Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Nevada Interagency Volunteer Program: Helping Hands Across Public Lands – Phase Ii: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering October 1, 2011 To December 31, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Get Outdoors Nevada

• The number of records in the volunteer database decreased by 20.7% over the last quarter. The database now contains 7,072 records.
• Results show an average of 1,080 visits per month, and with an average of 2,328 pages viewed per month.
• Get Outdoors Nevada supported 22 volunteer events in a variety of ways. These events utilized 867 volunteers whom contributed approximately 3,774.5 hours of service.
• Two community outreach events were attended, resulting in 476 direct contacts with 50 names added to the database.
• The 7th Annual Volunteer Recognition Banquet was held on 11/5/11 with 156 volunteers in attendance.

Take Pride In America In Southern Nevada: Annual Progress Report, Period Covering January 1, 2011 - December 31, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Anti-littering Programs

• A meeting of stakeholders across Nevada was held to explore the potential for statewide collaboration on litter and dumping issues.
• Website activity for the first three quarters of the year averaged 1,122 hits per month, with an average of 1,927 pages viewed per month.
• The team attended 12 community outreach events resulting in 2,154 direct contacts and 324 new mailing list records.
• The Take Pride in America (TPIA) in Southern Nevada completed a total of 41 volunteer events contributing a total of 10,779 volunteer hours.
• The TPIA team filed a no-cost extension to SNPLMA and received an extension until December …

Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Quarterly Report, Period Ending December 31, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1

• Technical assistance with the implementation of the Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (IMAP) for Quagga Mussels is ongoing; remaining analyses are underway with report delivery rescheduled for 05/2012.
• Data have been delivered for Veliger abundance and settlement at different depths of Lake Mead with report delivery re-scheduled for 05/2012.
• Growth of adult quagga mussels within Las Vegas Wash/Las Vegas Bay
• The Interagency Quagga Mussel Meeting was held on 11/17/2011; the next meeting is scheduled for 02/16/2011.

Project 2

• Appendix 7, an addition to the Long-term Limnological and Aquatic Resource Monitoring and Research Plan for Lakes Mead and Mohave, has …

Electrochemistry Of Pani/Metal Composites In Basic Solutions, Tamthinhan Quy

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Polyaniline (PANI) has been extensively investigated due to its unique conductivity, which is primarily dependent on the oxidation state of the material and the solution pH. PANI is an insulator when it is oxidized, and the solution pH exceeds four. Numerous attempts to extend PANI's conductivity to neutral and alkaline environments have been unsuccessful. However, our previous study has demonstrated that PANI/Pd composite is conductive and catalytically active in a basic solution, pH ∼ 12. Therefore, the conductivity and the electrochemical properties of PANI composites including PANI/Au, PANI/Pd and PANI/Pt were evaluated in basic solutions. The fundamental studies of PANI/metal …

Environmental Impact Of The Three Kids Mine Tailings, Henderson, Nv, Ji Hye Park

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This research focused on the distribution of the Three Kids Mine tailings in surface soils in and around the mine in Henderson, Nevada. It is situated next to the communities of Calico Ridge and Lake Las Vegas Resort, and, just the west of the Lake Mead Recreation area. Even though the mine has been inactive for almost 50 years (1917-1961), tailing piles and other sources of contamination on the mine are currently exposed to the atmosphere. In this study, surface soil samples were collected along eight transects emanating from the center of Three Kids Mine tailing piles up to five …

Spectroscopic Studies Of Melamine At High Pressure, Martin Donald Galley

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

We have performed mid- and far- Infra Red (IR) absorption, Raman spectroscopy, and angular dispersive x-ray diffraction (XRD) studies on melamine under high pressure and room temperature. We have verified the presence of two prior reported phase transitions, the first between 1-2 GPa, and the second between 7-9 GPa. We have also found evidence of a third unreported phase transition between 14-16 GPa, during which, there was a sudden disappearance of all low energy peaks (^-1 ) in both the Raman and IR spectra. The far-IR peak movement experiences a discontinuity as the rate of peak movement suddenly changes. …

Intragroup Separation Of Trivalent Lanthanides And Actinides For Neutron Capture Experiments In Stockpile Stewardship Sciences, Narek Gharibyan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Knowledge of low-energy cross sections for stable and unstable nuclei in neutron-, γ- and ion induced reactions is important in both the simulation and radiochemistry diagnosis of nuclear device performance. This dissertation explores extraction chromatography and ion chromatography methods for the intragroup separation of trivalent actinides and lanthanides in support of cross section measurements for isotopes of interest. For trivalent actinides, americium (Am(III)) and curium (Cm(III)), separation is necessary to assist in experiments related to the measurement of neutron capture cross section for ²⁴¹ Am and the production of ^{242 m} Am/^242g Am isomeric ratio. Extraction chromatography resins …

Quantification Of Stochastic Uncertainty Propagation For Monte Carlo Depletion Methods In Reactor Analysis, Quentin Thomas Newell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Monte Carlo method provides powerful geometric modeling capabilities for large problem domains in 3-D; therefore, the Monte Carlo method is becoming popular for 3-D fuel depletion analyses to compute quantities of interest in spent nuclear fuel including isotopic compositions. The Monte Carlo approach has not been fully embraced due to unresolved issues concerning the effect of Monte Carlo uncertainties on the predicted results.

