However, with the emergence of modernity, in the forms of industrialization and urbanization; capitalization and public policy transformation, the family structure has undergone changes where nuclear and asymmetrical types have emerged. At the same time, family support for the elderly is affected by the changes in family formation, family dynamics, as well as people’s values and their way of life. Do the theories concerning the relationship between modernity and family change that have been proposed and developed by western scholars, apply to Chinese societies also? Are there any differences between Western and Chinese culture in forming family organizations during modernity? For answering these questions, this study explores the impact of modernity on family structure and changing functions in terms of family support for elderly in China. The aim is to understand why and how family change in its structure and functions within modernity. To fit the purpose and nature of this study, the exploratory strategy is used. By adopting historical review in the first stage, families in six historical stages (legendary and heroic age; Neolithic age; Xia, Shang and Western Zhou dynasty; Spring and Autumn, Warring States, Qin and the Western Han dynasty; from Eastern Han to early and middle period of Qing; and Late period of Qing until more recent years) are examined to show the “macro-transformations” and “micro-adaptive adjustments” that had happened to Chinese families in history. Then, adopting the methodological concept of invariance, multiple-case (M-C) studies in three areas in China are conducted to illustrate the Chinese families in different level of modernization, namely the agrarian pre-modern (Yunnan), the transforming-mix modern (Beijing), and the capitalist modernized (Hong Kong). Based on the survey data and from analysis of semi-structured interview with 62 respondents about their own family experiences and 8 experts about their viewpoint and explanations, there is evidence showing that corresponding structure and family support for elderly changes are aiding modernization under diverse socio-economic characteristics (i.e. under developed, developing and developed localities). To explain this phenomenon under study, a geo-adaptation model is developed from both macro and micro perspective to give insight on how modernity affects the ways of family support for elderly members. It has concluded that the development of modernity, as one of the vital reasons, contribute to changes in family structure globally (i.e. from stem and extended to nuclear and diverse form), but the care function for the aged, is not destined to deteriorate. To some extent, the Chinese tradition of filial piety and the family policy could strengthen social cohesion by maintaining the core functions once provided by the stem and extended family.

År 1845 fick Sverige sin första moderna lagstiftning för expropriation. Syftet med denna uppsats är att redogöra för det som ledde fram till lagen, hur och varför den utformades som den gjorde samt hur lagstiftningen utvecklats fram till och med 2010 års förändringar. Vidare kommer de förändringar som genomfördes 2010 att jämföras med 1845 års förordning och då särskilt ersättningsreglerna. Det går att argumentera för att vi i 2010 års förändringar sett en återgång till 1845 års principer.

Thesis: Ph. D. in Engineering Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, 2018 / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 125-135). / Rapidly falling wind and solar energy costs over the past four decades have led to exponential growth in installation of these technologies. However, these intermittent renewables do not reliably produce power on demand. One possible mitigation strategy is the addition of energy storage technologies, which are able to shift generation to later periods of higher demand or price. In competitive markets, storage adoption to facilitate renewables penetration will depend on how much value storage can bring to a wind or solar power plant. Which of the diverse energy storage technologies are best suited to profitably perform this function? How do price and resource variability determine the preferred technologies? This thesis develops two novel methods of comparing storage technologies in hybrid wind-storage or solar-storage power plants. In the first, we evaluate technologies based on the increased value of a marginal hybrid plant under today's conditions. We further explain these results by finding the determinants of storage value under uncertainty. In the second, we find the least-cost hybrid plants able to meet predefined demand profiles. Through simulation, optimization, and statistical analysis, we address the following questions: 1) How can one compare candidate storage technologies? 2) What price and resource features determine storage value? 3) What are the cost targets for storage under different market conditions? To address question 1, we optimize storage operation and size for grid-scale energy arbitrage, and study the value of hybrid plants using different storage technologies. The value of the hybrid plant is found by comparing benefits to costs, and is estimated across locations and technologies. We show that at today's wind and solar generation costs, some storage technologies can provide value, but further cost improvement is needed, especially for electrochemical technologies, to facilitate widespread adoption. Finally, we determine both cost targets and the optimal direction of cost improvement for diverse storage technologies and locations. In order to answer question 2, we identify features of the electricity market and the renewables resource availability that determine value. Through simulations of an artificial price time series in which features of electricity price spikes are varied, we find that storage value is driven by the frequency and amplitude of price spikes and the availability of the energy resource. The durations of price spikes determine the relative value of one storage technology to another, because of differing technology cost structures. We demonstrate these results in historical data and explain the differences in storage value across locations. We also explore how uncertainty in future prices impacts storage value. We determine a new heuristic for storage operation and sizing absent perfect foresight. This approach is able to capture at least 80% of the expected value under perfect foresight and improves upon existing heuristics. In answering question 3, we determine the least-cost combination of wind and solar with storage that provides reliable, dispatchable, pre-determined outputs. This approach allows for the evaluation of storage technologies for a possible future with higher renewables penetration. Preferred technologies for this use context have very low energy capacity costs (< $50/kWh), enabling inexpensive installation of long duration storage. Long periods of low wind or solar availability determine storage requirements and can be mitigated by including both wind and solar in the generation portfolio. New cost targets are derived for storage development that would help enable higher levels of renewables adoption. / by Joshua Michael Mueller. / Ph. D. in Engineering Systems / Ph. D. in Engineering Systems Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society

