Digital Commons Network^™

High Occupancy Strategy At Thehotel: Is It Worth The Negative Impacts?, Joe Tidwell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

THEhotel in Las Vegas, Nevada operates on a high occupancy throughout the year. Taking advantage of traffic flow through other areas of the property while maintaining a high reputation for customer service on the rooms side is the most efficient way to produce profit that will please the executive team, the guests, the employees and the shareholders of MGM Mirage.

Laboratory Method To Estimate Rain-Induced Splitting In Cultivated Blueberries, Donna A. Marshall-Shaw, James M. Spiers, Stephen J. Stringer, Kenneth J. Curry

Faculty Publications

Preharvest rainfall that occurs when fruit are fully ripe or approaching full ripeness can result in detrimental fruit splitting in rabbiteye and southern highbush blueberries. This study was initiated to develop a laboratory method to model rain-related incidence of splitting in cultivated blueberries with the goal of predicting the incidence of splitting in blueberry cultivars and selections. Multiyear field surveys of rabbiteye and southern highbush cultivars show that the incidence of rain-related splitting is strongly cultivar-dependent. Laboratory values for forced splitting and naturally occurring rain-related field splitting data show a strong correlation indicating that the incidence of fruit splitting can …

Evalution Of The Efficacy Of The Photosystem Ii Inhibitor Dcmu In Periphyton And Its Effects On Nontarget Microorganisms And Extracellular Enzymatic Reactions, Steven N. Francoeur, Audrey C. Johnson, Kevin A. Kuehn, Robert K. Neely

Faculty Publications

We examined the efficacy of the photosystem II inhibitor 3-(3,4-diclorophenyl)-1,1-dimethyl urea (DCMU) for inhibition of algal photosynthesis in periphyton associated with submerged decomposing litter of Typha angustifolia. We also investigated the possible nontarget effects of DCMU exposure on heterotrophic microorganisms (i.e., bacteria and fungi) and extracellular enzyme activity associated with decaying litter. Standing-dead Typha leaf litter was submerged for 34 and 73 d, returned to the laboratory, and used for controlled laboratory experiments that examined the effect of DCMU on algal ([¹⁴C]bicarbonate, pulse-amplitude modulated fluorometry), bacterial ([³H]leucine), and fungal ([¹⁴C]acetate) production. Simultaneous assays …

The Effects Of Acute Nicotine Abstinence On Vigilance And Verbal Memory In Non-Diagnosed Smokers, David W. Ayer

Dissertations

Research has shown a differential prevalence of smoking in the schizophrenic population compared to other psychiatric and non-diagnosed populations. The three most commonly investigated reasons for this differential prevalence in schizophrenics are: the self-medication hypothesis, side effects hypothesis, and sociological hypothesis. The self-medication hypothesis which proposes that schizophrenics smoke at a higher rate to ameliorate cognitive deficits is the most substantiated by the research. Of current interest is the possible role of nicotine in improving performance on vigilance and verbal memory, the two areas shown to be most related to impaired social functioning in schizophrenics. It is difficult to make …

Diagnostics For Choosing Between Log-Rank And Wilcoxon Tests, Ruvie Lou Maria Custodio Martinez

Dissertations

Two commonly used tests for comparison of survival curves are the generalized Wilcoxon procedure of Gehan (1965) and Breslow (1970) and the Log-rank test proposed by Mantel (1966) and Cox (1972). In applications, the Log-rank test is used after checking for validity of the proportional hazards (PH) assumption, with Wilcoxon being the fallback method when the PH assumption fails.

However, the relative performance of the two procedures depend not just on the PH assumption but also on the pattern of differences between the two curves. We will show that the crucial factor is whether the differences tend to occur early …

An Investigation Of Relationship Characteristics, Exercise And Physical Activity, Couple And Life Satisfaction, Mark W. St. Martin

Dissertations

Exercise has been shown to be positively related to many different variables including sexual satisfaction, mental health, and physical health. These variables, in turn, have been linked to increased life satisfaction and couple satisfaction. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between exercise and couple satisfaction as well as exercise and life satisfaction. A secondary purpose was to replicate previous findings on the relationships between communication, love, sexual satisfaction, self-esteem, and physical health and couple satisfaction.

