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  OPTOMECHANICAL DESIGN SOLUTIONS FOR FIREBALL-2 SPECTROGRAPH ALIGNMENT VERIFICATION AND CONTROLLED-ENVIRONMENT TRANSPORT OF ASPERA UV FLIGHT OPTICS

  Chung, Haeun; Uppnor, Sumedha; Chalifoux, Brandon D.; Choi, Heejoo (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  Optomechanical design integrates the precision of optical science with the practicality of mechanical realization, ensuring that theoretical designs perform reliably under real-world conditions. It governs alignment, stability, and environmental resilience, factors that directly define the success of complex instruments used in space missions and laboratory research. This thesis presents two representative optomechanical systems developed for ultraviolet (UV) astronomical instrumentation. The first, the FIREBall-2 (FB-2) telescope simulator, is a portable analog of the balloon-borne UV telescope. Roughly ten times smaller than the 1-m primary and 1.2-m siderostat mirror system, it reproduces their optical behavior and provides arcsecond-level tip-tilt control for alignment verification of the UV spectrograph. The system’s optomechanical layout, degrees of freedom, and alignment campaigns at the University of Arizona and the California Institute of Technology are discussed. The second project concerns nitrogen-purged shipping containers for the Aspera SmallSat mission UV coated flight optics. To protect hygroscopic Al+eLiF coatings prior to MgF$_2$ encapsulation, custom containers and preparation procedures were developed to maintain relative humidity below 5\%. The design limited reflectance degradation to less than 1.1\% after encapsulation, as observed on calibration coupons, validating the controlled-environment approach. Together, these projects demonstrate how carefully engineered optomechanical solutions, are essential to achieving and preserving optical performance throughout the project lifecycle.
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  ABSOLUTE RADIOMETRIC CALIBRATION SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF VANTOR’S SURFACE REFLECTANCE PRODUCT

  Czapla-Myers, Jeffrey S.; Driggers, Ronald; Ochoa, Tina; Kuester, Michele A. (The University of Arizona., 2026)

  This thesis evaluates the accuracy and sensitivity of Vantor’s Atmospheric COMPensation (ACOMP) surface reflectance product, a key component in enabling consistent, analysis-ready Earth observation data. Vantor performs absolute radiometric calibration using the vicarious method at its site at Colorado Air and Space Port (CASP) in Watkins, CO over specialized reflectance targets. The radiometric performance of ACOMP-derived surface reflectance is assessed using in-situ reflectance measurements collected at a farmed vegetative field at CASP, along with RadCalNet (RadCalNet) observations of the stable natural target Railroad Valley (RVUS). The analysis quantifies how well these products reproduce ground-measured reflectance under varying atmospheric and viewing conditions.A central focus of this work is the influence of absolute radiometric calibration coefficients on surface reflectance outputs. To characterize this relationship, a Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis was conducted that systematically perturbs calibration coefficients across a range of plausible uncertainty thresholds. This approach isolates the extent to which calibration uncertainty propagates into downstream reflectance products and identifies spectral regions and product types most affected by radiometric variability. The results provide an empirical basis for understanding the robustness of ACOMP’s atmospheric correction framework and highlight the critical role of accurate vicarious calibration in ensuring radiometric fidelity. These findings support ongoing efforts to refine calibration strategies and improve the consistency of Vantor’s reflectance products across sensors and acquisition conditions.
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  Evaluating Catch Bench Effectiveness and Rockfall Retention Strategies Using Field-Calibrated Rockfall Models

  Luxbacher, Kray K.; Restrepo Marulanda, Jose Andres; Hyun Kim, Bo B.; Warren, Sean S.; Ryan, Thomas T.; Adewuyi, Sefiu S. (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  Rockfall hazards represent one of the most persistent safety concerns in open-pit mining, threatening personnel, equipment, and production efficiency. This thesis evaluates the effectiveness of catch benches and flexible barrier systems using field-calibrated numerical modeling. The research integrates experimental rockfall data collected at Bald Mountain Mine, Nevada, through the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) project Highwall Safety: Rockfall Catchment Design and Slope Performance Monitoring. The first study focuses on the calibration of a two-dimensional rockfall model in RocFall2 by matching field test results from controlled drop experiments, establishing restitution and friction parameters representative of actual slope conditions. Beyond evaluating the performance of the first catch bench, this study also examines the proportion of blocks retained on the subsequent benches, providing a broader understanding of cumulative catch efficiency across the slope. The calibrated model determined that 90 % of 6-inch synthetic blocks were retained within 10.9 m of the bench toe, defining a benchmark for performance evaluation. This framework was then applied to assess how variations in bench geometry, barrier height, and barrier placement affect rockfall containment. Twenty-four simulations combining different bench and barrier configurations revealed that specific bench–barrier combinations can maintain containment levels close to the 90 % benchmark, even under geometrically constrained conditions. The findings demonstrate that barriers can compensate for reduced bench width, providing a practical approach for achieving safety goals while supporting steeper slope designs and improved ore recovery. Overall, this research highlights the value of field calibration in enhancing model reliability and bridging empirical design criteria with numerical analysis. The results contribute to the development of performance-based methodologies for rockfall hazard mitigation, supporting safer and more efficient slope-design practices in modern open-pit mining.
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  The Canon of Contemporary Native American Women Artists: An Examination of Exhibition History and Social Contexts

  Ivey, Paul E.; Charpentier, Phoebe; Widdifield, Stacie; Saracino, Jennifer (The University of Arizona., 2026)

