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Sedimentation and subsurface characterization of the Lower Cretaceous muddy sandstone and the Upper Cretaceous Shell Creek and Mowry shales, Powder River Basin, Wyoming
No full textForeland basins comprise some of the most prolific hydrocarbon producing reservoirs and source rocks in the North American Rocky Mountain region. One of these major producing basins is the Powder River Basin (PRB). Located in northeastern Wyoming and extending into southeastern Montana, the PRB is one of Wyoming’s largest and most active hydrocarbon producing basins. The basin comprises various Mesozoic and Paleozoic strata with productive conventional and unconventional plays. This study focuses on the upper Lower Cretaceous Muddy Sandstone Formation and lower Upper Cretaceous Mowry Shale intervals at basin scale, and the implications for tectonic and eustatic evolution prior to the development of the PRB. Which controlled sedimentation, infilling, and Total Organic Carbon (TOC) weight percentage distributions of the two formations.
The Muddy being an older conventional reservoir and the Mowry a more recent unconventional play, the collection and utilization of digitized well log data from Enverus Prism with Petrel Software, in conjunction with analysis of in-house core, provides an effective approach for producing refined structure, isochore, net sand, and TOC maps for the basin. This information can then be used in generating interpretations of sedimentation history, basin infilling, and TOC distribution. In addition, published type wells with correlated Paleozoic stratigraphy from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) are being used to generate PRB subsidence curves for multiple well locations throughout the basin to compare with maps and figures produced in Petrel. To further enhance sedimentation interpretations, U-Pb detrital zircon analysis is conducted on the Muddy Formation sandstones collected from core. These data are compared with published detrital zircon work done in the western neighboring Big Horn Basin and its equivalent Muddy Formation interval, as well as equivalent Muddy Formation from the Black Hills to the east within North Dakota
Abolish the psych ward: Re-reading histories of disability justice
No full textThis project both is and is not a dissertation. It will have very little neat or linear trajectories or previews. Instead, it is a wandering, an intentional compositional practice of mad composition’s rhetorical disobedience that refuses the linearity and continuity of colonial and white abled Reason. This project is unfinished, but it attempts to perform several interrogations, including the relationship between the psych ward and the prison through the context of abolitionist trajectories, an articulation of mad composition as a praxis, and the possibility for altogether otherwise forms of graduate education assessment beyond the dissertation. Just as I do in the project itself, so too will I ask here: why must the dissertation exist at all
Business characteristics and leadership motivation in circular economy practices: A case study of small manufacturers in Dallas-Fort Worth
No full textThe circular economy (CE) provides an operational framework for businesses to reduce environmental impacts and achieve sustainability goals. Businesses are increasingly integrating CE practices into their operations; however, implementation varies by industry, business type, and size. Globally, small and medium sized businesses constitute the majority of all businesses, and their aggregated environmental impacts outweigh those of larger businesses. Small manufacturers, in particular, produce more pollution than other industries, and their shift to more sustainable practices aligned with the CE affects regional-to-local environmental conditions. Despite their significance, less is known about the CE practices of small and medium-sized businesses, particularly those of small manufacturers. We distributed a survey to small manufacturers across Dallas-Fort Worth and received 69 valid responses from an initial list of 4,320 contacts for a survey response rate of 1.6%. We documented their use of CE practices and assessed the extent to which their leadership’s motivation toward the environment and company characteristics influence the adoption of practices. Our resu.lts showed the adoption of CE practices by small manufacturers increased with stronger leadership motivation and was influenced by company characteristics. We found that disadvantaged manufacturers implemented more resource optimization practices than their non-disadvantaged counterparts, potentially reflecting social responsibility, supply chain pressures, or differentiation strategies. Environmental certifications were the most consistent indicator of broader CE adoption, particularly in product design, material sourcing, and waste management. Manufacturers with annual sales revenue above $10 M also demonstrated higher adoption of CE practices related to waste reduction, resource efficiency, and product design compared to firms with lower sales. Similarly, higher-revenue firms showed stronger internal pressure to adopt CE practices. Yet difficult-to-implement practices, such as waste-to-energy initiatives, were often overlooked in favor of easy-to-implement practices, such as recycling initiatives, unless leadership demonstrated high motivation. These results highlight the need for more guidance, enhanced leadership self-determination, and supportive policies to improve broader CE adoption among small manufacturers
