Digital Commons Network^™

Epistemic Beliefs And The Innovation-Decision Process: A Mixed Methods Analysis Of Faculty Classroom Assessment Practice, Sharon G. Peterson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study focuses on epistemic belief change and the innovation-decision processes of 193 faculty who participated in a professional development workshop series on classroom assessment. From this study population, focus groups were conducted with a criterion-based research sample of 30 workshop participants (i.e., spring workshop completers n = eight, spring workshop non-completers n =eight, fall workshop completers n = seven, and fall workshop non-completers n = seven). Very little attention in higher education research is devoted to how faculty conceptualize new knowledge during professional development, and how decisions about new knowledge affect existing knowledge. This study addresses this gap by …

A Descriptive Exploration Of A Self-Directed Professional Development Approach, Derek R. Riddle

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Teachers, who are deemed the greatest in-school factor of student success, are often invited or mandated to engage in some form of professional development (PD) to continue in improving their practice. However, an empirical understanding of how teachers learn from PD offerings remains elusive and incomplete. Often teachers report not learning from the models where they have little autonomy. While there is small body of research on teacher-driven models, there is a lack of sufficient evidence on whether these models enhance teacher learning and ultimately their practice. Therefore, this study employed grounded theory methods coupled with a descriptive research approach …

Conformal Mapping Improvement Of The Boundary Element Method Solution For Underground Water Flow In A Domain With A Very Singular Boundary, Megan Romero

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Numerical solutions using a Boundary Element Method (BEM) for a confined flow in a very singular finite domain are developed. Typically, in scientific journal publications, authors avoid domains with many and more malignant singularities due to the extremely big and difficult to estimate errors in the numerical calculations. Using exact Conformal Mapping solutions for simplified domains with the same singularity as in the original domain, this problem can be solved numerically with improvements introduced by Conformal Mapping solutions. Firstly, to experiment with improving the BEM solution by Conformal Mapping, a domain inside a rectangle is considered. The exact solution inside …

Electronic Health Record Instruction In First-Semester Nursing Students: A Comparative Study, Angela Ruckdeschel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The use of health information technology has been shown to have positive effects on patient outcomes and provider efficiency. New nurses make more than half of the 7 million life-threatening medication errors that occur each year, and electronic health records (EHRs) have been shown to significantly reduce these errors. Nurses now are expected to enter practice with a solid foundation in health information technology and the use of the EHR. Unfortunately, the vast majority of nursing schools do not specifically train their students in effective EHR utilization. Academic EHRs (AEHRs) are software packages with learning features that can be incorporated …

Evaluation Of A Brief “Surf The Urge” Intervention, Kimberly N. Schubert

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Previous research has demonstrated that mindfulness interventions can assist in increasing an individual’s wellbeing. This includes improving an individual’s mental health and decreasing urge-related behaviors (e.g., substance use, deliberate self-harm, aggression). Nevertheless, there is limited research on the efficaciousness of mindfulness interventions with adolescents. These interventions are also time consuming and expensive. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of a brief (i.e., 10 to 20 minutes) mindfulness intervention to assist adolescents in reducing their urge-related behaviors. I hypothesized that the brief intervention would reduce participants’ urge-related behaviors but not urge feelings. The intervention was also predicted …

Measuring Implementation Success Of Pay Structures And The Role Of Human Resources In Higher Education, Derek Spencer Smith

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to determine if a new salary structure initiative for university staff employees would reduce variance in pay. The initiative was purposed to identify and describe the appropriate components of a pay plan that could be established by an HR unit in higher education. The treatment was tested with a quasi-experimental design using a before/after approach with classified personnel at a Midwestern university. The treatment was the implementation of the new pay plan. The final tool created was named the Pay Structure

Initiative (PSI). The analysis showed that variance in pay was reduced after the …

Social Media Influencer Endorsement And Events: An Integrated Framework Of Congruence, Jie Sun

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In today’s digital world, marketing practitioners have increasingly started to reach out to their audiences by integrating social media influencer (SMI) into their marketing plans. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the factors influencing SMI endorsement effectiveness in the context of event. Based on relevant theories (congruity theory, match-up hypothesis model, self-congruity theory, and vicarious self-perception) and a thorough review of existing literature in the SMI endorsement, the present study developed an integrative research model which included follower’s prior attitude toward SMI, attitude toward the event, pass-on behavior intention, event participation intention, SMI-event congruence, event-follower congruence, and SMI-followers …

