University Of Texas At El Paso Research Articles

Systematic analysis of virga and its impact on surface particulate matter observations

Abstract. Studies focusing on virga are rare, even though it is a commonly occurring phenomenon. In this study, we investigated aerosol backscatter profiles from a ceilometer located on The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) campus from 2015–2021 to identify virga events. Ceilometer data effectively captured virga events from regular precipitation based on the backscattering intensities. To characterize the virga phenomena, a systematic method was developed using ceilometer profiles, soundings, surface rain gauges, and radar data from the nearest National Weather Service (NWS) site. A total of 50 virga events were identified during the study period. These events appeared only during a specific time of the year, revealing a seasonal occurrence pattern. We identified and classified these virga events and investigated their impact on the surface measurements recorded by the on-campus Continuous Ambient Air Monitoring Station (CAMS). Virga events were classified as columnar and non-columnar events based on their aerosol profiles. We observed that during some of the columnar virga events, surface particulate matter (PM) levels displayed a sudden upward trend indicating aerosol loading in the surface layer after precipitation evaporation. In total, 20 of the virga events showed a columnar structure out of the 50 identified in this study. More detailed analysis of selected events shows that virga affects regional air quality. A significant result of this study is that analysis of sudden changes in local air quality needs to consider the possible effects of virga on the surface layer.

The Use of a SWOT Analysis to Evaluate a COVID-19 Mitigation Project in the Paso del Norte Region.

A SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis is a strategic planning and management technique used for project planning. It is sometimes called situational assessment or situational analysis. We applied this tool (with some adaptations) effectively in a health promotion/public health education intervention project in the Paso del Norte region. This region is composed of a predominantly Hispanic population and is marked by a dynamic flow of residents across the border. In this milieu, COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted communities of color and individuals who are economically and socially marginalized. The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) has partnered with the National COVID-19 Resilience Network (NCRN) to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 among farm and food production workers (i.e., farmworkers, dairy, and meat packing workers) in El Paso, Doña Ana, and Moore counties. Intervention strategies include: (1) providing culturally and linguistically appropriate COVID-19 information, (2) disseminating protective equipment, and (3) ensuring access to COVID-19 vaccines. After completing year 1 of the project, we conducted a multiple-level SWOT analysis to evaluate, gather insights, and develop actionable strategies that would allow better service delivery to our priority population. We provide this case study to illustrate how a SWOT analysis can be a useful tool for practitioners engaged in the practice of evaluating health promotion and disease prevention programs. Even when attention and energy is absorbed in the immediate course of action, a SWOT analysis can help to achieve positive and effective collaborations resulting in strong service levels.

Bilingual Comics on the Border as Graphic Medicine: Journaling and Doodling for Dementia Caregiving during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The use of comics can be a powerful tool to expand educational outreach efforts for improving the health and well-being of people everywhere. Dr. Ian Williams coined the term "graphic medicine" to denote the use of comics in medical education and patient care ("Graphic Medicine"). Alzheimer's disease affects approximately five million Americans and is expected to triple to 13.8 million by 2050. Hispanics and Blacks are disproportionately affected at a higher rate than other groups ("Facts and Figures"). There is a lack of culturally relevant educational materials available for these populations. To address this disparity, an interdisciplinary community engaged collaboration was initiated with the Alzheimer's Association West Texas Chapter, The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), and Dukes Comics to produce a series of virtual workshops entitled, "Journaling and Doodling for Stress Reduction and Relaxation" for caregivers of people living with Alzheimer's and other dementias. These sessions were live-streamed and began during the COVID-19 pandemic. Spanish sessions have also been provided to the public. Health information about the disease process and common caregiver challenges are provided in each session. A guided journaling and doodling activity are also included. Journaling has been shown to be an effective and easy tool to use for stress management (Scott). The impetus behind this project was to address the dire need for increasing access to Alzheimer's disease education and resources in El Paso, Texas, a border community that is also home to Fort Bliss Army base. Hispanics comprise approximately 82% of the population and include a large Spanish-speaking segment. Language is often a barrier to health care access and education. To meet the aim of increasing accessibility, the workshops and comics are available in both English and Spanish and soon in-person. This project received a 2022 joint seed grant from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso and UTEP to conduct research and examine data from these workshops that will be provided in-person in marginalized and multilingual Latina communities surrounding El Paso starting in the fall.

