Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of A Damage Arrestment Device On The Mechanical Behavior Of Sandwich Composite Beams Under Four-Point Bending, Richard Anthony Davis

Master's Theses

The demand for an insert on composite sandwich structures to aid in the arrestment of face-core delamination is of great need.  This research studies the use of a damage arrestment device (DAD) that connects the carbon fiber face sheets to the foam core to find whether an increase in the structural integrity of the sandwich beam results.  Experimental analysis was employed to test the samples and was verified by a theoretical and finite element approach.

The mechanical properties of LTM45/CF1803 pre-impregnated carbon fiber and Last-A-foam FR 6710 polyvinylchloride foam were experimentally analyzed using ASTM D3039 and ASTM D1621 standards respectively …

Conformal Microstrip Gps Antenna For Missile Application, Andrew Cassidy Fischer

Master's Theses

Optimal missile guidance and flight performance require accurate and continuously updated in-flight coordinate data. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is used for this positional awareness. However, due to missile rotation and orientation variations during flight, GPS signal reception using traditional antennas may be intermittent. To remain cost competitive, Stellar Exploration Inc. is developing a low-cost omnidirectional GPS antenna for guided missile prototypes.

In this thesis, existing products and design techniques are examined, design constraints for supersonic missile applications are investigated, and corresponding performance goals are established. A conformal microstrip patch antenna is developed and simulated in Agilent’s Advanced Design System …

Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle Impacts On A Central California Residential Distribution Circuit, Darren Janigian

Master's Theses

The adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) as a means of transportation over conventionally fueled vehicles introduces new challenges to the existing infrastructure of the electrical transmission and distribution system.  PHEV battery charging can represent a significant power demand that has the potential to overload electrical distribution components.  This study examines the impacts of PHEV charging on household service transformers, distribution conductors and voltage levels of a Central California residential distribution system.  The system is simulated using ETAP power system analysis software.  Transformers are the most vulnerable to overloads, especially if PHEV charging occurs in clusters.  Main feeder conductors …

Off-Grid Public Lighting System – Design And Characterization Of An Led Luminaire, Quanghuy Le

Master's Theses

The technological advances made in the photovoltaic industry have led to a vast exploration of self-sustaining systems.  As the consumer demand for electricity rises from increasing population and development of existing technologies, new practices in system designs are required to relieve the impact on the electrical grid.

This thesis delves into a developing concept of using photovoltaic modules for roadway lighting, with emphasis on establishing the fundamental design for a “spot-lighting” luminaire.  By effectively extinguishing various sections of the luminaire in the absence of pedestrian trafficking, the proposed design and implementation will minimize the prolonged costs, as well as the …

Evaluation Of Drip Applications And Foliar Sprays Of The Biocontrol Product Actinovate On Powdery Mildew And Other Fungal Diseases Of Tomato, Therese Angelica Quintana-Jones

Master's Theses

The effectiveness of the biocontrol product Actinovate^® at enhancing tomato plant growth and yield, and reducing the presence of fungal pathogens was studied in greenhouse and field conditions. In the greenhouse, no differences were found among seed germination or plant survival rates, seedling heights, dry root weights, and dry shoot weights of tomato seedlings grown from seeds drenched with Actinovate^® or Rootshield^®. The effects of one initial Actinovate^® seed drench at sowing, repeated applications through the drip irrigation throughout the season, or repeated applications through the drip irrigation plus foliar applications throughout the season at …

Magnetostatic Modeling For Microfluidic Device Design, Kirsten Marie Jackson

Master's Theses

Magnetostatic Modeling for Microfluidic Device Design

Kirsten Marie Jackson

For several years, biologists have used superparamagnetic beads to facilitate biological separations. More recently, researchers have adopted this approach in microfluidic devices [1-3]. This recent development and use of superparamagnetic particles in biomedical and biological applications have resulted in a necessity for methods that enable the understanding and prediction of their properties and actions during use. Typically, such methods would involve simple experimentation prior to in vitro experimentation, animal testing, and finally clinical testing. To better understand and unleash this technology, COMSOL®, which is a finite element analysis and multiphysics simulation …

St. Jude Medical: Bi-Ventricular Autocapture, Alexander H. Mihov

Master's Theses

Bi-Ventricular Auto Threshold periodically and independently measures and

trends the capture threshold of the right and left ventricles in order to determine the

minimum pulse amplitude required to capture the heart.

