cometadata/datacite-titles-descriptions-related-identifiers huggingface dataset:
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-323506
title: B vitamin distribution in modern marine sediments and their utilization in major biogeochemical cycles since early Earth

description: B vitamins are a diverse set of organic molecules required by all of life for essential biochemical processes and represent critical intermediaries in many biogeochemical cycles, however their distribution and function in the marine environment remains poorly understood. Some organisms can meet their vitamin requirements by internal synthesis while other must acquire them from the surrounding environment. Universal requirements insinuate their likely presence before life began as well as their interesting relationship with the evolution of life. Concentrations of vitamins in the modern ocean typically fall in the low pico to nanomolar range making direct measurement very difficult and therefore few environmental measurements exist in the water column and effectively no measurements exist in marine sediments. This dissertation attempts to fill part of this void by first presenting an investigation into the known evidence for the ancient origin of B vitamins by tracing their likely abiotic formation mechanisms through to their role in the RNA and later DNA World and concluding with their role in critical metabolisms found in extant organisms. Next, two B vitamin investigations into the modern marine environment are presented. The first explores the distribution of thiamin (vitamin B1) in the porewaters of Santa Monica Basin and finds that sediments could represent a source of this limiting growth factor to the water column. The second investigation involves the flavins, a class of molecules including vitamin B2 and its bioactive derivatives flavin mononucleotide and flavin dinucleotide in the sediments of San Pedro Basin. Flavin concentrations are found to be elevated in porewaters and were in molar ratios that match extensive culture analyses under aerobic and anaerobic growth conditions. Furthermore, their distribution points to a likely connection to the biogeochemical cycling of iron. These investigations provide a foundation for future critical studies on these often overlooked organic molecules, and presents them in the context of their role alongside the ubiquitously studied metal cofactors.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-331223
title: A program evaluation of an alternative education program: increasing school connectedness and building social capital

description: The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of Operation New Hope’s program and the impact that school connectedness had on students in graduation attainment and social capital. This study employed a quantitative design by utilizing the school connectedness scale, resource generator, and name generator/name interpreter. Thirty-five former students were surveyed to gain knowledge about their past experiences related to school connectedness at the alternative school to determine if school connectedness was related to their graduation attainment. Furthermore, some students were randomly selected to participate in an orally administered survey over the telephone for the name generator/name interpreter to understand their levels of social capital after leaving the program.  The data collection period occurred during late May through September 2016, and data analysis was completed through October 2016. ❧ Through this study, associations were made among the following variables: school connectedness, high school graduation attainment, and social capital from the perspective of former students. The study found that increased school connectedness, specifically student relationships with adults and students involved in school activities, was associated with program graduation. It also found that graduation was associated with social capital in terms of personal support. Lastly, it found a negative correlation between school connectedness and social capital. ❧ This study added to the educational discussion that alternative schools are effective in improving social capital among disadvantaged students, leaving a lasting impact on students after they leave the program. The theoretical framework that guided this study was the social capital framework.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-332759
title: Conservatives report more meaning in life than liberals

description: Conservatives are more satisfied with their lives than liberals, but this relationship is relatively weak. One limitation of this area of research is that the well-being measures have been too narrow in scope. We extended this research by examining the relationship between political affiliation and well-being using measures of evaluative (life satisfaction), experiential (affect in the moment), and eudaimonic (a sense of meaning and purpose) well-being. Participants completed well-being measures after reflecting on their whole life (Studies 1 and 2), at the end of their day (Study 3), and in the present moment (Study 4). Across four studies (n = 5,025), conservatives found more meaning in life than liberals at each frame of reference. This finding generally remained significant after controlling for religiosity and was stronger than the relationship between political affiliation and life satisfaction. These findings provide a more holistic view of the relationship between political affiliation and well-being.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-351834
title: African American males in out performing urban schools

