Search Constraints
Number of results to display per page
Search Results
- Creator:
- Adebayo-ige, Morenike V.
- Description:
- Many immigrant Nigerian women make the life changing decision to study in American higher education institutions in order to empower and improve their socio-economic status (Ojo, 2009). However, there is a paucity of research on immigrant African women and even more lacking are studies on immigrant Nigerian women. The few available studies on immigrant African women homogenized immigrant African women by painting them as a monolithic group, thereby overlooking the uniqueness of specific women from diverse African groups (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger and Tarule’s, 1986; Ogundipe-Leslie, 1994). As a result, the voices of immigrant Nigerian women are absent. Thus, the aim of this study was to fill a gap in literature concerning immigrant to project the voices of Nigerian women by exploring their experiences in American higher education institutions. This study examined factors that influenced participants’ educational success, the effects of higher education attainment on their lives, and the coping strategies they employed in navigating their pathways through American colleges and universities. Utilizing a narrative approach and Ogundipe-Leslie’s (1994) African feminism and Social Transformation Including Women in Africa (STIWA) as a framework, the findings revealed that immigrant Nigerian women’s success was influenced by support from families, peers, church (spirituality), and their self-determination. In addition, findings showed that participation in higher education resulted in financial stability and increased self-esteem/voice and a positive influence on others, as well as confrontation with discrimination. Participants cultivated various coping strategies, such as faith in God and focusing on their educational goal. The study concludes with recommendations for policy makers, educational leaders and faculty to embrace diversity by being more culturally sensitive to the needs of immigrant students and to hire more faculty of color to create a more equitable and inclusive teaching and learning environments (Bensimon, 2007; Jones & Jones, 2008; Turner, Gonzalez and Wood, 2008).
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Yocum Gaffney, Deann
- Description:
- Few qualitative studies exist about college students with mental health challenges and how they succeed and persist in college. Previous studies of college students with mental health challenges have largely been conducted using quantitative measures. To respond to this gap in the literature, this qualitative study explored how college juniors and seniors with a previously diagnosed mental disorder were able to persist and succeed toward degree completion. This research makes available an increased understanding of the common experiences of academically successful college students with mental health challenges and an emergent theory about their success. This qualitative inquiry, which referenced constructivism and pragmatism as its underpinnings, used grounded theory methodology to develop a deeper understanding of the participants’ experiences. Twenty-four participants were identified through convenience and purposive sampling. Each participant was enrolled in an undergraduate program at a private university in the Western United States, self-identified as having been diagnosed with a mental health challenge, had completed at least 60 academic units, and had maintained a G.P.A. of 2.0. Participants were challenged by varied mental health diagnoses, including anxiety, depression, bi-polar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit disorder, traumatic brain injury, and eating disorders. Participants submitted responses to an on-line survey, were interviewed in person, and were invited to submit post interview journals. The data were collected through all the methods described but predominately through semi-structured interviews. Data analysis generated six themes, which formed an emergent theory that explored the lived experiences of college students with mental health challenges. The six themes were: the common experiences of students with mental health challenge, the role of relationships, campus integration, mental health identity, the role of campus services, and self-care. The grounded theory that emerged from this inquiry offers a model for understanding how college students with mental health challenges are able to persist and succeed. The findings suggest key information about the persistence of college students with mental health challenges and provides vital recommendations for students, faculty, and staff about how to best support student success and create of more inclusive educational communities.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Lopez, Christina
- Description:
- Multidrug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, a common etiologic agent of severe nosocomial infections in compromised hosts, usually harbors aac(6’)-Ib. This gene codes for an aminoglycoside acetyltransferase that modifies amikacin and other aminoglycosides of clinical relevance. The goal of this work was to interfere with expression of this resistance gene and induce susceptibility to amikacin in resistant pathogens. In vitro translation assays led to the identification of an antisense oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN4) that targets the initiation of translation region of aac(6’)- Ib mRNA. An isosequential nuclease-resistant chimeric oligomer composed of 2’,4’- bridged nucleic acid-NC (BNANC) residues and deoxynucleotides (BNANC -DNA) covalently bound to the cell-penetrating peptide (RXR)4XB (where “X” and “B” stand for 6-aminohexanoic acid and β-alanine, respectively). This compound, called CPPBD4, inhibited translation at similar levels observed with ODN4. Addition of a combination of Amikacin and CPPBD4 to a culture of an Acinetobacter baumannii clinical strain harboring aac(6’)-Ib resulted in growth inhibition indicating that CPPBD4 reached the cytosol and interfere with the expression of the resistance enzyme.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Biological Sciences
