Digital Commons Network^™

Assessing The Ecological Drivers And Consequences Of Partial Migration In Hudson River Striped Bass Over Three Decades, Caitlin Egan Zimmer

Biology ETDs

Climate change and shifts in human land use have caused extensive impacts to the connectivity, structure, and resilience of aquatic populations. Partial migration (PM), where only some individuals from a population migrate while the rest remain resident, can mitigate population-level responses to environmental stressors. However, little is known of the underlying mechanisms promoting variation in migration and whether these shift over time. In the Hudson River Estuary, striped bass (Morone saxatilis) are known to exhibit anadromous PM behavior. Here, I measured carbon isotopes (δ¹³C) of essential amino acids in striped bass scales to determine variation in …

The Island Biogeography Of Mangrove-Dwelling Vertebrates: Isolation, Specialisation, And Extinction, Jian Xiong David Tan

Biology ETDs

Mangroves are highly dynamic ecosystems that are widely distributed across the coastlines of the tropics and subtropics. Despite their low plant diversity, mangroves host a disproportionately high number of terrestrial vertebrate taxa. However, mangrove specialists — taxa that only occur in mangrove habitats — exhibit a global distribution that is incongruous with the broader background distribution patterns of mangrove-associated fauna, exhibiting higher diversity in Australia and Southeast Asia. This dissertation therefore aims to assess how the diversity and distribution of mangrove specialist fauna may have been shaped by the historical biogeography of mangroves, and the effects of mangrove specialisation on …

Ecoimmunology Of Dirty Physella Acuta Snails, Kevin Arthur Mcquirk

Biology ETDs

Research on Physella acuta, an invasive freshwater snail, reveals insights into its parasitology, fitness, and molecular biology. Morphological and molecular analyses revealed two distinct mitogenomic lineages, local (B) and invasive (A) strains of native P. acuta, both having comparable trematode infection rates, suggesting that the low infection rates observed from A in invaded regions result from "enemy release" rather than immune incompatibility. Fitness assessments showed that while lineages A and B performed similarly under laboratory conditions, rewilding experiments revealed significantly higher fitness in lineage A. Transcriptomic profiling supported these differences, with A snails showing greater immune-related gene expression and …

A Data-Driven Approach To Time Series Forecasting And Clustering Of U.S. Regional Drug Overdose Mortality, Koshali Hamy Muthunama Gonnage

Mathematics & Statistics ETDs

The increasing rate of drug overdose deaths in the United States poses a critical public health challenge, particularly due to the surge in synthetic opioids and other high-risk substances. This study presents a data-driven framework that integrates time series forecasting and clustering techniques. Monthly mortality data for five key drug types: cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, and oxycodone were analyzed using four time series forecasting models: ARIMA, ETS, TBATS, and NNAR. These models were evaluated using standard accuracy metrics RMSE, MAPE, and MAE to assess predictive performance. Signal decomposition approach based on Singular Value Decomposition and subspace modeling was employed to …

• Social Media Use Among Undergraduate Women: Associations With Body Image, Disordered Eating, And Well-Being, Kirsten P. Peterson

Psychology ETDs

Though prior research has identified a range of negative impacts associated with social networking site/app (SNS) use, these effects vary and are often attributed to specific aspects of SNSs rather than time spent on them. The current study examined relations between SNS use and various psychological outcomes (i.e., body appreciation, body dissatisfaction, eating pathology, depression, and self-esteem) and how these may differ by platform, proportion of image-based content, image subjects, and passive (relative to active) use. Worse outcomes were anticipated for individuals who primarily used appearance-focused platforms and those with greater exposure to image-based content, self or celebrity images, and …

