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Reducing Scope 3 Emissions By Investing In Regenerative Agriculture In Supply Chains
Get PDFThe agricultural industry has an opportunity to shift to a more sustainable practice that helps restore vital topsoil, improve water quality, reduce environmental impact, and sequester atmospheric carbon into the vast soil carbon pool. However, to implement these practices at considerable scale, agricultural producers require access to resources and capital they rarely have and can be difficult to acquire. As a company, investing in regenerative agriculture in supply chains can lead to reduced Scope 3 emissions, more resilient supply chains, and better marketability as an investment fund, an employer, and a brand. Insetting regenerative agriculture can protect supply chains against climate risks and productivity loss, as well as serve as a more secure alternative to carbon credit offsets. Four successful companies, General Mills, Organic Valley, Nestlé, and Nespresso, have been shown to benefit from investing in regenerative agriculture as part of their evolution towards reaching net zero emissions. Based on their strategies, this paper has developed a recommended framework for programming investments for insetting regenerative agriculture. The recommendations rest on six pillars: 1) determining impact, 2) providing direct support to farmers, 3) place-specific strategies, 4) collaboration through partnerships, 5) scalable programming, and 6) educate consumers. Together, these represent a comprehensive approach to insetting that will provide long-term benefits to businesses, suppliers, and the planet
Nanoparticles and the Environment: Biopolymer Grafted Cellulose and Screen-Printed Carbon Nanotube Composites
Get PDFA host of environmental issues will define the state of the environment in the 21st century, with plastic pollution and water shortages among them. While solutions to these problems require large-scale, multipronged solutions, one way we can address them is through material innovation and the use of nanoparticles.
In the first project, we address the issue of plastic pollution by creating nanocomposites of biodegradable polymers (PLA and PCL) with cellulose nanofibrils. Here, PLA and PCL are grafted from the surface of cellulose nanofibrils via ring-opening polymerization of cyclic ester monomers. Polymer-grafted cellulose (PGC) is characterized with structural analysis, solubility tests, thermal properties. Graft-polymer and generated free polymer are compared to evaluate assumptions about polymerization kinetics. Lastly, environmental fate of PGC is evaluated via aerobic, anaerobic, and enzymatic biodegradation tests.
In the second project, we address the issue of fresh water shortage by creating screen-printed composites of polymerizable, surfactant-templated single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). Surfactant-templated SWNTs behave as lyotropic liquid crystals (LLCs), allowing self-assembly and shear-directed alignment. Here, LLC-SWNT inks are screen-printed in micron-sized channels and polymerized with UV light. Mesophase and alignment are evaluated using SAXS. Certain methods of screen printing with a stencil are found to enhance alignment and ordering of LLC-SWNTs, allowing for enhanced desalination and ion rejection
Paso Robles Police Department Shooting Range Stairs
Get PDFThe Paso Robles Police Department has a shooting range located just outside the Paso Robles Airport. The range is a newer facility that is used for training by the Paso Robles Police, as well as departments from surrounding cities. The flagpole for the range, located at the top of the hill, was inaccessible due to the brush overgrowth, gopher holes, and uneven terrain. Thus, the department needed a new staircase to improve accessibility to the flagpole so the red flag can be flown while the shooting range is in use. With many neighboring facilities, such as the remote-control plane club, rocket engine testing facilities, the Links Golf Course, the Paso Robles Municipal Airport, and the bordering winery, it is important that the flag be flown at the appropriate times to maximize safety. The department requested wood stairs without handrails, starting from ground level up to the top of the hill. The final product consisted of about 30 feet of floating wood stairs that are 3.5’ wide. The stairs are held by 10 concrete footings, attached with a 4x4 post. At the top of the stairs, there is an extended landing to allow for proper access to the flagpole
Analysis of Arterial Compliance Using a Surrogate Arm Bench Top Model for the Validation of Oscillometric Blood Pressure Methods
Get PDFA study was performed on a recently developed prototype of the Yong-Geddes surrogate arm design to collect compliance data of the various system components and determine the accuracy of measurements made through the bench top model. The study was performed to perceive the effectiveness of the model as a tool for validating non-invasive blood pressure detection monitors. Three stages of testing were performed to gather pressure and volume data from an artificial artery component, a sphygmomanometer, and the surrogate arm system to produce compliance estimations. Mathematical equations from supported arterial hemodynamics studies and clinical trials were applied to the pressure and volume data. Dr. Drzewiecki’s equation for arterial compliance was capable of predicting the region of the highest compliance of the artificial artery and produced an overall value of 38.81% for the data. A second degree inverse polynomial was developed and modeled the sphygmomanometer compliance measurements with a of 99.09%. Significant error was observed throughout all stages of the compliance testing, which was attributed to factors such as excessive noise due to faulty data collection equipment and irreparable leaks in the fluid flow system
