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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Social aspects of Public finance'
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1
Latham, Linda Ann. "Clinical governance : a study of implementation : a study of change." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2003. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/291/.
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The concept of clinical governance was first introduced to the National Health Service in the White Paper published in 1997 (Department of Health); it has been described as the 'linchpin' of the quality reforms and, as of April 1999, is one of the statutory duties placed on NHS Trust Boards. Clinical governance is defined as: 'A framework through which NHS organisations are accountable for continuously improving the quality if their services and safeguarding high standards of care by creating an environment in which excellence in clinical care will flourish.' (Department of Health, 1998; p33). The research project upon which this thesis is based took place over an 18 month period and has followed one NHS Trust as it implemented this new policy. Implementation may be conceptualised as both a change process and an end state; to capture this duality, two broad research questions are posed namely: what constitutes the local clinical governance agenda (content) and how has clinical governance been implemented (process). Given that the main purpose of these research questions is to explore and describe, an overarching qualitative framework has been adopted and, within this, an action research approach utilised
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Fernandez, Jose-Luis. "Utilisation and service productivities in community social care for older people : patterns and policy implications." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2005. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/135/.
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The study seeks to make two contributions. One is to participate in the development of theories and methods for the analysis of equity and efficiency in community care. The second is to yield evidence which assists policy-makers and managers to improve the effectiveness of their policies. The broad context is the évolution of the policy discourse about issues of equity and efficiency in community care of elderly people. More narrowly, the context is the implementation of the 1989 community care reforms, set out in Care in the Community: Policy Guidance (Department of Health 1990) and the government's commitment to commission research to evaluate their impact on equity and efficiency in social care. The more recent White Paper, Modernising Social Services (Department of Health 1998), is also an important element of the context. The detailed analysis in the thesis will therefore focus around two main foci: (1) the extent to which care brokered by social services departments has achieved the equity- and efficiency-related goals stated by the 1989 White Paper and developed in the 1998 White Paper; and (2) the extent to which current policies need to be adjusted in the light of understanding about how the new system produces equity and efficiency effects. 1.1 Public policy and the Holy Grail: improving efficiency in the use of public funds The Conservative administration which produced the 1989 White Paper attached a higher priority to efficiency in the use of public funds than its predecessors. However, the origins of its concerns could be traced back to the 1970s.
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Wong, Chung-kin, and 黃仲健. "The role of the Community Investment and Inclusion Fund (CIIF) in building social capital in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2006. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B36427159.
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Crilly, Teresa Elizabeth. "The Objectives of NHS Trusts." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2000. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/134/.
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This thesis explores the motivation and goals of NHS Trusts which were set up under statutory instrument from 15t April 1991 by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Government and which continue to have a role under the Labour Government elected in 1997. The research question asks 'What are the objectives of Trusts? What is the extent of the constraints under which they operate?' The central piece of empirical work uses a questionnaire survey to explore individuals' objectives, yielding 1,577 responses. A second exercise uses cost and volume data to review the performance of 100 Trusts. A third strand uses a case study to consider the behaviour of Trusts within their external environment. Consultants, or 'doctors', and managers are identified as the main power coalition within Trusts. Empirical findings are consistent with the hypotheses that, firstly, doctors and managers have different sets of objectives and that, secondly, doctors are interested in production, in particular maintenance of service quality, while managers are interested in the 'bottom line', defined as financial break-even. Under financial conditions described as 'bad times' where the interests of doctors and managers conflict, evidence suggests that doctors tend to dominate the performance of Trusts. It follows that Trusts will pursue a service objective, defined mainly through quality, rather than a financial goal. This dynamic is reinforced by the environment which sends signals to actors about how they should behave and, through lack of market exit, weakens the financial motivation of Trusts. While such behaviour is coherent in terms of the dominant actors, it is at odds with the overall goals of the Trust organisation which are perceived by doctors and managers alike to be the single-minded pursuit of financial targets. The thesis finds that this driver is not owned or acted upon by either doctors or managers and that, in accordance with the balance of its internal motivation, the Trust's primary objective is to maintain service quality.
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Blaber, Zlatinka N. "Hybrid professional identities and 'calculative practices' : the case of GPs in the English National Health Service acute care commissioning." Thesis, University of Essex, 2015. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/16269/.
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The objective of this research is to contribute to knowledge and understanding by exploring: first, the professional identities of English General Practitioners (GPs) and other clinicians in the newly-formed Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and second, their level of involvement in CCG ‘calculative practices’ (Miller, 1990, 2001). The institutional field studied is acute care, i.e. hospital, commissioning in contemporary England. To achieve its objective, this thesis asks four research questions: 1) ‘How appropriate is it for clinicians to be involved in CCG acute care commissioning?’ 2) What motivates clinicians to assume leadership roles in CCGs?’ 3) How involved are clinicians in CCG calculative practices?’ and 4) To what extent do hybridity and calculative practices affect clinicians’ professional identities in CCGs?’ The theoretical framework used is based on the concept of ‘calculative practices’ and elements of the Institutional Logics Theory (ILT). This research employs three research methods – documents’ content analysis, semi-structured, in-person interviews, and non-participant observation of CCG meetings with the public and NHS conferences. The interview subjects are NHS managers and accountants, as well as clinicians. This thesis answers the four research questions and then proposes some additional, incidental to this research findings and contributions to policy/legislation and practice. In conclusion, this study deliberates on the viability of the purchaser-provider split of the early 1990s that established the foundations and raison d’être of CCG commissioning and dwells on the possibility that one day the general taxation-funded and free at the point of service National Health Service (NHS) in England may cede its way to a US-inspired model of full blown privatisation.
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Khan, Shaghaghi Legrand Richard. "La régulation de l'accès aux médicaments (aspects de droit comparé)." Thesis, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018USPCB099.
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Alors que les pays européens font face à des dépenses croissantes en matière de médicaments, la prise en charge d'un nouveau produit de santé par les financeurs publics apparaît comme un enjeu primordial dans le contrôle de ces dépenses. La plupart des pays, comme la France, utilisent alors des listes explicites définissant les produits pris en charge ou non pris en charge par le biais de financements publics. L'idée sous-jacente d'un tel procédé est de concentrer la prise en charge publique sur des produits dits « utiles », c'est-à-dire qui non seulement participent au traitement de pathologies jugées importantes, mais qui se montrent également efficaces et, le cas échéant, les moins onéreux. Si cette idée est simple, l'élaboration en pratique de telles listes reste complexe. La définition des critères adoptés pour déterminer les contours d'un panier de médicaments remboursables ainsi que les méthodes utilisées pour évaluer si un produit répond à ces critères, représentent des enjeux importants pour les décideurs publics et peuvent avoir des répercussions directes sur la qualité et les coûts des prescriptions médicamenteuses. Dans l'absolu, la décision de prendre en charge un médicament peut s'appuyer sur de nombreux critères : efficacité, rapport coût-efficacité, gravité de la pathologie, symptômes traités, impact sur les budgets consacrés à la santé, etc. De plus, les évaluations présentent toute une série de difficultés méthodologiques et techniques auxquelles viennent s'additionner le contexte politique et le pouvoir de négociation des laboratoires pharmaceutiques, qui influencent également les décisions de prise en charge. La présente étude s'organise autour de la présentation de la notion de médicament, des modalités de prise en charge de ces derniers et de la procédure de leur mise sur le marché sous un angle comparé entre le droit français et divers autres systèmes juridiques relevant du cadre communautaire. Une telle analyse soulève certaines interrogations dont la mise en cause du système actuel de régulation des médicaments. À travers ce travail de recherches, il est permis de constater plusieurs défaillances non seulement dans le mécanisme de régulation des dépenses, mais aussi dans le système de prise en charge lui-même. Si la question d'un réajustement de la politique de régulation des médicaments est alors au cœur du débat, des perspectives d'évolution se dessinent néanmoinsWhile the European countries face increasing spending regarding medicine, the coverage of a new product of health by the public financiers appears as an essential stake in the control of these spending. Most of the countries, as France, use then explicit lists defining products taken care or not taken care by means of public financing. The underlying idea of such a process is to concentrate the public coverage on "useful" said products, that is which not only participate in the treatment of pathologies considered important, but which show themselves also effective and, where necessary, the least expensive. If this idea is simple, the elaboration in practice of such lists remains complex. The definition of the criteria adopted to determine the outlines of a basket of refundable medicine as well as the methods used to estimate if a product answers these criteria, represent stakes important for the public decision-makers and can have direct repercussions on the quality and the costs of the medicinal prescriptions. Theoretically, the decision to take care of a medicine can lean on numerous criteria: efficiency, cost efficiency ratio, revolved by the pathology, the handled symptoms, the impact on the budgets dedicated to the health, etc. Furthermore, the evaluations present a whole series of methodological and technical difficulties to which come to add up the political context and the bargaining power of pharmaceutical companies, which also influence the decisions of care. The present study gets organized around the display of the notion of medicine, modalities of care of the latter and the procedure of their launch on the market under a compared angle enter the French and diverse law other legal systems being a matter of the community frame. Such an analysis lifts certain questioning of which the questioning of the current system of regulation of medicine. Through this research work, it is allowed to notice several failures not only in the mechanism of regulation of the spending, but also in the system of care itself. If the question of an adjustment of the policy of regulation of medicine is then at the heart of the debate, perspectives of evolution take shape nevertheless
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Soalla, Wendkouni Lydie Sophie. "L'action des institutions financières internationales et leur impact sur les systèmes nationaux : aspects budgétaires et fiscaux. Le cas du Burkina Faso." Thesis, Lyon 3, 2012. http://www.theses.fr/2012LYO30083.
