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Neo-Aristotelian Friendship and Non-Human Animals: Can I be Friends with My Dog?
Get PDF“A dog is man’s best friend” is a well-known and widely used phrase, but are we right in thinking that dogs are our friends? If so, do we owe our dogs what we owe our friends? Aristotle recognized three different kinds of friends: friends of utility, friends of pleasure, and friends of virtue. I suggest that dogs can meet the conditions necessary for entering into the first two kinds of friendship, but that there is a potential moral hazard in thinking about our relationship with dogs in these terms. It is unclear whether dogs can meet the more stringent conditions necessary to enter friendships of virtue. Furthermore, the moral responsibilities that animal companion caregivers take on appear to be different than those of friendship. For these reasons, I challenge the notion that a neo-Aristotelian conception of friendship best captures the relationship we have with dogs
History of the Leaning Pine Arboretum
Get PDFThe Leaning Pine Arboretum, located on the campus of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, was founded in 1973 by a conglomerate of faculty of the horticultural sciences. The author sat with current and retired faculty to curate a written history based on oral interviews which investigated the development of the 5-acre garden across fifty years of volunteer work, student employees, class projects, and senior projects. Professor Emeritus Tom Eltzroth became the first director of the Arboretum and established the core design principle of celebrating the five Mediterranean climates of the world: Australia, California, Chile, the Mediterranean basin, and South Africa. Today, the Arboretum features a growing collection of gardens that are freely accessible to the public, including the five climate zones as well as the Entry Garden, the Formal Garden, the New Zealand garden, the Dwarf and Unusual Conifer garden, the Primitive garden, and the Palm and Aloe garden. Notable contributions throughout the history of the Arboretum were made by instructors including Professor Eltzroth, Wes Connor, Tony Amato, Ron Regan, Woody Frey, Tim Gaskin, Mike Zohns, Professor Virginia Walter, David Fross, Chris Wassenberg, and current Arboretum Manager Tiffany Faulstich, as well as financial donors. As the Arboretum moves into the future, it aims to remain a model of practical sustainability practices, be a resource for hands-on education, and continue to provide botanical diversity and landscaping inspiration while maintaining its goal to be “The Central Coast’s Premier Horticulture Display Garden”
Improving Aerospace System Robustness Integration Of Singular Value Decomposition And Network Centrality
Get PDFThis thesis presents an approach to understanding and enhancing the robustness of aerospace systems through the integration of network analysis, Design Structure Matrix (DSM), Singular Value Decomposition (SVD), and robustness simulation techniques. This methodology called the Importance Hierarchy method, provides a comprehensive framework for decomposing the interactions of aerospace systems, focusing on identifying and evaluating critical components and interactions.
The Importance Hierarchy method was used to study the Autonomous Flight Termination Unit (AFTU) by analyzing its components and interdependencies. The AFTU was selected because it recently completed a Preliminary Design Review (PDR), and its design and operational functions were well-known. During the PDR phase, it was found that the GPS circuit card assembly was vulnerable due to the extreme vibration environment. This research analysis has identified the GPS unit as a critical component through network analysis due to its pivotal role and interdependencies with other components. Therefore, if this analysis was performed during the PDR phase, it could have saved time and money.
The findings from this research can contribute significantly to the aerospace industry by providing a robust framework for strategic decision-making, visually communicating complex system dynamics, and understanding the robustness of aerospace systems. This approach is instrumental in mitigating risks and ensuring aerospace systems\u27 long-term reliability and safety
For Students, By Students: A Python Programming Manual for Structural Engineering Courses
Get PDFLearning to program is challenging enough for structural engineering students without the complexity of using a textbook with examples from unfamiliar engineering and scientific fields. Moreover, the open-source nature of Python means each library has a separate documentation website to navigate, discern what functions are useful, and how to implement them.
The idea of a senior project to develop a Python manual tailored to structural engineering students came from the authors’ experiences in three structural analysis/dynamics computing labs in Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo’s architectural engineering (ARCE) curriculum. The team recognized the barriers, lack of confidence, and frustration that learners faced with existing programming resources. To determine the topics necessary to best support students in the labs and later in structural design industry, two pre-project surveys were conducted with upper class students and industry practitioners respectively.
This led to a 24-chapter document on Python programming topics, including libraries for numerical and symbolic mathematics (NumPy, SciPy, SymPy) and creation of tabular and plot outputs for communicating results in technical reports (Pandas, Matplotlib). The manual includes explanations, graphics, and examples related to structural engineering for students to follow and apply to coursework, along with exposure to industry usage. A complete draft of the manual was implemented in the Fall 2023 offering of the first computing lab. Student comments were collected throughout the course and formal surveys were conducted at the end of the quarter. This feedback led to significant revisions of the document that was ultimately published for public use in December 2023 via Cal Poly @ Digital Commons.
