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- Creator:
- Haight, Erica Murphy
- Description:
- Publicly available groundwater and soil data were screened for data quality and used to investigate spatial variations in major cations and anions in groundwater, and major cations in soil, in the Southeastern San Joaquin Valley in the vicinity of Fresno, California. The possible correlations and geochemical relationships between soil and groundwater were also examined. Statistical and graphical analyses indicate that significant spatial variation occurs with regard to the chemistry of both groundwater and soil within the study area. Groundwater in the western portion of the study area generally contains higher concentrations of most major constituents, including Ca, Mg, Na, Cl, and SO4, whereas the eastern portion contained somewhat higher concentrations of K. Variations in groundwater chemistry with depth was also observed with higher concentrations of most elements occurring in the shallow interval (within 60 feet of ground surface), however this may be attributed to the fact that most shallow wells were located in the western portion of the study area. Variation across the study area of element concentrations and element ratios with depth is much greater in the western portion of the study area and is attributed to the presence of an aquitard, the Corcoran Clay formation, on this side of the valley. Mineralogical differences between source rocks for soils and sediments comprising aquifer material in the east side compared to the west side of the valley likely explain observed patterns of element concentrations in both soils and groundwater. The marine, mafic, and metamorphic rocks of the Coast Ranges in the west provide a steady source of Mg in both groundwater and soil and a positive correlation between the two media. Higher concentrations of Mg in the Inter-fan region in the east is likely explained by the input of sediments from the nearby outcrop of ultramafic and mafic rocks in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The adjacent Kings Fan contained very low concentrations of Mg, and although it is also in proximity to the ultramafic/mafic outcrops, is likely a reflection of the more felsic source for the alluvial fans in the higher elevations of Sierra Nevada where granitic rocks dominate. The faster weathering rates and greater solubility of the rocks and sediments generated from the Coast Ranges compared to those from the Sierra Nevada contribute to inverse correlations between groundwater and soil for the elements Ca and Na, and for the Na:K ratio. These element concentrations and the Na:K ratio are highest in groundwater in the west and conversely are lowest in soil in the west, where the dominant source of Ca and Na is probably plagioclase (Na-Ca) feldspar. In the east, where the dominant source of Na and K is probably the slower weathering alkali (K-Na) feldspar, the Na:K molar ratio is lower, closer to 1:1.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Geology
- Creator:
- Hansen, Jeffrey Alan
- Description:
- Total dissolved solids (TDS) concentrations throughout the San Joaquin Valley, California (SJV) have increased over the last 100 years. The SJV is the southern two-thirds of the Central Valley of California, and has experienced massive growth in agriculture and urban development over this time. This growth has altered the volume and chemistry of groundwater recharge in the SJV through irrigation practices, and has created stratified and concentrated subsurface waters. Correlations between agricultural land-use and altered water chemistry consistent with repeated irrigation and flow through shallow sediments, as well as increased evapoconcentration were observed. Bicarbonate concentrations as a component of TDS composition have risen dramatically throughout the Eastern SJV as a result of these irrigation and land-use practices. Agricultural application of nitrate fertilizers and gypsum has increased nitrate, sulfate and calcium concentrations in SJV groundwater. The results of this study clearly show the long term impact of irrigation and land use practices on the quality and viability of the groundwater resource in the San Joaquin Valley.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Geology
- Creator:
- O'Donnell, Katy
- Description:
- Research suggests that both the amount and form of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (nitrate versus ammonium) in water affects the abundance, health and species of phytoplankton in the San Francisco Bay Delta (Delta), which subsequently impacts food stocks for pelagic organisms. The Sacramento River (Sac River) is the primary source of freshwater and a phytoplankton seed source for the Delta. Effluent releases from the Sacramento Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant currently contribute high concentrations of ammonium just downstream of Freeport Bridge, which have been purported to negatively impact phytoplankton. Forthcoming upgrades to Regional San’s treatment train will include nitrification and denitrification, which will reduce inputs of ammonium (by approximately 90%) and total inorganic nitrogen (by approximately 70%) to the Sac River. Understanding the rate at which ammonium is converted to nitrate (nitrification) may help us unravel controls on inorganic nitrogen concentrations and form which impact phytoplankton health, both under current and future conditions. Data for this study were collected from two high-frequency (15-minute), in-situ monitoring stations; one at Freeport Bridge (FPT) located 0.16 km upstream of Regional San’s effluent outflow, and a second at Walnut Grove (WGA) located 29 km downstream of Freeport. Both stations report river flow, river velocity and nitrate concentration along with standard water quality measurements. Effluent flow and effluent water quality data was provided by Regional San. These data allowed us to evaluate changes in nitrate concentration over time, estimate effluent derived ammonium concentrations, and determine net changes in nitrate (mg-N/L) as well as rates of change in nitrate (mg-N/L-d) as water travelled between FPT and WGA for the period of record to date (September 2013 to September 2014). Additionally, 25 wastewater discharge holds by Regional San occurred during the study, allowing for evaluation of changes in nitrate concentration in the absence of wastewater. Nitrate concentrations at FTP due to upstream flows were typically below 0.1 mg-N/L, except during storm events when they increased up to 1.1 mg-N/L. Comparison of FPT and WGA station data show that nitrate concentrations vary seasonally, but generally increase as water travels from FPT to WGA. Nitrate concentrations in Regional San’s treated wastewater effluent were below the measured detection limit of 0.1 mg-N/L, while ammonium concentrations were typically 25-35 mg-N/L. Due to continuous changes in both river and effluent flow, wastewater contributions to total river flows are extremely variable over short time periods, ranging from 1-4% in a single day; this means that concentrations of wastewater derived ammonium are also highly variable downstream of Regional San’s discharge point. This emphasizes the importance of knowing the travel time between FPT and WGA, so that water quality measured at WGA can be compared to the appropriate water quality that parcel of water had at FPT. During the period of study, travel time between FPT and WGA was as fast as 0.5 days during high flows and as long as 3 days during low flows. Comparison of nitrate concentrations between the monitoring stations at FPT and WGA, while taking travel time into account, demonstrated that there is typically an increase in water column nitrate as water travels this 18.4 mi stretch, particularly during the warmer summer months. Increases in nitrate were observed even in the absence of wastewater. This suggests that nitrate is entering the water column not only from nitrification of wastewater derived ammonium, but also from benthic sources. It seems likely that wastewater derived nitrogen inputs have accumulated in the benthos over time, and are being released back into the water column. Future changes to nitrogen loadings due to the new regulations may, over time, affect nitrogen storage in the system, leading to decreased nitrogen release from the benthos. We estimated water column nitrification rates by assuming the difference in nitrate measured in the presence of wastewater versus the absence of wastewater is due to nitrification of wastewater derived ammonium. Rates varied seasonally, and were estimated to be 0.026 ± 0.011 mg-N/L-d in the winter and 0.045 ± 0.012 mg-N/L-d in the summer. These values are within the range of previously published nitrification rates. Factors that clearly affect nitrification rates along this river reach include: temperature, abundance of nitrifying bacteria, and availability of ammonium. Residence time can also be important, particularly when populations of nitrifying bacteria increase over time. Extrapolating these nitrification rates, we estimated it can take from 26-92 days for nitrification to draw down ammonium added to the river from Regional San’s wastewater effluent to concentrations considered non-inhibitory to phytoplankton uptake of nitrate. Understanding the pathways and sources of nitrogen and their links to ecosystem health along the Sac River can aid in determining the impact of the Sac River on nitrogen cycling in the greater Delta. The question of whether the Delta will be impacted – either positively or negatively – by anticipated reductions of nitrogen inputs from Regional San’s treatment plant upgrades remains to be seen.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Geology
- Creator:
- Rahimi-Ardabily, Ali
- Description:
- This thesis discusses the different strategies used to perform peak load shaving through the means of distributed generation and energy storage systems from the Utility’s perspective. Peak load shaving, sometimes referred to as load leveling or peak shifting, consists of the schemes used to eliminate the peaks and valleys in the load profile. This practice offers vast benefits to utilities in cost generation, line loss reduction, and volt support which is further discussed. Prior work for peak load shaving has been mainly focused on approaches such as linear and dynamic programming, and heuristic approaches such as particle-swarm optimization. The proposed algorithm here is based on a simple approach which compares the load profile with its average in a certain period and shares the charge/discharge among the energy storage devices based on defined weighting factors. In particular, the thesis focuses on the usage of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and distributed generations to accomplish this task. Results show that the proposed algorithm offers a simple, fast and effective way for peak-load shaving without heavy computational burdens often needed in other methods. As a result, it can be easily implemented in the Utility main substation for controlling the charge/discharge of storage devices throughout the distribution system.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Creator:
- Zavala, Shannon Renee
- Description:
- According to research, students must remain in a 90/10 bilingual program until sixth grade to receive the full benefit of the program (Thomas, Collier, & Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence, 2002). Some Latino immigrant parents are pulling their children out of the Spanish immersion program (e.g., before third grade), before students are able to receive the full benefits of the program. This is a problem for many, including the students themselves, the school they are removed from, their parents, the school they will subsequently be placed in, and the community as a whole. For the students, who have only been taught up to this point to read and write in Spanish, being abruptly moved to an English-only classroom can be very traumatizing and have a negative effect on their academic future. For the school they are removed from, which may already be struggling with a “thinning out” of students in the Spanish immersion program as they approach the upper grades due to transiency, this only exacerbates the problem and makes it more difficult to replace these students. Their parents, who may not speak any English, may find it much more difficult to be involved in their child’s education being in an English-only class where the teacher most likely will not speak Spanish. The school/class they will subsequently be placed in may struggle to meet the needs of a student who has received no literacy instruction in English and will be entering in to a third grade English-only classroom. And finally, the community as a whole will suffer the consequences of losing the valuable asset of empowered Latino students that are both bilingual and biliterate. Research shows that these kind of bilingual programs serve not only to build students’ language abilities (Thomas et al., 2002), but for Latino students they also strengthen their self-identity and confidence (López, 2010). The data will be obtained through surveys and semi-structured interviews with Latino immigrant parents who have experience with the bilingual program at the research site, specifically those who pulled their children out before third grade. The quantitative and qualitative data obtained supported the hypothesis that linguicism in America is a factor in Latino immigrant parents’ attitudes toward bilingual education. It also shed light on other macro-level factors that affected their decision making, such as NCLB policy regarding schools labeled as “low performing”, lack of availability of quality bilingual programs, and lack of transportation. The micro-level factors that were discovered through the research were the individual attitudes of the participants based on their personal experiences, which in many cases leads to comments being made to other parents to try to sway them in one way or another about whether or not to place their children in the bilingual program, or even remove them. However, even the experiences of the participants, who were almost entirely Latino immigrants, were influenced by the attitude of the larger American society toward language and how people speak English, which confirms the linguicism theory.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Education (Multicultural Education)
36706. Gender stereotypes: The effects of feminine versus masculine faces on biasing source monitoring
- Creator:
- Sysavath, Robyn
- Description:
- The present study examined the biasing effects of gender stereotypes on source monitoring by manipulating the source sex, sexual orientation, facial features and statement type in two experiments (Experiment 1: N = 104, 68.3% female, age M = 21.50 years, SD = 4.45; Experiment 2: N = 90, 73.3% female, age M = 20.94 years, SD = 5.06). A significant three-way interaction between source sex, statement type, and sexual orientation emerged in Experiment 1. Source-monitoring accuracy was higher when statements were stereotypically consistent with the source’s sex in the heterosexual conditions. In Experiment 2, a significant three-way interaction between source sex, statement type and facial features was found. Source-monitoring accuracy was higher for statements that were stereotypically consistent with the source’s facial features but for female sources only. Although with qualifications, the present study suggested that under certain conditions, participants relied on gendered facial features when making source attribution decisions.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Hansen, Angela M.
- Description:
- In the last decade, there has been increasing use of optical measurements to gain insight into dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition, and more specifically to identify DOM source in aquatic systems. However, there are few controlled studies which examine the effects of environmental processing on different sources of DOM. Here, DOM optical properties of five endmember sources–including peat soil, plant and algae leachates–were investigated following biological and photochemical degradation during a three-month incubation period. As microbial processing of DOM occurs independent of being in the photic zone, the effects of photoexposure were examined at various points along the biodegradation curve to simulate photodegradation occurring as microorganisms consumed and transformed the bioavailable DOM. Samples were analyzed for dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration, absorbance, and fluorescence. Optical parameters commonly used to determine DOM composition were then analyzed to determine their effectiveness in discriminating original DOM source and in distinguishing between microbial and photochemical alteration. The qualitative optical parameters included DOC-normalized absorbance values (SpA254, SpA280, SpA350, SpA370 SpA412, SpA440, SpA488, SpA510, SpA532, SpA555); absorbance spectra slopes (S275-295, S290-350 and S350-400) and the UV slope ratio (SR); DOC-normalized fluorescence peaks (SpA, SpC, SpM, SpD, SpB, SpT, SpN, SpZ), fluorescence peak ratios (C:M, C:T, C:A, A:T); fluorescence indices (FI, HIX, β:α, BIX); and five components determined by Parallel Factor Analysis (PARAFAC; %C1-5). While there was little change in DOC concentration in the soil leachate over the study period, DOC concentrations in plant and algae leachates decreased by over 70% within the first three days of biodegradation. This rapid loss of DOC in the plant and algal leachates suggests the majority of DOM leached from these materials is unlikely to persist in the environment, and thus is unlikely to make up a significant fraction of the DOM pool in most natural samples. This emphasizes the need to use the signature of processed DOM to identify original source material. Individual qualitative optical parameters changed extensively as DOM composition was altered following both biodegradation and photodegradation, particularly in the plant and algal leachates. These changes frequently resulted in overlapping optical parameter values which made it impossible to identify original source material. In particular, the sometimes opposing effects of biological and photochemically-driven changes on DOM optical signature can confound source identification; for example, this effect of one degradation process masking the signal from the other was notably apparent for SUVA where values increased with biological degradation and decreased following photoexposure, suggesting that using this parameter alone can generate inconsistent and disparate conclusions about DOM composition and source. In addition to examination of parameters individually, multivariate statistical analyses were used to determine whether used in combination, these parameters could identify unique optical signatures that could be linked to original DOM source even after exposed to biological and photochemical alteration. PCA demonstrated that when the suite of 30 parameters were combined, the optical signature of the materials did not fall out clearly by source and environmental processing; as was seen when examining the individual parameters, optical signatures of the different sources overlapped over time, with the effects of biodegradation and photodegradation often acting in opposition. The trajectory in PCA space did however generally follow what is expected as DOM undergoes degradation: a shift from fresh-like to humic-like material. Discriminant analysis (DA) was used to identify which qualitative indicators are the most promising for distinguishing DOM source and processing. Of the 30 qualitative indicators evaluated, 17 were quantitatively determined by DA to be the most significant (p < 0.05): absorbance parameters included SUVA, SpA350, SpA412, S275-295, and S290-350, while fluorescence parameters included humic-like (SpC, SpM, SpD, SpZ) and fresh-like (SpB, SpT, SpN) DOC-normalized fluorescence peaks as well as peak ratios (C:A, C:M) and indices (FI, HIX, β:α). The classification of DOM source (soil, rice, cattail, tule, algae) was influenced most heavily by SpC, SpM, C:M, and HI, while the classification of DOM processing (biodegradation versus photoexposure) was influenced most by SpN, SpD, SpT and SpA350. This dataset highlights the challenge of using optical properties to identify DOM source material because the effects of biodegradation and photodegradation, which in the natural environment can occur simultaneously, can lead to confounding results. Moreover, samples collected from the environment typically contain a mixture of DOM sources which have undergone different degrees of processing. In natural systems, multiple parameters and careful consideration should be taken when using optical properties to characterize DOM source.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Geology
