Digital Commons Network^™

Biofilms On Plastic Litter: Community Composition And Activity And The Effects On Ecosystem Processes, Raul F. Lazcano

Master's Theses

The rapid increase of plastic production and disposal has resulted in plastic pollution becoming a global problem. In aquatic ecosystems, plastic litter is a substrate for biofilms, but little research has simultaneously assessed the effects of plastic litter on biofilm activity, community composition, and ecosystem processes. Our objectives were to: (1) measure biofilm activity and community composition on plastic litter relative to a natural surface in an urban river and (2) assess the impact of microplastic pollution on ecosystem metabolism and N2 flux in an oligotrophic lake. For objective (1) we incubated three common plastics with distinct physical and chemical …

The World Health Organization, The Trump Administration, American Public Opinion, And China: A Principal-Agent Problem, Megan Patrice Larson

Master's Theses

Why did the United States perceive the World Health Organization as ineffective during the COVID-19 pandemic? To answer this question, this research delves into current principal-agent model literature to reproduce mechanisms present by the WHO and the United States. Current research fails to explain the WHO's effectiveness. By borrowing from realist theory and political psychology and analyzing various declarations made by the United States, this analysis found preliminary evidence that the idea of WHO's ineffectiveness was primarily shaped by the Trump Administration and American public opinion. Moreover, because of the disinformation and misinformation spread by the Trump Administration, the WHO …

Unveiling Bacterial Hitchhikers In The Urobiome, Genevieve Baddoo

Master's Theses

Microbial communities of bacteria, viruses, and fungi form complex interactions in nature. However, our understanding of these communities is limited to those that can be cultured in the lab. Enhanced culture methods have enabled the isolation of numerous fastidious species from urinary tract, definitively proving that the urinary tract of asymptomatic individuals is not sterile. In working with these isolates, our group has observed several instances in which a “purified” isolate actually harbors more than one species. We refer to these additional members as bacterial hitchhikers, a term previously used to describe similar occurrences in soil communities. I hypothesized that …

Research Handling Effects On Stress Hormones, Blood Parameters, And Heart Rate In Juvenile Northern Elephant Seals (Mirounga Angustirostris), Lauren A. Cooley

Master's Theses

Wildlife researchers must balance the need to safely capture and handle their study animals to sample tissues, collect morphological measurements, and attach dataloggers while simultaneously ensuring their results are not confounded by stress artifacts caused by handling. To determine the physiological effects of research activities including chemical immobilization, transport, instrumentation with biologgers, and overnight holding on a model marine mammal species, I collected hormone, blood chemistry, hematology, and heart rate data from 19 juvenile northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) throughout a translocation experiment. Across my six sampling timepoints, cortisol and aldosterone data revealed a moderate hormonal stress response to handling …

Coordination Protocols For Verifiable Consistency In Distributed Storage Systems, Ashwin Ramaswamy

Master's Theses

Achieving consistency in a highly available distributed storage system has been formally proven to be an impossible task when the system faces network partitions and faulty processes. The complexity is exacerbated when the system allows concurrent processes to send transactions to all the other servers and coordinate the consistent commitment of different transactions. In the event of a partition, each server may allow clients to request updates involving the current state of the data, which makes achieving replicated consistency challenging. To solve the inconsistency problems, several consensus protocols are used, but have strict requirements in order to make progress and …

Motivational And Participatory Experiences Of Female Service Members In Crossfit, Nicole M. Levine

Master's Theses

CrossFit is a high-intensity exercise program that has expanded globally over the last several years. Its minimalistic approach targeted at multiple aerobic and muscular strength domains make it accessible and applicable to populations with limited space and equipment, such as overseas military installations. Despite several studies examining the motivational factors of individuals engaging in CrossFit, research is scant on the motivational factors of military professionals participating in CrossFit outside of their formalized operational training. Additionally, there is no specific literature on female military participation in CrossFit. This study qualitatively explored the participatory motivations of 15 female U.S. military service members …

