Faculty Research & Creative Scholarship 2020: S-T

Description: A solid understanding of basic scientific principles is necessary for everyone—regardless of job position or perceived ability to “do science.” Many students will find themselves in a place where they will need to understand some aspect of science. Most will be parents or voters—and presumably all will be consumers. For these reasons alone, all individuals must have some fundamental scientific skills in order to critically analyze situations, scenarios, or products in an objective, balanced way, or else risk damage to one’s self, loved ones, or the environment. Additionally, many will need to advocate for their health or the health of a loved one. Issues in Biology focuses on increasing a student's scientific literacy and Biology knowledge by using relevant issues that affect virtually all people. More than just a “hook” to interest students, Issues in Biology places the issue first, in the form of a current article or video, followed by the Biological content necessary to fully understand the significance of the article or video. Specifically written to appeal to the general public, this text makes it clear that all included scientific concepts are deliberately chosen, relevant, and useful to all college students, regardless of their major.
Author: Michael Sawey, Instructor II, Biology

Journal Title: Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers
Abstract: The catalase family of enzymes, which include a variety with a binuclear manganese active site, mitigate the risk from reactive oxygen species by facilitating the disproportionation of hydrogen peroxide into molecular oxygen and water. In this work, hydrogen peroxide disproportionation using complexes formed between manganese and cyclen or pyclen were investigated due to the spectroscopic similarities with the native MnCAT enzyme. Potentiometric titrations were used to construct speciation diagrams that identify the manganese complex compositions at different pH values. Each complex behaves as a functional mimic of catalase enzymes. UV-visible spectroscopic investigations of the H2O2 decomposition reaction yielded information about the structure of the initial catalyst and intermediates that include monomeric and dimeric species. The results indicate that rigidity imparted by the pyridine ring of pyclen is a key factor in increased TON and TOF values measured compared to cyclen.
Author: Benjamin D. Sherman, Assistant Professor, Inorganic Chemistry

Journal Title: ACS Energy Letters
Abstract: Molecular-based dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cells (DSPECs) have traditionally targeted solar-driven water splitting for the conversion of solar energy into fuels in aqueous media. This work reports the use of a DSPEC-type photoanode specifically designed to carry out chemoselective oxidation of benzylic alcohol moieties in lignin model compounds and real lignin in organic media. The TiO2-based photoanode incorporates a surface-bound Ru(II)-based photocatalyst and solution-dissolved hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) co-catalyst to perform solar-driven photocatalytic oxidation of the lignin substrates. Under aerobic conditions with simulated solar illumination, conversion efficiencies in excess of 90% are observed for the formation of the oxidized ketone product from model compounds. The DSPEC half-cell exhibited impressive long-term durability, sustaining photocatalytic oxidation of the lignin model compound over a net illumination period of 80 h. This photoelectrochemical heterogeneous catalytic process provides a unique foundation to perform selective C–O bond cleavage for real lignin conversion technologies.
Author: Benjamin D. Sherman, Assistant Professor, Inorganic Chemistry

Journal Title: RSC Advances
Abstract: Acid treatment of a triazine displaying both a tethered acetal and BOC-protected hydrazine group leads to spontaneous condensation to yield macrocyclic dimers in excellent yields and purity. The bis-triazinyl hydrazones that form are characterized by 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, 1H-COSY spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and mass spectrometry. By varying the length of the tether—the condensation product of an amino acid and amino acetal—rings comprising 22–28 atoms can be accessed. Glycine and β-alanine were used for the amino acid. The amino acetal comprised 2, 3 or 4 carbon atoms in the backbone. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was employed to assess purity as well as to fingerprint the six homodimeric products. By combining the protected monomers and subjecting them to acid, mixtures of homodimers and heterodimers are obtained. When all six protected monomers are combined, at least 14 of the 21 theoretical dimeric products are observed by HPLC. Single crystal X-ray diffraction and solution NMR studies reveal the diversity of shapes available to these molecules.
Author: Eric E. Simanek, Robert A. Welch Professor of Chemistry and Department Chair, Organic Chemistry

Description: This duet emerges from a year-long practice of weekly sessions spent trying to deconstruct habits and provoke new possibilities. What emerged are new habits that bias towards small, understated weight shifts and surprising redirections of momentum. Performed at the Texas Dance Improvisation Festival.
Performer/Collaborator: Lily Sloan, Adjunct Faculty, Classical & Contemporary Dance

