Digital Commons Network^™

Computational Fluid Dynamics Investigation Of The Orientation Of A Pediatric Left Ventricle Assist Device Cannula To Reduce Stroke Events, Stephen Guimond

HIM 1990-2015

Ventricle Assist Devices (VADs), which are typically either axial or centrifugal flow pumps implanted on the aortic arch, have been used to support patients who are awaiting cardiac transplantation. Success of the apparatus in the short term has led to long term use. Despite anticoagulation measures, blood clots (thrombi) have been known to form in the device itself or inside of the heart. The Ventricle Assist Devices supply blood flow via a conduit (cannula) implanted on the ascending aorta. Currently, the implantation angle of the VAD cannula is not taken into consideration. Since the VADs supply a significant amount of …

Imitating Individualized Facial Expressions In A Human-Like Avatar Through A Hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization - Tabu Search Algorithm, Evan Husk

HIM 1990-2015

This thesis describes a machine learning method for automatically imitating a particular person's facial expressions in a human-like avatar through a hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization - Tabu Search algorithm. The muscular structures of the facial expressions are measured by Ekman and Friesen's Facial Action Coding System (FACS). Using a neutral face as a reference, the minute movements of the Action Units, used in FACS, are automatically tracked and mapped onto the avatar using a hybrid method. The hybrid algorithm is composed of Kennedy and Eberhart's Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (PSO) and Glover's Tabu Search (TS). Distinguishable features portrayed on the …

Knowledge-Based Exploration For Reinforcement Learning In Self-Organizing Neural Networks, Teck-Hou Teng, Ah-Hwee Tan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Exploration is necessary during reinforcement learning to discover new solutions in a given problem space. Most reinforcement learning systems, however, adopt a simple strategy, by randomly selecting an action among all the available actions. This paper proposes a novel exploration strategy, known as Knowledge-based Exploration, for guiding the exploration of a family of self-organizing neural networks in reinforcement learning. Specifically, exploration is directed towards unexplored and favorable action choices while steering away from those negative action choices that are likely to fail. This is achieved by using the learned knowledge of the agent to identify prior action choices leading to …

Coder Reliability And Misclassification In The Human Coding Of Party Manifestos, Slava Mikhaylov, Michael Laver, Kenneth Benoit

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The Comparative Manifesto Project (CMP) provides the only time series of estimated party policy positions in political science and has been extensively used in a wide variety of applications. Recent work (e.g., Benoit, Laver, and Mikhaylov 2009; Klingemann et al. 2006) focuses on nonsystematic sources of error in these estimates that arise from the text generation process. Our concern here, by contrast, is with error that arises during the text coding process since nearly all manifestos are coded only once by a single coder. First, we discuss reliability and misclassification in the context of hand-coded content analysis methods. Second, we …

Creating A Child-Friendly Child Welfare System: Effective Early Intervention To Prevent Maltreatment And Protect Victimized Children, Elizabeth Bartholet

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Teaching Culturally Diverse Students From International Schools: What Online Educators Have To Say, Anneliese Sheffield

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This study is designed to discover how online teachers use technology to reach their multicultural international school students. Interviews of twelve international school online teachers were conducted. The topics for the interviews focused on the technology-based strategies that teachers use to meet the needs of multicultural students. The results showed that the tools used by online teachers for international secondary schools closely matched the uses of tools recommended in the literature. Sometimes, however, course design limited the choices teachers were allowed to make regarding tools for supporting students' multiple ways of learning and for encouraging discussion and collaboration. The results …

Theater Percussion: Developing A Twenty-First-Century Genre Through The Connection Of Visual, Dramatic, And Percussive Arts, Julie J. Strom

Dissertations

Theater percussion, as it shall be referred to for the purpose of this dissertation, is an existing, yet unnamed, genre characterized by a systematic approach of combining percussion with extra-musical components that tap into senses or aspects of sentiment - visually, aurally, and emotionally, and are made possible with the use of compositional additives - acting, movement, text, and multimedia avenues such as audio and video. To complete the process, these extra-musical elements are combined with the main musical influence - a composition for percussion ensemble or soloist. Several pieces in this style have and continue to be performed by …

Principal Leadership And The Colorado Innovation Schools Act Of 2008, Margaret A. Walsh

Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of principals whose schools were granted innovation status in accordance with the Colorado Innovation Schools Act of 2008 (CISA). The CISA created a statewide system that allowed individual schools and entire districts to increase autonomy and flexibility in areas such as staffing, scheduling, educational programming, and resource allocation. The data were collected from interviews with principals and a rural superintendent and from an examination of the School Innovation Plans. Data were refined into common themes, and a rich narrative was created. The conclusions indicated that successful principals …

Annual Report Of Research And Creative Productions By Faculty And Staff, January To December, 2012, Research And Creative Productions Committee. Morehead State University.

