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No abstract provided.

The Very Basics Of Sustainability - An Alternative Viewpoint (Slides With Audio) (Large File! To Speed Up Download, Right-Click On "Download" Link To Save To Own Pc.), Jim Mcgovern

Other resources

This presentation sets out the very basics of ‘sustainability’, although a definition of sustainability is not attempted. Some of the very basics are the context in which the Earth and humankind exist in space and time, the Earth’s climate, the Earth’s population and humankind’s options and choices. The author advocates keeping an open mind on all available options, including the use of oil, gas, coal, tar sands, carbon capture and sequestration, nuclear power etc., as well as the technologies that are more widely considered ‘green’. The author also argues that, in addressing the challenges that humankind faces, globally concerted effort …

Observed 1970-2005 Cooling Of Summer Daytime Temperatures In Coastal California, Bereket Lebassi, Jorge González González, Drazen Fabris, Edwin P. Maurer, Norman L. Miller, Cristina Milesi, Paul Switzer, Robert Bornstein

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering

This study evaluated 1950–2005 summer [June–August (JJA)] mean monthly air temperatures for two California air basins: the South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB) and the San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA). The study focuses on the more rapid post-1970 warming period, and its daily minima temperature Tmin and maxima temperature Tmax values were used to produce average monthly values and spatial distributions of trends for each air basin. Additional analyses included concurrent SSTs, 40-yr European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Re-Analysis (ERA-40) sea level coastal pressure gradients, and GCM-downscaled average temperature Tave values. Results for all 253 California National Weather Service …

Activities Of The Ita Working Group On Sprayed Concrete Use, Tarcisio B. Celestino, Atsumu Ishida

Shotcrete for Underground Support XI

This paper describes the activities of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) Working Group 12 on Sprayed Concrete Use. The Working Group has carried out tasks with the purpose of promoting information exchange between National Groups and planning, coordinating and releasing the results of testing programs in order to advance the state-of-the-art of sprayed concrete use for underground support. The intention of the Working Group is to explore and develop the idea that the rational use of sprayed concrete improves possibilities for design and construction of new underground works.

Simultaneous Nitrification And Denitrification Of Wastewater Using A Silicone Membrane Aerated Bioreactor, Kirk Hjelte Waltz

Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the use of a single reactor to biologically treat wastewater by simultaneously oxidizing ammonia, and reducing nitrate and nitrite. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) places strict discharge restrictions on these compounds due to their inherent toxicity to humans, wildlife, and ecosystems. The use of a simultaneous system can assist the conventional wastewater treatment technology that requires separate systems, by creating a system that needs less time and smaller size to reach effluent requirements. To conduct this research, a bench-scale membrane aerated biofilm reactor was built using silicone tubing for aeration. Batch and …

Using Oceanic-Atmospheric Oscillations For Long Lead Time Streamflow Forecasting, Ajay Kalra, Sajjad Ahmad

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

We present a data-driven model, Support Vector Machine (SVM), for long lead time streamflow forecasting using oceanic-atmospheric oscillations. The SVM is based on statistical learning theory that uses a hypothesis space of linear functions based on Kernel approach and has been used to predict a quantity forward in time on the basis of training from past data. The strength of SVM lies in minimizing the empirical classification error and maximizing the geometric margin by solving inverse problem. The SVM model is applied to three gages, i.e., Cisco, Green River, and Lees Ferry in the Upper Colorado River Basin in the …

Projected Climate-Induced Faunal Change In The Western Hemisphere, Joshua J. Lawler, Sarah L. Shafer, Denis White, Peter Kareiva, Edwin P. Maurer, Andrew R. Blaustein, Patrick J. Bartlein

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering

Climate change is predicted to be one of the greatest drivers of ecological change in the coming century. Increases in temperature over the last century have clearly been linked to shifts in species distributions. Given the magnitude of projected future climatic changes, we can expect even larger range shifts in the coming century. These changes will, in turn, alter ecological communities and the functioning of ecosystems. Despite the seriousness of predicted climate change, the uncertainty in climate-change projections makes it difficult for conservation managers and planners to proactively respond to climate stresses. To address one aspect of this uncertainty, we …

Performance-Based Contracting For Roadway Maintenance Operations In Indiana, Bob G. Mccullouch, Kumares C. Sinha, Panagiotis Ch Anastasopoulos

