Engineering Commons^™

Combining Data From Multiple Sources Using The Cuahsi Hydrologic Information System (Invited), David G. Tarboton, Daniel Ames, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, J. L. Goodall

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) has developed a Hydrologic Information System (HIS) to provide better access to data by enabling the publication, cataloging, discovery, retrieval, and analysis of hydrologic data using web services. The CUAHSI HIS is an Internet based system comprised of hydrologic databases and servers connected through web services as well as software for data publication, discovery and access. The HIS metadata catalog lists close to 100 web services registered to provide data through this system, ranging from large federal agency data sets to experimental watersheds managed by University investigators. The …

Advancing Cyberinfrastructure To Support High Resolution Water Resources Modeling (Invited), David G. Tarboton, F. L. Ogden, N. Jones, Jeffery S. Horsburgh

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Addressing the problem of how the availability and quality of water resources at large scales are sensitive to climate variability, watershed alterations and management activities requires computational resources that combine data from multiple sources and support integrated modeling. Related cyberinfrastructure challenges include: 1) how can we best structure data and computer models to address this scientific problem through the use of high-performance and data-intensive computing, and 2) how can we do this in a way that discipline scientists without extensive computational and algorithmic knowledge and experience can take advantage of advances in cyberinfrastructure? This presentation will describe a new system …

Impact Of Sampling Frequency On Annual Load Estimation Of Total Phosphorus And Total Suspended Solids, Amber Spackman Jones, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, David King Stevens, Nancy O. Mesner, Ronald J. Ryel

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The determination of sediment and nutrient loads is typically based on the collection and analysis of grab samples. The frequency and regularity of traditional sampling may not provide representation of constituent loading, particularly in systems with flashy hydrology. At two sites in the Little Bear River, Utah, continuous, high-frequency turbidity was used with surrogate relationships to generate estimates of total phosphorus and total suspended solids concentrations, which were paired with discharge to estimate annual loads. The high frequency records were randomly subsampled to represent hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly sampling frequencies and to examine the effects of timing, and resulting …

Flow Measurement Accuracies Of In-Service Residential Water Meters, Devin M. Stoker, Steven L. Barfuss, Michael C. Johnson

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Water utility managers generally agree that water meters, especially mechanical water meters, experience a degradation of accuracy over time. This degradation is a function of several factors, such as wear, water quality, water velocities, throughput volumes, and installation and handling. Both a thorough understanding of the factors that affect meter accuracy and the ability to pinpoint, if possible, the optimal lifespan of any particular type of water meter in a residential distribution system are desirable for improved system management. The purpose of this article was to investigate the relationship between meter accuracy degradation and factors such as age, wear, and …

Ammonia Measurements And Emissions From A California Dairy Using Point And Remote Sensors, Kori D. Moore, E. Young, C. Gurell, Michael D. Wojcik, Randy S. Martin, G. E. Bingham, R. L. Pfeiffer, J. H. Prueger, J. L. Hatfield

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Ammonia (NH3) is an important trace gas species in the atmosphere that can have negative impacts on human, animal, and ecosystem health. Agriculture has been identified as the largest source of NH3, specifically livestock operations. NH3 emissions from a commercial dairy in California were investigated during June 2008. Cattle were held in open-lot pens, except for young calves in hutches with shelters. Solid manure was stored in the open-lot pens. Liquid manure from feed lanes was passed through a solids settling basin and stored in a holding pond. Passive sensors and open-path Fourier transform infrared spectrometers (OP-FTIR) were deployed around …

An Examination Of The Sensitivity Of The Great Salt Lake To Changes In Inputs, Ibrahim Nourein Mohammed, David G. Tarboton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The Great Salt Lake is a closed basin lake in which level and volume fluctuate due to differences between inflows and outflows. The only outflow is evaporation, which depends directly on lake area and salinity, both of which depend on lake volume. The lake’s level, volume, and area adjust to balance, on average, precipitation and streamflow inflows by evaporation. In this paper, we examine the sensitivity of lake volume changes to precipitation, streamflow, and evaporation and the interactions among these processes and lake area and salinity related to volume. A mass balance model is developed to generate representative realizations of …

An Indigoidine Biosynthetic Gene Cluster From Streptomyces Chromofuscus Atcc 49982 Contains An Unusual Indb Homologue, Dayu Yu, Fuchao Xu, Jonathan Valiente, Siyuan Wang, Jixun Zhan

Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

A putative indigoidine biosynthetic gene cluster was located in the genome of Streptomyces chromofuscus ATCC 49982. The silent 9.4-kb gene cluster consists of five open reading frames, named orf1, Sc-indC, Sc-indA, Sc-indB, and orf2, respectively. Sc-IndC was functionally characterized as an indigoidine synthase through heterologous expression of the enzyme in both Streptomyces coelicolor CH999 and Escherichia coli BAP1. The yield of indigoidine in E. coli BAP1 reached 2.78 g/l under the optimized conditions. The predicted protein product of Sc-indB is unusual and much larger than any other reported IndB-like protein. The N-terminal portion of this enzyme resembles IdgB and the …

Heuristic Methods For Optimization - Cornell University, Christine Shoemaker

All ECSTATIC Materials

Heuristic optimization algorithms are artificial intelligence search methods that can be used to find the optimal decisions for designing or managing a wide range of complex systems. This course describes a variety of (meta) heuristic search methods including simulated annealing, tabu search, genetic algorithms, genetic programming, dynamically dimensioned search, and multiobjective methods. Algorithms will be used to find values of discrete and/or continuous variables that optimize system performance or improve system reliability. Students can select application projects from a range of application areas. The advantages and disadvantages of heuristic search methods for both serial and parallel computation are discussed in …

Environmental Systems I - University Of Illinois, Urbana, Ximing Cai

All ECSTATIC Materials

Undergraduate course in environmental systems at University of Illinois, Urbana in Fall 2012.

Hydroshare: An Online, Collaborative Environment For The Sharing Of Hydrologic Data And Models, David G. Tarboton, R. Idaszak, Daniel Ames, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, J. Goodall, L. Band, V. Merwade, A. Couch, J. Arrigo, R. Hooper, D. Valentine

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

People Matching For Transportation Planning Using Texel Camera Data For Sequential Estimation, Scott E. Budge, J.A. Sallay, Z. Wang, J.H. Gunther

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper addresses automatic people matching in the dynamic setting of public transportation, such as a bus, as people enter and then at some later time exit from a doorway. Matching a person entering to the same person exiting at a later time provides accurate information about individual riders, such as how long a person is on a bus and the associated stops the person uses. At a higher level, matching exits to previous entry events provides information about the distribution of traffic flow across the whole transportation system. The proposed techniques may be applied at any gateway where the …

A Comparison Of Traditional And Bayesian Statistical Models In Fluvial Sediment Transport, Mark L. Schmelter, David King Stevens

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The characterization of sediment transport is an important problem that has been actively studied for some time. Numerous approaches have been demonstrated in the literature, including mechanistic models, probabilistic arguments, machine learning algorithms, and empirical formulations. Most implementations of sediment transport relations are deterministic in nature and require the specification of model parameters. These parameters are traditionally assumed fixed (i.e., a single value), and subsequent predictions are not necessarily representative because of uncertainty because they are fixed (i.e., a line). In this paper, a Bayesian statistical sediment transport model is presented, and its ability to infer critical shear values from …

A Laboratory-Based Course In Real-Time Digital Signal Processing Using The Tms320c40, Scott E. Budge

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Hydroshare: An Online, Collaborative Environment For The Sharing Of Hydrologic Data And Models, David G. Tarboton, R. Idaszak, Daniel Ames, J. Goodall, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, L. Band, V. Merwade, C. Song, A. Couch, D. Valentine, R. Hooper, J. Arrigo, D. Maidment, T. Whiteaker

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Evaluation And Development Of Unmanned Aircraft (Uav) For Udot Needs, Steven L. Barfuss, Austin Jensen, Shannon Clemens

Publications

This research involved the use of high-resolution aerial photography obtained from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to aid the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) in monitoring and documenting State Roadway structures and associated issues. Using geo-referenced UAV high resolution aerial photographic imagery, the project documented the before, during and after stages of the Southern Parkway construction near the new Saint George International airport, in addition to photographing and classifying wetland plant species in the Utah Lake wetland mitigation bank on the North East corner of Utah Lake.

