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The County-Level Impact of Telemedicine: A Difference-in-Differences Analysis of the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Telemedicine Initiatives
Get PDFMississippi has the fewest active physicians per capita of any state, consistently struggles with high rates of acute and chronic illness, and over half of its residents live in rural areas lacking specialty medical care. In an effort to bridge the state’s geographical gap in access to healthcare, the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) has introduced telemedicine. This study conducts an analysis of some of the societal benefits of UMMC’s telemedicine initiatives using a difference-in-differences identification strategy. This model attempts to obtain the county-level causal effects of implementing telemedicine by evaluating the resulting changes in length of life, quality of life, and other relevant health outcomes. Though this study does not find any statistically significant results, many of the estimates of these changes do indicate movement in the direction of improved county health. This is encouraging given that telemedicine’s widespread use is relatively recent and the analysis may be suffering from a low incidence rate. Some of the estimates are also large with large standard errors, indicating that some telemedicine programs may have a great impact though this model is not able to accurately estimate that impact. These results provide hope that as the use of telemedicine continues to expand in the state of Mississippi collection of related data will enable further and more accurate analysis
The Mississippi Adequate Education Program: an Overview and Policy Proposal
Get PDFHistorically, Mississippi is one of the lowest performing states when it comes to kindergarten-twelfth grade education. Mississippi also consistently has one of the lowest amounts of money dedicated to kindergarten-twelfth grade education. It has been suggested that there is a correlation between these two facts, but over the past twenty years, nothing has changed in the way that Mississippi funds education. The current model is written in the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, which allocates money to education based upon a per-year decision by the Mississippi Department of Education to take money from the general fund of the state’s budget. This has led to MAEP being fully funded only three times since its implementation in 1997. Despite efforts to revise the current funding model, the state continues to underfund education and rely on local taxes to supplement the low level of state funding. This study serves to investigate the way that the state funds education, evaluate whether or not the current system is working, and introduce a policy proposal that will provide Mississippi with a more consistent and adequate basis for education funding
Effects of Predation on the Biochemical Constituents of the Bleached Soft Coral Sinularia polydactyla
Get PDFClimate change can indirectly affect the level of predation on soft corals. As sea temperatures rise, more and more bleaching events are occurring, which can affect the production of chemical defenses and the concentrations of the biochemical constituents that make up the soft corals. These changes may make the soft corals more attractive to predators. This phenomenon is suggested by the environmental stress theory (EST), which states that under stressful conditions, more of an organism’s energy is allocated to survival rather than to other factors, such as reproduction or predator deterrence. To test the effect of predation on already bleached soft corals, an array of different cage types was placed over the soft coral Sinularia polydactyla to show how the cages affected biochemical constituents in the soft corals. Percent carbohydrates were highest in uncaged soft corals, suggesting a cage effect because the cage did not block any sunlight or slow the rate of photosynthesis in these individuals. Percent protein was highest in caged soft corals, suggesting a predation effect because the cage inhibited predators from feeding on the soft corals. In contrast, there was no significance between the treatments for percent lipid or percent ash. In conclusion, climate change has caused an increasing number of bleaching events, and although only the decreased protein concentration appeared to be a direct effect of predation, carbohydrates are also indirectly affected by predation and directly affected by loss of the coral’s zooxanthellae symbionts due to bleaching
Analyzing Students’ Perception of Their Writing Skills and the Effects of 100-Level Writing Course Exemptions in the School of Business Administration at the University of Mississippi
Get PDFFor my thesis I have conducted research in the area of writing skills developed in an undergraduate setting through first-year writing courses. After researching current scholarship on the writing skills of recent business graduates, student athletes, and students who have participated in high school Advanced Placement (AP) programs, I have isolated my research for students in the School of Business Administration at the University of Mississippi (UM). Additionally I researched individualized tutoring strategies for each of these groups. I conducted a brief survey using Qualtrics, an online anonymous survey platform. This survey was emailed to 2,000 randomly selected students in the UM School of Business Administration asking about their experiences with first-year writing courses, the curriculum for the School of Business Administration, and their perception of how well prepared they feel for the writing expected of them in their future workplace.
My data results showed that most students did feel at least moderately prepared for the writing expected of them in their future workplace based on the writing skills developed during their time as an undergraduate student in the UM School of Business Administration. However, the data also showed no real correlation between high school AP students being more prepared than non-AP students for collegiate writing. Also, AP test scores were not a predictor of higher grades or perception of stronger writing skills.
Additionally, the data showed that while students see the benefits of additional taking English or writing courses, they are not willing to take beyond what is already required of their major. The data for student athletes who are members of the UM School of Business Administration was inconclusive because there were so few respondents.
