Digital Commons Network^™

The Dark Horse: An Analysis Of The Experiences And Practices Of Female Collegiate Band Directors, Katharine Grace Henderson

Music ETDs

Using a multi-case interview process, the experiences and practices of three female collegiate band directors were analyzed for trends and patterns. These directors were found using the Women Band Directors International membership directory and chosen using purposeful criteria. After analyzing the findings, several patterns were uncovered. First, there is an overwhelmingly negative environment towards females at professional conferences. There is also a lack of female role models for female students who might wish to pursue a conducting career. As a result, they might not realize that conducting is even an option for them. Additionally, there was not one method of …

Affecting Social Change For Transgender And Gender-Expansive Children: Exploring Advocates' Perspectives, Cortny Stark

Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

This interpretive case study explored the experience of advocates as they pursue social change for transgender and gender-expansive children (ages 4-12). The aim of the study is to improve current understanding of the process of advocacy for this population, as well as the context in which advocacy efforts occur. Data consisted of hour long interviews, advocacy artifacts as recommended by participants, and the researcher’s field journal. Participants included 12 advocates from a variety of backgrounds and geographic locations within the United States, to include educators, community advocates, and helping professionals. Implications of this study may include increased understanding of the …

Urban In Nature: Yosemite, Cars, And California's Cities, 1913–1970, Guy Mcclellan

History ETDs

The impacts of national parks do not stop at their borders, and neither should their histories. Located less than a day’s drive from California’s biggest cities, Yosemite National Park remains a product of their combined influences. “Urban in Nature” is a relational history of the park and its nearby metropolitan areas like Merced (70 miles away), Berkeley (180), San Francisco (200), and Los Angeles (300).

Since the advent of the automobile Yosemite has been a mirror of the state’s urban areas, rather than an escape from them. Passenger cars drove Yosemite’s urbanization in two interconnected ways. Firstly, increasing amounts of …

Exploration, Disruption, Diaspora: Movement Of Nuevomexicanos To Utah, 1776-1850, Linda Catherine Eleshuk Roybal

American Studies ETDs

ABSTRACT

Nuevomexicano villages of northern New Mexico have experienced disruptions throughout their existence. This dissertation is a study of what occurred in early disruptions leading to the great departure of the 1940s, during World War II and immediately following, known as the New Mexico diaspora, where a number of villagers moved out of New Mexico to other states, including Utah, most expecting to settle for a time with hopes of return to their home villages. The study asks what happened especially during the great disruption, discourses of disruption and movement, what Nuevomexicanos carried with them in movement, whether they returned …

Explaining Variation And Change Among Late Pleistocene And Early Holocene Microblade-Based Societies In Northeastern Asia, Meng Zhang

Anthropology ETDs

This project aims to provide a culture-ecological explanation of variation and change among microblade-based societies in Northeastern Asia during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene between c. 30,000 - 6,000 years ago. Assuming that paleoenvironmental changes stimulated cultural changes due to available food resources and that local environment conditioned cultural variation, the development of microblade-based societies can be divided into four phases (c.30-22 kya, 22-15 kya, 15-10 kya, 10-c.1 kya uncal. BP) in four regions (north continental, south continental, north insular, and south insular).

The study’s macroecological approach based on Constructing Frames of Reference (Binford 2001) is applied to elucidate …

Biphasic Effects Of Vanadium Sulfate On Cerebrovascular Endothelial Cell Barrier Integrity, Yoselin Ordonez Suarez

Pharmaceutical Sciences ETDs

The objective of this study was to investigate the biphasic effects of vanadyl sulfate in cerebral vascular endothelial cells with a focus on understanding the mechanisms underlying vanadyl sulfate benefits. To first address the effects of vanadyl sulfate on endothelial permeability, mouse cerebrovascular endothelial cells were grown to confluence in 96-well electrode ECIS plates and treated with three different vanadium containing compounds: vanadyl sulfate, vanadium pentoxide, and ammonium metavanadate. Resistance of the endothelial cell monolayer was measured at 4kHz for 24 hours for different concentrations of vanadium containing compounds. The mouse cerebrovascular endothelial cells were also treated with different concentrations …

