Digital Commons Network^™

The Wildland Firefighter Respiratory Protection Device, Oliver Pilon, Xaviera Pons, Calder Wood, Tommy Ozawa, Jack Adema, Payton Mayer

Biomedical Engineering

This paper presents the development of First Respire and their design of a powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) specifically curated for wildland firefighter while simultaneously addressing the critical absence of respiratory protection for wildland firefighters operating in the challenging wildland-urban interface (WUI) environments. Current respiratory protection options, such as bandanas and N95 masks, fall short in providing adequate defense against toxic particulate matter and gases, exposing firefighters to increased risks of health complications, including cancers and respiratory diseases. Through collaborative efforts of the Wildfire Conservancy, the WUI Fire Institute at Cal Poly, and CAL FIRE, First Respire aims to create a …

Focused Led Sintering, Dylan Defazio, Nilav Maulik, Branden Majors, Michael Fontillas

Mechanical Engineering

This report provides a detailed overview of the final design of our light-emitting diode (LED) focusing system. Our system incorporates a converging lens and a specially designed "glass funnel," which acts as a thick fiber optic that narrows the light to a fine point through internal reflection. The glass components of our system are precisely housed in a part made using advanced computer-numeric controlled (CNC) Mill and CNC Lathe manufacturing processes. This ensures high precision and durability of the overall system. Our LED focusing system is designed with a 60-watt stage light. The decision to use a glass funnel as …

Scitechatorium Exhibit, Adam Khan, Cole Busch, Logan Femling, Alan Onuma

Mechanical Engineering

This document outlines the final stages of development and analysis of our interactive children’s exhibit for the Bellevue-Santa Fe Charter School’s SciTechatorium. We will showcase the final form of our ball and track display, giving a detailed look at each component and subsystem.

To describe how our final prototype will be built we have included a detailed manufacturing summary for our design. Our models have been designed with manufacturability in mind, and we have outlined which processes were used to produce all our parts.

There are also detailed descriptions of testing that were conducted to verify the performance of the …

Causal Inference Using Bayesian Network For Search And Rescue, Amanda Belden

Master's Theses

People who are considered missing have much higher probabilities of being found dead compared to those who are not considered missing in terms of Search and Rescue (SAR) missions. Dementia patients are incredibly likely to be declared missing, and in fact after removing those with dementia the probability of the mission being regarded as missing person case is only about 10%. Additionally, those who go missing are much more likely to be on private land than on protected areas such as forests and parks. These and similar associations can be represented and investigated using a Bayesian network that has been …

Chioma Di Ulivo - Courtyard Canopy, Lilla J. Vigh, Claudia A. Geist

Architectural Engineering

Chioma di Ulivo ("Olive Tree Canopy") is the investigation and design of a canopy structure in the Engineering West (Bldg. 21) Hasslein Courtyard. The canopy will serve as a filtration system for both water and fallen olives from the olive tree on site, while providing a functional collaboration space for faculty and students alike. The goal of this project was to construct a quality diorama built by Lilla Vigh and Claudia Geist under the supervision of Dr. Craig Baltimore.

Earning Engagement As A Graduate Student Instructor, Matthew Sloss

Architectural Engineering

One of the key benefits of a Cal Poly education is access to experienced instructors in a small classroom setting. In my final quarter at Cal Poly, I had the opportunity to glance behind the curtain and fill the significant shoes of an instructor of an introductory structural statics class. What initially was a chance to lend a hand to the department by sharing my limited experience turned into a thorough exploration of what it means to be productively engaging and of how to utilize the underrealized power of asking questions in the classroom setting. This report documents my experiences …

Santa Maria Climate Action Plan Recommendations: Building Energy And Transportation, Thomas Zimmerman, Elena Blewett

City and Regional Planning

The Santa Maria Climate Action Plan Recommendations addresses GHG emissions reduction for the largest sectors in the City of Santa Maria- Building Energy and Transportation. The project includes GHG forecasts and reduction targets from the City’s Draft 2020 Community-Wide Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report. The reduction targets are met through a series of actionable measures to help the City meet aggressive reduction targets by 2030 and 2045.

Examining The Impact Of Journalism On The Comprehensibility And Accessibility Of Scientific Literature, Izabella L. Slosberg

Journalism

This study investigates the comprehensibility and accessibility of scientific papers compared to scientific journalism articles. Fifty articles were tested in pairs of two (one scientific journal article and one corresponding scientific journalism article), and ChatGPT 4.0 was used to create a comprehensibility scale ranging from 0-100%, designed to assess the percentage of people in California over the age of 18 who could understand each article. Each article was evaluated three times using the curated scale, and the results were thoroughly evaluated. The differences in comprehensibility between scientific journalism articles and scientific journalism articles along with the impact of the scientific …

Gps/Imu Board, Luke Chen, Steve Tran

Electrical Engineering

Providing information on a vehicle’s location during a competition can be used to provide greater insight to progress the car is making or what portion of the track caused failure. As a result, we will be designing a board that includes a Global Positioning System (GPS) and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) module to provide position coordinates, which is driven by an STM32 processor to feed into the DAQ through Controller Area Network (CAN) protocol.

