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ItemForeign-born scientists in the United States –do they perform differently than native-born scientists?(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004-12-01) Lee, SoohoAre foreign-born scientists different from native-born scientists with respect to research activity and performance? This question has important policy implications not only for immigration policy but also for science policy because a substantial part of scientific research in the United States is conducted by foreign-born scientists. This study examines the differences between foreign-born and native-born scientists in research collaboration, grants, and publication productivity. The data for this study are 443 curricula vitae (CVs) and survey of scientists and engineers that Research Value Mapping Program (RVM) at Georgia Tech conducted from 2000 to 2001. By using the multiple indicators, the findings show that foreign-born scientists do not differ significantly in research collaboration and grants from their native-born counterparts. But in terms of publication productivity, foreign-born scientists are consistently more productive than their native-born counterparts. This study also examines the impact of being foreign-born on research collaboration, grants, and productivity, and which factors account for the differences between foreign-born and native-born scientists in collaboration, grants, and productivity. When other relevant variables are controlled for, being foreign-born still has a strong positive effect on publication productivity. Collaboration and grants have a significant positive effect only on the productivity of native-born scientists, whereas strong research preference of foreign-born scientists contributes to their relatively higher productivity. Differences are also found among foreign-born scientists, largely depending on their national origin categorized by the similarity of language and culture. The theoretical and policy implications are also discussed.
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ItemMeta-Analysis of Environmental Valuation Studies(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004-11-21) Gen, SheldonCost-benefit analysis has long been a dominant method of policy analysis. When applied to policies affecting the environment, however, it faced a serious problem. Many policies exert environmental impacts that are external to market transactions, so the values of these impacts resist monetary measurement. This shortcoming in cost-benefit analysis led some researchers to develop indirect and nonmarket methods of valuing environmental goods monetarily. They include the travel cost method, hedonic pricing, and contingent valuation. The popularity of these methods has grown since their inceptions, but so have controversies over their use. Economists and others have taken all sides of the debate over the validity of the methods and their normative implications. These methods popularity and controversies necessitate their critical evaluation. This research fills this need through an extensive meta-analysis of 228 existing environmental valuation studies representing the contemporary practices in each method, and capturing varieties of environmental goods and settings. The analysis tested the convergent validity of the three valuation methods, and measured the moderating effects of select variables. The results show that effect sizes of the hedonic pricing and travel cost methods converge, but contingent valuation produces effect sizes that average 40% to 55% less than the other two methods. This difference varies significantly with the environment good being valued. Other significant moderating variables include the magnitude of the environmental change, the description of the change, and the location of the study. The year of study does not significantly moderate effect sizes. These results supplement descriptive and normative frameworks for environmental valuation described by Barbier (1994), Navrud and Pruckner (1997), and Norton (1995). When the evidence and these frameworks are considered together, the defensible uses of these three valuation methods become very limited. Valuation efforts should focus on multiple dimensions of environmental value, besides economic dimensions, that reflect ecological health and public concerns for the environment.
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ItemCooperative and non-cooperative decision behaviors in response to the inspection and maintenance program in the Atlanta Airshed, 1997-2001(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004-07-12) Zia, AsimWhen confronted with decisions involving the provision of environmental resources, such as clean air, do individuals act cooperatively with societal regulations? This study employs a quasi-experimental design to investigate the cooperative and non-cooperative actions of high-emitting vehicle owners that arose in response to the Inspection and Maintenance (IM) program in the Atlanta airshed. The impact of cooperative and non-cooperative actions of high-emitters on vehicular tail-pipe emissions, such as carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx), is quantified. Furthermore, the hypothesis that high-emitters have significantly higher odds of residing in lower income neighborhoods as compared to the normal emitters is also tested. A remote sensing sample of approximately 1.42 million vehicles observed on-road between 1997 and 2001 is matched with IM program data and vehicle registration data to identify the cooperative and non-cooperative high-emitters. A mixed-pool time-series regression analysis is undertaken to estimate changes in vehicular tail-pipe emissions due to the actions of high-emitters. The information about the socio-economic and demographic contextual conditions of the sampled vehicle owners is ascertained from 2000 census data. Approximately 42% of the high-emitting vehicle owners are found to be cooperative and 58% non-cooperative. The cooperative actions caused a decrease of 47% in HC emission factors during 1997 and 2001. There is no statistical difference between the CO and NO emission factors of vehicles owned by cooperative and non-cooperative high-emitters. Results also suggest that the high-emitters live in 4.4% lower median household income areas as compared to the normal emitters in the Atlanta airshed. Changes in the current IM program rules and vehicle registration laws could improve air quality. Such changes include disallowing IM test failures from registering anywhere in the state of Georgia and requiring an IM test on every change of vehicle ownership inside the IM program area. Better incentive mechanisms for high-emitters can also be designed. The evidence from this study is expected to aid policy-makers to adapt the incentive mechanisms of IM programs, in particular, and environmental regulations, in general, so that public policies are both more effective and equitable in their societal impacts.
