Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Engineering Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2015

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 2791 - 2820 of 7527

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Homeless Garden Project, Caroline Ruwe, Tara Pozzi, John Miller Jun 2015

Homeless Garden Project, Caroline Ruwe, Tara Pozzi, John Miller

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Senior Theses

The Homeless Garden Project, a non-profit organization in Santa Cruz, California, was given 15-acres to expand in 1998 by the City of Santa Cruz. The main reason they have not moved to this area is that there is no readily available water to irrigate with. In this paper, we used GPS data and WaterCAD modeling to design a gravity water distribution system in order to irrigate this new land for the Homeless Garden Project. This system used two mountain springs as a water supply in which spring diversion box retrofits were designed. Multiple 2-inch high-density polyurethane (HDPE) pipelines were used …

Go to article

Hayward Shoreline Levee Protection, Samuel Beering, Karissa Canonizado, Caleb Young Jun 2015

Hayward Shoreline Levee Protection, Samuel Beering, Karissa Canonizado, Caleb Young

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Senior Theses

The area from north of the San Mateo Bridge to Hayward Landing in the city of Hayward is at risk of flooding due to thirty-six inch sea level rise in the next 50-100 years. The areas that the this flooding would have a negative environmental impact as well as impact businesses and other residents near the project area. To protect these areas new shoreline protection was proposed. To begin designing new shore protection, the existing levee was analyzed on GeoSlope after doing numerous soil testing. It was found that the existing levee would fail against overtopping. After evaluating three alternatives, …

Go to article

Designing With Bamboo: Frames And Connections In Underdeveloped Areas, Andrew Spencer, Bryson Kam Jun 2015

Designing With Bamboo: Frames And Connections In Underdeveloped Areas, Andrew Spencer, Bryson Kam

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Senior Theses

Designing With Bamboo: Frames and Connections in Underdeveloped Areas focused on the construction and testing of specific components of a proposed structure utilizing bamboo. This structure, proposed by the Ecological Building Network, would primarily be used in Haiti and other developing countries that are prone to seismic activity. The components of this structure will consist of concrete masonry units, bamboo frames, and rebar for the connection. This project focuses specifically on the bamboo frame and it's connection to the concrete masonry wall. Tests were performed on isolated unit specimens to gain a sense of the behavior of this mechanism. Information …

Go to article

Opportunistic Turbo Execution In Ntc: Exploiting The Paradigm Shift In Performance Bottlenecks., Hu Chen, Dieudonne Manzi, Sanghamitra Roy, Koushik Chakraborty Jun 2015

Opportunistic Turbo Execution In Ntc: Exploiting The Paradigm Shift In Performance Bottlenecks., Hu Chen, Dieudonne Manzi, Sanghamitra Roy, Koushik Chakraborty

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In this paper, we investigate an intriguing shifting trend in performance bottlenecks for Near-Threshold Computing (NTC) processors. Our study demonstrates that the traditional memory latency bottleneck is largely superseded by the bottlenecks of Long Latency Datapaths (LLDs) within a processor core. To exploit this paradigm shift, we propose Opportunistic Turbo Execution (OTE). OTE dynamically boosts the performance of LLDs, by several factors, improving both performance and energy efficiency in an NTC core. Using a comprehensive circuit-architectural analysis, we demonstrate a 42.2% improvement in energy efficiency over a recently proposed technique, across a range of benchmarks.

Go to article

One-Ride Human Powered Vehicle, Alex Fisher, Alex Sahyoun, Geoffrey Schmelzer, Brendan Taylor, C.J. Toy Jun 2015

One-Ride Human Powered Vehicle, Alex Fisher, Alex Sahyoun, Geoffrey Schmelzer, Brendan Taylor, C.J. Toy

Mechanical Engineering Senior Theses

This document discusses the design, analysis, manufacturing and testing of the One-Ride human powered vehicle which was entered into the 2015 ASME West Coast HPVC Competition. The goal of the vehicle is to entice people to switch from gas powered vehicles to the One-Ride for trips of up to 20 miles round trip. The One-Ride design features fully adjustable seating and steering positions and was designed to fit anyone between the heights of 5'2" and 6'4" comfortably. The seat is adjusted using metal sliders, manufactured in the SCU machine shop, which fit into brackets attached to the frame. The bike …