General Chemistry Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) Program at the University of Texas El Paso

The Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) Program at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a program that provides students with the training necessary to host small workshops for students enrolled in their first two semesters of Chemistry. Peer Leaders are tasked with the responsibility of facilitating learning of Chemistry through the creation of practice problems, reviews and interactive games. As UTEP is a Latinx-serving university, a large portion of Peer Leaders and students are Latinx. Therefore, the PLTL program is empowering students through the development of Peer Leaders' leadership, and the strengthening of students' foundation in Chemistry, making them more likely to succeed in the STEM field. Peer Leaders in the program have witnessed the impact of the COVID-19pandemic on Latinx students and have found ways to adapt to the shift to online learning.

A Note from the Editor

A Note from the Editor Noe Montez I fell in love with academic work because I fell in love with the real-time process of seeing research and writing about theatre developed and distributed to an eager audience. It is a pleasure to hear work presented at a conference, and then to watch the author reimagine that presentation into a monograph or article. Four years ago, I joined the editorial staff at Theatre Topics hoping to highlight the ways that theatre moves between theory and practice to reach communities in and beyond our classrooms. This is my final issue, and I am truly moved by the generosity, care, and commitment to academic activism that many of you have written about over my time on the masthead. I look upon the work that my colleagues and I have published and I leave with a sense of appreciation for scholars and artists who have willingly written about their experiences with reproductive health in the academy, the value of theatre pedagogy in the aftermath of wildfire and mass shooting, the need to reimagine academic life in the wake of catastrophic climate change, and the labor that one must take on as a non-binary performer in order to create safe spaces. These are just a few among the many examples of the care work, classroom exercises, and productions that have asserted the value of theatre and performance in these pages. I am proud of the special issue on Graduate Education that captured the precarity of PhDs in the field, while offering suggestions about how our doctoral programs might better support those who matriculate. I am also grateful to my colleague and friend Kareem Khubchandani who coedited the special issue on Queer Pedagogy and Performance with me, giving space to those who practice pedagogy everywhere, from the classroom to the dance hall. It has been a joyful privilege to oversee this journal and build a representative editorial board, find more diverse external evaluators, and support authors of color who I hope will continue to see themselves represented in this journal and eventually apply for editorial positions here and elsewhere. I also want to thank several people. Soyica Colbert, DJ Hopkins, and Christin Essin have done tremendous work advocating for the journal during their respective terms as ATHE Vice President for Research and Publications. Gwendolyn Alker and Lisa S. Brenner brought me into the journal, created a system where I could learn from them, and have generously continued to offer guidance. Peter Campbell and Margherita Laera have invented and imagined the online editor roles in ways that have richly enhanced Theatre Topics’ offerings. Megan Sanborn Jones and Jessica Del Vecchio have been tireless book review editors doing unflagging work in an often-underappreciated role. Tufts University has supported me by providing graduate assistants, and I am deeply appreciative of Stephanie Engel, Jenny Herron, Teri Incampo, Mia Levenson, and Jessica Pearson-Bleyer for their careful proofing, initial evaluations of submissions, and other assistance. Finally, Bob Kowkabany and the staff at Johns Hopkins University Press make the journal run efficiently. Theatre Topics will remain in strong hands under the thoughtful editorship of John Fletcher (Editor), Susanne Shawyer (Coeditor), Jessica Del Vecchio (Book Review Editor), and Shannon Walsh (Online Editor). I am confident of the journal under their care. I leave the journal with four essays and one note from the field. These texts highlight a diversity of voices and demonstrate the ways in which the pedagogy moves people to reimagine themselves and the worlds they live in. [End Page ix] In “Developing Fontera Aesthetic through New Work Creation,” three professors from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) examine their process for investigating a performance aesthetic that is unique to the Texas/Mexico borderlands through the development and staging of Georgina Escobar’s Monsters We Create. The material was developed through three separate classes to promote student ownership of the artistic process while facilitating rigorous skill-building of playwriting techniques. The result is the creation of a “sci-femme frontera” aesthetic that enables UTEP students to embrace the inherent duality of their Latinx identity. Nicolas Shannon Savard writes of their attempts to engage undergraduate students with...