  The canon of contemporary Native American women artists formed differently than the traditional, Western art historical canon. This canon has been deliberately constructed through strategic interventions by artists, curators, and scholars—many of them Native women themselves—who recognized that existing art historical frameworks were fundamentally inadequate for understanding their work. Unlike the Western canon, which developed over centuries through gradual critical consensus, the canon of contemporary Native women artists can be traced through its exhibition history which reveals curatorial practices/interventions that broke from the art historical mechanisms traditionally utilized in fine arts contexts. Drawing on three interconnected theoretical frameworks developed by Indigenous scholars—visual sovereignty (Jolene Rickard), Indigenous feminisms (Nancy Marie Mithlo), and place-thought (Vanessa Watts)—this thesis traces the history of five landmark exhibitions over a 34 year period, from 1985-2019. Through comparative analysis of these exhibitions—Women of Sweetgrass, Cedar, and Sage (1985), Watchful Eyes (1994), Legacies (1995), Nourishing Hearts, Creative Hands (1998), and Hearts of Our People (2019)—this thesis identifies eight paradigmatic artists whose repeated inclusion across exhibitions constitutes canonical recognition: Kay WalkingStick, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Carm Little Turtle, Ramona Sakiestewa, Emmi Whitehorse, Jolene Rickard, Roxanne Swentzell, and Shelley Niro. Organized thematically around body and identity, land and place, memory and materials, and curation and exhibition space, this analysis demonstrates that the canon these artists represent differs fundamentally from its Western counterpart—constituting not a hierarchy of individual genius but a network of relational practices grounded in Indigenous knowledge systems and the ongoing assertion of cultural sovereignty.
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  REIMAGINING HWANG JINI AS OPERATIC HEROINE: THROUGH SELECTED COMPARISONS WITH VIOLETTA AND CIO-CIO-SAN

  Lee, Yunah; Lee, Chunghee; Dauphinais, Kristin; Rosenblatt, Jay (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  Female entertainer protagonists in opera, Violetta from La Traviata and Cio-Cio-San from Madama Butterfly, embody sacrificial love by conforming to 19th-century Parisian or Meiji Japanese social norms. In contrast, Hwang Jini from Lee Young Jo’s opera Hwang Jini challenges the social stigma of the Joseon Dynasty. Through an exploration of historic cultural context and a review of each character’s responses to societal constraints, coupled with an analysis of how Hwang Jini’s sijo-changs reflect her perspicacity and devotion to personal agency in defying social norms, this paper presents Hwang Jini as a modern shift from the traditional female entertainer protagonists.
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  Headache: The Patient and the Mechanism

  Largent-Milnes, Tally M.; Flowers, Matthew; Vanderah, Todd; Ibrahim, Mohab; Anderson, Trent; Martin, Laurent (The University of Arizona., 2026)

  Migraine is a highly prevalent and disabling primary headache disorder, and medication-overuse headache (MOH)—most often arising on a migraine background—represents a particularly severe, high-frequency phenotype associated with substantial functional impairment, psychiatric and sleep comorbidities, and elevated healthcare utilization. Despite major advances in acute and preventive therapies, many patients experience incomplete relief, relapse, or progression to chronic headache patterns, underscoring a need for mechanism-informed strategies and a clearer understanding of how headache phenotypes intersect with long-term brain health.Increasing attention has focused on the endocannabinoid system (ECS) as a modulatory network relevant to headache and pain. The ECS regulates synaptic signaling through the canonical endocannabinoids 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) and anandamide (AEA), their cannabinoid receptors, and a set of synthetic and degradative enzymes that shape region- and context-specific lipid “tone.” Preclinical and clinical observations implicate altered endocannabinoid signaling during headache states, motivating therapeutic approaches that target endocannabinoid metabolism rather than direct receptor agonism. ABHD6, a key 2-AG hydrolyzing enzyme, is positioned to influence local lipid microdomains within pain-modulatory circuits and may represent a tractable lever for modifying headache-like hypersensitivity. The first arm tests whether ABHD6 inhibition can reverse MOH-like pain and characterizes accompanying ECS remodeling across pain circuits. In female Sprague–Dawley rats, 7-day sumatriptan infusion (0.6 mg/kg/day) produced robust periorbital allodynia, and acute ABHD6 inhibition via KT-182 (2 mg/kg, i.p.) transiently reversed established allodynia without affecting baseline sensitivity in saline controls, with effects emerging at ≈300–360 minutes post-dose. Naïve profiling showed KT-182 produced an ethanolamide-biased lipid signature with minimal monoacylglycerol effects, whereas chronic sumatriptan expanded monoacylglycerol pools and modestly remodeled ECS transcripts/proteins across cortex, periaqueductal gray, rostral ventromedial medulla, and trigeminal nucleus caudalis. In sumatriptan-exposed animals, KT-182 predominantly elevated ethanolamide-class and polyunsaturated endocannabinoid-like lipids in a region- and state-dependent manner, supporting ABHD6 as a circuit-relevant, lipid-centric target for MOH-like hypersensitivity. The second arm evaluates long-term neurological outcomes associated with migraine and MOH using matched cohorts in the PearlDiver Mariner database. In Study 1 (1,289,469 matched per group), “any migraine” was not associated with higher 10-year Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk compared with controls (1.16% vs 1.28%), though modest elevations appeared in comorbidity-defined subgroups (e.g., migraine + IBS: 1.30% vs 1.10%; migraine + fibromyalgia: 1.10% vs 0.90%). In Study 2 (~42,000 per group), migraine cohorts had lower 10-year incidence than controls across AD, Parkinson’s disease (PD), and all-cause dementia, whereas MOH identified a higher-risk subset relative to migraine and showed outcome-specific divergence versus controls (vs controls: no difference for AD; higher PD; lower dementia). Exploratory stratification within MOH suggested higher 10-year dementia incidence with opioid and NSAID overuse than with triptan overuse (3.76% and 3.07% vs 1.08%), underscoring clinically meaningful heterogeneity. The third arm of this dissertation advances translational outreach by operationalizing a patient- and public-facing model for communicating “invisible” neurological signals. Hearing the Invisible (HTI) converted open-source EEG recordings into an immersive, multisensory installation integrating sound, light, and augmented reality. The centerpiece was a large-scale interactive brain with illuminated EEG “nodes” and an AR experience that enabled visitors to explore neural rhythms through movement and sonification, complemented by educational stations, live EEG-derived musical performance, and an academic poster component. Audience reflections and assessment data indicated strong engagement and suggested that multisensory presentation enhanced conceptual understanding of EEG and neurological disease while fostering empathy toward conditions that are not readily visible. In summary, this dissertation links mechanism, population evidence, and public translation to address headache as both a biological disorder and a lived experience. Mechanistically, the findings support ABHD6/endocannabinoid modulation as a state-dependent lever capable of reversing MOH-like hypersensitivity while reshaping lipid signaling across pain circuits. Epidemiologically, large, matched claims cohorts demonstrate that migraine-coded diagnoses are not uniformly associated with increased long-term neurodegenerative risk, whereas MOH and comorbidity-defined subgroups show distinct patterns that warrant targeted clinical attention. Finally, HTI provides a scalable framework for translating complex neurological data into accessible, emotionally resonant experiences that may improve understanding and empathy for invisible illness.
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  New Mixed-Instrument Duets with Trombone: Etudes for Developing Collaborative Musicianship

