Digital Commons Network^™

Foraging Behavior, Habitat, Health, And Survival Of Resident And Translocated Hawaiian Monk Seals At Nihoa Island, Hawaii, Tenaya A. Norris

Master's Theses

Translocations aimed at promoting population recovery for threatened and endangered species also can function as forced dispersals. To assess the efficacy of translocating Hawaiian monk seals (Monachus schauinslandi) and examine post-dispersal effects on monk seals, in 2008-2009, 12 weanling seals were translocated from French Frigate Shoals (FFS) to Nihoa Island (NIH). In addition, nine adult and eight weanling resident seals were captured at NIH. Satellite instrument attachment, biological sampling, and morphometry were conducted on seals at capture. Focal video camera drops also were conducted at 45 sites around NIH (< 100 m) in 2010-2011. Translocated and resident weanlings primarily dove to 40-60 m and used sandy-bottomed habitat < 13 km from NIH. In contrast, resident adults had greater variability in foraging behavior and habitat use. There also was a low prevalence of infectious disease in translocated and resident seals, excluding Chlamydophila abortus and enteric bacteria. First-year survival was greater for …

Reviving Student Interest In Classic Literature: A Field-Experimental Study Of New Edition And Shelf Display As Promoting Strategies, Maggie Huff

Master's Theses

Librarians often keep classic books in school libraries because the books have educational merits, yet they are rarely checked out for recreational reading. Current research on low circulation of classic literature in school libraries is limited to anecdotal evidence from school and young adult librarians suggesting that lack of promotion and especially the inferior condition of old editions contribute to low circulation. This research fills the gap by examining the effect of new editions and display on circulation in a field experimental study at a middle school library in 2011.

Set up as 2 X 2 factorial design, the field …

Unmanned Aircraft System (Uas) Delegation Of Separation In Nextgen Airspace, Caitlin Ailis Kenny

Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to determine the feasibility of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) performing delegated separation in the national airspace system (NAS). Delegated separation is the transfer of responsibility for maintaining separation between aircraft or vehicles from air navigation service providers to the relevant pilot or flight operator. The effects of delegated separation and traffic display information level were collected through performance, workload, and situation awareness measures.

The results of this study showed benefits related to the use of conflict detection alerts being shown on the UAS operator's cockpit situation display (CSD) and to the use of full …

My Team Drinks: An Analysis Of Alcohol Consumption Norms Among Adolescent Athletes, Laura Beth Jones

Master's Theses

Alcohol use among adolescents results in a greater risk of lifetime alcohol abuse and dependence. Some research suggests that perceived peer norms about drinking are the strongest predicting factor of alcohol–related behaviors (ARBs) among adolescents. Previous research on whether sports participation is related to adolescent alcohol consumption has resulted in mixed findings. For this study, perceived norms were further delineated between descriptive and injunctive norms. The goal of this research was to determine whether there were differences between sport types (team vs. individual) in alcohol consumption patterns and whether sport type moderated the predictive strength of perceived norms on alcohol …

The Impact Of The U.S. Debit Card Interchange Fee Caps On Consumer Welfare: An Event Study Analysis, David S. Evans, Howard H. Chang, Steven Joyce

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

The cost to merchants of taking payment on debit cards declined by more than $7 billion annually as a result of the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, while the effective cost to issuers of providing debit card services to consumers increased by a corresponding amount. This paper reports an event-study analysis of stock prices to determine the impact on consumers of the Durbin Amendment. Did consumers gain more from cost savings passed on by merchants, in the form of lower prices and better services, than they lost from cost increases passed …

Mandatory Arbitration And Distributive Equity: An Essay On Access To Justice, Omri Ben-Shahar

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

Mandatory arbitration clauses in consumer contracts are widely regarded as problematic becasue they limit consumer's access to judicial forums, to fair procedures, and potentially to any kind of remedy. But rather than looking at consumers as a group, I examine which sub groups of consumers are affected by this limitation more than others. I argue that in most circumstances, access to courts benefits the elite, not the weak. It is a species of open-access policy that has an unintended regressive effect. Paradoxically, rules rather than protect, weaker consumers, as they mandate a regressive reallocation. I also consider the role of …

Attention To Rivalry Among Online Platforms And Its Implications For Antitrust Analysis, David S. Evans

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

Many online businesses, including most of the largest platforms, seek and provide attention. These online attention rivals provide products and features to obtain the attention of consumers and sell some of that attention, through other products and services, to merchants, developers and others who value it. The multi-sided business of seeking and providing attention is fluid with rivalries crossing boundaries defined by the features of the products and services. It is also dynamic. Rivals introduce new products and services, some involving drastic innovation, frequently. Online attention rivals impose competitive constraints on each other. Product differentiation tempers the significance of these …

Can Lawyers Stay In The Driver's Seat?, Daniel G. Currell, M. Todd Henderson

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

No abstract provided.

The Prevalence Of The Uncultivated Bacterium Tm7a In Human Subgingival Plaque, Jamsheed Adrian Ghadiri

Master's Theses

Most bacteria are yet to be cultivated, and some uncultivated bacteria have been associated with human diseases. TM7, an uncultivated candidate division of bacteria, has been recently associated with periodontitis, a disease if left untreated causes tooth degradation and gum decay. A subgroup of TM7, known as TM7a, has been found in both human samples and activated wastewater. TM7a from these two locations are as high as 99.7% similar by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, leading researchers to believe both TM7a strains are very similar functionally. TM7a has been extensively studied in activated wastewater. However, little is known of its …

Performance And Gta Training: Understanding An Adaptation Of Boal's Forum Theatre For New Teachers, Tiffany Harbrecht

Master's Theses

The Communication Studies Department at San José State University adapts Boal's Forum Theatre to provide its graduate teaching associates (GTAs) a space for cooperatively re-imagining their way through challenges and concerns they may (or do) face during teaching. This research fills a gap in our disciplinary understanding of how new teachers experience forum theatre and the substantive differences and difficulties that arise when implementing it in trainings that are not focused on challenging oppression. Chiefly, participants risk conflating forum theatre with role-play and losing Boal's theory; while fusing its ideas this way might appear as a way to problem-pose with …

Propriety Of Self-Disclosure On Facebook: An Examination Of Its Impact On Credibility, Katherine Colleen Ireland

Master's Theses

This experimental study examined the effects of the propriety of computer-mediated teacher self-disclosure on perceptions of teacher credibility and how that relationship is moderated by ethnicity. Participants were assigned to one of four conditions: White Appropriate, Latina Appropriate, White Inappropriate, and Latina Inappropriate. Participants answered questions about the instructor's perceived credibility. Results suggest that teachers who engaged in appropriate self-disclosure were rated higher on teacher credibility than those with inappropriate Facebook® profiles. There was no main effect for ethnicity. Implications for classroom pedagogy, technology use, and areas for future research are discussed.

In Pursuit Of A Globalized University: An Analysis Of The Sjsu Salzburg Program, Elizabeth Diane Ohlhausen

Master's Theses

Colleges and universities are responding to the force of globalization by encouraging faculty and administrators to develop programs that support students in the global worlds of work and of citizenship. Through a partnership with the Salzburg Global Seminar's International Study Program (ISP), San José State University (SJSU) is making efforts to "globalize the campus" through institutional change. The ISP draws on the Salzburg Global Seminar's experience with the Universities Project and with other institutions of higher education in the United States to create the desired change. This paper examined the progress of the SJSU Salzburg Program (the Program), drawing on …

Safe Sex As Patriotic Ideograph In Wartime Std Prevention Campaigns, Jessica Ann Johnson

Master's Theses

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are a problem that has afflicted people in the USA for centuries. Health communication and mass communication scholars have attempted to determine the effectiveness of STD prevention campaigns. It is crucial for scholars to take into account the persuasiveness of these campaigns and beliefs that become significant to these campaigns.

This rhetorical history examines how acted as a patriotic ideograph in World War I and II STD prevention campaigns. A history of war and knowledge associated with STDs gives readers a broad overview of the cultural aspects that are a part of the context of this …

Effects Of Compression On The Temperature Distribution Of A Tissue-Mimicking Material During High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (Hifu) Ablation, Austin Robbins Roth

Master's Theses

Local blood flow near a high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) target has been shown to decrease ablation effectiveness and predictability, creating a barrier to clinical use for breast cancer treatment. This study investigated the effects of compression on HIFU ablation of a perfused tissue-mimicking material. Gellan gum-based phantoms, with thermal and acoustic properties similar to those of soft tissue, were ablated with a 1.13 MHz HIFU transducer while being subjected to varying levels of external compression. Phantoms were designed with an embedded 6 mm diameter vessel meant to mimic a thermally significant blood vessel near a breast tumor. The internal temperature …

The Prospect Of Reform In North Korea: Will China Play A Role?, Emily Victoria Bennett

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Ginsenoside Rd Attenuates Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury Via Akt/Gsk-3Β Signaling And Inhibition Of The Mitochondria-Dependent Apoptotic Pathway., Yang Wang, Xu Li, Xiaoliang Wang, Wayne Bond Lau, Yajing Wang, Yuan Xing, Xing Zhang, Xinliang Ma, Feng Gao

Department of Emergency Medicine Faculty Papers

Evidence suggests Ginsenoside Rd (GSRd), a biologically active extract from the medical plant Panax Ginseng, exerts antioxidant effect, decreasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation. Current study determined the effect of GSRd on myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (MI/R) injury (a pathological condition where ROS production is significantly increased) and investigated the underlying mechanisms. The current study utilized an in vivo rat model of MI/R injury and an in vitro neonatal rat cardiomyocyte (NRC) model of simulated ischemia/reperfusion (SI/R) injury. Infarct size was measured by Evans blue/TTC double staining. NRC injury was determined by MTT and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage assay. ROS accumulation and …

Social Justice And The Charter: Comparison And Choice, Margot Young

All Faculty Publications

At a time of radical inequality, the changes sought by social justice advocacy are urgently needed. Yet repeatedly, courts fail to respond adequately to this challenge. A core issue plagues social justice jurisprudence under sections 7 and 15: the difficulty inevitable in the contemplation and expression of the social and political forms in which oppression and social injustice occur. This problem manifests doctrinally in ways specific to the rights at issue. In section 15 cases, the casting of comparator groups has been deeply problematic, and in both section 15 and section 7 cases, the courts fail to deliver a nuanced …

Processing Research And Development Of 'Green' Polymer Nanoclay Composites Containing A Polyhydroxybutyrate, Vinyl Acetates, And Modified Montmorillonite Clay, James N. Mckirahan Jr.

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine the feasibility of direct melt-blending (intercalation) montmorillonite nanoclay to polyhydroxybutyrate along with vinyl acetate, at different weight percentages, to enhance plasticization using typical plastic processing equipment and typical processing methodology. The purpose was to determine and compare the specific mechanical properties of tensile strength and flexural strength developed as a result from this processing. Single screw and twin screw extrusion, Banbury mixer compounding, and compression molding were used to intercalate montmorillonite, and for sample preparation purposes, to test tensile and flexural strength of the resultant polymer clay nanocomposites (PCN). Results indicate Polyhydroxybutyrate …

A Qualitative Inquiry Into The Experiences Of People Living With Hiv/Aids For An Extended Period Of Time, Sylwia P. Hodorek

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The experience of living with a chronic illness such as HIV/AIDS is complex. The longevity of people living with HIV/AIDS is increasing and changing the medical and mental health care provision for these individuals. A qualitative approach was used to explore the lived experiences of long-term survivors of HIV/AIDS along three factors: (a) uncertainties, (b) stigma, and (c) coping. The research was guided by the constructivist paradigm and biopsychosocial approach. The methodology utilized was the constructivist grounded theory approach, which emphasizes simultaneous data collection and analysis. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 participants who have been living with HIV/AIDS for …

Inconsistencies In The Tax Legislation In Kosovo, Rineta Hoxha

Theses

The objective of this work is to identify inconsistencies in the tax legislation in Kosovo and recommend solutions towards more comprehensive and user friendly laws for taxpayers, tax professionals and tax administrators. A crucial element of the tax legislation is its consistency. Tax laws need to be in accordance with each other as they are the building blocks of the same system – the tax system. Unfortunately, analysis on the tax laws in Kosovo resulted in identification of a number of inconsistencies that affect negatively the comprehensiveness, simplicity and the functionality of the laws. Moreover, interviews conducted with different stakeholders …

Circuit Solutions To Compensate For Device Degradation In Analog Design In Scaled Technologies, Mark Pude

