Digital Commons Network^™

Neoliberal Teacher Preparation: Conceptualising A Response In The Us Borderlands, Michael D. Guerrero, Peter Farruggio

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

The current era of neoliberal capitalism has witnessed the domination of public education by business interests which openly promote the spirit of competition among schools, educators and students through a policy of high stakes accountability for immediately measurable educational outcomes. In the USA, this policy proposes to make teacher educator programmes accountable for the impact of their programme completers on student achievement, namely standardised test scores. Consequently, some programmes have begun to rethink their practices in an effort to avoid negative sanctions. Unfortunately, little empirical evidence of improvement is available to teacher educators, particularly those committed to the preparation of …

The Application Of Tomographic Reconstruction Techniques To Ill-Conditioned Inverse Problems In Atmospheric Science And Biomedical Imaging, Vern Philip Hart Ii

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Tomography is an imaging technique in which 3D models of objects are created from several 2D projections viewed at different angles. When the number of available projections is limited, the resulting data are said to be sparse. This restriction is often a direct result of the imaging geometry used to acquire the data. One-sided views and a small number of receivers can reduce the range of available projections, which makes the object more difficult to reconstruct. Approximate solutions to difficult imaging problems can be obtained using a class of iterative algorithms known as the algebraic reconstruction techniques (ARTs). The presented …

Ultrafast Laser-Induced Damage And The Influence Of Spectral Effects, Jeremy R. Gulley

Faculty Articles

Numerous studies have investigated the prerequisite role of photoionization in ultrafast laser-induced damage (LID) of bulk dielectrics. This study examines the role of spectral width and instantaneous laser frequency in LID using a frequency dependent multiphoton ionization (MPI) model and numerical simulation of initially 800 nm laser pulses propagating through fused silica. Assuming a band gap of 9 eV, MPI by an 800 nm field is a six-photon process, but when the instantaneous wavelength is greater than 827 nm an additional photon is required for photoionization, reducing the probability of the event by many orders of magnitude. Simulation results suggest …

Single Top And Top Pair Production, Nikolaos Kidonakis

Faculty Articles

I present results for single-top and top-pair production at the LHC and the Tevatron. Higher-order two-loop corrections are used to achieve NNLL resummation, which is then used to derive NNLO soft-gluon corrections. Results are presented for total cross sections, top transverse momentum distributions, and top rapidity distributions. All results are in excellent agreement with data from the LHC and the Tevatron. I also clarify the differences between various methods in top-pair production and their relation to exact NNLO results.

Filesystems: Addressing The Last-Mile “Problem” In Services-Oriented/Cloud Computing, George K. Thiruvathukal, Joseph P. Kaylor, Konstantin Läufer

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

We have designed and implemented RestFS, a software framework that provides a uniform, configurable connector layer for mapping remote web-based resources to local filesystem-based resources, recognizing the similarity between these two types of resources. Such mappings enable programmatic access to a resource, as well as composition of two or more resources, through the local operating system’s standard filesystem application programming interface (API), script-able file-based command-line utilities, and interprocess communication (IPC) mechanisms. The framework supports automatic and manual authentication.

As part of this talk, we demonstrate a new filesystem that interfaces to the SketchFab.com service to support 3D model visualization. For …

The Harmonica As A Blues Instrument, Gordon Ramsey, Christopher Banaszak, Joseph Wiseman

Physics: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The modern harmonica,or harp, has been around since the early 19th century. It is typically used in blues, country, rock and roll and folk music. These musical genres are somewhat similar in structure and form, and often borrow ideas from each other. The harmonica is appropriate as a back up to the main vocal melody and instruments due to its rich harmonic structure and subdued intensity. The ability to apply vibrato and gradual slurs make it a perfect instrument to achieve a ``bluesy" sound. Our harp research group has investigated the physical properties of harmonica structure to illustrate how different …

