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The Rio Chama Basin: A Social-Ecological History Linking Culture and Nature
No full textThis monograph of the Rio Chama basin in northern New Mexico resulted from a larger project awarded to New Mexico State University by the National Science Foundation, Dynamics of Coupled Natural-Human Systems Program. The project was titled: Acequia Water Systems Linking Culture and Nature—An Integrated Analysis of Community Resilience to Climate and Land Use Changes. The grant was made to New Mexico State University with a sub-award to the Center for Regional Studies (CRS) at the University of New Mexico (UNM). As part of the multidisciplinary research team, the CRS investigators selected the Rio Chama watershed as a study area with the aim of mapping the social ecology and cultural evolution of the region during the early Puebloan societies of pre-1540, the period of Spanish colonial and Mexican land grant settlements to 1846, the rapid changes of the territorial period under U.S. jurisdiction following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, and concluding with the issues of growth and sustainability along the middle Rio Grande valley after New Mexico statehood in 1912. The goal was to profile how different human actions have altered the landscape of the Rio Chama, a major tributary of the Rio Grande, in terms of water, grazing areas, forested uplands, and other natural resources. The study focused on the complexity of human-natural systems interactions, specifically the dynamics of change on temporal and spatial scales in a multi-cultural regional geography characterized by episodic cleavages and conflicts over the use of natural resources. In particular the monograph examined the Rio Chama basin as a contested eco-cultural terrain that continues under stress into the modern era as population growth and economic development in the urbanized counties along the middle Rio Grande have increased the demand for water. Much of the water supply delivered to urban consumers originates in the mountains of the rural counties of northcentral New Mexico and southern Colorado including water imported from the Colorado River system. The final chapter of the monograph recommends a water policy future based on a perspective that water is a public environmental commons for sharing by Rio Grande stakeholders across watershed boundaries and political jurisdictions. For research implications, the study concludes that the use of social-ecological history is not as an end account of research, but as the beginning of a variety of new studies that open up questions about the dynamics of human-natural relations and how past couplings have legacy effects that can help stakeholders better understand present conditions and examine alternatives for the future.Research funding for the project was provided by a National Science Foundation award to New Mexico State University (Grant No. 101516) with a sub-award to the Center for Regional Studies (CRS) at the University of New Mexico
THE INFLUENCE OF JOB-EMBEDDED PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND LEADERSHIP ON SCHOOL PROFESSIONAL CULTURE
No full textEducational leaders are increasingly facing low student achievement and engagement, low teacher morale, and more rigorous standards that require greater teacher preparation and professional development. There is overwhelming evidence from the literature on successful school systems that restructuring schools to make time for job-embedded professional learning (JEPL) with a relentless focus on continuous improvement will not only improve student learning and achievement but also improve school professional culture. Despite such near-universal agreement among educational scholars and practitioners alike, we see very little professional learning in U.S. schools. The absence of professional learning in schools provides a compelling need to understand more thoroughly the change process that embodies the structural and cultural shift necessary to create the conditions essential for teachers to engage in professional learning, and particularly, the role leadership must play to create the conditions for successful implementation.
This study answers two questions: how do job-embedded professional learning and leadership influence school professional culture? And, what are the implications for leadership? Face-to-face interviews of teachers and principals at six school sites and annual evaluation reports from the Math and Science Academy for three consecutive years were utilized to collect data for this study. There is strong evidence that restructuring schools to provide the time for teams of teachers to engage in structured collaboration and the continuous improvement model is a powerful mechanism to improve both teaching and learning in a school as well as school professional culture. Committed teachers working together in meaningful professional learning with clear goals tend to be more motivated and engaged. Additionally, teachers who engage in JEPL tend to make progress in their work–a significant driver of a positive inner work life and school professional culture.
