Digital Commons Network^™

Did The Cdc Guidelines For Suicide Reports Affect The New York Times?, Joni Kathryn Marshburn

Master's Theses

The CDC informed the American media of the best way to avoid contributing to imitative suicides by releasing guidelines for suicide reports in 2001. In this study, suicide reports in the New York Times were examined to establish if these guidelines affected the reporting. To determine if there was any change, all suicide reports from five years before, the year of guideline release, and five years after were extracted from the Times database. To determine compliance, articles were coded using a coding sheet that operationalized the guidelines into 12 yes–or–no questions.

The New York Times observed nearly one and a …

The Effects Of Self-Monitoring On The Facebook User Experience, Pamela Eden Ong

Master's Theses

Self-monitoring, or the individual differences in the extent to which people observe, regulate, and control their public appearances, has been studied in a variety of face-to-face domains such as friendships, romantic relationships, and work and organizational settings. The purpose of this study was to assess whether high and low self-monitors construct their identities on an online social networking site, such as Facebook, in ways that are consistent with their self-monitoring preferences for the face-to-face world. Social networking sites allow individuals to have members of all of their social networks present in a common setting at any particular time. This may …

Effects Of Tissue Nitrogen And Media Nitrate On Trace Metal Uptake And Trophic Transfer By Ulva Spp., Sonya Meenakshi Sankaran

Master's Theses

A general survey of trace metal content in Ulva spp. (Linnaeus) around Moss Landing, California was carried out. The next objective was to evaluate whether tissue nitrogen or media nitrate affects metal uptake (As, Pb, Mn, Zn) by Ulva spp. under eutrophic conditions. Additionally, the role of metal burden in the invertebrate Idotea resecata as a function of metal content in its diet was examined. Mean trace metal concentrations in Ulva differed significantly among sites in Moss Landing, California. Laboratory measurements using samples from 15 sites along the central California coast revealed a significant positive correlation between Ulva spp. tissue …

The Use Of Web 2.0 Technologies In Archives: Developing Exemplary Practice For Use By Archival Practitioners, Collin Thorman

Master's Theses

Web 2.0 technologies have fundamentally changed the way in which people interact and find information online. Archives are attempting to utilize Web 2.0 technologies to reach new users and promote their collections, but many have implemented these technologies without a full understanding of how to use them appropriately. Research has been conducted concerning libraries implementing Web 2.0 technologies, but much of the research involving archives has consisted of anecdotal evidence and is limited in scope. This research fills that gap by gathering data on the use of many different technologies by different kinds of archives around the globe.

Using surveys …

Measuring Employee Perceptions Of Organizational Tolerance For Failure, Perla Yael Slutzky

Master's Theses

The empirical concept of Organizational Tolerance for Organizational Failure was examined. First, a clear definition of the concept was established and, second, the concept's dimensionality was explored. Based on data collected from 140 participants, four main scale components were identified: Organizational Values and Beliefs, Organizational and Supervisor Support and Motivation, Compensation and Reward Systems, and Recognition. Even though the final scale developed represented a good research base, further development is needed to improve some of the subscale's internal consistencies.

Mood Management And Video-Game Engagement: The Importance Of User-Experience And Gender In Assessing The Psychological Effects Of Video-Game Play, Crystine Serrone

Master's Theses

The overall purpose of this thesis was to investigate the psychological effects of video-game play. The two central goals were to (a) compare and contrast three classic media theories (Mood Management Theory, The Catharsis Hypothesis, and Excitation-Transfer Theory) as they apply to the effects of video-game play, and (b) investigate the importance of user-experience variables and gender in predicting psychological outcomes of play. In a two-group mixed experimental design, all participants underwent a frustration/stress mood-induction procedure before playing a violent or nonviolent video-game. Questionnaires were administered both pre- and post-play to assess affect, arousal, and dominance as well as the …

The Gold Mountain Theater Riots: A Social History Of Chinese Theater Riots In San Francisco During The 1870s And 1880s, Morgan Gerard Boyd

Master's Theses

During the 1870s and 1880s, San Francisco's Chinese theaters were scenes of tumultuous riots, which this thesis has designated as The Gold Mountain Theater Riots. City petitions and ordinances restricting the performances of Chinese theaters, police raids on Chinese theaters when they did not comply with these ordinances, stampedes caused by panics, and tong and Chinese theater rivalries were all catalysts for violence in America's first Chinese theaters. The Gold Mountain Theater Riots attempts to gain further knowledge of why these extra-theatrical events occurred, through the examination of Chinese audiences and the police involved in these theater riots as reported …

Asahi Shimbun And The New York Times: Framing Pearl Harbor And The 9/11 Attacks, Maiko Kunii

