Digital Commons Network^™

Analysis Of Twitter User Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: Cause And Solutions, Runze Song

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Reducing vaccine hesitancy is an essential public health & safety challenge worldwide, especially during the COVID - 19 pandemic. Governments and health safety agencies have noticed that social media can significantly influence people's sentiments and opinions about vaccinations. There is a lack of studies on the impact of social norms, herding effects, and social media influencers on people's sentiments and opinions about vaccinations. This culminating experience project extracted and analyzed Twitter data (2021 to 2022) using Twitter API and the RStudio AcdemicTwitterR package to study the impact of social norms, herding effects, and social media influencers on people's sentiments, emotions, …

Potential Fitness Trade-Offs Of Elevated Esterase Activity Associated With Insecticide Resistance In The Mosquito Culex Quinquefasciatus, Timothy Schulte

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

One of the current major issues in the control of vector-borne disease is resistance to insecticides. Resistance to one or more insecticides has appeared in over 580 different arthropod species. Widespread resistance has led to the field of Insecticide Resistance Management (IRM). The goal of IRM is to develop insecticide-use strategies that prevent or slow down the evolution of resistance. Computer models have shown that more effective IRM strategies rely on the assumption that resistance carries a fitness cost in the absence of insecticide use.

In the mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus resistance to certain organophosphate insecticides is caused by an increased …

To Prevent Or To Deceive: The Effects Of Organizational Justice On Malingering And Workplace Injury Via Psychological Contract Breach And Safety Climate, Abraham Rico

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

We examined organizational factors (e.g., leadership styles, operating with a bottom-line mentality, and management based on inclusion) and their relationship with workplace injuries and malingering in this thesis. One of the goals for this study was to examine the extent to which these organizational factors influence justice perceptions, which in turn affected the outcomes of interest. It was hypothesized that the relationship between the organizational factors and malingering/injuries occurred through the formation of psychological contract breach or through the development of a safety climate. It was hypothesized that the pathways from Transformational Leadership and management based on inclusion will result …

The Observation Of Smart Camera Security, Shun-Hsin Wang

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

At present, as the Internet of Thing (IoT) is increasingly widely used in human life, how to protect IoT devices from Malware attack has become an inevitable problem. This project is an analysis of two malwares and how they impact the Internet of Thing (IoT), especially the smart cameras common in people’s life and used in the enterprise. The analysis looks at the vulnerabilities of smart cameras and how Mirai malware and Persirai malware take advantage to these vulnerabilities to attack smart cameras within the network through the simulation process. Through the simulation, although both malwares were implemented using different …

Spatiotemporal Change Detection Of The Alpine Meadows At Holcomb Valley, San Bernardino Mountain National Forest, Using Gis And Remote Sensing Techniques, Rama Ewing

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Holcomb Valley, with a general elevation between 2200-2257m, is in the Northeast of Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains. Holcomb Valley is covered by Alpine meadows, unlike most mountain landscapes, which are rarely found in Mediterranean climates such as California. The cultural-environmental history of the San Bernardino Mountains in the past century speaks of intense anthropogenic activities such as timbering, grazing, gold mining, and extreme climate changes (i.e., drought, fires, floods). A study is conducted to identify and calculate the changes in the Alpine meadows at Holcomb Valley. The climatical data has been acquired to compute and visualize …

Queering Marianne: Witchcraft As A Means Of Sexual Freedom, Amber Guerena

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This thesis is divided in three parts to argue that Emma in the series, Marianne, is homosexual. The first section explains that the witch, Marianne, embodies Emma’s repressed homosexual desires and that her reintroduction to Emma’s life signifies her break away from heteronormative expectations. The second section centers on how religion contributes to Emma’s internal conflict regarding her sexuality. She struggles with choosing which religion to embrace: Christianity, which doesn’t support homosexuality, or witchcraft, which does support homosexuality. The third section explains the strategic choices that the series took to portray Emma’s acceptance of herself and witchcraft. The series …

Analysis For An Efficient Operation Of Solar Power Plants In India Using Different Variables/Parameters, Sonal Bansi Shinde

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Vast renewable energy facilities rely heavily on accurate predictions of future solar power output.  This study investigated the various factors causing poor, inefficient operation of Solar Plants and different methods to identify underperforming equipment. The main questions are: Q1: How can we predict electricity generation over the next several days so that the plant can run at peak efficiency? Q2: How can we figure out the exact maintenance needs of any power plant?  Q3: How do we identify faulty equipment to improve its efficiency to improve overall performance? and Q4: What are the different factors that are causing an inefficient …

Enterprise Risk Management: Small And Medium Business, Vasili Krespis

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This culminating experience project examined common risk management trends and challenges that SMEs face and provided methods and tools that could limit threats and impact of unforeseeable events. This project demonstrates why business owners should use a risk management planning framework. The research questions were: (Q1) What are risk identification strategies which do not overstrain SMEs' limited resources? (Q2) How may risk analysis be performed effectively in SMEs? (Q3) How does the SMEs risk management system change over time? (Q4) What are the most effective risk analysis techniques and strategies for SMEs with limited resources?

