Digital Commons Network^™

Host Response To Implantation Of A Poly N-Isopropylarylamide Injectable Cell Therapy Vehicle, Cole Matthew Burk

Master's Theses

There is a need to develop novel and effective therapies targeting end-stage peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD). Inducing collateral arteriogenesis is a possible novel treatment that produces a natural bypass for blood flow, a promising solution to the long-term issues seen with current treatments. Regenerative therapies, and progenitor cells specifically, have demonstrated great promise in repair after injury and disease. While most progenitor or stem cells have poor efficacy in this context, muscle progenitor cells, or myoblasts, have encouraging results. Myoblasts enhance arteriogenesis and secrete cytokines or chemokines that recruit monocytes to injury sites. Implanting these adherent cells in a …

Aged 539 Graduate Internship Report - Buhach Colony High School, Shad M. Menezes

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

This report documents the implementation and outcomes of a comprehensive agricultural education program at Buhach Colony High School, aligning with California Career Technical Education (CTE) standards. The project focuses on enhancing student engagement through curriculum development, leadership activities, Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAEs), and career readiness initiatives. Key components include expanding pathway offerings in horticulture, mechanics, and agricultural sciences, integrating field experiences, and hosting guest speakers to connect students with industry professionals.

Aged 539 Graduate Internship Report - Live Oak High School, Savannah L. Burnett

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

This report documents the implementation and outcomes of a comprehensive agricultural education program at Live Oak High School, aligning with California Career Technical Education (CTE) standards. The project focuses on enhancing student engagement through curriculum development, leadership activities, Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAEs), and career readiness initiatives. Key components include expanding pathway offerings in horticulture, mechanics, and agricultural sciences, integrating field experiences, and hosting guest speakers to connect students with industry professionals.

Craving A New Look: Rebrand Of Cafe Crepes, Joan Yun

Graphic Communication

Cafe Crepes, located in the heart of downtown San Luis Obispo, is an established business that has been serving customers for over 10 years. However, despite their prime location and experience, Cafe Crepes often goes unnoticed and struggles to attract attention from the community due to their poor brand image and visibility. Cafe Crepes' current brand image is outdated and visually uninviting, primarily due to their existing logo, color scheme, and typeface. Additionally, Cafe Crepes suffers from low brand visibility due to minimal and inconsistent advertising efforts.

The goal of this senior project is to transform Cafe Crepes' brand image …

Pokémon Go: Fostering Community In Location-Based Augmented Reality, Miranda Ward

Communication Studies

While most modern video games are played from the comfort of one's own home, Pokémon GO (2016) is a game that requires people to leave their homes and interact with other people in the real world. Pokémon GO contains community-building mechanics that reward players for interacting with each other and catching Pokémon. Due to this, players use third-party applications to organize meetups, particularly through Campfire, which is an app owned by the same company who created the game, Niantic. Uses and Gratifications Theory can be applied to understand why players choose to play Pokémon GO and what needs the game …

Perceptual Hash Based Content Matching, Nicholas Daniel Chenevey

Master's Theses

The proliferation of video content and AI generated imagery has introduced a number of new challenges in content identification and verification. The ability to trace content back to its source has become a critical problem as video content increases both naturally and synthetically through AI generation. This thesis provides the design, analysis, and experimental verification for a perceptual hash based framework aimed at addressing these challenges. Perceptual hashing is a method for encoding the visual content of images into compact and easily comparable binary strings. This process is used as the foundation for content matching in videos and source verification …

Swim Fly Drone, Alia Wolken, Sha'anan Levy, Andrew Jwaideh, Eduardo Santos

Mechanical Engineering

This project addresses the need for a versatile drone that is capable of operation in both air and water environments, with potential applications in infrastructure inspection, defense, search and rescue, and ocean exploration. This project focuses on the design and development of a waterproof aerial drone capable of floating on the water surface and submerging underneath to controlled depths with the integration of a custom detachable buoyancy chamber. The buoyancy chamber design utilizes syringes to compress and decompress air inside of the chamber, changing the volume of the chamber, with an actuation system controlled by a closed-loop control system that …

Investigation Of Social Networks Upon Academic Performance And Mental Health, Rachel Izenson

Master's Theses

It has been shown that computing students have a statistically significantly lower overall sense of belongingness compared to other science students. A sense of community is important for many reasons. For example, there are studies that show that a student's sense of belonging correlates with improved academic performance. Our research aims to analyze the sense of belonging among computing students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo through a network science lens. We surveyed for their sense of belonging, as well as their social network, to understand how friendships impact one's sense of belonging. When student responses were split by gender, …

Beyond The Box: Delivering A New Look To Ohayo Korea, Beatrice Diaz

Graphic Communication

Ohayo Korea, a newly established business in South Korea, specializes in providing buying, packing, consolidation, and forwarding services for international customers seeking exclusive South Korean products or bulk shipments for business purposes. Despite offering valuable services, The business faces significant challenges in establishing visibility and trust in the marketplace. Currently, the business relies primarily on word-of-mouth and minimal social media presence, which restricts its reach and credibility among potential customers. In a highly competitive market, these constraints hinder Ohayo Korea’s ability to stand out and communicate its unique offerings effectively.

