Digital Commons Network^™

The Impacts Of Recreational Infrastructure On Mammal Use Of Riparian Zones In Northern California Regional Parks, Emily A. Matthews

Master's Theses

Public lands have been important for the protection of riparian habitats; however, many public lands are also used for recreation, which can reduce mammal habitat use. Understanding how mammals are affected by recreation in riparian areas can help guide management decisions. The goal of this research is to understand the effect of recreation on mammal use of riparian habitats in two popular East Bay Regional Parks, Charles Lee Tilden and Wildcat Canyon, and to map the extent of that impact. Cameras were deployed in the riparian areas of a high, moderate, and low development site (Alvarado, Tilden, and Wildcat Canyon) …

Using Moss As An Inexpensive Air Pollution Bioindicator For Environmental Equity In Santa Clara Country, California, Tam Dan Tran

Master's Theses

Toxins pervade urban areas and pose long-term health risks to humans. I examine moss as an affordable bioindicator and assess whether moss monitor results reflect other air quality (AQ) indicators, environmental factors, and social vulnerability. Specifically, I investigate (1) whether moss is an effective atmospheric pollution indicator and (2) whether low-income or high-lead-risk neighborhoods experience greater exposure to air pollution. I set out Hypnum cupressiforme moss for two months of exposure in 28 Santa Clara County locations and then measured chromium, zinc, nickel, and the loss of chlorophyll fluorescence in the moss tissue. I gathered real-time particulate matter (PM2.5) measurements …

An Assessment Of Anthropogenic Injuries On White Sharks (Carcharodon Carcharias) In Central California, Kaitlyn Yee

Master's Theses

As human activities increasingly impact marine ecosystems, understanding the effects of anthropogenic activity on white sharks is important for their continued conservation. Human-induced injuries are observed in many shark species. Such injuries have been found to have physiological and ecological impacts. Four sites in Central California off the coasts of Aptos, Año Nuevo Island, Southeast Farallon Island, and Point Reyes are all known areas of white shark aggregation with varying levels of human use and protection. Utilizing a vast video database, this study evaluated the effects of natural and non-natural anthropogenic shark injury types across all locations, age classes, and …

A Trailside Study Of A Coast Redwood Forest Understory Specis, Trillium Ovatum, In The Santa Cruz Mountains, Mary Yan

Master's Theses

To fully understand one of the world’s greatest terrestrial carbon sinks, the coast redwood forest, a co-occurring species may be the key to unique and accessible opportunities to collectively monitor the health of this important habitat. I investigated the relationship between hiking trails and Trillium ovatum within the redwood forests of three California State Parks. Utilizing quadrats across 115 one-meter plots and 58 10-meter transects, T. ovatum occurrence and abundance were recorded and analyzed with factors including proximity to trails, distance from streams, elevation, slope, canopy cover, duff depth, co-occurring understory species, and tree species dominance. Results indicated a higher …

Swim Bladder Morphology Influences The Responses Of Nearshore Rockfishes To Barotrauma, Molly K. Alvino

Master's Theses

Rockfishes (Sebastes spp.) are ecologically and economically important fishes in the continental shelf and slope regions of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. All species within the Sebastes genus have a buoyancy organ, the swim bladder, which is sensitive to rapid changes in pressure that occur when fish are caught and brought up to the surface. Although all rockfishes have swim bladders, pressure-related injuries (barotrauma) affect rockfish species differently. I determined whether swim bladder morphology can explain differences in barotrauma among semi-pelagic (Blue and Olive rockfish) and benthic (Gopher and Vermilion rockfish) species that occupy different habitat zones. Seven different swim bladder …

Mammal Response To Wildfire In Redwood Forests In Northern California, Kristine Doerr

Master's Theses

California has historically experienced recurrent wildfires that have shaped many of the region’s unique ecosystems such as coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests. Redwood forests, particularly old-growth redwoods, are vital habitats for many wildlife species. Still, these long-living, fire-resistant trees are facing altered fire regimes due to fire suppression and climate change. The 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire was a consequence of these changes and significantly altered the landscape of the Santa Cruz Mountain region. This study analyzes mammal recovery after wildfire in high and low fire severity locations of the CZU Fire using two camera trap grids. The high-severity grid …

The Effects Of Full-Body Photo-Editing On Female Body Image, Claire E. Mcelhern

Master's Theses

Over the past decade, the use of photo-based social media sites has seen an exponential increase. Although these sites can be beneficial for connecting with others, the editing and modification of images posted to social media has also produced adverse effects on some who use them. The aim of the present study was to assess whether partaking in a full-body photo-editing task would have a significant effect on weight dissatisfaction, appearance dissatisfaction and body confidence, compared to a control condition. Female college participants were first asked about their general Instagram use, and then were given a baseline Visual Analog Scale …

