Digital Commons Network^™

Heterochiral Dna Nanotechnology For Biomedical Applications, Tracy L. Mallette

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

In the past 30 years, there have been major advancements on how to treat and diagnose disease because of the improvement and increase in accessibility of sequencing technology. Nucleic acid-based therapeutics can manipulate protein expression. Likewise, pathogens can be identified and detected with single nucleotide specificity. However, the underlying oligonucleotide technology requires protection against natural defense systems that have evolved to destroy foreign nucleic acids. Many chemical modifications that can protect nucleotides also have significant cytotoxic side effects and must be carefully designed into the strands. A novel way to protect against nuclease-mediated degradation is through the use of mirror-image, …

An Investigation Into How The Intense Nature Of Youth Sport Participation Influences Women’S Collegiate Basketball Player’S Experiences Of Burnout, Hana M. Adent

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

One area of athlete well-being garnering increasing attention is athletes’ experience of burnout (Gould & Whitley, 2009). According to Coakley (1992), burnout is a social phenomenon grounded in a set of social relations through which young athletes become disempowered in their sport participation that can lead to fatigue and dropout. Therefore, efforts to reduce athletes’ likelihood of experiencing burnout are important. Often overlooked in the college athlete literature are the experiences of college athletes in youth sport. Yet almost all college athletes participate in competitive youth sport. Therefore, in seeking to further our understanding of college athletes’ burnout experience, it …

High Altitude Exercise, Autophagy, And Angiogenesis, Quint Nikolas Berkemeier

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

Environmental hypoxia, as a result of decreased barometric pressure upon ascent to high altitudes (>2500m) presents increased physiological demands compared to low altitudes. Competitive athletes, mountaineers, wildland firefighters, military personnel, miners, and outdoor enthusiasts commonly participate in, or are exposed to, forms of exercise or physical labor at moderate to high altitudes. Interestingly, however, the majority of research on intermittent hypoxic exposure is centered around hematological markers and the skeletal muscle cellular responses to exercise in hypoxic environments remain largely unknown. Two processes that are integral for maintenance of cellular health in skeletal muscle include autophagy and angiogenesis. We …

Examining The Relationship Between Teacher Candidate Characteristics And Teacher Workforce Entry, Amy Korzekwa

Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

This study aims to look for relationships between the characteristics and experiences of teacher candidates while in the program and their subsequent workforce entry after leaving the program. A hierarchical logistic regression was conducted on five blocks of variables: demographics, entry academic variables, program academic variables, completion variables, and experience variables, with employment in a New Mexico public school as the dependent variable. The rate of completers working in NM public schools was much higher than expected, 73% compared to 55%. Only the block of completion variables was significantly related to entering the workforce. A few individual variables were also …

Sociolinguistics Of Saudi Vision 2030: Paradigm Shift Through English Faculty’S Perspectives Of Translanguaging At A Saudi University., Naif Masrahi

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Many educational systems around the world insist on applying an English Only Policy (EOP) when teaching the English language at universities without addressing their contextual needs. In Saudi Arabia, this problem leads to reduced satisfaction among faculty regarding students’ English level (Alharbi & Alqefari, 2022; Alkhairy, 2013; Alqahtani, 2020; Alsaawi, 2019; Alshammari, 2022; Altale & Alta’ani, 2019; Alzahrani, 2019; Elyas & Picard, 2010). However, the new educational transformation promised by Saudi Vision 2030 (2016) supports the Arabic language as a mother tongue for Saudis, English as an important language, and the teaching of critical thinking to respond to current global …

Indigenous Student Responses Of Resiliency To Adversity, Aaron Billie

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

The purpose of this study was to analyze the responses of Indigenous students as they experience situations that are adversarial and precarious. One of the goals of this study was to empower voices of Indigenous students in providing an avenue to share their genuine stories of resilience. I served as both researcher and mentor as I applied a Navajo framework to the analysis of the data known as Nitl‘iz Saad bee Hozho Iina Sila (NSBHIS), or beautiful lifeways exist within the language of precious elements. The four areas of this framework held up the salient outcomes from the research which …

Unm Hslic Organizational Chart 2023, Sally Bowler-Hill

HSLIC Organizational Charts

No abstract provided.

