Digital Commons Network^™

What Do We See: Number Line Estimation With Eye Tracking, Sarah Ann Salas

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The following paper presents a study investigating adult number line estimation patterns through use of an eye tracker. Estimation patterns were examined by changing the range of the number line on which the estimations occur from the typical ranges of 0-100 and 0-1000 to a more difficult range of 0-723. There were two main conditions of the experiment; in one condition the number to estimate and the number line were presented simultaneously, and in the other condition, the number line presentation was delayed. In each of the two conditions of the experiment, eye fixations and area of interest analysis were …

Characterization Of Gold And Related Mineralization At The North Bullion Carlin System, Railroad Project, A Nevada Carlin-~Type Gold Prospect, Melanie Nicole Newton

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A study of the North Bullion Carlin system, a Nevada Carlin-type gold prospect located on trend with the large Carlin-type gold deposits (CTGD) of the Carlin Trend, identified characteristics of ore and alteration mineralization, mineral paragenesis, and pyrite and whole rock geochemistry that are similar to characteristics that typify Carlin-type gold deposits. The North Bullion Carlin system is hosted in Devonian shelf carbonates and the Mississippian overlap assemblage, host rocks that are different from typical CTGD shelf-slope carbonate assemblage host rocks. The mineralogy and ore-stage gold-bearing pyrite rims at North Bullion are not as well developed as they are in …

Perceptions Of Mattering In The Doctoral Student And Advisor Relationship, Holly Anne Schneider

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The advising relationship has been acknowledged as one of the most important factors in doctoral student persistence and attrition. Less researched are psychosocial factors that contribute to doctoral student persistence and completion. Preliminary research including measures of psychosocial factors on doctoral student success found faculty-student relationships and collegial support contributed significantly to doctoral completion more so than individual factors including motivation, career goals, procrastination, financial security, and external demands such as family.

The current study draws on the psychosocial construct of mattering (Rosenberg &

McCullough, 1981) to examine doctoral students’ perceptions of mattering to their advisors and the influence on …

Scardovia Wiggsiae Prevalence In Orthodontic Patients, Brandon Joseph Streiff

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Dental caries has mainly been associated with Streptococcus, Lactobacillus, Actinomyces and Veillonella species. But in recent salivary studies a new cariogenic pathogen, has been identified. This new bacteria, Scardovia wiggsiae (SW), is currently being tested within the UNLV School of Dental Medicine patient population. Although these current studies are being conducted to study its prevalence in both pediatric and adult populations, it has not been evaluated among patients with an altered oral environment as seen in patients with orthodontic appliances. Fixed orthodontic appliances increase the difficulty of removing daily plaque on and in between the teeth with standard oral hygiene …

Dissolution Of Nontronite In Low Water Activity Brines And Implications For The Aqueous History Of Mars, Michael Henry Steiner

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Water is essential to life on Earth and is likely to play a role in determining the habitability of other planets. Pure liquid water is not stable on the surface of Mars but brines can temporarily remain liquid, and increasing evidence suggests the presence of recent liquid water, including brines, on Mars. Brines can host life at temperatures as low as -30 ºC and some organisms can live at activities of water as low as 0.61. Therefore, if brines have been present on Mars, they may act as habitable environments.

The Fe-rich smectite nontronite, (CaO0.5,Na)0.3 Fe3+2(Si,Al)4O10(OH)2·nH2O, has been detected on …

Citizen Participation Within Mental Health Planning And Advisory Councils, Ronald W. Strickland

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation studies citizen participation, mental health care and block grants. Each state has a Mental Health Planning and Advisory Council (MHPAC) that is required by the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant program. Councils must consist of at least 50 percent citizens. This dissertation looked at MHPAC activity levels of the 50 states (and Washington, DC) and developed an activity level index to measure council activity from 2008-2011. Two main questions were posed. First, do planning council differ in their level of activity? If so, what explains this variation? Second, do differences in activity levels of MHPAC’s explain variations …

Public Sector Compensation: Is The Public School District Superintendent Compensation Worth It?, Ashok Em Sudhakar

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Governor Cuomo of New York, as reported in New York Times, said ( referring to School District Superintendents) : I understand that they sometimes have to manage budgets, and sometimes the budgets are difficult,” “But why they get paid more than the Governor of the state I really don’t understand.” He further stated “We have $500,000 school Superintendents...We can’t pay those kinds of salaries.”

