Search Constraints
Number of results to display per page
Search Results
- Creator:
- Quinn, Taylor A.
- Description:
- Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain condition most prevalent in women, particularly over the age of 50. Chronic conditions, including pain, affect more than half of adults over 65. Such conditions can contribute to functional limitations that lead to disability, illness, and death. Currently, the U.S. faces a national healthcare crisis that can be attributed to the deteriorating cognitive and physical health of older adults. Exploring ways to promote healthy behaviors that may prevent or delay such conditions should be of paramount importance. Past literature exploring the benefits of positive mood has linked elevated positive affect (PA) with improved memory, physical recovery, and habitual activity engagement. The focus of this study was to identify potential benefits of heightened levels of PA on various domains of cognition, physical performance, and perceived cognitive and physical health. A total of 94 individuals 50+ years of age with and without FM participated in the current investigation. A series of objective and subjective cognitive and physical assessments were administered. Results from the study indicate associated benefits of heightened PA for FM and non-FM individuals. For FM individuals, higher PA was associated with fewer reported problems with concentration and improved working memory performance. For non-FM individuals, higher PA was associated with fewer functional limitations, superior lower extremity strength, and fewer reported troubles with memory and concentration.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Psychology
- Creator:
- Walker, Amanda
- Description:
- This study examines the relationship between previous work experience and alcohol use after retirement. Stress-coping theory and role theory suggest that major life transitions can contribute to changes in alcohol consumption, but most investigations into this relationship have been limited to younger and middle-aged adults. Retirement is one of the most significant life changes, but research is mixed on the impact of retirement on alcohol use. Using data from the first two waves of the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) and National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE), this study examines the prior work experience and subsequent drinking changes in middle-aged and older retirees. Overall, participants maintained their usual levels of drinking after retirement and results suggest that work-related variables, such as work pride, coworker support, supervisor support, skill discretion, decision authority, and workplace demands were not significant predictors of changes in alcohol consumption in retirement. Despite the expectation that people who were working longer hours and experiencing more workrelated stress during employment would be more likely to drink post-retirement, results did not uphold these hypotheses. Findings suggest that work-related factors do not influence drinking status changes following retirement, but additional research is needed to fully understand the possible differences between cohorts as well as to explore other important contributing variables.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Psychology
- Creator:
- Sanchez, Melany
- Description:
- This study explores the experiences of single Mexican American women who have chosen to remain single. I explore the question: How do Mexican American women understand singlehood and how has their experience of taking on a nonnormative gender role impacted their lives? The intent of this study is to explore longterm voluntary singlehood among Mexican American women who have chosen to go against, not only societal expectations, but also their cultural and familial norms and values. Exploring single Mexican American women’s experiences offers insight on how women often successfully go against cultural norms to create new norms that change our generational traditions. I conducted ten in-depth interviews with Mexican American, heterosexual-identified women who claimed a connection to Mexican culture. My sample of women, were between the ages of 35 years to 50 years of age and were currently not in a committed relationship, nor looking for one. The findings from this research underline the importance of achieving a transformative identity that challenges dominant gender roles. It allows transformative women’s identities to reveal themselves and to constitute a new structure of gender relations.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Sociology
- Creator:
- Daniels, Christina L.
