Digital Commons Network^™

El Paso Residential Electricity Demand, David Ronald Macias

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study utilizes a dynamic error correction model to analyze the demand for residential electricity in El Paso County, Texas. Annual data is provided by El Paso Electric Company covering the period from 1977 to 2011. This study reports negative income elasticities for residential electricity demand and indicates that electricity is treated as an inferior good in El Paso County. The negative income elasticity result runs counter to many earlier studies, although recent empirical evidence indicates that residential electricity is also treated as an inferior good in the Seattle service territory. Negative income elasticities are an interesting result, and may …

An Exploration Of Social Media Use Among Multiply Minoritized Lgbtq Youth, Alfie Leanna Lucero

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study responds to a need for research in a fast-growing and significant area of study, that of exploring, understanding, and documenting the numerous ways that multiply marginalized LGBTQ youth between the ages of 14 and 17 use social media. The primary research question examined whether social media provide safe spaces for multiply minoritized LGBTQ youth to express and explore issues of sexuality and gender. In addition, the study explores and categorizes multiple ways that the participants interact with social media and makes comparisons to prior work with more general populations. The study provides descriptions of the participants in terms …

The Strength Of Family Bonds: A Look Into The Lives Of A Family That Has Overcome Adversity And Marginality, Angelique Nevarez Maes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the recent literature that entails the effectiveness of parent/child bonds in deterring children from crime and related deviant activities, little information is mentioned about the effectiveness of Kinship (extended family members) and its possible effectiveness in deterring an individual from crime and related deviant activities. Adverse events such as drug abuse, early death, prostitution and gang activity can plague a family and threaten its unity when parental bonds are absent or non-consistent during adolescence. Marginalities such as poverty and racism take the family unit to the edge of society only serve to further the extent of the damage that …

Summer Land Surface Temperature: Small-Local Variation In Intro-Urban Environment In El Paso, Tx, Mactar Mohamed

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT

It has been well documented that rapid urbanization and population growth have led to the transformation of the natural landscape into anthropogenic urban land and changed such surface physical properties as albedo, energy balance, and surface roughness. Cities, therefore, will be warmer at the urban areas than the rural lands; this situation creates a phenomenon called Urban Heat Island (UHI).

In the recent decades, numerous approaches to study the variation of land surface temperature during daytime have emerged; however, little is known about the variation during nighttime. This study addressed the spatial variation of Summer Nighttime Land Surface Temperature …

Impact Of Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles On Cilantro (Coriandrum Sativum), Maria Isabel Morales

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Studies have shown that plants exposed to ENPs suffer different types of stress. Other studies have revealed that plants can take up and accumulate CeO2 NPs without modification. Thus, these NPs could enter the food chain through edible plants, posing a threat for human health. Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) is a worldwide culinary and medicinal plant consumed either as a fresh herb or a spice. In this research, cilantro plants were germinated and cultivated for 30 days in organic soil treated with CeO2 NPs at concentrations varying from 0 to 500 mg kg!1. Subsequently, plant organs were analyzed by using spectroscopic …

Model Fusion: A New Approach To Processing Heterogeneous Data, Omar Ochoa

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In many practical situations, it is necessary to extract

information from data of different types. For example, in geosciences, several sources of data can be used to determine the interior structure of the earth: the first arriving waves from earthquakes and from man-made sources, measurements of the earth's gravity field, measurements of the dispersion of surface waves generated by earthquakes, etc. At present, most existing data processing techniques deal only with data of one type.

A joint use of all the information derived from multiple types of data sources is an important theoretical and practical challenge. Such a joint use …

Strong Coupled Quark Matter And Drawbacks Of Its Bcs-Bec Crossover, Israel Portillo Vazquez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

It was found many years ago, that the ground state wave functions of the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieer (BCS) superconductivity in a degenerate Fermi gas and the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of composite molecules are essentially the same, and those two states can be smoothly connected through a crossover. This BCS-BEC crossover has being recently extended to relativistic Fermi System. This thesis is dedicated to exploring the possible crossover from BEC to BCS phase on strong-interacting matter and its implications for the system Equation of State. The study will be concentrated on dierent phases of dense quark-matter for vanishing temperatures and densities beyond hadronic …

Changing The Face Of American Culture: A New Perspective On Immigration, Stephanie Ann Quezada