Go to article

Energy Management Tool Suite, Julian Bliss Jun 2015

Energy Management Tool Suite, Julian Bliss

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

ELEN 288 / COEN 282, Energy Management Systems, is a graduate course o ered at Santa Clara University concerning di erent methods and procedures energy companies utilize. Many algorithms taught in this class for predicting and measuring energy usage are dependent on the weather. For example, to predict energy usage for an upcoming day, if the day is predicted to have a max temperature of eighty degrees and a minimum temperature of fty- ve degrees, students can look in historical databases of weather for days that have similar weather, and infer that the energy usage might be similar as well. …

Go to article

Sankara Eye Records: Eye-Health Tracker For Children In India, Francis-Joseph Cuenca, Amy Truong Jun 2015

Sankara Eye Records: Eye-Health Tracker For Children In India, Francis-Joseph Cuenca, Amy Truong

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Sankara Eye Records is a web application created for Sankara Eye, an Indian-based outreach or- ganization that provides eye care services for underserved communities. Our goal is to make the process of creating and editing screening site records and schoolchildren eye health records quick and efficient. This will enable Sankara Eye to track childrens eye health over their school years. Our system will include a web application to be used by trained Sankara Eye personnel at screening sites and a backend database to store all their data.

Go to article

Wakabi: On-Demand Ride Service For Rural Uganda, Michael Brew, Bryant Larsen Jun 2015

Wakabi: On-Demand Ride Service For Rural Uganda, Michael Brew, Bryant Larsen

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

In Uganda, the majority of the population lives in rural villages that rely on last-mile distribution for goods such as vaccines, fresh water, trade goods, and other forms of humanitarian relief. Last-mile distribution refers to the last mile (or few miles) that goods must be transported in order to reach their final destination from a main delivery hub. Coordination is one of the primary issues that exist when trying to solve the last-mile problem. In this paper we present our solution to this problem: an SMSbased, on-demand ride-sharing service designed to empower the people of rural Uganda by helping organize …

Go to article

Wej Collaborative Playlists, Jason Dougherty, Nicholas Fong, Alexander Hurst, Malia Lum Jun 2015

Wej Collaborative Playlists, Jason Dougherty, Nicholas Fong, Alexander Hurst, Malia Lum

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

WeJ (pronounced we-jay) is a mobile web application that provides users with the ability to collaboratively create music playlists and listen to them with each other in real time. Users will be able to search for songs to be added to the playlist, select songs from pre-made libraries, and up and down vote songs to determine what will be played next. Our goal is to bring people together through the power of music.

Go to article

Groupright : Collaborative Group Management System, Kenneth Bigler, Scott Sarsfield, Zachary Wilson Jun 2015

Groupright : Collaborative Group Management System, Kenneth Bigler, Scott Sarsfield, Zachary Wilson

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

GroupRight is a comprehensive group decision-making platform for simplifying the organization of event scheduling, task management, and mass communication. Consisting of a website, iOS application and an Android application, GroupRight provides convenient tools for groups of all sizes to improve productivity. Users can quickly create and manage dynamic groups so that each member of the group can contribute to the overall system. Likewise, updates from individuals using GroupRights core tools are provided to the entire group to increase each members situational awareness.

Go to article

Dynamic Capacitor Bank, J. Daniel Mendoza, Peter Roguski Jun 2015

Dynamic Capacitor Bank, J. Daniel Mendoza, Peter Roguski

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Low power factor systems run inefficiently and cause power companies to lose thousands of dollars with wasted power. Correction systems currently implement static capacitor solutions to offset this power factor; however, companies where the power factor varies significantly need a better solution. In this paper, we discuss a reactive power factor correction system that could greatly benefit companies with this problem. The system is in its prototype state, which comprises of a capacitor bank, sensing circuit, a switching circuit and a microprocessor; we named it the Dynamic Capacitor Bank. During our project, we were able to get a sensing circuit …

Go to article

Uavino, Matthew Belesiu, Aaron Chung, Kirby Linvill, Nathan Carlson, Phillip Coyle, Megan Peekema Jun 2015

Uavino, Matthew Belesiu, Aaron Chung, Kirby Linvill, Nathan Carlson, Phillip Coyle, Megan Peekema

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

UAVino is a drone solution that uses aerial imagery to determine the overall plant health and water content of vineyards. In general, the system focuses on automating crop inspection by taking aerial imagery of a vineyard, conducting post-processing, and outputting an easily interpreted map of the vineyard's overall health. The project's key innovation is an auto-docking system that allows the drone to automatically return to its launch point and recharge in order to extend mission duration. Long term, UAVino is envisioned as a multi-year, interdisciplinary project involving both the Santa Clara University Robotics Systems Laboratory and local wineries in order …

