Digital Commons Network^™

Top-Down And Bottom-Up Approaches To Understanding The Fate Of The Federally Endangered Schaus’ Swallowtail Butterfly (Heraclides Aristodemus Ponceanus), Jaeson T. Clayborn

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The federally endangered Schaus’ swallowtail butterfly (Heraclides aristodemus ponceanus) populations have declined precipitously over the years. Despite tremendous efforts to augment the numbers of this butterfly through captive-bred releases and habitat enhancements, it remains imperiled and federally endangered. The dissertation’s objectives were: 1) to restore dry forest habitat in Biscayne National Park (BNP) for Schaus’ swallowtails; 2) to assess host plant (torchwood and wild lime) survivorship and growth in the restoration sites (BNP) and project dry forest habitat loss because of imminent sea level rise (SLR); 3) to quantify ant activity and record predator-prey interactions against Heraclides caterpillars …

Synthesis Of Antimicrobial Polymers To Overcome Antimicrobial Resistance, Md Salauddin Ahmed

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Drug-resistant pathogens are emerging rapidly and thwart the treatment of common bacterial infectious diseases that can lead to death. Many contagious diseases remain difficult to treat because of acquired drug resistance. Compared to small antibiotics, which interrupt the intracellular biochemical processes, antimicrobial polymers with relatively high molecular weights offer a promising strategy to overcome drug resistance by disrupting the physical integrity of the membrane. Because of the unique mechanism, bacteria need a much longer time to develop resistance.

A new class of antimicrobial polymer in which the positive charge and hydrophobic/hydrophilic units are linearly connected in the amidinourea backbone was …

Primitivismo Y Modernidad En La Literatura Modernista Hispanoamericana, Sara Marta Gonzalez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the troubled relationship between Hispanic-American Modernism and modernity through the close study of a representative array of authors (José Martí, Rubén Darío, Enrique Gómez Carrillo, Augusto Dhalmar and Pedro Prado). My analysis departs from the revisionist theories of Angel Rama and Ivan A. Schulman, which changed the traditional views about the movement towards a more complete vision of its role as a literature that is highly subversive.

During the XIX century, America experienced a vigorous cultural awakening unsupported by an incomplete modernization whose more fundamental principles are challenged by the systematic use of primitivism by these authors. …

Aspect Based Sentiment Analysis On Review Data, Wei Xue

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With proliferation of user-generated reviews, new opportunities and challenges arise. The advance of Web technologies allows people to access a large amount of reviews of products and services online. Knowing what others like and dislike becomes increasingly important for their decision making in online shopping. The retailers also care more than ever about online reviews, because a vast pool of reviews enables them to monitor reputations and collect feedbacks efficiently. However, people often find difficult times in identifying and summarizing fine-grained sentiments buried in the opinion-rich resources. The traditional sentiment analysis, which focuses on the overall sentiments, fails to uncover …

The Study Of Tissue-Specific Dna Methylation As A Method For The Epigenetic Discrimination Of Forensic Samples, Joana Ap Antunes

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In forensic sciences, the serological methods used to determine which body fluid was collected from the crime scene are merely presumptive or labor intensive since they rely on protein detection or on microscopic identification of cells. Given that certain forensic cases may need the precise identification of a body fluid to determine criminal contact, such is the example of a suspected sexual assault of a minor; certainty in the body fluid of origin may depict a precise picture of the events. The identification of loci that show differences in methylation according to the tissue of origin can aid forensic analysts …

Associations Of Hiv Risk Behaviors Among Older Latinas And Their Adult Daughters, Gira J. Ravelo

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the associations between adult Latina daughters’ HIV risk behaviors and that of their older Latina mothers’ HIV risk behaviors. The central hypothesis of the study is that adult Latina daughters’ influence their older mothers’ behaviors and that such behaviors interact with the level of their attachment.

