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- Creator:
- Hansen, Zachary
- Description:
- Agragene, a San Diego based startup, is pursuing a novel precision guided sterile insect technology for the invasive, agricultural pest species, Drosophila suzukii. There is no regulatory precedent for commercial approval of a similar technology. For many federal and state level regulators, it will be their first time reviewing such technology. The technology will enable Agragene to suppress D. suzukii infestations, which inflict substantial economic losses for the agricultural sector. Suppression would result in increased crop yields and a decreased need for traditional chemical insecticides. The technology involves the use of CRISPR/Cas9 technology to genetically engineer male and female D. suzukii strains to only produce sterile males as progeny. These sterile males will be deployed to sites of D. suzukii infestation, where they will compete with wild type males for mates. This will result in a localized collapse of the reproduction rate due to the overwhelming number of sterile males as the females will be unable to discern between the two types of males. The goal of this project was to clarify the technology, the market, and the regulatory roadmap and options available for Agragene as it pursues commercialization of its product, KNOCK-OUTswd.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- Roscoe, Nathaniel
- Description:
- This Semester-In-Residence (SIR) program was completed at Navigate Biopharma Services, Inc., a Novartis subsidiary located in Carlsbad, CA. Navigate Biopharma Services specializes in providing services to various companies including assay development, and companion diagnostics and clinical trial testing, utilizing multiple platforms to meet unmet needs. The department in which the SIR project was completed is the Digital Pathology group that specializes in using multiplex fluorescent immunohistochemistry (FIHC) to develop assays to characterize biomarkers for immuno-oncology (I-O) purposes.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
3. Igniting Global Scientific Research Through Low Cost Equipment Supply: A Non-Profit Business Plan
- Creator:
- Iddings, Robert and Naghipor, Mahva
- Description:
- BioSpark Laboratories is a proposed non-profit organization intended to serve scientific researchers in South America by providing low cost laboratory equipment. Based out of San Diego, BioSpark takes advantage of the vast diversity of life science industry leaders located in the area. As a non-profit organization, BioSpark looks to establish a competitive advantage for donated laboratory equipment by positioning themselves above competitive equipment resell companies. The goal of BioSpark Laboratories is to support the researchers in South America, who are limited in funding and access to quality low cost laboratory equipment. As a result, their research is hindered by the lack of proper tools to effective accomplish their medical, agricultural and environmental goals. In this business plan, BioSpark Laboratories presents advantages for forming their organization as well as the challenges needed to overcome. Furthermore, the plan described provides a strategic plan defined by market analysis, corporate research and financial evaluation to promote the success of BioSpark. An evaluation of company leaders in the used equipment field has provided BioSpark Laboratories the competitive intelligence necessary to navigate the business landscape. The recognition of equipment researchers and other non-profit organization in the area along with an understanding of their business models will support BioSpark while establishing the new organization. By researching historical and economic trends, information has been analyzed to evaluate the opportunity for BioSpark to meet their vision and goal. The opportunity available in South America and Latin America creates a perfect area for BioSpark to serve the researchers in this area. Finally, an evaluation of the potential finances through Internet research will allow BioSpark Laboratories to successfully budget capital. Understanding the functional costs associated with the organization and maintaining a balanced budget will directly correlate to the success of the organization. Using the research presented in this plan, BioSpark Laboratories presents clearly defined action plans that need to be completed before the organization can be formed. These actions are centered determining the specific needs of researchers through surveys as well as gathering such equipment from the San Diego biotechnology community. Additionally, revenue sources need to be defined and gathered to establish capital support for operational costs. Finally, the final action for the organization is to effectively initial a trial shipment to gain first hand experience of the challenges associated with shipping equipment.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- Chung, Doug
- Description:
- This Semester-in-Residence project was conducted at Gilead Sciences, Biopharmaceutical Company, in Oceanside, CA within manufacturing department. The goal of the project was to generate User Requirement Specifications (URS), Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and Installation Qualification/Operational Qualification (IQ/OQ) documents for Incubator Shaker validation. Equipment validation is one of the most important activities that need to be performed prior to equipment operation in a cGMP setting. The first step of the validation process is to create documents that are required to perform validation. New incubator shakers are being validated at Gilead Sciences, and URS, SOP and IQ/OQ documents need to be created prior to validation. URS is needed to identify the minimum requirements of incubator shakers with respect to the functionality and operating environment in which the incubator will operate. A SOP is required to give specific instructions to operators for robust operating processes, while IQ/OQ document is necessary to confirm the minimum installation and operational requirements of incubator shakers. Overall, URS, SOP and IQ/OQ documents for the incubator shakers were generated successfully. All the documents were reviewed and approved by personnel from manufacturing, validation, engineering and quality assurance department. URS and SOP are ready to be used as supporting documents for validation, and IQ/OQ document is ready to be executed to complete validation process in cGMP environment. Recommendations for future work include the implementation of remote alarms and the execution of IQ/OQ documents.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- Weinberg, Stephanie
- Description:
- This project was conducted at a clinical oncology laboratory specializing in hematology and solid tumors. This was a cross functional collaboration between marketing and flow cytometry. The goal of the project was to become more competitive, increase sales volumes and increase profit margins. This was done by determining pricing for the new flow cytometry panels, creating new report layouts, testing directory and requisition capabilities, updating the company website and digital portal, performing a SWOTT analysis and creating marketing materials and customer and sales training materials. One of the largest benefits of the new panel configurations is the labor cost savings. There has been a 50% reduction in the number of tubes used for the flow assay. With the reduction of tubes, the turnaround time for processing has also decreased which is a huge benefit to clients. The amount of specimen required has also decreased which benefits clients, especially when multiple tests are required demanding the sample be partitioned between different technologies. To assess the value of the new panel configurations, a financial analysis to compare cost margins from 2017 to 2018 will need to be conducted together with a comparison of tests being ordered to ascertain whether the changes made have had an impact on driving new sales. It will also be important to further expand the marketing materials for the new flow assay with an interactive sales module to enable sales associates to demonstrate product features to the client on an iPad.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- Siador, Berlin
- Description:
