Digital Commons Network^™

Effects Of Experimental Noise Exposure On Songbird Nesting Behaviors And Nest Success, Tracy I. Mulholland

Master's Theses

Anthropogenic noise is an increasingly prevalent global disturbance. Animals that rely on the acoustical environment, such as songbirds, are especially vulnerable to these sounds. Traffic noise, in particular, overlaps with the frequency range of songbirds, creating masking effects. We investigated the effects of chronic traffic noise on provisioning behaviors and breeding success of nesting western bluebirds (Sialia mexicana) and ash-throated flycatchers (Myiarchus cinerascens). Because anthropogenic noise exposure has the potential to interrupt parent-offspring communication and alter vigilance behaviors, we predicted that traffic noise would lead to changes in provisioning behaviors, such as fewer visits to the …

Family Influences On Ethnic Identity Development Among Transracial Adoptees, Holly Mee Seong Stangle

Master's Theses

This study focused on the experiences of transracial adoptees in the United States, in an effort to examine the roles of cultural socialization and family influences on adoptees’ ethnic identity development. This study explored these issues through in-depth interviews with 11 adult transracial adoptees. Qualitative data analysis indicated various factors influencing participants’ ethnic identity development. Analysis compared levels of parental connection to adoptees’ birth culture, according to participants’ responses to interview questions. Analysis also compared socialization activities perceived by participants as meaningful to those that participants described as superficial or lacking in meaning. Themes included freedom of choice, opportunities for …

The Preservation And Protection Of Native Biodiversity In The Guadalupe Nipomo Dunes Complex, Lindsey M. Whitaker, Matthew Ritter, Scott J. Steinmaus, Jonathan Hall

Master's Theses

The Guadalupe Nipomo Dunes Complex (GNDC) is located within the California Floristic Province, a biodiversity hotspot characterized by high rates of endemism and exceptional loss of habitat. In 1980, the US Fish and Wildlife Service described the GNDC as, “the most unique and fragile ecosystem in the State of California,” and ranked it first on a list of 49 habitat areas needing state protection. It is the largest coastal dune area in California and it is one of the last remaining, relatively intact ecosystems of its type and size in the western United States. The growing recognition of species decline …

Decolonizing The Ya North: Environmental Injustice In Sherri L. Smith’S Orleans, Micah-Jade M. Coleman

Master's Theses

Young Adult (YA) dystopias, in recent years, have imagined a future world fueled by the overuse and misuse of technology, the advancement of science for human gain, as well as societies ruled by governments that govern based on their own self-interests and economic gain. Such novels have opened the door for discussion about how the present-day actions of societies can impact the future of the environment; yet many only focus their attention on societies in the North— regions considered “developed” by the western world. In her YA novel, Orleans (2014), Sherri L. Smith focuses attention on the aftermath of Hurricane …

Supporting Emerging Multilingual Newcomer Students And Their Teachers In California Public High Schools, Rosa Lea V. Ojeda

Master's Theses

This study focuses supporting emerging multilingual newcomer students and their teachers. The study examines research regarding deficit mindset that has led to student labels that perpetuate negative school and teacher views of culturally and linguistically diverse students. Additional research used for this study includes studies on what has been determined to benefit emerging multilingual students, as well as studies about the role of globalization and politics in the education of emerging multilingual and other culturally and linguistically diverse students. The study seeks to further the research on what changes in practice and mindset need to take place in the system …

Whisk: Web Hosted Information Into Summarized Knowledge, Jiewen Wu

Master's Theses

Today’s online content increases at an alarmingly rate which exceeds users’ ability to consume such content. Modern search techniques allow users to enter keyword queries to find content they wish to see. However, such techniques break down when users freely browse the internet without knowing exactly what they want. Users may have to invest an unnecessarily long time reading content to see if they are interested in it. Automatic text summarization helps relieve this problem by creating synopses that significantly reduce the text while preserving the key points. Steffen Lyngbaek created the SPORK summarization pipeline to solve the content overload …

The "Creative Workspace": A Comparative Analysis Of Stakeholder Perceptions, Augustina Radziunaite

Master's Theses

The rise of information technologies and creative industries formed a new class of “creative knowledge workers” with special needs for a workspace design. The recent tendency of playful and bold workspace designs for creative industries was labeled by some researchers as a “creative workspace,” but a body of knowledge about design strategies supporting “creative knowledge workers’” performance is still limited.

This master’s thesis research attempts to define “creative workspace” design phenomenon based on the three main stakeholder groups’ perceptions. The research analyzes existing literature and conducts in-depth interviews with designers and users to collect the data and compare the findings. …

The Prevalence And Severity Of Incidental Temporomandibular Joint Osteoarthritic Changes In Implant Patients: A Cone Beam Ct Study, Adel Alzahrani

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Anterior Mandibular Anatomy Using Cone Beam Computed Tomography: A Study Of Dentate And Edentulous Mandibles, Roberta A. Wright D.M.D.

