Digital Commons Network^™

Unequal Neighbors In Diverse Neighborhoods: Accounting For Variation In The Impact Of Relative Inequality On Neighborhood Crime, Samuel A. Torres

Sociology ETDs

Research demonstrates that crime rate differences across racially segregated urban communities are primarily attributable to uneven distributions of resources between neighborhoods. Less is known about the role economic inequality within neighborhoods, what I call relative inequality, plays in maintaining ethno-racial criminal disparities. In this dissertation I explore sources of variation in the impact of relative inequality on neighborhood crime by drawing on data from the 2010-2013 National Neighborhood Crime Study Panel (NNCS2-P). I find that relative inequality effects are attenuated in higher disadvantage neighborhoods and this interaction accounts for differences in effect size by neighborhood ethno-racial composition. Results also show …

Composition Portfolio, Axel Norman Velazquez Retif Altmann

Music ETDs

This composition portfolio consists of a series of works written during my master’s program at the University of New Mexico. Each chapter in this collection includes a brief description of its corresponding piece. The compositions featured in this portfolio are: 5 de mayo: La Batalla de Puebla (2023), Alir (2023), Taos (2022), and Atok (2023). Each composition in this portfolio not only represents a unique artistic vision but also illustrates the evolution of my compositional voice throughout my graduate studies. Through these works, I aim to contribute to the ongoing dialogue between tradition and modernity in contemporary music.

Verlorene Heimat, Gefundene Leere - Michael Hanekes Trilogie Der Emotionalen Vergletscherung Und Die Nicht-Orte Des Alltags, Amber Lane

Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

This work examines the incorporation of the concept of non-place in Michael Haneke's Trilogy of Emotional Glaciation (1989-1994) and its connection to elements of the Heimatfilm. The trilogy introduces the concept of non-place in urban or domestic settings while exploring the decay of human relationships and societal alienation. Despite individual stories, the films share a dark atmosphere and question human existence in an alienated world. Haneke's unique film style, characterized by long takes and minimalist aesthetics, is used to examine human behavior with emotional distance. This work sheds light on Haneke's contribution to the Austrian film tradition and contributes to …

Geospatial Analysis Of Environmental, Tick, And Host Interactions With Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever In The Southwestern United States, Al Ekram Elahee Hridoy

Geography ETDs

This study examines the spatiotemporal distribution and determinants of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) incidence in Arizona from 2006 to 2021. Utilizing climate variables, land cover types, and socio-economic indicators, we employed Negative Binomial Regression, Spatial autocorrelation, and Random Forest-based classification to identify key predictors and patterns of RMSF spread. Results indicate positive correlations between RMSF incidence and precipitation and shrub cover, while veterinary access, forest cover, and relative humidity show negative associations. Spatial analysis revealed significant case clustering, with limited veterinary access associated with higher RMSF incidence. A Random Forest-based predictive model was developed to identify potential tick-host interactions, …

“How I Dress Is No One’S Business!”: Fashion As A Subversive Language Of Resistance Among Female Christian Celebrities In Ghana, Amanda E. Gyesi

Communication ETDs

Influenced by burgeoning literature on feminism and feminist theories, specifically within the African context, I analyze the intersection of religion and celebrity culture among a select group of women in Ghana. Using the African feminist critical discourse analysis, guided by Stuart Hall’s encoding and decoding model, this research examines how female Christian celebrities in Ghana enact resistance, project their agency, and shape their identities through their fashion statements and sartorial choices, hence contributing to the broader discourse on fashion communication among religious women.

Through a critical analysis of Instagram comments and YouTube interview transcripts, I argue that fashion communication among …

(Dis)Connecting Incommensurable Relationalities: Aesthetics Of Desirable Citizenship & Interethnic Solidarity In Vietnamese/American Diasporic Media, Anh A. T. Nguyen

Communication ETDs

Employing critical diasporic rhetoric to articulate the pull and push glimmer of essentialist and nationalistic agendas of constructing Vietnamese diasporic subjectivities, I elucidate the complicated structure of diasporic nationalism that gives shape to ambiguities, paradoxes, and contradictions of Vietnamese diasporic withdrawal and regroupment in interethnic politics. Through three case studies explicating Vietnamese diasporic responses to the Chinese virus rhetorics, the appearance of the South Vietnamese flag on January 6 Capitol grounds, and the Atlanta shootings in Saigon Broadcasting Television Networks (SBTN), I highlight how Vietnamese diasporic authorities perform and enact citizenships of becoming desirable, which elevates oppressive forces of ideological …

