Digital Commons Network^™

Nowhere: Blank Verse Concerning Small-Town Life In California, Daniel Scarpa

Master's Theses

I wanted to explore the process of using place - specifically, small towns in California that I visited - as inspiration for the writing of a book of poetry. This has been done in the past, most notably by poets such as Kenneth Rexroth and Gary Snyder. I was inspired by these poets and several others and my own experience in these often overlooked small towns to create a collection of syllabic blank verse poems that touch on their economies, practical reasons for isolation, and unique micro-cultures. While on the whole, I am pleased with the way the collection turned …

Natural Recovery Of Second-Growth Coast Redwood Stands In The Santa Cruz Mountains, Jeffrey M. Sinclair

Master's Theses

The natural recovery of coast redwood forests following a logging event is not fully understood. Recent studies, in the redwood central range, have found that un-restored and unmanaged second-growth forest stands can begin to recover and exhibit characteristics of old-growth stands within 100 years or less. The goal of this study was to determine if redwood stands in their southern range are recovering naturally. A total of 160 sample plots were selected randomly within old-growth and second-growth study sites. The data collected included stand density, tree size structure, canopy cover, species diversity, and species composition. Special habitat features were analyzed …

Made Marian: Myth And Reality In The Redondo Beach Public Library, 1895-1924, Lisa Blank

Master's Theses

Librarians have been depicted in the literature as missionaries, apostles, and crusaders, militant maid Marians spreading the gospel of the library spirit. This thesis examines the historical depiction of the "typical" early librarian by posing two key questions. First, to what extent was the work of librarianship different or unique compared to that of other middle-class female occupations? And second, in what way was the librarian herself distinct from other middle-class women; that is, what defining characteristics or life events brought her to and kept her in librarianship?

Utilizing local newspapers, official reports, and census and vital statistics data, this …

Framing Iran: The Islamic Revolution And The Green Movement As Told Through Time Magazine, Nadia Maiwandi

Master's Theses

FRAMING IRAN:

THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION AND THE GREEN MOVEMENT AS TOLD THROUGH TIME MAGAZINE

by Nadia Maiwandi

This framing analysis was conducted to study how Time portrayed Iran and Iranians during the Islamic Revolution of 1978-79 and the Green Movement uprising of 2009. In this study, particular attention was given to how the magazine framed the leaders of Iran and their opposition during these times, as well as to any correlation between Time's portrayal and the United States government's positions on these events. The analysis shows that magazine adhered to the United States' strong defense of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi ("the …

Examining The Relationship Between Snow Cover And Reservoir Storage In The American River Basin, Karen Mcgillis-Moskaluk

Master's Theses

This study focused on finding evidence of a relationship between snow cover and reservoir storage in the American River basin. Water availability is very important to the future of California. Landsat Thematic Mapper images of the area taken from 1985-2011 were analyzed by calculating Normalized Difference Snow Index and calculating snow acres. The peak storage data were obtained for Folsom Lake for the same time period as the satellite images. The evaluation of these methods showed that over time there was a correlation between snow cover and reservoir storage downstream.

Plurality Cues And Non-Agreement In English Existentials, Robin Melnick

Master's Theses

This paper furthers the discussion of variable agreement in English existential constructions. Previous studies across dialects have shown that there+be with a plural notional post-copular subject is frequently realized with contracted singular agreement, for example, "There's many articles on this topic." Prior work in building probabilistic models for predicting the presence of agreement or non-agreement in any given such there+be sentential context has investigated a variety of factors with potential influence on this variation, but the present study provides evidence for the inclusion of two novel and significantly predictive elements: a plurality "cue distance" and a new taxonomy for determiner …

Ethnic Continuity And Change At Gezer, Philip Webb

Master's Theses

This project examines the issue of social identity, particularly ethnicity, in the ancient world. It focuses on one site, Gezer, and how ethnic identities there evolved between the Middle Bronze Age and the end of the Iron Age. Modern anthropological perspectives on ethnicity and methods used by archaeologists for identifying ethnicity archaeologically are examined. In light of these studies, the history of Gezer is inspected.

