Digital Commons Network^™

Sodhana Environmental - Final Design Report, Eric Taylor, Corissa Bellis, Cody Perez, Cameron Zeller

Mechanical Engineering

A fully designed cost-effective, sustainable, toilet for the developing world.

Otto - The Wall Driving Platform, Cameron Venancio, Eric Mar, Kelvin Lei

Mechanical Engineering

A robotic wall-climbing robot.

Automated Foosball Table Year 1: Final Project Report, Juan David Gutierrez-Franco, John Inlow, Jesse Graham, Larry Huang

Mechanical Engineering

This project is a first iteration of an automated foosball table designed and created using servomotors provided by Yaskawa to create an interactive tradeshow display where guests can play against the algorithms developed in the PLC (programmable logic controller) controlling the servomotors. There will be a second iteration of the project done by a different team directly following this one. The motion components were selected with the intent to be able to surpass the reaction times and speeds of expert human players. There are a total of eight servomotors, four controlling linear actuators for translation of rods, and four controlling …

Prototype Device For The Detection Of Subsurface Peach Pit Fragments, Colby Lippincott, Hamilton Little, Rick Hayes, Elliot Wenzel

Mechanical Engineering

Peach pits can break during processing into several small fragments and are difficult to see and remove from the peach. Wawona Frozen Foods is asking for a fully designed, built and tested prototype that can detect these pit fragments with ease and speed. Our design uses an array of needles that puncture into a peach half. A pressure sensor measures the force on the needles and determines whether or not each needle hit the peach flesh or a pit fragment. The array of needles consists of 313 needles each with a diameter of 0.6 mm with a total array diameter …

Alumni Earning Doctorates, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Latino Homelessness Paradox: The Social And Cultural Buffers Of Race, Poverty, And Homelessness, Chad Austin

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Dog Behavioral Patterns In Dog Parks, Brandon David Butler

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Sports Industry Career Preparation With A Focus On Sports Marketing Undergraduate Curricula, Destiny Price

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Analyzing Differences In Scientist And Science Perceptions, Self-Efficacy, And Science Enjoyment Between Fourth-Grade English-Speaking Students And Hispanic English-Language Learners, Kristina Toth

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Castor Canadensis Winter 2013, Jedediah Smith Society

Castor Canadensis - Jedediah Smith Society

Newsletter of the Jedediah Smith Society

Interaction Of Ppara, Cd36 And Th17 In Angiotensin 11-Induced Hypertension, Abdullah Odah Alatawi

Theses (Pre-2016)

Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor alpha (PPARa) is known to exert many cardiorenal protective effects. In contrast, T- helper cell 17 (ThI7) and scavenger receptor CD36 have been implicated in hypertension (HTN) and Inflammation. In addition, PPARa has been found to promote CD36 function. We hypothesized that PPARa exerts anti-inflammatory effect by inhibiting CD36-induced Th17 proliferation and differentiation in the kidney in Angiotensin II (AngII)-induced renal injury. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of PPARa in amelioration of hypertensive renal injury due to CD36-mediated Th17 activation in HTN. In animals treated with WY14643, a PPARa agonist, or GW64 …

Instructional Choices And Boys’ Motivation To Read: A Study Of Instructional Choices And Their Influence On Boys’ Reading Motivation, Amanda Galvan

Education Masters

This action research paper focused on the question “how do instructional choices cater to boys’ repertoires of practice and influence reading motivation?” This study’s classroom did not intentionally cater to boys, yet boys had good motivation for reading. Data was collected through field notes, questionnaires, discussion, teacher interviews and student work samples. Three themes appeared: boys’ motivation to read is good, text characteristics and the use of books that boys are interested to read are important, and students are compliant with expectations of the classroom. The implications of this study suggest the importance of giving consideration to provide boys with …

Struggling Adolescent Writers: The Relationship Between Critical Thinking Skills And Creating Written Text, Holly Bibens

Education Masters

This study examined critical thinking skill related to composing written text. The student received strategy instruction for critical thinking skills at her instructional level of Bloom‟s cognitive domain. Writing samples before and after strategy instruction were scored according to a rubric and compared. Three themes emerged: the achievement gap between independent and expected skills, the benefit of strategy instruction to improve writing and critical thinking and the impact of student attitude on success. Results imply the importance of classroom culture and purposeful instruction to develop critical thinking skills, the importance of targeting the instructional level when providing intervention, the critical …

Elementary Differential Equations With Boundary Value Problems, William F. Trench

