Digital Commons Network^™

Estimating Black Bear Population Parameters With Spatial Capture Recapture In A High Desert Mountain Ecosystem, Steffen D. Peterson

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Black bear (Ursus americanus) populations have grown and recolonized historic range in California, and unharvested populations are currently poorly monitored by existing programs. In the Warner Mountains of northeast California, increasing issuance of bear depredation permits has underscored the importance of black bear population monitoring. To study population density, space-use, and demographics of this unharvested population, I established 10 non-invasive sampling clusters, comprising a 3 x 3 arrangement of 4-km² grid-cells, across a 1,464 km² study area and monitored hair snares over five 10-day sampling occasions in summer 2018. Fourteen microsatellite and two sex-specific genetic markers …

Preimplantation Genetic Testing For Neurobehavioral Traits, Peter K. Zeller

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Differences in behavioral and mental health traits result from unique interactions of genetic and environmental factors. Genetic information has improved along with technological advancements allowing for more data points to be established and increased data resolution. Because of this, there is a greater ability to identify embryos that carry genetic risk. The approach of Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT) is routine for certain genetic diseases but has not been widely used for psychiatric or behavioral traits. This paper critically examines the potential application of PGT-P by focusing on one main example, Alzheimer’s disease (AD). AD is the most prevalent form of …

Technical And Economic Feasibility Of A Microgrid For A Fire Station In Humboldt County, California., Nishaant Kumar Sinha

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Microgrids are emerging as a promising solution to unreliable grid energy. Today, California is not only witnessing grid resiliency challenges from natural disasters such as wildfires, earthquakes, floods and heatwaves, but it is also seeking to green the grid and bring more renewables online. For example, Humboldt County, where this project is focused, has recently experienced an earthquake of 6.4M (on December 22nd, 2022), which shut down the regional grid for ~20 hours.

Microgrid adoption enables critical facilities to operate seamlessly. The Humboldt Bay Fire Station (HBFS) No.1 is one such example, where first responders work to protect citizens against …

Effects Of Ph, Eelgrass, And Settlement Substrate On The Growth Of Juvenile Magallana (Crassostrea) Gigas, A Commercially Important Oyster Species, Johnny S. Roche

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Worsening ocean acidification (OA), resulting from ongoing absorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) by the oceans, threatens marine life globally. Calcifying organisms, especially their early life stages, are particularly vulnerable; this includes the economically important Pacific oyster, Magallana (Crassostrea) gigas. Uptake of dissolved CO₂ through photosynthesis by seagrasses, like eelgrass (Zostera marina), may benefit calcifying organisms by increasing pH and carbonate availability. I conducted laboratory and field experiments to quantify carbonate chemistry modification by eelgrass and potential mitigation of OA impacts on growth in juvenile Pacific oysters. In the laboratory experiment, daytime …

Carnivore And Ungulate Occurrence In A Fire-Prone Region, Sara J. Moriarty-Graves

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Increasing fire size and severity in the western United States causes changes to ecosystems, species’ habitat use, and interspecific interactions. Wide-ranging carnivore and ungulate mammalian species and their interactions may be influenced by an increase in fire activity in northern California. Depending on the fire characteristics, ungulates may benefit from burned habitat due to an increase in forage availability, while carnivore species may be differentially impacted, but ultimately driven by bottom-up processes from a shift in prey availability. I used a three-step approach to estimate the single-species occupancy of four large mammal species: mountain lion (Puma concolor), coyote …

The Relationship Between Prejudice Toward Women And Gay Men And The Role Of Self And Identity Threats, Jacob Steven Crocker

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The purpose of this research is to further examine the underlying mechanisms of why heterosexual cisgender men perpetuate prejudice toward women and gay men. This work addresses this using a combination of precarious manhood theory with work on masculinity threat and heterosexuality threat under a social identity theory framework. Study 1a explored the effect of masculinity threat and uncertainty on cisgender heterosexual men’s prejudice towards women and gay men. Study 1b was operationally the same, except, instead of masculinity threat, heterosexuality threat was paired with uncertainty. As groups, women and gay men may pose unique threats to men’s masculinity and …

