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- Creator:
- Craven, Lauren
- Description:
- The purpose of this thesis project is to create a reference guide that school counselors in the Los Angeles area can utilize to better understand eating disorders. The information will include specific types of eating disorders, as well as their symptoms and warning signs. Also mentioned, is how the school counselor can play a role in the life of a student who has an eating disorder. In addition to this project being a reference guide, there is also a short listing of referrals which includes support services for those who are suffering from an eating disorder.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Nunez, Annette
- Description:
- This study investigated that the use of Floor time in a social-emotional skills group, would increase the emotional development of the group, and increase the spontaneous initiations within the group. The social skills group consisted of four children age three, diagnosed with autism. The group met for one hour a week, for eight weeks. During this time, the Floor time protocol was implemented. A pre-test and post-test video was taken of the children without any facilitation, to measure the emotional development and the total number of initiations within the group. Results indicate there was a significant amount of improvement. The group increased in their overall social-emotional developmental level, as well as their capacity to initiate more social interactions.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Fang, Qi
- Description:
- This graduate project designed and implemented a prototype of an easy-to-use, yet very versatile and powerful 20 sketcher and 30 interactive modeler for architects. The predominant concepts of the modeler design are a simplified and integrated GUI that supports MDI, a transparent 20 sketch board that imitates tracing paper, and efficient creation and modification of 30 objects. These concepts are proven to be feasible and valuable by the partial implementation. Lessons and experiences gained from the design and implementation processes are presented. This report also listed ideas for future enhancements.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Computer Science
- Creator:
- Deaton, Jack Wesley
- Description:
- Experimental and theoretical studies of the manner in which molecules are distributed amongst micelles are described. Micelles are spherical, when separated "compartments" in aqueous solution that have the ability to solubilize water insoluble molecules. Much work and speculation have appeared over the years concerning the number distribution of these solublizates. In this work, the technique of electron spin resonance has been employed to test the dogma that uncharged molecules distribute randomly i.e. according to the Poisson distribution. Unlike most experimental techniques, this technique offers the tremendous advantage of being able to separate the contributions due to singly, doubly, triply, etc. occupied compartments. We have proved that the experimental results are inconsistent with a random distribution, and that particle-particle interactions must be taken into account. These interactions were studied theoretically in the framework of the grand canonical ensemble and also in the framework of a new phenomenology which models the flow of particles into compartments under the influence of an impedance to entry. The number distributions are shown to be identical in both frameworks, allowing two physical views of the process and allowing calculations to be carried out by either technique. In addition to a formal repulsion between particles that might be expected, an attractive pairing potential for singly occupied micelles was necessary to explain the results. Both the attractive and repulsive parts of the potential are found to be the same for two different solubilizates.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Physics and Astronomy
- Creator:
- Lopez, Elizabeth
- Description:
- In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in HIV infection rates among women. Young females in particular have been disproportionately affected. Current HIV prevention interventions fail to meet the needs of those young females who are at highest risk for HIV. Incarcerated female youth are at particularly greater risk due to their life circumstances and propensity to take risks. The current program is _different from other programs in that it strives to address HIV prevention within the context of interpersonal relationships rather than relying solely on knowledge acquisition and skills building. Objectives of the twelve-week curriculum are to increase self-esteem, increase self-efficacy, identify resources within themselves and the relationships in their lives, and learn effective communication skills.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Educational Psychology and Counseling
- Creator:
- Deyirmencian, Nuran Ohannes
- Description:
- The behavior of water flow through a rectangular open channel spillway with a stilling basin and step was analyzed using Excel and Visual Basic for Applications. All the parameters of the flow (such as critical flow, depths at key points, lengths of different segments) were calculated given a set of parameters. For the initial stilling basin design, the Froude number at the beginning of the jump and the length of the stilling basin after the jump were set. Also it was assumed that the flow will become "uniform" after the step. Given these parameters a flow profile was derived. To test the design for various conditions, the flow was decreased while the channel dimensions (such as total length of the spillway, step size) were left the same as the initial design to simulate seasonal flow changes. Then the new flow profile and Froude number at the beginning of the jump were determined as functions of flow rate.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Management
- Creator:
- Ruiz, Linda
- Description:
- Mexican-American immigrants have been key figures in one of the greatest migration occurrences in the United States. This population makes contributions to the culture, financial system, and employment industry of the United States. They are an ongoing influx of positive attributes and support to the wellbeing of the United States. Mexican-American immigrants are faced with various challenges as they take part in the employment arena. The career issues they encounter such as being expected to work in the secondary labor market, having minimal knowledge of their work environment, and limited employment experience affects their career paths. The purpose of this project is to assist Mexican-American immigrants with their career issues and have them learn through a career developmental process. The career development program will consist of eight weekly sessions that include one individualized session and seven group sessions. The program is geared to assist them through a career exploration process, to become knowledgeable of the world of work, to develop appropriate career decisions techniques, and make effective career plans. The program features experiential learning activities focused around John Holland's theory of types and Donald Super's life-span theory. It also provides them knowledge of employment information necessary to succeed in the labor market.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Hernandez, Elizabeth
- Description:
- The purpose of this study is to examine protective factors of adolescent resiliency with a focus on educationally supportive parenting behaviors. It is a correlational study examining the effects of perceived academically supportive behaviors by parents (i.e. their monitoring behaviors, their involvement in school, their academic encouragement behaviors and their educational aspirations for their children) have on the academic motivation and educational aspirations of adolescents. Educational resiliency research is largely concerned with highlighting the malleable factors that increase resilience in adolescents from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Self-report data were collected from 376 first and second-generation Mexican-American high school students from one high school located in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. A secondary data analysis was conducted using bivariate correlations and multiple regressions. Although the results indicated that generational status did not affect adolescents' perceptions about educational support from parents, all forms of support were significantly and positively correlated to both adolescent academic motivation and educational aspirations.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Educational Psychology and Counseling
- Creator:
- Guzman, Isabel Pacheco
- Description:
