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Fundamentals Of Speech, Steelman Library, David Yates

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

Fluid Dynamics Of A Microfluidic Micromixer–Micropump Driven By Adjacent Micro Synthetic Jets, Delara Soltani, Tim Persoons, Sajad Alimohammadi

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Efficient mixing at the microscale remains a significant challenge in microfluidic systems due to the dominance of laminar flow and the consequent limitation of convective transport. Synthetic jets, generated by the oscillatory motion of a diaphragm within a cavity, produce a zero net mass flux while imparting periodic momentum to the surrounding fluid, thereby enabling localised flow perturbation and vortex generation that can substantially enhance mixing and mass transfer in microchannels. In this study, a pair of adjacent micro synthetic jets (AMSJs) is positioned perpendicularly to a microchannel to investigate their potential as a novel micropump-mixer. The vectoring effect of …

Instruction Request: Podcasting In An Academic Library To Connect Library Instruction With Campus And Community, Lauren Odom, Beryl White-Bing

Library Faculty Presentations & Publications

The Instruction Request podcast is co-hosted by two librarians at the University of North Florida: Beryl White-Bing, Virtual Learning Librarian, and Lauren Odom, Instruction Librarian. Both of us serve in the Instruction Unit at the Thomas G. Carpenter Library. In an era where digital content is essential for engagement, we sought a way to modernize our library outreach without compromising our instructional mission. Podcasting emerged as the perfect format for highlighting educational content while being accessible and scalable.

On The Surface: The Mural Of Shireen Abu Akleh As Space For Encounter, Saja Abd El Hai

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This thesis examines a mural of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the city of Baqa al-Gharbiya as a site of political encounter. Rather than approaching the mural solely as a commemorative image, the study analyzes how it generated a series of interactions through acts of creation, defacement, restoration, performance, and digital circulation. Drawing on scholarship in visual culture, graffiti studies, and political theory, I argue that the mural operates as a gendered space of political encounter through which grief, resistance, and national identity are negotiated in public space. Methodologically, the project combines visual and contextual analysis with rhetorical criticism, …

Two Cheers For Cox V. Sony, James Gibson

Law Faculty Publications

There’s a lot to dislike about the Supreme Court’s opinion in Cox Communications, Inc. v. Sony Music Entertainment. It mischaracterizes, oversimplifies, and ignores precedent. It fails to engage with important arguments. It mangles the meaning of “intent.” And it introduces uncertainty into the workings of secondary liability across other intellectual property regimes.

For these reasons, the decision doesn’t deserve three cheers. But it deserves two. Because in two important ways, the Supreme Court has succeeded. First, the opinion fixes some misguided appellate court holdings by articulating a relatively workable standard for future copyright cases involving secondary liability. Second, despite …

Dismantling The Whiteness Of Legal Education, Doron Samuel-Siegel

Law Faculty Publications

Whiteness is not merely a racial description. Whiteness operates as allegiance to structural racism. The quiet engine of racial hierarchy, whiteness pervades and shapes traditional legal education, rendering legal pedagogy a structurally racist enterprise. Legal education not only reproduces the racism embedded in the law and legal profession, but also obscures the ways legal doctrine, professional norms, and pedagogical practices normalize, protect, and make invisible the advantages that accrue to whiteness itself. In doing so, itproduces lawyers ill-equipped to dismantle structural injustice.

This Article breaks new ground in the scholarship on legal pedagogy by defining whiteness as it operates within …

The Middle Space: Redefining Collaborative Directing In Adaptive American Collegiate Theatre, Tyler J. Simons

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This thesis examines collaborative directing as an adaptive, relational practice that exists between rigid hierarchical authorship and fully collectivized creation. Challenging dominant binaries in directing discourse that frame leadership as either singular or egalitarian, this study argues for a “middle space” in which authority, authorship, and responsibility are continually negotiated in response to institutional structures, pedagogical contexts, and interpersonal dynamics. Directing is framed not as a fixed methodology or ideological position, but as a responsive practice shaped by context. Grounded in a practice-as-research (PaR) methodology, the thesis analyzes four productions: Rhinoceros (Theatre UCF, 2024), The Tricks of Scapin (Freedom High …