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Depuis son accession à l’indépendance, le Burkina Faso est à la recherche d’une politique publique de développement qui lui permette de sortir de son état de « sous-développement ». La politique budgétaire a, de ce fait, été instituée en catalyseur d’un développement économique et social durable. Mais les errements budgétaires des Gouvernements qui se sont succédé ont plutôt entraîné une triple crise : une crise de la dette, une crise des déficits publics et une crise économique. A compter des années 1990, le FMI et la Banque Mondiale sont intervenus, aux côtés des autorités burkinabé, dans le cadre d’une double assistance technique et financière afin de réformer, structurellement, la politique budgétaire. Cette intervention va s’installer durablement dans la politique interne burkinabé. En deux décennies, la politique des finances sera orientée au gré de la doctrine budgétaire et des priorités définies par le FMI et la Banque Mondiale : les programmes d’ajustement structurel, puis la politique de lutte contre la pauvreté vont tenter de réaliser les objectifs de croissance économique, puis de croissance économique et sociale, grâce à une réforme de la politique de dépenses budgétaires et de la politique de ressources budgétaires. Seulement, quelque soit l’objectif pris en considération, les résultats atteints restent bien éloignés des résultats escomptés en termes de restructuration de la dette, des dépenses et des ressources budgétaires. Cette dynamique de réformes permet néanmoins de s’interroger, au vu des expériences passées, sur le rôle à attribuer à l’Etat au Burkina Faso, à la politique budgétaire, au FMI et à la Banque Mondiale, aux institutions communautaires ouest-africaines dans le processus de développement que le Burkina Faso doit nécessairement relancer, afin que ces décennies de réformes ne soient pas considérées comme inutilesSince its independence, Burkina Faso is seeking public policy development that allows him to leave his state of "underdevelopment". Fiscal policy has, therefore, been established as a catalyst for sustainable economic and social development. But mistakes budget successive Governments have instead led to a triple crisis: a debt crisis, a crisis of deficits and an economic crisis. Beginning in the 1990s, the IMF and the World Bank intervened alongside Burkinabe authorities, within a double technical and financial assistance to reform structurally fiscal policy. This intervention will settle permanently in the internal politics of Burkina Faso. In two decades, finance policy will be geared to suit the budget doctrine and priorities defined by the IMF and the World Bank: the structural adjustment programs and the political fight against poverty will try to achieve the objectives of economic growth, and economic growth and social reform through policy and budgetary spending policy of budgetary resources. But whatever the goal under consideration, the results achieved are far removed from the expected results in terms of debt restructuring, expenditure and budgetary resources. This dynamic reforms can nevertheless wonder, in view of past experience, the appropriate role for the state in Burkina Faso, fiscal policy, the IMF and the World Bank, the Community institutions in West Africa the development process as Burkina Faso must necessarily raise, so that decades of reforms are not considered necessary
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Casta, Aurélien. "Le financement des étudiants en France et en Angleterre de 1945 à 2011 : le student finance, l'award et le salaire étudiant et leur hégémonie." Thesis, Paris 10, 2012. http://www.theses.fr/2012PA100086/document.
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La thèse porte sur les politiques de financement des étudiants en France et en Angleterre et les débats publics qui les entourent depuis l’après-guerre. Elle s’inscrit dans deux questionnements principaux. Dans une perspective de sociologie des politiques sociales, il s’agit tout d’abord d’opérer une comparaison entre les trois ensembles de propositions et de politiques – le student finance, l’award et le salaire étudiant – qui ont traversé les enseignements supérieurs des deux pays depuis 1945. Il s’agit ensuite, à partir du concept d’hégémonie et de l’utilisation qu’en a fait Antonio Gramsci au début du 20ème siècle, de soulever la question des modalités de construction de ces régimes dans les deux pays. Les éléments de réponse apportés à ces questionnements se fondent sur l’étude des données statistiques disponibles, des archives des syndicats étudiants, de la littérature gouvernementale et de documents diffusés par différents acteurs institutionnels du secteur. La thèse traite de quatre périodes, deux dans chacun des pays, et retrace les débats, les conflits et les politiques qui s’y sont déployés. Elle montre finalement que ces régimes de financement se différencient tout d’abord par les mesures qui leur sont associées : les prêts, les frais d’inscription et les bourses pour le student finance ; le paiement par la collectivité des frais d’inscription et de vie courante pour l’award ; et le salaire et la gratuité pour le salaire étudiant. Elle montre aussi que ces régimes se distinguent les uns des autres par leur représentation des étudiants, leur convention de valorisation du travail et de l’enseignement supérieur et leurs structures décisionnelles et financières. Elle montre également que la promotion de ces conventions et représentations dans le débat public et le déploiement de ces institutions au sein du secteur permettent à ces ensembles de se mettre en place et aux acteurs qui les portent de construire leur hégémonieThe thesis deals with student funding policies in France and England and the debates that they raised since the post-war years. It answers two main questions. By using the approach of the social policies sociology, it compares the systems of proposals and policies – the student finance, the award and the salaire étudiant – which have shaped higher education since 1945 in both countries. By using the concept of hegemony that Antonio Gramsci thought it at the beginning of the 20th century, the thesis shows the decision-making process that lead to these proposals and policies. Our materials are composed of the available statistical data, the student union archives, the governmental reports and the documents diffused by the groups involved in the sector. The thesis deals with four periods – two in each country – and describe the debates, the conflicts and the policy which took place. It shows that those funding systems are founded on different measures: tuition fees, loans and grants for the student finance; the public funding of maintenance and fees for the award; free higher education and wage for the salaire étudiant. It also shows that they are supported by specific representations of students and the value of their work and specific types of funding and decision-making process. It shows finally that the spreading of these ideas in the public debate and the development of these institutions inside the sector make possible the shaping of their policies and of their hegemony
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Buranapraphanont, Verasit. "Les aspects juridiques de la gestion de la dette publique en Thaïlande." Thesis, Aix-Marseille, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015AIXM1015/document.
