Abalone Fishermen, Changing Management Practices, and the Creation of a False Dichotomy

This thesis traces the history of the abalone fisheries on the California Coast and how those fisheries have been understood and shaped by humans over time. An overarching interest that guides this effort is how indigenous populations used abalone and otters (as well as other marine resources) purposefully for millennia prior to European arrival. However, this work is not entirely focused on prehistory. Instead, it shows how a lack of understanding of this prehistory shaped the conservation efforts of the California Department of Fish and Game and its ultimate decision to close the commercial fishery in 1997. In this sense, there is a layer of this thesis that takes on the form of an institutional history of the California Department of Fish and Game, but it does so as a model of how management practices were developed and implemented during the twentieth century. In this frame, this thesis in also a history of twentieth century ecological and scientific practices that historicizes the closure of the commercial abalone fishery in 1997

A Prototype Toolkit For Evaluating Indoor Environmental Quality In Commercial Buildings

Measurement of building environmental parameters is often complex, expensive, and not easily proceduralized in a manner that covers all commercial buildings. Evaluating building indoor environmental quality performance is therefore not standard practice. This project developed a prototype toolkit that addressed existing barriers to widespread indoor environmental quality performance evaluation. A toolkit with both hardware and software elements was designed for practitioners around the indoor environmental quality requirements of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers / Chartered Institution of Building Services / United States Green Building Council Performance Measurement Protocols. This unique toolkit was built on a wireless mesh network with a web-based data collection, analysis, and reporting application. The toolkit provided a fast, robust deployment of sensors, real-time data analysis, Performance Measurement Protocol-based analysis methods and a scorecard and report generation tools. A web-enabled Geographic Information System-based metadata collection system also reduced field-study deployment time. The toolkit was evaluated through three case studies, which were discussed in this report

Explorations of intergenerational healing, resilience, and post-traumatic growth by helpers and healers on the Blackfeet Nation

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2019This project explored intergenerational healing, resilience, and post-traumatic growth within the context of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana, the roles of helpers and healers in this setting, and community experiences of familial trauma and the idiosyncratic healing and resilience processes according to their worldview. The central goal of this study was to provide a contemporary public narrative surrounding healing and resilience as these topics related to historical and intergenerational trauma in this specific community. This exploratory study was composed of the narratives of 14 co-participants working as helpers and healers on the Blackfeet Nation. Indigenous narrative and a cosmic relationality were honored and a phenomenological method of Gadamerian hermeneutics was utilized. Seven central themes arose in the process of data analysis including Spirituality, Trauma, Healing, Resilience, Helping Role, Community, and Blackfeet Worldview. Co-participants explored contemporary experiences of collective intergenerational trauma of those they served as well as personal and familial processes of healing and resilience. The centrality of spirituality, cultural immersion and personal cultural identity were discussed as aspects of intergenerational healing and resilience. A holistic and culturally idiosyncratic understanding of personal and intergenerational healing was emphasized including spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical modes of healing. Patterns of healing experienced collectively and synergistically within family systems and between community members were also identified

Coercive Sexual Strategies

This study examines the use of coercive sexual strategies by men and the outcomes of these behaviors for women. Using a sample of 541 college undergraduates, data were gathered from men on their use of three types of coercive sexual strategies and from women on their experiences with these same forms of behaviors. For women, there is a positive association between being sexually active, having sexually permissive attitudes, drinking alcohol and being a victim of certain types of sexual coercive strategies. For men, sexually permissive attitudes and attitudes toward rape are found to be significant predictors of their use of verbal coercion. Furthermore, being a fraternity member is associated with the use of verbal coercion and physical force and being a sorority member is associated with being a victim of alcohol/drug coercion and physical force. Reports from both men and women give a more comprehensive interpretation of the specific mechanisms through which different coercive strategies are played out

Coercive Sexual Strategies

This study examines the use of coercive sexual strategies by men and the outcomes of these behaviors for women. Using a sample of 541 college undergraduates, data were gathered from men on their use of three types of coercive sexual strategies and from women on their experiences with these same forms of behaviors. For women, there is a positive association between being sexually active, having sexually permissive attitudes, drinking alcohol and being a victim of certain types of sexual coercive strategies. For men, sexually permissive attitudes and attitudes toward rape are found to be significant predictors of their use of verbal coercion. Furthermore, being a fraternity member is associated with the use of verbal coercion and physical force and being a sorority member is associated with being a victim of alcohol/drug coercion and physical force. Reports from both men and women give a more comprehensive interpretation of the specific mechanisms through which different coercive strategies are played out

