41530 research outputs found
Sort by
AS-979-24 Resolution on Guidelines for Academic Graduate Certificate Programs for Semester Conversion
Get PDFResolves that the Academic Senate of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo supports the University Guidelines for Academic Graduate Certificate Programs, and it further resolves that the Academic Senate of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo acknowledge the attached FAQ on Academic Graduate Certificate Programs
Baja Motherboard
Get PDFThe Baja Racing Motherboard is a compact PCB device that connects multiple electronics modules together in order to control the Baja SAE vehicle’s transmission. It uses multiple buck converters to regulate the voltage to microcontrollers, sensors, and multiple data logging devices while still being compact, lightweight, and serviceable. It uses IP-67 rated bulkheads to prevent water ingress in difficult conditions. The motherboard streamlines integration while still maintaining modularity, so when individual components are damaged the whole system need not be fully scrapped. The motherboard will save future team members time, money, and effort as it is a modular device that can be reused year after year for a single purchase
Construction Wellness: Analyzing Mental Health Issues and Solutions for Construction Workers
Get PDFThe construction industry is known for its demanding nature, often leading to significant mental health challenges among its workforces. This study investigates mental health issues prevalent in construction, focusing on identifying key stressors and potential protective factors. A mixed-method approach was employed, combining a systematic literature review with a survey distributed to construction professionals. The survey gathered data on job satisfaction, stress, coping mechanisms, and the availability and utilization of mental health resources. Results indicated high levels of job dissatisfaction and stress, with respondents citing poor communication, excessive work hours, and lack of control over their roles as primary stressors. Additionally, the survey revealed that while some companies offer mental health support programs, awareness and utilization of these resources are limited. Employees reported that their work negatively impacts their personal lives, contributing to mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. The study concludes that there is a critical need for mental health support within the construction industry. Recommendations include improving communication, improving mental health resources, and fostering a supportive work environment to enhance overall well-being among construction workers. This research provides valuable insights for industry stakeholders to develop targeted interventions aimed at improving mental health in the construction sector
Creating a Construction Management Technical Elective Course: Introduction to Subcontracting Management
No full textMany rising issues are threatening the subcontracting industry today, such as labor shortages and communication problems. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics over 50% of the current workforce is over the age of 40. This fact combined with a dwindling interest in subcontracting from younger generations is resulting in a need for more skilled labor. The goal of this project is to create a course that will foster an interest in the subcontracting industry for the students who take it and encourage them to suggest and implement positive changes in any company they work for. The proposed course will examine the processes of subcontracting management by assigning students subcontracting trades that they will be acting in throughout the semester. Students will be guided through the methods of bidding on a commercial construction project as a subcontractor. The course content was created by using existing writings and related courses about subcontracting practices, industry interviews and input, and the researcher’s industry experience. The developed content contains readings, lectures, group assignments, and quizzes to keep the students actively engaged in the course material. This course will be used to increase construction management students\u27 interest in the subcontracting industry
Effect Of Enzymatic Pretreatment On Biomethane Production From Olive Pomace
Get PDFIn 2023, approximately 2.36 million metric tons of olive oil were produced globally. Olive pomace, a byproduct of the flesh and pits left after olive oil extraction, presents environmental challenges when used as landfill due to its high polyphenol and organic contents, or when combusted due to greenhouse gas emissions. Its potential as animal feed is limited, yet it holds promise for methane production via anaerobic digestion (AD), providing a source of renewable energy. However, the highly crystallized polysaccharides in olive pomace, such as cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin, impede its conversion to methane, and the high polyphenol content inhibits methanogen growth.
To address this, phenolics were extracted from olive pomace, producing a phenolics-extracted olive pomace (PEOP) and a phenolics-rich olive liquid. After further resin-based extraction of phenolics-rich olive liquid, approximately two-thirds of the phenolics were removed, yielding phenolics-extracted olive liquid (PEOL). Enzymatic hydrolysis was conducted on several olive byproduct streams: olive pomace with water, PEOP with PEOL, and PEOP with water, to convert insoluble polysaccharides into reducing sugars that are more readily utilized by methane-producing microorganisms.
