Engineering Commons^™

Final 2021 Residential Metals Abatement Program (Rmap) School Soil Sampling Field Sampling Plan (Fsp) Submittal #1 (Covering Ramsay Elementary School), Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Low-Cost And Reliable Integrated Hardware And Software Framework For Remotely Operated Water Release From Storage Units, Vivek Verma

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The main contribution of this research is towards the broader area of water management that can be used for multiple purposes. For instance, floods can be mitigated using a novel approach based on the integrated dynamic management of water storage units such as reservoirs, wetlands, and ponds. This approach will enable adaptive water release from storage units hours or days ahead of rainfall events, thereby maximizing storage capacity and minimizing flooding.

This approach can be implemented by retrofitting water storage units using siphon hydraulic systems and are remotely controlled in an integrated manner using the decision support system. To make …

Butte Reclamation Evaluation System Field Manual, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Fluoride Adsorption Mechanism And Capacity Of Different Types Of Bone Char, Benyapa Sawangjang, Phacharapol Induvesa, Aunnop Wongrueng, Chayakorn Pumas, Suraphong Wattanachira, Pharkphum Rakruam, Patiparn Punyapalakul, Satoshi Takizawa, Eakalak Khan

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

The fluoride adsorption capacity of three types of bone char (BC), including cow BC (CBC), chicken BC (CKBC), and pig BC (PBC), was examined. At the optimum charring conditions (temperature and time), PBC had the highest hydroxyapatite (HAP) content (0.928 g-HAP/g-BC), while CBC had the highest specific surface area (103.11 m2/g-BC). CBC also had the maximum fluoride adsorption capacity (0.788 mg-F/g-HAP), suggesting that fluoride adsorption capacity depends more on the specific surface area of the BC than the HAP content. The adsorption data of CBC, CKBC, and PBC fit well with the pseudo-second-order model and the Langmuir isotherm. The maximum …

Robotic Technologies For High-Throughput Plant Phenotyping: Contemporary Reviews And Future Perspectives, Abbas Atefi, Yufeng Ge, Santosh Pitla, James Schnable

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Phenotyping plants is an essential component of any effort to develop new crop varieties. As plant breeders seek to increase crop productivity and produce more food for the future, the amount of phenotype information they require will also increase. Traditional plant phenotyping relying on manual measurement is laborious, time-consuming, error-prone, and costly. Plant phenotyping robots have emerged as a high-throughput technology to measure morphological, chemical and physiological properties of large number of plants. Several robotic systems have been developed to fulfill different phenotyping missions. In particular, robotic phenotyping has the potential to enable efficient monitoring of changes in plant traits …

Comparison Of Promoter, Dna Vector, And Cationic Carrier For Efficient Transfection Of Hmscs From Multiple Donors And Tissue Sources, Tyler Kozisek, Andrew Hamann, Luke Samuelson, Miguel Fudolig, Angela K. Pannier

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are primary cells with high clinical relevance that could be enhanced through genetic modification. However, gene delivery, particularly through nonviral routes, is inefficient. To address the shortcomings of nonviral gene delivery to hMSCs, our lab has previously demonstrated that pharmacological “priming” of hMSCs with clinically approved drugs can increase transfection in hMSCs by modulating transfection-induced cytotoxicity. However, even with priming, hMSC transfection remains inefficient for clinical applications. This work takes a complementary approach to addressing the challenges of transfecting hMSCs by systematically investigating key transfection parameters for their effect on transgene expression. Specifically, we investigated …

Modeling Vadose Zone Hydrology: Lecture Notes, Derek M. Heeren, Dean Eisenhauer

Open Educational Resources for Engineering

Modeling Vadose Zone Hydrology is a graduate-level course offered biennially in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering. Topics included hydraulic properties of porous media, application of Darcy's Law in variably saturated media, hydrologic and transport processes in the vadose zone, and solution of steady and unsteady flow problems using numerical techniques. A graphical approach for characterizing vertical one-dimensional problems with energy head profiles was emphasized. Common one-dimensional flow and transport problems were solved analytically. The course was taught using a combination of lecture notes and PowerPoint presentations. The lecture notes from 2021, captured using the Microsoft Whiteboard app with a …

Utilization Of Agro-Based Adsorbents In Binary Wastewater Treatment, Abhiram Siva Prasad Pamula, Yung-Tse Hung, Howard H. Paul

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The application of agro-based adsorbents is growing in the tertiary stage of the wastewater treatment process during the presence of hazardous pollutants. Dye and coffee industries are among the major wastewater pollutant sources negatively affect aquatic ecosystems and human health. The current study attempts to treat a binary mixture of crystal violet (CV) and coffee wastewater using agro-based adsorbents such as peanut hull and onion peel. The performance and efficacy of low-cost adsorbents were evaluated using parameters, including transmittance and non-purgeable organic carbon (NPOC). Batch adsorption studies were conducted to optimize both the adsorbent size and dosage that affect the …

