Digital Commons Network^™

In-Situ, Integrated U-Pb, Hf And O Isotopic Study Of Igneous, Metamorphic And Detrital Zircons. Implications To Crustal Evolution And Geodynamics, Munazzam Ali Mahar

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Zircon data from South Karakoram gneiss dome provide evidence for Proterozoic inherited cores (1.8-1.9 Ga and 2.3-.2.5 Ga) surrounded by migmatitic overgrowth with ages ranging from ~6 to ~20Ma. Oxygen isotopic data of Neogene migmatite and inherited core is similar and indistinguishable ranging from 7.5 to 9.5 /. However, Neogene overgrowth is significantly less evolved than the inherited core in terms of Hf composition. This implies that the Hf composition of the migmatitic zircons is not controlled exclusively by the dissolution of the inherited cores and that contamination by external melts is likely. Isotopic data from the Baltoro plutonic unit …

Nanocomposite And Mechanically Alloyed Reactive Materials As Energetic Additives In Chemical Oxygen Generators, Marco Antonio Machado

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Chemical oxygen generators are widely used for aircraft, spacecraft, submarines, and mine rescue. Oxygen-generating compositions typically include alkali metal chlorate or perchlorate that decomposes at increased temperatures, a transition-metal oxide as a decomposition catalyst, and a metal fuel that reacts with part of the produced oxygen to provide heat for a self-sustained propagation of the decomposition/combustion wave. To increase the oxygen yield per unit mass, it is of interest to minimize the amount of metal fuel, but decreasing its content leads to pulsating combustion and undesired fluctuations of the oxygen flow rate. This work explores the feasibility of replacing iron …

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 …

Microstructure And Mechanical Properties Of Titanium Nitride Optical Coatings Made By Dc Magnetron Sputtering, Gustavo Martinez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Titanium nitride (TiNx) thin films were grown by DC (Direct Current) magnetron sputtering method onto Si(100) substrates by varying time of deposition to produce films with variable thickness (dTiN) in the range of 20-120 nm. The grown TiNx films were characterized by studying their structure, composition, and mechanical properties. Nuclear reaction analysis (NRA) combined with Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) analyses indicate that the grown films were stoichiometric TiN. Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) measurements indicate that the texturing of the TiN films changes as a function of dTiN. The (111) and (002) peaks appear initially; with increasing dTiN, (111) becomes …

Cross-Border Mobility, Access To Healthcare Through Health Coverage, And Other Correlates For Utilization Of Healthcare Services Along The U.S.-Mexico Border, Krystal Martinez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

BACKGROUND: At the national level, Hispanics suffer from poor health coverage. This is amplified in Texas, which has the highest percent (26.3%) of uninsured individuals in the U.S., and further augmented in El Paso, TX. In some border states and counties, barriers to healthcare include medically underserved areas, low-income, and the recent immigration among the Hispanic population. Cross-border mobility has facilitated access to health services in Mexico. Despite this, there remain gaps in understanding utilization of healthcare services among Hispanics in El Paso, TX. AIMS & OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study are to: (1) describe access to healthcare through …

The Eolian-Sabkha Transition In The Permian Cedar Mesa Sandstone, Se Utah, Alexandra Massad

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study focuses on the depositional transition between the Permian Cedar Mesa sand dune sea and the adjoining fluvial, lacustrine, playa and a sabkha facies. This transition provides insights into how climate and environment interacted in this unique setting where up to 300 m of eolian sands transition into evaporites. The evaporites are less common as tongues within the eolianites than previously thought and there were several environments that were observed that haven't been previously described or observed in the Cedar Mesa. The arrangement of the various units within the study area support the climate control on stratigraphy.

The intertonguing …

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 …

Investigating The Validity Of A Survey Intended To Gauge Mathematics Problem-Solving Disposition Along The Impulsive-Analytic Dimension, Miguel Mendoza

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study investigates the validity of the Likelihood-to-Act (LtA) survey developed to assess respondents' problem-solving disposition along the impulsive-analytic dimension. Sixteen pre-service teachers were strategically selected from a pool of 495 LtA survey respondents to participate in a semi-structured task-based interview approximately one hour in length. The interview consisted of three main parts: a problem solving section, a consistency section, and a classification section.