- The purpose of this study is to examine group differences in attachment styles and relationship functioning among individuals with high and low psychopathic traits. It was hypothesized that individuals with high psychopathic traits would report greater incidence of dismissing attachment and a lower incidence of secure attachment, relationship satisfaction, and relational-anxiety as compared with individuals with low psychopathic traits. It was also hypothesized that high psychopathic traits will have greater negative associations with secure attachment, preoccupied attachment, fearful attachment, relationship satisfaction, and relational-anxiety, as well as a greater positive association with dismissing attachment as compared to lower levels of psychopathic traits. Procedures included recruitment of 117 undergraduate students and administration of several self-report measures. The high psychopathy group reported greater incidence of fearful attachment while the low psychopathy group reported greater incidence of secure attachment and relationship satisfaction. No significant group differences were found in relationships between psychopathy, attachment, relationship satisfaction, and relational-anxiety. Clinical implications are discussed.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Ngai, Terence Nai-ching
- Description:
- Trellis-Coded Modulation (TCM) is a technique which combines channel coding and modulation for the transmission of digital signals over bandlimited channels. The basic idea is to use signal-set expansion to provide redundancy for coding, and to design coding and signal-mapping functions jointly so as to maximize directly the minimum Euclidean distance between coded signal sequences. The coding gain is achieved without sacrificing data rate or expanding bandwidth at the expense of increasing decoder complexity. Simple TCM schemes with 2 to 8 states can provide asymptotic coding gains of 3 dB compared to uncoded modulation. With more complex schemes, asymptotic coding gains of 6 dB can be realized. This paper describes the general principle and performance of conventional TCM schemes and the methods for maximizing such performance. Additional 1 to 2 dB gain can be obtained by introducing asymmetry to signal constellation or by transmitting multiple symbols per state transition. Performance improvement and drawbacks of these schemes are also discussed. The important effects of carrier-phase offset are presented. Problems arise when a carrier-modulated TCM signal is demodulated with a phase offset which could be caused by the inability of the phase-tracking scheme of the receiver to track phase disturbances instantly. Several concepts relating to the application of soft-decision maximum-likelihood Viterbi decoder are discussed. An example of soft-decision decoding of M-ary signals is also presented.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Engineering
- Creator:
- Dakota, Sage
- Description:
- Consciousness as a construct continues to have utility in society; legally, medically and interpersonally. Repression is an often-studied mechanism to explain how some things are kept out of consciousness. The Constructive Repression Approach emphasizes a measured examination of previously experienced traumatic stimuli, based on the clinician's judgement as to the ability of the client to tolerate the associated en10tional pain. The Constructive Repression Approach to psychotherapy integrates techniques and addresses psychopathology at the level of human functioning. This is in contrast with the many approaches that integrate at the level of theory, therapeutic technique or psychopathology. The following discussion will consider the roles of consciousness and repression in therapy and the four major theoretical orientations to doing therapy. It will propose a new approach called Constructive Repression followed by a pamphlet which discusses how clients would be viewed by therapists who utilize one of the major therapeutic orientations. This pamphlet will also aid clients in finding an appropriate therapist.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Educational Psychology and Counseling
- Creator:
- Bugarin, Elba
- Description:
- The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of significant others' academic support on adolescents' academic identity and educational aspirations in Latino adolescents. Self-report data was collected from 164 Latino adolescents from one high school in the San Fernando Valley. The sample consisted of 44% males and 56% females, 14-16 years old (M= 15). The results of correlation and multiple regression analyses indicate that academic encouragement by the mothers, fathers, teachers, and peers was not significantly related to educational aspirations. However, academic encouragement by mothers, fathers, teachers, and peers was significantly related to the academic identity of males. Fathers' academic encouragement was not significantly related to female academic identity.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Educational Psychology and Counseling
- Creator:
- Dalal, Hemal Mahesh
- Description:
- An X-band design using NE4210S01 's scattering parameters, the input and output matching networks were designed to create four Maximum Gain Amplifiers which are combined with four 90 Degree hybrid couplers, designed using Microstrip Line Technology, to finally create Dual Stage Balanced Amplifier. It is designed to have maximum gain with better stability and input/output return loss also known as voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) than a single Maximum Gain Amplifier. Microwave Office 2007 is used for simulations.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Creator:
- Di Fusco, Laura
- Description:
- For a great many Americans, daily life constitutes an ongoing crisis of emotional survival (Garfield, 1987). Many individuals take on more than one role such as, a mother, wife, worker, and student. One may be faced with much pressure to be successful in all the roles. If one fails or has potential to fail with one or more of the roles, then one may become angry with oneself. Failure, a stressor, may be accompanied with anger (Friedland, 1984). For some individuals anger causes hurt. For instance, if an adolescent argues with his parents, he may feel guilty and hurt afterwards. In return, the hurt causes emotional damage in the long run. For example, the failure of communication between the adolescent and the parent may result in the adolescent feeling distant from the parent and diminished bonding results as the teenager grows up. As a result, the individual may become fearful, anxious, withdrawn from others, depressed, or have low self-esteem. In addition, the emotional damage may result in misdirecting aggressive behaviors, such as, screaming at another, throwing objects, suicide etc. Once these behaviors are being manifested, one has lost self-control. These behaviors are thought of as aggressive and antisocial. In order to control these antisocial behaviors, society has set up systems to intervene. Some examples of systems which shape one's behavior include legal, parents, school, and church. Each of these systems has consequences for antisocial behaviors. For instance, if one physically assaults another, then the legal system punishes the offender by placing one in jail. These systems may be effective in so far as society is concerned. However, the outbreak of antisocial behavior, for instance, gang violence, continues to be a serious problem in society. The problem is the individuals lack the skills to release anger in a prosocial manner. Therefore, there is a need for further development of additional systems to shape negative behavior which results from anger. One suggestion is therapeutic recreation activities existing within the Gunn & Peterson (1977, 1978) continuum which has potential to decrease the amount of hostile outbursts one has. No research has been conducted showing the relationship between anger management and the Gunn & Peterson (1977, 1978) continuum.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Recreation and Tourism Management
- Creator:
- Favakehi, Mohamad
- Description:
- The objective of this project is to design and evaluate an interactive terminal using vacuum fluorescent technology. The display tube used is six lines by forty characters wide to enable to display 240 characters of display data. The touch input panel uses infrared switch matrix optical technology to transmit the operator's interaction to the host system. A detailed explanation of design philosophy will be presented and a comparison between various types of touch input technologies will be discussed.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Engineering
- Creator:
- Osagawa, Manabu
- Description:
- This project is considered as a portion of the XCoNet (Xilinx Chip on the Net). The main goal of XCoNet project is to connect Xilinx FPGAs to the Internet directly so that the chip can be re-configured and upgraded by receiving the configuration bitstream. In this project, ICMP echo reply module is designed. As necessary support information, Xilinx Virtex FPGA family architecture is described in CHAPTER 2. TCP/IP protocol suite is briefly explained in CHAPTER 3. A prototyping platform XESS XSV board is introduced in CHAPTER 4.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Creator:
- Ferman, Patricia
- Description:
- The purpose of this thesis project is to develop a program, consisting of training sessions and a manual through which preschool teachers will learn ways of working with children with autism to increase social interactions. A manual will be created so that teachers can have an educational tool, to refer back to, after they have completed the instructional trainings. In the trainings preschool teachers will acquire the knowledge needed to work with children with autism. They will be taught methods and strategies for working with and encouraging play in high functioning preschool children with autism. Literature supports the notion that adults need to see an obvious connection between what they are learning and real life events. Through incorporation of the training sessions and the manual, participants will learn how effective strategies are in assisting them in the classroom setting. In doing so, teachers will be able to take what they have learned and apply it to their own lives. Research has demonstrated that the one characteristic exhibited in almost all children with autism is their apparent lack of social-communicative gestures and utterances therefore making it difficult for these children to be able to interact and play with their teachers and peers (Koegel, Koegel, Frea & Smith, 2000). However, if a teacher has the knowledge and skills needed to be able to facilitate social-communication interactions among the children then everyone in the classroom benefits. Research suggests that there is strong evidence that children with developmental delays can most efficiently learn age-appropriate behavior from an environment of similarly aged typical peer models (Koegel, Koegel, Frea & Smith, 2000). It also appears that children with severe social impairments can best learn to socialize if they are in an environment that provides a significant number of appropriate opportunities for social interactions (Guralnick & Groom, 1988; Stainback, & Forest, 1989). If acceptance by peers is a critical factor in child development, then segregation from typically developing peers is likely to be a detrimental and further disabling experience for any child. Therefore, having teachers in preschools knowledgeable on how to motivate the children with autism to respond to social and environmental stimulation and teaching the children to respond to complex multiple cues will benefit the children with autism and allow them to begin making friendships. A manual was developed to teach preschool teachers how to facilitate social interactions of children with high functioning autism with their peers. The manual will detail in length social intervention strategies and will give teachers a reference to refer back to. The manual will explore the following topic areas: child development, play, autism and intervention strategies. The manual was outlined, for quick references and contains the major points of the manual. An evaluation form was developed to critique the manual in the areas of description, content, objectives and program clarity. A panel of six experts was chosen based on the following minimum criteria: 1. Minimum teaching experience, 1 academic year with integrated classroom or 2. Minimum of 5 years experience working with preschool children. Once the evaluations were received the author reviewed and evaluated the comments to make the final revision of the manual. Recommendations have been created for those who wish to develop a program and for preschool administrators as to the reasons why they should implement the program.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Recreation and Tourism Management
- Creator:
- Goraya, Sapandeep Singh
- Description:
- The aim of the project is to study state of the a1t in the design, development and applications of RF MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) devices, with primary emphases on RF MEMS switches, in the context of its imminent insertion and deployment in radio frequency (RF) and microwave wireless applications. A detailed study of the relevance of MEMS Devices for their inclusion in the various Wireless Transceiver architectures is attempted. The project also focuses on modelling RF MEMS Capacitive Shunt Switch for Wireless applications using Lumped Components Model & 3 Dimensional Full Wave Electromagnetic Simulation of the MEMS Switch in both the ON & OFF states, within a very broad range of frequencies from DC to 50 GHz. Simulated Electric field patterns & Current distribution plots in both the states of the MEMS Switch are also given. The project includes comprehensive parametric analysis, simulating the effect of various dimensional parameters of the MEMS switch on the electromagnetic performance of the device.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Creator:
- Perez, Concepcion H.
- Description:
- In recent years, colleges and universities have attempted to increase the effectiveness of their educational programs in order to better assure student success. An integral tool that needs to be improved in the educational system of higher education is that of Academic Advisement (Sandor, 1984). Although, academic advising has existed for some time now, historically, it has never been used to its full potential. Frost (1980) states that this is due to "the often limited vision of the function of academic advising, and because of the resulting low value placed upon it by the institution in general, and the faculty, in particular" (pg. 56). Because of this need to make the full use of academic advisement as a tool for student success, I prepared a manual that contains the fundamental basics of academic advisement. This manual includes the importance of developmental advising, how to train faculty and student advisors, how to assess student needs, and how to make appropriate referrals. It demonstrates what a typical advising session covers, and how to develop a tracking, and follow-up program. Other important components of this manual include, how to deal with probation and disqualified students, the importance of getting to know the campus resources, tips for academic advisors, and common questions students ask.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Educational Psychology and Counseling
- Creator:
- Stupar, Jerry Allen
- Description:
- The lack of quality physical education, as well as an absence of health and wellness concepts being taught, (particularly in California) results in children leaving elementary school with poor levels of physical activity and fitness. Project Health Zone (PHZ), a pilot program designed to assist in the delivery of physical education to K-2 students, included a physical education program that focused on health and wellness components through physical activity. PHZ's goals were to increase moderate and vigorous activity. It is unclear if increasing student' MVP A during physical education will result in increased levels during recess. Recess time can provide additional time for students to engage in moderate and/or vigorous activity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a comprehensive quality physical education curriculum on physical activity during in-school recess. Each child's physical activity was assessed using SOFIT measures of physical activity. One hundred and five 4-8 year old elementary students were observed during three pre (September) and post sessions (April). Fifty-eight intervention students from the PHZ physical education classes and 4 7 students from the control group, received physical education from their classroom teachers, were observed during recess using the System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time (SOFIT). Activity categories were analyzed using Repeated Measures ANOV A. Intervention students significantly increased their time being very active and decreased their time sitting and standing. A significant change pre to post in frequency of walking and being very active was also noted. The control students' results indicated little change and individual results suggested less activity. More sedentary activity (sitting, standing) by the control group as well as a higher incidence of consumption of food prior to engaging in :free-play/exercise was also found. Control students were observed in larger cliques, and participating in activities that reduced moving due to structure (12-15 students playing half court basketball). Intervention students were organized in smaller groups thus promoting more individual interaction within the activity therefore increasing physical activity. These findings help support the need to include quality activity based physical education programs as part of the solution to increasing activity levels outside of the classroom. Current unstructured physical education classes do not adequately develop skill in fundamental movement patterns, and do not provide opportunities to learn about the importance of daily physical activity that could transfer to recess. This study contributes to the literature supporting quality physical education taught by trained professionals in elementary schools.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Kinesiology