Modeling Mars Chaos Terrains As Fracture Mosaics, Aidan C. Buie

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Chaos terrain exists on several planetary bodies but most notably on Mars. With 30 different named terrains and hundreds of chaotic or ”chaos-like” terrains, they are one of the most prominent and visible features on the planet. Chaos terrains have many visible similarities to each other: they all are comprised of polygonal blocks separated by fractures or channels. These blocks vary from angular to rounded and from flat plateaus to small hills, and the fractures vary from flat floored to ”v” shaped. Often, a single chaos will contain all of these morphologies. Most of the 30 named chaoses on Mars …

An Analysis Of Employment Patterns And Career Decisions Among Dental Hygienists: In A Transforming Healthcare Landscape, Shirley Calderon Jamarck

Dental Hygiene ETDs

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors contributing to dental hygienists’ consideration of changing careers, retiring early, or feeling burned out. A 26-question survey was emailed to members of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association, with 742 responses meeting inclusion criteria. Participants evaluated aspects of their careers, including job satisfaction, wages and benefits, personal growth, work-related stress, burnout, work-life balance, and retirement plans. Results revealed that one-third of respondents planned to leave the profession, citing burnout, physical strain, and limited career growth as reasons. High correlations were found between job satisfaction and feeling valued, professional accomplishment, and growth …

Localization Of Alpha Power Deficits In First Episode Psychosis, Crystal A. Garcia, Juan Bustillo

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

The purpose of this study was to determine where in the brain there may be a difference in brain activity in patients during their first episode of psychosis (FEP) compared to healthy controls (HCs) while performing an auditory oddball task. Time-frequency analysis allows for spectral decomposition where the signal measured by magnetoencephalography (MEG) is used to characterize changes in neural oscillations and their synchronization over time and region. Previous EEG studies report reduced alpha (8-12Hz, 70-160ms) power but most studies focused on patients with chronic schizophrenia and with limited source localization.

Understanding The Metallic And Oxide Phases In Platinum-Based Bimetallic Heterogeneous Catalysts After High-Temperature Oxidation, Stephen John Porter Jr

Nanoscience and Microsystems ETDs

Platinum (Pt) and palladium (Pd) are critical components in diesel emission control systems, enabling the conversion of harmful pollutants under demanding conditions. However, Pt’s effectiveness is hindered by sintering under high-temperature oxidizing environments. This dissertation investigates how Pt and Pd evolve under oxidizing conditions at 800°C, highlighting their distinct thermodynamic behaviors and interactions. Using TEM, EDS, EELS, XRF, XRD, and EXAFS, we show that Pd suppresses Pt sintering by reducing the volatility of PtO₂, leading to the formation of stable particles. Both Pt and Pd are present in metallic and oxide states, forming biphasic 'Janus' particles with conjoined metal and …

Advancing Diamond Quantum Sensors: Isotropic Flux Concentrators And Phase Noise Mitigation, Maziar Saleh Ziabari

Optical Science and Engineering ETDs

Two methods for improving the sensitivity of nitrogen vacancy quantum sensors in diamond are explored. First, by passively concentrating the magnetic flux, three orthogonally oriented ferrite truncated cone pairs amplify the field isotropically by 19 times, allowing measurement of Earth's field without a bias field and increasing sensitivity. Through thorough analysis, modeling and tuning a novel 3-dimensional flux concentrator system, we achieve a fractional standard deviation of less than 1% anisotropy and quantify minimal deadzones and ambient temperature-limited variations below 40 nT/hour. Second, we characterize, model and calculate phase noise in NV experiments, which in NV sensors is effectively indistinguishable …

Predicting Leakage From Nuclear Material Containers At Los Alamos National Laboratory Through Drop Testing, Leak Testing, Finite Element Analysis And Digital Image Correlation, Jude M. Oka, Yu-Lin Shen, Osman Anderoglu, Pankaj Kumar, Rajendra Vaidya

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) relies on containment vessels to safely manage special nuclear material. These containers are subject to rigorous testing—such as drop, fire, and water ingress testing—to ensure integrity under adverse conditions. While elastomer-based seals are well studied, metal-to-metal sealing mechanisms remain under investigation, particularly under dynamic loading. This research focuses on the relationship between container mating surfaces and impact loading through drop testing. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) models were developed and validated using Digital Image Correlation (DIC) to measure strain during impact. Drop tests at varying heights showed strong correlation between FEA and DIC results, confirming the …

