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The Collegian (2012-10-29), Joe Molina

UTB/TSC Archives - The Collegian [Newspaper]

Vol. 65, No. 10

The Collegian (2012-10-22), Joe Molina

UTB/TSC Archives - The Collegian [Newspaper]

Vol. 65, No. 9

The Pan American (2012-10-18), Karen Antonacci

UTPA Archives - The Pan American Newspaper

Vol. 69, No. 8

Tornado Warnings In Three Southern States: A Qualitative Analysis Of Public Response Patterns, William Donner, Havidan Rodriguez, Walter Diaz

Sociology Faculty Publications

Recent research in three Southern states supplied data describing the role community structure and culture played in shaping public response to tornado risks. The following study identifies and describes how residents received, made sense of, and ultimately used information to make decisions about responding to warnings. In addition to a range of theoretical concerns, research was also intended to develop a set of safety policies derived from what the data reveals about the social psychology of risk perception, economic constraints to shelter, and the cultural aspects of response.Data analysis reveals a diverse set of social factors governing community response to …

The Collegian (2012-10-15), Joe Molina

UTB/TSC Archives - The Collegian [Newspaper]

Vol. 65, No. 8

The Collegian (2012-10-08), Joe Molina

UTB/TSC Archives - The Collegian [Newspaper]

Vol. 65, No. 7

Utpa Stats At A Glance - Fall 2012, University Of Texas Pan American

UTPA Archives - Stats At A Glance

No abstract provided.

Utb/Tsc Student Handbook 2012-2013, University Of Texas At Brownsville, Texas Southmost College

Student Handbooks (UTB/UTPA)

No abstract provided.

Orange & White - Fall 2012, University Of Texas At Brownsville

UTB/TSC Archives - Orange & White Magazine

No abstract provided.

Utpa Commencement – Fall 2012, University Of Texas-Pan American

Edinburg Archives - Legacy Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

An Expeditious Iodine-Catalyzed Synthesis Of 3-Pyrrole-Substituted 2-Azetidinones, Debasish Bandyopadhyay, Jessica Cruz, Ram N. Yadav, Bimal K. Banik

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Chemistry)

2-Azetidinones and pyrroles are two highly important classes of molecules in organic and medicinal chemistry. A green and practical method for the synthesis of 3-pyrrole-substituted 2-azetidinones using catalytic amounts of molecular iodine under microwave irradiation has been developed. Following this method, a series of 3-pyrrole-substituted 2-azetidinones have been synthesized with a variety of substituents at N-1 and at C-4. The procedure is equally effective for mono-as well as polyaromatic groups at the N-1 position of the 2-azetidinone ring. The C-4 substituent has no influence either on the yield or the rate of the reaction. Optically pure 3-pyrrole-substituted 2-azetidinones have also …

The Pan American (2012-09-27), Karen Antonacci

UTPA Archives - The Pan American Newspaper

Vol. 69, No. 5

The Collegian (2012-09-24), Joe Molina

UTB/TSC Archives - The Collegian [Newspaper]

Vol. 65, No. 5

Four Highly Dispersed Millisecond Pulsars Discovered In The Arecibo Palfa Galactic Plane Survey, F. Crawford, Kevin Stovall, A. G. Lyne, B. W. Stappers, D. J. Nice, I. Stairs, P. Lazarus, J. W.T. Hessels, P. Freire, Fredrick Jenet

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present the discovery and phase-coherent timing of four highly dispersed millisecond pulsars (MSPs) from the Arecibo PALFA Galactic plane survey: PSRs J1844+0115, J1850+0124, J1900+0308, and J1944+2236. Three of the four pulsars are in binary systems with low-mass companions, which are most likely white dwarfs, and which have orbital periods on the order of days. The fourth pulsar is isolated. All four pulsars have large dispersion measures (DM >100 pccm-3), are distant (≳ 3.4kpc), faint at 1.4GHz (≲ 0.2mJy), and are fully recycled (with spin periods P between 3.5 and 4.9ms). The three binaries also have very small orbital eccentricities, …

Two Millisecond Pulsars Discovered By The Palfa Survey And A Shapiro Delay Measurement, J. S. Deneva, P. C.C. Freire, J. M. Cordes, A. G. Lyne, S. M. Ransom, I. Cognard, F. Camilo, D. J. Nice, Fredrick A. Jenet, Kevin Stovall

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present two millisecond pulsar discoveries from the PALFA survey of the Galactic plane with the Arecibo telescope. PSR J1955+2527 is an isolated pulsar with a period of 4.87ms, and PSR J1949+3106 has a period of 13.14ms and is in a 1.9day binary system with a massive companion. Their timing solutions, based on 4years of timing measurements with the Arecibo, Green Bank, Nançay, and Jodrell Bank telescopes, allow precise determination of spin and astrometric parameters, including precise determinations of their proper motions. For PSR J1949+3106, we can clearly detect the Shapiro delay. From this we measure the pulsar mass to …

