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Assessing Pedestrian Infrastructure Needs On The Csumb Campus Through Community Driven Engagement, Alicia C. Reshes May 2026

Assessing Pedestrian Infrastructure Needs On The Csumb Campus Through Community Driven Engagement, Alicia C. Reshes

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Monterey County experiences barriers within their pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure which affects multiple demographics including the California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) community. This capstone project was in collaboration with Ecology Action, a non-profit organization serving Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. The focus was on understanding where the CSUMB community felt there were deficits in two high traffic areas on campus and to gauge a better understanding of what the needs are and where possible improvements could be made. Regarding the results received, many respondents voiced safety concerns due to poor lighting and a lack of pedestrian signals. The survey …


Youth Programs Social Media Awareness Campaign, Noelia Fernandez May 2026

Youth Programs Social Media Awareness Campaign, Noelia Fernandez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Youth experiencing or at risk of homelessness often lack awareness of available support services, limiting their ability to access needed resources. This capstone project was completed at Community Action Board’s Youth Homeless Response Team (YHRT), a program that provides outreach, case management, and support services to youth in Santa Cruz County. The project focused on youth and young adults who engage with or could benefit from YHRT services. The purpose of the project was to increase awareness and engagement through a targeted social media awareness campaign. Implementation included planning and designing youth-friendly content, developing promotional materials, and collecting both quantitative …


Transportation Support As A Preventive Strategy For Family Stability: A Community-Based Intervention In Monterey And Santa Cruz Counties, Synthia Moreno May 2026

Transportation Support As A Preventive Strategy For Family Stability: A Community-Based Intervention In Monterey And Santa Cruz Counties, Synthia Moreno

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Families in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties face transportation barriers that limit access to essential services and increase the risk of family instability and child welfare involvement. This capstone project was completed at Safe Families for Children Monterey Bay, a nonprofit organization that provides preventive, community-based support to families in crisis. The organization serves diverse, primarily low-income families, including many Hispanic/Latino households, across urban and rural communities. The project developed a Transportation Support Program using trained volunteers to provide reliable rides for families and interns to attend medical, legal, and social service appointments. The purpose was to improve access to …


The History And Legacy Of The Monterey Jazz Festival, Ana Mendez May 2026

The History And Legacy Of The Monterey Jazz Festival, Ana Mendez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Monterey Jazz Festival holds a strong legacy in the world of jazz. Nestled in the Monterey Bay area, the festival's musical lineups entertain locals and travelers from around the world each year. Topics that are discussed within this paper are the inception of the festival, Monterey before the festival, Monterey Jazz Festival co-founders, Jimmy Lyons and Ralph Gleason, major works of art debuts at the festival including The Real Ambassadors, the international influence at the festival, the educational endeavors of the Monterey Jazz Education Team, and the 2025 rebranding of "Monterey Jazz".


A Qualitative Exploration Of The Military Veteran Teaching Experience In A Public High School Setting, Denise R. Embrey May 2026

A Qualitative Exploration Of The Military Veteran Teaching Experience In A Public High School Setting, Denise R. Embrey

Dissertations

This coded qualitative study examines whether military veterans as second career teachers can help address the ongoing shortage of qualified public high school teachers in the United States. Focusing on three Midwestern public high school systems with at least 10% of military veteran teachers employed in their high school. I explored veterans as second-career educators. I personally interviewed five public high school principals, to find that these five strongly favor hiring veterans, citing their discipline, teamwork, and willingness to engage with students and parents are outstanding character qualifications for the public high school to have on staff. I noted and …


Addressing Barriers To Online Distance Learning: Connecting Students In Rural Locations To Internet Resources – A Mixed Methods Study, Evan Johnston May 2026

Addressing Barriers To Online Distance Learning: Connecting Students In Rural Locations To Internet Resources – A Mixed Methods Study, Evan Johnston

