Digital Commons Network^™

Mechanical Properties Of Tuffaceous Rocks Under Triaxial Conditions, Nicholas William Hudyma

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Yucca Mountain has been designated as a potential site for a high level nuclear waste repository. Part of the site characterization program is an investigation of the mechanical properties of the tuffs which comprise Yucca Mountain. The study tested specimens of TCw tuff in triaxial compression to observe the effects of confining pressure, saturation, strain rate, and anisotropy on the compressive strengths and Young's Moduli of the specimens. Test results have shown that increasing the confining pressure increased the compressive strength and generally increased the Young's Modulus. Saturation appears to lower both the compressive strength and Young's Modulus of the …

Modeling And Control Of The Pr-500-Fl Pavement Profiler Cutter System, James William Porrazzo

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

A manually controlled PR-500-FL Pavement Profiler vehicle is modeled and converted to allow terrain contingent cutter depth control by an on-board portable computer. A series of geometric equations were developed in an attempt to define the required motion of the vehicle's three hydraulic actuator legs. A geometric model was used to create a MATRIX{dollar}\rm\sb{X}{dollar} simulation verifying the hydraulic leg motions and cutter depth control. Unltrasonic sensors are used to acquire terrain profile data. Linear displacement transducers are used to measure the vertical hydraulic leg displacements required for cutter depth adjustments. A dual axis angular tilt sensor was installed as an …

Frequency Sampling Digital Filters For Multirate Applications And Pipelined Implementations, Sivaramakrishnan Ramaswamy

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Under certain circumstances, narrowband linear phase filters can be implemented more efficiently using frequency sampling filters than direct convolution filters. The desired frequency response of a frequency sampling filter is approximated by interpolating a frequency response through a set of frequency samples. The implementation of a frequency sampling filter contains unit delays in its feedback paths. Therefore, it cannot be pipelined or efficiently used in multirate applications. In this thesis, a frequency sampling filter that has only delays of length D in it feedback paths is developed. The new frequency sampling filter can be pipelined and efficiently used in multirate …

Economists And The State: An Austrian Critique Of Public Finance Economics, Richard Antonio Tejidor

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

This thesis critiques public finance economics from an Austrian school perspective. The critique employs property rights and Austrian method and economic theory; Chapter I provides a brief discussion of Austrian method. This is an important chapter because most of the criticisms offered in this paper spring from the Austrian school's unique method; Chapter II explains the property theory that will be used throughout this paper. This chapter argues for an uncompromising property rights theory that views the state as a criminal aggressor; Chapter III examines the foundations of public finance and subjects them to Austrian analysis. In some instances these …

Design Of A Heat Transfer Subsystem Using A Real Time Expert System, Rajitha Thalluri

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The aim of this work is to design and develop an interactive and real time expert system for the automation of the design of a heat transfer subsystems; Each set (representing the design configuration) is evaluated in terms of performance criteria (e.g., pressure drop across each component, capital costs, and operating costs of the system) to obtain a plausible design of the power plant. The design and operational parameters for various components of the power plant are optimized for a given level of power output, using a numerical algorithm; An expert tool, G2 developed by the Gensym Corporation is used …

Sex Guilt And Its Associations In A Sexually Abused Population, Robyn Darleen Walser

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Sex guilt has been identified as a disposition that appears to have an inhibitory effect on sexual behavior and sexual attitudes. Specifically, individuals high in sex guilt tend to engage in fewer sexual relations, use contraceptives less often, and have less sexual knowledge. Issues concerning sexual behaviors and attitudes may be particularly relevant for victims of sexual abuse as a result of their past experiences. The present study investigated the effects of sex guilt in a clinical sample of sexually abused and non-abused females. Differences between the two groups were examined. Results indicated that sexually abused females were higher in …

Identification Of Cultural Factors Pertinent To Effective Cross-Cultural Management In Luxury Multinational Hotel Chains In Asia Pacific Countries, Chen Yee Wang

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study is to identify the cultural factors deemed pertinent to effective cross-cultural management in luxury multinational hotel chains. The first part of the study developed a cultural framework, which consists of twenty-one cultural factors, through reviewing related literature. This cultural framework was an attempt to cover every important aspect of a culture; After a cultural framework was developed, a questionnaire consisting of these cultural factors was designed to survey expatriate managers working in luxury multinational hotel chains in the Asia Pacific countries. The primary purpose of the survey was to determine the importance of each …

Finite Element Analysis Of Permanent Indentation Of Solids Due To Low Velocity Impact, Sarath Abayaweera