description: African American males’ tribulations in the public education system are well documented. They consistently present the lowest performance when compared to other subgroups (The Schott Foundation for Public Education, 2010). African American males’ lack of academic success in public schools should be addressed due to the link between low educational attainment and incarceration (Mauer & King, 2004) and its impact on the economy as the skills needed for productive participation in the global economy are directly linked to academic attainment (Chavous, T, Harris, A. Rivas, D., Helaiaire, L. & Green, L., 2004). ❧ The goal of this study was to identify the practices, programs, and influence of school leadership at one high-performing urban school that narrowed the achievement gap for African American males. This study aimed to contribute strategies that can further narrow this gap. Themes include a deliberate approach to address the needs of African American boys through programs, practices, and leadership. ❧ The key findings of this study demonstrated the importance of building high expectations for students and staff. Second, the school of study focused all school programs and practices to ensure graduation and used this data as the success indicator for the site. With graduation as the indicator, the sites practices and programs have created high graduation rates for all and 100% graduation for African Americans students. Lastly, the researcher noted the importance of school leadership that embodied transformational and transactional leadership to create the school vision and execute of the vision.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-353849
title: E-Curriculum and instruction: a case study

description: Electronic learning, or e-Learning, is a growing and complex sector of higher education. This dissertation investigated the lack of understanding surrounding online education’s use of policy to effectively inform curriculum and instruction in synchronous classrooms. Leveraging a conceptual framework that combined literature on higher education accountability with theory on effective teaching with technology, this qualitative case study examined if and how synchronous e-Learning instructional policy and practice intersect in transformative ways by answering the following research questions: (a) how do teacher educators describe the relationship between instructional policy and practice in a synchronous, online, webcam-enabled teacher education program’s core course?; and (b) how, if at all, does a synchronous, online, webcam-enabled teacher education program use instructional policy to guide and foster the development of technological pedagogical content knowledge within the organization? Data collection procedures included interviews with the organization’s chair, course lead, and instructors, observations with the instructors, and document collection. Data analysis involved the constant comparative method. Findings from the study revealed that political, professional, and market forces were present in the target course’s curriculum, explaining why said instructional policy served as a framework for content, a facilitator of pedagogy, and quality assurance for e-Learning. Findings from the study also revealed how the given instructional policy system developed technological pedagogical content knowledge within the organization in a limited fashion. Implications and recommendations for policy, practice, and research are discussed.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-385301
title: Women as political subjects: discursive constructions of women in peace processes at the United Nations

description: Why, despite all of the rhetoric around women’s inclusion sparked by the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, are women still not included at the table? To answer this question, this study explores the role that language plays in creating reality and how this intersects with gender as a social organizing structure. Taking women’s participation in peace processes as the focus, this dissertation contextualizes narratives about women and their inclusion to understand how they are organized and contested and what the implications of such narratives are on women’s ability to gain access to peace tables. This study uses feminist critical discourse analysis to look at written narratives from the UN Department of Political Affairs, the UN department responsible for mediation and facilitating peace talks, and the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security, an organization advocating for women’s inclusion, putting narratives from the two cases into conversation to understand the benefits, dangers and effectiveness of various arguments used for women’s inclusion. It finds that mediation and peace processes are framed as masculine spaces that are defined by the exclusion of feminine characteristics. Despite institutional acknowledgement of the importance of inclusivity, women are discursively constructed as external to mediation processes. Instead, the willingness to use violence or the possession of expert knowledge become primary criteria of access to peace tables. Women are framed through their vulnerability, which delegitimizes their presence at peace tables and reinforces their exclusion from negotiations. These findings are contextualized through an analysis of the justifications for women’s presence, revealing a discursive mismatch between the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security and the Department of Political Affairs that has the potential to undermine advocacy efforts and reinforce discursive barriers to women’s inclusion.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-442147
title: Coachella: inception, evolution, and a meditation on the American music festival experience

description: "This thesis is a combination of two things: 1.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-120917
title: An operational account of the Los Angeles Urban League
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-125235
title: Changing roles for women in mid-life
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-127280
title: The role of the social work consultant in extended care facilities
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-134380
title: Legacy of the shtadlan: Strategies for social change in contemporary Jewish community relations
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-339794
title: Evaluating the Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program's effect on neighborhoods