The Effects of a High-Risk Environment on the Sexual Victimization of Homeless and Runaway Youth

Based on the structural-choice theory of victimization, the current study examines the effects of a high-risk environment on the sexual victimization of 311 homeless and runaway youth. Results from logistic regression revealed that survival sex, gender, and physical appearance were significantly associated with sexual victimization. Results from a series of interactions also revealed that the effects of deviant behaviors on sexual victimization varied by gender and age. Although males and females engaged in similar activities, young women were more likely to be victims of sexual assault. These findings suggest that engaging in high-risk behaviors predispose some people to greater risks but it is the combination of these behaviors with gender and/or age that determines who will become victimized

Familial and “On-the-Street” Risk Factors Associated with Alcohol Use among Homeless and Runaway Adolescents

Objective: This study investigated factors associated with alcohol use among homeless and runaway adolescents, using a risk amplification model.Method: Homeless and runaway adolescents (N = 536, 60% female) were recruited and interviewed by outreach workers directly on the streets, in shelters and in drop-in centers in four Midwestern states. The average age was 16 years; ages ranged from 12 to 22. Results: Parent alcohol problems were indirectly linked to adolescent drinking through familial abuse and its relationship to deviant peers, time on own and risky subsistence behaviors. Parent alcohol problems also predicted offspring alcohol use through parental rejection and its association with deviant peers and with risky subsistence behaviors. The strongest direct effects on alcohol use were hanging out with antisocial friends and participating in deviant behaviors in order to survive on the street. Conclusions: This study sheds light on the nature of alcohol use in a high-risk population. Family background and “on-the-street” (time on own) factors must be taken into consideration when treating alcohol misuse in street youth. The alternative is a vicious cycle whereby homeless youth may become homeless adults

The Effects of a High-Risk Environment on the Sexual Victimization of Homeless and Runaway Youth

Based on the structural-choice theory of victimization, the current study examines the effects of a high-risk environment on the sexual victimization of 311 homeless and runaway youth. Results from logistic regression revealed that survival sex, gender, and physical appearance were significantly associated with sexual victimization. Results from a series of interactions also revealed that the effects of deviant behaviors on sexual victimization varied by gender and age. Although males and females engaged in similar activities, young women were more likely to be victims of sexual assault. These findings suggest that engaging in high-risk behaviors predispose some people to greater risks but it is the combination of these behaviors with gender and/or age that determines who will become victimized

Familial and “On-the-Street” Risk Factors Associated with Alcohol Use among Homeless and Runaway Adolescents

Objective: This study investigated factors associated with alcohol use among homeless and runaway adolescents, using a risk amplification model.Method: Homeless and runaway adolescents (N = 536, 60% female) were recruited and interviewed by outreach workers directly on the streets, in shelters and in drop-in centers in four Midwestern states. The average age was 16 years; ages ranged from 12 to 22. Results: Parent alcohol problems were indirectly linked to adolescent drinking through familial abuse and its relationship to deviant peers, time on own and risky subsistence behaviors. Parent alcohol problems also predicted offspring alcohol use through parental rejection and its association with deviant peers and with risky subsistence behaviors. The strongest direct effects on alcohol use were hanging out with antisocial friends and participating in deviant behaviors in order to survive on the street. Conclusions: This study sheds light on the nature of alcohol use in a high-risk population. Family background and “on-the-street” (time on own) factors must be taken into consideration when treating alcohol misuse in street youth. The alternative is a vicious cycle whereby homeless youth may become homeless adults

Mental Disorder, Subsistence Strategies, and Victimization among Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Homeless and Runaway Adolescents

This study compares participation in deviant subsistence strategies, street victimization, and lifetime prevalence of five mental disorders (conduct disorder, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse) among heterosexual males and females (n = 366) and gay, lesbian, and bisexual (n = 63) homeless and runaway adolescents from the first wave of a longitudinal study of homeless youth in four Midwestern states. The results indicate that gay, lesbian, and bi¬sexual adolescents were more likely to have been physically and sexually abused by caretakers, were more likely to engage in risky survival strategies when on their own (including survival sex), were more likely to be physically and sexually victimized when on the streets, and were more likely to meet criteria for mental disorder than were their heterosexual counterparts