Digital Commons Network^™

Understanding The Linkages Between Urban Transportation Design And Population Exposure To Traffic-Related Air Pollution: Application Of An Integrated Transportation And Air Pollution Modeling Framework To Tampa, Fl, Sashikanth Gurram

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rapid and unplanned urbanization has ushered in a variety of public health challenges, including exposure to traffic pollution and greater dependence on automobiles. Moreover, vulnerable population groups often bear the brunt of negative outcomes and are subject to disproportionate exposure and health effects. This makes it imperative for urban transportation engineers, land use planners, and public health professionals to work synergistically to understand both the relationship between urban design and population exposure to traffic pollution, and its social distribution. Researchers have started to pay close attention to this connection, mainly by conducting observational studies on the relationship between transportation, urban …

The Control Of Water Contaminants Assisted By Natural Materials, Wen Zhao

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Natural materials can be used to remove water contaminants by applying proper physical, chemical, and biological water treatment processes. This study involves using natural materials, as they are considered to be more environmentally benign and cost-effective than synthetic materials. This dissertation concentrates on monitoring five major water quality parameters—ammonia, fluoride, turbidity, pH, and fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) —in two major applications where clean water is needed. The focus is on meeting the water quality requirements for each contaminant. The overall objective of this study is to control the levels of ammonia in aquaculture wastewater, and adjust fluoride, turbidity, pH, and …

Water, Sanitation, And Citizenship: Perceptions Of Water Scarcity, Reuse, And Sustainability In Valparaiso De Goias, Brazil, Paola Andrea Gonzalez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Access to reliable water and sanitation are two important goals to improve livelihoods around the world. Providing access to improved and safe water resources that are equitable and appropriate to local needs is important to improve sustainability long-term. In addition, framing access to water and sanitation as basic human rights is often used as a rationale in developing new water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions in developing countries around the world. But not all countries consider access to safe water and sanitation as a human right. In the thesis, the politics of improving and investment in water access and sanitation provision …

Enhancement Of Two Passive Decentralized Biological Nitrogen Removal Systems, Justine L. Stocks

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research evaluates two different Biological Nitrogen Removal (BNR) systems for enhanced nitrogen removal in decentralized wastewater treatment. The first study evaluated the performance of Hybrid Adsorption and Biological Treatment Systems (HABiTS) at the pilot scale with and without stage 1 effluent recirculation. HABiTS is a system developed at the bench scale in our laboratory and was designed for enhanced BNR under transient loading conditions. It consists of two stages; an ion exchange (IX) onto clinoptilolite media coupled with biological nitrification in the aerobic nitrification stage 1 and a Tire-Sulfur Adsorption Denitrification (T-SHAD) system in the anoxic denitrification stage 2. …

The Fate Of Fecal Indicator Bacteria In Passive Nitrogen Reduction Systems, Michelle B. Henderson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The sustainability of water resources is an international and national concern. With increased human activity, water distribution on a global, regional, and local scale has been negatively impacted. Managing water resources also includes managing wastewater. A promising solution to the issues of water scarcity and distribution in the environment is the reuse of wastewater. Wastewater is produced from various sources (domestic, industrial, and commercial); however, if this water is able to be reused closer to the source of generation it could positively impact water distribution. In the United States, approximately 25% of domestic wastewater is treated in onsite wastewater treatment …

Carbon And Nutrient Balances In Microalgal Bioenergy System, Eunyoung Lee

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated life cycle environmental impacts and benefits of an integrated microalgae system with wastewater treatment system using an integrated process modeling approach combined with experimentation. The overall goal of this research is to understand energy, carbon and nutrient balances in the integrated system and to evaluate the environmental impacts and benefits of the integrated system from a carbon, nutrient, and energy perspective. In this study, four major research tasks were designed to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the environmental and economic sustainability of the integrated system, which included development of an integrated co-limitation kinetic model for microalgae …

The Sustainability Of Ion Exchange Water Treatment Technology, Adib Amini

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated using a life cycle environmental and economic approach to evaluate IX technology for small potable water systems, allowing for the identification and development of process and design improvements that reduce environmental impacts and costs. The main goals were to evaluate conventional IX in terms of life cycle environmental and economic sustainability, develop a method for improving designs of IX systems from a environmental and economic sustainability standpoint, evaluate potential design improvements, and make the research findings accessible to water professionals through user-friendly tools and frameworks that take into account their feedback. This research provides an understanding, from …

Mechanism Of Cathodic Prevention Of Carbon Steel In Concrete, Krittin Rattakham

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this work, I aim to clarify the mechanism that allows steel to attain higher chloride threshold as it is cathodically polarized. Specifically, I seek to provide empirical information on whether an intrinsic (predominantly interfacial effects of polarization) or an extrinsic (predominantly concentration changes due to polarization) mechanism may be dominant in the beneficial effect of polarization. I carried out this experiment with 12 identical concrete specimens, each with a cast-in steel plate, constantly exposed them to high-chloride environment. The specimens were divided into 4 triplicates and polarized at 4 different level from OCP, -200, -300 to -400 mV_{SCE …}

Opportunities To Mainstream Gender In Water And Wastewater Infrastructure Projects: A Case Study In Barbados, Wainella Isaacs

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

According to the World Resources Institute, Barbados is one of seven Caribbean countries ranked as being the most water stressed territories in the world. Prevailing drought conditions for the period 2010-2016 further compromised its water security while confirming predictions of a drier regional Caribbean climate. The simultaneous failing of at least 50-year-old water infrastructure at many points in the distribution network adds to these water stress conditions, and presents a financial burden to the local water utility in the form of lost revenues, and increased energy consumption for pumping.

Climate change and its impacts are not gender-neutral, and water infrastructure …