Digital Commons Network^™

Novel Integration Of Conductive-Ink Circuitry With A Paper-Based Microfluidic Battery As An All-Printed Sensing Platform, Rishi A. Kripalani

Master's Theses

The addition of powered components for active assays into paper-based analytical devices opens new opportunities for medical and environmental analysis in resource-limited applications. Current battery designs within such devices have yet to adopt a ubiquitous circuitry material, necessitating investigation into printed circuitry for scalable platforms. In this study, a microfluidic battery was mated with silver-nanoparticle conductive ink to prototype an all-printed sensing platform. A multi-layer, two-cell device was fabricated, generating 200 μA of direct electrical current at 2.5 V sustained for 16 minutes with a power loss of less than 0.1% through the printed circuitry. Printed circuitry traces exhibited resistivity …

Game Theory Analysis Of Intra-District Water Transfers; Case Study Of The Berrenda Mesa Water District, Harry Riordan Ferdon

Master's Theses

California state officials have continued to warn and encourage preparedness for the growing threats of water scarcity. This puts pressure on water suppliers to develop technological and managerial solutions to alleviate the problems associated with scarcity. A recent popular management strategy for distributing water is encouraging water transfers. While there has been analyses on water transfers between large districts and agencies, little analysis has been completed for smaller scale trades, i.e. between individuals in the same water district. This analysis models an agricultural water district, based on the Berrenda Mesa Water District (BMWD). In the model, the growers in the …

Compounding Fire Disturbance History Encourages Coast Redwood (Sequoia Sempervirens) Regeneration And Community Dominance, Matthew R. Brousil

Master's Theses

Disturbance is fundamental to forest ecosystem function and overall health, but climate change is likely to increase both disturbance frequency and intensity in the future. Forests subject to increasingly frequent and intense disturbances are more likely to experience compounding disturbance effects. Compounding disturbances may exert unpredicted, non-additive stresses on ecosystems, leading to novel conditions that may exceed the capacity for local species to survive and regenerate. I further hypothesize that compounding disturbances could create conditions misaligned with species’ adaptations by altering physical and chemical growing conditions in forest soils, affecting forest composition, structure, and, subsequently, function for many years following …

The Water Table And Soil Moisture Response Following The Removal Of Conifers From An Encroached Meadow, Thomas W. Sanford

Master's Theses

Montane meadows play a key role in the physical and biologic processes of coniferous forests in the western United States. However, due to climate change, over grazing, and fire suppression, conifer encroachment into meadows has accelerated. In some western regions, nearly half of all meadow habitat has been loss due to conifer encroachment. To combat this issue, encroaching conifers can be removed in an attempt to increase meadow habitat and function. While multiple studies have assessed changes in soil structure and vegetation composition, few studies directly investigate changes in hydrology following meadow conifer removal projects. The goal of this study …

Development Of Cal Poly's Shock Table, Christopher D. Risner

Master's Theses

Shock is one of the environmental tests that a spacecraft must pass before being cleared for launch. Shock testing poses a challenging data acquisition issue and careful selection of equipment is crucial to creating a successful shock test facility. Cal Poly’s CubeSat programs can currently perform all environmental testing other than shock themselves, so a quality shock table would be useful. Previous groups of students had developed a shock table, and this paper details the improvement and characterization of that shock table’s behavior. Several adjustable parameters were tested and documented to discover trends in the shock table’s response to an …

Enhancing Capacity And Managing Demand To Increase Short-Term Throughput On The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, Kevin Reid Carstens

Master's Theses

While there are many proposals for fixing congestion between San Francisco and Oakland in California by adding a new bridge or tube, these solutions will take decades to implement even though a solution is needed now. This thesis assesses sixteen different strategies for reducing congestion in the short-term in the four categories of improving transit, promoting carpooling, implementing intelligent transportation systems practices, and incentivizing alternatives to using the Bay Bridge. Top priorities include HOV improvements on the West Grand Avenue and Powell Street onramps, altering WestCAT Lynx and BART transit services, partnering with rideshare apps to increase transit station accessibility …

