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Quantifying The Functional Consequences Of Spanish [S] Lenition: Plural Marking And Derived Homophony In Western Andalusian And Castilian, Mary Catherine Moran Ryan

Master's Theses

In this thesis, a new methodology is proposed for investigating Spanish [s] lenition (sound weakening or loss) via morphological analysis instead of phonetics. Word-final [s] is a morphological plural marker in Castilian Spanish, but is rarely produced in Western Andalusian Spanish (WAS). It is often asserted in the literature that the loss of [s] in WAS requires plurality to be expressed via alternative means. The results of this study rule out lexical and morpho-syntactic compensation for [s] lenition in WAS in several previously untested domains, and imply that there is no functional motivation in Modern Spanish driving a need for …

Construction Of Bacterial Strains Containing A Plasmid Producing An Opossum-Based Anti-Venom Peptide For Low Cost Production Of The Peptide, Angela Cifelli

Master's Theses

A cost-effective therapy for snake bites and other biological toxins could save thousands of lives each year. A low-cost therapy can be achieved using a bacterial host that expresses a peptide that prevents death when administered after exposure to these toxins. A protein expressed in opossums, lethal toxin neutralizing factor (LTNF), provides the animal’s resistance to venom and a variety of other toxins. A small peptide fragment of this protein provides the same lifesaving properties as the full protein sequence. A synthetic copy of this peptide was tested in mice exposed to rattlesnake venom and showed lifesaving potential. The peptide …

The Impact Of A Changing Climate On The Frequency Of Sudden Stratospheric Warming Events, Ashley Fortin

Master's Theses

A sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event is a rapid breakdown of the polar vortex during the winter months. Driven primarily by anomalous planetary-scale Rossby waves propagating upward from the troposphere, SSW events are able to influence tropospheric weather through stratospheric-tropospheric coupling. As a result of increased greenhouse gas emissions, temperatures are changing across the troposphere and may influence how the stratosphere and troposphere interact. It is unclear how the stratospheric circulation will respond to these changes and how the frequency of SSW events may be affected. This study uses National Center for Environmental Prediction and National Center for Atmospheric Research …

Using Recycled Water For Potable Reuse In Santa Clara County, Ca: High School Students' Knowledge And Acceptance, Nicholas Ronald Ajluni

Master's Theses

The drought-prone State of California has an ever increasing demand for water. Potable reuse provides a viable alternative water supply, but public attitudes, knowledge, and acceptance have limited implementation. This study investigated the knowledge and acceptance that high school students have towards potable reuse. Previous research has identified four critical factors that influence acceptance of potable reuse: 1) knowledge of the wastewater treatment process, 2) knowledge of local water supplies, 3) trust in local water resource managers, and 4) belief in the need for a new water supply. This study uses both quantitative and qualitative methods through a Likert-style survey …

The Perception Of Trust Between Athletic Trainers And Musical Performing Artists, Jenna Lea Chinburg

Master's Theses

Trust is a crucial element for a successful patient-clinician relationship. Athletic

trainers may care for musical performing artists who demonstrate unique needs compared

to traditional patients. In order to provide the best care, athletic trainers must establish a

basis of patient-centered care and build solid professional relationships with performers.

By improving overall patient-clinician relationship factors with respect to this population,

trust may be implemented and sustained. The purpose of the study was to determine

factors that established or diminished trust between drum corps members and their

athletic trainers. The study included 12 semi-structured interviews in which Drum Corps

International (DCI) …

A Qualitative Analysis Of A Team's Experience Of Coping With Bereavement After The Death Of A Head Coach, Matthew Paul Gonzalez

Master's Theses

The consequences of coping with death as an athlete have been documented in the literature by a variety of studies. However, these studies have remained largely focused on coping with the death of a teammate. This study examined the inter- and intrapersonal impact of experiencing the death of a head coach. Experiencing the death of a head coach during the season may have profound and varied psychosocial consequences for all members of a team. A collegiate team was identified as having experienced the death of its head coach during his tenure and from that team five participants (four players and …