description: How can cities improve neighborhood quality after years of decline? One prominent attempt is the Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) established in 1991 that earmarked $400 million over 20 years for neighborhoods to engage residents and create plans to improve the community. Previous studies evaluated the NRP program, but were completed too soon for the program to have a noticeable impact. Additionally, reviews of the first decade of implementation completed by 35 of the 67 neighborhoods assessed the success of the program, but these documents mainly served marketing and accountability purposes. This study adds to the critical appraisal of the NRP program by using census data and indicators for neighborhood income, home value, rent, and vacancy rate to examine whether or not the City of Minneapolis increased neighborhood quality. Propensity score matching paired Minneapolis study site neighborhoods with similar neighborhoods in St. Paul and difference-in-differences and hot spot analysis determined any significant changes in Minneapolis and its neighborhoods from 1990-2014. Regression models explored the relationship between each indicator and variables for NRP participation, amount of NRP funding, number of days participated in the NRP, and neighbor funding levels, and spatial analysis explained why some neighborhoods were more successful than others. Results show that Minneapolis performed better than St. Paul during the study period, and that some neighborhoods in the city experienced statistically significantly greater improvements, most notably the neighborhoods in downtown. Based on this analysis, the study recommends solutions to improve future iterations of this program in other locales.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-345670
title: The battle of Drakes Estero

description: For almost 100 years, there was an oyster farm in a stunningly beautiful lagoon owned by the US government. The farmers’ permit to operate in the lagoon came up for renewal in 2012. Some of the farmers’ neighbors joined forces with national environmental conservation groups to advocate against renewal. They wanted the lagoon to become what they consider a true and proper and fully protected wilderness area, and they convinced the Secretary of the Interior to let the permit expire. The farmers, in an attempt to save the business, started working with a jarringly politically diverse collection of allies. While that coalition never comfortably gelled, they agreed on one important point: that the people advocating for wilderness over oyster farming had lied and cheated to get the outcome they wanted, and that’s a threat to our democracy.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-413195
title: Intention to shelter in response to escalating warnings before and after a national tornado disaster event

description: Previous research has evaluated public perception of risk and responses to a natural hazard in various settings; however, most of these studies were conducted either with a single scenario or after a natural disaster struck. To further evaluate dynamic relationships among public affect, risk perception and behavioral intention, the current study implements a scenario with escalating weather intensity, and includes a natural experiment allowing comparison of public response before and after a severe tornado event with extensive coverage by the national media. The current study also manipulated the display of warning information, and investigated whether the warning system display format influences public response. Results indicate that affect, risk perception and behavioral intention escalated as weather conditions deteriorated, responses at previous stages predicted responses at subsequent stages of storm progression, and negative affect predicted risk perception. Moreover, risk perception and behavioral intention were heightened after exposure to the media coverage of an actual tornado disaster. However, the display format manipulation did not influence behavioral responses. The current study provides important insights regarding public perception of pre-disaster warnings and the influence of exposure to media coverage of an actual disaster event.
DOI: 10.6073/pasta/0d0e653a7cb0b56337f334d2ccfe4637
title: Hog Island VA Small-Mammal Trapping 1989-2016
DOI: 10.6073/pasta/37a6f8582f578f6a41ddcdcb6d8cc26f
title: Marsh vegetation burial experiment biomass data, August 2014
DOI: 10.6073/pasta/3e3aa466b209a4a9a4e10ef256d09a81
title: Wave and turbidity measurements, Fowling Point, Hog Island Bay, VA, Summer 2017
DOI: 10.6073/pasta/7bd1e39cdc941e17457f6785a9a73bc6
title: Water level measurements on a southern Hog Island marsh, April-July 2014
DOI: 10.6073/pasta/95ad5696ad07d52965df6878c8f09bf0
title: Wave and turbidity measurements, Fowling Point, Hog Island Bay, VA, Summer 2016
DOI: 10.6073/pasta/a6cfdf553bf758c311e24b81f54eb996
title: Upper Phillips Creek soil organic content and bulk density April, 2017
DOI: 10.25549/gar-c81-12436
title: Cass Gilbert, letter, 1919-11-20, to Hamlin Garland

description: Cass Gilbert, 244 Madison Avenue, New York, New York, USA, letter, 1919 November 20, to Hamlin Garland. "Your letter of October 9th suggesting Irving Bacheller's name for membership in the National Institute of Arts and Letters is at hand." -- first line.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-117886
title: Understanding and use of selected generic social work concepts by 1969 and 1970 graduates of the School of Social Work of the University of Southern California a replication study
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-311316
title: Opportunistic crime security games: assisting police to control urban crime using real world data