Partial potential answers to Governor Cuomo’s query are: benchmarking is used to determine compensation, there is lack of transparency and the taxpayers are not even aware of the amount paid out to the superintendent and further …

Crystalline Phase Change In Steel Alloys Due To High Speed Impact, Muna Slewa

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The effect of hypervelocity projectile impact on the crystalline grain structure near the target impact location of A36 steel has been studied. A36 steel is a mostly single phase body centered cubic material (BCC). Impact velocities ranged from 3.54 to 6.70 km/sec. Target materials were studied before and after impact to determine if these impact conditions result in a phase change of the A36. Scanning electron microscopy, electron back-scatter diffraction, and x-ray diffraction methods were used to investigate deformation, lattice defects, twinning, and phase transformation. A limited number of impacted targets made from 304L and HY100 steels were also examined. …

The Experience Of Participating In Des, Dio Turner Ii

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Descriptive Experience Sampling method (DES, Hurlburt, 1990, 1993) is designed to help researchers collect and describe participants’ inner experience in a way that minimizes the impact of the participant’s presuppositions and the researcher’s worldview on the description of participants’ inner experience. This study was an exploratory examination of the potential therapeutic effects of DES. It used three sources of data: pre and post-DES SCL-90-R questionnaires, observation of the process that unfolded during DES interviews, and a post-DES exit interview. Participants (n = 14) were drawn from the Psychology 101 Subject Pool. After five days of DES, there was a …

Division I Men's Basketball Scholarship : The Challenges Of Being A Black Male Athlete, Lonnie Gene Wright

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Qualitative research will explore issues that interface particularly with Black student- athletes on Division 1 basketball scholarships regarding academic readiness, academic support, family support and how the experience of a Division 1 scholarship impacted their lives. The population of Black student-athletes that the focus of the research will concentrate on are the black student-athlete who typically exhaust their scholarship, who may have graduated or not but didn’t advance to the Pro Ranks. Case Study methodology will be applied wherein the researcher will interview nine former Black basketball players, within 1 to 5 years separation from 3 different Division 1 …

Testing Established Models Of Hydrothermal Fluid Distribution Around Porphyry Deposits: The Application Of Fluid Inclusion Research To Porphyry Deposit Exploration, Wyatt Moyer Bain

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Kabba porphyry copper prospect in northwestern Arizona contains two zones of porphyry style mineralization and alteration, which are spatially separated by a north-south trending normal fault. These two zones are referred to as the Kabba footwall and hanging wall and are hypothesized to represent the root and intermediate depth levels of the same porphyry-like hydrothermal system, respectively. If this hypothesis is correct, then fluid inclusions found in the hanging wall and footwall should have the physical and chemical characteristics of fluid inclusions in the root and intermediate depth levels of other known porphyry deposits. Vein and alteration petrography, fluid …

Assessment Of Orthodontic Patients' Preferences Regarding Treatment From General Dentists Or Orthodontists, Brian Robert Wilde

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study evaluated how parents of prospective orthodontic patients choose between taking their child to a general dentist or an orthodontist for orthodontic treatment. It also looked at which factors influence patients’ satisfaction with the progress of treatment and likelihood to refer other patients to the practice. This study included two phases. The first phase was a qualitative assessment of the decision making process through conducting and analyzing focus groups. The second phase was the development and administration of a nationwide online survey regarding the topics covered in the focus groups. Influential factors in the decision making process fell into …

Transformational Leadership Increases Self-Determination And Positively Impacts Hospitality Frontline Employees, Xiao Zhang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This professional paper presents literature by exploring the role of self-determination theory between the relationship of transformational leadership and hospitality employees’ well-being. It integrates the present research on leadership style, needs theory and well-being and provides useful and meaningful information for executives and organizations who are dedicated to improve employees’ well-being.

Servant Leadership And Related Issues In Chinese Hotel Industry, Yiqing Wang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Because of the economy growth and the Open Door Policy, Chinese hotel industry was under a huge expansion. Since more and more western customers are visiting and Chinese customers are having more hotel experience abroad, the service Chinese hotels used to provide dose not meet the standard anymore. So the managers and leaders need to find an appropriate approach to encourage their employees to improve the service to their customers. This research went through over 40 articles about Chinese hotel industry and Chinese culture and found out that servant leadership style should be the best approach to engage the employees.

