The Latino K-12 student population in the United States continues to increase. Estimates are that by 2025, one in every three students in the country will be of Hispanic/Latino origin. The challenges to the educational system from such growth are unprecedented. At no other time in U.S. history has there...
This document presents a new method for improving the market orientation of companies. In that regard, I developed a new Quality Function Deployment application (QFD), which compares customer needs with company competitive advantages, in order to determine those advantages that best satisfy customer wants and needs. The methodology was applied...
Existing strategies and policies have emphasized the need for cross-sector collaboration as a means for the forest sector to be more competitive. Cross-sector collaboration initiatives of forest sector companies with neighboring industries such as energy, chemicals, plastics, textiles, and packaging are gaining increasing attention as a necessary element for a...
Numerous investigations demonstrate that mantle convective processes such as upwelling affect the surface topography of the overriding plate. The surface expression of mantle flow has been coined ‘transient topography’. Transient topography in the North American plate is thought to result from a mantle thermal anomaly beneath the Yellowstone volcanic center,...
Combustive Synthesis or Self-Propagating High-Temperature
Synthesis (SHS), is an energy-efficient combustion
method of producing metallic, ceramic and composite
materials from their constituent powders.
This thesis presents the results of an experimental and
numerical evaluation of the propagation velocity for the SHS
solid-solid reaction of titanium and carbon, as well as...
Small mountainous watersheds are disproportionate sources of land-derived particulate organic matter (POM) to long-term sinks like lake bottoms and the ocean. As such, these ecosystems are an essential component of the global carbon cycle. The burial of POM in lacustrine and marine sediments contributes to the drawdown of atmospheric CO2...
Managing agricultural diversity ensures a range of public services, such as genetic resource diversity, food security for subsistence-based economies, and landscape resilience in the context of climate change, among others. These agrobiodiversity conservation services are positive externalities from agrobiodiversity conservation. Whereas their value is not captured in market transactions, management...
Until the 1930s, flows of the Colorado River maintained approximately 781,060 hectares of wetlands in its delta. These wetlands provided important feeding and nesting grounds for resident and migratory birds as well as spawning and protection habitat for many fish and other invertebrate species. However, the Delta's wetlands started to...
The goal of the work in this dissertation was to identify alternative soil amendments to improve plant growth and yield during establishment of highbush blueberry (Vaccinium hybrid). Woody materials, such as sawdust and wood chips, have a high carbon to nitrogen (C:N) ratio and low water holding capacity, which can...
In the U.S., childhood overweight and obesity has grown to epidemic levels. The National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) found that nationwide, approximately 32% of children 10–17 years old are identified as overweight, over half of them (nearly 17%) are obese. This is a concern because these rates continue to...
