Digital Commons Network^™

Shakespeare Adapting Chaucer: “Myn Auctour Shal I Folwen, If I Konne”, Scott A. Hollifield

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Geoffrey Chaucer's distinctively English spins on such genres as dream vision, fabliau and Breton lai, as well as his liberal citation of authorities in Troilus and Criseyde, offered early modern English poets the license to mingle sources and authorities within their work, rather than bend their writing to fit the format. Few authors took such productive advantage of Chaucerian permissiveness as William Shakespeare, whose narrative poems defer to Chaucer's distinctively English authority with a regularity comparable to his uses of Homer, Ovid, Virgil and Plutarch. This free-associative approach to auctoritee, the whetstone of the poet-playwright's dramatic imagination, suggests that …

Field Measurement & Verification Of Residential Duct Leakage Methods And Cfd Analysis Of Hvac Mixing Box, Uday Vadlamani

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The research work in this thesis is subdivided to providing the initial results of the experimental work followed by simulation work at the end. The experimental work proposes a new measurement technique for measuring total and local leakages in ducts. The experimental work in this research tries to focus effort on finding the approximate locations of leaks in the HVAC residential duct systems to direct better the effort of duct sealing. This technique can provide several advantages over existing techniques. It will eventually have a greater potential to locate leaks so that retrofitting in ducts can be focused on leaky …

Arima Model For Forecasting Poisson Data: Application To Long-Term Earthquake Predictions, Wangdong Fu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Earthquakes that occurred worldwide during the period of 1896 to 2009 with magnitude greater than or equal to 8.0 on the Richter scale are assumed to follow a Poisson process. Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average models are presented to fit the empirical recurrence rates, and to predict future large earthquakes. We show valuable modeling and computational techniques for the point processes and time series data. Specifically, for the proposed methodology, we address the following areas: data management and graphic presentation, model fitting and selection, model validation, model and data sensitivity analysis, and forecasting.

A Novel Nonlithographic Method To Fabricate Nanoparticles And Its Application In Crystallization Of Amorphous Silicon Thin Films, Wen Shen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In recent years nanoparticles fabricated by nonlithographic techniques have shown a very promising alternative implementation to make novel electronic and photonic devices. However, the size control of these nanoparticles has been a great challenge. In this dissertation we used a custom designed ultrahigh vacuum nanocluster deposition system to investigate the size control of nanoparticles by varying different process parameters. The experimental values are compared with existing models and results are found to be in good agreement.

Silicon thin films are very important for the fabrication of a variety of devices including flat panel displays and solar cells. However, the Si …

Wind Flow Modeling For Wind Energy Analysis Of The Nellis Dunes Area In Nevada, Upendra Rangegowda

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A wind energy analysis of the Nellis Dunes area in Nevada was conducted. A DEM file which contains the elevation data was used to generate the surface model and to create a 3-D mesh of the region. Local meteorological tower data collected for a period of one year was used to generate the diagnostic initial wind fields. Upper level wind fields were created using a surface boundary layer technique along with linear interpolation of the tower level wind fields. The vertical components of the velocities were adjusted using the equation of continuity. Mass consistent 3-D wind fields were then calculated …

Recommending A Productivity Model For Singapore Hotels: A Critical Review Of Productivity Models Adopted By Researchers And Hotel Operators, Hwee Noi Goh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The business challenges and intensely competitive environment in today’s economy make productivity a key factor for organizational survival. This paper examines what productivity means to the services industry, in particular, to the hotel industry. This is underpinned by an investigation of the fundamental differences between goods and services and the implications on productivity measurement and control in the manufacturing and services industries.

The purpose of this paper is to critically review productivity measurement and control methods used by researchers and hotel operators in order to find a model suitable for the hotel industry in Singapore, taking into consideration the local …

Complimentary Rewards In Las Vegas Casinos: A Literature Synthesis And Recommendations For Profitable Complimentary Reward Programs, Katharine S. Meczka

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study summarizes academic theories and industry applications related to loyalty marketing schemes, drawing on literature pertaining to casino marketing, behavioral learning theory, loyalty marketing, and economics. Specifically, this study attempts to understand the market conditions and program structure under which Las Vegas Strip casinos may profitably utilize complimentary rewards through increasing short-term revenue and generating long-term loyalty. This literature synthesis provides important professional implications for casino marketers both in terms of effectively designing complimentary reward programs and sustaining profitable business during recessionary times.

