Digital Commons Network^™

Addressing Childhood Obesity Through The Built Environment: The Guadalupe Case Sudy, Sophia Y. Lai

Master's Theses

This project takes a look at the impacts of our built environment on obesity in children living in racial and ethnic communities in relation to city planning. The results of this project results in a comprehensive report to provide an in-depth look into understanding the important relationships between children’s health and the built environment and understanding the best practices and recommendations for improving health in Guadalupe.

Located in the Santa Barbara County, the City of Guadalupe is mainly an agricultural town with over 85 percent of its residents who are of Hispanic Origin. With almost half of its Latino population …

Water And Nutrient Recycling In High Rate Algae Ponds Fed In Primary Treated Municipal Wastewater, Michael Field Chang

Master's Theses

Algal biofuels present a promising future alternative to petroleum based fuels. Water nutrient recycling is a key step to increase the sustainability of algae biofuel production facilities. This thesis discusses the process of nutrient and water recycling in high rate algae raceway ponds (HRAP) fed primary treated municipal wastewater. Research was conducted primarily at the San Luis Obispo Water Resource Reclamation Facility (SLOWRRF). Nine 30 m², 0.3 m deep HRAP’s were operated continuously from June 1, 2013 to April 17, 2014. The ponds were arranged in three sets of triplicate ponds, with two pond sets run on 3-day …

The Use Of Mobile Technology In Professional Planning And Local Government Practice, Kayla Gordon

Master's Theses

As advances in web and mobile technologies have rapidly changed the world of businesses, they have also begun to fundamentally change the way local governments understand and interact with their communities. In an effort to evaluate the use of online and mobile technology for government work, this thesis examines the use of mobile technology as a vehicle for local government practice, specifically looking at the field of urban planning. These opportunities have been broadened with the introduction of Internet-enabled mobile devices, as location-based information is used to increase awareness of user activity, movements and behaviors in real-time conditions and specific …

Characterizing The Reproducibility Of The Properties Of Electrospun Poly(D, L-Lactide-Co-Glycolide) Scaffolds For Tissue-Engineered Blood Vessel Mimics, Toni M. Pipes

Master's Theses

“Blood vessel mimics” (BVMs) are tissue-engineered constructs that serve as in vitro preclinical testing models for intravascular devices. The Cal Poly Tissue Engineering lab specifically uses BVMs to test the cellular response to stent implantation. PLGA scaffolds are electrospun in-house using the current “Standard Protocol” and used as the framework for these constructs. The performance of BVMs greatly depends on material and mechanical properties of the scaffolds. It is desirable to create BVMs with reproducible properties so that they can be consistent models that ultimately generate more reliable results for intravascular device testing. Reproducibility stems from the consistency of the …

Pismo Beach Public Art Program, Garrett Tyler Norman

Master's Theses

Public art plays a significant role in communities around the world. It embodies a close relationship between the artist, the space in which it’s being exhibited, and the public. The development of this project examined various literary sources that demonstrated the importance of public art and how cities, artists, and community members may benefit from the incorporation of public art. This project included the framework for development of a Public Art Program for the City of Pismo Beach, California, which outlined the critical steps of a planning process and implementation of the program.

Optimization Of Growth Parameters For Algal Regrowth Potential Experiments, Chadwick D. Boggess

Master's Theses

Water cost is one of the key deterrents in making algal biofuels a feasible alternative to traditional petroleum fuels. Research into recycling of algal media was conducted in a laboratory setting at the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. A growth assay was created to allow for algal cultures, specifically Ward’s Chlorella sp., to proliferate in sealed culture vessels. Bold’s Basal Medium (BBM) was selected as the media due to its extensive use with freshwater algal strains. However, this medium can limit algal growth through nutrient limitation and it became necessary to augment the original recipe. 50mM …

The Effect Of Pretreatment Methods On Methane Yield And Nutrient Solubilization During Anaerobic Digestion Of Microalgae, Alexander Scott Hill

Master's Theses

Microalgal biomass is a candidate feedstock for biofuel production. To improve the sustainability of algae biofuel production, following biofuel recovery, the biomass nutrients should be recycled for additional algae growth. Anaerobic digestion of algae or oil-extracted algae is a means of recovering carbon and other nutrients, while offsetting algae production electricity demand. The major limiting factor in microalgae digestion is the low biodegradability of the cell walls. In the present study, various pretreatment technologies were tested at bench scale for their ability to improve raw, non-lipid-extracted algae biodegradability, which was assessed in terms of methane yield, volatile solids destruction, and …

Investigation Of Chromosome Size Effect On The Rate Of Crossovers In The Meiotic Yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Lanie Maria Galland

Master's Theses

Meiosis is a specialized type of cell division characterized by a single round of DNA replication and two rounds of chromosome segregation, ultimately resulting in four haploid cells. During meiosis I, chromosomes align and reciprocal recombination results in the formation of a crossover, creating the tension required to properly segregate homologs during the first round of meiosis.

