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  Mobility Behavior and Urban Planning Challenges of Formal and Informal Transportation Systems in San Martín de Porres, Lima, Peru, 2025

  Leyva Rocca, Manuel Enrique; College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture; Bernal, Sandra; Bernal, Sandra; Pineda, Marilu; Apanovich, Natalya (The University of Arizona., 2025-12)

  The San Martín de Porres district, located in northern Lima, Peru, faces limitations on urban mobility due to uncontrolled urban growth, centralized opportunities, and the ineffective coexistence of formal and informal transport systems. The study analyzes how these factors affect citizens’ mobility behavior and how the lack of integration between the two transport systems affects the efficiency of the north-south transition in Gerardo Unger Avenue. The mixed-methods approach included participant observation, surveys, and document analysis to identify mobility patterns, inequities in accessibility, and high dependence on the north-south route. The data collection found that travel choices and mobility behavior depend on estimated travel times, perceived security, historical events, and cost-benefit alternatives. Urban mobility in northern Lima requires Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) strategies, the reorganization of road space, and urban design to support the coexistence of formal and informal transportation. It also proposes a multimodal mobility hub model that can be replicated according to uncontrolled urban growth. The model promotes equitable mobility, local development, and environmental improvements in complex urban contexts like northern Lima.
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  Towards an Understanding of Protein–Membrane Interactions: Lipid Bilayer Mechanics and Deformations in the Presence of Integral Proteins

  Wolgemuth, Charles; Torres Burruel, Ernesto; Visscher, Koen; Schaibley, John; Rozo, Eduardo; Miller, Laura (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  Plasma membranes play an essential role in cellular function and biological processes. Lipid bilayers create the boundary for cellular structures, including the membrane, internal vesicles and allow intra- and extra cellular transportation. Elastic and geometric properties of these structures are of interest in the theoretical and computational exploration of the role of membranes in cellular function. From Helfrich's work to recent curvature-tilt models, continuum approximations are often limited and overlooked, or fail to incorporate all factors that can inuence the membrane shape and function. The use of continuum models allows for the prediction and direct simulation of membrane mechanics based on material properties. Additionally, continuum models are useful to connect molecular level interactions to larger scales, allowing for the development of cellular level computational models. This work incorporates the results of all-atom molecular dynamic (MD) simulations into a curvature-stretch-tilt continuum model that accurately recreates bilayer buckling, lipid orientation, and strain. These simulations and equations allow us to determine the stretching, bending and tilt moduli of lipid bilayers, matching experimental and simulated measurements for POPC bilayers. An application of this model is in the analysis of membrane-protein interactions based on lipid bilayer mechanics, which helps in the understanding of membrane permeability and the conditions for it to happen. The findings of this research will serve as a valuable reference for future investigations into the role of lipid membranes in cellular processes.
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  Epidemiological Surveillance of Long Covid in Southern Arizona: A Comparative Study of Active vs. Passive Surveillance