JTRP Technical Reports

INDOT initiated a study to investigate Performance Based Contracting of maintenance operations. One of the main impetus for the study is that INDOT started a ten year road building program called Major Moves that will add over a 1900 lane miles to the current network. With this addition and coupled with a trend of reduction in maintenance personnel, INDOT is planning how maintenance will be performed. One viable option is the use of performance based contracting (PBC). This study has evaluated many aspects of PBC and the current INDOT maintenance program. Study specifics included:

* Investigated foreign agencies PBC programs. …

Optimizing Container Retrieval Operation At A Port Container Terminal, Dejan Besenski

Dissertations

In the presence of major challenges, where ports are striving to improve their operation and stay competitive in the global market, the issue of port efficiency, particularly the intelligent management of straddle carriers is investigated in this study. A new approach is presented that optimizes container handling equipment operation and is beneficial for the terminal operator in terms of improving productivity, providing faster service and reducing operating cost, Also, the solution provides acceptable service for truckers, The operational strategies presented are able to assess the operation from the truckers' and terminal operators' perspective.

The research is structured into four different …

Artificial Insemination In South American Camelids And Wild Equids, G. P. Adams, M. H. Ratto, C. W. Collins, D. R. Bergfelt

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

An overview of the present status of the use of artificial insemination (AI) in South American camelids and wild equids is offered. Technical aspects of semen collection, dilution and cryopreservation have limited the development and use of AI in camelid and equid species. To-date, efficiency is low but progress has been made and viable offspring have been produced through the use of AI in domestic South American camelids using both fresh and frozen semen. The origin, composition, and function of the viscous component of camelid seminal plasma remain a mystery and an obvious area for future research. A better understanding …

Generating Multi-Sensor Precipitation Estimates Over Radar Gap Areas, Shayesteh E. Mahani, Reza Khanbilvardi

Publications and Research

Generating a multi-sensor precipitation product over radar gap area is the objective of the present study. A merging approach is developed to improve Satellite-based Precipitation Estimates (SPE) by merging with ground-based Radar Rainfall (RR) estimates because remote satellites are the only source that can collect information from areas where are inaccessible by ground-based radar and/or rain gauge networks. The merging algorithm is capable of extending radar information from pixels with available RR to their neighboring pixels with no radar information by merging RR with SPE, which is, usually, available for all pixels. SPE is combined with RR using the weighting-based …

Nutrient And Pathogen Removal In A Subsurface Upflow Wetland System Using Green Sorption Media, Zhemin Xuan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to environmental health and nutrient impact concerns, the conventional on-site sewage collection, treatment, and disposal systems are no longer able to meet the nutrient reduction requirements for wastewater effluent and may represent a large fraction of pollutant loads. The loads include not only nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), but also pathogens such as fecal coliform and E. coli which indicate the presence of other disease-causing bacteria flowing into aquatic system that adversely affect public health. A subsurface upflow wetland, which is an effective small-scale wastewater treatment system with low energy and maintenance requirements and operational costs, fits the current …

Water And Sanitation Accessibility And The Health Of Rural Ugandans, Jonathan E. Mellor

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

The lack of access to sufficient water and sanitation facilities is one of the largest hindrances towards the sustainable development of the poorest 2.2 billion people in the world. Rural Uganda is one of the areas where such inaccessibility is seriously hampering their efforts at development. Many rural Ugandans must travel several kilometers to fetch adequate water and many still do not have adequate sanitation facilities. Such poor access to clean water forces Ugandans to spend an inordinate amount of time and energy collecting water - time and energy that could be used for more useful endeavors. Furthermore, the difficulty …

Community Managed Rural Water Supply Systems In The Dominican Republic : Assessment Of Sustainability Of Systems Built By The National Institute Of Potable Water And Peace Corps, Dominican Republic , Ryan W. Schweitzer

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

In the Dominican Republic economic growth in the past twenty years has not yielded sufficient improvement in access to drinking water services, especially in rural areas where 1.5 million people do not have access to an improved water source (WHO, 2006). Worldwide, strategic development planning in the rural water sector has focused on participatory processes and the use of demand filters to ensure that service levels match community commitment to post-project operation and maintenance. However studies have concluded that an alarmingly high percentage of drinking water systems (20-50%) do not provide service at the design levels and/or fail altogether (up …

Development Of Measurement And Modeling Techniques To Quantify Atmospheric Deposition Of Persistent, Bioaccumulative And Toxic Chemicals In The Great Lakes, Mark D. Rowe

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

Measurement and modeling techniques were developed to improve over-water gaseous air-water exchange measurements for persistent bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals (PBTs). Analytical methods were applied to atmospheric measurements of hexachlorobenzene (HCB), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Additionally, the sampling and analytical methods are well suited to study semivolatile organic compounds (SOCs) in air with applications related to secondary organic aerosol formation, urban, and indoor air quality.

