Digital Commons Network^™

Crossing Corridors: Wildlife Use Of Jumpouts And Undercrossings Along A Highway With Wildlife Exclusion Fencing, Alex J. Jensen

Master's Theses

Roads pose two central problems for wildlife: wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs) and habitat fragmentation. Wildlife exclusion fencing can reduce WVCs but can exacerbate fragmentation. In Chapter 1, I summarize the relevant studies addressing these two problems, with a focus on large mammals in North America. Chapters 2 and 3 summarize field assessments of technologies to reduce WVCs and maintain connectivity, specifically jumpout ramps and underpasses, along Highway 101 near San Luis Obispo, CA. In a fenced highway, some animals inevitably breach the fence and become trapped, which increases the risk of a wildlife-vehicle collision. Earthen escape ramps, or “jumpouts”, can allow …

The Development And Validation Of Sinatra: A Three-Dimensional Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (Dsmc) Code Written In Object-Oriented C++ And Performed On Cartesian Grids, David Matthew Galvez

Master's Theses

The field of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) primarily involves the approximation of the Navier-Stokes equations. However, these equations are only valid when the flow is considered continuous such that molecular interactions are abundant and predictable. The Knudsen number, $Kn$, which is defined as the ratio of the flow's mean free path, $\lambda$, to some characteristic length, $L$, quantifies the continuity of any flow, and when this parameter is large enough, alternative methods must be employed to simulate gases. The Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is one which simulates rarefied gas flows by directly simulating the particles that compose the …

Blazing Worlds, Bethany Kinney

Master's Theses

Blazing Worlds is a collection of short stories exploring themes of understanding, isolation, the world of work, and identity. These stories follow characters who are searching for connections to others, to their environments, to their work, and to themselves. The protagonists of these stories inhabit worlds that are slightly adjacent to reality, worlds cast into a near future, and worlds that operate by the logic of the campy and the fantastic. Through heightened technology, body horror, or blurred metaphysical boundaries, the residents of these blazing worlds pursue knowledge of their place in life and fight to establish and maintain their …

Δ15n And Trace Metal Records Of 17th To 20th Century Land Use Change In Upland Connecticut Watersheds, Caitlin Mcmanimon

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Metabarcoding Analysis Of Prey Composition Of The Copepod Calanus Finmarchicus In Regions Of The North Atlantic Ocean, Heidi Yeh

Master's Theses

The copepod Calanus finmarchicus occupies a pivotal position in the pelagic food web of the North Atlantic Ocean. Prey choice and predator-prey dynamics at this trophic level can influence energy transfer through the ecosystem. To examine the copepod prey composition and test the hypothesis that C. finmarchicus exhibit spatial variation in diet across four basins of the North Atlantic, this study used metabarcoding analysis (high throughput sequencing of orthologous gene regions) to analyze the gut contents of C. finmarchicus. Zooplankton net samples were collected during a 2013 cruise of the R/V GO Sars in the Norwegian, Icelandic, Irminger, and Labrador …

The American Dream(Ers): Undocumented Youth’S (Re)Interpretation Of Social Movement Frames, Kevin Zevallos

Master's Theses

The dreamer narrative and its accompanying frames have become a staple of immigration debates in the United States. Dreamer narratives afford undocumented youth organizations visibility to articulate their socio-political needs. As undocumented youth make claims for legal and social recognition, they utilize dreamer frames that highlight undocumented youth as productive, patriotic, and/or deserving members of U.S. society. Based on 18 semi-structured interviews with undocumented youth and Connecticut state legislators and participant observation of undocumented youth-led rallies, lobbying campaigns and organizational meetings, I examine how undocumented youth organizers react, respond and utilize nationally derived social movement frames in a local context. …

Evaluation Of The Fragility Of East Bay Municipal Utility District (Ebmud) Mokelumne Aqueduct, Sara Chalian

Master's Theses

The East Bay Municipal Utility District provides water to the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Water is delivered through the Mokelumne Aqueduct, which consists of three large diameter steel pipelines. Approximately 15 miles of the aqueducts cross the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. A stability analysis has been conducted to evaluate how resilient the elevated aqueduct is in the Delta. Subsidence in the Delta considerably reduces the lateral support of piles. Based on previous studies, and available survey and LiDAR data, the amount of subsidence in the Delta has been predicted over time. In addition, site-specific seismic studies …

Relationship Between Aerobic Capacity And Episodic Memory In Older Adults, Nicole Henderson

