Digital Commons Network^™

Density-Dependent Habitat Selection And Home Range Sizes In A Recovering Population Of Island Foxes (Urocyon Littoralis) On Santa Rosa Island, California, Kathleen B. Elder

Master's Theses

Understanding factors that affect how animals select their home ranges is critical for proper species management, especially for threatened and endemic species. Density-dependent factors can be particularly difficult to understand because studying them requires large fluctuations in population size. The island fox (Urocyon littoralis), endemic to the California Channel Islands, has experienced dramatic fluctuations in population size making it an excellent candidate for studying the effects of density on home range size and habitat selection. In 2009, researchers on Santa Rosa Island took advantage of this “natural experiment” to document fox home ranges and habitat selection at a …

From Conflict To Clarity: Resolving Differences In Habitat Assessments To Inform Conservation Priorities For The Giant Kangaroo Rat, Caroline Mackenzie

Master's Theses

From Conflict to Clarity: Resolving Data Differences in Habitat Assessments to Inform Conservation Priorities for the Giant Kangaroo Rat

Caroline MacKenzie

Conservation strategies frequently rely on habitat suitability models, habitat assessments and species occurrence data to identify areas for protection. However, these methods often produce conflicting inference on species presence and habitat quality, complicating management decisions. This study builds on prior work which used three distinct methods to guide conservation planning for the endangered Giant Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys ingens): habitat suitability modeling based on abiotic predictors, aerial imagery to assess habitat quality through visible burrow mounds and live-trapping …

Multibeam Communication With Digital Sparse Arrays, Tavita Dayton

Master's Theses

The thesis presents a novel approach to maximizing spectral efficiency by utilizing spatial spectrum sharing in digital sparse arrays through non-uniform element configurations. A genetic algorithm approach is developed to optimally place the array elements to achieve maximum beam orthogonality and isolation. The proposed method is compared against three different configurations, namely purely random, random with jitter, and the Van Der Corput sequence (a low-discrepancy sampling approach). Simulated results demonstrate that the genetic algorithm and jitter methods successfully meet design specifications for beam orthogonality, average interelement spacing, and computational time. At the same time, the random and Van Der Corput …

Open Source Asic Design Curriculum, Francisco Wilken

Master's Theses

The ever-growing importance of Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) in a high-compute world necessitates that college graduates entering the workforce are well prepared to design them. This thesis details the design of novel ASIC curriculum, using open source tools to teach at the undergraduate level. By moving to a higher level of abstraction than classical transistor-focused coursework, chip design material can be made accessible earlier in an undergraduate degree. Additionally, open source tools provide a powerful, free, and portable platform for students to create their own designs, solving assignments focused on industry readiness. Finally, this thesis studies the results and challenges …

Remote Monitoring And Control Of Protection Relays Via Programmable Logic Controller, Rio Mcgown-Kauffman

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to explore the ability of a programmable logic controller (PLC) to wirelessly monitor and control power protection relays. The technologies surrounding power protection and industrial automation are ever evolving and have developed significantly in recent history. Industrial power applications call for consistent condition monitoring and status updates for various high-importance components. The high-importance components have power protection schemes that are managed by digital relays to trip circuit breakers in fault or unsafe operating conditions. The smart relays have a wide range of capabilities, including communications. Cal Poly assembled a collection of relays from Schweitzer …

Birch With Tidyclust In R, Jacob Perez

Master's Theses

This thesis introduces a new implementation of the BIRCH clustering algorithm within the tidyclust framework in R. Traditional hierarchical clustering methods face scalability limitations with large datasets, due to their computational complexity. BIRCH offers a scalable alternative by summarizing data into microclusters using a CF-tree. This work shows the integration of the phases of the BIRCH algorithm into tidyclust, which enables a streamlined workflow for model specification, evaluation, and prediction. Through this implementation, scalable hierarchical clustering has been brought to R users within the tidyclust interface, enhacing the ability to better analyze large datasets.