Go to article

Aquasift: Point-Of-Use Microfluidic Detection System, Daniel Beyers, Jasper Tan, Brandon Young Jun 2015

Aquasift: Point-Of-Use Microfluidic Detection System, Daniel Beyers, Jasper Tan, Brandon Young

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

AquaSift is a portable, affordable, point-of-use system that performs microfluidic detection of contaminants in drinking water. It comprises four main components: a three-electrode sensor, a potentiostat circuit device, an Android application, and an online database. It utilizes three-electrode voltammetry by applying a voltage stimulus across the electrodes and reading the induced current on the water sample. Testing has shown that our system is able to detect arsenic in solution samples. The Android application serves as the user interface to the system, and the online database allows the mapping of test results on an easy-to-use website.

Go to article

Measuring And Analysing The Effect Of Openings And Vibration On Reusable Pharmaceutical Insulated Boxes With Daily Distribution, Péter Böröcz, Ákos Mojzes, Péter Csavajda Jun 2015

Measuring And Analysing The Effect Of Openings And Vibration On Reusable Pharmaceutical Insulated Boxes With Daily Distribution, Péter Böröcz, Ákos Mojzes, Péter Csavajda

Journal of Applied Packaging Research

To control the climate when temperature sensitive drugs are delivered is an essential consideration of shippers and freight forwarders. It is common practice to utilize insulated boxes. A survey was conducted to determine the properties of these daily deliveries and factors were observed that influence the climate environment of drugs during travel. These factors included opening intervals, number of openings, trip times and distances. Then the results of the survey were used to perform the recorded circumstances of distribution in laboratory tests as close to reality as possible and analyse the effect of the above-mentioned factors. During real distribution the …

Go to article

Interview With Bob Reisse, Rca Heritage Program Jun 2015

Interview With Bob Reisse, Rca Heritage Program

RCA Oral History Transcripts

Interview with Bob Reisse for the RCA Heritage Program Oral History grant.

Go to article

Interview With Sam Pietrofitta, Rca Heritage Program Jun 2015

Interview With Sam Pietrofitta, Rca Heritage Program

RCA Oral History Transcripts

Interview with Sam Pietrofitta for the RCA Heritage Program Oral History grant.

Go to article

Dynamic Life Management Assistant (Dylma), Arturo Aguilar, Ruben Luva, David Mora-Barajas, Sunny Patel, Alejandro Rodriguez Jun 2015

Dynamic Life Management Assistant (Dylma), Arturo Aguilar, Ruben Luva, David Mora-Barajas, Sunny Patel, Alejandro Rodriguez

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Individuals currently face difficulty allocating time to achieve an ideal level of productivity. It is often demanding to manage tasks and responsibilities along with their specific priority level and deadlines. Likewise, managing health and wellness priorities while under the stress of a busy schedule can be just as challenging. The productivity tools of today offer a fragmented mobile experience that relies on a multitude of applications to achieve simple goals. A viable solution is a life-management system for Google Glass that integrates a user's schedule in order to aid productivity and time management. This system manages a series of everyday …

Go to article

Temperature Dependent Surface Reconstruction Of Freely Suspended Films Of 4-N-Heptyloxybenzylidene-4-N-Heptylaniline, Daniel E. Martinez Zambrano Jun 2015

Temperature Dependent Surface Reconstruction Of Freely Suspended Films Of 4-N-Heptyloxybenzylidene-4-N-Heptylaniline, Daniel E. Martinez Zambrano

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Surfaces of freely suspended thick films of 4-n-heptyloxybenzylidene-4-n-heptylaniline (7O.7) in the crystalline-B phase have been imaged using non-contact mode atomic force microscopy. Steps are observed on the surface of the film with a height of 3.0 +/- 0.1 nm corresponding to the upright molecular length of 7O.7. In addition, we find that the step width varies with temperature between 56 and 59 degrees C. The steps are many times wider than the molecular length, suggesting that the steps are not on the surface but instead originate from edge dislocations in the interior. Using a strain model for liquid crystalline layers …

Go to article

Revealing Structural Organization With Liquid Crystal-Based Spectral Imaging Polarimetry, James Campbell Gladish Jun 2015

Revealing Structural Organization With Liquid Crystal-Based Spectral Imaging Polarimetry, James Campbell Gladish

