Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

An Investigation Of Process Parameters To Optimize The Fiber Diameter Of Electrospun Vascular Scaffolds Through Experimental Design, Steffi Wong

Biomedical Engineering

No abstract provided.

A Brief History And Research Of The Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A, Michelle Wilbur

Physics

No abstract provided.

Exoplanet Transit Detection With Terrestrial Amateur Equipment: Using The Cal Poly Observatory, San Luis Obispo, Joshua Thompson

Physics

Using amateur level equipment and freeware analysis tools, the Cal Poly Observatory (CPO) wished to test whether or not it could actually observe the astronomical phenomena called exoplanetary transits. Using a variety of equipment and tests, the CPO was able to confirm it could clearly observe the transits of several well-known transiting planets, including HD189733b and HAT-P-6. With these tests and observations completed, future student researchers can continue Cal Poly’s transit search and contribute to the global pursuit for exoplanets.

Liquid Helium Refill Shifts At The Cryogenic Underground Observatory For Rare Events, Robin L. Reil

Physics

No abstract provided.

Could Alice Find The Elusive Higgs?, Tyler Williams

Physics

The Higgs boson is the theoretical mechanism for creating the mass of particles. Although it has never been seen, the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the most likely place for it to be created in the laboratory. The ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) detector is focused on the study of heavy ion collisions at the LHC and was not designed to find the Higgs boson; however, there is a chance it could be detected there. Although the luminosity (collision rate) for PbPb collisions is much lower than that for pp collisions, PbPb collisions have a higher probability to …

Functional Reactive Musical Performers, Justin M. Phillips

Master's Theses

Computers have been assisting in recording, sound synthesis and other fields of music production for quite some time. The actual performance of music continues to be an area in which human players are chosen over computer performers. Musical performance is an area in which personalization is more important than consistency. Human players play with each other, reacting to phrases and ideas created by the players that they are playing with. Computer performers lack the ability to react to the changes in the performance that humans perceive naturally, giving the human players an advantage over the computer performers.

This thesis creates …

Terrain Impostors, William Hamilton Hess

Master's Theses

Interactive software applications which need to render large terrain meshes can suffer from slow frame rates if the geometry of the terrain is sufficiently dense. However, the viewing angle to many distant features of the terrain does not change rapidly with respect to time. If the movement of the viewing position is limited to continuous motion and restrained to a known speed, many terrain features may be rendered once in high detail and reused for several frames.

This thesis proposes a method to increase the rendering speed of large complex terrains by splitting the terrain into contiguous chunks. If a …

Creation Of A Revised Site Specific Liquefaction Potential Map Utilizing Geographic Information Systems (Gis) Technology And Arcgis® Software, Michael S. Armstrong

Earth and Soil Sciences

No abstract provided.

Correspondences Of Hypersurfaces In Hyperbolic Poincaré Manifolds And Conformally Invariant Pdes, Vincent Bonini, José M. Espinar, Jie Qing

Mathematics

On a hyperbolic Poincaré manifold, we derive an explicit relationship between the eigenvalues of Weyl-Schouten tensor of a conformal representative of the conformal infinity and the principal curvatures of the level sets of the associated geodesic defining function. This considerably simplifies the arguments and generalizes the results of Gálvez, Mira and the second author. In particular, we obtain the equivalence between Christoffel-type problems for hypersurfaces in a hyperbolic Poincar´e manifold and scalar curvature problems on the conformal infinity.

