Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Role Of Small Molecules In Rescuing Protein Folding Under Oxidative Stress, Mahmoud Fawzi Megahed Helal Khalil

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Increased levels of nitrosative stress intracellularly within the endoplasmic reticulum is a key factor involvled in the pathogenesis of both Parkinson's (PD) and Alzheimer's (AD) diseases. Previous in-vitro studies in our lab showed that increased levels of nitrosative stress lead to aggregation of misfolded proteins and formation of Lewy Bodies, the main biomarker of PD and AD diseases. Although this was mainly through nitrosylation of Protein Disulfide Isomerase (PDI), the chief endoplasmic reticulum (ER) resident oxidoreductase chaperone responsible for maturation of disulfide-bond-containing proteins, we demonstrate in this project that increased levels of nitrosative stress has an additional direct effect on …

Towards Analytical Techniques For Optimizing Knowledge Acquisition, Processing, Propagation, And Use In Cyberinfrastructure, Leonardo Octavio Lerma

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

For many decades, there has been a continuous progress in science and engineering applications.

A large part of this progress comes from the new knowledge that researchers acquire, propagate, and use. This new knowledge has revolutionized many aspects of our life, from driving to communications to shopping.

Somewhat surprisingly, there is one area of human activity which is the least impacted by the modern technological progress: the very processes of acquiring, processing, and propagating information. When we decide where to place sensors, which algorithm to use for processing the data – we rely mostly on our own intuition and on …

Does Low-Level Arsenic Exposure Predict Blood Pressure In Children?, Tania Angelica Mayorga

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background & Significance: Inorganic arsenic is a heavy metal naturally found in soil and human exposure to this heavy metal causes adverse effects. Exposure risks are particularly high in developing children. Arsenic is mainly found in bedrock. It is also a by-product of smelting, it is used in cement production, and historically is has been found in crop pesticides. Among other ill-effects, arsenic exposure in humans can cause respiratory diseases, peripheral neuropathy and liver fibrosis. In particular arsenic has been shown in many studies to be a contributing factor in the risk for hypertension in adults however no studies have …

Processing And Property Evaluation Of Tungsten-Based Mixed Oxides For Photovoltaics And Optoelectronics, Mirella Vargas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Tungsten Oxide (WO3) films and low-dimensional structures have proven to be promising candidates in the fields of photonics and electronics. WO3 is a well-established n-type semiconductor characterized by unique electrochromic behavior, an ideal optical band gap that permits transparency over a wide spectral range, and high chemical integrity. The plethora of diverse properties endow WO3 to be highly effective in applications related to electrochromism, gas sensing, and deriving economical energy. Compared to the bulk films, a materials system involving WO3 and a related species (elements or metal oxides) offer the opportunity to tailor the electrochromic response, and an overall enhancement …

Comparison Of Blood Lead Levels Between Children In An Urban Setting And Children In A Rural Setting, Juan Manuel Alvarez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Environmental heavy metal exposure is a public health problem that is of great concern because it is highly toxic for children. The urban setting in downtown El Paso is historically known to be contaminated through various sources of contamination of heavy metals. The goal of this study was to compare whether children in a historically contaminated urban downtown area had significantly increased levels of lead exposure as compared to children in a demographically similar rural area approximately 20 miles north of the urban center, while controlling for gender and age. Cadmium and mercury were also measured for comparison purposes. It …

Lithospheric Structure And Stress Field Orientations In The Northern Libya And East-Central Mediterranean Region, Abdusalam Ali Agail

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis is a combination of three studies including tomography using surface wave group velocities, stress orientations from focal mechanisms, and receiver functions. The study area covers northern Libya and the east central Mediterranean region. I utilized new data from the Libyan National Seismic Network to better understand the crustal thickness and stress orientation of northern Libya as well as the east central Mediterranean region. In the first study, I conducted surface wave group velocity tomography implementing the Gaussian beam method for obtaining 2-D velocity variations assuming an isotropic model. I constructed surface wave group velocity maps over a range …

Virtual Rapport With Extraverted Agents, Jacqueline Brixey

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Studies from psychology conclude that "birds of a feather flock together"- or, in other words, people tend to seek companionship with those who have a similar personality to their own. Researchers in the fields of Linguistics and Psychology have found numerous markers that differentiate the dialogue of extroverts from that of introverts. Recent work in Human Computer Interaction has sought to understand the nature of creating and maintaining rapport between humans and Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs).

