Digital Commons Network^™

Stand, Lisa Yip

Computer Engineering

With busy lives, people sometimes forget to take breaks for multiple hours at a time. The purpose of this project is to remind the user to move around every hour if they have not already. To do so, stand will be a light weight fitness tracker that will detect the number of steps made within an hour. If the step count, dependent on goals, is not met then a vibration motor will gently remind them to take a break and walk. The data throughout the day will be shown on an iOS application where the user will be able to …

Cashtag Ios Application, Kevin J. Tsui

Computer Science and Software Engineering

An iOS Application meant to help manage cash purchases/transactions.

Design Of An Aquaponics System, Jesse Birsinger

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This Senior Project discusses the design, cost analysis, and evaluation of an aquaponics system. The system incorporates aquaculture and hydroponics to create a source of fish protein and various crops. The system was sized based off a minimum requirement of pounds of fish available per week. The system designed is capable of generating 2080 pounds of catfish, and 16,000 pounds of produce annually. The first year of operation the system will operate at a loss due to the significant cost of the components of the system, however, the project is projected to generate a minimum stream of revenue of $10,600 …

Crop Selection, Cost Analysis, And Irrigation System Design For The Replanting Of A Nut Orchard, Maximilian Bricker

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This report was made to help the landowner of Bricker Farms make decisions regarding the replanting of his orchard. The decisions that need to be made in this process include: which crop to plant, how to plant it, and how to improve the distribution uniformity of irrigation water on the orchard. The report does not give definitive final decisions, but presents viable options that the landowner can utilize when deciding. In addition to the options that are presented, the report offers suggestions to the landowner so that the replanting process is done properly in a timely and economically-friendly manner.

Benefits Of Personalized Construction Management Software: A Case Study, Mitchell S. Brodnansky

Construction Management

In today’s construction industry, one of the most important aspects of any project, aside from health and safety, is the ability to increase productivity through proper management applications. There are an abundance of programs available to today’s industry (Patterson, 2015); however, some companies are creating their own versions. Many of these programs are tailored to the specific needs of the individual companies. This case study is an in-depth evaluation of personalized construction management software that was implemented by NOVO Construction. It also evaluates the employee preference of personalized software versus software readily available on the market today. The result of …

Energy Harvesting From Exercise Machines Buck-Boost Dc Dc Converter With The Lt8705 Controller, Ryan Matteo

Electrical Engineering

In order to increase sustainability and save money, the Energy Harvesting from Exercise Machines (EHFEM) system uses human supplied energy to self-power exercise equipment such as spin bikes, elliptical trainers, ergometers, etc. This document covers the design and implementation of a Buck-Boost DC-DC converter using the LT8705 controller into the EHFEM system. This project improves upon the overall efficiency of the Buck-Boost Converter designed by past groups working on the EHFEM system.

Transformer And Motor Protection Scheme, Bijan Vakilifathi

Electrical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Underwater Optical Wireless Audio Transceiver, Angel Ayala

Electrical Engineering

Scuba diving carries risks that can endanger lives. Many of these risks are preventable. However, an underwater communication system can increase a diver’s safety. Along with providing safety, an underwater communication device can enhance the scuba diver’s enjoyment.

A low cost underwater optical wireless audio transceiver is designed. The project consists of the off-the-shelf parts that uses a microphone and speaker to transmit and receive sound. The project uses the concepts of visible light communications and pulse width modulation to transmit and receive sound. Although sound is commonly transmitted through ultrasound methods, visible light communications has several advantages. Visible light …

Focus: The Journal Of Planning Practice And Education | Journal Of The City And Regional Planning Department | Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo | Volume 13

Focus

No abstract provided.