The Lick Agn Monitoring Project: Alternate Routes To A Broad-Line Region Radius, Jenny E. Greene, Carol E. Hood, Aaron J. Barth, Vardha N. Bennert, Misty C. Benz, Alexei V. Filippenko, Elinor Gates, Matthew A. Malkan, Tommaso Treu, Jonelle L. Walsh, Jong-Hak Woo

Physics

It is now possible to estimate black hole (BH) masses across cosmic time, using broad emission lines in active galaxies. This technique informs our views of how galaxies and their central BHs coevolve. Unfortunately, there are many outstanding uncertainties associated with these "virial" mass estimates. One of these comes from using the accretion luminosity to infer a size for the broad-line region (BLR). Incorporating the new sample of low-luminosity active galaxies from our recent monitoring campaign at Lick Observatory, we recalibrate the radius-luminosity relation with tracers of the accretion luminosity other than the optical continuum. We find that the radius …

Construction And Improvement Of A Scheffler Reflector And Thermal Storage Device, Jason Rapp

Physics

We constructed and successfully tested a 2 m2 parabolic dish solar concentrator (Scheffler Concentrator) to focus sunlight onto a stationary target. Present efforts are to decrease the construction complexity and cost of the concentrator. In order to store solar heat, we also constructed and are testing a thermal storage device made of sand (for thermal mass), and pumice (for insulation). Preliminary tests indicate thermal retention times of many hours. Present efforts are to increase accessible power, and structural integrity.

Multi-Robot Boundary Tracking With Phase And Workload Balancing, Michael Boardman, Jeremy Edmonds, Kyle Francis, Christopher M. Clark

Computer Science and Software Engineering

This paper discusses the use of a cooperative multiple robot system as applied to distributed tracking and sampling of a boundary edge. Within this system the boundary edge is partitioned into subsegments, each allocated to a particular robot such that workload is balanced across the robots. Also, to minimize the time between sampling local areas of the boundary edge, it may be desirable to minimize the difference between each robots progression (i.e. phase) along its allocated sub segment of the edge. The paper introduces a new distributed controller that handles both workload and phase balancing. Simulation results are used to …

Rf System Models For The Cern Large Hadron Collider With Application To Longitudinal Dynamics, T. Mastorides, C. Rivetta, J.D. Fox, D. Van Winkle, P. Baudrenghien

Physics

The LHC RF station-beam interaction strongly influences the longitudinal beam dynamics, both single bunch and collective effects. Non-linearities and noise generated within the Radio Frequency (RF) accelerating system interact with the beam and contribute to beam motion and longitudinal emittance blowup. Thus, the noise power spectrum of the RF accelerating voltage strongly affects the longitudinal beam distribution. Furthermore, the coupled-bunch instabilities are also directly affected by the RF components and the configuration of the Low Level RF (LLRF) feedback loops. In this work we present a formalism relating the longitudinal beam dynamics with the RF system configurations, an estimation of …

Saving Space And Time Using Index Merging, Lubomir Stanchev, Grant Weddell

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Managing digital information is an integral part of our society. Efficient access to data is supported through the use of indices. Although indices can reduce the cost of answering queries, they have two significant drawbacks: they take additional storage space and their maintenance can become a bottleneck. We address these challenges by introducing search data structures that reduce the need for storing redundant data among indices. Our experimental results with the main-memory version of these data structures show that our approach can reduce by half the storage space and can improve performance, where the highest performance improvement is achieved for …

Solving The Low Dimensional Smoluchowski Equation With A Singular Value Basis Set, Gregory E. Scott, Martin Gruebele

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Reaction kinetics on free energy surfaces with small activation barriers can be computed directly with the Smoluchowski equation. The procedure is computationally expensive even in a few dimensions. We present a propagation method that considerably reduces computational time for a particular class of problems: when the free energy surface suddenly switches by a small amount, and the probability distribution relaxes to a new equilibrium value. This case describes relaxation experiments. To achieve efficient solution, we expand the density matrix in a basis set obtained by singular value decomposition of equilibrium density matrices. Grid size during propagation is reduced from (100–1000) …

