Digital Commons Network^™

Solutions To Accessibility In Art & Design: A Multi-Sensory Art Installation, Olivia M. Robertson

Graphic Communication

For my Senior Project, I wanted to explore possible solutions to accessibility in Art & Design while narrowing my focus specifically towards visual impairments by applying techniques commonly used in printed electronics methodology. I wanted to further showcase the impact of how designers enhance the overall user experience when they choose to center their focus on designing for accessibility.

To tackle accessibility challenges in Art & Design when it comes to visual impairments, I would have to extend Art’s visual impairments to include senses other than sight– tactile and auditory. The final product would then be an interactive art piece …

Converting Horizontal Media For Vertical Platforms, Eric A. Hernandez

Graphic Communication

Today, most media is viewed on mobile phones and seen on a vertical screen. There are very few methods for converting horizontal media into vertical media for vertical platforms. This manual shows new ways to redesign horizontal content so that it looks better on vertical displays; I imagine watching things like the Super Bowl or the The Grammys on TikTok or Instagram with a new broadcast design that is more attractive.

Aged 539 Graduate Internship Report-Golden Valley High School, Madison R. Zittel

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

This internship and project report includes documentation required in meeting the quality criteria for secondary-level programs of instruction in agriculture. The documents are concurrently used for the Agriculture Incentive Grant review process at Golden Valley High School conducted by representatives of the California Department of Education. The supporting material includes information to receive state and local funding, outline the goals and objectives of the program, along with an overview of Golden Valley High School, the agriculture program and the community.

Aged 539 Graduate Internship Report: Cal Poly Rodeo, Hannah Steagall

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

This report details the role of an assistant coach with the responsibility of overseeing practices and supporting advancement.

Aged 539 Binder, Sierra Spratt

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

This report details the role of an assistant coach with the responsibilities of managing coaching support and events.

Aged 539 Graduate Internship Report - Cal Poly Rodeo, Delisa C. Fracchia

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

This report details the role of an assistant coach with the responsibility of managing social media.

Shellter Beer Garden: The Redevelopment Of An Abandoned Parcel Into A Community Gathering Space, Madison Leonard, Lainie Kastner

City and Regional Planning

The Shell Beach neighborhood of Pismo Beach serves a quiet, active community in need of an enjoyable, outdoor community gathering space. While the current main street, Shell Beach Road, has undergone major streetscape improvements, there are still vacant parcels in need of refurbishments. A vacant lot on the corner of Shell Beach Road and Cuyama Avenue that previously served the community as a drive-thru restaurant, now provides a desirable site for business. At the location of 1901 Shell Beach Road, a community beer garden built out of shipping containers will provide an ideal space for the Shell Beach community to …

Cal Poly Campus Safety: Policy Proposal, Alan Cazares, Phung (Karen) Bich La, Junhyun Kim

City and Regional Planning

As described in this project, the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo is in need of improving the campus’s sense of safety and safety features. With an increasing student population and increasing dangers, the importance of safety for all is becoming evident. The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that it is essential to have proper safety features and preventative measures in place to keep the student and faculty population safe. The project’s goal is to produce safety recommendations that could be used to amend the existing 2035 Campus Master Plan. Currently, safety is not a topic extensively covered in …

Digital Forensics Range, Cody P. Shanahan, Bryson Y. Shishido, Samuel R. Mckee, Justin Siu, Lisa Li, Maxwell Brewer

Computer Engineering

The Digital Forensics Range was developed to serve as an online training for groups interested in computer forensics. This year's team had the goal to expand upon last year, by adding a new forensics image, unity scenario, and additional AWS functionality. The team still wanted to continue with last year's goals of keeping the training easily runnable, quickly deployable, and rapidly scalable through the use of the cloud. Adding to last year's work, this year's team hoped to further increase the educational value of the simulation with more practice, and the addition of feedback. The training is meant to be …

Gender, Sex, & Emerging Adulthood, Katarina Andrea Reyes

Psychology and Child Development

Emerging adulthood is a key developmental period when individuals explore and make meaning of their intimate relationships. National trends suggest that experimentation with non-committed relationships has increased (Olmstead, 2020), particularly for females (Netting & Reynolds, 2018). Young women utilize casual sex to explore sex, while men use sex for pleasure (Sizemore & Olmstead, 2017). Moreover, the double sexual standard impacts women’s sexual satisfaction and self-esteem (Williams & Jovanovic, 2018). Little research has examined how sex influences emerging adult’s self-esteem. Previous research has primarily relied on survey data to understand women’s and men’s experiences. Narrative identity scholars posit that individuals can …