A novel gas-phase cleanup method is described for use with thermal desorption methods for analysis of atmospheric SOCs using multicapillary denuders. The cleanup selectively removed hydrogen-bonding chemicals from samples, including much of …

Identifying Indicators Of Sustainable Development Using The Global Sustainability Quadrant Approach , Andres B. Tarte

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

Advances in information technology and global data availability have opened the door for assessments of sustainable development at a truly macro scale. It is now fairly easy to conduct a study of sustainability using the entire planet as the unit of analysis; this is precisely what this work set out to accomplish.

The study began by examining some of the best known composite indicator frameworks developed to measure sustainability at the country level today. Most of these were found to value human development factors and a clean local environment, but to gravely overlook consumption of (remote) resources in relation …

Creating A Software Marketplace For The Sme Community In The Irish Construction Industry, Alan V. Hore, Roger West, Alan Redmond

Conference papers

The Construction Industry is a sector where Information Communication Technology (ICT) and e-Business are used to a lesser extent than in most other sectors. The high concentration of Small to Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the industry and the typical nature of the service provided, being an on-site and often highly customised service are generally identified as the reason for the low ICT uptake. The majority of Irish companies in the construction sector are SMEs. E-Business has provided the construction SME industry the opportunity to compete globally. The Construction IT Alliance (CITA) has identified a programme that can create a …

Sustainable Development Extension Plan (Sudex): Community Mobilization Through Proactive Participation And Synergistic Alliance To Alliviate Poverty And Achieve Sustainable Self Sufficiency, Stephen Forbes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation describes a sustainable development extension plan (Sudex Plan) to help communities in developing countries achieve Goal 1 of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Goal 1 focuses on reducing poverty and hunger by 50% by the year 2015, but all the MDG are interrelated and one can not be achieved without considering the others, and to attain any is an empty accomplishment without ways to ensure that they can be sustained and continuously improved with the means to pass on the information, knowledge and lessons learned from community to community, generation to generation. The Sudex Plan is …

Improving The Design Of Low Volume Sealed Roads In Tanzania, Mfinanga A

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

The main objective of the study was to identify appropriate road designs for Low Volume Sealed Roads (LVSRs) with the aim of improving the design of such roads in Tanzania. The study was conducted in Dar es Salaam and Morogoro regions in Tanzania where data for LVSRs were collected from primary and secondary sources in the two regions. The study found that by using an improved pavement design method specifically meant for LVSRs results in cost savings for LVSRs of up to 51% compared with the conventional method of pavement design in Tanzania. The study recommends that the pavement design …

Bioflocculation For Control Of Wastewater Pond Microalgae, Daniel Thomas Frost

Master's Theses

Investigates several hypotheses regarding the use of bioflocculation as a harvesting method for wastewater pond microalgae. Research performed on pilot-scale high rate ponds (HRPs) on the California Central Coast.

Rank-Data Distribution Method (R-D Method) For Daily Time-Series Bayesian Networks And Total Maximum Daily Load Estimation, Joon-Hee Lee

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Daily time series-based models are required to estimate the higher frequency fluctuations of nutrient loads and concentrations. Some mechanistic mathematical models can provide daily time series outputs of nutrient concentrations but it is difficult to incorporate non-numerical data, such as management scenarios, to mechanistic mathematical models. Bayesian networks (BNs) were designed to accept and process inputs of varied types of both numerical and non-numerical inputs.

A Rank-Data distribution method (R-D method) was developed to provide large time series of daily predicted flows and Total Phosphorus (TP) loads to BNs driving daily time series estimates of T-P concentrations into Hyrum and …

Web Crippling Behaviour Of Thin-Walled Lipped Channel Beams Subjected To Eof And Etf Loading, M. Macdonald, Manoj A. Heiyantuduwa, J. Rhodes

CCFSS Proceedings of International Specialty Conference on Cold-Formed Steel Structures (1971 - 2018)

No abstract provided.

