Digital Commons Network^™

Design And Fabrication Of A Small Prototype Airframe Structure, Kimberly Lynn Clark

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This project called for a first-generation prototype aircraft with hovering capabilities that was lightweight. The focus of this study was to design a small low-cost prototype composite airframe that meets specified requirements, analyze structures using finite element analysis and mechanical testing, and construct a prototype using proven composite manufacturing techniques. One fuselage, one wing, and several engine nacelles were designed and fabricated. Several design and fabrication methods and materials were analyzed, with focus given to the nacelles, and recommendations were provided for the manufacture of the first generation airframe based on time, weight, and cost.

Circuit Rider, Kimberley Harris Idol

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

An historical novel set at the end of the American Civil War focusing on the week between President Lincoln's assassination and John Wilkes Booth's death. The backdrop of the story is comprised of the historical events and political figures that shaped this period in time in America. The plot is also configured around the fictional histories of three young souls, the spirit of a murdered Chinese immigrant girl, and a brother and sister who's home in the Appalachians was destroyed during the war. All three are escaping the devastating consequences of the war and seeking a new start in the …

An Examination Of Vocal Music By John Musto, Stephanie R. Thorpe

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

John Musto, a contemporary composer based in New York, is known for his vocal, piano, and orchestral compositions. Musto is an active performer, who accompanies his own compositions in performance and on recordings. Several festivals and foundations have commissioned his compositions, many of them vocal works.

This document will examine a song set, a solo song and two song cycles by John Musto, which represent the composer's developing vocal compositional style from beginning to present. Equally informed by classical and jazz techniques, his style is comprised of popular idioms, ambiguous key structures, irregular rhythms and meters, unpredictable intervallic movements, and …

Parasocial Relationships With Celebrities: An Illusion Of Intimacy With Mediated Friends, Amanda R. Laken

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This research looked at parasocial interactions among college students. The study looked at the differences in gender and parasocial interaction, ethnicity/race and parasocial interaction, and the type of entertainment the celebrity was in and parasocial interaction. The research looked at celebrities as themselves and not as the characters they play as previous studies have. The research consisted of a revised parasocial interaction scale along with basic demographic questions. Although there have been studies examining levels of worship among different celebrities, they have been no correlations or differences stated concerning parasocial interactions. In addition, there has been no previous research stating …

Recession And Its Affect On The Las Vegas Hospitality Industry, William Provance

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the recession which began in 2007, and to study its causes, effects, and some attempted solutions through data analysis, academic literature review, public financial reporting, stock information and other news sources. Two major strip companies will be researched; Las Vegas Sands and MGM Grand, as well as a local’s company; Station Casinos. This information will be presented in a case study format that will be available as a learning tool for future hospitality leaders.

City Of Las Vegas Detention And Enforcement Accreditation Evaluation Program, Daniel Bennett

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The City of Las Vegas, Detention and Enforcement is a law enforcement organization that is significantly unique in its mission and organization. On March 15, 1982, the City of Las Vegas determined that, due to extreme overcrowding at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Departments holding facility, it was time to create the Las Vegas Department of Detention and Correctional Services. As the population of Las Vegas continued to grow, the Las Vegas Department of Detention and Correctional Services also increased in both size and degree of responsibilities. In 1986, the Las Vegas Park Rangers were absorbed and became the law …

Legal Regulations Of Tip Pooling And Tip Sharing In The United States Hospitality Industry, Rebecca Ahmed

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Tip sharing and tip pooling are common practices within the hospitality industry, particularly in foodservice and in hotels. Several companies merely encourage these practices while others require participation. Not all of these companies comply with their state and federal labor laws. More and more cases have surfaced where employees are challenging the legality of tip pooling and tip sharing in the past few years. Some of those cases have resulted in significant losses to the employers. Starbucks, for example, has just been ordered to pay back $105 million to their baristas for violating California labor laws regulating tip pooling. Hospitality …

Exploring Marketing And Sales Opportunities: How Companies Reach Their Target Market Using Hospitality And Tourism Venues For Distribution Of The Product Or Services, Ricardo J. Rodriguez-Canales

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Many companies unrelated or semi-related to travel and tourism have found their niche within the hospitality and tourism industry. Companies who primarily focus on fashion, retail, weddings, outdoor adventure, real estate, sports and entertainment have successfully negotiated space to promote their products and services to hospitality and tourism clientele. This can be seen at the many resorts and casinos that have retail shops in their facilities as well as golf courses, restaurants and clubs that market directly to and make their profits from hospitality patrons. This complimentary mix makes up the diverse experience travelers encounter. To narrow the focus of …

Business Intelligence In Meeting Planning Software, Svetlana Staneva

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper is a content analysis of business intelligence functionality in major meeting planning software. The research explores products for list management work (primarily handling online registration), various products providing multi-level database support (registration, housing, event logistics), and others in the categories of attendee management and exhibition management. It presents an assessment of applications’ abilities to fulfill transactional recording needs as well as their extended capabilities to respond to analysis questions for strategic decision-making support.

