Digital Commons Network^™

Synthetic Aperture Radar: Rapid Detection Of Target Motion In Matlab, Daniel S. Kassen

Master's Theses

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has come into widespread use in several civilian and military applications. The focus of this paper is the military application of imaging point targets captured by an airborne SAR platform. Using the traditional SAR method of determining target motion by analyzing the difference between subsequent images takes a relatively large amount of processing resources. Using methods in this thesis, target motion can be estimated before even a single image is obtained, reducing the amount of time and power used by a significantly large amount. This thesis builds on work done by Brain Zaharri and David So. …

Personality And Relational Aggression In College Students: The Role Of Social Anxiety And Rejection Sensitivity, Daniel Locke Deason

Master's Theses

Relational aggression involves the intentional infliction of harm via damaging one’s relationships or sense of belonging. Previous research suggests that relational aggression among children and early adolescents is correlated with social ostracism, poor psychological adjustment, anxiety, and depression in victims, and there is increasing evidence that many of these correlates apply to relational aggression among older adolescents and emerging adults. Efforts to identify predictors of relational aggression are underway; however, many variables which have been influential in understanding other forms of aggression have not yet been examined. The Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality is one example, as it has …

Excerpts From Television's Greatest Hits And Other Stories, Zachary Stephen Williams

Master's Theses

The short stories contained in this manuscript are mostly of the realist stripe, with a few concessions made to my more fabulist tendencies. Each is about men and women being forced to relive their old lives or finding themselves at the cusp of new ones, propositions which prove simultaneously attractive and repulsive. By the end of each story, it is my hope to transmit that the characters have survived somewhat intact, though reconstituted. There is a man in grief over the death of the wife he couldn’t stop cheating on, adults trick-or-treating at the expense of their children’s youths, a …

Meeting In The Middle: The Impact Of Single-Party Dominance On Partisan Politics, William Samuel Adcock

Master's Theses

Polarization within the American government has reached near historic levels in recent decades. One of the most readily apparent results of this partisan atmosphere is the increase in the number of American states that are almost totally controlled by one of the two major political parties. This study seeks to examine the effect this single-party domination has on the policy positions of Senate candidates of the minority parties in these states. It is hypothesized that minority party candidates seeking election in these states will be more likely to adopt policy positions more commonly associated with the platforms of the majority …

Are People Reading Local News? A Content Analysis Of Popular News Stories On Nine Newspaper Websites, Peter Shiang Chen

Master's Theses

The news industry has come under tremendous pressure in the last decade. None more so than the newspaper industry, which has seen all aspects of its operation: readership, revenue, staff, distribution and reputation decline dramatically. This study uses content analysis to examine the reading habits of news consumers from nine newspaper-based websites from the Advance Publishing chain. The samples were the stories in the “most popular this hour” list, examined every 5 days from August to September, 2014. These stories were separated into categories such as news, sports, business, etc., and further coded based on their proximity to the news …

Determining The Need For Diabetic Risk Assessment In An Academic Dental Clinic, Nancy Wong

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there was a need to incorporate a diabetic risk assessment in an academic dental clinic. An analysis of existing patient records and a survey administered to new patients seeking care at the University of Connecticut Health Center dental clinics were utilized to determine: a) what was the prevalence of diabetic patients; b) how many patients were at increased risk for developing Type 2 diabetes; and c) whether their oral health knowledge relating to diabetes varied by their diabetic status. The survey was administered over a four-month time period, in which 200 …

Gradient Effects Of Reading Ability On Talker-Specific Perceptual Learning, Shayna R. Marmon

Master's Theses

Abstract

The acoustic signal of speech is a complex signal that simultaneously cues the linguistic content of a talker’s message and the identity of the talker. Traditional models of speech perception proposed that the properties of the acoustic signal that cue linguistic meaning and talker identify were distinct. However, a growing body of evidence challenges this traditional view, indicating that linguistic and talker-specific phonetic information are tightly linked in language comprehension. One of these benefits is increased intelligibility of the spoken message when listening to a familiar talker compared to an unfamiliar talker. Just as experience with a talker’s voice …

