Exploring the nexus of faculty motivation and funding opportunities : a phenomenological study of HSI external grant pursuits

The education systems are in a state of transformation and unpredictable change (i.e., policy reforms, technological advancement, change in education, and higher education funding). Like many other aspects, there are numerous moving parts when focusing on external funding at higher education institutions. The study provided an overview using qualitative methodology to understand an emerging research topic. This qualitative study explored new faculty perceptions and motivators to secure Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) external funding at a selected South Texas System School. The questions for this study were: how do new faculty at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) view their experiences with external funding opportunities? What are the motivators of new faculty regarding HSI external funding? What challenges do new faculty members face regarding HSI external funding? The results from this study were vital since faculty perceptions were influenced by their experiences. Utilizing a phenomenological approach, the researcher provided an online questionnaire and volunteer interviews for new faculty members from one Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). For the questionnaires, the sample size was up to 90 participants. For the interviews, a maximum of 15 participants were included in this qualitative study. The problem is the lack of motivation for external funding, resulting in unclaimed funds, frustration, and under-sourced learning. The study aimed to understand new faculty's perspectives on effective practices for increasing external funding. It also sought to identify their motivators and challenges in pursuing HSI funding opportunities

Optimization of burnable poison pattern design

In the past, burnable poison design was rigorous and required the engineer to manually adjust the fuel location and percentages. To improve this process, this paper considered the use of MATLAB Optimization and Global Optimization Toolbox to search for the optimal burnable poison design automatically. Burnable poison is used in reactor design to make up for the excessive reactivity at the start of the cycle. (BOC). Burnable poisons, such as gadolinium, absorb neutrons and lower the thermal power around them. The design of a burnable poison pattern needs to consider multiple factors. First, the multiplication factor (keff) over the entire cycle should be around a preset value. Second, the peaking factor over the entire cycle should be as low as possible. This study only focused on UO2-Gd2O3 homogeneous poisoned fuel with 5x5 and 17x17 Westinghouse fuel lattices. Each fuel pin was UO2 mixed with any Gd2O3 concentration (0% - 4%). The 5x5 fuel lattice has 5 fuel pins in 1/8 symmetry of the lattice whose burnable poison concentration needs to be determined, while the 17x17 fuel assembly has 39 fuel pins in 1/8 symmetry of its lattice. Neutronic calculations were conducted for each fuel lattice's burnable poison design parameters using SCALE from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) with the Neutron library 252-group ENDF/B-VII.1. A SCALE input file, representing the modeled fuel assemblies with various combinations of the UO2-Gd2O3 mixture, served as the input for the neutronic evaluations. A MATLAB script was developed and coupled with the SCALE software to calculate the effective multiplication and power peaking factors. The optimization found the best lattice pattern with keff value of 1.06275 and a power peaking value of 1.149 for the 5x5 fuel lattice, while the 17x17 showed optimal concentrations at keff value of 1.1323 and a power peaking value of 1.2804

Radar-assisted drivable path estimation for autonomous vehicles-a survey

In the realm of autonomous driving, one of the critical challenges is establishing a comprehensive understanding of the surrounding environment using sensors. Autonomous vehicles rely on sensors like Lidar, cameras, and radar for drivable paths and tracking. Lidar provides dense and precise range measurements but is costly and has limited range. Deep learning has improved vision-based detection, but training for all scenarios is resource-intensive. Challenges still need to be solved in detecting distant obstacles with Lidar and cameras due to range limitations and weather conditions. Radar excels in long-range detection, is cost-effective, and is comparatively reliable and robust in adverse weather conditions. In this Thesis, by integrating radar data with advanced perception and tracking in drivable region algorithms, our method enables precise localization of drivable paths in complex environments. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach through simulations and real-world experiments, showcasing improved navigation capabilities and robustness in challenging conditions. Our findings highlight the potential of radar-based solutions in enhancing autonomous driving systems' performance and safety

Comparison between the American Board of Family Medicine In-training Examination scores of U.S.-based Family Medicine Residency Programs that taught systematic and non-systematic pharmacotherapy curricula

