Digital Commons Network^™

Growing Together? Community, Culture, And Gardening In Downtown Las Vegas, Tyler S. Schafer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this manuscript I explore the issue of how groups appropriate broad cultural trends in local contexts. Using the case of a community garden in Las Vegas I examine how social space is imbued with meaning and how those meanings come to shape the subsequent interactions that take place in the meaningful place. This research draws from four years of participant observation at Vegas Roots Community Garden (VRCG), 20 in-depth interviews, hundreds of informal interviews, and content analysis of documents produced by others about the garden and by the garden organization about itself.

I expand on Howard Becker’s (1974) work …

Kimmo Hakola's Diamond Street And Loco: A Performance Guide, Erin Elizabeth Vander Wyst

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Kimmo Hakola (b.1958) has emerged in the past two decades as one of Finland’s leading contemporary composers. His numerous clarinet and bass clarinet works include a clarinet concerto, five chamber works with various instrumentations, a work for solo clarinet, a work for solo bass clarinet, and a work for solo clarinet and pedal bass drum (the clarinetist performs both the clarinet and bass drum parts). While this relatively large output featuring the clarinet family may be a result of Hakola’s personal interests, it may also be the result of a friendship with virtuoso clarinetist Kari Kriikku (b. 1960). This document …

Biosignatures In Mars Analog Acid Salt Lakes, Sarah Stewart Johnson, M. L. Soni, D. J. Collins, Kathleen C. Benison, Melanie R. Mormile, M. G. Chevrette, B. L. Ehlmann

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Paleolake sites on Mars, particularly buried deposits that have been shielded from surface radiation, serve as intriguing targets for the search for life. Mars-like ephemeral playa lakes here on Earth can offer insights and perspectives on the possibilities for physical, metabolic, and biomolecular biosignature recovery from similar environments on Mars.

Remittances As Contributor To Risk Management And Poverty Reduction In Grenada, Dianne Jntl Rosemary Forte

Dissertations

A Small Island Development States (SIDS) viewpoint is underrepresented in the existing migration literature. That perspective is necessary because SIDS geography creates a unique set of social and economic circumstances that predisposes small states to high vulnerability to external shocks from environmental events and influences emigration decision making. Like other SIDS, Grenada is characterized by small land mass, small population, limited opportunities for productive labor, and limited resources to efficiently support all the requirements of modern institutions. This has resulted in high levels of emigration and a pattern of circularity as Grenadian households make rational decisions to manage risk and …

An Annotated Bibliography And Performance Commentary Of The Works For Concert Band And Wind Orchestra By Composers Awarded The Pulitzer Prize In Music 1993-2015, And A List Of Their Works For Chamber Wind Ensemble, Stephen Andrew Hunter

Dissertations

The purpose of this document is to assemble into one resource the concert band, wind orchestra, and chamber wind ensemble compositions of the 23 composers who were awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music between 1993 and 2015. The Pulitzer Prize in Music is given annually to an American composer in recognition of distinguished achievement in composition of a work that received its premiere during the previous year. Timothy Mahr completed this study on composers who received the Prize from 1943 to 1992. This is a continuation and replication of that study, following Mahr’s procedures.

A brief biographical sketch will be …

Today And Yesterday, Vol. 40, Summer 2016, Illinois State University, Department Of History

Today and Yesterday

Newsletter of the Illinois State University Department of History

The Effectiveness Of Using Mobile Learning To Enhance Uaeu Students’ Achievement And Motivation In Emirati Studies Course, Emad Kotb Farg Hendawy

Theses

United Arab Emirates University adopted a particular project aiming to improve and develop the learning process. The idea of the research focused on the utilization of mobile learning in classrooms through using the iPad devices by students in different content areas. Applying such a notion helped in motivating students in learning, especially, for some courses featured as more theoretical and abstract like Emirati Studies course. The Emirati Studies, considering as a compulsory course for the students in the UAEU, addresses different aspects related to the Emirati community whether socially, historically, geographically, politically or economically. So, the purpose of this study …

The Extent Of Practicing Different Components Of Professional Learning Communities At The Bani Kinanah Secondary Schools In Jordan, Rami Hussein Mohammad Abdallah

