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Fundamental Chemistry Of U And Pu In The Tbp-Dodecane-Nitric Acid System, Kenneth Czerwinski, Byron Bennett

Separations Campaign (TRP)

The research objectives of this project are as follows:

• To determine the influence of nitrate on the speciation of U and Pu in the TBP-dodecane-nitric acid system. The aqueous and organic speciation of U and Pu are examined as a function of the nitric acid concentration, nitrate concentration (by the addition of NaNO₃), actinide ion concentration, temperature, and time.
• To determine the speciation of U and Pu with AHA in the presence and absence of TBP-dodecane organic phase. The aqueous and organic speciation of U and Pu are evaluated as a function of AHA concentration, metal ion concentration, …

Inside Unlv, Shane Bevell

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

The Social Health Of Nevada, Kenny C. Guinn

Social Health of Nevada Reports

As governor, I want to commend you as you work together to improve the social health of Nevada. As a private citizen, I welcome and encourage your efforts to better educate Nevadans about improving our quality of life. And as a former corporation executive, I would offer this simple advice: If you are going to make any significant inroads, you must be able to not only bring the public sector to the table, you must also get buy-in from the private sector as well.

Introduction: The Leading Indicators Project, Dmitri N. Shalin

Social Health of Nevada Reports

Policy makers of all ages have sought to ground their decisions in sound knowledge. As early as 1790, President George Washington told Congress that “Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness. In one in which the measures of government receive their impressions so immediately from the sense of the community as in ours it is proportionably essential.” In our time, generating and disseminating reliable information has become a passion. This modern attitude is captured in buzzwords like “knowledge-based interference,” “data-informed decision making,” “information-driven needs assessment,” and it finds a powerful expression in the Leading Indicators (LI) …

Suicide Trends And Prevention In Nevada, Matt Wray

Social Health of Nevada Reports

Suicide has been around for as long as human society and it continues to challenge our collective wisdom. Consider this data provided by the National Institute of Medicine:

• Each year about one million people commit suicide worldwide.
• Every year some 30,000 Americans end their lives by suicide, and approximately 650,000 people receive emergency treatment after attempting suicide.
• Every 41 seconds someone in the U.S. attempts suicide; every 16.7 minutes, someone completes suicide; and every day over 85 people die by suicide.
• Suicide is the eighth leading cause of death in the U.S. and the third leading cause of death among …

Child Abuse And Neglect In Nevada, Denise Tanata, Susan Klein-Rothschild

Social Health of Nevada Reports

Child maltreatment is a critical issue facing our nation and our state. Child abuse and neglect impacts the lives of thousands of children and families every day.

• In 2003, an estimated 906,000 children were determined to be victims of child abuse and neglect in the United States. This equates to a victimization rate of 12.4 per 1,000 children in the population.
• These figures, however, only represent the number of substantiated cases of abuse and neglect. In 2003, approximately 2.9 million referrals concerning the welfare of an estimated 5.5 million children were made to child protective service agencies in 2003.

Dropout And Graduation Rates In Nevada, Sandra D. Owens-Kane

Social Health of Nevada Reports

This report spotlights the high school graduation and dropout rates in Nevada, shows how the trends in our state compared to the trends in other states, and outlines community resources available to Nevadans seeking to improve their educational achievements. High school dropout and graduation rates are key indicators by which we judge an educational system. The importance of these indicators stems from the fact that higher educational achievement correlates positively with individual and community social health – e.g., the higher the graduation rates of individuals within a community, the greater the level of personal fulfillment and community development. Conversely, high …

Academic Achievement And School Resources In Nevada, Teresa Jordan

Social Health of Nevada Reports

For several decades there has been a growing concern in the United States over the student achievement in our public schools. In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education issued a report, A Nation at Risk, http://www.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/index.html, that called for educational reform. As student achievement scores declined, even with increased investment in education, the business community, policy makers, and educators rallied to address a vital issue for our future: how to improve student achievement and ensure that the 21st century workforce has the knowledge and skills to compete in a global economy.