Secure Device And Knowledge Discovery In Internet Of Things, Shahab Taregh Tayeb

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With the ever-growing adoption of Internet of Things (IoT), there is continued development and deployment of new nodes with various capabilities and services. Such heterogeneity introduces complexity and a significant need for neighbor service discovery frameworks. Because the types of services available are orders of magnitude more than pre-IoT era, researchers need new techniques to accurately discover not only the topologies and adjacencies but also the capability of other nodes and neighbors. Device discovery is usually the first task to be performed, immediately after deployment, as it enables communications, scheduling, and channel estimation. The existing discovery mechanisms do not consider …

Identifying The Molecular Functions Of The C-Terminal Region Of The Human Proteins, Surbhi Sharma

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Carboxyl (C-) terminus of proteins is usually disordered and flexible allowing proteins to engage in an induced-fit type of interactions with other molecules. Often, these interactions are mediated through the C- terminal minimotifs, which are peptide sequences of 2-15 contiguous residues found in a protein with a known molecular function. These functions include protein binding, trafficking, and post-translational modifications. In this dissertation, we investigated how many human proteins contain the C-terminal minimotifs. We cataloged 3,593 previously verified C-terminal minimotifs representing 17% of the human proteome. Based on these observations, we asked: Does the remaining 83% of the human proteome …

Investigations Into The Airside Cooling Of A Heat Exchanger, David Vallet

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this study we investigate the air-side cooling of a flat-plate fin and tube heat transfer condenser with numerical simulations. A new design is proposed which utilises vortex generators to direct the flow in such a way as to remove some of the stagnant heated air that collects in the wake of the pipes. A comparative study of the proposed design and a standard tube and fin condenser is conducted by varying the air side entrance velocities. The Shear Stress Tension, SST $\kappa - \omega$ 2-equation turbulent model is used to solve the RANS model in ANSYS Fluent 18. The …

Comprehensive Study Of Spray-Painting And 3d Printing Fabrication Methods For Nafion® And Nafion® Equivalents In Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite Actuators And Sensors, Sarah Trabia

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Ionic Polymer-Metal Composites (IPMC) are smart materials that are useful in different applications because of their low voltage requirements and light weight. IPMC are made of ion- conducting polymer (ionomer) plated with a noble metal, such as platinum. When a voltage potential is applied to the surface of the IPMC, it creates an electro-mechanical effect, causing it to actuate. This is due to the motion of the cations towards the negatively charged side of the IPMC, causing it to swell, and in turn, bend. Conversely, deforming an IPMC moves cations within it, which produces a small voltage that can be …

The Effect Of Titanium Dioxide On Nucleate Pool Boiling Using An Aluminum Substrate, Kevin Yim

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Nucleate pool boiling is a mode of pool boiling that tends to transfer heat more efficiently than the other modes of pool boiling. Many studies have been done to augment the heat transferred during nucleate pool boiling. Various methods of heat transfer augmentation in

boiling can be performed through active treatments (mechanical aids, surface/fluid vibrations, etc.) or passive treatments (functional coating, surface roughening, etc.). This study focuses primarily on a passive treatment, specifically TiO2 coating, which involves testing a substrate coated with TiO2 using NeverWetTM base coating as a coupling agent and coated using a method outlined by Wu et …

Channel Estimation And Ici Cancelation In Vehicular Channels Of Ofdm Wireless Communication Systems, Vahid Vahidi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) scheme increases bandwidth efficiency (BE) of data transmission and eliminates inter symbol interference (ISI). As a result, it has been widely used for wideband communication systems that have been developed during the past two decades and it can be a good candidate for the emerging communication systems such as fifth generation (5G) cellular networks with high carrier frequency and communication systems of high speed vehicles such as high speed trains (HSTs) and supersonic unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs). However, the employment of OFDM for those upcoming systems is challenging because of high Doppler shifts. High Doppler …

Hotspot Homes: An Analysis Of The Situational/Contextual Factors, Windows Of Opportunity, And Attempted Burglaries On Repeatedly Burglarized Residential Homes, Joshua W. Donnelly

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This research study designed to inform the reader on the phenomenon of repeat burglary victimization as it applies to single residential family homes. This research used Henderson Police Department data to examine the prevalence of repeat victimization, and the situational factors that accompany this phenomenon. The main concept that is being examined in this paper is the time period in which most repeats happen, the analysis will be conducted using a 6-year time frame divided into equal time blocks. Repeat attempted burglaries are also analyzed to identify any similar patterns amongst these crimes. The study is composed of approximately 3,700 …

Boys To Men: Masculinity, Victimization, And Offending, Shon Michael Reed

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Male victims are an underrepresented group within society as research within victimology primarily focuses on female victims and services available typically cater to female populations. This study focuses on male victims and draws attention to the role that victimization may play in criminal offending. Prior research has found that male victims may feel a diminished sense of their own masculinity. While other studies have noted that masculinity plays a role in some men’s decisions to engage in criminal behavior (Messerschmidt, 1993, 2016). It seems logical that these two concepts (masculinity and victimization) would be related. Utilizing self-reported data from 135 …

Family Promise Final Evaluation, Muriel Duval, Heather Ashley-Henderson, Patrick Becker

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper will evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization, Family Promise of Las Vegas. This organization focuses on providing stable housing for homeless families in Southern Nevada.

