Scream If You Can is an episodic memoir that captures the driving lifestyle of southern California while focusing on significant life events of a twenty-something young woman. The memoir explores themes of family, trauma, and perseverance. Biculturalism and disability are explored alongside the use of education to make a better life for oneself.

Social workers comprise one of the leading professions who interact with sex offenders through means of treatment, as well as unexpected life events. The purpose of this study is to evaluate social workers’ knowledge of sex offender laws and how their knowledge impacts their thoughts and feelings about working with sex offenders. Through a survey, social workers registered with the National Association of Social Work (NASW) in Southern California were asked to complete a questionnaire, in which addressed laws and thoughts in regards to sex offenders. One hundred surveys at random were evaluated. The study findings show a relationship between greater knowledge about the sex offender population and lower levels of apprehension a social worker has when working with a sex offender.

The aim of our study is to understand Chinese attitudes towards occupational prestige in order to be able to counsel families and youth in career goals, and to maximize potentials and enhance life chances. Our purpose is.to arrive first at an occupational ranking or rating since there is none to be found in the literature/on which more specific studies could later be compared. Another purpose is to see whether there I were major differences between traditional and modern Chinese, and find what traits were associated with differences in attitudes and expectations, as further indices of appropriate approaches to social services.

This was a study on the history of the Colorado River, the water challenges of the Lower Basin states and the international water laws that govern the United States and Mexico concerning the Colorado river. The main purpose of this study was to determine possible long-term solutions to the growing water needs of the Lower Basin states and how Mexico could help. After discussing some concerns that the Lower Basin states had, research was done on the different types of desalination. This research included the different methods and their processes. MSF, MED, RO and MVC methods are discussed mentioning their different strengths and limitations. Next different possible solutions are discussed. These possible solutions include current practices and their successes. The solution that is discussed in length is water desalination as it offers another method of obtaining water. This part also discusses different ways to power the plant. As Mexico was already going to build nuclear power plants one idea was to build a plant in Mexico and use their power to run a desalination plant. This is one possible solution, to have a desalination plant desalinate water out of the Sea of Cortez in Mexico for the Southwest to use using the Mexico’s nuclear power plant to run the system. The economics of a desalination plant are discussed. The cost of building a plant, cost of desalinating the water, and water transportation costs are examined. After an examination on these different costs are completed it is discussed on who would pay for the desalination plant and who would receive the water. One possibility discussed is that Arizona, California and Nevada all pay an equal share in the cost of building the desalination plant in Mexico. California would then receive the water from the plant and thus would cut back on their consumption from the Colorado River allowing both Arizona and Nevada to increase theirs. A PEST analysis is done at the end of this study. It covers Political, Economical, Socio-cultural and Technological categories associated with this study. It covers different concerns and possible legislations that would need to be amended in order to continue with international desalination.

One of the most costly diseases in the dairy industry is mastitis, which is an inflammation of the mammary gland. Mastitis influences the quality of milk and therefore reduces financial returns to both the farmer and the processor. Early detection of mastitis typically reduces treatment cost and a significant amount of research has been done in this field. Currently, the three major methods for mastitis detection are: • The Foss Analysis, which physically counts each cell and is performed off-site. • The Whiteside Test, which is based on a direct relationship between the number of the blood cells and the intensity of a gel formed between NaOH and cells. It was developed for on-site mastitis detection, but is no longer used routinely. • The California Mastitis Test (CMT), which can be done on-site, but is only a quantitative indication of the severity of the infection. The California Mastitis Test has previously been adapted to determine the somatic cell count (SCC) in infected milk by correlating viscosity to cell count. Although highly successful, some uncertainty exists regarding the rheology of the gel formed during the test as well as factors that may influence the accuracy of the test. In this thesis, studies were undertaken on the rheology of the gel formed during the California Mastitis Test in order to develop an understanding of the mechanism of gel formation and how various factors influence the rheology of the gel. Basic biochemistry and physico-chemistry of the gel has been reviewed and it was found that the CMT gel is a DNA/histone/surfactant complex, which forms when SDS is introduced into infected milk with elevated somatic cell counts. Based on literature and some initial experimentation it was found that the gel is a time- and sheardependent, non-Newtonian fluid. Since the reliability of the CMT hinges on the correlation between viscosity and SCC, this study investigated specific factors that may influence gelation, these were: iii • rheology • testing conditions, such as time delay prior to viscosity testing, shear rate and temperature • surfactant type and concentration • milk composition, including fat content, somatic cell count and protein content. It was found that when using capillary viscometry a linear relationship exists between the relative viscosity of the gel and the SCC. The surfactant concentration determines the slope of this linear relationship and it was found that at least 3% SDS is necessary for accurate results. Using more than 3% SDS resulted in more scatter in the data. It was also found that a linear relationship exists between the maximum apparent viscosity and SCC. Either capillary or Brookfield viscometry can be used, however, Brookfield viscometry was found to be more sensitive at the lower SCC range. It was found that the combination of surfactant concentration and SCC influenced the rheology of the gel. The lower the SCC the more SDS was required for gel formation. It was found that when using 1% SDS the critical SCC was 79 k cell/ml, while using 3% SDS this was lowered to 59 k cell/ml. It was found that above the critical SCC the gel is a non-Newtonian rheopectic fluid. Dependent on shear rate, the gel shows rheodestructive behaviour. With a delay time, the peak viscosity of the gel formed faster with longer delay times. However, more than 30 seconds delay had no additional influence on gel formation. It was found that the shear rate or spindle speed influences both the time to reach the peak viscosity as well as the magnitude of this maximum. Higher shear rates shortened the time to reach the maximum apparent viscosity as well as the maximum viscosity. This is likely due to physical breakdown of the gel which is accelerated due to increased shear. Different surfactants have different effects on raw milk. Both acetic acid and Triton- 114 were found to be ineffective as CMT reagents. Acetic acid only denatures proteins and the increased viscosity is due to the precipitation of casein. Triton-114 cannot lyse nuclei walls and therefore gel formation was prohibited due to no DNA/histone complexes being released. Mixing SDS with Triton-114 was found to be less effective than SDS alone either due to the nucleus not being lysed, or because iv of interaction effects between SDS and Triton-114, reducing the available SDS for gelation. Lastly it was concluded that protein and fat content only contributes to the viscosity of milk by changing the solids content of milk and neither of these affects gelation during the CMT. Also, temperature only has a small influence on the relative viscosity and this influence could be neglected if the CMT is done around room temperature.