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Les fonctions administratives du gouvernement consistent à fournir les services publics, et à opérer la gestion publique et administrative. Cela nécessite l’utilisation en continu d’importantes sommes d’argent. Or, le principal revenu provenant de la collecte des impôts ne suffit pas pour opérer les missions et les nécessaires activités de l’Etat. C’est la raison pour laquelle, celui-ci doit emprunter davantage aux institutions financières intérieures et extérieures. En Thaïlande, le premier emprunt fut créé à l’ère du Roi Rama V. Et après la Révolution siamoise de 1932, le pays commença à emprunter de plus en plus aux institutions financières internationales et aux gouvernements étrangers pour son développement. Ce sont les crises économiques mondiales qui ont obligé divers pays dans le monde à contracter la dette publique et qui ont fait accroître ladite dette en Thaïlande. La notion de gestion de la dette publique devient alors indispensable et, à cet égard, plusieurs pays ont rendu des lois spéciales. En Thaïlande, la Loi portant sur la gestion de la dette publique B.E. 2548 (2005) et la désignation d’un mandataire constitue la loi fondamentale autorisant le gouvernement à contracter la dette publique, et à la gérer diversement -en raison d’un changement de situation- comme la dette contractée pour le développement économique et social, pour la restructuration de la dette et la mise en œuvre de la politique sur les transactions financières en vue de réduire le risque de dette publique, etcThe government, as the administration, is responsible for public services, public affairs and administrative missions. It is, therefore, necessary to spend a great number of money consecutively. The main income of the government earned by the tax collection is not enough for its missions and the other necessary things. That’s why it had to loan more and more money from the domestic and international financial institutions. In Thailand, money has been loaned since the reign of King Rama V. After the Siamese Revolution of 1932, Thailand has incurred more public debt from the international financial institutions and foreign governments for country’s development. Public debt of Thailand and different countries has enormously increased while the notion of public debt management has also developed and the special acts on public debt management have been issued in many countries, because of the necessity of incurring public debt of several countries as well as economic crisis happened around the world. In Thailand, the Public Debt Management Act B.E. 2548 (2005) is considered as the principal law authorizing the government to incur and manage public debt in various ways for adapting to changing circumstances such as public debt incurred for social and economic development, for debt restructuring and financial transaction used for reducing the risk on public debt, etc
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Yuk, Tak-fun Alice, and 郁德芬. "Funding social welfare in Hong Kong in the 1990s." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1991. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31963961.
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Hendrie, Delia Verbara. "Aspects of South African state welfare policy : a study in public finance and income redistribution." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1986. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16349.
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Bibliography: pages 242-256.International redistribution studies vary in scope from those which investigate the full range of all benefits and costs of the fiscal system to others restricting their coverage to the distributive impact of a single expenditure or tax. In South Africa relatively little research has been directed to the distributive consequences of state spending and taxing policies. The few existing studies have mainly concentrated on race as an explanatory variable in analyzing budget incidence. This thesis adopted a new technique of measuring the incidence of benefits obtained from state spending and the burdens imposed by tax payments. The first step involved constructing household-level microdata files for sample households. Secondly, allocation routines were developed for selected expenditures and taxes whereby the benefits and costs of fiscal action could be assigned to households. Lastly these routines were applied separately to the files of each household. The distributive effects of the expenditures and taxes could then be analyzed with respect to any relevant household variable.
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Payne, Kenneth L. "Financing instructional materials in Indiana public school corporations." Virtual Press, 1987. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/505144.
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The purpose of the study was to analyze current procedures utilized for financing textbooks and related instructional materials by Indiana public school corporations and public school corporations in selected states. Respective practices were examined in order to determine feasible methods/alternatives for Indiana school corporations to use in overcoming the contemporary financial and administrative dilemma which existed in the 1985-86 school year.A descriptive questionnaire was developed from a review of literature and with the assistance of colleagues. Data obtained by the instrument were analyzed using frequency tabulations and percentages. Based on information gained from the study and data collected in superintendents in Indiana, solutions to financing instructional materials for Indiana school corporations were determined.Data collected supported the following conclusions: 1. Public school corporations in Indiana charge fees for textbooks and related instructional materials and are experiencing difficulties in collecting textbook rental and related fees from parents or guardians of school children.2. The use of small claims court for recovering fees is not an effective method for most public school corporations in Indiana.3. Township trustees and/or county councils should pay for textbooks and instructional materials of students whose parents or guardians are declared by the courts to be indigent.4. The current formula for determining textbook rental rates is satisfactory.5. Legislation should be adopted to permit public school corporations to increase revenue in order to finance textbooks and related instructional materials.6. To be in concert with other states in the United States and more specifically within the Great Lakes Region, public school students should be supplied textbooks and related instructional materials without charge.7. The location and size of school corporations have implications to problems existing in public school corporations when administering textbook rental programs.8. Lack of additional finance has restricted public school corporations in implementing new programs to be funded by the general fund budget.9. Based on the average rankings of ten regions, public school corporations in Regions I, II, and VI encountered the greatest difficulty in financing textbooks and related instructional materials. Public school corporations have the least problems in supplying textbooks to school students.10. Based on the average rankings of six enrollment groups, public school corporations in the smallest three groups had the greatest success in financing textbooks and related instructional materials for students.11. Additional costs for school corporations are incurred when interest is paid to publishers for overdue accounts or for installment payment programs.12. School corporations with deficit balances or significantly decreasing balances in textbook rental accounts are in. need of assistance in collecting outstanding fees from constituents and/or means of generating sufficient revenue to account for required textbooks and related instructional materials for students.
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Lang, Harald [Verfasser], and Kai [Akademischer Betreuer] Konrad. "Social comparisons under uncertainty in public finance / Harald Lang ; Betreuer: Kai Konrad." München : Universitätsbibliothek der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, 2016. http://d-nb.info/1121507948/34.
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Lang, Harald Verfasser], and Kai A. [Akademischer Betreuer] [Konrad. "Social comparisons under uncertainty in public finance / Harald Lang ; Betreuer: Kai Konrad." München : Universitätsbibliothek der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, 2016. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:19-201084.
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Kaambwa, Billingsley Chimuka. "Statistical issues in service evaluation – a case of intermediate care." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2009. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/527/.
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The objective of this thesis was to identify statistical issues that are commonly associated with evaluations of services for older people with a view to establishing the most appropriate methods of addressing them. This goal was achieved in two stages. In the first stage, a comprehensive literature review of studies that have reported such evaluations on populations of older people in the UK was conducted. The second stage involved demonstrating approaches for dealing with these issues on a dataset drawn from largest evaluation of intermediate care done and published in the UK to date. The approaches were adapted from the studies reported in the literature review and where appropriate, from other sources. This thesis identified a number of statistical issues including those associated with distributional characteristics of variables, missing data and the need to predict utility outcome measures from non-utility ones. Robust approaches of dealing with these problems were demonstrated. The results obtained underlined the importance of avoiding erroneous results and conclusions by applying methods with a sound theoretical background.
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Seassaud, Eric. "Le capital de l'entreprise publique : aspects juridiques." Paris 12, 1995. http://www.theses.fr/1995PA122009.
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Cheung, Lam-chau, and 張林秋. "User charges: a new way for funding social welfare services in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1996. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31964904.
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Adamu, Stephen A. "Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Financial Performance in the Pharmaceutical Industry." Thesis, Pepperdine University, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10689996.
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Many studies have examined the association between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance, but scholars argue that the exact relationship between CSR and corporate financial performance remains unclear. This quantitative study examines the impact of CSR on corporate financial performance in the pharmaceutical industry. The study addresses the research question: What is the financial performance in the pharmaceutical industry among companies that have embraced CSR? The alternative hypothesis predicted positive correlations between financial performance and CSR. The related null hypotheses predicted that there would be no correlations between any of 8 dimensions of CSR and corporate financial performance. Archival data from 18 leading global pharmaceutical companies ranked by Access to Medicine Index were used to answer the research question.
In 4 of the 8 hypotheses tested, the results show partial support for a positive effect of CSR on corporate financial performance in the pharmaceutical industry based on significant correlations in 2014. Specifically, significant 2014 relationships with corporate financial performance were observed for CSR general access to medicine management, CSR capacity advancement in product development and distribution, CSR product donations and philanthropic activities, and overall CSR. However, no significant 2014 relationships with corporate financial performance were observed for CSR public policy and market influence, CSR research and development, CSR pricing, manufacturing, and distribution, and CSR patents and licensing. In the 8 hypotheses tested, the findings in 2012 did not show any effect of CSR on corporate financial performance in the pharmaceutical industry. The results of this study suggest at the minimum, that CSR does not negatively impact corporate financial performance in the pharmaceutical industry. This study does not support arguments against product donations and philanthropic activities. The partial support for a positive effect of CSR on corporate financial performance and no negative impact of CSR on financial performance in the pharmaceutical industry, could encourage corporate leaders to pay attention to, not only their corporate financial profits, but also ethical, environmental, and social issues such as improving the access to medicines; and contributing to improving society.
