Search

Please send your abstracts (or copies of papers that you want to see reviewed here) to vladik@utep.edu, or by regular mail to Vladik Kreinovich, Department of Computer Science, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Kiva is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines the substantial spike in fatalities that occurred in El Paso, Texas in late 2020 due to an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 infection. It also considers various explanations for the fatality surge, and the fatality management issues observed during the event. The paper suggests what lessons can be learned from this event, in particular those preventable causes that could be avoided in a future outbreak. The paper also examines the gaps in existing mass fatality management processes as they apply to planning for pandemics and mass fatality crisis standards of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blood spilling into the streets in Charlottesville in August 2017 during a "Unite the Right" white supremacist rally, an August 2019 murderous rampage targeting Latinos at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and the most recent January 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol represent only a few of the violent events that have occurred in the past 5 years initiated by far-right white supremacists. Fringe and violent behaviors do not exist in a vacuum. Every day, privileged white folks adhere to hegemonic ideals and engage in racist transgressions that stoke the fires of extreme violence. Significantly, however, some members of the privileged class eventually reject racist ideology and emerge as activists for marginalized populations. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Pedagogy for the Privileged, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Transformative Learning Theory, and Critical Whiteness Studies, this paper asks the question: What facilitates a significant ideological shift? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Misinformation (i.e. information identified as false) spreads widely and quickly on social media – a space where crowds of ordinary citizens can become leading voices – during a crisis when information is in short supply. Using the theoretical lenses of socially curated flow and networked gatekeeping frameworks, we address the following three aims: First, we identify emergent opinion leaders in misinformation-related conversations on social media. Second, we explore distinct groups that contribute to online discourses about misinformation. Lastly, we investigate the actual dominance of misinformation within disparate groups in the early phases of mass shooting crises. Design/methodology/approach: This paper used network and cluster analyses of Twitter data that focused on the four most prevalent misinformation themes surrounding the El Paso mass shooting. Findings: A total of seven clusters of users emerged, which were classified into five categories: (1) boundary-spanning hubs, (2) broadly popular individuals, (3) reputation-building hubs, (4) locally popular individuals and (5) non-opinion leaders. Additionally, a content analysis of 128 tweets in six clusters, excluding the cluster of non-opinion leaders, further demonstrated that the opinion leaders heavily focused on reiterating and propagating misinformation (102 out of 128 tweets) and collectively made zero corrective tweets. Originality/value: These findings expand the intellectual understanding of how various types of opinion leaders can shape the flow of (mis)information in a crisis. Importantly, this study provides new insights into the role of trans-boundary opinion leaders in creating an echo chamber of misinformation by serving as bridges between otherwise fragmented discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In arid regions characterized by large variations in groundwater salinity, the data derived from irrigation and domestic water supply wells may exhibit bias, reflecting an overall lower salinity than the true aquifer distribution. This bias stems from the decommissioning, non-use, or disrepair of wells that are frequently sources of higher salinity readings, rendering them unavailable for sampling. Baseflow-fed streams, agricultural drains, seeps, springs issuing into agricultural drains, and randomly located test hole samples tend to manifest higher averages and ranges of salinity when compared to supply wells. Agricultural drain flows, springs, and test holes, if sampled following recommended guidelines, are less susceptible to such bias. This study presents a case of groundwater bias identified through an initial water well sampling program in El Paso (Texas, USA). Subsequent rounds of sampling, incorporating drain samples, spring samples, and test hole samples, revealed a more comprehensive understanding of the salinity dynamics. The dataset not only highlights the existence of bias but also provides evidence for a combined geological and agricultural origin of salinity. Additionally, it demonstrates that drain sampling in an earlier study did not accurately depict a primary salinity source due to incomplete analysis of the data. Recommendations are outlined to mitigate bias, emphasizing the importance of sample control from baseflow-fed drains, springs, water wells, and test hole samples. The study also infers the upwelling of saline groundwater from deeper formations in the study area, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of groundwater salinity dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the cultural identity expressed by The XII Travelers Memorial of the Southwest in El Paso, Texas, USA. According to the monument's statement, the memorial is an ongoing regional project formed by "... 