Master's Theses

The researcher analyzed visual frames in the photo coverage in the New York Times and the Japanese newspaper, Asahi Shimbun, following the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 and the 9/11 attacks in 2001. In 1941-1942, although the humanization set of frames was the dominant frame in the New York Times, the set of military frames was dominant in Asahi Shimbun. The New York Times emphasized American civilians as well as the American and U.S. allied soldiers' involvement in the war. In contrast, photos in Asahi Shimbun portrayed the patriotism of the Japanese military and the international human dimension in Asia. …

Rhetoric Of Social Change In Documentary Film Scores: An Analysis Of The Cove, Brianna Chanel Hackley

Master's Theses

Documentary films tell the untold stories and tragedies of the world as well as reflect the filmmakers' ideologies. In this way, they are socially conscious media: they give light to the struggles and problems that exist in society, often giving voice to people who might otherwise be silenced. Documentary films are also rhetorically persuasive in that they help to organize public perception. Documentary scores are part of films' persuasiveness and help audiences to make sense of the documentary footage.

Using a form of rhetorical analysis, this thesis aims to study documentary scores to understand how they mobilize audiences around a …

Visual Search On A Mobile Device While Walking, Ji Jung Lim

Master's Theses

Previous studies have examined the effects of walking and user interface elements on mobile task performance, using physical target selection tasks. The current study investigated the effect of walking and user interface elements on visual search on a mobile device, isolating the effects on perceptual and cognitive processes. The effects of object size, contrast, and target location on mobile devices while walking and standing were examined. A serial visual search using "T" and "L" shapes on a mobile device, which controlled for physical target selection involvement was conducted. The results showed that walking, bigger object size, and the target position …

Documenting The Delta: Lessons Learned From Film, Charies Lee Parker

Master's Theses

California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, "the Delta," is one of the state's most important natural resources. Beginning in the mid 1800s and continuing to the present day, anthropogenic activities radically altered, and continue to affect, this ecosystem. Wetland reclamation and water projects transformed the Delta landscape from a tidal wetland into an artificially homogenous freshwater system. As a result, the health of the Delta ecosystem is in jeopardy. Experts agree that current management practices of the Delta are unsustainable; however, experts cannot agree on a viable solution.

An educational documentary film, "California Kings: Sold Down the River," was used as the …

Differential And Temporal Immunomodulation Of Alpha4 Integrins On Cd4+ Memory Cells By Bordetella Pertussis And Bordetella Parapertussis, Dipti Ravindra

Master's Theses

Pertussis, caused by Bordetella pertussis (B. pertussis), is reemerging worldwide due to vaccine inefficacy. The hallmarks of infection are extreme lymphocytosis and delayed recovery, which are partially associated with pertussis toxin. Lymphocytes migrate to infected tissues using trafficking receptors. Specific combinations of these lymphocyte trafficking receptors are identified for skin and gut but are not well established for lung.

This study focused on the effect of pertussis toxin on lung-associated trafficking receptors and tested the hypothesis that pertussis toxin alters dendritic cell imprinting of lung trafficking receptors on T cells, thus delaying resolution of the infection. B. pertussis-infected mice were …

Effects Of A Virtually Abroad Program On Students' Cross-Cultural Competence, Emalynn Lucie Robinson

Master's Theses

A program-long, longitudinal, self-report study was conducted to assess the benefits and effects of student engagement in a five-week virtual team project, called the Virtually Abroad Program (VAP). The VAP required two or three students from each country to work together as a team on a course project. Students completed questionnaires at the start (Time 1) and end (Time 2) of the project. Study variables included culture-general knowledge, culture-specific knowledge, openness to new cultural experiences, and overall program evaluation. From Time 1 to Time 2, both types of knowledge increased significantly for the U.S. sample but not for the sample …

Who Framed Silicon Valley And Hollywood: Newspaper Coverage Of Regional Business Clusters In The San Francisco Bay Area And Southern California, Frank Michael Russell

Master's Theses

This study involved coverage of Silicon Valley technology companies and Hollywood entertainment companies in the San Jose Mercury News, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune. Previous work has suggested that newspaper coverage decisions are influenced by the communities that news organizations serve, journalistic values that can favor corporate interests, and the work of experienced framers of media messages. Silicon Valley and Hollywood are two well-known examples of regional industrial agglomerations, which are clusters of adjacent related businesses that are a powerful form of organization for the deployment of capital and labor. California's technology and entertainment companies have developed strong geographical …

Emission From O2 Gas In The Kleinman-Low Region Of The Great Nebula In Orion, Michael Denney Turner