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Wilson, Kevin G. 1952. "The social significance of home networking : public surveillance and social management." Thesis, McGill University, 1985. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=72035.
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This thesis analyzes the social significance of the integration of the home into computer networks. The social significance of home networking is grasped when these systems are understood in their relationship to emerging forms of electronic social control. The thesis establishes this connection through an analysis of structural trends in the videotex industry which demonstrates the value to the corporate sector of cybernetic information generated by interactive systems. The North American tradition of privacy policy is reviewed and demonstrated as inadequate for the protection of personal privacy in home networking. It is further shown that privacy policy does not represent an adequate theorization of social control in computer networking, since it does not account for practices of aggregate social control, which have been termed in the thesis "social management," so vital to the cybernetic economy of late capitalism. Finally, the thesis argues that current conceptual frameworks and policy mechanisms cannot assure the socially beneficial development of home networking, given the tendency towards the integration of such systems into structures of social control.
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Ku, Wai-keung, and 顧惠強. "The social impact of privatization of public housing in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1999. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B43894100.
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Geue, Claudia. "Population ageing in Scotland - implications for healthcare expenditure." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2012. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3370/.
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POPULATION AGEING IN SCOTLAND - IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTHCARE EXPENDITURE Population ageing is a major concern for developed countries in terms of public expenditure required to pay for health care (HC). The broad aim of this thesis is to contribute to and expand the debate on the independent effects that population ageing and the time immediately before death (TTD) have on HC expenditure in Scotland. This study analyses, for the first time in Scotland, how HC expenditure projections are influenced through the application of two approaches; the first only accounting for an increasing proportion of the elderly population, and the second also implementing a TTD component. Several issues that are under-researched or have not been addressed in TTD studies previously, are explored and alternative approaches are presented. Utilising two large linked datasets this thesis addresses important methodological issues. Alternative methods to cost inpatient hospital stays are examined as this has pivotal implications for any analysis undertaken to estimate the independent effect of TTD and age on HC expenditure. Explanatory variables that have previously not been considered, such as health risk and health status measures at baseline, are included in these analyses. The issue of sample selection, arising through the inclusion/exclusion of survivors in a TTD study is investigated and the impact of individuals’ socio-economic status on costs is examined. The analysis of alternative costing methods clearly showed that any inference that can be made from econometric modelling of costs, where the marginal effect of explanatory variables is assessed, is substantially influenced by the chosen costing method. The application of a Healthcare Resource Group (HRG) costing method was recommended. This study found that TTD, age and the interactions between these two factors were significant predictors for HC expenditure. The analysis further identified some of the health status and health risk measures to be important predictors of future HC expenditure. An examination of how sample selection impacts on estimated costs at the end of life showed that if survivors were excluded from the analysis, costs might be overestimated. Drawing on a representative sample of the Scottish population, the investigation of the association that the socio-economic status had with HC costs suggested that less is spent on individuals from more deprived areas. This might partly be explained through the decreased probability of accessing hospital services for individuals from more deprived areas. Furthermore, results showed that projected HC expenditure for acute inpatient care for the year 2028 was overestimated by ~7% when an approach that only accounts for the higher proportion of elderly people in a population in the future is being used as compared to an approach that also accounts for the effect that remaining TTD has on costs.
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Lee, Kwok-yu Edward, and 李國宇. "Commodification of public housing in Hong Kong and its impacts on social fragmentation." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1997. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31968296.
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Hui, Yin-wah Eva, and 許燕華. "Adolescent bullying in public housing estates." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1998. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31978538.
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Sokhna, Ndeye Penda. "Impacts économiques de l'immigration en France : finances publiques et consommation." Thesis, Paris 10, 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017PA100161/document.
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La question de l'immigration, dans les économies d'accueil, est aujourd'hui au centre des préoccupations politiques, économiques et sociales. L'immigration est perçue, de nos jours, comme un problème plus qu'une opportunité pour les sociétés d'accueil en général et la France en particulier. Les résultats du sondage du Transatlantic Trends entre 2008 et 2013 montrent qu'en France, l'opinion publique sur l'immigration s'est beaucoup dégradée. A la question percevez-vous l'immigration comme un problème plutôt qu'une opportunité ? 50% des sondés français répondaient par l'affirmatif en 2013. Ce pourcentage n'était que de 39% en 2008. Parallèlement à cette situation, les projections démographiques montrent un vieillissement de la population et l'immigration pourrait être une solution face à ce problème. La thèse a pour objectif d'analyser, dans ce contexte de vieillissement démographique, les effets économiques de l'immigration en mettant l'accent sur son impact sur les finances publiques et la demande des ménages en France. Elle contribue ainsi à la littérature sur les coûts et apports de l'immigration dans les pays d'accueil. Elle analyse également les conséquences économiques d'une décision politique relative à l'immigration, en testant les effets des changements de politiques migratoires sur les finances publiques ou encore les effets de la hausse du revenu sur la consommation des ménages natifs et immigrés. La thèse s'articule autour de deux grandes parties : la première s'intéresse à l'impact budgétaire de l'immigration, avec dans un premier chapitre une évaluation comptable et dans un deuxième chapitre, une évaluation dynamique à l'aide d'un modèle d'équilibre général. La deuxième partie de la thèse se focalise sur la consommation des immigrés en France. Là encore, on distingue deux chapitres : le premier mesure la contribution des immigrés à la demande finale et le second analyse les comportements de consommation des ménages natifs et immigrésThe issue of immigration, in host economies, is today at the center of political, economic and social concerns. Immigration is perceived as a problem rather than an opportunity for host countries in general and France in particular. The results of the Transatlantic Trends survey between 2008 and 2013 show that in France, public opinion on immigration has deteriorated significantly. Do you perceive immigration as a problem rather than an opportunity? 50% of French respondents answered yes in 2013. This percentage was only 39% in 2008. At the same time, demographic projections show a population ageing and immigration could be a solution to this problem. The thesis aims to analyze, in this context of population ageing, the economic effects of immigration by focusing on its impact on public finances and consumption in France. It contributes to the literature on costs and benefits of immigration in the host countries. It helps to shed light on the economic consequences of a political decision on immigration, by testing the effects of changes in migration policies on public finances or the effects of rising income on the consumption of native and immigrant households in France. The thesis focuses on two main parts: the first focuses on the fiscal impact of immigration, with a first chapter on accounting evaluation and a second chapter on dynamic evaluation using a general equilibrium model. The second part of the thesis focuses on the consumption of immigrants in France. Again, there are two chapters: the first measures the contribution of immigrants to final demand and the second analyzes the consumption behavior of native and immigrant households in France
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Boardman, Jason David. "The social determinants of health race, resources, and neighborhoods in the Detroit tri-county area /." Access restricted to users with UT Austin EID Full text (PDF) from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International, 2002. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/fullcit?p3077407.
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Chapman, Robert Timothy. "Media literacy in public schools." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2002. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2949.
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This study investigates media literacy curricula in upper-income and lower-income public schools. Twelve principals participated in a telephone survey by answering fifteen questions about their schools and districts.
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Wong, Ian-ian, and 黃茵茵. "Public rental housing and social inequity in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2003. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B43895566.
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Ryan, Melissa-Sue, and n/a. "Ageing and emotion : categorisation, recognition, and social understanding." University of Otago. Department of Psychology, 2009. http://adt.otago.ac.nz./public/adt-NZDU20090309.150008.
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The present thesis investigated age differences in emotion recognition skills of 146 older adults (age range 60-92 years) and 146 young adults (age range 18-25 years) in four experiments. Experiment 1 assessed participants� ability to categorise facial expressions of sadness, fear, happiness, and surprise. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants were asked to identify six emotions (happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, anger, disgust) from still and dynamic faces, alone and in combination with vocal expressions. Finally, Experiment 4 compared performance on these standard emotion recognition paradigms to that of more ecologically-valid measures; the Faux Pas and Verbosity and Social Cues Tasks.
Across the four studies, there was evidence of an age-related decline in emotion recognition skills. Older adults were overall less sensitive to perceptual differences between faces in Experiment 1 and showed a loss of categorical perception effect for fearful faces. Older adults were less accurate than young adults at recognising expressions of sadness, anger, and fear, across types of expression (voices and faces). There were some differences across modalities, with older adults showing difficulties with fear recognition for faces, but not voices, and difficulty in matching happy voices to happy faces but not for happy voices and faces presented in isolation. Experiment 2 also showed that the majority of older adult participants had some decline in emotion recognition skills.
