Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons^™

Design, Construction, And Evaluation Of A Portable Reusable Plastic Container Dumper, Kevin J. Lau

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This senior project discusses the design, construction, and evaluation of a portable RPC (Reusable Plastic Container) dumper. This RPC dumper is one piece of a citrus processing system to package citrus. Bee Sweet currently utilizes man power in order to dump its RPCs whereas this design will decrease the amount of man power needed to dump RPCs during high workloads.

The goal of this project was to design, construct, and test a custom fabricated RPC dumper that will decrease the number of people needed to dump RPCs and also the amount of damage on the oranges when being dumped from ...

Meter Gate Calibration And Accuracy Analysis, Ryan Fulton

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

No abstract provided.

Practical Irrigation Scheduling Program, Dominic Sween

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This senior project discusses the design, construction, and evaluation of an irrigation scheduling program that aids users in alfalfa irrigation management, with the potential for application with other crops. The program uses a very accurate irrigation prediction model that forecasts what the estimated irrigation need of each week will be, as well as the number of irrigations needed to satisfy the requirement. The model was found to predict the sum of the actual required weekly irrigation amount within less than 1% of the true value. The program was based off the single crop coefficient approach that was outlined previously by ...

Evaluation Of Thermophile Algae In Horizontal Photo-Bioreactor, Olivier Schmied

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

No abstract provided.

Design And Construction Of A Remedial Pumping System, Brandon Downing

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This senior project discusses the design and construction of a remedial pumping system at Cal Poly’s Swanton Pacific Ranch. The site the system is installed is called the College Well Station where it will be used to irrigate about two acres of turf. Excessive iron residue is in their water, so in order to prevent this residue from clogging the irrigation system, this system was installed. The system consists of a 2,500 gallon settling tank, booster pump, variable frequency drive (VFD), and a bladder tank. The settling tank will settle the iron particles to the bottom, preventing the ...

Autocad Course Book Update, Todd Sammons

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This project is a proposed updated version of the course book used in the BRAE 151 course. The book that is currently used is a product of Doug Phillips (BRAE ’03). Since Mr. Phillips designed the book currently used, many new features have been added and the user interface is drastically different. This purpose of this book is to bring the course book used in BRAE 151 up the current version.

Evaluation And Modernization Of The Scott Valley Irrigation District, Ashley Parry

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

The Scott Valley Irrigation District (SVID), located in Etna, California, is a small water district that serves 25 users and runs approximately 14 miles. The district was established in the 1920’s, and few modifications have happened since then. The district approached the Natural Resource and Conservation Service (NRCS) about possible improvements to the system and how do go about making decisions and implement improvements. As an outreach project the NRCS decided to pursue the evaluation and modernization plan.

The project was done in multiple phases from research, evaluation, surveying and design portions. This report will discuss the current state ...

Vineyard Drip Irrigation Design, Roman Ferro

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

The goal of this project is to develop a cost and water efficient drip irrigation system. This irrigation system will deliver irrigation needs to a future 2.5 acre vineyard owned by the Jaqua family. The design accounts for the specifics of the field such as soil type, slope, crop water requirement, etc. A detailed design was created which includes part specifications, cost estimate and field map.

A Holistic View Of Engineering, Nikhil R. Gupta

2013 Grand Challenge Scholars Program

This project discusses the author's experiences with five areas of study determined by the Grand Challenge Scholars Program. It focuses on his work building a cassava processor for women in Ghana and his research on several sustainability projects.

Modernization Of House #3: Improving Greenhouse Cut Flower Production And Students' Experience By Modernizing House #3, Kristina Anton

Biomedical Eng/General Eng.

This paper documents the modernization of the black cloth, lighting, shade, and support systems in one of Cal Poly's on-campus, student operated cut flower production greenhouses. Problems with the old system are examined along with design requirements for a new system. Alternate designs are considered along with the installation process of the chosen design.

Using Gis To Delineate Headwater Stream Origins In The Appalachian Coal-Belt Region Of Kentucky, Jonathan A. Villines

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Human activity such as surface mining can have substantial impacts on the natural environment. Performing a Cumulative Hydrologic Impact Assessment (CHIA) of such impacts on surface water systems requires knowing the location and extent of these impacted streams. The Jurisdictional Determination (JD) of a stream’s protected status under the Clean Water Act (CWA) involves locating and classifying streams according to their flow regime: ephemeral, intermittent, or perennial. Due to their often remote locations and small size, taking a field inventory of headwater streams for surface mining permit applications or permit reviews is challenging. A means of estimating headwater stream ...

