Digital Commons Network^™

Integrated Grating Couplers On-A-Chip: Characterizations And Applications, Xuemei Wang

Optical Science and Engineering ETDs

We demonstrate two applications based on grating coupled phase matching to a slab waveguide: lab-on-a-chip spectrometer using a transversely chirped grating and indoor lidar plenoptic sensor array for Time of flight (ToF) position mapping system. In the first application, a chirped grating waveguide coupler serves as a spatially dependent narrow-band filter. The transversely-chirped-input grating is fabricated on a SiO₂-Si₃N₄-SiO₂ waveguide atop a Si substrate by interferometric lithography. Light with wavelength from 400- nm to 700 nm couples into Si₃N₄ waveguide through transversely chirped grating incident at a 33.5⁰ angle and …

Control Mechanisms For Adaptive Nanoscale Devices, David Arredondo

Nanoscience and Microsystems ETDs

Nanotechnology promises to revolutionize many areas of applied science including materials, synthetic biology, and medicine. Devices may consist of solution-phase information processing systems or molecular robots. Of particular interest are DNA-based systems due to their composability and relatively simple interactions that are suited to bottom-up design. This work introduces high-level designs of robust control mechanisms for nanoscale devices with immediate applications in molecular computing, synthetic biology, and DNA robotics.

Nanoscale systems are dominated by probabilistic chemical behavior, so engineers must take careful consideration to produce predictable systems. Probabilistic behavior in chemical reaction networks (CRNs) yields deterministic evolution of species concentrations …

Alterations In Executive Functioning Following Moderate Prenatal Alcohol Exposure: New Translational Insights, Sarah L. Olguin

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

While the lifelong difficulties that result from alcohol exposure in utero are well documented, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) remain the most common neurodevelopmental syndrome. FASD patients struggle with executive control including attention, cognitive control, reward learning, and impulsivity. These self-regulation problems contribute to increased rates of school expulsion, incarceration, and substance use disorders. However, it is still unclear how prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) affects executive control processes that lead to inappropriate behavior later in life. Here we examined the effect of PAE on 4 aspects of executive functioning paired with intervention or with translatable EEG-like recording, 1) control over …

The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic And The Digital Divide On Public Education In New Mexico, Robert Christner

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

The digital divide and digital equity have long been a concern for educators, and public schools. In 2020 when the COVID-19 global pandemic swept across the country, public schools closed for in person classes and moved to a new paradigm of online only classes, issues of digital equity and the digital divide became a critical focus for families and young learners seeking to continue their academic progress. New Mexico with its low population density, rural nature and lack of infrastructure was particularly vulnerable to issues of digital equity when public schools moved to online only classes. This study investigates the …

Neuroanatomical And Environmental Correlates Of Psychopathy Subtypes In Incarcerated Youth And Implications For Recidivism, Devin Marie Ulrich

Psychology ETDs

Researchers have described subtypes of psychopathy including a primary “constitutional” variant influenced largely by biological factors, and a secondary variant “acquired” through environmental factors (e.g., trauma) and associated with elevated internalizing symptoms. This study used latent profile analysis (LPA) in a sample of 297 juvenile male offenders to identify subgroups of incarcerated youth, based on level of psychopathic traits and anxiety, as measured by the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV) and Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC), respectively, and explore environmental and neural correlates of resulting groups. Two groups were identified that differed in psychopathic trait level, experience of trauma, …

Computational, Synthetic And Spectroscopic Studies On Donor Acceptor Transition Metal Complexes, Ranjana Dangi

Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

Fundamental advances in our ability to design and construct electronic components at the nanoscale will require new design paradigms. One proposed nanoscale electronic component is the molecular rectifier. Molecular and molecule-based electronic components are advantageous due to their ease of synthetic manipulation, and the fact that the size dimensions of molecules are inherently at the nanoscale (0.5 - 3nm). Our group has shown how the Donor-Bridge-Acceptor biradical approach can be used to derive key structure-property relationships that allow insight into the choice of bridge fragments for molecular rectification by using constitutional isomers of the donor-bridge-acceptor biradical (NN-Th-Py-SQ) (S=1/2 ortho-semiquinonate, …

