Engineering Commons^™

Design, Concept, And Visualization Of Urban Multi-Level Growing Table Systems In Hyper Urban Areas, Aaryan Manoj Nair, Shaheed Mohammed, Omar Rahama

Publications and Research

As of a 2019 study conducted by the National Urban Gardening Program (National Urban Gardening Program), urban farming accounts for approximately 19% of the total national farming output and is expected to triple to almost 45% by 2025. There is intensive research being conducted on aspects of reduced recidivism, communal health benefits, natural carbon capture systems, improved urban ecology and the necessity for reducing the carbon footprint of food, (informally dubbed “food miles”) there is little substantive research on optimisation, and maximation of crop productivity in hyper-urban areas.

The purpose of this report is to understand the functionalities of urban …

Allocative Efficiency Of Grid Farming In Urban Green Built Environments, Aaryan Manoj Nair

Publications and Research

As of a 2019 study conducted by the National Urban Gardening Program (National Urban Gardening Program), urban farming accounts for approximately 19% of the total national farming output and is expected to triple to almost 45% by 2025. There is intensive research being conducted on aspects of reduced recidivism, communal health benefits, natural carbon capture systems, improved urban ecology and the necessity for reducing the carbon footprint of food, (informally dubbed “food miles”) there is little substantive research on optimization, and maximation of crop productivity in hyper-urban areas. The article attempts to study allocative efficiency in hyper urban built environments.

Differential Survival Of Non-O157 Shiga Toxigenic Escherichia Coli In Simulated Cattle Feedlot Runoff, Lisa M. Durso, John E. Gilley, Daniel N. Miller

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Environmental survival time is important when evaluating adverse health outcomes from foodborne pathogens. Although outbreaks associated with manure-impacted irrigation or runoff water are relatively infrequent, their broad scope, regulatory importance, and severe health outcomes highlight the need to better understand the environmental survival of manure-borne pathogens. Shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli (STEC) are excreted in feces and persist in the environment until they die or recolonize a new host. Surface waters contaminated with manure-borne STEC can infect humans through drinking and recreational water use or irrigated crops that are minimally cooked. In this study, manure-impacted water microcosms mimicking beef cattle feedlot …

Freeways And Farms: Veggielution & Taylor Street Urban Farms Study, Joshua Baur, Ashley Estrada

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report presents the results of a project conducted by researchers at San Jose State University in partnership with Veggielution and Taylor Street Farm staff, funded by the Mineta Transportation Institute in San Jose, CA. The research team interviewed staff and volunteer farm workers to explore how nearby roadways impact experiences at farm sites. Research on outdoor nature-based recreation consistently identifies peaceful, natural site characteristics as important to a positive outdoor experience. This project sought to identify whether farm user attitudes and experiences would be consistent with these research findings resulting in farm users reporting that nearby roadways negatively impacted …

Promoting The Sustainable Utilization Of Groundwater Resources In Ethiopia Using The Integrated Groundwater Footprint Index, Xinyu Lin

Honors Scholar Theses

The country of Ethiopia is highly vulnerable to human-caused climate change and is already suffering from the effects. The predominately rural population relies heavily on small-scale agriculture, with 78% of households having at least one member engaged in the field, yet staple crops are highly susceptible to droughts and other weather shocks. Total and agricultural GDP growth in the country have been strongly linked to inter-annual rainfall variability, of which Ethiopia has among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. A decrease in rainfall since the 1970s has been one of the primary causes of low crop yields, and stresses the immediate …

Agenator: An Open Source Computer-Controlled Dry Aging System For Beef, Soon Kiat Lau, Felipe Azevedo Ribeiro, Jeyamkondan Subbiah, Chris R. Calkins

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Dry aging of beef is a process where beef is exposed to a controlled environment with the ultimate goal of drying the beef to improve its quality and value. Comprehensive investigations into the effects of various environmental conditions on dry aging are crucial for understanding and optimizing the process, but the lack of affordable equipment focused on data collection makes it difficult to do so. The Agenator was thus developed as an open source system with a suite of features for investigating dry aging such as: measuring and recording relative humidity, temperature, mass, air velocity, and fan rotational speed; precise …

