Texas A&M International University: Research Information Online (RIO)
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Ciudades inteligentes y ambientes de comunicación digital
No full textEl concepto de ciudades inteligentes no es nuevo: viene trabajándose desde hace ya un par de décadas, pero únicamente desde el punto de vista tecnológico. Se considera “ciudad inteligente” a aquella ciudad que utiliza tecnologías de información y comunicación, no solamente para la transmisión de información que resulta consustancial para el funcionamiento de la ciudad y la convivencia armónica, sino también para el aprovechamiento de los recursos, físicos, materiales, humanos que permitan su auto sustentabilidad pero, sobre todo, que generen conocimiento. Las ciudades digitales son, por tanto ambientes en los que la inteligencia artificial predomina, el comportamiento y las necesidades se anticipan, pero sobre todo en donde las prácticas sociales se transforman. Por otra parte, si bien los tecnólogos han observado cuidadosamente el funcionamiento eficiente de las ciudades digitales a fin de transformarlas en ciudades inteligentes, poco se ha hecho para observar la transformación de los ambientes de comunicación que se gestan al interior de ellos. Ése es el objetivo de este trabajo, cuya metodología ha sido el análisis de la literatura existente sobre el tema. Ahora bien, dada la naturaleza dinámica de la tecnología y de las ciudades, se trata de un esfuerzo inicial, que seguramente requerirá de continuas aproximaciones
Single machine scheduling to minimize a modified total late work function with multiple due dates
No full textIn this paper, the problem of scheduling n jobs on a single machine is evaluated. We introduce a Modified Total Late Work function that allows a declining piecewise linear penalty over time. Multiple due dates for each job are identified and at each due date, the penalty is reassessed. Many instances occur when delivery urgency leads to progress metrics or dates being added to a contract. Over the life of the contract, a loss of incentives or a price decrease can occur at each of the negotiated due dates. After the final due date, the product is valueless and the penalty ceases to accrue. The number and placement of contract due dates are part of the initial negotiations. Two metaheuristics, Simulated Annealing and the Noising Method, are empirically evaluated to determine their performance when measured by this new loss function
The Service Learning Experiences of Hispanic High School Students on the U.S.-Mexico Border
Get PDFThis phenomenological qualitative study explored the service learning experiences of Hispanic high school students on the U.S.-Mexico border. This study took place in a high school located in south Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border; population approximately 248,142 and ethnically 95.6 percent Hispanic (U.S. Census, 2013). The participants were selected via purposive sampling, thus it was restricted to participants involved in the service learning opportunity with the Volunteer Income Tax Assessor (VITA) program while taking a high school level financial analysis class. Service learning education is defined as the integration of academic material, service activities, and critical reflection based on reciprocal partnerships that engage students and community members to achieve academic, civic, and personal learning objectives (Bringle, Clayton, & Hatcher, 2013). Semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted after school in a general education classroom located on the participants’ school campus. Through the use of open-ended questions, participants discussed their experiences. The researcher first analyzed data based upon the preconceived themes of transfer of knowledge, student motivation, and students’ self-assessment of their role in their community through student-centered, participatory, and activist forms of instruction. The researcher found the overarching themes based upon the participants’ experiences included: (1) better understanding and application of knowledge, (2) enjoyment of working with the community, (3) enhanced confidence when problem solving and working with diverse people, and (4) the development of positive relationships
Exact Solutions to the Capacitated Clustering Problem: A Comparison of Two Models
No full textIn this paper, we investigate a natural nonlinear alternative to a standard linear model for CCP and compare the two models on a set of test problems. Our results show that moderate sized instances of CCP can in fact be solved optimally with modern exact methods in modest amounts of time and that the quadratic model generally outperformed its equivalent linear alternative in terms of quickly finding optimal or near optimal solutions
It’s all in the eyes: How language dominance, salience, and context affect eye movements during idiomatic language processing
