Digital Commons Network^™

Pier Ocean Pier, Brandon J. Nowak

Computer Engineering

Pier Ocean Peer is a weatherproof box containing a Jetson Nano, connected to a cell modem and camera, and powered by a Lithium Iron Phosphate battery charged by a 50W solar panel. This system can currently provide photos to monitor the harbor seal population that likes to haul out at the base of the Cal Poly Pier, but more importantly it provides a platform for future expansion by other students either though adding new sensors directly to the Jetson Nano or by connecting to the jetson nano remotely through a wireless protocol of their choice.

The Power Of Video Games: How Celeste And Hellblade Address Mental Health, Victor M. Ortiz

Communication Studies

The media has the power to educate audiences on topics through effective storytelling. This paper shows how video games as a medium possess unique potential to affect players through interactive experiences. Two video games titled Celeste and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice serve as examples of social cognitive learning through media exposure. This paper conducts a content analysis on the two titles. From the analysis, we learn the stories in Celeste and Hellblade aim to help those who play them learn how to cope with mental health problems such as depression and anxiety. The literature review section discusses past research done on …

Upending The "Racial Death-Wish": Black Gay Liberation And The Culture Of Black Homophobia, Kailyn Pope

Master's Theses

This thesis analyzes the origin and impact of Black homophobia found in activist spaces of mid- to late-twentieth-century American society. Black gay Americans were subjected to intersecting forms of systemic and cultural oppression that were exceedingly hard to escape due to both the homophobia in Black spaces and the racism in gay spaces. Black gay activists and artists thus had to create their own avenues of expression where they and others could fully embrace what it meant to be Black and gay. This work utilizes a Black feminist framework to explore the roots of Black homophobia and how this type …

Metal Dust Cloud Distribution Characterization Through Image Analysis, Shelby Lampshire

Master's Theses

With the increasing development of metal additive manufacturing technology, the present need for accurate explosivity testing of high density and exotic metal powders is under active research. The accuracy of such tests depends upon the uniformity of the dust dispersion within the testing chambers during ignition. There is a need for further research to understand the dust cloud dispersion process in order to determine the best time for ignition. This study explores a methodology of using high-speed footage and image analysis to characterize the uniformity of a dust cloud temporally that future applications may build upon.

This thesis consisted of …

Effects Of Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria And Fungi On Strawberry Plant Health, Fruit Yield, And Disease Susceptibility, Mary Maher

Master's Theses

Studies on plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and fungi (PGPF) as biostimulants have shown significant positive effects on plant health, fruit yield, or pest management. However, very few published studies to date have been specific regarding their effects on strawberries (Fragaria × ananassa), particularly on soilborne disease prevalence in organically grown strawberries. Empirical data on the results of using these products in commercial growing applications under various conditions would be highly valuable, especially for organic growers who have limited synthetic chemical pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers registered for use. The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of …

Analysis And Optimization Of A Colorimetric Nanosensor For Rapid Detection Of Escherichia Coli In Water, Sarah M. Stabler

Master's Theses

Safe drinking water is essential for life, yet at least two billion people around the world consume water contaminated with pathogens among other pollutants. Standard methods like polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and membrane filtration have been developed to detect enteric pathogens in water. However, these methods are limited in their accessibility due to long wait times to obtain results, and the requirements of skilled expertise, electricity, and laboratory equipment. This research has focused on addressing some of these limitations by analyzing the mechanisms of work and optimizing an indirect colorimetric nanosensor developed in previous research. The colorimetric nanosensor investigated herein …

Graduate Internship Report - Tulare, Dakota Burns Romans

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

This internship and project report includes validation documents required in meeting the quality criteria for secondary-level programs of instruction in agriculture. The supporting material includes information to receive state and local funding, outline the goals and objectives of the program, along with an overview of the Tulare agriculture program and the community.

Insulation And Structural Support For Solar Electric Cooking, Jack J. Crofton

Physics

The Insulated Solar Electric Cooker (ISEC) project is aimed at providing an alternative method for cooking that does not require fuel or fire, has no harmful emissions and is appealing to the culinary tradition of cultures around the world. The World Health Organization estimates that three billion people cook with biomass and coal, which causes 4 million deaths per year from breathing the associated emissions (WHO, 2016). Besides the dangers of indoor air pollution (Lim, 2013; Subramanian, 2014), cooking over open fires also results in deforestation, and greenhouse gas emissions of CO2 and soot (MacCarty 2008; Bailis & Kammen 2005). …

Ai Alzheimer's Early Detection Via Mri Processing, Luke Frey, Siddharth Sharma, Arti Jain

Electrical Engineering

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that impairs memory, thinking, and language. Known as the most common form of dementia, AD is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States. It is estimated that currently, nearly 6 million Americans suffer from AD and moreover, the prevalence of AD is projected to grow to 13.8 million being diagnosed by 2050. Considering these projections, hospitals are expected to be diagnosing nearly half a million patients a year. This high volume will lead to technological growth within the diagnosis process along with more effective treatments.