- This Spring 2017 Semester-in- Residence was conducted at Ajinomoto Althea, Inc. in the Process Science department located in San Diego, CA. Ajinomoto Althea, Inc. (also known as, “Althea”) is a contract manufacturing organization known for providing clinical and commercial product development services (Althea, 2015). In recent years, the company has expanded its services; however, Althea still does not have the capability to take on mammalian cell culture services due to a lack of necessary infrastructure. The project goal of this Semester-in- Residence was to determine the equipment needed to commission a new laboratory for the Process Science department, design a floor map with the proposed equipment, use a cost-profit analysis to determine the profitability of adding on this new service and to map the capabilities of scaling up. This project establishes the necessary framework and infrastructure needed for Althea to expand its cell culture services, and will also position the company to move forward with the ability to take on new and more diverse clients. Determining the equipment needed for such an expansion and designing a layout that meets Althea’s needs demanded a high level of familiarity with mammalian cell culture labs. To establish this familiarity it was necessary to work with experienced professionals in existing culture labs, and meet with vendors to obtain quotes and gain more knowledge about the equipment that will be routinely used by the lab. The cost-profit analysis that was conducted relied heavily on consultation with financial experts, and the results of this analysis illustrated the profitability of this mammalian cell culture laboratory. With the addition of a Process Science mammalian cell culture laboratory, Althea will be required to grow with regards to personnel and physical laboratory space in order to later establish the extension of Technology Transfer (TT) and a Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) facility. Future implications involve more work and research to further scale-up the process established in this project. Althea will need to take on a client in the Process Development scale, establish the client process and perform evaluations on different larger bioreactors before purchasing equipment for scale up. However, in order for Althea to stay competitive and progress in the biotechnology industry, it will be necessary for Althea to establish mammalian cell culture capabilities.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- Moreno, Odilva
- Description:
- Company X, Oceanside campus, is a bioprocessing company that manufactures biologics to treat patients with life threatening and serious medical conditions. With large number of new hires onboarding and a current expansion of its manufacturing facility, a process overview is valuable. In the past, new hires would attend company training which provided orientation, general safety review and basic knowledge of the company's history. Creating an Upstream classroom-based training and a resource document simplifying the process overview of the Oceanside campus will allow new hires to fully comprehend the basic knowledge of the Upstream process. Currently, the technical training group is evaluating the classroom training and resource document to use for their trainings. Once the first training is complete, it will be crucial to receive feedback from the trainees to reevaluate points of interest for future trainings. Furthermore, it is important to create a Downstream process overview that follows the same guidelines and points created for the Upstream overview to provide the same training throughout the whole manufacturing plant.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- Naik, Abhishek Ashwin
- Description:
- Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the leading causes of Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) and is notorious for its high mortality rate. Many multiplex assays to detect MRSA are currently in the market but are either expensive or have a low specificity with newer strains containing mutations in the molecular targets being discovered recently. The goal of this project was to develop a cost-effective multiplex PCR assay to detect MRSA. The entire project was done at AutoGenomics Inc. in the Department of Research and Development using their automated Infiniti Plus analyzer and is first of its kind. It uses biofilm based microarray chips which contain anti-tag sequences corresponding to the tag sequences attached to the Allele Specific Primer Extension (ASPE) primers. Sequence specific primers were designed to target 1) mecA gene which is responsible for antibiotic resistance in MRSA, 2) nuc which is specific to S. aureus and 3) mecC which is a homolog of the mecA gene. ASPE probes were also designed for the same with a tag sequence attached to their 5’ end. Multi-sequence alignment was done to make sure that the primers were unique and the multiplex PCR was optimized to avoid any cross-reactivity or PCR failure. The test was developed using known DNA samples of MRSA, MSSA and other negative controls obtained from ATCC. After the optimization, the test was correctly able to identify MRSA strains and the assay was further optimized to run 8 samples on a single chip. 10 different DNA samples were tested on the MRSA-O assay and they were correctly identified showing a specificity of 100% after running the tests in triplicate. The MRSA-O test was also found to be sensitive enough to detect as low as 178 DNA copies. Optimization of the assay to process 8 samples on a single chip will reduce the cost per test drastically but further studies need to check its efficiency on clinical samples. The analytical specificity of the assay also needs to be determined to see if other bacteria in the sample may interfere with the ability of MRSA-O to detect MRSA in their presence.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- LeBlanc, Kyle
- Description:
- This project was conducted at Neuropore Therapies, Inc. Neuropore is located in San Diego, CA and the business focus is on curing neuro-degenerative diseases, namely Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease. Project goals included becoming certified with Google Analytics, learning about digital analytics and website design, and determining if Neuropore’s new website was worth their investment. General conclusions from this project are that Neuropore Therapies, Inc. has promising digital analytics results from their new website. Despite shortcomings with the total amount of data, the data points to a significant increase in overall web traffic and visibility of the business. The actual design changes are supported by current literature, and their investment may prove to be more significant in the future. With an improved Google Analytics study that encompasses a full year of data, Neuropore will be better able to ascertain whether their investment has made a significant impact on their online visibility.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- Ramrakhyani, Jaya
- Description:
- Clostridium difficile frequently causes infectious diarrhea in hospitalized and elderly people. Infection results from reduction of natural intestinal flora, allowing the spores to grow and spread via fomites. The severity of C. difficile infection depends on production of toxins A and B located on pathogenicity locus along with three other regulator genes involved in toxin regulation and secretion of toxins: tcdD, tcdE and tcdC. Toxin production is negatively regulated by tcdC, but the presence of a mutation at positions 117 and 184 of tcdC gene enhance the toxin production. Currently with the increasing demand for diagnosis of toxin producing C. difficile, we have developed a rapid multiplex PCR test based on the detection of gluD, tcdA, tcdB and tcdC gene along with corresponding mutations. The microarray based multiplex PCR assay, was initiated by designing the PCR primers and allele specific primer extension (ASPE) probes to target the desired region of the C. difficile. The Autogenomics INFINITI system was used to interpret the results for specificity of primer sets and PCR run conditions. Results showed custom designed primer sequences were specific and capable of amplifying tcdA, tcdB and tcdC gene, while amplification of the gluD and tcdC mutations need to be further optimized.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- Borst, Kathleen Rebecca
- Description:
- Multiplexing Asymmetric Primer Extension is a complex and lengthy reaction that can be affected by many variables. It is used by AutoGenomics Inc. to help determine patient’s genetic mutations that could affect their course of treatment and to determine particular strains of infective agents. Further optimizing these types of assays could greatly reduce the time to first result which is crucial for the treatment of many diseases. When conducting an assay optimization , an AutoGenomics scientist had an issue with an amplicons and had determined that a G-quadruplex had effected the label incorporation step of the assay . Factors such as target concentration, annealing temperature and cation concentrations were investigated in order to overcome the G-quadruplex. It was determines that the inhibition of the reaction could be best overcome by adding additional MgCl2 to the reaction. In a second optimization project, it was also found that a reaction time of five minutes, reduced from 90 min ,with one cycle was enough to get usable RFUs for all Taq Polymerases .In conclusion, these projects demonstrated ways to improve the performance of some of the Autogenomics assays and to allow for quicker results vital for patients to get the treatment they need.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
12. Creation, Implementation and Assessment of a Mastery-Level Curriculum for Bioprocess Technicians
- Creator:
- James, Martha
- Description:
