Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics (Stem) Project-Based Learning (Pbl) Education: A New Mexico Case Study For Equity And Inclusion, Kimberly A. Scheerer

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

This research addresses how student participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) project-based learning (PBL) education activities encourages underrepresented minority student achievement in STEM career field trajectories. Seven New Mexico high school counselors and 12 STEM organization personnel were interviewed during this study. Their responses represent the nuanced professional voices where New Mexico public education intersects with STEM student interest and cultural influence.

For students, STEM PBL can foster deep integration across educational disciplines and enhance STEM career trajectory interest and readiness. STEM education converged with PBL methodologies has the ability to leverage community support while broadening student networks. …

Development Of A Programmable, Open-Source, And Cost-Effective Fluidic System For Cell Culture Applications, Charles Montoya

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

Open-source laboratory equipment has become an increasingly popular alternative to commercially available options due to its simple implementation, capability of user-customized modifications, and cost-effectiveness. Presented here is the development of a programmable and open-source fluidic system comprised of three custom-built syringe pumps for cell culture applications. The fluidic system was directly integrated with a multiwell plate on an environmentally controlled microscope platform for live-cell imaging and time-lapse analyses of cellular responses as culture conditions are adjusted using the programmable fluidic system. Proof-of-concept of this system is obtained by controlling autophagic activity in A549 cells by adjustment of nutrient supply. The …

Fumarate-Based Polymers: Oligo(Poly(Ethylene Glycol) Fumarate) And Poly(Butylene Fumarate) For Tissue Engineering Heart Valve And Bone Tissue, Christian T. Denny

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

Tissue engineering is an emerging field that came from the fields of medicine, materials science, and engineering. The foundation of tissue engineering uses a paradigm that incorporates cells, biomaterials, and exogenous factors to create living tissues for medical, pharmaceutical, and research purposes. Within the last 100 years, biomaterials have been developed to solve many medical and research problems. As biomaterials have developed throughout the years new materials have been developed to have specific properties appropriate for medical applications. Fumarate is a naturally derived molecule in the body and has been found useful for developing polyesters that can be crosslinked into …

Collected Papers (On Neutrosophic Theory And Applications), Volume Vii, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

This seventh volume of Collected Papers includes 70 papers comprising 974 pages on (theoretic and applied) neutrosophics, written between 2013-2021 by the author alone or in collaboration with 122 co-authors from 22 countries.

Collected Papers (On Physics, Artificial Intelligence, Health Issues, Decision Making, Economics, Statistics), Volume Xi, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

This eleventh volume of Collected Papers includes 90 papers comprising 988 pages on Physics, Artificial Intelligence, Health Issues, Decision Making, Economics, Statistics, written between 2001-2022 by the author alone or in collaboration with 84 co-authors from 19 countries.

Collected Papers (Neutrosophics And Other Topics), Volume Xiv, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

This fourteenth volume of Collected Papers is an eclectic tome of 87 papers in Neutrosophics and other fields, such as mathematics, fuzzy sets, intuitionistic fuzzy sets, picture fuzzy sets, information fusion, robotics, statistics, or extenics, comprising 936 pages, published between 2008-2022 in different scientific journals or currently in press, by the author alone or in collaboration with 99 co-authors from 26 countries.

نيوتروسوفيك أوفرسيت ، نيوتروسوفيك أونديرست ، وإزاحة نيوتروسوفيك [Neutrosophic Overset, Neutrosophic Underset, And Neutrosophic Offset], Florentin Smarandache, Riad K Al-Hamido (Translator From English To Arabic)), Khaled Adnan Alabdullah (Translator From English To Arabic)

