Digital Commons Network^™

No Little Plans: Envisioning The Bay Area Rapid Transit System And The Renewal Of Rapid Transit In The United States, Jake Coolidge

Master's Theses

Cities across the United States and Canada in the years following the Second World War witnessed reinvigorated efforts to construct rapid transit systems despite a decades-long decline in transit patronage, and central to these efforts was the visionary plan for the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District. The proponents of these new systems used their initial plans and feasibility studies to articulate a new vision for rapid transit, one that imagined rapid transit not merely as a practical transportation solution, but as a technologically advanced tool for reshaping urban regions. This evolving vision emerges in an examination of …

The Effects Of Mere Exposure On Responses To Foreign-Accented Speech, Lea Grossman

Master's Theses

The present study examined the effects of repeated exposure to the accent (standard American English vs. Asian Indian) of a prospective college professor on participants' cognitive reactions, affective reactions, and passage comprehension. Based on data collected from 115 undergraduate students, results showed that an Asian Indian-accented professor was perceived as being less competent, less likable, but more motivated than a standard American English speaking professor. In addition, the trustworthiness of the Asian Indian-accented professor decreased over time as well as participants' negative opinions of the professor. Finally, the results of the study indicate that when listening to the professor's foreign …

Analysis Of Three Types Of Sources To Determine The Existence Of Native Bees In Historical San Francisco, East Bay Area, Sharon Lee Ordeman

Master's Theses

The arrival of the missionaries in the late eighteenth century began the transformation of the San Francisco East Bay area from wetlands to orchards, grain fields, and grazing lands. This research considers the possibility that European and American newcomers enlarged native bee ranges in the East Bay cities of San Leandro, San Lorenzo, and Hayward when imported pollen and nectar-producing flora were planted. Three types of sources are analyzed: journals and diaries of explorers, missionaries, and botanists; native bee and plant specimens collected before the Gold Rush in 1848; and ethnographies of Ohlone Native Americans. Conclusive evidence for the presence …

Life History Characteristics Of The Starry Skate, Raja Stellulata, From California Waters, Kelsey James

Master's Theses

The order Rajiformes, or skates, is a morphologically conservative group that exhibits a wide range of life history characteristics. This inter-species variability warrants species-specific research. This study investigates the age, growth, reproduction, and habitat of the Starry Skate, Raja stellulata, which is endemic to the U.S. West Coast. Age and growth parameters were determined using two preparation techniques: gross sectioning and histological sectioning. The assumption that gross sections deposit one band pair a year was indirectly validated with centrum edge analysis and marginal increment ratio. It was not indirectly validated with histological sections. Age estimates from gross sections ranged from …

The Heart And Mind At Work: The Effects Of Implicit And Explicit Reasoning On Performance Appraisal, Scott Ryan

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Assessing Potential Industry Growth For Economic Development In Oakland, Ca, Sonia Aery

Master's Theses

This study prepares a set of career ladders for the population of Oakland. Career ladders are long-term progression pathways to help individuals advance, particularly in high wage, high growth careers. Career ladders combine different statistics on the demographics of a population with statistics about the area’s economic vitality and potential. This combination helps to identify the potential to strengthen an area’s economy and enhance individuals’ qualifications and wages.

One of the main reasons that people and large firms are attracted to a given city is the potential for economic stability. A stable economy is the result of the availability of …

Water Quality Performance Of A Reciprocating Biofilm Reactor For Treatment Of Dairy Wastewater, Jason Patrick Kane

Master's Theses

Removal of organic matter and nitrogen from concentrated wastewaters is often a complex and costly process that is rarely implemented in animal agriculture, such as the dairy industry, despite regulatory pressures and the high cost of land for manure application in some regions. This paper describes results from the first implementation for treatment of dairy farm wastewater of the relatively simple ReCip® technology. ReCip® typically consists of two basins filled with rock aggregate through which wastewater is flowed in series. One basin is full of wastewater and the other is only partially full. Wastewater is alternately pumped between the basins …

Expression Of The Artemisia Annua Β-Caryophyllene Synthase In Synechocystis Sp. Strain Pcc6803 Results In Cyanobacterial Sesquiterpene Accumulation, Robert Eric Reinsvold

Master's Theses

The sesquiterpene β-caryophyllene is a ubiquitous component of many plant resins and has been used in the cosmetic industry to provide a woody, spicy aroma. Recent clinical studies have shown its potential effectiveness as an antibiotic, anesthetic, and anti-inflammatory agent. Additionally, there is significant interest in sesquiterpene accumulation in phototrophic microorganisms for the production of biofuels. Currently, the isolation of β-caryophyllene relies on purification methods from oleoresins extracted from large amounts of plant material. The design of a cyanobacterium platform that produces β-caryophyllene may provide a more sustainable and controllable means of production, allowing for an increase in yield without …

