Digital Commons Network^™

Reclaiming The Land: Indigenous Articulations Of Environmentalism At Bears Ears, Caroline K. Goodman

American Studies ETDs

This thesis explores how an inter-tribal coalition in Southern Utah is strategically mobilizing environmental ethics in order to guarantee access to tribal homelands. Facing serious threat from Anglo communities in Utah who use race and religion to produce themselves as the authentic local population, the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition forges new kinds of alliances with environmental groups and appropriates conservation and preservation ethics in order to reclaim the land. Indigenous articulations of environmentalism at Bears Ears disrupt the colonial temporal and spatial logics that undergird dominant American imaginaries of wilderness and antiquity, reattaching Native peoples to the land by centering …

Decolonizing The Body: Breast Cancer And The Environment In Toxic Times, Cynthia L. Martin

American Studies ETDs

This dissertation explores cultural narratives regarding the relationship between environmental toxins and breast cancer causation. It is not an analysis of current scientific research; grounded in Foucault’s theory of genealogy and archaeology, it evaluates cultural narratives on breast cancer causation that may be subsumed by the mainstream focus upon a cure for breast cancer, overlooking how people with breast cancer perceive illness causation, particularly as it relates to toxic exposure. Theories of place, space, and the neoliberal politics behind biotechnology support understanding the toxification of the human body as neocolonialism, and invite decolonizing methodologies as a means of understanding and …

Memoir Of A Bear Clan Woman's Educational Journey, Angelina Frances Medina

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This study utilizes memoir, a qualitative research method, to tell how a Pueblo teacher's Pueblo cultural interactions with her students led to positive classroom behavior and achievement. It describes three diverse and separate sets my life experiences, in thematic chapters, that took place. I describe my Pueblo traditional upbringing and interactions with family and community wherein I spoke only the Keres language. Then, I describe my first encounter with White people who introduced me to the foreign language of English and another world, through comic books and a Hershey bar. I was introduced into American schooling where negative experiences with …

Potential Impacts Of Wildfires In The Rio Grande Watershed: Probability Of Occurrence Of Future Fire Events In The Risk Area Of El Rito Watershed, Zakia Afrin

Architecture and Planning ETDs

The main goals of this paper were to improve the understanding of the hydro-geomorphic effects of wildfires in the Rio Grande headwaters and identify the El Rito watershed as a fire prone risk area. To achieve the goals the researcher has conducted an extensive literature review about the impacts of wildfires in the Rio Grande watershed and built a system dynamic (SD) model to project the risk of fire occurrences in the El Rito watershed. The Powersim tool was used to simulate the probability of fire occurrence in the study area from 1970 to 2050 following the logit regression equation …

Discourse On Gender, Religion, And Culture In Pakistani Films: A Narrative Analysis Of Contemporary Independent Films From Pakistan, Mohib Rehman

Communication ETDs

This thesis examines the discourse about gender, religion, and culture in four independent films produced in Pakistan between 2000 and 2013 to advocate for women's empowerment: Silent Water and Good Morning Karachi from female director Sabiha Sumar, and In the Name of God and Speak from male director Shoaib Mansoor. I analyzed plot, characterization, dialogues, and visual images to discuss how the filmmakers represented the dynamics of women's oppression, struggle against oppressive agents, and options or solutions for women's empowerment. Further, this project explored the ideological implications of the narratives constructed in the films within the Pakistani society in the …

Low Temperature Tensile Testing Of Independently Fabricated Gold Thin Film Samples, Adnan Raza

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

Tensile testing of free standing thin films is of great importance for determining their material properties. Samples have always been co fabricated with the MEMS device being used as the test apparatus. Consequently, a new device has to be used each time a new sample is tested, resulting in loss of precision. The proposed idea is to independently fabricate free standing gold thin film samples and transfer them to a separately fabricated cascaded thermal actuator setup. Thermal actuators are desirable due to the large deflections and forces they provide while maintaining a relatively low thermal gradient across the test specimen. …

