Digital Commons Network^™

At: A Hydro-Economic Modeling Framework For Aquifer Management In Irrigated Agricultural Regions☆, Mani Rouhi Rad, Erin M.K. Haacker, Vaishali Sharda, Soheil Nozari, Zaichen Xiang, A. Araya, Venkatesh Uddameri, Jordan F. Suter, Prasanna Gowda

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

In this paper, we introduce a hydro-economic modeling framework for the management of groundwater resources that are used for irrigated agricultural production. The model, MOD$$AT, can be used to study the costs of aquifer depletion and the net benefits of specific aquifer management policies. MOD$$AT is composed of three components, namely, an economic component, a hydrologic component and an agronomic component. A main goal of this paper is to introduce the hydro-economic model and describe how it can be transferable to different contexts. With this objective in mind, we describe model components step-by-step so that the process of integration can …

Hot Or Not – Which Features Make Fintechs Attractive For Investors?, Johannes Klein, Leonard Stuckenborg, Jens Leker

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Attracting investors and generating funding is a key issue for all start-ups. The information asymmetries between investor and start-up need to be reduced. Despite the overwhelming literature on venture capital financing and different signals reflecting venture quality, pinpointing the signals which impact funding decisions remains an open issue. This study presents an empirical examination of the effectiveness of different signals to convince investors and generate funding. We examine the impact of signals concerning venture quality (classic ones such as human capital, intellectual capital and social alliance/network capital as well as the strategic orientation in terms of business model patterns. Based …

How Congress Can Help Raise Vaccine Rates, Dorit R. Reiss, Y. Tony Yang

Faculty Scholarship

2019 saw an unusually high number of measles cases, and other preventable disease outbreaks, at least in part linked to vaccines refusal. States are considering legislative responses. This Essay examines what role the federal government can fill in increasing vaccines rates. The Essay suggests that the federal government has an important role to fill in funding research, coordination, and local efforts. It also suggests that a federal school vaccine mandate is likely not the solution: first, such mandates can run into plausible constitutional challenges, and second, there are policy arguments against it. The policy contentions include the unfairness of imposing …

The Arc Of History In Patent Subject Matter, Robin C. Feldman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Reliance On Executive Constitutional Interpretation, Zachary S. Price

Faculty Scholarship

Federal executive officials routinely authorize government personnel to violate otherwise applicable laws based on contestable constitutional interpretations. This practice raises an important and unresolved question, one that arose in connection with the George W Bush Administration's interrogation practices and that could easily arise again: What legal effect, if any, should internal executive guidance on constitutional questions have in subsequent civil or criminal litigation against officials who relied on it? This Article systematically analyzes this question. Building on existing case law in related areas, it argues that any sound reliance defense in this area must balance three competing constitutional considerations: (1) …

Electrolytic Oxidative Coupling Of Alcohols With Aldehydes To Form Esters, Katherine L. Verboom

Honors College Theses

There are copious amounts of naturally occurring and synthetic esters known that have a wide range of applications in industry to produce fine chemicals. Traditional methods of ester synthesis involve a reaction between a carboxylic acid and an alcohol in the presence of a Bronsted acid catalyst. The primary objective of this research project was to carry out the ester synthesis using the electrochemical coupling of aldehydes with alcohols instead of with a Bronsted acid catalyst because the electrochemical coupling would be an all-around better alternative of ester synthesis than the traditional method of using the catalyst. Electrochemistry has long …

Dynamic Loading Experimentation And Surface Imaging Of Pressure Vessel Loadcell Fractures, Austin T. Sumner

Honors College Theses

Pressure vessels are very common pieces of equipment in industry and they are used for a variety of applications. It is standard in industry to rest pressure vessels on load cells. For some special cases, the pressure vessels are rested on load cells instead of solid foundation. Pressure vessels and their loadcells are generally designed for static environmental conditions and loading and tend to experience adverse effects when exposed to dynamic environments, such as hurricanes and earthquakes. These adverse-loading conditions cause vibrations and asymmetrical loading on the load cells, which can concurrently cause unexpected failure. This research investigates the effects …

Breaking Black Boundaries: The Poetry Of Rita Dove, Lavonna D. Wright

Honors College Theses

By tracing the motifs of domestic space, classical and popular music, and ballroom dancing within Rita Dove’s Thomas and Beulah, Grace Notes, Sonata Mulattica, and American Smooth, I assert that she both challenges and expands Black poetic culture by exploring topics previously considered outside of the purview of Black poets. This analysis allows me to demonstrate her ability as a poet to move beyond simplistic, derivative, and ultimately constraining cultural expectations. Dove uses these motifs to expand the critically and culturally-imposed constrictions of Black poetry.

