Interannual Variability And Seasonal Predictability Of Wind And Solar Resources, Nir Krakauer, Daniel S. Cohen

Publications and Research

Solar and wind resources available for power generation are subject to variability due to meteorological factors. Here, we use a new global climate reanalysis product, Version 2 of the NASA Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA-2), to quantify interannual variability of monthly-mean solar and wind resource from 1980 to 2016 at a resolution of about 0.5 degrees. We find an average coefficient of variation (CV) of 11% for monthly-mean solar radiation and 8% for wind speed. Mean CVs were about 25% greater over ocean than over land and, for land areas, were greatest at high latitude. The correlation …

The Effect Of Conditioning On The Flotation Of Pyrrhotite In The Presence Of Chlorite, Yanfei Chen, Qing Shi, Qimeng Feng, Yiping Lu, Wencai Zhang

Mining Engineering Faculty Publications

The influence of conditioning on the flotation of pyrrhotite in the presence of chlorite was investigated through flotation tests, sedimentation tests, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The flotation results show that chlorite slimes dramatically impair the flotation of pyrrhotite. Sedimentation and flotation tests reveal that conditioning can effectively remove chlorite slimes from pyrrhotite surfaces, resulting in an enhanced flotation recovery of pyrrhotite. When mixed minerals were conditioned under the natural atmosphere, a faster conditioning speed and longer conditioning time decreased the flotation recovery of pyrrhotite. However, when mixed minerals were conditioned under a nitrogen atmosphere, a more intensive conditioning …

2015 – Project Justification – Addressing An Urgent Water Supply Need For A Disadvantaged Community In The Greater Monterey County Irwm Region

Miscellaneous Monterey and San Luis Obispo County Documents and Reports

One hundred percent of Castroville’s water supply comes from the 400-foot aquifer of the Pressure sub-basin of the Salinas Valley Groundwater Basin. Groundwater levels in the aquifer dropped more than 100 feet below the seal level as of July 2015 at static conditions. Water levels dropped to more than 190 feet below the mean sea level during operation of the water well. The dramatic drop combined with the close proximity of the Pacific Ocean (less than 4 miles) and to existing seawater intrusion (less than ¼ mile) raised significant alarm that the existing water supply system to Castroville was imminently …

An Advanced Multi-Sensor Acousto-Ultrasonic Structural Health Monitoring System: Development And Aerospace Demonstration, Joel Smithard, Nik Rajic, Stephen Van Der Velden, Patrick Norman, Cedric Rosalie, Steve Galea, Hanfei Mei, Bin Lin, Victor Giurgiutiu

Faculty Publications

A key longstanding objective of the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) research community is to enable the embedment of SHM systems in high value assets like aircraft to provide on-demand damage detection and evaluation. As against traditional non-destructive inspection hardware, embedded SHM systems must be compact, lightweight, low-power and sufficiently robust to survive exposure to severe in-flight operating conditions. Typical Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) systems can be bulky, costly and are often inflexible in their configuration and/or scalability, which militates against in-service deployment. Advances in electronics have resulted in ever smaller, cheaper and more reliable components that facilitate the development of compact and …

Impact Of Diy Home Manufacturing With 3d Printing On The Toy And Game Market, Emily Peterson, Joshua M. Pearce

Department of Materials Science and Engineering Publications

The 2020 toy and game market is projected to be US$135 billion. To determine if 3D printing could affect these markets if consumers offset purchases by 3D printing free designs, this study investigates the 100 most popular downloaded designs at MyMiniFactory in a month. Savings are quantified for using a Lulzbot Mini 3D printer and three filament types: commercial filament, pellet-extruded filament, and post-consumer waste converted to filament with a recyclebot. Case studies probed the quality of: (1) six common complex toys; (2) Lego blocks; and (3) the customizability of open source board games. All filaments analyzed saved the user …

2013, November 19 - Protective Elevations To Control Sea Water Intrusion In The Salinas Valley, Geoscience For Mcwra

Miscellaneous Monterey and San Luis Obispo County Documents and Reports

A report prepared in support of preventing revocation of Permit 1043 (State of California Division of Water Rights Permit for Diversion of Use of Water – Amended Permit 11043 dated 110-Jul-49) that allows for appropriation of water from the Salinas River in Monterey County California not to exceed 400 cfs with annual maximum diversion not to exceed 168,538 acre feet per year. The report addresses the potential beneficial uses of diverting water to help increase groundwater levels in the Pressure and East Side Subareas that would in turn help to control seawater intrusion.

