Digital Commons Network^™

Sunrise To Sunset Walk, Mariana Clara Servin

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

Sunrise Manor, known as the East Side, is often overlooked and avoided. It carries a negative reputation, with locals frequently advising tourists to stay away, a pattern common in neighborhoods where marginalized communities reside. Despite its vibrancy, the area lacks parks, public amenities, and entertainment, leaving residents underserved. Sunrise Manor is predominantly Hispanic, and its cultural presence is embedded in everyday street life, where vendors sell fruit, food, flowers, and goods on neighborhood corners. This identity has also shaped destinations like Broadacres Marketplace, the largest outdoor swap meet in Las Vegas. However, recent immigration policies and rising fears within the …

The Biowell System: An Integrative Framework That Connects Ecological Sustainability And Mental Wellbeing Through The Regenerative Processes Of Bioswales, Nathan A. Bussa

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

The Biowell System is an evaluative framework that connects ecological sustainability and mental well-being through the regenerative processes of bioswales.

Feasibility Of Staff Training In Facilitating Affirmative Moving With Unhoused Lgbtq+ Individuals, Sujin Ma

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

Homelessness-service environments require non-clinical frontline staff to manage frequent crises and provide relational support to sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals with extensive trauma and minority stress histories. However, staff training often prioritizes didactic knowledge over embodied skills that support emotional regulation, attunement, and identity-affirming engagement. Grounded in trauma-informed care, minority stress theory, and somatic learning, this mixed-methods study examined the feasibility and preliminary patterns of change associated with an embodied staff training designed to prepare non-clinical workers to facilitate Affirmative Moving (AM), a brief movement-based, LGBTQ+-affirming support group model.

The study was conducted between July and September 2025 at …

Centering Testimonio: Understanding Chronic Absenteeism Through The Eyes Of Multilingual And Newcomer Families, Alexandra Sanchez

Educational Studies Dissertations

Chronic absenteeism remains a persistent concern in K–12 education and is often framed through deficit-based narratives that place blame solely on students or families. This qualitative study examines how a multilingual learner (MLL) and newcomer caregiver understands and experiences school attendance within her child’s public charter school community. Grounded in testimonio as both a methodological and epistemological approach, this study centers the lived experiences and knowledge of a caregiver navigating schooling within a new sociocultural and linguistic context.

Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted in Spanish and subsequently translated into English for analysis. An inductive coding process was …

Muscular Strength And Angular Ranges Of Some Body Joints During The Take-Off Phase And Their Relationship To Vault Performance., Intisar Kadhim Abdul Kareem, Zina Abdel Salam, Zubaidah Salah Hadi, Özgür Eken

Modern Sport

Artistic Gymnastics is a sport that requires high integration of physical, skillful, and mechanical abilities. Success in this sport depends on controlling coordinating the movements of body parts during different performance phases. The vaulting device requires the production of high speed and strength in a relatively short period of time because artistic performance goes through many essential phases including approaching, taking off, first vaulting, second vaulting, then landing. Previous studies reported that taking off is the most effective and decisive phases on achievement in vaulting. The goal of the study is to identify the relationship of muscular strength and joint …

The Effect Of A Rehabilitation Program Supported By Suspension Training Straps Among Tennis Players With Medial Elbow Muscle Tendon Injuries, Mustafa Muhammad Ali Farhan

Modern Sport

The objective of this study is to design a rehabilitation program involving the use of suspension training straps and find out whether it helps improve the range of motion for injuries of the medial elbow muscle tendons. It is assumed that there exist statistically significant differences between the pre-tests and post-tests concerning the range of motion in the elbow joint, in favor of the post-test results. The experimental approach is used, with the adoption of the single-group pre-test/post-test experimental design. The research population includes seniors tennis players that have sustained injuries to their medial elbow muscle tendons at Middle Euphrates …

The Impact Of Visual Illustrations On Enhancing Basketball Refereeing Signal Performance Among Students, Mohammed Aboudi Hussein, Dunya Abdul Salam Fadhil Abbas

