Digital Commons Network^™

‘Reading The Cultural Landscape’ In The ‘Birthplace’ Of Modern Race/Racism: Using Hooks To Invite Students In As Critical Knowledge Producers & Co-Conspirators, Danielle Docka-Filipek

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Recurring Errors In Studies Of Gender Differences In Variability, Theodore P. Hill

Research Scholars in Residence

The past quarter century has seen a resurgence of research on the controversial topic of gender differences in variability, in part because of its potential implications for the issue of under- and over-representation of various subpopulations of our society, with respect to different traits. Unfortunately, several basic statistical, inferential, and logical errors are being propagated in studies on this highly publicized topic. These errors include conflicting interpretations of the numerical significance of actual variance ratio values; a mistaken claim about variance ratios in mixtures of distributions; incorrect inferences from variance ratio values regarding the relative roles of sociocultural and biological …

A Happy Lie, Nina Collin

Between the Species

I recently went to a zoo. Wild animals living in confinement with one single purpose: to entertain. When contemplating the concept of a zoo it will become surreal, I promise.

Kantian Ethics And Our Duties To Nonhuman Animals, Samuel Kahn

Between the Species

Many take Kantian ethics to founder when it comes to our duties to animals. In this paper, I advocate a novel approach to this problem. The paper is divided into three sections. In the first, I canvass various passages from Kant in order to set up the problem. In the second, I introduce a novel approach to this problem. In the third, I defend my approach from various objections. By way of preview: I advocate rejecting the premise that nonhuman animals are nonrational.

Analysis Of Gene Expression Investigating Biology Underlying High Regenerative Ability Of Marine Invertebrate Botrylloides Violaceus, Cassidy Andrasz

Baker/Koob Endowments Awarded Projects

The marine invertebrate Botrylloides violaceus is a species of tunicate found in Morro Bay, CA with the extraordinary ability to regenerate its whole body. Furthermore, tunicates are the closest known relatives to vertebrates. Due to this organism's regenerative ability and relationship to vertebrates, it is of great interest to investigate the underlying mechanisms of regeneration and review its potential applications to related vertebrate organisms, including humans. The genome of B. violaceus was sequenced and assembled at Cal Poly, SLO which allowed for the proposed experiments to analyze gene expression, a field called transcriptomics. Transcriptomics tells us how the organism is …

A Look Back At The Past: 20 Years Of Kennedy Library Exhibits, Robert E. Kennedy Library

Creative Works

Explore past exhibits featured at Robert E. Kennedy Library over the past 20 years.

Review Of Marcus Byrne And Helen Lunn's Dance Of The Dung Beetles: Their Role In Our Changing World, Jennifer Schell

Between the Species

This review examines Marcus Byrne and Helen Lunn’s Dance of the Dung Beetles: Their Role in Our Changing World, tracing the interdisciplinary connections between human history, ecological science, and cultural symbolism surrounding dung beetles.

Two Distinctions About Eating Animals, A.G. Holdier

Between the Species

In this paper I describe two distinctions about what “eating animals” entails which are often confused in conversations or arguments aimed against meat-based diets and try to show how both distinctions, on their own lights, ultimately support a concern for all fellow creatures, regardless of species or other biological categories. The distinctions in question are: the distinction between moral and nonmoral actions, presumptions about which serve to define whether or not particular topics (like meat consumption) deserve moral consideration whatsoever, and the distinction between moral and immoral actions, about which suppositions bear on both reflexive and considered moral …

'Timm' & 'Lost In Construction', Jake Crock, René Bassó-Medel

.RAW Journal of Art and Design

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

.RAW Journal of Art and Design

No abstract provided.

Diy Cell Incubator, Hayden James Jeanor

Electrical Engineering

The purpose of creating a cell Incubator is for the development of cell and tissue production in laboratory settings. Large scale research projects and the medical community grow cells for various reasons, including experiments and creating tissue for patients. However, they cannot simply depend on growing cells in a petri dish that sit on a rack at room temperature. To grow heathy cells in the fastest way possible, they use cell incubators. Cell incubators create an atmosphere within the incubation bay that is designed to promote cell growth. The three main components that need to be constantly regulated, using a …

Using Sustainable Web Design Practices: Website Redesign For The Climatemusic Project, Charlotte M. Saunders

