Structural Isomorphism in Australian Nonprofit Organisations

This paper assesses the extent of structural similarity or isomorphism among non-profit organizations in Australia. Based on neo-institutional theory, the paper explains such isomorphism in terms of these organizations’ subordination and dependency, the uncertainties they face, and the networks of experts of which they are a part. The analysis uses the non-profit component of a 2001-2002 random sample of Australian employment organizations. It finds surprisingly little isomorphism in this subsample and few differences in isomorphism according to the level of the factors thought to produce similarity. The discussion of the findings focuses on the suitability of the non-profit sector as the appropriate organizational field within which isomorphism involving these organizations is likely to be produced. Industries, which include all organizations that produce the same product or service, be they non-profit, for-profit, or government, may be more appropriate interactional fields for the development of isomorphis

The Convergence of Health Care Financing Structures: Empirical Evidence from OECD-Countries

In this paper we concentrate on the question whether the financing structure of the health care systems converges. In a world of increasing economic integration convergence in health care financing (HCF) and, hence, decreasing differences in HCF across countries enhance individuals’ (labour) mobility and support harmonization processes. As an indicator for convergence we take the public financing ratio in % of total HCF and in % of GDP. The major finding is that HCF in the OECD countries converged in the time period 1970 – 2005. This conlusion also holds when looking at smaller sub groups of countries and shorter time periods. However, we find evidence that countries do not move towards a common mean and that the rate of convergence is decreasing over time.Convergence, health care system, health care financing

Spectral-luminosity evolution of active galactic nuclei and the cosmic X- and gamma ray background

Coherent electromagnetic dynamo acceleration processes, which act on charge particles within the context of black hole accretion disk scenarios, are generally regarded as the underlying central power source for active galactic nuclei (AGN). If the precursor active galaxies (PAG) for such AGN are formed at high redshift and contain initial seed black holes with mass approximately equal to 10(exp 4) solar masses, then the Eddington limited X-ray radiation emitted during their lifetime will undergo the phenomenon of 'spectral-luminosity evolution'. When accretion disks are first formed at the onset of galaxy formation the accretion rate occurs at very high values of luminosity/size compactness parameter L/R greater than 10(exp 30) erg/cm-sec. In the absence of extended structure, such high values of L/R generate dynamic constraints which suppress coherent, black hole/accretion disk dynamo particle acceleration processes. This inhibits nonthermal radiation processes and causes the spectrum of X-radiation emitted by PAG to be predominantly thermal. A superposition of PAG sources at z is greater than or equal to 6 can account for the residual cosmic X-ray background (CXB) obtained from the total CXB after subtraction of foreground AGN sources associated with present epoch Seyfert galaxies. The manner in which the PAG undergo spectral-luminosity evolution into Seyfert galaxies is investigated