  Reid, Edward F.; Rose, Copland Harris; Becker, Michael D.; Carder, Jason R.; Williams, Matthew L. (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  Given the pedagogic and performance experience of many trombonists, including the author of the present study, chamber music participation is an area of music performance that requires better efforts and attention. Music students, particularly those who play trombone, should have opportunities to develop their collaborative skills through chamber music. Chamber music in educational settings has shown to be highly effective in developing musical skills and independence for its participants. Along the same lines, trombone teachers should encourage their students to form small ensembles and incorporate chamber duos into their curriculum. There are a number of high-quality chamber works that include the trombone, though many of these may be difficult to acquire or perform, especially for students who may lack the proper financial resources or access to music libraries. Duets, by nature, are the smallest possible chamber ensemble configuration. Therefore, they provide the most flexibility in how they can be rehearsed and performed. It is the goal of the author to compose a multitude of new, mixed-instrument duo etudes that contain an array of pedagogic benefits and spark a greater interest in chamber music education in the wider trombone community. Trombone students, in turn, can foster a stronger sense of musical self-determination known as “autonomy of musicianship.”
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  High-Throughput Microscopy via Ptychographic Imaging

  Liang, Rongguang; You, Ruilin; Pau, Stanley; Kang, Dongkyun (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  The core ideas of ptychographic imaging grew out of coherent diffraction imaging (CDI),which was originally developed for measuring periodic crystalline structures in the last century. As interest shifted toward recovering phase changes introduced by a sample under coherent illumination, researchers began to reconstruct the complex-valued object (amplitude and phase) from measured diffraction intensities. These concepts were soon extended beyond periodic crystals to a much wider range of applications, including biomedical imaging, complex materials, and optical metrology. The term ptychography comes from the Greek word ptych¯e, meaning “fold,” reflecting the use of overlapping measurements. The central idea of ptychography is to exploit redundancy in a series of overlapping intensity measurements to recover information that conventional optical systems cannot directly provide, such as quantitative phase and resolution beyond the native limit of the imaging optics. The demand for high-throughput microscopy spans many fields, from biomedical imaging to industrial inspection, and ptychography has emerged as a robust approach for extending imaging performance beyond conventional optical microscopes. This dissertation aims to demonstrate ptychographic imaging as a unifying framework for high-throughput microscopy across a broad range of applications. By recording only intensity measurements and computationally recovering the complex object, ptychographic methods can overcome limitations of traditional optical systems in biomedical imaging, metrology, materials characterization, and large-scale circuit inspection. The dissertation begins with an introduction and background on ptychographic imaging. Chapter 1 presents the historical development of ptychography from CDI, reviews prior research and its evolution into many specialized variants tailored to different applications, and summarizes key advances relevant to high-throughput microscopy. The chapter concludes by positioning ptychographic imaging within the broader landscape of computational imaging methods, highlighting related techniques and discussing their respective advantages and trade-offs for different imaging tasks. Chapter 2 presents a self-calibrating FPM framework that addresses one of the most critical challenges in practical FPM, namely model mismatch due to system misalignment and other experimental imperfections. We introduce an algorithmic framework based on automatic differentiation (AD) to jointly correct illumination misalignment and other forward-model discrepancies, thereby greatly enhancing the robustness of FPM in real-world settings and opening a more viable path toward routine deployment. The capability of the proposed selfcalibrating FPM framework is demonstrated through both numerical simulations, where it is compared against conventional FPM reconstruction methods, and experimental validation on cervical cell samples. In particular, we show deep ultraviolet (DUV) label-free imaging of cervical cells over an extremely large FOV, illustrating the potential of the proposed self-calibrating FPM approach for high-throughput biomedical imaging applications. Chapter 3 extends the self-calibrating FPM framework to a compact reflective RFPM architecture operating in the DUV regime. The newly designed reflective configuration enables the acquisition of both bright-field and dark-field images with a significantly simpler experimental layout than previous RFPM implementations, reducing the number of optical components and alignment degrees of freedom. This compact geometry makes it easier to integrate deep-ultraviolet Fourier ptychographic microscopy (DUV-FPM) into different platforms for surface metrology, while maintaining nanometer-scale height sensitivity over an extremely large FOV. We demonstrate the compact DUV-FPM system on semiconductor chip standards, highlighting its capability for defect detection in potential large-area integrated circuit inspection. In addition, we characterize mirror surfaces, including surface roughness and machining traces, illustrating the potential of the proposed RFPM configuration for high-throughput, quantitative optical metrology. In Chapter 4, we focus on coded ptychography (CP) for high-throughput lensless imaging, a relatively recent development in the ptychographic imaging family. We first introduce the general forward model, the initial experimental setup, and several potential application scenarios. We also compare FPM with CP to emphasize the conceptual and practical differences between these two approaches, and to clarify how they are related. Finally, we present experimental results demonstrating large–FOV biomedical imaging, including highthroughput screening of red blood cells (RBCs) and cervical cells, highlighting the strengths and limitations of CP in realistic biomedical settings. In Chapter 5, we introduce a recently developed CP approach. We propose and demonstrate a cost-effective, motionless lensless imaging system based on CP for high-throughput microscopy. A new reconstruction algorithm is developed that is specifically tailored for motionless CP using a 3D-printed phase mask. The design, fabrication, and integration of the customized phase mask into the imaging device are described in detail. The resulting lensless architecture requires minimal calibration, making it well-suited for portable and adaptable imaging platforms in diverse application scenarios. This approach enables imaging beyond conventional limits, achieving millimeter-scale FOV with micron-scale resolution without using lenses or any mechanical scanning. The motionless CP system can also capture full red-green-blue (RGB) color reconstructions and phase imaging simultaneously. Experimentally, we demonstrate the proposed setup on murine organ histology slides and diffractive optical elements (diffractive optical elements (DOEs)), illustrating the broad applicability of the system to both biomedical imaging and structured optical components. Relevant prior work in coded and lensless computational imaging is systematically compared and summarized in a table, providing context for the proposed method and outlining directions for future research. Finally, Chapter 6 discusses future directions for advancing ptychographic imaging, with a focus on making the methods developed in this dissertation more practical and broadly applicable. Building on the self-calibrating FPM, compact DUV-FPM, and motionless CP frameworks presented in the previous chapters, we outline strategies to further reduce the reliance on strict prior knowledge and precise calibration of the imaging system. These directions are essential for translating ptychographic methods into robust, user-friendly tools for high-throughput microscopy in real-world settings. Chapter 5 also summarizes the main remaining technical challenges and practical obstacles, and discusses potential avenues to overcome them in future work.
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  APPLICATIONS OF SCIENTIFIC MACHINE LEARNING IN FLUID DYNAMICS

