Digital Commons Network^™

Motivation And Social Withdrawal In Schizophrenia: Factors Related To Passive Social Withdrawal And Active Social Avoidance, Emily Anne Peters

Master's Theses

Schizophrenia is a disabling disorder and social withdrawal in schizophrenia is related to particularly adverse outcomes. Social withdrawal may be a result of “passive” motivation (disinterest or lack of drive to engage with others) or “active” motivation (fear, hostility, or distrust of others). The purpose of this study was to better understand passive social withdrawal and active social avoidance, by exploring their relationships with social abilities and social functioning outcomes. In addition, we explored whether the EEG frontal alpha asymmetry hypothesis, which has been previously linked to shyness and sociability, might contribute to our understanding of social withdrawal motivation.

This …

A Regional Vulnerability Assessment For The Dungeness Crab (Metacarcinus Magister) To Changing Ocean Conditions: Insights From Model Projections And Empirical Experiments, Halle Berger

Master's Theses

Among global coastal regions, the Northern California Current System (N-CCS) is already experiencing effects from ocean acidification and hypoxia during the summer, primarily due to the region’s seasonal upwelling, current systems, and high productivity. Oxygen, pH, and temperature conditions are expected to become more stressful with continued fossil fuel emissions under global climate change, posing a serious threat to the region’s fisheries. N-CCS fishing communities rely heavily on the economically and culturally important Dungeness crab (Metacarcinus magister). The fishery is currently sustainably managed, but potential negative impacts from changing ocean conditions on Dungeness crab life stages and populations …

An Exploration Of Health Misinformation In A Facebook-Delivered Health Education Intervention, Kelsey Arroyo

Master's Theses

Background: Health misinformation is commonly shared on social media but little research has examined how misinformation is communicated and what health messages are most likely to receive misinformed responses on social media. Purpose: The purpose of this work is to explore the extent to which health misinformation was shared by participants in a private Facebook-delivered health education intervention moderated by a health counselor. Methods: We used engagement data from a randomized controlled trial of a yearlong Facebook-delivered health education intervention. We conducted a content analysis of 6,016 participant comments (including original posts and replies) to examine the nature of comments …

The Use Of Low-Cost Sensors And A Convolutional Neural Network To Detect And Classify Mini-Drones, Austin Florio

Master's Theses

The increasing commercial availability of mini-drones and quadrotors has led to their greater usage, highlighting the need for detection and classification systems to ensure safe operation. Instances of drones causing serious complications since 2019 alone include shutting down airports [1-2], spying on individuals [3-4], and smuggling drugs and prohibited items across borders and into prisons [5-6]. Some regulatory measures have been taken, such as registration of drones above a specific size and the establishment of no-fly zones in sensitive areas such as airports, military bases, and national parks. While commercial systems exist to detect drones [7-8], they are expensive, unreliable, …

Theoretical And Experimental Study Of Choline Chloride-Carboxylic Acid Deep Eutectic Solvents And Their Hydrogen Bonds, Ramu Gautam

Master's Theses

In the field of green chemistry, deep eutectic solvents (DES) have seen extensive use and research in the last two decades. Two carboxylic acid-choline chloride DESs were studied using experimental Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and computational Density Functional Theory (DFT). Geometry optimization, vibrational analysis, and assignment of vibrational frequencies were performed using B3LYP with a DNP basis set. The identified experimental FTIR peaks were found to be close to the calculated vibrations. Vibrations that would be impossible to identify and characterize using experimental methods were identified using DFT simulations. The shifts in wavenumber of FTIR vibrational peaks were studied …

The Megaprocessor As An Educational Tool Making The Abstract Concrete, Jonathon Beauregard Ii