September 2020 Placement Ads

September 2020 Placement Ads

NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation for Faculty Diversity

The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) proposes to implement an Initiative for Institutional Change with the goal to serve as a model for other institutions that desire to increase the representation and advancement of women, including underrepresented minorities, in academic science and engineering careers. Because of its talented faculty and Hispanic-majority student population, UTEP is the ideal setting to create, implement, and document interrelated processes for diversifying the academic workforce and contributing to the national goal of creating positive and sustainable change in academic climates. To increase the total number of female faculty, in particular those from underrepresented groups, in tenure-track and tenured positions, UTEP will establish an Initiative with three integrated and mutually supportive components: 1) a policy and recruitment process that formulates faculty support and retention policies, supports recruitment efforts, and provides research support; 2) a faculty development process that expands an existing faculty mentoring program for women, introduces a seminar series to help faculty develop plans for career success, and fosters synergy between tenured and tenure-track faculty; 3) a collaborative leadership process that works with departments to remove barriers to recruitment, retention, and advancement of women faculty by assessing departmental climates and sharing best practices that encourage diversity and promote leadership. To sustain the components and provide for continuous refinement of processes, an Institutional Action Board will initiate and define change policies and offer advice on grant initiatives. A multi-faceted evaluation process will include both formative and summative self-assessments and review by an external Advisory Board. This innovative structure weaves together processes, relationships, and multiple lines of communication among all ranks of faculty and administration. The five co-PIs bring broad leadership and coalition-building experience to the Initiative: Dr. Evelyn Posey is Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Elizabeth Anthony is the past President of the Faculty Senate, Dr. Tine Reimers is Co-Director of the Center for Effective Teaching and Learning, Dr. Ann Gates is Associate Chair of the Computer Science Department and Chair of the President's Advisory Committee on Diversity, and Dr. Patricia Witherspoon is Chair of the Department of Communication and Director of the Sam Donaldson Center for Communication Studies. Through implementation, documentation, and on-going assessment of the Initiative, UTEP will contribute to a better understanding of how to create collaborative climates that result in greater diversity. The intellectual merit of the Initiative is the breadth of its integrative structure, involving university administration as well as coalitions of change agents at the individual, departmental, college, and institutional levels. In this process, decision makers at the grass roots drive institutional change. The Initiative is designed to promote a holistic view of faculty life, address the different stages of faculty careers from entrance into the academe to advancement to leadership positions, and to develop faculty for each of these stages. The Initiative is designed for broad impact. It is a series of processes that includes involvement of all ranks of faculty as well as participation by individuals at the highest level of the institution. It is built with knowledge of universities' structures and interrelated processes that can be easily adapted to universities throughout the UT System and those around the country.

Teaching Biochemistry based Research Driven Course through Active Learning to Accelerate Student's Adaptation to College Study and Promote Freshman Research

Freshman Year Research Intensive Sequence (FYRIS) program was implemented at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in 2015. The program promotes student enrollment in research driven course (RDCs) for two semesters to enhance student development and increase retention in STEM through early interventions by engaging them in research activities during the freshman and sophomore years. As the undergraduate population at UTEP is 85% Hispanic, programs such as FYRIS can play an important role in increasing the representation of minorities in STEM. UTEP has a near 100% acceptance for the undergraduate courses implies a class population represents students of diverse academic proficiencies. In our special freshman chemistry laboratory sections (CHEM 1105 and CHEM1106/4176), students conduct research on expression and purification of proteins. In the first semester, students gain understanding of basic chemistry and biochemistry concepts prior optimizing protein expression. In the second semester, they continue expressing proteins and also learn protein purification using Fast Protein Liquid Chromatography. To enhance student success in advanced research driven courses, it's important that all students have an accelerated understanding in the basic chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology. Active learning methodologies such as personal response systems, case studies, problem based learning, flipped classroom, model building, game based quizzes, think pair share, peer led team learning were used to promote accelerated learning. Research‐Teaching Integration through peer led undergraduate students were implemented to boost student understanding and confidence. Overall, our evaluation showed that students' enjoyed the class sessions more and had a better clarity of complex research based concepts in our newly designed research driven coursesSupport or Funding InformationRDCs; S.R.; J.F. & R.E. National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under linked Award Numbers RL5GM118969, TL4GM118971, and UL1GM118970.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Integrated Spanish Language Training: Learners' Expanded Spanish Vocabulary and Positive Perceptions After 4 Semesters