  Chertkov, Michael; Hyett, Criston; Fatkullin, Ibrahim; Lin, Kevin; Stepanov, Mikhail; Livescu, Daniel (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  This work examines the applications of scientific machine learning (SciML) to three problems fundamentally grounded in fluid dynamics: physics-informed machine learning of the statistical evolution of the velocity gradient tensor; optimal gas flows in a natural gas network; and the time-varying drag coefficient of a shock-accelerated particle. The applications range over phenomena-defining parameter regimes, representing a breadth of typical fluids problems: incompressible, homogeneousisotropic turbulence; weakly compressible (and fully turbulent) gas pipe flows; and fluid-structure interaction in fully compressible, but not yet turbulent flow. Further, the SciML methods to be presented utilize a modest spectrum of model parameter dimension - from a handful of parameters when the active physics are well known, to tens of thousands when statistical closure models are needed. From this perspective, the body of work serves as a broad introduction to the two fields of fluid dynamics and scientific machine learning.
• Impact of Additives on the Physiochemical Properties of Copper Electrowinning Solutions for Acid Mist Suppression

  Zhang, Jinhong; Roa, Therese; Ndlovu, Selo; Waqas, Muhammad; Tenorio, Victor (The University of Arizona., 2026)

  During copper electrowinning (EW), oxygen evolution at the anode generates gas bubbles that rupture at the electrolyte–air interface, releasing a hazardous sulfuric acid mist. This dissertation systematically investigates the physiochemical mechanisms governing acid mist formation and demonstrates how targeted manipulation of electrolyte properties—through surfactant and polymer additives—can significantly suppress mist generation.The research began with a detailed characterization of the baseline electrolyte (density, viscosity, and surface tension) over industrial operating temperatures (20–50 °C). High-precision measurements revealed that commonly cited literature values are unrepresentative of true industrial electrolytes, underscoring the necessity of direct characterization under realistic conditions. Methodologically, this study identified critical limitations in traditional surface-tension techniques; specifically, cationic and zwitterionic surfactants were found to adsorb onto platinum Wilhelmy plates, violating zero-contact-angle assumptions. Consequently, pendant drop tensiometry was established as the essential method for accurate characterization in high-acidity, high-salt environments. Furthermore, the study identified a kinetic limitation at low surfactant concentrations (ppm range), where slow adsorption necessitated improved experimental protocols to ensure interfacial equilibration and reproducible data. A central finding is the profound "salt effect" exerted by the extreme ionic strength of EW solutions. A comprehensive study of five surfactants (two anionic, two cationic, and one zwitterionic) demonstrated that high sulfate content shifts Critical Micelle Concentrations (CMC) significantly toward lower concentrations, fundamentally altering adsorption behavior. This effect was most pronounced for anionic surfactants and explains the discrepancies often observed when extrapolating laboratory data to industrial systems. By incorporating these updated temperature-dependent expressions into classical jet-drop and film-drop models, this work demonstrates that acid mist generation is highly sensitive to the minimum bubble diameter. Surfactants and polymers influence this through complementary, synergistic mechanisms: surfactants reduce surface tension to shift interfacial detachment, while polymers (such as guar) increase viscosity to dampen bubble growth and collapse. These mechanistic predictions were validated using a custom-engineered laboratory-scale mist-generation column. By isolating physical bubble dynamics from electrochemical variables, the column served as a high-sensitivity screening tool, confirming that additives act synergistically to narrow the range of mist-producing bubble diameters. Finally, the study addresses the practical constraints of polymeric additives. Degradation studies of naturally derived polymers like guar revealed rapid acid hydrolysis, with rates accelerating at elevated temperatures. These findings indicate that while polymers are highly effective, their limited chemical lifetime must be incorporated into industrial dosing and economic models. Ultimately, this research provides a robust physicochemical framework for the development of next-generation, environmentally compatible mist suppression strategies in the hydrometallurgical industry.
• The Miserere Tradition from the Cathedral of Santiago de Guatemala

