Digital Commons Network^™

An Investigation Into How The Intense Nature Of Youth Sport Participation Influences Women’S Collegiate Basketball Player’S Experiences Of Burnout, Hana M. Adent

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

One area of athlete well-being garnering increasing attention is athletes’ experience of burnout (Gould & Whitley, 2009). According to Coakley (1992), burnout is a social phenomenon grounded in a set of social relations through which young athletes become disempowered in their sport participation that can lead to fatigue and dropout. Therefore, efforts to reduce athletes’ likelihood of experiencing burnout are important. Often overlooked in the college athlete literature are the experiences of college athletes in youth sport. Yet almost all college athletes participate in competitive youth sport. Therefore, in seeking to further our understanding of college athletes’ burnout experience, it …

An Intersectional Grounded Theory Study Examining Identity Exploration For Former Student-Athletes Against The Backdrop Of 2020, Crystle M. Dorsey

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

The purpose of this study was to understand how student-athletes explored and made meaning of their intersecting identities through identity-focused curriculum against the backdrop of 2020. With intersectionality as a theoretical framework, this study examines how axes of oppression influenced the process of identity exploration for student-athletes. Guided by constructivism and critical theory as its epistemological foundations, this constructivist grounded theory study included three guiding research questions alluding to the how, what and why student-athletes explored their identities in 2020. The outcome of this study was an intersectional grounded theory detailing how student-athletes explore and make meaning of their intersecting …

Miniature, Submersible Electromagnetic Pumps Of Molten Lead And Sodium For Gen-Iv Nuclear Reactors Development, Ragai M. Altamimi

Nuclear Engineering ETDs

Heavy metals and alkali Liquid Metals are suitable coolants for Generation IV terrestrial nuclear reactors for operating at elevated temperatures for achieving plant thermal efficiency more than 40% and the thermochemical generation of hydrogen fuel. In addition, the low vapor pressure of these liquids eliminates the need for a pressure vessel and instead operates slightly below ambient pressure. A primary issue with the uses of these coolants is their compatibility with nuclear fuel, cladding and core structure materials at elevated temperatures more than 500oC. Therefore, in pile and out-of-pile test loops have been constructed or being considered for quantifying the …

High-Power Laser Cooling And Temperature-Dependent Fluorescence Studies Of Ytterbium Doped Silica, Brian Topper

Optical Science and Engineering ETDs

Experimental observation of optical refrigeration using ytterbium doped silica glass in recent years has created a new solution for heat mitigation in high-power laser systems, nonlinear fiber experiments, integrated photonics, and precision metrology. Current efforts of different groups focus on compositional optimization, fiber fabrication, and investigating how much silica can be cooled with a laser. At the start of this work, the best effort in laser cooling ytterbium doped silica saw cooling by 6 K from room temperature. This dissertation follows the experimental efforts that culminated in the increase of this initial record by one order of magnitude. Comprehensive spectroscopic …

Application Of Quantum Mechanical Techniques To Optical Waveguide Structures, Stuart Ward

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

The focus of this dissertation is on the application of supersymmetric quantum mechanics to the problem of microbending in optical waveguides and on the analysis of soliton decay due solely to quantum mechanical effects.

The techniques of supersymmetric quantum mechanics are applied to the equation of motion describing light propagation in an optical waveguide which is undergoing microbending. Based on these supersymmetric techniques, given a particular refractive index profile, one may derive a new refractive index profile which results in less loss due to the microbending -- the particular example of the monomial index profile is analyzed in detail. An …

Near- And Far- Field Optical Response Of Ensembles Of Nanostructures, Lauren Zundel

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

The ability of metallic nanostructures to support collective oscillations of their conduction electrons, known as surface plasmons, makes them attractive candidates for a wide range of applications in areas as diverse as cancer therapy, biosensing, and solar energy harvesting. These applications are especially promising for periodic arrays of nanostructures, which can support collective modes known as lattice resonances, and for nanostructures with extreme aspect ratios that give rise to enhanced light-matter interaction. In this Thesis, we employ a coupled dipole model to theoretically explore the lattice resonances supported by complex arrays of nanoparticles containing multiple nanoparticles per unit cell. We …

Speaker Diarization Of Noisy Classrooms From A Single Microphone Based On An Array Of Virtual Microphones And Machine Learning, Richard Briggs

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Speaker diarization from a single microphone is extremely challenging in noisy classroom environments. A new method based on simulating a microphone array has shown promising results, while requiring very little training. It used a minimum distance classifier to identify the speaker among a list of possible speakers. This thesis investigates machine learning methods for determining the speaker. The AOLME dataset that was used contains 758 samples totaling 894.4 seconds. Each is taken from a noisy classroom environment, focusing on five speakers - any one of whom could be active in a given sample - lasting an average of 1.2 seconds. …

Wirelessly Powering A Sea Of Sensors For Perimeter Security Applications, Ian River Chavez

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

his thesis presents an innovative application of Inductive Power Transfer (IPT) technology for perimeter security systems. The approach leverages the physical properties of IPT to detect intrusions by monitoring voltage changes in wirelessly powered sensor nodes, which can double as components of an intrusion detection system. Disturbances in node orientation, indicative of potential intrusions, alter the sensor node’s resonant frequency and create measurable voltage shifts. This study explores the concept in-depth, from the analysis of resonant inductive coupling in various resonant inductive modes, to the design of transmit loops, sensor nodes, and the techniques required to ensure optimum power transfer. …

Comparison Of Random Coupling Model To Stochastic Dyadic Green’S Function When Coupling To A Distributed Port, Evelyn Anne Dohme

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

The Random Coupling Model (RCM) provides statistical representation of coupling between ports in a highly overmoded resonant cavity based on knowledge of radiation impedances of system ports and cavity properties. A recent variant of RCM, the Stochastic Dyadic Green’s Functions (S-DGF), provides the statistical distribution of fields in the cavity. By using Source Reconstruction Methods (SRM) to approximate equivalent surface currents, I hypothesized that the S-DGF can calculate the fields at their location, enabling a statistical estimate of the coupled power. Using nearfield radiation from simple patch antenna simulations and the SRM to estimate the equivalent fields and account for …

Si Solo Nos Dan Esta Oportunidad: Stories Of Transnational Students In An Intercultural Secondary Program In Santa Fe De La Laguna, Michoacán, México., Minea Armijo, Minea Armijo Romero

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

The research aimed to explore the long-term effects of intercultural bilingual programs on Indigenous bilingual students residing in transnational communities. Employing a phenomenological research design, this qualitative study incorporated interviews, focus groups, classroom observations, and artifact analysis. Specifically, it investigated an intercultural education program at the secondary level and its influence on transnational students, their families, and the teachers at the Preparatoria Indígena Intercultural de Santa Fe de la Laguna in Michoacán, México. This research contributes to the growing field of bilingual education research in México by examining the interconnections between transnationalism and Bilingual Intercultural models of education, thus proposing …

Understanding The Academic And Socio-Cultural Experiences Of Academically Underprepared Males And The Risk And Protective Factors Influencing Degree Attainment In A Community College System, Diego J. Trujillo

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

This study aimed to identify the risk and protective factors that influence persistence, retention, and degree attainment among academically underprepared male students at a community college in Northern New Mexico. Understanding the context of developmental education was deemed crucial for this research, as open-access institutions, particularly community colleges, serve as the starting point for many students' educational journeys. Evaluating the experiences and educational pathways of these students is of great importance to address the existing achievement gaps. The research focused on understanding the experiences of these students and the factors that hindered or supported their persistence and degree completion.

