Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Impact Of Solar Radiation On The Distribution Of The Red Imported Fire Ant, Solenopsis Invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Audrey Marie Hernando

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the role of solar radiation on Solenopsis invicta, the red imported fire ant. This ant is considered a serious invasive pest in the southern United States. Four Texas cities where fire ants are found were studied: San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Wichita Falls, and the outlier, Lubbock. Shade angles were measured in eight compass directions within plots located along eight transect directions around buildings. Using the shade angle, solar radiation for different times of day and seasons were calculated. All of the cities were on the same precipitation isocline with the exception of Lubbock, Texas. The number of …

Disparities In Park Availability, Features, And Characteristics By Social Determinants Of Health Within A U.S.-Mexico Border Urban Area, Amir Kamel

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: Parks have been shown to be a key feature in the built environment that promote physical activity and positively influence health. However, a number of studies have highlighted that park availability, park features (e.g., park facilities, amenities, and aesthetic features), and park characteristics (e.g., quality/safety concerns of the park and surrounding neighborhood) are not equally distributed across neighborhoods in the U.S, specifically areas of low socioeconomic status and diverse racial/ethnic composition. The overall aim of this study was to examine and describe park availability, park features, and park characteristics, and determine their association with two social determinants of health …

Electrical Characterization Of Microcrystalline Lifepo4 For Application In Lithium Ion Batteries, Sukhdeep Amarjeet Labana

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Electrical Characterization of Microcrystalline LiFePO4 for application in lithium ion batteries. Mainly, to study about the electrical properties of Lithium Iron Phosphate as a cathode material to increase its Electrical consumption.

The Impact Of Decadal Land Cover Change On The Global Warming Potential Of Beringian Arctic Tundra, David Hwei-Len Lin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Arctic terrestrial ecosystems play an important role in the global carbon cycle. If arctic warming continues to rise as projected, large amounts of soil carbon stored in these ecosystems could be released to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide or methane and positively enhance greenhouse warming. Thus, improving understanding of the likely future state and fate of arctic soil carbon, and the carbon uptake potential of arctic terrestrial ecosystems are well recognized research priorities.

At the pan-arctic scale, decadal increases in NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), an index of vegetation productivity, have been observed from satellite imagery, indicating a general greening …

A Survey Of Selected Pharmaceuticals And Personal Care Products In A Binational River And Their Effects On A Member Of Its Zooplankton Community, Plationus Patulus (Rotifera), Diana Angelica Martinez Gomez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The presence of 9 selected PPCPs (acetaminophen, caffeine, cotinine, codeine, fluoxetine, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, sulfamethazine, and trimethoprim) was surveyed in water samples collected at four sites along the middle Rio Grande during two flow regimes (irrigation and non-irrigation). Water collection for PPCPs analyses were conducted from August 2010 through September 2011. Three of the sites were located upstream, in, and downstream of the El Paso, TX/Ciudad Juárez, MX metroplex. Site selection was based on their proximity to the metroplex and due to the fact that the Rio Grande in this region is an effluent receiver water system (IBWC, 2011). The fourth …

Lacking A Connection To A Community Water System: Water Quality And Human Health Impacts In El Paso Colonias, Yolanda Jane Mcdonald

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Water-borne disease and its symptoms, such as stomach cramps and diarrhea, are a serious concern in areas that are not connected to a public water system. To investigate the impacts of not being connected to a community water system, I surveyed households in El Paso County colonias that were not connected to a community water system (household n = 75, individual n= 293) and households that were connected to a community water system (household n = 75, individual n= 320). I conducted 150 door-to-door surveys and tested water samples from each household for free residual chlorine level, turbidity level, presence …

Algorithmic Aspects Of Analysis, Prediction, And Control In Science And Engineering: Symmetry-Based Approach, Jaime Nava

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Algorithms are extremely important in science and engineering. One of the main objectives of science is to predict future events; this usually requires sophisticated algorithms. Once we are able to predict future events, a natural next step is to influence these events, i.e., to control the corresponding systems; control also usually requires complex algorithms. To be able to predict and control a system, we need to have a good description of this system, so that we can use this description to analyze the system's behavior and extract the desired prediction and control algorithms from this analysis. A typical prediction is …