Son Of Sam, Service-Connected Entitlements, And Disabled Veteran Prisoners, Jennifer D. Oliva

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Students’ Exploring And Refining Their Equity Ethic Within The Access Network, Fidel Amezcua, Gina M. Quan, Chandra A. Turpen

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The Access Network is an organization that supports vibrant interactions among students and faculty who advocate for equity work in the physical sciences. This paper uses McGee and Bentley’s framework of “equity ethic” (EE) to understand how Access student leaders adopt and refine a commitment to equity and social justice work within the physical sciences. In McGee and Bentley’s study of STEM students of color, they define EE as students’ sense of altruism and collectivism within and outside of their communities. Through interviews with student leaders, we model components of students’ EEs and how their EEs are influenced by their …

The Relationship Between Workload, Performance And Fatigue In A Short-Haul Airline, Lucia Arsintescu, Ravi Chachad, Kevin B. Gregory, Jeffrey B. Mulligan, Erin E. Flynn-Evans

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between pilot workload, performance, subjective fatigue, sleep duration, number of sectors and flight duration during short-haul operations. Ninety pilots completed a NASA Task Load Index, Psychomotor Vigilance Task and a Samn-Perelli fatigue scale on top-of-descent of each flight and wore an activity monitor throughout the study. Weak, but significant, correlations were revealed between workload and all factors. Subjective fatigue, number of sectors and lapses were significant predictors of workload. Pilots reported higher workload when fatigue increased, the number of sectors were higher, and objective performance was worse.

The Assembly History Of The Nearest S0 Galaxy Ngc 3115 From Its Kinematics Out To Six Half-Light Radii, Arianna Dolfi, Duncan A. Forbes, Warrick J. Couch, Anna Ferre-Mateu, Sabine Bellstedt, Kenji Bekki, Jonathan Diaz, Aaron J. Romanowsky, Jean P. Brodie

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Using new and archival data, we study the kinematic properties of the nearest field S0 galaxy, NGC 3115, out to ∼6.5 half-light radii (Re) from its stars (integrated starlight), globular clusters (GCs), and planetary nebulae (PNe). We find evidence of three kinematic regions with an inner transition at ∼0.2 Re from a dispersion-dominated bulge (Vrot/σ < 1) to a fast-rotating disc (Vrot/σ > 1), and then an additional transition from the disc to a slowly rotating spheroid at ∼ 2-2.5Re, as traced by the red GCs and PNe (and possibly by the blue GCs beyond ∼ 5Re). From comparison with simulations, we propose an assembly history in which …

The Theory And Craft Of Digital Preservation. By Trevor Owens. [Review], Carli Lowe

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The world of digital materials presents archivists with many opportunities to access, present, and engage with materials in more flexible ways. Of course, this also presents challenges, including feeling like we do not know the “right” way to proceed, or knowing that we lack the resources to proceed the way we believe is best. In The Theory and Craft of Digital Preservation, Trevor Owens offers a set of frameworks and concepts related to digital preservation with the expectation that an understanding of a few basic principles will provide an informational foundation, allowing archivists to respond with professional expertise and creativity …

Globular Clusters In Coma Cluster Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies (Udgs): Evidence For Two Types Of Udg?, Duncan A. Forbes, Adebusola Alabi, Aaron J. Romanowsky, Jean P. Brodie, Nobuo Arimoto

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) reveal extreme properties. Here, we compile the largest study to date of 85 globular cluster (GC) systems around UDGs in the Coma cluster, using new deep ground-based imaging of the known UDGs and existing imaging from the Hubble Space Telescope of their GC systems. We find that the richness of GC systems in UDGs generally exceeds that found in normal dwarf galaxies of the same stellar mass. These GC-rich UDGs imply haloes more massive than expected from the standard stellar mass–halo mass relation. The presence of such overly massive haloes presents a significant challenge to the latest …

Retrieval Of The D/Sdl7+T7.5p Binary Sdss J1416+1348ab, Eileen C. Gonzales, Ben Burningham, Jacqueline K. Faherty, Colleen Cleary, Channon Visscher, Mark S. Marley, Roxana Lupu, Richard Freedman

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

We present the distance-calibrated spectral energy distribution (SED) of the d/sdL7 SDSS J14162408+1348263A (J1416A) and an updated SED for SDSS J14162408+1348263B (J1416B). We also present the first retrieval analysis of J1416A using the Brewster retrieval code base and the second retrieval of J1416B. We find that the primary is best fit by a nongray cloud opacity with a power-law wavelength dependence but is indistinguishable between the type of cloud parameterization. J1416B is best fit by a cloud-free model, consistent with the results from Line et al. Most fundamental parameters derived via SEDs and retrievals are consistent within 1σ for both …

N‑Linked Glycosylation Prevents Deamidation Of Glycopeptide And Glycoprotein, Joshua Zhu, Ding Liu, Vy P. Tran, Zhigang Wu, Kuan Jiang, He Zhu, Jiabin Zhang, Christopher Gibbons, Bingzhong Xue, Hang Shi, Peng George Wang