Enhancing The Immersive Experience Through The Diversification Of Operational Costuming, Emma Nevitt

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This thesis will be a comparative creative project that analyzes current operational wardrobe options within immersive lands, utilizing case studies and applied research, a neutral proposed immersive land will be created with operational costuming options that provides variety to the operational wardrobe that will enhance the immersive guest experience by creating a more compelling environment through wardrobe diversity. This will be achieved through a kit-of-parts approach where staffing will have a small variety of tops, bottoms, headwear, outerwear, and accessories to create a unique look to their own wardrobe while providing narrative insight. Each piece will be designed specifically for …

Un Lugar A Donde No Puedo Volver: Perteneciendo En La Distancia, Alberto J. Alonso

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

“A Place I Cannot Return To: Distance and Belonging” investigates how home is not limited to a fixed place, but instead a reconstruction sustained through memory and longing, which focuses on personal experiences of being away from Puerto Rico. I contribute to this broader dialogue by offering a deeply personal perspective shaped by the complexities of cultural belonging. Through photography, collage, and painting, my art practice reconstructs fragmented visual narratives of lived experience to explore homesickness, nostalgia, and displacement, examining how personal and shared histories become anchors to what continually slips away. Although I can physically return to Puerto Rico, …

Critical Analysis Of Legal Education: Faculty Perspectives Of Law School's Role In Producing Practice-Ready Graduates, Sophia M. Akel

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Legal education has long been the subject of harsh, widespread criticism due to concerns about its ability to adequately prepare students for legal practice. Newer attorneys have reported feeling incapable of performing even the most basic functions of their job after graduation from law school (Merritt & Cornett, 2020). Despite this troubling reality, law schools largely continue to function as they always have (Cramton, 1981). To gain insight directly from important figures in legal academia, this study examined law faculty perceptions on legal education’s role in producing practice-ready graduates. A mixed-methods survey design incorporating both quantitative descriptive and qualitative elements …

Passenger Pigeons, Dodos, Neanderthals, Jordan Alexander

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Passenger Pigeons, Dodos, Neanderthals is a short story collection rooted in Afrofuturism and Southern literature. Passenger Pigeons centers the experiences of queer Black American women in various settings, from Mars to rural Florida. The title story of the collection follows Teri, a human on Mars, attempting to integrate into a society of Martians who exoticize and tokenize her. In this story, I use science fiction as a vehicle to confront the microaggressions and overt racism people of color often experience in professional environments. “Rather Be the Devil,” is a fabulist story detailing the character Man’s journey to find his missing …

Investigating The Association Between Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (Pcos) And Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (Iih): A Cross-Sectional Analysis, Savannah L. Adams

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) are chronic conditions that disproportionately affect women of reproductive age and share several metabolic risk factors, including obesity, insulin resistance, and hormonal dysregulation. Despite growing clinical interest in a potential relationship between these conditions, limited research has examined awareness, knowledge, symptom presentation, and barriers to healthcare among young adult populations. The purpose of this study was to investigate awareness, knowledge, perceived healthcare barriers, and potential associations between PCOS and IIH among college-aged individuals. A cross-sectional survey was administered to students aged 18-25 at the University of Central Florida through classroom recruitment …

The Role Of Cultural Intelligence In Hotel Employee Engagement, Self-Efficacy, Job Satisfaction, Performance, And Intent To Stay, Meaad Eid F Almotairi

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This research examined how Cultural Intelligence enhanced hotel employees’ engagement, self-efficacy, job satisfaction, performance, and intent to stay. CQ was defined as an individual’s capability to understand, adapt to, and work effectively in culturally diverse situations. This thesis utilized a quantitative methodology based on the Job Demands–Resources (JDR) model and self-efficacy theory. The study focused on the hospitality industry in Saudi Arabia, where increasing diversity has created a need for stronger cross-cultural skills among employees. Data were collected from hotel employees and managers to examine the relationships between CQ and key employee outcomes. The findings indicated that Cultural Intelligence significantly …