Faculty Authored and Edited Books & CDs

Written in a clear and accurate language that students can understand, Trench's new book minimizes the number of explicitly stated theorems and definitions. Instead, he deals with concepts in a conversational style that engages students. He includes more than 250 illustrated, worked examples for easy reading and comprehension. One of the book's many strengths is its problems, which are of consistently high quality. Trench includes a thorough treatment of boundary-value problems and partial differential equations and has organized the book to allow instructors to select the level of technology desired. This has been simplified by using symbols, C and L, …

Two Colleagues, Two Colleges, Two Cores: Using General Education Assessment To Define And Promote Your Institution’S Identity, Heidi Northwood, Cathy S. Sweet

Educational Effectiveness Assessment Faculty/Staff Publications

Presenting in tandem, colleagues from two neighboring liberal arts colleges will compare and contrast their schools' general education assessment plans in the context of each institution's priorities. While one focuses on creating college-wide curriculum maps and electronic profiles for their core, the other concentrates on ways to provide meaningful general education data for five very diverse schools within the college.The comparison will emphasize the different methods for gathering authentic data, approaches for the analysis of results, and the distribution of findings, specifically identifying the implications that the various options might have for faculty, staff, students, and stakeholders. The presenters will …

When Isaac Was A Priest, John W. Fadden

Verbum

In lieu of an abstract, below is the essay's first paragraph.

"On his deathbed, the patriarch Isaac received the important men from the city to talk to him. Among these men was an unnamed priest of God who requested Isaac to tell him a word (T. Isaac 4.8). In this moment, the Testament of Isaac¹¹ depicts Isaac as a priestly authority who is able to instruct priests. If you have not read ancient narratives in which Isaac plays a role, but have only read Genesis, you might be confused: Why does it represent Isaac in this manner? Was …

Full Issue, No Author

Verbum

This is the full issue of Volume 11, Issue 1 of Verbum, published in Fall 2013 by the REST Club at St. John Fisher College. Articles from this issue are available as separate PDFs at http://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/verbum/vol11/iss1/

Orchestral Tuba Audition Preparation: The Perspective Of Three Successful Teachers, Golden A. Lund

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, Student Creative Work, and Performances

Daniel Perantoni, Warren Deck, and Mike Roylance have played significant roles in developing students that have won orchestral tuba positions in recent decades. These three instructors are representative of the past 30 years in that the success of their students are tiered chronologically over that time period; Perantoni has had students winning orchestral positions since the 1980s, Warren Deck’s studio began flourishing in the 1990’s, and Mike Roylance’s students have been emerging since he began teaching in Boston in 2003.

The purpose of this study was to determine commonalities and differences between the three of these teachers. Their effectiveness was …

The Distribution And Reproductive Success Of The Western Snowy Plover Along The Oregon Coast - 2013, David J. Lauten, Kathleen J. Castelein, J. Daniel Farrar, Melissa F. Breyer, Eleanor P. Gaines

Institute for Natural Resources Publications

From 26 March – 19 September 2013 we monitored the distribution, abundance and productivity of the federally Threatened Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus nivosus) along the Oregon coast. From north to south, we surveyed and monitored plover activity at Sutton Beach, Siltcoos River estuary, the Dunes Overlook, North and South Tahkenitch Creek, Tenmile Creek, Coos Bay North Spit, Bandon Snowy Plover Management Area, New River HRA and adjacent lands, and Floras Lake. Our objectives for the Oregon coastal population in 2013 were to: 1) estimate the size of the adult Snowy Plover population, 2) locate plover nests, 3) …

Grand Ole Christmas, Ole Miss Tree Lighting Set Festive Holiday Mood, Sharon Morris

University of Mississippi News

Tree lighting, ice skating, card making and story reading provide holiday cheer for community

Thermodynamic Efficiency Evaluation For Distillation Of Ethanol, Joe A. Cavaletto

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

Energy will always be a consideration when distilling any product. Fog’s End Distillery in Gonzales, CA is a small scale micro distillery for ethanol. For Fog’s End, efficiency is key to staying competitive. In this project the efficiency of energy in vs product out will be calculated. While collecting this data the price/bottle for energy will be determined and used for an assembly cost. To determine the efficiency the fuel usage will be recorded for several distillation trials. The mash contents and product contents will all be measured and calculations will be performed to find the theoretical amount of energy …

Labeling Research Deviant: A Comparative Analysis Of Federal Ad Hoc Commissions On Human Subject Research, Brian W. Rossana

Masters Theses

A review of the literature suggests there is still reason for concern due to the nature of deviant research in the past and the continued existence of ambiguous guidelines in particular organizational contexts. Federal ad hoc commissions have been a prominent environment where the absorption of the social reaction to deviant events and discussions regarding bioethics has transpired. The goal then was to ask what conditions of commissions lead to the presence of a research deviant? A convenience sample of nine U.S. federal ad hoc commissions was performed utilizing a method known as crisp-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (csQCA). The results …