Grievability And The Contingency Of Life Value In Twenty-First-Century Science Fiction, Emily A. Reiff

English Language and Literature ETDs

Using Judith Butler’s framework of grievability, this dissertation explores twenty-first-century science fiction by British, Irish, and Caribbean authors whose novels grapple with legacies of colonialism and imperialism that relied on dehumanization and subjugation. Beginning with Sarah Maria Griffin’s Spare and Found Parts (2016), chapter one explores neocolonial rationales—purportedly based on health—which recreate colonial divisions of class and labor and enforce systems of diminishing grievability in a post-apocalyptic Irish context. Chapter two contends that Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun (2021) illustrates the danger inherent to value systems that center “normative” embodiment in worlds that reconfigure hypercapacitated human beings as the …

Fabrication And Characterization Of A Monolithic Photonic Integrated Circuit With High-Aspect Ratio Photonic Device Structures, Sami A. Nazib

Optical Science and Engineering ETDs

The focus of this work was to create a process to fabricate an InP-based Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC). The design of the PIC required the photonic components of this device to be created by deep etching of an epitaxially-grown multilayer structure. Therefore, a novel dry etching process was developed to produce very high aspect- ratio (HAR) features. This process not only involved the development of dry etch chemistry but also the engineering of a metal mask structure. The next step of the challenge was to use a polymer-based material that would have two functions: cladding for the etched photonic components …

Mixed Potential Sensor For Natural Gas Leak Detection Design, Manufacturing, And Simulation, Sleight Halley

Chemical and Biological Engineering ETDs

There is a need for a low-cost robust sensor accurately detecting leaks from oil and gas infrastructure. This work presents the development of an electrochemical sensor based on an yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte with La_0.87Sr_0.13CrO₃, Indium Tin Oxide (In₂O₃ 90 wt%, SnO₂ 10 wt%), Au, Pt electrodes. Selectivity to target gasses of the three sensing electrodes in conjunction with machine learning allows for the accurate discrimination between possible methane sources as well as the quantification of methane concentration. Sensor sensitivity is improved through a low-ionic conductivity substrate of magnesia …

Differential River Incision Due To Quaternary Faulting On The Río Jemez-Salado System At The Million-Year Timescale, Cameron Reed

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Analysis of long-term average bedrock incision rates along the Río Salado-Jemez system using fluvial terraces can be used to test and quantify the hypothesis that differential river incision reflects Quaternary fault slip during ongoing uplift of the Jemez and Nacimiento Mountains. Terrace flights were correlated from the Arroyo Peñasco to the Río Salado near the southern nose of the Nacimiento and along the Río Jemez. Using highest/oldest river terraces, resulting bedrock incision values average out glacial/interglacial cycles and are interpreted to reflect differential uplift. For previously mapped and correlated terraces, we applied lidar datasets to refine strath heights. We also …

Teachings From The Hogan Floor: Preserving Culture And Language Through Museum Collections, Nonabah B. Sam

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

In 2021, we faced the unexpected impacts of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, especially on the Navajo Nation. There were many things to realize, but one that hits hardest is the loss we suffered with many traditional practitioners passing from this illness. The purpose of this study was to examine linguistic and cultural contributions that Knowledge Keepers might consider making for the future of our Navajo Nation and Diné College. Drawing on my cultural teachings and knowledge, I conducted semi-structured interviews in Navajo and English with 10 participants, including leaders, alumni, staff, and traditional practitioners; I also utilized a circling back …

Distributed Energy Trading Models Utilizing Reinforcement Learning And Game-Theoretic Based Approaches In Smart Grids, Nicholas Kemp

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Community-driven energy initiatives have become crucial for effective energy management, particularly in trading and management. The rise of Distributed Energy Resources in smart grids demands a redesign of traditional Demand Response Management (DRM) models to account for prosumers' dynamic behavior in energy markets. Decentralization, including peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading, is vital for resilience and sustainability. This thesis introduces two coalitional DRM models: one based on hedonic community formation games, and the other combining matching theory with coalition games. These models empower prosumers to autonomously select energy trading communities using partially available data. To optimize energy consumption, two additional models are …