Evaluation Of The Offline-Coupled Gfs-Cmaq In Recent Wildfires In Northern California, Joyce Leung

Master's Theses

As wildfires become more frequent and severe under climate change, there is a growing need to simulate the impact of fires on air quality and human health using numerical models. The National Air Quality Forecast Capability is an operational air quality forecasting system that provides nationwide ozone and particulate matter (PM2.5) prediction. It is made up of a chemical transport model – the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model – driven by a meteorological model. Recently, the Global Forecast System (GFS) replaced the North American Mesoscale Forecast System (NAM) to drive CMAQ. In addition to these two modeling systems, the …

"For Better Or Worse": Imagining Innovation In Smart City Municipal Design, Kevin M. Kochever

Master's Theses

The smart city concept recently (ca. 2010) emerged as a corporate-led system-as-a-service (SaaS) tool to meet city needs of accessibility and efficiency. I looked at three Western cities—Reykjavík, San José, and Toronto—to discover what it meant for city managers to meet municipal needs by embracing smart initiatives. Senior-level city managers, consultants, and technologists invoked vocabularies of smartness and innovation, adopting Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) as tools to facilitate human resource and service efficiency needs. I found persistent ambiguity in how city managers described and measured outcomes for city smartness. I also found stakeholders used smartness to …

The Effect Of Foreign Direct Investment On Colombia’S Economic Growth And The Role Of Human Capital: Does Foreign Direct Investment Foster Growth?, Jean K. Plantin

Master's Theses

Abstract: Since the pioneering work of John H. Dunning on the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the economic growth of the United Kingdom, many experts have debated the growth effect of FDI in an economy. This study investigated the impact of FDI on Colombia’s economic growth from 1990 to 2019. Moreover, it explored whether the Colombian economy has benefited from positive spillover from FDIs. Additionally, the paper examined how the stock level of human capital conditioned the effect of FDI on GDP per capita growth. To this end, the analysis separated tertiary enrollments from the human capital …

Looking Into The Future: Predicting Future Video Frames Using Monocular Depth Estimation And Egomotion, Meera Kumar

Master's Theses

Micro-mobility has become a growing market that has altered transportation withincities. While helping people reach their destination efficiently while using fewer fossil fuels and resources, e-scooters lack tailored safety protocol. Using depth and ego-motion machine learning estimation through a live video stream, we hope to identify possible oncoming hazard for e-scooter users. To approach this problem, we tested methods that removed the pose network with a scaling transformation which was derived via linear regression. Our intuition was that training and inference will be faster with the removal of the pose network and was validated by the results. We also found …

Linear Inverse Problems And Neural Networks, Jasjeet Dhaliwal

Master's Theses

We investigate two ideas in this thesis. First, we analyze the results of adaptingrecovery algorithms from linear inverse problems to defend neural networks against adversarial attacks. Second, we analyze the results of substituting sparsity priors with neural network priors in linear inverse problems. For the former, we are able to extend the framework introduced in [1] to defend neural networks against ℓ0, ℓ2,and ℓ∞ norm attacks, and for the latter, we find that our method yields an improvement over reconstruction results of [2].

Effects Of Lemon Or Cinnamon Essential Oil Vapor On Physicochemical Properties Of Strawberries During Storage, Elise Christine Anita Freche

Master's Theses

Essential oils are currently being investigated for their potential role as food preservatives. They contain a mixture of bioactive compounds that would help increase the shelf life of food and might help preserve fruits without using synthetic chemicals. Although much research has been conducted on their antimicrobial properties, their effect on the physicochemical properties and organoleptic characteristics needs more investigation. In this study, the effects of lemon or cinnamon essential oil vapor on the physicochemical properties of strawberries were analyzed, focusing on the weight loss, color, firmness, acidity status, sugar content and visible decay. Strawberries were treated for 12 hours …

Ionic Percolation Networks In Composite Electrodes For All-Solid-State Batteries, Corey G. Abraham