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

تم تعريف Neutrosophic Over-/ Under- / Off-Set and -Logic لأول مرة بواسطة Smarandache في عام 1995 ونشر في عام 2007. وهي مختلفة تمامًا عن المجموعات / المنطق / الاحتمالات الأخرى. قام بتمديد مجموعة العدلات على التوالي إلى Neutrosophic Overset {عندما يكون بعض مكونات neutrosophic> 1} ، Neutrosophic Underset {عندما يكون بعض مكونات neutrosophic <0} ، وإلى إزاحة Neutrosophic {عندما تكون بعض مكونات العدلات خارج الفاصل الزمني [0 ، 1] ، أي بعض مكونات العدلات> 1 ومكونات أخرى نيوتروسوفيك <0}. هذا ليس مفاجئًا فيما يتعلق بالمجموعة / المنطق الغامض الكلاسيكي ، أو المجموعة / المنطق الغامض الحدسي ، أو الاحتمال الكلاسيكي / غير الدقيق ، حيث لا يُسمح بالقيم خارج الفاصل الزمني [0 ، 1] ، نظرًا لأن عالمنا الحقيقي به العديد من الأمثلة و تطبيقات المكونات الزائدة / السفلية / البعيدة عن العدلات

Neutrosophic Over-/Under-/Off-Set and -Logic were defined for the first time by Smarandache in 1995 and published in 2007. They are totally different from other sets/logics/probabilities. He extended the neutrosophic set respectively to Neutrosophic Overset {when some neutrosophic component is > 1}, Neutrosophic Underset {when …

Collected Papers (On Neutrosophics Theory And Applications), Volume Xii, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

This twelfth volume of Collected Papers includes 86 papers comprising 976 pages on Neutrosophic Theory and Applications, published between 2013-2021 in the international journal and book series NSS by the author alone or in collaboration with the following 112 co-authors (alphabetically ordered) from 21 countries.

Collected Papers (On Neutrosophics, Plithogenics, Hypersoft Set, Hypergraphs, And Other Topics), Volume X, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

This tenth volume of Collected Papers includes 86 papers in English and Spanish languages comprising 972 pages, written between 2014-2022 by the author alone or in collaboration with 105 co-authors from 26 countries.

The Development Of An Instrument To Measure Transdermal Hydrogen Sulfide As A Way To Evaluate Microvascular Health In Humans, Benjamin Thomas Matheson

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) is a gasotransmitter critical in maintaining microcirculation homeostasis. Impaired microcirculation occurs in multiple disease states such as peripheral vascular disease, diabetes mellitus (DM), and hypertension. Early detection and identification of patients with DM who are at risk for heart attack, stroke and amputation due to microvascular disease is crucial. Human skin is an accessible vascular bed that provides an opportunity to non-invasively measure H₂S, which could be used as a biomarker to evaluate microvascular health.

In this work, a novel H₂S gas sensor, called the transdermal arterial gasotransmitter sensor (TAGS^{TM …}

"A Comparison Of Variable Selection Methods Using Bootstrap Samples From Environmental Metal Mixture Data", Paul-Yvann Djamen

Mathematics & Statistics ETDs

In this thesis, I studied a newly developed variable selection method SODA, and three customarily used variable selection methods: LASSO, Elastic net, and Random forest for environmental mixture data. The motivating datasets have neuro-developmental status as responses and metal measurements and demographic variables as covariates. The challenges for variable selections include (1) many measured metal concentrations are highly correlated, (2) there are many possible ways of modeling interactions among the metals, (3) the relationships between the outcomes and explanatory variables are possibly nonlinear, (4) the signal to noise ratio in the real data may be low. To compare these methods …

Screening And Characterization Of A Pan-Gtpase Inhibitor, Leyla Akhadov

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

Abnormal functioning of small GTPases is implicated in a variety of diseases, ranging from neurological and developmental diseases to cancer. In fact, mutant GTPases are found in up to 30% of cancers. Thus, small GTPases are a highly relevant target in drug discovery and development. High-throughput targeted screening of small molecules is the most productive method of discovering compounds that can give insights into drug development. This thesis describes improvements made to a high-throughput GTPase-targeted screening method to minimize confounding systematic error. It also describes the follow-up characterization of a compound that was identified in a high-throughput screen. The compound …

Assessment Of The Biocompatibilty, Stability, And Suitability Of Natural And Synthetic Polymers And Drugs In The Fda Approval Process, Phuong Anh Hoang Nguyen

