Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring Nate Smith’S Approach To Improvising On The Two-Piece Drum-Kit Through Analysis Of Selected Performances With The Fearless Flyers, Zachary S. Wise

Theses : Honours

Nate Smith is a highly acclaimed contemporary drummer, songwriter, and composer who displays virtuosic facility and pushes the boundaries of creativity within the contemporary funk and jazz- fusion drumming landscape. In performances with dynamic funk band The Fearless Flyers, Smith uses an uncommon, simplified drum set-up comprising just the kick, snare, and hi-hat (termed the ‘two-piece drum kit’), which introduces a range of challenges around maintaining creativity and the listener’s interest through just three distinct voices. This study investigates Smith’s approach to improvising on this restricted kit through transcription and analysis of six improvisations from selected studio and live performances …

Experimental Investigation Of The Interface And Wetting Characteristics Of Rock-H2-Brine Systems For H2 Geological Storage, Mirhasan Hosseini

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The projected rise in demand for hydrogen (H2) production is a response to several factors, including greenhouse gas emissions caused by burning fossil fuels, depletion of fossil fuel reserves, and their uneven distribution around the earth. Thus, increased requirement for large-scale hydrogen storage solutions is anticipated to overcome imbalance between energy demand and supply. Deep underground formations such as salt caverns and porous reservoir rocks (e.g., depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs and deep saline aquifers) are necessary to achieve such volumes in practice. This process is known as underground hydrogen storage (UHS) which is technically very similar to underground natural gas storage. …

Is A Pretrained Model The Answer To Situational Awareness Detection On Social Media?, Siaw Ling Lo, Kahhe Lee, Yuhao Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Social media can be valuable for extracting information about an event or incident on the ground. However, the vast amount of content shared, and the linguistic variants of languages used on social media make it challenging to identify important situational awareness content to aid in decision-making for first responders. In this study, we assess whether pretrained models can be used to address the aforementioned challenges on social media. Various pretrained models, including static word embedding (such as Word2Vec and GloVe) and contextualized word embedding (such as DistilBERT) are studied in detail. According to our findings, a vanilla DistilBERT pretrained language …

Taurus: Towards A Unified Force Representation And Universal Solver For Graph Layout, Mingliang Xue, Zhi Wang, Fahai Zhong, Yong Wang, Mingliang Xu, Oliver Deussen, Yunhai Wang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Over the past few decades, a large number of graph layout techniques have been proposed for visualizing graphs from various domains. In this paper, we present a general framework, Taurus, for unifying popular techniques such as the spring-electrical model, stress model, and maxent-stress model. It is based on a unified force representation, which formulates most existing techniques as a combination of quotient-based forces that combine power functions of graph-theoretical and Euclidean distances. This representation enables us to compare the strengths and weaknesses of existing techniques, while facilitating the development of new methods. Based on this, we propose a new balanced …

Human-Centred Artificial Intelligence In The Banking Sector, Krishnaraj Arul Obuchettiar, Alan @ Ali Madjelisi Megargel

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Changes in technology have shaped how corporate and retail businesses have evolved, alongside the customers’ preferences. The advent of smart digital devices and social media has shaped how consumers interact and transact with their financial institutions over the past two decades. With the rapid evolution of new technologies and customers' growing preference for digital engagement with financial institutions, organizations need to adopt and align with emerging technologies that support speed, accuracy, efficiency, and security in a user-friendly manner. Today, consumers want hyper-personalized interactions that are more frequent and proactive. Moreover, financial institutions have a growing need to cater to consumers' …

Optimising A Defence-Aware Threat Modelling Diagram Incorporating A Defence-In-Depth Approach For The Internet-Of-Things, Menaka L. Godakanda

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Modern technology has proliferated into just about every aspect of life while improving the quality of life. For instance, IoT technology has significantly improved over traditional systems, providing easy life, time-saving, financial saving, and security aspects. However, security weaknesses associated with IoT technology can pose a significant threat to the human factor. For instance, smart doorbells can make household life easier, save time, save money, and provide surveillance security. Nevertheless, the security weaknesses in smart doorbells could be exposed to a criminal and pose a danger to the life and money of the household. In addition, IoT technology is constantly …

Identification And Virulence Screening Of Fungal And Bacterial Entomophathogens Of The Edible Long-Horned Grasshopper Ruspolia Differens (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) From Uganda, Alfonce Leonard, James P. Egonyu, Fathiya M. Khamis, Chrysantus M. Tanga, Sunday Ekesi, Samuel Kyamanywa, Sevgan Subramanian

