This dissertation investigates how public disclosure of quality information affects the behavior of firms. The first chapter uses a quality disclosure policy, the Nursing Home Quality Initiative (NHQI), to examine how quality "report cards" affect firms' choices of multidimensional product quality. I show that after the introduction of NHQI: (1)...
Subsolidus phase relationships within the ZnO-In<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>-SnO<sub>2</sub> system at 1275 <sup>o</sup>C were established by conventional solid state reaction methods. No new compounds or structures were observed within the ternary diagram. Equilibrium in the ZnO-corner, between the homologous compounds and the spinel phase, was found difficult to achieve. This problem was overcome...
The III-Nitride material system has already proven to be commercially viable for blue light emitting diodes (LEDs), blue laser diodes (LDs), and near UV photodetectors. Continued interest in this field has driven the desire for even lower emission and detection cut-off wavelengths into the solar-blind / deep UV portion of...
Coronary magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) is emerging as a promising method for noninvasive diagnosis of coronary artery diseases. Nonetheless, acquisition of large-coverage high-resolution coronary artery images requires free-breathing acquisition. Accurately measuring and correcting respiratory motion has been one of the major challenges to coronary MRA. Diaphragmatic navigator (NAV), the current...
In the first part of the dissertation, I investigate the nature of retail coupons, a popular tool for non-price competition. The widely expressed view that coupons are primarily a tool to allow price discrimination has received mixed empirical supports. I depart from the static framework of the price discrimination theory...
In male mammals, testosterone (T) is critical for sexual differentiation during development and reproductive success in adulthood. This thesis examines the cellular and molecular processes that mediate T's actions in the male brain and reproductive axis. Although T is clearly necessary for sexual behavior, the cellular mechanisms by which it...
This study explores how the world of popular science helped forge a new civic culture during the tumultuous decades of the mid-eighteenth century. I trace the activities of a wide cast of characters in both England and America, revealing the contours of a tightly knit community of scientists, merchants, doctors,...
Game Theory is the branch of applied mathematics that studies the strategic interaction among intelligent agents. So far, standard Game Theory literature has interpreted "intelligent agents" exclusively as "rational agents". This work points out that this interpretation is an important limitation since intelligence consists of more abilities, some of which...
Granular materials exhibit a wide variety of fascinating physical properties that can be observed both in nature and industry. The goal of this work is to better understand the flow, mixing, and segregation of granular materials in a prototypical system, the rotating tumbler, using numerical modeling, specifically, the Discrete Element...
This work is a research effort aimed at understanding the mechanisms of single-molecule surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SMSERS). In the decade since its discovery in 1997, the role of resonance Raman (RR) enhancement, the origin of blinking, and the properties of the hot spot formed at the junction of two nanoparticles...