University of Houston-Clear Lake
16th AnnualStudent Conference for Research and Creative Arts
April 20 - 22, 2010
Student Conference for Research and Creative Arts
281-283-3375,
2010 University of Houston-Clear LakePage 1 of 108
16th Annual Conference for Research and Creative Arts Proceedings, Cont.
Student Conference for Research and Creative Arts
University of Houston-Clear Lake
2700 Bay Area Blvd
Houston, TX 77058
281-283-3375
Table of Contents
16th Annual Student Conference for Research and Creative Arts
Summary: The Conference hosted 195 presentations representing over 400 authors and co-authors.
Table of Contents
Conference Personnel
Directors
Conference Coordinators
Faculty Advisor
Faculty Advisory Committee
Proceedings Editors
Thank You
Special Recognition
Conference Background
Attending Colleges/Universities
Presentation Options
Conference Program
Tuesday, April 20
Wednesday, April 21
Thursday, April 22
Abstract Listings
Oral Presentation Abstracts
Poetry Reading Abstracts
Special Events Listings
Who Killed Jacob Bennet?
The Innocence Project
Because She Said So!
Poster Presentation Abstracts
Symposium Abstracts
Roundtable Abstracts
Abstract Titles Listed in Order of Occurrence
Conference Personnel
Directors
Michael Hunt
Pilar Goyarzu, Ph.D.
Conference Coordinators
Yu-Hsuan Chang
Linda Early
Charles J. Rosen
Stephanie Selleh
Faculty Advisor
David Malin, Ph.D.
Human Sciences and Humanities
Faculty Advisory Committee
Magdy Akladios, Ph.D.
Science and Computer Engineering
Kathleen Garland, Ph.D.
School of Business
Tonya Hammer, Ph.D.
School of Education
Stuart Larson, Ph.D.
Human Sciences and Humanities, Fine Arts
Proceedings Editors
Charles J. Rosen
Zenia Latoff
Thank You
We thank all of the presenters, sponsors, evaluators, volunteers, Universities, Colleges, and other individuals and organizations who contributed to the Conference. Special recognition goes to the Offices and Departments within the University of Houston-Clear Lake:
Office of the President
Dr. William Staples, President
Office of the Provost
Dr. Carl Stockton, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
Student Services
Dr. Darlene Biggers, Associate Vice President of Student Services
School of Human Sciences and Humanities
Dr. Bruce Palmer, Dean
School of Science and Computer Engineering
Dr. Zbigniew J. Czajkiewicz, Dean
School of Education
Dr. Dennis Spuck, Dean
School of Business
Dr. Ted Cummings, Dean
Marriott Houston-Hobby Airport
Nicole Joullian, Sales Manager
Special Recognition
We wish to express a very special thank you to Dr. Bruce Palmer, Dean of Human Sciences and Humanities.
Dr. Palmer has contributed to the conference since its outset, serving as an evaluator and mentoring student presenters. Upon becoming dean, his involvement was critical in keeping the conference in operation.
We will miss you, Dr. Palmer, and wish you a very rewarding retirement.
Conference Background
The Student Conference on Research and Creative Arts at the University of Houston-Clear Lake began in 1994under the direction of psychology instructors Dr. Kyna Shelly and Michael Hunt. Understanding that their students who had participated in research projects were hesitant to attend professional conferences, they agreed that a co-curricular activity would provide students an opportunity to present their original work in a professional format and help prepare them for their academic and professional careers.
The first conference consisting of 31 presentations by UHCL students has now grown into annual event with authors from multiple colleges and universities.
The event is an interdisciplinary conference with students from fields such as Biology, Physics, Computer Science, Psychology, Sociology, Education, Business, Fine Arts, and Creative Writing.
Attending Colleges/Universities
In 2010, 195 applications wereacceptedthat represented over 400 authors/co-authors from the following colleges and universities:
Alvin Community College
Lamar University
Lee College
Lone Star College-North Harris
Millsaps College
St. Mary's University of San Antonio
Texas Wesleyan University
Troy University
University of Houston- Clear Lake
University of Houston-Downtown
University of Texas at Arlington
University of Texas at San Antonio
Presentation Options
All applications to the conference required a faculty sponsor who was familiar with the original work of the student (s). Presenters received an evaluation following their presentations. The Conference and all presentations were open to the public, free of charge.
