Engineering Commons^™

Chronic Exposure To Triclosan Sustains Microbial Community Shifts And Alters Antibiotic Resistance Gene Levels In Anaerobic Digesters, Daniel Elliott Carey, Daniel Zitomer, Anthony D. Kappell, Melinda J. Choi, Krassimira R. Hristova, Patrick J. Mcnamara

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Triclosan, an antimicrobial chemical found in consumer personal care products, has been shown to stimulate antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria. Although many studies focus on antibiotic resistance pertinent to medical scenarios, resistance developed in natural and engineered environments is less studied and has become an emerging concern for human health. In this study, the impacts of chronic triclosan (TCS) exposure on antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and microbial community structure were assessed in lab-scale anaerobic digesters. TCS concentrations from below detection to 2500 mg kg⁻¹ dry solids were amended into anaerobic digesters over 110 days and acclimated for >3 solid …

Emerging Investigators Series: Pyrolysis Removes Common Microconstituents Triclocarban, Triclosan, And Nonylphenol From Biosolids, J. J. Ross, Daniel Zitomer, T. R. Miller, C. A. Weirich, Patrick J. Mcnamara

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Reusing biosolids is vital for the sustainability of wastewater management. Pyrolysis is an anoxic thermal degradation process that can be used to convert biosolids into energy rich py-gas and py-oil, and a beneficial soil amendment, biochar. Batch biosolids pyrolysis (60 minutes) revealed that triclocarban and triclosan were removed (to below quantification limit) at 200 °C and 300 °C, respectively. Substantial removal (>90%) of nonylphenol was achieved at 300 °C as well, but 600 °C was required to remove nonylphenol to below the quantification limit. At 500 °C, the pyrolysis reaction time to remove >90% of microconstituents was less than …

Transient Analysis Of Analyte Desorption Due To Thermal Cycling With Varying Pulse Duration, Patrick Getz, Christopher Carron, Stephen M. Heinrich, Fabien Josse, Oliver Brand

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

This paper introduces heating pulse duration modulation on a chemically sensitive, polymer-coated resonant cantilever platform for analyte discrimination during the desorption phase. As in our previous work, the embedded heaters enable real-time measurements of analyte sorption into the polymer film, without the need for traditional valve systems and reference gases [1-2]. This work particularly looks at the effects of varying pulse lengths on the sensor responses, while holding the heating power constant. A model differential equation is developed for the sensor response based on both the device sensitivity and transient response. This model can then be used together with estimation …

Total Value Of Phosphorus Recovery, Brooke K. Mayer, Lawrence A. Baker, Treavor H. Boyer, Pay Drechsel, Mac Gifford, Munir A. Hanjra, Prathap Parameswaran, Jared Stoltzfus, Paul Westerhoff, Bruce E. Rittmann

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Phosphorus (P) is a critical, geographically concentrated, nonrenewable resource necessary to support global food production. In excess (e.g., due to runoff or wastewater discharges), P is also a primary cause of eutrophication. To reconcile the simultaneous shortage and overabundance of P, lost P flows must be recovered and reused, alongside improvements in P-use efficiency. While this motivation is increasingly being recognized, little P recovery is practiced today, as recovered P generally cannot compete with the relatively low cost of mined P. Therefore, P is often captured to prevent its release into the environment without beneficial recovery and reuse. However, additional …

Stability Sensitivity Of Low-Rise Steel-Moment Framed Buildings To Hazard-Independent Damage, Trey Reynolds Powell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Structural stability has been the subject of much research in recent years. Simply, structural stability may be vieas the ability of the structure’s response to be relatively unaffected by perturbations to its system. Stability of low-rise steel-moment framed buildings and their sensitivity to perturbations from significant damage are the focus of this work. Perturbations, or changes from the normal state of the structural system, have the ability to affect the structural response. Second-order geometric effects imposed through column axial loads, and/or initial out-of-plumbness during the construction process, are a comperturbation in steel framing systems. If the structural members subjected to …

