Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

University of New Mexico

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 2821 - 2850 of 10245

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Evaluating The Utility Of Natural History Collections In Research And For The Public, Bethany L. Abrahamson Jul 2014

Evaluating The Utility Of Natural History Collections In Research And For The Public, Bethany L. Abrahamson

Biology ETDs

Natural history collections (NHCs) are useful in many fields of study, but knowledge about how they are used in the modern day is poor. The first part of this study, focused on the collections data held by the Museum of Southwestern Biology (MSB), analyzes specimen-based publications, specimen loan records, and guestbook information to determine how NHCs have been used in scientific study over time. Using a novel methodology, I objectively sorted the publications into ten research subjects via particular phrases found in publication titles, places of publication, and keywords. I observed from this dataset the proportions of particular subjects for …

Go to article

Diversification And Adaptation In The Andes: Insights From Phylogeography, Malaria, And Hemoglobin Of The House Wren (Troglodytes Aedon), Spencer C. Galen Jul 2014

Diversification And Adaptation In The Andes: Insights From Phylogeography, Malaria, And Hemoglobin Of The House Wren (Troglodytes Aedon), Spencer C. Galen

Biology ETDs

The tropical Andes of South America represent a highly complex landscape characterized by physical barriers to dispersal and stark ecological gradients. The study of intraspecific genetic diversity in widespread Andean species has the potential to elucidate the historical biogeographic events that have driven diversification as well as the processes by which organisms have adapted to their environments in this region. The house wren (Troglodytes aedon) provides a convenient system for the study diversification and adaptation in the Andes, as it is distributed widely across both biogeographic barriers and heterogeneous environments. In chapter one, I utilize house wren and malaria parasite …

Go to article

Population And Metapopulation Ecology Of Childhood Diseases, Christian E. Gunning Jul 2014

Population And Metapopulation Ecology Of Childhood Diseases, Christian E. Gunning

Biology ETDs

Researchers have long used mathematical models and empirical data to explore the population ecology of childhood diseases such as measles and whooping cough. These diseases have proven ideal model systems for studying population dynamics over space and time. Here we present a novel dataset of weekly measles and whooping cough case reports in pre-vaccine era U.S. cities and states, along with a previously- studied dataset of measles in England & Wales. We first estimate per-population disease reporting probabilities. We find that disease reporting is highly variable over space and between diseases, and correlated with socioeconomic covariates including ethnic composition and …

Go to article

The Microbiome Of Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus Mykiss), Liam T. Lowrey Jul 2014

The Microbiome Of Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus Mykiss), Liam T. Lowrey

Biology ETDs

Commensal organisms are an integral part of all vertebrates, contributing heavily to development, pathogen defense, and metabolism. Commensals reside at different body sites within vertebrate animals creating unique and distinct communities that vary between locations. The human microbiome project has revealed distinct bacterial community compositions at the diverse range of body sites that have been sampled, providing evidence for different functional purposes of each microbiome. Rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, serves as a model organism for the study of mucosal physiology and immunology. Teleost fish are evolutionarily important as one of the first jawed vertebrates with a dedicated adaptive mucosal immune …

Go to article

Defining The Complexities Of Mef2 Function And Regulation In Drosophila, Tyanna L. Lovato Jul 2014

Defining The Complexities Of Mef2 Function And Regulation In Drosophila, Tyanna L. Lovato

Biology ETDs

The development of cardiac and somatic muscle is coordinated by many factors that are highly conserved across species. Mutations in the coding or regulatory sequences of a gene can alter the structure, function or levels of expression of the protein it encodes. We have identified the genetic mechanism underlying the temperature sensitive mutation in MEF2 (myocyte enhancer factor 2), which is required for the differentiation of all muscle lineages. In addition, we have identified a regulatory element upstream of the Mef2 gene that directs its expression from stage fourteen through the end of embryogenesis which is activated by the NK-homeobox …

Go to article

Living On The Edge: A Comparative Phylogeographic Study Of Refugial And Insular Fragmentation, Yadéeh Escobedo Sawyer Jul 2014

Living On The Edge: A Comparative Phylogeographic Study Of Refugial And Insular Fragmentation, Yadéeh Escobedo Sawyer

Biology ETDs

Pleistocene glacial-interglacial cycles resulted in population isolation that led to inter- and intra- specific genetic divergence in many North American species. The magnitude of isolation also influenced species response to these climatic changes and set the stage for contemporary gene flow. We can refine our understanding of species response to historical climate change by identifying regions of ice-free persistence and refugia during glacial maxima, and geographic locations and genetic dynamics of post-glacial secondary contact. This dissertation examines the role of glacial cover, geographic barriers, habitat fragmentation as a result of changes in sea level, and insularity on the contemporary genetic …

