Digital Commons Network^™

Mining Legacy And Wildfires: Interfacial Reactions Affecting Metal Mobility, Eresay Alcantar-Velasquez

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

We identified water labile interfacial reactions between laboratory burned pinewood ash and mine waste solids that influence metal mobilization. The Upper Gallinas Creek Watershed in New Mexico is affected by wildfires and mining legacy. Pinewood and mine waste sediments were sampled from the area, and the pinewood was burned at 350°C to simulate medium burn intensity ignition. Rapid desorption and gradual dissolution of Mn and Fe was detected by ICP-MS as pH decreased over time. After reacting 18 MΩ ultra-pure water with a mixture of pinewood ash and mine waste sediments Fe (143%) and Mn (89.2%) concentrations increased over time. …

On Food, Politics, And The Power Of Representation In The American History Museum, Mason A. Bright

Museum Studies Theses

This study explores the political implications of foodways-related interpretation at American history institutions, situating it within current partisan discourse. Using an “Anthropology of Museums” framework, I place literature from the fields of food history, human geography, and museum studies in conversation with interviews with three curatorial professionals from the National Museum of American History, the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, and the New Mexico History Museum. I understand the ways these professionals navigate politically engaged interpretation through the lens of ethnographic refusal, a phenomenon drawn from the anthropology subfield of resistance studies. I argue that the connections between food …

Gradients Of Abandonment, William Tatman

Geography ETDs

As urban-rural disparities drive depopulation in rural areas worldwide, local strategies emerge as pathways for resilience. Research on Ojika, a Japanese island that has lost 75% of its population since the 1960s, reveals an Abandonment Gradient: a nuanced pattern of disuse adapted to modern polycrises. Extending the concept of "lying fallow" to homes and infrastructure, this thesis focuses on abandonment practices that reflect complex realities of labor, capital, and climate uncertainty. Rather than viewing depopulating communities as passive victims of out-migration, this paper argues they are critical sites for generating crisis response. Communally crafted attitudes toward unused space and more-than-human …

A Contextual And Sonic Analysis Of John Coltrane’S First Meditations, Matt Lind

Music ETDs

This thesis presents a contextual and sonic analysis of John Coltrane’s album First Meditations recorded in 1965. I use methods based on Dora Hanninen’s A Theory of Music Analysis to examine sonic and contextual aspects of Coltrane’s playing, including varying timbres, rhythmic tendencies, and contextual relationships in musical material. I consider pitch material from the perspective of “outside” playing, rather than traditional harmonic analysis. Considering areas of pitch, rhythm, and timbre allows the visualization of these features across each track in the album in five musical “plots.”

Cbd's Impact On Learning, Memory, And Anxiety: A Dose Response, Audrey Camacho

Psychology ETDs

Cannabidiol (CBD) is widely utilized for its therapeutic properties, yet its impact on an unmanipulated model at baseline behavior remains poorly understood. This study investigates CBD’s dose-dependent behavioral profile on spatial learning, memory, and anxiety using Long-Evans rats. Subjects received a vehicle, 20 mg/kg, or 40 mg/kg CBD dose prior to assessment in the Morris Water Task (MWT) and Elevated Plus Maze (EPM). MWT results indicated consistent Day 1 learning, but the 40 mg/kg dose induced a temporary disruption 24 hours post-treatment. Performance returned to baseline by day 6. On the EPM, traditional anxiety markers remained unchanged. While CBD did …

Elucidation Of Micro/Nanoplastic Signature Of Human And Murine Lung Tissue Utilizing Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry, Aerlin D. Decker

Pharmaceutical Sciences ETDs

Micro-and Nanoplastics (MNPs) are ubiquitous biological pollutants that have been identified throughout a variety of biological samples. MNPs have been detected in several human tissues, such as the brain, kidneys, and liver. Lung tissue remains understudied for MNP accumulation despite the large surface area and clear path for exposure. Using Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (Py-GC/MS), human lung tissue was evaluated for 12 different polymers, enabling quantification of total plastic per gram of tissue to be identified. Further analysis was performed with Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) to investigate heavy metal accumulation in human lung samples and determine whether a …