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

Regulation of the development, production, marketing, and sales of medical pharmaceuticals and devices in the United States fall under the regulatory functions of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The current FDA approval process takes an average of 10 years from start to completion, and costs over $100 million. As a result, companies use many different methods to find additional use of their drugs through marketing directly to the physician, or recycling of previously approved drug moieties. In this work, an evaluation of the in vitro and ex vivo biocompatibility of polymers and drugs in different phases of FDA approval …

Tauopathies, Novel Optogenetic Tools, And The Future Of Artificial Intellience In Medicine., Jessica L. Binder

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

To this day, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related dementias (ADRD). With the daunting rise at an exponential rate of ADRD burden and related deaths, the necessity to find a new line of attack is vital. Pathological accumulation of microtubule associated protein tau in neurons is a major neuropathological hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related tauopathies. Attempts have been made to promote clearance of pathological tau (p-Tau) from neurons via autophagy. Transcription factor EB (TFEB) has shown to clear p-Tau from neurons via autophagy. However, sustained TFEB activation and autophagy can create burden on cellular …

A Microfluidics-Based Cross-Flow Filtration Platform For Rapid Processing Of Amphiphilic Biomarkers From Blood, Kiersten D. Lenz

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

Early and accurate detection of bacterial infections can help save lives, prevent the spread of disease, and decrease the overuse of antibiotics. Our team at the Los Alamos National Laboratory has developed novel assays to detect bacterial biomarkers from patient blood at the point-of-care in order to facilitate a universal diagnostic platform. However, these biomarkers are amphiphilic in nature, and this biochemical property causes them to be sequestered by high-density and low-density lipoproteins (HDL and LDL) in the host’s blood. Extraction of the bacterial biomarkers from the lipoprotein complexes is thereby required for the development and deployment of a diagnostic …

Iron-Containing Nanoparticles For The Treatment Of Chrionic Biofilm Infections In Cystic Fibrosis, Leisha M. A. Martin

Nanoscience and Microsystems ETDs

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common genetic disease resulting in the morbidity and mortality of Caucasian children and adults worldwide. Due to a genetic mutation resulting in malfunction of the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) protein, CF patients produce highly viscous mucus in their respiratory tract. This leads to impairment of the mucociliary clearance of inhaled microbes. In addition to reduced microbial clearance, anoxic environmental conditions in the lungs promote biofilm-mode growth of the pathogenic bacterial species Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Chronic infections of P. aeruginosa begin in early childhood and typically persist until respiratory failure and death result. The …

Incorporation Of Egfr And Ron Receptors Into Nanodiscs, Cristina Flores-Cadengo

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

Understanding the structure-function relationship of membrane receptors is essential to comprehend the crosstalk between key signaling pathways. Aberrant trans-activation between receptors can lead to tumorigenesis. Two of these receptors known to be involved in cancer development are receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs), RON (Recepteur d'Origine Nantais) and EGFR (Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor). There has been evidence of heterodimerization and crosstalk between these two receptors based on co-immunoprecipitation, however the structural requirements behind these interactions remain unknown. Structural studies could provide insights into these RTKs’ modes of dimerization and structure-function relationship. However, structural studies of full-length membrane proteins are often difficult due …

New Types Of Neutrosophic Set/Logic/Probability, Neutrosophic Over-/ Under-/ Off Set, Neutrosophic Refined Set, And Their Extension To Plithogenic Set/Logic/Probability, With Applications, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

This international collective massive book, edited by Florentin Smarandache, has 716 pages, and represents the special issue on neutrosophic environment at SYMMETRY international journal (Scopus, Web of Science, IF: 2.143). The book contains 37 published papers, by 73 authors and coauthors, from 13 countries from around the world, in alphabetical order: China, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Jordan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Romania, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, and United States of America.

