Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of A Low-Intensity Aerobic Exercise Program To Enhance Occupational Performance And Quality Of Life In Diabetic Patients, Asia Suriyachottakul

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Globally, diabetes mellitus (DM) is a prevalent chronic condition many people encounter. DM is one of the primary causes of mortality due to individuals struggling to manage or prevent the condition. The healthcare field is also failing to provide sufficient education on DM. Individuals with this condition may begin to experience co-morbidities and depressive symptoms, which make it difficult for them to engage in meaningful occupations, in addition to decreased quality of life (QOL). This project examines the effectiveness of a low-intensity aerobic exercise (LIAE) program to enhance occupational performance (OP) and QOL in those diagnosed with the condition or …

Quaternary Ammonium Compound Resistance Of Klebsiella Pneumoniae And Klebsiella Quasipneumoniae Strains Isolated From The International Space Station, Natasha Svetlana Sushenko

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The International Space Station (ISS) has been continuously inhabited for twenty-three years and harbors a diverse population of microorganisms under conditions of microgravity, elevated radiation, and relative isolation, including Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2) opportunistic pathogens. To sanitize surfaces on the ISS, astronauts use a combination of four antimicrobial quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs). As the stresses of space flight are known to stimulate virulence and antimicrobial resistance in bacteria, the frequent use of QAC disinfectants on the ISS is of concern to NASA. This not only poses risks to astronauts during future long-term space travel, but there is also a concern …

Online Learning For Acid-Fast Bacilli Detection In Histopathological Images, Shizhao Wang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The acid-fast stain is frequently used for laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis. It is a labor intensive task requiring thorough examination of extremely high-resolution images to pinpoint the presence of the mycobacteria. This paper presents a machine learning assisted slide image analysis tool with the aim of aiding histopathology professionals in the accurate diagnosis of tuberculosis in patients through the analysis of microscopic imagery. The proposed tool combines a digital whole slide image viewer with an online learning framework. We also conducted a survey of different state-of-the-art online learning methods, and found that MIR with pre-training has the best performance on …

Effects Of Chronic Diabetes And Attentional Focus On Performance And Learning Of A Novel Stabilometer Balance Task, Rebeca Carolina Armagnac Gonzalez, Yinny H. Lee, Alicia Marie Letkiewicz, Meiko Nagano Mamauag

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background and Purpose: Chronic diabetes is a prevalent systemic disease that impairs physical functioning and often leads to increased risk of falls. Adopting an external focus of attention during motor skill practice has been shown to improve learning outcomes, however, it has not been examined in this population. We examined how attentional focus instructions (internal vs. external) affect balance performance and learning in older adults with and without diabetes.

Methods: Fifty-three older adults (27 with diabetes, 63.7±7.0 years) participated in the randomized, pre-post intervention study. The balance training involved 50 practice trials of a stabilometer task that was novel to …

Preparing Occupational Therapy Students In A Role-Emerging Private School-Based Setting, Jerome Amigo

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This capstone project occurred in collaboration with Cornerstone Christian Academy in Las Vegas, Nevada. As a role-emerging area of practice, occupational therapy must focus on integrating services in private schools just as much as public schools. The need for resources to support future fieldwork students at Cornerstone Christian Academy makes it difficult for occupational therapy students to enhance their experiential learning opportunities and serve an underserved population of primary and middle school students.

The capstone project consisted of daily engagement with Cornerstone Christian Academy’s educational personnel, attending students, and the parents of the students for 14 weeks to ensure all …

Black Women Educational Leaders In Pk-12 Public Education: A Multiple Case Study On The Double Consciousness Of Black Women Educational Leadership In Southwestern United States, Malena Baizan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation examined the stories of Black Women Educational Leaders (BWEL) in PK-12t public education and their double consciousness as expressed through their leadership. The focus of this study was BWEL’s counternarratives as leaders within a system built upon systemic racism and oppression. Their experiences as Black Women Educational Leaders in PK-12 in a school district in which most school administrators are white, but most of the student body is Black and Brown were highlighted and centered to shed light on how the double consciousness of Black women informs their leadership. Utilizing Critical Race Feminism as the theoretical framework with …