Thesis: Ph. D. in Engineering Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, 2018 / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. "Doctor of Philosophy in Healthcare Systems: Management and Policy Research." / Includes bibliographical references. / For my PhD thesis, I conducted behavioral science research and wrote three first- author journal format papers, of which one paper has been published and the other two will be submitted to healthcare management journals after completion of my degree. All three papers introduce new information about either the cost or the behaviors of patients in local clinics, filling a gap in the healthcare system's management and policy literature. The first paper studies patients with diabetes who are non-adherent to scheduled appointments with physicians in a specialized diabetes clinic setting in Boston. I developed and introduced new and interesting ''technology comfort" measures and a "Smartphone usage" scale, to evaluate if patients would be able to use smart technologies for their disease self-management. This paper not only suggests that patients with diabetes could potentially benefit from using existing advanced technologies, but that new policies can be introduced to reduce the rate of diabetes patients' appointment-related non-adherence. The second paper examines the system of adherence or self-management in five areas ( diet, exercise, medications, doctor's appointments and regular glucose monitoring), revealing how it is correlated to emergency visits and patient lifestyle satisfaction. I analyze predictors of emergency room visits and propose potential policies to reduce these ER visits through the use of advanced smart technologies. The third paper identifies the incidence and consequences of not practicing non- pharmaceutical interventions, during the time of a pandemic, in a student population at a local university clinic. / by Sahar Hashmi, MD. / Ph. D. in Engineering Systems / Ph.D.inEngineeringSystems Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society

This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Thesis: Ph. D. in Engineering Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, 2019 / Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-257). / Electricity tariffs typically charge residential users a volumetric (that is, per-unit of electricity consumed) price that recovers the bulk of the costs of generating, transmitting, and distributing electrical energy. These tariffs also often include taxes and recover other costs associated with regulatory or policy measures. The resulting prices do not reflect the true social marginal costs of generating, transmitting, and distributing energy, capturing little or none of the temporal and geographic variability of marginal electricity costs. These inefficient rates incentivize customers to over-consume power during periods of peak system stress and under-consume power during periods of relatively low demand; this dynamic drives up power system costs, costing Americans and Europeans tens of billions of dollars annually. Critically, it leads to investments in long-lived and low-utilization infrastructure needed to meet peak demands. / Economists have long argued for reforming rates, but progress has historically been slow. Today, less than one quarter of one percent of residential electricity customers in the United States pay a tariff that reflects the real-time price of energy. The emergence of distributed energy resources -- such as solar photovoltaics and battery energy storage -- / has sparked renewed interest among regulators and utilities in reforming electricity tariffs. Efficient rates hold the potential to improve the economic efficiency of distributed energy resource installation and operation decisions. However, the economic pressure to redesign electricity rates is countered by concerns of how more efficient rate structures might impact different socioeconomic groups. In particular, regulators have been dubious of efforts to reform how the costs of network infrastructure (that is, transmission and distribution networks) are recovered, rejecting more than 75% of such efforts in the U.S. in 2017. Focusing on developed power systems in contexts like the U.S. and Europe, this Thesis examines the distributional impacts of rate reform and proposes methods to improve the economic efficiency of rates without creating undesirable distributional impacts. / This Thesis also explores the distributional impacts of rooftop solar photovoltaics adoption under alternative rate designs. This Thesis leverages data on electricity consumption measured half-hourly for more than 100,000 customers in the Chicago, Illinois area, paired with Census data to gain unprecedented insight into the impacts of reforming electricity pricing across customers of varying socioeconomic statuses. This Thesis then builds a simple model of the local utility's -- Commonwealth Edison's -- / cost of service, and simulates solar PV adoption under alternative rate designs, measuring the impacts on customers of differing income levels. This Thesis demonstrates that low-income customers would face increases in expenditures on average in a transition to rates that recover residual network and policy costs through economically efficient fixed charges. However, this Thesis demonstrates that simple changes to fixed charge designs can mitigate these disparities while preserving all, or the vast majority, of the efficiency gains. These designs rely exclusively on observable information and could be replicated by utilities in many geographies across the U.S. / Rooftop solar PV adoption under tariffs with inefficient, volumetric residual cost recovery are shown to create substantial distributional challenges: PV adoption under such tariffs increases expenditures substantially for non-adopters, which tend to be predominately lower income customers; efficient tariffs prevent this regressive cost shifting. In short, failing to reform rates may lead to worse distributional outcomes than reforming rates, even if reforms are implemented naively. Collectively, the findings in this Thesis underscore the need for regulatory reform around electricity pricing, and chart a path forward for balancing economic efficiency and distributional equity in public utility pricing. / by Scott P. Burger. / Ph. D. in Engineering Systems / Ph.D.inEngineeringSystems Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society