A total of 229 undergraduate and graduate students from a large Midwestern university in the United States participated in this …

A Study Of Intake And Assessment In Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, Christopher J. Richmond

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare clients' assessment of two different counseling intake procedures used by clinicians. This study compared a Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) intake intervention with an intake intervention constructed from the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I). The SCID-I is one of the most widely used diagnostic interviews and reflects a "gold standard" in formulating accurate diagnoses. The SFBTintake intervention developed for this study stands in stark contrast to the SCID-I and its primary objective, evaluation of the problem. SFBT is a strength-based model that maintains a positive and future-oriented focus. …

Economic Impacts Of Casino Gambling On Rural Michigan Communities, Mark Steven Reece

Dissertations

When considering future casino development, it is important to know whether the magnitude of a casino's economic impact.

A way to understand the impact of adding a casino to a rural Michigan community is to study the economic changes during the 6 years surrounding casino's opening. If significant changes occur in population, employment, and commercial, industrial, and residential property values, it may be possible to attribute this change to the introduction of a casino.

Township level data is used for an index of annual percentage change, preceding and following an opening. This study tests for movement in the community's economics …

Mapk Survival Signaling In Melanoma, Matthew W. Vanbrocklin

Dissertations

Extracellular signals activate mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades potentiating biological activities such as cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival. Constitutive activation of MAPK signaling pathways is implicated in the development and progression of many human cancers, including melanoma. Mutually exclusive activating mutations in NRAS or BRAF are found in ∼85% of all melanomas resulting in constitutive activation of the MAPK pathway (RAS-BRAF-MEK-ERK-RSK). We have previously demonstrated that inhibition of this pathway with small molecule MEK inhibitors selectively induces apoptosis in human melanoma cells both in vitro and in vivo, but not in normal melanocytes. These results support the notion that the …

Number 11, 2007, Palara Editors

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

Complete Issue

Spatial And Temporal Analysis Of Tornado Fatalities In The United States: 1880-2005, Walker S. Ashley

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

A dataset of killer tornadoes is compiled and analyzed spatially in order to assess region-specific vulnerabilities in the United States from 1880 to 2005. Results reveal that most tornado fatalities occur in the lower–Arkansas, Tennessee, and lower–Mississippi River valleys of the southeastern United States—a region outside of traditional “tornado alley.” Analysis of variables including tornado frequency, land cover, mobile home density, population density, and nocturnal tornado probabilities demonstrates that the relative maximum of fatalities in the Deep South and minimum in the Great Plains may be due to the unique juxtaposition of both physical and social vulnerabilities. The spatial distribution …

Code Size Optimization For Embedded Processors Using Commutative Transformations, Sai Pinnepalli, Jinpyo Hong, J. Ramanujam, Doris L. Carver

Faculty Publications

Code optimization of the offset assignment generated in embedded systems allows for power and space efficient systems. We propose a new heuristic that uses edge classification to commutatively transformation and optimize the assignment. We introduce concept of breakable and unbreakable edges, which assists in selecting edges for path cover and edges for commutative transformation. © 2007 IEEE.

Organizing For National Security: Unification Or Coordination?, James M. Keagle, Adrian R. Martin

Defense Horizons

This paper examines whether national security challenges are better addressed through centralized unification or improved interagency coordination. It explores the organizational tensions between integration, flexibility, and bureaucratic effectiveness in U.S. national security structures, arguing that complex modern threats require more adaptive and collaborative approaches across government institutions.