Two mechanisms involved in regulating the occurrence of crossing over are assurance and interference. Crossover assurance describes the phenomenon that at least one crossover will form between each pair of homologous chromosomes during prophase I. Crossover interference, on the other hand, describes the …

Latino Rhythms In Downtown Los Angeles: A Case Study Of The Social, Physical, And Economic Environment Of "La Broadway", Ulises Antonio Gonzalez

Master's Theses

In an attempt to practice inclusive planning, this research project explores whether Broadway Avenue functions as an ethnic commercial strip and identifies social, physical, and economic components that contribute to the Latino neighborhood/ barrio. Using pilot studies Loukaitou-Sideris (2000), Loukaitou-Sideris (2002), Rojas (1993), Manzumdar et al. (2000), Main (2007), and Fernando (2007) as a foundation, this research uses a single case study in addition to several research methods: 42 random surveys, literature review and analysis, site observations/pictures, and land use survey.

Various scholars write that barrios have unique physical, social, economic, and political attributes. A new aesthetic, art, symbols, …

Cooperative Construction In Schools In California, John Mauck Donley

Master's Theses

Cooperative Construction in Schools in California

John M. Donley

The construction industry has lost efficiency since 1964, while becoming increasingly more litigious. Schools in California can ill afford the time to allow the construction industry time to fully evolve. It may take years or decades to fully improve the efficiency of, and reduce the conflict within the construction industry.

At the same time, the construction industry has developed new processes to improve efficiency and reduce conflict. These processes are beginning to be broadly embraced by the industry. They all contain cooperative elements. Taken together they represent a new organizing principle …

Integrating Solar Energy And Local Government Resilience Planning, Stephan Wayne Schmidt

Master's Theses

Resilience and solar energy are separately growing in popularity for urban planners and similar professionals. This project links the two discrete terms together and examines the extent to which solar energy can improve local government resilience efforts. It includes a detailed literature review of both topics, as well as the methodology and findings related to a survey and interviews of local government officials and key stakeholders across the country related to hazard mitigation and energy assurance planning.

This research finds that integrating the use of solar energy can improve local government resilience efforts related to mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery …

Protist Facilitated Transport In An Artificial Soil Micromodel, Rebecca L. Rubinstein

Master's Theses

The soil microhabitat contains a complex network of microbial, biochemical, and physical interactions, all of which have very important implications for remediation technologies as well as agriculture. As a result, observing and quantifying this environment has been of recurring interest to scientists and engineers, but by nature many of these processes are difficult if not impossible to observe in situ. To that end, we have developed techniques utilizing soil-structured microfluidic devices for direct observation of soil microbial processes. Specifically, natural soil protists were observed moving through fabricated artificial soil networks, and their impact on the spatial and temporal distribution …

John La Farge’S Stained Glass Windows At The Thomas Crane Memorial Library: Old Philosopher, Alpha, And Omega, Matthew P. Bowman

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Glass Foundation Chemosensor Synthesis And Functionality Analysis, Justin D. Dancer

Master's Theses

Chemosensors are created through a series of reaction steps on controlled pore class (CPG) and terminate with a Cu²⁺ metal binding site. Each monolayer of reactant insures that the metal binding site exposed to solution would serve as an indicator displacement assay (IDA) sensor. The purpose of this research is to create a molecular sensor with a high density of terminal metal sites to quantify bidentate substrates. To accomplish this, each synthetic step of the sensor is examined in order to test the effects of new linkers, ligands, and variously sized dendrimers to see if small structural changes could …

