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Master of Arts / Department of Economics / Dennis L. Weisman / The primary purpose of this report is to address the potential benefits and drawbacks of competitive electricity generation. A number of countries have introduced various forms of competition into the electric utility industry. The most notable attempt in the United States and the focus of this report took place in California in the late 1990s. This report is divided into two parts. The first covers the history of the electricity industry by reviewing influential policies, cost of service regulation, and concluding with incentive regulation. The second part discusses the potential benefits and drawbacks of a competitive generation sector, through the lens of the California experiment. Government policies have dramatically changed in the last twenty years. Many of these changes were aimed towards increasing competition within the generation sector and have made a competitive generation sector possible. Whether these policies are correct has been the focus of much debate. A competitive generation sector could potentially operate more efficiently than under traditional regulatory regimes. Whether this potential will be realized is in question. This report assesses this question by looking at the events that took place in California. The competitive wholesale markets in California functioned properly for nearly two years before the events of the "California Electricity Crisis" took place. This showed that a competitive wholesale market is possible once certain criteria are met; most importantly adequate competition to reduce a firm's potential to exercise market power. The "Crisis" in California showed what can happen if these criteria are not satisfied. Nevertheless, there is still much optimism about the potential benefits of competitive electricity markets.

The Gate is a collection of short stories by Cassondra Bird Combs. Combs' first collection is heavily inspired by the small Northern California towns she grew up in, and the disillusioned characters who live there. The Gate marks the introduction of an incredibly sympathetic voice, a voice hard to find in modern literature, that didn't rise from New York or Iowa but from a youth spent in solitude in the redwoods. Combs' characters range from a fifteen-year-old girl trapped in an endless abusive cycle to a young man whose parents have suddenly left him to a older woman trying to end her marriage by burning Christmas trees in the street. In these seven stories, Combs reminds us time and time again of the advantages and disadvantages of a rural life, and forges connection between character and reader in a remarkable way. In "Little World" a little girl is paralyzed by fear of the dark but is stronger than she knows. In "Turn" a young woman has to make peace with her past and escape. In "B-Side" a recovering addict realizes the thing he needs isn't the thing he wants. In a voice entirely in tune with the hum of the woods and alive with unusual descriptions and deft character traits, Combs' collection will keep you reading.

Traffic congestion can incur serious costs on society, and reducing these costs is of high importance. This paper assesses the feasibility of a price change or other demand shift on the toll roads in Southern California in alleviating traffic on the public freeways, using California State Road 73 and Interstate 5 as a case study. State Road 73 is found to have the ability to take on additional traffic density, which would increase the flow for all drivers on both Interstate 5 and State Road 73. Alternatives to traditional tolls are also offered as potential solutions to congestion in Southern California.

The purpose of this thesis was to make a comprehensive statistical evaluation of the California Test of Personality, Intermediate Series, Form A. This test was given to 175 boys and 155 girls in ten classes in Grade VIII, and 125 boys and 125 girls in eight classes in Grade X. All subjects were tested as a group in their respective classes at the Kitsilano Junior-Senior High School, Vancouver, British Columbia. Of the students originally tested, 100 students in each of the two grades were retested approximately six and one half months later. In resume of the results, one may say that within the limits of this study the following general conclusions appear. 1. There were significant differences between the mean scores at the 1% level between Grade VIII and X students on self adjustment, sense of personal worth, social adjustment, freedom from anti-social tendencies, school relations and total adjustment. Significant sex differences exist on various measures, both within grades and between grades. Where significant grade and sex differences exist, a separate set of norms should be used in scoring such groups. 2. The manual norms would appear to be of little value in the school system where this study took place. 3. Because of the high average scores on the various measures and the extreme negative skewness on many of the subtests, these measures probably do not discriminate between those students who are exceptionally well adjusted from those who are well adjusted. 4. The Kuder-Richardson reliabilities of the subtests indicate that they are not high enough for individual diagnosis. The total adjustment score for Grade VIII pupils is the only measure sufficiently reliable for individual diagnosis. The test-retest reliabilities indicate that what is being measured is perhaps something transitory, rather than the fundamental pattern or organization of personality. 5. According to an item analysis, the test appears to be more valid or internally consistent for Grade VIII students than for Grade X students. 6. Because items are more valid when correlated with subtest score than when correlated with self or social or total adjustment score, it is suggested that the scores on the subtests may be more meaningful than those on self or social or total adjustment. 7. The correlation between the Detroit Adjustment Inventory and the California Test of Personality is .51, and when corrected for attenuation it becomes .65. 8. Correlations between five measures on the California Test of Personality and teacher ratings of adjustment vary from -.145 to +.223. 9. In the main there are significant relationships between the various subtests. The subtests are probably not measuring uncorrelated unique traits. 10. The findings of correlation cluster analysis, correlation profile analysis and factor analysis tend to corroborate one another. Three factors or clusters of traits will account for most of the relationships among the subtests. Factor one was named a general adjustment factor, factor two was described as a sense of personal security or self assurance, and factor three was related primarily to cordial relations with people and respect for social standards. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Six varieties of rice, representative of those cultivated in California and other southern regions of the United States were grown in a series of nine experiments. In a greenhouse, seeds were sown into pots placed in a constant temperature water bath possessing compartments maintained at water temperatures of 60°, 75°, 60° and 90°F. Many characteristics of plant growth and development were influenced by water temperature. Generally shoot lengths and weights, root lengths and weights, leaf lamina, leaf sheath lengths and stomata number were greater at the higher, than at the lower, temperatures. The type and intensity of silica crystal formation in the leaves increased with increase in temperature. Stomata sizes were larger at lower, than at higher, temperatures. Irrespective of plants being submerged or non-submerged, at continuous or changed temperatures, the higher temperatures produced the greatest response. Californian varieties were found to be more sensitive than other southern varieties in their response to both low and high temperature treatments, indicating a greater range of adaptability. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

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