The White House: No Drugs Allowed, Olivia A. Jones

Communication Studies

The War on Drugs is a long-term metaphorical war designed to reduce illegal drug distribution, trade, and use by maintaining significant punishment for drug dealers and users. This paper serves to examine how U.S. presidents throughout history have impacted this drug war through their targeted rhetoric and ensuing policies. I examine the research question, “How have presidents used their rhetorical power to perpetuate the War on Drugs while pushing a tough-on-crime narrative that portrays certain drug users and minorities as deviants responsible for crime?” Historical contexts, primary sources, and existing research are used to examine the issue. Using Ideographic Criticism, …

A Redevelopment Plan For Santa Rosa Plaza, Abraham Miranda Roldan, Benjamin K. Ip

City and Regional Planning

The purpose of this document is to hypothesize a successful and innovative plan for the redevelopment of the Santa Rosa Plaza Mall (Downtown Mall) in Santa Rosa, California. This project proposal seeks to address the Plaza Mall’s challenges and provide an alternative solution to develop a unique character that promotes a sense of place, foster vibrant civic spaces, and meets the City’s housing and job needs.

Shopping malls in the United States are dying and are becoming less popular among the new generation, which means malls must adapt to fulfill the role of “third place” that many people need. This …

Increasing Legends Salon Revenue Per Square Foot, Jacob William Andreatta, Margaret Faison Gustafson, Julia Galina Odisho, Joshua Spry Morrison

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Katie MacNamara acquired Legends Hair Salon in Atascadero, California in January of 2021. After a few months of learning to run her own business she discovered that her retail revenue per square foot was not high enough. Her goal, and the project objective, was to raise her revenue while also increasing space for her stylists. The metrics used for these objectives were revenue per square foot and the square footage of the retail areas. The beginning state metrics were 48.75 square feet of retail and a retail revenue per square foot of $2.15 with a total of six stylist stations. …

Processing And Characterization Of Silicon Nitride For Rapid And Low-Level Detection Of Water Pathogens, Arielle H. Buchanan, Logan A. Chai

Materials Engineering

Water sanitation is a serious issue affecting the lives of many, and methods for assessing water cleanliness have been a major research interest for decades. Rapid and accurate water pathogen detection methods that can be performed in field applications have been a growing research focus, especially in low-income countries most affected by poor water quality. Silicon nitride was explored as a material for colorimetric water-pathogen sensing due to the large body of knowledge around its processing, and its isoelectric point. A bioassay of chlorophenol red-β-Dgalactopyranoside (CPRG) and β-galactosidase (β-gal) enzymes with Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria was used to examine …

In Situ Marine Biodegradation Of Poly(Lactic) Acid And Thermoplastic Starch Blends, Brittany Denicholas

Materials Engineering

Marine life has been suffering from macro- and microplastics since the inception of petroleum-based plastic. Bio-based biodegradable polymers such as PLA and TPS can help mitigate the damage done by petroleum plastics. Blending PLA and TPS can reduce the cost while preventing a significant effect on the material properties. PLA/TPS blend compositions such as 90/10, 80/20, 70/30 could be candidates for a solution. The PLA/TPS blends have been submerged in a marine environment at the Cal Poly Pier in Avila Beach for 8 weeks. Three sample sets containing three of each blend composition were collected every week and tested in …

Biomass Estimation Of Marine Biofilms On Plastic Surfaces, Kian Banihashemi, Fernando Javier Gil

Biological Sciences

Plastics have become a major source of marine pollution, which threatens food safety and quality, human health, and marine ecosystems. Due to the drastic negative effects of plastics in a marine environment, alternative biodegradable plastics are being generated that are more eco-friendly and have less environmental impact. Though some of these plastics are known to biodegrade, the process of degradation for bioplastics has not been heavily studied in a marine environment. This pilot project sought to both quantify the process of biodegradation and compare across different methods for effectiveness of biomass estimation, which serves as an indicator of biodegradation. Plastics …

Impact Of Incorporating Intuitive Eating Principles Into A College Nutrition Course On Eating Behaviors, Kira L. Minot

Master's Theses

Objective: This study aimed to assess the impact of an online introductory college nutrition course that implements evidence-based intuitive eating (IE) concepts and principles on students’ application of IE behaviors. A secondary outcome explored the relationship between student grades and changes in IE behavior implementation. Researchers hypothesized an increase in the average use of IE practices post-intervention.