University Fundraising Through Special Events: An Application Of The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Megan Elizabeth Hobbs

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to apply the Revised Theory of Planned Behavior and EVENTQUAL models to explore (1) event qualities that significantly impact guests’ satisfaction with a university event that they attend, (2) significant factors influencing university loyalty as a result of an event, and (3) willingness to make a charitable donation to a university as a result of attending an event. An online survey was sent to attendees of an annual Cal Poly auction event between 2002 and 2016 that directly benefits Cal Poly students. The data were used to test a series of hypotheses to determine …

Effect Of Oxygen-Limiting Tidal Conditions On Muscle Metabolism And Structure In The Giant Acorn Barnacle, Balanus Nubilus, Katie O. Grady

Master's Theses

Crustacean muscle fibers are some of the largest cells in the animal kingdom, with fiber diameters in the giant acorn barnacle (Balanus nubilus) exceeding 3 mm. Sessile animals with extreme muscle sizes and that live in the hypoxia-inducing intertidal zone – like B. nubilus – represent ideal models for probing the effects of oxygen limitation on muscle cells. We investigated changes in metabolism and structure of B. nubilus muscle in response to: normoxic immersion, anoxic immersion, or air emersion, for acute (6h) or chronic (6h exposures twice daily for 2wks) time periods. Following exposure, we immediately measured hemolymph …

The Impacts Of Arterial Occlusion, Sex, And Exercise On Arteriogenesis And Functional Vasodilation, Megan Tze-Mei Chu

Master's Theses

The most frequent clinical presentation of peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) is intermittent claudication, which may be caused by impaired vasodilation. Patients demonstrate both local and systemic impairments in vasodilation, but as the collateral circulation is the primary site of resistance to the ischemic zone, impaired collateral vasodilation would have the greatest potential to induce claudication. Collateral function following arterial occlusion is not well defined, but immature collaterals may demonstrate impaired vasodilation in animal models, although this is potentially improved with exercise training. Furthermore, as females exhibit poorer physical function with ischemia and less improvement with therapeutic exercise, there appears …

Procedural Generation And Rendering Of Large-Scale Open-World Environments, Ian Thomas Dunn

Master's Theses

Open-world video games give players a large environment to explore along with increased freedom to navigate and manipulate that environment. These requirements pose several problems that must be addressed by a game's graphics engine. Often there are a large number of visible objects, such as all of the trees in a forest, as well as objects comprised of large amounts of geometry, such as terrain. An open-world graphics engine must be able to render large environments at varying levels of detail and smoothly transition between detail levels to provide a believable experience. Often this involves finding a way to both …

Assessment Of Asymmetric Flight On Solar Uas, Eric Belfield

Master's Theses

An investigation was conducted into the feasibility of using an unconventional flight technique, asymmetric flight, to improve overall efficiency of solar aircraft. In this study, asymmetric flight is defined as steady level flight in a non-wings-level state in- tended to improve solar incidence angle. By manipulating aircraft orientation through roll angle, solar energy collection is improved but aerodynamic efficiency is worsened due to the introduction of additional trim drag. A point performance model was devel- oped to investigate the trade-off between improvement in solar energy collection and additional drag associated with asymmetric flight. A mission model with a focus on …

Circadian And Circatidal Rhythms Of Protein Abundance In The Intertidal Mussel Mytilus Californianus, Cory Elowe

Master's Theses

The intertidal zone is a dynamic environment that fluctuates with the 12.4-h tidal and 24-h light/dark cycle to predictably alter food availability, temperature, air exposure, wave action, oxygen partial pressure, and osmotic conditions. Intertidal sessile bivalves exhibit behavioral or physiological changes to minimize the persistent challenges of fluctuating environmental conditions, such as adjusting gaping behavior and heart rate. At the cellular level, transcriptomic studies on mussels’ baseline circadian and circatidal rhythms have determined that the circadian rhythm is the dominant transcriptional rhythm. However, as proteins reflect the basic molecular phenotype of an organism and their abundance may differ greatly from …