Making Meaning Of Gendered Experiences: A Mixed Methods Analysis Among U.S. College Students, Andrea Bancroft

Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

Gender inequities rooted in patriarchal norms shape the experiences of college-going emerging adults across many domains, often to the detriment of young women. In this study, we applied a mixed-methods approach to analyzing how college students interpret and make meaning from gendered experiences, and how the meaning making process relates to these emerging adults’ sense of university belonging. Participants provided written narratives of a gendered experience and completed a survey about university belonging. Through our qualitative analyses of the narrative responses, we identified four themes that represent cultural socialization messages that these participants engaged with in their narratives: bioessentialism, expectations …

Water Availability Regulates Maize Reliance On Soil Versus Fertilizer Nitrogen In A Semiarid Environment, Dwarika Bhattarai, Janet Moriles Miller, Sharon A. Clay, David E. Clay

Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science Faculty Publications

In semiarid environments, early-season water deficits create uncertainty in how much and when N fertilizer should be applied. To minimize indecision, a better understanding of the interrelationships among water availability, N rate, plant N sources, and yields is needed. This study investigated how soil water availability influenced maize (Zea mays L.) yields and utilization of soil- and fertilizer-derived N in semiarid environments in 2020 and 2021. The replicated trials were conducted at 12 sites and determined the impact of water availability and N rate on the sources of N within the grain, and precipitation and N use efficiencies (PUE …

The Mediating Role Of Moral Disengagement In The Relationship Between Facets Of Empathy And Aggression, Romiere J. Horace

Theses

Aggression is a major social and public health concern with economic, psychological, and interpersonal implications. Extensive research has examined the potential antecedents for aggressive behavior, with many different environmental, biological, and intrapsychic factors being significantly associated with aggression. Researchers have also focused on cognitive mechanisms, like empathy, as a protective factor for aggression. More specifically, research has linked lower levels of empathy to higher levels of aggression; however, the underlying mechanisms of this relationship remain underexplored. A potential explanatory mechanism is moral disengagement, which allows individuals to justify harmful behaviors and avoid self-sanctions. However, limited research has examined these constructs …

Womanhood On The Veranda: Maternalism And The Expansion Of American Women's Public Life, Abigail J. Swanson

History ETDs

Motherhood and child welfare became central organizing principles for reform during the United States Progressive Era.  From these guiding principles, the government formed the United States Children’s Bureau. It was the country's first governmental agency that focused solely on the welfare of children. Mothers writing to the federal government for motherhood advice was a phenomenon that was completely new to twentieth century mothers. Women took pride in their roles as mothers, particularly when it came to child health matters. To the generation of mothers who came before these early twentieth century letter writers, asking the government for advice on child …

De Novo Pyrimidine Synthesis Controls Germinal Center B Cell And Plasma Cell Fates And Systemic Autoimmunity, Julia L. Weber, Tien Bui, Keomonyroth Nuon, Adam J. Fike, Sophia M. Crocker, Kristen N. Bricker, Anju Maharjan, Wujuan Zhang, Aaron R. Goldman, Sathi Babu Chodisetti, Ziaur S. M. Rahman

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

Whether and how pyrimidine metabolites promote systemic autoimmunity is unknown. Here, metabolomics and 15N-amide glutamine tracing show enhanced flux through de novo pyrimidine synthesis in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)-prone B cells. Temporal inhibition of pyrimidine synthesis dampens SLE-prone but not foreign antigen-specific germinal center (GC), plasma cell (PC), and antibody responses. Uridine monophosphate synthase (UMPS) conditional deletion, however, reveals a B cell-intrinsic requirement of de novo pyrimidine synthesis in foreign antigen-driven and SLE-prone GC, PC, and antibody responses and kidney immune complex deposition. Metabolomics, mitochondrial stress test, metabolic flow cytometry, glycolytic rate assay, and RNA sequencing highlight the importance of …

Tracking Daily Coparenting Quality: Validation And Utility Of The Polish D‐Cop, Dorota M. Jankowska, Boguslawa Lachowska, Brandon T. Mcdaniel

Health Services and Informatics Research

Objective: To adapt and validate the Polish Daily Coparenting Scale (D- Cop PL) and to test its utility for modeling day-to-day coparenting quality.