Theses

This study aimed to investigate the extent to which different components of the Professional Learning Community (PLC) were being practiced at the Bani Kinanah secondary schools in Jordan. The study employed a mixed approach to collect data, including a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. For the quantitative approach, 1110 participants responded to the questionnaire. For the qualitative approach, four schools participated: two female schools and two male schools. In every school, three educators have been interviewed. Findings revealed that the extent to which the different components of PLCs were practiced at the Bani Kinanah secondary schools was high, according to quantitative …

The Corruption Of Liberal And Social Democracies, Timothy K. Kuhner

Fordham Law Review

Thomas Piketty repeats throughout Capital in the Twenty-First Century that today’s levels of inequality are not inevitable, much less natural, and has connected the state of democracy worldwide to rising economic inequality. Wealth transfers from the state to the private sector, wealth transfers from labor to capital, and tax laws favorable to the concentration of wealth require that the participatory and representative facets of democracy be kept in check. Beyond suitable material conditions, the growth and maintenance of inequality necessitates a justificatory ideology. This Article explores the possibility that the laws of political finance can help connect the dots. Legal …

How Individual Income Tax Policy Affects Entrepreneurship, David Clingingsmith, Scott Shane

Fordham Law Review

This Article reviews the empirical literature on the effects of individual income tax policy on entrepreneurship. We find no evidence of consensus, even on relatively narrow questions such as whether individual income tax rates deter or encourage entrepreneurial entry. We believe the absence of consensus reflects both the complexity of mechanisms connecting tax policy to entrepreneurial decision making and the infeasibility of employing the most reliable empirical methods, such as experiments, in this domain.

Illinois State, May 2016, Illinois State University, University Marketing And Communications

State: The Magazine of Illinois State University (1999-present)

Illinois State University alumni magazine

The Research Express, Georgia Southern University

Research & Economic Development

• Grant Award Recipients
• New Funding Matchmaker will cater to NIH Rejects
• Research Symposium 2016
• Meet the Office of Research Integrity
• NSF Massages Grant Titles with Eye on Critics in Congress
• Rate my newsletter….

Defining Afghan Women Characters As Modern Archetypes Using Khaled Hosseini’S A Thousand Splendid Suns And Asne Seierstad’S The Bookseller Of Kabul, Alexandra Andrews

Masters Theses

Middle-Eastern women, specifically Afghan women, are often misunderstood. Yet, authors Khaled Hosseini and Asne Seierstad use the method of storytelling to show that Afghan female characters are not completely subjugated, voiceless, and powerless—despite how they are often depicted in media. Instead, in Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, and Seierstad’s The Bookseller of Kabul, Afghan female characters are represented as assertive, risk takers, and heroic. By applying Joseph Campbell’s theory regarding the archetypal heroine to the lives of Mariam and Laila from A Thousand Splendid Suns, and Sharifa and Leila from The Bookseller of Kabul, it is clear that these Afghan …

Are You Charlie Or Ahmed? Cultural Pluralism In Charlie Hebdo Response On Twitter, Jisun An, Haewoon Kwak, Yelena Mejova, Sonia Alonso Saenz De Oger, Braulio Gomez Fortes

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We study the response to the Charlie Hebdo shootings of January 7, 2015 on Twitter across the globe. We ask whether the stances on the issue of freedom of speech can be modeled using established sociological theories, including Huntington’s culturalist Clash of Civilizations, and those taking into consideration social context, including Density and Interdependence theories. We find support for Huntington’s culturalist explanation, in that the established traditions and norms of one’s “civilization” predetermine some of one’s opinion. However, at an individual level, we also find social context to play a significant role, with non-Arabs living in Arab countries using #JeSuisAhmed …

Water, Prestige, And Christianity: An Ecocritical Look At Medieval Literature, Cortney Nicole Lechmann

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis examines four medieval works, Beowulf, Pearl, The History of the Kings of Britain, and Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart from an ecocritical perspective. Specifically, it looks at how water affects the human culture described within each work, how the characters and their culture affect the water in return, and how they position themselves in regard to nature. This examination includes any relevant influences which affect the characters’ perception of the various bodies of water, such as the religion, technological advances, and historical background of the time period during which the authors wrote each work. It discusses each …

"Mother, I Will": Female Subjectivity And Religious Vision In The Brontës Novels, Amanda Scott

