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Item 18th-Century Spanish Conduct Literature for Women(2006-06) Jaffe, Catherine M.On two research trips to the National Library in Madrid, Spain (July and December 2006), I spent five weeks studying discourse of women's reading in 18th-century conduct books and education manuals for women. I purchased a laptop computer to aid my research. I will use this material as background for several articles and as primary material for a book on the cultural impact of women's literacy in 18th-century Spain.Item Abolition, Irish Freedom, and Immigrant Citizenship: The Rise and Fall of the American Associations for Irish Repeal(2007-01) Murphy, Angela F.My study investigates the transatlantic interactions among abolitionists, Irish nationalists and Irish immigrants as the issues of slavery and abolition complicated the first Irish nationalist movement in the United States. One of the central questions of my work is why anti-abolitionist sentiment was so pervasive among members of Irish American repeal societies' Irish nationalist groups so-named because they promoted the repeal of the parliamentary union between Great Britain and Ireland. Though several historians have noted the hostility of Irish American repealers towards the American antislavery movement, my own work will be the first book-length study of the phenomenon. In addition, my explanation of anti-abolition among members of the repeal associations departs from the traditional interpretation, which focuses on the economic status of the Irish American population.Item Acculturation in the Fast Food Nation: Latinos (as) and the Texas Obesity Epidemic(2008-01) Ceballos, Natalie A.; Czyzewska, MariaObesity is an issue of major concern in our society. Texas consistently ranks highly in reports of obesity prevalence, and young Latinos (as) comprise one of the most heavily affected groups within our state. Although much is known about the consequences of obesity, few studies have examined factors that may influence unhealthy eating among Latinos (as). Thus, this project was designed to investigate eating behaviors and acculturation changes relevant to food consumption in this population. To examine acculturation effects, data were collected from college students in central Texas, the Texas-Mexico border region, and in Mexico. Data consisted of both self-reported measures of food preferences and eating habits, as well as computerized tasks designed to assess automatic responses to food-related images and ability to control impulsive reactions. Preliminary results suggest that ethnic differences may exist among college-aged students with regard to food cravings and reasons for engaging in unhealthy eating. However, our analyses failed to find any significant differences in the accuracy of body weight/height reporting or body image satisfaction between Latino vs. Caucasian participants. The results of this project not only provide much needed information about factors related to the development of obesity in the Latino (a) population, but may also pave the way for the establishment of an externally funded program of research for the prevention and treatment of obesity within the Latino(a) community.Item Acquire and Self-regulate Knowledge in Multimedia Environment (ASKME)(2008-01) Bos, BethIt is difficult to examine the effectiveness of technology-based courses (TBC) without understanding the design and application in classrooms. There is evidence of disconnects among the theory for designing, the theory used to apply TBCs in classrooms, and the theory used to research and evaluate TBCs (Hickey, 1997). Comments provided by administrators, teachers and students lead researchers to determine whether or not the original TBC course goals have been attained. We looked at examples of theoretical disconnects found in other technology-based research (Alevan et al., 2003; Hickey & McCaslin, 2001). Then, we describe the course design of the mathematics TBC used in this study, the reasons the principal and the teachers believe the software will benefit their mathematics students, and the perceptions of mathematics students regarding the effectiveness of the technology in their classroom. In conclusion, we found how this preliminary.Item Advancing Educational Equity: Does K-12 Outreach Participation Affect College Success?(2008-01) Yamamura, Erica K.Findings revealed that both academic and social benefits from participating in the outreach program continued through the college years. Academic Benefits: Developing navigational capital. Students gained navigational capital by understanding the need for efficient time management, effective study skills, and indicated the helpfulness of group study skills which was emphasized in the program. Students mentioned their high level of preparation in advanced placement (AP) courses due in part to the program and then reaping the college benefits of having been successful on AP examinations (i.e. passing out of course requirements, being eligible for more advanced courses). Social Benefits: Peer cultural wealth as resistant capital. Interviews during the 1st year of college revealed that all students in the study had developed weak ties (Granovetter, 1973), friendships