Dissertations and Theses

Structural organization refers to the particular ordering of scatterers. Probing structural organization by imaging polarized spectral scatter provides insight into the composition of a medium, and can aid in remote sensing, the identification of tissue pathologies, and material characterization and differentiation. The vector nature of polarized light enables it to interact with optical anisotropies within a medium, while the spectral aspect of polarization is sensitive to small-scale structure. However, many polarization studies have limitations, as they provide qualitative image analysis, incomplete anisotropy information, or both. The ability to image the effects of anisotropy and small-scale structure at multiple wavelengths is …

Go to article

Wakeboard Winch, Eric Christensen Jun 2015

Wakeboard Winch, Eric Christensen

Mechanical Engineering and Technology Senior Projects

A wakeboard winch is a stationary device used to tow wakeboard riders through a body of water allowing riders to access locations that may be too shallow for boats or where motorboat restrictions apply. For this instance, the device will be intended to use on a small lake where motorized boats are prohibited but will also possess a transportable design so it may be used in other locations. Winches that can be purchased from manufacturers tend to be expensive and unaffordable for most people while many homemade winches tend to lack the same performance capabilities as manufactured winches. The principal …

Go to article

Predicting Cross-Gaming Propensity Using E-Chaid Analysis, Eunju Suh, Matt Alhaery Jun 2015

Predicting Cross-Gaming Propensity Using E-Chaid Analysis, Eunju Suh, Matt Alhaery

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Cross-selling different types of games could provide an opportunity for casino operators to generate additional time and money spent on gaming from existing patrons. One way to identify the patrons who are likely to cross-play is mining individual players’ gaming data using predictive analytics. Hence, this study aims to predict casino patrons’ propensity to play both slots and table games, also known as cross-gaming, by applying a data-mining algorithm to patrons’ gaming data. The Exhaustive Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detector (E-CHAID) method was employed to predict cross-gaming propensity. The E-CHAID models based on the gaming-related behavioral data produced actionable model accuracy …

Go to article

Laser Beam Optical Trapping Of A Nanoparticle, Rufaro Musvosvi Jun 2015

Laser Beam Optical Trapping Of A Nanoparticle, Rufaro Musvosvi

Posters, Presentations, and Papers

Optical trapping is the use of a laser beam, to trap small particles, similarly to using tweezers. A straight beam of light, focused correctly, can provide a force strong enough to control a nanoparticle. The objective of this project is to set up a Modular Optical Trapping Kit for the purposes of research and teaching. The project is split into two main parts. Part one is assembling the Trapping Kit, which includes building a Printed Circuit Board (PCB). Part two is measuring the necessary laser-force for different particles. This is an on-going project.

Go to article

Microstructural Evaluation Of Deap Material After Stress Relaxation, Cody Rieger, Gunnar Lovhoiden, James Magbanua, Boon-Chai Ng Ph.D. Jun 2015

Microstructural Evaluation Of Deap Material After Stress Relaxation, Cody Rieger, Gunnar Lovhoiden, James Magbanua, Boon-Chai Ng Ph.D.

Posters, Presentations, and Papers

Dielectric Electro Active Polymers (DEAP) has the potential of converting mechanical energy into useful electrical energy. This material consists of a silicone dielectric film material with a special corrugated surface and a very thin layer of metallic electrodes on both sides of the surface. As these materials allow large mechanical deformations with low operating forces, potential applications include using this material to convert the energy from the ocean waves, and wind. This work examined the capacitance to provide useful information in optimizing the electrical properties for specific applications, and to investigate how the electrical properties are affected by electrical and/or …

Go to article

Design And Implementation Of An Interactive Animatronic System For Guest Response Analysis, Brian Burns Jun 2015

Design And Implementation Of An Interactive Animatronic System For Guest Response Analysis, Brian Burns

Phi Kappa Phi Research Symposium (Archived)

In theme park based entertainment applications, there is a need for interactive, autonomous animatronic systems to create engaging and compelling experiences for the guests. The animatronic figures must identify the guests and recognize their status in dynamic interactions for enhanced acceptance and effectiveness as socially interactive agents, in the general framework of human-robot interactions. The design and implementation of an interactive, autonomous animatronic system in form of a tabletop dragon, Kronos, and the comparisons of guest responses in its passive and interactive modes are presented in this work. The dragon capabilities include a four degrees-of-freedom head, moving wings, tail, jaw, …

Go to article

Micro-Motion Controller Ii, Bergren Antell, Michael Mcnaul, Steve Shushnar Jun 2015