However, the right conditions must be in place for the collaboration and professional learning to yield results. Making JEPL work for all teachers requires a school leader who deeply understands the steps for transformational change. The study includes a conceptual model–A Leadership Model for Maximizing Teacher Engagement and Effectiveness–that leaders can use to guide decision-making as they seek to create and sustain transformational change.Educational LeadershipDoctoralUniversity of New Mexico. Division of Educational Leadership and Organizational LearningWoodrum, ArlieBorden, Alison M.Bower, DavidSecatero, Shaw
Interaction with Deaf or Hard of Hearing Individuals and Decisions Made by IEP Team Members
No full textThe purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between the characteristics of IEP (Individual Education Program) team members and the decisions they make for deaf and hard of hearing students under the constraints of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). I used a sociocultural framework and Intergroup Contact Theory (ICG) (Rodenborg & Boisen, 2013) to posit the importance of the amount and type of interactions between deaf and hearing individuals in reducing prejudice by the majority group (not deaf or hard of hearing) and developing the empathy needed by decision makers who are often hearing in promoting equitable learning environments for deaf and hard of hearing students.
I developed and piloted a questionnaire titled “Education for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students” (EDHH). The EDHH was self-administered and asked IEP team members about the kind of specialized or informal training they have received, the frequency, type, and quality of interaction they have had with individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, their attitude about deafness, their beliefs about communication and language accessibility issues, and their beliefs about educational placements for students. I sampled 269 IEP team members in residential special schools for the deaf and in regular schools or regional programs from the following states, New Mexico, California, Texas, Washington, and Florida.
I tested bivariate relationships and based on this study, I found an association exists between the characteristics of IEP team members in terms of their knowledge of deaf education, their interaction with deaf and hard of hearing individuals, their beliefs about placement, and their beliefs about access. Additionally, descriptive analyses of the responses from and across each state suggest trends for further exploration and policy discussions.
Given the results of this study, policy action plans at the local, state, and federal level should require implementers of IDEA such as principals and teachers to have specialized training in the education of deaf and hard of hearing students and greater contact with deaf and hard of hearing individuals.Doctor of Education Educational LeadershipDoctoralUniversity of New Mexico. Division of Educational Leadership and Organizational LearningBorden, Allison M.Williams, SheriFlorez, ViolaStern, Ronal
Unexpected Accompaniment: Cognitive Mechanisms for Language-Music Mismatch in Time
No full textExtensive research has been carried out for the role played by anticipation in human cognition (Brône 2012; Coulson 2005; Huron 2006). Employing the terms “anticipation” and “expectation” interchangeably, these studies emphasize only the temporal sequentiality between elements taking place at different points in time, a relation parallel to the progression of time. In modes of communication where simultaneous events are possible, however, there exists a similar but distinct relation between elements simultaneously represented in time. This is expectation, a relation perpendicular to the progression of time. Ubiquitous and indispensable for our understanding of the most ordinary, the relation of expectation has hardly been recognized let alone analyzed in the literature.
In view of this, in the present study I contemplate on the nature of expectation, identifying and integrating in a coherent way theoretical notions relevant to the analysis of expectation, including among others the progression of time, conceptual distance (Gärdenfors 2000), processes of conceptual integration and disintegration (Fauconnier and Turner 2002), construction (Croft 2001; Langacker 2008), and intention. Analyzed for illustration are two passages from Wagner’s music drama Siegfried: While in the first passage Mime sings words of care and love to music of complaint, in the second, a honeyed tune is heard accompanying the murderous intentions in Mime’s words. The cross-modal mismatch in both cases stretches the conceptual distance between Mime’s words and music, imposing tension on the listener’s expectation that simultaneously represented language and music should “support” each other. Meanwhile, elements from the language and the music inputs, as well as the unexpected mismatch, are projected into a blend, where new meanings emerge and the mismatch is made sense of. Drawing upon Clark’s (1996) insight, the multiplex layers of pretense and coatings of meaning in the convoluted social-interactional dynamics in the two passages are also disentangled and laid out.
The analysis of the two passages with cross-modal mismatch underlines the centrality of the hitherto overlooked relation of expectation, and that, much like unfulfilled anticipation, unfulfilled expectation also yields strong emotional effects. The stark contrast between the ease of our understanding of the two passages and the complexity of the analysis further highlights the agility of the cognitive processing that allows us to make sense of the world we are exposed to.LinguisticsMastersUniversity of New Mexico. Dept. of LinguisticsCroft, WilliamWilcox, ShermanBashwiner, Davi
Evidence-based Cybersecurity: Data-driven and Abstract Models
No full textAchieving computer security requires both rigorous empirical measurement and models to understand cybersecurity phenomena and the effectiveness of defenses and interventions. To address the growing scale of cyber-insecurity, my approach to protecting users employs principled and rigorous measurements and models. In this dissertation, I examine four cybersecurity phenomena. I show that data-driven and abstract modeling can reveal surprising conclusions about longterm, persistent problems, like spam and malware, and growing threats like data-breaches and cyber conflict.