- Creator:
- Hamor, Sarah
- Description:
- Music information retrieval (MIR) is the fi eld dedicated to the organization and retrieval of music data. One of the eventual goals of MlR research is automatic transcription, where any musical recording can be transcribed to accurate sheet music with no human intervention, allowing easy cataloging of music and facilitating the creation of music databases for query-by-example systems. Towards this goal, l have investigated pitch detection algorithms for hummed or instrumental input and created an open source tool to transcribe monophonic melodies using the Java programming language. Additional goals include examining the current state of MlR research and encouraging future graduate students to explore MIR and expand on this tool.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Computer Science
- Creator:
- Talebian, Sasan
- Description:
- The objective of this project is to discuss the assembly, behavior, building code requirements, and standard design practices for horizontal and vertical wood diaphragms. The discussions presented are intended to highlight the basics involved in design of wood diaphragms as lateral resisting elements for structures. A brief overview of construction practices and requirements has been incorporated in the text to facilitate related design discussions. Key tables from Uniform Building Code, 1985 edition, are included in the appendix.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Engineering
- Creator:
- Rathod, Nikhil
- Description:
- The Project is to investigate the current techniques for fingerprint recognition. This target can be mainly decomposed into image preprocessing, feature extraction and feature match. For each sub-task, some classical and up-to-date methods in literatures are anal yzed. Based on the analysis, an integrated solution for fingerprint recognition is developed for demonstration. The program is coded in C Language. For the program, some optimization at coding level and algorithm level are proposed to improve the performance of fingerprint recognition system. These performance enhancements are shown by experiments conducted upon a variety of fingerprint images. Also, the experiments illustrate the key issues of fingerprint recognition that are consistent with what the available literatures say.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
24. Reliability of center of pressure excursion measurements in subjects with dissimiliar leg preference
- Creator:
- Deisinger, David
- Description:
- Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine the response stability of measurements used in the assessment of center of pressure excursion (COPe) during step initiation. A NeuroCom� Balance Master� was used to collect data relating to subjects center of pressure movements. With repeated trials, the variables of interest were compared, and the stability of these variables was assessed. The variables were also analyzed to assess the effects of foot dominance, height, and body weight on the response stability of repeated measurements of COPe. Subjects involved in this study were first tested to establish foot preference. Subjects. Seventeen volunteers, all "normal" adult university students aged 20-40, and displaying "strong" left or right foot preference on initial tests were divided into Group "L" (n=6) and Group "R" (n=11) respectively. Methods. Data were collected "during balanced stance" and during step initiation. Repeated trials were performed and the subjects' COPe was measured while stepping forward with both the dominant and the non-dominant foot. Numerous variables were used to measure and quantitatively describe the center of pressure excursion during step initiation. ANOVA was used to determine response stability of the COPe measurements for each subject, as well as between the two groups. Results. No significant within-subject variability was noted for all measurements of COPe that were examined in this study, suggesting that all measurements of COPe used demonstrated response stability and were not affected by repeated trials. There were few significant effects of foot dominance on the COP excursion measurements between subjects with dissimilar foot preferences. Results also revealed a significant effect of weight on only three, and height on only five measurements of COPe. Discussion. Based on the consistency and high degree of response stability of repeated measures, the investigators recommend the following three measurements of COPe for future studies: the greatest excursion of the COP laterally, the greatest excursion of the COP in the anteroposterior direction, and the angle (in degrees) from the x-axis at the (x,y)coordinate point with the greatest distance from the y-axis in the quadrant of interest. Conclusion. The most stable variables could provide a more empirical way of assessing center of pressure excursions during step initiation. Insights gained could serve as a reference when attempting to identify and overcome step initiation problems. Establishment of the most reliable COPe measurements may provide future studies the tools needed to empirically analyze differences in COPe during step initiation. A larger study sample needs to be done in order to confirm this pilot study.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Health Sciences
- Creator:
- Phalen, Carol Marie
- Description:
- Paralabrax clathratus, commonly known as the kelp bass, is an important sportfish to the Southern California angler, ranking among the top sportfish on commercial passenger fishing vessels since the 1950's. They commonly occur in a patchy distribution from Monterey Bay, CA to central Baja California, Mexico, preferring a habitat associated with structure. They are broadcast spawners and have the potential for high levels of gene flow during the 28-30 day pelagic larval stage. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the extent of genetic variation of the kelp bass at various locations throughout their range. Seven populations were examined for genetic variation and population subdivision using two variable molecular markers. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of the internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS) of the nuclear ribosomal DNA repeat unit revealed no genetic variation or geographic subdivision. Although direct sequence analysis of the 5' portion of the mitochondrial DNA revealed a high level of genetic variation , no geographic subdivision was detected based on neighbor joining, maximum parsimony, and analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA). These results suggest that a high level of gene flow exist among locations, most likely due to the dispersal of pelagic larvae via prevailing currents, episodic events, and adult movements.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Biology
- Creator:
- Coffey, Lavanson C.
- Description:
- This project focuses on the development and documentation of a case study based on the build-up, check-out, certification and testing of the Dynamic and Aerodynamic Load Test (DALT) facility. Located at the Pacific Missile Test Center (PMTC), Point Mugu, California, this one-of-a-kind test facility was constructed to support the dynamic testing of composite case rocket motors designed for long term air-launched missile applications. While this facility was originally considered to be only a small portion of the Composite Case Durability Investigation (CCDI) program, it turned out to be a major challenge that drove program schedules and costs. The CCDI effort began in April of 1984 and was scheduled for completion by September of 1987. The original cost for the Phase IV test effort was estimated at $580,000. At facility completion, in March of 1990, costs had exceeded $2 Million, and the test effort was just beginning. The scope of this final project includes a detailed look at the factors involved from planning through completion of the Phase IV full-scale test effort. The resultant identification of key factors that influenced the massive cost and schedule overruns leads to development of management strategies that may be applied in future Department of Defense multi-agency projects, thereby allowing improved performance.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Engineering
- Creator:
- Touyarot, David A.