To address these challenges, a cohesive brand identity that resonates …

The Role Of Graphics And Packaging In Brand Protection, Charlotte Smith

Graphic Communication

This project was focused on how packaging and graphics can be utilized to help minimize the occurrence and risks of counterfeit products in the pharmaceutical industry. During this project, a brand protection plan for a fictional pharmaceutical product was formulated that focused on both developing packaging that is difficult to counterfeit and fostering consumer education. This plan involved covert, semi-covert and overt anti-counterfeiting features which were implemented in the packaging. An educational website was also created for users and distributors in order to enable the end users to identify if that product is genuine. The project objective was to better …

Breaking The Curse: Rebranding The Sacramento Kings, Colby Sundeen

Graphic Communication

The Sacramento Kings basketball team has a terrible reputation throughout the National Basketball Association (NBA) and has suffered a massive loss in their revenue and audience because of it. Even though they are the oldest team in the NBA and are based in the capital of California, which is the largest market in the world for basketball, they are consistently overshadowed by all of the other teams in California as well as most of the other teams in the NBA. This stems from their brand reputation which has slowly and consistently declined since the early 2000’s. Brand reputation is one …

Ultrasound Denoising And Speckle Reduction Using Artificial Neural Networks, Mark Atttaalla

Master's Theses

This paper focuses on improving speckle reduction and denoising performance in ultrasound images by leveraging neural networks. A dataset of simulated ultrasound images was created using Field-II simulation software based on CT scan images, to create clean and noisy image pairs. Various Convolutional Neural Network models based on U-Net and generative adversarial networks were developed and tested. Peak Signal-to-Noise-Ratio (PSNR) and Structural Similarity Index Measurement (SSIM) were used as metrics along with qualitative assessment. Results show that our tuned U-Net generator network outperformed traditional filtering such as Lee and BM3D.

Queering Composition Pedagogy: Camp-Informed Teaching Within Florida's Censorship, Isabelle V. Karleskint

Feminist Pedagogy

This social justice strategy article examines composition teaching within Florida colleges and universities over a seven-year period of intense political and social change. These institutions carry different levels of protection from Florida's censorship and anti-LGBTQIA+ laws. Using principles from Susan Sontag's 1964 "Notes On Camp," the author examines strategies for navigating these boundaries and creating safe, inclusive spaces for students while flying under the oppressive state government's 'radar.' This article found that teaching which includes multimodality, popular culture, digital learning, inclusive content, and identity politics can 'camp' pedagogy, with benefits to students and low risk to faculty. However, it also …

“My Pregnant Man Story”: “Bloodchild” As A Means Of Discussing Reproductive Rights, Ashley Lear

Feminist Pedagogy

Restrictions on reproductive health education in Florida have resulted in misinformation and taboos that could be addressed through parallels in science fiction. As Paweł Frelik, University of Warsaw Professor of American Studies, reminds us, science fiction is a “cultural discourse,” in which “fantastic figures such as aliens, clones, and cyborgs are allegories of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, able-bodiedness, and other dimensions of individual subjectivity.” Octavia Butler’s short story “Bloodchild” (1995) will be used in this activity to discuss reproductive rights with students in the wake of so many legal challenges to those same rights. Butler, inspired by her own fears …

Introduction To Special Issue, "When Resistance Seems Futile: Teaching Under Ideological Threat", Sandy Branham

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Academic Senate - Agenda, 11/12/2024, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

Hypoxic Incubator: Improving Robustness/Reliability And Demonstrating Physiological Efficacy, Damon Dennis Tan

Master's Theses

The Microphysiological Systems Laboratory aims to develop colorectal cancer tumor models under a hypoxic environment to assess model response to pharmaceutical compounds in vitro. To perform relevant studies, researchers have attempted to use different hypoxic inducing strategies such as a nitrogen pod and hypoxic incubator to recreate in vivo physiological responses to hypoxia. However, studies would be interrupted due to incubator functionality failure. To ensure successful and physiologically relevant studies, I improved and verified the robustness and reliability of a hypoxic incubator previously designed and manufactured in the lab. Through the testing and iterating design processes, I engineered and implemented …

Deploying A Distributed Cloud-Based Microservice Application Benchmark Suite, Sai Dhruthik Murthy, Srish Maulik, Joydeep Mukherjee

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Cloud services have lately transitioned from a single monolithic application to several loosely coupled microservices. This design shift from a single complex monolithic application to tens or hundreds of single-purpose microservices has enabled modern cloud services to be deployed, scaled, and managed in a more efficient way. Microservices can be deployed inside their own lightweight containers hosted on a cloud platform, and they can be individually developed, updated, tested, and elastically scaled. Each microservice can also be developed in its own suitable language, with only a common API for microservices to communicate with each other. Due to these benefits, large …

Community-Based Disability Accessibility Assessment, Elspeth Slayter, Rose C. B. Singh

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Media Review: Disability, Not Invisibility: My Experience With Chronic Illness (2019), Amanda Watson Joyce

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

A Review Of Neurodivergent, Madison Marshall

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Review Of The Heumann Perspective Podcast, Jennifer Woody Collins

Feminist Pedagogy

This media review of the Heumann Perspective podcast encourages educators to use it as a way to discuss and teach disability justice and activism.

