cometadata/datacite-titles-descriptions-related-identifiers huggingface dataset:
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-312287
title: Reshaping Los Angeles: housing affordability and neighborhood change

description: In this dissertation, I set out to lay an empirical foundation for understanding why the housing stock in the Los Angeles region has been constrained since the building boom of the 1980s, and why regional demand for housing has continued to grow over the period of the housing boom and bust. I measure the declines in number of housing units available on the market, arising from both reduced construction and reduced turnover. I also examine the sources of growth in potential demand for housing, from migration and from natural increases of the existing population. I then compare the consequences of the housing shortfall for different types of neighborhoods and for different groups of people by age, race, and education level. I build on filtering theory with new ideas about how to conceptualize and measure changes in housing supply and demand, and I introduce new techniques to analyze the connections between regional shifts in supply and demand and local changes in neighborhoods. By combining well-established filtering theory with innovative demographic methods, I find empirical evidence of the powerful, usually hidden forces of the regional housing market and the way they impact various types of neighborhoods and groups of people. I make two main contributions to housing research. First, I argue that the housing supply that matters for growth is the housing available on the market, and this includes both newly built units and existing units that have been turned over by their previous occupants. Second, the underlying sources of growth in housing demand include (1) natural increases in the adult population through larger generations and longer life expectancies, in addition to the more commonly-studied (2) migration, (3) household formation, and (4) changes in income. I find that the number of vacant housing units available on the market fell 12.3 percent from 1990 to 2012 as a result of reduced construction and reduced turnover, while the regional adult population grew 29.2 percent. I also find that most of the growth in housing demand during the boom and bust periods was simply the result of natural increases rather than from immigration or migration to the region. From 2000 to 2012, the adult population grew 15.8 percent through natural increases, and only grew 1.4 percent through migration. In the context of this housing shortfall, with far fewer housing units available on the market and with steadily growing demand, I find stark disparities in housing and neighborhood outcomes for more and less advantaged groups. Middle-aged and older adults fared better than younger newcomers trying to make their way in the housing market, Whites and Asians fared better than Blacks and Hispanics, and young college graduates fared better than young people without college degrees.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-327084
title: Scarcity in negotiation

description: Negotiation is among the most important activities conducted in organizations, guiding terms of employment and managerial activities. Scarcity often figures centrally in negotiations, but few studies have directly examined how it influences the negotiation process and outcome. This thesis develops and tests a model of how scarcity can benefit negotiations. My program of research began with a survey study to test lay conceptions of scarcity and hypotheses about negotiators’ information processing as a function of scarcity. Two pilot experiments were conducted to establish a laboratory paradigm with measures of the effects of scarcity on negotiation. This work led to the development of two related experimental paradigms and two experiments, which are reported here. These experiments showed interesting theory-derived effects indicating that the effects of scarcity can actually contradict the common view that scarcity always has negative consequences in negotiations. The survey found that people do generally believe that others become contentious under scarcity and that scarcity is deleterious to negotiation. On the basis of Shafir et al.’s theory of “bandwidth” (2012; 2013), or the information capacity of the decision maker, the two laboratory experiments showed that people attempt to manage bandwidth during negotiations, which means that scarcity can have positive effects. In Study 1, the evidence supported the “tunneling hypothesis” in negotiation: when dealing with a large number of issues, negotiators focused on and did better with the ones portrayed as scarce, although this was done at the expense of the issues not so portrayed. Study 2 showed a “cue-focus” effect: negotiators treated scarcity information as a cue to what an opposing negotiator wanted, and they used this information to discover common ground. The theoretical and practical implications of bandwidth-saving mechanisms in negotiation are discussed.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-328626
title: Teacher perceptions of the impact of reflective practice on the disproportionate representation of students of color in special education

