Digital Commons Network^™

Spest – A Tool For Specification-Based Testing, Corrigan Redford Johnson

Master's Theses

This thesis presents a tool for SPEcification based teSTing (SPEST). SPEST is designed to use well known practices for automated black-box testing to reduce the burden of testing on developers. The tool uses a simple formal specification language to generate highly-readable unit tests that embody best practices for thorough software testing. Because the specification language used to generate the assertions about the code can be compiled, it can also be used to ensure that documentation describing the code is maintained during development and refactoring.

The utility and effectiveness of SPEST were validated through several exper- iments conducted with students in …

Automated Detection And Analysis Of Depolarization Events In Human Cardiomyocytes Using Madec, Agnieszka F. Szymanska, Christopher M. Heylman, Rupsa Datta, Enrico Gratton

Biomedical Engineering

Optical imaging-based methods for assessing the membrane electrophysiology of in vitro human cardiac cells allow for non-invasive temporal assessment of the effect of drugs and other stimuli. Automated methods for detecting and analyzing the depolarization events (DEs) in image-based data allow quantitative assessment of these different treatments. In this study, we use 2-photon microscopy of fluorescent voltage-sensitive dyes (VSDs) to capture the membrane voltage of actively beating human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPS-CMs). We built a custom and freely available Matlab software, called MaDEC, to detect, quantify, and compare DEs of hiPS-CMs treated with the β-adrenergic drugs, propranolol and …

Label-Free Imaging Of Metabolism And Oxidative Stress In Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes, Rupsa Datta, Christopher M. Heylman, Steven C. George, Enrico Gratton

Biomedical Engineering

In this work we demonstrate a label-free optical imaging technique to assess metabolic status and oxidative stress in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes by two-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging of endogenous fluorophores. Our results show the sensitivity of this method to detect shifts in metabolism and oxidative stress in the cardiomyocytes upon pathological stimuli of hypoxia and cardiotoxic drugs. This non-invasive imaging technique could prove beneficial for drug development and screening, especially for in vitro cardiac models created from stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and to study the pathogenesis of cardiac diseases and therapy.

Wide-Band Gap Devices For Dc Breaker Applications, Olukayode O. Sodipe

Master's Theses

With the increasing interest in wide-band gap devices, their potential benefits in power applications have been studied and explored with numerous studies conducted for both SiC and GaN devices. This thesis investigates the use of wide-band gap devices as the switching element in a semiconductor DC breaker. It involves the design of an efficient semiconductor DC breaker, its simulation in SPICE, construction of a hardware prototype and the comparative study of SiC and Si versions of the aforementioned breaker. The results obtained from the experiments conducted in the process of concluding this thesis show that the SiC version of the …

Buildings With Rigid Walls And Flexible Roof Diaphragms. I: Evaluation Of Current U.S. Seismic Provisions, Maria Koliou, Andre Filiatrault, Dominic J. Kelly, John W. Lawson

Architectural Engineering

Buildings having rigid walls and flexible roof diaphragms (RWFD) are a type of building construction widely used for light industry in the United States; they incorporate rigid in-plane concrete or masonry walls and flexible in-plane wood, steel, or hybrid roof diaphragms. In this first of two companion papers, the probability of collapse of this type of building designed to current code provisions in the United States, given an MCE earthquake event, is evaluated according to the FEMA P695 methodology for a large set of representative building archetypes. The results of the study indicate that current code provisions for this type …

Buildings With Rigid Walls And Flexible Roof Diaphragms. Ii: Evaluation Of A New Seismic Design Approach Based On Distributed Diaphragm Yielding, Maria Koliou, Andre Filiatrault, Dominic J. Kelly, John W. Lawson

Architectural Engineering

A seismic collapse evaluation study of buildings with rigid walls and flexible roof diaphragms (RWFD) presented in the companion paper indicates that this type of structure, as designed to current seismic design provisions in the United States, does not satisfy FEMA P695 performance criteria for Risk Category II Buildings. The seismic performance of RWFD buildings is often characterized by large deformations and yielding in the roof diaphragm rather than in the vertical elements of the seismic force–resisting system (SFRS). In this paper, a new seismic design approach is proposed to account for flexible roof diaphragm response. The proposed approach relies …