  Pogreba-Brown, Kristen; Ruth, Samantha; Ernst, Kacey C.; Batista Leal Neto, Onicio; Andrews, Jennifer G. (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  The emergence of post-COVID-19 conditions (PCC), now commonly referred to as Long COVID, presents a major public health challenge due to its heterogeneous symptomatology, uncertain clinical course, and lack of standardized diagnostic tests. Surveillance of Long COVID is essential for understanding its burden, but traditional infectious disease systems are not well suited to monitor a condition that bridges acute and chronic disease domains. To address this gap, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched Tracking the burden, distribution, and impact of Post COVID-19 conditions in diverse populations for children, adolescents, and adults (Track PCC), which integrates active surveillance through structured, participant-reported surveys with passive surveillance using electronic health record (EHR) data. This dissertation leverages Track PCC data from Arizona, a state with historically high COVID-19 cases and diverse populations, to evaluate and compare active and passive surveillance methods for Long COVID. Aim 1 developed and applied a standardized framework that harmonized survey symptoms and EHR-based diagnostic codes into 24 shared domains across cardiopulmonary, neurological, gastrointestinal, psychiatric, sensory, and dermatologic systems, while also identifying domains not amenable to cross-system comparison. Aim 2 applied this framework to quantify prevalence differences: active surveillance consistently captured a broader range and higher prevalence of symptoms, including milder and fluctuating conditions often absent from EHRs, whereas passive surveillance more frequently identified clinically coded conditions such as cardiovascular and psychiatric diagnoses. Logistic regression confirmed that surveillance system type strongly predicted symptom capture, with evidence of effect modification by age and race for selected domains. Aim 3 characterized temporal dynamics, revealing that self-reported symptom onset typically occurred within weeks of infection and persisted across surveys, whereas first provider-documented diagnoses in EHRs were often delayed by three to twelve months, varying by domain. These delays highlight the gap between lived experience and clinical recognition. Overall, findings demonstrate that while active surveillance is sensitive to early and diverse symptom capture, it is limited by follow-up and recall. Passive surveillance provides clinically verified diagnoses at scale but underrepresents less severe or inconsistently coded symptoms, leading to diagnostic delays. Together, these results underscore the complementary nature of the two approaches and suggest that hybrid models may provide the most complete and timely picture of Long COVID burden. By systematically harmonizing and evaluating surveillance approaches, this dissertation advances methodological innovation in Long COVID monitoring and informs strategies for more comprehensive, equitable, and responsive surveillance of emerging chronic conditions with infectious origins.
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  Changes in Federal Law and Policy: Effects on Cultural Resources in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

  Zedeno, Maria N.; O'Shaughnessy, Caitria; Lanoe, Francios; Towner, Ronald (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  This study examines how changes and waivers to federal regulations affect cultural resource management (CRM) professionals and the cultural resources they protect, focusing on Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (ORPI) and the southern Arizona border region. Through document review and interviews with CRM practitioners, the research explores the impacts of the 2020 amendments to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the waivers issued under Section 102 of the REAL ID Act of 2005 for border wall construction. The findings reveal that while the 2020 NEPA changes had limited immediate effects on CRM professionals and cultural resources in ORPI, the use of law waivers under the REAL ID Act led to significant adverse impacts. The waivers removed legal requirements for environmental and cultural resource review, leading to insufficient impact prediction, reduced mitigation, and greater harm to resources and heritage sites, particularly at Quitobaquito Springs and along traditional Indigenous routes. The study underscores the importance of regulatory processes, agency communication, and professional involvement for effective cultural resource stewardship. It concludes that although regulatory streamlining may not greatly alter CRM practices in low-project areas like ORPI, removing legal safeguards through waivers poses substantial risks to both cultural resources and the professionals responsible for their protection.
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  Structures and Energetics of Bicyclic Organic Molecules Using Photoelectron Spectroscopy

  Sanov, Andrei; Cordova, Sydney (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  Organic molecules are important in chemistry and relevant to many applications. The bicyclic molecules of anthranil, 1,2-benzisoxazole, and benzoxazole are all made from a benzene ring and a five-membered ring containing a nitrogen and oxygen atoms. They are often used as scaffolds in medicinal chemistry and drug design. However, despite their notable use in synthesis, not much is known about the energetics of these molecules. Using photoelectron spectroscopy, the adiabatic electron affinities of anthranilyl and 1,2-benzisoxazolyl were measured. Anthranilyl has two distinct states, nearly overlapping electronic adiabatic electronic affinities of 3.12 eV and 3.34 eV, while for 1,2-benzisoxazolyl only one state is observed around 2.94 eV. The completion of these experiments allows for a broader comparison to be made between the isomer family and the five-membered rings. Combined with previous work done for the other three molecules, the effect that location of the heteroatoms has on the energies and electronic structures of the radical states can be analyzed. The results indicate that anthranilyl has the largest EA of the bicyclic isomers and the addition of the benzene ring causes additional ?-stabilization. The similarities in the behaviors between the bicyclic rings and the five-membered rings show that the addition of the benzene does not always have a large effect. This work brings light to the relationship between molecules in an isomer family and the effect that moving the heteroatoms can have.

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