Digital Commons Network^™

The Changing Roles Of Elementary School Principals, Ernie Lozano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

The role of the elementary school principal has changed throughout its history. The role has shifted from primarily a managerial role to an instructional leadership role, to the more current role of a multi-faceted operational leader. Recent events, from the Covid-19 pandemic to highly publicized school shootings, has added additional responsibilities to the current role of the principal. The current high-stakes accountability to ensure all students are learning has also added an increased amount of pressure on elementary school principals. The ability to effectively manage both the operational and instructional roles has created stress and anxiety on elementary school principals. …

Best Friends And Popular Peers As Sources Of Influence During Late Childhood And Early Adolescence, Mary Page James

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Across the transition into adolescence, changes in the child’s social world give rise to growing peer influence. As adult supervision declines and time with peers increases, children and adolescents become increasingly susceptible to influence from friends and popular peers. Unclear, however, is the relative magnitude of each and whether the scope of their influence varies across different domain behavior. Friends dominate private settings, where behaviors that promote reciprocity are particularly salient. Popular peers dominate public settings, where behaviors that promote hierarchy are particularly salient. The present study concerns the unique hypothesis that peer influence is domain specific, such that best …

Movie Genre Classification Using Script Texts, Michael Roman Cuomo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Genres are used to classify movies so that they can be grouped with others that have similar themes and structures. These classifications are categories created by humans. In the process of creating a movie, a script is often the first creation to write and share ideas about a topic. The script contains large amounts of text that is used to describe the dialog, setting and direction of the film. Although the script contains important information for the film, the amount of text can present a challenge for machine learning algorithms. Often in studies on film classification, if text is used, …

Do Marketers Need To Know? How Firms' Newfound Quest For Customer Data Is Eroding Firm Performance, Victor Garcia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Firms today spend more than 30 billion dollars on marketing data. This obsession with data has been propelled by a firm's ongoing need to better understand its consumers and, in turn, drive positive firm performance. While the relationship between brand equity and firm performance has been confirmed for the last two decades, this study explores how data collection negatively moderates the existing relationship by testing multiple variables of privacy risk. This theoretical paper with a pilot study explores how the conflicting balance of shareholder theory and stakeholder theory can lead firms towards data collection practices that indirectly diminish the firm’s …

Effects Of Crevice Corrosion On Metal Adhesive Performance And Shear Strength In Marine Environments, Westin Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Corrosion is a leading challenge that engineers and researchers face when working in marine environments. Annually, corrosion costs an estimated $2.5 trillion globally and can lead to environmental damage and pose a threat to public safety. This thesis investigates the effects of crevice corrosion on the performance of different epoxy adhesives when mated with stainless steel to determine if using epoxy is a viable option for the development of systems operating in marine environments. To accomplish this, metal-to-metal lap shear samples were created using Araldite 2015-1, Plexus MA560-1, Plexus MA310, and Plexus MA8120 epoxies and different preparation methods. These samples …

Personalized Persuasion In The Digital Age: A Data-Driven Approach To Effective Communication, Annye Braca

Doctoral

This thesis investigates the potential of Machine Learning (ML) to personalize persuasive marketing messages. It explores the identification of individuals receptive to specific persuasion techniques based on their psychometric profiles. By developing ML models that incorporate these profiles, the thesis aims to predict the impact of tailored messages and improve the effectiveness of marketing communication.

Development Of Holographic Optical Elements For Application In Wound Healing Monitoring, Pamela Stoeva

Doctoral

Growing global healthcare challenges, including the increasing prevalence of chronic wounds, necessitate the development of cost-effective, reusable, and readily accessible sensors for real-time wound monitoring. Such devices could extend basic healthcare to remote areas and support long-term space missions by facilitating on-the-spot wound assessment. Sensors that utilise Holographic Optical Elements (HOEs) are promising candidates due to their diverse sensing capabilities, advantageous physical properties (e.g., lightweight and flexibility), and suitability for mass manufacturing. The fundamental biochemical processes associated with wound healing are typically related to parameters such as oxygen levels, pH, temperature, and lactate concentration. Realtime quantification of these parameters enables …

Decreasing Food Waste In Home Kitchens By Increasing Food Literacy, Thao Rich

Student Publications

In a world that produces enough food for all of its occupants, a staggering amount of it bypasses empty stomachs and goes into landfills every day. There it sits in a plastic bag, which delays decomposition and increases the harmful greenhouse gas emissions. There are numerous reasons for the inequitable distribution of food ranging from politics to logistics, but the fact is that each person can make a dent in reducing their carbon footprint by simply reducing the amount of food they place in the trash each week. Food waste reduction is a small goal that requires no additional spending, …

"We'll Never Get This Opportunity Again": Lived Experiences Of Platform-Based Gig Workers, Catey Hoehn