By …

News Media Framing Of Disabilities In Ghana: Journalistic Practices Amidst Advocacy Calls For Change, Pamela Ofori Boateng

Communication ETDs

The study contributes to expanding scholarly research on media portrayals of people with disabilities in Ghana. Drawing on theories of framing, ableism, and intersectionality, I analyzed news stories published in Graphic.com.gh. in 2021 and 2022 to explore how the editorial practices framed people with disabilities and how framing patterns revealed change and continuity in representation. The findings affirmed a shift to using more diverse and appropriate language to represent people with disabilities more fairly and accurately; the categorization of most of the disability stories under “General News,” which suggests the significance attached to disability related stories; and the …

Queer Crises: Movements From Queerness And Feelings Of White Religion In The United States, Austin Williams Miller

Communication ETDs

Anchored by contemporary crises surrounding queer and trans people in the United States, I employ movements from queerness within an affective queer phenomenological framework to understand how arrangements of “white religion” (Schaefer, 2015, p. 63), a process whereby U.S. American Christian forms escape ideology into religious affective economies in the United States, relegate queer people “to the background… to sustain a certain direction” (Ahmed, 2006, p. 31). I assemble a queer rhetorical context analyzing white religious space in documentary film, secular sexual regulation through contemporary U.S. legal contexts around marriage, and settler colonial Christian nationalist political imaginations to critique how …

Projecting Vegetation Condition And Fire Risk In Southern California, Westin K. Guthrie

Geography ETDs

In the western US, relationships between fire, vegetation, climate, and urban areas are dynamic and evolving. This work used a forest landscape model, LANDIS-II, informed by future climate scenarios and projections of urban expansion to understand wildfire interactions within projected Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) areas. This simulation showed that in both 2050 and 2100 +93% of the WUI in southern California experienced fire. Future work needs to be done in parametrizing forest biomass to ensure the validity of projections. Additionally, increasing each climate scenario model's replicates will create more accurate projections.

Postwar Cooperative Housing: On The Historical And Community Significance Of South Dahlia Lane, John Boydstun

Architecture and Planning ETDs

American cities after WWII including Denver experienced a boom in population resulting in a shortage of affordable housing. One innovative response to the demand for affordable housing was the formation of the Mile High Housing Association (MHHA), a Colorado non-profit organization founded in 1948 by four University of Denver professors. The MHHA was Colorado’s first housing cooperative and founded on the ideals of a supportive and collaborative community. MHHA’s goals included providing affordable single-family homes with a new modernist design and a neighborhood site plan that supported a cooperative lifestyle. Backed by new legislation in 1948 for FHA financing, the …

Post-Fire Plant Community Response In Subalpine Mixed Conifer Forest, Sasha Escamilla

Biology ETDs

Increased wildfire activity may lead to significant shifts in vegetation dynamics in high elevation mixed conifer forests. These changes raise concerns about the resilience of forests following wildfire, prompting the need for a deeper understanding of post-fire plant community response. We analyzed up to 11 years of post-fire vegetation data from Valles Caldera National Preserve in northern New Mexico to determine how burned vegetation sites were recovering following high severity wildfire, and whether or not plant communities were transitioning to montane grassland. We found burned understory herbaceous communities were not transitioning into distinctive montane grasslands and were instead recovering to …

“That Felt Weird”: International Graduate Students’ Emerging Critical Awareness Of Their Experiences With Microaggression, Romaisha Rahman

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to uncover and understand international graduate students’ experiences with microaggressions that stem from native speaker fallacy; microaggressions are the subtle discriminatory behaviors executed toward marginalized groups and native speaker fallacy is the false belief that only some “native” English speakers are effective teachers and users of the language. Put simply, this research aimed at unveiling the subtle language-based discriminations that international graduate students experience in their day-to-day lives in U.S. educational settings. To collect data for the study, the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) was utilized. CIT is a method that allows the …

Sociolinguistics Of Saudi Vision 2030: Paradigm Shift Through English Faculty’S Perspectives Of Translanguaging At A Saudi University., Naif Masrahi

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Many educational systems around the world insist on applying an English Only Policy (EOP) when teaching the English language at universities without addressing their contextual needs. In Saudi Arabia, this problem leads to reduced satisfaction among faculty regarding students’ English level (Alharbi & Alqefari, 2022; Alkhairy, 2013; Alqahtani, 2020; Alsaawi, 2019; Alshammari, 2022; Altale & Alta’ani, 2019; Alzahrani, 2019; Elyas & Picard, 2010). However, the new educational transformation promised by Saudi Vision 2030 (2016) supports the Arabic language as a mother tongue for Saudis, English as an important language, and the teaching of critical thinking to respond to current global …