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ItemA health technology assessment of HIV counseling and testing technologies(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004-06-07) Hutchinson, Angela Blair
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ItemMediating and Moderating the Agenda-Setting Process: Three Studies of the Air Quality Issue(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004-05-14) Gordon, Craig S.The primary focus of this study is to conceptualize and to develop a series of empirical models testing various mechanisms that might explain how a public information campaign and the resulting media coverage led to changes in the level of importance the public ascribes to air quality. The expressed purpose of the public information campaign was to focus attention on the issue of air quality and to change: (1) the publics perception of the importance of air quality; (2) attitudes about the social problem; and (3) specific behaviors, such as single occupancy driving. The issue advocates also sought to focus media attention on air quality, with the expectation that media coverage about the social problem would influence public concern. Therefore, public concern may change in response to the issue advocacy or the media coverage. In each paper of this manuscript, a mechanism or moderator that may account for changes in issue importance was hypothesized. The first paper, entitled The Mechanism of Transference: Projection and Conformity in the Agenda-Setting Process, tests two competing theories (projection and conformity) that may mediate the relationship between media coverage and public concern. The second paper, entitled Testing the Homogeneity Assumption of Public Opinion, tests two competing theories (heterogeneity and homogeneity) that may moderate the relationship between media coverage and public concern. Finally, the third paper, entitled Talk Back: The Impact of Social Communications on Media Coverage and Issue Importance, tests the importance of a mechanism that permits a feedback loop from the public to the media, through social communications. In all cases, the mechanism or moderator was hypothesized at the aggregate or mass level, but the findings shed light on where researchers should look for individual-level effects.
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ItemScientists and Engineers in Academic Research Centers An Examination of Career Patterns and Productivity(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004-03-03) Dietz, James ScottScience policymakers and research evaluators are increasingly focusing on alternative methods of assessing the public investment in science and engineering research. Over the course of the last 20 years, scientific and engineering research centers with ties to industry have become a permanent fixture of the academic research landscape. Yet, much of the research on the careers patterns and productivity of researchers has focused on scientists rather than engineers, specific job changes rather than the career as a whole, and publication productivity measures rather than patent outcomes. Moreover, much of the extant research on academic researchers has focused exclusively on the academic component of careers. As universities increasingly take on roles than were once considered the responsibility of the private sectorsuch as securing patentsand build greater ties with industry, it is timely to reexamine the nature of the contemporary academic career. In this research, I draw on scientific and technical human capital theory to situate the central research question. Specifically, I examine the nature of the career pattern and publication and patent rates of scientists and engineers affiliated with federally-supported science and engineering research centers. The research makes use of curriculum vita (CV) data collected through the Research Value Mapping Program headquartered at the School of Public Policy. Tobit, Poisson, and Neural Network models are used in analyzing the data. In addition, I examine the career patterns of highly productive scholars and contrast those with less productive scholars. The findings suggest that the ways in which academic productivity and career patterns have been conceived may be in need of revision, with a greater attention to diverse productivity outcomes and diverse career patterns. Some of the interpretations of empirical findings in the literature may be misconceived. Moreover, it may be the case that postdoctoral fellowshipa common component of government support for scientific and engineering researchmay be associated with lower career productivity rates. This research contributes to our understanding of research careers with implications for public research policies. Finally, the relatively new method of analyzing CVs and appropriate modeling techniques and the challenges posed by this method are discussed.