Older Latinas are a vulnerable population that face cultural risk factors, health care provider bias, and engage in low rates of HIV testing. The primary mode of HIV infection for Latinas is through heterosexual contact. Yet, traditional gender norms such as marianismo belief place pressure on Latina women to be submissive …

Wind Loads On Residential Rooftop Solar Photovoltaic Panels, Amir Naeiji

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Solar energy harvesting using photovoltaic (PV) systems has gained popularity in recent years due to its relative ease of use and its cost efficiency compared to the rest of the clean energy sources. However, to further expand the application of PV systems requires making them more desirable than the other competitive energy sources. The improvement of safety and cost efficiency are requisites for further popularization of PV system application. To satisfy these requisites it is necessary to optimally design the system against the environmental conditions. Wind action is one of the main ambient loads affecting the performance of PV systems. …

Folding Of Bovine Pancreatic Trypsin Inhibitor (Bpti) Is Faster Using Aromatic Thiols And Their Corresponding Disulfides, Ram Prasad Marahatta

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Improvement in the in vitro oxidative folding of disulfide-containing proteins, such as extracellular and pharmaceutically important proteins, is required. Traditional folding methods using small molecule aliphatic thiol and disulfide, such as glutathione (GSH) and glutathione disulfide (GSSG) are slow and low yielding. Small molecule aromatic thiols and disulfides show great potentiality because aromatic thiols have low pKa values, close to the thiol pKa of protein disulfide isomerase (PDI), higher nucleophilicity and good leaving group ability. Our studies showed that thiols with a positively charged group, quaternary ammonium salts (QAS), are better than thiols with negatively charged groups such as phosphonic …

Selective Sensing Of Ions And Ion Pairs Of Environmental And Forensic Significance, Tosin Mobolaji Jonah

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dual-host combinations of cation and anion sensors have unique potential for selective detection of ion pairs, such as NH₄NO₃, via solvent extraction. Selective sensors for NH₄⁺ and NO₃^- were synthesized and used together for ion-pair sensing of ammonium nitrate both in organic solvents (using Bu₄N⁺NO₃ ^- and NH₄⁺PF₆^-) and in extraction of NH₄NO₃ from water into dichloromethane. A fluorescent sensor for NH₄⁺ based on 1,3,5-triethylbenzene shows remarkable binding and sensing selectivity for NH₄⁺ vs. …

Antibaryon Photoproduction Using Clas At Jefferson Lab, William B. Phelps

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Antibaryon production has been investigated since the advent of nuclear

physics, largely motivated by the potential for baryon-antibaryon bound states.

Due to the recent availability of high statistics experiments there has been a

renewed interest in how antibaryons are created in photoproduction. The g12

(E04-005) experiment conducted at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Fa-

cility used the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer to provide the world’s

largest dataset for baryon-antibaryon photoproduction on a liquid hydrogen tar-

get. The focus of this work is to investigate the photoproduction mechanism of

γp → ppp ̄ through detailed differential cross section measurements from 3.95

to …

An Integrated Multi-Modal Registration Technique For Medical Imaging, Xue Wang

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Registration of medical imaging is essential for aligning in time and space different modalities and hence consolidating their strengths for enhanced diagnosis and for the effective planning of treatment or therapeutic interventions. The primary objective of this study is to develop an integrated registration method that is effective for registering both brain and whole-body images. We seek in the proposed method to combine in one setting the excellent registration results that FMRIB Software Library (FSL) produces with brain images and the excellent results of Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) when registering whole-body images. To assess attainment of these objectives, the following …

Cfd Evaluation Of Mixing Processes For High-Level Nuclear Waste Tanks, Maximiliano Edrei

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has been applied to investigate two aspects of a mixing process for high level nuclear waste tanks. Through CFD the applicability of Poreh’s correlations that are currently used to describe the radial wall jets in the Pulse Jet Mixing (PJM) process were assessed. In addition, simulations were conducted in order to investigate mean hydrodynamic characteristics of sparged non-Newtonian fluids for the use in the PJM process.