Myeloid Fth1 Deficiency Protects Mice From Colitis And Colitis-Associated Colorectal Cancer Via Reducing Dmt1-Imported Iron And Stat3 Activation, Zhaoli Liu, Mariella Arcos, David R. Martin, Xiang Xue

Pathology Research and Scholarship

BACKGROUND: Myeloid cells are critical for iron and immune homeostasis. Ferritin heavy chain (FTH1) is essential for intracellular iron storage. Myeloid FTH1 is important in the pathogenesis of many inflammatory diseases. However, the role of myeloid FTH1 in colitis and colitis-associated cancer has not been determined.

METHODS: Myeloid FTH1 deficient and wild-type mice were treated with dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) or azoxymethane (AOM)-DSS to compare their susceptibility to acute colitis or colitis-associated cancer.

RESULTS: Myeloid FTH1-deficient mice fed with a high-iron diet were less susceptible to DSS-induced acute colitis than wild type mice. Mechanistic studies showed that myeloid FTH1 deficiency …

Performance Evaluation Of E-Ticketing Technologies On Asphalt Paving Projects In New Mexico, Gena C. Robertson

Civil Engineering ETDs

The collection and processing of paper tickets for construction material delivery is an inefficient and antiquated practice that exposes inspectors on highway paving projects to substantial safety risks. An alternative to the collection of paper tickets is e-Ticketing, which uses web-based systems to deliver similar information. This research documented a current paper ticketing process and compared it to an e-Ticketing process that was implemented on several pilot projects. Data were obtained using stakeholder meetings, personnel interviews, and surveys. When compared to a paper ticketing system, e-Ticketing was shown to have fewer opportunities for error, require fewer decision points, and provide …

Development Of The Navigator: A Lagrangian Smart Sensing System To Characterize Aquatic Ecosystems., Aashish Sanjay Khandelwal

Civil Engineering ETDs

Most freshwater aquatic studies rely on Eulerian monitoring, i.e., water quality and quantity are monitored using grab samples or semi-continuous sensors deployed at fixed cross-sections. While Eulerian monitoring is practical, it provides a limited understanding of spatial and temporal heterogeneity and their effects on environmental processes. This dissertation summarizes the design and application of The Navigator, an alternative Lagrangian monitoring system that offers cost-effective solutions for in-situ, real-time data collection in lotic and lentic freshwater ecosystems such as streams, rivers, ponds, and reservoirs. The Navigator features a suite of methods – an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) with GPS and LTE …

An Investigation Of Freshwater Turtle Ecology Using Stable Isotopes, Jonathan Duran

Biology ETDs

In 2022 I investigated niche partitioning among native and invasive freshwater turtles across three sites in the Middle Rio Grande using bulk stable isotope analysis. I found high degrees of niche partitioning at sites in which Red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta) have yet to establish. However, at sites in which red-eared sliders are now the most abundant species they overlapped greatly in isotopic niche with all native turtles, in particular the painted turtle (Chrysemys picta). Using these same techniques, I then examined the trophic interactions between red-eared sliders and their acanthocephalan parasites. My results suggest that acanthocephalans …

Post-Fire Plant Community Response In Subalpine Mixed Conifer Forest, Sasha Escamilla

Biology ETDs

Increased wildfire activity may lead to significant shifts in vegetation dynamics in high elevation mixed conifer forests. These changes raise concerns about the resilience of forests following wildfire, prompting the need for a deeper understanding of post-fire plant community response. We analyzed up to 11 years of post-fire vegetation data from Valles Caldera National Preserve in northern New Mexico to determine how burned vegetation sites were recovering following high severity wildfire, and whether or not plant communities were transitioning to montane grassland. We found burned understory herbaceous communities were not transitioning into distinctive montane grasslands and were instead recovering to …

