Digital Commons Network^™

Mariguano, Juan Ochoa

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This book is in many ways autobiographical, but at the same time attempts to tell the story of the many silent characters that have long been omitted from most works on border life. By “silent characters” I am referring to those who operate on the margins of a marginalized society. The reader will be allowed to glimpse inside the life of a social group that values silence and indifference as basic survival skills.

It is this value on silence and indifference that have forced these stories to go unrecorded for so long. Aside from meeting my thesis requirements, it is …

Efficacy Of A Social Skills Training Procedure Used On A Child Having Moderate Mental Retardation, Anestacio Quintana Jr.

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This single subject multiple baseline study tested the efficacy of a social skills training procedure. The subject for this study was an eight-year-old female having Down Syndrome. The subject was diagnosed as having moderate mental retardation. Using an A-B-A-B design, the investigator and two observers collected data on off task behavior, during baseline phases. During intervention phases, the Subject was introduced to a social skills training program addressing the off-task inappropriate behaviors. The results of the study illustrated a positive effect of the social skills training procedure on the Subject. There was an established relationship between the implementation of the …

Cultural Relevance In The Lep-Ld Classroom, Blanca Estella Rojas

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This investigation considered Mexican-American students classified as Limited English Proficient (LEP) and Special Education Learning Disabled (LD) on achievement in and attitudes toward reading. Two students used culturally matched materials and two students used non-culturally matched, grade appropriate materials. The individuals who received treatment were paired with those who did not receive treatment on key variables as closely as possible. Qualitative descriptive information answered the following questions: (1) Will the use of a culturally matched novel have the same learning effects as use of a non-culturally matched novel? (2) Will the use of the culturally matched novel lower the affective …

Attitudes Of Mexican Nationals Toward The Use Of Code Switching In The Rio Grande Valley, Jennifer M. Vojtko

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this study is to establish the beliefs and attitudes of Mexican Nationals living in the Rio Grande Valley toward the use of code switching, or the use of two or more languages during a speech act. Because of the high influence of the Spanish language in the Rio Grande Valley, code switching is more commonly referred to as Spanglish. Researchers have been studying code switching since the early fifties; however, limited research has been conducted on attitudes toward code switching. The goal of this study is to offer a comprehensive look at the attitudes demonstrated by Mexican …

Acquiring North Of The Border Culture Through The Teaching /Learning Process In Spanish -Speaking Adults Along The South Texas-Mexico Border, Manuel J. Gutierrez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the ways in which a second culture is being communicated to Spanish-speaking adult second language learners enrolled in selected English language acquisition programs along the South Texas-Mexico border. This study focused on adult populations in need of receiving instruction in the English language and in the north of the border American culture in southern Texas. The research questions explored in this study sought to define north of the border culture as perceived by adult students; to determine if the language programs are preparing the students culturally; and to investigate how the …

Connecting Students To Culturally Relevant Texts, Yvonne Freeman, David Freeman

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

Yvonne Freeman and David Freeman argue the importance of providing students with culturally relevant books and discuss their criteria for deciding if a book is culturally relevant to a particular child.

Enhancing The Rehabilitation Counseling Process: Understanding The Obstacles To Asian Americans' Utilization Of Services, Roy K. Chen, Song-Jae Jo, Chandra M. Donnell

School of Rehabilitation Services & Counseling Faculty Publications

Improving rehabilitation services for Asian Americans with disabilities through the rehabilitation counseling process remains as an ongoing challenge. Despite being the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States, past studies have reported low utilization rates of vocational rehabilitation and mental health services among this population. This article (a) describes Asian American views on disabilities from religious, philosophical, and spiritual perspectives; (b) reviews factors that may contribute to their being underserved in the rehabilitation; (c) discusses the influence of family dynamics on the rehabilitation process; (d) underscores unique employment challenges facing the Asian Immigrant community; and (e) draws out the …