Theses

The continued aggressive scaling of semiconductor devices has had detrimental effects on the performance of those devices as used in analog circuitry. Specifically, the maximum intrinsic gain (MIG) of the devices continues to degrade as the device channel lengths are reduced below 100 nm and beyond. MIG is shown to degrade from 21.6 dB in a 180 nm technology to 12.2 dB in a 65 nm technology despite the application of traditional design techniques including device size scaling and bias voltage increases. This reduction in MIG along with other process scaling effects significantly complicates the design of linear amplifiers in …

All Things Forget The Forest: The Convergence Of The War And The Pastoral In Edward Thomas's Body Of Work, Nicole Trobaugh

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Edward Thomas, often identified as a war poet, eludes definitive characterization despite the fact that his poems are often anthologized as war poems. However, unlike other widely-known war poets, such as Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, the imagery present in Thomas's poetry contains much subtlety and features dominant usage of nature themes. This project attempts to navigate the multi-faceted world of Edward Thomas through consideration of his love for nature, his melancholic predispositions, and his preoccupations with the looming Great War in order to study Thomas's use of natural imagery in the context of grief, melancholy, and traumatic experience. To …

Animal Protection Laws Of Singapore And Malaysia, Alvin W. L. See

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article offers an overview and assessment of the laws relating to the protection of animals in Singapore and Malaysia. The focus is on identifying the interpretations of the statutory offences of cruelty that will best promote their objectives and effectiveness.

Identity Crisis Of Jordanian Bmb (Believer From Muslim Background) Women At The Beginning Phase Of New Faith, Sam Kim

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Work Of The Spirit And The Ministry Of The Word In Ambrose Of Milan, John Wesley Hatton

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Pagan Christian Spiritual Identity In Mainline Christian Denominations, Irene Grace Puckett La Torra

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Surface Treatment On Nickel Leaching From Nitinol, Daniel Lawrence Leobrera Madamba

Master's Theses

Nitinol is widely used as a biomaterial for implantable medical devices but can be susceptible to nickel leaching. Our research was aimed at determining nickel leaching from surface treated Nitinol samples, treated as follows: mechanical polishing (untreated), oxidation, and nitriding+oxidation (5 different nitriding temperatures). Five specimens from each category were immersed in 40 mL PBS solution and incubated at 37°C over 91 days. Nickel concentration readings were taken at regular intervals. After 91 days, the average nickel concentration in the PBS solution was (a) 0.223 mg/L, SD 0.017, untreated, (b) 7.68 mg/L, SD 6.405, 1000°C nitriding+oxidation, and (c) 3.914 mg/L, …

An Ecological Assessment Of Insect Diversity At Organic Central Coast Vegetable Farms On Two Spatial Scales, Emily Musgrave

Master's Theses

Modern industrial agriculture is the principal cause of anthropogenic land use changes for terrestrial ecosystems. Approximately 40% of the planet's land surface, or half of the habitable area, is now composed of agricultural landscapes. The simplification and industrialization of agriculture are the biggest drivers of global biodiversity loss, especially on Californian's Central Coast. Diversified organic agriculture, however, may offer some refuge for non-crop species. In this study we analyzed insect and plant biodiversity on and adjacent to organic vegetable farms on the Central Coast of California at two spatial scales, the landscape-scale and a smaller within-farm scale. At the landscape-scale, …

This Could Be A Game!": Defining Gamification For The Classroom, Darcy Elaine Osheim

Master's Theses

Instructors find a gap between what they experienced in school in the mid-to-late 20th century and the experiences of students entering college in 2012/13. In the United States, the influx of almost universal access to technology has marked this generation in a way the previous generations must work to understand, and gamification is a strategy used in areas like marketing to gain participation from this age group. Gamification is a strategy that employs game mechanics, techniques, and theory in areas that traditionally are not set up to function like a game. The purpose of this study was to define gamification …

"All Things Forget The Forest": The Convergence Of The War And The Pastoral In Edward Thomas's Body Of Work, Nicole Trobaugh

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Edward Thomas, often identified as a war poet, eludes definitive characterization despite the fact that his poems are often anthologized as war poems. However, unlike other widely-known war poets, such as Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, the imagery present in Thomas's poetry contains much subtlety and features dominant usage of nature themes. This project attempts to navigate the multi-faceted world of Edward Thomas through consideration of his love for nature, his melancholic predispositions, and his preoccupations with the looming Great War in order to study Thomas's use of natural imagery in the context of grief, melancholy, and traumatic experience. To …