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2018

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Articles 601 - 630 of 8951

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Solar Parking Lot Analysis: Smart Investment Or Waste Of Capital, Jared J. Davis Dec 2018

Solar Parking Lot Analysis: Smart Investment Or Waste Of Capital, Jared J. Davis

Construction Management

In the last couple decades solar panels have been developed into a sustainable and effective method for harnessing clean energy. Today, solar panels have been engineered into solar roadways. Solar roadways are structurally engineered solar panels which can be installed in the Earth, driven on, and can replace the need for traditional asphalt roads. These solar roadways also include built in LEDs which mimic road lines and light up wildlife crossing the road, making these road panels a very safe alternative to traditional asphalt roads. This senior project is an analysis of solar roadways and their capabilities when applied to …

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Meetings Critical To Construction Project Success And Best Practices: A Case Study, Ross L. Ludwig Dec 2018

Meetings Critical To Construction Project Success And Best Practices: A Case Study, Ross L. Ludwig

Construction Management

This project is a case study of specific meeting tactics that are being used by “Company X”, a large general contracting company. The case study was completed by conducting semi-structured interviews of “Company X” senior management personnel. The case study looked to discover which meetings were necessary to overall project success, as well as best practices for meetings in the construction industry. Communication effectiveness of the project team is essential to the overall project outcome. The project team is a group of people with diverse backgrounds. Understanding the dynamics of a group is necessary to producing a quality product. A …

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Scraper Productivity, Cost, And Size Selection Generator, Zachary C. Rege Dec 2018

Scraper Productivity, Cost, And Size Selection Generator, Zachary C. Rege

Construction Management

In the construction industry we are timelessly looking to increase productivity and find the most cost-efficient way to finish a given project. Like any other sector of the construction industry large earthmoving contractors looks to find the most advantageous way to move dirt and at the cheapest cost per cubic yard. To obtain this goal of calculating and imagining the best way to move dirt, I have created a prototype program that analyzes scraper productivity and cost comparisons through excel sheets. These excel sheets allow a contractor to enter information such as cycles times, load calculations, and costs to create …

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Unexpected Setbacks When Excavating - Using Gpr For Mitigating Risk: A Case Study, Sam Marcum Dec 2018

Unexpected Setbacks When Excavating - Using Gpr For Mitigating Risk: A Case Study, Sam Marcum

Construction Management

Whether constructing on undeveloped land or on an existing developed site, there is a risk of encountering unexpected objects when excavating. With today’s technology in Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), this risk can generally be mitigated. Using Whiting-Turner’s construction of Stanford University’s new ChEM-H & SNI Building as an example, this case study discusses the use of GPR for underground mapping, as well as various ways to implement GPR technology. The ChEM-H & SNI site had many underground utilities that required precise pot-holing to verify locations. Although pot-holing is widely used, it is a destructive method, it is time and labor …

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Meetings Critical To Construction Project Success And Best Practices: A Case Study, Ross Ludwig Dec 2018

Meetings Critical To Construction Project Success And Best Practices: A Case Study, Ross Ludwig

Construction Management

This project is a case study of specific meeting tactics that are being used by “Company X”, a large general contracting company. The case study was completed by conducting semi-structured interviews of “Company X” senior management personnel. The case study looked to discover which meetings were necessary to overall project success, as well as best practices for meetings in the construction industry. Communication effectiveness of the project team is essential to the overall project outcome. The project team is a group of people with diverse backgrounds. Understanding the dynamics of a group is necessary to producing a quality product. A …

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Case Study: Effect Of Rideshare And Autonomous Vehicles On Parking Requirements In The Bay Area, Ryan J. Macintosh Dec 2018

Case Study: Effect Of Rideshare And Autonomous Vehicles On Parking Requirements In The Bay Area, Ryan J. Macintosh

Construction Management

With our streets becoming over crowded with many different modes of transportation, parking has followed this trend and proven to be much more difficult for people. This has frustrated citizens and developers alike because there never seems to be enough parking when it’s needed and finding the space and resources necessary to provide sufficient amounts is becoming increasingly difficult. The objective of this report is to create more awareness of how rideshare and autonomous vehicles are affecting parking requirements imposed by cities. The world we live in can change very fast and in order to accommodate for these changes, we …

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Part-Time Internships With Local Construction Companies, Eddie T. Kennedy Dec 2018

