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Using MATLAB and a National Instruments data acquisition card, a signal processing program meant to monitor the behavior of rotordynamic systems in real-time was developed and tested. By using traditional analysis methods in this field of engineering, commonly desired data representations such as bode, polar, orbit, full spectrum plots were able to be produced to a very high accuracy. Additional capabilities offered by this application are slow roll compensation, synchronous and sub-synchronous filtering, and true three dimensional plotting. The verification of this program was done by comparing the results to the ones acquired with Bently Nevada’s “Automated Diagnostics for Rotating Equipment” (ADRE) system. In addition to a data acquisition program, theoretical models of the two-disk rotor were created to estimate the unknown physical parameters of the system. By simulating the rotor with and without gyroscopic effects included, estimates for the stiffness, damping, eccentricity, initial phase, and initial skew values present in the system were determined.

CubeSat designers are increasingly looking to incorporate delicate structures and optics into their payloads. These delicate payloads, however, may not survive the required absolute-worst-case launch vibration testing needed for flight certification. To help address this problem, and to better match testing conditions to real-world launch environments, this thesis introduces Sync, a compact 1/4U CubeSat payload designed to collect data on the vibrations and thermal environments CubeSats experience inside a deployer on the way to orbit. This data can be used to better understand the launch environment for different vehicles, and help develop new, more realistic testing guidelines that could enable more delicate payloads to be launched.

A small-scale adiabatic calorimeter has been constructed as part of a larger project to study nano-particles and to facilitate specific heat measurements on samples where it is difficult to obtain enough material to run on the current large-scale adiabatic apparatus. This calorimeter is designed to measure sample sizes of less than 0.8 cc over a temperature range from 13 K to 350 K. Specific heat results on copper, sapphire, and benzoic acid show the accuracy of the measurements to be better than ±0.4% for temperatures higher than 50 K. The reproducibility of these measurements is generally better than ±0.25%. Experimental specific heat data was collected on this new apparatus for synthetic akaganeite, β-FeOOH, for samples with varying degrees of hydration. Our results yield values for Δ_0^298.15S°m of 79.94 ±0.20 J•K^-1•mol^-1 and 85.33 ±0.021 J•K^-1•mol^-1 for samples of β-FeOOH0.551H2O and β-FeOOH0.652H2O, respectively. From this data, we were able to determine the standard molar entropy for bare β-FeOOH, as Δ_0^298.15S°m = 53.8 ±3.3 J•K^-1•mol^-1, based on subtractions of the estimated contribution of water from the hydrated species. Additionally, the specific heats of α-uranium, titanium diboride, and lithium flouride have been measured on a low-temperature, semi-adiabatic calorimeter down to 0.5 K. For the α-uranium, the specific heat of a polycrystalline sample was compared to that of a single crystal, and it was found that there was a significant difference in the specific heats, which has been attributed to microstrain in the polycrystal. The third law entropy for the polycrystal at 298.15 K, Δ_0^298.15S°m, calculated from these heat capacities is 50.21 ±0.1 J•K^-1•mol^-1, which is good in agreement with previously published values of polycrystal samples. For the single crystal Δ_0^298.15S°m, calculated using the thermodynamic microstrain model, is 49.02 ±0.2 J•K^-1•mol^-1. The low-temperature specific heats of titanium diboride and lithium fluoride have been measured from 0.5 K to 30 K as part of a larger project in the construction of a neutron spectrometer. For this application, the measured specific heats were used to extrapolate the specific heats down to 0.1 K with lattice, electronic, and Schottky equations for the respective samples. The resultant specific heat values at 0.1 K for TiB2 and 6LiF are 4.08E-4 ±0.27E-4 J•K^-1•mol^-1 and 9.19E-9 ±0.15E-9 J•K^-1•mol^-1, respectively.

The research adds to current management control system and textile and fashion management literature by developing a MCS framework which is specially targeting startups within the textile and fashion industry in order to implement and scale sustainability initiatives. The framework provides potential to impact and facilitate managers to foster sustainable development. Given the lack of research and the resulting lack of knowledge and understanding of sustainable development from a managerial perspective in the textile and fashion context, this research adds knowledge by examining fashion startups which find themselves at the development phase of MCSs.

The thesis discusses the development of closed loop system to control the DC voltage for 200 kW induction generator rated at a speed of 62000 RPM under different load conditions. The voltage regulation has been implemented using PI controller. A gain scheduling control algorithm has been developed to select the appropriate controller gains with respect to the generator load. Further, a relationship between the generator loads and the controller gains has been established. This relationship has been modeled using adaptive control technique to vary the gains automatically at any load condition. The adaptive control technique has been successfully generalized for real time DSP implementation to regulate the DC voltage for high speed induction generators rated from 5 kW to 200 kW.

This document describes the design and analysis of the Navigation, Guidance and Control System for the KnightSat project. The purpose for the project is to test and demonstrate new technologies the Air Force would be interested in for research and development. The primary mission of KnightSat is to show how a constellation of satellites can maintain relative position with each other autonomously using the Microwave Electro Thermal (MET) thruster. The secondary mission is to use multiple satellite imagery to obtain 3 dimensional stereo photographs of observable terrain. Formation flying itself has many possible uses for future applications. Selected missions that require imaging or data collection can be more economically accomplished using smaller multiple satellites. The MET thruster is a very efficient, but low thrust alternative that can provide thrust for a very long time, hence provide the low thrust necessary to maintain the satellites at a constant separation. The challenge is to design a working control algorithm to provide the desired output data to be used to command the MET thrusters. The satellites are to maintain a constant relative distance from each other, and use the least amount of fuel possible. If one satellite runs out of fuel before the other, it would render the constellation less useful or useless. Hence, the satellites must use the same amount of fuel in order to maintain an optimal operational duration on orbit.