Macrophages Loaded With Gold Nanoshells For Photothermal Ablation Of Glioma: An In Vitro Model, Amani Riad Makkouk

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The current median survival of patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common type of glioma, remains at 14.6 months despite multimodal treatments (surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy). This research aims to study the feasibility of photothermal ablation of glioma using gold nanoshells that are heated upon laser irradiation at their resonance wavelength. The novelty of our approach lies in improving nanoshell tumor delivery by loading them in macrophages, which are known to be recruited to gliomas via tumor-released chemoattractive agents. Ferumoxides, superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles, are needed as an additional macrophage load in order to visualize macrophage accumulation in …

The Culture Of Revolution: Revolutionary Transformation In Iran, Autoosa Elizabeth Kojoori-Saatchi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The current challenges to the authority of the Islamic Republic and mass demonstrations in opposition to the presidential elections of 2009 in Iran, have raised the specter of another revolution in the country. In the 20th century, the country underwent two major revolutions: the Constitutional revolution during the first decade of the century and the Islamic revolution in the late 1970s. In this thesis, I will examine why revolutions occur in Iran with greater frequency than other societies. By relying on a historiography and contemporary empirical evidence, I will explore the cultural underpinnings of the Iranian revolutionary worldview embedded in …

Inferring Rules From Sound: The Role Of Domain-Specific Knowledge In Speech And Music Perception, Aaronell Shaila Matta

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Speech and music are two forms of complex auditory structure that play fundamental roles in everyday human experience and require certain basic perceptual and cognitive abilities. Nevertheless, when attempting to infer patterns from sequential auditory input, human listeners may use the same information differently depending on whether a sound is heard in a linguistic vs. musical context. The goal of these studies was to examine the role of domain-specific knowledge in auditory pattern perception. Specifically, the study examined the inference of "rules" in novel sound sequences that contained patterns of spectral structure (speech or instrument timbre) and fundamental frequency (pitch). …

Examining The Inner Experience Of Left-Handers Using Descriptive Experience Sampling, Aadee Mizrachi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Research suggests that there are anatomical asymmetries of the human brain in relation to hand preference. In addition, left-handedness has been related to a wide range of psychological and physical problems. Despite these relationships, little is known about the inner experience of left-handers. The present study used Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES) to explore the inner experience of 6 left-handed participants. Descriptive Experience Sampling is a nonquantitative sampling method designed to explore and describe inner experience. Undergraduate psychology students were recruited from UNLV to participate in the study. Recruitment consisted of three phases: screening, qualification, and sampling. Students who reported writing …

Identification Of Geochemical Facies Through Major Ion Data And Additional Parameters From Shallow Groundwater Utilizing A Comparison Of Geomathematics And Traditional Methods In Las Vegas Valley, Nevada, Eric Dano

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There has been little exploration to identify geochemical facies in shallow groundwater in the Las Vegas Valley in Clark County, Nevada. Identification of hydrochemical facies in Las Vegas Valley is important for assessing the extent and nature of a potential groundwater resource. The identification of facies could be complicated by the possibility that secondary recharge constitutes a hydrochemical facies of its own. To identify geochemical facies, groundwater samples for major ions, stable isotopes and some municipal tracers were collected from 35 wells in an established network of monitor wells. Wells were purged with a bailer or 12V pump and EC, …

An Analysis Of The Placement Of Music In Miami Beach Hotels, Richard R. Hertan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In recent years, there has been a shifting trend of music’s use in hotels. Hotel companies are now using music to enhance their servicescapes at their individual properties. Hotel companies such as Hyatt, Omni, Hilton and Starwood hotels are strategically using music to enhance their servicescapes while others simply sit on the sideline failing to see music’s strategic value (Torrini, 2006). W hotels even ventured a step further by hiring a Director of Music to strategically utilize music to enhance the hotel servicescape. This professional paper details the placement of music in public areas of hotels in Miami Beach, Florida. …

Bid For An International Meeting: A Guide For Taiwanese Associations, Yu-Chun Liu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The meeting and exhibition industry is commonly referred to the MICE industry because it pertains to meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions. Ancient eastern and medieval European countries were familiar with the practice of conducting meetings centuries ago. However, those meetings were most commonly designed to address the aftermath of war. During the seventeenth century, the Peace of Westphalia, a series of treaties, concluded the Thirty Years War and created a precedent that through large-scale meeting; significantly international problems among countries could be resolved. Until the early nineteenth century, international meetings between countries were popular. The scopes and topics of discussion …

The Gulf Of Mexico Oil Disaster: A Case Study On The Projected Economic Impact On Tourism Among The Gulf States Of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, And Florida, Richard Andrew Robinson Jr.