This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Thesis: Ph. D. in Engineering Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, 2019 / Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 139-150). / Networks are essential modeling tools in engineering, business, and public policy research. They can represent physical connections, such as manufacturing processes. They can be relationships among people, such as patient treatment in healthcare. They can also represent abstract interactions, such as the biological reaction between a certain vaccine and a certain virus. In this work, we bring several seemingly disparate problems under the same modeling framework, and show their thematic coherence via the angle of dynamic optimization on networks. Our research problems are drawn from business risk management, public health security, and public policy on vaccine selection. A common theme is the integrative design of (1) strategic resource placement on a network, and (2) operational deployment of such resources. We outline the research questions, challenges, and contributions as follows. / Modern automotive manufacturing networks are complex and global, comprising tens of thousands of parts and thousands of plants and suppliers. Such interconnection leaves the network vulnerable to disruptive events. A good risk mitigation decision support system should be data-driven, interpretable, and computational efficient. We devise such a tool via a linear optimization model, and integrate the model into the native information technology system at Ford Motor Company. In public security, policymakers face decisions regarding the placement of medical resources and training of healthcare personnel, to minimize the social and economic impact of potential large scale bio-terrorism attacks. Such decisions have to integrate the strategic positioning of medical inventories, understanding of adversary's behavior, and operational decisions that involve the deployment and dispensing of medicines. / We formulate a dynamic robust optimization model that addresses this decision question, apply a tractable solution heuristic, and prove theoretical guarantees of the heuristic's performance. Our model is calibrated with publicly available data to generate insights on how the policymakers should balance investment between medical inventory and personnel training. The World Health Organization and regional public health authorities decide on the influenza (flu) vaccine type ahead of flu season every year. Vaccine effectiveness has been limited by the long lead time of vaccine production - during the production period, flu viruses may evolve and vaccines may become less effective. New vaccine technologies, with much shorter production lead times, have gone through clinical trials in recent years. We analyze the question of optimal vaccine selection under both fast and slow production technologies. We formulate the problem as a dynamic distributionally robust optimization model. / Exploiting the network structure and using tools from discrete convex analysis, we prove some structural properties, which leads to informative comparative statics and tractable solution methods. With publicly available data, we quantify the societal benefit of current and future vaccine production technologies. We also explore the reduction in disease burden if WHO expand vaccine portfolio to include more than one vaccine strain per virus subtype. In each of the applications, our main contributions are four-fold. First, we develop mathematical models that capture the decision process. Second, we provide computational technology that can efficiently process these models and generate solutions. Third, we develop theoretical tools that guarantee the performance of these computational technology. Last, we calibrate our models with real data to generate quantitative and implementable insights. / by Peter Yun Zhang. / Ph. D. in Engineering Systems / Ph.D.inEngineeringSystems Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, 2019 / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-187). / Authentic approaches to design education are typically defined as experiences centered on industry involvement. This industry connection is commonly either in the form of projects provided by industry partners or practicing engineers that serve as mentors to students. After exploring the goals and current practices of design education, this dissertation proposes an expanded definition of authentic design education: any design project with impact beyond the classroom environment that encourages the development of a student's self-identity as an engineer. To investigate the potential benefits afforded by an expanded definition of authentic design, a new design class was developed, taught, and evaluated across four years. The class, entitled Design for the Wilderness, was developed with a focus on projects that have impact beyond the classroom environment. Students were required to design and build products that they relied on while traveling in remote wilderness environments. / These impactful projects required students to experience the results of their design decisions. Building on our experiences implementing Design for the Wilderness, a curricular approach of Design for Use is introduced that requires students to use products developed by their peers. Design for Use helps increase students' understanding of human-centered design principles by encouraging students to confront the interplay between their intentions when designing a product and their experiences when failing to understand the intentions behind products designed by their peers. This dissertation also considers a mechanical engineering capstone design class (MIT's 2.009). An interesting outcome of this class is that some teams continue to work on commercializing their products after the semester ends. Team characteristics most strongly correlated with persisting on product development beyond the end of the class are related to healthy team dynamics and a positive social environment. / Teams that persisted spent more of their time working together, had fewer teammates that worked significantly more or less than the team average, and spent more of their time simply "hanging out" in lab. Drawing on our findings from investigating multiple approaches to authentic design education, recommendations are made for the future development of effective engineering design classes. / by Christopher R. Saulnier. / Ph. D. / Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society