2012-2013 Lynn Philharmonia Season Program, Lynn University Philharmonia, Kenneth Amis, Jon Robertson, Guillermo Figueroa, Elmar Oliveira, Albert George Schram, Timothy Cobb, Hsin Hui Liu, Yaroslava Poletaeva, John Hong, Jesse Yukimura

Philharmonia

Wind Ensemble

• September 15, 2012 at 7:30 PM
• Wind Ensemble: "On Hallowed Ground"
• Kenneth Amis, director and conductor
• The Universal Judgement / Camille de Nardis -- Trauermusik, WWV 73 / Richard Wagner -- Fanfares Liturgiques / Henri Tomasi -- Psalm for Band / Vincent Persichetti -- Gloriosa / Yasuhide Ito

Philharmonia No. 1

• December 1, 2012 at 7:30 PM and December 2, 2012 at 4:00 PM
• Jon Robertson, guest conductor ; Hsin-Hui Liu, piano ; Yaroslava Poletaeva, violin ; John Hong, clarinet ; Jesse Yukimura, viola
• Roman Carnival Overture / Hector Berlioz -- Piano Concerto in G Major / Maurice …

Scientific Basis For Safely Shutting In The Macondo Well After The April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon Blowout, Stephen H. Hickman, Paul A. Hsieh, Walter D. Mooney, Catherine B. Enomoto, Philip H. Nelson, Larry A. Mayer, Thomas C. Weber, Kathryn Moran, P. B. Flemings, Marcia Mcnutt

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

As part of the government response to the Deepwater Horizon blowout, a Well Integrity Team evaluated the geologic hazards of shutting in the Macondo Well at the seafloor and determined the conditions under which it could safely be undertaken. Of particular concern was the possibility that, under the anticipated high shut-in pressures, oil could leak out of the well casing below the seafloor. Such a leak could lead to new geologic pathways for hydrocarbon release to the Gulf of Mexico. Evaluating this hazard required analyses of 2D and 3D seismic surveys, seafloor bathymetry, sediment properties, geophysical well logs, and drilling …

Comparing Risk-Taking And Digit Ratio (2d:4d) In Offenders And Non-Offenders, Taja Anderson

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Offenders differ from non-offenders in their propensity to engage in risk-taking behaviour. The ratio of the index and ring fingers (2D:4D), a proxy of prenatal testosterone exposure, has been linked to risk-taking behaviour. The present study compared risk-taking in 45 male offenders and 66 non-offenders using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Furthermore, it sought to determine the relationship between their 2D:4D ratios and risk-taking behaviours. No significant differences were found between the two groups in their risk-taking behaviour and no significant correlations were found between 2D:4D and risk-taking in either group. These findings are discussed in relation to previous …

How Will Ocean Acidification Affect Marine Photosynthetic Organisms? A Review, Michael Jarrold

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Atmospheric carbon dioxide is increasing year on year, mainly as a result of burning fossil fuels. Although carbon dioxide dissolves in the oceans, mitigating atmospheric effects, it does result in a reduction of the alkalinity of sea water; an effect termed Ocean Acidification (OA). The subsequent changes in carbon chemistry will most likely affect marine photosynthetic organisms in a number of ways; including the ability of organisms to build calcium carbonate shells or skeletons (calcification) and primary production. Previous work indicates that both processes respond to OA, but not always in the same way. Consequently the aim of this review …

Investigating Placebo Mechanisms: Could A Pdp System Exist?, Francesca Payne

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Placebo mechanisms are a neglected area of research. Kirsch’s (1985) response expectancy theory described the stimulus-placebo response process as direct and unmediated. However, Hyland (2011) argued that the placebo effect is mediated by a parallel distributed processing (PDP) system, whereby all cognitive input is processed simultaneously, resulting in perseveration of the placebo effect. The present study examined this theory by utilising a TENS device as a placebo ‘effecting’ reaction times to a computer task, with an additional cognitive load task to further test the PDP system’s existence. Although a general placebo effect was found that increased in the cognitive load …