I present two data-driven statistical models and two abstract models. Both of the data-driven models show that the presence of heavy-tailed distributions can make naive analysis of trends and interventions misleading. First, I examine ten years of publicly reported data breaches and find that there has been no increase in size or frequency. I also find that reported and perceived increases can be explained by the heavy-tailed nature of breaches. In the second data-driven model, I examine a large spam dataset, analyzing spam concentrations across Internet Service Providers. Again, I find that the heavy-tailed nature of spam concentrations complicates analysis. Using appropriate statistical methods, I identify unique risk factors with significant impact on local spam levels. I then use the model to estimate the effect of historical botnet takedowns and find they are frequently ineffective at reducing global spam concentrations and have highly variable local effects.
Abstract models are an important tool when data are unavailable. Even without data, I evaluate both known and hypothesized interventions used by search providers to protect users from malicious websites. I present a Markov model of malware spread and study the effect of two potential interventions: blacklisting and depreferencing. I find that heavy-tailed traffic distributions obscure the effects of interventions, but with my abstract model, I showed that lowering search rankings is a viable alternative to blacklisting infected pages. Finally, I study how game-theoretic models can help clarify strategic decisions in cyber-conflict. I find that, in some circumstances, improving the attribution ability of adversaries may decrease the likelihood of escalating cyber conflict.Computer ScienceDoctoralUniversity of New Mexico. Dept. of Computer ScienceForrest, StephanieCrandall, JedidiahMoore, TylerHofmeyr, Steve
The Environment Constrains Successful Search Strategies in Natural Distributed Systems
No full textThis dissertation investigates two natural systems that use distributed search algorithms and tests the hypothesis that the searchers' environment is a key constraint on an optimal algorithm. Natural instances of distributed autonomous systems of simple components exist in both biology and social systems. These systems have been honed through eons of evolution by natural selection to perform well in their environment. I examine two specific systems that use distributed methods to search and recruit individuals to locations of interest: T cells' search for pathogens in the human body and ants searching for food. Both systems are examples of time-constrained processes that require the distributed coordination of simple autonomous agents and interaction with their environment.
Taking common principles from both domains, the dissertation examines three distributed search strategies: uninformed random search, origin-based local recruitment, and chemical-based pheromone recruitment. Using both numerical and agent-based models, it evaluates the effectiveness of these strategies across two environmental factors: the spatial clustering and temporal volatility of resources. The results demonstrate that both recruitment-based strategies (origin-based and chemical-based) suffer in environments of high resources dispersion and volatility. Conversely, uninformed random search performs better in these environments.