description: In order to educate a child, one must be mindful of the social, cultural, and personal factors that impact and influence the child. Teachers who educate students of color must be especially cognizant of the various barriers to equity that exist in the education realm if they are going to truly prepare students for lives beyond the classroom. Reflective practice is the systematic process of critically looking back over one’s pedagogical practice. Teachers should regularly reflect on their pedagogical practice to ensure that they provide all students with a solid, culturally responsive education. The purpose of this study was to explore teacher perceptions of the impact of reflective practice on reducing the number of students of color referred to special education, teacher perceptions of the causes of disproportionality, and teacher perceptions of cultural competence. Specifically, the researcher asked: 1) How do elementary school teachers describe their reflective practice? 2) What are elementary school teachers’ perceptions regarding the impact of reflective practice on reducing the number of students of color who educators refer to special education? 3) What are elementary school teachers’ perceptions regarding the impact of reflective practice on the development of cultural competence? Ten general education elementary teachers from two Southern California school districts participated in this qualitative study. The researcher used the inductive research method, collected surveys, and conducted interviews to summarize findings on general education teachers’ reflective practice and their perceptions of the root causes of disproportionality in special education. Schön’s (1987) theory of reflection-on-action, which is looking back on and learning from experience or action, served as the central theoretical framework for this study. The evidence collected highlights the need for educators to develop a greater understanding of what critical reflection actual is, the need for institutions to provide educators with time and support to meet the needs of their diverse students, and the need for educators to have cultural competency training if they are to reduce the trend of disproportionality.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-351180
title: College benefits of the California State University's expository reading and writing course

description: This qualitative research study was designed to understand the influence of the California State University’s (CSU) 12th grade Expository Reading and Writing Course (ERWC) on student preparedness for, and success in, college-level coursework from the perspective of Bandura’s (1997) self-efficacy theory. The study examined how participants’ perceived self-efficacy was affected by taking the ERWC, and whether changes in self-efficacy led to increased use of self-regulatory behaviors and greater academic achievement in college. ❧ Participants were 13 former ERWC students at least in their sophomore year in college. A grounded theory approach was used during the coding and analysis process to inductively allow the major themes to emerge as the data was methodically reviewed using a constant comparison method. ❧ The research questions pertained to perceived benefits of the ERWC while taking the course, and perceived benefits in college directly related to having taken the course. The former was explored by organizing respondents’ ERWC experiences into mastery, vicarious, and social persuasion categories (Bandura 1997). The latter was explored by focusing on the respondent’s ability to persevere in difficult situations and overcome setbacks in college by utilizing self-regulatory behaviors developed in the ERWC. ❧ Results indicated that the ERWC does increase self-efficacy, especially in reading, writing, and classroom dialogue, and that this increase does transfer to the college setting by positively influencing the use of self-regulatory behaviors. Results also showed that the use of self-regulatory behaviors in college were amplified by an increase in confidence and motivation allowing respondents to consciously adjust study strategies as difficulty levels rose.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-376713
title: Methods to bring focus to desired muscle patterns

description: Real-world motor skill learning is a complicated problem involving planning, execution, practice, and retention. One of the sub components in motor skill learning is the credit-assigment problem: how are errors during performance assigned to individual components involved in the task? This is not trivial since there are numerous processes and systems at play when making a movement. So, how do humans learn complex motor skills, and what methods are used to aid in the process? ❧ A major source of inspiration for this work comes from the world of coaching where we see novices become elite-level athletes due to strategies, ranging from using motivation, sub tasking, iterative practice, tactile/visual aids, and visualization techniques. Coaches used these to modulate attention to task-relevant components. Two such sensory modulators of attention are vibratory feedback and visualization. My work is on understanding how these sensory modulators can create equivalent tasks by communicating percepts that are tactile, proprioceptive, or emotional in order to solve the credit-assignment problem. ❧ Vibratory feedback has been widely used for rehabilitation purposes, and with success. Here its effects on muscle use was studied on real-world tasks as well as on a one-dimensional myocontrol task. It was found that scaled vibratory feedback augments sensory information by bringing selective focus to task-relevant components and increasing muscle use, while non scaled vibratory feedback does not have such an effect. An alternative theory of multi-muscle feedback cemented the importance of bringing selective focus via single-muscle vibration. ❧ Visualization techniques have not received much attention in the motor Neuroscience community. One-dimensional and three-dimensional myocontrol tasks were designed to study its effects on performance and muscle use. Results showed that visualization brings selective focus by communicating non-visual sensations via some kind of task equivalence: substituting the body, task, or emotional context. Both of these sensory methods were shown to help solve this complex credit assignment problem by bringing selective focus directly to individual muscles or indirectly via movement sensations. Therefore, there is much room for the use of these techniques in motor skill learning.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c127-631544
title: The internationalization of experiential learning for deaf and hard of hearing college students: a case study of accessibility and globalization