Keratin 17: A Prognostic Marker And Nuclear Oncoprotein In Cancer, Luisa Fernanda Escobar Hoyos

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Cancer is a fundamentally heterogeneous at virtually every level, ranging from the anatomic site of origin to the histologic type, degree of differentiation, and the underlying pathogenetic mechanisms. Despite dramatic progress in our ability to define cellular and molecular heterogeneity, there has been limited progress in the identification of the cellular mechanisms that define the tumor biology, treatment response, and patient outcome. Prognostic markers have the potential to not only identify patients at greatest risk for disease progression and death, but may also be the underlying drivers that mediate tumor aggression. In turn, these markers could also represent therapeutic targets. …

Discourses On Time In The European Avant-Garde, Aaron Allen Hayes

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

In the 1950s and 1960s, European composers, especially those interested in the development of serialism and electronic music, framed many of their aesthetic and compositional challenges as problems of time. This dissertation examines the writings and music of five notable composers from this era, and reconstructs the philosophical discourses that implicitly and explicitly provide the intellectual horizons for these temporal problems. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Karel Goeyvaerts, Pierre Boulez and Jean Barraqué attended the seminar offered by Olivier Messiaen at the Conservatoire National Supérior de Musique de Paris. With the exception of Barraqué, these composers …

Shadow States: The Archaeology Of Power In The Marshes Of Southern Mesopotamia, Abdulameer M. Al-Dafar

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Ancient states and early complex societies emerged in areas where urban settlements had the resources to house large populations and where economic and political centers and institutions could be established to run the society. By contrast, marshes, isolated deserts, extreme mountain peaks and thick forests served as refuges for those who wanted to escape from the state. Moreover, taking these examples into consideration, scholars seem to share the assumption that it is unexpected to find urban centers and central political organizations of isolated refuge areas in the ancient world. This dissertation examines the hypothesis that under certain historical and environmental …

Fight Or Flight: Mobility, Political Behavior, And Nativism In The United States, Yamil Velez

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

In recent decades, communities across the United States have seen increases in hostility toward immigrants. Prevailing theories in political science hold that responses to immigration are, in part, a function of local area demographics. However, assessments of these theories suffer from the critique that local area demographics and immigration preferences may be endogenous due to residential self-selection. Recent efforts sidestep this problem by using clever modeling strategies or experiments. Rather than viewing self-selection as a nuisance, however, this article develops and tests a theory that treats migration and political behavior as strategies residents invoke in the presence of local immigration. …

Folk Couture: A Fashion Exhibition At The American Folk Art Museum, Alexis Carreno

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

This dissertation describes the conceptual framework and the materialization of the exhibition I guest-curated at the American Folk Art Museum, Folk Couture: Fashion and Folk Art. Based on the tradition of artists using fashion to produce artworks, (for instance, Sylvie Fleury’s installation Poison, which commented upon issues of consumerism); couturiers appropriating images from art to create garments (such as Yves Saint Laurent’s Mondrian Dress, in which the designer replicated a painting made by the Russian constructivist artist), and collaborations between fashion designers and artists (for example, designer Marc Jacobs’s and artist Yayoi Kusama’s collaboration for Louis Vuitton), thirteen New York …

The Application Of Trajectory Analysis For An Early Warning System In Stem Courses, Un Jung Lee

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The retention of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) majors has become a national concern. “Early warning systems†(EWS) are being developed to identify students who perform poorly early in the semester so that interventions can be implemented. The research reported here utilizes clicker scores and review quiz scores collected in every class session for the longitudinal analysis, as well as pre-course concept inventory scores and self-reported student characteristics. Pre course concept inventory scores were significantly predictive of final course grade. Student demographic characteristics had a smaller fraction of final course grade explained. The cumulative average student clicker score was …

High-Resolution Detection Of Change-Point With Low Coverage Single-Cell Sequencing Data, Huan Qi

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Advances in next-generation sequencing technologies are revolutionizing our ability to detect copy number variations (CNVs). Single-cell sequencing technology allows for the genome wide copy number analysis within a single nucleus which is isolated form mixed population of cells. It can avoid the disadvantage of genomic differences in complex mixtures of cells. Many statistical methods and tools have been developed for CNVs detection using high-throughput sequencing data, but most methods are not designed for low-coverage sequencing data. In this article, we present a new Bayesian based change-point Model which has never been used for CNVs detection before and propose two similarity …

Contention And Control: Violent Protest Policing In Democratic Argentina, Fernanda R. Page Poma

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Beginning in 1990s, Latin American countries have witnessed a dramatic emergence in collective action by unemployed and informal workers. Yet, the rise in mobilizations was coupled with a depiction of protests as violent and dangerous by authorities and the media and was followed by high levels of police violence, control, and imprisonment of protesters. Furthermore, according to human rights groups, police were more violent and repressive at protest by marginal groups. Drawing on an original database of newspaper reports on contentious collective action events from 1997 to 2007 and qualitative data, this research looks at the case of Argentina to …

The Merchant Of Venice: Portia As The Embodiment Of Queen Elizabeth I, Weijian Wang

