Higher education performance-based funding: Benefits and burdens for four-year universities in the state of Texas

Ellis, Robin Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi 2016 해외박사(DDOD)

How to finance higher education remains controversial among policy makers across the United States and Texas is not exempt from the controversy. In 2011, House Bill 9 (H.B. 9) was enacted in Texas to dedicate a portion of state funding to public colleges and universities that meet specific performance-based standards. Although H.B. 9 has been passed and signed into law, it still has not been determined how funding will be distributed or how effective it will be. The study compared expenditures of the 37 public four-year colleges and universities in Texas to anticipated funding amounts based on performance-based indicators established in H.B. 9. The study was descriptive in nature and involved three phases with the third phase culminating in an article for publication. The first phase examined the major aspects and driving forces to performance based funding as it changes the paradigm of how colleges and universities receive public funding. Phase one produced an article published in British Journal of Education, Society, & Behavioral Science (Ellis & Bowden, 2014). The second phase analyzed data from several states with similar performance-based funding standards to help bring to light to the possible effects H.B. 9 will have on Texas' public. Phase two produced a second published article in the Journal of Educational Issues (Ellis & Bowden, 2015). Phase three examined benefits and burdens among public four-year institutions based on funding for performance-based indicators established in H.B. 9. Results showed if general academic, operations and teaching, and space (GAOTS) allocations are made through 2030, institutions benefit through performance-based funding ($4.5 billion support). If they have to rely on bonus dollars only, they will be burdened to reallocate funding from their current budgets on each campus to subsidize ($2 billion) the state's strategic plan to achieve 60x30TX graduation goals. There were several recommendations for future research. First, all institutions stand to gain or lose. However, overall, the regional system institutions stand to gain and lose the most, whereas flagship institutions stand to gain and lose the least. Second, institutions need to be intentional about developing strategies that significantly improve student success, uncovering barriers and enablers to degree and credential attainment, as well as to understanding factors that enable student success. Third, institutions need to rethink student success strategies especially with regard to nontraditional and economically disadvantaged students that make up the majority of the student population at public comprehensive colleges and universities in Texas.

Fictional privacy and private fictions: The developing discourse of fiction in the early American Republic (Charles Brockden Brown)

Ellis, Scott Patrick Emory University 2001 해외박사(DDOD)

<italic>Fictional Privacy and Private Fictions</italic> details the configuration of a discourse of fiction in the United States at the conclusion of the eighteenth century. Despite a proliferation of the printed word following the adoption of a national constitution, fiction—both novels and stories within periodicals—remained a continually contested part of print culture. Although fiction was popular among many readers, its status and position remained in flux, as readers and critics alike sought a vocabulary with which they could publicly address and legitimize the novel and fictional story. Writers, publishers, and book reviewers, along with readers and critics, soon began to formulate such a vocabulary, at the center of which was a conception of “privacy.” This association with privacy was not only a realistic element of fiction writing and reading (whereby readers and writers engaged with the text in their own private spaces), but a discursive construction, one defined and redefined in early American fiction, one that became a pattern of deliberate maneuvering and contestation. Throughout public debates, essays, reviews, and fiction itself, we can witness the prevalence of and importance given to this association, as privacy became central to the manner in which citizens read, evaluated, and even criticized fiction. At the center of this study is Charles Brockden Brown, a writer whose continual involvement with print culture gave him a unique perspective on the formulation of a discourse of fiction. More than any other writer of his era, Brown grappled with and understood the emerging role of fiction and the developing publishing industry, particularly within New York and Philadelphia. Along with many of his peers, Brown sought to Situate fiction as an acceptable and even essential element of print culture, and he did so by continually juxtaposing the language and position of fiction with other social discourses. By examining stories and novels by Brown—in addition to contemporary reviews and works of fiction by such writers as John Davis and Sally Keating Wood—this dissertation investigates the complex configuration of a social vocabulary of fiction, one that developed through the efforts of authors and book reviewers as well as in confrontation with authoritative institutions such as the law and the economy.