Energy Harvesting From Exercise Machines: Forward Converters With A Central Inverter, Nicholas Keith Lovgren

Master's Theses

This thesis presents an active clamp forward converter for use in the Energy Harvesting From Exercise Machines project.  Ideally, this converter will find use as the centerpiece in a process that links elliptical trainers to the California grid.  This active clamp forward converter boasts a 14V-60V input voltage range and 150W power rating, which closely match the output voltage and power levels from the elliptical trainer.  The isolated topology outputs 51V, higher than previous, non-isolated attempts, which allows the elliptical trainers to interact with a central grid-tied inverter instead of many small ones.  The final converter operated at greater than …

Design And Modeling Of The Cal Poly Dc House Power Distribution System, Joseph J. Crowfoot

Master's Theses

The Cal Poly DC House Project is a large scale multi-student project that involves the detailed design and eventual construction of a DC powered house that will be usable in many rural parts of the world. The large scope of such a project makes it necessary to perform studies before it is designed and constructed so that any errors or problems can be recognized early on and addressed. This thesis entails a study on DC power Distribution used for the DC house. The needs for a rural DC home were identified and loads were selected. All of the system devices …

Automated Sg-Dbr Tunable Laser Calibration Optimized For Optical Coherence Tomography Applications, Christopher Louis Chiccone

Master's Theses

SG-DBR lasers look to solve many problems associated with present OCT sources by being cost effective, smaller in size, more robust, and by operating at faster repetition rates.  Swept Source Optical Coherence Tomography (SS-OCT) requires a tunable laser source that exhibits linear frequency sweeps, large frequency spans, and high repetition rates.  This work accomplishes this by using four synchronized waveforms sent to the input of a Sampled Grating-Distributed Bragg Reflector (SG-DBR) laser.  Three mirrors control the wavelength, while an internal semiconductor optical amplifier controls the laser output power.  In dealing with this complicated tuning mechanism, a manual sweep calibration is …

Development And Extrapolation Of An Undergraduate Laboratory Experiment To An Elastomeric Spinal Muscular Atrophy Brace, Richard Sterling Brose

Master's Theses

Ever since the advent of polymer science, polyurethanes have played a huge role in the industrial world. They have been used in endless applications from furniture padding to aircraft coatings, to binders for insensitive munitions. It is therefore important that the chemistry of polyurethanes is well understood as well as the ability to draw relationships between the raw materials selected and the end-use properties of the polymer. Because of the multitude of practical applications, the development of an undergraduate polymer chemistry laboratory focused on polyurethane elastomers is developed and described herein. Polymer chemistry students are exposed to hydroxyterminated polybutadiene (HTPB) …

Modeling And Analysis Of The Effects Of Pcb Parasitics On Integrated Dc-Dc Converters, Darwin Domingo Fernandez

Master's Theses

Load transients are prevalent in every electronic device including semiconductor memory, card readers, microprocessors, disc drives, piezoelectric devices, and digitally based systems. They are capable of producing voltage stress, introducing noise, and degrading device functionality. In order to avoid damage to the device, a feedback control loop is implemented with system compensation to regulate the output voltage deviations by the converter. Because designing compensation networks can be rather complicated, DC-DC converters with integrated feedback control topologies help minimize design time and complexity of converter compensation at the expense of design flexibility. This thesis widens the limitations of an integrated DC-DC …

Investigation Of Microalgae Growth Kinetics Using Coal-Fired Flue Gas As A Carbon Source, Bryan Daniel Brooker

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Investigation of Microalgae Growth Kinetics using Coal-Fired Flue Gas as a Carbon Source

Bryan Daniel Brooker

Energy related carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions make up the majority of the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions must be alleviated to reduce the effects of global climate change. Microalgae cultivation sequesters CO₂ while producing biomass. Algal biomass can provide a renewable feedstock for biofuel and electricity production, and ingredients for pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, pigments and cosmetics. Utilizing microalgae to mitigate CO₂ emissions encourages energy independence by providing a feedstock for biofuels and offers other potentially profitable avenues for the …

Developing Digital Field Guides For Plants: A Study From The Perspective Of Users, Emily Roseanne Schwarz

Master's Theses

A field guide is a tool to identify an object of natural history. Field guides
cover a wide range of topics from plants to fungi, birds to mammals, and shells to minerals. Traditionally, field guides are books, usually small enough to be carried outdoors . They enjoy wide popularity in modern life; almost every American home and library owns at least one field guide, and the same is also true for other areas of the world.

At this time, companies, non-profits, and universities are developing computer
technologies to replace printed field guides for identifying plants. This thesis
examines the state …

Cluster Thinning Effects On Methoxypyrazine, Resveratrol And Berry Chemistry In Vitis Vinifera Cv. Cabernet Sauvignon, Thomas Jerome Fertel

Master's Theses

Cabernet sauvignon is the most widely planted red wine grape in California and is valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Cabernet sauvignon grapes, when severely vigorous or overcropped, can contain vegetal aromas and flavors when harvested. 3-alkyl-methoxypyrazines are the volatile compounds responsible for this effect and can lower the perceived quality of the wine. Resveratrol is a phytoalexin that has many medical and health benefits and can be found in red wines. An experiment was conducted in Paso Robles, CA to assess the effects of five yield levels, manipulated through cluster thinning, on methoxypyrazine and resveratrol concentrations. Berry …

A Neural Network Receiver For Em-Mwd Communication, Timothy P. Whitacre

Master's Theses

Baseband digital communication in electro-magnetic measurement while drilling (EM-MWD) systems is often corrupted by non-white surface noise. The inability to reliably decode the transmitted signals in a noisy environment limits the depth at which EM-MWD systems can operate. Correlation receivers, which are optimal in the presence of additive white Gaussian noise, can be sub-optimal in the presence of various types of field noise at different drilling sites.