Office of Research and Sponsored Programs Reports and Publications

Annual Report Of Research and Creative Productions by Faculty and Staff from January to December, 2012.

Liquidity Creation Without A Central Bank: Clearing House Loan Certificates In The Banking Panic Of 1907, Ellis Tallman, Jon Moen

Documents

Article analyzing the use of CLCs in 1907 and the importance of gold imports during that crisis

Operationalising The Selection And Application Of Macroprudential Instruments, Josè Manuel Gonz¡Lez-P¡Ramo

Documents

Report Submitted by a Working Group established by the Committee on the Global Financial System providing guidance for policymakers regarding different policy tools.

Panics, Payments Disruptions And The Bank Of England Before 1826, John A. James

Documents

No abstract provided.

December 2012 News Releases, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of University Relations

University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present

No abstract provided.

Treasury Sells Its Final Shares Of Aig Common Stock, United States: Department Of The Treasury

Documents

Total Treasury and Federal Reserve Commitments to AIG -- Bringing the Overall Positive Return on the Federal Reserve and Treasury $182.3 Billion Commitment to $22.7 Billion

Fannie Mae Monthly Summary December 2012, Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae)

Documents

Data tables detailing the Financial Monthly Summary for Fannie Mae under Conservatorship.

Freddie Mac Monthly Volume Summary: December 2012, Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac)

Documents

No abstract provided.

Lessons From The Bank Of England On 'Quantitative Easing' And Other 'Unconventional' Monetary Policies, Victor Lyonett, Richard Werner

Documents

No abstract provided.

Introductory Statement To The Press Conference (With Q&A), Mario Draghi, Vitor Constancio

Documents

No abstract provided.

Coupling Right- And Left-Handed Photons Differently To Charged Matter, Brett David Altschul

Faculty Publications

We consider a modification of electrodynamics in which right- and left-circularly polarized photons are coupled to charged sources differently. Even though photon helicity is a Lorentz invariant quantity, such a modification breaks Lorentz symmetry, as well as locality. The modified theory includes novel magnetic forces between perpendicular currents. Existing data can be used to constrain the modification at approximately a 2 x 10^(-3) level.

Physical Demands Of Soccer: Lessons From Team Usa And Ghana Matches In The 2010 Fifa World Cup, Wycliffe W. Njororai Simiyu

Health & Kinesiology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose: Distance covered and the intensity patterns of player movements using selected matches involving the national teams of United States of America and Ghana in the World Cup Soccer Tournament held in South Africa from June 11th to July 11th 2010. Methodology: A total of eight matches played by nine teams were used in the study. Team USA played against England, Slovenia, Algeria and Ghana. The national team of Ghana played against Germany, Australia, Serbia, USA and Uruguay. The eight matches comprised 12.5% of all matches played while the nine countries comprised 32% of all the tournament participating countries. Results: …

Molecular Processes In Astrophysics: Calculations Of H + H2 Excitation, De-Excitation, And Cooling, Matthew Kelley

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The implications of H+H2 cooling in astrophysics is important to several applications. One of the most significant and pure applications is its role in cooling in the early universe. Other applications would include molecular dynamics in nebulae and their collapse into stars and astrophysical shocks. Shortly after the big bang, the universe was a hot primordial gas of photons, electrons, and nuclei among other ingredients. By far the most dominant nuclei in the early universe was hydrogen. In fact, in the early universe the matter density was 90 percent hydrogen and only 10 percent helium with small amounts of lithium …

Natural And Lignocellulose-Enriched Microbial Communities In Great Boiling Spring, Nv, Jessica Cole

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The natural microbial communities present in Great Boiling Spring were investigated and contrasted against those present after in situ enrichment with lignocellulose. High-throughput cultivation-independent DNA sequencing of the V8 region of the small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene generated a total of 274,119 quality-filtered pyrosequencing fragments. Twelve natural spring samples were analyzed, including four high-temperature water samples and eight sediment samples ranging from 87 - 62 °C. Eight lignocellulosic enrichments incubated in the spring sediment and water at two high-temperature sites were analyzed. The natural water communities were found to be extremely uneven but relatively constant throughout time. The natural sediment …

The Initial Development Of Child-Focused Interventions In The Treatment Of Maternal Substance Abuse And Child Neglect, Kendra Tracy

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This single case study focuses on the development and evaluation of child focused interventions for the treatment of child neglect and concurrent maternal substance abuse that were incorporated into Family Behavior Therapy (FBT). The participants were a mother referred by the Department of Family Services and her child. The child participated in three child focused interventions that were developed to decrease child behavior problems, increase support and communication, and prevent future neglect by strengthening the mother & child relationship. Although not a focus in this study, the mother participated in traditional FBT adult focused intervention components. The chief aim of …