Age differences in performance were also apparent on the more ecologically-valid measures. Older adults were more likely than young adults to rate the protagonist as behaving inappropriately in the Faux Pas Task, even with the control videos, suggesting difficulty in discriminating faux pas. Older adults were also judged to be more verbose and to offer more off-topic information during the Verbosity Task than young adults and were less likely to recognise expressions of boredom in the Social Cues Task.
These findings are discussed in terms of three theoretical accounts. A positivity bias (indicating increased recognition and experience of positive emotions and reduction for negative emotions) was not consistent with the older adults� difficulties with matching happy faces to voices and relatively preserved performance with disgusted expressions. Age-related decline in cognitive processes did not account for the specific pattern of age differences observed. The most plausible explanation for the age differences in the present thesis is that age-related neurological changes in the brain areas that process emotions, specifically the temporal and frontal areas, are likely to contribute to the older adults� declines in performance on emotion categorisation, emotion recognition, and social cognition tasks. The implications for everyday social interactions for older adults are also discussed.
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Kolyperas, Dimitrios. "Corporate and social responsibility in professional football club organizations." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/9207.
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While professional football clubs are facing increasing pressures to balance their business with social goals, an important unanswered question is whether these rather stakeholder-oriented organizations understand the nature and impact of corporate and social responsibility (CSR). Research has yet provided little information on how football clubs perceive and react to CSR. This thesis examines how three important aspects of CSR (communication, development and integration with other strategies) evolve across different football clubs and cultures. Because specific clubs may have unique social responsibilities attributed to them, the current study is not limited to one industry and one particular club / segment. It rather contains three complementary case studies and explores CSR activities associated with an overall 38 professional football clubs residing in a pan-European, national (league), and organizational context respectively. Specifically, the primary international analysis reveals that while most football clubs communicate various CSR efforts, these activities primarily refer to ten distinct areas. These areas, as well as prior literature, served as the framework for the development of an international football CSR typology. In addition, qualitative results gathered from a second study across football clubs from the same national context sought to determine the moderating role of national business system characteristics (i.e. legislations, socio-political drivers, internal and external barriers, and phases of CSR development). The results of a third study generally supported the aforementioned contentions providing additional information on the strategic benefits more integrative CSR can offer. Synthesizing outcomes and findings from three complementary studies, this thesis develops a conceptual model that brings together the two different views of the modern CSR debate. This conception theorises CSR as being a legally, socially and organizationally constructed umbrella positioned over the corporate organization. On one hand, CSR is an umbrella protection to cover up corporate irresponsibility, window-dress illegitimate actions, and distract public attention from sensitive business issues. On the other hand, more collaborative, planned, participative and long-term involvement to CSR activity can turn the umbrella model upside down and provide a collector of public support, or a battery where public benevolence can be stored and reused for future purposes. These findings are discussed in the context of contributions to the field of sport management and marketing, practitioners within the football industry, and scholars pursuing a research agenda in the area of CSR and sports. Future research suggestions are forwarded.
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Bristow, Theresa K. "Aspects of environmental awareness in England and Wales : case studies." Thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.243970.
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Longshore, Renee Michelle. "The rhetoric of state assessment: Educational politics in the public school system." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2004. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2721.
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In this thesis I explore the rhetoric behind the assessment push nation-wide and, particularly, in California. I take a close look at what politicians, educators, and citizens say about public education and their views of the current educational reform: whether they are speaking in support of or opposition to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. I look specifically at the finances of public education in California, the impact and current outcome of NCLB, and propose new reforms as suggested by those intimately involved in education.
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Bond, Sophie, and n/a. "Participation, urbanism and power." University of Otago. Department of Geography, 2008. http://adt.otago.ac.nz./public/adt-NZDU20080404.152556.
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This thesis explores how an adherence to professional principles can be reconciled with a commitment to inclusive participatory planning processes in urban governance. Two themes are drawn together. First, the study concerns recent shifts in thinking about public participation that have resulted in innovative approaches to engaging citizens in urban governance processes through deliberative, interactive workshops and forums. Second, the study focuses on power relations that are inherent in such forums, particularly when a variety of different knowledges (expert and lay) interact. The two themes are brought together by focusing on the participatory practices of the urbanist movement - an urban form movement that draws specific principles from the urbanism of traditional towns and cities in order to create socially and environmentally sustainable places. Within urbanist participation, professional principles for the built environment and a commitment to a form of deliberative democracy are combined. In this study, the crucial question asked is: what is the nature and effect of the power relations on the democratic character of public involvement in participatory planning processes?
To explore this issue, two urbanist Enquiry by Design processes were selected as retrospective case studies. One case involved a regeneration project for an inner urban area of a north England industrial town, while the other case involved a greenfield urban extension in the south west of England. The empirical research, undertaken in mid 2005, comprised 52 semi-structured interviews, analysis of extensive background material, and site visits. Research participants were selected to capture a range of perspectives and experiences of each process.
To understand the power relations in the cases a two pronged approach was taken. The study was informed by literature from communicative planning theory and deliberative democracy. From this literature, an Ethic for Communicative Participation was developed as a heuristic device to evaluate urbanist participation. Concomitantly, to understand the nature of the power relations involved in the deliberative forum, the study employed a discourse theory perspective after Laclau and Mouffe (2001). Thus, power was understood as relational and imbricated within all social relations, while conflict was conceived of as an indicator of power.
The study found that the urbanist discourse, as a hegemonic project, had a significant effect on the nature of the participatory processes. In disseminating and instituting a particular vision for urban sustainability, the urbanist participatory process was found to be instrumental to realising the urbanist vision in each locality. As such, the cases studied displayed a thin commitment to democracy. Moreover, the discursive constructions of concepts of community, representation, consensus and participation evident in the cases, exposed a unified and homogeneous understanding of social groups. Consequently, the complexity of power relations and conflict inherent in the processes were bracketed, resulting in the exclusion of certain perspectives.
Nevertheless, the study illustrated the value in understanding the inherently antagonistic nature of the public sphere for both research and practice. The study supported emerging claims for a democratic politics in which antagonism is transformed into agonism - a space of reciprocity and mutual respect in which contestations over meanings can be articulated. In the cases, the participatory space allowed participants to challenge the hegemonic nature of the dominant discourses. Therefore, the thesis argues for two important ways to rethink power in both theory and in practice. First, there must be a willingness to engage with conflict and power. Second, there must be an interrogation of claims to unity or collectivity. Understanding the public sphere as inherently antagonistic, heterogeneous, and criss-crossed with complex power relations potentially provides conditions in which hegemonic forces can be contested. An agonistic politics has the potential to facilitate the open contestation of different knowledges and transform the dominant power relations such that an enhanced democracy can ensue.
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Xiao, Han. "Virtual community as a public space : a case study on a Chinese study abroad BBS." Thesis, University of Macau, 2007. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b1874191.
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Alhomaidi, Asem. "Social norms and stock trading." ScholarWorks@UNO, 2017. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2373.
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The dissertation consists of two essays. In the first essay we compare the performance of Islamic and conventional stock returns in Saudi Arabia in order to determine whether the Saudi market exhibits characteristics that are consistent with segmented markets and investor recognition effects. We sample the daily stock returns of all Saudi firms from September 2002 to 2015 and calculate important measures, including idiosyncratic volatility (Ang et al, 2006), market integration (Pukthuanthong and Roll, 2009), systematic turnover (Loughran and Schultz, 2005), and stock turnover and liquidity (Amihud, 2002). Integration tests report that Islamic stocks are more sensitive to changes in global and local macroeconomic variables than conventional stocks, supporting the hypothesis that the Islamic and conventional stock markets are segmented in Saudi Arabia. In addition, our results show that Islamic stocks have larger number of investors, lower idiosyncratic risk, higher systematic turnover, and more liquid than conventional stocks, which supports the investor recognition hypothesis. Our results provide new evidence on asset pricing in emerging markets, the evolving Islamic financial markets, and the potential impact of other implicit market barriers on global financial markets. In the second essay we examine the effects of shared beliefs and personal preferences of individual investors on their trading and investment decisions. We anticipate that the process of classifying stocks into Shariah compliant (Islamic) and non-shariah compliant (conventional) has an effect on investibility and acceptance of the stock especially by unsophisticated or individual investors. The wide acceptance of Islamic stocks between individual investors promote and facilitate the circulation of firm-specific information between certain groups of investors. Our results indicate that stock classification has an effect on the stock price comovement through increased stock trading correlation between the groups of Islamic investors. The commonality in preferences between Islamic stocks’ holders generate commonality in trading activity and in stock liquidity. We find that classifying a stock as an Islamic stock increases its price comovement with other Islamic stocks and also increases its commonality in liquidity.
