Digital Commons Network^™

Learning With Animation And The Illusion Of Understanding, Eugene Sam Paik

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A controlled experiment was conducted on the effects of two types of animation - motion and highlighting - on learning. The treatment consisted of a 3.5 minute multimedia presentation that described the workings of a flushing toilet tank. A 2x2 factorial design ({motion, no-motion} x {highlight, no-highlight}) was employed with two dependent measures of learning (retention and transfer). Participants consisted of 65 undergraduates. Highlighting animation had a positive effect on both retention and transfer while motion animation had a negative effect on transfer. No significant interaction was detected between motion and highlighting.

In addition, the experiment tested the illusion of …

Self-Stabilizing Leader Election In Dynamic Networks, Hema Piniganti

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The leader election problem is one of the fundamental problems in distributed computing. It has applications in almost every domain. In dynamic networks, topology is expected to change frequently. An algorithm A is self-stabilizing if, starting from a completely arbitrary configuration, the network will eventually reach a legitimate configuration.

Note that any self-stabilizing algorithm for the leader election problem is also an algorithm for the dynamic leader election problem, since when the topology of the network changes, we can consider that the algorithm is starting over again from an arbitrary state. There are a number of such algorithms in the …

Critical Success Factors In Barbecue Restaurants: Do Operators And Patrons Agree?, John Raymond Farrish

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The research addresses a gap in the literature regarding the barbecue restaurant industry. Specifically, it examines whether barbecue restaurant operators have a thorough understanding of customer preferences. The research was a mixed methods study: four separate case studies were conducted of barbecue restaurants in specific areas of the United States, each of which represented one of the four major barbecue traditions. The case studies were used to create a model of success factor peculiar to barbecue restaurants.

The qualitative model was then tested by administering a survey to regular patrons of barbecue restaurants. Principal component analysis yielded a six-factor model …

Efficiency Of Fiscal Allocations In Site-Based Empowered Schools, Jerome Jay Meyer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study implemented a two phase concurrent mixed-methods design to generate a greater understanding of how elementary schools with increased autonomy in fiscal decision making allocated their money, how their site-based decisions affected allocative efficiency, and how increased autonomy affected site-based decision making when compared with a set of matched control schools within a large urban district.

Phase I compared school site expenditure patterns of site-based empowered schools to demographically matched control schools and to all elementary schools within a large urban district over four years, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, and 2007-08. Expenditure data were collected from the In$ite data base …

The Physical Activity Patterns And Constraints Of Diverse Female College Students, Kathleen Victoria Minkel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Diverse college aged females from a public university in the southwest were asked to participate in an online survey to determine their constraints to physical activity, as well as their current activity level. The groups were compared to establish the differences among the minority groups. Raymore, Crawford, and Godbey’s Hierarchical Model of Constraints was used as a framework when creating the survey. Data analysis showed only one significant difference among the racial/ethnic groups, when looking specifically at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural constraints categories. Hispanic women differed significantly from Caucasian women in their perception of interpersonal constraints on their physical …

A Study On Eco-Friendly Merchandise In A Resort Retail Environment, Lindsey C. Patrick

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study is to determine consumer purchasing habits of ecofriendly apparel in a retail resort environment. In order to find the rationale behind purchasing decisions, this study measured sales and survey responses based on the choice of two tee shirt options, eco-friendly tee shirts and regular cotton tee shirts. The survey was given to all customers purchasing these tee shirts in order to determine specific demographic information as well as their personal opinions on eco-friendliness, and willingness to pay a premium for eco-friendly products. Due to a lack of previous research in this field, this study is …

Degradation Specific Ocr, Subramaniam Venkatraman

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is the mechanical or electronic translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten, or printed text into machine-encoded text. OCR has many applications, such as enabling a text document in a physical form to be editable, or enabling computer searching on a computer of a text that was initially in printed form. OCR engines are widely used to digitize text documents so that they can be digitally stored for remote access, mainly for websites. This facilitates the availability of these invaluable resources instantly, no matter the geographical location of the end user. Huge OCR misclassification errors can …

Counseling Professionals' Attitudes Toward Transgender People And Responses To Transgender Clients, Emily A. Nisley

Dissertations

The multicultural counseling movement emphasizes the critical nature of counselor attitudes in providing culturally competent service (e.g., Sue, 2001; Sue, Arredondo, & McDavis, 1992; Sue et al, 1982; Sue & Sue, 2003). Until recently, however, the counseling professions have paid little attention toward transgender people as a cultural minority group. The purpose of this study was to conduct the first assessment of counseling professionals' attitudes toward transgender people and to examine relationships between such attitudes and responses to a transgender client.

