Engineering Commons^™

Low-Cost Household Groundwater Supply Systems For Developing Communities, Michael Maccarthy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Self-supply is widely reported across various contexts, filling gaps left by other forms of water supply provision. This research assesses low-cost household groundwater supply technologies in markets in developing country contexts of sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, with a focus on the potential for improving Self-supply technology implementation and markets in sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically, a mature and unsubsidized Self-supply market for Pitcher Pump systems (suction pumps fitted onto hand-driven boreholes) is studied in an urban context in Madagascar, EMAS low-cost water supply technologies are assessed in Bolivia, and a technical comparison is completed with manual EMAS Pumps and family …

Dynamic Feedback Between Land Use And Hydrology For Ecosystem Services Assessment, Seleshi Getahun Yalew, Tobias Pilz, Christian Schweitzer, Stefan Liersch, Johannes Van Der Kwast, Marloes L. Mul, Ann Van Griensven, Pieter Van Der Zaag

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Ecosystem services assessment requires an integrated approach, as it is influenced by elements such as climate, hydrology and socio-economics, which in turn influence each other. However, there are few studies that integrate these elements in order to assess ecosystem services. Absence of integrated approach to modelling hydrological and land-use changes, for instance, often oversights the dynamic feedback between the two processes. Dynamic changes in land-use should be fed into hydrological models and vice-versa at each time-step for a more realistic representation. In this study, this approach is demonstrated with a case study of the uThukela catchment, South Africa. There is …

Business Intelligence In Environmental Reporting Powered By Xbrl, Jiří Hřebíček, Michal Hodinka, Michael Ŝtencl, Oldřich Trenz

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The paper discusses several critical points of the whole concept of Business lntelligence (Bl) approach to environmental reporting powered by XBRL. First, and most important, is the usage of structured data delivered via XBRL. The main profit on usage of XBRL is the optimization of the Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) process and its combination commonly used best practices on data warehouse models. The whole Bl workflow could be moved further by additional data quality health checks, extended mathematical and logical data test, basics of data discovery and drill-down techniques. The state of the art on the XBRL level and …

Investigating Possible Climate Change And Development Effects On Water Quality Within An Arid Catchment In South Africa: A Comparison Of Two Models, Andrew R. Slaughter, Sukhmani K. Mantel, Denis A. Hughes

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The water quality degradation of fresh water resources has become an increasingly urgent global problem which is predicted to be exacerbated by future development and climate change. Since water quality is to a large extent driven by water quantity, it is useful for a model to incorporate a rainfall-runoff component (natural hydrology), reservoir storage, return flows and abstractions (systems modelling), and a water quality component. One such model that meets these requirements is the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) Model. During 2012, WEAP was applied to the Buffalo River within the Eastern Cape, South Africa, to investigate the effect on …

Extending Existing Models To Capture Vegetation Response To Extreme Weather Events: The Modextreme Project, Gianni Bellocchi, Francisco J. Villalobos, Marcello Donatelli, Ole B. Christensen, Oscar Rojas, Roberto Confalonieri, Ioannis N. Athanasiadis, Irina Carpusca, Claudio O. Stöckle

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Extreme weather events are combinations of meteorological drivers that exceed certain thresholds and occur with low frequency, negatively impacting human living conditions and economic systems including agriculture. The three-year European project MODEXTREME (started on November 1st, 2013) aims at improving the predictive capability of biophysical crop and grassland simulation models under extreme weather conditions (mainly high/low temperatures and water deficit/excess). Existing modelling solutions can be improved with re-usable software libraries to capture extreme weather impacts. Estimates from existing and new modelling solutions will be compared on a variety of datasets and evaluated with respect to medium-term trajectories of future climate …

Discovering Comprehensible Hydrogeological Profiles In The Margarita Island's Aquifers Including Post-Processing In A Data Mining Process, Conti Dante, Gibert Karina

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Groundwater wells are one of the most important water resources in the world. Control and management of these resources are of high importance due to the implicit need of water as the main resource for life. This research focuses on a hydrogeological analysis with clustering, which is one of the most popular data mining methods, including In the classical data mining scheme, last step corresponds to the effective production of knowledge. In this paper, special focus on that part is done, by means of post-processing tools. The main goal is to discover prototypical profiles from the acquifer Pedro González in …

Operational Flash Flood Warning Systems With Global Applicability, Theresa M. Modrick, Rochelle Graham, Eylon Shamir, Robert Jubach, Cristopher R. Spencer, Jason A. Sperfslage, Konstantine P. Georgakakos

