Digital Commons Network^™

Synthesis Of Actinide Materials For The Study Of Basic Actinide Science And Rapid Separation Of Fission Products, Jacquelyn M. Dorhout

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation covers several distinct projects relating to the fields of nuclear forensics and basic actinide science. Post-detonation nuclear forensics, in particular, the study of fission products resulting from a nuclear device to determine device attributes and information, often depends on the comparison of fission products to a library of known ratios. The expansion of this library is imperative as technology advances. Rapid separation of fission products from a target material, without the need to dissolve the target, is an important technique to develop to improve the library and provide a means to develop samples and standards for testing separations. …

Competitive Power Down Methods In Green Computing, James Andro-Vasko

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

For the power-down problem one considers a device which has states OFF, ON, and a number of intermediate states. The state of the device can be switched at any time. In the OFF state the device consumes zero energy and in the ON state it works at its full power consumption. The intermediate states consume only some fraction of energy proportional to the usage time but switching back to the ON state has has different constant setup cost depending on the current state. Requests for service (i.e. for when the device has to be in the ON state) are not …

Controlled Electrochemical Reduction Of Gold And Palladium Metal Precursors In Polyaniline, Nicole Goodwin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Polyaniline (PANI) has been extensively studied due to its unique electrochemical properties. The conjugated polymer is conductive with high chemical stability below 100°C, mechanical strength, and large surface area. The applications of PANI have included chemical sensing, corrosion inhibition coatings, light emitting diode and as a substrate for metal composite catalysts. Both chemical and electrochemical methods have been developed and utilized in the synthesis of PANI/metal composites. The simultaneous reduction of aniline and metal precursor produces a composite of PANI encapsulated metal, reducing the active surface area available for catalysis. Alternatively, chemical reduction of the metal precursor into preformed PANI …

Surface And Interface Characterization Of Solution-Processed Metal Oxides And Pedot:Pss Using Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Lynette M. Kogler

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Solution-processed materials are appealing for use in printable electronics as a means to lower production costs, but precise control of the process is crucial for achieving the desired properties in the final materials and their interfaces. Electronic interface properties depend on both the involved materials and their fabrication processes, impacting the development and commercialization of these materials. Analyzing the chemical and electronic structure of these materials, particularly at the surfaces and interfaces, is important not only for insuring that the materials have the desired properties, but also for understanding the effects of the fabrication process and how to modify properties …

Comparison Of Simulation Methods Of Single And Multi-Bit Continuous Time Sigma Delta Modulators, Benju Koirala

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Continuous time Sigma Delta Modulators (CT ΣΔMs) are a type of analog to digital converter (ADC) that are used in mixed signal systems to convert analog signals into digital signals. ADCs typically require antialiasing filter; however antialiasing filters are inherent in CT ΣΔMs, and therefore they require less circuitry and less power than other ADC architectures that require separate antialiasing filters. As a result, CT ΣΔM ADC architectures are preferred in many mixed signal electronic applications.

Because of the mixed signal nature of CT ΣΔMs, they can be difficult to simulate. In this thesis, various methods for simulating single-bit and …

Improving Hyperspectral Subpixel Target Detection Using Hybrid Detection Space, Ruixing Li

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A Hyper-Spectral Image (HSI) has high spectral and low spatial resolution. As a result, most targets exist as subpixels, which pose challenges in target detection. Moreover, limitation of target and background samples always hinders the target detection performance. In this thesis, a hybrid method for subpixel target detection of an HSI using minimal prior knowledge is developed. The Matched Filter (MF) and Adaptive Cosine Estimator (ACE) are two popular algorithms in HSI target detection. They have different advantages in differentiating target from background. In the proposed method, the scores of MF and ACE algorithms are used to construct a hybrid …

The Electrochemical Deposition Of Samarium And Europium Dissolved In Ionic Liquid Solvent, Bea Martinez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Rare-earth elements include the lanthanide series in the periodic table with the addition of scandium and yttrium. China produces approximately 95% of the world’s rare-earths supply and is the largest consumer of the world’s rare earth supply. Domestic production of rare-earth metals is a priority in the US. The domestic demand for rare-earth elements is largely based on their use in electronic devices, catalytic converters, and more importantly defense applications. Therefore, China’s monopoly of rare-earth elements is viewed as a threat to national security. Although capital investments have resulted in an increase in domestic mining and refining of rare-earth materials, …

The Effects Of Distributed Trials On Behaviors Of Students With Significant Disability, Mona Nasir-Tucktuck

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Teaching academic instruction to students with significant cognitive disability (SCD) has been done with success over the past years (Browder, Mims, Spooner, Ahlgrim-Delzell, & Lee, 2008; Hudson & Test, 2011; Mims, Hudson, & Browder, 2012), However, research is scarce and further instructional strategies are needed to help align the standard-based curriculum for this population of students (Browder, Ahlgrim-Delzell, Flowers, & Baker, 2012).