Master's Theses

Computer architecture courses can be difficult for students to engage with and learn from. This is because, unlike most core courses for a computer science student, learning architecture is an abstract process. To address this, universities have implemented methods for teaching course material other than purely descriptive methods. This typically means using simulations to model some aspect of a CPU or FPGA (fieldprogrammable gate array) boards for hands-on experimentation in CPU design. However, there are issues with these tools. Simulations can only cover a few topics well, are prone to being abandoned, and introduce additional abstraction layers. FPGAs, while great …

Flexure Strength Enhancement Study In Geopolymer Mortar, Victor Bivens

Master's Theses

This thesis includes the structural enhancement study on the flexible or semi-rigid design of geopolymer mortar (GPM) to address tensile cracking commonly found at the invert of reinforced concrete pipes. Concrete pipes are often subjected to harsh sewer conditions, which eventually spread to the reinforcement skeleton through the resulting cracks and corrode it to cause premature structural failure of the pipe. Therefore, this added flexibility to the pipes’ rigid material will not only serve to limit corrosion of the steel reinforcement within the pipes but will also aid in increasing the structural stability of the pipe in its entirety. The …

Low-Cost Reaction Wheel Design For Cubesat Applications, Nicholas J. Bonafede Jr.

Master's Theses

As science instruments on CubeSats become more sensitive to the attitude of the spacecraft, better methods must be employed to provide the accuracy needed to complete the planned mission. While systems that provide the accuracy required are available commercially, these solutions are not cost-effective, do not allow the design to be tailored to a specific mission, and most importantly, do not give students hand-on experience with attitude control actuators. This thesis documents the design, modeling, and simulation of a low-cost, student-fabricated, reaction wheel system for use in 3U CubeSat satellites. The entire design process for the development of this reaction …

Boost Converter Inductor Sizing Effects On The Performance Of Mppt Algorithms, Alan Nonaka

Master's Theses

With solar power and other renewables set to take over the market in the coming decades, maximum power point tracking will be essential to optimizing power output. One underserved topic of research is the effect of inductor current ripple on performance of Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithms. Many new topologies are focused on decreasing the ripple from PV source to increase efficiency and power output. However, not much has been done to show ripple degrading performance of MPPT algorithms. This study uses a boost converter topology to test the performance of constant duty cycle step Perturb and Observe (PO), …

Hydraulic Effects Of Perpendicular Water Approach Velocity On Meter Gate Flow Measurement, John M. Thorburn

Master's Theses

Accurate flow measurement is required to effectively manage water resources. California Senate Bill X7-7 (SB X7-7), legislates this need by requiring agricultural water providers serving areas greater than 25,000 acres to develop an Agricultural Water Management Plan (AWMP) and adopt pricing based at least partly on volumetric water deliveries (DWR, 2009). This study focused on two of the most common flow measurement/flow control devices used in California open channel water conveyance systems: the circular meter gate and the rectangular meter gate. Testing was conducted on three Armco-type (round gates over round discharge pipe) gates measuring 12”, 18”, and 24” and …

Assessing Undergraduate Sustainability Knowledge At California Polytechnic State University, Elysa C. M. Briens

Master's Theses

Sustainability education has become an important focus of many higher education institutions (HEIs), with the inclusion of many sustainability-related learning objectives for undergraduate students. As sustainability is a new, rising discipline, an increasing number of HEIs have made efforts to assess their teaching and learning effectiveness. However, most assessments fall short in determining the relationship between sustainability curriculum and the impacts on leaning outcomes. Therefore, this study aims to assess the impact of academic setting, specifically of a structured sustainability curriculum, on undergraduate sustainability knowledge, as well as analyze the implications of perceived barriers and opportunities to implementing sustainability into …

Pathfinding Interplanetary Bus Capability For The Cal Poly Cubesat Laboratory Through The Development Of A Phobos-Deimos Mission Concept, Alyssa M. Ralph