Exploring The Physiological Role Of Vibrio Fischeri Pepn, Sally L. Cello

Master's Theses

The primary contributor to Vibrio fischeri aminopeptidase activity is aminopeptidase N, PepN. Colonization assays revealed the pepN mutant strain to be deficient at forming dense aggregates and populating the host’s light organ compared to wildtype within the first 12 hours of colonization; however the mutant competed normally at 24 hours. To address the role of PepN in colonization initiation and establish additional phenotypes for the pepN mutant strain, stress response and other physiological assays were employed. Marked differences were found between pepN mutant and wildtype strain in response to salinity, acidity, and antibiotic tolerance. This study has provided a foundation …

Evaluating Urban Design Strategies For Climate Change Adaptation In Los Angeles, Kerby Andrew Olsen

Master's Theses

Human interference with the Earth’s climate, through the release of greenhouse gasses (GHGs), is estimated to have already increased average statewide temperatures in California by 1.7° Fahrenheit (F), with a further 2.7°F of warming expected by mid-century. The negative impacts of increased temperatures may be especially acute in mid-latitude cities that currently enjoy a mild climate, such as Los Angeles (LA), which are projected to warm to a point that will significantly affect human health and well being. The built environment increases urban temperatures through building materials that readily absorb heat from the sun, a lack of vegetation, a lack …

The Development Of Apartheid In The Naqab Israel’S Prawer Plan And The Jewish National Fund’S Blueprint Negev, Ayla Jay Schoenwald

Master's Theses

This study seeks to critique and confront past and present iterations of political Zionism through a combination of historical excavation and discursive analysis, informed by the present embodiment of this discourse in the form of violence and violations of Palestinian human rights in the context of the Naqab, the southern region of historic Palestine, where Bedouin communities continue to reside and resist Israel's (ongoing) colonization of their land. The Prawer Plan, a proposed Israeli policy to be implemented in the Naqab/Negev, threatens approximately 70,000 Arab Bedouin Israeli citizens of with forced expulsion and displacement. In addition, 35 Bedouin villages unrecognized …

Making Contact: Towards An Understanding Of The Reach Of A Peer Delivered Health Intervention To Reduce Hiv Risk Among African Americans And Hispanics Involved With Drugs In Hartford, Connecticut, Christopher Heneghan

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Theory Of Mind Without A Language Model: Effects Of Social Experience, Education And Language Exposure, Deanna L. Gagne

Master's Theses

Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities, i.e., the understanding that others’ internal states differ from one’s own, and that these states guide behavior, are multiply determined. ToM abilities underlie later social and pragmatic abilities, grossly affecting later life experiences, particularly for deaf children. However, previous studies have not clearly identified the effects of language, hearing status, or other exogenous factors, such as education or executive function abilities, on ToM development. To disentangle these, we studied three understudied populations in Nicaragua: Homesigners, who have not acquired a conventional language but have developed gestural communication systems; users of Nicaraguan Sign Language, an emerging …

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 …

Optimizing Harris Corner Detection On Gpgpus Using Cuda, Justin Loundagin

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Optimizing Harris Corner Detection on GPGPUs Using CUDA

The objective of this thesis is to optimize the Harris corner detection algorithm implementation on NVIDIA GPGPUs using the CUDA software platform and measure the performance benefit. The Harris corner detection algorithm—developed by C. Harris and M. Stephens—discovers well defined corner points within an image. The corner detection implementation has been proven to be computationally intensive, thus realtime performance is difficult with a sequential software implementation. This thesis decomposes the Harris corner detection algorithm into a set of parallel stages, each of which are implemented and optimized on the CUDA platform. …

Bicycle Tourism Plan For Economic Development: A Template For Rural Agricultural Towns And A Case Study For The City Of Winters, California, Marisa Rene Lee

Master's Theses

Bicycling is a method of tourism transportation that is healthy, non-invasive, environmentally responsible, and economically sustainable. It allows freedom, mobility, and sightseeing potential that is not made possible by other modes of transit. Thousands of bicycle tourists travel from all over the globe annually to explore California on touring bikes via established cycling routes and robust determination. Thousands of additional domestic and international visitors take weekend trips, plan family vacations, travel for business, or tour California from abroad, many of whom are excellent candidates for local and regional bicycle touring at a more gentle intensity level.

