Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Exercise Power Grid Display And Web Interface, Alexander (Alex) Chernetz

Computer Engineering

The 2008-2009 expansion of the Recreation Center at Cal Poly includes three new rooms with cardiovascular fitness equipment. As part of its ongoing commitment to sustainable development, the new machines connect to the main power grid and generate power during a workout. This document explains the process of quantifying and expressing the power generated using two interfaces: an autonomous display designed for a television with a text size and amount of detail adaptable to multiple television sizes and viewing distances, and an interactive, more detailed Web interface accessible with any Java-capable computer system or browser.

Social Behaviors Of Modern And Indigenous Peoples Impacting The Ecology Of The Amazon Rain Forest In Brazil, Josef W. Schaffer

Earth and Soil Sciences

Human induced disruption of the environment is prevalent in every culture. In Brazil, the effects of massive deforestation have become apparent since the nineteen eighties. However, along with deforestation, and a coinciding loss in an economic resource for the country, is a significant loss of natural habitat and species extinction. The Amazon in Brazil contains a large proportion of the world’s species diversity that is threatened by the socio-economic activities of modern Brazilian culture. Historically and presently, indigenous groups have contributed to insignificant levels of ecological disruption and are themselves threatened by the activities of modern Brazilians. The effects of …

Creation Of Soil Liquefaction Susceptibility Maps For San Luis Obispo & Marin Counties Using Geographic Information Systems., Amelia M. Lowman

Earth and Soil Sciences

Liquefaction of soils in response to earthquake shaking is a pressing issue in the state of California. Using Geographic Information Systems, Geological and lithology layers, along with criteria in order to separate out the data into four risk categories, a liquefaction risk assessment map was created for San Luis Obispo and Marin Counties. The accuracy of these maps was then assessed using liquefaction occurrences for San Luis Obispo County, and it was determined that while the map is somewhat accurate, in order to obtain a greater amount of accuracy and increase the usefulness of these maps, more data would need …

An Evaluation Of Potential Technologies For A Web Based Development Environment For Cs1 Students, Manuel Garcia

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The goal of this senior project was to design a web-based integrated development environment that would incorporate Web-CAT. Web-CAT is an automated testing tool designed by Stephen Edwards at Virginia Tech University, to help beginning students learn test-driven development. This tool runs on a server where a professor assigns usernames and passwords to students so they can submit code. This program can assist professors in grading, and students in showing errors in code. The development environment design waskept simple to create less confusion for beginning programming students. This development environment will be online to give all students universal access and …

Development Of Regional Hydraulic Geometry Curves For The Santa Cruz Mountains, Sarah Howell

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

This study was conducted to develop regional hydraulic geometry curves for the Santa Cruz Mountains that could be used in stream related and/or engineering projects. Data used to form these curves was collected from the USGS and by conducting stream geometry surveys. The resulting regional curves had high R² values ranging from .82 to .92. Compared to other regional curves in nearby areas, the Santa Cruz Mountains regional curve equations have higher exponents, meaning bankfull channel measurements increase at faster rates as drainage areas increases. Further measurements and analysis should be done before applying these curves to project sites.

The Malawi Project: From Conventional To Holistic Decision Making, Grace Wetmore

Animal Science

How the Cal Poly Malawi Appropriate Technologies Team, and other development groups, can use Holistic Management to aid developing countries in an effort towards a sustainable future.

The Greenhouse Effect: Common Misconceptions And Effective Instruction, Trevor W. Strickland

Physics

This study is an extension of the research of Dr. John Keller. It attempts to identify common student misconceptions regarding the greenhouse effect and investigate instructional methods of teaching the greenhouse effect. Dr. Keller developed a test, known as the Greenhouse Effect Concept Inventory (GECI), designed to measure a student’s understanding of the greenhouse effect. A central goal of this project is to investigate the effectiveness of this concept inventory at measuring differences in student knowledge of the greenhouse effect. In addition to the Cal Poly student population that participated in this research, we will be looking at the population …

Constructing A Magneto-Optical Trap For Cold Atom Trapping, Eric S. Muckley

Physics

A magneto-optical trap, or MOT, is a device that traps atoms between three pairs of opposing perpendicular laser beams for cooling the atoms to temperatures near absolute zero. The MOT uses Doppler cooling and a magnetic quadrupole field to trap the atoms; in our case, Rb87 atoms. In the future, the MOT will be used in experiments pertaining to the advancement of quantum computing. In this paper, I explain some of the processes required for construction and operation of the MOT.

Developing A B-Jet Tagging Algorithm For Alice: Lessons From Cdf, Paul Chester-John Carlson

Physics

This paper compares the detectors and algorithms developed and used at both A Large Ion Collider Experiment (ALICE) and the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF). We found that the detectors share many similarities in data collection and analysis methods and that by adapting algorithms that have been tested and used at CDF, ALICE could augment its existing algorithms. The algorithms formed from this adaptation will help ALICE isolate b-jets quickly and explore the quark-gluon plasma, ultimately expanding our understanding of the strong nuclear force and its role in the evolution of our universe.