36708. The effect of charter schools on the academic performance of African American and Latino students
- Creator:
- Lynch, Michael
- Description:
- In comparison to whites, Hispanic and African American students have the lowest standardized test scores, lowest high school graduation rates, and are less likely to go to college. This achievement gap not only hurts the African American and Hispanic communities, but increases economic inequality and decreases social mobility. For the most part, traditional schools have struggled to effectively educate African American and Latino students, while some charter schools (“charters”) have not only closed the gap but have enabled their lowest performing students to surpass their more affluent and white peers. This study aims to estimate the effect charters have on the Academic Performance Index (API) scores of African American and Latino students and determine whether they are helping to close the achievement gap. This thesis uses the California Department of Education’s API database and an ordinary least squares regression to estimate the effect charters have on the API scores of African American and Latino students. After controlling for several independent variables, I found that Latino students who attend charter schools perform worse than Latino students who attend traditional schools. However, the drop is even greater for whites who attend charter schools versus those who attend traditional schools thereby leading to a decrease in the achievement gap between Latinos and whites. Although reducing the achievement gap is a laudable accomplishment, in this case, it is not something to applaud. This phenomenon also occurred after controlling for additional independent variables including student characteristics and school demographics. In addition, I found that African American students who attend charter schools perform similarly to African American students who attend traditional schools, even after controlling for additional variables. Within the past decade, charter schools have exploded across the state without much research showing that they are consistently improving academic performance. Despite their focus on improving the academic performance of traditionally underperforming students, my research shows that most charter schools are not fulfilling their purpose. Based on my findings, I recommend policy makers limit charter school growth and focus on implementing evidence-based policies that improve student performance such as early childhood education, additional learning time and establishing a college going culture.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Public Policy and Administration
- Creator:
- Easley, Kevin
- Description:
- Hip-Hop is an art form born in the streets of the Bronx, New York in the 1970s under very harsh conditions. Rapping ultimately became the chief aspect of the elements of hiphop, and rap music rose to prominence. Its expressive form lied in-between its roots and what rap is considered today. As rap gained popularity, big recording labels seeking profit brought rappers into the mainstream. This study conducts a content analysis of the changes in lyrical content of the top rap music from 1990 to 2013, and an Intersectionality framework is used to identify and understand the emergent themes. The study indicated that themes of opulence and decadence increase within mainstream rap music over the 23-year period of this study. Sexually explicit themes increase as well over time and as opulence and sexually explicit lyrical content increases, the diversity of the content within mainstream rap decreases as political/pro-Black references were no longer observed after 1995.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Sociology
- Creator:
- Thomas, Matthew
- Description:
- This thesis examines the relationship between taxes and economic growth. Since the rise of supply side economics in the 1980’s as a doctrine for understanding macroeconomics, many claims have been made regarding a connection between the rates and amount of taxes collected and subsequent economic growth or decline. This thesis analyzes those claims through a regression analysis of tax, economic, and social factors that are widely believed to be associated with changes in economic growth, using statistics gathered from publicly available sources, such as the U.S. Census Bureau. The regression analysis includes economic data from all 50 U.S states from 10 years of a 12 year period. The resulting findings indicate that a tenuous connection does exist between taxes and economic growth, but that the relationship is not consistent or consistently significant across many different possible kinds of economic growth. Thus eschewing any notions of a one size fits all tax policy. Furthermore, a determination is made that other, non-tax, economic and social factors are actually more important to our understanding of economic growth and of what constitutes good policy in this field of economic data.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Public Policy and Administration
- Creator:
- Umi, Ahjamu R.
- Description:
- While receiving his largest campaign contributions from the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, and comparable large contributions from private corporations that employ prison labor in California, Gray Davis twice successfully campaigned for governor on a strong imprisonment policy platform. An unprecedented number of persons were incarcerated in California during Davis's tenure as governor, while critics of Davis's administration argued that the large number of persons being incarcerated -reflected a payback by the Davis administration for the large contributions he received from the prison guard union, and private campaign donors who benefited from using prison labor. The California Department of Corrections (CDC), Prison Industrial Authority of California (PIA), California Joint Venture Program with the CDC, California Correctional Peace Officer's Association (CCPOA), California Department of General Services, California State Auditor's Office, California Secretary of State Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Justice, and numerous journalists who wrote on the subject, academics who researched the topic, and the research of anti-prison activists and organizations who watch and analyze imprisonment trends. Although Davis campaigned on the platform that his imprisonment policies would reduce California's crime rate, there is substantial evidence to demonstrate that high imprisonment has little correlation to crime reduction. Dayis's pro-imprisonment policies did directly benefit the CCPOA and did also benefit private corporations that invest in inmate labor as a potential profit making labor source.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Government
- Creator:
- Thomason, Earl M.
- Description:
- The purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes of a group of representative public school district administrators in the Sacramento area with regard to employing men as primary grade teachers.The primary grades are the foundation for all advanced academic study.· The degree to which each child is prepared for future life is determined to a large extent by the quality of instruction provided by the primary teachers. The quality of instruction in turn is influenced by the quality of supervision of instruction.The role of men in primary education in the Sacramento area has been almost entirely supervisory in nature as part of their administrative duties, usually as a school principal. Under current conditions men are able to qualify for the Elementary Administrative Credential and assume positions as elementary school principals with no training or experience in primary education. If adequate supervision of primary teaching is to be attained, principals must have the training and experience necessary to supervise at all levels for which they are responsible.The present study was designed to determine the attitudes of public school administrators in the Sacramento area in regard to men primary teachers. The interview plan called for a representative sampling of Sacramento area school district administrators who, by their positions, influenced elementary teacher grade placement policies.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Education (Educational Administration)
- Creator:
- Wilson, Edwin James
- Description:
- For many years the practice or administering standardized tests has played a very important role in the varied phases of curriculum planning in our public schools. What is known regarding the principles of human growth and development, the nature and extent of individual and trait differences, the learning process, and the dynamics of group behavior is dependent largely upon the measurement resulting from the administration of standardized tests. School administrators have long recognized that one of the most effective ways of insuring that a given educational objective will be emphasized in the classroom is to measure periodically the extent of its realization.The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of the results of standardized tests administered to groups of students over the public address system as one technique and to compare these results with the results attained by the conventional method of administering tests to groups in individual classrooms.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Counseling
- Creator:
- Williams, Lawrence F.
