Digital Commons Network^™

Categorizing Blog Spam, Brandon Bevans

Master's Theses

The internet has matured into the focal point of our era. Its ecosystem is vast, complex, and in many regards unaccounted for. One of the most prevalent aspects of the internet is spam. Similar to the rest of the internet, spam has evolved from simply meaning ‘unwanted emails’ to a blanket term that encompasses any unsolicited or illegitimate content that appears in the wide range of media that exists on the internet.

Many forms of spam permeate the internet, and spam architects continue to develop tools and methods to avoid detection. On the other side, cyber security engineers continue to …

Wh-Question Comprehension: A Grammatical Deficit In Children With Asd, Manya Jyotishi

Master's Theses

Wh-questions are problematic for children with ASD. Prior research has shown delays in comprehension of subject-wh and object-wh questions in children with ASD compared to TD peers. However, earlier comprehension studies may have been limited because their stimuli included unfamiliar verbs (e.g., hit, produced by a few children with ASD) and events featuring inanimate agents and patients (e.g., an apple and a flower). The current study addressed both of these issues by investigating whether familiar verbs and animate characters elicit robust comprehension of wh-questions with children with ASD. We also investigate whether early grammatical abilities predict later wh-question comprehension. One …

Phonetic Retuning In Accented Speech: Is There A Role Of Expectation?, Iliana Meza-Gonzalez

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

"Do Not Fashion The Other": Representing Contemporary Haudenosaunee Literature 2016, Michael Patrick Brewster

Master's Theses

Historically, the issue of representation in postcolonial studies is one of some contention. While scholarship might recognize the necessity for highlighting the plights and struggles attendant to postcolonial societies, the primary literature being studied is most often written by natives of those societies themselves. This gap is especially evident with Indigenous cultures, because there are relatively few Indigenous scholars working in the academy. We are at the point now when we have a multiplicity (but not a plurality) of Indigenous voices writing literature (poetry, memoir, fiction, film, etc.) and academic criticism. However, there is value in non-Natives reading and writing …

'The Letter Killeth': The Obscurity Of Language And Communication In Thomas Hardy's Jude The Obscure 2016, Victoria T. Corning

Master's Theses

While the epistolary novel is a genre closely associated with 18th century England, 19th century Victorian literature also incorporates letter writing as a significant form of communication. Written messages convey what can often not be said out loud, as it is easier to hide behind a pen and paper, write in solitude, and be absent when the letter is read by the recipient. Impulsive and emotional thoughts and feelings can be written down immediately and then later edited, which makes writing an unstable form of communication. Is the author conveying true feelings or concealing true feelings? Layering multiple modes of …

Preschool Predictors Of School-Age Academic Achievement In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Lauren Miller

Master's Theses

Objective: Characterization of academic functioning in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), particularly predictors of achievement, may have important implications for intervention. The current study aimed to characterize achievement profiles, confirm associations between academic ability and concurrent intellectual and social skills, and explore preschool predictors of school-age academic achievement in a sample of children with ASD.

Method: Children with ASD (N = 26) were evaluated at the approximate ages of two, four, and ten years. Multiple regression was used to predict school-age academic achievement in reading and mathematics from both concurrent (i.e., school-age) and preschool variables.

Results: Children with …

Predicting Changes To Source Code, Justin James Roll

Master's Theses

Organizations typically use issue tracking systems (ITS) such as Jira to plan software releases and assign requirements to developers. Organizations typically also use source control management (SCM) repositories such as Git to track historical changes to a code-base. These ITS and SCM repositories contain valuable data that remains largely untapped. As developers churn through an organization, it becomes expensive for developers to spend time determining which software artifact must be modified to implement a requirement. In this work we created, developed, tested and evaluated a tool called Class Change Predictor, otherwise known as CCP, for predicting which class will implement …

The Taiwanese-American Perspective On Discrimination In English Language Teaching, Kuan Cheng Song

Master's Theses

This is a qualitative study examining the perspectives of five Taiwanese-American English teachers on their experiences of discrimination in the English language-teaching field of Taiwan. An extensive amount of literature has been written about the nativeness paradigm and its effect on the English language-teaching field, but the Taiwanese-American experience concerning those issues has yet to be explored. The study used Asian Critical Race Theory, Social Identity Theory and Asian American Racial Identity Theory to analyze the history of English language teaching in Taiwan, the critical studies on native and non-native English language teachers and the social issues affecting Asian Americans …

