Graduate Research Showcase (GRS) Projects
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The Graduate Research Showcase is an annual event that highlights the rich array of groundbreaking research undertaken by University of Houston graduate students across all disciplines.
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Browsing Graduate Research Showcase (GRS) Projects by Issue Date
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Item Tailoring the Morphology and the Spatial Acid Site Distribution of ZSM-5 Catalysts(2017) Qin, Wei; Patton, Matthew D.; Rimer, Jeffrey D.Item Detection and quantification of Pb2+ in Drinking Water Using Dark Field Smartphone Microscope(2017) Nguyen, Hoang; Shih, Wei-ChuanWater is the essence of life, but easy to become contaminated. Lead (Pb) is the most dangerous source of water contamination. There is a significant unmet need for Pb2+ sensing device that is portable, affordable, and ideally, available to the general population. Such a device will enable on-demand Pb2+ detection in virtually any environmental setting and empower individuals to examine the safety of drinking water whenever and wherever needed.Item Thermoelectric Properties of Mg2Sn0.75Ge0.25 for Power Generation(2017) Saparamadu, Udara; de Boor, Johannes; Ren, Z.This project was completed with contributions from J. de Boor from the Institute of Materials Research, German Aerospace Center, Koeln, Germany.Item Paper-based Test for Low-cost Diagnosis of Sickle Cell Anemia(2017) Lezzar, Dalia; Shevkoplyas, Sergey S.Item Development of Multifunctional Nanocomposite Coating for Indirect Potable Reuse Water Treatment(2017) Bandara, Pasan Chinthana; Nadres, Enrico; Rodrigues, Debora F.Water scarcity is already a worldwide problem. Water treatment is becoming more important. Limitations are associated conventional water treatment methods, such as long contact times, effective concentration limits, chemical products consumption, energy consumption, operating cost, carcinogenic byproducts etc. Therefore alternative, sustainable and efficient water treatment techniques are being investigated.Item Borderlands Archives Cartography(2017) Álvarez, Maira E.; Fernández, Sylvia A.BAC emerges from the constant aggressive political rhetoric that displays the geographic and ideological border between the United States and Mexico as a threat. The objective is to uncover newspapers published on the U.S.-Mexico border from 1808-1930.Item 3D Modeling of Chromosomes Territories in Normal and Aneuploid Nuclei(2017) Yen, Fan-Yun; Merchant, Fatima AzizItem Impact of Intersectionality on the Dimensional Preferences of Political Representation(2017) Nubin, NaomiQuestion: Do Black females hold their own set of representational preferences aside from those who they are traditionally grouped with (i.e. women/Blacks)? Hypothesis: Are the representational preferences of Black women different from their male counterparts or women as a group. Implications: The measurement used to determine Black females representative dimensional preferences should be expanded to include gender as well as race in order to determine whether there is a separate relationship present.Item Cosmogenic Backgrounds at the Daya Bay Experiment(2017) Mitchell, IanNowadays, the frontier of physics is underground. Experiments like Daya Bay search for rare processes and events, shielded by hundreds of feet of solid rock. But some particles can penetrate through that, while evading our best efforts at tracking them. I am working on measuring their impact on our experiment, and therefore on measurements of the fundamental properties of the cosmos.Item Energy Aware Routing of Web Requests in Hybrid Cloud(2017) Velusamy, Gandhimathi; Lent, Ricardo; Subhlok, JaspalNormally the application services are deployed as web services on the cloud for scalability and fault tolerance. We propose to use an autonomous intelligent global load balancer (IGLB) to distribute the requests across redundant clusters in an energy efficient way without compromising quality of service.Item A New Robot-Assisted Therapy for Stroke Survivors: Effects of Long-Term Stretching Exercises on Ankle Range of Motion, Balance and Gait(2017) Yoo, Dongyual; Lee, Beom-Chan; Son, YounsunOur study has demonstrated that stroke survivors received ankle stretching exercises with the MAS for 4 weeks improved ankle range of motion, balance, and gait ability. These improvements remained relatively constant through the retention period (i.e., 1 month after the completion of the exercises). The findings have two important clinical implications: 1) stroke survivors could use the MAS in clinical or home environments, and 2) physical therapists could prescribe or adapt the MAS exercise sessions as needed.Item Fast Illumination Normalization for Face