UTSA Student Works

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Writing Towards Wellness: The Power of Personal Narratives for Survivors of Domestic Violence
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2016) Johnson, Sonie
According to works by Jenifer Lunden (2013), James W. Pennebaker (2007), and other researchers, narrative writing has proven to be beneficial in helping people recover from traumatic events. Therefore, the use of the narrative writing technique can be a valuable way to assess the dimensions of wellness of survivors of domestic violence. A greater focus on restoration is imperative to developing and maintaining stability, which will result in a better quality of life for survivors, after trauma, displacement, and living in shelters. This study combined personal narrative with research for the purpose of understanding Dr. Bill Hettler�s (1976) �The Six Dimensions of Wellness� of domestic violence survivors, living in a shelter. Participants answered prepared survey questions regarding their occupational, physical, social, intellectual, spiritual, and emotional wellness. The study brought about self-realization for the woman, resulting in a more positive attitude, and insights to areas that they need to address in order to improve the quality of their lives.
The Effect of Political Outcomes across the United States on Income Equality
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2016) Dunn, Zack
The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between a specific measure of inequality and political outcomes across the United States. To test this relationship, I run regressions with the Gini coefficient of the U.S. states across a 40-year time span against which political party was in control of that state's governorship and legislature. I find some evidence that Democratic governors are associated with declining inequality. However, as additional financial and demographic control variables are included, the sample size becomes smaller and the results are not significant.
The Effects of Accent Familiarity and Language Attitudes on Perceived English Proficiency and Accentedness
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2016) Carnicle, Jocelyn; Huang, Becky
If accents are a permanent indicator of difference, to what degree do our accents determine how we are perceived by others? The goal of this project was to examine the relationship between raters� accent familiarity, attitudes toward non-native accents, and their judgments of non-native speech. This project was designed to extend the Huang, Alegre, & Eisenberg (2016) study with several methodological improvements. The study included five groups of raters who vary in their familiarity with Korean and Arabic accents (No Familiarity, Korean Heritage Raters, Korean Non-Heritage Raters, Arabic Heritage Raters, Arabic Non-Heritage Raters). There were 10 raters in each group (n = 50), and all participants consisted of undergraduate or graduate students who were born in the U.S. or immigrated to the U.S. before the age of twelve. Participants listened to 24 speech samples selected from Educational Testing Service�s TOEFL iBT public database, and rated each sample on magnitudes of perceived proficiency and accentedness. After rating the speech samples, participants completed a survey on their demographic background information, attitudes toward accents, rating tendency, and beliefs/perceived cultural factors. Finally, two participants from each group were randomly selected to participate in a face-to-face think-aloud follow-up study to discuss their cognitive processes during rating. Because foreign accents can be subject to negative perceptions and linguistic profiling, understanding the potential sources of biases is critical for removing such biases and improving human communication and interactions.
Signaling Meaning through Punctuation in Writing: Children Transitioning from Oral to Written Argumentation
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2016-04-21) Abdul-Baki, Lial; Ochoa, Melba; Torres-Cruz, Loren; Morales, Joaquinita; Flores, Claire; Franco, Itzel; Guerrero, Samantha; Horowitz, Rosalind
Researchers interested in the development of writing have looked to speech as central to writing development. However, there are differing opinions about how speech relates to or enters into writing. Bloomfield (1933) characterized writing as speech �writ� down while other linguists have taken a more cautious position noting that speech and writing are quite different forms of communication (Chafe & Danielewicz, 1978) and meaning systems (Halliday, 1987). Biber (1986), however, found with adults, there was no single, absolute difference; rather there are a number of different dimensions of variation, with particular types of speech and writing similar or different, depending upon the dimension. The present study examined how children translate speaking into writing during expressions of persuasion. This is a complex activity because an audience is not present when writing, unlike talking. Further, written language is a symbolic expression which incompletely represents sound, gestures, body language�rather often signals meaning through punctuation. We studied oral and written argumentation, recognized by researchers as a complex form of syntactic construction with cause-effect structures. Seven case subjects were three to thirteen years of age, at different stages of language development. We were specifically interested in a) the subject�s oral expression, use of prosodic features of oral language�pauses, pitch, intonation, and