The results are relevant to certain algorithmic issues in swarm robotics. For example, it is expensive to implement chemical trails in a distributed physical system, and the dissertation shows that strategies using only local recruitment perform similarly in all environments. Also, origin-only algorithms are much easier to implement in a robotics context. Further, because each strategy examined in this dissertation performs best at one extreme of resource spatial distribution, the results establish that the most difficult environments for search are likely those with intermediate levels of clustering. Finally, the dissertation classifies the exact nature of the environmental trade-offs and presents methods to determine the best search strategy given knowledge of the environment.National Institutes of Health,
National Science Foundation,
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency,
Howard Hughes Medical Institute,
Program in Interdisciplinary Biological and Biomedical Sciences at UNM,
Air Force Research Laboratory,
Santa Fe Institute,
James S. McDonnell FoundationComputer ScienceDoctoralUniversity of New Mexico. Dept. of Computer ScienceForrest, StephanieMoses, MelanieTapia, LydiaCannon, Jud
Modeling Ambient Temperature Affected Photovoltaic Inverter IGBT Lifetimes With Rainflow Analysis
No full textThis manuscript details the modeling performed towards estimating lifetimes of IGBTs in PV inverters. Specifically, ambient temperature, solar irradiance, and load demand for a duration of a year were considered in modeling for a chosen integrated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) from International Rectifier. Two cases were considered in the modeling, yielding lifetimes of 29.1 years and 4.49 years. Mean time to failures (MTTF) were calculated for an H-bridge topology inverter with four IGBTs for both cases as 7.27 and 1.22 years, respectively.Electrical EngineeringMastersUniversity of New Mexico. Dept. of Electrical and Computer EngineeringLavrova, OlgaLehr, JaneGraham, Edwar
Crack Tip Micromaching by Femtosecond Laser for Fracture Testing of Metal Laminates
No full textThis thesis presents an experimental study of the effects of ultrafast laser ablation on the mechanical properties of metal laminates followed by FEA simulation to elucidate future experimental potential. The metals investigated are copper, niobium, and copper/niobium accumulative roll bonded (ARB) laminates. The two laminate materials in this study have a nominal layer thickness of 1.8 microns and 65 nanometers; the effects of the laser processing on the ARB materials are characterized in the rolling direction as well as the transverse direction as the material exhibits anisotropic properties. The aforementioned materials are examined via scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy techniques to obtain changes in layer restructuring and modification. The motivation of this study is to characterize the heat affected zone in the materials produced by ultrafast laser processing to determine whether ultrafast laser ablation is a viable method for creating artificial cracks for SEM in-situ mini cantilever fracture testing. A parameter space is defined to attempt to capture an acceptable set of laser settings which both reduce the heat affected zone and create an etched geometry mimicking a crack into the sample to facilitate crack propagation in bend testing. Finally, simulation is performed using ANSYS to determine sample geometry constraints induced by both the laser-notched crack tip’s geometry and the limitations of the experimental apparatus used for in-situ testing. Additionally, simulations will provide insight into the plastic behavior of the layered structure.Mechanical EngineeringMastersUniversity of New Mexico. Dept. of Mechanical EngineeringShen, Yu-LinTehrani, MehranMcCulloch, Quin
Data Driven Sample Generator Model with Application to Classification
No full textDespite the rapidly growing interest, progress in the study of
relations between physiological abnormalities and mental disorders
is hampered by complexity of the human brain and high costs of data
collection. The complexity can be captured by machine learning
approaches, but they still may require significant amounts of data.
In this thesis, we seek to mitigate the latter challenge by
developing a data driven sample generator model for the generation
of synthetic realistic training data. Our method greatly improves
generalization in classification of schizophrenia patients and
healthy controls from their structural magnetic resonance images. A
feed forward neural network trained exclusively on continuously
generated synthetic data produces the best area under the curve
compared to classifiers trained on real data alone.The Mind Research Network, NVIDIA, National institute of healthStatisticsMastersUniversity of New Mexico. Dept. of Mathematics and StatisticsErhardt, ErikLi, LiPattichis, Mario
Virgins, Mystics, and Reformers: The Creation of Female Constructed Identites in the Medieval and Early Modern Period
No full textDuring the medieval and early modern periods in England, women were not expected to enter into the realm of politics or to comment on religion, and yet many women did find ways of entering into discourse on these topics. For these women the creation of public identities that would protect them from attacks against their characters were necessary to their success in areas of politics and religious commentary. Aristocratic women who wished to enter into politics tended to construct their public identities around their religious piety, using their faith as justification for their actions and also to insulate them from the dangers of meddling in current events. Common women used visions to comment on religion, sometimes with success and sometimes with mixed results; however, when these women strayed into predicting political outcomes they found themselves in trouble. Similarly, women who were unable to create an identity to protect themselves and were problematic for society might be label as witches. Other women found themselves at the center of competing constructed identities, when the persona that they created of themselves was contradicted by identities created by their enemies. This thesis will argue that the female identities constructed by women and men were created around certain concepts like virginity or witchcraft, but also had to be flexible to work in the realms of politics and religious commentary.HistoryMastersUniversity of New Mexico. Dept. of HistoryGraham, TimothySteen, CharlieRyan, Mik