Cell Phone Vs. Microphone: Judging Emotion In The Voice, Joshua Green

Master's Theses

Abstract

A remarkable amount of information is conveyed by the human voice. For example, the emotional state of a speaker is conveyed by vocal cues such as pitch and intensity, though as is true for other speech qualities, affect does not map onto auditory signals in a one-to-one fashion. Despite the widespread use of cell phone technology, there is still little information regarding how emotional states are conveyed during cell phone transmissions. In this study, listeners judged speech samples for their affective qualities. Samples were simultaneously recorded on a microphone and a cell phone, and endpoints of two emotional “continua,” …

Popularity Prediction Of Reddit Texts, Tracy Rohlin

Master's Theses

Popularity prediction is a useful technique for marketers to anticipate the success of marketing campaigns, to build recommendation systems that suggest new products to consumers, and to develop targeted advertising. Researchers likewise use popularity prediction to measure how popularity changes within a community or within a given timespan. In this paper, I explore ways to predict popularity of posts in reddit.com, which is a blend of news aggregator and community forum. I frame popularity prediction as a text classification problem and attempt to solve it by first identifying topics in the text and then classifying whether the topics identified are …

Representing The Government Of God: Christ As The Hilasterion In Romans 3:25, Valentin Zywietz

Master's Theses

Problem

In Romans 3:25, Paul describes how the public display of Christ as the i``lasthrion demonstrates the righteousness of God. However, it is unclear what exactly Paul means by the term i``lasthrion, and how it is connected to the cover of the Ark of the Covenant for which it is usually used in the LXX.

Method

The first chapter of this paper consists of an exegetical investigation of Romans 3:25-26 paying consideration also to systematical implications for Paul’s understanding of atonement and the character of God. The second chapter is an analysis of the meaning and the function of the …

The Relationship Of The Old Covenant To The Everlasting Covenant, Ashwani Kumar

Master's Theses

Problem

The old covenant is often understood to be contrary to the new covenant. A distinction is made by such claims as the following: the old covenant represents the Old Testament, and new covenant represents the New Testament. The old covenant was made with only Israelites while the new covenant is made with the Church. The old covenant was based on works, and the new covenant is based on grace and is better than the old.

Purpose

The goal of this study is to present evidence that the new covenant was not established because it was different in the content …

Influence Of Metaphoric Language On Juror Decision Making, Melissa Michelle David

Master's Theses

This paper examines the effects of metaphoric language on judgment, assessment and juror verdict decision making. It further examines potential interactions between the use of figurative language and defendant race on juror verdict decisions. Research has potential implications on how the recent cultural climate has changed racial biases within the realm of juror decision making.

Haitian Representation In The Media: A Comparative Analysis Between An African American Owned Newspaper And A Mainstream Newspaper, Stephanie Jean-Baptiste

Master's Theses

Are the portrayals of Haitian immigrants in an African-American owned newspaper, different from their portrayal in a white owned newspaper? In this paper I examine newspaper articles covering Haitian immigrants and refugees. The articles selected were published in 2004 and sampled from the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Defender. Although the journals have distinctive goals and market reach, there were similarities in their portrayal of Haitian immigrants. Both journals referred to Haitian immigrants as victims of Haiti’s failed democracy. However, each journal advertised the reception of this migrant group differently. The African American owned newspaper advertised inclusion, while the white-owned …

A Framing Analysis Of Latinos In The Facebook Pages Of News Organizations, Juliana Zapata Acosta

Master's Theses

This study of the Facebook pages of six legacy media organizations extended framing theory to apply to social media. In the study of 557 articles, four new frames and 10 new subframes were identified. The immigration frame and its two subframes, deportation and undocumented, dominated the coverage of Latinos during the period of the study. The politics frame was the second most dominant frame. This study updated the old data and found that no progress has been made, with the exception of a lesser use of the criminal frame. This improvement could be because the study included six months of …

Una Legua Cuadrada: Exploring The History Of Swanton Pacific Ranch And Environs, Jeanine Marie Scaramozzino

Master's Theses

Swanton Pacific Ranch is an educational and research facility owned by the Cal Poly Corporation and managed by the Cal Poly State University (Cal Poly) College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. Located about 180 miles north of campus and just 14 miles north of Santa Cruz, California on Highway 1, the property was first leased to and then donated to Cal Poly by the late Albert E. Smith in 1993. The rancho’s original inhabitants included Native Americans, Spaniards, Mexicans, as well as various European immigrants and their descendants; currently, the staff, faculty, and students of Cal Poly occupy the …