Psychological contracts: Assessing similarities and differences in perception of quality communication and work-life promises for blue-collar and white-collar employees

Ellis, Jennifer Butler Michigan State University 2001 해외박사(DDOD)

Organizations often rely on contracts to define and explain the employee-employer relationship. However, some contracts are psychological in nature and may be understood by only one of the contracting parties. This one-sided understanding may lead to the perception of broken promises and frustrating work scenarios. Psychological contracts involve beliefs about obligations that are grounded in promises (Rousseau & Tijoriwala, 1998). Promises regarding quality communication and work-life issues (Ellis, 2001) may be increasingly important in today's changing organizations (Buzzanell, 2000). These workplace changes may influence the employee-employer relationship and lead employees to place a higher value on perceived quality communication and work-life promises. This study used the theoretical framework of psychological contracting (Rousseau, 1995) and role theory (Biddle, 1979) to explore group differences based on occupational workforce membership in the promises and promise violations employees perceive employers have made to them about quality communication and work-life issues. One hundred and sixty-three full-time employees from 30 different organizations completed a survey assessing perceived quality communication and work-life promises and promise violations. As predicted, the data revealed that quality communication and work-life issues formed two separate factors of the psychological contract. A valid set of indicators was obtained for both the factors of quality communication (alpha = .89) and work-life issues (alpha = .84). Furthermore, this study's findings augment the utility of role theory. As predicted, the data suggest that white-collar employees perceive more quality communication promises than blue-collar employees. On the other hand, as predicted there were no significant differences between blue-collar and white-collar employees for work-life issues. Finally, this study considered quality communication and work-life promise violations. In contrast to what was predicted, participants reported positive promise violations rather than negative violations. Again, similarities and differences emerged for blue-collar and white-collar employees. White-collar employees perceived more positive communication violations than blue-collar employees, however, when considering perceived work-life violations, there were no significant differences between blue-collar and white-collar employees. Study implications and future research steps are discussed.

Gender, social support, and sexual practices among central Harlem adults: A population-based study

Ellis, Jennifer Ann Columbia University 2003 해외박사(DDOD)

Rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Central Harlem are the highest of any neighborhood in New York City. The influence of social <italic> networks</italic> on sexual practices has been explored, but analyses have focused on network structures and their ability to influence STI transmission, and have not been extended to investigations of social <italic>support</italic> and quantitative connections to sexual practices. Evidence to date has found that the protective effects of social support on physical and mental health differ by gender. Levels of social support vary by both individual and neighborhood measures of social class. Although levels of social support have been associated with substance use and longevity, the link between social support and sexual practices has yet to be fully investigated. A population-based sample of adults in Central Harlem (the Harlem Household Survey) is used to empirically test three hypotheses: (1) the “protective” hypothesis, which posits that social support leads to positive emotional and informational or instrumental sources, allowing for improved health decision-making and outcomes; (2) the “aiding and abetting” hypothesis, which posits that social support enhances risk behaviors and subsequent adverse health outcomes due to promotion of detrimental social norms that may use imperfect health information; and (3) the “superman” hypothesis, which posits that social support over-protects individuals, leaving them to under-assess the severity of health decisions, despite perfect information. Results supported the “protective” hypothesis, both for the Harlem Household Survey sample overall, and for certain population subgroups defined by gender, age group, marital status, employment status, and church attendance. The extent of the protective effect of social support varied across the sexual behaviors investigated; important differences were found by gender and other sociodemographic factors. No empirical support for the “aiding and abetting” or “superman” hypotheses was obtained in the analyses conducted on these data. Given what is already understood about the role of health decision making and health behaviors in the spread of STIs, this evidence of the protective effect of social support on sexual risk behaviors furthers our current understanding of psychosocial factors involved in decision making, and could greatly contribute to our ability to curb the current health crisis resulting from STIs.

The effects of medium on the expressive vocabulary skills in the spoken narratives of low and middle socioeconomic African-American children with typical language

Ellis, Dawn Carroll Howard University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

This study was designed to examine the effects of medium on the oral narrative skills of typically developing 4 and 5-year-old African-American children. The participants in this study were from low and middle socioeconomic backgrounds. Forty children were divided into groups by age and socioeconomic status (SES). Structurally equivalent stories in two formats: audio-only and video-only were used to elicit narrative samples. All participants received both story presentations. The narrative samples were analyzed for measures of expressive vocabulary defined by total number of words, number of different words and type token ratio (TNW, NDW and TTR, respectively). Expressive vocabulary was scored using Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT Research V8). The result of this study indicate that typically developing 4-year-old African-American children from low and middle SES produced narratives that were immature in measures of expressive vocabulary (TNW, NDW and TTR) when compared to the 5-year-old experimental group. The middle SES children in this study scored higher than the low SES on measures of TNW and NDW. However, children across both SES (low and middle), produced narratives similar in the measure TTR. When exposed to two different presentations (medium) of story stimuli, the children in the current study presented narratives that scored higher in the expressive vocabulary measures of TNW, NDW and TTR in response to the video presentation.