Numerical Modeling Of Tectonics And Fault Activity Of Icy Satellites, John Olgin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Enceladus, one of the satellites of Saturn, exhibits evidence of recent fault activity, which may be due to gravitational fluctuations, or tidal stresses, generated by its orbit around Saturn. Recent Cassini spacecraft observations of Enceladus reveal water-ice plume activity at the south polar region, originating from locations that correlate with four geologically young, linear fracture-like features, named the "tiger stripes". It is the goal of this investigation to determine the ideal geophysical and geological factors (e.g., fault depths, frictional coefficients, ice layer thickness, ocean layer thickness, tidal stress sources) that support fault activity on Enceladus. The core of this work …

Sensitivity Analysis Of Streambed Leakance Downstream Of Caballo Reservoir, Derrick Ohara

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Modeling transient effects of streams near well fields is an important tool for understanding water balance within the Rio Grande Project (Project). The results are known as stream leakage. Stream leakage quantifies the amount of water seeping from a stream, canal and/or drain to/from a well field. Stream leakages near the Canutillo Well field, primary river losses for years 2005 through 2010 along with historical gain/losses and allocations of surface water with the associated agreements were evaluated.

The overall loss rates per mile in the Project for years 2005 to 2010 averaged -0.75 cubic feet per second (cfs). The historical …

Low Energy Disruption Of Lipid Containing Biomass, Joaquin Rodriguez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Lipid containing biomass from microalgae has received recent research interest as a renewable and sustainable feedstock for biofuel production. Algae is known to offer as much as 30 times the energy density than corn based ethanol, the current world standard for biomass based liquid transportation fuels. The development of large scale systems and methods of extracting lipids from microalgae is still in the early stages of development and significant increases in efficiency and reduction in costs are necessary to substantiate algae as a feasible alternative source of fuel. Traditional conversion of algae feedstock into a refineable feedstock for biofuel can …

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. …

Isotope Geochemistry And Geochronology Of Lavas From The Line Islands Chain, Central Pacific Basin: Insight Into The Origin Of The Line Islands, Lauren Storm

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Geochemical compositions of melts produced in the Earth's mantle provide key data for understanding Earth's internal structure. Particularly, the compositions of unusually large outpourings of basaltic lavas in large igneous provinces involve substantial source volumes, thereby contributing to our understanding of mantle structure and dynamics. Although the origin of such lavas remains enigmatic, geochemically they may originate from Earth's oldest and deepest mantle reservoir, transported by a mantle plume or by entrainment in passive upwelling beneath a fast spreading center. The Pacific Ocean basin hosts several large igneous provinces that formed near a triple junction of three oceanic plates, and …

Partial Orders For Representing Uncertainty, Causality And Decision Making: General Properties, Operations, And Algorithms, Francisco Adolfo Zapata

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

One of the main objectives of science and engineering is to help people select the most beneficial decisions. To make these decisions, we must know people's preferences, we must have the information about different possible consequences of different decisions. Since information is never absolutely accurate and precise, we must also have information about the degree of certainty of different parts on information. All these types of information naturally lead to partial orders:

- For preferences, a <= b means that b is preferable to a. This relation is used in decision theory.

- For events, a <= b means that a can influence b. This causality relation is one of the fundamental notions of physics, especially of physics of space-time.

* For uncertain statements, a <= b means that a is less certain than b. This relation is used in logics describing uncertainty, such as fuzzy logic.

In each of these areas, there is abundant research about studying the corresponding partial orders. …

Biological Effects Of Copper On Prosopis Pubescens (Screw Bean Mesquite), Marian Nicte Zappala

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Phytoremediation is an emerging technology for cleaning industrial and urban contamination (Peuke and Rennenberg, 2005). Many factors including germination rate, biomass changes, biochemical changes, and nutrient changes must be determined in order to utilize a plant for phytoremediation. Our results showed that Prosopis pubescens (Screw bean mesquite) is a hyperaccumulator of copper from copper sulfate and a feasible option to remediate fields with up to 200 ppm of copper sulfate.

