Digital Commons Network^™

Inside Unlv, Shane Bevell, Tony Allen, Karen Sharp, Mamie Peers, Cate Weeks

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

Site Response Zones And Short-Period Earthquake Ground Motion Projections For The Las Vegas Basin, Barbara Luke, Ying Liu

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

A deterministic seismic hazard analysis was conducted to address the effect of local soil conditions on earthquake-induced strong ground motion in the Las Vegas Basin, Nevada (US). Using a large geological and geotechnical database, two response units were defined: a fine-grained unit, predominantly clay; and a coarse-grained unit, predominantly gravel. A moderate number of high-quality shallow shear wave velocity measurements were collected from which characteristic shear wave velocity profiles were developed for each response unit. An equivalent-linear one-dimensional site response model was used. The model was calibrated using a basin-wide, small-strain ground motion database. Calibration tests showed that ground motion …

Supply Curves For Rooftop Solar Pv-Generated Electricity For The United States, Paul Denholm, Robert Margolis

Publications (E)

In this report, we examine several possible methods for generating PV supply curves based exclusively on rooftop deployment. We begin by introducing a framework methodology for a basic supply curve based on estimated distribution of population and buildings, rooftop availability and orientation, and geographical variation in resource. We then discuss limitations to this basic methodology and introduce alternative supply curves that consider additional factors – changes in PV efficiency and configuration, rooftop availability, and grid limitations – while emphasizing the data and methodological limitations to each approach. The resulting curves potentially could be used as inputs to other models or …

An Undergraduate Science Information Literacy Tutorial In A Web 2.0 World, Jeanine Marie Scaramozzino

Library Scholarship

The development of an interactive web-based science information literacy tutorial that introduces undergraduate science majors to basic components of scientific literature is described. The tutorial introduces concepts, vocabulary and resources necessary for understanding and accessing information. The tutorial content is based on the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education and the Information Literacy Standards for Science and Engineering/Technology (American Library Association (ALA) /Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)/Science and Technology Section (STS) Task Force on Information Literacy for Science and Technology). In order to engage students in a Web 2.0 world, …

Memory Functioning In Children With Reading Disabilities And/Or Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Clinical Investigation Of Their Working Memory And Long-Term Memory Functioning., Michelle Y. Kibby, Morris J. Cohen

Publications

We examined memory functioning in children with reading disabilities (RD), Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and RD/ADHD using a clinic sample with a clinical instrument: the Children's Memory Scale, enhancing its generalizability. Participants included 23 children with RD, 30 with ADHD, 30 with RD/ADHD, and 30 controls. Children with RD presented with reduced verbal short-term memory (STM) but intact visual STM, central executive (CE), and long-term memory (LTM) functioning. Their deficit in STM appeared specific to tasks requiring phonetic coding of material. Children with ADHD displayed intact CE and LTM functioning but reduced visual-spatial STM, especially when off stimulant medication. Children …

Effect Of Treating Field Spatial Variability In Winter Wheat At Different Resolutions, B. S. Tubaña, D. B. Arnall, S. L. Holtz, J. B. Solie, K. Girma, W. R. Raun

Faculty Publications

This study was conducted to determine the scale at which spatial variability should be treated using an in-season nitrogen fertilization optimization algorithm (NFOA). Treatments included variable nitrogen (N) rate applications at three resolutions (0.84, 13.4, and 26.8 m2), two treatments of 90 kg N ha-1 fixed rate applied preplant or midseason, and a check plot. Treatments were arranged in a completely randomized design with three replications established at two locations for three years. On average, the NFOA-based N rates achieved a higher N use efficiency (NUE) of 41% compared with only 33% of the 90 kg N ha-1 fixed rate …

Deconstructing Masculinity In A ‘Female Bastion’: Ambiguities, Contradictions And Insights, Charles C. Fonchingong

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article is informed by my experiences teaching women’s studies and specifically feminist theory to predominantly female and male students offering Women’s studies. As a mainstream academic discipline at the University of Buea, housing the only such Department in Cameroon’s Higher Education system, this study uncovers the broader polemics regarding gender and women’s studies.

Against the backdrop of a patriarchal society, this study attempts to account for the shifting strands on masculinity and femininity and gender transgressions as played out by students taking women’s studies. It also analyses the notions, misconceptions and stereotypes that characterise the discipline of women’s studies, …

Prayers, Blessings And Baptisms, Steven Atkins

Lake Union Herald

No abstract provided.

