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The Relationship Among Learners’ At-Risk Indicators And Ninth Grade Algebra I Achievement, Sara E. Tudon

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between at-risk indicators including socioeconomic status, English language learners (ELL), and gender to student performance in the Algebra I End of Course assessment. The research questions presented in the non-experimental quantitative research design were: (1) What is the impact of socioeconomic status on the Algebra I EOC exam? (2) What is the success rate of ninth grade students identified as English Language Learners (ELL) compared to non-identified ninth grade students in Algebra I? and (3) What is the difference in ninth grade Algebra I achievement between males and females? (4) …

Improved Pressure Loss And Multiphase Flow Behavior Predictions For In-Line Gas-Liquid Contactors Using Experimental Measurements And Cfd Simulations, Evan Lowry

Theses and Dissertations

Treatment of gas by liquid absorption is a common unit operation in industry. Traditionally, contact between the gas and liquid is accomplished in co-current flow utilizing a tower or column. With the increased demand for natural gas and renewable gas, higher treating capacities for new installations and methods for de-bottlenecking existing plants are needed. Co-current gas treating with static mixers is an increasingly attractive alternative for process intensification. The corrugated plate (SMV-style) mixer is currently the most widely used mixing element for gas-continuous mixing with a liquid phase and has been recommended as the best standard option for this service. …

Will Communication Delays Impact Mission Controllers? An Investigation Of Mood, Performance, And Workload During Analog Missions, Madison Diamond

Theses and Dissertations

Mission Controllers (MCs) are responsible for ensuring astronauts remain safe and healthy, making them vital for successful human spaceflight missions. They are the main point of contact for crews in space and communicate frequently over the course of the day. On a mission to Mars, there will be as long as 22-minute one way communication delays between the ground and the crew, causing major changes to current communication infrastructures. Research has commenced on investigating how these communication delays will impact missions. However, thus far, this research has focused on the crew as their subjects, despite alluding to the potential consequences …

Multiple Surface Pipeline Leak Detection Using Real-Time Sensor Data Analysis, Francis Enejo Idachaba

Theses and Dissertations

Pipelines enable the largest volume of both intra and international transportation of oil and gas and play critical roles in the energy sufficiency of countries. The biggest drawback with the use of pipelines for oil and gas transportation is the problem of oil spills whenever the pipelines lose containment. The severity of the oil spill on the environment is a function of the volume of the spill and this is a function of the time taken to detect the leak and contain the spill from the pipeline. A single leak on the Enbridge pipeline spilled 3.3 million liters into the …

High Resolution Compositional Characterization Of Degraded Crude Oils Using Petroleomics, Miguel Fernando Jimenez Jacome

Theses and Dissertations

The compositional evaluation and geochemical characterization of twenty wellhead samples from six fields of the heavy oil belt on the western flank of the Middle Magdalena Valley basin in Colombia (MMVB) were completed by analyzing its polar fraction, that is, compounds of Nitrogen, Sulfur and Oxygen (NSO) using 15 Tesla and 21 Tesla Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS), combined with negative electrospray ionization (-)ESI and positive atmospheric pressure photoionization (+) APPI. To highlight the sulfur compounds and organic acids, the Propyl Sulfonic Acid (PRS) and Amino-Propyl Silica (APS) fractionations were used respectively.

The results validate the use …

Non-Mendelian Segregation Of The Maize Embryo-Specific Mutation Und-9, Christopher D. Larson

Theses and Dissertations

The maize mutant UND-9 is being studied in our lab as part of a larger study into the genes responsible for embryo development in maize. It is known as an embryo-specific mutant, which causes the embryo of the maize kernel to fail to develop fully while not hindering the development of the endosperm. During this study, it was discovered that the inheritance of this mutation appeared to behave in a manner contrary to the normal laws of Mendelian inheritance. This paper represents a deeper study into the mechanisms of this behavior, analyzing the data collected so far and in particular …

A Deep Learning-Based Framework For Food Safety, Cleanliness, And Data Privacy Assurance, Hamed Taheri Gorji