Networked Systems: Synchronization, Decomposition And Transient Dynamics, Amirhossein Nazerian

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

This dissertation investigates synchronization, transient dynamics, control, and signal amplification in networked dynamical systems. First, it examines complete and cluster synchronization, including cases with large parametric mismatches, in both natural (e.g., brain networks, fireflies) and technological systems (e.g., power grids, robotics). Second, it studies transient dynamics in consensus processes, designing synchronization strategies that link reactivity, contraction theory, and Lyapunov exponents. Third, it addresses the computational limits of Model Predictive Control (MPC) for large networks by introducing an algebraic decomposition method that enables parallel online computation of smaller subproblems, enhancing MPC performance under hardware constraints. Finally, it analyzes the structural role …

Instability Analysis In Cylindrical Thin Film–Compliant Core Structures: Numerical Simulations And Effects Of Inelastic Deformation, Md Al Rifat Anan

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

When a thin film bonded to a thick compliant substrate is subject to in-plane compression, wrinkles can develop if the critical state for instability is reached. In various applications the film/substrate system may also take the form of cylindrical fibers, where an axial compressive loading can trigger axisymmetric wrinkles. A straightforward computational approach to simulate such wrinkling behavior is needed for material design, to either prevent wrinkling or to exploit its benefits for flexible device applications. In this work a comprehensive numerical study is undertaken by employing the finite element method. The embedded imperfection approach used previously for planar structures …

Multiscale And Multi-Model Studies Of Metal Plasticity, Luo Li

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

Plastic deformation is the process in which the material deforms permanently due to external effects. Twinning and slip are two main mechanisms of plastic deformation in metallic materials. The prominent mechanism of plastic deformation in metals that have FCC crystal structures is slip or gliding movement of dislocations, which is mainly focused on here. In the current study, frameworks for investigating plasticity phenomena of metals at different scales ranging from microscale to macroscale are demonstrated. Specifically, the macroscale modeling of plastic response of metallic materials induced by indentations are emulated by nonlinear FEA simulations. Simulation results of macroscale modeling are …

Advancements In Microarray Manufacturing Enable Emerging Technologies, Kendall Hoff

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

Significant advances in manufacturing technologies have enabled the production of new DNA microarrays for use in emergent technology. Photolithography, wafer scale manufacturing, and improvements in synthesis chemistry and design enable high-throughput production of extremely high-quality arrays. These new arrays offer extremely high oligonucleotide densities, in the range of tens of thousands of oligonucleotides per square micron. They also offer smaller features sizes, with millions of features per square centimeter. Furthermore, they can be manufactured with the DNA tethered at either end to the surface, leaving either the 5’ or 3’ end free and available for use in enzymatic reactions; and …

Improving Infiltration Model Performance In Arid And Urban Regions, Samuel Stephen Coulter

Civil Engineering ETDs

Flooding in arid regions is infrequent but damaging and limited historical data makes flood modeling an important tool for flood infrastructure design. This study improves flood modeling guidance by using plot-scale tests to determine the impact of slope, compaction, gravel mulch and landscape fabric on infiltration and runoff rates in sandy soil types. This data will be used as guidance for the linear and constant model. The performance of this model was compared with the curve number model for a hypothetical 100-year design storm. Results showed that gravel mulch increased infiltration rates by 66% and reduced erosion on steep and …

Optimizing Distributed Boundary Exchanges For Benchmarks, Solvers And Sparse Matrix Operations, Gerald Collom

