UH Faculty, Staff, and Student Works
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Item 1771, A Literary History: Genre, Origin, and Authorship(2023-04-13) Haddad, Tatiana; Knappenberger, James; Gurule, AlexandraThe 1771 Project sought to create a literary history confined to a single year and to three cities through creating an organized database of the wide range of literature circulating at that time. The unique approach of this project is its presentation and analysis of these assorted literatures as a focused representation of the literary, philosophical, and political genres and themes present in the literary scene at the time, in addition to its usefulness in attempting to reconstruct a semblance of daily life in the year 1771. Genre becomes the intangible webbing between the social, temporal, and geographic contexts of writings, as it becomes invaluable in the grouping and analysis of specific texts. By creating separate 'genre systems' and approximating the print environments of London, Edinburgh, and Philadelphia through these genre groupings, this project has connected the social and cultural narratives of 1771 to the variations in genre present in that year. Through this novel approach to digital histories and focus on genre contexts, the 1771 Project has produced a snapshot of the print environment of 1771 and the associated demographics behind its creation.Item 18-Month Mobile Brain-Body Imaging (MoBI) Data Correlating with Daily Tasks: Findings in Alpha-band Frequencies(2019) Alarcon, Christian Bernard; Bellman, Devon E.Current neuroscience studies have failed to capture the progressive, long-term nature of the creative process, limiting the intricate system into single-session controlled experiments. Through the advancement of MoBI technology, we utilized context-aware documentation to monitor and record EEG data from a multimedia installation artist as she undergoes the creative process. This dataset propels brain-computer interfaces closer to real-world applications by answering the question: can EEG data from natural settings be analyzed using MoBI technology? In this 18-month longitudinal study, using a dry-electrode wireless headset a home-security camera, and a personal journaling phone app, EEG data is collected from real-world settings -- the comfort of an artist's home as she creates an art installation. Then, the data was separated by task-specific labels based off video and journal annotations. EEG and video were simultaneously recorded, resulting in over 400 hours of data. To determine the validity of the datasets, we have explored EEG findings in the alpha-band region (8-12 Hz). After scalp mapping the average EEG of the tasks, we notice a difference in alpha power from the prefrontal cortex (PFC) to the parietal region. Also, when comparing alpha power through potential baseline activities, a shift toward the parietal regions is also evident. We are working to open-source the multimodal dataset to allow others to verify findings and discover potential uses. We hope for the public EEG data to help create advances in merging brain-machine interfaces closer to the real world as wireless, wearable, non-invasive systems. This project was completed with contributions from Jesus G. Cruz-Garza from Corner University.Item 1917- 1918 Influenza Epidemic Project(2022-04-14) Lopez-Herrera, CarolinaThe 1917-1918 Influenza Epidemic was one of most deadly infections, killing approximately 50 million people. The Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage program has collected, preserved, and digitized Hispanic newspapers from that era, which allows us to gain a better understanding of life during the 1917-1918 epidemic. During the 1917-1918 influenza epidemic, many media outlets and documents were heavily censored because countries involved in World War I, including the United States, did not want to decrease public morale toward the war effort. The only country that allowed for mass publication and reporting on the subject was Spain, one of the few countries that remained neutral during the war. Since it was the only country reporting on the illness, media across the world coined the derogatory term, “Spanish Flu.” This heavy censorship resulted in little documentation of the illness, the spread, or precautions taken, severely limiting public knowledge of the influenza. Furthermore, the information published was broad, scarce, and undermined the severity of the epidemic. Most of these publications did not take into consideration how flu affected different communities, especially People of Color. Because US Hispanic publications were written in Spanish, they did not experience the same level of censorship.Item 2011-01 DATABook-Houston(Hobby Center for Public Policy, 2/1/2011) Hobby Center for Public Policy, University of HoustonItem 2011-02 DATABook-Houston(2/14/2012) Hobby Center for