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Graduate Internship Report- Corcoran High School, Viktoria Granicy

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

This internship and project report includes validation documents required in meeting the quality criteria for secondary-level programs of instruction in agriculture. The supporting material includes information to receive state and local funding, outline the goals and objectives of the program, along with an overview of Corcoran High School, the agriculture program, and the community.

Machine Learning Based Predictions Of Dissolved Oxygen In A Small Coastal Embayment, Manuel Valera, Ryan K. Walter, Barbara A. Bailey, Jose E. Castillo

Physics

Coastal dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations have a profound impact on nearshore ecosystems and, in recent years, there has been an increased prevalance of low DO hypoxic events that negatively impact nearshore organisms. Even with advanced numerical models, accurate prediction of coastal DO variability is challenging and computationally expensive. Here, we apply machine learning techniques in order to reconstruct and predict nearshore DO concentrations in a small coastal embayment while using a comprehensive set of nearshore and offshore measurements and easily measured input (training) parameters. We show that both random forest regression (RFR) and support vector regression (SVR) models accurately reproduce …

Analysis Of Electroanatomic Mapping System Accuracy Using X-Ray Reconstruction Of Electrode Locations In A Porcine Animal Model, Hana Boudlali

Master's Theses

Fluoroscopy is considered the gold standard for locating catheters during cardiac electrophysiology (EP) procedures. However, fluoroscopy emits ionizing radiation which can lead to adverse health effects when exposed to in high doses (World Health Organization, 2016). Electroanatomic mapping (EAM) systems display the three-dimensional location of EP catheters and measure the local electrical activity of the heart. They can minimize a physician’s reliance on fluoroscopy and can help reduce radiation exposure during a case (Casella, 2011).

EAM systems are diagnostic medical devices that inform the placement of ablation therapy and must accurately locate catheters to be deemed safe. Test methods to …

Phantom Ocean, Real Impact: Natural Surf Sound Experiments Alter Foraging Activity And Habitat Use Across Taxa, Ryan N. Wardle

Master's Theses

A growing body of research focuses on how background sounds shape and alter critical elements of animals’ lives, such as foraging behavior, habitat use, and ecological interactions (Bradbury & Vehrencamp, 2011; Barber et al., 2010; Kight & Swaddle, 2011; Shannon et al., 2016). Much of this research has centered on the effects of anthropogenic noise (Dominoni et al., 2020; Francis & Barber, 2013; Ortega, 2012; Swaddle et al., 2015), but recent studies have also revealed that natural sound sources can influence animal behavior (Davidson et al., 2017; Le et al., 2019). Natural sounds, such as crashing surf, can create conditions …

A Protocol For Achieving Adherent Cell Culture Within A Microfluidic Device, Tarra Danielle Sanders

Master's Theses

The goal of this study is to design a protocol for the adherent cell culture within a novel microfluidic device. Microscale cell culture protocols were developed for loading cells using poly-L-lysine to enhance adherent cell culture of murine derived NIH 3T3 fibroblasts. This work sought to develop a method for adherent microculture by examining various sterilization, surface treatment, and seeding techniques. Using a vacuum suction loading technique, air plasma treatment and a poly-L-lysine surface treatment adherent cell culture was observed within the device. The work presented here is part of a collaborative effort that aims to develop protocols for the …

Understanding The Effects Of Long-Duration Spaceflight On Fracture Risk In The Human Femur Using Finite Element Analysis, Keyanna Brielle Henderson

Master's Theses

Long-duration spaceflight has been shown to have significant, lasting effects on the bone strength of astronauts and to contribute to age-related complications later in life. The microgravity environment of space causes a decrease in daily mechanical loading, which signals a state of disuse to bone cells. This affects the bone remodeling process, which is responsible for maintaining bone mass, causing an increase in damage and a decrease in density. This leads to bone fragility and decreases overall strength, posing a risk for fracture. However, there is little information pertaining to the timeline of bone loss and subsequent fracture risk.

This …

Impact Of Soil Properties On Removal Of Emerging Contaminants From Wastewater Effluent During Soil Aquifer Treatment, Lauren N. Riley

Master's Theses

This study evaluates soil properties that impact the effectiveness of soil aquifer treatment (SAT) as a polishing step to the remove two classes of ECs from wastewater effluent: pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), and engineering nanomaterials (ENMs). In recent years, it has been determined that elevated levels of emerging contaminants (ECs) are being released into the environment with wastewater effluent. ECs are proven to cause adverse environmental and health effects as a result of long-term exposure. It is important to evaluate sustainable solutions to improve the current methods of wastewater treatment to address these ECs.