The Effect Of Brain Breaks On Student Academic Performance And Behaviors In The K-12 School Setting; A Meta-Analysis, Jesse Singh

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The purpose of this meta-analysis is to examine the effect of brain breaks on academic performance and in-class behaviors in the K-12 educational setting. Also, to conduct subgroup (moderator) analyzes to determine if Brain Breaks were more effective for specific (school and student) population characteristics. Standard meta-analytical procedures were used to determine inclusion criteria, article searches in electronic databases, coding procedures, and statistical methods to synthesize data. Moderator and outcome variables were assessed using coding procedures to understand if Brain Breaks were effective or not. The brain break interventions researched in this study have shown to produce variable results in …

Self-Determination Theory And Exercise Performance For Individuals With Autism., Martin Calderon

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) tend to demonstrate low levels of physical activity and exercise when compared to their developing peers. Low physical activity levels are associated with multiple factors, including lack of understanding of how to perform exercise movements and low intrinsic motivation. Token economy reward systems have shown to be practical in behavior analysis for changing behaviors however, there is limited research on the effects of token economy reward systems in an exercise setting. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a token economy board combined with self-determination theory (SDT) on the exercise …

Fiscal Year 2022-2023, Determining Child Care Market Rates In The State Of Tennessee, Tennessee. Department Of Human Services

Market Rate Surveys

This report compiles information collected by the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee and the Tennessee Department of Human Services to determine the most appropriate Tennessee-specific structure for estimating child care market rates.

Intrinsic Foot Muscle Training For Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome, Katherine Newsham, Michelle Boyd, Christine Lauber

Clinical Practice in Athletic Training

Medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS), a common condition in physically active individuals, is widely studied, yet effective and efficient intervention is elusive. We compared the effects of a 2-week neuromuscular-based intervention to the “usual treatment” in a non-randomized trial involving intercollegiate athletes with complaints of MTSS involving soft tissue. The neuromuscular-based intervention focused on relieving trigger points in the deep compartment and improving intrinsic foot muscle (IFM) function. The control group received “usual treatment” that did not include the study exercises, but did include rest, modalities, stretching, and/or strengthening exercises. Pre- and post-intervention measures included pain at rest, during activities …

Risk Factors Of Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome In Active Adolescents: A Validation Case Series, Daniel Delgado, Matthew J. Drescher, Justin P. Young, Zachary K. Winkelmann, Matthew J. Rivera

Clinical Practice in Athletic Training

Current literature reports that an increase in body mass index (BMI), navicular drop, ankle plantarflexion range of motion (ROM), and hip external rotation ROM are key modifiable risk factors in the development of medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS) in physically active adults. The purpose of this validation case series was to investigate these four measures as risk factors of MTSS in adolescent athletes. In total, 100 cross country, volleyball, and/or basketball athletes (age = 15.89±1.31 years, 54 assigned female at birth) were included. The competitive sports season was the intervention in this case series and all athletes experienced 6 athlete-exposures …

Nature Of Science: Examining Science Teachers’ Knowledge And Their Instructional Practices, Sharon Bramwell-Lalor

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This case study focused on a university teacher-education course that included NOS content. An adapted questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data on 83 secondary science teachers’ views about three NOS themes before and after completing the course. Qualitative data were collected from eight of the teachers who were observed teaching during their field experience after completing the course. The teachers’ post-course mean NOS scores were statistically significantly higher than their pre-course scores (t (65) =-10.08, p<.001; Cohen’s d = 1.4). Despite the favourable NOS knowledge among the science teachers, low levels of NOS portrayal were observed in their instructional practices. These findings point to some success in explicitly addressing NOS in science education content courses. However, they raise questions about the transferability of teachers’ NOS knowledge into their classrooms. The findings have implications for teacher-preparation programmes regarding durability of NOS knowledge.