description: Utilizing a qualitative case study, this dissertation analyzed how one university provided accessibility to international experiential learning opportunities for a primarily disabled student population. The Council for the Advancement of Standards (CAS, 2006) in Higher Education consists of a self-assessment guide adapted as a framework to analyze globalization efforts. Faculty and administrators used inclusive recruitment, program design, and international partner selection for a disabled population, in response to the major challenges deaf and hard of hearing students face. This includes deficiencies in awareness of this population, insufficiency in program designs for disabled students, and stratifications imposed in foreign communities during overseas studies. This was aligned within a disability equity and access construct, reviewed in CAS (2006), and expanded for inclusive design in globalization efforts.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c127-637039
title: Navigating the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics pipeline: how social capital impacts the educational attainment of college-bound female students

description: Despite the proliferation of women in higher education and the workforce, they have yet to achieve parity with men in many of the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) majors and careers. The gap is even greater in the representation of women from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. This study examined pre-college intervention strategies provided by the University of Southern California’s Math, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program, as well as the relationships and experiences that contributed to the success of underrepresented female high school students in the STEM pipeline. A social capital framework provided the backdrop to the study. ❧ This qualitative study takes an ethnographic approach, incorporating 11 interviews, 42 hours of observation, and document analysis to address the research questions: How does involvement in the MESA program impact female students’ decisions to pursue a mathematics or science major in college? What is the role of significant others in supporting and encouraging student success? ❧ The findings revealed a continuous cycle of support for these students. The cycle started in the home environment, where parents were integral in the early influence on the students’ decisions to pursue higher education. Relationships with teachers, counselors, and peers provided critical networks of support in helping these students to achieve their academic goals. Participation in the MESA program empowered the students and provided additional connections to knowledge-based resources. This study highlights the interplay among family, school, and the MESA program in the overall support of underrepresented female students in the STEM pipeline.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c127-644689
title: Geometrical effects on Swiss-roll heat-recirculating combustors

description: A 3D numerical model of Swiss-roll combustor with considering heat loss to environment, turbulence, radiation, and simplified reaction mechanism (1-step and 4-step) was built.  Comparisons to experiments showed the model is able to quantitatively predict the lean extinction limits over a wide range of Reynolds number (Re).  3 dimensional effects, such as Dean vortices, effect of heat spread in the top and bottom insulations, flame curved due to larger heat loss near the insulations, and etc., were found and the range of validity of 2D models identified. ❧ The effects of different geometrical parameters (size and turns) were studied numerically.  It is found that for geometrically identical combustors, smaller scales actually showed better performance at low Re due to less overall heat loss effect, while larger scales showed better performance at high Re due to more residence time.  The optimal performances (minimum lean extinction limits) for different number of turns combustors are strongly related to the performance of the spiral heat exchangers.  A relation between minimum lean limits and geometrical parameters was described and it could be used to estimate the design requirement for specific applications. ❧ Based on the wide working range feature of Swiss-roll combustors, a combustion-driven gas mask or air purification system, in which toxic agents are destroyed by combustion process while combustion products can directly be breathed, was proposed.  Experiments showed that an equivalence ratio, Φ = 0.058 (around 10 times less than conventional value) gas-phase, propane-air premixed combustion can be achieved in a portable size Swiss-roll combustor (12 cm diameter and 10 cm height) resulting in “breathable combustion products”.  The ability of this system to destroy toxic agent simulants was demonstrated.  Feasibility issues such as pressure drop and exhaust temperature are discussed.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c127-646625
title: The long road: the story of an undocumented movement

description: Undocumented students in California navigate daily life in a state they call home, but with no path to legally reside in the country. This short documentary looks at the experience of two college students who were brought illegally to Southern California as children, and who are now pursuing an American dream in the face of possible deportation.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c127-649665
title: Inhibition of the interaction between class IIA histone deacetylases and myocyte enhancer factor 2 by small molecules