Theses and Dissertations

Food safety and foodborne diseases are significant global public health concerns. Precise, reliable, and speedy contamination detection and disinfection technology while preserving the business owners’ data privacy is an ongoing challenge for the food-service industry. Contamination in food-related services can cause foodborne illness, endangering customers and jeopardizing provider reputations.This dissertation performed a cleanliness assessment and disinfection and data privacy assurance in the food services industry using fluorescence imaging, state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms, and a novel paradigm in machine learning named federated learning. In chapter 3, we combined two deep learning algorithms (EfficientNet-B0 and U-Net) and fluorescence imaging for automatic detection …

The Effects Of The Alpha1a Adrenergic Receptor In Modulating Psychiatric Symptoms, Jason Power

Theses and Dissertations

The adrenergic system plays a key role in the treatment and understanding of the etiology of mental illnesses. Despite antidepressants having the effect of reducing the reuptake of specific neurotransmitters, such as norepinephrine (NE), the mechanism of the antidepressant effect is poorly understood. It is apparent that antidepressants increase the rate of neurogenesis occurring within the hippocampal region of the brain with the hippocampus found to have an increased density around the time of symptom improvement (rate plateaus after 4-8 weeks after treatment). With an increased rate of neurogenesis taking ~1 month to occur, it was hypothesized that treatment with …

Evaluating Deep Learning Explanations On Risc-V Assembly As A Reverse Engineering Aid, Daniel F. Koranek

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses several problems surrounding the detection of malware using deep learning models trained on assembly language examples. First, it examines the feasibility of detecting examples of malice using deep learning models trained on RISC-V instruction traces. Next, it examines whether models for detecting trace features and code features in RISC-V assembly can be made explainable (providing rationale for a model’s decision based upon the model’s internal workings) or interpretable (providing additional rationale as model output to support a human’s agreement with the model output). Third, this work examines ways in which it is possible to give additional contextual …

Fabrication And Characterization Of Force Spun Polymeric Nanofiber For Drug Delivery And Tissue Engineering Applications, Salahuddin Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on the development and characterization of polymeric nanofiber for drug delivery and tissue engineering applications. In this study, poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA), Poly-vinyl alcohol (PVA), and Pullulan(PL) were used as the base polymers to develop the nanofiber. Bioactive components Oleanolic acid(OA), Oxymatrine(OM), and Salvianolic Acid(SA) were incorporated in PLGA, PVA, and PL, respectively, via solution mixing. The nano fiber systems were developed using the Forcespinning® method. Morphological, thermo-physical, and biological properties of the fiber mats were analyzed. The composite fiber system containing OA showed a very high drug loading efficiency. The composite fiber system containing high concentration of …

Bobcat Identification, Abundance, And Behavior At Road Mitigation Structures In South Texas, Victoria Hanley

Theses and Dissertations

Highways in South Texas fragment the landscape and result in high road mortality rates for the endangered US ocelot (Leopardus pardalis). In response, the Texas Department of Transportation constructed nine wildlife crossing structures (WCS) on Farm-to-Market (FM) 106 which adjoins Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge in Cameron County, Texas. With ocelots being rare and elusive, bobcats (Lynx rufus) are often used as a surrogate species to study felid behavior at road mitigation structures in South Texas. Bobcats have unique markings which allow them to be individually identified. Three methods of individual identification of bobcats using camera …

The Role Of Lncrna Uca1 In Colorectal Cancer Progression And Metastasis, Sophia M. Leslie

Theses and Dissertations

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the primary cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, and it is the third most common cancer diagnosed in adults in the United States according to the American Cancer Society. We have identified lncRNA UCA1, a poor prognosis marker in CRC, responsible for increased proliferation and upregulating key genes related to glucose metabolism. Recombinant cell lines were generated to overexpress and knockdown UCA1 to establish the phenotype and to investigate the properties endowed in metastasis. A vital aspect of the metastatic progression is when the cell survives detachment from the extracellular matrix. At 36 hours of anchorage-independent stimulation, …

Evolutionary Cartographies Of Language Diversification: Quantitative Approaches To The Geolinguistic Mapping Of The Kayanic Languages (Central Borneo), Deandré A. Espree-Conaway