An Open Management And Administration Platform For Ieee 802.11 Networks, Biju Raja Bajracharya

Master's Theses

The deployment of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) has greatly increased in past years. Due to the large deployment of the WLAN, the immediate need of management platforms has been recognized, which has a significant impact on the performance of a WLAN. Although there are various vendor-specific and proprietary solutions available in the market to cope with the management of wireless LAN, they have problems in interoperability and compatibility. To address this issues, IETF has come up with the interoperability standard of management of WLANs devices, Control And Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP) protocol, which is still in the …

Reproductive Life History Of Fundulus Jenkensi And Comparative Development Of Five Sympatric Fundulid Species, Eric Thomas Lang

Master's Theses

Fundulus jenkinsi is recognized federally and within the state of Mississippi as a Species of Concern. Little is known about the life history of this coastal killifish, but a detailed reproductive histology study of F. jenkinsi and a diagnostic key of the early life stages of select members of Fundulidae can provide the foundation needed to accurately identify it and quantify reproductive parameters in this rare species in need of conservation. Monthly gonadosomatic index (GSI) of male and female F. jenkinsi were documented, and spawning phases and oocyte stages were examined using reproductive histology. In addition, various stages of …

Franklin Boulevard Redevelopment Project Area Market Analysis, Joshua Chapman

Master's Theses

The following Market Analysis is an analysis of the Franklin Boulevard Redevelopment Project Area. The analysis is divided into the following four sections: ♦ Planning Context ♦ Real Estate Market Conditions ♦ Emerging Market Opportunities & Case Studies ♦ Conclusion The report serves as an opportunity to aide stakeholders of the Franklin Boulevard Redevelopment Project Area. Stakeholders include residents, business owners, the City of Sacramento, County of Sacramento, Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA), and the North Franklin District Business Association (NFDBA). The stakeholders are continually searching for data and creative examples of how to transform the area into a …

The Effectiveness Of Damage Arrestment Devices In Delaying Fastener-Hole Interaction Failures In Carbon Fiber Polyurethane Foam Composite Sandwich Panels Subjected To Static And Dynamic Loading Under Increased Temperatures, Dominic E. Surano

Master's Theses

A study was conducted to investigate simple, cost-effective manufacturing techniques to delay skin-core delamination, micro-buckling and bearing stress failures resulting from fastener-hole interactions. Composite sandwich panels, with and without damage arrestment devices (DADs), were subjected to monotonic compression at a rate of 5mm per second, and compression-compression fatigue at 50% yield at an amplitude of 65%, under temperatures of 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, and 200 °F.

The sandwiches tested were composed of two-layer cross-weave carbon fiber facesheets, a polyurethane foam core, and an epoxy film adhesive to join the two materials. The most successful method to delay the aforementioned …

Design And Implementation Of User Level Socket Application Programming Interface With Socket Splitting And Mediation, Scott Walter Holzer

Master's Theses

Over the past few decades, the size and scope of the Internet has grown exponentially. In order to maintain support for legacy clients, new applications and services have been limited by dependence on traditional sockets and TCP, which provide no support for modifying endpoints after connection setup. This forces applications to implement their own logic to reroute communications to take advantage of composable services or handle failover. Some solutions have added socket operations that allow for endpoints to be redirected on the fly, but these have been limited in scope to handling failover and load balancing.

We present two new …

Modeling And Numerical Investigation Of Hot Gas Defrost On A Finned Tube Evaporator Using Computational Fluid Dynamics, Oai The Ha

Master's Theses

Defrosting in the refrigeration industry is used to remove the frost layer accumulated on the evaporators after a period of running time. It is one way to improve the energy efficiency of refrigeration systems. There are many studies about the defrosting process but none of them use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. The purpose of this thesis is (1) to develop a defrost model using the commercial CFD solver FLUENT to simulate numerically the melting of frost coupled with the heat and mass transfer taking place during defrosting, and (2) to investigate the thermal response of the evaporator and the …

The Impact Of Perceived Risk From Challenge Courses On Group Cohesion, Ryan R. Soares

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of perceived risk from high elements in a challenge course on group cohesion. Participants who have not participated in a challenge course will be selected from a First Year Experience cohort at a California State University (n=100). Six randomly selected teams of 12 to 17 people will participate in three and a half hour challenge course programs. Half of the groups completed only low elements, while the other half completed a combination of low and high elements. A pre, mid, and post test of the Group Cohesion Evaluation Questionnaire was …

Movement Of Selected Nearshore Temperate Reef Fishes Along California's Central Coast, Leslie Jaye Longabach