Methods: This study was a non-randomized pilot intervention using pre- and post-test surveys. Enrolled students completed the intuitive eating scale-2 (IES-2) survey on the first and last days of the 16-week course. Students participated in typical nutrition coursework throughout the semester with the …

Analyzing Industrialized Construction Methods In Neca Contractors, Frank Lucey

Construction Management

Construction is constantly changing and evolving. Companies are always looking to improve their skills, provide a better finished product, and satisfy their client all while working in a safe environment. Industrialized Construction is an increasing trend in all sectors of construction over the past couple of years, due to the success of creating a more efficient project. Projects that utilized Industrial Construction saved more time and therefore money, while also exceeding the quality of work expected. Industrialized Construction is a very broad term with a lot of subcategories of what goes into it. These methods of increasing efficiency on the …

The Efficacy Of Orange Lane Delineations In Highway Work Zones, Neetu Kaur Sidhu

Construction Management

With over 100,000 crashes in the work zone per year, it is essential that we as builders discover and implement innovative solutions to maximize field crew and public safety in high traffic areas. A recent trend in the Heavy Civil Construction industry has been the implementation of temporary fluorescent orange striping in active highway work zones. When traditional white or yellow lane markings are removed, a faint residue is left behind and as construction crews repeatedly shift lanes, multiple overlapping removal scars begin to create confusion for drivers that leads to an increased risk of crashes. To eliminate this confusion …

X-Band Rf Transmitter Design For Multi-Purpose Small Satellite Communication Operations, Omer F. Gumus

Master's Theses

This thesis provides a description of the analysis, design, and tests of an X-band RF Transmitter communication system for small satellites. X-band transmitter systems are becoming popular in the upcoming deep space missions. Most of the deep-space ground stations have been using X-band frequencies to receive or transmit signals. The X-band (<10 GHz) can offer lower atmospheric losses and up to a couple of Mbps data rates for multiple satellite operations. Nowadays, many small satellites have been using frequency bands such as VHF, UHF, L, and S-band frequencies for communication. From deep space to the ground station, the low-frequency ranges are inadequate in providing Mbps level data rates and enough bandwidth for deep space missions.

The main focus of this thesis was the development of the subsystems such as gain block amplifier, Mixer, Bandpass Filter, and RF power amplifier. The subsystems were designed separately, then they were connected together to perform an end-to-end system test. One of the thesis aims is to design …

Artist-Configurable Node-Based Approach To Generate Procedural Brush Stroke Textures For Digital Painting, Keavon Chambers

Master's Theses

Digital painting is the field of software designed to provide artists a virtual medium to emulate the experience and results of physical drawing. Several hardware and software components come together to form a whole workflow, ranging from the physical input devices, to the stroking process, to the texture content authorship. This thesis explores an artist-friendly approach to synthesize the textures that give life to digital brush strokes.

Most painting software provides a limited library of predefined brush textures. They aim to offer styles approximating physical media like paintbrushes, pencils, markers, and airbrushes. Often these are static bitmap textures that are …

A Network Analysis Of Covid-19 In The United States, Joseph C. Mcguire

Master's Theses

Through methods in network theory and time-series analysis, we will analyze the spread of COVID-19 in the United States by determining trends in state-by-state daily cases through a network construction. Previous researchers have found frameworks for approximating the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and identifying potential rises in cases by a network construction based on correlation of cases between regions [1]. Applying this network construction we determine how this network and its structure act as a predictor for overall COVID-19 cases in the United States by preforming a trend analysis on a variety of network statistics and US COVID-19 cases.