Master's Theses

With the rise of CubeSats and the demonstration of their many space applications, there is interest in interplanetary CubeSats to act for example as scientific investigations or communications relays. In line with the increasing demand for this class of small satellites, the Cal Poly CubeSat Lab (CPCL) seeks to develop a bus that could support an interplanetary science payload. To facilitate this, a mission concept to conduct science of the moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, is investigated by determining the mission needs for a CubeSat in a Phobos-Deimos cycler orbit through the development of a baseline design to meet …

Exploring Experiences With Social Disorganization In Denver Communities, Tiffanie Pham

Master's Theses

Social disorganization theory states that individuals residing in disadvantaged communities are more likely to engage in delinquency and criminality due to the elements the individuals experience (Shaw & McKay, 1969). More specifically, social disorganization theory refers to the failure of the community to fully understand and acknowledge the common goals or solve any issues that the community might be experiencing (Kubrin & Weitzer, 2003). Utilizing social disorganization theory, specifically, the family disruption and poverty elements, the current literature focuses on individuals who reside in disadvantaged communities in Denver, Colorado. By using the qualitative approach, this study relied on in-depth interviews …

The Power Of Together: Applying Group Dynamics To Organizational Change Initiatives, Megan Bissell

Master's Theses

Work and occupations are among the oldest and most salient concepts studied in sociology. Sociology as a field has largely focused on organizations from a macro perspective; primarily looking at organizational systems and institutionalized systems of oppression. Conversely, in conjunction with other disciplines such as psychology, sociology has maintained a presence in the more micro space, focusing on individualized interaction and behaviors. However, there is a distinct lack of meso-level research about the impact of group dynamics and social interaction in the for-profit workplace. Since 2010, there have only been 89 articles published about groups and their interactions in the …

Developing Metrics And Protocols For Evaluating Restoration Success For The Little Thompson River, Colorado, Haylie Brown

Master's Theses

In September 2013, the US Colorado Front Range experienced an extreme rainfall event causing mass flooding in the region. Many Front Range rivers were impacted and subsequently restored, especially those adjacent to roadways. Channel restoration practices often lack a standard approach, and evaluating project success is usually lacking. An assessment framework was developed incorporating both ecological and geomorphic variables in addition to project-specific objectives, applied to the Little Thompson River. Topographic and functional traits vegetation surveys were conducted at both the restored reach and an upstream reference reach, with the ultimate goal of contributing to the knowledge of best practices …

Assessing The Effects Of Habitat On Bird Song Propagation, Braelei Hardt

Master's Theses

The Acoustic Adaptation Hypothesis (AAH) posits that animal acoustic signals meant for long-range communication should be adapted to transmit well within the habitats in which they evolved. However, comparative studies investigating predictions of the AAH relating to signal form indicate that support for the hypothesis is not universal. Several studies have employed experimental playback approaches to testing signal transmission which can provide complimentary analyses to comparative studies of signal form in the field. Here, I first summarize these experimental playback tests of the AAH in birds, mammals, insects, and anurans, describing the methodologies used in these tests, and assessing the …

The Wakefield Phenomenon: A Rhetorical Examination Of The Resurgence Of The Anti-Vaccination Movement In The 20th & 21st Century, Karen Boger

Master's Theses

This thesis explores the phenomenon of the anti-vaccination movement and existing publications documenting significant points in its resurgence in the late 20^th and early 21^st century following the now redacted publication by the former Dr. Wakefield asserting a correlation between children receiving vaccinations and children exhibiting the onset of developmental disorders, with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) garnering the most public attention. With increasing numbers of parents delaying or forbidding their children from receiving vaccinations, along with the re-emergence of previously eradicated disease outbreaks and casualties, questions about the salience of Wakefield’s anti-vaccination statements arise. Investigation here is key …

Containing The Blemmye: Anxiety Towards Congenital Difference In The Old English Wonders Of The East, Jessica L. Carrell