Symmetries In The Time-Averaged Dynamics Of Stochastic Models Of Networks Dynamics, Abu Bakar Siddique

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

In recent years a large body of research has investigated the dynamics of complex networks, including percolation [1, 2], epidemics [3, 4], synchronization [5, 6], evolutionary game theory [7, 8], and traffic dynamics [9, 10, 11]. These study apply to technological networks, biological networks, and social networks. In general, it has been shown that the topology of these networks (e.g. the degree distribution [12, 13], degree correlation [14, 15], community structure [16], etc.) plays a significant role in their dynamical time evolution.

Critical Intercultural Dialogue: Discourse Analysis Of Context, Intersectionality, And Reflexivity In Undergraduate Conversations, Erin Watley

Communication ETDs

Intercultural conflicts continue to persist for numerous reasons. The groups involved remain polarized, individuals tend to primarily concentrate on defending their own point of view, or solutions concentrate on individual actions instead of the consequences perpetuated by complex social systems. The communicative behaviors that often accompany intercultural conflicts also frequently work to sustain them, helping those who are involved to perpetuate dominant narratives and marginalizing social systems in ways in which they are both active and complicit. In this study Critical Discourse Analysis was used to examine the ways that undergraduate students discussed and conceptualized intercultural conflicts during their involvement …

Logic Circuits Based On Extended Molecular Spider Systems, Dandan Mo

Computer Science ETDs

Spatial locality brings the advantages of computation speed-up and sequence reuse to molecular computing. In particular, molecular walkers that undergo localized re- actions are of interest for implementing logic computations at the nanoscale. We use molecular spider walkers to implement logic circuits. We develop an extended multi- spider model with a dynamic environment wherein signal transmission is triggered via localized reactions, and use this model to implement three basic gates (AND, OR, and NOT) and a cascading mechanism. We develop an algorithm to automatically generate the layout of the circuit. We use a kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm to simulate circuit …

Avalanche Isfet Sensing Chip For Dna Sequencing, Mohammad Uzzal

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

DNA sequencing is a fundamental tool for biological science, aimed primarily at uncovering the genetic contributions to diseases. The first Human DNA sequence, which employed conventional fluorescent-based Sanger Sequencing method, took many years to complete at a cost of over three billion dollars. In one survey, it shows that Human Genome Project (HGP) had generated more than $67 billion in U.S. economic output, $20 billion in personal income for Americans and 310 thousand jobs in USA, only during year 2010. The HGP has increased the need for high-throughput, low cost, fast, accurate and inexpensive DNA sequence technique. This demand has …

The Reptiles Of Paraguay: Literature, Distribution, And An Annotated Taxonomic Checklist, Pier Cacciali, Norman J. Scott, Aida Luz Aquino Ortíz, Lee A. Fitzgerald, Paul Smith

Special Publications

Our goal is to provide a current list of reptile species of Paraguay, with maps of their known occurrences. Surprisingly little research has been conducted on the reptile fauna of Paraguay. In contrast, Brazil and Argentina have a long history of herpetological investigation, each country having produced hundreds of publications on reptiles and amphibians in the last century. Paraguay, lying between the two countries, has been the focus of only a handful of investigators, mostly foreign, and there have been few publications on the herpetofauna. This checklist of reptiles in Paraguay will enhance understanding of biogeographic linkages between reptile faunas …

Mixed Waste Landfill Annual Long-Term Monitoring & Maintenance Report, April 2015-March 2016 For Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico, Epa Id Number Nm5890110518 June 2016, Sandia National Laboratories/Nm

Facilities-Units

The Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE) and Sandia Corporation are submitting the Mixed Waste Landfill (MWL) Annual Long-Term Monitoring and Maintenance Report for the April 2015 through March 2016 reporting period. This report satisfies the requirements of Section 4.8.1 of the MWL Long-Term Monitoring and Maintenance Plan (LTMMP). The annual reporting period runs from April 1 to March 31.