'But George Floyd Wasn't A Saint': A Critical Discourse Analysis Pre And Post George Floyd, Raya Berkley-Jacobs

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

May 25, 2020, George Floyd died at the hands of former police officer Derek Chauvin after he placed his knee on George Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. His death sparked outrage, protests, and calls for accountability, justice, and reform. This study addresses the impact of George Floyd’s death as a focusing event that created a policy window under which federal legislation was introduced as a response to his death. Drawing on Punctuated Equilibrium Theory and Social Construction Theory, the study utilizes a critical discourse analysis to test how the death of George Floyd impacted the amount and …

Exploring Governance And Government Policies Of Preparedness And Response To Flooding In Juneau, Alaska, Derreck Asiamah

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Flooding poses an escalating threat to human well-being, economic stability, and environmental resilience in climate-sensitive regions such as Juneau, Alaska, where the retreat of the Mendenhall Glacier has produced an actively expanding ice-dammed lake, Suicide Basin, capable of triggering an annual Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF). This thesis explores the governance and government policies shaping flood preparedness and response in Juneau, Alaska, with particular attention to GLOF risk and the August 2024 GLOF, one of the most destructive flood events in the city's history. Grounded in adaptive governance theory and political ecology, the study offers a multidimensional perspective on institutional …

Holographic Sensors For The Detection Of Volatile Organic Compounds, Graceson Antony

Doctoral

Volatile organic compound (VOC) monitoring at parts-per-million (ppm) concentration levels is essential for occupational safety, indoor air quality, and regulatory compliance. Although holographic gas sensors have been widely investigated, most operate in reflection mode as qualitative visual indicators, with limited quantitative evaluation of sensing mechanisms and scarce systematic demonstrations of repeatable multi-cycle validation for VOCs at ppm concentrations. A physics-based optimisation framework for transmission-mode holographic gas sensors which can bridge this gap has remained largely undeveloped.

This thesis presents the development and optimisation of real-time transmission-mode volume phase transmission holographic grating (VPTHG) sensors for ppm-level VOC detection. A comprehensive theoretical …

Following The Water: Tree Water Sources In Coastal Northern California Forests, Kaitlyn Briggs

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Increasing drought intensity and declining summer water availability in Mediterranean- climate forests raise concerns about forest resilience and streamflow persistence. This study evaluated how tree water sources vary with hillslope position, season, species, and watershed context across three coastal northern California forests. Stable isotopes of hydrogen (δD) and oxygen (δ18O), soil moisture time series, linear mixed-effects models, and site-specific Bayesian mixing models (MixSIAR) were used to estimate proportional contributions of shallow soil, deep soil, stream-associated, and fog water to tree xylem water. Across sites, xylem water isotopic signatures overlapped primarily with soil water, indicating dominant reliance on subsurface sources, while …

Subjective Glib Dynamics: Using An Alien Society To Investigate Reactions To Leader And Member Norm Deviance, Catie Burtch

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Social groups are built by members and leaders who form consensus on the defining attributes of their groups. Individual group members look to senior members and leaders to learn what it means to be a member of that group. Thus, norm maintenance is an important aspect of group health. The subjective group dynamics model details the specific group contexts under which people derogate ingroup members for transgressing norms. However, ingroup leaders are treated differently from regular group members and are given leniency for their transgressions. The current research extends these two bodies of work by directly comparing the consequences of …

Geographic Variation In Proteomic Responses To Ocean Acidification In A Cold-Water Coral (Balanophyllia Elegans), Keana A. Richmond

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

In the face of a rapidly changing climate, assessing organismal responses to future stressors in the context of current, natural exposure to stress could provide key insights to understanding marine ecosystem resilience. I used Balanophyllia elegans, a cold-water, solitary, azooxanthellate coral as a model to better understand how varying oceanographic conditions across its geographic range have shaped its ability to tolerate and potentially adapt to current and future ocean acidification conditions. I collected B. elegans individuals from four sites across 2,500km of their range and subjected them to two pH treatments to investigate site-specific protein expression in response to …

Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus Kisutch) Response To Habitat Restoration Through Space And Time: Monitoring Growth, Survival, And Movement In A Restored Habitat Network, Carter Perez Adamson