The GPS module will produce an initial positioning and will continue to do so unless it is unable to create a solution, possibly due to over-arching …

Predicting Rheology Of Uv-Curable Nanoparticle Ink Components And Compositions For Inkjet Additive Manufacturing, Cameron D. Lutz

Master's Theses

Inkjet additive manufacturing is the next step toward ubiquitous manufacturing by enabling multi-material printing that can exhibit various mechanical, electronic, and thermal properties. These characteristics are realized in the careful formulation of the inks and their functional materials, but there are many constraints that need to be satisfied to allow optimal jetting performance and build quality when used in an inkjet 3-D printer. Previous research has addressed the desirable rheology characteristics to enable stable drop formation and how the metallic nanoparticles affect the viscosity of inks. The contending goals of increasing nanoparticle-loading to improve material deposition rates while trying to …

Snap It & Send It, Samantha Gonzales, Brienne Berger, Kelsea Clays, Jessica Schmok

Mechanical Engineering

This report details the final design, manufacturing and assembly, testing procedures and results, as well as future design recommendations of a device aimed at enhancing the mountain biking experience for individuals with limited thumb strength. This project particularly focused on the experience of our sponsor, Cal Poly Mechanical Engineering Professor Andrew Kean. Our team's objective was to create a secure, ergonomic handlebar grip system that does not require thumb strength and is adaptable to various mountain bike models. The final design utilizes a rigid hook that snaps onto mountain bike handlebars with a long, flat piece that slides into a …

Combining Cloud Architecting With Education, Sharon P. Pagidipati

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

I pursued the AWS Solutions Architect Professional Certification while applying my knowledge to build and revise technical solutions for an educational company known as EDFX.

Representation Theory And Its Applications In Physics, Max Varverakis

Master's Theses

Representation theory, which encodes the elements of a group as linear operators on a vector space, has far-reaching implications in physics. Fundamental results in quantum physics emerge directly from the representations describing physical symmetries. We first examine the connections between specific representations and the principles of quantum mechanics. Then, we shift our focus to the braid group, which describes the algebraic structure of braids. We apply representations of the braid group to physical systems in order to investigate quasiparticles known as anyons. Finally, we obtain governing equations of anyonic systems to highlight the differences between braiding statistics and conventional Bose-Einstein/Fermi-Dirac …

Balancing Darkness And Visibility: An Algorithmic Approach To Light Placement In Low-Light, Ray-Traced Scenes, Briana Kuo

Master's Theses

In recent years, digital media has seen incredible advancements in rendering visually stunning computer graphics scenes. Photo-realistic games, animated films, and more leave viewers blown away by the sheer beauty of their graphics. However, challenges arise when depicting dark scenes, often resulting in visual monotony and difficulty in comprehension due to insufficient detail within the scene. In order to enhance readability and visual interest of a scene, additional, artificial lights can be placed throughout a scene to enhance the aesthetic. These lights, however, must be strategically placed in order to retain an essence of darkness and maintain the delicate balance …

Non-Linear Modeling Of Hysteresis In Piezoelectric Actuated Cantilever Beam Using The Bouc-Wen Model, Andrew Donald Maas

Master's Theses

Piezoelectric actuators frequently exhibit a time-dependent behavioral phenomenon known as hysteresis, resulting in a lag in the deformation of the actuator compared to linear models. The presence of hysteresis complicates control systems involving piezoelectric actuators. However, traditional modeling methods for piezoelectric actuated smart structures often treat the piezoelectric patches as linear actuators without considering hysteresis, leading to suboptimal controller performance.

