Digital Commons Network^™

Attachment, Fostering Parenting And Placement Stability, Renae L. Devolld, Myra Alicia Louise Rickman

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

A significant number of children remain in foster care for long periods of time. Among this vulnerable population there is a high rate of placement disruption. Multiple placement changes are more likely to have a negative effect on children in out‑of‑home care than those who remain in the same foster home until they can return to their parents, be adopted or leave foster care between 18 and 21 years of age. This study examined the effect of the foster parent’s attachment style on the parenting values for touch, praise, encouragement, hope and commitment regarding foster children. Adults with a secure …

Experiences Of Successful Young Adults In Extended Foster Care In San Bernardino County, Nicole M. Chavarria, Denise M. Johnson

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This is a qualitative study that was conducted in conjunction with San Bernardino County to explore the experiences of you adults in Extended Foster Care. Extended Foster Care is an extension of foster care services offered from age 18 to 21 as a result of the passing of Assembly Bill 12. This study focuses specifically on the experiences of young adults deemed “successful” based upon their enrollment in school, work status, and overall plans for their future. The data was collected through telephone and face-to-face interviews with young adults currently involved with Extended Foster Care in San Bernardino County. …

Beliefs About Self-Care Among Oncology Providers, Dimitri Shabree Ashford

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The research question in this project explores self-care practices that oncology providers utilize to manage stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue in their work environment. As an exploratory study, this research project examines self-care practices among the oncology providers and how self-care relates to the quality of patient care. The survey provided to the participants focused on the individual well-being such as spiritual, social support, physical, and emotional support. Findings from this study indicated that oncologist utilize spiritual self-care more than any other medical professional. The older adults utilize their social support systems more than the younger adults. Individuals with three …

An Exploratory Mixed Methodology Study Into The Theoretical Foundation Of Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy, Bradford Tyler Dawson

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Equine-assisted psychotherapy is emerging as a new alternative therapy method. As the field is new, there is limited amount of research looking at the current theoretical foundation being utilized in the therapeutic process. This study aims to explore the field of equine-assisted psychotherapy and its current theoretical foundation. The main question guiding this study was: What are the therapeutic theories and themes guiding the current practice of equine-assisted psychotherapy? The study consisted of six in-person qualitative interviews with current practitioners of equine-assisted psychotherapy. A short Likert-type scale was also used to quantitatively gather descriptive statistics about theories currently being used …

Understanding The Lived Experience Of Late-Entry English Learners In The Vista Canyon Unified School District, Joseph W. Boffa

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Many researchers have attempted to identify best practices, habits, and conditions of English Language Learners (ELs, ELLs) pertaining to school success. It is clear EL students pose unique and significant challenges, yet unclear what strategies and program models educators can implement to motivate learning, improve educational experiences, and appropriately acknowledge and reward these learners’ accomplishments. Few studies have attempted to determine the difficulties and challenges associated with academic success and probability of graduation for Late-entry English Learners (LEELs), defined as those entering the school system as eighth-through-twelfth grade students. Their test scores weigh heavily on high-stakes standardized testing accountability measures. …

On The Evolution Of Virulence, Thi Nguyen

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis is to study the dynamics behind the evolution of virulence. We examine first the underlying mechanics of linear systems of ordinary differential equations by investigating the classification of fixed points in these systems, then applying these techniques to nonlinear systems. We then seek to establish the validity of a system that models the population dynamics of uninfected and infected hosts---first with one parasite strain, then n strains. We define the basic reproductive ratio of a parasite, and study its relationship to the evolution of virulence. Lastly, we investigate the mathematics behind superinfection.

A Quantitative Study: On Social Workers' Awareness In Identifying Human Trafficked Victims, Graciela R. Wangsnes Mrs.

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Human trafficking of adolescents is estimated to be a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States and adolescents (ages12-18) are at a high risk for being the victims of human trafficking and being sexually exploited during the process of human trafficking. Social workers are ones of the human services practitioners who often encounter potential or actual victims of human trafficking in their social work practice. Thus, it is very important for social workers to be able to identify, intervene, and advocate for this population. The purpose of this study was to examine social workers’ knowledge about human trafficking and their …

Chronically Homeless: Service Needs, Patricia Carole Beamer Ms, Sharon Ella Hodges Ms

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the service needs being met and the needs not being met as perceived by the chronically homeless who call the park their home. The authors thought this an important study to examine to better understand the service needs of the homeless. The study used a qualitative design for collecting data which involved face-to-face interviews with ten of the homeless people at the park. Four primary themes, three of which had two subthemes each, were identified through a thematic analysis. The primary theme of mistrust of services had subthemes of safety and restrictions …