Meaningful Application Of The Australian Professional Standards For Teachers: The Role Of The University Appointed Supervisor, Madlen Griffiths, Mandie B. Shean, Denise Jackson

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

: Preservice teachers undertake mandatory professional experience as part of their journey towards classroom readiness and in-service teaching. Supporting them in this process are supervisors who both guide and assess these novices. Central to this assessment are the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, which need to be rigorously applied to ensure quality teaching graduates. This article investigates the application of these Standards by the supervisors in both their formative and summative assessment. Data are derived from interviews with final year preservice teachers and supervisors in a primary teaching degree course at one Western Australian university. Findings suggest that there is …

‘We Were All Green And Brand New’: Mentoring In Theories Of Child Development For Australian Early Career Preschool Teachers, Emma Ellis, Andrea Reupert, Marie Hammer

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Three Australian Government commissioned reports from 2011-2017 convey a longstanding child development theory-practice gap in early childhood education. This study explores what informs mentors’ discussions of theories of child development with early career preschool teachers. Grounded in Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, themes relate to the wide role of the early childhood teacher, variation in initial teacher education, developing teacher identity, emotional connections, and consolidation and extension of university learning of child development theories. Critical discussion of themes from a Freirean perspective illustrates how mentors conveyed experiences of oppression, marginalisation, and liberation. We offer that though the child development theory-practice gap is …

Integrating Tpack In Pre-Service Teachers’ Efl Course: Impacts On Perception, Knowledge, And Practices, Amira Ali, Hanan Waer

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Most research that has explored integrating the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework into teacher education programs primarily utilized context-unspecific self-report instruments. This mixed-methods study explored the efficacy of integrating four domains of the TPACK framework in an EFL course on the perception and knowledge of (30) pre-service teachers in an Egyptian university. The study also investigated the effect of the TPACK-based course on participants’ lesson plans and teaching practices. Data collection instruments included a test, a questionnaire, observation checklists, lesson plans, and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative analysis showed that pre-service teachers’ knowledge and perception of PCK, TCK, TPK, and TPCK …

How Is Trauma-Informed Education Implemented Within Classrooms? A Synthesis Of Trauma-Informed Education Programs, Jacolyn Norrish, Tom Brunzell

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The purpose of this study was to synthesise the content of trauma-informed education programs with a focus on classroom strategies. Programs (N = 20) were identified that focused on primary and secondary schools and were suitable for application in the classroom by teachers. Program materials available in the public domain were collated and the qualitative research method of reflexive thematic analysis was used to explore commonalities and themes in classroom strategies across different approaches. Classroom strategies were aimed at meeting students’ somatic (i.e., ‘bottom-up’) capacities of safety needs, self-regulatory needs, sensory needs, and relational and attachment needs. Classroom strategies also …

Due Process In Solitary Confinement: It’S Time To Overrule Sandin And Revise Wilkinson, Russell E. Lovell Ii

Nebraska Law Review

Sandin and Wilkinson were decided during Chief Justice William Rehnquist's tenure, and the Chief Justice played the lead role in reshaping the Court's solitary confinement caselaw over the past thirty years. It was Chief Justice Rehnquist who fashioned the “atypical, significant hardship” test in Sandin v. Conner and it would have to be exhibit 1 demonstrating the Chief Justice's “indifference to prison terrors,” to borrow Professor Judith Resnik's eloquent phrase. The Hijacking article contended that the Sandin Court totally ignored the facts of the case and time-honored settled precedent that required due process protection prior to imposition of even short-term …

Waivers, Keith N. Hylton

Nebraska Law Review

Waiver contracts are agreements in which one party promises not to sue the other for injuries that occur during their contractual relationship. Waivers are controversial in the consumer context, especially when presented in standard form, take-it-or-leave-it contracts. The law on waivers is inconsistent, with no doctrine or policy among the courts on enforceability. The aim of this paper is to offer a consistent set of policies that can form the foundation of a consistent set of doctrines, leading ultimately to a more consistent treatment of waivers in the courts. The most basic piece of this paper’s framework is a contract …

An Issue Of First Impression? State Constitutional Law And Judging The Qualifications Of Candidates For The House And Senate, Ben Horton

