Digital Commons Network^™

Geomorphic And Geologic Controls Of Geohazards Induced By Nepal’S 2015 Gorkha Earthquake, J. S. Kargel, G. J. Leonard, D. H. Shugar, U. K. Haritashya, A. Bevington, E. J. Fielding, K. Fujita, M. Geertsema, E. S. Miles, J. Steiner, E. Anderson, S. Bajracharya, G. W. Bawden, D. F. Breashears, A. Byers, B. Collins, M. R. Dhital, A. Donnellan, T. L. Evans, M. L. Geai, M. T. Glasscoe, D. Green, D. R. Gurung, R. Heijenk, A. Hilborn, K. Hudnut, C. Huyck, W. W. Immerzeel, Jiang Liming, R. Jibson, A. Kääb, N. R. Khanal, D. Kirschbaum, P. D. A. Kraaijenbrink, D. Lamsal, Liu Shiyin, Lv Mingyang, D. Mckinney, N. K. Nahirnick, Nan Zhuotong, S. Ojha, J. Olsenholler, T. H. Painter, M. Pleasants, K. C. Pratima, Q. I. Yuan, B. H. Raup, D. Regmi, D. R. Rounce, A. Sakai, Shangguan Donghui, J. M. Shea, A. B. Shrestha, A. Shukla, D. Stumm, M. Van Der Kooij, K. Voss, Wang Xin, Brandon J. Weihs, D. Wolfe, Wu Lizong, Yao Xiaojun, M. R. Yoder, N. Young

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

INTRODUCTION

RATIONALE

Environmental And Density-Dependent Modulation Of Type Iii Secretion System Genes In Pseudomonas Syringae Pv. Tomato Dc3000, Jennifer Louise Stauber

Theses

Pseudomonas syringae pathovar tomato strain DC3000 is a model bacterial plant-pathogen that utilizes a dedicated protein export apparatus, the type III secretion system (T3SS), to translocate virulence proteins called effectors directly into host cells. Because effectors suppress plant immune responses, activation of the T3SS is critical upon entry into the host. The P. syringae T3SS is controlled by the hrpRS-hrpL regulatory cascade, and is activated quickly by specific conditions. Different environmental stimuli have been reported to modulate T3SS gene expression in culture, however it is unclear how each signal affects hrpRS or hrpL. My objective was to identify how environmental …

Enhancing Upper-Level Performance From Below: Performance Measurement And Optimization In Lte Networks, Ruofan Jin

Doctoral Dissertations

The current 4G LTE cellular networks provide significantly higher data rate and lower network latency than earlier generation systems. The advances provided by LTE, however, may not be fully utilized by upper-level protocols and applications. In this dissertation, we first investigate the predictability of link bandwidth in cellular networks. We then design and implement a new transport protocol that utilizes the link bandwidth prediction framework. Last, we design and implement a control-theoretic approach for adaptive video streaming for cellular networks.

For cellular link bandwidth prediction, we conduct an extensive measurement study in major US commercial LTE networks and identify various …

Approximate Bayesian Computation For Probabilistic Decline Curve Analysis In Unconventional Reservoirs, Mohit Paryani

Engineering

Predicting the production rate and ultimate production of shale resource plays is critical in order to determine if development is economical. In the absence of production from the Shublik Shale, Alaska, Arps' decline model and other newly proposed decline models were used to analyze production data from oil producing wells in the Eagle Ford Shale, Texas. It was found that shales violated assumptions used in Arps' model for conventional hydrocarbon accumulations. Newly proposed models fit the past production data to varying degrees, with the Logistic Growth Analysis (LGA) and Power Law Exponential (PLE) models making the most conservative predictions and …

Using Twitter To Analyze Stock Market And Assist Stock And Options Trading, Yuexin Mao

Doctoral Dissertations

Twitter has rapidly gained popularity since its creation in March 2006. Stock is a popular topic in Twitter. Many traders, investors, financial analysts and news agencies post tweets about various stocks on a daily basis. These tweets reflect their collective wisdom, and may provide important insights on the stock market. In this dissertation work, we investigate using the tweets concerning Standard & Poor 500 (S&P 500) stocks to analyze the stock markets and assist stock and option trading.