Master's Theses

As the demand for high performance lithium-ion batteries grows, materials research isneeded to provide a safer alternative to the use of flammable liquid electrolytes. All-solid-state composite electrolytes consisting of a polymer host and ceramic filler can balance both the need for high ion-conductivity and mechanical flexibility within operating battery systems. The high interfacial resistances between such electrolytes and electrodes, as well as within porous electrodes, however, is a prohibitive performance attribute characteristic of this class of materials. One strategy to mitigate the inhibitory diffusion kinetics associated with the interface is to introduce an ionic percolation network into the electrodes. This …

Tuning Poly(Isopropyl Glycidyl Ether-Block-Polyethylene Glycol-Block-Isopropyl Glycidyl Ether) Poly(Iprge-Peg-Iprge) Triblock Hydrogels For Use In 3d Printing, Alexander B. Le

Master's Theses

Additive manufacturing, otherwise known as 3D printing, is an emerging technology with wide applications. The goal of this work is to study hydrogels comprised of the poly(isopropyl glycidyl ether-block-polyethylene glycol-block-isopropyl glycidyl ether) triblock copolymer, poly(iPrGE-PEG-iPrGE), for 3D printing. The hydrogel blends contain poly(iPrGE-PEG-iPrGE) along with varying concentrations of 2.5k PEG, 4k PEG, 8k PEG, 18.5k PEG or 2.5k iPrGE homopolymers. The effectiveness of the blends was measured by comparing the gel point, storage modulus, equilibrium modulus, and yield stress of the hydrogels. The average gel point for the samples ranged from 7.03-12.78 °C and the hydrogels were thermoreversible. The concentration …

Negotiating Transportation Insecurity: Local Responses And Coping Strategies In San José, Ca, Andrew K. Ng

Master's Theses

Transportation insecurity causes adverse effects on people’s lives by limiting access to opportunities and resources even in San José. Understanding how people experience transportation insecurity in metropolitan areas may contribute to building a better transportation system. I conducted my research study by interviewing downtown San José residents and analyzing their stories on the effects of transportation insecurity and what they did to cope with the situation to move around San José. I analyzed the contents of the interviews through qualitative data analysis. Findings suggest that people experience transportation insecurity as time infringement through congested traffic, convoluted schedules, and service complications, …

Hybridity And Habitation: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Interior Design In Live-Action Cyberpunk Films Through The Lens Of Posthumanism And Thing Theory, Sydney Ng

Master's Theses

Characterized by hyper-urban environments, extreme class division, and an abundance ofcorporate oversight, the cyberpunk subgenre of science-fiction is a prime candidate for scholarly research on speculative interior design and associated technologies. Using the theoretical frameworks of posthumanism, or the concept that humans will transcend their current biological form in the near future, and thing theory, or the worldview that objects are able to enact their autonomy on living subjects, interior design in three live-action films in the cyberpunk subgenre were analyzed in order to determine how depictions of future spaces reflect present ideations of our potential real future. Metaphor analysis …

Sparse Coding For Data Augmentation Of Hyperspectral Medical Images, Rojin Zandi

Master's Theses

Hyperspectral imaging presents detailed information about the electromagneticspectrum of an object in three dimensions. The significant point about the hyperspectral images is that it contains tens or hundreds of spectral layers, which provide precise data about the composition of the studied material. Therefore, hyperspectral images have been popular in many fields of study, such as medical diagnostic imaging. Speed and precision are key points to save human life in disease diagnosis, and applying machine learning techniques to medical hyperspectral images helps answer this need. Convolutional neural networka are one of the most popular machine learning methods for classifying medical images. …

Assessing Wrf Precipitation Forecasts Of Atmospheric Rivers In Northern California Using 4d-Var Data Assmiliation Of Cosmic-2 Gps Radio Occultation Profiles, Paul R. Zechiel