stress words�and how they were translated into writing through use of punctuation�commas, signs of exclamation, period use�as part of argumentation (Cordiero, 1988; Horowitz, 2007). Undergraduates preparing to be teachers, enrolled in a child/adolescent based writing development course, asked a subject to persuade mom or dad to take them to Disney World, to participate in a summer camp, to buy new clothes, favorite video, or water slide. The speech was audiotaped and/or video-taped, followed by the writing, with the oral and written transcribed. Using a scoring system, we recorded in the oral modality a) use of prosodic features, b) use of vocalizations, such as whining, begs, c) paralinguistic features, such as head tilts, body language, facial expressions, puppy-like eyes, and in the written modality a) use of punctuation, b) sentence structures, c) sentence length, d) genres of writing. Findings: a) There was considerable variation in persuasion in speaking and writing, with older students more able to create complex cause effect, b) Individual differences were found in personality expression in speaking, with limited punctuation, most not accurate. d) With age, children�s writings become more elaborated, adapted to target audience. Teachers and parents can capitalize on this information by having children speak their ideas before they write, incorporate spoken strategies, where appropriate, into writing, develop use of punctuation signals for the reader.
Lexical-Semantic Transfer and Strategies for Teaching and Learning Putonghua Vocabulary for Cantonese-speaking Learners
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2016-04-26) Cheng, Ka Ying; Li, Ying
Language transfer refers to the language that learners apply to the knowledge of one language to the language that they are learning. According to Bransford (2000), �all new learning involves transfer based on previous learning.� Language transfer includes positive and negative transfer. Positive transfer means the previous knowledge that the language learner obtains from the first language----phonetics, grammar, expressions, and so forth to help the learner learn the new language, while negative transfer means the previous knowledge interferes with the learner�s ability to learn the new language. In the United States, the number of Cantonese speakers who choose to study Mandarin has grown increasingly. While a number of past studies have focused on the language transfer of the phonetics system of the two languages, few studies have paid attention to the semantics system. Cantonese and Mandarin belong to Sino-Tibetan languages family and shared similar characters and grammars, however, the meanings of words with similar characters are comparatively different. Generally speaking, Cantonese speakers encounter more difficulties when learning Mandarin because of this difference of semantics system. The present study focuses on the language transfer of the semantics system from Cantonese language to Mandarin Chinese (Putonghua). By adopting Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis method, the current study (1) analyzed the difference of the meaning of the vocabulary (973 words) from the book, �Great Wall Chinese textbooks�; (2) identified the positive and negative language transfer via comparing the meaning of the words in Cantonese and Mandarin; and (3) explored the strategies that Cantonese-speaking leaner and L2 Mandarin Chinese teachers can use in Mandarin teaching and learning.
Design and Advantage of a Bioretention Area as a Best Management Practice for Low Impact Development on The University of Texas at San Antonio
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2016-05-02) Flores, Felipe Alejandro
Rainfall on urban areas causes polluted runoff water to contaminate the ground. A bioretention basin can minimize this problem. In this project a bioretention basin was designed for future precipitation changes regarding climate change. The bioretention basin was designed for new development on The University of Texas at San Antonio Main campus and includes an economic analysis comparing three different scenarios regarding media and materials. The basin includes sand and crushed glass as media and Cedar Elm and Muhly grass plants as flora, which are native to San Antonio, to achieve the pollution removal needed. After calculating the drainage area and future average precipitation, the TSS removal required by the BMP was obtained. The equivalent depth, water quality volume treated, and the footprint area were then calculated. Recycled water from a current building at UTSA was tested and was suitable for irrigation. The results were as expected regarding the future average precipitation and the size of the basin.
Efficacy of Establishing a Speaking Center at UTSA: A Feasibility Study
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2016-12) Redgate, Kimberly
This research project investigates the feasibility of establishing a speaking center at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). The purpose of the study is to determine if there is a need on campus to provide this resource for students. The basic method of research involves campus-wide student surveys in addition to open-ended questionnaires for faculty and staff. Results suggest general and widespread support from students, faculty and staff for the establishment of a speaking center to serve as a resource for training in public speaking. The conclusions of this study offer recommendations to the administration of the university regarding the establishment of such a resource.