Presentation options included the following:
- Oral
Students presented their work orally in 15 minute time slots that included a question-and-answer period.
A pc was available to the presenter for PowerPoint or other supportive use. - Poetry
Students read original poems, memoirs, and other literary materials in an informal coffeehouse setting. - Special Events
Special events were pre-arranged with conference directors and included a mock trial, a dramatic presentation and a speaker. Special events vary year-to-year. - Poster Presentations
Students presented their work in a poster format and were available during their poster session (1.5 - 2hours) to address questions and comments from interested conference attendees. Posters remained displayed for more than the length of the conference. - Symposia
Topics selected by faculty. Students presented their research on the specific topic with a question and answer period following. - Roundtables
Topics selected by faculty. Students come prepared to discuss their opinions based on their research. Roundtables were typically 30 -60 minutes.
Conference Program
Tuesday, April 20
7:00 pm - 10:00 pmSSB 3302 Symposium 1 Professional Safety
Chair: Dr. Magdy Akladios
Wednesday,April 21
12:00 pm - 7:00 pmBayou Atrium IRegistration
1:00 pm - 2:00 pmBayou 1124 Oral Session 1Math & Statistics
2:00 pm - 3:00 pmBayou 1124Oral Session 2Communications Technology
Bayou 1211Symposium 2Shifts in Bombay Cinema: Female Narrative
Iconic Images, and MuslimRepresentation
Chair: Dr. Shreerekha Subramanian
3:00 pm - 4:00 pmBayou Atrium IOpeningReceptionWelcome and Refreshments
4:00 pm - 5:00 pmBayou 1135Oral Session 3Education I
Bayou 1313Roundtable 1Examining the Current State of the
Globalized Woman through the Lens of
Feminism
Chair: Dr. Shreerekha Subramanian
5:30 pm - 7:30 pmBayou Atrium IIPoster Session I
5:30 pm - 7:00 pmBayou 1135Oral Session 4Information Technology
Bayou 2504Oral Session 5Minorities in America
6:00 pm - 7:00 pmSSBCapp. BonoDramatic Entertainment: Because She Said So
7:00 pm - 10:00 pmSSBCapp. BonoOral Session 6Coffee House Poetry Reading
Bayou 1133Symposium 3Energy for the 21st Century
Chair: Dr. Kathleen A Garland
Thursday, April 22
8:00 am - 7:00 pmBayou Atrium IRegistration
8:00 am - 9:00 amForest RmBreakfast
9:30 am -10:45 amBayou 1124Oral Session 7Psychology 1: Experimental
Bayou 1133Oral Session 8Health Care Administration 1
10:00 am - 11:30 amBayou 1135Oral Session 9Psychology 2: Social & Personality
10:00 am - 12:00 pm Bayou 1104Oral Session 10Literature & Humanities
Bayou 1211Roundtable 2The Value of Non-Western
Humanities Education
Chair: Dr. Shreerekha Subramanian
11:00 am - 1:00 pmForest RmLunch
12:00 pm - 2:00 pmBayou Atrium IIPoster Session II
12:00 pm - 12:30 pmBayou 1124Oral Session 11Geology, Geography, and Ecology
12:30 pm - 2:30 pmBayou 1124Symposium 4Research on the Amazon
Chair: Dr. Cindy Howard
1:00 pm - 2:00 pmBayou 1135Oral Session 12History: The Role of Religion
Bayou 1217Oral Session 13Life Sciences
1:00 pm - 2:30 pmBayou 1133Oral Session 14Health Care Administration 2
1:00 pm - 3:00 pmBayou 1228Oral Session 15Visual Arts Studies
Bayou 1313Roundtable 3Rhetorical World of Feminism:
Our Words as Vessels
Chair: Dr. Shreerekha Subramanian
3:30 pm - 6:30 pmGarden Rm Oral Session 16Criminology Legal System Mock Trial:
“Who Killed Jacob Bennett?”
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmBayou 1408Symposium 5International Business Topics
Chair: Melissa N. Gonzalez
6:30 pm - 7:30 pmBayou Atrium IClosing Reception Closing Remarks and Refreshments
Bayou1130Oral Session 17Environmental Issues
SSB 3304Oral Session 18Culture & Society
6:00 pm - 7:30 pmSSB2304Oral Session 19Education 2
Bayou 2508Oral Session 20Health Care Administration 3
6:00 pm - 8:00 pmSSB 2308Oral Session 21Gender Issues
7:00 pm - 10:00 pmSSB 3305Symposium 5Controls of Occupational Hazards
Chair: Magdy Akladios
Bayou 1130Oral Session 22Business
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmSSB 1100Criminology ProgThe Innocence Project
Abstract Listings
Within each presentation section, the abstract listings are organized alphabetically by the (first) author’s last name. The listings include the author (s), college/university, faculty sponsor, presentation title and the abstract as originally submitted.