Master's Theses

Atmospheric Rivers (ARs) can provide much needed water to drought-ridden locations, however, can also lead to potential devastating flooding events. Thus, AR forecasts must be improved to keep the public safe. This case study used the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to compare the impact of including COSMIC-2 GPS Radio Occultation (RO) measurements using 4D-VAR data assimilation techniques. Each WRF simulation analyzed the vertical motion, pressure, mixing ratios with respect to ice, rain, and vapor, and precipitation fields. To provide observational precipitation data for model comparison, the Integrated Multisatellite Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement (IMERG) satellite and the Santa …

Association Between Meal Dietary Inflammatory Potential And Postprandial Sleepiness, Samantha Beth Kalb

Master's Theses

The amount and composition of food that is consumed are known to contribute toinflammation and may affect how we feel in the following hours. The aim of this research was to determine if the inflammatory potential of a single meal is associated with level of postprandial sleepiness. Participants (n = 70) recorded intake of one of their meals, then reported their degree of postprandial sleepiness (Stanford Sleepiness Scale), average activity level, average hours of nightly sleep, and daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale). The Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) of the meal was estimated by adjusting DII parameters by 26%, reflecting the …

Computational Analysis Of Changing Wavelength On Bottom Rib And Side Rib Wavy Microchannel Heat Sinks, Ty C. Kieger

Master's Theses

As the power capacity of microelectronics continues to increase while their volume and size decrease, many different on-chip methods including microchannel heat sinks (MCHS) are being explored to cool down the temperature of these electronics. Wavy MCHS have been proven to yield better heat transfer performance compared to straight MCHS, while only producing a slightly larger pressure drop. This study investigates the heat transfer performance of MCHS following a vertical wavy design and a horizontal wavy design that have the same cross-sectional area. The simulations show that vortices are produced along the channel in the peaks and troughs of the …

Examining The Effects Of Power Posing On Stress Reactivity And Performance, Mitzi D. Ochoa

Master's Theses

Power posing is a concept that has garnered widespread attention due to claims thatan expansive powerful posture can improve self-perceptions of power, trigger changes in hormone levels, and improve behavioral outcomes including enhanced performance in social evaluative situations. Recently, these claims have been challenged by studies that failed to replicate the power boosting effects of expansive poses. This study aimed to address inconsistencies in the power posing literature and replicate original findings while controlling for potential effects of experimenter bias and touch. It was predicted that a high-power pose would reduce cortisol, increase perceptions of power, and improve performance. To …

Two-Level Data Augmentation With Transfer Learning For Classification Of Medical Images With Limited Data, Nihil Pudota

Master's Theses

Machine learning used in the medical industry can potentially detect cancer in humancells at an early stage. However, training the machine learning models, especially deep learning models require thousands to millions of samples in order to reach an acceptable accuracy level. It is well-know that obtaining medical data is tedious hence in most cases, medical datasets have limited number of data samples. One solution for this problem is utilizing transfer learning such as pretrained networks on another dataset. Another solution is to increase the number of training data points with data augmentation. Common data augmentation methods for images include not …

Faster Depth Estimation For Situational Awareness On Urban Streets, Sanjana Srinivas

Master's Theses

Depth estimation algorithms are useful components of computer vision systems toassess video streams on urban streets. They can provide important information about the street space and improve situational awareness for humans. Deep learning algorithms for depth estimation are slow in providing on-time street evaluation for the users. To provide situational awareness to humans, the inference time needs to be small, so that results are fresh and meaningful. This paper explores approaches like switching to efficient convolutional neural network, quantization and pruning to improve inference time with a little compromise on the performance. We explore the impact of each of these …

Map-Gan: Unsupervised Learning Of Inverse Problems, Brandon S. Campanella

Master's Theses

In this paper we outline a novel method for training a generative adversarial network based denoising model from an exclusively corrupted and unpaired dataset of images. Our model can learn without clean data or corrupted image pairs, and instead only requires that the noise distribution is able to be expressed analytically and that the noise at each pixel is independent. We utilize maximum a posteriori estimation as the underlying solution framework, optimizing over the analytically expressed noise generating distribution as the likelihood and employ the GAN as the prior. We then evaluate our method on several popular datasets of varying …