No Change In Functional Ecology Or Body Size In Response To A Global Climate Event In The Late Maastrichtian Owl Creek Formation, William T. Rizza

Master's Theses

During the last 300 ka of the Maastrichtian, global temperatures increased and decreased by ~2℃, likely caused by a pulse of Deccan volcanism. The Owl Creek Type Section in Mississippi records some portion of the last 400 ka of the Late Maastrichtian. It is expected that marine invertebrates will demonstrate a taxonomic, ecological, or morphological response to rapid temperature change. I anticipate a decrease in taxonomic diversity and shell volume and an increased abundance of low activity-level species, similar to the ecological impacts observed in response to Large Igneous Province eruptions in the geologic record. Clumped isotope paleotemperature reconstruction recovers …

Win-Win Ecology: Can Mosses Promote Dudleya Germination To Restore California Quarries?, Kate L. Worrell

Master's Theses

Human actions directly damage habitat for native plants; restoration ecology facilitates successful plant re-establishment in these environments. Open-pit mines leave behind steep, rocky, and nutrient-deficient habitats that are some of the most degraded ecosystems on the planet. Dudleya or ‘live-forevers’— a genus of native California succulent plants that contains many rare, threatened, or endangered species — grow on rocky cliffs and may create a successful reclamation-restoration story. However, Dudleya germination is poorly understood. Much of the literature on Dudleya cites a single field report suggesting that bryophytes facilitate germination, but no previous experiments have evaluated this proposal. In this study, …

Spartan Daily, November 13, 2024, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2024

Volume 163, Issue 34

Gait Measurement Descriptions Of Human Tracks, Robert Speiden

International Journal of Missing Persons

Search and rescue missions use a variety of tools to find missing persons, one of which can be visual tracking. Trackers detect, interpret and document information about human contact with the ground. Humans typically move on two feet at various speeds. Movement as an obligate biped leaves a series of footprints that alternates from one side to the other. This pattern of footfalls is rather simple, and the footfalls can be easily divided into descriptive dimensions.

This work summarized published measurements of bipedal gait ground contact points in 70 resources. Four resource types were surveyed including 33 biomechanical gait analysis …

Spartan Daily, November 7, 2024, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2024

Volume 163, Issue 33

Quantitative Label-Free Digital Holographic Imaging Of Cardiomyocyte Optical Volume, Nucleation, And Cell Division, Herman Huang, Sangsoon Park, Ines Ross, Joseph Moreno, Sheamin Khyeam, Jacquelyn Simmons, Guo N. Huang, Alexander Y. Payumo

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Cardiac regeneration in newborn rodents depends on the ability of pre-existing cardiomyocytes to proliferate and divide. This capacity is lost within the first week of postnatal development when these cells rapidly switch from hyperplasia to hypertrophy, withdraw from the cell cycle, become binucleated, and increase in size. How these dynamic changes in cell size and nucleation impact cardiomyocyte proliferative potential is not well understood. In this study, we innovate the application of a commercially available digital holographic imaging microscope, the Holomonitor M4, to evaluate the proliferative responses of mononucleated and binucleated cardiomyocytes after CHIR99021 treatment, a model proliferative stimulus. This …

Spartan Daily, October 30, 2024, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2024

Volume 163, Issue 29

Scale-Dependent Drivers Of Air-Sea Co2 Flux Variability, Amanda R. Fay, Dustin Carroll, Galen A. Mckinley, Dimitris Menemenlis, Hong Zhang

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

In climate studies, it is crucial to distinguish between changes caused by natural variability and those resulting from external forcing. Here we use a suite of numerical experiments based on the ECCO-Darwin ocean biogeochemistry model to separate the impact of the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) growth rate and climate on the ocean carbon sink — with a goal of disentangling the space-time variability of the dominant drivers. When globally integrated, the variable atmospheric growth rate and climate exhibit similar magnitude impacts on ocean carbon uptake. At local scales, interannual variability in air-sea CO2 flux is dominated by climate. The implications …

Spartan Daily, October 23, 2024, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2024

Volume 163, Issue 26

Nitrogen Isotope Homogenization Of Dissolved Ammonium With Depth And 15N Enrichment Of Ammonium During Incorporation Into Expandable Layer Silicates In Organic-Rich Marine Sediment From Guaymas Basin, Gulf Of California, Toshiro Yamanaka, Arisa Sakamoto, Kanon Kiyokawa, Jaeguk Jo, Yuji Onishi, Yoshihiro Kuwahara, Ji Hoon Kim, Lucie C. Pastor, Andreas Teske, Daniel Lizarralde, Tobias W. Höfig, Ivano W. Aiello, Jeanine L. Ash, Diana P. Bojanova, Martine D. Buatier, Virginia P. Edgcomb, Christophe Y. Galerne, Swanne Gontharet, Verena B. Heuer