Integrated Computational And Experimental Evaluation Of Electromagnetic Energy-Induced Self-Healing Performance Of Asphalt Composites, Zigeng Wang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The objective of this doctoral research is to investigate the electromagnetic energy induced self-healing effect of modified asphalt mixture material by developing computational and experimental characterization tools. More than 90% of the pavements in United States are constructed by asphalt mixture. The durability of pavement decreased by distresses has significant impact on maintenance costs. The asphalt mixture has self-healing capability because the asphalt could flow and fill the microcracks if enough external energy can be transmitted to the asphalt mixture system. However, the self-healing capability of asphalt is limited based on the climatic condition and traffic volume. Therefore, it is …

A Sustainability-Based Project Selection Algorithm: Socio-Technical-Economic Project Selection (Steps) Algorithm, Bharathi Bhattu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Multi-dimensional aspects play a vital role in the task of project-decision making. Environmental effects are to be considered in addition to other technical and non-technical aspects in order to avoid undue environmental damage. This current work introduces a new decision-making algorithm (Socio-Technical-Economic Project Selection or STEPS) that is demonstrated with the use of RCA (recycled concrete aggregate) as riprap for slope stabilization and erosion control which leaches chemical arsenic when in contact with water. Arsenic has long been recognized for its lethal properties. The main intention of introducing this new algorithm is to use sustainability concepts of social, technical, and …

Methodology For Analyzing Epoxy-Cnt Phononic Crystals For Wave Attenuation And Guiding, Madhu Kolati

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Phononic crystals (PhnCs) control, direct and manipulate sound waves to achieve wave guiding and attenuation. This dissertation presents methodology for analyzing nanotube materials based phononic crystals to achieve control over sound, vibration and stress mitigation. Much of the analytical work presented is in identifying frequency band gaps in which sound or vibration cannot propagate through these PhnCs. Wave attenuation and mitigation analysis is demonstrated using finite element simulation. Engineering principles from current research areas of solid mechanics, solid-state physics, elasto-dynamics, mechanical vibrations and acoustics are employed for the methodology. A considerable effort is put to show that these PhnCs can …

Environmenal Impact Assessment And Removal Of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds In Municipal Wastewater Treatment, Juan C. Bezares-Cruz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The presence of compounds of emerging concern (CECs) such as endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) and herbicides in municipal wastewater present environmental challenges because conventional treatment systems were not designed to remove such compounds. The removal of Bisphenol-A (BPA), 17?-Estradiol (E2), 17β-Ethinylestradiol (EE2), nonylphenols (NP), and select herbicides and pesticides were investigated in two municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) in El Paso, TX. In addition, the environmental impact of the two municipal wastewater treatment plants was investigated, including the theoretical addition of UV/H2O2. The use of UV/H 2O2 was studied in a UV bench scale pilot unit, and its performance was …

Human Health Risks From Tap Water Chlorine Disinfection Byproducts: An Ohio Study, Leann L. Brown

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The use of chlorine in the disinfection process for drinking water has resulted in the creation of disinfection byproducts in the potable water. These carcinogenic disinfection byproducts (DBP’s) pose a risk to consumers. Traveling through the water distribution system, stagnation of water in plumbing pipes, and the heating of the water in a hot water tank are all responsible for increasing the concentration of DBP’s. In this report, the existing concentrations of trihalomethanes (THM’s) and haloacetic acids (HAA’s) were gathered from the consumer confidence reports (CCR’s) of eight water treatment plants in five Ohio cities. These values were given assumed …

Cargo Shipping Demand Modeling, Infrastructure Mapping, And Emission Impacts Of Selected U.S. Ports, Robert Coffman Richardson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research included shipping demand modeling, infrastructure asset mapping, and impacts of carbon dioxide (co2) emission. The current volume of imports and exports was reviefor U.S. ports in the east coast, gulf coast, and west coast regions. The import and export of goods is a major part of the U.S. economy, and the volume of cargo handled by U.S. ports is expected to increase in the future as population increases. The major motivation for this thesis was the need for U.S. ports to make plans now to accommodate this expected growth in volume. Ports distribute commodities throughout the U.S., and …

Development Of A Dynamic Coupled Hydro-Geomechanical Code And Its Application To Induced Seismicity, Md Mamun Miah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Beneficial Reuse Of Marine Sediment, Sinead Tangney

Theses

Dredging is essential for ports and harbours to maintain navigational access. In Ireland approximately 1.2 million m^ is dredged annually and the management of this dredged sediment is an ongoing issue. This thesis investigates the management options available for marine dredged sediment and examines the technical, environmental and economic feasibility and social acceptability of a range of specific beneficial uses of marine sediment.

