Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of `Lick And Stick' Passive Wireless Temperature Sensor For Harsh Environment, Hasanul Karim

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Wireless passive temperature sensors have been receiving increasing attention due to the ever-growing need of higher energy efficient and precise monitoring of temperatures in high temperature energy conversion systems such as gas turbines and coal-based power plants. Unfortunately, the harsh environment such as high temperature and corrosive atmosphere present in these systems has significantly limited the reliability and increased the cost of current solutions. Therefore, this research project presents the concept and design of a low cost, passive, and wireless temperature sensor that can withstand high temperature and harsh environment. The temperature sensor was designed following the principle of metamaterials …

Toward New Data And Information Management Solutions For Data-Intensive Ecological Research, Christine Marie Laney

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Ecosystem health is deteriorating in many parts of the world due to direct and indirect anthropogenic pressures. Generating accurate, useful, and impactful models of past, current, and future states of ecosystem structure and function is a complex endeavor that often requires vast amounts of data from multiple sources and knowledge from collaborating researchers. Ecological data collection has improved rapidly over the past few decades due to the development, innovation, and large scale deployment of automated sensors, which are capable of measuring a gamut of ecosystem properties over broad spatiotemporal scales. Although complex ecosystem models and analyses are increasingly parameterized with …

A Revision Of The New World Ants Of The Genus Platythyrea Roger 1863 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Mayra Janett Leyva

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The genus Platythyrea consists of arboreal ants that are rarely collected. The genus was last partially revised in 1975 by Brown. Since that revision two additional species have been described. The New World genus Platythyrea now includes nine species: P. angusta Forel, P. exigua Kempf, P. lenca De Andrade, P. pilosula (Smith), P. prizo Kugler, P. punctata (Smith), P. sinuata (Roger), P. strenua Wheeler and P. zodion Brown. A new key, illustrations, diagnoses and distributions of the ants are provided.

Method Development For A Chemical And Biological Analysis Of Glucocorticoids In Wastewater, Maria Carmen Lozano

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Glucocorticoids are a class of steroid hormones that can either be produced synthetically or naturally by the adrenal glands. The synthetic glucocorticoids are highly prescribed in the United States for their anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive properties to treat a variety of ailments and diseases; however, these have been implicated in a number of adverse human conditions such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, immune-suppression, delayed puberty, adrenal insufficiency and Cushing Syndrome, among others. Ongoing research has shown that synthetic and natural hormones are transported to aquatic environments via mammalian excretion or wastewater effluent, and as a result, the release of glucocorticoids into the …

Endocrine Disrupting Compound 4-Nonylphenol And Neurodegeneration, Jessica Martinez Jurado

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Neurodegeneration, a progressive loss of nerve cells (neurons), occurs in many neurological disorders including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Schizophrenia, and drug addiction. Cytoskeletal disruption in neurons and aggregation of proteins associated with these disorders is the hallmark of neurodegeneration. However, the cause of neurodegenerative disorders is unknown and currently there are no effective drug treatments. Aging is the most consistent risk factor for developing a neurodegenerative disorder, and recent evidence suggests that environmental factors, which act as endocrine disruptors, pose a risk in the disease process. 4- nonylphenol (4-NP), an endocrine-disrupting compound (EDC), has been shown to affect brain development …

Potential For Sylvatic Mammals And Stray Canines In Transmission Of Leishmaniasis And Trypanosoma Cruzi In Paso Del Norte Border Area, Jacqueline Alyssa Mariscal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Potential for sylvatic mammals and stray canines in transmission of leishmaniasis and Trypanosoma cruzi in Paso del Norte Border Area

Background. New World leishmaniasis is a zoonotic protozoal disease caused by various species of the genus Leishmania1. A number of mammalian species have been described as hosts for Leishmania2. Some of them also are considered to play important roles as disease reservoirs. Chagas' disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a potentially life-threatening illness caused by the protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, (T. cruzi)3. It is well recognized that T. cruzi is endemic in the United States, as evidenced by infections …

Sumoylation Exerts Minimal Effects On The Splicing Regulatory Activity Of The Influenza A Virus Non-Structural Protein Ns1, Griselda Melendez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

One of the greatest challenges facing the development of a universal treatment for influenza infection is the virus's ability to mutate rapidly and produce new antigenic properties. Targeting the viral components of one strain does not ensure that the treatment will be effective with a newly developed strain. One alternative would be to develop therapies that target cellular factors the virus depends on for survivability. One of these factors is the cellular SUMOylation system. We have previously demonstrated that the Small Ubiquitin-like MOdifier (SUMO) interacts with the influenza virus by SUMOylating several viral proteins and by affecting the interferon blocking …

Strategic Shift: Appraising Recent Changes In U.S. Defense Plans And Priorities, Richard L. Kugler, Linton Wells Ii

Books and Book Chapters

This paper examines major changes in U.S. defense plans and priorities that the Department of Defense (DOD) has issued through high level strategy and other guidance documents during 2012 and the beginning of 2013. It recommends that DOD “double down” in its pursuit of globally integrated operations through joint force integration in the context of the Capstone Concept for Joint Operations and the cross-domain synergy needed to operate effectively in the face of sophisticated adversaries.