Introduction. Spanish-speaking individuals with limited English proficiency face health disparities. In response, The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) Program has integrated Spanish training across their curriculum to better serve this population. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of this training. Methods. Participants were first-year students from the UTEP DPT Program. Students enrolled in a required 8-week, 1-credit beginner or advanced Spanish medical terminology course in their first semester. In addition, they practiced Spanish during laboratory and service-learning experiences. The students completed pretests in the first semester and posttests in their fifth semester: self-ratings of their ability to speak, understand, read, and write Spanish; a written Spanish vocabulary test; and a questionnaire about their beliefs and attitudes about Spanish language training. A repeated-measures two-way analysis of variance was used to analyze self-ratings and vocabulary test scores. Descriptive statistics and paired t tests were used to analyze the data from the pre- and post-questionnaires. Results. There were significant improvements in self-ratings of speaking, understanding, reading, and writing Spanish (P < .001). There was significant improvement in vocabulary test scores (P < .001); no significant difference was seen between beginning and advanced students (P = .097). Results from the questionnaires suggest that students recognize personal and professional benefits from learning Spanish. Discussion and Conclusion. This study supports that the UTEP DPT Program's Spanish language training model improved self-ratings of Spanish proficiency and increased Spanish vocabulary. In addition, students had an overall positive attitude about learning Spanish. Future research is indicated to determine whether self-ratings of proficiency are correlated with observed Spanish proficiency in a clinical setting.

Geoscience Department Feature: University Of Texas At El Paso (UTEP)

Geoscience Department Feature: University Of Texas At El Paso (UTEP)

Voices of Students with Disabilities: A Photovoice Study

Students with disabilities are often the forgotten minority in higher education. The Center for Accommodations and Support Services (CASS) office at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) initiated a Photovoice project with two main objectives: provide students with visible and invisible disabilities a space to foster validity for and bring a personal perspective regarding their lived experiences; and provide valuable insight and dialogue about these students’ issues, concerns, and successes to UTEP faculty, staff, and community partners who engage with this population. These objectives led to the ultimate goal of—directly and indirectly—improving educational outcomes for current and future students with disabilities. Student experiences are discussed in this paper through qualitative data analysis. Student affairs professionals are critical factors in this process and must be educated in order to eliminate attitudinal and physical barriers of campus environments which prevent students with disabilities from achieving successful academic careers.
 
 Editors note: The research in this paper was conducted with a TACUSPA research grant.

Abstract 446: Systematic discovery of biomarkers for ovarian cancer by using the Human Protein Atlas database

Abstract Purpose: The extensive accumulation of human protein expression datasets in normal and cancer tissues provides unique opportunities to perform systematic selection of tumor biomarkers. This study aims to discover biomarkers for ovarian cancer (OC) by data mining the Human Protein Atlas databases in a systematic manner. Design methods: The Human Protein Atlas website (HPA, www.proteinatlas.org) is a publicly available database with spatial distribution of 20,356 proteins in 44 different normal human tissues and 20 different types of cancers. It is ideal for biomarker discovery. SAS software version 9.4 was used to data mine HPA database. All the potential biomarkers should meet the following criteria: the protein have ≥ 75% high or medium expression in OC but have low or no expression in other types of cancers, and the protein have low or no expression in at least one type of tissues of ovary included in the HPA database, the overall expression in normal tissues is ≤ 40%. Then ELISA was used to test the diagnostic performance of some of the selected biomarkers. Results: Nineteen out of twenty different types of cancers included in the HPA database were studied in our study, carcinoid was excluded in the selection process due to the lack of proper normal control tissues. In general, PLAT might be a universal biomarker for 19 cancers. In total, 2,593 potential biomarkers for OC were selected. Ninety seven proteins out of 2,593 proteins might be OC-specific according to the available data. After an intensive manual search from the website, twelve proteins (STC1, MSLN, LSM3, WFDC2/HE4, ZNF2, CRIP3, XAF1, SLC35E2B, IFT88, ATP13A3, ZNF787 and TROAP) were selected for further research. Among them, WFDC2/HE4, MSLN have already been reported to have good diagnostic performance in OC by other researchers. ELISA was further used to test whether serum autoantibodies against PLAT or MSLN can distinguish 44 OC patients from 48 normal controls. The AUC of anti-PLAT and anti-MSLN were 0.783 (P < 0.001) and 0.666 (P = 0.006), respectively. Conclusions: HPA database have made systematic discovery of cancer biomarkers possible. PLAT and MSLN can distinguish OC from normal controls. Another 11 proteins have great potential to serve as OC biomarkers and further validation studies are warranted to test their diagnostic performance and whether these biomarkers are OC specific. Keywords: ovarian cancer, tumor associated antigen, big data, data mining, systematic discovery This study was supported by grants from the General Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81172086 and No.81372371). We would also like to acknowledge the Border Biomedical Research Center (BBRC) Core facilities at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) for their help, which were funded by NIH Grant (5G12MD007592). Citation Format: Jianxiang Shi, Hao Sun, Hongfei Zhang, Mengtao Xing, Jitian Li, Pei Li, Liping Dai, Chenglin Luo, Jian-Ying Zhang. Systematic discovery of biomarkers for ovarian cancer by using the Human Protein Atlas database. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 446.

