UTSA Runner Research Press (Univ. of Texas at San Antonio)
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Remembering Our Loved Ones Through Photos
No full textIncludes information about Día de los Muertos and nichos, and instructions and a template for creating your own nicho
Development & Assessment of high resolution radar based precipitation frequency curves for Texas
No full textConventionally, in-situ rainfall data are used to develop Intensity Duration Frequency (IDF) curves, which are one of the most effective tools modeling the probability of occurrence of extreme storm events at different timescales. The rapid recent technological advancement of precipitation sensing and the finer spatio-temporal resolution of data made the application of remotely sensed precipitation products more dominant in the field of hydrology. Some recent studies discussed the potential of remote sensing products for developing IDF curves. This study employs a 19-year NEXRAD Stage-IV high-resolution radar data (2002-2020) to develop IDF curves over the entire state of Texas at a fine spatial resolution. The Annual Maximum Series (AMS) were fitted to four widely used theoretical Extreme Value statistical distributions. Gumble distribution, a unique scenario of the family of Generalized Extreme Values (GEV), was found to be the best model for more than 70% of the state’s area for all storm durations. Validation of the developed IDFs against the operational Atlas 14 IDF values shows a ±27% difference in over 95% of the state for all storm durations. The median of the difference stays between -10% and +10% for all storm durations and all return periods in the range of (2–100) years. The mean difference ranges from -5% for the 100year return period to 8% for the 10-year return period for the 24-hour storm. Generally, the western and northern regions of the state show an overestimation while the southern and southcentral regions an underestimation of the published values.Civil Engineerin
Cultural evolution and geometric morphometrics reveal a morphological relationship between Yubetsu microblade cores in Northeast Asia and Eastern Beringia
No full textThe archaeological record of the late Pleistocene of Asia and northwest North America is dominated by microblade core technology. Scholars have searched for connections in technology as proxy for the origin of the First Peoples of North America. Recently, one hypothesis has proposed an origin on the Paleo-Sakhalin-Hokkaido-Kurile (PSHK) peninsula, finding similarities in microblade core and stemmed projectile point morphologies on the peninsula and in early North American contexts. To date, this hypothesis has used chronological and technological similarities to draw this connection; we employ quantitative methods and draw on cultural evolutionary theory to test the validity of this hypothesis using Strict Yubetsu microblade cores found throughout Northeast Asia and Alaska. Drawing on an iterative founder effect model derived from population genetics, we examine the relationship of within-group variation of these cores and their geographic distance from predicted points of origin. The results support a relationship between geographic distance from Hokkaido and core within-group variance, whose presence lends support to the early events of the PSHK hypothesis.Anthropolog
Context, Age, and Sex Distribution of Loud Calls in Colobus vellerosus
No full textMany species of primates engage in loud calling, but the function of these calls are still poorly understood. The white-thighed black-and-white colobus (Colobus vellerosus) is a species that produces loud calls, and we investigated the context of age-sex differences in calling. We collected 12 months of data from 8 C. vellerosus groups at Boabeng-Fiema in Ghana. We recorded 3,662 loud calls from the focal group and from other groups. The rate of loud calling was 0.26 calls per contact hour and the rate of loud calling during intergroup encounters was 0.49 calls per hour of intergroup encounter. In March, the month with highest food abundance, there were 656 loud calls observed. During the month of lowest food abundance, October, there were 243 loud calls observed. When we could identify the caller, the majority of loud calls were by adult males (N=826), especially the alpha male (N=718). Adult females rarely engage in loud calling (N =2). There were no loud calls from younger age categories. These findings suggest that males, and alpha males in particular, use loud calls to defend their home ranges, food, and/or females during intergroup encounters.Anthropolog
Effects of Stress and Estrous Cycle on Reward Learning and Striatal Dopamine Release
No full textWhile stress is a universal experience, it does not impact everyone in the same way. Women, as compared to men, are more likely to suffer physical and psychological consequences as a result of stress. Furthermore, estrogen cycles influence the behavioral outcomes of stress exposure. As such, it is necessary to examine how stress impacts females. One long-lasting consequence of stress is the impact on cue-outcome associations. The purpose of this thesis is to identify how stress impacts reward learning in female rats and to examine the neural systems involved. To address this, I administered either a single or repeated stress protocol to naturally cycling female rats prior to Pavlovian conditioning. Throughout experiments, I monitored the estrous cycle and recorded dopamine release in key brain regions. In Chapter 2, I demonstrate that a single stress exposure results in stress-enhanced conditioned responding in non-estrus stages and stress-suppressed conditioned responding in estrus. Furthermore, repeated stress exposures universally increase conditioned responding, regardless of estrous cycle stage. In Chapter 3, I show that stress selectively suppresses dopamine release in the ventral medial striatum of rats that begin training in estrus, leading to the observed stress-suppressed conditioned responding. Conversely, stress has no impact on ventral striatal dopamine release in non-estrus rats. Collectively, these findings provide new information on when the estrous cycle does, and does not, gate the behavioral response to stress, as well as highlighting a need for further examination of the neural systems involved with stress and learning in female rats.Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biolog
Rx for Insight: Analyzing Medicare Part B Drug Spending
No full textAs costs continue to rise for Immune globulin (IgG) drugs under Medicare Part B, challenges to both beneficiaries and the program’s financial sustainability have arisen. We analyze Medicare Part B Spending by Drug data from 2018 to 2022 with a focus on IgG drugs for beneficiaries who have been diagnosed with primary immune deficiency and those requiring prevention of Rh-negative sensitization during pregnancy. By examining the premiums and coverage of Part B, we aim to identify lower-cost options that enhance the affordability of these critical medications for beneficiaries.
