Digital Commons Network^™

Promoting Participation And Self-Efficacy Among Youth With Disabilities In Community-Based Vocational Education, Allison Hollender

Doctoral Projects

Occupational therapy, with its focus on participation, contextual adaptation, and strength-based practice, is uniquely suited to support the growth and inclusion of youth in transition (Angell et al., 2018; Cahill et al., 2020; Carroll et al., 2025). Research indicates that transitional-aged youth (TAY) with disabilities, ages 14-24, are less likely to graduate from high school, pursue postsecondary education, or live independently (BLS, 2024; Cheng & Shaewitz, 2022; Cook et al., 2015). These disparities are compounded by occupational deprivation, or limited opportunities for meaningful participation, which can negatively impact long-term self-efficacy and belonging (Arbesman & Logsdon, 2011; Cahill et al., 2020). …

Stream Response To A Dam Removal: Mill Creek, Davenport, Ca, Jessica J. Williamson

Master's Theses

Dams have many effects on stream morphology and ecology, including a loss of sediment supply downstream, reduced access to the entire stream for aquatic fauna, and a flooded area upstream of the dam. Dams are a hurdle for migrating organisms such as anadromous fish, which is a group of concern. An over 100-year-old dam on Mill Creek, a stream draining a coastal watershed in central California, was removed in the fall of 2021. The site is in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where endangered salmonids such as steelhead, Oncorhynchus mykiss, have historically lived. To study the change in the stream from …

Review Of From The Ruins Of Enlightenment: Beethoven And Schubert In Their Solitude By Richard Kramer, Sarah Waltz

The Beethoven Journal

No abstract provided.

Label-Free Visualization And Segmentation Of Endothelial Cell Mitochondria Using Holotomographic Microscopy And U-Net, Raul Michael, Tallah Modirzadeh, Tahir Bachar Issa, Patrick Jurney

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Understanding the physiological processes underlying cardiovascular disease (CVD) requires examination of endothelial cell (EC) mitochondrial networks, because mitochondrial function and adenosine triphosphate production are crucial in EC metabolism, and consequently influence CVD progression. Although current biochemical assays and immunofluorescence microscopy can reveal how mitochondrial function influences cellular metabolism, they cannot achieve live observation and tracking changes in mitochondrial networks through fusion and fission events. Holotomographic microscopy (HTM) has emerged as a promising technique for real-time, label-free visualization of ECs and their organelles, such as mitochondria. This nondestructive, noninterfering live cell imaging method offers unprecedented opportunities to observe mitochondrial network dynamics. …

The Chatgpt Fact-Check: Exploiting The Limitations Of Generative Ai To Develop Evidence-Based Reasoning Skills In College Science Courses, Ursula Holzmann, Sulekha Anand, Alexander Y. Payumo

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Generative large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT can quickly produce informative essays on various topics. However, the information generated cannot be fully trusted, as artificial intelligence (AI) can make factual mistakes. This poses challenges for using such tools in college classrooms. To address this, an adaptable assignment called the ChatGPT Fact-Check was developed to teach students in college science courses the benefits of using LLMs for topic exploration while emphasizing the importance of validating their claims based on evidence. The assignment requires students to use ChatGPT to generate essays, evaluate AI-generated sources, and assess the validity of AI-generated scientific claims …

Japanese Incarceration Memorial As Trauma Portfolio Play, A. J. Faas, Alyssa Singh, Cibella Gamma

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

In collaboration with the Japanese American Museum of San José, California, we examined their exhibit of WWII-era incarceration of Japanese Americans to understand how the presentation of different positionalities (e.g., Japanese/American, loyal/disloyal) engage with and contest the terms of incarceration and internal politics within the Japanese American community. In our analysis, we focus on the reproduction and contestation of particular narratives of power and identity and treat the memorial exhibit as a variety of community-based “trauma portfolio” that unsettles state bureaucratic constructions of suffering and (in)justice. We conclude by identifying transformative possibilities for engaging with the different positionalities of incarcerated …