* Part 1 of the interview was developed to get interviewees to solve five open-response problems meant to elicit an impulsive response. Interviewees were also asked to verbalize their thought process in order for the researchers …

The Effect Of A Barefoot Running Training Program On Running Economy And Performance, Neil James Baroody

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Developing A Community Of Practice Among Peer Leaders: The Leadership Seminar, A.E. Dreyfuss, Janet Liou-Mark, Amelise Bonhomme, Travion Joseph

Publications and Research

The Leadership Seminar, piloted in the fall semester of 2011, is a mandatory weekly meeting for Peer Leaders at New York City College of Technology, City University of New York (CUNY). Its main purpose was to create a community of practice among first-time and experienced Peer Leaders. Continued in the spring 2012 semester, the one hour session provides a setting where Peer Leaders can share their experiences, discuss problems that arise in their workshops, and further develop their leadership and professional skills

A History Of Peer-Led Team Learning, 1990-2012, A.E. Dreyfuss

Publications and Research

From Workshop Chemistry in 1991 at the City College of New York, CUNY, to implementation in other disciplines and development of Peer-Led Team Learning and its Six Critical Components, this paper reviews the contributions of faculty at a variety of higher education institutions to the dissemination and growth of PLTL as a successful model of student engagement with the position of the student Peer Leader.

The Course Development For Microcomputer Systems Technology: Preliminary Study, Yu Wang, Alex Wong, Aparicio Carranza

Publications and Research

The course of Microcomputer Systems Technology has been one of the core courses in the Computer Engineering Technology curriculum (Bachelor of Technology in CET) at the New York City College of Technology of the City University of New York. The Intel microprocessor in PC based computer was the chosen hardware in this course. The assembly and C++ languages were crucial tools in the study of microprocessor organization. We currently focused mainly on the topic of PC computer parallel interface technology. However, we did not pay particular attention to the integration of current programmable peripheral components, such as USB (universal serial …

Carbon Farming In Wa, Department Of Agriculture And Food, Western Australia, Department Of Regional Development And Lands, Western Australia

Natural resources published reports

Fact sheets:

1. Applying biochar to improve soil quality and crop productivity

2. Reducing methane emissions from cattle using feed additives

3. Cattle breeding for lower greenhouse gas emissions

4. Managing genetic codes to reduce methane emissions from cattle

5. Managing pastures and stocking rate to reduce methane emissions from cattle

6. Claying as a method of increasing soil carbon content

7. Green and brown manuring as part of carbon farming

8. Permanent environmental plantings to earn carbon credits

9. Nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soils

10. Sheep genetics in methane reduction

11. Managing sheep pastures to reduce methane production …

The Effect Of Birth Order On Age At First Sex And Total Number Of Lifetime Sexual Partners, Lacey Christine Clark Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

Research in the field of birth order is expansive and has been used to explain many social processes, including the sexual behavior of young adults. However, results regarding the influence of birth order on risky sexual behavior are somewhat limited, sometimes contradictory, and often lack generalizability to larger populations. In this thesis, using

data from the National Health and Social Life Survey (1992) and multiple regression techniques, I investigate the influence of ordinal position on two measures of sexual behavior,age at first sex and total number of lifetime partners, among young adults age 18 to 30. Results show that birth …

Josephson Currents In Two-Gap Superconductor-Insulator- Superconductor Junctions, Ladan Bahrainirad

Theses and Dissertations

As a way to investigate the transport property of superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) junction with two-gap superconductors such as MgB2 and iron superconductors, we study the microscopic structure of the Josephson current in a tunnel junction with a very narrow quasi-classical barrier. Also, the possibility of mid-gap states in two-gap superconductor is investigated, and their effects on the current-phase relation as well as the current density characteristics are studied. In the SIS break junction, mid-gap states appear at the Superconductor-Insulator interfaces due to an abrupt change in the superconducting order parameter, indicating that the two-gap superconductor SIS junction can yield a rich …