Micro-Motion Controller Ii, Bergren Antell, Michael Mcnaul, Steve Shushnar

Bioengineering Senior Theses

The purpose of this project was to improve upon the functionality of a micro-motion controller designed by another senior design group at this university. The original controller design facilitated motion in only two dimensions, and by modifying the platform of the design to accommodate another axis of rotation, we were able to achieve a full range of 3-D motion in our own product. Additionally, we designed a new system in which a motor could be mounted on the base plate of the device which would rotate the upper platform on its own through a simple belt-and-pulley system. And lastly, we …

Go to article

Toe Joint Replacement Models, Tarun Goswami, Allison L. Van Horn, Alexander O. Sheets Jun 2015

Toe Joint Replacement Models, Tarun Goswami, Allison L. Van Horn, Alexander O. Sheets

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

In various embodiments, provided are implantable devices for replacing all or a portion of a metatarsophalangeal joint, comprising (i) a metatarsal component comprising a Substan tially convex bearing Surface; or (ii) a phalanx component comprising a Substantially concave bearing Surface; or (iii) both. In various embodiments, also provided are methods of treating hallux Valgus by replacing all or a portion of a meta tarsophalangeal joint with one or more of the provided implantable devices.

Go to article

The Social Life Of Big Data - Pawsey Resources, Luke Edwards Jun 2015

The Social Life Of Big Data - Pawsey Resources, Luke Edwards

The Social Life of Big Data Symposium

The presentation covers the supercomputing facilities and services available at the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, Western Australia.
The Pawsey Supercomputing Centre is an unincorporated joint venture between CSIRO, Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University and the University of Western Australia and is supported by the Western Australian Government.

Go to article

Effects Of Strontium Substitution On Bioactivity Of Hydroxyapatite, Chokchai Yatongchai, Lana M. Placek, Mark R. Towler, Anthony W. Wren Jun 2015

Effects Of Strontium Substitution On Bioactivity Of Hydroxyapatite, Chokchai Yatongchai, Lana M. Placek, Mark R. Towler, Anthony W. Wren

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Effect of strontium (Sr) substitution on bioactivity of hydroxyapatite (HA) was investigated. The substitution of Sr2+ for Ca2+ in the HA lattice increases biodegradability of Sr-substituted HA (Sr-HA) and accelerates the formation of apatite crystals on the Sr-HA surface. Moreover, the dissolution products from HA and Sr-HA samples are not cyto-toxic.

Go to article

Analysis Of Neurite Outgrowth On Electrospun Fiber Scaffolds In The Presence Of Blebbistatin And Paclitaxel, A. R. D'Amato, N. J. Schaub, C. D.L. Johnson, J. Cardenas, R. J. Gilbert Jun 2015

Analysis Of Neurite Outgrowth On Electrospun Fiber Scaffolds In The Presence Of Blebbistatin And Paclitaxel, A. R. D'Amato, N. J. Schaub, C. D.L. Johnson, J. Cardenas, R. J. Gilbert

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In an attempt to increase the rate of neurite extension from E9 chick embryo dorsal root ganglion (DRG) on electro spun fiber scaffolds we experimented with two drugs that have been used previously to affect neuronal growth. Blebbistatin and paclitaxel were added to DRG cultured on electro spun fibers in an attempt to increase the rate of neurite extension along fibrous scaffolds. Blebbistatin increased the length of neurites extending from the DRG explant in comparison to the drug-free control group. In contrast, paclitaxel completely eliminated all neurite extension from the DRG explant when compared to the control. A third treatment …

Go to article

Initial Astrocyte Response To Electrospun Poly-L-Lactic Acid Fibers Of Varying Nanoscale Diameters, C. D.L. Johnson, J. M. Zuidema, G. P. Desmond, A. R. D'Amato, N. J. Schaub, R. J. Gilbert Jun 2015

Initial Astrocyte Response To Electrospun Poly-L-Lactic Acid Fibers Of Varying Nanoscale Diameters, C. D.L. Johnson, J. M. Zuidema, G. P. Desmond, A. R. D'Amato, N. J. Schaub, R. J. Gilbert

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We hypothesized that fiber diameter within an electro spun fiber scaffold would affect astrocyte elongation and maturation. To examine the relationship, astrocytes were seeded on 400nm and 800nm diameter electro spun PLLA fibers. Immunohistochemistry was used to monitor cell morphology, and GLT-1 expression over the first 96 hours after seeding. The results indicate that astrocytes extended along the primary axis of the 800nm fibers more rapidly than astrocytes seeded on fibers of half the size. While GLT-1 was expressed diffusely throughout the surface of the astrocytes, elongated cell processes exhibited dense regions of GLT-1. These results show that 800nm fibers …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last