Dissertations

As internet access became more widespread, the use of internet resources became a requirement for participation in various educational experiences. Equitable access to internet resources, however, had not been established in all geographic areas (Skinner et al., 2024). Utilizing the design-based thinking process, the researcher identified barriers to participation in online distance learning opportunities in a small, rural school district. The district, located in southeast Missouri, comprised 201 students, three buildings for elementary, middle, and high school students. A Superintendent and Principal provided leadership to the school district. Through a community-wide survey and informal conversations, the researcher and stakeholder team …


Reconstruction Of Fox Transcription Factor-Regulated Subnetworks Mediating Cardiac Progenitor Cell Divisions, Md Rezaul Hasan May 2026

Reconstruction Of Fox Transcription Factor-Regulated Subnetworks Mediating Cardiac Progenitor Cell Divisions, Md Rezaul Hasan

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common congenital anomaly worldwide, affecting approximately 1% of live births, corresponding to 1.35 million infants born with CHD each year, and remains a leading cause of infant mortality; therefore, it is urgent to understand the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying CHD for advancing early diagnosis and treatment. Because many aspects of the Drosophila heart formation are highly reminiscent of vertebrate heart development, Drosophila melanogaster serves as a simple yet powerful model system for studying cardiac development and CHD. While at least eight Forkhead box (Fox) transcription factors (TFs) are required for proper cardiac …


Foraging Plasticity And Mercury Contamination In Red-Legged Kittiwakes: A Multiple Stressor Perspective, Sam E. Clay May 2026

Foraging Plasticity And Mercury Contamination In Red-Legged Kittiwakes: A Multiple Stressor Perspective, Sam E. Clay

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Arctic seabirds are facing increasing stress from climate change, yet the interactive effects of multiple stressors on behavior remain poorly understood. Adopting a multiple stressor perspective promises to advance understanding of avian behavioral responses to climate change, as climate change is exposing Arctic and subarctic animals to a complex set of stressors rather than a single stressor in isolation. Using the red-legged kittiwake (Rissa brevirostris) as a model, I examined how multiple stressors, including mercury (Hg) exposure, shifting wind conditions, and varying foraging conditions linked to sea surface temperature (SST) may interact to constrain behavioral plasticity and energetically expensive behavior …


Dendroclimatic Response Of The Wet Miombo Woodland Species: A Case Study Of Mufulira District, Copperbelt Province, Zambia, Collins Chibuye Malubeni May 2026

Dendroclimatic Response Of The Wet Miombo Woodland Species: A Case Study Of Mufulira District, Copperbelt Province, Zambia, Collins Chibuye Malubeni

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Zambia is a tropical, landlocked country that lies in the South-Central part of Africa. The climate in Zambia includes distinct dry and rainy seasons, mainly influenced by the north-south movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), which shifts seasonally. This research is focused on understanding the relationship between tree growth and climate using dendrochronology. Forty-nine tropical species, including Julbernardia paniculata, Brachystegia longifolia, and Pericopsis angolensis, were analysed for dendroclimatic potential, and 70% showed clear ring formation, indicating that trees in this locality produce distinct annual ring boundaries. For the single species chronology, thirteen cores from eight trees that were initially …


Analysis Of Developmental Cardiogenic Processes Mediated By Fox And Zinc-Finger Transcription Factors, Rajnandani Katariya May 2026

Analysis Of Developmental Cardiogenic Processes Mediated By Fox And Zinc-Finger Transcription Factors, Rajnandani Katariya

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cardiogenesis is a highly choreographed biological process requiring the precise integration of gene regulatory networks to govern cell division, fate determination, and spatial positioning. Disruptions in these mechanisms lead to congenital heart defects (CHDs), which affect approximately 1% of live births globally. Due to the evolutionary conservation of cardiac signaling pathways and the structural homologies between the Drosophila dorsal vessel and the early vertebrate heart tube, Drosophila melanogaster serves as a powerful model for dissecting the fundamental mechanisms of heart development. This dissertation investigates the molecular orchestration of cardiac development, specifically focusing on the roles of the transcription factors Jumu …


The Impact Of Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, And Employee Engagement On The Intent To Leave The Law Enforcement Profession For Police Officers, Veronica Lynn Dougherty-Denny May 2026