Ai-Generated Text Detection And Source Identification, Anjana Priyatham Tatavarthi, Faranak Abri, Nada Attar

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The use of advanced machine learning techniques to detect AI-generated text is a very practical application. The ability to distinguish human-written content from machine-generated text while identifying the source generative model helps address growing concerns about authenticity and accountability in digital communication. The differentiation of human-generated and AI-generated text is highly relevant to several applications, from news media to academic integrity, and is key to ensuring transparency and trust in content-driven environments. However, existing models are often insufficient to accurately detect AI-generated text and determine the specific AI source due to the complex nature of machine-generated content. To address this, …

Collective Liberation Through Critical Pedagogy, Robert A. Marx, Anne E. Dufault, Miriam R. Arbeit

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The collective liberation of queer and trans people—which is inherently tied to the liberation of those oppressed by white supremacy and racism, ableism, classism, ageism, and other asymmetrical power distributions—is possible when we develop critical consciousness through critical pedagogy. As young people develop an awareness of the contradictions and falsehoods they are taught (e.g., the myth of meritocracy), they begin to work to change their environments and offer resistance to the structures that inequitably shape their world. The vast majority of research on queer and trans adolescents, though, has been shaped by dominant, deficit-based views of queerness that presuppose that …

Pain For Pain: The Benefits And Challenges Of Bdsm Participation For People With Chronic Pain–An Exploratory Study, Reni Forer, Bryce Westlake

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Research is beginning to find that many BDSM (bondage/discipline, domination/submission, sadism/masochism) practitioners experience benefits beyond sexual pleasure. Additionally, given the relationship between pain and pleasure common in BDSM, there may be certain unanticipated benefits for practitioners reporting chronic pain (PRCP). We conducted an online survey of an international convenience sample of BDSM practitioners (N = 525). Participants were asked about self-perceived benefits and challenges related to participating in BDSM with CP. Using chi-square, independent sample t-test, logistic regression, and linear-by-linear association, responses were combined with demographics, participation timelines, co-participants, motivations, and frequency of activities to identify differences between PRCP and …

Unmasking Public Sentiment: A Sample Efficient Approach To Analyzing Twitter Opinion On U.S. Aid To Ukraine, Satanu Ghosh, Nikhil Dewitt, Souvick Ghosh, Denise Mccoy

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The U.S. aid to Ukraine is a bipartisan topic of extreme socio-political importance. While several organizations have conducted surveys to understand the public stance on this topic, there is no research to date that analyses public opinion on social media, possibly due to the lack of annotated data. Therefore, this research compares several sample-efficient methods (including in-context learning) to analyze tweet sentiments with minimal training data. First, we collect 11,289 tweets about the U.S. aid to Ukraine and mapped them to U.S. states. Next, we explore three different approaches to sentiment analysis: tool-based, embedding-based, and prompt-based. Our results indicate that …

Lgbtq+ Advocacy And Inclusive School Policies Are Associated With Self-Worth Among Youth In Gender-Sexuality Alliances Over The School Year, V. Paul Poteat, Abigail Richburg, Jack Day, Emily K. Finch, Jerel P. Calzo, Robert A. Marx, Arthur Lipkin, Hirokazu Yoshikawa

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Inclusive school policies and youth advocacy could promote well-being and positive development among youth of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Utilizing three waves of data over a 6-month period, we tested a three-level multilevel model on the extent to which youth’s advocacy in gender-sexuality alliances (GSAs; school clubs affirming youth identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning or with other expansive sexual orientations or gender identities [LGBTQ+]) and attending schools that more thoroughly implemented LGBTQ+ inclusive policies and practices were associated with youth’s self-worth. Participants were 627 youth (87% LGBQ+ youth, 45% transgender or nonbinary youth, 48% youth of …

A Privacy-Preserving Federated Learning Approach For Airline Upgrade Optimization, Sien Chen, Yinghua Huang