Thermoregulation In Nocturnal Volant Endotherms Occupying Hot Deserts, William A. Talbot

Biology ETDs

The study of thermoregulation is of growing concern in this era of rapid climate change. Earlier studies such as those pioneered by Scholander and Bartholomew directed focus toward the study of endotherm survival in conditions of cold weather adversity. As techniques evolved in the measurement of parameters quantifying thermoregulation, metabolism and energy allocation, the standardization procedures has increased the comparability of data from diverse taxa. We can now search historical records and current research for explanations to the changes in the distribution, migration, extirpation or survival of animal and plant populations through time. It is increasingly common to observe dramatic …

Resolving The Paradox Of Polyploidy: Underexplored Facets Of Polyploid Plants, Benjamin P. Gerstner

Biology ETDs

Polyploidy, or whole genome duplication, is a common phenomenon in plants, but the establishment and persistence of mixed-ploidy populations remains a paradox. This dissertation explores factors that contribute to the persistence and establishment of mixed-ploidy populations in nature. The first chapter investigates the role of unreduced gametes in neopolyploid establishment and finds that variability in their formation rate can have a significant impact on polyploid establishment and persistence. The second chapter searches for evidence of soil microbes exhibiting ploidy-specificity, a pre-condition for microbe-mediated niche differentiation, a possible stabilizing mechanism contributing to ploidy coexistence. Finally, the third chapter tests for microbe-mediated …

Synthetic Biology Enabled Modification Of Bone Cells And Impact On Bone Mineral Resorption, Dulce C. Hayes

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Development of a cell culture based bone model can contribute to biomedical research by producing a reproducible model system that mimics a bone remodeling disorder and reduces the use of animals in research studies. Synthetic biology was used to engineer osteoblast cell lines to alter a key protein in the RANKL pathway in efforts to control the bone remodeling process. Osteoblast cell lines, K7M2 and MC3T3-E1 Subclone 4 were engineered to express osteoprotegerin (OPG) and inhibit OPG expression, respectively. The upregulation of OPG expression was confirmed with Real Time PCR and Quantikine® Immunoassay. To identify the functionality of the engineered …

Disrupting Whiteness In Education Organizations: Community Testimonios Of Strategy, Resistance, And Perseverance In Educational Justice Organizing, Florence E. Castillo

Sociology ETDs

Through this project, I utilize multiple approaches to disrupt whiteness. I make a case for centering Indigenous and non-Western methods, such as testimonio in sociological studies, to disrupt the academic whiteness of knowledge creation and validation. Whiteness itself is amorphous and looks different depending on circumstances, location, who holds power, and context (Hughey 2016). Utilizing a theory of racialized organizations, I shed light on how whiteness is normalized in education institutions through race-neutral, everyday actions (Ray 2019). This further disrupts whiteness by rendering it visible. Finally, I highlight the different modes of resistance that educational activists use to disrupt whiteness. …

Cross-Cultural Applicability Of Eye-Tracking In Assessing Attention To Emotional Faces In Preschool-Aged Children, Sara S Nozadi, Andrea Aguiar, Ruofei Du, Elizabeth A Enright, Susan L Schantz, Curtis Miller, Brandon Rennie, Mallery Quetawki, Debra Mackenzie, Johnnye L Lewis

Pediatrics Research and Scholarship

Humans show an attention bias toward emotional versus neutral information, which is considered an adaptive pattern of information processing. Deviations from this pattern have been observed in children with socially withdrawn behaviors, with most research being conducted in controlled settings among children from urban areas. The goal of the current study was to examine the cross-cultural applicability of two eye-tracking-based measures in assessing attention biases and their relations to children's symptoms of socially withdrawn behaviors in two independent and diverse samples of preschool children. The cross-cultural comparison was conducted between the Navajo Birth Cohort study (NBCS), an indigenous cohort with …