High Order Statistics Of Natural And Manmade Sounds, Rahul Narayan

Master's Theses

Environmental sounds, both man-made and natural, vary on multiple time and frequency scales generating a large range of temporal, spectral and amplitude modulations that are evident in the high-order statistics of the sound spectrogram. Healthy hearing humans perceive high-order statistical regularities and use this information to categorize and discriminate sounds. This paper tests the hypothesis that biologically motivated sound statistics can enable/enhance discrimination and identification of sound categories from a computational standpoint. A large catalogue of natural and man-made sounds and their associated high-order contrast and intensity statistics were developed, and the information carrying content of each statistic for sound …

The Influence Of Geographic Location On Sexual Behaviors Related To The Transmission Of Hiv In Mainland Tanzania, Ashley E. Robinette

Master's Theses

Purpose of the Research:

The purpose of this study is to identify how differences in sexual behaviors related to HIV/AIDS are influenced by geographic location, specifically urban and rural regions of Tanzania. By analyzing populations from urban and rural areas, the social factors associated with the regions are hypothesized to influence HIV/AIDS-related behaviors differently with varied outcomes.

Methods Used:

This study used data from the 2011-12 Tanzania HIV/AIDS and Malaria Indicator Survey (THMIS). The data includes both individual and household responses concerning knowledge and attitudes about HIV/AIDS, access to health care and risky sexual behaviors. The sexual behaviors/practices included in …

Social And Environmental Risk Factors For Anemia And Malnutrition Among Adolescent Girls In Mumbai, India, Dylan E. Graetz

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Attitudes And Beliefs Regarding The Collection Of Race, Ethnicity And Primary Language Information In Healthcare Settings, Roberto A. Henry

Master's Theses

Public health researchers, practitioners and policy makers are increasingly trying to uncover, quantify and address health disparities, which are differences in health outcomes among population subgroups (Nepaul et al., 2007). Health disparities are understood to be the consequences of differences in care, the health services infrastructure, and information systems available to persons by virtue of their gender, race, ethnicity, education level, etc. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011; Institute of Medicine, 2009). In the United States, we commonly study health disparities occurring across racial and ethnic groups, requiring the collection of race, ethnicity and language data in order …

Typhoons And Temperature Impact Crime Rates: Evidence From The Philippines, Emily Wetherley

Master's Theses

This study assesses the impact of typhoons and temperature on interpersonal, property, and non-index crime rates using a novel data set from the Philippines. Distributed lag OLS regression analysis shows that in the concurrent year of increased precipitation, theft rates decrease, but in the year following high average wind-speeds, theft rates increase again. The only significant result of impacts crimes against persons is the rate of physical injury which decreases in years of higher precipitation. These results are defended by interview and focus group information. This study also shows that higher average temperatures cause significantly higher rates of murder, index …

The Influence Of Intermittent Hand Cooling On Rectal Temperature And Performance In The Heat While Wearing An American Football Uniform, Michael W. Sundeen

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Bimodal Approach Using Spectroscopy And Digitial Imaging To Assist Otitis Media Diagnosis, Kaitlyn M. Longo

Master's Theses

Otitis Media is defined as inflammation of the middle ear region associated with middle ear fluid. This condition typically follows an upper respiratory infection, is commonly misdiagnosed by physicians and can potentially lead to the inappropriate use of antimicrobial agents. ^[1] This thesis describes the design of a novel medical device that utilized spectroscopy and digital imaging to provide physicians with a unique representation of the middle ear. Published literature has been reviewed to assess the different approaches that researchers have studied to improve the diagnosis of otitis media, where, for example, research conducted by Thorton et al. and Boppart …

It Isn’T Just Skin Deep: Adolescents And Appearance In Connecticut, Avery Lachance

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Rapid Prototyping Tools For Power Electronic Converters, Amruta V. Kulkarni

Master's Theses

In recent years, demand for utilization of power electronic converters in industrial, commercial and household applications has increased significantly. It is critical for engineers to design these converters in a short duration. Considering the time constraints on engineers it’s not surprising that rapid prototyping tools have become very popular in the industry. Through rapid prototyping, users can estimate power loss and cost which are essential to design decisions. The research presented here treats main power electronic components of a converter as building blocks that can be arranged to obtain various topologies to facilitate rapid prototyping. In order to get system-level …

Experimental Investigations Of The Combination Of A Heat Pipe With Metal Foam Or Foils For Enhancing Heat Transfer During The Melting And Solidification Of A Phase Change Material (Pcm) For Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage Applications, Michael J. Allen