- Description:
- For many years educators have discussed the values of student participation in activities that for a long while were considered outside the academic curriculum. In spite of much early opposition to these·so called "frills," the present activities.program has so contributed to the total school program that it now exists in some form in every high school alert to the needs of youth. It is the evaluation of this activities program, and its effectiveness at Grant Union High School, in Del Paso Heights, California, that will be considered in this study.The purpose of this study is to survey the opinions of faculty members and senior students of Grant Union High School to determine to what extent and from what sources values are gained from participation in allied (extra-curricular) activities at that school.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Education (Secondary Education)
- Creator:
- Anderson, Charles Clifford
- Description:
- It was the purpose of this study to compare the relative effectiveness of radar scope motion pictures and radar scope still photographs when used as briefing aids for presenting information concerning the location of the radar target aiming point, and in addition to ascertain the comparability between motion and still tests.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Knechtli, Kathleen
- Description:
- This booklet has developed from two main sources. One is Life Science 101 taught at Sacramento State College; the other is my personal experience as the mother of a son, as a den mother of a cub scout group, and as a teacher in elementary schools in Canada, Scotland, and California. The life science course formed a foundation for gathering material, a much-needed help. The experiences of my life showed me the need for matter that is of interest and value to growing children, matter which might serve to promote belief in conservation, and in the enjoyment of the earth and the fullness thereof.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Education (Secondary Education)
- Creator:
- Drennan, Lynn Marie
- Description:
- The field of sexual selection has focused on male-male competition and choice by females. This type of intrasexual competition and intersexual selection (mate choice) has been well documented experimentally. The opposite situation, female-female competition and choice by males, has only been considered fairly recently and in a few situations, typically those studying so called sex-role reversed systems. By conducting experiments on the biparental cichlid fish, Pelvicachromis pulcher, commonly called the kribensis, my objectives were to determine if a kribensis female will compete against another kribensis female for the attention of a kribensis male and to see if a kribensis male will choose his mate based on the kribensis female's display competition. More specifically, I looked at whether bright females, larger females or albino females provided longer display times when competing for a male mate. I also looked at whether a male was more likely to choose a bright, a large, or an albino female versus duller or smaller females. I predicted that kribensis females do compete with displays against other kribensis females and that the bright, large, and albino females will compete the most. I also predicted that kribensis males will choose their mates based on the female's display competition as well as the male choosing a bright, large or albino female. To test my objectives and predictions, research was conducted in the Evolutionary Ecology of Fishes Laboratory at California State University, Sacramento from Summer 2005 to Summer 2006. The experiment consisted of putting two females into an experimental aquarium and then introducing a male. The females were allowed to use displays to compete for a 30 minute trial. The display times of the females were recorded then they, along with the male, were left for five days so that the male could perhaps choose a female mate. As predicted, the females were found. to compete against each other for the males, with the bright, larger, and albino females competing the longest, and there was a general trend for the male to choose brighter and larger females. These findings provide evidence that female-female competition does occur outside of sex-reversed and uniparental mating systems and should be considered in understanding the sexual systems of a wider range of animals.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Biological Sciences (Biological Conservation)
- Creator:
- Wilson, Barbara Ann
- Description:
- The problem to be investigated in this study is the constancy of IQ scores of readers and non-readers using the 1937 Revision of the Stanford-Binet Test of General Intelligence, and the Leiter International Performance Scala, 1948 Revision. Inasmuch as the Binet is a scale which is weighted heavily toward verbal content, it is possible that it would result in a significantly different estimate of intelligence for verbally handicapped children than would the Leiter, which appears to be a purely non-verbal test. This problem becomes important when children are tested to obtain an estimate of capacity to learn. If the child is verbally handicapped and if the Binet tends to penalize this handicap, an incorrect estimate of the child's capacity is obtained. A test, then, which would not depend on verbal ability would perhaps give a better estimate of "general intelligence." The Leiter scale was originally designed to be just such a test. Leiter hoped to measure the same intellectual ability as was measured by the Binet, without using verbal tasks. The purpose ot this study is to attempt to see what type or differences would result from the comparison or the Leiter and the Binet scores, using reading and non-reading children.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Roberts, Wayne Williams
- Description:
- When gold was discovered at Sutter's mill by John Marshall on January 24, 1848, thousands of Americans, Europeans, Orientals and Mexicans flocked to California. Bancroft estimated California to have in residence in mid-1848 about 14,000 persons. In the next eighteen months this population was swollen to 107,057 persons by January 1, 1850. California's continued growth and expansion is made clear by the Eighth United States Census (1860) which counted 380,000. This study concerns one permanent city, Folsom, which lived on after the gold fever subsided, and managed to adapt itself to its surroundings in a manner sufficient to meet the needs of its citizens. Folsom is the product of the fusing, for common purposes, of a number of gold camps within a two mile radius of Folsom. When these gold camps began to decline, their citizens, realizing their potential fate, converged upon Folsom in an effort to continue their prosperity. This study organizes, correlates and condenses records, memoirs, and histories of the early days of Folsom, covering the years 1842-1862.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- History
- Creator:
- Whiteman, Heather JoAn
- Description:
- This study serves as a comparative analysis of two measures for detecting differential item functioning (DIF) in item responses of 29,171 applicants on a 49 item selection test. The methods compared in this study were two of the more commonly used DIF detection procedures in the testing arena: the Mantel-Haenszel chi-square and the logistic regression procedure. The study focused on the overall effect each method had on adverse impact when used for the removal of items from a test. The study found that the presence of adverse impact findings were decreased by the removal of items displaying DIF, and that the effect on adverse impact differed by method of DIF detection. The study does not however, provide enough evidence to support the use of one DIF detection method over the -other in applied settings where considerations such as cost and test reliability are of concern.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Psychology (Industrial/Organizational Psychology)
- Creator:
- Blodgett, Hannah Marie
- Description:
- Since its implementation in 1997, the CalWORKs program, California’s version of the federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, has served hundreds of thousands of families throughout the state. A high percentage (12.5%) of these families are African American, considering that they represent only 4.6% of the overall population. Disconcertingly, this minority is also over-represented in state-wide unemployment and poverty rates. In order to better understand what variables may be influencing the disproportionate TANF receipt by African Americans, this thesis uses a mixed method approach. Using data from the 2011-2012 California Health Interview Survey for Adults, I ran a logistic regression analysis to isolate the African American ethnicity effect, controlling for ethnicity, citizenship status, poor health, age, gender, educational level, wealth, marital status, family size, place of residence and existence of support networks. As a quantitative analysis by itself does not explain the underlying reasons, behaviors or conditions for disproportionate CalWORKs receipt, I furthered my investigation by performing a qualitative analysis. More specifically, I interviewed academics with expertise in social welfare about factors that might influence TANF use, such as employment barriers, incarceration, generational welfare use and caseworker mistreatment of African American clients. The results from my logistic regression confirm that being of African American ethnicity significantly increase the likelihood of CalWORKs receipt. The academics from my qualitative analysis were in agreement that employment barriers and generational welfare use perpetuate African American use of welfare. However, academics were in disagreement or had mixed views about other factors. Based on my findings, I recommend that policymakers consider making greater investments in early childhood education programs, which studies show to significantly increase soft skills and reduce likelihood of welfare receipt for African Americans. I also recommend that the state implement an Earned Income Tax program, which would provide some economic relief to poor families. Additionally, policymakers should also consider investing in research to better evaluate both caseworker performance and the overall effectiveness of the TANF program.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Public Policy and Administration
- Creator:
- Teach, Erika
- Description:
- Many species of oak across the world exhibit low rates of recruitment and regeneration. In California, Quercus douglasii (blue oak) has experienced little to no recruitment over the past 100 to 150 years. A variety of factors, including competition from non-native plants, livestock grazing, fire suppression, and habitat fragmentation, have individually and collectively been postulated as drivers for low recruitment of blue oak. Despite the prevalence of livestock grazing and attendant soil compaction throughout the range of blue oak, soil compaction has not been studied as a possible factor affecting blue oak recruitment. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine whether soil compaction affects blue oak seedling emergence and growth. I hypothesized that increasing soil compaction would increase the number of days to emergence and decrease the growth of blue oak seedlings compared to emergence and growth in uncompacted soil. To test this hypothesis blue oak acorns were grown in field collected soil hand compacted to different bulk density levels. Blue oak acorns and soil were collected at the Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center (SFREC) located in Yuba County, California. Two pre-germinated acorns were planted in 72 PVC pots filled with soil compacted to contrasting levels of bulk density. Bulk density levels mimicked the range of those found at the SFREC in grazed and ungrazed areas. After germination time to shoot emergence was collected and pots thinned to one seedling each. Seedlings were grown at a nursery in Sacramento for 7 months, after which they were removed from the PVC pots and separated from the soil. Following seedling harvest soils were analyzed for final bulk density and basal stem diameter, shoot length, and taproot length of seedlings were measured. Seedling fine and coarse root lengths were measured using WinRHIZO software. Biomass of above and belowground parts of each plant was determined. To test the effect of soil bulk density on seedling growth analysis of variance was conducted. Time to shoot emergence differed significantly across treatment levels, with seedlings grown at the control bulk density level emerging earlier compared to those grown at low and high bulk densities. In addition, taproot length was significantly greater at low and high soil bulk densities compared to the control. Root to shoot mass ratio was significantly higher in low compared to high soil bulk density, but neither differed from the control. No significant differences in seedling growth were observed in the nine other seedling growth variables with respect to compaction treatment. The results indicate that soil bulk density levels used in this study affected some seedling growth variables but did not substantially inhibit growth of blue oak seedlings. This suggests that soil compaction caused by grazing cattle at moderate stocking rates may affect blue oak seedling emergence but may not affect later stages of seedling growth and thus recruitment in blue oak populations.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Biological Sciences (Ecology, Evolution and Conservation)
- Creator:
- Crowe, Michelle Francesca
- Description:
- The present study examined the effects of participant’s prior knowledge that some of the presented memories were false, and the addition of specific implausible details on perceived memory characteristics (MCQ ratings) and the veracity judgment of other individual’s memories for true and false childhood events in a group of volunteers (N = 120, 76% female), age (M = 20.54, SD = 3.66). The results revealed an interaction between knowledge and plausibility, such that when knowledge was given, participants detected implausible details at a higher rate than when knowledge was withheld. Although the overall veracity judgment accuracy was at chance level, participants were more accurate when judging memories that contained implausible details than plausible details as well as more accurate at judging true compared to false memories. Lastly, a small group of the participants who rated memories consistent with a typical true and false “memory profile” made fewer false alarms in veracity judgment compared to the other participants.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Lisuk, Mieke Nicole
- Description:
- Traditional Hmong culture was a patriarchal society with marriages arranged by male clan elders. The Hmong were recruited by the CIA to assist in the Vietnam War and later fled to Thailand. American education and notions of western culture were introduced in the Thai camps. Hmong marriage rituals changed after resettlement in the United States. Through exposure to education and American culture, women challenged old world traditions and opted to delay marriage and children in favor of education.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- History
- Creator:
- Hudson, Kenneth Charles
- Description:
- President Franklin Roosevelt set out to establish popular support for an interventionist foreign policy designed to insure the survival of Great Britain as the key component of American national defense. To overcome the prevailing isolationist viewpoint, FDR educated the people of the immoral character of Nazi Germany and provided necessary understanding of unfolding events. He generated sufficient public support to provide legitimacy for his actions in mobilizing the nation and engaging in an undeclared war in the North Atlantic. FDR's speeches, public opinion polls, and newspaper accounts are herein examined within their historical context. The evidence supports the conclusion that Roosevelt was successful in shifting public opinion. So much so, that succeeding presidents used the foundation FDR laid to fight the Cold War.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- History
- Creator:
- Danel, Desiree Michelle
- Description:
- This thesis examines the impact of state mandated demand- and supply-side abortion policies on the statewide abortion rate to determine which policies are most effective at lowering state abortion rates. Ordinary least squares regression was used to determine the specific impact and statistical significance of each policy on the state abortion rate, while controlling for several demographic factors identified in the literature as having an impact on a state’s abortion rate. All five demand-side variables and one of the supply-side variables were found to have a statistically insignificant relationship with a state’s abortion rate. My research suggests that state abortion rates are largely unaffected by demand-side policies that restrict access to abortion resources, making these policies ineffective and inefficient. The only variable that was consistently correlated with lower abortion rates was a supply-side variable analyzing the effect of comprehensive sex education taught in public schools in lieu of abstinence-only sex education. This thesis recommends discontinuing federally and state funded abstinence-only sex education programs and switching to a comprehensive sex education curriculum.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Public Policy and Administration
- Creator:
- Wedding, Jon Samuel
- Description:
- The purpose of this work was to interview 10 black males from the neighborhood of Oak Park, located in Sacramento, California about their experiences living with negative stereotypes and how their experiences influenced their attitudes toward experiences involving stereotypes, their community, family/relationships, and education. This study focused on the following questions: What effects do stereotypes have on the construction of the black male identity regarding family, relationships, and education? How do black men internalize and cope with living through long term stereotypes that still exist in modern society? Which stereotypes were embraced, which were not and why? What, if anything, is the relationship between participant life outlook and their relationships with teachers and school? What influence did family and peers have on your identity? What are the advantages and disadvantages of internalizing and displaying stereotypes? What is the relationship between participant life outlook and their relationships with family, partners/spouses, and peers? Being part of an underclass of their community made attaining the success the participants so passionately wanted seem unattainable. Belonging to this underclass has separated the participants from the ideals of main stream society causing them to embrace and exhibit behaviors that would gain them favor in their own worlds and increase their chances of acceptance and survival. The idea of being successful in school is associated with being white and not what the participants felt was not part of being black in America. This idea that education is not for black people is not ubiquitous across the black experience, but it is something that is upheld by many black peers in K – 12 educations and even into higher education (Tatum, 1997). The importance of education was instilled at a very young age for the participants but was not actualized until they were much older and had out grown the enticement of street life in Oak Park. According to studies released by Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia some 60% of black males who had spent time in prison were high school drop outs (Eckholm, 2006). Those numbers hold true for the participants of this study. Each of the participants that did not finish high school has spent some time incarcerated. As long as black males are continually viewed through a lens that stereotypes them in a negative ways, limiting their value in the classroom, black males will continue to struggle in education. The frightening lack of educational and professional attainment continues to plague communities like Oak Park and the families that reside with their boundaries.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Education (Behavioral Sciences Gender Equity Studies)
- Creator:
- Ishiura, Nicole M.
- Description:
- The presentation of crime on television can inform individuals’ comprehension of the world around them. Past research has focused on analyzing specific aspects of crime programming to determine the general depiction of crime on television and the impact those images can have on viewers. The focus of this research is not restricted to audience effects, but rather on the overall depiction of crime on television. This study investigated the portrayal of criminality and victimization in television crime programming and aimed to analyze the uniformity and accuracy of televised images of crime. To determine whether the presentation of crime differed based on the network on which the content aired, crime programming that was featured on broadcast, basic cable, and women’s entertainment networks were analyzed and compared against each other. Then, to address the accuracy of televised crime, data from the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, the National Criminal Victimization Survey, and various non-profit organizations were employed as a means for comparison. The study utilized both quantitative and qualitative data to analyze the programming that aired during two non-consecutive weeks in the spring 2011 television season, which included original and syndicated television programs, made-for-television movies, studio films that were edited for television, and reality crime programs. In total, 133 programs were analyzed for the study. The findings discovered distinct differences in the presentation of crime on gendered and non-gendered networks. In addition, analyses determined that the televised content from each network group deviated from recorded rates of criminality and victimization.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Sociology
- Creator:
- Dhillon, Gursharn K. and Sandhu, Harmanjit K.