Large Energy Gaps In Cac₆ From Tunneling Spectroscopy: Possible Evidence Of Strong-Coupling Superconductivity, Cihan Kurter, Lutfi Ozyuzer, Daniel Mazur, John F. Zasadzinski, Daniel Rosenmann

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Tunneling in CaC₆ crystals reproducibly reveals superconducting gaps Δ of 2.3±0.2 meV that are ~40% larger than reported earlier. In an isotropic s -wave scenario, that puts CaC₆ into the class of very strongly coupled superconductors, since 2Δ k Tc ~4.6, implying that soft Ca phonons are primarily involved in the superconductivity. This conclusion explains the relatively large Ca isotope effect found recently for CaC₆, but it could also signal a strong anisotropy in the electron-phonon interaction.

Entrainment And Stimulated Emission Of Ultrasonic Piezoelectric Auto-Oscillators, Richard L. Weaver, Oleg I. Lobkis, Alexey Yamilov

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Theoretical modeling and laboratory tests are conducted for nonlinear auto-oscillating piezoelectric ultrasonic devices coupled to reverberant elastic bodies. the devices are shown to exhibit behavior familiar from the theory of coupled auto-oscillators. in particular, these spontaneously emitting devices adjust their limit-cycle frequency to the spectrum of the body. It is further shown that the auto-oscillations can be entrained by an applied field; an incident wave at a frequency close to the frequency of the natural limit cycle entrains the oscillator. Special attention is paid to the phase of entrainment. Depending on details, the phase is such that the oscillator can …

Britain's Bomb: What's Next? (Book Review), Brian Stiltner

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Book review by Brian Stiltner.

Wicker, Brian and Hugh Beach, eds. Britain's Bomb: What Next? London: SCM Press, 2006.

ISBN 9780334040965

By the time this review is published, Tony Blair will no longer be Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He pushed for a decision to be taken by the next general election: he wanted the UK to commit to replacing the current Trident system (a stock of 58 missiles and under 200 warheads, some of these housed on four nuclear submarines) with a new generation of nuclear weapons and submarines. The British Trident submarines are scheduled for retirement between …

Cultural Disparities Of Sat Scores And The Influence On Higher Education Opportunities For African American And Latino Students, Nichelle Hoover

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Inequalities in the distribution of education resources and cultural identification can lead to lower SAT scores for African American and Latino students. By using SAT scores as one of the primary sources to determine admission to institutions of higher education, educators may be denying minority students admission to a variety of colleges and universities, depriving the student of his or her best choice and the college of an engaged and diverse student body, and contributing to the perpetuation of inequalities in the system. The evidence contained in this literature review shows that, given the current system, those students' SAT scores …

Westview: Vol. 26, Iss. 2 (Fall/Winter 2007)

Westview

No abstract provided.

Diffusion-Free Back Contact Solar Cells On S-Passivated Si(100) Substrates, Guanghua Song

Material Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

A diffusion-free back contact solar cell is proposed in this work. The textured front-side of this cell is coated with ~100 nm thermal SiO2 to enhance the light trapping meanwhile reduce the surface recombination velocity (SRV). The back-side of this cell is finger-patterned, using a diffusion-free junction as its emitter region and Al-Si alloy as its base contact. The diffusion-free junction is made by a Schottky contact between low work-function metal aluminum (Al) and sulfur (S)-passivated p-type Si(100) surface. Solution-based S passivation is one of the experimental realizations of the "valence-mending concept". Previously developed MBE (molecular bean epitaxy) selenium (Se) …

Reformed Worship (Rw) 86 - Lent / Easter (December 2007), Reformed Worship Editors