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Immigration in the United States is currently a focal political and social issue. The nation's support for restricting immigration stems in part from the cultural threats made salient after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and from the recent influx of immigrants. The present research investigated the implications of perceiving immigration as voluntary or involuntary and permanent or temporary. Experiment 1, a pilot study, showed that U.S. citizens expect voluntary and permanent immigrants to assimilate to mainstream American culture. Experiment 1 also showed that U.S. citizens expressed greater anger toward immigrants who were permanently staying in the U.S., and greater …

Novel Copper (Ii) Mediated Transfection Nano-Systems And Biological Properties Of Pyridinium Surfactants, Sarit Pal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Efficacy of gene therapy is relied upon the improvement of gene delivery vectors into mammalian cells. Although viral-based polynucleotide carriers are still considered as the most common method for gene delivery but the cost effectiveness, nonspecific lethal immune response has evoked the renaissance of non-viral synthetic delivery systems. An initial discovery by Felgnar et al showed Cationic Liposomes (CLs) (having an overall positive charge) when mixed with DNA to form CL-DNA complexes can enhance the transfer of polynucleotides into cells followed by its expression. Presently, a flurry of experimental works is taking place for the better understanding of structural characterization …

Two-Photon Microscopy Of Nanoparticles And Biotissues, Judith Noemi Rivera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Biomedical Imaging is an important tool in medical research and clinical practice. From understanding the fundamental processes involved in our biological makeup to its use in diagnostics in helping determine what ails us, the advancements in imaging and microscopy have helped shape our view of the world and nature. Microscopy in particular is often used to study the smallest of cells and their dynamical properties while attempting to minimally change the sample being studied. My research objective is largely divided into two parts. The first part consists of designing a video-rate raster scanning two-photon microscope that is faster than current …

Assessing Regional Impacts Of Transportation Policies And Traffic Management Solutions In Large Urban Areas, Tomas Rendl

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis introduces the problem of the continually increasing demand for road transportation in large urban areas. Associated problems and their possible solutions have been described and linked together in a wider context. Thereafter, a framework for the application of the multicriterial decision making method is introduced in order to help to find the best solution. The proposed framework evaluates alternatives and their potential impacts with respect to nine criteria. This method has been applied in a case study, using the example of the City of Prague, Czech Republic. Based on the results of two scenarios, the city's superior highway …

Unconstrained L1 Optimization With Applications To Signal And Image Processing, Carlos Andres Ramirez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, the applied mathematical community has witnessed a revolution that is changing the paradigm of classical signal and image processing. Novel and e efficient numerical algorithms have emerged for solving new challenges in large scale signal retrieval, where both constrained and unconstrained L1 minimization methods play a fundamental role.

In this work, we present a new methodology for solving unconstrained L1 minimization problems in the context of image and signal processing. Our approach consists in solving a sequence of relaxed unconstrained minimization problems depending on a positive regularization parameter that converges to zero. The optimality conditions of each …

The Characterization Of The Interplay Between Sumoylation And Influenza A Virus, Andres Santos

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Influenza A virus is a negative sense single stranded RNA virus responsible for multiple devastating pandemics in the past. This virus is capable of entering multiple eukaryotic hosts, sequestering, and using their cellular machinery for its own replicative purposes. This plethora of molecular events is all orchestrated through a shockingly limited repertoire of only 11 viral proteins. All of which are all strictly dependent on cellular processes such as post-transcriptional regulation, protein translation, post-translational modifications, etc. This study is focused on the characterization of the interplay between Influenza A virus and the cellular SUMOylation system. The first part of this …

Mucin Associated Surface Protein Synthetic Peptide As A Novel Vaccine Candidate Against Chagas Disease, Carylinda Serna

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Trypanosoma cruzi is an intracellular protozoan parasite and the etiological agent for Chagas disease. Chagas is endemic in Latin America affecting 18-20 million people. However, currently worldwide increasing numbers of the disease are being seen due to migration and globalization. This neglected disease causes significant morbidity, mortality, and an economic burden. There are no known vaccines and the only currently available drug is Benznidazole, but its effects are controversial. Nonetheless, a therapeutic or prophylactic vaccine is of urgent need to alleviate this disease. In this study we present an experimental approach using a synthetic peptide-based vaccine against T. cruzi. The …

The Effect Of Religious Imagery On Following Suggestions For Risk-Taking, Jessica Marie Shenberger Trujillo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Events such as "9/11" show that religion can be used to promote negative social behavior. The aim of the current study was to test whether religious imagery leads individuals to follow suggestions for increased risk-taking behaviors. The current study used culturally relevant positive and negative religious imagery primes (i.e., Virgin de Guadalupe and Santa Muerte) as well as positive and negative non- religious imagery primes (i.e., Frida Kahlo and La Malinche) and measured the extent to which individuals followed a confederate's suggestions to engage in risky behaviors on a Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Individuals varied in the number of …