description: Crime in urban areas plagues every city in all countries. A notable characteristic of urban crime, distinct from organized terrorist attacks, is that most urban crimes are opportunistic in nature, i.e., criminals do not plan their attacks in detail, rather they seek opportunities for committing crime and are agile in their execution of the crime. In order to deter such crimes, police officers conduct patrols with the aim of preventing crime. However, by observing on the spot the actual presence of patrol units, the criminals can adapt their strategy by seeking crime opportunity in less effectively patrolled location. The problem of where and how much to patrol is therefore important. ❧ My thesis focuses on addressing such opportunistic crime by introducing a new game-theoretic framework and algorithms. I first introduce the Opportunistic Security Game (OSG), a computational framework to recommend deployment strategies for defenders to control opportunistic crimes. I propose a new exact algorithm EOSG to optimize defender strategies given our opportunistic adversaries. Then I develop a fast heuristic algorithm to solve large-scale OSG problems, exploiting a compact representation. The next contribution in my thesis is a Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN) to learn the OSG model from real-world criminal activity. Standard Algorithm such as EM can be applied to learn the parameters. Also, I propose a sequence of modifications that allows for a compact representation of the model resulting in better learning accuracy and increased speed of learning of the EM algorithm. Finally, I propose a game abstraction framework that can handle opportunistic crimes in large-scale urban areas. I propose a planning algorithm that recommends a mixed strategy against opportunistic criminals in this abstraction framework. As part of our collaboration with local police departments, we apply our model in two large scale urban problems: USC campus and the city of Nashville. Our approach provides high prediction accuracy in the real datasets; furthermore, we project significant crime rate reduction using our planning strategy compared to current police strategy.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-328266
title: Cathepsin S expression, trafficking and function in lacrimal gland acinar cells in Sjögren’s Syndrome

description: Sjögren’s Syndrome caused the most severe form of dry eye. The mechanism responsible for the altered spectrum of tear proteins secreted by lacrimal gland acinar cells in Sjögren’s Syndrome patients remains unknown. Increased cathepsin S activity has been identified as a unique characteristic of Sjögren’s Syndrome patient tears. Here, we investigated the role of Rab3D, Rab27a and Rab27b proteins in the enhanced release of cathepsin S from lacrimal gland acinar cells. Similar to Sjögren’s Syndrome patients and to the male non-obese diabetic mouse model of Sjögren’s Syndrome, cathepsin S activity was elevated in tears of mice lacking Rab3D. Findings of lower gene expression and altered localization of Rab3D in non-obese diabetic mouse lacrimal gland acinar cells reinforce a role for Rab3D in suppressing excess cathepsin S release under physiological conditions. However, cathepsin S activity was significantly reduced in tears of mice lacking Rab27 isoforms. The reliance of cathepsin S secretion on Rab27 activity was supported by in vitro findings that newly synthesized cathepsin S was detected in and secreted from Rab27-enriched secretory vesicles and that expression of dominant negative Rab27b reduced carbachol-stimulated secretion of cathepsin S in cultured LGAC. High-resolution 3D-structured illumination microscopy revealed microdomains of Rab3D and Rab27 isoforms on the same secretory vesicles but present in different proportions on different vesicles, suggesting that changes in their relative association with secretory vesicles may tailor the vesicle contents. We propose that a loss of Rab3D from secretory vesicles, leading to disproportionate Rab27-to-Rab3D activity, may contribute to the enhanced release of CTSS in tears of SS patients. ❧ In addition of the loss of secretory function, inflammation in lacrimal and salivary glands is another hallmark of Sjögren’s Syndrome. The mechanisms that drive the initiation and progression of this autoimmune response in lacrimal gland acinar cells are not well established. We tested the hypothesis that elevated level of interferon-γ in lacrimal gland could promote increased expression of cathepsin S and other proteins involved in major histocompatibility complex class II-mediated antigen presentation, and reduce Rab3D expression and elevated cathepsin S secretion in lacrimal gland acinar cells, changes seen in murine models of Sjögren’s Syndrome and/or Sjögren’s Syndrome patients. In addition, elevated level of interferon-γ in tears under Sjögren’s Syndrome disease condition also contributes to the increased expression of cathepsin S and major histocompatibility complex class II-mediated antigen presentation in cornea epithelial cells. Therefore, lacrimal gland acinar cells and cornea epithelial cells have the potential to be converted to antigen presenting cells by proinflammatory cytokines in Sjögren’s Syndrome.