Muslim Brothers Or Overstaying Guests? The Reception Of Syrian Refugees In Southeastern Turkey, Irem Karaçizmeli

Master's Theses

This thesis contextualizes the Syrian refugee issue in Turkey with an analysis of history and political discourse, and data drawn from a fieldwork conducted in Şanlıurfa, Turkey in 2015. The Islamist ruling party has staged a warm welcome for Syrian refugees. Their refugee regime, however, has remained weak in regards to law and policy. Retaining the geographical limitation stipulated in the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Turks have attempted to locate the larger issue of hosting refugees into cultural notions of ‘guesthood’ rather than a developed refugee rights framework. The fieldwork discovers the lack of …

Burial Chronological Sequencing Of The Colonial Maya Cemetery At Tipu, Belize Using Fluoride Ion Analysis, Nicole Musselwhite

Master's Theses

This thesis ascertains the sequence of burials using fluoride ion electrode analysis at the colonial cemetery at Tipu, Belize in order to explore demographic and other cultural effects associated with European contact. The cemetery at Tipu in west central Belize, dating from within the first century of Spanish contact, has provided one of the largest and best preserved Maya skeletal series, with over 500 burials recovered. While this series has undergone vast amounts of analysis, there has yet been an analysis conducted to view how patterns changed over time. This is of interest given the rapid culture change associated with …

Ritual And Religion In The Ohlone Cultural Area Of Central California, Doug Jones

Master's Theses

This thesis is an analysis of aspects of ritual and religion based upon reports from archaeological sites throughout the historical territory of the Native American peoples grouped by ethnographers under the term Ohlone, as well as other relevant sources of ethnographic, historical, and biographical information. Through research and review of recorded site documentation, as well as consultation with local archaeologists, three sites which clearly and extensively represent aspects of Ohlone religious life were identified and described in detail. This included type sites for mortuary practices, rock art, and cosmology/archaeoastronomy. The compilation and analysis of this material generated important information regarding …

Postcolonialism And The Marshallese Diaspora: Structural Violence And Health In The Marshallese Community In Springdale, Arkansas, Alexander J. Hirata

Master's Theses

Despite moving to the United States for better healthcare, among other benefits, Marshallese Compact of Free Association (COFA) migrants residing in Springdale, Arkansas continue to face similar acute health problems as Marshallese living in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and often without access to health services. These problems include high rates of noncommunicable diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and thyroid cancer, as well as rare conditions such as Hansen’s Disease.

To research this, I studied the limited texts surrounding the Marshallese diaspora, as well as relevant bodies of literature: postcolonialism, Pacific migration theory, and global health and …

"Fire And Water Imagery" In Jane Eyre 2015, Shannon O'Loughlin

Master's Theses

Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is a study in contrasts. Critics have argued the implausibility of the novel, that an orphaned governess who marries her dashing employer is too far-fetched to be believed. However, a proper understanding of Jane Eyre must be based not on a sequence of events, but on the thematic form of the novel in which the signifiers relate to each other and shift throughout. Ferdinand de Saussure explains in his "Course in General Linguistics," that the mental concept one has of a word is its "signifier" (62). Charlotte Bronte relies not simply upon a sequence of events …

The Interactive Effects Of Accent, Attire, And Job Status On Employment-Related Decisions, Bonnie Nguyen

Master's Theses

Using data from 207 college students, the interactive effects of an applicant’s accent (standard American English vs. Arabic), attire (no hijab vs. hijab), and job status (low vs. high) on perceived applicant characteristics (i.e., competence and warmth) and employment-related decisions (i.e., job suitability and hiring recommendation) were examined. Inconsistent with the hypotheses, results showed that an Arabic-accented and an applicant wearing a hijab were not rated as less competent and warm compared to a standard American-accented applicant and an applicant not wearing a hijab, respectively. Additionally, an Arabic-accented applicant wearing a hijab was not perceived as less competent and warm. …

A Hybrid Approach To General Information Extraction, Marie Belen Grap

Master's Theses

Information Extraction (IE) is the process of analyzing documents and identifying desired pieces of information within them. Many IE systems have been developed over the last couple of decades, but there is still room for improvement as IE remains an open problem for researchers. This work discusses the development of a hybrid IE system that attempts to combine the strengths of rule-based and statistical IE systems while avoiding their unique pitfalls in order to achieve high performance for any type of information on any type of document. Test results show that this system operates competitively in cases where target information …

C'Est La Tour De Babel - Le Film Multilingue: Un Défi De La Traduction Audiovisuelle Du 21e Siècle, Alexander S. Croxton Mr.

