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Mechanical Horse Project
Get PDFThis document outlines our senior design project for the Cal Poly Mechanical Engineering Department on behalf of Jack’s Helping Hand. As a team of two Mechanical Engineering students, we developed a structure that can support a rider and can move in three degrees of freedom to model the gait patterns of a horse. This senior project will be continued by another group that will focus on electronics and implement the motors that will induce motion on the structure that our team has built. We collected baseline data by attaching an iPhone to a horse and used that motion to compare the results of our ideation process. Our design is a body suspended by a frame on a manufactured joint that can move in three degrees of freedom to accommodate the pitch, yaw, and roll angles that we observed during our testing, to ensure that our project feels like riding a horse
Merging the Personal and the Academic for Greater Learning: A Successful Assignment
Get PDFMerging the Personal and Academic for Greater Learning: A Successful Assignment As a person who grew up during the Second Women’s Rights movement and who became a member of the academic community, I developed and taught on several occasions a class called Women and Politics. The course began with a brief overview of feminist theory and went from there to a history of women’s rights in the United States, which provided a foundation for our study of the legal and policy aspects of important topics like employment discrimination, sexual harassment, and marriage and family issues. Almost immediately I realized that my students, while open to the intellectual aspects of the class, wanted to make their personal experiences a part of it as well. The essay I have written explains how I was able to create an assignment that allowed students to merge the academic and the personal, to provide opportunities for higher forms of learning and deeper understandings
Social Media on the Farm: A Comparative Analysis of the Digital Marketing of Select Small Businesses in Agriculture
Get PDFSocial media has become a crucial tool in the marketing world and can help companies of all sizes grow in a variety of different ways. Specifically looking at small business farms, social media is extremely important in allowing transparency and showing the consumers how their food is raised. The purpose of this study was to examine the social media and online marketing strategies of selected meat processing small businesses. A comparative analysis was conducted on Ballerina Farm and Five Marys Farms. The research was conducted utilizing information from both farms’ websites and Instagram pages. A comparative analysis was performed using a tool created by the researcher. The results showed that both farms are successful in reaching their target audience and keeping them engaged. The researcher advised that both companies should communicate more with their followers and post content that resonates with customers
Impacts of Pandemic-Induced Material Price Escalation on Construction Estimation and Bidding
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic introduced new severe supply chain bottlenecks in the construction industry. These bottlenecks reduced the availability of a wide variety of critical construction materials, which created a scarcity that has raised material prices at an unprecedented rate and extended lead times for some materials by months. This poses new challenges for contractors with pressure from owners to deliver ongoing contracts with fixed, pre-pandemic contract pricing and for estimators seeking to bid new projects with unforeseeable future material pricing. The objective of this research to focus on contractors operating within the state of California and their primary challenges in navigating a volatile materials market, and to discover trends and changes in preconstruction processes throughout the industry as this material price escalation event has transpired. Seven industry professionals from different contracting companies and manufacturers were interviewed for this case study from which a variety of challenges were identified and methods to reduce risk in preconstruction were explored, including expanded contingency, development of internal price forecasting systems, and increased focus on value engineering and alternative materials
Electrochromic Windows: Return on Investment Analysis
Get PDFIn recent years, sustainability in construction has become a topic of undeniable interest. With sustainability certifications becoming more prominent and desirable, members of the construction industry have begun to seek alternatives for standard systems to keep up with market trends. One of the main issues that the construction industry faces is accessibility of technology. While there are new products and technologies being released frequently, members of the construction industry lack knowledge on the specific details and implications of working with newer systems. One piece of technology that was recently introduced is electrochromic glass, or smart glass. Electrochromic windows analyze sunlight and heat exposure in their surrounding environment and change their opacity accordingly to better utilize the natural environment to increase indoor environmental quality. This report will explore the advantages, accessibility, and feasibility of utilizing electrochromic windows, ultimately concluding in a Return on Investment (ROI) analysis. There currently is limited data on the usage and/or effectiveness of this technology as it is relatively new, having only appeared in the industry 12 years ago. Through material data analysis and conducting an interview with a smart glass supplier, the current effectiveness and implications of electrochromic technology have been analyzed in this report