Informal Alliance: Royal Navy And U.S. Navy Co-Operation Against Republican France During The Quasi-War And Wars Of The French Revolution, Jon Paul Eclov

Theses and Dissertations

The Quasi-War was an undeclared conflict fought between the young United States of America and the French Republic at sea during the years 1798-1801. It began when the French mounted a guerre de course against the significant American blue-water merchant marine in response to America concluding Jay's Treaty with Great Britain. At the time, the U.S. had no navy whatsoever with which to combat these French corsairs primarily operating from bases in the West Indies. Seeing there was little hope of immediately ending the matter diplomatically after the infamous XYZ Affair, President John Adams convinced a normally divided Congress to …

A Mass Spectrometry-Based Method For Quantification Of Human Metallothionein Isoforms And Usefulness In Biomarker Detection Of Cancers And Metal Toxicity, Aaron Andrew Mehus

Theses and Dissertations

Current methods for detecting metallothionein (MT) protein expression lack the specificity to distinguish between all twelve human isoforms. Each, however, can be distinguished by the masses of their acetylated, cysteine-rich, hydrophilic N-terminal tryptic peptides. These properties were exploited to develop a mass spectrometry-based method for their simultaneous quantification.

Human kidney HK-2 epithelial cells expressing recombinant MT-3 were grown in the presence or absence of cadmium. Cytosolic proteins were alkylated with 14N- or 15N-iodoacetamide and digested with trypsin. The N-terminal MT peptides were enriched by two-dimensional liquid chromatography and analyzed by MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry. Relative expression was measured by combining 14N-labeled …

An Evaluation Of Data Collected By Middle School And College-Level Students In Stream Channel Geomorphic Assessment, Martin D. Lafrenz

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

This project tested the accuracy and repeatability of geomorphic stream channel assessments conducted by two different middle school classes from the Walt Morey Middle School in Troutdale, OR and college students from Portland State University in Portland, OR. Each group surveyed the same three cross-sections in Fairview Creek, a tributary to the Lower Columbia River, in order to assess stream channel geometry, discharge, composition of the bed material, and water quality. The three student groups were all able to accurately document the stream channel geometry, including stream width and mean depth, indicating that these data can be successfully collected by …

The Power And Promise Of Procedure: Examining The Class Action Landscape After Wal-Mart V. Dukes, Suzette M. Malveaux

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Jury (Or More Accurately The Judge) Is Still Out For Civil Rights And Employment Cases Post-Iqbal, Suzette M. Malveaux

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Human Rights Of Indigenous Peoples: United Nations Developments, S. James Anaya

Publications

No abstract provided.

From Space-Off To Represented Space, Lolita Buckner Inniss

Publications

In Reimagining Equality: Stories of Gender, Race, and Finding Home, author Anita Hill explores some of the literal and figurative meanings of "home," focusing specifically on African-American women in their quest for home. Hill layers discussions of law, literature, and culture with stories of individual women, both historic and contemporary. In Reimagining Equality, Hill takes on a topic clearly distinct from the Clarence Thomas Senate confirmation hearings, the episode for which she is best known. Her work here is, nonetheless, evocative of her struggle in those hearings, because the book addresses the interrelation between gender, race, place, space, …

Greece In Crisis: An Interview With Despina Lalaki, Despina Lalaki

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Characterization Of Particulate Matter Concentrations (Pm10, Pm10-2.5, And Pm2.5) At High-Altitude School And Residential Mircroenvironments In Quito, Ecuador, Teresa Montoya

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Air quality issues in Latin American countries are especially challenging because of the limited availability of resources to address them, lack of stringent standards and the rapid and uncontrolled growth of their cities increasing the number of vehicles on the road and the expansion of the industry. In particular, the city of Quito, Ecuador exacerbates its environmental issues by its high-altitude (2800 m above sea level) coupled by its location around a mountain valley and frequent temperature inversions.

