Texas A&M University-Kingsville: AKM Digital Repository
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Perceptions of Alternative Certification Programs’ impact on the teacher shortage in Texas
No full textAlternative Teacher Certification Programs have aimed to address teacher shortages for over a decade, yet the demand for teachers remains high. Teacher candidates enter Alternative Certification Programs and may be placed in classrooms of undesirable positions and
insufficiently prepared for the realities of the classroom such as diverse learners and behavior challenges. Due to that lack of sufficient preparation and lack of ample support, the result is teacher frustration and high teacher attrition rates. Alternative Certification Programs, commonly known as fast track programs, aim to address high need specialty areas, but the question of
quality tenured educators is of utmost concern for the survival of the education field. This qualitative study sought to determine the perceived impact of Alternative Teacher Certification Programs on the teacher shortage in South Texas from the perspective of hiring principals. The
study aimed to understand whether school administrators consider alternative certification programs as appropriately preparing and supporting teachers for long-term careers in the most high-need areas
Role of ATF3, a regeneration-associated gene, in neuritogenesis of PC12 cells
No full textMost amniotes, including mammals, lose their ability to regenerate nerves in the central nervous system (CNS) after a certain point during development; in contrast, the peripheral nervous system (PNS) supports sustained regeneration potential to grow axons after injury and
re-innervate its targets. This difference is the cause of numerous permanent medical conditions in humans that result in loss of function. Conversely, adult anamniotes (fish and amphibians) display remarkable axon regeneration capacity in their CNS. There are genes that are active and promote regeneration in the CNS of adult anamniotes that are not active in amniotes. One
example of extraordinary regenerative capability is the repair of the optic nerve of anamniotes after injury, which has led to its use as a model for regeneration studies.
In a study conducted in goldfish, the Regeneration Induced CNPase Homolog (gRICH) gene was found to be highly upregulated during optic nerve regeneration. This gene encodes the RICH protein. A homologous protein of RICH was found in zebrafish (zRICH). Previously
published data demonstrated that zRICH induces neurite branching in the PC12 cell line, which is a pro-neuronal cell line derived from rat adrenal glands. Regeneration-associated genes (RAGs) facilitate the regeneration of severed axons by creating a conducive environment or enhancing the intrinsic capacity for nerve regeneration of
neurons. A key focus of the current research is to compare the effects of different RAGs using the PC12 cellular model system through differentiation assays. cAMP plays an important role in the expression of RAGs, and cAMP showed synergy with the cAMP-responsive element-binding protein (CREB), producing more than the additive expression of RAGs and thereby causing greater neurite growth in Dorsal Root Ganglion (DRG) cells in both a permissive and inhibitory environment (in the presence of myelin-associated glycoprotein, MAG). Activating
Transcription Factor 3 (ATF3) is another protein that is significantly upregulated in zebrafish in response to optic nerve injury. Interestingly, ATF3 is also a member of the CREB family. The objective of this research is to study and understand the effects of fluorescent, GFP-fused, ATF3
on neuritogenesis during differentiation by stably expressing it in PC12 cells
Physiological development of citrus grown with non-conventional water sources
No full textThe agriculture industry uses 70 percent of the freshwater worldwide for irrigation purposes. This study evaluated the use to evaluate the use of seawater for use in agronomy and horticulture applications as a means to conserve freshwater. Citrus sinensis var. Marrs grown from seed under greenhouse conditions to study the growth and development effects of using blended freshwater on the growth and development of the species. The study included six treatments; a control treatment of freshwater and 0.1%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 1%, and 1.5% seawater mixed with municipal freshwater. Treatment irrigation applications were given in two-week intervals and data collection performed at the same time. Plant growth parameters assessed included leaf surface temperature, transpiration rate, total chlorophyll content, leaf area, soil electrical conductivity, soil pH, and transpiration rate. Data were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance and the results of the study indicated no significant difference in the overall parameters studied. The findings are important for greenhouse freshwater use conservation and can aid in further greenhouse studies on the use of blended freshwater on growth and development of Citrus sinensis var. Marrs seedlings
Effects of soil amendment on growth and development of Solanum lycopersicum variety roma