Nebraska Law Review

Article I, section 5, clause 1, makes each House of Congress the judge of the “Elections, Returns, and Qualifications of its members.” But what does that mean? For historical and jurisdictional reasons, there is a lack of federal precedent on the scope of judicial review of constitutional qualifications of candidates for the House or Senate. However, as federal courts encounter this issue, they should not treat it as an issue of first impression. Instead, they should look to state constitutional law, which has a wealth of precedent on the interaction between the power to run elections and the power of …

Masking Vulnerability: Including Ppe As A Covered Service In Health Insurance, Mary Leto Pareja

Nebraska Law Review

The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the shared vulnerability inherent in the human condition, prompting a collective recognition of our physical susceptibility to infectious diseases. While great strides have been made in combating COVID-19 through vaccinations and treatments, a portion of the population remains profoundly vulnerable due to health conditions that make the disease more dangerous, that limit vaccine efficacy, or that prevent vaccination altogether.

This article explores a path forward by proposing a solution within health benefit plans—encompassing both private health insurance and public health benefits. Specifically, the article advocates for a coverage mandate for over-the-counter personal protective equipment (PPE) …

‘More Than A Woman To Me’: The Need For Gender Inclusive Language In Court Opinions And Statutes Relating To Abortion And Reproductive Health, Murphy Cavanaugh

Nebraska Law Review

After the Supreme Court of the United States returned authority to regulate abortion to the state level in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, many states began to redraft their statutes, either protecting or eliminating abortion access. In doing this, the Supreme Court intensified demands for gender-inclusive language in reproductive healthcare legislation and court opinions. The ongoing shift in discourse acknowledges the reproductive healthcare needs of transgender and nonbinary (“TGNB”) people, given the already limited access to general healthcare. This comment emphasizes the importance of genderinclusive language in the American legal system, arguing for a departure from anatomy-centered language …

The Presidential Avoidance Canon, Michael K. Velchik

Nebraska Law Review

This Article identifies an overlooked yet potent canon of statutory construction: the presidential avoidance canon. Under this rule, courts will not interpret a generally applicable statute to apply to the President, his close advisers, or the Executive Office of the President (EOP), absent a clear statement. Even where a statute explicitly applies to the EOP, courts may narrowly construe the law to exempt those EOP components whose sole function is to advise and assist the President. Applying this rule, courts have narrowly construed the Administrative Procedure Act, the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act, the Federal Records Act, the …

Security Investigations: A Professional's Guide, Alan Saquella, Larry Nicholson

Publications

From the forward:

"Security Investigations A Professional’s Guide has been expertly crafted to equip both novices and experienced investigators with the essential knowledge and skill to excel in the field of investigations. Whether aiming for a career in law enforcement, private investigations, corporate security, or you are simply interested in unraveling mysteries, this book will serve as your ultimate companion on the journey to becoming a proficient investigator."

Chapters 1 and 2 are presented here.

Flying Blind: Exploring The Visual Cues Used By Helicopter Pilots In Degraded Visual Environments, Brandon Dreslin, Molly C. Mersinger, Shivani Patel, Alex Chaparro

Publications

Helicopter pilots rely on visual cues from the environment and instrument displays during critical phases of flight – particularly final approach and landing – to safely land. However, the specific visual cues pilots rely on and how they integrate those cues to make anticipatory inceptor inputs or corrections are not well understood. Importantly, those cues may be degraded under nighttime and brownout/whiteout conditions where the downwash of a helicopter’s rotors cause loose dirt/snow to be projected into the air, resulting in the obfuscation of the pilot’s vision outside the aircraft. The lack of visual cues in these conditions means that …

Equipping Health Professions Educators To Better Address Medical Misinformation, Brian G. Southwell, Andrea Anderson, Anne Berry, Kamilah Weems, Lisa Howley, Cristina Pelin, Maya Vasser, Michael Cassara, Marie C. Petrizzo, Samara Ginzburg, Renee Mcleod-Sordjan, Joseph Weiner, Lexie Morales, Mark Saunders, Emiri Uchiyama, Laura Fothergill, Deborah Sherman, Rebecca L. Toonkel, Alison M. Vargovich, Nicholas M. Fusco, Kelly Foltz-Ramos, Jessica Kruger, William Prescott Jr, Jennifer Hayman, Shelley Cohen Konrad, Linda H. Chaudron, Christine Mallar, Grace Price, Brendan Prast, Julia Safarik, Leah Mallory, Aashna Sunderrajan, Sara Serritella, Nicole L. Pierce, Olabisi Falana, Eve Bloomgarden, Shika Jain, Lisa Mordell, Vineet Arora

