Browsing by Subject "California"
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Item A Taxonomic Study of the Lizard Mites (Pterygosomidae) Occurring in the Gulf of California Area(Texas Tech University, 1966-08) Montgomery, Dave FrankNot Available.Item Analysis of resource adequacy constructs in the US and Australia and future paths forward(2011-05) Thundiyil, Kevin; Baldick, Ross; Rai, VarunDeregulation of the electricity industry has altered the investment landscape for new resources. Multiple resource adequacy constructs are in use today around the world and represent diverging opinions of how much interaction regulators should have on the procurement of new resources. The report compares the resource adequacy constructs in Australia, Texas, California and the Northeast of the United States and discusses the future of resource adequacy. The report concludes that a hybridized construct that blends the high offer caps of energy-only markets, the prescriptive nature of resources in capacity markets and a strong price-responsive demand will likely be the future of resource adequacy.Item Bringing critical race theory to California school reform : how California's new school funding law can target achievement for students of color(2016-05) Gonzalez, Rosalina; Auerbach, Robert D.; Cantú, NormaThis report introduces California’s new public school funding law and posits that it represents an excellent opportunity to make district-wide changes in the education processes that most influence students of color. The report recommends new strategies for education reform that are informed by a Critical Race Theory framework, and proposes four areas of concern for California public school administrators to target in their district Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs). The report includes examples of how districts around the state are already beginning to include these new strategies in their LCAPs, and the California state education standards they meet. The report also gives a short history of public education in the United States, as well as an introduction of a Critical Race Theory framework on education and its discriminatory history.Item A comparison of methodologies used to predict earthquake-induced landslides(2011-05) Dreyfus, Daniel Kenoyer; Rathje, Ellen M.; Gilbert, Robert B.The rigid sliding-block analysis introduced by Newmark in 1965 has become a popular method for assessing the stability of slopes during earthquakes. Estimates of sliding displacement calculated using this methodology serve as an index of seismic performance and are used for mapping seismic landslide hazard potential. The original approach of rigorously integrating ground acceleration time-histories to compute estimates of sliding displacement has been replaced by the use of simple, empirical models that predict displacement as a function of a slope's yield acceleration and one or more measures of ground shaking. To be useful the results of these models must be compared with observations of landslides from previous earthquakes. Seven different empirical models were evaluated by comparing predicted displacements with an inventory of observed landslides from the 1994 Northridge, California earthquake. Using a comprehensive set of ground motion data and shear strength properties from the Northridge earthquake, sliding displacements were calculated within a geographic information system (GIS) and the accuracy of each model was computed. The influence of factors such as landslide size, geologic unit, slope angle, and material strength on the prediction of landslides was also evaluated. The results were used to show that the accuracy of the predictive models depends less on the model used and more on the uncertainty in the model parameters, specifically the assigned shear strength values. Because current approaches do not take into account the spatial variability of strength within individual geologic units, the accuracy of the predictive models is controlled by the distribution of slope angles within observed and predicted landslide cells. Assigning overly conservative (low) shear strength values results in a higher percentage of landslides accurately identified, but also results in a large over-estimation of the seismic landslide hazard.Item Decision Motivations: Factors Guiding the Choices of Agriculturalists in California(2014-10-16) Robel, PamelaThis study sought to highlight a specific area of California-agriculturalist behavior?decision-making?that may lend additional insight into how to begin bridging the communication gap between farmers and consumers. Communication between farmers in the United States and the general public is the overarching guidance for this mixed methods (QUAL ? quan) study. Formations of organizations like the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance have begun to address the communication gap between agriculturalists and consumers through outreach. The results of this study were limited to the study participants as the total response rate for the quantitative portion of the study was 21% (total response was 65 out of 300; useable responses n = 30). The study began with a series of qualitative interviews. The data from the qualitative interviews with California-based agriculturalists were analyzed to guide the creation of a survey instrument. The subsequent survey instrument was distributed to other California-based farmers requesting they rank a series of decision-making factors as they related to annual crop production. Based upon the data collected, the decision-making factors identified in the qualitative strand of the study?water availability, soil quality, market, regulations, and labor?are more widely considered by farmers in California. Additional study is needed to further explore what other factors may guide annual planting decisions for agriculturalists