Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

St. Jude Medical: An Object-Oriented Software Architecture For Embedded And Real-Time Medical Devices, Atila Amiri

Master's Theses

Medical devices used for surgical or therapeutic purposes require a high degree of safety and effectiveness. Software is critical component of many such medical devices. The software architecture of a system defines organizational structure and the runtime characteristic of the application used to control the operation of the system and provides a set of frameworks that are used to develop that. As such, the design of software architecture is a critical element in achieving the intended functionality, performance, and safety requirements of a medical device. This architecture uses object-oriented design techniques, which model the underlying system as a set of …

Increasing Cubesat Downlink Capacity With Store-And-Forward Routing And Data Mules, Trevor Koritza, John M. Bellardo

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Pico-satellites have recently gained substantial traction in research and educational communities due to their relatively low cost. The largest factor in keeping the cost down, their small size, also poses their biggest engineering challenge. The tiny, low power radios used to communicate with earth have extremely slow data rates. A typical pico satellite is within communication range of the ground station for approximately 40 minutes per day with a theoretical maximum data rate of 1200 bps. At this speed a high resolution digital photograph can take weeks to download. This paper presents a novel communication protocol that allows a sparse …

On Index Merging For Semantic Web Data, Lubomir Stanchev

Computer Science and Software Engineering

In this paper we explore the properties of description indices that store concept descriptions rather than plain data. Although these novel data structures are beneficial for efficiently answering semantic web queries, expressed in a language such as nRQL or SPARQL-DL, they take extra storage and their maintenance can become a performance bottleneck. In order to alleviate these shortcomings, we introduce a procedure for merging description indices. Experimental results over the LUBM benchmark show that this technique can result in economy of storage space, while the performance is slightly affected for a static workload and is improved for a dynamic workload.

Uncertainty Assessment Of Forest Road Modeling With The Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (Dhsvm), Christopher G. Surfleet, Arne E. Skaugset Iii, Jeffrey J. Mcdonnell

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

We used a generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation procedure with the Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM) for two streamflow and 11 road ditchflow locations. We observed considerable uncertainty in DHSVM simulations of forest road and stream runoff. The accuracy of simulations decreased as the size of the area modeled decreased. For streamflow, 44% of attempted model structures exceeded a 0.5 Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency threshold for a 630 ha catchment; 12% of attempted model structures exceeded a 0.5 Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency threshold for a 55 ha catchment. DHSVM simulations produced behavioral model structures for only six of the 11 road ditchflow sites (ha). …

The Malta Cistern Mapping Project: Underwater Robot Mapping And Localization Within Ancient Tunnel Systems, Cory White, Daniel Hiranandani, Christopher S. Olstad, Keith Buhagiar, Timmy Gambin, Christopher M. Clark

Computer Science and Software Engineering

This paper documents the development of an underwater robot system enabled with several mapping and localization techniques applied to a particular archaeological expedition. The goal of the expedition was to explore and map ancient cisterns located on the islands of Malta and Gozo. The cisterns of interest acted as water storage systems for fortresses, private homes, and churches. Such cisterns often consisted of several connected chambers, still containing water. A sonar-equipped remotely operated vehicle (ROV) was deployed into these cisterns to obtain both video footage and sonar range measurements. Six different mapping and localization techniques were employed, including (1) sonar …

The Lick Agn Monitoring Project: Reverberation Mapping Of Optical Hydrogen And Helium Recombination Lines, Misty C. Bentz, Jonelle L. Walsh, Aaron J. Barth, Yuzuru Yoshii, Jong-Hak Woo, Xiaofeng Wang, Tommaso Treu, Carol E. Thornton, Rachel A. Street, Thea N. Steele, Jeffrey M. Silverman, Frank J.D. Serduke, Yu Sakata, Takeo Minezaki, Matthew A. Malkan, Weidong Li, Nicholas Lee, Kyle D. Hiner, Marton G. Hidas, Jenny E. Greene, Elinor L. Gates, Mohan Ganeshalingam, Alexei V. Filippenko, Gabriela Canalizo, Vardha N. Bennert, Nairn Baliber