Veritas Search For Vhe Gamma-Ray Emission From Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies, V. A. Acciari, T. Arlen, T. Aune, M. Beilicke, W. Benbow, D. Boltuch, S. M. Bradbury, J. H. Buckley, V. Bugaev, K. Byrum, A. Cannon, A. Cesarini, Jodi L. Christiansen, L. Ciupik, W. Cui, R. Dickherber, C. Duke, J. P. Finley, G. Finnegan, A. Furniss, N. Galante, S. Godambe, J. Grube, R. Guenette, G. Gyuk, D. Hanna, J. Holder, C. M. Hui, T. B. Humensky, A. Imran, P. Kaaret, N. Karlsson, M. Kertzman, D. Kieda, A. Konopelko, H. Krawczynski, F. Krennrich, G. Maier, S. Mcarthur, A. Mccann, M. Mccutcheon, P. Moriarty, R. A. Ong, A. N. Otte, D. Pandel, J. S. Perkins, M. Pohl, J. Quinn, K. Ragan, L. C. Reyes, P. T. Reynolds, E. Roache, H. J. Rose, M. Schroedter, G. H. Sembroski, G. D. Senturk, A. W. Smith, D. Steele, S. P. Swordy, G. Tesic, M. Theiling, S. Thibadeau, A. Varlotta, V. V. Vassiliev, S. Vincent, R. G. Wagner, S. P. Wakely, J. E. Ward, T. C. Weekes, A. Weinstein, T. Weisgarber, D. A. Williams, S. Wissel, B. Zitzer

Physics

Indirect dark matter searches with ground-based gamma-ray observatories provide an alternative for identifying the particle nature of dark matter that is complementary to that of direct search or accelerator production experiments. We present the results of observations of the dwarf spheroidal galaxies Draco, Ursa Minor, Bootes 1, and Willman 1 conducted by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS). These galaxies are nearby dark matter dominated objects located at a typical distance of several tens of kiloparsecs for which there are good measurements of the dark matter density profile from stellar velocity measurements. Since the conventional astrophysical background …

Trends In Soil Science Education And Employment, J. Havlin, N. Balster, S. Chapman, D. Ferris, T. Thompson, T. Smith

Earth and Soil Sciences

During the last several decades, members of the SSSA have discussed several trends related to soil science education, including: (i) declining academic programs and course offerings at land grant universities, (ii) decreased enrollments, and (iii) improved employment opportunities for soil science graduates (SSSA, 2006; Ferris et al., 2010). The SSSA Advocacy/Education Task Force met in 2007 and concluded that quantitative survey information was needed to document trends in soil science academic programs, student enrollment, faculty, and job opportunities for graduates. Suggested survey topics included:

• Has the recognition of soil science as a distinct discipline increased or decreased?
• How has the …

Automated Requirements Traceability: The Study Of Human Analysts, David Cuddeback, Alex Dekhtyar, Jane Huffman Hayes

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The requirements traceability matrix (RTM) supports many software engineering and software verification and validation (V&V) activities such as change impact analysis, reverse engineering, reuse, and regression testing. The generation of RTMs is tedious and error-prone, though, thus RTMs are often not generated or maintained. Automated techniques have been developed to generate candidate RTMs with some success. When using RTMs to support the V&V of mission-or safety-critical systems, however, a human analyst must vet the candidate RTMs. The focus thus becomes the quality of the final RTM. This paper investigate show human analysts perform when vetting candidate RTMs. Specifically, a study …

The Lick Agn Monitoring Project: Velocity-Delay Maps From The Maximum-Entropy Method For Arp 151, Misty C. Bentz, Keith Horne, Aaron J. Barth, Vardha Nicola Bennert, Gabriela Canalizo, Alexei V. Filippenko, Elinor L. Gates, Matthew A. Malkan, Takeo Minezaki, Tommaso Treu, Jong-Hak Woo, Jonelle L. Walsh