Impact Of Vegetative Treatment Systems On Multiple Measures Of Antibiotic Resistance In Agricultural Wastewater, Lisa M. Durso, Daniel N. Miller, Christopher G. Henry

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Wastewater is an important vector of antibiotic resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes (ARB/G). While there is broad agreement that ARB/G from agricultural (ag) wastewaters can be transported through the environment and may contribute to untreatable infectious disease in humans and animals, there remain large knowledge gaps surrounding applied details on the types and amounts of ARB/G associated with different agricultural wastewater treatment options and different ag production systems. This study evaluates a vegetative treatment system (VTS) built to treat the wastewater from a beef cattle feedlot. Samples were collected for three years, and plated on multiple media types to …

The Stability Of Uranium-Bearing Precipitates Created As A Result Of Ammonia Gas Injections In The Hanford Site Vadose Zone, Alberto Javier Abarca Betancourt

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Uranium (U) is a crucial contaminant in the Hanford Site. Remediation techniques to prevent contaminant migration of U located in the soils to other important water resources such as the Columbia River are of paramount importance. Given the location of the contaminant in the deep vadose zone, sequestration of U caused by ammonia (NH₃) gas injections appears to be a feasible method to decrease U mobility in the contaminated subsurface via pH manipulation, ultimately converting aqueous U mobile phases to lower solubility precipitates that are stable in the natural environment. This study evaluated the stability of those U-bearing …

Pilot Reactor Operation Of The Oxygenic Photogranule (Opg) Wastewater Treatment Process, Adam Matthew Mcnair

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

Treating wastewater is imperative for maintaining public health and sanitation as well as the natural environment. In the United States and developed countries around the globe, the activated sludge (AS) process has been paramount in effectively treating wastewater for over a century. However, high energy consumption due to required mechanical aeration of AS limits its potential as a sustainable process. The oxygenic photogranule (OPG) wastewater treatment process utilizes the photosynthetic ability of OPGs made possible by the symbiosis between heterotrophic AS and filamentous cyanobacteria and algae in dense, spherical biogranules. This research presents pilot operation of the OPG wastewater treatment …

Sustainable Architecture Design: Environmental And Economic Benefits, Michael Babcock

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis examines the movement of environmentalism, and its impact on architecture and construction. During an interview with a professional architect, a basis for research of sustainable design was devised, when he explained that “good” architecture attempts to holistically integrate the external and built environment. Presently, the main measurement for sustainability is energy efficiency. Therefore, architects constantly implement new technology in an attempt to unify both the external and built environment in an energy efficient manner. Furthermore, this thesis provides an environmental and financial cost analysis of implementing sustainable design and build. Research shows that the life cycle and up-front …

Thawing Out: The Role Of The Arctic Council Service In A Melting Arctic, Taylor J. Enos

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

With the changing natural and political climate of the Arctic, conflicts over resource extraction and navigation will become inevitable. Empowering an intergovernmental institution like the Arctic Council Service may be the only solution. This paper analyzes the importance and history of the Arctic as a political environment, which is prone to abuse in the very near future at the hands of Russia and the United States.

Slides: Meeting The Needs Of Women Through Clean Cooking Solutions, Corinne Hart

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Corinne Hart, Program Manager, Gender and Markets, Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves

20 slides

Day 1: Wednesday, August 4, 2004: Calpine Rocky Mountain Energy Center, Calpine Rocky Mountain Energy Center

Energy Field Tour 2004 (August 4-6)

5 pages (includes illustrations).

Day 1. Monday, August 11, 2003: National Renewable Energy Lab, National Energy Renewable Laboratory

Energy Field Tour 2003 (August 11-16)

8 pages (includes illustrations).

Contains references.

User's Manual For The Environmental Fluid Dynamics Computer Code, John M. Hamrick

Reports

No abstract provided.