Engineering Commons^™

Anatomy Of A Nanoscale Conduction Channel Reveals The Mechanism Of A High-Performance Memristor, Feng Miao, John Strachan, Jianhua Yang, M Zhang, Ilan Goldfarb, Antonio Torrezan, Peter Eschbach, Ronald Kelley, Gilberto Medeiros-Ribeiro, R Stanley Williams

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publication Series

By employing a precise method for locating and directlyimaging the active switching region in a resistive random access memory (RRAM) device, a nanoscale conducting channel consisting of an amorphous Ta(O) solid solution surrounded by nearly stoichiometric Ta2O5 is observed. Structural and chemical analysis of the channel combined with temperature-dependent transport measurements indicate a unique resistance switching mechanism.

Evaluation Of Wind Load Integration In Disproportionate Collapse Analysis Of Steel Moment Frames For Column Loss, Simos Gerasimidis, C. Baniotopoulos

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publication Series

The design of steel structures, in most cases, depends majorly on the level of wind loads which are prescribed by codes and regulations and are used in the structural analysis due to the fact that steel structures being light and ductile systems are strongly affected from a slight difference in the values of wind loading. During the last decades, disproportionate collapse analysis has become of major interest mainly due to the increasing number of failures occurring in that pattern. Commonly accepted guidelines and methods of analysis have been produced, the most dominating of which being the Department of Defense Facilities …

Wachusett Reservoir Contaminant Spill Modeling Using Ce-Qual W2, Cory S. Devonis

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

This research studies contaminant spills in the Wachusett Reservoir by two dimensional modeling utilizing CE-QUAL W2. The Wachusett Reservoir, located in central Massachusetts, has a capacity of 65 billion gallons and is the primary water source for the metropolitan Boston area. There are numerous inflows and outflows to and from the Wachusett Reservoir, with the Quabbin Aqueduct supplying approximately half of the total water entering the Wachusett. The Quabbin Aqueduct connects the Quabbin Reservoir (412 billion gallons) to the Wachusett Reservoir and supplies water to maintain desired water surface elevations in the Wachusett during time of high demand and low …

Perchlorate Reduction By Sulfur Oxidizing Bacteria, Amber R. Boles

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

Perchlorate (ClO4-) contaminated water is becoming a wide-spread problem as more sites are being identified worldwide. Biological perchlorate reduction is a promising alternative to conventional physical/chemical treatment processes and has the advantage of reducing perchlorate to the benign products, chloride and oxygen. A number of bacteria are capable of reducing perchlorate using a variety of electron donors including organic carbon compounds, hydrogen, iron, and reduced sulfur compounds. Previous studies in our laboratory successfully used a novel, sulfur oxidizing bacterial consortium (SUPeRB) to reduce perchlorate in both batch culture and in packed bed reactors (PBR). There were two main objectives of …

Sub-Daily Multi-Objective Models For Optimizing Hydropower In The Deerfield River, Kelcy Adamec

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

This document is part of the Connecticut River Watershed Project, a federally authorized collaborative project of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (US ACE), the Nature Conservancy (TNC), the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The project began in September 2008 with Congressional funding for this project with TNC and the USACE as equal funding partners.

The Connecticut River Watershed Project will identify management modifications for more than seventy influential dams in the Connecticut River Basin to increase environmental benefits while maintaining beneficial human uses such as water supply, flood control, and hydropower generation. Key …

Investigating Estrogenic Endocrine Disrupting Compounds And Their Disinfection Byproducts Within Drinking Water Treatment, Kirsten E. Studer

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

Emerging public health concerns relating to the epigenetic effects of EDCs, along with the

reconceptualization of dose response curves, provides a compelling rationale for addressing

estrogenically active contaminants in drinking water. These environmental health concerns are

now known to have long lasting impacts, especially on fetal development. For this drinking

water research, the estrogenic EDC byproducts were identified and the treatment processes were

compared using the dose applied, the number of byproducts formed and the relative

quantification of the treatment byproducts. The analytical optimized method presented and

implemented in this research successfully determined the percent degradation of the parent

compound …

Investigating Estrogenic Endocrine Disrupting Compounds And Their Disinfection Byproducts Within Drinking Water Treatment, Kirsten E. Studer

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

Emerging public health concerns relating to the epigenetic effects of EDCs, along with the reconceptualization of dose response curves, provides a compelling rationale for addressing estrogenically active contaminants in drinking water. These environmental health concerns are now known to have long lasting impacts, especially on fetal development. For this drinking water research, the estrogenic EDC byproducts were identified and the treatment processes were compared using the dose applied, the number of byproducts formed and the relative quantification of the treatment byproducts. The analytical optimized method presented and implemented in this research successfully determined the percent degradation of the parent compound …

News Media Environment, Selective Perception, And The Survival Of Preference Diversity Within Communication Networks, Frank C.S. Liu, Paul E. Johnson

