Digital Commons Network^™

Hiv-Positive Inmates Released From Nevada’S Prisons In 2001: Results From Matching Health Division And Corrections’ Databases, Paul G. Devereux, Kristen Clements-Nolle, Sharon Clodfelter, Jessey Bargmann-Losche, Miguel Feroro, Wei Yang

Nevada Journal of Public Health

It is estimated that about one quarter of all HIV-infected individuals in the United States are released from a correctional facility each year. To better understand the needs of inmates with HIV exiting the prison system, a partnership with the Nevada State Health Division (NSHD), the Nevada Department of Corrections (DOC), and the University of Nevada, Reno School of Public Health was formed to examine this population using information contained in existing databases. An analysis of DOC data matched with the data from the HIV/AIDS Reporting System (HARS) maintained by the NSHD identified 2,802 HIV-negative inmates (2,451 males and 350 …

Marginalizing The "Other" In The Discourse Of The Bush Administration's War On Terror, Sherri H Christensen

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, al Qaeda-led terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush and his administration launched a campaign against Iraq in an effort to oust its leader, Saddam Hussein, and "liberate" the Iraqi people. Despite no credible evidence of Iraqi involvement in the 9/11 attacks and the disdain of most of the global community, a majority of Americans supported the administration's desire to attack Iraq; In an effort to understand the impact of the Bush Administration's framing of the war on terror on the American public, the "Other," and the global community as a whole, this …

An Analysis Of Situated Meaning In Direct-To-Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising, Susan E Garcia

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

This thesis uses interpretive discourse analysis to critically examine the situated meaning of prescription drug Direct-To-Consumer Advertising (DTCA) as compared to the situated meaning of historical patent DTCA. Specifically, I apply James Paul Gee's theory of analysis to show how the DTCA, past and present, builds identity, connections, and sign systems and knowledge. My analysis demonstrates that the coverage and convergence of these building tasks in both prescription and patent DTCA indicate that today's pharmaceutical companies' situated meaning is not significantly different from the patent medicine advertising of the past. Despite pharmaceutical companies' claims that the prescription DTCA educates consumers, …

Probation Officer Prototypes: Perceptions Of Probationers With And Without Mental Illness, Paula M Emke-Francis

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

In recent years the criminal justice system has managed large numbers of persons with mental illness, many of whom are supervised in the community on probation. Given that probation agencies are stretched to the maximum and have little extra time to take on additional challenges, probation officers (PO) may use typifications or "perceptual shorthand" as a means for efficiently managing their caseloads. Despite the role typifications may play in the processing of probationers, to date no research has attempted to characterize PO typifications; The reason for the dearth of literature in this area appears to be the result of many …

Bodily Poetics: The Rhetorical Politics Of The Self, Allison Renee Kaminsky

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

This thesis will examine different ways people consciously manipulate their bodies in order to express selfhood, articulate identities, fulfill desires, and signal social and political commitments. The major premise of this research is that bodies are rhetorically constructed through a series of fundamental assumptions about selfhood, social ideals and acceptability, and political struggle. This paper argues that there are no a priori distinctions between the various practices and meanings of body modification. The way we think about body modification is based on a series of assumptions that define each practice. This project will look at three different groupings of modification …

Weblog Effects On Social Capital, Seyed Mohammad Reza Vaezi

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Weblog is the newest and clearly one of the most influential computer mediated communication (CMC) tools. Growing body of literature about the weblog effects on education, marketing, journalism, and human resource management is a sign of importance and significant effects of weblogs. This rapidly growing communication tool is expected to have significant impact on the work life of the individual and organization. However, there is little research evidence as to the nature and extent of this impact. Using a sample of 326, this research examines the effects of weblogs on social capital and its components: social connections, trust, and reciprocity. …

The New Middle School: Participatory Design And Outcomes, Tina Wichmann

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Effective school design is a multi-faceted endeavor that involves an assessment of academic goals, an evaluation of architectural factors, a survey of current research and trends, and an understanding of past precedent. However, despite these efforts, the specific sociological needs of the occupants that use the school facilities are often overlooked. This thesis explores student and faculty opinions on the predominant trends in educational architecture as they pertain to the "social" spaces of the current CCSD middle school prototype; The primary purpose of this thesis is to explore the attitudes of students and faculty with respect to their current middle …