Baseball Pitching Arm Three-Dimensional Inertial Parameter Calculations From Body Composition Imaging and a Novel Overweight Measure for Youth Pitching Arm Kinetics
Get PDFMany baseball pitching studies have used inverse dynamics to assess throwing arm kinetics as high and repetitive kinetics are thought to be linked to pitching injuries. However, prior studies have not used participant-specific body segment inertial parameters (BSIPs), which are thought to improve analysis of high-acceleration motions and overweight participants. This study\u27s objectives were to (1) calculate participant-specific BSIPs using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) measures, (2) compare inverse dynamic calculations of kinetics determined by DXA-calculated BSIPs (full DXA-driven inverse dynamics) against kinetics using the standard inverse dynamics approach with scaled BSIPs (scaled inverse dynamics), and (3) examine associations between full DXA-driven kinetics and overweight indices: body mass index (BMI) and segment mass index (SMI). Eighteen participants (10-11 years old) threw 10 fastballs that were recorded for motion analysis. DXA scans were used to calculate participant-specific BSIPs (mass, center of mass, radii of gyration) for each pitching arm segment (upper arm, forearm, hand), BMI, and SMI. The hypotheses were addressed with t-tests and linear regression analyses. The major results were that (1) DXA-calculated BSIPs differed from scaled BSIPs for each pitching arm segment; (2) calculations for shoulder, but not elbow, kinetics differed between the full DXA-driven and scaled inverse dynamics analyses; and (3) full DXA-driven inverse dynamics calculations for shoulder kinetics were more often associated with SMI than BMI. Results suggest that using participant-specific BSIPs and pitching arm, SMIs may improve evidence-based injury prevention guidelines for youth pitchers
My Two Ears Can Witness : Feminist Pedagogy from Rehearsal Hall to Classroom
Get PDFGiven that university rehearsal halls are a natural home for feminist pedagogy, this paper addresses professors across campus under the contention that the signature pedagogy of theatre offers a model for faculty in other disciplines. The essay adapts a series of rehearsal hall techniques for traditional classrooms as efficient ways of fostering subjectivity, empowerment, community, and reflection in service of socio-cultural ends. The original teaching activities outlined herein do not require theatrical performance, but they nevertheless draw upon the power of live witnessing and interactive response that make theatre a powerful pedagogical tool. The authors conclude with an illustration of how their techniques impacted a unique performance of Shakespeare\u27s Comedy of Errors and call for greater interaction between liberatory pedagogues across the disciplines
Utilizing AI to Share the Research and History of Swanton Pacific Ranch
Get PDFSince the CZU Lightning Complex fire of August 2020 burned through most of the buildings and historical data that resided at Swanton Pacific Ranch (SPR), finding a new way to share the land’s rich history has become imperative. The purpose of our project was to do just that. We aimed to create an interactive chatbot called “Poppy” that could be accessible both online and at SPR, allowing users to learn more about the ranch and its surrounding areas. This chatbot allows users to explore a multi-level map of the ranch, ask any questions they may have about the ranch, and provides a place for users to donate to the ranch’s recovery and future development. The physical chatbot that will reside at SPR is fully self-sustaining; housed in a weather-resistant shed and fully solar-powered. It allows visitors to the ranch full access to the web application via a touchscreen monitor. Our project is the first fully functional version of Poppy the Chatbot, and it will serve as the foundational piece from which future teams will be able to easily expand and improve
Raising Native Plant Awareness as a Method for Re-Naturalization
Get PDFHumans are inseparable from the natural environment. We are one and the same, interconnected within the ecology of creation and care, not only destruction. By grounding ourselves in Indigenous wisdom and the principles of Traditional Ecological Knowledge, we are more able to recognize the important relational facets between humans and three native Californian plants (California black walnut, California blue elderberry, California bay laurel). In introducing Kimmerer’s concept of re-naturalization of humans, we can draw a connection to the same process a naturalized plant undergoes; immigration from a foreign place, dependence on the surrounding resources, and settlement of an area without disrupting other species. These three biologically culturally, and spiritually important plants are introduced to raise awareness of their historical connection with humans, their potential future relationship with humans, and the danger of their invisibility. By delving into specifics of each native plant, we can more readily envision a future where the lessons of these plants inform human action. As we learn more about the plants that surround us, we therefore become more connected to our environment, taking steps towards humans re-naturalization and a culture of respect and reciprocity