Cop1 Mediates The Coordination Of Root And Shoot Growth By Light Through Modulation Of Pin1- And Pin2-Dependent Auxin Transport In Arabidopsis, Massimiliano Sassi, Yanfen Lu, Yonghong Zhang, Juan Wang, Pankaj Dhonukshe, Ikram Blilou, Minqiu Dai, Juan Li, Ximing Gong, Yvon Jaillais, Xuhong Yu, Jan Traas, Ida Ruberti, Haiyang Wang, Ben Scheres, Teva Vernoux, Jian Xu

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Chemistry)

When a plant germinates in the soil, elongation of stem-like organs is enhanced whereas leaf and root growth is inhibited. How these differential growth responses are orchestrated by light and integrated at the organismal level to shape the plant remains to be elucidated. Here, we show that light signals through the master photomorphogenesis repressor COP1 to coordinate root and shoot growth in Arabidopsis. In the shoot, COP1 regulates shoot-to-root auxin transport by controlling the transcription of the auxin efflux carrier gene PIN-FORMED1 (PIN1), thus appropriately tuning shoot-derived auxin levels in the root. This in turn directly influences root elongation and …

The Critical Coupling Likelihood Method: A New Approach For Seamless Integration Of Environmental And Operating Conditions Of Gravitational Wave Detectors Into Gravitational Wave Searches, Cesar A. Costa, Cristina V. Torres

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Any search effort for gravitational waves (GWs) using interferometric detectors like LIGO needs to be able to identify if and when noise couples into the detector’s output signal. The critical coupling likelihood (CCL) method has been developed to characterize potential noise coupling and in the future aid GW search efforts. By testing two hypotheses about pairs of channels, CCL is able to identify undesirable coupled instrumental noise from potential GW candidates. Our preliminary results show that CCL can associate up to ∼80% of observed artifacts with SNR ⩾ 8 with local noise sources, while reducing the duty cycle of the …

The Collegian (2012-09-10), Joe Molina

UTB/TSC Archives - The Collegian [Newspaper]

Vol. 65, No. 3

The Collegian (2012-09-03), Joe Molina

UTB/TSC Archives - The Collegian [Newspaper]

Vol. 65, No. 2

Improving Stem Education In Research: Preliminary Report On The Development Of A Computer-Assisted Student-Mentor Research Community, David A. Rios, Artem Chebotko, Christine Reilly, Ralph Carlson, Emmett Tomai, Amy A. Weimer, Nicholas Weimer, Thomas Pearson, Francis Andoh-Baidoo, Robert Winkle, David Ammons, Joanne Rampersad-Ammons

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Research education in STEM disciplines currently suffers from 1) The inability to feasibly collect highly detailed data on both the student’s and mentor’s activities; 2) The lack of tools to assist students and mentors in organizing and managing their research activities and environments; and 3) The inability to correlate a student’s assessment results with their actual research activities. Together these three problems act to impede both the improvement and educational quality of student research experiences. We propose a computer-assisted student-mentor research community as a solution to these problems. Within this community setting, students and their mentors are provided tools to …

Implications For The Origin Of Grb 051103 From Ligo Observations, J. Abadie, B. P. Abbott, T. D. Abbott, Matthew Benacquista, Teviet Creighton, Soumya Mohanty, Soma Mukherjee, Volker Quetschke, Malik Rakhmanov, Joseph D. Romano

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present the results of a LIGO search for gravitational waves (GWs) associated with GRB 051103, a short-duration hard-spectrum gamma-ray burst (GRB) whose electromagnetically determined sky position is coincident with the spiral galaxy M81, which is 3.6Mpc from Earth. Possible progenitors for short-hard GRBs include compact object mergers and soft gamma repeater (SGR) giant flares. A merger progenitor would produce a characteristic GW signal that should be detectable at a distance of M81, while GW emission from an SGR is not expected to be detectable at that distance. We found no evidence of a GW signal associated with GRB 051103. …

Electrospun Biocompatible Polyurethanes With The Addition Of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes, Travis Cantu

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Three different Polyurethanes (PUs) Lycra®, HydroThaneTM, and BioSpan®, were electrospun and characterized using Scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), & Raman spectroscopy. Nanofiber composites were made by incorporating MWCNTs at three different concentration 0.1wt% 0.5wt% and 1.0wt% to the three PUs. These samples were characterized and mechanical and thermal test were done. The TEM images showed MWCNT bundling in the polymer matrix at the highest concentration, the FTIR showed shifts in characteristic urethane bands indicating an interaction with the polymer and MWCNTs. Mechanical test showed a decrease in the Young’s modulus (E’) in most …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Biodegradable Electrospun Polyurethanes For Biomedical Applications, Xujun Zhang