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

A Qualitative Analysis Of The Therapeutic Alliance From The Perspective Of Adolescents Who Stutter, Kelli D. Riggenbach

Master's Theses

There has been research outlining the importance of the client-clinician relationship in therapeutic outcomes; however, there is a relative lack of research as to the development of the therapeutic alliance in the area of fluency therapy, particularly with adolescents. The purpose of this investigation was to learn about the perceptions of adolescents who stutter regarding characteristics of effective and ineffective speech-language pathologists as well as how these adolescents perceive their own and their speech-language pathologist’s role in the therapeutic alliance. This study addressed the following questions: Q1 How do adolescents with fluency disorders describe their role within the therapeutic alliance? …

Defining Success: The Perspective Of Emerging Adults With Foster Care Experience, Brianna Lynne Anderson

Master's Theses

Youth with experience in the foster system are often more susceptible to negative outcomes in adulthood due to their high levels of cumulative risk. The present study sought out to re-define the concept of “success” from the perspective of emerging adults with experience in the foster care system and to identify patterns among the characteristics and behaviors of foster families that promote success as these young adults transition out of the foster care system and into adulthood. Participants most frequently defined “success” as achieving personal goals. Additionally, Support and Positive Identity were found to be the most influential Developmental Assets® …

A Garden Locked, A Fountain Sealed: Female Virginity As A Model For Holiness In The Fourth Century, Lindsay Anne Williams

Master's Theses

Despite centuries of Christian theologians and lay Christians alike assigning and/or accepting an entrenched misogyny in the writings of Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine, close examination of their work on its own terms and in its own time reveals that, in fact, they did not hold women in lesser esteem than men. Rather, time and again, in the writings of these Latin Doctors of the Church, women were promoted as exemplars of holiness and sanctity often in excess of their male counterparts and commonly as didactic tools used to lead their fellow Christians down a more righteous path. The following thesis …

Ostracism And Antisocial Behavior: The Role Of Perceived Justice, Entitlement, And Anger, Christopher Jeffrey Nathanael Lustgraaf

Master's Theses

Recent research has demonstrated that antisocial behavior following a general ostracism experience is mediated by increased feelings of entitlement (Poon, Chen, & DeWall, 2013) and anger (Chow, Tiedens, & Govan, 2008). However, this prior research has failed to determine whether ostracism in general leads to antisocial behavior, or only ostracism that is perceived of as unfair or unjust. The purpose of the current study was to manipulate the perceived fairness of the ostracism experience (fair or unfair) and assess participants’ antisocial behavioral intentions (i.e., dishonest intentions). It was hypothesized that an unfair ostracism experience (compared to a fair ostracism or …

Ecg Classification With An Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System, Brad Thomas Funsten

Master's Theses

Heart signals allow for a comprehensive analysis of the heart. Electrocardiography (ECG or EKG) uses electrodes to measure the electrical activity of the heart. Extracting ECG signals is a non-invasive process that opens the door to new possibilities for the application of advanced signal processing and data analysis techniques in the diagnosis of heart diseases. With the help of today’s large database of ECG signals, a computationally intelligent system can learn and take the place of a cardiologist. Detection of various abnormalities in the patient’s heart to identify various heart diseases can be made through an Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System …

Criticality And Risk Assessment For Pipe Rehabilitation In The City Of Santa Barbara Sewer System, Rossi Carmelo Rossi Ii

Master's Theses

Aging sewer infrastructure is posing greater and greater risk to the health and well-being of City residents. Issues can range from pipe blockages in sewer laterals to Sanitary Sewer Overflows. This thesis develops a risk analysis method that can be used by municipalities to maintain and rehabilitate sewer assets. Risk combines the effect of Likelihood of Failure (LOF) and Consequence of Failure (COF) to perform a complete two-dimensional analysis that allows for relative comparison between different pipes in the system. The LOF rating has been equated to pipe integrity while the COF rating was related to the environmental, economic, and …