Digital Commons Network^™

Identifying Appropriate Clinical Cutoffs For Traumatic Dissociation In Maltreated Youth, Amanda L. Mraz

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Maltreated youth who experience traumatic dissociation are at an increased risk for various severe psychopathological outcomes. Much is still unknown about the risk factors for traumatic dissociation in maltreated youth. The present study aimed to identify dissociation (e.g., dissociative amnesia, absorption and imaginative involvement, passive influence, and depersonalization and derealization) risk factors, via parametric statistical methods, in association with the appropriate clinical cutoff for the total and subscale scores from the Adolescent Dissociative Experiences Scale (A-DES). Investigatory variables included demographic (e.g., age, race, and gender), cognitive (e.g., resiliency and posttraumatic cognitions), and psychological (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression …

Investigating Information Extraction And Language Models In Medical Domain Text Processing, Pouyan Nahed

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation demonstrates that carefully adapted language-model pipelines can transform unstructured clinical-trial and pharmacological prose into reliable, low-latency structured data. Four interconnected studies support this claim.Tri-AL platform. An open-source dashboard ingests all 440 k+ ClinicalTrials.gov records—including every historical revision—into a normalized schema and parses the 20 GB XML archive over 10x faster than a BeautifulSoup baseline, while exposing hooks for demographic analytics and supporting integration of user-defined modules. Clinical trial summarization. An encoder–decoder model is trained on 57k description–summary pairs to condense clinical trials into a few sentences. ROUGE evaluation shows a 20% improvement over the baseline, while graph-based evaluation …

Pylro: A Python Calculator For Analyzing Long-Range Structural Order, Kevin Parrish

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

We present PyLRO, an open-source Python calculator designed to detect, quantify, and display long-range order in periodic structures. The program’s design methodology, workflow, and approach to order quantification are thoroughly described and demonstrated using a simple toy model. Great care is considered in the detailing of the calculation logic, as is standard in the development of computational methods. Additionally, we apply PyLRO to a series of metastable AlPO4 structural intermediates from a prior high-pressure study, demonstrating how to compute and visualize structural order in all directions on a Miller sphere. We further highlight the program’s capabilities through a high-throughput analysis …

Error Processing In Psychopathy: An Analysis Of Event Related Brain Potentials And Post-Error Task Behavior, Ananda Liz Peixoto Couto

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Performance monitoring and error processing are crucial for learning from mistakes, adjusting responses, and adapting to the environment. Individuals with psychopathy present with failures in performance monitoring, particularly a failure to learn from experience, and error processing deficits have been reported in this population. Error processing literature has investigated its underlying mechanisms via two prongs, namely behavioral measures and electroencephalography (EEG) indicators. Behaviorally, error processing literature has focused on post-error slowing (PES) and post-error accuracy (PEA). Meanwhile, EEG research has identified two components of error-related brain potentials (ERPs) in error processing: error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe). This study …

Tractors On The Mall: Unraveling The New Deal, Political Shifts, And The 1980s Farm Crisis, Tracy M. Neblina

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In the 1980s, Midwestern farmers faced an economic crisis that rivaled the Great Depression. Agricultural policy in the 1970s and 1980s led to a boom and bust for many of the nation’s farmers, causing the decline in rural communities in the middle of the country. During this period, more efficient agricultural production, shifting federal policy, high inflation, and devalued farmland led farmers in the Midwest to face incredible economic hardships, loss of land, changes in their communities, and challenges to their sense of purpose and identity. The Farm Crisis of the 1980s furnishes an extraordinary opportunity to investigate a confluence …

More Than A Feeling: A Mixed-Methods Examination Of Transgender Community Connectedness And Associations With Suicidality, Erin Rook

