Digital Commons Network^™

Using The Papathoma Tsunami Vulnerability Assessment Model To Forcast Probable Impacts, And Planning Implications, Of A 500-Year Tsunami In Cayucos, California, Andrew Robert Marshall

Master's Theses

This report focuses on using the Papathoma Tsunami Vulnerability Assessment Model (PTVA) to demonstrate the vulnerability of Cayucos to a 500-year tsunami, and using the results to inform specific planning recommendations. By modeling inundation with GIS and analyzing building attributes via the PTVA model, this study has gone beyond any previous vulnerability assessments of Cayucos. Findings include: delineation of the most vulnerable areas, estimates of numbers of lost civic buildings, commercial buildings and houses, as well as estimates of people displaced from tsunami damaged homes. The report goes on to discuss what mitigation measures are in place and what further …

Development Of Electronics, Software, And Graphical User Control Interface For A Wall-Climbing Robot, Lynda Beatriz Tesillo

Master's Theses

The objective for this project is to investigate various electrical and software means of control to support and advance the development of a novel vacuum adhesion system for a wall-climbing robot. The design and implementation of custom electronics and a wirelessly controlled real-time software system used to define and support the functionalities of these electronics is discussed. The testing and evaluation of the overall system performance and the performance of the several different subsystems developed, while working both individually and cooperatively within the system, is also demonstrated.

Characterization Of Two Vernier-Tuned Distributed Bragg Reflector (Vt-Dbr) Lasers Used In Swept Source Optical Coherence Tomography (Ss-Oct), Greg M. Bergdoll

Master's Theses

Insight Photonic Solutions Inc. has continued to develop their patented VT-DBR laser design; these wavelength tunable lasers promise marked image-quality and acquisition time improvements in SS-OCT applications.

To be well suited for SS-OCT, tunable lasers must be capable of producing a highly linear wavelength sweep across a tuning range well-matched to the medium being imaged; many different tunable lasers used in SS-OCT are compared to identify the optimal solution.

This work electrically and spectrally characterizes two completely new all-semiconductor VT-DBR designs to compare, as well. The Neptune VT-DBR, an O-band laser, operates around the 1310 nm range and is a …

The City Of Milpitas Historic Gateway Background Report And Design Guidelines, Jaime Marie Jaramillo

Master's Theses

The aim of this project report is to investigate and identify the needs of the historic area (focus area) in the City of Milpitas, to positively contribute to the City’s planning process, and to make recommendations for the focus area’s future development. In the first chapters, City and focus area research results are presented. Currently, there is a lack of exclusive regulatory standards for attractive development in the City’s historic core. The project report then discusses the results of a short empirical everyday user survey, a parcel-by-parcel land use survey, and a walkability analysis. Research results indicate that the focus …

Consumer Evaluation: The Link Between Body Mass Index, Reward Sensitivity, Product Liking And Emotion, Malori Comer

Master's Theses

The objectives of this study were: (1) to evaluate consumer acceptance of cheeses varying in fat and sodium levels, (2) to determine if sensitivity to reward and body mass index has an effect on product liking based on fat or salt content, (3) to evaluate the use of FaceReader technology during consumer evaluation and, (4) to determine if consumer’s self-selected, conscious emotions matched with the expressed, subconscious emotions acquired by FaceReader.

Consumer acceptance testing (n=108) was conducted on two medium cheddar cheeses with varying fat levels and two low-moisture part-skim mozzarella cheeses varying in sodium levels. Attributes were measured using …

Gods And Gurus In The City Of Angels: Aimee Semple Mcpherson, Swami Paramananda, And Los Angeles In The 1920s, Amy Hart

Master's Theses

This project focuses on two case studies as representative examples of Los Angeles’ progressive tolerance in the period of the 1920s: The Pentecostal mega-church of Aimee Semple-McPherson, and the Vedanta Ashram of Swami Paramananda. Both religious institutions opened in Los Angeles in 1923, just thirteen miles away from each other, and continued to thrive side-by-side throughout the twentieth century until present day. Each religious figure spoke to a part of the growing Los Angeles population: McPherson’s staunchly Christian, emotionally-driven, Hollywood-style ministry appealed to a large number of Los Angeles natives and newly-arrived immigrants, rocketing the emerging Pentecostal denomination into nationwide …