Implementing computerized physician order entry in community hospitals: Vendor perspectives for success

Ellis, Todd D Medical University of South Carolina - College of 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

The purpose of this study was to understand vendor perspectives for successful implementation of Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) in community hospitals. The methodology followed was based on grounded theory with an aim of generating a descriptive and explanatory theory of the likely success factors for CPOE implementations in community hospitals. The primary source of data came from telephone, face-to-face or focus group interviews with CPOE vendor implementation specialists who possessed two or more years of CPOE implementation experience in community hospital settings. The interviews involved semi-structured open-ended questions that were intended to elicit views and opinions from the study participants. Results indicate that several barriers exist that are common with other research studies such as the lack of leadership support and the absence of a strong physician champion. The study results also indicate other factors such as the vendor's historical relationship with the client and the initial project expectations between the client and the vendor can impact the likely success of a CPOE implementation in a community hospital setting.

Family strength patterns as a function of self-concept in low-income urban African American adolescents

Ellis, Cyrus Marcellus University of Virginia 2000 해외박사(DDOD)

This study investigated familial strength patterns as a function of self-concept in Low Income Urban African American Adolescents (LIUAAA). The participants were adolescents from a large southern city in Virginia. The age range of the participants were from 15 years to 18 years of age. Norm comparisons were made on the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale for the research participants. Participants were additionally investigated to determine if a relationship exists between family strength patterns and self-concept. LIUAAA scored equal to or above norm data on the measure of self-concept. Pearson coefficients revealed statistically significant relationships between family functioning and self-concept.

Inference on Bayesian network structures

Ellis, Byron Harvard University 2006 해외박사(DDOD)

Inference with a Bayesian Network is a well-studied problem with the usual statistical results when the Bayesian Network coincides with one of the usual graphical models. Less well studied is the inference on Bayesian Network structure, which is the type of inference that interests biologists who work in high throughput fields such as genomics and proteomics. The primary reasons for the lack of tools for inference in this space is the difficulty of sampling from the posterior marginal distribution of the Bayesian Network given the data when the dimensionality of the network (i.e. the number of vertices) is larger than those found in "toy" problems. We have developed a sampler that addresses this problem to a large degree by taking a fully Bayesian approach to the problem and using MCMC sampling techniques, particularly the Equi-Energy sampler, which has lead to faster sampling and apparently better results. We compare this sampling technique to state-of-the-art competitors in synthetic data sets to demonstrate the effectiveness of the sampler and the construction of effective "edge classifiers" from the samples as compared to other techniques. We also apply these techniques to learning a static Bayesian Network from real high throughput polychromatic flow cytometry data. Finally, we offer directions for future work where the availability of high performance algorithms is a distinct asset as well as suggestions for further improving algorithm performance.

Symptom clusters in breast cancer survivors: Prevalence, predictors, and consequences

Ellis, Lois Meta Ritz University of Florida 2013 해외박사(DDOD)

There are currently 2.9 million women survivors of breast cancer in the United States. Many breast cancer survivors report experiencing multiple simultaneous symptoms. The majority of research, however, has focused on single symptoms. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate symptom clusters, their demographic predictors and functional consequences, among women survivors of breast cancer. The following aims were addressed: (1) To describe the prevalence and number of self-reported physical (pain, fatigue) and mental (depression/anxiety/anger) health symptoms. (2) To determine whether and how symptoms combine to create identifiable clusters. (3) To investigate the relationships between background characteristics and symptom clusters. (4) To investigate the relationships between symptom clusters and functional outcomes (physical function, social role function). The research aims were investigated using a descriptive, exploratory, cross-sectional, secondary analysis study design. Data from 103 women breast cancer survivors from the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) from the National Institutes of Health were analyzed. The women in this sample were mainly White, highly educated, partnered, employed, with a mean age of 60.4 years (Range = 30-85). Data were analyzed with descriptive and non-parametric bivariate analyses. Symptom clusters were analyzed with correlation and cluster analysis. The majority of women survivors of breast cancer in this sample reported experiencing symptoms: 67% pain, 62% fatigue, and 63% depression/anxiety/anger. Most women (n=68, 66%) experienced two or three mildly severe symptoms concurrently. Three symptom clusters were identified: Cluster 1 (All Minimal Symptoms) (n=53), Cluster 2 (All Mild Symptoms) (n=42), and Cluster 3 (All Moderate Symptoms) (n=8). The background characteristic predictors revealed no significant relationships with symptom clusters. There was a trend that women in the more symptomatic clusters were younger. Symptom clusters were significantly associated with the physical and social role functional outcomes. Women in the more symptomatic clusters had lower physical and social role function. Symptoms do cluster and differ based on symptom intensity. Women in clusters with even mild to moderate intensity symptoms reported worse physical and social role functioning. Practitioners need to recognize that even mild, concurrent symptoms may require treatment for optimal daily functioning of women survivors of breast cancer.