Evaluation Of Efficiency Of Various Materials To Shield From Radiation In Space Using The Monte Carlo Transport Code Called Fluka, Roman Savinov

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to improve spacecraft shielding from radiation in space. It focuses on the evaluation of shielding efficiency of different materials. The efficiency of a shield is evaluated by the dose profile within the shield and the amount of dose absorbed by a target using the Monte Carlo transport code called FLUKA. The output of this code is validated by recreating the experiments from published papers and comparing the results. Once the FLUKA’s output is validated, the efficiency of sixteen materials, subject to SPE and GCR sources, are evaluated. The efficiency comparison is made by fixing …

Quantifying Parkinson's Disease Symptoms Using Mobile Devices, Charles R. Aylward

Master's Theses

Current assessments for evaluating the progression of Parkinson’s Disease are largely qualitative and based on small sets of data obtained from occasional doctor-patient interactions. There is a clinical need to improve the techniques used for mitigating common Parkinson’s Disease symptoms. Available data sets for researching the disease are minimal, hindering advancement toward understanding the underlying causes and effectiveness of treatment and therapies. Mobile devices present an opportunity to continuously monitor Parkinson’s Disease patients and collect important information regarding the severity of symptoms. The evolution of digital technology has opened doors for clinical research to extend beyond the clinic by incorporating …

The Importance Of The Multicomponent Display In Sexual Selection Of Black Morph Girardinus Metallicus (Pisces: Poeciliidae), Erin M. Wojan

Master's Theses

Multicomponent displays are composed of traits, such as coloration, structural ornaments, and behavior, that become integrated and signal information to conspecifics. Estimation of multicomponent displays in fishes often involves measurement of color traits. Fish color measurements are often obtained following immobilization via chemical anesthesia; however, the anesthetics may alter the resulting measurements, for example by darkening the skin. Girardinus metallicus, a poeciliid fish endemic to Cuba, has a multicomponent courtship and aggressive display. Black morph males exhibit black ventral coloration including the gonopodium (copulatory organ) and yellow in the non-black areas of their bodies. I investigated the effects of …

Native Cryptography In The Browser, An Exploratory Approach, Joseph A. Wilson

Master's Theses

As applications move from the desktop to the web browser, security needs to be taken into consideration. The new Web Crypto API provides native support for web applications to perform cryptographic operations and key management functions. Client side cryptographic support is a critical component in the future development of secure web based applications. This thesis presents an exploration of the Web Crypto API. The aim of this research was to determine the feasibility of developing complex cryptographic applications in the browser. This evaluation was performed by building an end to end encrypted messaging system that implements the off the record …

Integration And Qualification Of The P-Pods On The Vega Maiden Flight, Ryan Nugent

Master's Theses

On February 13, 2012, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo flew three Poly-Picosatellite Orbital Deployers (P-PODs), carrying seven European University CubeSats sponsored by the European Space Agency (ESA), on the Vega Maiden Flight. This was the first time CubeSats shared a ride to space with other payloads on an ESA-owned launch opportunity. In order to meet launch requirements, it must be proven through proper documentation that the P-POD would operate properly and not interfere with the launch vehicle or other payloads on the mission. This thesis outlines the program flow, required documentation, and issues encountered during the launch campaign …

Design, Analysis, And Simulation Of A Jitter Reduction Circuit (Jrc) System At 1ghz, Run Bin Yu

Master's Theses

The clock signal is considered as the “heartbeat” of a digital system yet jitter which is a variation on the arrival time of the clock edge, could undermine the overall performance or even cause failures on the system. Deterministic jitter could be reduced during the designing process however random jitter during operation is somehow less-controllable and unavoidable. Being able to remove jitter on the clock would therefore play a vital role in system performance improvement.