Grain Orientation Effects On The Rotating-Bending Fatigue Properties Of Forged 7050-T7452 Aluminum Alloy, Matt Cristler, Jonas Zhang

Materials Engineering

In order to investigate the effects of grain orientation on the high cycle fatigue properties of 7050-T7452 aerospace grade aluminum, rotating-bending fatigue tests were performed on longitudinal (LG) and short transverse (ST) specimens taken from two sample sets (Method A and Method B) of open die forged 7050 aluminum. The fatigue specimens were machined to a 0.2" gage diameter and 4" length and subsequently hand polished to a mirror finish to minimize potential crack initiation sites. The tests were conducted on a Fatigue Dynamics RBF-300 HT tester in the fully reversed loading condition, with stress levels varying from 20 ksi …

Manufacturing And Characterization Of Poly (Lactic Acid)/Carbon Black Conductive Composites For Fdm Feedstock: An Exploratory Study, Dylan Fitz-Gerald, Justin Boothe

Materials Engineering

This exploratory study developed methods of manufacturing and characterizing the electrical properties of small batches of conductive composite feedstock for the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) manufacturing process, commonly known as 3D printing. We utilized a solution casting process of Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) (Grade 4043D, NatureWorks, LLC.) and Carbon Black (CB) (Vulcan® XC72, Cabot Corp.) in chloroform. The resulting composite precursor was cryogenically treated with liquid nitrogen and milled in a coffee grinder in order to achieve particles that could be fed into the extruder. Composite precursors were dried in a vacuum oven at an elevated temperature of 38°C. Filaments were …

Effects Of Intrapersonal Communication On Reverse Culture Shock, Serena Brown

Communication Studies

This paper explores the connection between reflective writing in the form of journals and blogs and reverse culture shock in study abroad returnees. The experiences of 66 American college-aged students were analyzed in order to determine a relationship between the two variables. The study revealed significant findings that bear upon both students and expats returning to the U.S. First, those who engaged in journal writing reported higher levels of reverse culture shock than those who did not keep a journal. Furthermore, those who participated in any sort of writing, journals or blogs, had higher self-reported reverse culture shock than those …

Learning From New Zealand: Disaster Risk And Emergency Management, Augustina E. Remedios, Justin Sauder

Focus

Augustina Remedios and Justin Sauder, juniors at Cal Poly’s BSCRP program, had the opportunity to participate in a program on disaster risk and emergency management at New Zealand’s Massey University in the summer of 2016. Constantly affected by severe earthquakes types of natural disasters and other types of emergency, New Zealand and its governmental agencies offered our students a great learning opportunity in this fundamental field of city and regional planning. In this article, Augustina and Justin share their thoughts with us.

Prep Advocacy Project: Increasing The Adoption Of Pre-­Exposure Prophylaxis (Prep) In San Luis Obispo County, Leona Rajaee

Journalism

The following study investigates the need for Pre­exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) in San Luis Obispo (SLO) County in order to develop an effective health outreach and advocacy program that could increase the adoption of PrEP treatment and in turn decrease new HIV transmissions in the community studied. The sponsor of this study is the Access Support Network (ASN), a non­profit organization that provides supportive services for individuals living with HIV/AIDS. ASN launched this study after observing the effectiveness of PrEP in metropolitan cities. At the same time, ASN also noticed a rise in new HIV transmissions, particularly among injecting drug users …

Gaining Brand Recognition With The Millennial Generation: How Wine Companies Can Market To This Demographic, Nicolette Deluca

Journalism

The following study was conducted in response to a recent interest in the wine industry and its target markets. With millennials making up such a large portion of our population, I wanted to know why they weren't as big of consumers of wine as previous generations of wine drinkers. Although there are over 80 million millennials in the U.S., only 23 million drink wine. I have uncovered three main recommendations to wine companies in order to gain brand recognition with the millennial generation: be authentic in your marketing endeavors, partner with local nonprofit or fitness organizations, and make visually appealing …

Zero Waste Campus Dining, Jenny Caudillo, Sarah Dahel, Youlen Ghazalian

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Cal Poly Campus Dining has a goal of becoming a zero waste entity by providing their customers with alternative methods of disposing their trash. Their current operations produce waste, specifically their methods of packaging the food. Campus dining plans to be more sustainable by providing their customers with reusable containers. The objective of this implementation is to reduce waste produced from one-time use, disposable food containers. The success criteria for the desired system is based around the ability to track and measure the reusable containers to prevent further waste, while providing the user an accommodating environment to ensure they will …

Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of A Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Curriculum For College Students, Danielle M. Colangelo, Alexis K. Sepulveda

