Digital Commons Network^™

Do Resiliency And Coping Skills Moderate The Relationship Between Mood Disorders And Parenting Styles Due To Parental Relationship Distress?, Tiffany Burks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Parental relationship dynamics such as intimate partner violence (IPV), interpersonal distress (IPD), and parental alienation (PA) can significantly affect both mental health and parenting practices. This study examined whether personal strengths, specifically resilience and problem-focused coping, could help buffer these negative outcomes. Correlational analyses showed that IPV, IPD, and PA were positively associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety. IPV and PA were also negatively associated with the use of an authoritative parenting style. In contrast, resilience and problem-focused coping were linked to fewer mood-related symptoms and greater use of authoritative parenting. Multiple regression analyses revealed that IPV significantly predicted …

Measurement And Process Relation For Cast Surface Defects, Nachiket Laxman Shinde

Masters Theses

This thesis presents an in-depth investigation into the classification and prediction of surface defects in aluminum sand castings using a combination of experimental trials and machine learning techniques. Key process variables such head height, pouring temperature, resin %, sand type and process were systematically varied to study their influence on defects like veining, and burn-on. Comparative analysis indicated superior performance of the deep learning model in handling nonlinear interactions between process parameters. The study emphasizes the importance of integrating data-driven models with foundry practices to enhance surface quality, reduce rework, and support intelligent decision-making in casting operations.

Moses Gunn, Julie Huskey

Tennessee State University Notable Alumni

No abstract provided.

Custom Data Acquisition System For The Cal Poly Racing Baja Team, Joe Keenan

Computer Engineering

The Cal Poly Racing Baja team relies on data to analyze and improve upon various vehicle systems in an off-road style vehicle. In order to accomplish this, some data logging or data acquisition (DAQ) is required to collect the data. This project explores the use of a controller area network with flexible data rate (CAN FD) bus along with a custom file format to store data on an SD card that can be made easily acceptable to engineers on the team.

Open-Source Cubesat Flight Software And Simulation, James Gruber

Computer Engineering

An open-source FreeRTOS-based flight software framework for CubeSats, with an example flight software package and simulation demonstrating real-time attitude control.

Mecc Wave Energy Converter, Kenna N. Toohill, Samuel Rothstein, Ellie Abundo, Paige Dixon

Mechanical Engineering

The Marine Energy Collegiate Competition, hosted by the US Department of Energy, challenges teams to design, build, and test products for emerging markets in the blue economy. Our team has chosen to focus on the Argo program, which uses floats to collect marine-related data. Most Argo floats are purely powered by lithium batteries and have a lifespan of about 3-5 years. We aim to increase the lifetime of these floats by developing a system that harnesses wave, pressure, or thermal energy to recharge their batteries.

Efficient Thermal Design Of Data Centers, Keats M. Baggett, Andrew Ergood, Colin Brace, Jack Zilligen

Mechanical Engineering

Our sponsor needs a way to categorize and quantify the top 3 colocation center sites based on a series of criteria for given power specs. The sponsor also needs a single innovative cooling method to meet thermal and power requirements while also being manufacturable at scale. This device must also be able to interact with the given Colocation Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system. This design will be tested to provide insight and data that will be applicable to further the development of colocation center cooling. This project will be executed by the Cal Poly senior project team and …

Aerospace Fastener Installation Tool, Anthony I. Berghout, Matthew K. Eggers, Liam Dunsmore, Jose Pardo

Mechanical Engineering

Contamination, particularly in aerospace manufacturing environments, is a significant concern, especially with fastener designs that incorporate torque-rated breakaway pieces for easier installation. These breakaway pieces are also known as pintails. Howmet has tooling that can collect loose pintails during installation, but they have small capacities and are not ergonomic for aerospace technicians. Their current need is for a light and ergonomic tool capable of installing a wide variety of Ergo-Tech® fasteners while having a large capacity to collect pintails and improve aerospace manufacturing methods. For this Critical Design Stage, we have finalized a design that allows Pintails to pass through …

2-Axis Solar Panel Tracker, Danica Wong, Oliver Barnaal, Anton Orme

Mechanical Engineering

Solar panels generate energy from sunlight. To do this it’s important that they remain pointed at the sun throughout the day. The Cal Poly Micro Grid Lab runs a class that uses a student made solar panel and tracking mount as an instructional tool. This project is beginning to show signs of wear from outdoor use and is unable to run without constant input due to some significant design flaws. The lab needs a new version of the mount to be made that is significantly more reliable and easier to use.

Edwards Lifesciences: Esheath+ Scoring Automation, Tony Lee Avina, Kirth Hirth, Charith Sunku, Humberto Salazar-Banuelos

Mechanical Engineering

Due to a non-disclosure agreement with our sponsor, Edwards Lifesciences, the contents of the report have been omitted.