Master's Theses

Statement of Problem: The anterior mandible has conventionally been deemed as a relatively “safe zone” for dental implants due to perceived lack of innervation to the area as well as its relatively thick cortices and dense bone. However, with the evolution of cone beam computed tomography (CBCT), a number of anatomic challenges have been identified by clinicians that can lead to neuropathy and life-threatening hemorrhage if violated. The three critical anatomic structures in this area that pertain to implant placement are the sublingual artery (SLA), submental artery (SMA), and the mandibular incisive canal. Currently, there is a lack of knowledge …

Parents' Involvement In Their Preschoolers Public Education: Families Of Children With And Without Disabilities, Lauren E. Racine

Master's Theses

Abstract

Parent involvement in early childhood education benefits the parents, the teachers, and most importantly the child. Parent involvement is a concept that refers to the participation of parents in their child’s development and academic learning, and is centered on the fostering of relationships between the home environment and the school environment (Fantuzzo, Tighe, & Childs, 2000). Currently, little research has been done on parent involvement in early childhood (and even less focusing on children with disabilities, specifically), and this study aims to fill this gap in the literature. Thirty nine parents of children enrolled in a public preschool program, …

Incivility As A Communication Barrier: The Effects Of Incivility Experiences, Appraisals, And Context On Employees’ Constructive Voice Behavior, Kerri C. Nelson

Master's Theses

In today’s competitive environment, organizations and researchers alike are placing increasing emphasis on the role of communication and, more specifically, employee voice at work. However, much less is known about workplace mistreatment as an antecedent factor that might hinder this important workplace asset. The current research examined a specific antecedent factor, workplace incivility, and its effects on constructive voice and engagement using a transactional stress theory framework. Currently, no research has investigated the potential for a connection between incivility and constructive voice, limiting our current understanding of their relationship. In an initial study, psychological safety and appraisals of control were …

Synthesis Of Dual Rod-Coil Brush Polymers And Their Solution Properties, Xixian Ye

Master's Theses

Dual rod-coil brush copolymer [Polynorbornene-graft-Poly(3-hexylthiophene)]-block-[polynorbornene-graft-Poly(ethylene oxide)] [(PNB-g-P3HT)-b-(PNB-g-PEO)] (P3HT-PEO) was synthesized via Grignard Method, click chemistry and Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization to observe nanostructures. However, due to the unknown reason, early degradation was occurred disabling formation of architectures in the melts. Unique hollow nanoband was observed in DCM and Methanol solution, which may result from a coeffect of π-conjugated aggregation and microphase separation. And a clear transition between J- and H- aggregation occurs when changing solution mixtures in dual brush copolymer system.

Increased Delta As A Compensatory Strategy During Working Memory In High-Performing Patients With Schizophrenia, Faith Steffen-Allen

Master's Theses

Working memory (WM) impairment is a core cognitive deficit in schizophrenia and has been linked to dysfunction in the gamma, alpha, and theta bands. However, successful WM performance in high-performing patients is less well characterized. This study aims to investigate modulation of the EEG signal during successful WM performance in schizophrenia and to examine how that modulation differs from controls.

Patients with schizophrenia (n=7) and controls (n=9) had scalp EEG recorded during a modified Sternberg WM task with two difficulty levels. The task was subdivided into four stages (pre-trial baseline, encoding, retention, and probe). Task-induced amplitudes were computed for the …

Design Of Inexpensive And Easy To Use Diy Internet Of Things Platform, Samuel R. Jaffe

Master's Theses

This thesis focuses on the design and implementation of a new, inexpensive, and less complex system for a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Internet of Things (IoT) platform. The hardware aspects focus on a new chip called the ESP8266 which contains both microcontroller and WiFi connectivity capabilities in an extremely affordable package. The system uses the Arduino IDE to program the ESP8266, which is known to be an extremely user-friendly environment. All other software is both free and easy to use. Past methods of creating IoT projects involved either expensive hardware, often ranging from $50-$100 per node, or complicated programming requiring a full …

Development And Characterization Of Reagent Pencils For Microfluidic Paper Based Analytical Devices, Cheyenne H. Liu

Master's Theses

Microfluidic paper based analytical devices (microPADs) are a novel platform for point of care (POC) diagnostics. Limitations of reagent shelf life have been overcome with the introduction of reagent pencils as a method for solid-based reagent deposition. While useful, little work has been reported on the characterization and optimization of reagent pencils. Herein, an investigation on reagent pencil composition and efficiency is conducted via colorimetric release profile tests utilizing an erioglaucine disodium salt that yields a quantifiable blue colored product in the presence of water. Within this work, an investigation on the molecular weight dependence, polymer chain end functionality, and …