12 heroic bronze monuments celebrating the multicultural contributions of both men and women to the development of the Southwest." The paper's argument is threefold. First, it argues that the XII Travelers project could be regarded as a collage that incorporates different historical and cultural references into a single narrative. Secondly, by doing this, the memorial blurs spatial scales and builds a regional history with El Paso at its center. Finally, the paper suggests that the construction of this heroic and multicultural regional identity must be understood in relation to growing tourist activities and the expectations that visitors have about a Southern border area in USA. The research is based on a critical review of the material produced by The XII Travelers Foundation and the examination of the characters and monuments of Fray García and Juan de Oñate, the only two approved travelers of the proposed list. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With Patrick Crusuis' 2019 attack that killed twenty-two people in El Paso, Texas, discussions of ecofascism were thrust into mainstream news outlets and magazines. In his manifesto, Crusius described himself as an "ecofascist" seeking to challenge the "environmental warfare" of immigration. His choice of target, a Walmart frequented by Mexican immigrants, reflects this ideological connection between ecological priorities and violent white supremacist ideology. In this paper, the authors provide a review of existing theoretical literature on ecofascism to identify its key characteristics, namely, its Romantic sensibilities, anti-humanism, and mysticism. The authors argue that these features distinguish ecofascism from what other scholars have deemed "far-right ecologisms." Following this, the authors draw on a larger corpus of data gathered from Twitter and Telegram between November 2019 and November 2020 to identify common themes in ecofascist circles, including the thinkers they frequently cite. The dataset examined shows notable differences in the types of content shared in ecofascist groups compared to the far-right more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines public artworks by Jari "WERC" Alvarez and Geraldine "Gera" Lozano in San Diego, California, and El Paso, Texas. It theorizes "bricozaje," a concept that combines the terms "bricolage" and "mestizaje," to argue that the artists enact a reparative relationship to the works' sites through their use of imagery. The essay first looks at Alvarez's and Lozano's sketchbooks to trace bricozaje's valences as a material practice and critique of bricolage. It proceeds to examine bricozaje as a collaborative practice through the creation of La Entrada (2009), a mural project in San Diego. It then contextualizes the public art project Bright Women (2011) in relation to representations of the US-Mexico border, and concludes by articulating how bricozaje acts as a formal strategy through Lozano's engagement with gendered iconography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Cuadernos de Literatura del Caribe e Hispanoamerica is the property of Revista Cuadernos de Literatura del Caribe e Hispanoamerica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

On August 3rd, 2019, a racially-charged mass shooting occurred at Walmart in El Paso, TX that killed 23 people and injured another 23. Following the Walmart shooting, students in this borderland region wrote essays related to their experiences. We used the themes we identified to inform implications for teaching writing and composition for middle school level instruction. Student themes reflected affective, behavioral and cognitive reactions to violence. Students' proposed actions to address violence included themes at the national/global level and personal level. Essential attributes from This We Believe and critical expressivism provide insights for writing pedagogy which encourages students to connect their experiences with violence to their own personal thoughts, emotions, and solutions. Some recommended critical expressivist activities educators can include in their work with students are: low-stakes writing focused on experiences with violence, specific readings connected to experiences of violence, journaling about encounters with violence, poetry, and the creation of a research paper on the effects of violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses a 1958–1962 strike at the Peyton Packing Company in El Paso, Texas, to examine how labor unions in the U.S.–Mexico borderlands used racial stereotypes and Cold War paranoia to influence the adoption of a more rigorous labor certification standard for those applying for a visa to enter the United State. Ultimately, labor unions and Mexican American workers sought to end the practice of border commuting by adopting and advancing the language of immigration restriction deployed by many Mexican American civil rights leaders of the era. This rhetoric ignored pleas for improving the minimum wage laws and protections and overlooked the fact that many border commuters wanted to migrate to the United States, but were often prevented from doing so by existing immigration laws. This case study forces historians of immigration and labor to reassess the role that labor unions played in helping to make the 1965 Hart-Cellar Act more exclusionary than previously thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay contributes to literature on the intersections of white settler colonialisms, racial capitalism, and U.S.