The increasing popularity and …

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) …

Benchmarking, Characterization And Tuning Of Shell Ecomarathon Prototype Powertrain, Eric J. Griess

Master's Theses

With the automotive industry ever striving to push the limits of fuel efficiency, the Shell EcoMarathon offers a glimpse into this energy conserving mindset by challenging engineering students around the world to design and build ultra-efficient vehicles to compete regionally. This requires synchronization of engineering fields to ensure that the vehicle and powertrain system work in parallel to achieve similar goals.

The goal for Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo’s EcoMarathon vehicle for the 2015 competition is to analyze the unique operating mode that the powertrain undergoes during competition and improve their current package to increase fuel efficiency. In this …

Combination Of A Probabilistic-Based And A Rule-Based Approach For Genealogical Record Linkage, Pooja P. Shah

Master's Theses

Record linkage is the task of identifying records within one or multiple databases that refer to the same entity. Currently, there exist many different approaches for record linkage. Some approaches incorporate the use of heuristic rules, mathematical models, Markov models, or machine learning. This thesis focuses on the application of record linkage to genealogical records within family trees. Today, large collections of genealogical records are stored in databases, which may contain multiple records that refer to a single individual. Resolving duplicate genealogical records can extend our knowledge on who has lived and more complete information can be constructed by combining …

Conservation Through Limited Development: An Approach For Land Conservancies, Catherine Joy Tarone

Master's Theses

The Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County is interested in determining the approach that it may take if it decides to pursue conservation and limited development as a strategy to preserve land. In using conservation and limited development, the Conservancy may put into practice its core values by employing this intensely-collaborative conservation tool and informing itself about development, conservation, collaboration and financing, in order to meet multiple community needs.

Information about the limited development process was collected from books, news articles and personal communications with professionals to determine its components. Each chapter of this report analyzes one component, putting …

Platforms For Teaching Distributed Computing Concepts To Undergraduate Students, J. Forrester

Master's Theses

Over the last two decades, information technology has been moving towards distributed computing to host their applications and services. These systems can process more data more reliably than their central processing counterparts; however, distributed applications are more complex to design and develop because they require additional properties like replication and fault tolerance to work effectively. These complexities translate to the educational setting, where schools need to invest in additional infrastructure, knowledge, and technologies to teach distributed concepts to students.

This project presents the design and implementation of a complete educational framework for the teaching of distributed computing concepts at Cal …

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 …

Design Methods For Remotely Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, William Beaman Howe

Master's Theses

A method for sizing remotely powered unmanned aerial vehicles is presented to augment the conventional design process. This method allows for unconventionally powered aircraft to become options in trade studies during the initial design phase. A design matrix is created that shows where, and if, a remotely powered vehicle fits within the design space. For given range and power requirements, the design matrix uses historical data to determine whether an internal combustion or electrical system would be most appropriate. Trends in the historical data show that the break in the design space between the two systems is around 30 miles …

Comparison Of Regular Ringer's Solution And Glucose Ringer's Solution On The Longevity Of The Hirudo Medicinalis' Retzius Cell, Nicole Arielle Peretti

Master's Theses

In 1882, Sydney Ringer, a professor of medicine at University College in London, experimented with the frog ventricle to better understand how each constituent of blood influences contraction. The ultimate goal was to create an artificial circulating fluid to use for the perfusion of isolated organs, in this case, a frog heart. Today, Ringer’s solution is still used in research for physiological studies requiring the survival and maintenance of specimens outside of their host bodies. One such example is the use of medicinal leech ganglia for electrophysiological measurements. In this thesis, I am comparing two Ringer’s solutions, original versus added …