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The availability of global meteorological information (observations and forecasts) and widespread digital data on the land surface now affords the use of hydrometeorological modelling in an operational environment to provide numerical guidance for local forecasts and warnings of flash flooding by meteorological and disaster management agencies, Flash floods are among the deadliest natural disasters and can have significant impact on the natural environment and infrastructure, Working with national meteorological and hydrologic services, the Hydrologic Research Center has developed and implemented regional software systems to convey remotely sensed data and guidance products for rapid decisions regarding flash flood warnings, The systems …

The Effect Of Clay, Cement And Fibers On The Strength And Durability Of Compressed Earth Blocks, Wyatt Adair Banker-Hix

Master's Theses

This Thesis examines the effect of soil characteristics, cement content and fibers on the strength and durability of compressed earth blocks (CEBs). This work expands on the available information regarding the constituent properties which affect the compressive and tensile strengths and durability of CEBs. Additionally, little research on the subject of synthetic fibers and their effect on strength and durability of CEBs is available and this work provides an initial study in this area.

To study the effects of fibers, as well as confirm the trends of previous research regarding the effects of clay and cement, 27 unique batches of …

Preliminary Evaluation Of Kenaf As A Structural Material, Andrew Sheldon

All Theses

Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) is an annual fiber plant that is kin to cotton and okra and native to east-central Africa, though it is currently grown in numerous locations around the globe. The plant's apparent high strength and light weight along with its environmental and sustainability advantages makes it a good candidate for use in structural materials. The goal of this study was to design a kenaf product that resembled parallel strand lumber and required minimal processing of the kenaf. The mechanical properties of the two main components of kenaf, the bast fibers and the core, were evaluated using experimental …

An Assessment Of The Emas Pump And Its Potential For Use In Household Water Systems In Uganda, Jacob Daniel Carpenter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rural improved water supply coverage in Uganda has stagnated around 64% for a number of years and at this point more than 10 million rural people do not have access to an improved drinking water source. It has been recognized that progress toward improved water supply coverage and increased service levels may be gained through Government and nongovernmental organization (NGO) support of private investment in household and shared water supplies, commonly known as Self-supply. Self-supply can be promoted by introducing and building local capacity in appropriate and affordable water supply technologies such as hand-dug wells, manually drilled boreholes, low-cost pumps, …

Evaluation Of Hand Augered Well Technologies' Capacity To Improve Access To Water In Coastal Ng[Oumlaut]Be Communities In Panama, Sarah Hayman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Amid the global efforts surrounding United Nations' Millennium Development Goal Target 7c to improve access to safe and sustainable drinking water among populations who lack this resource, it has become essential to monitor and evaluate progress. Development initiatives working to achieve improved drinking water access often introduce appropriate technologies designed to be sustainably owned and operated by populations in rural areas suffering from water related hardships. It is valuable to thoroughly examine the degree to which these technologies satisfy intended objectives and affect user experienced water access. The accurate reflection of impact and progress can be complex, as the evaluation …

Soil-Bentonite Slurry Trench Cutoff Wall Proposal, Jeffrey C. Evans, Michael A. Malusis, Robert W. Jacob

NSF Soil-Bentonite Slurry Trench Cutoff Wall Documents

This is the proposal to the National Science Foundation for a soil-bentonite slurry trench cutoff wall. The proposal includes a project summary, description of the project, and the resources implemented on the project.

Transferability And Calibration Of The Highway Safety Manual Performance Functions And Development Of New Models For Urban Four-Lane Divided Roads, Kaaf, Khalid Al

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many developing countries have witnessed fast and rapid growth in the last two decades due to the high development rate of economic activity in these countries. Many transportation projects have been constructed. In the same time both population growth and vehicle ownership rate increased; resulting in increasing levels of road crashes. Road traffic crashes in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is considered a serious problem that has deep effects on GCC's population as well as on the national productivity through the loss of lives, injuries, property damage and the loss of valuable resources. From a recent statistical study of traffic crashes …

State-And-Transition Modeling And Adaptive Management: Tools For Future Co-Development Of Madagascar’S Natural Resources And People, Patrick Thomas Spencer

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Madagascar’s terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems have long supported a unique set of ecological communities, many of whom are endemic to the tropical island. Those same ecosystems have been a source of valuable natural resources to some of the poorest people in the world. Nevertheless, with pride, ingenuity and resourcefulness, the Malagasy people of the southwest coast, being of Vezo identity, subsist with low development fishing techniques aimed at an increasingly threatened host of aquatic seascapes. Mangroves, sea grass bed, and coral reefs of the region are under increased pressure from the general populace for both food provisions and support of …