Hands-Free Balance Protocol And Development Of An Iphone App For Self-Assessment, Jacob Matties

Master's Theses

For many clinical populations, the measurement of balance is a critical task. Previous studies have agreed that smartphone IMUs provide a valid measure of balance that can be significantly correlated with force plate measurements and is sensitive enough to distinguish between various balance poses, but many balance assessment protocols require uncommon equipment or the use of hands during assessment. These limit accessibility of balance assessment. To eliminate the need for hands or any additional equipment, this study assessed the use of a smartphone recording the root mean square of 3D acceleration magnitude. The goal of the study was to determine …

Horses, Serfs, Slaves, And Transitions Debates., Thomas E. Lambert

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This research note/paper examines several factors that have been mentioned and debated as determinants of how Britain moves from feudalism to mercantilism and then to capitalism by way of agricultural and industrial innovations and also how it arrives at the cusp of the industrial revolution. Of special interest are somewhat recent conjectures of macroeconomic data, investment estimates, and data on horses, serfs, and slaves of previous centuries that perhaps can better contribute to and add some clarification to the debates over the transition from feudalism to capitalism and the transition from an early form a capitalism or mercantilism to the …

Range-Dependent Meso-Scale Geoacoustic Seabed Quantification, Tim Sonnemann, Jan Dettmer, Charles W. Holland, Stan E. Dosso

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study presents a probabilistic one-step two-dimensional (2D) inversion method of spherical-wave reflection coefficient data to estimate the range-dependent structure and geoacoustic parameters along a track. The approach of inverting such datasets independently as one-dimensional (1D) layered models and merging them to a 2D section is feasible but computationally expensive. This study demonstrates a more parsimonious 2D parametrization for active source data recorded on a towed hydrophone array. The comparison of data variance reduction for 1D- and 2D-based results clearly favors the 2D parametrization described here.

Belonging Against The Odds: Exploring Restorative Justice Practices As Pathways To Foster Belonging In New York City Transfer Schools, Miguel Rodriguez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The U.S. education system perpetuates structural inequities that disproportionately affect Black students with the School-to-Prison Pipeline (STPPL) criminalizing them through Zero-Tolerance policies. Transfer schools are often a last resort for students pushed out of traditional schools provide a lens to examine the impact of Restorative Justice Practices (RJP) and Black student representation on belonging. This quantitative dissertation study analyzes secondary data from the NYC Department of Education using multivariate models to explore the relationship between RJPs and sense of belonging (SOB). Model 1 found that discussing feelings and emotions at school (Tier 1 RJP) had the strongest association with SOB …

The Supreme Court’S Old Habits In A New Era? Native Nations, Statehood, And An Indigenous-Led Future For Natural Resources, Monte Mills

Articles

art I of this essay looks back and, relying on Winans and Winters, illustrates the Court’s longstanding commitment to a recognition of tribally reserved rights while requiring a collaborative approach that acknowledges some state interest and authority. Part II then briefly assesses the modern era of Indigenous leadership in natural resources, reviewing the ways in which Native Nations are implementing a new framework of collaborative stewardship for lands, waters, wildlife, and other ecological systems. Finally, Part III considers how the lessons or impacts of this broader movement might be relevant in future conflicts raising questions of statehood and tribal …

I Often Dream Of Trains, Melissa Bellovin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This is a collection of stories exploring travel, romantic illusions, motherhood and fairy-tale motifs through a surreal lens.

Power Asymmetry Dynamics: Assessing Interdependence In France-Cameroon Relations Through Economic And Security Cooperation (2000–2024), Chick Edmond

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

This paper examines the dynamics of power asymmetry in the interdependent relationship between Cameroon and France from 2000 – 2024 with a focus on security and economic cooperation. The main research question asks: To what extent has power asymmetry reinforced or mitigated the interdependent relationship between Cameroon and France within the realm of economic and security cooperation? Based on the hypothesis that increased interdependence between these two states during this period has strengthened existing power disparity. The paper examines how such dynamics have restrained Cameroon’s autonomy and its capacity to pursue policy goals.

