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A Three-Dimensional Anatomically Accurate Finite Element Model For Nerve Fiber Activation Simulation Coupling, Shain Ann Fischer

Master's Theses

Improved knowledge of human nerve function and recruitment would enable innovation in the Biomedical Engineering field. Better understanding holds the potential for greater integration between devices and the nervous system as well as the ability to develop therapeutic devices to treat conditions affecting the nervous system. This work presents a three-dimensional volume conductor model of the human arm for coupling with code describing nerve membrane characteristics. The model utilizes an inhomogeneous medium composed of bone, muscle, skin, nerve, artery, and vein. Dielectric properties of each tissue were collected from the literature and applied to corresponding material subdomains. Both a fully …

A Wearable 1.6ghz Non-Invasive Midfield Wave-Based Blood Glucose Sensor, Danielle Nishida

Master's Theses

A non-invasive glucose sensor has been sought after by millions of Americans living with diabetes and scientists alike. Current blood glucose sensors approved by the FDA involve an invasive collection technique coupled with costly chemical analysis materials, which continue to bring pain to the growing diabetic population in America. Previous research of non-invasive sensing methods has shown promise, but the difficulty of transmitting power through tissue has degraded the sensing consistency and accuracy needed to reach the consumer market. This has been overcome with recent research in midfield wave power transmission at Stanford University, which has provided an opportunity for …

Does Scenic Make Cents?, Sara Ann Sanders

Master's Theses

The stretch of California Route One (Highway 1) from the City of San Luis Obispo reaching north to the Monterey County line is one of the most scenic drives in the United States. This stretch of highway is a destination in its own right; so much so, the San Luis Obispo North Coast Scenic Byway is federally designated as an All-American Road, the highest scenic designation of any road or highway in the nation. There has been a history for funding the preservation and enhancement of these roads; however, it was removed in 2012. Even with the lack of current …

Improved Detection Of Gold Nanoparticle Labels For Paper-Based Analytics, Brian Taylor Daugherty

Master's Theses

Point-of-care diagnostic devices are well-suited, and typically designed, for remote and/or resource-limited environments. The obvious application is for healthcare in the developing world; however, other additional important uses exist, including for security (biothreat agent detection) and human health and research during future manned deep space exploration missions.

The objective of this thesis was to develop, and experimentally validate, techniques for improved quantified detection of labels used in lateral flow assays. Limits of detection were characterized for: (a) optical approaches, i.e., unaided eye, mobile electronic device camera images and microscope images with image analysis software developed through this thesis, and (b) …

February 25, 2015 Cal Poly Report, Public Affairs Office

Cal Poly Report

No abstract provided.

February 18, 2015 Cal Poly Report, Public Affairs Office

Cal Poly Report

No abstract provided.

Executive Committee - Agenda, 2/17/2015, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

February 11, 2015 Cal Poly Report, Public Affairs Office

Cal Poly Report

No abstract provided.

Cal Poly Hackathon Awards Top Prize To Mental Health Application, Public Affairs Office

Press Releases

No abstract provided.

Academic Senate - Meeting Minutes, 2/10/2015, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.

February 4, 2015 Cal Poly Report, Public Affairs Office

Cal Poly Report

No abstract provided.

Children's Food Security And Participation In The National School Lunch Program, Ariun Ishdorj, Lindsey Higgins

Agribusiness

In 2013 nearly 8.6 million U.S. children lived in households in which one or more child was food insecure. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is one of the largest federally funded food and nutrition assistance programs that aims to provide nutritious, well-balanced lunches for school-age children. Given the important role this program plays on food and nutrient intake of school-age children, we examined the relationship between participation in NSLP and children's food security status. After controlling for the endogeneity of the program participation we found that program participation have positive effect on food insecure and marginally food secure children, …

Methods And Observations For The Influence Of Temperature On Volatile Loss From Wine Fermentation, David Martin Goldfarb

Master's Theses

Background and Aims: Volatile loss of carbon dioxide, ethanol, esters and other compounds occurs during wine fermentation. When collected nondestructively, valuable ethanol and aroma compounds can be preserved for various uses while mitigating production restrictions and regulations regarding volatile organic compound (VOC) loss from wine production. Knowledge of the volume of volatiles lost during wine fermentation contributes to a better understanding of the magnitude of possibilities for resource recovery/aroma recovery, the implications of volatile loss on wine composition as well as a more clear understanding of the possible effect of alcoholic fermentation on air quality. The aim of this study …

A Pilot Study Comparing Opaque, Weighted Bottles With Conventional, Clear Bottles For Infant Feeding, Alison K. Ventura, Rebecca Pollack Green

Kinesiology and Public Health

It is hypothesized that the visual and weight cues afforded by bottle-feeding may lead mothers to overfeed in response to the amount of liquid in the bottle. The aim of the present pilot study was to test this hypothesis by comparing mothers' sensitivity and responsiveness to infant cues and infants' intakes when mothers use opaque, weighted bottles (that remove visual and weight cues) compared to conventional, clear bottles to feed their infants. We also tested the hypothesis that mothers' pressuring feeding style would moderate the effect of bottle type. Formula-feeding dyads (N = 25) visited our laboratory on two …

Director Of U.S.D.A. National Institute Of Food And Agriculture To Talk Feb. 3 At Cal Poly, Public Affairs Office

Press Releases

No abstract provided.

Executive Committee - Agenda, 1/27/2015, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

Cal Poly Study Sheds Light On Mothers' Bottle-Feeding Behavior, Public Affairs Office

Press Releases

No abstract provided.