Go to article

Establishment Of Larrea Tridentata At The Northern Edge Of The Modern Mojave Desert: Insights From Neotoma Paleomiddens, Clare E. Steinberg Jul 2014

Establishment Of Larrea Tridentata At The Northern Edge Of The Modern Mojave Desert: Insights From Neotoma Paleomiddens, Clare E. Steinberg

Biology ETDs

Shifting climates affect the composition of biological communities. If environmental conditions change sufficiently, new species can invade, leading to large-scale community turnover. Understanding how and why such shifts occur is crucial in this era of anthropogenic global change. Paleontological studies provide a valuable long-term perspective of the dynamics of community turnover. Here, we examine changes in the plant community over the past 34 thousand years in what is now the northern Mojave Desert. This time period includes the last glacial maximum as well as numerous smaller climatic fluctuations in the Holocene and the end of the Pleistocene. We quantified plant …

Go to article

Gper-Mediated Regulation Of Nuclear Akt/Foxo3a Signaling, Erin Zekas Jul 2014

Gper-Mediated Regulation Of Nuclear Akt/Foxo3a Signaling, Erin Zekas

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

17β-estradiol (estrogen) has been demonstrated to regulate survival in breast cancer cells, which is partially mediated by its nuclear receptors ERα and ERβ and the G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER). We previously established that estrogen can activate the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3Kinase) prosurvival pathway via GPER stimulation resulting in PIP3 generation within the nucleus of breast cancer cells; the mechanism for this is still unclear. PIP3 generation results in Akt activation, which is known to inactivate FOXO3a, a proapoptotic transcription factor that translocates from the nucleus to the cytoplasm upon inactivation resulting in a decrease in proapoptotic gene expression and consequently …

Go to article

American Exceptionalism Or Atlantic Unity? Fredrick Jackson Turner And The Enduring Problem Of American Historiography, Kevin Jon Fernlund Jul 2014

American Exceptionalism Or Atlantic Unity? Fredrick Jackson Turner And The Enduring Problem Of American Historiography, Kevin Jon Fernlund

New Mexico Historical Review

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Antifungal Activity Of Cationic Conjugated Polyelectrolytes And Oligomers Against Candida Albicans, Laura Jane Ingersol Jul 2014

Antifungal Activity Of Cationic Conjugated Polyelectrolytes And Oligomers Against Candida Albicans, Laura Jane Ingersol

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Candida albicans is a human fungal commensal and an opportunistic pathogen. It is a polymorphic fungus that is able to invade host cells and disseminate through tissues. C. albicans also form biofilms on medical devices and mucosal surfaces, which aid in the development of drug resistance, tissue colonization and evasion of host immunity. Disseminated candidiasis is associated with high mortality rates, especially in immunocompromised hosts. Concern about resistance to current antifungal therapies has led to a push to develop novel, alternative treatments. In this study, we investigated the antifungal activities of two agents: PPE-DABCO, a poly(phenylene ethynylene) (PPE)-based cationic conjugated …

Go to article

Cold Inducible Rna Binding Protein Is Disrupted In Er+Pr+Her2- Tumors, Grace Anyango Okello Jul 2014

Cold Inducible Rna Binding Protein Is Disrupted In Er+Pr+Her2- Tumors, Grace Anyango Okello

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

RNA binding proteins (RBPs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) control gene expression post-transcriptionally by targeting mRNAs for translational activation, repression, or degradation. To date, aberrant expression of RBPs and miRNAs has been observed in many types of human cancers. We have shown the overexpression of Cold Inducible RNA binding protein (CIRP) in human breast cancer cell lines as compared to nontumorigenic and nontransformed breast epithelial cells. Others have shown cytoplasmic CIRP to be upregulated in a subset of breast tumors. Little is known about CIRP targets or its role in breast cancer. RBP Human antigen R (HuR), whose cytoplasmic localization is associated …

Go to article

Engineering Catalytic Molecular Logic Devices For Biodetection, Carl W. Brown Iii Jul 2014

Engineering Catalytic Molecular Logic Devices For Biodetection, Carl W. Brown Iii

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

This dissertation describes the development of DNA computing techniques and molecular logic devices specifically engineered for direct translation to biological sample detection. As disease states originate at the molecular level, it is critical to design diagnostic and therapeutic devices that are capable of molecular-scale sensing and decision-making in the cellular environment. The predictable nature of DNA hybridization and secondary structure formation enables programmable interactions, providing a stable, cost-effective, and biocompatible mechanism for making decisions on the molecular scale. The incorporation of DNAzymes, DNA strands that can perform a variety of chemical reactions, adds innate catalysis and a rich biochemical diversity …