The theoretical framework combines dependency theory, postcolonial …

Exploring Advanced Theory Of Mind Development Across Sociocultural Contexts: An Evaluation Of The Strange Stories In Children From Mexico And Us–Mexico Border Communities, Katherine Rice Warnell, Amy A. Weimer, Rong Huang, Daniela Kuri

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Recent research on advanced theory of mind (ToM) has questioned the extent to which existing ToM measures capture a single construct, particularly for groups understudied in developmental research. The present study examined the factor structure of one of the most commonly used advanced ToM measures, the Strange Stories task, in samples of low- and middle-income children in dual-language Spanish-English schools in US–Mexico border communities and in Mexico (N = 237 children, n = 108 male, n = 129 female, Mage = 10.05 years, SD = 1.15 years; 96.3% Hispanic/Latine). No clear factor structure emerged for the Strange Stories …

Outgoing President Dr. Todd Christy Address To The Hod: “I’Ve Been Humbled And Honored To Serve”, Todd Christy D.D.S.

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Executive Summary: In his farewell address to the MDA House of Delegates, Dr. Todd Christy reflected on his year as the 161st president of the Michigan Dental Association, describing it as a humbling and honoring experience. He extended heartfelt thanks to his wife, the MDA staff, Executive Director John Tramontana, and the Board of Trustees for their support and hard work. Dr. Christy characterized the past year by the word "Change," outlining key Board activities such as an orientation with the new executive director, discussions on change management, approval of a Member Conduct Policy, and strategic planning for the House …

News You Need: It's Mid-Year: Are You Taking Advantage Of Your Mda Member Benefits?

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This comprehensive overview highlights numerous MDA member benefits available to Michigan dentists. Key offerings include practice guidelines on various topics, a formal mentor program, DiSC training for staff development, social media support kits, extensive continuing education programs, and student debt resources. Additional benefits encompass ADA resources, contract analysis services, radiography training programs, job board access, legal assistance, regulatory compliance support, insurance services, and human resources guidance. The article also announces MDA Dental PAC competition winners who contributed $23,000 for advocacy activities, reports on staff departures including HR director Brandy Ryan and Medicare expert Rick Seely, and recognizes table clinic winners …

J Mich Dent Assoc June 2025

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association is the leading monthly digital publication serving Michigan’s oral health community and the MDA’s 6,200+ members. Distributed globally through the searchable ADA Commons publishing platform, it is the primary channel for news, clinical insights, and professional resources for Michigan dentists.

June Issue Highlights:

• Cover Feature: An in-depth report on the MDA’s advocacy efforts beyond insurance reimbursement, highlighting recent legislative wins and member services that support practice profitability and success.
• Workforce Well-being: A special feature on the stages of stress and burnout, with strategies and resources to support mental health and resilience.
• Compliance Update: …

Water Quality Assessment: Endotoxin Brings Real-Time Measurements And Non-Faecally Transmitted Bacteria To The Table, Christian Good, João Brandão, Christopher Seymour, Simon K. Jackson

School of Biomedical Sciences

We have used a rapid, portable assay (Bacterisk) to determine the bacterial water quality along several inland waters in SW England. Water samples were compared by a conventional membrane filter and culture methods for faecal indicator bacteria (FIB; E. coli and enterococci) and endotoxin measurement by Bacterisk. The Bacterisk data, measured in near-real-time, correlate well with both E. coli and enterococci, but also allow the presence of potential pathogens of a non-faecal origin to be detected. The sensitivity was calculated to be 92.96% with a specificity of 46.3% for E. coli with an expanded uncertainty of 22.07% and an Endotoxin …

Preferences Or Confounders? Persistent Gender Gap In Competition Across Four Continents, Natalia I. Valdez-Gonzalez, Adriana Gaviria, Antonio M. Espin