Sofast Cad Layout Tool, Felicia Brimigion

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

Concentrating solar mirrors need to have correct geometry to accurately focus sunlight onto a receiver. SOFAST is a tool created at Sandia National Laboratories which measures a mirror’s surface normal at a dense sampling of points, enabling evaluation of a given mirror’s expected performance. SOFAST supports general mirrors, including concentrating solar heliostats, troughs, and dishes. The examples presented in this report predominantly focus on heliostats.

There are generally four major components of a SOFAST system – the mirror, camera, projector, and screen. For SOFAST to properly measure a mirror, the following geometric constraints must be satisfied:

1. The reflection of …

08-08-24 Hsc Committee Meeting Notice, Helen Maestas

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

August 8, 2024 HSC Committee Meeting Notice

A Comparative Study Of Preferences Of Anglo And American Indian Children For Particular Visual Qualities, Frank Anton Alhelm

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

The problem was to, seek the nature of differences, if any, between American Jndian and Anglo preferences for the same visual qualities by comparing children of grades 1, 3 and 6 of each gorup.

Method

Participants gave like and dislike responses to each of five particular visual qualities: linearity, angularity, curvilinearity, texture pattern and contrast. Each visual quality was arrayed as least amount, medium amount and most amount. The non-verbal survey instrument was judged to have high content validity by forty judges asked to match a primary and alternate form and to match the name to the visual quality. Coefficient …

Host-Microbiome Interactions In The Teleost Brain, Amir Mani Varnoosfaderani

Biology ETDs

This dissertation investigates host-microbial interactions within the teleost brain, previously considered sterile. Reviewing current literature highlights significant gaps in understanding teleost brain immunity, despite prevalent neurotropic diseases. We mapped the immune profiles of rainbow trout brains and meninges, revealing the olfactory bulbs as the immune effector part of the brain and the optic tectum as a nod2 expression hub. High il6 and il10 levels were noted in the telencephalon. A persistent bacterial community within healthy salmonid brains shares diversity with gut and blood microbiota. Brain bacterial isolates exhibit genomic signatures for brain colonization and polyamine biosynthesis. The microbiota shifts across …

A Usage-Based Account Of Ongoing Structural Changes In Sanapaná: Grammar Sketch And Case Studies, Jens E. L. Van Gysel

Linguistics ETDs

This dissertation presents three case studies on sociolinguistic variation in Sanapaná, an Enlhet-Enenlhet language spoken by around 1000 people in Paraguay. It investigates the impact of the process of language shift towards Paraguayan Guarani and Spanish that Sanapaná is undergoing. Specifically, it attempts to disentangle the effects of speakers’ multilingualism in Spanish and/or Guarani, their frequency of use of Sanapaná, and structural factors internal to Sanapaná on phonetic, morphological, and syntactic variation. It finds that Spanish/Guarani proficiency is correlated with L1-to-L2 convergence in Sanapaná vowel productions and use of different motion framing strategies, while frequency of Sanapaná usage is a …

Agave, Tamarindo Y Jamaica: Testimonios And Movements Of Jotería Rural And Afro-Jotería Rural From The Ranchos And Pueblos Of Rural Southern Mexico, Luis Oswaldo Esparza

Chicana and Chicano Studies ETDs

This project aims to celebrate and honor resistance strategies by Jotería Rural and Afro-Jotería Rural, who have originally inherited, implemented, and recreated life-affirming survival mechanisms of joy and survival. I accomplished this using a Nagualing Jotería methodologies that humanizes participants by treating their testimonials as legitimate community-based knowledge (Fierros & Delgado-Bernal, 2016). Together, my contributors and I constructed a list of resistance strategies as they tied their experiences in relation to and against repressive colonial rhetoric that continues to be re-articulated in the rural.