Latinx representation in The Scream and Purge: Defying Latinx stereotypes in The Forever Purge and color-blind casting of Latina final girls Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega
No full textThe Scream and Purge franchises released sequel films during the pandemic that demonstrate how Hollywood addressed diversity. Scream 5 and 6 highlight how the film industry uses color-blind casting of Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega to promote diversify but lacks telling nuanced stories about Latinx individuals without problematic stereotypes. The Forever Purge includes a diversified cast of Latinx individuals and filmmakers in front and behind the camera, which promotes a nuanced look at Latinx life in the Southwest
Defying dispossession: Wendy Red Star and objects of the Apsáalooke past, present, and future
No full textThis thesis explores how Apsáalooke artist Wendy Red Star confronts the legacy of Native dispossession through three series created between 2019 and 2024: Our Side, Accession, and Bíikkua (The Hide Scraper). Red Star engages with Apsáalooke objects that now exist within public and private collections, using artistic interventions to reanimate and recontextualize them in the present. In Our Side, she disrupts the authority of the settler ethnographic gaze by adopting and subverting the visual language of field notes. Accession stages a symbolic return of Apsáalooke objects from the Denver Art Museum to their community, implicating them in the living traditions of Crow Fair. In Bíikkua, Red Star revives ancestral parfleche designs, painting a new visual archive that honors the original makers and preserves her nation’s artistic lineage.
Across these series, Red Star visually defies dispossession to reassert the dynamic relationship between her nation and its displaced cultural heritage
The Novel Association of a Single Nucleotide Variant in the COL3A1 Gene with Diffuse Coronary Aneurysms
No full textThe COL3A1 gene, encoding the pro-alpha chain of type III collagen, has been implicated in a range of collagen-mediated diseases such as Ehlers–Danlos syndrome and aortic aneurysms. In this report, we present evidence for the first time associating a single nucleotide variant p.P517R in exon 22 of COL3A1 with the development of diffuse coronary aneurysms in a human subject without prior atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, connective tissue disorder, or phenotypic characteristics diagnostic for vascular Ehlers–Danlos syndrome. Computational modeling of this specific variant in AlphaFold and in silico analyses predict deleterious alterations in the structure and function of the COL3A1 gene product, alpha 1 chain of type III collagen. This novel phenotype-to-genotype correlation should prompt further investigation into the mechanistic basis of this association
Variation in water surface area and its impacts on bat drinking activity in an urban environment
No full textThe availability and accessibility of water resources are important factors influencing bat presence in urban areas. As bats drink ‘on the wing’, total surface area of a water sources determines overall water availability, but the presence of clutter dictates water accessibility. Understanding how water accessibility influences bat resource use may therefore provide a more accurate measure of water availability in urban environments. To explore this, we assessed how variation in water surface area influenced bat activity and species richness in an urban area. We conducted surveys at six study sites in Tarrant County, Texas, USA in 2023 and 2024 using a thermal camera to measure the total duration of bat presence and the number of drinking events. Additionally, we used an acoustic detector to record the number of species recorded drinking at the sites during each survey. A drone was used to evaluate water surface area metrics, including fundamental and realized surface areas, maximum patch sizes, and the longest stretches of continuous area. Our findings indicated that decreasing the length of available surface was associated with reduced bat activity. Notably, drinking activity, a key indicator of water resource use, declined with increasing clutter due to litter, emergent vegetation, algal blooms, and even fallen trees. These results suggest that the presence of clutter, in particular, may limit and even prevent bats from accessing water. Effective management of urban water sources should prioritize clutter removal to improve water accessibility for bats and support a diverse urban wildlife community