Three single phase turbulent simulations using the commercial package STAR-CCM+ were successively conducted. A model validated with experimental data was developed and successively altered to see effects of low characteristic …

A Path Analysis Exploration Of Teacher’S Effect, Self-Efficacy, Demographic Factors, And Attitudes Toward Mathematics Among College Students Attending S Minority Serving Institution In Face-To-Face And Hybrid Mathematics Courses, Nelson De La Rosa

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Graduation rates in colleges and universities have not kept up with the increase in enrollment. Lack of mathematics competence is a factor that impairs students from completing higher education studies. This problem is even more pervasive in minority groups. The existing body of research on mathematics education have not favored emerging minority populations in terms of addressing their needs for academic program completion across mode of instruction.

The study analyzed the relationship between type of instruction and the factors underlying students’ attitudes toward mathematics. Further, this study examined the effect of factors underlying the constructs of teacher’s effect and self-efficacy …

A Book Reader Design For Persons With Visual Impairment And Blindness, Luis E. Galarza

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this dissertation is to provide a new design approach to a fully automated book reader for individuals with visual impairment and blindness that is portable and cost effective. This approach relies on the geometry of the design setup and provides the mathematical foundation for integrating, in a unique way, a 3-D space surface map from a low-resolution time of flight (ToF) device with a high-resolution image as means to enhance the reading accuracy of warped images due to the page curvature of bound books and other magazines. The merits of this low cost, but effective automated book …

Paleoenvironments, Origin, And Relative Maturity Of Organic Matter In Barremian-Aptian Limestones Of The Eastern Prada Quarry, Organyà Basin, Ne Spain, Jose R. Llaguno

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is a multi-proxy analysis of a 30-m section of a Barremian-Aptian succession of interbedded, grayish black (N2) and black (N1) limestones from a quarry of the Sierra de Prada. Index taxa include planktic foraminifera Globigerinelloides blowi and Hedbergella sigali, which combined with δ¹³C data from Cresmina and Gorgo a Cerbara sections indicate a late Barremian to early Aptian age. The rocks are organic-rich with 0.67 - 3.10 wt% total organic carbon (TOC). A marlstone interval (~1m) at 2.24 m has a low bioturbation index (1), TOC ~6.66 wt%, framboidal pyrite, and enrichment spikes of major, …

The Bible Against American Slavery: Anglophone Transatlantic Evangelical Abolitionists' Use Of Biblical Arguments, 1776-1865, Richard Rodriguez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation argues that transatlantic abolitionists used the Bible to condemn American slavery as a national sin that would be punished by God. In a chronological series of thematic chapters, it demonstrates how abolitionists developed a sustained critique of American slavery at its various developing stages from the American Revolution to the Civil War. In its analysis of abolitionist anti-slavery arguments, “The Bible Against Slavery” focuses on sources that abolitionists generated. In their books, sermons, and addresses they arraigned the oppressive aspects of American slavery. This study shows how American and British abolitionists applied biblical precepts to define the maltreatment …

A Historical Floristic Inventory Of Pine Rockland Fabaceae (Leguminosae), Adel L. Pena

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objectives of this study were to investigate temporal changes in the diversity of pine rockland Fabaceae, induced by anthropogenic factors. Herbarium collections spanning 170 years were used to analyze species frequency and richness. The results indicated temporal fluctuations in diversity with frequency of native species highest previous to the year 1920, and exotic-invasive species richness peaking after the 1960s. The accompanying species list resulting from the inventory included 122 Fabaceae species, in 56 genera, with an additional 19 species not previously listed for pine rocklands. The results emphasize the damage caused by early and deliberate introductions of exotic species, …

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles For Wireless Localization In Search And Rescue, Virgilio Acuna

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents how unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can successfully assist in search and rescue (SAR) operations using wireless localization. The zone-grid to partition to capture/detect WiFi probe requests follows the concepts found in Search Theory Method. The UAV has attached a sensor, e.g., WiFi sniffer, to capture/detect the WiFi probes from victims or lost people’s smartphones. Applying the Random-Forest based machine learning algorithm, an estimation of the user's location is determined with a 81.8% accuracy.