Olfactory Detection Of Viruses Shapes Brain Immunity And Behavior, Aurora Kraus

Biology ETDs

Olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) directly contact the environment and are

exposed to pathogens, such as viruses. When OSNs detect a virus, they coordinate antiviral immune responses locally to stop virus progression into the brain, termed the central nervous system (CNS). For example, in COVID-19 patients the SARS-CoV-2 virus replicates in the olfactory epithelium resulting in loss of olfaction, yet viral presence in the CNS is rare. However, neuronal detection of a virus by OSNs may send electrical signals to the CNS via the olfactory bulb (OB) and shape our CNS. Because the OB is the nexus between the pathogen exposed …

Psychosocial And Neuroprediction Of Criminal Recidivism In A Sample Of Adult Female Offenders, Bethany G. Edwards

Psychology ETDs

Recidivism is costly and damaging to society. Despite the narrowing gender gap in the criminal justice system, research on female recidivism falls behind that in males. Biopsychosocial theories suggest a combination of psychosocial and neurobiological factors likely promotes criminal risk in females. This study examined the utility of various risk factors in predicting recidivism in female offenders (n = 298). Results highlight specific psychosocial risk factors (i.e., impulsive/antisocial psychopathic traits, incarceration history, substance use, education, and age) that were especially helpful in identifying females at elevated risk. A particularly novel aspect of this study was incorporation of structural and functional …

Physiologically-Based Pharmacokinetics Modeling Of Colloidal Nanoparticles, Anh-Dung Le

Nanoscience and Microsystems ETDs

Physiologically-based Pharmacokinetics (PBPK) modeling—a mechanistic mathematical tool to predict biodistribution to inform drug development, requires knowledge of the physico-chemical properties of the drug in question as well as the anatomy and physiology of the organism. Unlike with molecular drugs, nanoparticle parameters often need to be estimated by fitting models to time-course data, which can result in large uncertainties in parameter estimates due to a high-dimensional parameter space. Our research addresses this challenge by offering a path to parameter insights using global sensitivity analysis. The first chapter is an overview of the PBPK model structure and mathematical framework used in our …

Un-Earthing Popular Climate Narratives: Maintenance And Prophecy In Settler World, Hannah Oxford

Communication ETDs

Climate change is fundamentally rooted in facts such as rising global temperatures, carbon emissions, losses in biodiversity, etc. However new information about our changing world is translated and incorporated within the narratives we live by and give form to our personal and collective worlds. While climate change is scientific, our mitigation efforts are entirely storied. This thesis looks at popular climate narratives that frames climate change as an issue of Earthly mechanics fixable through innovative technology. The goal of this thesis is to understand the ways in which settler colonialism, as a communicable mechanism of cultural production, organizes this particular …

Stochastic Optimal Shared Control With Non-Gaussian Processes, Paul Onor

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

In this paper, we propose an approach for shared control of a planar quadrotor that allows for non-Gaussian disturbance in the model and non-Gaussian variation in the pilot's control actions. We do this by constructing empirical characteristic functions for the state, inputs, and disturbance using demonstrations by a human expert. These are then used to make predictions of future states and of the system disturbance, using the first and second moments of the empirical characteristic function to estimate the mean and variance of these processes. With this method, we can extend assumptions from additive white Gaussian noise to any real-valued …

Three Essays On Student Enrollment Responses To General Household And Education-Specific Assistance Programs, Usamah Wasif

Economics ETDs

Greater educational attainment is associated with an increase in expected income, lowering of internal discount rates, and improved financial and health literacy. Income transfers have the potential to positively impact educational attainment by either reducing the direct cost of college attendance or by inducing an income effect that nudges students to decrease labor supply and devote greater time to studies. Whether assistance leads to more education depends on the circumstances, particularly the educational stage and assistance type. High school students may react differently to assistance relative to college students and both may react differently to general household income transfers compared …