2015, November - Salinas River Salt Modeling Report , Tetra Tech For California Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board And Us Environmental Protection Agency, Region Ix

State and Federal Documents Relating to Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties

Report prepared by Tetra Tech on behalf of California Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board and US Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX with a view of development of salt-related TMDLs and a salt and nutrient management plan for the Salinas Valley aquifers. The report provides data analysis and a literature review, development of a water and salt mass balance tool, and salt sources assessment. Recommendations regarding improved representation of cropland locations, rotations, and irrigation practices are provided.

Fabricating Ordered 2-D Nano-Structured Arrays Using Nanosphere Lithography, Chenlong Zhang, Sandra Cvetanovic, Joshua M. Pearce

Department of Materials Science and Engineering Publications

Recent advances in the use of plasmonic metamaterials to improve absorption of light in thin-film solar photovoltaic devices has created a demand for a scalable method of patterning large areas with metal nanostructures deposited in an ordered array. This article describes two methods of fabricating ordered 2D nanosphere colloidal films: spin coating and interface coating. The two methods are compared and parameter optimization discussed. The study reveals that:

• For smaller nanosphere sizes, spin coating is more favorable, while for larger nanospheres, the angled interface coating provides more coverage and uniformity.

• A surfactant-free approach for interface coating is developed …

Radiative Heat Transfer Analysis Of Railroad Bearings For Wayside Hot-Box Detector Optimization, Arthur Mealer, Constantine Tarawneh, Stephen Crown

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

The railroad industry utilizes wayside detection systems to monitor the temperature of freight railcar bearings in service. The wayside hot-box detector (HBD) is a device that sits on the side of the tracks and uses a non-contact infrared sensor to determine the temperature of the train bearings as they roll over the detector. Various factors can affect the temperature measurements of these wayside detection systems. The class of the railroad bearing and its position on the axle relative to the position of the wayside detector can affect the temperature measurement. That is, the location on the bearing cup where the …

High Throughput Analysis Of The Penetration Of Iron Oxide/Polyethylene Glycol Nanoparticles Into Multicellular Breast Cancer Tumor Spheroids, Jonathan Robert Gabriel

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to design and optimize a system for the high-throughput analysis of multicellular tumor spheroids (MCTS), and validate the system through the study of a complex biological model. The system was successfully created and optimized, allowing the histological recovery of MCTS at rates up to 90% for microarrays of 24-spheroids. Arrays of 96-spheroids were recovered at rates up to 86%. The system was used to study the penetration of 5k Da-polyethylene coated superparamagnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles (5k-PEG SPIONs) into HTB-126 breast cancer spheroids cultured to a mean diameter of 486 micrometer (± 25.2 micrometer). Results were …

Providing A Unique Stem Education Opportunity With A Five-Day Eleo Mission, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint Presentation created by Professor Bob Twiggs titled "Providing a Unique STEM Education Opportunity with a Five-Day ELEO Mission" from July 18, 2017.