Use of the Monte Carlo method to solve the neutron transport equation introduces stochastic uncertainty in the computed fluxes. These fluxes are used to collapse cross sections, estimate power distributions, and deplete the fuel within depletion …

Modeling Passive Solar Distillation Production In Las Vegas, Nevada, Noe I. Santos

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A study has been performed to examine the effects of daily weather on the performance of commercial solar distillation basins (solar stills). The objectives of this study were to evaluate the long term performance of solar stills, to instrument two solar stills and record sub-hourly thermal properties, to evaluate existing heat transfer modeling methods for hourly production, and to create new models to predict daily production using experimental distillate production and local weather data by utilizing artificial neural networks, genetic algorithms, and multivariate regression. A system dynamics model was also created to determine the required basin area and storage volume …

Hydroclimatic Forecasting In The Western United States Using Paleoclimate Reconstructions And Data-Driven Models, Christopher Allen Carrier

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis investigated climate variability and their associated hydrologic responses in the western United States. The western United States faces the problem of water scarcity, where the management and mitigation of available water supplies are further complicated by climate variability. Climate variability associated with the phases of oceanic-atmospheric oscillations has been shown to influence streamflow and precipitation, where predictive relationships have led to the possibility of producing long-range forecasts. Based on literature review, four oceanic-atmospheric oscillation indices were identified in having the most prominent influence over the western United States including the El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Pacific Decadal …

Spectroscopic Methods Of Process Monitoring For Safeguards Of Used Nuclear Fuel Separations, Jamie Lee Warburton

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

To support the demonstration of a more proliferation-resistant nuclear fuel processing plant, techniques and instrumentation to allow the real-time, online determination of special nuclear material concentrations in-process must be developed. An ideal materials accountability technique for proliferation resistance should provide nondestructive, realtime, on-line information of metal and ligand concentrations in separations streams without perturbing the process. UV-Visible spectroscopy can be adapted for this precise purpose in solvent extraction-based separations.

The primary goal of this project is to understand fundamental URanium EXtraction (UREX) and Plutonium-URanium EXtraction (PUREX) reprocessing chemistry and corresponding UV-Visible spectroscopy for application in process monitoring for safeguards. By …

Consolidated Study On Query Expansion, Abhishek Biruduraju

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A typical day of million web users all over the world starts with a simple query. The quest for information on a particular topic drives them to search for it, and in the pursuit of their info the terms they supply for queries varies from person to person depending on the knowledge they have. With a vast collection of documents available on the web universe it is the onus of the retrieval system to return only those documents that are relevant and satisfy the user’s search requirements. The document mismatch problem is resolved by appending extra query terms to the …

Microstructural Characterization Of Kinked Germanate Olivine Grains, Alex Gregory Drue

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Olivine is the most common and the weakest mineral in the upper mantle. Thus the strength of olivine controls the rheology of the earth's upper mantle. The rheology of olivine in the upper mantle has important implications for mantle flow, mountain building, and rates of isostatic adjustment. Recent experimental measurements of the flow strength of deformed olivine polycrystals have assumed a homogeneous state of stress. X-ray synchrotron diffraction experiments have implied that this assumption is not always valid. Elastic Plastic Self Consistent (EPSC) modeling offers an approach to estimating the flow strength of olivine that does not assume a homogeneous …

Study Of Feature Selection Algorithms For Text-Categorization, Kandarp Dave

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis will discuss feature selection algorithms for text-categorization. Feature selection algorithms are very important, as they can make-or-break a categorization engine. The feature selection algorithms that will be discussed in this thesis are Document Frequency, Information Gain, Chi Squared, Mutual Information, NGL (Ng-Goh-Low) coefficient, and GSS (Galavotti-Sebastiani-Simi) coefficient . The general idea of any feature selection algorithm is to determine importance of words using some measure that can keep informative words, and remove non-informative words, which can then help the text-categorization engine categorize a document, D , into some category, C . These feature selection methods are explained, implemented, …

Energy-Based Analysis Of Utility Scale Hybrid Power Systems, Kwame Agyenim-Boateng

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The promise of large-scale use of renewables such as wind and solar for supplying electrical power is tempered by the sources' transient behavior and the impact this would have on the operation of the grid. Among the methods cited for addressing some of those concerns are exploring the complementary nature of solar and wind power generation, and through the use of supplemental energy storage. While the technology for the latter has not been proven to be economical on a large scale at the present time, some assessments of what magnitude is required can be made. An energy-based analysis of utility …