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Two types of polyesters [(Poly(ε-caprolactone) and Poly(δ-valerolactone)] were synthesized by ring-opening polymerization with diethylene glycol as a initiator and stannous octate as a catalyst. The corresponding polyurethanes were synthesized by two-step polymerization with 1,4-diisocyanate butane (BDI) and reacted with 1,4-diamino butane (Putrescine) chain extender. The polymers were characterized by Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H NMR), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman Spectroscopy, Size-exclusive Chromatography (SEC), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The resulting polyurethanes were fabricated into nanofibers using an electrospinning technique. The morphological, structural characterizations and thermal properties of the bulk polyurethanes and electrospun polyurethanes nanofibers were …

A New Algorithm For Dna Motif Detection, Ran Ding

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Nowadays, people are more and more concentrated on the research of deoxyribonucleic acid(DNA). And a very important problem is how to identify the DNA performance. A DNA sequence contains lots of genes, and every gene has a regulatory region. This regulatory region contains the transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) which is also known as motif. How to identify this motif becomes a very important problem. There are many efficient methods and tools are dedicated to the research of DNA motif detection. In this paper, we will introduce a new method of DNA motif detection which basically is an advanced approximate …

2d Modeling Of Forcespinning™ Nanofiber Formation With Experimental Study And Validation, Simon Padron

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

A newly developed method of producing nanofibers, called Forcespinning™, has proven to be a viable alternative to mass produce nanofibers. Forcespinning™ utilizes centrifugal forces which allow for a host of new materials to be processed into nanofibers while also providing a significant increase in yield and ease of production. To improve and enhance the Forcespinning™ production method, a 2D computational Forcespinning™ fluid dynamics model is developed. Three computer models, namely time-independent and time-dependent inviscid models and a viscous model are obtained and the influences of various parameters on Forcespinning™ fiber formation are obtained. This work also presents a detailed explanation …

Convolution Backprojection For Sar Image Formation, Timothy P. Ray

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Convolution Back Projection (CBP) is an imaging algorithm, which can be applied to data gathered by a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system to produce high resolution images. The Mathematics of CBP was first studied in the context of tomographic image reconstruction for medical applications. CBP image processing has also been applied to a variety of other fields, such as seismic imaging, sonar, and radio astronomy. In terms of SAR image processing algorithms, CBP is far less efficient than direct Fourier Inversion Algorithms. The purpose of this thesis is to study the CBP algorithm as it is applied to SAR image …

Experimental Setup To Demonstrate Low-Frequency High-Precision Stabilization Of 1500nm Cavity Lasers, Steven Shoen

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Advances in fiber and waveguide technologies have brought about a new type of laser: the Planar Waveguide External Cavity Laser (PWECL) that shows a great potential for precision interferometric measurements [ 13 ]. We show an experimental setup based on a 1550nm PW-ECL which was designed to achieve a frequency stabilization of 30Hz/ sqrt(Hz) or less at 10 mHz. The presented design makes use of highly stable reference cavity constructed from Ultra Low Expansion glass. Thermal isolation of the cavity from the environment is achieved by enclosing the cavity in thermal shielding which is completely enclosed in a custom vacuum …

Missed Opportunities For Diagnosis And Treatment Of Diabetes, Hypertension, And Hypercholesterolemia In A Mexican American Population, Cameron County Hispanic Cohort, 2003-2008, Susan P. Fisher-Hoch, Kristina Vatcheva, Susan T. Laing, Monir Hossain, M Hossein Rahbar, Craig Hanis, H Shelton Brown, Anne R. Rentfro, Belinda M. Reininger, Joseph B. Mccormick

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Introduction

Diabetes, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia are common chronic diseases among Hispanics, a group projected to comprise 30% of the US population by 2050. Mexican Americans are the largest ethnically distinct subgroup among Hispanics. We assessed the prevalence of and risk factors for undiagnosed and untreated diabetes, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia among Mexican Americans in Cameron County, Texas.

Methods

We analyzed cross-sectional baseline data collected from 2003 to 2008 in the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort, a randomly selected, community-recruited cohort of 2,000 Mexican American adults aged 18 or older, to assess prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia; to assess the extent to …

A Case Study For Financial Feasibility Of Automated Costing Support In A Small Machine Shop, Benito A. Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

A knowledge-based cost estimating expert system is chosen by a Mexican machine shop. Differences between the traditional experience-based system employed and the automated system are studied. Data is gathered to analyze time effectiveness, accuracy and payback of the software. Data from seventy part models is recorded to study the time experiment, and data from fifty part models is used to study the accuracy and consistency. Data is analyzed by calculating mean, standard deviation, and test of hypothesis. The results indicate that the software is faster than the traditional quoting system; however, the payback point is high. Also, results show the …

Measuring The Impact Of Narrative On Player's Presence And Immersion In A First Person Game Environment, Raul Huerta

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

In the virtual environments (VE) literature, presence has been described as the feeling whereby an individual feels as if he or she is actually in the VE. In the videogame literature, the related concept of immersion is viewed as an effect facilitating player engagement. This thesis examines how narrative and graphics quality influence presence and immersion in a first person game. Three levels of narrative and graphics quality are used in an empirical study: text narrative with high quality graphics, no text narrative with high quality graphics, and no text narrative with low quality graphics. Results showed that there is …