Master's Theses

The goal of this research was to examine the relationship between aerobic capacity and memory in older adults. Prior research demonstrated an age-related decline in episodic memory (memory for episodes and events), which may be partially due to a decreasing ability to engage in pattern separation – the ability to form new memories that are sufficiently distinct from prior memories. Studies in rodents suggested that aerobic exercise may improve pattern separation abilities in older animals, but similar research in humans is lacking. Here, I investigated whether individual differences on a memory test that taxes pattern separation were associated with differences …

Big Data Quality Modeling And Validation, Khushali Yashodhar Desai

Master's Theses

The chief purpose of this study is to characterize various big data quality models and to validate each with an example. As the volume of data is increasing at an exponential speed in the era of the broadband Internet, the success of a product or decision largely depends upon selecting the highest quality raw materials, or data, to be used in production. However, working with data in high volumes, fast velocities, and various formats can be fraught with problems. Therefore, software industries need a quality check, especially for data being generated by either software or a sensor. This study explores …

Hydraulic Sheet Resistance In Paper­-Based Porous Media, Stefan Myles Doser

Master's Theses

This work investigates the special case of in­-plane fluid flow of a Newtonian incompressible fluid across a thin paper-­based porous medium at very low Reynolds numbers (Re ≪ 1). Fluid transport with these characteristics is used in emerging devices such as microscale paper­based analytical devices (μPADs). The mathematical similarity between Darcy’s law and Ohm’s law is considered, and hydraulic equivalents of current, voltage and resistance are determined to propose hydraulic sheet resistance. Darcy flow is predicted under these conditions and tested by experiment at two flow rates of 5 μL/min and 10 μL/min. A device was designed and fabricated to …

Chemical Competition Between Microscopic Stages Of Macrocystis Pyrifera And Five Native Kelp Species: Does Giant Kelp Always Lose?, Maria Suzanne Christensen

Master's Theses

The giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera is often considered competitively dominant to other kelp species due to its high productivity. However, on the microscopic level, previous studies found that Macrocystis can be inferior to other kelp species through microscopic interspecies chemical competition. Recruitment failure can be caused by neighboring kelps because there is no species specificity in the stereochemistry of the signaling chemical used during reproduction to initiate spermatozoid release; therefore, Macrocystis spermatozoid release is pre-empted by that of its competitors. To date, this interaction has been tested between Macrocystis and only one other kelp taxon, Pterygophora. To test whether Macrocystis …

An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of 2013 Boston Marathoners' Experience Of Running A Subsequent Boston Marathon, Allison Grace

Master's Theses

While trauma experiences have been explored in several sport-related research studies, there is a lack of research on athletes’ experiences of a terror attack in sport. The present study qualitatively explored the meanings that 2013 Boston Marathoners ascribed to their experience of returning to the Boston Marathon to compete. Eight participants took part in semi-structured interviews. Interviews were analyzed via interpretative phenomenological analysis. Eight themes emerged and were organized temporally around pre-2013 Boston Marathon experience, 2013 Boston Marathon experience, and post-2013 Boston Marathon experience. Results suggest participants initially had difficulty processing their 2013 experience, but ultimately, several participants had a …

Effects Of A Preschool Arts Curriculum On Social And Emotional Competence, Sarah Rose Henderson

Master's Theses

This study investigated the extent to which low-income preschool children’s social, emotional, and behavioral competence improved after engaging in a six-week-long arts program. Participants included 46 students of three, four, and five years of age in two low-income, state-funded classrooms in the San Francisco Bay Area. Analyses of children’s scores on SCBE-80 measures of Social Competence and Egotistic-Prosocial showed statistically significant change from the pretest to the posttest. Teacher survey report of students’ frequency in social adaptation and enjoyment of the arts suggested that teachers observed social improvements in the classroom that were consistent with SCBE-80 results in Social Competence. …

A Randomized Clinical Trial Comparing Outcomes Of Open-Versus Closed-Surgical Exposure Of Palatally Impacted Maxillary Canines: A Pilot Study, Suha Alghamdi

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Patients’ Satisfaction With Existing Dry Mouth Therapies And Willingness To Pay For An Artificial Salivary Gland, Akanksha Srivastava

Master's Theses

Objectives: 1) To evaluate the effect of xerostomia and satisfaction with xerostomia therapies on patients’ oral health related quality of life (OHQoL); 2) To evaluate patients’ willingness-to-adopt and willingness-to-pay for an artificial implantable salivary gland.

Methods: A survey was conducted to obtain patients’ satisfaction with current xerostomia management strategies, effect of Xerostomia on their oral and general health, willingness to adopt an artificial salivary gland pump, and willingness-to-pay for the implantable device.