Design And Fabrication Techniques Of Devices For Embedded Power Active Contact Lens, Errol Heradio Leon

Master's Theses

This thesis designed and fabricated various devices that were interfaced to an IC for an active contact lens that notifies the user of an event by detection of an external wireless signal. The contact lens consisted of an embedded antenna providing communication with a 2.4GHz system, as well as inductive charging at an operating frequency of 13.56 MHz. The lens utilized a CBC005 5µAh thin film battery by Cymbet and a manufactured graphene super capacitor as a power source. The custom integrated circuit (IC) was designed using the On Semiconductor CMOS C5 0.6 µm process to manage …

Hybrid Rocket Motor Scaling Process, Joseph B. R. Vanherweg

Master's Theses

Hybrid rocket propulsion technology shows promise for the next generation of sounding rockets and small launch vehicles. This paper seeks to provide details on the process of developing hybrid propulsion systems to the academic and amateur rocket communities to assist in future research and development. Scaling hybrid rocket motors for use in sounding rockets has been a challenge due to the inadequacies in traditional boundary layer analysis. Similarity scaling is an amendment to traditional boundary layer analysis which is helpful in removing some of the past scaling challenges. Maintaining geometric similarity, oxidizer and fuel similarity and mass flow rate to …

Using Archived Transit Data To Analyze The Effect Of Rainfall On Transit Performance Measures At The Route Level, Nicholas F. Bleich

Master's Theses

This study investigates the effect of rainfall on transit performance measures at the route level in the Puget Sound region of Washington State. Transit agencies are required to report certain performance metrics to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), but performance measures can also be used to evaluate service and provide customers with information regarding the transit system. Using a three-year sample of archived automatic vehicle location (AVL) and hydrologic data the relationships between ridership, travel time, delay, and rainfall were investigated. The analysis of daily ridership and rainfall resulted in no statistically significant results, however, the results are supported by …

Screening Of Biocontrol Organisms For The Management Of Phytopathogenic Fungi And Foodborne Pathogens On Produce, Antoinette Boyee De Senna

Master's Theses

The multibillion dollar agricultural industry is an important part of the United States economy, and the management of factors that affect crop and human health is imperative to maintaining this economic sector. The fungi Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium pallidoroseum, and Fusarium moniliforme are the causative agents of several plant diseases and can cause significant crop loss both before and after harvest in commodities such as strawberries, lettuce, citrus, and grains. Fungicides are employed to control these phytopathogens, but the use of these chemicals has led to an increase in fungicide resistance and may negatively affect the environment and human …

Heide: An Ide For The Homomorphic Encryption Library Helib, Grant Taylor Frame

Master's Theses

Work in the field of Homomorphic Encryption has exploded in the past 5 years, after Craig Gentry proposed the first encryption scheme capable of performing Homomorphic Encryption. Under the scheme one can encrypt data, perform computations on the encrypted result (without needing the original data), and then decrypt the data to get the result as if the computations had been run on the unencrypted data.

Such a scheme has wide reaching implications for cloud computing. Computations on sensitive data, just like regular data, could now be performed in the cloud with the added security that even the cloud service provider …

The Impact Of A Controlled 10-Week Pistachio Feeding Crossover Trial On Blood Lipids And Measures Of Adiposity, Alison Helen Bushnell

Master's Theses

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the United States and has negative impacts at both the individual- and population-level through reduced quality of life, economic burden, and strain on the healthcare system. Dietary modifications, such as pistachio consumption, may help prevent CVD and two of its leading risk factors: dyslipidemia and overweight/obesity. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of pistachio consumption (20% daily energy need) on measures of adiposity and blood lipids in healthy young adult females. This study utilized 10-week crossover feeding trials at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo …

Effect Of Surfactant Architecture On Conformational Transitions Of Conjugated Polyelectrolytes, Greg A. Braggin