A Comparative Analysis of Endoscopic Carpal Tunnel Release Performed Under Wide-Awake, Local Anesthesia, No Tourniquet in an Office-based Procedure Room Versus Operating Room Setting
No full textPurpose: Wide-awake, local anesthesia, no tourniquet (WALANT) techniques represent a notable advancement in hand surgery by reducing costs and enhancing patient satisfaction. This study aims to compare Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) and pain score improvements in patients undergoing endoscopic carpal tunnel release (ECTR) in an office setting under WALANT versus those performed in the operating room under general or regional anesthesia. Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of all patients aged ≥18 years who underwent ECTR during the period November 2020 to December 2022 by a single hand surgeon at a single level-1 trauma center. A total of 286 procedures in 229 patients were included. We recorded patient demographics, procedure setting, preoperative and postoperative outcome scores, DASH scores, visual analog pain scores, and follow-up duration. Results: Average follow-up was 6.8 weeks. One hundred and twenty-four in-office WALANT procedures and 162 in-operating room procedures were included. Patients undergoing in-office procedures were significantly older (average age of 58 vs 53 years) (P = .004). A significant sex difference was noted between the groups, with more women undergoing in-office (P < .00001). There was no difference in preoperative pain or DASH scores between groups or in postoperative DASH score improvement; however, postoperative pain scores were significantly lower at 6 weeks in the in-office WALANT cohort (P < .00001). Conclusions: In-office WALANT ECTR shows similar improvements in DASH scores compared with operating room–based procedures, irrespective of anesthesia type. Postoperative pain was significantly (P < .00001) less in the WALANT cohort at 6 weeks. Widespread adoption of office-based WALANT ECTR release could offer substantial financial benefits to both patients and the health care system at large, without compromising patient outcomes. Type of study/level of evidence: Therapeutic IV
Feminist advocacy through the liturgy: A liturgical organ concerto
No full textThroughout history there have been many successful women composers. Unfortunately, historically, women have been left out of the music history narrative, which is taught to music students in conservatories and music colleges throughout the Western world. I attempted to help construct a new, more inclusive narrative which incorporates many of these accomplished women through composing an organ concerto. I composed a liturgical organ concerto inspired by music by women composers throughout history. The concerto is for solo organ and string orchestra and is 30 minutes, with six movements. Each movement is based on a different text of the Ordinary of the Mass (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei). Each movement was inspired by a different woman composer from a different historical musical period, who was a pioneer or advocated for women: Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), Maddalena Casulana (1544-1590), Isabella Leonarda (1620-1704), Elisabetta de Gambarini (1731-1765), Clara Schumann (1819-1896), and Jeanne Marie-Madeleine Demessieux (1921-1968)
Can artificial intelligence revolutionize healthcare in the Global South? A scoping review of opportunities and challenges
No full textBackground: Artificial intelligence (AI) health applications developed in Global North countries are being diffused to the Global South but not without problems. Objective: The goal of this integrative scoping review was to identify recent studies from 2022 to 2025 describing the contributions and challenges in using AI health applications in the Global South. Methods: An integrative scoping review of 24 studies from seven databases identified four themes. Major Findings: This review adds to previous investigations by 1) focusing on data interoperability to resolve gaps in digitizing global health data required for accurate machine learning, 2) examining formidable economic and infrastructure hurdles for adoption and implementation of health AI in low-resource countries, 3) identifying barriers faced by emerging economies for partnerships with global AI biotech companies in AI health startups, and 4) calling for regulations and global surveillance of AI health applications. Conclusions: Practical implications for the future use of AI health applications in the Global South are discussed concluding that applications developed and trained on datasets from high income countries need to be recalibrated to work in the Global South. Additionally, due to the health-related disparities within the Global North the adoption of AI needs to be considered in its own context