"It's Always With You, That You're Different": Undocumented Students And Social Exclusion, Jean Williams

Political Science

This study focuses on undocumented college students who overcame significant barriers to apply to and attend universities, and once on campus, were forced to conceal their immigration status from staff and peers, struggling to pay tuition without assistance from scholarships or federal loans. The concept of social exclusion is used to understand and explore the barriers to their access to higher education and experiences while in college, relationships to community and governing institutions, and struggles with poverty and discrimination. The Obama Administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals initiative provides the first real possibility to more fully pursue their educational and …

Culturally Speaking: Of Rotary Phones And Dairy Foods, Phillip Tong

Dairy Science

No abstract provided.

Partial Calcium Depletion During Membrane Filtration Affects Gelation Of Reconstituted Milk Protein Concentrates, H. Eshpari, R. Jiménez-Flores, P. S. Tong, M. Corredig

Dairy Science

Milk protein concentrate powders (MPC) with improved rehydration properties are often manufactured using processing steps, such as acidification and high-pressure processing, and with addition of other ingredients, such as sodium chloride, during their production. These steps are known to increase the amount of serum caseins or modify the mineral equilibrium, hence improving solubility of the retentates. The processing functionality of the micelles may be affected. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of partial acidification by adding glucono-δ-lactone (GDL) to skim milk during membrane filtration on the structural changes of the casein micelles by observing their chymosin-induced …

Application Of Polymer Bound Boronjc Add For Glucose Detection In Printed Microfluidics Devices, Spencer Schultz

Baker/Koob Endowments Awarded Projects

The goal of this research project is to develop a simple and quantitative chronometric glucose test on printed microfluidic devices using polymer bound boronic acid (PBBA), which selectively binds to glucose, instead of enzymatic reactions. PBBA promises to enable cheaper medical diagnostics without requiring the expensive and often complex instrumentation that is normally utilized in medical diagnostics. PBBA should also increase the shelf life of glucose tests as the material is not as susceptible to degradation as the enzymatic reagents that are currently in use. The final device will be optimized to measure glucose concentrations in the range of 0.5 …

Smartphone-Based Intervention To Support Cal Poly Ethnic Minority Students And Psychophysiological Validation Project, Carol Wang, Lindsay Szabo, Luis Cuellar

Baker/Koob Endowments Awarded Projects

This project is an interdisciplinary effort between Psychology and Computer Science. Experiencing racial/ethnic discrimination is a key stressor placing Asian- and Latino-heritage college students at risk for poor mental and physical health. Two major gaps in the literature are a lack of understanding regarding: 1) how discrimination is linked to poor health outcomes (i.e., we must move beyond studies showing a correlational link between discrimination and poor health), and 2) what are protective factors that can attenuate these links? To address these two major limitations, this research project is significant in two ways. First, in the proposed psychophysiology study, we …

Bolthouse Farms Case Study, Garret Powell, Brett Banducci, Anna Greene

Case Studies in Agribusiness

The history, growth and current operations of Bolthouse Farms is presented, with a discussion of carrot growing, processing and marketing.

Kiler Ridge Olive Oil Farm, David Ayala, Martin Andersen, Rudy Raimondi

Case Studies in Agribusiness

Gregg Bone, a Cal Tech trained engineer, is a serial entrepreneur who has started 13 successful businesses, mostly in the tech industry. After a bicycle trip through Tuscany, his wife Audrey wanted to plant 40 olive trees in their backyard, which Gregg thought would be an expensive hobby. Better to plant 835 trees on a 58 acre property near Paso Robles, CA, in 2010. Five years later Gregg modified and installed an Italian olive mill for his own olives and as a custom crush operation. As a craft olive oil business, they marketing similarly to how neighboring wineries market their …

Designing And Creating A Website: "Low-Stress Handling Beef Cattle", Lauren Rothstein

Agricultural Education and Communication

No abstract provided.

