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The Application, Construction, And Validation Of Hidden Markov Model Profiles For Carbonic Anhydrase Enzymes, Samuel F. Kaplan

Master's Theses

Carbonic anhydrases (CAs) catalyze the reversible hydration of CO2 and have evolved independently at least eight times, resulting in structurally distinct enzyme families (α, β, γ, δ, ζ, η, θ, ι). Traditional sequence alignment methods struggle to classify these convergently evolved proteins because their sequential similarity does not reliably indicate functional or evolutionary relationships. Many CA sequences in public databases are annotated generically without family assignments, and prior computational approaches have focused predominantly on the three well characterized families (α, β, γ), leaving the five recently discovered classes without robust classification tools. Family level assignment is often a prerequisite for …

Sea Level Trends Near Critical Levees In The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, Reyna Sanchez Gomez

Master's Theses

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) levee system faces threats from rising sea levels, land subsidence, and deteriorating levees, all of which pose risks to California’s primary surface water supply. The purpose of this thesis is to assess relative sea level rise (RSLR) and estimate the spatially varying factors that influence water levels in the Delta. This thesis extends the work of Baranes et al. (2023) to the period 1975-2022 by appending recently acquired water-level records (1975-1982) to modern datasets (1982-2022) from 10 water-level stations. These water level datasets were digitized, quality-assured, and referenced to a common geodetic datum, as described …

Designing For Trust In Chat-Based Question Answering Systems: An Exchange-Based Retrieval Approach, Nathan Mccutchen

Master's Theses

Community chat platforms such as Discord and Slack support spontaneous, collaborative communication but make it difficult to retrieve previously discussed information. As conversations accumulate, valuable exchanges become buried, leading to repeated questions and sustained burden on experienced community members.

This work contributes a set of design requirements for question-answering systems operating over unstructured chat data, a Discord bot prototype implementing those requirements named Echo, and an empirical evaluation of how such a system affects user trust. Rather than encoding discrete question-answer pairs or generating synthetic responses with a language model, Echo indexes conversation topics for semantic retrieval and presents results …

Associations Between Nutrition-Related Chronic Disease And Food Insecurity: Data From The California State University, Elizabeth Ochoa

Master's Theses

Food insecurity is a growing public health concern consistently associated with elevated rates of nutrition-related chronic disease (NRCD) across the general population. Despite young adulthood being a critical window for dietary pattern formation, this relationship remains minimally explored among college students. This thesis examined associations between food insecurity and NRCD diagnosis, including hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and cardiovascular disease, among undergraduate students across the California State University (CSU) system. Cross-sectional data were drawn from the Spring 2021 CSU National College Health Assessment, administered across all 23 campuses. After exclusions, the analytical sample comprised 13,762 students. Bivariate analyses assessed relationships between key …

Environmental Impact Of Preventative Fire-Retardant Applications On Soil Water Chemistry, Patrick C. Michelsen

Master's Theses

Between 1992 and 2012, 84% of all documented wildfires were started by humans. These fires often start around high-risk locations such as power lines and roadsides where fuel loads are near these potential human-caused ignition sources. Point source ignition sites that are surrounded by shrubs or grasslands are especially important because fires that occur within these biomes are responsible for far more destruction of property than forest fires. One strategy that is effective at mitigating the spread of fires from ignition sites that are within grassland or shrub biomes are preventative fire-retardant products (PFRPs). These PFRPs differ from traditional fire-retardant …

A Ship Between Worlds: Illicit Trade, Empire, And Enslavement In The Voyage Of The Nuestra Senora De Las Nieves, 1819-1820, Carly Eastham

Master's Theses

This study examines the illicit Spanish transatlantic slave trade to Cuba during the post-abolition era through a microhistorical analysis of the 1819 voyage of the schooner Nuestra Señora de las Nieves. Despite international efforts to suppress the trade following abolition treaties, this voyage illustrates how Spanish traders adapted their practices to continue trafficking enslaved Africans, fueling Cuba’s booming sugar economy amid shifting geopolitical and economic pressures. Drawing on primary documents seized by the British navy and analyzed alongside relevant secondary scholarship, this research situates the Cuban trade within the broader Atlantic world’s complex cultural, legal, and economic transformations.

The case …

Jaundease Phototherapy Vest Test Plan, Sujay Panthulu, Jasdev Banwait, Gwynn Moss, Solomon M. Fernandez

Biomedical Engineering

Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is a common condition affecting more than 60% of newborns, caused by an excess buildup of bilirubin in the blood due to the liver’s limited ability to process it efficiently [1]. The standard treatment involves hospital-based phototherapy, where infants are placed in incubators under blue light to break down bilirubin in the skin. Although effective, this approach requires infants to remain under the lights for 12–18 hours per day, often with eye protection, and separated from their parents—disrupting early bonding and potentially contributing to toxic stress that can impact neurological and emotional development [2]. While at-home phototherapy solutions …

Risk Management Strategies Used By Project Leaders In Construction Projects On The East Coast, Dylan David Decuffa

Construction Management

Construction projects are often defined by their visible outcomes, structures completed on time, within budget, and built to the required standards. Yet beneath these outcomes lies a less visible force that quietly shapes whether success is achieved or compromised. Uncertainty is present in every phase of construction, influencing decisions, performance, and ultimately the trajectory of the project. The ability to recognize and respond to this uncertainty may separate projects that proceed with stability from those that experience delays, escalating costs, and diminished quality. Project managers, superintendents, project engineers, and other related fields play a central role in navigating this uncertainty …

Thousand Hills Pet Resort Ada Compliant Access Ramp And Connecting Deck: Preconstruction Activities, Sonya Nahama Wijoyo