The site is chronologically divided into three periods, the Bronze Age, the Early Iron Age, and the Late Iron Age. Using both historical and archaeological sources, the occupational history of Gezer is outlined, highlighting ethnically …

Predicting Slender False Brome (Brachypodium Sylvaticum) Invasion In The Santa Cruz Mountains, California, Janine Ellen Bird

Master's Theses

Early detection of an invasive species facilitates control and eradication. Slender false brome (Brachypodium sylvaticum) was first discovered in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Central California in 2003 as a non-native grass in redwood forests, competing with native vegetation. The current infestation in the Santa Cruz Mountains, estimated to be 300 acres, is concentrated in San Mateo County and could be eradicated. This study sought to determine most likely locations of slender false brome in the Santa Cruz Mountains by assessing environmental attributes of known presence locations using species distribution modeling and Maxent software. The study used 1,320 species presence …

An Examination Of The Representation Of Irish Catholic Priests In Contemporary Irish Theatre, James Patrick Jeans

Master's Theses

Modern Irish theatre can trace its origins to the creation of The Irish Literary Theatre by W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory in 1899, which later became the Irish National Theatre Society, and eventually, the Abbey Theatre. For more than 100 years, Irish theatre has served as a mirror for reflecting Irish identity and as an oracle of future possibilities. A decade into the Twenty First Century found Irish identity challenged by a child abuse scandal of tragic proportions whereby over 30,000 children suffered at the hands of a duplicitous and negligent Catholic Church. The purpose of this thesis is to …

Brats: A Memoir, Timothy James Heath

Master's Theses

There are two Americas. There is the America where families grow up generation after generation in the same geographic location. There is another America. This America moves populations about as if they were post-it notes attached to a bulletin board. Today, Great Lakes, tomorrow, Fort Carson, next week, Fort Wainwright, and so on. In this America, children rarely spend more than two years in the same location. Many are uprooted in the middle of a school year, often the senior year. Many do not know where home is, as their sponsor (the family member in the military) has not lived …

Three Faces Of Destiny: An Analysis Of The Modern Medea Figure On The American Stage, Melinda M. Marks

Master's Theses

This thesis examines the ways in which three structural factors contained within three modern American adaptations of Euripides' Medea serve to enhance the dominant personality traits of the main character. The plays used in this study are Steve Carter's Pecong (1990), Cherrie Moraga's The Hungry Woman (2002), and Neil Labute's Medea Redux (1997). While each protagonist is a re-development of the original Medea, the personalities of each are distinctive to the world of their adaptations. There are three main ways in which the structure of each adaptation works to enhance certain emotional markers within the main character.

The first analysis …

A Sign Of The Times: Contemporary American Post-Holocaust Imagery And Post-Jewish Identity, Stacy Rebecca Schwartz

Master's Theses

The construction of American Jewish identity has historically balanced efforts to reconcile acceptance into majority culture with maintaining traditional Jewish heritage. Expression of Jewish identity in a "diasporic community" has often been anchored in communal rituals and sociopolitical events, especially the Holocaust, uniting an increasingly diverse community. Beginning in the late twentieth century, the figure of the "post-Jew" and post-Jewish identity emerged alongside pluralist multiculturalism as an alternate identity framework recognizing the hybrid character of Jewish American identity as a combination of inherited and selected elements.

This thesis examines the manifestation of post-Jewish identity in artistic responses to the Holocaust …

Use Of Dna Sequences To Identify Forensically Important Fly Species In The Coastal Region Of Central California (Santa Clara County), Angela T. Nakano

Master's Theses

Forensic entomology has gained prominence in recent years, as improvements in DNA technology and molecular methods have allowed insect and other arthropod evidence to become increasingly useful in criminal and civil investigations. However, comprehensive faunal inventories are still needed, including cataloguing local DNA sequences for forensically significant Diptera. This multi-year fly-trapping study was built upon and expanded a previous survey of these flies in Santa Clara County, including the addition of genetic barcoding data from collected species of flies.

