Science and Technology Studies Commons^™

2023 Transportation Electrification Scorecard: Mountain West States, Ayda Atici, Kristian Thymianos, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Transportation & Infrastructure

This fact sheet examines data on policies and actions to support electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure in five Mountain West states: Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The data are retrieved from the “2023 Transportation Electrification Scorecard,” created by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). The Scorecard measures which Mountain West states are the most efficient in progress made towards the electrification of vehicles.

Digital Job Growth In The Mountain West, 2002-2020, Lana Kojoian, Miguel Soriano Ralston, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet examines data from the Brookings Institution report, “As the Digitalization of Work Expands, Place-based Solutions Can Bridge the Gaps,” which explores information on digital job growth in the U.S. The original report contains the digitalization scores of each state from 2002 to 2020 as well as scores for specific occupations. This fact sheet focuses on the digital job growth for each state in the Mountain West (Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah) and their metros.

Theorizing Constructive Learning Environments For Secondary Girls' Stem Learning, Safiyya Bintali

Undergraduate Research Symposium Performances & Exhibitions

Background: Multiple studies analyze STEM learning environments, but in these studies, secondary-age (middle/high school) female students are not the focus. There is a lack of research on creating effective STEM learning environments for motivating girls to be introduced to/motivated to pursue STEM fields.

Purpose of Study: Our study in the Engaging Girls in Ubiquitous Intelligence and Computing (GUIC) summer camp, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s ITEST program, aims to close that gap by investigating elements that made up a constructivist STEM learning environment, and how these elements ensured an effective and supportive STEM learning environment for secondary-age female …

Women In Tech In The Mountain West Cities, 2021, Saha Salahi, Joshua Padilla, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet examines data exploring the SmartAsset, “Best Cities for Women in Tech – 2021 Edition” and presents information on the best cities for women in tech in the Mountain West. This fact sheet focuses on the eight cities in the Mountain West region that appear within the 63 U.S. cities included in the original report.

How Misinformation Spreads Through Twitter, Mary Blankenship

Student Research

While living in the age of information, an inherent drawback to such high exposure to content lends itself to the precarious rise of misinformation. Whether it is called “alternative facts,” “fake news,” or just incorrect information, because of its pervasiveness in nearly every political and policy discussion, the spread of misinformation is seen as one of the greatest challenges to overcome in the 21st century. As new technologies emerge, a major piece of both content creation and the perpetuation of misinformation are social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. As news events emerge, whether be a pandemic, a mass …

Becoming "Smart" About Relationship Building: Foster Care Youth And The Use Of Technology, Ramona Denby Brinson, Efren Gomez, Keith A. Alford

Lincy Institute Reports and Briefs

Key Findings:

Youth participants reported satisfaction with services and positive feelings about the smartphone.

The youth participants felt that the smartphone gave them a “voice” and control over the people with whom they wanted to talk.

Certain phone restrictions developed by project leadership were unenforceable.

Youth had certain expectations about the phone and its use but when the phone did not work or was “locked” (e.g., for data overuse) it created friction between the youth and their service provider.

Service-providers report that the phones help to create a sense of normalcy for the youth. Youth “were able to be normal …

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 …

Plastic Deformation Of Steel Plates Under High Impact Loading, Brendan O'Toole

NSTec UNLV Symposium

• UNLV Two-stage Light Gas Gun
• Experimental Measurements
• Physical Results of Impact on Target Plates
• Research Objectives
• Computational Analysis Methods
• Material Models used in Computational Analysis
• Simulation Comparison: Crater and Deformation
• Simulation Comparison: Free Surface Velocity
• High Speed Video of Experiments
• Microscopy of Failure Surface: Is Phase Change an Issue?
• Electron Back Scatter Diffraction (EBSD) of Failure Surfaces
• On-going Plans and Future Work

Explore The Six Fundamentals Unlv Accelerated: High-Energy X-Ray Applications (Hexa), Oliver A. Hemmers

NSTec UNLV Symposium

• UNLV and HEXA for a Brighter Southern Nevada Future
• History of HEXA’s Public-­‐Private Partnership
• Discovery Through Research and Innova4ve Technologies
• The Innova4ve Process
• Southern Nevada Research and Economic Development Applica4ons
• HEXA Program Benefits