in the state and country.Item Demographic characteristics of transit-oriented development areas in California(2008-08) Huang, Chao-Hsing, active 2008; Zhang, Ming, 1963 April 22-This study is to understand how Transit-Oriented Development influences demographic characteristics within its boundary. Case studies from the California TOD database was used. Through the changes of TOD during 1990 and 2000 and the comparison of trends in TODs and located regions, many TODs are low-income areas and such factors induces other demographic phenomenon. Meanwhile, the level of transit use did not change much and the vehicle ownership did not decrease definitely. Though such facts might imply the inefficiency of TOD, there are other factors such as economic and transit environment that cause this fact. Thus, TOD is actually influenced heavily by background policies, experience, and supportive transit circumstances.Item Detrital zircon U-Pb and (U-Th)/He geo-thermochronometry and submarine turbidite fan development in the Mio-Pliocene Gulf of California, Fish Creek-Vallecito Basin, southern California(2014-08) Cloos, Michael Ethan; Steel, R. J.; Stockli, Daniel F.The Fish Creek-Vallecito Basin exposes an archive of sediment related to early rifting of the Gulf of California beginning at 8.0 Ma followed by Colorado River delta progradation from 5.3-3.0 Ma. Mio-Pliocene deposits from the Fish Creek-Vallecito Basin of southern California and a sample from the modern Colorado River delta were analyzed through detrital zircon U-Pb (n=1996) and (U-Th)/He (n=280) double-dating in order to better constrain sediment provenance, hinterland exhumation, and Colorado River evolution. Coupling this dataset with outcrop study of the first Colorado River-sourced turbidites into the basin at 5.3 Ma, allows for evolution of the Colorado River system to be viewed from a source-to-sink perspective. Detrital zircon U-Pb and (U-Th)/He (ZHe) ages obtained in this study suggest earliest derivation of sediment was from the Peninsular Ranges followed by more distant sediment sourcing from the Colorado River. Initial Colorado River-sourced deposits show Yavapai-Mazatzal U-Pb ages with Laramide ZHe ages suggesting that the river was sourcing from Laramide basement cored uplifts at the onset of deposition into the Gulf of California, supporting a top-down model of river evolution. An increased percentage of Grenville U-Pb age grains as well as a wider range of ZHe ages associated with western US basement-derived zircon from a modern Colorado River delta sample indicate erosion into older stratigraphic units through time which is consistent with deep erosion on the Colorado Plateau since ~6 Ma. Vertically measured sedimentology logs through the Wind Caves Member, the first Colorado River-sourced unit deposited, were used to determine slope and basin floor architecture as the Colorado River and delta dispersed subaqueous sediment gravity flows into the marine Gulf. Measured sections arrayed along depositional strike show a 4.5 km wide pod of sand-rich turbidites that were delivered through a broad Fish Creek exit point from the paleo-Colorado shelf. The vertical sedimentation trend is one showing thick bedded, amalgamated channelized and sheet-like sandstones initially, shifting to thinnerbedded sheets and more isolated channels higher in the increasingly muddy section. The facies variability up section is interpreted as a change from a submarine basin floor fan to a lower slope environment as the Colorado River prograded its delta into the Gulf.Item Drivers of environmentally-friendly technology adoption : electric vehicle and residential solar PV adoption in California(2016-05) Nath, Vivek; Rai, Varun; Zarnikau, JayThe use of electric vehicles (EVs) and residential solar photovoltaic (PV) panels is expected to play a role in stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere within an acceptable range, to mitigate detrimental climate change impacts. This thesis uses two uniquely rich datasets from the EV and residential solar PV market in California to study the demographic, motivational, social and informational influences on technology adoption decision-making. Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) are extensively used to contextualize the findings. Several findings aligned with Rogers’ generalizations regarding communication channels and characteristics of earlier adopters, and the increasing role of interpersonal communication channels signaled a shift to the early majority. Strong support was also found for the theory of planned behavior through the identification of the role of personal norms, subjective norms, attitude, and perceived behavioral control on intention and, ultimately, behavior. Information channels used by the EV cohort suggest a possible departure from TPB through the role of habitual behavior and attitudinal formation.Item Ecology of the predator assemblage affecting nest success of passerines in Sierra Nevada, California(2010-07-14) Cocimano, Maria C.The endangered willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii) breeds in mountain meadows in the Sierra Nevada, which have been intensively modified, especially reducing meadow wetness, which favors easy access for mammalian predators to reach nesting areas in the meadow interior. High nest predation frequency is one of the main factors for willow flycatcher and other passerines? populations decline. I conducted trapping in wet and dry areas on 10 meadows in May?August of 2007 and 2008 to identify the assemblage of potential mammalian nest predators. I compared the predator activity between wet and dry areas of the meadows and determined the relationship between predator activity with vegetation and hydrology of the meadows. In 2008, I used radio-telemetry on deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) and