The Impact Of Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, And Employee Engagement On The Intent To Leave The Law Enforcement Profession For Police Officers, Veronica Lynn Dougherty-Denny

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In today’s dynamic organizational environment, worker factors such as job satisfaction, employee engagement, organizational commitment, and psychological contract fulfillment are vital for organizational success. This study examined their perceived relationship with police officers’ intent to leave the law enforcement profession. The problem addressed worked to understand factors influencing retention, including psychological contract breaches and workplace outcomes. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the perceived relationship between job satisfaction, employee engagement, organizational commitment, and intent to leave the law enforcement profession all housed within the psychological contract. Five research questions addressed these variables and demographic factors (gender, years …


A Study Of Visualized Diagnostics In Early Stage Digital Twin Implementation Of An Industrial Control System, Michael R. Kinzel May 2026

A Study Of Visualized Diagnostics In Early Stage Digital Twin Implementation Of An Industrial Control System, Michael R. Kinzel

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) are used for process control in almost all industries. An ICS combines Operational Technologies (OT) with Information Technologies (IT) to allow human supervision of a process through surveillance of process variables and manipulation of controlling elements such as valves to maintain stable process conditions. ICSs have been in-service for several decades and may remain operational past their technological service life. Organizational personnel interact with the ICS through visual displays that both indicate the process variables and also the controlling elements. The Human Machine Interface (HMI) allows visibility of the process and the ability to manipulate controlling …


The Effects Of Poverty On Student Achievement And Behavior, Dwayne Lucas May 2026

The Effects Of Poverty On Student Achievement And Behavior, Dwayne Lucas

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Poverty can have a devastating impact on the academic achievement of students and their potential for positive adult outcomes. One of the most impactful aspects in the fight against the impact of poverty is student engagement. There must be attention paid to how engagement impacts a student’s potential for success as well as what strategies can be employed to improve engagement. It was the goal of this study to determine how relationships and engagement impacted student outcomes and educational experience. This study attempted to determine what strategies educators utilize to increase student engagement. Using observations and semi-structured interviews, the researcher …


Representative And Preferred Skin Color Rendition Of Photos And Avatars In Optical-See Through Augmented Reality, Dara Dimoff May 2026

Representative And Preferred Skin Color Rendition Of Photos And Avatars In Optical-See Through Augmented Reality, Dara Dimoff

Theses

Human skin color is embedded with information about mood, health, and age. While facial color is widely studied in dermatology and cosmetics, there is limited data available to map the subjective experience of skin color to measured data. The ability to derive the color that best represents a person’s skin would be valuable in a wide range of applications, from identifying an appropriate makeup foundation to achieving white balance in a video. When displaying skin tones, it is well-known that preferred renderings are different from accurate renderings. Rendering skin tones becomes more nuanced with complex rendering technologies such as augmented …


Reconfigurable Dataflow For Efficient Matrix-Matrix Multiplication For Dnn Acceleration, Daniel Laudico May 2026

Reconfigurable Dataflow For Efficient Matrix-Matrix Multiplication For Dnn Acceleration, Daniel Laudico

Theses

General matrix-matrix multiplication (GeMM) is a principal computational bottleneck in modern deep learning workloads where performance can be heavily impeded by frequent memory accesses. This thesis introduces a multi-dataflow aware processing element (PE) designed to perform the multiply-accumulate (MAC) operations fundamental to GeMMs while utilizing a data flow that best fits the data provided. A salient feature of this architecture is its programmable flexibility, which enables the implementation and execution of different data flow strategies, including Output Stationary, Weight Stationary, Input Stationary, and Row Stationary. The flexible design supports both dense and sparse GeMM and General matrix-vector multiplication (GeMV). To …


The Houston Eclipse, Korey Hans May 2026

The Houston Eclipse, Korey Hans

Theses

The Houston Eclipse is a sports branding project for a fictional WNBA team, built on the idea that design can shape the fan experience. In a market where consumer attention is constantly being fought over, the brands that stand out are the ones that make people feel something. Sports already carries that emotional weight, but most fan-facing products don't take full advantage of it, often reducing team identity to a logo placed on top of a product without regard for the form it's applied to. This project approaches branding as a full system rather than a single mark. Drawing on …


