Engineering Commons^™

Career Path Web Application, Annamarie Roger

Computer Science and Software Engineering

This web application provides a new approach to organizing career advice. It allows a prospective student to outline career priorities and receive suggestions drawing from a repository of reports from professionals in their respective fields. This gives the student access to advice from individuals who do not know the user personally and aims to remove the possible bias that may exist on that level. Furthermore, the system is periodically updated to include recent reports.

The Continuing Quest For Missile Defense: When Lofty Goals Confront Reality, Peter J. Pella

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

For almost three quarters of a century, the United States has spent billions of dollars and countless person-hours in the pursuit of a national missile defense system that would protect the country from intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) carrying nuclear warheads. The system currently in place consists of 44 long-range antiballistic missiles stationed in Alaska and California to protect the United States from a possible nuclear weapon carrying ICBM attack from North Korea. After all this effort, this system is still imperfect, being successful only 10 out of 18 tests.

This book will provide an historical description of past efforts in …

Web Aplikacioni Për Menaxhimin E Eventeve Në Kosovë, Fatlind Dautaj

Theses and Dissertations

Një nga problemet më aktuale në Kosove është informimi rreth eventeve dhe vendeve turistike. Bazuar në këtë fakt, mungesa e informacioneve rreth eventeve dhe vendeve turistike ka bëre që të mos zhvillohet mjaftueshëm turizimi në Kosovë. Meqenëse informimi rreth turizmit deri me tani është bërë përmes broshurave, te cilat nuk mundë të permbanin mjaftushëm informacione, të cilat kishin ndikim jo të mire edhe për ambientin dhe që nuk ishin mjaft te sigurta se informacioni nga ato do të mundë të arrihej te përsonat e interesuar për event.Mirëpo me zhvillimin e këtij web aplikacioni atëherë gjithqka është lehtësuar pasi që informimi …

Data Mining Ancient Script Image Data Using Convolutional Neural Networks, Shruti Daggumati, Peter Revesz

School of Computing: Conference and Workshop Papers

The recent surge in ancient scripts has resulted in huge image libraries of ancient texts. Data mining of the collected images enables the study of the evolution of these ancient scripts. In particular, the origin of the Indus Valley script is highly debated. We use convolutional neural networks to test which Phoenician alphabet letters and Brahmi symbols are closest to the Indus Valley script symbols. Surprisingly, our analysis shows that overall the Phoenician alphabet is much closer than the Brahmi script to the Indus Valley script symbols.

Efforts To Improve Free Body Diagrams, Kate N. Leipold, Sarilyn R. Ivancic

Presentations and other scholarship

It is frequently noted within the mechanical engineering department that students in Statics, and in following courses, are underperforming in their ability to create well-crafted free body diagrams (FBDs). The instructional faculty were charged to identify pedagogical methods to improve student performance in Statics and the retention of key concepts.

Two novel approaches were implemented over the 2016 academic year.

A pneumonic device to remember the key components of free body diagrams was developed and demonstrated consistently in class. The device is referred to as “The ABC’s of FBD’s”. The first four letters of the alphabet identify an item that …

Transient Heat Storage Systems, Ian M. Sweeney, Brock M. Johnson, Todd K. Lundberg

Mechanical Engineering

Phase change materials (PCM) have many applications in transient cooling systems, including those with high transient heat loads and low duty cycles. These materials allow a system to remain within a narrow temperature range with a relatively low weight compared to conventional heat sinks or high-power cooling systems. This senior capstone project includes the design of a PCM based thermal energy storage system to integrate into an existing cooling loop, as well as a determination of viable PCM’s for the application. This report contains the necessary information to build the test apparatus.

Wheelchair Tire Change, Vincent Aguilar, Martin Perez-Guzman, Spencer J. Solano

Mechanical Engineering

This project consists of a rear wheel wheelchair lift to be designed and created by a Cal Poly senior project team. This project was created for injured veteran Ms. Landeen who has the trouble of tracking mud into her house because of dirty wheelchair tires. The project was presented by the non-profit organization The Quality of Life Plus (QL+) Program. Much like when you remove your shoes coming into your home, Ms. Landeen needs a way to exchange her outdoor wheels for her clean indoor wheels.

The expected outcome of this project is a fully functioning device that will safely …

Verification Of Brand Authentication Technology Using Infrared Light And Image Processing, Thomas Fenner, Kevin Whalen, Josh Oliver

Mechanical Engineering

Statement of Confidentiality: The complete senior project report was submitted to the project advisor and sponsor. The results of this project are of a confidential nature and will not be published at this time.