Genomic Analyses In Cornelia De Lange Syndrome And Related Diagnoses: Novel Candidate Genes, Genotype-Phenotype Correlations And Common Mechanisms, Maninder Kaur, Justin Blair, Batsal Devkota, Sierra Fortunato, Dinah Clark, Audrey Lawrence, Jiwoo Kim, Wonwook Do, Benjamin Semeo, Olivia Katz, Devanshi Mehta, Nobuko Yamamoto, Emma Schindler, Zayd Al Rawi, Nina Wallace, Jonathan J Wilde, Jennifer Mccallum, Jinglan Liu, Dongbin Xu, Marie Jackson, Stefan Rentas, Ahmad Abou Tayoun, Zhang Zhe, Omar Abdul-Rahman, Bill Allen, Moris A Angula, Kwame Anyane-Yeboa, Jesús Argente, Pamela H Arn, Linlea Armstrong, Lina Basel-Salmon, Gareth Baynam, Lynne M Bird, Daniel Bruegger, Gaik-Siew Ch'ng, David Chitayat, Robin Clark, Gerald F Cox, Usha Dave, Elfrede Debaere, Michael Field, John M Graham, Karen W Gripp, Robert Greenstein, Neerja Gupta, Randy Heidenreich, Jodi Hoffman, Robert J Hopkin, Kenneth L Jones, Marilyn C Jones, Ariana Kariminejad, Jillene Kogan, Baiba Lace, Julian Leroy, Sally Ann Lynch, Marie Mcdonald, Kirsten Meagher, Nancy Mendelsohn, Ieva Micule, John Moeschler, Sheela Nampoothiri, Kaoru Ohashi, Cynthia M Powell, Subhadra Ramanathan, Salmo Raskin, Elizabeth Roeder, Marlene Rio, Alan F Rope, Karan Sangha, Angela E Scheuerle, Adele Schneider, Stavit Shalev, Victoria Siu, Rosemarie Smith, Cathy Stevens, Tinatin Tkemaladze, John Toimie, Helga Toriello, Anne Turner, Patricia G Wheeler, Susan M White, Terri Young, Kathleen M Loomes, Mary Pipan, Ann Tokay Harrington, Elaine Zackai, Ramakrishnan Rajagopalan, Laura Conlin, Matthew A Deardorff, Deborah Mceldrew, Juan Pie, Feliciano Ramos, Antonio Musio, Antonie D Kline, Kosuke Izumi, Sarah E Raible, Ian D Krantz

Pediatrics Research and Scholarship

Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS) is a rare, dominantly inherited multisystem developmental disorder characterized by highly variable manifestations of growth and developmental delays, upper limb involvement, hypertrichosis, cardiac, gastrointestinal, craniofacial, and other systemic features. Pathogenic variants in genes encoding cohesin complex structural subunits and regulatory proteins (NIPBL, SMC1A, SMC3, HDAC8, and RAD21) are the major pathogenic contributors to CdLS. Heterozygous or hemizygous variants in the genes encoding these five proteins have been found to be contributory to CdLS, with variants in NIPBL accounting for the majority (>60%) of cases, and the only gene identified to date that results in …

2022 American College Of Rheumatology Guideline For Exercise, Rehabilitation, Diet, And Additional Integrative Interventions For Rheumatoid Arthritis, Bryant R England, Benjamin J Smith, Nancy A Baker, Jennifer L Barton, Carol A Oatis, Gordon Guyatt, Allen Anandarajah, Kristine Carandang, Karmela Kim Chan, Deb Constien, Eileen Davidson, Carole V Dodge, Anita Bemis-Dougherty, Sotiria Everett, Nadine Fisher, Liana Fraenkel, Susan M Goodman, Janet Lewis, Victoria Menzies, Larry W Moreland, Iris Navarro-Millan, Sarah Patterson, Lawrence Rick Phillips, Neha Shah, Namrata Singh, Daniel White, Rawan Alheresh, Kamil E Barbour, Thomas Bye, Dana Guglielmo, Rebecca Haberman, Tate Johnson, Anatole Kleiner, Chris Y Lane, Linda C Li, Hiral Master, Daniel Pinto, Janet L Poole, Kimberly Steinbarger, Daniel Sztubinski, Louise Thoma, Vlad Tsaltskan, Marat Turgunbaev, Courtney Wells, Amy S Turner, Jonathan R Treadwell

Pediatrics Research and Scholarship

OBJECTIVE: To develop initial American College of Rheumatology (ACR) guidelines on the use of exercise, rehabilitation, diet, and additional interventions in conjunction with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) as part of an integrative management approach for people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

METHODS: An interprofessional guideline development group constructed clinically relevant Population, Intervention, Comparator, and Outcome (PICO) questions. A literature review team then completed a systematic literature review and applied the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach to rate the certainty of evidence. An interprofessional Voting Panel (n = 20 participants) that included 3 individuals with RA achieved consensus …

Application Of Quantum Mechanical Techniques To Optical Waveguide Structures, Stuart Ward

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

The focus of this dissertation is on the application of supersymmetric quantum mechanics to the problem of microbending in optical waveguides and on the analysis of soliton decay due solely to quantum mechanical effects.

The techniques of supersymmetric quantum mechanics are applied to the equation of motion describing light propagation in an optical waveguide which is undergoing microbending. Based on these supersymmetric techniques, given a particular refractive index profile, one may derive a new refractive index profile which results in less loss due to the microbending -- the particular example of the monomial index profile is analyzed in detail. An …

Near- And Far- Field Optical Response Of Ensembles Of Nanostructures, Lauren Zundel

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

The ability of metallic nanostructures to support collective oscillations of their conduction electrons, known as surface plasmons, makes them attractive candidates for a wide range of applications in areas as diverse as cancer therapy, biosensing, and solar energy harvesting. These applications are especially promising for periodic arrays of nanostructures, which can support collective modes known as lattice resonances, and for nanostructures with extreme aspect ratios that give rise to enhanced light-matter interaction. In this Thesis, we employ a coupled dipole model to theoretically explore the lattice resonances supported by complex arrays of nanoparticles containing multiple nanoparticles per unit cell. We …

High-Power Laser Cooling And Temperature-Dependent Fluorescence Studies Of Ytterbium Doped Silica, Brian Topper

Optical Science and Engineering ETDs

Experimental observation of optical refrigeration using ytterbium doped silica glass in recent years has created a new solution for heat mitigation in high-power laser systems, nonlinear fiber experiments, integrated photonics, and precision metrology. Current efforts of different groups focus on compositional optimization, fiber fabrication, and investigating how much silica can be cooled with a laser. At the start of this work, the best effort in laser cooling ytterbium doped silica saw cooling by 6 K from room temperature. This dissertation follows the experimental efforts that culminated in the increase of this initial record by one order of magnitude. Comprehensive spectroscopic …

Partnership For Vaccine Equity: Covid-19 And Flu Vaccine Supplement, Theresa H. Cruz, Camille Velarde

Reports & Documents

Please look below for the supplemental files:

• Executive Summary
• Spanish translation of the COVID REACH final report

Resistance Narratives: Storytelling Of Transnational Insurgencies In 1960-70s Us And Mexico, Tania Libertad Balderas

English Language and Literature ETDs

Resistance Narratives: Storytelling of Transnational Insurgencies in 1960-70s US and Mexico emphasizes how the narratives from the Mexican Insurgency, the American Indian Movement (AIM), and the leftist faction of the Chicana/o Movement in the 1960s and 1970s articulate intersecting notions of resistance, liberation, and transnational solidarity. The comparative analysis of the testimonial novel Las mujeres del alba (2019) by Chihuahuan novelist Carlos Montemayor, the autobiographies Lakota Woman (1991) and Ohitika Woman (1993) by Sičháŋǧu Lakȟóta writer and AIM militant Mary Brave Bird (formerly Crow Dog), and the memoirs and plays by the San Diego-based group Teatro de las Chicanas, collected …