Preservice Teachers' Understanding Of *Evolution, The Nature Of Science, And Situations Of Chance, Louis Scott Nadelson

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The learning and teaching of biological evolution, the nature of science and situations of chance is conceptually challenging. Attempts to increase understanding in these domains has resulted in limited occurrences of success, and the identification of many related misconceptions. The alternative conceptions have been detected in teachers as well as students, which reflects the complexity of learning the content. Teachers' understanding of these concepts is critical to assuring they do not perpetuate misconceptions by teaching them to their students. The consistent detection of misconceptions in teachers suggests that new approaches to increasing understanding of these concepts need to be explored. …

Creating And Testing The Higher Education Leadership Competencies (Helc) Model: A Study Of Athletics Directors, Senior Student Affairs Officers, And Chief Academic Officers, Zachary A Smith

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was threefold: to extend existing knowledge of McDaniel's (2002) qualitative inquiry of higher education leadership competencies by testing her theory using quantitative methods; to either affirm or create a new, more refined model of higher education leadership competencies based on the results of the data analysis; and finally, to compare the similarities and differences of important competencies necessary for effective leadership between and within three groups of leaders in higher education: athletics directors (ADs), senior student affairs officers (SSAOs), and chief academic officers (CAOs); Goodness of fit results indicated McDaniel's 4-category model of higher education …

Perceptions Of The Training Needs Of Law Enforcement Officers, Nicholas Allen Walling

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The rules of law enforcement are constantly evolving and the criminal community persists in developing new and innovative ways to circumvent the efforts of the police. Revolutionary advances in police equipment design and a sociological awakening has created an intense scrutiny of the way police officers conduct their affairs. Law enforcement officers require continuing training to meet these social demands and to keep up with technological advances, the ever-changing laws, and critical developments in the criminal world; Because high profile civil rights cases have involved devastating monetary judgments against the agencies involved, police administrators across the country have established training …

Date Rape Prevention In Women: A Controlled Outcome Study, Shera Deanne Bradley

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Date rape is a widespread problem, especially among college-aged women. Date rape prevention programs have appeared on college campuses nationwide. However, the effectiveness of these programs to prevent date rape remains questionable. Studies addressing this issue have usually focused on changing students' thoughts about rape. A minority of studies have investigated the success of programs designed to change behaviors associated with rape. Even fewer studies have used the actual incidence of date rape as an outcome variable; The present study examined a date rape prevention program designed to improve women's sexual assertiveness skills and decrease their involvement in behaviors associated …

Effects Of Word-Of-Mouth Communication On Purchasing Decisions In Restaurants: A Path Analytic Study, Dongsuk Jang

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

This study investigated the restaurant word-of-mouth communication structure. Main constructs of the word-of-mouth process on purchasing decisions were identified and their relationships were examined in a restaurant setting. Consequently, a restaurant word-of-mouth model was proposed; The main interests of study are as follows: first, to identify the main factors of restaurant word-of-mouth communication; second, to discover which word-of-mouth factors directly affect the consumer's restaurant product/service purchase decision; and third, to find out the degree to which word-of-mouth factors determine the consumer's word-of-mouth search efforts for a restaurant. The study also looked at the mediating effect of word-of-mouth search efforts on …

Examining Women Faculty Experiences Using The Model Of Human Occupation Perspective: A Qualitative Approach In One Community College, Christine R Privott

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Occupations for women in the academy have been changing over the last century. Contemporary studies that have looked at women faculty work have been mixed in their findings about the relationship between gender and job satisfaction. Few studies have focused on two-year-college models of women's experiences as faculty; Set in the context of occupational science theories, this qualitative study explored the daily work of women faculty in one community college. The concept of faculty work was viewed through Kielhofner's Model of Human Occupation, which suggests that occupations are made up of three subsystems of human action or doing: volition, habituation, …

Human And Pet Interaction: Companion Animals And The Formation Of Identity, Lisa Louise Sarmicanic

