Electronic Thesis or Dissertation

This thesis examines the significance of the real interest rate and stock prices as explanatory variables in the aggregate consumption function. This study applies the methodologies of OLS regression analysis and tests of cointegration to examine the relationship between stock prices and consumption. The empirical results suggest that stock prices are a significant factor in the modified aggregate consumption function. Consumers, perceiving stock prices to be an indicator of their wealth, are making more expenditures on durable goods as they perceive increases in stock values to be permanent. Finally, the results of the tests for cointegration suggest that there is no long-run equilibrium relationship between stock prices and consumption.

Consolidation of the hospital industry is occurring at an increasing pace in the 1990s. This recent rise in mergers and acquisitions has prompted interest in what characteristics make certain hospitals good takeover targets. This study compares hospital and regional differences between 11 acquired versus 296 non-acquired hospitals in Texas one year prior to takeover in 1995. A stochastic frontier model and PROBIT model were used to determine which characteristics suggest takeover likelihood. The findings indicate that inefficiency is highly significant in predicting which hospitals make good takeover candidates. Hospitals in counties with large populations and with a large senior citizen community are also significant indicators of potential acquisition. The results suggest that these acquisitions are a market mechanism for disciplining inefficient hospitals.

The Solow growth model examines the effects of saving, population and technological advances on the growth of an economy. Long-run economic growth is explained by the exogenous variable, technology. In this model lower income countries will experience higher rates of economic growth, which will lead to convergence in the standards of living between low-income and high-income countries. Additional theories including the augmented Solow model, which tests for conditional convergence and endogenous growth theories have been developed recently. An empirical inquiry of the convergence hypothesis has been conducted using a variety samples based on income classifications and geographical locations.

There are conflicting theories on the effects of devaluation on economy. This thesis sets out to investigate the impact of devaluation on the standard of living of developing countries, specifically Tunisia. The results obtained from the regressions contradicted the contractionary view of devaluation. It concluded that with proper structural reforms, devaluation improves the growth rate and therefore, the standard of living of a country. Surprisingly, this negative sign of government expenditure elasticity opened up the question for further research on the impact of the role and size of a government on the growth rate.

It is well established that altered neurotransmitter levels have long been associated with stress in many mammals. The purpose of this study was to determine if changes in the brain tissue concentration and/or turnover rates of the monoamine neurotransmitters could be used as an early indicator of physiological stress for fish in different aquatic ecosystems. Gray snapper, Lutjanus griseus, were collected from two sites, a pristine (control) and a polluted (experimental) site, classification based upon the hydrocarbon content of their sediment. The brains were quickly removed and dissected into three regions: frontal lobes, hypothalamus, and brain stem which were later analyzed for using high performance liquid chromatography. A decrease in brain tissue norepinephrine and dopamine concentration in the frontal lobes and hypothalamus was observed in individuals collected from the polluted site. No significant difference in either norepinephrine or dopamine concentration was present in the brain stem. Despite a decrease in dopamine levels, there was no significant change in dopamine turnover. There was a significant decrease in serotonin concentration in the hypothalamus at the polluted site. There was an increase in serotonergic activity in the hypothalamus and brain stem at the polluted site. A significant decrease in the weight of the hypothalamus in fish from the polluted site was also observed. These results suggest that a change in brain monoamines can be used as a early indicators of chronic environmental stress.

In finance, the term 'duration' means the effective length of a financial obligation which is discharged in installments. This concept has a number of applications in finance like calculating the change in the price of bonds due to the change in interest rates, immunizing the value of bonds, etc. Common stocks are also financial obligations and are considered to have durations. For bonds and similar strong contractual obligations, duration and its applications are clear cut and are used widely. For common stocks duration evaluation is difficult and its practical applications hardly exist. Moreover, there are no publications of numerical results where duration was applied to common stocks. These facts make it doubtful whether duration can be applied to common stocks. The results of the empirical research here, with numerical results, make it doubtful that duration can be applied to common stocks or to explain price fluctuations of common stocks.

The purpose of this study is to determine what factors could influence an economic agents' decision to travel or vacation in Florida. This study measures this decision by analyzing the state Division of Tourism estimates for visitors in light of changes in; national gross domestic product, non-aviation gasoline prices, average airfares, and exchange rates. This data was compiled on a quarterly basis form 1980 to 1993 and analyzed by employing Translog and Cobb-Douglas demand functional forms for use in regression analysis. Based upon the regression results, the Cobb-Douglas functional form best represents what has historically occurred in the real economic world and follows generally accepted micro-economic demand theory. The Cobb-Douglas techniques reveal that an economic agents' future income expectations, measured by GDP levels, has a significant influence on Florida visitor estimates and has a role in the decision to vacation in Florida.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) employing an ARCH model proposed by Engle (1982). The relations of the US stock market and other five major stock markets, i.e., the Canadian, French, German, Japanese, and UK markets are investigated. The time series used in this study are monthly stock price and dividend indices for the above six stock markets. The data cover the period from January 1970 to March 1991. In this study I utilize the ARCH model which appears to be very powerful in modeling conditional heteroscedasticity of stock prices. My test results provide unambiguous evidence of significant ARCH effects existing between the six national stock markets. Therefore, this study demonstrates the existence of market inefficiency for these national markets.

Zinc(1-x)manganese(x)sulfur is a ternary semiconductor compound which belongs to the family of diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS). It has two crystalline phases: cubic for x < 0.10, and hexagonal for 0.10 < x < 0.50. Its energy gap is temperature and x dependent. The gap, ranging from 3.7 to 3.8 eV, is the largest of the DMS. These properties allow studies of the energy levels of the Mn^2+ ions in ZnS and their internal or ion-to-band transitions, by using photoluminescence. Samples with x = 0.01-0.50 were excited with the 5145A line of an Ar+ laser. The spectra, taken at temperatures between 10 and 300K, showed three bands: a band peaking at 2.12 eV was related to the 4T1 to 6A1 internal transition; a band peaking at 1.95-2.10 eV (depending on T) was related to the 4T1 to Gamma 1 5 ion-to-band transition; the origin of the third band, peaking at 1.65 eV, was discussed. A partial fourth band in the IR region was detected. The position of the 6A1 state with respect to the valence band was established.

Every year, performing arts organizations amass an ever-increasing chasm between ticket-generated income and contractually-obligated outgo. Traditionally, an individual or small group of individuals underwrote the shortfall. Today, however, no individual or small group can afford to underwrite these massive deficits, and organizations must go to the appropriate "capital" markets for funding. These "capital" markets--individuals, foundations, corporations, and governments--now provide well over half of the funding for not-for-profit opera, symphony, ballet, and theatre companies, and the percentage rises each year. For the performing arts to survive, arts administrators must increase the amount of support from present contributors and find new sources of funding at a time when revisions in the IRS Tax Code conspire to discourage giving.