The importance of systematic pharmacotherapy curriculum (SPC) in family medicine (FM) graduate medical education (GME) has been published. The research problem was that it was unknown if the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) In-training Examination (ITE) scores differed between U.S.-based Family Medicine Residency Programs (FMRPs) that taught using systematic pharmacotherapy curriculum (USPC) or not. SPC has the potential to enhance performance on the ABFM ITEs, the ABFM initial certification exam, and ultimately improve our country’s health and healthcare. The purpose of my quantitative comparative nonexperimental study was to examine if there was a difference between the ABFM ITE scores of U.S.-based FMRPs that taught USPC and U.S.-based FMRPs that taught not using systematic pharmacotherapy curriculum (NUSPC). The theoretical framework for my study was Wesley Null’s systematic curriculum theory. The research question asked if there was a statistically significant difference in 2020 ABFM Postgraduate Year 3 (PGY-3) Pharmacotherapy ITE scaled mean scores between U.S.-based FMRPs that taught USPC and U.S.-based FMRPs that taught NUSPC. Data for my study was obtained from requested ABFM ITE information and an emailed survey to FMRPs. A census of 721 U.S.-based FMRPs was surveyed, and the responses represented a volunteer sample of participants. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data. A two-tailed independent-samples t-test was employed to reject or retain the null hypothesis of no statistically significant differences between two groups. U.S.-based FMRPs that taught USPC significantly (and with a large effect) outperformed U.S.-based FMRPs that taught NUSPC in the 2020 ABFM PGY-3 Pharmacotherapy ITE scaled mean scores by approximately 50 points. If an FMRP has problems with their residents performing well in the annual ABFM ITEs or FM initial certification exam, they should strongly consider a systematic curriculum to teach pharmacotherapy

Ballistic impact analysis of the segmented sandwich composite armor system

The advancement in ballistic weapons has provoked the necessity for improvement of armors to resist impact from such weapons. New lightweight armors for impact resistance have become a subject of much current research on personnel, vehicular, and equipment protection armors. Owing to the excellent impact resistance, lightweight, and relatively higher stiffness attributes of the sandwich-type armors, extensive research is still being conducted globally. The uniform, continuous nature of these armors can cause the weakening of the entire armor system after every impact, causing the entire armor system to become obsolete after a few hits. Studies done on armors found in nature is influencing the consideration of a multiple layered armor, made up of cellular top layer units pieced together and having the advantage of removing and replacing the localized damaged part without affecting adjacent tiles. To improve the impact resistance of the individual tile units and ensure more excellent layer bonding between the front ceramic layer and the backing composite layer, the mid-core section is designed in a gradient form and as a mixture of ceramic and metal material. This research delves into the design, modeling, and finite element impact analysis of the segmented sandwich composite armor system subjected to impact loading, with the design considering different parameters such as materials to be used, armor height, and armor design configuration. Initial validation studies are performed to select the ideal model that provides the best impact resistance at the least weight and with minimal fabrication requirements. Subjects such as material type, thickness, and overall model configuration were defined during the initial validation period. Once the final design is defined, finite element analysis is performed using ABAQUS CAE to observe the performance of the model and to validate the efficiency of the chosen armor. Based on the results from the material selection and thickness validation, the optimal design with the best impact resistance was noted as a 1.2mm thick rectangular segmented silicon carbide tiles, serving as the top layer that covers the three-level gradient core composed of a titanium metal honeycomb frame filled with silicon carbide inserts and finally a 2mm thick glass epoxy composite layer made from four laminas in a 0/45/90/-45-degree configuration serving as the last layer of the armor

Morphological and anatomical development of Citrus sinensis (Orange) and Solanum lycopersicum (Tomato) grown with non-conventional water sources