Getting On Track: Consolidating And Streamlining Positions At Clark County, Elaina Bhattacharyya, Kevin Cerny, Craig Christiansen, Elizabeth Muto

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

For more than a decade, Clark County, Nevada was the fastest growing county in the nation and its government (and government services) rapidly expanded in an attempt to keep pace with the ever-increasing needs of County residents. In 1996, Clark County Human Resources (CCHR) endeavored to improve its managerial efficiency by reducing its number of position classifications and succeeded in collapsing some 1100 job classes down to 500. As the population boom continued well into the new millennium, the County was operating largely from a reactive position and experienced yet another spike in classifications; this time reaching 765 job classes …

System Architecture For An Intelligent Implantable Bio-Telemetry Device, Karthik Kumar Nattamai Kumaresan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Biotelemetry has long been used for environmental and life science research to study animal populations and behavior. The use of implantable bio-telemetric techniques makes it possible to record and study physiological variables during long-term experiments with a minimum disturbance to the animal. Fully implantable telemetric techniques greatly reduce the risk of infection associated with leads and catheters protruding from the skin. In this research the design and implementation of a completely programmable bio-implantable digital system which can measure two physiological signals extended over a period of time is considered. The proposed system consists of a standalone implantable transmitter unit and …

Characteristics Of Children Attending Asthma Camp -- American Lung Association (Ala) In Nevada, 2008, Priyank Shetty

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study is based on data provided by American Lung Association (ALA) on the children participating in summer asthma camp in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada. 56 children participated in the camp in 2008. Universal Health History Form was used which is a comprehensive form to be filled out by parent and physician. Pre-test and Post-test Asthma forms were used to ascertain asthma knowledge before and after the camp.

The purpose of this study was to assess the trigger knowledge of the camp attendees and the measure of agreement between Physician and Parent report of child's asthma severity. In Nevada, …

Quality Assurance Policies In The European Higher Education Area: A Comparative Case Study, Joanna Maria Jezierska

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

European tertiary education became an important topic of the main leaders of the world academia a decade ago, when 29 European countries voluntarily signed the Bologna Declaration of 1999. This intergovernmental European initiative of educational reform, known as the Bologna Process, defines a common framework for higher education systems, and encourages the development of quality assurance within and between institutions of higher education. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the implementation process of quality assurance policy, The Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, in two European countries: the United Kingdom and Poland, including the quality …

Substituent Effect On The Electronic And Assembling Properties Of Asymmetric Phenazine Derivatives, Bin Cao

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Currently, one-dimensional (1-D) nanostructures have drawn much interest because of their potential applications for nanoscale optoelectronic devices. Self-assembly (SA) based on π-conjugated systems through various intermolecular interactions has been widely used to produce 1-D nanostructure. Morphology of the assembled structures can be modified by incorporating substituents, which provide additional secondary interactions. Meanwhile, those substituents also influence the electronic properties of the molecules. Previous studies have made little effort to systematically study subsistent effects on both electronic and SA properties.

The primary objective of this research is to generate controllable 1-D structures through SA, and to provide a fundamental understanding of …

A Comparison Of Face-To-Face And Online Learning Environments To Prepare Teachers To Use Technology, Ashley Janel Addis

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study investigated the similarities and differences in the implementation of face-to-face and online versions of an undergraduate educational technology course for elementary teacher candidates. A common course project, the Innovations Mini-teach , was the focus of the investigation. Twenty-four students participated in the face-to-face section, 22 were enrolled in the online section, and the instructor was the same for both classes. Through this investigation, similarities and differences were identified in the nature of the learning experience as well as student outcomes. Similarities included how the project was introduced, structured, and facilitated. Key differences pertained to the nature of collaboration …

Direct Observation In High School Physical Education, Nicole Jennifer Smith

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to analyze existing data collected using direct observation in a high school setting in order to understand more about the quality and contribution of physical education to public health goals. The System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time (SOFIT) was utilized to collect data related to student activity levels, lesson contexts, and teacher promotion of physical activity behavior. Two cross-sectional samples were observed in the spring 2005 and spring 2007 from seven high schools in a large urban school district in the eastern United States. In total, 164 lessons were observed yielding over 75 hours …

