Digital Commons Network^™

Analysis Of Policies And Incentives For The Successful Implementation Of Hydrogen-Fueled Medium-Duty And Heavy-Duty Vehicles In Humboldt County, California, Alka Verma

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The 21st century has seen a significant rise in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with the transportation sector contributing 23% of these emissions. Medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles (MD/HD) are particularly impactful, accounting for over a quarter of transport-related emissions. In Humboldt County, California, transportation represents 53% of total emissions, with MD/HD vehicles being a major contributor. As light-duty vehicles shift to zero-emission alternatives, the MD/HD sector faces unique challenges. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles offer a promising solution, providing longer range, higher energy density, and quicker refueling compared to battery electric vehicles (BEVs). These features make hydrogen an attractive option for …

Economic Inequality In California Counties: Same Patterns, Mixed Impacts After Covid-19, Justin Arellano

IdeaFest 2026

This project analyzes economic inequality across California counties before and after COVID-19 using Census data. Findings show that higher-income counties consistently have lower poverty and uninsured rates. Although COVID-19 caused changes in economic outcomes, the overall pattern of inequality remained stable, suggesting that income differences continue to be the primary factor shaping county-level economic conditions.

2026 Mcm Problem A: Modeling Smartphone Battery Drain, Jonathan David Juarez

IdeaFest 2026

This study develops a continuous-time model of smartphone battery discharge incorporating activity-dependent current demand and temperature-driven degradation. Simulations evaluate battery performance under common usage scenarios and varying states of health. Results indicate that high-energy activities significantly accelerate depletion, while battery aging and elevated temperatures reduce overall runtime. Model predictions align with benchmark data and observed usage patterns, demonstrating the framework’s ability to replicate realistic discharge behavior. The model provides a practical approach for estimating battery life and assessing the impact of user behavior and thermal conditions.

Modeling Murders: Following The Yorkshire Ripper, Alexis Garcia

IdeaFest 2026

When working to identify active serial killers, police collect data on the killer’s behavioral patterns to predict their activity. Peter Sutcliffe, also known as the Yorkshire Ripper, started killing in the 1900s and primarily targeted women from red-light districts. This project uses an agent-based modeling approach that incorporates the behavioral choices of Sutcliffe to predict the home location of a killer with similar traits. The accuracy of our model was measured by calculating the distance between the predicted and the true house location of the killer. This model shows the effectiveness of using an agent-based model to simulate a serial …

A Strawberry’S Meaning, Ava Bauch, Michaela Barthel, Cacee Danielson, Brooke Kraft

OER Materials

This lesson plan provides a culturally responsive and interdisciplinary learning experience for second-grade students by integrating social studies, literacy, and character education through the topic of strawberries in Cherokee culture. Using the 5E instructional model students learn that items in nature can hold important meaning for different cultures. The lesson aligns with standards focused on identifying how people are influenced by their environment and how natural resources can shape traditions and beliefs. Students begin by discussing their own experiences with strawberries and sharing what strawberries mean to them. This opening activity activates prior knowledge and helps students understand that objects …

Strawberry Exploration: Using Our Senses, Ava Bauch, Michaela Barthel, Cacee Danielson, Brooke Kraft

OER Materials

This lesson plan provides an engaging inquiry-based science experience for second-grade students by using strawberries as a hands-on tool for exploring the five senses and developing observation skills. The lesson aligns with science standards focused on planning and conducting investigations based on observable properties. Students learn how scientists use their senses to gather information while also building communication and collaboration skills. The central focus is for students to investigate strawberries through sight, touch, smell, and taste, then record and compare their findings with classmates. The lesson begins with an introduction to the five senses through visuals and guided discussion. Students …

Case Study Of The Loch Ness Monster, Ava Bauch, Cami Mayo, Sean Savage

OER Materials

This lesson plan presents an engaging interdisciplinary learning experience for fourth-grade students that integrates social studies and language arts through the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster. Using the 5E instructional model, students investigate the legend while developing literacy and geographic reasoning skills. The lesson aligns with standards requiring students to make inferences using text evidence and use geographic tools to gather and report information. Students begin by examining a map of Scotland through See-Think-Wonder and Think-Pair-Share strategies, using observation and discussion to identify locations and making predictions about where the Loch Ness Monster story takes place. This opening activity …