Merrill-Cazier Library Gas Exhibition, Betty Rozum, Andrew Wesolek, Pamela N. Martin

Education and Outreach

This exhibition, presented in the Merrill-Cazier Library, captured the history and accomplishments of the GAS program. Click the download button to see a PowerPoint presentation featuring images and text from the exhibition.

Interdisciplinary Modeling: Water-Related Issues And Changing Climate - New Mexico State University, Laurel Saito, Alexander Fernald, Timothy Link

All ECSTATIC Materials

Graduate course in interdisciplinary modeling: water-related issues and climate change offered at University of Nevada, Reno in Summer 2012.

Montana Flume Flow Corrections Under Submerged Flow, Ryan P. Willeitner, Steven L. Barfuss, Michael C. Johnson

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

A Montana flume is a Parshall flume without a diverging downstream section and is used to measure open channel flow. Under free-flow conditions, the Parshall flume and the Montana flume have the same calibration characteristics, but under submerge flows, their calibrations significantly differ. Tests were conducted at the Utah Water Research Laboratory on an acrylic 15.2-cm (6-in.) Montana flume to determine the effects of submergence on the flow readings. This type of investigation has not been previously analyzed. It was found that a standard Parshall flume rating curve overpredicted flow rates in the submerged Montana flume, up to 48%. Parshall …

Plants For Stormwater Pollution Removal: Greenhouse Research And Field-Study At Green Meadows Subdivision Logan, Ut, Ryan Dupont, Margie Rycewicz-Borecki

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Much of the stormwater protection in Cache Valley is done with respect to prevention of TSS contamination during construction activities. Preventing contamination of stormwater from construction activities is critical, but stormwater can still be highly polluted

Application Of An Energy-Vorticity Turbulence Model To Fully Rough Pipe Flow, E. B. Fowler, Doug F. Hunsaker, W. F. Phillips

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Based on a more direct analogy between turbulent and molecular transport, a foundation was recently presented for an energy-vorticity turbulence model. The new turbulent-energytransport equation contains two closure coefficients; a viscous-dissipation coefficient and a turbulent-transport coefficient. To help evaluate the closure coefficients and provide insight into the energy-vorticity turbulence variables, fully rough pipe flow is considered. For this fully developed flow, excellent agreement with experimental data for velocity profiles and friction factors is attained over a wide range of closure coefficients, provided that a given relation between the coefficients is maintained.

A Modeling Approach To Assessing The Effect Of Multiple Lakes In Sequence On Nutrient Transport, Dave M. Epstein, Bethany T. Neilson, Keli J. Goodman, David King Stevens, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The effects of a single lake on downstream water chemistry may be compounded by the presence of additional lakes within the watershed, augmenting or negating the effects of the first lake. Multiple, linked lakes are a common feature of many watersheds and these resemble reactors in series often studied in engineering. The effects of multiple lakes in series on nutrient transport are largely unexplored. We populated and calibrated a simple lake model to investigate the role of a sub-alpine lake (Bull Trout Lake (BTL), Rocky Mountains, USA) on the transport of the macronutrients during the summer of 2008. Further, we …

Predicting Timing Violations Through Instruction-Level Path Sensitization Analysis, Sanghamitra Roy, Koushik Chakraborty

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In this paper, we present a novel technique for early prediction of timing violations in high-performance pipelined microprocessors. We show that a static instruction in a microprocessor, identified by its Program Counter (PC), is an excellent predictor of an upcoming timing violation. Our analysis combines architectural data collected from real program execution with gate level logic analysis. Exploiting this PC based timing violation predictability, we propose a robust system design that predicts and tolerates timing violations seamlessly in a pipelined microprocessor. Under two different faulty environments, we show 20.9-89.8% and 14.6-80.6% average performance improvements in real programs over other state-of-the-art …

Towards Graceful Aging Degradation In Nocs Through An Adaptive Routing Algorithm, Kshitij Bhardwaj, Koushik Chakraborty, Sanghamitra Roy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Continuous technology scaling has made aging mechanisms such as Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI) and electromigration primary concerns in Network-on-Chip (NoC) designs. In this paper, we model the effects of these aging mechanisms on NoC components such as routers and links using a novel reliability metric called Traffic Threshold per Epoch (TTpE). We observe a critical need of a robust aging-aware routing algorithm that not only reduces power-performance overheads caused due to aging degradation but also minimizes the stress experienced by heavily utilized routers and links. To solve this problem, we propose an aging-aware adaptive routing algorithm and a router …

