University of New Mexico Digital Repository
Not a member yet
148775 research outputs found
Sort by
Sharp Knives, Dark Hearts: Class, Colonialism, and Rebellion on Anthony Bourdain\u27s Bookshelf
No full textThough often characterized as a celebrity chef, Anthony Bourdain achieved stardom from his lively writing rather than skills in the kitchen. As such, the sociopolitical importance of his life and work is greatly illuminated by his compulsive literary references. Through George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London, Émile Zola’s The Belly of Paris, Graham Greene’s The Quiet American, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, and the personas of William S. Burroughs and Hunter S. Thompson, the tensions central to Bourdain’s legacy are unveiled. This thesis offers a portrait of Bourdain as a complicated figure of the American left whose prominence is better understood via the class-consciousness, colonial contradictions, and hypermasculine fragility he absorbed from literature
The Dynamics of Plant Colonization and Persistence: Roles of Phenotypic Plasticity and Fungal Symbiosis
No full textPlant persistence is being challenged by anthropogenic climate change and anthropogenic disturbance. Under these shifting environmental conditions plants may persist through plastic or evolutionary rescue, were adaptations via changes in trait expression or evolutionary change occurs. My dissertation examines these mechanisms through a large-scale greenhouse experiment that manipulates single seed descent lines that differ in their colonization histories, contextualizes the fitness outcomes of phenotypic plasticity, and I leverage a long-term ecological study to identify genetic outcomes of symbiosis. I identified that phenotypic plasticity does not differ by colonization history, is fitness neutral, and does not exhibit any costs to plant fitness. We elucidated that hosts maintain more genetic diversity when symbionts are present due to differences in recruitment and survivorship
Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) And Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) Of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Production Through Circular Economy (CE) Practices: A Focus On Supply Chain Optimization and Policy Implications
No full textThis study provides a comprehensive systems-level evaluation of an integrated circular biorefinery for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production. Employing supply chain optimization, technoeconomic analysis, lifecycle analysis, policy modeling, and multicriteria decision analysis, the research assesses technical feasibility, economic viability, and environmental performance. The circular economy model demonstrates exceptional resource efficiency, achieving a 92.3% overall circularity score with strong material recycling, water reuse, waste minimization, and near-complete energy recovery, resulting in net-negative carbon emissions and net energy export. Scaling the facility to commercial capacity (500 million liters per year) enables significant economic improvements. The minimum fuel selling price (MFSP) decreases from 0.55/L at commercial scale, supported by economies of scale and optimized logistics. Monte Carlo simulations show an 86.6% chance of producing SAF below $1.00/L. Transportation optimizations reduce per-liter costs by 90% and cut supply chain greenhouse gas emissions by 44.8%, while dynamic inventory and just-in-time logistics strengthen supply chain resilience. Comprehensive policy stacking – including federal and state incentives such as RFS D3, IRA 45Z, and LCFS credits – contributes over 80% MFSP reduction and enhances life cycle GHG mitigation, achieving up to 57% reductions in sectoral emissions. Strategic hydrogen sourcing, with 34.5% internal production via biomass gasification and electrolysis, plays a critical role in lowering costs and carbon footprint. Multicriteria decision analysis confirms GHG mitigation and policy-adjusted MFSP as key drivers of optimal system performance, with more than 94% scenario viability. By integrating circular economy principles, process intensification, policy frameworks, and hydrogen management, this work establishes scalable framework for deploying economically viable and environmentally sustainable SAF solutions across diverse regional contexts
ARABIC INTO MIDDLE ENGLISH: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE WORD KIND
No full textWithin the time frame of Middle English, that phase of English language development assigned approximately the years 1100-1500, an influx of some one hundred and eighty Arabic words has been identified. To answer the question of how it was that this significant lexical influence of Arabic took hold in England, so far removed geographically from areas under Islamic governance, many pathways are open to exploration. Grounding this study is the movement of Arabic-speaking tribes north from Arabia in the centuries preceding the Muslim conquest and the post-conquest rise of Arabic as the language of administration. The ultimate dominance of Arabic is attested through two simultaneously unfolding translation movements beginning in the eighth century in the East, one known commonly as the Graeco-Arabic translation movement, the second, less known, but also of major importance, the translation of Christian writings into Arabic by monks in Palestinian desert monastic communities. During the years following the eighth-century Muslim conquest of the major portion of the Iberian Peninsula, expanding opportunities for the movement of Arabic toward Middle English are identified. The transmission of astronomical, mathematical, medical and pharmacological learning from the Islamic East to al-Andalus, in its early stages during the ninth and tenth centuries, is explored along with the implications of language transfer through close encounters between scholars in the Latin West and newly accessible knowledge. In this process, the practice of computistics figures as a salient feature. The study concludes with the crusading experience in the Levant, situated in large part at the intersection of religion and economics. Particular attention is given to the Order of Knights Hospitaller for its potential as an important conveyor of a broad spectrum of Arabic vocabulary into Middle Englis
Minimal Error Functions on Irregular Subsets of the Real Line
No full textChebyshev Polynomials, those that minimize the maximal error on a compact set, are one of the most practical tools for approximating smooth functions. The classical results are on the set [-1, 1]; in this paper, we extend to more complicated subsets of the real line. We demonstrate some classical results and then take the result from [2] on regular Parreau-Widom Sets and extend it to semi-regular sets, defined as sets whose regular part is closed. We introduce the Regularity Coefficient as a series formed by evaluating the Green’s Function at irregular points. This new machinery is applied to the lower and upper bounds of both Chebyhsev and Residual Polynomials. We find new bounds of the Widom Factors on semi-regular sets, given by 2 times the exponential of the Regularity Coefficient and 2 times the exponential of the sum of the Regularity Coefficient and the Parreau-Widom Constant, respectively
Predicting Leakage from Nuclear Material Containers at Los Alamos National Laboratory Through Drop Testing, Leak Testing, Finite Element Analysis and Digital Image Correlation
No full textLos Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) relies on containment vessels to safely manage special nuclear material. These containers are subject to rigorous testing—such as drop, fire, and water ingress testing—to ensure integrity under adverse conditions. While elastomer-based seals are well studied, metal-to-metal sealing mechanisms remain under investigation, particularly under dynamic loading. This research focuses on the relationship between container mating surfaces and impact loading through drop testing. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) models were developed and validated using Digital Image Correlation (DIC) to measure strain during impact. Drop tests at varying heights showed strong correlation between FEA and DIC results, confirming the model’s accuracy. The validated model is used to push science forward by estimating sealing surface gaps to predict water ingress. This approach streamlines container design by reducing physical testing and enabling quicker adaptation to evolving requirements. The results demonstrate FEA’s effectiveness in modeling deformation and estimating leak potential in next-generation nuclear containment systems
Full-Stack Quantum Computing
No full textQuantum computing is a promising tool for solving computational problems in several areas, including the simulation of physical and chemical systems. The design of practical quantum computing systems for these applications is a daunting task, requiring collaborative work by interdisciplinary teams considering different abstractions of the same systems. This dissertation presents work on the development of those abstractions, and on components that bridge multiple layers of abstraction. I first provide an introduction to quantum circuit model computation, error correction with stabilizer codes, and physics simulation algorithms. In joint work with the QSCOUT software team, I then describe the development of the Jaqal programming language and its supporting software packages. Next, I investigate the performance of the variational quantum eigensolver on an early fault tolerant architecture. Finally, in joint work with Andrew Landahl, I develop the logical fermion data type and demonstrate its benefits in optimizing physics simulations
A Neutrosophic Mathematical Model for Evaluating Innovation Modes in Higher Arts Education
No full text