- Description:
- This study explored how members of the Punjabi culture view the treatment of Punjabi women in the United States. This study compared the differences between male and female viewpoints on adequate and appropriate treatment of Punjabi women. Forty participants of Punjabi origin, 20 male and 20 female, were gathered through convenience sampling. Our findings indicated that both males and females answered survey questions that supported a more modern outlook on Punjabi women. The majority of the participants answered positively (60%) or somewhat positively (35%) to Punjabi women continuing education after marriage, as opposed to those who answered negatively (5%). There was not a large significance found between male and female participants in regards to their views on the treatment of Punjabi women. Further research encompassing a larger sample is necessary in order to thoroughly interpret the outlook of the Punjabi community in all areas of cultural importance in the United States.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Social Work
- Creator:
- Ho, Irene Kang-yi
- Description:
- In 2011, Yolo County Agricultural Commissioner John Young announced plans to utilize existing farm-to-school programs at two school districts located within the county – Davis Joint Unified School District and Winters Joint Unified School District – as models to spearhead farm-to-school programs in the three other school districts within the county – Esparto Unified School District, Washington Unified School District, and Woodland Joint Unified School District – and the Yolo County Office of Education’s Head Start Preschool Program. This county-led farm-to-school program model, Farm-to-School Yolo, is unique in that specific school district programming is outside the jurisdiction of the county governance structure. As such, the appropriate role for the county is not to directly procure and serve local food on school menus, but to facilitate the efforts of school districts in doing so. In order to evaluate whether Farm-to-School Yolo is best facilitating farm-to-school program expansion in partnership with the five school districts and Head Start program in the county, I surveyed existing literature and examined the Davis Farm-to-School program as a case study example in order to identify the thematic challenges all farm-to-school programs face. I determined that organization, sourcing, costs, funding, and participation are the five main factors influencing farm-to-school program development and operations, and used these key themes to create a farm-to-school evaluation framework. I relied upon the county website and other external sources such as grant applications and news articles to learn how Farm-to-School Yolo was being implemented, and assessed actions taken against the farm-to-school evaluation framework to determine whether program efforts were being appropriately concentrated. Since Farm-to-School Yolo is not responsible for day-to-day administration of direct services to students, its organization, souring, costs, funding, and participation efforts must support broader program infrastructure that benefit all school districts within the county as equally as possible, compared to other farm-to-school programs that operate more insularly. Utilizing this evaluation framework, I concluded that Farm-to-School Yolo is strategically utilizing the legitimacy it holds from operating at the county level to support measured systemic changes that build up individual school district farm-to-school programs. It has spearheaded initiatives for which there is broad consensus and mutual benefit, such as consolidation of work under the Yolo Farm to Fork organization, creation of Harvest Hub Yolo and Harvest of the Month, and application of its California Department of Food and Agriculture grant, engendering goodwill amongst all stakeholders. As program expansion continues, however, Farm-to-School Yolo must balance countywide goals against competing local pressures to ensure all students across the county continue to benefit from the program.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Public Policy and Administration
36731. Social work and medical students' perspectives on the use of cannabis as a medical intervention
- Creator:
- Cogswell, Jennifer Brooke and Harris, Susan Wood
- Description:
- This study examined the attitudes and perceived risks regarding the use of cannabis as a medical intervention from the perspectives of emerging health service professionals, with special reference to the medical and the social work professions. An exploratory, mixed methods study design was utilized, with a non-probability sample of 175 subjects from the graduate medical and the social work programs offered by two large public universities in California. The study findings indicate that pain and anxiety were the most frequently endorsed conditions for cannabis use and that both the groups of respondents rated alcohol and nicotine as having more perceived risk than cannabis. In general, both professional groups held a relatively favorable view of medical cannabis, and the difference in their mean medical cannabis acceptance scores was not statistically significant. There were statistically significant differences (p<.001) between the two professional groups of the study sample on the mean score that assessed clients/patients having experienced problems with use of medical cannabis; and on the mean endorsement score of their respective friends using medical cannabis. There was a statistically significant difference between these groups (p=.004), on the mean endorsement score of their family members’ use of cannabis. The majority of those who reported having family members that use medical cannabis endorsed the notion that their family members experienced some type of benefit related to cannabis use. Political affiliation and religious differences elicited differences in the Medical Cannabis Acceptance Score with liberal, non-Christian respondents having relatively more acceptance of medical cannabis use. Study recommendations include the need for newly constructed paradigms that help service providers assess how their value and belief systems affect the ways in which they view medical cannabis use in light of the increasing number of states that permit the legal use of cannabis for medical purposes.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Social Work
- Creator:
- Erbe, Kevin Scott
- Description:
- This study demonstrates that the individualistic side of American culture supports a political system in which economic elites have unequal political influence, but the communal side of American culture provides resources for promoting a constitutional amendment to ban all private money from politics. Culture permeates every facet of the human experience, including how economic and government systems function. The American cultural acceptance of capitalism, individualism, and a private market ethos is used by economic elites to justify using their private capital to secure a higher level of political access and influence than the majority of Americans. This use of private capital causes harm, because not every citizen can afford to compete in this economic environment, which impedes political equality and democracy. Individualism complements capitalism in that it justifies self-interest over the common good. However, American culture also includes communal tendencies that have led to government programs that promote the common good. The individualistic side of America’s dual culture tends to dominate, which is evident in several Supreme Court decisions that have promoted a market society, but the communal side of American culture provides resources for challenging such decisions. An imperfectly legitimate coercive response—that is, a constitutional amendment—is presented as one plausible solution to remove private capital from politics and thereby prevent economic inequality from producing political inequality. Such a response is not likely to be enacted except as a result of communally oriented, public demonstrations reminiscent of the civil rights movement and the protests during the Vietnam War. Such mass demonstrations could compel the government to terminate the use of money as a First Amendment right via a constitutional amendment.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Government
- Creator:
- Greenwald, Reuben L.
- Description:
- Student involvement is the amount of physical energy that a student puts into a given activity (Astin, 1999). Campus engagement assists students in making new connections and contributes to their sense of community and institutional commitment (Astin, 1993, 1999; Tinto, 1999, 2012). On large commuter campuses, students may struggle with identifying opportunities for engagement as they often face external demands in regards to work, family, and social obligations. Students use social networking sites to connect online and build virtual communities where they can engage with each other and the university on their own time (Junco, 2014). Because peer relationship development is so crucial to a student’s sense of community, online social networking sites offer a way to connect students virtually and enhance their sense of belonging on campus. The purpose of this study was to determine how a first year student’s use of social networking sites affected their feeling of social connectedness and engagement on campus. By better understanding how these sites may contribute to feelings of social connectedness on campus, institutions can look to find new and innovative ways to adopt and utilize social networking sites to assist with student retention initiatives. The quantitative study took place at a large public institution located in Northern California. The sample population was comprised of first year students enrolled in the First Year Experience seminar program. A one-time paper survey included questions focusing on a student’s frequency of internet usage, social networking site preferences and motivations, and peer relationships and engagement on campus. The sample for this study included 91 first year undergraduate students. Findings from the study showed that participants primarily use Facebook and Instagram for online social networking. Students prefer to track what their peers are up to rather than post regular updates about themselves. They agree that these sites give them the opportunity to stay connected with people who they are unable to see face-toface, especially their friends from high school. The study showed that participants felt connected to their peers and a sense of community at the University. One recommendation for future studies is to track students throughout their time at college to see if their online social networking site usage and relationships shift as they meet and engage with more students on campus. Finally, campuses can look to utilize social networking sites in new ways to promote engagement opportunities and build campus community online.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Education (Higher Education Leadership)
- Creator:
- Link, Sheena Elizabeth
- Description:
- This thesis explores the mobility and identity formation of the characters Jane Eyre in Jane Eyre and Antoinette Cosway in Wide Sargasso Sea through the lens of human geography and cultural geography, and general space and place studies. This thesis suggests that even though Jane and Antoinette have similar circumstances and conditions, they develop autonomy inversely to one another due in large part to their ability (or not) to recognize and navigate through safe and dangerous spaces.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Humanities
- Creator:
- Bianchi, Paul
- Description:
- Why is racial and gender privilege such a difficult concept for Americans to accept? This research proposes that individualism in the United States has contributed significantly to resistance to the idea of racial and gender privilege. Past research has consistently shown that white people and males feel as though their hard work is being challenged when presented with the idea of privilege (Farrough 2003; Gallager 2003). While there have been many studies on privilege and how people react to the idea of privilege, they have almost exclusively been done qualitatively. The present research attempts to measure the effect of individualism on one’s ability to recognize privilege. The General Social Survey (GSS) asks several questions that can be interpreted to measure one’s level of privilege awareness and individualism. Logistic regression analysis of the 2012 GSS data reveals that individualism, as well as race, are predictive of one’s awareness of racial privilege. However, there were not any significant variables that predicted awareness of Gender Privilege. This may be the result of somewhat subjective measures of the Dependent variables (Racial and Gender Privilege Awareness) and the Independent variables (Individualism), thus showing the need for better measures and more quantitative privilege research.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Sociology
- Creator:
- Pistochini, Ryan Joseph
- Description:
- The City of Davis, California has a very high median housing value when compared to its surrounding area and the statewide average. High housing values can make the area increasingly unaffordable. A key policy question is whether Davis’ urban growth boundary adopted in 2000 has been a contributing factor to high housing prices. This thesis uses quantitative analysis from a range of California cities to assess the effect of Davis' urban growth boundary on median housing values. More specifically, this thesis draws on a panel data regression analysis using United States Census data from the 1990 Decennial Census, the 2000 Decennial Census, the 2010 Decennial Census and the 2010 American Communities Survey. A total of 56 California cities are studied. Supply side variables such as city land area, number of rooms, number of bedrooms and the age of the housing stock are considered in this analysis. Demand side variables include median household income, number of professional workers, number of people in poverty, number of high earning households, age, and percent of population married. The analysis determined that urban growth boundaries do contribute to increased median housing values over time. For each year the boundary is in effect, the median housing value is expected to increase by $5,811. Other factors also influence the median housing value. The City of Davis needs to consider the long-term impact of the urban growth boundary on its housing affordability during the debate on whether to allow new development.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Public Policy and Administration
- Creator:
- West, Carolyn Aileen
- Description:
- Yolo County’s Homeless and Poverty Action Coalition (HPAC) is the collaborative body that coordinates and applies for Continuum of Care Program grant funding for homeless housing and services in its region. For the past two scoring rounds, fiscal year (FY) 2012 and FY 2013, the HPAC has obtained a score below the national average. In order to maintain funding for their projects and potentially obtain funding for bonus projects in the future, the HPAC needs to improve its score. Since the grant program does not supply Continuums of Care with a justification for the scores they receive, I conducted an evaluation of the application of the HPAC in order to determine how they might increase their grant score through improved alignment with the grant scoring criteria. For this analysis, I compared the application responses of the HPAC to the scoring criteria for the FY 2013-FY 2014 Continuum of Care Program competition to detect potential deficiencies that resulted in their reduced score. Based on the evaluation of the HPAC’s responses, I identified four categories of recommendations. I recommend that the HPAC fully implement and utilize their Homeless Management Information System and Coordinated Entry system, improve some of their planning and procedures, increase permanent housing in their region, and provide more detail on their Continuum of Care application.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Public Policy and Administration
- Creator:
- Haghighi, Navid
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Mechanical Engineering
- Creator:
- Trujillo, Austin
- Description:
- Weight related health issues have become a focal point for health policy as two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight or obese. California lawmakers at the state and local levels of government have taken a proactive approach to reducing this health issue by proposing a one-cent per ounce excise tax on sugar-sweetened drinks. The rationale behind such taxes is that the increased cost of these goods will reduce consumption, thus reducing weight, as people will choose less expensive, healthier food options. However, prior literature suggests that excise taxes may not have the effect anticipated, underscoring the need for further research. By developing a logistic regression analysis using California Health Interview Survey data, I examine the effect a one-cent per ounce tax will have if it were to be applied to soda at the state level in California. I find that this tax will result in a negligible reduction of overweight and obesity prevalence for a small subsection of California’s overall population. I conclude that a one-cent per ounce excise tax on sugar-sweetened drinks will not have the policy effect desired by advocates.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Public Policy and Administration
- Creator:
- Patterson, Christopher J.
