Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Acceleration Of Jaccard's Index Algorithm For Training To Tag Damage On Post-Earthquake Images, Kyle John Mulligan

Master's Theses

There are currently different efforts to use Supervised Neural Networks (NN) to automatically label damages on images of above ground infrastructure (buildings made of concrete) taken after an earthquake. The goal of the supervised NN is to classify raw input data according to the patterns learned from an input training set. This input training data set is usually supplied by experts in the field, and in the case of this project, structural engineers carefully and mostly manually label these images for different types of damage. The level of expertise of the professionals labeling the training set varies widely, and some …

Compiler Optimization Effects On Register Collisions, Jonathan S. Tan

Master's Theses

We often want a compiler to generate executable code that runs as fast as possible. One consideration toward this goal is to keep values in fast registers to limit the number of slower memory accesses that occur. When there are not enough physical registers available for use, values are ``spilled'' to the runtime stack. The need for spills is discovered during register allocation wherein values in use are mapped to physical registers. One factor in the efficacy of register allocation is the number of values in use at one time (register collisions). Register collision is affected by compiler optimizations that …

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 …

Jupyterlab_Voyager: A Data Visualization Enhancement In Jupyterlab, Ji Zhang

Master's Theses

With the emergence of big data, scientific data analysis and visualization (DAV) tools are critical components of the data science software ecosystem; the usability of these tools is becoming extremely important to facilitate next-generation scientific discoveries. JupyterLab has been considered as one of the best polyglot, web-based, open-source data science tools. As the next phase of extensible interface for the classic iPython Notebooks, this tool supports interactive data science and scientific computing across multiple programming languages with great performances. Despite these advantages, previous heuristics evaluation studies have shown that JupyterLab has some significant flaws in the data visualization side. The …

An Empirical Study Of Alias Analysis Techniques, Andrew T. Tran

Master's Theses

As software projects become larger and more complex, software optimization at that scale is only feasible through automated means. One such component of software optimization is alias analysis, which attempts to determine which variables in a program refer to the same area in memory, and is used to relocate instructions to improve performance without interfering with program execution. Several alias analyses have been proposed over the past few decades, with varying degrees of precision and time and space complexity, but few studies have been conducted to compare these techniques with one another, nor to measure with program data to confirm …

Field Investigation Of Stream-Aquifer Interactions: A Case Study In Coastal California, Devin Pritchard-Peterson

Master's Theses

This study is a detailed investigation of the dynamic interaction between a stream and an alluvial aquifer at Swanton Pacific Ranch in the Scotts Creek watershed in Santa Cruz County, California. The aquifer is an important source of groundwater for cropland irrigation and for aquatic ecosystem support. The potential for groundwater pumping to deplete Scotts Creek stream flows is a source of serious concern for land managers, fisheries biologists, and regulatory agencies due to the presence of federally protected steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). An understanding of the interaction between the stream and pumped aquifer will …

Tessellated Voxelization For Global Illumination Using Voxel Cone Tracing, Sam Thomas Freed

Master's Theses

Modeling believable lighting is a crucial component of computer graphics applications, including games and modeling programs. Physically accurate lighting is complex and is not currently feasible to compute in real-time situations. Therefore, much research is focused on investigating efficient ways to approximate light behavior within these real-time constraints.

In this thesis, we implement a general purpose algorithm for real-time applications to approximate indirect lighting. Based on voxel cone tracing, we use a filtered representation of a scene to efficiently sample ambient light at each point in the scene. We present an approach to scene voxelization using hardware tessellation and compare …

Preparation Of Supramolecular Amphiphilic Cyclodextrin Bilayer Vesicles For Pharmaceutical Applications, Kate E. Frischkorn

Master's Theses

Recent pharmaceutical developments have investigated using supramolecular nanoparticles in order to increase the bioavailability and solubility of drugs delivered in various methods. Modification of the carbohydrate cyclodextrin increases the ability to encapsulate hydrophobic pharmaceutical molecules by forming a carrier with a hydrophobic core and hydrophilic exterior. Guest molecules are commonly added to these inclusion complexes in order to add stability and further increase targeting abilities of the carriers. One such guest molecule is adamantine combined with a poly(ethylene glycol) chain. Vesicles are formed by hydrating a thin film of amphiphilic cyclodextrin and guest molecules in buffer solution that mimics physiological …

Analyzing Global Cyber Attack Correlates Through An Open Database, Brady Benjamin Aiello

