Digital Commons Network^™

Factororacle: An Extensible Max External For Investigating Applications Of The Factor Oracle Automaton In Real-Time Music Improvisation, Adam James Wilson

Publications and Research

There are several extant software systems designed to generate music in real-time using a factor oracle automaton constructed from the musical input of a human improvisor. The impetus for the design of the factorOracle external is neither a desire to supersede these systems nor introduce novel algorithms for traversing the oracle, but rather to provide a fast, canonical interface for the automaton in Cycling74’s Max and, in future iterations, the Pure Data programming environment. Technical features of the factorOracle software are introduced here.

Analog:Digital, The Digital Spine: A 1 X 1 Strategy For Integrating Digital Tools In Foundation Design Studios, Ting Chin, Claudia E. Hernandez Feiks

Publications and Research

Architectural education today needs to foster the inherent conceptual and creative thought processes the profession demands but also knowledge of all of the tools that allow architects to create and produce their work. Over the last 25 years the number of digital tools used in the practice of architecture has increased exponentially. Incorporating these digital tools, together with analog ones still being taught in most undergraduate programs today, is overstretching already overloaded architectural curricula. This leaves us to consider how we maintain the quality of teaching as the quantity of content increases and the amount of time with students remains …

Creating Multi-Functional G-Code For Multi-Process Additive Manufacturing, Efrain Aguilera Jr

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Additive manufacturing (AM) started over thirty years ago and with it a manufacturing revolution that moves industrial production into the personal home. With recent interest shifting into multi-functional parts fabricated through AM technologies, unified systems are being developed. Merging different manufacturing technologies into one single machine is a challenge but undergoing research has shown promise in the development of multi-functional systems. Concurrent work is being done in the software, automation, and hardware aspect of multi-functional systems. An effort to use industry compatible Computer Aided Design (CAD) software to design multi-functional parts including circuits, micro-machining, and foil embedding then exporting and …

Prevalence Of Risk Factors For Metabolic Syndrome In Uninsured Hispanic Adults From Low Income Communities In El Paso, Texas, Juan Antonio Aguilera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) consists of a group of associated risk factors for cardiovascular disease and other related chronic diseases. In the U.S. it is estimated that nearly 35% of the adult population have metabolic syndrome. According to National Institutes of Health (NIH) guidelines risk factors for developing MetS include large waistline, high blood pressure, high triglyceride level, low high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol level, and elevated fasting blood glucose level. The goal of this study was to investigate the prevalence of risk factors for MetS among uninsured, low socioeconomic status adult Hispanics in El Paso, Texas. The study population resided …

Seismic Modeling, Rock Physics, Avo And Seismic Attribute Analysis For Illuminating Sandstone Facies Of The Late Ordovic Ian Mamuniyat Reservoir, R-Field, Murzuq Basin-Libya, Yousf Milad Abushalah

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Late Ordovician Mamuniyat Formation is the main hydrocarbon reservoir in the R-Field in Murzuq Basin, SW Libya. The Lower Mamuniyat, which is the only unit that was encountered in the study area, is composed of sandstone facies called Clean Mamuniyat and shaly sandstone facies called Dirty Mamuniyat. One major problem with the development of the R-Field is the difficulty of distinguishing the two units so this project was aimed to develop better methods for distinguishing between the two units of the Lower Mamuniyat. The other problem is to distinguish the transgressive shaly facies of the Bir Tlacsin, which has …

A Mother's Love: A Personal Journey Of Self-Discovery, Self-Love And Unyielding Perseverance, Olga Alexander

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In today’s world, being a stay-at-home mom still carries a stigma whether one chooses to stay at home or one is forced to by unforeseeable circumstances. My master’s thesis is a personal narrative, written through the scope of an autoethnography. It envelopes the vulnerability surrounding the internal conflict, and external interference and influence of cultural, societal, and familial norms. The purpose of this autoethnography is to share my own experience with identity crisis, loss of career, and embracing the identity of being the mother of a special-needs child, and to share my personal struggle with the pressure in having to …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Uranyl Dipyrrin Complexes For Environmental Applications, Duer Bolotaulo Bolotaulo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are toxic chemicals that adversely affect the health of human populations as well as the environment. The need to develop remediation methods and materials as well as understand the mechanisms in which they can degrade POPs is necessary. Furthermore, heterogeneous phase metal based catalysts in place today do not fully understand the chemistry underlying degradation processes. The proposed research seeks to synthesize and characterize uranyl dipyrrin complexes to assess and understand the reactivity of uranyl dipyrrins with pollutants. Photophysical and electrochemical techniques will be used to characterize and determine the viability of utilizing the uranyl complexes …