Marriage And Family Life In Nevada, Stephen M. Wilson, Jeanne Hilton

Social Health of Nevada Reports

For almost twenty years, Nevada has been the fastest growing state in the country. Much of this growth is due to numerous immigrant and retiree families moving in every day, creating unique challenges to the state. On the other hand, Nevada ’s families, like families in the rest of the United States , are changing in predictable ways. Over the last century, families have become smaller and more diverse. Today, families are not only smaller, but they move more often, have more family members living into old age, enjoy better health, and have more education and wealth than has been …

Delinquency And Crime In Nevada, Stephanie Kent, Deborah K. Shaffer

Social Health of Nevada Reports

The United States has always had significantly higher crime rates than other developed nations, and its juvenile crime rates repeat this pattern. Scholars have offered various explanations for this discrepancy, ranging from structural reasons such as a high level of income inequality in the U.S. to the cultural values that encourage Americans to be individualistic, seek autonomy, and engage in violent conduct. Crime issues have received a good deal of attention from American scholars and politicians, with delinquency remaining a major focus of criminological inquiry for more than 50 years. While scholarly literature now includes many studies focused on different …

Problem Gambling And Treatment In Nevada, Bo Bernhard

Social Health of Nevada Reports

For many years, it was moral experts, rather than medical and academic ones, who told us who gambled “too much.” Speaking from pulpits rather than podiums, church leaders informed us that gambling was uniquely subversive of the American way of life, for its something-for-nothing promise threatened to undermine the popular ethic of honest toil and gradual accumulation of goods. Samuel Hopkins, in an 1835 sermon on “The Evils of Gambling,” captured this sensibility: “Let the gambler know that he is watched, and marked; and that . . . he is loathed. Let the man who dares to furnish a resort …

Teen Sexuality And Pregnancy In Nevada, Marta Meana, Lea Thaler

Social Health of Nevada Reports

The United States has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the fully industrialized world. While the rates have been declining in the last 15 years, it remains a source of concern that

• 34% of teenage girls in the U.S. are becoming pregnant at least once before the age of 20.
• The teen pregnancy in the U.S. rate is ten times that of Japan, four times those of France and Germany, and nearly twice that of Great Britain.

Prenatal Care And Infant Mortality In Nevada, Cynthia C. Huth, Phil Nowak, Chuck Duarte

Social Health of Nevada Reports

Prenatal care, also known as antepartum care, refers to the health services that a pregnant woman receives before a baby’s birth. Health care providers know from numerous studies that prenatal care is important because potential problems that may endanger the mother or her baby may be discovered and treated prior to birth. In many cases, potential problems can be prevented altogether. Because of this, it is important that the pregnant woman not only begins prenatal care early, but also receives continuous care throughout her pregnancy. The preconception (before pregnancy) care is also an important factor affecting the future mother’s and …

Mental Health Problems And Needs In Nevada, Kathryn Landreth, Simon Gottschalk, Carlos Brandenburg

Social Health of Nevada Reports

Attitudes toward people with mental health problems have varied throughout historical periods and cultures. At times, they were believed to possess divine powers, and at others were cast as possessed by evil forces. In ancient Greece, Iraq, and India, for example, people with mental disorders were treated humanely, while in other cultures they were executed, tortured, shunned, and pushed to the margins of society. Today, most societies strive to treat the mentally ill in a humane manner and integrate them in society’s mainstream.

Diseases Prevalence And Behavioral Choices In Nevada, Mary Guinan, Chad L. Cross, Lawrence Sands

Social Health of Nevada Reports

Determining the health of a state population is a complex task. It involves knowing at least the prevalence of various diseases and conditions as well as the leading causes of death and disability compared to a national mean or median. The World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Since health is affected by numerous social, economic, environmental, and cultural factors, these factors must also be considered when examining the health status of a population. All attempts to rank states in health are limited …

Health Care Access And Insurance Availability In Nevada, Charles B. Moseley, Michelle Sotero

Social Health of Nevada Reports

According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM),

• Approximately 18,000 Americans die prematurely every year, solely because they lack health insurance coverage (Institute of Medicine, 2004).
• The IOM estimates that the aggregate cost of increased morbidity and mortality due to un-insurance in the U.S. is between $65 billion and $130 billion per year.
• Costs to the health care system can be measured conservatively in terms of the value of uncompensated care provided to the uninsured, estimated at almost $35 billion in 2001, of which $24 billion was provided by hospitals.