Practicing Feminist Disability Pedagogy: Building Interdependence Through A Classroom Participation Menu, Kristen L. Cole

Feminist Pedagogy

Following the lead of Parsloe & Smith (2022), this article explains and advocates possible modes of participation that consider the disabled, chronically ill, and systemically vulnerable students and faculty who are fighting to succeed in higher education. The way participation is measured in college classes is often ableist in nature; thus, it is important to unpack the ableist assumptions that undergird how we arrange and assess participation. Utilizing Knoll’s (2009) explication of interdependency as a practice of feminist disability pedagogy, this article offers a semester long activity called a participation menu, which provides a framework for distributing the responsibility of …

Making (Virtual) Space For Disability Equity In Academia, Melissa Vosen Callens, Cali Anicha, Larry Napoleon Jr.

Feminist Pedagogy

Virtual or hybrid options provide a way for marginalized faculty and staff to fully participate in their fields and on their campuses. As such, an equitable and pandemic-informed academic workplace should include fully accessible and well-resourced hybrid participation options for department meetings and events, office work, and classroom duties. In spring 2023, we created a work group on our campus to address the challenges of hybrid work and co-create campus-wide recommendations for hybrid workspaces. In this article, we share our findings and evidence-based recommendations, many of which draw on Universal Design for Learning, as well as offer suggestions on how …

Disabling Critique: Structural Barriers To Critical Disability Approaches In Teacher Education, Albert Stabler

Feminist Pedagogy

Considerable research has documented student resistance to efforts at diversity and equity in college curricula. Scholars have also focused on negative attitudes among K-12 teacher candidates toward anti-racist and culturally informed approaches within education, as well as on the instrumental and teacher-centered approaches that typify special education teacher preparation. Through citing this research and drawing on my own experiences as a disabled art teacher education faculty instructor attempting to encourage a critical disability perspective, I make the argument that numerous factors contribute to an anti-critical attitude among teacher candidates preparing to work with students receiving special education services.

Teaching Disability (Self-)Advocacy As We “Return To Normal”: Addressing Ableism In Higher Education, Sarah M. Parsloe

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

History & Evolution Of Plastic Mulching Technology: An Ethnography Of California Strawberry Plasticulture, Kalea Conrad

Master's Theses

This ethnography draws on key informant interviews and participant observation to produce a case study about plastic mulching as an important industry standard in specialty crop production. It documents the historic adoption and present role of plastic mulching technology in California strawberry production and addresses the characteristics of commercial standard management that inhibit the adoption of alternative mulching practices. It complements extensive research on strawberry pathology and fumigation, breeding innovations, fertilizer and pesticide treatments, and maximization of yields to incorporate participants’ lived experiences and knowledge of mulch origins, the technology adoption process, mulch benefits and drawbacks, the state of agricultural …

Nasogastric Tube Insertion Aid, Lauren S. Ark, Angela D. Biezins, Zachary B. Crum, Claire E. Nodine, Morgan N. Pope, Natsumi L. Shudo

Biomedical Engineering

The Nasogastric Tube Insertion Aid project, developed under the sponsorship of the BiCEP Program at California Polytechnic State University, aims to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of nasogastric (NG) tube placement. This initiative was inspired by challenges observed during the BiCEP summer program, where difficulties in NG tube insertions led to multiple attempts, increased patient discomfort, and serious medical risks, including lung punctures and brain trauma. The project's goal was to design an insertion aid that improves placement accuracy while being cost-effective and user-friendly for medical professionals. The device features an external tensioning mechanism that allows controlled deflection of the …

Barriers To And Solutions For Fuel Treatments In The Central California Coast Ranges, Sierra Dawn Lyman

Master's Theses

In recent years, the Western United States has experienced an increase in fire activity due to multiple factors, including anthropogenic climate change, historical forest management focused on suppression, and the expanding wildland urban interface (WUI). In response, California is working to accelerate the pace and scale of forest management and fire hazard reduction efforts. Although fuel treatment projects are being implemented, they often encounter various barriers. While existing literature highlights these barriers, it tends to overlook the solutions being applied in practice to overcome them. Using an ethnographic approach that includes key informant interviews and participant observation in four sites …

A Data-Driven Framework For Analyzing And Predicting Social Media Engagement During Rumor Propagation, Joseph E. Faza

Master's Theses

The spread of rumors on social media has become a significant concern, as platforms like X (formerly known as Twitter) enable rapid dissemination of unverified information. These rumors can shape public perception and behavior, making it crucial to understand the dynamics of their spread. The main objective of this study is to explore how users interact with rumor-related tweets and identify key factors that predict tweet engagement. By analyzing tweets from seven different rumor events, this research aims to uncover patterns in user engagement and provide insights into the spread of misinformation. The study utilized a dataset of tweets from …