The academic inclusion of students with SCD has been a topic of interest for researchers over the past few decades. In 1997, research on teaching academics to students with SCD was scarce (Nietupski, Hamre-Nietupski, Curtin, Shrikanth, 1997). The …

Synthesis And Electrochemical Characterization Of Pani/Ni And Pani/Au/Ni Composites, Morgan Emily Pacini

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this research is to show that the electrochemically controlled formation of monometallic and bimetallic catalysts in polyaniline (PANI) can directly influence the efficiency and reproducibility of the catalytic oxidation of methanol. PANI is a conductive polymer that provides a three-dimensional template for the metallic catalysts deposition at nitrogen sites. The controlled deposition of metallic species can be achieved using the normal oxidation/reduction cycles of PANI. The deposition of metallic species relies on anion precursors that are electrostatically bound by the polymer during the oxidation cycle. The precursor is reduced directly at the nitrogen sites in the polymer …

Surface Hydrologic Modeling And Analyzing Watershed Hydrologic Response To Landcover Change, Roshan Poudel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Urban flooding is the most frequently occurring disaster in rapidly urbanizing cities. Rapid urbanization in general, is characterized by an increase in the total impervious surface area, which means less soil cover for the stormwater to infiltrate and a greater volume of runoff from the area in case of a storm event. This increased volume of surface runoff, if not drained, results in urban flooding. Urban flooding can cause serious economic and environmental damages by disrupting transportation and spreading pollution. It is therefore, essential to understand the cause, behavior and effects of urban flooding so as to minimize the risks …

Miocene-Pliocene(?) Folds, Normal Faults And The Left-Lateral Buckhorn Fault With Regional Implications, Pahranagat Shear Zone, Nevada, Thomas Godfrey Price

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Strike-slip faults play an important role in the development and evolution of extensional regimes including in the intraplate extension in the Basin and Range province. The Basin and Range province is divided into the Northwestern, Northern, Central and Southern Basin and

Range subprovinces. The boundary zone between the Northern and Central subprovinces is marked by several left-lateral fault zones, including the Pahranagat Shear Zone (PSZ), Caliente-Enterprise Zone and Rock Valley Fault Zone. The PSZ has a close spatial and kinematic relationship with the left-lateral Caliente-Enterprise Zone, which lies to the NE, and a slightly more distal relationship to the left-lateral …

Theoretical And Experimental Investigation On The Multiple Shape Memory Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite Actuator, Qi Shen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Development of biomimetic actuators has been an essential motivation in the study of smart materials. However, few materials are capable of controlling complex twisting and bending deformations simultaneously or separately using a dynamic control system. The ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) is an emerging smart material in actuation and sensing applications, such as biomimetic robotics, advanced medical devices and human affinity applications. Here, we report a Multiple Shape Memory Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite (MSM-IPMC) actuator having multiple-shape memory effect, and is able to perform complex motion by two external inputs, electrical and thermal. Prior to the development of this type of actuator, …

Average Cayley Genus For Groups With Two Generators Of Order Greater Than Two, Dawn Sturgeon

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Determining the orientable surfaces on which a particular graph may be imbedded is a basic problem in the area of topological graph theory. We look at groups modeled by Cayley graphs. Imbedding Cayley graphs with symmetry is done using Cayley maps. It is of interest to find the average Cayley genus for a particular group and generating set for the group. We consider the group known as the generalized quaternions with generating set ∆, where ∆ contains two generators with order greater than two. We find a formula for the average Cayley genus of the generalized quaternions. Moreover, we determine …

Lock-Free Self-Adjusting Binary Search Tree, Sachiko Sueki

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A binary search tree (BST) is a fundamental data structure for maintaining data in a way to allow fast search. As multi-core processors are widely used nowadays, such data structures require the ability to handle concurrent accesses to exploit the concurrent hardware. There are several algorithms on lock-based as well as lock-free BST with and without self-balancing. On the other hand, only a few reports can be found on lock-based self-adjusting BST. To the best of our knowledge, there are no algorithms for lock-free self-adjusting BST. Lock-free guarantees overall progress even if some processes fail, whereas lock-based algorithms fail to …

The Transformation Of American Federalism, 1848-1912, Lance Sorenson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

United States expansion following the Mexican-American War served as the catalyst for a reinvention of American Federalism. While much of the historiography traces the accretion of sovereign power in the national government to events caused by the divisions between northern states and southern states, there is an important and understudied East to West component of the process by which sovereign boundaries changed. The American West is a legal space where the hazily defined and capacious concept of federalism received fuller form and clearer definition. During the late nineteenth century and first few years of the twentieth century, the United States …

Case Studies Of Teach For America Teachers’ Teacher Identity Development In Relation To English Language Learners, Refika Turgut

