Environmental Engineering Commons^™

A System Dynamics Approach To The Efficacy Of Oxime Therapy In Sub Lethal Exposure To Sarin Gas, Daniel J. Droste

Theses and Dissertations

The 2010 National Security Strategy states, The effective dissemination of a lethal agent would endanger the lives of thousands of people and have unprecedented economic, societal, and political consequences. We must continue to work at home with first responders and health officials to reduce the risk associated with high-consequence threats . Nerve agents, such as Sarin gas, are considered high consequence threats. The threat of use of agents such as Sarin is as much a threat today as any other time in our history. However, the suggested treatment protocol is not as precise as it could be. Debate exists over …

Investigations And Management Of Epizootic Plague At Ice House Reservoir, Eldorado National Forest, California, 1994 And 1995, Kenneth R. Townzen, Malcolm A. Thompson, Charles R. Smith

Charles Kay Smith

The occurrence of plague (Yersinia pestic) at Ice House Reservoir in 1994 and 1995 was characteristic of widespread epizootics in high use recreational areas of California. Staff of the Vector-Borne Disease Section investigated these epizootics and found dense populations of plague susceptible California ground squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi) with high numbers of fleas, primarily Diamanus montanus, the most important plague vector. This combination indicated a high risk of plague exposure to campground users. A non-fatal human case of plague, contracted at Mountain Camp II, was reported after the initial epizootic investigation. The patient's exposure occurred prior to the reporting of the …

Direct Atmospheric Evidence For The Irreversible Formation Of Aqueous Secondary Organic Aerosol, Marwa M. El-Sayed, Yingqing Wang, Christopher J. Hennigan

Publications

The reversible nature of aqueous secondary organic aerosol (aqSOA) formation was characterized for the first time through direct atmospheric measurements. Water-soluble organic carbon in the gas and particle phases (WSOCg and WSOCp) was measured simultaneously to quantify aqSOA formation in Baltimore, Maryland. During the nighttime, aqSOA formation was evident as WSOCg increasingly partitioned to the particle phase with increasing relative humidity (RH). To characterize the reversible/irreversible nature of this aqSOA, the WSOCp measurement was alternated through an unperturbed ambient channel and through a “dried” channel maintained at ~40% RH (with 7 s residence time) to mimic the natural drying particles …

Effects Of Sulfidation And Natural Organic Matter On The Deposition Of Silver Nanoparticles, Yunqui Chen

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

Environmental transformation through sulfidation and complexation with natural organic matter (NOM) are two major factors that may affect the fate and transport of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in the aquatic systems by changing their dissolution, deposition, and surface properties. To understand the impact of sulfidation and NOM on the aggregation and deposition of AgNPs, a combination of dynamic light scattering and quartz crystal microgravimetry with dissipation monitoring was used. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-capped AgNPs that were modified through sulfidation and/or complexed with NOM had a greater extent of deposition than unmodified PVP-AgNPs. Specifically, the deposition extent of sulfidized AgNPs in the presence of …

Treatment Of Petroleum Hydrocarbons In Oil-Based Drill Cutting Mud Using Biowish Bioaugmentation Products, Diego Jose Cardenas Zepeda

Master's Theses

The efficacy of BiOWiSHTM-Thai Aqua, a commercially discontinued microbial product, in remediating oil based drill-cutting mud (DCM) was researched in this study. Experimentation was performed directly on DCM and on sand contaminated with oil extracted from DCM. A gas chromatograph-mass spectrometrer and a respirometer were used for analysis of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and CO2 production respectively. Five experiments were analyzed by TPH extraction and analysis; four experiments were analyzed by respirometric analysis. The specific microcosm conditions tested in the experiments were control, nutrient-only control, and bioaugmentation product.

This study concluded that there might be potential for bioaugmentation of TPH …

Using Swat To Simulate Crop Yields And Salinity Levels In The North Fork River Basin, Usa, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Daniel E. Storm, Art L. Stoecker

Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Crop yields and salinity levels in the North Fork of the Red River (North Fork River) basin, located in southwestern Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle, were analyzed based on the diverse climate in the region. Saline irrigation water is a major problem in the basin. The Elm Fork Creek flows through salt deposits, making the creek and its receiving stream, the North Fork River, too saline to use for irrigation. This greatly reduces the number of hectares that can be utilized for agricultural crops within the basin. A baseline SWAT model was setup, calibrated and validated to simulate streamflow and …

Nutrient Transformations In Algae Raceway Ponds Fed Municipal Wastewater, Carter Michael Reiff

Master's Theses

While treating domestic wastewater, algae can be grown and harvested for biofuel production. Water is a vital resource and it is imperative to conserve and reuse as much as possible. Several pilot and lab scale experiments were conducted to further research into a full scale wastewater treatment and biofuel production facility. This thesis will include these topics: nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations of clarified wastewater pond feed, nitrogen and phosphorus transformations by algae, and the potential of algae cell disruption technologies to increase nutrient solubilization.