How To Balance Intuitive And Analytical Functions Of Brain: A Neutrosophic Way Of Scientific Discovery Process, Florentin Smarandache, Victor Christianto, Robert Neil Boyd

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

Initially this article stems from our discussion on math and mysticism, inspired by an article by Ralph Abraham. But it becomes a discussion on the role of intuition and inspiration in scientific discovery process. Hopefully this article will help anyone who aspires to be good scientists or engineers.

Effect Of Strong Electrolyte Containing Gelling Aids On The Sol-Gel Transition Temperature Of Hypromellose 2910, Elnaz Sadeghi

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

Hypromellose, or hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) - has been widely used for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications due to its advantages, including that it is modifiable in terms of viscosity, and it has the ability to form thermally reversible hydrogels. The thermal gelation temperature (T_Gel) of a given HPMC solution strongly depends on its characteristic grade and the solution concentration. Applying certain additives can modify the T_Gel even further; depending on their nature and concentration. With the addition of said additives, a lower or higher T_Gel can be obtained. For example, the addition of sodium chloride (NaCl) reduces …

Acoustofluidics And Soft Materials Interfaces For Biomedical Applications, Frank A. Fencl

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

This dissertation describes fabrication of devices and other tools for biomedical applications through the integration of acoustofluidic systems with bio separation assays, instrumentation components, and soft materials interfaces. For example, we engineer a new class of transparent acoustic flow chambers ideal for optical interrogation. We demonstrate efficacy of these devices by enhancing the signal for high throughput acoustic flow cytometry, capable of robust particle focusing across multiple parallel flowing streams. We also investigate an automated sampling system to determine the parameters of transient particle stream focusing in between sample boluses and air bubbles to model a high throughput, multi-sampling acoustic …

Improving The Palatability Of Colonoscopy Preparations, Phuong Anh Hoang Nguyen, Darnell Leon Cuylear, Heather Elizabeth Canavan

Shared Knowledge Conference

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. The most reliable screening method of CRC is a colonoscopy which requires a 4-Liter polymer with electrolytes preparation. Two in five patients are non-compliant to their colonoscopy schedules, with many patients who abstain reporting refusal due to significant discomfort associated with this preparation. Furthermore, there are distinct gender differences in the tolerance of colonoscopy preparations in male and female populations. We hypothesize the differences in clinic are a result of toxic effects of the drug associated with poor mixing by individual patients. PEG, the drug, …

An Engineer’S Take On The Bone-Ligament Interface: Utilizing Novel Technology To Improve Clinical Outcomes, Emma Garcia

Shared Knowledge Conference

Ligament repair is a common surgical practice with a significant lack of viable replacements. The current gold standard for repair is the use of tendon grafts from cadavers or from another place in the patient’s body; however, these often cause more problems than they solve including immune responses or a lack of mobility in another place in the body. Synthetic replacements are of growing interest, though the ability to mimic the complex structure of the ligament and how it connects to the bone remains an obstacle. Our lab built a 3D bioprinter combined with an electrospinner to address this complicated …

Computational Investigation Of The Interactions Between Bioactive Compounds And Biological Assemblies, Tye D. Martin

Shared Knowledge Conference

Design of small molecules is an ongoing focus for developing agents against pathogenic viruses and bacteria that are threats to worldwide health. Viruses such as Zika feature assemblies of repeat peptide subunits or capsid proteins which are potential targets for antiviral compounds. Other protein assemblies are implicated in pathology of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and additional neurodegenerative diseases characterized by large assemblies of misfolded proteins such as amyloid-beta (Aβ) and tau. Recent studies on a class of conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs) with phenylene ethynylene moieties and charged functional groups have shown potential both as bioactive antimicrobials and theragnostic sensing agents for tracking …

Improving The Palatability Of Colonoscopy Preparations, Phuong Anh Hoang Nguyen, Sarah Mounho, Darnell Cuylear, Heather Canavan

Shared Knowledge Conference

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. The most reliable screening method of CRC is a colonoscopy which requires a 4-Liter polymer with electrolytes preparation. Two in five patients are non-compliant to their colonoscopy schedules, with many patients who abstain reporting refusal due to significant discomfort associated with this preparation. Furthermore, there are distinct gender differences in the tolerance of colonoscopy preparations in male and female populations. We hypothesize the differences in clinic are a result of toxic effects of the drug associated with poor mixing by individual patients. PEG, the drug, …