The MWL is a 2.6-acre Solid Waste Management Unit (SWMU 76) which has undergone corrective action. The MWL is located in the north central portion of Sandia National Laboratories (SNL)/New Mexico (NM) Technical Area III. During the operational period …

Using Collaborative Work Groups To Improve Teachers Use Of Ebps For Students With Disruptive Behavior, Deirdre Muldoon

Special Education ETDs

Three teachers and one assistant principal were recruited from a middle school in a large metropolitan area of the southwestern United States to implement evidence-based practices (EBP). The teachers implemented EBPs in self-continued classrooms to ameliorate the disruptive behavior of three students. The recruited teachers and assistant principal participated in collaborative work groups biweekly for a total of 12 weeks. The teachers chose the EBPs that they were interested in implementing, and the collaborative work groups served as a forum for learning about the EBPs. Data sources included coding and thematic analysis of initial and final interviews, recording of the …

Exploratory Study Asks Adults With Add/Adhd To Consider And Share A Project & The Learning Processes That Led To Success, Robin L. Anderson

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

Purpose — This study explored the learning processes related to projects used by adults with attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), along with the environmental factors that aided or detracted from learning. Design/methodology/approach — Using a modified appreciative inquiry type question approach, adults with ADD/ADHD were asked to participate in either an online questionnaire or a focus group conducted in late 2015. The population consisted of adults, age 18 or older, who could attest to having ADD/ADHD diagnosed in childhood or as an adult. The intent was to discover successful strategies employed by this population to …

Initiating Self-Management Of Lifestyle-Related Chronic Disease Resulting From Unhealthy Weight: Identifying Thoughts And Actions Through Phenomenology, Celeste Lee

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

A heuristic phenomenological approach drew out participants identified factors that initiated self-management of unhealthy weight-related chronic diseases; resulting in severity attenuation of current chronic disease(s) and lowered risk of comorbidity development. Prior to this study, there have been three omissions relating to older individuals who have unhealthy weight-related chronic diseases. First, direct first-person narratives of the process to self-management have not been reported. Second, the self-identification of the initiating factors leading to self-management has not been found in scholarly literature. Finally, cognitive reflection, an activity that results in paradigmatic shifts in adult behaviors has not been discussed from the first-person …

Periodontal Disease And Rheumatoid Arthritis; A Pilot Study Using Self-Reported Questionnaire, Melissa Ann Barbara

Dental Hygiene ETDs

Study Design: Retrospective cohort pilot-study of periodontal disease (PD) prevalence in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Objective: Evaluate prevalence of PD in cohort of RA subjects for DAS28 score, rheumatoid factor (RF), erythrocyte-sedimentation rate (ESR), C-Reactive Protein (CRP), and anti-cyclic-citrullinated-peptide antibody (CCP) Methods: UNMH rheumatoid arthritis patients completing a 12-question survey with validated questions for PD. Results: PD was present in 16/42 (RR=38%, CI95% (24, 54) compared to New Mexico NHANES data (53.7%, CI95, 52.3, 52.60). Other variables RF, CCP, ESR, CRP and the medications methotrexate and prednisone showed no statistical association with PD. (RF p=.24, CCP p=.24, ESR p=.74, CRP p=.28, …

Maternal Interactive Behaviors And Developmental Outcomes In Preschoolers Born Very Low Birth Weight, Rebecca E. Rieger

Psychology ETDs

Children born very low birth weight (VLBW) are at greater risk for cognitive and executive deficits than children born normal birth weight. One factor in development is parental wellbeing. Parents who report more depressive symptoms and lower perception of resources have poorer quality interactive behaviors. This study investigated the associations between maternal interactive behaviors during play and developmental outcomes in preschoolers born VLBW. A secondary goal was to understand the associations among maternal depressive symptoms, perception of resources, and interactive behaviors. A tertiary goal was to investigate racial and ethnic differences in maternal behaviors. Overall, one maternal behavior was negatively …

