Digital Commons Network^™

An Orchestral Percussionist's Guide To Instruments Of The Caribbean, Lucas Brust

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Sparked by the introduction of Janissary percussion into the works of the First Viennese School, composers have been steadily expanding the musical responsibilities and tonal palette of the orchestral percussion section. Most institutions of higher education extensively address the traditional orchestral percussion instruments and only relatively recently have these institutions begun incorporating the more “exotic” percussion instruments from various indigenous musical traditions. With the resources and proposed performance practices suggested in this document, orchestral percussionists can gain the knowledge and familiarity to identify the instruments by name and construction, demonstrate fluency in technique and sound production, and display basic understanding …

Job Burnout: An Examination Of Outpatient Clinics, Aysa M. Chavarria

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to examine job burnout of medical providers in outpatient clinics. Job burnout is a psychological syndrome resulting from job interpersonal stressors; it is measured using three dimensions: (1) emotional exhaustion – feelings of being emotionally overextended and exhausted by one’s work, (2) depersonalization -a unfeeling and impersonal response toward patients, and (3) personal accomplishment – feelings of competence and achievement in one’s work (Maslach & Jackson, 2020). Using a convenience sample, healthcare providers in Southern Nevada were asked to participate. The study was approved by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Internal Review Board …

Biotransformation Of Trace Organic Compounds Via Microbial Ammonia Oxidation In Biofiltration Systems For Water Reuse, Nicholas Babcock

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The use of ozone-biofiltration (BAF) for water reuse has recently been viewed as an attractive option due its low cost and ability to achieve high quality effluent. However, one challenge that is particularly problematic for ozone-biofiltration is the occurrence of trace organic compounds (TOrCs), such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products, in domestic wastewater, primarily due to their uncertain public health impacts. These TOrCs might be degraded by three ammonia oxidizing microorganisms (AOMs), including ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOBs), ammonia oxidizing archaea (AOAs), and Comammox that have been found in biofiltration systems. Cometabolism, the fortuitous biodegradation of compounds by enzymes used …

Presumed Illegal Microaggressive Experience (Prime): A Microaggression Targeting Latinx Individuals, Aldo M. Barrita

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In the US, people of color (PoC) are consistently the targets of microaggressions, a form of everyday racism (Pierce et al., 1977; Chavez, 2013) manifested in brief, commonplace, daily slights and indignities (Sue et al., 2007). After the 2016 elections, Americans immediately reported an increase in social tensions across racial groups (Pew Research, 2017). Latinxs, in particular, reported a steep rise in experiences with racial and ethnic discrimination (Gomez & Perez Huber, 2019; Jones et al., 2019), particularly around the context of immigration status (Santos et al., 2021). No previous research, however, has explored the experience of assumed illegality based …

Use Of Conductor Directives In Rehearsals By Conductors Of Professional Music Ensembles, David Coyner

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This descriptive study catalogues the auditory directives of eight conductors of professional ensembles and compares their rehearsal time spent on directives and ensemble response. Rehearsals of eight conductors of professional ensembles were observed through commercially available videos through rental or YouTube. The conductors are Leonard Bernstein, Karl Böhm, Frederick Fennell, Valery Gergiev, Herbert von Karajan, Carlos Kleiber, Georg Solti, and Leopold Stokowski. Conductor directives and ensemble responses are marked based on directive type, compiled into an observation log, and timed to track frequency and duration. The directive and ensemble response types are academic, modeling, instruction, nonmusical, approval/disapproval, and performance. Results …

Analysis Of Microscopic Objects Using Computer Vision Methods, Yuan Dao

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As an essential and powerful tool to observe living organisms, three-dimensional fluorescence microscopy is widely used in biological research and diagnosis. The 4D fluorescence microscopy data can be obtained using time-lapsed videos of 3D images. To analyze and extract useful information from the increasingly large and complex biological image dataset, efficient and effective computational tools are in need but still lagging behind. In analyzing biological data, two major challenges are faced. First, time-lapsed fluorescence microscopic images typically have a low SNR. Second, biological objects often change their morphology and internal structure frequently. As such, conventional image processing methods may not …