Landscape Barriers, Tess Gilkey

Agricultural Education and Communication

The purpose of this project is to create a landscape blueprint plan to present to the homeowners in Atascadero, California. The goal was to include landscape barriers that will distract any unwanted noises and views that may be caused by the new development of Eagle Ranch. After conducting research, the most appropriate plants will be selected for implementation by the homeowners. Involving a suitable irrigation system that is efficient and easy to manage.

Density-Based Clustering Of High-Dimensional Dna Fingerprints For Library-Dependent Microbial Source Tracking, Eric Johnson

Master's Theses

As part of an ongoing multidisciplinary effort at California Polytechnic State University, biologists and computer scientists have developed a new Library-Dependent Microbial Source Tracking method for identifying the host animals causing fecal contamination in local water sources. The Cal Poly Library of Pyroprints (CPLOP) is a database which stores E. coli representations of fecal samples from known hosts acquired from a novel method developed by the biologists called Pyroprinting. The research group considers E. coli samples whose Pyroprints match above a certain threshold to be part of the same bacterial strain. If an environmental sample from an unknown host animal …

Swerve, Kaitlin A. Castillo, Cichasky A. Catherine

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Carpooling yields great benefits environmentally, socially, and economically for carpooling, however there is no easy to use, safe, and enjoyable application for people to connect with others who are both close in proximity and have schedules that match currently. By creating a database and visual mock ups, our senior project creates the basis for an application called Swerve that matches users by location and schedules and has social and economic incentives. Our research allowed us to further understand the social, environmental and economic benefits and incentives of carpooling. We also looked into current carpooling websites and applications and could not …

Regional Wine Reputation: How It Influences Trade And Consumer Purchasing Behavior, Joseph Bernard Ostrander

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Regional Wine Reputation: How It Influences Trade

and Consumer Purchasing Behavior

Joseph Bernard Ostrander

What are wine trade buyers and wine consumers willing to pay for a bottle of wine based on the reputation of the grape growing region apart from existing corporate branding reputation, variety popularity, or accolades from industry periodicals and celebrity wine critics? Results from a previous study discovered how attitudes about place-of-origin influenced consumer perceptions regarding the quality associated with the wines from that region. Related research also looked at how wine prices depended on the quality associated with a wine region’s reputation when linked …

Academic Senate - Meeting Minutes, 12/1/2015, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.

Spectator Attendance Strategies: A Best Practices Examination Of Mls Expansion Franchises, Bryce Schomburg

Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration

The expansion of Major League Soccer (MLS) has dramatically raised league awareness throughout the nation. This impact was influenced by the additional consideration organizations have paid to the role of spectator attendance within professional sports. The purpose of this study was to examine the best practices for spectator attendance strategies employed by recent MLS expansion franchises. The following organizations were evaluated for the comparative analysis: Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers, and New York City FC. These organizations were analyzed through a best practices comparison guide developed by the researcher. Data were collected from the selected teams’ websites, third party organization analysis, …

Gopher Intrusion In Cropping Systems, Kenneth Romero, Paul Cardinalli

Agricultural Education and Communication

The purpose of this project was to determine if no till vs. till on gopher populations was more beneficial. Which is more efficient at controlling gophers and explain the damage they can cause and the diseases they can potentially vector. What are the different options of pest managements that have to be used when dealing with a gopher infestation in a tilled field vs. a no-tilled field.

Startup Social Responsibility: A Concentrated Social Audit Of Halt Medical Inc., Matthew Frank Rosa

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Halt Medical Inc. is a biomedical device startup whose managers are interested in assessing their levels of employee satisfaction and organizational well-being. They want to know if their employees are cooperating, if departments are cohesive, and if everyone is happy. To evaluate Halt Medical’s social capital and environment, a social responsibility audit will be conducted concentrated specifically on the organization’s social and ethical initiatives to its employees. This analysis requires interviews of managers, observations of cultural diffusion, and employee opinions on a variety of business areas. The five areas of focus for this audit are the company’s accommodation of each …

Multi-Restaurant Delivery Service Design And Financial Analysis, Dylan Davis Fuller

