This study extends the research done by Winders (2001) and Orden et al. (1999) on the passage of the 1996 farm bill, the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act (FAIR). Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, I argue that Democrats and Republicans were affected differently by a number of influences. Democratic members of Congress appear to have been influenced most by state or district dependence on federal agriculture payments and the timing of the farm bill debate. Party control, on the other hand, seemed to have had a greater impact on Republicans. / Master of Arts

During World War II, the United States had worked in a multilateral fashion with Great Britain and the Soviet Union to form the victorious "Big Three." The countries were optimistic that the peace they had achieved would be sustainable. However, after the Cold War began, the United States backed away from opportunities to work multilaterally; instead, working unilaterally to spread democracy and other principles around the globe. On many occasions, the United States has chosen to take action alone, leaving it isolated from other countries. With the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the bipolar system, the United States has sought superpower status and has sought to become a global hegemon on many fronts. Issues such as ideology and human rights have created tension in U.S. bilateral relations, notably with Russia, China, and France. While headway has been made to reduce tension since the Cold War, other issues have prevented the complete alleviation of tension in U.S. foreign relations with the three countries. The United States' pursuit of hegemonic status employing a unilateral approach and isolationist strategy has resulted in much of the tension seen today. While there are many examples, the most prominent example is that of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. This and several other issues are addressed in the evolution of U.S. foreign policy after the Cold War with Russia, China, and France.

This ethnography describes RV [recreational vehicle] seasonal migration as an adaptive, transhumant strategy. The study population is retired, transhumant migrants, who are members of a nation-wide, membership camping organization. Fieldwork was conducted over a period of seven months at two sites located on the West Coast. These sites reflect northern and southern locations corresponding to seasonal migration patterns. Standard scholarly orientations to the study of retired RV seasonal migrants manifest ethnocentrism and a tendency to stereotype RVers as amenity-migrants. An original and primary objective of the present study was to reach beyond these conceptualizations and popularized images through first-hand, descriptive accounts collected within the context of the culture. This research expands on two existing studies focusing on social and cultural aspects of RV seasonal migration. In contrast to these accounts, the present study provides cultural description of the daily life of retired RVers focusing on the distinctive ways that members of this subculture express mainstream American cultural values underlying their adaptive strategies. This study proposes an alternative conceptualization of RV seasonal migration, derived from the culture itself. The conclusion is that these adaptive strategies reflect patterns of social organization, patterns of resource management, and patterns of social, familial, and interpersonal relationships, that are congruent with mainstream American cultural values of self-reliant individualism, equality, and material comfort; values that have historical, philosophical roots in the Protestant Work Ethic. The RVers' identity derives from maintaining membership in a temporary, fluid, mobile community. They have cohesive social networks with well-defined boundaries, which they defend against threats to group identity. This study contributes to an understanding of what RV seasonal migration means to the participants themselves, and by extension, to their families, to communities, and to our aging society. / Graduation date: 1996

Final Report, NOAA Contract 1-35241, Second Year / Prepared for: Environmental Data Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States Department of Commerce / No publication date on item; publication date from WorldCat entry. / Introduction: In an earlier paper by Douglas (1972) the summer climatology of tropical storm development is reviewed with reference to Sea Surface Temperature (SST) distribution and upper- and lower -level winds. An apparent increase in yearly storm totals recorded since 1965 is believed to be the direct result of satellite detection of small, well off -shore storms. However, monthly variations in storm totals appear to be caused by anomalous SST either off Baja California or along the equator west of South America. During the tropical storm season the region of greatest storm formation is found to shift towards the northwest and then southeast. This regional variation in storm development may be caused by changes in SST and upper troposphere shearing off Baja California and in the movement of the Inter- Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) off mainland Mexico. Data presented by Douglas (1972) indicate that tropical storm formation is most common during the months of July, August and September. During the latter part of August through the first part of October, tropical storms can enter the southwestern United States from either a track up the Gulf of California or up the Pacific Coast of Baja California. This report will review some additional circulation features associated with tropical storm activity in the eastern North Pacific. The major emphasis will be directed towards the effects of these storms upon the climatological conditions of the southwestern United States.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to reinterpret the influence of domestic ideology on middle-class Anglo women during westward migration using the Oregon Trail as a case study. By analyzing traditional cultural constructs which portrayed women as "reluctant drudges" or " stoic helpmates," a new paradigm for trail women emerged. The inculcated tenets of domesticity, comprised of a domestic routine and a values system, seemed to have equipped women with domestically-related role identities, and thus facilitated the accommodation of these women to the challenges of trail life. In addition, this ideology served as the basis for establishing relationships with Native American women, for Anglo women recognized similaritiesbetween the domestic routine of Native Americans and themselves. Finally, shared domestic chores and values enabled Anglo women to develop non-competitive, mutually beneficial relationships with each other, in contrast to the often competitive nature of interaction between men. / Department of History

No description available.