- Description:
- Atmospheric aerosol particles impact global climate indirectly by forming clouds that interact with solar radiation. The aerosol interaction with water is dependent on the particle composition and composition can change via reactions in the atmosphere. Dicarboxylic acids are a prevalent organic component of aerosol in our atmosphere and have the ability to readily react with both light and hydroxyl radicals. In this study, aqueous solutions of succinic acid (SA), a C4 dicarboxylic acid, and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) were photolyzed resulting in the formation of hydroxyl radicals that in turn react with the succinic acid. Solutions of various concentrations of hydrogen peroxide to succinic acid (H2O2:SA) were measured from 0 to 120 min to study the change in particle composition and resulting hygroscopic growth (i.e., water uptake) of the products. The product composition was analyzed using gas chromatography coupled with either a flame ionization detector or mass spectrometry for concentration and composition information, respectively. Reaction products with carbon chains greater than succinic acid were formed at small H2O2:SA ratios (< 2:1 H2O2:SA) when C-C bond scission dominates over H abstraction while oxidation of succinic acid to smaller reaction products dominates at larger H2O2:SA ratios (> 5:1 H2O2:SA). The hygroscopic growth behavior of the reaction product mixtures was measured using a humidified tandem differential mobility analyzer (HTDMA). There was no change in hygroscopic growth when photolyzed from 15 to 120 minutes for a 1:1 H2O2:SA solution although the relative ratio of reaction products varies. There was an increase in hygroscopic growth (> 20%) with increased peroxide concentration when photolyzed for 30 minutes given the formation of much smaller, highly hygroscopic compounds for H2O2:SA ≥ 5:1. Growth factor data can be accurately represented using the Zdanovskii-Stokes-Robinson (ZSR) mixing rule when the majority of product mass balance is known through 1) identification of the majority of reaction products or 2) products are lost to the gas phase. These results indicate that aqueous oxidation of succinic acid could dramatically affect how succinic acid forms clouds and, in turn, affects climate.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Creator:
- Pasquarella, Fred Joseph
- Description:
- The Fullerton Ontological Confusion (FOC) scale was constructed to address the issues of inconsistent theory and inadequate measurement regarding paranormal, superstitious, magical, and supernatural (PSMS) beliefs. For the FOC scale, PSMS beliefs were defined as confusions of ontology, or the misattribution of core knowledge belief categories. The FOC was empirically evaluated under an Item Response Theory framework using the nominal response model (NRM) to estimate item parameters and the Wald test to evaluate within-item category variation. Using the NRM and the Wald test, the FOC scale items were revised to yield a measure that was optimally formatted and informative. Correlational analysis was used to validate the FOC scale by testing the hypothesized relationships to theoretically related and unrelated constructs. The FOC scale was found to have a good degree of validity with most of the testable validation hypotheses being supported. Compared to the available existing measures, the FOC scale could be used as a more pure and informative measure for PSMS beliefs.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Psychology
96. Scavengers of Human Sorrow: The Lives and Crimes of Gilles De Rais and Elizabeth Bathory, 1405-1614
- Creator:
- Mccoy, Damian
- Description:
- That members of the nobility in pre-modern Europe were occasionally cruel is no secret. However, the French marshal Gilles de Rais (d. 1440) and the Hungarian countess Elizabeth Bathory (d. 1614) represent something more than nobles behaving badly. They are two of the earliest documented “serial killers,” but despite of what is known about them, their motives have remained unclear. Using an interdisciplinary and comparative approach for analysis, Gilles de Rais and Elizabeth Bathory are revealed here as more complex than previously thought. Firstly, primary sources ranging from trial records to letters provide the necessary historical background. Secondly, modern scholarship supplies the psycho-criminological methods, helps contextualize pre-modern violence and society, and shows the impact of Gilles’ and Elizabeth’s and their victims’ social status, associations, and gender. Lastly, movies, television shows, and song lyrics show how Gilles and Elizabeth continue to be immortalized even centuries after their crimes. Gilles and Elizabeth killed because they were serial killers, but the social climate of their times effectively enabled them to do so.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of History
- Creator:
- Geddes, Amanda C.
- Description:
- Newcomers to America bring with them unique cultures, values, customs, and languages. Although accepted and welcomed, these newcomers are expected to assimilate into the American way of life, and learning English is part of that assimilation. The effects of this continued flow of newcomers to America on public education are broadly evident. With increasing numbers of newcomers comes the need to adjust laws and teacher expectations for instructing students in English. California Senate Bill 2042 (SB 2042) is one example of a shift in policy with a goal of better preparing teachers to instruct English Language Learners (ELLs). Passed in 1998, SB 2042 mandated the Crosscultural, Language, and Academic Development Certificate be embedded in the base credential. This resulted in teachers credentialed in1998 and later being trained in effective English language development (ELD) strategies prior to entering the classroom. This mixed methods dissertation investigates teachers’ perceptions of their preparation for teaching ELLs by comparing pre- and post-SB 2042 credentialed teachers’ perceptions of their adequacy in using effective ELD strategies for teaching ELLs. In the past, preservice teachers primarily received subject matter instruction and direct teaching in classroom management (McDonald et al., 2011). The focus on ELL support was lacking and, in some cases, absent completely. Because of the passage of SB 2042, instruction in the effective use of ELD strategies for teaching ELLs is increasingly promoted and mandated in teacher preparatory programs. In response to the growing ELL population, teacher preparatory programs continue offering ELD strategies in their coursework. Although some studies have addressed the infusion of ELD strategies in teacher preparatory programs, gaps still remain in the current literature pertaining to teacher perceptions of their own preparation for teaching ELLs. The problem this study addressed was the variation in training that teachers receive in effective ELD strategies for teaching ELLs.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Fawaz, Allia A.