Diversification By Dispersal Out Of The Andes Revealed By A Newly Discovered Hummingbird Clade, The ‘True Brilliants’, Marialejandra Castro-Farías

Biology ETDs

We identified a novel clade with striking biogeographic implications. Unsampled genera, Hylonympha and Sternoclyta, were found to be close to the genus Heliodoxa within the Brilliants. Heliodoxa tend to occur in lower montane habitats, such as the tropical, upper tropical, and subtropical elevational zones of the Andes and the Neotropics. Analysis of geographic and elevational zones showed that genus Heliodoxa and related genera diversified by out-of-Andes dispersal to mountain ranges of Central America, coastal Venezuela, the Pantepui, and southeastern Brazil, since the mid-Miocene. Within the Brilliants, reductions in elevation preceded these geographic expansions. Secondary colonization of the lowlands from …

Evidence Of Competitive Release Following Overstory Mortality In A Semi-Arid Piñon-Juniper Woodland, Corrie D. Gonzalez

Biology ETDs

Extreme temperatures and severe drought events have led to widespread tree mortality worldwide. In semi-arid regions of the Southwest United States, these events pose a significant threat to piñon-juniper (PJ) woodlands. We studied the effects of piñon and juniper mortality on the growth and physiology of existing saplings in PJ woodlands by analyzing water status, photosynthetic activity, and tissue chemistry to gain insights into these impacts. Juniper saplings exhibited improved water status and water use efficiency in response to overstory mortality, whereas piñon saplings did not. Additionally, both piñon and juniper saplings exhibited increased photosynthetic rates, increased photosynthetic capacity, and …

Resolving The Paradox Of Polyploidy: Underexplored Facets Of Polyploid Plants, Benjamin Gerstner

Biology ETDs

Polyploidy, or whole genome duplication, is a common phenomenon in plants, but the establishment and persistence of mixed-ploidy populations remains a paradox. This dissertation explores factors that contribute to the persistence and establishment of mixed-ploidy populations in nature. The first chapter investigates the role of unreduced gametes in neopolyploid establishment and finds that variability in their formation rate can have a significant impact on polyploid establishment and persistence. The second chapter searches for evidence of soil microbes exhibiting ploidy-specificity, a pre-condition for microbe-mediated niche differentiation, a possible stabilizing mechanism contributing to ploidy coexistence. Finally, the third chapter tests for microbe-mediated …

Paradigms And Logical Morphology In Wittgenstein’S Philosophy, Idris Robinson

Philosophy ETDs

This dissertation investigates the notion of a paradigm and its related morphological method through the lens of the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951). At once exegetical and philosophical, it is a project that aims to trace the progression of Wittgenstein’s thought, from his early to his mature phase, in order to arrive at a twofold conclusion regarding the ontological status of paradigms and a closely related approach to logic grounded in morphology.

The Haunting Aesthetics Of Empire: Filipinx America, Us Empire, And Cultural Production, Alana J. Bock

American Studies ETDs

Throughout this dissertation, I argue that US imperial knowledge production affirms US exceptionalism by disavowing the imperial violence wrought on the Philippines and its people. This disavowal not only renders the Philippines and Filipinx bodies illegible, but also haunts the Filipinx American diaspora. I argue that the haunted logics of empire are a set of relations, rather than specters of specific times and places, in which knowledge and power work together to continually produce and reproduce a specific and limiting reality and sensorium through which to view the world. In my interrogation of empire’s haunted logics, I not only look …

An Investigation Of Freshwater Turtle Ecology Using Stable Isotopes, Jonathan Duran

Biology ETDs

In 2022 I investigated niche partitioning among native and invasive freshwater turtles across three sites in the Middle Rio Grande using bulk stable isotope analysis. I found high degrees of niche partitioning at sites in which Red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta) have yet to establish. However, at sites in which red-eared sliders are now the most abundant species they overlapped greatly in isotopic niche with all native turtles, in particular the painted turtle (Chrysemys picta). Using these same techniques, I then examined the trophic interactions between red-eared sliders and their acanthocephalan parasites. My results suggest that acanthocephalans …

Thermoregulation In Nocturnal Volant Endotherms Occupying Hot Deserts, William A. Talbot

Biology ETDs

ABSTRACT

The study of thermoregulation is of growing concern in this era of rapid climate change. Earlier studies such as those pioneered by Scholander and Bartholomew directed focus toward the study of endotherm survival in conditions of cold weather adversity. As techniques evolved in the measurement of parameters quantifying thermoregulation, metabolism and energy allocation, the standardization procedures has increased the comparability of data from diverse taxa.