Master's Theses

Worldwide fisheries decline has spurred the utilization of new conservation and management approaches, including the implementation of marine reserves. The diversity of goals and expected outcomes should guide the marine reserve design process, coupled with a thorough understanding of the ecology of all species targeted for protection. Central California’s network of coastal marine protected areas (MPAs) was established in an environment of some uncertainty regarding the expected outcomes for temperate nearshore fish species, especially the Sebastes genus (rockfishes). Movement behavior of temperate reef-fishes plays an important role in the level of protection that a reserve will afford a species. Consistent …

Glorious Constructions: The Struggle To Preserve Salvation-Themed Visionary Art Environments, Molly Elaine Sheehan

Master's Theses

Salvation-themed art environments are a roadside rarity, built out of a strong visionary dedication to God, but the sites are disappearing simply because the work is misunderstood. The historiography on the subject is sparse, trending more toward coffee table books with big glossy pictures than real scholarly endeavors, but the consensus among all has been clear. The sites are a valuable part of the recent American cultural landscape, crossing several scholarly fields - art, architecture, and history - and uniting them into a cohesive preservation movement. On a series of trips to visit, see, and experience five of these sites, …

The Effect Of Calcified Plaque On Stress Within A Fibrous Thin Cap Atheroma In An Atherosclerotic Coronary Artery Using Finite Element Analysis (Fea), Ellerie Nagy

Master's Theses

Atherosclerosis causes hundreds of thousands of deaths in the US alone every year. Fibrous cap rupture is one of the leading causes of these fatalities. Thin cap atheromas are commonly regarded as vulnerable plaque, however the effect of calcium upon a thin fibrous cap with lipid pool is poorly understood. Some studies have shown that calcium adds to stability of the lesion, while others have proven otherwise. An article by Li et al. 2007 suggests location is the key factor. By varying the percentage of calcium and lipid within a defined region, the stress on the cap was estimated using …

An Investigation Of Damage Arrestment Devices Application With Fastener/Hole Interaction, Richard Vincent S. Balatbat

Master's Theses

This thesis presents a parametric study on the effects of how damage arrestment devices application interacts with a fastener in a composite sandwich panel. The primary objective of the damage arrestment device was to prevent the failure of the composite face sheet, such as crack propagation, around the hole/fastener joint. The damage arrestment devices are made of composite strips that are inserted under the face sheet to increase the overall structural strength of the panel and to prevent the propagation of failure along the hole. This was supposed to be a quicker and stronger alternative to potted inserts for composite …

A University Course To Facilitate The Transition Into, Through, And Beyond College Life, Matthew A. Crivello

Master's Theses

The purpose of this project was to review the literature associated with the social and psychological adjustments freshmen and transfer intercollegiate athletes face as they transition into college and create a mandatory course to assist them through their transition into California Polytechnic State University. This project led to the creation of an academic course that will be offered at California Polytechnic State University in the near future. This course could serve as an impetus for coaches, faculty, and administrators at other universities to develop similar courses, or reevaluate established course offerings, and to develop follow-up course training for intercollegiate athletes …

Multi-Frequency Processing For Lumen Enhancement With Wideband Intravascular Ultrasound, Rory A. Carrillo

Master's Theses

The application of high frequency ultrasound is the key to higher resolution intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) images. The need to further improve the IVUS spatial resolution may drive the transducer center frequency even higher than the current 40 MHz range. However, increasing the center frequency may be challenging as it leads to stronger scattering echoes from blood. The high level of blood scattering echoes may obscure the arterial lumen and make image interpretation difficult. Blood backscatter levels increase with transmission center frequency at a much greater rate compared to arterial tissue. These different frequency dependencies provide a potential method to distinguish …

Corrosion Dynamics Of Cobalt-Chromium Alloy F-75 Powder, Tedman Tong

Master's Theses

The increasing usage of metal-on-metal joint replacements consisting of a cobalt-chromium-molybdenum alloy requires increasing concern regarding the inevitable generation of metallic wear debris. Patients with these joint replacements exhibit elevated concentrations of cobalt and chromium ions within their serum, blood and urine. The presence of these metal ions suggests the potential for bodily damage and indicates corrosive processes are acting upon wear debris.

