Engineering Commons^™

Development Of A Deep Learning Algorithm Using Electromyography (Emg) And Acceleration To Monitor Upper Extremity Behavior With Application To Individuals Post-Stroke, Nathan Dodd

Master's Theses

Stroke is a chronic illness which often impairs survivors for extended periods of time,

leaving the individual limited in motor function. The ability to perform daily activities

(ADL) is closely linked to motor recovery following a stroke. The objective of

this work is to employ surface electromyography (sEMG) gathered through a novel,

wearable armband sensor to monitor and quantify ADL performance. The first contribution

of this work seeks to develop a relationship between sEMG and and grip

aperture, a metric tied to the success of post-stroke individuals’ functional independence.

The second contribution of this work aims to develop a deep …

A Hybrid Computer To Solve The Selective Harmonic Minimization Problem In Single-Phase Inverters, Dillon Nguyen

Master's Theses

Power electronics possess forms of non-ideality due to the nonlinearity present in physical switches. These switches are driven with pulse width modulation (PWM), which properly down-converts or up-converts based on converter topology. When these switches turn on or off, they introduce the main proponent of efficiency loss: harmonics. This becomes a nonlinear optimization problem with many converters. The solution proposed in this thesis is an analog/digital hybrid computer that utilizes the speed of analog computation and the accuracy of digital computing together. A Plexim RT Box provides the programmability needed for algorithms, while the analog circuit provides low-power, high-speed computation …

A Study On Privacy Over Security And Privacy Enhancing Networks, Everett Lee Conway

Master's Theses

With rapid developments in communication technologies and awareness of security and privacy risks online, Security and Privacy Enhancing Networks (SPENs) have become increasingly popular. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, workplaces encouraged employees to take additional security measures, such as VPNs. In this work, we conduct a comprehensive study on website fingerprinting attacks. A comprehensive system model and threat model based on two types of SPENs (Virtual Private Networks and Tor Networks) are presented. Moreover, we demonstrate a website fingerprinting attack by ethically collecting website fetch data and analyzing the collected data using five different machine learning classification models including k …

Optimal False Data Injection (Fdi) In Simulated Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (Cacc) Systems, Lovro Dukic

Master's Theses

In the rapidly advancing field of autonomous vehicles, ensuring the security and reliability of self-driving systems is crucial. Autonomous vehicle systems, such as cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC), must undergo significant research and testing before their integration into commercial intelligent transportation systems. CACC considers multiple vehicles in close proximity as a single entity, or platoon, with each vehicle equipped with a controller that uses sensor-based measurements and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication to control inter-vehicle spacing. While this system offers numerous potential benefits for traffic safety and efficiency, it is also susceptible to False Data Injection (FDI) attacks, which can cause the …

Design Of A Dynamic, Reconfigurable, Self-Balancing Battery Pack, Alexander Hallett Neiman

Master's Theses

This thesis details the design and testing of a reconfigurable battery array. Reconfigurable battery arrays, specifically for mobile applications, have the potential to reduce or eliminate use of auxiliary charging, balancing, and inverter systems. Design work included a bidirectional solid state switch and a cell-to-cell bidirectional current-limiting power converter. While the overall efficiency, size, and cost of the battery pack was not competitive with existing options, it demonstrated cell-to-cell balancing and native four-level square wave AC inverter output with an array of only two cells. This demonstrates viability of the concept as well as reveals important requirements and safety features …

Synthesis Of Geopolymer Using Coal Fly Ash And Corn Stover, Anu Paneru

Master's Theses

The development of each nation is dependent on its infrastructure, and nations are competing with others in infrastructure, especially in the construction of roadways, since they play a vital role in the economic and social development of the nation. The conventional materials used for road construction are cement and asphalt, which pose significant environmental challenges. This thesis explores the potential of fly ash (FA) and corn stover (CS) in synthesizing geopolymer, as an alternative material for the construction of roads. The study examines the impact of FA and CS percentages and the particle sizes of CS on the compressive strength, …