Physics

We have recently completed a 64-night spectroscopic monitoring campaign at the Lick Observatory 3 m Shane telescope with the aim of measuring the masses of the black holes in 12 nearby (z < 0.05) Seyfert 1 galaxies with expected masses in the range ~10⁶-10⁷ M _☉ and also the well-studied nearby active galactic nucleus (AGN) NGC 5548. Nine of the objects in the sample (including NGC 5548) showed optical variability of sufficient strength during the monitoring campaign to allow for a time lag to be measured between the continuum fluctuations and the response to these fluctuations in the broad Hβ emission, which we have previously reported. We present …

Hidra: Hierarchical Inter-Domain Routing Architecture, Bryan Clevenger, Daniel Nelson, John M. Bellardo

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The size of the Internet’s forwarding table is growing rapidly, generating concerns about the ability for high performance routing equipment to economically keep pace. The primary contributors to this growth are end site multihoming, traffic engineering, and in the foreseeable future, IPv6 deployment. This paper presents HIDRA, a hierarchal network architecture designed to reduce both the immediate size of the Internet’s forwarding table as well as its growth rate while maximizing compatibility with the existing In ternet architecture. This includes the ability to use exist ing high performance routers, existing routing protocols, and existing number allocation policies. HIDRA is prototyped …

The Lick Agn Monitoring Project: The M Bh-Σ* Relation For Reverberation-Mapped Active Galaxies, Jong-Hak Woo, Tommaso Treu, Aaron J. Barth, Shelley A. Wright, Jonelle L. Walsh, Misty C. Bentz, Paul Martini, Vardha N. Bennert, Gabriela Canalizo, Alexei V. Filippenko, Elinor Gates, Jenny Greene, Weidong Li, Matthew A. Malkan, Daniel Stern, Takeo Minezaki

Physics

To investigate the black hole mass versus stellar velocity dispersion (M _BH-σ_*) relation of active galaxies, we measured the velocity dispersions of a sample of local Seyfert 1 galaxies, for which we have recently determined black hole masses using reverberation mapping. For most objects, stellar velocity dispersions were measured from high signal-to-noise ratio optical spectra centered on the Ca II triplet region (~8500 Å), obtained at the Keck, Palomar, and Lick Observatories. For two objects, in which the Ca II triplet region was contaminated by nuclear emission, the measurement was based on high-quality H-band spectra …

Wii-Mote Head Tracking: A Three Dimensional Virtual Reality Display, David Fairman

Computer Engineering

The goal of this project is to create a customizable three dimensional virtual reality display on a system available to any non-technical user. This System will use the infrared camera component of a standard Nintendo Wii-mote to track a user's head motions in all six major directions. The virtual reality will be a customizable image projected onto a screen or simply shown on a computer or TV monitor. In order to appear 3-dimensional, the image will continually change according to the position of the user's head. As the user moves their head to the left and right, portions of the …

Max Flow Spill Code Placement Algorithm Implemented In Gcc 4.4.3, Stephen Robert Beard

Computer Engineering

The placement of spill code plays an important role in the register allocator of an optimizing compiler. Many computer architectures possess a register linkage convention that dictates which registers are preserved across function calls and which are not. This project addresses the problem of optimizing spill code that is associated with register linkage conventions.

This algorithm was created by Dr. Chris Lupo and is described in the paper Beyond Register Allocation: a Novel Algorithm for Spill-Code Placement. The algorithm was implemented for GCC 2.5.7 for a PA-RISC architecture [4]. The work in this project will involve porting the existing code …

Optimization Of P3ht-Pcbm Polymer Solar Cells Through Device Simulation And Manufacturing, James Boom

Computer Engineering

Given a good model and implementation of that model, computer simulation can be used to reduce the time and material costs of research. To this end I worked with other students to manufacture, test and simulate the single layer P3HT-PCBM solar cell. Using the data collected from this project, future work can then be done with the project's simulator to further optimize these types of solar cell devices.

