San Francisco State University Digital Repository
http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/1473
2024-03-29T15:03:44ZTrade war with China
http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/214293
Trade war with China
Hamilton, Lee Richard
This is a Liberal-Peace argument that global free trade has been
beneficial world-wide. Trade with China has been to the mutual benefit of both the
United States and China. Pre-tariff data in the automotive sector from a variety of
official U.S. Government sources demonstrate the huge benefits of free trade. Recent
data that reflect the impact of tariffs shows its negative consequences. Tariffs are
nothing more than taxes and their use regarding trade with China has strained the
relations between the two countries. This study also responds to realist views that the
United States and China have problems that could result in a military confrontation.
International security is a product of military, economic and technological superiority,
where data shows that the United States is clearly ahead in all three categories. Though
a conflict could happen, it is not only not inevitable but highly unlikely.
2019-01-01T00:00:00ZEvaluating an interactive undergraduate cosmology curriculum
http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/214143
Evaluating an interactive undergraduate cosmology curriculum
White, Aaron David
Advances in cosmology over the last several decades have radically changed our
understanding of the Universe. These discoveries offer a unique opportunity to connect
and deeply engage students with authentic, rigorous scientific experiences and learning.
We examine a curriculum designed around this premise, the Big Ideas in Cosmology,
to assess its effectiveness in helping students understand core cosmological concepts, and
what influences it has on their attitudes toward science. Over two semesters, we field-tested
the curriculum in upper division, general education cosmology courses at a state
university in California [N ~ 80]. Pre- and post-instruction surveys (multiple-choice and
open-ended) were administered, aimed at examining student’s content understanding, and
how that understanding had shifted by the conclusion of the semester. Topics addressed
included the structure, composition, and evolution of the universe, particularly examining
students’ reasoning and their understanding of “how we know” the details in question. An
assessment of students’ attitudes and beliefs about physics (CLASS) was also
administered pre and post. We find after completing a course using these Big Idea
modules, students’ responses to questions about fundamental cosmology topics are more
correct and complete than at the beginning of the semester, especially in topics such as
dark matter and dark energy. We also find that students’ attitudes align more with experts
in the categories of problem solving sophistication and applied conceptual understanding
after using Big Ideas.
2019-01-01T00:00:00ZPogchamp! an analysis of Twitch.tv and user intercommunications
http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/214142
Pogchamp! an analysis of Twitch.tv and user intercommunications
Werder, Brianna
Twitch.tv is a social media platform which originally marketed itself specifically for gamers but has more recently gained recognition as appealing to aspiring live streamers of all interests. Social media platforms have the tendency to strive to individualize their users and make them stand out from others. Twitch is different than other social media sites like Facebook and Twitter because its emphasis is on building communities and bringing together people who share common interests. Twitch’s success is recent years has had a great influence on video games and media culture, and it continues to be a leader in community-based streaming services. This thesis will look at the innovations in online technologies and language that have come as a result of Twitch as well as the significance of the culture and communities that have formed on the platform.
2019-01-01T00:00:00ZNatural chimerism in the invasive colonial ascidian Didemnum vexillum
http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/214141
Natural chimerism in the invasive colonial ascidian Didemnum vexillum
Weinberg, Rachel Beth
Colonial, asexually reproducing organisms are typically treated as genetically homogenous entities composed of clonal units. However, processes such as fusion and somatic mutation may lead to the integration of multiple genetic lines in a single physiologically continuous organism. This state, known as chimerism, has been documented in a broad range of sessile modular taxa, including plants, fungi, slime molds, and colonial metazoans such as ascidians. In the invasive colonial ascidian Didemnum vexillum, naturally occurring chimerism has been documented from the presence of more than two alleles at microsatellite loci, however factors such as homozygosity and spatial separation of genets within a colony may mask chimerism using this detection method alone. In order to more accurately quantify the prevalence of chimerism in introduced D. vexillum populations, zooids were dissected from 35 colonies and individually genotyped. Both spatial and molecular masking of chimerism was found in a proportion of the chimeric colonies, indicating that the sampling strategy applied here has the potential to identify chimerism in D. vexillum colonies that appear monogeneic from single tissue samples. In Umpqua, Oregon, 70% of the colonies sampled were chimeric, which is the highest prevalence of chimerism reported in any D. vexillum population studied to date. In Half Moon Bay, 30% of the samples were chimeric, which is similar to the rates of chimerism previously estimated in this population using single tissue samples. The significant differences in chimerism between the two populations were not associated with significant differences in genetic diversity or inbreeding, as measured by expected and observed heterozygosity. Relatedness was significantly higher among genets within chimeric colonies than across genets in the population as a whole, providing evidence from two natural populations that chimerism in D. vexillum is genetically mediated. These results show that there may be extreme variation in chimerism prevalence across populations, providing a basis for future studies to investigate the causes of this variation and its potential role in facilitating the successful establishment of non-native species.
2019-01-01T00:00:00Z