Differential Expression Of Microrna Mir-145 And Mir-155 Downstream Targets In Oral Cancers Exhibiting Limited Chemotherapy Resistance, Conner Belnap

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background: New evidence has suggested that non-coding microRNAs play a significant role in mediating and modulating chemotherapy resistance, particularly among oral cancers. One recent study found that the expression of miR-145 and lack of miR-155 expression strongly correlated with a limited chemotherapy resistance to Cisplatin, 5-Fluorouracil and Paclitaxel , although the mechanism(s) responsible for these observations remain unidentified.

Methods: Using commercially available cell lines of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), RNA was isolated using phenol:chloroform extraction. The isolated RNA was converted into cDNA by reverse transcription and subsequently screened for the presence or absence of downstream targets of miR-145 and …

Exploring Intention Mapping And Action In Pursuit Of Emotional Storytelling For Musicians, Douglas Carpenter

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This document presents a novel approach to music education by integrating acting pedagogies, specifically the concepts of "Intention" and "Action," to enhance the expressive capabilities of musicians. Rooted in the methodologies of Konstantin Stanislavski, Sanford Meisner, and Michael Chekhov, this research seeks to bridge the gap between traditional music education, which often emphasizes technical execution, and the need for emotional expressivity and storytelling in musical performances.

The role of the musician as a 'human instrument,' capable of conveying complex human emotions and narratives through music is explored in this document. Drawing from acting techniques, the document proposes methods to help …

Post-Operative Endotracheal Reintubation Rates, Robert Erickson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Immediate post-operative endotracheal reintubation after major abdominal surgery a significant patient safety concern due to the potential for failure to rescue, or other adverse outcomes such as altered mental status, aspiration, and hypoxia due to respiratory or cardiac arrest if left unrecognized. To facilitate major abdominal surgery (outside of a cesarean section performed under spinal anesthesia), the patient must be anesthetized, pharmacologically paralyzed, and endotracheally intubated to facilitate ventilation via mechanical respiration. Those steps create the optimal environment to allow the abdominal muscles to relax, and permits the surgeon obtain appropriate exposure of the abdominal cavity. An induced chemical paralysis …

Causal Attribution Tendencies Of Early Childhood Practitioners And The Efficacy Of Attribution Retraining, Alex J. Faucheux

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Early childhood practitioners frequently attempt to identify the cause of outcomes experienced by their learners. This is sometimes referred to as causal attribution. Causal attribution may be affected by prior success and failure of a learner, the amount of effort exerted by the learner, the ability level of the learner, and knowledge of any disability associated with the learner, all of which can be considered controllable or uncontrollable, stable or unstable, and internal or external (Weiner, 1986; Woodcock & Vialle, 2011). As practitioners attribute cause to outcomes, they start to develop attributional tendencies; these tendencies, along with the cues and …

Roadblocks To Momentum: An Analysis Of College Major Gpa Restrictions And Stranded Students, Michael J. Hack

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

College retention, persistence, and completion are key indicators of a successful institution, but six-year degree completion has remained stagnant in recent years (National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2022). Despite institutional efforts through success initiatives to keep students retained, one set of barriers to degree completion may be due to established major GPA restrictions and policies that prevent students from being able to declare their majors. Accordingly, students who are unable to declare their major but keep enrolling in courses may be in danger of becoming “stranded.” This quantitative examination of student data from one large public four-year college aims to …

Screening Of Orthodontic Patients And Age-Matched Non- Orthodontic Samples For High-Risk Oncogenic Human Papillomavirus (Hpv) Strains, Hunter Hinton

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Introduction: The human papillomavirus (HPV) is known to cause cancer in several tissues and organs, including the cervix and the oral cavity. Several oncogenic or high-risk strains have been identified, which include HPV16 and HPV18.However, other research has demonstrated that additional oncogenic, high-risk strains exist - including HPV31, HPV33, HPV35, HPV52 and HPV58, although much less is known about their prevalence. Based upon this lack of knowledge, the primary objective of this project is to address the prevalence of these strains among pediatric and adult patients through screening of saliva samples from the UNLV-SDM and orthodontic clinic populations.