Public Policy, University of HoustonItem 2011-03 DATABook Houston(2/14/2012) Hobby Center for Public Policy, University of HoustonItem 2018 STEM Librarians South Conference Slideshow(2018-07-20) Lopez, EricaItem 2018 STEM Librarians South Conference: Schedule of Events and Abstracts(University of Houston Libraries, 2018-07-20)The complete schedule of events and abstracts for the 2018 STEM Librarians South Conference, hosted by University of Houston Libraries, July 19 & 20, 2018. The STEM Librarians South Conference focuses on topics related to STEM librarianship and is hosted in a different location and institution each year.Item 3D Modeling of Chromosomes Territories in Normal and Aneuploid Nuclei(2017) Yen, Fan-Yun; Merchant, Fatima AzizItem 3D Printed Limb Prosthesis(2022-04-14) Edquilang, DavidResearch and development of a 3D printed prosthetic arm which seeks to tackle the issues of high cost and discomfort associated with professionally-made prosthetics.Item 3D Printing Soft Electronics(2018-10-18) Hunter, BriannaThe University of Houston received NSF funding to hold an REU researching Neurotechnologies to help the body move, heal, and feel again. Of specific importance is developing brain machine interfaces that optimize both safety and functionality. The devices that maximize functionality are devices that are implanted directly on the brain, but this is dangerous, and human tests are still distant in the future. In order to create safe devices that are able to be placed directly on the surface of organs, such as the brain and heart, soft electronics, which have similar mechanical properties as soft organs. The problem lies in mass producing these soft electronics. Our solution to this fabrication issue lies in directly 3D printing these electronics onto flexible substrates.Item 5 A’s Intervention to Increase Smoking Cessation in Primary Care(2019-04-12) Mobolade, ChristianaTobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death in US adults. Healthcare providers have frequent contacts with their patients yearly in primary care clinics and are well positioned to identify patients who smoke and to assist with smoking cessation. The Agency for Healthcare Research recommends a comprehensive smoking cessation intervention, the “5 A’s,”; to ask, advise, assess, assist, and arrange smoking cessation interventions for patients who smoke (Grandes, Cortada, & Arrazola, 2018). This evidence-based project shows the effectiveness of the 5 A’s comprehensive smoking cessation intervention in every day routine consultation in primary care to increase smoking cessation.Item A Black Death: Can Relic Oysters Be Used in Restoration Efforts?(2018-10-18) Sanchez-Ruffra, RachelThe eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, plays an important role in estuarine ecosystems, but populations have been decimated compared to historic levels. Large storm events, including hurricanes, periodically eliminate populations through freshwater input and sediment deposition, leading to death and entombment of shell in sediments. Buried within anoxic sediments, shells turn “black”, and with limited shell for restoration, resource managers have dredged this alternative substrate for larval settlement. Value for “black” shell to facilitate larval recruitment is unknown and this study examined the effectiveness of “black” sun cured shell, freshly removed “black” oyster shell, and normal restoration shell, taking into account background oyster population demographics. Oyster recruitment was significantly greater on sun cured black shell, algal growth on shells was ubiquitous among treatments, and larval recruitment was extremely limited. No significant difference was found from recorded oyster population characteristics, as they were similar to levels after initial construction. This suggests sun cured black shell can be utilized for restoration efforts, but immediate dredging efforts may be impractical. Further, the impact from large storms, such as Hurricane Harvey, can impact settlement substrate and larval supply, thus, resource managers should consider both factors when implementing future restoration efforts.Item A brief measure of peer affiliation and social acceptance (PASA): Validity in an ethnically diverse sample of early adolescents(Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 3/10/2014) Dishion, Thomas J.; Kim, Han Joe; Stormshak, Elizabeth A.; O'Neill, MayaObjective Conduct a multiagent–multimethod analysis of the validity of a brief measure of deviant peer affiliations and social acceptance (PASA) in young adolescents. Peer relationships are critical to child and adolescent social and emotional development, but currently available measures are tedious and time consuming. The PASA consists of a youth, parent, and teacher report that can be collected longitudinally to study development and intervention