Ecosystem Of The Loch Ness Monster, Ava Bauch, Cami Mayo, Sean Savage

OER Materials

This lesson plan provides an engaging interdisciplinary learning experience for fourth-grade students by combining language arts and science through the theme of the Loch Ness ecosystem. Using the 5E instructional model students build understanding of ecosystems, food webs, and informational text comprehension. The lesson aligns with standards focused on making inferences with text evidence and constructing arguments about how plants and animals use structures for survival, growth, and reproduction. Students begin by analyzing an image of the Loch Ness Monster and discussing what they see, think, and wonder. This introductory activity activates prior knowledge from earlier lessons while encouraging curiosity …

Film For Jeanette, Brice Goldberg

Theses and Dissertations

Film for Jeanette is an experimental documentary concerning grief, memory, and what remains of those who have left this physical plane. The film paints the portrait of my late sister, Jeanette Lee Goldberg, who died in a car accident when she was 19. What begins as a memorial becomes a celebration of her life and an exploration into the complexities of her character that led to her death. Jeanette’s story is told through interviews with family members, while the visuals, created with various alternative 16mm film techniques, depict my own journey through the filmmaking process. I was only 3 when …

Digitalisation In The Voluntary Sector: An Empirical Study On The Determinants Of It Acceptance, Deniz Dogu

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Digitalisation represents a major societal trend that drives economic and social trans-formation by increasingly embedding digital information and communication techno-logies (ICT) into processes, interactions, and everyday activities across all domains of life. However, the voluntary sector has yet to fully embrace ICT. The extent to which volunteers integrate digital tools depends on factors such as technical infrastructure and willingness to adopt IT. Research in this area remains limited, and findings are often difficult to transfer across different national contexts. This PhD research addresses the gap in understanding IT acceptance in volunteering, using Germany as a case study. A comprehensive literature …

Optimisation Of Application Distribution For Heterogeneous Multi-Access Edge Computing Environments, Harald Frank

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Mobile networks have evolved from pure transport networks for voice, text andimage data to multifunctional data processing platforms. This goes hand in handwith the change from manufacturer-dependent, hardware-based systems tovirtual infrastructure environments based on standard systems.This paradigm shift creates completely new possibilities for functionalities andservices which was not able with the old architecture. On the other hand, theongoing development of the mobile networks with its virtual platforms generatesnew challenges which must be analysed and solved.While the demands on the new functionalities and services are increasing, theend-user device also become more powerful. The combination of end-userdevice mobility, limited resources at the …

Towards An Evaluation Of The Business Value Of Ai: A System Dynamics Approach, Ganesh Sankaran

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

In the early 2010s, when Artificial Intelligence (AI) emerged from the latest "winter" of disillusionment, discussions about its use in decision-making tended to be dichotomous: humans or AI. More recently, consensus has shifted toward a complementary humans-and-AI perspective, recognising that augmentation, not substitution, is the more appropriate frame for AI's role in the foreseeable future. This shift foregrounds the challenge of evaluating outcomes in collaborative decision-making contexts.The thesis proposes a simulation-based framework, drawing on system dynamics, to evaluate whether complex, time-varying interactions between humans and AI agents result in collectively rational behaviour. The framework extends the observation of dynamic complexity …

Applications Of Evolutionary Algorithms In Wind Farm Layout Optimisation, Pawel Manikowski

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

The transformation from fossil fuels to renewable energy is gaining momentum. Countries worldwide are investing significant funds and resources in this shift. The motivations for this change include political, environmental, and social factors, among others. In the UK, which is surrounded by the ocean and experiences strong winds, offshore wind farms are seen as the most viable source of renewable energy. It is anticipated that by 2030, all electricity in the UK will be generated by wind turbines. Hence, the optimisation of the wind farm layouts is the desired direction of research in the UK.In Chapter 3, we discussed the …