A Study Of Soil Development On Marine And Stream Terraces Of Swanton Pacific Ranch, Davenport, Ca, Genevieve M. Widrig, Kristine W. Johnson, Anna E. Tornincasa

Earth and Soil Sciences

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Vegetation And Landscape Position On Soil Temperature Change In A Sagebrush-Steppe Eastern Sierra Environment: Implications On Soil Taxonomy, Nathan Michael Lurie

Earth and Soil Sciences

Soil temperature is a parameter that has been studied for a considerable time and from many different perspectives. However, relatively few studies have been conducted for taxonomic purposes and fewer still have focused on how changes in soil temperature related to global climate change may affect soil taxonomy. Soil temperature regimes are used to subdivide soils with similar properties that exist in dissimilar climate zones requiring different management practices depending on intended use. Seven sites with variable surficial features were used for this study within a cohesive sagebrush-steppe Eastern Sierra glacial moraine landform. Soil temperature was measured once a month …

Management And Control Plan For Zinfandel Vines In South Paso Robles, Ca., Tanner E. Campbell

Earth and Soil Sciences

Zinfandel, also known as Zin, is a red skinned variety of wine grape very popular in California. The wines produced from Zinfandel grapes have an intense fruitiness and luscious texture. Production is extremely variable throughout California and is dependent upon, climate, soil fertility, crop level management practices, and irrigation. This study was conducted to determine the on site soil physical and chemical properties as a means to obtain optimal yields and fruit quality. The A & L Western Agriculture Laboratories performed comprehensive fertility analysis to determine the concentrations of the plant essential nutrients, organic matter, electrical conductivity, cation exchange capacity, …

Urban Heat Island Expansion In The Greater Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, Alex Remar

Earth and Soil Sciences

The growth of human settlements into vast urban metropolitan areas is often accompanied by relatively higher temperatures in comparison with surrounding rural countrysides, a phenomenon known as the “urban heat island effect.” The city of Las Vegas has been selected as an examination of this trend because of its unprecedented urban growth in the last 50 years, which has been mapped by satellite imagery for several decades. Studying the growth of Las Vegas’ relatively new heat island can provide valuable insight into the causes and magnitude of all urban heat islands in general.

In this investigation, a series of temperature …

Fragaria Species Grown In A Greenhouse Cropping System Chemigated By Phosfite® And Bacillus® In Subsidence Of Phytophthora Fragariae And Verticillium Dahliae, Russell L. Morgan

Earth and Soil Sciences

Strawberry yields depend directly on infestation of Phytophthora fragariae and Verticillium dahliae in correspondance to the use of Phosfite and Bacillus. The objective is to find understanding of newly administered techniques in prevention of Phytophthora fragariae and Verticillium dahliae and prohibiting the use of Methyl Bromide. Application of Phosfite and Bacillus on patented Fragariae species to identify utilization of P and ZN forms and their aid in prevention of Phytophthora and Verticillium species. In the Plots on the western bench the developmental symptoms of PRR disease were absent within all infested soil containers containing the FHS-1 crop. In the plots …

Soil Infiltration Study: Measuring The Difference In Leachate Quality Between Surface Compost Application And Incorporated Compost Application, Christopher Gallo, Kristin Roberts

Earth and Soil Sciences

No abstract provided.

Measurement And Interpolation Of Sea Surface Temperature And Salinity In The Tropical Pacific: A 9,000 Nautical Mile Research Odyssey, Amber Brooks

Earth and Soil Sciences

The purpose of this project was to compare spline and inverse distance weighting interpolation tools on data collected in the tropical Pacific Ocean by ship and data from a global network of CTD floats, known as Argo floats (fig.1), to provide evidence that technological advancement and integration is aiding our understanding of the ocean-atmosphere system of planet Earth. Thirty-one sea surface temperature and salinity samples were manually taken across a 9,000 nautical mile trek of the Pacific Ocean for the months of April, May and June 2008. Argo ASCII globally gridded monthly averaged sea surface temperature and salinity data, from …

Customer Communicator, Eddie Tavarez

Computer Science and Software Engineering

No abstract provided.