Identification Of Kinase Signaling Pathways Inducing Morphological Changes In Dendritic Cells Upon Leptin Treatment, Marisol Ann O'Neill

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Leptin is a pleiotropic hormone secreted by white adipose tissue. Obesity leads to overexpression of leptin as a result of leptin receptor desensitization. Obese leptin serum levels (160ng/ml) have been found to enhance immune functions in macrophages, natural killer cells, B cells, T cells, and dendritic cells. Previous data from our lab suggests that obese concentrations of leptin cause morphological changes in DCs, although further studies are required to verify these results. We hypothesized that leptin promotes DC cytoskeletal changes though activation of PI3K signaling. Morphological and functional changes were evaluated in JAWS II immortalized DCs though microscopy, transwell migration, …

Manufacturing Nerve Guidance Conduits By Stereolithography For Use In Peripheral Nerve Regeneration, Mireya Aidee Perez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Nerve regeneration techniques have been studied in great depth in recent years. Peripheral nerve injuries, in particular, can be caused by accidents, falls, athletic injuries, etc. Current methods of repair include direct suturing of the 2 injured nerve ends or the use of autografts, when a nerve section is taken from another area of the body. Both methods have a series of limitations which have led researchers to study alternative methods of repair. Nerve guidance conduits may provide a viable solution because they can be modified and adapted to the patient's needs. Some conduits already exist on the market and …

Validating The Adidas Micoach And Nike+ Sport Kit For Estimating Pace, Distance And Energy Expenditure During Over-Ground Exercise, Justin Paul Porta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

There is currently no known published research validating the Adidas miCoach or Nike+ Sport Kit personal training systems for outdoor, over-ground walking and running. To validate these devices for estimating pace (min.km-1), distance (km) and energy expenditure (EE) (kcal·min-1) during outdoor over-ground walking and running for two different sensor configurations, 6 male and 8 female participants with moderate endurance training (Mean ± SE Age: 28.21 ± 2.27 y; Body Mass: 60.93 ± 2.97 kg; Height: 167.43 ± 2.09 cm; Percent Body Fat: 14.93 ± 1.94% (N=16); and VO2max: 54.44 ± 1.47 mL·kg-1·min -1) completed this study. The protocol consisted of …

Efficient, Scalable, Parallel, Matrix-Matrix Multiplication, Enrique Portillo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

For the past decade, power/energy consumption has become a limiting factor for large-scale and embedded High Performance Computing (HPC) systems. This is especially true for systems that include accelerators, e.g., high-end computing devices, such as Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), with terascale computing capabilities and high power draws that greatly surpass that of multi-core CPUs. Accordingly, improving the node-level power/energy efficiency of an application can have a direct and positive impact on both classes of HPC systems.

The research reported in this thesis explores the use of software techniques to enhance the execution-time and power-consumption performance of applications executed on a …

Propagation Of Interval And Probabilistic Uncertainty In Cyberinfrastructure-Related Data Processing And Data Fusion, Christian Servin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Data uncertainty affects the results of data processing. So, it is necessary to find out how the data uncertainty propagates into the uncertainty of the results of data processing. This problem is especially important when cyberinfrastructure enables us to process large amounts of heterogeneous data. In the ideal world, we should have an accurate description of data uncertainty, and well-justified efficient algorithms to propagate this uncertainty. In practice, we are often not yet in this ideal situation: the description of uncertainty is often only approximate, and the algorithms for uncertainty propagation are often not well-justified and not very computationally efficient. …

Adsorption Of Arsenic, Chromium, And Uranium From Saline Water On Clinoptilolite And The Treatment Of The Spent Regenerant By Duffusion Dialysis, Mutiu Olaitan Tanimola

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Among various water purification and recycling technologies, adsorption is a fast, inexpensive and universal method. The development of low-cost adsorbents has led to the rapid growth of research interests in this field. The objective of this present study is the optimization of process parameters in adsorption of arsenic, chromium and uranium ions. The adsorption behavior of natural zeolite (clinoptilolite) has been studied in order to determine its applicability in treating water containing arsenic, chromium and uranium. The multiple adsorption of arsenic As (V), trivalent chromium Cr (III)] and uranium (VI) on natural zeolite (clinoptilolite) in single component and multiple component …