Soil aquifer treatment (SAT) …

Academic Senate - Agenda, 11/10/2020, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

As-905-20 Resolution Opposing The Implementation Of Ab1460/Education Code 89032 (The California State University Ethnic Studies Undergraduate Graduation Requirement) In General Education (Title V), Cal Poly Ethnic Studies Requirement Working Group

Academic Senate Resolutions

Opposing implementation of AB1460, faculty should control the curriculum, request the rescinding of modification to Title V, and reaffirms the Ethnic Studies requirement should be fulfilled as a campus-based university graduation requirement.

Executive Committee - Agenda, 11/03/2020, Academic Senate Executive Committee

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

Impact: The Visual Communication Of Information, Jennifer Shields, Mark Cabrinha, Sasha Menshikova, Catherine Trujillo, Emily Chung, Miles Young, Hope Golden, Laura Akatsu Kuffner, Markus Rogne, Aimie Olson

Creative Works

Impact: The Visual Communication of Information focuses on the diversity of visual communication created by students, faculty, and staff across California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Drawing from a multitude of methods in courses and activities across the campus, the exhibit displays the influences of visual communication in fields ranging from statistical data and geography, to art, design, and engineering, to performance and physics. This project was made possible by a gift from the Austin and Gabriela Hearst Foundation.

This catalog represents the onsite exhibit of the same name, which opened in winter of 2020 at Robert E. Kennedy …

Deep-Sea Water Collector, Chandler Jones, Jenny Verheul, Michael Di Giorgio

Mechanical Engineering

Properties such as nutrients, DNA, pH levels, and primary productivity are difficult to measure onboard an Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (UROV) as mobile submarine sensors are highly expensive and conventional water capture devices are too large to be equipped. However, these properties provide an integral view into our oceans, the species that inhabit them, and our influence on the environment. Collected samples of seawater taken back to labs allow researchers to see a clearer picture of ecosystems’ inhabitants and lifecycle with the analysis of Environmental DNA (eDNA) among many other properties. The scope of this project is to design a …

Effects Of Marathon Training On Male And Female Femoral Stress Fracture Risk, Clara Lin

Master's Theses

Marathon runners are prone to femoral stress fractures due to the high magnitudes and frequencies of lower extremity loads during training. Female runners tend to have a greater incidence of stress fracture compared to male runners. Sex-specific differences in body structure, joint pressure, and muscle activation patterns that influence bone remodeling may cause this observed difference in stress fracture occurrence. The goal of this thesis was to develop a finite element model of the femur during marathon training, then determine if marathon training affected bone properties of male and female runners differently. To achieve this goal, a finite element femur …

Executive Committee - Agenda, 10/13/2020, Academic Senate Executive Committee

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

Calm Your Thoughts With Tater Tots: A Tater Tot Casserole Recipe Coloring Book, Jaime Ding, Catherine Trujillo, Jett Witlin, Sasha Menshikova, Isabela Presedo-Floyd, Russ White, Natalie Priest, Laura Sorvetti

Creative Works

Calm Your Thoughts with Tater Tots: a tater tot casserole recipe coloring book was crafted by student assistants and staff from Robert E. Kennedy’s Creative Works department during spring quarter 2020. The coloring book was created as a grounding project for creativity, encouragement, and relaxation, following adrienne maree brown’s #pleasureactivism, and offers an example of how to use virtual resources offered by the library.

Course Design For Quality Online Education: Effective Strategies From The Viewpoint Of Undergraduate Teaching Assistants, Cassady E. Healy, Jackson D. Stayner, Jafra Thomas

Kinesiology and Public Health

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced colleges and universities to suddenly transition to a mostly-to-fully online teaching format. Given the nature of the transition and general reservations about online instruction, many were concerned educational quality and achievement would be compromised by large margins. We sought to determine what course design features, if any, helped support undergraduate educational achievement during a sudden transition to 100% online instruction. We addressed our research aim using adapted principles for reflexive thematic analysis, the discernment of ways to interpret data using diverse perspectives and the critique of assumptions (RWJ Foundation, 2008). Following instructor request (JDT), …

Data Services At An Undergraduate-Research And Teaching-Centered University: Supporting Faculty And Students, Jeanine M. Scaramozzino, Marisa L. Ramírez, Karen J. Mcgaughey, Cameron Anvari