JITP 2011: The Future of Computational Social Science

There is a natural tension between the effects on public opinion of social networks and the news media. It is widely believed that social networks tend to harmonize opinions within them, but the presence of media may accentuate diversity by inserting discordant messages. On the other hand, in a totalitarian state where the government controls the media, social networks may mitigate the homogenizing pressure of a regime’s propaganda. The tendency of opinion to follow the “official line” may be mitigated because opponents of the government interact on a personal level and bolster one another’s views. This paper employs agent-based modeling—an …

Biodegradation Of Ethylene Dibromide (Edb) Under In Situ And Biostimulated Conditions At Mmr, Robert Mckeever

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

An extensive microcosm study was conducted to investigate the biodegradation of 1,2-dibromoethane (EDB) under in situ and biostimulated conditions within a plume at the Massachusetts Military Reservation in Cape Cod, MA. This particular EDB plume is unique because it has persisted for over 38 years, is more than 61 m below the ground surface, and has both aerobic and anaerobic zones with EDB levels above the maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 0.05 μg/L (ppb). Microcosms were constructed with in situ materials and conducted under environmentally relevant conditions (field EDB concentrations; incubated at 12°C). The results showed that natural attenuation occurred …

2-D Spill Modeling In The Wachusett Reservoir With Cequal-W2 For Years 2003-2006, Bryan R. Sojkowski

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

This study examines the effects of various environmental conditions on the behavior of a contaminant spill as it travels across the Wachusett Reservoir. The reservoir, located in central Massachusetts, is a 65 billion gallon water body that supplies drinking water to the Boston Metropolitan area and consists of numerous inflows and outflows. The Quabbin Reservoir, a 412 billion gallon system, accounts for close to half of the inflow. The Wachusett Reservoir receives Quabbin water through the Quabbin aqueduct located on its eastern side. CEQUAL W2, a two-dimensional, laterally averaged, hydrodynamic and water quality model was utilized to perform numerous simulations. …

Utilizing A Decision Support System To Optimize Reservoir Operations To Restore The Natural Flow Distribution In The Connecticut River Watershed, Brian Pitta

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

Reservoir development on the Connecticut River Basin has altered the natural hydrograph and detrimentally affected the region's aquatic ecosystems that thrive on natural variability. This thesis examines ways in which flows in the river and its triburaries can be returned to a more natural regime withouy negatively impacting other users. The analysis offers alternative operations to meet the various objectives as well as evaluates the impacts of climate change on the basin. This paper focuses on the upper third of the basin as a proof of concept to demonstrate the decision support system and to generate initial results for the …

Conventional Water Treatment Processes For Removing Pharmaceutical And Endocrine Disrupting Compounds, Jing Lin

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are natural or synthetic compounds that act like hormones in the endocrine system and disrupt the physiologic function of endogenous hormones. Although no standards concerning EDCs in drinking water have been established, there are rising concerns about the effects of EDCs in drinking water on human health.

The main objective of this study is to conduct bench scale experiments to investigate the effectiveness of conventional drinking water treatment processes at removing selected endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) from municipal water supplies. It was also a goal of this work to provide …

Annual, Monthly, And Storm Scale Analysis Of Chloride Fluxes From Highway Deicing Agents To The Cambridge Reservoir, Marie Rivers

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

This research project analyzed streamflow, specific conductivity, and precipitation data for two tributary locations of the Cambridge Reservoir. MassDOT deicing agent application data was also analyzed for state maintained roads in the drainage areas of the two tributaries. The purpose of this project was to determine the load of chloride to the reservoir from the state maintained roads. All data was considered on an annual, monthly, and individual storm scale. A hydraulic model for runoff was developed and the mass load of chloride was determined. The study area consisted of USGS gage 01104415 (Lincoln Street) which is a tributary to …

Steel Moment Frames Column Loss Analysis: The Influence Of Time Step Size, Simos Gerasimidis, C. Baniotopoulos

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publication Series

This paper applies two well-known structural dynamics computational algorithms to the problem ofdisproportionate collapse of steel moment frames applying the alternate load path method. Any problem of structural dynamics strongly depends on the accuracy and the reliability of the analysis method since the parameters involved in the selection of the appropriate algorithm are affected by the nature of the problem. Disproportionate collapse is herein simulated via a time history analysis used to ‘‘turn off’’ the effectiveness of an element to the structure. For this kind of problem the time step size of the computational algorithm is of major importance for …

Disproportionate Collapse Analysis Of Cable-Stayed Steel Roofs For Cable Loss, Simos Gerasimidis, C. Baniotopoulos