Processing Of Simulated And Experimental Images Of Closely Spaced Binary Stars Using Speckle Interferometry, Niels Smidth

Master's Theses

Theory and methods of processing speckle interferometry data from close visual binary stars are presented and implemented. The effects of the optical systems used for observing close visual binary stars are explained and simulated from both the geometrical and physical optical viewpoints. The atmospheric phase distortion and shot noise responsible for the observed speckle patterns are simulated. The deconvolution technique originally presented by Labeyrie is implemented to extract astrometric data from close visual binary stars. This method is applied to both simulated and experimental data from Kitt Peak National Observatory as validation. Parts of the deconvolution process are optimized to …

Lower Scotts Creek Floodplain And Habitat Enhancement Project, Benjmain O. Cook

Master's Theses

Scotts Creek, located in northern Santa Cruz County, maintains the southernmost persistent population of Central California Coast (CCC) Coho Salmon (endangered) in addition to CCC steelhead (threatened). Fisheries biologists believe overwinter mortality due to lack of refuge habitat is the primary factor limiting salmonid production. Instream rearing habitat may also be limiting, especially during drought years. The legacy effects of historic land use practices, including dredging, wood removal, and the construction of levees, continued to limit refuge and rearing opportunities. A restoration project was implemented to improve refuge and rearing opportunities for salmonids along lower Scotts Creek by removing portions …

Benefits Of Advanced Traffic Management Solutions: Before And After Crash Analysis For Deployment Of A Variable Advisory Speed Limit System, Alexander Lindsay Chambers

Master's Theses

Variable speed limit (VSL) systems are important active traffic management tools that are being deployed across the U.S. and indeed around the world for relieving congestion and improving safety. Oregon’s first variable advisory speed limit signs were activated along Oregon Highway 217 in the summer of 2014. The variable advisory speed system is responsive to both congestion and weather conditions. This seven-mile corridor stretches around Western Portland and has suffered from high crash rates and peak period congestion in the past. VSL systems are often deployed to address safety, mobility and sustainability related performance. This research seeks to determine whether …

Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter Development For Residential Dc Electricity, Cassidy Alan Aarstad

Master's Theses

The following technical report describes the development and testing of an arc fault circuit interrupter (AFCI) for DC circuits operating primarily at 48 volts. We have identified an effective method for determining when arcing is occurring. Our method is primarily based on comparing the frequency spectrum of current flowing through the circuit during an arcing event to a known characteristic spectrum. Once an arc has been identified, our interrupter is capable of responding adequately to eliminate the arc. Hardware tests show the AFCI developed in this thesis responded, in all test cases, within 2 seconds of an arc fault occurrence. …

Astro – A Low-Cost, Low-Power Cluster For Cpu-Gpu Hybrid Computing Using The Jetson Tk1, Sean Kai Sheen

Master's Theses

With the rising costs of large scale distributed systems many researchers have began looking at utilizing low power architectures for clusters. In this paper, we describe our Astro cluster, which consists of 46 NVIDIA Jetson TK1 nodes each equipped with an ARM Cortex A15 CPU, 192 core Kepler GPU, 2 GB of RAM, and 16 GB of flash storage. The cluster has a number of advantages when compared to conventional clusters including lower power usage, ambient cooling, shared memory between the CPU and GPU, and affordability. The cluster is built using commodity hardware and can be setup for relatively low …

The Effects Of Latency On 3d Interactive Data Visualizations, Allen Korenevsky

Master's Theses

Interactive data visualizations must respond fluidly to user input to be effective, or so we assume. In fact it is unknown exactly how fast a visualization must run to present every facet within a dataset. An engineering team with limited resources is left with intuition and estimates to determine if their application performs sufficiently well.

This thesis studies how latency affects users' comprehension of data visualizations, specifically 3D geospatial visualizations with large data sets. Subjects used a climate visualization showing temperatures spanning from the 19th to the 21st century to answer multiple choice questions. Metrics like their eye movements, time …

Automating Self Evaluations For Software Engineers, Jonathan Rodrigo A. Miranda

Master's Theses

Software engineers frequently compose self-evaluations as part of employee perfor- mance reviews. These evaluations can be a key artifact for assessing a software engineer’s contributions to a team and organization, and for generating useful feed- back. Self-evaluations can be challenging because a) they can be time consuming, b) individuals may forget about important contributions especially when the review period is long such as a full year, c) some individuals can consciously or unconsciously overstate their contributions, and d) some individuals can be reluctant to describe their contributions for fear of appearing too proud [24].

UNBIASED, Useful New Basic Interactive Automated …

Bim And Communication: Implementation Of Building Information Modeling Into An Integrated Project Delivery Contract To Encourage Project Teams To Communicate, Kathleen Worden

Master's Theses

The objective of this thesis is to explore BIM, IPD and their implementation into a building project contract. The Integrated Delivery Processes is comprised of a collaborative team of Designers, Constructors, and Owners working side by side to create a successful project. BIM has been introduced as a technology into the industry, as a tool that these parties can use for better understanding the project.