  Brobeck, John T.; Alfaro Portuguez, Olman; Mugmon, Matthew S.; Gosner, Kevin (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  This dissertation, "The Miserere Tradition from the Cathedral of Santiago de Guatemala," examines the extensive collection of musical settings of the Miserere (Psalm 50) contained in the Archivo Histórico Arquidiocesano Francisco de Paula García Peláez in Guatemala City (GCA-Gaha), positioning this archive as the most significant source of these works in the former Spanish viceregal territories. The study of over 50 extant manuscripts, spanning from the late sixteenth to the early nineteenth century, reveals a dynamic local musical culture characterized by pragmatism, agency, and creative adaptation amidst significant socioeconomic and political challenges.A central finding in this research is the identification of a pervasive, distinct local performance tradition: a patterned alternation in which odd-numbered psalm verses are set to polyphony, and even-numbered verses are set to plainchant. This pattern was generally maintained even if it required local modifications, such as adding or removing material, rewriting sections, or altering the text, in compositions imported from Europe or composed locally. In this study I argue that the prevalence and modifications of these Miserere settings are directly linked to the tumultuous environment of late-eighteenth-century Guatemala, particularly following the 1773 Santa Marta earthquake. The study postulates that the climactic loud noise (strepitus) during the important ceremony of Tenebrae, symbolizing the earthquake at Christ's death, would have held a profound, tangible significance for a population frequently enduring natural disasters, transforming the penitential psalm into a powerful expression of faith and resilience. The examination of performance practices illuminates the ingenuity of maestros de capilla like Rafael Castellanos and Vicente Sáenz, who navigated severe economic constraints and fluctuating personnel, therefore negotiating between traditions and pragmatic solutions. Under these circumstances, significant practices included the following: (1), instrumental doubling of both vocal and other instrumental lines, notably featuring the enduring use of the bajón (dulcian); (2), flexible roles for musicians, allowing them to both sing and play, or use techniques like falsetto to cover various vocal parts; and (3), compositional merging, demonstrated in the case study of Miserere by Nebra and Lagos (S.147), which integrates sections by different composers to suit the changing requirements. Moreover, the discovery of a previously unnoted concordance between the anonymous Miserere Fabordón a 4 (S.786) in Guatemala and the manuscript El Cuaderno de Domingo Flores from Oaxaca, Mexico, establishes a possible active, shared tradition of simple, improvisatory fabordón practice within the viceregal territories. Overall, this research recasts the Guatemalan Miserere repertoire not as a derivative of the Spanish models, but as a rich, multi-layered musical heritage born from the complex interplay of long-standing Hispanic traditions, local identity, and a pragmatic response to unique colonial circumstances.
• EVALUATION OF NOVEL GLYCOLIPIDS WITH METALS AND STRATEGIES FOR USE IN AQUEOUS MINING