Biomechanics Of Snoring And Sleep Apnea, Charles F. Babbs

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Working Papers

To understand the mechanisms of snoring and sleep apnea a first-principles biomechanical analysis was done for airflow through branched parallel channels, separated by a freely movable soft palate, and converging to a common channel at the base of the tongue in a “Y-shaped” configuration. Branches of the Y describe slit-like passages on the nasal and oral sides of the soft palate, when the palate is pushed by backward movement of the tongue to form a wedge between the tongue surface and the posterior pharyngeal wall. The common channel of the Y describes the oropharyngeal passage between the base of the …

The Impact Of Power Curve Estimation On Commercial Wind Power Forecasts - An Empirical Analysis, Gianni Goretti, Aidan Duffy, Tek Tjing Lie

Conference papers

An increasing number of utilities participating in the energy market require short term (i.e. up to 48 hours) power forecasts for renewable generation in order to optimize technical and financial performances. As a result, a large number of forecast providers now operate in the marketplace, each using different methods and offering a wide range of services. This paper assesses five different day-ahead wind power forecasts generated by various service providers currently operating in the market, and compares their performance against the state-of-the-art of short-term wind power forecasting. The work focuses on how power curve estimations can introduce systematic errors that …

2012, May - San Luis Obispo County Master Water Report, Volume Iii Of Iii

San Luis Obispo Public Works Water Reports

A compilation of current and future water resource management activities with in San Luis Obispo County that are organized by Water Planning Areas. The report explores how the activities interrelate, analyzes current and future supplies and demands, and identifies future water management strategies and ways to optimize existing strategies

Explaining Trained Neural Networks With Semantic Web Technologies: First Steps, Md Kamruzzaman Sarker, Ning Xie, Derek Doran, Michael L. Raymer, Pascal Hitzler

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

The ever increasing prevalence of publicly available struc-tured data on the World Wide Web enables new applications in a varietyof domains. In this paper, we provide a conceptual approach that lever-ages such data in order to explain the input-output behavior of trainedartificial neural networks. We apply existing Semantic Web technologiesin order to provide an experimental proof of concept.

Iot Based Recipes For Enabling Senior Citizens: Stakeholders Views On How Integration Of Iot And Web Services Can Enhance Well-Being And Inclusion Of Older People, Matteo Zallio, Damon Berry, John Mcgrory

Conference papers

The main body of research clearly highlights the world’s population is rapidly expanding. When this fact is combined with the increase in life longevity due to medical and social advances it alters the demographic balance in relation to age. Hence, the number of people aged 65 and over is constantly increasing. The potential of Smart Technologies and IoT-based devices to improve health has increased rapidly in the last few years and users are now in a position to contribute to the development of the interaction process and need to be properly trained on benefits of using new technologies. IFTTT (If …

Design & Evaluation Of A Hybrid Switched Capacitor Circuit With Wide-Bandgap Devices For Dc Grid Applications, Joshua L. Stewart

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

ABSTRACT

As technologies advance, the rate at which renewable power sources, such as solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind, are being added to the power grid is increasing. Typically, PV power plants require large inverters for direct current to alternating current (DC-AC) power conversion, as well as large transformers to step up voltages to the grid voltage. Offshore wind farms and large PV power plants in remote locations often aggregate power on a DC bus in order to improve efficiency and reduce the cost of power conversion hardware within the energy complex. However, the power must still be converted to AC …

Time And Energy Characterization Of A Neutron Time Of Flight Detector Using A Novel Coincidence Method For Constraining Neutron Yield, Ion Temperature And Liner Density Measurements From Maglif Experiments, Jedediah Styron

Nuclear Engineering ETDs

The focus of this work is the characterization of a typical neutron time-of-flight (NTOF) detector that is fielded on inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments conducted at the Z-experimental facility with emphasis on the Magnetized Liner Fusion (MagLIF) concept. An NTOF detector consisting of EJ-228 scintillator and two independent photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), a Hamamatsu-mod 5 and Photek-PMT240, has been characterized in terms of the absolute time and energy response. The characterization was done by measuring single, neutron-induced events in the scintillator by measuring the alpha particle and neutron produced from the D-T reaction in kinematic coincidence. The results of these experiments …