Dental Hygiene Program Admission Criteria Key Indicators To National Board Success, Kacy Goetz

Dental Hygiene ETDs

The study evaluates the admission criteria of entry-level dental hygiene programs in the United States and their relationship to National Dental Hygiene Board Examination (NDHBE) success rates. An online survey was distributed to 327 programs, gathering data on admission criteria and NDHBE outcomes through a 16-question Microsoft Forms survey. With a response rate of 16% (53 respondents), the survey found that GPA was the most common admission criterion used by 92% of programs. The results indicated a strong negative correlation between high school GPA and NDHBE success. The study also evaluated NDHBE pass rates with board review courses taken. The …

A Comparison Of Cognitive Impairment In Health Anxiety, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder And The Moderating Role Of Social Connectedness, Kaitlyn B. Schodt

Psychology ETDs

Mood symptomatology often negatively impacts cognitive functioning; however, little is known about how some disorders, like health anxiety, might be unique contributing factors. Social connectedness has been found to protect against cognitive decline, and thus might mitigate some of the mental health-related negative effects on cognitive functioning. The current study aimed to: 1) examine the associations between PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and health anxiety symptomatology and cognitive functioning, and between 2) social connectedness and cognitive functioning, as well as the moderating roles of 3) social connectedness and 4) biological sex and race/ethnicity in the association between mental health symptomatology …

Theoretical And Spectroscopic Insights Into Molybdenum- And Tungsten-Sulfur Bonding, Jesse Lepluart

Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

Molybdenum and tungsten chemistry in biology is dominated by bonding interactions with sulfur and the other chalcogens. The highly-conserved structures of these enzymes’ active sites suggest an early evolution in the history of life, with molybdenum and/or tungsten enzymes likely expressed by the last universal common ancestor. Despite their active site similarities, molybdenum and tungsten enzymes catalyze a diverse array of reactions via equally diverse mechanisms. A deep understanding of the electronic structures of these enzyme active sites and their catalytic intermediates is key to understanding this remarkable chemistry.

The work presented here aims to deepen the understanding of molybdenum …

Trauma, Memory, Imagination, And Survivance: Uncovering Haunting Stories Within The Southwest Borderlands, Tania Paloma García

American Studies ETDs

This dissertation project explores hidden histories of the García/Espinosa/Sargent/Burns family in northern New Mexico/southern Colorado during the middle-to-late eighteenth/early nineteenth centuries, and continuing into the present. The project, in part, focuses on prominent rancher, lawyer, landowner, and territorial representative of New Mexico and Colorado, José Victór García. García’s life and legacy is examined regarding the lesser-known story of his “ownership” of several enslaved Indigenous youths on his property in Conejos County, Colorado. The methodology of haunting is employed to expose complex histories of Indigenous peoples in the Southwest borderlands, and within a broader context of colonialism. Indigenous enslavement is considered …

Assessing Dental Hygiene Students’ Perspectives: A Survey Of Curriculum Adequacy For Interdisciplinary Settings In U.S. Dental Hygiene Programs, Brittany Elaine Tripp

Dental Hygiene ETDs

This study investigated whether dental hygiene programs implement interdisciplinary care into their curriculum and assessed student preparedness for working in interdisciplinary settings. The study also aimed to identify student preferences for various interdisciplinary care settings. A survey was developed and distributed via email to program directors of accredited dental hygiene programs across the United States. Those programs directors were asked to forward the survey to currently enrolled final-year students. Out of eighty-two responses received, 16 were excluded because those respondents were not final-year dental hygiene students. Sixty-six participants were considered eligible for the survey (n=66). The results indicate that most …

Parallel Multigrid In Time For Chaotic Dynamical Systems, David Alan Vargas

Mathematics & Statistics ETDs

Despite the fact that Parallel-in-Time (PinT) methods are predicted to become necessary to fully utilize next-generation exa- and zettascale machines, there are currently no known practical methods which scale well with the length of the time-domain for chaotic problems, due to exponential dependence of the condition number on the fastest chaotic timescale. I present modifications to the coarse-grid equations along with a novel rediscretization approach which together greatly improve convergence of the multigrid reduction in time (MGRIT) algorithm and allow the first known PinT speedup for a chaotic PDE. The novel Local Shadowing Relaxation (LSR) is presented as an alternative …

Support For Climate Shaping The Mitochondrial Dna Contact Zone In The Audubon's Warbler, Kyana Nina Montoya