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Platform-based gig work has rapidly expanded in the United States, leading to growing concerns about economic precarity, algorithmic management, and the sustainability of labor performed through apps. Gig work has been accused of fostering exploitative conditions, masking control through the language of flexibility, and deepening cycles of debt and insecurity for workers. However, the lived experiences of gig workers often reveal complexities that differ from public narratives and company portrayals. This thesis builds on sociological studies of labor precarity to examine how platform-based gig workers experience, internalize, and resist algorithmic control. Utilizing qualitative semi-structured interviews, fifteen rideshare and delivery drivers …

Twice-Exceptionalism And The Complexity Of Supporting Students Who Are Both Gifted And Disabled, River Johnathon Taylor

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Drawing on ideas from disabilities studies about compulsory able-bodiedness as well as experiences of disability being fluid and context dependent, this study posits that giftedness, just like disability, is a complex multidimensional form of identity that is both context and temporally dependent. Twice-exceptionalism is defined as an identity in which an individual is gifted in at least one domain of human productivity and manifests at least one disability. Students with unique learning needs (students with disabilities, students with giftedness, and students with twice-exceptionalism) face many complex challenges within Humboldt County, California. Twenty-five educators from Humboldt County working across all grade …

Comparison Of The Division And Fairness Of Household Labor Between The 1980s And Early 2000s, Madeline Rose Provins

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The purpose of this thesis is to examine change in the gendered division of household labor between the 1980s and early 2000s. The division of household labor has historically been inequitable reflecting parallel social hierarchies, power imbalances, and systemic inequalities outside the home.

I used a cohort sample of 1,157 respondents combined from the 1988 Wave 1 of the National Survey of Family and Households (NSFH) and the 2003 Wave 3 to test four hypotheses related to gender and household labor. I found that between 1988 and 2003, the gender gap closed in mean hours a week devoted to indoor …

All Red Inside: Embodied Metaphor In Clive Barker's Books Of Blood, Ian Vargas

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The collection Books of Blood is an anthology series of short stories written between 1984 and 1985. Only two, the very first and last, have any unifying story. For our purposes we will be looking at stories in particular that exemplify the themes I am speaking about. Barker's writing often heavily focuses on the ways that the body stands outside the control of the individual, something that a person resides in and must always rely upon, but is not actually in their control in most senses. His horror explores the ways in which the human body is both the first …

Housing Cal Poly Humboldt Students, Andrea Santamaria

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Student Housing & Residence Life at Cal Poly Humboldt has been consistently critiqued for the shortage of spaces available and unsuitable student placements. Student input from a 2024 survey is used to call for affordable and equity-based housing accommodations. Results showed that the first factor students consider when selecting between housing options is Cost. More incentives are needed to recruit a higher number of students living on campus. 33.88% (41 students) prefer to live on campus regardless of obstacles or challenges. 66.12% (80 students) would rather live off-campus. Improving housing experiences can decrease low retention, graduation, and recruitment rates, as …

“Thanks For The [Land] Acknowledgement, Now What?”: Settler Histories And Decolonial Futures At Cal Poly Humboldt’S Schatz Tree Farm, Sangeeta Sarkar

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

As California’s newest polytechnic university, Cal Poly Humboldt is often lauded for its Indigenous-facing programming and commitments to Indigenous peoples. In recent years, Native American Studies faculty, staff, and students, alongside Indigenous community partners, have led conversations about Cal Poly Humboldt meaningfully supporting tribal sovereignty by returning land to Native nations. As Cutcha Risling Baldy summarized in a research interview, “Thanks for the [land] acknowledgement, now what?” (2024, personal interview). However, though Cal Poly Humboldt has made various land acknowledgements and references to Indigenous peoples in its university policies, conversations about #LandBack have been met with resistance from the university. …

Uncertainty Reduction As An Underlying Motive For Optimal Distinctiveness, Chad Hinojosa

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Uncertainty-identity theory and optimal distinctiveness theory posit separate but related motives for social identity. Whereas there has been evidence supporting each theory, little research has investigated the overlap between the two. More specifically, the needs for assimilation (belonging) and differentiation (uniqueness) as postulated by the optimal distinctiveness model may be understood as derivatives of the desire to reduce uncertainty in one’s self and future. In this study, I investigated the overlap between these three motives for social identity by experimentally testing the mediating effect of self-uncertainty on the relationship between the needs posited by optimal distinctiveness and social identity. Participants …

The Menstrual Cycle, Dual-Hormone Hypothesis, And Competition: Implications For Athletic Performance, Camille Burns