Making Decisions Affecting Oneself Versus Others: The Mediating Effect Of Interpersonal Closeness And Dark Triad Traits, Jessica R. Carre

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The payment incentives of portfolio managers and investors are often asymmetrical such that actions that benefit the portfolio manager can harm the client and vice-versa. Despite the presence and potential harm of these asymmetries, relatively little research has investigated self and other decision making broadly. There has also been few attempts to address the effect of reward asymmetries. Additionally, despite the presence of reward asymmetries not every portfolio manager will make risky decisions for their clients, which suggests the presence of an individual difference characteristic. This study addresses these knowledge gaps by examining the effect of interpersonally manipulative personality traits …

Treadmill-Based Perturbation Training For Preventing Falls Among Young Adults, Patrick Anthony Cereceres

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Falls present a serious challenge not only among older adults, but for young adults, especially those whose working conditions exposes them to a high fall hazard. Treadmill-based perturbation training, as a task-specific training modality, has emerged as a new paradigm used to prevent falls. However, the training program in previous studies contained up to 30 perturbation trials. It is unclear if a reduced number of perturbation trials could still induce positive effect in preventing falls. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a treadmill-based perturbation training paradigm consisting of 8 slip perturbations on reducing slip-related falls …

Orbic Bards: Religious Liberalism And The Problems Of Representation In The Postbellum Works Of Walt Whitman And Herman Melville, Anthony Gus Cohen

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In an attempt to reconcile the critical camps that attempt either to christianize or otherwise, "scripturize" nineteenth century literary texts with the converse, which attempts to paint them cynically as "infidel countertexts" this project seeks to find a middle ground. The works of Herman Melvile and Walt Whitman steeped in the increasingly liberal religious atmosphere of New York City following the Civil War, both strive to offer up an impressively accurate historical and poetical record, free from the problems of hearsay that nagged the deists and transcendentalists, and instead attempted to offer something that instead was nearer to reason, and …

Materials Characterization Of Deposits On Starboard (Inboard) Elevon Actuator Shaft Recovered From Space Shuttle Columbia, Mayra Contreras

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

With the new era of space exploration upon us and the Orion spacecraft currently being tested, which would replace the Space Shuttle as the orbiter that will transport humans into space once again, safety assurance is the main component for a successful mission. Aerospace materials have always played a big role when it comes to safety assurance. Having the knowledge of what materials are suitable to keep using when designing the future spacecraft that will take humans to Mars is fundamental in order to be confident that the vehicle and all that comprises it will function as envisioned. Expanding the …

Containing Communism In Texas: How The Right Interpreted The Cold War, 1945-1965, Frank Delao Delao

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The United States Cold War policy was based on Containment: a strategy of containing communism where it existed and keeping it from spreading throughout the rest of the world. The Red Scare was a manifestation of the perceived failures to fully accomplish that goal. A belief existed that communists had infiltrated into the U.S. and were threatening to derail American society. In Texas, that fear was attached to changes taking place in society that either went against the status quo or simply threatened the traditional way of life in the state. The radical Right viewed communism as the main influence …

Living With A Hero, Grayson Edds

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Living with a Hero is an original fiction piece. It tells the story of four military wives who have to rediscover their husbands after return from deployment. The Marines come home and display different symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder.

We Who Have Never Bled, Betty Frances Fisher

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The poetry in We Who Have Never Bled explores landscapes of the personal and the mythic, centering women in a position of both traveler on and witness to this journey that is both violent and hopeful, both personal and universal.