Locating Oil Spills Under Sea Ice Using Ground-Penetrating Radar, John H. Bradford, Lee M. Liberty, David F. Dickens

CGISS Publications and Presentations

The accelerating level of interest in arctic oil and gas exploration was demonstrated in the overwhelming response to recent lease sales in the Alaskan OCS region. As development increases, the potential for accidental oil spills in the arctic marine environment increases. The need for reliable systems to detect oil trapped in a range of ice conditions remains at the forefront of continued efforts to improve response to ocean spills.

Task Specificity In Early Oral Motor Development, Erin M. Wilson, Jordan R. Green, Yana Y. Yunusova, Christopher A. Moore

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

This article addresses a long-standing clinical and theoretical debate regarding the potential relationship between speech and nonspeech behaviors in the developing system. The review is motivated by the high popularity of nonspeech oral motor exercises (NSOMEs), including alimentary behaviors such as chewing, in the treatment of speech disorders in young children. The similarities and differences in the behavioral characteristics, sensory requirements, and task goals for speech and nonspeech oromotor behaviors are compared. Integrated theoretical paradigms and empirical data on the development of early oromotor behaviors are discussed. Although the efficacy of NSOMEs remains empirically untested at this time, studies of …

Type I Error Rates Of The Kenward-Roger F-Test For A Split-Plot Design With Missing Values And Non-Normal Data, Miguel A. Padilla, Youngkyoung Min, Guili Zhang

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

The Type I error of the Kenward-Roger (KR) F-test was assessed through a simulation study for a between- by within-subjects split-plot design with non-normal ignorable missing data. The KR-test for the between- and within-subjects main effect was robust under all simulation variables investigated and when the data were missing completely at random (MCAR). This continued to hold for the between-subjects main effect when data were missing at random (MAR). For the interaction, the KR F-test performed fairly well at controlling Type I under MCAR and the simulation variables investigated. However, under MAR, the KR F-test for the …

Front Matter, Jmasm Editors

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

No abstract provided.

Constructing Confidence Intervals For Spearman’S Rank Correlation With Ordinal Data: A Simulation Study Comparing Analytic And Bootstrap Methods, John Ruscio

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Research shows good probability coverage using analytic confidence intervals (CIs) for Spearman’s rho with continuous data, but poorer coverage with ordinal data. A simulation study examining the latter case replicated prior results and revealed that coverage of bootstrap CIs was usually as good or better than coverage of analytic CIs.

An Optimum Allocation With A Family Of Estimators Using Auxiliary Information In Sample Survey, Gajendra K. Vishwakarma, Housila P. Singh

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

The problem of obtaining optimum allocation using auxiliary information in stratified random sampling. An optimum allocation with a family of estimators is obtained and its efficiency is compared with that of Neyman allocation based on Srivastava (1971) class of estimators and the optimum allocation suggested by Zaidi et al., (1989). It is shown that the proposed allocation is better in the sense having smaller variance compared to other optimum allocation.

On Some Properties Of Quasi-Negative-Binomial Distribution And Its Applications, Anwar Hassan, Sheikh Bilal

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

The quasi-negative-binomial distribution was applied to queuing theory for determining the distribution of total number of customers served before the queue vanishes under certain assumptions. Some structural properties (probability generating function, convolution, mode and recurrence relation) for the moments of quasi-negative-binomial distribution are discussed. The distribution’s characterization and its relation with other distributions were investigated. A computer program was developed using R to obtain ML estimates and the distribution was fitted to some observed sets of data to test its goodness of fit.

Metric Regularity Of Mappings And Generalized Normals To Set Images, Boris S. Mordukhovich, Nguyen Mau Nam, Bingwu Wang

Mathematics Research Reports

The primary goal of this paper is to study some notions of normals to nonconvex sets in finite-dimensional and infinite-dimensional spaces and their images under single-valued and set-valued mappings. The main motivation for our study comes from variational analysis and optimization, where the problems under consideration play a crucial role in many important aspects of generalized differential calculus and applications. Our major results provide precise equality formulas (sometimes just efficient upper estimates) allowing us to compute generalized normals in various senses to direct and inverse images of nonconvex sets under single-valued and set-valued mappings between Banach spaces. The main tools …

