How are default storage quotas set in Exchange 2010

In the EMC under Organization Configurtion -> Mailbox I have the Default Archive and Retention Policy and when I access the properties->Mailboxes tab for this policy it shows only a handful of mailboxes assigned to this policy.  However if I navigate to Recipient Configuration -> Mailbox -> %User% -> Properties -> Mailbox Settings -> Storage Quota -> Properties the 'use mailbox database defaults' is checked. In the same window under Deleted item retention the 'use mailbox database defaults' is unchecked,  the "Keep deleted items for (days): is set to 14 and the "do not permanently delete items until you back up the database" option is checked.

1. Where within the EMC can I located the database defaults?

2. If every user in my environment (with the exception of a handful) is configured to not use mailbox database defaults for Deleted item retention, whiy does every user have 14 days set as the number of days to keep deleted items? Where is it pulling this number from?
 
3. When I attempt to change the number of days to keep items deleted or uncheck the "do not permanently delete items until you back up the database" I get a Warning that the command was completed but nothing was changed and when I look back at the properties the changes are not taken, why?