Digital Commons Network^™

Visibility Of Contributions And Cost Of Information: An Experiment On Public Goods, Anya Savikhin, Roman M. Sheremeta

ESI Working Papers

We experimentally investigate the impact of visibility of information about contributors on contributions in the public goods game. We systematically consider several treatments that are similar to a wide range of situations in practice. First, we vary the cost of viewing identifiable information about contributors. Second, we vary recognizing all, top or bottom contributors. We find that recognizing all contributors significantly increases contributions relative to the baseline. Recognizing only the top contributors is not significantly different from not recognizing contributors, but recognizing only the bottom contributors is as effective as recognizing all contributors. When viewing information about contributors is costly, …

Mixing For Parlak And Bowing For A Büyük Ses: The Aesthetics Of Arranged Traditional Music In Turkey, Eliot Bates

Publications and Research

In this paper I explore the production aesthetics that define the sound of most arranged traditional music albums produced in the early 2000s in Istanbul, Turkey. I will focus on two primary aesthetic characteristics, the achievement of which consume much of the labor put into tracking and mixing: parlak (“shine”) and büyük ses (“big sound”). Parlak, at its most basic, consists of a pronounced high frequency boost and a pattern of harmonic distortion characteristics, and is often described by studio musicians and engineers in Turkey as an exaggeration of the perceived brightness of the majority of Anatolian folk instruments. Büyük …

The Policy Debate Over The Bailout Plan, Kevin Simons

Pepperdine Policy Review

This paper analyzes the policy debate over the Federal Government’s bailout of the financial industry in 2008.

A New Photochemical Method For The Preparation Of Amino Acid-α-Phenylthioesters And Peptide-α-Phenylthioesters, Tyrone Hogenauer

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

We describe the development of a novel resin with a photoreactive N-acylnitroindoline linker that allows for the synthesis of amino acid- (in solution) or peptide-α-thioesters using standard Fmoc/t-Bu standard solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS). Recent advances have shown that the yields of this thioesterification reaction have dramatically increased due to a simple change in the order of addition of reagents. Upon illumination with UV-light, in the presence of N-hydroxybenzotriazole (HOBt), the amino acid- or peptide-α-OBt ester is generated by direct photo-release from the nitroindoline linker with minimal epimerization, followed by reaction with thiophenol in the dark to produce amino acid-α-phenylthioesters …

Controlling Features And Processes For Radionuclide Release From Unsaturated Zone Geological Repositories, Lubna K. Hamdan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the long run, nuclear waste packages will fail gradually due to localized and general corrosion and radionuclides will be transported to the accessible environment by ground water.

Two main failure scenarios are expected for the waste packages: Flow-through model and bathtub model; in the flow-through model water flows through the waste container, while in the bathtub model water pools inside the waste package. The Department of Energy, in their performance assessment of the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, excluded the bathtub model from their analysis and assumed the diffusion and advection to be in the same direction in the …

Trends In Performance Of Science And Technology Students (1997–2008) In Ireland, Fiona Faulkner, Olivia Gill, Ailish Hannigan

Journal Articles

Hunt and Lawson [1] displayed the evidence of decline in the mathematical standards of first-year students in Coventry University between 1991 and 1995. Gill [2] sought to investigate if this was also the case in the University of Limerick. The results of diagnostic tests administered to first-year undergraduates in the science and technology groups (service mathematics courses) between 1997 and 2002 displayed the evidence that the mathematical standard of students entering the University of Limerick’s service mathematics courses had declined over the 6 years studied. In this article, the authors revisit the University of Limerick’s database, which currently holds data …

The Report: Winter 2010, Recreation, Parks, & Tourism Administration, California Polytechnic University - San Luis Obispo

The Report

No abstract provided.

The Report: Fall 2010, Recreation, Parks, & Tourism Administration; California Polytechnic University - San Luis Obispo

The Report

No abstract provided.

Achievement Barriers Perceived And Overcome By Successful High-School Students Participating In Upward Bound Programs In Indiana, Alyssia Janet Parris-Coates

Dissertations

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine how academically successful Upward Bound students overcome the barriers to high-school graduation. While Upward Bound students come from disadvantaged backgrounds, similar to those of many students who fail to graduate from high school, 90% of them graduate.