Computer Science ETDs

Boundary exchanges dominate the cost of both stenciled codes and those that rely on sparse matrix operations. The performance of large boundary exchanges is limited by synchronization overheads and injection bandwidth limitations. Irregular boundary exchanges incur additional overheads due to the large number of required messages. This thesis investigates multiple methods for improving the performance and scalability of both Cartesian and irregular boundary exchanges. Since boundary exchanges are typically performed iteratively, persistent communication presents an opportunity for optimization by sharing and amortizing setup costs. Partitioned communication is also explored to increase asynchrony, reducing bottlenecks from synchronization overheads and data congestion. …

Secured Through Stone: The Power, Monuments, And Memory Of Thyra Danmarkarbót And The Jelling Dynasty, Jacquelyn Truitt

History ETDs

Sometime in the mid-tenth century on the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, the Viking Age Queen Thyra (d. ca. 958/9) passed away and the epithet Danmarkarbót—Denmark’s Adornment—was skillfully carved onto her memorial runestone. Yet Thyra’s story has been clouded by few and unreliable textual sources, by differing assessments of her familial background that have emerged from those sources, and by misrepresentations of the material culture relating to her. This thesis explores Thyra and her place within the Viking Age Jelling dynasty through textual and material evidence and considers how the construction of both medieval and modern memory work and memorialization …

Theoretical And Experimental Investigation Of Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation: Characterizing Elastin-Like-Polypeptides, Adam D. Quintana

Chemical and Biological Engineering ETDs

This dissertation develops and validates a semi-empirical Flory–Huggins-based interaction model, combined with Cahn–Hilliard simulations, for predicting multi-component liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) in elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) systems. Equilibrium droplet compositions, measured using a PDMS-based microfluidic device, enabled direct parameterization of interaction coefficients. The model was applied to generate phase diagrams and assess composition dependence in ternary mixtures. Cahn–Hilliard simulations were conducted to explore potential phase morphologies under different interfacial conditions. Multi-component Lattice Boltzmann simulations were implemented to model droplet morphology evolution under varying interfacial and diffusive parameters, reproducing experimentally relevant morphologies. A three-phase wetting study revealed conditions for selective wetting and …

Flysurf: A Flying Robotic Surface With Shape Morphing And Motion Control, Kevin Aubert De Luchi Lomellini

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

This thesis introduces FlySurf, a novel flying robotic surface capable of simultaneous shape morphing and motion control. FlySurf is modeled as a mesh-based dynamic structure actuated by multiple unmanned aerial vehicles, enabling complex deformations during flight. The proposed control architecture comprises three main components. First, a state estimator to infer the robotic surface state from limited observations. Second, a shape trajectory planner that incorporates an affine deformation term to preserve surface integrity during shape transitions. Third, a surface controller to minimize the error between the desired and actual surface configurations.

The methodology is validated through realistic simulations and hardware experiments, …

Seeking Structure In Complex Systems: From Feature Analysis To Space-Time Causal Discovery With Earth Science Applications, Jeffrey J. Nichol

Computer Science ETDs

Complex systems are difficult to study because of their many interacting parts, emergent phenomena, and feedback loops. These systems underpin all life on Earth. We need improved tools for seeking an understanding of them. This body of research presents my investigations into data-driven methods for understanding complex systems, including my invention of a novel causal discovery meta-algorithm for space-time gridded data. I demonstrated machine learning feature importance and causal discovery capabilities for comparing simulated and observed climate data. I developed a new benchmark for modeling space-time dynamics of locally driven phenomena and examined a prominent causal discovery algorithm. Finding that …

Facilitating Novice Learning In Visual Search: Baseline-Dependent Effects Of Transcranial Electrical Stimulation Over The Right Inferior Frontal Gyrus, Bradley M. Robert

Psychology ETDs

Transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) has shown potential to modulate attention and enhance learning, yet its effects in applied, real-world contexts, remains underexplored. This study investigated the impact of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and high-frequency transcranial random noise stimulation (hf-tRNS with DC offset) on performance in a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) visual search task requiring both target identification and change detection. Participants (N = 63) were randomly assigned to tDCS, hf-tRNS, or sham conditions, with stimulation applied to the right inferior frontal gyrus (F10) during the training phase. Accuracy served as the primary outcome, with supplementary EEG and eye-tracking data …