Our results show a continued increase in total spending and average cost per claim, thus resulting in a significant financial burden on beneficiaries over the analysis period. Supply chain vulnerabilities and market competition behavior are determined to be some of the key factors contributing to these cost surges. To mitigate these pricing issues, we recommend implementing price ceilings to curb excessive costs and protect beneficiaries from unaffordable expenses. Promoting the development and use of generic alternatives can also create healthy competition in the market and control costs. Analyzing the supply chain processes behind the plasma utilized for these drugs and ensuring steady manufacturing can also prevent steep increases in costs.By introducing pricing controls, encouraging the switch to affordable, generic medication, and protecting the stability of the plasma supply chain, we can balance affordability and accessibility for beneficiaries while also ensuring Medicare’s financial stability.Data Analytic
The Lived Experiences of Latinx College Students in the Texas Success Initiative
No full textMany high school graduates enter college unprepared for college-level coursework, often scoring below college readiness in subjects like Math, Reading, and English (Boylan, 1999).This is a persistent gap, especially among low-income students and students of color (Payne & Means, 2013) Despite being the fastest-growing minority group in the U.S., Latinx students have the lowest college graduation and enrollment rates (Santiago et al., 2016). In response, colleges offer non-credit-bearing developmental (remedial) courses that students must complete before enrolling in regular credit-bearing classes. In 2017, Texas passed House Bill 2223, mandating that students who score below college readiness must now enroll in co-requisite remedial courses alongside their college-level classes, marking a shift from the previous sequentially model (Texas Legislature, 2017)
Although this model has been active for the last several years, our understanding of how students think and feel about their participation in these courses in very limited. As such, my dissertation addresses this gap by focusing on the experiences of Latinx students who took the co-enrolled linked class in 0314 Developmental Mathematics with 1414 College Algebra in the Spring of 2023, in the months of January, February, March, April, and May. This study also explores the extent to which their particular experiences in these classes contributed a positive or negative outlook regarding the role of education for success in their lives, and whether or not their developmental course taking contributed to their academic goals (i.e. pursuing a certificate-of-completion and/or transfer to a 4-year college for a degree attainment). The data for my qualitative study comes from multiple, in-person interviews that I conducted with these students, and I used Critical Race Theory to inform my analysis of the data.Educational Leadership and Policy Studie
Refining Atmospheric Search Fields
No full textAtmospheric research is crucial for understanding weather patterns, climate change, and environmental dynamics. However, the efficient discovery and analysis of large-scale atmospheric datasets pose significant challenges for researchers. This scientific report presents the development and deployment of a novel tool aimed at facilitating data discovery in atmospheric research, focusing on Sky Imager and Fabry Perot Interferometer data collected at the Arecibo Observatory and Culebra. The tool features a user-friendly calendar interface and dropdown menu, enabling users to select specific combinations of Year, Month, Day, Location, and Wavelength (YMDLW). Additionally, automated methods are incorporated to associate file metadata with corresponding file paths of images. The tool aims to streamline data retrieval and organization, thereby enhancing the efficiency of atmospheric data extraction and interpretation. This report provides insights into the background of atmospheric research, current challenges in data discovery, the methodology employed for tool development, and the potential impact on advancing scientific knowledge in atmospheric science. Through the implementation of more accurate and relevant search criteria, researchers will be able to identify and retrieve data that is specifically tailored to their research needs, leading to more precise and meaningful scientific investigations.Physics and Astronom
Trusted Traceability Service: A Novel Approach to Securing Supply Chains
No full textCounterfeit products cause financial losses for both the manufacturer and the enduser; e.g., fake foods and medicines pose significant risks to the public’s health. Moreover, it is challenging to ensure trust in a product’s supply chain, preventing counterfeit goods from being distributed throughout the network. However, fake product detection methods are expensive and need to be more scalable, whereas a unified traceability system for packaged products is not available. Therefore, this research proposes a product traceability system, named Trusted Traceability Service (TTS), using Blockchain and Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI). The TTS can be incorporated across diverse industries because of its generic and manageable four-layer product packaging strategy. Blockchain-enabled SSI empowers distributed nodes, to verify them without a centralized client–server authorization architecture. Moreover, due to its distributed nature, the proposed TTS framework is scalable and robust, with the use of web3.0 distributed application development. The adoption of Fantom, a public blockchain infrastructure, allows the proposed system to handle thousands of successful transactions more cost-effectively than the Ethereum network. The deployment of the proposed framework in both public and private blockchain networks demonstrated its superiority in execution time and number of successful transactions.Electrical and Computer Engineerin
The effects of parental and group characteristics on birth sex ratio in captive baboons (Papio spp.) and rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)
No full textThe full text of this item is not available at this time because the author has placed this item under an embargo until May 15, 2028.Birth sex ratios often deviate from the expected 50:50 ratio, raising questions as to whether individuals bias their offspring production towards one sex for fitness rewards. This project aimed to evaluate adaptive birth sex ratio biasing in captive baboons and rhesus macaques using archival data and contemporary behavioral observations from the Southwest National Primate Research Center. I tested the local resource competition, local resource enhancement, Trivers-Willard, and mate attractiveness hypotheses by assessing the effects of environmental factors, maternal social status, and interactions between parental age and multiple measures of maternal and paternal condition on birth sex ratios. Only paternal age at conception in rhesus macaques was significantly associated with offspring sex. These results indicate little support for adaptive birth sex ratio biasing in baboons and macaques, and they highlight the importance of considering paternal effects on birth sex ratios.Anthropolog