Modern Sport

The study aimed to find out if using drawings helps students learn how to officiate basketball This study is important because it uses teaching tools to help students understand refereeing better and provide a high-quality education. The researchers used a method with two groups: an experimental group and a control group. There were 22 students in total divided into two groups of 11 The experimental group used a curriculum with drawings for six lessons while the control group used the usual method. The results showed that the experimental group did better than the control group. The results also showed differences …

The Impact Of The Dual-Task Strategy On Improving Specific Sensory Abilities And Long Jump Performance Among Specialized School Athletes, Lina Ali Sheer Khan, Suhad Haseeb Abd El Hamid, Khitam Mousa Ay

Modern Sport

This research contains four chapters, including an introduction and its significance. The research problem arises from the researchers' extensive professional and practical experience as former athletes and instructors, their experience in field athletics, their observations of jumpers' performance and their own review of scientific sources and studies concerning the long jumps. The study aimed to examine the effect of the dual-task strategy on developing certain sensory abilities and improving long jump performance among specialized school athletes. The researchers used an experimental method based on a one-group pretest–post-test design. The research sample consisted of six long jump athletes from specialized schools. …

Racial Identity In Horror: The Fear Of Black Female Sexuality, Charniece D. Bacon

Honors College Theses

The Jezebel stereotype is a racial stereotype with biblical ties that portrays black women as seductive, sexually insatiable beings. The horror genre explores humanity’s biggest fears and anxieties by looking at subgenres such as blaxploitation and vampirism. In this essay, I'll explore the intersectionalities of race, gender, and religion through the portrayal of black female sexuality in the horror genre. In films such as Ganja & Hess (1973), Abby (1976), and Def by Temptation (1990), they all depict the Jezebel stereotype. In an in-depth analysis of these films, I'll go over the ways in which they reinforce the Jezebel stereotype, …

War Photography & The Limits Of Empathy, Andrea Shi

Student Theses and Dissertations

The proliferation of photography, particularly war and poverty photography, has had massive implications for the level of vividness with which Americans are able to picture suffering beyond their doors. The mass atrocities that have occurred since the advent of photography – that is to say, the last 200 years – are so relentlessly circulated that they feel, sometimes, as an inevitable byproduct of human nature. It’s not surprising, then, that a lot of media theory and analysis reduce the dilemma of atrocity photographs to a psychological level. Do they numb us, or do they incite empathy? Are they a call …

Virus-Like Particle Peptoid Conjugate As A Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Targeting Delivery System, Ricky Zhu

Chemistry Theses

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive form of breast cancer, characterized by its lack of estrogen receptors (ER), progesterone receptors (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptors (HER2) poses a therapeutic challenge as common treatment options are rendered ineffective. Here is a strategy to develop a drug delivery system utilizing poly-glycinated LC129 8, a TNBC targeting peptoid, covalently attached to HK97 virus-like particles (VLP) containing a C-terminal LPETG sequence via a sortase mediated reaction. Using the properties of the cage-like structure of VLPs and the TNBC specificity of the LC129-8, high doses of chemotherapy can be efficiently loaded into the …

Exploring The Biological Basis For Exercise Neuroprotection In Parkinson’S Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study Of Exercise And Physical Activity On Inflammatory Cytokines And Neurotrophins, Leah Isabelle P. Alegre, Jacob M. Brewer, Adeline Florschutz, Kate E. Hamiltonthompson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Regular exercise and physical therapy are known to increase production of neurotrophins, including brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and anti-inflammatory cytokines. These changes combine to theoretically protect and slow the progressive loss of neurons in Parkinson’s disease (PD). The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of exercise and physical activity on various anti-inflammatory and pro-inflammatory cytokines and neurotrophins in people with PD (PwP). This was a cross-sectional design involving PwP (n=37), aged 43-85 years, who participated in two 30-minute bouts of exercise (with brief rest breaks during and pre/post blood draws) separated by a week. Measures collected prior …

Anatomy Academy: An Interdisciplinary Approach To Enhancing Youth Health Literacy, Roselle Antikoll, Jonathan Nakamine, Jessica Tran