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Purpose: A key issue of making upgrade decisions is to match the most relevant upgrade offers to the right customers at the right time. To optimize upgrade strategies and profitability, companies seek to break “data silos” between themselves and other business partners for a more holistic view of customers' consumption experiences. However, multi-source data fusion may lead to potential privacy leakage. To overcome these two challenges in data silos and privacy protection, this study introduced a privacy-preserving federated learning (FL) approach and explained the process of using FL in modeling airline passengers’ willingness to pay for upgrade offers. Design/methodology/approach: Federated …

Gray Matter Volumetric Changes In Tinnitus: The Impact Of Hearing Loss And Severity, Gibbeum Kim, Rafay A. Khan, Yihsin Tai, Somayeh Shahsavarani, Fatima T. Husain

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Tinnitus is a phantom auditory sensation that commonly co-occurs with hearing loss. Both tinnitus and hearing loss can impact the quality of life, emotional well-being, and cognitive functioning of the affected individuals. While previous studies have highlighted structural alterations in hearing loss and/or tinnitus, the fundamental neural mechanisms underpinning tinnitus severity remain poorly understood. In this study, we conducted a voxel-based morphometry to investigate gray matter (GM) volume differences among groups of participants with varying tinnitus severity and hearing status, and controls within a large sample. We observed reduced GM volume in the left anterior insula and right planum polare …

Bridging Sql Mastery And Career Confidence For Undergraduate Students Through Simulated Job Interviews, Dailin Zheng, Yu Chen, Leslie J. Albert

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Employers increasingly prioritize candidates who can solve real-world Structured Query Language (SQL) problems, particularly during technical interviews. However, many undergraduate students feel underprepared for these interviews because they have not engaged in the deep learning needed to apply SQL concepts confidently. Additionally, students often fail to recognize the career relevance of SQL skills. This Teaching Tip introduces an immersive SQL lesson designed to bridge the gap between conceptual learning and practical application. The lesson includes a mock SQL technical interview, where students apply their knowledge to solve real-world business problems, class discussions on SQL-related careers, and a post-interview debrief to …

Rondo: A Minimal Single Page Application For Digital Exhibits, Nick Szydlowski

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Minimal computing is a promising conceptual framework for digital humanities infrastructure, but the static site architecture most commonly associated with minimal computing can present a steep learning curve, particularly in a workshop or classroom context. This article introduces Rondo, a new minimal framework for digital exhibits which requires no software installation or command line interaction. Rondo differentiates itself from static site tools by adopting a single page application architecture with data stored in a Google Sheet, but it includes tools to disconnect from Google Sheets and create a static site with no external dependencies. Rondo’s reliance on Google Sheets reflects …

Rift - Reddit Information Falsity Tagger, Parth Joshi

Master's Projects

Social media platforms such as Reddit are widely used for sharing and consuming information. User-generated content poses a great risk for misinformation creation and dissemination on these platforms. “Fake news”, as it is commonly referred to, has far-reaching social implications, swaying public perception, making political viewpoints more radical, and adversely impacting health decisions. The covariable features that come with fake news make it even harder to detect because it is presented in the form of text, images, videos, and even social interactions. This paper describes a novel method for detecting fake news on Reddit: RIFT, short for Reddit Information Falsity …

Extraction Of A Knowledge Graph Of Biomedical Relationships, Brian Tran

Master's Projects

Rapid release in biomedical literature poses a challenge in linking information. This thesis aims to extract data from expanding datasets to identify and form meaningful relationships between biomedical entities. Large language models (LLMs) enable us to learn at a rapid pace. Creation of LLms from scratch are impractical. This thesis aims to collect a small dataset, containing biomedical papers, and use it to train large language models (LLMs) to extract entities from the text and learn the relationships between these entities. The experiment will be divided into two stages and utilize EU-ADR and ChemProt dataset. Starting with named entity recognition …