Theses and Dissertations

Why are there so many languages in the world and how did this diversity come about? Every day, humans around the world speak over 7,000 languages. One of the most impactful theories describing the processes and mechanisms of language diversification is that of the Linguistic Niche Hypothesis (Lupyan & Dale 2010). The Linguistic Niche Hypothesis suggests that languages adapt to their environments (Lupyan & Dale 2010: 1). Lupyan and Dale describe it, stating that "just as biological organisms are shaped by ecological niches, languages structures...adapt to the environment (niche) in which they are being learned and used" (2010: 1). Taking …

Indigenizing The Outbreak Narrative: How Lee Maracle, Richard Van Camp, And Cherie Dimaline Critique Settler Colonialism And Medical Racism, Deanne Michelle Sparks

Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation analyzes how Lee Maracle's Ravensong, Richard Van Camp's "I Am Filled with a Trembling Heart", and Cherie Dimaline's The Marrow Thieves critique the traditional outbreak narrative structures identified by Charles Rosenberg and Priscilla Wald. Specifically, these Indigenous texts decenter the microbe for a more miasmic perspective that takes into consideration how settler colonialism and medical racism complicates the disease experience and its social epidemic.

Factors That Influence School Nurses' Intent To Report Child Maltreatment, Catherine M. Jordan

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Child maltreatment is a global problem that causes harm to the well-being of a child that extends to adulthood. In the United States alone, there are 158,900 child victims in 2019 and 1,779 child fatalities. Despite national attention and the availability of child abuse education, the victimization statistics have remained essentially unchanged in the last 11 years. Nurses are mandated reporters of child maltreatment. School nurses are frequent observers in a child’s life, thus leaving them uniquely qualified for real-time assessment. The purpose of this study is to determine what factors correlate with the school nurse’s intent to report …

Effects Of Small Molecule Fak Activators On Gastrointestinal Mucosal Healing, Sema Oncel

Theses and Dissertations

Gastrointestinal (GI) ulcers are common worldwide. The persistence of noxious agents such as gastric acid, pepsin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and inflammation caused by inflammatory bowel disease breaks down the mucosal barrier and causes mucosal injury in the GI tract. Currently available therapeutics such as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), histamine-2 receptor antagonists (H2-antagonists), antibiotics, and corticosteroids all attempt to minimize injury by reducing the symptoms of GI pathology, however, they do not directly promote mucosal healing. NSAIDs increase the development of both upper and lower GI ulcers. PPIs ameliorate upper GI injury; however, PPIs actually worsen NSAID distal enteropathy by …

Rsv-Induced Actin Modulation: Contributes To Bronchial Wall Thickening; Does Not Induce Emt, And Is Cdc42-Assisted, Sattya Narayan Talukdar

Theses and Dissertations

RSV is a negative-sense, single-stranded RNA virus that infects our respiratory tract and can cause severe bronchiolitis and pneumonia worldwide. RSV bronchiolitis causes more fatalities in infants and newborns and leads to severe hospitalization and even death of children. The host-RSV interaction has yet to be explored properly to explain RSV bronchiolitis. This study aimed to elucidate the connection between the modulation of host actin cytoskeletal with viral pathogenesis, including bronchiolitis. As bronchial wall thickening is a common feature of bronchiolitis, the contribution of RSV-infected airway epithelium to bronchial wall thickening was evaluated. RSV infection in the healthy adult bronchial …

Hybrid Machine Learning And Physics-Based Modeling Approaches For Process Control And Optimization, Junho Park

Theses and Dissertations

Transformer neural networks have made a significant impact on natural language processing. The Transformer network self-attention mechanism effectively addresses the vanishing gradient problem that limits a network learning capability, especially when the time series gets longer or the size of the network gets deeper. This dissertation examines the usage of the Transformer model for time-series forecasting and customizes it for a simultaneous multistep-ahead prediction model in a surrogate model predictive control (MPC) application. The proposed method demonstrates enhanced control performance and computation efficiency compared to the Long-short term memory (LSTM)-based MPC and one-step-ahead prediction model structures for both LSTM and …

Dynamic Soil Properties In The Lower Rio Grande Valley: Understanding Responses Of Infiltration Rate, Bulk Density, Aggregate Stability To Different Tillage Practices, Temiloluwa Faith Awotoye