This thesis investigates the relevance and transferability of developer contributed affordable housing in the USA as an alternative method of funding and delivering affordable housing in Australia. Local Government, the vehicle for the delivery, is explored because of its central role in co-ordinating developer contributed affordable housing in the USA; and because its role in both counties as both the planning authority and a potential provider or facilitator of community housing. Additionally, the nature and role of community based housing providers in the USA is considered important in maintaining the purpose of developer contributed affordable housing and also expanding the size of the community housing sector. The thesis investigated developer contribution policies and programs in four Californian municipalities: San Francisco, Santa Monica, Los Angeles and San Diego. This State and these cities have established some of the most well developed programs of this type in the USA. The investigation included controls and incentives, both mutually reinforcing, used in these Californian programs as well as operational program factors which led to their success. These were contrasted with Australian conditions to determine the relevance and transferability of the US experience. A central conclusion was that the US developer contribution programs had limited relevance and transferability to Australia for a number of reasons. These reasons include the divergent roles, track records and legal powers of local government in the USA and Australia in planning and housing provision or facilitation; contrasting legislative frameworks and nature of housing developers between the two countries; and the lack of an imperative in Australia to develop alternatives to centrally provided public housing systems which is in contrast to the USA. Consequently, the value of the US experience was that their particularly successful and problematic aspects of developer contributed housing programs and community housing arrangements would develop a useful context for an Australian model.

Pulmonary surfactant is a complex mixture of lipids and proteins that lowers surface tension, increases lung compliance, and prevents the adhesion of respiratory surfaces and pulmonary oedema. Pressure can have an enormous impact on respiratory function, by mechanically compressing tissues, increasing gas tension resulting in increased gas absorption and by increasing dissolved gas tensions during diving, resulting in the formation of bubbles in the blood and tissues. The lungs of diving mammals have a huge range of morphological adaptations to enable them to endure the extremely high pressures associated with deep diving. Here, I hypothesise that surfactant will also be modified, to complement the morphological changes and enable more efficient lung function during diving. Molecular adaptations to diving were examined in surfactant protein C (SP-C) using phylogenetic analyses. The composition and function of pulmonary surfactant from several species of diving mammals was examined using biochemical assays, mass spectrometry and captive bubble surfactometry. The development of surfactant in one species of diving mammal (California sea lion), and the control of surfactant secretion using chemical and mechanical stimuli were also determined. Diving mammals showed modifications to SP-C, which are likely to lead to stronger binding to the monolayer, thereby increasing its fluidity. Phospholipid molecular species concentrations were altered to increase the concentration of more fluid species. There was also an increase in the percentage of alkyl molecular species, which may increase the stability of the monolayer during compression and facilitate rapid respreading. Levels of SP-B were much lower in the diving species, and cholesterol was inversely proportional to the maximum dive depth of the three species. Surface activity of surfactant from diving mammals was very poor compared to surfactant from terrestrial mammals. The newborn California sea lion surfactant was similar to terrestrial mammal surfactant, suggesting that these animals develop the diving-type of surfactant after they first enter the water. The isolated cells of California sea lions also showed a similar response to neuro-hormonal stimulation as terrestrial mammals, but were insensitive to pressure. These findings showed diving mammal surfactant to have a primarily anti-adhesive function that develops after the first entry into the water, with a surfactant monolayer, which would be better suited to repeated collapse and respreading. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 2005.