UAV technology has shown limitations in the navigational performance and limited flight time. Procedures to optimize these limitations are presented. Additionally, how the UAV …

Do Mentoring Programs Make A Difference? A Qualitative Case Study On The Journey Of Latino Students In A Stem Track, Juan M. Morata

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A number of studies have sought to identify factors influencing STEM students’ success in colleges and universities (Crisp et al., 2009; Excelencia, 2011; Hagedorn & Purnamasari, 2012). However, there are few qualitative studies focusing on students’ perspectives and how they make meaning of their experiences as participants in a mentoring program.

The main purpose of this research was to explain the perceptions of Latino students in a STEM Mentoring Program at Miami Dade College. Because this study sought to gain an in-depth understanding of how students involved in a mentoring program make meaning of their experiences, the type of qualitative …

Reading Spaces: Nation And Popular Learning In Nineteenth-Century Lima, Gracia G. Solis

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation examined the transformation of reading practices and ideas about the functions of alphabetic literacy in nineteenth-century Lima. Scholars of Latin America have attributed improvements in literacy rates to the rise of the Teaching State in the twentieth century; however, as I showed, literacy and reading culture spread decades earlier in the Peruvian capital, at a time when the state lacked the stability and resources to develop a public system of education. “Reading Spaces” argued that during the second half of the nineteenth century, private educational enterprise from a diverse group of booksellers, writers, and educators established key institutions …

Examining The Relationships Between Gender Role Congruity, Identity, And The Choice To Persist For Women In Undergraduate Physics Majors, Bronwen Bares Pelaez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Persistent gender disparity limits the available contributors to advancing some science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. While higher education can be an influential time-point for ensuring adequate participation, many physics programs across the U.S. have few women in classroom or lab settings. Prior research indicates that these women face considerable barriers. For university students, faculty, and administration to appropriately address these issues, it is important to understand the experiences of women as they navigate male-dominated STEM fields.

This explanatory sequential mixed methods study explored undergraduate female physics majors’ experiences with their male-dominated academic and research spaces in the U.S. …

Trend And Acceleration: A Multi-Model Approach To Key West Sea Level Rise, John Tenenholtz

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sea level rise (SLR) varies depending on location. It is therefore important to local residents, businesses and government to analyze SLR locally. Further, because of increasing ice melt and other effects of climate change, rates of SLR may change. It is therefore also important to evaluate rates of change of SLR, which we call sea level acceleration (SLA) or deceleration.

The present thesis will review the annual average sea level data compiled at the Key West tidal gauge in Key West, Florida. We use a multi-model approach that compares the results of various models on that data set. The goal …

Numerical, Analytical, And Experimental Studies Of Reciprocating Mechanism Driven Heat Loops For High Heat Flux Cooling, Olubunmi Tolulope Popoola

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Reciprocating Mechanism Driven Heat Loop (RMDHL) is a novel heat transfer device that utilizes reciprocating flow, either single-phase or two-phase flow, to enhance the thermal management in high tech inventions. The device attains a high heat transfer rate through a reciprocating flow of the working fluid inside the heat transfer device. Although the concept of the device has been tested and validated experimentally, analytical or numerical studies have not been undertaken to understand its working mechanism and provide guidance for the device design. The objectives of this study are to understand the underlying physical mechanisms of heat transfer in …

Effect Of Ultrasonic Treatment On The Microstructure And Mechanical Properties Of Al6061 And Composite, Ana S. Exime

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this study, the effect of ultrasonic treatment (UST) parameters such as amplitude, sonication time, and melt temperature on microstructure and microhardness of Al 6061 alloy is evaluated. The effect of UST on the dispersion of tungsten disulfide (WS₂) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) as reinforcement particles in Al 6061 during casting is also studied. The cast Al 6061 with UST demonstrated 32% grain size reduction and 8% increase in the microhardness for optimum processing conditions. The cavitation process induced by UST is responsible for the refinement in microstructure and increase of hardness by enhancing the degassing and nucleation …