Flies from the families Calliphoridae, Sarcophagidae, and Muscidae were trapped in meat-baited traps set in a variety of locations throughout the …

Learning Freedom: Education, Elevation, And New York's African American Middle Class, 1827-1829, Michael Hines

Master's Theses

The education of free African American children in the antebellum period is a subject that has interested historians and scholars of education for decades. This thesis uses a new set of primary source material gathered from the pages of Freedom's Journal, the first African American owned and operated news organ in American history, to trace the development of attitudes regarding education in the free black community of New York in the late 1820s. By examining the editorials, articles, advice columns, and illustrations focused on education and child rearing that appear in the 104 issues of Freedom's Journal, this thesis shows …

Farms On Campus: Strong Stakeholder Support For An Educational Garden At A Non-Land-Grant University, Gina M. Bacigalupi

Master's Theses

University farms and gardens are increasingly seen as effective tools for learning a variety of academic subjects and as resources that allow users to connect experientially to nature. Most existing university farms, however, are found at resource-rich land-grant universities. This research evaluated stakeholder interest and willingness-to-pay in money, time, and labor for a proposed educational farm at a public, urban, non-land-grant university through an online survey of over 400 members of the California State University East Bay, Concord Campus community. Overall, support for an educational farm at this site was high amongst all stakeholder groups. Students and stakeholders who hold …

Weather-Based Damage Prediction Models For Electric Distribution Networks, David W. Wanik

Master's Theses

From thunderstorms to hurricanes, electric distribution networks are subject to a wide range of warm weather storm events. Tropical Storm Irene (2011) and Hurricane Sandy (2012) are two events in recent memory that disrupted over half of The Connecticut Light and Power Company’s (CL&P) service territory, which left some customers without power for up to eleven days. This research study investigates a damage prediction framework for both thunderstorms and hurricanes that combines two generalized linear models to probabilistically determine the occurrence and extent of damages, known as trouble spots, to the overhead power distribution network. The models are inputted with …

Landscaping Israel: Power And Resistance On The Ground, Janey Kemp

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Constrains On Freedom Of Expression In Turkey: The Effects Of Article 301, Armine Sargsyan

Master's Theses

Concerns over human rights violations in Turkey by the European Union (EU) have hindered the Republic of Turkey’s accession to the EU. Freedom of expression has been denied through a number of laws since the creation of the Republic in 1923. This thesis presents how and why speech has been constrained in Turkey, and it provides an argument that Ottoman history has a direct impact on the country’s politics today. It also examines the implications of legislation that has been applied to silence individuals addressing controversial issues in public. In particular, Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code has been …

The Odious Debt System, Andrew Hanauer

Master's Theses

Over the past forty years, African countries have accumulated enormous quantities of external debt. Today, this debt is heavily burdensome; money spent on debt service is money that cannot be invested into infrastructure development, health, education, or other areas that might benefit the large number of Africans who live in poverty. Calls for debt forgiveness have led western institutions to forgive a portion of this debt, but have not addressed the question of whether or not this debt is legitimate in the first place.

Similarly, academic proposals for the classification and subsequent repudiation or forgiveness of so-called "odious debt" have …

El Que Hace La Ley, Hace La Trampa; The Criminality Of Good Business In Puerto Rico, Kuwary Torréns Negrón

Master's Theses

This thesis analyzes the relationship between the increase in unemployment caused by the implementation of the 2009 economic policy-Ley Siete and the increase in crime. In order to analyze this link I examine the neoliberal rhetoric used to implement policies in Puerto Rico in the past and over the last four years. This thesis demonstrates how Ley Siete became a government tool that further developed economic disparities and helped crime flourish. The economic policy managed to benefit some while laying off thousands of people and the government became complicit in crime by not developing a plan to tackle the increase …

What’S In Your Cup: A Critique Of The Fair Trade System And Its Ability To Support Qualitative Socioeconomic And Environmental Transformation, Brittan M. Stockert

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Flow Of Water, Power, And Ideas: Water Commodification In Cape Town, South Africa And The Stratified Experiences Of Time And Space Compression, Jenna Washburn

Master's Theses

I use the neoliberalization of the water sector in Cape Town, South Africa in order to test my theory of unequal development. I assert that the neoliberal economic practices of water commodification, business-friendly tariff policies, and prepaid management devices keep people along the periphery from accessing water, power, and ideas – thus causing a stratification of time and space compression between the core and the periphery.