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Female athletes perceive that the fluctuating hormones of the menstrual cycle affect their performance. However, research on objective performance is inconclusive, partly due to a lack of studies conducted in real-world competitive contexts. Testosterone is often seen to be elevated near ovulation and is related to social competitiveness. Under the dual-hormone hypothesis, testosterone only predicts competitive behavior when cortisol is low. The current study had two goals: (1) to test whether the dual-hormone hypothesis applied to competitive drive and objective athletic performance, and (2) to examine whether competitiveness and the intensity of one’s response to competition varied across the menstrual …

The Effects Of A Yoga Intervention On Flexibility And Stress Of High School Students, Paige Mccollum

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This study examines the effect of a four-week school-based yoga intervention on the flexibility and stress/anxiety levels of high school students. Eighteen freshman students, aged 13-15, participated in two 30-minute yoga sessions per week. Students’ physical flexibility was measured using the sit-and-reach and shoulder stretch tests from the FitnessGram. Stress and anxiety levels were assessed using the SCARED survey and Perceived Stress Scale surveys. Results showed a statistically significant reduction in school avoidance anxiety (p = 0.025) and slight improvements in lower-body flexibility among students with initially low flexibility. Other subscales from the SCARED survey and flexibility testing did not …

Goal Setting In Sleep And Nutrition To Improve Perceived Performance In Active College Students, Cameron F. Timmons

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This study looked at goal setting in sleep and nutrition on healthy active college students aimed to improve their perceived performance, resting metabolic rate, body composition, and overall well-being. The six-week-long intervention had two groups: a control (n=5) and intervention group (n=6). Both groups received an initial coaching session and guidance for self-motivated online goal setting, completed weekly check-ins asking about their sleep and nutrition quality and quantity, and perceived performance, then they would set small goals aimed at improving their sleep and nutrition. The control group set their own goals every week with their online weekly check-ins, and the …

True Crime Podcasts As A Scene Of Feminist Reckoning: A Comparative Analysis Of My Favorite Murder And Sistas Who Kill, Rachel C.C. Matteri

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This research examines the cultural impact and ethical implications of true crime podcasts (TCPs). In recent years, TCPs have become a powerful cultural force, with White women often emerging as the primary storytellers and most visible participants in the genre. Their dominance in this space is not neutral and it carries representational weight. It explores the potential for feminist activity made possible by the auditory, self-publishing genre of podcasting. This work focuses on the buddy-comedy subgenre of TCPs. The concerns of this text are that TCPs are dominated by White feminist values and are not an intersectional feminist project. Textual …

Lineation To Liberation: The Transformative Power Of Poetic Rhetoric, Amber Rae Alvarez

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This project explores the transformative power of poetic rhetoric and examines how poetry as a form of expressive art serves as a means of reclamation in the aftermath of encounters with the American criminal justice system. I contend that poetry provides a space where folks can reimagine (and reclaim) their identities, asserting their agency in empowering and authentic ways. Taking a Cultural Studies and Critical Prison Studies informed approach, this project engages the concept of lineation to liberation to conduct a close reading analysis of artist (Reginald) Dwayne Betts’ poetry. Betts’ work not only provides a powerful example of how …

An Analysis Of Uv Disinfection Of Municipal Wastewater Following Natural Treatment Systems, Jonathan Andrew Kirchubel

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

On January 30, 2024, the City of Arcata replaced chlorine with ultraviolet (UV) irradiation as its disinfection method for treating its wastewater prior to discharging to Humboldt Bay. The Arcata wastewater treatment facility (AWTF) utilizes natural treatment systems for treating its secondary effluent, which can provide issues for UV disinfection through variance in turbidity, total suspended solids (TSS), pH, humic acids, and color. This project aimed to identify whether the water quality characteristics of natural treatment systems in the AWTF would impact UV disinfection of municipal wastewater.

Thirty-one sampling periods occurred between June 8, 2024, and March 1, 2025, recording …

“We Weren't Just Reading About Adventures; We Were Living Them”: Immersion, Transgressive Play, And Dungeons & Dragons, Nicolas Poulter

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Dungeons & Dragons is a game that has existed since 1974 with a singular focus: to tell epic stories with your friends. Currently on its 5th edition of the game, the ability to tell stories has been highlighted like never before. With an emphasis on storytelling and collaboration, there are bound to be moments that are difficult. These are called transgressive play experiences. This project will endeavor to explain how D&D, by design, is the perfect game to engage in transgressive play experiences. Because of this, I believe future projects studying benevolent transgressive play should consider D&D as the medium …

Common Raven Habitat Selection Along The Northern California Coast, Alon Averbuj

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Nest predation by common ravens (Corvus corax) is considered one of the most significant barriers to the recovery of the population of the federally threatened western snowy plovers (Anarhyncus nivosus nivosus) in Northern California. To increase productivity of snowy plovers, conservation managers in Northern California employ three main techniques; placing symbolic fencing to deter pedestrian entrance to snowy plover nesting areas, invasive vegetation cutback, and deposition of oyster shells to increase snowy plover nest crypsis. However, little is known on how these techniques affect habitat selection of ravens in the area. I modeled habitat selection of …