Theatrical Turntable, Liam R. Martinez, Isaac Becker, Robert R. Reed, Caroline A. Whelan

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Beach Wheelchair Attachment, Abbey Jo Scholle, Jackson Dallas Wiley, Jackson Cole

Mechanical Engineering

This document includes the problem that is under scrutiny, the background research towards finding a solution, the objectives, scope of the project, the planned overall design process, the preliminary design we have produced and analyzed, the critical design we have manufactured, the testing and results, and the final assessment of the produced design. The problem is lack of easy access and movement for wheelchair users on the beach. Other solutions and designs have been logged under background research. With this information, the scope of work was designed to meet all the needs specified and describe how the specifications will be …

Retractable Hammock, Collin J. Richardson, Jesse Bryn Mandell, Owen Alle Guenther

Mechanical Engineering

This Final Design Review will recap the objectives, background, design ideation, and concept development of the Retractable Hammock senior capstone project and continue to report on the final design and manufacturing that resulted in the final iteration of the Retractable Hammock.

Fpga-Based Dsp System, Aaron Nguyen

Computer Engineering

The purpose of this project is to create a modular FPGA-based filtering system for audio in VHDL. The final implementation has a working input, output, and filtering system but the filtering system still must be fine-tuned.

Iot Power Bank And Control System, Dannick Liudzius

Computer Engineering

The project aims to target the growing Internet of Things (IoT) market with a lightweight and cost effective IoT control system with a mobile power bank. Currently there are no easy to use battery-powered systems set-up for Internet of Things interactions. This project is an iteration of such a system that would be able to be installed in a desired home or business environment even if the location is not in reasonable distance from a power outlet. The rapidly expanding IoT market is ideal for the development of a device that can be molded for use with various chosen peripherals, …

Analog Sorting Using Pulse Width Modulation, Riley C. Olson

Computer Engineering

As time goes on, computers become more and more powerful. However, as processing time becomes less of a limiting factor for computing tasks, power consumption takes its place for many tasks. This paper proposes and tests a new method for sorting analog signals. This new sorting method converts analog signals into Pulse Width Modulated(PWM) signals of varying duty cycle , which are then sorted by a simple network of combinational logic, and then converted to a normal binary representation. In order to implement this new method, multiple circuits had to be designed and and tested to ensure their functionality and …

Home Weather Station, Jarrett William Corr

Computer Engineering

This senior project implements a mobile weather station that can relay weather data to an indoor module with an LCD display. The outdoor module utilizes a temperature, humidity, and pressure sensor to collect atmospheric weather data and a radio transceiver to transmit the data to a display station via radio frequency communications. The indoor station displays the temperature, humidity and time with an LCD display. The indoor station has a settings menu which allows the user to configure the unit of measurement for the temperature and time where the device is located.

Abbott Alarm System, Galen Wu

Computer Engineering

In order to improve production efficiency of implantable cardioverter defibrillators, the Sylmar’s Abbott product manufacturing team requested assistance from the Sylmar hardware development team to construct a system to monitor a UB25, a resistance welder. This system shall monitor the welder for false welds, regulate the number of welds the operator executes, and alerts the operator and floor supervisor of these events. These tasks will ultimately improve the quality of the product and decrease the risk and cost to the customer.

Learning Management Website, Brendan A. Baronia

Computer Engineering

The following system was developed as a basic course management system for use by teachers and students. The project started as an alternative to existing platforms, such as Moodle, though because of a two quarter time constraint the complexity of the system was reduced to a more reasonable level. The resulting system requirements included a simple course creation/enrollment system, with separate sections, topics, and resources including videos, files, and a basic graph problem.

Introduction To Public Health For Environmental Engineers: Results From A Three-Year Pilot, Daniel B. Oerther

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The field of environmental engineering traces its origins to the integration of "civil engineering" infrastructure and the objectives of "public health", namely cost effective disease prevention at the community-scale. To address the urgent need to re-invigorate the "ancient" sub-specialization of "sanitary engineering" within the field of environmental engineering, a new course was created at the Missouri University of Science and Technology entitled, "Public Health for Environmental Engineers." The new course leverages available online materials disseminated by The Johns Hopkins University as well as materials disseminated by the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) to emphasize environmental health practice in diverse communities …

Comparison Of Autonomic Control Of Blood Pressure During Standing And Artificial Gravity Induced Via Short-Arm Human Centrifuge, Ajay K. Verma, Da Xu, Michelle Bruner, Amanmeet Garg, Nandu Goswami, Andrew P. Blaber, Kouhyar Tavakolian