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Sedimentary nitrogen isotopic ratios are used as a proxy for ancient biogeochemical cycles on Earth's surface. It is generally accepted that sediment hole tops record primary signatures because organic nitrogen (ON) is predominant in this part of the hole. In contrast to such early to middle diagenetic stages, it is well known that heavier nitrogen isotope 15N tends to enrich in sedimentary rocks during later diagenetic and metamorphic stages. However, there are some critical gaps in our understanding of nitrogen isotopic alteration associated with abiotic processes during early-middle diagenesis. In this study, we examined the isotope ratios of ammonium nitrogen …

A New Ecosystem Model For Arctic Phytoplankton Phenology From Ice-Covered To Open-Water Periods: Implications For Future Sea Ice Retreat Scenarios, Jang Geun Choi, Atsushi Matsuoka, Manfredi Manizza, Dustin Carroll, Stephanie Dutkiewicz, Thomas Lippmann

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

To predict ecosystem change in the Arctic Ocean, understanding Arctic phytoplankton phenology is essential. We develop a marine ecosystem model focusing on phytoplankton dynamics and the competition for multiple resources based on knowledge from in situ data obtained in the Chukchi Sea. The model is designed to include the unique ecological characteristics of the Arctic Ocean. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first model successfully simulating the current paradigm for Arctic phytoplankton phenology, including both under-ice blooms and succession of phytoplankton groups. Sensitivity experiments show that the dominance of diatoms can be sustained by lateral transport of …

Antibiofilm Activity Of Pdms/Tio2 Against Candida Glabrata Through Inhibited Hydrophobic Recovery, Khoi Nguyen Nguyen, Leena Sao, Kevin Kyllo, Danitza Hernandez, Samantha Salomon, Kalp Shah, Dahyun Oh, Katy C. Kao

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Coatings with antibiofilm properties are desirable for biomedical applications. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been explored as an antimicrobial agent in materials development primarily due to it being an excellent photocatalyst. Candida glabrata (C. glabrata) is an emerging human fungal pathogen with known high resistance to oxidative stress. Here, we fabricated a polydimethylsiloxane/titanium dioxide (PDMS/TiO2) nanocomposite coating and tested its antibiofilm activities against C. glabrata. The resulting nanocomposite exhibited >50% reduction in C. glabrata biofilm formation with 2.5 wt % TiO2 loading, even in the dark. Through ROS detection and surface characterization, the antibiofilm activity was attributed to the synergistic interaction …

Spartan Daily, October 10, 2024, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2024

Volume 163, Issue 21

Who’S Actually Afraid Of Artificial Intelligence (Ai?), Anthony Adeloye

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Purpose of the study: The main purpose of the study is to explore and discuss the views of a group of Nigerian academic librarians about Artificial Intelligence (AI). The study is considered important because a perusal of an academic librarian’s role requires the ability to organise and manage knowledge which invariably entails the use of some sort of technology which in the context of this study, is artificial intelligence (AI).

Method: To understand the degree to which academic librarians in Nigeria perceive the role of AI in academia, and indeed, society, data were collected from an online survey that …

Sjsu Erfa News, Fall 2024, San Jose State University, Emeritus And Retired Faculty Association

Emeritus and Retired Faculty Association (ERFA) Newsletter

Volume 38, No 1

A Top Model Of Urban Residents’ Subjective Well-Being In China, Bing Pan, Deborah Kerstetter, Xiaoli Yi, Gaojun Zhang, Rui Li, Jie Gao, Xiangyou Sharon Shen, Guangming Li

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Past research on subjective well-being (SWB) in Western society and China has revealed various contributing factors. This study conducted a series of interviews with Chinese urban residents to systematically analyze those factors based on Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System Theory. The results revealed that 5 layers, 23 factors, and 55 elements, many of which had distinct Chinese characteristics, contributed to Chinese urban residents’ SWB. The Top Model of SWB, visualized as a spinning top or gyroscope, showcased the interdependent layers of factors impacting Chinese urban residents’ SWB. At its vertical axis is a time dimension as residents often reflect on factors by …

Healthy From The Start: Co-Designing Sleep, Nutrition And Physical Activity Resources For Young Shiftworkers—Novel Implementation And Evaluation, Alexandra E. Shriane, Sally A. Ferguson, Gabrielle Rigney, Charlotte C. Gupta, Tracy Kolbe-Alexander, Madeline Sprajcer, Cassie Hilditch, Robert Stanton, Matthew J.W. Thomas, Jessica L. Paterson, Jamie Marino, Grace E. Vincent