Part-Time Internships With Local Construction Companies, Eddie T. Kennedy

Construction Management

Internships have proven to be beneficial for both the intern and the company. The Construction Management (CM) department has proven to be able to well connect students with the industry for summer internships and full-time jobs. Programs like info sessions, job fairs, and meet and greets have allowed the CM department to make this connection. However, partaking in a part-time internship while taking coursework has not been emphasized in the department. This paper will gauge student interest in obtaining a part-time internship for a local construction company in San Luis Obispo. Student responses to surveys showed a clear interest in …

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A Study Of Cal Poly Students' Preferred Career Path: A Focus On Alumni, Jesse D. Longchamps Dec 2018

A Study Of Cal Poly Students' Preferred Career Path: A Focus On Alumni, Jesse D. Longchamps

Construction Management

The construction industry is a fragile system with an intricate mix of field and office – labor and management. Theses two branches are critical to keeping any project running smoothly. However, the industry is noticeably changing and this fragile structure is deteriorating. Field positions are getting tougher and tougher to fill for most companies in the construction industry. Without skilled field employees, the companies are losing one of the two most important aspects of construction. Without field employees, office employees may be tasked with picking up additional duties beyond their expertise – further advancing their stress levels and sacrificing quality …

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Case Study: The Implementation Of Tool Box Talks At A Steel Subcontracting Shop, Joseph M. Freschet Dec 2018

Case Study: The Implementation Of Tool Box Talks At A Steel Subcontracting Shop, Joseph M. Freschet

Construction Management

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing tool box talks at a small iron working shop. A case study of workers at Ironstone Metal Works, Inc. based out of San Carlos were given a series of tool box talks then evaluated on the effectiveness of the implementation of regular safety meetings. The impact focused on this paper will be the effectiveness of the implementation of regular safety training and how it relates to a safer work environment, reduced cost of workplace injuries, and workers knowledge of safe practices. An analysis of worker interviews and survey …

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A Comparative Analysis Of Regional Productivity Trends, Michael P. Foley Dec 2018

A Comparative Analysis Of Regional Productivity Trends, Michael P. Foley

Construction Management

Throughout recent decades, the construction industry has suffered considerably from its inability to accurately target and measure key aspects of worker output that hinder productivity most. Much research has been conducted to analyze the factors contributing to labor productivity output at the work face, however, this dissertation is primarily focused on discovering key components of the building process that seem to hinder productivity from the perspective of the general contracting team. This paper’s literature review looks to address historical data relating to productivity difficulties specific to the construction industry, laborers’ productivity dilemma at the work face, and the resulting impact …

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A Case Study: Farrell Drilled Displacement Column Ground Improvement, Cody T. Flechsig Dec 2018

A Case Study: Farrell Drilled Displacement Column Ground Improvement, Cody T. Flechsig

Construction Management

The objective of this study is to document the ground improvement techniques employed by Farrell Design-Build Inc. to allow for the construction of the Emeryville Public Market. The market is a Mixed use building, housing tenants, a ground floor grocery, and parking structure. By showing the effectiveness of this system, it is the hope that other industry professionals will be more capable to undertake and solve complex soil issues. Ground improvement is a technical, and necessary part of construction, allowing for vertical construction to begin. Farrell’s technology has the ability to transform industry standards, and create new methods of dealing …

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Unexpected Setbacks When Excavating – Using Gpr For Mitigating Risk: A Case Study, Samuel L. Marcum Dec 2018

Unexpected Setbacks When Excavating – Using Gpr For Mitigating Risk: A Case Study, Samuel L. Marcum

Construction Management

Whether constructing on undeveloped land or on an existing developed site, there is a risk of encountering unexpected objects when excavating. With today’s technology in Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), this risk can generally be mitigated. Using Whiting-Turner’s construction of Stanford University’s new ChEM-H & SNI Building as an example, this case study discusses the use of GPR for underground mapping, as well as various ways to implement GPR technology. The ChEM-H & SNI site had many underground utilities that required precise pot-holing to verify locations. Although pot-holing is widely used, it is a destructive method, it is time and labor …

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Abandoned Projects: The Economic Impact In San Luis Obispo, Andrew Steven Horton Dec 2018

Abandoned Projects: The Economic Impact In San Luis Obispo, Andrew Steven Horton

Construction Management

San Luis Obispo is in the midst of a housing crisis. This small college town cannot keep pace with the growing number of students and residents. The problem is that there are very few new housing options being developed. Other than the new freshman dorms, the housing market in San Luis Obispo has been stagnant for years. The housing market cannot afford inefficiency and waste, but there are still many abandoned construction sites around the city. These sites are not only eye sores and safety hazards, but they are wasted opportunities. They cost the city millions of dollars every year. …