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

A finite element model for the seventy five ton multi-barrier multi-purpose canister (MPC) Overpack is developed. This model is subjected to an impact loading that produces plastic stresses. The finite element software COSMOS/M 1.7 is used to study the nonlinear behavior of the canister overpack. A new mechanism for energy absorption is adopted to determine the permanent indentation. The results of the analysis for nodal displacements and stresses, along with the energy of impact, are used to evaluate the permanent indentation. COSMOS/M analysis yielded acceptable values for the permanent indentation for the impact of plane cylinders within a reasonable range …

On Line Tracking Of Moving Objects From Moving Platforms, Raveen R. K Abhishetty

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

It is desired to position the end point of a conveyor belt, which carries material removed by a moving pavement trimmer, above the bed of a moving dump truck. The present report describes the analytical design and practical control of a tracking system for positioning the conveyor. Initial tests were conducted on a Unimation PUMA robot. The original pavement profiler has been modified to allow automatic computer control of both the soil removal and distribution systems. The distribution is performed by a two degrees of freedom moveable boom with a conveyor system. Two methods for non-contact target position detection were …

Determinants Of Southern Nevada In-Migration: Similarities And Differences Between Labor Force And Elderly Migrants, Chittima Bejrananda

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Studies concerned with Southern Nevada in-migration flows have previously based their conclusions upon limited data and assumptions; further, they have stressed the importance of economic conditions in the states of origin as the primary cause of migration. This study, however, presents a more complete migration model of Clark County's in-migrants--one which differs from previous migration studies. First, the model uses the Ordinary Least Squares technique and the pooled cross-sectional (50 origin states) time-series (1986-92) data approach to analyze determinants of migration decisions for two specific groups of migrants. Migrants aged 19 to 60 years (the labor force), and migrants aged …

Autotag: A Tool For Creating Structured Document Collections From Printed Materials, Allen S Condit

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Today's optical character recognition (OCR) devices ordinarily are not capable of delimiting or "marking up" specific structural information about the document such as the title, its authors, and titles of sections. Such information appears in the OCR device output, but would require a human to go through the output to locate the information. This type of information is highly useful for information retrieval (IR), allowing users much more flexibility in making queries of a retrieval system. This thesis will describe the design, implementation, and evaluation of a software system called Autotag. This system will automatically markup structural information in OCR-generated …

Photometry Of The Galaxies In The Bootes Void, Shawn Timothy Cruzen

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

As part of an investigation into the nature of galaxies in voids, 27 galaxies in the Bootes Void were observed in B, V, R & I filters. Absolute V magnitudes have been calculated for most of the galaxies in the sample to an accuracy of {dollar}\pm{dollar}0.15 mag or better using apertures that correspond to the 24.0 mag/arcsec{dollar}\sp2{dollar} isophote in V. The color indices, B-V, V-R and R-I, have been determined. The results of BVRI photometry on the Bootes Void galaxies indicate that these galaxies appear comparable in magnitude and color to a sample of field emission line galaxies; Analysis of …

A Study Of Recognition Coating Response For Quartz Crystal Microbalances, Robert Louis Curiale

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Computerized molecular modeling methods supplemented with chemometric methods may be used to provide information regarding sensitivity, selectivity, and other properties of solid/vapor sorption interactions for chemically coated Quartz Crystal Microbalances (QCMs). When exposed to the individual vapors of a homologous series of carboxylic acid vapors, a QCM coated with varying thicknesses of poly(ethylenimine) (PEI) coating, produces a linear response that is sensitive and selective. The selectivity of the PEI coating toward analytes increases with aliphatic chain length probably due to dispersive interactions. A linear relationship between calculated van der Waals force values and experimental dispersion force values may exist. BET …

The Gulf Between Congress And The President Over War Powers: An Analysis Of The Persian Gulf War, Lorrie Lynn Curriden

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The Persian Gulf War of 1991 highlighted the gulf between the executive and legislative branches over the extent of the president's constitutional and practical war powers. President Bush appealed to his constitutional designation as commander-in-chief, among other things, as well as U.N. authorization in asserting broad authority to conduct extensive military activity in the Persian Gulf. Congress, on the other hand, countered by invoking their plenary constitutional war powers and the requirements of the War Powers Resolution. This thesis examines that controversial and recurring debate.

The Simulation Of Selfhood In Cyberspace, Denise Michelle Dalaimo

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The first part of this paper is a socio-historical inquiry into various conceptions of self and selfhood from ancient to postmodern times. Part two is the product of ethnographic research conducted on the Internet which examines the simulation and evocation of selfhood in Cyberspace. Specific "Cyburgs" examined include electronic mail, newsgroups, discussion lists, and multi-user realities. While "results" as such were not expected--nor desired--an evocation of this particular ethnographic experience reveals that Cyberspace is the ultimate environment for the nourishment of the fragmented, multi-phrenic, contradictory postmodern self. Visual anonymity and lack of social status cues allow the user to experiment …