Illegal Dumping As An Indicator For Community Social Disorganization And Crime, Amory Anne Brandt

Master's Theses

Illegal dumping of household waste in and around city streets results in many negative health, economic, and environmental effects. This goal of this study was to understand the systemic causes of illegal dumping within San José, California. Illegal dump sites were identified, quantified, characterized, and mapped within urban census block groups at a range of median family income levels. Results showed that commonly dumped debris types were furniture, and garbage. The most illegal dumping occurred within census block groups with low median family incomes, high percentages of non-English speaking individuals, and high percentages of renters. Factors such as social disorganization, …

“A (Blind) Woman's Place Is (Teaching) In The Home”: The Life Of Kate Foley, 1873-1940, Angela Gates

Master's Theses

This thesis examines the life and career of Kate Foley, home teacher of the blind with the California State Library from 1914-1940. The purpose of this investigation is to determine how Foley, who was disabled, built a successful career with the state library despite facing significant discrimination and prejudice. Using a wide variety of primary source material, including letters, library publications, conference proceedings, newspaper articles, and census data, this biography evaluates Foley’s pioneering role as well as the challenges she faced. Home teaching provided a new vocational opportunity for blind women, whose professional choices were extremely limited. Despite her unique …

Estuarine Habitat Use By The California Sea Otter (Enhydra Lutris Nereis), Jacqueline Kimberly Lindsey

Master's Theses

As the southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) range expands into northern and southern California, it will encounter estuaries that have been historically occupied by sea otters. Understanding how otters use re-colonized estuarine environments will inform how estuaries might be managed to encourage future sea otter range expansion. This project addressed the question: how do southern sea otters use space in the unique estuarine habitats of Elkhorn Slough? I compared the locations and behaviors of 25 individual sea otters of different status (male, female, and female with pup) among eelgrass, saltmud, saltmarsh, tidal creek, and main channel habitats in Elkhorn …

Variation In Organismic Rna And Dna Content: Analysis And Application To The Assessment Of Living Planktonic Biomass, Elizabeth Lam Gagneron

Master's Theses

Modern analysis of DNA and RNA nucleic acid sequences has yielded profound changes in our understanding of the genetic biodiversity of planktonic organisms within the microbial food web of aquatic ecosystems. However, the bulk environmental concentrations of DNA and RNA, and their relative ratios, also potentially provide important information on the biomass and metabolic activity of planktonic organisms. Currently, there is a need to quantify the relative living biomass levels of natural water contained in ships’ ballast tanks to regulate the spread of aquatic invasive species (AIS) resulting from ballast water discharge practices within the international shipping industry. Ultraviolet (UV) …

Comparative Evaluation Of Malnutrition Screening In Oncology Patients In An Acute Care Hospital: A Pilot Study, Chandni Sen Sinha

Master's Theses

Malnutrition is associated with negative health consequences in the vulnerable cancer population, making it imperative for an efficient interdisciplinary approach to conduct nutritional screening using an appropriate scale. For the present study, a comparison between an existing malnutrition risk-screening questionnaire (EMR-SQ) and a comprehensive screening questionnaire (CMR-SQ) was performed on 37 cancer patients. The first stage of data collection required the nurses to electronically complete the EMR-SQ. In the second stage, the same patients’ data were assessed using the CMR-SQ, developed by the authors based on the guidelines of the PG-SGA and A.S.P.E.N. The CMR-SQ identified 32.4% at low, 37.8% …

Historical Trauma And Refugee Reception: Armenians And Syrian-Armenian Co-Ethnics, Nicole M. Campos