The first part of the dissertation focuses on understanding the correlation between Twitter data and stock trading volume, and predicting stock trading …

A Deeper Semiotic Richness: Empowering English Language Students Through Digital Storytelling, Karah Parks

Master's Projects and Capstones

The current philosophies underpinning TESOL higher education curricula and classroom practices still reinforce the essentialized narrative of the native speaker and teach English as an objective, disinterested, linguistic system of static signs (Blommaert, 2010; Kramsch, 2009; Larsen-Freeman, 2015; Pennycook, 1997). This has significantly limited the development students’ identities, and agency within English language speaking communities. To address this issue, this project contains a supplemental, online digital storytelling curriculum for intermediate to advanced adult learners at the university level in U.S. colleges as a means of scaffolding intentional identity development through multimodal, symbolic competence in the English language. Entitled Creative ESOL: …

The Joy Of Food Play - An Exploration Of The Continued Intersectionalities Of Gender And Class In Men's Auto/Biographical Accounts Of Everyday Foodways., Jm Parsons

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

Despite a contemporary milieu that emphasises fluidities across gender boundaries and shifting roles, the 75 respondents in the study that informs this paper presented their food auto/biographies as a type of transformation narrative heavily influenced by the continued intersectionalities of gender and class. Respondents utilised ‘common vocabularies’ (Mills 1959) and conformed to cultural scripts of what might be considered appropriate middle class and highly gendered foodways when developing a taste for ‘good’ food. The focus of this paper centres on the notion of food ‘play’ rather than food ‘work’ as significant in the performance of a gendered cultural habitus, whereby …

Developing An Algal Biofilm Filtration System For The Remediation Of Nutrient Pollution In Freshwater Ponds, Danielle Delp

Theses

Anthropogenic nutrient pollution is one of the most serious threats facing aquatic systems in modern times. Pollution with compounds containing nitrogen and phosphorous encourages rapid development of autotrophic biomass, or blooms, that severely degrade the quality of an aquatic system both as a habitat for organisms and as a water resource for human use. In freshwater ponds, the widespread need for treatment of nutrient pollution and resulting blooms has resulted in the growth of a large industry dedicated to pond management and maintenance. These companies utilize a variety of chemical and non-chemical treatments to prevent the growth of blooms or …

War Machine: Media And Technology During Operation Allied Force, N Bobic

School of Art, Design and Architecture

One significant aspect of military interventions is that violence in binary geographies, which have an implied colonial discourse (such as Serbia), often involve the dialectics of construction and erasure, meaning that absence and presence of destruction and violence run side by side. This paper investigates the ways that technology and media were instrumentalised in miniaturising evidence and reducing the visibility of destruction during NATO’s Operation Allied Force in Serbia and Kosovo. While the dominant NATO rhetoric behind the intervention was “humanitarian” with the Operation being deployed in the name of Western values and civilisation, this text puts forward an alternative …

Brandishing The Cybered Bear: Information War And The Russia-Ukraine Conflict, Azhar Unwala, Shaheen Ghori

Military Cyber Affairs

Russia’s use of cyber power against Ukraine offered renewed insight to Russian cyber strategy and capabilities. This article dissects the Russia-Ukraine conflict by analyzing Russia’s strategic doctrine, tactical maneuvers, and capabilities in the information realm. Understanding the Russia-Ukraine conflict in this manner can inform and strengthen U.S. cyber policy and strategy. In particular, U.S. strategic planners and cyber professionals should consider internalizing Russian strategic thinking regarding cyber power and promote tactical improvements in resilience, intelligence, and information among itself and its allies.

Reliable Presence Detection Through Passive Ieee 802.11 Management Frame Sniffing, Paul L. Jordan, Andrew J. Sellers

Military Cyber Affairs

Modern automated control systems leverage significantly different and disparate data sets for modeling and decision-making. Yet, dynamic human presence detection and identification is not widely used in these systems despite the enriching effect such information would have. We behave in unpredictable ways and are not easily identifiable by computers. This paper outlines a method for reliably and passively detecting presence of a person and identifying that person by exploiting existing ubiquitous infrastructure: Wi-Fi networks and that persons Wi-Fi enabled smartphone without installing any additional software. We further enumerate several applications ranging from home security to energy efficiencies. We explore the …

The Islamic State’S Use Of Online Social Media, Lisa Blaker

Military Cyber Affairs

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has made great use of the Internet and online social media to spread its message and encourage others, particularly young people, to support the organization, to travel to the Middle East to engage in combat or to join the group by playing a supporting role—a role often carved out for young women persuaded to join ISIS. Social media has proven to be an extremely valuable tool for the organization and is perfectly suited for ISIS’ target audience—the “Millennial generation,” and now more often, those from Western countries. What messages from jihadists convince …

