Digital Commons Network^™

Structuring A Risk-Based Bioassay Program For Uranium Usage In University Laboratories, Johnne' Talia Dawson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Bioassay programs are integral in a radiation safety program. They are used as a method of determining whether individuals working with radioactive material have been exposed and have received a resulting dose. For radionuclides that are not found in nature, determining an exposure is straightforward. However, for a naturally occurring radionuclide like uranium, it is not as straightforward to determine whether a dose is the result of an occupational exposure. The purpose of this project is to address this issue within the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’s (UNLV) bioassay program. This project consisted of two components that studied the effectiveness …

The Impact Of Nursing Crew Resource Management Training On The Patient Safety Self-Efficacy Of Nursing Students, Deanne Marie Donaway

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Quality health care and optimal health outcomes begin by assuring patient safety. This is a shared responsibility of all health care providers. However, nurses have a fundamental obligation to assure patient safety, given their constant presence with patients requiring care. Patients who are cared for by nurses with insufficient or outdated patient safety education and knowledge can and often experience costly and catastrophic outcomes (Institute of Medicine (IOM), 2011). Medical errors now rank as the third leading cause of death in the United States and cost over 17.1 billion dollars/year (Makary & Daniel, 2016; Andel, Davidow, Hollander & Moreno, 2012). …

Self-Efficacy In Situation Background Assessment And Recommendation Communication Using Information Technology In Baccalaureate Nursing, Kelly Etcheberry Espinoza

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Strong communication skills are essential in establishing a foundation for safe delivery of care. A report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) titled: To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System estimated 44,000 to 98,000 deaths occur due to medical errors annually. Communication failure was found to be the root cause in 70% of these cases of medical error. Several studies also indicate communication issues still represent up to 80% of errors and sentinel events in hospitals accredited by the Joint Commission. The IOM's report indicate improving communication in the healthcare setting is essential in reducing medical errors.

In …

An Emg-Based Patient Monitoring System Using Zynq Soc Device, Farhad Fallahlalehzari

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis describes the design, development, and testing of an EMG-based patient monitoring system using the Zynq device. Zynq is a system on chip device designed by Xilinx which consists of an ARM dual cortex-A9 processor as well as an FPGA integrated into one chip. This work also analyzes the performance of image-processing algorithms on this system and compares that performance to more traditional PC-based systems. Image processing algorithms, such as Sobel edge detection, dilation and erosion, could be used in conjunction with a camera for the patient monitoring purposes. These algorithms often perform sub-optimally on processors because of their …

Estimation And Comparison Of Thermoelectric And Pv Solar Water Usage In The Colorado River Basin States, Yuzhen Feng

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With the continual expansion of populations in the arid Southwest, energy demands will continue to rise. On the other hand, depleting water levels in reservoirs of the Colorado River Basin is expected to continue as more intense and frequent drought events persist in addition to the rapid development in the region. Currently, the three largest water-use categories in the United States are thermoelectric energy, irrigation, and municipal water, which cumulatively account for 90 percent of the national water use. In the Southwest, most of the total electricity generated is still through thermoelectric means. That is, massive amounts of water are …

Efficient Strategies For Playing The Horn, Jon Allan Holloway

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In their pursuit of becoming accomplished performers, horn players spend a great deal of time studying proper brass playing techniques from the great pedagogues. The modern horn is a fairly young instrument (less than two hundred years old) and the most efficient pedagogical approach is still evolving. Because of this, horn players spend a great deal of time studying proper brass playing techniques from the great pedagogues. Books by Philip Farkas, Arnold Jacobs, Raphael Mendez, and more have many theories and exercises on how to breathe, the best way to perfect embouchure development, performance techniques, and more.

Modern pedagogues have …

The Big Band And The Piano: Nikolai Kapustin’S Variations Op. 41, Ryan Kelly

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Much has been written and said on how piano works should almost imitate the sounds of an orchestra to be played well. There is a style and musical language that serious pianists must master in order to play with correct voicing, specific tones, and other techniques that make a piano sound like a full orchestra and thus bring it to life.