with acquaintances that are often more important than strong ties or core friendships, with other outreach peers at the start of college. However, these relationships evolved throughout students 2nd-4th years in college, in no discerning pattern. Strengthening the pipeline: Building resistant and navigational capitals. Once in college, all students developed a stronger awareness of educational inequities in their communities. Furthermore, all students in the sample translated this awareness into action by volunteering or working with an outreach-esque program to improve access to college. Four students worked over 10 hours a week for outreach programs, including one student who worked 20+ hours a week during her entire four years in college.Item Affordable Learning Materials and Texas State University: First Year Report from the Managing Textbook Costs Committee(2020-12) Sriraman, Vedaraman; Willett, Dana R.; Bagby, Jokwon; Cavitt, Mary Ellen; Gonzales, Matthew; Gutierrez, Sonya; Kipp, Lindsay; Martin, Benjamin R.; Martinez, Sergio; McNeill, Seth; Morel, Gwendolyn; Morganti, Dianna; Nowicki, Michael; Paulson, Eric J.; Paz, Mark; Root, John; Shroff, Piyush; Tanner, Glenn; Underhill, BarryIn August 2019, Texas State University formed a Managing Textbook Costs Committee composed of students, faculty, and teaching and learning support staff to study the issue of textbook costs for our students. During the 2019-2020 academic year the committee:
- scanned departments and colleges for on-going affordable learning materials activity;
- surveyed students and faculty about learning materials and their costs;
- explored best practices for adoption of affordable learning materials initiative;
- conducted a literature review on affordable learning materials; and
- studied approaches for engaging faculty and students on the subject.
This is the Texas State University Managing Textbook Costs Committee's first year report.
Item Affordable Learning Materials and Texas State University: Second Year Report from the Managing Textbook Costs Committee(2021-09) Sriraman, Vedaraman; Willett, Dana R.; Bagby, Jokwon; Cavitt, Mary Ellen; Gonzales, Matthew; Gutierrez, Sonya; Kipp, Lindsay; Martin, Benjamin R.; Martinez, Sergio; McNeill, Seth; Morel, Gwendolyn; Morganti, Dianna; Nowicki, Michael; Paulson, Eric J.; Paz, Mark; Root, John; Shroff, Piyush; Tanner, Glenn; Underhill, BarryThe Managing Textbook Costs Committee (MTCC) at Texas State met regularly during the course of this unusual academic year in an effort to continue to advance the use and development of affordable learning materials. Work of the MTCC in its first year resulted in the drafting of several short- and long-term goals. The University Libraries have archived the First Year Report from the MTCC in Texas State’s Institutional Repository. Activities in the second year contributed to progress toward those goals.Item After the Revolution: Art and Culture in the Republic of Georgia(2005-08) Colombik, RogerDr. Ketevan Kintsurashvili, David Janiashvili and I began the project through lengthy discussions pertaining to the issues of the Rose Revolution in 2003. We felt that if the "revolution" was going to be of any benefit to this society, the focus must be placed upon the children. The title of the project, Me var…Revolutsia (I am…the Revolution), addresses the role that the children in the country must be actively deployed in if Georgia is going to awaken from the post-Soviet nightmare. Most importantly, it will be the charge of this generation to carry forward the rich cultural heritage that defines this society. Our project attempted to draw attention to the two most pressing needs for a civil Georgian society: the nurturing of the children and the care for the elderly. In the Republic of Georgia, banners are the primary means of political advertising. Our project utilized this methodology for expressing the will of the individual and the needs of a benevolent society. The logo of the project, Me var…Revolutsia, was placed on each of the banners. The banners were hung in downtown Tbilisi along Rustaveli St., the principal boulevard of the downtown district. Images of children learning tradition folk dance in dilapidated studios were hung upon the facade of a historical theatre. Portraits of the elderly were suspended in a civic building across the street, while the exterior of the building featured portraits of children.Item An Analysis of Factors Affecting Academic Performance of College Freshmen(2007-01) Morrish, Douglas G.Agribusiness and related industries currently employ over 17 percent of the U.S. labor force (United States, Department of Agriculture, 2000). The demand for professionals in the field is expected to continue to grow, given increasing emphasis on liberalized trade in agriculture around the globe. To meet this increasing demand for food and agricultural sciences graduates, we need to make sure that sufficient numbers of students are completing their degrees in the field. One way to ensure this completion is to assure success at the freshman level classes because low grades in the early required classes account for much of the attrition. The attrition rate in agriculture at Texas State University ranged from 21% to 