Refining Molecular Approaches For Bacterial Source Tracking (Bst) In Texas, Joy Truesdale

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Bacterial source tracking (BST) is a new science that aids in identifying sources of human and animal fecal contamination of environmental water. There are currently two approaches used in BST, library-dependent and library-independent methods. The fecal bacterium E. coli is often used in library dependent methods because it indicates fecal contamination, has been used in human health risk assessments, and has water quality regulatory significance. A disadvantage of E. coli library dependent BST methods is that identification libraries of E. coli isolated from known fecal sources are needed to identify the sources of E. coli isolated from water samples. Further, …

Effect Of Hafnium-Incorporation On The Microstructure And Dielectric Properties Of Cobalt Ferrite Ceramics, Stephen Josiah Wells

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The effect of hafnium ion (Hf⁴⁺) incorporation in cobalt ferrite (CFO) was studied. Samples of Hf substituted CFO ceramic (CoFe_2-xHf_xO₄), were synthesized in the laboratory with hafnium concentrations ranging from x=0.000 to x=0.200. X-ray diffraction scans show that the Hafnium CFO crystalizes in the inverse spinel phase. Inclusion of hafnium causes lattice expansion, increasing the lattice parameter from 8.374 í? for pure CoFe2O4 to 8.391 í? for the highest concentration of hafnium tested (x=0.020). The dielectric properties of CFO are greatly enhanced by inclusion of hafnium. The enhancement is due to the …

Automatic Elucidation Of Gpi Molecular Structures With Grid Computing Technology, Juan Clemente Aguilar Bonavides

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored proteins are involved in many biological processes and are of medical importance. The identification and analysis of the entire collection of free and protein-linked GPIs within an organism (i.e., GPIomics) requires highly sensitive instruments. At present, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS or -MSⁿ) is the most efficient laboratory technique for these tasks. As a typical MSⁿ experiment produces hundreds of thousands of spectra, the data analysis creates a major bottleneck in high-throughput GPIomic projects. Yet, no computational tool for characterizing the chemical structures of GPI is available to date. We propose a library-search algorithm to …

A Systematic Approach To Manage Missing Data In Pavement Management Systems, Mazin M. Al-Zou'bi

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Pavements are an important part of the highway transportation infrastructure, accounting for the largest share of the overall investment. A tremendous amount of time and money is spent each year on the construction of new pavements, as well as on the maintenance and rehabilitation of existing pavements.

Transportation agencies use pavement management systems (PMS) for their maintenance and rehabilitation planning, programming, and budgeting. PMS are used to make decisions regarding when maintenance and rehabilitation should be applied. The systems also select what type of treatment should be applied for each pavement section in the network with clear estimations of the …

Optimization Of Stress Wave-Based Nondestructive Methods In Identifying Deterioration In Concrete Structures, Hoda Azari

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The transportation infrastructure across the United States is deteriorating and requires periodic inspection to predict the cost of repair and extent of maintenance activities, to remedy structural problems, and to ensure safety and serviceability. The use of nondestructive testing (NDT) methods in detecting and characterizing flaws in the infrastructure has become more common. Among different NDT methods, the stress wave-based methods, including ultrasonic surface waves (USW) and impact echo (IE) methods, are widely used to maintain concrete structures. In this dissertation, a complete literature review of seismic wave theory and wave propagation in plate like structures, and stress wave-based methods …

The Investigation Of The Practice Of Frugal Innovation Across Cultures And The Introduction Of An Instructional Model For Streamlining The Design Process, Andres Efren Bolanos

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The central objectives of this dissertation are to analyze frugal innovation, apply foundational methodologies that contribute to product design, and discover the important contextual information for successful development. This dissertation describes a systematic procedure in designing frugally innovated products. The institutional design will encompass environmental, social, and economic impacts into the entire products' life cycle. Also, a comparison is made between two developing nations' contextual factors to reveal the formulation of frugal innovation.

Size-Dependent Transitions In Grafted Polymer Brushes, Courtney Bosse

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Finding probabilities in order to solve for the most likely configuration of a grafted polymer chain is easily calculated by solving a random walk problem, starting form a given point (the surface). A property of the random walk is used to describe the partition function of a polymer in terms of a sum over possible loops configurations, which simplifies tremendously the problem of calculating the partition function of the grafted polymer. Instead of solving the non-interacting random walk that has been well studied in the theory of the probability, the focus is on the problem of self-interacting random walks, …

Exploring The Determinants Of Gay Rights Policies At The State Level: A Mixed Methods Approach, Daniel Elton Call