ESI Working Papers

The gender gap in willingness to compete is thought to underlie enduring inequalities in education, career choice, and labor market outcomes. Yet it remains unclear whether the gap reflects true preference differences or results from confounding factors such as task stereotypes, overconfidence, or risk aversion. We test gender differences in competition entry across eight pre-registered studies in seven countries spanning four continents (Dominican Republic, Ivory Coast, El Salvador, Madagascar, Spain, The Philippines, and Uruguay; total n = 1,833), using an experimental design that systematically minimizes these confounds: (i) based on a non-male-stereotyped task (the Reading the Mind in the Eyes …

After Notice And Choice: Reinvigorating “Unfairness” To Rein In Data Abuses, Lina M. Khan, Samuel A.A. Levine, Stephanie T. Nguyen

Faculty Scholarship

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has long served as America’s default privacy enforcer. Yet for much of its history, the agency relied on self-regulation through a “notice and choice” framework that left the public vulnerable in an era of rampant data collection and digital surveillance. Businesses overwhelmed users with dense privacy notices while amassing and exploiting vast troves of personal data. The agency’s historical approach, rooted in outdated assumptions about self-correcting markets and an ideologically cramped view of the FTC’s authorities and mandate, helped usher in a digital economy where data abuses became routine.

During the Biden Administration, the FTC …

Law Enforcement Privilege, Rebecca Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

You can’t question a secret you haven’t been told. The criminal legal system depends on fair and open proceedings to expose and regulate unlawful and unconstitutional police conduct through the courts. If police can use claims of secrecy to systematically thwart criminal defendants’ access to evidence, judicial review will fail. And yet that is exactly what is happening under a common-law doctrine called the “law enforcement privilege.” The privilege empowers police and prosecutors to rely on the results of secret investigative methods while withholding information from the defense about how those methods work. It risks perpetuating unconstitutional conduct, enabling wrongful …

Tort Law Heterodoxy In China, Benjamin L. Liebman, Rachel E. Stern, Eva Wenwa Gao, Xiaohan Wu

Faculty Scholarship

Chinese courts routinely ask defendants to pay damages without evidence of negligence while relying on concepts such as fairness, substantive justice, or discretion. This chapter examines how Chinese courts arrive at decisions that feel fair or just in cases where they refer to those ideas. Analysis of a dataset of 10,000 judicial decisions in personal injury cases suggests that Chinese courts refer to these concepts when they impose liability on two types of parties: (1) participants in a shared activity and (2) those who control a physical space. By assigning legal responsibility in these cases, Chinese courts acknowledge traumatic harm, …

Do People Judge Sexual Harassment Differently Based On The Type Of Job A Victim Has?, Carolyne Georgiana Halfon, Destiny Mccray, Danica Kulibert

Faculty Articles

Victims of sexual harassment report facing barriers and retaliation for reporting their sexual harassment. The current study assessed one potential reason for these issues: perceptions of sexual harassment events. Participants (N = 427) read about different sexual harassment events and were told that the woman in the event worked with a masculine (e.g., EMT, school police officer, plumber) or feminine job (e.g., nurse, teacher, cleaning staff). Across three different sexual harassment claims (e.g., unwanted romantic attention, physical groping, being shown sexually explicit images), participants reported that women in masculine jobs were less prototypical women than women in feminine jobs. Furthermore, …

Performance Comparison Of Learning With Errors Cryptosystems, Gabriel Johnson

Theses

Due to recent advancements in quantum computing, there has been great interest in finding quantum-resistant public key encryption algorithms. Much focus has been given to lattice-based cryptosystems, as certain lattice problems appear difficult even in the quantum setting. In particular, the Learning with Errors (LWE) problem, introduced by Regev, gives a means for constructing numerous public key cryptosystems with very strong proofs of security based on the hardness of finding a short vector in a lattice. We analyze and compare the performance, in terms of memory usage and speed, of four different Learning with Errors cryptosystems: basic LWE, normal-form LWE, …

Parsing Of Math Formulas And Chemical Diagrams Using Graph-Based Representation And Attention Models, Ayush Kumar Shah