Medial And Lateral Tibiofemoral Contact Forces For Individuals With High Body Mass Index In Gait And Cycling Training, Reymil Fernandez

Master's Theses

The prevalence of knee osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease characterized by the degradation of articular cartilage, is correlated with the rise in obesity. The rising rates of obesity in children and adults highlight the need for identifying a sustainable physical activity that promotes fitness while mitigating initiation and progression of osteoarthritis. The objective of this study was to determine an effective rehabilitation and lifelong fitness sustainment exercise regimen that minimize risk of osteoarthritis in individuals with high body mass index (BMI). The aim was to examine knee medial and lateral contact forces in gait and cycling training. Gait at self-selected …

Triangular Cosserat Point Element Method For Reducing Soft Tissue Artifact: Validation And Application To Gait, Jake Edward Deschamps, Stephen Klisch

Master's Theses

Human motion capture technology is a powerful tool for advancing the understanding of human motion biomechanics (Andriacchi and Alexander, 2000). This is most readily accomplished by applying retroreflective markers to a participant’s skin and tracking the position of the markers during motion. Skin and adipose tissue move independently of the underlying bone during motion creating error known as soft tissue artifact (STA), the primary source of error in human motion capture (Leardini et al., 2005).

(Solav et al., 2014) proposed and (Solav et al., 2015) expanded the triangular Cosserat point element (TCPE) method to reduce the effect of STA on …

Developing A Light Curve Simulation Tool For Ground And Space-Based Observations Of Spacecraft And Debris, Andrew T. Ochoa

Master's Theses

A light curve is a plot of brightness versus time of an object. Light curves are dependent on orbit, attitude, surface area, size, and shape of the observed object. Using light curve data, several analysis methods have been developed to derive these parameters. These parameters can be used for tracking orbital debris, monitoring satellite health, and determining the mission of an unknown spacecraft.

This paper discusses the development, verification, and utilization of a tool that simulates light curve data. This tool models ground-based observations, space-based observations, self-shadowing geometry, tumbling debris, and controlled spacecraft. The main output from the tool is …

An Analysis Of Camera Configurations And Depth Estimation Algorithms For Triple-Camera Computer Vision Systems, Jared Peter-Contesse

Master's Theses

The ability to accurately map and localize relevant objects surrounding a vehicle is an important task for autonomous vehicle systems. Currently, many of the environmental mapping approaches rely on the expensive LiDAR sensor. Researchers have been attempting to transition to cheaper sensors like the camera, but so far, the mapping accuracy of single-camera and dual-camera systems has not matched the accuracy of LiDAR systems. This thesis examines depth estimation algorithms and camera configurations of a triple-camera system to determine if sensor data from an additional perspective will improve the accuracy of camera-based systems. Using a synthetic dataset, the performance of …

Composing A Comprehensive Music Education: Teacher And Student Experiences With The Role Of Songwriting In Elementary General Music, Tara Neeley

Master's Theses

Music education has for many years focused on the musical role of performance and teaching from the traditional canon of Western classical music. In recent years, it has been noted that just a small portion of students participate in music offerings in secondary schools. Yet, the mission of the music education profession is for all students to experience and make music. To reach more students, music education must be relevant to students’ real world, pragmatic for a lifetime of musical involvement, and must help students build their identities. Providing a comprehensive music education in which students experience all musical roles, …

Kaleidoscopic Katas: An Intercultural Somatic Curriculum For Holistic Health, Emily Seymour

Master's Theses

The intent of this research study was to combine three African and Eastern somatic movement practices into a modern dance curriculum. Few studies have investigated the therapeutic value of subtle body awareness in a dance class context. This integrative study combined psychological, physiological, and contemplative pedagogical approaches, which led to the development of a comprehensive five-part workshop with five adult participants. This ten-hour online class series involved learning a traditional Afro-Haitian serpent dance called the Yanvalou, the Tantric practice of Chakra Yoga, and the Five Animals qigong. The original curricular goal was to combine these three modalities into five sequential …