Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Cost-Benefit Analysis Of Physician Assistants, Roderick Stanton Hooker

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined if physician assistants (PAs) are cost-beneficial to employers. In an era of cost accountability, questions arise about whether a visit to a PA for an episode of care differs from a visit to a physician, and if PAs erode their cost-effectiveness by the manner in which they manage patients.

Four common acute medical conditions seen by PAs and physicians within a large health maintenance organization were identified to study. An episode approach was undertaken to identify all laboratory, imaging, medication and provider costs for these diagnoses. Over 12,700 medical office visits were analyzed and assigned to each …

Organizational Position: Influences On Perceived Organizational Properties, Moshe Sherer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

People perceive and interpret their work place in different ways that may be related to their hierarchical position in the organization. Workers' attitudes toward their organization can exert a negative effect on their own and other people's feelings and behavior, and have detrimental consequences for the achievements of the organization. The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptionso f organizationalc haracteristicsm aintainedb y three levels of human service organization employees: Managers, supervisors or instructors, and line workers. Respondents in the present sample (n = 135) indicated their perceptions about seven organizational properties. Results reveal that the higher the …

An Analysis Of Workplace Violence Incidents In Virginia Community Colleges And The Major Employers, Betsy E. Summerfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The media during the past ten years has given considerable attention to the workplace violence in factories, service organizations, and the public school systems throughout the United States. This study compared patterns of workplace violence in the 23 member institutions of the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) with the patterns of workplace violence in selected for-profit service and manufacturing employers in Virginia, to determine if workplace violence incidents occurring in the VCCS's member institutions reflect the workplace violence incidents experienced by business and industry within each member institution's service region. Chi-square analysis showed a significant difference in non-violent conflict training …

Hot Topic: National Guard's Weekend Drills Are Considered Training, Richard Stokes

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

This Hot Topic discusses the Attorney General's Opinion No. 98-155, which addresses whether National Guard weekend drills are considered training under the law and subject to the military leave provisions of the Tennessee Code Annotated (T.C.A.). According to the Attorney General's opinion, "Weekend training appears to be within the statutory terms of the T.C.A." The term "training" ordinarily would encompass the term "drill." Drill is defined by Webster's dictionary as "the act of training soldiers in the military art ... a kind or method of military exercises." The A.G. cited an Alabama case, Britton vs. Jackson, 414 So.2d 966 (Ala. …

Democracy Behind Barbed Wire: Examining The Political Culture Of Japanese American Evacuees, Allen Atkinson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper explores the relationship between culture and political behavior through an investigation of those Japanese Americans who were denied due process and imprisoned during World War Two simply for being of Japanese descent. Military necessity was the reason cited for the government's action, although racism, war hysteria and economic competition also played a major role.

At the time there was a general belief among Caucasian Americans that the Japanese in America had avoided Americanization and could not be trusted to participate in democratic processes. It was suggested that their political and civic culture was an obstacle to the achievement …

Hot Topic: Community Water Systems Required To Distribute Consumer Confidence Reports, Steve Wyatt

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

A recent amendment to the Safe Drinking Water Act established the requirement for community water systems (CWS) to prepare a consumer confidence report (CCR) to distribute to their customers.

The Lobbyist No. 23 (October 1998), Maine Women's Lobby Staff

Maine Women's Publications - All

No abstract provided.

Institutionalism: Intergovernmental Exchange, Administration-Centered Behavior, And Policy Outcomes In Urban Agencies, Herman L. Boschken

Herman L. Boschken

This article inquires about the sufficiency of institutional exchange theory in explaining the impacts of intergovernmental power structure on agency policy making. Based on rational behavior, transactional exchange, and game playing, this so called new institutionalism points to the degree of autonomy held by an agency in its collaboration with other government jurisdictions as a principal determinant of a patterned bias in agency policy outcomes. The author first summarizes theory arguments and derives hypotheses about agency outcomes that are skewed to favor some interests over others. He then reports results of a multiple regression analysis of a sample of forty-two …

Validation Of The Risk And Needs Assessment Used In The Classification For Parole And Probation Of Virginia's Adult Criminal Offenders, George Michael Yacus

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

This study analyzes the effectiveness of risk-needs assessment used in the classification of probation and parole for adult criminal offenders in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The use of risk-needs classification instruments dramatically increased in the 1980's and 1990's, but some research has indicated that these instruments do not have universal applicability and must be validated to the population to which they are applied. The research selected a useable cohort (n = 13,011) of probationers/parolees in the Commonwealth of Virginia from the 20, 647 cases opened in 1994 and tracked them for three years, using Virginia Department of Corrections records, to …

One Grim View Of Life For The Aged Is Disputed, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

""The way the United States treats their elderly is a total disgrace... they cant live on the amount of money from Social Security... It's even worse than the poverty level." Thus spoke a Cranston senior citizen when Vice President Gore was in town recently to discuss the future of Social Security."