This study focused on evaluating the spatial variation of the PM concentrations and the effectiveness of a central monitoring network in representing …

Assessing Regional Impacts Of Transportation Policies And Traffic Management Solutions In Large Urban Areas, Tomas Rendl

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis introduces the problem of the continually increasing demand for road transportation in large urban areas. Associated problems and their possible solutions have been described and linked together in a wider context. Thereafter, a framework for the application of the multicriterial decision making method is introduced in order to help to find the best solution. The proposed framework evaluates alternatives and their potential impacts with respect to nine criteria. This method has been applied in a case study, using the example of the City of Prague, Czech Republic. Based on the results of two scenarios, the city's superior highway …

Two-Photon Microscopy Of Nanoparticles And Biotissues, Judith Noemi Rivera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Biomedical Imaging is an important tool in medical research and clinical practice. From understanding the fundamental processes involved in our biological makeup to its use in diagnostics in helping determine what ails us, the advancements in imaging and microscopy have helped shape our view of the world and nature. Microscopy in particular is often used to study the smallest of cells and their dynamical properties while attempting to minimally change the sample being studied. My research objective is largely divided into two parts. The first part consists of designing a video-rate raster scanning two-photon microscope that is faster than current …

Environmental Education Through The Lens Of Diverse Elementary School Students In The United States: A Phenomenographic Study, Brissa Yazmin Quiroz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Global environmental change is occurring, putting our planet under pressure. Children need to understand not only why the environment is important, but also their role as citizens of a globalized society and their necessary contribution to solving global problems. Students carry their own perspectives about the environment and education, and these differing perspectives should be a significant topic for environmental education research. Recent research studies have included the conceptualization of nature and the environment through children's eyes; yet, no studies have examined the concept of environmental education through the eyes of diverse children. Minority voices and experiences are not frequently …

Rewriting Revision: A Case Study Of First Year Composition Students, Myshie M. Pagel

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This case study focuses on the revision practices of seven first year composition students at a U.S./Mexico border community college. The analysis of revision practices is framed by the negotiation of dissonance between gist and intention. Three types of data were collected: screen captured writing sessions, instructor comments, and participant interviews. The data was analyzed through a grid based on Faigley and Witte's taxonomy grid of revision changes. This included three major categories: surface level, meaning preserving, and text base level changes. As in past studies on revision, the participants in this case study followed a similar trend. A majority …

The Chicana Experience In Indonesia: An Autoethnography And Dialogic Performance Evaluating The Influence Of Cultural Identity And Gender, Bianca Ramirez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study seeks to evaluate how aspects of cultural identity, gender and religion play a role on a Chicana's (mestiza's) experience of studying abroad internationally through an Indonesian conservation program. The experience of traveling to Indonesia, engaging in cross-cultural dialogue, and experiencing adversities prohibiting multiculturalism, influences the ability of the Chicana/o ethnographer to examine cross-cultural parallels in dialect and behavior. I also analyzed the rhetoric contained within the dialogic performances of the mestiza ethnographer's documented experiences. Lastly, the intersections of cultural identity, gender, and class were evaluated to determine their influence on the mestiza ethnographer's ability to successfully engage in …

Development Of A Thermal Imaging Feedback Control System In Electron Beam Melting, Emmanuel Rodriguez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Electron Beam Melting (EBM) process is a promising technology in the rapid manufacturing of metal components. EBM has the potential to reduce the cost of metal parts by minimizing the use of raw materials and machining time. The EBM technology has several advantages over other additive manufacturing (AM) technologies of metal, such as manufacturing speed and mechanical properties of the finished parts. For the process to be accepted in the aerospace industry as a flight-ready manufacturing technology, however, improved control and feedback must be implemented in the building process for better part quality and uniform production in manufacturing. As …