Recognition(2017) Mitsakos, Nikolaos; Upadhyay, Sanat; Papadakis, Emanuel I.Many applications of computer vision, security and surveillance require an accurate and realtime method for illumination neutralization and contrast enhancement. We present a new mathematical framework, with a real time implementation performing the task efficiently across multiple image modalities.Item Role of Hyaluronan in Regulating Limbal Stem Cells(2017) Puri, Sudan; Sun, Mingxia; Mutoji, Nadine; Coulson-Thomas, Vivien J.Our data indicates that LSCs can be cultured on HA and a subpopulation of CECs can be induced into the LSCs phenotype and used for the reconstitution of corneal epithelium if provided the environment present in the LSC niche.Item Parent-Adolescent Concordance in Borderline Pathology and Why It Matters(2017) Wall, Kiana; Ahmed, Yusra; Sharp, CarlaItem An Efficient Hair Removal Algorithm for Skin Lesion Images(2017) Pan, Rangeet; Zouridakis, GeorgeItem Design of Wide Bandgap III-V Dilute Nitride Quantum-Engineered Solar Cells for Tandem Application with Silicon(2017) Kharel, Khim; Freundlich, AlexItem Electroless Atomic Layer Deposition of Pt on Cu Nanowires(2017) Solanki, Dhaivat J.; Brankovic, Stanko R.Pt is a material widely used as a catalyst in many areas of chemical synthesis and energy conversion and as a protective layer and etch stop barrier in the semiconductor industry. Due to high surface free energy, Pt exhibits a rough 3D growth (Volmer – Weber) mode. This represents a challenge when ultrathin and conformal layers of Pt are needed. The electroless ALD process presented here enables uniform and selective deposition of Pt on micro patterned Cu structures/wires on Si and SiO2, offering an opportunity for simplified integration into more complex fabrication routes currently used in semiconductor fabs. Outline of the process: Pt is deposited on Cu lines by surface limited redox replacement (SLRR). Monolayer of Pb is deposited on Cu/Pt using an ‘electro-less’ approach utilizing V2/3+ redox couple. Pb monolayer on Cu/Pt serves as a reducing agent for Pt deposition (self-limited to 1 ML).Item Satellite Repeats Are Associated with Host Tolerance of an Active TE(2017) Lama, Jyoti; Kelleher, Erin S.Item Adherence Barriers to Oral Endocrine Therapy Among Breast Cancer Patients(2017) Paranjpe, Rutugandha; Abughosh, Susan M.Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women and the 2nd most prevalent cause of cancer deaths in women in the United States. Approximately 70-80% of all breast cancer express hormone receptors (HR) and are called HR-positive (HR+) breast cancer. For HR+ breast cancer, the standard systematic therapy is endocrine therapy (ET) which include selective estrogen receptor modulators like Tamoxifen, and aromatase inhibitors to inhibit the estrogen synthesis. For patients diagnosed with early-stage HR+ breast cancer, ET reduces breast cancer recurrence, metastasis, and mortality. The clinical benefit of ET is maximized when ET is taken daily for 5-10 years. Despite the well-documented clinical benefit of ET, nearly 50% of breast cancer survivors taking ET are non-adherent and 70% discontinue therapy before the recommended 5year. Low adherence and early discontinuation are associated with an increased risk of mortality, enhanced medical costs and lower quality of life years. The determinants of non-adherence and non-persistence are multi-dimensional and should be considered when designing interventions to enhance adherence.Item The Immunoregulatory Effects of Vitamin D3 on Mycobacterium infection(2017) Gough, Maya E.; Graviss, Edward A.; May, Elebeoba E.Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a global health concern, infecting 10.4 million people and causing 1.8 million deaths a year. Infection primarily takes place in the lungs but can spread throughout the body to other organs, such as spleen, liver. In a healthy person TB can present with no symptoms and it is estimated that 1/3 people have latent TB. Vitamin D3 deficiency has been closely tied to incidence of TB and outcome of TB infection. Vitamin D3 is produced by the human body through exposure to UV light or obtained through the consumption of a limited number of plants, fungi, fish, and manufactured oral supplements. Classical Functions – Aid in the absorption of calcium and phosphorous. Non-Classical Functions – Modulate innate and adaptive immune response. Through the vitamin D response element (VDRE), vitamin D3 when bound to its receptor, is thought to act as a transcription factor and modulate production of certain cytokines and effector molecules, including IL-10, IL-12,TNF-a, NO, H2O2, and many more. In the presence of vitamin D3 the phenotypic response of macrophages is altered from that of control; these modulatory effects are what our study examines.