Notions Of Distance: Communication Constraints In Long-Distance Dating Relationships, Jenny Marie Farrell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study addressed communication constraints perceived by individuals in long-distance dating relationships (LDDRs) and how these constraints are managed. Internal constraints are identified within the boundaries of the individual or relationship and external constraints are those that originate from outside the boundaries of the individual or relationship. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 27 participants; ages ranged from 18-35. Participants reported perceiving 11 internal constraints (mediated communication, avoidance, talk habits, physical absence, emotions, view of outsiders, uncertainty and expectations, effort, notions of distance, visits, and miscellaneous) and five external constraints (schedules, social network, finances, and technology, miscellaneous). Participants reported managing …

Examining Compressed Speech Listening Measure With College Students Who Are Visually Impaired Or Blind, William J. Marks

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Psychological assessments are a way of gaining some understanding of an individual in order to help make informed decisions (Sattler, 2001). These assessments offer potentially important and valuable information that can assist individuals with impaired vision in learning additional skills, improving deficient abilities, and in providing diagnostic information for future research. In addition, psychological assessments are frequently used to diagnosis a variety of psychological and learning disorders. Assessing individuals with impaired vision presents a variety of challenges from those encountered with the general population.

The current study provided an investigation into the relationship of the results of the compressed speech …

Water Use And Natural Limits In The Las Vegas Valley: A History Of The Southern Nevada Water Authority, Christian Harrison

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis examines the history of the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) and how it has helped transform various aspects of southern Nevada's economy and environment. Prior to the establishment of the SNWA in 1991 the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area (LVMA) possessed several competing water providers whose opposition to one another adversely affected the management of water in the region. These water providers recognized this problem, came together, and negotiated the creation of a regional water agency, the SNWA. This organization, comprised of representatives from each of the LVMA's water providers has the power to institute policy across municipal boundaries. …

Parental Substance Abuse And Child Neglect: A Controlled Trial Of A Developed Treatment Manual, Valeria Romero

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The maltreatment of children is a devastating social problem in the United States. Many researchers and child welfare workers believe the recent increase in child neglect is directly correlated to an increase in parental substance abuse. There is a strong relationship between child neglect and parental substance abuse; however there are limited treatments that address both issues simultaneously. The present case studies evaluated the efficacy of a newly developed Family Behavior Therapy (FBT) program for child neglect and parental substance abuse utilizing controlled single case methodology. The Family Behavior Therapy (FBT) program is an integration of two published FBT interventions; …

Health Motivation In Health Behavior: Its Theory And Application, Xiaoyan Xu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The present research proposed a definition and a theoretical model of health motivation that consists of four stages: development of health motivation tendency, formation of health intention, initiation of health related action, and persistence in actions to achieve goals developed at the first stage. Based upon this model, two health motivation scales - the Health Motivation Scale in Physical Activities (HMS-PA) and Health Motivation Scale in Healthy Eating (HMS-HE) were developed. Two studies were conducted to validate the validity of the scores obtained by these two scales. Study 1 proposed a definition and a theoretical model of health motivation, as …

Shuttle To Serenity: The History And Impact Of Zion National Park's Transportation System, Reuben Edward Wadsworth

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Shuttle to Serenity focuses on the history of the Zion National Park transportation system's planning, construction and implementation process. It details the unfavorable conditions in pre-shuttle Zion and shows how the shuttle has drastically improved the visitor experience and park environment since operations began in May 2000. The thesis also chronicles the groundbreaking partnership between Springdale, the gateway community, and Zion National Park, which proved vital in the shuttle implementation process. Ultimately, Shuttle to Serenity demonstrates that public transportation systems in national parks align the NPS with its mandate to preserve the natural beauty of each park for the enjoyment …

The Effects Of Gaming On Residential Real Estate Prices And Sales: A Case Study Of Las Vegas: 1990--2008, Christopher Alan Miller

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation empirically investigates the effects of the gaming industry on a local economy, specifically housing prices and sales in the city and surrounding areas of Las Vegas. This study explores many of the economic effects that Las Vegas' relatively unrestricted gaming industry has on surrounding home prices and sales and analyzes the specific forces and the issues they involve. As of this writing, little to no research has used seminal economic theories to analyze the effects of the performance of a locale's gaming industry on the surrounding residential real estate market. This study addresses this gap by examining the …