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Natural enemies are major challenges in laboratory rearing of grasshoppers, but the identity and virulence of these towards the edible long-horned grasshopper Ruspolia differens (Serville) is scarcely known. In this study, fungi and bacteria were isolated from R. differens collected from Mbarara, Masaka, Hoima, Kampala and Kabale districts in Uganda in 2018, cultured on standard microbial media, identified using molecular techniques and screened for virulence against the insect in laboratory bioassays. Fourteen and nine species of fungi and bacteria were isolated from R. differens, respectively, with the number of isolates varying based on collection site. The most prevalent entomopathogenic fungal …

Content And Frames Of ©Wechat And Chinese State Media - A Critical Literacy Reflection Of The Narratives During The Early Stage Of Covid-19 Pandemic, Zhe Jing

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Governments back disruptive politics on the Internet platforms to influence people. During the global health crisis, because of the popularity and demographic penetration, ©WeChat is said to be one of these platforms. The influential dynamics, the circulated contents relevant to diasporic audiences and the app’s global users are yet to be contextually understood through the educational lens of critical literacy. This study is underpinned by a critical literacy reflective framework which synthesises components from several critical literacy practices: content and frame analysis, critical pedagogies, and specific literacy domain practices to provide guideline for the investigation. The findings demonstrate how state …

Biblometric Studies Of Nla Papers From 2019-2021, Suwaiba Hussaini, Prof. Yahya Ibrahim Harande

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

The study intends to presents a Bibliometric analysis of articles presented at the Nigerian Library Association’s (NLA’s) National Conferences/ AGMs, 2019-2021, it will find out the distribution of articles that were presented in NLA’s conferences from 2019_2021, the degree of collaboration among the authors, and collaborative index of articles presented at NLA’s National conferences from the year 2019_2021. Data were collected from the NLA’s journals. To achieve the purpose of the study, three objectives guided the study .The study adopted descriptive survey design. The data were analyzed using frequency table and simple percentage. The findings of the study reveal …

Remote Justice & Domestic Violence: Process Pluralism Lessons From The Pandemic, Andrea K. Schneider, Heather Hlavka, Sameena Mulla, Erin Schubert, Aleksandra J. Snowden, Jennica Webster

Articles

Domestic violence procedures, like so many court processes around the world, were forced to go online and remote during the pandemic. The impact was dramatic-there were fewer restraining order petitions filed in the first place and an even lower amount granted. In short, domestic violence survivors, among the most vulnerable in our court system, were even more challenged in the last two years. Like many court systems, Milwaukee will never go back to being fully in-person for all procedures in conjunction with domestic violence. The evolving hybrid choices could provide additional access to justice, or these processes could create additional …

What Has Digital Transformation Changed? A Chinese Case Study Of Hidden Costs Using A Socio-Economic Approach To Management, Tony Huang, Emmanuel Monod, Alan Eisner, Helaine Korn, Yuewei Jiang, Bin Bai, Samuel Wilson

Management Faculty Publications

Digital transformation is regarded as a way to solve business problems in an organisation. However, the impact on the company’s hidden costs should also be more precisely analysed. This research relies on the socio-economic approach to management to describe the impact of digital transformation maturity growth on hidden costs in a Chinese manufacturing company. This paper combines the case study research method with some quantitative techniques by conducting correlation analyses of staff turnover, low-quality work and occupational injuries and diseases. The results indicate that digital transformation maturity growth is correlated with the financial consequences of staff’s excess salary in terms …

A New Era Of Policing: Uncovering Ways Officers Believe Community Relations Can Be Restored, Bradi Kai Kooyman

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The present study qualitatively investigated law enforcement officers’ opinions on creating more positive relationships with community members and how news media can play a role in deteriorating community attitudes and perceptions of law enforcement officers. A total of six participants were selected to participate in a forty-five-minute interview. Participants were asked questions regarding positive and negative factors in their relationship with their communities, local and national law enforcement portrayals in news media, reforms needed within law enforcement, beliefs toward community policing, and factors that lead to success in their relationships with citizens. This study discovered that building trust, implementing community …

Resilience Of The Black Woman: Thriving Through Storytelling, Kimberly R. Miller

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The study explored how storytelling develops resilience in Black women, enabling them to thrive after overcoming adversity. Storytelling can be conducted in a variety of ways, such as through writing, interaction with others, and self-analysis, however, this study will focus on the value of informal oral storytelling through the interactions with others. Studies reveal that Black women are disproportionately impacted by inequities concerning equal rights, employment, equal pay, education, discrimination, affordable healthcare and housing, criminal justice, and voting rights. Despite these inequities, Black women are significant contributors to the workforce, economy, and society, demonstrating resilience. There is limited research that …

We're Listening: A Study Of Music Preference In Modern Society, Michael B. Glover

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the formation of music preference in an effort to identify specific ages when preferred music is likely to be discovered. One hundred one individuals participated in an online survey, answering questions about their listening habits, music preferences, and the social elements that contributed most to those preferences. Participants were asked to identify their current, second, and third favorite music at the time of the study and whether their preferences had changed over time. According to findings, males were likely to discover their current favorite music at the age of 12.46 years, and …

