This thesis describes a pilot study for a new cultural anthropology initiative at Team One, a US-based premium and luxury brand advertising agency. In this study, I explore the role and meaning of technology among a population of affluent individuals in Southern California through diaries and ethnographic interviews conducted in their homes. Using schema theory and design anthropology to inform my theoretical approach, I discuss socioeconomic and cultural factors that shape these participants' notions of affluence and influence their presentation of self through an examination of their technology and proudest possessions. I put forward a theory of conspicuous achievement as a way to describe how the affluent use technology to espouse a merit-based model of affluence. Through this model of affluence, participants strive to align themselves to the virtuous middle-class while ascribing moral value to their consumption practices. Lastly, I provide a typology of meaningful technology artifacts in the affluent home that describes the roles of their most used tech devices and how each type supports conspicuous achievement.

This is a reflexive documentary on the Open School in Los Angeles, an elementary school which is a field research site for Apple Computer, Inc. This videotape explores filmmaker/subject relationships, media perception by children, and issues of representation. An accompanying production book describes the grantwriting process, the pre-production, production, and post-production stages, as well as theoretical implications of the documentary.

The purpose of the study was to develop a revision of the logical reasoning section of the California Test of Mental Maturity which increases its discriminative ability while maintaining an acceptable measure of reliability. Subjects were 102 students of general psychology classes at North Texas State University. All were administered the Logical Reasoning section of the California Test of Mental Maturity in its original form and an experimental revision of it (LRTR). The Wesman Personnel Classification Test was administered at the same time to demonstrate the tests' construct validity. Pearson product-moment correlations, item and homogeneity analyses were run. Results indicated that the revised test correlated significantly with the original test and the WPCT. Internal validity of the revised test was satisfactory, showing an improvement over the original test in terms of clarity, reliability and homogeneity.

This study investigates the recovery efforts provided for low income and ethnic minority populations by organizations during the permanent housing phase of recovery in Watsonville, California, following the Loma Prieta earthquake of October 17, 1989. The case study format is used to discover what activities were performed and why each organization chose to perform them. Dynes and Quarantelli's (1968) typology of organization is used to explain how and why established, expanding, extending and emergent organizations participated in the recovery efforts. The findings indicate that the type of organization dictated the kind of tasks each organization performed. Organizations maintained activities during recovery for which they had experience, expertise and proficiency.

The Energy Assistance Fund (EAF) is a voluntary, nonprofit fuel fund that provides grants to income qualified utility customers in an effort to help those customers avoid electricity service disconnection. The administering utility and the energy industry as a whole is undergoing transformative change, resulting in a projected decrease of fundraising capacity for EAF among its most substantial donor pool - utility shareholders and employees. Utility customers represent a small percentage of EAF donors, despite the significant size of the customer base. Through a series of ethnographic interviews and secondary research, this thesis seeks to understand the demographics and motivations of utility customers who donate to EAF in order to help improve EAF’s fundraising strategy and donor solicitations to eventually grow customer donations. The goal of EAF is to maintain or grow donations from 2014 levels so the Fund can continue to serve income qualified customers facing energy poverty. This thesis provides a contextual review of fuel funds; challenges faced by the energy and utility industry; the politics and culture of energy; as well as nonprofit sector fundraising challenges and cultures/motivations of giving. This thesis includes client deliverables such as thick description of donor motivation, motivation themes and a donor …

Embarking on a quest to uncover the shared experiences of Latinos with diabetes in the Central San Joaquin Valley is the principal issue discussed in this body of work. Diabetes is estimated to become a serious public health problem, with a current estimate of more than 30 million already afflicted. Engaging in participant-observation at a local clinic serving patients in a Diabetes Education Program and semi-structured interviews with Latinos attending the program, this research explores cultural experiences of diabetes. The primary aim of this research is to answer how health education information is accepted and interpreted based on cultural definitions of diabetes to inform diabetes management strategies.

Drumming is first described for five North American stonefly species, Acroneuria evoluta, Doroneuria baumanni, Isoperla namata, Chernokrilus misnomus, and Pictetiella expansa. Signals of Acroneuria lycorias, Phasganophora capitata and Isoperla signata are further described. Drumming was not recorded from Amhinemura delosa. Signals of A. evoluta are the most complex yet recorded in Plecoptera. Doroneuria baumanni, P. expanse, C. misnomus and P. capitata have 2-way exchanges. Male D. baumanni produce two prolonged beats by rubbing the hammer on the substratum; male-female signals are non-overlapping in the first two species and overlapping in the latter two. Female P. capitata answered with an unusually long sequence of beats. Two male Isoperla species produced monophasic calls without female answers. Female A. lycorias answered taped male signals with monophasic signals like all observed females.