Method

The research design for this study was Padilla‘s Student Success Model (SSM). Student Success Model (SSM) is a qualitative technique to portray successful student methods by capturing the perceived reality of the particular students being studied.

Results

In response to the first research question—What do students and staff perceive to be the barriers …

Academy Students' And Pre-Service Teachers' Perceptions Of The Use Of Electronic Technology In Their Personal Life And School Experiences In A Selected Union Conference, Alan R. Williams

Dissertations

Problem. The influx of N-Gen students into the classroom of teachers of earlier generations has created a digital generation gap. This gap has serious consequences for schools. For example, only half of the public school teachers who had computers or the Internet available in their schools use them for classroom instruction. However, today’s students are very technology savvy, feel strongly about the positive value of technology and rely upon technology as an essential and preferred component of every aspect of their lives. It appears that the slow speed at which technology is changing the classroom is providing challenges to educators …

The Report: Spring 2010, Recreation, Parks, & Tourism Administration; California Polytechnic University - San Luis Obispo

The Report

No abstract provided.

Race, Gender, And Citizenship: The Removal Of Japanese And Japanese Mexicans From The United States/Mexico Borderlands, Selfa Alejandra Chew Smithart

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores the uprooting of the Japanese Mexican community from the United States/Mexico borderlands region during World War II. I argue that the development of international relations and the global organization of the economy directly informed the management of Japanese immigrants and their descendants in the United States borderlands region. In compliance with the United States' request to control Japanese Mexicans, President Manuel Ávila Camacho ordered the dislocation of the entire Japanese Mexican community and approved the creation of concentration camps and zones of confinement. Under this order, a new pro-American nationalism developed, which scripted Japanese Mexicans as an …

Protean Storytellers: Journalists' Identities In An Uncertain Future, Lourdes Miriam Cueva Chacón

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Journalism is undergoing a crisis period and, even though publishers, journalists and scholars do not agree about the future of news media industries, certainly they agree that what was once the dominant model of journalism is now changing drastically. Journalists are facing dynamic and changing environments that demand from them to develop new skills and to perform new roles. This is the environment where the new generation of journalists is forming, forcing them to rethink their future careers. For this research students' narratives where collected to determine the rhetorical ways in which students articulate their identity as journalists, what were …

A Positive Deviance Inquiry Of Communicative Behaviors That Influence The Prevention Of Hispanic Teenage Pregnancy, Alejandra Margarita Diaz Salamanca

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Teenage pregnancy is a highly complex problem and the arrival of a baby affects multiple lives - directly and indirectly - in a rippling chain reaction. The odds of finishing school or college are highly stacked against teenage parents, and the future of the children who are born to teen parents is fraught with challenges. Rates of teenage pregnancy are especially high among Hispanics, and even higher among those who live in the border city of El Paso, This research project was an exploration of what communicative behaviors keep some young Hispanic women in the city of El Paso free …

A Typical Scene In Mexico: Images Of War, Race, And Gender In The Mexican Revolution, Rosa Lorena Estala

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

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A Specific Regulatory Role For Sgtα On The Maturation And Activation Of Steroid Hormone Receptors, Atanu Paul

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Steroid hormone receptors (SHRs) are ligand-dependent transcription factors belonging to the nuclear receptor superfamily. These receptors regulate various physiological functions in higher ordered eukaryotes. In the absence of hormone these receptors form a complex with molecular chaperones such as Hsp90 and Hsp70 and other cochaperones in the cytoplasm. Association with the Hsp90-Hsp70 chaperone machinery leads to the maturation of the Ligand Binding Domain (LBD) of the receptors and enables the receptors to bind hormone with high affinity. Upon binding with a specific hormone the receptors are translocated into the nucleus where they initiate transcription of specific genes. Although the involvement …

Spectroscopic Study Of The Inhibition Of Calcium Oxalate Calculi By Larrea Tridentata, Luis Alonso Pinales

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The causes of urolithiasis include such influences as diet, metabolic disorders, and genetic factors which have been documented as sources that aggravate urinary calculi depositions and aggregations, and, implicitly, as causes of urolithiasis. This study endeavors to detail the scientific mechanisms involved in calcium oxalate calculi formation, and, more importantly, their inhibition under growth conditions imposed by the traditional medicinal approach using the herbal extract, Larrea tridentata. The calculi were synthesized without and with Larrea tridentata infusion by employing the single diffusion gel technique. A visible decrease in calcium oxalate crystal growth with increasing amounts of Larrea tridentata herbal infusion …

Aterrizaje, Francisco Alejandro Tedeschi

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This work is a novella about Alejandro Tardelli, a character who struggles with life in his adolescence.