Comparing Proliferation Rates And Collagen Production Of Cells Treated With Cuhars, Katie Elizabeth Mckenzie

Master's Theses

Cartilage is the padding in joints that protects the bones and aids in motion. Problems with the cartilage in the knee can be caused by mechanical damage or diseases like osteoarthritis. Chondrocytes make cartilage. The objective of this study is to determine the doubling time of chondrocytes per passage. I also want to determine the base amount of collagen-II created by chondrocytes as they age. I also want to determine how long it takes CuHARS to break down in different cell medias. Chondrocytes, human dermal fibroblasts, and CRL 2303 cells were grown and cultured for over a year. During that …

Generalized Model To Enable Zero-Shot Imitation Learning For Versatile Robots, Yongshuai Wu

Master's Theses

The rapid advancement in Deep Learning (DL), especially in Reinforcement Learning (RL) and Imitation Learning (IL), has positioned it as a promising approach for a multitude of autonomous robotic systems. However, the current methodologies are predominantly constrained to singular setups, necessitating substantial data and extensive training periods. Moreover, these methods have exhibited suboptimal performance in tasks requiring long-horizontal maneuvers, such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) inventory, where a robot requires thousands of steps to complete.

In this thesis, we address the aforementioned challenges by presenting the Cross-modal Reasoning Model (CMRM), a novel zero-shot Imitation Learning policy, to tackle long-horizontal robotic …

Evaluating The Effect Of Noise On Secure Quantum Networks, Karthick Anbalagan

Master's Theses

This thesis focuses on examining the resilience of secure quantum networks to environmental noise. Specifically, we evaluate the effectiveness of two well-known quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols: the Coherent One-Way (COW) protocol and Kak’s Three-Stage protocol (Kak06). The thesis systematically evaluates these protocols in terms of their efficiency, operational feasibility, and resistance to noise, thereby contributing to the progress of secure quantum communications. Using simulations, this study evaluates the protocols in realistic scenarios that include factors such as noise and decoherence. The results illustrate each protocol’s relative benefits and limitations, highlighting the three-stage protocol’s superior security characteristics, resistance to interference, …

Manufacturing Silicone In-House For The Creation Of Customized Neurovascular Blood Vessel Mimics, Jacob Wilbert Perisho

Master's Theses

The Tissue Engineering Lab at California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo focuses on creating tissue-engineered Blood Vessel Mimics (BVMs) designed for the preclinical testing of neurovascular devices. These BVMs are composed of silicone models, representing anatomically accurate neurovasculatures, that are sodded with vascular cell types and then cultivated in bioreactors (which maintain physiologic conditions). These silicone models are currently sourced externally from industry partners, so the primary goal of this thesis was to develop the means and methods for the Tissue Engineering Lab to manufacture silicone models in-house.

The first aim of this thesis was to develop and explore …

Cost-Risk Analysis Of The Ercot Region Using Modern Portfolio Theory, Megan Sickinger

Master's Theses

In this work, we study the use of modern portfolio theory in a cost-risk analysis of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Based upon the risk-return concepts of modern portfolio theory, we develop an n-asset minimization problem to create a risk-cost frontier of portfolios of technologies within the ERCOT electricity region. The levelized cost of electricity for each technology in the region is a step in evaluating the expected cost of the portfolio, and the historical data of cost factors estimate the variance of cost for each technology. In addition, there are several constraints in our minimization problem to …

Diegetic Sonification For Low Vision Gamers, Jhané Dawes

Master's Theses

There are not many games designed for all players that provide accommodations for low vision users. This means that low vision users may not get to engage with the gaming community in the same way as their sighted peers. In this thesis, I explore how diegetic sonification can be used as a tool to support these low vision gamers in the typical gaming environment. I asked low vision players to engage with a prototype game level with two diegetic sonification techniques applied, without the use of their corrective lenses. I found that participants had more enjoyment and experienced less difficulty …

Deep Learning Using Vision And Lidar For Global Robot Localization, Brett E. Gowling