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Keeping companion animals is commonplace. Each year Americans spend over 34.3 billion dollars on pet food, pet toys, and veterinary care, and within households, the person with primary responsibility for the care of a pet is usually female (American Pet Product Manufacturers Association 24(34). Although literature on the human/animal bond is becoming more extensive, relatively little has been written about the dynamics of the daily social interaction between humans---specifically women---and pets. In response to this lack of literature, this study asks: What is the nature of the social interplay between women and their companion animals? And how do women integrate …

Effects Of Possible Selves Instruction On Self -Determination Of Students With Learning Disabilities, Jennifer L Stringfellow

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Students with disabilities face a difficult transition from high school to adult life. In the areas of employment and post secondary education students with disabilities have difficulty being successful (National Council on Disability, 2004; U.S. Census Bureau, 2004). The need for students with disabilities to be adequately prepared for the transition from school to adult life has been stated in government reports and research (Raskind, Goldberg, Higgins, & Herman, 1999; Wehmeyer, 1999; Field, Sarver, & Shaw, 2003, National Council on Disability, 2004; Reiff, 2004); The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the Possible Selves program (Hock, …

Reading Bodies: A Case Study Analysis Of Adolescent Girls' Experiences In An After School Book Group, Marie A Lejeune

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

In this study, adolescent female readers participated in an after-school literature based discussion group or "Book Group" as we came to call it, reading contemporary young adult novels that deal with issues of the body. The purpose of this study was to examine the adolescent girls' experiences within the literature discussions, as most studies relating to literature circle discussions, book clubs, or book groups do not focus on the students' experiences. A related purpose of the study was to investigate how literature based discussion groups reflect and reveal readers' own identities as well as dominant social discourse about issues of …

Why Does Passion Wane? A Qualitative Study Of Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder In Married Women, Karen E Sims

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD) is a prevalent and disabling condition for women and their partners. With one in three women experiencing a significant lack of interest in sexual activity, it is the most common female sexual dysfunction. It is also the most treatment resistant. Despite increased awareness of the problem, we have seen an increase in cases of low sexual desire over the past two decades. There is currently no standard treatment modality recommended for HSDD because of difficulties (1) defining the vague concept and (2) establishing what is "normal." Recently, clinicians have favored a treatment relational approach because …

Organizational Commitment And Generational Differences In Nursing Faculty, Lara Lynn Carver

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

We are in the midst of a well documented worldwide shortage of nurses due, in part to a shortage of nursing faculty to educate them. The causes of the faculty shortage are complex including more attractive career opportunities for women, low compensation, and increasing faculty retirements. The shortage is expected to worsen in coming years; Aggressive efforts to recruit faculty at a younger age while retaining older faculty have resulted in four generations in the workforce. As recruiting and retention efforts continue, the concept of organizational commitment across generations is important to consider. Research has demonstrated that organizational commitment leads …

Second-Home Owner Attachment To A Destination: A Driver Of Tourism Promotion, John Brumby Mcleod

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Second-homes have become common place in many destinations. The visitation to these homes has become known as second-home tourism. Previous literature suggests that these homeowners might possess traits that would be attractive to tourism planners such as repeat visitation, word-of-mouth promotion, and the hosting of other visitors; The purpose of this study was to explore the presence of these traits in the context of international second-home owners and test a theoretical model that proposes place attachment as a driver of these behaviors. Attachment has been shown as a predictor of visitation and positive word-of-mouth in previous research. Borrowing from the …

Episiotomy And Obstetric Trauma In Nevada: Evidence From Linked Hospital Discharge And Birth Data, Gulzar H. Shah, Joseph A. Greenway, Wei Yang

Nevada Journal of Public Health

Based on the perception that episiotomy prevents obstetric trauma, the procedure is liberally performed in U.S. Hospitals. Using linked Nevada Birth Registry and Nevada Impatient Hospital Discharges (2000 to 2005), we applied descriptive analyses and logistic regression to examine the status of Nevada episiotomy practice and its impact on birth trauma for mothers. Of 106,461 vaginal live births, 26,383 (24.8%) episiotomies were conducted. Obstetric trauma rate declined from 5.2% of vaginal deliveries in 2000 to 4.4% in 2005. After statistically controlling for the effect of other risk factors, zero parity, episiotomy, other instrument assisted deliveries, non-MDs as birth attendants, rural …

Las Vegas: A Sustainable Urban Environment For Health?, Nancy Menzel

Nevada Journal of Public Health

The rapid growth of Las Vegas has resulted in negative consequences for the health of its residents to a level that threatens the area’s sustainability. This article reviews key indicators of population health in Las Vegas through the framework of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Healthy People in Healthy Places and concludes that public health professionals, citizens, businesses, and political leaders must act now to protect and improve population health.