Investigating The Impacts Of Conventional And Advanced Treatment Technologies On Energy Consumption At Satellite Water Reuse Plants, Jonathan Roy Bailey

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With the ever increasing world population and the resulting increase in industrialization and agricultural practices, depletion of two of the world's most important natural resources, water and fossil fuels, is inevitable. Water reclamation and reuse is the key to protecting these natural resources. Water reclamation using smaller decentralized wastewater treatment plants, known as satellite water reuse plants (WRP), have become popular in the last decade. With stricter standards and regulations on effluent quality and requirements for a smaller land footprint (i.e. real estate area), additional treatment processes and advanced technologies are needed. This greatly increases the energy consumption of an …

Changing Demands From Riparian Evapotranspiration And Free-Water Evaporation In The Lower Colorado River Basin Under Different Climate Scenarios, Daniel Bunk

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Observed and projected trends in riparian evapotranspiration (ET) and free-water evaporation are examined in this study to help improve water demand forecasting, particularly in modeling of lower Colorado River system reservoir operations. While most previous research in the Colorado River basin have focused on the impacts of climate change and climate variability on water supply, the impacts of changing climate on water demand have not been adequately addressed. Changes in temperature, precipitation, and wind patterns are expected to increase evaporative demands in the lower Colorado River mainstream, including free-water evaporation and ET from riparian vegetation, and may also impact infiltration …

School Leadership Readiness: Traditional Vs. Online Administrative Preparation, Jose Delfin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

According to the National Center of Educational Statistics (2006-2007) report, 92% of two and four-year Title IV degree-granting postsecondary institutions offered distance education courses due to students' demand for flexible scheduling. That same report cited that 82% of those institutions were seeking to increase student enrollment via distance education. There is little empirical research that pertain to the topic of degrees earned through online, or hybrid methods that have any bearing on job preparedness for past, present, and future educational leadership candidates. For all concerned, online programs are here to stay. Arguably, online courses are fast becoming the norm rather …

Understanding Adolescent Perceptions Of Science Education, Ellen Kress Ebert

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study used the Relevance of Science Education (ROSE) survey (Sjoberg & Schreiner, 2004) to examine topics of interest and perspectives of secondary science students in a large school district in the southwestern U.S. A situated learning perspective was used to frame the project. The research questions of this study focused on (a) perceptions students have about themselves and their science classroom and how these beliefs may influence their participation in the community of practice of science; (b) consideration of how a future science classroom where the curriculum is framed by the Next Generation Science Standards might foster students' beliefs …

Synthesis And Characterizations Of Pyridinium Salts Including Poly(Pyridinium Salt)S And Their Applications, Tae Soo Jo

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Pyridinium salts, both molecular and polymeric, are an interesting class of multifunctional materials that exhibit liquid-crystalline and light-emitting properties. Moreover, their properties can be easily tuned by introducing new types of anions or by modifying their chemical structures. This dissertation describes synthesis and characterization of poly(pyridinium salt)s containing macrocounterions and fluorene moieties in their backbones, synthesis and characterization of nanocomposites of poly(pyridinium salt)s with single-walled carbon nanotubes via non-covalent interactions, and synthesis and characterizations of pyridinium salts having different aliphatic linkages and their application in organic acid sensing.

First, all of these ionic polymers were prepared by either ring-transmutation or …

The Impact Of Creosote Bush (Larrea Tridentata) And Biological Soil Crust On Ca Distribution In Arid Soils Of The Mojave Desert, Brittany Myers

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Ca is an important nutrient that plays a role in membrane stability and cell repair in plant life. This study examines the impact of creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) and biological soil crust on calcium cycling and distribution in desert soils in order to explore the use of Ca as a biosignature. Samples of creosote bush, biological soil crust and eolian dust were taken at two field sites in the Mojave Desert. The first site is located in Eldorado Valley, NV, a soil formed on a young (800-1200 years) alluvial fan deposit; the second site is located on a late Holocene-aged …

