Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of Early Life Experiences On Math Confidence, Nhu X. Hin

Master's Theses

Students form beliefs about their academic abilities through a combination of emotional experiences and early learning environments. While prior research has documented how math anxiety can undermine performance and how early experiences with math-typed activities can foster positive attitudes, less is known about how these factors collectively influence students’ math confidence. The present study investigates how math anxiety, engagement in childhood math-typed activities, and perceived support for math-related learning contribute to college students’ confidence in their math abilities. Participants (N = 102) completed self-report measures assessing each of these constructs. A multiple regression analysis revealed that the three predictors collectively …

International Collaboration To Explore Elements For An Effective Residential Childcare Workforce, Justyna Siemionow, Patrick M. Tyler, W. Alex Mason, Deogratias Musoke, Maia Ordonez, Jaime A. Gomez-Blaya, Joseph G. Grzywacz

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Residential childcare workers provide critical support to vulnerable children around the world. Building and maintaining a qualified residential childcare workforce is challenged by myriad forces, the foremost of which is recruiting and retaining staff for valuable work often misaligned with available compensation; making individual qualifications at hiring; ongoing training; supervision; and data support systems to monitor performance critical for quality care. This study explored the similarities and differences among these essential elements of staffing across distinct programs: Youth Education Centers (YEC) in Poland, CiudadEscuela Muchachos (CEMU) in Spain, and the Boys Town Family Home Program (BTFHP) in the United States. …

Varona, Federico, San Jose State University

Emeritus and Retired Faculty Biographies

USA:

University of Kansas, Major: Organizational Communication. Minor: Intercultural Communication, 1991 Ph.D.

University of Kansas, Major: Organizational Communication Minor: Intercultural Communication, 1988, M.A. [M.A. Thesis: A Comparative Study of Communication Satisfaction in Two Guatemalan Companies]

FRANCE:

Center AudioVisuel Recherche et Communication, Lyon, France, Audiovisual Communication.1977 Diplome

SPAIN:

Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, Spain, Major: Theology, 1976 Licenciado [Thesis: De Carl Rogers a la Pedagogía de la Fe]

Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, Spain. Major: Psychology. Minor: Clinical and Educational Psychology, 1976 Diplomado

GUATEMALA:

Universidad San Carlos de Guatemala, Guatemala, Psychology, 1972-1974

Universidad Francisco Marroquín, Guatemala, Theology, 1972-1974 …

It Shucks To Be Inbred: Effects Of Small Population Sizes On Genomic Diversity Of Hatchery Reared Olympia Oysters (Ostrea Lurida), Anna S. Heasley

Master's Theses

Olympia oysters (Ostrea lurida), critical members of estuarine ecosystems along the California Current Ecosystem (CCE), have faced significant population declines due to historical overfishing and habitat deterioration. Today, managers from multiple estuaries across the CCE are focusing on conservation aquaculture breeding efforts to aid in restoration; however, the genetic implications of these efforts remain unexplored. As with other Ostrea spp, Olympia oysters have a viviparous reproductive strategy that creates unique challenges for aquaculture-mediated restoration. This study evaluates the genetic impact of current captive breeding practices on Olympia oyster cohorts produced in three California estuaries: Elkhorn Slough (EHS), Morro Bay (MB), …

Sea Otter Behavior And Prey Composition Across Alternative Reef States In Monterey, Ca: Applying Ecological Theory To Kelp Restoration, Carter Hawkins

Master's Theses

Due to a myriad of factors, giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) abundance along the California coast has decreased in select areas, leading to the formation of lower-diversity ecosystems dominated by purple sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus), known as “urchin barrens.” While sea otters (Enhydra lutris) are keystone predators that help maintain kelp forests through predation on sea urchins, in Monterey, they avoid barren sea urchins due to their low energetic value and abundance of other habitat types, limiting their influence in these areas. From 2021-2023, sea urchin culling at Tankers Reef, a former barren site in Monterey Bay, was conducted to promote …

The Anti-Work Attitude Scale: Conceptualizing And Measuring The Resistance To The Institution Of Work, Alayna Del Rosario

Master's Theses

Recent shifts in labor discourse have drawn attention to rising burnout, declining organizational commitment, and diminishing job satisfaction, which challenge traditional assumptions about the centrality and desirability of work. These tensions have given rise to the concept of anti-work, a growing discourse that questions the moral, economic, and psychological foundations of work itself. Despite its cultural relevance, anti-work remains largely undertheorized and unmeasured in empirical research. Drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship, this study defined anti-work as a negative critique of work as a social construct, questioning its value, purpose, and impact on individuals and society. Anti-work was operationalized through two higher-order …

The Relationship Between Hindrance Demands And Work Engagement: The Moderating Role Of Resilience, Adoré Davis

Master's Theses

The coronavirus pandemic decreased work engagement globally due to increased hindrance demands. Many organizations were motivated to increase work engagement, which is positively correlated with beneficial organizational outcomes. The intention of this study is to examine if personal resources like resilience moderate the relationship between hindrance demands and work engagement. Hindrance demands are refined from job demands and hindrance stressors, which are stressors that impede progress in employees. Resilience is a personal resource correlated with pro-social behavior, internal locus of control, and higher levels of empathy. Resilience as a personal resource has mainly been studied as a predictor of work …

Crafting Research That Resonates, Vishnu S. Pendyala

Open Educational Resources

A short presentation made to the students of SJSU’s Gateway PhD Program with Manchester Metropolitan University on August 5, 2025, at their annual research workshop. It serves as some general advice and inspiration to aspiring doctoral students.

More about the program here: https://ischool.sjsu.edu/gateway-phd-library-and-information-management

Working Memory In Major Depressive Disorder: A Meta-Analysis Of Structural And Functional Brain Differences, Eunji Back

Master's Theses

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most prevalent mental health disorders in the US and is characterized by depressed mood and loss of interest. Many MDD patients also experience difficulties with executive function, including working memory. Neuroimaging studies reveal structural and functional brain differences between MDD patients and healthy controls that may underlie these working memory difficulties, but findings have been mixed. A quantitative synthesis of neuroimaging data through a meta-analytic approach offers a promising avenue to identify commonalities across studies. We conducted separate meta?analyses of structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, with the latter focused …

Evaluating Demand-Responsive Scheduling In Public Transportation Service Offerings To Retirement Communities, Steven D. Silver

Mineta Transportation Institute

This project addresses alternatives to fixed schedule local transportation service offerings to members of retirement communities. The project design measures the effects of the contrast between fixed schedule (Fixed) service and demand-responsive services (DRT) in retirement communities in Santa Clara County that are closely matched in demographic profiles and geographic location. The research team investigates the effects of scheduling alternatives in a diary format with a within-person variable of four recent trips. The measure of public transportation usage under the Fixed schedule and DRT service offerings is supplemented by a measure of subjective well-being (STS) for each trip—in other words, …

Developing An Integrated Risk Assessment Framework To Quantify The Resilience Of Critical Railway Infrastructure: Characterization Of Risks And Hazards To The U.S. Rail Network Through Empirical Data And Past Events, Haizhong Wang, Brian M. Staes, Benyamin Ghoreishi

Mineta Transportation Institute

To improve understanding of the impact of natural hazards on the U.S. railway system, this project developed a comprehensive, geospatially precise dataset that maps historical hazard events to specific rail segments. The project provides insight into when, where, and how much damage natural hazards have inflicted on rail infrastructure across the country. While a rail-specific hazard database did not previously exist, this research combines data from the Geological Survey (USGS) Flood Events Database, Hydrologic Unit Codes (HUC), the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Weather Service (NWS) forecast zones. …

Opportunistic Short-Term Water Uptake Dynamics By Subalpine Trees Observed Via In Situ Water Isotope Measurements, Matthias Sprenger, Stefan Seeger, Max Berkelhammer, Nathaniel A. Bogie, Raymond J. Hess, Wendy S. Brown, Sylvain Kuppel, James Knighton

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Variations in tree water sources are important to understand in semi-arid ecosystems because climatic shifts towards lower snowpack and increased drought affect water availability in subalpine forests of the western US. Here, we use daily in situ measurements of stable isotopes (²H & ¹⁸O) in soil and tree stem water, soil matric potential and sap flow to study tree water uptake dynamics. We instrumented three soil profiles down to 90 cm, as well as three aspen and engelmann spruce trees near Gothic, Colorado, in the East River watershed. We observed the fate of natural isotopic variations in …

Beyond Peak Water Security: Household-Scale Experiential Metrics Can Offer New Perspectives On Contemporary Water Challenges In The United States, Wendy Jepson, Amber Wutich, Amber L. Pearson, Melissa Beresford, Alexandra Brewis, Alicia Cooperman, Jeremiah Osborne-Gowey, Jenny Rempel, Asher Y. Rosinger, Justin Stoler

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The U.S. has moved beyond peak water security. Infrastructural degradation, institutional inertia, and climate change are reducing the ability of households and communities to benefit from near-universal safe, adequate, affordable, sustainable water services. Yet, current supply-side research tools, that focus largely on system performance, are not equipped to measure the prevalence and lived experiences of household water insecurity, thus limiting the evidence available to policymakers, utilities, and communities to make decisions about water services. We discuss how demand-side metrics, such as household-level water insecurity scales validated for high-income contexts, such as the U.S., can help stakeholders to better identify local …

Anticolonialism And Qualitative Methods For Culture-Centered Interventions, Mohan Jyoti Dutta, Ambar Basu, Satveer Kaur-Gill, Debalina Dutta, Mahuya Pal, Iccha Basnyat, Selina Metuamate, Venessa Pokaia, Phoebe Elers, Indranil Mandal, Rabindranath Mandi, Pankaj Baskey, Devalina Mookerjee, Shaunak Sastry, Jaime Robb, Andrew Carter

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

In this essay, we a collective of Indigenous, Black, and migrant Global South scholars engaged in experiments with the culture-centered approach (CCA) draw on our lived experiences amidst struggles against land grab, neoliberal extractivism, and capitalist exploitation to outline a framework for qualitative methods as anticolonial politics. We begin by exploring the interplays of colonialism, imperialism, and racial capitalism that have shaped the origins and uses of qualitative methods toward serving extractive agendas of global capital. This critique serves as the basis for outlining the key principles of the CCA, turning to voice, storytelling, and embodied action as the basis …

A Protocol For The Development Of A Validated Scale Of Household Water Insecurity In The United States: Hwise-Usa, Amber L. Pearson, Wendy Jepson, Alexandra Brewis, Jeremiah Osborne-Gowey, Amber Wutich, Melissa Beresford, Asher Y. Rosinger, Adam M. Enders, Justin Stoler, Ellis Adjei Adams, Linda Mendez Barrientos, Laura A. Bray, Alida Cantor, Jennifer S. Carrera, Alicia Cooperman, Laura Castro Diaz, Valerisa Magnon Joe Gaddy, Leila M. Harris

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Background New metrics of household water insecurity have been validated for low- to middle-income countries, but it is unclear how these measurements apply to the experiences of people living in high-income countries. This project aims to develop and validate a novel metric for household water insecurity experiences in the United States (HWISE-USA) using a cross-sectional design and data from the Southwest, Midwest, and Western regions. Methods We outline the protocol for the development and validation of a novel household water insecurity scale for the United States to address this scientific need, including the following key steps: (1) item development through …

Visual Analog Of Temporal Envelope Benefits Speech Processing In Cochlear Implant Users: A Pilot Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study On The Associations Between Audiovisual Benefit, Listening Environment, And Peripheral Neural Health, Zi Gao, Yi Yuan, Christopher R. Mueller, Ross A. Aiello, Yingying Wang, Shuman He

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Objectives: This study compared the benefit of visual analog of temporal envelope for speech processing across listening environments in postlingually deafened adult cochlear implant users. Associations between cortical activities and peripheral neural health were explored. Design: Speech perception was measured using Harvard/IEEE sentences in quiet and noise with a visually presented sphere whose size was synchronized with the temporal envelope of the sentences. Cortical activities were recorded concurrently using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Audiovisual benefit was evaluated using sentence scores, activation additivity, and functional connectivity. Peripheral neural health was measured using electrically evoked compound action potentials. Results: Behavioral results showed the …

The Influence Of Rhodolith Algae On Life History Of The Painted Urchin, Lytechinus Pictus, Celine X. De Jong

Master's Theses

Rhodolith beds are globally distributed hotspots of diversity and productivity and serve as nursery habitats for some marine invertebrates. Poorly understood is whether rhodolith beds are nurseries because invertebrate larvae actively select them for settlement or migrate to them at later life stages. We studied the nursery role of rhodolith beds for the painted urchin, Lytechinus pictus at Santa Catalina Island, CA, USA. Subtidal surveys showed that in areas with greater live rhodolith cover, urchin density increased as well as mean urchin size. In caged substrate choice experiments, urchins selected rhodolith substrate relative to carbonate sand, supporting the notion that …

Experienced Latinx Urban Gardeners In San Jose, Ca, Offer Strategies For Climate Justice And Resilience, Claudia S. Damiani Fontana

Master's Theses

Low-income and underinvested communities will be disproportionately affected by climate change due to limited resources, inadequate infrastructure, and insufficient support systems. Urban gardeners are responding to the need to adapt to new climate conditions while sustaining their food sources and cultural practices. Many have adapted thanks to local interventions led by the government and non-profit agencies. For this study, I partnered with La Mesa Verde (LMV), a gardening and food justice program that works with low-income Latinx families in San José, and I documented the contributions of experienced Latinx gardeners, especially those with agricultural backgrounds, to climate-resilient gardening in San …

Seeing Bias Through Eye Movements: Investigating Empathy And Engagement With Authentic And Altered Refugee Imagery, Reem Albaghli, Akshay Sunil Gurnaney, Nada Attar

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

This study investigates perceptual biases in responses to Syrian and Ukrainian refugee images using human-computer interaction (HCI) techniques. We hypothesized that media portrayals might shape empathy and influence both biases and donation behavior. Participants viewed both authentic and face-swapped images, with eye-tracking data capturing pupil size and decision-making patterns. In Experiment 1, participants' eye-tracking data and donation behavior indicated higher engagement and donations for authentic images, suggesting a preference for unaltered images without ethnicity-based bias. Experiment 2 explored this further by presenting cropped refugee faces alongside neutral or intellectual art, asking participants to choose the art that best matched each …

Understanding User Behaviors: Impact Of A 28-Day Intervention On Screen Time And Problematic Internet Use, Cade T. Campigli

Master's Theses

This thesis examines a 28-day self-monitoring intervention to reduce problematic internet use among undergraduate Instagram users. A quasi-experimental factorial mixed design with a repeated measures component was used, with participants split into an experimental group (daily Instagram screen time logging) and a control group (reporting Instagram interactions). Problematic Internet use was measured using the Generalized Problematic Internet Use Scale 2 (GPIUS2). Results showed no reduction in problematic internet use in the experimental group compared to the control, nor a correlation between screen time changes and problematic internet use. However, the experimental group showed a modest decrease in mean screen time …

Perceptions Of Department Chairs And Program Directors Of Ethnic Studies In The California State University System: A Convergent Parallel Mixed Methods Study, Christopher Jarrett Cox

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation study is to explore the conditions of Ethnic Studies departments and programs in the California State University (CSU) system nine years after the release of the CSU Ethnic Studies Task Force report released in 2016. Using a convergent parallel mixed methods analysis, this dissertation revisits several questions from the original CSU survey to assess the effectiveness of Ethnic Studies units in the CSU. Respondents to the survey included 13 of the 58 recognized department chairs and program directors for Ethnic Studies units among the 23 campuses of the CSU system, and interview participants included 5 …

Degrees Of Freedom: How Project Rebound Facilitates Access To Higher Education For Adjudicated Adults, Elizabeth Regina Wirtz

Dissertations

Marginalized students are recommended for suspension and expulsion at higher rates than non dis/abled White peers. Exclusionary discipline contributes to the school-to-prison pipeline and recidivism rates in adults. Educational programs have been effective ways to support adjudicated adults as they transition back to their life after serving their sentences. The CSU program Project Rebound is a highly successful rehabilitation tool for adults seeking higher educational opportunities with an effective 0 percent recidivism rate. To learn about this organization a mixed methods study was conducted. The goal of this study was to capture quantitative and qualitative data about the experiences of …

Cost-Effective Automated Uhi Mapping With Ai: A Case Study Of A Scalable Framework For Climate Equity In San José, California, Martin Alvarez Lopez

Master's Theses

Urban areas experience the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, with higher temperatures than rural areas, disproportionately impacting low-income communities. Mapping UHIs is a process that usually requires significant amount of human resources, and is not scalable. The lack of accurate and detailed UHI maps makes it difficult for decision makers to design effective mitigation strategies. In this work we introduce a cost-effective, scalable, and universally applicable UHI mapping framework that leverages open-source data and AI-driven feature extraction from remote sensing imagery. Using various causative factors such as city characteristics, anthropogenic heat, city canyons, and meteorological variables, we create UHI maps …

All Eyes On Me: Security And Preventative Measures In The Era Of Shoplifting, Clarissa Guevarra

Master's Theses

The passing of CA bills ranging from AB 1779 to SB 1416, and Proposition 36 aims to combat a supposed rise in retail theft, particularly denoting the increase in organized retail theft. This research investigates the accuracy of mainstream narratives surrounding retail theft, focusing on the various security strategies adopted by major retailers—namely, Walmart and Target stores—in the San Francisco Bay Area. The study aims to analyze the different types of security (human and physical), and their efficacy, and to envision alternative strategies to address theft beyond the adoption of punitive security strategies. Using a visual ethnographic approach, supplemented with …

One Nation Under Guard, Everett T. Glynn

Master's Theses

The rise of segments of the labor force devoted to functions other than production has received increased scholarly attention, particularly pertaining to the robust deployment of the police and criminal justice apparat in the neoliberal era. Critical perspectives align the rise of the securitization of society with political and economic transitions that occur within the contexts of changes to social inequality and crackdowns on social movements beginning in the 1970s. In a theoretical construction of the emerging concept of guard labor, this thesis finds that robust societal deployments of a form of functional labor used to entrench social inequality has …

How Effective Are Engineered And Non-Engineered Riparian Forest Restoration Projects In Providing Salmonid-Quality Habitat In The San Francisco Bay Area?, Alexander Ivanov

Master's Theses

Streams and their riparian zones in the San Francisco Bay Area have been degraded, severely harming salmonid populations in the region. Ecological restoration is a common approach to return stream function. Such restoration projects vary widely in intensity, from low-impact vegetation removal/planting to highly engineered projects involving structures and grading. This research investigated the effectiveness of streams restored using engineered versus non-engineered solutions in supporting salmonid habitat viability in San Francisco Bay Area streams. Fourteen streams, seven from each of the two types of restoration, were sampled in the wet and dry season in 2024, three times each season. Data …

The Relationship Between Psychological Contract Breach And Work Motivation And Attitude Among Tech Employees: The Moderating Role Of Conscientiousness, Rama E. Khoury

Master's Theses

There has been some research on moderating factors of the relationship between psychological contract breach (PCB) and work engagement and affective commitment. However, most studies conducted have mainly focused on situational factors (e.g., job satisfaction, exchange imbalance), not on individual factors (e.g., personality traits). This research gap leaves a question in the role that personality traits play in influencing the negative consequences of PCB. The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of conscientiousness on the relationship between PCB and two outcomes, work engagement and affective commitment. Hypotheses were tested using 103 technology industry employees in the …

Replicating Vignoles Et Al. Results On Multidimensional Self-Construal: Comparing The United States, East Asia, Southeast Asia, And Latin America, Jon Lorenz A. Lim

Master's Theses

Contemporary research on self-construal indicates that people define and perceive themselves either as independent or interdependent. Self-construal scales have become the most common method to quantitatively measure both types of self-construal across the United States, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Multidimensional measures of the self tend to be more accurate in defining the self than earlier dichotomous scales. In general, European Americans and Latin Americans perceived themselves as independent and East and Southeast Asians as interdependent. In the current study, undergraduate European American, East Asian American, Southeast Asian American, and Latin American students from San Jose State University …

Abalone And Seaweed Co-Culture: Growth And Shell Biomineralization Of An Iconic California Gastropod, Noah R. Kolander

Master's Theses

Climate change threatens shellfish aquaculture worldwide, with ocean acidification (OA) accelerating shell dissolution and reducing calcification, hindering growth. This study addressed the negative impacts of OA on juvenile red abalone (Haliotis rufescens), a life stage that is particularly susceptible to climate stressors, and the ability of the red seaweed, dulse (Devaleraea mollis), to mitigate these effects. I tested the hypothesis that Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA), with abalone and seaweed grown in co-culture, can raise seawater pH through photosynthesis to yield more favorable conditions for abalone growth and shell construction. A 5-month experiment was conducted to determine the benefits of IMTA …

Fluid-Structure Interaction Comsol Model For Unsteady Flow Through A 3d Bi-Leaflet Mechanical Heart Valve, Aya Zaky

Master's Theses

In this study, we developed a 3D Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) model using COMSOL© to analyze the unsteady flow through a bi-leaflet mechanical heart valve. The model incorporates sufficient complexity to test various factors, such as leaflet angle rotation, material selection for rigid components, fluid properties, and different simulation modes. Simultaneously, the model maintains a simplified structure and is developed using a single software platform, facilitating ease of modification and expansion by other researchers or developers. The mechanical heart valve (MHV) design was created using St. Jude’s geometric parameters as a reference. The input and output pressure waveforms are derived from …