Master's Theses

This thesis considers the ways in which Armenian history has influenced integration of Syrian-Armenian refugees into Armenia due to the ongoing Syrian War. Ethnic Armenian outlooks were analyzed relative to the influx of Syrian refugees, particularly co-ethnic Syrian-Armenians. Field work in Armenia found a sustained cultural impression of Armenians’ Soviet membership and genocide. Findings suggest that recognizing the importance of history as it may or may not affect migration reception policies and attitudes is important to developing sustainable resettlement environments, at least until repatriation or third-country resettlement becomes an option to migrants. Ultimately, this thesis argues that more attention must …

Integrative Analysis Of Heterogeneous Genomics Data For Triple Negative Breast Cancer And High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer, Abdelrahman Hosny Ibrahim

Master's Theses

The human body is made up of trillions of cells. Although all the human body cells contain the same DNA sequence inside their nuclei, each one carries out its own function. Normally, human cells grow and divide to form daughter cells as the body needs them. When cells grow old, or lose their ability to function properly, they die (in a very organized way called apoptosis or programmed cell death) and new cells take their role. Cancer is a disease that is caused by uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in some part of the body, breaking the natural process of …

Azeotrope Enabled Anionic Polymerization Of Ethylene Oxide Using Initiators With Different Functional Groups, Dronareddy Madugula

Master's Theses

Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) is a nonionic hydrophilic polymer having the same repeat unit as poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). It is of interest in both biology and materials science. PEO surfaces demonstrate a unique lack of protein adhesion, and PEO block copolymers are widely used in applications such as drug delivery. Unfortunately, the synthesis of PEO homopolymers and block copolymers can be experimentally challenging, with a typical method involving air sensitive organometallics and the removal of compounds such as naphthalene from the final product. Here we report a synthetic route that avoids these difficulties by using azeotropic distillation to remove water from …

Change In Urban Fabric Through Space And Time At Differing Levels Of Automobility, Kristin A. Floberg

Master's Theses

For thousands of years cities have been centers for commerce, creativity, and livelihood, consisting of relatively unchanged characteristics such as walkable streets, diverse land-uses, and human-scaled buildings and streets. With the introduction of the automobile, this past century the desire for free-flowing traffic and convenient parking has drastically transformed the fabric of many cities. Transforming cities into places that accommodate automobiles has transformed downtowns into office parks rather than vibrant mixed-use environments and destroyed communities.

Investigation into reducing automobiles in cities has increasingly piqued the interest of stakeholders in the environmental, safety and economic development communities. This body of research …

Defining “Justice” In Post-Conflict Societies By Exploring The Case Of The Armenian Genocide., Narek Ghazaryan

Master's Theses

This study examines the many different approaches towards justice in post-conflict societies. It analysis the two main theories of justice and uses the Armenian Genocide as a case study to comprehend what constitutes justice in the aftermath of a humanitarian crisis. This study aims to define “justice” by the Armenian population in forms of surveys and expert interviews. It is the community who is directly impacted by the crisis can indeed identify what justice mean to them. For a society to heal in the aftermath of conflict justice needs to be served in order to restore peace and harmony. For …

The Inter- And Intra-Rater Reliability Of Athletic Trainers At Identifying Acl Injury Risk Factors Using The Cutting Screening Tool, Kelly Buckholz Smallbeck

Master's Theses

Background: ACL injuries are a frequently talked about injury in sports and have a multitude of negative side effects. A majority of injuries occur during single-leg cutting motions. Clinical screening tools are an effective way to identify those demonstrating more ACL injury risk factors. Recent research has created a variety of clinical screening tools to identify ACL injury risk factors, however none screen athletes during a single-leg cutting motion.

Hypothesis: A clinical screening tool using a single-leg cutting motion (the Cutting Screening Tool, or CST) will reliably identify ACL injury risk factors when used by athletic trainers.