- Description:
- Parametric and constraint-based design systems are becoming the CAD/CAM standard in most commercial applications. The ability of these systems to create parametric models allows engineers to produce designs that can be modified to fit changing requirements. Current industry product cycles and development times require fast response from engineering to the changes that inevitably occur with new product introduction or product re-design. This project discusses, demonstrates and implements a parametric, constraint-based design package and justifies its use in a design environment. This analysis of constraints extends into an examination of the principles behind constraints and their effects on geometry within a predetermined space.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Computer Science
- Creator:
- Hammer, Henry
- Description:
- The relatively new world of computer science is in the midst of yet another technological revolution. As industry strives to produce ever faster machines and systems, many crossroads are encountered and paths are chosen. In one of the more recent battles, the object-oriented paradigm has apparently been declared the winner over the conventional approach to programming - as evidenced by the explosion of popularity now being enjoyed by C++, Smalltalk, and other object-oriented languages. Of the many battles currently being waged in the industry, one in particular may have a very profound influence on the development of future machines and systems: the decision to continue developing conventional sequential computers or to begin developing parallel computing systems. In this dissertation I offer arguments to support the choosing of the parallel processing paradigm. I am convinced that with current technology, parallel processing offers the best hope of reaching the next level of computational performance. There is no question that many problems can be solved much quicker when more processors are applied to the problem; the key is to improve the programmer's ability to discover and take advantage of the parallelism within programs so that the processors can be kept busy enough to justify the use of the extra processors. In Part 1, many topics related to parallel computing are discussed including architecture, languages, interconnection topologies, pipelining, and more. In Parts 2 and 3, six projects are described using the language 'Multi-Pascal'. The projects were selected from the book 'The Art of Parallel Programming' by Bruce Lester. Included with the book is a disk that allows programmers to write their own Multi-Pascal programs and simulate the program performance on a wide variety of parallel architectures. It is capable of representing 256 processors on a DOS system. The environment includes a compiler. When a program is compiled and executed in this environment, the system keeps track of the number of sequential time units required to run the program and also how many parallel time units were required. The environment then computes the speedup by dividing the sequential time by the parallel time. The environment also provided many debugging and testing tools to help the programmer learn the concepts of parallel programming. The first three projects were all done on a simulated multiprocessor system. These projects include polynomial multiplication, bitonic merge sort, and Gaussian elimination. The final three projects were designed to run on multicomputer systems. They include numerical integration on a two-dimensional mesh; image processing and the traveling salesman problem, both on Hypercube topologies.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Computer Science
- Creator:
- Korhani, Nader
- Description:
- Immigration has been an integral part of American history as a nation, since the beginning. In the past few decades, new immigrants in this country have been from a more diverse culture and ethnicity than the immigrants before them who were mostly Europeans. Today's immigrants have to face many difficulties created by cultural differences and lowering of socioeconomic status. Their attempts to cope and adjust to life and environmental changes such as culture, economic, educational, language, and family relations, as well as decrease in social support, have resulted in increased distress and health problems, family relations problems, and many mental health disorders. Despite immigrants ' need for support in many of these difficulties, there are very limited resources available and few counselors trained, to help with these issues. In order to address some of these issues, an extensive multidisciplinary literature review was conducted in order to identify role of culture, ethnicity, and other related topics to counseling immigrants in a mental health setting. Review of the literature indicates that most research on immigrants has been conducted within the frame of a specific culture. Therefore, the information obtained from these materials was compared and contrasted in order to find common grounds across different cultures. Furthermore, a manual based on the literature reviews was then created to offer basic guidelines and provide relevant information for mental health professionals and to help them become better aware of circumstances concerning immigrants. A Culture-Centered approach was suggested with specific recommendations regarding immigrants in the final chapter of the manual. In conclusion, a basic format for creation of a satellite community mental health agency geared toward providing counseling and case management services to immigrant population was suggested.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Educational Psychology and Counseling
- Creator:
- Azar, Viki
- Description:
- The licensing requirements for a marriage and family therapist include the completion of 3,000 supervised hours combined as a trainee and an intern. While in a qualifying master's degree program, the student trainee is required to locate and secure a traineeship site where those hours can begin to accrue. It is difficult to find a training placement that satisfies the requirements set forth both by the Board of Behavioral Science (BBS) and the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP); this is an important factor to consider in obtaining a placement. This project was designed as a fieldwork placement guide that provides a concise overview of each agency listed, including pertinent information relating to supervisor experience, number of supervision hours offered, clientele, CACREP familiarity, etc., which have all proven to be important aspects to consider when deciding on the placement of choice.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Parker, Joanna
- Description:
- This study will examine the attitudes and perceptions of middle school girls towards their physical education classes and teachers. Physical education should be shared by all. All students, male or female should be provided with the same opportunities that their counter part can experience in their physical education classes. They should be able to participate in a safe environment, both emotionally and physically. As physical education teachers, we must always keep in mind that movement is not limited by gender. The study was conducted using eighth grade girls from a middle school in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California. The students answered open ended and 4 point likert scale questions regarding what they liked and disliked about their physical education classes and teachers. The students' responses were reviewed and coded using the constant comparative method. The results of the study indicate that 44% of the participants feel more comfortable and would participate more in single gender physical education classes. The results can assist physical educators in planning their programs and implementing appropriate curriculum. It can also give them some insight as to what activities they can use to motivate their female students to be more actively engaged in an activity setting.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Kinesiology
- Creator:
- Chocron, Lucien
- Description:
- The relationship between psychotherapy and religion has been often stormy and consistently ambivalent. Issues' concerning counseling and psychotherapy of the orthodox Jewish client is no exception. The present study is designed to understand the struggles of individuals of orthodox Jewish faith to obtain quality mental health care in the United States. The available literature both in this country and abroad will be examined to look for major trends and to outline specific recommendations designed to enable religious Jewish individuals in need of help to surmount religious, familial, cultural, political, and community obstacles in order to find appropriate and effective treatment. The study begins by tracing the problematic historical relationship between psycho logy and religion. The review then focuses on relationships between the religious Jewish communities in America today and the psychological community. Accepted ways of obtaining treatment for mental disorders by religious Jews will be outlined, as well as attitudes towards secular psychological treatments among rabbis and other Jewish community leaders. The study also examines characteristics of orthodox Jewish clients. While the clinician may be treating an individual, the individual qua religious Jew brings to the therapeutic relationship a unique set of historical, personal experiences as well as a lifestyle governed by a comprehensive body of distinct guidelines. In addition, therapist or counselor attitudes towards religious clients will be reviewed. The study then proposes a community- based program to be used in the Orthodox Jewish community that incorporates five major strategies that are both realistic and potentially highly effective. These strategies focus on helping to remove the historical, cultural, political, religious, and community barriers that stand in the way of proper and effective care for the Orthodox Jewish client.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Educational Psychology and Counseling
- Creator:
- Chokasut, Prayut
- Description:
- The design of a force feedback joystick for Virtual Reality was described in this project report. Before the final design is reached, different designs of a force feedback joystick have been attempted. In this final design, two motors were chosen to generate force in two directions against the user's hand. By using the ENPORT software, the characteristics of the motors with different gear reducers were analyzed before being selected; while the electrical circuit also is configured properly for these specific motors in order to create force against user's hand through the driving mechanisms. In addition, several experiments were run to determine the range of variables, such as voltage and current. Finally the results verified that the force feedback was established in the joystick, which reflected the scene in the virtual-reality world.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Mechanical Engineering
- Creator:
- Villanueva-Jonsson, Lisa
- Description:
- The purpose of this handbook is to provide an in-depth look at specific labor laws which can protect the employee, allow the employee treatment options and provide resources to help start the recovery process. Fear of losing one's job often inhibits telling an employer about a substance abuse problem. As a result, many employees are unaware of the assistance they may obtain to help maintain their employment. This handbook is created so that individuals struggling with substance abuse problems may become better aware of their rights and options in the workplace. It will attempt to answer many questions and guide the employee to the steps toward recovery. It is written for an employee who may not be familiar with the labor laws that help enable this process. It is to provide basic steps so that the employee's job is protected.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Kontakos, Panagiotis
- Description:
- This report focuses on issues affecting the performance of Numerical Algorithms on general-purpose processors (Pentium 4, Athlon) and the Centered DFT/IDFT method developed by Dr. John W. Adams of California State University, Northridge. The foundations of the radix-q Centered DFT/IDFT method are presented. Implementations of the radix-q Centered DFT/IDFT are provided by applying modifications to standard radix-q FFT algorithms. Performance results for the developed radix-q Centered DFT/IDFT algorithms, compared to the performance results of standard radix-q FFT algorithms are included. The relationship between high level programming language coding techniques, the architecture of a processor (pipeline, memory hierarchy) and algorithm performance are explored. Different coding techniques are demonstrated through their application to the Subsequence FFT algorithm, developed by Dr. John W. Adams of California State University, Northridge. It includes performance results of those techniques, compared to the performance results of the FFTW algorithm developed by Matteo Frigo and Steven G. Johnson of MIT. Also, it includes a new fast method for solving Linear Programming Problems developed by Dr. John W. Adams of California State University, Northridge and James L. Sullivan.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Creator:
- Dozal, Jared Michael
- Description:
- This graduate project is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Mathematics for Educational Careers. It is a compilation of five projects, each focusing on different fields of mathematics relevant to the high school mriculum. The projects are designed to take the concepts taught in high school and ncrease the amount of rigor and critical thinking by looking at a problem a little deeper. The first project involves trigonometric identities and the Chebyshev polynomials. Using matrices and DeMoivre's Formula, students can discover special identities involving angles of the form cos ( 2.n-/ n). This project helps show students connections between algebra, trigonometry, and matrices. The second project deals with combinatorics and finding the expected length of a trajectory on an m x n grid. Students are often given problems about counting the number of ways to get from the lower left corner to the upper right corner of a grid. This project extends the problem by allowing moves up, down, and to the right. The number of trajectories, bounds for the length of a trajectory, and the expected length of a trajectory are found for any grid. The third project focuses on statistical analysis of the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Specifically, I took a random sample of ten states and checked to see if there was any statistical difference between the composition of a so-called red state and a blue state. There are summaries of two other projects related to hyperbolic geometry and calculus at the end of this compilation.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Mathematics
- Creator:
- Murga, Nelson
- Description:
- The purpose of this project is to describe the architecture of a parallel processing system that uses RISC type processors as its main CPUs. The system being described is a multiprocessor system in which the processors work together on a single task in order to resolve the task quicker. The desired system will show a linear relation between the number of processors used and the percentage of increase in performance. The paper first describes the various architectures that are used for multiprocessor systems. These are classified using Flynn's classification scheme. Three RISC processors are evaluated for their suitability for a multiprocessor system. The memory organization and I/0 organization is next described with an emphasis on a multiprocessor environment. Finally, a complete description of the multiprocessor system is given.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Engineering
- Creator:
- Young, Lin G.
- Description:
- The problem of excess supply and lower demand for Ph.D.s in the academic labor market has presented a number of career challenges and obstacles to many Ph.D. students. These challenges include: barriers in establishing stable employment in their occupational choice, a decisional struggle between breaking free of their personal career aspirations and moving toward previously unconsidered career alternatives, and difficulties in transitioning to nonacademic employment due to a lack of career exploration, preparation, and planning. This thesis proposes a six-session series designed to assist Ph.D. students in navigating through the aforementioned career challenges in order to effectively identify alternative career options with the purpose of heightening their success and life satisfaction and in preparing for their selected job entry. This program consists of the following components customized to meet the unique career needs of this population: 1) education on the multifaceted nature of the career development process; 2) a self-assessment component that includes an identification of their career impediments, interests, values, and skills; 3) a component on methods of career exploration; and 4) a career decision making, goal setting, and action planning component. The program concludes with an individual follow-up session to provide participants additional assistance in fine-tuning, re-evaluating, and/or modifying their career plans.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Educational Psychology and Counseling
- Creator:
- Mohtashemi, Iman
- Description:
- Clusterin is a multi-functional protein that was initially isolated from ram testis. It was first identified for its ability to promote aggregation of cells, hence the name clusterin (Fritz et al., 1983). Subsequent research has identified clusterin in many mammalian fluids and organ systems. A number of functions have been hypothesized for clusterin from independent labs which produced a variety of acronyms. For example, clusterin has been shown to protect cells from the innate immune response such as complement mediated lysis , complement lysis inhibitor, CLI (Oda et al., 1995) and is also involved in cholesterol transport, ApolipoproteinJ, Apoj , (Gelisseb et al., 1998). It is the major secretory product from sperm cells (sulfated glycoprotein 2,SGP-2). It is also known as Testosterone repressed prostate message (TRPM) due to the fact that it is up- regulated after castration and is involved in apoptosis. The role of clusterin as a neuroprotectant has been investigated, however, data supporting a neuroprotective role remain under debate. In this report we combined immunoaffinity chromatography with HPLC to purify clusterin from human serum. We also utilized a clusterin knock-out model to determine the role of clusterin under toxic insults. A recombinant protein purification protocol was also developed.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Biology
- Creator:
- Kuwadekar, Pradnya Sanjeev
- Description:
- Cell surface properties play an important role in embryonic morphogenesis and in malignant invasion. Cell surface sugar chains extend away from the cell membrane and are believed to be involved in cellular migration and adhesiveness. Some of these sugar complexes also act as receptor sites for lectins. Plant lectins are often used to detect these receptor sites on embryonic cells. At the 16 cell stage, sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) embryos exhibit cell size differentiation into larger cells (macromeres), medium sized cells (mesomeres) and smaller cells (micromeres). A difficulty in separating these embryos into single cells is the presence of a fertilization membrane. In this study, prior to fertilization the eggs were treated to prevent fertilization membrane formation. Following fertilization and development to the 16 cell stage, the embryos were disaggregated and the cell surface properties of the individual cells (macromeres, mesomeres and micromeres) were analyzed by their differential adhesiveness to agarose beads coated with various lectins. The results show that each of the three cell types of the 16 cell stage embryo have specific surface properties as indicated by their differential ability to bind to specific lectin beads. Moreover, the adhesive specificities demonstrated in this study for the 16 cell stage embryo differ somewhat from those of blastula stage embryos as reported in an earlier study from this laboratory. The results indicate that there is both a stage-specific and cell type-specific differentiation of cell surface sugar containing receptors that may be important in controlling morphogenetic events.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Biology
- Creator:
- Trunzo, Angela D.