Serotonin Syndrome And/Or Opioid Withdrawal After The First Dose Of Naltrexone Hcl/Bupropion Hcl: An Observational Study, Stefanie J. Logothetis

Pharmaceutical Sciences ETDs

In 2014, the Food and Drug Administration approved naltrexone HCl/bupropion HCl, a combination of an antidepressant and an opioid antagonist for chronic weight management therapy. Concurrent use of antidepressants and opioids has the potential to cause drug interactions involving serotonin syndrome. Our primary objective is to identify cases of serotonin syndrome and/or opioid withdrawal after initiation of naltrexone HCl/bupropion HCl. Our secondary objective is to assess which specific opioids are more likely to cause a drug interaction with naltrexone HCl/bupropion HCl. We performed an observational study by reviewing cases in the RADARS^® database from January 2014 through December 2018. …

Using Electrophysiology To Investigate Changes In Brain Activation In Individuals With Chronic Stroke, Sarah G. Dalton

Linguistics ETDs

Many individuals who have experienced a stroke also experience persistent decrements in several domains, such as sensorimotor, language, and cognition. While rehabilitation for these deficits is helpful even decades after a stroke, there is limited information available to determine the most effective pairing of treatment with individual deficits. Further, despite decades of neuroimaging research, our understanding of optimal recovery patterns following stroke is relatively poor. In order to improve outcomes for individuals living with chronic deficits due to stroke, neurophysiological biomarkers corresponding to recovery patterns and treatment response are needed. Electroencephalography (EEG) holds great potential for identifying biomarkers as it …

Warming Up: Climate Change Related Shifts Of Mycorrhizal Fungal Communities In High Latitude Ecosystems, Megan Rae Devan

Biology ETDs

This dissertation examines how climate change affects mycorrhizal fungal communities in boreal and arctic ecosystems. In chapter one, I revealed that increases in fire severity and related increases in deciduous tree dominance result in greater Ascomycota relative abundance (RA) and subsequent declines in Basidiomycota RA. In chapter two I analyzed the effects of post-fire mycorrhizal fungal communites on host growth. There were trends at the fungal genus level that were largely reflected at the guild level across all hosts; however, there were some fungal genera that had the opposite effect on different host species. In chapter three, I found host …

Role Of Pkcbeta And Oxidant Signaling In Neonatal Pulmonary Hypertension, Joshua R. Sheak

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Chronic hypoxia (CH)-induced vasoconstriction has been implicated in the pathogenesis of pulmonary hypertension (pHTN) in infants with chronic cardiorespiratory disorders. Although endothelial dysfunction, reduced nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability and oxidative stress contribute to a variety of cardiovascular disorders, their contribution to enhanced vasoconstrictor reactivity in neonatal pHTN is poorly understood. We therefore hypothesized that neonatal CH augments pulmonary vasoconstrictor reactivity by limiting NO-dependent pulmonary vasodilation and by promoting the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS).

Enzymatic sources of ROS in the vasculature include NADPH oxidase isoforms, xanthine oxidase, and uncoupled endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). The mitochondria are also a …

Maintenance Of Genetic And Epigenetic Stability During Dna Double-Strand Break Repair And Dna Replication, Nathaniel Edward Wiest

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Eukaryotic genomes are assembled into a complex of DNA and proteins known as chromatin. The packaging of DNA into chromatin is the foundational strategy that cells use to both compress genomic DNA into nuclei and regulate access to its contents. The basic repeating subunit of chromatin is the nucleosome, composed of an octamer of two copies of each of the core histone proteins H2A, H2B, H3, and H4 around which 146 bp of DNA are tightly wrapped. While the compaction of genomes into chromatin offers cells significant advantages, it also presents serious challenges to fundamental processes that maintain genome integrity, …

Utilizing Quantitative Fluorescence Microscopy To Study Oncogenesis, Ellen Walford Hatch

