Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Client Selected Music Based Effects On Marital And Couples Therapy, Kevin Matthew Smith

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study was designed to examine the interaction of music-based interventions in the therapeutic process of Martial and Couples Therapy. The use of pre-recorded music was found to be under researched within the literature and created a void within the knowledge that clinicians have about how music might enhance effectiveness of treatment. The inclusion of music in this process is not currently known, which led to this study being conducted. Through a phenomenological lens, the awareness and understanding of how clients react and experience pre-recorded music during the therapeutic process, while still having a selection of options to preserve autonomy, …

Listening To The Ranks: Perceptions Of The U.S. Air Force Occupational Health And Safety Training, Melissa Jo Breunig

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Occupational health and safety hazards are abundant in military environments. Due to the hazardous occupational settings, injuries remain a public health concern in the United States military. Public health plays a critical role in injury reduction by addressing the need for comprehensive safety education training, and more specifically, exposure related injuries. A secondary data analysis was completed using Communication Theory as the overarching framework to analyze 13 qualitative interviews conducted with Airmen to gain their perceptions of the occupational health and safety training at Nellis and Creech Air Force Base (AFB). Pedagogy and training content were the two main themes …

Novel Deployment Of Elpasolites As A Dual Neutron / Gamma-Ray Directional Detector, Amber Lynn Guckes

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

At a time when upholding national security has never been more important, there exists a need for the advancement of radiation detection technologies. Neutron and photon detectors are essential to fulfilling mission areas including detection and localization of missing, stolen or smuggled radiological or nuclear materials, quantification of the effects of a radiological or nuclear event, and supporting nonproliferation efforts. The aim of this study was to evaluate a new radiation detector based on the scintillation elpasolite compound Cs2LiYCl6:Ce (CLYC) for simultaneous measurements of neutron and photon flux and the localization of radiation sources. Previous studies performed on the CLYC …

Digital Behavior Intervention Plans: Effects On General Education Teacher Fidelity Of Implementation, Christopher G. Holcomb

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Students with disabilities often have behavior that interferes with classroom learning. Serious problem behaviors are identified as the most significant factor interfering with learning in the classroom. Unfortunately, chronic behaviors often lead to a student dropping out of school. Current research typically focuses on areas of intervention for these students with little attention towards teacher fidelity of implementation of these interventions. Because of this, student's behavior intervention plans may not show effectiveness (e.g., progress monitoring, data driven decisions). It is important that researchers begin to explore systematic improvements in fidelity of implementation of behavior intervention plan components for general education …

Who Or What Should I Be Like? The Self-Assessment Of Sexual Desire, Caroline Maykut

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The construct of sexual desire has been notoriously difficult to capture and measure, in part as a function of questionable methods of sexual desire assessment. Due to problems finding an accurate, objective marker of sexual desire, research has relied on self-report. One notable difficulty with self-reported desire assessment is the lack of information on the context in which these assessments are made. The only available data focuses on relative assessment of sexual desire within couples, and ignores broader social and cultural contexts. The present study investigated men and women's perception of sexual desire discrepancies between themselves and other people and …

The Presentation Of Childhood Parental Divorce In Adulthood: A Retrospective Phenomenological Study, Sheala Catherine Morrison

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There has been a wealth of research aimed at developing an understanding of the way in which the experience of divorce impacts children. However, adult children of divorce have been widely underrepresented in this literature, much of which is outdated being at least ten years old. With shifting societal attitudes and the transformation of the family system since the 1990's it is crucial that the research is updated in order to stay up on the way children and families are impacted in today's society. The purpose of this study was to hear directly from adults who experienced their parents' divorce …

Empirical Studies On Interest Rate Derivatives, Xudong Sun

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Interest rate models are the building blocks of financial market and the interest rate derivatives market is the largest derivatives market in the world. In this dissertation, we shall focus on numerical pricing of interest rate derivatives, estimating model parameters by Kalman filter, and studying various models empirically. We shall propose a front-fixing finite element method to price the American put option under the quadratic term structure framework and compare it with a trinomial tree method and common finite element method. Numerical test results show the superiority of our front-fixing finite element method in the aspects of computing the option …

A Community Conversation On Adolescent Pregnancy And Parenting Services: Networks Of Support, Gatekeepers To Care, And Non-Compulsory Fathering In A Black Urban Community, Tamara G.J. Leech, Elizabeth A. Adams, Marci Bounds Littlefield