Theses

Mathematical formulas and chemical diagrams appear frequently in scientific documents but are often embedded as visual content, either rasterized or vector-based images, limiting their accessibility and automated analysis. This thesis aims to bridge this gap by presenting a graph-based visual parsing framework that recognizes and parses these notations from both vector and raster image inputs in digital documents. For mathematical formulas in born-digital PDFs, we construct Symbol Layout Trees (SLTs) using a graph defined over vector-based primitives, capturing spatial relationships, avoiding relying on OCR. For born-digital chemical diagrams, we introduce a Minimum Spanning Tree (MST)-based technique that extracts molecular structure …

Analyzing Player Difficulty Perception In Platformers Through Procedural Level Generation, Sasank Madineni

Master's Theses

Games utilizing Procedural Level Generation (PLG), such as Roguelikes, are becoming increasingly popular in today's gaming sphere. In games employing PLG, levels are generated randomly or pseudo-randomly, and aim to retain player attention through variance in levels between playthroughs. However, when generating levels with variance in structure and design, player enjoyment is often a mixed bag. With low enjoyment, player retention for these games can dwindle. This study explores the efficacy of real-time difficulty adjustment in procedurally generated platformers, as a method for maintaining stable player enjoyment without causing frustration. This thesis focuses on creating a short user experience, MIMEVA, …

Hybrid Computing For Real-Time Model Predictive Control Of A Buck Converter, Grace Paladichuk

Master's Theses

Advancements in power electronics require high switching frequencies which the digital control routines of the systems cannot keep up with. Analog computing is added to digital control systems to prevent bottlenecks and allow real-time implementation. This paper proposes a hybrid computing model predictive control system for a buck converter. The control system implements the gradient dynamics of the optimization function using digital computing, and the gradient dynamics for the penalty function and integrator using analog computing. For the full simulations of the entire system, the PLECS RT Box is used to simulate the controller in real time with a 1 …

An Analysis Of Renewable Energy Frames In The News Media Pre- And Post-Trump Administration, Kendall Anjolie Rozen

Communication Studies

This paper aimed to examine how news media portrayed environmental issues, specifically renewable energy, and how this may differ between two presidential administrations in the United States. Entman’s framing theory was used to analyze the portrayals of renewable energy in the articles selected. The frames chosen were based on research done by Rochyadi-Reetz et al. (2019) who established four framing dimensions within environmentally-focused news media. These dimensions are as follows: (1) economy, (2) society, (3) environment, (4) technology. A fifth dimension ((5) policy) was added by the researcher. This paper used a deductive quantitative analysis to mark these themes as …

Factors Associated With Perceived Medication Safety During Transitions Of Care In Patients With Cancer: A Secondary Data Analysis Of A Cross-Sectional Survey, Youmin Cho, Misun Hwang, Yang Gong, Yun Jiang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate perceived medication safety in patients with cancer during transitions of care and identify factors associated with their safety perceptions.

Methods: A secondary data analysis was performed on a cross-sectional survey data of from patients with four types of cancer (i.e., colorectal, lung, prostate, and breast). Perceived medication safety was measured by the sum score of four survey items that assessed patients' feelings about medication safety during transitions of care. Potential associated factors included sociodemographic and clinical factors (i.e., cancer types, taking oral anticancer agents), self-rated health, perceived safety in communicating with clinicians, beliefs about …

Comparing Stroke Risk Factors Among Sexual Minority Groups In Texas, Brittany Krenek, Samuel Tundealao, Jennifer E S Beauchamp, Sean I Savitz, Irene Tamí-Maury

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Knowledge gaps remain on stroke risk and disparities between sexual minority (SM) subgroups. In this study, stroke risk between SM subgroups, specifically gay/bisexual men and lesbian/bisexual women (G/BM and L/BW), was assessed.

Method: Data were collected in June 2022 using a bilingual (English and Spanish) cross-sectional paper-and-pen survey distributed among 183 SM individuals attending the 2022 Houston Pride Parade and Festival, as well as across Texas via phone call or online format. Relevant sociodemographic and stroke risk factors were compared between G/BM and L/BW using chi-square (or Fisher's exact, when appropriate) and two-sample t-tests. Sexual orientation was used to …