Determining The Repair Ranking Of Existing Rc Bridges Using Multi-Pole Fuzzy Pattern Recognition Evaluation Method, Ming-Te Liang, Ting- Bang Chu, Wen-Hu Tsao, Chi-Jang Yeh

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

This paper proposes a technique for determining the repair ranking of existing reinforced concrete (RC) bridges using the multi-pole fuzzy pattern recognition evaluation method. The differences between bridges and grades are expressed by weighted generalized weight distance. To find the optimal relative membership degree of an evaluated bridge attributed to any grade, the operative principle is that the sum of the square of weighted generalized weight distance is minimum. Based on this principle, the problem of extreme value is established by the objective function in connection with constraint condition. Using the Lagrangean method, the multi-pole fuzzy pattern recognition evaluation method …

2008 Fall Engr333 Project Assignment, Matthew K. Heun

ENGR 333

The Fall 2008 semester ENGR333 project assessed the feasibility of a Green Revolving Fund for Calvin College. I asked the students “What would it take to implement a Calvin Energy Efficiency Fund (CEEF)?”

The project emerged from the work of the previous year’s students who uncovered the concept of green revolving funds.

Immediately after the Fall 2008 semester, I went on sabbatical to South Africa for all of 2009. While I was away, the Calvin administration established the Calvin Energy Recovery Fund (CERF). Over the next decade, CERF saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy costs and was …

Barriers To Innovation In Public-Private Partnership (Ppp), Louis Gunnigan, David Eaton

Conference papers

This paper sets out to identify barriers to greater use of innovation in PPP projects. Using a series of in-depth interviews with participants on two closely related PPP projects, data were gathered and analysed to compare the success of the projects in relation to innovation. The views of the participants relating to the approach to innovation were recorded and were examined relative to the views on innovation expressed in published documentation relating to these projects. The research showed that two different types of innovation could be identified – namely cost reducing innovation and product enhancing innovation. It also showed that, …

Investigating Failure Of A Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil Wall In Black Hawk, Colorado, Jonathan T. H. Wu, Kanop Ketchart

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

Approximately 18 months after construction, an 11-m high rock faced Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil (GRS) wall was found to suffer from subsidence of about 100 mm on the crest, along with rocks being dislodged from the wall face from time to time. In the ensuing three months after these signs of problems were first detected, the subsidence on the crest of the wall increased to about 250 mm with significant lateral bulging on the wall face. The wall comprised two sides. The problems occurred primarily on one side of the wall; while the other side showed little distress. The entire wall eventually …

Foundations Of The Nation: The Hillbrow And Brixton Towers As Figurations Of National Identity In South Africa, Lizè Groenewald, Francis Legge

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

In its accreditation of degrees, the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) requires the inclusion, in any curriculum, of 10% of total credits of what are termed complementary studies that encompass reflections upon environmental impact, legal matters, cultural heritage and design philosophies as they pertain to the engineering profession. By stipulating this inclusion ECSA acknowledges that engineering can no longer be regarded as a neutral, apolitical endeavour. This paper responds to the latter position and sets out to offer a broadening of the current scope of scholarly dialogue between a logical science and the human community which it serves. In …

Microbiological Improvement Of The Physical Properties Of Soil, Edward Kavazanjian Jr., Ismail Karatas

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

The application of microbiological processes for improvement of the physical properties of soils offers the promise of sustainable, cost effective, non-disruptive ground improvement for a variety of geotechnical problems. Potentially beneficial applications of microbiological processes include increasing the stiffness of soil to reduce settlement and lateral deformations, increasing shear strength to enhance foundation bearing capacity and slope stability and to facilitate excavation and tunneling, reducing the susceptibility of granular soil to earthquake-induced liquefaction, reducing swell (expansion) potential of fine grained soil, and reducing permeability for groundwater control. Microbiological processes that can potentially be employed for these applications include mineral precipitation, …

Past Proceedings: Sixth International Conference On Case Histories In Geotechnical Engineering, Arlington (2008), Multiple Authors

International Conferences on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Damage To A Road And Sports Complex On Expansive Clays, M. B. Mgangira, P. Paige-Green

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

The paper discusses a road rehabilitation project and a sports complex, where the underlying in situ materials were typical African black cotton soils known for their expansive characteristics. Field investigations were undertaken to discern the main causes of the pavement distress and the serious damage to roads and structures encountered at a large sports complex with the support of quantitative data from test pits and with laboratory test results. In addition, available design documents and construction records were reviewed to identify key aspects that may have contributed to the observed excessive cracking of the road pavement and damage to both …