Rewriting, Recapturing, Reenvisioning: Writing Assessment Revisited In The Hermeneutic Sphere, Judith Ann Fourzan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation explores the use of hermeneutics in reconsidering the role of writing assessment in composition. The traditional view of writing assessment is negative. In order to change this traditional view and enable composition faculty to utilize writing assessment and a valuable and necessary tool, a hermeneutic sphere offers the best framework upon which to recast writing assessment as part of composition and writing. A hermeneutic sphere is an interpretive methodology that allows for the investigation of any and all aspects of the subject at hand - in this case, writing assessment. The hermeneutic sphere works much like a heuristic …

Gender Differences In Risk Behaviors And Health Outcomes Due To Methamphetamine Use In A Mexico-U.S. Border City, Priscilla Guevara

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

BACKGROUND: Methamphetamine (meth) is a stimulant known to affect the central nervous system (CNS). When individuals are under the influence of meth, their judgment is impaired which can lead them to make irrational decisions and engage in high-risk behaviors, such as having unprotected sex and needle sharing. Thus the behaviors of meth users can place them at high risk of contracting infectious diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Few studies highlight gender differences in meth use, fewer studies address high-risk behaviors and health outcomes attributed to meth use by gender. El Paso, TX …

New Organosilicon Chemistry, Paulina Elena Gonzalez Navarro

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The formation of siloxymethylamine intermediates R3SiOCH 2NMe2, 1, as initial products of the reduction of DMF by hydrosilanes catalyzed by Mo(CO)5NMe3 has been reported. These siloxymethylamines can react with R’3SiH to form trimethylamine and disiloxanes, and with chlorosilanes to form disiloxanes and ClCH 2NMe2, Eschenmoser’s salt. I shall illustrate, in Chapter 1, how attempts to react 1, formed in situ in the presence of chlorosilanes R’3SiCl in the hope producing heterosilyl disiloxanes, R3SiOSiR’3, was not successful but led to a newly discovered activation of the Si-Cl bond by DMF.

In Chapter 2, we surmised that 1 acts as a transient …

Numerical Calculation Of Spatially Variant Anisotropic Metamaterial, Asad Ullah Hil Gulib

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is rapidly evolving into a mainstream manufacturing technology that is creating new opportunities for electromagnetics and circuits. 3D printing permits circuits to fully utilize the third dimension allowing more functions in the same amount of space and allows the devices to have arbitrary form factors. 3D printing is letting us discover new physics that is not possible in standard 2D circuits and devices. However, evolving electromagnetics and circuits into three dimensions introduces some serious problems like thermal management, interference, and mutual coupling between the components which degrades performance and hurts signal integrity.

Metamaterials are engineered …

Sparse Matrix Diagonalization In The Nrlmol Electronic Structure Code, Md Mahmudulla Hassan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Density functional theory (DFT) based simulations are playing a major role in quantum mechanical studies of materials ranging from molecules, nanoparticles to the biological systems as they offer insights that are not directly accessible from experiments and also due to their ability to make sufficiently accurate predictions. The DFT implementation in the NRLMOL electronic structure code employs Gaussian basis sets to express the Kohn-Sham orbitals. A major computationally demanding task in the electronic structure calculations is solution of the generalized eigenvalue problem, that is the determination of nontrivial solutions (λ, c) of Hc = λOc where H and O are …

On An Iteration Method For Solving A Class Of Nonlinear Matrix Equations, Mohamed Illafe

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis, I looked at the most recent extension of the Banach Contraction Principle [1]. Then I show that a concept of Sorgenfrey space may be used to explain this extension as well as Ran and Reurings fixed point theorem.

Density Functional Study Of Reactivity And Regioselectivity Of H2o@C60, Govinda Bahadur Kc

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The exohedral reactivity of endohedral fullerene has aroused significant interest because of its potential applications in biology, medicine and material science. The encapsulation of a single water molecule without any hydrogen bonding to other compounds, inside the hydrophobic environment of C60 is an intriguing topic to study about. In 2011, Kurotobi and Murata successfully synthesized H2O@C60 fullerene. The presence of a polar water molecule inside the cage is expected to cause changes in the exohedral reactivity of C60. In order to find out the impact of an entrapped single water molecule on the reactivity of C60 fullerene, we use density …

Removal Of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds From Water And Wastewater Using Ecofriendly Materials, Alma Lili Loya Posada

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are compounds considered pollutants of emerging concern. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) defines emerging pollutants as new chemicals without regulatory status and with an impact on the environment and human health that is poorly understood. Bisphenol A (BPA) has been considered an EDC and found to be ubiquitous in the environment because of its presence in a multitude of products including food and beverage packaging, flame retardants, adhesives, building materials, electronic components, and paper coatings Currently, BPA is not regulated by the federal government in the US and waste water treatment plants are not …

