Engineering Commons^™

Environmental Monitoring Using A Drone-Enabled Wireless Sensor Network, Gina Valentino, Laura Yates, Brooke Potter

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Water quality monitoring traditionally occurs via resource intensive field surveys, such as when a researcher manually collects data in a stream. Limiting factors such as time, money, and accessibility often result in less oversight of impaired water bodies, significantly threatening ecosystemic health and related ecosystem services. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, 84% of rivers and streams within the United States remain unassessed, resulting in significant lapses in available data. Such lapses prohibit efficient and effective monitoring, restoration, and conservation efforts throughout the United States. The objective of this project was to employ an unmanned aerial vehicle to …

A Feasibility Study Of Industrial Hemp On Virginia Commercial Poultry Production, Aaron Sloss

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This project sought to characterize industrial hemp as a potential competitive agricultural commodity for the state of Virginia. Specifically, industrial hempseed was evaluated as a feedstock for the commercial broiler (meat-chickens) industry in Virginia.

Data were gathered to identify both the advantages and disadvantages of industrial hempseed as a nutritional resource for broilers. Key nutritional compositions were identified, quantified, and compared to several common feed ingredients, such as soybean, wheat, corn, and sorghum. Hempseed (whole seed) was found to have a considerably high amino acid content, protein, fiber, and metabolizable energy – making it an attractive alternative to conventional feedstuffs. …

The Effects Of Finite Precision On The Simulation Of The Double Pendulum, Rebecca Wild

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

We use mathematics to study physical problems because abstracting the information allows us to better analyze what could happen given any range and combination of parameters. The problem is that for complicated systems mathematical analysis becomes extremely cumbersome. The only effective and reasonable way to study the behavior of such systems is to simulate the event on a computer. However, the fact that the set of floating-point numbers is finite and the fact that they are unevenly distributed over the real number line raises a number of concerns when trying to simulate systems with chaotic behavior. In this research we …

Dry River Watershed Valuation And Management Plan, Julia Hutchens

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Water quality has become a major environmental and human welfare concern in the world today, it’s no longer just for developing countries. There have been many incidences in the US of health problems related to water quality and a shortage of water. The City of Harrisonburg and the surrounding community also have a need for a well-developed watershed management plan. The focus of this study will be the Dry River because that is a main source of the city’s water. The Dry River watershed is threatened by illegal dumping, erosion from primitive roads and future road building sedimentation, a lack …