Parametric Classification In Domains Of Characters, Numerals, Punctuation, Typefaces And Image Qualities, Osama Ahmed Khan

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This thesis contributes to the Optical Font Recognition problem (OFR), by developing a classifier system to differentiate ten typefaces using a single English character ‘e’. First, features which need to be used in the classifier system are carefully selected after a thorough typographical study of global font features and previous related experiments. These features have been modeled by multivariate normal laws in order to use parameter estimation in learning. Then, the classifier system is built up on six independent schemes, each performing typeface classification using a different method. The results have shown a remarkable performance in the field of font …

Visualization Of Internet Web Pages Based On Authority And Word Frequency, David Navarro

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The growth, accessibility, and integration of the World Wide Web with contemporary information utilization provides a rich domain in which to explore information retrieval systems. One approach in the evolution of retrieval systems couples successful and long-standing techniques of information retrieval with new techniques, such as visualization. The system developed and reported in this thesis takes this approach. It builds upon well-known techniques of information retrieval including stemming, keyword matching, and cosine similarity. It also incorporates the new and relatively successful hubs and authority approach, which describes Web documents by their reference by other documents. Finally, it develops a new …

An Arabesque Tango: Dancing Letters. From Two Continents And One Ocean Far Away My Memories!, Fulden Sara

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

An Arabesque Tango is an exhibition that brings together many different sensibilities from my mixed heritage, Central European and Ottoman-Byzantium, Seljuk and Middle Eastern influences. I attempt to capture in my pieces the magical spirituality of the Sufi mystics and the elegant grace of Islamic Art.

Prior to deciding to pursue an advanced degree in Fine Arts I paid little attention to Islamic Art. Having grown up in the European quarter of Istanbul my political, cultural and professional focus was westward. As I searched for vehicles that would give visual form to my desire to create a personal art form …

The Effect Of A Non-Verbal Redirection On Out-Of-Seat Behavior In A Subject Diagnosed As Adhd And Mr, Amy Sharon Ellison-Marino

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This was a single subject study with the A-B-A-B across settings withdrawal design. This design was selected because the subject has comorbidity issues, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and Mental Retardation (MR). This researcher implemented the A-B-A-B design and collected data during all four phases. The subject was a eight year old Hispanic female diagnosed as ADHD and mild MR. ADHD is characterized by impulsivity, lack of ability to focus attention, and hyperactivity. MR is characterized by below average intellectual functioning which significantly limits functioning in at least two skill areas.

The Pan American (2003-10-16), Matt Lynch

UTPA Archives - The Pan American Newspaper

53rd Year, No. 8

Rio Bravo: A Journal Of Borderlands (New Series) Fall 2003 V.2 No.1, Mark Glazer, Glenn Martinez

Rio Bravo: A Journal of the Borderlands

Como pez en agua: The Border from a Different Point of View / Daniel Villa -- The Use of Verbal Forms in the Spanish and English Writing Discourse 13 of Spanish Heritage Speakers in the U.S. / Maria Spicer-Escalante -- Special Considerations in the Writing Processes of Mexican- 25 American Students: The Problem of Text Control / Lila Lisa Canizales -- Solo la pobre se comen la /s/ and other Linguistic 39 Myths: Literary Dialect in the Spanish-for-Native-Speakers Curriculum / Maria M. Carreira -- Signs of the Times: Globalization and the linguistic landscape 57 along the US-Mexico Border / Glenn …

An Updated Overview Of The Texas Border, Baltazar Arispe Y Acevedo Jr., Ignacio E. Rodríguez, Oralia De Los Reyes, University Of Texas At Brownsville, Texas Southmost College

Digital Books

This report, An Overview of the Texas Border, should be considered part of a longitudinal study. The initial baseline report, The Border: Texas’ Roadway to the 21st Century, was written by J. Michael Patrick and Baldomero Garcia for the Texas Infrastructure Coalition [TBIC] in June 2000. The report was a commissioned study of the Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, Texas. The current research effort is also a commissioned study of CBIRD: The Cross Border Institute for Regional Development at The University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College in Brownsville, Texas. …