From my data I can conclude that despite first-year writing course exemptions, most students in the UM School of Business Administration do feel as though they have received an adequate education in building writing skills necessary for their futures. However, additional writing courses or writing assignments would help show the importance of a strong writing foundation and would only strengthen the skills these students already possess making them more viable hires and employees
The Yasuní ITT Initiative and the Creation of Global Green Sovereignty
Get PDFThe Yasuní-ITT Initiative was an international financing scheme in which the Ecuadorian government agreed to forgo drilling in the Yasuní National Park in exchange for foreign compensation in the amount of $3.6 billion USD over 12 years. Embedded in a global framework of revenue redistribution for development, the Yasuní-ITT Initiative established a model of global environmental care based on global North-South difference and historical ecological debt. In doing so, it impacted, through prospective flows of aid, the conceptualization of Ecuadorian sovereignty
A Compilation of Accounting Case Studies
Get PDFThis thesis has been prepared to meet requirements for the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College in alliance with The Patterson School of Accountancy. Throughout the course of a year, I studied and researched various topics within the world of accounting and business. This thesis serves as a compilation of each of those cases. Topics vary from issues dealing with inventory, revenue, and depreciation to sifting through the FASB’s Codification to support client requests. Each case presents a new topic within accounting with support for the given question or issues the client presented. At the end of each case, an outcome has been reached that aided the client. Research has been presented through executive summaries, journal entries, data analysis, and financial statement comparisons
Elder Care in Chile and the US: Two Models of Culture Change
Get PDFThis project examines two long-term care models: the Green House Project model and the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged in Viña del Mar, Chile, under the lens of the long-term care culture change movement to explore what can be learned from each of these models to allow elders to grow in dignity and autonomy. The research methods used were primarily participant and non-participant observation, informal interviews, and review of social scientific and gerontological literature. Elements of culture change were found to be present in each model, both of which aim to provide person-centered care to elders. The Green House Project succeeds in providing holistic resident directed care through the execution of deep culture change but faces some obstacles in widespread adoption due to systematic obstacles. The Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged in Chile provides person-centered care with less thorough implementation of deep culture change and faces obstacles in sustainability and replicability due to its nature as an organization run by a religious order
Effects of texting on neck muscle activity and neck flexion in college students.
Get PDFCollege students are susceptible to tech neck, a possible musculoskeletal disorder producing neck strain due to texting. The primary aim of this study was to determine whether texting among college students produces any significant effects on the trapezius and sternocleidomastoid muscles and neck flexion. To the best ofmy knowledge, no study in the literature has studies the effects of texting taking into consideration factors specific to college students, such as carrying a backpack and different environments (e.g.
stairs, hallways). This justifies my primary aim of examining collegiate factors (i.e. backpack, environment) influence on neck muscle activity and flexion in students while texting. The secondary aim ofthis study was to determine whether there are differences in neck muscle activity and neck flexion between sexes existed when texting.
The experimental design consisted of 15 females and 16 males, at The University of Mississippi during the fall 2017 semester. Surface electromyography electrodes placed on the trapezius and sternocleidomastoid muscles o f the side o f the dominant hand were used to determine muscle activity differences between texting and non-texting tasks, between environments (e.g. hallway, stairs), between carrying and not carrying a backpack, and between sexes. Four possible neck muscle flexions were possible: trapezius forward flexion, trapezius lateral flexion, sternocleidomastoid forward flexion, and sternocleidomastoid lateral flexion. Photograms ofparticipants, while performing tasks while not texting and texting with and without their backpack, were taken to determine neck flexion. Three-way ANOV A (significance at p < 0.05) and estimated marginal means were used to analyze the data.
There were no significant differences in neck muscle activity between any combination o f sex, texting, and environment. There were no significant differences in neck muscle activity between sex, environment, and carrying a backpack excluding the trapezius lateral flexion between sexes. Mean muscle activity of females was greatest for all possible flexions excluding the sternocleidomastoid lateral flexion. Mean muscle activity while texting was greater for the stairs environment, when not carrying a backpack, but was roughly the same as mean muscle activity in the hallway environment when carrying a backpack. Mean muscle activity while texting in the hallway environment increased when carrying a backpack. There was significant difference in neck flexion between sexes. Mean neck flexion of all participants increased when
performing texting tasks. Mean neck flexion while texting with no backpack and texting with a backpack were roughly equal. Based on the results of this study, texting does not cause musculoskeletal disorders. Furthermore, there are apparent gender differences in muscle activity and neck flexion while texting
The Path to Math: Analysis of Student Mathematical Stories
Get PDFIn this thesis, I address the issue of American students’ dislike of mathematics. I explored this issue in two parts: distributing a survey to undergraduates of the University of Mississippi and then conducting interviews of students at the same university about their past feelings and emotions about mathematics. Interview data was analyzed and coded through Dedoose, a qualitative data program. Analysis of each interviewee’s data set led to the establishment of different mathematical “paths” that students follow in their mathematics education. The five paths emerging from the data – Arrow, Improvement, Revelation, Sparkless, and Almost Revelation – provide a more individualized look at education and provide clues on how to help students change their minds and attitudes about mathematics
A Compilation of Analyses of Financial Reporting
Get PDFThe purpose of this paper is to explore financial reporting topics through twelve separate case studies. The following cases were completed over the course of a year in the independent study class Accy 420. The case studies provided the opportunity to explore accounting topics beyond the journal entries typically taught in accounting classes. In-class discussions and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification guided the development of the solutions to the twelve cases. For each case, I learned the applicable FASB guidance and the theory behind the appropriate accounting treatment. The case studies allowed me to explore topics ranging from potential fraud schemes to a new revenue recognition principle. The cases also provided the opportunity to develop Microsoft Excel and research skills. Through the knowledge gained from the completion of these studies, I am better equipped to think critically in my professional career