Material Selection In The Mountain West: A Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (Mcda) Based Approach For Architects, Melissa Bach May 2026

Material Selection In The Mountain West: A Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (Mcda) Based Approach For Architects, Melissa Bach

Theses

With modern advancements in technology and the expansion of a globally interconnected network, architects have access to a large range of building materials. Increasing public concern for the environment has prompted architects to prioritize materials that are more sustainable, but varying definitions of sustainability, coupled with unclear guidelines for material selection, repeatedly lead to uncertainty and decision-making challenges within the profession. To address this, a comprehensive methodology such as Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) is needed for the material selection processes. Furthermore, a gap in the literature demonstrates that the application of MCDA for material selection in the Mountain West region …


The Future Of Airport Operating Models And Seamless Passenger Journeys: Strategic Readiness Implications For Dubai World Central (2035–2045), Mohammad Abdulla Alsuwaidi May 2026

The Future Of Airport Operating Models And Seamless Passenger Journeys: Strategic Readiness Implications For Dubai World Central (2035–2045), Mohammad Abdulla Alsuwaidi

Theses

Dubai World Central is being developed to support a major expansion of Dubai’s aviation capacity. Its planned scale raises questions beyond terminal construction and technology pro- curement because airlines, airport operators and government authorities must coordinate passenger processing while maintaining security, public confidence and operational continu- ity. This thesis examines how airport operating models and end-to-end passenger processing may evolve during 2035–2045 and assesses the strategic readiness implications for DWC. A qualitative, desk-based design was adopted using peer-reviewed research, official aviation publications, government documents, airport implementation evidence and selected industry reports. The analysis combined PEST horizon scanning, a technology-readiness assessment, …


Energy Loss Hotspot Mapping In Power Distribution Networks, Abdulla Alhammadi May 2026

Energy Loss Hotspot Mapping In Power Distribution Networks, Abdulla Alhammadi

Theses

The electricity systems used in power distribution in the United States also consume a lot of electricity to warm up until it gets to homes, business or industries. These are technical losses which are caused by the physical resistance of the aging electrical equipment like transformers, conductors and distribution lines. With the aging of infrastructure, the resistance rises, and the amount of wasted energy increases. Although this is a large problem, most utility companies continue to use rough age estimations or customer complaints instead of using more direct and objective data-driven techniques to determine the concentration of the worst losses. …


A Study Of Post -Quantum Cryptography Migration In An Emulated Enterprise Environment, Saquib Farooq Malik May 2026

A Study Of Post -Quantum Cryptography Migration In An Emulated Enterprise Environment, Saquib Farooq Malik

Theses

The imminent maturation of Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computers (CRQCs) represents a fundamental threat to the digital security infrastructure, specifically targeting modern cryptographic standards such as AES, RSA and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). While Post -Quantum Cryptography (PQC) offers a mathematical defense, the transition is complicated by the “Harvest Now, Decrypt Later ” (HNDL) strategy, where encrypted data is intercepted today for future decryption. This thesis explores the critical necessity of an organized migration strategy to protect long-term data sensitivity against the rapid advancement of quantum capabilities and addresses the gaps in the current migration landscape: the absence of a standardized, …


Quantifying Exterior Ecological Performance In Biomimicry, Bioclimatic, And Biophilic Architecture: A Comparative Framework Across Climatic Zones, Ruqayyah Siamwala May 2026

Quantifying Exterior Ecological Performance In Biomimicry, Bioclimatic, And Biophilic Architecture: A Comparative Framework Across Climatic Zones, Ruqayyah Siamwala