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Despite the decline of coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), Prairie Creek, a tributary of Redwood Creek in northern California, remains a coho salmon stronghold. The restoration of juvenile coho rearing habitat was identified as a recovery objective in this watershed by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Among the restoration projects addressing this objective are an ongoing project on Prairie Creek and its tributary Skunk Cabbage Creek, and a prior effort on Strawberry Creek (a tributary of Redwood Creek’s estuary). Standard monitoring methods for assessing project success have limitations and may be improved by measuring salmon use of restored habitats …

Repairing Estranged Death: Care, Politics And Ecology In The Us Funeral Industry, Cecilia Catherine Rodriguez

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The industrialization of death practices in the US has separated humanity from natural cycles while centering white settler colonial norms that marginalize other cultural ways of caring for the dead. Through necropolitics, the contemporary death industry embodies capitalist values of commodification and a monopolization of care, separating death from community and its ecological cycles. Black and Indigenous feminist knowledges understand death as not a discrete event but instead as an ongoing process that shapes our relationships with both the human and more-than-human worlds. Engaging with feminist political ecologies, I extend a conversation about care and repair to contemporary death practices …

Decolonizing Restorative Justice: A Teaching Development Project, Lacy Felice Mitchell

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The coloniality of power serves as a central axis within the matrix of domination that characterizes global capitalist modernity, as Anibal Quijano famously argued. This power is rooted in particular ways of looking, seeing, and understanding social reality, anchored in Eurocentrism as an epistemological paradigm for the hegemonic discourse produced by the West against both internal and external categories of “other.” Such categories still inform the production of knowledge in educational settings. In this project, I engage in a critique of the coloniality of power to explore its implications and potential for critical pedagogical practice within the context of sociology …

Rethinking Belonging In First-Year Student Support: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation Of Eop/Sss Programing At Cal Poly Humboldt, Elizabeth Rose Silver

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This mixed-methods project examines the role of the Educational Opportunity Program and Student Support Services (EOP/SSS) first-year orientation programs, particularly STEM Summer Bridge, in supporting feelings of belonging and persistence. While institutional efforts often frame student success through metrics such as retention and concepts like sense of belonging, this project interrogates how these are experienced and understood by students themselves. Quantitative analyses compared one-year persistence rates between STEM Summer Bridge participants and multiple comparison groups across three cohorts (2022–2024). Results showed no statistically significant differences in persistence; however, STEM Summer Bridge participants demonstrated persistence rates comparable to or slightly higher …

Taking A Seat In The Circle: Decolonizing Gender Roles That Argue Against The Participation Of Feminine Bodies At The Big Drum, Juli Suzukawa

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The origins of the Big Drum can be traced back to the 1860s when Tail Feather Woman, a Dakota woman, had a vision of its creation as a tool of resistance. The Big Drum has since expanded and can now be seen at various Indigenous ceremonies and social events. However, there has been controversy regarding the participation of feminine and queer bodies. While reasons for this vary, it has also contributed to harm amongst Indigenous youths that have a more fluid stand on gender identity and may not conform to colonial “gender norms”. In this paper, I will explore how …

Reclaiming Presence: An Anthropological Study Of Digital Disconnection And Meaning-Making, Leslie De Paz

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Human attention is increasingly at risk in an unregulated digital ecosystem where overconsumption shapes neurological function, social interaction, and the ways people make meaning of everyday life. Dominant discourse around digital overuse tends to medicalize the problem, framing it as individual addiction or clinical dysfunction. In this thesis, I argue that such framing obscures what a cultural phenomenon is fundamentally, one in which people are actively questioning their relationship with technology, building awareness, and developing practices that help them slow down and reclaim agency within algorithmically mediated environments. This study draws on 22 semi-structured interviews with Gen Z and millennial …

Testing Adaptive Habitat Selection In Breeding Swainson's Hawks (Buteo Swainsoni), Elizabeth Meisman