The team of 3Masters used historical information on homelessness and the changes that have occurred in order to understand the current homeless situation. In addition, surveys were used to collect data from previous guests of Family Promise, congregation administrators, and volunteers for the organization. A benchmark study was conducted using similar Family Promise agencies to evaluate additional options for services. Finally, face-to-face interviews with employees were conducted and an on-site observation …

Intersections Between Gender, Race, And Justice-Involvement: A Mixed Methods Analysis Of Women's Experiences In The Oregon Criminal Justice System, Breanna Lynne Boppre

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Since the 1970s, the rate of female incarceration in the United States skyrocketed, with highest imprisonment rates among Black and Latina women. Nonetheless, few studies examined disparities in female imprisonment and the distinct experiences of women of Color within the justice system. To fill this gap in the literature, this dissertation utilized conflict and intersectional perspectives to assess the differential treatment of women in the Oregon justice system. Using a convergent mixed methods design, this dissertation examined disparities in female imprisonment using state-level prison admissions and population data from 1983-2014 in conjunction with qualitative interview and focus group responses among …

A Dramatistic Analysis Of Nevada's Controversy Over Solar Net Metering Incentive Policies, Robert S. Burgy

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Utilizing a dramatistic rhetorical lens (Burke, 1945), this project examines Nevada’s 2015-2017 public controversy to decide whether or not to implement solar net metering incentives. By examining communication surrounding The Public Utility Commission of Nevada (PUCN), NV Energy, and SolarCity, this thesis analyzes the underlying social orientations contained within the controversy’s discourse. This thesis examines how the environment was left out of solar energy discourse in favor of economic reasoning. Nevada’s solar controversy is an important component of humanity’s unending conversation about our relationship to the environment and an important case study to develop our understanding of public controversy.

Is It Still Impossible To Be Black And American?, Darrian Carroll

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis engages Bill Clinton’s presidential rhetoric to investigate how liberal rhetorical practices can be used to extend and sustain the oppression of Black Americans. By adopting Du Bois’ concepts of the color-line and double-consciousness this thesis examines how Bill Clinton was able to recreate the color-line in the Mason Temple speech and benefit from and recreate a world devoid of consciousness in other selected speeches from his corpus. This project takes up three separate speeches by Bill Clinton as texts. The second chapter focuses on Bill Clinton’s “Remarks to the Rainbow Coalition” and “Remarks announcing the initiative” to make …

Advancing Community Detection Using Keyword Attribute Search, Sanket Chobe

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As social network structures evolve constantly, it is necessary to design an efficient mechanism to track the influential nodes and accurate communities in the networks. The attributed graph represents the information about properties of the nodes and relationships between different nodes, hence, this attribute information can be used for more accurate community detection. Current techniques of community detection do not consider the attribute or keyword information associated with the nodes in a graph. In this thesis, I propose a novel ideal of online community detection using a technique of keyword search over the attributed graph. First, the influential attributes are …

Police Interventions, Public Perceptions, And The Rdfc Interaction Model, Stacey L. Clouse

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Procedural justice and police legitimacy research suggests that perceptions of legitimacy are based on the credibility of police (Sunshine & Tyler, 2003). However, highly publicized incidents of police use of force serve to threaten that credibility. High profile incidents between police and citizens in Black communities have contributed to national protests and, as some data suggest, increased violence toward the police (FBI.gov, 2016). Extensive media coverage of these incidents has contributed to an increased sensitivity toward police- citizen interactions leading to incidents of civil unrest (Weitzer, 2002). The incidents of civil unrest suggest that we should more closely examine factors …

A Quantitative Study Of Mitigating Resistance To Change Through A Neuro Linguistic Approach: With The Use Of Narratives And A Neuro Linguistic Pattern, Mary J. Sanders

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Resistance to organizational change by employees and management delays implementation, creates emotional stress for both, and reduces the potential savings from rapid change implementation. The delay comes from organizational members’ beliefs stuck in the status quo thus reducing the change’s potential improvement in productivity and effectiveness. If beliefs about the change could be embraced creating organizational readiness, these negative effects could be mitigated and improvements in productivity could be realized sooner.