Storyletters Records: Rhetorical Analysis of Seven Select Stories
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2017) Redgate, Kimberly
This research project presents a rhetorical criticism of the Storyletters Records, 1991-2000, located in the University of Texas at San Antonio Special Collections (MS 40). The purpose of this study is to conduct the first research examination of this collection of rhetorical artifacts. The methodology used was Bitzer’s rhetorical situation analysis for each of the seven selected stories separating them into three clusters based on a common theme. Findings revealed that this collection of rhetorical artifacts contains valuable insight toward building community through the story letters. This study concludes that rhetorical artifacts offer alternative perspectives on life and add to cross-cultural understandings.
The Design, Analysis, Build and Test of a Vaccine Management and Preservation System (VacMAPS) to Reduce Vaccine Waste in Healthcare Facilities
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2017) Harbuck, James; Macias, Ana; Weaver, Jeffrey; Weber, Joshua; Hood, R. Lyle
Vaccine expiration due to poor inventory management has cost health clinics in the United States over $100 million dollars in 2015 alone. While costly hi-end inventory systems exist, these are typically only affordable for major hospitals, leaving local clinics without an accessible solution. These needs motivate a low-cost alternative capable of mechanizing and computerizing storage, inventory, and retrieval of refrigerated vaccines. The solution proposed herein is the vaccine management and preservation system (VacMAPS). VacMAPS is a modular add-in capable of integration within existing refrigeration systems. The functional design of VacMAPS was created and refined with input from medical professionals working in hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies. VacMAPS consists of a support frame, dispensing and storing mechanism, a motor, electronics for monitoring and controlling supply, and an inventory tracking software. VacMAPS accurately tracks, monitors and stores 175-300 single vaccine doses. VacMAPS was fabricated and tested for appropriate robustness, function within expected refrigeration conditions, motor performance, electronics and software operation, and functional storage and retrieval capabilities. Assessments demonstrated that VacMAPS can meet the functional and operational requirements identified through the survey of medical professionals nationwide, publishing engineering standards, and Center for Disease Control vaccine handling requirements. The results showed that VacMAPS is a feasible alternative to existing, and far more expensive, commercial vaccine tracking systems and provides an effective solution to vaccine and monetary waste issues in low-cost healthcare clinics. This study concluded that VacMAPS can be an effective, frugal solution for the monitoring and management of refrigerated vaccines in the United States and third-world markets.
Puestos Aparte: Inequity through Migration and Legal Segregation in San Antonio, 1900 to 1930s
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2017) Saenz, Allison
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen : History Repeats History
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2017) Hobbs, Jeremiah E.
Advantages of the Complex Taylor Series Expansion Method for determining Circuit Outputs
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2017-08-31) Roussel, Zachary
The complex Taylor series expansion (CTSE) is a method to compute derivatives numerically with machine precision for real valued functions. This method converts a real-valued function to complex-valued and introduces a small imaginary step to the parameter of interest. In this work, CTSE had been used in an electrical circuit to find the current flowing through a capacitor with respect to the voltage across the capacitor, where the voltage across the capacitor is a complicated solution of a differential equation. The advantage of CTSE is that it can be used to find accurate derivatives of arbitrary functions. A limitation of CTSE is that it can only be used to compute the first order derivative of a function. A numerical example is presente to demonstrate the accuracy of the method.
SmartPlot: Visualization Tool for Aircraft Probabilistic Damage Tolerance Analysis
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2018) Millan, Daniel Ocampo; Millwater, Harry
SmartPlot is an application that reads and plots the files produced by SMART|DT (SMall Aircraft Risk Technology - Damage Tolerance) probabilistic damage tolerance software. SmartPlot provides users with features such as selecting the data to be plotted, comparing results from multiple executions, and exporting plots as vector graphics in Portable Document Format. This application is based on a Finite State Machine (FSM) that automatically detects the characteristics of the file to be plotted. SmartPlot is written in Java, uses free software, and can be distributed as a Java ARchive (JAR) file that will run on any machine with Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 8.