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Higginson, Carolyn. "Volunteerism in social services : structural determinants to engagement." Thesis, McGill University, 2009. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=116001.
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The relationship between provincial social service spending and subsequent rates of volunteerism in Quebec was evaluated using information contained in a Montreal volunteer database (N = 2784) and revenue and expenditure data from the Department of Finance. A secondary analysis was performed to identify possible structural correlates to volunteerism, thus providing an alternative to existing theoretical approaches, which predominantly focus on the study of individual differences between volunteers.The results of the correlation analysis revealed a positive relationship between public spending and volunteer rates. In addition, a positive correlation was found to exist between levels of coordination activity and rates of volunteerism, lending strength to the contention that organizational infrastructure is related to volunteer rates. In general, the results highlight the integral role of public monies to the sustainability of Quebec's voluntary sector.
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Sobuza, Yandisa. "“Social housing in South Africa : are public private partnerships (PPP) a solution?”." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/26048.
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South Africa faces a shortfall in its provision of housing for low income households. This study explores the potential to use public private partnerships (PPP) to address these supply problems. A review of the housing market and an examination of the opportunities and challenges presented by PPP are presented, including a review of the international experience in the provision of social housing. Interviews with key stakeholders are undertaken to evaluate the appropriateness of PPP in the South African social housing sector. PPP are believed to have the potential increase the supply of social housing, provided there is continuing support from the state. However, none of the key stakeholders were keen to use the “traditional” PPP process, suggesting a need for innovative partnership models more appropriate for the sector. CopyrightDissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010.
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
unrestricted
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Ahmad, A. "A study on social determinants of infant mortality in Malaysia." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2011. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/43408/.
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1.1 Background There is a large body of empirical evidence to suggest that social conditions are one of the major determinants of population health. These are defined as the ‘Social determinants of Health (SDH)’. SDH refers to the specific pathways by which social forces affect health. Developing a better understanding of the social determinants of health is critical in order to ameliorate the social determinants associated with poor health and to reduce the health disparities within the population. 1.2 Aim To examine the relationship between social determinants and infant mortality in Malaysia 1.3 Methods This study comprises an ecological (area-based) population health survey involving all 135 administrative districts of Malaysia. A literature review was undertaken in order to develop a model that hypothesises the main social determinants of infant mortality in Malaysia. In order to test the model, secondary data comprises of social determinants and infant mortality rate data from a range of sources were collected and analysed. Statistical analysis of the data using general linear model including correlations, factor analysis and multiple regression were undertaken in order to examine the collective influence of a range of social determinants on variations observed in infant mortality. Determinants of infant mortality in Malaysia tested in this study include GDP per capita, poverty rate, mean income of bottom 40% income earner, Gini coefficient, ratio of top 20% income: to bottom 40% income, doctors density ratio, hospital bed per population ratio, car ownership per population, computer ownership per population, urbanization rate, percentage living in single housing and flats, women education and social development index. 1.4 Results Although simple regression revealed significant relation between IMR with fifteen predictors, further analysis using multiple regressions failed to demonstrate any significant linear relationship except cars per population ratio which may reflect accessibility to food and services. This phenomenon may be due to problem of multicolinearity among variables. Factor analysis was done to identify similar items and new variables were created based on the identified factors. With the new group of variables, social development index explained 18%, income distribution explained 10.6% and health service provision explained 3.8 % of the variability observed in IMR. However, with multiple regressions, only social development index remained significant at p<0.05 level. Collectively, the variables were able to explain only 23% of the variability in IMR using multiple linear regressions analysis. 1.5 Conclusion This study managed to inform us regarding the important social determinants that can be altered with policy change in order to improve child survival in a developing country undergoing its health and economic transitions.
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Nting, Rexon Tayong. "Sarbanes-Oxley Act, insider trading and earnings management." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2009. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/1308/.
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The empirical motivation of this dissertation is the increasing importance of financial market’s regulation pursuant of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). There is currently incomplete knowledge on the relationship between insider trading and earnings management on the one hand and earnings management and firm performance on the other in light of the recent regulatory intervention (SOX). Moreover, the relevance of political regulation of financial markets has not yet been thoroughly investigated. The research aims of the dissertation are: 1) To evaluate the effectiveness of financial market regulation (SOX) on Insider trading and Earnings management 2) To empirically examine how the different techniques used to manage earnings influence firm performance in light of the recent regulatory intervention (SOX). Both tests suggest ways in which investors can examine and unravel a comprehensive set of earnings management signals and their impact on either insider trading or future firm performance. The thesis is divided into two main empirical chapters: The first main empirical chapter (chapter 4) discusses insider trading and earnings management in light of the recent regulatory intervention mandated by the SOX. The second main empirical chapter (Chapter 5) discuss changes in earnings management and firm performance relationship in light of the recent regulatory intervention as prescribed by SOX. In an attempt to obtain a comprehensive understanding of several conceptual issues, the different techniques used to manage earnings are employed including, discretionary accruals techniques, real earnings management and the probability of financial statements distortion as measured by the Beneish M-Score. Overall, the focus is on managers of S&P 500 companies, holders of private information about the firm’s prospects, preparers and senders of financial reports and investors and analysts as receivers and users of these financial statements. Findings on the relationship between insider trading and earnings management in light of the recent regulatory intervention suggest that after the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002, managers are less likely to time their trade and boast earnings to benefit at the expense of outside investors. Furthermore, under stricter regulations, market participants detect and react to insider trading and earnings management practices. Findings on the relationship between a comprehensive set of earnings management signals and firm performance suggest that there have been greater monitoring of financial III statements in the Post SOX era. When firms attempt to manage earnings during periods of intense market regulation, investors discount this through disappointing stock returns. Overall, the results suggest that there should be broad based approach in analysing financial statements.
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Darling, Helen Marie, and n/a. "School and personal factors associated with being a smoker." University of Otago. Dunedin School of Medicine, 2005. http://adt.otago.ac.nz./public/adt-NZDU20060830.120926.
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Most adult smokers begin smoking during adolescence; nicotine dependence can develop relatively quickly and, once established, most smokers smoke for approximately 40 years. For adolescents dependent upon nicotine, cessation interventions are not well established. It is, therefore, essential that public health interventions focus on preventing initiation and maintenance and decreasing the prevalence of youth smoking. In spite of legislation to protect New Zealand adolescents, a large proportion continues to use tobacco at least weekly. Recent surveys have shown a slight decrease in cigarette smoking prevalence, overall, but, no reduction and marked increases have been reported within some subgroups.
The overall aim of this research was to identify school and personal factors associated with secondary school students smoking. The specific research objectives included: a) identifying factors at the personal, family, peer, school and 'tobacco-genic' environment levels which were associated with regular and established cigarette smoking; b) describing the extent of smoke-free policy and health education programmes in secondary schools; and, c) evaluating the relations between cigarette smoking among students and potential protective factors, smoke-free policies and practices and health education programmes.
The research was based on data from 3,434 secondary school students from 82 schools. The multi-stage sampling procedures and data analyses ensured that the results were able to be generalised to the New Zealand secondary school student population. Smoking was more prevalent amongst girls for all measures of smoking frequency and significant differences were found for smoking prevalence between ethnic groups and school decile.