Custom Low-Profile Vacuum Valve, Aiden A. Theocheung, Nate R. Greco, Gavin T. Weber, Nate A. Ferrari

Mechanical Engineering

In Autometrix’s proprietary gantry style cutting table, a vacuum pulled through a channel array creates suction to hold soft materials firmly in place. To provide modularity for their customers a unique valve must be designed to segment the transverse channels in two or more sections. The solution must use minimal fasteners, maximize longevity, prove affordable, and be easily manufacturable.

Cal Poly Battle Bot, Miguel Martinez, Andrew Jones, Lawrence Lam, Jedidiah Tzou, Robert Giacomini

Mechanical Engineering

Problem Statement: Create a competition ready, 250 lb combat robot for the Battle Bots Proving Grounds competition. The robot needs to be capable of withstanding and dealing significant damage in addition to being able to operate while inverted. It will also need to be visually unique compared to existing designs.

Kinetic, Wind-Driven Metal Sculpture, Irene Songhee Han, Aiden Brown Largay, Madeline Vang Xiong

Mechanical Engineering

The Interdisciplinary Senior Design Team “Flying Flora” from Cal Poly’s College of Engineering has been tasked with designing and building a wind-driven dynamic metal sculpture for the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden. The botanical garden wants to fill a large, centrally located vacant space with a kinetic sculpture to attract and welcome visitors. The final design, as approved by the garden’s directors, features a large metal California poppy below a stained-glass and metal butterfly. The flower rotates smoothly in typical wind conditions, drawing the attention of visitors to the sculpture. The butterfly is stationary, positioned at an angle from the …

Aluminum Boat Rotation Fixture, Kevin W. Heiskell, Nathaniel M. Conway, James S. Knowles, Austin J. Kehl

Mechanical Engineering

Aluminum fishing boats are widely used for various water-based activities, including fishing, transportation, and recreation. Their lightweight construction makes them ideal for maneuverability, particularly in regions like Australia. However, the manufacturing process presents challenges, specifically the need to weld both the interior and exterior seams of the hull. As the boat’s weight increases during assembly, flipping it becomes difficult and potentially hazardous. Traditional methods such as cranes or forklifts are inefficient and pose safety risks. To address this, our team developed a rotating fixture that secures the boat at two connection points, one at the bow and one at the …

Blow Down Air Knife System, Gunnar Glickert, Jacob Hambel, Chris Jacques, Jackson Koempel

Mechanical Engineering

GAF is encountering a problem with their manufacturing line where fiberglass mats are produced as a base layer for roofing shingles. As the fiberglass mat comes out of the curing oven, there is a possibility that it will stick to the conveyor belt and follow along the return route if a loss of tension downstream occurs. When the fiberglass mat follows the return route, it wraps around the rollers causing substantial damage and downtime for the plant. The goal of this project is to eliminate that problem.

Scaffolded Integration: Aligning Ai Literacy With Authentic Assessment Through A Revised Taxonomy In Education, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

The accelerating prevalence of generative artificial intelligence in educational and professional spheres necessitates a reevaluation of when and how such technologies are introduced within pedagogical practice. The principal challenge for educators is not merely the imperative to prepare students for an AI-driven world, but rather to ensure that assessment practices remain authentic—providing an accurate measure of what students can independently achieve before leveraging the augmentation potential of intelligent systems. This article contends that the incremental introduction of AI, mapped onto a scaffolded framework aligned with a revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, constitutes a methodologically sound approach for maintaining academic integrity, fostering transferable …

Binary Document Filtering For Retrieval-Augmented Generation, Sreyan Saha

Master’s Dissertations

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) has become a popular technique to enhance Large Language Models (LLMs) with access to external information sources. However, the success of RAG systems critically depends on the relevance and quality of the retrieved documents. In particular, supplying irrelevant or noisy context can lead to degraded downstream generation quality. To address this, our project focuses on improving the document filtering stage in a RAG pipeline through binary relevance classification — deciding whether a retrieved document is suitable to include in the final context window based on its usefulness in directly answering the user query. We explore a wide …

How Long Can I Transmit? A Mobility Aware Mmwave-Based Uav Communication Framework, Shawon Mitra

Master’s Dissertations

One primary focus of next generation wireless communication networks is the millimeterwave (mmWave) spectrum, typically considered in the 30 GHz to 300 GHz frequency range. Despite their promise of high data rates, mmWaves su↵ers from severe attenuation while passing through obstacles. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been proposed to o↵set this limitation on account of their additional degrees of freedom, which can be leveraged to provide line of sight (LoS) transmission paths. While some prior works have proposed analytical frameworks to compute the LoS probability for static ground users and a UAV, the same is lacking for mobile users on …