Library Scholarship

California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) is one of the 23 campuses within the California State system. It is a four-year, public university, emphasizing comprehensive undergraduate education with a total enrollment of ~20,000 undergraduate and graduate students (96% undergraduate). Teaching and scholarship are both required by faculty but with limited research support services. A survey of faculty research data services needs was conducted in 2012. Survey invitations were emailed to a stratified random sample of 449 faculty (tenure-track or tenured assistant, associate and full professors only) and 226 responded for an overall response rate of 50%. The survey results provided …

Optimal Parameter Values For Accurate And Repeatable Nanoindentation Of Human Trabecular Bone, Stephen Matthew Kmak

Master's Theses

Nanoindentation techniques have not been standardized for use on bone tissues, making comparison of bone material properties obtained via nanoindentation across studies difficult and unreliable. This study determined a set of optimal parameter values for thermal drift correction time, dwell time, and loading rate that can be used to obtain accurate and repeatable material properties from human femoral trabecular bone through experimentation and statistical analysis. All testing was conducted using a single nanoindenter on a single trabeculae, with the assumption that material properties within the individual trabeculae were internally consistent. Parameters not of interest during this study, such as ambient …

Academic Senate - Minutes, 09/29/2020, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Minutes

Includes Minutes, Orientation to Academic Senate Slides, and the transcript from the COVID-19 Update.

A Naturalistic Ethic Supporting A Vegan Diet, Michael Morris

Between the Species

Nutritional evidence suggests that a vegan diet is the most adaptive one for humans. An ethical principle based on following our biological nature (naturalistic ethic) could therefore provide additional support for a vegan diet. However, some argue that humans in the natural world could not eat a vegan diet, since it relies on supplements, particularly vitamin B12. This leads to the conclusion that humans are naturally omnivores, and therefore our natural diet should include small amounts of animal products.

Three approaches to this conclusion are discussed. The first rejects a naturalistic ethic in favour of normative principles based on animal …

Observing And Measuring Water Quality Of Central California Estuaries For Steelhead Trout (Onchorynchus Mykiss), Charles Alexander Taylor

Master of Science in Environmental Sciences and Management Projects

Estuaries support abundant biodiversity but are threatened by anthropogenic influences making it a priority to effectively monitor water quality to identify if and when it becomes detrimental to aquatic life. The purpose of the study was to analyze water quality in local San Luis Obispo estuaries to measure baseline conditions to inform future studies and management and to identify if key water quality parameters such as dissolved oxygen or temperature result in stressful or lethal conditions for steelhead trout (Onchorynchus mykiss). An EXO1 multiparameter snode (probe) was used to measure dissolved oxygen (mg/l), temperature (in Celsius), conductivity (Us/cm), salinity (parts …

Dairy Manure Flushwater Treatment By Algae Raceway Ponds And Aerated Biofilm Reactors, Darin Son

Master's Theses

Nitrogen removal technologies can help dairy industries meet their nutrient management needs. This thesis investigated two separate treatment technologies for total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) removal: algae raceway ponds and aerated biofilm reactors. Six 1000- liter algae raceway ponds and four 1000-liter tote tanks, each equipped with 10 sheets of nonwoven geotextile (i.e., thermally bonded or needle-punched) biofilm substrate, were used to treat the effluent from a flush dairy in central coastal California (TAN = 251 mg/L, cBOD5 = 204 mg/L). For the algae raceway ponds (TAN loading rate = 7 - 35 g/m³-day among 7-, 10- and 14-day hydraulic residence …

Transgenerational Plasticity Causes Differences In Uv-Tolerance Of Intertidal And Subtidal Populations Of The Purple Sea Urchin, Strongylocentrotus Purpuratus, Yareli Alvarez, Nikki L. Adams

Master's Theses

Planktonic larvae of marine organisms are increasingly being exposed and required to respond to a changing physical environment. Adult sea urchins occupy both intertidal and subtidal waters and broadcast spawn gametes into the water column to contend with variable physical conditions. To answer how populations of invertebrates residing at different depths adequately prepare their offspring to cope with different levels of ultraviolet radiation (UVR), we collected adult purple sea urchins, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, from four sites (two intertidal and two subtidal (~15 m deep)) on the central coast of CA to compare UV tolerance in offspring. Our measurements of UVA …

Development Of Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks For Enhancing Post-Combustion Co2 Capture, Dustin Lee

