Digital Commons Network^™

Automatic Conversation Review For Intelligent Virtual Assistants, Ian R. Beaver

Computer Science ETDs

When reviewing the performance of Intelligent Virtual Assistants (IVAs), it is desirable to prioritize conversations involving misunderstood human inputs. These conversations uncover error in natural language understanding and help prioritize and expedite improvements to the IVA. As human reviewer time is valuable and manual analysis is time consuming, prioritizing the conversations where misunderstanding has likely occurred reduces costs and speeds improvement. A system for measuring the posthoc risk of missed intent associated with a single human input is presented. Numerous indicators of risk are explored and implemented. These indicators are combined using various means and evaluated on real world data. …

Growth Of An Algae Polyculture And Dunaliella Tertiolecta In Oilfield Produced Water At A Range Of Salinities And Nutrient Concentrations For Biofuels Production., Thomas C. Hopkins

Civil Engineering ETDs

Growth of algae in saline produced waters (wastewater) from oil and gas production is of interest for potential production of algal biofuels, wastewater treatment and potential reuse or disposal. The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of salt concentrations and nitrogen source (ammonia or nitrate) and concentration on algal growth, lipid production, and nutrient removal to help determine suitability for growth on saline produced waters. Dunaliella tertiolecta (a marine algae) and a polyculture (previously discovered growing in PW) were grown on produced water with a range of salinities and varying nitrogen source and concentration, in a series …

Does The Relationship Matter?: Empathy, Hostility, And Drinking Outcomes In The Combine Study, Anthony J. O'Sickey

Psychology ETDs

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a pervasive problem in the United States, costing approximately 250 billion dollars in 2010. Several decades of rigorous scientific approaches to treatment have yielded several effective treatments for AUD, however, the human and economic cost continues to rise. Recently, Moyers and colleagues reported that higher than average therapist empathy within-subjects was significantly associated with reductions in drinking following treatment. The finding of a within-subjects effect indicates that either a client or therapist characteristic may be responsible for the variability in empathy within client therapist dyads. There is evidence to suggest that client levels of hostility …

"Health Is An Achoot Beat": Factors Influencing Pakistani Journalists' Coverage Of Polio Vaccination, Sayyed Fawad Ali Shah

Communication ETDs

Pakistan is one of the three countries where polio remained endemic in 2017—the other two being Afghanistan and Nigeria. The highest number of polio cases, 15, was recorded in Pakistan in 2016. A majority of the polio cases emerged among the ethnically Pakhtun population living in Pakhtunkhwa, FATA (the Federally Administered Tribal Areas), and Karachi, a metropolitan city in the Sindh province where Pakhtun immigrants from Pakhtunkhwa and FATA work and live. The resistance to polio vaccination among Pakhtuns has been associated with several factors, including a lack of knowledge about polio and anti-polio vaccine, the ongoing “war on terror,” …

Measuring Health Care Providers' Perceived Age Of Transition And Transfer For Youth With Special Health Care Needs, Doris V. Tinagero

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Approximately 98,000 or 19% of all children residing in New Mexico have special health care needs with almost half of these children nearing the critical transition period of moving into an adult-oriented medical model of care. A critical initial step to ensuring the medical, developmental, and psychosocial needs are addressed in the transition process includes the creation of an organizational transition policy. The aim of this study was to explore differences in the perceived age of transition and transfer for youth with special health care needs into an adult-oriented medical setting, based on providers’ location of clinical time, the population …

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 …

How A Brownfield Redevelopment Planning Effort In Gallup Resulted In A New Regulation For Vapor Intrusion In New Mexico, Michelle G. Hunter

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

The Puerco River basin has, within its confines, one small city, Gallup, New Mexico. Gallup is located within close proximity to the Navajo Nation, and many Navajo Nation members live and work in Gallup and need affordable housing. A local Gallup non-profit proposed a multi-family housing development on a long-vacant, and blighted property in the middle of downtown Gallup. After several environmental assessment investigations, the developer discovered significant groundwater contamination, from an adjacent dry cleaner, that had the potential to migrate into the indoor air at the future housing facility. A series of brownfield assessment, planning, and cleanup efforts resulted …

Little Red Riding Hood In The Dialogic Tension Of Wolf Politics In The U.S. West, Kaisa T. Lappalainen

American Studies ETDs

The reintroduction of wolves opened a new chapter in the story of wolves in the U.S. West. But what the conservation community considers moral progress, welcoming the once violently eradicated wolves as an important part of a healthy ecosystem, those opposing wolf restoration consider their return a decivilizing, regressive move back to a by-gone era. In the contentious discourse over wolf politics, the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood is used as a common metaphor; its prevalence and persistence in this discourse indicates that more than an innocuous children’s bedtime story is in question.