Methods: Six currently …

The Political Economy Of Conflict In Liberia, Sierra Leone, And Côte D'Ivoire: Foreign Economic Intervention And The Spatial Distribution Of Violent Conflict, Sarai-Anne N. Ikenze

Master's Theses

Between 1989 and 2011, the three neighboring West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Côte d’Ivoire each experienced at least one major civil conflict; and the combined devastation of the conflicts claimed over a million lives, generated millions of refugees, and crippled infrastructure in ways that continue to impact the development of the sub-region today. The occurrence of conflict in the three countries and the fact that they share borders has raised questions about whether the conflicts were caused by domestic factors or were the result of transborder processes of conflict diffusion. This paper will assess the causes of …

Assessing The Effectiveness Of Micro-Level Poverty Interventions In The Highlands Of Guatemala, Jacqueline A. Castro

Master's Theses

Despite immense efforts of poverty alleviation in the Western highlands of Guatemala, poverty is intense and widespread. Amidst an abundant array of poverty interventions, existing evidence on those interventions are not sufficient. Highlighting basic knowledge regarding impact evaluations, this paper aims to determine the most effective poverty intervention for the Western highland areas of Guatemala. Focusing on impact evaluations, this paper reviews 17 Latin American interventions, paying close attention to what may be applicable to this region. Using only the highest quality data from Latin America, it is clear that cash transfers and graduation programs are the most impactful interventions …

Sino Ako? (Who Am I?): Exploring Filipino American Identity In Philippine Studies Courses, Omega Loren Letana

Master's Theses

Filipinos make up the third largest immigrant population in the United States and are the largest Asian immigrant group in California (U.S. Census, 2010). Despite this and an American colonial past, the American education system has failed to depict Filipino and Filipino American history accurately in its textbooks and courses. In addition to this, studies have indicated that young Filipino Americans often have difficulties in defining their identities. It is imperative that we recognize how this issue of identity formation is being addressed in postsecondary institutions through Philippine Studies courses, which employ decolonizing pedagogies.

This thesis paper analyzes the role …

Challenging Filipino Colonial Mentality With Philippine Art, Francesca V. Mateo

Master's Theses

For 350 years, the Philippines was colonized by Spain and the United States. The Philippines became a sovereign nation in 1946 yet, fifty years later, colonial teachings continue to oppress Filipinos due to their colonial mentality (CM.) CM is an internalized oppression among Filipinos in which they experience an automatic preference for anything Western—European or U.S. American—and rejection of anything Filipino. Although Filipinos show signs of a CM, there are Filipinos who are challenging CM by engaging in Philippine art. Philippine art is defined as Filipino-made visual art, literature, music, and dance intended to promote Philippine culture. This …

State Failure In Venezuela, Marcus Littman

Master's Theses

The role of the state is to provide political goods such as security and an environment conducive to economic growth. The Venezuelan state is failing to provide both security and conditions capable of producing economic growth. The government has exacerbated both by enacting failed policies. I measure the economic crisis in Venezuela based on the rates of inflation, falling foreign currency reserves, the food and medical supply shortage, falling government spending, and negative GDP growth. I measure the security crisis based on the escalating rate of kidnapping, human trafficking, drug sales, smuggling, theft, gun distribution, and homicide. In this thesis, …

The Politics Of Contagion, Joseph M. Young

Master's Theses

Contagion events have occurred throughout history leaving death and destruction in their wake. Often sensationalized in movies and shows such as Contagion and The Walking Dead, contagion events are life-altering events filled with gory symptoms and elevated mortality rates. The dangers of contagion events prompted governments to develop agencies with the purpose of preventing and mitigating the risks contagions pose. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other agencies across the globe pour millions of dollars each year into eliminating the risk of contagions and making the world a safer place. However, while more resources are dedicated to …

Challenges Associated With Improving The Nutritional Quality Of Foods Available In Schools: The Case Of San Francisco Unified School District, Marianne Hoeidal

Master's Theses

This thesis examines school meal programs as a governmental intervention to improve food security among children. Further, it will examine how the global nutrition transition is affecting school meal programs and what challenges schools have met in their attempts to improve the nutritional components in meals served in schools. This thesis uses the case of San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) located in California, United States of America, as an opportunity to investigate the key challenges in the process of improving the nutritional components of their meal plans, and how they overcame this challenges. The thesis begins with a historical …