Electrical Engineering Faculty Publications

Autonomic control of blood pressure is essential toward maintenance of cerebral perfusion during standing, failure of which could lead to fainting. Long-term exposure to microgravity deteriorates autonomic control of blood pressure. Consequently, astronauts experience orthostatic intolerance on their return to gravitational environment. Ground-based studies suggest sporadic training in artificial hypergravity can mitigate spaceflight deconditioning. In this regard, short-arm human centrifuge (SAHC), capable of creating artificial hypergravity of different g-loads, provides an auspicious training tool. Here, we compare autonomic control of blood pressure during centrifugation creating 1-g and 2-g at feet with standing in natural gravity. Continuous blood pressure was acquired …

Relative Sea Level, Tides, And Extreme Water Levels In Boston Harbor From 1825 To 2018, Stefan Talke, A. C. Kemp, J. Woodruff

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Using newly-discovered archival measurements, we construct an instrumental record of water levels and storm tides in Boston (MA) since 1825. After ascertaining the 19th century datum and correcting for a 0–0.03 m bias in the modern tide-gauge record, we show that local, decadally-averaged relative sea level (RSL) rose by 0.2860.05 m since 1826, with an acceleration of 0.02360.009 mm/yr2. Tide range decreased by 5.5% between 1830 and 1910, due in large part to dredging and filling of Boston Harbor, and trended slightly upward thereafter. An evaluation of storm events since 1825 suggests that trends in flood risk are driven by …

Vibration Attenuating Medical Platform, Cameron Fisch, Noah Friedman, Tyler Gambill, David Harris, Kelek Olais

Mechanical Engineering Senior Theses

Millions of injured people are transported by ambulances each year. While the suspension systems of ambulances dampen the road vibrations felt by the passengers, they do not attenuate the vibration completely. To patients who have compromised physical states, vibration and displacement can aggravate their condition and cause additional pain. Our solution to this societal problem is the Vibration Attenuating Medical Platform (VAMP). VAMP consists of an aluminum and steel structure that is moved with a pneumatic piston. This prototype is designed to fit into existing ambulances and attenuate the vibrations not eliminated by the ambulances suspension. After conducting background research, …

The Status Of The Local Community In Mining Sustainable Development Beyond The Triple Bottom Line, Sisi Que, Liang Wang, Kwame Awuah-Offei, Yao Chen, Wei Yang

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Mineral products provide essential fuels and raw materials for industrialization and our daily life, but their influences on other aspects of life need to be taken into consideration. While the whole world benefits from mining's contributions, most of the resulting detrimental impacts on the environment and society fall on the local communities. The participation of the local community is one solution to decrease the risks from community-related problems. Subsequently, the requirements of mining sustainable development can be met. A literature review was conducted on mining sustainability and stakeholder participation, and the shortcomings of existing research and difficulties of further study …

Negative Electron Transfer Dissociation Sequencing Of 3-O-Sulfation-Containing Heparan Sulfate Oligosaccharides, Jiandong Wu, Juan Wei, John D. Hogan, Pradeep Chopra, Apoorva Joshi, Weigang Lu, Joshua Klein, Geert Jan Boons, Cheng Lin, Joseph Zaia

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Among Dissociation Methods, Negative Electron Transfer Dissociation (NETD) Has Been Proven the Most Useful for Glycosaminoglycan (GAG) Sequencing Because It Produces Informative Fragmentation, a Low Degree of Sulfate Losses, High Sensitivity, and Translatability to Multiple Instrument Types. the Challenge, However, is to Distinguish Positional Sulfation. in Particular, NETD Has Been Reported to Fail to Differentiate 4-O- Versus 6-O-Sulfation in Chondroitin Sulfate Decasaccharide. This Raised the Concern of Whether NETD is Able to Differentiate the Rare 3-O-Sulfation from Predominant 6-O-Sulfation in Heparan Sulfate (HS) Oligosaccharides. Here, We Report that NETD Generates Highly Informative Spectra that Differentiate Sites of O-Sulfation on Glucosamine …

Generation Of Three-Dimensional Optical Cusp Beams With Ultrathin Metasurfaces, Weiwei Liu, Yuchao Zhang, Jie Gao, Xiaodong Yang