Access to medical care is not a constitutional right in the …

Disability Rights And Resources In Nevada, Janet S. Belcove-Shalin

Social Health of Nevada Reports

Attitudes toward people with disabilities have changed dramatically over the course of the last hundred years. In the 19th century, individuals with serious physical or mental issues were singled out for pity and urged to accept their afflictions as the will of God. The government offered no assistance to these persons, relying instead on alms giving from religious institutions and philanthropic organizations.

Environment And The Quality Of Life In Nevada, Robert Futrell

Social Health of Nevada Reports

When the first environmental decade was launched in the U.S. more than thirty years ago with the inaugural Earth Day, protecting our air, water, land and other natural resources seemed a relatively simple task. Environmental polluters and exploiters would be brought to heel by tough laws. The U.S. and other industrialized nations responded to quality of life concerns associated with the degradation of the natural environment by adopting dozens of major environmental and resource policies and creating new institutions such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to manage environmental programs. With a sense of urgency Congress passed the Clean Air …

The Academic Gap Between The "Real-World" And Theatre And Film, Thomas V Grasso

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

This thesis will determine the validity of universities' present-day approach, curriculum, standards and techniques in preparing young students with a vision of entering the labyrinth and often time ambiguous vocation titled entertainment. The focus concentrates on theatre and film studies; There are various issues and concerns by professionals and scholars alike. There is disputation in the debate, as well as, numerous issues and varied possibilities for a conclusion; This thesis will ask the question are students of theatre and film really prepared to enter the "real-world" of entertainment. Are university studies up-to-date in order to prepare students for this complexed …

Shifting Gears: A Workshop To Increase Well Being In Older Adults Residing In Congregate Housing, Amanda Haboush

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Many adults who are moving into the later stages of life have difficulties transitioning into a new lifestyle including the move into congregate housing. This lack of a well-adjusted mental transition could lead to mental disorders or health problems, if not addressed. To attend to this concern, the current program was designed to educate older adults residing in congregate housing about basic coping strategies for common stressors; Results of the study indicated that there were no significant changes from pre to post treatment measures. These results may be explained by an insufficient sample size and to overall pre-treatments scores indicating …

On Evaluating Density Driven Groundwater Flow In The Closed Basin, Aron M Habte

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The hydrogeochemical cycle in the Pilot Valley, a closed basin, is subject to climate variability over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales over long period of time. Saturated and Unsaturated Transport Model (SUTRA) is employed in the Pilot Valley to simulate subsurface and density driven groundwater flow under various climatic and geologic conditions. A Maxey-Eakin method with coupled catchment model, aridity index and incomplete beta function for groundwater recharge distribution is integrated into the SUTRA model for various simulations. A Rayleigh number is used to analyze these circulation patterns of flow under variable climate and geologic conditions. The …

Parental Perception Of Pediatric Obesity, Mary Hackie

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Pediatric obesity is a growing problem with potential for lifelong physical, emotional, and social implications. Professional nurses have a moral imperative to be concerned about pediatric obesity. Because nursing theorist Barnard considers parent and child to be an interactive system, it is essential that nurses begin by assessing the parental perception of their child's weight. Only after a parent recognizes their obese child's weight as a problem can nursing successfully intervene and assist the child; The purpose of this replication study was to assess parental perception of their obese 2-5 year old children in Southern Nevada. The sample consisted of …

Transforming The Suburban Realm: A Call For Diversification In The Las Vegas Home-Building Process, Kory W Harris

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

More U.S. residents live within suburban boundaries than they do the central cities and rural regions combined---creating a need for suburban design methods that adequately meet the desires of the suburban population. The design of suburban neighborhoods over the past several decades, however, has not adequately met the needs of its residents. This dilemma has only intensified over the past several years because of an increasingly varied group of potential hornebuyers. Local, state, and federal governments---as well as land developers, planners, and architects---need to raise awareness to the issues facing suburban design. By incorporating strategic design elements into the development …

Numerical Solution Of Boundary Value Problems Using A Variational Formulation, Virendra I Jaiswal

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis unique solutions of certain Boundary Value Problems are approximated by first converting them into their variational formulation and obtaining linear systems of equations by either using finite element method or discretization, then using the Gauss-Seidel iterative method to solve the resulting systems.