Examining Technology’S Impact On Hotel Operations: A Systematic Review Of Hospitality Research Literature, Xinru Chen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In the hospitality industry, technology’s impact on hotel performance is a central topic since it is closely related to operators’ budget allocation and business decisions. However, former studies have devoted little attention to this issue and have exhibited mixed attitudes, which makes it more difficult for hotel operators to make their technology adoption decisions. To determine the scope of technology’s implication on operations, this study will conduct a systematic review and examine technology’s impact on hotel performance based on the empirical evidence given by scientific publications in the hospitality industry from the last 20 years. The data was obtained from …

A 155-Year Tree-Ring Based Record Of Warm And Dry Snow Droughts For The Cascade Range, Usa, Laura A. Dye

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Contributing 50-80% to the surface water for the region, mountain snowpack is a pillar of the hydrologic cycle in the western US, and is projected to decrease to 44% by 2100 in the Cascade Mountains alone. The western US has recently been identified as a global snow drought hot spot, exhibiting more frequent, intensified, and lengthened snow drought events in recent decades. Only recently has the need to understand the types of snow droughts and their driving mechanisms become critical to understand and quantify. Recent research suggests ‘warm’ snow droughts caused by winter precipitation falling as rain rather than snow …

An Analysis Of Job Competencies And Job Descriptions Associated With Admissions Counselors/Recruiters At 4-Year Public And Private Institutions As Prescribed By Nacac In 2000 And Its Relevance In 2018, Sebern Coleman, Jr.

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The role of admissions counselors has become pivotal to the mission of enrollment management in higher education. Admissions Counselors have evolved from serving as personnel that provides counseling to students to one that expands to include marketing to concurrent high school classes and students. As a result, the discipline has seen an increase in the number of counselors entering the workforce and has experienced a steady progression of career opportunities and advancement in the field of admissions (Phair, 2014). Nonetheless, college graduates are more likely to apply for these positions though limited support for career advancement exists due to these …

Effects Of A Discourse Intervention On End-Of-Life Knowledge And Attitudes Of Bsn Nursing Students, Jayme Gullone Haynes

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Introduction. A number of challenges exist to providing effective, formalized end of life (EOL) education for undergraduate nursing students. Despite advanced resources provided by the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC), many nursing program curricula are overloaded with content and have little opportunity to incorporate other content and information.

In addition, the topic of EOL care may elicit significant emotional responses from nursing students with numerous studies indicating nursing students experience fear and anxiety when caring for patients at EOL. Recent research demonstrates the need to approach emotionally laden topics such as EOL care from a pedagogical perspective that acknowledges and …

Turning Up The Sound! Senior-Level Sonographers' Perspectives On The Workforce Readiness/Competency Of Entry-Level Sonographers In The Workplace, Janice L. Glasper

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There has been a longstanding preoccupation with the workforce readiness and competency of our nation’s graduates since the release of the National Commission on Excellence in Education’s, April 1983 landmark report, A Nation at Risk: “The Imperative for Educational Reform”, which indicated that the educational foundations of our society were being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatened our very future as a Nation and a people. Now, more than 35 years since the release of A Nation at Risk, it appears that little has changed. Extensive research continues to report that graduates of post-secondary institutions are unprepared …

Hyperpolarizability Dispersion Measured For Carbon Disulfide Vapor, Rodrigo N. Fernandez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The second hyperpolarizability (γ) of carbon disulfide (CS2) was measured by gas phase electric-field-induced second harmonic generation (ESHG), for laser wavelengths in the range of 765-1064 nm. The observed hyperpolarizability is decomposed into electronic (γ^e) and vibrational (γ^v) contributions, and the dispersion curve for γ^eis extrapolated to the static limit, with the result γ^e_0 = 12558 ± 93 atomic units. The results of this experiment agree with other recent nonlinear optical measurements and theoretical calculations.