No full textThis paper reports an eye movement study and the effects of salience, context, and language dominance on the processing of idiomatic expressions by Spanish–English bilinguals. Salient meanings of figurative expressions are those which are processed first and accessed automatically from the mental lexicon, regardless of contextual bias (Giora 2003). The research conducted so far with second language (L2) learners and bilingual participants has shown that the literal meaning of L2 idioms might be more salient than the figurative one in the course of their processing by non-native language users (e.g. Kecskes 2000; Liontas 2002; Cieślicka 2006; Cieślicka and Heredia 2011). In addition, research findings suggest that the degree of language dominance, or which language is more readily accessible due to usage (Heredia 1997; Heredia and Altarriba 2001; Altarriba and Basnight-Brown 2007), might be a factor in bilingual processing. To investigate whether the degree of literal and figurative activation in bilingual idiom processing may be modulated by language dominance (i.e. dominant vs. nondominant), we recorded eye movements of Spanish–English bilinguals, dominant either in Spanish or in English, while they were reading ambiguous (literally plausible, such as ‘kick the bucket’) English idioms. Each idiom was used either in its figurative or literal meaning and embedded in a sentence with neutral preceding context, in which case its figurative (‘Within seconds she realized she was in deep water, and that she would very soon come to regret her words’) or literal (‘Within seconds she realized she was in deep water, and that she would very soon have to swim back towards the shore’) meaning became clear due to the subsequent disambiguating information, or the preceding supportive context clearly biasing one of the meanings (e.g. figurative biased: ‘Since both of us were equally guilty of causing the overspend, we both knew we were in deep water, and very likely to lose our jobs’). As predicted, the results indicated that the effects of salience and context on eye movement patterns are modulated by language dominance
Comunicación e interculturalidad. Reflexiones en torno a una relación indisoluble.
No full textLa comunicación intercultural ha sido definida como cualquier situación comunicativa donde interactúan al menos dos personas con matrices culturales-geográficas distintas. Otras definiciones amplían la noción de interculturalidad y consideran motivos de distinción que trascienden lo geográfico e incluyen dimensiones como la clase social, la edad, el género, la ideología y la preferencia sexual. En todo caso, la clave de la comunicación intercultural es la interacción con lo diferente, con lo que objetiva y, sobre todo, subjetivamente, se percibe como distinto. Así, la comunicación y la interculturalidad mantienen una relación indisoluble. Vale la pena, entonces, preguntarse: ¿Cuál es el papel de la comunicación en procesos de interculturalidad? Para ofrecer algunas vetas de reflexión que permitan responder esta interrogante, se proponen tres articulaciones conceptuales básicas: la relación comunicación-cultura, la relación comunicación-interacción y la distinción entre términos como interculturalidad y multiculturalidad, que a menudo, erróneamente, se conciben como sinónimos. El objetivo último de este ensayo es presentar algunas reflexiones de corte teórico y conceptual en torno a las relaciones entre comunicación e interculturalidad. El enfoque trasciende la óptica más tradicional –vinculada con la antropología y la sociología–y toma en cuenta los aportes del Interaccionismo Simbólico y la Socio-fenomenología, corrientes importantes para la dimensión interaccional de la comunicación.AbstractIntercultural communication has been defined as any communicational situation where at least two people with different cultural-geographic backgrounds interact. Other definitions broaden the notion of interculturality and consider distinctive factors that span beyond the geographic, including dimensions such as social class, age, gender, ideology and sexual preference. In any case, the key to intercultural communication is interacting with those who are different, with that which is perceived (both objectively, but more importantly, subjectively) as different. Thus, the concepts of communication and interculturality maintain a binding relationship. It is therefore worthwhile to ask: What is the role of communication within intercultural processes? To offer a few areas of reflection that may provide an answer to this question, three conceptual articulations are proposed: the connection between communication-culture, the connection between communication-interaction and the difference between terms such as interculturality and multiculturality, which are often misconceived as synonyms. The overall objective of this essay is to offer some theoretical and conceptual reflections regarding the relationship between communication and interculturality. The focus transcends the traditional view (closely linked to anthropology and sociology) and takes into account the contributions of Symbolic Interactionism and Socio-phenomenology, which are important schools of thought for the interactive dimension of communication
Predictores psicosociales de la satisfacción percibida con las relaciones interpersonales en el uso de la mensajería instantánea
No full textEste estudio se dirige a indagar en algunos determinantes de la satisfacción percibida de las relaciones interpersonales mediante mensajería instantánea. Específicamente, la auto-apertura, las habilidades sociales percibidas, la cantidad de amigos en línea, la frecuencia de uso de la mensajería instantánea y el género. Se aplicó un cuestionario a 249 estudiantes universitarios (55% mujeres), con edades entre 17.5 y 28.5. Se encontró que las personas que perciben mayores habilidades sociales presentan una mayor satisfacción de las relaciones interpersonales. Asimismo, se presentan diferencias por género en el tipo asociación encontrada entre la frecuencia de uso de la mensajería instantánea, la cantidad de amigos en línea y la satisfacción percibida de las relaciones interpersonales en ese contexto tecnológico y comunicativo. No se encontraron