- Creator:
- Lynch, Kassandra
- Description:
- Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain condition that affects 2% to 4% of the population. Many patients with FM report a history of depression and child abuse. Childhood abuse affects both physical and mental health in adulthood. Negative mood regulation expectancies (NMRE) are one’s belief that one can alleviate his or her negative moods (Catanzaro & Mearns, 1990). People with higher NMRE experience fewer mental and physical symptoms in adulthood following childhood maltreatment. My study investigated how NMRE, depression, childhood trauma, and FM were related. The study expected to find that more severe child abuse would be associated with lower NMR Scale scores, more depression, and more FM symptoms. NMRE was also expected to mediate the relationships of child abuse with both depression and FM symptoms. Questionnaires were completed by 164 participants with an FM diagnosis (n = 34) or a history of child abuse (n = 130). Participants were sampled from online support groups for FM and child abuse. More severe child abuse was associated with greater depression, but it was unrelated to NMRE and FM symptoms. Higher NMRE were associated with lower depression, but they had no association with FM symptoms. This study did not support past research suggesting that NMRE may influence health symptoms. Limitations include that the current study had few participants and many incomplete responses to the questionnaires. Future research should include non-self-report measures and should collect questionnaire data at multiple sessions to better understand causality among the variables.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Psychology
- Creator:
- Briggerman, Robert Starwalt
- Description:
- This study explored the effectiveness of a unique math intervention program in a local school district in Orange County, California in terms of academic achievement and student perceptions about their math abilities as a result of their experiences in the program. As the predominate instructional approach, the program provided students with constructivist learning strategies to align with the Common Core State Standards and to strengthen their conceptual understanding of mathematics content. Two summative, end of course exams were given to this group and to a comparable group at another middle school that received a more traditional instructional approach as their primary instructional focus. The second group received instruction with emphasis on algorithmic problem solving steps and memorization of rules and mathematical procedures. Exams were administered mid way through the year and at the end of the year. Results were compared between the groups at each admission and on their overall growth from one administration to the next. Results between the groups were non-significant, perhaps due to the small sample size and uneven comparison groups. Although somewhat close, non-parametric measurements did not reveal significant findings. In a second, qualitative phase of the study, six students, three from each program, completed a rich interview protocol. The purpose was to gather student perceptual changes regarding their math ability as a result of the two different intervention programs. Themed responses in the areas of math anxiety, math self-concept, and math self- efficacy revealed improvements in overall student perceptions about their math ability in both intervention programs. A study with a larger, more even sample size might lead to significant findings. Practitioners, researchers, and policy makers might use the findings of this study to explore and implement additional intervention strategies for struggling math students.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Phamvu, Kim
- Description:
- Past research has demonstrated an association between peer victimization and internalizing problems. Nonetheless, there are some children who seem to be undamaged by their experiences of peer victimization. In an effort to understand this resilience, the current study examined negative mood regulation (NMR) expectancies as a potential moderator and mediator of the relationship between peer victimization and internalizing problems of depression and anxiety. Fifty-three students in grades 4 through 6 completed self-report questionnaires: the Negative Mood Regulation Scale for Youth, the Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the Peer Interaction Primary School Questionnaire. As expected, peer victimization positively correlated with depression and anxiety, while NMR expectancies negatively correlated with depression and anxiety. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed full mediation by NMR expectancies of the relationship between peer victimization and depression. Furthermore, there was evidence for partial mediation by NMR expectancies of the relationship between peer victimization and anxiety. The findings from this study have implications for changing the focus of bullying intervention programs and clinical treatment of children who are affected by peer victimization. Future interventions could focus on changing the expectancies of children who have low NMR expectancies, thus giving them skills to withstand the deleterious effects of peer victimization.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Psychology
- Creator:
- Avina, Jose L.