In-Situ Defect Detection Using Acoustic Vibration Monitoring For Additive Manufacturing Processes, Ali Harake

Master's Theses

The world of additive manufacturing revolves around speed and repeatability. Inherently, the process of 3D printing is plagued with variability that fluctuates with every material and parameter modification. Without proper qualification standards, processes can never become stable enough to produce parts that may be used in aerospace, medical, and construction industries. These industries rely on high quality metrics in order to protect the lives of those who may benefit from them. To establish trust in a process, all points of variation must be controlled and accounted for every part produced. In instances where even the best process controls are enacted, …

Effects Of Experimental Scale On The Adsorption Of Two Pharmaceutical Drugs Detected In Municipal Wastewater Effluent, Michael Moore

Master's Theses

Pharmaceutical drugs are being produced and consumed in increasing quantities every year and are poorly treated by conventional wastewater treatment processes, leading to increasing detection of such compounds in surface water, groundwater, and municipal drinking water. Soil aquifer treatment (SAT) is a promising method for treating these emerging compounds through combined adsorption and degradation of target compounds in soil. This thesis examines the consistency of results from typical studies like adsorption isotherms and soil columns utilized in analysis of SAT performance, across varying experimental scales. The adsorption behavior of two pharmaceuticals was investigated as a function of experimental scale and …

The Effect Of Inflation And The Pandemic On A Southern California Solar Company: A Case Study, Adrian Avila

Construction Management

Supply chain issues are causing panic in certain sectors of the economy particularly the solar sector. Solar energy already has problems that can affect its growth in the long term such as lack of government incentives, high cost, and energy curtailment. These problems are becoming more pronounced as the pandemic is prolonged. California is a state that has been encouraging the use of solar energy and has introduced incentives for its citizens to install solar. Because of this, solar companies in California may be able to more adequately circumvent issues and better excel economically than companies in other states. In …

Updating The Cal Poly Construction Management Community Partners List, Braden Hotra

Construction Management

The Cal Poly Construction Management Department currently has a list of community partners that students use to find organizations to contact for classes that involve construction service learning and senior project project-based ideas. There are many project-based class projects that are designed and built every year for organizations in the community. The current list needs to be updated to help construction service learning and project-based topics become more successful in the future. This project was created with the goal of updating the Cal Poly Construction Management Community Partners List with new community partners and an updated sheet layout that includes …

Refining The Construction Communication Cal Poly Technical Elective Course, Anna Dissman

Construction Management

Communication is one of the most necessary parts in what makes a project successful in the construction industry. Normally, successful communication skills are developed through experience over time in this industry. When looking into the Construction Management (CM) program at California Polytechnic State University of San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), a lack of direct focus on multiple key communication skills is present. Furthermore, a new CM communication technical elective should be taught to focus and reinforce the communication skills needed for careers of future students post graduation. By crafting and distributing a well-thought out survey, new knowledge from the perspectives …

Design, Schedule, And Cost Estimate For New Cal Poly Football Office Building, Kyle Mccallum Reid

Construction Management

Around the nation, college football programs are building new football facilities to help their current players, coaches, and staff members succeed. These facilities can be additions to current buildings or completely new structures that have multiple functions. A common facility that is built is the football office building. New football office buildings are beneficial for programs because it gives players, coaches, and staff members a central location where coaches can hold meetings and players can interact with each other and support staff. These structures help bring everything that goes on in a football program come together. Because of the importance …

Skip The Grid: Solar Powered Refrigeration In The Navajo Nation, Sydney Jo Sitton

Construction Management

The Skip the Grid project was a combined effort of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) students, and company sponsors SOLV Energy, Dometic, and Goal Zero, facilitated through the non-profit, Heart of America. The interdisciplinary project team successfully installed photovoltaic energy systems with refrigerators and lights for families within the Navajo Nation. Skip the Grid’s mission focuses on improving quality of life and providing access to clean, affordable off-grid energy. In the Navajo Nation, access to electricity and running water is not necessarily a given, with large disparities from family to family. This issue was exacerbated during …

Girls Build Summer Academy Leadership Summit, Itzell Ruiz

Construction Management

This paper highlights the activities and presentations that will take place during the women in construction leadership summit prior to the Girls Build Summer Academy for high school girls. The leadership summit is a two-day event that will consist of presentations on important leadership and construction topics. The presentations will cover topics such as confidence, safety, leadership assessment activity, tool shop training, emerging trends, career paths, jobsite visit, and a women’s panel. This leadership summit will be implemented in the summer of 2023 and will take place at Cal Poly’s campus in the Construction Innovations Center. The scope of this …