Digital Commons Network^™

Characterization Of Gallium Nitride Photoconductive Semiconductor Switches In The Nonlinear Regime, Joseph D. Teague

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

The energy demands of an increasingly electrified world have caused a renewed interest in once dormant fields of research. Photoconductive Semiconductor switches (PCSS) are one of these fields. They theoretically offer high voltage, high current switching in sub cm³ packaging, without the shot to shot variation and bulk of current high-power DC switches such as spark gaps. PCSS are capable of power densities of 10⁹-10¹⁰ W/cm³, with electric fields ranging from 10⁵-10⁶ V/cm and current densities from 10⁴-10⁶ A/cm² [1].

Most PCSS make a trade-off between voltage, …

Understanding Asphalt Concrete Aging Using Nanoindentation, Hasan M. Faisal

Civil Engineering ETDs

Asphalt concrete (AC) is created by mixing liquid asphalt binder with solid aggregates. When asphalt binder is mixed with aggregates, it creates a thin film (about 7-16 microns thick) around the aggregate surface. Fine aggregate (smaller than 0.075 mm size) get entrapped within the binder film or mixed with the binder, and create a phase called mastic. Both asphalt film and mastic play significant roles in aging of asphalt pavement. To this day, tests were performed mainly on the bulk liquid asphalt, but not on the film or mastic. In this study, for the first time, nanoindentation tests were done …

The Effects Of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure On The Resting State Functional Brain Connectivity In A Sample Of Individuals With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, Carlos I. Rodriguez

Psychology ETDs

It is well established that alcohol exposure during prenatal development can lead to a heterogeneous and wide ranging set of morphological and neurobehavioral deficits that are collectively known as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs). Previous neuroimaging research conducted on individuals with FASD has primarily employed graph-theoretical based analysis methods on functional imaging data to elucidate the impact of prenatal alcohol on brain connectivity. This study applied a widely used computational algorithm, group independent components analysis (gICA), to extract coherent sets of voxels that were correlated with one another as a measure of functional network connectivity (FNC) in a sample of …

Tunneling In Si Mos Nanostructures, Amir Shirkhorshidian

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

In this dissertation, split-gate tunnel barriers in enhancement-mode silicon metal- oxide-semiconductor (MOS) device structures are characterized electrically at liquid helium temperatures (T = 4.2 K) using transport spectroscopy. Tunnel barriers with different gate geometries and barriers implanted with a small number of antimony donor atoms are characterized. Low disorder MOS tunnel barriers are demonstrated and compared to the implanted cases. The ”clean” MOS tunnel barriers are an important proof of principle that disorder free tunnel barriers can be achieved in MOS. The implanted cases provide an important reference for the effects of donors and shallow traps on a MOS tunnel …

Hand Movement Detection In Collaborative Learning Environment Videos, Callie J. Darsey

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Human activity detection in digital videos is currently attracting significant research interest. This problem is especially challenging for video datasets that have a lot of human activity, illumination noise, and structural noise. The video dataset associated with the Advancing Out of School Learning in Mathematics and Engineering (AOLME) project has these challenges. ALOME videos have been used in the study of human activities “in the wild”.

This thesis explores detection of hand movement using color and optical flow. Exploratory analysis considered the problem component wise on components created from thresholds applied to motion and color. The proposed approach uses patch …

Decision-Making Framework For The Selection Of Sustainable Alternatives For Energy-Retrofits, Amirhosein Jafari

Civil Engineering ETDs

Buildings are major consumers of energy worldwide. On the other hand, over 60% of the US housing inventory is over 30 years old and a large number of these homes are energy inefficient. Therefore, it is essential to target the existing building stock for energy efficient interventions as a key to substantially reduce the adverse impacts of buildings on the environment and economy.

Building energy retrofitting has emerged as a primary strategy for reducing energy use and carbon emissions in existing buildings. An energy retrofit can be defined as a physical or operational change in a building, its energy-consuming equipment, …

Sunshine ‘89, David O'Connor

English Language and Literature ETDs

Sunshine ’89 is a coming-of-age-novel, set in Canada in 1989, this creative work explores the travel of a young adoptee from a remote outpost to the bourgeois center of the country in order to pursue a life in the theatre. What ensues is a mentor-apprentice story exploring art, race, sexuality, performance, aging, dementia, alcoholism, politics, Canada, and other theme. Above all, a page- turner and picaresque romp meant to entertain and challenge.