A Convex Optimization Algorithm For Sparse Representation And Applications In Classification Problems, Reinaldo Sanchez Arias

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In pattern recognition and machine learning, a classification problem refers to finding an algorithm for assigning a given input data into one of several categories. Many natural signals are sparse or compressible in the sense that they have short representations when expressed in a suitable basis. Motivated by the recent successful development of algorithms for sparse signal recovery, we apply the selective nature of sparse representation to perform classification. Any test sample is represented in an overcomplete dictionary with the training sample as base elements. A given test sample can be expressed as a linear combination of only those training …

Individual Predictors Of Hindsight Bias: A Longitudinal Study, Sonya M. Stokes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The hindsight bias, a person's tendency to overestimate their ability to predict the outcome of an event after the fact, is a phenomenon present in nearly every area of our lives (Arkes, Faust, Guilmette & Hart, 1988). The bias can be mitigated by factors such as analytical and deep thought regarding an outcome and increased expertise (Gray et al., 2007; Knoll, 2009; Arkes et al., 1988). In this study, we examined the growth of hindsight bias over 4 time points using a within-subjects memory model. For our analysis, we quantified hindsight bias in two ways: the number of "flips" a …

Design Of A Biomass-To-Biorefinery Logistics System Through Bio-Inspired Metaheuristic Optimization Considering Multiple Types Of Feedstocks, Isidoro Trueba

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Bioenergy has become an important alternative source of energy to alleviate the reliance on petroleum energy. Bioenergy offers significant potential to mitigate climate change by reducing life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions relative to fossil fuels. The Energy Independence and Security Act mandate the use of 21 billion gallons of advanced biofuels including 16 billion gallons of cellulosic biofuels by the year 2022. It is clear that Biomass can make a substantial contribution to supplying future energy demand in a sustainable way. However, the supply of sustainable energy is one of the main challenges that mankind will face over the coming decades. …

On Different Techniques For The Calculation Of Bouguer Gravity Anomalies For Joint Inversion And Model Fusion Of Geophysical Data In The Rio Grande Rift, Azucena Zamora

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Density variations in the Earth result from different material properties, which reflect the tectonic processes attributed to a region. Density variations can be identified through measurable material properties, such as seismic velocities, gravity field, magnetic field, etc. Gravity anomaly inversions are particularly sensitive to density variations but suffer from significant non-uniqueness. However, using inverse models with gravity Bouguer anomalies and other geophysical data, we can determine three dimensional structural and geological properties of the given area. We explore different techniques for the calculation of Bouguer gravity anomalies for their use in joint inversion of multiple geophysical data sets and a …

Life And Health Outside Prison, Tiffany Amorette Young

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative study explores the subjective understandings of formerly incarcerated individuals' experiences of health and healthcare prior to, during, and post release. The study incorporates in depth ethnographic interviews, participant observation, and life charting to formulate a holistic understanding of how incarceration has impacted the health and lives of the participants recruited for this study. All participants were incarcerated for a minimum of one year in the U.S. prison system. This interdisciplinary study contributes to the fields of sociology, criminology, and public health, and builds on the literature of race, health, and corrections in the United States.

Investigation Into The Operation And Safety Of Freeway Auxiliary Lanes: Towards Uniform Design Guidelines, Yubian Wang

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Freeways operate closest to the purest form of uninterrupted traffic flow. There is no constant interruption to traffic flow (such as stop sign and traffic signal), and access is limited to ramp locations. Therefore, at freeways, bottlenecks, if exist, are usually caused by merging and diverging traffic at ramp locations. Bottleneck removal at freeway ramp areas can reduce average freeway commuter delay. Currently, engineers may add auxiliary lanes at ramp areas to mitigate or remove bottlenecks.