- Genentech, Oceanside is a biopharmaceutical manufacturing plant with bioprocessing technicians that have a large range of experience and education in biotechnology. Before, Genentech, Oceanside did not have a training plan for experienced bioprocess technicians to learn to troubleshoot process issues. A process-level training program existed for inexperienced technicians to learn the basics of biopharmaceutical processing, however, an intensive, more comprehensive program for mastery level learning had not yet been developed. By developing a master-level curriculum, allowing access to the program for experienced technicians, and assessing teaching effectiveness, the manufacturing department will ultimately have a more knowledgeable workforce able to troubleshoot processing issues and lessen reliance on other departments. Currently, a pilot cohort of technicians are approximately halfway complete with the initial mastery-level curriculum. Initial feedback from technicians is overwhelmingly positive and has been useful in defining subject areas that need more and less detail and clarifying the most effective teaching methods. It is imperative that feedback from the pilot cohort continues to be collected and analyzed in order to ensure success of the complete training program, as well as success of future cohorts of bioprocess technicians.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- Nguyen, Nhan
- Description:
- Controlling interferon production will reduce the frequency of relapses of multiple sclerosis and provide a better quality of life for patients. Finding the gatekeepers within the pDC pathway that controls IFN production will lead to therapeutic developments for 2.3 million MS patients. The goal of this project was to construct two cell lines constitutively expressing TLR-9 and MyD88 with the c-terminal GFP tag to elucidate the involvement of the receptor X signaling and the IFN-α transcription pathway. This involved, 1) designing primers with att flanking sites to use the 2- fragment Gateway® recombination system, 2) delivering the recombinant DNA into the HEK293 cells, and 3) perform an impact analysis of final product as an in vitro model of the mouse pDC signaling pathway. As a result of this project there are two engineered cell lines that constitutively express TLR9-GFP and MyD88-GFP. The GFP reporter tag attached to each gene of interest provided a way to visualize the intracellular patterns of protein localization through microscopy. Anti-GFP antibody was used to western blot the engineered cells and detected higher levels of MyD88 protein expression compared to TLR-9 expression. When MyD88-GFP and TLR9-GFP cells were stimulated with receptor X agonist and antagonist there was no change in protein expression or localization patterns suggesting they may not be the gatekeepers to controlling IFN production. Insertion of GFP tag does not alter protein folding or expression of TLR-9 or MyD88. The engineered cell lines can be used to reconstitute the pDC pathway and has proven to survive facile manipulations.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- Miceli, Matthew
- Description:
- This research project was sponsored by the marketing department at Company X. As flow cytometry experiments become increasingly complex, researchers need tools and products dedicated to making experimental design as efficient as possible. For example, flow cytometry reagents that come in smaller quantities will make experiments cost effective, minimizing money spent and materials wasted. The goal of this project was to assess Company X’s current offering of small size reagents and recommend a plan to serve customers more effectively in this space and drive growth for the business. A survey was administered to flow cytometry users across the United States to determine their current workflow and unmet needs. Concurrently, a market analysis was performed comparing Company X’s offerings to those of competing companies. Based on these activities, an initial recommendation for a trial-size strategy was formed. Finally, an internal assessment was performed to understand the operational and financial implications for carrying out the recommended plan. The market analysis revealed that Company X has an opportunity to catch up to the competition in their offering of trial-size reagents, as well as boost sales performance of their existing trial-size products through increased awareness. The survey results showed that there is a significant segment of customers who desire trial-size products, and they prefer trial sizes for specific product types. Finally, the operational analysis revealed that Company X can move forward with a targeted strategy of new trial-size releases and increased awareness for these products online and with sales representatives. These actions will help customers design experiments more efficiently and increase revenue growth for Company X.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- Singh, Prerna
- Description:
- The goal of this project was to develop a novel PCR technology for detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with statin induced myalgia. We compared different PCR methods using sequence specific primers and UP tagged primers. Results obtained using sequence specific primers were superior to those using the same forward and reverse UP tag sequence in the primer, exhibiting higher signals and more positive analyte calls. PCR using the sequence specific primers detected five analytes not detected using the UP tagged PCR. When PCR was performed using forward and reverse UP tag primers with different UP tag sequences, the signals were improved. Seven of nine analytes detected by sequence specific PCR had strong signals with UP tagged PCR. It can be inferred from these results that the UP tagged PCR method was improved by using two different UP tag sequences in the forward and reverse primers. Further optimization of the method will be needed to apply the method to highly multiplexed PCR assays.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- Tehraniyekta, Marziyeh
- Description:
- Assistance for women who have difficulty conceiving often relies on in vitro fertilization technology. The number of "test-tube babies" born is increasing each year around the world, but the success rate remains low and might be improved by enhanced monitoring after implantation of a fertilized egg. The aim of this project was to contribute to the development of a prototype lateral flow test based on measurement of progesterone levels after egg implantation. This involved, developing: 1) the lateral flow device, and 2) the assay chemistry. In developing the device, different pads and membranes were assembled in a plastic cartridge. Trials were performed to identify the minimum volume of sample that could be used to run the device, and the best dimensions for sample pad, conjugate pad, absorbent pad, and membrane. Lateral flow was tested with a small-molecule dye, fluorescein, and a large-molecule dye, blue dextran. Lateral flow was considered more successful when the dye moved completely from the front end of the device to the distal end of the device. The best performing assembly pads, membrane and cartridge were used for the final lateral flow device prototype. Avidin, 2-(4-hydroxyazobenzene) benzoic acid (HABA), and biotin were used to develop the binding assay chemistry. A prototype lateral flow device was developed. Function of the device was tested with a model binding system. Results of this assessment support continuing efforts by Seacoast Science to develop and market a device to test progesterone levels for women undergoing IVF.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- Farahmand, Azadeh
- Description:
- Genetic factors play a key role in addiction and pain but are generally not evaluated in clinical practice. Some people who experience chronic pain are genetically predisposed to neurochemical deficiencies. A greater susceptibility to Prescription Drug Dependence (PDD) has been seen in pain patients. Physicians fail to control pain in roughly 60% of patients taking narcotic pain medication even as they increase the dosage and potency. The goal of this project was the design and testing of an Addiction/Pain Management (APM) genotyping test (Research Use Only) to be used as a screening tool for physicians to personalize treatment. This assay is based on mutations which have been utilized not only in diagnosis but also in individual treatment procedures. For PCR and ASPE (asymmetric primer extension) reactions, primers were designed for 16 analytes and tested for their effectiveness in detecting mutations using the AutoGenomics, Inc. assay format. Results from these experiments demonstrated that 15 out of 16 pairs (wild/mutant types) of analytes worked. Only the DRD4 analyte lacked significant signals. Due to the potential interference between the DRD4 and 5HT2A analytes redesigning the DRD4 forward and reverse PCR primers will be considered. Following optimization, the APM test will be subjected to alpha testing. Once completed, the assay should provide better information regarding patients’ pain management and medication/drug addiction than is currently available.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- Mireles, Gabriella
- Description:
- Emiliania huxleyi is numerically the most abundant coccolithophorid and is found throughout the world with the exception of polar sea waters (Marsh, 2003). The genome of E. huxleyi was sequenced in a collaboration between Dr. Betsy Read’s lab at California State University San Marcos and the U.S. Department of Energy (Read et al., 2013). The function of the vast majority of genes in the E. huxleyi genome is unknown. Being able to characterize these genes will give insight into the biological processes occurring in the cell. E. huxleyi transformation has not yet been successful which may be due to either the DNA delivery method or plasmid instability. For these reasons, the overall objective of this Semester in Residency (SIR) project is to develop successful DNA delivery procedures for E. huxleyi using fluorescently labeled oligonucleotides using a Design Of Experiment (DOE) approach. Micro-particle bombardment involves shooting gold microcarriers coated with DNA toward target cells. There are various parameters that can be manipulated with the aim of successfully introducing microparticles into E. huxleyi cells. Those tested herein include microcarrier size, helium pressure, gap distance, and target distance. Successful cell uptake was determined by analyzing cells after bombardment using flow cytometry. The one conclusion that can be drawn from both sets of bombardment experiments is that target distance is likely to have a statistically significant effect on bombardment using the Biolistics® PDS-1000/He Particle Delivery System (Bio-Rad Laboratories, 2012). Although it is still unknown whether increasing the target distance has a positive or negative effect on the bombardment process. The work carried out herein will pave the way for future studies aimed at developing a stable transformation system in E. huxleyi.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- Nguyen, Vy
- Description:
- Management teams are frequently charged with making informed decisions for valid investments and cost-saving ideas for laboratory instruments. Cliniqa Corporation is a research and manufacturing company that produces quality controls and calibrators for a number of in-vitro diagnostic instruments. The semester-in-residence project resulted in an organized investment evaluation procedure for management to consider all the relevant factors before committing to an instrument procurement decision. Purchasing new equipment can extend the capabilities of the company into additional product lines and strategically target desired customers. It was important to establish an expert system to harvest the knowledge of senior management and to potentially improve on the current evaluation techniques. The research methodology included an evaluation of the current instruments in operation to set a baseline on the previous evaluations and to establish a quantitative ranking system. The sensitivity of the factors required the continuous fine-tuning of the analysis tool. The result of the project was a five-step evaluation tool with proof-of-concept pilot testing for the recommendation of instrument investment. The process began with setting constraints based on the needs and requirements that the company can commit to for asset acquisition. Secondly, data was collected for the criteria of: manufacturer, type of analyzer, first year introduced to market, square footage, routine maintenance, assay menu capability, test throughput, ability of being an open channel instrument and continuous runs, requirement for mainline water hookups, and incremental training required for a routine operator. Then, quantitative ranking values (1-10) were applied and compared against the constraints. Third was to calculate the total cost of ownership for qualified instruments. The fourth step was to consider the qualitative factors of: instrument usability, upholding company reputation, customer satisfaction, self-imposed analyzers for strategic contractual purposes, and product line expansion. The last step of the tool was to analyze all the factors involved for the recommendation of new instruments. The pilot testing proposed the purchase of a refurbished Roche cobas e411, Abbott Architect i1000sr, or Siemens Advia Centaur CP to meet the company’s objectives of maintaining quality products and boosting overall profitability.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- Reyes, Denisse
- Description:
- A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction made to a company in relation to their products or services where a response is expected. Efficiency in responding to customer complaints is essential in the biotechnology industry. The Semester-in-Residency Project was conducted at CCR Company. CCR Company is a company located in San Diego County that manufactures in-vitro diagnostic products such as quality controls, calibrators, calibration verifiers and reagents used for laboratory instruments. The majority of these products are purchased by medical laboratories to ensure that their instruments are functioning properly. Taking action to correct any issues with these products is crucial before they affect the interpretation of patients’ test results. Ensuring that an instrument is functioning properly reduces the risk of obtaining false results. The delivery of satisfactory products, free from all mistakes, is a difficult goal to achieve. The purpose of this project was to implement a standardized reporting system for investigations and to decrease resolution time for complaints received at CCR Company. In order to accomplish this, a Complaint Investigation Report template that organized and clarified the steps taken to investigate and resolve complaints was developed. This report was implemented for all complaints received from November 1st, 2013 to February 28th, 2014. The implementation of the report showed a reduction in resolution time. The average resolution time decreased from 49.6 days in the time-frame from November 2012 to February 2013 to 42 days in the time-frame November 2013 to February 2014 when the report was implemented. Customer satisfaction records were also examined with the assumption that they are impacted by the resolution time of a complaint. If a complaint investigation is handled in an efficient timely manner, it is likely that the customer will be more satisfied with the outcome than when a complaint resolution time is long. The Complaint Investigation Report was also used to provide customers with a summary of the investigation for their complaint. A plan for the report is to make it an official fill-in document that CCR’s personnel can use to document complaint investigations.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- Huynh, Minh
- Description:
- Seacoast Science Inc. developed a micro system-based assay that allowed users to analyze the plant fertilization process in real-time. Since the product is in the developmental phase, the product designer wanted to find out the most suitable target market for this product; therefore, the project’s goal was to research and analyze the market interests for the Pollen Growth Cell (PGC) Fertilization Kit. The study began by examining three major markets. Within the San Diego area, three target markets were selected based on the user’s needs and equipment availability, these include nearby high schools, community colleges, and plant related research companies. To begin, brochures and flyers were sent to potential users as a form of first line marketing stratagem to stimulate interests. PowerPoint presentations were created to introduce the capabilities of the micro-device to three different audiences: high school teachers, college professors, and industry professionals. At the end of the presentation, a questionnaire was given to the interviewees to measure the interest levels and appropriateness of the micro-device. Interview responses were compiled and analyzed to gauge the interest level and market potential for the micro-device assay. Feedback from high school teachers and college professors, even with the most simplified packaging option, concluded that the PGC Fertilization Kit was too sophisticated for high school and community college students. Due to the semester-in-residence’s time constraint, there was not enough time to interview a professor at the university level. The most promising market segment was the agriculture and plant genomics research and development companies. These companies were the most likely to employ the PGC Fertilization Kit.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- Musmacker, Joseph
- Description:
- Sepsis is an acute and life threatening medical condition characterized by a systemic infection (bacterial, fungal, or viral), inflammatory response and eventual organ dysfunction. Sepsis is associated with high mortality and is a significant driver of healthcare costs in the US and around the world. Patient survival relies heavily on rapid identification of the causative pathogen(s) to facilitate a specific and effective antimicrobial therapy. Historically, the gold standard for pathogen identification continues to be blood culturing, a time intensive process requiring upwards of several days for accurate identification of the microorganism. More recently, molecular diagnostics have emerged as options that take advantages of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify the deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA) of microorganisms. Ibis Biosciences’ Bacteria, Antibiotic resistance, and Candida Blood Stream Infection (BAC BSI) assay is a PCR-based technology that conjoins the speed and specificity of PCR with the high resolution sensitivity of electro spray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-TOF MS) for species identification directly from whole blood samples. The objective of this work reduced the time-to-answer (TTA) through the development of a custom thermocycler and PCR conditions that yielded a 78% reduction in amplification time. Limit of Detection (LoD) was enhanced due to the incorporation of a target enrichment strategy that eliminated factors associated with whole blood samples that adversely affect PCR efficiency.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