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Deamidation has been recognized as a common spontaneous pathway of protein degradation and a prevalent concern in the pharmaceutical industry; deamidation caused the reduction of protein/peptide drug efficacy and shelf life in several cases. More importantly, deamidation of physiological proteins is related to several human diseases and considered a "timer" for the diseases. N-linked glycosylation has a variety of significant biological functions, and it interestingly occurs right on the deamidation site-asparagine. It has been perceived that N-glycosylation could prevent deamidation, but experimental support is still lacking for clearly understanding the role of N-glycosylation on deamidation. Our results presented that deamidation …

Aerocom: Winter 2020, John D. Odegard School Of Aerospace Sciences

Aerocom: John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences Alumni Magazine

No abstract provided.

Clerking For A Retired Supreme Court Justice—My Experience Of Being “Shared” Among Five Justices In One Term, Rory Little

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Professional Development For Mathematics Teacher Education Faculty: Need And Design, Billy Jackson, Shandy Hauk, Jenq Jong Tsay, Alma Ramirez

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

The purpose of this report is to share a conceptual model useful in the design of professional learning about teaching for university mathematics faculty. The model is illustrated by examples from a particular design effort: the development of an online shortcourse for faculty new to teaching mathematics courses for prospective primary school teachers. How novice mathematics teacher educators grow as instructors is an emerging area of research and development in the United States. At the same time, it is well established that effective instructional design of any course, including a course for faculty, requires breadth first: understanding and anticipating the …

Whose History?: Expanding Place-Based Initiatives Through Open Collaboration, Sean Visintainer, Stephanie Anckle, Kristen Weischedel

University Library Publications and Presentations

This chapter is the case study of a collaboration between the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s Teaching & Learning Program and the University Library’s Special Collections. The collaboration, Whose History? uses place-based education (PBE) as the pedagogical underpinning of a multi-stage project of student-developed research, creation, and teaching. While PBE underpins the project, “openness” is the framework around which Whose History? is built. Teaching & Learning undergraduate students, referred to hereafter as teacher-candidates, use special collections resources to conduct research into regional history and culture, and then create open lesson plans from their findings. Select teacher-candidates teach their lesson …

Near-Bottom Currents At Station M In The Northeast Pacific, Thomas Connolly, Paul Mcgill, Richard Henthorn, Drew Burrier, Cynthia Michaud

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Romantic Attachment Orientations, Financial Behaviors, And Life Outcomes Among Young Adults: A Mediating Analysis Of A College Cohort, Xiaomin Li, Melissa A. Curran, Ashley B. Lebaron

Faculty Publications

Guided by the Vulnerability-Adaption-Stress model (Karney and Bradbury 1995), we used data from 635 college-educated young adults to examine associations between romantic attachment orientations (i.e., attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance) and young adults’ life outcomes (i.e., financial satisfaction, life satisfaction, and relationship satisfaction; Aim 1). We also conducted a mediating model to examine indirect associations from romantic attachment orientations to life outcomes via young adult’s own financial behaviors and perceived partners’ financial behavior (i.e., each young adult’s perception of their partner’s financial behaviors; Aim 2). For Aim 1, high attachment anxiety and/or high attachment avoidance was associated with low life …

Religion As A Source Of Tolerance And Intolerance: Exploring The Dichotomy, Quinn Galbraith, Alexandra Carlisle, Ben White

Faculty Publications

Previous research on tolerance and intolerance in religion has focused on individuals’ internal religious commitment and their relationship within religious groups. In exploring religion’s ability to generate both tolerance and intolerance, this qualitative study draws on data from interviews with 220 highly religious individuals living in the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2016 in order to suggest how religious individuals see themselves interacting with tolerance and intolerance in their daily lives. Many of our subjects identified themselves as tolerant people while viewing others as intolerant of their religious beliefs. An analysis of our findings and prior research suggests that religious …

Does Inhibitory Control Training Reduce Weight And Caloric Intake In Adults With Overweight And Obesity? A Pre-Registered, Randomized Controlled Event-Related Potential (Erp) Study, Scott A. Baldwin, Alexandra M. Muir, Whitney D. Allen, Kaylie A. Carbine, James D. Lecheminant, Chad D. Jensen, C. Brock Kirwan, Michael J. Larson

Faculty Publications

A cognitive intervention that may reduce weight and caloric intake is inhibitory control training (ICT; having individuals repeatedly withhold dominant responses to unhealthy food images). We conducted a randomized controlled trial where 100 individuals with overweight or obesity were assigned to complete a generic (n = 48) or food-specific ICT (n = 52) training four times per week for four weeks. Weight and caloric intake were obtained at baseline, four-weeks, and 12-weeks. Participants also completed high-calorie and neutral go/no-go tasks while N2 event-related potential (ERP) data, a neural indicator of inhibitory control, was measured at all visits. Results …

