Digital Commons Network^™

Showing Programmers That They Already Know How To Write Well, Alanna Buss

Master's Theses

Being able to communicate effectively through writing is an important skill for computer scientists and software engineers. In addition to being able to write code, programmers need to write clearly and concisely for everything from comments in their code to documentation. Despite writing being essential to their future careers, many programming students from Cal Poly find writing to be unimportant and many of them believe that they are not capable of writing good papers. How can Cal Poly help these students?

This paper describes a pedagogy to help students improve their writing skills. It is based heavily on the belief …

Manufacture Of Complex Geometry Component For Advanced Material Stiffness, David Russell Bydalek

Master's Theses

The manufacture, laminate design, and modeling of a part with complex geometry are explored. The ultimate goal of the research is to produce a model that accurately predicts part stiffness. This is validated with experimental results of composite parts, which refine material properties for use in a final prototype part model. The secondary goal of this project is to explore manufacturing methods for improved manufacturability of the complex part. The manufacturing portion of the thesis and feedback into material model has incorporated a senior project team to perform research on manufacturing and create composite part to be used for experimental …

But I Need My Money Now: A Stratified Propensity Score Analysis Of The Effects Of Retirement Decisions Made During The Great Recession On Income Mobility, Zachary Kline

Master's Theses

The Great Recession and accompanying financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2009 presented a host of emergency expenses to Americans with historically low traditional savings while at the same time limiting their access to credit. The resulting increase in poverty and decrease in real median family income raises the question: What if more Americans had access to liquid, emergency funds? The United States’ retirement system increasingly relies on choice-based public policy programs that allow individuals to access their retirement funds by “cashing out” during financial hardship. Proponents of choice programs may expect individuals who cash out of their retirement …

An Overview Of Body Armor And Single Plate Impact Dynamics, Thomas Matzinger

Master's Theses

In the past, personal body armor was constructed of simple plates of high- strength alloys. However, with the advancement of modern combat and weaponry, particularly armor-piercing ammunition, personal body armor has evolved into more complex and effective metal, ceramic, and composite structures. This paper lays the groundwork for experimental and modeling methods used to understand the effectiveness of new armor designs. Focusing on the first layer of modern body armor, the ”High Impedance” layer. Experiments measuring the change in velocity of bullets passing through aluminum and titanium plates were conducted. These experiments were then replicated through FEA simulation.

Implementing Modified Aha Criteria In The Measurement Of Blood Pressure In Uconn’S Migrant Farmworker Clinics, Alexandra Turgeon

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Capturing Spatial Variation In The Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System, Timothy Bugden

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Single Camera Photogrammetry Matlab Solver Developed For Automation Of The Oil Interferometry Process, Hunter Michael Dunn

Master's Theses

Over the last 20 years, Gregory G. Zilliac of the NASA AMES Research Center has been in continuous development of a fringe-imaging skin friction PC application used in oil interferometry analysis. This application, CXWIN5G, allows users to analyze propagation of oil smears across an aerodynamic surface using photogrammetry. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the feasibility of increasing the level of automation currently found in CXWIN5G by developing a MATLAB solver capable of determining oil smear geometry with minimal user input.

There are two main automation goals of this thesis that are reflected in the core of the …

The Politics Behind The National School Lunch Program, Jaylyn Brown

Master's Theses

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is one of the longest federally funded programs in the United States. The program is meant to provide food that is nutritious and affordable to schoolchildren. Indeed, most students receive free or a reduced price lunch highlighting the importance of affordability and nutrition in the school lunch system. Since the creation of the NSLP in 1946 debates about food quality and nutrition standards have consumed school lunch reform discussions. Many health organizations stress the importance of child nutrition, and advocate for the means to prevent diseases such as childhood obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. …

Machine Learning Methods For Kidney Disease Screening, Rathna Ramesh

Master's Theses

The number of people diagnosed with advanced stages of kidney disease has been rising every year. Early detection and constant monitoring are the only way to prevent severe kidney damage or kidney failure. Current test procedures require expensive consumables or several visits to the doctor, which results in many people foregoing regular testing. To address this problem, we propose a cost-effective teststrip-based testing system that can facilitate kidney health checks from the comfort of one’s home by using mobile phones. The specially designed teststrip facilitates a colorimetric reaction between alkaline picric acid and creatinine in a blood sample that has …

Induction Of Zika Virus-Specific Cd8+ T Cells By Means Of Dna Vaccine, Frank Gambino Jr.