To examine the potential cultural …

Relanzamiento Of Nicaragua’S Christian Base Communities: Forging New Models Of Church And Society For The Twenty-First Century, Lara M. Gunderson

Anthropology ETDs

How do narrative practices used by members of Christian Base Communities (in Spanish, CEBs) construct particular Catholic-political subjectivities within the Church, the nation-state, and the larger global institutions? Christian Base Communities, the vehicle by which liberation theology is put into practice, played a significant role in Nicaragua’s Sandinista revolution. Their proclaimed renewal is happening under dramatically different contexts from which they first emerged. Their religious beliefs continue to justify and place a moral thrust on their struggle for a more egalitarian society despite the reduction of social programs on the part of neoliberal governments, including the current Sandinista party administration. …

Legal History Of Medical Aid In Dying: Physician Assisted Death In U.S. Courts And Legislatures, Thaddeus Mason Pope

New Mexico Law Review

No abstract provided.

Wagon Tracks Volume 32, Issue 3 (May 2018), Santa Fe Trail Association

Wagon Tracks

2 On the Cover: Santa Fé, N.M. 1882

4 President: As I See It

5 Manager: Joanne's Jottings

6 Faye Gaines to be Feted June 16

7 Trail News

10 Membership Information

26 Photo Contest News

27 Books: Presidents Who Shaped the American West

28 Chapter Reports

32 Calendar

The Role Of Descriptive Social Norms In Opioid And Other Substance Use Among College Students, Karlyn A. Edwards

Psychology ETDs

Recreational opioid use among college students has increased steadily over the past decade, and has been shown to be influenced by social pressures. Social norm informed interventions have been used to help correct student misperceptions of peer substance use and curb personal substance use, however most of this research has been centered on alcohol use. This study examined the role of descriptive social norms of two peer reference groups (close friend and acquaintance) at two time periods (30 days and 12 months) in a number of different substances, including opioids, alcohol, marijuana, stimulants, sedatives, and psychedelics in a diverse sample …

Supporters Of Brazil’S Imprisoned Former President Vow To Protest €˜In Perpetuity’, Gregory Scruggs

NotiSur

No abstract provided.

Opposition In Disarray As Venezuela’S Early Presidential Election Looms, Andrã©S Gaudã­N

NotiSur

No abstract provided.

Exploration Of The Qualities And Interactions Of Post-Secondary Faculty Identified As Exemplary By Students With Support Services, Joan E. Green

Special Education ETDs

Recent statistics indicate that approximately 11% of undergraduate college students seek out disability support services (National Center for Education Statistics, 20015). The review of research indicated a lack of research regarding faculty in postsecondary education and their knowledge of disabilities and services, experiences of individuals with disabilities, and in particular, experiences and interactions toward students with support services attending postsecondary educational institutions. The purpose of this case study was to explore the classroom experiences of seven faculty nominated by students with support services as exemplary at a four-year public university. The semi-structured interviews focused on the abilities of students with …

Last-Minute Pleas For Abortion Reform In El Salvador, Benjamin Witte-Lebhar

NotiCen

No abstract provided.

Local Government Spending On Public Housing: Factors Of Influence In Metropolitan Areas, Vittoria R. Totaro 2241446

Public Administration ETDs

Rent or mortgage payments make up the largest portion of an American family’s budget. As there is a limited housing stock in metropolitan areas, low-income families struggle to find housing that is both adequate and affordable. Federal housing programs make funding available, but the provision of housing is left to local governments. Through the implementation of bold strategies and initiatives, local governments can help their low-income constituents find permanent housing for themselves and their families.

Public housing in the U.S. is associated with dilapidation, overcrowding, and social disorganization. In the past, housing projects have been shortsighted measures aimed at addressing …

Transgender Murder Memorials: A Call For Intersectionality And Trans Livability, Lazarus Nance Letcher

American Studies ETDs

The number of transgender folks in the United States lost to murder increases every year. These murders have recently gained more recognition, with the memorials moving from trans-run organizations and communities to mainstream LGBTQ groups. Using visual culture and discourse analysis of four transgender murder memorials, I argue there are problematic trends of centering a white and cisgender audience, and lack of acknowledging trans livability. Memorials like Transgender Day of Remembrance take place every year, and though the oldest memorial for trans death in the country and most well known, the event creates a spectacle of violence for cisgender consumption …

Industry Requirement Gap Analysis For Sustainable Construction Technology, Parya Nickbeen

Civil Engineering ETDs

As sustainable construction becomes a standard necessity in the construction industry, construction engineering and management programs seek to integrate sustainable construction concepts and skills into their degree programs. The aim of this research is to identify industry-required competencies and recognize the possible gaps between industry skills demands and the education provided by academia for sustainable construction technologist jobs. In this study, industry requirements for sustainable construction technologist (mid-level) positions were identified through the analysis of job advertisements, literature review, job analysis (i.e., Developing a Curriculum-DACUM- process), and surveys. Results from the DACUM process provided a categorization of 4 main duties …

Virtuous Discourse In The Specialty Coffee Sector: How Social Responsibility Practices Fragment Pursuits For A Supply Chain, Jane H. Motsinger

Geography ETDs

A diversity of public and private initiatives strive to address the human-environment challenges confronting the global coffee industry, including certifications like Fairtrade, direct trade sourcing models, and efforts led by NGOs. Research examines the outcomes of major certification programs and the private initiatives of corporations like Starbucks. Much less is known about the business practices of the small specialty coffee businesses that increasingly advertise sustainable business practices. Yet, their collective business practices likely influence the industry-wide efforts to achieve a sustainable supply chain. This research examines how small specialty coffee roasting and importing companies represent their socially responsible business practices …

From Plato’S Cave To Edward Yang’S Cinema: An Examination Of Filmic Language And Its Noetic Potential, Ruochen Bo

Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

Following Jean-Louis Baudry’s incorporation of Plato’s cave allegory into the analysis of cinematic apparatus, my approach engages in a philological analysis of the films to show that various film languages embody the potential to compel the audience into thought reflection about transcultural, transhistorical philosophical issues. Through a close reading of two filmic texts by Edward Yang, Yi Yi (2000) and Terrorizers (1986), I will argue that certain overlooked Asian films, especially in the field of film philosophy, not only serve as artistic sites for intercultural, political and social examinations but also present thoughtful and dialectical engagement with philosophical and metaphysical …

Bioinformatics- And Phylogenetics-Guided Approaches To Understanding Sequence-Function Relationships Of Type Ii Polyketide Biosynthetic Gene Clusters, Han Bich Nguyen

Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

Type II polyketides (PK-II) has made up a class of natural products that are structurally diverse and are clinically useful due to their wide-range of bioactivity. The work described in this dissertation focuses on developing approaches to facilitate our understanding of sequence-function relationships of PK-II biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). We have systematically summarized the previous characterizations of enzymes involved in the core structure biosynthesis, which have set a foundation for our developments of approaches to discover organisms harboring novel enzymes responsible for novel PK-II molecules. We have successfully developed bioinformatics tools to globally mine the PK-II BGCs in the NCBI …

Reckoning With Violence: Counterinsurgency, Prisons, And Gang Truces In Los Angeles And El Salvador 1979-2017, Sarah L. Knopp

History ETDs

Mara Salvatrucha is a street gang that developed organizationally in California's prisons in the 1980s and was exported to El Salvador beginning in 1992. Convicted felons were deported to their native El Salvador just as the Peace Accords brought an end to the twelve-year civil war. Most of these convicted felons had come to California as children during the civil war, and many had been present for the seminal gang truce in Los Angeles in 1992 and 1993. Some of those same gang members were also present during the gang truce negotiated in El Salvador in 2012. The latter truce …

Holding On/Letting Go: Situating Trauma And Memory In Theatrical Spaces, Caroline T. Graham

Theatre & Dance ETDs

In this essay, I review my development as a playwright in the MFA Dramatic Writing program and examine the shifting, overlapping goals of playwright-as-educator and playwright-as-entertainer. In Part One, I position my academic exploration of trauma in relation to ethics in journalism, embodied knowledge, and intersectional feminism and outline my creative experiments in staging trauma through the process of witnessing, retelling, and abstraction. In Part Two, I detail the artistic and personal roots of my dissertation play, The Great Maverick Adventure of 2007, and the structural and dramaturgical tools I employed to rebuild a sense of play and theatricality …

Three Essays On Understanding Municipal Water Demand In The Western United States, Michael J. O'Donnell

Economics ETDs

Scarce water resources in the Western United States, in concert with population growth and climate change, constitute a need to better understand factors that impact water demand. In this dissertation, Chapter 1 provides cultural and historical context for water use in the West and argues that understanding water demand is important, especially when managing scarcity is a goal. Chapter 2 uses aggregate city-level data from four municipalities in New Mexico to investigate seasonal trends and breakpoints. Although per premises and aggregate demand tend to decline in all geographies investigated, existence and timing of breakpoints varies by geography. Additionally, drivers of …

Evaluating The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor As A Target For Pharmacologic Activity Of Repurposed Drugs, Teofilo Borunda Duque

Pharmaceutical Sciences ETDs

The discovery of new pharmacologic targets is important for the advancement of pharmacotherapy and identification of new indications for current drugs. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is a physiologic sensor of both chemical environmental pollutants and ligands of natural origin. Given the broad spectrum of ligands that activate the AHR and its relationship with toxicology, the AHR is not thought to be a traditional target for pharmacotherapy. However, multiple studies have shown potential for the AHR as a novel pharmacologic target Therefore, identifying less toxic agents that modulate the AHR may elucidate mechanisms for pharmacological targeting of the AHR. The …

Selected Works Of Steven Matthew Gomez (Diaz) 2015-2018, Steven M. Gomez

Music ETDs

Abstract

The focus of my work as a composer during my Master’s program at the University of New Mexico from 2015 to 2018 has been multidisciplinary collaboration between artists and the exploration of timbre through the integration of improvisation and electroacoustic manipulation. Operating under the pseudonym of Steven Diaz, the musical scores contained within consist of five separate scores that exemplify this artistic pursuit. The four artists that I collaborated with over the span of three years ranged from instrumental performers to visual artists. The exploration of timbre through improvisation and electroacoustic integration stems from a desire to explore musical …

Spectro-Electrochemical Platforms For Dynamic Analyses Of Catalytic Cascade Systems, Nalin I. Andersen

Nanoscience and Microsystems ETDs

The development of spectro-electrochemical platforms that facilitate the dynamic analyses of complex catalytic cascade systems was explored in this research. These systems facilitated multiple modalities of catalysts and were used as platforms for monitoring catalytic transformations quasi-in situ. The analytical platforms allowed for the characterization of intermediates and products using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The design and fabrication of these devices proved to be reproducible, made of materials that can be manipulated for multiple applications, and incorporate fluid mechanics, electrochemistry, and multimodal catalysis. Microfluidic technology offers capabilities for understanding catalytic cascade systems by providing precise dynamic control of …

Fresa Style In Mexico: Sociolinguistic Stereotypes And The Variability Of Social Meanings, Rebeca Martinez Gomez

Linguistics ETDs

This dissertation examines the flexibility in the social meanings of sociolinguistic stereotypes and how linguistic and non-linguistic information affect these meanings. The investigation consists of four empirical studies surrounding the case of fresas in Mexico –members of the upper class that are perceived as using a unique linguistic style.

Study 1 investigates the linguistic and non-linguistic characteristics associated with the fresa stereotype. Through a qualitative analysis of 64 webpages and 3 performances of the style, it is shown that fresasare perceived as the counterpart of another construct, nacos,and that their linguistic style is linked to English due to …

An Investigation Of The Effects Of The Second Pyrolysis On The Chemistry, Morphology, And Performance Of Iron-Nicarbazin Catalysts, Elizabeth B. Weiler

Chemical and Biological Engineering ETDs

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells offer a cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and sustainable alternative to petroleum-based power sources to the transportation sector. However, slow electrochemical reactions at the cathode of these fuel cell prevent the technology from being competitive. Iron-nitrogen-carbon based catalysts have emerged as a viable answer to this problem, yet further progress is needed to improve their performance beyond that of current state-of-the-art platinum-based catalysts, which are economically and geopolitically impractical to be a final solution. Currently, a two-step high temperature pyrolysis method has proven a promising way to synthesize iron-nitrogen-carbon catalysts for optimized performance, but there is a …