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

To enhance health literacy among the underserved youth population in Las Vegas, Nevada, Anatomy Academy (AA) is an eight-week, seven-lesson program that educates students through structured and interactive lesson plans covering basic anatomy, physiology, and nutrition. Our program was implemented in three different Title-I elementary schools between five different classrooms across Las Vegas. These lesson plans highlighted specific body systems including the cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and gastrointestinal systems. Our primary aim was centered around involvement of more interdisciplinary healthcare professions including occupational therapy, dental medicine, osteopathic medicine, and nutrition to aid in the delivery of the AA program. Our secondary aim …

Postural And Load Dependent Modulation Of Lower Limb H-Reflex Excitability After Stroke, Daniel Bamiro, Matthew Berdiago, Ethan Hunter, Tia Nguyen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Purpose/Hypothesis

Leg stiffness is regulated by reflexive, intrinsic, and passive mechanisms, which are influenced by posture, body weight loading, and motor task demands. After a stroke, the capacity to modulate these mechanisms is often compromised. The H-reflex is a widely used electrophysiological tool to assess the excitability of the Ia afferent pathway within spinal circuitry. Although prior studies in healthy individuals have examined limb loading effects, results have been variable, and the role of postural and loading changes during standing remains underexplored, particularly in individuals post-stroke. This study investigated how different postural and limb loading conditions, specifically prone, standing, and …

Effect Of An Exercise Protocol On Balance In Adults With Down Syndrome, Juan Bernal, Natalie Sato

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Purpose/Hypothesis: Down syndrome (Ds) is a complex genetic condition that can impact multiple systems of the body, including functional balance. Ds-specific impairments such as muscle hypotonia, ligamentous laxity, and decreased muscle strength, coupled with a sedentary lifestyle can result in poor motor control, altered proprioceptive function, static and dynamic instability. Visual and vestibular impairments are also common in this population, increasing fall risk and fear of falling, and discouraging participation in physical activity. The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of a physical therapy-based exercise program on the functional balance of adults with Ds.

Number of Subjects: …

Feasibility Of A Functional Reach Tool For Individuals With Lower Extremity Amputations, Neil Bongolan, Dustin Hoy, Ashlyn Strange

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Purpose: Patients with lower extremity amputations are at increased risk of falls due to decreased balance ability between amputated and sound side. The purpose of this study was to examine the usefulness of a reaching tool for practitioners to assess balance in an inpatient rehab facility. It was anticipated that clinicians will find the reaching device useful when administering the Functional Reach Test (FRT) in a clinical setting, given the frequent use of these assessments and the device’s demonstrated reliability.

Participants: Physical Therapists and patients at an Inpatient Rehab Facility in Henderson, Nevada

Materials/Methods: A prototype reaching tool was provided …

Uneven Terrain Treadmill Training For Lower Limb Prosthesis Users: A Feasibility Study, Brian Diep, Keegan Feroah, Ani Gasparyan, Nevena Jovanovic

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Individuals with lower limb amputation (LLA) face an increased risk for falls which may limit mobility, confidence, and participation in daily activities. Current rehabilitation programs for this population rarely integrate surface training as an intervention, despite walking on different surfaces being a necessity to participate in the real world. This feasibility study aimed to evaluate the practicality, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of an uneven treadmill training protocol for individuals with LLA. Five adults with LLA (P1: transfemoral, 38 years old, 1.75 m, 88.8 kg; P2: hip disarticulation, 38 years old, 1.60 m, 106.7 kg; P3: transfemoral, 53 years old, 1.81 …

The Yorp Effect In Reboundx, Kaelyn Clement

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Yarkovsky-O’Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack (YORP) effect is a radiation-induced torque that can affect the spin and rotational obliquity of small bodies. It has been observed to alter the rotation rate of asteroids in the Solar System (Lowry et al. 2007; Taylor et al. 2007). Under extreme circumstances, YORP can cause a body to fragment, inducing a cascade of fissions. This effect may be important in driving the pollution of white dwarf atmospheres in conjunction with other radiative forces. I developed a YORP calculator for REBOUNDX (Tamayo et al. 2020), an extensional library to the N-body integrator REBOUND (Rein & Liu 2012). I …