By painting a theoretical picture of world cities, I wish to complicate the dominant views of time/space compression and suggest that, much like development and arguably because of it, time and space compression actually …

Effects Of Silvicultural Management On Coast Redwood Forest Composition, Density And Structure In Santa Cruz And San Mateo Counties, Michael J. Papa

Master's Theses

The multiple-objective exploratory study investigates effects of various silvicultural management regimes commonly applied to coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens [D. Don] Endl.) forests in Santa Cruz and San Mateo Counties, California, USA. A temporary forest inventory was installed in 24 harvest origin stands and 4 natural origin stands throughout the study area (sample area = 1189 acres). Data from the systematic sample of 233 one-quarter acre nested cluster plots (sample intensity = 4.9%) rendered overall forest descriptions in terms of species composition, density, and structure. The common forestry measures of trees per acre (TPA), basal area per acre (BA), and …

Profession Of Faith: Congressional Websites And Religious Expression In The 112th Congress, Molly Jaye Mcguffee

Master's Theses

The idea of culture wars in politics suggests that American voters have polarized according to their positions on moral issues, and a religious gap in the electorate also contends that voters are polarized on these issues according to their religious beliefs and practices. Research shows that members of Congress send cues about their faith to their constituents, who in turn use the information to assess their representatives and determine their members' position on these moral issues. To determine how these cues are delivered and who delivers the information, I combed 100 Senators' and 435 Representatives' from the 1121 h Congress …

A Place Like Home, Tabitha Denae Epperson

Master's Theses

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina changed many things. This storm destroyed buildings, businesses, places of worship, and homes. People lost their lives, possessions, way of life, and for those that survived, their lives now were measured in two eras - pre and post Katrina. Because this natural disaster turned their lives upside down, both in large and small ways, their lives would never be the same. This thesis . documents stories of those that for various reasons chose to stay on the Mississippi Gulf Coast after Katrina. Twenty-five interviews of residents of Pass Christian explore what exactly is a …

Amaethon – A Web Application For Farm Management And An Assessment Of Its Utility, Tyler Yero

Master's Theses

Amaethon is a web application that is designed for enterprise farm management. It takes a job typically performed with spreadsheets, paper, or custom software and puts it on the web. Farm administration personnel may use it to schedule farm operations and manage their resources and equipment. A survey was con- ducted to assess Amaethon’s user interface design. Participants in the survey were two groups of students and a small group of agriculture professionals. Among other results, the survey indicated that a calendar interface inside Amaethon was preferred, and statistically no less effective, than a map interface. This is despite the …

Imagining Integration, Bethany Keisner

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Challenging Space Through Activism: Scaling Local And Global Issues At The 2012 London Olympic Games, Bridget Botelho

Master's Theses

This qualitative study focuses on issues of space created by the Olympic Games in London and the ways in which activists demonstrated against these issues by using space to their advantage. The Olympic Games is a phenomenon that scales local, national and international space in various ways, through its effects on global culture, identity, and economic processes. The games have a history of protest and activism, but the issues created by the games and struggles against them are not often discussed. My study aims to analyze the spatial effects of the Olympics on a local and global level through the …

Impact Of Salt On Denitrification Potential In Roadside Environments, Nakita A. Lancaster

Master's Theses

Urban systems are impacted by changes in hydrology and water chemistry, altering their ability to mitigate detrimental impacts to coastal water bodies, particularly those that result from high volumes of stormwater runoff. The elevated level of impervious cover increases not only runoff but also contaminant loading of nutrients, metals, and road salt used for deicing in cold weather climates. Current stormwater management strategies, while focused on managing the changes in hydrology associated with urbanization, also are designed to mitigate the pollutant loading. Here we investigate the impact that road salt will have on nitrogen removal in roadside environments. Sediments were …

Control System Development For Small Uav Gimbal, Nicholas J. Brake

Master's Theses

The design process of unmanned ISR systems has typically driven in the direction of increasing system mass to increase stabilization performance and imagery quality. However, through the use of new sensor and processor technology high performance stabilization feedback is being made available for control on new small and low mass stabilized platforms that can be placed on small UAVs. This project develops and implements a LOS stabilization controller design, typically seen on larger gimbals, onto a new small stabilized gimbal, the Tigereye, and demonstrates the application on several small UAV aircraft. The Tigereye gimbal is a new 2lb, 2-axis, gimbal …