35% of the freshman class during the 1999-2004 period (Texas State University, 2006). We collected data on the following variables from students in agriculture at the end of their freshman year: GPA, SAT or ACT score, high school GPA, high school agriculture completer or non-completer, scholarship, loan, hours of labor force participation, number of credit hours, attendance in classes, gender, hours of studying time out of classroom, and participation in extracurricular activities. We are in the process of using multiple regression analysis to analyze the collected data. Earned GPA at the end of the freshman year will be used as a proxy for academic performance, the dependent variable in the regression equation. Finally, stepwise regression analysis will be used to find the best predictors of academic performance of students in agriculture.Item Analysis of Topological Persistence in Data Sets(2005-08) Snyder, DavidThe PI and his student assistant chose to develop code in C++, leveraging the open source Computational Geometry Algorithmic Library (CGAL; see http://www.cgal.org/). They installed the CGAL software, including incidental 3-d geometry viewing softwares. CGAL does not have built-in support for either version of the Persistence Homology Algorithm (PHA), as these algorithms are new. Thus the PI and the student implemented these PHAs in the CGAL framework, using the CGAL mailing list for technical support. Two approaches were taken to investigate the efficiency of the PHAs. The first was to build a particularly complex 3-dimensional model of Zeeman's Dunce Cap that has peculiar topological properties suitable for testing PHA performance, resulting in evidence that PHAs perform poorly on certain types of data sets. The second approach taken was a ""needle in the haystack" approach: build a 3-d model of a large triangulated cube with over 100,000 vertices and then randomly search through medium-sized sub-triangulations for objects in 3-space that cause the worst algorithm performance. Even with the size restrictions, the search space is so large that this approach has not yet completed (running 24/7 since August 2005). Preliminary results show PHAs performed rather well on average, using a constant number of steps per vertex. Still, until the search completes in Fall 2006, the worst-case performance is unknown. Some impacts of this REP: one peer-reviewed article accepted, one submitted, and one pending final results in Fall 2006; four NSF proposals, with Snyder as PI, submitted (pending as of 15 June 2006).Item Aptamers for Detection and Management of Bacterial Pathogens(2007-01) Vattem, DhirajAptamers against 3O–C12–HSL or “Dec AHL” were synthesized by a process called “Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential enrichment” or “SELEX” and their sequences determined. Their effect on modulation of Acyl homeserine lactones (AHL) activity was determined in model biosensor systems. AHL’s from P. aeruginosa were purified and mixed with 3O–C12–HSL aptamers and incubated at room temperature. A. tumefaciens KYC55 biosensor was used to test the activity of the AHL’s in the presence and absence of the aptamers in a top agar diffusion assay system developed in the laboratory and compared with controls. The control (only AHL) showed a number of blue colonies that indicated P. aeruginosa - galactosidase. BAHL mediated expression of lacZ gene and hydrolysis of X-gal by The treatment, which contained nuclease resistant (3O–C12–HSL) aptamers in addition to the AHL, had fewer number of blue colonies, suggesting a possible binding of the AHL’s by the aptamers and resulting inhibition of the AHL mediated lacZ expression. These results, clearly indicate a strong effect of the aptamers synthesized in the laboratory on inhibiting AHL mediated gene expression. This could also suggest that, these 3O–C12–H SL-aptamers, and the aptamers specific to other QS molecules in P. aeruginosa can prove to be effective tools in inhibiting QS mediated virulence. The represents a novel approach to overcoming antibiotic resistance, biofilm formation and biofouling, not just for Pseudomonads but for many species of bacteria that exhibit quorum sensing for medical and food safety applications.Item Archival Research at the Arnold Schoenberg Center, Vienna, Austria(2006-06) Gonzales, CynthiaMy current research centers on the early tonal songs of Arnold Schoenberg. All of the hand-written manuscripts are housed at the Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna, Austria. While there (29 June - 5 Aug), I viewed the manuscripts for all of the early songs in Opera 1, 2, 3, and 6; as well as manuscripts for Schoenberg's choral masterpiece "Friede Auf Erden;" and numerous canons about which no published article exists. Viewing manuscripts can reveal much about Schoenberg's compositional process. For example, the short introduction to "Alles" (Op. 6, no. 2) first appears drafted in the bottom right-hand corner, not at the beginning. From this, I deduce that the introduction was not part of the composer's original conception of the song; and this affects how I analyze the song. To prepare for my research at the Arnold Schoenberg Center, I and a student researcher undertook a study of the poets and