Beneficial Reuse Of Locally-Available Waste Materials As Lightweight Aggregate In Lightweight Concrete, Brienna E. Rust

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This study investigated the physical characteristics of lightweight concrete produced using waste materials as coarse aggregate. The study was inspired by the author’s Peace Corps service in Kilwa, Tanzania. Coconut shell, sisal fiber, and PET plastic were chosen as the test waste products due to their abundance in the area. Two mixes were produced for each waste product and the mix proportions designed for resulting compressive strengths of 3000 and 5000 psi. The proportions were selected based on guidelines for lightweight concrete from the American Concrete Institute. In preparation for mixing, coconut shells were crushed into aggregate no larger than …

Transatlantic Maritime Transportation Between The Czech Republic And The United States, Petr Toman

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Maritime transportation is the backbone of today´s world trade and therefore there special attention should be paid to all subjects concerning this mode of transportation. It is also necessary to complement maritime transportation by other modes, such as rail and/or truck (road). This thesis deals with the problems of maritime transportation and provides the summary of recent developments, trends and statistics mainly on Transatlantic maritime routes (Europe to U.S.). Besides maritime transportation, this thesis also reviews the trends and statistics of rail and truck (road) transportation in U.S. and Europe.

The second part of thesis seeks to create a mathematical …

Sodhana Environmental - Final Design Report, Eric Taylor, Corissa Bellis, Cody Perez, Cameron Zeller

Mechanical Engineering

A fully designed cost-effective, sustainable, toilet for the developing world.

Bs News September/October

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Diffusivity And Sorptivity Of Berea Sandstone Determined Using Neutron Radiography, M. Kang, Chu-Lin Cheng, H. Z. Bilheux, Michael J. Gragg, D. M. Wright, J. M. Lamanna, J. Horita, J. M. Warren

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Neutron radiography is increasingly being used to study the dynamics of water movement in variably saturated porous media. It has been applied to visualize water imbibition in both natural and engineered materials, including soil, rock, brick, concrete, and glass. The sorptivity, S, and unsaturated diffusivity, D(θ), are important parameters for describing water movement under partially saturated conditions. Estimates of S and D(θ) have been obtained using a variety of techniques, including neutron imaging. However, we could find no previous reports of such measurements for the Berea sandstone, regardless of the method employed. Berea sandstone is a widespread, …

Miniature Concrete Prism Test - A New Test Method For Evaluating The Asr Potential Of Aggregates, The Effectiveness Of Asr Mitigation And The Job Mixture, Enamur Latifee

All Dissertations

Existing test methods to characterize ASR potential of aggregates and mitigation ability of supplementary cementing materials such as the Accelerated Mortar Bar Test (AMBT) and the Concrete Prism Test (CPT) are widely accepted in the industry. Although, the AMBT is a rapid test, the results from this test can be unreliable, particularly with certain types of aggregates. The CPT is considered as a more reliable test; however, the duration of this test method renders it impractical for routine usage in the industry to screen deleterious materials or inefficient ASR mitigation measures. This research presents a new test method-Miniature Concrete Prism …

Isolation And Characterisation Of Micro-Organisms With Industrial Importance From Sisal Bole Rots, Consolatha Mhaiki

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Investigation of microorganisms naturally acclimatized to Agave hybrid H 11648 (sisal bole rot) was conducted, with the aim of isolating and characterizing Aspergillus niger strains for industrial use. Microorganism were identified morphologically and then confirmation made by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results showed the existence of four major groups, listed in order of abundances as follows; Aspergilli (36.0±0.8) %, Penicillin (28.0±0.1) %, Yeast (15.0±1.6) %and Fusarium (10.0±0.12) %. The main groups of Aspergilli strains were A. nidulans, A. tamari and A. niger in ratios (3:2:2), respectively. Several endo-spore forming non-enteric gram (-) rods and coccid bacteria identified by API 20 …

Problems And Prospects Of Hydraulic Modelling For Environmental Flows Assessment Studies In East Africa, Preksedis Ndomba

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

The objective of this paper is to document the problems and prospects of hydraulic modelling for Environmental Flows Assessment (EFA) studies based on selected case studies. Most of studies in East Africa use Holistic methodologies. An ideal data set for defining river hydraulics for most of these methods would be six data points of stage measurements over a good distribution of discharges, the stage of zero discharge and some flood-related data. Besides, in East African region EFA studies suffer from data scarcity (i.e., poorly gauged sites) and limited expertise and funding. The hydraulics studies conducted by the authors entailed desktop …