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Quantitative fluorescence microscopy is a highly technical, swiftly evolving field of methodologies that are uniquely able to probe the nano-scale biological environment. With these optimized, advanced technologies available, scientists and medical providers are equipped to illuminate a plethora of puzzles in science and medicine through the multiplexing and high spatiotemporal resolution offered. Here I first exploit these capabilities to study a rare cancer with multiplex immunohistofluorescence (IHF) to confirm cell type and undocumented protein expression that may have implications for our understanding of the biology of mast cells and the potential efficacy of treatment and symptom management in mast cell …

Reflected Dispositions, Taylor Hedum

MFA Thesis Exhibit Catalogs

My MFA Thesis Exhibition, Reflected Dispositions, features an installation of sculptural objects and light projections in an unconventionally dark gallery setting. Spotlights shine onto the reflective sculptures, and the light is cast onto the surrounding environment. Motors or water deform the sculptures to create dynamic motion in the projections, with the cyclical changes and tempo meant to evoke a state of reflection in the audience. The percepts magnify the nuances of the material; to reveal the previously unseen.

My interest to control light stems from experiments with materials and the unexpected reflections that they produce. Since then, I have learned …

A New Theory Of Musical Semiosis, Matthew Stanley

Music ETDs

Musical semiotics is the study of the various ways in which musical structures become meaningful. This thesis is an attempt to create a logical, systematized, transformational theory of musical semiotics that can elucidate the various ways in which music conveys meaning. While the semiotic exploration of music is by no means novel, this thesis presents a unique, highly rigorous, and truly theoretical approach to musical semiotics that differs significantly from previous theories. By combining all aspects of the semiotic theory of Charles Sanders Peirce with the metaphor theories of George Lakoff, Mark Johnson, and Zoltan Kovecses, a theoretical apparatus is …

Exploring Individual Experiences Obtaining Medication-Assisted Treatment For Opioid Use Disorder In Rural New Mexico, Krista L. Scorsone

Nursing ETDs

In the United States, more than 2.5 million people struggle with opioid use disorder. Compared to people living in urban areas, rural residents are twice as likely to overdose from opioid misuse. Reasons for this increase include excessive opioid prescribing and illegal diversion of opioids. This holds true in the rural counties of northern New Mexico, where drug overdose deaths are among the highest in the nation. Although medication-assisted treatment (MAT) with buprenorphine, methadone, or naltrexone is globally accepted as the most effective treatment, it is still accessed half as often rurally. The reasons for this imbalance are unknown, and …

Topics In Three-Dimensional Imaging, Source Localization And Super-Resolution, Zhixian Yu

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

The realization that twisted light beams with helical phasefronts could carry orbital angular momentum (OAM) that is in excess of the photon's spin angular momentum (SAM) has spawned various important applications. One example is the design of novel imaging systems that achieve three-dimensional (3D) imaging in a single snapshot via the rotation of point spread function (PSF).

Based on a scalar-field analysis, a particular simple version of rotating PSF imagery, which was proposed by my advisor Dr. Prasad, furnishes a practical approach to perform 3D source localization using a spiral phase mask that generates a combination of Bessel vortex beams. …

Algorithmic Multi-Color Cmos Avalanche Photodiodes For Smart-Lighting Applications, Md Mottaleb Hossain

Optical Science and Engineering ETDs

Future smart-lighting systems are expected to deliver adaptively color-tunable and high-quality lighting that is energy efficient while also offering integrated visible-light wireless communication services. To enable these systems at a commercial level, inexpensive and fast sensors with spectral-sensing capability are required. CMOS-compatible silicon avalanche photodiodes (APDs) can be an excellent fit to this problem due to their excellent sensitivity, high speeds and cost effectiveness; however, color sensing is a challenge without resorting to expensive spectral filters, as done in commercially. To address this challenge, we have recently designed and modeled a novel CMOS-compatible dual-junction APD. The device outputs two photocurrents …