Journal Title: Céfiro
Introductory Paragraph: Aunque Jose Marti fue uno de los primeros intelectuales que consiguio imaginar y articular America Latina como una unidad cultural, no menciona el Brasil mas que superficialmente. La imagen de Marti que ha pintado la critica es la de un intelectual que tenia mucha conviccion con respecto a su propuesto panlatinoamericanismo y que podia contar con el apoyo de todos los latinoamericanos que compartian su oposici6n a la creciente politica imperialista de los Estados Unidos. Esa imagen borra muchas complejidades presentes en el pensamiento de Marti y en el mundo en que vivia. Para entender la relacion ambigua entre Brasil y sus vecinos latinoamericanos en la vision panlatinoamericanista de Marti, hay que volver a los textos originales en que Marti dilucida esta vision, principalmente los articulos y cartas que escribio durante y despues de la Primera Conferencia Internacional Americana (First International American Conference) en Washington, D.C. entre 1889 y 1890 y su famoso ensayo "Nuestra America", publicado en 1891. Ademas, hay que repensar una noci6n que esta explicita o implicitamente presente en la mayoria de la critica de la obra martiana que Marti, en su lucha en contra del imperialismo de los Estados Unidos, estuvo siempre aliado con los representantes de los paises latinoamericanos y que estos representantes estuvieron siempre unidos en su dedicacion a la misma causa democratica y anticolonial.
Author: Steven Sloan, Associate Professor and Chair, Spanish & Hispanic Studies

Description: In Harm's Way: A History of the American Military Experience offers a fast-paced, highly readable synthesis of modern scholarship on every era of the nation's experience in war. Authors Gene Allen Smith, David Coffey, and Kyle Longley offer a comprehensive, accurate, and nuanced account of the subject. Covering air, land, and sea power, the book provides a narrative synthesis and analysis of America's wars and military policies from colonial times to the twenty-first century.
Author: Gene Allen Smith, Professor, History

Abstract: This book is intended for use with intermediate level college French classes. Its multidisciplinary approach introduces students to topics and vocabulary associated with fields such as medicine, advertising, travel, business, agriculture, and relationships.
Author: Alicia Soueid, Adjunct Professor, French

Description: Shows how Japan's immigration policy is shaped by the nature of Japan's economy and elite debates about the country's national identity.
Author: Michael Strausz, Associate Professor and Director of Asian Studies

Description: Stewart examines the intersection of media law and science fiction, exploring the past, present, and future of communication technology and policy debates. Science fiction offers a vast array of possibilities anticipating future communication technologies and their implications on human affairs. In this book, Stewart looks at potential legal challenges presented by plausible communication technologies that may arise 20 or 50 or 100 years from today. Performing what he calls "speculative legal research," Stewart identifies the kinds of topics we should be talking about relating to speech, privacy, surveillance, and more, and considers the debates that would be likely to arise if such technologies become a reality. Featuring interviews with prominent science fiction authors and legal scholars, and a foreword by Malka Older, this book considers the speculative solutions of science fiction and their implications in law and policy scholarship. Chapters feature specific literary examples to examine how cultural awareness and policy creation are informed by fictional technology, future societies, and legal disputes. Looking forward, beyond traditional legal research and scholarship to the possible and even very likely future of communication technology, this fascinating work of speculative legal research will give students and scholars of media law, science fiction, and technology much to discuss and debate.
Author: Daxton R. Stewart, Professor, Journalism

Conference Proceeding: 2019 XIth International Scientific and Practical Conference on Electronics and Information Technologies (ELIT)
Abstract: Hereafter, we present our results on the implementation of aluminum nitride (AIN) as a promising thermal interface material for improving heat performance of high-power micro- and nanoelectronic devices. The efficiency of AIN thin layers, grown in a hybrid helicon-arc ion-plasma reactor, to enhance significantly heat dissipation from crystalline heterostructures is demonstrated. As an example, we have studied high-power light-emitting diodes (LED) mounted on mm-thick aluminum substrate coated with a 3-6 μm-thick layer of aluminum nitride. Special attention is paid to the heat transport across a nanoscale AIN/A1 interface. As a result, we demonstrate an improvement of the heat sink effectiveness and stabilization of the LED operating temperature that can strongly influence design, performance, and cost of luminaires and other LED-based applications.
Author: Yuri Strzhemechny, Department Chair, Associate Professor, Physics & Astronomy

Conference Proceedings: Forty-First Annual Meeting of theNorth American Chapter of theInternational Groupfor the Psychology of Mathematics Education
Description: Teachers utilizing student mathematical thinking is important when teaching, yet many inservice teachers find it difficult to implement. The Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics (AMTE, 2017) outline the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that beginning teachers should have after graduating including the importance of attending to and interpreting student mathematical thinking. In this paper, we present results from two focused video analysis assignments that our pre-service teachers engaged in to identify their images of student mathematicalthinking and their ability to attend to and interpret student mathematical thinking.
Author: J. Matt Switzer, Associate Professor, Mathematics Education

Description: Characters are central to our experiences of screened fictions and invite a host of questions. The contributors to Screening Characters draw on archival material, interviews, philosophical inquiry, and conceptual analysis in order to give new, thought-provoking answers to these queries. Providing multifaceted accounts of the nature of screen characters, contributions are organized around a series of important subjects, including issues of class, race, ethics, and generic types as they are encountered in moving image media. These topics, in turn, are personified by such memorable figures as Cary Grant, Jon Hamm, Audrey Hepburn, and Seul-gi Kim, in addition to avatars, online personalities, animated characters, and the ensembles of shows such as The Sopranos, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad.
Author: R. Colin Tait, Assistant Professor, Film, Television and Digital Media