Beyond 'Justice Vs Care': Can The Ethic Of Care Coordinate With The Ethic Of Justice To Support Palliative Care?, Susan Helen Drongowski

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

For the past 20 years, there has been a growing awareness and acceptance of the palliative care concepts of Hospice. Hospice and the concept of palliative care represent a dramatic shift from the traditional medical model of physician-directed, institutional-centered health care; What are the guiding principles of palliative care and what are their ethical underpinnings? The ethical principles of autonomy, justice and care will be explored, as well as the possibility for the abuse of palliative care under the current climate of healthcare reform; Recommendations will be made pertaining to reform of the healthcare system, the education of healthcare professionals …

A Proposed Community College Two Year Hospitality Program Relative To The Needs Of The Mammoth Lake Community, Andrew Hale Feinstein

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Purpose. It was the purpose of this study to assess the educational, technical, and managerial human resource needs of the primary economic business activity in Mammoth Lakes. Furthermore, the study addressed perceptions and attitudes of managers regarding education within the primary business activity in Mammoth Lakes; Methodology. The methods chosen for the study were informal and formal needs assessment techniques. The informal technique was used to determine the primary business activity in Mammoth Lakes. This was done through a demographic and economic analysis. The formal technique utilized a survey instrument with a descriptive method of reseach for analysis. The population …

Child Sexual Molestation By Priests And Reactions Of Catholic Parishioners: A Comparative Study, Merlinda Raquel Gallegos

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

This sociological study explores the effects an incident of sexual abuse of a minor by a priest has on Catholic parishioners. An interpretation of a comparative analysis was done between a parish in which an incident of sexual abuse of a minor by a priest occurred and a demographically similar parish with no such reported incident. Data from face-to-face survey interviews (N = 100) suggests that members of the Catholic Church whose parish priest had sexually abused children were more likely to indicate lower levels of approval toward Church policies than parishioners whose parish had no reported incident of abuse. …

Systematics And Biogeography Of The Great Basin Pocket Mouse, Perognathus Parvus, Carolyn Sue Ferrell

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The Great Basin pocket mouse, Perognathus parvus, has a distribution that extends across three geological regions: Columbia Plateau, Great Basin and Colorado Plateau. Limited ability of P. parvus to disperse over large areas and across areas of unsuitable habitat provide a foundation for studying biogeographic vicariance hypotheses related to its distribution. Vicariance hypotheses involving late Tertiary geotectonic events and dispersal hypotheses of Pleistocene glacial-interglacial climatic cycles that may be responsible for phylogeographic structure in P. parvus were tested using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (RFLPs). High levels of sequence divergence support the hypothesis of late Tertiary …

Sedimentology, Petrology, And Structure Of The Moffet Creek Formation, Eastern Klamath Mountains, Northern California, Gary Michael Gin

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The stratigraphy and tectonic significance of the Late Silurian-Early Devonian(?) Moffett Creek Formation are poorly understood because of structural complexity and the dearth of fossils. Elsewhere, the Moffett Creek Formation has been interpreted as melange, because abundant sandstone phacoids are surrounded by a sheared pelitic matrix. In contrast, field mapping in the western part of the Moffett Creek Formation and subsequent structural analysis indicate a coherent succession of folded turbidites that experienced younger thrust faulting. A major flat-lying thrust overlies a northeast-vergent footwall syncline indicating southwest to northeast thrusting. Similar fold vergence in the overlying Gazelle Formation may be the …

Environmental Justice And Participatory Democracy: An Emancipatory Policy Proposal, Nancy Christine Gott

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Environmental Justice and Participatory Democracy: An Emancipatory Policy Proposal analyzes the public participation guidelines for the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The author argues that four challenges must be addressed before the goal of environmental justice can be achieved. These challenges include the challenge of citizen participation, the epistemological challenge, the challenge of integrating public values with technical concerns, and the challenge of balancing environmental rights and responsibilities. The author develops a policy proposal for the creation of neighborhood environmental justice community centers in low-income neighborhoods.

The History Of The Public Two Year Community College In The State Of Nevada From 1977 To 1993, D Gause-Snelson

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

On May 26, 1789 in his first lecture as a history professor, Friedrich von Schiller stated "The world's history is the world's judgment." An institution's history may well be the institution's judgment. Careful historical documentation of an institution provides data to determine the path of the institution, and to predict accurate trends. This information is vital to positively and accurately shape the future and growth of an institution; This study collected data pertaining to the four public two-year institutions in Nevada from 1977 to 1993. Five specific areas of concern were addressed. They were: governance, demographics, curriculum, finance, and facility …

Quantization Of Multiresolution Transform Coefficients For High Compression Of Digital Images, Blaine L Hagstrom