Results: A total of 107 individuals responded through either a paper-based questionnaire or online survey. Individuals with Sjögren’s syndrome and Radiation-related xerostomia had significantly poorer OHQoL compared …

English As A Second Language Proficiency: An Irt Approach To Scoring, Merve Sarac

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Perceived Gayness Of Prep: The Influence Of Masculinity Ideology On Black Men Who Have Sex With Men's Interest In Prep, Ladectric Driver

Master's Theses

Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) experience higher HIV incidence rates than any other U.S. population subgroup. The development of a bio-behavioral strategy using anti-retroviral therapy, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), provides a new alternative for HIV prevention; however, interest and uptake among BMSM remains poor. Gender-based perceptions and roles may be a factor in PrEP interest among BMSM. The present study examined the relationship between avoidance of femininity, heterosexual self-presentation, PrEP stigma and PrEP interest among BMSM. A self-administered questionnaire assessing aspects of traditional masculinity ideology, stigmatized beliefs that PrEP use will out one as gay, and PrEP interest …

Observational Learning Of A Changing Goal Location In Rats, Ryan Troha

Master's Theses

Observational, or imitative, learning is a vital skill for survival. This type of social learning plays an important role in human development (e.g. Bandura), but is also relevant for other species.

We have developed an observational learning paradigm in which rats must learn the location of food in a T-shaped maze through observation. This is a working memory task with the correct goal changing on a daily basis. Therefore, the observer must attend to the demonstrator rat’s performance on a daily or continuous basis.

F344 rats can be trained to observe the location of food on a T-maze before being …

Selectivity Of The Lower Kellwasser Mass Extinction Event (Late Devonian) In The Appalachian Basin, Jaleigh Quai Pier

Master's Theses

Mass extinctions are often associated with multiple environmental perturbations. For example, the Upper and Lower Kellwasser Events (the two pulses of the Frasnian-Famennian mass extinction in the Late Devonian) coincide with both global cooling and ocean anoxia/dysoxia. Assessing the selectivity of extinction—which types of organisms survived versus died—can help constrain which environmental changes were most important as kill mechanisms. Here, selectivity is examined with respect to several factors during the Lower Kellwasser Event. A thick package of siliciclastic sediments was deposited in the Appalachian Foreland Basin during the Late Devonian. Thanks to recent stratigraphic revisions, the Kellwasser Events can be …

Analysis Of Potential Vermicompost Market In California, Jason Alan Thomas

Master's Theses

Vermicompost transforms agricultural waste into a high quality soil amendment, though market acceptance remains in its infancy. This study examines how growers’ willingness to pay for vermicompost is affected by grower’s crop, region, income per acre, knowledge level of vermicompost and compost, previous use of compost, and the willingness to pay for compost. The survey results pulled together 223 responses from California growers. It was discovered growers’ had less knowledge of vermicompost than compost but were willing to pay more for vermicompost. There was statistical difference amongst the responses. It was shown the market value per ton of vermicompost lies …

A Comparison Of The Usability Of Security Mechanisms Provided By Ios And Android, David E. Maulick

Master's Theses

The Open Web Application Security Project identifies that the number one vulnerability in mobile applications is the misuse of platform-provided security mechanisms. This means that platforms like iOS and Android, which now account for 99.8\% of the mobile phone market, are providing mechanisms that are consistently being used in an incorrect manner. This statistic shines a spotlight onto both platforms. Why is it that so many people are misusing platform provided security mechanisms? And is it the platform’s fault? The supposition of this paper is that both iOS and Android are not creating usable security mechanisms.

This paper is meant …

Object Tracking In Games Using Convolutional Neural Networks, Anirudh Venkatesh

Master's Theses

Computer vision research has been growing rapidly over the last decade. Recent advancements in the field have been widely used in staple products across various industries. The automotive and medical industries have even pushed cars and equipment into production that use computer vision. However, there seems to be a lack of computer vision research in the game industry. With the advent of e-sports, competitive and casual gaming have reached new heights with regard to players, viewers, and content creators. This has allowed for avenues of research that did not exist prior.