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This case study found that from May through July 2010 most reports from Gulf area hospitality providers noted a significant drop in tourism revenue due to the BP oil spill. During this period, anecdotal accounts from business owners in the area described a sales decrease of 50% or more in some tourist spots. A University of Southern Mississippi study found that for that state alone non-gaming hotels experienced a 50% drop in sales with a total factored direct/indirect shortfall of $119,400. A Moody’s report, released in July, calculated the economic damage to tourism for that period to be $1.2 billion. …

Verbal And Visual Learning And Memory Deficits As Trait Markers For Psychosis In Bipolar Disorder, Griffin P. Sutton

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The presence of neurocognitive deficits in the affective and psychotic psychiatric disorders (i.e., bipolar disorder with psychotic features, bipolar disorder without psychotic features, and schizophrenia) has been well documented, with such these deficits having been found to overlap across these diagnostic categories to a degree. Along with other types of evidence reported, these findings suggest that bipolar disorder and schizophrenia may not be isolated disorders as suggested by the current diagnostic criteria outlined in the DSM-IV (APA, 1994), but rather may be related disorders on a spectrum marked by bipolar disorder without psychosis on one end and by schizophrenia on …

Is There Evidence For The Observation And Use Of Astronomy At The Harris Site In The Mimbres Valley?, Denise Ruzicka

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis is an archaeoastronomical study of a Late Pithouse Period (A.D. 550-1000) Mimbres-Mogollon site in the American Southwest. It specifically examines whether there is an association between architecture and astronomy at the Harris Site in the upper Mimbres Valley in southwestern New Mexico. The hypothesis for the study is that Mimbres pithouse groups observed astronomical phenomena and used such phenomena to guide the construction of their structures and establish a calendar. The methods used in this investigation include evaluating whether the site placement, the orientation and alignment of structures/houses, and the presence of cultural features on surrounding ridge tops …

The Effect Of Self-Efficacy Manipulation On The Efficiency, Rate Of Perceived Exertion, And Affective State Of Runners, Isabelle Stoate

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Objectives: To determine the effect of self-efficacy manipulation on the movement efficiency, rate of perceived exertion (RPE), and affective state of runners while running on the treadmill at a constant submaximal pace.

Methods: 20 trained male and female runners were randomly assigned to experimental (self-efficacy manipulation) and control groups. Participants first filled out a pre self-efficacy questionnaire and the positive affect negative affect schedule (PANAS), and then completed a 20 minute run on the treadmill running at 75% of their peak treadmill running speed. After 10 minutes, their oxygen consumption (VO2), heart rate (HR), and RPE was recorded. Participants (n=10) …

Optimal Design Of Vehicle With Internal Space Frame Structure Subjected To High Impact Load, Jagadeep Thota

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Armored military vehicles are heavily used in modern warfare. These vehicles are subjected to lethal attacks from projectiles and land mines. The shocks from these attacks may risk the safety of the occupants and damage the electronic instruments within the vehicle. Extensive research on the analysis and reduction of shocks on civilian vehicles has been performed. Fewer researchers addressed these problems in the case of military vehicles. Space frames are usually used to enhance structural strength of the vehicle while reducing its overall weight. These frames comprise of beams connected together at joints. Recently, space frames were incorporated in military …

Investigation Of Potential Pathways And Multi-Cycle Bioregeneration Of Ion-Exchange Resin Laden With Perchlorate, Mohamadali Sharbatmaleki

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Ion-exchange (IX) is possibly the most feasible technology for perchlorate removal and perchlorate-selective and non-selective IX resins are commercially available for this purpose. The use of both resins has shortcomings. Selective resins are incinerated after one time use, and non-selective resins produce a regenerant waste stream that contains high concentration of perchlorate. A process involving directly contacting of spent IX resin containing perchlorate with perchlorate-reducing bacteria (PRB) to bioregenerate the resin has been developed and proven recently. In this process PRB biodegrade perchlorate ions which are attached to the functional groups of the resin.

Although its feasibility has been proven, …

Automated Procedures For Quantification Of Rhizosphere Physical Properties In Micro Ct Images, Natarajan S. Pillai

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The rhizosphere, i.e. the zone of soil immediately surrounding plant roots plays a prominent role in supplying plants with water and nutrients. However, surprisingly little is known about rhizosphere physical properties and how they affect root growth, water and nutrient uptake. The lack of non-invasive and non-destructive imaging techniques necessary to observe living roots growing in undisturbed soil have been a main reason for this shortcoming. Recent advances in synchrotron X-ray micro tomography (CMT) provide the potential to directly observe soil physical properties around living roots in-situ.In this work we develop procedures for assisting scientist to study the soil properties …

Nightclubs: A Training Manual: To Increase Sales Performance For Bartenders And Cocktail Servers In Nightclubs., Robert A. Boyer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Competition in the Las Vegas nightclub industry has been growing fiercer over the last five years. This is due to the sheer number of nightclubs opening as well as millions of dollars spent on their construction and design. Long gone are the days of the warehouse style nightclubs of years past. We are in a modern era for nightclubs where architects from all over the world are collaborating to build the next best venue in Las Vegas. In order to compete in this highly competitive marketplace, owners and managers must give their employees all the tools necessary to succeed. Employees …