Does Access To Information Technology Make People Happier? Insights From Well-Being Surveys From Around The World, Carol Graham, Milena Nikolova

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

This lecture summarizes new research on the relationship between access to cell phones, TV, and the internet and subjective well-being worldwide. Technology access is positive for well-being in general, but with diminishing marginal returns for those who already have much access. It is also associated with increased stress and anger among cohorts for whom access to the technologies is new. The increased financial inclusion in very poor countries that comes with cell phones and mobile banking also has effects on well-being. Well-being levels are higher in the countries with higher levels of access to mobile banking, but so are stress …

Game Change: What Have We Learned? Pt. 2, Robert E. Lang, Sonya D. Horsford, Marya L. Shegog, Ramona Denby-Brinson, Fatma Nasoz

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Share Knowledge. Change Lives. Transform our Community.

Our Mission: The Lincy Institute at UNLV conducts and supports research that focuses on improving Nevada's health, education, and social services.

Our Research Areas: Education, Health, Social Services, Information Technology

Apps And Apple Devices: Productive Icloud Uses, Cyrus Ford Zarganj

Library Faculty Presentations

This program introduces useful apps for librarians who have two or more Apple devices such as an iPhone, iPad, or MacBook. You can learn how to use the iCloud, sync devices together, and about other useful apps for librarians to work on their projects from different places with different Apple devices without carrying files.

2011 Research Highlights, Yusheng Zhao

NSTec UNLV Symposium

Overview

•Center Mission and Cluster Tasks
•Recent Scientific Achievements
•Current & Future Developments

Unlv Center For Materials And Structures: Structural Response Due To Blast Loadingand Dynamic Material Characterization, Brendan O'Toole, Mohamed Trabia, Jagadeep Thota

NSTec UNLV Symposium

Presentation Outline

National Center For Nuclear Security, Veraun Chipman, Amanda Klingensmith, Cathy Snelson

NSTec UNLV Symposium

National Center for Nuclear Security (NCNS) Mission

•Chartered mission is to enhance the Nation’s verification and detection capabilities in support of nuclear arms control and nonproliferation through R&D activities at the NNSS
•Three focus areas
–Treaty Verification Technologies
–Nonproliferation Technologies
–Technical Nuclear Forensics

The Unlv Xps Facility – Research Opportunities, Allen L. Johnson

NSTec UNLV Symposium

XPS Outline

•XPS – what is it?

•How is it done?

•What are its limitations?

•Future direction – radioactive samples

–Sample containment and transport
–Sputter controls
–Radiation limits

•Summary

Pmts And Radiation/Particle Detection Technologies, Brent Davis

NSTec UNLV Symposium

Describes technical standards for equipment in the field of Nuclear and Optical Physics.

Matter Under Unusual Conditions, Bernard Zygelman

NSTec UNLV Symposium

What is curiosity – driven research and why do we support it?

Vannevar Bush Science The Endless Frontier (1945)

“Science is the pacemaker of technological progress … New productsand new processes do not appear full-grown. They are founded on newprinciples and new conceptions, which in turn are painstakingly developedby research in the purest realms of science“

•Magnetic Resonance Imaging
•Positron Emission Tomography
•Laser applications
•GPS
•Nano Technology

Visualization Facility At Unlv Gis And Remote Core Lab, Haroon Stephen

NSTec UNLV Symposium

Outline

• About GIS/RS Lab
• Visualization Facility
• Research Areas
• Summary

Establishing A Center Of Excellence For Security Science And Engineering, Ke-Xun Sun

NSTec UNLV Symposium

Outline

• Introduction
• Progress report
• NNSA proposal to establishCenter of Excellence for Security Science and Engineering
• Perspective on UNLV-NSTec collaboration

Development Of Ion Beam Nuclear Transmutation Doping (Ibntd) For Novel Electronics In Extreme Conditions, Michael G. Pravica, Noel A. Guardala, Jack L. Price

NSTec UNLV Symposium

Development of IBNTD for electronics under extreme conditions.