Breaking Barriers: The First-Generation Experience In Pursuit Of The American Dream, Milagros Ortega

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This project examines the common misconceptions surrounding First-Generation Latino college students and challenges the dominant narrative that portrays them as unprepared, unsupported, and unmotivated. Through narrative and content analysis of the short films, Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá and Turns in the Road, this project explores the overlapping challenges that complicate their educational journeys. These challenges, financial instability, lack of guidance, and sociocultural dissonance, represent three core barriers commonly faced by first-generation Latino college students. Guided by theoretical frameworks such as the Immigrant Optimism Hypothesis, W.E.B Du Bois’ theory of double consciousness, Gloria Anzaldúa’s concept of Nepantla, and Yosso’s …

Fleeing Structural Stigma: Psychological Outcomes For Transgender And Gender-Diverse Internally Displaced Persons, Max E. Cartagena

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

In 2025, at least 1,000 bills targeting transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) individuals were introduced across the United States, contributing to an environment of escalating structural stigma. As a result, many TGD individuals have relocated from states with high levels of stigma to those with lower levels in search of safety, access to care, and social affirmation. This study examines these individuals as internally displaced persons (IDPs) and is informed by refugee psychological literature, as both experiences arise from coercive structural forces that compel individuals to relocate. This perspective highlights the involuntary nature of their migration, driven by the need for …

Wait... Homework Can Be Fun?! A Pilot Homework System Study, Caroline Brock

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Homework has been a long-debated topic in schools. Regardless of where people stand on the issue, the evidence shows that quality homework can be an effective tool to help students be successful in school. Beyond academics, homework can also be used as a tool to help students develop important foundational study skills that are critical for future success. But how can school districts get all stakeholders behind a homework system if they do not see the value of homework, or if the homework is a point of individual or familial stress. Through an action research project using mixed methods, parents …

Examining The Impact Of A Health Course On Lifelong Learner Attitudes Toward Psychedelic And Entheogenic Substances, Dustin B. Larrazolo

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This study examined the impact of a three-week Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) health course, “Far Out” Medicine: The Science and History of Psychedelics, on midlife and older adult learners’ knowledge, attitudes, and perspectives regarding psychedelic and entheogenic substances. Eleven midlife and older adults (ages 40 - 80; M = 59.0, SD = 15.35) completed matched pre- and post-course surveys assessing demographic characteristics, factual knowledge, attitudes, personal willingness, and social or policy views. The sample was highly educated (1 associate, 5 bachelor’s, 3 master’s, and 2 doctoral degrees) and demonstrated strong internal consistency and response convergence across repeated measures. …

Sex Work And Covid-19: An Intersectional Discussion Of U.S.-Based Sex Worker Experiences During The Pandemic, Sabrina M. Grandia

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted all forms of industry, including that of sex work. Between October 2020 until November 2022, I did field research and interviews with nine U.S.-based sex workers throughout those months of the pandemic. Using a grounded theory approach, I asked open-ended questions about their entrance into the industry, business practices, and personal experiences before and during the pandemic. Their stories allow us to gain insight into the impact the pandemic had on them as individuals and their broader communities. My analysis highlights a prominent influence of anti-trafficking policy, politicization of the virus, and the impact of Black …

Elementary Teachers' Knowledge Towards Teaching Physical Education, Hannah Lee Mandy

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This study examined elementary teachers’ preparation in physical education (PE) and its impact on teaching effectiveness for students, including students with disabilities. Twenty-seven teachers completed a survey and three participated in a follow-up focus group where participants were asked to expand on previous questions. Findings revealed limited PE coursework, minimal hands-on experience and low familiarity with the California Physical Education Standards in teacher preparation programs. Additionally, only 74 percent of participants completed a PE course during their teacher preparation program and focus group participants emphasized their preparation programs focused on lesson planning rather than hands on teaching, and the programs …

Large Language Models And Identity: A Reflexive Approach, Nicholas Austin Nielsen

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This project explicates theories of identity, technology, and capitalism and uses an auto ethnographic approach in order to apply that explication at a personal level. The project responds to AI rhetoric in business and pedagogy and the instability surrounding perspectives on job security, the role of technology in Higher Education, and existential representations of the human. By deconstructing identity, ideology, cultural contexts, and technologic rhetorics, the goal is to further the scholarship surrounding Large Language Model applications in pedagogy and offer a personal, therapeutic approach to feelings of economic and existential discontent and fear experienced by students and educators regarding …