Hot Topic: Public Acts Affecting Cities, Dennis Huffer

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

The 1998 Tennessee General Assembly passed into law several acts that affect Tennessee municipalities. This Hot Topic summarizes some of these acts.

The Lobbist No. 22 (August 1998), Maine Women's Lobby Staff

Maine Women's Publications - All

No abstract provided.

Intermunicipal Agreements: Case Studies In Durham And York Regions, Rebecca James

MPA Major Research Papers

This paper examines the extent and nature of intermunicipal partnerships in Durham Region and York Region based on an inventory of public partnerships in the two regions and case studies of five intermunicipal agreements. The findings reveal that if municipalities form public partnerships in certain service areas, cost savings can be achieved while still maintaining individual municipal control and accountability.

When Is Bigger Not Better?: The Management And Delivery Of Social Services On Manitoulin Island, Mary Nelder

MPA Major Research Papers

This paper examines whether the Ontario government’s creation of District Social Services Administration Boards (DSSABs) has accomplished the stated objectives of simplifying access to services and better servicing clients, as well as improving cost-effectiveness, coordination, innovation, the sharing of resources, and achieving economies of scale. A case study of Manitoulin-Sudbury reveals that the DSSAB for the two combined districts has been unsatisfactory and none of the stated objectives of the policy have been achieved.

Why A Strategic Plan?: A Review Of Strategic Planning In Selected Ontario Municipalities, Moira Winch

MPA Major Research Papers

This paper examines whether strategic planning processes successfully assist municipal councils and staff in Ontario based on case studies of 11 municipalities in Ottawa-Carleton and the City of Burlington. The findings reveal that in many instances, strategic planning is being used successfully and the most important factor that contributes to its success is the leadership and commitment of council to the initiation and implementation of the plan.

Development Of A Model For User Fees: A Model On Policy Development In Creating And Maintaining User Fees For Municipalities, Jim Mcqueen

MPA Major Research Papers

This paper examines the relevance and significance of user fees in Ontario based on case studies that assess user fee policies in four municipalities in the Halton Region – Burlington, Halton Hills, Milton, and Oakville. The findings reveal that user fees have become a more prominent revenue source and they are an important component of a municipality’s revenue base.

Hot Topic: State Revises Travel Reimbursement Rates, Mtas

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

The state of Tennessee revised its travel reimbursement rates, with new, higher state rates effective August 1, 1998.

Hot Topic: New Law Requires Countywide Growth Plan And Limits Annexation And Incorporation, Jim Finane, Sid Hemsley

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

Effective May 19, 1998, Public Acts 1998, Chapter 1101, was a new law governing annexation and incorporation in Tennessee. Changes in annexation and incorporation included a required countywide land use planning process that limits annexations and incorporations to certain areas and subjects them to new restrictions. The law also gave counties a major new role in the annexation planning process and in annexation and incorporation decisions. It also preserved their revenues in newly-annexed and incorporated territories.

The Birth Of The Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Richard Ramsay

MPA Major Research Papers

This paper examines whether the causes of amalgamation in Cape Breton County are similar to the causes that have driven other amalgamations in the Maritime Provinces. Interviews with key stakeholders and an analysis of reports associated with the amalgamation were conducted. The findings reveal that Cape Breton County is a unique case and the Government of Nova Scotia decided to amalgamate because it recognized the dismal financial position of several of the municipal units.

