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Presentation: 3-D Printers in the Classroom: Opportunities, Challenges, Implementation Guidelines
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2017 Texas High Plains and Panhandle Replicated Agronomic Cotton Evaluation (RACE) Trials
No full textHuman Divinity: Situating Nathaniel Hawthorne���s Humanist Aesthetic
Get PDFIn the following thesis, I argue that Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) presents a clear aesthetic view, and his aesthetics clarifies his social and political thought. I argue that Hawthorne locates something uniquely human in the aesthetic domain which in turn provides a foundation for his pacifist disposition. Clarifying the humanist components of Hawthorne���s thought reveals a robust social and political position, that is underdeveloped in Hawthorne scholarship. Hawthorne���s humanism is challenged during the Civil War. Indeed, without revolutionary action in the face of injustice it is unclear why one would want to endorse the humanist position he presents. As I argue, however, Hawthorne offers an alternative in his literature; namely, he offers a means of aesthetic education which reveals the divine role of the human being and provokes sentimental fellow-feeling. Hawthorne���s narrators and characters undergo transformations in thought through encounters with beauty and with the human beings described in his sketches. In my view, then, Hawthorne offers a practical use of the aesthetic as an outgrowth of his ontological position that measured human activity draws out divinity. My thesis, then, provides a reading of Hawthorne from a philosophical and aesthetic perspective. Reading Hawthorne���s humanist aesthetics in a political context, in turn, clarifies the limitations of the aesthetic
Exploring Heat Tolerance and Associated Traits of Potato Clones From the Texas A&M Potato Breeding Program
No full textHeat stress leads to significant reduction in potato tuber yield and quality, and there is a need to understand the consequences of this stress on these traits and to identify tolerant potato varieties in the face of climate change and ensure sustainability and food security. The Texas A&M Potato Breeding Program has a long history of selecting potatoes under heat stress and routinely screens advanced clones and varieties under field heat stress conditions. Screenings under more controlled conditions (greenhouses and in vitro) facilitates assessing traits associated with heat stress under field conditions and their expression under alternative heat-screening methods. Temporary immersion bioreactors (chapter 2) were effectively used for in vitro heat screening using microtuberization media. The in vitro system identified heat-tolerant and susceptible potato clones. Reveille Russet, a variety developed by the Texas A&M Breeding Program, exhibited heat tolerance using bioreactors based on significantly higher weight of non-deformed micro-tubers. The Texas field locations, Springlake and Dalhart, were found to be suitable for heat tolerance screening (chapter 3), with the former being more extreme. Detrimental effects of heat stress were manifested in reduced marketable tuber yield and increased external and internal tuber defects, reduced specific gravity, and increased reducing sugars. Greenhouse experiments done under normal and high-temperature conditions agreed in general with the results obtained under field conditions (chapter 3). Ten genotypes were evaluated under field and greenhouse conditions. The Texas-bred variety Vanguard Russet exhibited heat tolerance based on high marketable yield and minimal tuber defects, whereas Russet Burbank (the top variety used for French fry processing production in the USA) and Atlantic (the top variety used for chip processing production in the USA) were established as heat sensitive controls for external and internal tuber defects, respectively. In addition to visible tuber defects, heat stress also induced chemical changes in tubers that were noted based on wet chemistry and were confirmed using non-destructive Raman spectroscopy (chapter 4). Potato tubers grown under heat stress had lower carbohydrates than those grown under normal conditions, which aligned with lower specific gravity and dry matter of tubers. Lastly (chapter 5), a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed to identify genomic regions associated with heat tolerance traits using a panel of 217 potato clones from the Texas A&M Potato Breeding Program. Marker-trait associations were, in general, not identified when complex traits (yield and tuber defect traits) were evaluated, but significant QTLs (explaining 0.5 to 2 % phenotypic variation) were found if complex traits were dissected into component traits. Genomic-estimated breeding values were calculated and used in the form of weighted standardized indexes to identify clones with the best potential to improve heat tolerance. The research emphasized the importance of screening for heat tolerance in potatoes, recommended suitable field conditions in Texas as well as more controllable options (greenhouses and in vitro), identified heat-tolerant and sensitive potato varieties, and detected genomic regions associated with heat tolerance traits. Follow-up studies should explore the underlying mechanism of heat tolerance in potatoes at genetic and molecular levels and provide additional guidance to breed potato for heat tolerance more effectively
