The current fiscal crisis in U.S. institutions of higher education is a direct result of the 2008 global recession. The collapse in the financial industry, housing foreclosures, and high unemployment are just a few of the consequences that continue to wreak havoc on state and local governments. Funding cuts continue to trickle down as state revenue sources decline. Debates over what should be funded (national security, health, or education) leave legislative bodies at odds. Higher education is especially vulnerable in part because lawmakers are less willing to slash such programs as Medicaid, children's health insurance and K-12 public education. The competition for state funding leaves public institutions with fewer resources and major deficits to address. Given the challenging fiscal environment that community colleges continue to face, this research, focusing specifically on community colleges in the state of Texas, presents the pressing array of challenges that confront community colleges and identifies the techniques that have been adopted to allocate resources most effectively. Exploration of the issue may provide insight into the best practices, and strategies that can help other institutions address fiscal challenges. A mixed method research design, using survey and interview research methods, was used to implement this study. The survey findings provide useful insights into what is currently going on at Texas community colleges. Follow up interview discussions compliment the survey findings and provide the researcher with important contextual information pertaining to “why” things are as they are based on participant perceptions. / text

Networks function properly only when nodes cooperate to provide service. In many networks, such as ad hoc and interdomain networks, network devices are deployed by different owners. Due to limited communication resources, nodes in such networks may behave selfishly. That is, they are only interested in maximizing their own utilities, leading to selfish networks. Incentives are required in such networks to stimulate cooperation. In wired selfish networks, existing work mainly focuses on traffic assignment among predetermined available paths for one source and destination pair. In wireless selfish networks, available bandwidth is assumed to be fixed and predetermined, and the interferences among flows are ignored. Resource allocation in selfish networks needs to be developed under more general models. This dissertation has devised general analytical models for bandwidth allocation in wired and wireless selfish networks. Based on the analogy between resource allocation in selfish networks and auction, auction theory has been adopted in the design and analysis of resource allocation schemes. With incentives introduced in the schemes, selfish nodes will follow the prescribed algorithm and report their information truthfully so that the system cost is minimized. I firstly propose a general model for bandwidth allocation in wired selfish networks. Bandwidth requirements of call routing requests in a given period are allocated as a batch and satisfied at the end of the period. Then, a centralized mechanism is designed to allocate bandwidth and determine payments with different sequencing strategies. Some properties of the mechanism such as individual rationality and incentive-compatibility are studied. I go on to develop the distributed algorithm in wired selfish networks. Available paths are no longer assumed to be fixed and predetermined. Destination nodes conduct the sub-auctions in a certain order for bandwidth allocation and determine payments in a distributed manner. Truthfulness of the distributed mechanism is guaranteed under Nash equilibrium. This distributed mechanism, as a more scalable solution to allocate bandwidth in wired selfish networks, can still guarantee the performance achieved by existing work. / published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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In an inevitably occurring process, bridges possessing historic, artistic, and engineering significance deteriorate and must be maintained and rehabilitated in order to be kept in service. Ideally, all potentially significant bridges would be properly preserved and continue to beautify and bring character to their surroundings for years to come. However, funding is currently limited for transportation projects in general, and even more so for historic bridge preservation, which some may consider less critical in comparison to other transportation needs. Because of this limitation on resources, it is important that bridge-owning agencies use proper planning and management strategies in order to make the best use of available funding. This thesis presents a framework designed to assist agencies in this process. The framework is devised specifically for TxDOT for use in Tarrant County, Texas, but can be used as a model for agencies anywhere with some modifications to fit the inventory under evaluation. Included in the framework are a methodology for prioritization of bridges within an inventory, guidance on financial and legal procedures, identification of potential funding sources, summary and review of condition assessment practices and bridge mitigation strategies, a template for individual bridge preservation plans, and a framework for resource allocation within a bridge inventory. It can be concluded from this research that early detection of defects, preventive maintenance, condition assessment beyond routine inspection, adjustment of evaluation methodology, and use of engineering judgment when using numerical evaluation methods are critical components of proper management of historic bridges.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2008. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 159 p. : col. ill., col. maps. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 106-110).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-143). Also available in electronic version.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-104). Also available in electronic version.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, March, 1996. / Title from PDF t.p.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rhode Island, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 167-175).