A Low-Cost Loop Measurement Tool For Dc-Dc Converters, Shouee B. Lin

Master's Theses

Loop measurements are very important in evaluating dynamic performance of DC-DC converters. In this thesis, a small loop measurement tool as a low-cost alternative to a network analyzer is proposed. The tool is particularly useful when a network analyzer is not always available for use, for example when engineers are working on-site with customers or when a network analyzer is not affordable due to their relatively high cost. The design, simulation, and hardware implementation of the inexpensive loop measurement tool will be presented in this thesis. Results from computer simulation and hardware prototype demonstrate the ability of the proposed tool …

Indoor Location Tracking And Orientation Estimation Using A Particle Filter, Ins, And Rssi, Cameron Ramin Nouri

Master's Theses

With the advent of wireless sensor technologies becoming more and more common-place in wearable devices and smartphones, indoor localization is becoming a heavily researched topic. One such application for this topic is in the medical field where wireless sensor devices that are capable of monitoring patient vitals and giving accurate location estimations allow for a less intrusive environment for nursing home patients.

This project explores the usage of using received signal strength indication (RSSI) in conjunction with an inertial navigation system (INS) to provide location estimations without the use of GPS in a Particle Filter with a small development microcontroller …

Embedded Power Active Contact Lens, Benny Ng

Master's Theses

This thesis designed and fabricated an active contact lens that notifies the user during the detection of an external wireless signal. The lens contained a printed antenna to communicate with a 2.4GHz system and provide inductive charging operating at 13.56 MHz. The lens utilizes a CBC005 5µAh thin film battery by Cymbet as a power source. A custom IC was designed using the On Semiconductor CMOS C5 0.6 µm process to manage the battery and drive the display. A printed single element display using electrochromic ink was chosen as it is able to indicate the user when activated while staying …

Social Maintenance Of Oppressive Structures, Stephen Gabourel

Master's Theses

This study intends to explore the ways in which religiously based parenting may serve as a vehicle for shaping personal attitudes about sexuality. As a result of their belief systems, increasingly religious parents are likely to adopt different parenting strategies than non-religious parents.

When a combination of authoritarian values and a particular adherence to conservative theology characterizes parenting, this may be responsible for the construction of distinct mindsets in young individuals. Parents that score high in fundamentalism and authoritarianism could exhibit a greater chance of raising children with beliefs similar to their own.

Through use of quantitative measures, this study …

Teacher Retention And Student Achievement: Environmental Factors, Social Capital And Interventions In Urban, Pre-Dominantly Latino Schools, Luis Xavier Benavides

Master's Theses

The quality of education in high poverty areas is often blamed on a number of factors - poor teaching, inadequate resources, an environment of hopelessness and mediocrity, lack of perseverance in the learner, lack of social programs and social capital. These factors are often compounded by effects of systemic racism in the student’s surrounding environment and in education system. This study focuses on one aspect of investigation: the impact of increased social capital for teachers on students’ school performance and interventions focused on building social capital between students, parents and teachers in urban, pre-dominantly Latino schools. Improving links between students, …

Experimental Evolution Of Specialism In A Wild Virus, Alexander Kula

Master's Theses

A pathogen's ability to successfully replicate and persist within a new host population is fraught with obstacles. While an expanded host-range allows for a greater chance at successful replication, such generalists are typically outcompeted by species which have specialized and adapted host-specific features. Although the most ubiquitous species on earth, very few bacteria-infecting viral species (bacteriophages) with truly broad host-ranges have been identified; this is partially due to the fact that only a small fraction of bacteria (and thus likely hosts) are amenable to laboratory conditions. Nevertheless, the processes of expanding as well as narrowing host-range are not well understood …

A Thematic Analysis Of Study Abroad Programs In Community College Institutions In The U.S., Christina Parker

Master's Theses

The following study focuses on community colleges and the textual website

materials they present regarding study abroad programs in order to illuminate the congruence between the overall community college mission of accessibility and the information presented on their study abroad websites. The text was evaluated by utilizing a thematic analysis coupled with multiple case studies and then further examined through the theoretical lenses of academic capitalism, institutional isomorphism, and universalism. The analysis of the text indicated that institutions are offering these programs for a combination of reasons, including institutional legitimacy, institutional revenue, and attempted student accessibility. The most significant deduction …