Master's Theses

This thesis aims to illuminate early medieval anxieties about sex, procreation, and congenital physical difference by applying a lens of critical disability theory to the Old English Wonders of the East, primarily as it survives in the eleventh-century manuscript, London, British Library, Cotton MS Tiberius B.v. This thesis focuses on the textual and illustrative representation of one Wonder, the Blemmye—an approximately eight-foot-tall, eight-foot-wide androgynous humanoid, whose eyes and mouth are in their chest and who does not possess a head—as a historic embodiment of what disability meant in relation to the early medieval English worldview. This thesis considers the …

Finding Identity Through Survival: The Impact Of The Hurricanes In Zora Neale Hurston’S Their Eyes Were Watching God And Jesmyn Ward’S Salvage The Bones, Crystal F. Giles

Master's Theses

This paper attempts to convey the importance of the hurricane symbol in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Jesmyn Ward’s Salvage the Bones. In both novels, the authors use the imagery of setting combined with the characterization of poor women of color in order to emphasize both the effects of environmental disaster on vulnerable communities and also the inherent power of their protagonists to overcome systemic racism combined with natural disaster. The climax of Zora Neale Hurston’s novel revolves around the deadly 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane in Florida, and the rising action of Jesmyn Ward’s novel peaks …

Non-Religious Employee's Perceptions Of Microaggressions And Their Relationship With Job Satisfaction As Moderated By Calling, Jessica Schultz

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between microaggressions, person-organization fit (P-O fit), job satisfaction, and calling in non-religious individuals. Established research demonstrates that job satisfaction is predicted by P-O fit (Dawis, 2005). Research with minority groups has found that microaggressions are negatively related to P-O fit and job satisfaction (Lyons, Velez, Mehta, & Neil, 2014). However, research has yet to examine these interactions with a non-religious population. Previous investigations have found that calling is positively correlated with both P-O fit and job satisfaction (Duffy & Dik, 2013; Duffy, Allan, & Dik, 2011; Hirschi, 2012), suggesting the …

Marketing To The New Generations Of Lgbtq+ Tourists, George Smith

Master's Theses

As social acceptance for LGBTQ+ people grows, it is essential to research and understand more about tourism and its important role in the lives of LGBTQ+ populations. There are tourism communities around the country that may not be familiar with this market segment and are not sure where to start. This can leave the LGBTQ+ market segment under-represented in the tourism industry. This research sets out to answer the question, “Can tourism communities who wish to expand to newer generations of LGBTQ+ travelers market to them successfully?” Mixed research methods include an exploration of city tourism websites, interviews with tourism …

Freshwater Endmembers Impacting Carbonate Chemistry In The Mississippi Sound, Allison Savoie

Master's Theses

Coastal ecosystems are highly dynamic areas for carbon cycling and are likely to be negatively impacted by increasing ocean acidification. This research focused on dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity (TA) in the Mississippi Sound in order to understand the influence of local rivers that supply alkalinity to the area and buffer against ocean acidification. This area receives large fluxes of freshwater from local rivers, in addition to episodic inputs from the Mississippi River through a human-built diversion, the Bonnet Carré Spillway. Sites in the Mississippi Sound were sampled monthly during August 2018 to November 2019 and at weekly …

Does Race Matter? An Examination Of Defendant Race On Legal Decision Making In The Context Of Actuarial Risk Assessments, Riley Davis

Master's Theses

Numerous examples show how consideration of extra-legal factors, like defendant race, in legal decision-making are contributing to the overrepresentation of minorities in the legal system. Because triers of fact may be less familiar with risk assessment results presented by expert witnesses, there is a need to examine how legal decision-making is being affected by race in this context. This study aimed to examine whether individuals are in fact relying on race as a factor above empirically supported expert opinions of actual violence risk predictions. The sample consisted of 280 participants recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. To test the primary hypothesis …

Effects Of Various Decontamination Protocols On The Surface Microbial Load Of Conventional And 3d Printed Surgical Guides For Dental Implants, David Remiszewski