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Noise Induced Hearing Loss Accountability On Jobsites Within The Construction Industry, Joseph O. Lamphere Dec 2018

Noise Induced Hearing Loss Accountability On Jobsites Within The Construction Industry, Joseph O. Lamphere

Construction Management

Noise induced hearing loss is a major issue on jobsites within the construction industry. Every day workers are exposed to hazardous levels of noise, but they are not being properly managed to mitigate this issue. Workers have misconceptions about the topic, but more surprisingly are sometimes indifferent to the effects; believing hearing loss is inevitable, or it can be cured with a hearing aide. Construction has inherent dangers that workers have to deal with every day. Hearing loss might not be on the top of their lists, but the effects are permanent, and they cannot be cured with a hearing …

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Growing Grounds Nursery - Outdoor Plaza And Education Space, Keenan Brekke Dec 2018

Growing Grounds Nursery - Outdoor Plaza And Education Space, Keenan Brekke

Construction Management

This paper describes the planning, both design and financing, as well as the construction of an 800 square foot outdoor plaza area and education space. After six months of Planning and Fundraising, the scope of work included clearing and grubbing, relocation of irrigation lines, site grading and footing excavation, forming and pouring four architectural board form concrete benches and a planter, installing a perimeter French drain for site drainage, and installation of serpentine rock retaining walls, steel planters, a sail shade structure, outdoor string lights, a koi pond, and all significant landscaping. The author, over 100 volunteers, and various industry …

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Analysis Of Student-Athletes And Summer Internship Experiences In The Construction Management Department, Amanda Rose Sandoval Dec 2018

Analysis Of Student-Athletes And Summer Internship Experiences In The Construction Management Department, Amanda Rose Sandoval

Construction Management

Summer internships are a valuable way for implementing practical knowledge in the construction industry. Students can apply what they have learned during the school year and visualize the reality of how construction is managed. This project will research what student-athletes typically invest their time in over summer and the construction company’s connection to the student-athlete department. The analysis will identify if there is a need to propose a program that can improve the relationship between the construction management and student-athlete departments. Two surveys were conducted to collect information about student-athletes summer activity history and their perspective of internship experience, as …

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Scraper Productivity, Cost, And Size Selection Generator, Zach Rege Dec 2018

Scraper Productivity, Cost, And Size Selection Generator, Zach Rege

Construction Management

In the construction industry we are timelessly looking to increase productivity and find the most cost-efficient way to finish a given project. Like any other sector of the construction industry large earth moving contractors look to find the most advantageous way to move dirt and at the cheapest cost per cubic yard. To obtain this goal of calculating and imagining the best way to move dirt, I have created a prototype program that analyzes scraper productivity and cost comparisons through excel sheets. These excel sheets allow a contractor to enter information such as cycles times, load calculations, and costs to …

Go to article

Solar Parking Lot Analysis: Smart Investment Or Waste Of Capital, Jared James Davis Dec 2018

Solar Parking Lot Analysis: Smart Investment Or Waste Of Capital, Jared James Davis

Construction Management

In the last couple decades solar panels have been developed into a sustainable and effective method for harnessing clean energy. Today, solar panels have been engineered into solar roadways. Solar roadways are structurally engineered solar panels which can be installed in the Earth, driven on, and can replace the need for traditional asphalt roads. These solar roadways also include built in LEDs which mimic road lines and light up wildlife crossing the road, making these road panels a very safe alternative to traditional asphalt roads. This senior project is an analysis of solar roadways and their capabilities when applied to …

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Numerical Simulation And Optimization Of Blalock-Taussig Shunt, Thomas Hess, Ramesh K. Agarwal Dec 2018

Numerical Simulation And Optimization Of Blalock-Taussig Shunt, Thomas Hess, Ramesh K. Agarwal

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The goal of this study is to create an optimized Blalock-Taussig shunt used to temporarily repair pulmonary vascular blockages allowing a child time to grow so a more permanent surgical repair of the heart and vasculature can be performed. Blalock-Taussig or BT shunts are a surgical procedure performed on infants suffering from cyanosis or “Blue Baby Syndrome.” A BT shunt is an artificial vessel placed between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery to increase blood flow in the lung and blood oxygen saturation levels. In a study of 96 patients with currently in use modified BT shunts, 32 patients …