Uavs For Vegetation Monitoring: Overview And Recent Scientific Contributions, Ana I. De Castro, Yeyin Shi, Joe Mari Maja, Jose M. Peña

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

This paper reviewed a set of twenty-one original and innovative papers included in a special issue on UAVs for vegetation monitoring, which proposed new methods and techniques applied to diverse agricultural and forestry scenarios. Three general categories were considered: (1) sensors and vegetation indices used, (2) technological goals pursued, and (3) agroforestry applications. Some investigations focused on issues related to UAV flight operations, spatial resolution requirements, and computation and data analytics, while others studied the ability of UAVs for characterizing relevant vegetation features (mainly canopy cover and crop height) or for detecting different plant/crop stressors, such as nutrient content/deficiencies, water …

Early Detection Of Encroaching Woody Juniperus Virginiana And Its Classification In Multi-Species Forest Using Uas Imagery And Semantic Segmentation Algorithms, Lin Wang, Yuzhen Zhou, Qiao Hu, Zhenghong Tang, Yufeng Ge, Adam Smith, Tala Awada, Yeyin Shi

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Woody plant encroachment into grasslands ecosystems causes significantly ecological destruction and economic losses. Effective and efficient management largely benefits from accurate and timely detection of encroaching species at an early development stage. Recent advances in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) enabled easier access to ultra-high spatial resolution images at a centimeter level, together with the latest machine learning based image segmentation algorithms, making it possible to detect small-sized individuals of target species at early development stage and identify them when mixed with other species. However, few studies have investigated the optimal practical spatial resolution of early encroaching species detection. Hence, we …

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Npl Site Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Systematic Design, Optimization, And Sustainability Assessment For Generation Of Efficient Wastewater Treatment Networks, Kirti Maheshkumar Yenkie, Emmanuel A Aboagye, Sean M. Burnham, James Dailey, Rohan Zia, Carley Tran, Maya Desai

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Faculty Scholarship

Due to population growth and economic development, there has been an increase in global wastewater (WW) generation footprint. There are different technologies associated with the wastewater treatment (WWT) process. The challenge is to select technologies that minimize the cost of treatment, as well as meet purity requirements. Further, there is a need to integrate sustainability analysis to facilitate a holistic decision. With the application of systems engineering, sustainable and cost-effective solutions can be achieved. In this work, we apply systems engineering to generate a sustainable and cost-effective solution. A superstructure was generated by categorizing technologies into four treatment stages. After …

Exploration Of The Sludge Biodiesel Pathway, Zachary Christman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Wastewater sludge is an overlooked source of fat, oil, and grease (FOG) that could be converted into biodiesel. The United States produces about 8 million tons of sludge per year. The disposal cost for this amount of sludge is about 2 billion US dollars. The widespread availability and low cost of sludge compared to other biodiesel raw materials make it an economical choice for a renewable fuel. Using sludge as a raw material can produce 25 to 30 mg per gram of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME); the main component of biodiesel. Sludge biodiesel has the potential of transforming a …

Real-Time Pm10 Emission Rates From Paved Roads By Measurement Of Concentrations In The Vehicle's Wake Using On-Board Sensors Part 2. Comparison Of Scamper, Traker™, Flux Measurements, And Ap-42 Silt Sampling Under Controlled Conditions, Dennis R. Fitz, Kurt Bullimer, Vic Etyemezian, Hampden D. Kuhns, John A. Gillies, George Nikolich, David E. James, Rodney Langston, Russell S. Merle Jr.

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Representative soil was evenly applied to an 800-m section of road surface. The test area was of sufficient length to allow for measurement at constant speeds of up to 72 km hr−1. SCAMPER and TRAKER™ mobile measurement vehicles made repeated test runs while an instrumented tower measured upwind-downwind horizontal PM10 flux. AP-42 methods were used to collect silt samples and calculate PM10 emission factors. Both silt loadings and vehicle speeds were varied during the experiment. Street sweeping the as-found roadway showed an initial rise in PM10 emission rates. Both TRAKER and SCAMPER measured rapid decay of PM10 emission rates after …

Modeling And Monitoring Of Water Quantity And Quality In Permeable Pavement Systems Using Geophysical Equipment, Abby Klimowicz