Wakes in Inertial Fusion Plasmas

Ellis, Ian Norman University of California, Los Angeles 2014 해외박사(DDOD)

Plasma wave wakes, which are the collective oscillatory response near the plasma frequency to the propagation of particles or electromagnetic waves through a plasma, play a critical role in many plasma processes. New results from backwards stimulated Raman scattering (BSRS), in which wakes with phase velocities much less than the speed of light are induced by the beating of counter-propagating light waves, and from electron beam stopping, in which the wakes are produced by the motion of relativistically propagating electrons through the dense plasma, are discussed. Both processes play important roles in Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF). In BSRS, laser light is scattered backwards out of the plasma, decreasing the energy available to compress the ICF capsule and affecting the symmetry of where the laser energy hits the hohlraum wall in indirect drive ICF. The plasma wave wake can also generate superthermal electrons that can preheat the core and/or the ablator. Electron beam stopping plays a critical role in the Fast Ignition (FI) ICF concept, in which a beam of relativistic electrons is used to heat the target core to ignition temperatures after the compression stage. The beam stopping power determines the effectiveness of the heating process. This dissertation covers new discoveries on the importance of plasma wave wakes in both BSRS and electron beam stopping. In the SRS studies, 1D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations using OSIRIS are performed, which model a short-duration (∼500/&ohgr;0 --1FWHM) counter-propagating scattered light seed pulse in the presence of a constant pump laser with an intensity far below the absolute instability threshold for plasma waves undergoing Landau damping. The seed undergoes linear convective Raman amplification and dominates over the amplification of fluctuations due to particle discreteness. The simulation results are in good agreement with results from a coupled-mode solver when special relativity and the effects of finite size PIC simulation particles are accounted for. Linear gain spectra including both effects are discussed. Extending the PIC simulations past when the seed exits the simulation domain reveals bursts of large-amplitude scattering in many cases, which do not occur in simulations without the seed pulse. These bursts can have amplitudes several times greater than the amplified seed pulse, and an examination of the orbits of particles trapped in the wake illustrates that the bursts are caused by a reduction of Landau damping due to particle trapping. This large-amplitude scattering is caused by the seed inducing a wake earlier in the simulation, thus modifying the distribution function. Performing simulations with longer duration seeds leads to parts of the seeds reaching amplitudes several times more than the steady-state linear theory results, similarly caused by a reduction of Landau damping. Simulations with continuous seeds demonstrate that the onset of inflation depends on the seed wavelength and incident intensity, and oscillations in the reflectivity are observed at a frequency equal to the difference between the seed frequency and the frequency at which the inflationary SRS grows. In the electron beam stopping studies, 3D PIC simulations are performed of relativistic electrons with a momentum of 10mec propagating in a cold FI core plasma. Some of the simulations use one simulation particle per real particle, and particle sizes much smaller than the interparitcle spacing. The wake made by a single electron is compared against that calculated using cold fluid theory assuming the phase velocity of the wake is near the speed of light. The results agree for the first wavelength of the wake. However, the shape of the wake changes for succeeding wavelengths and depends on the background plasma temperature, with the concavity pointing in the direction the electron is moving in cold plasmas and in the opposite direction as the plasma temperature increases. In the warm plasma the curvature is described by electrostatic Vlasov theory (for vparticle >> vth) and is due to the diffraction of the wave, while for cold plasmas the curvature is due to nonlinear radial oscillations of background electrons. Beams with multiple electrons exhibit correlation effects caused by electrons interacting through their wakes. Non-divergent beams are simulated, and a significant time-dependent increase in the stopping power is observed when the average electron spacing is 2c/ope or less. This increase is caused by beam-plasma-like instabilities including self-focusing and/or filamentation and the beam-plasma-like instability. The stopping power growth rate and peak value depend on the beam size and density. For long beams with dimensions of 10c/ope x 10c/ope x 80c/o pe and an inter-particle separation of 0.25c/ope (n b/n0 ≈ 4x 10-3), the peak stopping power averaged over the electrons is (1 +/- 3) x 103 times that of an uncorrelated electron. These results indicate that an enhanced energy-independent or weakly dependent correlated stopping may occur for Fast Ignition scenarios, even for interparticle spacings when discreteness effects are important. The dependence of correlation effects on beam electron separation in terms of c/ope also indicates that Fast Ignition may be possible with core densities below those designed using single-electron stopping powers. Target optimization to exploit correlated stopping in the target core may be possible once the effects of angular spread and energy spread are understood. Furthermore, this work begins to allow a connection from the discrete wakes effect to collective instabilities as the interparticle spacing is decreased relative to the size of the wake due to the use of denser beams, lower plasma densities, and the filamentation/self-focusing of the beam.