Master's Theses

Various thermal energy storage (TES) systems including latent heat TES (LHTES), sensible heat TES and chemical TES are reviewed and analyzed with an emphasis on LHTES. LHTES is considered here due its high energy density which results in a significant reduction in the overall system size (volume and mass). However, LHTES systems have been limited in the past by the low thermal conductivity of most phase change materials (PCMs). A detailed experimental investigation is conducted to investigate the innovative combination of a heat pipe (HP) with either metal foam or foils. A cylindrical experimental apparatus is constructed to obtain the …

Inhibition Of Urinary Tract Infections And Biofilm Formation On Long-Term Indwelling Urethral Catheters Through Antibacterial Coatings, Jonathan L. Russo

Master's Theses

Indwelling urethral catheters are both important and convenient biomedical devices for many people. They provide incontinent and/or paraplegic patients an involuntary method of emptying their bladder. The catheters are inserted through the patient’s urethra to the posterior portion of the bladder. A balloon is inflated with water to keep it secure and in place. The tip of the catheter has an eye hole exposing the lumen of the catheter. The urine in the bladder drains through the lumen and out of the body into a collection bag. Catheters can potentially have 2 problems. First, they are prone to calcium/magnesium phosphate …

Physical Activity And Nutritional Behavior Of Overweight College Students Trying To Lose Weight 2014, Santino Vallejos M.S.

Master's Theses

Although there are numerous benefits to increased physical activity and proper dietary behaviors, the decreased participation in physical activity and poor dietary behaviors has emerged as a significant problem within the college student population. The focus of this research study was to identify the relationship between physical activity and dietary behavior to weight loss behaviors within an undergraduate student sample of a small, comprehensive northeastern university. College-aged students (age range: 17 to 27 years old) completed the American College Health Association’s (ACHA) National College Health Assessment II (NCHA) during the years 2009 and 2012. According to the results, there were …

Investigating Present And Future Interactions Between Radio Frequency Identification, Additive Manufacturing And Supply Chain Management, Michael Nobuhiro Ochi

Master's Theses

A screening experiment was paired with research observing the past, present and futures of additive manufacturing (a.k.a. rapid prototyping, 3D printing), radio frequency identification, and supply chain management. The experiment tested different properties of objects created with a desktop fused deposition modelling printer to observe if any single factors or interactions affected the read range of embedded passive UHF RFID inlay. The combination of material and infill percentage had a statistically significant effect on read range, however the analysis is weak since the data could not justify the normality assumption of ANOVA. Furthermore, the size of the effect was small …

School, Disability Status, And Delinquency: An Examination Of Delinquency Among Rural Adolescents, Miriam Yvonne Brooks

Master's Theses

Extensive research has been devoted to identifying risk-factors that contribute to the onset of juvenile delinquency. Furthermore, evidence has suggested that a disproportionate number of adolescents with learning disabilities are confined in juvenile correctional facilities. Yet, there is a substantial gap in empirical research that explores the possible relationship between learning disabilities and delinquent behavior. The purpose of the current study is to assess how specific learning disabilities relate to various forms of delinquent behavior among adolescents from rural high schools in a southern state. Specifically, this study aims to assess how Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, and Dysgraphia relate to drug use, …

Race, Gender, And Deliberative Democracy: Overcoming Oppression Through The Theatre Of The Oppressed, Jacob Edward Rothschild

Master's Theses

A great deal of recent democratic political theory has revolved around the concept of democratic deliberation. However, this brand of theory has neither fully addressed the need for empathy between social groups in the deliberative process nor sufficiently examined the consequences of its absence. Such intergroup empathy is a necessary component of political communication that seeks to root out oppression in a liberal democracy. This project begins with a review of the basic tenets of deliberative democracy, as well as its most common challenges. Habermas' theory of systematically distorted communication is then explored, with intergroup empathy as a suggested remedy. …

Study Of The Structure-Property Relationships That Determine The Effects Of Latexes And Starch Containing Latex Emulsions On The Performance Of The Barrier Coatings (Sub-Coat) For Paper, Joanna Marie Monfils

Master's Theses

The history of carbonless paper dates back to the 1940s. Before this, a carbon copy sheet was needed between sheets of paper to be able to produce one or more copies simultaneously during writing. The pressure from a pen or typewriter would help deposit the ink of the carbon paper onto the blank sheet of paper under the original written sheet to create a “carbon copy.” This method did however, have its disadvantages. Not only did it produce a limited number of copies, but it was also a messy process. So came the creative process of using microencapsulated dyes to …