No full textTomatoes are made from the plant's golden blossoms, which turn into juicy red fruits. They are high in vitamin C and can be consumed raw or cooked, relying on personal preference. Depending on how they are grown and what they will be used for, tomatoes can be grown in a variety of hues and sizes. However, there is a persistent argument over whether to use organic or inorganic fertilizer to increase the yield. In this study, we examined the tomato growth and development by resulting from treatments of either organic fertilizer (alfalfa) and inorganic fertilizer (miracle gro). This study was designed as a completely randomized block design. Different concentrations of organic fertilizer (9g,18g,27g) as well as inorganic fertilizer (12g) were used, and control plants were grown without using the fertilizers Alfalfa mill, with NPK ratio of 3:1:2, was used as the soil amendment in three different concentrations for the experiment, whereas Miracle-Gro® was used as the inorganic fertilizer with the NPK ratio of 9:4:12. Physiological and growth medium parameters measured included the plant height, number of leaves, buds, and flowers, fresh and dry weights of vegetative and root parts, total chlorophyll content, transpiration rates, leaf area, and fruit yield were all measured for every 15 days. The outcome of the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) showed that, when compared with the other treatments, soil amendment of 27grams showed a good result
Disentangling mechanisms and drivers of competition between white-tailed deer and cattle
No full textCompetition is a complex ecological process that can impact interspecific and intraspecific interactions, having trophic and evolutionary effects. Competition is commonly
expressed through two recognized mechanisms: exploitative and interference competition. These
mechanisms are often co-occurring within systems, making it difficult to develop a mechanistic
understanding of competition and complicating predictions of population level impacts as a result. Therefore, in effort illuminate this complex process, we investigated the influences of competition with cattle (Bos taurus) on white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) population
nutritional performance and the mechanistic processes through which these effects occur. During November and December, we conducted annual deer captures between 2017–2021 on four cattle ranches across South Texas, where we recorded nutritional metrics such as antler scores, lactation status, body mass, and subcutaneous rump fat depth. We linked these nutritional metrics
to cattle stocking rates and environmental conditions, and determined that male nutritional metrics were more sensitive cattle competition while female nutritional metrics were primarily driven by age and reproductive status. Furthermore, our results suggest the nutritional metrics of antler scores and rump fat depth were more driven by external factors while body mass was primarily influenced by age. To evaluate the mechanisms driving these nutritional effects, we deployed 19 global positioning system collars in March 2020 on mature female white-tailed deer captured in northern most portion of the largest ranch. This study site was vacant of cattle for
two years before cattle were experimentally restocked in November 2020. This allowed us to monitor development of exploitative and interference competition through changes in whitetailed deer behavior and space-use. Our results suggest interference competition occurred rapidly
independent of exploitative competition, resulting in deer utilizing poor quality habitat and brushier sites to avoid interacting with cattle
Finite Element analysis of coating delamination during scratching
No full textUnderstanding the delamination process in coating systems under scratching scenario is important in various applications, such as in automotive and oil and gas pipeline applications. Modeling delamination in coated systems is essential to understand the interfacial phenomenon occurring specifically at the interface of the coating material and its substrate. This knowledge is greatly desired because it can help avert the costly damage caused by the failure of the coating meant to provide protective barrier for the substrate in various applications. This work focuses on understanding the delamination process in coating system under scratching scenario, using Finite Element Method (FEM) modeling. Both hard coating deposited on soft substrate (HoS), and soft coating deposited on hard substrate (SoH) are modeled. The FEM model is used to simulate the delamination process incurred during scratching and to analyze the stress situation that are responsible for coating delamination. The FEM model is validated using the experimental results obtained from the literature. Effects of coating thickness, coefficient of friction and coating yield strength on the onset of delamination are studied for both HoS and SoH systems. The FEM results show that an increase in coating thickness delays the onset of delamination for both HoS and SoH systems. Also, higher coefficient of friction generally causes an earlier onset of delamination. Contrasting results are observed for the coating yield strength effect on the onset of delamination. Increase in coating yield strength delays the onset of delamination in the HoS system, whereas the SoH system shows an opposite trend. Analyses of stress distribution at the coating-substrate interface reveal the key reasons for coating delamination. The study provides useful guidelines for developing durable coating system
Adaptive filter utilizing recursive least squares algorithm with adaptive forgetting factor
No full textIn the context of adaptive filtering, the recursive least-squares (RLS) are a very popular algorithm, especially for its fast convergence rate. The most important parameter of this algorithm is the forgetting factor. It is well-known that a constant value of this parameter leads to a compromise between fine tuning and tracking. The purpose of this project is to integrate audio signal with a wind noise and design an efficient low pass adaptive RLS filter that can attenuate wind noise at an adaptive sequence.
Adaptive RLS filter has been designed using MATLAB, where sampled signals have been replaced with audio signal and wind noise at adaptive frequency. We calibrated different frequency and tested the signals at adaptive forgetting factor and noise variants.