Master's Theses

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a member of the virus family flaviviridae and is transmitted via Aedes aegypti mosquitos. Monoclonal antibodies against dengue virus have been found to cross-react with ZIKV but show no ability to neutralize it. Further studies have shown that Stat2-/- mice given plasma from dengue positive donors exhibit a heightened disease phenotype when challenged with ZIKV. Antibody dependent enhancement is theorized to cause such effect. The goal of this study was to design a plasmid which, when encoded, creates an antigen that will be used to stimulate exclusively CD8+ T cells. The gene sequence of NS3 was …

Never Silent: Evolution Of Black Women's Anti-Rape Organizing, 1965 - 1985, Keisa Rochelle Reynolds

Master's Theses

Black women experience multiple oppressions due to their gender and their race, and those oppressions are expounded when other social identities, such as class and sexual orientation, are considered. There have been many instances in history of social movements in which black women have fought against the many issues they face. For the purpose of this project, I am looking specifically at 1965 - 1985 to examine the ways in which black women organized against white supremacy and sexual violence. The two forms of oppression would have led black women activists into different organizations for black liberation and women's liberation-- …

The Use Of A Grammaticality Judgment Task To Assess The Role Of Receptive Vocabulary, Cognitive Inhibition, And Cognitive Flexibility On Syntactic Awareness, Lanette Mae Urbin

Master's Theses

Syntactic awareness, receptive vocabulary, and executive control (i.e., cognitive inhibition and cognitive flexibility) are robust predictors of language, literacy, and academic success (Bialystok, Craik, Klein, & Viswanathan, 2004; Davidson et al., 2010; Foursha-Stevenson & Nicoladis, 2011). In general, research demonstrates that receptive vocabulary is related to syntactic awareness (Davidson, Vanegas, Hilvert & Misiunaite, 2017; Galambos & Hakuta, 1988). There is also research to suggest that facets of executive control, such as cognitive inhibition and cognitive flexibility may also be related to syntactic awareness (Bialystok, 1986; Simard, Foucambert, & Labelle, 2013). However, receptive vocabulary, cognitive inhibition, and cognitive flexibility have only …

Effects Of Affiliative Motivation And Confrontation Style On Anti-Black Attitudes And Social Consequences, Jamie Patrianakos

Master's Theses

Anti-Black racism occurs on a daily basis and comes with both physical and psychological costs to its targets. One effective way to reduce discrimination is through confrontation, which could come in the form of a hostile accusation of racism (hot confrontation) or a polite emphasis on egalitarian values (cold confrontation). However, confronting often has social costs that may include damaging the relationship between the confronter and the perpetrator. This research determined whether social relationships can reduce anti-Black bias while also serving as a buffer against the social consequences of confronting. Participants (n = 168) were randomly assigned to a 2(affiliative …

A Sociofunctional Approach To Understanding Transphobia, Linas Mitchell

Master's Theses

Despite widespread evidence of anti-transgender prejudice and discrimination, research has yet to determine the nature of prejudice against transgender people. This study used the sociofunctional threat approach (Cottrell & Neuberg, 2005) to examine threat perceptions (contamination threats, obstacle threats, physical safety threats, and threats to reciprocity relations) and emotional reactions (disgust, anger, fear, pity) to transgender (transgender women, transgender men, and nonbinary people) and cisgender (cisgender women, cisgender men, and bisexual people) targets. Results from an online survey suggest that transgender targets evoke higher threat perceptions and negative emotions than cisgender targets; additionally, this tended to be the case for …

You Just Gotta Be Able To Pick Something Outta Nothing: Black Students' Sensemaking On Racism In High School, Wallace Grace

Master's Theses

No Abstract

Consistency Of Health Behaviors And Relations To Bmi In First Year College Students, Laura Nicholson

Master's Theses

Existing research suggests that individuals with erratic schedules (e.g., shift workers) may be at greater risk for weight gain. This may be due, in part, to the inconsistent timing of health behaviors, such as sleep. Little is known, however about the relevance of the consistent timing of health behaviors among other populations, including college students who are risk for weight gain. The current study examined the consistency of three health behaviors (i.e. sleep, eating occurrences, and physical activity) and relations with body weight among first year college students at a large Midwestern university. Daily diary methods were used to collect …