Seeking an interdisciplinary approach that combines knowledge from HCI, Linguistics, and Psychology, I sought to establish whether introverted users report the highest level of …

Molecular Dynamics Study On Defect Reduction Strategies Towards The Fabrication Of High Performance Cd1-Xznxte/Cds Solar Cells, Jose Juan Chavez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Cadmium Telluride is a material widely used in terrestrial thin film photovoltaic applications due to its nearly ideal band gap (~1.5 eV) and high absorption coefficient. Due to its low manufacturing cost, this technology has the potential to become a significant energy resource if higher energy conversion efficiencies are achieved. However, the module efficiencies (~14%) are still far from the theoretical maximum (~30%) for this material in a single junction configuration. The reason behind this low performance is attributed to the high number of defects that are present within the device materials. The physics behind the formation mechanisms of these …

Novel Endohedral Derivatives Of Sc3n@C2n (N = 34, 40) And Unique Tether Controlled Bis-Functionalization Of Fullerenes, Maira Raquel Ceron Hernandez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Since the discovery of fullerenes in 1985, their exohedral functionalization has been necessary to increase their solubility and explore their properties and potential applications in materials science and medicinal chemistry. This Thesis provides a short overview of the importance of electronic, size and shape complementarity in determining the structures of specific endohedral fullerene compounds. This is followed by a description of a new method for the separation of scandium nitride endohedral fullerenes Sc3N@C2n (n = 34, 39 and 40), and their monofunctionalization.

We also present the regioselective synThesis of easily isolable bis-derivatives of C60, C70, and M3N@Ih-C80 (M = Sc, …

Effect Of Plastic Deformation Anisotropies On Shock-Induced Phase Transitions In Metallic Single Crystals, Punam Ghimire

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Most metals and alloys undergo plastic deformation at shear stresses and/or pressures in the Kbars regime. On the other hand, typical pressure-induced structural transitions, take place at much higher pressures, in the tens of GPa range. Surprisingly, there has not been to date, a systematic study on the role plastic deformation plays on the dynamics of defect-mediated phase transformations. The main purpose of this work was to investigate via atomistic simulations, the contribution of pre-existing defect densities on the kinetics of structural transformations under dynamic loading. We have carried out molecular dynamics simulations - including large-scale non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD), …

Exploratory Study Of Seasonal Indoor Bioaerosols And The Associated Health Outcomes In Low-Income Communities In El Paso, Texas, 2014, Eric Martinez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Introduction: Structural degradation, moisture levels, and building failures can influence poor indoor air quality and create a good environment for bioaerosols. People spend much of their time indoors and can potentially be exposed to these bioaerosols. Several studies have correlated exposures to high concentrations of bioaerosols to various health problems, severe allergies, asthma, or other respiratory illness. Objectives: The objectives of this study are to describe bioaerosol concentrations, meteorological factors, and health outcomes during the summer and fall seasons; characterize bioaerosols (bacteria and fungi) collected in low-income communities; compare bioaerosol concentrations by season; compare meteorological factors to bioaerosol concentrations by …

On The Path To Multi-Electron Redox Chemistry With Bimetallic Systems, Nathalie Metta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The following study is presented in two sections, in the first, a novel digold (II) complex with semi-bridging chlorides supported by two bulky formamidinates was synthesized for the purpose of studying late-transition metal multi-electron redox chemistry. Electrochemical analysis shows one non-reversible reduction. Although the electrochemistry of this complex is restricted, the compound shows interesting electronic properties. The crystal structure reveals a geometry distortion of the Au2ï?­-Cl2 core. The coupling of an unoccupied orbital and an occupied orbital through a vibrational mode, causes a distortion in the geometry of the molecule lowering the D2h symmetry to C2h. This is an example …