23. Evaluating Communication Channels and Practices Within and Across the Ardea Phase 3 Clinical Program
- Creator:
- Truong, Kathy
- Description:
- Ardea Biosciences, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca, PLC., recently developed several gout drugs, with Lesinurad as the most advanced product candidate in Phase 3 clinical trials. A new organizational structure was implemented for executing the late phase clinical studies. In hopes of successful Federal Drug Administration approval of this new product, the new structure follows a chartering-based system, constructed to manage individual studies by cross-functional teams, assigning individuals to specific studies as their main focus. As the clinical program moves forward, communication efficiency becomes a key aspect in ensuring project consistency within and across the organization. The purpose of this Semester-In-Residency (SIR) project was to identify the information requirements needed by each functional group within and across study management team (SMT) members, along with additional layers of management. Using a qualitative approach, an initial survey questionnaire examined the clinical program’s organization at the core and extended level, identifying information requirements and barriers that prevent proper information sharing. The survey was administered to 30 people, and the results assisted in defining a standard process for project information sharing that is more efficient and effective for the organization. As a result, the survey responses were used to help design Project Central, a Microsoft SharePoint server, which was implemented as a seamless communication portal for all project information. An introduction of this platform was presented to all study management teams before its initial launch to the entire company. Project Central was developed as the technical solution for all current and future clinical projects, allowing all functional groups to access the information they need to successfully perform their jobs and bring about the desired outcome to the Phase 3 clinical projects.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Biotechnology
- Creator:
- Ellison, Christopher
- Description:
- This analysis provides insight into the viability of the INI Universal Propane Adapter Kit (UPAK™) in the household consumer market, both domestically and on an international platform. It was important to distinguish profitability within the market and outline prospective gross revenues in the foreseeable future through growth trends and year over year increases. Not only was it determined that INI Power Systems should pursue this highly lucrative and generous market, but in doing so the firm needs to make some necessary changes to accommodate the needs of the end-users. If the company can find a way to adapt to the consumer needs of the majority user, then no time should be wasted in entering the market with not only the Universal Propane Adapter Kit, but the entire family of products offered by INI. After demonstrating a conservative estimate as to the potential market size and revenue streams that can be acquired by the company, the final conclusion and recommendation could be made. With just a few small changes to make the product more affordable to the average consumer and establishing a strategic relationship with one or two large distributors with international outlets, the doors are wide open for INI Power Systems to dominate the market and create brand identity that outweighs the competition.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Business Administration
- Creator:
- Mohamed, Rene, Tian, James, Alaghehband, Afsoon, Montgomery, Stewart, and Mann, Christine
- Description:
- A team at Hawthorne Cat recently enlisted a group of five students from the California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) Fully Employed Masters of Business Administration (FEMBA) program to conduct research on the backup power generation system market in San Diego County. The team was tasked with identifying the current market position of Hawthorne Cat and its competitors, as well as possible market trends likely to manifest in the next 3-5 years. After exploratory research, the team decided on a number of different strategies to accomplish the objectives: website research, telephone interviews, an online web based survey, data analysis, and consultation with a wide variety of industry organizations. Ultimately the team had six recommendations for the Hawthorne Cat leadership: focus on early project development, focus on projects requiring generators of 1MW and greater, focus on lowering price while maintaining superior service, consider moving complex maintenance services in house, continue to develop the sales force, and keep an eye on the long term future.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Business Administration
- Creator:
- Myers, Andrew, Shattuck, Shelby, and Knight, Teigynn
- Description:
- This executive report provides a top-level summary of the more comprehensive report submitted by the INI Power Project Team. The purpose of this report is to provide the reader with basic insight into the findings on upcoming environmental regulatory changes in the near and far terms, to determine the competitive landscape, review existing technologies, and compare intellectual property specifically applicable to the Small Off-Road gasoline-powered Engine industries (e.g. landscape, lawn care, motorcycles, motorscooters, etc.). By understanding the regulatory environment and the existing and future technologies being employed by the competition, the project team was able to evaluate the market and provide an overview of the factors which may pose threat to IP held by INI Power Systems. The analysis performed by the team was done with the primary goal of determining the optimal strategy(s) for best monetizing the existing IP which provides substantial emissions reductions and fuel efficiency improvements for small, off-road gasoline powered engines.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Business Administration
- Creator:
- Josephsen, Abigail and Dai, Yang
- Description:
- Company X, a nonprofit data-driven journalism company, is looking to diversify into the arena of data analysis or selling of aggregated datasets. Market research via company analysis and personal interviews was conducted to determine whether it was feasible to diversify. Company structure and industry opportunities indicate potential for profit. Personal interviews identified different customers interested in the potential products. Through the research, a two-prong approach to diversification was recommended. These recommendations included beginning a small data selling segment to supplement their journalism and conducting further research prior to launching a full scale data analysis company.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Business Administration
- Creator:
- Stephan, Paul and Caramat, Paul
- Description:
- What is the optimal position and applicable strategy to maximize ItsPayd’s desirability (valuation) when consolidation and target acquisition opportunities present themselves as their industry matures? Determining the answer to this question is one of the objectives of this report and will be ascertained through the examination of the industry and ecosystem ItsPayd competes in. In addition, an analysis to determine the competitive advantages and disadvantages of ItsPayd will provide the framework to establish the applicable strategy implementation. Furthermore, an evaluation of a data set provided by ItsPayd will be conducted. Data familiarity will be attained through statistical summarization and relational discovery. Determination of applicable learning techniques to provide further insight will also be performed. Database management best practices will be examined in relation to the supplied data set and recommendations for adherence will be provided. Furthermore, potential analytical techniques will be presented and made feasible with improved data capture.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Business Administration
- Creator:
- Morgans, Scott, Carroll, Michelle, and Escalante, Valerie
- Description:
- The probiotics industry is a booming industry, expecting to grow an additional 38% by the year 2021. Under the Food and Drug Administration regulations the majority of probiotics are marketed as dietary supplements. This categorization of dietary supplements limits companies in pursuit of claims to the labeling of their products. Probiotic companies market their products for various health reasons, mainly digestive issues. In 2009, The Dannon Company became one of the first manufacturers to endure a class action lawsuit due to its claims being made on their probiotic yogurt packaging. This suit was then followed by other lawsuits filed against other large manufacturers. These types of lawsuits have lent a hand to manufacturers becoming more cautious about their claims and adding precautions to their labels.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Business Administration