Statistical Inferences For Functions Of Parameters Of Several Pareto And Exponential Populations With Application In Data Traffic, Sumith Gunasekera

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this dissertation, we discuss the usability and applicability of three statistical inferential frameworks--namely, the Classical Method, which is sometimes referred to as the Conventional or the Frequentist Method, based on the approximate large sample approach, the Generalized Variable Method based on the exact generalized p -value approach, and the Bayesian Method based on prior densities--for solving existing problems in the area of parametric estimation. These inference procedures are discussed through Pareto and exponential distributions that are widely used to model positive random variables relevant to social, scientific, actuarial, insurance, finance, investments, banking, and many other types of observable phenomena. …

Relationships And Dropping Out: The Voice Of At-Risk Youth, Robert Thomas Henry

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The practice of retaining students in grade has been studied, researched, discussed, criticized and yet it continues. Dropping out of school prior to graduation has been studied, researched, discussed, written about and continues to be practiced by our youth. Policymakers are often provided quantitative data to consider as they explore, evaluate, and deliberate issues such as the practice of retention-in-grade to assure adherence to standards, or in response to the social, political, and educational problems created by youth who have dropped out from school.

Current studies and research into retention and dropping out fail to include the issues from the …

Update To Ansi/Ans-6.4.3-1991 For Low-Z And Compound Materials And Review Of Particle Transport Theory, Luis Durani

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The ANSI/ANS-6.4.3-1991 Gamma-Ray Attenuation Coefficients and Buildup Factors for Engineering Materials Standard (herein known as ANS Standard), contains derived gamma-ray attenuation coefficients and buildup factors for selected engineering materials and elements for use in shielding calculations (ANSI/ANS-6.1.1, 1991). The current status of the ANS Standard is withdrawn due to the lack of any updates since its last publication. Since the last update of the ANS standard, more accurate codes for particle transport and cross sectional data have become available. As a result, this study was carried out to update gamma-ray buildup factors for iron and water as a function of …

"The Latent Enmity Of Georgia": Sherman's March And Its Effects On The Social Division Of Georgia, Michael Jason Spurr

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In September 1864, Union General William T. Sherman's Savannah Campaign targeted the growing animosity between wealthy and poor Georgians when he proposed that Union forces "arouse the latent enmity of Georgia." This thesis continues the study of the March to the Sea by examining the effect of Sherman's campaign as it pertained to the social divisions between Georgians. Sherman's army alone did not ruin the state's ability to remain a vital contributor to the war effort, but rather focused upon the already growing social disputes between Georgians over economic contributions, military sacrifice, and political support. Even before Sherman's army arrived, …

The Meaning Of Being A Primary Nurse Preceptor For Newly Graduated Nurses, Jennifer Richards

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Preceptorship is a vital component of the transition experience of newly graduated nurses into clinical practice. Preceptors teach, supervise, and evaluate newly graduated nurses, and also help them socialize into their roles as registered nurses. In the presence of an ever-growing nursing shortage and evidence that many new nurses are leaving their first positions, it is of paramount importance that we make every attempt to ease the transition of newly graduated nurses into clinical practice. Additionally important is the need to understand the experience of all involved in the process.

The primary purpose of this study was to achieve a …

Taiwanese Gambling Behaviors, Perceptions, And Attitudes, Che Hao Chang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study categorizes different Taiwanese gambling types using PGSI, and further evaluates the perceptions and attitudes toward the legalization of casino gambling. A survey was conducted using convenient sampling and distributed by Internet. Results indicate that across groups of different types of gamblers, there are significant differences in perceptions toward the legalized casino gambling industry. Also, across groups of different types of gamblers, there are significant differences in attitudes toward legalized casino gambling. Additionally, there are significant differences between perceptions toward the legalized casino gambling industry, and attitudes toward the legalization of casino gambling. In general, non-gamblers are relatively more …

Zirconia-Magnesia Inert Matrix Fuel And Waste Form: Synthesis, Characterization And Chemical Performance In An Advanced Fuel Cycle, Kiel Steven Holliday

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There is a significant buildup in plutonium stockpiles throughout the world, because of spent nuclear fuel and the dismantling of weapons. The radiotoxicity of this material and proliferation risk has led to a desire for destroying excess plutonium. To do this effectively, it must be fissioned in a reactor as part of a uranium free fuel to eliminate the generation of more plutonium. This requires an inert matrix to volumetrically dilute the fissile plutonium. Zirconia-magnesia dual phase ceramic has been demonstrated to be a favorable material for this task. It is neutron transparent, zirconia is chemically robust, magnesia has good …