Teaching Problem Solving Therapy To Alleviate Depression And Anxiety: A Focus On Caregivers For Intellectually Disabled Adults Who Reside In A Community Setting, Jeanine Forsythe Ms

Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

Eighty six professional caregivers of adults with mild intellectual disabilities who reside in community group home settings were recruited for this quantitative study on the application of Problem Solving Therapy in the Albuquerque, NM area. Problem Solving Therapy is often used to alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety for caregivers and to improve their quality of life as a professional caregiver. The experimental group were taught a five week program on Problem Solving Therapy. Anxiety, depression and quality of life as a caregiver were measured via pre and post testing using the Kessler 10 (K10) Psychological Distress Scale and the …

The Fate Of Xylem-Transported Co2 In Plants, Samantha S. Stutz, David T. Hanson

Biology ETDs

The concentration of carbon dioxide in tree stems can be ~30-750 times higher than current atmospheric [CO2]. Dissolved inorganic carbon enters the xylem from root and stem respiration and travels with water through the plant. However, the fate of much of this xylem-transported CO2 is unknown. In these studies I examined the fate of xylem-transported CO2 traveling through the petiole and leaf. This was accomplished by placing cut leaves from a woody and herbaceous C3 species, and a Kranz-type C4 species, in a solution of dissolved NaH13CO3 at concentrations similar to those measured in nature. This allowed me to track …

From Olfaction To Immunity: Characterization Of Nasal Immunity In Bony Fish, Ali Sepahi

Biology ETDs

The olfactory system is a common route pathogen entry in vertebrates. As a consequence, the nasopharynx-associated lymphoid tissue (NALT) needs to rapidly clear infections without compromising the sense of olfaction. NALT is present in teleost fish but its cellular and molecular mechanisms of action have not been investigated to this date. This dissertation focuses on three aims: 1. investigating the role of CCL19-like as a primordial chemokine in vertebrate nasal immunity, 2. determining the presence of tissue microenvironments within the olfactory organ (OO) of rainbow trout, and 3. understanding the immune contributions of olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) in teleosts against …

Localization And Scrambling Of Quantum Information With Applications To Quantum Computation And Thermodynamics, Adrian Kristian Chapman

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

As our demand for computational power grows, we encounter the question: "What are the physical limits to computation?" An answer is necessarily incomplete unless it can incorporate physics at the smallest scales, where we expect our near-term high-performance computing to occur. Microscopic physics -- namely, quantum mechanics -- behaves counterintuitively to our everyday experience, however. Quantum matter can occupy superpositions of states and build stronger correlations than are possible classically. This affects how quantum computers and quantum thermodynamic engines will behave.

Though these properties may seem to overwhelmingly defeat our attempts to build a quantum computer at-first-glance, what is remarkable …

Weak Measurements For Quantum Characterization And Control, Jonathan A. Gross

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

This dissertation concerns itself with the virtues and vices of weak measurements. Weak measurements are all around us, but this does not mean that one should manufacture weakness on all occasions. We critically evaluate two proposals that claim weak measurements provide a novel means of performing quantum state tomography, allegedly increasing tomographic efficacy and yielding foundational insights into the nature of quantum mechanics. We find weak measurements are not an essential ingredient for most of their advertised features. In contrast to this negative finding, we highlight an optimal tomographic scheme for which weak continuous measurements are the best known implementation, …

Genomic Signatures Of Adaptive Evolution, Jessica A. Weber

Biology ETDs

Comparative genomics has revolutionized virtually all fields of biology including the study of evolution. In this dissertation, I used next-generation sequencing to explore the evolutionary histories and adaptive evolution of a diverse set of taxa. Comparisons ranged across time scales, from population-level genetic diversity studies to questions spanning the deepest branches of the metazoan lineage. Whole genome sequencing of 50 unrelated Korean individuals revealed that Koreans have a distinct genetic history from the Chinese and Japanese populations. Our Korean-specific variome database was used to identify novel disease-causing variants in the Korean population, highlighting the value of high-quality ethnic variation databases …

Investigations On The Role Of The Immune System In Mammary Development And Maternal Immunity In The Marsupial, Monodelphis Domestica, Bethaney D. Fehrenkamp

Biology ETDs

All newborn mammals are highly dependent upon milk for nourishment and immune protection. This is especially true for marsupials, a lineage of mammals with a short gestation, limited placental development, and an increased reliance on an extended lactation period. Most newborn marsupials do not receive passive maternal immunity in utero and therefore are entirely dependent upon factors within the milk for immune protection until capable of mounting their own response. In this project we seek to characterize the complex lactation program utilized by marsupials, and seek greater understanding of the maternal role in the establishment of the developing immune system …

20180727_Wepa Student Printing Service Comes To Hsc, Sally Bowler-Hill

HSLIC Blog Post

No abstract provided.