The Sweet Tale: A Pilot Study Of An Interactive Narrative Health Communication Intervention Using Positive Deviance To Highlight Communicative Acts That Lead To Effective Management Of Diabetes Among Hispanics, Claudia M. Boyd

Communication ETDs

In this dissertation, I conducted a pilot study that applied positive deviance (Singhal, 2011; Pascale, Sternin, & Sternin, 2012) findings from my master’s thesis (Boyd, 2015) to an entertainment-education (Singhal & Rogers, 1999) driven intervention in a Hispanic community (Baezconde-Garbanti et al., 2014; Murphy et al., 2013; Wang & Singhal, 2016), using an interactive narrative (Green & Jenkins, 2014) to develop achildren’s book. In the current pilot study, I created a children’s book The Sweet Taleusing extensive formative research and created a framework to aid in the development offuture Hispanic children’s books on diabetes. To evaluate The Sweet Tale, I …

Fungi In A Hot, Dry, Changing World, Miriam I. Hutchinson

Biology ETDs

My doctoral work focused on understanding the reciprocal relationship between fungi and their environment, namely how fungi respond to environmental flux, as well as how fungi can modify and structure their habitats, especially in the context of climate change. As such, I aimed my research on fungi with distinct adaptations to their environmental niches: endophytic fungi that inhabit plant tissue and thermophilic fungi that are capable of growing at the upper temperature limit for eukaryotic life. My research consisted of three studies. First, I investigated the thermophilic species Myceliophthora heterothallica to demonstrate its use as a model organism for efficient …

University Of New Mexico Board Of Regents Minutes For May 9, 2019, University Of New Mexico Board Of Regents

Board of Regents Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Toward A Nuevomexicana Consciousness: An Exploration Of Identity Through Education As Manifest Through The Colonial Legacy, Mercedes V. Avila

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

The purpose of this study is to explore the implications of the colonial legacy in informing the New Mexican Educational System in the present day. I engage a group of three self-identified young Nuevomexicana students in seeking to understand the spaces in which one must maneuver in order to thrive in an otherwise marginalizing system of Western Academia. Through a qualitative study, I hope to identify the intricacies of the New Mexican identity and the relationship these students hold with their determined homeland. By implementing the methods of interview, and participant observation in an undergraduate freshmen classroom, I will investigate …

Poor Ergonomics And Neck Flexion: Evaluating The Prevalence Of Musculoskeletal Neck Pain In Dental Hygiene Students, Justine E. Stambaugh

Dental Hygiene ETDs

Proper ergonomics are important to minimize operator fatigue and discomfort. Poor ergonomics has been proven to be the leading factor in developing musculoskeletal disorders. Musculoskeletal disorders are one of the most important occupational health issues. Studies have been conducted in the past to investigate dental professionals and the risk for developing work-related musculoskeletal disorders and found this occupational group at higher risk. However, research on dental hygiene students is lacking. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of dental hygiene students being affected by musculoskeletal pain in the neck region in early dental hygiene education and if …

Multilingual Writers And Online Writing Instruction: Expanding Our Theoretical And Instructional Frameworks, Mariya V. Tseptsura

English Language and Literature ETDs

This dissertation is based on a year-long mixed-methods study of linguistically diverse students in one online composition program. It focuses on the experiences of students and instructors from 27 online sections of first and second-year college writing courses. Using student and instructor surveys and interviews, it analyzes how second language writers’ success was affected by the online environment, especially by the issues of technology and digital divide, students’ online identity construction, and the lack of authentic online classroom learning communities. The manuscript provides a broader overlook of students’ experiences across linguistic backgrounds and uses four case studies to offer a …

Biogeographical Implications Of Climate Change For An Alpine Mammal, The American Pika, Marie Louise Westover

Biology ETDs

Anthropogenic climate change has already impacted a majority of species globally. The aim of this dissertation is to understand how climate and climate change influences animal ecology and evolution across space and time, using the American pika (Ochotona. princeps) as a model system. I investigate how pika body size, diet, and occupancy are influenced by different aspects of climate over space and time. Body size in O. princeps populations best correlates to precipitation and vegetation, rather than temperature. Our findings suggest that pika body size may be more related to vegetation and food availability than the direct effects …