- Description:
- College preparation is a long process that can be fostered through educational programs at all levels, but specifically during the last year of one's middle school years. It is very common for high school juniors and seniors to ponder their future plans after high school and to be uncertain about which path to take. Therefore it is extremely imp01iant for middle schools to offer college preparation and guidance aimed to help students make more informed and consequently better educational and college choices. Providing direction during the middle school years can help make the path more clear throughout the high school years and alleviate the uncertainty that often occurs in the final high school years. Within this project will be a review of literature that discusses the factors that influence college attendance and preparation throughout many students�middle school and high school careers. Recommendations will be made for counselors, teachers and school staff to help aid them in their role of assisting students struggling with uncertainty. The purpose of this project is to develop a curriculum that gives all students the very best college planning and academic preparation advice, and properly prepares them for the necessary high school path so they will have the option to attend college.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Educational Psychology and Counseling
- Creator:
- Cohen, Kelly Michelle
- Description:
- Drug addiction is a complex yet treatable brain disease characterized by compulsive drug cravings and seeking that persists even after severe adverse consequences. For millions of individuals in the United States, drug addiction becomes chronic, with relapses possible even after long periods of abstinence. In 2002, it was estimated by the Marin Institute that 22 million Americans had a substance abuse or dependence disorder. Furthermore, substance abuse includes a mixing of substances/drugs and comorbid conditions are common and can vary by individual. According to Sokhadze, Cannon, and Trudeau (2008), drug addiction can be described as a mental disorder with behavioral, cognitive, and psychosocial features, characterized by physiological dependence accompanied by the withdrawal syndrome on discontinuance of the drug use, psychological dependence with craving, the pathological motivational state that leads to the active drug-seeking behavior, and tolerance, expressed in the escalation of the dose needed to achieve a desired euphoric state. Treatment of addiction may require repeated treatments to increase the intervals between relapses and reduce their intensity, until abstinence is achieved (NIDA, 2006). While major resources have been employed to study and treat addiction, Scott et al. (2005) indicate that there has been little improvement in the success rate of treatment, with the rates of relapse remaining high, with over 70% of those who have attempted to recover relapsing. It is therefore apparent that even with the recent focus on treatment, many are unable to fully recover from their addictions. The purpose of this research is to gain insight on Brain State Conditioning� neurofeedback that differs from other neurofeedback providers and examine the effectiveness of incorporating neurotherapy with psychotherapy to treat drug addictions. Lee Gerdes, CEO of Brain State Technologies� and developer of Brain State Conditioning� (BSC) created an inventory of protocols that exercise the brain particularly with its own needs and values, causing real learning in the brain with the belief that every brain, like every person, is unique. BSC uses different methods than other modalities and neurofeedback providers in that it incorporates a holistic, medical, and psychological method (NeuroMagic Brain Wave Training, 2008). In order to better understand the addictive brain, treatments, neurofeedback and Brain State Conditioning� in particular, it is important to understand the addicted brain, therapeutic support provided with neurofeedback, and the implications of future clinicians wanting to incorporate this resource in their practices.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Educational Psychology and Counseling
- Creator:
- Abboud, Randa I.
- Description:
- Ammonia, glutamate, or glutamine can be utilized as sole source of nitrogen by Sporosarcina ureae. The growth rate is proportional to the concentration of ammonia up to a set value of 0.6 div./h at 84 mM, but concentration independent for glutamate at 0.5 div./h and glutamine at 0.33 div/h. When glutamate or glutamine is supplied as the sole source of carbon, energy, and nitrogen a diphasic type of growth is observed. Glutamate synthase (GOGAT; EC 1.4.1.13) is not detected in extracts of cells grown in tryptic soy yeast (TSY) medium nor in defined media containing acetate and ammonia, glutamate or glutamine; however, glutamine synthetase (GS; EC 6.3.1.2.) exhibits both biosynthetic and transferase activities at basal levels in extracts of cells grown under all growth conditions. A two-fold increase in the GS basal activity is observed in extracts of cells grown in ammonia-limited media. Two distinct glutamate dehydrogenases were detected and separated electrophoretically. One is specific for NAO (NAO-GOH; EC 1.4.1.2) and the other for NAOP (NAOP-GOH; EC 1.4.1.4). The NAO-GOH has an unusually high degree of thermal stability maintaining 95-100% of its activity after incubation for 15 minutes at 75�C; however, it irreversibly loses its activity upon freezing. The NAOP-GOH maintains 100% of its activity upon freezing but cannot survive the treatment at 75�C. The NAO-GOH exhibits increased activity in extracts of cells grown with glutamate as carbon and energy source, whereas the NAOP-GOH activity increases in extracts of cells grown in limiting ammonia concentrations. The Km values for glutamate in extracts of cells grown on TSY at pH 7.7 are 5mM and 30 mM for NADGDH and NADP-GDH, respectively. Two heat-labile glutaminases were separated electrophoretically; glutaminase ? is constitutive and glutaminase ? is repressed in complex media. Possible mechanisms of nitrogen assimilation in this organism are discussed.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Biology
- Creator:
- Hebeler, Aaron Keith
- Description:
- The Mw 7.6 Kashmir earthquake and its surface rupture of the Balakot-Bagh fault, considered by many to be inactive prior to 2005, underscored the need to better understand the active tectonics of the northwest Himalaya and raised concern that other unrecognized active faults may occur in the region. The Riasi fault, by all accounts a close relative to the Balakot-Bagh fault, occurs ~150 km along strike to the southeast of the 2005 rupture. Both are reverse faults that place tightly folded Precambrian limestone over Pliocene and younger non-marine strata. (See more in text.)