This thesis aims to establish a comprehensive model by integrating the Euler-Bernoulli beam bending model with the hysteresis dynamics induced by two opposing piezoelectric patches attached to a beam. A model expansion method is employed to transform the partial differential …

Qwixx Strategies Using Simulation And Mcmc Methods, Joshua W. Blank

Master's Theses

This study explores optimal strategies for maximizing scores and winning in the popular dice game Qwixx, analyzing both single and multiplayer gameplay scenarios. Through extensive simulations, various strategies were tested and compared, including a scorebased approach that uses a formula tuned by MCMC random walks, and race-to-lock approaches which use absorbing Markov chain qualities of individual score sheet rows to find ways to lock rows as quickly as possible. Results indicate that employing a scorebased strategy, considering gap, count, position, skip, and likelihood scores, significantly improves performance in single player games, while move restrictions based on specific dice roll sums …

Design And Analysis Of A New Buck-Boost Converter With A Low-Side Switch, Abdullah Awidah

Master's Theses

This work explores the design, simulation, construction, and analysis of a novel Non-isolated DC-DC Buck-Boost converter which has the advantage of incorporating a low-side switch compared to the traditional buck-boost which requires a high-side switch. This allows the use of a low-side driver which further simplifies the design and operation of the converter. The proposed Buck-Boost converter was constructed to provide -24 V output from an input range of 12V-18V with 15V nominal input at 10W maximum output power utilizing 500kHz switching frequency. Findings from simulations and hardware tests verify that the converter effectively provides the desired -24 V output …

The Impact Of Video Assistant Referee (Var) On The English Premier League, Jack Kenyon Brown

Master's Theses

The aim of this study is to examine how the introduction of the Video Assisted Referee (VAR) system influenced the English Premier League (EPL). Since its implementation in the English Premier League in 2019, VAR has been a constant source of debate and controversy. Many studies have been done on the immediate impact of VAR on other elite professional soccer leagues, but the scope of results is very limited and due to be updated. The data for the ensuing analysis consists of 3800 matches played in the English Premier League during the five seasons before (14/15, 15/16, 16/17, 17/18, and …

Recursive Marix Game Analysis: Optimal, Simplified, And Human Strategies In Brave Rats, William A. Medwid

Master's Theses

Brave Rats is a short game with simple rules, yet establishing a comprehensive strategy is very challenging without extensive computation. After explaining the rules, this paper begins by calculating the optimal strategy by recursively solving each turn’s Minimax strategy. It then provides summary statistics about the complex, branching Minimax solution. Next, we examine six other strategy models and evaluate their performance against each other. These models’ flaws highlight the key elements that contribute to the effectiveness of the Minimax strategy and offer insight into simpler strategies that human players could mimic. Finally, we analyze 123 games of human data collected …

A Federation Of Sentries: Secure And Efficient Trusted Hardware Element Communication, Blake A. Ward

Master's Theses

Previous work introduced TrustGuard, a design for a containment architecture that allows only the result of the correct execution of approved software to be outputted. A containment architecture prevents results from malicious hardware or software from being communicated externally. At the core of TrustGuard is a trusted, pluggable device that sits on the path between an untrusted processor and the outside world. This device, called the Sentry, is responsible for validating the correctness of all communication before it leaves the system. This thesis seeks to leverage the correctness guarantees that the Sentry provides to enable efficient secure communication between two …

Exploring The Feasibility Of The Resonance Corridor Method For Post Mission Disposal Of High-Leo Constellations, Payton G. Porter

Master's Theses

In the upcoming decade, the proliferation of high-LEO constellations is expected to exceed 20,000 objects, yet comprehensive Post Mission Disposal (PMD) strategies for these constellations are currently lacking. With the inherent challenges of efficiently deorbiting satellites from High-LEO orbits, there arises an urgent need to explore innovative approaches. Building upon insights garnered from the ReDSHIFT project and anticipating the proliferation of high-LEO constellations such as OneWeb, TeleSat, and GuoWang, this thesis delves into the potential viability of the Resonance Corridor Method for PMD. The investigation encompasses key metrics, including deorbit timelines and $\Delta v$ requirements to meet regulatory standards or …

Enhancing Direction Finding Accuracy In Perturbed Digital Arrays Via Rf Ranging-Based Self Calibration, Ariel Freiman

Master's Theses

Direction finding with radio-frequency (RF) waves have numerous applications in radio navigation, wireless localization, emergency aid, and air traffic control, among others. Direction-finding using digital arrays outperforms traditional analog techniques but requires precise knowledge of the location of the array elements to obtain accurate results. Array perturbations can lead to algorithm failures and false detection, compromising direction-finding capabilities.

This research proposes implementing a Matched Filter - Least Square (MF-LS) algorithm for Two-Way Ranging (TWR) to enhance direction-finding accuracy in arrays with perturbed element locations. The MF-LS algorithm leverages the properties of matched filters to accurately determine element positions by measuring …

Semantic Structuring Of Digital Documents: Knowledge Graph Generation And Evaluation, Erik E. Luu

Master's Theses

In the era of total digitization of documents, navigating vast and heterogeneous data landscapes presents significant challenges for effective information retrieval, both for humans and digital agents. Traditional methods of knowledge organization often struggle to keep pace with evolving user demands, resulting in suboptimal outcomes such as information overload and disorganized data. This thesis presents a case study on a pipeline that leverages principles from cognitive science, graph theory, and semantic computing to generate semantically organized knowledge graphs. By evaluating a combination of different models, methodologies, and algorithms, the pipeline aims to enhance the organization and retrieval of digital documents. …