Digitally Rural: Identifying How Technological Inequity Impacts Rural Students In First-Year Writing Courses, Jo Anna M. Nevada

English Language and Literature ETDs

To teach composition in this era means to engage students with technology; it is all but an unspoken requirement at the majority of universities. This dissertation theorizes, however, that the imbricated use of technology in first-year writing (FYW) classrooms places rural students at an inherent disadvantage, with issues of inadequate technological proficiency and inconsistent access causing a substantial learning disparity between this student population and their urban peers. Through mixed-methods data analysis of student survey responses and final FYW course portfolios, this study reveals that the expectation of technological access and presumption of digital literacy is detrimental to rural student …

Long In The Tooth: The Commodification Of Teeth, Land, And Character; Resistance To British Oral Culture In Nineteenth-Century Britain, Ireland, And The Americas 1770-1900, Emma B. Mincks

English Language and Literature ETDs

This dissertation is about teeth- rather, how they are portrayed in British colonial discourses of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century and their development as a commodified material object associated with purity, lands, and visceral emotionality. What do teeth specifically, and orality more generally, mean to eighteenth and nineteenth-century readers in relation to the logics of white possession? How did objectified subjects react to and respond to the affective tension created by this objectification? Teeth are represented in relation to feminine purity throughout British writing from at least the 1600’s. However, between 1770-1900, teeth gain additional cultural meanings, most …

Testing The Niche Center Hypothesis In The Fossil Record Of Atlantic Bivalves, Rhiannon Z. Nolan

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Paleoecological analyses of six shallow marine bivalves were conducted to test the Abundant Center Hypothesis using data from the fossil record of the Pleistocene through modern day. This hypothesis predicts the highest abundance of a species is at the center of the geographic or environmental range, decreasing toward the edges. In geographic space, distances to a centerline within a geographic range were variably correlated with population abundances, and some species displayed a sharp drop-off in abundance as distance increased. In environmental space, bivalve species showed moderate correlations between abundance and centrality when measured using cumulative data across the last 2.8 …

Seismic Analysis Of The Upper & Lower Falls Of The Yellowstone River, Loring Schaible

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Twelve years of concurrent hydrologic and continuous seismic data along with temporary seismic data demonstrate that the Upper and Lower Falls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River comprise a highly localized source of 0.5-5 Hz seismic energy that overwhelms anthropogenic contributions. In aggregate, seismic amplitude from 2008-2019 is linearly related to discharge with a correlation coefficient of 0.96. Repeated deviations from this linear relationship persist for 1-2 weeks prior to the date that Yellowstone Lake becomes clear of winter ice coverage. Seismic efficiency increases by ~50-250% during this period of ice-breakup, during which lake ice flows into the …

Seismic Shadow Zone Investigation In The Upper Magma Reservoir Of The Yellowstone Caldera, Sarah Nolt-Caraway

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

This study investigates whether the Yellowstone Caldera has enough melt to mute S-waves, creating a seismic shadow zone. Using a dense nodal deployment of ~650 stations, 7-9 earthquakes during the nodal deployment, and 21 broadband stations with 3,000-4,000 events per station; amplitude and noise maps, seismograms, and automatic phase picks probabilities from a deep learning model were analyzed to assess the potential role of melt, crustal attenuation, and noise in affecting body waves, particularly S-phases. The results are inconclusive, with unclear evidence whether observed amplitude decay is normal signal decay due to distance, noise-related, melt, or from scattering and intrinsic …

Projecting Vegetation Condition And Fire Risk In Southern California, Westin K. Guthrie

Geography ETDs

In the western US, relationships between fire, vegetation, climate, and urban areas are dynamic and evolving. This work used a forest landscape model, LANDIS-II, informed by future climate scenarios and projections of urban expansion to understand wildfire interactions within projected Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) areas. This simulation showed that in both 2050 and 2100 +93% of the WUI in southern California experienced fire. Future work needs to be done in parametrizing forest biomass to ensure the validity of projections. Additionally, increasing each climate scenario model's replicates will create more accurate projections.