Evaluating Head Gestures For Panning 2-D Spatial Information, Matthew O. Derry

Master's Theses

New, often free, spatial information applications such as mapping tools, topological imaging, and geographic information systems are becoming increasingly available to the average computer user. These systems, which were once available only to government, scholastic, and corporate institutions with highly skilled operators, are driving a need for new and innovative ways for the average user to navigate and control spatial information intuitively, accurately, and efficiently. Gestures provide a method of control that is well suited to navigating the large datasets often associated with spatial information applications. Several different types of gestures and different applications that navigate spatial data are examined. …

Automation In Cs1 With The Factoring Problem Generator, Joshua B. Parker

Master's Theses

As the field of computer science continues to grow, the number of students enrolled in related programs will grow as well. Though one-on-one tutoring is one of the more effective means of teaching, computer science instructors will have less and less time to devote to individual students. To address this growing concern, many tools that automate parts of an instructor’s job have been proposed. These tools can assist instructors in presenting concepts and grading student work, and they can help students learn to program more effectively. A growing group of intelligent tutoring systems attempts to tie all of this functionality …

A Neural Network Approach To Border Gateway Protocol Peer Failure Detection And Prediction, Cory B. White

Master's Theses

The size and speed of computer networks continue to expand at a rapid pace, as do the corresponding errors, failures, and faults inherent within such extensive networks. This thesis introduces a novel approach to interface Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) computer networks with neural networks to learn the precursor connectivity patterns that emerge prior to a node failure. Details of the design and construction of a framework that utilizes neural networks to learn and monitor BGP connection states as a means of detecting and predicting BGP peer node failure are presented. Moreover, this framework is used to monitor a BGP network …

Implementation Of Sustainable Management Practices At Two California Central Coast Vineyards And Their Effects On Soil Fertility, Dawn M. Stimson

Master's Theses

Implementation of Sustainable Management Practices at Two California Central Coast Vineyards and Their Effects on Soil Fertility

Dawn Michelle Stimson

“Sustainable agriculture” has gained increased popularity in recent years. This study was conducted to determine the effects of sustainable management practices on soil fertility at two California Central Coast vineyards. The effects of cover crops (Erosion Control Mix - blando brome [Bromus hordeaceus], hykon rose clover [Trifolium hirtum All.], and zorro annual fescue [Vulpia mourns]), green waste compost (Forest Blend), and reduced tillage on soil fertility were investigated in San Luis Obispo, California on a clay and sandy loam soil. …

Acid Rain: The Effects, Torrey Mortimer

Social Sciences

In a world experiencing increasing population, urbanization, and developing nations looking to compete on a global market with post-industrial nations, the effects of acid precipitation require greater consideration. As the world’s energy demand rises, and with the cheapest and most abundant source of energy being coal, the occurrence of acid precipitation is on the rise.

The goal of my project is to research and report on the effects of acid deposition on humans, animals and the environment that surrounds them. When I have completed my project, I hope to be able to explain the impacts that acid deposition has on …

Investigation Of Mlb Data With Multivariate Statistics, Vincent Milano

Statistics

A statistical study was performed in order to explore the relationships of the offensive player statistics for every player in the 2008 Major League Baseball season. The purpose of the study was to explore various multivariate statistical methods within the data set.

The offensive variables in the study are: games, at-bats, runs, hits, singles, doubles, triples, homeruns, extra base hits, runs batted in, total bases, walks, strikeouts, stolen bases, times caught stealing, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, on-base plus slugging percentage, and batting average. All variables are season totals except for onbase percentage, slugging percentage, on-base plus slugging, and batting average. …

Contributing Efforts In The Search For Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay, Laura Christine Sparks

Physics

Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) will be part of the next generation of detectors used to search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ). Located in Assergi, Italy at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS), CUORE will be a large cryogenic bolometer composed of 988 tellurium dioxide (TeO2) detectors with a total mass of 750 kg, and will search for 0νββ in 130Te. As the experiment will monitor the extremely rare event of 0νββ, all factors contributing to background need to be minimized to effectively increase the sensitivity. I assisted the LNGS researchers over the summer of 2008 by …

Mechanisms For Temporal Change In Phytoplankton Composition In San Luis Obispo Bay California, Marc T. Tognazzini

Master's Theses

Coastal topography and more specifically, the impact of local hydrography can significantly influence phytoplankton dynamics along the California coast. In San Luis Obispo Bay California, the local hydrography is influenced by the presence of a lee and proposed upwelling shadow in the northwest corner of the bay. These conditions allow for periods of unperturbed phytoplankton growth creating phytoplankton incubation areas. Phytoplankton dynamics including accumulation, advection, and composition were examined in San Luis Obispo Bay California from January to June 2004 using all the primary techniques of ocean monitoring encompassed in the coastal module of the Global Ocean Observing System. These …