Dehn's Problems And Geometric Group Theory, Noelle Labrie

Master's Theses

In 1911, mathematician Max Dehn posed three decision problems for finitely

presented groups that have remained central to the study of combinatorial

group theory. His work provided the foundation for geometric group theory,

which aims to analyze groups using the topological and geometric properties

of the spaces they act on. In this thesis, we study group actions on Cayley

graphs and the Farey tree. We prove that a group has a solvable word problem

if and only if its associated Cayley graph is constructible. Moreover, we prove

that a group is finitely generated if and only if it acts geometrically …

Going Rogue: Existence, Spectral Stability, And Bifurcations Of Rogue Waves In Integrable And Non-Integrable Lattice Models, Madison L. Lytle

Master's Theses

The study of large nonlinear waves that seem to “appear out of nowhere and disappear without a trace”, known as rogue or freak waves, began largely in response to observations of catastrophic ocean waves. However, the study of rogue waves has since been expanded to a wider collection of physical scenarios, including discrete systems, such as those that appear in optics, as opposed to the continuous system of water waves. Waves in these discrete settings can be modeled as solutions to lattice wave equations.

The nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLSE) is one of the most ubiquitous continuous wave models for physical …

Morp: Monocular Orientation Regression Pipeline, Jacob Gunderson

Master's Theses

Orientation estimation of objects plays a pivotal role in robotics, self-driving cars, and augmented reality. Beyond mere position, accurately determining the orientation of objects is essential for constructing precise models of the physical world. While 2D object detection has made significant strides, the field of orientation estimation still faces several challenges. Our research addresses these hurdles by proposing an efficient pipeline which facilitates rapid creation of labeled training data and enables direct regression of object orientation from a single image. We start by creating a digital twin of a physical object using an iPhone, followed by generating synthetic images using …

Point Cloud Initialization Techniques For Gaussian Splatting, Daniel L. Levin

Master's Theses

Over the past year, 3D Gaussian Splatting has become a widespread research topic of interest. It has proven itself against other popular Novel View Synthesis algorithms
like Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF) by replacing the approximation function with
a modified point cloud. This modified point cloud allows for the rendering of novel
views in real time. While this gives Gaussian Splatting an advantage over algorithms
like NeRF, it shares the same issue of requiring prior camera intrinsics such as a Point
Cloud and Camera Poses. Most Gaussian Splatting pipelines use Colmap Sparse, a
Structure-from-Motion (SfM) technology that efficiently registers the necessary …

Hydrological Analysis Of Post-Fire Responses Within The Little Creek Watershed Of Swanton Pacific Ranch, Alexander Jeffrey Wiens

Master's Theses

Climate change and a growing wildland-urban interface are associated with an increase in the number and severity of wildfires. While severe wildfires do cause a costly and dangerous impact on the environment and the public, their after-effects comprise important subjects of study. In post-fire hydrologic studies, the reduced infiltration and plant cover that results from wildfires can commonly be associated with increased peakflows and erosion. Phenomena such as the flooding and debris flows in Montecito after the Thomas Fire in late 2017 can have important implications on infrastructure and human lives. Quantifying post-fire peak flows and flooding volumes has therefore …

Pain Points: Cluster Analysis In Chronic Pain Networks, Iris W. Ho

Master's Theses

Chronic pain is a pervasive health issue, affecting a significant portion of the population and posing complex challenges due to its diverse etiology and individualized impact. To address this complexity, there is a growing interest in grouping chronic pain patients based on their unique treatment needs. While various methodologies for patient grouping have emerged, leveraging graph-based approaches to produce and evaluate such groupings remains largely unexplored. Recent studies have shown promise in integrating knowledge graphs into exploring patient similarity across different biological domains, indicating potential avenues for research. Additionally, there is a growing interest in investigating patient similarity networks, highlighting …

An Analysis Of Indoor Air Quality At Cal Poly For Sensor Design, Isabella M. Santi

Master's Theses

Prior research has shown that indoor air quality (IAQ) impacts cognitive performance. At Cal Poly, many older buildings are unable to maintain appropriate IAQ because of their outdated ventilation systems and the increasing number of students in the rooms. This work analyzes the IAQ of different buildings at Cal Poly, with a focus on Building 20. Carbon dioxide, temperature, and relative humidity inside classrooms are collected using an integrated circuit sensor and a microcontroller. A total of 38 hours of data was collected, with 22 of those hours in Building 20 specifically. We find that unlike temperature and relative humidity, …