Master's Theses

Water soluble conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs), which fall under the category of conductive polymers, possess numerous advantages over other conductive materials for the fabrication of electronic devices. Namely, the processing of water soluble conjugated polyelectrolytes into thin film electronic devices is much less costly as compared to the processing of inorganic materials. Moreover, the handling of conjugated polyelectrolytes can be performed in a much more environmentally friendly manner than in the processing of other conjugated polymers because conjugated polyelectrolytes are water soluble, whereas other polymers will only dissolve in toxic organic solvents. The processing of electronic devices containing inorganic constituents such …

The Sorcerer King, Jennifer San Filippo

Master's Theses

THE SORCERER KING is a musical stage adaptation of Charles Perrault’s fairytale

“Bluebeard." In a kingdom loosely based on eighteenth-century France, young courtier Catherine unwittingly falls for King Damien, the young monarch whose wife mysteriously disappeared years ago. Meanwhile, peasant Anne, Catherine’s friend, secretly plots a rebellion against whom she perceives as a cruel and apathetic king. As Catherine and Damien’s relationship quickly culminates in marriage, political tensions between the rich and poor rise. Catherine must confront the patriarchal barriers of her station as queen, as well as her own naiveté, to prevent civil war—and learn the truth about her …

Beasts Of Flight, Brian Wood

Master's Theses

Beasts of Flight is a set of thirteen short stories connected by themes of personal impotence and the dysfunction of sexual relationships.

Some stories are bizarre. The title piece, “Beasts of Flight,” explores systemic hatred and fear through the eyes of a talking parrot. In “I Should Exit My Home When the Costume Party Causes Paralysis of the Brain,” the host of a Halloween party is frozen by the mask of one of his guests. “The Joytime Killbox” details a city’s obsession with staring down the the barrel of a loaded gun. Crossing into sacrilege, “The Book of Smote,” is …

The Demise Of American Musical Theatre Of San Jose, Mike Scott Cymanski

Master's Theses

In 2008, American Musical Theatre (AMT) of San Jose filed for bankruptcy after more than 74 years in business. In this thesis, I identify the factors – both internal and external – that contributed to its demise. Interviews with former employees and board members were conducted, and newspaper articles, tax records, and internal documents were examined to explore factors such as management effectiveness, AMT’s relationship with its community, fundraising, the decline of the subscription model, unions, and venue problems. The conclusions of this case study have implications regarding the intersection that now exists between non-profit and for-profit performing arts in …

Self-Presentation And Social Media: A Qualitative Examination Of The Use Of Instagram By Amateur Npc Female Figure Competitors, Victoria Michelle Lupinetti

Master's Theses

Mainstream media representations of women have shaped the concepts of femininity and have influenced the way women view and present themselves in various contexts. Erving Goffman’s (1959) Theory on Self-Presentation described how individuals perform roles to project a desired impression to others. Currently, social media platforms allow women to share their lives and interests with a wide-reaching audience. Within this historic context, the purpose of this study was to examine the lives and experiences of amateur female figure competitors who represented themselves and their interests in fitness via photographs on Instagram.

Eight women who shared their fitness journeys on social …

Global Leadership Effectiveness: The Predictive Value Of Cognitively Oriented Competencies, Silma E. Lange

Master's Theses

Global leadership is becoming increasingly important in multinational companies as well as in non-profit and public sectors. The purpose of this study was to investigate what makes a global leader effective, by identifying key predictors of global leadership effectiveness. The predictors investigated in this study included a combined measure of overall intercultural global leadership competency and selected cognitively oriented competencies: nonjudgmentalness, inquisitiveness, tolerance of ambiguity and cosmopolitanism. The sample consisted of 171 undergraduate and graduate students from a large university. Linear and multiple regression analyses were conducted to identify the ability of the competencies to predict effectiveness. Inquisitiveness was the …

Longitudinal Distribution And Summer Diurnal Microhabitat Use Of California Red-Legged Frogs (Rana Draytonii) In Coastal Waddell Creek, Neil Keung