While there much written about how the piano should imitate the traditional orchestra in the classical and romantic style, what of the big band? In the last century many works have been written for the piano using jazz rhythms, …

Characterizing Crystal Populations For The Petrogenesis Of The Post-Collapse Rhyolites In The Long Valley Caldera, California, William Joseph

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Post-collapse rhyolites of the Long Valley in eastern California are the product of remelting of crystal mush bodies via mafic rejuvenation following the eruption of the Bishop Tuff. This is supported by mineral textures and major element geochemistry from the Resurgent Dome rhyolite, the Moat rhyolite, the Hot Creek Flow, and the Deer Mountain rhyolite. New 40Ar/39Ar eruptive ages are reported for the Moat rhyolites (525 ka, 333 ka, 118 – 94 ka), Hot Creek Flow (312 – 295 ka), and the Deer Mountain rhyolite (65 ka). The initial post-collapse eruptions, resulting in the Resurgent Dome rhyolite, appear to be …

Acoustic Detection, Source Separation, And Classification Algorithms For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles In Wildlife Monitoring And Poaching, Carlo Lopez-Tello

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This work focuses on the problem of acoustic detection, source separation, and classification under noisy conditions. The goal of this work is to develop a system that is able to detect poachers and animals in the wild by using microphones mounted on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The classes of signals used to detect wildlife and poachers include: mammals, birds, vehicles and firearms. The noise signals under consideration include: colored noises, UAV propeller and wind noises.

The system consists of three sub-systems: source separation (SS), signal detection, and signal classification. Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) is used for source separation, and random …

Food Processing And Cooking Technology Of The Mimbres Mogollon (Early Pithouse Period Through The Mimbres Classic A.D. 200-1130), Ashley Morgan Lauzon

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis examines food processing and cooking technology of the Mimbres Mogollon culture from A.D. 200-1130. Food processing and cooking technology includes any tool (chipped stone, ground stone, ceramics, basketry/perishables, etc.) or feature (fire-features, etc.) used to prepare, process, and cook food. Data on this technology as a whole is lacking in the region. The goal of this research is to document and explore the changes and developments in food-related technology over time and to investigate possible factors that influenced its development.

To document this technology over the course of approximately 1000 years, four case study sites were used: The …

The Effect Of Gender, Not Math Anxiety, On Working Memory Tasks, Amy J. Mcauley

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Math anxiety is defined as “feelings of tension and anxiety that interfere with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in a wide variety of ordinary life and academic situations.” (Richardson & Suinn, 1972). The effects math anxiety has on various tasks are overwhelming. Math anxiety has been shown to relate to poor educational attainment and avoidance of math courses (Hembree 1990). Research has shown that math anxiety can affect simple process like counting (Maloney, Risko, Ansari, & Fugelsang, 2010) to taxing working memory while solving a math problem (Ashcraft & Kirk, 2001). Additionally, gender also plays …

Interference Effects Of Urban Rubble On The Radioanalytical Analysis Of Strontium, Derek Roger Mclain

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Most current radioanalytical protocols have been developed for the analysis of air, water, soil and bioassay samples. While these protocols build the foundation of operational environmental monitoring, they are not necessarily suitable for the analysis of samples that will be encountered in the aftermath of a nuclear incident. In such a situation, it will be important to characterize the isotopes of interest present in the affected area to obtain signatures for nuclear forensics and ensure the appropriate response. Specifically, this research is aimed at the determination of strontium-90 and its separation from zirconium-90 in a post-detonation situation.

Strontium-90’s relatively long …

Novel Non-Blocking Approach For A Concurrent Heap, Rashmi Niyolia

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

We present a non-blocking algorithm for a concurrent heap in asynchronous shared memory multiprocessors. Processors in these machines often execute instructions at varying speeds and are subject to arbitrarily long delays. Our implementation supports Non-blocking Insert, Delete, and Find-Min operations on a heap. Non-blocking techniques avoid the drawbacks associated with mutual exclusion and also admit improved parallelism. Insert and DeleteMin operations in heap take more than one atomic instruction to complete, thus, it is possible that a new operation may be started before the previous one completes, leaving heap inconsistent between operations. We have represented heap as an array of …

Radiation Therapy And Dosing Material Transport Methodology, Robert O'Brien

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A technique is examined here that utilizes high energy beta decays from a short lived radioisotope to treat medical conditions such as shallow cancerous lesions. A major benefit of beta particle interaction in tissue is a fixed penetration depth for the charged particle, with dose limited to the ultimate range of the beta particle. This method improves on some current techniques of radioactive brachytherapy, where "seeds" are placed inside patients through temporary or permanent implantation in order to kill cancerous cells or inhibit growth of tissue. The use of low energy gamma-rays is the most common method of treatment currently …

An Investigation Of The Testing Effect On Motor Learning, Aaron Leonard Pauls

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Optimization of learning processes is the goal many educators strive to achieve with their students. One of the potential methods used towards optimizing this process is what’s known as the testing effect. The testing effect is the improved performance on a retention test as a result of prior testing during some period of practice. Previously, the testing effect was investigated using mostly cognitive tasks such as the learning of a number of words. In this paper, we examine the impact the testing effect has on learning the motor skill of putting. The study used a 2 x 2 mixed design, …