A study to evaluate the level of hospital preparedness to respond to a bioterrorist attack such as smallpox or anthrax, in the western United States (Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington) was conducted from May to September 2000. A survey questionnaire was mailed to 300 randomly selected hospitals. A telephone survey followed. The data examined the population served, licensed bed capacity, median income of the population served, the geographic location, and the type of facility served. The findings from the 177 hospitals that answered the survey showed that only 28.8% of them had a specific plan in place in the event of a bioterrorist attack to their communities. More hospitals with large bed capacity serving large populations had plans to respond to the event of a bioterrorist attack than those hospitals with small bed capacity, usually serving small rural communities. Although the comparison of hospitals in each of the six western states showed no statistically significant difference between the number of hospitals with a plan to respond to a biological threat, hospitals in California showed the largest percentage of specific plans addressing biological events, followed by hospitals in the state of Washington. When the type of facility was considered, private hospitals more often developed a plan due to high-density population through their area than non-private hospitals, which indicates that bioterrorism plans may be developed when the funds are available. The most frequent answer given for not developing a plan was lack of adequate funding. Findings indicated a need for additional resources directed to hospitals, especially in rural areas. Because this study was conducted before the tragic terrorism events occurred in the United States in the fall of 2001, it may be considered a benchmark for future readiness evaluations of the response to the impact of those events in the Western states. / Graduation date: 2004

Recent climate change forecasts have aroused growing interest in the influence of water scarcity and climate on agricultural production and irrigation practice. However, it is common in the economic literature to aggregate disparate crops when modeling irrigation choices. That approach confounds the crop-specific effects of climate and water scarcity that govern such choices. Given the sensitivity of agricultural production to water scarcity and climate, understanding their influence on irrigation choices is a key contribution to policy evaluation. This paper addresses the impact of water scarcity and climate on irrigation choices through estimated models of cropland proportion irrigated (PI), and crop-specific irrigation technology choice (TC) and water application rates (AR). This approach is applied to agricultural production data for major crops (orchard/vineyard, vegetable, wheat, alfalfa, hay, and pasture) on the West Coast (California, Oregon, and Washington). Crop-specific modeling provides information about the distributional impacts of agricultural policy and climate change. This advantage is particularly important for the diverse agricultural landscape of the West Coast, where the distributional impacts of policy can be complex. The most important policy implications that are found involve asset heterogeneity and the distributional impacts of agricultural policy. Several findings provide valuable information about how irrigators would respond and adapt to climate change. The current findings also lead to commonly advocated revisions to federal water subsidy policies. Some key differences between the irrigation choices of higher- and lower-value crops are also identified. Identifying these differences sheds further light on the distributional consequences of agricultural policy. Many findings from this research are crop-specific and will have a high degree of policy relevance to irrigation districts or other agricultural jurisdictions that cultivate some of the West Coast's major crops. Furthermore, the data used in this research has a large degree of variation in water scarcity and climate, making the findings applicable to other Mediterranean climates in the world. It is found that specific crops have a proclivity for certain irrigation technologies that can mitigate particular climatic stressors (i.e., frost damage and heat stress). For example, the results indicate that water pricing policies will tend not to encourage water conservation by technology adoption for many orchards, vineyards, and vegetable farms, thereby imposing pure costs to these producers. In essence, climate heterogeneity limits options available to farmers and reduces the set of production technologies that a farm can use. This finding exemplifies that with climate heterogeneity, the distribution of water policy impacts depends on prior land allocation decisions such as crop choices. Heterogeneity in land quality is also found to have important influences on TC. The effects of temperature on irrigation choices are found to be more profound than the effects of precipitation. Because of the large study region used, the effects of temperature and precipitation on irrigation choices are often found to be quadratic-like. These quadratic-like relationships reveal thresholds where irrigators begin to respond very differently to climate. However, this was not the case for all crops. Thus, it is demonstrated that the effects of climate on irrigation choices are crop-dependent. The results indicate that for several crops, the discontinuance of irrigation water (i.e., water supply or price uncertainty) creates an option value that delays and discourages adoption of water-saving technologies. The discontinuance of irrigation water is also shown to reduce water demand at the farm-level extensive proportion (i.e., PI) and crop-level intensive margin (i.e., AR). Water price is found to impact all three irrigation choices as well. Well depth is found to facilitate adoption of water-saving technologies for several crops. This paper demonstrates that irrigation choices are highly dependent on water scarcity and climate. Institutional arrangements, geographic qualities of the farm, and demographic characteristics of the farmer also exhibit important influences on irrigation choices. By using crop-specific equations, quadratic climate variables, and a study region with large variation in climate conditions, this research resolves many inconsistent findings regarding the determinants of irrigation choices. Furthermore, this study establishes a research agenda for crop-specific analysis of irrigation choices. Some of the estimated results warrant verification with further studies. Future crop-specific irrigation choice studies would benefit from panel micro data with improved land quality variables, and seasonal or monthly climate variables that are better able to identify the effects of climate stress (e.g., heat stress and frost damage) on irrigation choices. / Graduation date: 2013