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

With the large amount of research of William Shakespeare, scholars tend to look at Shakespeare as a noble literary figure who wrote the best English poems and plays ever. They, however, may lose a comprehensive understanding of the motivation for some of his best works by not considering his other social roles, such as businessman, shareholder, etc. So when we talk about The Merchant of Venice, there are always elusive questions about the main characters in the play. One question is about how Shakespeare made the audience, especially after the twentieth century, feel pity for Shylock who might have been …

Designated Pages: Bradbury Thompson's Inspirations For Paper, Mi Seok Huh

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

How do Bradbury Thompson’s designs in Westvaco Inspirations work as a guide for design and paper? Westvaco Inspirations was a promotional magazine first published in 1925 by the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company. The main purpose of the magazine was to promote paper and to show an intricate relationship between print, paper and design. Bradbury Thompson was the designer for the magazine from 1939 to its final year of publication in 1962. This thesis shows how Thompson’s designs promoted the quality of each particular paper brand and its effectiveness in presenting a printed image. The thesis aims to show …

Natural Language Processing Using Word Connection Networks, Yanqing Chen

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Word Connection Networks are graphs recording linguistic connections, including both semantic and syntactic connections, between single words. Specific Word Connection Networks of smaller sizes are frequently used in our daily communications – we search for counterparts of words in another language when doing translations and we group words by their sentiment when express feelings. Word Connection Networks are usually consistent with each other, which makes it an interesting and challenging idea to construct integrated language resources with both inter-language and intra-language connections to handle natural language processing tasks in a multilingual environment. We propose to collect large-scale word-level linguistic resources …

Implications Of Early-Onset Psychiatric Symptoms For Peer Functioning In Middle-Childhood: A Validity And Clinical Significance Approach, Allison Pennock Danzig

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Recent findings indicate that preschoolers experience psychiatric symptoms at rates similar to that of older children and adolescents. However, there are limited data examining the impact of early-onset psychiatric symptoms on subsequent peer functioning. To support the validity and clinical significance of early-emerging symptoms, it is necessary to demonstrate that youth with elevated symptom levels experience significant later difficulties across various domains. Most research linking these constructs has examined the impact of externalizing symptoms on peer functioning cross-sectionally, without consideration of internalizing symptoms. The goals of this study were to derive multiple-informant middle-childhood peer factors, examine the longitudinal impact of …

Amicitia Among Women: Fellowship & Pious Practice In The Vitae Of Italian Saints, Andrea Rebecca Boffa

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Very broadly, friendship can be defined as a particular relationship between individuals that is reciprocal in nature. On the one hand, it is a relationship that is universal, but on the other hand friendship is a concept that is socially constructed and historicized through the meanings and functions a particular society gives to it and the ways in which the relationship is realized and performed. Furthermore, friendship is as much an idea as it is a lived experience. This dissertation examines friendship among women in medieval Italian cities of the thirteenth– and fourteenth– centuries. The primary focus of this study …

The Origin Of Contemporary Drug Contraband: A Global Interpretation From Sinaloa, Froylan Vladimir Enciso Higuera

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

This dissertation charts the longer history of contemporary drug contraband by focusing on the Pacific state of Sinaloa, the cradle of the Mexican drug trade. Historians working on drug trades in Latin America have now produced many accounts of the development of global drug commodity chains, and of the origins of drug prohibition regimes as well as smuggling and illicit flows. This dissertation is different in its attempt to trace the emergence of drug trafficking as a historically specific set of relationships emerging between states—above all, the United States and Mexico--and global markets, all mediated by shifting cultures of medical …

In Defense Of Magic: Using Fantasy Literature In The Classroom, Marisa Florence Cignarella

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

This thesis argues for the greater inclusion of fantasy literature in high school and middle school English classrooms. Through an analysis of the popularity of fantasy series, including recent movies and their widespread pop cultural appeal, this thesis illustrates that fantasy resonates with many readers. A close examination of various works of fantasy literature appropriate to be read in full or excerpted in the classroom demonstrates that fantasy usefully illustrates various literary concepts, such as symbolism, metaphor, allusion, allegory, and character foils; provides clear examples of the hero's journey, which appear in various canonical texts as well as other media; …

Molly's Lips: Telephonic Interiority In The " Penelope" Episode Of Ulysses, Lennox Nicholas Debra

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Molly Bloom's episode “Penelope†at the end of Ulysses is a pronounced narrative of her unique consciousness, yet it is the only first person narrative in the entire work that is interrupted by the gaze of the author. When the final episode of Ulysses begins, Molly’s narrative is one that seeks to give her a voice and narrative and there by constructs a gaze from which we as readers seek to in order to gain a better understanding of her character’s consciousness; yet, Molly’s acknowledgement of “Jamesy†alludes to a veiled characterization inherent to Molly Bloom. Why is she given …