This paper summarizes pre-and-post project survey results, develop process and content of the Python manual, as well as outcomes of the senior project team that worked to educate and motivate their peers to program in Python
Recycling Of Winery Wastewater Using An Ultrafiltration Membrane: Impact Of Operating Parameters On Membrane Performance
No full textThis study began the process of evaluating hollow-fiber ultrafiltration for treatment of winery wastewater pond effluent in preparation for drip irrigation. In areas subject to drought, wastewater recycling is becoming an increasingly popular practice. In California’s central coast region, winery wastewater recycling for irrigation can be hindered by clogging of the drip irrigation systems with suspended solids. To address this issue, this study investigated the feasibility of using hollow fiber ultrafiltration membranes as a polishing step for winery wastewater treated in an aerated lagoon-facultative pond series. A bench-scale, hollow-fiber ultrafiltration membrane system was assembled, and experimental testing was performed to determine the operational parameters of the membrane including flux, transmembrane pressure (TMP), and recovery over a range of flowrates and concentrate valve configurations using off-season (from outside of the Harvest season) pond-treated winery wastewater. Based on these characterization trials an initial effluent-to-permeate (Pond 2, an algae-rich pond following an aerated lagoon, effluent used as influent for the membrane system) flux of 258 L/m2·hr and a concentrate valve configuration of 60°-closed (TMP ranging between 5 – 32 PSI) were selected for performing ultrafiltration tests on winery wastewater collected from the effluent pond at a central coast winery. Through testing a range of times, optimal wastewater filtration and backwash times of 1.5 minutes and 30 seconds, respectively, were determined for the membrane system. DI water was used for backwashing, as a baseline. For a clean-in-place (CIP) system, the effective chemical types and concentrations were determined to be 0.4-M NaOH and 0.9-M acetic acid. Both chemicals were recirculated through the membrane for 1 hour, starting with the 0.4-M NaOH followed by the 0.9-M acetic acid. This CIP procedure was not able to remove fouling sufficiently for practical operation. For this reason, two forms of wastewater pretreatment were tested: using a 177 µm screen prior to the ultrafilter and filling the screen with sand. For the conditions tested, both forms of pretreatment proved to be ineffective. Only when the wastewater was given sufficient time to naturally flocculate was the screen system effective on its own. This residual fouling also prevented adequate testing to calculate the following membrane fouling characteristics: reversible fouling ratio, irreversible fouling ratio, flux recovery ratio, and total fouling ratio.
In the annual cycle of winery operations, different winery processes have different effects on the quality of the wastewater. Therefore, wastewater quality analyses were conducted throughout the duration of the study (October 2023 – May 2024) to understand the concentration ranges and trends of several wastewater quality indicators. Specifically, total suspended solids (TSS), volatile suspended solids (VSS), pH, Alkalinity, and turbidity were measured throughout the study. The levels of TSS, VSS, and turbidity were expectedly highest during the harvest season. The VSS constituted the majority of the measured TSS, averaging about 85% of the TSS. The pH was consistent throughout the study, while alkalinity increased in the off-season period of the study. The measured levels of TSS and pH were within the ranges reported in literature for winery wastewater. No prior reports were found for VSS, alkalinity, and turbidity levels for winery wastewater, so this study may provide new information in this regard
Characterizing the Ecological Impacts of Utility-Scale Solar Energy (USSE) on Fallowed Farmland
Get PDFLarge-scale carbon-free energy generation projects such as utility-scale solar energy (USSE) arrays help mitigate the energy sector’s contribution to climate change and are rapidly expanding throughout the U.S. However, the expansion of USSE sites is associated with immediate and longer-term ecological impacts, many of which have yet to be assessed. Quantifying the ecological impacts of USSE arrays will help to identify synergies and trade-offs between energy generation and terrestrial conservation goals. The overall goal of this research is to characterize the ecological impacts of USSE sites located on fallowed farmlands in San Luis Obispo County, California in a seasonally explicit manner. Fallowed agricultural landscapes and rangelands represent a particularly promising area for the deployment of solar arrays because these systems typically are significantly altered from their native conditions; therefore, array placement may not have significant further deleterious ecological impacts and may also provide the potential to recover ecologically with shifts in management practices. We studied how arrays impact a suite of ecological properties, focusing on two USSE arrays in California’s Coast Range Valley: Topaz Solar Farm (developed 2014)and Goldtree Solar Farm (developed 2018). Topaz, which is situated on previously disturbed agricultural land in Carrizo Plain, was seeded with a native seed mix prior to installation and uses rotational grazing to control vegetation growth. The climate is more arid at Topaz than at Goldtree, which is located approximately 14 miles from Morro Bay. Goldtree is situated on sheep pastureland and is also managed with a rotational grazing regime, though with a higher intensity than at Topaz.