3d Bioprinting And Near-Field Electrospinning Composite Scaffolds For The Bone-Ligament Interface, Emma Garcia, Christina Salas, Matthew N. Rush, Christopher Buksa, Marissa Perez, Ava Mauser, Steven Nery, Fermin Prieto, Darielys Morales

Shared Knowledge Conference

3D bioprinting is an additive manufacturing technique that can utilize a range of bioactive materials to construct specific architectures that mimic native tissue. Near-field electrospinning (NFE) offers precise alignment control to create non-woven mats with high tensile strengths. We built a custom E-spin printer that enables layer-by-layer alternating deposition between 3D bioprinting and NFE to create composite scaffolds for the bone-ligament interface. This complex region is difficult to simulate due to its functionally graded mechanical and biochemical properties. We created NFE poly(caprolactone) highly aligned micro-fibers which formed collagen fibril-like bundles. Poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate with decellularized bone was encased in the …

Developing Droplet Based 3d Cell Culture Methods To Enable Investigations Of The Chemical Tumor Microenvironment, Jacqueline A. De Lora

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Adaptation of cancer cells to changes in the biochemical microenvironment in an expanding tumor mass is a crucial aspect of malignant progression, tumor metabolism, and drug efficacy. In vitro, it is challenging to mimic the evolution of biochemical gradients and the cellular heterogeneity that characterizes cancer tissues found in vivo. It is well accepted that more realistic and controllable in vitro 3D model systems are required to improve the overall cancer research paradigm and thus improve on the translation of results, but multidisciplinary approaches are needed for these advances. This work develops such approaches and demonstrates that new droplet-based cell-encapsulation …

Compartmentalization Of Dna-Based Molecular Computing Elements Using Lipid Bilayers, Aurora Fabry-Wood

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

This dissertation will present a progression from the detection of double-stranded DNA using a combination of toehold-mediated strand displacement and DNAzyme reactions in dilute saline solutions, to the generation of separate compartments to allow standardization of DNA computing elements, by protecting from complementary strands. In well-mixed solutions complementary regions cause spurious interactions. Importantly, these compartments also provide protection from nucleases. Along the way we will also explore the use of silica microsphere supported lipid bilayers to run compartmentalized DNA reactions on a fluid surface and the design of a molecule capable of DNA-based transmembrane signal transduction.

Designing Synthetic Environments To Control Valvular Interstital Cells In Vitro, Kent E. Coombs

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Aortic valve disease (AVD) is a large contributor to health costs in the United States affecting 2.8% of the population greater than 75 years old. With a growing elderly population due to medical advances, AVD will continue to rise in prevalence over time. Current treatments for AVD are insufficient due to a lack of preventative therapies and the bioprosthetic valves used for surgical replacement have major limitations. Tissue engineered heart valves (TEHVs) present an ideal solution to current AVD needs because of their biocompatibility, capability to integrate with the host’s tissue, and ability to utilize the natural repair mechanisms of …

Neutrosophic Computing And Machine Learning, Vol. 1, Florentin Smarandache, Maikel Leyva-Vázquez

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

La neutrosofía es una nueva rama de la filosofía la cual estudia el origen, naturaleza y alcance de las neutralidades, así como sus interacciones con diferentes espectros ideacionales: (A) es una idea, proposición, teoría, evento, concepto o entidad; anti (A) es el opuesto de (A); y (neut-A) significa ni (A) ni anti (A), es decir, la neutralidad entre los dos extremos. Etimológicamente neutron-sofía [Frances neutre < Latin neuter, neutral, y griego sophia, conocimiento] significa conocimiento de los pensamiento neutrales y comenzó en 1995. Su teoría fundamental afirma que toda idea < A > tiende a ser neutralizada, disminuida, balaceada por las ideas (no solo como Hegel planteó)- como un estado de equilibrio.