Digital Commons @ Texas A&M University-San Antonio
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Drivers and Challenges of Wearable Devices Use: Content Analysis of Online Users Reviews
Get PDFWith recent advancements in wearable device technologies, there is still a need to investigate drivers and challenges associated with the use of these devices. Following a content analysis approach, this study leverages recent “found large-scale” data to better understand the drivers and challenges that affect the adoption and use of such devices. Analyzing a total of 16,717 online reviews about wearable devices, the findings emphasized the importance of various functionalities (perceived usefulness), appeal, and a number of device design features as the most prominent drivers, while concerns about quality, credibility, and perceived value as potential challenges to wearable adoption and continued use. The findings could inform theoretical models for technology adoption and continued use and can also provide guidance to the design and development of wearable devices
Diel Cycling of Carbon in the San Antonio River
Get PDFSan Antonio Texas gives home to the San Antonio River which is typically fed by its headwater otherwise known as the Blue Hole. In this research, we studied the influence of photosynthesis on the cycling of carbon in the San Antonio River. We collected water samples from the river over a 24-hour cycle from Brackenridge Park to a point just outside downtown, San Antonio. The pH increases during the day and falls and night; the alkalinity reduces during the day and increases at night, and the dissolved oxygen (DO) showed increases during the day and falls at night. The behavior of the pH, alkalinity, and DO, is due to photosynthetic processes where dissolved carbon-dioxide (CO2) is removed from the water during the day and added at night, and DO is added to the water during the day and removed at night
Archiving Bilingual Latin@ Oral Histories
Get PDFOver the past ten years, digital archives documenting underrepresented communities have been rising. For example, oral and print historical projects about minoritized communities and ethnic cultural heritage centers have existed for decades (Daniel, 2010), yet few are fully accessible online. The increased presence of these types of archives points not only to the need to document the histories of these communities but also to the interest in making this work accessible to all. There is an urgency in documenting, archiving, and curating histories—audio, print, video, and other ephemera—because minoritized communities have consistently faced exclusion from majority historical documents. As precarious and essential as this work is, important projects like the one discussed here are often shared as an in-processversion. This process allows us to shape and consider new ways of archiving, perhaps even disrupting traditional collecting and accessioning methods beyond canonical (White) standards. This article shows our interest in developing a decolonized model for archiving digital oral history collections. Indeed, much of the way we are thinking about making the collection accessible is by centering it on bilingual descriptions of each item in the collection signals a non-traditional and, thus, decolonial way of documenting a community.“
Archiving Bilingual Latin@ Oral Histories” is an initiative to make an already existing digital oral history archive accessible to the community it documents. From collecting stories, accessioning, and website design and content, it seeks to work collaboratively with students and the community to present a bilingual archive representing the Latina/o/x community in Ohio
Elucidating the Mass Transfer Mechanism of CrVI Adsorption by Encapsulated Chitosan-Carbon Nanotubes-Iron Beads in Packed-Bed Columns
Get PDFThis study evaluates the CrVI breakthrough behaviors of a continuous-flow column packed with composite chitosan-MWCNTs‑iron beads under various operating conditions. Under the tested range of experimental parameters, a maximum of 54% of CrVI removal was achieved at: water flow rate, 1 mL/min, feed CrVI concentration, 30 mg/L; and packed bed height 8 cm. A homogeneous surface diffusion model (HSDM) involving convection-dispersion and diffusion equations was formulated, numerically solved, and experimentally validated. The high degree of conformity between the calculated and experimental breakthrough curves facilitated the determination of mass transfer parameters including axial dispersion DL, (1.30 × 10−8 to 1.56 × 10−7 m2/s) and surface diffusion Ds, (7.28 × 10−11 to 1.80 × 10−10 m2/s) via an error minimizing approach. The DL value was a function of molecular diffusion, which varied with the flow velocity, mass loading, and bed height. The Ds values were slightly higher than those previously reported, owing to the heterogeneous nature of the adsorbent. The external film diffusion coefficient (kf) was also determined by using Wilson-Geankoplis empirical correlation, which was recognized as a rate-controlling factor during CrVI mass transfer to the adsorbent beads. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis showed that a transition from diffuse- to shock-front occurred with a decreasing DL, while a decrease in the slope of breakthrough curves was observed by decreasing Ds and bed porosity, and increasing kf and Langmuir parameters. Lastly, the study demonstrated a high correlation between utilization of fractional bed capacity and axial Peclet number. This method is suitable for optimizing operating conditions to maximize the utilization of a fixed-bed columns