Graphic Communication

Sustainable practices go beyond reducing, reusing, and recycling in the physical world. In the digital world, design has a high environmental impact, so the choices designers make can eat up electricity and raise their carbon footprint. Therefore, designing low-carbon sites through UX, imagery, and color, and using a sustainability host is very beneficial for both usability and the environment. The ClimateMusic Project is a non-profit organization that aims to raise climate change awareness through music. This organization seeks to reduce their carbon footprint as well as help raise awareness through their Take Action web page. For my senior project I …

Biodegradation Of Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether And Tert-Butyl Alcohol Using Bioaugmentation With Biowish® Aqua, Elizabeth Villanueva

Master's Theses

Aqua, a commercial product manufactured by BiOWiSH® Technologies, was utilized in this research to study its effectiveness to biodegrade methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and tert-butyl alcohol (TBA). Microcosms containing varying concentrations of MTBE and TBA as well as a growth media and mineral salt solution were examined. Analytical instrumentation used in this study included the use of a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC/MS) to determine concentrations of MTBE and TBA and a spectrophotometer to extrapolate approximate active biomass concentrations in each experiment. Four different environmental conditions were tested for both MTBE and TBA. The environmental conditions tested for each contaminant included: …

Building Structures From Mycelium, Noah M. Brown

Physics

The purpose of this project was to develop a method for creating bricks from mycelium and agricultural waste. The bulk of the research happened in two parts, the first part being a period in which different substrates, strains, and methods were used build the bricks. This research took place in San Luis Obispo and was aided by a group of students in PSC392 under Dr. Pete Schwartz in early 2022. After developing a method for constructing these bricks, the research was moved to St. Thomas, Jamaica, in collaboration with an ecovillage called The Source Farm from July to September. The …

Sam's Story, Anna Michelle Reid, Jennifer Vazquez

Computer Science and Software Engineering

We are exploring presenting mental health topics in video games through the eyes of an axolotl named Sam. Sam goes about his day to day life facing many difficult challenges regarding their mental health. This is an educational game to inform about different mental health symptoms and what they may look like.

Ectotherm Thermoregulation At Fine Scales: Novel Methods Reveal A Link Between The Spatial Distribution Of Temperature And Habitat Quality, Ian Axsom

Master's Theses

Investigating ecological questions at the scale of individual organisms is necessary to understand and predict the biological consequences of environmental conditions. For small organisms this can be challenging because we need tools with the appropriate accuracy and resolution to record and quantify their ecological interactions. Unfortunately, many of our existing tools are only appropriate for medium to large organisms or those that are wide ranging, inhibiting our ability to investigate the ecology of small organisms at fine scales.

In Chapter 1, I tested a novel workflow for recording animal movements at very fine spatial and temporal scales. The workflow combined …

Metabolic Changes Associated With Gestational Diabetes And Weight Loss, Marykate Smith

Master's Theses

Introduction: Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is diabetes diagnosed for the first time during pregnancy and negatively affects the mother and her child. Research suggests a multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention may aid in the reduction of GDM and its complications. Further, the use of metabolomics is needed to understand the alterations that happen prior to GDM diagnosis to reduce its recurrence.

Objective: Metabolomics analysis was conducted at baseline and 16-weeks post-intervention for women enrolled in a pre-pregnancy lifestyle intervention study to observe metabolic changes associated with GDM occurrence and weight loss.

Methodology: Sixteen samples from the parent Gestational Diabetes Prevention trial were …

Raising Native Plant Awareness As A Method For Re-Naturalization, Meredith L. Haaker

Social Sciences

Humans are inseparable from the natural environment. We are one and the same, interconnected within the ecology of creation and care, not only destruction. By grounding ourselves in Indigenous wisdom and the principles of Traditional Ecological Knowledge, we are more able to recognize the important relational facets between humans and three native Californian plants (California black walnut, California blue elderberry, California bay laurel). In introducing Kimmerer’s concept of re-naturalization of humans, we can draw a connection to the same process a naturalized plant undergoes; immigration from a foreign place, dependence on the surrounding resources, and settlement of an area …

Beef Bull Selection And Management Affecting Breeding Season Outcomes For California Cattle Producers On Rangelands, Megan Banwarth

Master's Theses

California’s approximately 660,000 head of beef cattle are highly dependent on range bulls used to produce offspring that can perform across the state’s diverse ecological regions. While knowledge of bull breeding behavior and the technology used to monitor cattle movement and behavior is critical to maximize conception rates and the overall efficiency in natural service sires on rangelands. Bulls need to be functional on rugged coastal landscapes, rolling foothills, deserts, and in high-elevation terrain. Few data exist that indicate factors related to selection, maintenance, and longevity of bulls used in rangeland landscapes. Objectives herein, were to assess factors influencing bull …