Microstructural Evolution And Rheological Enhancement Of Asphalt–Rubber Binders: Unveiling The Role Of Morphology In Performance, Eslam Deef-Allah, Mohyeldin Ragab, Mohamed Attia, Magdy Abdelrahman

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Understanding the development of an asphalt binder's internal network structure is essential when interacting asphalt and crumb rubber. Thus, the focus of this study was to reveal the development of asphalt–rubber binders' (A-RBs) network structures at different interaction times and their correlation with performance. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was utilized to image the morphologies of the binders, and the binders' performances were explored rheologically with a dynamic shear rheometer. Extending the interaction time to 8 h and utilizing a soft binder altered the network structures from agglomerated dispersoids—minuscule distributed phase zones embedded in the continuous matrix of the asphalt binder—to …

Phenotypic Expansion Of Knobloch Syndrome Type 2 In An Individual With A De Novo Pak2 Variant., Elizabeth A Werren, Louisa Kalsner, Jessica M Ewald, Michael Peracchio, Cameron King, Purva Vats, Peter A Audano, Peter N Robinson, Mark D Adams, Melissa A Kelly, Adam P Matson

Faculty Research 2025

P21-activated kinase 2 (PAK2) is a serine/threonine kinase essential for a variety of cellular processes including signal transduction, cellular survival, proliferation, and migration. A recent report proposed monoallelic PAK2 variants cause Knobloch syndrome type 2 (KNO2)-a developmental disorder primarily characterized by ocular anomalies. Here, we identified a novel de novo heterozygous missense variant in PAK2, NM_002577.4:c.1273G>A, p.(D425N), by genome sequencing in an individual with features consistent with KNO2. Notable clinical phenotypes observed in this individual were global developmental delay, congenital retinal detachment, mild cerebral ventriculomegaly, hypotonia, failure to thrive, pyloric stenosis, feeding intolerance, patent ductus arteriosus, and mild facial …

Workplace Perk Or Pitfall? A Qualitative Study Of Genetic Counselors' Perspectives And Experiences With Workplace Genetic Testing., Elizabeth Charnysh, Katherine Hendy, Kerry Ryan, Anya E R Prince, W Gregory Feero, Alyx Vogle, Sarah Mccain, Alexandra Truhlar, J Scott Roberts, Charles Lee, Kunal Sanghavi, Wendy R Uhlmann, The Insight @ Work Consortium

Faculty Research 2025

Some employers offer genetic testing for increased cancer and cardiovascular disease risk, as well as pharmacogenetic variants, as a wellness benefit, which presents unique considerations for genetic counseling. Our ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of genomics study, positioned in a post-positivist paradigm, aimed to qualitatively assess the perspectives and experiences of genetic counselors (GCs) who had counseled on workplace genetic testing (wGT). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 US GCs who either worked in the wGT industry (i.e., role-directed wGT experience) or provided post-test counseling in a clinical setting (i.e., patient-directed wGT experience). Interviews were analyzed following the principles …

Comparative Genomics Reveals Common Diversity And Adaptation To Harsh Environments In The Arabian Peninsula Indigenous Chickens., Abdulwahad Assiri, Adriana Vallejo-Trujillo, Mohammed Al-Abri, Hussain Bahbahani, Faisal Almathen, Abulgasim Ahbara, Waleed Al Marzooqi, Abdulfatai Tijjani, Raman Akinyanju Lawal, Olivier Hanotte

Faculty Research 2025

Identifying genomic regions under selection is crucial for comprehending the evolutionary history of the domestic chicken. Arabian Peninsula (AP) indigenous chickens are mostly found outdoors, being reared alongside other livestock for production purposes. These birds show high resilience to extreme temperatures (hot and cold), typical of the desert environment. The selection pressures responsible for unique local adaptations in these birds remain largely unidentified. Here, we aimed to investigate the genome diversity and structure of 15 indigenous chicken populations including 13 populations from the AP (n = 5), Ethiopia (n = 6), and the People's Republic of China (n = 2). …

The Impact Of Co-Housing On Murine Aging Studies., Alison Luciano, Gary Churchill

Faculty Research 2025

Analysis of preclinical lifespan studies often assume that outcome data from co-housed animals are independent. In practice, treatments, such as controlled feeding or putative life-extending compounds, are applied to whole housing units, and as a result, the outcomes are potentially correlated within housing units. We consider intra-class (here, intra-cage) correlation in three published and two unpublished lifespan studies of aged mice encompassing more than 20,000 observations. We show that the independence assumption underlying common analytic techniques does not hold in these data, particularly for traits associated with frailty. We describe and demonstrate various analytical tools available to accommodate this study …

Novel Flavonoid Derivatives Show Potent Efficacy In Human Lymphoma Models., Eugenio Gaudio, Paulina Biniecka, Alberto J Arribas, Eleonora Cannas, Guido J R Zaman, Derya Unutmaz, Francesco Bertoni, Dan F Stoicescu

Faculty Research 2025

BACKGROUND: Despite significant therapeutic progress, many lymphoma subtypes remain difficult to manage due to resistance, relapse, and dose-limiting toxicity.