This experiment focuses primarily on cultivation of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and citrus (Citrus sinensis) irrigated with freshwater diluted with different concentrations of saline water. There are 463,365 hectares of greenhouses in the United States, and each hectare consumes 158,280 liters of fresh water per day. It would be beneficial to reduce the amount of freshwater used in greenhouse and nursery operations because of the scarcity of freshwater as a natural resource. This study employs a variety of low concentrations of saline water, including 5.81 mS/cm, 5.93 mS/cm, 6.14 mS/cm, 6.42 mS/cm, 6.8 mS/cm, and 7.25 mS/cm for citrus, and 6.86 mS/cm, 8.15 mS/cm, 8.94 mS/cm, 9.43 mS/cm, and 9.85mS/cm for tomato to dilute the freshwater used to irrigate the plants. Morphological and anatomical measurements were taken from the species to assess growth and development due to the treatments. The results show that there is no significant difference between morphological and anatomical development of the control and treated plants in all the parameters assessed. This indicates that saline water up to 9.85 mS/cm could be used to dilute freshwater in greenhouse and nursery production of the species without compromising the anatomical and morphological growth and development of Solanum lycopersicum (Tomato) and Citrus sinensis (orange). The results of the study indicate that there was no significant difference in growth and development between the morphological and anatomical dimensions of the species grown with mildly diluted freshwater source. Also, the study further concludes that large amounts of freshwater resources can be saved by diluting freshwater with saline water in greenhouse production of the species

Indirect method of controlling thermal cracks in FRP reinforced concrete beams under elevated temperature

During the past decades, there have been multiple interests in the use of Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRPs) in construction. This is because of its unique characteristics, such as high strength to weight ratio when compared to steel, low modulus, and corrosion resistance. Despite these benefits, there has yet to be any work in literature to control cracking in FRP reinforced concrete beams at elevated temperatures. Therefore, this study aims to address the gap in the literature. A thermal crack width model using Frosch’s equation was developed and compared with a finite element model for various concrete covers. The error range produced by the model was found to be between 1.26% to 9.69% for Twelve models with differing concrete covers and stirrup spacing values. The finite element model demonstrated conservative results, likely due to the challenge of obtaining the maximum strain in concrete at the exact point of analysis. This thesis contributes to a better understanding of the behavior of FRP reinforced concrete beams under thermal loading. It has significant implications for future design and construction practices by providing a reliable thermal crack width model and supporting equations modified from Frosch’s equation

Long-term response of tanglehead (Heteropogon contortus) to prescibed burning and cattle grazing and a pilot study to estimate forage mass from unmanned aerial vehicles in a semi-arid rangeland

Tanglehead (Heteropogon contortus [L.] P. Beauv. ex Roem. & Shult.), an indigenous grass of South Texas has expressed invasive tendencies by creating monocultures of unpalatable vegetation, decreasing native vegetation species composition and changing structure on the landscape. Treating large patches of tanglehead with prescribed fire can remove coarse standing forage, allow lush green re-growth, change the vegetation structure, decrease tanglehead cover, and allow other species to establish. The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of prescribed fire and cattle grazing on (1) the composition of a plant community dominated by tanglehead; and (2) cattle use of tanglehead-dominated areas treated with prescribed fire. I documented the change of a tanglehead-dominated pasture that received two fire treatments (November 2016 and February 2019). Plant species richness, percent bare ground, and cattle utilization increased in the February 2019 burn plots compared to the November 2016 burn and control plots. Usable space for bobwhite quail increased with increased heterogeneity of the landscape and cattle productivity was acceptable for the parameters of the area. The use of UAVs as a method to estimate forage mass in rangelands is a developing science and will be presented as a pilot site. The specific objectives of this research were to (1) evaluate the feasibility of quantifying forage mass in semi-arid rangelands using a double sampling technique with high-resolution imagery and (2) to compare the effect of UAV flight altitude on forage mass estimation. Orthoimagery and digital surface models (DSM) were acquired with an UAV at different altitudes. Field forage mass data were regressed on volumes obtained from a DSM. My results show that volumes estimated with UAV data and forage mass as measured in the field have a significant relationship at all flight altitudes