The purpose of this research was to describe the content of information surrounding a significant sporting event presented by sportswriters through the printed medium. The event chosen for analysis was Superbowl XVI. Three metropolitan newspapers were selected as the sample representatives of the urban style of sports reporting. Two of these newspapers were chosen because of their geographical representation of a participating team. The third selection was taken because of its large circulation and relative unbiased reporting. From a pilot study conducted on Superbowl XV, content categories were found to fit in either one of two basic domains: cognitive or affective. The sample population for Superbowl XVI yielded 5,759 individual category entries based on 215 articles. The cognitive category comprised 94 percent of all items categorized, thus clearly demonstrating the dominant theme used by sportswriters for this event.

This study deals with the Supreme Court decision in the case of Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973). The study analyzes the arguments presented in the decision by both the majority and the dissenting justices according to the Toulmin model. This study begins with a review of viewpoints on the First Amendment, and how they will be applied to the question addressed in the thesis. The history of the obscenity controversy is detailed to explain the viewpoints that the Supreme Court has taken dealing with this problem. This study concluded that the arguments presented by the majority were not supported by ample evidence. The arguments presented by Justice Douglas in the dissent were more justified. This study concludes that more study needs to be conducted in the area of obscenity; and that the material should not be suppressed.

This mixed methods research was conducted in the fall of 2014 to understand the perceptions and experiences of health risks and health outcomes due to pesticide exposure among community members (n=13) - concerned community members, agriculture workers and teachers- that live in the Central California agriculture counties of Monterey, Santa Cruz, Tulare, Fresno and Madera. This research explored: 1) The crops growing in participants’ communities, and how exposure to pesticides used in these crops pose potential health risks to participants and their communities 2) How pesticide exposure is impacting Hispanic/Latino communities in Central California, particularly those that are most vulnerable including school children, agriculture workers, and community members 3) The major public health concerns of impacted communities 4) Feelings of empowered to advocate for community health and environment and 5) What impacted communities wish to see on behalf of government and agribusiness to protect public health from pesticide exposure and toxins.

This study recounts the events surrounding the Federal Radio Commision's (FRC) 1931 decision to remove radio station KGEF. Robert Shuler, minister of Los Angeles' Trinity Methodist Church, South, used KGEF to attack city officials and organizations whom he felt were corrupt. Chapters explore Shuler's background and acquisition of KGEF, his use of KGEF, and FRC and Court hearings and appeals. The study concludes that the action against Shuler, resulting in deletion of KGEF, may have resulted from political pressures. In spite of the "landmark" status of the Shuler case, his First Amendment rights may have been violated.

The CUES II was used to investigate and analyze the campus environment of a small church-affiliated college in California.

This thesis examines the factors affecting the outcome of the 1948 presidential election. The factors which will be take up are not a complete list of all those influences on the election but will be those which appeared most frequently in writings on the subject and those which, in the writer's opinion, exerted the strongest influence. By combining specific studies of the tree large pivotal states, with the investigation of general factors affecting the election, it is believed that certain rather definite conclusions can be drawn concerning what happened in the country as a whole.

The problem of this study was to analyze the objectives and methods for teaching reading in the elementary grades as they appeared in the latest available courses of study in certain states for the purpose of determining their uniformity or lack of uniformity. An effort was made to compile data on teaching reading in order to determine certain modern trends as supplementary material for the writer's teaching aids.

This thesis is an attempt to portray the part the forts of the Southwest had in developing the Federal Indian Policy in that region from 1865 to 1885.

The investigator wished to determine the effect of certain school music techniques on children's attitudes.

People who live in mobile homes have heightened vulnerability to disasters, due in part to mobile homes increasingly occupying high-hazard risk lands and the precarious ownership status known as divided-tenure. Divided-tenure is when an individual owns a mobile home and rents the land underneath. To identify the challenges associated with divided-tenure and disaster recovery from a policy perspective, this study analyzed the content of key HUD policies and performed a comparative policy analysis of purchase opportunity laws (requirements of landowners to give mobile homeowners an opportunity to purchase the property their home resides on) in three states: California, Florida, and New York. Content analysis indicated few direct references to mobile homes. Inconsistencies and confusing messaging were found in the existing federal guidance. The lack of consistent terminology and guidance on addressing divided-tenure, limits mobile homeowner's options for disaster recovery, including eligibility for federal disaster aid and potentially participation in relocation or buyout programs. The three selected states' purchase opportunity laws reviewed in this study were rated as weak. Policies lacked alignment with federal documents and opportunities for mobile homeowners were difficult to navigate. A pathway to land ownership could give mobile homeowners more control over their disaster recovery options, but …