Effects Of Co-Teaching On Student Participation And Math Success On Students With Learning Disabilities In The General Education Classroom, Mia Karen Baldwin

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

A Numerous research studies have been conducted to determine the effects of inclusion on academics, few of these studies specify the method used. The purpose of this study was to determine whether co-teaching would increase student's participation in the regular math classroom. The study was conducted in a sixth-grade regular education classroom in which students with learning disabilities were included. The co-teaching consisted mostly of interactive teaching between the regular education and the special education teacher. The subjects were students identified with a learning disability in either math calculation or math reasoning. The results indicated that student participation was not …

Factors That Contribute To The Retention Of Mexican American Special Education Teachers, Michelle R. Koyama

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Every school year there are reports of the large number of teaching vacancies in the nation, particularly in the field of special education. Currently there are numerous studies addressing the factors that cause special education teachers to leave the classroom, however, there are few studies that suggest variables that contribute to teachers remaining for five years or longer. Further, there are no published studies to date that address the retention of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) teachers, particularly, Mexican American special education teachers. Grounded surveys were constructed through guided interviews that were distributed to 114 participants in two urban school …

All The Elephants Faced The Door: Fiction And Poetry, Stephanie B. Thome

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

All the Elephants Faced the Door is a collection of fiction and poetry. The first section, “The World is Nice to Butterflies,” is a collection of six short stories. The collection focuses on the Solis family. The family consists of six sisters and the stories follow their journey of falling in love, forming romantic relationships and the eventuality of marriage. The second half of my manuscript is composed of poems and is divided in three sections. The first, “The Stuff of the World is Love-Stuff,” is a sequence of love poems. The second section entitled, “Domestic Anxiety,” is a series …

The Buena Vida Barrio: A Brownsville Transitional Neighborhood, Baltazar Arispe Y Acevedo Jr., Ignacio E. Rodríguez, Oralia De Los Reyes, University Of Texas At Brownsville, Texas Southmost College

Digital Books

This barrio is a micro representation of the overall low quality of life that has been identified for both Cameron County and the City of Brownsville by the U.S. Census Bureau. There were several mitigating variables that emerged from the data that will have some impact on this barrio’s ability to become part of the region’s economic and social mainstream. Of these the most challenging were the high percentages of undocumented residents, the inordinate numbers of renters, the low economic capacity of employed residents and the high crime rates that exceed those of the region in general. The most notable …

The Red-Light District Of The Heart, Octavio Quintanilla Jr.

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This is a creative thesis, a collection of fifty-seven poems. The poems are divided thematically into four sections. Family, identity, and human relationships are some of the themes I write about. The critical introduction outlines the history of Chicano poetry and shows how my work fits within this context.

The Hollow Spot: A Collection Of Fiction, Jose Rene Martinez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This is a creative thesis, specifically a collection of fourteen short stories and a critical introduction. Most of these stories showcase characters caught in times of change and turmoil. The critical introduction explores the influence that three contemporary writers, J. D. Salinger, Raymond Carver, and Michael Chabon, have had on my work. The purpose of this thesis is to provide an outlet for my creative energy.

Human Reliability Analysis In The Performance Of Advanced Cardiac Life Support Tasks, Lucia Veronica Rosas

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Error reduction in the performance of medical emergency situations is an area of great concern in today's society. This is specially the case when the situation involves a cardiac arrhythmia. These situations are generally categorized as Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) events. The American Heart Association provides the proper procedures that practitioners of ACLS should follow to provide care to patients presenting heart arrhythmia problems. These situations occur inside and outside the hospital, outside the hospital being the most critical ones considering the limitation of equipment and availability of qualified care. Errors made by the practitioners of ACLS in this …

Expert System Development For Hard Disk Drive Failure Analysis, Fernando Rodriguez Rosas