Screw bean mesquite seeds are viable even after 30 years of storage. Both copper sulfate and copper nitrate decreased the germination rate of screw bean mesquite seeds. In soil grown …

Zirconium Mediated One-Pot Synthesis Of Γ-Amino Acids From Carbon Dioxide, Diego A. Pedroza ^, Shizue Mito *

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Summer 2011

No abstract provided.

Fullerene-Based Organized Self-Assembled Photoactive Layer, Marcelo A. Yates ^, Danisha M. Rivera, Luis Echegoyen *

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Summer 2011

No abstract provided.

Endohedral Derivatives For Bulk Heterojunction Organic Photovoltaic Devices, Gustavo Hernandez^, Michael D. Irwin*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Summer 2011

No abstract provided.

Octaethyl-Nickel-Porphyrin Functionalized Silica For Fullerene Separation, Adriana Rodríguez^, Danisha M. Rivera, Luis Echegoyen*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Summer 2011

No abstract provided.

Triphenylamine-Fullerene Dyads As Photoactive Layers In Photovoltaic Cells, Luis F. Gardea^, Mahsa Hosseini, Luis A. Echegoyen*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Summer 2011

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of The Carbon Budgets In The Forested And Agricultural Soils Of The Semi-Arid Mogollon-Datil Highlands And Rio Grande Basin, Ryan Reeves^, Lixin Jin*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Summer 2011

No abstract provided.

Synthesis Of The Precursors For A New Covalent Organic Framework With Triangular Shaped Pores, Fernando J. Correa ^, Venkata P. Neti, Luis A. Echegoyen *

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Summer 2011

No abstract provided.

Electronic States In Layered Si/Sio2/Mos2 Nanostructures, Luis Edgardo Luciano^, Domingo Ferrer, Russell R. Chianelli, Manuel Ramos*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Summer 2011

No abstract provided.

Trypanosoma Cruzi - Derived Sugar Epitopes - Synthesis And Immunology, Erika Y. Monroy^, Roger A. Ashmus, Jamal Khamsi, Andrew Pardo, Nathaniel S. Schocker, Rosa A. Maldonado, Kayla Vasquez, Alexandre F. Marques, Igor C. Almeida, Katja Michael*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2011

The protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi is the causative agent of Chagas disease. As of today no effective vaccine has been developed for it. Certain developmental stages of T.cruzi express cell surface oligosaccharides with terminal alpha-galactosyl and rhamnosyl residues, which are believed to be highly immunogenic in humans. The exact structures and sizes of these epitopes are still unknown. Our quest is to shine light on the chemical structures of immunogenic alpha-Gal and alpha-Rha containing mono-, di-, and trisaccharides that are conjugated to a keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) carrier protein through a combination of chemical synthesis and immunological studies. The compounds …

Dna-Inks For 3-D Printing: Dna Composites For The Rapid Prototyping Of Scaffold In Bioengineering Applications, Jimena I. Aguirre^, Ryan B. Wicker, Mireya A. Perez, Juan C. Noveron*, Juan M. Sanchez

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2011

Rapid-prototyping has become an incredible technique that manufactures three-dimensional objects with intricate complexity down to 8µm of resolution. We are developing materials that can be used by rapid-prototyping instruments to make scaffolds for bioengineering applications. Our molecular design involves the polymerization of a  (vinylbenzyl)trimethyl-ammonium chloride and DNA solution. Upon UV illumination, the composite polymerizes and forms DNA-hybrid materials.  The end result becomes a ductile transparent material with a thin cross-section. The synthesis, characterization and application of rapid prototyping will be described. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Light Scattering Detector (LDS), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), and Infrared Spectroscopy indicate the structure, characteristics, …

Toxicity Of Tio2 Nanoparticles In Cucumis Sativus, Fabiola Moreno-Olivas^, Isaac Montes, Alia D. Servin, Hiram Castillo-Michel, José R. Peralta-Videa, Jorge L. Gardea-Torresdey*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2011