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Transgender adults experience significantly higher rates of suicidal ideation than the general population. A sense of transgender community connectedness (STCC) may reduce this risk, but predictors of STCC and its association with suicidal ideation are understudied. This cross-sectional mixed methods study examined STCC and past-year suicidal ideation in relation to dimensions of transgender community connectedness (TCC) at each level of the Social Ecological Model using data from a U.S. survey of transgender adults (n = 126). About half (52.4%) felt connected to the transgender community, and 27.0% reported past-year suicidal ideation. Hierarchical logistic regression models for both outcomes showed good …

Nevada Hpv Vaccine Completion Time And Adherence Among 9-14-Year-Olds From 2017-2023, Emily Sandoval

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The HPV (Human Papillomavirus) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections, in the United States. Since its development in 1991, the HPV vaccine has been proven to be highly effective against the infection (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2024). In order for an individual to receive optimal protection, the CDC has given guidelines dependent on age. It is important to understand changes in HPV vaccine completion for future public health immunization campaigns and objectives. To analyze how HPV completion and adherence has changed from 2017-2023 among the 9-14-year-old population, a retrospective cohort study was conducted utilizing …

The Compositional And Dynamical Properties Of Exoplanets, Cody James Shakespeare

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The solid surface density profile of protoplanetary discs, and the composition of these solids, can be formed through sequential condensation models of dust precipitating from the cooling gas of the solar nebula. I continue developing a code that reproduces the chemical compositions of most chondrites as well as the bulk compositions of the rocky planets using our partial condensation model with an evolving disc. I extend this validated code to exoplanet systems with different initial elemental ratios, like the carbon-to-oxygen ratio and estimated stellar abundances over the age of the universe. I have improved this dust condensation code to include …

School Absenteeism In Children With Disabilities: An Analysis Of School Climate And Academic Mindset, Karolyne Bastos Stucki

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Students with disabilities (SWDs) are more likely to be chronically absent than general education peers (Anderson, 2021; Gee, 2018, U.S. Department of Education, 2016). Etiology for SWDs is complex with influencing factors spanning multiple ecological levels, but bolstering protective factors for SWDs may address attendance disparities. Multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) models have the potential to address absenteeism in SWDs via school-wide preventative and/or intervention efforts (Tier 1 & 2) aimed at increasing or decreasing influencing factors in students with disabilities. School climate and academic mindset may influence students with disabilities’ attendance. The purpose of the present study was to …

An Analysis Of The Influence Of Human Disease Pathogens On Core Behaviors Of The Black-Legged Tick, Emily F. Marinko

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Ixodes scapularis, the black-legged or deer tick, is a vector for several different disease-causing microbes, including the causative agent of Lyme disease. As such, it is a major health concern for people living within its range in the eastern half of the United States, a habitation area that is increasing due to climate change. Despite its medical relevance as a disease vector, there is still much to learn about the basic behavior of these arachnids in the wild. Thus, the major hypothesis of this thesis is that ticks that are infected with specific human disease-causing microbes behave differently than those …

Autonomous Uav Swarm Formation Utilizing Gradient-Driven Contour Mapping For Radiation Source Localization, Edgar Amalyan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis presents a drone swarm for radiation mapping to aid source localization. The Department of Energy advocates employing UAVs for this task, but existing approaches remain inefficient and impractical in real-world scenarios. Three custom drones are built and flight-tested. A control algorithm to follow a contour, a constant-intensity path, is designed using a gradient fit. By knowing the source’s direction, the drone swarm can fly in the optimal trajectory at every step, leaving nothing to assumption. A program is created that implements formation flight and autonomous navigation. It is tested via a software-in-the-loop simulation utilizing radiation sources and detectors …

Empowering Science With The World's First High Accuracy And High Throughput Functional Assay, Christopher Giacoletto

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Understanding the functional consequences of genetic mutations remains a central challenge in modern biology, with far-reaching implications for human health and disease. While early systematic methods like alanine scanning and phage display provided foundational insights into protein structure and function, the emergence of high-throughput approaches—such as Multiplexed Assays of Variant Effect (MAVEs)—and predictive tools powered by artificial intelligence have vastly expanded our ability to profile mutational landscapes. However, these methods are often constrained by trade-offs between accuracy, scalability, and biological relevance.This dissertation presents the development and application of the GigaAssay, the world’s first high-throughput functional assay capable of delivering both …