- Description:
- This thesis examined framing of the gun-control debate in order to locate the function of frames in message delivery. The study sought to uncover the invisible dynamics of centrist frames in persuading those audiences with little experience with the gun-control debate. Analysis of Kris Koenig’s Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire revealed that the creation of a larger frame, propped up by smaller more nuanced frames is useful in generating persuasive messages that appear “critical” or centrist. A centrist rhetorical strategy is capable of swaying viewers to one side of an argument or another by focusing audience perception on the notion that the text is unbiased. A discussion on the implications of the current study and directions of future research are included.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Communication Studies
- Creator:
- Maestas, Joseph Manuel
- Description:
- For quite some time researchers have studied gender differences in religious commitment trying to explain why women are more religious than men. More recently, related research has claimed that when controlling for certain socio-demographic variables gay males have similar levels of religious commitment to heterosexual females. Using data from the General Social Survey (GSS) this study seeks to replicate and update research concerning religious commitment and sexual orientation. Additionally, this study explores more recent proposals explaining gender differences in religious commitment, those being risk-taking preferences and egalitarian household structure and upbringing. Results show continued support for female heterosexuals being the most religious group. Results are less conclusive for sexual orientation. Lesbian females supplant gay males as the nonheterosexual group with the highest levels of religious commitment. As for the possible factors explaining gender differences, neither risk nor egalitarianism proved to be meaningful.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Sociology
- Creator:
- Green, Sara
- Description:
- This study examined the cultural competency dimensions of work in the mental health field, with particular reference to services for women who are dually diagnosed with mental health and substance abuse disorders. This quantitative, exploratory study used a non-probability, convenience sample of 31 respondents with experience and/or knowledge of services offered by mental health agencies that provide services for women diagnosed with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders. Literature review conducted for this study substantiated the fact that dual diagnosis treatment bifurcates a complex phenomenon and compartmentalizes the treatment modalities offered by mental health and substance abuse treatment providers. Key study findings indicate that extraneous variables pertaining to demographic profiles of the participants is not a differentiating factor of the cultural competency scores of the respondents; and that the participants’ likelihood of having received gender specific training is not contingent upon the agency having a policy for handling inappropriate language or behavior related to gender. Additionally there were statistically significant strong positive correlation (r (31) =.873, p < .05) between the participant’s agency having a policy for handling staff members’ inappropriate language or behavior related to gender and agencies having a policy for handling inappropriate language or behavior related to ethnicity. Medium positive correlation was also found between participants’ understanding of the impact of culture on life’s activities and the participants’ agencies gradations on the policy for handling staff members’ inappropriate language or behavior relating to ethnicity. Recommendations include the need for the incorporation of consistent training on culturally competent services for professionals, in the mental health field, to understand the way gender specific stereotypes mediate the quality of services for women diagnosed with both substance abuse and mental health related issues.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Social Work
- Creator:
- Brumbaugh, Steven Michael
- Description:
- California’s native salmonid populations are declining, as evident by the 2008 fishing closures on one historically abundant species, Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). One major impact on the spring-run of Chinook Salmon within the Central Valley has been the damming of natal rivers, severely limiting available spawning habitat. Additionally, many of the streams used by spring-run Chinook Salmon lack extensive habitat data, such as substrate composition, velocity, depth, and woody debris availability, and specific factors limiting spawning habitat suitability are poorly understood. Bayesian Networks are one modeling method that could help to understand these systems and direct restoration efforts toward the most limiting factors within a watershed. These networks are capable of incorporating quantitative data (e.g., derived from empirical studies, literature review, and publicly available spatial data) and qualitative data (e.g., expert elicitation), making them a powerful tool for decision making in data-poor environments. Bayesian Networks are also easily updatable as new empirical data become available. I constructed a Bayesian Network for a Northern California stream, Deer Creek in Tehama County, to provide a useful tool for guiding restoration of spring-run Chinook Salmon spawning habitat. I developed the network using habitat variables thought to be indicators of habitat quality, including stream slope, average width, mean minimum coniferous cover from above, soil type, water year type, and potential existence of a partial barrier downstream. I used the Norsys Netica software to establish the Bayesian Network, and applied this network to each subreach (defined in this context as a riffle-pool stream segment) to determine the suitability of each subreach for Chinook Salmon spawning. Probability of redd (spawning nest site) presence over 50% was used to indicate good habitat suitability for spawning. Redd data was split into two independent sets. I used redd data from one 6 km reach to fit the model (i.e., develop conditional probabilities by back calculating from known outcomes), and used redd data from a second 6 km reach for prediction and comparison with the empirical data for purposes of model validation. I used two types of model validation. I conducted a sensitivity analysis on the network, to determine the influence of each independent variable and determine whether it had an unexpected or disproportionate effect on the outcome. I also conducted an ANOVA comparing redd densities from subreaches predicted to be good spawning habitat against those predicted to be poor spawning habitat by the network, to assess if there was a statistically significant difference between the two. Of the four scenarios I modeled with the network, three exhibited significantly higher redd densities in subreaches designated as good spawning habitat according to probability of redd occurrence (National Hydrography Dataset streamline under dry conditions, traced streamline under dry conditions, and traced streamline under non-dry conditions). The National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) streamline under non-dry conditions overestimated likelihood of redd presence. This was likely due to an exaggerated effect of mean minimum coniferous cover from above within the NHD model. My results, particularly using the traced streamline network, indicate that Bayesian Networks can be used to predict habitat use and prioritize spawning habitat restoration for Chinook Salmon in a data-poor northern California watershed.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Biological Sciences (Ecology, Evolution and Conservation)
- Creator:
- Zias, Danika Renee
- Description:
- Position-biased responding is important to eliminate in stimulus preference assessments because it can lead to invalid assessment outcomes. Past research has demonstrated that manipulating reinforcer quality and magnitude may be effective in eliminating side bias in preference assessments. The purpose of Experiment 1 was to investigate other practitioner-friendly solutions to eliminate bias with children with developmental disabilities. Due to the inability to recruit a participant who met our inclusion criteria, the procedures were not evaluated. Experiments 2 and 3 were conducted to evaluate the effects of effort manipulation on production of positional bias and methods to eliminate bias with four typically developing preschoolers using a translational preparation. The results of these studies suggested that positional bias was produced when effort for making selections to one side of an array was high, and a quality training procedure was effective in eliminating this bias. However, treatment effects did not generalize when quality training was removed.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Psychology (Applied Behavior Analysis)
- Creator:
- Peterson, Lindsay
- Description:
- In California, vernal pools are key to native flora and fauna biodiversity; therefore, the presence of invasive plant species in vernal pools can negatively affect the maintenance of native plant species diversity. The majority of research conducted on vernal pool restoration projects with exotic plant species has focused on the exotic grass species that invade from the surrounding uplands. However, exotic wetland species are also a growing threat to vernal pools. Two manual removal treatments were utilized to determine the most effective method of restricting Lythrum portula growth while increasing overall native plant species richness and abundance. The following hypotheses were tested in this study: H1: Hydroperiod, algal crust, hoofprints, and bare soil will decrease L. portula abundance. H2: Species richness of native vernal pool endemic plant species will be greater in natural vernal pools than in created (invaded and not invaded) vernal pools. H3: Created vernal pools invaded by L. portula will have lower species cover, lower species richness and a different plant species composition than created vernal pools not invaded by L. portula. H4: Removal of L. portula will increase native species abundance and richness This study took place at Van Vleck Ranch Mitigation Bank in the town of Rancho Murieta in eastern Sacramento County, California. A total of 20 experimental 1 m x 1 m plots were created in fifteen created and natural vernal pools. The 1 m2 plots were divided into a manipulated removal treatment plot and a paired non-removal control plot. A dormant season scraping removal treatment was conducted in October 2013 in all fifteen vernal pools in this study. Natural and created vernal pools that do not contain L. portula are included in the scraping removal experiment as a control. Beginning in April 2014, removal of L. portula through hand pulling and clipping was conducted and maintained in a manipulated removal treatment plot and paired non-removal control plot in five created vernal pools invaded by L. portula. The removal of L. portula through clipping was shown to benefit ten vernal pool endemic plant species by allowing for higher mean abundance in the clipped plots (Hypothesis 4). This study provides insight into L. portula as a new vernal pool invader and determines which removal treatments are the most effective in restricting L. portula growth while increasing overall native plant species richness and abundance. Further research of L. portula’s growth patterns, niche, and physiology is required. Research into other direct and controlled invasive species removal techniques that reduce the cover of L. portula in the field would be beneficial.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Biological Sciences (Ecology, Evolution and Conservation)
- Creator:
- Virden, Tyler R.
- Description:
- Due to high rates of teenage pregnancy and STI contraction, it is important to understand what contributes to risky sexual behaviors that are associated with unintended pregnancy and STI contraction. The relationship between virginity status, ethnicity, gender, age, socioeconomic status, religion, self-esteem, self-efficacy, depression, academic achievement and aspirations with five aspects of risky adolescent sexual behaviors was examined. Secondary data analysis was conducted on the responses of 1,358 adolescents from Wave 1 and 2 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Ethnic differences diminished and sex differences were non-existent after inclusion of the other independent variables. Self-efficacy and depression were the strongest predictors of risky sexual behaviors. Therefore, comprehensive sexual education programs, which promote self-efficacy, should be a standard method of sexual health education for adolescents.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Murphy, Rikki and Barrett, Hannah P.
- Description:
- The purpose of this study is to examine the reasons behind the commercial sexual exploitation of children’s (CSEC) misidentification and its relationship with service resources in the Sacramento region. The responses collected reflect perspectives of professionals in the Sacramento region. The research and study findings support the need for an assessment and screening tool, as well as the implementation of a universal tracking system for the CSEC population. These methods will assist in creating a comprehensive response to the need of the CSEC population. The research and study findings suggest a lack of self-identification as a barrier in obtaining resources and services, specifically when it relates to the CSEC’s interaction with law enforcement. Furthermore, the findings identify housing, mental health services, and a more effective delivery system as the greatest recommended needs to better address the challenges faced when serving this population.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Social Work
- Creator:
- Chilton, Brittany Marie
- Description:
- The difficult transition from ones home into an institutional setting is rising due to the current population of older adults who are living longer with chronic diseases and disabilities. The move from home into an institutional setting can be traumatic due to the deep emotional bond people attach to places. Our homes are tethered to our sense of self, identity and personhood, and they provide us a sense of familiarity and security. Thus, individuals’ ability to re-produce their sense of home in the assisted living facility (ALF) context is an important area of investigation. Further, an examination of the processes that make this transition easier and more difficult for individuals is equally important. Currently, there is a disjuncture between the promises of “home” advertised by the assisted living industry, and the realities experienced by the residents living within these settings. I found that while the reproduction of home is hard to come by in the ALF context, these settings do have the ability to provide familiarities of home, which can help individuals make successful transitions. Based on my findings, I argue that the assisted living industry should be more honest about the role of “home” in the ALF context so that residents know what to expect when they move into these communities. As a result, ALF residents will be able to create a more positive and truthful relationship with their new environment, and the people working within them.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Anthropology
- Creator:
- Thorne, Terra
- Description:
- There are multiple challenges associated with being in the foster care system that inhibit academic success among this student population. As a result, an achievement gap has developed between foster youth and their peers in California’s K-12 system, placing foster youth among the lowest performing students in the state (Barrat & Berliner, 2013). In recognition of the distinct challenges foster students face, California recently became the first state in the nation to identify them as a distinct student group for the purposes of K-12 funding and accountability. Under the Local Control Funding Formula, implemented in 2013, the state provides school districts supplemental funds for students with greater educational needs, including foster youth (EdSource, n.d.). However, the educational supports that foster youth need are not yet well known, and many districts are struggling to create appropriate services, teaching strategies or interventions that will help improve the academic performance of this particularly vulnerable student group. This exploratory research was developed to help inform the conversation about foster youth success, by assessing possible factors that helped former foster youth achieve an important benchmark: enrolling in college. In this study, 33 former foster youth at two Northern California State University (CSU) institutions were surveyed about the factors they believe helped them beat the odds and successfully matriculate into higher education. These factors include social support, participation in the community and noncognitive strengths, such as perseverance. The results of the survey indicate that these youth rely on a number of supports to help them matriculate into higher education. Of the assessed factors, respondents identified their “personal strength” as the most important in helping them succeed at enrolling in college, indicating the key role that noncognitive factors may have for this population. Social support was also identified as important. In particular, students perceived social support as creating a “college-going” culture where students saw higher education as a possibility and were provided the emotional social support that helped them enroll. These findings could help provide a foundation for further research among the academic and educational communities about which factors will best support the academic needs and noncognitive growth of foster youth in California.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Public Policy and Administration
- Creator:
- Manongsong, Ague Mae S.
- Description:
- Recently, Oldham and Hackman (2010) suggested the examination of social attributes of work as potential contributors to the Job Characteristics Model (JCM). The current study examined the integration of the social aspects (mentoring and social support from managers, coworkers, and supervisors), as well as its effects on job satisfaction and turnover intentions, as potentially mediated by experienced meaningfulness of work. The 137 university staff members (female = 99 and male = 38) completed an online survey. A series of regression analyses showed that experienced meaningfulness was a partial mediator for the majority of cases. Thus, the social attributes could be useful additions because they continued to influence the criteria. Experienced meaningfulness was also a full mediator in a few cases. The researcher also conducted analyses on select original core job dimensions, which provided addition support for the JCM’s continued relevancy. Future research directions, alternative explanations, and limitations were discussed.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Psychology (Industrial/Organizational Psychology)