To understand the behavior of these corrosive processes, powders of cobalt-chromium-molybdenum alloy F-75 were studied. Four powder sizes (44, 74, 105, and 420 µm diameter) were subjected to Hank’s Balanced Salt Solution (HBSS) for a 42 day …

The "F" Word: An Exploration Of Feminist Identity In Undergraduate Students, Emily Michelle Hedstrom-Lieser

Master's Theses

While the majority of women living in the U.S. agree with feminist inspired goals, few claim a feminist identity. This study explored predictors of feminist identification in a sample of 233 undergraduate women at a mid-western university in the Rocky Mountain region. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify themes, and scales were assembled for use in OLS regression. Significant predictors of feminist identification included believing in the relevance of feminism in contemporary social issues, current exposure to feminism, support for feminist goals and ideals and recognition of women's differential access to resources. Research findings suggest that current exposure to …

Photomicrography As An Artistic Medium, Nicholas James Eubank

Master's Theses

This thesis investigated the problems associated with artistically photographing patterns that exist within the microscopic world echoed on a larger scale throughout nature. Photographing these patterns at a microscopic level presented a number of difficulties not associated with photographing patterns through traditional photographic means. This thesis explored the problems associated with photographing subjects on a microscopic level, specifically the issues presented by lighting subjects. Experimental techniques with multiple light sources as well as light spectrum were explored. Also explored was the history of microscopy and popular processes for modern microscopy. Images were created utilizing either a compound microscope or stereomicroscope …

Meiotic Insurance: Designing A System To Study Crossover Control In Yeast, Kate V. Karfilis

Master's Theses

Meiosis is a specialized form of cell division in which haploid gametes are produced from diploid progenitors. This reduction in ploidy results from proper meiotic chromosome segregation and is ensured by crossover recombination events. Given their importance, it is no surprise that crossover formation is regulated in most eukaryotes. Crossover assurance is a regulatory mechanism that helps to ensure that each pair of chromosomes gets at least one crossover during meiosis.

We seek to better understand how crossover assurance works. To do so, we have developed a system in which crossover formation between a pair of chromosomes is restricted to …

Integration Of Microfluidics With Surface Plasmon Resonance, Scott B. Fratzke

Master's Theses

This thesis successfully integrates laminate microfluidic devices with an analytic Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) instrument. Integration was accomplished at low-cost using materials such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), Tygon tubing, and a 3-way stopcock. The main components of this thesis are the design and fabrication of the low-cost, in-house fluidics that can integrate with upstream microfluidics and the validation of the in-house fluidics using the Biosensing Instruments BI-2000 SPR instrument. The low-cost fluidics was designed and fabricated “in-house” using a novel investment casting technique that required the use of laser cutting technology to make a master cast, and candle …

"Civilized My Syphilized Yarbles": Culture, Economy, And Deviant Youth Subcultures In Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange, Emily Joy Carpenter

Master's Theses

This thesis utilizes Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange to develop a new discussion concerning the impact of the emergence of youth subculture on society in England in the 1950s. Youth subcultures like the Nadsats and the Teddy Boys developed a new style that undermined the social taboos, and in doing so, attempted to create a sense of identity that was separated from their parents and existing forms of both high and low cultures. However, instead of transcending these sources of authority and identity, the language and style of these new subcultures actually only provided the illusion of difference from society. …

Reproductive Behaviors Of Male And Female Blackspotted Topminnows, Fundulus Olivaceus, Melissa Ann Gutierrez

Master's Theses

The aim of the study was to characterize the reproductive behaviors of male and female blackspotted topminnows in the Pascagoula Drainage. I focused on phenotypic traits, size and number of dorsolateral spots, in males that possibly could cue a female to choose one male more frequently than other males present in the spawning group. With the use microsatellite markers, I was able to determine parentage in trial where a single female was allowed to choose among phenotypically different males. I found that in all trials one male mated with the female(s) present. I also found that in all cases the …

Implementation Of Physiologic Pressure Conditions In A Blood Vessel Mimic Bioreactor System, Kevin Mark Okarski

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Implementation of Physiologic Pressure Conditions in a Blood Vessel Mimic Bioreactor System

Kevin Mark Okarski

Tissue engineering has traditionally been pursued as a therapeutic science intended for restoring or replacing diseased or damaged biologic tissues or organs. Cal Poly’s Blood Vessel Mimic Laboratory is developing a novel application of tissue engineering as a tool for the preclinical evaluation of intravascular devices. The blood vessel mimic (BVM) system has been previously used to assess the tissue response to deployed stents, but under non-physiologic conditions. Since then, efforts have been made to improve the vessel and bioreactor’s ability to emulate in …

A Comparative Study Of Three Growing Media And Four Plant Groups Under Extensive Green Roof Conditions In San Luis Obispo, Ca, Todd Alan Nelson

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT A Comparative Study of Three Growing Media and Four Plant Groups Under Extensive Green Roof Conditions in San Luis Obispo, California Todd A. Nelson Green roof growing media and plant species are critical factors when deciding on the best materials for a project. Growing media must be chosen in accordance with load bearing capacities of structures and water requirements of the plant material. Plant species must be able to thrive in the climate of the green roof and withstand a green roof’s harsh environment. The objectives of this research were: (1) to determine which of three extensive green roof …