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Adaptive habitat selection theory predicts that individuals preferentially select habitats that maximize or improve their fitness. However, patterns of habitat preferences may dampen with increasing population density and become decoupled from habitat quality when environmental conditions change. Such dynamics may be especially important in long-lived territorial species that exhibit site fidelity. One of the longest running raptor studies in North America has tracked an increasing population of breeding Swainson’s Hawks (Buteo swainsoni) in Butte Valley, California since 1985, where agricultural practices have shifted over the decades, providing an ideal system for studying these processes. Using nest records from …

“Thank You For Listening To Us”: Incorporating Community Context And Perspectives Into Sea-Level Rise Adaptation Planning For Fields Landing & King Salmon, California, Clara Riggio

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Fields Landing and King Salmon, California are two low-lying, coastal communities on Humboldt Bay (Wigi). These communities already experience coastal flooding during the highest astronomical tides each year, and flood conditions are expected to worsen as sea levels continue to rise. The Fields Landing & King Salmon (FLKS) Living with Water Project was created as a partnership between Humboldt County departments of Planning & Building and Public Works, along with support from social science researchers at Cal Poly Humboldt, including the author. In Chapter 1, I describe the co-production approach used throughout the project, including analysis of four dilemmas that …

Assessing The Ecological Drivers Of Wildfire Hazard Mitigation Of Fuels In The California Home Ignition Zone, Christopher David Benterou

Master's Theses

Consecutive years of devastating home losses to wildfire indicate the need for home fuel reduction and construction improvements. Existing research correlates house survival with modifications to the home ignition zone (HIZ) and is required in high fire hazard areas of California (CA). Mitigations, designed to disrupt continuous fuel patterns, (e.g., separating surface and canopy fuels), can also introduce ecological changes that can alter overall code compliance. Previous compliance studies used respondent and agency-generated data, which may lack accuracy. Assessing additional house and ecological features (e.g., canopy cover and construction) would improve prediction of compliance, but these relationships are poorly studied. …

Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition And Stress Adaptations Underlie Yttrium-90 Resistance In Liver Cancer Cell Lines, Alexander Zheleznyak, Dhanusha Duraiyan, Prasanth Thunuguntla, Jessica Camacho, Shuang Wu, Jingxia Liu, Jason D Weber, Daniel L J Thorek, Benjamin S Strnad, Ryan C Fields, Matthew A Ciorba, Christine Yoon, Valerie Blanc, Nicholas Davidson, Jessica Silva-Fisher, Christopher D Malone

2020-Current year OA Pubs

UNLABELLED: Molecular signatures predict prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma, but their relevance to transarterial radioembolization (TARE) with yttrium-90 (90Y) is unknown. We aimed to identify baseline and treatment-induced pathways associated with response and nominate biomarkers. Ten transcriptomically diverse human liver cancer cell lines were exposed to escalating activities of glass 90Y microspheres for 10 days. Normalized AUC values quantified sensitivity. Whole-transcriptome RNA sequencing at baseline and after treatment was analyzed with elastic net regression and gene set enrichment. Findings were corroborated by qRT-qPCR and exploratory analysis of pretreatment tumor samples from patients undergoing TARE. Liver cancer cell line responses to 90Y …

Airway Management In Emergency Department Thoracotomy: A Narrative Review, Aaron J Lacy, Adam Liebendorfer, Sarah M Guess, Rami S Al-Aref, Anthony P Kronfli, Rachel E Armstrong, Amelia W Maiga, Alexander Bracey, Ryan N Barnicle

2020-Current year OA Pubs

INTRODUCTION: Emergency department thoracotomy (EDT) is a high-risk, life-saving intervention for patients in traumatic cardiac arrest. A critical component of EDT is airway management, typically performed by emergency physicians, yet formal guidance regarding optimal strategies remains limited. Airway management in this setting is uniquely complex due to concurrent anatomic injury, physiologic instability, and the procedural demands of thoracotomy.

DISCUSSION: Endotracheal intubation (ETI) during EDT presents multiple challenges. Anatomic difficulties may arise from facial or cervical trauma, restricted positioning, and the presence of cervical collars. Cognitive load is heightened by the chaotic, multidisciplinary environment, requiring strategies such as pre-briefing, checklists, and …