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publication Series

Disproportionate collapse has been identified lately as a real cause of failure for structural engineering projects. Rare and unexpected, the phenomenon of disproportionate collapse usually results to many fatalities and thus, its analysis and mitigation is deemed necessary. This work describes the analysis of a cable-stayed steel roof under the scenario of a cable loss. The eventof a cable loss is assumed to be brittle, while relevant recent recommendations suggest the application of a scaled equivalent static force at the points of the anchorage of the cable but in the opposite direction of the original cable force. In this paper, …

Advanced Oxidation Of Drinking Water Using Ultraviolet Light And Alternative Solid Forms Of Hydrogen Peroxide, Zachary F. Monge

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

With the increasing focus on removing emerging, unregulated drinking water contaminants, the use of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) has become more prevalent. A commonly used AOP is the ultraviolet light/hydrogen peroxide (UV/H2O2) AOP. This process utilizes the formation of hydroxyl radicals to oxidize contaminants to less harmful forms. In this analysis, two alternative solid forms of H2O2, sodium perborate (SPB) and sodium percarbonate (SPC) were used as sources of H2O2 in the UV/H2O2 AOP. The potential advantage of SPB and SPC is that they are solids in nature, and as a result, the shipping costs and shipping energy requirements can …

Institute Overview, Morton Sternheim

STEM Digital

Digital cameras and computers are widely available for students and teachers. However, they are mainly used for documentation: creating PPT presentations, handouts, posters, etc. STEM DIGITAL shows how digital image analysis can be applied to environmental (and other) research in STEM courses. Application to studies of air quality, water quality, arsenic contamination, climate change, diffusion, etc.

Digital Camera Basics, Stephen Schneider

STEM Digital

No abstract provided.

Measuring Lengths And Areas With Adi. Student Guide, Morton Sternheim

STEM Digital

No abstract provided.

Measuring G With Movie Tracker, Stephen Schneider

STEM Digital

No abstract provided.

Detecting And Mixing Colors, Rob Snyder

STEM Digital

How can Analyzing Digital Images software reveal the differences between primary colors of light and primary colors of paints or pigments?

Measuring The Acceleration Of Falling Objects, John Pickle

STEM Digital

Earth's gravity pulls all objects toward its center, and near the Earth's surface. Objects in free fall accelerate at 9.8 m/s² vertically downward, provided air resistance is negligible. This value of acceleration is often referred to as "g". There are many ways to measure this rate of acceleration, and most require a timing device. Typically, stopwatches are the least expensive technology, so these are commonly available in high school science classrooms. With the recent addition of movie cameras on cell phones and digital cameras, another timing tool is available at moderate cost (free if the school policy …

Leaf Leaching Experiment, David Reckhow

STEM Digital

Water treatment engineers and public health officials need to pay careful attention to the presence of dissolved organic matter in water supplies selected for human consumption (i.e., raw drinking waters).

Measuring Albedo With Adi - An Intensity Application, Morton Sternheim

STEM Digital

Why are Polar Regions more affected by global warming than other parts of the globe? One reason (there are others) is that as sea ice melts and more open water appears, more energy is absorbed, and warming accelerates. This is a form of positive feedback and it makes the polar climate change faster than the climate in temperate areas. Increasing vegetation on land also has a similar positive feedback effect. This effect is a change in the albedo – the fraction of the incident sunlight that is reflected back to space.

Stem Digital And Adi In The Classroom, Jennifer Welborn

STEM Digital

Applications of ADI by students at Amherst Regional Middle School

Co2 Diffusion Through Gelatin Experiment, Jennifer Welborn

STEM Digital

An example of measuring lengths.

Natural Organic Matter In Water, David Reckhow

STEM Digital

Formation in Watersheds and Removal in Water Treatment

Using Adi To Quantify A Color Change In Crayfish, Jennifer Welborn

STEM Digital

Do Crayfish Change Color If Their Environment Changes? A Guided Inquiry Lab for 7th grade Life Science

Background: There is anecdotal evidence from bass fisherman that crayfish are able to change color depending on their surroundings. A (cursory) literature review of this phenomenon showed that no formal research has been done in this area. Students had an additional informal lesson about research funding (or lack thereof) because of this finding.

Students designed and conducted a controlled experiment to see the effect of changing environment color on crayfish color.

ADI was used to quantify a color change.

Human Variation In Skin Color And Race As A Social Construct, Jennifer Welborn

STEM Digital

This lesson is part of evolution unit which follows heredity and genetics

The lesson is interdisciplinary in nature in that I discuss the concept of race as a social construct and the idea that there are “black, white, red, yellow” skinned people is something that people developed. It is not based on biology. Race groupings are human-made groups.

Students first learn about mixing light and how to determine black and white from an ADI analysis. They learn that red and green = yellow, etc.

They then photograph each other’s forearms and analyze the images using ADI.

We then discuss skin …

Air Quality: Carbon Dioxide, Deborah Carlisle, Stephen Schneider

STEM Digital

Measuring CO2 with BTB and ADI.