An Examination Of Sport Fans’ Perceptions Of The Impact Of The Legalization Of Sport Wagering On Their Fan Experience, Daniel L. Wann Phd, Ryan K. Zapalac, Frederick G. Grieve, Julie A. Partridge, Jason R. Lanter

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Over the years, professional and collegiate organizations have fought attempts to increase the legalization of sport wagering. One argument presented by those in opposition is that increased legalization would negatively alter the manner in which fans and spectators follow, consume, and react to sporting events (Tuohy, 2013). The current research was designed to examine possible changes in fandom by investigating fans’ perceptions of the impact of increasing legalized sport wagering on their fan experience, interest in sport, and sport consumption. Participants (N = 580) completed a questionnaire packet assessing demographics, economic fan motivation, fandom, and perceptions of the impact …

Book Clubs: Conversations Inspiring Community, Nathaniel R. Petrich

i.e.: inquiry in education

There are many motivators for students in their learning experiences, yet few compare to the desire to build relationships. Through book clubs students had opportunities to strengthen their learning and strengthen their relationships. The purpose of this qualitative research project was to describe the impact of voluntary book clubs on 5^th grade voluntary participants. Data was triangulated from the teacher from informal conversations throughout each week, monthly conferences between the teacher and book club members, and the teacher’s journal. The findings included (a) informal conversations within the classroom aesthetically motivated students to join book clubs, (b) book clubs were …

Complete Issue 49(1)

Speaker & Gavel

Complete digitized issue (volume 49, issue 1) of Speaker & Gavel.

When Water Works: A Case Study Of Campaign Tears And The 2008 Presidential Election, Ryan Neville-Shepard

Speaker & Gavel

Since the fall of Senator Ed Muskie in the 1972 Democratic primary there has been an unwritten rule that political candidates should avoid crying. However, four presidential candidates cried in ten separate incidents during the 2008 election cycle, with only three episodes receiving negative attention. Addressing this inconsistency in the “Muskie rule,” in this essay I argue the effect of crying on a political candidate’s image is not well understood. As such, this essay develops and applies a framework for comprehending when crying will likely trigger a public relations crisis, and when it might actually benefit a candidate.

A Functional Analysis Of 2008 General Election Presidential Tv Spots, William L. Benoit, Mark Glantz

Speaker & Gavel

This study performed content analysis on the general election TV spots from Democratic nominee Barack Obama and Republican nominee John McCain in the 2008 presidential campaign. There was no significant difference in function by incumbency, which is not surprising given that neither major party candidates was the sitting president or vice president. Unlike ads from previous years, these ads contained more attacks (65%) than acclaims (34%; and like earlier campaigns few defenses: 1%). These ads stressed policy (58%) more than character (42%). The Democratic candidate, as in previous elections, discussed policy more, and character less, than the Republican candidate. Both …

Complete Issue 49(2)

Speaker & Gavel

Complete digitized issue (volume 49, issue 2) of Speaker & Gavel.

By Any Other Name: On The Merits Of Moving Beyond Forensics, James Kimble

Speaker & Gavel

This essay argues that the interscholastic speaking and debating activity that calls itself forensics has effectively lost the battle for its own name. As students of and experts in rhetoric and performance, members of the forensics community should be the first to recognize the importance of an undisputed name. Yet the community continues to call itself by a name that medical science has overtaken. The resulting confusion does the community no favors and weakens the activity within the academy. The essay concludes that it might be time for a new name that the activity can claim for its own.

The Usefulness And Uselessness Of Forensics A Speaker & Gavel Special Issue, Stephen M. Croucher

Speaker & Gavel

Editor's introduction by Stephen M. Croucher from volume 49, issue 2 of Speaker & Gavel.

Complete Issue 50(1)

Speaker & Gavel

Complete digitized issue (volume 50, issue 1) of Speaker & Gavel.