2026 Spring Commencement, Georgia Southern University

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Reframing Narratives, Reclaiming Futures: Antiracist School Counseling And Black And Brown Girls In Stem, Renae D. Mayes, Lia D. Falco, Shontell Zenon, Dequindre Hughes, Yijia Chen, Lydia Ross, Medha Dalal

Journal of College Access

Black and Brown girls often have educational experiences that stifle their career aspirations, especially in STEM fields. These experiences can be exacerbated by educators who misunderstand and refuse to recognize their STEM potential, thus limiting their opportunity to build STEM identities. School counselors can disrupt these experiences through antiracist practices that cultivate homeplace and joy for Black and Brown girls to heal and grow while working to address harmful policies and practices. In this paper, authors discuss how school counselors can specifically use antiracist school counseling practices to support Black and Brown girls in STEM as a part of multi-tiered …

Statistical Analysis Of Evidence In Criminal Cases, Giuliana Leon Carrillo

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Ideally, the evaluation of relevant forensic evidence must corroborate the hypotheses that the prosecution and/or the defense holds regarding the commitment of a crime. Therefore, optimal forensic evidence would be the one that can be found all the time under the same circumstances, and cannot be found otherwise, making the forensic scientist able to evaluate this evidence given the hypotheses provided. Nevertheless, this is hard to find, as ideal evidence being only a concept.

In this project, the probabilistic interpretation of relevant forensic evidence investigated in criminal cases with the aid of Wigmore charts and Bayesian networks was proposed. Using …

Paleo-Environmental Change In Deer Lagoon, Whidbey Island Interpreted From Diatoms And Lithology, Lourdes Garcia

All Master's Theses

Puget Sound is a densely populated, tectonically active area that can be affected by earthquakes from local crustal faults and the Cascadia subduction zone capable of producing abrupt coseismic subsidence. Tidal wetlands are particularly sensitive to abrupt changes because they are depositional environments that reside at sea-level and their lithology and ecological communities are strongly controlled by elevation within the tidal frame. As a result, coseismic subsidence can disrupt established environmental gradients and leave distinguishable signatures preserved within the stratigraphy, like tidal mud directly over peat deposits. These preserved records provide an opportunity to reconstruct past earthquakes and associated relative …

The Geomorphology And Hydrogeology Of Pre-Restoration West Fork Teanaway River, Wa, Usa, Shana M. Egan

All Master's Theses

The West Fork Teanaway (WFT) River in Kittitas County, WA is an entrenched bedrock river channel with disturbed floodplain geomorphology and degraded riparian ecology. Two stream restoration approaches, “stage 0” valley bottom reset and engineered logjam installation, will be installed at the WFT in summer 2026 by collaborators at the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife and Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group. The objective of this study was to constrain the pre-restoration geomorphic and hydrologic conditions of the WFT. The WFT has an unconsolidated floodplain aquifer of predominantly coarse-grained fluvial deposits. Monitoring of groundwater and surface water levels began in …

Understanding The Cost Of Catastrophe: Wildfire Suppression Costs Drivers By Fire Size Class, Stephanie Overla

All Master's Theses

While most wildfires burn less than 100 acres, the western United States experiences much larger fires annually, placing increasing pressure on suppression resources. Changes in weather patterns, fuel composition, and the spatial complexity of human development have rapidly altered historic fire regimes, increasing both the frequency of large wildfires and the challenges of managing them. This study compares two wildfire classes—Fires of Unusual Size (FOUS, >90,000 acres with at least one rapid growth event), and Large Fires (LF, 25,000–90,000 acres), —to identify differences in how size- and growth-based fire classes influence wildfire suppression costs. Suppression cost data for 60 …

Exploring Students' Perceptions Of Active Learning Practices And Their Role In Critical Thinking Development In Undergraduate Biology Education, Kwame Kyeremah