A literature review is presented on the international dredging industry and outlines why dredging is an essential infrastructural activity. Current dredged marine sediment management techniques are presented and discussed.

An overview of the Irish dredging industry is …

Strength And Thermal Properties Of Engineered Cementitious Materials, Hannah Maxwell

Summer Community of Scholars Posters (RCEU and HCR Combined Programs)

No abstract provided.

Corrosion Protection Systems In Offshore Structures, Hristo Ivanov

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Corrosion plays a pivotal role in the engineering world. Engineers of all disciplines must consider the dangers that this phenomenon can incur. Interestingly, corrosion mitigation is not a topic that is addressed in most academic curricula. The goal of this paper is to give engineering students a brief introduction into corrosion and some of the prevention techniques commonly used today.

The design of a corrosion protection system for offshore structures is discussed in order to illustrate how these techniques can be utilized even in the most extreme environments. First, the driving force behind corrosion is examined, introducing the basic mechanics …

Estimation Of Submarine Groundwater Discharge Into The Indian River Lagoon, Ashok Pandit, N. Ali, H. Heck, K. Mamoua

Mechanical and Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

A calibrated and validated finite difference numerical model was used to estimate the spatial and temporal distribution of the Meteoric Groundwater Discharge (MGWD) and Submarine Groundwater Discharge (SGD) into a coasted estuary known as the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) at two transects. Specifically, this paper describes the methodology used to determine: a) the quantity of MGWD originating from the mainland and the barrier island, b) the spatial distribution of the SGD into the IRL, c) the groundwater salinity and hydraulic head distribution below the IRL, and d) the regional flow directions of the MGWD and the Oceanic Groundwater Discharge (OGWD) …

Bs News January/February

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Community Connectivity On Water And Sanitation Systems In Rural Panama, M.C. Moritz

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The world has yet to realize universal access to water and sanitation. Various academic and professional fields provide frameworks for understanding water and sanitation access, but none directly consider the impact of community connectivity. Community connectivity refers to the infrastructures linking rural communities with urban centers. These infrastructures fall under the broad categories of transportation, energy, and telecommunication. This paper examines 23 rural Panamanian communities and compares connectivity measures with the functionality of the communities’ rural water and sanitation systems (RWSS). Community connectivity was evaluated with the Community Connectivity Analysis Tool (CCAT), while the water and sanitation systems were evaluated …

Addressing The Impact Of Gavins Point Dam On The Lowermost~1400 Kilometers Of The Missouri River, Gregory Leaphart

Theses and Dissertations

The Missouri River originates in the Rocky Mountains in western Montana and joins the Mississippi River near St. Louis, Missouri. Beginning in the early 1900s, engineering efforts, such as dam construction, channel narrowing, and river alignment, were performed for flood control, navigational purposes, to use of water for agricultural and industrial needs, to produce hydroelectric power and the impounded lakes for recreation. These projects permanently altered the flow and sediment transport regimes in the river and the exchange of sediment with the surrounding floodplain. We focus on the long term effects of dam construction and channel narrowing on approximately the …

Expedient Airfield Runway Repair Using Folded Fiberglass Mat, Christopher Y. Tuan, Willaim C. Dass

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

For expedient airfield runway repair, the US Air Force has developed a folded fiberglass mat to cover craters repaired with a well-compacted granular base material. The objective of this study was to evaluate the adequacy of using polymer plugs to anchor the mat to a repaired asphalt pavement for heavy aircraft operations. The effort consisted of materials testing, field experiments and analytical modeling. An 89,800-kg (198,000-pound) load cart having the footprint of a single C-5 main gear was pulled on a mat with wheels locked to simulate full braking forces. Anchor bushings were instrumented to measure anchor loads. A simplified …

Field-Scale Testing And Numerical Investigation Of Soil-Boulder Interaction Under Vehicular Impact Using Fem And Coupled Fem-Sph Formulations, Lynsey Reese, Tong Qiu, Daniel Linzell, Zoltan Rado