Exploring The Processing Of Objects, Settings, And Global Properties In Natural Auditory Scenes, Margaret A. Mcmullin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Our auditory system has a remarkable ability to make sense of complex environments, allowing us to identify what we are hearing and where sounds come from. This process of auditory scene analysis is essential for situational awareness, decision-making, and effective communication in daily life. While much is known about how listeners segregate and identify individual sound sources (e.g., voices), less is understood about how global properties of a scene (e.g., openness, naturalness) contribute to perception. This dissertation examined how object- and setting-level information in natural auditory scenes are processed, and whether they rely on distinct or overlapping mechanisms. In Experiment …

The Dropbot: Design And Development Of A Custom Drone For Precision Water Drop Penetration Time (Wdpt) Testing, Mugundan Prakash

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Assessing the hydrophobic characteristics of soil is vital for understanding soil wettability or soil-water interactions, particularly in post-wildfire environments where water repellency can significantly impact ecosystem recovery, water infiltration, and erosion control. One key metric in soil wettability studies is the Water Drop Penetration Time (WDPT) test, which evaluates the hydrophobicity of soil and guides land treatment strategies. This thesis presents the design and development of DropBot, a custom-built drone platform engineered for the precise delivery and analysis of water droplets in WDPT tests.The DropBot, a custom drone, integrates a lightweight, 3D-printed frame with a self-leveling platform, enabling consistent droplet …

Internalized Weight Stigma As A Mediator Between Past Weight Stigma And Current Healthcare Avoidance/Comfort In Seeking Medical Care, Shannon Joyel Sagert

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Research has found that medical providers such as physicians, nurses, and medical support staff may contribute to externalized weight stigma directed toward youth (Garcia et al., 2016; Gorlick et al., 2021). Individuals who have encountered weight stigmatization may internalize those experiences, leading to psychological, physical, and behavioral changes that reduce their quality of life (Palad et al., 2019; Romano et al., 2023; Tanas et al., 2022; Zancu & Diaconu-Gherasim, 2023). However, little is known about how historical externalized weight stigma from medical providers relates to future healthcare access behaviors. This study examined whether internalized weight stigma mediated two relationships: First, …

Understanding The Role Of Drug Offenses And The Death Penalty In Iran, Cyrus Zarganj

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Since the 1979 revolution, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been governed by Islamic laws devised by Shia Muslim clerics, significantly influencing the nation's legal framework in both criminal and civil contexts. The death penalty in Iran covers a broad spectrum of offenses, many of which would not be considered capital crimes or even crimes globally. This extensive application of the death penalty is an instrument of social control during periods of political tension, indicating a direct relationship between the regime's stability and the enforcement of extreme punitive measures. Despite some reduction in the visibility of executions due to international …

Factors Associated With Discrimination-Related Distress Among Sexual And Gender Minority Individuals: A Predictive Analysis, Emylia Terry

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals face disparate rates of mental health outcomes, such as psychological distress, which contributes to suicidality. This may be attributable to minority stress, which posits that health inequities impacting this community are driven by increased exposure to stigma- and discrimination-related stressors. The negative physical and psychological health impacts of psychological distress and discrimination are well-documented in the literature. Structural stigma – in the form of harmful anti-LGBTQIA+ laws and policies – is associated with increased suicidality. However, little is known about factors associated with perceived discrimination occurrences and discrimination-related distress. First, a systematic review was …