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

New developments in transformation theory have fueled interest in methods that employ transformation in the computation process. Theory from various disciplines including electrical engineering, physics, mathematics, and computer science have benefited from these advances. The greatest impact in computer science by these methods is in the area of image compression. Digital image compression is currently of high interest in computer science. The growing demand for images in computers has grown faster than the technology and thus solutions are sought. This work deals with the problem of quantization of resultant coefficients of the transforms in compression methods that perform transformation of …

Effect Of Ocr Errors On Short Documents, Padma Inaparthy

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Presented in this thesis is a study of the effect of OCR errors on short documents. OCR recognizes and translates text image into ASCII format. When this data is retrieved in response to a query, the retrieval performance depends on the efficiency of the OCR device used. Measures like recall, precision and ranking were used to gauge the retrieval performance. The information retrieval system that was used is SMART, based on the vector space model. On evaluating these measures, it has been concluded that average precision and recall are not affected significantly when the OCR collection is compared to its …

Effects Of Computer Use On The Writing Process, Nancy Bates

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether the addition of computerized software into the writing process would aid students in making significantly more revisions at the macrostructure level of writing than would be made by those using traditional methods. In contrast to earlier research, the present study looked for such changes over a longer period of time, and with a younger, larger sample of subjects. In addition, this research sought confirmation of previous findings concerning increased draft length and reduction in grammatical and spelling errors with the use of computers; Three groups of sixth-grade students received writing …

Identification Of Tire Leachate Toxicants And A Risk Assessment Of Water Quality Effects Using Tire Reefs In Canals, S. M. Nelson, G. Mueller, D. C. Hemphill, U.S. Bureau Of Reclamation

Publications (WR)

Cover is an important component of aquatic habitat and fisheries management. Fisheries biologists often try to improve habitats through the addition of natural and artificial material to improve cover diversity and complexity. Habitat-improvement programs range from submerging used Christmas trees to more complex programs using sophisticated artificial habitat modules. Used automobile tires have been employed in the large scale construction of reefs and fish attractors in marine environments and to a lesser extent in freshwater and have been recognized as a durable, inexpensive and long-lasting material which benefits fishery communities.

Recent studies by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation have quantified …

Writing Apprehension And The Computer Classroom, Jennifer Ann Alarid

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

This study was undertaken to determine if computers affect writing apprehension. Both experimental and clinical methodologies were employed in the form of surveys and interviews, respectively. The results indicate that computers have no measurable effect on students' writing apprehension; Instructors' backgrounds are examined, followed by their perceptions of writing apprehension and computers. The students' experiences with computers and composition and their perceptions of writing apprehension and computers are also examined. Significant variations in experience and backgrounds brought to the classroom by both instructors and students indicate that writing apprehension is as individual as are students who experience it. These same …

The Effects Of An Eight-Hour Affective Education Program On Fear Of Aids And Homophobia In Student Nurses, Frances Allen Brown

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Research was conducted to determine the relationship between fear of AIDS and homophobia, and to determine the effects of an eight-hour affective education program in reducing homophobia and fear of AIDS in associate degree nursing students (n = 22). The Neuman Systems Model guided the study and a portion of Bandura's social learning theory provided the framework for the education intervention; A quasi-experimental time-series design (pretest/posttest I/posttest II) with a control group was used. Instruments to measure homophobia and fear of AIDS were the Homophobia Scale and the Fear of AIDS Scale developed by Bouton and colleagues (1987); Within group …

The Relation Of Socioeconomic And Cognitive Variables To Dropout From A Salvation Army Drug Rehabilitation Program, Mark Bruce Ireland

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

A group of 134 substance abusers from two Salvation Army Rehabilitation programs: the CDIP (Chemical Dependency Intervention Program) and the CDRP (Chemical Dependency Rehabilitation Program) were administered at intake to the program a demographic form, the CMRS (Circumstances, Motivation, Readiness and Suitability Scales), the Novaco Provocation Inventory (NPI) and the Cognitive Triad Inventory (CTI). A stepwise hierarchical analysis for each treatment was used to test the hypothesis asserts that the addition of cognitive factors would improve the prediction rate of dropout using demographic variables alone. Results supported this for the CDIP, but not the CDRP. The second hypothesis was that …

Molecular Phylogeographic Structure Within The Perognathus Fasciatus Species-Group, David Charles Nickle

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

There are four recognized species-group assemblages of silky pocket mice in the genus Perognathus. This study used molecular data to address phylogenetic and biogeographic hypotheses within the Perognathus fasciatus species group, which includes three species: P. fasciatus, P. flavescens, and P. apache. DNA sequence analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) revealed that these three species comprise a monophyletic clade relative to other species of Perognathus. MtDNA sequence divergence and nucleotide diversity are much higher within populations of P. apache than within P. flavescens. While this difference could be attributed to a higher rate of mtDNA lineage divergence in P. apache, a …