Kinesiology and Public Health

The recreational use of prescription drugs has been increasingly common in university communities (Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2015). Students may abuse prescription drugs to get high, study longer or sleep. A survey conducted by Kinesiology students used snowball sampling to assess the number of Cal Poly students recreationally using prescription drugs and their knowledge of prescription drug abuse (Colangelo & Sepulveda, 2015). The assessment showed 30.7% of students had abused prescription drugs in the last six months. There was an increase in abuse between college freshmen (19.2%), college sophomores (41.4%) and juniors (44.3%) (Colangelo & Sepulveda, 2015). This …

Adapting Lean Six Sigma For A Non-Profit Organization, Jocelyn De Leon

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

Lean Six Sigma is a process improvement practice most commonly used in large scale manufacturing and health care industries to improve performance and efficiency. The goal of Lean Six Sigma is to improve efficiency, consistency, and focus on value added elements. Over the years, Lean Six Sigma has evolved from being primarily a manufacturing practice to serving more service based industries such as healthcare and government. However, Lean Six Sigma has yet to be implemented in the non-profit sector. This technical report outlines the importance of identifying the unique characteristics of the organization you wish to improve and then adapting …

A Multi-Carrier Collaborative Solution To Minimize Connectivity-Loss, Michael Wong

Master's Theses

Nearly two-thirds of Americans own a smart phone, and 19% of Americans rely on their smartphone for either accessing valuable information or staying connected with their friends and family across the globe [15]. Staying always-on and always-connected to the Internet is one of the most important and useful features of a smartphone. This connection is used by almost every single application on the device including web browsers, email clients, messaging applications, etc. Unfortunately, the cellular networks on our smartphones are not perfect and do not always have cellular signal. Our devices often lose Internet connection when users are on the …

Effects Of Bisphenol-A And Styrene On Fertilization And Development Of The Purple Sea Urchin (Strongylocentrotus Purpuratus), Nicole C. Uibel, Nikki L. Adams, Jennifer Carroll, Sean Lema

Master's Theses

Plastic waste and debris have greatly increased in the marine environment during the past 50 years. Not only do these plastics entangle and get ingested by marine mammals, turtles, and sea birds, but they also leach chemicals, such as bisphenol-A (BPA) and styrene into the aquatic environment. While some of these chemicals are known to be toxic, few studies have examined their effects on broadcast spawning marine invertebrates, specifically at environmentally relevant concentrations. Purple sea urchins, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, from the central coast of California, were utilized to examine effects of BPA and styrene on fertilization success and early development of …

Exploring Travel Time Reliability Using Bluetooth Data Collection: A Case Study In San Luis Obispo, California, Krista Purser

Master's Theses

Bluetooth technology applications have improved travel time data collection efforts and allowed for collection of large data sets at a low cost per data unit. Mean travel times between pairs of points are available, but the primary value of this technique is the availability of the entire distribution of travel times throughout multiple days and time periods, allowing for a greater understanding of travel time variations and reliability. The use of these data for transportation planning, engineering and operations continues to expand. Previous applications of similar data sources have included travel demand and simulation model validation, work zone traffic patterns, …

Removing Oil From Fried Foods Via Mechanical Process, Yufay Chow-Yee

Master's Theses

Fried foods are delicious and enjoyed by almost everyone. However, they are not the healthiest foods to eat because of the amount of oil they contain. This thesis, sponsored by Moaero Company founder, Mr. Harrish Bhutani, intends to determine whether a simply designed centrifuge system can remove a reasonable amount of oil from fried foods after it has been deep fried without adversely affecting the texture of the fried food. Due to a large variety in the texture as well as the type of fried foods, and in order to keep the scope of this thesis more focused and feasible, …

The Impact Of Cargo Bikes On The Travel Patterns Of Women, Jana E. Schwartz

Master's Theses

There are a number of issues preventing the rollout of cargo bikes as a transportation mode in the United States. One concern that has been raised is whether cargo bikes can function as a gender equitable transportation solution in the United States, given documented gender gaps in national bike riding statistics and ongoing inequities in childcare in 2-parent heterosexual households. The research is aimed at reviewing the practicality, enjoyment, and outcome of cargo bike use as a gender equitable transportation solution. This research contributes to new knowledge in gender equitable transportation in 2 ways — a) gender-focused analysis of survey …

Design Of Inexpensive And Easy To Use Diy Internet Of Things Platform, Samuel R. Jaffe