Master's Theses

As the field of mobile robotics rapidly expands, precise understanding of a robot’s position and orientation becomes critical for autonomous navigation and efficient task performance. In this thesis, we present a snapshot-based global localization machine learning model for a mobile robot, the e-puck, in a simulated environment. Our model uses multimodal data to predict both position and orientation using the robot’s on-board cameras and LiDAR sensor. In an effort to minimize localization error, we explore different sensor configurations by varying the number of cameras and LiDAR layers used. Additionally, we investigate the performance benefits of different multimodal fusion strategies while …

Building Software At Scale: Understanding Productivity As A Product Of Software Engineering Intrinsic Factors, Gauthier Ingende Wa Boway

Master's Theses

During our education at KSU, we have learned about various factors that affect productivity such as schedule, budget, and risks, but those are often controlled outside of what we could learn as software engineering principles, patterns, or practices. On top of that, other off-work factors such as health conditions, emotional distress, or political climate, just to name a few, could drastically affect the productivity of a software engineering team. We see a demarcation between those factors that affect productivity in software engineering but are not inherent to the discipline itself, which we call resistance factors, and the factors that are …

A 2-D Numerical Model For Evaluating Daylight Penetration In Short Tunnels For Enhanced Driver Safety, Joachim James

Master's Theses

It is commonly assumed that daylight will adequately penetrate short tunnels, leading to the misconception that artificial lighting is unnecessary during the daytime. Past studies revealed higher frequency of crashes in short tunnels and despite that there is lack of national guidelines warranting artificial lighting for short tunnels. Inadequately lit tunnels pose safety risks, while excessive lighting can be costly. Hence, it becomes crucial to investigate the extent of daylight penetration in short tunnels and identify disappearance zones within these tunnels. This research can help determine the necessity of artificial lighting, and which specific areas of the tunnel require lighting. …

Comparison Of Scanning Electron Microscopy And Confocal Laser Microscopy For Tissue Surface Roughness Characterization, Tarnvir Dhaliwal

Master's Theses

It was found that the measurements captured by confocal microscopy and scanning electron microscopy had a statistically significant difference for bovine tissue. There was not a statistically significant for porcine and poultry tissue.

The intent of the study is to perform a comparative study to examine efficacy of two distinct technologies for a singular purpose: tissue surface roughness characterization. The two technologies compared are a confocal reflectance microscope and a scanning electron microscope. The comparison was made by comparing two surface roughness parameters [Ra and Rq] within ImageJ.

The study examined three different animal species [porcine, bovine, and poultry] to …

Development Of An In Vitro 3-Dimensional Co-Culture Human Colorectal Cancer Model In Microfluidic Devices, Abby Jens

Master's Theses

Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, with the relative 5-year survival rate for distant stage cancer being only 14%. The most common treatment for colorectal cancer is with chemotherapeutic drugs; however, the discovery of these drugs is costly, time-consuming, and often requires the use of animal models that do not yield results that translate to clinical trials. Due to these shortcomings, researchers seek to develop physiologically relevant in vitro tumor models that more accurately mimic the tumor microenvironment for cheaper and faster high-throughput drug screening. The aim of this research was …

Development Of A Cell Culture Incubator Capable Of Providing A Hypoxic Environment, Grant Austin Coe

Master's Theses

In order to perform more robust and physiologically relevant research, the Microphysiological Systems laboratory required a method of culturing cells where the level of oxygen could be adjusted. To fulfill this need, I designed and manufactured a hypoxic cell culture incubator. I employed a Quality Function Deployment to understand the customer requirements and convert them into engineering specifications. Based on these specifications, I created various conceptual designs. I evaluated the conceptual designs as compared to existing products and decided to move forward with the control system separated from a small, standard chamber. I developed the circuitry schematics for the temperature …

Development Of Electrical Impedance Tomography Data Acquisition System And Deep Learning-Based Reconstruction Algorithms For Spatial Damage Detection, Damond Michael Li