The Smoluchowski Equation In Population Dynamics And The Spread Of Infection, Satomi Sugaya

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

This dissertation is a report on an interdisciplinary investigation consisting of an application of random walk techniques to problems in ecology, particularly to the spread of Hantavirus epidemic among rodents that live on an open terrain. The population of mice that we consider is made up of infectious disease-carrying mice and susceptible mice that are disease-free, and each mouse has its own home range around which it executes a random walk. We describe an event of infection transmission in such a population via reaction-diffusion theory. Our simple model consists of two mice, one infected and the other susceptible, the disease …

Differential Interactions Of Lipopolysaccharides With Lipid Bilayers: Applications For Pathogen Detection, Loreen R. Stromberg

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

This dissertation describes the development of new tailored methods for the discriminative detection of amphiphilic lipopolysaccharide (LPS) antigens, so as to improve screening methodologies for food-safety applications, and detection of amphiphiles in general. LPS is associated with the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, and is a primary virulence biomarker of several pathogens. Direct detection of amphiphilic LPS in the aqueous matrices of the host/sample requires an appreciation of the complex biochemistry of the molecule, and forms the basis for this research. The unique structure of this molecule can be used for identification of both the serogroup and strain of pathogen. …

Bilingual Education At Two Urban High Schools: A Cross Case Analysis, Gabriel Gonzales

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

By 2042, racial minority groups will comprise the majority of the population in the United States. This reality will bring with it a diversity of cultural, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds as represented by the students in Americas schools. How public schools respond to this changing demographic will define the future of our country. This study answers three research questions: What impact did the implementation of a comprehensive bilingual program at Altura High School and Parkland High School have on school culture and teachers' perceptions and practices? What impact does a comprehensive bilingual program have on the academic outcomes of students? …

A Meta-Analysis Of The Effect Of The Physical Education Learning Environment On Student Outcomes, Stephanie Armstrong

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

Understanding the qualities of effective teachers and finding accurate measures of student outcomes becomes paramount to knowing how to replicate student success from year to year. In 1992, The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (now SHAPE America), published the Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Children document in an effort to help practitioners better understand qualities of an effective physical education program. However, little is known about the effect that the appropriate practices in the document have on student outcomes. The best way to understand whether or not NASPEs appropriate practices have an impact on student outcomes is to investigate …

The Importance Of Leadership: An Investigation Of Effects Of Transformational Leadership On Middle School Students Intrinsic Motivation And Expectancy-Value In Physical Education, Minhyun Kim

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

The leadership practices exhibited by physical education teachers have been found to have a significant impact on promoting students learning. The main purpose of this study was to explore: (a) differences on middle school students' perception regarding expectancy-value and intrinsic motivation according to their grade, gender, and ethnicity, (b) the relationship between physical education teachers' transformational leadership and middle school students' expectancy-value and intrinsic motivation. To conduct this study, three questionnaires were employed: transformational teaching questionnaire (Beauchamp et al., 2010), expectancy-value questionnaire (Duncan & Tammen, 1989), and intrinsic motivation index (Eccles & Wigfield, 1995). A total of 295 middle school …

Enhanced Laminar Convective Heat Transfer Using Microstructured Superhydrophobic Surfaces, Andrew Williams

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

For many centuries, researchers have investigated the complex interactions between a solid surface and a fluid in motion relative to the surface. For many cases, the classical no slip boundary condition holds true. However, there are a subset of situations where this assumption is not valid, and slip between the surface and fluid must be considered. One such example is a micropatterned, superhydrophobic surface, which has been shown to enable slip resulting in a decrease in drag and pressure loss for both laminar and turbulent flow. The hydrodynamic effects of these surfaces have been studied in depth, but the effects …

Visualizing Mast Cell Activation: Single Molecule Dynamics Of Early Events In Fceri Signaling, Samantha Schwartz