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Anne, Charlotte, and Emily Brontë have long attracted sustained critical attention, in

large part because of their strong female protagonists. These strong-willed women self-assuredly reject oppression and model new paradigms for the Victorian woman to empower her subjectivity. This subjectivity serves, in turn, not only as the ability to form and express views counter to outworn social prescriptions, but it also serves as the centralized interior focus that allows their protagonists to think of themselves as the foremost subjects of their lives, rather than see themselves as pawns to be moved about in the games of patriarchal hierarchy. This study …

Historic Preservation As Social Justice: Analyzing Historic Charleston Foundation's Elliottborough Neighborhood Impact Initiative, Lourdes Naomi Doddington

All Theses

While scholars debate the causes of gentrification and some question if it exists, the revitalization of inner-city neighborhoods more often than not results in the displacement of many of its residents. Failure to engage the unintended consequences of gentrification are world-wide. Some policy-makers embraced gentrification as a panacea for all their city's problems. The displacement of the urban poor and lower-middle class weakens not only their bonds with generations of community but also the character of the neighborhood which attracted the gentrifiers in the first place. Grassroots organizations have attempted anti-displacement efforts by in many places, but there have been …

11th New World Luminescence Dating Workshop Scientific Program And Abstracts And Field Trip Guide Book, P.R. Hanson, James B. Swinehart, Joseph Mason

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

A Brief Review Of Security In Emerging Programmable Computer Networking Technologies, Egemen K. Çetinkaya

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Recent programmable networking paradigms, such as cloud computing, fog computing, software- defined networks, and network function virtualization gain significant traction in industry and academia. While these newly developed networking technologies open a pathway to new architectures and enable a faster innovation cycle, there exist many problems in this area. In this article, we provide a review of these programmable networking architectures for comparison. Second, we provide a survey of security attacks and defense mechanisms in these emerging programmable networking technologies.

The Impact Of Medicaid Expansion On Utilization Of Mental Health Services In West Louisville, Kentucky., Susan Theresa Buchino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mental health is an essential component of overall health status, and mental illnesses are a leading cause of disability. In addition to expanding insurance coverage, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) reinforced parity for mental health services in insurance plans. This mixed-methods study assessed mental health service utilization by an urban and predominately African-American population following the successful implementation of the ACA and Medicaid expansion in Louisville, KY. Claims data from one Medicaid Managed Care Organization were analyzed to assess mental health care utilization patterns pre- and post- Medicaid expansion and determine differences in utilization rates between the Medicaid expansion population …

The Casamance Conflict : Un-Imagining A Community., Sandra Tombe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Casamance conflict in the southern region of Senegal started in 1982, when protestors rallying after the MFDC pulled down the Senegalese flag from public buildings in Ziguinchor calling for independence of the Casamance region. The movement based its claim for an independent Casamance on the different colonial history that distinguished it from the rest of Senegal. Surprisingly, it was not until later in the development of the movement that ethnic, linguistic, religious, and regional differences between the two regions came to factor into the MFDC’s platform. This thesis then seeks to examine why and when these dimensions come to …

Casting Calls On The Hillbilly Highway : A Content Analysis Of Appalachian-Based Reality Television Programming., Dan Thelman Martin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This analysis examines two contemporary reality television shows set in the Appalachian region of the United States - Appalachian Outlaws and Moonshiners. I contextualized the portrayals by tracing the intertwined social, political and economic factors that influenced the evolution of mediated Appalachian stereotypes since the mid-1800s. Beginning with Cultivation Theory, which holds television to be most powerful and persuasive medium available for most people, I expanded the theoretical base to consider the programs to be part of a complex intertextual phenomenon involving various media. I found stereotypes of the Appalachian region and people to be readily present in both …

Stories Of Single Mothers : Narrating The Sociomaterial Mechanisms Of Community Literacy., Kathryn Elizabeth Perry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In light of the increasing significance of community activist scholarship in Rhetoric and Composition and given the overwhelming nature of institutional educational inequity, this dissertation takes a close look at specific literacy practices and the corresponding networks that shape these literacy practices at a community literacy organization. Based on interviews with participants and staff at a local nonprofit called Family Scholar House (FSH), this project paints a complex picture of each stakeholder’s perspective on successful literacy. First, I employ Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to analyze three specific literacy moments at FSH: an application for government assistance, a financial aid appeal letter, …