Reflections On Life: Replication And Extension, Karen Osowski

Master's Theses

This study used an experimental methodology to examine positive affect and gratitude as mediators of the beneficial impact of an intervention in which older adults savor "life lessons" they have learned in growing older on measures of psychological well-being (i.e., positive attitudes toward aging, life satisfaction, anxiety, state self-esteem, and state hope). In the following pages, I first review the background literature on gerontology and quality of life as well as describe, in detail, the original experiment (Smith & Bryant, 2018) that formed the foundation of the proposed research. Next, I describe several extensions of this earlier study that are …

It's About Time: Length Of Incarceration, Gang Membership, And Recidivism Among Illinois Prison Releasees, Henry Douglas Otto

Master's Theses

This study explored the effect of time spent incarcerated on recidivism among a sample of individuals released from IDOC facilities from 2011 to 2014 (N = 72,716). Gang members were compared to non-gang members in order to evaluate the potentially heterogeneous nature of the effect of length of stay on recidivism within the competing frameworks of deterrence theory and social learning theory. The samples were further split into separate analyses based on the current felony class, and length of stay was operationalized as incarceration in months and split into quartiles based on the distribution of each felony class sample. The …

Examining Recidivism And Correlates Of Yasi Scores Among Youth Released From Idjj, Claire Fischer

Master's Theses

There are two main purposes of this research: 1) to provide the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ) with an updated picture of recidivism and 2) to determine how YASI risk/needs/protective domains and risk scores relate to post-release recidivism. To date, the research that is available regarding youth recidivism is fraught with methodological concerns (i.e., inconsistency in measurement). Moreover, there have been no systematic analyses of the YASI in Illinois since its implementation within the IDJJ. Thus, the present research will attempt to fill in the gaps by assessing rates of juvenile recidivism, the degree to which needs identified by …

Analysis Of Fiber Network Architecture In Blood Vessels And Blood Clots, Dustin Michael Nguyen

Master's Theses

Fibrous networks, including collagen and fibrin, provide strength and support, and are critical for maintaining homeostasis. In this study, we have developed algorithms to define the structural properties of collagen and fibrin networks from microscopic images of these networks in abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) and blood clots, respectively. AAA is a biomechanical disease characterized by significant changes in the structure and strength of the arterial wall due to differential changes in the composition of fibrillar collagen in adventitial and medial layers. Using bright-field and polarized microscopic images of histological sections of mouse aorta stained with Picrosirius red (PSR) stain, we …

The Conservation, Excavation, And Analysis Of Ancient Human Remains: A Bioarchaeological Case Study Of Prehistoric Reburials From Nevis, West Indies, Marissa Nicole Massaro

Master's Theses

In the summer of 2015, the cranium of what seemed to be an indigenous Caribbean individual was discovered partially exposed on White’s Bay Beach, Nevis. The following year, upon excavation of two known burial sites, a test pit brought forth an additional burial of two individuals dating about 1025-1275 AD. Currently, there is very little known about this period causing confusion about the migration and settlement patterns of the Caribbean people during this time. Additionally, the Nevis Historical and Conservation Society is experiencing rising concerns of the demolition and utilization of their historical land and beaches for infrastructural development. As …

Vehicle Tracking Based On Historical Intersection Over Union, Shuai Hua

Master's Theses

Multi-object tracking (MOT) could be applied to many video analysis scenarios, such as vehicle speed estimation, vehicle re-identification, and vehicle abnormal behavior detection. A tracking task can be formulated as a data association problem, for which there exist many different types of solutions. Track-by-detection is one of the most common approaches for the MOT task. In this paradigm, the tracking algorithm relies on the detection results to decide whether detected vehicles in sequential frames belong to the same track. In our work, we developed a reliable vehicle tracker following this paradigm, while considering the balance between tracking efficiency and tracking …

A Comparative Study Of Hermeneutical Approaches To The Seven Seals, Harold Novac

Master's Theses

Problem

From the beginnings God had a purpose with His prophetical messages to the world and we can see in the Bible clearly, that God always presented His prophetical messages in a certain order. A chronological method was favored by God. That is why from the beginnings, as Seventh-Day Adventists we believed that the best way to interpret the secrets of Revelation is through the historicist approach. Unfortunately this view is fading among scholars, even among SDA researchers.