The Dehumanization Of Nfl Players In The Media, Destiny D. Farley

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This creative thesis aims to bridge the gap in sports journalism by humanizing National Football League (NFL) players, showcasing their lives outside of sports, and exploring their nuanced relationships with the media. NFL players are objectified in the press in a variety of ways, with some common themes including coverage of drafting/trading, performance statistics, salary/contracts, and their overall celebrification. Through an episodic visual narrative podcast, the project grants autonomy back to the players by providing them with a platform to showcase their personalities, discuss media experiences, and share untold stories. This podcast series—featuring a blend of A-roll and B-roll—immerses audiences …

Volunteer Experiences In Outdoor Recreation: Navigating Uncertainty And Belonging, Morgan R. Purdy

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Volunteers play a central role in the operation of outdoor recreation areas, yet their positions often lack formal training, clear authority, and consistent structural guidance. While organizational socialization research has focused primarily on paid employees, less is known about how volunteers in outdoor contexts navigate uncertainty and develop identity through communication. Guided by organizational socialization theory and volunteer communication scholarship, this qualitative study examines two research questions: How do outdoor recreation volunteers manage uncertainty during socialization? And how does volunteering shape their sense of identity and belonging? Drawing on 13 semi-structured interviews and prolonged ethnographic fieldwork within a public land …

Digital Society: Media And Mental Health, James P. Sims

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis examines how contemporary media environments especially algorithmic, mobile, and socially interactive platforms are shaping attention, identity, emotional regulation, and mental health in a mediatized society. While research has documented rising levels of anxiety, depression, social comparison, compulsive media use, and fragmented communication patterns, much of the existing scholarship is quantitative and clinical, leaving a gap in how individuals experience these effects subjectively. This project combines literature grounded in media effects theory with a qualitative documentary film featuring lived-experience narratives from media users, clinicians, and scholars. The thesis argues that the psychological, social, and behavioral outcomes associated with digital …

A Cross-Cultural Analysis Of Mukbang Influencers In China And The United States: Food, Identity, And Cultural Values, Anni Zhang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Mukbang, a type of online eating broadcast which originated in South Korea, has become a widely popular form of digital media practice across different platforms. Although existing studies have examined Mukbang from perspectives such as audience psychology, health concerns, and platform economies, fewer studies have focused on how Mukbang influencers communicate cultural meanings and identity through food-related media contents in different cultural contexts. To address this gap, this study conducts a cross-cultural analysis of Mukbang influencers in China and the United States, focusing on how food, identity, and cultural values are represented in digital media environments.

This research adopts an …

Enhanced And Confused: The High Price Of Partnership In American Theater, Brandan Walsh

Student Theses

Broadway’s contemporary development ecosystem relies on a complex and increasingly fragile relationship between nonprofit regional theaters, Equity workshop models in New York City, and a small number of fully commercial out-of-town tryouts. In recent decades, nonprofit regional theaters have become central to the commercial development process, hosting fully staged productions of Broadway-bound work under a banner of artistic partnership. These institutions provide infrastructure, audiences, labor, and institutional credibility, absorbing reputational risk in hopes of high rewards and financial gain from donors. In return, they receive limited financial participation in downstream commercial success and operate under strict ethical and legal constraints …

Proceedings Of The 18th Indonesian Occupational Medicine Update (Iomu) 2026 - Occupational Medicine Without Borders: Emerging Risks, Evolving Workforces, And Inclusive Collaboration, Indonesian Association Of Occupational Medicine Specialists (Perhimpunan Kedokteran Okupasi Indonesia / Perdoki)