Ya No Tengo Vecinos: Local Understandings Of Neighborhood Change In Cusco, Peru, Kalyn Mae Finnell

Architecture and Planning ETDs

This thesis involves the San Blas neighborhood in the Historic Center of Cusco, Peru. It aims to better understand local effects of the changes that San Blas has undergone since the 1990s and to explore possibilities related to improving the qualities of life of long-term residents (vecinos) who have lived in San Blas for at least two generations. It has two principal objectives: 1) Make recommendations to present to various public and private entities who have a presence and influence over the San Blas neighborhood to improve the likelihood that vecino demands are heard, 2) Illuminate the ways that vecinos …

Decolonial Gestures Of Andean Bilingual College Students Promoting Quechua: Community-Based Participatory Research With Photovoice, Yuliana H. Kenfield

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Andean college students in Cusco, Peru, struggle to overcome discrimination against bilingualism during their pursuit of higher education. To examine this situation and possibilities for change, I employed a participatory method, photovoice (Wang & Burris, 1994) within a community-based participatory research framework, to facilitate Quechua-Spanish bilingual college students’ exploration of Quechuan practices in their university. Participatory research methodology promoted critical dialogues to challenge ideologies that have obstructed the revitalization, maintenance, development of the Quechua language in higher education. Although university policies in Cusco formally promote inclusion of indigenous knowledge and practices, bilingual Spanish-Quechua practices on campus have remained largely symbolic. …

Dna Identification Of Polyculture, Andrew Schuler

Energize New Mexico (NSF EPSCoR Track 1 IV)

DNA sequencing of algae polyculture growing in oilfield produced water. It is dominated by the algae species Parachlorella kessleri and Cyanobacterium aponinum.

University Of New Mexico Board Of Regents Minutes For July 19, 2018, University Of New Mexico Board Of Regents

Board of Regents Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

The Variable Expression Of Transitive Subject And Possesor In Wayuunaiki (Guajiro), Andres M. Sabogal

Linguistics ETDs

In Wayuunaiki, verbal affixes cross-reference clausal arguments in various ways. Most notably, there are two ways to express transitive subjects, and two ways to express possessors. Much like voice alternatives, the variable expression of subject and possessor impart different perspectives on a situation type, but unlike traditional voice categories, syntactic valence remains equal. This dissertation characterizes these constructions with a specific question in mind: what do these two cross-referencing alternations communicate and what influences their usage? To answer these questions, I consider the linguistic properties observed in the usage of these constructions in narratives (Jusayú 1986, 1994), and informal conversations. …

Artworks From "Desert Divinity" Exhibit, Kevin J. Comerford

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

This 360-degree video tours the "Desert Divinity" art exhibit, held at the South Broadway Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from April 12 to May 31, 2018.

The exhibit was curated by Augustine Romero and featured works by Kevin Comerford, Associate Professor and Director of Digital Initiatives at University Libraries, University of New Mexico. Other artists included in the show are Julie Reichert, Gabriel Luis Powers, and Richard Hazel. "Each artist brings in a sense of transcendentalist ideals of self-reliance and idealism as they explore nonobjective art," Romero said. "The studio becomes an environment of independence. The collective sense …

An Analysis Of The Results Of Court Of Arbitration For Sport Doping Awards Involving Athletes Between 1994 And 2008., Genevieve F.E. Birren Esq.

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

The purpose of this study was to create a database of Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) awards coded for a variety of factors and then examine those factors to determine whether they had any relationship to the outcome of the CAS awards involving athletes and doping. The initial pool of awards was downloaded from the CAS website and then each award was read and coded for certain information, specifically case name, year, date decided, division, sport, party role, party name, issue, rule applied, sex, decision, and arbitrators deciding. Once this coding was complete the result was a database of …

Developing More Specific Mirna Biogenesis Inhibitors To Get Effective Regulation Of Mirnas, Umesh Bhattarai

Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short (~ 22 nucleotides long) noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally. They control the expression of various genes that are crucial for cellular function, development and human diseases. Tools to regulate the level and function of miRNAs facilitate the studies of their functions and have therapeutic applications. In my thesis, I developed a newly customizable miRNA biogenesis inhibitor to regulate miRNAs.

Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) have been used to regulate miRNA through controlling their production or function. Although commonly used due to the fact that they are easy to design, several limitations exist for ASOs including serious …

A Path To Alignment, Gregory Richard Arnold

Linguistics ETDs

What is really needed to make a machine into a verisimilitude of a language using human? Clearly there are holes in human communication, missing linguistic forms, and yet we manage to convey meaning. The under-determinacy of language seems to play an integral part in the adaptive system that all humans possess for perceiving, processing and producing language with shared semantic value. We invent symbols that index the missing contextual elements, allowing partial production of linguistic units. A machine would require the same abilities of indexicality and inventiveness. In this pilot study, I attempt to understand how semantic values shift and …

Effects Of Exposure To Violence On Health In Iraq Between 2006-2007, Fatemeh Shahandeh

Economics ETDs

Iraq has experienced protracted years of war in last two decades. These prolonged years of war in Iraq manifested conflict and violence, degeneration of economic conditions and a serious breakdown of public health services. Deaths, injury and acts of violence such as kidnapping, threat and witnessing heavy casualties are only a few examples of events that Iraqi people experienced during war times. Conflict can result in lasting and profound consequences for the health of the Iraq population. The burden of the communicable, non-communicable disease and mental illnesses in war zone areas is rising rapidly and becoming a major challenge to …

08-13-2018 Notice Of Hsc Committee Mtg, Patrice Martin

HSC Committee (A subcommittee of the UNM Board of Regents)

No abstract provided.

Autophagy Is Stimulated By Acute High Intensity Interval Exercise In Human Skeletal Muscle And Electrical Pulse Stimulation In C2c12 Myotubes In Vitro, Kurt A. Escobar

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

Purpose: 1) To compare the effects of an acute bout of HIIT exercise (treadmill running) on autophagy to MICT exercise in human skeletal muscle 3 hours post exercise, and 2) to test an in vitro model of muscle contraction-induced autophagy using electrical pulse stimulation in C2C12 myotubes. Methods: Study 1: Ten recreationally active males and females completed a bout of high intensity interval training (HIIT) exercise and moderate intensity continuous exercise (MICT) exercise in a fasted state. Muscle biopsies from the vastus lateralis were taken pre and 3 hours post-exercise. Muscle tissue was analyzed for protein expression of markers of …

Revealing Silences: The Representation Of Black Identities In Hispanic Afro-Caribbean Autobiographical And Biographical Writing, Bryn Campbell

Spanish and Portuguese ETDs

This project explores how the historical contexts of the Hispanic Caribbean, including the regions of the Circum-Caribbean and the Caribbean Diasporas in the United States, have sustained dominant racial and nationalist ideologies that continue to silence or negate the identity of Afro-Caribbean subjects in national letters. My research focuses on the autobiographical and biographical writing of four Hispanic Afro-Caribbean men: Autobiografía de un esclavo (1840) by Juan Francisco Manzano¾originally published and translated to English in 1840 by Richard R. Madden¾ Klabel (2002) by Víctor Virgilio López García, Down These Mean Streets (1967) by Piri Thomas, and Las criadas de la …

Radon Measurement For Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay, Xavier Carlos Quintana

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

This thesis details the design and operation of a high-sensitivity radon detector for use in background radiation characterization and mitigation for the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay Experiment and Large Enriched Germanium Experiment for Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay (LEGEND) Collaboration. Understanding and mitigating background radiation is especially important in searches for very rare nuclear processes, which utilize sensitive detectors. One such rare process is the yet-to-be-observed neutrinoless double beta decay. Observation of this process would imply that the neutrino is its own antiparticle, called a Majorana particle, violate lepton number, and provide experimental constraints on the masses and mixing …

Material Culture In The Religious Narratives Of The Old English Exeter Book, Justin J. Larsen

English Language and Literature ETDs

The term “material culture” represents many different approaches and schools of thought across multiple academic disciplines, but its place in the study of medieval literature is particularly difficult to ascertain. The long tradition of simply using the archaeological record to “fill in” gaps left in the textual historical record does little to expand our understanding of the place that these objects actually occupied in the users’ daily lives, nor does it allow us to make greater connections between the texts, their audiences, and their broader environment. Likewise, the role of the text and its reception has a great deal to …