This thesis implements a 1GHz fully feedforward jitter reduction circuit (JRC) which can be used as an on-chip IP core at clock tree terminals to …

Metabolic Regulation And Cryotolerance Of In Vitro-Produced Holstein Embryos, Melissa Ann Roberts

Master's Theses

In vitro production and transfer of embryos has become a common practice within the dairy industry to efficiently breed superior animals and meet the consumption demand of the growing population. Cyropreservation is necessary for the application of commercialized embryo transfer, however, in vitro-produced embryos show morphological and physiological defects which negatively impact their ability to withstand cryopreservation in comparison to their in vivo counterparts. These artifacts result from culture conditions that cause stress to the embryo during development, leading to an accumulation of intracellular lipids, mitochondrial dysfunction, and ultimately poor ability to withstand freezing and thawing. The objective of …

Nanoindentation Techniques For The Evaluation Of Silicon Nitride Thin Films, Weston T. Mangin

Master's Theses

Silicon nitride thin films are of interest in the biomedical engineering field due to their biocompatibility and favorable tribological properties. Evaluation and understanding of the properties of these films under diverse loading and failure conditions is a necessary prerequisite to their use in biomedical devices. Three wafers of silicon nitride-coated silicon were obtained from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and used to create 96 samples. Samples were subjected to nanoindentation testing to evaluate the mechanical properties of the film. Samples were subjected to nanoimpact testing to compare the damage resistance of the film to separate nanoimpact types. Samples were subjected to …

Torsional Stiffness And Natural Frequency Analysis Of A Formula Sae Vehicle Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Chassis Using Finite Element Analysis, Manuel Herrmann

Master's Theses

Finite element is used to predict the torsional stiffness and natural frequency response of a FSAE vehicle hybrid chassis, utilizing a carbon fiber reinforced polymer sandwich structure monocoque and a tubular steel spaceframe. To accurately model the stiffness response of the sandwich structure, a series of material tests for different fiber types has been performed and the material properties have been validated by modeling a simple three-point-bend test panel and comparing the results with a physical test. The torsional stiffness model of the chassis was validated with a physical test, too. The stiffness prediction matches the test results within 6%. …

Functional 3-D Cellulose And Nitrocellulose Paper-Based, Microfluidic Device Utilizing Elisa Technology For The Detection/Distinction Between Hemorrhagic And Ischemic Strokes, Alicia Leanne Holler

Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis project is to demonstrate and evaluate an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) on a paper microfluidic device platform. The integration of ELISA technology onto paper microfluidic chips allows for a quantitative detection of stroke biomarkers, such as glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). Dye experiments were performed to confirm fluid connectivity throughout the 3D chips. Several chip and housing designs were fabricated to determine an optimal design for the microfluidic device. Once this design was finalized, development time testing was performed. The results confirmed that the paper microfluidic device could successfully route fluid throughout its channels at …

Lap Splice Development Length Of Rebar In Stabilized Hollow Interlocking Compressed Earth Blocks, Thomas S. Bowdey

Master's Theses

This thesis investigates the tensile performance of unconfined lap splices in specimens constructed from interlocking compressed earth block (ICEB) units. All lap splice specimens were constructed from hollow ICEB half units with one side grouting channel. ICEB units used in this research were exclusively produced from the Soeng Thai Model BP6 block press. The BP6 block press is currently manufactured in Thailand under the guidance and direction of the Center of Vocational Building Technologies (CVBT). All ICEB units and grout constructed for this research were created from mix proportions of soil, sand, cement, and water. Rebar bar sizes were restricted …

The Response Of A Predatory Fish, Ophiodon Elongatus, To A Marine Protected Area: Variation In Diet, Catch Rates, And Size Composition, Eric S. Anderson

Master's Theses

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are a management tool used to protect and sustain many ecologically and economically important fish species from overexploitation by recreational and commercial fishing. Lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus) and some of its prey species, such as rockfish (Sebastes spp.), are species that are protected from fishing in some California MPAs. Lingcod is an apex predator that consumes a variety of fish and invertebrate species. In this study, I sought to assess the effect of an MPA on the abundance, size and diet of Lingcod. I hypothesized that Lingcod in a no-take MPA would be more …

