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Thousand Hills Pet Resort Cat Condos Installation and QA/QC
No full textThis paper discusses the installation and quality assurance/quality control of four cat condos built for the Son Care Foundation at the Thousand Hills Pet Resort in San Luis Obispo. The Son Care Foundation is a nonprofit that provides professional daycare and overnight boarding services for dogs and cats while their owners are away. The cat condos serve cats during the day while their owners are at work or otherwise busy. Because three people were assigned to this project, the project was split into preconstruction, prefabrication, and installation/QA/QC. To meet the two-day installation window, due to active facility use, three cat condos were prefabricated and upon installation line one wall in the room, each being 8’ tall, 3’-7” wide, and 2’-4” deep, along with a fourth unit built in the room during installation, as a result of its size. The installation process involved selective demolition within the room, construction of the fourth, larger unit, transportation of the prefabricated units, and quality control checks. The tenant improvement project successfully delivered durable and easy-to-clean cat condos that met Thousand Hills Pet Resort\u27s expectations on time and under budget
Improved Management Strategies for Botrytis Fruit Rot, Macrophomina Root Rot, and Verticillium Wilt in California Strawberry Production
No full textStrawberry production in California is limited by plant diseases such as Macrophomina root rot (MRR) caused by Macrophomina phaseolina, Verticillium wilt (VW) caused by Verticillium dahliae, and Botrytis fruit rot (BFR) caused by Botrytis cinerea. Current disease management strategies are compromised due to fumigant regulations or ineffective disease management practices. This thesis investigated methods to potentially improve the management of these three diseases. Two host plant resistance evaluations for MRR and VW were conducted for the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 growing seasons. Sixty-three strawberry genotypes were screened in both years. All plants were exposed to the pathogen via artificial (M. phaseolina) or naturally occurring (V. dahliae) inoculum. A wide range of plant resistance to MRR and VW was observed. The three most resistant cultigens (cultivars and elite breeding lines) to MRR based on final plant mortality were ‘UCD_Mojo’, ‘PE.13.119.024’, and ‘152x18’. The three most resistant cultigens to VW based on final plant mortality were ‘UCD_Mojo’, ‘UC_Eclipse’, and ‘152x18’. Variation in disease pressure between years highlights the importance of multi-season screening across diverse environmental conditions. A survey of BFR levels in commercial strawberry fields that were not treated and treated with fungicides was conducted in Santa Maria, CA in 2023 and 2024. BFR incidence was recorded weekly in the field and postharvest following 7 days at 34°F. Weather stations at each field location measured temperature, leaf wetness duration, and calculated the BFR risk factor using the Strawberry Advisory System (StAS) developed by the University of Florida. In 2023, the average in-field BFR incidence was 4.0% (treated) vs. 7.7% (untreated), and the average postharvest BFR incidence was 3.8% vs. 7.2%. In 2024, the average in-field BFR incidence was 2.5% vs. 6.7%, and the average BFR postharvest incidence was 2.1% vs. 4.6%, respectively. Screening new strawberry genotypes against MRR and VW should be ongoing as part of a standard process for determining the susceptibility of currently grown and potentially new cultivars. Additional research under more diverse weather conditions is necessary to verify the impacts of reducing fungicide use in BFR management and to validate the use of StAS in making fungicide use decisions in California fields
Two Decades of Change: Evolving Costs of Regulatory Compliance in the Produce Industry
Full text linkRising costs of regulation are an increasing concern for California growers. An initial study of regulatory costs in California agriculture was conducted in 2006, as means to compare California’s regulatory environment to other competing states. Industry groups in the Salinas Valley contacted Cal Poly to update the original study in 2018 as new state and federal laws imposed significantly higher regulatory burdens on growers, specifically with respect to food safety, water quality, labor wages, air quality and worker health and safety. This report updates the previous case study to reflect the 2024 regulatory environment for California growers, and provides a snapshot of regulatory and production cost increases across three different decades on one large Salinas Valley lettuce operation
\u27Natural Highs F***ing Exist\u27 & \u27Avila Beach: Where the Forest Meets the Sea\u27
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Charlottesville and Confederate Monuments: How the Civil War and Its Aftermath Continue to Affect Race Relations in The United States
Full text linkConstructing Madness in the Era of Synthesis: Madness in Medieval Western Europe, 12th-15th Centuries
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An Attitude of Openness: Adapting Body Neutrality for Performers
Full text linkFor performers, specifically dancers and actors, the body constitutes the vast majority of focus and training. It is what we present onstage, share with audiences, and contract to casting directors and choreographers. Our bodies, the way they look and move, directly influence the amount and quality of work we make. The concept of body neutrality, then, poses an interesting challenge for performers and those of us who train them. How do we balance a healthy relationship with the body while also thinking critically about all of the ways our bodies carry meaning in performance? How do we, as educators, promote this way of thinking in our studios and classroom spaces? This critical commentary will explore the relationship between the body and the performer, the application of body neutrality, and ideas of how to encourage a healthy and resilient relationship with the body. Key discussion points include the role of mirrors in the movement studio, the potential benefits of somatic approaches, the use of affirmations, and the particular challenges of body neutrality for marginalized bodies and identities. The commentary also includes approaches to the classroom used by the authors, a dancer/choreographer and an actor/director, respectively. Rather than viewing neutrality as standard or emptiness, the authors see neutral as an openness for potential and a way towards self-acceptance and resilience