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Program Evaluation Report: Serving the Working Poor and Those Experiencing Homelessness in Midtown Houston
(2024-06-01) McIntyre, Teresa; Varghese, Shainy; Taylor, Pat; Ward, Juanita
This report details the program evaluation results on the services and activities of the University of Houston College of Nursing Health Clinic since its establishment in September 2021 to provide primary care services for those experiencing homelessness and the working poor in Midtown Houston. The program evaluation aims to produce an evidence base to refine the care provided and better serve the needs of this population. The report outlines clinic operations for its first two years of service and presents preliminary data on clinic services rendered in the first semester of its third year (September 2023 through February 2024). Interprofessional Education activities completed at the clinic are also reported. The report also discusses the implications of the program evaluation results for best practices to increase access to care for the underserved and for addressing social determinants of health
Identifying Rare Earth Elements Using a Tripod and Drone-Mounted Hyperspectral Camera: A Case Study of the Mountain Pass Birthday Stock and Sulphide Queen Mine Pit, California
(2024-09-09) Qasim, Muhammad; Khan, Shuhab D.; Sisson, Virginia; Greer, Presley; Xia, Lin; Okyay, Unal; Franco, Nicole
As the 21st century advances, the demand for rare earth elements (REEs) is rising, necessitating more robust exploration methods. Our research group is using hyperspectral remote sensing as a tool for mapping REEs. Unique spectral features of bastnaesite mineral, has proven effective for detection of REE with both spaceborne and airborne data. In our study, we collected hyperspectral data using a Senop hyperspectral camera in field and a SPECIM hyperspectral camera in the laboratory settings. Data gathered from California’s Mountain Pass district revealed bastnaesite-rich zones and provided detailed insights into bastnaesite distribution within rocks. Further analysis identified specific bastnaesite-rich rock grains. Our results indicated higher concentrations of bastnaesite in carbonatite rocks compared to alkaline igneous rocks. Additionally, rocks from the Sulphide Queen mine showed richer bastnaesite concentrations than those from the Birthday shonkinite stock. Results were validated with thin-section studies and geochemical data, confirming the reliability across different hyperspectral data modalities. This study demonstrates the potential of drone-based hyperspectral technology in augmenting conventional mineral mapping methods and aiding the mining industry in making informed decisions about mining REEs efficiently and effectively.
Hydraulic Fracture Closure Detection Techniques: A Comprehensive Review
(2024-09-05) Gabry, Mohamed Adel; Eltaleb, Ibrahim; Ramadan, Amr; Rezaei, Ali; Soliman, Mohamed Y.
This study reviews methods for detecting fracture closure pressure in both unconventional and conventional reservoirs using mathematical models and fluid flow equations. It evaluates techniques such as the Nolte method, tangent method, and compliance method. The investigation relies on observing changes in fluid flow regimes from preclosure to postclosure using fluid flow equations to examine the postclosure flow regime effect on the G function. Reverse calculations model pressure decline across synthesized flow regimes, facilitating a detailed investigation of the closure process. The analysis reveals that the tangent method is sensitive to postclosure fluid flow, while the compliance method is less effective in reservoirs with significant tortuosity or natural fractures. This paper recommends assessing natural fractures’ characteristics and permeability to identify the source of leak-off before selecting a technique. It proposes integrating various methods to comprehensively understand subsurface formations, combining their strengths for accurate fracture closure identification and a better understanding of subsurface formations. The new proposed workflow employs the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) technique for fracture closure detection, avoiding physical model preassumptions or simplifications to confirm the results. This approach offers guidance on selecting appropriate methods by integrating different techniques.
This Is Our Home It Is Not for Sale: Forming and transforming Houston's Riverside Terrace
(2023-03-24) Vinson, Emily
This Is Our Home, It Is Not For Sale (1987) is a documentary by Houston native Jon Schwartz that tells the story of Houston’s Riverside Terrace neighborhood struggle with forces seen across the U.S. in the 20th century: housing segregation, white-flight, and gentrification. Developed in the early 1920s as an upper middle-class neighborhood, Riverside Terrace, situated in Houston’s Third Ward, boasted large homes and wooded lots with easy access to Houston’s downtown. Marketing materials promised “wise restrictions [to] insure permanently a desirable neighborhood.”1 Early on, many members of Houston’s Jewish community, blocked by deed restriction from living in River Oaks, moved into Riverside Terrace. By the 1950s, the neighborhood was well established as a wealthy and upper middle-class neighborhood with Jewish and non-Jewish white residents. In 1953 a wealthy Black cattle rancher, Jack Caesar, had his white secretary buy a home in the neighborhood and his family moved in. In response, the neighbors on Wichita Street pooled their money in an attempt to buy him out. When he declined, someone set off a bomb on his front porch. Uninjured and undeterred, the Caesar family remained in their home. Slowly, more Black families began to “move South of the Bayou.” Throughout the 1950s, some realtors played on homeowner’s anxieties about integration and falling home prices with relentless blockbusting. White residents began to flood out of Riverside for new neighborhood developments further from central Houston. In response, some white home owners began a yard sign campaign declaring “This is Our Home, It is Not for Sale” and hoped to stem the tide of home sales and create an integrated neighborhood. However, by 1970, the white population in the neighborhood had fallen from over 90% a few decades earlier to under 10%. Simultaneous to this demographic shift, a major highway (288) was built – splitting the neighborhood in two, and a county psychiatric hospital was constructed in the neighborhood. Many of the amenities that made Riverside desirable, such as shopping and entertainment along Almeda Road, diminished. Though many of the stately homes were still occupied, some had been left to ruin. At the end of the film, there is a hint of gentrification beginning. In 2022, the city of Houston attempted to designate Riverside Terrace a historic neighborhood, however this initiative did not gain enough support among residents and was unsuccessful. Drawing on This Is Our Home, It Is Not For Sale, the film’s b-roll interviews digitized by the University of Houston Libraries through a TexTreasures grant, conversations with the film’s director, and additional research, this paper will explore notions of borders – both real and artificial and the ways in which Riverside Terrace speaks to larger themes present in the history of 20th century US urban areas.
Dr. Richard I. Evans and the Innovation of Educational Television
(Center for Public History, University of Houston, 2022-04) Vinson, Emily
This article examines the history of educational television in Houston, focusing on KUHT-TV, the first public television station in the U.S., launched in 1953. Developed through a partnership between the University of Houston and HISD, KUHT offered innovative educational programming despite financial and technological challenges. A key figure in its success was Dr. Richard I. Evans, whose leadership helped shape the station’s direction. The article highlights KUHT’s role in advancing public education and its influence on the broader landscape of educational media in the U.S.