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Cusp beams are one type of complex structured beams with unique multiple self-accelerating channels and needle-like field structures owning great potentials to advance applications such as particle micromanipulation and super-resolution imaging. The traditional method to generate optical catastrophe is based on cumbrous reflective diffraction optical elements, which makes optical system complicated and hinders the nanophotonics integration. Here we design geometric phase based ultrathin plasmonic metasurfaces made of nanoslit antennas to produce three-dimensional (3D) optical cusp beams with variable numbers of self-accelerating channels in a broadband wavelength range. The entire beam propagation profiles of the cusp beams generated from the metasurfaces …

Modeling Of Cloud-Based Digital Twins For Smart Manufacturing With Mt Connect, Liwen Hu, Ngoc-Tu Nguyen, Wenjin Tao, Ming-Chuan Leu, Xiaoqing Frank Liu, Rakib Shahriar, S M Nahian Al Sunny

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The common modeling of digital twins uses an information model to describe the physical machines. The integration of digital twins into productive cyber-physical cloud manufacturing (CPCM) systems imposes strong demands such as reducing overhead and saving resources. In this paper, we develop and investigate a new method for building cloud-based digital twins (CBDT), which can be adapted to the CPCM platform. Our method helps reduce computing resources in the information processing center for efficient interactions between human users and physical machines. We introduce a knowledge resource center (KRC) built on a cloud server for information intensive applications. An information model …

The Effect Of Wellbore Circulation On Building An Lcm Bridge At The Fracture Aperture, Ghassan Alshubbar, Runar Nygaard, Montri Jeennakorn

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Different laboratory experimental setups with slotted disks, simulating fractures' apertures, have been used extensively to formulate effective loss circulation materials (LCM) recipes. The amount of fluid loss and sealing pressure have been used as the evaluation criteria. The question still remains is how valuable these tests are when LCM fluids are circulated in the wellbore to stop losses. The main objective of this work is to study the effect of the annular fluid flow on building an LCM bridge at the fracture aperture. To address the objective, a fluid loss apparatus has been developed to mimic wellbore circulation. Tapered slotted …

Tag Ownership Transfer In Radio Frequency Identification Systems: A Survey Of Existing Protocols And Open Challenges, Eyad Taqieddin, Hiba Al-Dahoud, Haifeng Niu, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a modern approach to identify and track several assets at once in a supply chain environment. In many RFID applications, tagged items are frequently transferred from one owner to another. Thus, there is a need for secure ownership transfer (OT) protocols that can perform the transfer while, at the same time, protect the privacy of owners. Several protocols have been proposed in an attempt to fulfill this requirement. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive and systematic review of the RFID OT protocols that appeared over the years of 2005-2018. In addition, we compare these …

Anaerobic Digestion Of Wastewater-Grown Algae Biomass With Optimized Biogas Yields And Nutrient Solubilzation, Tiffany A. Racz

Master's Theses

Whole-cell algae biomass grown on nutrient-rich wastewater can be anaerobically digested to produce renewable heat and power, and to solubilize nutrients to grow additional algae biomass in a biorefinery system. In this study, algae biomass was grown on clarified primary wastewater in 33-m² ponds at a 4-day residence time with sedimentation harvesting of the biomass. Lab digesters were used to test biogas yields and nutrient solubilization from the anaerobic digestion of algal biomass with and without mixing and with sonication as a pretreatment. Additionally, algae were fed to unheated and unmixed 1135-L pilot digesters to determine the effects of …

Funqual: User-Defined, Statically-Checked Call Graph Constraints In C++, Andrew P. Nelson

Master's Theses

Static analysis tools can aid programmers by reporting potential programming mistakes prior to the execution of a program. Funqual is a static analysis tool that reads C++17 code ``in the wild'' and checks that the function call graph follows a set of rules which can be defined by the user. This sort of analysis can help the programmer to avoid errors such as accidentally calling blocking functions in time-sensitive contexts or accidentally allocating memory in heap-sensitive environments. To accomplish this, we create a type system whereby functions can be given user-defined type qualifiers and where users can define their own …

Towards A Strawberry Harvest Prediction System Using Computer Vision And Pattern Recognition, Andreas M. Apitz

Master's Theses

Farmers require advance notice when a harvest is approaching, so they can allocate resources and hire workers as efficiently as possible. Existing methods are subjective and labor intensive, and require the expertise of a professional forecaster. Cal Poly’s EE department has been collaborating with the Cal Poly Strawberry Center to investigate the potential in using digital imaging processing to predict harvests more reliably. This paper shows the progress of that ongoing project, as well as what aspects could still be improved. Three main blocks comprise this system: data acquisition, which obtains and catalogues images of the strawberry plants; computer vision, …