Digital Commons Network^™

Developing And Building A Lean Based Rfid Electronic Kanban Prototype, Ryan Chang

Master's Theses

The kanban system is a popular Toyota lean manufacturing tool used to help facilitate material movement between workstations and suppliers. Since the 1950’s, the original kanban system has undergone many different variations due to the advancement of technology and unique company implementation. This report focuses on the development and building of a new variation of the kanban system using lean principles while integrating radio frequency identification (RFID) technology with a fully electronic based kanban card system. This new type of kanban system will be called the RFID E-Kanban in this report. Since the lean philosophy is to reduce non-value added …

The New Bicycle Model: Introducing Software Considerations Early Into The Systems Engineering Design And Integration Process, Nathaniel Dinglasan Angat

Master's Theses

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Sunnyvale, California is in the business of designing and engineering satellites for commercial and government customers. This task is by no means a trivial endeavor but Lockheed MartinSunnyvale has many decades of experience in Systems Engineering. Training in systems engineering is a long process whose training tools must be kept up-to-date and appropriate as new advances in technology evolve along-side with the processes that develop these ever-evolving solutions. For many years new systems engineers have been introduced to the Bicycle Model as a paradigm for designing and developing complex systems that are composed of diverse …

Effect Of Food Security And Federal Food Assistance Participation On Household Availability And Recorded Preschool Child Consumption Of Sugar Sweetened Beverages And 100% Fruit Juice, Katherine A. Yarbrough

Master's Theses

Sugar sweetened beverage consumption is on the rise in the United States, particularly among children. However, the impact of household food security and federal food assistance participation on beverage habits has not been extensively analyzed. This paper sought to fill the current gap in literature on household beverage availability and recorded preschool child consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) and 100% fruit juice based on food security levels and status of federal food assistance participation. For this thesis, SSB are beverages that have added sugar and include fruit drinks, sodas, sports drinks, syrups, flavored milks, and teas. Baseline data from …

Development Of Repressible Systems To Control Gene Expression In Vaccinia Virus, Allison Titong

Master's Theses

Two vaccinia virus (VACV) expression systems that contain elements from the lactose (lac) and the tetracycline (tet) operons of E. coli were developed to repress the expression of a reporter gene, enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP), in the presence of tet operon inducers. In the first system, lac and tet operon elements were arranged in a gene circuit, and in the presence of increasing concentrations of a lac operon inducer (isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactoside, IPTG), EGFP expression increased in a dose dependent manner and at high IPTG concentrations, expression reached the same levels as a positive control virus. Importantly, in the …

Using Nwp Analysis In Satellite Rainfall Estimation Of Heavy Precipitation Events Over Complex Terrain, Xinxuan Zhang

Master's Theses

This study investigates the use of Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) high-resolution storm analysis in satellite rainfall estimation over complex terrains. Rainfall estimation here is based on the NOAA-Climate Prediction Center morphing (CMORPH) product. Specifically, CMORPH rainfall is adjusted by applying a power-law function whose parameter values are obtained from the comparison between WRF and CMORPH hourly rain rates. Results are presented based on the analyses of five storm cases that induced catastrophic floods in southern Europe. The WRF-based adjusted CMORPH rain rates exhibited improved error statistics against independent radar-rainfall estimates. We show that the adjustment reduces the underestimation of …

The Role Of Transport Phenomena In The Direct Oxidation Of Solid Fuels, Charles J. Banas

Master's Theses

Direct carbon fuel cells have shown promise for stationary power generation by utilizing the direct oxidation of a solid carbon fuel source at the anode. In laboratory settings, researchers have reported up to 300mA/cm2 of current density from these cells types which suffer from mass transport losses. This paper studies the surface properties of the solid fuel source, and describes the process of CO2 evolution through an analogy to pool boiling. In nucleate boiling (a subset of pool boiling) vapor bubbles grow from nucleation sites where gas are trapped in micro-cavities on the surface. Carbon surfaces possess these same features, …

Network- Level Pavement Performance And Management Study In Connecticut, Ramandeep S. Josen