Photosynthetic Thermal Tolerance And Recovery To Short Duration Temperature Stress In Desert And Montane Plants: A Comparative Study, David William Gallagher

Master's Theses

• Climate change models predict an increase in frequency and amplitude of extreme weather events, including heat waves. To better predict how the composition and distribution of plant assemblages might respond to these changes in temperature, it is important to understand how species currently respond to these extremes. Photosynthetic thermal tolerance (T₂₅)and photosynthetic recovery (RT₂₅) were quantified in 27 species. We also studied the relationships between T₂₅, RT₂₅ and leaf mass per area (LMA). Leaf temperature was also monitored in the field.
• Leaves used in this study were collected from two distinct …

Dual High-Voltage Power Supply For Use On Board A Cubesat, Nicholas Weiser

Master's Theses

Since their conception in 1999, CubeSats have come and gone a long way. The first few that went into space were more of a “proof of concept,” and were more focused on sending simple data and photographs back to Earth. Since then, vast improvements have been made by over 40 universities and private firms, and now CubeSats are beginning to look towards interplanetary travel. These small satellites could provide a cost effective means of exploring the galaxy, using off the shelf components and piggy-backing on other launch vehicles with more expensive payloads. However, CubeSats are traditionally launched into Low Earth …

Consumer Evaluation Of Cheese: Linking Hedonics, Emotions And Perception Of Product Attributes, Kristine Patricia Martinez

Master's Theses

As the food industry continues to grow and the marketplace becomes saturated with similar products, consumer researchers and sensory scientists are looking to dig deeper into the minds of consumers to reveal greater distinctions between products and ultimately deliver multi-dimensionally desirable products to consumers. Concurrently, rates of adult and childhood obesity have been increasing nationwide. Food companies are now facing a paradigm shift as health initiatives and consumers are beginning to demand healthier alternatives to commonly consumed food products. With this in mind, it has become imperative to identify product attributes that drive consumption so they can be replicated in …

Neuromodulation: Action Potential Modeling, Vladimir Ruzov

Master's Theses

There have been many different studies performed in order to examine various properties of neurons. One of the most important properties of neurons is an ability to originate and propagate action potential. The action potential is a source of communication between different neural structures located in different anatomical regions. Many different studies use modeling to describe the action potential and its properties. These models mathematically describe physical properties of neurons and analyze and explain biological and electrochemical processes such as action potential initiation and propagation. Therefore, one of the most important functions of neurons is an ability to provide communication …

Design And Validation Of A Wearable, Continuous, And Non-Invasive Hydration Monitor That Uses Ultrasonic Pulses To Detect Changes In Tissue Hydration Status, Zoie Engman

Master's Theses

Chronic dehydration is an endemic problem for many population groups. Current methods of monitoring hydration status are invasive, time consuming, cannot be performed while exercising, and require lab resources. A proposed solution is a wearable, continuous, and non-invasive device that uses harm-free ultrasonic pulses to detect changes in tissue hydration status over time. Customer and engineering requirements were defined and used to guide the design process. Literature reviews were performed to identify essential information on dehydration, assess current methods, discover state of the art devices, and describe ultrasonic theory. Market research was performed to identify athletes as the target population …

Thermal Numerical Analysis Of Vertical Heat Extraction Systems In Landfills, Michael Thomas Onnen

Master's Theses

An investigation was conducted to determine the response of landfills to the operation of a vertical ground source heat pump (i.e., heat extraction system, HES). Elevated landfill temperatures, reported various researchers, impact the engineering performance of landfill systems. A numerical model was developed to analyze the influence of vertical HES operation on landfills as a function of climate and operational conditions.

A 1-D model of the vertical profile of a landfill was developed to approximate fluid temperatures in the HES. A 2-D model was then analyzed over a 40 year time period using the approximate fluid temperatures to determine the …

A Multi-Gpu Compute Solution For Optimized Genomic Selection Analysis, Trevor Devore

Master's Theses

Many modern-day Bioinformatics algorithms rely heavily on statistical models to analyze their biological data. Some of these statistical models lend themselves nicely to standard high performance computing optimizations such as parallelism, while others do not. One such algorithm is Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). In this thesis, we present a heterogeneous compute solution for optimizing GenSel, a genetic selection analysis tool. GenSel utilizes a MCMC algorithm to perform Bayesian inference using Gibbs sampling.