Canovas Canyon Rhyolites, Jemez Volcanic Field, New Mexico: Discrete Source Magmas, Or A Potential Caldera Forming Magma System?, Penelope Marie Padmore

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Jemez volcanic field (JVF), New Mexico, is a caldera-forming volcanic field located at the junction of the Rio Grande Rift and the Jemez Lineament. The JVF is one of three large North American caldera-forming systems, including Long Valley, California and Yellowstone Plateau volcanic field, Wyoming, which have been active during the Quaternary. Because portions of the JVF are unusually well preserved, it offers a rare opportunity to study how such systems develop. Insight into the history of caldera-forming systems will contribute to the understanding of their potential future behavior. In the case of Yellowstone and Long Valley, that insight …

A Case Study On Enterprise Content Management Using Agile Methodology, Rohit Raj

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Every organization has the need to create, classify, manage and archive information so that it is accessible when they need it. The amount of data or information needed for an organization to build their business and for them to be more positive in today’s business world is increasing exponentially, which also includes unstructured data or unstructured content. It is not appropriate only to “manage” content, but whether the correct version of the data or document or record can be accessed. Enterprise Content Management is an efficient collection and planning of information that is to be used by a very particular …

Process Development For The Fabrication Of Semiconductor Devices And Circuits Using Spin-On Dopant, Richard R. Ryan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Traditional approaches to semiconductor device fabrication are expensive and time consuming, making them out of reach for most universities and colleges. The objective of this thesis is to develop a process by which semiconductor devices and circuits can be implemented completely in-house using spin-on dopants (SODs), and low-cost transparency masks, to significantly reduce the lead time, complexity, and cost associated with device fabrication. This will allow hands on fabrication experience for students at universities and colleges without the traditional expensive device fabrication facilities. In addition, it will also allow students and professors to design, fabricate and test semiconductor devices and …

Shakespeare's Dowry: Subjectivity And Resistance In The Taming Of The Shrew, Romeo And Juliet, And The Merchant Of Venice, Homer Lee Simms

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation analyzes dowry in three Shakespeare plays—The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, and The Merchant of Venice. The analysis aims to show that the dowry negotiations and agreements are the most important component of the patriarchal structure of marriage depicted in Shakespeare’s plays. Since dowry agreements signal the impending transition from feme sole to feme covert, they are appropriated by the women in the three plays under consideration as the first stage in a process to assure subjectivity after their marriages. To maintain subjectivity, Katharina, Bianca, Juliet, Portia, and Jessica seek to create and occupy a liminal …

Analyses Of Streamflow Change Patterns And Correlation Of These Changes With Sea-Surface Temperature Fluctuations, Kazi Ali Tamaddun

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis presents a comprehensive statistical analysis that determines the direction, rate, and interval of significant streamflow change patterns in the continental U.S. and correlates these changes with sea-surface temperature fluctuations. First, by using two non-parametric tests, namely, the Mann-Kendall trend test and the Pettitt’s test, the presence of long-term trends and abrupt shifts were determined at 10% significance level over continuously adjustable periods that stretched from 1903 to 2012. Modified versions of the tests were applied to account for the presence of persistence (autocorrelation) in data. Theil-Sen slope was determined to evaluate the rate of change across multiple temporal …

Pendulum Based Impact Testing Of Athletic Helmets Using The Nocsae Headform, Bradley Thorne

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Concussions in organized sports can have detrimental short-term and long-term effects on player’s health. The focus of this research is the development of a new state of the art test and certification standard for protective headgear. Baseball helmets and soccer soft headgear were used in these tests, but the ultimate goal is to create a universal set of test guidelines for all types of protective headgear. Modifications to current test standards outlined by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) employed the use of a pendulum impactor, which facilitated additional measurements during head impact tests using a …

Enhancing The Draft Assembly With Minhash, Saju Varghese

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this thesis, we report on the use of minhash techniques to improve the draft assembly of a genome mapping. More specifically, we use minhash to compare the scaffolds of sea urchin and sea cucumber genomes.

One of the main contributions of this thesis is the implementation of minhash with the Message Passing Interface (MPI) utilizing Intel Phi co-processors. It is shown that our implementation significantly reduces the processing time for identification of k-mer similarities.

Stay Brave My Hercules, Ernie Wang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

“Stay Brave My Hercules” is a collection of nine original short stories separated into two sections: “Stay Brave My Hercules” and “Matsuri”.