Ubi-App: A Ubiquitous Application For Universal Access From Handheld Devices, Shameem Ahmed, Moushumi Sharmin, Sheikh Iqbal Ahamed

Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

Universal access from a handheld device (such as a PDA, cell phone) at any time or anywhere is now a reality. Ubicomp Assistant (UA) (Sharmin et al. in Proceedings of the 21st annual ACM symposium on applied computing (ACM SAC 2006), Dijon, France, pp 1013–1017, 2006) is an integral service of MARKS (Sharmin et al. in Proceedings of the third international conference on information technology: new generations (ITNG 2006), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, pp 306–313, 2006). It is a middleware developed for handheld devices, and has been designed to accommodate different types of users (e.g., education, healthcare, marketing, or business). …

Defining Resonance Raman Spectral Responses To Substrate Binding By Cytochrome P450 From Pseudomonas Putida, Piotr J. Mak, Daniel Kaluka, Munyaradzi Edith Manyumwa, Haiqing Zhang, Tianjing Deng, James R. Kincaid

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

Resonance Raman spectra are reported for substrate-free and camphor-bound cytochrome P450cam and its isotopically labeled analogues that have been reconstituted with protoheme derivatives that bear -CD₃ groups at the 1, 3, 5, and 8-positions (d12-protoheme) or deuterated methine carbons (d4-protoheme). In agreement with previous studies of this and similar enzymes, substrate binding induces changes in the high frequency and low frequency spectral regions, with the most dramatic effect in the low frequency region being activation of a new mode near 367 cm⁻¹. This substrate-activated mode had been previously assigned as a second “propionate bending” mode (Chen et …

Analyzing The Catalytic Mechanism Of The Fe-Type Nitrile Hydratase From Comamonas Testosteroni Ni1, Saroja Rao, Richard C. Holz

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

In order to gain insight into the catalytic mechanism of Fe-type nitrile hydratases (NHase), the pH and temperature dependence of the kinetic parameters k_cat, K_m, and k_cat/K_m along with the solvent isotope effect were examined for the Fe-type NHase from Comamonas testosteroni Ni1 (CtNHase). CtNHase was found to exhibit a bell-shaped curve for plots of relative activity vs pH over pH values 4−10 for the hydration of acrylonitrile and was found to display maximal activity at pH ∼7.2. Fits of these data provided a pK_ES1 value of …

Detecting Relevant Changes In High Throughput Gene Expression Data, Anusha Aiyalu Kannan

Theses

The management and analysis of the data produced by high-throughput technologies are challenging. This paper discuss multiple hypothesis testing by focusing on developing and applying computationally intensive techniques to achieve the goal of simultaneous tests for each spotID the null hypothesis of no association between the expression levels and the responses or covariates. The software provides features where the user controls the amount of data that can be used for analyzing. The software also produce graph of the output which provide the user with easy viewing of the results.

Grades 9-10 Energy Sources, Roxana Estrada

Science

This is a science lesson for students in ninth and tenth grade on Energy Sources that can be used in an ecology class. Through this lesson students will be able to make decisions and acknowledge that that their activities had a profound impact on the physical and living environment and students will be able to explain the most common energy sources. Students will be tiered by ability and within their groups they will choose between two topics based on interest.

2d Regional Correlation Analysis Of Single-Molecule Time Trajectories, Xuefei Wang, H. Peter Lu

Chemistry Faculty Publications

We report a new approach of 2D regional correlation analysis capable of analyzing fluctuation dynamics of complex multiple correlated and anticorrelated fluctuations under a noncorrelated noise background. Using this new method, by changing and scanning the start time and end time along a pair of fluctuation trajectories, we are able to map out any defined segments along the fluctuation trajectories and determine whether they are correlated, anticorrelated, or noncorrelated; after which, a cross-correlation analysis can be applied for each specific segment to obtain a detailed fluctuation dynamics analysis. We specifically discuss an application of this approach to analyze single-molecule fluorescence …

A Summary Reflection On Legal Education, Robert A. Pascal, Olivier Moreteau

Louisiana Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Competitive Hybridization Model Predicts Probe Signal Intensity On High Density Dna Microarrays, Shuzhao Li, Alex Pozhitkov, Marius Brouwer

Faculty Publications

A central, unresolved problem of DNA microarray technology is the interpretation of different signal intensities from multiple probes targeting the same transcript. We propose a competitive hybridization model for DNA microarray hybridization. Our model uses a probe-specific dissociation constant that is computed with current nearest neighbor model and existing parameters, and only four global parameters that are fitted to Affymetrix Latin Square data. This model can successfully predict signal intensities of individual probes, therefore makes it possible to quantify the absolute concentration of targets. Our results offer critical insights into the design and data interpretation of DNA microarrays.