Biology ETDs

Mitochondrial introgression has potential consequences for physiology and adaptation, but its causes are poorly understood. The Audubon’s Warbler (AUWA; Setophaga coronata auduboni) provides a case study to examine those causes as mitochondrial introgression has swept through part of the range. The northern mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) introgressed from the Myrtle Warbler (MYWA; S. c. coronata) and is 4% divergent from the southern mtDNA. Incomplete introgression suggests discordant AUWAs conferred a selective advantage in the north; it was hypothesized that energetic demands associated with migration formed this advantage. We tested two hypotheses to explain partial introgression and the mtDNA distribution …

Patterns Of Stand Structure And Species Composition Through Time And Space In A Piñon- Juniper Woodland In The Southwestern Us, Kyle H. Gonterman

Biology ETDs

Piñon- juniper (PJ) woodlands in the Southwest United States are expected to see mortality and structural change in response to climate change. The extent to which this habitat structures itself as well as its response to these changes over time are not well known yet and have not been examined to this extent for the location of this study within the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge. Within a small range, we discovered these woodlands consist of persistent woodland, shrubby woodland, and juniper savanna in which structural, spatial, and regeneration patterns differ. In this study, we discovered the specific differences between these …

Ponderosa Pine Plant Community Response To High-Severity Wildfire In The Jemez Mountains, Samantha Brodley

Biology ETDs

Climate change related temperature increases, and precipitation shifts, along with an increase in fuel loads have rendered large areas of the Southwest more prone to high-severity fire for longer periods of time throughout each year. Fire adapted forests that experience high-severity, stand replacing fires are not consistently experiencing dominant tree species regeneration, and appear, in some cases, to be shifting into novel systems. We collected and analyzed up to 11 years of understory plant community data in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests in the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico, to address early forest regeneration after high and low severity …

Conservation Genomic Investigation Of A Threatened Trout Species Endemic To The Gila River, David Thomas Camak

Biology ETDs

Climate change is a looming threat to the persistence of species, especially aquatic, imperiled species. Species native to desert streams are at a particular disadvantage, as many species already face drought, floods, wildfires, and threats from nonnative species, all of which are thought to be exacerbated by climate change. Species such as the threatened Gila Trout (Oncorhynchus gilae) already have small ranges and persist in fragmented and isolated habitats that limits gene flow between populations. Therefore, it is important to understand the current genomic status of such populations to be able to predict the future effects of climate …

Proterozoic Tectonic Evolution Of The Lower Granite Gorge, Grand Canyon, Arizona: A Middle Crustal Record Of Multiple Orogenic Pulses, John M. Bailey

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The well-exposed basement transect in the Lower Granite Gorge (LGG) of western Grand Canyon provides a middle-crustal record of suturing crustal blocks during the Proterozoic accretionary history of southwestern Laurentia. Orogenic evolution included at least three stages: (1) subduction-related ~1.75-1.72 Ga volcanic arc magmatism, turbidite deposition, and suturing of arc terranes with different crustal thicknesses; (2) intense northwest-southeast crustal shortening at ca. 1.71-1.68 Ga to form the Vishnu Mountains during the Yavapai orogeny; (3) dextral strike-slip shear zones development at ~1.4 Ga during long-term crustal residence and slow cooling above ~250 °C (~10 km) until ~1.3 Ga. Final cooling from …

Coupled Monte Carlo And Adjoint Depletion Sensitivity Coefficient Methods, Benjamin R. Murphy

Nuclear Engineering ETDs

Recent advances in adjoint-based, continuous-energy Monte Carlo generalized perturbation theory (GPT) sensitivity coefficients are combined with adjoint-based depletion perturbation theory (DPT) sensitivities to obtain fully coupled depletion sensitivity coefficients in OpenMC. These depletion sensitivity coefficients are compared with direct perturbation results and found to have generally good agreement, though discrepancies exist. Some shortfalls of the DPT method include the inefficient initial numeric integration scheme for calculating the DPT sensitivities and the lack of stochastic uncertainty estimates for the DPT sensitivities. However, despite these shortcomings, the methodology provides the means to obtain high fidelity depletion sensitivity coefficients. With refinements to the …