Theses

Historically, sustainability research in architecture has focused on interior comfort and operational energy efficiency, leaving the ecological performance of the immediate building façade relatively unexplored. By creating a comparison framework to assess the performance of biomimetic, bioclimatic, and biophilic architecture under external ecological conditions across four climatic zones—hot-humid, cold-humid, hot-dry, and cold-dry—this thesis closes that gap. Using quantitative data such as NDVI, land surface temperature, PM2.5, NO2, infiltration rates, and species count in addition to qualitative analysis of these three architectural strategies at the building-site interface, twelve case studies are evaluated against four ecological indicator groups: air quality, soil quality, …


Kosovo Pisa Monitoring Via System Signals Benchmarking 2015/2018/2022, Peer Clusters, Early-Warning Screening, And Mixed-Methods Triangulation In Grade 10 Mathematics, Leon Cana May 2026

Kosovo Pisa Monitoring Via System Signals Benchmarking 2015/2018/2022, Peer Clusters, Early-Warning Screening, And Mixed-Methods Triangulation In Grade 10 Mathematics, Leon Cana

Theses

This thesis develops a practical monitoring approach for Kosovo’s PISA outcomes by linking country-level benchmarking of PISA 2015, 2018, and 2022 with measurable system signals and a focused school-level triangulation. Quantitatively, it benchmarks Kosovo against Western Balkans Six (WB6) and selected European peers through mathematics mean scores, below-Level-2 shares, and top-performing shares. It then uses k-means clustering to define empirical peer groups and tests an early-warning screening exercise in which 2015/2018 information is used to classify held-out 2022 high-risk profiles. Qualitatively, it triangulates the statistical signal patterns with policy document analysis and a low-burden Grade 10 mathematics micro-study in Prishtina …


Mathematical Modeling Of Ocular Surface Deformation Due To Contact Lens Wear That Accounts For Intraocular Pressure, Riley K. Supple May 2026

Mathematical Modeling Of Ocular Surface Deformation Due To Contact Lens Wear That Accounts For Intraocular Pressure, Riley K. Supple

Theses

Myopia is one of the most common ocular disorders, and is expected to affect approximately five billion people worldwide by 2050. One treatment currently available for myopia is soft contact lenses. In general, about one in ten Americans wear contact lenses, however one in three will stop wearing them due to discomfort. The goal of this dissertation is to develop a mathematical model that predicts the mechanical interactions between the contact lens and the ocular surface. Assuming the ocular tissue is a linear elastic material, we first develop a mathematical model to predict ocular deformation that is anatomically accurate in …


Designing A Uae-Centric Integrated Mobility System: Linking Transport,Traffic, And Urban Data For Smarter Travel, Alreem Jabir Alshamsi May 2026

Designing A Uae-Centric Integrated Mobility System: Linking Transport,Traffic, And Urban Data For Smarter Travel, Alreem Jabir Alshamsi

Theses

Urban mobility systems are central to smart city performance; however, in many rapidly developing cities, mobility services remain fragmented across agencies, platforms, and datasets. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), cities such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi have made significant investments in digital infrastructure and intelligent transport solutions. Despite this progress, existing mobility applications continue to operate in functional silos, limiting real-time adaptability and cross-domain integration. Current platforms primarily focus on transport coordination and congestion avoidance, with limited integration of broader urban datasets such as building access schedules, environmental conditions, and localized service availability. This research addresses the absence of …


Evaluating Smart Mobility Performance In Dubai Using Airport Flight Operations Data: A Data-Driven Approach, Hamda Alshamsi May 2026

Evaluating Smart Mobility Performance In Dubai Using Airport Flight Operations Data: A Data-Driven Approach, Hamda Alshamsi

Theses

Airports are more than aviation facilities; they function as critical nodes within modern urban mobility systems. In globally connected cities such as Dubai, airport performance directly influences tourism, trade, economic activity, and the overall efficiency of the transport network. At the same time, airports generate large volumes of detailed operational data on a daily basis. However, this information is often summarized into high-level statistics that do not fully capture temporal variations, congestion patterns, or operational reliability. This thesis investigates how flight-level operational data can be used to evaluate airport mobility performance in Dubai within a smart city context. The study …


3d Deep Learning For Pulmonary Nodule Malignancy Classification In Ct Imaging, Nart Madi May 2026