METHODS: To elucidate the mechanism of action of the semi-synthetic flavonoid derivative (SND) compounds, we conducted a screening of cancer cell lines using proliferation, cell cycle, and apoptosis assays. We then performed computational modeling of the compounds' binding to tubulin, and finally evaluated in vivo activity using nanoNail technology alongside xenograft experiment.

RESULTS: Here, we describe a series of SNDs that exhibit low-nanomolar to picomolar cytotoxicity across multiple lymphoma models, including those resistant to BTK and PI3K inhibitors. Mechanistic studies show …

Placental And Cord Blood Dna Methylation Changes Associated With Gestational Diabetes Mellitus In A Marginalized Population: The Untold Role Of Saturated Fats., Fatima Ahmad, Sidra Aftab Uzair, Arun P Lakshmanan, Shaikha Alabduljabbar, Salma H Ahmed, Basirudeen Syed Ahamed Kabeer, Alexandra Katharina Marr, Tomoshige Kino, Tobias Brummaier, Rose Mcgready, François Nosten, Damien Chaussabel, Souhaila Al Khodor, Annalisa Terranegra

Faculty Research 2025

The role of DNA methylation (DNAm) and its modulation by dietary factors in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) remains underexplored, particularly in marginalized populations. This study investigates DNAm alterations in GDM-exposed cord blood and placenta and their association with maternal dietary quality and single nutrient intake in a low-income population from the Myanmar-Thailand border. A matched case-control design (GDM: n = 38, controls: n = 34) was selected from a Myanmar-Thailand pregnancy cohort. Dietary intake was assessed via 24-h recalls and analyzed using Nutritionist Pro, with dietary quality evaluated by the healthy eating index (HEI). DNAm was profiled in 72 cord …

Quicknotes June 2025, Southern Adventist University

QuickNotes – Advancement e-Newsletter

QuickNotes is an e-newsletter that comes from Advancement at Southern Adventist University. The June 2025 edition features an article about alumnus Barbara Eades and Southern's dedication to service.

"Maine Office Of Behavioral Health’S Section 17 Self-Direction Pilot Program: Executive Summary", Rachel M. Gallo Mph, Sarah Goan, Emma Schwartz

Publications

The Self-Directed Care (SDC) pilot program in Maine tested a service delivery model that allows individuals with mental health needs to manage a personal budget, supported by a trained broker to purchase goods and services that best support their recovery goals. Funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, the Maine Office of Behavioral Health implemented the nine-month pilot in three counties, partnering with Alpha One, Maine’s Center for Independent Living, to provide reloadable debit cards for participant purchases. The program aimed to promote autonomy, satisfaction, and stability among adults receiving Section 17 Medicaid services while informing decisions about the model’s …

Hiring Decisions Under Productivity Uncertainty: Risk Preferences And Inaccurate Statistical Discrimination In Nhl Entry Drafts, Chengyuan Hua, Brad Humphreys

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

This paper analyzes firm hiring decisions under uncertainty about worker productivity. We exploit an exogenous September 15 cutoff date in the National Hockey League entry draft to estimate a sharp RDD and find evidence of risk aversion by teams when drafting players. Specifically, teams appear risk averse in early draft rounds, but risk neutral in later rounds, supporting model predictions by a prior study. Triple-differences results show inaccurate relative-age-based statistical discrimination in the draft, providing implications for team drafting strategies. We find suggestive evidence that experience drives this discrimination, and positive correlation be- tween accuracy of statistical discrimination and team …

Summary Of: Lessons Learned: Enhancing Rural Risk Communication For Future Health Crises Through The Phercc Framework, Abimbola Leslie, Elizabeth K. Woods, Eline M. Van Den Broek-Altenburg, Jan K. Carney

Northern New England Clinical & Translational Research

This study shows the importance of evidence-based, adaptive, and population subgroup sensitive communication during public health emergencies. The PHERCC framework provided a useful structure for identifying barriers, building trust, and guiding responsive strategies. Investing in inclusive communication systems and leveraging community partnerships are important for effective responses to future health crises.

Study found @ Lessons learned: enhancing rural risk communication for future health crises through the PHERCC framework

New Dentist News (June 2025), Ada Committee On The New Dentist

New Dentist News

New Dentist News offers timely information on scientific, social, educational, political and economic developments affecting new dentists. This collection is historical and items may not reflect current standards. For up-to-date information contact the ADA. The New Dentist News was alternately titled ADA Lifeline, 1997-June 2001.