  Maier, Raina M.; Hogan, David E.; Perez, Susan D.; Maier, Raina M.; Hogan, David E.; Root, Robert A. (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  As global populations grow and urban centers expand, the demand for clean water and critical metals is rising in tandem. Access to safe water is essential for public health, agriculture, and ecological resilience, while metals are indispensable for powering the technologies that support modern infrastructure and the transition to low-carbon energy systems. Traditional mining practices have long been the backbone of global metal supply and these practices face growing challenges related to environmental impact, water and energy usage, and the difficulty of extracting rare earth elements, which often occur in low concentrations and require advanced separation technologies. Aqueous mining, i.e., recovering metals from groundwater, brine waters, industrial effluents, and mining-influenced waters, offers a promising complement to conventional approaches for producing important metals while also producing cleaner water resources to meet increasing demand. Aqueous mining is particularly interesting as metal ions are in a labile form free of their original solid matrix and often exist at concentrations high enough to be economically viable (Can Sener et al., 2021; Du et al., 2023; Panagopoulos & Giannika, 2022). However, the development of selective, efficient, and environmentally friendly technologies for metal recovery remains a significant challenge (DuChanois et al., 2023; Qasem et al., 2021).Glycolipids, particularly rhamnolipids, have emerged as promising ligands for metal complexation. Biosynthetic rhamnolipids produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa have shown preferential binding to rare earth elements and heavy metals over common ions like potassium and magnesium (Hogan et al., 2017; Munoz‐Cupa et al., 2022; Ochoa-Loza et al., 2001). Due to these characteristics, these materials have potential for use as active groups in metal recovery applications such as hydrogels, precipitation, and ion flotation. However, their commercial use is hindered by the variability of biosynthetic mixtures, which can contain over 100 congeners depending on growth conditions (Abdel-Mawgoud et al., 2010; Dos Santos et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2014). Advances in synthetic organic chemistry have enabled the production of pure, single congener rhamnolipids and novel glycolipids with customizable structures (Bauer et al., 2006; McCawley et al., 2023; Palos Pacheco et al., 2017). These synthetic molecules allow precise control over lipid tail length, sugar head type, and glycosidic bond configuration, which are features that may significantly influence glycolipid metal-binding capability. Preliminary studies comparing synthetic glycolipids to biosynthetic monorhamnolipids have shown promising results using conditional stability constants to quantify metal-ligand interactions (Hogan et al., 2017; Irving & Williams, 1953; Nancollas & Tomson, 1982; Ochoa-Loza et al., 2001), but this remains an area that requires additional research to fully evaluate the potential of synthetic glycolipids for metal removal applications. One area of existing data for biosynthetic and synthetic glycolipids focuses on the removal of uranium from groundwaters. This element is of particular importance in groundwater due to its prevalence across the western United States and in other uranium producing areas such as the Mansa district of Punjab, India, paired with its serious toxicological risks to both human and environmental health (Gandhi et al., 2022; Kaur Guron et al., 2025; Office of Legacy Management, 2014; Tisherman et al., 2023). Uranium in groundwater can originate from both natural and anthropogenic sources and often exceeds environmental quality standards for human consumption. Remediation methods—such as adsorption, ion exchange, membrane filtration, and biosorption—have limitations in selectivity, cost, and sustainability (Manobala et al., 2021). Prior work from the Maier Lab Group demonstrated that rhamnolipid surfactants can remove uranium via ion flotation to levels compliant with EPA maximum contaminant limits, with the added benefit of regenerable, green chemistry-based ligands (Hogan et al., 2022; Tan et al., 1994). However, unexpected inefficiencies at higher pH levels suggest that uranium speciation and carbonate interference may hinder complexation, warranting further investigation into solution chemistry and ligand-metal interactions. This research has three aims. (1) The first focus of this dissertation is to evaluate the state of hydrogel development toward the goal of aqueous mining with metal ion selectivity. It also proposes a framework for hydrogel characterization to facilitate reproducibility and comparative analysis across future studies. (2) Second, this dissertation evaluates novel glycolipid structures for their ability to selectively harvest individual metals, and to find trends in metal:glycolipid complexation to guide development of new glycolipids. This includes metal ion and glycolipid complexation trends based on sugar head(s), number and length of lipid tails, and glycosidic linkage. (3) Finally, the research aims to further understand rhamnolipid:uranium complexation with ion flotation, specifically uranium ion speciation based on solution pH and carbonate concentration, in hopes of providing a practical method for removing uranium from groundwater and other complex aqueous mixtures. Experiments were conducted for aims 2 and 3 above. Laboratory work studied novel glycolipid complexation capabilities including, a cation exchange resin competition assay, solution analysis with inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) by the Arizona Lab or Emerging Contaminants (ALEC), and data analysis to determine conditional stability constants for three metals and six glycolipids. Computational modeling also helped determine the interaction of the glycolipid and the metal ions. Dynamic light scattering provided information about the size(s) of complexation aggregates. This work focused on the effects of head and tail groups to determine the impact of these glycolipid moieties in metal-glycolipid interactions. A second set of laboratory experiments was aimed at further understanding the complexation pocket of the glycolipids and evaluated the effect of ‘bite-size’ of the binding pocket in the glycolipid structure. This was accomplished by testing molecules chosen specifically for the designed differences, such as placement of the glycosyl linkage, the number of sugar heads, and the number of lipid tails. Eight molecules were tested with three metal ions using Ion Specific Electrodes (ISE) to determine the amount of metal complexed by the glycolipids. Computational modeling was used to calculate the size of the oxygen pocket. Analyzing the data helped determine molecule design factors that could help with future molecules and the effort to build a library of molecules for selective ion separation from aqueous solutions. Lastly, the role of pH and carbonates in uranium ion speciation and how they affected uranium removal from groundwater samples with the use of ion flotation with rhamnolipid was evaluated. Total organic carbon (TOC), total inorganic carbon (TIC), pH, and uranium concentration were tested. This student used inductively coupled plasma- optical emissions spectroscopy (ICP-OES) to determine uranium concentration and ALEC analyzed TOC and TIC samples. Geochemical modeling used the data collected to predict uranium ion speciation which helped determine effective groundwater composition and pH ranges for this technology. This dissertation addresses material and knowledge gaps in selective metal recovery technologies and advance the design of environmentally friendly materials. Specifically, it furthered our understanding of the structure-function relationship of glycolipids with select metals to advance our development of molecular structures suitable for targeted metal remediation/capture and/or tailored glycolipids for application specific remediation technologies. It also continued prior work to advance the use of glycolipids for the remediation of uranium contaminated groundwater using ion flotation technology. The experimental work and geochemical modelling helped parameterize the solution physicochemical conditions necessary for effective treatment which will thereby improve the potential of this technology to be transferred from the laboratory to real word implementation. Taken together, this body of work contributes to the development and future implementation of glycolipid-based, sustainable solutions for water purification, resource recovery, and environmental remediation. Finally, looking beyond, ion flotation there are myriad potential applications for this technology. One of great interest is the use of hydrogels. The literature review that begins this dissertation is focused on hydrogels. Hydrogels are based on polyacrylamide (PAM) and have long been used in environmental applications due to their water absorption capacity and ability to sorb contaminants. Crosslinked PAMs are used in horticulture and wastewater treatment, while linear PAMs are employed for flocculation and sludge dewatering (Frantz et al., 2005; Hennecke et al., 2018; Xiong et al., 2018). Some PAM formulations have demonstrated the ability to remove organic dyes and heavy metals and even catalyze the breakdown of toxic compounds (Barakat, 2011; Javed et al., 2018). Yet, most studies challenge these hydrogels with single-metal solutions, leaving a critical gap in understanding their selectivity in mixed-metal environments (Ahmad et al., 2022). The lack of standardized characterization protocols further limits comparative analysis and slows technological progress. Building a systematic evaluation framework may provide structure for more rapid advancement of these technologies.
• The Relationship of Instrument and Human Assessment of USDA Marbling Score to Chemical Intramuscular Fat and Cooked Steak Palatability