All Master's Theses

As the global landscape becomes increasingly complex and undergoes more rapid changes than ever before, critical thinking has become an indispensable skill for addressing challenges in society, science, and the workplace. Despite its widespread adoption in undergraduate STEM education, active learning remains poorly understood from the student's perspective. This study investigated how undergraduate biology students perceived active learning in a ten-week biostatistics course (BIOL 213) at Central Washington University, and whether those perceptions aligned with critical thinking gains measured by the California Critical Thinking Skills Test with Numeracy (CCTST-N). A convergent mixed-methods design integrated student perception and mindset survey data …

Pre-Eruptive Timescales Via Olivine Diffusion Chronometry For Lava And Tephra Of The Schreibers Meadow Cinder Cone Eruption, Mount Baker (Kulshan), Wa, Sabrina Ansari

All Master's Theses

Mount Baker is a very-high threat Cascade volcano and is located near densely populated areas in northern Washington, putting many at risk if an eruption were to occur. Schreibers Meadow cinder cone is located on the southern flank of Mount Baker and produced the Sulphur Creek (SC) tephra and lava 9.8 ka. Previous work on the SC eruption used petrology and geochemistry to reconstruct the pre-eruptive magmatic architecture beneath Mount Baker Volcanic Field, including olivine-hosted melt inclusions to determine crystallization pressures, as well as plagioclase- and clinopyroxene-derived diffusion timescales to determine magma storage timescales of several months and recharge-to-eruption timescales …

Religion, Death, And Journalism In The Christian Science Monitor, 1908-1918, Natalie Hammill

All Master's Theses

The Christian Science Monitor was created in 1908 by the Christian Science Church and its founder, Mary Baker Eddy, with the goal to “injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” The question arises, how does a religion that does not believe in physical reality produce a newspaper, and how does that newspaper treat subjects like sin, sickness, and death, subjects Christian Science teaches its adherents to ignore? This thesis argues that the Christian Science Monitor used the inherent flexibility of Christian Science beliefs around physical reality in combination with popular ideas about non-sensationalism and “clean journalism” as the basis …

The Subjectivity And Conformity Issues In Contemporary Practices Of Algorithmic Creativity, Tetiana Sovhyra, Larisa Babushka, Tetiana Andrushchenko, Olena Onischenko, Mykola Brovko

Journal of Urban Culture Research

This article examines the issue of subjectivity and conformism in algorithmic cultural practices (robotic performances and neurocomputer installations “A3 K3 Dragan Ilic," “Alone Together," “NOOR” and “AIBO”). The focus is on the technological features of algorithmic creativity, which is based on machine learning, stylistic imitation and computational data processing. In this context, ethical and legal issues related to copyright and the recognition of artistic works created by artificial intelligence are analyzed. In particular, mechanized artistic practices create the illusion of autonomous creativity, whilst retaining the decisive role of human subjectivity in the organization and interpretation of cultural processes. Algorithmic creativity …

(2026) Desegregating The Community Of Inquiry In Philosophy For / With Children: A Dialogue On Racism, Maughn Rollins Gregory, Darren Chetty

Collected Papers of Maughn Rollins Gregory

This dialogical article examines persistent challenges in engaging racism, colonialism, and white supremacy within the theory and practice of Philosophy for/with Children (P4/wC). Framed as a mutual interview between two long-standing colleagues, the dialogue revisits formative encounters in the P4/wC community and situates them within broader intellectual traditions, including American pragmatism, deliberative democracy, and Africana philosophy. Drawing on personal experience, archival material, and critical scholarship, the authors interrogate the metaphilosophical assumptions underpinning the “community of inquiry,” particularly its commitments to reasonableness, consensus, and democratic dialogue. Concepts such as the “gated community of inquiry,” white ignorance, nonideal theory, and insurrectionist ethics …

The Impact Of Gastric Sleeve And Roux-En-Y Gastric Bypass On Chief Cell Function And Protein Digestion In Obese Patients, Garikoitz Mikel Gainza