This thesis explores the connection between legal history and social history through an analysis of commercial, property and criminal laws, and their practical operation, in Nevada County, California from 1849 to 1860 and the Gympie region, Queensland from 1867 to 1880. By explaining the operation of a broad range of laws in a local context, this thesis seeks to provide a more complete picture of the operation of law in each community and identify the ways in which the law influenced social, political and economic life. The history of law cannot be separate from its social, economic, geographic, and political context. Each of these factors influenced both the text of the laws, and their practical application. In the Gympie region and Nevada County, the law had the effect of, in various guises, safeguarding private property, promoting short term productivity, and enforcing public morality. This was often at the expense of individual autonomy, the physical environment and the rights of minority groups. This was not a result of the operation of one dominant force in the lawmaking process. Instead, government regulation, government inactivity, informal customs, and judicial lawmaking worked together to create a legal order on either side of the Pacific. The comparison reveals that the same pattern of tensions gave the legal regime in each region a substantially similar shape. At another level, this thesis demonstrates that two regions, although on different continents and separated by a 20 year time gap, were nevertheless linked across time and space. By comparing the regions, this thesis demonstrates the possibilities of a more international legal history. While there were certainly differences between each region, these differences should not obscure the substantial similarities, and the fact that an analysis of these similarities illuminates the shared influences between the regions. By conceiving of legal regimes as being shaped by shifting patterns tensions, defining the pattern of those tensions, and then connecting those patterns across national borders it is possible to write a more complex, interesting, and transnational version of legal history.

Recently obtained airgun-sonobuoy wide-angle refraction and reflection profiles provide data to study crustal velocities and structures along the continental margin of northern California and Southern Oregon. In the thick sedimentary wedge at the base of the continental slope, as many as five distinct layers can be seismically observed, which range in velocity from 2.13 to 3.32 km/sec. The basement layers beneath the wedge are disrupted. The profile which crosses the southeasternmost portion of the Gorda Basin near Cape Mendocino shows evidence of compression at the base of the slope. Velocities of 3.14 to 5.15 km/sec were obtained for this line. Off the central Oregon margin on the abyssal plain near the base of the slope, oceanic layers and 3 overlie a shallow mantle of velocity 7.65 km/sec. Basement velocities average 4.75 km/sec and sediment velocities varied from 1.60 to 2.78 km/sec. The lower slope of the northern California-southern Oregon margin is characterized by rough, folded structures which trend north-south. Little recent sediment cover is seen. A velocity of 2.25 km/sec was obtained for a 520 m-thick surface layer underlain by material with a refraction velocity of 2.68 km/sec. The abyssal plain sediments near Cape Mendocino appear to be in the process of being uplifted and folded into the lower slope, while near Cape Blanco the lower slope displays sediments which abut against the base of the slope below a prominent lower shelf bench. The upper slope shows large anticlinal folds which form the basement of the upper slope basins, particularly beneath the Klamath Plateau off Northern California. Velocities obtained from the sediments of the Klamath Plateau vary from 1.73 to 2.63 km/sec. The inner shelf region is formed by a synclinal basin controlled by an outer continental high which parallels the shelf break. Velocities were studied mainly from refraction arrivals with an assumed surface sediment velocity of 1.66 km/sec. The underlying sediment velocities range from 2.07 to 2.75 km/sec. Evidence of uplift, basement deformation, sediment deformation within structurally controlled basins, compression features, and the north-south trending folds all support an imbricate thrust model for this continental margin. / Graduation date: 1979

This microcosm study demonstrated the enhanced anaerobic transformation of vinyl chloride (VC) to ethylene. A previous microcosm study from Point Mugu site showed the accumulation of VC due to the slow transformation step of VC to ethylene. To overcome the rate-limiting step, two laboratory experiments tested the effect of trichloroethylene (TCE) additions on the rate enhancement, repeated low TCE additions and high TCE concentration additions. TCE (2 ��mol) was repeatedly added over a two week interval. In a parallel study, an equal amount of VC was added to another set of microcosms. TCE addition increased VC transformation to ethylene, with nearly 19% VC conversion to ethylene compared to 4% VC conversion in the VC added controls. However, the increased VC transformation rates were not sufficient enough to avoid VC accumulation. Rate of VC transformation decreased once TCE addition was stopped. This indicated the mixed culture required the transformation of TCE to maintain VC transformation rates. With TCE added at high concentrations (100 mg/L and 200 mg/L), nearly complete transformation of TCE to ethylene was observed. After the addition of high TCE concentrations, low concentration TCE (3 ��mol) was added and near 95% transformed to ethylene in 45 days. Two different low hydrogen yielding substrates, butyrate and propionate, were tested. Both were equally effective in promoting TCE dechlorination. Methanogenesis was inhibited at high TCE concentration with both substrates. Kinetic analysis of VC transformation data showed VC transformation followed the first order kinetics with respect to concentrations using a modified Monod equation. First-order kinetic constants increased after the addition of high ICE concentrations. After 200 mg/L of TCE addition, the first-order kinetic constant increased by factor of six compared to the rate obtained from the earlier low TCE concentration addition. However, reintroduction of TCE at low concentration maintained similar enhanced kinetic constants, as achieved at high concentration. This indicated the enhancement of VC transformation to ethylene was likely due to the growth of microorganisms using TCE as a terminal electron acceptor. These microorganisms were likely responsible for the transformation of VC to ethylene. / Graduation date: 2001