Go to article

Neutral Networks Of Real-World Programs And Their Application To Automated Software Evolution, Eric Schulte Jul 2014

Neutral Networks Of Real-World Programs And Their Application To Automated Software Evolution, Eric Schulte

Computer Science ETDs

The existing software development ecosystem is the product of evolutionary forces, and consequently real-world software is amenable to improvement through automated evolutionary techniques. This dissertation presents empirical evidence that software is inherently robust to small randomized program transformations, or 'mutations. Simple and general mutation operations are demonstrated that can be applied to software source code, compiled assembler code, or directly to binary executables. These mutations often generate variants of working programs that differ significantly from the original, yet remain fully functional. Applying successive mutations to the same software program uncovers large 'neutral networks' of fully functional variants of real-world software …

Go to article

Mechanisms Responsible For Decreased Rat Pulmonary Arterial H2o2 Levels In A Model Of Chronic Hypoxia-Induced Pulmonary Hypertension, Danielle Rachel Plomaritas Jul 2014

Mechanisms Responsible For Decreased Rat Pulmonary Arterial H2o2 Levels In A Model Of Chronic Hypoxia-Induced Pulmonary Hypertension, Danielle Rachel Plomaritas

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Our laboratory has demonstrated an important role for acid-sensing ion channel 1 (ASIC1) in pulmonary hypertension through augmented Ca2+ influx in pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMC) following chronic hypoxia (CH). However, this enhanced calcium (Ca2+) influx is not dependent on an increase in ASIC1 protein expression. This suggests other regulatory mechanisms influencing ASIC1 activity are altered following CH. ASIC1 is a redox sensitive ion channel and recent studies from our laboratory have shown that the oxidant hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) inhibits ASIC1-dependent Ca2+ influx in PASMC. Reactive oxygen species are known to be altered in pulmonary hypertension, however the direction …

Go to article

Costa Rica- Planning For Climate Change Through Forward- Looking Policy, Rachel Helen Erickson Jul 2014

Costa Rica- Planning For Climate Change Through Forward- Looking Policy, Rachel Helen Erickson

Architecture and Planning ETDs

Using Costa Rica as an example, this paper will address the problem of climate change and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the climate change planning policies that are utilized in Costa Rica. This study reveals how the Costa Rican government has been proactive in terms of its climate change policies. The Costa Rican government has always been an active participant in international conferences on climate change. Costa Rica aims for carbon neutrality by the year 2021. As Costa Rica is so far ahead in terms of developing effective climate policy, other countries can look to Costa Rica as an …

Go to article

Fantasy-Theme Analysis Of Food Documentaries: Contention, Collaboration, And Consultation As Health Promotion Approaches, Vanessa Brandon Jul 2014

Fantasy-Theme Analysis Of Food Documentaries: Contention, Collaboration, And Consultation As Health Promotion Approaches, Vanessa Brandon

Communication ETDs

In this study, the medium of documentary film is explored as a potential health-promotion tool. Food documentaries have become more popular recently, and the public's awareness of food-related health issues is growing. By analyzing different approaches to documentary films about food, I unpack the many functions and social perceptions of food with regard to health. Using fantasy-theme analysis, I explore the visions of the filmmakers of three food documentaries and the health-promotion strategies employed within them. Three different approaches to motivating health-behavior change emerged from the documentaries--contention, collaboration, and consultation. Each documentary employed a different well-established and effective health-behavior change …

Go to article

Identity Performance And Space In The Albuquerque Poetry Slam Scene, Edward Hakim Bellamy Jul 2014

Identity Performance And Space In The Albuquerque Poetry Slam Scene, Edward Hakim Bellamy

Communication ETDs

Public spaces where culture is co-constructed and performed by a community of people are rich sites for research on identity formation. This thesis explores the poetry slam as a space where poets and audiences co-construct and perform individual and group identities. From a social constructionist approach to identity formation and through the theories and methods of performance studies, the research design combines participant observation, interviews, and focus groups to elucidate the values and performative acts that define the distinct identity of the local slam community in Albuquerque, NM. The analysis of data identifies five major themes (authenticity, affecting change, building …

Go to article

Organic Is More Of An American Term--We Are Traditional Farmers': Discourses Of Place-Based Organic Farming, Community, Heritage, And Sustainability, Jeffrey Hoffmann Jul 2014