Walk Across Texas: An Analysis of the Economic Impact of an Online, Community-Based Physical Activity Program
Get PDFResearch shows that regular physical activity can reduce the risk of developing certain chronic conditions that impact health, such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, the impact of physical activity extends beyond individual health-related outcomes. Routinely meeting physical activity guidelines can also benefit the economy, yet the current evidence is limited. The objective of this study is to explore the economic impact and benefit of a community-based physical activity program delivered online, specifically the Walk Across Texas (WAT) program. The economic impact for the WAT program is determined by analyzing worker productivity, disease risk, and estimated lifetime healthcare cost savings as a direct result of increased and sustained physical activity behavior. This resulting dollar value will provide further evidence to support the implementation of physical activity programs, like WAT, and that these programs are worth investment from stakeholders, like funding agencies. The economic impact is determined using a novel economic impact calculation and WAT program data from 2023 participants that has been both aggregated and anonymized. Calculations in this study focus on participants who were inactive prior to the start of the WAT program but self-reported meeting physical activity recommendations up to 150 days after the end of the program. This thesis is the first study that systematically documents the use of this calculation and its methodology. Results from this study indicate that the WAT program has the potential to reduce lifetime healthcare costs, mitigate disease risk, and boost worker productivity rates, all resulting in a substantial economic impact
Cyclodextrin-Derived Polymer Networks for Applications in Selective Molecular Adsorption
Get PDFThe development of sustainable cyclodextrin-derived polymer networks and their potential applications in selective molecular adsorption is described. Macrocycle-derived polymer networks represent a promising class of adsorbents that have been applied in solution phase adsorption, vapor adsorption, and vapor sensing. Despite their promising properties, these materials still face challenges in large-scale synthesis and processing.
This dissertation begins with an introduction into the properties of macrocycle-derived functional materials and a brief overview of their applications followed by a discussion of the challenges and future perspectives for the field.
The design and synthesis of cyclodextrin-derived polymer networks (CD-PN) is described in the second chapter. This new synthetic strategy is sustainable, suitable for large-scale production, and optimizes adsorption potential by enabling a high density of macrocyclic binding sites within the polymer network. The selective adsorption of organic molecules from aqueous solutions is demonstrated with CD-PNs exhibiting remarkable selective adsorption abilities.
Chapter three describes the development of polymer nanoparticles based on CD-PN. Non-aqueous, inverse emulsion polymerization was utilized for the synthesis of cyclodextrin-derived polymer nanoparticles (CD-PNP). The nanoparticle morphology enhances the accessibility of the cyclodextrin binding sites, while enabling solution processing of CD-PNP and facilitating their feasible incorporation into functional devices.
The fourth chapter describes the vapor adsorption applications of CD-PNPs towards benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX). Benzene sorption isotherms and saturated vapor adsorption experiments were utilized to explore the adsorption properties of CD-PNPs. CD-PNPs boasted comparable adsorption capacities with benchmark materials, while exhibiting significantly improved selectivity. The application of this selectivity was explored in BTEX sensing with a composite chemiresistor device. The selectivity observed in BTEX adsorption by ��-CD-PNP was maintained in the composite device responses to BTEX vapors. The presence of ��-CD-PNP also significantly enhanced the device sensitivity.
Overall, this dissertation presents a versatile and sustainable synthetic strategy to develop functional cyclodextrin-based polymer networks. The feasible synthetic strategy allows for in situ crosslinking to form various morphologies, such as nanoparticles, to unlock the full potential of the macrocyclic material. This work highlights the promising applications of macrocycle-derived functional materials, while demonstrating the importance of material design for optimizing the corresponding material properties