It’S Not You, It’S Me: Measuring Erotic Self–Focus, Evan Fertel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Research suggests the presence of a non-relational aspect of women’s sexuality wherein a focus on oneself may be linked to elevations in sexual desire/arousal. Some theorists have even asserted that women may be, in some ways, their own sexual objects. Building on a previous exploration of what is now termed Erotic Self-Focus (ESF; Fertel, 2015), the present study developed a refined measure of ESF to further assess the validity and nature of this new construct. An exploratory factor analysis revealed four factors: Arousal to Own Body, Self/Own-Gender Focus vs. Partner/Other-Gender Focus, Self-Focused Arousal – Physical, Self-Focused Arousal – Mental. Although …

Factors Affecting Registered Behavior Technicians’ (Rbts’) Intent To Stay Or Leave: A Delphi Study, Samantha Joy Villanueva Jasa

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Approximately one in 54 children in the United States were diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in 2020 (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). The most common treatment for children with ASD is Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which uses and applies behavior analytic principles to various interventions to increase social skills, self-help skills, and communication skills, as well as decrease protest or self-stimulatory behaviors (BACB, 2021a; Dixon et al., 2017). Registered behavior technicians (RBTs; BACB, 2021d) are the individuals necessary to work directly with children with ASD providing ABA services, however, the estimated turnover rates for RBTs range from …

Attention Bias In Irritability: A Social Information Processing Perspective, Breanna Garcia

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Social information processing (SIP) theory suggests a framework for understanding how individuals make sense of their world—from the cognitive tasks of perception and problem solving to the emotional tasks of integrating this information with one’s goals, motivational state, and arousal regulation. This framework has been integral for better understanding the etiology behind certain psychopathologies (such as depression or disruptive behavior disorders) as it is thought that bias early in attentional processes may have trickle down effects on later processing and decision making (Dodge, 1993). It is known that the attention biases early in the SIP model (e.g., encoding biases) differ …

Defining Problematic School Absenteeism: Identifying Youth At Risk, Mirae J. Fornander

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Study 1: School attendance is an important foundational competency for children and adolescents, and school absenteeism has been linked to myriad short- and long-term negative consequences, even into adulthood. Many efforts have been made to conceptualize and address this population across various categories and dimensions of functioning and across multiple disciplines, resulting in both a rich literature base and a splintered view regarding this population. This article (Part 1 of 2) reviews and critiques key categorical and dimensional approaches to conceptualizing school attendance and school absenteeism, with an eye toward reconciling these approaches (Part 2 of 2) to develop a …

Autism Spectrum Disorder And Remote Learning: Parents’ Perspectives On Their Child’S Learning At Home, Stephanie Hernandez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The global COVID-19 pandemic led to the universal restricted access of school grounds and caused students to transition to a remote learning environment. Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are eligible for special educational services and are normally provided additional support during school. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, delivery of multiple support resources became limited, and parents needed to consider how their child’s education and support would be incorporated in their new educational environment.

During the pandemic, parents had the opportunity to provide various instructional assistance and support at home. Scaffolding, a type of guidance used when a child is …

Is Pristine Inner Experience Linked To Biology? An Examination Of Experience Across The Menstrual Cycle Among Women With Premenstrual Distress, Alek E. Krumm

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The link between mind and biology is intuitively known: We notice changes in our mood and behavior when hungry, in pain, or under the influence of substances. Yet, the specifics of this link—for example, how changes in biology affect directly apprehended conscious experience— are not well known. The present study was an exploratory attempt toward filling that gap by using a state-of-the-art, beeper-driven method for exploring directly apprehended conscious experience (Descriptive Experience Sampling; DES) across one of the most predictable and wellknown biological cycles: menstruation. We screened approximately 300 college women to identify those who reported clinically significant symptoms of …

The Effects Of Real-Time Computerized Needle Tip Location Feedback On State Anxiety And Immediate Performance Of Simulated Ultrasound-Guided Regional Anesthesia, Joseph Janakes

