Digital Commons Network^™

Patterns Of Depredation In The Hawai‘I Deep-Set Longline Fishery Informed By Fishery And False Killer Whale Behavior, Joseph E. Fader, Robin W. Baird, Amanda L. Bradford, Daniel C. Dunn, Karin A. Forney, Andrew J. Read

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

False killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) depredate bait and catch in the Hawai‘i-based deep-set longline fishery, and as a result, this species is hooked or entangled more than any other cetacean in this fishery. We analyzed data collected by fisheries observers and from satellite-linked transmitters deployed on false killer whales to identify patterns of odontocete depredation that could help fishermen avoid overlap with whales. Odontocete depredation was observed on ˜6% of deep-set hauls across the fleet from 2004 to 2018. Model outcomes from binomial GAMMs suggested coarse patterns, for example, higher rates of depredation in winter, at lower latitudes, and with …

Efficient Model For Electronic Transport In High Energy-Density Matter, Liam G. Stanton, Michael S. Murillo

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

A wide-ranging effective Boltzmann approach, originally intended for ionic transport, is applied to the computation of electronic transport coefficients without modification. Comparisons with datasets that resulted from a recent transport coefficient workshop and molecular dynamics simulations are made. While this model contains correlation information through its effective potential and strong scattering through its use of cross sections, it misses details of attractive, possibly quantum, interactions; comparisons with that dataset reveal the relative importance of these physics inputs. Through comparisons of data for electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, temperature relaxation, and stopping power (including a new formula for the energy split due …

Academic And Demographic Cluster Analysis Of Engineering Student Success, Farshid Marbouti, Jale Ulas, Ching Ho Wang

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Contribution: This article uses student semester grade point average (GPA) as a measure of student success to take into account the temporal effects in student success. The findings highlight the student performance based on their demographic status and use of university resources such as financial aid. College campuses should not only increase current resources but also raise awareness of current resources and make them more accessible (e.g., easier to apply or automatic applications). This is especially important for some demographics such as Hispanic first-generation students. Background: Higher education institutions are facing retention and graduation problems. One way to improve this …

Gaps And Opportunities In Accessibility Policy For Autonomous Vehicles, William Riggs, Anurag Pande

Mineta Transportation Institute

Nearly 1 in 5 people in the US have a disability (more than 57 million) (U.S. Census Bureau), and people with disabilities use the automobile as a travel mode at significantly lower rates than people without disabilities (Bureau of Transportation Statistics). For example, people aged 18 to 64 with disabilities make 28% fewer trips per day (2.6 v. 3.6 trips) on average than people without disabilities. The disparity is even more significant for non-workers. These statistics highlight the notable technological, design, and policy failings in today’s transportation system - that disabled individuals have considerable suppressed demand for travel that is …

How Do Environmental Factors Affect Drivers’ Gaze And Head Movements?, Arash Tavakoli, Vahid Balali, Arsalan Heydarian

Mineta Transportation Institute

Studies have shown that environmental factors affect driving behaviors. For instance, weather conditions and the presence of a passenger have been shown to significantly affect the speed of the driver. As one of the important measures of driving behavior is the gaze and head movements of the driver, such metrics can be potentially used towards understanding the effects of environmental factors on the driver’s behavior in real-time. In this study, using a naturalistic study platform, videos have been collected from six participants for more than four weeks of a fully naturalistic driving scenario. The videos of both the participants’ faces …

Assessment Of Service Quality Of Libraries In Higher Educations: A Review, Kakali Sarmah, Dr. Sanjay Kumar Singh

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This review article compiles literature on library service quality assessment both nationally and internationally, and discusses user perceptions of library service quality in the higher education context, including why library service quality research is necessary, how customer satisfaction and library service quality are linked, and how service quality in higher education is measured using SERVQUAL, LibQUAL+, etc., The gap, according to the research, is primarily due to variances in expected and perceived service quality. While all of the great work can contribute to and be supplemented by an effective planning process, a closer look at the sources of variances might …

Vlti-Matisse Chromatic Aperture-Synthesis Imaging Of Η Carinae's Stellar Wind Across The Br Α Line: Periastron Passage Observations In February 2020, G. Weigelt, K. H. Hofmann, D. Schertl, B. Lopez, R. G. Petrov, S. Lagarde, Ph Berio, W. Jaffe, Th Henning, F. Millour, A. Meilland, F. Allouche, S. Robbe-Dubois, A. Matter, P. Cruzalèbes, D. J. Hillier, T. Madura, For Full Author List, See Comments Below

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Context. Eta Carinae is a highly eccentric, massive binary system (semimajor axis ~15.5 au) with powerful stellar winds and a phase-dependent wind-wind collision (WWC) zone. The primary star, η Car A, is a luminous blue variable (LBV); the secondary, η Car B, is a Wolf-Rayet or O star with a faster but less dense wind. Aperture-synthesis imaging allows us to study the mass loss from the enigmatic LBV η Car. Understanding LBVs is a crucial step toward improving our knowledge about massive stars and their evolution. Aims. Our aim is to study the intensity distribution and kinematics of η Car's …

Evaluation Of The Cam6 Climate Model Using Cloud Observations At Mcmurdo Station, Antarctica, Jackson Yip, Minghui Diao, Tyler Barone, Israel Silber, Andrew Gettelman

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

A comparative analysis between observational data from McMurdo Station, Antarctica and the Community Atmosphere Model version 6 (CAM6) simulation is performed focusing on cloud characteristics and their thermodynamic conditions. Ka-band Zenith Radar (KAZR) and High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) retrievals are used as the basis of cloud fraction and cloud phase identifications. Radiosondes released at 12-h increments provide atmospheric profiles for evaluating the simulated thermodynamic conditions. Our findings show that the CAM6 simulation consistently overestimates (underestimates) cloud fraction above (below) 3 km in four seasons of a year. Normalized by total in-cloud samples, ice and mixed phase occurrence frequencies are …

Stability Of Earth's Trajectory Inside A Binary Star System, Michael Krunic

Master's Theses

The evolution of the solar system is an interesting dynamical problem in celestial mechanics. Computer simulations have shown that planetary bodies in multiple-body systems become unstable after a long time. In this thesis, through numerical simulations, we investigate the stability of the Earth in a binary star system. In the Sun, Earth, and Jupiter three-body system, we treat Jupiter as the second star (Star 2) and we simulate the Earth's orbit over many orbital periods. In our program, we generate the positions, velocities, accelerations, and other orbital elements of each body using Newton's laws of motion. We explore four types …

Deep Reinforcement Learning With Accelerated Reward Function Technique For Robotics Task Planning, Shifabanu Mohammed Rafiq Shaikh

Master's Theses

The objectives of this research are to investigate, design, develop, and implement a DRL-based reward function enhanced robotics technique to achieve ”human-like” operations for a six DoF robot. Technical challenges for robotics applications arise nowadays with a need to achieve human-like intelligence. DRL can formulate human-likeintelligence by maximizing a long-term reward function. However, the design of states, actions, policies, and reward functions having continuous values turns out to be quite tricky. Lastly, to reach a target position, control motion behavior without calculating inverse kinematics, and update state space for actions and policy optimizations are also challenging. Inspired by Google Deepmind’s …

Humpback Whale, Megaptera Novaeangliae, Feeding Dynamics From The Perspective Of The Individual: Insights From Demography, Life History, And Bio-Logging, Jennifer Tackaberry

Master's Theses

Studies of fission-fusion societies provide a framework in which to compare the feeding dynamics across demographics, unrestrained by stable associations or relatedness. This study used bio-logger data and surface observations combined with long-term population data from the Gulf of Maine humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, population to investigate the influence of demographics on feeding methods, and time spent feeding, and to determine if a coordinated feeding method, kick-feeding, was a cooperative behavior. The results suggest that demographics did influence the feeding method used and highlighted the need to determine how energetic needs change across the feeding season. Adult females did not …

Elucidating Intramolecular Interactions Within Sirt1 Involving An Intrinsically Disordered Region Of The N-Terminal Domain, Carla Marie Peralta

Master's Theses

Intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) are well known for their conformational flexibility that allows them to engage in a variety of interactions and functions. Compared to structured proteins IDRs have a much larger surface area that is accessible to post-translational modification. These modifications, such as phosphorylation, may conformational changes as they change the surface properties of IDRs. A subset of IDRs, termed molecular recognition features (MoRFs), undergo disorder-to-order transitions in response to a binding partner. α-MoRFs are MoRFs that transition into α-helices in the presence of a binding partner. SIRT1, an NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide)-dependent deacetylase, is notable within the sirtuin …

Perception Correction: Addressing Social Stigmatization Around Bdsm And Mental Health, Erin Afana

Master's Theses

Mainstream society’s characterization of activities and subgroups as abnormal can result in a long history of being shamed and pathologized, leading to discrimination and stigmatization. BDSM (bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadomasochism) is an alternative lifestyle with a variety of identities, characteristics and practices that are viewed by many as being outside of societal norms. The consequences of this can be seen in how society, in general, views BDSM participants, how the criminal justice system responds to issues involving BDSM, and how the mental health system perceives those who participate in BDSM activities. The purpose of this thesis …

The Role Of Self-Efficacy And Academic Mindset On Middle School Math Achievement For At Promise Youth: An Explanatory Study, Michael Lockwood Mansfield

Dissertations

California’s accountability system has blended its focus on noncognitive factors of achievement as well as evidence of academic growth. School districts are becoming increasingly interested in developing noncognitive factors in their students to help increase student achievement. With the wide variety of mandates and responsibilities schools are shouldering, it will be important to continue developing methods to increase all school accountability metrics in relation with each other. This research aims to explore the relationship between noncognitive factors and mathematics achievement as measured by the Northwest Evaluation Association’s Measure of Academic Progress assessment (MAP). This study surveyed 8th graders throughout a …

Closing The Gaps: Understanding And Disrupting Deficit Thinking And Exclusionary Discipline Practices In A Latinx School, Edgar Ivan Alcaraz

Dissertations

Improving the academic outcomes for low-income underserved students has become imperative for districts who are committed to equity and justice. School cultures that emphasize college and career readiness for all have been found to improve the academic achievement of low-income students of color. This dissertation explores the efforts of a Latino middle school principal striving to build a college and career readiness culture. Deficit thinking, coupled with exclusionary discipline practices, were the biggest challenges to overcome while promoting a college and career readiness culture. The findings of this study highlight the need to address and disrupt these ideologies as a …

Exploring The Deleterious Connection Between Tradional School Discipline Practices And Male Latino Students Who Have Endured Adverse Childhood Experiences: An Exploratory Study In Northern California., Sonia Vargas

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to critically evaluate the deleterious connection between traditional school discipline practices and male Latino students who have endured adverse childhood experiences. This study examined Latino male students’ testimonials and understanding of their educational trajectories as they encounter adverse childhood experiences as well as their perceptions towards punitive disciplinary practices. This exploratory research utilized a documentary film design methodology and examined the perceptions of Latino male students, counselors, administrators and district official in an urban school district located in northern California. The study drew upon qualitative data collected in video format through student participants’ and …

The Criteria For Developing A Tk-12 Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, Taunya Marie Jaco

Dissertations

Over the past five decades, educators have been working to develop authentic Ethnic Studies courses that can be implemented in both higher education and K-12 schools. Ethnic Studies has been documented to be effective in growth in several metrics used to assess student "achievement." Despite its results, there is much debate as to whether or not Ethnic Studies should be a high school graduation requirement in California K-12 schools. This study explores key policies on Ethnic Studies in California, particularly the legislative mandate to develop a K-12 Ethnic Studies model curriculum. Through an exploratory documentary film study, this dissertation investigates …

Moral Virtue And Inclusive Happiness: From Ancient To Recent In Western And Confucian Traditions, Shirong Luo

Comparative Philosophy

What is the relationship between moral virtue and happiness? Does having moral virtues make their possessors happy? Can one be happy without them? Philosophers provide diverging answers to these questions due to their different understandings of the concept of happiness which has multifarious meanings and senses. In this essay, I compare the representative Western theories of happiness with what may be called “a classical Confucian view” informed by recent scholarship on classical Confucianism. I argue that for classical Confucian philosophers, especially Confucius and Mencius, there are two kinds of happiness: exclusive (or unshared) and inclusive (or shared) happiness. I conclude …

A Unifying Pluralist Account Of Truth And The Case Of Chinese Philosophy Examined From The Cross-Tradition Engaging Vantage Point: Reply To Chenyang Li, Bo Mou

Comparative Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Truth In Chinese Philosophy: A Commentary On Bo Mou’S Semantic-Truth Approaches In Chinese Philosophy, Chenyang Li

Comparative Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Some Lessons On A Chronology Of 20th Century Philosophy In Mexico, Carlos Pereda

Comparative Philosophy

The paper begins by criticizing the usual division of Latin America philosophy into three stages: founders, forgers and thecnicians. Then the history of philosophy in 20^th in Mexico is narrated with the help of four maps that indicates the main positions and names. Towards the end, two kinds of lessons are drawn. The first is to promote the destruction of the vices of such a philosophy to regain its virtues. The second lesson comes from interpreting the metaphors of the previous maps: we are victims of shipwreckes living in archipielagos and thus we may explore their transitions.

Three Buddhist Distinctions Of Great Consequence For Cross-Cultural Philosophy Of Personal Identity, Antoine Panaïoti

Comparative Philosophy

This paper seeks to lay down the theoretical groundwork for the emergence of holistic cross-cultural philosophical investigations of personal identity ¾ investigations that approach the theoretical, phenomenological, psychological, and practical-ethical dimensions of selfhood as indissociable. My strategy is to discuss three closely connected conceptual distinctions that the Buddhist approach to personal identity urges us to draw, and a lucid understanding of which is essential for the emergence of appropriately comprehensive and thus genuinely cosmopolitan discussions at the cross-road between Western and Buddhist philosophical traditions. The first, primary distinction is that between the “visceral sense of self” (VSS) and the “substance …

Confucian Leadership Democracy: A Roadmap, Yutang Jin

Comparative Philosophy

What kind of polity is justified by classic Confucian values? Adopting an interpretive approach, this paper explores the idea of leadership democracy being expressive of classic Confucian values by first introducing the models of leadership democracy associated with Weber and Schumpeter and second connecting Confucian elitist values to them. I argue that leadership democracy best realizes the Confucian emphasis on the people as the source of legitimacy and the ruler as the engine of good governance. The Confucian idea of people-rootedness is borne out by citizens behaving as democratic plebeians who are empowered to choose their leader but devoid of …

In Search Of Buddhist Virtue: A Case For A Pluralist-Gradualist Moral Philosophy, Oren Hanner

Comparative Philosophy

Classical presentations of the Buddhist path prescribe the cultivation of various good qualities that are necessary for spiritual progress, from mindfulness (sati) and loving-kindness (metta) to faith (saddhā) and wisdom (paññā). Examining the way in which such qualities are described and classified in early Buddhism—with special reference to their treatment in the Visuddhimagga (Path of Purification) by the fifth-century Buddhist thinker Buddhaghosa—the present article employs a comparative method in order to identify the Buddhist catalog of virtues. The first part sketches the characteristics of virtue as analyzed by neo-Aristotelian theories. …

Between Mysticism And Philosophical Rationality: Al-Ghazālī On The Reasons Of The Heart, Marilie Coetsee