Effect Of Phylogeny Misestimation On Estimating Trait Evolution Parameters, Tabytha Ariel Perez

Mathematics & Statistics ETDs

Biologists are interested in estimating trait evolution models from phylogenies. However, phylogenies are imperfectly estimated, generally from DNA sequence data. In this study, true phylogenies are simulated to understand whether errors in phylogeny estimation affect inference of the trait evolution model. Given the tree, DNA sequences as well as traits are then simulated from the true phylogeny; both are simulated independently from the other. After the simulation, the DNA sequences were used to estimate trees using the UPGMA method without utilizing the trait information. The estimated trees combined with the traits are used to infer the evolutionary trait models, specifically …

Relationships Between Self-Efficacy, Participation In Prison Programs, And Perceived Ability To Live Crime Free Upon Release From Prison, Beret Ravenscroft

Nursing ETDs

This study examined the relationships between self-efficacy, participation in prison programs, and perceived ability to live crime free among male prisoners in state-operated New Mexico prisons. Among the 589 study participants, those who reported having received assistance in changing criminal attitudes agreed they would be able to live crime free at a rate 8% higher than those who did not (p = .029). Those who agreed that they are able to accomplish any task (p = .001) or who disagreed with feeling helpless to deal with problems (p = .001) also scored significantly higher in perceived ability …

Development Of A Programmable, Open-Source, And Cost-Effective Fluidic System For Cell Culture Applications, Charles Montoya

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

Open-source laboratory equipment has become an increasingly popular alternative to commercially available options due to its simple implementation, capability of user-customized modifications, and cost-effectiveness. Presented here is the development of a programmable and open-source fluidic system comprised of three custom-built syringe pumps for cell culture applications. The fluidic system was directly integrated with a multiwell plate on an environmentally controlled microscope platform for live-cell imaging and time-lapse analyses of cellular responses as culture conditions are adjusted using the programmable fluidic system. Proof-of-concept of this system is obtained by controlling autophagic activity in A549 cells by adjustment of nutrient supply. The …

"Sometimes You Just Want To Be Another Parent And Another Kid At The Party": Exploring Parental Narratives Surrounding Disclosure Of Child's Epilepsy, Lisa German

Communication ETDs

Epilepsy is currently the fourth most common neurological disorder in the world (Epilepsy Foundation, 2022). However, it is largely misunderstood by both the public and those with epilepsy. In addition, epilepsy is still a stigmatized condition in most areas of the world.

In part due to the stigma, as well as the impact on quality of life factors, disclosure of an epilepsy diagnosis can be a struggle for those with epilepsy as well as their parents or caregivers. Therefore, this study explored disclosure challenges faced by parents of children with epilepsy, utilizing Communication Privacy Management theory and Stigma Management Communication …

Implications For Cross-Training Between Applied Behavior Analysis And Speech-Language Pathology, Katherine Lynn Isaacson

Speech and Hearing Sciences Publications

This paper is to provide clarity about the overlaps between the fields of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and speech-language pathology, including evaluation, assessment, intervention planning, and treatment of language development, nine articles were selected for a review of terms and definitions, philosophical and theoretical underpinnings, and licensure/certification requirements pertaining to both scopes of practice. Behavior analysts and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are likely to provide intervention alongside one another due to their frequent provision of intervention with individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Despite broad, initial overlaps between the professions, the required educational coursework, supervised fieldwork and clinical practicums, and …

Interfacial Interactions Of Uranium And Hdpe In Agricultural Soil And Their Bioacummulation In Mentha Arvensis, Casey Miller, Andrew Neidhart, Kendra Hess, Abdul-Mehdi S. Ali, Angelica Benavidez, Michael Spilde, Laura Green, José M. Cerrato, Jorge Gonzalez Estrella, Eliane El Hayek

