Digital Commons Network^™

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 …

Information About A Racial Demographic Shift May Influence Tolerance For Outgroup Contact, Yvonne N. Phan

Master's Theses

When exposed to information about a demographic shift towards a non-White majority in America, White individuals tend to prefer interactions and settings within their own ethnic group over minority ethnic groups. This behavior may suggest that future inter-racial dynamics in the U.S. could be characterized by resistance from White individuals. To understand how other racial groups respond to information about a racial demographic shift, I collected data on three measures of outgroup tolerance from a multiracial sample of students from San Jose State University’s participant database after exposing them to information about a racial demographic shift driven by a Hispanic …

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 …

Active Tectonics, Erosion Rates, And Topographic Metrics In The Hayword-Calaveras Fault Zone, Simone I. Yeager

Master's Theses

In northern California, the complex geometry of the San Andreas Fault system, and how it steps and propagates across the Earth’s surface, is revealed in the topography. Activity along the Mission and Arroyo Aguague oblique reverse faults, located where the right-lateral Hayward Fault steps to the left of the Calaveras Fault, are manifested in the Diablo Mountain Range. The high topography in the restraining step can be observed in lidar imagery and seismicity studies show these faults are connected at depth. In this study, we investigate active tectonics, erosion rates, and topographic metrics from the southern end of the restraining …

Exploring Community Adaptation To Public Safety Power Shutoff Events: Findings From Two Case Studies Of Unincorporated Mountain Communities In Southern California, Ramiro M. Brown

Master's Theses

As aging electrical infrastructure in the US continues to succumb to unyielding weather patterns brought on by climate change, there is an urgency among Investor-Owned Utilities (IOUs) to reduce the likelihood of their equipment sparking a wildfire. Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) – the intentional de-energization of the electrical grid on high fire weather danger days – have become a staple in IOU Wildfire Mitigation Plans (WMPs) since 2018 as one way to avoid wildfire ignitions via electrical infrastructure. One criticism of PSPS events is that they create their own hazard by cutting off power to thousands – sometimes millions-of …

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 …

The Moderating Role Of Meaningful Work On The Relationship Between Loss Of Self-Identity And Psychological Well-Being In Retired Collegiate Athletes, Sarah M. Kurd

Master's Theses

Collegiate athletes are a focal point for many universities. These student-athletes work most of their lives to make it to the university level. Many collegiate athletes aspire to make it to the professional level after they graduate from college, but only a rare handful make it to the top. The rest of the athlete population retires and is placed into a world of “normalcy,” but the transition out of athletics can be very challenging, impacting a person’s psychological well-being. Most of these athletes will have to work a professional job after leaving sports. The present study aimed to examine the …

Construction, Emplacement, And Structure Of Cretaceous Plutons In The Ebbetts Pass Region, North-Central Sierra Nevada Batholith, California, Hollianne C. Mcclure

Master's Theses

Field, petrographic, and geochronologic analyses were conducted for five Cretaceous plutons in the North-Central Sierra Nevada batholith to better understand their construction, emplacement, and deformation histories. All the plutons in the study area were constructed incrementally, but timing and degrees of mixing between increments vary. The lack of internal contacts and heterogeneity in the interiors of the Stanislaus Meadow and Ebbetts Pass plutons suggest that there were sizeable magma chambers where there was thorough mixing of increments. The West of Elbow, Lookout Peak, and Kinney Lakes plutons were constructed from small batches of magma based on their textural and compositional …

Effect Of Specimen Size On The Tensile Properties Of Selective Laser Melted Ti-6ai-4v, Timothy L. Tan

Master's Theses

Metal additive manufacturing (MAM) is a burgeoning industry. It is capable of manufacturing metal components with fine, intricate features and enables localized microstructural control. Due to its fine resolution and compatibility with common engineering alloys, selective laser melting (SLM) is one particular MAM process popular in academia and industry. The biomedical and aerospace industries have shown exceptional interest in the capabilities of SLM with the alloy Ti-6Al-4V. Because SLM Ti-6Al-4V components are aimed for use in critical applications, it is necessary to understand how SLM processing characteristics affect final part performance. One characteristic of SLM Ti-6Al- 4V that requires further …

