Members of Congress respond to the political blogosphere

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on June 18, 2010).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Thesis advisor: Betty Winfield.M.A. University of Missouri--Columbia 2010.As traditional media organizations faced challenging financial straights, closing their Washington news bureaus, an opportunity emerged for political blogs to seize upon the changing nature of political communication. New technologies and forms of communication forced the distinction between the traditional mainstream media and the new media formats, such as blogs. Blogs exhibited differing media effects and cultivated unique relationships among policymakers. This research encompassed the ability for blogs to elicit agenda response from policymakers on certain episodic news issues that blogs seized upon. Exploring the potential for this effect among members of the House of Representatives following the ascension of a new president in the nonelection year of 2009, this study revealed a diminished potential for policymaker response to the issues selected by the blogs in this study. While pointing to the long-supported view that blogs remain heavily dependent on the mainstream media for significant agenda-setting effect, the results of the study may confirm previous research that predicted blog influence would wane as the mainstream media and policymakers adjusted to the new medium's potential disruption.Includes bibliographical reference

The Relation Between Managed Care Market Share and the Treatment of Elderly Fee-For-Service Patients with Myocardial Infarction

Managed care may affect medical treatments for non-managed-care patients if it alters local market structure or physician behavior. We investigate whether higher levels of overall managed care market share are associated with greater use of recommended therapies for fee-for-service patients with acute myocardial infarction using data on 112,900 fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries residing in one of 320 metropolitan statistical areas, with age >= 65 years, and admitted with an acute myocardial infarction between February 1994 and July 1995 from the Cooperative Cardiovascular Project. After adjustment for patient characteristics, severity of illness, characteristics of the hospital of admission, specialty of treating physicians, and other area characteristics, patients treated in areas with high levels of managed care had greater relative use of beta-blockers during hospitalization and at discharge and aspirin during hospitalization and at discharge, consistent with more appropriate care. Patients in high HMO areas may be less likely to receive angiography when compared to areas with low levels of managed care, although this result was only marginally significant. In unadjusted comparisons, patients in high HMO market share areas had lower 30 day mortality, but there were no differences in 30 day mortality when all of the control variables were included in the model. We conclude that managed care can have widespread effects on the treatment of patients and the quality of care they receive, even for patients not enrolled in managed care organizations.

Flight control electronics reliability/maintenance study

Collection and analysis of data are reported that concern the reliability and maintenance experience of flight control system electronics currently in use on passenger carrying jet aircraft. Two airlines B-747 airplane fleets were analyzed to assess the component reliability, system functional reliability, and achieved availability of the CAT II configuration flight control system. Also assessed were the costs generated by this system in the categories of spare equipment, schedule irregularity, and line and shop maintenance. The results indicate that although there is a marked difference in the geographic location and route pattern between the airlines studied, there is a close similarity in the reliability and the maintenance costs associated with the flight control electronics

The Effects of Fish Trap Mesh Size on Reef Fish Catch off Southeastern Florida

Catch and mesh selectivity of wire-meshed fish traps were tested for eleven different mesh sizes ranging from 13 X 13 mm (0.5 x 0.5") to 76 x 152 mm (3 X 6"). A total of 1,810 fish (757 kg) representing 85 species and 28 families were captured during 330 trap hauls off southeastern Florida from December 1986 to July 1988. Mesh size significantly affected catches. The 1.5" hexagonal mesh caught the most fish by number, weight, and value. Catches tended to decline as meshes got smaller or larger. Individual fish size increased with larger meshes. Laboratory mesh retention experiments showed relationships between mesh shape and size and individual retention for snapper (Lutjanidae), grouper (Serranidae), jack (Carangidae), porgy (Sparidae), and surgeonfish (Acanthuridae). These relationships may be used to predict the effect of mesh sizes on catch rates. Because mesh size and shape greatly influenced catchability, regulating mesh size may provide a useful basis for managing the commercial trap fishery

Where the Money Goes: Medical Expenditures in a Large Corporation

We use a new data file of insurance claims under employer- provided health plans to describe the pattern of expenditures in a large corporation: who spends? on what? for how long? The description is illustrative of detail that can be distilled for other firms. There are three noticeable features of spending: (1) The differences in the provisions of the two FIRM plans seem to have substantial effects on health care expenditures. Inpatient expenditures are a much larger fraction of the total under a first-dollar coverage plan available to hourly employees. (2) Substance abuse and other mental health disorders account for a surprisingly large fraction of health care costs. (3) The components of health care cost differ substantially across individuals, demographic groups, and plans, suggesting that further analysis of the 'micro' details of medical expenditures may help to assess the probable implications of alternative insurance reforms. (4) There is substantial persistence in individual health care expenditures from year to year. Illustrative calculations suggest that this persistence may lead to considerable inequality in individual costs under demand-side insurance reforms such as those coupled with IHA saving plans, and thus may place important limitations on plans that might otherwise be attractive. The exploratory analysis contained in this paper suggests that firm data can provide important insights into the black box that erupts expenditures under private insurance plans. And, hence these data may provide greater understanding of how plan reforms may affect expenditures.