Mechanics and Control of Pumping a Playground Swing and Robotic Implementation
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2018) Gerardo, Aaron Rios; Bhounsule, Pranav A.; Galloway, Joseph D.
We explored the mechanics of a simple pendulum to find the best method to increase the amplitude the fastest way possible. In our experiment, we used MATLAB to simulate the equations of motion and test different approaches to pumping a pendulum. In addition, we used LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Core Sets to demonstrate the theoretical equations with a physical pumping swing robot. Three different pumping methods were utilized and analyzed by the MATLAB simulations and one was used in the hardware section. The goal was to determine which method increased the amplitude of the swing after a specific amount of oscillations. Upon completion of the experiment, we confirmed that pumping a swing in a pattern-based motion did increase the amplitude of a pendulum. Our results showed that the combined pumping method increased the pendulum amplitude the fastest.
U.S. College Students' Norms in Communicating about Race
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2018) Pan, Qiujie (Blair)
Controlling their Bodies: Ancient Roman Women and Contraceptives
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2018) Brazan, Madison
For women in ancient Rome, pregnancy related deaths were one of the leading causes of death because of a higher likelihood of infection or complications during the birth, compared to women in contemporary Italy, such as uterine hemorrhage. Ancient Roman women, in particular women who were not as wealthy and women who worked as prostitutes, had even more of an urgent need to prevent pregnancy than wealthier women who could afford more than one child. Therefore, they had an incentive to obtain to get birth control either because they would not have been able to afford more children or because getting pregnant would have hurt their livelihood as a prostitute. However, the most common categories of birth control were quite different in antiquity. The most common categories of birth control included herbal options, pessaries, and folk remedies. I will be investigating what the ancient Roman women used as contraceptives, citing various sources, including Soranus’ Gynecology and Dioscorides’ De Materia Medica.
Comparison of Gene Set Analysis with Various Score Transformations to Test the Significance of Sets of Genes
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2018) Arreola, Ivan; Han, David
Microarray analysis can help identify changes in gene expression which are characteristic to human diseases. Although genomewide RNA expression analysis has become a common tool in biomedical research, it still remains a major challenge to gain biological insight from such information. Gene Set Analysis (GSA) is an analytical method to understand the gene expression data and extract biological insight by focusing on sets of genes that share biological function, chromosomal regulation or location. Thing systematic mining of different gene-set collections could be useful for discovering potential interesting gene-sets for further investigation. Here, we seek to improve previously proposed GSA methods for detecting statistically significant gene sets via various score transformations.
The Children Left Behind: Education and Race Reconstructing San Antonio, 1865-1877
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2018) Vegerano, Sarah
An Emerging Literature: Reading Video Games in the Classroom
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2018) Willingham, Kaylee
The question as to whether or not video games can be seen as literature is an ongoing debate. Cases are strongly made for both sides, and the conversation surrounding it is receiving widespread interest. In order to contribute to this ongoing discussion, this paper analyzes this emerging media within the realm of a literature classroom to better see, and understand, how video games have grown from their beginnings and entered the realm of storytelling. Understanding that the various genres of video games limits their ability to be seen as literature, while working to rebuke the stigmas that surround video games altogether, I claim that video games have an opportunity to not only allow for a new field of study and criticism, but enhance the argumentation and analysis that already exists. By looking at the current discussions regarding video games, as well as the listings and reception of video games within universities, I hope to give evidence and reasoning to back up and contribute to the idea that video games will soon be introduced into the classrooms and criticized as a narrative genre.
The Relationship Between Anxiety and Social Support in College Students
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2018) Ackerman, Abbie; Martinez, Cristal; Knight, Cory; McNaughton-Cassill, Mary
This study seeks to understand in greater detail how anxiety relates to students’ future aspirations and goals, perception of university support, life satisfaction, and university guidance. We hypothesized that future aspirations and goals, university environment, and life satisfaction would negatively relate to anxiety. We also hypothesized that university environment would be positively related to life satisfaction, guidance, and future aspirations and goals. Last future aspirations and goals would negatively relate to guidance

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