-Mexico borderlands history by tracing the web of spatial, temporal, and legal power relations that produced El Paso, Texas' seemingly legitimate possession of stolen Mexican territory known as "El Chamizal" in the El Paso-Cd. Juárez borderlands. This land theft became the Chamizal Dispute: an international land and boundary conflict between the U.S. and Mexico caused by the meandering Río Grande that defines the "fixed" international border between El Paso, Texas and Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua. In the 1860s, multiple shifts in the Rio Grande "relocated" El Chamizal north of this river/boundary. Soon thereafter, and despite Mexico's sustained claim to and jurisdiction over this land, recently arrived Anglo American settlers incorporated El Chamizal into the nascent City of El Paso. In 1964, the U.S. and Mexico finally agreed to resolve this conflict by virtue of the landmark Chamizal Treaty, which ceded 630-acres of El Paso to Cd. Juárez as El Chamizal. Contrary to what dominant state accounts and the mainstream historical literature on this settlement would have us believe, however, this ceded land includes only a fraction of the original contested terrain. El Chamizal therefore remains a stolen tract of land nestled within the heart of El Paso. Drawing on oral histories, court testimonies and affidavits, and an array of binational records, this essay demonstrates that this ongoing theft is not a finite or complete project. Rather, the process hinges on a fragile web of spatial, white settler temporal, and legal practices of concealment/denial anchored to a colonial rumor that refuses to open this region to the mystery and wonder of the Río Grande's "wayward life, beautiful experiment in how to live." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade, ground-level ozone exposure has led to a significant increase in environmental and health risks. Thus, it is essential to measure and monitor atmospheric ozone concentration levels. Specifically, recent improvements in machine learning (ML) processes, based on statistical modeling, have provided a better approach to solving these risks. In this study, we compare Naive Bayes, K-Nearest Neighbors, Decision Tree, Stochastic Gradient Descent, and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) algorithms and their ensemble technique to classify ground-level ozone concentration in the El Paso-Juarez area. As El Paso-Juarez is a non-attainment city, the concentrations of several air pollutants and meteorological parameters were analyzed. We found that the ensemble (soft voting classifier) of algorithms used in this paper provide high classification accuracy (94.55%) for the ozone dataset. Furthermore, variables that are highly responsible for the high ozone concentration such as Nitrogen Oxide (NOx), Wind Speed and Gust, and Solar radiation have been discovered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hueco Bolson aquifer is a binational aquifer shared by the United States of America (USA) and Mexico that is strongly interconnected with the transboundary river, Rio Grande/Rio Bravo. Limited recharge, increasing urbanization, and intensified agriculture have resulted in the over-drafting of groundwater resources and stressed the aquifer, threatening its sustainability if mitigation actions are not taken soon. Research indicates that the aquifer's hydraulic gradients and flow directions have changed due to the high groundwater withdrawal rates from the two major cities—El Paso (USA) and Ciudad Juarez (Mexico). This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the Hueco Bolson aquifer modeling history and makes a case for future modeling and binational engagement efforts. First, we discuss the evolution of groundwater modeling for Hueco Bolson from the past to recent times. Second, we discuss the main water management issues in the area, including water quality and quantity, stakeholders' participation, and climate change. To address the challenges of holistic water management, we propose developing a graphical quantitative modeling framework (e.g., system model and Bayesian belief network) to include experts' opinions and enhance stakeholders' participation in the model. Though the insights are based on a case study of Hueco Bolson, the approaches discussed in this study can provide new strategies to overcome the challenges of managing a transboundary aquifer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic-related air pollutants are especially prevalent in border cities with multiple ports of entry (POEs). Excessive emissions due to long delays of idling commercial and passenger vehicles at the POEs could exacerbate various types of respiratory health conditions for the POE users and workers. We conducted a 1-month in-traffic air monitoring campaign at a POE in El Paso, Texas using three continuous FEM instruments for three criteria pollutants (PM, O3, and NO2). Concurrent monitoring of PM in the nearby community was performed using a number of low-cost PM sensors. The 1-month average PM2.5 concentration at the POE was found below 11.6 µg/m3, while the 5-min average of in-traffic PM2.5 concentration could be as high as 450 µg/m3. The in-traffic PM2.5 concentrations were comparable to the data concurrently measured in a state-operated community monitoring site approximately 0.4 km away from the POE. Ozone (O3) concentrations remained low in the region. The in-traffic 1-h NO2 concentrations were below the 1-h NAAQS of 100 ppb, except for only two 5-min intervals. Our results suggest that traffic