Stressing A Developmental Approach Toward Persuasion In Interscholastic Forensics, Jim Schnell

Speaker & Gavel

A variety of models exist for teaching persuasive speaking to beginning speakers. A common shortcoming of models is that they require additional instruction to ensure student understanding. The Developmental Speech Sequence Model (DSSM) is an approach that can be applied effectively with beginning forensics competitors. The 10-point model described in this report is detailed but it also allows the speaker degrees of creative freedom. Forensics coaches can modify use of this model depending on the experience and skill level of the beginning competitor, allowing for a more customized approach that can benefit the student. Ten points within three sections comprise …

A Functional Analysis Of 2008 And 2012 Presidential Candidacy Announcement Speeches, William L. Benoit, Mark Glantz

Speaker & Gavel

This study investigates messages in the surfacing phase of the presidential campaign, through a content analysis of presidential candidacy announcement speeches from the 2008 and 2012 elections. This study applied the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to nine Democratic announcement speeches from 2008, 11 Republican announcement addresses from 2008, and 12 Republican announcement speeches from 2012. This work extends previous research on announcement speeches from 1960-2004 (Benoit, Henson, Whalen, & Pier, 2007). Overall, announcements from 2008 and 2012 used acclaims (75%) more than attacks (25%) or defenses (0.5%). The same announcements discussed policy more than character (58% to 42%); …

Obama Transforming: Using Functional Theory To Identify Transformational Leadership, Kristina Drumheller, Greg G. Armfield

Speaker & Gavel

The 2008 presidential campaign convention speeches broke records as viewers flocked to the speeches by Obama, Palin, and McCain in numbers that rivaled American Idol ratings. Adapting functional theory (Benoit, 2007) to include transformational leadership characteristics (Bass & Avolio, 1990), President Obama‘s 2008 nomination acceptance speech was used test the adapting of functional theory for analyzing leadership claims. Secondary data were used as evidentiary support of Obama‘s efforts to make changes once in the White House. Results are discussed and framed within functional theory and transfor-mational leadership.

Newspaper Coverage Of The 2008 General Election Presidential Campaigns, William L. Benoit, Jayne R. Goode, Mark Glantz

Speaker & Gavel

News coverage of political campaigns is very important to the political campaign process. Some voters pay little attention to debates or other sources of information about the candidates and their policies. The news is one important source of this information. Newspapers can also supplement and reinforce the information possessed by voters who do attend to campaign messages. This study content analyzed news coverage of the 2008 general election presidential campaign (New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today). Horse race coverage was most common topic (45%), followed by themes about character (32%), and policy (23%). The tone of newspaper coverage was …

Complete Issue 50(2)

Speaker & Gavel

Complete digitized issue (volume 50, issue 2) of Speaker & Gavel.

The Next 50 Years Of Forensics: Acknowledging Problems, Preparing Solutions, Christopher P. Outzen, Lucas J. Youngvorst, Daniel Cronn-Mills

Speaker & Gavel

In previous decades, forensics was a well-respected co-curricular activity, with students becoming involved as early as middle school and moving into colleges across the country. The activity provides a multitude of meanings for individuals, teams, and colleges across the nation conjuring feelings of friendship, community, education, leadership, and competition. Many within the forensic community know the reputation of this activity can be attributed to influential individuals such as Grace Walsh, L. E. Norton, and Larry Schnoor, among others. Despite the great past and present of this activity, the future is looming with potential pitfalls that could damage the activity. We …

An Incubating Institution: Speaker And Gavel’S Current Criticism Section And The Development Of Twentieth Century Rhetorical Criticism, James Francisca Klumpp

Speaker & Gavel

This essay traces the role of Speaker and Gavel’s Current Criticism section in the development of the dramatic changes that marked rhetorical criticism and public address in the late twentieth century. The essay argues that critics restricted from old line journals found outlets and developed their critical skills through the publication of their works in Speaker and Gavel.

Rhetorical Criticism: The Past Fifty Years, David Zarefsky

Speaker & Gavel

Not quite fifty years ago, in its fourth volume, Speaker and Gavel launched a feature called “Current Criticism.” Under the editorship of Wayne Brockriede, the journal took on an added mission: offering criticism of very recent cases of public address. Rather than traditional scholarly studies, the critiques were moiré like editorials: brief statements of an author’s point of view, with supporting arguments and evidence, ob topics of current interest related to public policy. The best of these essays were collected in a book edited by Robert O. Weiss and Bernard L. Brock and published for DSR-TKA in 1971.

Complete Issue 51(1)

Speaker & Gavel

Complete digitized issue (volume 51, issue 1) of Speaker & Gavel.