- Creator:
- Wilson, Dana
- Description:
- In this thesis, I will discuss the details of my internship and the project we were assigned. I will also discuss my experiences and how they relate to my cultural expectations, global competencies, and academic training. In order to discuss my cultural expectations and global competencies, I will reference two frameworks, Global Competencies Inventory and Culture Compass from the Hofstede Centre. Finally, I will reflect upon my experience through a discussion of problems encountered, the most rewarding and least rewarding activities, and whether or not I would recommend Edeka as a place to complete an expatriate assignment.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Business Administration
- Creator:
- Martin, Alycia
- Description:
- This project was conducted in an entertainment company, analyzing vCPU data for the internal AWS private cloud. The paper contains an overview of the company, the department, the student's learning, and the MBA courses that gave her the knowledge to complete the project. The given objectives are defined, and the scope is explained as one region containing 1,031 servers focusing on vCPU data. The raw data is provided and an efficiency model (created in Excel) is given to ensure the cloud runs at 70%, allowing for artificial head space, while limiting the over-allocation of valuable resources. The steps for using the model, the jargon used, and the arbitrary decision rules for shifting resources are explicitly defined. The student recommends the Resource Allocation Model be conducted in three phases, going from manual to fully automated over a year's time.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Business Administration
- Creator:
- Reyna, Robert
- Description:
- What are the benefits of having a cigar lounge in the inner city? Sanctuary Cigar lounge offers a place for professional people to come and relax after a long day at the office. It has a back room for people to come in and have meetings to socialize their employees outside of the office setting. It is the ultimate uptown vibe without the downtown drive. The lounge is a laid-back place with mellow jazz artist, specialty cigars and plenty of cocktails to enjoy while you unwind from work. Sanctuary Cigar Lounge provides professionals with a cozy environment and entertainment throughout the week to come and enjoy. I gathered information about my experience with Sanctuary Cigar Lounge and how it has contributed to my learning and success in this program. I chose this location because I believe in the idea of the rooftop bar concept and the expansion of the cigar lounge. This is an overview of what I experienced though my time working at Sanctuary as well as the challenges I faced and how I overcame them. This will also be the deciding factor in my grade for the program and how I am able to maintain my hospitality in the workforce after graduating.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Business Administration
- Creator:
- Pascua, Michael, Mondal, Mdsadaf, and Guenhe, Scott
- Description:
- The craft beer industry has provided a significant boost to Southern California’s rising economy. With a diverse and sophisticated selection of craft brews, Southern California has generated billions in revenue directly from the sales of craft beer. In this thesis, we set out to examine how craft breweries developed over the last several decades and how craft beer has impacted the beer industry. We set the focus on the revolution of craft beer while comparing the demise of wine industry and the contrasting development of the coffee industry. We determined a set of criteria for benchmarking purposes across the board for beer, wine, and coffee. The criteria included early history in America, the distribution change that each of these commodities have gone through in the last few decades, and the rise and fall of these beverages during the 1990s. Our analysis has brought to life some of the major inflection points for each of these industries as well as some of the economic and cultural changes that have been affected by beer, wine or coffee. The goal is to shed light on the significance of craft beer, its history, its rise in today's economy, and how this beverage of the common has become every bit as sophisticated as its rivals such as coffee and wine.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Business Administration
34. Automotive LiDAR
- Creator:
- Berkley, Joshua
- Description:
- Barriers to entry are low in the automotive LiDAR segment. Power of buyers and suppliers has yet to be determined in the automotive LiDAR world. Substitute products can also pose as complements due to the market trend toward sensor fusion. Rivalry is low due the relatively young age of the automotive LiDAR space. Radar and cameras will be stiff competitors and pose as substitutes if automotive LiDAR does not become more affordable before entering the ADAS market. Auto manufacturing, new car assessment programs, and government policies are the main divers of the ADAS market. In 2015, 20 automakers vowed to make forward collision avoidance systems standard in their vehicles in the U.S. by 2022. The ADAS market is forecasted to grow to $58.8 billion in 2020 at a compounded annual growth rate of 5.7%. In 2015, there were 10 Tier 2 competitors who sold ADAS to Tier 1 companies and produced a combined revenue of $3.4 billion. There were 5 companies who participated in the automotive LiDAR space and produced a combined revenue of $22.6 million. Forward collision avoidance systems are forecasted to become available in 90% of vehicles in 2020, and automotive LiDAR’s total addressable market will grow to $4 billion in 2020. Luxury vehicle brands are expected to represent the majority of early automotive LiDAR adopters into 2020. Automotive LiDAR must be sold to Tier 1 companies at a price no greater than $250. Sensor fusion for ADAS redundancy rather than competition between LiDAR, cameras, and radar will become the trend of the future. Sensor fusion will pave the way for autonomous driving which is forecasted by market research firms to become feasible in 2020.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Business Administration
35. Marketing plan
- Creator:
- Roering, Daniela
- Description:
- The report was commissioned to portray results and recommendations regarding the development of an effective marketing strategy for the start-up company Ground 2 Table within the CSUSM capstone project. I was assigned to help implement a marketing plan for the company with the major focus on defining the target audience. Ground 2 table operates in the organic food industry and already offers its products, spice blends and meal kits including a spice blend packet and fresh herbs, online and in retail. Ultimately, Ground 2 Table needed to obtain a better understanding of the target market and suggestions for an effective marketing strategy.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Business Administration
- Creator:
- Reyes, Klarisa
- Description:
- The hospitality/hotel industry has always been and will continue to be driven by customer revenue. To sustain its growth, it is crucial that hotel operators use their current data to better understand their customers as a benefit for success. According to recent industry reports, hotels will continue to grow from 2016-2021. The proliferation of business intelligence and data analytics in the industry has led hotels to identify trends, establish business insights, and implement effective decision-making from data collected. The goal of my applied research study is to determine trends at South Coast Winery Resort and Spa in Temecula, California with the help of their data from 2015 to draw interpretations for rooms sold/reservations booked in 2016. I will be using Excel and ForecastX to complete various forecasting methods and analyses to answer my research questions and support my hypotheses. The results of this research study should serve as performance indicators for the resort to guide and accompany their hotel operations for 2016.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Business Administration
- Creator:
- Flores, Sheela, Reed, Rosemary, McLin, Laura, Mann, Rachel, Gillespie, Chris, Valle, Diana, Kuehn, Rachel, Monaco, Richard, Castaneda, Isai, Brown, Rajan, Robinson, Bianca, Encinas, Claudia, Musnicki, Ava, Schafer, Mark, Reschke, Robin, and Saythong, Santhana
- Description:
- Within the next 15 years, demand for air travel in Southern California is predicted to surpass the capacity of its airports. This report is the third in a series of Master’s projects focusing on the construction of a new Southern California International Airport (SCIA) that would not only address this supply shortage, but also be a catalyst for sustaining economic growth in the region. The vision is for SCIA to become a mega hub serving as a gateway between Asia and the American continents much like Dubai International and Japan’s Narita airports connect their sections of the globe. This year’s Master’s project expands the research on the proposed SCIA airport by addressing funding methods, exploring the mega hub concept, and assessing the economic impact the airport will have on the region.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Business Administration
- Creator:
- Soundararajan, Thilak Raj
- Description:
- Shoulder surfing is the process of stealing one’s personal information such as personal identification number or password by looking over the victim’s shoulder. Nowadays, a hacker can use a video camera to actively record a user entering the password to access personal banking or social networking application order to prevent this, a graphical authentication system has been created where users can use multiple images as password. In this project, we will deal with two types of image authentication, one is an image splitting method where we will deploy a matrix grid over the image and choose a specific grid as the password. The second one is the image overlapping method where a series of randomized numbers are generated over the image. There is an additional two-tier security of generating a temporary access password every time the user tries to login. The temporary password is generated only when the user covers the ambient sensor and it is available only for a temporary time. The two types of authentication system provide a secure way to access the app and make it impossible for the hackers to gain access.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Computer Science
- Creator:
- Annapragada, Laxmi Subhamkar
- Description:
- Promoter sequences are the main regulatory elements of gene expression. The accurate prediction of promoters remains a challenge because the key DNA regulatory regions have variable structures, but their recognition by computer algorithms is fundamental for understanding gene expression patterns, cell specificity, and development. In this study, we utilize deep learning modules such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) and Long Short Time Memory (LSTM) to analyze sequence characteristics of prokaryotic and eukaryotic promoters and build their predictive models. In this study, we apply advanced approaches to identify promoters on four different organisms: human, two types of bacteria (Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis) and plant (Arabidopsis) sequences. The proposed model contains diverse types of hyper-parameters, which are selected using validation accuracies. Based on the values of the hyper-parameters, we generate multiple models with distinct sets of parameters. The promoter test datasets are evaluated on all the best models generated, and the evaluation statistics such as sensitivity, specificity and correlation coefficients are calculated . The developed models demonstrated the ability of deep learning approach to grasp complex promoter sequence characteristics and achieved higher accuracy compared to the previously developed promoter prediction programs.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Computer Science
40. ENVISION
- Creator:
- Maheshwari, Aastha
- Description:
- The world is getting advanced, and it becomes our responsibility to be on the same pace as the world. With the increase in the amount of data, it is becoming difficult to accommodate everything in our brain in a small span of time. Data Visualization allows us to look beyond the only process of reading and storing it all in our brains. The most important feature of visualization is that it allows visual access to huge amounts of data in understandable, simple, and powerful visuals. Taking that into consideration, this project is an effective application for visualizing data in 3D for better understanding and fast absorption of data into our brains. ENVISION is presenting folder revision activities in a more intuitive way through 3D visualization. Basically, ENVISION will help the users visualize properties of folders and files of GIT repository. ENVISION has the property to visualize data folder by folder. It will help the users to quickly estimate the progress of any project, the visualization takes place folder by folder, there would be multiplication of the pace of user’s understanding of the project history and quickly can start working further. ENVISION, also, lets the user view data by the latest entry, which also means, user can view files and folders from the latest commit to the oldest commit. With the increase demand of 3D Visualization, this project would be advantageous to all kind of users and would open the gate for another dimension to explore.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Computer Science
- Creator:
- Panneer Selvam, Pratima
- Description:
- During medical emergencies, patients are often shunted from hospital to hospital due to lack of ICU beds leading to loss of many lives. Also crucial time is lost calling up every individual blood bank trying to find blood of the required group in an emergency. In a crisis, as those precious seconds slip away, knowing where the nearest vacant ICU bed is or how many blood bottles of the required type the nearest blood banks have, can mean the difference between life and death. However no service that provides such crucial real time information exists in most parts of the world - information that would be invaluable during personal medical emergencies as well as natural disasters, terrorist attacks and public health epidemics. On any case of emergency, the relatives or public take the patients to the nearest hospitals for treatments. There are chances that the further treatment and required services might not be available at that hospital. The hospital management may suggest taking the patient to some other hospital. Again moving the patient to other hospital for treatment is time consuming, expensive and it leads to discomfort of patient. This situation occurs because the relatives or public are unaware of the services provided by the hospital. So we need a system which gives all information related to different hospitals. This is the application which provides the information related to different hospitals via online and through texts. A healthcare application is proposed which facilitates the patients a list of nearest hospitals and along with the feature of services availability. So this application provides the hospital details such as services types, specialization details etc.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Computer Science
- Creator:
- Panchal, Jalanilbhai
- Description:
- The use of Smartphones and its complementary technologies like wearable devices have gained immense momentum over the decade, which has led to their vast amount of use in various daily activities. On top of that, the new technologies plus their various add-ons take the scope of simple mobile apps to a new level. Taking that into consideration, this project creates an effective Virtual Reality (VR) enhanced Android smartphone application that collects data of Monarch butterfly species in the southern California area. This app provides two types of in-app surveys, with which users can submit detailed information about their observations of these butterfly species. The collected data will help researchers in their pursuit of finding the reasons behind the constant depletion of the Monarch butterfly species. While an existing website contains the same surveys to help collect Monarch butterfly data, the mobile app developed in this project complements the website by providing an in-app GPS-coordinates-collection feature and a VR feature to enhance user experience. With the in-app VR feature, users can get a unique and vivid experience of observing the Monarch butterflies in an exuberant environment. The project serves two purposes. First, overcoming the shortcomings of the existing website. Second, providing users a hint of Virtual Reality world. With this app, a huge leap has been taken in stepping in the world of Virtual Reality, which enhances the user interaction with the app by many folds.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Computer Science
- Creator:
- Pandiri, Venkat Shiva
- Description:
- This project carried out a systematic investigation to predict the final price of each home using machine learning techniques. Various machine learning techniques such as multiple linear regression (base model), random forest regression and polynomial regression were applied to the dataset to compare the results. The data describes the sale of individual properties, various features and details of each home in Ames, IW from 2006 to 2010. The dataset comprises of 80 explanatory variables which include 23 nominal, 23 ordinal, 14 discrete, and 20 continuous variables. The programs were implemented using Python, by using core libraries like pandas, scikit–learn, NumPy. Backward elimination algorithm is applied in building optimal model and selection of features over 270 independent variables with approximately 7,91,320 observations. K-fold cross validation technique is used to measure the performance of all the models. A good high R- squared values with low variance are recorded for linear models. In order to select a good prediction model, all the regression models are explored and compared with each other. Results from K fold cross validation indicates high R-squared values for MLR and Random forest, stating a high level of performance when applied on an actual test set. Each model is evaluated with kaggle score checker. My Random forest model achieved the score of 0.14696, which is better compared to my base model Multiple linear regression (kaggle score 0.16854) and Polynomial regression (kaggle score 0.24399).