Background: Daily coparenting quality varies across daily contexts; brief, ecologically valid tools to capture within-person change are scarce.

Methods: A 7-day diary study with 178 dual-income Polish parents of young children was conducted. Confirmatory factor analysis tested the two-factor structure (positive and negative daily coparenting dimensions), reliability, and convergent validity; measurement invariance examined factorial equivalence across mothers and fathers. Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale, and Shape (GAMLSS) estimated same-day daily associations between coparenting quality: parental negative …

A Waste-To-Fuel Approach: Utilizing Parkia Speciosa Peel Extract For Green Synthesis Of Zno Nanocatalyst, Nurul Zannah Siregar, Vivi Sisca, Isalmi Aziz, Wulandari Wulandari, Dicky Annas

Baghdad Science Journal

Biodiesel can be made by a transesterification reaction using a ZnO catalyst. This research aims to synthesize and characterize the ZnO catalyst and test its activity in producing biodiesel from waste cooking oil. ZnO was synthesized by the one-pot phytosynthesis method by adding petai peel (Parkia speciosa Hassk). ZnO catalyst size 42.9 nm. The resulting surface area and pore size are 7.629 m²/g and 1.693 nm, respectively. The particle size and constituent components of the ZnO catalyst are 93.21 nm with 82.3% (Zn) and 17.7% (O). FTIR spectra confirmed the formation of metal-oxide stretching at wave number 511 …

K-12 Teachers’ Perspectives On The Adoption Of Virtual Reality And Augmented Reality Technology In Classroom Instruction, Breanna Mckenley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem addressed in this basic qualitative study was that although some K–12 teachers have access to virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies, these tools are not widely accepted or adopted for classroom instruction. Guided by the technology acceptance model, the purpose of the study was to explore K–12 teachers’ perspectives on their willingness to incorporate VR/AR, the perceived usefulness and ease of use of these technologies, and the challenges they encounter or anticipate during the adoption process. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 10 K-12 teachers from public, charter, and private schools in the United States who had …

Under Pressure: Negative Urgency And Disordered Eating In The Context Of Parental Differential Support, Hamide Gozu, Jenna K. Rieder

College of Humanities and Sciences Faculty Papers

Disordered eating behaviors are prevalent in emerging adulthood and may be shaped by family dynamics. This study examined associations among maternal and paternal differential support, weight-shape concerns, and binge eating and compensatory behaviors in emerging adulthood, while testing the moderating role of negative urgency. Participants were 517 emerging adults from across the United States (ages 18-29; M = 22.60, SD = 3.81; 76% female). Participants reported on parental differential support, weight-shape concerns, eating behaviors, and negative urgency. Using moderated-mediation analyses, we found that weight-shape concerns mediated associations between differential support and eating behaviors. Unequal maternal support and paternal favoritism showed …

Tinyml-Based Embedded Vision System For Ic Detection In Microcontroller Manufacturing, Mark M. Pallones, King Harold A. Recto, Rynne Daven A. Barrios

Electronics, Computer, and Communications Engineering Faculty Publications

Mixing of microcontroller unit (MCU) integrated circuits (ICs) during the final testing stage of semiconductor manufacturing can lead to material waste, production delays, and customer dissatisfaction. This issue often occurs when standard JEDEC Matrix Trays (JMTs) are reused without confirming that all ICs have been removed after testing, a process typically performed through manual inspection and therefore susceptible to human error due to high test volumes, small IC package sizes, and visual similarity between IC packages and tray surfaces. This study develops an automated IC Detection Test System using embedded vision to determine whether JMT trays are empty prior to …