A case study was examined …

A Study Of Heart Disease Diagnosis Using Machine Learning And Data Mining, Intisar Ahmed

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for people around the world today. Diagnosis for various forms of heart disease can be detected with numerous medical tests, however, predicting heart disease without such tests is very difficult. Machine learning can help process medical big data and provide hidden knowledge which otherwise would not be possible with the naked eye. The aim of this project is to explore how machine learning algorithms can be used in predicting heart disease by building an optimized model. The research questions are; 1) What Machine learning algorithms are used in the diagnosis of heart …

Analysis Of Automated Vehicle Accidents Across The U.S., Anissa Rocio Quintero

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Car Accidents are a significant public safety hazard to everyone all over the world. Recently, car manufacturers have tried to implement Automated Driving Systems into their vehicles to help drivers and decrease the accident rate. This culminating project analyzed whether Automated Driving Systems have decreased or increased the accident rate in the United States using automated vehicle data collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The analysis platform was built using RStudio and Excel. The research questions were: Q1: What amount of autonomous vehicle accidents occurred in each state between 2021 and 2022? Q2: What manufacturer and maker have …

Big Data For Comprehensive Analysis Of Real Estate Market, Yonglin Xiao

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This Culminating Experience Project explored the application of big data in the real estate industry in order to address the problem of analyzing the accurate property estimates value. The research questions were: (Q1): What are the benefits and advantages of utilizing big data in the real estate market? (Q2): What are the trends in the application of big data in the real estate market? (Q3): What are the challenges in applying big data in the real estate market? (Q4): What are the methods and processes of applying big data in appraisal of assets in the real estate market? To answer …

The Effect Of Numeracy And Math Anxiety On Whole Number Bias, Jasmine Jessica Leanna Bonsel

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Whole number bias (WNB) has been defined as the tendency to apply natural number knowledge to rational numbers. This misapplication can often lead to erroneous responses in mathematical tasks and understanding of rational number properties. Whole number bias can be explored using Dual Processing Theories. According to Dual Processing Theory we have two types of thinking: Type I and Type II. Type I is fast, heuristic based, intuitive, and doesn’t require working memory, while Type II is slow, logic based, analytical, and requires working memory. Some researchers argue that WNB is an intuitive phenomenon and occurs from a failure to …

Happy Objects And Bloom Spaces: Investigating The Potential Of Rupi Kaur's Poetry, Miguel Vega

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In response to the movement of what is considered and labeled as “Instagram poetry,” poet and critic Rebecca Watts argues that to consider “artless” poetry as “poetry” we are denigrating the artform. This project centers around Watts’ claim that “the reader is dead” due to their encounter with such poetry. This project acts as a conversation that seeks to understand why certain forms of art are considered a “threat” to those who engage with them, as well as to their respective fields. Using affect theory (specifically the theory of the happy object) we can begin to understand why we gravitate …

Novel Technologies And Their Effect On The Customer Journey: Customers' Sentiment With Tesla App, Andrew Jaymes

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This culminating experience project explores how novel technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), impact customer experience. The customer journey framework was used to analyze customers' responses to interactions with novel Technologies integrated into Tesla electric vehicles. After gathering customer response data from the Tesla Motors subreddit page, we were able to score customer experiences with the Tesla app, over-the-air software updates, and full self-driving features, using the NRC sentiment lexicon. Our results showed customers tended to express more positive sentiments than negative sentiments when describing their experiences with these …

A Clean Slate: Green Slate Production And Exchange In The Mojave Desert, Jamie Marie Nord

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In this thesis, I examine the procurement, manufacturing process, and subsequent distribution of cultural greenstone artifacts, historically referred to as green slate, in the Mojave Desert of southeastern California from a landscape-level framework. The San Bernardino County Museum (museum) curates a collection of incised and blank green slate artifacts (n=51) from numerous archaeological sites in the study region. These cultural materials were uncovered together in a box during routine inventory. As part of this thesis, I catalogued, rehoused, and remarried the collection with each artifact’s respective site assemblage in consultation with San Manuel Band of Mission Indians (SMBMI) in order …

Lung Cancer Type Classification, Mohit Ramajibhai Ankoliya

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Lung cancer is the third most common cancer in the U.S. This research focuses on classifying lung cancer cells based on their tumor cell, shape, and biological traits in images automatically obtained by passing through the

convolutional layers. Additionally, I classify whether the lung cell is adenocarcinoma, large cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, or normal cell carcinoma. The benefit of this classification is an accurate prognosis, leading to patients receiving proper therapy. The Lung Cancer CT(Computed Tomography) image dataset from Kaggle has been drawn with 1000 CT images of various types of lung cancer. Two state-of-the-art convolutional neural networks (CNNs) …

Backyard Orange Groves: Archaeology And Oral History Of An Ethnic Mexican Community In Downtown Redlands, Marlen Hinojosa

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Seeking a better life, generations of Mexican immigrant families established a thriving community in the landscape surrounded by citrus orchards flanking a stretch of Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroad tracks in Redlands, CA. As a series of revitalization projects and developments, Statistical Research Inc. (SRI) conducted archival research from the Smiley library, ethnographic and archaeological investigations to understand better the history of this unstudied ethnic Mexican barrio community near downtown Redlands. The data acquired from the oral history interviews conducted with individuals who lived or had family living in the area provided a more explicit depiction of the artifacts …

Black Female Athletes’ Use Of Social Media For Activism: An Intersectional And Cyberfeminist Analysis Of U.S. Hammer-Thrower, Gwen Berry's 2019 And 2021 Podium Protests, Ariel Newell

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Much attention has been paid to Black male athlete activism both historically and in the contemporary movement for black lives. Black female athletes have also made historic contributions as activists, and they continue to do so. However, Black female athlete activism has not always been acknowledged or heard. This is a problem, as Black women in American sports and society face overlapping racial and gender inequities and injustices that distinctly marginalize and oppress them. However, some Black female athlete activists (BFAAs) have begun using social media to challenge media narratives about themselves, to redefine what it means to be a …

Professional Development For K-6 Teachers, Rebecca S. Monroe

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

For over a century, educators and politicians have been working on educational reform for various reasons and with the hope of a plethora of outcomes. Since at least the late twentieth century, educational reform has been undertaken for the purpose of increasing students’ academic achievement. While a shift in focus of teaching to a focus on learning has occurred, we know changes in the classroom and with classroom teaching still needs to occur. One recent incarnation of reform has been focused on the teacher and the professional development they receive.

Currently, the United States spends over 18 billion dollars annually …

Mashiah: Messianism In Jewish Apocalyptic Literature Of The Second Temple Period, Fred R. De Leon

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This Thesis challenges notions that have dominated biblical scholarship for more than a hundred years. Up until the end of the twentieth century scholars uniformly believed that the concept of a suffering Messiah was not part of early first century CE Judaism. It was believed to a be a Christian creation. There is however startling evidence of messianic precursors to Jesus, including one who is introduced as the 'Prince of the Congregation' in recently published fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is not surprising since the authors of the Tanakh lay the groundwork for an evolving and malleable concept …

Conceptions Of Space, Gender, And Movement Within Literature And Film: An Analysis Of "The Whimper Of Whipped Dogs" & Westward The Women, Stephanie Fishleigh

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Often portrayed as static, and neutral, “space,” as it is used in this paper, refers to a literary conception, one which encompasses a sphere of locations as well as settings of events, characters, and objects within a literary narrative. Much to our detriment, humans are often compelled to codify and compartmentalize the world around us, using perceived differences as our epistemological touchstone. This phenomenon extends even to our relationship to space. In examining the interplay between space, geographies, genre, and gender, using two objects of analysis, this paper seeks to further the current scholarship on how gender ideology informs our …

The Influence Of Work-Life Balance Directionality On Retirement Decisions, Joshua Craig

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The retirement landscape is ever shifting and has become a dual-decision process more so now than ever before. Employees consider retirement through a family lens and particularly so when there is conflict between life and work domains. Researchers have suggested that work-life directionality does influence work-related decisions (Wiktorowicz, 2018). The impact of work-life directionality, however, on retirement choices has not been substantially examined. Further, socioeconomic status (SES) has been found to influence retirement decisions to some degree (Dushi et al., 2017). Therefore, in the present study, data from a total of 17,146 participants were used from the 2018 wave of …

Visual Rhetoric And The English Careers Website, Ifeoma C. Oforah

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

We live in a fast-paced, visually-saturated 21st-century world where people want to access the latest information as quickly and conveniently as possible. Images play a role in efficient communication because they can convey concepts that words alone cannot. The pairing of visual content with written text is ubiquitous in everyday communication. Visual content functions to supplement and complement the written word, further engaging the audience and creating a thorough understanding. The persuasiveness of visual content cannot be ignored. This thesis analyzes the pictorial elections I made as an intern for the English Department using the concepts I gleaned from researching …

When Books Sing: The Musicalization Of Fiction And Intermediality In Craig Russell’S Fragment, Kathleen Collins

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Craig Russell’s novel Fragment merges a science fiction story of first contact between humans and whales and a chilling ecological disaster warning into one high action-adventure novel of the sea. Undergirding the novel and its many musical references is a rondo musical structure, manifested in the use of several geographical locations and a diverse group of character singers, both human and other. To uncover this, I will define and apply the contemporary theory of intermediality to the novel, and, along the way, expand the definition and consequences of the theory of intermediality. The result will be an ever-increasing interconnectedness to …

The Pandemic Is Not Killing Us, The Police Are Killing Us: How The Change In The Subjective Reality Of Nigerian Citizens Brought About The #Endsars Protests, Olabode Adefemi Lawal

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Using the theory of the social construction of reality, I researched the multiple roles of social media in the Nigerian #EndSARS protests. I interviewed 16 Nigerian protesters from the #EndSARS movement for this study: eight participated in-person while eight protested in-person and digitally (hybrid). Participants were asked a series of scripted questions regarding the #EndSARS protests to understand the roles social media played in shaping the subjective reality of Nigerians during that time. Using thematic analysis, this thesis proposes that the change in the subjective reality of some Nigerians contributed to the October 2020 #EndSARS protests. This thesis also compares …

Unapologetically Her: A Nomadic-Intersectional Case Study Analysis On Lizzo And Jillian Michaels, Alexia Berlynn Martinez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

With various iterations of the meaning and representation of a feminist woman, feuds arise, especially amongst public figures who capture the media’s attention. This paper analyzes the discourse amongst two communities with opposing views about feminist representations: the body-positive community and the fitness community. Utilizing an intersectional theoretical framework allows us to understand the levels of oppression and marginalization members of the body-positive community, specifically plus-size Black women, endure while also running up against the fitness community. There is no better illustration of this phenomenon than the public skirmish between Lizzo and Jillian Michaels. The goal of this case study …

Improving India’S Traffic Management Using Intelligent Transportation Systems, Umesh Makhloga

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

India is one of the largest developing countries in the whole world. There is an increasing trend in the number of vehicles on the roads of India. The increasing number of vehicles leads to rising congestion in large cities. The primary purpose of this project is to determine a proper strategy to solve some of the traffic problems in India like inadequate mass transit, time delays, and blockage on road causing mergers resulting in fatal injuries. The development of effective strategic terms for operating the traffic system of India will need the incorporation of Intelligent Transportation Systems. In this study, …

Formal And Informal Labeling Of Adolescents: The Consequences Of Cumulative Disadvantage On Deviance During Emerging Adulthood, Chijioke Onyekonwu

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Despite the recent developments in labeling theory, there are still a lot of gaps in research on this theory. To begin with, studies continue to attach too much attention to the effects of formal labeling to the neglect of informal labeling. Secondly, prior research has not paid full attention to a variety of mediating factors involved in the relationship between informal labeling, formal labeling and delinquency.

This study seeks to address these limitations by investigating the overall effects that formal and informal labeling has on young people while considering the differential impact of mediating variables. The data for the study …

Exploring The Effects Of Substance Use Disorder Alcohol Use Disorder Treatment Service Barriers, Erica Vanderhyde

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This project will focus on Substance Use Disorder/Alcohol Use Disorder (SUD/AUD) treatment service barriers in the rural desert communities of Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, and Twentynine Palms, CA.

This project follows the concepts of the positivist paradigm. Because of this, the author primarily collected quantitative information. The author gathered data through snowball and convenience sampling utilizing local personal social connections and posting her questionnaire on Facebook. Study participants entered their answers into a self-administered questionnaire on Qualtrics. After completing data collection utilizing Qualtrics, the author examined the frequency analysis of the demographic statistics and key variables by exporting the data …

The Influence Of Motivation, Role Identity, And Perceived Meaningfulness Of Work On The Relationship Between Volunteer Satisfaction And Volunteer Contribution, Tonia Christine Caraveo

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Volunteering, the act of donating time and effort to contribute to society is a unique form of helping that includes deliberate non-obligated services given one time or long-term. Utilizing an integrated approach incorporating the functionalist perspective and role identity theory as framework, the present study re-examined factors that influence volunteer contribution. The sample consisted of 161 participants who have donated time volunteering. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the model. Results of the structural equation model indicated the hypothesized model was not a good fit. As such, no significance was found among the expected relationships between volunteer satisfaction, …