In the first section, “Stay Brave My Hercules”, I explore the themes of hypermasculinity, loneliness, and insecurity, in particular the points in which they intersect. These stories are narrated by different male characters between the ages of seventeen and twenty-seven and who all struggle in different ways to conform to masculine norms.

In the second section, “Matsuri”, I explore the themes of family, loss, and devastation through the eyes of the Japanese and Japanese-Americans during World War II. …

Statistical Inference Of Genetic Forces Using A Poisson Random Field Model With Non-Constant Population Size, Jianbo Xu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The fidelity of DNA sequence data makes it a perfect platform for quantitatively analyzing and interpreting evolutionary progress. By comparing the information between intraspecific polymorphism with interspecific divergence in two sibling species, the well established Poisson Random Field theory offers a statistical framework with which various genetic parameters such as natural selection intensity, mutation rate and speciation time can be effectively estimated. A recently developed time-inhomogeneous PRF model has reinforced the original method by removing the assumption of stationary site frequency, but it preserves the condition that the two sibling species share same effective population size with their ancestral species. …

Rivalry In Toyer: The Impact Of The Male Gaze And The Final Girl On Theatrical Conflict, Sento Ashby

Liberal Arts Capstones

Although much progress has been made in recent years, traditional gender roles still permeate society. This project investigated gender constructs in relation to choreographed violence and found that females are often victims unless they adopt masculine survival styles, while males are usually aggressors – particularly towards females. Analysis of the characters in the play Toyer by Gardner McKay supported this conclusion.

Ubiquitination Of Zeta-Associated Protein Of 70 Kda Regulates The Activation Of T Cell Receptor-Proximal Signaling Pathways, Elitza Ivanova

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

The tyrosine kinase Zap-70 is a key regulator of T cell receptor (TCR) signaling downstream of antigen presentation. It plays an essential role in signaling pathways involved in T cell development and function. Loss of Zap-70 results in severe developmental and functional defects in the T cell compartment. Lack of Zap-70 or a complete loss of its function leads to the development of rare severe primary immunodeficiencies, while more common polymorphisms that lead to subtle defects in TCR signaling are paradoxically associated with autoimmunity. The coordinated regulation of Zap-70 kinase activity is critical for proper T cell proliferation, differentiation, and …

Defusing Transcendental Empiricism: Deleuze, Hume, And Empiricism, Scott Leigh Kravet

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

This dissertation addresses the problem of conflating the conditions of experience with the given of experience. The conditions of experience are by definition not contents of experience. There are ideal conditions and material conditions, which we find studied respectively in transcendental idealism and the neurosciences. The given of experience is a search towards originary experiences. This conflation between condition and given also confuses the distinction between the ground of experience, which is transcendental, and the foundation of experience, which is immanent. This confusion rises to the forefront of philosophical discourse when Deleuze calls his position ‘transcendental empiricism.’ I ask the …

Understanding The Dielectric Properties Of Water, Daniel C. Elton

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

Liquid water is a complex material with many anomalous properties. Three of these anomalies are an abnormally high dielectric constant, an abnormally high boiling point, and a solid phase which is less dense than the liquid phase. Each of these anomalies is known to have been critically important in the development of life on Earth. All of water's special properties can be linked to water's unique ability to form hydrogen bonds. Water's hydrogen bonds form a transient network. Understanding the average structure of this network and how it changes through the phase diagram remains the focus of intense research. In …

Some Applications Of Superspace, Chia-Yi Ju

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

Supersymmetry is a very popular topic in recent high energy physics theories. Especially, in order to make sense of string theory, we have to impose supersymmetry. Superspace method is proven to be a very useful approach to supersymmetric theories by treating supersymme- try as part of the geometry. In this dissertation, we use superspace method to investigate superconformal field theory and string/brane theory. The first part of the dissertation, we rewrite semi-shortening con- ditions using superspace approach. The rewritten expression is co- variant under superconformal transformation. We found that all the known semi-shortening condition are part of the covariantized ones …

White Dwarf Mergers On Adaptive Meshes, Maximilian Peter Katz

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

The mergers of binary white dwarf systems are potential progenitors of astrophysical explosions such as Type Ia supernovae. These white dwarfs can merge either by orbital decay through the emission of gravitational waves or by direct collisions as a result of orbital perturbations. The coalescence of the stars may ignite nuclear fusion, resulting in the destruction of both stars through a thermonuclear runaway and ensuing detonation. The goal of this dissertation is to simulate binary white dwarf systems using the techniques of computational fluid dynamics and therefore to understand what numerical techniques are necessary to obtain accurate dynamical evolution of …