Psychological Correlates Of Adherence To Femininity Ideology In Hispanic And European-American College Women, Carolina Villar-Mendez

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Submission to the desires of others and an objectified relationship to one's body have been identified as two major components of femininity ideology. Research suggests that over-adherence to feminine ideals may result in reduced well-being, the extremes of which can be depression, anxiety, eating disordered behavior, low self-esteem and academic performance deficits. This study examined the (1) extent to which adherence to femininity ideology, as defined by the aforementioned two components, was related to well-being and academic performance and, (2) ethnic differences in adherence to femininity ideology and its correlates in 162 college women, 80 of which self-identified as Hispanic …

Cooperative Conservation: Increasing Capacity Through Community Partnerships -- Interagency Volunteer Program: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending December 31, 2006, Margaret N. Rees

Get Outdoors Nevada

• Volunteer database increased 8% over last quarter. Database now contains 2,923 records.
• Website activity increased, recording an average of 51,568 hits per month, with an average of 4,985 pages viewed per month (12.4% increase in pages viewed).
• Team charter approved and signed by federal managers and IVP team.
• Volunteer orientation and training in 11 subject areas delivered to 80 volunteers.
• Recognition Banquet and Awards Ceremony recognized 180 volunteers.
• Volunteer event list revised for 2007.

Take Pride In America In Southern Nevada: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending December 31, 2006, Margaret N. Rees

Anti-littering Programs

• Don’t Trash Nevada roll-out event held on October 12, 2006.

• Program website launched.

• 74 people have taken the on-line anti-litter and dumping pledge.

• Public-private partnership with Republic Services of Southern Nevada generated $11,917.97 in donations to Don’t Trash Nevada.

• Conducted 3 volunteer and 1 alternative workforce clean-ups this quarter.

• Fulfilled deliverable of 12 clean-ups for 2006 (9 volunteer / 3 alternative workforce).

• 16 volunteer clean-ups scheduled for 2007. • Two tons of agency-generated paper recycled this quarter, saving 14,000 gallons of water, 34 trees, and almost 8 cubic yards of landfill space.

• …

Cooperative Conservation: Increasing Capacity Through Community Partnerships: Cultural Site Stewardship Program: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending December 31, 2006, Margaret N. Rees

Cultural Site Stewardship Program

• The Cultural Site Stewardship Program now has 249 enrolled site stewards, an increase of 732% since program inception in 2004.

• Four training classes were held in 2006, adding 72 new stewards.

• Site Stewards reported 55 significant impacts during the 12-month period compared to 25 impacts during the same period last year.

Inside Unlv, Diane Russell, Cate Weeks, Shane Bevell, Mamie Peers, Lori Bachand

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

Premier, Dean Mann, Robyn Campbell-Ouchida, Judy Nagai, Heather Willden, Karen Sharp, Deborah Barrash, John Sweeney, Erin Odonnell, Tony Allen

Premier: The Magazine of the UNLV Harrah Hotel College

No abstract provided.

Cubanas Refugiadas: A Critical Examination Of The Social Contexts And Formal English Language Learning Opportunities Of Four Newly-Arrived Immigrant Women, John S. Butcher, Jane S. Townsend

Journal of Praxis in Multicultural Education

No abstract provided.

Inside Unlv, Diane Russell, Shane Bevell, David Ashley, Cate Weeks, Jennifer Lawson

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

Connecting A Disconnected Youth To The Outdoor World, Daphne Sewing, Public Lands Institute

Presentations (DM)

• Understand the components of an effective program that connects youth to the natural world.
• Develop ideas for integrating these components into your existing programs.
• Program effectiveness.
• What we can do as environmental educators.