Master's Theses

This thesis presents the analysis of asphalt pavement cracking data on the network level in Connecticut. Pavement performance indicators including longitudinal and transverse cracking as well as roughness are investigated with respect to numerous distinct factors that can be grouped into three categories, i.e. climatic-, pavement structure-, and traffic-related. High-quality climatic data was obtained from the national weather stations in Connecticut. Maintenance and construction data was used to determine the pavement age and structure amongst several other factors. Traffic data was acquired from the state records and accumulated traffic loading was estimated for all segments based on their age. High …

The Effects Of Bolt Pretension, In-Plane Eccentricity, And Friction On The Ductility Of Block Shear Connections, Kevin M. Zmetra

Master's Theses

Block shear is a complex failure mechanism in bolted and welded steel components such as gusset plates, webs of coped beams, angles and tees. It presumes a combination of tension rupture and shear yield. Multiple variables affect the block shear capacity and ductility of a connection. This study investigates the effects of bolt pretension, connection eccentricity and friction force transfer through a series of destructive experiments followed by refined finite element simulation. Clamping forces create a complex triaxial stress field compounded by the stress concentration at the bolt holes. In-plane load eccentricity with respect to the centerline of the connection …

Reducing Knowledge Overconfidence By Reducing The Threat Of Knowledge Cue Utilization, Christopher Neil Burrows

Master's Theses

Overconfident judgments are common. We are often more confident about things than we should be, and this may lead us to make maladaptive decisions. Debiasing confidence by cuing people in to how confident they should be could help people make better choices. However, people may be unwilling to accept debiasing information if doing so implies their own ignorance. This study examined whether self-affirmation can buffer people against threats to self-image, helping people to accept debiasing cues. I hypothesized that combining a cue with self-affirmation would lead to enhanced debiasing over cues or self-affirmation alone. In order to investigate this hypothesis, …

Raf-1 Kinase Inhibitor Protein Regulates Cell Migration And Proliferation Of Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts, Donghui Song

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Movement, Habitat Use And Detection Probability Of Bridle Shiner Estimated By Patch Occupancy Modeling In A Connecticut Watershed, Timothy Jensen

Master's Theses

The bridle shiner (Notropis bifrenatus) is believed to have once been an important prey item throughout its native range; however, recent reports suggest populations have declined significantly and the species is now widely considered as imperiled. Habitats that are associated with this species are typically difficult to sample using traditional methods, making it unclear how much of the observed range reduction could be actual or perceived. My objectives were to estimate detection probability of bridle shiner, evaluate the importance of habitat on their distribution, and determine patterns of movement among habitat patches. I employed a repeated surveys design …

Identifying Barriers To Adherence For Hiv+ Patients Placed On Renal Dosing, Richard S. Colon Jr

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Weierstrass Points On Families Of Graphs, William D. Lindsay Jr.

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Between Liv-1 And E-Cadherin (Cdh1) In Prostate Cancer Cells, Lei Cao

Master's Theses

BACKGROUND

The zinc importer LIV-1 is widely distributed, mainly in hormonally controlled tissues. Attention has focused on its role in breast cancer, especially its regulation by estrogen and epidermal growth factor (EGF) and its link to the Epithelial–Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) marker, E-cadherin (CDH1). EMT is important for tumor progression and metastasis. CDH1 expression is under complex control, including by two transcriptional repressors, Snail and Slug. Contrast to CDH1, elevated MMP-9 expression has been linked to increased metastasis and tumor stage.

METHODS

The role of LIV-1 in prostate cancer cell lines, LNCaP and DU145 was investigated. Cells were treated with or …

Biochemical Evaluation Of Srh Analogs As Potential Luxs Inhibitors, Richa Gupta

Master's Theses

Quorum sensing in bacteria is a process of cell-to-cell communication facilitated by small molecules called autoinducers. Interspecies quorum sensing is facilitated by the autoinducer AI-2. The enzyme LuxS catalyzes the formation of AI-2 from S-ribosyl homocysteine (SRH) in a wide variety of bacterial species. Inhibition of LuxS would therefore inhibit interspecies quorum sensing. The goal of this project is to establish biochemical assays for the evaluation of small molecules as potential LuxS inhibitors. The first assay is a conventional colorimetric assay that utilizes Ellman’s reagent to quantify the homocysteine byproduct of DPD production by LuxS. For this assay purified …

Green Tea Extract Protects Against Fibrogenesis Associated With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease In Diet-Induced Obese Rats, Allyson M. Bower

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Active Storage And Ssd Caching In An Object Storage Environment, Michael T. Runde

Master's Theses

The advancing performance and lowering costs required to implement additional processing power on system peripherals such as disk drives are increasingly allowing additional computing ability to be located directly on individual drives. Active Storage attempts to take advantage of this excess by moving some computationally intensive applications directly to the disk drives. This can remove the bottlenecks seen through interconnects between the drives and the CPU of an initiating system as well as remove the need for systems to handle these applications.