Reducing the resistance to organizational change through the use of metaphors and a specific neuro linguistic programming pattern (NLP) is the focus of this research study. NLP was originally …

The Acute Effects Of Cupping Therapy On Hamstring Range Of Motion Compared To Sham, Matthew Schafer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Context: Flexibility is an important aspect of physical performance and when deficient can result in an increased opportunity for injury. Cupping therapy is an ancient technique that has recently seen a growth in popularity in Western Orthopedic medicine as a soft tissue mobilization technique. Most cupping therapy research explores the use of cupping therapy for treating headache, herpes zoster, asthma, cough, and other non-orthopedic pathologies. Cupping therapy has had positive results on an injured population for increasing flexibility. Objective: To identify if cupping therapy applied passively for 10 minutes results in an increase in flexibility, and to identify if there …

College Is For Everyone: Examination Of Family Support For Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities Transitioning To Postsecondary School, Allison Simpson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Through a qualitative research study using Baxter’s (2011) contrapuntal analysis and Ellingson’s (2008) crystallization, this project illuminates the support needed for students with intellectual developmental disability (IDD) transitioning into postsecondary education. Through comparing interviews with parents of students in a postsecondary education (PSE) program, four PSE program websites, and shared experiences from an online webinar found on “Thinkcollege.net,” dialectical tensions in messages are highlighted. By analyzing what is stated (and not stated), perceptions of students with IDD attending college are understood. The aim of this research study is to use the identified perceptions to help provide better support for PSE …

Motor Impairments In Children With Autism: Insight Into The Complexity Of The Disorder, Jeffrey Douglas Eggleston

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder which has seen an increasing prevalence rate in recent decades. Currently, the diagnostic criteria for the disorder evaluate a multitude of social communication and interactions, in a variety of contexts, and restricted or repetitive behavioral patterns (stereotyped movement, resistance to changes in routines, restricted interests, and hyper- or hypo-reactivity to sensory stimulus). Furthermore, ASD severity is based upon the marked severity of the above described impairment and they must also fall within one of three potential categories: 1) symptoms being present in early development, although potentially not manifested fully; 2) the …

Postpartum Maternal Mood Among Hadza Foragers, Kristen Herlosky

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The postnatal period immediately following birth is a time of critical importance for both mother and offspring due to the vulnerabilities associated with poorer health outcomes. Infant and maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world in Sub-Saharan African, often due to lack of professional health care services available. Further, postpartum depression (PPD) impacts 1 in 5 women in low and middle-income countries, with those estimates likely being underestimated. Cross-cultural research on PPD is often measured using westernized screening tools, but new research recommends utilizing combined qualitative methodologies. Here, we present the first investigation of postpartum maternal mood …

N-Nitrosodimethylamine Formation And Mitigation In Potable Reuse Treatment Trains Employing Ozone Nd Biofiltration, Fernanda Bacaro

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Potable reuse has been growing as a strategy to augment water supplies, especially in highly populated and water-scarce regions. Ozone and chloramines have emerged as important disinfectants and oxidants in potable reuse applications, but reactions with wastewater-derived constituents can lead to the formation of potentially carcinogenic disinfection byproducts (DBPs). One DBP that has received considerable attention is the nitrogenous DBP N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). NDMA is a potential human carcinogen and mutagen at trace concentrations — even at the sub-ng/L level. Several studies have reported successful attenuation of NDMA in biofiltration systems at wastewater treatment plants, but the associated mechanisms and design …

Biomechanical Analysis Of Jumping: The Influence Of External Load And Countermovement Depth On Deceleration Strategies And Performance, Leland Adam Barker

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Jumping performance has traditionally been measured by jump height alone. In recent years, the reactive strength index (RSI = Jump height / jump time)) has been used as another measure of jump performance. According to RSI, which was developed to assess eccentric force production, jump performance can improve by increasing jump height, decreasing jump time, or both simultaneously. However, it is not clear how force production correlates to RSI variables. If RSI is meant to be a practical measure of eccentric force production, it should correlate strongly to eccentric and amortization force production during jumping. Thus, the purpose of the …

The Effect Of Choice On Throwing Speed In Baseball Players, Brooke Andrea Boyd

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Incidental choices have been identified as one way to support the need for autonomy. The purpose of this study was to determine if choice in type and color of wrist tape would influence throwing speed in baseball players. Participants were experienced male baseball players from a local high school. All participants performed 10 throws under choice and no-choice conditions. Throwing speed did not differ as a function of choice versus no choice. Possible explanations and limitations of the present study are discussed.

A Land To Call Their Own, Timothy James Buchanan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

My thesis project is a novel of historical fiction centered on a Mexican family in the Saginaw River Valley, in Michigan, during the year 1918 near the beginning of the sugar beet boom. In the novel, the family, the Acevedos, own and operate their own farm amid the increasing use of migrant farm labor in the state. The Acevedos and the betaboleros they employ must navigate life’s vicissitudes as experienced through the lenses race and class differences to the community of rural Michigan, as well as gender and family dynamics, throughout the course of the story.