Various enzymes, including cellulase, hemicellulase, xylanase, and pectinase, were individually treated with olive pomace to determine the optimal hydrolysis time and enzyme concentrations. Response surface methodology (RSM) identified the optimal enzyme cocktail ratio (1.1% cellulase, db, and 0.9% pectinase, db) for achieving the highest reducing sugar contents (22.3 mg/mL), which had 79.1% increase when compared to the control sample (12.5 mg/mL).
After 19 days of anaerobic digestion at 37 °C, olive samples before phenolics extraction (olive pomace with water) and olive samples after phenolics extraction (phenolics-extracted olive pomace with phenolics-extracted olive liquid), produced similar amounts of methane (~175 mL CH4/g VS). This indicated that in our experimental settings, the phenolics reduction did not significantly impact methane yields.
Carbohydrate profiles may also influence biofuel yields, as hexoses (C6 sugars) are preferred over pentoses (C5 sugars) for end-product production during biotechnical conversion. To explore the effect of carbohydrate profiles on methane production from olive byproducts, two response surface methodology (RSM) coded enzyme cocktail-treated samples with different carbohydrate profiles underwent anaerobic digestion for 19 days at 37 °C, yielding similar amounts of methane (~156 mL CH4/g VS), comparable to the control sample. This suggested that anaerobic digestion can utilize different hexoses and pentoses at similar rates.
These findings demonstrated that olive pomace can be used for biomethane production instead of being landfilled or combusted. While enzymatic hydrolysis increased reducing sugar contents, it did not enhance methane yields. Reducing phenolic contents of 2/3 did not improve biomethane yield, and the impact of greater reduction requires further assessment
Collective Access, Collective Liberation: Disability Justice and Abolitionist Pedagogical Worldmaking toward Post(?)-Pandemic Futures
Get PDFThis critical commentary poses the question: what if we didn’t return to the “normal” of strict, ableist classrooms policies rooted in the bureaucratic, legalistic framework of “accommodations” and, instead, embraced the Disability Justice principle of collective access? After critiquing the accommodations process used in most higher education settings, I advocate for an approach we might call collective access pedagogy, which works from the fundamental assumptions that (1) all bodies exist on a spectrum of dis/ability and, thus, we all have individual needs based on our unique bodyminds, and (2) that we don’t need the constant threat of a pandemic to make our classrooms more accessible to all. I end by exploring the intersections between collective access pedagogy and abolitionist pedagogy and ultimately call educators to action to (re)create our classrooms as spaces of collective access and collective liberation
Disabling Critique: Structural Barriers to Critical Disability Approaches in Teacher Education
Get PDFConsiderable research has documented student resistance to efforts at diversity and equity in college curricula. Scholars have also focused on negative attitudes among K-12 teacher candidates toward anti-racist and culturally informed approaches within education, as well as on the instrumental and teacher-centered approaches that typify special education teacher preparation. Through citing this research and drawing on my own experiences as a disabled art teacher education faculty instructor attempting to encourage a critical disability perspective, I make the argument that numerous factors contribute to an anti-critical attitude among teacher candidates preparing to work with students receiving special education services
Representation Theory Arising From Groups In Physics
Get PDFA representation is a group homomorphism whose image is a group of invertible matrices. Representations and their associated matrices are analyzed through well-established techniques from linear algebra. We characterize representations by a unique decomposition into irreducible representations just as we characterize the decomposition of matrices into their eigenspaces. Through the study of these representations, we uncover mathematical relationships that underlie groups with physical applications. Due to physical symmetries, we study how the irreducible representations of groups that embody the actions of even the most basic rotations are utilized in the computation of irreducible representations groups that reflect more complicated mechanics, like the Poincar\\u27e Group. Further, we utilize the representations of the abstract braid group to gain key insights into understanding the behavior of anyonic systems in quantum mechanics. Finally, we explore the behavior of Fibonacci anyons for ways to understand to illustrate the underlying braid relations