Investigating The Influences Of Climate On The High Elevation Snowpack Hydrology In The Upper Colorado Region., Claire-Louise Bode

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A change in climate in the western United States has already affected and will continue to affect the onset of snow melt in many parts of the country. The effect of climate change on snow water equivalent, snowmelt runoff and total streamflow with respect to their elevation distribution is examined across the Colorado Headwaters Basin. This is a high altitude location within the Upper Colorado Basin region. The total streamflow of this region has a significant contribution from the spring season snow melt. An increase in air temperature in the Colorado Headwaters Basin over a few years will change the …

An Environmental History Of The Rio Grande In The Panama Canal Zone, 1521- 1950., Francisco Javier Bonilla

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an examination of the history of environmental change in the defunct Rio Grande river valley in the former Panama Canal Zone. By mining secondary sources and engineering records, this study provides a narrative of the historic river’s role in the formation of the so-called interoceanic corridor through the isthmus of Panama from 1521 to 1950. More importantly, however, as a case study of river histories in Latin American environmental history, this understudied, Pacific-draining river illustrates how nature and non-human nature made Panama’s strategic transit region into a loci for material flows over time. The Rio Grande played …

Urban Flooding And Sewer Inundation On The University Of Louisville Belknap Campus., Justin T. Hall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the past few decades on the University of Louisville Belknap campus urban flooding has become more frequent as a result of surface water runoff and sewer inundation. This urban flooding is a result of ongoing watershed urbanization and rapid expansion of the local sewer system to accommodate the expanding city of Louisville. However little research has been conducted on this issue, despite continued flooding on and adjacent to campus. Using the EPA Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) we applied a dual drainage modeling approach that combines both surface and subsurface drainage data to produce a flood hydrograph at the …

Exchange Patterns And Relations In Collaborative Governance., Charles Wharton Kaye-Essien

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collaborative governance has received considerable attention in recent years. From environmental resource management to public safety, collaborative governance continues to play a vital role in regional problem solving. In spite of this increasing popularity previous attempts to model the political, economic, and demographic determinants of collaboration have in most cases produced inconsistent results, thereby undermining the ability to generalize from such findings. Additionally, our understanding of the relational patterns that emanate from collaborative agreements remains fairly rudimentary. The main objective of this research is to address some of the gaps in the literature and improve our understanding of collaborative governance …

Green Logistic Network Design : Intermodal Transportation Planning And Vehicle Routing Problems., Xiaoren Duan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to earth's climate change and global warming, environmental consideration in the design of logistic systems is accelerating in recent years. In this research we aim to design an efficient and environmentally friendly logistical system to satisfy both government and carriers. In particular, we considered three problems in this dissertation: intermodal network design, deterministic green vehicle routing problem and stochastic green vehicle routing problem. The first problem aims to design an economic and efficient intermodal network including three transportation modes: railway, highway and inland waterway. The intent of this problem is to increase the utilization percentage of waterway system in …

Automated Analysis Of Cancerous Histological Samples., Thomas Allen Tennill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The use of immunohistochemistry has become commonplace in the field of cancer diagnosis. A major limitation to the ability to use this tool effectively is the time consuming tasks required for the analysis of data due to the fact that it is largely done by hand. Additionally, because of this, there is an inherent level of subjectivity in the results obtained from this process that may depend on who it is conducting the analysis. Therefore, there exists a need for a method that is able to quantify results from immunohistochemical techniques in a way that it is both time-effective and …

Constructing Urban Life : A Study Of Automobile Dependency In 148 Mid-Size U.S. Cities., Chad Paul Frederick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Automobile-dependent sprawl remains the dominant urban development paradigm in the United States. One reason for this is that the automobile is assumed to be more beneficial to the local economy than it is detrimental to society. Both sides of this assumption are wrong. First, local economies do not benefit much from automobile dependency. On the contrary, multimodal cities have lower unemployment, higher wages for African-Americans, and more efficient property markets. In addition, while it is true that multimodality means slightly higher taxes, the total value of living in multimodal cities far surpasses automobile-dependent cities with a massively improved quality of …