- Description:
- Infiltration is an important aspect to the hydrologic cycle as it allows for groundwater recharge. In California especially, groundwater is used for agriculture, industrial usage, and as drinking water. This Thesis presents an analytical model for time dependent infiltration through a variably saturated soil. Water is considered to begin infiltrating soil at the ground surface and moves through the vadose zone towards the datum of the system (the water table) where pressure head is constrained to zero. The developed model calculates important soil characteristic parameters such as hydraulic conductivity, K, water content, θ, and pressure head, ψ, as a function of depth. The solution introduces four parameters (ak,ψk,ac, and ψa) to represent K and θ as exponential functions. The proposed model is then compared to existing exponential function solutions for various times. The comparison illustrates the versatility of using a four parameter exponential representation for infiltration. Furthermore, the proposed solution is validated against the numerical solution of HYDRUS-1D, which employs the widely used van Genuchten-Mualem constitutive model. Additionally, once parameters ak and ψk are known, one can obtain van Genuchten parameters α and n. Finally, the constitutive exponential expressions for hydraulic conductivity and water content are compared to the van Genuchten-Mualem expressions.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Creator:
- Tran, Duc Tan
- Description:
- Landslides, which have been existing around the world, are considered as environmental hazards. The number of landslide hazard is increasing every year. Although there are different causes of landslides, two major causes are rainfall and earthquake. Rainfall increases pore water pressure, changes the degree of saturation and causes a loss of strength in the soil. Therefore, the equilibrium can no longer be maintained in the slope, and a failure occurs. Likewise, when an earthquake occurs, the seismic force associated with the earthquake triggers mass movement such as rock fall, debris flow, and others forms of mass movement. In an attempt to evaluate the effect of rainfall in triggering landslides, a series of physical slope models were prepared in laboratory at different soil void ratios, and slope inclinations. Slope stability and deformation analyses were carried out in order to not only further understand the effect of rainfall on slope stability, but also obtain a relationship between void ratio, intensity and duration of rainfall, and slope inclination on soil slope stability. Collected soil samples from a compacted fill area in Mission Viejo, CA were placed into the Plexiglas container and compacted to the desired void ratios to form physical models at the inclinations of 40 and 45 degrees to introduce targeted rainfall with a rain simulation system in order to measure the seepage rate, moisture content, degree of saturation and surface erosion with time. After these static slope experiments, another experimental model was prepared and shaken on the shake table to determine the relationship between void ratio, seismic acceleration, seepage velocity and slope stability. The soil sample was placed into the same Plexiglas container and compacted to a void ratio of 1.2 to form the same 60 cm thick model, which was later cut into a 40 degree slope. Accelerometers were then placed on the slope to measure the amplification of seismic acceleration at different depths during shaking. Tensiometers were also installed on the slope at different locations to measure the variation of pore water pressure with time. The slope was shaken with different accelerations and frequencies for multiple cycles. Rainfall stimulator device was then placed on the top of the slope immediately after the shaking event. The targeted rainfall was introduced to evaluate the stability of the slope after shaking event. The results were used to perform slope stability and finite element analyses in Geo-Studio 2012- Slope/W, Seep/W, Sigma/W and Quake/W. Overall, the results of static slope stability modeling showed that pore water pressure and the velocity of wetting front of the slope do not increase uniformly over the entire slope during the rainfall period. Time required to saturate the soil decreases with an increase in the void ratio for the same intensity of rainfall. The velocity of movement of wetting front decreased for the slopes prepared at larger angle of inclination compared to the one prepared at smaller angle of inclination when subjected to same intensity and duration of rainfall. The values of factor of safety of the slope for the same intensity and duration of rainfall dropped with an increase in void ratio. In addition, a slope having smaller angle of inclination is more stable than the one having lager angle of inclination for same void ratio, and intensity and duration of rainfall. The results of seismic slope