Total Synthesis Of Syringolides 1 And 2, Sudhakar Kalagara

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The total synthesis of Syringolides is described. The synthetic pathway was designed in order to synthesize Syringolides in high yields using inexpensive starting materials. The synthesis strategy features a preparation of the linear tricarbonyl compound followed by intramolecular cyclization. The linear precursor is divided into two fragments, β-keto acid and protected D-xylulose, which are the key fragments and were synthesized from α,β-unsaturated compound followed by asymmetric dihydroxylation. The α,β-unsaturated compound was efficiently prepared by a Wittig reaction between aldehyde and ylide fragments. The butenolide derivative was also achieved by the Knoevenagel condensation of the tricarbonyl compound.

Bayesian Adaptive Penalized Splines In Nonparametric Regression And In Spectral Time Series Analysis, Luis Angel Mora

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A Bayesian approach to nonparametric regression using Penalized splines (P-splines) is presented. The approach uses the linear mixed model formulation of P-spines. The usual model assumes a single value for the smoothing parameter controlling the amount of smoothing of the fitted function. The main focus of the Thesis is on spatially adaptive smoothing where the smoothing parameter is a function of the covariate so that different amounts of smoothing are applied in different regions of the covariate. An application to spectral time series analysis will be demonstrated. Markov chain Monte Carlo methods are used to make inference based on the …

Using The Wrf Model To Simulate The Playa Breeze Over Dugway Proving Ground, Daniela Maria Spade

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The aim of this model and observation based study is to investigate the Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting Model's (WRF-ARW, although WRF from hereout) ability to simulate the three-dimensional structure of playa breezes and drainage flows occurring in Dugway Proving Ground, Utah using sub-km nesting in addition to improved land use and terrain datasets (as compared to the default datasets provided with WRF), in addition to studying the diurnal cycle and interactions between the playa breeze and drainage flows. A playa breeze is a thermally forced air circulation system that develops near the edge of playas, which have properties …

Contributions To The Solution Of Large Nonlinear Systems Via Model-Order Reduction And Interval Constraint Solving Techniques, Leobardo Valera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Many engineering problems boil down to solving partial differential equations (PDEs) that describe real-life phenomena. Nevertheless, efficiently and reliably solving such problems constitutes a major challenge in computational sciences and in engineering in general.

PDE-based systems can reach sizes so large after they are discretized. The large size in these problems generate several issues, among them we can mention: large space of storing, computing time, and the most important, lost of accuracy. A popular approach to solving such problems is assume that the PDE's solution is in a subspace, and the solution is sought there. This assumption and later searching …

An Assessment Of The Role Of Roads In Population Demography And Genetic Structuring In Two Species Of Lizards In The Northern Chihuahuan Desert, Kevin Floyd

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Roads can fragment habitat and increase mortality rates of wildlife, potentially reducing population sizes and gene flow, which in turn can reduce genetic diversity through genetic drift. Although negative road impacts have been found in a variety of taxa, not all species are impacted. For instance, species that move less and rarely encounter roads and those that avoid the roads are predicted to not be negatively affected. Yet tests of these predictions are uncommon, especially for reptiles and particularly lizards. Side-blotched lizards (Uta stansburiana) are small sit-and-wait predators, while the larger marbled whiptails (Aspidoscelis marmorata) are active foragers. Their responses …

The Impacts Of Health Status And Exposure To Environmental Toxins On Children's Grade Point Average In El Paso, Texas, Stephanie Elizabeth Clark

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Studies in the US have found that both exposure to environmental toxins and children's general health status negatively impact children's academic achievement. This Thesis will be made of up two papers. The first examines the impact of exposure to residential air toxins from a variety of sources on student's academic achievement and the second paper incorporates a measure of children's general health status into the statistical model from the first paper. This Thesis employs National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) risk estimates from a variety of sources and individual-level data collected through a mail survey of fourth and fifth grade school …

Versatility Of N-Peptidyl And N-Glycopeptidyl Nitroindolines For The Formation Of Peptide/Glycopeptide Acids, Amides, And Thioesters, Luis Alfonso Barrera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

N-acyl-7-nitroindolines are photoreactive compounds that are known to acylate a number of nucleophiles in inert aprotic solvents under neutral conditions when illuminated at 350 nm. We have assembled a MUC1-derived peptide and Tn or STn-containing MUC1 glycopeptides with a C-terminal photoreactive 7-nitroindoline linker attached to Sieber amide resin by solid phase peptide synThesis using the Fmoc strategy. This type of construction allows for the cleavage of fully protected photoreactive peptides/glycopeptides from the resin with dilute trifluoroacetic acid, or for the direct photorelease of protected peptide/glycopeptide derivatives. Here we demonstrate that N-peptidyl and N-glycopeptidyl 7-nitrindolines can be photochemically converted into their …

Synthesis Of Benzofused-P-Indolequinones From 1,4-Naphthoquinone And Selective N-Debenzylation By Dess-Martin Periodinane, Quang Huynh Luu

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

p-Indolequinones are important heterocycles since they display interesting bioactivities such as anticancer activities as well as the ability to trigger drug release in drug targeting research. Additionally, they are also useful in precursors for the synThesis of bioactive compounds. Over decades, many methodologies have been investigated for the synThesis of p-indolequinones. Among those, cyclization of quinones plays an important role in convenient synThesis of these compounds. However, the great majority of these methods only describe quinones as electrophiles in cyclization. In our research, we found an intramolecular nucleophilic attack of quinone to an in-situ generated carbonyl group and developed a …

Constructing Negotiated Meaning And Knowledge For The Sol Y Agua Project's Role-Playing Adventure Game Focused On Sustainability Problems In The El Paso-Rio Grande Area, Claudia Chihiro Santiago

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Video games that address environmental sustainability issues could engage students. However, video games make simplifications and establish idealistic expectations that do not resemble real life sustainability challenges and settings. Game developers and scholars believe that depicting the complexity of the real world could help video games become effective educational tools. They call for additional procedures that incorporate information from actual settings and real life situations. Furthermore, scholars have argued that video games addressing sustainability issues can be improved or made more meaningful with the participation of youth from underrepresented populations, e.g., Latinos. The Sol y Agua project at The University …

Triphenylamine-, Porphyrin- And Fullerene-Based Derivatives For Photovoltaic And Other Applications, Danisha Marie Rivera Nazario

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Proper collection of charges at the electrodes is an important process in organic solar cells. Interfacial layers between the electrodes and the photoactive layer have been design to improve charge collection and ohmic contacts. The most studied interfacial layer between the anode and the photoactive layer is the negatively charged polymer poly(3,4-ethylendioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), that possesses good hole transporting ability. However, inhomogeneities at the surface of the electrode after deposition of the polymer lower the stability and performance of the OPV devices. Triphenylamine (TPA) derivatives have received increased attention in the organic solar cells (OSCs) field because of their favorable light …

Three Essays On Global Ict Phenomenon: Productivity Paradox, Organizational Ict Use, And Privacy In Social Networks, Faruk Arslan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation aims to investigate the global diversity in information systems by studying three distinctive phenomena. The first essay investigates the existence of "IT Productivity Paradox" within firms operating in developing countries using an empirical approach. IT Productivity Paradox has been a widely investigated topic within the context of developed countries and primarily studied within the context of developing countries using a single country. Our research addresses a gap in the literature, which is the study of IT Productivity Paradox across several developing countries with diverse characteristics. The second essay studies the contextual factors (firm characteristics and perception of external …

Reinterpretation Of The Mesozoic Thrust Complex Of The Southern Spring Mountains, Nevada, Warren Harding Allen

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The east verging Keystone thrust fault in the southern Spring Mountains west of Goodsprings, Nevada, is mapped with a sharp bend in its trace near Keystone Wash. This bend was previously explained in the context of out-of-sequence thrusting and a salient-recess relationship along the thrust system; a simple redirection of the Keystone thrust to a north verging thrust. Recent geochronological studies indicate that the east verging Keystone thrust to the north of Keystone Wash formed between 83-103Ma. Approximately 5 kilometers to the east a north verging branch of the fault system overlies rocks as young as 99Ma. At the location …

Depositional Facies And Interpretation Of Salt-Sediment Interaction In The Lower Triassic Moenkopi Formation Adjacent To The Castle Valley Salt Wall, Paradox Basin, Utah, Ann Marie Foster

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Stratigraphic, sedimentologic and compositional data collected from the Triassic Moenkopi Formation adjacent to the Castle Valley salt anticline, Paradox Basin, Utah indicate passive diapirism of the salt wall with well-developed topography and exposed salt during the Early Triassic. Moenkopi strata thin to 150m on to the Castle Valley salt anticline and thicken to an estimated 275m away from it, indicating control of sedimentation by salt-generated topography. The distribution of nine terrestrial facies assemblages within Moenkopi Formation strata on the margins of Castle Valley Salt Wall, in combination with identification of three halokinetic sequences interpreted from stratal architecture adjacent to the …

Trace Element Behavior During Coal Combustion: Insights From Cadmium And Zinc Isotope Analysis, Fotios Fouskas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Due to its low cost and abundance, coal has been pervasively used in recent decades to meet large energy demands worldwide. Coal combustion provides the dominant electrical source in the U.S and produces over 100 million tons of coal combustion products (CCPs) per year domestically. The disposal/beneficial use of CCPs has the potential to release toxic trace elements, including cadmium (Cd) and zinc (Zn), into the environment. High temperature combustion of coal changes both physical states and chemical properties of Cd and Zn compounds in CCPs. Related processes such as evaporation and condensation, can lead to mass-dependent fractionation of Cd …

High Temperature Helical Tubular Receiver For Concentrating Solar Power System, Nazmul Hossain

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the field of conventional cleaner power generation technology, concentrating solar power systems have introduced remarkable opportunity. In a solar power tower, solar energy concentrated by the heliostats at a single point produces very high temperature. Falling solid particles or heat transfer fluid passing through that high temperature region absorbs heat to generate electricity. Increasing the residence time will result in more heat gain and increase efficiency. A novel design of solar receiver for both fluid and solid particle is approached in this paper which can increase residence time resulting in higher temperature gain in one cycle compared to conventional …

Japanese Computational Lexicon: A Computational Dictionary Of Japanese Verb Forms, Mayumi Kobayashi

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This paper presents two main topics: a linguistic analysis of Japanese morphological lexicon focused on verb conjugation and a computational analysis of Japanese verb conjugation in Prolog programming. Prolog is one of the computer programming languages and is used to solve a problem logically with a number of statements called "clauses," which are defining various relationships of the entities. With respect to the linguistic aspect, this paper discusses Japanese verb formation, its conjugation patterns, twelve basic forms of Japanese verbs, and a Japanese morphophonemic process called “音便 (onbin)” by investigating 304 regular verbs and 2 irregular verbs. Among the several …

Iso-Power-Efficiency: An Approach To Scaling Application Codes With A Power Budget, Rogelio Long

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

For many applications, speedup saturates and parallel efficiency decreases if the problem size is held fixed while increasing the number of processors. For some problems, it is possible to maintain a fixed parallel efficiency by increasing both the problem size and the number of processing elements. The rate at which the problem size must increase to maintain constant efficiency for a given rate of increase of the number of processors is given by the iso-efficiency function. We have developed a new scalability function called iso-power-efficiency that determines the rate at which the problem size must increase to maintain constant efficiency …

Bounded Rationality In Decision Making Under Uncertainty: Towards Optimal Granularity, Joseph Anthony Lorkowski

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Starting from well-known studies by Kahmenan and Tversky, researchers have found many examples when our decision making seems to be irrational. We show that this seemingly irrational decision making can be explained if we take into account that human abilities to process information are limited. As a result, instead of the exact values of different quantities, we operate with granules that contain these values. On several examples, we show that optimization under such granularity restriction indeed leads to observed human decision making. Thus, granularity helps explain seemingly irrational human decision making.

Similar arguments can be used to explain the success …