yellow-pine chipmunks (Tamias amoenus) to determine their movement patterns across wet and dry areas, and between forest and meadow. My results showed that chipmunks? and squirrels? activity was restricted almost to dry areas. The activity of yellow-pine chipmunks was 96% and 97% higher in dry versus wet areas in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Voles, mice, and shrews were active in both site types. Voles (Microtus spp.) and shrews (Sorex spp.) were in general more active in wet areas versus dry areas in 2007. Deer mice were equally active in both site types in 2007 and more active in wet areas in 2008. Between years, predators were 68% more active in wet areas in 2007 compared to 2008, and similarly 52% more active in dry areas. Radio-tagged deer mice used the forest and the meadow and were more common in dry areas, whereas yellowpine chipmunks used more the forest than the meadows and were active only in dry areas. Passerines nesting in drier areas are exposed to a larger assemblage of potential predators and are more likely to be predated. My results suggest that increasing the proportion of inundated areas in the meadows would help reduce predator activity (especially chipmunks and squirrels) and consequently nest predation, helping increase flycatcher numbers. In addition, wetter conditions will favor an increment in food availability for flycatchers and an increment in willow cover, which consequently will provide more nesting substrate and will help increase nest concealment.Item El derecho a no migrar : Mexico’s colonialism and the forced displacement of the Ñuu Savi(2016-08) Lopez, Noe; Menchaca, Martha; Gonzales, AlfonsoThe emergent field of Mexican indigenous migration studies has focused on remittances, hometown associations, cultural reproduction, and identity formation in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. In my project, I contribute to the work of indigenous migration studies by analyzing and contesting the Mexican Nation’s State hegemony. Mexico’s political and economic structures have systematically caused the forced displacement of Ñuu Savi (Mixtec) people from their land in Oaxaca, Mexico. Through a historical analysis, I explore the Porfirian period (1876-1910), as it instigated land dispossession, initiated government projects against indigenous communities, and forced indigenous people to become laborers for hacienda plantations. Then, I examine the agrarian reform government initiatives of 1915 and their implementation during the Lázaro Cárdenas Administration (1934-1940). Drawing from literature reviews and policy analysis, I contend that indigenous people from Mexico now living in the United States were forced to out-migrate because of Mexico’s colonial, racial, and ethnic policies towards indigenous people, policies that negated their right not to migrate.Item Evaluating Environmental Impact Assessment of a local land use plan : a case study of the City of Elk Grove’s general plan EIRs(2008-12) Jung, Seung Hoon; Paterson, Robert G.Many planners and researchers pay attention to the potentials of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as a planning method. The EIA of a local land use plan or comprehensive plan becomes effective under the Mini-NEPA or State Environmental Policy Act. In this context, this study focuses on the NEPA based EIA of local land use plans in order to examine its effectiveness as part of the planning process. Based on the assumption that systematic environmental assessment will ensure the effectiveness and the quality of a local land use plan, this study evaluate a local land use plan EIA process of California with the quality and effectiveness criteria.Item Integrating the principles of strategic environmental assessment into local comprehensive land use plans in California(2009-05-15) Tang, ZhenghongThe lack of early integration with the planning and decision-making process has been a major problem in environmental assessment. Traditional project-based environmental impact assessment has inadequate incentives and capacities to incorporate critical environmental impacts at a broader temporal or spatial scale. While many applications have been geared towards implementing project-level environmental assessments, comparatively little research has been done to determine how to incorporate strategically critical environmental impacts into local planning. Although the principles of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) are not yet required in local planning in the United States, these principles create a theoretical framework for local environmental assessment. The objective of this study is to examine the ability of local plans to integrate and implement the key SEA principles. This study focuses on increasing the understanding of how and where to integrate environmental impacts into the local planning and decision-making process by converting the principles of SEA into specific planning tools, policies, and implementation strategies. This study develops a protocol with 112 indicators to measure the strengths and weaknesses of integrating strategic environmental assessment into local comprehensive land use plans. A random sample of 40 California local comprehensive land use plans and associated planning processes is evaluated based on this plan quality evaluation protocol. Statistical analysis and multiple regression models identify the factors affecting the quality of plans with respect to their ability to assess environmental impacts. The results identify the relative strengths and weaknesses of the ability of local jurisdictions to integrate the SEA principles. The results show that many strategically important environmental issues and tools are rarely adopted by current local plans. The regression analysis results further identify the effects of planning capacity, environmental assessment capacity, public participation and contextual variables on environmental assessment plan quality. The findings extend established planning theory and practice by incorporating strategic environmental considerations into the existing framework of what constitutes a high quality local land use comprehensive plan and suggest ways to improve plan quality.Item Mitochondrial-DNA variation and the evolutionary affinities of the Peromyscus maniculatus complex from western North America(Texas A&M University, 2006-04-12) Walker, Mindy LynnIntraspecific phylogeography and the phylogenetic relationships of recently-diverged taxa are best assessed with the use of a genetic marker that coalesces rapidly and thus provides phylogenetically informative characters for closely-related taxa. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) fits these criteria and was thereby ideal for analyzing genetic variation within and among the youngest taxonomic members of the Peromyscus maniculatus species group, P. sejugis (restricted to two islands in the Sea of Cort????????s), P. maniculatus (distributed throughout North and Central America) and P. keeni (a coastal species restricted to the Pacific Northwest of North America). The approach utilized in this research involved sequencing a 1439 base-pair (bp) region of mtDNA for a total of 581 specimens representing 45 different geographic localities from along the west coast of North America. The sequences obtained were used to assess the partitioning of genetic diversity within and among these taxa, address phylogenetic and taxonomic concerns about the western representatives of the P. maniculatus species group and discuss the post-Pleistocene biogeography of the west coast of North America. Analysis of mtDNA sequence variation, considered within the framework of a phylogenetic species concept, revealed the existence of two evolutionarily significant units of P. sejugis as well as a previously unrecognized sibling species nested within the Pacific coastal range of P. maniculatus. Moreover, analysis of intraspecific sequence divergence allowed for the identification of the ice-free refugium thought to harbor P. keeni throughout glaciation during the Pleistocene epoch. This work will establish the foundation for additional examination of cryptic genetic variation in different morphotypes of P. maniculatus and continue the precedent for recognizing P. maniculatus-group taxa that reflect true evolutionary entities.Item Origin and Seismicity of the Gulf of California(Texas Tech University, 1972-05) Castro, Louis ReyesNot Available.Item Savior of the family farm? : the role of community supported agriculture for farm sustainability in California(2009-05) Stephens, Michelle, active 2009; Oden, MichaelThis report analyzes the success factors of small farms, as defined by the amount of acreage in farming, the market value of agricultural products sold, and the number of small farms, in rural California Counties. These data are then compared with the location of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs in the study counties and examined to see if there are greater successes in the counties with higher CSA involvement. While CSAs are more abundant in successful agriculture counties, these programs are not responsible for all successes and are rather one component in a larger consumer movement toward sustainable agriculture and local food options.Item Storage, fractionation and melt-crust interaction of basaltic magmas at oceanic and continental settings(2016-08) Gao, Ruohan; Lassiter, John C.; Barnes, Jaime D; Gardner, James E; Hesse, Marc A; Loewy, Staci; Clague, David AThis study uses phenocrysts and xenoliths to examine storage, fractionation and melt-crust interaction of basaltic magmas. Gabbroic xenoliths from Hualalai Volcano, Hawaii include fragments of lower oceanic crust (LOC) cumulates. Oxygen and Sr isotope compositions of these gabbros indicate minimal hydrothermal alteration. Magmas from fast ridges fractionate on average at shallower and less variable depths and undergo more homogenization than those from fast ridges. These features suggest a long-lived shallow magma lens exists at fast ridges, which limits the penetration of hydrothermal circulation into the LOC. Anorthitic plagioclases in these LOC gabbros therefore unlikely derive from hydrous melting or hydrothermal replacement. The strongly positive correlation between plagioclase anorthite content and whole rock Re concentration of Hualalai LOC gabbros may place further constraints on the origin of anorthitic plagioclase at mid-ocean ridges. Most Hualalai xenoliths represent Hualalai melt-derived cumulates. MELTS modeling and equilibration temperatures suggest Hualalai shield-stage-related gabbros crystallized within local LOC. Therefore, a deep magma reservoir existed within or at the base of the LOC during the shield stage of Hualalai Volcano. Melt–crust interaction between Hawaiian melts and Pacific crust partially overprinted Sr, Nd, and Pb isotope compositions of LOC-derived gabbros. The modified isotope compositions of Pacific LOC (and likely lithospheric mantle) are similar to Hawaiian rejuvenated-stage lavas. Although minor assimilation of Pacific crust by Hawaiian melts cannot be excluded, the range of oxygen isotope compositions recorded in Hawaiian magmas cannot be generated by assimilation of the in situ LOC. The Papoose Canyon (PC) monogenetic eruption sequence in the Big Pine volcanic field, California displays temporal-compositional variations indicating mixing of two distinct melts. PC phenocrysts and xenoliths derive from melt that is more fractionated and enriched than PC lavas. Pressure constraints suggest these phenocrysts and xenoliths crystallized at mid-crust depths. PC lavas also show evidence of crustal contamination. Therefore, PC phenocrysts and xenoliths