effectiveness. Method This longitudinal study included 998 middle school students and their families. We collected the PASA and peer sociometrics data in Grade 7 and a multiagent–multimethod construct of deviant peer clustering in Grade 8. Results Confirmatory factor analyses of the multiagent–multimethod data revealed that the constructs of deviant peer affiliations and social acceptance and rejection were distinguishable as unique but correlated constructs within the PASA. Convergent, discriminant, concurrent, and predictive validity of the PASA was satisfactory, although the acceptance and rejection constructs were highly correlated and showed similar patterns of concurrent validity. Factor invariance was established for mother and for father reports. Conclusions Results suggest that the PASA is a valid and reliable measure of peer affiliation and of social acceptance among peers during the middle school years and provides a comprehensive yet brief assessment of peer affiliations and social acceptance.Item A Case for Competencies: Assessing the Value of Trait-Based Performance Appraisal for Non-Faculty University Employees(Educational Policy Analysis Archives, 5/11/2016) Messa, Emily A; Horn, Catherine L.; Longacre, Teri Elkins; Olenchak, F. Richard; Penney, Lisa M.A case study analyzed how supervisors at one university selected competencies, or trait-based skills, for non-faculty employees. This case study provides a valuable contribution by focusing on employees at one institution type–a large, public research university. While it has been documented that non-faculty employees provide important contributions to higher education, there is more to be discovered about this population of university employee, noted as more than 2 million U.S. employees in 2011. The research question guiding this study was: Within a university setting, how are employee competencies valued by job title within colleges and divisions? Multiple correspondence analysis evaluated supervisor competency selection for 1,836 non-supervisory and 565 supervisory employees using data from this university’s 2012 performance appraisal. For non-supervisory employees, the first dimension accounted for 65.11% of adjusted inertia, or explained variance. The second dimension accounted for 23.89% of adjusted inertia. For supervisory employees, the first dimension accounted for 86.57% of adjusted inertia. The second dimension accounted for 8.26% of adjusted inertia. The key study finding was that, despite the availability of other higher-education specific competency alternatives and best practices for competency use in the appraisal, this institution’s implementation of competencies was found to be mechanical. This study proposed best practices for this and similarly situated institutions as to how competencies can be used to develop employees and improve their performance.Item A Comparison of Self Reported Physical Activity and ActiGraph Recorded Physical Activity Amongst Young Adults(2017-10-12) Love, Avery N.; Dolan, Chad T.Introduction. A quick, inexpensive, and noninvasive method to assess the physical activity (PA) level of an individual is to use a questionnaire in which a subject recalls their usual weekly activity. The information from the questionnaire can then be compared to healthy guidelines and the PA level of the subject can be determined. Although efficient, questionnaires are highly subjective and their accuracy can vary. Discussion. It was hypothesized that young adults would underestimate their physical activity, but these subjects were not able to accurately report their PA. This outcome could be due to the level of specificity of the CHAMPS questionnaire. Questions should be more targeted and inquire about all possible activities the subjects might overlook. The majority (3 out of 4) physically inactive subjects were not able to correctly classify their PA level.Item A comparison of speech patterns in children with cochlear implants and their peers with normal hearing(2020-05) Houston, HaleyPurpose: The current study investigates the speech patterns of young children with cochlear implants and their peers with normal hearing by comparing group differences on typical and atypical phonological processes, phonological whole-word measures, and segmental accuracy. Method: Data were collected from 30 English-speaking 5- to 7-year-olds (15 children with normal hearing and 15 children with cochlear implants) using a single-word elicitation task. The independent variables were hearing status group (cochlear implant users versus children with normal hearing) and typicality of phonological processes. The dependent variables included 6 typical versus 6 atypical phonological processes, phonological whole-word measures, and segmental accuracy measures. Results: Cochlear implant users versus children with normal hearing displayed differences on phonological