stability analysis subjected to post-seismic rainfall event showed that there was no significant change in pore water pressure during shaking and no catastrophic failure occurred during post-shaking rainfall event. The velocity of movement of wetting front decreased for the post-shaking rainfallinduced slopes compared to the static condition. Besides, the slope subjected to rainfall without shaking event exhibited 10% lower factor of safety compared to the slope subjected to post-seismic rainfall event. The deformation obtained from numerical analysis for both of static and seismic slopes were larger than that obtained from the laboratory experiments. Moreover, the numerical analyses for the case study matched well for the results obtained from the laboratory experiments.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Creator:
- Papac, Anthony
- Description:
- The union wage premium has been a topic of heated debate among labor economists for over 50 years. Researchers have attempted to account for selection of workers into unions by employing numerous, often creative econometric strategies to remove unobservable characteristics of individuals that are correlated with both wages and union membership. These methods have been largely inconclusive in determining whether OLS estimates of the union wage premium are positively or negatively biased. This study is the first to directly include measures of individuals’ personalities, characteristics formerly thought of as “unobservables,” in analyses of the union wage premium for three different countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Overall, the present study finds little evidence supporting the notion that including personality traits is important when estimating the union wage premium. In particular, OLS wage regressions, propensity score matching, and quantile wage regressions reveal that including personality traits does not significantly alter the size of the union wage premium estimated in each of the three models. Finally, fixed effect estimates of the union wage premium suggest that researchers should control for all possible time-invariant unobservable heterogeneity of individuals, not just personality, when estimating the union wage premium.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Economics
- Creator:
- Ahj Obaid, Zahraa Tawfeeq
- Description:
- Large amounts of waste materials such as waste tires, rubbers, etc. are discarded into our surrounding environment. Thus, they are a major cause of contamination and pollution, which, as a result, could eventually lead to many problems including health hazards and fire. Therefore, engineers, environment scientists and researchers face a challenge of how to deal with discarded tires. Undoubtedly, the best solution to not only get rid of waste tires but also make use of them through recycling. Thus, recycling tires would ultimately yield a cleaner environment and prevent public health degradation. Moreover, shredded tires have been used in many geotechnical as well civil engineering applications such as highway embankments, bridge abutments and backfills behind retaining structures. Shredded tire material has also been used to modify soils. Certain clay properties such as poor drainage, high compressibility, and low shear strength make it unfavorable for civil engineering applications. Modifications can be made in these properties by mixing clay with shredded tires. This study focuses on improvements obtained in clay properties by using different sizes of shredded rubber tire. Granular kaolin and a mixture of 50% montmorillonite with 50% granular kaolin were modified using different sizes and percentage of shredded rubber tire. Laboratory experiments were carried out to evaluate the changes in unit weight, permeability and unconfined compressive strength characteristics of the modified clay. The results presented in this thesis include the properties of granular kaolin and a mixture of 50% montmorillonite with 50% granular kaolin mixed with shredded rubber tires. According to the test results, the maximum dry unit weight occurs at 2 to 4% of shredded rubber tires are added to the clay soil samples for all sizes of shredded rubber tire. The highest strength for the mixture of granular kaolin and tire was obtained at when 3 to 4% shredded rubber tire was added into the soil. The maximum unconfined compressive strength for a mixture of 50% montmorillonite with 50% granular kaolin was obtained at approximately 4% shredded rubber tire for all sizes. Moreover, when less than 10% shredded rubber tire was added to granular kaolin, little changes in the coefficient of permeability were observed. When more than 10% shredded rubber tire was added, the coefficient of permeability increased as the percentage of shredded rubber added increased.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Fullerton
- Department:
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering