Digital Commons Network^™

An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of Black Female Swimmers' Experiences Of Belonging, Felicity E. Passon

Master's Theses

Although swimming participation has grown in the United States, the experiences of Black female swimmers remain significantly underrepresented in academic literature. This study addresses that gap by exploring the lived experiences of Black women participating in Division 1 (D1) college swimming. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and Black feminist thought, the research explored how Black female D1 swimmers experienced belonging in this underrepresented sport. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine D1 Black female swimmers, and six major themes illustrate the varied factors that shaped their experiences of belonging. Even with racially gendered barriers to inclusion, they identified strategies to foster …

"Are You My Counselor?" A Call To Action How Latinx General Counselors Can Support Latinx Student Retention Rates At California Community College Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Valentín García Cabrera

Dissertations

Latinx students comprise the largest population within the California Community College (CCC) system, but experience disproportionately lower retention rates. This dissertation used a phenomenological qualitative design and testimonios collected from Latinx general counselors to explore factors influencing Latinx student retention. Sixteen tenured Latinx general counselors from ten Northern California Hispanic-serving community colleges served as participants. Guided by two research questions, the study explored counselors’ perspectives on the factors influencing Latinx community college students’ retention and the counseling strategies, services, and resources that General Counseling Departments should provide to support Latinx student retention. Grounded in Latinx Critical Race Theory, the study …

Contracts, Communication, And Contextual Integrity: A Case Study About Student Data Use In Higher Education, Joseph Fessehaye

Dissertations

This case study examines the contractual agreements between the University of Missouri System and the California State University System with the Educational Advisory Board (EAB), focusing on how these contracts align with institutional student data privacy policies. The research utilizes a Policy Document Analysis approach and explores both universities’ strategic plans, student data privacy guidelines, and the third-party agreements with EAB, using a Contextual Integrity framework to analyze how student data is managed and protected. Through the analysis of these documents, this dissertation investigates whether the flow of student data within the context of these contracts meets institutional privacy standards …

Cultivating Belonging: Empowering Hispanic Parents In The U.S. Education System, Kalpana Galagali

Dissertations

This qualitative study explores the experiences of Hispanic families at Bay Area Middle School and the strategies I employed to create a sense of belonging and support for both students and their families. Key strategies included fostering effective communication through Spanish interpreters, celebrating cultural traditions, and organizing inclusive events like the annual cultural fair. Parents expressed gratitude for the personal attention their children received and noted how these initiatives positively impacted their sense of belonging. The findings highlight that cultural integration and community-building efforts significantly enhanced family engagement, transforming perceptions of the school environment from feelings of disconnection to appreciation …

Healing Circulos(Circles): Putting Our Educator's Mask First, Janet Martinez-Angeles

Dissertations

Educators play a pivotal role in supporting students throughout their educational journeys. In addition to academic instruction, they provide vital guidance for students' social, emotional, and personal development. They work tirelessly to help students navigate the complexities of education and life, often while shouldering multiple responsibilities and roles beyond the classroom. This dynamic contributes to high attrition rates and weakens the educational system. Much like the familiar safety instructions on an airplane, where passengers are reminded to put on their oxygen masks before assisting others, educators must be given the space, resources, and support to tend to their well-being before …

Early Care And Education Systems In The United States Of America: Voices Of The Past, Present, And Future, Timothy Harper

Dissertations

This mixed-methods study centers the voices, knowledge, and leadership of Black and Indigenous women working in Early Care and Education (ECE) while tracing how racism, sexism, and classism have shaped the field from colonization to the present day. Twenty in-depth interviews with sixteen Black and Indigenous educators across the United States are paired with secondary analyses of national workforce data to create a multilayered portrait of their professional realities. Grounded in Black feminist thought and Indigenous desire-based inquiry, the analysis surfaces six inter-locking themes: (a) enduring structural barriers that depress wages and limit advancement, (b) the day-to-day resilience that sustains …

Teacher Workplace Bullying: Victim And Bystander Perspectives, Abigail R. Smurr

Dissertations

Workplace bullying is a phenomenon that is addressed within a broad context. This study focuses on teacher experiences of bullying. The focus will examine the impacts horizontal and vertical bullying can have on teacher victims and bystanders within K-12th within California. The purpose of this study is to give administrators awareness of these issues from the victim and bystanders’ lens. The study implemented a mixed methods design to give insight to teacher perceptions on the impacts it can have on their teacher efficacy, teacher retention, and their emotional well-being. By looking at how often PK-12th grade teachers experience workplace bullying, …

Sirilla: Predicting Traffic Flow Via Stacked Decentralized Federated Learning, Andrew Selvia

Master's Theses

Billions of people today rely on traffic predictions to optimize their travels. Digital mapping services deliver accurate predictions by learning from vast troves of historical data. Impressive as these systems are, their assumptions do not always apply. They depend on an endless flow of sensitive user data to a central authority, a stable Internet connection, and trustworthiness on both sides of the traditional client-server model. This thesis explores a novel architecture which bucks those assumptions. In the proposed model, traffic data remains on edge devices which individually train models via federated learning. Beyond the obvious privacy benefits, this architecture enables …

Exploring Program Participant And Staff Perspectives On Correctional Education Programs, My Ngoc Nguyen

Dissertations

In this paper, I explored program participant and staff perspectives on correctional education programs. Prior research measured success of correctional education through recidivism, post-employment opportunities, and post-secondary education. However, few research examined the perspectives of staff, program participants, and alumni of such programs to understand factors that aid in important educational experiences within correctional education programs. In this study, I utilized a mixed-methods approach, where I collected close-ended and open-ended survey responses from 10 staff and 5 program participants on their ratings of program principles and characteristics as well as optional follow-up interviews to elaborate on their survey responses. The …

Resilience In Crisis: How Bipoc Educators Navigated The Challenges Associated With Covid-19, Racial Awakening, And The Move To Online Learning, Jannet Galicia Castrejon

Dissertations

An unprecedented number of BIPOC teachers exited the profession since June 2020 largely due to the challenges posted by the COVID-19 pandemic (Doan et al., 2024). This study aimed to investigate ways these educators coped with the heavy toll of the converging pandemic(s) by asking what, if anything, sustained them? Participants provided individual and group testimonios and shared snapshots of what it was like to teach and exist during this time via the photovoice methodology and reflected on the challenges and sources of support. BIPOC teachers described the following challenges: difficulty connecting with kids, first-hand and vicarious trauma, increased workload, …

Conniff, Michael L. (1942-2025), San Jose State University

Emeritus and Retired Faculty Biographies

University of California, 1968, BA, Latin American Studies

Stanford University, 1969, MA, Latin American Studies

Stanford University, 1976, Ph.D., History

Sjsu Erfa News, Summer 2025, San Jose State University, Emeritus And Retired Faculty Association

Emeritus and Retired Faculty Association (ERFA) Newsletter

Volume 38, No 4

An Ambient Nox Reduction Reactor System With And Without Forced Air, Hamid Rahai, Rylan Moffit, Komal Gada, Jeremy Bonifacio

Mineta Transportation Institute

Ambient nitrogen oxide (NOX) is one of the main ingredients involved in the formation of ground-level ozone (smog), which contributes to global warming and the formation of particulates in the atmosphere and causes respiratory illnesses, especially in children, older adults, and people with lung diseases. Investigations on adding titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles to the paint used on concrete surfaces such as buildings and its potential in reducing ambient NOX concentration have provided opportunities for the research and development of methods for passive control and filtration of the ambient NOX. The present research used numerical geometrical optimization to identify an optimized …

Effect Of Tai Chi Practice On The Adaptation To Sensory And Motor Perturbations While Standing In Older Adults, Arion Dey, Huiyeong Chang, Laila Shaaban, Armaan Suga, Genavieve Braden, Andres Bustamante, Jisang Park, Shenhua Zhang, Yang Hu, Manuel E. Hernandez

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Tai Chi provides an age-appropriate exercise to decrease fall risks in older adults. However, the exact mechanism underlying the benefits of Tai Chi practice remains an open question. Thus, this study examined how aging and Tai Chi practice impact adaptation to sensory and motor perturbations while standing. We hypothesized that older Tai Chi practitioners would exhibit a decreased reliance on visual processes as sensory and motor perturbations increased, relative to naive healthy older adults. Using rambling and trembling decompositions of the center of pressure (COP) and frequency-domain features, we examined changes in low (0–0.3 Hz), medium (0.3–1 Hz), and high …

Co-Designed Resources To Improve Sleep Health In Young Shiftworkers: A Qualitative Study, Alexandra E. Shriane, Grace E. Vincent, Sally A. Ferguson, Charlotte C. Gupta, Tracy Kolbe-Alexander, Madeline Sprajcer, Cassie J. Hilditch, Robert Stanton, Matthew J.W. Thomas, Jessica L. Paterson, Jamie Marino, Gabrielle Rigney

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Introduction: Shiftwork contributes to poor sleep and circadian disruption, leading to adverse health outcomes. With a high number of young adults (18–25 years) engaging in shiftwork, exposure to these health challenges can occur from early adulthood. Therefore, there is an urgent need for age- and career-stage-appropriate resources focused on sleep health to mitigate poor health outcomes as early as possible. Given the absence of such resources, this study aimed to develop tailored, evidence-based sleep health materials for young shiftworkers. Methods: A participatory approach was employed, with co-designers (n = 48) attending 1–2 online workshops to develop sleep health resources for …

The Impact Of Artificial Intelligence On Ecojustice And Ethics, Vishnu S. Pendyala

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has attained human-level performance in tasks like text summarization, machine translation, and code generation while handling multimodal data. Despite these advances, AI poses challenges such as generating false or biased outputs, causing discrimination, and exhibiting opaque decision-making processes that hinder bias mitigation. Additionally, training large language models (LLMs) for AI consumes substantial energy and can enable autonomous warfare, posing a threat to eco-justice, and raising sustainability concerns. Their ability to create realistic content poses the risk of misuse and perpetuating misinformation. This article addresses these ethical issues and presents solutions through regulation and technology, with examples of …

Global Tracking Of Marine Megafauna Space Use Reveals How To Achieve Conservation Targets, Ana M.M. Sequeira, Jorge P. Rodríguez, Sarah A. Marley, Hannah J. Calich, Mirjam Van Der Mheen, Michelle Vancompernolle, Lucy M. Arrowsmith, Lauren R. Peel, Nuno Queiroz, Marisa Vedor, Ivo Da Costa, Gonzalo Mucientes, Ana Couto, Nicolas E. Humphries, Sara Abalo-Morla, Scott R. Benson, Scott A. Shaffer, For Full Author List, See Comments Below

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The recent Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) sets ambitious goals but no clear pathway for how zero loss of important biodiversity areas and halting human-induced extinction of threatened species will be achieved. We assembled a multi-taxa tracking dataset (11 million geopositions from 15,845 tracked individuals across 121 species) to provide a global assessment of space use of highly mobile marine megafauna, showing that 63% of the area that they cover is used 80% of the time as important migratory corridors or residence areas. The GBF 30% threshold (Target 3) will be insufficient for marine megafauna’s effective conservation, leaving important areas …

Unraveling The Enigma Of Classification Of Synthetic And Genuine Information Using Machine Learning And Explainable Ai, Vishnu S. Pendyala

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

There is a preponderance of AI-generated text everywhere today. Literature shows that there has been considerable success in detecting such text. This paper uses explainable AI (XAI) techniques to get insights into the workings of the machine learning models used to classify synthetic text. In detecting such text, this work analyzes synthetic and genuine information from visualization and explainability perspectives. The text is converted into vector embeddings using Robustly Optimized BERT Pretraining Approach (RoBERTa). Variational Autoencoders (VAEs) are used for visualization and Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used for classification. Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations (LIME), SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP), and …

Sunrise At The Salton Sea: Environmental Justice, Land Use Change, And Hydrosocial Dynamics Of Solar Energy Transitions In The Imperial Valley, California, Dustin Mulvaney, James J.A. Blair, Alida Cantor

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

California's Imperial Valley, with lithium-rich geothermal brines, extensive flat agricultural fields with abundant desert sunshine, and access to transmission lines, is a leading case to explore interconnected themes around just energy transitions. Despite being the poorest county in California and one of the smallest, Imperial already provides 15% of the state’s solar electricity, and the region as a whole represents on the order of 25% of the state’s electric power capacity. This paper brings to light frictions over solar energy development that have emerged over the history of solar power development in the southern Salton Sea region. It describes the …

Volume 151, Issue 151, 2018, Megan Alfaro, Ursula K. Le Guin, Ahmed Moneim, Keenan Norris, Meg Tinsley, T.C. Boyle, Willy Lizarraga, Sophie Anne Berti, Sativa January, Susan Lowell, Brian Barrientez Ii, Steve H. Vu, Ellen Bass, James K. Zimmerman, Cb Follett, Joyce Schmid, James Brasfield, Meredith Davies Hadaway, Gustavo Hernandez, Marin Nelson, Silvia Bonilla, Katherine Morgan, Tommy Mouton, Sally Ashton, Anna Bernstein, Genevieve Deguzman, Suzanne Rico, Peyton Harvey, William Finnegan, Margaret Mcmullan, Don George, Clare Frank, Grace Schaffer, Robert D. Kirvel, Kelly Grogan, Kelley Jhung, Marisa Murrow, Terry Phimister, Sharon Simonson, Susan Shillinglaw, Talia Adry, Noelle Brada-Williams

Reed Magazine

No abstract provided.

Lse-Net: Integrated Segmentation And Ensemble Deep Learning For Enhanced Lung Disease Classification, Bhavan Kumar Basavaraju, Mohammad Masum

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Accurate classification of lung diseases is vital for timely diagnosis and effective treatment of respiratory conditions such as COPD, pneumonia, asthma, and lung cancer. Traditional diagnostic approaches often suffer from limited consistency and elevated false-positive rates, highlighting the demand for more dependable automated systems. To address this challenge, we introduce LSE-Net, an end-to-end deep learning framework that combines precise lung segmentation using an optimized U-Net++ with robust classification powered by an ensemble of DenseNet121 and ResNet50. Leveraging structured hyperparameter tuning and patient-level evaluation, LSE-Net achieves 92.7% accuracy, 96.7% recall, and an F1-score of 94.0%, along with improved segmentation performance (DSC …

Addressing Urban Traffic Congestion: A Deep Reinforcement Learning-Based Approach, Tairan Liu

Mineta Transportation Institute

In an innovative venture, the research team embarked on a mission to redefine urban traffic flow by introducing an automated way to manage traffic light timings. This project integrates two critical technologies, Deep Q-Networks (DQN) and Auto-encoders, into reinforcement learning, with the goal of making traffic smoother and reducing the all-too-common road congestion in simulated city environments. Deep Q-Networks (DQN) are a form of reinforcement learning algorithms that learns the best actions to take in various situations through trial and error. Auto-encoders, on the other hand, are tools that help simplify complex data, making it easier for the DQN to …

‘Making A Positive Environmental Impact’: Exploring The Role Of Volunteering At A Campus Community Garden, Dina Izenstark, Barbara Ann Boone

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Promoting sustainability in higher education is a social and environmental imperative. This paper explores how and why volunteering at a campus community garden (CCG) can serve as a unique context for promoting sustainability. Twenty-five undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 27, who had volunteered at a campus garden, participated in individual semi-structured interviews. A majority of participants identified as female (80%) and Asian American (52%). Using reflexive thematic analysis, we first found students were motivated to volunteer for personal and academic reasons as well as to learn more about gardening. Childhood gardening experiences influenced participants’ re-engagement as adults. …

Using Presence Circles To Identify Strategies To Enhance Nurse Presence At Discharge: A Focus Group Study With Nursing Students, Marie C. Haverfield, Sara Nayeem, Meaghan Sterk, Stacy Demertzis, Deborah Szeto, Robin Whitney

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Background: Nurse communication of patient needs at discharge is critical to ongoing care, but system-level demands often prohibit comprehensive discharge conversations. Caregivers of discharged patients frequently report feeling underprepared to meet patient needs. Meaningful interpersonal encounters, or presence, are known to enhance clinical interactions amidst system-level demands, which could help improve caregiver preparedness and patient care. Purpose: To explore and synthesize examples of nurse presence during discharge conversations through Presence Circles (structured focus groups) to provide recommendations for enhancing high-quality information at discharge. Methods: In a secondary analysis of data from a larger study based on the Nurse Presence Framework, …

On The Application Of Long Short-Term Memory Neural Network For Daily Forecasting Of Pm2.5 In Dakar, Senegal (West Africa), Ahmed Gueye, Serigne Abdoul Aziz Niang, Ismaila Diallo, Mamadou Simina Dramé, Moussa Diallo, Ali Ahmat Younous