Occupational and Environmental Medicine Journal of Indonesia

This Supplemental Issue of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Journal of Indonesia (OEMJI) compiles the scientific abstracts presented at the 18th Indonesian Occupational Medicine Update (IOMU) 2026, convened in Surabaya, Indonesia, from 15 to 17 May 2026. The IOMU has matured into the most prominent annual scientific platform of the Indonesian occupational medicine community, hosted by the Indonesian Association of Occupational Medicine Specialists (Perhimpunan Kedokteran Okupasi Indonesia / PERDOKI). Since its inception, the conference has served as a meeting point where clinicians, academics, industrial hygienists, regulators, employers, and worker representatives gather to translate emerging scientific evidence into …

Micromagnetic Simulations Of Field-Driven Antiferromagnetically Coupled Skyrmions, Aidan D. Kirk

Physics and Astronomy Honors Papers

Competing magnetic interactions can stabilize smooth magnetization textures and can be characterized by a topological winding number. A specific spin configuration/texture, spatially localized within a two-dimensional plane, is commonly known as a skyrmion. On the classical level, the significance of skyrmions for condensed matter physics and their potential for applications, ranging from spintronic devices to qubits, has been intensely investigated in recent years. This thesis focuses on antiferromagnetically (AF) coupled Neel-type magnetic skyrmions, which are comprised of two skyrmions with opposite topological charges, yielding a net topological charge of 0. This configuration results in the cancellation of their respective Magnus …

David "Dave" Bruce Papers, 1983-1995, David Bruce Jackson

Center for Restoration Studies Archives, Manuscripts and Personal Papers Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

Weighted Blankets: Implementation Of A Quality Improvement Pilot Project In The Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit, Anita Musafar

Doctoral Projects

The weighted blanket quality improvement pilot project was implemented at Stanford Healthcare (SHC) to address the limited number of nonpharmacological interventions available for agitation management in the critical care setting. Patients within the Neurosciences ICU (NSICU) at SHC are clinically complex and uniquely vulnerable to experiencing agitation. The objectives of this initiative were to understand nurses' perceptions surrounding weighted blanket use in the critical care setting and assess whether there was a decrease in Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS) scores with this intervention. From September 2025 to December 2025, the nurses within the NSICU implemented the use of weighted blankets for …

Oxidized Lipids Are Inflammatory Danger Signals. The Hydrolytic Enzyme Carboxylesterase 1 Regulates Their Metabolic Fate, Thereby Shaping Macrophage Phenotype., Oluwabori Adekanye

Theses and Dissertations

Macrophages originate from hematopoietic progenitors they are immune cells, part of innate immunity. They patrol tissues to identify damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) and pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) from microorganisms. Macrophage pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) detect these signals, and respond by secreting lipid mediators, cytokines, and chemokines, thereby initiating the inflammatory response. Carboxylesterases (CES) belong to the α/β-hydrolase fold family of proteins and catalyze the hydrolysis of ester-containing substrates into alcohols and carboxylic acids. CES1 is one of the six CES identified in the human genome. They are localized in the endoplasmic reticulum lumen and cytosol of cells, primarily expressed in …

Impacts Of Structural Design On Oyster Survival And Predation In Restored Oyster Reefs, Jaden Akers

Theses and Dissertations

Restoration efforts are critical to ensure healthy oyster populations, but the high cost and marginal success rate of many restoration efforts demonstrates the need to evaluate alternative oyster reef restoration designs and strategies. To address this issue, I conducted a paired field and mesocosm study to assess the influence of structural design on oyster survival and predation. Results of the field portion of this study showed that oyster survival was greatest in short and bed-level (i.e., sitting on the sea bottom) reef designs. When assessing how design features impact oyster drill activity, elevated reefs (i.e., elevated above the sea bottom) …

Machine Learning-Based Decision Support Models With Applications In Postsecondary Education, Marco Paolo Anglesio

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the deployment of machine learning methodologies in an industrial engineering framework for the development of advanced decision support systems in the context of enrollment management. Drawing on techniques from educational data mining, the research addresses three key phases in the lifecycle of traditional and non-traditional students. First, it analyzes student retention using predictive classification models designed to identify individuals at elevated risk of attrition. Second, it employs temporal convolutional networks for time series forecasting, estimating aggregate enrollment levels over highly variable, finite planning horizons on the basis of partially observed data and using an asymmetric loss function. …