As of now, …

City Of San Luis Obispo Creek Walk Phase Iii, Ryan Thomas Anderson, Peyton Marie Ratto

City and Regional Planning

The following project includes a detailed narrative of project components and conceptual designs for the proposed City of San Luis Obispo (SLO) Creek Walk Phase III. The “project area” includes San Luis Obispo Creek and adjacent land uses/parcels from the Nipomo Street Bridge to the Marsh Street Bridge. This project is relevant because the City has interest in developing Phase III as an extension from the current walkway that begins at Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa. In order to ensure consistency with City goals and policies, various City documents were reviewed, including the Downtown Concept Plan. Our progress was …

Tensile Testing Environmental Chamber – Structural, Michael Ingel, Erik Soldenwagner, Austin Marshall, Lauren Schirle

Mechanical Engineering

Environmental chambers for tensile testing machines are used to study how a multitude of materials behave in extreme temperatures. These chambers provide the necessary information to innovate cutting edge technology for materials in fields such as aerospace. These chambers are often heavy and expensive requiring a significant amount of time and money just in the installation process alone. This report will serve to outline and define the design and fabrication of an environmental chamber, conducted by a team of four senior mechanical engineering students at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. The goals of the project include a low-weight …

Controlling Locomotion Of A Robotic Leg, Tai K. Mitchell, Connor Bush, Patrick Ward, Ben Spin

Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Xing and Professor Refvem are working to research and develop a quadruped robot that is capable of basic movements including walking, running, and jumping. As senior project group F-11, we are joining a team of engineers to assist in the development of the quadruped. Our team was tasked with creating a mathematical model, designing a control method, and implementing that control method for the quadruped's legs in Simulink. This will allow both current and future students to understand the response of the system and provide a building point for future researchers to create working quadrupedal robots. This report documents …

Aged 539 Graduate Internship Report - Delano High School, Ernesto H. Marcial

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

This internship and project report includes validation documents required in meeting the quality criteria for secondary-level programs of instruction in agriculture. The supporting material includes information to receive state and local funding, outline the goals and objectives of the program, along with an overview of Delano High School, the agriculture program, and the community.

Aged 539 Graduate Internship Report - Tulare High School, Debrah Silva

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

This internship and project report includes validation documents required in meeting the quality criteria for secondary-level programs of instruction in agriculture. The supporting material includes information to receive state and local funding, outline the goals and objectives of the program, along with an overview of Tulare High School, the agriculture program and the community.

Selection Of Overwintering Microclimate By Migratory Western Monarch Butterflies, Kiana Saniee

Master's Theses

Migratory species are expected to demonstrate habitat selection that occurs at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Western monarch butterflies migrate seasonally to overwinter in groves at geographically predictable locations along the California coast. To date, overwintering habitat selection by western monarch butterflies has been studied assuming that habitat selection occurs where overwintering aggregations form, meaning at the spatial scale where monarchs form dense overwintering aggregations within overwintering groves. We argue that since western monarch butterflies are migratory, studies of habitat selection could have commingled selection at different scales into a single spatial scale. This likely leads to ignoring some levels …

Automatic Tourniquet For Military Emergencies, Arshia Nazerani Houshmand, Marina Felt, Blake Juett

Biomedical Engineering

This document contains the progress and development of an automated tourniquet that would be intended for use within the United States military. The project was student-led and sponsored. Coordination and confirmation of our device was provided by Dr. John F. Kragh, who is part of the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research. The document will outline the research conducted on tourniquets, specification development of the tourniquet, morphology process, and final design production of the automatic tourniquet.

Conspiratorial Thinking And Personality, Fiona R. Papile

Social Sciences

Why do some people believe in conspiracies more than others? Previous research suggests that variables such as education level, gender, race, or political preference are not useful in a predictive capacity, so what individual traits or characteristics make someone more likely to believe in conspiracy theories?