Precise Evaluation Of Gnss Position And Latency Errors In Dynamic Agricultural Applications, Michael P. Sama

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

A method for precisely synchronizing an external serial data stream to the pulse-per-second (PPS) output signal from a global navigation satellite-based system (GNSS) receiver was investigated. A signal timing device was designed that used a digital signal processor (DSP) with serial inputs and input captures to generate time stamps for asynchronous serial data based on an 58593.75 Hz internal timer. All temporal measurements were made directly in hardware to eliminate software latency. The resolution of the system was 17.1 µs, which translated to less than one millimeter of horizontal position error at travel speeds typical of most agricultural ...

What We Have Learned About Experience, Time Pressure, And Difficult Tradeoffs From Experiments With Firefighters In Virtual Reality, Nir Keren

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Presentations, Posters and Proceedings

In general, attendees will learn that experience does not guarantee faster and more accurate decisions. Furthermore, experienced firefighters demonstrated higher level of threat‐related stress than inexperienced firefighters.

Evaluating Program Outcomes Via Decision Making Simulations, Steven A. Freeman, Nir Keren

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Presentations, Posters and Proceedings

Decision making-based methodology was proposed for evaluating program outcomes. The methodology was tested to measure the effect of safety enhancing curriculum on Safety Awareness, one of the 15 competencies ABE is using in program outcome evaluations. The results indicated a significant increase in safety awareness and shift in cognitive processes following implementation of the curriculum. Since ABE measures competencies via supervisory evaluation of graduates, the authors examine the opportunity of developing a longitudinal study for measuring the magnitude of impact of curriculum on outcomes at the workplace.

Student Professional Development: Competency-Based Learning And Assessment, Jacqulyn A. Baughman, Thomas J. Brumm

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Presentations, Posters and Proceedings

The audience will understand the need for student professional development, as well as, the role that competencies and the 360-degree feedback assessment process play. Additionally, a foundational framework for further research studies in competency-based learning and assessment will be presented.

Holistic Student Professional Development In A Lean Manufacturing Course, Jacqulyn A. Baughman, Thomas J. Brumm

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Presentations, Posters and Proceedings

The audience will understand the need for a “holistic” student professional development approach using competency-assessment and backwards design. Specifically, the course design and approach can help provide U.S. manufacturers with the employees they need in order to implement and sustain a lean manufacturing structure vital for competitiveness.

Measurement Of Quality-Based Risks In The Bulk Material Supply Chain, Gretchen A. Mosher

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Presentations, Posters and Proceedings

The audience will learn about the process used to identify, quantify, and evaluation quality risks in the bulk material supply chain. Use of the process map will be discussed from a quality management perspective. Implications for industrial practice will be shared.

Factors Considered In The Development Of Curricular Content In Engineering Technology For Diverse Audiences, Gretchen A. Mosher, Chad M. Laux

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Presentations, Posters and Proceedings

The audience will learn about the curricular needs of process-based supply chain professionals and how engineering technology is poised to meet these needs. The development of core learning competencies and delivery options will also be shared.

Targeting Perennial Vegetation In Agricultural Landscapes For Enhancing Ecosystem Services, Heidi Asbjornsen, V. Hernandez-Santana, Matthew Z. Liebman, J. Bayala, J. Chen, Matthew J. Helmers, C. K. Ong

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications and Papers

Over the past century, agricultural landscapes worldwide have increasingly been managed for the primary purpose of producing food, while other diverse ecosystem services potentially available from these landscapes have often been undervalued and diminished. The incorporation of relatively small amounts of perennial vegetation in strategic locations within agricultural landscapes dominated by annual crops—or perennialization—creates an opportunity for enhancing the provision of a wide range of goods and services to society, such as water purification, hydrologic regulation, pollination services, control of pest and pathogen populations, diverse food and fuel products, and greater resilience to climate change and extreme disturbances ...

Using Biodiversity To Link Agricultural Productivity With Environmental Quality: Results From Three Field Experiments In Iowa, Matthew Z. Liebman, Matthew J. Helmers, Lisa A. Schulte-Moore, Craig A. Chase

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications and Papers

Agriculture in the US Corn Belt is under increasing pressure to produce greater quantities of food, feed and fuel, while better protecting environmental quality. Key environmental problems in this region include water contamination by nutrients and herbicides emitted from cropland, a lack of non-agricultural habitat to support diverse communities of native plants and animals, and a high level of dependence on petrochemical energy in the dominant cropping systems. In addition, projected changes in climate for this region, which include increases in the proportion of precipitation coming from extreme events could make soil and water conservation in existing cropping systems more ...