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Ground Line Moment Analysis Of Body Extended 161kv Transmission Towers, Phillip York Dec 2018

Ground Line Moment Analysis Of Body Extended 161kv Transmission Towers, Phillip York

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study simplified the analysis required for the extension of a single circuit tangent 161kV transmission tower. The parameters were modified and modern criteria used to evaluate the tangent tower with various body extensions. The basis of analysis for the extended lattice towers compared the ground-line moment of the tallest tower in each class to the ground-line moment of various tower heights. This study analyzed 62,640 design input combinations for the tower using modern NESC loadings and determined which combinations fall below the maximum design ground-line forces. The ground-line force analysis was modernized by lowering the overload factors from their …

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Computational Support For Predicting Requirement Change Volatility In Complex System Design, Phyo Htet Hein Dec 2018

Computational Support For Predicting Requirement Change Volatility In Complex System Design, Phyo Htet Hein

Theses and Dissertations

Requirements play critical role in the design process as objective statements of stakeholders’ expectations. Design process is iterative, and requirements are also constantly changed and updated to reflect stakeholders’ expectations, design changes, regulations, resource limitations, etc. Managing requirement change is one of the most important requirement management tasks. Since requirements are driving factors in product development from initial concept development stage to final production, mismanaged requirement changes can adversely affect project health leading to monetary and time losses. The ability to assess a requirement change and predict its propagation early in the design process will enable engineers to make informed …

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The Corrosion And Biofouling Characteristics Of Sealed Vs. Perforated Offshore Monopile Interiors: Experiment Design Comparing Corrosion And Environment Inside Steel Pipe, Monica M. Maher Dec 2018

The Corrosion And Biofouling Characteristics Of Sealed Vs. Perforated Offshore Monopile Interiors: Experiment Design Comparing Corrosion And Environment Inside Steel Pipe, Monica M. Maher

Theses and Dissertations

This research addresses the need to improve on the existing methods for the corrosion control of the monopile interiors used to support wind powered turbines by incorporating a design that also enhances marine habitats and fisheries. Retrofitting monopile interiors with cathodic protection has been attempted on existing windfarms to mitigate corrosion, however, this can cause new problems including water acidification and hydrogen sulfide formation. Such chemistry changes can lead to unique localized corrosion concerns. This study investigated internal corrosion, chemistry and biofouling inside partially submerged hollow steel pipes. Watertight pipes with stagnant water inside were compared to pipes with holes …

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Development Of Adaptable Human-Machine Interface For Teleoperation Over Time Delay, May Nyein Chan Dec 2018

Development Of Adaptable Human-Machine Interface For Teleoperation Over Time Delay, May Nyein Chan

Theses and Dissertations

The Adaptable Human-Machine Interface (AHMI) was developed for the Orbital Robotic Interaction, On-orbit servicing, and Navigation (ORION) Laboratory of the Florida Institute of Technology. The primary project objective was to develop and test a predictive display for mitigating the effects of time delay in teleoperation of space robots and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) using quadcopters as a test case. Regardless of the increasing popularity of various autonomous systems, research and development of teleoperating system should not be neglected since it is often utilized as a back-up in most autonomous systems especially in systems for human spaceflight and UAV operations in …

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Control Development For Autonomous Landing Of Quadcopter On Moving Platform, Rakhayai Mangsatabam Dec 2018

Control Development For Autonomous Landing Of Quadcopter On Moving Platform, Rakhayai Mangsatabam

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the control development for autonomous landing of a quadcopter on a moving platform. The object tracking and path following is performed through on-board vision-based systems. The goal of the thesis is to develop a controller for autonomous landing of a quadcopter and test its fidelity with simulations and experiments. The thesis is carried out in two sections, simulation and experiment. The simulation was carried out based on the system modeled and a PD (Proportional Derivative) controller was used to simulate the quadcopter landing. The simulation was split into three parts, with each part attempting to become …

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Design Of An Attitude Control System For A Spacecraft With Propellant Slosh Dynamics, Nolan Coulter Dec 2018

Design Of An Attitude Control System For A Spacecraft With Propellant Slosh Dynamics, Nolan Coulter

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The presence of propellant slosh dynamics in a spacecraft system during a maneuver leads to attitude control system (ACS) performance degradation resulting in attitude tracking errors and instability. As spacecraft missions become more complex and involve longer durations, a substantial propellant mass is required to achieve the mission objectives and perform orbital maneuvers. When the propellant tanks are only partially filled, the liquid fuel moves inside the tanks with translational and rotational accelerations generating the slosh dynamics. This research effort performs a comparative study with different optimal control techniques and a novel application of a model reference artificial immune system …