The pilot scale experiments were conducted using nine 33 m², 0.3 m deep multi-culture …

Sustainable Treatment Of Landfill Leachate, Mohamad Anuar Kamaruddin, Mohd. Suffian Yusoff, Hamidi Abdul Aziz, Yung-Tse Hung

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Landfill leachate is a complex liquid that contains excessive concentrations of biodegradable and non-biodegradable products including organic matter, phenols, ammonia nitrogen, phosphate, heavy metals, and sulfide. If not properly treated and safely disposed, landfill leachate could be an impending source to surface and ground water contamination as it may percolate throughout soils and subsoils, causing adverse impacts to receiving waters. Lately, various types of treatment methods have been proposed to alleviate the risks of untreated leachate. However, some of the available techniques remain complicated, expensive and generally require definite adaptation during process. In this article, a review of literature reported …

Locating Optimal Water Quality Monitoring Locations Using Demand Coverage Index Method, Jeffrey Scott Brake

Master's Theses

Water quality regulations are always expanding especially in the field of water quality monitoring; however, threats to our water distribution systems still remain. Components of water distribution systems are susceptible to intentional and accidental contamination; therefore, they represent highly vulnerable aspects of our vital infrastructure.

An analysis was performed on a city in California with a population of 30,000 to 40,000 residents. The analysis is performed to determine the optimal locations of monitoring stations throughout the water distribution system. The method presented by Liu and colleagues (Liu et al, 2012) selects the optimal monitoring locations for the virtual California city …

Criticality And Risk Assessment For Pipe Rehabilitation In The City Of Santa Barbara Sewer System, Rossi Carmelo Rossi Ii

Master's Theses

Aging sewer infrastructure is posing greater and greater risk to the health and well-being of City residents. Issues can range from pipe blockages in sewer laterals to Sanitary Sewer Overflows. This thesis develops a risk analysis method that can be used by municipalities to maintain and rehabilitate sewer assets. Risk combines the effect of Likelihood of Failure (LOF) and Consequence of Failure (COF) to perform a complete two-dimensional analysis that allows for relative comparison between different pipes in the system. The LOF rating has been equated to pipe integrity while the COF rating was related to the environmental, economic, and …

Clarification Of Recreational Pool Water Using Biological Additives Produced By Biowish(Tm), Reese Nathaniel Wilson

Master's Theses

Effects of commercially available bacterial products were investigated on two common recreational pool contaminants: sunscreen and cyanuric acid (CYA). Microbial products developed by BiOWiSH Technologies, Inc. were tested for enhancing mechanical filtration and water clarification in bench-scale bioreactors, with conditions mimicking those of recreational pool water. Bacterial consortia included proprietary mixes of Bacillus, Lactobacillus and Pseudomonas, and other genera of bacteria. BiOWiSH products are either fermented on a solid substrate consisting of rice bran and soy meal, or they are mixed with a soluble diluent. Twenty-nine BiOWiSH products were tested throughout forty experiments.

Experiments were carried out to determine both …

Water And Energy Use And Wastewater Production In A Beef Packing Plant, Rami Ziara

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Accurate information about water and energy use and wastewater production in beef packing plants is scarce. The objective of this study was to collect baseline water and energy use data within a beef packing plant with a special focus on antimicrobial interventions and to collect preliminary wastewater production data in addition. Permanent and portable water flow meters were installed on the plant’s plumbing system to collect water flow data from March 2014 to March 2015. A local utility company was hired to meter electricity at antimicrobial interventions using portable data loggers. Metered water flows and temperatures were combined with fundamental …

On The Assessment Of Reliability In Probabilistic Hydrometeorological Event Forecasting, Caleb Matthew Dechant, Hamid Moradkhani

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Probabilistic forecasts are commonly used to communicate uncertainty in the occurrence of hydrometeorological events. Although probabilistic forecasting is common, conventional methods for assessing the reliability of these forecasts are approximate. Among the most common methods for assessing reliability, the decomposed Brier Score and Reliability Diagram treat an observed string of events as samples from multiple Binomial distributions, but this is an approximation of the forecast reliability, leading to unnecessary loss of information. This article suggests testing the hypothesis of reliability via the Poisson-Binomial distribution, which is a generalized solution to the Binomial distribution, providing a more accurate model of the …