Master's Theses

We calculated line intensities of ground-state emission from atomic ([O I]) and molecular (O₂) oxygen under various conditions of temperature (10–10⁴ K) and density (10–10⁴ cm^-3) in photodissociation regions (PDR) of molecular gas clouds, with UV flux intensity (G₀) of 10⁵. Using a magnetohydrodynamic shock model to produce profile data in a range of pre-shock velocities (5 ≤ v_s ≤ 20 km s^-1) and a range of pre-shock H and H₂ gas densities (10³–10⁵ cm^-3), we calculated line intensities for both …

Advisor Induced Demand And Moral Hazard In The Third-Party Payor System, David Chandler Thomas

Master's Theses

Health-care consumption in the United States has risen from 5.2% in 1960 to 17.8% of 2009 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) creating a burden that will soon be too heavy for the economy to bear. This paper proposes that the primary accelerants of health-care expenditures result from the third-party payer system that emerged in the 1950s. These corporate benefits and government subsidies, when overlaid on the traditional health-care model, have led to sustained increases in the production, recommendation, and consumption of health care while magnifying the moral hazard problem inherent in health insurance.

Outrageous Pamphleteers: A History Of The Communication Company, 1966-1967, Evan Edwin Carlson

Master's Theses

The thesis examines the history of the Communication Company, a grassroots radical street press utilizing mimeograph technology and operating for and within the psychedelic hippie counterculture of San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury District from 1967-1968. The symbiotic relationship between the Communication Company and the Diggers, a street theater and anarchist collective that became a group of de facto social workers of the Haight, is discussed, demonstrating how the Communication Company fulfilled a critical role as the Diggers' outreach and information ministry. The products of the Com/co press were also examined within the context of the American radical pamphlet tradition. By exploring the …

Effectiveness Of A San Francisco Bay Area Community Education Program On Reducing Home Energy Use, Ellen M. Wilkinson

Master's Theses

In order to promote the adoption of home energy reduction practices and mitigate the climate impact of the collective greenhouse gas emissions generated by consumers, it is critical to identify an effective educational approach. A community-based educational intervention model that employs norms, information, commitment, feedback, and face-to-face communication strategies was examined for its ability to motivate changes in everyday energy-use behavior in two communities compared to a control group. A follow up study was also conducted to evaluate whether behaviors adopted as a result of the intervention were long lasting, and whether the community-focused features of the intervention were motivating …

Feral Cat Management: Perceptions And Preferences (A Case Study), Rachel Lm Wilken

Master's Theses

Feral cat management is a highly debated topic. Trap, Neuter, and Return (TNR) programs have become increasingly popular as an alternative to eradication. Public preference about how to manage feral cats has been explored by previous authors, but no consensus has been reached. Public policy and best management practices depend in part upon public opinion on this topic. Wording of a feral cat management preference in surveys can play a role in respondent opinion. For this thesis, the researcher examined public opinion about feral cat control by surveying 298 Stanford University faculty and staff members using two different communication approaches. …

Coming From Sounds Of Blackness: Exploring The Effects Of Hip-Hop On Views Of Race, Eliezer Bercasio

Master's Theses

Does the individual's frequency of listening to hip-hop music have an effect on whether or not they believe in a color-blind ideology? Using data from a 25-item questionnaire given to 165 participants drawn for a sample from an urban California college, this study tested six hypotheses in order to determine if such a connection exists. Results revealed that individuals who frequently listened to misogynistic rap were less likely to believe that race is a convenient way to categorize individuals, controlling for race, sex, and income. Thus, individuals who had a higher frequency of listening to hip-hop were less likely to …

Differences And Similarities Between Female Managers And Female Entrepreneurs, Maria Cespedes

Master's Theses

Although the number of female entrepreneurs has recently increased, there is little research that has compared female managers and female entrepreneurs in their work experiences and conditions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the potential differences and similarities between women in management versus women in entrepreneurship regarding challenges, motivators for entry, adaptations, gender roles, and self-monitoring. Data collected from 87 women in management and entrepreneurship showed that female managers faced gender biases more than did entrepreneurs and had to choose between their professional and their personal goals when deciding to have children. Motivators for entry into entrepreneurship …

Godless Americans: How Non-Religious Persons Are Labeled As Deviant In A Religious Society, Damian M. Bramlett

Master's Theses

This research examined Atheism, Agnosticism, and secularism as forms of deviance within American society. The focus was on Atheists, because research suggests they are stigmatized and more commonly constructed as deviant in comparison to Agnostics and/or secularists. It should come as no surprise that, given the ideological dominance of monotheistic religious narratives such as Evangelical Christianity, Atheists are labeled and stigmatized in the same manner as other nonnormative groups in the United States. Today, Atheists and others who publicly reject religious "faith" are constructed in dominant media and political discourse as morally flawed and often politically illegitimate. Thirty self-identified non-religious …

Factors Influencing Athletic Training Students' Selection Of Graduate Programs, Sonja E. Askew

Master's Theses

There is no published research known to the author on factors that influence athletic training student enrollment in the graduate programs. An investigation was conducted to determine the factors influencing students' selection of graduate programs and their relationship to gender, age, and ethnicity.