Optimizing an MCMC algorithm is a difficult problem because it is inherently sequential, containing a loop carried dependence between each Markov Chain iteration. The optimization presented in …

Laser Speckle Imaging: A Quantitative Tool For Flow Analysis, Taylor A. Hinsdale

Master's Theses

Laser speckle imaging, often referred to as laser speckle contrast analysis (LASCA), has been sought after as a quasi-real-time, full-field, flow visualization method. It has been proven to be a valid and reliable qualitative method, but there has yet to be any definitive consensus on its ability to be used as a quantitative tool. The biggest impediment to the process of quantifying speckle measurements is the introduction of additional non dynamic speckle patterns from the surroundings. The dynamic speckle pattern under investigation is often obscured by noise caused by background static speckle patterns. One proposed solution to this problem is …

Monarch Butterfly (Danaus Plexippus) Tree Preference And Intersite Movement At California Overwintering Sites, Jessica Lynn Griffiths

Master's Theses

Managing Monarch butterfly overwintering groves: making room among the eucalyptus

Proper management and conservation of the coastal California overwintering sites used by western Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus L.) is critical for continued use of these sites by monarchs. Many management efforts are currently concentrating on eucalyptus-only sites because of the prevailing notion that monarchs prefer eucalyptus over native tree species. Yet, whether a preference exists or not has never been tested. Herein, we test the “eucalyptus preference” hypothesis with data from five overwintering sites comprised of blue gum eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) and at least one other native tree …

Development Of Novel Anti-Microbial Plant Essential-Oil Treatments To Reduce The Postharvest Incidence Of Botrytis Cinerea Of Strawberries, Ryan C. Brantley

Master's Theses

Fresh strawberries have grown into a multi-billion dollar industry over the last few decades in California. Botrytis cinerea or grey mold, is the worst pathological disorder affecting strawberry fruit causing cull rates of up to 30% in the worst seasons. Strawberry fruits are fragile and have a short shelf-life making timely harvest, cooling, and marketing an absolute necessity. The current industry standard is to ship strawberries in an overwrapped CO₂-enriched headspace pallet in refrigerated trucks at 33 °F. However, B. cinerea has the ability to grow at very low temperatures and continues to plague the strawberry industry during postharvest storage …

A Proof Of Concept For Crowdsourcing Color Perception Experiments, Ryan Nathaniel Mcleod

Master's Theses

Accurately quantifying the human perception of color is an unsolved prob- lem. There are dozens of numerical systems for quantifying colors and how we as humans perceive them, but as a whole, they are far from perfect. The ability to accurately measure color for reproduction and verification is critical to indus- tries that work with textiles, paints, food and beverages, displays, and media compression algorithms. Because the science of color deals with the body, mind, and the subjective study of perception, building models of color requires largely empirical data over pure analytical science. Much of this data is extremely dated, …

Integrated Senior Housing, Kyungok Ha

Master's Theses

It is difficult to have an integrated population throughout all age strata in a society. Especially if one considers the growing percentage of the aged population and their feeling alienated in their current physical surroundings. In order to solve imminent problems with the growing elderly population, a primary task should be considering how to improve the housing of senior citizens. Furthermore, bringing the youth and elderly together would produce a functioning self-help system. It engenders interaction strategies by employing the strengths of one generation to serve another generation’s needs. This idea was introduced by the systemic family therapist Gerhard Schiele. …

Oceano Community Health Plan, Eugene Phillip Brennan

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Oceano Community Health Plan

Phillip Brennan

Recent, mounting research shows that chronic disease, the leading causes of death and primary driver of health care costs, cannot be effectively addressed through education or preventative health alone. A physical environment that promotes health—through access to healthy food, opportunities for physical activity, quality housing, transportation options, and safe schools—is an integral part of making our communities healthier. This research and accompanying Healthy Community Plans will serve as a way for the County to begin looking in-depth at the ways the built environment (our streets, parks, and neighborhoods) contribute or detract from the …

The Role Of Sirtuin Inhibitors On The Proteomic Responses Of The Mussels Mytilus Galloprovincialis And Mytilus Trossulus To Menadione Induced Oxidative Stress, Hayley C. Chilton

Master's Theses

Global climate change imposes physiological constraints on marine ecosystems that can alter the distribution of intertidal organisms. In one such instance, the native cold-adapted mussel Mytilus trossulus is being replaced along its southern range by the invasive warm-adapted Mytilus galloprovincialis. These blue mussels occur throughout rocky intertidal zones where they are subjected to greatly varying environmental conditions known to induce oxidative stress. We hypothesize that while under acute stress, related Mytilus congeners undergo a shift in redox potential from NADH-fueled respiratory pathways to pathways producing NADPH as a way to decrease the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and …