Civil Engineering ETDs

We investigated the adsorption, precipitation, and phytoavailability of uranium after reactions with soil, high-density polyethylene particles, and Mentha arvensis through the integration of batch experiments, plant exposure, microscopy, and spectroscopy. Soluble U (initially 100 µM) decreased by 98.6% (1.09 µM) at pH 5 and 86.2% (13.81 µM) at pH 7.5 after 0.1 h of reaction with 10 g of soil in solution. Heterogenous U precipitates were observed in weathered HDPE surfaces for experiments without soil at both pH conditions. This suggests the weathering of the microplastic surfaces enhanced the nucleation of the U precipitates. Plants exposed to both U and …

Relating Plant Community Structure To Carbon Dynamics In Semiarid Grasslands, Theodore D. Roper

Biology ETDs

Understanding how fine-scale changes in soil characteristics and plant community composition affect ecosystem functioning is key to predicting how biome shifts will affect regional and global carbon cycling. This is crucial in the dryland biomes of the US Southwest, projected to be one of the regions most affected by climate change. We examined fine-scale drivers of ecosystem function within two biomes – a Chihuahuan Desert grassland and Plains/Chihuahuan Desert ecotone – via long-term vegetation data, micrometeorological data, eddy covariance carbon flux measurements, and soil water and texture, finding that the ecotone site had over 30% higher soil water content, over …

Coloniality And Paradoxes Of Migrancy: Experiences Of Nicaraguan Migrants In Costa Rica, Darcey Rydl

Communication ETDs

Vernacular (personal) discourses surrounding Nicaraguan immigration to Costa Rica were investigated through the lens of coloniality – a theoretical and conceptual process of understanding how the Eurocentered matrix of power and knowledge produces the subjectivity of peoples through exploitation (Mignolo & Walsh, 2019). Compared to national discourses, this study asked how vernacular discourses may challenge colonial social structures of power as well as support those same structures of power. To elicit these discourses, oral histories were conducted with nine Nicaraguans who have fled their country because of political violence. Oral histories allow for a complete account of the past by …

Heat Stress And The Control Of Skeletal Muscle Mass, Zachary J. Fennel

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

PURPOSE: 1) Compare the effects of whole-body heat stress (HS) and resistance exercise (RE) on thermoregulatory responses and skeletal muscle heat shock and hypertrophy related signaling. 2) Examine the effects of acute heat stress (HEAT) on myotube growth and fusion compared to controls (CON), hypertrophy (HYPER), and atrophy (RAPA) treatments in-vitro. METHODS: 1) Eight healthy, physically active and resistance trained individuals (18-45 years) completed RE and HS. 2) 48 hours following treatments, C2C12 myotubes were assessed for myotube area and nuclear fusion index. RESULTS: 1) RE and HS similarly increased muscle but not core temperatures. HS but not RE increased …

An Assessment Of Pregnant Women's Value And Utilization Of Oral Health Care During Pregnancy, Angelica M. Sanchez

Dental Hygiene ETDs

The intention of this survey was to examine the value and utilization of dental services during pregnancy, to identify the value being placed on oral health and dental services during pregnancy. Also, to assess if the women received oral health education from obstetric providers. Pregnancy temporarily increases the risk of periodontal diseases, the prevalence of periodontal diseases is very high during pregnancy, 60-75% of women can be affected. Previous literature suggests that poor oral health is linked to adverse pregnancy outcomes such as pre-term births, low birth weights, and pre-eclampsia. Data was obtained and collected using REDCap. Utilizing the collected …

Reactions In The Microannulus Of A Wellbore System With Produced Water From The Permian Basin, Ernesto J. Perea

Civil Engineering ETDs

The objective of this study is to determine the effect of the products from steel corrosion and cement dissolution after reaction with produced water (PW) on the permeability of a wellbore microannulus. The wellbore microannulus is the interface between wellbore cement and steel casing and is often identified as a leakage pathway in wellbore systems. The need to better understand the impact of PW on well integrity aids in the assessment of environmental impacts of energy production. Static batch reactors were used to expose a cement – steel microannulus to two PW solutions, a simulated PW, and a field sampled …

Rapid Response Protocol (Rrp) For Monitoring Water Quality Parameters For Wildfire Disturbance, Paige G. Tunby