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 …

Relationship Between Depression, Rumination, And Emotionally Valenced Working Memory Performance, Dewey Tran

Master's Theses

Working memory is limited in capacity and easily disrupted such that mood states and competing cognitive processes can impair performance. Rumination is highly associated with depression that may contribute to impaired working memory but has not often been studied. The goal of this study was to elucidate the relationship between depression severity, ruminative state, and working memory performance. Participants completed a baseline assessment of depression severity, rumination (trait and state), and working memory then randomly assigned to a rumination or control groups, followed by a second assessment. I hypothesized working memory would be explained by an interaction between depression severity …

Enhancing Cross-Cultural Communication In Low-Resource Language Conversational Agents, Hardi V. Trivedi

Master's Theses

Recent advancements in natural language processing (NLP) and large language models (LLMs) have facilitated the development of systems capable of generating human-like responses across a wide range of tasks. However, the majority of research has focused predominantly on English, overlooking the vast linguistic diversity globally. For true global inclusivity, extending research to other languages is crucial, particularly as it can significantly benefit various sectors such as business, healthcare, government, and education. A major challenge in this expansion is the scarcity of digital data available and the limited number of pre-trained models for low-resource languages. Our research specifically addresses these challenges …

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

It’S Complicated: The Level Of Risk Assigned To A Missing Person, Time They Were Missing For, And The Tasks Performed By Police Investigators., Karen Shalev, Craig Collie

International Journal of Missing Persons

This study examines the number of tasks police investigators perform by the level of risk assigned to cases and the length of time the investigations take to resolve. It analyses 40,091 solved cases from 2019 using data from eight English police forces, as part of a wider research project of missing person investigations demand on police resources. The findings show that (1) low and high risk with a search area cases have a relationship to the duration of the investigation; (2) there is a relationship between the risk classification and the number of tasks assigned to the case; (3) the …

An Exploration Into Why There Is An Overrepresentation Of Bame People In Missing Person Cases, Phoebe Sleigh-Johnson, Fiona Gabbert Dr., Adrian J. Scott

International Journal of Missing Persons

The overrepresentation of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people in missing person cases is an issue that is not understood within society and has largely been neglected within academic literature to date. This study, therefore, aims to explore why this overrepresentation might exist by obtaining the views and opinions of 24 professionals (including police officers) working within the field of missing people. The study used a qualitative, exploratory method and an anonymous online survey containing a series of open-ended questions. Thematic analysis was performed on the data, and three main themes were identified; the first related to the idea …

Supporting & Protecting Repeat Missing Children From Different Residential Environments: A Scoping Review, Kirsty Bennett Dr, Petra Salisbury, Rebecca O'Keefe, Sharon Vincent, Bethany Mccarthy

International Journal of Missing Persons

Repeat missing children pose a significant financial burden onto services, including the police, social services, and health providers. Recognising that 37 to 65 percent of missing child reports each year are repeats, efforts have been made by academics and practitioners to understand this societal problem. Research has identified the risks causing children to go missing and the harms that they experience, but these focus primarily on children missing from residential care only. This PRISMA (2020) scoping review of 76 studies explores strategies implemented to prevent repeat missing episodes, and the role/influence of the home environment (e.g., with parents/guardians, and foster …

Racial Bias In Risk Allocation And Resource Utilisation: A Contributing Factor To Ethnic Minority Overrepresentation In Missing Person Investigations?, Amy Van Langeraad, Fiona Gabbert, Adrian J. Scott