Physics

We present velocity-delay maps for optical H I, He I, and He II recombination lines in Arp 151, recovered by fitting a reverberation model to spectrophotometric monitoring data using the maximum-entropy method. H I response is detected over the range 0-15 days, with the response confined within the virial envelope. The Balmer-line maps have similar morphologies but exhibit radial stratification, with progressively longer delays for Hγ to Hβ to Hα. The He I and He II response is confined within 1-2 days. There is a deficit of prompt response in the Balmer-line cores but strong prompt response in the red …

U–Pb Zircon Geochronology And Tectonostratigraphy Of Southern Liverpool Land, East Greenland: Implications For Deformation In The Overriding Plates Of Continental Collisions, Scott M. Johnston, Ebbe H. Hartz, Hannes K. Brueckner, George E. Gehrels

Physics

The East Greenland Caledonides formed in the overriding plate as Baltica was subducted westward beneath Laurentia from 460 to 360 Ma, and offer a unique opportunity to investigate lower crustal deformation in the overriding plates of continental collisions. Field work and new zircon geochronology from gneisses in southern Liverpool Land, exposed in the hinterland ~100 km east of the nearest Caledonian gneisses, define three tectonostratigraphic units that are, from the bottom up, the eclogite+peridotite-bearing Tværdal complex and the granulite-facies Jættedal complex in the footwall of the top-N Gubbedalen shear zone, and the Hurry Inlet granite and associated paragneiss screens in …

Novel Polymer Coupling Chemistry Based Upon Latent Cysteine-Like Residues And Thiazolidine Chemistry, Jospeh S. Carlson, Megan R. Hill, Taiga Young, Philip Costanzo

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Chain end functional polymers were prepared via reversible addition–fragmentation transfer (RAFT) polymerization techniques that were further chain extended with acrylonitrile. Under reducing conditions, latent cysteine-like residues were exposed at the chain ends. A variety of reduction conditions were explored and base polymers were then tethered together via thiazolidine chemistry.

Intelligent Software For Ecological Building Design, Jens G. Pohl, Hisham Assal, Kym J. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

Building design is a complex process because of the number of elements and issues involved and the number of relationships that exist among them. Adding sustainability issues to the list increases the complexity of design by an order of magnitude. There is a need for computer assistance to manage the increased complexity of design and to provide intelligent collaboration in formulating acceptable design solutions. Software development technology today offers opportunities to design and build an intelligent software system environment that can serve as a reliable intelligent partner to the human designer.

In this paper the authors discuss the requirements for …

Preconference Proceedings On Advances In Adaptive Planning Capabilities, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

No abstract provided.

A Method To Implement Location Transparency In A Web Service Environment, Xiaoshan Pan, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

Location transparency offers some significant benefits in the areas of middleware, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Cloud Computing. However, methods for achieving location transparency in a Web service environment are scarcely presented in the literature. This paper introduces such a method by describing a design and HTTP protocol-based implementation of location transparency. A number of benefits, including support for the creation of a virtual platform and increased mobility, availability and scalability of services, are elaborated. Two significant capabilities -performance-based load balancing and failover -are demonstrated as part of the experimental results.

On The Road To Intelligent Web Applications, Hisham Assal, Kym J. Pohl, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

Increasing access to data sources on the Internet offers expanding opportunities for equipping intelligent applications with the content they require whether broad in scope or rich in detail. Although typically originating within the web in a semi-structured form, with the use of inference-based translation and analysis mechanisms such content can be transformed into useful information and ultimately into actionable knowledge. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) offers a platform for accessing the web as invocable resources and effectively incorporating multiple sources of data and capabilities on the Internet into enterprise applications. Adding inference capabilities to SOA-based applications not only aids in the translation …

Solving The Data Deluge Problem, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

The paper postulates that the information technology revolution that is commonly referred to as the Information Age is currently in a transition stage between data-processing and knowledge management that should be more aptly referred to as the Data Age. Symptoms of this transition stage are a data deluge problem that is evidenced by the inability of human computer-users to effectively analyze and draw useful conclusions from the overwhelming volume of data that is being collected, the increasing complexity of networked systems, and the acknowledged vulnerability of virtually all existing digital systems to cyber security threats.