Master's Theses

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a non-destructive, non-invasive, and non-radioactive imaging technique used for reconstructing the internal conductivity distribution of a sensing domain. Performing EIT often requires large, stationary benchtop equipment that can be expensive and impractical. Other researchers have attempted to make portable EIT systems, but they all rely on external computation for image reconstruction/data analysis. This study outlines the development of a low-cost, portable, and wireless EIT data acquisition (DAQ) system that is capable of independently performing image reconstructions on-board. With the proposed system, EIT can be performed on carbon fiber reinforced polymers to spatially locate damages. Since …

A Sindy Hardware Accelerator For Efficient System Identification On Edge Devices, Michael Sean Gallagher

Master's Theses

The SINDy (Sparse Identification of Non-linear Dynamics) algorithm is a method of turning a set of data representing non-linear dynamics into a much smaller set of equations comprised of non-linear functions summed together. This provides a human readable system model the represents the dynamic system analyzed. The SINDy algorithm is important for a variety of applications, including high precision industrial and robotic applications. A Hardware Accelerator was designed to decrease the time spent doing calculations. This thesis proposes an efficient hardware accelerator approach for a broad range of applications that use SINDy and similar system identification algorithms. The accelerator is …

A Study Of Random Partitions Vs. Patient-Based Partitions In Breast Cancer Tumor Detection Using Convolutional Neural Networks, Joshua N. Ramos

Master's Theses

Breast cancer is one of the deadliest cancers for women. In the US, 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer within their lifetimes. Detection and diagnosis play an important role in saving lives. To this end, many classifiers with varying structures have been designed to classify breast cancer histopathological images. However, randomly partitioning data, like many previous works have done, can lead to artificially inflated accuracies and classifiers that do not generalize. Data leakage occurs when researchers assume that every image in a dataset is independent of each other, which is often not the case for medical …

Insights Into Cellular Evolution: Temporal Deep Learning Models And Analysis For Cell Image Classification, Xinran Zhao

Master's Theses

Understanding the temporal evolution of cells poses a significant challenge in developmental biology. This study embarks on a comparative analysis of various machine-learning techniques to classify cell colony images across different timestamps, thereby aiming to capture dynamic transitions of cellular states. By performing Transfer Learning with state-of-the-art classification networks, we achieve high accuracy in categorizing single-timestamp images. Furthermore, this research introduces the integration of temporal models, notably LSTM (Long Short Term Memory Network), R-Transformer (Recurrent Neural Network enhanced Transformer) and ViViT (Video Vision Transformer), to undertake this classification task to verify the effectiveness of incorporating temporal features into the classification …

A Comparison Of Western And Eastern Soft Systems Approaches, John L. Anaya, John L. Anaya, John L. Anaya

Master's Theses

Soft System Approaches have been developed worldwide to help problem-solvers and decision-makers develop solutions to complex problems, such as aerospace systems. Soft System Approaches were designed to help lower the disorder of developing a complex system by increasing understanding of a situation. Four Soft System Approaches were investigated, two from the West and two from the East. Within the context of the paper, the West refers to thought patterns associated with thinkers and scientists in Europe and North America, and the East refers to those from and around China. The two from the West are Peter Checkland’s Soft Systems Methodology …

An Exploratory Framework For Benchmarking Vehicle Miles Traveled (Vmt) Estimates Associated With University Campuses, Troy Kawahara

Master's Theses

Although vehicle miles traveled (VMT) has become the standard for assessing transportation related impacts in California, some have concerns that many VMT estimates are not properly grounded or informed by real world data, potentially resulting in flawed estimates and impact assessments. This is especially true of special generators, like college and university campuses, which have complex travel patterns distinct from that of the general public. This thesis attempts to resolve a significant disparity observed between two credible VMT estimates for Cal Poly’s campus wide VMT. As part of a campus master planning effort, a VMT estimate was produced in 2019 …

Finite Element Analysis Of The Bearing Component Of Total Ankle Replacement Implants During The Stance Phase Of Gait, Timothy S. Jain