This thesis investigates the application of artificial neural networks (ANN) as communication receivers in EM-MWD baseband digital communication systems. The performances of various ANN architectures and training algorithms are studied and compared with …

Active Pen Input And The Android Input Framework, Andrew S. Hughes

Master's Theses

User input has taken many forms since the conception of computers. In the past ten years, Tablet PCs have provided a natural writing experience for users with the advent of active pen input. Unfortunately, pen based input has yet to be adopted as an input method by any modern mobile operating system. This thesis investigates the addition of active pen based input to the Android mobile operating system.

The Android input framework was evaluated and modified to allow for active pen input events. Since active pens allow for their position to be detected without making contact with the screen, an …

City Of King West Broadway Master Plan, Christopher Anderson Read

Master's Theses

This document is a professional project and academic companion piece

completed to partially fulfill requirements for the attainment of a Masters in City

and Regional Planning at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis

Obispo. The project is the City of King West Broadway Master Plan (Plan). The

Plan was completed over the course of a year for a real-world client (The City of

King) and provides new form-based code recommendations in the Plan Area.

The Plan is included as Appendix A. The companion piece is intended to provide

additional background research that was conducted during the planning process,

but omitted …

Changing The City Landscape: From Garages To Second Residential Units, Scott Andrew Robidoux

Master's Theses

The City of Santa Maria, located between San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara in California, is experiencing rapid population growth, cultural transformation, and growth in household size. The growth rate of the city has been a consistent 20% for the past 20 years. Culturally, more than 70% of the almost 100,000 city residents predominantly identified as Hispanic or Latino in the 2010 census. The household size has consistently increased for the past 20 years; currently it is 3.52 people per household.

An issue which is becoming a growing problem for the city is the prevalence of illegal housing in the …

Poroelastic Finite Element Analysis Of A Heterogeneous Articular Cartilage Explant Under Dynamic Compression In Abaqus, Kelsey Kiyo Kam

Master's Theses

A poroelastic finite element model of a heterogeneous articular cartilage disc was

created to examine the tissue response to low amplitude (± 2% strain), low

frequency (0.1 Hz) dynamic unconfined compression (UCC). A strong correlation

has been made between the relative fluid velocity and stimulation of

glycosaminoglycan synthesis. A contour plot of the model shows the relative fluid

velocity during compression exceeds a trigger value of 0.25 μm/s at the radial

periphery. Dynamic UCC biochemical results have also reported a higher

glycosaminoglycan content in this region versus that of day 0 specimens. Fluid

velocity was also found not to be …

Photovoltaic Emulator Adaptable To Irradiance, Temperature And Panel Specific I-V Curves, Joseph Gamos Durago

Master's Theses

This thesis analyzes the design and performance of a photovoltaic (PV) emulator. With increasing interest in renewable energies, large amounts of money and effort are being put into research and development for photovoltaic systems. The larger interest in PV systems has increased demand for appropriate equipment with which to test PV systems.

A photovoltaic emulator is a power supply with similar current and voltage characteristics as a PV panel. This work uses an existing power supply which is manipulated via Labview to emulate a photovoltaic panel. The emulator calculates a current-voltage (I-V) curve based on the user specified parameters of …

Molecular Analysis Reveals Unique Microbiome In Ileal Pouch During Pouchitis Compared To Healthy Pouches In Ulcerative Colitis And Familial Adenomatous Polyposis, Tiffany Wallingford Glavan

Master's Theses

In severe cases of ulcerative colitis (UC) unresponsive to current treatment options, patients require a complete proctocolectomy, or surgical removal of the colon. Ileal pouch anal anastomosis (IPAA) has become the preferred surgical technique for patients who require surgery, as this method restores rectal function. This procedure is also used to treat colorectal cancers such as adenocarcinoma and familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). The surgery involves an abdominal colectomy with the construction of an ileal pouch created from folded tissue recovered from the ileal portion of the small intestine. Up to 50% of patients who require IPAA surgery experience an episode …

A Pmma Conductivity Pretreatment Microfluidics Device For The Optimization Of Electrokinetic Manipulations, Cameron Paul Purcell

Master's Theses

This project encompasses the design and development of a pretreatment microfluidic device for samples of physiological conductivity, namely a saline solution. The conductivity was reduced through the combination of dilution and ion removal using electric fields to enable downstream electro kinetic manipulations. The two major parts of this project include (1) designing a pretreatment protocol to reduce the conductivity of the sample solution to an acceptable level and (2) designing /fabricating a microchip that will effectively allow aim (1) to be performed on chip.