We can now search historical records and current research for explanations to the changes in the distribution, migration, extirpation or survival of animal and plant populations through time. It is increasingly common to observe …

The Third Domain Of T Cells In The Evolution Of Novel Immune Cell Types, Kimberly Anne Morrissey

Biology ETDs

ABSTRACT αβ and γδ T cells play an essential role in the adaptive immune response and are present in the majority of jawed vertebrates. The T cell receptor (TCR) structure and genetic organization have been generally stable throughout 400 million years of gnathostome evolution. However, the TCRδ chain has displayed degrees of plasticity unseen in other TCR isoforms. One such form appears to be a chimera of a TCR chain with an antibody-like binding domain, known as VHδ and has been found a wide array of vertebrates including cartilaginous fish, coelacanths, amphibians, tuataras, birds, crocodilians, and monotreme mammals. Another, more …

Investigating The Costs And Benefits Of A Nutritional Fungal Endosymbiont, Nolan L. Perryman

Biology ETDs

Research on insect symbiosis is dominated by insect–bacteria models, however, the role of fungal symbionts in insects is poorly understood. Fungi are de novo synthesizers of many essential nutrients, therefore, insect–fungal pairings can permit specialization on nutritionally deprived diets. Here, I address the costs and benefits of symbiosis using a system of beetle–fungal symbiosis. Specifically, I ask 1) when reared on a low-quality diet, does the beetle increase the number of viable symbionts to compensate for a heightened nutritional demand, and 2) Is the conferred fitness benefit of the symbiont only present in low-quality diets? When reared on low-quality diets, …

Adaptive Gps Antenna Array Beam Nulling Effectiveness Under Varying Antenna Element Positioning, Aadesh Neel

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Global Positioning System (GPS) is an essential part of modern life but is susceptible to same frequency jamming. GPS jamming can add excessive noise to a received low power signal and have the capability to change or completely distort information being sent through the GPS signal. Adaptive antenna arrays have long since been a solution to mitigating GPS jamming via beamnulling algorithms. However, there is little research on the effectiveness of these beamnulling algorithms under varying element positioning. In this work, an adaptive antenna array, consisting of Right-Hand Circularly Polarized (RHCP) nearly square GPS antenna elements, was constructed and tested …

Returning To Northern New Mexico. A Study Of The Nuevomexicano Lexicon., Guevara Del Angel

Spanish and Portuguese ETDs

Spanish in New Mexico prior to the 1900s was the predominant language of the region that began to be displaced with the growth of the English-speaking population during the 20th century. In this dissertation I refer to the Spanish language variety that has had the longest historical presence in northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado as Traditional New Mexican Spanish (TNMS, as per Bills & Vigil, 2008). This study aims to document aspects of maintenance and change regarding TNMS. The traditional heritage variety of New Mexican Spanish is changing in many ways, evolving from what has been documented in the …

Effects Of Childhood Health And Adversity On Women’S Estrous And Extended Sexuality In Romantic Relationships, Tran Dinh

Psychology ETDs

Variations in childhood conditions may favor different strategies of investment in pair-bonds and reproduction. The current study followed 213 romantically-involved women up to four times across the ovulatory cycle. Analyses find that childhood health and adversity moderate hormone-dependent changes in women’s sexual interests, oxytocin responses, and mate preferences. In light of proposed paternity assurance functions of extended (non-conceptive) sexuality, results suggest women with poorer, compared to better, childhood conditions prioritize bond formation but invest less in maintaining or bolstering partner investment. The estrous (conceptive) sexuality of women with poor childhood health may reflect greater investments in current reproduction, even when …