Spatiotemporal Variability Of Plant Phenology In Drylands: A Case Study From The Northern Chihuahuan Desert, Naomi Robin Luna

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

With global change, which includes climate change, there is a sense of urgency to understand how shifts in climate will affect ecosystems. Although several studies have improved understanding of how and why some ecosystems respond, most studies have not explored simultaneous responses of different land cover types throughout a given region. Dryland ecosystems, such as the Chihuahuan Desert, appear to respond to climate variability and currently make up about 40% of global land surface area. It is expected that drylands will expand to cover 60% of land surface area on earth by mid-century making this ecosystem more critical to global …

Modeling And Characterization Of Piezoelectric Based Multifunctional Structures, Ricardo Martinez Hernandez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Continuous monitoring of high pressure and high temperature in energy system applications has been a developing research area in today’s energy sector. Multifunctional materials have the potential to provide real-time monitoring of structures where temperature and pressure sensing is critical to its performance and efficiency. In this study, multifunctional materials are studied by embedding piezoelectric materials with two ongoing technologies, woven fabric composites and additive manufacturing (AM). The AM technology allows the flexibility of embedding a sensor within the structure, all while not compromising the mechanical performance requirements. The “smart parts” are fabricated modifying the standard additive manufacturing process, using …

Equation Of State Of A Dense And Magnetized Neutron System, Md Masud

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Neutron stars (NSs) are the windows to check the validation of physical laws at extreme conditions, for example, at very high densities and strong magnetic fields and thus to reach the equations of state (EoS) for a better understanding of the structure as well as the composition of the NSs. In our investigations, it is found that the system's (NSs) pressure becomes anisotropic due to the breaking of rotational symmetry in the presence of strong magnetic fields, which even can be significantly sufficient to lead into the deformation of NSs or to destroy itself.

A Theory Of Animal Oppression, Sharon Stephania Murillo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

American society is characterized by indifference toward the notion of animal rights. Americans are unaware or often ignore the fact that “more than 9,000,000 farm animals die each year in the U.S. and exceeds 70 billion globally.” More than 6,000,000 animals die every hour, and die every second in slaughterhouses around the world. These numbers reflect the reality of American meat consumption. In this thesis, I will argue that individuals often ignore the impact of animal exploitation and as the “oppressors”, such that we do not even realize that we are oppressing animals and committing an injustice.We have the false …

Happily Ever After And Other Lies My Childhood Told Me, Rachel Anna Neff

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A manuscript-length book of poetry with a critical preface centered on the idea of mythology, nursery rhymes, and foundational (Western) fictions and how the cultural norms and expectations that those texts create influence an individual, particularly with respect to gender and gender identity.

Wettability Of Magnesium Based Alloys, Victor Manuel Ornelas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The premise of this project was to determine the wettability behavior of Mg-based alloys using three different liquids. Contact angle measurements were carried out along with utilizing the Zisman method for obtaining values for the critical surface tension. Adhesion energy values were also found through the use of the Young-Dupre equation. This project utilized the Mg-based alloy Mg-2Zn-2Gd with supplemented α-Minimum Essential Medium (MEM), Phosphate Buffer Saline solution (PBS), and distilled water. These three liquids are commonly used in cell cultivation and protein adsorption studies. Supplemented α-MEM consisted of α-MEM, fetal bovine serum, and penicillin-streptomycin. Mg-2Zn-2Gd was used because of …

Francisco's Flowers, Kristopher Andrew Paul

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Francisco's Flowers is a collection of short stories, and flash fiction, where the character interaction leads into the next short story showing the interconnectedness of life and how our choices may end up affecting the lives of others.

Application Of Secondary Analyses On Industrial Data Sets, Luis G. Perez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Secondary analysis on quantitative data sets is the in-depth analysis of relationships, trends, patterns or behaviors that are not obvious from a superficial examination of data but that can be very germane in the application of that data. The present work presents a framework for investigators to use in applying secondary analysis on big data that correlates to the research topic. The framework can facilitate the illumination of possible data behaviors or patterns that could be useful in arriving at an answer to a question. Behavior of monitored equipment (analyzers, meters, etc.) can easily be depicted and can be used …