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Soil Quality and Fertility of Urban Soils in the Inland Empire
No full textIn the era of increasing industrialization, more of the soil surrounding us is urban in nature and anthropogenically modified. The introduction of greenspaces in the urban environment have encouraged environmental cleanliness, of which, soils are the foundation of. To establish the importance of a good quality soil in an urban environment, the soils in an urban environmentally cleanly location versus a location focused on industrial production were evaluated and measured against each other. To evaluate soils quality and fertility, texture, pH, Soil Organic Matter, and Elemental makeup was measured. These characteristics were measured through the Hydrometer method, the saturated paste method, through LOI, and through X-Ray Fluorescence. Sites from all around the Inland Empire were evaluated and split into two locations per site – a “Polluted” and “Remediated” location. Polluted locations were areas of land adjacent to a source of pollution, such as distribution or metal product fabrication. Meanwhile, Remediated locations were urban farms. Results showed polluted locations to be Sandy clay loams while remediated locations were Clays, Clay loams, and Sandy Clay loams. Average pH of the remediated locations was 7.53, while polluted locations pH oscillated from pH 6.66 to 8.07. Organic matter concentrations in remediated soils ranged from 5-40%, while in polluted soils, ranged from 2-4%. Differences between Heavy Metal concentrations amongst polluted and remediated soils were statistically significant for chromium, manganese, zinc, and arsenic (P-values of 0.05, 0.007, 0.042, 0.023 respectively) while concentrations of copper and lead failed to be significant (P-values of 0.29 and 0.08 respectively). This data demonstrates that soils in the remediated, urban farm locations have a positive impact on human and environmental health and are therefore more efficient soils. Without barriers, soils in urban settings such as the Inland Empire are able to succeed
Lost in Plain Sight: Rediscovering and Preserving Scripps College\u27s Public Art
No full textThis thesis examines the public art collection at Scripps College as a living archive that actively shapes institutional memory, identity, and aesthetics. Many artworks on campus risk being overlooked due to a lack of documentation, context, and accessibility. Through an initial effort to assess and digitize sculptures—beginning with condition reports, treatment histories, and updated metadata—this project highlights the critical need for sustained preservation and interpretive infrastructure. It argues that conservation is not merely a technical task, but also a practice of storytelling and cultural continuity. Expanding digitization efforts, enhancing interpretive materials, and encouraging collaboration between students, faculty, and staff are essential steps toward making these artworks more visible, relatable, and meaningful to the Scripps community today and into the future
El Padre, el hijo, y el Bukele santo: Las redes sociales del presidente de El Salvador y una falsa promesa
No full textEsta tesis examina la construcción de la imagen de Nayib Bukele como una figura divina en su presencia en las redes sociales como Instagram dentro del contexto de El Salvador, y en menor medida por fuera de ese país. Esta tesis argumenta que Nayib Bukele utiliza su cuenta de Instagram no solo para proyectarse como un líder moderno y eficaz, sino para construir una imagen mesiánica que refuerza un culto a la personalidad; a través de esta estrategia visual y simbólica, promueve una visión autoritaria de la sociedad salvadoreña, en la que el orden, la obediencia y la eficiencia tecnológica sustituyen la participación democrática y los derechos civiles
Electric Commuter Rail Access in Residential Communities: A Hedonic Analysis Case Study of Nonmarket Value Creation
Get PDFThis study quantifies the price impact on houses of a new electric commuter rail line outside of Denver, Colorado. I find a negative price impact corresponding to increased accessibility and proximity of homes to the rail stations due to the negative externalities associated with the track. I also discover an even larger negative price impact of the rail stations in the years before the stations opened to the public, indicating possible endogeneity in the location of the rail line. I attempt to account for this endogeneity using instrumental variable analysis due to a limitation of house pricing data before 2016
Shaping National Subjects: Recognition, Subjectivity, and Governmental Philosophies in Finnish and Singaporean Education
Get PDFExamining the divergent educational systems of Finland and Singapore, two nations achieving consistently high PISA rankings, reveals how distinct governmental philosophies and recognition methods cultivate different forms of subjectivity in students. Recognition is how individuals, including students and educators, are acknowledged and valued within educational systems, influencing self-perception and identity. Subjectivity pertains to how individuals understand themselves and their existence within the academic and national order, encompassing agency, beliefs, and sense of self relative to norms and power structures. Analysis utilizes theoretical frameworks from Judith Butler, Paulo Freire, Jacques Rancière, Henry Giroux, and Michel Foucault to explore power dynamics, subjection, critical pedagogy, and the shaping of individuals within institutional contexts. Finland\u27s decentralized system prioritizes autonomy, holistic development, and trust in educators and students, aiming to cultivate empowered subjects connected to national values. In contrast, Singapore\u27s highly centralized system emphasizes performance, discipline, and national standardization, using standardized testing and meritocracy as key recognition mechanisms to shape disciplined, high-achieving subjects for economic and political stability. Exploring beyond mere performance metrics like PISA highlights how these contrasting approaches reflect national values, philosophical orientations, and the complex interplay of policy, pedagogy, and power in shaping students\u27 lived experiences and identities. It reveals challenges within both systems, such as well-being concerns and inequality. It raises questions about the purpose of education in a globalized era influenced by neoliberal pressures, particularly whether it aims to produce compliant economic subjects or critically engaged citizens. The continuous evolution of these systems suggests an ongoing conversation about the fundamental aims of education