This thesis addresses the level of democratic consolidation in South Africa. The study aimed to provide a deeper understanding of the current political situation and the general state of democracy. As a method, a single case study was used where the political situation in post-apartheid South Africa was applied upon the concept of democratic consolidation by using five distinctive consolidation arenas: civil society, political society, judiciary, bureaucratic society and economic society. The results of the analysis show a variance in the degree of democratic consolidation in the country. The judiciary is very much well-functioning and independent and can therefore be classified as consolidated. The civil society and some elements of the political society are mostly functioning and can be classified as mostly consolidated with some reservations, while the bureaucratic and economic societies are deemed to be not consolidated. However, South Africa also possesses several obstacles for genuine consolidation that applies to all arenas, namely high degrees of violence, low social trust, and institutional weakness. The democratic system in South Africa is not currently considered to be under serious existential threat and has proven itself capable of withstanding high degrees of pressure. Nevertheless, it is found to be suffering from a type of democratic fatigue and transformation stagnation, which could have the potential to result in more serious implications in the future. South Africa can therefore be classified as a partly consolidated democracy.

This dissertation presents a quantitative analysis of religious commitment among U.S. adults who were polled in nationally representative surveys between 1984 and 2010. The three studies presented in this dissertation investigate two key research questions. First, are people in the United States more religiously committed, on average, when they live in geographic areas (e.g., counties and cities) where local indicators of human development such as life expectancy, education and income are relatively low? Prior research has found a robust cross-national relationship between human development and religiosity, but little evidence has been presented that suggests the same relationship exists at the level of subnational geographies. Second, if such a relationship exists, are the reasons for the statistical link between human development and religiosity attributable to the theoretical explanations in the extant literature? Are people living in poverty and poor health more likely to be religious because they fear for their security? The results presented in this dissertation suggest, first, that a strong and robust association exists between the levels of human development in U.S. counties and cities and the levels of religious commitment reported by survey respondents who lived in those areas. On average, U.S. adults tended to self-identify with a religious group, report strong affiliation with their religious group, pray more frequently, attend religious services more regularly and hold more supernaturalistic religious views when they lived in geographic areas with relatively low levels of human development. Second, there is little evidence for the explanatory chain predicted by the literature. Individual-level measures of psychological distress do not mediate the relationship between human development and religious commitment as the existential insecurity literature would expect. Instead, what this dissertation finds is that the effect of human development on individual level religiosity seems to be mediated mostly by aggregate-level insecurity rather than individual-level insecurity.

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