  Wulf, Duane M.; Garcia, Lucila de la Caridad; Diaz, Duarte; Merrell, Douglas S. (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  This study evaluated the relationships among human marbling scores, camera marbling scores, chemically determined intramuscular fat, and sensory attributes of cooked beef. Carcasses (n = 213) representing a broad range of marbling levels were evaluated by USDA graders and a VBG2000 camera system. Chemical intramuscular fat was quantified using Soxhlet extraction, and trained sensory panelists assessed tenderness, juiciness, and beef flavor intensity. Both human and camera marbling scores were strongly correlated with intramuscular fat concentration (R² = 0.68–0.90), demonstrating that visual and image-based evaluations accurately predict lipid content within the longissimus muscle. However, intramuscular fat and marbling scores were only weakly associated with sensory attributes (R² ≤ 0.13). Although greater intramuscular fat corresponded with marginal increases in tenderness, juiciness, and flavor intensity, these relationships accounted for little of the overall variation in eating quality. Greater intramuscular fat and higher marbling scores were more closely associated with juiciness and beef flavor intensity than with tenderness measurements. These findings confirm that marbling—whether assessed visually or instrumentally—serves as a reliable indicator of intramuscular lipid deposition but a limited predictor of palatability. Integration of objective camera grading with additional biochemical and structural metrics may enhance the precision of beef quality evaluation and prediction of consumer satisfaction.
• Discovery of Novel, Potent, and Subtype Selective 5-HT2B Receptor Antagonist -MARY1 Induces Mitochondrial Biogenesis and Restores Renal Function and Recovery Following Acute Kidney Injury

  Schnellmann, Rick G.; Santiago Raj, Paul Victor; Wondrak, Georg; Brosius, Frank; Wertheim, Jason; Date, Abhijit (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  Kidney disease affects more than 10% of the global population and remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Acute kidney injury (AKI), often triggered by ischemia, toxins, or sepsis, can resolve with adaptive repair but frequently progresses to acute kidney disease (AKD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) through maladaptive mechanisms including persistent inflammation, fibrosis, and tubular senescence. Central to this transition is mitochondrial dysfunction in proximal tubular cells, which impairs oxidative phosphorylation and contributes to the progression of CKD. Mitochondrial biogenesis (MB), regulated by PGC-1α, NRF1, and TFAM, is essential for maintaining renal energy homeostasis, and pharmacological activators of MB have emerged as promising therapeutic strategies to alleviate mitochondrial dysfunction-associated diseases. Serotonin (5-HT) signaling exerts receptor-specific therapeutic effects on renal pathology. Research from our laboratory and others have shown that modulation of 5-HT1F, 5-HT2A/2B/2C receptors enhances mitochondrial bioenergetics and function, thereby restoring renal function and repair following AKI. Here we discovered a novel, potent and subtype-selective 5-HT2BR antagonist, MARY1, that induces MB in both in vitro and in vivo. The MB-inducing effects of MARY1 are mediated through the 5-HT2B receptor and dual activation of the PI3K/AKT and RAS/MEK/ERK signaling pathways, resulting in nuclear translocation of PGC-1α, increased mitochondrial dynamics proteins, and upregulation of β-oxidation in the renal cortex of naïve mice. Daily administration of MARY1 for 6 days following AKI improves renal function, restores mitochondrial homeostasis and renal vascular integrity, upregulates β-oxidation, and restores genes associated with proximal tubule repair. Moreover, daily treatment with MARY1 (0.3 mg/kg) for 12 days following AKI increases autophagic activity in the renal cortex of mice. Daily administration of MARY1 for 30 days following AKI mitigated fibro-inflammatory responses, suppressing epithelial–mesenchymal and endothelial–mesenchymal transition (VE-cadherin, vimentin, FSP1), and reduced renal fibrosis (TGF-β, COL1A1, α-SMA). Furthermore, MARY1 attenuated inflammation by downregulating NF-κB signaling, reducing proinflammatory chemokine CXCL10, while augmenting anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-9, IL-10, and IL-13. Importantly, MARY1 alleviated cell cycle arrest by decreasing p53 and p21 expression, and increased “successful repair” genes (ACSM2A, HNF4α) while suppressing most “failed repair” markers (VCAM1, COL3A1, PDGFR-β). Together, these findings identify MARY1 as a first-in-class 5-HT2B receptor antagonist that restores mitochondrial function, promotes adaptive tubular repair, and prevents renal fibrosis, thereby alleviating AKD-to-CKD transition. This work highlights 5-HT2B receptor antagonism as a promising therapeutic strategy to improve renal function and recovery and long-term outcomes after ischemic injury.
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  BEST PRACTICE RECOMMENDATIONS TO REDUCE COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES IN HEALTHCARE FOR DEAF PATIENTS

  Goldsmith, Melissa; Wesson, Stella (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  This thesis explores research on deaf patients and how they view their experiences in a hospital setting and proposes evidence based recommendations for interventions such as providing interpretation accommodations and education to healthcare professionals. Over 50 million people in the United States have a hearing disability where people are either hard of hearing or completely deaf (James et al., 2022). Evidence based recommendations enable healthcare professionals to provide patients with the highest quality of care. The recommendations for caring for deaf patients include providing proper interpretation accommodations upon admission to the hospital and throughout all aspects of care to ensure effective communication and understanding. Additional recommendations call for the implementation of an electronic order set to create a structured outline to follow during care and incentivizing the continuing education of providers and nurses to become familiar with American sign language. These interventions aim to increase patient satisfaction and understanding and decrease the communication gap deaf populations struggle with within the healthcare field. The final chapter includes the implementation proposal using the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle to evaluate and refine the intervention. Nurses should remain committed to continuing educational efforts by staying current on research to provide the greatest care for all patients.
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  A Review and Policy Analysis of the Causes and Impact of the Lack of Medical Research for Minority Groups