likely derive from early PC melts that ponded, fractionated and assimilated continental crust in mid-crustal sills, which were mixed with more primitive melts as the eruption began. The temporal-compositional trends thus reflect gradual exhaustion of these sills over time.Item The business of medical marijuana : a photo essay, Santa Cruz, CA(2011-05) Mueller, Larissa Nicole; Darling, Dennis Carlyle; Garrison, AndrewThis report is a photo essay exploring the businesses, nonprofits, collectives, and consumer flow of medical marijuana in Santa Cruz County. Santa Cruz is home to the first nonprofit medical marijuana collective in the United States, the Wo/Manís Alliance for Medical Marijuana. Though medical marijuana is illegal under federal law, President Barack Obama gave leeway to individual states and counties in 2009 to legislate the issue. Medical marijuana is decriminalized in Santa Cruz, which has given rise to a variety of businesses involved in the production and distribution of cannabis: collectives, dispensaries, cannabis testing facilities, and nonprofits. This photo essay visits a spectrum of these businesses to provide insight and visual exploration of the face of decriminalized medical cannabis in Santa Cruz County today.Item The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act: state hazardous waste cleanup in an era of environmental federalism(Texas Tech University, 1990-05) Farley, Kimberly Dawn BernaskiNot availableItem Transforming Native American Youths' Concepts of Geoscience Through a Connection to Culture, Nature and Community(2014-05-07) Ricci, Jamie LeighThis qualitative study examines the experience of twelve Native American youth who participated in culturally appropriate geoscience summer programs throughout California. These programs have been shown to change participating youths? perceptions of science. After the programs, the youth are more likely to describe science as something tribes use to manage natural resources and have been using for a long time, something that is not only learned in classrooms, that they like science and they can live a cultural way of life and still be scientists. Hermeneutic phenomenology is used to understand the experience of the youth participating in the program. Semi-structured, life-world, pre- and post- interviews were designed to elucidate participants? program experience, conceptions of science and home life. From these, salient themes were found and organized into meaning units. It is suggested that having a supportive community, which youth have identified as a group of people described as familial, supportive and empowering, where youth can express their culture while enjoying outdoor programming provides the foundation and safe space to approach program science. Moreover, positive connections between nature and program science are made in this context. This provides scaffolding where these new conceptions of science as nature, and nature as science, can be applied to participants? lives outside of the program.Item Welton Becket and Bullock's Pasadena : quiet icons of mid-century design(2012-05) King, Elise Louise; Long, Christopher (Christopher Alan), 1957-; Penick, MonicaFollowing the Second World War department stores transitioned from the downtown establishments of the first half of the century to the enclosed shopping malls of the second; however, for a period of about six years, from 1945 to 1951, the standalone department store fulfilled the needs of suburbanites. During this struggle to define the new suburban shopping experience, Welton Becket and Walter Wurdeman designed Bullock's Pasadena--the first embodiment of their research-based "total design" philosophy. Today, Becket is best known for his iconic Capitol Records building and the assembly line efficiency of Welton Becket and Associates, but he devoted much of the late 1940s and 1950s to designing department stores and shopping centers. As store managers and fellow architects strained to build department stores for automobile, Becket emerged with a research-based solution that he later termed "total-design." Similar to the concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, Becket's "total-design" was a philosophy that required attention to nuance and detail--in the case of department stores this included furniture, fixtures, carpet, and even price tags and restaurant menus. But he also sought to support his designs with research and study.1 Before Becket designed Bullock's Pasadena, his first department store, he dedicated a year to analyzing the customers, employees, and efficiency of Bullock's. This investigation resulted in an open-plan store with flexible furnishings and a sympathetic approach to the automobile, including parking lots that integrated with the store's layout. Becket was not alone in his exploration of suburban department stores. Architects from around the country, including Raymond Loewy, Victor Gruen, John Graham, and Morris Ketchum, created their own prototypes for this new building typology. But many found it difficult to compete with Becket's extensive research and empirical method. Several stores, such as B. Altman's Miracle Mile branch on Long Island (1947) and Bamberger's branch in Morristown, New Jersey (1949), had to be renovated or relocated within ten years of opening, unable to keep pace with growing storage and parking demands. Becket, by contrast, studied population densities and demographics, freeway connections and traffic congestion to establish the number of parking spaces and their location on site. Instead of utilizing parking space ratios, favored by his peers, he relied on a wider scope of analysis to inform his designs. Bullock's Pasadena provides the basis for this study and demonstrates the evolution of Becket's design process that would come to define one of the world's largest architecture firms.