poetry anthologies that served as textual sources for Schoenberg's songs.Item Archival Research in Brazil(2005-08) Romo, AnadeliaI applied for a research development grant to conduct archival research in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and to support my writing upon my return. My current project seeks to unite the political and intellectual histories of race relations in twentieth-century Brazil. To understand the political situation, it is necessary to examine the role of public officials and public policies in some detail. For this reason I focused my project on the state of Bahia, Brazil. Bahia provides an important counterbalance to studies of race that have most often focused on Rio, where Afro-Brazilians compose a minority of the population and where Afro-Brazilian culture never reached the same level of dominance, influence, and mainstream political acceptance. My methodology for this project combines close textual analysis of documents with an in-depth study of the personal archives of several central figures in Bahian politics. My research during the course of the REP grant focused on the political side of this project and examined extensive personal records of various Bahian public figures held in the archive of the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. My research promises a new reading of traditional political sources, as well as a new approach to Brazilian race relations. Upon my return from research I was able to dedicate significant time to beginning the process of writing up this research, which will be a chapter in my upcoming book.Item Are Fast Food Menus Contributing to Overweight Children?(2007-01) Stutts, Mary Ann; Smith, Karen H.Health officials have become alarmed by the rapid rise in obesity among American children. Predictions are that 2010, almost 20% of children in the United States will be overweight. Among Mexican American and African American youth, the rates are around 40%. If this overweight segment of society does not reverse itself, we will see a continued increase in health problems such as Type II diabetes and heart disease in children. Because of the importance of this problem an experiment was designed to test whether providing calorie and fat content information or a heart symbol denoting healthier choices to children ages 6-1l will favorably affect their meal choices at fast food restaurants. Children (240) were recruited through the Girl and Boy Scouts. The experiment consisted of three conditions: (1) no nutrition information, (2) calorie and fat content next to menu items, and (3) a heart- healthy symbol next to healthy items. Tri-fold poster boards were developed based on menu boards at McDonald's and Wendy's and each child was shown a menu board from each restaurant and asked to make a meal selection. Additional data was collected via child and parent questionnaires. Preliminary results from the study include: (1) many children want to eat healthy, (2) females made healthier choices than males, (3) nutrition information can affect behavior, and (4) pictorial information may be more effective for children than verbal information.Item Are You My Type — Interactive Website on Typography(2006-06) Blanco, IvaneteThe project, Are You My Type, proposed the development of an interactive website that covers all aspects of typography an innovative website that prior to Are You My Type did not exist. Typography is an essential part of graphic design and is used to communicate a message to an intended audience. Type can be used simply to be read, as an image or shape, or to convey a feeling or meaning. Learning what typography is and how to use type effectively is one of the most important skills a graphic designer can obtain. Because the topic of Typography is so expansive, I broke down the project into four sections that cover all aspects of typography: Type Speak, Face Value, What is Type? and Type Connections. The What is Type? section introduces the historical significance of typography. In the Type Speak section, terminology, classification, uses of type, anatomy and a few typographic exercises were added. In the Face Value section, I examined specific typefaces from all the categories that are listed in the classification portion of the Type Speak section. The Type Connection section lists all the reference materials researched to develop the content for this project. Are You My Type is a useful online resource to better develop my knowledge of typography, which will greatly enhance my future creative work. The Are You My Type website (http: //www.areyoumytype.org) is now available for private or public use.Item Arrangement and Description of Marshall Brown Newport Youth Jazz Band Collection(2005-08) Winking, KeithThe Marshall Brown collection at the Institute of Jazz Studies (IJS) at Rutgers University was contained on 13 shelves, each containing 2 boxes - a box held between one and one and 1/2 cubic feet which translated to about 275 cubic feet of materials. I was able to go through the whole collection and compile a complete Guide to the Marshall Brown Collection. This guide contains music titles, dates and condition of the music, interpretation of the music's significance, information on key and time