A national convenience sample of 138 master's and doctoral level counselors and counseling psychologists, recruited via electronic mailing lists, …

Performance Attribution: Are Sector Fund Managers Superior Stock Selectors?, Nicholas Scala

Business/Business Administration

Abstract:

Do equity sector fund managers outperform diversified equity fund managers? This paper examines this question during 2000-2009 by formulating simulated portfolios of Fidelity Select Sector Funds with weights similar to the sector weightings of actual multi-sector equity fund portfolios. The returns of the simulated portfolios were then netted against the actual portfolios to determine which outperforms. The results indicate that Sector Fund managers have superior stock selection ability, with one notable exception: the small-cap value investment style. Small-cap value multi-sector equity fund managers outperformed the simulated portfolios, indicating superior stock selection ability by fund managers in that category. Although …

The Effect Of Classroom Bibliotherapeutic Intervention On Perceptions Of Bullying Among Teachers Of Young Children Aged Four And Five, Patricia Gail Doss

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

This paper investigates how the application of bibliotherapeutic intervention affects teachers’ perceptions of bullying in their young students, ages four and five. Bullying has become a serious global concern that has manifested itself in school dropouts, shootings, and suicides. Bibliotherapy is one way to help children solve problems using books and is advocated by researchers for use with bullying prevention.

Little research has been done on bullying in young children. This qualitative phenomenological study will add to the body of literature regarding bullying in young children ages four and five and will examine perceptions of teachers of young children regarding …

Social Networking In Collegiate Public Relations, Leon Bracey

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

A guide describing the importance of institutions of higher education implement social networking policies and procedures. The project includes a manual and marketing plan that will be implemented by the author of the project at his employer, Georgia Perimeter College.

Women As Subject And Audience In World War Ii Venereal Disease Posters, Kyra Whitton

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

Internationally, venereal disease first became a major health concern during World War I. Venereal diseases were some of the most common infections and led to more hospitalizations among soldiers than wounds or battle-related illness. The Selective Service discovered that almost fifteen percent of those who were eligible for the draft were already infected with a venereal disease, sparking an intense anti-venereal disease campaign across America. Red-light districts were shut down, and American cities sought new laws that would criminalize prostitution to protect young men from contracting a venereal infection.

Though venereal disease rates were still high during World War II, …

The Needs Of Young Daughters Being Raised By Single Parent Fathers, Nicoma Wood

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

The purpose of this study is to analyze the needs of young daughters being raised by single parent fathers in order to create a program that will assist in addressing these needs. Daddy’s Girl, a program to be founded by the Nicoma Narjett Foundation will be created to provide inspiration, support, character education, and social development to young girls, between the ages of 10 to 16, who are currently being raised in single parent homes, where the father is the primary care taker. The researcher believes that by creating this program under the nonprofit organization, she will be assisting young …

Intergovernmental Collaboration In Emergency Management: The Case Of The September 2009 Georgia Flood, Mamadou M. Samba

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

The purpose of this study is to explore the various aspects of intergovernmental collaboration in emergency management at the local, state, and federal level. It provides a descriptive analysis of how these mechanisms interact with each other for effective emergency management. Most importantly, this study provides a unique insight on how Georgia prepared for, mitigated against, responded to, and recovered from the September 2009 flood. There are several important mechanisms for intergovernmental collaboration; among them are the national incident management system, the incident command system, and the emergency management assistance compact. During disasters these mechanisms interact with each other to …

Confiscation Or Serving The Public Good?, Gabriel Aramian

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

Throughout the past decade, the idea of overreaching government policy has sparked a disconcerting impression among the American people. Is it true that the government can take private property for the benefit of private interests? After the Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. City of New London (2005), a public firestorm erupted, sparking massive public and political discourse that rocked the sphere of property rights nationwide. Although much of the scrutiny was critical, there were those that attempted to illustrate not only the importance of eminent domain, but the damage that excessive limitation through public policy might cause.