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background: Complications of ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia (UGRA) in the clinical setting are severe and frequently related to improper needle tip placement, which is a challenging skill for novice student learners. Accordingly, anesthesia education programs are incorporating simulation-based teaching methods that use expensive procedural task trainers to aid in UGRA training. However, it was unknown if the task trainers with real-time computerized needle tip location feedback affect student anxiety and immediate simulated UGRA performance, leaving educators wondering if the cost was justified.Aims: The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of real-time computerized needle tip location feedback on students’ …

Are Gaming And Gambling Disorders Related? Examining The Roles Of Money, Relative Deprivation, And Upward Mobility, Anthony J. King

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Few studies have examined the financial motives and risks involved in modern video games, as well as the psychosocial factors contributing to this type of gaming involvement. Previous research on gambling has shown financial motives alone to be a major risk factor for the development of gambling disorder, with higher levels of personal relative deprivation (PRD) identified as a main contributor to this relationship. Therefore, the present study investigated whether this association applied to US adult video gamers, and if it would predict their problematic gaming behaviors. We hypothesized PRD and gaming disorder severity would have a positive association, with …

The Use Of Post-Course Feedback On Mastery Learning In A Professional Development Context, Thomas M. Kramer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study investigated the effect of feedback to measure post-mastery learning in a professional development course designed for child welfare worker. In addition, the study explored the subjects’ perceptions of benefits gained by taking an online professional development course for child welfare worker. Specifically, the effect of email summaries sent out after the completion of the course on the participant’s retention of material covered in the course was assessed. The summary emails were designed to enhance the benefits of reviewing the study material after the completion of the course with a particular focus on the quantity and frequency of reminders …

Bone Morphogenetic Protein Signaling Requirement In Centripetal Migration In Drosophila Melanogaster Oogenesis, Sheila Mosallaei

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Cells interact with each other via signals to coordinate migration for proper tissue development and maintenance, immunity and tissue repair. Signals regulate migration via changes to cytoskeletal components or transcriptional regulation. Here, I used Drosophila melanogaster to investigate whether and how a transcriptional signal, Bone Morphogenetic Protein signaling, drives a cell migration, centripetal migration. The migrating cells, centripetal follicle cells, consist of two subsets of cells, “leading” and “following” centripetal follicle cells, that although adjacent to each other, migrate differently. The differences in modes of migration correlate to differential gene expression in the centripetal follicle cells. The leading centripetal follicle …

Learning As We Grow: A Multiple Case Study Of Teachers Experiences With Graduate Online Courses, Erica K. Reid

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Teacher professional development in the United States has significant gaps in practical training. In the state of Nevada, research has shown discrepancies between the retention of skills from training sessions and the ability to transfer learned methods into daily classroom practices. Previous studies have investigated teacher professional development and understanding its influence on student learning. Furthermore, the limits in framework design for contemporary approaches to professional development in online mediums has created inconsistencies in measuring outcomes. Finally, current research has resulted in mixed reviews concerning training in nontraditional online courses offered through graduate courses in various organizations. This research explored …

Exploring The Relation Between Musical And Dance Sophistication And Musical Groove Perception, Samantha R. O'Connell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Listening to groovy music is an enjoyable experience and a ubiquitous human behavior in some cultures. Specifically, many listeners agree that high-groove songs are enjoyable, familiar, and likable compared to low-groove songs. While the pleasurable and dance-inducing effects of musical groove listening seem omnipresent, what is less known is how subjective feelings towards music, individual musical or dance experiences, or more objective musical perception abilities are correlated with the way we hear music with groove. Therefore, the present online study aimed to evaluate how musical and dance sophistication relates to musical groove perception. One-hundred and twenty-four participants completed an online …

Re-Analysing Astronomical Alignments Of Potential E Group Structures To Demonstrate The Utility Of Archeoastronomy Research About The Ancient Maya, Elizabeth Karen Shikrallah

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There has been much study of Maya astronomy and the relationship and/or manifestation of astronomy within architecture and other aspects of Maya material culture. Despite this, there is little agreement about the commonalities and variation in potential astronomical representation across sites and regions as it is difficult to compare sites to determine whether spatial patterning exists between similar building classifications. Also, it can be difficult to understand and pursue archeoastronomy research due to the jargon and methodology employed. This thesis provides an updated dataset that shows the utility of pursuing archeoastronomy research about the ancient Maya. Combining archaeological and archeoastronomical …