International Journal of Missing Persons

Statistics from the National Crime Agency reveal that people from ethnic minority backgrounds are over-represented within the missing population in the United Kingdom, and previous archival studies have shown there is a discrepancy in the recovery of ethnic minority missing persons compared to White missing persons. A wider body of research shows that racial bias is prevalent in the criminal justice system and law enforcement, resulting in different outcomes for victims depending on their racial background. Such outcomes have yet to be examined in the context of missing persons. Therefore, this study tries to address this gap in the literature …

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 …

Sjsu Erfa Board Minutes, October 7, 2024, San Jose State University, Emeritus And Retired Faculty Association

SJSU ERFA Minutes

SJSU ERFA Executive Board Minutes October 7, 2024

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

Spartan Daily, 2024

Volume 163, Issue 33

Spartan Daily, November 6, 2024, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2024

Volume 163, Issue 32

Spartan Daily, November 5, 2024, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2024

Volume 163, Issue 31

Adversarial Attacks And Defenses In Multivariate Time-Series Forecasting For Smart And Connected Infrastructures, Pooja Krishan, Rohan Mohapatra, Sanchari Das, Saptarshi Sengupta

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The emergence of deep learning models has revolutionized various industries over the last decade, leading to a surge in connected devices and infrastructures. However, these models can be tricked into making incorrect predictions with high confidence, leading to disastrous failures and security concerns. To this end, we explore the impact of adversarial attacks on multivariate time-series forecasting and investigate methods to counter them. Specifically, we employ untargeted white-box attacks, namely the Fast Gradient Sign Method (FGSM) and the Basic Iterative Method (BIM), to poison the inputs to the training process, effectively misleading the model. We also illustrate the subtle modifications …

Sjsu Erfa Board Minutes, November 4, 2024, San Jose State University, Emeritus And Retired Faculty Association

SJSU ERFA Minutes

SJSU ERFA Executive Board Minutes November 4, 2024

Emotional Intelligence And Happiness: Varied Perspectives Of Supervisors And Employees, Lisa Martin, Michele A.L. Villagran, Savannah Cragin

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

This study uses a mixed-methods approach to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and happiness in administrators and managers within academic libraries and how they relate to the experiences of individual contributor employees. Emotional intelligence is often viewed by library administrators as a critical element in promoting positive workplaces, especially for those employees who have supervisory or administrative responsibilities. Happiness, while rarely considered as such, is more often seen in the inverse - concern about low morale and toxic workplaces - and is thus another critical element. Data from this study shows that administrators and managers self-report higher levels of …

Case Study: Impact Analysis Of Roof-Top Green Infrastructure On Urban System Sustainability In San José, Ca, Indumathi Jeyachandran, Juneseok Lee

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

This paper presents results from a case study focusing on analyzing impacts of Green Infrastructure (GI) on sensible and latent heat fluxes, urban microclimate and the subsequent water–energy nexus components of an urban infrastructure system. The case study, focusing on the campus of a public university in San José, CA, aimed to quantify the pre- and post-conditions for a hypothetical GI implementation, which is in support of San José State University’s (SJSU) robust sustainability initiatives, which are also aligned with Silicon Valley’s broader strategic goals. The results revealed that a reduction of 0.3 °C in the average daily peak maximum …

Using Virtual Learning Labs To (Re)Mediate Exclusionary Discipline Practices For Young Children Of Color With Disabilities, Saili Kulkarni, Sunyoung Kim, Nicola Holdman

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Disabled children of color (ages 3-8) face multiple, intersecting oppressions in schools and are more likely to be excluded and/or harshly punished for minor behavioral issues compared to white and/or non-disabled peers. Approaches that center multiple stakeholders (families, teachers, and administrators) using a formative intervention called a Learning Lab (LL) have worked to reduce discipline disparities among secondary and upper primary students of color with disabilities (Bal, 2016). Knowing that discipline disparities can start as early as preschool (Kulkarni et al., 2021), however, we examined how LL (re)mediates exclusionary and harsh discipline practices for young children of color with disabilities. …