Comparative Philosophy

In his seminal Orientalism and Religion (1999), Richard King argues that Western scholars of religion have constructed a conceptual dichotomy between “mysticism” and “rationality” that has caused them to systematically distort the claims and arguments of Eastern thinkers. While King focuses primarily on Western scholarship on the Buddhist and Hindu traditions, this essay shows that his argument can also be extended to apply to Western scholarship on al-Ghazālī, whose sympathy for Sufism and apparent rejection of Greek philosophy has often earned him the reputation of being a champion of Islamic mysticism. I argue that al-Ghazālī transcends the dueling categories of …

Social Roles And Psychological Continuity: Developing A Confucian-Psychological Continuity Hybrid Account Of Personal Identity And Ontology, Sammuel Byer

Comparative Philosophy

In this paper, I delineate a variety of questions related to personal identity and ontology. I develop and compare the Confucian conception of the person and the view of the person developed throughout Derek Parfit’s work on personal identity and ontology. I will demonstrate that the Confucian conception of the person has numerous instructive similarities with Parfit’s work on personal identity, despite a number of differences. I argue, briefly, that this project is worthwhile as a piece of comparative philosophy. One of the final two sections of the paper develop a new hybrid account of personal identity and ontology that …

Mechanix: An Intelligent Web Interface For Automatic Grading Of Sketched Free-Body Diagrams, Matthew Runyon, Vimal Viswanathan, Kimberly Grau Talley, Tracy Anne Hammond, Julie S. Linsey

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Sketching free body diagrams is an essential skill that students learn in introductory physics and engineering classes; however, university class sizes are growing and often have hundreds of students in a single class. This situation creates a grading challenge for instructors as there is simply not enough time nor resources to provide adequate feedback on every problem. We have developed a web-based application called Mechanix to provide automated real-time feedback on hand-drawn free body diagrams for students. The system is driven by novel sketch recognition algorithms developed for recognizing and comparing trusses, general shapes, and arrows in diagrams. We have …

Islamic Bank Amid The 2008 Global Financial Crisis: A Bibliometric Analysis, Maulidar -. Agustina Ms., M. Shabri -. Abd. Majid Prof. Dr., Hafasnuddin -. Hafasnuddin Dr.

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study aims to provide a bibliometric and science mapping analysis on the research area of Islamic banks and the 2008 global financial crisis published in the Scopus indexed database over the 2008-2021 period. The study used the VOSviewer software and MS Excel spreadsheet for data analysis. The study identified an increasing trend in publication on the topic. The study found that Alqahtani was the most productive author, while Bourkhis and Nabi were the highly cited authors. The authors from Malaysia were the productive publication, while the Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management was found to be …

Benefits Of The Volta Regional Library On The Performance Of Bankoe Kpoanyigba E.P. Junior High School Students In Ho Municipality, Stephen Okyere, George Tesilimi Banji Dr., Baffour Gyem Darkwa

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This paper investigated the benefits of the Volta Regional library on the performance of Bankoe Kpoanyigba E.P. Junior High school students in the Ho Municipality of Ghana. The study sought to discuss the concept of library; benefits of libraries on students’ performance; challenges in the use of the library for learning and strategies to boost the interest of students in the use of library.

A descriptive research design was adopted and a total of ninety (90) students and three (3) librarians were sampled for the study. Simple random sampling technique was used.

The study revealed some challenges that the regional …

Unpacking The Imposter Syndrome And Mental Health As A Person Of Color First Generation College Student Within Institutions Of Higher Education, Ling Le

McNair Research Journal SJSU

Extant literature on Imposter syndrome primarily focuses on Asian Americans. This current review of literature seeks to make a comparison of Imposter syndrome between two marginalized communities – Asian Americans and African Americans. Imposter syndrome, also referred to as the imposter phenomenon, refers to an individual who doubts their own skills, abilities, successes, and overall capabilities in their life (Parkman, 2016). Asian American students are stereotyped as the model minority and are believed to be intelligent, hardworking, high achieving, and academic and seen to be free from any emotional or adaptive problems. Although these stereotypes are perceived to be positive, …