MaineHealth Maine Medical Center

As part of a cooperative agreement with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Federal Award Identification Number [FAIN]: NU50CK000586), the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) began a strategic initiative in 2022 both to increase confidence in COVID-19 vaccines and to address medical misinformation and mistrust through education in health professions contexts. Specifically, the AAMC solicited proposals for integrating competency-based, interprofessional strategies to mitigate health misinformation into new or existing curricula. Five Health Professions Education Curricular Innovations subgrantees received support from the AAMC in 2022 and reflected on the implementation of their ideas in a series of meetings …

Title Theft, Stewart E. Sterk

Articles

Real property owners across the country have been targeted by scammers who prepare deeds purporting to convey title to property the scammers do not own. Sometimes, the true owners are entirely unaware of these bogus transfers. In other instances, the scammers use misrepresentation to induce unsophisticated owners to sign documents they do not understand. Property doctrine protects owners against forgery and fraud—the primary vehicles scammers use in their efforts to transfer title. Owners enjoy protection not only against the scammers themselves, but generally against unsuspecting purchasers to whom the scammers transfer purported title. Recovery of title, however, involves costs and …

Concluding Remarks By Conference Co-Organizer, Richard H. Weisberg

Articles

This Article represents the concluding remarks made by Professor Richard H. Weisberg at "Disarmed, Distracted, Disconnected & Distressed," a conference on Modern Legal Education and the Unmaking of American Lawyers, hosted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and the Law & Humanities Institute, April 20-April 23, 2023.

The Troubling Emergence Of Hallucination In Large Language Models--An Extensive Definition, Quantification, And Prescriptive Remediations, Vipula Rawte, Swagata Chakraborty, Agnibh Pathak, Anubhav Sarkar, S.M Towhidul Islam Tonmoy, Aman Chadha, Amit Sheth, Amitava Das

Publications

The recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs) have garnered widespread acclaim for their remarkable emerging capabilities. However, the issue of hallucination has parallelly emerged as a by-product, posing significant concerns. While some recent endeavors have been made to identify and mitigate different types of hallucination, there has been a limited emphasis on the nuanced categorization of hallucination and associated mitigation methods. To address this gap, we offer a finegrained discourse on profiling hallucination based on its degree, orientation, and category, along with offering strategies for alleviation. As such, we define two overarching orientations of hallucination: (i) factual mirage (FM) …

Unavoidable Necessities: How Covid-19 And Ali V. Commonwealth Illustrate The Need For A New Balancing Test For Speedy Trial Right Claims, Roger D. Herring

Law Student Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic is still an ever-present phenomenon in the United States. Since the pandemic began in March 2020, over one million Americans have died as a result of this disease. During that time period, the pandemic impacted the everyday lives of Americans and the institutions we depend on. The judicial system in particular was affected by COVID-19. In Virginia, the Supreme Court of Virginia declared a judicial emergency in response to the pandemic. As a result of this judicial emergency, the trials of many criminal defendants were postponed for an indefinite period of time. This resulted in many criminal …

Science Communication As A Collective Intelligence Endeavour: A Manifesto And Examples For Implementation, Maria Petrescu

Publications

Effective science communication is challenging when scientific messages are informed by a continually updating evidence base and must often compete against misinformation. We argue for the need for a new programme of science communication as collective intelligence—a collaborative approach, supported by technology. This would have four key advantages over the typical model where scientists communicate as individuals: scientific messages would be informed by (1) a wider base of aggregated knowledge, (2) contributions from a diverse scientific community, (3) participatory input from stakeholders, and (4) better responsiveness to ongoing changes in the state of knowledge.