Zno-Functionalized Cotton Textiles With Enhanced Antibacterial Activity, Moisture Management, And Wear Comfort, Md Ariful Islam, Md Mehedi Hassan, Md Tanvir Hossain, Jakir Hossain Ridoy, Ahasan Habib

Michigan Tech Publications

Nowadays, cotton textiles with metal oxide nanoparticle functionality exhibit promising antibacterial applications; although many aspects have been tested, fabric comfort and moisture-related performance have not been sufficiently explored. In this study, cotton (twill) fabric has been functionalized by synthesizing ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) via a controlled exhaustion process followed by thermal fixation. The synthesized nanoparticles are characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), whereas scanning electron microscopy (SEM) proves the surface morphology. Antibacterial evaluation shows effective activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, with a large inhibition zone (35-36 mm) and a ∼99% reduction in bacterial …

Elucidation Of Spin-Hamiltonian Parameters Via Spectroscopy, Magnetization, And Computation, Joshua C. Mengell

Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

Molecular Quantum Information Science (QIS) is fundamentally concerned with using spin-systems as quantum bits (qubits) or as sensors. Prerequisite to using molecular systems for QIS applications, it must be understood how one can design molecules with bespoke magnetic characteristics. Herein we study various paramagnetic molecular compounds, describing their complex magnetic characteristics using a spin-Hamiltonian formalism. We utilize various (sometimes novel) methods for determining these spin-Hamiltonian parameters. Many of these molecules possess magnetic characteristics, which make them attractive as qubits or for sensing applications. These characteristics include higher total spin-states (qudits—S_T>1/2), forbidden interstate electronic transitions, systems of spatially distant …

Examining Conditional Indirect Media Effects Through Normative Perceptions: The Role Of Traditional Family Gender Role Expectations And Stigmatizing Beliefs In Human Papillomavirus Vaccination, Moonsun Choi

Communication ETDs

This dissertation examines how indirect media effects operate through normative perceptions within a gendered and stigmatized health context of HPV vaccination. Specifically, this study investigates how these normative mediation processes are conditioned by traditional family gender role expectations at the norm formation stage and stigmatizing beliefs about HPV vaccination at the normative influence stage. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with mothers of children aged 9 – 12 in the United States in June 2025. The key findings show that while gendered perceptions of HPV vaccination persist, the underlying normative mechanism operated in similar ways across gender-referent contexts. Injunctive norms were …

Uv Damage Mapping Reveals Different Impacts Of Xpd Mutations On Global Genomic And Transcription-Coupled Dna Repair, Allyson Hoag

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Nucleotide Excision Repair (NER) is a fundamental cellular process that removes bulky and helical distorting lesions from the genome through the separate responses of its two subpathways – global genomic (GG-NER) and transcription coupled (TC-NER) DNA repair. The pathways converge with the recruitment of the TFIIH complex, a key step that is mediated by the translocase and helicase activities of  its XPD subunit. Germline mutations in XPD result in the clinical disorders, Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP) and XP combined with Cockayne Syndrome (XP/CS). The goal of this thesis was to understand if XPD XP and XP/CS mutations differentially impact GG-NER and …

Mapping And Modeling Threat-Evoked Brain States After Early Life Adversity, Taylor W. Uselman

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Early life adversity (ELA) increases lifelong neuropsychiatric vulnerability. Yet how ELA reorganizes brain-wide activity and circuit coordination across later experience remains unclear. This dissertation tests the hypothesis that ELA alters adult brain-wide activity and responses to threat through disrupted coordination among neural systems that regulate emotional experience, including prefrontal-limbic and monoaminergic systems. Longitudinal manganese-enhanced MRI of adult mice exposed to standard or fragmented early care, combined with computational processing and statistical modeling, quantified brain states before, during, and long after innate predator threat. These studies established that acute threat evokes large-scale, distributed brain activity that evolves over time. ELA potentiates …

Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Induces Vulnerability To Mild Stress Through Heightened Limbic Glial Activation And Cytokine Release, Justine R. Zimmerly