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

When found on campus all day and in need of a quick meal before the next class what are the options for you as a Cal Poly student or faculty? Campus dining is the only option that can meet the typical demand you have of speed and convenience. Restaurants with food delivery often don’t have the variety or take to long for delivery. The goal is to provide a delivery service with the speed of getting a meal on campus but with the variety and quality of the restaurants found in downtown San Luis Obispo. Looking at existing businesses providing …

Resource Partitioning Along Multiple Niche Axes Drives Functional Diversity In Parrotfishes On Caribbean Coral Reefs, Thomas C. Adam, Megan Kelley, Benjamin I. Ruttenberg, Deron E. Burkepile

Biological Sciences

The recent loss of key consumers to exploitation and habitat degradation has significantly altered community dynamics and ecosystem function across many ecosystems worldwide. Predicting the impacts of consumer losses requires knowing the level of functional diversity that exists within a consumer assemblage. In this study, we document functional diversity among nine species of parrotfishes on Caribbean coral reefs. Parrotfishes are key herbivores that facilitate the maintenance and recovery of coral-dominated reefs by controlling algae and provisioning space for the recruitment of corals. We observed large functional differences among two genera of parrotfishes that were driven by differences in diet. Fishes …

Battle Bot Ai – Patriot Bot, James Johnston

Computer Engineering

An entry in the the 'Battle Block AI' competition hosted by 'The AI Games'.

Graduate Internship Report: Heritage High School, Margaret Eleni Maratsos

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

The three components of this report include evidentiary support documents that are required for a candidate to meet the quality criteria for secondary-level programs of instruction in agriculture. The first part of the project (“Part One”) contains written responses to each of the quality criteria requirements of the Agriculture Incentive Grant. These documents are current as of this year and as of the Heritage High School’s last departmental review for eligibility for the Agriculture Incentive Grant. The second portion of the project, “Part Two,” contains documents included for support of the points made in “Part One,” which include a comprehensive …

Teacher Internship Report - Central High School, June Elizabeth Ann Bettencourt Mrs

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

This internship report includes validation documents required in meeting the quality criteria for secondary-level programs of instruction in agriculture at Central High School located in Fresno, California. The documents are concurrently used for the Agriculture Incentive Grant review process at Central High School, conducted by representatives of the California Department of Education. The internship included the development of a comprehensive program plan for Central High School. The plan includes information to receive state/local funding, an outline of the goals and objectives of the program, along with an overview of Central High School, the agriculture program and community. The internship also …

Real Time Analytics On Digital Distraction, Kristian Welch

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Hypothesis: empirically measuring the users productivity has the potential to significantly increase their productivity. This paper is the documentation of the process of building software capable of verifying this hypothesis. Starting with the research which gives enough evidence to warrant the hypothesis, also included is commentary on the prototyping, design decisions, and iteration based on user feedback of the software.

Co-Rotational Finite Element Solid Simulation With Collisions, Patrick Riordan

Computer Science and Software Engineering

This paper is a tutorial on how to implement a deformable solid simulation with collisions based off of Matthias Mueller's Real Time Physics Course Notes. It covers the topics continuum mechanics, finite element analysis, implicit Euler integration, and handling collision.

Migmatite Gneiss Of The Jættedal Complex, Liverpool Land, East Greenland: Protracted High-T Metamorphism In The Overriding Plate Of The Caledonian Orogen, S. M. Johnston, A. Kylander-Clark, H. K. Brueckner

Physics

The Greenland Caledonides (GC) formed in the overriding Laurentian plate during the closure of the Iapetus Ocean and the subduction of Baltica, and offer a unique opportunity to study metamorphic patterns, regional structures and the kinematic evolution of the overriding plate of a continental collision. We present new metamorphic petrology and coupled zircon geochronology and geochemistry data from the Jættedal complex in southern Liverpool Land to document the thermal evolution of the orogenic core of the southern GC. Pelitic migmatite gneisses from the Jættedal complex document metamorphic conditions of 850–730 °C at pressures of 11–9.5 kbar. Zircon from these samples …