emissions do not result in elevated levels of pollutant concentrations at this POE compared to the concentration levels observed in the nearby community. In addition, the performance and accuracy of the low-cost sensors appear to be less reliable during our study, although the devices were capable of detecting the trends and variability in pollutant concentrations in real time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Please send your abstracts (or copies of papers that you want to see reviewed here) to vladik@utep.edu, or by regular mail to Vladik Kreinovich, Department of Computer Science, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Please send your abstracts (or copies of papers that you want to see reviewed here) to vladik@utep.edu, or by regular mail to Vladik Kreinovich, Department of Computer Science, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This critical classroom study of language oppression draws from the notion of existing inequalities based on power relations in education research, as addressed in a critical ethnography. This critical classroom study explores the cases of two recent immigrant students, "Manuel" and "Malena," on the – U.S.–Mexican border near El Paso, Texas, who were attending a fifth-grade dual language class at "Border PK-5 Elementary School" (pseudonyms). This school followed a 50/50 dual immersion model from K-fourth grade. By the fifth grade in this school, 70% of the academic time was taught in English and 30% in Spanish. Documented data from observations in the classroom and students' multimodal testimonios reveal acts of linguistic bullying against the two recent immigrants based on their underdeveloped second language, English, when self-regulated learning was at work in a cooperative learning environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The terrorist attacks in Christchurch in March 2019 and El Paso five months later emphasised the renewed relevance of ecofascism to the extreme right. This study advances an integrated definition of ecofascism with respect to the historical and contemporary extreme right. It found ecofascism to be a reactionary and revolutionary ideology that champions the regeneration of an imagined community through a return to a romanticised, ethnopluralist vision of the natural order. Ecofascists believe that their chosen community has weakened because the connection to nature has been disrupted by the forces of modernity, spanning industrialisation, urbanisation, multiculturalism, materialism, and individualism. Ecofascists therefore seek the complete rebirth of their imagined community through a return to nature, which they believe will restore the people to a state of authenticity and dominance. Because the community is based on racial constructs, the ecofascist vision of ecological harmony manifests as racial segregation based on place. This provides a platform for ecofascists to justify expelling or destroying people they deem unnatural or disruptive to the ecosystem. In settler societies, ecofascism provides the premise by which immigrants can reject and expel other immigrants, while simultaneously claiming an authentic connection with nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Please send your abstracts (or copies of papers that you want to see reviewed here) to vladik@utep.edu, or by regular mail to Vladik Kreinovich, Department of Computer Science, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is to establish a new approach to estimate river salinity of semi‐arid agricultural watershed and identify drivers by using hydrologic modeling and machine learning. We augmented the limitations of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to model salinity by coupling with eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), a decision‐tree‐based ensemble machine learning algorithm. Streamflow, precipitation, elevation, main reach length, and dominant soil texture of the top two layers were used along with NO3, NO2, and total phosphorus (TP) output from a calibrated SWAT model are used as predictors to Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in the XGBoost algorithm. Then, the SWAT model simulations of streamflow, NO3+NO2, and TP from 2000 to 2015 are used as inputs of the XGBoost model to predict monthly water TDS distribution along the river. The predicted river water TDS showed a higher concentration as going downstream from El Paso (inlet) through the Hudspeth canal to Fort Quitman (outlet). Finally, this study carried out cause analysis focusing on soil physical characteristics. The soil salinity level is directly affected by the soil permeability and irrigation water. As a result, the highest TDS is shown in sites with silt loam, whereas the lowest TDS was shown in sites with very cobbly soil. Silt soils can hold more water and are slower to drain than soils of a sand type. These analyses can be used to better understand the mitigation of water salinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Please send your abstracts (or copies of papers that you want to see reviewed here) to vladik@utep.edu, or by regular mail to Vladik Kreinovich, Department of Computer Science, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Please send your abstracts (or copies of papers that you want to see reviewed here) to vladik@utep.edu, or by regular mail to Vladik Kreinovich, Department of Computer Science, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fusarium wilt of cotton, caused by the soilborne fungus Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. vasinfectum race 4 (Fov4, VCG0114), is a