Locus of control is a psychological personality trait that indicates how an individual attributes the causes and outcomes of life events. Locus of control ranges from a more internally located locus, to more externally located. Internally located individuals believe that their own actions primarily impact the outcomes of events, whereas externally located individuals believe …

Female Representation In The Film Industry: Bringing Women In Film To Universities Around The Nation, Allison Mays

Journalism

The following study explores the lack of gender parity in the film industry and dives into the nuts and bolts of what makes up female representation in the industry. It also explores the potential a national organization like Women In Film has on a university campus. Despite the majority of people believing women make up nearly half of the film industry, the reality is that only 23% of the key behind-the-scenes roles in the film industry are occupied by women. Since 1998 up to the year 2020, female representation has only grown by 6% (17% in 1998 to 23% in …

Newly Developed Antifouling Coating Alloys For Hydraulic Cylinder Applications, Christopher Liam Fahey, Robin Ashley Payne

Materials Engineering

In a marine environment solid surfaces are subject to corrosion and fouling, which is the buildup of unwanted material such as algae and barnacles, that can impede the functionality of components. The application that this project focuses on are hydraulic cylinders. Eight alloys, including three newly developed alloys, were tested for marine fouling performance. Three of the alloys were primarily NiCr, these included Inconel 625, Metco 1720, and P105-X3. Four alloys contained varying amounts of Cu, and these were Monel 400, CuproNickel, Monel 450, and P76-X24. Finally, one sample of a Co-based alloy was also tested, Ultimet. Of the samples …

Effect Of Dissolved Oxygen On Corrosion Of Carbon And 13cr Steel In A Brine Environment, Kevin Peter Iu, Andy Zhou

Materials Engineering

Oxygen corrosion is a major threat to seawater injection systems that are part of offshore drilling operations. Seawater is typically deoxygenated to an industry standard of(DO) by injection through a deaeration column followed by treatment with oxygen scavenging chemicals. Commercial simulation software like OLI Studio: Corrosion Analyzer predicts high corrosion rates when injection seawater contains high DO levels, justifying deoxygenation. However, a notable lack of experimental data exists concerning the effect of varying levels of dissolved oxygen on corrosion rate. The goal of this project is to measure the effect of three dissolved oxygen levels (0, 62, and 620 ppb) …

Phytoplankton Community Response To Changing Environmental Conditions Across Two Central California Sites, Nicholas Soares

Biological Sciences

Understanding the role that changing environmental conditions play in altering phytoplankton abundance and community composition, and in turn ecosystem structure and function, will be increasingly important for the sustainable use and management of ocean resources in a changing climate. Characterizing change in nearshore ecosystems requires long-term studies with a broad spatial extent, with most studies sacrificing spatial extent for temporal duration. However, phytoplankton and ecosystem response can vary substantially over small spatial scales due to local oceanographic forcing and anthropogenic influence, making the application of long-term data from one site to another in the same geographic vicinity potentially challenging. In …

Uv Polymerization Of A Zwitterionic Antifouling Membrane Coating, Amanda Jia-Hwa Tsai, Vincent Matthew Guarino

Materials Engineering

Membrane filtration is used in a wide array of industries to separate components in a mixture. Filtration membranes suffer from the external deposition of pollutants and microorganisms, a phenomenon known as fouling. Fouling reduces the lifetime of a membrane and therefore increases production costs. The goal of this project was to modify the surface of a hydrophobic commercial membrane with a charged coating to induce antifouling properties. A zwitterionic monomer, sulfobetaine methacrylate (SBMA), was used for its steric hindrance and hydration shell formation mechanisms, which result in superior non-specific antifouling performance. When polymerizing the coating onto the surface of the …

Effects Of Uv Exposure On The Thermo-Mechanical Properties Of Cactus Based Biopolymers, Madison Glozer, Megan Bolling, Addison Wolfson

Materials Engineering

The viability of renewable biopolymers as sustainable alternatives to synthetic plastics is promising, however ultra-violet (UV) radiation can lead to premature degradation and reduction in the material’s performance. Biopolymers comprised of nopal cactus juice, animal protein, natural wax, and glycerin in differing percentages were studied to obtain thermo-mechanical data in relation to UV exposure. To quantify degradation, dynamic mechanical analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, infrared spectroscopy, goniometry and gravimetric measurements were performed. Each formulation experienced mass loss as a result of UV exposure, which could be attributed to water evaporation. The thermogravimetric analysis indicated a reduction in the second …

The Effects Of Glass Fiber Fillers On Epoxy Resin Performance, Ashton Robert Reinhold, Manuel Jose Aguirre Ii