Constructed Treatment Wetland In Rose-Hulman Greenhouse, Ila Creekbaum

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

As more impervious materials and buildings takeover natural environments, creeks and rivers become more polluted. When it rains the water collects pollutants because the water flows over parking lots, buildings, and agricultural land. The water can collect oil, nitrogen, phosphorus, and small particles. These pollutants decrease the water quality in surrounding water bodies. Natural wetlands are excellent at removing pollutants from the water that flows through the filter media and are relatively inexpensive. Our objective this summer was to replicate the biological processes by constructing a treatment wetland in the greenhouse on the Rose-Hulman campus. Then we would test the …

Climate Change Assessment In Columbia River Basin (Crb) Using Copula Based On Coupling Of Temperature And Precipitation, Yueyue Qin

Dissertations and Theses

The multi downscaled-scenario products allow us to better assess the uncertainty of the variations of precipitation and temperature in the current and future periods. Joint Probability distribution functions (PDFs), of both the climatic variables, might help better understand the interdependence of the two, and thus in-turn help in accessing the future with confidence. In the present study, we have used multi-modelled statistically downscaled ensemble of precipitation and temperature variables. The dataset used is multi-model ensemble of 10 Global Climate Models (GCMs) downscaled product from CMIP5 daily dataset, using the Bias Correction and Spatial Downscaling (BCSD) technique, generated at Portland State …

Wpływ Instalacji Termicznego Przekształcania Odpadów Komunalnych Na Jakość Powietrza, Robert Oleniacz

Robert Oleniacz

At the turn of 2015/2016 it is planned to launch in Poland a few new municipal solid waste incineration plants. This type activities causes usually concerns of the local community due to their potential negative impact on air quality. Are these fears are, however, justified? The article describes allowable air emissions for new waste incinerators, the actual emissions that occur from such installations, and the current state of knowledge about their impact on air pollution.English title: The impact of installations of municipal solid waste thermal treatment on air quality.

An Exploratory Scenario For San Francisco To Become A Walking, Bicycling And Transit City, Chaowen Huang

Master's Projects and Capstones

The effects of greenhouse gases (GHGs) on global warming and climate change have become increasingly evident, and the transportation sector is a dominant contributor to GHG emissions which responsible for 13% of the world’s total GHG emissions and more than 21% of overall energy-related CO₂ emissions. Cities need sustainable transportation system that integrate new technologies and strategies to provide efficient and effective transit service while reducing its GHG emission and improving its livability. This paper explores a suitable and sustainable transportation scenario for San Francisco to achieve its 2035 goal which is to reduce 1,767,500 metric tons GHG emissions …

Stormwater Management Performance Of Green Roofs, Andrew W. Sims

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Green roofs are gaining recognition in North America as effective tools for managing stormwater runoff in urban areas. A greater understanding of how green roofs perform with respect to fundamental stormwater management criteria, such as stormwater retention and peak flow attenuation is required. This study investigated the impact that changing climates have on the retention performance of three green roofs in London, Calgary, and Halifax. It was found that Calgary (67%) has significantly better retention performance then both London (48%) and Halifax (34%). However, London retained the greatest volume of stormwater (758 mm), followed by Halifax (517 mm) then Calgary …

Development Of A Pedestrian Demand Estimation Tool: A Destination Choice Model, Christopher D. Muhs, Kelly Clifton, Patrick Allen Singleton, Robert J. Schneider

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

There is growing support for improvements to the quality of the walking environment, including more investments to promote pedestrian travel. Planners, engineers, and others seek improved tools to estimate pedestrian demand that are sensitive to environmental and demographic factors at the appropriate scale in order to aid policy-relevant issues like air quality, public health, and smart allocation of infrastructure and other resources. Further, in the travel demand forecasting realm, tools of this kind are difficult to implement due to the use of spatial scales of analysis that are oriented towards motorized modes, vast data requirements, and computer processing limitations.

To …

Photocatalytic Mineralization Of Phenol On Fluidized Titanium Oxide-Coated Silica Gel, Guillermo J. Rincon

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

A bench-scale tubular reactor with recirculation was built in order to study the efficiency of the photocatalytic oxidation of phenol on fluidized titanium oxide-coated silica gel beads. A UV-C lamp placed along the central vertical axes of the reactor was used as source of photons. A bed of silica gel beads was fluidized by means of fluid recirculation and forced to follow upward helical flow around the lamp. Anatase was successfully synthetized on silica gel particles of average diameters 224, 357 and 461 µm, as confirmed by scanning electron micrographs, through a sol-gel technique using a titanium (iv)isopropoxide / hydrochloric …