Master's Theses

As humanity becomes more reliant on digital storage and communication for every aspect of life, cyber attacks pose a growing threat. However, cyber attacks are generally understood as individual incidents reported in technological circles, sometimes tied to a particular vulnerability. They are not generally understood through the macroscopic lens of statistical analysis spanning years over several countries and sectors, leaving researchers largely ignorant of the larger trends and correlates between attacks. This is large part due to the lack of a coherent and open database of prominent attacks. Most data about cyber attacks has been captured using a repository of …

Cuoricino Thermal Pulse Classification By Machine Learning Algorithms, Joshua Mann

Physics

Many of the various properties of neutrinos are still a mystery. One unknown is whether neutrinos are Majorana fermions or Dirac fermions. Cuoricino and CUORE are experiments that aim to solve this mystery. Noise reduction in these experiments hinges on the ability to discern among alpha, beta and gamma particle detections using the thermal pulses they create. In this paper, we look at Cuoricino data and attempt to classify pulses, not as alpha, beta or gamma particles, but rather as signal, noise or calibration data. We will use this preliminary testing ground to examine various machine learning algorithms' abilities in …

Pseudo Power Law Statistics In A Jammed, Amorphous Solid, Jacob Brian Hass

Physics

Simulations have shown that in many solid materials, rearrangements within the solid obey power-law statistics. A connection has been proposed between these statistics and the ability of a system to reach a limit cycle under cyclic driving. We study experimentally a 2D jammed solid that reaches such a limit cycle. Our solid consists of microscopic plastic beads adsorbed at an oil-water interface and cyclically sheared by a magnetically driven needle. We track each particles trajectory in the solid to identify rearrangements. By associating particles both spatially and temporally, we can measure the extent of each rearrangement. We study specifically the …

Simulating The Electrical Properties Of Random Carbon Nanotube Networks Using A Simple Model Based On Percolation Theory, Roberto Abril Valenzuela

Physics

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been subject to extensive research towards their possible applications in the world of nanoelectronics. The interest in carbon nanotubes originates from their unique variety of properties useful in nanoelectronic devices. One key feature of carbon nanotubes is that the chiral angle at which they are rolled determines whether the tube is metallic or semiconducting. Of main interest to this project are devices containing a thin film of randomly arranged carbon nanotubes, known as carbon nanotube networks. The presence of semiconducting tubes in a CNT network can lead to a switching effect when the film is electro-statically …

Assembling And Characterizing The Efficiency Of An Injection Locked Laser System For Cold Neutral Atom Optical Traps, Alexandra Papa Crawford

Physics

Creating a quantum computer requires a system of particles that can be well-controlled to achieve quantum operations. We need a large array of these particles – called qubits – with long coherence times, which can be initialized, operated on by single and two qubit gates, and read out. For neutral atoms, the qubit states are stable ground states that interact minimally with the environment, leading to long coherence times. Experimentally, the qubits are manipulated using carefully timed laser beam pulses with controlled frequency and intensity, but the outstanding issue for optically trapping cold atoms is finding a light pattern that …

Topographic Maps: Image Processing And Path-Finding, Calin Washington

Master's Theses

Topographic maps are an invaluable tool for planning routes through unfamiliar terrain. However, accurately planning routes on topographic maps is a time- consuming and error-prone task. One factor is the difficulty of interpreting the map itself, which requires prior knowledge and practice. Another factor is the difficulty of making choices between possible routes that have different trade-offs between length and the terrain they traverse.

To alleviate these difficulties, this thesis presents a system to automate the process of finding routes on scanned images of topographic maps. The system allows users to select any two points on a topographic map and …

Real-Time Object Removal In Augmented Reality, Tyler Dahl

Master's Theses

Diminished reality, as a sub-topic of augmented reality where digital information is overlaid on an environment, is the perceived removal of an object from an environment. Previous approaches to diminished reality used digital replacement techniques, inpainting, and multi-view homographies. However, few used a virtual representation of the real environment, limiting their domains to planar environments.

This thesis provides a framework to achieve real-time diminished reality on an augmented reality headset. Using state-of-the-art hardware, we combine a virtual representation of the real environment with inpainting to remove existing objects from complex environments.