asociaciones entre la auto-apertura y la satisfacción percibida de las relaciones. Palabras clave: mensajería instantánea, relaciones interpersonales, comunicación interpersonal, habilidades sociales, auto-apertura AbstractThis study evaluates several predictors of perceived interpersonal relationship satisfaction through instant messaging (IM). Specifically, self-disclosure, perceived social skills, amount of online friends, IM use frequency and sex. 249 university students (55% women), with ages between 17.5 y 28.5, completed a questionnaire. Findings indicate that subjects who perceived themselves as more socially skilled have bigger interpersonal relationship satisfaction. Also, there are differences by gender in the type of association found between IM use frequency, amount of online friends, and perceived interpersonal relationship satisfaction within this communicative and technological context. There were no associations found between self-disclosure and perceived interpersonal relationships satisfaction. Keywords: instant messaging, interpersonal relationships, interpersonal communication, social skills, self-disclosure
Temporal analysis of Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) performance based on remotely sensed precipitation products
No full textNo study has systematically evaluated streamflow modelling between monthly and daily time scales. This study examines streamflow from seven watersheds across the USA where five different precipitation products were used as primary input into the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to generate simulated streamflow. Time scales examined include monthly, dekad (10days), pentad (5days), triad (3days), and daily. The seven basins studied are the San Pedro (Arizona), Cimarron (north-central Oklahoma), mid-Nueces (south Texas), mid-Rio Grande (south Texas and northern Mexico), Yocano (northern Mississippi), Alapaha (south Georgia), and mid-St. Francis (eastern Arkansas). The precipitation products used to drive simulations include rain gauge, NWS Multisensor Precipitation Estimator, Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM), Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis, TRMM 3B42-V6, and Climate Prediction Center Morphing Method (CMORPH). Understanding how streamflow varies at sub-monthly time scales is important because there are a host of hydrological applications such a flood forecast guidance and reservoir inflow forecasts that reside in a temporal domain between monthly and daily time scales. The major finding of this study is the quantification of a strong positive correlation between performance metrics and time step at which model performance deteriorates. Better performing simulations, with higher Nash-Sutcliffe values of 0.80 and above can support modeling at finer time scales to at least daily and perhaps beyond into the sub-daily realm. These findings are significant in that they clearly document the ability of SWAT to support modeling at sub-monthly time steps, which is beyond the capability for which SWAT was initially designed. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
How Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Motivation Affect Organizational Commitment and Job Satisfaction: A Cross-cultural Study in the United States and China
Get PDFThis dissertation research is designed to identify how an individual’s work motivation affects his/her organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Work motivation is divided into intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The three components of organizational commitment proposed by Meyer and Allen are examined separately. This study is a cross-cultural study based on data collected from the United States and China. The data are analyzed using partial least square (PLS) based structural equation modeling (SEM). The results of the SEM analysis are compared between the US and the China sample. The results of this study show that intrinsic motivation is positively associated with affective commitment and normative commitment in both the US and China. Intrinsic motivation is positively associated with continuance commitment in the US, but the China sample shows a non-significant path coefficient between the two variables. Extrinsic motivation does not affect organizational commitment in the US, but in China, extrinsic motivation is highly associated with all components of organizational commitment. Intrinsic motivation is found to be highly associated with job satisfaction in both countries. Extrinsic motivation is related with job satisfaction in China but not in the US. The comparison of the SEM path coefficients also shows that the path coefficient between work motivation and organizational commitment is significantly different between the US and China; however, the path coefficient between work motivation and job satisfaction is not significantly different. In addition, the PLS regression shows that many of the relations between the variables are nonlinear. It has been concluded that the OB findings developed in the US are not directly applicable to China. Generally, employees motivated by the enjoyment of their job will have high levels of commitment to their organization and higher job satisfaction. Unlike employees in the US, employees in China do not regard the loss of enjoyment of their job as a consequence associated with leaving an organization. The most important finding of this research is that monetary reward is much more useful in China than in the US in terms of affecting an employee’s organizational commitment