Analytical Modeling And Characterization For Avalanche Photodiodes, Erum Jamil

Optical Science and Engineering ETDs

For applications requiring the detection of low light levels, avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are the preferred detector of choice. The reason for this is their internal gain, which improves the APDs sensitivity (up to 5 − 10 dB) when compared to PIN-based photodiodes. The internal gain for an APD comes from the process of impact ionization process; however, due to its stochastic nature, the multiplication gain comes at the expense of extra noise. This multiplication noise, called the excess noise, is a measure of the gain uncertainty. Despite significant progress made in the fabrication process for the APDs, the excess noise …

Application Of Advanced Biomechanical Methods In Studying Low Back Pain – Recent Development In Estimation Of Lower Back Loads And Large-Array Surface Electromyography And Findings, Babak Bazrgari, Ting Xia

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

Low back pain (LBP) is a major public health problem and the leading disabling musculoskeletal disorder globally. A number of biomechanical methods using kinematic, kinetic and/or neuromuscular approaches have been used to study LBP. In this narrative review, we report recent developments in two biomechanical methods: estimation of lower back loads and large-array surface electromyography (LA-SEMG) and the findings associated with LBP. The ability to estimate lower back loads is very important for the prevention and the management of work-related low back injuries based on the mechanical loading model as one category of LBP classification. The methods used for estimation …

Comparison Between Single Loading–Unloading Indentation And Continuous Stiffness Indentation, Yun-Fei Jia, Yuan-Yuan Cui, Fu-Zhen Xuan, Fuqian Yang

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Experiments are performed on fused silica, Si, and duplex stainless steel to examine whether the CSM (continuous stiffness indentation) method will provide approximately the “same” results of contact modulus and indentation hardness as those measured from the quasi-static single loading–unloading indentation. The experimental results show that the elastic modulus measured by the CSM method is compatible with that by the quasi-static loading–unloading method for hard materials, while there exists a percentage difference of ∼21.3% between the smallest value and the largest vale of the measured indentation hardnesses from the CSM method for fused silica and a percentage difference of ∼15.3% …

Modeling De Novo Granulation Of Anaerobic Sludge, Anna Doloman, Honey Varghese, Charles D. Miller, Nicholas Flann

Computer Science Faculty and Staff Publications

Background: A unique combination of mechanical, physiochemical and biological forces influences granulation during processes of anaerobic digestion. Understanding this process requires a systems biology approach due to the need to consider not just single-cell metabolic processes, but also the multicellular organization and development of the granule.

Results: In this computational experiment, we address the role that physiochemical and biological processes play in granulation and provide a literature-validated working model of anaerobic granule de novo formation. The agent-based model developed in a cDynoMiCs simulation environment successfully demonstrated a de novo granulation in a glucose fed system, with the average specific methanogenic …

Physical Disruption Of Cell-Cell Contact Induces Vegf Expression In Rpe Cells, Fahrad Farjood, Elizabeth Vargis

Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

PURPOSE: To investigate the role of RPE cell-cell contact in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) protein expression in cultures of primary human RPE (hRPE) cells and a human RPE cell line (ARPE-19). METHODS: Two in vitro methods, scratching and micropatterning, were used to control the physical dissociation of RPE cell-cell junctions. Scratching was performed by scoring monolayers of RPE cells with a cell scraper. Micropatterning was achieved by using a stencil patterning method. Extracellular VEGF expression was assessed by using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. Immunocytochemistry (ICC) was performed to visualize the expression and localization of VEGF and intercellular …

Excellent Performance Of Fe78si9b13 Metallic Glass For Activating Peroxymonosulfate In Degradation Of Naphthol Green B, Xue-Fen Li, Shun-Xing Liang, Xiao-Wang Xi, Zhe Jia, Shi-Kun Xie, He-Chun Lin, Jun-Ping Hu, Laichang Zhang

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The functional application of metallic glasses in the catalytic field has widely attracted research attention due to its unique atomic structure compared to crystalline materials. It has been reported that metallic glasses can effectively activate H₂O₂ and persulfate, yet the activation of peroxymonosulfate by metallic glasses is not studied well. In this work, the metallic glass with atomic composition of Fe₇₈Si₉B₁₃ was applied for investigating the peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation on degradation of naphthol green B (NGB) dye. The change of surface morphology indicated the important role of oxide films during the dye …