Drug Candidate Discovery: Targeting Bacterial Topoisomerase I Enzymes For Novel Antibiotic Leads, Shayna Sandhaus

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Multi-drug resistance in bacterial pathogens has become a global health crisis. Each year, millions of people worldwide are infected with bacterial strains that are resistant to currently available antibiotics. Diseases such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, and gonorrhea have become increasingly more difficult to treat. It is essential that novel drugs and cellular targets be identified in order to treat this resistance. Bacterial topoisomerase IA is a novel drug target that is essential for cellular growth. As it has never been targeted by existing antibiotics, it is an attractive target. Topoisomerase IA is responsible for relieving torsional strain on DNA by relaxing …

The Syrian Refugee Crisis And The European Union: A Case Study Of Germany And Hungary, Simone-Ariane Schelb

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the impact of the Syrian refugee crisis on the Common European Asylum System. It evaluates the extent to which the European Union was able to implement a common asylum system, identifies discrepancies between different European countries, primarily Germany and Hungary, and briefly examines the roots of these differences. To this end, the structure of the international refugee protection regime and the German and Hungarian asylum systems are analyzed. Furthermore, the thesis explores how the governments of the two countries perceive the rights of refugees and how their views have affected their handling of the crisis. The case …

Advanced Solutions For Renewable Energy Integration Into The Grid Addressing Intermittencies, Harmonics And Inertial Response, Arash Anzalchi

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Numerous countries are trying to reach almost 100\% renewable penetration. Variable renewable energy (VRE), for instance wind and PV, will be the main provider of the future grid. The efforts to decrease the greenhouse gasses are promising on the current remarkable growth of grid connected photovoltaic (PV) capacity. This thesis provides an overview of the presented techniques, standards and grid interface of the PV systems in distribution and transmission level. This thesis reviews the most-adopted grid codes which required by system operators on large-scale grid connected Photovoltaic systems. The adopted topologies of the converters, the control methodologies for active - …

Origami Reconfigurable Electromagnetic Systems, Shun Yao

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the ever-increasing demand for wireless communications, there is a great need for efficient designs of electromagnetic systems. Reconfigurable electromagnetic systems are very useful because such designs can provide multi-functionality and support different services. The geometrical topology of an electromagnetic element is very important as it determines the element’s RF performance characteristics. Origami geometries have significant advantages for launch-and-carry electromagnetic devices where devices need to fold in order to miniaturize their size during launch and unfold in order to operate after the platform has reached orbit.

This dissertation demonstrates a practical process for designing reconfigurable electromagnetic devices using origami structures. …

Bidirectional Electric Vehicles Service Integration In Smart Power Grid With Renewable Energy Resources, Ahmed A S Mohamed Mr

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As electric vehicles (EVs) become more popular, the utility companies are forced to increase power generations in the grid. However, these EVs are capable of providing power to the grid to deliver different grid ancillary services in a concept known as vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and grid-to-vehicle (G2V), in which the EV can serve as a load or source at the same time. These services can provide more benefits when they are integrated with Photovoltaic (PV) generation. The proper modeling, design and control for the power conversion systems that provide the optimum integration among the EVs, PV generations and grid are investigated …

An Exploration Of Black National Pan-Hellenic Council (Nphc) Sorority Membership As It Relates To Academic Achievement And Civic Engagement, Canela Eatman

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to explore the experience of 13 Black, National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) sorority members as they relate to their academic achievement and civic engagement. Participants were female, upperclassmen students at four different Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), half private and the other public. Criterion, purposive, and snowball sampling were used to secure participants.

Using the Community of Practice as a theoretical framework, which is comprised of five stages, participants’ experiences were described, analyzed, and interpreted to inform the study. Data were collected through individual phone interviews, using a semi-structured interview protocol, and were analyzed …