Master's Theses

Habitat use by federally threatened California Red-Legged Frogs (CRLF; Rana draytonii) is incompletely understood. I captured, PIT-tagged, and radio-tracked CRLFs (n = 20) at Waddell Creek, Santa Cruz County, from July–December 2012. Limited tracking for movements was also conducted in 2013. Frogs were clumped in deep, complex habitats along the stream within 2 km of breeding ponds near the stream mouth, but most adults were concentrated in the lagoon. Marked and tracked frogs had very small summer home ranges, and most returned to the same home range after breeding. Frogs tended to use good aquatic (e.g., wood, undercut banks, dense …

Asylia And Peer Polity Interaction In The Hellenistic Period, Kathleen Ann Kirsch

Master's Theses

This thesis proposes that the Peer Polity Interaction Theory can explain the spread of the civic title of territorial asylia (inviolability) in the Hellenistic period. The Greeks had always considered sacred space to be inviolable; thus there was no apparent need to acquire a separate title of inviolability. During the Hellenistic period, however, ambassadors canvassed the Greek world for recognition of asylia, and acceptances were inscribed in stone and placed in highly visible places. It was clearly a particularly sought after title.

By surveying the primary epigraphic and numismatic sources and examining asylia in the context of the Peer Polity …

Modeling Black Bear-Vehicle Collision Zones In Yosemite National Park, Katie Elaine Rodriguez

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to identify road and habitat characteristics associated with black bear-vehicle collisions in Yosemite National Park and to suggest proper mitigations to reduce their occurrence. Black bear-vehicle collision data collected by Yosemite National Park staff between 1995 and 2011 were used to identify variables associated with collisions. Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping software was used to map and split Yosemite roads into 1 km segments. After measuring road and bear habitat-related variables along each road segment, logistic regression analyses showed that segments with collisions were associated with crossing sites, understory vegetation, curves, close proximity to …

Investigation Of Population Structure And Distribution Of The Invasive Bryozoan Watersipora Species Along The California Coast Using Nuclear And Mitochondrial Dna, Darren James Wostenberg

Master's Theses

This study combined microsatellite nuclear DNA analysis with cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI) mitochondrial DNA analysis to evaluate coastal population structure, environmental factors influencing population distribution, and the potential for hybridization among coexisting Watersipora haplogroups along the California coast. Mitochondrial DNA analysis of the COI gene identified three haplogroups: W. subtorquata clade A, W. subtorquata clade B, and W. new species. Analyses resulted in seven haplotypes for haplogroup clade A, and a single haplotype in each haplogroup clade B and new species. Microsatellite data indicated the greatest source of genetic variation in the two species examined (W. subtorquata and W. …

The Investigation Of The Low Temperature Combustion Of Mesitylene And Tert-Amyl Methyl Ether By Synchrotron Photoionization Mass Spectrometry, Martin Yu-Hin Ng

Master's Theses

This thesis describes the combustion experiments performed at the Chemical Dynamics Beamline of the Advanced Light Source (ALS) located at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories (LBNL). The need for renewable fuel sources, the need for the study of their combustion in the contexts of homogenous charge combustion ignition (HCCI) engines can be found in Chapter 1. The components of the experimental set-up used throughout this thesis—time-of-flight mass spectrometer, Excimer laser, vacuum pumps and other components—and the components of ALS responsible in synchrotron radiation generation and processing—the linear accelerator, the booster ring, insertion devices, gas filters and monochromator are explained in …

Institutionalizing Urban Agriculture Can Provide More Than Hope For Poor San Franciscans: An Analysis Of The Urban Agriculture Incentive Zone Act (Uaiz), Rania Ahmed

Master's Theses

Cities have turned to urban agriculture (UA) as a means of revitalizing neighborhoods and addressing unmet food needs of urbanites. Farming the city has gained momentum and has become an important force in urban social landscapes and economics. UA has also sparked debates about the appropriate development of highly valuable private spaces. In 2014, the City of San Francisco created a tax incentive to encourage owners to use undeveloped private properties in UA. This tax incentive represents the political prioritization of UA as legitimate land use in San Francisco with the possible purposes of either meeting a pressing residential need …

Electrolyte Effects On The Kinetics Of Comproportionation Electron-Transfer Reactions And On Intervalence Charge-Transfer Band Energies Of Binuclear Ruthenium Ammine Complexes, Zhiji Han

Master's Theses

Chapter 1 describes an overview of electron-transfer reactions. The kinetic equations for ET reactions have also been described in detail.