Titanium Niobium Nano Porous Materials: New Photocatalysts For Water Decontamination, Maryam Zarei Chaleshtori

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Water pollution is major environmental problem worldwide. Many common industrial organic compounds that make their way into water systems can be carcinogenic at trace levels and are difficult and costly to remove completely with conventional technologies. Because of this, authorities and researchers are trying to improve current water cleanup techniques.

Heterogeneous photocatalysts that accelerate the photocatalytic destruction of organic contaminants in water are a potentially inexpensive and highly effective way to remove both trace-level and saturated harmful compounds from industrial waste streams and drinking water. Titanium dioxide has the potential to completely mineralize organic compounds in water under ultraviolet light. …

Remapping Evil: Locating, Spatializing, And Depicting Evil, Christie Lynn Daniels

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation expands upon critical studies of difference by exploring one particular ideological construct and how its use propagates, maintains, and exacerbates ubiquitously existent social inequalities. The concept of evil has been employed in a way that marginalizes and villainizes individuals, groups, and even entire communities. Moreover, when they are deployed in a visual medium, the ideas and concepts conveyed are often not interrogated as closely as a written work would be. As a result, the guiding question of inquiry for this project is: How have western notions of good and evil been deployed and employed as a mechanism of …

Social Disorganization And The Spatial Distribution Of Homicides In El Paso, Nicholas Andrew Emerick

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Recent research on social disorganization theory shows general support for economic and stability measures of disorganization, but spatial dispersions and the disaggregation of homicides of crime have not been fully examined. 1985-1995 homicide data from the El Paso Police Department's detective logs and US Census data are combined to explore social disorganization in El Paso, the impact of ports of entry, and how motive interacts with social disorganization. Findings for total homicides in El Paso support existing social disorganization research. Motive specific homicides displayed distinct relationships to the disorganization measures. The concentrations of homicides near ports of entry can be …

Ganglioside-Cytokine Interaction In The Induction Of Primary Brain Cell Death, John Charles Gorbet

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Gangliosides have been implicated in multiple pathologies affecting the central nervous system (CNS) and recent research has implicated them in playing an active role in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. Empirical studies and theoretical considerations have suggested the possibility of interactions between gangliosides, like GD3, and pro-inflammatory cytokines present in the nervous system. This study sought to investigate the possibility that either individual gangliosides acting alone or complexed with other species interact with the known immune response factor TNF&alpha to initiate or facilitate cell death in the CNS. I examined the cellular viability and gene expression in primary brain cell …

Ecology And Genetics Of Philodina Megalotrocha (Rotifera, Bdelloidea) From Chihuahuan Desert Populations, Lina Kamel Hamdan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Chihuahuan Desert is a unique region with high biodiversity. There is a high degree endemism of freshwater biota, but relatively few studies have been focused on zooplankton. Bdelloid rotifers are one component of these ecosystems and often dominate very temporary habitats. Bdelloids are usually assumed to be cosmopolitan species due to their potentially high dispersal rates. Distribution records of the bdelloid P. megalotrocha extend from North America to New Zealand. However, little is known about its ecology or genetics. The aims of this study are to: 1) determine whether the distribution of P. megalotrocha in the Chihuahuan Desert is …

A Case Study On The Integration Of Internet Technology With Mathematics And Science Content For Teachers, Pilar Gonzalez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study analyzed electronic discourse in an online mathematics/science education graduate course. The intention was: a) to identify the teacher's attitudes towards using internet resources, b) to motivate teachers to integrate the use of technology and c) to study how in-service and pre-service teachers find, access, and use technology resources.

The main activities in the class were for teachers to read chapters from textbooks, post personal reflections on the chapter, search and critically assess the companion websites and read classmates' reflections. Teachers also completed Thematic Units consisting of several technology-enhanced mathematical and science integrated lesson plans.