Identifying Effort Estimation Factors For Corrective Maintenance In Object-Oriented Systems, Michael J. Lee

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This research identifies factors that impact software maintenance effort by exploring the decision-making process of expert estimators of corrective maintenance projects by using qualitative methods to identify the factors that they use in deriving estimates. We implement a technique called causal mapping, which allows us to identify the cognitive links between the information that estimators use, and the estimates that they produce based on that information. Results suggest that a total of 17 factors may be relevant for corrective maintenance effort estimation, covering constructs related to developers, code, defects, and environment. When these factors are rank-ordered, they demonstrate that some …

Direct Contact Pyrolysis Of Hydrocarbons: A Source Of Hydrogen And Interesting Carbon Formations, Peter G. Faught

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The work detailed in this document looks at a novel liquid metal supported catalytic system for the generation of hydrogen by decomposition of ethanol through direct contact pyrolysis. The hydrogen is produced at relatively low temperatures (500-600°C) and has carbon and water as co-products. It should be noted that CO is not observed as a product at these low temperatures. This is to be contrasted with the hydrogen produced at higher temperature from ethanol which does contain carbon monoxide. The presence of carbon monoxide in hydrogen complicates fuel cell operation and catalytic chemical processes. Thus, the lack of CO in …

Processj: A Process-Oriented Programming Language, Matthew Sowders

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Java is a general purpose object-oriented programming language that has been widely adopted. Because of its high adoption rate and its lineage as a C-style language, its syntax is familiar to many programmers. The downside is that Java is not natively concurrent. Volumes have been written about concurrent programming in Java; however, concurrent programming is difficult to reason about within an object-oriented paradigm and so is difficult to get right.

occam -π is a general purpose process-oriented programming language. Concurrency is part of the theoretical underpinnings of the language. Concurrency is simple to reason about within an occam -π application …

Modeling Of A Novel Solar Down Beam Test Facility Utilizing Newtonian Optics, Ryan J. Hoffmann

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As advances in concentrated solar energy progress there will inevitably be an increase in the demand of resources for testing new conceptions. Currently, there are limited facilities available for taking concentrated solar energy concepts from the laboratory bench scale to the engineering test scale. A proposed solution is a scientific and developmental facility that provides highly concentrated solar energy at ground level. The design presented is a solar down beam test facility utilizing a Newtonian optics approach with a flat rectangular down beam mirror to reflect and concentrate the sun's rays at ground level.

Literature review suggests a hyperbolic reflector …

Microbial Impacts On Endocrine Disrupting Contaminants: Las Vegas Wash And Lake Mead, Nevada, Susanna May Blunt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

International concern over endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) has become heightened in recent years as more studies reveal their persistence in the environment and their detrimental effects on wildlife. However, little is known about the role of microorganisms in the fate and transport of these compounds in surface waters. Las Vegas Wash, a stream flowing into Lake Mead and fed primarily by treated wastewater effluent, provided a unique experimental system in which to study the role microorganisms play in the dispersal of these compounds in aquatic systems. Samples were collected from the Las Vegas Wash downstream of the Las Vegas Valley's …

Development Of A Simulation Tool For Analysis Of Freeway Crashes Due To Cell Phone Usage, Sourabh Sriom

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Research shows that drivers are susceptible to numerous distractions while driving which can be held responsible as the reason of a crash. Usage of cell phones, i.e. talking or texting while driving is considered one of the prominent distractions which causes a crash. This dissertation aims to study the number of crashes occurring on the freeways and their relation with the drivers of these cars using cell phones while they are driving. Since crashes occur relatively less frequently, the study of crashes is done using what is called the "rare event" theory. Java based simulations are done to model a …

Automating Construction And Selection Of A Neural Network Using Stochastic Optimization, Jason Lee Hurt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

An artificial neural network can be used to solve various statistical problems by approximating a function that provides a mapping from input to output data. No universal method exists for architecting an optimal neural network. Training one with a low error rate is often a manual process requiring the programmer to have specialized knowledge of the domain for the problem at hand.

A distributed architecture is proposed and implemented for generating a neural network capable of solving a particular problem without specialized knowledge of the problem domain. The only knowledge the application needs is a training set that the network …

Boundary Element Method (Bem) And Method Of Fundamental Solutions (Mfs) For The Boundary Value Problems Of The 2-D Laplace's Equation, Ermes Anthony Salgado-Ibarra

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this thesis we study the solution of the two dimensional Laplace equation by the boundary Element method (BEM) and the method of fundamental solutions (MFS). Both the BEM and MFS used to solve boundary value problems involving the Laplace equation 2-D settings. Both methods rely on the use of fundamental solution of the Laplace's equation (the solution of Laplace's equation in the distributional sense). We will contrast and compare the results we get using the BEM with results we get using the MFS.