Incorporating Active Learning Into The Graphical Communications Course, Lulu Sun

Publications

Active learning, is a student-centered learning strategy which has recently gained considerable attention in higher education. The literature has shown that active learning has led to better student attitudes and improvements in their thinking, communication, leadership, and writing skills. The core elements of active learning are student activities and engagement in the learning process. As more faculty look for alternatives to traditional teaching methods they have strongly advocated active learning. However, the potential challenges for faculty with such an approach cannot be ignored such as increased class preparation time, the risks of student dissatisfaction, the use of instructional technology, and …

Commencement, Philadelphia (2014), Philadelphia College Of Osteopathic Medicine

Commencements

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Bias-Variance Trade-Off For Commonly Used Post-Summarizing Normalization Procedures In Large-Scale Gene Expression Studies, Zhixin Wu, Rui Hu, Xing Qiu

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Normalization procedures are widely used in high-throughput genomic data analyses to remove various technological noise and variations. They are known to have profound impact to the subsequent gene differential expression analysis. Although there has been some research in evaluating different normalization procedures, few attempts have been made to systematically evaluate the gene detection performances of normalization procedures from the bias-variance trade-off point of view, especially with strong gene differentiation effects and large sample size. In this paper, we conduct a thorough study to evaluate the effects of normalization procedures combined with several commonly used statistical tests and MTPs under different …

2014/2015 University Of The Pacific General Catalog, University Of The Pacific

Catalogue, Bulletin, Catalog

No abstract provided.

Heavy Metal Analysis In Lens And Aqueous Humor Of Cataract Patients By Total Reflection X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry, Martina Schmeling, Bruce I. Gaines, Susanne Tidow-Kebritchi

Chemistry: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The human eye is continuously exposed to the environment yet little is known about how much of toxins, specifically heavy metals are present in its different parts and how they influence vision and acuity. To shed light into this subject, aqueous humor and lens samples were collected from 14 cataract patients to study the presence and concentration of selected metals in the eye. Subjects undergoing routine cataract surgery were consecutively enrolled for study by simple random sampling. Prior to surgery, subject demographic were compiled. The surgical procedure involved small incision cataract removal using phacoemulsification. During the procedure, a small aliquot …

Systematic Review Of Facility-Based Sexual And Reproductive Health Services For Female Sex Workers In Africa, Ashar Dhana, Stanley Luchters, Lizzie Moore, Yves Lafort, Anuradha Roy, Fiona Scorgie, Matthew Chersich

Population Health, East Africa

Background: Several biological, behavioural, and structural risk factors place female sex workers (FSWs) at heightened risk of HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and other adverse sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes. FSW projects in many settings have demonstrated effective ways of altering this risk, improving the health and wellbeing of these women. Yet the optimum delivery model of FSW projects in Africa is unclear. This systematic review describes intervention packages, service-delivery models, and extent of government involvement in these services in Africa.

Methods: On 22 November 2012, we searched Web of Science and MEDLINE, without date restrictions, for …

How Adolescents Perceive Their Parents' Communication About Sex: Toward Reducing Adolescent Sexual Risk, Amanda J. Holman

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The “sex talk” is often one of the most challenging conversations for parents and children during adolescence. Research has established that parent-adolescent communication about sex can greatly reduce adolescents’ sexual risk (Guilamo-Ramos et al., 2012; Miller, Benson, & Galbraith, 2001). However, many parents still avoid these conversations due to uncertainty or lack of confidence in how to best educate their children on topics such as sexual health and relationships. Plus, little is known about family communication about sex from the adolescent perspective. In order to develop more comprehensive strategies for parents to engage in these challenging conversations, the present dissertation …

Nonlinear Internal Waves, Internal Bores, And Turbulent Mixing In The Nearshore Coastal Environment, Ryan K. Walter

Physics

The nearshore coastal environment is generally taken to be one of the most productive and ecologically important parts of the ocean. The nearshore is also a complex environment from a physical standpoint, due in large part to the widespread and often irregular occurrence of nonlinear internal waves (NLIWs) that frequently appear more bore-like than wave-like. Indeed, this region of the ocean can be thought of as the “swash zone” for larger-scale internal wave fields on the continental shelf. These nearshore NLIWs and bores have considerable implications for the cross-shelf exchange and transport of nutrients, sediments, contaminants, larvae, and other scalars; …