Hybrid Plasmonic Nanoantennas: Fabrication, Characterization, And Application, Shengjie Zhai

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As optical counterpart of microwave antennas, plasmonic nanoantennas are important nanoscale devices for converting propagating optical radiation into confined/enhanced electromagnetic fields. Presently, nanoantennas, with a typical size of 200-500 nm, have found their applications in bio-sensing, bio-imaging, energy harvesting, and disease cure and prevention. With the device feature size of next generation IC goes down to 22 nm or smaller, and biological/chemical sensing reaches the Gene’s level, the sizes of the corresponding nanoantennas have to be scaled down to sub-100nm level. In the literature, these sub-100nm nanoantennas are referred as deep subwavelength nanoantennas as size of such miniaturized nanoantennas is …

A Descriptive Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of Faculty Inservice In Latter-Day Saint (Lds) Seminaries, Mark A. Mathews

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of professional development in the Seminaries and Institutes of Religion (S&I) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) through a descriptive analysis of the processes and outcomes of faculty inservice. To accomplish this purpose, 140 randomly selected LDS seminary teachers completed a survey measuring the processes and outcomes of faculty inservice training. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the frequency and variation that teachers reported five features of effective professional development (content focus, active learning, coherence, duration, and collective participation) as being part of seminary faculty inservice …

Impact Of The 2003 Illinois Gaming Tax Rate Increase On Marketing Spending And Cross-State Substitution, Mikael Bengt Ahlgren

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this research was to investigate three potential consequences related to the 2003 Illinois Gaming Tax rate restructuring. The first section presents the assessment of whether a higher tax rate motivated an Illinois casino operator to reduce of marketing/promotional expenditures in an attempt to negatively influence revenues. The second establishes if the surrounding state gaming operators reacted to the increased Gaming Tax rate in Illinois, by raising their marketing spending. The last section clarifies whether the changes to the Illinois Gaming Tax Schedule impacted gaming volumes in the neighboring/competing states of Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri.

The analysis relied …

Where In The World Are The Women Of Time? Women And The "Person Of The Year" Covers For Time Magazine, Krystle Lynne Anttonelli

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Through a content analysis of Time magazine's "Person of the Year" issue, formerly titled "Man of the Year," this thesis examines how the news magazine has reevaluated and revised the once gender suggestive title to a more inclusive title in correlation to the portrayal of women featured on the covers from both past and present. This thesis also provides background on the feminist theory in order to put into perspective the professional and intellectual growth of women throughout the decades. The supporting literature contextualizes the findings with reference to other mainstream magazines and the portrayal of women versus men featured …

Shock Attenuation In Landing, Bryon Christopher Applequist

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Shock attenuation (SA) has been well studied in activities such as walking and running (Chu, et al. 2004; Derrick, et al. 2004; Mercer, et al. 2003); however, there is a lack of research regarding SA during landing. Furthermore, there is lack of information regarding which structures attenuate shock. The purpose of this study was to examine SA among the leg-hip, hip-head, and leg-head segments during landing. Each subject (n=10, Age 26.3 ± 2.71 years, Height 1.68 ± 0.08 m, Mass 70.49 ± 16.03 kg) was instrumented with accelerometers at the leg, hip and forehead. Subjects then performed landings from three …

Plasma Test On Industrial Diamond Powder In Hydrogen And Air For Fracture Strength Study, Rohit Asuri Sudharshana Asuri Sudharshana Chary

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Diamonds are the most precious material all over the world. Ever since their discovery, the desire for natural diamonds has been great; recently, the demand has steeply increased, leading to scarcity. For example, in 2010, diamonds worth $50 billion were marketed. This increased demand has led to discovering alternative sources to replace diamonds. The diamond, being the hardest material on earth, could be replaced with no other material except another diamond. Thus, the industrial or synthetic diamond was invented. Because of extreme hardness is one of diamond's properties, diamonds are used in cutting operations. The fracture strength of diamond is …

Self-Image Congruence With Communication Channels And Its Impact On Reward Program Loyalty, Orie Berezan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Loyalty programs have become products in and of themselves. They need to maintain member loyalty in order to survive. It is proposed that communication has a larger impact on program loyalty than previously thought. This study utilizes structural equation modeling (SEM) to evaluate the influence of communication typologies and dimensions on hotel reward program loyalty via self-image congruence, service quality, satisfaction, and trust. Moreover, this dissertation presents a communication identity model, which focuses on promoting hotel reward program loyalty via self-congruence with communication channels.

Newly discovered significant paths were found between: communication style and self-congruence with communication channels; self-congruence with …