Methods: The …

Osteoarthritis In The Temporomandibular Joint And Knee Joint: A Macroscopic Study Of Cadaver Specimens, Jeremy James

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this study, thirty-one TMJs and twenty-eight knee joints were dissected from seventeen cadaveric subjects aged 69 to 95. Degenerative/osteoarthritic changes on the mandibular condyles, mandibular fossae, and femoral condyles were evaluated macroscopically and assigned a score on a disease severity scale (DSS) from 0 signifying “normal cartilage” to 4 signifying “severe OA”. Osteoarthritic changes were found in all TMJ and knee specimens. The average mandibular condyle DSS score was 2.68 ± 0.96, while the average mandibular fossa score was 2.90 ± 0.76; this difference in scores was significant (P = 0.035). Additionally, the mandibular fossa was equally or more …

Persisting Inequity: School Administrators’ Social Dominance Orientation And Disciplinary Practices, Abigail Johnson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Empirical research has established that exclusionary discipline is applied to black students at a higher rate than white students for similar offenses, and that this disproportionality cannot be attributed to the severity or frequency of misconduct. Exclusionary discipline, which removes a student from the educational setting, poses significant challenges to academic and social well-being and introduces a host of proximal issues for black students. This dissertation draws upon Social Dominance Theory (SDT), which examines how beliefs aligned to existing hierarchies perpetuate discrimination and oppression, to explore how administrators' anti-egalitarian beliefs and disciplinary practices influence the disproportionate application of exclusionary discipline …

Becoming A Bicultural High School Teacher In The United States: An Autoethnography Of A Latina Educator, Silvina Jover

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This research was guided by two autoethnographic questions, namely: How does autoethnography enable understanding of the needs of emergent bilinguals in the sociopolitical context of local and federal language policies in the United States? As well as extended by the following ancillary questions: a. What are the patterns and variations that emerge from journal entries crafted by the author of this study? And b. What are the patterns and variations that emerge from state and national news pieces between the years 2015 and 2020?

This narrative serves not only to present the challenges encountered within the field of multicultural education …

Unraveling The Relationship Between Social Vulnerability Index And Covid-19 Prevalence In Southern Nevada, Andrea Lopez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The COVID-19 pandemic was a catastrophic global event that exacerbated public health issues and disparities, especially in socially vulnerable communities. Thus, this study examines areas classified by the CDC's Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) metric, which assesses vulnerable communities experiencing adverse events through sixteen social determinants that impact health. The purpose of this study will be to determine if (1) COVID-19 testing rates and/or COVID-19 vaccination rates mediate SVI and COVID-19 prevalence rates and (2) if COVID-19 testing rate and COVID-19 vaccination rates serially mediate SVI and COVID-19 prevalence rates. In order to achieve this, census tracts within Southern Nevada will …

Mindfulness For Middle School Students Receiving Adapted Physical Education Services: Quality Improvement Program, Kaila Mangrum

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Middle school students with disabilities are often isolated from their peers with decreased opportunities for participation, struggle with social emotional regulation, and self-efficacy. This has been evident among students with various disabilities who are from various age groups receiving special education services including adapted physical education (APE). Research has shown mindfulness amplifies learning and promotes a positive environment that supports children’s overall wellbeing. This quality improvement project focused on developing an occupational therapy centered mindfulness program to enhance social participation, self-efficacy, and social-emotional regulation. Data collection occurred pre and post program from specialized program teacher assistants (SPTAs) using the School …

Compliance And Efficacy Of Orthodontic Medicaid In Southern Nevada: A Retrospective Study, Troy Mccartney

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Objective: The study’s main objective is to evaluate efficacy and compliance in Medicaid orthodontic patients compared to private insurance and cash (self-pay) patients in Southern Nevada. In addition, the paper will study the trends in approval selection such gender, age, race/ethnicity, and case type. This information will be used to discuss the barriers that Medicaid patients face and offer solutions for the issues found in the orthodontic Medicaid system.