A Qualitative Study Examining The Literacy Experiences Of Male Middle School Students Inside And Outside Of School, Ari Raymond Colondres

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

A literacy gap is a difference between a person’s ability to read for understanding and meaning-making and their anticipated ability to read for their grade level. A larger proportion of males are at least one or more years below grade level in reading ability compared to their female peers. This reading difference is called the gender literacy gap. Students over one year below grade level are at an increased risk of dropping out of high school and face the possibility of diminished lifetime earnings. Gender, low levels of motivation, low socio-economic status, low engagement, and school perceptions of literacy are …

A Qualitative Study Of Understanding Female Navy Veterans’ Experiences With Representation And Inclusion In The U.S. Military, Antwanisha K. Williamson

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Research about women in the military helps to address the ongoing concerns about the lack of inclusion of female perspectives, which contributes to oppressive power dynamics and lack of women’s representation in practice, policy, and procedures. The problem this dissertation addressed is the lack of representation and inclusion of female perspectives regarding power and privilege that affect military practices, policies, and procedures. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand female Navy veterans’ experiences with representation and inclusion in military practices, policies, and procedures. Applying a larger conceptual framing using radical feminism, liberal feminism, and critical theory helped to …

How Economic Distribution Impacts Human Rights On An International Level: A Case Study In Africa And The Balkans, Lindsey G. Ingraham

Honors Program Theses

Data from Reporters Without Borders and the World Bank was used in this small case study to assess correlations between economic dispersion, freedom of the press, and measures of gender equality in eight countries. These countries were selected from two regions, with four from both Africa and the Balkans to total eight: Angola, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and Zimbabwe. The regions were selected to account for any regional trends affecting the data. These countries were selected based on their Gini Coefficients with the hopes of identifying correlations between economic distribution and their measures of human rights. …

Data Ethics And The Dilemma Created By Turing's Learning Machines, Jacob Kuhn

Honors Program Theses

The main purpose of this research is to shed light on the good and bad that has come about from the interaction of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in society. Transparency with the public is paramount for the future of Artificial Intelligence. Without awareness, the public is blind to the parts of the Data Revolution that could help them or hinder them. The key question is what AI advancements are being made and what ethical problems do they pose to the general population? To help answer this question, it is best to examine the founding of Artificial Intelligence and the …

Exposure, Adaptation And Expectations: How They Affect Perception Of Foreign Accented Speech, Isabella Huddleston

Honors Program Theses

Understanding accented speech is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s society. The world is connected through technology allowing us to reach further than we ever have before. One challenge this presents is the necessity to communicate across languages. Even if an individual has learned another language proficiently, the speech they produce is influenced by their native language resulting in foreign accented speech (FAS). There now exists the need for understanding how FAS affects speech perception and uncovering ways to improve communication situations between native and nonnative communication partners.

New Policy Opens Trade With India For Pork Producers In The U.S., Morgan Marie Aitchison

Honors Program Theses

International trade is critical in maintaining a country’s prosperity. Trade between countries fuels the economy for both parties, creates jobs, and raises the standard of living. This statement comes from the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). A major development of USTR's portfolio is the progress in trade with India. In November of 2021, the United States of America and the country of India agreed on a long-awaited Trade Policy concerning numerous economic topics. Within the policy released by the USTR were discussions and agreements over agriculture, non-agriculture goods, services, investment, and intellectual property. The topics included a …

Monitoring Archaeal Persistence In Cultivation, Payton Hall

Honors Program Theses

It was previously thought that microbes in the domain Archaea were only found in extreme environments such as hot thermal vents at the bottom of the ocean and hypersaline environments, but as scientists began to use environmental DNA to survey soil, they detected archaea from the phylum Thaumarchaeota in relatively benign environments including farm fields, forests, and prairies. In spite of their widespread global distribution, relatively few of these species have been grown in laboratory culture. It is now known that Thaumarchaeota play an important role in the nitrogen cycle because they can generate energy through ammonia-oxidation. To increase the …

Evaluation Of Methods To Analyze Microbial Composition In Soils, Joseph Correa

Honors Program Theses

DNA testing has become a vital tool for studying microbes in their natural environments, but there is a lack of standardization in the protocols for extracting environmental DNA. Cave systems provide a special and unique area to research how life thrives in extreme environments. Many parts of caves receive no sunlight and very little nutrients yet harbor microbial communities. Previous work in our lab developed a DNA extraction protocol that works with a wide range of microbial species and with different soil types. I updated this protocol by adding a pre-lysis rinse step and tested whether it performed better with …

Accommodating (Global–Glocal) Paradoxes Across Event Planning, Michael Duignan, Milena M. Parent, David Mcgillivray