•We hope to create novel wide bandgap devices using Ion Beam Nuclear Transmutation Doping (IBNTD). These devices may be used as rugged high power switches, and high current/low noise amplifiers. Diamond in itself represents a “Holy Grail” for electrical applications due to its very high thermal conductivity and excellent electrical characteristics.
•We also hope to develop devices that can convert the enormous energy from high-energy nuclear particles (α2+,β-,β+, γparticles) into useful electricity and thus harness the enormous energy still contained in “spent” nuclear fuel. Developing these direct energy conversion (DEC) devices would …

Mission Perspective: Non-Proliferation, Emergency Response, And Other Missions Supported By Sdrd, Paul Guss

NSTec UNLV Symposium

The NNSS provides scientific data and technical solutions to fulfill national security needs

Our mission has evolved from past history and now includes...

• Stockpile Stewardship
• Non-proliferation & Emergency Response
• Homeland Security
• Defense Applications
• Special Technologies

Unlv Em-Dot Research, Highlights Of Improvised Electric Detonator (Wire Melt) Research, And Comments On Basic Research With Unlv Non-Equilibrium Plasma Pinch, Robert A. Schill Jr.

NSTec UNLV Symposium

UNLV EM DOT

•Patented
–Patent Number: 7,482,814 [1/27/2009]
•Novel Differential Dot
–Wide bandwidth & Matched
–Symmetric, shielded sensor
–Measures the E and B fields at a single point in space simultaneously
•Transient Calibration Technique Developed –Excellent Agreement
–Low inductance test stand –relatively uniform B-field
–Low capacitance test stand –relatively uniform E-field
–Test stand is the limiting factor at this time

Radiography And Image Processing, Stephen E. Mitchell

NSTec UNLV Symposium

Outline

• Introduction
• What? Why? Etc.
• Pulsed Power
• Diode Physics
• Radiography ABC’s
• Challenges

Overview Of Nstec Plasma Focus Tubes And Magnetohydrodynamic Modeling Capabilities, Tim Meehan

NSTec UNLV Symposium

•Brief Description of how DPFs work, in general what they are useful for.
•DPF devices that we have at NSTec
•Using MHD modeling software to optimize designs and predict performance
•Neutron Resonance Spectroscopy

Development Of Smart Pv Inverters For The Smart Grid, Yahia Baghzouz

NSTec UNLV Symposium

The Electric Grid has become more complex with recent technological developments. There are more alternative power sources and sensors added into the mix at every part of the grid. The Energy Meter has changed over the past several years as well. The older meters were checked only once a month with a meter reader, but the new "Smart" Meters are capable of reporting energy usage at fifteen minute intervals.

Event Flyer, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

NSTec UNLV Symposium

Featuring 18 scientists and engineers from UNLV and NSTec describing their work as it relates to national security requirements for the United States.

Join us for a quick-paced forum to help determine collaborations suitable for advancing engineering and scientific research at NSTec and UNLV.

The Economics Of Cybersecurity: A National Dilemma, Allan A. Friedman

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Cybersecurity has dominated recent headlines, but policy makers and pundits alike still combine different risks, threats, and solutions. Crime, espionage, and international conflict represent different dangers to our society at the local and national level, and each has a set of bad actors with different incentives. Conflating these areas can lead to poorly framed solutions. Exploring the economics of cybersecurity offers a set of tools to understand these incentives, and the sometimes complex policy challenges that arise in dealing with digital risk.

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 …

Do Libraries Still Need Book Vendors And Subscription Agents?, Stephen Bosch, Christopher Sugnet, J. Cory Tucker, Lauren Corbett

Library Faculty Research

Digital content blurs the lines of traditional library acquisition workflows and organization. For example: link resolvers and the loading of order confirmation record files may be handled by systems staff in one organization and by technical services staff in another. Lines are being crossed between acquisitions and interlibrary loan functions, notably with electronic versions of theses and dissertations. Regardless of this blurring of lines, library staff use vendors still in acquiring content for the library collection. The reasons for using vendors have stood for decades, but are changes in the information industry having an impact? In the current environment, what …