The contributions of this thesis are in two areas. The first is the development of a framework designed …

Efficient Characterization Of Structural Dynamic Responses Under Uncertainties: From Order-Reduced Simulation To Data-Driven Emulation, Zeping Xia

Master's Theses

The efficiency of sampling remains as one of the major challenges for uncertainty analysis in structural dynamics. In the context of numerical experiments, this difficulty primarily lies in the fact that every single run of a numerical model, which usually is of large scale in modern engineering practice, would be expensive in terms of CPU times and memories. Nonetheless, understanding and predicting dynamic characteristics of structural systems with uncertainties is important for structural design, assessment and control. In order to develop fast and economical sampling techniques for characterizing structural dynamics, we explored two categories of methods from two opposite direction: …

Impact Of Salt On Denitrification Potential In Roadside Environments, Nakita A. Lancaster

Master's Theses

Urban systems are impacted by changes in hydrology and water chemistry, altering their ability to mitigate detrimental impacts to coastal water bodies, particularly those that result from high volumes of stormwater runoff. The elevated level of impervious cover increases not only runoff but also contaminant loading of nutrients, metals, and road salt used for deicing in cold weather climates. Current stormwater management strategies, while focused on managing the changes in hydrology associated with urbanization, also are designed to mitigate the pollutant loading. Here we investigate the impact that road salt will have on nitrogen removal in roadside environments. Sediments were …

An Analysis Of Productivity Gaps Among Smallholder Groundnut Farmers In Uganda And Kenya, Cresensia Asekenye

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Efficient Algorithms For Sorting On Gpus, Seema M. Munavalli

Master's Theses

Sorting is an important problem in computing that has a rich history of investigation by various researchers. In this thesis we focus on this vital problem. In particular, we develop a novel algorithm for sorting on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). GPUs are multicore architectures that offer the potential of affordable parallelism. We present an efficient sorting algorithm called Fine Sample Sort (FSS). Our FSS algorithm extends and outperforms sample sort algorithm presented by Leischner[2], which is currently the fastest known comparison based algorithm on GPUs. The performance gain of FSS is mainly achieved due to the quality of the samples …

Winter Drawdown Effects On Swim-Up Date And Growth Rate Of Age-0 Fishes In Connecticut, Christopher P. Mcdowell

Master's Theses

Winter drawdown is a common lake management tool, which alters lake ecosystems. This study was undertaken to determine if winter drawdown history and varying winter drawdown intensities influenced swim-up dates and mean daily growth rates (MDGR) of age-0 yellow perch , largemouth bass and bluegill in five small eastern Connecticut impoundments, two of which had extensive drawdown histories, two sporadic drawdowns, and the final having never been drawdown. Three different winter drawdown treatments (none, shallow, deep) were implemented. Daily ring counts on otoliths were used to determine relative swim-up dates and MDGR from a subsample of fish each year. Covariates …

Economic Impact Of The Williamson Act In San Luis Obispo County, Hayley Nicole Loehr

Master's Theses

The goal of this research was to analyze the economic impact of the Williamson Act and the agricultural industry in San Luis Obispo County, and to assess the changes in agriculture and the County’s economic structure if a significant proportion of Williamson Act contracts were not renewed. Williamson Act enrollment and agriculture data were analyzed on a zip code level using IMPLAN v. 3.0, an input-output modeling program.