Organic Is More Of An American Term--We Are Traditional Farmers': Discourses Of Place-Based Organic Farming, Community, Heritage, And Sustainability, Jeffrey Hoffmann

Communication ETDs

The following study looks at how traditional, organic, cooperative farmers who are starting a new farming cooperative in the Albuquerque South Valley in New Mexico communicate about their farming as a set of (sustainable) cultural practices. The study draws on environmental communication theories, the theory of the Coordinated Management of Meaning, and Actor Network Theory to construct a communication-based framework through which to view farmers stories about sustainability and visions for the future of their farming cooperative. This framework is productive, showing how some Nuevo Mexicano farmers (and others) orient toward farming, sustenance, and human-nature relationships through community, family, heritage, …

Go to article

The Social Construction And Broaden-Build Effects Of Appreciation, Recognition, And Reward At Work As Portrayed In Four Contemporary Films, Andrew Gavin Leach Jul 2014

The Social Construction And Broaden-Build Effects Of Appreciation, Recognition, And Reward At Work As Portrayed In Four Contemporary Films, Andrew Gavin Leach

Communication ETDs

Many employees feel underappreciated, unrecognized, and undervalued in todays corporate, white collar environment (Herman& Dasborough, 2008; Ariani, D. W. 2013). Global economic crises, rising housing prices and high unemployment have all contributed to the prevailing thought that it an employee should just be happy with having a job. However, many organizations have found that evoking positive emotion in the workplace is a win-win situation for them and their employees (Lutgen-Sandvik, Riforgiate & Fletcher, 2009). In order to investigate what is enacted to produce positivity in the workplace, this project applied content analysis to four commercial film dated 2004 to 2013. …

Go to article

A Content Analysis Spanning 30 Years Of Mental Health Communication Scholarship, Camille Velarde Jul 2014

A Content Analysis Spanning 30 Years Of Mental Health Communication Scholarship, Camille Velarde

Communication ETDs

Currently, the communication research concerning mental health is sporadic, unorganized, and disintegrated. Previous research has not looked at organizing the literature through content analysis. To address this gap in the literature, the purpose of this thesis is to provide a comprehensive synthesis of the current state of mental health communication research. This thesis has six key objectives: (1) systematically review the communication literature regarding mental health communication and identify current trends and future areas for research; (2) identify the aspects or topics regarding mental health communication in published research; (3) identify the theoretical underpinnings of mental health communication research; (4) …

Go to article

Impact Of Environmental Enrichment On Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis In A Preclinical Mouse Model Of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (Fasd), Kenta Kajimoto Jul 2014

Impact Of Environmental Enrichment On Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis In A Preclinical Mouse Model Of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (Fasd), Kenta Kajimoto

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Alcohol is a potent teratogen to the developing CNS, and moderate-heavy alcohol intake during pregnancy causes fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). These patients display CNS symptoms associated with developmental deficits, cognitive impairment and social abnormalities, with structural impairments in several brain regions. In this dissertation, we investigated the role of FASD in neurogenic functional deficits in the adult hippocampal dentate gyrus. The dentate gyrus is a subregion of the hippocampus that displays unique plasticity, in that new dentate granule neurons are continuously produced throughout life. Adult hippocampal neurogenesis is thought to play key roles in …

Go to article

The Effects Of Intestinal Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria On Cognitive Behavior And Intestinal Transit In Mice, Nathaniel Ritz Jul 2014

The Effects Of Intestinal Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria On Cognitive Behavior And Intestinal Transit In Mice, Nathaniel Ritz

Biology ETDs

This research reports the effects of two metabolic groups of bacteria on physiological activity and cognitive function in C57BL/6 mice. In one experiment, the mice on a diet supplemented with red kidney bean for 24 hr were able to complete an eight-arm radial learning maze in a shorter time than mice on a diet without red kidney beans. The median time required for mice to complete the maze when fed red kidney beans was 118 sec while the median time for mice on standard diet to finish the maze was 270 sec. Based on the cycle threshold values when using …

Go to article

Mixed Waste Landfill Annual Long-Term Monitoring & Maintenance Report, January-March 2014 For Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico, Epa Id Number Nm5890110518, Sandia National Laboratories/Nm, U.S. Department Of Energy Jun 2014

Mixed Waste Landfill Annual Long-Term Monitoring & Maintenance Report, January-March 2014 For Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico, Epa Id Number Nm5890110518, Sandia National Laboratories/Nm, U.S. Department Of Energy