Creating Higher Education In Southern Nevada: A Framing Study Of Local Newspaper Coverage, Christine Janssen

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

This study seeks to analyze and understand how Southern Nevada's two local newspapers framed the creation of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Nevada State College. A brief history of the editorial and political philosophies of the Las Vegas Review Journal and the Las Vegas Sun is presented, followed by a review of the literature on framing theory, and the theory that communities are formed by communication. Dominant frames are identified through text analysis of 486 newspaper articles. Frames are categorized by a central theme, metaphors suggested by the frame, and images, catch phrases and vocabulary used in the …

Reliving The '80s: Nostalgic Implementation Of The '80s Pop Music In The Media, Ji Hoon Lee

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The major focus of this thesis is the examination of the ways in which the American television, radio, and the music industry in particular are attempting to cater to the interests and demands of the resurgence of the 1980s popular music in the current decade; The current popularity of the 1980s pop music not only reflects the demographics of the audience but also the producers and executives in the media, including television, radio stations, and record companies. The phenomenon is one in which the media professionals and audience engage and re-emerge themselves in the nostalgia of their generation; To examine …

A Gold-Colored Background (English With Czech Accent), Mandy Alyse Kalish

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

As part of the degree requirement for an MFA in Creative Writing I am submitting an unpublished, original novel as my thesis. The novel is a first-person narrative of a woman from the Czech Republic. As the story develops, Data, the main character, comes to Las Vegas with her husband. The two eventually win a large jackpot, at which point the husband dies of heart failure and Zlata inherits all of the winnings. She stays in Las Vegas and eventually teams up with a tiny busboy to design and open her own hotel/casino on the strip. This novel is meant …

Dynamic Property Characterization Of Ionic Polymer Metal Composite (Ipmc), Prashanth Reddy Duvvuru Kamakshi

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis dynamic properties of Ionic Polymer Metal Composite (IPMC) is studied. The ionic polymer (IPMC) is made out of a high polymer gel film whose surface is plated with platinum. This ionic polymer finds its application in future as artificial muscle. Analytical modeling method for both single and segmented ionic polymer which can exhibit varying curvature along the polymer was introduced. This segmented ionic polymer can generate more flexible propulsion compared with a single strip ionic polymer where only forward propulsion can be generated by a simple oscillatory bending motion. It is well known in biomimetic system research …

Inner Experience In Bulimia, Sharon Jones-Forrester

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Inner experience is of crucial importance in bulimia---clearly something experiential leads individuals to binge or purge. We used Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES) to examine the inner experience of bulimia in 5 participants, replicating Doucette (1992). Our participants' inner experiences were largely consistent with Doucette's but were substantially different from what is assumed by the non-DES literature: our bulimic participants had a consistent fragmentation of attention, hypersensitivity to the sensory aspects of experience, affect that is poorly differentiated and often confused with cognition, and a striking lack of cognition overall. These results suggest that DES can be a powerful tool to …

Biometrics In The Hotel Industry: Issues That Impact Customers' Acceptance, Jungsun Kim

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Loss from identity theft and related fraud is growing each year. Accordingly, customers are more open to new methods of identification verification. Biometrics, such as fingerprint identification, are good examples of innovative methods to increase not only convenience but also data security and physical security for hotel customers. However, there are concerns about customer behaviors toward this new technology. This study presented current uses of biometrics with special reference to fingerprint technology, addressed customer behaviors toward new technology, and identified factors that impact customer behaviors toward biometrics. Self-administrated questionnaires were provided using the interactive TV survey system of a major …