Advanced Knowledge Extraction With Biomedical Data Using Llms, Akshat Krishna

Master's Projects

The rapid growth of biomedical research has led to an overwhelming volume of unstructured textual data in the scientific literature. This has necessitated the development of an automated approach for knowledge extraction and integration. In

this project, we present a comprehensive pipeline for constructing a unified biomed- ical knowledge graph by combining two well-known datasets: CHEMPROT [1],

which captures chemical–protein interactions, and EU-ADR [2], which annotates drug–gene–disease relationships. In order to identify important biomedical entities and interactions from CHEMPROT dataset, we perform Named Entity Recognition (NER) and relation Extraction (RE) using state-of-the-art biomedical models like BioBERT [3], BioGPT [4] and …

Machine Learning Based Network Traffic Classification With Cosine-Similarity Based Out-Of-Distribution Detection, Prabhat Edupuganti

Master's Projects

The changes occurring in the amount of encrypted network traffic is growing at an alarming rate. This development has created intricate problems in traffic classification which is vital for effective cybersecurity. Moreover, most frameworks seem to ignore OOD detection, model calibration and novel pattern detection as cornerstone problem areas. The due analysis is presented as a machine learning approach aimed at resolving encrypted traffic classification issues and focuses on novel OOD detection and calibration issues. Primary contributions comprise detection of out-of-distribution states using softmax scaled cosine similarity, advanced variance-based feature elimination, and lowering ECE using stringent NNs. This work demonstrates …

Real-Time Adaptive Framework For Topic Modeling In Social Engineering Attacks, Manav Bhasin

Master's Projects

Detecting social engineering attempts is crucial for security, as these threats are becoming more frequent and increasingly exploit human vulnerabilities. This research focuses on topic modeling using conversational data from Kevin Mitnick’s ”The Art of Deception” with dialogues that illustrate various social engineering strategies. The dataset comprises manually extracted and synthetically augmented conversations to ensure natural dialogue flow. Two methodologies are presented for utterance-level and global topic extraction: prompt engineering leveraging OpenAI’s GPT-4o-mini, characterized by few-shot learning and chain-of-thought prompting, and Quantized Low Rank Adaptation (QLoRA) utilizing Mistral’s 7B instruct model for efficient fine-tuning. Through experimentation and evaluation, this study …

The Inequitable Access: Black And Latinx Students In Ap Courses, Jean C. Woolcock

Dissertations

This study posits that in American high schools, the preparation of Black and Latinx students, starting from the freshman year, can be effective in helping to increase their participation in Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Structural inequities, in how schools are resourced, affect the ways in which Black and Latinx students are denied equal opportunities. On the contrary, members of their peers do obtain this kind of preparation. As a framework, Critical Race Theory (CRT) contends that race, the law, and power are deeply ingrained in maintaining established bastions of wealth and dominance. Gaps in opportunity and achievement spill over into …

Educator Perspectives Of High School Long-Term English Learners, Martin Gutierrez Jr.

Dissertations

This qualitative study was twofold. The study began by exploring how educators perceive students who are Long Term English Learners (LTELs) and then moved to an autoethnographic examination of the researcher’s own secondary school experiences as an LTEL. The research reviewed teacher and administrator perceptions by focusing on three high school teachers who taught Long Term English Learners during the study period to understand the reclassification process. The researcher interviewed a district-level administrator to understand institutional policies and procedures that determine LTEL student identification and reclassification processes. The researcher presented their autoethnographic narrative to explore how holistic measures support multilingual …

"Acoustical Bedlam": A Contextualization Of Beethoven's Christus, Leanna R. York

The Beethoven Journal

The premiere of Beethoven’s Christus am Ölberge at the Theater an der Wien on April 5, 1803, marked the composer’s first and only contribution to the complex tradition of the German oratorio. Since the genre’s inception at the turn of the eighteenth century, it reflected artistic, literary, and theological controversies of its day. Beethoven’s chosen theme, the passion of Christ, came with its own set of ever-shifting compositional and textual expectations, influenced by older traditions of sepolcri and staged oratorios (common in Vienna and at the court of the elector of Cologne after mid-century) and lyric works such as Graun’s …

Innovative Sonorities: Atypical Pitch Orders In Beethoven's Piano Trios, Yoko Maruyama