Graduation Outliner, Jason Boyle

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Planning a quarterly course schedule is a difficult and laborious process for university students which must be repeated every quarter. Students are expected to determine which courses to take based on a large and complex set of requirement criteria. Most academic scheduling research has focused on faculty availability and desires. This project attempts to address the needs of students for whom no quarterly course schedule planning tool is widely available. A Java Swing-based application is described that allows students to create a graphical quarter-by-quarter visualization of the courses they plan to take. The application also accepts a list of graduation …

Automatic Junit Creation Tool: An Exploration In High Level Process Driven Automatic Test Case Creation, William Whitney

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Many software developers do not enjoy writing unit test code. Often their excuses range from testing is slow to testing is hard. Yet perhaps test derivation has to be neither. The aim of this senior project is to examine the current state of unit test creation for the Java programming language. In particular, inefficiencies with the JUnit test framework regarding test derivation are analyzed. Ultimately, a JUnit test creation tool is created that provides a high-level process for test derivation.

Study Questions For Actuarial Exam 2/Fm, Aaron Hardiek

Statistics

No abstract provided.

Manova: Type I Error Rate Analysis, Kyle Wesley Gasperik

Statistics

Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) is most commonly used in the field of bio-statistics. Throughout this paper I conduct numerous simulations that help analyze how robust the MANOVA procedure is against its assumptions. Using Type I error rate as my measure of error, I used the R software to graph my results. The main assumption that is focused on is the equal covariance matrix assumption, which we introduce correlation between variables to see how well the MANOVA procedure performs. Overall, 70 simulations were ran, and 10 functions were created to perform all of the analysis.

Investigating Relationships In The Flash Pilot Study For Stride, Mathew R. Adams, Katrina J. Jackson, Andrew J. Zbin

Statistics

No abstract provided.

Statistical Analysis Of Texas Holdem Poker, Daniel Bragonier

Statistics

Gathered lifetime online Poker data for Mike Linn. Attempted to analyze data to obtain information to maximize profit. Techniques included Univariate Analysis, Regression analysis, Anova analysis, Logistic Regression, and outlier Analysis. After the analysis, nothing of supreme importance or sustenance was found. Encountered issues with too much power. Results lead to plenty of statistical significance, but little practical significance. Results showed that the data did not provide all the answers that were being sought after, but there was some value in examining the data in a strict statistical manner.

Exact Solutions For Wind-Driven Coastal Upwelling And Downwelling Over Sloping Bathymetry, Dana Lynn Duke, Paul Derek Sinz

Mathematics

The dynamics of wind-driven coastal upwelling and downwelling are studied using a simplified dynamical model. Exact solutions are examined as a function of time and over a family of sloping bathymetries. Assumptions in the two-dimensional model include a frictionless ocean interior below the surface Ekman layer, and no alongshore dependence of the variables; however, dependence in the cross-shore and vertical directions is retained. Additionally, density and alongshore momentum are advected by the cross-shore velocity in order to maintain thermal wind. The time-dependent initial-value problem is solved with constant initial stratification and no initial alongshore flow. An alongshore pressure gradient is …

Poisonous Rangeland Plants In San Luis Obispo County, Sara Litten, Amanda Ou

Animal Science

Poisonous Rangeland Plants in San Luis Obispo County is a comprehensive educational guide to rangeland plants that are toxic to domestic livestock. This guide begins with an exploration of how the biological systems are affected by the poisonous plant toxins. The biochemistry behind these toxins is included in the discussion. Next, reference material for fourteen plants that inhabit San Luis Obispo County is provided. This information includes specific toxins found in poisonous plants, affected animals, symptoms of poisoning, stages of growth, lethal dose, and distribution of the plant in California. This section of the guide is filled with helpful photos …

Fire: Ecology & Prevention, Justin R. Frey

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Variations In Vulnerability To Climate Change In Southeast Asia, Kelsey Margaret Allard

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Sustainable Agriculture: A Time For Education, Kortnie Millhouse

Agricultural Education and Communication

This study used a fifteen-question survey to identify the articulation between education of water quality practices and the willingness to implement sustainable water quality techniques on farmland according to twenty-five agricultural operations residing on the Central Coast. Questions one through eight asked respondents to indicate their agreement or disagreement with various water quality assessment tools. Questions nine through twelve asked respondents to personally rate their operation’s level of water quality management on a scale from one to ten. Questions thirteen through fifteen were open-ended questions to generate responses about demographics. Consensus was reached that the higher the level of education …