Reformed Worship Magazine

Features

Dust off Those Bells! by Phillip M. Hash....3

The Love of God by Mary Sytsma....6

Participating in the Passion by Scott Lammers....8

Were You There? by Alex Gondola....12

From Burdened to Blessed by Stanley J. Groothof and Curt Gesch....20

Early in the Morning by Cheri TerHaar....22

In the Fullness of Time, Part 2 by Lisa De Boer....24

Praying the Lord's Prayer During Lent by Laura and Robert Keeley....32

Liturgy: A Public Service by Karen Bokma and Mike Hogeterp....36

God's Eye Is on the Refugee by Sonya Vanderveen Feddma....38

Beautiful …

Phase Iii Development Of A Short-Radius Guardrail For Intersecting Roadways, Cody S. Stolle, Karla A. Polivka, Robert W. Bielenberg, Ronald K. Faller, Dean L. Sicking, John R. Rohde, John D. Reid

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Tl-5 Vertical Faced Concrete Median Barrier Incorporating Head Ejection Criteria, Scott Rosenbaugh, Dean L. Sicking, Ronald K. Faller

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Vol. 34, No. 4: Table Of Contents, Transportation Law Journal

Transportation Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Investing In Air Transport - A Prudent Move, Ruwantissa Abeyratnre

Transportation Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Gaining Command &(And) Control Of The Northwest Passage: Strait Talk On Sovereignty, Christopher Mark Macneill

Transportation Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Principal Leadership Strategies On Teachers' Use Of Data In Benchmark And Non-Benchmark Middle Schools, Judith Louise Riffel

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This study was designed to measure the extent to which middle school principal leadership strategies impact teachers use of data. The subjects were practicing teachers from six middle schools in a large urban school district in the state of Georgia. Each participant was either a language arts, mathematics or science teacher in grade six, seven or eight. The study was ex-post facto and descriptive in nature and the researcher used a mixed method design to collect the data. A researcher-developed instrument was administered to each subject. The findings revealed that principal leadership strategies do impact teachers' use of data. Principal …

Fatigue Performance Of High-Temperature Deep-Rolled Metallic Materials, P Juijerm, I Altenberger

Journal of Metals, Materials and Minerals

High-temperature deep rolling was developed from conventional deep rolling (deep rolling at room temperature) and performed on various metallic materials, such as austenitic stainless steel AISI 304, normalized plain carbon steel SAE 1045, aluminium alloys (non-precipitation-hardenable AA5083 and precipitation-hardenable AA6110). The fatigue performance of high-temperature deep-rolled specimens was investigated using stress-controlled fatigue tests and compared with the conventionally deep-rolled condition. It was found that high-temperature deep rolling effectively enhances the fatigue performance of steels. However, for aluminium alloys, the beneficial effects of high-temperature deep rolling are not pronounced due to the different strengthening mechanisms in aluminium alloys.

Om Study Of Effect Of Hip And Heat Treatments On Microstructural Restoration In Cast Nickel Based Superalloy, In-738, O Wangyao, W Homkrajai, V Krongtong, N Panich, G Lothongkum

Journal of Metals, Materials and Minerals

The present work aims at studying and searching for the most suitable and practicable repairing condition for microstructural restoration, which could provide the desired microstructural characteristics by rejuvenation method of hot isostatic pressing (HIP), followed by 12 heat treatment conditions for long-term serviced gas turbine blades made of cast nickel base superalloy grade IN-738 operated by Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT). During heat treatment process, coarse carbides and overexposed coarse gamma prime precipitates, which had formed previously during service, would dissolve into the matrix during solution treatment. Then specimens were processed through a series of precipitation aging, which re-precipitated …

Authentic Expression Of Edmund Rice Christian Brother Education, Raymond J. Vercruysse

Journal of Catholic Education

The Congregation of Christian Brothers (CFC), a religious community which continues to sponsor and staff Catholic high schools, began in Ireland with the vision of Edmund Rice. This article surveys biographical information about the founder and details ongoing discussions within the community directed toward preserving and growing Rice’s vision in contemporary Catholic schools.

The Wisdom Of Practice: Essays On Teaching, Learning, And Learning To Teach, By Lee S. Shulman, Michael Thomasian

Journal of Catholic Education

No abstract provided.