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Improving Thermal-Hydraulic Performance Of Flat-Tube Louver-Fin Heat Exchangers By Eliminating Louver Gap Condensate Bridges, Alan L. Jones Dec 2018

Improving Thermal-Hydraulic Performance Of Flat-Tube Louver-Fin Heat Exchangers By Eliminating Louver Gap Condensate Bridges, Alan L. Jones

Theses and Dissertations

The air side performance of heat exchangers is a well studied subject. Flat-tube louver-fin heat exchangers experience a decrease in performance when operating in dehumidifying conditions. As water vapor is pulled from the air, water condensate may create blockages between louvers. Flat-tube louver-fin heat exchanger may experience a drop in thermal-hydraulic performance by up to 50% due to blockages. The aim of this study is to make macro scale geometric changes to louver dimensions and eliminate louver condensate bridges. By eliminating louver condensate blockages, the heat exchanger should see an overall gain in thermal performance when compared to current fin …

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Impedance Sensing Of Cancer Cells Directly On Sensory Bioscaffolds Of Bioceramics Nanofibers, Hanan Alismail Dec 2018

Impedance Sensing Of Cancer Cells Directly On Sensory Bioscaffolds Of Bioceramics Nanofibers, Hanan Alismail

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cancer cell research has been growing for decades. In the field of cancer pathology, there is an increasing and long-unmet need to develop a new technology for low-cost, rapid, sensitive, selective, label-free (i.e. direct), simple and reliable screening, diagnosis, and monitoring of live cancer and normal cells in same shape and size from the same anatomic region. For the first time on using an impedance signal, the breast cancer and normal cells have been thus screened, diagnosed and monitored on a smart bioscaffold of entangled nanowires of bioceramics titanate grown directly on the surface of implantable Ti-metal and characterized by …

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Stability Analysis Of A High-Power Microgrid, David Manuel Carballo Rojas Dec 2018

Stability Analysis Of A High-Power Microgrid, David Manuel Carballo Rojas

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this thesis is to perform the modeling and stability analysis of a high-power microgrid with multiple parallel-and grid connected voltage source converters using the system parameters from the high-power microgrid testbed at the National Center for Reliable Electric Power Transmission (NCREPT) at the University of Arkansas in order to identify, minimize, if not eliminate, the potential instabilities that can affect the proper operation of the microgrid testbed. To achieve this objective, the mathematical modeling of the high-power microgrid considering the adverse effects of resonances due to interactions among the converter LCL output filters is presented and analyzed. …

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Aligning Anatomical Knee Model With Kinematic Experimental Data To Investigate Squat Exercise, Jose Mario Salinas Dec 2018

Aligning Anatomical Knee Model With Kinematic Experimental Data To Investigate Squat Exercise, Jose Mario Salinas

Theses and Dissertations

A two-dimensional inverse dynamics anatomical model of the human knee was developed by aligning anatomical structures of the knee (taken from x-rays) with kinematic experimental data (collected from motion capture cameras). The mathematical model was used to study the forces related to the tibiofemoral and patellofemoral joints during the squat and knee extension exercises. Forces calculated by the model included: tibiofemoral contact force, patellofemoral contact force, forces generated by cruciate ligaments, quadriceps force, and patellar tendon force. Bone alignment consisted of superimposing the geometric center of the lateral femoral condyle (from x-rays) with the relative instantaneous center of rotation of …

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Radiative Heat Transfer Analysis Of Railroad Bearings For Wayside Thermal Detector Optimization, James Alexandro Aranda Dec 2018

Radiative Heat Transfer Analysis Of Railroad Bearings For Wayside Thermal Detector Optimization, James Alexandro Aranda

Theses and Dissertations

Wayside hot-box detectors (HBDs) are devices that are currently used to evaluate the health of railcar components including bearings, axles, and brakes by monitoring their temperatures. While HBDs have been instrumental in reducing some train derailments in the past few decades, the number of non-verified bearing removals has increased significantly. In general, HBDs tend to underestimate bearing temperatures in both field service and in laboratory testing, which is not surprising considering the simple two-point calibration method that is used to calibrate these devices. Because of this, different calibrations were compared and analyzed including two-point, three-point, and multi-point calibrations. Analysis of …

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