Materials Engineering

Premature failure of filtration members in biochemical processing is a costly issue for manufacturers. This research aims to determine whether or not the premature failure due to thermal fatigue in medical filtration devices can be mitigated by glass fiber addition. The study was conducted to identify the effects of e-glass fiber filler content in an epoxy matrix on the mechanical and thermal properties of the epoxy system. The epoxy was evaluated over a filler content of 0-50wt% in level increments of 12.5wt% and temperatures ranging from ambient to 160°C in increments of 15°C. Cylindrical and tensile bar specimens were prepared …

Solvent Analysis Of Phenolic Resin Glass Fiber Reinforced Prepreg During Out-Time, Sixin Zhai, Crystal Ipong

Materials Engineering

Phenolic resin glass fiber reinforced prepregs are highly suitable for airplane interior components due to their high fire resistance, high temperature performance, and low-density characteristics. Safran Cabin seeks to improve their storage of the phenolic resin prepreg during their manufacturing process. The issues the company faces are the occasional delamination of prepreg laminas or the loss of tackiness rendering the lamina unfit for use. The area of investigation was determining the weight loss of volatiles during out-time. The term “out-time” consists of the time the prepreg experiences in transit, on the shop floor, and in short-term temperature-controlled storage. Simulated storage …

Reducing The Fouling Of Microfiltration Membranes Through Uv-Initiated Surface Modifications Using Poly (Ethylene Glycol) Based Monomers, Christopher Lo, Matthew Truong

Materials Engineering

Meissner Filtration Product Inc. designs and manufactures membranes for food and beverage, microelectronics, ultrapure chemicals, and pharmaceutical industries. Membrane filters utilized in these industries have lifetimes greatly limited due to membrane fouling. Increasing membrane lifetime will reduce downtime, waste, and cost of operation. The proposed project is aimed to develop a methodology for synthesizing a fouling-resistant polymer coating layer on hydrophobic membrane surfaces for reducing membrane fouling and increasing membrane filterability (membrane lifetime) that are critical for effective membrane operations in the pharmaceutical industry. In this study, commercial membranes were coated with a solution containing a monomer, crosslinker, and photoinitiator …

Development Of A Marine Biodegradable Target Balloon, Blake Samuel Robinson, Arash Sam Akhavi, David Leonardo Albarran-Martinez

Materials Engineering

The US Navy utilizes PVC target balloons, known as Killer Tomatoes, that are inflated onboard a naval vessel then deployed into the ocean to calibrate a variety of weaponry. The Navy has requested the investigation of biodegradable polymers to replace the PVC in attempts to reduce ocean waste that is generated from the leftover PVC material. After communicating with American Pacific Plastic Fabricators (APPF), the current manufacturer of the Killer Tomatoes, we gained an understanding of the manufacturing process and the material requirements that would allow a new material to be integrated into their current process. Two proprietary, trial polymers …

Assessing Cryptic Dispersal And Movement In The Lompoc Kangaroo Rat, Katherine A. Belnick

Biological Sciences

Lompoc kangaroo rats (LKR, Dipodomys heermanni arenae) are small rodents that reside in sand dunes from Pismo to Orcutt, including the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area (SVRA), in Oceano, CA. In the SVRA, some of these individuals live in habitat islands, which are habitat fragments of dense vegetation disrupted by empty, bare sand in between them. Recreational vehicle activity is permitted in the Oceano Dunes, which has caused persistence habitat fragmentation. Kangaroo rats are known to disperse between habitat islands and are suspected to do so via a special type of dispersal: cryptic dispersal. This dispersal mode, if it …

Automating Deep-Sea Video Annotation, Hanson Egbert

Master's Theses

As the world explores opportunities to develop offshore renewable energy capacity, there will be a growing need for pre-construction biological surveys and post-construction monitoring in the challenging marine environment. Underwater video is a powerful tool to facilitate such surveys, but the interpretation of the imagery is costly and time-consuming. Emerging technologies have improved automated analysis of underwater video, but these technologies are not yet accurate or accessible enough for widespread adoption in the scientific community or industries that might benefit from these tools.

To address these challenges, prior research developed a website that allows to: (1) Quickly play and annotate …

Robot Path Planning System, Filippo Cheein, Tim Berry, Bruce Rogstad, Bob Entezar, Jamari Ducre

Electrical Engineering

The future is autonomous. It is estimated that by 2025 there will be 8 million autonomous cars in the market. Millions more will be autonomous devices employed in homes, malls, offices, and warehouses. There are many aspects of these future devices that are necessary for proper autonomous functionality, with none potentially more critical than the devices’ path planning ability. This project aims to create an effective, reliable, and safe path planning algorithm for the autonomous devices of the future. Indoor autonomous devices, such as warehouse or office robots, benefit from being able to always use the same floor plan rather …