The Microbial Antibodies Secretion Expression Platform With Scale Down Fermentors, Jen-Wei Chang, Wei-Kuang Chi, Neng-Hsien Chang, Wei-Hong Chen, Yi-Hua Huang, Chih-Hsi Fan

Biochemical and Molecular Engineering XX

Therapeutic antibodies have become one of the most effective therapeutics for human diseases such as cancer, inflammation and viral infection. The production of antibody-based drugs using microbial expression systems is more cost effective with ease of gene manipulation compared to mammalian expression systems. In our team, antibody fragments (ex: BsAb, scFv and Fab) were produced from methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris secretion expression system with the AOX1 as driven promoter or E. coli secretion expression system. To achieve high production yield for both system, we investigated fermentation parameter such as base medium, induction medium, induction condition, feeding strategy and pH. For …

Conference Program, Wilfred Chen, Nicole Borth, Stefanos Grammatikos

Biochemical and Molecular Engineering XX

No abstract provided.

Application Of Phage Display And Plasmid Display To Broaden The Specificity Of Human Fbs1 For Capture Of N-Glycosylated Peptides, James C. Samuelson

Biochemical and Molecular Engineering XX

The objective of this study was to develop a method for selective and comprehensive enrichment of N-linked glycopeptides to facilitate biomarker discovery. The natural function of human Fbs1 is to bind misfolded N-linked glycoproteins by recognition of the common pentasaccharide core motif (Man3GlcNAc2) of the N-glycan. We show that Fbs1 is able to bind diverse types of N-linked glycomolecules, however, wild-type Fbs1 preferentially binds high mannose containing glycans. To reduce the bias during N-glycomolecule enrichment experiments, we isolated Fbs1 variants with altered specificity through mutagenesis and plasmid display selection. Five cycles of E. coli propagation and in vitro panning against …

Characterization Of Methods For Surface Charge Removal For The Reduction Of Electrostatic Discharge Events, Khandakar Nusrat Islam

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) from charged dielectric materials used in explosive environments presents a significant hazard. In order to investigate dielectric surface charging and methods of removing this charge in a controlled manner, a test stand has been built to study the behavior of several common dielectric materials used in such environments. A corona discharge source of the type used in electrostatic printing technology has been employed at normal laboratory temperatures and at low and high relative humidity in a controlled manner.

Dielectrics tested included black/semi-black/yellow Kapton, Lexan, Delrin, and red Adiprene with surface potentials (V_diel) ranging from -1 …

Designing Nanocomposite Materials For Catalyzing Electrochemical Reactions In Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells, Sadia Afrin Kabir

Chemical and Biological Engineering ETDs

Fuel cells are considered to be one the most promising sustainable energy technologies for energy conversion and electric power generation. With the development of stable, conductive and high performance anion exchange membranes and ionomers, there has been an increased interest towards studying various electrochemical reactions in Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (AEMFC). This increased attention has been attributed to the comparatively facile reaction kinetics, minimized corrosion effects and reduced fuel crossover in alkaline media. However, the oxygen reduction reactions (ORR) taking place in the cathode compartment of fuel cells plays a crucial role in optimizing the electrochemical energy conversion efficiency, …

Characterization Of Unknown Bridge Foundations, Saman Rashidyan

Civil Engineering ETDs

The National Bridge Inventory (NBI) recognized 86,133 bridges in the United States have no foundation data on record in 2003. It is evident that an unknown percentage of the 86,133 bridges identified by NBI with missing foundation data could also be highly vulnerable to scouring induced by water flow coupled with erodible soils. Conventional excavation, coring and boring excavations to identify unknown bridge foundation depths and types are deemed to be expensive, destructive, and limited in their application to the unknown foundation problem. Many surface and borehole nondestructive testing (NDT) technologies have been developed for this purpose. Three economical proven …