serious disease that has adversely affected cotton production in California since 2001 and in the Upper Rio Grande Region near El Paso in the border areas between Texas and New Mexico since 2017. Fov4 was isolated from cotton stem samples collected from wilted or asymptomatic plants adjacent to the wilting plants from the El Paso area. The MT genotype was the only Fov4 genotype found in two fields in the Lower Valley of El Paso and the T genotype was the only Fov4 genotype found in one field in the Upper Valley Region of El Paso. No N, MiT or mixed genotypes of Fov4 were detected in any of these fields. Furthermore, the F. oxysporum f.sp. vasinfectum isolates were exclusively Fov4. The results support the observation that the MT genotype of Fov4 is mainly distributed in the Lower Valley of El Paso and the T genotype of Fov4 is mainly distributed in the Upper Valley Region of El Paso. Virulence of the MT genotype of Fov4 was higher than that of the T genotype. PCR methods previously developed for Fov4 specific PCR detection and multiplex Fov4 genotyping were validated by VCG analyses of the newly obtained isolates. These PCR methods were adapted for the in planta detection of Fov4, but Fov4 genotyping was limited to the detection of T, MT and MiT genotypes. It is important to continue to monitor dynamic population structure of Fov4 genotypes to prevent the spread of Fov4 and optimize disease control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black (EBC) and Brown (BrC) Carbon are ubiquitous constituents of atmospheric particulate matter that affect people's health, disrupt ecosystems, and modulate local and global climate. Tracking the local deposition and sources of these aerosol particles is essential to better understanding their multidimensional environmental impact. The main goal of the current study is to measure the absorption coefficient (Babs) of particles within the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) of the El Paso (US)–Ciudad Juárez (Mexico) airshed and assess the contribution of black and brown carbon particles to the optical absorption. Measurements were taken during a summer, wildfire, and winter season to evaluate the optical properties of BC and non-volatile BrC. The winter season presented a variation from the background Babs in the late evening hours (3:00 PM to midnight) due to an increase in biomass burning driven by lower temperatures. The wildfire season presents the greatest variation in the Babs from the background absorption due to EBC- and BrC-rich smoke plumes arriving at this region from the US West seasonal wildfires. It was found that the international bridges' vehicular traffic, waiting time to cross back and forth between both cities, added to other local anthropogenic activities, such as brick kiln emissions in Ciudad Juarez, have created a background of air pollution in this region. These pollutants include carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen and nitric oxides, coarse and fine particulate matter dominated by BC and BrC. The absorption coefficients due to EBC and BrC of this background constitute what we have called a baseline EBC and BrC. Aided by two photoacoustic Extinctiometers (PAX), operating at 405 nm and 870 nm wavelengths, connected to a 340 °C thermal denuder to remove volatile organics, the optical properties were documented and evaluated to identify the impact of long-range transported emissions from western wildfires. The Single Scattering Albedo and the Absorption Ångstrom exponent were calculated for the winter and summer season. The Angstrom exponent showed a decrease during the wildfire events due to the aging process. The High-Resolution Rapid Refresh Smoke model, HRRR, and the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model, HYSPLIT, were used to estimate the sources of the particles. In addition, a Vaisala Ceilometer was employed to study the vertical profile of particulate matter within the planetary boundary layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic stress indices are beginning to be developed as gauges of business cycle conditions for regional economies. Although the popularity of these metrics is increasing, there have been only a small number of studies that analyze the effectiveness of these tools for monitoring regional economic developments. This effort employs data for one such index that is maintained by the University of Texas at El Paso Border Region Modeling Project. The sample period covers December 2002 through March 2019. Specific components of the index include inflation, unemployment, and housing prices. Estimation results indicate that the effects of any changes in economic stress levels may take approximately 16 months to be fully experienced within the El Paso retail sector. Simulation results indicate that a one-time, 1-point increase in economic stress leads to a $2.987 million decrease in monthly retail sales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hispanics are grossly underrepresented in the receipt of STEM Ph.Ds. The National Science Foundation (NSF) Science and Engineering Indicators (Trapani and Hale, 2019) suggest that only 7.8% of S and E doctoral recipients are Hispanic while their representation in the population is more than twice that, and that figure goes even higher if restricted to those within the college-age range. To address this gap, the NSF has awarded a grant (the Hispanic Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate, H-AGEP) to the City College of New York and the University of Texas at El Paso to work with Hispanic STEM doctoral students to provide teaching