The central focus of this dissertation study is to understand the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the factors that contribute to increased risk of fraud in order to determine why fraud may occur despite the imposed regulation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The main premise of the study tests the application of the fraud triangle framework constructs to publicly traded restaurant companies during the time period of 2002-2014, using proxy variables defined through literature. Essentially, the study seeks to identify the factors that may provide the optimal criteria to engage in fraudulent or opportunistic behavior. The fraud triangle theoretical framework is comprised of the constructs of pressure, opportunity and rationalization, and has mostly been utilized by external auditors to assess the fraud risk of various companies. It has never been applied to the restaurant industry, and the proxy variables selected have never before been tested in a comprehensive model. Thus, a major contribution of this study may enable executive managers to assess the fraud triangle conditions according to the model in order to afford conclusions regarding increased risk of fraud. The study first hypothesized that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has had a significant impact on detecting increased risk of fraud for publicly traded restaurant companies. Additionally, the study controlled for and tested the proxy variables of the fraud triangle constructs to determine if any of the variables had a significant impact on detecting increased risk of fraud for publicly traded restaurant companies. The variables tested included company size, debt, employee turnover, organizational structure, international sales growth, executive stock compensation, return on assets, the Recession, and macro-economic factors of interest, inflation, and unemployment rates. The research study adopted an exploratory research design using the case of publicly traded United States restaurant companies in order to provide a better understanding of the characteristics that may contribute to increased fraud risk. The study assumed a binary distribution of the dependent variable, increased fraud risk, measured by the incidence of a reported internal control deficiency over the testable time period. Specifically, the study employed a probit model to estimate the probability that an entity or company will be at an increased risk of fraud based on the independent variables that support and are linked to the fraud triangle framework. Additionally, the model assumes equal weight to the variables of the fraud triangle framework. Through use of the probit model, the major findings of the study were as follows: First, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act does have a significant impact on highlighting areas of increased fraud risk for publicly traded restaurant companies. Second, for the total population of restaurant companies, only the Recession, interest rates, inflation rates and unemployment rates are significant indicators of increased fraud risk. None of the internal variables were significant. However, once the data was segmented by type of restaurant, the results revealed significance of both internal and external variables. These results imply a couple of theoretical notions: first, that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is an effective means for detecting risk of fraud for publicly traded restaurant companies when considering variables that support the fraud triangle; second, that the fraud triangle is contextual when applied to the restaurant industry because only the variables that are outside of managements control were significant. Finally, from a managerial perspective, the study provides evidence that macro-economic conditions that might affect consumer demand may increase the risk of fraud for publicly traded restaurant companies.

An increase in demand for electric power has forced utility transmission systems to continuously operate under stressed conditions, which are close to instability limits. Operating power systems under such conditions along with inadequate reactive power reserves initiates a sequence of voltage instability points and can ultimately lead to a system voltage collapse. Significant research have been focused on time-synchronized measurements of power systems which can be used to frequently determine the state of a power system and can lead to a more robust protection, control and operation performance. This thesis discusses the applicability of two voltage stability synchrophasor-based indices from literature to analyze the stability of a power system. Various load flow scenarios were conducted on the BPA 10-Bus system and the IEEE 39-Bus System using PowerWorld Simulator. The two indices were analyzed and compared against each other along with other well-known methods. Results show that their performances are coherent to each other regarding to voltage stability of the system; the indices can also predict voltage collapse as well as provide insight on other locations within the system that can contribute to instability.

The Mechatronics group in the Mechanical Engineering department of Cal Poly is interested in creating a demonstration of a ball-and-plate trajectory tracking controller on hardware. The display piece will serve to inspire engineering students to pursue Mechatronics and control theory as an area of study. The ball-and-plate system is open-loop unstable, underactuated, and has complicated, nonlinear equations of motion. These features present substantial challenges for control - especially if the objective is trajectory tracking. Because the system is underactuated, common nonlinear trajectory tracking control techniques are ineffective. This thesis lays out a theoretical foundation for controlling the hardware. Several important concepts related to ball-and-plate trajectory tracking control are presented. Models of the system, with various assumptions, are given and used in deriving control law candidates. To limit project scope, reasonable control criteria are introduced and used to evaluate designs from the thesis. Several control architectures are explored, these being Full-State Feedback with Integral Action, Single-Input-Single-Output Sliding Mode, and Full-State Feedback with Feed Forward. The mathematical reasoning behind each is detailed, simulation results are shown to validate their practicality and demonstrate features of the architectures, and trajectory similarity measure studies are produced to evaluate controller performance for a wide range of setpoint functions. The Full-State Feedback with Feed Forward controller is recommended based on its theoretical advantages and compliance with the control criteria over the competing designs. The control architecture has a proof of asymptotic tracking in the linear model, has excellent performance in simulations that use a nonlinear plant model, and produces the most pleasing visual experience when viewed in animation.