A Comprehensive Study On The Use Of Sub-Coherent Self Heterodyne Linewidth Estimations, Genevieve Gutierrez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A fundamental requirement for many precision spectroscopic applications is the development of stable lasers with narrow linewidths. However, accurately verifying laser linewidths becomes increasingly challenging as the linewidth decreases. In the field of frequency metrology, the delayed self-heterodyne technique has long been regarded as one of the most reliable and accessible methods for linewidth characterization, favored for its low equipment cost and reproducible results. Traditionally, self-heterodyne measurements employ an optical delay line significantly longer than the coherence length of the laser, with analysis performed via either the instantaneous power spectral density or the noise power spectral density. However, the use …

The Speech-To-Song Illusion Across Development And The Effects Of High-Level Expectations, Rodica R. Constantine

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The typical listener can readily categorize auditory stimuli as either speech or song even though these structures share many acoustic similarities. These musical and linguistic categories may nevertheless take time to develop as children acquire language- and music-specific knowledge. In the Speech-to-Song (STS) illusion, multiple repetitions of a natural spoken utterance can give rise to a perceptual switch wherein the stimulus begins to sound song-like to the listener. While the STS illusion has been well-researched in adult listeners, it had yet to be investigated in children. In our study, we examined whether children experience the STS illusion by presenting participants …

The Dual Impact Of Moral Injury: Links To Ptsd Symptoms And Disinhibited Externalizing In U.S. Combat Veterans, Bianca S. Islas

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Moral injury is an experience of psychological distress that occurs when a person’s morals are violated by themselves or others, including institutions and organizations. Such violations of morality can be impairing and have high rates of comorbidity with internalizing disorders (posttraumatic stress, depression, anxiety, suicidality), which may indicate that moral injury is a transdiagnostic construct. This study had four aims, which were accomplished using from a nationally representative, probability-based sample of 1,353 US military veterans. In the first aim, we created structural models of moral injury using the Moral Injury Events Scale (for which a bifactor structure with a specific …

Development Of An Access Charge Framework For High-Speed Rail Incorporating Rail Replacement Costs And Dynamic Train Characteristics, Nitesh Kumar Yadav

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis develops a framework to determine track access charges for shared high-speed rail corridors, with a focus on rail replacement cost driven by train-induced loads. The method explicitly accounts for both static loads, resulting from axle weights, and dynamic loads that arise from train speed and track geometry, particularly curvature. Train characteristics such as axle load, operating speed, frequency of service, and number of wheels are integrated with track parameters, including curve radius, to calculate the total vertical load. These loads are used to estimate the cumulative tonnage threshold for rail replacement and the resulting service life of the …

Immigration And Customs Enforcement (Ice) Arrests In The Mountain West, 2025, Sydney Mitchell, Olivia K. Cheche, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Criminal Justice

This fact sheet reveals data on the total Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests and daily average of ICE arrests between January 20, 2025 and June 10, 2025 for the five Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. Originally reported by the New York Times (NYT) in “Immigration Arrests Are Up Sharply in Every State. Here Are the Numbers,” this fact sheet also details each Mountain West state’s national ranking for total ICE arrests between January 20, 2025 and June 10, 2025, as well as the percentage increase in daily average ICE arrests between 2024 and …

Foster Kinship Program Evaluation, Eduardo Cabral-Terrazas, Jamilah Mcgrue, Andrea Rangelova, Jeffrey Vanderlaan

Public Policy and Leadership Theses & Dissertations

Foster Kinship, a Nevada-based nonprofit, operates under the belief that “When children cannot be with their parents, they should be with their family” (Foster Kinship, 2022). It supports kinship caregivers, who often take in children during a crisis, in navigating the foster care system. The organization’s Kinship Navigator Program offers training, case management, and licensing support to kinship caregivers, enabling them to access financial assistance and other benefits. However, many caregivers who complete the training do not finish the licensing process, limiting placement stability and access to resources for the children. Understanding why kinship caregivers trained through the Foster Kinship …

Snap Benefits In A Recession: Mountain West State Projections, Olivia K. Cheche, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Health

This fact sheet presents data on simulated recession impacts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the Mountain West. The Urban Institute’s “How Would a State Cost Share Affect SNAP in a Recession?” report provides recession projections based on the current SNAP policy – which allows SNAP to automatically expand in the event of a recession – as well as a 10% cost share scenario, for all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. This fact sheet focuses on recession projections for the five Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.