1976 Montreal Olympics: Case Study Of Project Management Failure, Ashish Patel, Paul A. Bosela, Norbert Delatte

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

A successful engineering project must include its timely and economic completion. A project management failure can lead to delays and cost overruns. One example of a project that greatly exceeded its projected budget is the construction of the multiple facilities for the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. These included the Olympic Stadium, a velodrome for bicycle events, and the Olympic Village to house the athletes. This case study reviews the circumstances of the cost increases and the design decisions and other circumstances that led to them. The difficulties were brought on by an unrealistic schedule to complete the facilities before …

Return To Traffic Of Full Depth Reclamation Pavements, Robert Benjamin Hill

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Full-Depth Reclamation (FDR) is a cost-effective rehabilitation treatment for deteriorated pavements. However, when using asphalt emulsion based rehabilitation techniques one of the most challenging aspects of FDR is determining when traffic can be returned to the rehabilitated pavement surface. Since asphalt emulsion mixtures need ample time for curing, they cannot be sealed with a surface layer until the water has evaporated from the rehabilitated layer. It is often not possible to keep the road closed until all of the water has evaporated and the surface layer is placed, therefore, at some point the traffic needs to be returned to the …

Full Depth Reclamation: Bringing Developing Countries' Transportation Up To Speed, Sadie Smith

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Often, a direct correlation is observed between a country’s transportation network and economic development. Evidence of this is observed all over the world. Full Depth Reclamation (FDR) is a roadway recycling technique that mills and mixes the existing roadway with a stabilizing agent and then re-compacts the mixture to create a thicker, stabilized pavement layer. This method is both cost effective and environmentally friendly, making it a very appealing option as the need to rehabilitate or increase the structural capacity of existing roads grows. In this study, the material characterization of FDR was examined as a composite material of both …

Bs News May/June

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Pavement Management Analysis Of Hamilton County Using Hdm-4 And Hpma, Trisha Sen

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

According to the 2009 ASCE Infrastructure Report Card, Tennessee roadways have received a B- due to lack of funding. This thesis focuses on the optimal utilization of available funds for Hamilton County using PMS. HDM-4 and HPMA are used to assess the existing pavement conditions and predict future conditions; estimate fuel consumption; calculate road agency costs and user costs; determine cost-effective maintenance treatment; and suggest optimum utilization of funds. From this study, fuel consumption is higher at peak hours due to reduced traffic speeds. User cost is higher on the state route than the interstate due to stop-and-go motion. Road …

Assessment Of Surface Energy Balance In Southern Idaho, Beda Luitel

McNair Scholars Research Journal

Proper management of water resources is always a matter of concern in arid regions like southern Idaho such as the Snake River basin where rainfall is limited and the moisture level of atmospheric air is below threshold level most of the time throughout a year. For the proper assessment of water resources it is necessary to quantify the Evapotranspiration (ET) loss in this region and use the available water resources efficiently. A vast quantity of water is moving in the atmosphere under the direct influence of solar energy. So, in order to characterize the behavior of the water cycle, it …

Development Of The Chinese Construction Industry After The Cultural Revolution: Administration Framework, Economic Growth, And Market Structure, Yilei Huang, Yi Lan, Yong Bai

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

This paper presents the results of an investigation on the development of the Chinese construction industry after the Cultural Revolution in terms of administration framework, economic growth, and market structure, with the consideration of Chinese currency inflation. The development was divided into three stages based on Chinese government policy changes on the construction industry. In each stage, the reform of administration framework was reviewed, and the market size and market structure in both the domestic and the international markets were analyzed. Value added and gross output value of domestic market, the number of contracts, contracting value, total turnover, and turnover …

Development Of Statistical Models For Predicting Leachate Parameters From Simulated Landfills, Arpita Hetal Bhatt

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Leachate generation and management is recognized as one of the greatest problems associated with environmentally sound operation of landfills, as leachate can cause major pollution problems to surrounding soil, ground water, and surface waters. There are many landfills, especially in developing parts of the world like India, Bangladesh, Africa, and Latin America, where open dump systems are used for final disposal of solid waste rather than engineered landfills. In the near future, regulations in developing countries will likely require installation of liner systems, leachate collection systems, and treatment operations. A major requirement for successful leachate treatment is quantifying its typical …