The Turkish Spy: A Peripatetic Novel, Alain M. Antoine

Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

Beginning its published life in a short Italian version featuring 30 letters in 1684, Letters Writ by a Turkish Spygrew into 102 letters in a French version published in 1686, and between 1687 and 1694 turned into a monumental eight volumes English Edition featuring 632 letters. The hero of the novel, a Muslim Arab spying on Louis XIV’s France for the Ottoman sultan undergoes a transformation by his contact with the Christian world, and his reflections on man, society and God seized the imagination of the public. The novel’s popularity helped its rapid spread over European nations in the …

Social Determinants Of Health And Variability In Weight Trends Of Children Of Low Income Families Living In New Mexico, Molly Aileen Morrison

Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

When evaluating the prevalence of obesity rates throughout New Mexico (NM), it appears these rates have reached a plateau. A recent study conducted by the NM Department of Health (DOH) found that NM was among 19 other states that have had a first time decrease in child obesity rates among low income families. However, when examined deeper, when looking at geographical areas throughout NM, hidden geography of weight disparities become apparent. Although obesity rates may have decreased in some areas, they have increased in others. The purpose of this study is to effectively evaluate variability in weight trends between geographical …

Transborder Testimonios Of Language Learning And Socialization, Maria Teresa Guevara Beltrán

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This qualitative study utilizes a Chicana/Latina feminist lens and the Latin American tradition of Testimonio to explore Spanish-speaking immigrants’ experiences of migration, language learning and socialization, paying close attention to the ways in which the multilayered intersections of identity, race, class, gender, nationality, language, citizenship and power shape these experiences. In the context of a grassroots English as a Second Language class, testimonios are elicited through multimodal data collection methods, including visual, oral and written forms. Critical perspectives of second language learning and second language socialization research in bilingual contexts provide a multidisciplinary framework for this study, bridging conceptual parallels …

Market And Non-Market Valuation Of Renewable Energy, Jamal Mamkhezri

Economics ETDs

This dissertation is an assessment of market and non-market valuation of renewable energy, specifically within the electricity sector. It contributes to the energy and economics literature through a battery of three chapters. This dissertation utilizes New Mexico as a case study, which is an economically poor and natural-resource rich state that produces and consumes electricity in the southwestern United States. It is also one of the four states that have adopted a policy for 100% clean energy by 2045.

The first chapter models state- and county-level economic (e.g., employment, economic output, etc.) and environmental (e.g., externality, health impact, water use, …

Assessing How Terrain Representations And Scale Affect The Accuracy Of Distance Estimates, Kristian Mueller

Geography ETDs

Terrain is often displayed on maps either as background or foreground. Although terrain representations are ubiquitous, there is not a thorough understanding of map-readers’ cognition of geographic surfaces from various terrain representations. The research described in this thesis empirically assessed map users’ abilities at estimating straight-line distance using maps with two different types of terrain representations and at three different scales. The objective of this research was to assess how accurately map users estimate distance on the ground taking into account variations in elevation. Participant data in the form of demographics and distance estimates were statistically analyzed to determine if …

Assessment Of The Feasibility And Cost Of Hepatitis C Elimination In Pakistan, Jagpreet Chhatwal, Qiushi Chen, Xiaojie Wang, Turgay Ayer, Yueran Zhuo, Naveed Z. Janjua, Fasiha Kanwal

Project ECHO Bibliography

Importance: Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a global health problem. The World Health Assembly recently pledged to eliminate HCV by 2030. However, in Pakistan, a country with one of the highest prevalence rates, the feasibility and cost of HCV elimination are not known.

Objectives: To investigate whether and under what conditions HCV elimination is feasible in Pakistan and to estimate the cost of such elimination.

Design, Setting, and Participants: This decision analytical model study used a microsimulation model of the HCV epidemic in Pakistan from 2015 to 2030. Using Pakistan-specific variables, the model simulated the landscape of HCV …