Domestic Bargaining In Taiwan's International Agricultural Negotiations, Chien-Pin Li

Faculty and Research Publications

Development literature often depicts development as a transitional process in which agriculture is marginalized while resources are transferred to growing nonfarm sectors, through either voluntary exchange or involuntary coercion. The conventional analysis of Taiwan's agriculture and its role in economic development generally attests to this model.-1 Prior to the 1970s, as the backbone of Taiwan's economy and the major earner of foreign currencies, agriculture accounted for more than 40% of the total employment and over 20% of the net domestic product (NDP). But a series of programs unfavorable to farmers were put in place so that the government could channel …

A Policy Brief: Massachusetts (T)Afdc Case Closings, October 1993-August 1997, Donna Friedman, Emily Douglas, Michelle Hayes, Mary Ann Allard

Center for Social Policy Publications

When a DTA (Department of Transitional Assistance) worker assesses whether a family's (T)AFDC (Temporary Aid to Families with Dependent Children) case will be closed, s/he decides which one of 67 different codes best describes the reason cash benefits for the household will be stopped. To carry out the analyses, we sorted all of the 67 codes into clusters of codes that logically grouped together: Cluster I, Increased Income; Cluster H, Sanctions; Cluster III, Eligible Persons Moved; Cluster IV, Fraud; Cluster V, Client Request; Cluster VI, No Longer Eligible; Cluster VII, Other or Multiple Meanings. The Appendix displays a description of …

Budô In Japanese And U.S. Policies, Guy H. Power

Master's Projects

No abstract provided.

Hot Topic: The 1997/98 Mtas Salary And Fringe Benefit Survey, Richard Stokes

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

The MTAS annual salary and fringe benefit survey for 1997/98 is complete and shows salary increases for city employees rose at a rate faster than 1996/97. This report contains a summary of the findings as well as a means to request specific information.

The Lobbyist No. 21 (April 1998), Maine Women's Lobby Staff

Maine Women's Publications - All

No abstract provided.

Technical Bulletins: Pricing Your Place On The World Wide Web, Lissa Gay

MTAS Publications: Technical Bulletins

Based on price estimates from several Internet Service Providers and Web site designers across Tennessee at the time of publication (April 1998), this Technical Bulletin is a summary of probable expenditures for hardware, software, and services needed to create and maintain a website for a local government.

Technical Bulletins: Sand For Wastewater Drying Beds, Brett Ward

MTAS Publications: Technical Bulletins

Drying beds for wastewater sludge require a specific type of sand in order to dewater the sludge quickly.

Global Shift In Container Traffic And Its Implications For Economic Development Along The American Land Bridge, Herman L. Boschken

Herman L. Boschken

Since the “container revolution” in the 1970s, seaports on the Pacific Coast have been the engines of economic development, regionally, nationally and globally. But circumstances continue to change that threaten the long-term viability of the intermodal “land bridge” system that emerged from that revolution. These circumstances include railroads not maintaining rail lines critical to transcontinental container traffic and the shift in the locus of global production that raises the question of obsolescence for the existing infrastructure moving trade West to East from the Pacific Rim. The implications are enormous, especially for policy makers at the regional and local levels as …

Public Journalism, The Second Level Of Agenda-Setting And Public Policy: The Role Of The Daily Press Newspaper In Creating, Framing And Fostering The Issues Of Regionalism And Consolidation On The Virginia Peninsula, 1944-1996, Shannon O'Bier Jackson

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

This study uses quantitative content analysis, with qualitative elite interviewing as a supplemental tool, to investigate the role of the Daily Press newspaper in creating, framing and fostering the locally controversial issues of regionalism and consolidation on the Virginia Peninsula from 1944-1996.

The investigation supports earlier findings regarding the second-level of Agenda-setting in terms of the newspaper's ability to cumulatively create "the pictures in our heads" of events or issues. The dissertation suggests that by selecting thematically related attributes over time, the newspaper acts to transmit issue salience, but that the potential impact of the "picture in our heads" is …

Factors Affecting Leadership Styles Of Prison Wardens: A Case Study Of Public Adult Prisons Within Virginia, Nancy Elizabeth Santiago

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

This study attempts to identify the leadership styles of Virginia prison wardens within public adult prisons, and to determine which factors contribute to the development of their leadership styles. The two instruments used in this study to assess leadership style were the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI, which measures "transformational" leadership), and the Leader Behavior Analysis II Self (LBAII Self, which measures "transactional" leadership). Both instruments have been used in prior research with correctional personnel, and comparisons of this research study is made with previous dissertations utilizing the LPI and LBAII.

Also developed for this study was a set of questions …

Hot Topic: Federal And State Reimbursement Rates For Travel, Mtas

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

For those cities that elected to reimburse for travel using the federal reimbursement rates, the federal government increased the vehicle-cents-per-mile reimbursement rate to 32.5 cents per mile, up from 31.5 cents per mile in 1997.