The first round of analysis assessed the baseline economic impact of the agriculture industry in San Luis Obispo County. Then, four regions of the county were established based on Williamson Act enrollment …

The Effect Of Stretch Wrap Pre-Stretch On Unitized Load Containment, Evan A. Cernokus

Master's Theses

There are three main factors affecting the stability of a palletized load that is unitized by a stretch wrapping mechanism. These factors include the type of unitized load, wrapping configuration and shipping method. The wrapping configuration is determined on the basis of the type of unitized load and shipping method. For this study, the aforementioned components were referred to as the package, the product, and the distribution environment. These components come together to make up a stretch wrapping system. The package corresponds to the stretch wrap film that is packaging the unitized load and pallet. The product corresponds to the …

Experimental Determination Of The Stiffness And Strength Of Continuity Tie Connections In Large Wood Roof Dipahragms, And Impact On The Collective Chord Model, Caroline Nicole Yarber

Master's Theses

The goal of this thesis is to determine whether continuity ties in large wood diaphragms are stiff enough to engage and provide diaphragm flexural stiffness in a collective chord model. Four series of continuity tie assemblies using Simpson Strong-Tie steel connectors were tested to determine the stiffness of each assembly. The results found from testing were applied to an example building and then analyzed using both the traditional chord method and the collective chord method.

The completed analysis on a typical size warehouse building showed that the collective chord model will act inadvertently on an existing building designed with a …

In Vivo And In Vitro Digestibility Of A Complete Pelleted Feed In Horses, Cassandra Renee Sweeney

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

COMPLETION OF AN IN VIVO DIGESTIBILITY TRIAL IN HORSES AND IN VITRO DIGESTIBILITY ASSAY DEVELOPMENT

Cassandra Renee Sweeney

In vivo analysis of equine feed digestibility has been the gold standard since the late 1800's, although it can be time consuming, costly, and labor intensive. In vitro digestibility analysis may be more economical and beneficial to both feed manufacturers and consumers. The availability of accurate in vivo data is crucial for critical evaluation and validation of any potential in vitro method (Coles et al., 2005). Ten adult American quarter horse geldings were used in the in vivo digestibility evaluation of …

Static Balancing Of The Cal Poly Wind Turbine Rotor, Derek Simon

Master's Theses

The balancing of a wind turbine rotor is a crucial step affecting the machine’s performance, reliability, and safety, as it directly impacts the dynamic loads on the entire structure.

A rotor can be balanced either statically or dynamically. A method of rotor balancing was developed that achieves both the simplicity of static balancing and the accuracy of dynamic balancing. This method is best suited, but not limited, to hollow composite blades of any size. The method starts by quantifying the mass and center of gravity of each blade. A dynamic calculation is performed to determine the theoretical shaking force on …

Control System Development For Small Uav Gimbal, Nicholas J. Brake

Master's Theses

The design process of unmanned ISR systems has typically driven in the direction of increasing system mass to increase stabilization performance and imagery quality. However, through the use of new sensor and processor technology high performance stabilization feedback is being made available for control on new small and low mass stabilized platforms that can be placed on small UAVs. This project develops and implements a LOS stabilization controller design, typically seen on larger gimbals, onto a new small stabilized gimbal, the Tigereye, and demonstrates the application on several small UAV aircraft. The Tigereye gimbal is a new 2lb, 2-axis, gimbal …

Neural Networks Performance And Structure Optimization Using Genetic Algorithms, Ariel Kopel

Master's Theses

Artificial Neural networks have found many applications in various fields such as function approximation, time-series prediction, and adaptive control. The performance of a neural network depends on many factors, including the network structure, the selection of activation functions, the learning rate of the training algorithm, and initial synaptic weight values, etc.

Genetic algorithms are inspired by Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection (“survival of the fittest”). They are heuristic search techniques that are based on aspects of natural evolution, such as inheritance, mutation, selection, and crossover.

This research utilizes a genetic algorithm to optimize multi-layer feedforward neural network performance and …

A Resistance Based Structural Health Monitoring System For Composite Structure Applications, Dennis N. Boettcher

Master's Theses

This research effort explored the possibility of using interwoven conductive and nonconductive fibers in a composite laminate for structural health monitoring (SHM). Traditional SHM systems utilize fiber optics, piezoelectrics, or detect defects by nondestructive test methods by use of sonar graphs or x-rays. However, these approaches are often expensive, time consuming and complicated.

The primary objective of this research was to apply a resistance based method of structural health monitoring to a composite structure to determine structural integrity and presence of defects.

The conductive properties of fiber such as carbon, copper, or constantan - a copper-nickel alloy - can be …