Evapotranspiration From Natural Vegetation In The Central Valley Of California: Monthly Grass Reference-Based Vegetation Coefficients And The Dual Crop Coefficient Approach, Daniel J. Howes, Phyllis Fox, Paul H. Hutton

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

Restoration activities in the Central Valley of California and elsewhere require accurate evapotranspiration information, which can then be used for a wide variety of surface and subsurface hydrologic evaluations. However, directly measuring evapotranspiration can be difficult or impossible depending on the evaluation’s time frame. Transferability of measured evapotranspiration in time and space is also necessary but typically requires a weather-based reference. For nonagricultural vegetation, there is at present time no standard reference, which makes the evaluation of a variety of vegetation types from different sources difficult and time-consuming. This paper examines several methods used to estimate evapotranspiration from native vegetation, …

Cal Poly To Provide Free Tax Preparation For Underserved Communities, Public Affairs Office

Press Releases

No abstract provided.

Cal Poly Graphic Communication To Host 2015 International Printing Week Jan. 26-30, Public Affairs Office

Press Releases

No abstract provided.

San Luis Obispo Open Space Survey, William W. Riggs, Robert Hill, Crp 457 Planning Information Systems

City and Regional Planning Studios and Projects

Presentation detailing work on a the San Luis Obispo Open Space Survey report for the City of San Luis Obispo involving assessment of the conditions, characteristics-of, and visitors-to SLO open spaces.

Cal Poly's College Of Architecture & Environmental Design Recieves $250,000 From William Randolph Hearst Foundation, Public Affairs Office

Press Releases

No abstract provided.

January 7, 2015 Cal Poly Report, Public Affairs Office

Cal Poly Report

No abstract provided.

Cal Poly Appoints Parsons Vice President To Serve Two-Year Term As Visiting Cybersecurity Center Director, Public Affairs Office

Press Releases

No abstract provided.

A Is For Animal: The Animal User’S Lexicon, Joel Marks

Between the Species

In Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice, “When I use a word … it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.” When Alice questions this license, Humpty Dumpty replies, “The question is … which is to be master — that’s all.” The present article offers a lexicon of words that are used by human beings, however unintentionally or ingenuously, to maintain their mastery or prerogatives over other animals. A motivating assumption of the article is that putting on display the verbal menagerie in animal agriculture, animal experimentation, and …

Does The Production Of Isoprene Affect The Productivity Of Poplars?, Erik J. Mcfarland, Elizabeth Ann Parra, Greg Barron-Gafford, Rebecca Larkin Minor, Maggie Heard

STAR Program Research Presentations

Poplar trees are known to produce a chemical called isoprene that plays a complex, and not fully understood, role in the chemical process of photosynthesis. Understanding why plants produce isoprene and under what conditions will help scientists make more accurate predictions about poplars’ photosynthetic capabilities in future climates.

What benefit could isoprene provide a plant? The literature suggests its production could help plants tolerate heat stress. We studied two genetic lines of trees in a common garden of Populus, one line with the gene for producing isoprene and a second line without that gene. We subjected some trees of …

Stability Of Lidocaine Tested By Forced Degradation And Its Interactions With Serum Albumin, Lindsay Nichols

STAR Program Research Presentations

A concern for future long-term manned space expeditions is the ability to treat illnesses with appropriate pharmaceuticals. However, pharmaceuticals degrade faster in space than on Earth presumably due to an abundance of space radiation. The stability of Lidocaine was investigated because it is a common pain reliever currently used on the International Space Station. One of the most common proteins in blood is serum albumin, which acts as a carrier to distribute drugs throughout the body. It is important to know how well the drug binds to serum albumin so that the rate of distribution of Lidocaine-bound protein in blood …

Detection Of Catecholamines Produced In Planktonic P. Aeruginosa And S. Aureus Treated With Adult Bovine Serum, Jorge A. Serrano, Anil Serrano, Shaleni Singh, Jaime Fuentes, Robert Crawford Dr., Rivkah Isseroff, Thomas Peavy

STAR Program Research Presentations

Bacterial biofilms play a critical role in inducing and sustaining chronic wounds that are serious health threats. Bacterial biofilms can also be found on medical prosthetics and implants that sustain infections in patients and cause life threatening situations. Bacteria self-produce these sticky extracellular substances termed a biofilm which help them to adhere to each other forming a community of microorganisms. One of the major issues is that biofilms have antimicrobial characteristics and provide protection from the immune system; biofilms are found in over 80% of human bacterial infections. Formation of a bacterial biofilm occurs when an individual (planktonic) bacterial cell …

Subversion Of The Transgender Gaze Through Cisnormativity, Debra Beight

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This paper analyzes Halberstam’s interpretation of the transgender gaze as it applies to the character portrayal of Brandon Teena in the film Boys Don’t Cry. An oppositional approach examines the idea of a cisgender gaze that compromises the subjectivity of not only the character of Brandon but extending to dismissiveness towards trans identity as a whole. Dissecting the reveal scene from the film highlights Halberstam’s process of the transgender gaze and allows for a focus on cisgender interpretation and demands that illustrate cisnormative expectations on trans bodies and behaviors. Connecting these demands is the concept of abjection as described by …

The Case Of M.C. – An Argument For Legal, Medical, And Social Recognition Of Ambiguity, Debra Beight

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This paper is an examination of the interconnectedness of juridical, medical, and social constructs surrounding intersex/DSD (Difference/Disorder of Sex Development) sex assignment surgeries. Looking at a pending court case involving a child that was in state custody at the time of their sex assignment surgery, we can observe the influences of the medical industry’s tendency to treat intersex conditions like disabilities, as sites of therapeutic interventions. These pathologized intrusions become government-sanctioned interventions that are supported by, and in turn bolster, societal expectations of conformity and normalcy.