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

This study aims to optimize daily forecasts of the PM2.5 concentrations in Dakar, Senegal using a long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network model. Particulate matter, aggravated by factors such as dust, traffic, and industrialization, poses a serious threat to public health, especially in developing countries. Existing models such as the Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) have limitations in capturing nonlinear relationships and complex dynamics in environmental data. Using four years of daily data collected at the Bel Air station, this study shows that the LSTM neural network model provides more accurate forecasts with a root mean square error (RMSE) of …

Development Of An Hplc-Light Scattering Method For The Quantification Of Dicyclohexylamine In Beeswax, Joseph J. Pesek, Maria T. Matyska-Pesek, Tanya Hiltz, Jason Hall

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

An excipient present in commercial formulations of fumagillin (an antibiotic used in apiculture for the control of Nosema disease) toxic dicyclohexylamine is found in beeswax samples. There is a need for a reliable analytical method without the use of MS for analysis of this compound. A reversed-phase gradient method was developed for the analysis using a simple extraction procedure followed by low temperature elimination of interfering compounds. Since dicyclohexylamine is lacking a chromophore, an evaporative light scatter detector was used in this analysis. Several challenges of quantitative analysis using an evaporative light scatter detector were addressed. The reported method was …

Variability In Undergraduate Academic Stress: The Role Of Ethnicity, Early Adverse Family Experiences, And Psychological Distress, Teresa Mejia, Elana B. Gordis, Mitch Earleywine, Li Shen Chong

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Early adverse family experiences (e.g., abuse, neglect, and family conflict) can create vulnerabilities that can alter the association between psychological distress and academic stress, particularly for some ethnic groups. This study examined whether the link between psychological distress and academic stress varies in the presence of early adverse family experiences across ethnic groups. Participants (N = 284, 38.4% male, 59.5% female, 1% non-binary, and 0.7% transgender, 56.5% European American, 15.6% African American, 12.6% Hispanic and Latino, 8.5% Asian, 6.8% Mixed/Biracial) self-reported psychological distress, early adverse family experiences, and perception of academic stress. Regression analyses revealed a three-way interaction between adverse …

Getting Boxed In: How Race And Gang Labeling Shape Solitary Confinement Use, Rebecca Tublitz, Keramet Reiter, Dallas Augustine, Melissa Barragan, Kelsie Chesnut, Gabriela Gonzalez, Natalie Pifer, Justin Strong

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Restrictive housing imposes isolation in austere conditions on people who commit serious rule violations or are too dangerous (or endangered) to house in the general prison population. We contribute to a growing body of scholarship analyzing restrictive housing placements, asking how gang membership, race/ethnicity, and misconduct interact to predict placement and lengths of stay. We integrate analysis of qualitative interviews with a random sample of 106 people in long-term solitary confinement in 2017 with analysis of 15 years of administrative data, both from Washington state prisons. We find that official gang labels “stick” to people, amplifying their risk of solitary …

The Effectiveness Of Empowerment Versus Fear Messaging On Sugary Beverage Consumption Intentions Among Young Adult Latinas, Mi Zhou, A. Susana Ramírez, Dean Schillinger, Sandie Ha, Deepti Chittamuru

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Excessive sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption poses a significant public health concern, particularly among historically marginalized populations targeted by industry marketing. This study compares the effectiveness of empowerment-based versus fear-based messaging on individual sugary beverage consumption intention and critical health literacy among Latinas aged 18 to 29 years (N = 231). Participants were randomized online to view either an empowerment-based video highlighting the risks of sugary beverage consumption and the beverage industry’s manipulative practices or a usual care fear-based video centering on individual behaviors and risks. Between- and within-subject analyses were conducted using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and repeated ANOVA. Results …

The Case Against Police Militarization: Stop Turning Police Into Soldiers, Kenia A. Silva Garcia

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

This paper will critically explore police militarization in the United States, highlighting its origins, implications, and the urgent need to demilitarize them. The rise of militarized police forces began in the 1960s—the War on Drugs and federal programs that allowed military equipment to be transferred to local police departments made their expansion even more possible. Due to this expansion, this paper discusses that police should not be militarized because it increases violence, disproportionately affects marginalized communities, particularly racial minorities, and ultimately fails to reduce crime. Evidence suggests that militarized police forces foster systemic inequalities that are rooted in historical racism—a …