Introduction: Medicaid coverage was brought forward by the Federal Social Security Act in July of 1965. Since then, there have been many discussions on how orthodontic treatment should be covered under …

Discerning Moral Injury, Alexandra A. Merletti

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Moral injury is a recently developed psychological construct used to explain trauma that cannot be adequately explained by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It arises from experiences in which sufferers feel that they have violated deeply held moral beliefs and has multiple negative long term health and professional consequences for individuals affected. In order to better understand moral injury, this study seeks to understand how it is identified in individuals by others and utilizes Christie’s (2018) Ideal Victim Theory and Gray and Wegner’s (2009) Moral Typecasting Theory as a theoretical framework. Participants for this study were 374 undergraduate students at the …

Effectiveness Of A Virtual Simulation Program As A Novel Approach To Improve Clinical Judgment In Prelicensure Nursing Students, Monica Millard

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Problem: Limited clinical placement opportunities for practicing decision-making skills have widened the academic-practice gap. Research shows a disturbing decline in entry-level competency among newly graduated registered nurses. Innovative strategies like virtual patient simulation may foster decision-making skills and prepare prelicensure nursing students for practice. However, research is lacking in examining virtual patient simulation (VPS) as an effective approach for developing clinical judgment in prelicensure nursing students. The American Association for Academic Nursing has determined that clinical judgment is an essential nursing attribute. Moreover, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing developed the Next Generation National Council Licensure Exam based …

Needs Assessment For Implementation Of A Dedicated Admission And Discharge Nurse Position, Connie Ngo

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background: Patient turnover refers to when patients are admitted, discharged, or transferred to or from a clinical unit or another facility. Rapid patient turnover compels nurses to provide care in an environment where clinical demands exceed nursing care capacity. The excess of clinical demands can lead to rationing of nursing care and culminate in nursing stress and dissatisfaction. These negative effects on the nursing workforce subsequently have undesirable implications for patient and hospital outcomes. Implementation of a dedicated admission and discharge nurse (ADN) position can optimize patient flow, improve nursing satisfaction, and ultimately promote positive patient outcomes. Purpose: The purpose …

Parsing The Plains: Placing Emporia, Kansas In The Great Plains Midwest, Joseph Noce

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis examines the formation of a region that can be called the Great Plains Midwest. It shows this formation through the city of Emporia, Kansas, which grew in tandem with the region. The thesis also examines Emporia as a case study of the cycle of birth, growth, and stagnation visible across the Great Plains between the 1850s and 1910s. This era traces Emporia from its humble beginnings to a period of population stagnation that followed the Panic of 1893. Three chapters cover Emporia’s agriculture, railroads, and colleges and universities, comparing each to the same elsewhere in both the midwestern …

Adapting Traditional Flamenco Music For The Modern Marimba Artist, Gabriela Ordoñez Villalobos

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This document is a compilation of information and exercises for the percussionist to learn how to play Traditional Flamenco on marimba. The document contains a brief history of flamenco and the explanation of the elements of four different palos flamencos (subgenres) to introduce the marimbist to the basic musical elements and structure of each palos flamencos. It also includes musical exercises written specifically for marimba. These exercises are traditional components of authentic Flamenco music and can be used in performances as a soloist or as part of a Flamenco ensamble.

Flamenco music has three main elements: El cante, el toque, …

The Operatic Innovation And Musical Language Of Rodion Shchedrin's Choral Opera Boyarina Morozova, Valeria Ore

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Rodion Shchedrin is an outstanding composer who uses the deep tradition of Russian musical culture in his compositions. Shchedrin’s style is very individual and consists of the universality of world perception and originality of musical language, which encompasses a sensitive assimilation of a new, careful, and respectful approach to Russian traditions. By reasonably and fragmentarily using the elements of dodecaphony, sonorics, and aleatoric music, he developed his own musical language. Thus, the purpose of this work is to explore Shchedrin’s compositional style and to discover his innovation and individual style in the opera Boyarina Morozova. Shchedrin’s compositions are unusual: …