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

This study employed Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) methods to document needs and capacity around adolescent pregnancy and parenting in one predominately Black, low-income urban community. Using an iterative focus group method, we engaged 60 participants in a two-day community conversation. Quantitative data from an enrollment questionnaire and qualitative transcripts of the discussions are analyzed. Our results indicate that the community’s greatest capacity lies in a network of women. Men tend to participate in parenting more holistically once formal paternity is established. Neighborhood women typically introduce adolescents to prenatal care, so delays in revealing the pregnancy to them serves as a …

Documenting Nursing And Medical Students’ Stereotypes About Hispanic And American Indian Patients, Meghan G. Bean, Elizabeth S. Focella, Rebecca Covarrubias, Jeff Stone, Gordon B. Moskowitz, Terry A. Badger

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Objective: Hispanic Americans and American Indians face significant health disparities compared with White Americans. Research suggests that stereotyping of minority patients by members of the medical community is an important antecedent of race and ethnicity-based health disparities. This work has primarily focused on physicians’ perceptions, however, and little research has examined the stereotypes healthcare personnel associate with Hispanic and American Indian patients. The present study assesses: 1) the health-related stereotypes both nursing and medical students hold about Hispanic and American Indian patients, and 2) nursing and medical students’ motivation to treat Hispanic and American Indian patients in an unbiased …

Health Literate Organizations: Are Clinical Trial Sites Equipped To Recruit Minority And Limited Health Literacy Patients?, Jennifer Livaudais-Toman, Nancy J. Burke, Anna Napoles, Celia P. Kaplan

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Background. Racial/ethnic minority patients are less likely than non-Latino white patients to participate in cancer clinical trials. A key barrier to participation is limited health literacy which is more common among minorities. At the organizational level, it is important that clinical trials sites become better equipped to recruit minority patients by expanding their organizational health literacy including language competency and outreach efforts. We explored the characteristics of clinical trial sites that are associated with these health literate behaviors.

Methods. We identified 353 breast clinical trials recruiting participants in 2006 from four states (California, Florida, Illinois, and New York) through the …

The Unequal Pursuit Of Happiness? Inequality In Agency, Optimism, And Access To The American Dream, Carol Graham

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

The Declaration of Independence promises the opportunity to seek life fulfillment and happiness – in its fullest sense- for all U.S. citizens. Is happiness for all an increasingly elusive dream? There is increasing debate – both academic and political – about the extent to which the American Dream is equally available to all citizens today. U.S. trends in opportunity and in distributional outcomes are becoming more unequal by any number of measures. Is happiness as unequally shared as income in the U.S.? While U.S. attitudes about inequality and opportunity have historically been exceptional, are they still?

Our well-being metrics depict …

Health Information Exchange: Growth And Patient Privacy, Niam Yaraghi

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Health Information Exchanges (HIE) provide the electronic movement of health-related information among organizations according to nationally recognized standards. The goal of health information exchange is to facilitate access to and retrieval of clinical data to provide safer, timelier, efficient, effective, equitable, patient-centered care. HIEs are becoming integral parts of the national healthcare reform efforts, chiefly owing to their potential impact on cost reduction and quality enhancement in healthcare services. However, the potential of a HIE platform can only be realized when its multiple constituent users actively participate in using its variety of services. In this research, Yaraghi models HIE systems …

Parental Factors That Influence Swimming In Children And Adolescents, Jennifer Pharr, Carol C. Irwin, Richard L. Irwin

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

Swimming can be an important source of physical activity across the life-span. Researchers have found that parents influence physical activity behaviors of their children. The purpose of this study was to determine what parental factors influenced the number of days that children swam. Survey respondents (n = 1,909) from six cities across the United States were surveyed at local YMCAs. Children were found to swim significantly more if their parents encouraged them to swim, members of the family knew how to swim and swam with them, or their parents were not afraid of the children drowning or afraid of …

Jiahd In The Global Village: Al-Qaeda's Digital Radicalization And Recruitment Campaign, Katie Cannata

Honors College Theses

Following America’s “War on Terror,” al-Qaeda and its affiliates became highly decentralized in terms of organizational and media operations. Though mass media outlets continue to play a significant role in drawing attention to al-Qaeda’s transnational campaign, Salafi Jihadists have recently begun to rely on new media for purposes of legitimization and promotion. The Internet serves as a suitable platform for these groups’ media objectives since it is inherently anonymous and absent of censorship. Most importantly, the Internet facilitates al-Qaeda in reaching a global audience, which is made evident by the growing amount of Salafi Jihadist media that is translated or …

The Importance Of Being Lean: Using Lean Principles And Tools To Improve Acquisitions Workflows, John Novak, Richard J. W. Zwiercan

Library Faculty Presentations

This presentation demonstrated how the UNLV University Libraries Acquisitions team is using Lean principles to analyze and improve acquisitions processes for firm and approval print and electronic monographic workflows. Lean process improvement is a system of concepts and tools to help an organization provide high value and high quality to our users in an efficient manner.