Master's Theses

Post-combustion CO₂ capture is a promising approach for complementing other strategies to mitigate climate change. Liquid absorption is currently used to capture CO₂ from post-combustion flue gases. However, the high energy cost required to regenerate the liquid absorbents is a major drawback for this process. As a result, solid sorbents have been investigated extensively in recent years as alternative media to capture CO₂ from flue gases. For example, metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are nanoporous materials that have high surface areas, large pore volumes, and flexible designs. A large number of MOFs, however, suffer from 1) low CO …

Sensory Stressors Impact Species Responses Across Local And Continental Scales, Ashley A. Wilson

Master's Theses

Pervasive growth in industrialization and advances in technology now exposes much of the world to anthropogenic night light and noise (ANLN), which pose a global environmental challenge in terrestrial environments. An estimated one-tenth of the planet’s land area experiences artificial light at night — and that rises to 23% if skyglow is included. Moreover, anthropogenic noise is associated with urban development and transportation networks, as the ecological impact of roads alone is estimated to affect one-fifth of the total land cover of the United States and is increasing in space and intensity. Existing research involving impacts of light or noise …

Pressure Driven Desalination Utilizing Nanomaterials, Fangyou Xie

Master's Theses

Nanomaterials such as graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes, have demonstrated excellent properties for membrane desalination, including decrease of maintenance, increase of flux rate, simple solution casting, and impressive chemical inertness. Here, two projects are studied to investigate nanocarbon based membrane desalination. The first project is to prepare hybrid membranes with amyloid fibrils intercalated with graphene oxide sheets. The addition of protein amyloid fibrils expands the interlayer spacing between graphene oxide nanosheets and introduces additional functional groups in the diffusion pathways, resulting in increase of flux rate and rejection rate for the organic dyes. Amyloid fibrils also provide structural assistance to …

Abalone Recruitment In Abalone Recruitment In Low-Density And Aggregated Populations Facing Climatic Stress, Ryan K. Walter

Physics

Understanding spatial and temporal patterns in the recruitment of marine invertebrates with complex life histories remains a critical knowledge gap in marine ecology and fisheries. As marine invertebrates are facing multiple stressors from overfishing and climatic stress, it is important to evaluate the conditions that facilitate recruitment in low-density populations. The red abalone Haliolis rufescens historically supported an economically important fishery in California, but the fishery was sequentially closed as stocks declined, and the last fished area was closed in 2018 following the collapse of the kelp forests in Northern California. Here, red abalone recruitment was evaluated annually from 2012 …

Influences Of Conservation Farming Practice Adoption Amongst Vineyards On The Central Coast Of California, Jazlyn Guerrero

Master of Science in Environmental Sciences and Management Projects

Farming practices will require changes to reduce crop sensitivity to climate change, which is projected to cause extreme heat events, variable precipitation, extended periods of drought, and increasing presence of pest and disease. Conservation agricultural practices build farm resiliency to climate impacts by improving soil health, reducing erosion and sediment runoff, and improving water infiltration. Literature on the adoption of conservation agriculture practices find no universal factors that indicate adoption of practices but suggest that the adoption of practices can be better understood by investigating practices specific variables and farm level characteristics and their implications on adoption. Our objective is …

Agricultural Conservation Decision-Making Under Environmental Risk And Uncertainty On The California Central Coast, Diego Rivera

Master of Science in Environmental Sciences and Management Projects

Global climate change is a process that is, in part, caused by agricultural practices, and will adversely affect agricultural operations, especially vineyards. The objective of this project is to determine how viticulturalists in Paso Robles, California view global climate change and how they use conservation practices that combat climate change and prepare for the associated negative effects. Interviews were conducted with vineyard advisors and managers to determine what general risks associated with wine grape production exist for their operations, and whether wine advisors and producers perceive global climate change to be one of those risks. The interview responses were then …

Artificial Night Lighting And Anthropogenic Noise Alter Animal Activity, Body Condition, Species Richness, And Community Structure, Joshua Willems

Master's Theses

Sensory pollution from artificial night-lighting and anthropogenic noise have increased at a dramatic rate over the last several decades. Alterations to the sensory environment have been found to affect wildlife in a wide variety of ways including behavioral changes, physiological responses, changes in species interactions, and altered community structure. Increased levels of light and noise pollution can originate from many sources including roads, energy development and infrastructure, and urbanization. Even remote or protected areas are not immune to the effects of increased sensory disturbances with 63 percent of protected areas within the United States found to have been exposed to …