An Exploration Of Contextual Factors That May Influence The Expulsion Rates Of Middle School Students, Tracy Schroeder

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

On March 6, 2012, the New York Times released an article in the education section describing a study by the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights. The study showed that the education system continues to create inequities for minority students. In particular, according to the Office of Civil Rights, Black students made up 18% of the sample size, yet 35% were suspended once and 39% were expelled (U.S. Department of Education, 2012). In a review of the literature, the statistics of the discipline inequities that minorities face became a recurring theme. However, very little research explored other factors that …

Is A Degree Relevant? A Comparison Of Pedagogical Thought Units Of Teachers With And Without Elt-Related Academic Credentials, Ramin Akbari, Shahab Moradkhani

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper studies the difference between the pedagogical thought units of ELT practitioners with English-relevant degrees and those with non-relevant degrees. An entire teaching session of eight EFL teachers’ performance was video recorded and their pedagogical thoughts were identified by using stimulated recall technique. The findings revealed that, in general, teachers with English-related degrees significantly reported more pedagogical thoughts than their colleagues with unrelated degrees. With respect to the categories of pedagogical thoughts, although the same families were reported by participants in both groups, there were slight differences in their rankings and significant differences in their frequency.

Front Matter

The Synapse: Intercollegiate science magazine

No abstract provided.

Jitter Impact On Clock Distribution In Lhc Experiments, S. Baron, Themis Mastoridis, J. Troska, P. Baudrenghien

Physics

The LHC Bunch Clock is one of the most important accelerator signals delivered to the experiments. Being directly derived from the Radio Frequency driving the beams in the accelerator by a simple division of its frequency by a factor of 10, the Bunch Clock signal represents the frequency at which the bunches are crossing each other at each experiment. It is thus used to synchronize all the electronics systems in charge of event detection. Its frequency is around 40.079 MHz, but varies with beam parameters (energy, particle type, etc) by a few hundreds of Hz. The present paper discusses the …

Design, Construction, And Test Of A Miniature Parabolic Trough Solar Concentrator, Donald Jeremy Gaitan

Biomedical Engineering

This report describes the creation of a senior project. It recounts the steps taken from the initial design stages and choice of a parabolic trough solar concentrator, through the building process, and finally through the test stages of the project. The objective of the project was to test the capabilities of a Cal Poly trained engineer by performing a completely self guided process of designing, building, and testing a parabolic solar collection trough. This particular trough was designed to utilize the energy provided by the sun to heat water. The test results were compared with a mathematical model drafted during …

Transition To College: Nonacademic Factors That Influence Persistence For Underprepared Community College Students, Ann M. Paulson

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Community colleges provide access to higher education for a broad range of students. The majority require ‘remedial’ coursework in reading, writing and, especially, math. Most students who begin with this remedial coursework do not go on to earn a certificate or degree. Low levels of college graduation have high direct cost, adversely affect the U.S. economy and contribute to socioeconomic inequity.

The literature review shows that both academic and nonacademic factors influence both completion of remedial coursework and completion of first year in college. It introduces research on a variety of strategies for increasing completion and persistence for underprepared students. …

A Study Of Hdpe In High Pressure Of Hydrogen Gas: Measurement Of Permeation Parameters And Fracture Criteria, Sompong Prachumchon

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The permeation parameters of hydrogen gas in high density polyethylene (HDPE) system are sought by comparison with a diffusion model. The method of Green’s functions is used to obtain solutions for the diffusion model. Permeation parameters are found from transient experimented data during two processes; pressurization followed by depressurization. The mechanical compression of HDPE during the pressurization process resulted in lower diffusivity coefficient values and higher solubility values. The results show that the diffusivity coefficient value in the pressurization process is 37% of that during the depressurization process. At the start of the depressurization process, a short-duration fast flow rate …