Bucket loaders using adjustable linkages

Bucket loaders are machines that are commonly employed in construction, mining or landscaping projects for loading or moving debris, soil, sand, or rock. Wheeled bucket loaders are preferred in most situations because of their high speed, efficiency and flexibility, relatively low weight and operation and maintenance costs. Tracked bucket loaders are chosen due to their high surface traction, stability and maneuverability, better performance on uneven or rough terrain, and relatively less ground impact. A payloader uses its front bucket to scoop materials that are stacked on the ground, and then either transport them to a different location or load them to a waiting transportation truck. The front bucket is pivoted to the end of the boom of the loader. The tilting motion of the bucket is generated by its corresponding hydraulic cylinder through a four-bar linkage. The boom link is connected to the chassis of the payloader using a revolute joint to lift or lower the bucket. The boom link has its driving hydraulic cylinder and its related driving linkage. The arm of a payloader consists of its bucket and boom, which moves the bucket to fulfill the payloader’s function. The position and orientation of the front bucket are determined by the joint efforts of the bucket and boom driving cylinders together with their driving linkages. The axes of the revolute joints of a payloader arm are parallel each other, which leads to a planar motion of the front bucket. The planar workspace of the front bucket is defined by the dimensions of the driving linkages and the driving strokes of the cylinders. The existing payloaders usually have fixed workspace since their driving linkages are not adjustable and driving cylinders have fixed strokes. The fixed workspace of a payloader lacks operation flexibility and limits its applications. This research incorporates adjustable linkages into payloaders to enhance their operation flexibility. The motion performances of payloaders without and with adjustable linkages are analyzed, simulated, evaluated, and compared. The results from this research are tried to provide certain guidelines for improving operation flexibility of the existing bucket loaders

Identification of amino acid residues responsible for the pro-apoptotic activity of BMRP by functional analysis of alanine substitution mutants and chimeras

Apoptosis is a physiological and evolutionarily conserved cell death program that maintains tissue homeostasis, and is critical for the development and normal function of metazoans. Deregulation of this strictly controlled process leads to several abnormalities and diseases, including cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. The Bcl-2 family of proteins plays significant regulatory roles in apoptosis. Bcl-2 is the founder member of this family and has antiapoptotic activity. The mitochondrial ribosomal protein BMRP was identified in our laboratory as a novel Bcl-2 interacting protein with pro-apoptotic activity. Deletion mutants of BMRP were generated to delimit the region(s) responsible for its binding to Bcl-2, as well as those required for its proapoptotic activity. Functional studies performed with these deletion mutants delimited the region responsible for its pro-apoptotic activity to its amino (N)-terminal two thirds. Six alanine substitution mutants of BMRP targeting conserved amino acid residues within the N-terminal two thirds of the protein were generated to further narrow down the region(s) responsible for its pro-apoptotic activity. Functional studies performed with these mutants indicate that they exhibit similar death inducing activity to that of wild-type (WT) BMRP. Western blot analysis shows that these various mutants are expressed in mammalian cells at levels also similar to those exhibited by WT BMRP. To further characterize the binding of BMRP with Bcl-2, two chimeric proteins of human BMRP (hBMRP) and Drosophila melanogaster BMRP (dBMRP), designated hp25dBMRP-CH1 and hp25dBMRP-CH2, were previously generated in our laboratory, and their interaction with human Bcl-2 (hBcl-2) tested by yeast Two-Hybrid assays. The ability of these chimeric proteins to induce apoptosis was also investigated by performing cell viability reduction assays in mammalian cells. The expression levels of these proteins in mammalian cells cannot be assessed by using the anti-BMRP antibody that has been generated in our laboratory due to the chimeric nature of these proteins. To circumvent this problem, the open reading frames (ORFs) encoding these chimeric proteins, as well as dBMRP were fused upstream of the ORF encoding Aequorea coerulescens Green Fluorescent Protein 1 (AcGFP1) in the eukaryotic expression plasmid pAcGFP1-N2. The resulting constructs (pAcGFP1N2-hp25dbmrp-ch1, pAcGFP1N2-hp25dbmrp-ch2, and pAcGFP1N2-dbmrp) were used in functional studies by carrying out cell reduction viability assays in NIH/3T3 cells. Preliminary data obtained in these studies suggests that the chimeric hBMRP-dBMRP proteins fused to AcGFP1 (hp25dBMRP-Ch1-AcGFP1, and hp25dBMRP-Ch2-AcGFP1) exhibit higher cell death inducing activity than dBMRP fused to AcGFP1 (dBMRP-AcGFP1), as has been observed in our laboratory with the proteins not fused to AcGFP1. The expression levels in mammalian cells of these chimeric proteins fused to AcGFP1 needs to be tested in future studies that will be conducted in our laboratory