Feeding Phishers, Nicholas J. Lynch

Master's Theses

Phishing campaigns continue to deceive users into revealing their credentials, despite advancing spam filters, browser and toolbar warnings, and educational efforts. Recently, researchers have begun investigating how fake credentials --- or honeytokens --- can be used to detect phishing sites and protect users. BogusBiter, one such work, creates sets of honeytokens based on users' real credentials and sends them alongside real user submissions to phishing sites. In this paper, we present Phish Feeder, an anti-phishing tool which extends the BogusBiter honeytoken generation algorithm in order to create more realistic and authentic-looking credentials. Phish Feeder also employs a ``honeytoken repository'' which …

Land Rehabilitation Of Construction Damaged Parcel At Santa Fe Road And Hoover Avenue In San Luis Obispo, California, Patience J. West

Earth and Soil Sciences

A plan for the rehabilitation of a construction damaged parcel of land with constructed swale running through it using native plants.

Energetic Path Finding Across Massive Terrain Data, Andrew N. Tsui

Master's Theses

Before there were airplanes, cars, trains, boats, or bicycles, the primary means of transportation was on foot. Unfortunately, many of the trails used by ancient travelers have long since been abandoned. We present a software tool which can help visualize and predict where these forgotten trails might lie through the use of a human-centered cost metric. By comparing the paths generated by our software with known historical trails, we demonstrate how the tool can indicate likely trails used by ancient travelers. In addition, this new tool provides novel visualizations to better help the user understand alternate paths, effect of terrain, …

Store And Forward Routing For Sparse Pico-Satellite Sensor Networks With Data-Mules, Trevor Joseph Koritza

Master's Theses

Satellites are playing an increasingly important role in collecting scientific information, providing communication services, and revolutionizing navigation. Until recently satellites were large and very expensive, creating a high barrier to entry that only large corporations and government agencies could overcome. In the past few years the CubeSat project at California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) has worked to refine the design and launching of small, lightweight, and less expensive satellites called pico-satellites, opening space up to a wider audience. Now that Cal Poly has the launch logistics and hardware under control, a new problem has arisen. These …

Boundless Fluids Using The Lattice-Boltzmann Method, Kyle J. Haughey

Master's Theses

Computer-generated imagery is ubiquitous in today's society, appearing in advertisements, video games, and computer-animated movies among other places. Much of this imagery needs to be as realistic as possible, and animators have turned to techniques such as fluid simulation to create scenes involving substances like smoke, fire, and water. The Lattice-Boltzmann Method (LBM) is one fluid simulation technique that has gained recent popularity due to its relatively simple basic algorithm and the ease with which it can be distributed across multiple processors. Unfortunately, current LBM simulations also suffer from high memory usage and restrict free surface fluids to domains of …

Incremental Validation Of Formal Specifications, Paul S. Corwin

Master's Theses

This thesis presents a tool for the mechanical validation of formal software specifications. The tool is based on a novel approach to incremental validation. In this approach, small-scale aspects of a specification are validated, as part of the stepwise refinement of a formal model.

The incremental validation technique can be considered a form of "lightweight" model checking. This is in contrast to a "heavyweight" approach, wherein an entire large-scale model is validated en masse.

The validation tool is part of a formal modeling and specification language (FMSL), used in software engineering instruction. A lightweight, incremental approach to validation is beneficial …

Pipelined Apache Http Server, Kevin Le

Master's Theses

Web servers often become overloaded with irregular surges in web traffic. Several techniques have been explored to cope with these overloads such as distributing load throughout different servers. This thesis presents Pipelined Apache HTTP Server, a modified version of the Apache Software Foundation’s HTTP Server that utilizes a pipelined execution of Apache’s request cycle. We discuss Apache’s original architecture, the modifications necessary for implementation of pipelined execution, and analyze its run time. Ultimately, we hoped to increase throughput of Apache but fall short because of unbalanced request phases and pipelining overhead.

A Unified Resource Platform For The Rapid Development Of Scalable Web Applications, Russell Palmiter

Master's Theses

This thesis presents Web Utility Kit (WUT): a platform that helps to simplify the process of creating modern web applications. It addresses the need to simplify the web development process through the creation of a hosted service that provides access to a unified set of resources. The resources are made available through a variety of protocols and formats to help simplify their consumption. It also provides a uniform model across all of its resources making multi-resource development an easier and more familiar task. WUT saves the time and cost associated with deployment, maintenance, and hosting of the hardware and software …

Tall Fescue (Lolium Arundinaceum (Schreb.) S.J. Darbyshire) Cultivar Performance In The Central California Coastal Region, Seril Shimizu

Master's Theses

Tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) S.J. Darbyshire) has long been known as a turfgrass that utilizes lower levels of inputs than most other cool season turfgrasses (Turgeon, 2005). In recent years, turf breeders have been selecting for cultivars of tall fescue that have finer leaf textures. As the use of tall fescue expands, consumers want to now what cultivar to use and how to manage it. This study looked at 18 tall fescue cultivars grown at two mowing heights of five and 10 centimeters and evaluated plant quality based on stand density, leaf texture, and genetic plant color. In the …