An Analysis Of Mongolia’S Resource-Led Development: The Impact Of Foreign Direct Investment In The Extraction Industry, Belguun Bat-Erdene

Master's Theses

It has been 26 years since Mongolia transitioned to democracy. I decided to evaluate the progress of Mongolia’s development since the transition to evaluate whether the country of only 3 million people with vast land and natural resources successfully implemented policies to attain growth and societal wellbeing. In order to evaluate Mongolia’s development progress, this thesis uses FDI in Mongolian development since 1990 as a case study to examine the relationship between FDI, state development strategies, and development outcomes. My research questions encompass a series of interrelated inquiries including 1) whether human development can be achieved through extraction industries 2) …

Distorting The Life Of Maca (Lepidium Miyenii), Fabiola Tavui

Master's Theses

The supply and demand of maca (Lepidium Miyenii), a native Peruvian vegetable, increased over the past decade; however, it has recently reduced. There are many implications for this outcome. Maca, a product with several health benefits, caught the attention of not just foreign businesses and investors but also of Peruvians. As maca became highly commercialized and exported abroad, the actors involved in the maca “business” at all levels contributed to its market to prospered but also to crumble. Some of the reasons due to the exploitation of maca itself for economic gains; distorting maca’s ecological environment and relation …

Long Working Hours, Happiness, And Quality Of Democracy With The Case Studies Of Japan And Denmark, Yu Namie

Master's Theses

This thesis aims to reveal the hypothesis that long working hour reduce people’s happiness and undermine democracy. For achieving this goal, this study clarifies the relationship between long working hours, happiness, and political engagement. Moreover, in order to seek the way to increase social happiness, it tries to figure out how global free market economy relates the working hours. The research method mainly relies on the fieldwork in Japan and Denmark.

First, this study succeeded to reinforce the argument that long working hour negatively influenced people’s happiness. Also, if we define the quality of democracy as the society constituted with …

Plastic Oceans: A New Way In Solving Our Plastic Pollution, Dakota S. Floyd

Master's Theses

By 2050, the world’s oceans will have more plastic than fish with potentially catastrophic consequences on sea life and the health of the ocean. Economically, countries with coastal boundaries will be heavily impacted as plastic pollution has already generated a 13 billion dollars in monetary losses. Considering that this is an extreme problem that we are currently facing the current solution is not enough in curbing our plastic pollution. While, recycling programs have been beneficial in reclaiming some plastic our mass consumption of plastic has outpaced the capabilities of recycling efforts. If we are to find a solution in our …

Notions Of Discontent And Distinction: Reflections Of Young Diasporic Taiwanese Americans, Andrew T. Chen

Master's Theses

In 1971, Taiwan lost its seat in the United Nations and has been vying for international validation ever since. The Kuomintang’s (KMT) loss and the development of Taiwan’s democracy has left millions with varying opinions pertaining to the status of Taiwan. It also brings up the importance of what it means to be Taiwanese and how Taiwanese people identify and distinguish themselves from China. For much of the Republic of China’s (ROC) existence in Taiwan the independence movement for the de facto nation-state has lived outside of its borders, making achievements and enduring hardships for Taiwan and Taiwanese Americans throughout …

“Mexico, Public Policy And Obesity In A Global Context”, Daniela Carina Bermudez

Master's Theses

Mexico has one of the most obese populations in the world. A country known for its diversity of rich flavorful food is drowning in low nutritional food products. This thesis examines Mexico’s obesity epidemic within the larger global context of international economic trade policies, public policies and Mexico’s health policies. The key research questions are 1) why is there an obesity epidemic in Mexico? and 2) what remedies should Mexico implement to control it? This thesis contributes to a viable policy strategy for the Mexican government to control and prevent the further increase of this obesity epidemic. Reviewing both the …