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Much of the literature on gay rights has focused broadly on identifying the causal factors that influence general public perceptions. To date, although scholars have conducted case studies at the state-level or looked at aggregate public opinion trends and their effects at the national level, no work has empirically examined state-level gay rights trends across numerous states. This study fills that gap by assessing the key relationships on the issue of same-sex marriage at the state-level, both systemically with aggregate data and across key states. Using 2007 data from the SurveyUSA polling firm, the American Community Survey (US Census Bureau …

Improved Efficiency Of Rna Secondary Structure Prediction Using Distributed Computing, Gerardo A. Cardenas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The rapidly growing amounts of available biomolecular sequence data, which may represent information from small gene fragments to large complete genomes, have led to the a great need for powerful computational resources for data analysis and storage. With the decoding of the human and other genomes, RNA secondary structure prediction has become an important area of interest in biology and medicine because they help in understanding the mechanisms of many biological processes such as gene regulation and viral replication, and in designing RNA-based therapies to treat various diseases. Due to the complexity of their algorithms, many existing and upcoming computational …

Three Essays Employing Cultural Value Theories To Explain Individual And National Differences In Ict Use/Adoption And Media Utilization Among Multiple Nations, Khendum Choden

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study investigates the impact of values on Information Communication Use/ adoption at an individual level and at the national level among advanced and emerging economies. We employ the use of Schwartz's individual values, Schwartz's cultural values and Hofstede's cultural values to empirically demonstrate its impact on multiple information communication technologies across advanced economies while controlling for demographics, GDP, income, and pronoun drop. We also study the moderating effects of culture on a variety of task characteristics and media use.

A Block Operator Splitting Method For Heterogeneous Multiscale Poroelasticity, Paul M. Delgado

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Traditional models of poroelastic deformation in porous media assume relatively homogeneous material properties such that macroscopic constitutive relations lead to accurate results. Many realistic applications involve heterogeneous material properties whose oscillatory nature require multiscale methods to balance accuracy and efficiency in computation.

The current study develops a multiscale method for poroelastic deformation based on a fixed point iteration based operator splitting method and a heterogeneous multiscale method using finite volume and direct stiffness methods. To characterize the convergence

of the operator splitting method, we use a numerical root finding algorithm to determine a threshold surface in a non-dimensional parameter space …

9/11 And The War On Terror: Iraq War Narratives And The Sacrifice Model, Janette Galvan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

What are Americans willing to sacrifice for war and during war? In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, American citizens weighed a trade-off between their security and their civil freedoms because of fear of another terrorist attack. The reasoning was that United States citizens were patriotic and in being so they were willing to sacrifice some civil liberties to win the war on terror to prevent future terrorist attacks, thereby ensuring their future safety and then, perhaps, recover the sacrificed civil freedoms. This thesis project focuses on the sacrifices Americans willingly made for and during the war on terror, sold …

The Effect Of Exogenous Leptin On Dendritic Cell Migration And Interactions With T Cells, Amanda L. Gonzales

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Obesity is a complex, chronic disease that has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and shows no indication of receding. It is a state of chronic low-grade inflammation that is initiated by morphological changes in large accumulations of adipose tissue. Leptin is a pleiotropic hormone secreted by adipose tissue, presenting a possible link between obesity and inflammation. In this study, we assessed the effect of leptin on bone marrow-derived (BM) dendritic cells (DC) (BM-DC) function, antigen presenting cells vital for the activation of naí¯ve T cells. Previous data produced in our laboratory established that the addition of leptin to …

The Impact Of Organizational Culture On Decisions To Use Comprehensive Performance Measurement Systems, Gaurav Gupta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Using the Contingency Approach to Management Accounting (Otley, 1980) and the Globe Study's (House et al., 2004) organizational culture model, the purpose of this dissertation is to examine the impact of organizational culture on the extent of the use of Comprehensive Performance Measurement Systems (CPMS) in Indian manufacturing organizations. The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is used as a proxy to CPMS in this research. Using a survey methodology, data were collected from 18-28 top management and other employees in each of the 48 manufacturing organizations in India for a total of 1,126 respondents. I conducted regressions to analyze the data. I …

Role Of Post-Translational Modifications In The Hiv Cofactor Activity Of Ledgf/P75, Denisse Adriana Gutierrez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

see document.

Examining The Effects Of Impression Management And Self-Deception On Self-Reports Of Alcohol Use And Alcohol Related Problems In Hispanic College Students And Municipal Firefighters, Kristen Eileen Hernandez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Researchers use survey methods in a variety of settings to assess health behaviors, chronic disease, and other health outcomes. Since most surveys rely on self-report from respondents, prevalence rates have been regarded with criticism on the assumption that some respondents are unwilling to divulge personal information about behaviors due to people's desires to maintain a good impression. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which self-reported drinking behavior correlates with measures of two known biases that may affect the validity of such report: Impression management and self-deception. The present study consisted of a secondary analysis …