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

A computational approach that couples the Finite Element Method and the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics method may be advantageous for simulating the response of complex, physical systems involving large deformations. However, comparisons of this modeling technique against field-scale test data are remarkably sparse in literature. This study presents three field-scale tests involving vehicular impact into three landscape vehicular anti-ram barriers. Each barrier consisted of a single boulder embedded in compacted American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials soil and physical testing resulted in one of the following outcomes: minimal boulder/soil movement (Test 1), moderate boulder/soil movement (Test 2), and severe …

Potential Wave Impacts On Shorelines In Intertidal Waterways, Collin Ries

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coastal erosion is caused by a deficit in the sediment balance along coastal shorelines. Within the intertidal waterway of Jacksonville, Florida, the primary processes acting on the shoreline are tidal currents and waves generated by winds and passing vessels. This study focuses on the analysis of vessel-generated waves and their possible effects on different shoreline types. The experiment conducted herein examines variations in turbidity related to passing boats at a specifically selected site location, at which different tidal stages expose three different shoreline types, a non-vegetated scarp, a vegetated scarp and a vegetated area with no scarp in the breaking …

Triclosan Adsorption Using Wastewater Biosolids-Derived Biochar, Yiran Tong, Brooke K. Mayer, Patrick J. Mcnamara

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Organic micropollutants are ubiquitous in the environment and stem from municipal wastewater treatment plant discharges. Adsorption can be used as a tertiary treatment to complement the conventional activated sludge process to remove micropollutants prior to discharge. This research evaluated the performance of wastewater biosolids-derived biochar as an adsorbent to remove triclosan from water. Pre-conditioning of the biochar using hydrochloric acid (HCl) was an essential step for triclosan adsorption. Using acid-conditioned biochar, maximum adsorption of 872 μg triclosan per g biochar was achieved with biochar produced at 800 °C. Biochar produced at higher pyrolysis temperatures tended to have higher triclosan sorption …

Probability-Based Hurricane Resilience Evaluation And Retrofitting For Residential Community, Yadong Dong

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Wood residential construction is vulnerable to hurricanes, as evident in recent hurricane events. Many studies indicated that the changing climate may very likely alter hurricane patterns, which could lead to more severe hurricane damage to the wood residential construction that accounts for 90% of the residence in the USA. On the other hand, deterioration of material increases the chance of structural failure by reducing the structural capacity (e.g., corrosion of fasteners in roof panel could significantly reduce the withdrawal capacity of the roofing structure during hurricane events).

Currently, most hurricane damage estimations only focus on direct loss (e.g., structural loss). …

Computer Vision Based Structural Identification Framework For Bridge Health Mornitoring, Tung Khuc

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this dissertation is to develop a comprehensive Structural Identification (St-Id) framework with damage for bridge type structures by using cameras and computer vision technologies. The traditional St-Id frameworks rely on using conventional sensors. In this study, the collected input and output data employed in the St-Id system are acquired by series of vision-based measurements. The following novelties are proposed, developed and demonstrated in this project: a) vehicle load (input) modeling using computer vision, b) bridge response (output) using full non-contact approach using video/image processing, c) image-based structural identification using input-output measurements and new damage indicators. The input …

Scalable Methods For Monitoring Limited Access Roadways Using Crowd-Sourced Probe Data, Howell Li, Stephen M. Remias, Aaron Taylor, Darcy M. Bullock

Lyles School of Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Real-Time Probe Data Dashboards For Interstate Performance Monitoring During Winter Weather And Incidents, Margaret Mcnamara, Howell Li, Stephen Remias, Deborah Horton, Ed Cox, Darcy M. Bullock

Lyles School of Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Scaling Detailed High-Resolution Data Split Performance Measures To Statewide System Level Management, Howell Li, Christopher M. Day, James R. Sturdevant, Darcy M. Bullock

Lyles School of Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Use Of High Resolution Signal Controller Data To Identify Red Light Running, Steven M. Lavrenz, Christopher M. Day, Jay Grossman, Rick Freije, Darcy M. Bullock

Lyles School of Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Rate Of Pedestrian Signal Phase Actuation As A Proxy Measurement Of Pedestrian Demand, Christopher M. Day, Hiromal Premachandra, Darcy M. Bullock

Lyles School of Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.