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The Computer's Hard Disk Drive is a complex high technology device, diagnosis of a failure is difficult even using sophisticated test equipments. These Drives are expensive and returning a new one when it fails within the warranty period is not an option. The failed drive must be tested and repaired. In the repair process the analysis and diagnosis of the failures is a key point in the process where decisions regarding the repair process that the failed Drive will follow. Therefore, there is a requirement to perform an effective analysis and provide an accurate diagnosis. The standard system utilized for …

Centering In The Borderlands: Lessons From Hispanic Student Writers, Beatrice Mendez Newman

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Pan American (2002-09-05), Matt Lynch

UTPA Archives - The Pan American Newspaper

51st Year, No. 2

Children Of Mexican Immigrants: Negotiating School In A Two -Way Setting On The Texas -Mexico Border, Diana Maria Ramirez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This problem under investigation was the schooling process of children of Mexican immigrants in an American school. The participants for the study included the 56 faculty members and 17 children of Mexican immigrants in school implementing a Two-Way Immersion Program. An ethnographic-like qualitative method was used to investigate the problem. Data was gathered through field immersion, participant observations, and unstructured interviews. Findings revealed diverse characteristics of the children of Mexican immigrants. The school's ethos of reception included numerous attributes that served to accommodate the children and their parents. The practices in the Two-Way Program facilitated the adaptation of the children …

An Exploratory Analysis Of Mexican-American Parental Involvement Perspectives On Home, School, And Community Collaboration, Lisa Kay Hall-Irby

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

When schools consider their relationship with families as a partnership wherein the home and school contribute to children's educational and social development, the results are increased levels of parental involvement. This exploratory analysis involves a study of Mexican-American parents and their perspectives on how they perceive themselves in the home, school, and community collaboration process. This study seeks to explore the traditional parental involvement model and uses existing theory that challenges the traditional model to create a new re-conceptualized model of parental involvement. Using qualitative case study methodology parental involvement data were gathered by using five focus groups and a …

Herstory, Rita Kathryn Roney

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this paper is to examine the history of Theatre at the University of Texas - Pan American in the 20th Century, from its inception in the Fall of 1934 through the Summer of 2001. It is written as a series of oral interviews with two women whose tenure at The University of Texas - Pan American covers that period. Mrs. Ruth Owings Blalock founded Theatre at the then Edinburg Junior College in 1934. Dr. Marian F. Monta was hired as her replacement in 1971 and continues to serve as area head of Theatre.

Effects Of Self-Monitoring On Hyperactivity In A Student Diagnosed With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd), Lillian Lee Pedroza

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This single subject multiple baseline study tested an intervention using a self-monitoring procedure. The Subject was a nine-year-old Hispanic male identified as having Other Health Impairments and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and was taking psychostimulant medication. Using an A-B-A-B design, the Investigator and two observers collected time interval data of on-task behavior, during baseline phases. During intervention phases the Subject was involved in a self-monitoring procedure addressing on-task behaviors. Additional data were collected on a scoring sheet, whereby the Subject, the Investigator and the two additional Scorers, scored the student on five on-task behaviors. The intervention was effective. Results …

Wordless Picture Books Versus Standard Stories For Language Assessment Of Spanish-Speaking Children, Yvonne De Anda

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Narrative samples from Spanish-speaking children will be analyzed using a wordless picture book and standard storybook. Ages of participants will be between 6.0 and 7.11 years and demonstrate: normal hearing and vision, no familiarity with books used in study, and receptive and expressive language skills 1.5 to 2 standard deviations below the mean as predetermined by a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist. The first story will be orally presented. Afterwards, children will respond to questions and retell the story. A silent presentation of the second story will follow, along with retelling of story and questions. Utterance length, sentence complexity, and vocabulary will …

The Pan American (2002-04-04), Matt Lynch

UTPA Archives - The Pan American Newspaper

50th Year, No. 23