  Langley, D. Carrie; Weaver, Symone Olivia (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  Medical practices are backed by research to guarantee that patients receive the best care possible to get better. This research is found through clinical trials and require human participants in many cases to see how to best treat patients. The majority of participants in clinical trials do not represent all skin tones and economic classes. This leads to inaccurate results and poor treatment of diverse patients. It is known that people who participate in clinical trials have better health outcomes because more is known about how to treat them. It is unfair to minority groups who do not feel comfortable participating in research and who are unable to due to external circumstances. There have been policies put in place to combat this problem by requiring clinical trials to include women and minority groups, but it does not rectify the issues that are prohibiting these groups from volunteering. A lack of trust in healthcare workers that has built up over time from past experiences needs to be addressed. There are also cultural and language barriers that may not be understood. A literature review and policy analysis has been conducted in order to better understand the barriers surrounding the lack of diversity in clinical trials as well as ways to improve diversity.
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  INFORMACIÓN SOBRE LA MENOPAUSIA

  Doran, Kristin; Vij, Vanshikha (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  Menopause is a significant transitional period in a woman’s life, yet access to accurate and culturally relevant information remains limited, particularly for populations with limited English proficiency (LEP) in the United States. In Tucson, Arizona, a city with a substantial Spanish-speaking population, many individuals face barriers to understanding menopause, including the lack of health education resources in their primary language (CDC, 2024). This project examines the creation of patient education materials—guides, audio recordings, and videos—designed to provide accessible, evidence-based menopause information to Spanish-speaking populations. Existing research highlights that LEP patients often experience disparities in health literacy and outcomes due to insufficient linguistically and culturally tailored health information (CDC, 2024). Despite this, few resources like this exist, illustrating a gap in both public health and patient education literature. The project’s central aim is to increase health literacy and empower Spanish-speaking individuals to understand and manage menopause symptoms effectively. Through a creative process centered around English to Spanish translation and involving content development, scriptwriting, and multimedia production, the project transforms technical health information into formats that are easy to access, comprehend, and use. This work highlights the importance of culturally and linguistically appropriate health education, demonstrating how creative media can bridge gaps in health knowledge for underserved populations. By providing Spanish-speaking communities with practical, understandable resources on menopause, the project contributes to broader efforts in health equity, patient empowerment, and community education.
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  Sex Based Differences in Young Athletes Contributing to Musculoskeletal Injuries and Recovery

  Kanady, John; Vasquez, Alexa (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  Most athletes begin their sport(s) from a young age which is great for their emotional, mental, and physical development. The problem arises between male and female athletes when they reach the age of puberty because the mechanisms of their bodies change. Parents, coaches, and athletes alike need to be educated. Adolescent athletes need to be educated about how changes to their bodies affect their training. Males and females should be taught to train differently. For this literature, articles were found from search engines and databases such as Google Scholar, Google, and the University of Arizona online libraries.The key words searched for were: adolescent, athlete, sex, male, female, concussion, joints, puberty, hormones, recovery, biological/physiological differences. Adolescents in particular are more at risk for injury compared to older, more experienced adults. One factor is differences in neurotransmitters. Higher levels of dopamine lead to risk-taking. Risk-taking behavior can increase the chances of injury. This is common in both adolescent male and female athletes. The majority of biological differences between males and females can be attributed to hormone differences and their wide ranging physiological effects. Male bodies are dominated by testosterone. Female bodies experience hormone fluctuations of estrogen, progesterone, luteinizing hormone, and follicle-stimulating hormone. Estrogen and progesterone are the main female hormones. The physiological differences become noticeable once puberty begins. These musculoskeletal differences manifest as increased flexibility in females and greater speed and strength in males. Females experience more personal variation in musculoskeletal performance due to the menstrual cycle.
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  Aces and Kings – A Game Theory Analysis of a Reduced Poker Model

  Blume, Andreas; Vanukuri, Mohith Reddy (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  This thesis studies a simplified version of poker to understand the logic behind bluffing and decision making when players have private information. Instead of analyzing a full-scale complex poker system, this thesis aims to deconstruct the workings of poker using a reduced model with only two card types, Aces and Kings. The model builds on and extends the framework introduced in Reiley et al.’s “Stripped-Down Poker” (2008) by bringing in different player types and analyzing how their distribution affects optimal bluffing behavior. The players in this reduced model are of two types: Behavioral (players who always bet no matter what hand they have) and Rational (players who change their strategy based on their hand). This paper uses basic game theory concepts to study the equilibria of this reduced model. This thesis aims to connect the simplified model to real-world poker and related economic settings and discusses how behavioral biases further impact strategic decision-making under uncertainty. Future research of this topic could include additional rounds of betting, more complex card structures, and expanded player types to better reflect the multiple layers of actual poker gameplay.
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  INTERVENTIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA: A COST-BENEFIT EVALUATION

  Mailhot, Cameron; Sharvonova, Parvina (The University of Arizona., 2025)

  This thesis proposes a structured way to evaluate large-scale military interventions by placing cost–benefit analysis at the center of outcome assessment. Existing studies often judge interventions through varied criteria- military performance, regime durability or governance effects- which makes comparisons difficult. To address this, the thesis develops a four-phase model that traces how goals and effort shape the benefits and costs interventions ultimately produce, and how those outputs align with the political end states that interveners seek. The framework distinguishes between broad and narrow goals and between high and low levels of effort, suggesting that the relationship between these dimensions may influence the likelihood that gains will endure or outweigh losses. Four cases- U.S. interventions in Afghanistan and Syria, Russia’s involvement in Syria, and NATO’s 2011 operation in Libya- serve as comparative applications of the model. Each case is examined for its stated aims, resource commitments, observed effects, and the durability of its outcomes. Rather than offering definitive judgments, the thesis aims to provide a transparent and consistent method that may help scholars and policymakers think more systematically about how interventions produce results and how their costs and benefits might be evaluated.

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