The Road To Pomp And Circumstance For Ell Students: The Perceived Ambivalent Schooling Experience Of Ell Students With Mexican Ancestry In An Urban Midwestern High School, Kristine M. Sudbeck

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Perceptions of high school faculty and staff members about the graduation outcomes of English language learners of Mexican ancestry were explored. Throughout the course of one semester, observations were made and field notes taken in classrooms and other school locations. Interviews were conducted with 25 faculty/ staff members and 7 students, all of whom were former or current English language learners of Mexican ancestry. The author used a mixed methods strategy; interviews were coded for themes to assess qualitative data, and SPSS was used to analyze quantitative data. Faculty/staff perceived the top three indicators of whether or not an ELL …

Banks' Survival During The Financial Crisis: The Role Of Regulatory Reporting Quality, Jeffrey Ng, Tjomme O. Rusticus

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In this paper, we investigate the effect of bank transparency before the crisis on bank stability during the financial crisis that erupted in 2008. Using a large sample of private and public commercial banks in the United States, we find that transparency enhances stability. We use two measures of transparency. We develop a new measure of financial reporting transparency based on loan loss provision estimation errors. We corroborate our findings using a second measure based on the incidence of accounting restatements. We show that lower transparency before the crisis is associated with higher non-performing loans and lower profitability at the …

The Impact Of Macro Socio-Economic Drivers And Fiscal Policy On Expenditure Allocation And Attribute Preferences, Anirban Mukherjee, Andre Bonfrer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Our article investigates the effect of macro socio-economic drivers on Australian households’ allocation of expenditure in a category (household appliances) and conditional on the allocated category expenditure, preferences for products (clothes washers) within the category. At the category-level, we quantify the effect of changes in social mobility, disposable income, housing prices and the 2009 stimulus payments on purchase propensity and expenditure. At the product-level, we investigate how households trade off between price, energy efficiency and loading capacity conditional on allocated category expenditure, measuring nonhomotheticity in preferences. We use the model to study a number of hypothetical scenarios, where we simulate …

Taxonomy And Dna Barcoding In The Genus Manfreda (Salisb.) Asparagaceae, William David Ritchie

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The genus Manfreda Salisb. of Asparagaceae is a genus of potential horticultural interest and is currently subject to breeding efforts at the University of Arkansas. A lack of taxonomic clarity however undermines the classification of potential inter - and intrageneric hybrids. The study aims to assess existing species delimitation within the genus Manfreda employing morphology while investigating the potential utility of Consortium for the Barcode of Life Plant (CBOL) DNA Barcodes for identification of specific taxa and an External Transcribed Spacer (ETS) - Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) DNA barcode for developed hybridized taxa.

Observation of 855 herbarium specimens facilitated phylogenetic …

Managing Elective And Non-Elective Case Assignments For An Operating Room Suite, Narges Hosseini

All Dissertations

The success of operating room management depends on all levels of decision making, from strategic to tactical and operational decisions. One key decision in systems with block booking is to assign sufficient amount of block time to surgeons and surgery groups. While the typical method of block assignment identifies the share of surgery groups from OR times based on average of past usage, this method does not count for the difference between cost of under and overtime. One of the goals of this research is to develop a decision framework for block assignment. This work is presented in chapter two. …

Stochastic Tools For Network Security: Anonymity Protocol Analysis And Network Intrusion Detection, Lu Yu

All Dissertations

With the rapid development of Internet and the sharp increase of network crime, network security has become very important and received a lot of attention.
In this dissertation, we model security issues as stochastic systems. This allows us to find weaknesses in existing security systems and propose new solutions. Exploring the vulnerabilities of existing security tools can prevent cyber-attacks from taking advantages of the system weaknesses. We consider The Onion Router (Tor), which is one of the most popular anonymity systems in use today, and show how to detect a protocol tunnelled through Tor. A hidden Markov model (HMM) is …