Magnetic Field Measurements Of O Stars With Fors 1 At The Vlt., S. Hubrig, M. Schöller, R. Schnerr, J. González, Richard Ignace, H. Henrichs

ETSU Faculty Works

Context.The presence of magnetic fields in O-type stars has been suspected for a long time. The discovery of these fields would explain a wide range of well documented enigmatic phenomena in massive stars, in particular cyclical wind variability, Hα emission variations, chemical peculiarity, narrow X-ray emission lines, and non-thermal radio/X-ray emission. Aims.To investigate the incidence of magnetic fields in O stars, we acquired 38 new spectropolarimetric observations with FORS 1 (FOcal Reducer low dispersion Spectrograph) mounted on the 8-m Kueyen telescope of the VLT. Methods.Spectropolarimetric observations were obtained at different phases for a sample of 13 O …

University Reporter - Volume 13, Number 03 - November 2008

1996-2009, University Reporter

This issue of the University Reporter includes articles about budget cuts at the university, fundraising and grant programs (including the GI Bill), urban schools programs like Teach Next Year, the launch of the Collins Center, the Graduate Program in Dispute Resolution program for young Nigerian leaders, and other news from UMass Boston.

Focus On Rna Isolation: Obtaining Rna For Microrna (Mirna) Expression Profiling Analyses Of Neural Tissue, Wang-Xia Wang, Bernard R. Wilfred, Donald A. Baldwin, R. Benjamin Isett, Na Ren, Arnold J. Stromberg, Peter T. Nelson

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are present in all known plant and animal tissues and appear to be somewhat concentrated in the mammalian nervous system. Many different miRNA expression profiling platforms have been described. However, relatively little research has been published to establish the importance of 'upstream' variables in RNA isolation for neural miRNA expression profiling. We tested whether apparent changes in miRNA expression profiles may be associated with tissue processing, RNA isolation techniques, or different cell types in the sample. RNA isolation was performed on a single brain sample using eight different RNA isolation methods, and results were correlated using a conventional …

Numerical Simulation Of Local Temperature Distortions During Ice Nucleation Of Cells In Suspension, D. Kandra, R. V. Devireddy

Faculty Publications

Knowledge of intercellular ice formation in cells embedded in an extra-cellular suspension is essential for effective design of freezing protocols. The presence of cell membrane causes super-cooling of the intra-cellular region, which nucleates at much lower temperatures than the surrounding extra-cellular space and is accompanied by the exothermic release of the latent heat. This is a dynamic process and causes thermal distortions in and around the cell where nucleation occurs. In the present study, an attempt has been made to numerically determine the magnitude of thermal distortion (ΔT) and the time (dt) it takes for this distortion to damp out …

Revisiting Unitarity Corrections For Electromagnetic Processes In Collisions Of Relativistic Nuclei, Ulrich D. Jentschura, Kai Hencken, Valery G. Serbo

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Unitarity corrections to several electromagnetic processes in collisions of relativistic heavy nuclei are considered. They are due to the unitarity requirement for the S-matrix and correspond to the exchange of a light-by-light scattering block between colliding nuclei. We obtain improved results for the corrections to e⁺ e^- and μ⁺ μ^- pair production as well as new results for unitarity corrections to the production of photons via virtual Compton and virtual Delbrück scattering. These corrections can be numerically large; e.g., the μ⁺ μ^- pair production cross section is reduced by about 50% and nuclear bremsstrahlung …

The Impact Of Hiring Practices On The Employment Of Urban Teachers In Secondary Shortage Areas, Narlene Ragans

Education Doctoral

This study examined the teacher hiring process as one possible cause of urban districts' difficulty to recruit and hire highly qualified teachers. The study examines how new teachers experience the hiring process, reviews the information they receive from the hiring process, and captures teachers' perspectives of how the hiring process assisted them to adjust to their new positions. The following research question guided the study: What are the perceptions ofthe hiring procedures in one Western New York school district among newly hired teachers in secondary subject areas experiencing teacher shortages? The study is a quantitative research project based on findings …