Theses and Dissertations

Dynamic Soil Properties (DSPs) are soil properties that change in response to both natural and human-caused interruptions and pressures such as agro-based and wildland management. These soil properties can transform for months or even years in response to the farm use and management procedures. This research project investigates the relationship between different dynamic soil physical properties and tillage practices in the Texas Hidalgo sandy clay loam benchmark soil series. Data analyses was done to compare the effect of tillage to these soil physical properties and build a discussion about relationships between on-farm practices to other aspects of farm viability. We …

Dynamic Soil Properties In The Lower Rio Grande Valley: Carbon And Nitrogen Responses To Different Tillage Practices, Luzyannet Ballesteros Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

There has been increased attention in utilizing agriculture for carbon sequestration. Soil carbon and nitrogen are two dynamic soil properties (DSPs) that are indicators of soil health and function and have overlapping cycles. These soil properties change frequently as a result of environmental conditions and agricultural management practices. This study focuses on the impact of tillage practices in unirrigated agricultural fields in Hidalgo and Willacy counties located in South Texas on Hidalgo Sandy Clay Loam; With a particular focus on Soil Total Carbon (TC), Soil Inorganic Carbon (SIC), Permanganate Oxidizable Carbon (POXC), Carbon and Nitrogen ratio (C:N), Soil Organic Matter …

Wildlife Road Mortality Patterns In South Texas And Survey Methodology Improvement, Bradley E. Beer

Theses and Dissertations

Mortalities of wildlife caused by collisions with vehicles along roads are increasing in prevalence, threatening the existence of various species and populations. A better understanding of how mortalities change in response to natural and anthropogenic variables and efficient methods of obtaining mortality data are essential to mitigating such mortalities. This thesis investigates several key elements to improving road mortality surveys in south Texas. First, it was found that road mortality survey counts did not change under a pandemic-related lockdown and that 2 mortality survey observers detect more mortalities than 1. Analysis of brown pelican groundings on Texas State Highway 48 …

The Molecular Evolution Of Insect Opsin Genes, Maria Jose Cardenas Muedano

Theses and Dissertations

Opsins are part of the superfamily of G-coupled receptor proteins and together with chromophores, are responsible for initiating the signal transduction cascade responsible for animal vision. Since opsins have a critical role on visual perception these genes are crucial for a myriad of adaptive traits and behaviors and should show diverse signs of natural selection at the molecular level. Understanding the evolution of opsins across the wide diversity of insect groups will allow us to better understand the evolutionary pressure on insect opsins and serve as a model for both other gene systems and other taxonomic groups of animals that …

Green Synthesis Of Spiro Compounds And The Phytochemical Investigation Of Diethyl Ether Fraction Of Camu-Camu (Myrciaria Dubia) Leaves, Judith Anane

Theses and Dissertations

There are a lot of lucrative plant species found in the Amazon and camu-camu (Myrciaria dubia (H.B.K.) Mc Vaugh) is distinct among them. This is due to its exceptional Vitamin C content which varies from 1600 to 6112 mg/100g of pulp. Besides the fruits which is popularly used, different parts of camu-camu plants including the stems, leaves, seeds, barks, and roots are also traditionally used in folklore practices for treating various ailments and diseases and research has showed the presence of antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer, anti-inflammatory agents present in these parts. In this study, the characterization of a bioactive compound, …

Emotion Identification Ability And Perspective-Taking In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Ana Lucia Garrido Huerta

Theses and Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by persistent deficits in social interaction. Perspective-taking and emotion identification are important skills to develop appropriate social interactions. Previous research has shown that children with ASD may lack the ability to relate emotionally to others. Research has also shown a deficit in perspective-taking skills in children with ASD. The selected studies reviewed in this thesis analyze seven articles that show research on children with ASD regarding their emotional identification and perspective-taking skills. Articles searched under the words “emotion identification,” “perspective-taking,” and “autism” obtained from the Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection using the EBSCO database …

The Mediating Role Of Gun Attitudes In The Association Between Dsm-5 Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Clusters, And Gun Ownership In Young Hispanic Adults With Exposure To Interpersonal Trauma, Vanessa Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