Using an adaptive forgetting factor approach, aiming to better compromise between the performance criteria of the RLS algorithm. Also, we propose a practical solution to estimate the power of the system output noise. After receiving desired results, we computed signal-to-noise ratio, SNR at the input and output of the adaptive filter
The design of a novel smart home control system using smart grid based on Edge and Cloud Computing
No full textThe Internet of Things (IoTs) has transpired as a fascinating technology for smart cities, smart homes, and smart grids by using a vast amount of IoT data. A smart grid is one of the core components where transport, generation, delivery, and electricity consumption are enhanced in terms of protection and reliability. The existing power grid is suffering from many problems such
as outages and unpredictable power disturbances, inflexible energy rates, unnoticeable customer fraud, and many other disadvantages. These problems lead to the ever-rising demand for fossil fuel and service costs. For example, the peak hour demand needs to be overestimated and more energy generated to minimize the risk of an outage. The main problem of the smart grid is the tremendous amount of data needs to be collected from the IoTs devices, and processing the data is a challenge. Using and predicting a large amount of data in smart Grid and IoTs is still in its infancy. To remedy
this problem, we propose a hybrid solution by using the Cloud and Edge Computing to process the data. We define a hybrid solution where we use the edge computing for the smart grid information processing where the microgrids are located on the edge of the IoTs network and on the Cloud to be used for the power grid that distributes power to the microgrids. Additionally, we proposed a machine learning engine to establish the communication between the edge layer, failover between
edges, and the Cloud layer
Solar tracking using spherical mechanisms
No full textThe power harvesting from a solar panel is maximized when its face is perpendicular to the solar ray. For a solar panel to face the sun during the daytime, its orientation has to be adjusted by a solar tracker. There are two relative motions between the earth and the sun. Compared with its daily east-to-west rotation, the sun’s south-north movement is much smaller. If only the sun’s east-west relative motion is considered for developing solar trackers, mechanisms with a single degree of freedom can be adopted. If the orientation of a solar tracker with a single degree of freedom is adjusted seasonally or monthly to cover the sun’s small south-north relative movement, the solar tracker can effectively fulfill its solar tracking function. Single-axis solar trackers commonly consume less power to operate than their two-axis counterparts and cost less to fabricate and maintain, which brings their solar tracking merits. This research is on single-axis solar tracking mechanisms that are based on four-bar mechanisms. Because of their simple structure, high reliability, and easy maintenance, four-bar mechanisms have been extensively employed for various applications that include solar tracking. Four-bar solar tracking mechanisms currently have room for further improvement. The difficulties facing them include limited solar tracking motion, high solar tracking power consumption, and a lack of self-locking function. Surmounting these difficulties makes designing four-bar solar tracking mechanisms challenging. Four-bar solar tracking mechanisms can be planar 4R, planar 3R1P, and spherical four-bar mechanisms. Each of the three types has its unique solar tracking features. In this research, the performances of these four-bar solar tracking mechanisms are analyzed, simulated, and compared with the motivation of improving them. The research results tried to provide some guidelines for developing and promoting four-bar solar trackers
Acid-free Palladium (II) catalyzed hydroaylation of acetylene - reaction parameters re-investigated
No full textEfficient synthesis of functionalized small organic molecules is crucial to lower the cost of synthetic processes in industries such as in the production of pharmaceuticals. Thus, the transition metal catalyzed hydroarylation of alkynes is a noteworthy reaction to generate arylalkenes. This reaction proceeds in a homogeneous solution and forms a new C–C bond between an alkyne and an arene by electrophilic activation of C–C triple bond at the metal center. Within the past decade research efforts have shown that a palladium(II) pre-catalyst complex of the type [Pd(PNP)(C2H4)](SbF6)2 (PNP = 2,6- bis(diphenylphosphinomethyl)pyridine) has catalyzed the addition of acetylene to pentamethylbenzene. The reaction begins upon substitution of the coordinated ethylene by an acetylene molecule to generate the active catalyst [Pd(PNP)(C2H2)](SbF6)2 in situ, and completes in the absence of a Brønsted-acid at room temperature. The scope of the research undertaken was to fine-tune previously studied parameters of the catalytic system. These include the number of moles of water per mol catalyst, the solvent volume, and the substrate to catalyst ratio, and their impact on the reaction rate has been studied. Secondly, further experiments have been performed to determine how glassware exposed to different levels of humidity affects the reaction rate for the addition of acetylene to pentamethylbenzene. Lastly, a pre-catalyst aqua complex [Pd(PNP)(OH2)](SbF6)2 has been studied as an alternative pre-catalyst for the hydroarylation test reaction. The hypothesis is that acetylene will readily substitute the ligated water molecule which may serve at the same time as Brønsted-base co-catalyst for the reaction. The main goal of the research is to increase the turnover number of the catalytic reaction from 50 towards 500 as well to increase the turnover frequency. The progress of the reactions and compound identity will be determined by 1H, 13C, and 31P NMR spectroscopy