Facilities-Units

The Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) and Sandia Corporation submitted the Mixed Waste Landfill (MWL) Annual Long-Term Monitoring and Maintenance (LTMM) Report for the January -- March 2014 reporting period to the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED). This report satisfies the requirements of Section 4.8.1 of the MWL Long-Term Monitoring and Maintenance Plan (LTMMP) for documentation of all monitoring, inspection, and maintenance/repair activities conducted during each reporting period. The annual reporting periods run 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 …

Go to article

Stc.Unm: The Impact Of Start-Up Companies On The New Mexico Economy, Bureau Of Business And Economic Research Jun 2014

Stc.Unm: The Impact Of Start-Up Companies On The New Mexico Economy, Bureau Of Business And Economic Research

BBER Publications

STC.UNM (STC) is the technology transfer and economic development organization of the University of New Mexico. STC, a nonprofit corporation formed to protect and commercialize faculty inventions, asked the Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) to conduct a study of the economic impact on New Mexico of start-up companies using STC technologies. BBER conducted similar analyses in 2011 and 2004. BBER found that in 2013, these start-up companies attracted $17.5 million in venture capital money to the state; had sales of $3.6 million; paid over $5.9 million in salary and benefits to 83 employees, with an average compensation of …

Go to article

1997 Lter Network Office Annual Progress Report, Long Term Ecological Research Network May 2014

1997 Lter Network Office Annual Progress Report, Long Term Ecological Research Network

Long Term Ecological Research Network

ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORTSUMMARIZING ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE LTER NETWORK OFFICE DURING THE FIRST YEAR OF COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT DEB-9634135 - The University of New Mexico assumed responsibility for the operation and management of the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network Office (NET) on March 15, 1997. During the first year of the Cooperative Agreement, a sub-award to the University of Washington provided for continuity in the operation of the LTER electronic communications network including the LTER and International LTER (ILTER) home pages. All activities proposed for the initial year of the Cooperative Agreement are on schedule.

Go to article

1998 Lter Network Office Annual Progress Report, Long Term Ecological Research Network May 2014

1998 Lter Network Office Annual Progress Report, Long Term Ecological Research Network

Long Term Ecological Research Network

1998 ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT SUMMARIZING ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE LTER NETWORK OFFICE DURING THE SECOND YEAR OF COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT DEB—9634135 - The second year of the Cooperative Agreement establishing the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network Office (NET) at the University of New Mexico began on March 15, 1998. During this period, the transfer of NET activities from the University of Washington was finalized. The recruitment of NET staff was completed with the addition of a programmer/analyst, a systems administrator, and an accountant to the office.

Go to article

1999 Lter Network Office Annual Progress Report, Long Term Ecological Research Network May 2014

1999 Lter Network Office Annual Progress Report, Long Term Ecological Research Network

Long Term Ecological Research Network

SUMMARIZING ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE LTER NETWORK OFFICE DURING THE THIRD YEAR OF COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT DEB—9634135 - The third year of the Cooperative Agreement establishing the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network Office (NET) at the University of New Mexico ended on March 14, 2000. All activities proposed for the third year of the Cooperative Agreement were completed on schedule. A summary of noteworthy accomplishments during the past year is given below followed by descriptions of specific progress made in the seven major areas of responsibility of the Network Office.

Go to article

2004 Lter Network Office Annual Report, Long Term Ecological Research Network May 2014

2004 Lter Network Office Annual Report, Long Term Ecological Research Network

Long Term Ecological Research Network

A Report from the Network Office of the U.S. Long Term Ecological Research Network for work accomplished in Year 2 of DEB-0236154 December 16, 2004

Go to article

2005 Lno Annual Report To The Executive Committee, Long Term Ecological Research Network May 2014

2005 Lno Annual Report To The Executive Committee, Long Term Ecological Research Network

Long Term Ecological Research Network

This report summarizes activities and accomplishments of the LTER Network Office (LNO) during the period March 1, 2004 until February 28, 2005. Along with the survey of sites administered by the Executive Board, this document will be used to facilitate the annual review of LNO performance. - Presented to the LTER Excutive Board

Go to article

2001 Lter Network Office Annual Progress Report, Long Term Ecological Research Network May 2014

2001 Lter Network Office Annual Progress Report, Long Term Ecological Research Network

Long Term Ecological Research Network

SUMMARIZING ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE LTER NETWORK OFFICE DURING THE FIFTH YEAR OF COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT DEB—9634135 - The LTER Network Office played key roles in four major activities during 2001-2002. The Network Office continued its leadership role in the effort to refresh the intellectual aims of LTER and to prioritize activities over the next 10 years. Staff from the Network Office took the lead in providing information requested by the panel conducting the 20 Year Review of the LTER program and contributed to the written network response to nine issues raised by the panel. The Network Office organized an informational meeting …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last