In terms of family influences, the smoking behaviours of parents were not associated with increased odds of smoking nor were perceived relationships between students and their parents, or exposure to SHS. In contrast, the smoking behaviour of siblings was associated with increased odds of smoking but it is likely that both student and sibling smoking are both influenced by the same processes within the family. Similarly, low levels of self-concept were not associated with increased odds for daily smoking. The smoking behaviour of a best friend was a pervasive risk factor as was a high level of disposable income, frequent episodes of unsupervised activities, and 'pro-smoking' knowledge. Being male, visiting a place of worship, and the intention to stay at school until after Year 13 reduced the odds of daily smoking among students.
Multilevel models were used to identify school level effects. After adjusting for student, family and school characteristics significant between-school variance in smoking prevalence remained and this suggests that there are factors, arguably beyond the immediate control of the student or family that may influence a student�s smoking behaviour. The presence of a school effect also supports the WHO concept of 'health promoting schools' in that schools can make a difference to health outcomes. Understanding how the health promoting schools model has been interpreted and implemented in NZ schools, along with critique of the implementation of the amended legislation making all schools smoke-free, would be a pertinent 'next-step' in identifying characteristics of schools which are associated with decreased tobacco use.
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Roesch, Stefan, and n/a. "There and back again - comparative case studies of film location tourists� on-site behaviour and experiences." University of Otago. Department of Tourism, 2008. http://adt.otago.ac.nz./public/adt-NZDU20080211.090920.
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Over the last decade, film location tourism has been established as a niche segment in the tourism industry. While this niche has attracted attention from both researchers and marketers alike, not much knowledge has been accumulated about the tourist encounter itself. It is the main purpose of this thesis to research on-site behavioural and experiential aspects of the film location encounter.
For the overall research design, an inductive, comparative case-study approach was implemented. Three cases were selected for this research: The Lord of the Rings locations in New Zealand, The Sound of Music locations in Austria and Star Wars locations in Tunisia. The applied methods are participant observation, image-based data and semi-structured interviews. The data collection was conducted while participating in organised film location tows in order to secure access to the informants.
The first fundamental outcome of this research is that there is no 'film location tourist' as such. People who travel to film locations come from different socio-economic backgrounds, comprise all age groups and possess varying degrees of fandom. The majority of film location tourists, however, have one thing in common, regardless of the underlying movie genre: the longing to connect with the imaginary world of the film by visiting the physical and thus 'real' location places. These places are consumed in two ways: as places of spectacle and as sacred places.
The nature of the location consumption is dependent on a number of factors, including the degree of fandom of the consumers, the attractiveness of the encountered locations, the consistency of the interpretive community, the amount and nature of external distortions and, if applicable, the structure of the location tour. Means of consumption of film locations as spectacle are formal posing, sight recordings and shot re-creations. When experiencing film locations as sacred places, shot re-creations, mental simulations and filmic re-enactments occur. The latter form of consumption can result in a symbiosis between the imaginary and the real place component: the gazing subject becomes the previously (photographed) object.
Regardless of the degree of experiential satisfaction, film location tourists want to bring some of the magic back home. This is achieved not only via mental pictures and physical photographs, but also through souvenirs. These can be off- or on-site. Regarding the latter, these souvenirs are almost holy relics, brought home from a successful pilgrimage and subsequently framed and displayed in an altar-like fashion. The benefits from this are not only self-pride and satisfaction, but also the distinction to other movie fans who have not been able to do the journey themselves. Thus, the person in possession of such a relic gains privileged status amongst peers which in turn raises the satisfaction with the location encounter.
The film location experience cycle comes to a full closure by re-watching the movie. This procedure involves a renewed connection to both the imaginary filmic places as well as the real locations visited. The filmic gaze is extended, as the movie scenes are now seen as part of a real place which extends beyond the filmic sight.
Keywords: Film location tourism - multiple, comparative on-site case study inquiry - film locations as spatial and temporal constructs - the film location tourist encounter - behavioural and experiential interactions with place.
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Hill, Edward. "Mathematical modelling approaches for spreading processes : zoonotic influenza and social contagion." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2017. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/91483/.
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Mathematical models are a fundamental component of many epidemiological studies. While models of infectious disease are well established, there are evident methodological gaps when attempting to provide realistic descriptions of particular biological systems. In this thesis we probe questions related to two global public health problems, zoonotic influenza and depression, requiring innovative modelling approaches to be developed, analysed and fitted to data. We give particular consideration to parameter inference schemes to gain insights into the dynamics of these illnesses, and model simulation for validation and prediction purposes, including assessing intervention impact. First, we investigate zoonotic influenza transmission at a local scale, our example being H5N1 in Bangladesh. It is vital to devise new models incorporating zoonotic transmission, and establish the factors enabling both continued transmission within poultry and spillover across the poultry-human divide. We outline a set of candidate transmission models, with a zoonotic transmission component, parameterised with a Bayesian inference scheme using data from two H5N1 outbreaks in the Dhaka region. Applied at two distinct spatial scales, we elucidate the model considerations that best capture the size and spatial distribution of reported cases. Simulations then illustrate the predicted impact of interventions designed to reduce H5N1 transmission. Second, the emergence of influenza strains with pandemic potential is considered from a global viewpoint. Using a Bayesian model selection approach we compare plausible model hypotheses regarding the mechanisms driving influenza pandemic occurrences. Analysing the time periods between putative influenza pandemics since 1700, it is shown the weight of evidence favours influenza pandemic emergence being history-dependent, rather than a memoryless process. Predictive distributions are then presented for the expected number of pandemic events from 2010 to 2110. Third, spread of behaviour-linked health problems are amenable to being represented with methodological approaches typically used to model infectious diseases. We explore this with regards to depression, using a longitudinal dataset comprising information on both the in-school friendships and mood status of US adolescents. A novel model is described that exploits the dynamical behaviour of mood over time to ascertain which mood states spread on social networks, via a contagion-like mechanism, and which do not.
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Carey, James. "A critique of selected key aspects of Hayek's 'The mirage of social justice'." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2001. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.391277.
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Tang, Suk-ping Freda, and 鄧淑萍. "A high motivation to own: a case study of home ownership in Hong Kong and its social implications in thenineties." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1996. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31967942.
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Urrea, Jorge. "Regional development and the action of public investment : the FNDR and the ERDF, a comparative analysis." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2002. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2739/.
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Regional economic growth and development is triggered by a combination of many factors such as public sector intervention, national and regional policies, and private sector investments. Regional development funds, through the application of pertinent objectives, focusing, participation, and co-ordination can certainly make an important contribution on regional development. In Chile one of the main public sector policy instruments for regional development are the Regional Investment Funds. The role of these funds in the economic and social development of regions in difficulty or whose development is lagging has significantly increased in recent years. The country has had a regional development fund, the "Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Regional" (FNDR) since the mid-1970s. This fund, modest in its beginning, was significantly increased starting in 1985 due to loans from the Inter American Development Bank. The FNDR has played an important role providing basic social infrastructure in regions. However, despite the increasing amount of resources channelled to regions, twenty five-years of existence of the FNDR, and almost a decade since establishment of Regional Governments in Chile, few improvements can be recorded in the way the Regional Funds are being used or on their overall effect on regional development. The main purpose of the study is to analyse the action of the regional development fund of Chile (the FNDR) and its relationship with the overall objective of regional development. Two different empirical approaches evaluated specific effects of the FNDR. The first was concerned with the analysis of particular aspects of the fund labelled as the "key elements" in the running of the FNDR. The second presents and compares the experience of a similar fund for regional development. The fund selected to carry out this comparison was the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The specific questions to the "key elements" address three different aspects of the existence and performance of the fund: questions 1 and 2 deal with the very existence or the overall aim of the fund; questions 3 and 4, with the way the fund is being allocated and used; and question 5 is rather different as it tries to explore the possibility of finding other potentials for regional development, not exploited as such, due to the dominance and statutory primacy of the fund.
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Fu, Yuen-kei, and 傅婉琪. "Can mix-tenure alleviate social stigma in public rental housing?" Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10722/194920.
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Social stigma on public housing is a deep-rooted and unsolvable problem, places with large-scale public housing are perceived as concentration of unemployment and crimes in which outsiders are reluctant to visit those ghettos. Some empirical researches endeavored to argue social stigma on public housing can be abated by diversifying the tenure type, while UK government is a typical example in implementing mix tenure policy. However, the situation of Hong Kong seems different, social stigma on public housing is less apparent than western countries while living in public housing is sometimes perceived as fortunate due to low rent cost and good quality.