Our work is found to be competitive with previous …

Bird Abundance At Bird Feeders In Response To Temperature, Wind Speed And Precipitation During The Winter Season, Siddhant Kahal

Master's Theses

The goal of this project is to explore how 23 different bird species respond to 3 climatic attributes. These attributes are lower than average temperatures, wind speed and precipitation level. Information about the bird species and all of the data associated with them is provided by Project FeederWatch (PFW). This is a citizen based survey study that provides key information about bird species abundance through the use of backyard and community feeders. The study volunteers from across the United States and Canada monitor these bird feeders and note important information about the species such as the number of individuals seen. …

Improving Swarm Performance By Applying Machine Learning To A New Dynamic Survey, John Taylor Jackson

Master's Theses

A company, Unanimous AI, has created a software platform that allows individuals to come together as a group or a human swarm to make decisions. These human swarms amplify the decision-making capabilities of both the individuals and the group. One way Unanimous AI increases the swarm’s collective decision-making capabilities is by limiting the swarm to more informed individuals on the given topic. The previous way Unanimous AI selected users to enter the swarm was improved upon by a new methodology that is detailed in this study. This new methodology implements a new type of survey that collects data that is …

Characterizing Mental Health And Wellness In Students Across Engineering Disciplines, Andrew Danowitz, Kacey Beddoes

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Anecdotal evidence has long supported the idea that engineering students have lower levels of mental health and wellness than their peers. It is often posited that the large number of courses, low overall retention, difficult courses, and the abundance of intensive engineering projects lead to an unhealthy work-life balance and eventually lower levels of mental health for this population. To date, however, there has been no comprehensive study on the prevalence and types of mental health conditions that afflict engineering students, or any data on whether certain disciplines within engineering may see a greater prevalence of certain mental health conditions …

Detecting Speakers In Video Footage, Michael Williams

Master's Theses

Facial recognition is a powerful tool for identifying people visually. Yet, when the end goal is more specific than merely identifying the person in a picture problems can arise. Speaker identification is one such task which expects more predictive power out of a facial recognition system than can be provided on its own. Speaker identification is the task of identifying who is speaking in video not simply who is present in the video. This extra requirement introduces numerous false positives into the facial recognition system largely due to one main scenario. The person speaking is not on camera. This paper …

Rotordynamic Analysis Of Theoretical Models And Experimental Systems, Cameron R. Naugle

Master's Theses

This thesis is intended to provide fundamental information for the construction and

analysis of rotordynamic theoretical models, and their comparison the experimental

systems. Finite Element Method (FEM) is used to construct models using Timoshenko

beam elements with viscous and hysteretic internal damping. Eigenvalues

and eigenvectors of state space equations are used to perform stability analysis, produce

critical speed maps, and visualize mode shapes. Frequency domain analysis

of theoretical models is used to provide Bode diagrams and in experimental data

full spectrum cascade plots. Experimental and theoretical model analyses are used

to optimize the control algorithm for an Active Magnetic Bearing …

Influence Of Internal Bores On Larval Fish Abundance And Community Composition, Patrick J. Phelan, John Steinbeck, Ryan K. Walter

Physics

A persistent semidiurnal internal tidal bore feature occurs at the head of the Monterey Bay Submarine Canyon and drives regular intrusions of cold, subthermocline waters onto the adjacent shelf. In this study, we examine the influence of this internal tidal bore feature on the larval fish community using over a year of periodic larval fish samples collected coincidently with physical measurements. Larval samples were categorized into one of two water mass periods: a “warm period” representative of shallow coastal shelf waters and a “cold period” characteristics of colder waters present during internal bore forcing. Using multivariate statistical methods, we show …

Agriculture In The Classroom Farm Day Lesson Plan, Tessa Nicole Thompson

Agricultural Education and Communication

Nontraditional educational programs have been proclaimed desirable by many teachers, and proven effective through data collection and feedback (Coombs and Ahmed, 1974). Of the more popular unconventional educational programs, outside learning activities are commonly implemented as they are not only advantageous to students, but to teachers as well (Cengelci, 2013; Knoblock, 2008). Though nontraditional, much thought must be put into creating lesson plans for these educational programs.