The American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) publication A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets, commonly known as the "Green …

Utilizing Cyber Espionage To Combat Terrorism, Gary Adkins

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The world has effectively exited the Industrial Age and is firmly planted in the Information Age. Global communication at the speed of light has been a great asset to both businesses and private citizens. However, there is a dark side to the age we live in, where terrorist groups are able to communicate, plan, fund, recruit, and spread their message to the world. The relative anonymity the internet provides hinders law enforcement and security agencies in not only locating would-be terrorists but also in disrupting their operations. The internet is a loosely knit group of computers and routers and is …

A Method To Reduce Plastic Shrinkage Cracking Of Concrete Using Re-Vibration Technique, Mustafa Abushaala Aldalinsi

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

One of the problems that reduce durability; thus, performance of concrete is the development of plastic shrinkage cracking (PSC). Traditionally, the development of PSC has been minimized by controlling its exposure to weather conditions or by adding fibers. In this study, concrete re-vibration was used as an alternative technique to control PSC because of the limited availability of fibers in the developing countries. In this study, the wait time after slab casting and before vibration was selected to be 90 minutes while length of re-vibration time was varied from 15 to 45 seconds. Also, the water-cement ratios were selected to …

Olivine Ca Content Measured By Icp-Oes To Estimate P-T, Bradley Benavides

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Ca is a trace element in olivine and its concentration is pressure and temperature dependent, providing a rare opportunity to estimate pressure conditions at which mantle-derived rocks (xenoliths) last equilibrated. This P-T dependence has previously been calibrated for mantle xenoliths, and we applied this technique to samples from Jasper Seamount (Jasper Seamount), an oceanic intraplate volcano (OIV) off the coast of the Baja California Peninsula of Mexico. Preliminary compositions for xenoliths from this location appear to define a magmatic plumbing system that features magma storage near the bottom of the crust. A more detailed analysis of the samples is required …

Post-Pareto Optimality Methods For The Analysis Of Large Pareto Sets In Multi-Objective Optimization, Victor Manuel Carrillo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Multiple objective optimization involves the simultaneous optimization of more than one, possibly conflicting, objectives. Multiple objective optimization problems arise in a variety of real-world applications. In general, the main difference between single and multi-objective optimization is that in multi-objective optimization there is usually no single optimal solution, but a set of equally good alternatives with different trade-offs, also known as Pareto-optimal solutions. There are two general approaches to solve multiple objective optimization problems: mathematical methods and meta-heuristic methods. The first approach involves the aggregation of the attributes into a linear combination of the objective functions, also known as scalarization. The …

The Untidy Yard, Jennifer Andrea Falcon

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

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A Semantic Web-Based Methodology For Describing Scientific Research Efforts, Aida Gandara

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Scientists produce research resources that are useful to future research and innovative efforts. In a typical scientific scenario, the results created by a collaborative team often include numerous artifacts, observations and relationships relevant to research findings, such as programs that generate data, parameters that impact outputs, workflows that describe processes, and publications, posters and presentations that explain results and findings. Scientists have options in what results to share and how to share them, however, there is no systematic approach to documenting scientific research and sharing it on the Web.

The goal of this research is to define a systematic approach …

Assessing The Equity Implications Of Greenspace Distribution In An Arid Region, Abdelatif Eldeb

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the last few decades, vegetation deterioration is receiving increased attention because of its adverse impacts on societal and human health, environmental sustainability, and quality of life. I have selected two cities in Chihuahua Desert region (El Paso and Juarez) as case study sites to develop a novel and applicable methodology for integrating remotely sensed data of different spectral and spatial resolutions into an analysis of the spatial distribution of an urban amenity. The primary objective of this research is to determine if the spatial distribution of greenspace in 2010 is equitable with respect to socio-demographics in El Paso and …

Motivations For A Source To Resist An Interrogation: Consequences To The Self Versus Consequences To An Other, Julia Labianca

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The current research investigated the effect of situational and dispositional factors on a source's decision to confess guilty knowledge of another's actions to an interrogator. The extant literature suggests that potential consequences to the self are a major motivator for decisions to confess or resist an interrogation. Previous research also suggests that the potential consequences to the other person may also influence a source's motivations to confess guilty knowledge. Additionally, personality measures related to interdependence versus personal independence (collectivism and individualism) and individual loyalty may also influence a source's motivations to cooperate with or resist an interrogation. However, few experiments …

Method Development For A Chemical And Biological Analysis Of Glucocorticoids In Wastewater, Maria Carmen Lozano

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Glucocorticoids are a class of steroid hormones that can either be produced synthetically or naturally by the adrenal glands. The synthetic glucocorticoids are highly prescribed in the United States for their anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive properties to treat a variety of ailments and diseases; however, these have been implicated in a number of adverse human conditions such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, immune-suppression, delayed puberty, adrenal insufficiency and Cushing Syndrome, among others. Ongoing research has shown that synthetic and natural hormones are transported to aquatic environments via mammalian excretion or wastewater effluent, and as a result, the release of glucocorticoids into the …