The purpose …

“You Can Pick Really Good Literature That Will Lead Them There”: Investigating The Instructional Roles Teachers Utilize When Conducting Literature Discussions, Sophie M. Ladd

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this multi-case study was to investigate the instructional roles teachers utilize in whole group and small group discussion. This study highlights the questioning and response strategies two elementary teachers used during read alouds and literature discussions. Data sources included whole group and small group discussions, interviews, teachers' reflection journals, classroom observations, researcher field notes, and Informal correspondence. Data were analyzed using Merriam's (1998) analytic framework for case study. A within-case analysis was conducted for each case, followed by a cross-case analysis. Through with-in case analysis questioning and response categories were developed. These categories included: appealing, prompting, examination, …

Characterization Of Unsaturated Flow In Dual-Porosity Granular Media, Jeevan A. Jayakodilage

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A geological medium made up of uncemented coarse porous rock fragments may be described as a “dual-porosity granular medium” due to the presence of two types of pores; small pores within individual fragments and large pores between the fragments. Crushed stone found in heap leach piles, mine waste, backfills, rock drains, and engineered capillary barrier systems fit this description. Unsaturated flow in a dualporosity granular medium will occur both through the fragments (matrix flow), and on the fragment surfaces (film flow). The relative influence of gravity and capillary forces on these two flow regimes will be largely different. Therefore, unsaturated …

Speciation And Spectroscopy Of The Uranyl And Tetravalent Plutonium Nitrate Systems: Fundamental Studies And Applications To Used Fuel Reprocessing, Nicholas A. Smith

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation explores the use of UV-Visible spectroscopy and Time Resolved Laser Induced Fluorescence spectroscopy as near real time process monitors of uranium and plutonium concentrations in aqueous reprocessing trains. The molar absorptivities and linear ranges of these metals were investigated under total nitrate and acid concentrations similar to those found in current reprocessing systems. Concurrent to this, a new multiple wavelength monitor was derived that is capable of determining the total nitrate concentration spectroscopically. This method uses the uranium absorbance spectrum to calculate the nitrate concentration in solution. When used as part of an Advanced Safeguard suite, this technique …

Number 14, 2010, Palara Editors

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

Complete Issue

A Monte Carlo Paradigm For Capillarity In Porous Media, Ning Lu, Benjamin D. Zeidman, Mark T. Lusk, Clinton S. Willson, David T. Wu

Faculty Publications

Wet porous media are ubiquitous in nature as soils, rocks, plants, and bones, and in engineering settings such as oil production, ground stability, filtration and composites. Their physical and chemical behavior is governed by the distribution of liquid and interfaces between phases. Characterization of the interfacial distribution is mostly based on macroscopic experiments, aided by empirical formulae. We present an alternative computational paradigm utilizing a Monte Carlo algorithm to simulate interfaces in complex realistic pore geometries. The method agrees with analytical solutions available only for idealized pore geometries, and is in quantitative agreement with Micro X-ray Computed Tomography (microXCT), capillary …

Translating Expertise Into Effective Instruction: The Impacts Of Cognitive Task Analysis (Cta) On Lab Report Quality And Student Retention In The Biological Sciences, David F. Feldon, Briana Crotwell Timmerman, Krik A. Stowe, Richard Showman

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Poor instruction has been cited as a primary cause of attrition from STEM majors and a major obstacle to learning for those who stay [Seymour and Hewitt [1997]. Talking about leaving: Why undergraduates leave the sciences. Boulder, CO: Westview]. Using a double-blind design, this study tests the hypothesis that the lack of explicit instructions in scientific inquiry skills is a major factor in both low STEM retention and academic underperformance. This project delivered supplemental instruction to students in a laboratory-based undergraduate biology course (n = 314) that was derived either from cognitive task analyses (CTAs) conducted with expert biologists (treatment) …

Book Reviews, Edward J. Hagerty, David B. Gray, Edward M. Roche, Mark Roberts

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

"We're Parents Too!" Changes In Father Involvement In Domestic Labor Among Urban Middle Class Dual-Worker Couples, Ruth Burgett Jolie