Purpose

We are going to investigate why this is happening and we will show that historicism has a lot to say, even …

The Time Of The Second Coming And The Members Of The Sanhedrin, Alina Roxana Lupu

Master's Theses

Problems

The aspects related to the time of the Second Coming of Jesus were a constant concern of the believers and Bible’s scholars. There are many challenging verses in the Scripture that are talking about the Parousia in temporal terms. This present study was to determine to what extend Jesus’ answer before the Sanhedrin (Matt 26:64) was related to the time of the Parousia and with that generation of his accusers.

Method

An historical perspective over the process of date setting for the Parousia and over the eschatological theology create the framework for understanding the problem of Parousia’s time. The …

A Methodological And Theological Evaluation Of Jon L. Dybdahl's Theology Of Spirituality, Elvis-Silviu Dumitru

Master's Theses

Problem

The concept of spirituality has become popular in recent years among both Christians and non-Christians. The meaning of this term has evolved from biblical times to the present, and today we can come across many types of spirituality. Even in the Adventist Church this concept is understood differently. Ellen White emphasizes that we can correctly represent the character of Christ only by being spiritual, and unfortunately, there are a lot of people who are not spiritual. One of the most influential Adventist theologians concerned with this subject is Jon L. Dybdahl, which highlights the benefits of all types of …

The Abolishment And Fulfillment Of The Law In The New Testament: The Try Of A Harmonic Reading Of The New Testament Teachings Regarding The Law, David Hans Bernhard Harms

Master's Theses

Problem

A central issue in the covenant theology is the change in the law between the OT and the NT. Interpretations vary between the widely spread belief that the entire law has been abolished, up to the belief that the Jewish festivals should still be an obligation for each follower of Christ. The result of investigations regarding the changes in the law depends mainly on underlying presuppositions and different hermeneutical approaches.

Method

This study is based on three basic principles: (a) the acceptance of Christ as the Lawgiver and central Teacher of the law in the OT and the NT; …

What's Wrong With Being Single: Lowered Relational Value Bias Toward Single People, Darian Farrell

Master's Theses

This study examined the perceived relational value of single individuals (compared to that of coupled individuals). I hypothesized that, participants would be more likely to make the conjunction fallacy in the single condition vs. the coupled condition, when asked whether or not it was more likely that the target person from the condition was a single teacher vs. teacher. The data supported my hypothesis: participants in the single condition were significantly more likely to make the conjunction fallacy than participants in the coupled condition. My study also tested whether or not the need to belong acted as a moderator for …

The Potential Effects Of Exercise-Induced Cortisol Release On Executive Functioning In Preadolescents, Kory Matthew Bettencourt

Master's Theses

Purpose: Moderate-intensity aerobic exercise (MAE) has been shown to elicit improvements in cognition and subsequent academic performance among preadolescents. Aerobic exercise has also shown to increase cortisol release in response to increasing exercise intensity. However, it is unknown if increased cortisol levels following exercise are related to acute improvements in executive function following a bout of MAE in preadolescents. The purpose of this study was to examine the potential effects of increased cortisol release after acute MAE on attention and working memory among preadolescents. Methods: Eleven preadolescents [6 males, 5 females] volunteered to participate in this study (age=9.45±1.03). …

A Study Into The Feasibility Of Using Natural Language Processing And Machine Learning For The Identification Of Alcohol Misuse In Trauma Patients, Andrew Phillips

Master's Theses

Alcohol misuse is a leading cause of premature death in the United States, with nearly a third of trauma patients found to have elevated blood alcohol levels upon admission. However, timely intervention has been shown to reduce this. It is thus important to be able to quickly screen patients to identify alcohol misuse. Many medical centers use standardized questionnaires to identify alcohol misuse, but since these instruments are not usually a part of routine care, there are many cases where it is not done.

In this study, large quantities of notes were processed with natural language processing and machine learning …

Toddler Activity Recognition Using Machine Learning, Pinky Sindhu

Master's Theses

Pinky Sindhu

Loyola University Chicago

TODDLER ACTIVITY RECOGNITION USING MACHINE LEARNING

Toddlers behave differently than adults, to say the least. It is valuable to accurately measure the specific types of physical activity (PA) in toddlers; such information can be analyzed to predict future health prospects in relation to conditions like obesity.

We attached ActiGraph accelerometers to the wrist and waist of toddlers and recorded PAs. Toddlers were videotaped, and their movements were annotated as 20 specific activities. These activities were classified into 3 summary activity intensities including sedentary, light intensity PA (LPA), and moderate to vigorous intensity PA (MVPA).

Automated …