processes, and there was a main effect of typicality of phonological processes. A statistically significant interaction between hearing status and typicality of phonological processes was also found, indicating that CI users had disproportionally higher percentage of atypical phonological processes than their peers with normal hearing. All of phonological whole-word measures and segmental accuracy measures displayed differences based on hearing status. Conclusions: Hearing status does affect phonological outcomes, but the speech patterns of cochlear implant users display unique patterns that distinguish them from their peers with normal hearing. Specific patterns emerged indicating that cochlear implant users’ speech patterns differ both quantitatively and qualitatively from patterns attested in their peers with normal hearing, providing novel and relevant insights for researchers and clinicians alike.Item A Comprehensive Analysis of Covid-19’s Impact On Food Supply Chains(2021-05) Patel, ShivaniThe Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic’s influence on the food supply chain was felt by all stakeholders in the food supply chain, including consumers, retailers, distributors, industrial suppliers, processors, agriculture producers, workers, and governmental agencies. This paper aims to utilize COVID-19’s impact to analyze the food supply chain's key components and determine strategies the private and public sector can use to support food supply chain stability. This paper is an intensive literature review and analysis ofCOVID-19’s impact on the food supply chain. In summary, this paper shows that the food supply chain proved resilient to COVID-19 related disruptions, but several improvements to food supply chain operations are warranted to ensure future healthcare, or other types of disruptions, can be more effectively mediated.Item A computational investigation of folding free energy surfaces and structural characterization of Staphylococcal Protein A(2023-04-13) Nguyen, Minh NgocInvasive plants disrupt native ecosystems and decrease native plant diversity. Under strong selection pressure, native plants sometimes adapt to better compete with an invasive species. My research investigates two variants of the annual forb Coreopsis that co-occur with the invasive forb Verbena brasiliensis. The objective of my research is to answer three questions: (1) Is an observed phenotypic variant Coreopsis more competitive than the wild type C. tinctoria? (2) If so, what traits potentially make it more competitive?, (3) Is it an adapted variety of C. tinctoria or a related species? Whether or not it is a separate species, the existence of a more competitive variant may provide an effective replacement for the wild-type C. tinctoria in native restoration projects within the range of V. brasiliensis. Results suggest that the invasive V. brasiliensis does not significantly suppress the biomass of the phenotypic variant C. tinctoria as much as that of the wild-type C. tinctoria. Furthermore, the variant produces significantly more flowers than the wild type suggesting it would be more competitive with the invasive plant than the wild type. The stark difference in growth habits between the two varieties of C. tinctoria suggests the variant may be a closely related species that converge in appearance at maturity.Item A Computational Mapping of Online News Deserts on African News Websites(2023-09-28) Madrid-Morales, Dani; Rodríguez-Amat, Joan Ramon; Lindner, PeggyTo date, the study of news deserts, geographic spaces lacking local news and information, has largely focused on countries in the Global North, particularly the United States, and has predominantly been interested in the causes and consequences of the disappearance of local media outlets (e.g., newspapers and TV stations) to the social fabric of a community. In this article, we extend the concept of “news deserts” by drawing on literature on the geography of news in Africa, where information voids have long been documented but have not been studied within the conceptual framework of news deserts. Using computational tools, we analyse a sample of 519,004 news articles published in English or French by news websites in 39 African countries. We offer evidence of the existence of online news deserts at two levels: at a continental level (i.e., some countries/regions are hardly ever covered by online media of other African countries) and at a domestic level (i.e., online news media of a given country seldom cover large areas of the said country). This article contributes to the study of news deserts by (a) examining a continent that has not been featured in previous research, (b) testing a methodological approach that employs computational tools to study news geographies online, and (c) exploring the flexibility of the term and its applicability to different media ecosystems.