Conference Proceedings: Applied Optical Metrology III
Abstract: High sensitivity magnetic field sensors have been applied to biotechnology problems such as magnetoencephalography and magnetocardiography. Unfortunately, the high cost and/or development of the sensors often limit the widespread use of these medical diagnostic systems. Fiber optic magnetostrictive sensors offer high sensitivities with competitive fabrication cost. Magnetostrictive sensors have experimentally demonstrated resolutions as low as 23 pT/√Hz without any mu-metal shielding. With respect to the sensor cost, fiber-optic-based magnetic field sensors leverage the advanced component development and the economies of scale of the telecommunications industry. In addition, the trend in interferometric sensor development has been to transfer the demodulation complexity from hardware to the digital signal processing algorithm. This reduction in hardware significantly reduces the cost of the overall sensor system. In this paper, we present a demodulation algorithm for an interferometric magnetic field sensor. The sensing mechanism is based on the magnetostriction of a material bonded to the optical fiber in the sensing leg of the interferometer. A phase-generated-carrier demodulation scheme is assumed. The algorithm features real-time demodulation of arbitrary signal waveforms. We present the theoretical derivation of the algorithm and verify its operation through computer simulation.
Author: Tristan J. Tayag, Professor, Engineering

Costumes constructed by TCU Theatre’s Costume Studio by students and Staff

Costume Design: Murell Horton
Costume Manager: Michele Alford
Draper: Sarah Tonemah
Wigs and Makeup: Steven Bryant

Journal Title: Violence and Victims
Abstract: Human trafficking research has increased over the last 20 years; however, the limited use of empiricism and theory in human trafficking research fuels criticism that extant human trafficking research lacks rigor and legitimacy. This deficit complicates researchers' ability to limit bias and employ measurable variables, ultimately hampering the creation of knowledge and evidence-based interventions for practitioners engaged in work on micro- and macro-levels. In an effort to address these liabilities in research, the authors propose an intersectional standpoint methodology (ISM) for human trafficking scholarship. At its foundation, the proposed qualitative methodology maintains that (a) the individual's standpoint is critical to understanding oppression, (b) structural obstacles in political and social systems lead to further oppression, (c) oppressed persons' storytelling and lived experiences are critical, and (d) any knowledge about oppressed groups obtained through qualitative inquiry ought to be applied to macrosystems to create change. This proposed methodology identifies measurable variables by which to explore the trafficking experience and is positioned to enhance scholarly activities with survivors through community-based participatory research.
Author: Mary K. Twis, Assistant Professor, Social Work

Journal Title: Journal of Human Trafficking
Abstract: Domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) is the commercial sexual exploitation of a minor citizen or legal resident within United States borders. Officials often view DMST as a monolithic crime, rather than a problem driven by victims’ variable experiences with poverty, racism, and family dysfunction. The purpose of this study is to explore how various risk factors are associated with one another and with DMST victimization, particularly within specific subcategories of DMST, such as trafficking by a family member, stranger, friend, or romantic partner. This study utilizes the archival data from 242 sex trafficked minors. The author coded the case files for the presence of risk factors, such as race, child welfare involvement, juvenile justice involvement, poverty, and more. Then, the author employed chi-square procedures to explore the association between risk factors, and between risk factors and victim-trafficker relationship type. Findings suggest that DMST victimization is not a uniform phenomenon, in which all victims share the same risks. There appears to be variations between the risk factors experienced by victims prior to entering specific relationship dynamics. Counter-trafficking advocates need to articulate these variations to the range of professionals who work within the systems that may prevent, identify, and remediate DMST.
Author: Mary K. Twis, Assistant Professor, Social Work

Journal Title: Journal of Social Work Education
Abstract: We investigated the feasibility of a formative objective structured clinical examination adapted for social work (OSCE-SW) with a parent–bisexual child dyad and evaluated self-efficacy and performance learning outcomes for undergraduate social work students. Eighteen undergraduate students participated in a simulation involving two embedded participants. Participants received an average score of 35.7 out of 50 potential points on the performance rating scale during a 15-min OSCE-SW scenario. We observed no change in self-efficacy before and after the OSCE-SW experience. The authors recommend implementing additional dyadic OSCE-SW scenarios, including scenarios focused on parent–bisexual child relationships and other types of marginalized dyadic relationships.
Author: Tee R. Tyler, Assistant Professor, Social Work

Journal Title: Journal of LGBT Youth
Abstract: This systematic literature review explores parents of transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) children’s experiences interfacing with members of their social support networks. We used the qualitative metasummary literature review analysis method to collect and examine peer-reviewed empirical studies, including qualitative data collected from parents of TGNC children. From 20 relevant academic articles, we identified two themes, seven subthemes, and 26 findings. In this paper, we present the findings of our metasummary and share implications for healthcare providers to consider in their practice with TGNC children and accompanying parents.
Author: Tee R. Tyler, Assistant Professor, Social Work