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Investigation Of Social Networks Upon Academic Performance And Mental Health
Get PDFIt has been shown that computing students have a statistically significantly lower overall sense of belongingness compared to other science students. A sense of community is important for many reasons. For example, there are studies that show that a student\u27s sense of belonging correlates with improved academic performance. Our research aims to analyze the sense of belonging among computing students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo through a network science lens. We surveyed for their sense of belonging, as well as their social network, to understand how friendships impact one\u27s sense of belonging. When student responses were split by gender, males reported having a higher sense of belonging than females, and females reported higher belongingness than transgender, non-binary, or gender non-conforming individuals. The four nodes with the highest in-degree on the social network that was constructed were all professors, indicating the importance of student-faculty relationships
Power At Sea Oscillating Water Column
Get PDFCurrent Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are predominantly powered by batteries or other energy sources that require frequent maintenance and human intervention. To increase the deployment times and efficiencies of AUVs, there is a need to develop improved wave energy conversion systems that harness renewable energy from waves and tides for power generation and storage. This approach aims to reduce or eliminate the need for manual maintenance or battery replacements, while also minimizing the environmental impact on marine wildlife and the surrounding ecosystem
Expandable and Retractable Wheel Design
Get PDFOur sponsor, Jeremy Goren, wants to see his patented expandable wheel design come to life. He requires a functional final product actuated by linear actuators and with a continuous, circular outer shell. The overall design can be broken up into 2 parts: the inner hub and outer shell. The wheel\u27s shell will consist of a 12-piece outer shell that guides the 6 inner shell pieces. The outer shell pieces will be connected via a UBracket. The hub will consist of 3 identical parts that will hold 2 linear actuators each. The pieces will be bolted together to create 1 singular hub. A 6-circuit slip ring will be placed in the center of the hub to bring power from the power supply to the actuators while allowing for rotation. The linear actuators will be pinned into the UBracket
Open-Source CubeSat Flight Board
Get PDFThe Helmsman Flight Board is an open-source main flight computer and electrical power system for educational and entry-level CubeSats. The board incorporates commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components in conjunction with simplified monitoring and management circuitry, supporting easy adoption, modifiability, and affordability while crucially enabling the emerging aerospace industry’s rapid ‘design-build-test’ methodology in student satellite teams. Its design includes essential CubeSat subsystems such as battery management, command and data handling, attitude determination, on-board processing, and is built to support real-time embedded operating systems. Key features include an Arm Cortex-M7 based STM32, radiation-resistant memory for OS storage, bulk Flash memory, real-time clock, two gyroscopes, two accelerometers, magnetometer, payload and peripheral board connectors, and hardware monitoring circuitry. The board is designed to adhere to the CubeSat Design Specification and typical satellite deployment systems’ requirements.
The Helmsman board reduces both cost and complexity by employing a single-board approach and eliminating larger, modular avionics stacks that typically occupy valuable CubeSat volume. Both the board schematics and layout were designed to be easily modified to enable customization with varying mission requirements with minimal specialized expertise.
A separate Programmer Board is used as a breakout test bench platform for the Helmsman Flight Board and acts as a battery charger. Both Helmsman and compatible form-factor boards can be mounted to this board and receive clean power for rapid bringup and pre-flight assembly checkouts.
The first version of both boards was manufactured and preliminarily tested which provided valuable performance metrics and caught schematic layout elements which should be improved in future work. Helmsman will also need to undergo additional experimentation such as in-depth software benchmarks, environmental tests, and communication tests before utilizing this board for space
Measuring Gait of Total Knee Arthroplasty Patients Pre-Op and Post-Op Using a Smartphone
Get PDFMotion capture technology is a tool often used in orthopedic applications, including measuring gait dysfunctions. However, gait analysis research focused on total knee arthroplasty (TKA) patients is limited, especially using motion capture systems. This may be due to a multitude of factors, such as inaccessibility to gait labs to the general public, difficulty of travel post-surgery, and overall costs of care and maintenance of motion lab equipment. New emerging novel methods use wearable devices such as smartphones and inertial measurement devices (IMUs) to perform gait assessment and are becoming favorable due to their increasingly ubiquitous nature. One such method using smartphones is an app called OneStep, which uses the smartphone’s sensors and machine learning algorithms to measure gait parameters of walking trials. The thesis project presented here used the OneStep app to measure stride length, step length, step width, gait velocity, cadence, and double stance time from walking trials.