Systematic Ideation Effectiveness Study of TRIZ

The objective of this paper is to present experimental results of a specific ideation method TRIZ (an abbreviation of a Russian acronym of “Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskikh Zadatch” meaning theory of inventive problem solving) as compared to ad hoc methods used by students. It is critical to understand how and why TRIZ works as it can lead to improvements on how to teach this method, and also how to analyze ideation methods in general. Our hypothesis is that TRIZ improves the creativity level of subjects using it as observed in the produced design outcomes. The experiments were conducted simultaneously at two institutions: University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and University of Maryland (UMD). The results were analyzed as part of an existing research partnership with Pennsylvania State University (PSU). The ideation task present here has been used in all three institutions; it is the redesign of a traffic light that uses light-emitting diodes (LED) instead of incandescent bulbs leading to snow build-up on the lights in certain climates as LED's generate less heat to melt the snow. UTEP and UMD student groups were tasked with redesigning the LED traffic lights to resolve this issue. The assessment was performed on the outcome (i.e., ideas generated) using quantity, novelty and variety as metrics. Numerical results of these metrics are shown along with conclusions based on observations of the experimental process. Data presented in this paper conclude that TRIZ does improve the ideation effectiveness metrics Novelty and Variety while slightly reducing Quantity when compared to a control group using ad hoc ideation methods.

Emerging and Recurring Themes in Writing for Publication

Emerging and Recurring Themes in Writing for Publication

Interrater Agreement on Assessment, Diagnosis, and Treatment for Neck Pain by Trained Physical Therapist Students