Interaction And Language Development Of Ell Students In Mainstream Classrooms, Beth A. Ralston

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

English Language Learners make up more than half of the student population in the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, Nevada ("Nevada Report Card", 2008-09). This is a compelling enough number to motivate teachers, principals, and schools as a whole to reflect on the practices and programs set in place to meet the needs of these students. This study looks specifically at two classrooms in CCSD, observing the teachers' practices and strategies for effectively meeting the needs of their English Language Learners that are a part of their mainstream classrooms. Pervasive strategies that stood out during the course of …

Neuropsychological And Emotion Processing Abnormalities In Bipolar Disorder I And Ii, Carol Randall

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Bipolar disorder illness is marked by emotional lability and mood disturbance, as well as various neuropsychological deficits, and the neuroanatomical correlates of many of these deficits are beginning to be identified. Numerous studies have implicated specific cortical and sub-cortical abnormalities in areas associated with executive function, memory, motor function, and the processing of emotion. Although a large body of research has been devoted to the investigation of cognitive and emotion-processing deficits in bipolar disorder, relatively few studies have been devoted to the investigation of how these deficits differ among bipolar disorder subtypes. This is surprising in light of known symptomatological …

The Influence Of Perspective And Gender On The Processing Of Narratives, Jeremy A. Houska

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The overarching aim of this research was to examine potential boundary conditions to situation model construction (Experiment 1) and narrative-based persuasion (Experiment 3). Variables such as narrative perspective (i.e., 2nd or 3rd person) and matched characteristics with the reader (i.e., participant-protagonist gender match) were first examined using situation model updating (Experiment 1) and behavioral measures (Experiment 3) as dependent measures. It was expected that situation model updating would be more likely for narratives written in the 2nd person perspective and with a participant-protagonist gender match. It was uncertain, however, for health promotion narratives, whether these manipulations would increase the likelihood …

Exploring The Phenomena Of Inner Experience With Descriptive Experience Sampling, Janell M. Mihelic

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study provides a survey of the phenomena of normal, everyday inner experience using the Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES) method. Results demonstrated that five types of inner experience (sensory awareness, feeling, unsymbolized thinking, inner seeing, and inner speech) occurred in approximately one-quarter of sampled moments and that there were significant individual differences regarding the frequency with which subjects experienced these phenomena. Three new dimensions (richness of inner experience, the number of experiences present, and the overall valence of the experience) along which inner experience could be characterized were identified and used reliably to characterize moments of experience. Finally, although there …

Evaluating Point-Of-Sale Buying Decisions: Understanding Why Consumers Purchase Timeshares, Lisa Y. Thomas

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The timeshare industry, also known as vacation ownership, is the fastest growing segment of the hospitality industry with sales totaling $9.7 billion in 2008 (ARDA, 2010). The typical timeshare sales process is a 90-120 minute sales presentation conducted by a timeshare sales representative to customers. At the end of the sales presentation, the customers are given the option to either purchase a timeshare unit at a discounted price with first-day incentives or to purchase at a later date at the full price and without the extra incentives. This today-only sales pitch is perceived as an unsavory process by a many …

Saints In Sin City: Religion And Community Building In Twentieth Century Las Vegas, Matthew R. Davis

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Due to an absence of social and religious tradition, Las Vegas provided the perfect setting for Jewish and Mormon faiths to create communities closely linked to their own spiritual doctrine. This thesis traces the evolution of these groups from the turn of the twentieth-century to the present, focusing on issues such as education, geographic location, and business acumen as avenues for personal and spiritual growth. This thesis also considers the relatively small number of religious studies conducted in the American West, and serves as a possible example for future study by using an urban religious framework to synthesize the dearth …

Impact Of Hotel Discount Strategies On Consumers’ Emotion And Behavior In The Presence Of High And Low Involvement Consumers, Seung H. Lee

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

While hotels come up with various discount strategies to attract consumers, especially during a recession, both hotels and consumers seem to favor dynamic pricing. Yet there are not enough studies available to reveal that dynamic pricing would positively impact consumers. Studies also indicated that price discounts give consumers not only monetary benefits but also positive emotional responses. The purpose of this study was to investigate how uniform pricing and dynamic pricing influence consumers' emotion and behavior, in the presence of low involvement and high involvement consumers. The results of study suggested that high involvement consumers responded more positively to dynamic …

Cloud Storage And Online Bin Packing, Swathi Venigella

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Cloud storage is the service provided by some corporations (such as Mozy and Carbonite) to store and backup computer files. We study the problem of allocating memory of servers in a data center based on online requests for storage. Over-the-net data backup has become increasingly easy and cheap due to cloud storage. Given an online sequence of storage requests and a cost associated with serving the request by allocating space on a certain server one seeks to select the minimum number of servers as to minimize total cost. We use two different algorithms and propose a third algorithm; we show …