Kantian Ethics and our Duties to Nonhuman Animals
Get PDFMany take Kantian ethics to founder when it comes to our duties to animals. In this paper, I advocate a novel approach to this problem. The paper is divided into three sections. In the first, I canvass various passages from Kant in order to set up the problem. In the second, I introduce a novel approach to this problem. In the third, I defend my approach from various objections. By way of preview: I advocate rejecting the premise that nonhuman animals are nonrational
Avoiding Anthropomoralism
Get PDFThe Montreal Declaration on Animal Exploitation, which has been endorsed by hundreds of influential academic ethicists, calls for establishing a vegan economy by banning what it refers to as all unnecessary animal suffering, including fishing. It does so by appeal to the moral principle of equal consideration of comparable interests. I argue that this principle is misapplied by discounting morally relevant cognitive capacities of self-conscious and volitional personhood as distinguished from merely sentient non-personhood. I describe it as a kind of anthropomorphizing moralism which I call anthropomoralism, defined as the tendency to project morally relevant characteristics of personhood onto merely sentient non-persons by discounting their existing differences with actual persons. I show that this attitude can lend support to the resurgent attempt to treat fetal pain as equally morally considerable to that of childbearing persons they gestate within. I explain that the only sound way to apply the principle of equal consideration of comparable interests is to compare experiences of actual persons. Therefore, while supporting a vegan economy may be morally praiseworthy, it should not be deemed morally obligatory
AS-954-23 Resolution on Modifications to the Bylaws of the Academic Senate
Get PDFRevises and modifies the bylaws of the Academic Senate, specifically the updated requirements of membership and committees
Class F Power Amplifier and Doherty Power Amplifier Design
Get PDFThe main goal of this thesis is to design and fabricate a power amplifier suitable for entry in IMS 2023 High Efficiency Power Amplifier Student Design Competition. Power amplifier design requires multiple design tradeoffs, for example, efficiency and linearity are the two main conflicting design parameters that require careful tradeoff to ensure optimum performance. Two prototypes are designed and fabricated for the competition: Class F operating at 1.5 GHz and Doherty Power Amplifier designed for an operating frequency of 3 GHz. Both prototypes meet the minimum requirement for qualifying in the IMS 2023 HEPA SDC. Class F power amplifier designed in this thesis obtains a maximum power output of 39 dBm and obtains a PAE of 32% while maintaining -30.66 dBc of linearity
Effects Of Concussion And Visuomotor Metrics On NHL Performance: An Explainable AI Approach
Get PDFCognitive motor integration (CMI), the simultaneous coordination between cerebral function and motor output, is known to deteriorate following a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). This thesis explores the relationship between mTBI, CMI, and the performance of elite athletes in the National Hockey League (NHL). The approach focuses on examining the predictive value of various supervised Machine Learning (ML) models with an emphasis on Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) models. Since the ML solution is intended to complement human scouting decisions, we evaluate the experiments based on both interpretability and accuracy on a limited class imbalanced dataset. The contributions of this research are two-fold based on the following research problems: Firstly, the problem of scouting decisions for amateur hockey players to play in the field is addressed by exploring a set of test scores from a neuroscience experiment involving visuomotor performance metrics. Formulated as a supervised binary classification task, results demonstrate that the trained XAI trained models effectively capture the relationship that determines whether amateur hockey players with a history of concussions are likely to play in the NHL. Specifically, we find the best-performing model to be Weighted-Decision Tree trained using all features proposed in this study. Secondly, the effect of previous concussions on scouting decisions is examined by visuomotor metrics and indicators of NHL performance using XAI models. This problem is also formulated as a supervised binary classification task and results show that the trained XAI models are able to predict concussion history using the visuomotor metrics. While results for this question are inconclusive, we give evidence from current neuroscience literature to support why these models do not reach satisfactory performance. Unlike previous research that mainly relies on physical metrics, our work is novel as it utilizes data derived from a neuroscience test, capturing persistent neurocognitive deficits in elite hockey athletes following concussions