In this session, the presenters provided a brief overview of lean principles and how this system can be adapted to a library setting. The presenters showed working examples of Lean-specific tools, like a Value-Stream map, that helped improve the UNLV Libraries acquisitions process.

Modeling Hedonic Processing And Anhedonia In Depression, Kevin Mercado

Honors College Theses

Depression is characterized by low positive emotion and a lack of pleasurable experiences, or anhedonia. Past studies have emphasized controlling negative affect, but there is an emerging trend in the depression literature to focus on positive emotion. The current study employed several psychophysiological tools, postauricular reflex, startle blink reflex, and event-related potential (ERP) components such as P3 and the late positive potential (LPP), to assess the dissociable components in positive emotion (consummatory and anticipatory processes). In addition, several different hypotheses of emotional dysfunction were evaluated to accurately model deficits in positive emotionality. A majority of the psychophysiological tools used supported …

Power America's — And Nevada's — Advanced Industries: State By State, Region By Region, Mark Muro

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

With the U.S. economy still flat, economic experts and leaders continue to search for the next source of U.S. and regional growth. One key component of the next era of prosperity can be projected: It is what the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program calls the advanced industry (AI) sector. The nation’s most strategic R&D — and STEM worker intensive industries, AIs like aerospace and IT are prime movers of regional and national prosperity, because they are key sources of technology innovation and generate domestic and international exports. Accordingly, the AI swatch of 50 discrete industries has emerged as an important new …

Faculty Recital, Nathan Tanouye, Albina Asryan

Faculty Recitals

No abstract provided.

"Held Harmless:" Higher Education Funding And The 77th Session Of The Nevada Legislature, David F. Damore

Lincy Institute Reports and Briefs

The debate over higher education funding took center stage throughout the 77th session of the Nevada Legislature. Much of what transpired during 2013, however, was shaped by the work of the 2011–2012 SB374 Interim Committee to Study the Funding of Higher Education (SB374 Study Committee hereafter).

Fixing The U.S. Congress By Embracing Earmarks, John Hudak

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Too often, earmarks, pork barrel politics, and other types of federal spending are seen as a problem in American politics. Nothing could be further from the truth. Congress’ abandonment of earmarks, the deconstruction of the appropriations process, and the breakdown in regular order in the House and Senate has coincided with a period of intense gridlock. For decades, pork greased the wheels of the legislative process, ensuring legislators could fund local needs in exchange for support on key legislation. Returning to the politics of pork offers a possible pathway to fixing a broken legislative process and meeting mounting public needs …

Grit And Dreams: Character Strengths, Social Mobility, And The American Dream, Richard Reeves

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

The issue of social mobility is at the forefront of current political debate. President Obama has described it as ‘the defining challenge of our times.’ Paul Ryan says that the ‘engines of upward mobility have stalled.’ Most approaches to restoring the American dream focus on institutions: schools, companies, and colleges. There is growing evidence that individual character strengths -- especially grit (the capacity to stick with a task or a journey), and prudence (valuing future outcomes) - matter just as much as more tangible factors. Blending history, philosophy, and economics, in this public lecture I will argue that restoring the …

The Shortage Of Skilled Workers: Quality Jobs For A Trained Workforce, Jonathan Rothwell

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

The Great Recession of 2008 temporarily solved employer workforce needs by lowering demand and increasing the number of unemployed skilled workers. After a few years of modest but sustained economic growth, the labor market for skilled workers has once again tightened and positions are going unfilled. This research helps national and regional leaders understand which skills are in short supply and offers policy advice on how to redress the imbalance between supply and demand. In addition to offering a national perspective on this topic, the lecture will examine the situation in Nevada.

Physicians' Attitudes About Recommending Surgery For Early Stage Lung Cancer And Possible Reasons For Racial Disparities, Franklin R. Mcguire

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

PHYSICIANS’ ATTITUDES ABOUT RECOMMENDING SURGERY FOR EARLY STAGE LUNG CANCER AND POSSIBLE REASONS FOR RACIAL DISPARITIES

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Patient refusal for lung cancer surgery is significant, but other factors, such as negative framing of the treatment discussion, may be involved. Physician attitudes could influence the nuances of and therefore the conclusions of these discussions. We determined physicians’ attitudes and the influence it has on possible decisions against lung cancer surgery, particularly surgical rates for blacks, using a companion survey.