Construction Management

This paper presents the design and preconstruction of an ADA-compliant access ramp and connecting deck system for two mobile homes located at Thousand Hills Pet Resort. The primary objective was to enhance accessibility and safety for residents by providing code-compliant, durable, and functional access to the mobile homes on site. This project is interdisciplinary between construction management and architectural engineering. The project began with a site evaluation to assess existing conditions. Field measurements and site observation guided planning decisions and helped identify potential challenges. Following the site evaluation, the project proceeded into the design phase, where the ramp and deck …

An Analysis Of Injury And Fatality Trends In The U.S. Construction Industry, Ryan Dutt

Construction Management

Construction work is one of the most dangerous industries in the United States, with different trades and work types showing various risk levels for injuries and fatalities. This paper’s objective is to identify the safety trends in construction over the past 10 to 20 years and understand the trades, accident types, and construction sectors with the highest safety risks. All of the data was obtained from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and the National Safety Council (NSC) databases, broken down by trade, accident …

Analysis Of Construction Trends On California’S Central Coast, Erik G. Asplund

Construction Management

The California Central Coast experiences sustained housing demand and infrastructure pressure, yet it lacks the visible concentration of construction firms found in larger markets. This study examines why construction activity in the region appears limited despite a strong demand. Using a qualitative, interview-based approach, four construction companies who operate across Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties were interviewed to identify recurring themes related to labor, environmental regulation, housing feasibility, technology adoption, and future outlooks. The study concludes that structural constraints rather than lack of opportunity limit the scalability of construction on the Central Coast.

Factors Impacting Wildland-Urban Interface (Wui) Fires: A Systematic Literature Review, Albert Jimenez

Construction Management

Fires in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) pose a significant danger to communities. The WUI refers to the space where development meets vegetation. Significant research has been conducted into wildfire and WUI vulnerability across the world to help combat vulnerability. These include the identification of factors of vulnerability to create indices that quantify vulnerability, and address scope gaps and inconsistencies within literature. However, existing research seems to be fragmented in finding the WUI vulnerability factors and often it focuses on wildfires and not WUI fires. The objective of this systematic literature review is to synthesize wildfire vulnerability factors identified in the …

The Impact Of Bilingual Superintendents On A Multilingual Job Site, Cesar Barajas

Construction Management

Language barriers are frequently encountered on construction job sites. Construction crews can often be limited in their proficiency when speaking English and in states like California, construction superintendents oversee a lot of Spanish-speaking crews. This study aims to identify if bilingual superintendents lead to better performing projects. Communication impacts major metrics of project performance including schedule, rework costs, safety performance, and coordination across trades. This qualitative study includes superintendents, project managers, and field crew semi structured interviews backed by survey answers. Interview participants discuss specific examples of how communication can affect jobsite performance both negatively and positively. Subjects are asked …

Evaluating The Feasibility Of Recycled Asphalt Pavement And Warm Mix Asphalt In California Highway Construction, Ryan A. Milanesa

Construction Management

California’s highway infrastructure faces increasing material costs, limited aggregate availability, and aggressive greenhouse gas reduction mandates. Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) offers a practical solution to reduce virgin binder demand and improve sustainability. However, Caltrans maintains conservative RAP limits due to concerns regarding stiffness related cracking and long term durability. This research evaluates the feasibility of increasing RAP content to approximately 40% when combined with Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA) technologies under California performance standards. A performance based framework was developed by reviewing federal guidance, peer-reviewed fatigue studies, life cycle cost analysis, and environmental assessment literature. Findings indicate that high RAP mixtures …

Immigration-Related Workforce Instability And Its Impact On Residential Construction Operations In California, Ana Castro

Construction Management

Labor availability has become a major challenge for California’s residential construction industry, especially as immigration policies change and its workforce becomes more unstable. Most past research looks at overall labor statistics and industry trends, but not at how these issues affect construction projects day to day. This qualitative case study looks at how immigration policy and labor conditions affect the daily operations of a residential construction company in California. The research is based on six semi-structured interviews conducted with five superintendents and one executive leader. The results show that immigration-related labor challenges differ by location within California. Participants commonly described …

Fracking: The Big Bad Monster?, Gordon Belyea

Fresh Voices: Composition at Cal Poly

No abstract provided.

The Media Today, Jon Kuzmich

Fresh Voices: Composition at Cal Poly

No abstract provided.

The Translucent Culprit, Cammie Tolleshaug

Fresh Voices: Composition at Cal Poly

No abstract provided.

To What Extent?, Carson Dangberg

Fresh Voices: Composition at Cal Poly

No abstract provided.

Not A Monster, Jessica Hadley

Fresh Voices: Composition at Cal Poly

No abstract provided.

Human Trafficking, Ikhlaus Ahmed

Fresh Voices: Composition at Cal Poly

No abstract provided.

How Many More?, Allison Aggarwal

Fresh Voices: Composition at Cal Poly

No abstract provided.

In Vitro Meat: Unnatural Or Life Saving, Joseph Coplon

Fresh Voices: Composition at Cal Poly

No abstract provided.

Fed Up, Lauren Goette

Fresh Voices: Composition at Cal Poly

No abstract provided.

Defying Gender Roles With Friendship And Ponies, Liam Gow

Fresh Voices: Composition at Cal Poly

No abstract provided.

Signs Of Slo, Brenda Helmbrecht

Fresh Voices: Composition at Cal Poly

No abstract provided.

What It Means To Be "Vogue", Hannah Mazet

Fresh Voices: Composition at Cal Poly

No abstract provided.

Ethos, Pathos And Logos In "We Need To Talk About An Injustice", Fiona Cullen

Fresh Voices: Composition at Cal Poly

No abstract provided.

Academic Senate - Minutes, 02/24/2026, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.

Academic Senate - Agenda, 02/24/2026, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.