Systematic Literature Review of Experiences and Supports for Students with ASD Post Hoc: Findings Regarding Diversity and Implications for Research and Educator Preparation
Get PDFThe following post hoc analysis examines cultural and/or linguistic information from a previous systematic literature review of 24 studies investigating demographic information, encounters, assists and suggestions of study participants enrolled in post-secondary education institutions with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The analysis and discussion of results appeal for the need to not only include and focus on diversity but to refocus on cultural consciousness. Implications and future directions for research and for educator preparation programs are proposed
Illusions of Empire: The Civil War and Reconstruction in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands
No full textIllusions of Empire adopts a multinational view of North American borderlands and border lines, examining the ways in which Mexico\u27s north overlapped with America\u27s Southwest in the contexts of diplomacy, politics, economics, and military operations. Beyond these direct historical arguments, the U.S.-Mexico borderlands provide a case study for the overt and covert nature of diplomacy in regions of contested sovereignty.https://digitalcommons.tamusa.edu/hist_books/1009/thumbnail.jp
How Getting Friendly with Bacteria Can Promote Student Appreciation of Microbial Diversity and Their Civic Scientific Literacy
Get PDFePortfolios are digital repositories where students can curate papers, projects, and reflections from individual or multiple courses across the disciplines and in a variety of formats to showcase their learning. This transparent and portable medium, which enables students to document their knowledge and abilities for assessment and career development, has been recognized by the American Association of Colleges and Universities as one of 11 high-impact practices. Using tailored rubrics, student assessment of learning gain surveys, and end-of-course exam questions, this study demonstrates how an ePortfolio assignment can be used in microbiology courses taken by majors and nonmajors to measure student learning outcomes in several course and program learning goals. Additionally, it helps students reflect on their learning and place it in a real-world context by connecting science, microbiology, and microbes with issues of social importance like cholera, gender equity, and antibiotic resistance. Writing from a first-person perspective and drawing on resources obtained in class and from their own research, students generate profiles for a chosen microbe and document the microbe’s characteristics in creative ways. The ePortfolio assignment can also be partnered with creative work such as an art piece or a poem that highlights and showcases the microbe in a format that is accessible to the public to increase awareness of the role of microbes in our ecosystems. With careful design and construction of assignments, ePortfolios can also be leveraged to promote civic and scientific literacy by tying classroom content to real-world issues of civic importance
Early Evidence of the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 (Omicron) Variant in Community Wastewater: United States, November–December 2021
Get PDFNotes from the Field: Early Evidence of the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 (Omicron) Variant in Community Wastewater — United States, November–December 2021
Covers: California, Colorado, New York City, Housto
Species Diversity and Barcoding of Macroinvertebrates from the San Antonio River
Get PDFMacroinvertebrates are important biological indicators of health and ecological change within aquatic ecosystems. Macroinvertebrate diversity of the San Antonio (SA) River Watershed (Texas), which traverses rural and urban regions (Bexar County, TX), remains understudied compared to vertebrate counterparts of economic and conservation importance. The SA River hosts a diversity of crustaceans (crayfish), insects (beetles, dragonflies), annelids (leeches), and unidentified larvae at intermediate developmental stages. To improve ecological records of the SA River, an integrative approach is used to establish a reference macroinvertebrate species inventory and a genetic barcoding database (mitochondrial COI and/or 16S rRNA) for the SA River Mission Reach restored site. These data will improve the identification of (i) species of varying developmental stages to adult forms; (ii) cryptic species; and (iii) key biological indicators. Establishing baseline data will also facilitate the identification of not easily detectable changes in macroinvertebrate diversity potentially attributed to urban disturbance or climate change