The teachers' success was …

The Impact Of Blatant Stereotype Activation And Group Sex-Composition On Female Leaders, Crystal L. Hoyt, Stefanie K. Johnson, Susan Elaine Murphy, Kerry Hogue Skinnell

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

The individual and combined impact of blatant stereotype activation and solo status or mixed-sex groups on the self-appraisals, performance, and anxiety of female leaders was examined across three laboratory studies. The first study utilized a two-condition, two-stage design in which female leaders were exposed to a blatant stereotype threat or control condition after which they completed a leadership task. In the second stage, the threatened leaders received a solo status manipulation (leading a group of men) while the control condition did not. In the second study a 2 (blatant threat, no blatant threat) by 2 (solo status, all-female group) fully …

Leadership And The More-Important-Than-Average Effect: Overestimation Of Group Goals And The Justification Of Unethical Behavior, Crystal L. Hoyt, Terry L. Price, Alyson E. Emrick

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This research investigates the empirical assumptions behind the claim that leaders exaggerate the importance of their group’s goals more so than non-leaders and that they may use these beliefs to justify deviating from generally accepted moral requirements when doing so is necessary for goal achievement. We tested these biased thought processes across three studies. The results from these three studies established the more-important-than-average effect, both for real and illusory groups. Participants claimed that their group goals are more important than the goals of others, and this effect was stronger for leaders than for non-leading group members. In Study 3, …

Does Democracy Impact The Lives Of The Poor In Nicaragua?, Tanisha Shandie Brown Mitchel

Master's Theses and Capstones

Does democracy help the poor? Nicaragua, the emphasis of this study, will be used to analyze the impact democracy might be having on improving the lives of the poor. The World Development Indicators (World Bank) and the Human Development Index (United Nations) from 1992--2006 will be used in this study to measure economic growth in Nicaragua. The Latin America Public Opinion Project data on Latin America measures Nicaragua public opinion regarding democracy and economic growth in the country.

The graphs from the World Bank illustrate that the standard of living for the poor in Nicaragua is improving and that democracy …

Teacher Education And Professional Development In The Context Of Argentinean Educational Policies: Current Trends And Challenges, Monica Pini, Sandra I. Musanti, Jorge Gorostiaga, Myriam Feldfeber, Dalila Andrade Oliveira

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the trends and challenges in teacher education and teacher professional development in the context of recent Argentinean educational reforms. This chapter synthesizes several of our studies on the matter. First we analyze the implications of teacher education as a political project, discuss the central components of the educational policies that characterize this century and the present features of the teaching force. Secondly, we discuss the process of educational reform in the 90´s and the impact of international agencies in the main policy decisions in Argentina. In addition, we discuss the new scenario …

The Role Of Ledgf/P75 In Transcriptional Regulation, Jeffrey Ryan Kugelman

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Lens Epithelial Derived Growth Factor p75 (LEDGF/p75) is a chromatin bound protein whose cellular function is not yet clearly known. A role in transcriptional regulation had been previously proposed based on its interaction with the basal transcriptional machinery and on its effects on the expression of genes involved in the cellular response to environmental stresses. To further elucidate the function of LEDGF/p75, we conducted a global and unbiased evaluation of the role of this protein in gene expression. To that aim, we performed a microarray analysis of cellular gene expression in cells that are severely depleted of LEDGF/p75. To …

Cross-Cultural Composition 2.0: Mapping/Remapping Spaces Of Language Minority Students In The Contact Zones, Marohang Limbu

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

My dissertation "Cross-Cultural Composition 2.0: Mapping/Remapping Spaces of Students in First-Year College Composition Courses" examines the curricula, syllabi, course materials, pedagogy, and theories and practices of first-year composition courses. Having traced issues, I theorize cross-cultural composition 2.0 (CCC 2.0) in my dissertation, which is a construction of inclusive and democratic spaces in first-year composition courses. CCC 2.0 includes multicultural materials, Web 2.0 tools (wikis, facebook, blogs, MySpace, Google group/sites, Flickr, twitter, podcasting, and YouTube), critical pedagogy, students' prior academic and cultural literacies, and contemporary theories of composition studies. I incorporate these elements/theories to create spaces for varied student populations in …