This project is one of the first to observe the effects of an electric field, used …

An Efficient Primer Selection Process Combining Progressive And Iterative Multiple Sequence Alignment Strategies: Clustalw And Hmmer, Michael C. Green

Master's Theses

This thesis describes a method for using a computationally efficient algorithm to identify candidate DNA primer sequences. DNA sequencing primers are a critical element of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA sequence analysis.  A variety of methods for deriving DNA primers exist, but such methods are often computationally intensive, or do not use available sequence data that could potentially serve as a possible resource for primer identification.  Though no current algorithm exists which will always yield a correct primer for every need, evaluation of multi-sequence alignments may provide a reliable source for primer candidates.  However, an exact mathematical solution for …

Optimizing Micronutrient Intake Of Lactating Women In Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, Through Increased Wild Edible Plant Consumption, Kerry Pearson

Master's Theses

OPTIMIZING MICRONUTRIENT INTAKE OF LACTATING WOMEN IN KWAZULU-NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA, THROUGH INCREASED WILD EDIBLE PLANT CONSUMPTION

Kerry Pearson

Micronutrient consumption in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, is insufficient to meet the needs of lactating women.  Inadequate intake negatively impacts the health of both the mother and infant.  Increasing consumption of wild edible plants has been recommended to combat these deficiencies, but information has not yet been provided on which types of wild plants should be eaten or in what quantity.  The objective of this study was to determine the optimal mixture of wild edible plants that needs to be consumed to meet …

Designing The Human-Powered Helicopter: A New Perspective, Gregory Hamilton Gradwell

Master's Theses

The concept of human-powered vertical flight was studied in great depth. Through the manipulation of preexisting theory and analytical methods, a collection of design tools was created to expediently conceptualize and then analyze virtually any rotor. The tools were then arranged as part of a complete helicopter rotor design process. The lessons learned as a result of studying this process—and the tools of which it consists—are presented in the following discussion. It is the belief of the author that by utilizing these tools, as well as the suggestions that accompany them, future engineers may someday build a human-powered helicopter capable …

Roving Restaurants: Mobile Food Vendors At The Intersection Of Public Space And Policy, Timothea Larisa Tway

Master's Theses

Recent advancements in social networking and technology, and the increasing popularity of “gourmet” food trucks, have brought renewed attention to mobile food vending. Research indicates that vendors can provide inexpensive food to city dwellers and have a positive impact on the vibrancy of public spaces. The recent popularity of vendors, however, has fueled ongoing debates over public space use and regulation. Municipalities are looking to craft policies to appease community members with a range of opinions on the acceptability of vending on public streets. This thesis uses the case study of Los Angeles to attempt to answer the research question: …

Rfid Classroom Management System, Andrew W. Wright

Master's Theses

Professors who manage large classes are unrealistically expected to grade each student fairly and accurately.  Even with all of the technological advancements that have occurred in the past thirty years, very little progress has been made in classroom management, and as a result, professors are not equipped with enough tools to successfully manage large class sizes.  Because radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is making its way into student issued identification cards, there is an opportunity to use it as a tool to aid professors in the classroom.  The focus of this paper is to discover the most effective system that …

Effect Of An Online Social Network On Perceived Social Support And Self-Efficacy To Adopt And Maintain Health Behaviors, Caitlin K. Leff

Master's Theses

Objective:  The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the effect of an online social network used as an adjunct to a behavioral weight loss intervention on participants’ perceived social support and perceived self-efficacy using constructs of Social Cognitive Theory as a basis for website development.

Methods:  13 adult women (mean age: 43 years of age, range: 25-63 years) participated in a 12-week behavioral weight-loss intervention with the option to access the Transformation Challenge Online Community (TCOC), an internet-based support and informational website.  The TCOC was developed using constructs of the Social Cognitive Theory.  Data analyzed included online site …

Adaptive Component Usage For The Thermal Management Of Picosatellites, William D. Whalen

Master's Theses

The CubeSat standard originated in 1999.  It was a joint development led by Dr. Jordi Puig-Suari of California State Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo and Professor Robert Twiggs of Stanford University. The engineering challenges that have come from this picosatellite class have created incredible educational opportunities for engineering students throughout the world.  Since the challenges of engineering a CubeSat abound the designers are always looking at novel and even revolutionary solutions to each one.  One of those opportunities is in thermal subsystem design, implementation and characterization.  A potential solution for CubeSats is adaptive component usage.

This thesis is the written …