Despite growing interest in gun attitudes and gun ownership among United States citizens, the current body of literature is limited and tends to focus on white non-Hispanic individuals. The present study examined the effect of interpersonal trauma-related PTSD symptoms on gun attitudes and protective gun ownership. The associations between experiencing PTSD symptoms, gun attitudes, and protective gun ownership were examined in a sample of 176 young Hispanic adults (n = 127 women, n = 49 men) with exposure to interpersonal trauma. Specifically, the mediating role of positive attitudes towards guns in the associations between the four clusters of DSM-5 …

Latinas In Stem Education: Paying It Forward, Evangelina Guillen

Theses and Dissertations

Hispanic female students are the minority population when it comes to taking higher level classes in the Science Technology Engineering and Math fields. According to Hinojosa, Rapaport, Jaciw, and Zacamy (2016), “STEM fields are defined here as majors in computer and information sciences, engineering and engineering technologies, biological and biomedical sciences, math and statistics, physical sciences, and science technologies” (p. 3). Traditionally, more boys enroll in STEM courses than girls. Hispanic and minority students, specifically Hispanic women, have been underrepresented in STEM education fields and careers. Why does STEM education matter for Hispanic female students? Because it gives Hispanic students …

An Assessment Of Physical And Microbial Dynamic Properties Sensitive To Tillage Practices In Hidalgo Sandy Clay Loam Soils, Rocio N. Hernandez

Theses and Dissertations

Mechanized tillage is known to impact the dynamic physical, biological and chemical properties of a given soil, and as a result, can cause systematic harm to the soil’s function (Alam et al., 2014). The aim of this study is to assess how a series of land management tillage practices will impact dynamic physical and biological soil health parameters such as aggregation, carbon, respiration, and enzymatic activity (β-glucosidase). According to Acir et al (2020), the aforementioned soil parameters are both co-influenced and dependent, indicating a response to tillage is likely. A total of 198 samples of Hidalgo series soils were collected …

Atomlbs: An Atom Based Convolutional Neural Network For Druggable Ligand Binding Site Prediction, Md Ashraful Islam

Theses and Dissertations

Despite advances in drug research and development, there are few and ineffective treatments for a variety of diseases. Virtual screening can drastically reduce costs and accelerate the drug discovery process. Binding site identification is one of the initial and most important steps in structure-based virtual screening. Identifying and defining protein cavities that are likely to bind to a small compound is the objective of this task. In this research, we propose four different convolutional neural networks for predicting ligand-binding sites in proteins. A parallel optimized data pipeline is created to enable faster training of these neural network models on minimal …

Development Of Vegetable Oil-Based Nano-Lubricants Using Ag, H-Bn And Mgo Nanoparticles As Lubricant Additives, Kollol Sarker Jogesh

Theses and Dissertations

Because of the harmful impact of petroleum-based lubricant on the environment and human body, vegetable oil-based lubricant with eco-friendly nanoparticles has a great potential to be an alternative lubricant if it possesses proper lubricating properties. In this study, thermal conductivity, viscosity and tribological properties (wear scar diameter and coefficient of friction) of vegetable oil-based nanolubricant, developed from soybean oil and sunflower oil, modified with Ag, h-BN and MgO nanoparticles as lubricant additives, were evaluated. For thermal conductivity evaluation, a line heat source method was used with KD2 Pro-Thermal Property Analyzer. For viscosity evaluation, Haake Mars 40-rheometer was used to evaluate …

Influence Of Pretreatments On Physiological Status And Post-Planting Survival Of Thornforest Seedlings In A Restoration Context, Douglas E. Mainhart

Theses and Dissertations

Semi-arid ecosystems across the globe have faced land conversion posing a threat to the important ecosystem services they provide. Revegetation-centered restoration efforts in arid regions have low success due to limited water availability and higher temperatures. Typically, practitioners utilize methods that modify field conditions around seedlings to mitigate these stressors. I evaluated the efficacy of in-nursery treatments to improve plant water status. Three pretreatments were applied: elevated CO2, drought hardening, and an antitranspirant foliar spray. My goal was to understand how these pretreatments would impact survival and growth in the field and what physiological traits they altered. Elevated CO2 and …