training and preparation for academic positions so they can become role models for Hispanic community college undergraduates. In working to understand the career-decision making of our Fellows, in-depth interviews were conducted (n = 13) to understand what put them on the path to defy the odds and become a STEM doctoral recipient. Interview results suggest that isolated, critical incidents and chance events were responsible for a number of our students entering into doctoral programs. This research suggests that for some Hispanic STEM doctoral students the experience of chance events meant the path to a STEM doctorate was not assured from a young age and further, that the provision of "planned" critical incidents may support an increase in Hispanic STEM doctoral enrollment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Mortality rates, transfusion ratios, trauma management logistics, and assault characteristics from the El Paso mass shooting incident (MSI) are evaluated in comparison to other MSIs. In 2019, El Paso, TX experienced the eighth‐deadliest MSIs in modern US history. In this 21st mass killing in the United States of 2019, 19 people died immediately, and four of 27 injured, later died from ballistic injuries. Materials and Methods: We examined the victims' injuries, pre‐hospital treatments, transfusions, rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM) interpretation, tranexamic acid (TXA) use, and compared El Paso's outcomes with other MSIs. Results: Fifteen casualties were treated for bullet injuries at University Medical Center (UMC). Three were in critical condition; one died during surgery. Of the remaining victims, two were guarded, and the remaining ten in stable condition. Anatomic trauma locations included chest, abdomen, hip, breast, thigh and arm. Haemostatic agents and TXA were administered to arriving patients. Seven casualties receiving blood products were administered 95 units at UMC (45 red blood cells [RBC], 38 fresh frozen plasma [FFP], 8 platelets and 4 cryoprecipitate). ROTEM guided mass transfusion decisions in three patients. Out of seven MSIs reviewed, El Paso had the highest mortality rate (50.0%) and lowest RBC:FFP:admission ratio (1.18 at UMC). Conclusion: We report the greatest proportion of transfusions per admission for an MSI and are first to discuss ROTEM roles to guide transfusion and manage coagulopathy during an MSI. This case highlights the severity and impact of MSIs on victims and requirements to follow established transfusion protocols with adjunct use of ROTEM, TXA and haemostatic agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In this study, we determine the feasibility of using electronic medical record (EMR) data to determine obesity prevalence at the census tract level in El Paso County, Texas, located on the U.S.-Mexico border.Methods: 2012-2018 Body Mass Index (BMI kg/m2) data from a large university clinic system in was geocoded and aggregated to a census tract level. After cleaning and removing duplicate EMR and unusable data, 143,524 patient records were successful geocoded. Maps were created to assess representativeness of EMR data across census tracts, within El Paso County. Additionally, maps were created to display the distribution of obesity across the same geography.Results: EMR data represented all but one El Paso census tract. Representation ranged from 0.7% to 34.9%. Greatest representation were among census tracts in and around clinics. The mean EMR data BMI (kg/m2) was 30.1, this is approximately 6% less than the 36.0% estimated for El Paso County using the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Study (BRFSS) estimate. At the census tract level, obesity prevalence ranged from 26.6 to 57.6%. The highest obesity prevalence were in areas that tended to be less affluent, with a higher concentration of immigrants, poverty and Latino ethnic concentration.Conclusions: EMR data use for obesity surveillance is feasible in El Paso County, Texas, a U.S.-Mexico border community. Findings indicate substantial obesity prevalence variation between census tracts within El Paso County that may be associated with population distributions related to socioeconomics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay responds to the existing historical literature on the Chamizal Land Dispute (1864–1964) that leaves unattended the political significance of the meandering Río Grande that caused this conflict. Borderlands historiography typically replicates the official US and Mexican state narratives that insist the Chamizal Treaty of 1964 wholly resolved this dispute by eliminating the river's unruliness. This essay, however, demonstrates that this land dispute is not so clear-cut and that it is still unfolding. Drawing on oral histories with El Paso residents displaced from el Chamizal by the treaty and a human geography theoretical framework grounded in the river's unruliness, I argue for engaging this history as an unruly geography of scars. This framework is then applied to analyze (1) the myriad ways the meandering Río Grande undermines and haunts white possessive logics along the El Paso–Ciudad Júarez borderlands, (2) the uncanny land/body disturbances of dislocation on particular Chamizal residents and what they call the "Chamizal diaspora," and (3) the strategies of refusal devised among the residents to challenge the Chamizal Treaty. By thinking with the Río Grande, this essay ultimately argues for how this river's unruliness offers pedagogies to refuse and unsettle white settler colonial processes and structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]