The Beethoven Journal

In his chamber music with keyboard, Beethoven famously emancipated the cello from its bass function to make it equal with the other instruments, as has been repeatedly noted. Some studies have also highlighted, partly in relation to this emancipation, the sonorous balance between strings and piano in Beethoven’s chamber works. The pitch relationship between the cello and violin in his piano trios has been less discussed, yet attending to both parts reveals a tendency to use an atypical order in which the cello’s pitch is set above the violin or between the violin’s chord tones. This tendency increases from Beethoven’s …

Inspection Technologies For Construction And Maintenance Of Highway Infrastructure – Review And Analysis, Manideep Tummalapudi, Prem Raj Timilsena

Mineta Transportation Institute

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) seek to provide high quality infrastructure that meets or exceeds the desired quality standards crucial for ensuring safety and efficiency in our nation's transportation systems. Efficient inspection practices—which enable conformance with plans, specifications, and quality standards—are an essential part of this effort. In this digital age, state DOTs are relying on emerging technologies to improve inspection practices. However, there is limited knowledge available regarding various emerging technologies used for highway infrastructure construction and maintenance inspection. This study identifies various emerging technologies that are implemented at the state DOTs and …

Survey Of Building Information Modeling For Infrastructure (Bim4i), Maria Calahorra-Jimenez, Nigel Blampied, Elhami Nasr, Tariq Shehab

Mineta Transportation Institute

The rapid development of information technologies is transforming how data and information are produced, shared, exchanged, and managed. This transformation is accelerating in state departments of transportation (DOTs) across the country due to the pressing need for efficient means of delivering transportation projects and an enhanced need for internal and external collaboration. A key driver for this transformation is the implementation of Building Information Modeling for Infrastructures (BIM4I). The primary objective of this research was to develop actionable recommendations for DOTs to facilitate the effective adoption of BIM4I, based on national and international lessons learned and best practices. A four-step …

Conceptual Critical Success Factors Model On Infrastructure Sustainability Rating System For California Construction Projects, Joseph J. Kim, Jose A. Arroyo-Turcios

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report addresses the sensitivity and reliability of the sustainability rating systems by comparing each category’s verified scores with its respective submitted scores to evaluate how points are awarded for infrastructure projects, examine which categories present the most challenges for verification, and identify the best category for verification in the sustainability rating system. The authors conducted three analyses using credit score data obtained from fourteen actual civil infrastructure projects certified under Envision. First, the Natural World category had the highest average score from the submitted and verified data. Pairwise comparisons using t-tests indicate that the mean value of one category …

Unseen Connections: A Storymap Exploring Case Studies In Water-Energy Transitions And Environmental Justice, Alida Cantor, Elizabeth Bartholomew, Kate Berry, James Blair, Dustin Mulvaney, Nancee Hunter

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Moral Intensity Dimensions Of Information Security Policy Compliance: Perspectives Of Construal Level Theory And Ethical Theories, Dailin Zheng, Zhiping Walter

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Sanctions are often ineffective in promoting employee compliance with information systems security policies (ISSPs) and may lead to undesired outcomes. We establish that ISSP compliance is an ethical decision and examine it through the lens of ethical decision-making using scenario-based surveys. Guided by normative ethical theories and the construal level theory, we find that both the opinions of co-workers and perceived negative consequences of noncompliance to the organization influence employee ISSP compliance intention. Additionally, perceived social distance affects employees' assessment of when damages to the organization can occur. Both the assessed timing of damage and the perceived social distance from …

Evaluation Of A Community-Based Socialization Program For Independently Living Older Adults, Patricia A. Shane, Anne T. Ferguson, Erin L. Woodhead

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Social isolation among older adults is a major public health concern because of the adverse impact it has on health and well-being. Reducing social isolation can improve health and decrease the use of costly healthcare services. However, there is little consensus on the critical ingredients of programming to reduce social isolation. Bay Area Older Adults® (BAO) is a nonprofit organization whose community-based Healthy Living Program (HLP) focuses on building and nourishing older adults’ social networks through transitions such as retirement, divorce and loss of loved ones. The current study was a program evaluation of the HLP using a survey to …