Kinomatic Hip Arthroplasty Pelvic Tilt
Get PDFKinomatic is a startup company that provides custom preoperative surgical plans for orthopedic surgeons. The surgical plans are intended for total hip and knee arthroplasty to provide patient-specific measurements and implant sizing. Surgeons can view the surgical plans as 3D models in virtual reality with an Oculus Quest 2 headset or as a PDF summary. Most patients receive a diagnostic anterior-posterior (AP) x-ray that allows their surgeon to determine if they are eligible for a total hip or knee replacement. After diagnosis, the patient can also choose a Kinomatic surgical plan to provide their surgeon with additional data points before entering the operating room. Kinomatic constantly seeks to advance its products by providing surgeons with additional preoperative measurements and data. The measurement of pelvic tilt related to cup placement for total hip arthroplasty has been proposed as a need for Kinomatic surgeons. Kinomatic is dedicated to enhancing surgical outcomes through innovative technologies and ongoing research, ensuring patients and surgeons have access to the most accurate and comprehensive preoperative data for successful joint replacement procedures. This project will affect the following stakeholders: Kinomatic, Kinomatic’s orthopedic surgeons, and Kinomatic total hip arthroplasty patients.
The design process included receiving customer requirements from Kinomatic, translating the customer requirements into engineering specifications with measurable outcomes, researching possible ways to measure pelvic tilt, creating an x-ray image acquisition process, creating a semiautomated macro to measure pelvic tilt, and validating all engineering specifications. As the project unfolded, several engineering specifications were updated to reflect Kinomatics needs. A major change was adding pelvic tilt measurements in three planes instead of one. The first key engineering specification was to measure the discrepancy between pelvic tilt measurements on a 2D weight bearing x-ray vs. Kinomatic’s 3D supine model. The second key specification was ensuring the measurements were not obscured by pelvic or spine pathologies. The third key specification was that the measurement process is semi automated with a SolidWorks macro.
A sample size rationale determined that 22 patients were necessary to conclude proper validation of the process. However, due to limited availability of patients, only 2 x-rays have been received. The measurements were validated with a tolerance of ±2° and each patient was tested 5 times to ensure reliability of the semi automated macro. Kinomatic plans to continue the project until the measurements are validated for the sample size. See the Testing Data and Analyses section for specific testing outcomes. Almost all tests passed except for including the measurements on the surgical plans. Once the measurements are validated, Kinomatic will add the measurements to the VR and PDF surgical plans.
This Final Report includes a Background section describing similar products in the industry, related technical literature, and industry regulations. Third is an Objectives section, including a problem statement, a boundary definition, indications for use, customer requirements, a Quality Function Deployment with a House of Quality, and an Engineering 3 Specifications Table. Fourth is a Project Management section with the overall design process, a summary of deliverables, a project timeline, unique techniques, a Gantt Chart, and next steps. Fifth, there is a Conceptual Design section with a Morphology, Concept Evaluation with Pugh Matrices, a Conceptual Model, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). Sixth, there is a Detailed Design section with a front runner design, final design, and design drawings. Seventh there is a Process Instructions section with instructions for image acquisition based on x-ray protocols. There are also detailed instructions for Pelvic Tilt, Pelvic Obliquity, and Axial Rotation measurements on an AP x-ray and on a 3D model. There is also a design hazards checklist and sample size rationale. Eighth there is a Test Plan section with a summary table of test plans and description of each test plan. Ninth there is a summary of Testing Data and Analyses. Tenth, there is an Instructions for Use for surgeons to use the new measurements. Lastly, this Final Report includes an outline of Future Steps, Conclusion, References, and Appendices