El Dorado County’s Agriculture in the Classroom program utilizes nontraditional outdoor learning activities to conduct “Farm Day.” This lesson plan, created for Farm Day, is to teach third graders the importance of composting …

Stability Of The Broad-Line Region Geometry And Dynamics In Arp 151 Over Seven Years, A. Pancoast, A. J. Barth, K. Horne, T. Treu, Vardha N. Bennert, H. Winkler

Physics

The Seyfert 1 galaxy Arp 151 was monitored as part of three reverberation mapping campaigns spanning 2008–2015. We present modeling of these velocity-resolved reverberation mapping data sets using a geometric and dynamical model for the broad-line region (BLR). By modeling each of the three data sets independently, we infer the evolution of the BLR structure in Arp 151 over a total of 7 yr and constrain the systematic uncertainties in nonvarying parameters such as the black hole mass. We find that the BLR geometry of a thick disk viewed close to face-on is stable over this time, although the size …

An Empirical Study Of Css Code Smells In Web Frameworks, Tobias Paul Bleisch

Master's Theses

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) has become essential to front-end web development for the specification of style. But despite its simple syntax and the theoretical advantages attained through the separation of style from content and behavior, CSS authoring today is regarded as a complex task. As a result, developers are increasingly turning to CSS preprocessor languages and web frameworks to aid in development. However, previous studies show that even highly popular websites which are known to be developed with web frameworks contain CSS code smells such as duplicated rules and hard-coded values. Such code smells have the potential to cause adverse …

Rental Property Energy Efficiency In San Luis Obispo, Zachary Earl Shockley

Physics

In the modern era, many people choose to rent homes instead of purchasing a home. College towns have an even more disproportionate number of renters when compared to other cities. The majority of rental properties are much less energy efficient than their owner-occupied counterparts. This project analyzes the energy efficiency issues of rental properties in San Luis Obispo and examines potential ways to remedy these issues. In order to analyze these issues, the guiding principles of building science are first discussed, followed by case studies of rental properties in San Luis Obispo. These case studies examine multiple rental properties and …

Semantic Document Clustering Using Information From Wordnet And Dbpedia, Lubomir Stanchev

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Semantic document clustering is a type of unsupervised learning in which documents are grouped together based on their meaning. Unlike traditional approaches that cluster documents based on common keywords, this technique can group documents that share no words in common as long as they are on the same subject. We compute the similarity between two documents as a function of the semantic similarity between the words and phrases in the documents. We model information from WordNet and DBPedia as a probabilistic graph that can be used to compute the similarity between two terms. We experimentally validate our algorithm on the …

Coastal Upwelling Seasonality And Variability Of Temperature And Chlorophyll In A Small Coastal Embayment, Ryan K. Walter, Kevin Armenta, Brandon Shearer, Ian C. Robbins, John Steinbeck

Physics

While the seasonality of wind-driven coastal upwelling in eastern boundary upwelling systems has long been established, many studies describe two distinct seasons (upwelling and non-upwelling), a generalized framework that does not capture details relevant to marine ecosystems. In this contribution, we present a more detailed description of the annual cycle and upwelling seasonality for an understudied location along the central California coast. Using both the mean monthly upwelling favorable wind stress and the monthly standard deviation, we define the following seasons (contiguous months) and a transitional period (non-contiguous months): “Winter Storms” season (Dec-Jan-Feb), “Upwelling Transition” period (Mar and Jun), …

A 12 Year Temperature And Wind Speed Climatology For The Marshall Field Site Near Boulder Colorado 2006-2018, John Nicholas Adrian, Scott Landolt

STAR Program Research Presentations

The Denver-Boulder region in Colorado is located on the border of two distinct weather regimes, the Rocky Mountains to the west and the Great Plains to the east. This region experiences inclement and sometimes unpredictable weather events, which can be accompanied by changes in temperatures and wind speed. To better understand the climate for the region, nearly 12 years of temperature and wind speed data from the Marshall Field Site were analyzed to assess changes in these parameters over time. Methods: Temperature recordings were primarily taken from a CS-500L probe, with data gaps filled in from a Lufft WS600 and …

Lightning Draft, Benjamin Sweedler

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Lightning Draft is a web application for drafting Magic: the Gathering cards. Users can visit www.lightningdraft.online to build a deck from randomly generated booster packs. This app was inspired by digital card games such as Hearthstone. Lightning Draft is a quick, fun, and simple alternative to drafting with physical cards.

X-Ray Spectroscopy Of Nio And Nanodiamond At Ssrl, Jackson Earl

STAR Program Research Presentations

The first aspect of this research project focuses on investigating the surface chemistry of high pressure high temperature (HPHT) nanodiamond by using X-ray spectroscopy techniques at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL). HPHT nanodiamond is being examined as a biosensing tool for electric field detection based on the fluorescent nitrogen vacancy center hosted within diamond. With use of the transition edge spectrometer (TES), a state-of-the-art X-ray fluorescence detector, we are able to probe the surface and bulk properties of diamond. Preliminary work using density functional theory (DFT) has been done, offering insight into ground state energies and electronic structure. DFT …