The Muse Of Fire: Exploring Origin Stories Of Shakespeare Professionals, William J. Brown

Master's Theses

This thesis is an exploration and examination of the origin stories of various Shakespeare professionals currently working in either theatre or academia. It asks the basic question: Why have they dedicated their lives to these four-hundred-year-old plays? For this study I conducted twenty-four interviews, drawing from various ethnographic methodologies to do so. Working under the supposition that we, as human beings, mythologize our own lives in order to justify our actions, I analyzed the interviews, seeking themes through a framework drawn from Paul Ricoeur's Time and Narrative. Paying particular attention to his ideas about the threefold present, I examined the …

(Re)Defining < Marriage >: An Autohistoria Of An Ideograph, Robert Gutierrez

Master's Theses

This study explores as an ideograph in the law and everyday life through an analysis of private and public texts and embodied acts. The purpose of this study was to engage intersectionally as a power structure with wide-ranging influence over society to locate resistance. Utilizing rhetorical methods, this work examined archives and repertoires through an autohistoria of a queer Chicano male before the passage of Proposition 8, the California Constitutional Amendment that banned for LGBTQ couples. By exploring through metaphors and performative writing, this study constructs in the tradition of the shaman to present new possibilities for and queer theory.

Maintenance Of Polish Language And Culture Among First Generation Polish Immigrants Living In The Southern San Francisco Bay Area, California., Dominika Bialek

Master's Theses

The focus of this thesis research is to investigate the extent to which first

generation Polish immigrants living in the southern San Francisco Bay Area in California maintain their native Polish language and culture. Qualitative data were collected in the form of interviews and survey questionnaires. The major findings show that in this small immigrant community (1) maintenance of Polish language and culture happens primarily at home; (2) females married to first generation Polish immigrants are more likely than others to maintain Polish language and culture; (3) the small size of the Polish community, knowledge of English at the time …

Consequences In Alcohol Use Portrayals On Emerging Adult Attitudes, Stephanie Jwo

Master's Theses

Many factors may contribute to forming attitudes towards alcohol, such as peer groups, family history, and media influences. This study focused on the inclusion of consequences in portrayals of alcohol-use and the possible influences on emerging adult attitudes towards alcohol. The emerging adult population represents a relatively newly defined developmental stage that roughly spans the ages of 18 to 25 years. Emerging adult attitudes towards alcohol were expected to vary positively or negatively after reading a vignette of alcohol-use that included a positive consequence, a negative consequence, or no consequence. Emerging adult attitudes did not vary by the alcohol-use consequences …

Dovetailing, Nicole Ashley Hughes

Master's Theses

Dovetailing is told from a limited third person point of view focused on Samantha. She is the protagonist in a group of four primary characters who include Matt, Adam, and Dylan. They are the four employees of Furniture Town and are present throughout the entire novel. Stan the Sidewinder is a local UFC fighter who is visiting his hometown (the setting of the novel), Las Cruces, New Mexico, for a promotional tour. Las Cruces is a small, shabby, and largely Catholic town near the border of Mexico.

Samantha's struggle to find her way while surrounded by underachieving college-aged men and …

The Examination Of The Moderating Variables Of Job Exposure And Need For Cognition On The Effects Of Type Of Job Preview On Pre-Hire Outcomes, Ashley Jo Hacnik

Master's Theses

Although research on realistic job previews (RJP) has shown that RJPs produce positive individual and organizational outcomes, little is known of whether the characteristics of individuals change such positive relationships. Therefore, the current study extends previous research on RJPs by examining 163 nursing interns and registered nurses on how two individual characteristics -- previous job exposure and Need for Cognition (NFC) -- moderate the relationship between type of job preview and perceived job attractiveness, a job acceptance decision, and perceived organizational honesty. Results showed that those with no previous job exposure and those low in NFC rated the job as …

Dynamics Of Vibrio With Virulence Genes Detected In Pacific Harbor Seals (Phoca Vitulina Richardii) Off California: Implications For Marine Mammal Health, Stephanie Nichole Hughes

Master's Theses

Given their coastal site fidelity and opportunistic foraging behavior, harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) may serve as sentinels for coastal ecosystem health. Seals using urbanized coastal habitat can acquire enteric bacteria, including Vibrio, that may affect their health. To understand Vibrio dynamics in seals, demographic and environmental factors were tested for predicting potentially virulent Vibrio in free-ranging and stranded Pacific harbor seals (P. v. richardii) off the coast of California. Vibrio prevalence did not vary with season and was greater in free-ranging seals (29%, n = 319) compared with stranded seals (17%, n = 189). Of …