Methods: The study is a prospective, multicenter observational trial conducted at five sites in North and South Carolina from December …

Nonprofit Organizations And The Nevada Economy: An Analysis Of The Employment, Economic Impact, And Scope Of The Nonprofit Sector In Nevada, Jessica K. A. Word, Jaewon Lim, Carol Servino, Kenneth Lange

Lincy Institute Reports and Briefs

The Nevada nonprofit sector plays an important role in the state’s economy. This research report examines the role of nonprofit organizations in the economy and details regional differences in terms of employment and economic impact in the state.

Mountain Monitor - 2nd Quarter 2014, Kenan Fikri, Mark Muro

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

Economic growth returned to the 10 major metro areas of the Mountain West in the second quarter of 2014 after slippage in the first quarter of the year. The resumption of vitality progressed unevenly, however. Denver and Salt Lake City pulled ahead as the fastest-growing metro areas in the region. Ogden and Provo’s days of above-average growth appeared to be fading. Las Vegas’ economic recovery advanced strongly, but Sun Belt peers Phoenix and Tucson had more difficulty moving beyond the first quarter’s slowdown. Albuquerque, for its part, welcomed a return to employment and output growth.

Across the region’s 10 major …

The Original Intent Of The Wire Act And Its Implications For State-Based Legalization Of Internet Gambling, Michelle Minton

Occasional Papers

Recognizing the growing threat of organized crime, then U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy sought to get the “bankrollers and kingpins” by introducing the Federal Wire Act in 1961, which sought to target the mob’s most profitable racket—bookkeeping on horseracing and sports gambling by prohibiting such gambling on the nation’s communication system at the time (telephone and telegraph). More than 30 years later members of Congress sought to use the Wire Act to stop the rise of casino-style gambling on the Internet. However, the scope of the Wire Act has been disputed among lawmakers, courts, and federal agencies. In 2011 …

Foundation For An Independent Tomorrow: Treatment Effects Of The Stages Of Employment Job Readiness Program On Program Completion And Employment Outcomes For Ex-Offenders, Michael Hammer, Stephanie Pocchia, Stacy Howell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Foundation for an Independent Tomorrow (FIT) is a local not for profit organization that seeks to assist residents of Southern Nevada by providing workforce development services (e.g., interviewing skills, job searching techniques, resume assistance) to increase a program participant’s opportunities to obtain and maintain employment. FIT is currently being federally funded through the Department of Labor’s Workforce Investment Act (WIA) grant, with a specific goal of serving the re-entry, or ex-offender, population. This population presents with a very unique set of barriers to obtaining employment, and in order to combat these barriers, FIT created the Stages of Employment job readiness …

An Evaluation Of The Clark County Wetlands Park Volunteer Program, Stephanie Holguin, Riley Kelley, Aaron Manfredi, Michael Mcquatters

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background

Student evaluation team, M.A.R.S. Consulting Group (M.A.R.S.), conducted an evaluation of the Clark County Wetlands Park (CCWP) Volunteer Program from April 2014 through August 2014. The pre-assessment consisted of a qualitative analysis of the organization’s educational programs, tremendous growth in and establishment of facilities throughout 2013 and 2014, staff responsibilities, and volunteer programs. As a result of this pre-assessment, M.A.R.S. determined that an evaluation of the current volunteer program would have the most impact on the organization.

Purpose

The primary purpose of this evaluation is to provide Wetlands Park staff with suggestions and recommendations based on the identified needs …

Hotel Bukovyna, Rebecca Ann Bosshart

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This collection of short stories and first chapter of a novella take place in the historical area of Bukovyna, the beech tree land, partly located in Chernivetska region, western Ukraine. On the edge of it, or under it, or traveling to and from it, in contemporary time. I've been occupied with "the outsider," represented here, and where the seven stories reside, by the giant grande dame tourist hotel on Main Street, across from Shevchenko Park, in Chernivtsi, the region's city center. The occupants: the outsider looking in and around. Outsiders looking at other outsiders. An outsider being welcomed in. Most …

Effects Of Internalizing Behaviors On Processing Speed And Academic Fluency, Kristen Bjork

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study explored the relationships between internalizing behavior problems, processing speed and academic fluency. Internalizing behaviors are behaviors typically associated with depression and anxiety, such as withdrawal, somatization, and excessive worry. This study focused on the impact of these behaviors on an individual's ability to efficiently process information, as well as perform simple academic tasks quickly. The following measures were used: WISC-IV Coding and Symbol Search scores as a measure of processing speed, WJ-III Tests of Achievement Math Fluency and Reading Fluency scores as measures of academic fluency, and BASC-2 Parent Rating Scale scores for internalizing behaviors. Data gathered from …