Turn And Brake Signal System For A Bicycle, Steven Thomas Hamilton, Christian Michael Orsi

Electrical Engineering

The common motorist views bicyclists as unpredictable on city streets and often lack experience sharing the road with motorists. The key to integrating bicyclists and motor vehicles on the same road with both parties feeling comfortable around one another lies in a common means of communication. Bicycles lack a signaling system based on lights, like that of a motor vehicle, which other motorists easily read and interpret. The proposed system integrates Cypress Semiconductor’s Programmable System on Chip 5 (PSoC 5) and an array of sensors to detect key changes in the bikes behavior. The PSoC 5 analyzes the data from …

Microcontroller Design: Control Electronics For Rantec's 28vdc Input 3-U Power Supply, Leo Hernandez

Electrical Engineering

The Control Electronics is a real-time data acquisition and control system based on Atmel’s AVR microcontroller. The Control Electronics will be embedded into Rantec’s 3U power supply to monitor and report power supply data [1]. The power supply data monitored includes power supply output voltages, input voltage, DC bus voltage, and temperature.

The microcontroller continuously monitors DC voltages through seven I²C compatible analog-to-digital converters via a custom Two-Wire interface. An analog temperature sensor measures power supply data and feeds it as an analog voltage to the microcontroller’s built-in analog to digital interface. The microcontroller stores the acquired power …

Rmax Wireless Communications, Adam Mazzella

Computer Engineering

The goal of the RMAX wireless communications team is to establish an in flight communications link between the Yamaha RMAX helicopter and ground station to send and receive recorded flight data. Data including GPS coordinates for the RMAX will be distributed by the ground station, and used by other subsystems to track a specified on ground target. Once the target is located a UGV will be deployed for rendezvous as well as a UAV supply drop in simulation of common search and rescue scenarios. The following document outlines our teams collaborative design effort to establish communications.

Reconstructing Point Clouds Of Mid-Size Objects, Spencer Woodworth

Computer Science and Software Engineering

This project explores the use of an inexpensive 3D camera for the acquisition and reconstruction of mid-size objects. The disparity of objects between stereo image pairs are used to calculate depth and generate a depth map. The depth map is used to generate a point cloud representation of the object from a single view. Finally, point clouds are generated from several views of an object and then aligned and merged into a seamless 360-degree point cloud.

In-Plane Loading Of Brick Veneer Over Wood Shear Walls, Elias Anis Toubia, James M. Lintz

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Faculty Publications

In the design of wood stud walls with brick veneer, current design building codes specify that the wood stud wall should resist all in-plane and out-of-plane loads (IBC 2009). For out-of-plane loads, this assumption is entirely justified as the brittle brick veneer will crack and lose its capacity to resist bending. For in-plane loads, the brick veneer is significantly stiffer than the wood shear wall, and the veneer is unlikely to crack before the wood shear wall reaches its allowable capacity. The assumption that the wood shear wall resists the entire load is based on the further assumption that the …

Characteristics And Contributing Factors Of Emergency Vehicle Crashes, Naji Abdelwanis

All Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine the contributing factors and characteristics associated with emergency vehicle(EV) crashes in order to generate insights about the emergency crashes. This dissertation consists of three approaches to address the purpose. In the first analysis a binary logistic regression model was used to identify the critical factors associated with EV crashes that resulted in fatality compared to those that did not. In the second analysis, an ordered regression model was used to identify critical factors that contributed to the severity of injuries that EV occupants experience in crashes as well as the effect of …

An Investigation Into The Interactions Of Gold Nanoparticles With Aquatic Vascular Macrophytes, James Glenn

All Dissertations

Nanomaterials (NMs) have promised lighter, stronger, smaller and more efficient products in areas such as electronics, medicines and even environmental sectors. This investigation started at the base of the food chain and characterized NMs interactions with aquatic plants. Citrate capped gold nanoparticles were used as a model nanoparticle to track fate and gain insight on factors that influence gold nanoparticle (AuNP) bioavailability and absorption. Four species of aquatic macrophytes were investigated. Azolla caroliniana, Myriophyllum simulans, Egeria densa and Myriophyllum aquaticum were selected due to growth habitat, leaf morphology and root structure. Because aquatic plants absorb the majority of their nutrients …

Premedical Programs Newsletter, December 2013, University Of Dayton

Pre-Health Resource Center Campus Communications

Newsletter for students, staff, and faculty in the premedical and predental programs.