The author suggests that the …

Muon-Induced Backgrounds In The Cuoricino Experiment, E. Andreotti, C. Arnaboldi, F.T. Avignone Iii, M. Balata, I. Bandac, M. Barucci, J.W. Beeman, F. Bellini, T. Bloxham, C. Brofferio, A. Bryant, C. Bucci, L. Canonica, S. Capelli, L. Carbone, M. Carrettoni, M. Clemenza, O. Cremonesi, R.J. Creswick, S. Di Domizio, M.J. Dolinski, L. Ejzak, R. Faccini, H.A. Farach, E. Ferri, F. Ferroni, E. Fiorini, L. Foggetta, A. Giachero, L. Gironi, A. Giuliani, P. Gorla, E. Guardincerri, T.D. Gutierrez, E.E. Haller, R. Kadel, K. Kazkaz, S. Kraft, L. Kogler, Yu. G. Kolomensky, C. Maiano, R.H. Maruyama, C. Martinez, M. Martinez, L. Mizouni, S. Morganti, S. Nisi, C. Nones, E.B. Norman, A. Nucciotti, F. Orio, M. Pallavicini, V. Palmieri, L. Pattavina, M. Pavan, M. Pedretti, G. Pessina, S. Pirro, E. Previtali, L. Risegari, C. Rosenfeld, C. Rusconi, C. Salvioni, S. Sangiorgio, D. Schaeffer, N.D. Scielzo, M. Sisti, A.R. Smith, C. Tomei, G. Ventura, M. Vignati

Physics

To better understand the contribution of cosmic ray muons to the CUORICINO background, 10 plastic scintillator detectors were installed at the CUORICINO site and operated during the final 3 months of the experiment. From these measurements, an upper limit of 0.0021 counts/(keV kg yr) (95% CL) was obtained on the cosmic ray-induced background in the neutrinoless double beta decay region of interest. The measurements were also compared to GEANT4 simulations.

Automated Theorem Prover Axiom Management, Ashley T. Holeman, Ewen Denney

STAR Program Research Presentations

Automated Theorem Provers (ATPs), are computer programs that use collections of axioms,which are logical statements assumed to be true, in order to prove conjectures. NASA uses these programs to verify safety and functional requirements in domains like Guidance, Navigation, and Control. There are about 30 axioms on each major topic including the theory of coordinate systems, elementary arithmetic and linear algebra. These axioms have been created over the duration of many projects and combined into a single file. One task is to manage the axioms by arranging them into logical sections, deleting unnecessary ones and rewriting some into a more …

Bottom Quark Detection With The Electromagnetic Calorimeter At Alice, Christopher Ryan Brown

Physics

Bottom quarks are one of the easiest ways to observe quark flow in a quark gluon plasma. For this reason, it is advantageous in a detector to have superb capabilities at detecting bottom quarks through their decay products and interactions. This paper will provide an overview of bottom quark behavior in a quark gluon plasma, as well as methods used to detect this behavior. Once this has been established, an overview of the heavy ion physics at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), and particularly A Large Ion Collider Experiment (ALICE), will be discussed. It will then be argued that the …

Asynchronous Mips Processors: Educational Simulations, Robert L. Webb

Master's Theses

The system clock has been omnipresent in most mainstream chip designs. While simplifying many design problems the clock has caused the problems of clock skew, high power consumption, electromagnetic interference, and worst-case performance. In recent years, as the timing constraints of synchronous designs have been squeezed ever tighter, the efficiencies of asynchronous designs have become more attractive. By removing the clock, these issues can be mitigated. How- ever, asynchronous designs are generally more complex and difficult to debug. In this paper I discuss the advantages of asynchronous processors and the specifics of some asynchronous designs, outline the roadblocks to asynchronous …