Honors Scholar Theses

Permeable pavements are a type of low impact development (LID) that reduces runoff by increasing the permeability of developed surfaces. Less runoff helps protect the surrounding ecosystems from erosion and pollution. Without pools of accumulating runoff, the potential for the development of ice on roads and parking lots is also decreased. However, sufficient research on the movement of water and the ions dissolved in it through the permeable pavement system has not been completed. In this study, geophysical equipment was used to observe how moisture, measured as volumetric water content (VWC), and ions, approximated by electrical conductivity, pass through constructed …

On The Computational Efficiency Of Les And Hybrid Rans-Les Models In Building Aerodynamics, Aly Mousaad Aly, Faiaz Khaled

Faculty Publications

Large-eddy simulation (LES) has proven to offer superior accuracy in regards to predicting surface pressures compared to the Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) models. However, the primary impediment is the high computational cost associated with LES. The authors attempt to investigate the computational cost and accuracy by employing different sub-grid scale (SGS) models in LES and hybrid RANS-LES models. One of the prerequisites of accurate pressure estimations is to ensure a horizontally homogeneous empty computational domain. This study aims to compare the computational competence qualitatively and quantitatively using an empty domain in regards to the ability to maintain horizontal homogeneity. The …

Assessment And Improvement Of Performance Of Septic Systems In Cold Climates (Year 1), Stu Geza, Todd Menkhaus, Lianping Li, Galen Hoogestraat

SDWRI Publications and Reports

Onsite septic systems are used for wastewater treatment for households not connected to sewers. There is a concern about surface and groundwater pollution when effectiveness becomes limited due to soil texture, soil temperature, neighborhood density, and distance to water resources. The goal of this study was to assess treatment performance of local soils and selected treatment media. Lab-scale column experiments were conducted using wastewater from Wastewater Reclamation Facility in Rapid City. The experiments were conducted inside and outside the lab to evaluate the effect of temperature. The columns outside the lab were subject to seasonal variation in temperature. Moisture content, …

On The Computational Efficiency Of Les And Hybrid Rans-Les Models In Building Aerodynamics, Faiaz Khaled, Aly Mousaad Aly

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Post Covid-19 Water And Waste Water Management To Protect Public Health And Geoenvironment, Ken Cornell, Arvin Farid

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has posed severe threats to humans and the geoenvironment. The findings of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (Sars-CoV-2) traces in waste water and the practice of disinfecting outdoor spaces in several cities in the world, which can result into the entry of disinfectants and their by-products into storm drainage systems and their subsequent discharge into rivers and coastal waters, raise the issue of environmental, ecological and public health effects. The aims of the current paper are to investigate the potential of water and waste water to operate as transmission routes for Sars-CoV-2 and the …

Household Income And Air Pollution At Public Schools In The United States, Katyland Facas, Kristina Wagstrom

Honors Scholar Theses

Poor air quality at schools may negatively impact students’ academic performance.1 2 3 In this study we look at the relationship between ambient, outdoor air quality and student socioeconomic status at United States public schools. We used free and reduced lunch eligibility, as part of the USDA’s National School Lunch Program, as an indicator of household income. We focus on nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), and particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns (PM2.5). We used ambient pollutant concentration estimates at census block group resolution (Kim et al.) as the outdoor air pollution concentration at each school.4 We found a positive …

Environmental Impacts Of Overdesign In Small Community Water Resource Recovery Facilities, Andrew Pham

Department of Environmental Engineering: Theses and Student Research

Although water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) reduce environmental impacts related to water quality, their construction and operation result in negative environmental impacts in other categories. Past research into Nebraska WRRFs investigated variables determining energy intensity, opportunities and barriers for energy efficiency improvements, and environmental impacts of the construction and operation phase. This leads to the research question of what design practices can be considered to reduce the environmental impacts.

The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was used to evaluate and compare the inventory and environmental impacts of nine small WRRFs, most of which are serving slow growing or declining populations. …

A Novel Jumbo Phage Phima05 Inhibits Harmful Microcystis Sp., Ampapan Naknaen, Oramas Suttinun, Komwit Surachat, Eakalak Khan, Rattanaruji Pomwised

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Microcystis poses a concern because of its potential contribution to eutrophication and production of microcystins (MCs). Phage treatment has been proposed as a novel biocontrol method for Microcystis. Here, we isolated a lytic cyanophage named PhiMa05 with high efficiency against MCs-producing Microcystis strains. Its burst size was large, with approximately 127 phage particles/infected cell, a short latent period (1 day), and high stability to broad salinity, pH and temperature ranges. The PhiMa05 structure was composed of an icosahedral capsid (100 nm) and tail (120 nm), suggesting that the PhiMa05 belongs to the Myoviridae family. PhiMa05 inhibited both planktonic and aggregated …

Rain Rain Flush Away: Evaluating Rainwater Catchment First Flush Volumes, Bridgette Charlebois