Chapter 2 describes a series of novel kinetic accelerations which deviate strongly from the predictions of the classical Debye-Huckle theory with a range of different added “inert” electrolytes. The greater catalytic effects seen with the heavier halides and other catalytic electrolytes (especially certain dicarboxylates) indicate an important role for hole-transfer superexchange in the ET transition state. The hypothesis of a catalytic ternary association complex, [RuII--X--RuIII] has also been explored by kinetic modeling of the reaction. An increasing ratio of anion-catalyzed …

The Relevance Of Economic, Institutional And Cultural Determinants For Venture Capital Investments. A Us-Europe Comparison., Nadja Benes

Master's Theses

This study analyzes the determinants of early-stage VC investments by identifying characteristics in the economic, institutional, as well as cultural framework that could explain the diverging levels of early-stage VC investments across countries. Data was assembled for 16 countries during the period from 1995 until 2013. The results indicate that countries that are more open to trade are associated with higher levels in early-stage venture capital. A higher unemployment rate negatively affects a country’s level of early-stage VC funds. Higher R&D expenditures as a proxy for the technological and innovation capacity in a country as well as a higher value …

The Impact Of Offcial Development Assistance On Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence From Vietnam, Hang Pham

Master's Theses

The relationship between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Official Development Assistance (ODA) has not been fully established, nor has its directionality, as evidenced the disagreement among economists. Using existing literature as starting point, I extend its base by examining key causal variables for ODA and FDI within 64 Vietnamese provinces, covering the span from 1998 to 2012. With the most extensive and newest dataset available, I find that ODA attracts more FDI inflows in intermediate term (5year average) and long term (all year average), but not in the short-term. An important policy implication of these results for developing countries, and …

The Curious Case Of Greece: The Impact Of Fiscal Policy Shocks On Key Macroeconomic Variables. A Var Based Approach., Manny Kaliontzakis

Master's Theses

For years, the Vector Autoregressive approach has been the main tool for monetary economics and macroeconomic researchers around the world. Leading central banking figures, academics, and modern economic think tanks have used the approach to determine the effects of interest rate shocks on basic macroeconomic variables such as GDP, industrial production and unemployment rate. Shocking policy variables, such as interest rates or long term bond rates have given economists the ability to run reliable forecasts. The last 20 years have seen a turn in the use of the VAR approach on fiscal policy as well. Even though, in general, previous …

The Impact Of Migration And Remittances On Children's Education In El Salvador, Philip H. Jakob

Master's Theses

The effect that migrant remittances have on school enrollment is a challenging relationship to empirically define, requiring both an analysis of the circumstances that lead a household member to emigrate from their home and equally, but not always independently, how the family makes investment decisions in the education of one or more of their children. This study presents a new strategy to determine the nature of this relationship for households in El Salvador, using a 2SLS estimation with a wealth-stratified panel constructed from household survey data over a nine-year period. Employing this methodology to estimate the combined effects of both …

Transcriptional Regulation By Dax-1 In Pluripotent And Differentiated Cells, Alexandra C. Maramba

Master's Theses

DAX-1, an orphan nuclear hormone receptor, acts mainly as a repressor through transcriptional protein complexes. Its unique structure and specific expression raises questions as to what its precise interactions are and how it mediates its repressive function. While it is known to play a role in sexual development and adrenal insufficiency, expression in certain types of cancer suggests additional functions and interactions. Knock in of DAX-1 into a low-DAX-1 expressing cancer cell line has been previously observed to increase apoptosis, while, inversely, down in a high-DAX-1 expressing cancer cell line shows a decrease in apoptosis. Target genes that belong to …