3d Deep Learning For Pulmonary Nodule Malignancy Classification In Ct Imaging, Nart Madi

Theses

Early detection of lung cancer significantly improves patient survival, with pulmonary nodules in computed tomography (CT) imaging serving as key indicators of early-stage disease. However, manual classification of nodules is time-consuming and subject to interobserver variability. This thesis proposes a reproducible deep learning framework for pulmonary nodule malignancy classification using volumetric CT data. Using the LIDC-IDRI dataset, a standardized preprocessing pipeline is developed, including isotropic resampling, intensity normalization, and 3D patch extraction. A baseline 3D convolutional neural network (CNN) is implemented and compared against a proposed SE-ResNet3D architecture that incorporates residual connections and squeeze-and-excitation mechanisms. Both models are trained and …


Mathamr+: A Unified Graph Neural Network Framework For Multimodal Mathematical Information Retrieval, Jacob Yoon May 2026

Mathamr+: A Unified Graph Neural Network Framework For Multimodal Mathematical Information Retrieval, Jacob Yoon

Theses

Mathematical Information Retrieval (MIR) focuses on developing systems that enable users to search for and retrieve documents containing mathematical content. A key challenge in building effective math-aware retrieval systems lies in jointly modeling the symbolic and operational structure of mathematical expressions together with their surrounding linguistic context. Existing approaches often use linear token sequences, losing structural information, or rely on separate models for text and math, limiting their ability to capture cross-modal patterns and learn contextualized representations. This thesis proposes MathAMR+, a graph neural network-based retrieval framework that jointly models Abstract Meaning Representation (AMR) graphs, Operator Trees (OPTs), and Symbol …


Optimizing Product Placement Using Purchase Pattern Analysis, Mohra Shamaa May 2026

Optimizing Product Placement Using Purchase Pattern Analysis, Mohra Shamaa

Theses

Retail product placement has traditionally relied on static shelf layouts and techniques such as market basket analysis, often guided by managerial intuition and category based organization. However, such approaches frequently overlook the complexity of consumer purchasing behavior as reflected in the transactional data, and this study investigates how data driven analysis of purchase relationships can inform more effective product placement strategies in physical retail environments. Unlike the sequential models, this study focuses on co occurrence relationships due to dataset constraints, prioritizing interpretability for retail applications. Using transaction level data from the Instacart dataset, this research applies association rule mining through …


Inverse Laplacian Solution For Spherical Harmonic Decomposition Of Black Hole Initial Data, Nikolaus Vernon Kent May 2026

Inverse Laplacian Solution For Spherical Harmonic Decomposition Of Black Hole Initial Data, Nikolaus Vernon Kent

Theses

In the construction of initial data, by way of describing one or more black holes for Numerical Relativity, solving the Hamiltonian Constraint remains a fundamental challenge, as the presence of coordinate singularities in the so-called "puncture" formalism often complicates traditional grid-based numerical methods. This thesis addresses this challenge by developing a semi-analytical framework based on an iterative spherical harmonic modal expansion. We begin by decomposing the source term of the Hamiltonian Constraint, given in terms of the extrinsic curvature, into a basis of spherical harmonics. To navigate the non-linearity of the governing equation, we implement an iterative scheme derived from …


Assessing Programmatic Gaps In The Community Engagement To Reduce Victimization (Cerv) Program, Sam Marino May 2026

Assessing Programmatic Gaps In The Community Engagement To Reduce Victimization (Cerv) Program, Sam Marino

Theses

This capstone project examines and analyzes data for the Community Engagement to Reduce Victimization (CERV) program in Rochester, New York. By developing a logic model, gap analysis, and utilizing statistical models, the project not only better understands the program design, but also assesses gaps and their patterns in the data to provide structured recommendations to strengthen the data infrastructure, improving data completeness and reliability. These improvements will strengthen the program overall, helping to reduce community violence throughout Rochester. Across three working papers, the project begins by examining the current data and analyses on the program and develops a detailed logic …