Geographies of Freedom: Marronage, Slavery, and Black Cosmopolitanism in the Early North American Borderlands
Get PDFThis thesis reconceptualizes the colonial U.S. South through the lens of the Atlantic World, revealing the mobility, and influence of Black actors. It emphasizes the role of Black people who, rooted in Africa and dispersed across the American colonies, developed and used a cosmopolitan understanding of the Atlantic to negotiate their freedoms. Focusing on Spanish Florida, Georgia borderlands, and French New Orleans, it unveils how enslaved Africans and their descendants navigated and exploited imperial conflicts between British, Spanish, French, and Native Americans. By uncovering the linkages between the colonial Southeast and contextualizing them with the greater Caribbean, this study reframes the history of the US South as an integrated part of the circum-Atlantic world, where Black mobility and political influence shaped the course of early colonial and national histories
The Predictors of Self-Censorship on College Campuses
Get PDFAcross U.S. colleges, speech climates are poor. Self-censorship and discomfort expressing views are common. At the same time, we find wide variation in speech climates across different institutions. This study is the first to identify factors that predict variation in speech climates. Drawing on data from multiple sources, including a survey of 58,807 undergraduates across 257 colleges and universities from the Foundation from Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), this study constructs a first-of-its-kind dataset to test three core theories of self-censorship found in the literature—student-centric theories, faculty-centric theories, and administrator-centric theories. We find moderate evidence to support each theory. Overall, students appear to be the biggest contributors to self-censorship—student progressivism predicts self-censorship and speech discomfort across domains. Faculty play a stronger role in academic settings—faculty progressivism predicts speech discomfort in classroom discussions and on written assignments. The relationship between the prevalence of administrators and self-censorship is more muted across domains. Rates of student and faculty-driven self-censorship vary across institution types—student-driven self-censorship is highest at small, private, and liberal arts colleges, and faculty-driven self-censorship is highest at large, public, and professions-oriented institutions
Wearing Our Values on Our Sleeves: The Intersection of Fashion Leadership, Values, and Sustainability
Get PDFFashion leaders are social leaders who derive their power from what they wear and how they influence others. There are three types: 1) fashion innovators, who are early adopters of trends, 2) fashion opinion leaders, who legitimize new styles and influence others, and 3) innovative communicators, who exhibit the behaviors of both fashion innovators and fashion opinion leaders. This study investigates motivational differences between different fashion leaders through their values. We then investigate how fashion leadership and value-based advertising appeal predicts intention to purchase sustainable fashion products. 213 student participants were administered the Portrait Values Questionnaire, the Domain-Specific Innovativeness Scale, and the Opinion Leadership Scale. Participants then reported their purchase intention after viewing an advertisement for a mock sustainable fashion company, emphasizing either openness to change, self-enhancement, or neutral advertising appeal. This study found significant correlations for 10 values and indicates an overall shared value structure for fashion leadership. Results also showed that value-based advertising appeal did not significantly influence purchase intentions for sustainable products across fashion leadership groups. Our study points to limitations in the definitions and measurement of fashion leadership and we suggest that future research should re-evaluate fashion leadership constructs to account for changes that have reshaped the fashion industry in the 21st century
The Criminalization of Homelessness: The Health Impacts of Rough-Sleeping after the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson Supreme Court Decision
No full textHousing of the rough-sleeping population remains a pressing socio-political issue across the United States. This thesis examines the current state of houselessness in the wake of the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson Supreme Court decision. This ruling clarified the legal standing of criminalizing rough-sleeping, which represents a pivotal shift in the manner in which the law treats people experiencing homelessness. With a focus on the state of California–home to approximately one-third of the nation’s unhoused population–this thesis explores the health impacts of the criminalization of housing status. By situating this issue in both its historical context and contemporary concerns such as serious mental illnesses, substance use disorders, mass incarceration, and more, this thesis intends to demonstrate the manner in which punitive policies exacerbate health inequities. Furthermore, criminalization fails to resolve houselessness, as it neglects the numerous structural causes that underlie this issue. This thesis concludes by presenting alternative solutions to criminalization, with community-based and trauma-informed approaches that highlight the dignity and autonomy of the unhoused community
Walking a Fine Kármán Line: Hedging Between Hegemons in Outer Space Affairs
No full textThe contemporary state of international outer space affairs is pervaded by two simultaneous dynamics: intensifying great power competition and the democratization of access to space. With more states able to utilize space according to their interests, a select few have chosen to hedge in space affairs between the U.S. and China. This paper examines the motivations and mechanisms for states to hedge in space affairs, and draws on qualitative empirical data to compare how states hedge in the space domain versus how they hedge more broadly. This paper finds that states’ motivations and mechanisms for hedging in space largely mirror their general hedging postures. These findings illuminate the extent to which space is increasingly treated as a standard domain of international relations, reflecting terrestrial patterns of alignment and competition, as well as the increasing infeasibility of broad international space cooperation across geopolitical blocs