The listings are formatted as follows:
First Author (College/University); Co-Authors (if any)
Faculty Sponsor: Faculty Name
Title
Abstract
Oral Presentation Abstracts
Agarwal, Twinkle (University of Houston-Clear Lake); Anjana Bhirde, David Hodgson, Raviprakash Madaiah
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Perez Davila
Development of an iPhone Application
As the final core requirement of a Masters degree in Computer Science, the University offers a capstone course, usually taken in the last semester. The class serves many purposes. Many students do not have any real-world work experience; it gives them a chance to work under the tutelage of a professional in the industry. Students learn course material as separate, distinct areas, and the capstone course bridges these different areas together at the synthesis level. The capstone project also teaches students to work together as a team, and gives them practice in communication skills, both written and oral.
The capstone class is divided into small teams of four to five students at the beginning of the semester. Each team is then given some different choices for projects. Upon choosing a project, the team is assigned a mentor that works in the industry, and has expertise within the particular field of project development. Over the course of a semester, the team meets with the professor and mentor at least once a week, and on its own, outside of class. The teams are required to keep minutes of all meetings that occur, and submit them to the professor and mentor weekly. The team members also keep a log of where time is being spent, and submit those weekly as well. Additionally, the teams are required to publish and maintain a website that details contact information, and the progress of the project.
Our team was given a few options for our choice of project, and we immediately jumped on one involving the iPhone. The iPhone app was an obvious choice for more than one reason. As students that will be working in the industry soon, we all want to engage in “resume building”, and work with the latest technology. The mobile application market is one of the fastest growing markets, and presents a lucrative opportunity for students. As the iPhone will be a dominant player in the mobile phone market for the foreseeable future, working with this technology was an attractive option for our group.
Rendezvous is a software application for the iPhone that was developed for the Fall 2009 capstone course, and has three main features. The first feature communicates with a web service to retrieve the weather of the user's current location, and displays it graphically. The second feature streamlines the process of inviting a friend to a restaurant, by automatically finding restaurants in the nearby area via a web service call, and sending an invitation through a text message without any typing on the user's end. This idea could be extended to other types of social events, such as movies, concerts, etc, as well to some logistical applications. The third feature finds the location of all of the user’s friends, and provides directions to them (friends being the people listed in the user's contact list).
Even though the application is targeted to a general audience, it would most likely be beneficial to frequent travelers in setting up business meetings, or reconnecting with friends in an unfamiliar area. The application is an exercise in service-oriented architecture and n-tier development. Many of the features employ the use of the iPhone’s Core Locator to find the latitude and longitude of the user, and then use those to find out relevant information, such as the zip code. Some features use function composition of web services that is chaining the output of one into the input of another, such as latitude and longitude to find the zip code, and then zip code to find the weather. Other features use a web service to manipulate a backend database.
All members of our team found that this project was instrumental in developing a highly marketable skill set to take to the current job market. We feel we have found our footing in this emerging market and are excited to see where time and this new technology will take us.
Albanez, Zulma (Lee College)
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Gordon Lee
Marriage in Pride & Prejudice
In the eighteenth century, women had only one option, one option in which they would be loved by their families, have a safe future and have the respect of others, marriage. Marriage was used by society to let men feel powerful and to make women feel that they needed to have a husband in order for them to be fulfilled in life. This notion can be described by Plato in “The Allegory of the Cave” as a shadow. A shadow is something that makes a person think or believe something which is not the truth. In this case, marriage is a shadow in that it lets women think that this is how they will be fulfilled when this is not the only way. In the novel Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, we see how marriage plays an important theme throughout the novel and how marriage is enforced on girls by society and family. In the novel we see how marriage is used as a shadow to keep women from fulfillment and how even the women themselves, like mothers, become puppeteers to show that marriage is the only possibility thus making their daughters silly, vain, and ignorant.
