College of Science and Engineering Theses and Dissertations
Recent Submissions
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Automatic canopy plot boundary detection using computer vision
(2020-05)In Corpus Christi, Texas the United States Department of Agricultre (USDA) funded Texas A&M Agrilife research on large farmlands with hundreds of individual cotton vegetation plots. Each plot is planted uniformly in rows ... -
Cognitive demand and the level of alignment in the mathematics items of the staar test and the textbook tasks in the intended curriculum for 7th, 8th, and algebra 1 students in south Texas
(2020-05)This study examined the cognitive demand and the level of alignment between the mathematics items on the STAAR Test and the corresponding textbook tasks in the intended curricular for students in grades 7, 8, and Algebra ... -
Evaluation of environmental impacts produced by gold mining areas on the surrounding forest in southwestern Ecuador using multispectral satellite and uas imagery
(2020-08)Mining is a dangerous activity that can cause environmental damage to flora and fauna due to the utilization of heavy metals. Ecuador has a long history of mineral extractions and nowadays the activity is increasing in ... -
Scale microchemistry as a non-lethal alternative for tracking individually variable migration patterns in mobile fish
(2020-05)Estuaries are important habitats to many coastal fishes. Some species of fish can use the low salinity and freshwater environments that estuaries provide, though the exact patterns of usage for these habitats for some ... -
QoS driven optimal mobile edge server placement in mobile edge cloud
(2020-05)Mobile edge cloud is an emerging technology to enhance the Quality of Service (QoS) for mobile users' applications, especially for computation resource-consuming applications. A challenge in mobile edge cloud is the problem ... -
The free energy landscape for the folding of a small acid-soluble protein from molecular dynamics simulations
(2020-05)Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) have been studied widely due to their abundance in biological systems and most notably, for their important roles in cellular functions. Despite their prevalence in nature, there ... -
Analyses of biological communities and development of indices of biotic integrity for monitoring tidal streams along the upper Texas coast
(2020-05)Tidal streams along the upper Texas coast are characterized by large heterogeneity in abiotic conditions and biotic communities, posing challenges to managers seeking to assess their ecological condition and develop effective ... -
Quadcopter pid controller design and path planning using bio-inspired meta-heuristic algorithms
(2020-05)The usage of Quadcopter in commercial fields has evolved significantly due to its phenomenal development. However, controlling the movements of a Quadcopter is a demanding task due to its complex dynamics. The usage of the ... -
Synthetic biomimetic complexes of the oxygen evlolving complex of photosystem ii as water oxidation catalysts for energy applications
(2020-05)Fossil fuels are the major source of greenhouse gasses. There is a global effort to find a replacement fuel. Renewable energy is a primary focus and already provides a substantial portion of energy demand. Among them is ... -
The importance of maternal shrub nutrient history, seedling soil nutrients, and freezing temperatures on avicennia germinans recruitment
(2020-08)Human-driven climate change is increasing the global range of Avicennia germinans (L.) L., especially in communities in the Gulf of Mexico. Avicennia germinans propagules establish in salt marshes along the Texas coast ... -
Assessment and valuation of nitrogen mitigation ecosystem services in natural and restored wetlands of the Texas coastal bend
(2020-05)Eutrophication leads to poor water quality, hypoxia, and biodiversity loss in aquatic ecosystems, which is a major issue in the Gulf of Mexico and its surrounding estuaries. It is largely caused by excess nutrients in ... -
A eutrophication assessment of two south Texas estuaries
(2020-08)Texas’s coast is one of the fastest growing regions in the United States, prompting a concern that the coastal development will lead to eutrophication. High nutrient levels associated with eutrophication have been associated ... -
A mixed reality testbed for design and validation of estimation and control strategies for unmanned systems research
(2020-08)Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) research and development groups validate their estimation and control strategies in simulations and real-life scenarios. However, various factors affect the time it takes to perform such ... -
Undergraduate students' difficulties and convictions with mathematical induction
(2020-05)The study reported in this thesis has the purpose to gain insight into students’ difficulties and self-described difficulties with mathematical induction and their convictions in their produced proofs. Participants were ... -
The effect of acute and chronic thermotherapy on type 2 diabetic skeletal muscle gene expression and inflammatory responses
(2020-08)Diabetes is a complex chronic illness associated with a state of high blood glucose level occurring from deficiencies in insulin secretion, action, or both. The disease affects millions of people globally. Type 2 Diabetes ... -
Fish predators maintain estuarine biodiversity and benefit ecosystem engineers
(2020-05)Loss of top predators may lead to the proliferation of mesopredators (i.e., intermediate consumers), with significant consequences for entire food webs. Termed mesopredator release, this process is typically attributed to ... -
Effects of microplastic pollution on fish health using Japanese Medaka as a model
(2020-05)Microplastic pollution is of current public concern for global environmental health and of relevance for aquaculture and fisheries. Microplastic ingestion has been shown to cause intestinal damage, microbiota dysbiosis, ... -
Comparison of phytoplankton biomass and community composition in three Texas estuaries differing in freshwater inflow regime
(2020-08)Phytoplankton are at the base of the marine food web and are sensitive indicators of environmental change, such as changes to freshwater inflow in estuaries. Because freshwater inflows to Texas estuaries are projected ... -
Spatial-temporal models of multi-species interaction to study impacts of catastrophic events
(2020-05)Population dynamics modeling have been use for more than one hundred years to represent population growth, interaction, and migration patters. These models consider a stable habitat with consistent resources to describe ... -
Quantifying the water-atmosphere flux of ammonia for the estuaries of the Texas coastal bend
(2020-05)In the United States urbanization and agricultural activities within coastal watersheds have greatly contributed to excessive nutrient loading in downstream waters. As a result, a gross majority of U.S. estuaries are now ...