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

Rainwater harvesting systems often include quality control systems such as a diverted first flush volume to improve the collected water quality. The first flush volume has traditionally been defined as a set volume of rain based on the first 1-2 millimeters of rain that falls on a roof. Diverting a volume of water can be seen as a waste when rainwater is a main source of potable water, sometimes leading to lack of implementation, and thus contaminating the final collected water. Understanding the variability of first flush volume required due to environmental parameters can be used to develop an optimized …

Effect Of Intermittent Water Supply On Water Quality In A Model Pipeloop, Mariam Alkattan

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

Intermittent water supply (IWS) is defined as a piped drinking water distribution system that operates for less than 24 hours per day. Water quality is found to be negatively impacted in IWS, which creates a human health risk. There are still may gaps in our understanding of pathways of contamination in IWS, which has been a limitation in creating appropriate solutions to maintain water quality in IWS systems. To characterize these pathways, we ran a study to investigate the impact of intermittency on water quality, biofilms, and water pressure in IWS, which consisted of constructing two identical model drinking water …

Using Remote Sensing And Environmental Precursors To Detect And Predict Cyanobacteria Harmful Algal Blooms In Northeastern Us Waterbodies, Amanda Craver

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

Cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs) are a global problem with human health, environmental, and economic concerns. The severity and frequency of toxic cyanoHABs are expected to increase with climate change. Remote sensing has proven to be a useful tool in monitoring cyanoHABs. This study uses remote sensing observations from Sentinel-3Ocean Land Color Imager (OLCI)combined with the Spectral Shape Algorithm (SSA) to detect the presence of cyanobacteria in numerous waterbodies throughout the Northeast United States over 2016to 2020. The ACOLITE processor was used for the atmospheric correction of the Sentinel-3 OLCI data, as it has been shown to provide more accurate …

Drought Characteristics In The Lower Mekong River Basin And Relationship To Land Cover Change, Heejun Park

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

Drought can have devastating effects on regional water resources and agriculture, with an estimated US$96 billions of damages globally between 2005 and 2015. In the Lower Mekong Basin, the impacts of drought have been a major concern for local stakeholders as the region is the largest rice-producing area in the world. Few studies of long-term drought in the region have directly assessed the effects of land cover changes on both agricultural and hydrological drought. We used a suite of remote sensing data to assess drought characteristics in five countries of this region (Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar) where traditional in-situ …

2021 Final Butte Reduction Works (Brw) Smelter Area Mine Waste Remediation And Contaminated Groundwater Hydraulic Control Site Phase Iii Quality Assurance Project Plan (Qapp), Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

An Overview On Deficit And Requirements Of The Irish National Soil Phosphorus Balance, Ciarán O'Donnell, Aoife Egan, Joseph R. Harrington, Denise Barnett, Patrick Forrestal, Niamh Power

Publications

Phosphorus (P) is an essential life-supporting nutrient for which there is no substitute. Modern farming practice and food production are supported by the application of mineral P fertiliser derived from finite mined phosphate rock. The European Union does not have indigenous mineral phosphate reserves, which poses a significant issue to food security. This research paper assesses the potential of indigenous recycled P sources to replace imported P fertiliser within the Republic of Ireland. The research is undertaken at NUTS 3 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units) regional level, the nutrient soil P requirement is established, and the extent to which the …

The Influence Of Channel Deepening On Tides, River Discharge Effects, And Storm Surge, Stefan A. Talke, Ramin Familkhalili, David A. Jay

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We combine archival research, semi-analytical models, and numerical simulations to address the following question: how do changes to channel geometry alter tidal properties and flood dynamics in a hyposynchronous, strongly frictional estuary with a landward decay in tidal amplitudes? Records in the Saint Johns River Estuary since the 1890s show that tidal range has doubled in Jacksonville, Florida. Near the estuary inlet, tidal discharge approximately doubled but tidal amplitudes increased only ~6%. Modeling shows that increased shipping channel depths from 5-6 to ~13m drove the observed changes, with other factors like channel shortening and width reduction producing comparatively minor effects. …

Development Of A Separation Solution For Braided Polyester/Polyolefin Ropes And Lines, Stefan Fricke, Robbie Huton

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

The following report summarizes the research performed for the project sponsored by Net Your Problem. The research focuses on using depolymerization reactions as a method of separating polyester from polyolefin material in braided lines commonly used in the fishing and crabbing industries. Currently the mixed fibers in these lines are too comingled to be separated by conventional mechanical recycling methods. The glycolysis reactions were chosen to take advantage of the very different solubilities of polyester and polyolefins. Ethelene glycol breaks down the PET into oligomers and BHET monomer while leaving the polyolefins unreacted. The products of the reaction can then …