Nanoscience and Microsystems ETDs

Healthy immune cell behavior requires sensitive and robust control over the processes that regulate signal transduction. In this work we employ single molecule fluorescence imaging techniques to quantify adapter protein recruitment, lateral mobility, receptor aggregation, and cytoskeletal organization to create a better understanding of many key processes in immune cell regulation. We focus on understanding the initiating events in FceRI signaling in mast cells. Mast cell signaling encompassing a wide array of cellular outcomes including calcium flux, release of pre-formed inflammatory mediators and the production of cytokines. Careful control over appropriate reactions to external antigens is necessary for mast cells …

Enzymatic Electrode Design: A Systematic Approach To Enhanced Bioelectrocatalysis, Ryan James Lopez

Nanoscience and Microsystems ETDs

Although they were first discovered more than a century ago, modern enzymatic electrodes used in enzymatic fuel cells and enzymatic amperometric sensors are a rapidly diversifying field, the applications of which have yet to be fully realized. The design parameters that guide the research and industry are also changing as the fundamental mechanisms at the core of the technology become clearer. One of the key design parameters is concerned with how the enzyme catalyst engages the underlying electrode current collector. This one design consideration has led to considerable branching of the field into different fundamental endeavors such as development of …

Bio-Nano Interfaces: Enzyme Immobilization For Biomimetic Energy Harvesting, Rachel Hjelm

Nanoscience and Microsystems ETDs

In the face of todays rapidly growing energy demands accompanied by limited, non-renewable supplies, development of novel energy alternatives that are both renewable and inexpensive has become more important than ever. Development of 3D structures exploring the properties of nano-materials and biological molecules has been shown through the years as an effective path forward for the design of advanced bio-nano architectures for enzymatic fuel cells (EFCs). Despite advantages over conventional fuel cells, EFCs still suffer from several problems including low efficiency and stability. Overcoming these limitations in order to make them more viable for real world application is an ongoing …

The Effect Of Relative Electrode Size On The Performance Of A Supercapacitive Microbial Fuel Cell Design, Jeremiah Houghton

Nanoscience and Microsystems ETDs

Supercapacitive microbial fuel cells with various anode and cathode dimensions were investigated in order to determine the effect on capacitance and delivered power quality. The cathode size was determined to be the limiting component of the system, while anode size showed little effect on the devices performance. By doubling the cathode area, peak power output was improved by roughly 120% for a 10 ms pulse discharge. Doubling the cathode area also had a positive effect on the internal resistance of the cell, lowering the equivalent series resistance by approximately 47%. Doubling the anode area increased peak power output slightly, with …

2015 Annual Report, Joseph A. Cook

Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Decision-Making In A Coaching Environment: How A Coach Makes Decisions When Coaching A Mathematics Teacher On Student/Teacher Discourse, Laura Burr

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

The purpose of this study was to determine how a mathematics coach made decisions when coaching a middle school mathematics teacher on using classroom discourse in a reform mathematics classroom. This was a researcher participant qualitative study using design experiment methodology in which the coaching process was studied in an environment that is typical of an educational coaching setting. The teacher and coach/researcher made conjectures on what was happening in the classroom based on observations; the conjectures provided the basis for the development of the interventions. The teacher modified her pedagogy using the interventions; the results of the pedagogical changes …

"It Was A Whole New Environment": Transformative Organizational Culture And The Development Of Science Identity For Underrepresented Students In Science, Technology, Engineering And Math (Stem), Rebecca Ann Beals

Sociology ETDs

Traditional models of student success in higher education focus on access and retention of students, and fall short in their ability to explain the nuanced dynamics of identity formation that occurs for underrepresented STEM students. Drawing on Multicontextual Theory, I examine how academic environments offer non-traditional ways of developing an integrated science identity' in underrepresented STEM students and offer benefits to these students in terms of attraction to STEM, socialization and persistence. The intersectional, mixed-method data for this dissertation include in-depth interviews, focus groups, and student survey responses from various STEM contexts across multiple institutions in the Southwest. I discuss …