Anthropology ETDs

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate fathers involvement in domestic labor among middle class, dual-worker families in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I argue that men's participation in domestic labor is affected by their parental identities. Three things influence parental identity: (1) demographics, including socioeconomic position, age, race/ethnicity, (2) religiosity, meaning ones adherence to religious values and participation in a formal religious institution (Wilcox 2002:781), and (3) parental ideology, denoting the belief structure surrounding what a parent ought to do. Demography and religiosity are themselves mediated by parental ideology, and in turn also further shape, parental ideology. Parental ideology directly …

Virtual Proofing In The Packaging Industry, Kaitlin Rockway, Andrew Mceachron

Graphic Communication

The purpose of this study is to measure the variation of opacity when overprinting spot colors on film during a typical flexographic press run and to determine how that variability affects the reliability of virtual proofing. This study addresses the packaging industry’s current attitude toward virtual proofing and how the adoption of virtual proofing will affect a package printer. It also explains how virtual proofing works and the equipment and processes needed to implement a virtual proofing workflow.

This study explains the process of printing the test targets that were provided by Integrated Color Solutions and the data collected from …

Violence, Symbols, And The Archaeological Record: A Case Study Of Cahokia's Mound 72, Kathryn Koziol

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Acts of violence are not always easily distinguished in their form. Given the additional difficulties caused by the obscure nature of the archaeological record, it is no wonder that interpretations of these behaviors are so skewed both between and within fields of research. There is little consistency in this academic dialogue, which prevents researchers from grappling with the larger perspectives that should be approached. For instance, just how far back in our human history have events such as genocide occurred? Are these modern in origin? The scale of ancient events and our anthropological scopes need more adjustment to the unique …

The Secret Identity Of Race: Exploring Ethnic And Racial Portrayals In Superhero Comic Books, Lowery Anderson Woodall Iii

Dissertations

Does race exist in comics? And if so, what do those characters tell us about how one of the largest fiction producing industries in the country has explained minority relationships to its millions of readers? This study took a close look at three of the most successful comic book characters of all time (Batman, Superman, and The Black Panther) and examines how each exemplifies a position that the comic book industry has taken on race over the years. Using a counter-narrative analysis informed by the strategies of Critical Race Theory and post-modernist thought, the racial messages lying beneath the surface …

Right To Be Heard Or Protection Of Confidential Information? Competing Guarantees Of Procedural Fairness In Proceedings Before The Polish Competition Authority, Maciej Bernatt

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

The concept of procedural fairness plays an important role in the enforcement of competition law, which must not only be effective but also fair. Thus, legal institutions should guarantee a proper level of protection of the values of procedural fairness. This paper is dedicated to the possible conflict between the guarantees of procedural fairness that find their expression in the right to be heard and in the protection of confidential information. Both guarantees, the right to be heard on the one side, and the protection of confidential information on the other, should be properly balanced. Unlike EU law, Polish legislation …

Impact Of The New Approach To Article 102 Tfeu On The Enforcement Of The Polish Prohibition Of Dominant Position Abuse, Konrad Kohutek

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

This paper will analyze the impact of the modernized approach to Article 102 TFEU on the application of the prohibition of dominant position abuse contained in Polish competition law. For that purpose, several questions will be answered. Has the consumer-welfare standard already become, or will it become (in particular under the influence of the effects-based approach), the decisive criteria for the finding of a violation of Article 9 of the Polish Competition Act as well as its past equivalents? Will EU’s new approach to the abuse of dominance lead to a re-orientation of the goals pursued by Polish competition law …

2008 And 2009 Eu Competition Law And Sector-Specific Regulatory Case Law Developments With A Nexus To Poland, Dagmara Kośka, Krzysztof Kuik

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

The 2008 issue of YARS contained an overview of EU law developments in the period of time from 2004 to 2007. This overview covers the years 2008-2009. It confirms that State aid cases remained numerous (6 in total) and that the Commission’s enforcement activities in the area of State aid control continued at a similar pace as before. With respect to other areas of competition law and policy, the overall picture shows a relatively high level of scrutiny in mergers (5) and antitrust cases or inquiries (2). Moreover, EU Courts adopted several decisions in Polish cases, notably in the regulatory …

Possible Objective Justification Of A Network Monopoly’S Refusal To Conclude An Agreement On An Interconnected Market. Case Comment To The Judgement Of The Supreme Court Of 14 January 2009 – Rychwał Commune (Ref. No. Iii Sk 24/08), Joanna Jeżewska

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

No abstract provided.