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study is to examine the teacher identity development of Teach for America (TFA) teachers in relation to English language learners (ELLs) in the context of a semester-long teaching English as a second language (TESL) course. In addition, this study aims to explore primary considerations come into play in TFA teachers’ teacher identity development as novice teachers of ELLs. The theoretical lenses guiding this study are Wenger’s Community of Practice perspective and Positioning theory (Davies & Harré, 1990). A multiple-case design is employed to examine TFA teachers’ teacher identity in relation to ELLs. Data collection took place …

Emerging Infectious Disease And The Imperiled Relict Leopard Frog, Anthony Wayne Waddle

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The disease chytridiomycosis, caused by the aquatic fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), has emerged as a major contributing factor for worldwide amphibian declines. Although relatively recently described, the impacts from the disease this pathogen causes have been definitively tied to amphibian declines, including some that occurred decades ago. In some cases, declines of individual species occurred with little documentation and are thus poorly understood. The relict leopard frog (Rana onca = Lithobates onca) has experienced such a decline and by the latter part of the 20th century only occurred in two general areas in southern Nevada. Recent research has found …

A Case Study Investigating Teacher Perceptions Of Obstacles Faced By Eighth-Grade Latino Males, Stanley Mcqueen

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this case study was to investigate teacher perceptions into the educational obstacles of eighth-grade Latino males. For the purpose of this research, educational obstacles are generally defined as anything which obstructs Latino males from receiving a high school diploma. Critical Race Theory and Expectancy-Value Theory provided a lens to view the perceptions investigated in the study. Participants included 12 teachers from different middle schools across Northern Georgia. Teacher perceptions of educational obstacles (intentional or unintentional) were investigated through interviews, focus groups, pilot studies, and observations. Guiding the study was the research question: What are teacher perceptions of …

The Effectiveness Of Dual Language And Sheltered English Immersion Esol Programs: A Comparative Study, Thomas Meyer

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

During the 2005-2006 school year, 20% of students in the United States spoke a language other than English at home. Projected growth of English Language Learners in the United States is that by 2015 that number will rise to 50%. Research shows that vocabulary development is key to helping young English language learners acquire English mastery, but there is presently no commonly adopted English for Speakers of Other Languages teaching strategy. Dual Language and Sheltered English Immersion are two English for speakers of other languages programs used extensively throughout the United States and exclusively by the school district in this …

Inventory Management Based On Target-Oriented Robust Optimization, Yun Fong Lim, Chen Wang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We propose a target-oriented robust optimization approach to solve a multi-product, multi-period inventory management problem subject to ordering capacity constraints. We assume the demand for each product in each period is characterized by an uncertainty set, which depends only on a reference value and the bounds of the demand. Our goal is to find an ordering policy that maximizes the sizes of all the uncertainty sets such that all demand realizations from the sets will result in a total cost lower than a pre-specified cost target. We prove that a static decision rule is optimal for an approximate formulation of …

Enhancing Paternal Engagement In A Coparenting Paradigm, Marsha Kline Pruett, Kyle D. Pruett, Carolyn P. Cowan, Philip A. Cowan

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

Despite the benefits for children and families of fathers who are involved positively with their children, most parenting programs in the United States and globally focus on and collect evaluation data from mothers almost exclusively. Engaging fathers is still viewed as a complex endeavor that is only somewhat successful. In this article, we summarize what is known about engaging fathers in parenting programs, then argue that programs are most effective when coparenting is the focus early in family formation. We rely on two decades of the Supporting Father Involvement program as an example of an initiative that has been effective …

Adolescent Reading Improvement: A Phenomenology Of High School Students’ Perspectives, Anne Poplin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experience of improvement in reading comprehension of adolescent readers who have made gains greater than what might be predicted based on previous growth in reading comprehension measures. These research questions guided this study: What influences have impacted the lived experiences of these improving readers? What barriers to reading improvement existed for these students? In addition, what school-related reading experiences, if any, hold meaning for these readers? What characteristics are shared among adolescent readers who have experienced better-than-expected growth? Interviews, story chart artifacts created by participants, and observations of students’ process …

Achievement Gap In United States History End Of Course Assessment Scores In Ga High Schools, Kris Watkins

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this dissertation study, which employed a quantitative correlational research design, was to determine if the school-level variables of percentage of African American students, the percentage of economically disadvantaged students, and type of school scheduling significantly influence student performance on the Georgia Milestones U.S. History end-of-course assessments (EOCs) for the school years 2014-15 and 2015-16. The study utilized a sample of 163 high schools located in the Atlanta metropolitan statistical area (MSA). Results from simultaneous linear regression analyses showed that school-level percentage of economically disadvantaged students was significantly associated with school-level Georgia Department of Education (GADOE) U.S. History …