Births In The Mountain West, 2023, Lara Karaalp, Yashesvi Sharma, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Demography

This fact sheet details data from a National Vital Statistics report on the number of births within the Mountain West in 2023. This report, offered through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), includes data on the race/ethnic demographics of mothers of American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Black, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, white, and Hispanic descent. This fact sheet explores birth data for the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah, by the mother’s place of residence.

Sex Ratios By Nevada County, 2023, Mia Tschan, Olivia K. Cheche, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Demography

This fact sheet presents data on age-based sex ratios – or the number of men to women in a population – in 17 Nevada counties: Carson City, Churchill, Clark, Douglas, Elko, Esmeralda, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander, Lincoln, Lyon, Mineral, Nye, Pershing, Storey, Washoe, and White Pine. The data are derived from the 2025 American Institute for Boys and Men (AIBM) report, “Patterns and trends in county-level sex ratios,” which includes data on sex ratios in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

Practical Intelligence: Generative Ai Toolkit For Nurse Education, Jennifer Vanderlaan, Lisa Nicholas, Necole Leland

Nursing Faculty Research

This toolkit delivers a structured introduction to generative AI tailored for nurse educators, offering practical guidance across six domains: foundational concepts; course and lesson design; assignment development; scholarly applications; simulation integration; and strategies for facilitating student engagement with AI. Beginning with an accessible overview of how generative models function and where they fail. It presents frameworks for critical evaluation and transparent use. Subsequent sections demonstrate how to leverage AI for organizing curricula, writing objectives, crafting assessments, and generating discussion prompts, all aligned with professional standards. Applications in scholarship cover literature search planning, peer‑review simulation, and evidence‑based question development. Simulation chapters …

Concurrent Presentation Of An Anomalous Right Coronary Artery And An Unusual Bovine Arch: Case Report, Vasiliki Tasouli-Drakou, Jasmine Dugal, Divuansh Sharma, Kachon Lei, Chowdhury Ahsan

Department of Internal Medicine Faculty Research

Anomalous coronary arteries from the opposite sinus of Valsalva are rare but can increase the risk for life-threatening complications. We present the case of a 59-year-old man who was found to have an anomalous right coronary artery and a rare bovine arch variant with a single common brachiocephalic trunk, along with severe proximal left anterior descending artery stenosis on left heart catheterization. The patient underwent a minimally invasive coronary artery bypass graft and unroofing of the anomalous coronary artery. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of these concurrent anomalies in an individual without tetralogy of Fallot.

“The Technology We’Ve Been Forced To Use”: Impact Of Online Service Delivery For Kinship Families During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Angela Tobin, Amanda Klein-Cox, Ramona Denby

Social Work Faculty Research

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly changed the service landscape for both professionals and families. Kinship families, who often navigate multiple systems concurrently with higher service needs, were among the most vulnerable. This study explores kinship caregivers’ and child welfare professionals’ perceptions of changes in service delivery during the pandemic, specifically the sudden shift to virtual platforms.

Materials and Methods: To understand participants’ experiences, focus groups with protocols shaped by initial Delphi Rounds were implemented with 25 kinship caregivers and 34 child welfare professionals from a national sample.

Results: Caregiver and professionals shared themes related to how COVID-19 precautions impacted service …

Homelessness Increases In The Mountain West, 2015-2024, Krish Sharma, Sydney Mitchell, Mohit Pande, Olivia K. Cheche, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Demography

This fact sheet presents data on homelessness increases in the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah from 2015 to 2024. The data are derived from “Male homelessness in the United States,” a report by the American Institute for Boys and Men (AIBM). The original report includes data on the overall increase in homelessness in the United States from 2015 to 2024, as well as data on the increase in homelessness by gender.