Nanoparticles (NPs) have a wide range of applications in medicine, electronics, catalysis, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. TiO2 NPs are very stable and can be transported and dispersed into aquatic environments. Several animal species have shown negative reaction to TiO2 NPs. However, little is known about their toxicity on plants, specially their possibility to enter the food chain via the crops utilized or subsequent production steps. We have studied the possible genotoxic effects of TiO2 NPs on cucumber (Cucumis sativus), a worldwide cultivated species that serves as food for insects and other animals in the food web. Seven-day old hydroponically …

The Role Of Underflows And Climate On Sediment Distribution In Glacial-Fed Lake Linné, Svalbard, Norway, Diana Zamora-Reyes^, Vanessa L. Lougheed, Alan Werner, Steven Roof*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2011

Linnévatnet (78° 2’N, 13° 49’E), is a glacial-fed lake located in Svalbard, an archipelago north of Norway. Sediments found in the lake are supplied by the Linné Glacier, 8km south of the lake, and are transported by the melt stream into the lake, creating laminations with a strong signal of seasonal deposition. Due to its immaculate environment and recent rapid increase in temperature, this site is an ideal place to study past-climate proxies and determine how the changing environment is affecting the area. The objective of this study is to determine the frequency of water underflows influencing sediment distribution and …

Two-Photon-Excited Tryptophan Fluorescence Microscopy For Leukocytes And Cancer Cells Imaging, Jesus A. Valdez^, Chunqiang Li*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2011

Cancer screening and early diagnosis is an important yet controversial issue due to the safety and practicality of methods used. Our objective is to study the efficiency of an in vivo two-photon microscope developed in our laboratories to monitor cell inflammation. First, leukocytes were separated by subpopulation.  The tryptophan fluorescence intensity level of each type of leukocyte was then quantified with two-photon microscopy, in their naïve and inflamed states, respectively. Finally the tryptophan fluorescence intensity of multiple myeloma cells was quantified and correlated to the resulting images. The cancerous tissue auto-fluorescence from NADH and FAD was also recorded as a …

Evolution Of Melt In Southern New Mexico Using Strontium Isotope Data, Lisa M. Anaya^, Jasper Konter*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2011

Samples have been obtained from along the Rio Grande Rift in southern New Mexico in order to understand the evolution of regional volcanic melts. Lead isotope data has been collected from the Potrillo Mountains, located approximately 35 km to the southwest of the city of Las Cruces, New Mexico, as well as the Elephant Butte region and the Hillsboro Volcanic Field (HVF), both of which are located in Sierra County, New Mexico. The lead isotopes, combined with a few available strontium isotope ratios from this area, suggest that upper mantle melts initially interacted with lower crust, and then were contaminated …

Relation Of Recent Seismicity (1988-Present) To The 1958 Huslia, Alaska Earthquake Sequence, Abigail Monreal^, Diane I. Doser*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2011

We have examined how recent seismicity in the Huslia region of central Alaska is related to active faults and the 1958 earthquake sequence (with at least 3 events of magnitude >6). Most of this region is swampy lowland dominated by alluvial material deposited by the Koyukuk River, making surficial identification of active faults difficult.  This portion of Alaska is also of interest because it appears to be a region in transition between the strike-slip faulting of the Salcha-Fairbanks-Minto Flats seismic zone and normal faulting of western Alaska (Norton Sound/Seward Peninsula). Researchers have suggested this change in the nature of faulting …

Quantum Mechanical Model Of The Hydrogen Atom, Andres Ortiz^, Snehanshu Saha*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2011

The quantum mechanical wave function of an object under a certain potential is determined by the Schrödinger equation. It is known that the latter equation can be solved analytically only for a finite number of distinct potentials, being a Coulomb potential one of them. For an electron in a hydrogen atom, we analytically find the angular parts of its wave function by the usual method. Under the appropriate change of variable, the radial part of the equation is turned into a Legendre differential equation whose solutions are Legendre polynomials. Using finite difference method and shooting method taking into account physically …