A Correlational Study On Critical Thinking In Nursing As An Outcome Variable For Success, Rebecca Porter

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Critical thinking is a required curricular outcome for nursing education; however, the literature shows a gap related to valid and reliable tools to measure critical thinking specific to nursing and relating that critical thinking measurement to meaningful outcomes. This study examined critical thinking scores, as measured by Assessment Technologies Institute (ATI) Critical Thinking Exam (CTE), to determine if a statistically significant predictive association existed between critical thinking scores, successful Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) program completion, and National Certification Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN®) pass rates. The research was conducted in a semi-urban, hospital-based, ASN program and included …

Non-Methane Hydrocarbon Source Apportionment And Btex Risk Assessment Of Winter 2015 In Roosevelt, Utah, Jerimiah Lamb

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Non-Methane Hydrocarbons (NMHC) monitored in Roosevelt Utah including Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene and Xylene (collectively known as BTEX) are associated with deleterious effects including cancer. This study was designed to assess the origin and effect of the toxicants and addressed two points: 1) Source identification using the USEPA’s Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) and NOAA’s Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model and 2) A human health risk assessment based on ambient concentrations of BTEX collected at the Roosevelt site. Model fit indicated that the primary contributor to total NMHCs was local oil and gas operations and was supported by previous …

Managing Judges Mathematically: An Empirical Study Of The Medical Malpractice Litigations In Shanghai, Wei Zhang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The post-Mao China has been increasingly managed mathematically, not the least in its judicial system. In this paper, I looked into some of the mathematical indicators used to judge the performance of judges in this nation, and ascertained their effects on the judicial decisions on medical malpractices in Shanghai. The findings of this paper support the previous study that qualitatively identified the judicial responses to such a quantified evaluation system. Underlying the effect of performance indicators is the Chinese judiciary’s bending toward populist pressure. Essentially, therefore, this paper serves to place in perspective the judicial populism well documented in the …

Macroeconomic Modeling Of Tax Policy: A Comparison Of Current Methodologies, Itai Grinberg, Alan J. Auerbach, Thomas A. Barthold, Nicholas Bull, W. Gavin Elkins, Pamela J. Moomau, Rachel Moore, Benjamin Page, Brandon Pecoraro, Kyle Pomerleau

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The macroeconomic effects of tax reform are a subject of significant discussion and controversy. In 2015, the House of Representatives adopted a new “dynamic scoring” rule requiring a point estimate within the budget window of the deficit effect due to the macroeconomic response to certain proposed tax legislation. The revenue estimates provided by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) for major tax bills often play a critical role in Congressional deliberations and public discussion of those bills. The JCT has long had macroeconomic analytic capability, and in recent years, responding to Congress’ interest in macrodynamic estimates for …

Structural And Elastic Properties Of Degenerate Sno Monolayers At Finite Temperature, Afsana Sharmin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Chalcogen-based layered superconductors with a litharge structure such as FeS and FeSe mono-layers undergo structural and superconducting phase transitions that are tunable by doping. Representing another material platform with a litharge structure but without valence d-electrons, SnO monolayers also display a structural ground state with a degenerate rectangular unit cell at zero temperature and a charge-tunable energy barrier that leads to a thermally-controllable structural phase change. Doped SnO monolayers with rectangular degenerate unit cells give rise to two-dimensional multiferroicity. Their two-dimensional elastic energy landscape adopts a basic analytic expression that is employed to discuss this structural transition. The results contained …

Population Dynamics Of Ouachita Dusky Salamanders (Desmognathus Brimleyorum) In A Managed Forest Landscape, Kelly Marie Halloran

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With anthropogenic alteration of landscapes increasing world-wide, managed forests are increasingly important as providers of ecosystem services including habitat for numerous wildlife species. It is crucial to maintain a balance between timber production and conservation of biodiversity on managed landscapes. Salamander populations can play key roles in the function and diversity of temperate forest ecosystems. Several studies have reported negative effects of forestry on terrestrial plethodontid salamanders, but less research has focused on stream-dwelling species, evaluated mechanisms driving observed shifts in abundance, or described the dynamics of populations residing in managed forests. Using a Before-After-Control-Impact design, we examined the effects …

Habitat Ecology, Trophic Interactions, And Distribution Of Endangered Himalayan Musk Deer In The Nepal Himalaya, Kapil Kishor Khadka

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to explore and assess the habitat selection, trophic interactions and distribution of Himalayan musk deer. Chapter one deals with seasonal diet analysis of musk deer along with the overlap in consumption with livestock during summer. Microhistological technique was employed to assess dietary consumption. Results showed that Abies spectabilis, Pinus wallichiana, and Berberis species constituted the major portion of musk deer’s diet. Dietary breadth measured by the Shannon index was found higher in winter compared to summer. Although musk deer and livestock shared a considerable number of plant species in their diets, the consumption however was significantly different …