Master's Theses

This thesis focuses on the design and implementation of a new, inexpensive, and less complex system for a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Internet of Things (IoT) platform. The hardware aspects focus on a new chip called the ESP8266 which contains both microcontroller and WiFi connectivity capabilities in an extremely affordable package. The system uses the Arduino IDE to program the ESP8266, which is known to be an extremely user-friendly environment. All other software is both free and easy to use. Past methods of creating IoT projects involved either expensive hardware, often ranging from $50-$100 per node, or complicated programming requiring a full …

After The Paris Agreement: How India Can Use Climate Financing To Implement A Sustainable Clean Cookstove Program, Hannah Kornfeld

Master's Theses

The burning of biomass for cooking purposes without proper ventilation and filters poses a massive health and climate risk. Health implications from exposure to household air pollution from this type of fuel impacts women and children in many developing countries, who spend many hours a day cooking and gathering fuel. Climate implications from burning solid biomass results in increased carbon dioxide and black carbon emissions, which contribute to global climate change. This thesis aims to explore the issues associated with biomass cookstoves in terms of both health and climate, and seeks to understand how a new national clean cookstove program …

Mimica: A General Framework For Self-Learning Companion Ai Behavior, Travis Angevine

Master's Theses

Companion or support characters controlled by Artificial Intelligence (AI) have been a feature of video games for decades. Many Role Playing Games (RPGs) offer a cast of support characters in the player’s party that are AI-controlled to various degrees. Many First Person Shooter (FPS) games include semi-autonomous or fully autonomous AI-controlled companions. Real Time Strategy (RTS) games have traditionally featured large numbers of semi-autonomous characters that collectively help accomplish various tasks (build, attack, etc.) for the player. While RPGs tend to focus on a single or a small number of well-developed character companions to accompany a player controlled main character, …

The Influence Of Exclusive Breastfeeding On Growth Trajectory From Birth To Year 5 In A Wic Cohort, Lindsey Arevalos

Master's Theses

OBJECTIVE. The impact of exclusively breastfeeding (EBF) on child body mass index (BMI) from birth through 60 months of age was investigated.

METHODS. 60,190 mothers and children attending Women, Infant and Children (WIC) clinics in the Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties of California provided data on breastfeeding duration, maternal pre-pregnancy BMI, and child weight-for-length (WL) was measured at 3 month intervals until 5 years of age. Missing time points were interpolated in determining child BMI/WL z-score trajectories plotted on the Center of Disease Control (CDC) infant and child growth curves. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to contrast …

An Ergonomics Analysis Of Redundancy Effect In Touch Screen Design For The Aged Population, Sarah Riesenberg

Master's Theses

Touch screen technology is rapidly increasing, and at the same time there is a shifting, aging population. As the percentage of the population over the age of 65 increases, adults of the age group are adopting smartphones and tablets more now than ever before. Although older adults are adopting touch screen devices, they face many challenges when interacting with said devices, such as not knowing how to navigate between pages, not knowing where to click for an action to occur, and the touch screen interface is often too sensitive or the buttons are not big enough. Furthermore, the challenges of …

Does Grid Alternatives Impact Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Targets In Central Coast Climate Action Plans?, Sandra V. Knapp

Master's Theses

As of March 2016, GRID Alternatives’ 179 solar electric system installations on low-income housing contributed 103 metric tons of carbon (MT CO₂e) emissions reduction for the climate action plans’ Energy or Renewable Energy climate action measures that pertain to solar electric installations in the cities of: Arroyo Grande, Atascadero, Paso Robles, and San Luis Obispo and San Luis Obispo County.

In 2007, the San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District (APCD) created a team of government agencies to design climate action plans (CAP) that met the emission reduction goals set out by AB 32 and the …

Hall Effect Modeling In Fem Simulators And Comparison To Experimental Results In Silicon And Printed Sensors, Leonardo A. Frem

Master's Theses

Finite element method simulation models for thin-film semiconductor-based Hall sensors were developed using secondary data in order to understand their behavior under strong magnetic fields. Given a device geometry and charge carrier density and mobility, the models accurately calculated sensor resistance, Hall voltage under a normally-incident constant magnetic field, and expected offset from a population of Hall devices. The model was successfully matched against data from integrated chip Hall sensors from St. Jude Medical. Additionally, the feasibility of creating Hall effect devices with common carbon ink was explored experimentally. The material properties obtained from testing these ink-based devices through the …