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Obesity has become one of the largest global health concerns of the 21^st century, correlating with numerous associated diseases. To help address the growing prevalence and burden of obesity, sleeve gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass have become two commonly performed surgical procedures done to promote weight loss by altering the anatomical structure of the stomach and surrounding organs of the gastrointestinal system. Although the benefits of improved metabolism linked to these surgical procedures are well studied, their impact on the physiology of gastric cells, and more specifically chief cells as they relate to protein digestion post-surgery, is yet to …

Beyond Full Fine-Tuning: The New Playbook For Adapting Deep Neural Networks, Cristian S. Mcgee

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Fine-tuning is the process of teaching and specializing a pre-trained neural network on a downstream task. Fine-tuning is a rapidly growing topic in artificial intelligence domains; however, many fine-tuning endeavors are highly specialized without a coherent framework connecting them. This work presents a unified perspective on fine-tuning methods and performance metrics. Our perspective organizes the methods in terms of how they are applied to fine-tuning. This framework showcases methods that (i) update effective subspaces of the pre-trained model, (ii) change the adaptation optimization procedure, and (iii) alter the representations of the embedded input. Additionally, we present unconventional metrics such as …

Deep Learning Approaches For Voltammetric Analysis Of Coffee, Ryan Koes

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates deep learning approaches for voltammetric analysis of brewed coffee using a low-cost electrochemical system and screen-printed electrodes (SPEs). Traditional analytical methods, such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), provide precise quantification of key compounds but require expensive instrumentation and specialized expertise, limiting accessibility. While SPEs offer a more accessible alternative, they yielded poor results with traditional processing; however, when combined with a neural network, the system proved more effective. In experiments with 132 coffee samples, mean errors for caffeine, CGA, and TDS predictions were 52.98 ppm, 70.48 ppm, and 0.08%, respectively. These findings …

Sedimentology, Paleontology, And Depositional Environments Of The Upper Devonian Lock Haven Formation In West Burlington Quarry, North-Central Pa, Michael Harman

Honors Theses

The Upper Devonian Lock Haven Formation in north-central Pennsylvania preserves evidence of significant climactic and evolutionary transitions, including the fin-to-limb transition and initial arborescence. The formation contains abundant sedimentary features, palynomorphs, trace fossils, and fish body fossils, making it crucial for reconstructing these paleoenvironments. However, integrated studies on the Lock Haven Formation are rare. This study characterizes the depositional environments, ichnology, paleontology, and age of the Lock Haven Formation. A recent exposure at the Insinger-Ward West Burlington Quarry reveals three middle to early late Famennian lithofacies associations (FAs). FA1 consists of red sandstone, shale, and mudstone containing rhizoliths (deeply penetrating …

Utilizing Computer Modeling To Optimize Electric Fields Within Xenon Time Projection Chambers, Miles Meloni

Honors Theses

XENONnT is a physics experiment designed with the goal of detecting dark matter particles. The detector is a time projection chamber; a series of charged electrodes creates an electric field, surrounding a central body filled with liquid and gaseous xenon. Photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), positioned on either end of the chamber, serve to detect light signals. We seek to minimize the root mean square of the electric field norms experienced by the PMTs. This quantity corresponds to the variance in the electric field observed by the PMTs. Establishing a consistent electric field is important to maintaining these sensitive components. The electric …

Inequality In The Urban Forest: Modeling Tree Canopy Dynamics Through Demographics And Restoration Strategies, Eve Johansson

Honors Theses

Urban tree canopies play an important role in environmental quality, public health, and neighborhood livability, yet their distribution is highly uneven and often reflects historical patterns of inequality. In Brooklyn, long-term processes such as redlining, uneven development, and demographic change have contributed to persistent disparities in access to green space.

This thesis examines how urban tree canopy evolves across space and time in Brooklyn and how different restoration strategies affect long-run outcomes. The analysis uses demographic and canopy data from 1990-2020, considering race, income, employment, and educational attainment. Among these, education is the most consistent predictor of canopy coverage, with …