Master's Theses

Total ankle replacement (TAR) implants are an effective option to restore the range of motion of the ankle joint for arthritic patients. An effective tool for analyzing these implants’ mechanical performance and longevity in-silico is finite element analysis (FEA). ABAQUS FEA was used to statically analyze the von Mises stress and contact pressure on the articulating surface of the bearing component in two newly installed fixed-bearing total ankle replacement implants (the Wright Medical INBONE II and the Exactech Vantage). This bearing component rotates on the talar component to induce primary ankle joint motion of plantarflexion and dorsiflexion. The stress response …

Design And Analysis Of Zero Voltage Switching Hybrid Voltage Divider, Stephen Ulysses Alvarado Estrada

Master's Theses

This work explores the design, construction, and analysis of a novel DC-DC converter which incorporates combinations of switching capacitors and inductors to achieve an integer voltage divider function, without the need for a feedback loop controller to achieve the desired output voltage. The proposed Hybrid Voltage Divider additionally provides zero voltage switching (ZVS) at turn on transitions which yields improved overall efficiency of the converter. Besides a proof-of-concept via computer simulations, another primary goal of this thesis is to demonstrate the functionalities of the proposed Zero Voltage Switching Hybrid Voltage Divider (ZVS-HVD) through hardware prototyping. The proposed ZVS-HVD was designed …

Data-Driven Control Of Acoustic Waves Using Movable And Flexible Scatterers, Noam Smilovich

Master's Theses

Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) serve as fundamental tools in scientific and engineering disciplines, modeling phenomena ranging from material design to climate dynamics. Developing robotic systems capable of controlling PDE-governed systems, particularly when these phenomena are only partially observable, has the potential to drive significant technological advancements. This work presents a framework that leverages physics-informed machine learning (ML) for the control of PDEs. At the core of this approach is an agent equipped with sensors that generate a low-dimensional, physics-informed representation of the environment, enabling the derivation of optimal sparse control policies for the agent’s actuators. The focus is on manipulating …

Thermal Runaway Analysis And Cooling Strategies For Nmc 523 Li-Ion Battery Packs Using Pcm, Heat Pipes, And Air Cooling, Vijethvardhan Singh

Master's Theses

The growing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) necessitates efficient thermal management of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), especially NMC 523 cells. This thesis investigates thermal runaway (TR) mechanisms and evaluates cooling strategies to mitigate overheating risks. Using ANSYS Fluent, the TR of four cells in series was simulated and validated with Jun Wu et al.'s experimental data, achieving an error margin below 10%. Peak temperatures reached 1,126°C in the first cell, with delayed propagation in adjacent cells. Sensitivity analysis of voltage, current, and state of charge (SOC) under varying C-rates was performed using a multi-scale multi-domain (MSMD) battery model. A logarithmic voltage …

Unrealvision: A Synthetic Dataset Generator For Human-Pose Estimation And Behavior Analysis, Thinh Lu

Master's Theses

For over a decade, computer vision (CV) has become an indispensable component of numerous camera surveillance applications as well as intelligent autonomous systems. Thanks to new advances in AI, Edge Computing, and IoT technologies, there is now a rapidly growing number of smart camera devices, industrial and consumer robots that are using computer vision for various applications - from human tracking and analysis, object classification, to visual inspection and anomaly detection. For most common use cases, building vision-based applications can be a straightforward and affordable task thanks to the increasing number of publicly accessible datasets and research publications. However, it …

Uncovering Weaknesses In Autonomous Driving: A Formal Approach To Adversarial Scenario Generation And Falsification, Carlos O. Hernandez

Master's Theses

Autonomous vehicles utilize advanced safety features like proactive driving assistance and pre-collision alerts to minimize the risk of accidents. However, evaluating the correct functionality of these systems is complex. First, safety systems are highly sophisticated, integrating software, networking, and hardware components, many of which rely on advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms. Second, an array of dynamic factors, including numerous actors and physical variables, can influence the performance of safety mechanisms during critical scenarios. Each actor’s unique behavior introduces unpredictability, making it difficult to anticipate future states and outcomes. This thesis presents a comprehensive framework for testing autonomous vehicle …