description: Enzymes that modify epigenetic status provide attractive targets for therapy in various diseases including cardiac hypertrophy, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and immune dysfunction. The therapeutic development of epigenetic modulators, however, has been largely limited to direct targeting of the active site of such enzymes. Class IIa histone deacetylases (HDACs) are a group of epigenetic enzymes that depends on interaction with Myocyte Enhancer Factor-2 (MEF2) for their recruitment to specific genomic loci. Targeting this interaction presents a potential alternative approach to inhibiting this class of HDACs by blocking their DNA recruitment. In this paper, we have identified and characterized a group of small molecules that indirectly target class IIa HDACs by binding to MEF2. ❧ The first study explores the molecular interactions between the MEF2 family and the class IIa HDACs. This study revealed that the interfaces between the class IIa HDACs and the MEF2 proteins are sensitive to localized mutations and, therefore, likely targets for inhibition by small molecules. Moreover, we established a mammalian two-hybrid assay that can serve as a screen for small molecule inhibitors of MEF2:HDAC4 interaction. ❧ The second study establishes that the commercially available small molecule, BML-210, which belongs to the pimeloylanilide o-aminoanilide (PAOA) class, is an inhibitor of MEF2:HDAC4 interaction in vitro and in vivo. Specifically, we showed that these small molecules blocked the recruitment of class IIa HDACs to MEF2-targeted genes and enhanced the expression of those targets. Based on structural and functional studies, we synthesized a series of new PAOA compounds, some of which were more potent inhibitors of MEF2:HDAC interaction. ❧ The final study examines the effect of these MEF2:class IIa HDAC inhibitors on learning and memory. In this blind study, we showed that wild type (WT) mice treated with a PAOA molecule displayed enhanced learning and memory compared to mice treated with an inactive PAOA compound. Furthermore, in a similar study, treatment of cultured cortical neurons with PAOA led to a significant decrease in the excitatory synapse number, suggesting, that the effect of PAOA on learning and memory might be through regulating synapse formation. These findings link the inhibition of MEF2:HDAC interaction to MEF2 dependent synaptic morphogenesis, learning and memory. ❧ Collectively, our work describes the first example of sub-class specific HDAC inhibitors (HDACi) that disrupt the protein-protein interaction between the class IIa HDACs and its cofactors. In addition, as evident from the final functional study on the effect of these compounds on synapse formation and memory, the compounds developed here can be used not only as tools to study the MEF2 proteins and class IIa HDACs in vivo but also as leads for drug development.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c127-656582
title: A favor del pueblo, contra los chinos: coverage of the Chinese by California's Spanish-language press, 1855-1898

description: The central goal of this work is to shed light on a frequently overlooked aspect of history --the interaction of Chinese and Mexican Californians in the years following statehood. Using the state's Spanish-language newspapers as primary documents, the complexities of this interaction were analyzed with the intent to present a historical work that functions beyond the overused framework of ""White vs. Other."" By a review of more than 300 of these newspapers' articles, a fuller, more complex image of race relations in 19th century California began to emerge -one that accounts for the state's truly plural ethnic makeup during some of its most formative years.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c127-656982
title: Blends of perfluorocarbon end-functionalized and telechelic polystyrene/poly n-butyl methacrylate. Synthesis and morphology studies.

description: Structurally well-defined C₄F₉, C₇F₁₅, C₁₀F₂₁ and C₁₃F₂₇ end-functionalized polystyrene (RF-PS) and polybutylmethacrylate (RF-PBMA) were prepared by Atom Transfer Polymerization using the RF–tagged initiators. Blends (1/1 wt/wt) of these polymers were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and optical transmittance (OT). The RF-PS/RF-PBMA blends having molecular weights of 20,000 and C₇F₁₅ or larger end groups, were optically transparent. The AFM micrographs show crater, necklace and other RF mediated morphologies typically at the submicron scale. TEMs of the PS and PBMA blends show the assembly of nm-sized lamellae and lamellar aggregates into domains with sizes in the micron or nanometer scales depending on MW and RF size. A semi-quantitative “phase diagram” the blends shows that lower MWs and longer RF groups improve phase compatibilities. In addition, telechelic C₇F₁₅ and C₁₃F₂₇ functionalized PS and the corresponding PBMA were synthesized by atom transfer polymerization, bromide substitution by sodium azide and click-coupling with propargyl ether. NMR, size exclusion chromatopgraphy and other characterization methods indicated high degrees of end functionalization (≥ 96%) and narrow MW distributions. The miscibility of (1/1 wt/wt) blends of these polymers was studied by TEM, AFM, DSC and optical transmittance. Blends of the telechelic C₇F₁₅ functionalized polymers with molecular weights of 15,000 showed no significant differences with blends of the 15k end- functionalized polymers.  However, the AFM and  TEM data for the blends of the 30k telechelic polymers showed formation of much smaller and relatively well defined surface and  bulk domains. This confirms that beside perfluorocarbon content, the topology of these perfluorocarbon groups plays an important role in blend miscibility.