In this thesis, we explore the practicality of object …

Jupyterlab_Voyager: A Data Visualization Enhancement In Jupyterlab, Ji Zhang

Master's Theses

With the emergence of big data, scientific data analysis and visualization (DAV) tools are critical components of the data science software ecosystem; the usability of these tools is becoming extremely important to facilitate next-generation scientific discoveries. JupyterLab has been considered as one of the best polyglot, web-based, open-source data science tools. As the next phase of extensible interface for the classic iPython Notebooks, this tool supports interactive data science and scientific computing across multiple programming languages with great performances. Despite these advantages, previous heuristics evaluation studies have shown that JupyterLab has some significant flaws in the data visualization side. The …

A Comparative Study Of Feature Detection Methods For Auv Localization, Andrew Y. Kim

Master's Theses

Underwater localization is a difficult task when it comes to making the system autonomous due to the unpredictable environment. The fact that radio signals such as GPS cannot be transmitted through water makes autonomous movement and localization underwater even more challenging. One specific method that is widely used for autonomous underwater navigation applications is Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM), a technique in which a map is created and updated while localizing the vehicle within the map. In SLAM, feature detection is used in landmark extraction and data association by examining each pixel and differentiating landmarks pixels from those of the …

Effects Of Using Clay Nanoparticles As A Soil Amendment To Remove Nitrate From Stormwater, Megan P. Abutin

Master's Theses

Development of urban areas continues to increase, disrupting the natural ecosystem and the pathways for water to drain into downstream water bodies. As the amount of impervious area increases, pollutants can accumulate on the surface and enter the water cycle by stormwater. In most cities, the stormwater flows into a storm drain that is discharged into a water body. Low Impact Development technology has been developed to treat stormwater prior to discharge downstream. A bioretention cell is used to treat stormwater pollutants such as nitrate, phosphorus, total suspended solids, and metals. Past research has indicated that the removal efficiency of …

Bird Abundance At Bird Feeders In Response To Temperature, Wind Speed And Precipitation During The Winter Season, Siddhant Kahal

Master's Theses

The goal of this project is to explore how 23 different bird species respond to 3 climatic attributes. These attributes are lower than average temperatures, wind speed and precipitation level. Information about the bird species and all of the data associated with them is provided by Project FeederWatch (PFW). This is a citizen based survey study that provides key information about bird species abundance through the use of backyard and community feeders. The study volunteers from across the United States and Canada monitor these bird feeders and note important information about the species such as the number of individuals seen. …

Polycommit: Building Better Habits Through Gamification, Elliot Fiske

Master's Theses

Computer-assisted learning is older than Turing machines, and constantly evolves as technology improves. While some teachers are resistant to using technology in the classroom, “e-learning” techniques are becoming more common in almost every school, from K-12 to universities. As technology becomes more widespread, it becomes crucial to examine the various methodologies of computer-assisted learning and find the techniques that are most effective.

This paper explores the effectiveness of one such methodology, spaced repetition. This technique applies to homework assignments available to students online. We include an exploration of several existing apps that use this technique, and introduce our own novel …

Dynamics Simulation And Optimal Control Of A Multiple-Input And Multiple-Output Balancing Cube, Felix K. Haimerl

Master's Theses

This thesis document outlines the development of a multibody dynamics simulation of an actively stabilized multiple-input, multiple-output, coupled, balancing cube and the process of verifying the results by implementing the control algorithm in hardware. A non-linear simulation of the system was created in Simscape and used to develop a Linear Quadratic Gaussian control algorithm. To implement this algorithm in actual hardware, the system was first designed, manufactured, and assembled. The structure of the cube and the reaction wheels were milled from aluminum. DC brushless motors were installed into the mechanical system. In terms of electronics, a processor, orientation sensor, motor …

Anaerobic Digestion Of Wastewater-Grown Algae Biomass With Optimized Biogas Yields And Nutrient Solubilzation, Tiffany A. Racz

Master's Theses

Whole-cell algae biomass grown on nutrient-rich wastewater can be anaerobically digested to produce renewable heat and power, and to solubilize nutrients to grow additional algae biomass in a biorefinery system. In this study, algae biomass was grown on clarified primary wastewater in 33-m² ponds at a 4-day residence time with sedimentation harvesting of the biomass. Lab digesters were used to test biogas yields and nutrient solubilization from the anaerobic digestion of algal biomass with and without mixing and with sonication as a pretreatment. Additionally, algae were fed to unheated and unmixed 1135-L pilot digesters to determine the effects of …

Topographic Maps: Image Processing And Path-Finding, Calin Washington

Master's Theses

Topographic maps are an invaluable tool for planning routes through unfamiliar terrain. However, accurately planning routes on topographic maps is a time- consuming and error-prone task. One factor is the difficulty of interpreting the map itself, which requires prior knowledge and practice. Another factor is the difficulty of making choices between possible routes that have different trade-offs between length and the terrain they traverse.

To alleviate these difficulties, this thesis presents a system to automate the process of finding routes on scanned images of topographic maps. The system allows users to select any two points on a topographic map and …