- Resource Type:
- Map and Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Geological Sciences
- Creator:
- Keshishian, Arbi
- Description:
- Many studies have examined the effects of free lectins such as Concanavalin-A (Con-A) on sea urchin development and suggested that lectin binding ligands play a role in embryonic cellular interactions. In this study, the effects of immobilized Con-A on sea urchin cellular interactions were examined by incubating embryos 2 hours after fertilization, 24 hours after fertilization right before invagination, and 27 hours after fertilization when invagination has occurred, with no Con-A beads, low, medium, and high counts of Con-A derivatized agarose beads and the embryos were observed at various times after beads addition. The results showed that archenteron development and attachment were interrupted when high and medium counts of Con-A beads were added before invagination. Once invagination occuffed, the Con-A beads had no significant effect on further development. The results were statistically significant (P < 0.0001) when archenteron attachment was compared between controls and experimentals when beads were added before invagination. There were no significant differences in the controls and experimentals when the beads were added after invagination (P>0.061). Analysis of protein concentration in the supematants from Con-A beads alone, beads with embryos, and embryos alone, suggested that small quantities on order of ug/ml of Con-A might have been released from the beads by the embryos, although it is very possible that no Con-A was released and what was released was sea urchin proteins resulting from cell lysis in the presence of Con-A beads. Further study of this issue is required to determine if immobilized Con-A (and not free Con-A) can effect specific embryonic cellular interactions in this system, an issue that is of importance in identifying mechanisms of morphogenesis.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Biology
- Creator:
- Jin, Huixing
- Description:
- In the power amplification area, there are various classes of power amplifiers with different efficiencies. The Class D (switch-mode) amplifier is getting more popular because of its high efficiency. This project is a comparative study of class D amplification methodologies. The principal ideas and the results of system simulations of two types of modulation configuration will be focused on. One is the natural open loop modulation, and the other type is the self-oscillating hysteretic converter modulation (Sigma-Delta modulation and noise shaping). First, overviews of power amplifier classes are discussed briefly such as Class A, class B, class AB, and c lass D. Second, more detailed theoretical concepts and circuits ' simulations of two types of class D power amplifiers are shown. Then, a class D power amplifier circuit design based on the circuits is built. The circuit is then tested. Finally, based on those results, discussions on the comparison of the two types of modulation systems are shown.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Creator:
- Wang, Xinchen
- Description:
- FPGA (field programmable Gate Array) has played increasingly important roles in the military and aerospace applications today since its dramatic improvement over speed and density. Xilinx, a world leader in FPGA and programmable devices, offers a vast variety of devices, which satisfy the 'logic hunger' and 'speed drain' cutting-edge applications such as the recently launched Mars Exploration Rover mission for both the lander and rover vehicles. Therefore, reliability issues have become huge concerns for project managers. The objective of this project is to design a fully programmable hardware platform that will allow but not be limited to comprehensive dynamic Burn-in test of Xilinx Vi1tex-II 3000 SRAM-based FPGA. Conventional methods test very few discrete AC parameters (primarily switching) of given integrated circuit. Our approach will test any possible configuration of the FPGA and any associated performance parameters. It will allow complete or partial reprogramming of the FPGA, verification of program by using read back followed by the Dynamic test. The tests can be perfo1med at ambient temperatures ranging from - SSC to 12SC or beyond. Designer has full control over which functional element of FPGA to stress. We can completely simulate all possible types of configurations/functions. The extra benefit of this platform is that it allows collecting information on elevation of the junction temperature as a function of gate utilization, operating frequency and functionality. A major feature of this test software/hardware is that, it is adaptable testing setups for post programming burn-in (PPBI) test of logics and IOs, component screening tests, at speed tests as well as single event upset (SEU) test for aerospace and military applications with very little or no modifications. Two boards (the driver board and test board) have been designed and fab1icated with a VirtexII X2V3000 chip on each. The driver board will have means to talk to a host PC via the EPP parallel interface and will be self configured using Xilinx EEPROMS and industry standard JTAG interfaces. Several designs have been selected (different gate utilization) for test and verification of this platform.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Creator:
- Zaldana, Luis J.
- Description:
- The primary purpose of this project is to see how the following software tools solve a non-linear control problem; � Matlabs Fuzzy Logic Toolbox � Design Rule Verification Software � FuzzyTECH Design Tool � National Instruments Lab VIEW - Fuzzy Tool Fuzzy Designer allows engineers to enhance the functionality of existing or new control and decision making systems in a lot of different branches of control industry. Fuzzy logic solutions are especially useful for controlling complex systems where standard PID (Proportional - Integral - Derivative) control fails. Fuzzy logic, which mathematically emulates human reasoning, provides an ideal way to design function blocks for control systems.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Creator:
- Wilson, Mark P.
- Description:
- An examination of 3 types of direct drive Permanent Magnet D.C. Linear Motors is presented. Both commutated Brushless and Brush type D. C. Linear Motors (DCLM) as well as non-commutated DCLM's (i.e. Voice Coil Actuators) will be evaluated in considerable detail. Basic theory, motor construction, principles of operation as well as performance calculations for each type will be presented. Applications, the different types of drive electronics, as well as the advantages and the disadvantages of each of three motors will be discussed. Three different methods for determining the flux density in the air gap of a DCLM will be presented. The values obtained by each of three methods; flux mapping the motors using Finite Element Analysis program, magnetic circuit analysis using equivalent circuit theory as well as the demagnetization curve method will be verified by experimental measurements of flux density on actual DCLMs.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Engineering
- Creator:
- Avalos, James
- Description:
- Motivation is the collection of causes that encourages a person to participate in an activity (Wakefield, 1996). In relation to physical education and athletic programs, studies have examined theories underlying motivation and its sources (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Nicholls, 1984). The purpose of this study was to determine what critical factors are most important to sustaining adolescent motivation and interest in competitive youth soccer. Participants included youth soccer players (N=l 76) from Southern California. The Situational Motivation Scale (16-item QSQ) and Perception of Success Questionnaire (12-Item QSQ) were selected to assess levels of motivation of competitive youth soccer players. A five-point Likert scale was used to examine the relationship between achievement goal orientations and multidimensional situational motivation in competitive youth soccer. Optional open-ended questions were used to assess individual factors that may attribute to different levels of motivation. When analyzing age groups, results revealed significant differences between Intrinsic, External Regulation, and Amotivation but no significant differences between Identified Regulation, Ego or Task orientation. The significant differences in Intrinsic Motivation in both the questionnaires and open ended questionnaire were consistent with current research. However, non-significant differences found among Task and Ego Orientation were not consistent with previous researcher. As children reach adolescence, they tend to be more ego oriented. Distinguishing differences among males and females motivation levels can offer coaches and physical educators the opportunity to offer intervention and prevention strategies used to encourage continued participation.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Kinesiology