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Alveolar Bone And Airway Changes In Different Maxillary Expansion Treatments: A 3d Cone-Beam Tomography Study, Dennis Wang

Master's Theses

Objectives: To evaluate the long-term effects on the airway and bone in patients that have undergone BA, TA and control with 3D cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) analysis. Materials and Methods: 180 CBCTs were analyzed for 60 patients at pretreatment (T1), post expansion (T2), and post-treatment (T3). Patients were divided into three groups, bone anchored expansion (BA), tooth anchored expansion (TA) and a control group. For the airway portion of the study, the nasal cavity, nasopharyngeal, oropharyngeal and laryngopharyngeal, and total airway volumes were measured. Total airway area, minimal cross-sectional area, maxillary intermolar, external maxillary and palatal widths were also …

Interprofessional Collaboration For Oral Health Education And Screening Of Children With Special Health Care Needs, Lamia Habib

Master's Theses

In 2016, National Survey of Children’s Health conducted by the U.S. Department (HRSA MCHB) identified 18.8% of children aged 0-17 years old with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN). Of these children, 83.4% are not receiving adequate healthcare. It has been well established that oral health is an integral part of the child’s general health. Medical primary care physicians may play an important role in improving oral health outcomes through oral screening, referral, oral health education and promotion. CSHCN may be at an increased risk for oral health problems throughout their life which may negatively impact their quality of life and …

Evaluation Of Obturation Extrusion Of Guttacore With Varying Insertion Rates, John Barrett

Master's Theses

Abstract:

Introduction:The aim of this study is to determine whether the insertion rate of the Dentsply/Sirona Guttacore obturation product with Dentsply AH Plus sealer has an effect on 1. the extrusion amount of the obturating materials and 2. the extrusion probability of the obturating materials out of root canal apex.

Methods:Thirty root canal simulating plastic blocks were prepared with Waveone Gold nickel titanium rotary files to a size “primary” file. The prepared blocks were divided into three groups: group 1 was obturated using GuttaCore size primary obturator (analogous to the reciprocating file size) at a rate of 1 …

Combining Machine Learning And Empirical Engineering Methods Towards Improving Oil Production Forecasting, Andrew J. Allen

Master's Theses

Current methods of production forecasting such as decline curve analysis (DCA) or numerical simulation require years of historical production data, and their accuracy is limited by the choice of model parameters. Unconventional resources have proven challenging to apply traditional methods of production forecasting because they lack long production histories and have extremely variable model parameters. This research proposes a data-driven alternative to reservoir simulation and production forecasting techniques. We create a proxy-well model for predicting cumulative oil production by selecting statistically significant well completion parameters and reservoir information as independent predictor variables in regression-based models. Then, principal component analysis (PCA) …

Identification Of Users Via Ssh Timing Attack, Thomas J. Flucke

Master's Theses

Secure Shell, a tool to securely access and run programs on a remote machine, is an important tool for both system administrators and developers alike. The technology landscape is becoming increasingly distributed and reliant on tools such as Secure Shell to protect information as a user works on a system remotely. While Secure Shell accounts for the abuses the security of older tools such as telnet overlook, it still has fundamental vulnerabilities which leak information about both the user and their activities through timing attacks. The OpenSSH client, the implementation included in all Linux, Mac, and Windows computers, sends each …

Secondary Uses Of Ballutes After Aerocapture, Josiah Shelton

Master's Theses

Aerocapture is a method for spacecraft orbital insertion that is currently being assessed for use in interplanetary missions. This method would use a low periapsis hyperbolic entry orbit to induce drag allowing the spacecraft to slow down without the use of a propulsion system. This is accomplished by using a ballute (balloon parachute), which is released after the appropriate change in velocity necessary to achieve the desired planetary orbit. Once released, the ballute could deploy a secondary mission vehicle. A MATLAB simulation was run to understand the environment a secondary payload would undergo, such as heating and deceleration, as well …