Through case studies of IPD projects using BIM are observed, it was determined that although BIM was used, one problem faced is the lack of BIM standards included initially in a contract for in an …

Design Of An Integrated Acceleration Acquisition Subsystem To Satisfy High-Speed And Low-Area Requirements For Cubesats, Ryan J. Rumsey

Master's Theses

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s PolySat team is designing the Multipurpose Orbital Spring Ejection System (MOSES) in order to record acceleration data during the launch of CubeSats as well as to provide GPS coordinates to locate the position of CubeSats once they are injected into orbit. This work focuses on the design and development of the acceleration data acquisition (DAQ) subsystem of MOSES. This subsystem is designed around the need for a high-speed sampling system of at least 200 kHz across four channels of data, plus low-area limitations in the MOSES form factor which is roughly half the size of …

Anex: Automated Network Exploitation Through Penetration Testing, Eric Francis Dazet

Master's Theses

Cyber attacks are a growing concern in our modern world, making security evaluation a critical venture. Penetration testing, the process of attempting to compromise a computer network with controlled tests, is a proven method of evaluating a system's security measures. However, penetration tests, and preventive security analysis in general, require considerable investments in money, time, and labor, which can cause them to be overlooked. Alternatively, automated penetration testing programs are used to conduct a security evaluation with less user effort, lower cost, and in a shorter period of time than manual penetration tests. The trade-off is that automated penetration testing …

Graph-Based Data Visualization In Virtual Reality: A Comparison Of User Experiences, Paul Andrew Sullivan

Master's Theses

Virtual reality is currently in the spotlight, attracting intense scrutiny by the press, technology companies, and consumers. After twenty years of dormancy, the technology has experienced a renaissance following advancements in both hardware and software. Most of these developments, and thus press attention, have been centered on entertainment. However, if the technology is going to continue to grow, it must be useful in a wide variety of situations. This paper explores the effectiveness of visualizing data in virtual reality in comparison to traditional presentations.

In this thesis, we present an approach to displaying data in a virtual reality environment. We …

Investigating Novel Approaches For The Integrated Control Of The Soilborne Strawberry Pathogens Macrophomina Phaseolina And Fusarium Oxysporum F. Sp. Fragariae, Mel Carter

Master's Theses

Macrophomina phaseolina (Mp) and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. fragariae (Fof) are emerging soilborne pathogens causing crown rot and Fusarium wilt, respectively, in commercial strawberry production in California. Fungicides representing eight active ingredients from four different mode of action groups (FRAC groups 1, 3, 7 and 12) were evaluated for their efficacy against each pathogen in vitro and each disease in planta. Fungicide active ingredients were evaluated for their ability to inhibit mycelial growth of both pathogens in vitro. Half-strength potato dextrose agar was amended with six different concentrations (0.01, 0.1, 1.0, 5.0, 10, 50 µg …

The Impact Of Performance Management System Characteristics On Perceived Effectiveness Of The System And Engagement, Laura Ricci

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to comprehensively examine performance management systems to determine the characteristics that are most influential in predicting desirable organizational outcomes. Results of an online survey administered to 159 participants revealed that the four performance management system categories significantly predicted employees’ perceived effectiveness of their performance management system and employee engagement. The activities category was found to be the strongest predictor of perceived effectiveness and employee engagement. Four performance management system characteristics significantly led employees to perceive their performance management system to be effective and be engaged at work. These four performance management system characteristics include …

Evaluating The Predictive Validity Of The Global Competencies Inventory For Determining Global Leadership Outcomes, Emily Tuyet Le

Master's Theses

Due to trends in globalization, there has been an accelerated growth in the number of global organizations. This has caused the demand for global leaders to far exceed the number of qualified individuals, leading organizations to search for ways to identify individuals who will be successful global leaders. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the predictive value of one of the few validated tools for measuring global leadership, the Global Competencies Inventory (GCI). The sample consisted of 433 undergraduate and graduate students at a large public university, who were measured across three major global leadership dimensions. Correlations were …

Evaluation Of The Effects Of Walnut Extract On The Cell Division G2/M Cyclin-Cyclin B1 In Breast Cancer Cells, Savita Pinaki Shah

Master's Theses

Walnuts are rich in polyphenols and have potential for cancer prevention and treatment. Our lab has previously shown that a walnut extract (WE) is able to block the cell cycle at the S and G2 phases of cell division with a corresponding decrease in the amount of the cyclin B1 protein and induce cell death in human breast cancer cells (Le et al., 2014). The aim of the current research was to identify whether this effect on the expression of cyclin B1 was at the transcriptional or the translational level. A cycloheximide (CHX) chase revealed that a WE does not …