Civil Engineering ETDs

The increase in wildfire frequency and intensity has been driven by the sensitivity of fire regimes to climate changes and fire suppression. Wildfires impact hydrological and environmental processes and ecosystem service due to the mobilization of wildfire debris by precipitation. Data on post-fire water quality dynamics have been measured in a few study cases from burned watersheds where sensors were deployed to monitor non-fire-related water quality issues. This has led to a dearth of data for understanding the effects of wildfire disturbances on fluvial networks. To close the gap in available water quality data, we have created a rapid response …

Heterogeneity Of Gene Trees, Jonathan Nenye Odumegwu Unm

Mathematics & Statistics ETDs

Multilocus phylogenetic studies often show a high degree of gene tree heterogeneity —gene trees that have different topologies from each other as well as from the species tree topology. In some cases, this can lead to studies with hundreds of loci having distinct gene tree topologies. The degree of heterogeneity is expected to increase when there is a high degree of incomplete lineage sorting due to short branches (as measured in coalescent units) in the species tree. Other potential sources of heterogeneity include other biological processes such as introgression, recombination within genes, ancestral population structure, gene duplication and loss, and …

Unm Pathology Pathfinder Summer 2022, Unm Department Of Pathology

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The Political Urgency Of Black Manhood: Frederick Douglass On Constitutional Theory, John M. Kang

Faculty Scholarship

How did Frederick Douglass—one who was born a slave, one who had been denied all formal education, one who had been sundered from his family, one who had been starved, tortured, and, on occasion, nearly killed—manage to muster the courage to do something as bold as challenge the United States Supreme Court? This Article suggests that Douglass, in order to assert his right as an American citizen, first had to assert his right as a man in an explicitly gendered sense. That is, Douglass had to muster a powerful sense of manliness that could elevate him psychologically to assert his …

The Political Urgency Of Black Manhood: Frederick Douglass On Constitutional Theory, John M. Kang

New Mexico Law Review

How did Frederick Douglass—one who was born a slave, one who had been denied all formal education, one who had been sundered from his family, one who had been starved, tortured, and, on occasion, nearly killed—manage to muster the courage to do something as bold as challenge the United States Supreme Court? This Article suggests that Douglass, in order to assert his right as an American citizen, first had to assert his right as a man in an explicitly gendered sense. That is, Douglass had to muster a powerful sense of manliness that could elevate him psychologically to assert his …

A Phenotypic Screen For Compounds That Reverse Camp-Mediated Suppression Of T Cell Functions, David Barrett, Meghan Wyatt, Haim Bar, Mark K. Haynes, Bruce S. Edwards, Larry A. Sklar, Adam Zweifach

Pathology Research and Scholarship

The solid tumor microenvironment (TME) suppresses immune responses. Three alterations in the TME converge on a pathway triggered by elevated cyclic AMP (cAMP) that suppresses T cell receptor (TCR) signaling. We developed a phenotypic assay to screen for small molecules that interfere with this pathway using TALL-104 human leukemic cytotoxic T lymphocytes pretreated with prostaglandin E2 to elevate cAMP. Beads coated with anti-CD3 antibodies stimulate lytic granule exocytosis, which is detected via binding of an antibody against lysosome associated membrane protein 1 (LAMP-1) measured with flow cytometry. Confirming that the assay can find compounds with desired activity, treating cells with …

The Bluff And Blanding Fights: Race, Religion, And Settler Colonialism In Progressive-Era America, Reilly Ben Hatch

History ETDs

This project uses the Bluff War of 1915 and the Posey War of 1923—both of which took place in southeastern Utah—to look at the complex relationship between race, religion, and culture in American Indian policy at the beginning of the twentieth century. It shows how White Mesa Utes, local Mormon settlers, the federal government, and Progressive activists used the conflicts to argue the place of Indians in a “frontier-less” America. It also examines the complex relationship between Mormons and Indians and draws conclusions on how that relationship was influenced by an American government which sought to assimilate “others” into the …