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Introduction: The increasing prevalence of shiftwork among young adults poses significant health risks, primarily due to its disruptive effects on sleep, nutrition and physical activity. Addressing these risks necessitates the development of tailored, evidence-based resources to support these key health behaviours. Participatory research approaches, engaging those with relevant lived experience (i.e., co-design) are a novel and effective approach in developing these resources. As such, the aim of the present study was to explore whether sleep, nutrition and physical activity resources for young shiftworkers could be developed using participatory, co-design approaches and how co-designers would rate both the approaches used and …

Challenges Facing The Utilization Of Mobile Telephony In Learning In Some Selected Higher Institutions Of Learning In Nigeria, Ogonwa Jacinta, Okoh Helen Ewere, Okoledo Seromo, Ufuoma Eruvwe

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study investigated challenges facing the utilization of mobile telephony in learning in some selected higher institutions of learning in Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey using questionnaire to collect data. The population of the study consist of 355 students which were randomly picked from some selected higher institutions of learning in Nigeria. A total of the 355questionnaires were distributed only 309 were retrieved. Descriptive statistics, (mean and percentage) were used for analysis. A mean score of 2.5 and above and a percentage score of 50% were considered for decision making. The study revealed the following as the prospects …

Breakdown Of Boltzmann-Type Models For The Alignment Of Self-Propelled Rods, Patrick Murphy, Misha Perepelitsa, Ilya Timofeyev, Matan Lieber-Kotz, Brandon Islas, Oleg A. Igoshin

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Studies in the collective motility of organisms use a range of analytical approaches to formulate continuous kinetic models of collective dynamics from rules or equations describing agent interactions. However, the derivation of these kinetic models often relies on Boltzmann's “molecular chaos” hypothesis, which assumes that correlations between individuals are short-lived. While this assumption is often the simplest way to derive tractable models, it is often not valid in practice due to the high levels of cooperation and self-organization present in biological systems. In this work, we illustrated this point by considering a general Boltzmann-type kinetic model for the alignment of …

Solvation Free Energy In Governing Equations For Dna Hybridization, Protein–Ligand Binding, And Protein Folding, Caroline Harmon, Austin Bui, Jasmin M. Espejo, Marc Gancayco, Jennifer M. Le, Juan Rangel, Daryl K. Eggers

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

This work examines the thermodynamics of model biomolecular interactions using a governing equation that accounts for the participation of bulk water in the equilibria. In the first example, the binding affinities of two DNA duplexes, one of nine and one of 10 base pairs in length, are measured and characterized by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) as a function of concentration. The results indicate that the change in solvation free energy that accompanies duplex formation (ΔGS) is large and unfavorable. The duplex with the larger number of G:C pairings yields the largest change in solvation free energy, ΔG …

Spartan Daily, September 4, 2024, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2024

Volume 163, Issue 5

Consistent Seasonal Hydrography From Moorings At Northwest Greenland Glacier Fronts, Marie J. Zahn, Kristin L. Laidre, Malene Simon, Kathleen M. Stafford, Michael Wood, Josh K. Willis, Elizabeth M. Phillips, Ian Fenty

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Greenland's marine-terminating glaciers connect the ice sheet to the ocean and provide a critical boundary where heat, freshwater, and nutrient exchanges take place. Buoyant freshwater runoff from inland ice sheet melt is discharged at the base of marine-terminating glaciers, forming vigorous upwelling plumes. It is understood that subglacial plumes modify waters near glacier fronts and increase submarine glacier melt by entraining warm ambient waters at depth. However, ocean observations along Greenland's coastal margins remain biased toward summer months which limits accurate estimation of ocean forcing on glacier retreat and acceleration. Here, we fill a key observational gap in northwest Greenland …

Ethnographic Methods: Training Norms And Practices And The Future Of American Anthropology, Rosalyn Negrón, Amber Wutich, H. Russell Bernard, Alexandra Brewis, Alissa Ruth, Katherine Mayfour, Barbara Piperata, Melissa Beresford, Cindi Sturtzsreetharan, Pardis Mahdavi, Jessica Hardin, Rebecca Zarger, Krista Harper, James Holland Jones, Clarence C. Gravlee, Bryan Brayboy

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

American anthropology is engaged in significant self-reckonings that call for big changes to how anthropology is practiced. These include (1) recognizing and taking seriously the demands to decolonize the ways research is done, (2) addressing precarious employment in academic anthropology, and (3) creating a discipline better positioned to respond to urgent societal needs. A central role for ethnographic methods training is a thread that runs through each of these three reckonings. This article, written by a team of cultural, biocultural, and linguistic anthropologists, outlines key connections between ethnographic methods training and the challenges facing anthropology. We draw on insights from …