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) results from prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) and is linked to development of mood disorders, which in turn are driven by dysregulation of the sympathetic nervous system, the neuroendocrine hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, and the central nervous system (CNS) neuroimmune response to stressors. PAE alters brain glial activation and proinflammatory cytokine expression through secondary challenges such as psychological stressors. The goals of the experiments presented in this dissertation were to 1) examine peripheral glucocorticoid receptor function following mild acute stress in adult PAE offspring, 2) characterize a sensitized cytokine stress response in the hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex, …

Mechanisms Of Advanced And Energy Efficient Wastewater Treatment Technologies, Derek Belka

Civil Engineering ETDs

This dissertation combines meta-omics, microbial ecology, and hydrodynamic analysis to explore mechanisms of enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) and aerobic granular sludge (AGS) in municipal wastewater treatment. Metagenomic and functional gene profiling of a laboratory sequencing batch reactor fed with amino acids and proteins, and with a low abundance of known polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs), revealed abundant Herpetosiphonaceae and Dermatophilaceae families possessed key PAO metabolic traits, including phosphate scavenging, anaerobic carbon pathways, and ppk2 gene variants aligned with established PAOs. These findings suggest amino acid-driven EBPR can occur via previously unrecognized taxa, challenging current engineering assumptions and highlighting the need for …

Wildfire Impacts On Fluvial Hydrology From Watershed To National Scales, Paige G. Tunby

Civil Engineering ETDs

Wildfires alter the water quantity and quality in downstream river networks. Fires promote biodiversity, maintain habitat, and provide many ecosystem services in a fire-adapted landscape. However, changes in the natural fire regimes can alter ecosystem function and threaten the water security of impacted downstream communities. The magnitude, timing, and persistence of these impacts are difficult to predict due to the lack of high-resolution datasets with adequate coverage to evaluate spatiotemporal trends after a fire. This dissertation moves us beyond the status quo to evaluate post-fire fluvial responses across scales, from the event-scale impacts after the Hermit’s Peak-Calf Canyon wildfire in …

Myeloid Mmp14 Couples Extracellular Proteolysis To Inflammatory And Metabolic Remodeling During Obesity, Long J Shao, Fathima Elizondo, Feng Gao, Elizabeth L Lieu, Bharati Reddi, Maryam Elizondo, Iqbal Mahmud, Kristin Eckel-Mahan, Philipp E Scherer, Xin Ge, Huaizhu Wu, Sean Hartig, Kai Sun

The Brown Foundation: Institute of Molecular Medicine

Macrophages orchestrate tissue remodeling, inflammation, and metabolic dysfunction in obesity, but the role of macrophage-intrinsic extracellular proteolysis in immunometabolic regulation remains unclear. Matrix metalloproteinase-14 (MMP14), a membrane-bound protease, is strongly induced during monocyte-to-macrophage differentiation and further elevated in adipose tissue macrophages from high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice. Pharmacological inhibition or myeloid-specific deletion of Mmp14 impaired macrophage differentiation, proliferation, migration, phagocytosis, and inflammatory activation in response to obesity-associated adipose tissue signals. Mechanistically, MMP14 promoted inflammatory programming by increasing endotrophin generation and enhancing TLR4-NFκB signaling. MMP14 also reprogrammed macrophage lipid metabolism by suppressing lipolysis and promoting lipid accumulation, altering metabolic communication with neighboring …

Good Impressions At Work: Exploring Gendered Labor In The Middle Rio Grande, Nm Ad 1100-1500, William F. Marquardt

Anthropology ETDs

This dissertation investigates changes in the gendered division of labor among potters in the Middle Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico (MRG) between A.D. 1100 and 1500. During this time, diverse groups coalesced into some of the largest communities seen in the region until the industrial era. New architectural, technological, religious, and trade practices emerged to help knit these communities together during a dynamic period of change. Pottery making practices changed alongside other developments transforming from manufacture for local consumption to surplus production for exchange. Previous research on gendered divisions of labor have largely portrayed gendered labor as static rather than …