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Computer Science
- Creator:
- Ramamurthy, Kishore
- Description:
- An Annotation is a metadatum (comment, explanation) attached to a specific section of a document (text, image, video or other formats) after it has been created. Annotations have been used in several fields such as literature and education, software engineering, computational biology, imaging, law, linguistics etc. One important application of the Annotation technology is Video Annotations. E-Leaning has been gaining massive popularity considering several advantages such as flexibility, ease of use, 24/7 accessibility, cost effective and self-paced. The main intent of this project is to foster the advantages of Video Annotations in the existing E-Learning environments. This approach will aid the E-Learning environment by improved engagement among students and professors by quick information recall as videos are annotated with the answers, notifications and time-monitored feedback mechanism.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Computer Science
- Creator:
- Pabbaraju, Akhila
- Description:
- Mobile health describes the use of portable electronic devices with software applications to provide health services and manage patient information. With almost 5 billion mobile phone users in the world, health care providers and researchers are realizing the potential of using mobile technologies for supporting the performance of clinical updates, reminders and health education. Today, mobile health information technologies are being distributed all over the world to endeavor medication adherence. ThalPal is a medication alarm based android application to enhance medication adherence in adolescents with Thalassemia. This is a part of a large project started by Dr. Youwen Ouyang in the Computer Science and Information Systems department and Dr. Pamela Kohlbry from School of Nursing which focuses on supporting adolescent thalassemia patients. ThalPal application mainly focuses on medication reminders specific to a patient and tracks the patient’s response to alarms about medication intake. The main intent behind is to foster an effective transition while moving from parental reminders to self-care reminders.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Computer Science
- Creator:
- Tan, Andrea
- Description:
- Cyber Scavenger is a map-based application created for the CyberQUEST project that allows teachers to set learning goals for class trips before bringing students to the fieldtrip. The existing application is geared more towards a classroom based environment due to lack of Wi-Fi in the field. Therefore students have to carry their digital devices to capture images and wait till they are back in the classroom with internet access before they can upload image and related information. This project creates a new mobile web version of Cyber Scavenger. It allows students to interact directly with the Cyber Scavenger on their palm and submit their pictures and related information while out on their field trips. By taking advantage of the GPS feature of smartphones, this application allows students to capture images and complete activities related to their current positions. In addition, this application also creates an enhanced user experienced for any smartphone owner who’s interested in viewing student submissions.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Computer Science
- Creator:
- Cronin, Timothy
- Description:
- This paper describes a system that automatically tags unstructured medical records using the Naïve Bayes and Decision Tree algorithms for a variety of risk factors and patient medical history indicators. Additional natural language processing techniques such as chunking are applied to reduce the feature set and improve the results. We ran experiments on data consisting of de-identified medical records provided by the i2b2 NLP challenge 2014; on the final testing set trial, the Naïve Bayes classifier achieved 10.89% precision, 60.82% recall, and an F1 measure of 18.47%, while the Decision Tree classifier achieved 84.7% precision, 40.5% recall, and an F1 measure of 54.8%. The results suggest that for this particular task, the Decision Trees classifier performs at a superior level, and is a useful tool for automation of the medical record tagging process.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Computer Science
- Creator:
- Montes, Elizabeth
- Description:
- Proteins are large biological molecules of long polymers of amino acid residues, typically containing thousands of atoms and consisting of a uniform repetitive backbone and variable side chains attached to each residue. They fold into complex 3D structures to perform a vast array of functions within living organisms. In order to help students to better understand the protein structures, it is important that the student can visualize the details of 3D structures, and manipulate them interactively to focus on aspects of interest. Recent developments in web technologies such as WebGL and HTML5, available in a wide range of browser on different platforms, made them the perfect choice to build cross-platform interactive tutorials for learning protein structures. This project, WebGL and HTML5 Interactive Protein Structure Tutorial Generator (WHIPSTG: http://montes.co.nf/whipst.html), made it possible for biochemistry or biology professors to easily generate web tutorials that can facilitate students’ learning of protein structures. The generated tutorials allow the user to interact with protein visualization in 3D, answer true/false questions and multiple-choice questions, and read text. WHIPSTG uses GLmol – a 3D molecular viewer based on WebGL and JavaScript – to visualize and interactively manipulate the 3D protein. For the scope of this project, GLmol has been modified to include functionality for highlighting amino acids and highlighting a part of a protein sequence. I developed a web interface that provides the user with a short introduction about the project, the ability to easily generate an interactive tutorial and various examples of generated tutorials.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Computer Science
- Creator:
- Lin, Yunxi
- Description:
- The genome of a haptophyte was sequenced using the next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology. 18 billion base pairs high quality sequence data from NGS platform, HiSeq 2000, was assembled into scaffolds by using different tools including ABySS, Velvet and SSPACE. Evidence based annotation was performed using TopHat and Cufflinks with the RNA-seq data. For gene prediction, Augustus predicted ~93% of the annotated genes for SSPACE and SNAP predicted ~91% for SSPACE. Annotated gene results were similar for both in terms of average gene, exon and intron lengths. Compared to TopHat and Cufflinks, MAKER annotation with ab initio and evidence-driven gene prediction generated longer average gene and exon length.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Computer Science
- Creator:
- Nejati, Sina
- Description:
- The goal of this project is to provide an open source solution for physical therapy with Kinect. In order to achieve that, we have designed and implemented a multi-layered application that will act as a portal for patients and therapists. This application will allow therapists to create their own custom gestures and deliver the therapy session to user and also monitor user progress and updates. This project consists of several components that are de-coupled using many software design and architectural patterns. We also utilized many new technologies in .NET Stack, Such as Prism, Entity Framework and etc. We have also implemented a gesture recognizer that can works in-time and at 30 fps with no jitter. The result of this project is a robust and extendable application that will provide a solution for physical therapy with Kinect.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Computer Science