In Hong Kong, government has not adopted any mix tenure policy whereas mix tenure of public housing, mix of renters and owners, is an unintended consequence of Tenant Purchase Scheme (TPS). In order to understand why social stigma seems less apparent in Hong Kong, this research is going to examine, first, the situation of social stigma on public housing in particular to Lam Tin district where a place with high density of public housing and mix tenure, second, if mix-tenure can alleviate social stigma on public housing in Hong Kong in which the research area will be focus on the aspects of unemployment and security because public housing is perceived as concentration of unemployment and crimes.
In regard to the above research question, two sets of questionnaires were conducted to both residents living in TPS estates and private estates in order to understand their different perceptions on the unemployment and security of public housing, and thereby the survey result will be compared with the actual statistics from governmental bodies. Generally speaking, the survey analysis indicated that both sides of resident have apparent social stigma on the security of public housing while unemployment is less seen. What is more, it is interesting that the survey findings are different from the actual situation. Although residents believed that the crime rate is higher in public housing than private housing, there is neither positive nor negative relation between the variables of high density of public housing and crime rates.
Social stigma on security was apparently seen from the survey in which majority of respondents agreed with high crime rate in public housing, yet Hong Kong government is not intended to solve the problem as what UK government did because of its historical political philosophy and financial constraints. For instance, Hong Kong government is reluctant to restrict the private developers through mix tenure policy since it would affect the historical philosophy of free economy for Hong Kong. Second, governors are accountable to explain how the public money was spent, and hence government is sensitive on spending large amount of public money to improve the security service and system. In view of the political and financial considerations, it is believed that tackling social stigma on public housing would put at lower priority in government's agenda.
Last but not least, since the survey data is only collected in Lam Tin due to time and cost limits, the findings are not extensive and could not apply to all districts of Hong Kong especially for those areas without mix-tenure. In this regard, to have a further analysis on social stigma of Hong Kong public housing, author suggested widening the data collection to conduct a more comprehensive survey.published_or_final_version
Housing Management
Master
Master of Housing Management
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Cameron, Kirsteen Sarah. "Needs-led assessment in health and social care : a community-based comparative study." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2006. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2984/.
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The assessment of need underpins the delivery of community-based care. Following the NHS and Community Care Act (1990), the principle of needs-led assessment was reinforced as it applied to the assessment and care management process. Translation of needs-led assessment into practice in Scotland has been further influenced by policy-based organisational change including the introduction of Single Shared Assessment and Community Health Partnerships. This study seeks to describe the political and practice landscape within which needs-led assessment exists, identify and explore factors which influence needs-led assessment, and consider the practice implications of the policy driver for community-based practitioners across the main disciplines of health and social care. Following a short pilot, the main study was undertaken using sequences vignettes within a semi-structured interview involving 105 social workers, health and housing staff. Key findings indicated a cloak of consensus around definitions of need and assessment with perceptions based upon a medical or social model of care or a professionally or personality-driven assessment of need. A preoccupation with the outcome of assessments caused many respondents to describe needs with reference to the interventions or resources required to address them. The practice of needs-led assessment, according to study results, was hampered by an awareness of resource availability, concerns over client compliance and risk and, an underlying alignment to the values and principles upheld by the employing discipline.
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Croy, William Glen, and n/a. "The role of film in destination decision-making." University of Otago. Department of Tourism, 2008. http://adt.otago.ac.nz./public/adt-NZDU20080404.155622.
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The purpose of this research is to create a method and measure the influence of fictional film media in potential tourists� destination decision-making, using a quasi-experimental method. Film tourism researchers have implied that film plays a direct role in generating tourism. In this research, however, it is proposed that film plays an indirect role through the construction of meaning of place, and therefore destination awareness, availability and evaluation.
A two-part multiphase quasi-experimental method was created and implemented to identify change in a destination�s image due to watching a film. Part One. was qualitative in nature and implemented to discover destination image attributes (evaluative components and decision-making factors) used in destination selection (survey n=202, in-depth interviews n=10). Part One concluded with the compilation of a list of relevant, clear and efficient attributes for Part Two. The list maintained sufficient diversity to define destination image, and was composed of 21 decision-making factors and 40 evaluative components. Part Two then measured the destination�s image, and change in that image due to watching a feature film (pre and post survey n=67). Change in this quasi-experimental method was assessed by the importance of the attributes being measured, the influence of the film on these attributes and most importantly the combined effect of the film on these attributes.
The Vertical Ray of the Sun, a film set in Vietnam, was used to apply and test this innovative quasi-experimental method. The application assessed not only the effect of the film on Vietnam�s image, but also the applicability of the method. The film positively influenced the respondents� image of Vietnam. The film had a measured effect on more than half of the attributes. That noted, the actual number of attributes affected to the marked level were 17 out of 61 for the difference in means and only 11 for the eta� value. Consequently, whilst the film positively affected the image of Vietnam, most of the attributes still needed significant change to modify tourism demand.
The thesis importantly contributed to the study of destination image methodologically by asserting the need to assess the importance, influence and effect. This new method can and should be implemented to assess and monitor the effects of many events. This research also contributed by introducing a quasi-experimental cumulative importance-influence measure of effect. The contribution was highlighted in that those attributes with a large influence did not always have a large effect on the destination�s image. Neither performance by itself, nor importance by itself, can be used as a final effect measure.
Finally, this research supports other film-induced tourism studies: film does influence destination image. As presented in more recent studies film-tourism is more likely to be an incidental experience than a reason to visit a place. These more recent studies too may underplay the role of film by focusing on film as an attraction or activity, rather than its role in the actual decision to visit. This research has contributed to film tourism research by highlighting that film can still play a role in the decision-making process, even though it may not be an attraction or a desired experience in itself.
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Ng, Che-keung Tony. "Relationship between the mass media and public order." Thesis, Hong Kong : School of Professional and Continuing Education, University of Hong Kong, 1994. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/HKUTO/record/B36195182.
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Moore, Kelly. "Doing good while doing science: The origins and consequences of public interest science organizations in America, 1945-1990." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/186307.
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Over the past thirty years, public interest science organizations have had significant and varied effects on the course of several contemporary social movements, on public knowledge of science, and on policy ranging from weapons to toxic waste to recombinant DNA. This dissertation considers the origins of these organizations, and their differential ability to survive. Archival, interview, and secondary data analyses of three prominent public interest science organizations: Scientists' Institute for Public Information, Science for the People, and the Union of Concerned Scientists are used to examine these questions. This research shows that these organizations were formed by scientists in the 1950s and 1960s who found that their political commitments were increasingly at odds with scientific demands for objectivity and value-neutrality. The tension arose as a result of three factors: the liberalization of the political climate in the 1950s and 1960s, the development of political protest that charged science with being complicit making war possible and the encouragement, even demand, that Leftists find ways to join their professional and political lives. As a result, some scientists created new organizations that publicly defined scientists as socially responsible. Once created, however, these organizations faced a rapidly changing political, scientific and organizational climate that made their survival difficult. I show how early choices about goals, membership, activities, and division of labor in each group strongly shaped the differential ability of organizations to survive over time. Adaptive survival is shown to be related to the ability of an organization to engage in repeated and routinized exchanges with other individuals and groups, which is in turn dependent on choices organizations make within months of their founding. The last section of the dissertation suggests how public interest science organizations (both individually and collectively) expand the political capacities of scientists and the public, affect the practice and subject matter of science, and shaped the lives of the participants.
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Turco, Megan D. "Changing communication through Facebook : redefining perceptions of public and private communication." Scholarly Commons, 2010. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/746.
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There has been much research conducted into the phenomenon of online social networking. However, there has not been enough research conducted to establish its affect on our overall communication patterns. This research study focuses on the way in which Facebook is redefining perceptions of public and private communication. Using the current body of research paired with a varied theoretical backing, this research establishes Facebook's affect on the communication of college students while also noting how the users affect the way this medium is used. Focus groups at a private University were conducted to establish current uses and perceptions of Facebook and how college students utilize the site to communicate. The research discovered that through Facebook, a new version of confessing one's thoughts has been established and intensified. Also, the research discovered that students had difficulty in defining their own versions of private and public information, but they understood that the line between the two is no longer distinct.