Increasing Swim Instructors' Perceived Knowledge Of Sensory-Based Strategies When Coaching Children Who May Have Sensory Differences, Gabrielle Palmer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Although swim instructors are solely taught water safety regulations and correct swimming techniques, they are nonetheless viewed as mentors by the kids they work with. They are required to finish both their basic swim instructor (BSI) course and their cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certification, which primarily covers the fundamentals (American Red Cross Training Services, 2023; Kraft & Leblanc, 2018). However, neither provides a method of teaching swimming to children who might have sensory processing differences. This lack of education may affect both the child's participation and the swim instructor's capacity to impart knowledge. Research revealed that swim instructors are not very …

Boron-Doped Diamond As A Resilient Electrode Material In Molten Salts, Hannah Katherine Patenaude

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Molten salt chemistry has a range of applications within nuclear technology, including for the Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs) and pyroprocessing to recover valuable actinides for energy and national security needs. However, the high-temperature, corrosive nature of molten salts makes them particularly challenging to deploy on an industrial scale and study in benchtop measurements. Material accountability and corrosion monitoring of MSR fuels are essential components to the successful deployment of MSRs, and electroanalytical techniques like cyclic voltammetry (CV) and spectroelectrochemistry (SEC) can provide a wealth of information to describe salt systems in situ. To perform such measurements, it is imperative to …

Africanities In Selected Art Songs For Voice And Piano By Babi De Oliveira, Ana Elisa Portes Lima

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This document explores Africanities on the music and texts of selected art songs by the Brazilian composer Babi de Oliveira (1908-1993), providing the historical context of how the Brazilian Portuguese appropriated the vocabulary and culture of African people brought to the New World during the period of slavery between the 15th and 19th centuries. The purpose of this document is to provide additional background information on the Afro-Brazilian musical heritage, its relevance to the composer, and its aesthetics in the history of Brazilian music, in order to give voice students and performers, especially non-Portuguese speakers, a broader perspective on this …

Students’ Learning About Occupation In An Occupational Therapy Program, Erik Regalado

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Objective: Describe the learning activities that occupational therapy students found helpful for learning the concept of occupation and describe what students know about the concept of occupation.

Design: Descriptive correlational

Setting: Occupational therapy program in the U.S

Participants: Occupational therapy students

Measure: Survey

Results: These students had a general understanding of occupation and its relationship to health, however, lacked the more conceptual understanding of occupation found in occupational science. Participants reported that activities such as fieldwork, group discussion, and lecture helped them understand the concept of occupation.

Conclusion and Relevance: These students missed aspects of occupation and would benefit from …

Development Of A Cue-Based Feeding Education Program To Enhance The Self-Efficacy Of Nicu Caregivers, Jazmin Rivera

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), a neonate may experience feeding difficulties due to their prematurity, physiological, and neurological status. Under these circumstances, a caregiver’s role can be diminished and cause a loss of self-efficacy due to the inability to provide care and feed their infant in the NICU. After examining the literature, guided by the Model of Human Occupation and the Transformative Learning Theory framework, a cue-based feeding (CBF) program was developed and implemented at the University Medical Center (UMC) Hospital NICU department to enhance the caregiver’s self-efficacy through an occupational therapy perspective. A feasibility evaluation of the …

The Effects Of Nicotine On Growth, Surface Marker Expression, And Osteogenic Capacity Of Stem Cells From Human Exfoliated Deciduous Teeth (Shed) And Dental Pulp Stem Cells (Dpsc), Kaileen Rodriguez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background: The gaining popularity of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and inhaling aerosols (“vaping”) among young people have exposed them to unprecedented amounts of nicotine. Fourth generation ENDS manufacturers attract the adolescent demographic with a smooth vaping experience with enticing flavors such as “Piña Colada” or “Peppermint Blast.” Components of e-liquids in cartridges of ENDS combine protonated nicotine, also referred as nicotine salts, with flavors in a propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin solvent. Unregulated, high amounts of nicotine in ENDS products have been associated with increased levels of nicotine in the circulating blood of users with an average concentration of …