signatures, description of individual parts in detail, copyright/publishing information, and box/folder numbers to facilitate access to the collection. Ultimately, my work was about access. I created an archival guide that will allow researchers/educators the chance to have an overview and facilitate access to the collection. The IJS has agreed to make the Newport Youth Band's music available to school music programs as well as the international music community. Much of the world's great jazz literature has never been published so school jazz ensembles now have the opportunity to perform music from this collection. The Texas State Jazz Orchestra under my direction, performed several works from this collection.Item Assessing Autism(2007-01) Klose, LaurieWe were able to assess approximately 30 children with the ADOS, ADI-R, PEP3, CARS, GARS and Vineland. We determined that the ADOS had excellent sensitivity but not good specificity. CARS had excellent specificity and sensitivity. GARS had problems with both specificity and sensitivity. All measures were useful in program planning and progress monitoring for children with autism.Item Assessing Morphological Treatment Response in African American English Speaking Children with Specific Language Impairment(2007-01) Burns, Frances A.This preliminary study is an attempt to further define the parameters for judging the progress of child African American English (AAE) speakers with specific language impairment in treatment targeting auxiliary is/are/was, and 3rd person singular's . The specific aims of the proposed project are to 1) assess the degree of validity for the current grammatical morpheme probes based on AAE and General American English (GAE) participant response processes and 2) develop and field test grammatical morpheme probes that are specific to morpho-syntactic properties of AAE. Participants were monolingual- English speaking preschoolers between the ages of 5;0 and 6;0. Other criteria for inclusion in the study are typically-developing (TD) language skills, cognitive levels within the normal range, passing a hearing screening at 20 dB HL, and no neurological or emotional concerns based on teacher report. Fifteen participants were recruited from Luling ISD. All participants will receive a language screening in order to document typical development. A set of tasks were used to elicit the children's use of the above grammatical morphemes. Probe responses were then transcribed and analyzed for accuracy of the target morphemes based on the general American English dialect. Language and narrative samples were also obtained in order to document participants' dialect status. Results show that the current grammatical morphemes are appropriate for general American English speakers but may place African American English speakers at risk for misdiagnosis. More participants are being recruited, in particular African American children for further testing. New probes are being developed based on current results.Item Bat Rabies in Texas (1996 – 2000)(2004-01) Rohde, Rodney E.In January 2003, I was selected as a Research Enhancement Awardee for my proposal (Bat Rabies in Texas, 1996 – 2000) by the internally funded grant competition at Texas State University-San Marcos. Recipients of these awards must submit a written progress report to the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) by October 1, immediately following the end of the grant period (8/31/03), which was submitted to OSP. I understand that a final report is to be submitted by June 1, 2004, to OSP highlighting any and all accomplishments with respect to this grant. This memo will serve as my FINAL REPORT with respect to this project. The data collection for this project was done over the spring and early summer of 2003. Data collection required travel to the Texas Department of Health in Austin and to a coauthor’s residence in Buda to acquire data that was utilized via a travel request in the grant for a total of $319.20. As PI, I requested 1/12 salary ($3703.50) for the summer to expedite analysis of data for this project. The salary was utilized during the second summer session of 2003 to prepare a manuscript with the coauthors of this project. All monies requested for this project ($4022.70) have been utilized.Item Between the Arcades and Arcadia(2004-01) Housefield, JamesThis project, which began as an investigation of art and geography in Paris, expanded to become a broader study of the interrelationships between art, geography, and geology. As a result of the research sponsored by this grant, the P.I. has prepared a book prospectus detailing the first extended study to evaluate the historical importance that the city of Paris played in the simultaneous development of modern geographic thought and modern art. In addition, this grant supported research into the importance of geography and geology for a number of American artists ranging from the nineteenth-century painter Thomas Cole to the modern and contemporary artists Joseph Cornell, Roxy Paine, and Robert Smithson. Three conference presentations and one book prospectus resulted from this grant. Four scholarly essays were made possible by this grant three are under review, and one will appear in an edited volume.