Solar farms created distinct patterns of heterogeneity, which then affected plant community changes and soil nutrient cycling. Partial shading in areas adjacent to panels increased species richness with more native species and higher functional diversity, especially in drought conditions. Full shading in areas directly under plots increased plant moisture content and plant nitrogen content during drought conditions. This may be beneficial in supplying plants with greater water availability and nutrients, especially during drought years. In solar array footprints, ecosystem respiration (plant and soil CO2 flux) was reduced, suggesting that shading on solar farms can improve carbon sequestration on disturbed agricultural land if organic matter inputs outpace carbon loss in this novel ecosystem. Thus, our study demonstrated that solar farms offer the potential for improvement of ecosystem services, if placed on previously disturbed landscapes such as fallowed farmland and combined with other conservation management practices
In Pipe Biofilm Removal System
Get PDFIn many drinking water systems, biological build-up can accumulate over time and create contamination resistant to traditional chemical flushing techniques, thus creating systems that must be flushed constantly to be considered safe. The team analyzed how this biological build up occurs, the current methods of removal, and thought about different ways to remove this ENGR 459-03 7 biological buildup without further damaging the health of the water system. To do this, we preformed extensive academic research about how biofilm builds up in water systems, examined any existing products that remove containments from water systems, and developed a solution capable of removing biological build-up without the use of additional water flushes. This product will help with the overall health of the water system and create a more sustainable water management system
Pseudo GPS for Romi
Get PDFThe Pseudo-GPS system for Romi robots addresses the need for precise real-time location tracking in Cal Poly\u27s Mechatronics lab. This project, developed by Emmanuel Baez, Gabriel Coria, Owen Guinane, and Conor Schott, under the guidance of instructor Charlie Refvem, provides a proof-of-concept system to enhance the Romi robots\u27 geolocation capabilities for advanced robotic algorithms. The proposed system uses a Raspberry Pi 4 equipped with a Pi camera module and ArUco markers to track the position and orientation of Romi robots within a lab environment. Custom 3D-printed stands secure markers on the robots, and a designated origin marker defines the coordinate system. The software stack, implemented in Python, supports marker detection and positional calculations. Testing revealed an average positional accuracy of ±7.23mm, which is below the target of ±5mm, and limitations in orientation tracking and data transfer due to time constraints and hardware issues. The system demonstrated effective simultaneous detection of multiple markers but exhibited performance variability at different heights. Despite these limitations, the project successfully showcases a scalable approach to local robotic tracking and highlights areas for future improvements, including refined height calibration and enhanced data transfer capabilities using ESP32 microcontrollers. This FDR provides a foundation for ongoing development and integration into broader robotic systems
Piston Crown Design
Get PDFThis project investigates the effects of dimpling a piston crown, and its impact on engine combustion dynamics. Through computational methods, the effects of piston crown dimpling on flow characteristics were evaluated. Theoretical results were verified with experimental methods. Experimental methods included characterization of exhaust gas content, engine horsepower and torque, and exhaust opacity
Bonsai Merkle Tree Streams: Bulk Memory Verification Unit for Trusted Program Verification System
Get PDFToday, all modern computing systems are undoubtedly vulnerable to numerous types of attacks that could be targeted toward any layer of the system from dedicated hardware to highly abstracted software. Unfortunately, many devices and systems naturally contain inadequately protected components or software modules that un- dermine their security as a whole. Additionally, security is heavily variable system to system, and has a huge dependence on adequate implementation and ongoing support from device and software manufacturers. To address these various security issues in a very general way, TrustGuard, a containment security system utilizing an external device called the Sentry that would verify the activity of the host machine and control all incoming/outgoing communication accordingly, was created. To do this, Trust- Guard uses cryptographic memory protection schemes, a small trusted hardware and software base, and recomputation and checking of application behavior running on the host machine at an instruction-by-instruction granularity before allowing exter- nal communication to occur. Currently, however, the TrustGuard system only allows for one 8-byte chunk to be sent or received externally at one time, limiting overall throughput, and heavily polluting the main system caches in the case of large data transfers. To combat this limitation, This thesis proposes a system to allow for ef- ficient communication of large batches of data at once. In particular, it does so by using a small dedicated cache and efficient tree traversal techniques to asynchronously verify large chunks of program memory in stream-like fashion. This thesis primarily serves to provide a design, proof-of-concept, and collection of important information that will help future students implement such a system