- Description:
- Evolutionary trees present hypotheses of the relationships among taxa. Some undergraduate biology students have trouble properly interpreting relationships on these trees; instead of using the most recent common ancestor (MRCA), many students use alternative strategies such as tip proximity, node counting, or morphological similarity to determine relationships. I designed questions to examine these alternative strategies and the use of the MRCA strategy to measure the most commonly, and the most consistently, used strategies by students in college introductory biology. I developed three highly reliable multiple-choice questionnaires, with each of the four possible answers for a question indicating the use of a different strategy (Cronbach’s α = 0.83; α = 0.89; α = 0.89). I administered the questionnaires to undergraduate students in their first core biology class after they received instruction on reading evolutionary trees (n = 197; n = 115; n = 97). Some students’ alternative strategy use was consistent. Students were much more likely to choose answers consistent with the tip proximity and node counting strategies than the morphological similarity strategy. The students looked at the expected areas for their chosen strategy when taking the questionnaire using eye-tracking equipment. Over 53% of the students missed at least one question on the questionnaires. The taxa and tree structure may have influenced the students’ use of the alternative strategies on the questionnaires. These questionnaires allow us to understand how students determine evolutionary relatedness among species and can help instructors of biology courses improve students’ understanding of evolutionary trees.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Biological Sciences
- Creator:
- Morales, Thomas Alexander
- Description:
- University students evaluated actions in moral scenarios in which a decision had to be made about whether to kill one person to save the lives of a larger number of people. Each participant rated both how right and how wrong they felt this action would be (bivariate measurement), with non-zero ratings on both scales representing moral ambivalence. Participants also indicated whether they would personally perform the action by responding Yes, No, or Can’t Decide (indecision). Participants’ sensitivities to impending reward (rightness of saving lives) and punishment (wrongness of killing) were measured on scales corresponding to the Behavioral Inhibition System and Behavioral Activation System (BIS/BAS). No correlations were found between BIS scores and ratings of wrong and BAS scores and ratings of right. Moderated logistic regression analysis of responses of Can’t Decide vs. Did Decide indicated no predictive value for high BIS scores but for several scenarios Can’t Decide was negatively correlated with the degree of separation between ratings of right and wrong. Additional correlational analysis showed that: (1) when a decision was made, the proportion of Yes responses was correlated with the group’s mean ratings of Right – Wrong; (2) the proportion of Can’t Decide responses was negatively correlated with the proportion of Yes responses among Decided subjects, implying that Can’t Decide was a substitute for committing to taking no action. Indecision in situations where doing nothing meant letting more people die was apparently an escape from taking moral responsibility for the consequences of inaction.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Psychology
- Creator:
- Vo, Holly H.
- Description:
- Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a common eye disease that could lead to irreversible vision loss but hard to be noticed by carriers in early stages. On the path of recognizing DR stages by multi-scale color uniform local binary pattern in retinopathy images, this work explores two main point. The first point is investigating the role of feature dimensionality reduction in the process of extracting discriminatory features for effective classification. The second point is exploring the discriminatory information carried in different color spaces for fundus images. Experiments are conducted on a large scale dataset of 35,126 training images and 53,576 testing images that have been taken by different devices with high variance in dimension, quality and luminance. The proposed multi-level feature dimensionality reduction (FDR) methodology is applied in three scopes in the feature hierarchy of the fusion of five color spaces: RGB, L*a*b*, HSI, I1I2I3, and rgb. The novel combination of the proposed multi-level FDR method and color fusion achieves 75.2% accuracy by one-to-one SVM classifier.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Computer Science