Bryoecology In The American Southwest: Patterns Of Biodiversity And Responses To Global Change, John Carroll Brinda

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation combines investigation of the large-scale responses of bryophyte species diversity and distribution with small-scale physiological adaptations to global change. These two areas of inquiry are linked because one way to predict plant species responses to global change is to examine their distribution across current ecological gradients produced by factors such as latitude and elevation. By examining these biogeographic patterns one can identify those species that have a narrow tolerance and therefore are most sensitive to change. Selected bryophytes might then be used as indicator species in long-term monitoring programs. Where historical data exist, these can be used to …

Being Outside Learning About Science Is Amazing: A Mixed Methods Study, Michelle L. Weibel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study used a convergent parallel mixed methods design to examine teachers' environmental attitudes and concerns about an outdoor educational field trip. Converging both quantitative data (Environmental Attitudes Scale and teacher demographics) and qualitative data (Open-Ended Statements of Concern and interviews) facilitated interpretation. Research has shown that adults' attitudes toward the environment strongly influence children's attitudes regarding the environment. Science teachers' attitudes toward nature and attitudes toward children's field experiences influence the number and types of field trips teachers take. Measuring teacher attitudes is a way to assess teacher beliefs.

The one day outdoor field trip had significant outcomes for …

Effects Of High-Impedance-Contrast Boundary Upon Multi-Modal Seismic Surface Wave Data, Prajwol Tamrakar

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Synthetic studies and analyses of an experimental dataset were conducted to address the use of Rayleigh-type surface waves for estimation of shear wave velocity (VS) profiles of shallow bedrock sites. The shallow bedrock presents a high impedance contrast boundary which causes surface wave energy to be partitioned to higher modes. Idealized studies of hypothetical datasets and root-mean-squared calculations of error surfaces showed that if reliable dispersion data are available over a broad frequency spectrum, the VS profile can be recovered using the fundamental mode alone. However, when dispersion data are limited to a relatively narrow frequency band representing what might …

Fenestration Studies On Building Energy Using The Facade Evaluation Facility, Wendell Cocina

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The project was developed to assess several types of facades and their influence on building energy, mainly focused on windows and other building fenestrations. Requirements for the facility are stated in this paper alongside corresponding solutions. The facility is designed to represent a section of a building façade. Experimenting on a wide range of fenestrations including windows with integrated PV elements was the primary prerequisite. The option of removable façade configurations was used and allowed testing specimens to be changed effortlessly. Instrumentation and data acquisition are discussed including calibration and uncertainty analysis. Investigation of the air conditioning unit was concluded …

A Landscape Approach To Late Prehistoric Settlement And Subsistence Patterns In The Mojave Sink, Tiffany Ann Thomas

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The environment of the Late Prehistoric period (1200 A.D. to Historic Contact) Mojave Sink was wetter than modern conditions. The settlement and subsistence patterns of the occupants of the region during this period were driven by the availability of water, subsistence resources, raw material sources, and tradition. These people utilized the regional landscape based upon the seasonal availability of these resources. Supplemental agricultural production has been proposed for the Mojave River Delta due to the more favorable environmental conditions of this period. If agriculture was being practiced it would have affected the regional land-use patterns. For this thesis I propose …

Changing Climatic Conditions In The Colorado River Basin: Implications For Water Resources Management In The Las Vegas Valley, Srijana Dawadi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Climate change affects the water available in a region. It also affects the water demand, because of the increase in temperature. A system dynamics model was developed for the Colorado River Basin (CRB), operating at a monthly time scale, to assess the potential impacts of climate change on streamflow in the Colorado River and its subsequent impact on the water resources management in the Las Vegas Valley (LVV). The effect of climate change on streamflow was evaluated using 16 global climate model outputs for 3 emission scenarios, also referenced in the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report. Risk …

Paired Positive Carbonate Carbon Isotope, Organic Carbon Isotope, And Oxygen Isotope Composition Study Across The Lower Mississippian Positive Carbon Isotope Excursion, Southeastern Nevada, Usa, Robert Alan Henry

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A prominent positive carbonate carbon isotope (delta13Ccarb) excursion of Early Mississippian age (ca 351 Ma) has been documented by previous studies from numerous sites globally. This delta13Ccarb excursion has been interpreted as resulting from enhanced organic carbon burial that removed 13C-depleted carbon from the ocean and atmosphere. Anticipated outcomes from enhanced organic carbon burial would include a similar positive excursion in organic carbon isotopes (delta13Corg) and a global cooling event resulting from reduced CO2 in the atmosphere and ocean. These predictions, however, were not tested sufficiently in previous studies. This research has tested these predictions through an integrated study of …