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The aim of this research note is threefold: 1) to introduce the concept of paradox and its numerous applications to the study and management challenges associated with the planning and delivery of events, with a specific look at large-scale events like the Olympics to provide an extreme case; 2) to present a new paradox entitled the "Global–Glocal Paradox" that interrogates how inherent global and local stakeholder interests and tensions are managed; and 3) to present a series of conceptual and practical ways events can "accommodate" as opposed to "resolve" this paradox to help balance stakeholder interests instead of pitting one …

Senatorial Behavior In Recent Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings, Alex Perrin

Honors Program Theses

Supreme Court confirmation politics has reached a high-water mark between the nominations for Elena Kagan in 2010 and Neil Gorsuch in 2017. The court since 2010 is now ideologically divided along party lines for the first time in its history thanks to Republican presidents nominating more ideological justices, beginning in the 1980’s, in response to a more activist Warren court. These developments have taken shape in tandem with increased coverage of the hearings through television and various forms of media. This intensely partisan and political process in which the public is highly engaged offers the perfect stage for Senators to …

Problematizing Progress: Building A Postcapitalist Present, Cole G. Shepard

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

In the past three decades, the term post-capitalism has found its way into several disciplines ranging from economics to feminist studies. Over these years, its use and definition have made a noticeable shift, from a focus on grassroots resistance meant to carve out noncapitalist spaces within a capitalist system to a focus on utilizing modern technology like automation and universal basic income to demand more freedom for the working class. This project traces the academic discourses of postcapitalism in the United States today. I analyze who is using the term and how to understand postcapitalism’s place in a larger movement/series …

Teaching Dystopia In Dystopian Realities: Trauma-Informed Pedagogy And The Dystopian Novel After Covid-19, Emily Rose Lavrador

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This project advocates for a trauma-informed approach when teaching dystopian literature, particularly those with plague or pandemic plots. To have a truly student-centered approach in the classroom, trauma-informed pedagogy is necessary for students not only to learn comfortably, but to actively be creative or retain information.

Dystopian literature is assigned and consumed at pervasive rates; this popularity calls for additional attention to its teaching. The survey data presented in this project shows that 68 of 100 students had been assigned one or more dystopian texts through school years 2020 onwards, and 72 additionally were seeking out the dystopian genre on …

Uncertainty, Parenting Attitudes, Risk Perceptions, And Covid-19 Vaccination Intentions, Zoë Royer

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the lives of millions of people, particularly parents. Drawing on uncertainty-identity theory and research on intensive parenting attitudes, two studies sought to understand the effects of self-uncertainty, parenting beliefs, and perceived illness and vaccine side effect severity, on parental intentions to vaccinate children against COVID-19. We hypothesized that parents with intensive parenting attitudes would rely on their parenting identity to reduce uncertainty and make decisions about vaccinating their children. The results revealed that parents who perceived illness severity in unvaccinated children as high were more likely to vaccinate their children, while …

Indigenous Women In Active Drug Abuse Recovery: An Analysis Of Native And Non-Native Programs, Raquel J. Muñoz

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

In general, much has been written on the experiences of prototypical women in drug recovery programs, however there is only a scarcity of research on the experiences of rural women of color in drug recovery programs. Very few Northern American cultures had experience with alcohol before the first wave of European settlers. Responses to intergenerational trauma faced by Native women include substance abuse, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, suicidal thinking, and more. Due to socioeconomic disadvantages drug and alcohol abuse tends to be a coping mechanism for many Native American women. Drawing on the narratives of ten Indigenous women who are …

Habitat Selection And Habitat Use Of Gray Foxes (Urocyon Cinereoargenteus) On Trespass Cannabis Grows., Haley-Marie R. Jones

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Trespass cannabis grow sites, otherwise known as illegal cultivation sites on public lands, are extremely hazardous to the environment and can severely impact wildlife movement and behavior. Trespass grow sites are dangerous to wildlife as they negatively impact the quality of habitat and wildlife behavior through habitat modification, pesticide use, discarding of trash, and poaching on national forests. I researched gray fox habitat selection and habitat use at six different grow sites in the Klamath National Forest and Shasta-Trinity National Forest in northwestern California. I deployed GPS collars on three gray foxes at two of those grow sites and three …

Prototypicality Threat And Intergroup Threat Theory: Support For Blm Using Militant Or Peaceful Language, Jordan C. Mcdowell

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Black Lives Matter (BLM) symbolizes the need to recognize the humanity of Black lives and the systemic discrimination contributing to the murders of unarmed Black Americans at the hands of police. While there were some white Americans who participated in the demonstrations during the summer of 2020, there was also significant opposition (Astor, 2020). . The current work seeks to contribute to existing social identity literature by examining how subtle racist rhetoric in the media, combined with a threat to the white American identity (prototypicality threat) may impact support for BLM. To address these hypotheses, white participants will be recruited …