Field Emissions Of (Hydro)Chlorofluorocarbons And Methane From A California Landfill, Alexander H. Sohn

Master's Theses

A comprehensive field investigation was conducted at Potrero Hills Landfill (PHL) located in Suisun City, California to quantify emissions of twelve (hydro)chlorofluorocarbons (i.e. F-gases). The specific target constituents for this study included CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-113, CFC-114, HCFC-21, HCFC-22, HCFC-141b, HCFC-142b, HCFC-151a, HFC-134a, HFC-152a, and HFC-245fa. The majority of the F-gas emission studies have been conducted outside of the United States and very limited field landfill emission data are available in the United States. Because of historical usage of blowing agents in insulation foams including CFC-11, HCFC-142b, HFC-134a, and HFC-245fa, models reported in literature predicted high F-gas emissions from a landfill …

Determination Of Seismic Earth Pressures On Retaining Walls Through Finite Element Analysis, Michael Iannelli

Master's Theses

Seismic pressures on displacing or rigid retaining or basement walls have been derived based on the original work of Mononobe and Okabe, who used a shake table to calculate dynamic pressures of displacing retaining walls existing in cohesionless soils. Since this original work was done over eighty years ago, the results of Mononobe and Okabe, colloquially known as M-O theory, have been applied to different conditions, including non-displacing basement walls, as well as changes in soil properties. Since the original work of M-O, there have been numerous studies completed to verify the accuracy of the original calculation, most notably the …

Creating A Comparative Map Of Relative Power For Dc Arc Flash Methodologies, Andre Azares

Master's Theses

Although arc flash has been a concern amongst the electrical industry for many years, it is only relatively recently that standards by the IEEE have been established on calculating the amount of energy behind an arc flash event. However, these standards only apply to AC systems, where extensive testing and research have been performed. Although the NFPA has provided recommendations on how to calculate the incident energy for DC arc flash events, these have not become the defining standard like those seen for AC. One equation outlined in the NFPA70E, the Maximum Power Method, does provide engineers with a formula …

Encouraging Development Of Mobile Applications As A Service To The Community, Vanessa Marie Forney

Master's Theses

The convenience of mobile applications combined with the efficiency and effectiveness provided by technology has contributed to an increased interest in mobile applications. Local groups and non-profit organizations often utilize outdated, manual processes and don’t have the resources or time to look into improving these systems. For Cal Poly students and other members of the community, this means there is an opportunity to apply technical skills and school projects to address these inefficiencies. This work explores whether a better system can be developed to provide the functionality of the existing system and enhance the experience of users through technology, data …

Laff-O-Tron: Laugh Prediction In Ted Talks, Andrew D. Acosta

Master's Theses

Did you hear where the thesis found its ancestors? They were in the "parent-thesis"! This joke, whether you laughed at it or not, contains a fascinating and mysterious quality: humor. Humor is something so incredibly human that if you squint, the two words can even look the same. As such, humor is not often considered something that computers can understand. But, that doesn't mean we won't try to teach it to them.

In this thesis, we propose the system Laff-O-Tron to attempt to predict when the audience of a public speech would laugh by looking only at the text of …

Design And Analysis Of The Impact Diffusion Helmet Through A Finite Element Analysis Approach, Steven Paul Warnert

Master's Theses

By applying the finite element approach to the design and analysis of the impact diffusion helmet, many helmet configurations were able to be analyzed. Initially it was important to determine what design variables had an influence on the impact reducing abilities of the helmet design. The helmet was run through a series of Abaqus simulations that determined that a design with two oval shaped channels running along the length of the helmet was best. Next, these options were optimized to generate the helmet that produced the greatest impact reduction. The optimization simulations determined that a helmet that pushed the channels …