Algorithmic Sculpting Of Complex Fused Silica Surfaces For Nondestructive, Mode-Matched Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics: Adaptive Co2 Milling And Simulation-Guided Ultrafast Inscription, From Fiber Fabry-Perot Cavities To Monolithic Architectures, Meagan E. Parker

Optical Science and Engineering ETDs

Quantum sensors achieve exceptional measurement sensitivity through coherent, well-isolated quantum systems, but practical deployment is hindered by destructive readouts that require repeated state preparation and create long system dead times. Optical cavities enable continuous, nondestructive measurements with minimal back-action, yet integrating high-finesse cavities into scalable quantum devices remains limited by existing fabrication methods. To overcome these constraints, an adaptive CO₂ laser-milling platform was developed. Guided by glass thermodynamics and melt dynamics, this closed-loop system uses in-situ phase-shifting interferometry to sculpt complex fused-silica surfaces with sub-nanometer root-mean-square roughness. The platform was validated by fabricating extended-length fiber Fabry–Pérot cavities and monolithic micro-cavity …

3d Electromagnetic Simulations Of A 1.6 Cell S-Band Photoinjector: Emittance Studies For Electron Microscopy, Trudy Bolin

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Modern beam-based materials research demands electron sources with increasingly precise time resolution, high brightness, and stability. For example, there are various instruments across the U.S. dedicated to ultrafast electron diffraction (UED), but fewer are dedicated to ultrafast electron microscopy (UEM), which demands beam stability. Modeling femtosecond electron bunches with ultra-low emittance < 50 nm-rad inside a 1.6-cell S-band (2856 MHz) rf photoinjector with full 3D electromagnetic simulations can require high-performance computing (HPC) environments due to the scale disparity between the macroscopic cavity geometry and the femtosecond-scale bunch kinematics. To enable optimization in a desktop computing environment, this work presents a streamlined 3D electromagnetic Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulation framework optimized for 400-femtosecond bunch regimes. The covariance method was employed to study emittance properties for electron bunch counts ranging from thousands to millions and has successfully resolved highly transient, pure rf phase-space rotations, such as a localized energy-spread minimum occurring at the gun exit iris. To overcome the computational cost of these simulations, a machine-learning-based Bayesian optimization approach was deployed to construct multi-objective Pareto fronts from sparse datasets. Because the simulation software is scalable from desktop to HPC facilities, the framework is ready for experiments at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).

Establishing Thermal Bleaching Thresholds For Montastraea Cavernosa On Florida’S Coral Reef, Olivia Faris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Marine heatwaves are increasing in frequency and duration, with widespread bleaching events and mortality impacts observed on Florida’s Coral Reef. However, thermal bleaching thresholds for corals in Southeast Florida are not well established, limiting the ability to forecast or manage response to thermal stress events in the region. This study was designed to establish bleaching thresholds for Montastraea cavernosa, a reef-building stony coral, in Southeast Florida. Ex-situ experiments were conducted where triplicate M. cavernosa fragments of multiple genotypes were exposed to acute thermal stress or held at intermediate temperatures to simulate chronic stress. Thermal performance curves based on photosynthetic …

Ionophore-Based Plga Nanosensor For Selective Ion Detection And Imaging, Zhiyu Tang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Accurate detection of electrolyte ions is essential for biological research, disease diagnosis, and the investigation of cellular function. In this study, we developed ionophore-based PLGA nanosensors for the optical detection of biologically important ions. The nanosensors were prepared by encapsulating ionophores, chromoionophore III, and ion exchangers within PLGA nanoparticles. The resulting nanosensors showed uniform morphology, good colloidal stability, and concentration-dependent optical responses toward Na⁺, K⁺, and Ca²⁺ over the range of 10⁻⁶ to 10⁻¹ M. Reversible fluorescence responses under repeated ion concentration changes confirmed the stability and robustness of the sensors. The nanosensors also demonstrated reliable analytical performance for K⁺ …