Dietary Protein Intakes, Distribution Patterns, And Quality In Ncaa Divsion 1 Soccer Players, Jun H. Kwon

Master's Theses

Dietary protein is required to support recovery and adaptation following exercise training. While prior research demonstrates that many athletes meet total daily protein needs, intake seems to be predominantly skewed toward the evening meal. An even distribution of protein doses throughout the course of a day is theorized to confer greater skeletal muscle anabolism compared to a skewed pattern of intake. Protein quality is also an important dietary consideration for athletes, with the amino acid leucine being the primary driver of the postprandial anabolic response. The present thesis investigates the protein consumption characteristics among a selected cohort of NCAA Division …

Panodepth – Panoramic Monocular Depth Perception Model And Framework, Adley K. Wong

Master's Theses

Depth perception has become a heavily researched area as companies and researchers are striving towards the development of self-driving cars. Self-driving cars rely on perceiving the surrounding area, which heavily depends on technology capable of providing the system with depth perception capabilities. In this paper, we explore developing a single camera (monocular) depth prediction model that is trained on panoramic depth images. Our model makes novel use of transfer learning efficient encoder models, pre-training on a larger dataset of flat depth images, and optimizing the model for use with a Jetson Nano. Additionally, we present a training and optimization framework …

Detection Methods, Occupancy Rates, Management And Conservation For Rodents, Jaran Hopkins

Master's Theses

Chapter 1. Species’ occurrences are dependent on a variety of habitat characteristics, including physical landscape factors and anthropogenic land use and change. Understanding the influence of habitat attributes on species occurrence is essential to successful wildlife and habitat management, specifically in areas with active human use. We tested the influence of vegetation alliance, fragmentation, and human recreation in the form of off-highway vehicles (OHV) in an area of active land management in coastal California, with a focus on the occurrences of six small mammal species. The area is composed of sand dunes subject to natural habitat fragmentation. OHV recreation occurs …

Creation And Testing Of A Social Robot Guideline, Sarika L. Singhal

Master's Theses

For this thesis, I created a guideline for socially assistive robots (SARs), and used it to evaluate a reading comprehension based social robot.

To create the guideline I extracted relevant details from published standards about toy safety, radio equipment, electromagnetic compatibility, internet of things security, ethical considerations for human-computer interaction, and data privacy. I then sent a summarized version to experts in the field for feedback. I received seven responses, five of whom were from researchers in academia. The sample size was too small for statistical analysis. Survey responses identified additional areas, such as interactivity and aesthetics, for the guideline. …

Mediterranean-Style Diet And Exercise Improve Parameters For Management And Prevention Of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Stefani Ann Derrick

Master's Theses

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic condition recognized as the inability to maintain glucose homeostasis, typically presenting with insulin resistance and systemic inflammation. With the prevalence of T2DM and major risk factors such as prediabetes and obesity increasing each year, there is a crucial need to identify strategies for the management and prevention of this condition. Addressing lifestyle-related risk factors through consumption of a well-balanced, nutritious diet and maintaining regular moderate- to high-intensity physical activity may provide a strategy for improving glycemic control, improving metrics of body composition, and decreasing the inflammatory response associated with metabolic dysregulation. Twenty-two …

Academic Senate - Agenda, 11/29/2022, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

Executive Committee - Agenda 11/1/2022, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

Testing And Verification For The Open Source Release Of The Horizon Simulation Framewortesting And Verification For The Open Source Release Of The Horizon Simulation Framework, William J. Balfour

Master's Theses

Modeling and simulation tools are exceptionally useful for designing aerospace systems because they allow engineers to test and iterate designs before committing the massive resources required for system realization. The Horizon Simulation Framework (HSF) is a time-driven modeling and simulation tool which attempts to optimize how a modeled system could perform a mission profile. After 15 years of development, the HSF team aims to achieve a wider user and developer base by releasing the software open source. To ensure a successful release, the software required extensive testing, and the main scheduling algorithm required protections against new code breaking old functionality. …

'Dreamy Retro Cafe', 'Peaceful Forest Cabin', 'Self Love', & 'Annaliese In The Library', Hannah Gechter

.RAW Journal of Art and Design

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

.RAW Journal of Art and Design

No abstract provided.

Executive Committee - Minutes, 10/11/2022, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.