Measures And Conceptualizations Of Symptoms In Schizophrenia, Nina B. Paul

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Schizophrenia presents as a heterogenous disorder characterized by diverse expression of symptoms between individuals. Thus, clinicians and researchers rely on comprehensive symptom measures for diagnosis and treatment. This dissertation investigated two symptom measures, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS; Kay, Fiszbein, & Opler, 1987), a commonly used scale that assesses a broad range of symptoms of schizophrenia, as well as the Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS; Kirkpatrick et al., 2011; Strauss et al., 2012), a novel scale that focuses on the assessment of five negative symptom domains (i.e., anhedonia, asociality, avolition, blunted affect, and alogia). The first study of …

Tail-Measurable Functions And Their Corresponding Induced Classes, And Some Determinacy Conditions Involving 3-Player Games, Joshua K. Reagan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this dissertation, we have two main categories of results. The first is regarding certain point-classes, and the second is regarding 3-player games.

The point-classes of Baire Space, \mathcal{N}, in the Borel and Projective Hierarchies, as well as Hausdorff's Difference Hierarchy have been well studied, and there has been much research into further stratifying these hierarchies. One area of particular interest falls in between the point-classes \mathbf{\Pi}_\mathbf{1}^\mathbf{1} and \Delta\left(\omega^2-\mathbf{\Pi}_\mathbf{1}^\mathbf{1}\right). It is well known that the point-classes \beta-\mathbf{\Pi}_\mathbf{1}^\mathbf{1}, for \beta\in\omega^2, stratify this region of the projective hierarchy, with the point-class \bigcup_{\beta\in\omega^2}\beta-\mathbf{\Pi}_\mathbf{1}^\mathbf{1} still falling strictly below \Delta\left(\omega^2-\mathbf{\Pi}_\mathbf{1}^\mathbf{1}\right). Dr. Derrick DuBose developed multiple …

Teaching A Communication Protocol Via Graduated Guidance On The Ipad To Assist In Functional Communication Training For Nonverbal Children With Asd, Janelle Saunders

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Non-verbal children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) often struggle with functional communication, and are often not able to express their wants, needs, emotions, or engage in meaningful conversations (Hudry et al., 2010; Luyster et al., 2008; Weismer et al., 2010). Picture exchange systems as well as AAC devices (e.g., the iPad) have emerged as viable options to teach this population how to communicate effectively (Charlop-Christy et al., 2002; Couper et al., 2014; Dogoe et al., 2010; Ganz et al., 2015; Greenberg et al., 2012; Logan et al., 2017). PECS has been widely established as an evidence-based practice and is often …

Forecasting Pedestrian Trajectory Using Deep Learning, Arsal Syed

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this dissertation we develop different methods for forecasting pedestrian trajectories. Complete understanding of pedestrian motion is essential for autonomous agents and social robots to make realistic and safe decisions. Current trajectory prediction methods rely on incorporating historic motion, scene features and social interaction to model pedestrian behaviors. Our focus is to accurately understand scene semantics to better forecast trajectories. In order to do so, we leverage semantic segmentation to encode static scene features such as walkable paths, entry/exits, static obstacles etc. We further evaluate the effectiveness of using semantic maps on different datasets and compare its performance with already …

Functional Π-Organogelators: From Nanoribbons To Organic Phosphors, Sae Hui Lee

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

π-Conjugated systems have been receiving notable attention in the field of organic material chemistry due to their interesting optical properties, assembling properties, and potential application in optoelectronics. Among various self-assembly methods, organogelation has been known to allow facile and easily reproducible molecular assembly. This work focuses on creating new π-organogelators with various side group modifications which in result allow proper tuning of the optical properties along with an effective self-assembly upon gelation. The research comprises of two chapters: 1) the first chapter focuses on N-heteroacenes (NHAs) with gelation property and 2) the second chapter investigates gelation induced phosphorescence (GIP) of …