Background and Purpose. Clinicians trained in Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy (MDT) for neck pain (NP) have been shown to reliably link diagnosis to treatment. No studies have been done with physical therapist students. Study objectives were to determine interrater agreement on MDT diagnosis, MDT initial treatment, and the diagnosis-treatment link of students trained in MDT for NP. Additionally, diagnosis-treatment results were compared with those of 50 experienced clinicians trained in MDT for NP. Subjects. Participants were 17 Master of Physical Therapy (MPT) students who were MDT trained for NP. Methods. Students viewed videorecorded MDT assessments of 20 patients with NP and selected respective MDT diagnosis and initial treatment categories. Interrater agreement on MDT diagnosis, initial treatment, and diagnosis-treatment link was determined with kappa (κ), and percent agreement (%). Chi-square (χ^sup 2^) was used to compare interrater agreement on the diagnosis-treatment link and results from a previous study using experienced clinicians trained in MDT for NP. Results. The student interrater agreement was 85.59% for MDT diagnosis, 87.94% for initial treatment and 90.88% for diagnosis-treatment link. Rater consistency was moderately high with κ = .50 for diagnosis, .55 for initial treatment and .58 for diagnosis-treatment. Clinicians had 86.67% agreement on the MDT diagnosis-initial treatment link with moderate consistency (κ = .46; CI = .45-.47). The consistency of the students was significantly higher than the clinicians (χ^sup 2^ = 88.67; P Discussion and Conclusion. Students and clinicians trained in MDT for NP demonstrated moderate reliability when linking the MDT diagnosis to initial treatment. The difference in consistency between students and experienced clinicians was clinically small (difference in kappa of 0.12), but statistically significant, with students demonstrating more consistency. Key Words: Reliability, Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy, Students. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE One objective of physical therapist education in the United States is to produce graduates ready for independent practice in a doctoring profession.1 To address that objective in the limited area of spine care, the faculty at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Physical Therapy Program decided that, rather than supply an overview of the many existing approaches, they would provide students with a relatively complete tool to address spine care. The faculty adopted the Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy (MDT) approach advocated by Robin McKenzie.2,3 The UTEP curriculum covers the basics of MDT lumbar, thoracic, and cervical spine management.4 The MDT approach was selected based on its widespread use and popularity throughout the world, supported by surveys conducted in the United States,5 England, and Ireland.6 More important, there is mounting evidence to support MDT as a reliable, valid system for management of patients with low back pain (LBP)7-11 and neck pain (NP).11-13 The study had 4 objectives: 1) to determine whether PT students trained in MDT can reliably arrive at a diagnosis (evaluation) for NP; 2) to determine if PT students trained in MDT can reliably arrive at an initial treatment (intervention) for patients with NP; 3) to determine whether PT students trained in MDT can reliably select the MDT diagnosis that corresponds to a given initial treatment for NP; and 4) to compare performance of entry-level PT students to more highly trained and experienced clinicians on the correspondence of MDT diagnosis to initial treatment for NP. The common medical terminology for the process of assessment, diagnosis, and treatment will be used in this manuscript to speak to the larger audience. It is understood that equivalent US physical therapy language for the process would be examination, evaluation and intervention respectively. Review of the Literature Studies support the reliability of diagnostic MDT components for LBP7-11,14-19 and NP. …

Teaching College Physics at the Local Elementary School

For several years physics faculty at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) have taught physics to pre-service elementary and middle school teachers in an unusual location: the local elementary school! The participating pre-service elementary and middle school teachers are typically in their last semester and are fully immersed in their internships (called “student teaching” elsewhere. See Fig. 1). Rather than bringing the students back to campus for class during four of their field semesters, UTEP sends education, mathematics, and physics faculty out to the schools as part of what is referred to as the “field-based program” (FBP) even though some of this program occurs on campus.

Upgraded gravity anomaly base of the United States

A concerted effort to compile an upgraded digital gravity anomaly database, grid, and map for the United States by the end of 2002 is under way. This joint effort by the geophysics groups at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (with support from the National Imagery and Mapping Agency [NIMA]), is an outgrowth of the new geoscientific community initiative called Geoinformatics (www.geoinformaticsnetwork.org). This dominantly geospatial initiative reflects the realization by Earth scientists that existing information systems and techniques are inadequate to address the complex scientific and societal issues that we must confront. Currently, the lack of standardization and chaotic distribution of available geoscience data, a lack of documentation about them, and the lack of easy-to-use access tools and computer codes for their analysis are major obstacles for scientists, government agencies, and educators alike. ...

Interval Methods in Robot Navigation

Interval methods helped a robot designed by the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) team win a prestigious third place world-wide in the robot competition held during the American Association of Artificial Intelligence conference in Portland, Oregon, August 6-7, 1996.

Three dimensional automated visual inspection of surface mounted devices

Surface Mounted Technology (SMT) has created a demand for machine vision systems that can reliably verify component placement for screening inspection and process improvement. This paper describes a new 3-D computer vision system being developed at the Center for Electronics Manufacturing (CEM) of The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) for the inspection of Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). A small range finder, utilizing a laser-based triangulation measurement method, is being employed for the development of an effective high resolution 3-D SMT inspection system.

Absence of Typical Nippostrongylus brasiliensis Self-Cure in Putative BALB/c Mice

Rejection of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis in mice typically occurs by 14 days postinfection (PI). We report here on a putative BALB/c mouse strain from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) animal colony that did not exhibit a normal pattern of self-cure. Following subcutaneous inoculation with approximately 500 third-stage larvae of N. brasiliensis, the parasite was present in substantial numbers in UTEP BALB/c mice on days 21 and 28 PI and in low numbers through day 70 PI regardless of host sex. Normal self-cure was observed using identical techniques in 2 other BALB/c strains and a CFW strain. Hence, the UTEP BALB/c mouse provides a unique tool to examine the immune response to N. brasiliensis.