Under Pressure: Performance Loads And Recovery In Ncaa Division I Women’S Soccer During Fixture Congestion, Jade X. Dawson, Fabiano T. Amorim

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

Soccer places high physiological demands on athletes, and match congestion—playing more than two games per week—is a growing concern at the NCAA Division I level. Limited recovery time between matches can impair performance and increase injury risk, prompting widespread use of recovery strategies. However, research on their effectiveness remains inconclusive, and most existing studies focus on male athletes, leaving a gap in evidence specific to female players. This review and observational study aim to evaluate non-nutritional recovery strategies in NCAA Division I women’s soccer and examine how recovery duration influences performance.

Match load data were collected from eleven female athletes …

Self-Determination In The Implementation Of Treaty Reserved Rights, Kekek Jason Stark

Tribal Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Stop Killing The Klamath: Rights Of Nature Protections With Tribal Law, The National Historic Preservation Act, And Collaborative Management Strategies For A Tribe On The Front Lines Of Climate Change, Juliette A. Jackson

Tribal Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Don’T Throw The Book: Customary Tribal Laws Can Heal Rather Than Punish Addiction, Coleman Griffith

Tribal Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Investigating Long-Lasting Meteor Train Phenomena In Optical And Radio Regimes, Logan E. Cordonnier

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

Throughout history, meteors have been regarded as fascinating and portentous events, with bygone astronomers diligently recording their occurrence. The research presented herein continues in this tradition, using modern instruments, software, and data reduction techniques to study long-lasting meteor trail phenomena, specifically in the optical (persistent trains; PTs) and radio (meteor radio afterglows; MRAs) regimes. The overarching goal was to investigate the similarities between these phenomena, which began with the creation of a PT catalog. Many of the prior assumptions about the nature of PTs were found to be unsubstantiated, and several new behaviors were uncovered. This includes the discovery of …

Speak Now With The Courage To Confront: An Educational Intervention To Address Bullying, Dominique Desiree Gomez

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Abstract

Background: Nurse-to-nurse bullying is a critical issue within the nursing profession, impacting close to half of all nurses. This phenomenon, articulated by the phrase "nurses eat their young," detrimentally influences employee retention, job satisfaction, morale, and ultimately, patient care. Furthermore, nurse-to-nurse bullying significantly affects the well-being of nursing professionals, particularly targeting novice nurses. This targeting raises substantial concerns regarding their retention, as many consider leaving the profession within their initial years of practice due to experiences of bullying. The educational intervention project titled “Speak Now with the Courage to Confront” is designed to mitigate bullying among novice nurses through …

Uses And Abuses Of Johnson V. M’Intosh In Native American Land Rights Cases: Investigative Insights From The Indian Law Justice Files, John P. Lavelle

Faculty Scholarship

The 200th anniversary of the foundational Indian law decision Johnson v. M’Intosh has come and gone, with many scholars contributing criticism and commentary. The dominant focus has been the case’s notorious embrace of the so-called “doctrine of discovery,” an odious theory for rationalizing European nations’ claims of superior rights to lands occupied by Indigenous Native American peoples. Commanding less attention, however, is the Johnson decision’s core protective legal feature, i.e., its reinforcing the United States government’s duty to guard against the alienation of Indian lands through private, unauthorized acquisitions.

This Article offers a somewhat different appraisal of Johnson v. M’Intosh …

Ms4 Swmpp 2025, National Technology & Engineering Solutions Of Sandia, Llc (Ntess) And Department Of Energy (Doe)

Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Permit

Stormwater discharges from Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico (SNL/NM) are eligible for coverage under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Permit. This Stormwater Management Plan (SWMP) was prepared by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia (NTESS) for the Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Sandia Field Office (SFO), owner of SNL/NM, located in Albuquerque, NM.