Association Between Exposure To Air Pollution And Total Gray Matter And Total White Matter Volumes In Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study, Bruce L. Brown, Lance D. Erickson, Shawn D. Gale, Jacqueline E. Anderson, Dawson W. Hedges

Faculty Publications

Total brain gray-matter and white-matter volumes can be indicators of overall brain health. Among the factors associated with gray-matter and white-matter volumes is exposure to air pollution. Using data from the UK Biobank, we sought to determine associations between several components of air pollution—PM2.5, PM2.5–10, PM10, nitrogen dioxide, and nitrogen oxides—and total gray-matter and total white-matter volumes in multivariable regression models in a large sample of adults. We found significant inverse associations between PM2.5 concentration and total white-matter volume and between PM2.5, PM2.5–10, PM10, nitrogen dioxide, and nitrogen oxide concentrations and total gray-matter volume in models adjusted for age, sex, …

Cognitive Impairment No Dementia And Associations With Health Literacy, Self-Management Skills, And Functional Health Status, Derin J. Cobia, Rebecca M. Lovett, Laura M. Curtis, Stephen D. Persell, James W. Griffith, Alex Federman, Michael S. Wolf

Faculty Publications

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of cognitive impairment no dementia (CIND) among a diverse, community-based population, and establish associations between CIND and health literacy, chronic disease self-management and functional health status.

Methods: 863 primary care adults without dementia aged 55–74. Adjusted logistic and linear regressions were used to assess associations between CIND (None, Mild, Moderate/Severe) and outcomes.

Results: 36% participants exhibited CIND. It was strongly associated with limited health literacy (Newest Vital Signs: Mild [OR 3.25; 95% CI 1.93, 5.49], Moderate/Severe [OR 6.45; 95% CI 3.16, 13.2]; Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults: Mild [OR 3.46; 95% CI 2.08, …

Reading Academic Citations: How Professors And Graduate Students Read For Different Purposes, Grant Eckstein, Sarah Miner, Katie Watkins, Judy James, Mornie Sims, Allison Wallace Baker, Larissa Grahl

Faculty Publications

Citations provide truncated yet socially complex information about sources in academic texts which students are obliged to read, comprehend, and then ultimately produce as part of an academic discourse community. While researchers have observed a developmental process whereby students produce citations during source-based writing, little work has investigated the reading stage when students visually encounter citations. In this study, we explored academic reading behaviors by examining eye movements of 27 graduate students and 18 professors as they read 6 authentic research texts for various purposes (summary, analysis, synthesis). Results of factorial ANOVAs showed no differences between students and professors but …

Dynamic Written Corrective Feedback Among Graduate Students: The Effects Of Feedback Timing, Grant Eckstein, Maureen Estelle Sims, Lisa Rohm

Faculty Publications

Dynamic written corrective feedback (DWCF) is a pedagogical approach that offers meaningful, manageable, constant, and timely corrective feedback on student writing (Hartshorn et al., 2010). It emphasizes indirect and comprehensive written error correction on short, daily writing assignments. Numerous studies have demonstrated that its use can lead to fewer language errors among undergraduate and pre-matriculated college writers (see Kurzer, 2018). However, the benefits of DWCF among second language (L2) graduate writers and the role of feedback timing have not been well examined. We analyzed timed writing samples over a 12-week intervention from 22 L2 graduate students who either received biweekly …

On The Rhetorical Grotesque: A Mode For Strange Times, Richard Benjamin Crosby

Faculty Publications

This essay argues that the successful political careers of certain populist leaders rhetorically enact what scholars have long recognized in art, literature, and entertainment as the grotesque. The grotesque provides a theoretically rich means for describing the vulgar and chaotic public behaviors that take strong hold among anti-elite audiences at certain points in history. By closely reading comments from political leaders cast in the grotesque mold, including Silvio Berlusconi, Hugo Chavez, and Donald Trump, this essay explains not only what the grotesque is, but also when and how it is likely to find traction in a political culture ripe for …

Prosodic Elements For Content Delivery In Broadcast Journalism: A Quantitative Study Of Vocal Pitch, Shawn L. Nissen, Quint B. Randle, Jared L. Johnson, Jenny Lynes

Faculty Publications

Individuals verbally express meaning not only through speech sounds and words but also prosodically through the pitch, loudness, and tempo of their voice. Through a quantitative analysis, this exploratory study examined the prosodic elements of mean pitch, pitch variability, and pitch range in a sample of 450 voice-overs and throws from 90 male and female broadcast reporters and anchors from larger markets across the United States. Findings indicate that compared to typical speakers in the general population, male broadcasters actually speak with an elevated mean pitch, more pitch variability, and use more range. However, female broadcasters were found to speak …