Allred, Sarah (Millsaps College)
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. William Storey
A Love Affair: Prohibition, Religion, and Taxes in Mississippi
Prohibition legally began in Mississippi in 1908 as a religious endeavor. This endeavor continued throughout the twentieth century as a religious supporters continued to fight for their cause. In 1933 when the rest of the nation abandoned prohibition, religious Mississippians held on to the cause, fighting well into the twenty-first century in many small towns. Despite the support behind prohibition, no amount of strict dry laws forced the citizens of Mississippi to stop drinking completely. Consumption of illegal liquor continued despite the law outlining that ownership of one drop of liquor was a criminal offense. In the 1940s America found herself deep in a world war. The state government turned to taxing the market and trafficking of illegal liquor in an attempt to amass additional revenue for the state during wartime. Officials recognized that prohibition laws had not been enforced throughout the prolonged time of prohibition. Without the vote of its constituents, the Mississippi legislature decided to enact a “Black Market Tax” on the illegal sale of alcohol. The tax proved very lucrative for the state. For example, the public official reaping the highest benefits directly from taxing the lawbreakers was the State Tax Collector. In 1962, "Life Magazine" uncovered that because of this tax, the Mississippi State Tax Collector, a relatively small public position, was the second highest paid public official in the nation—second only to the President of the United States. This Black Market tax depended on alcohol’s being illegal through the continuation of prohibition. In the second half of the twentieth century, prohibition continued not for the religious intents of its proponents but in order for the government to reap revenues. This continuation due to the Black Market Tax depended on the law of prohibition but not on the enforcement of prohibition. Thus, the existence of the tax undermined the religious nature of prohibition in Mississippi as prohibition continued in order to provide revenue for the tax. By the 1960s America and Mississippians alike began to uncover the hypocrisy of prohibition in Mississippi. In order to save face, change had to be made. In 1966, the state government brought change as it began to enforce prohibition in addition to the Black Market Tax for the first time in sixty years. In one public raid on the state’s elite, the government conveyed that change was coming to the state. This raid showed that no longer would a religious endeavor be hijacked for the benefit of the state government and officials. In 1966, Mississippi, the first state to enact prohibition laws became the last state to end statewide prohibition. With the end of prohibition came the end to the hypocritical tax. Neither of these issues—the prolonged prohibition nor the hypocritical tax—has been researched in hindsight until now.
Aloni, Sagar (University of Houston-Clear Lake)
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Ayadi Femi
The Value of an efficient Charge Capture Process
In today’s era of technology boom, majority of healthcare facilities still utilize paper based billing. As the saying goes, “To err is human”, the same applies when this complex process goes under the human touch. The billing process itself is very complex and when a facility uses paper billing mistakes are bound to happen, unless a solid charge capture process policy is in place and is being managed well. This presentation describes a project that was part of a graduate internship in a large healthcare organization in Houston. The project involved coordinating the charge capture process at a public hospital’s (AMS) gastroenterology section, in order to improve the overall charge capture. This process included reconciliation of an old and new procedure, as well as inpatient and outpatient clinic charges. Prior to this project, missed/delayed charges were around 25 percent. By the end of the internship, this number was down to 16%. Delayed/missed charge does not imply the charges were lost, but for any competitive facility the earlier revenue is collected the better. This increased efficiency can be critical to any facility that utilizes paper based billing. It is very easy for employees to lose focus in performing such tasks thus it is extremely vital for any manager to set an impeccable policy that could be used and followed without interruption. Recommendations were provided for the organization in the area of delivery of charge tickets.
Arceo, Yaela (Lee College)
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Gordon Lee
Loosened Chains in The Color Purple
Many people believe that the only role a woman has in life is to maintain a household and keep it running smoothly. A woman should be able to maintain the same authority as the male figure of the household. In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”, the author shows how someone may be restrained from fulfilling his or her life by being chained down and forced to view shadows played for them on the cave’s wall, distorting their reality and preventing them from becoming enlightened.
The shadows that are played on the cave’s wall force them to accept the shadows as a reality that is the only alternative in life. The chains keep them in the cave without letting them come out and become enlightened. Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, however, helps us understand that even the strongest chains can be broken down. A woman should not be looked at as an object to be used at the leisure of men. Through Celie, Walker shows us how gender roles act as chains to keep women submissive to men by having Celie accept the shadows that were played for her until she becomes enlightened and is able to come out of the cave knowing the reality that she can have power and control over herself.