This study was two-fold with pilot and in-clinic studies, in which trials were conducted with Cal Poly students and TKA patients, respectively. The purpose of the pilot experiments was to validate the reliability of the OneStep app against gait variables calculated from traditional motion analysis software by conducting walking trials with the OneStep app and motion analysis system in the Mobile Biomechanics Lab (MBL) and walking trials with the OneStep app in the building hallway. Gait algorithms were created in MATLAB software to calculate gait parameters from heel and sacrum marker motion data and validate OneStep trials in the MBL. Results of the pilot experiments indicated statistical similarities for stride length, left step length, right step length, step width, cadence, and gait velocity between methods (OneStep in the MBL vs. Cortex) and for step width and cadence between walking conditions (OneStep in the MBL vs. OneStep in the hallway). Low reliability was observed for step width between methods and between walking conditions (R = 0.013, R = 0.35). Scatterplots comparing gait variables between methods indicated good visual agreement for stride length, left step length, right step length, and gait velocity. Strong visual agreement was observed for cadence. Low agreement was observed for step width and double stance time. Scatterplots comparing gait variables between walking conditions indicated good visual agreement for stride length, left step length, right step length, gait velocity, and step width. Moderate visual agreement was observed for step width and double stance time. Results of the clinic experiments using the OneStep app indicated statistical differences in stride length, left and right step length, and gait velocity (p = 0.0010, p = 0.0087, p = 0.015, p = 0.0070) between pre-operative and 2 weeks post-operative appointments. Future work of this project is to continue monitoring the functional recovery of patients until they meet or exceed their pre-operative gait values, performing pilot experiments with individuals with gait abnormalities, and using force plate data to determine toe-off events for gait algorithms calculated in MATLAB
Host Response to Implantation of A Poly N-Isopropylarylamide Injectable Cell Therapy Vehicle
Get PDFThere is a need to develop novel and effective therapies targeting end-stage peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD). Inducing collateral arteriogenesis is a possible novel treatment that produces a natural bypass for blood flow, a promising solution to the long-term issues seen with current treatments. Regenerative therapies, and progenitor cells specifically, have demonstrated great promise in repair after injury and disease. While most progenitor or stem cells have poor efficacy in this context, muscle progenitor cells, or myoblasts, have encouraging results. Myoblasts enhance arteriogenesis and secrete cytokines or chemokines that recruit monocytes to injury sites. Implanting these adherent cells in a hydrogel construct near natural bypasses in peripheral vasculature increases the size of nearby collateral vessels, pointing to a potentially effective cellular therapy for PAOD. However, many aspects of this novel therapy are yet to be characterized. Given the impact of inflammation and anoikis on transplanted cell survival, one such aspect is the beginning stages of the localized immune response to the implantation of the polymer/cell construct and the impact myoblasts have on this response. This research aims to elucidate the inflammatory response occurring within and locally around poly N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAM) polymer constructs post-implantation, focusing on the population and classification of cells within and on the surface of the construct. We hypothesize that the implantation will trigger a local foreign body response (FBR) and recruit multiple immune cell types, primarily macrophage lineage, to the injury site. Cell presence on the construct will be analyzed via confocal microscopy and cell populations within the construct will be typed and quantified via flow cytometry. The goal of this thesis is to characterize the impact of myoblasts in a PNIPAM construct implanted in-vivo in a mouse model on the immune response and use this characterization to help interpret how the construct is modulating the immune response and how we can adjust this response more favorably
Building Safely: How Spanish Specific Safety can Impact Job Sites
Get PDFThis project explores how Spanish Specific Safety Training is being approached in the construction industry, with an attempt to identify some possible issues associated with language barriers and accessibility to these trainings. This research involved data collection through thirty analytical surveys, in addition to conducting three semi-structured interviews with construction workers and supervisors. The focus of the data collection was to gain insights into several key areas, including training accessibility, workplace injuries, language barriers, and worker comfort. The survey results indicated strong support for Spanish-language safety training, with respondents recognizing its potential to improve safety and overall worker comfort. Many participants of the data collection brought to light that language-appropriate safety training could minimize misunderstandings and could also minimize workplace injuries. Supervisors in the interviews also acknowledged that language barriers pose significant challenges on construction sites. These barriers often lead to safety risks, the need for external resources and costly rework. The findings highlight the need for enhanced Spanish-specific safety training programs. Introducing Spanish-specific safety training programs can address miscommunication issues between workers and supervisors, as well as creating a safer and accessible, welcoming work environment for Spanish-speaking construction workers
Sonifind: A Sonified Micro-guidance Interface For The Visually Impaired
No full textWe introduce Sonifind, a micro guidance system implemented on a smartphone that uniquely integrates computer vision and spatial audio intended to assist users who are visually impaired. Currently, micro guidance systems require head-mounted displays and various hardware, limiting their practicality for everyday use. Our system employs an off-the-shelf computer vision library and a smartphone to interpret the user\u27s surroundings and provide intuitive spatial audio cues for real-time guidance. We conducted a between-subjects study with sighted, blindfolded participants to evaluate the learnability, performance, and user satisfaction of Sonifind using two different versions of the system to further inform our ongoing design considerations. We found that the first version of our system (2D Feedback System) with directional (yaw) and depth (translation) audio cues resulted in quicker learnability but worse overall performance. In the second version of our system (3D Feedback System) with vertical axis guidance (pitch), we observed greater user satisfaction but a larger learning curve. These findings suggest that Sonifind has the potential to provide an effective and user-friendly navigation aid for non-sighted individuals, facilitating greater independence and mobility