A Calibration-And-Error Correction Method For Improved Texel (Fused Ladar/Digital Camera) Images, Scott E. Budge

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The fusion of imaging ladar information and digital imagery results in 2.5-D surfaces covered with texture information. Called "texel images," these datasets, when taken from dierent viewpoints, can be combined to create 3-D images of buildings, vehicles, or other objects. These 3-D images can then be further processed for automatic target recognition, or viewed in a 3-D viewer for tactical planning purposes. This paper presents a procedure for calibration, error correction, and fusing of ladar and digital camera information from a single hand-held sensor to create accurate texel images. A brief description of a prototype sensor is given, along with …

Estimating And Verifying Household Potential To Conserve Water, Francisco J. Suero, Peter W. Mayer, David E. Rosenberg

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Behavior and technological impacts on residential indoor water use and conservation efforts in the United States are identified. Preexisting detailed end-use data was collected before and after toilets, faucets, showerheads, and clothes washers were retrofitted in 96 owner-occupied, single-family households in Oakland, California; Seattle, Washington; and Tampa, Florida, between 2000 and 2003. Water volume, duration of use, and time of use were recorded and disaggregated by appliance for two weeks before and four weeks after appliances were retrofitted. For each appliance, observed differences in water use before and after retrofits are compared to water savings predicted by simple analytical, regression, …

Acetone, Butanol, And Ethanol Production From Algae Biomass Using Anaerobic Solventogenic Microorganisms, Neal Hengge, Joshua Ellis

Student Showcase

The ability to convert the carbohydrates present within algae biomass to high value industrial solvents, namely bio-acetone and bio-butanol, has been demonstrated. Clostridium sp., an obligate anaerobic, spore forming, saccharolytic, and acetone butanol and ethanol (ABE) producing microorganism is capable of metabolizing the carbohydrates present in algal cells. This metabolic activity produces acetone and butanol, in relatively high quantities, as fermentative byproducts. This has been confirmed via GC analysis of the clarified supernatant measured against calibration curves established using analytical standards. Our claim is that we can produce these high value and renewable solvents using algae biomass as well as …

Water Main Break Rates In The Usa And Canada: A Comprehensive Study, April 2012, Steven Folkman

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Modern societies base their economic prosperity on a standard of living which includes a complex network of infrastructure, both above and below ground. Quality drinking water brought to the tap through elaborate underground distribution systems is a critical component to our public health and economic well-being. In the USA and Canada, it has been the hallmark of our industry and cooperation.

EVIDENCE OF DECLINE

Our water infrastructure is now in decline after decades of service. The signs of distress surface daily as water mains break, creating floods and sink holes. The loss of water service is more than an inconvenience, …

Effects Of Particulates On Water Meter Accuracy Through Expected Life, B. Skyler Buck, Michael C. Johnson, Steven L. Barfuss

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Many factors can influence the accuracy of water meters, including age, throughput, water quality, and the presence of particulates in the metered water. These factors can affect various types of meters quite differently depending on the meter's design. This article examines the effects of particulates on various types of meters over their estimated life in a controlled environment. The intent of this study was to assess the effect of particulates on new meter performance and identify trends that may typify meter performance and longevity after being subjected to a slug of particulates. Oscillating-piston (displacement-piston) meters were most affected by a …

The Cuahsi Community Hydrologic Information System, David G. Tarboton, D. R. Maidment, I. Zaslavsky, Daniel Ames, J. L. Goodall, R. P. Hooper, Jeffery S. Horsburgh

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

An Milp-Based Aging-Aware Routing Algorithm For Nocs, Kshitij Bhardwaj, Koushik Chakraborty, Sanghamitra Roy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Network-on-Chip (NoC) architectures have emerged as a better replacement of the traditional bus-based communication in the many-core era. However, continuous technology scaling has made aging mechanisms such as Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI) and electromigration primary concerns in NoC design. In this paper1, we propose a novel system-level aging model to model the effects of asymmetric aging in NoCs. We observe a critical need of a holistic aging analysis, which when combined with power-performance optimization, poses a multi-objective design challenge. To solve this problem, we propose a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP)-based aging-aware routing algorithm that optimizes the various design …