Engineering Commons^™

An Analysis Of Groundwater Storage Loss In The Central Valley Using A Novel In Situ Method Compared To Grace-Derived Results, Michael David Stevens

Theses and Dissertations

Robust groundwater management is necessary to maintain long-term aquifer sustainability. Temporally and spatially inconsistent in situ data prevents robust groundwater resource evaluation. Data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission has been used to evaluate long-term, large-scale groundwater trends. However, the spatial resolution of GRACE data presents challenges for groundwater management in medium-sized aquifers like the Central Valley of California (CV). Other researchers have utilized GRACEderived data to evaluate groundwater storage in the CV, but they often make corrections due to what is referred to as the "leakage effect." We demonstrate a method for imputing gaps in …

Classification And Creation Of Design Tools And Methods For Social Impact Considerations In Engineering For Global Development, Andrew Gary Armstrong

Theses and Dissertations

Every product has economic, environmental, and social impacts whether or not those impacts are explicitly considered. These impacts affect society and are an important part of engineering design. "Triple Bottom Line Sustainability" focuses on economic, environmental, and social sustainability and has become an important goal for those designing products. Economic considerations are an established part of the engineering design process. Environmental considerations are increasingly being considered in design including the development of design standards and widely used methodologies. Social impact considerations, however, lack the standardization and wide inclusion of economic and environmental considerations. This results in reduced and unbalanced consideration …

Methods For Characterizing Groundwater Resources With Sparse In-Situ Data, Ren Nishimura

Theses and Dissertations

Groundwater water resources must be accurately characterized in order to be managed sustainably. Due to the cost to install monitoring wells and challenges in collecting and managing in-situ data, groundwater data is sparse in space and time especially in developing countries. In this study we analyzed long-term groundwater storage changes with limited times-series data where each well had only one groundwater measurement in time. We developed methods to synthetically create times-series groundwater table elevation (WTE) by clustering wells with uniform grid and k-means-constrained clustering and creating pseudo wells. Pseudo wells with the WTE values from the cluster-member wells were temporally …

Analysis Of Factors To Distinguish Between Passenger And Cargo Air Carrier Accidents, Warren Phillip Pittorie

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to analyze a set of factors for their ability to distinguish between passenger and cargo air carrier accidents. This study utilized a historical dataset of air carrier accidents that occurred between 2002 and 2019 and identified common factors that were able to be categorized according to the theoretical SHELO model. This model, commonly used for analyzing human factors-related causation of aircraft accidents, was utilized to categorize accident factors in levels of the SHELO model, consisting of Software, Hardware, Environment, and Organizational Influences. Data analysis in the form of several logistic regressions revealed a …

Effects Of Optical Configuration And Sampling Efficiency On The Response Of Low-Cost Optical Particle Counters, Brady Scott Hales

Theses and Dissertations

Hazards associated with air pollution motivate the search for technologies capable of monitoring individual exposure to gaseous pollutants and particulate matter (PM). A Low-cost Optical Particle Counter (OPC), costing less than 50 USD, is an example of such technologies. Currently, OPCs are widely used to measure the concentration of particle matter in ambient air. While these low-cost air quality sensors are widely available, the accuracy and precision of these devices is highly uncertain. Consequently, the purpose of this thesis is to present an analytical model of two generic, low-cost OPCs based on the Laws of Conservation of Mass, Momentum, and …

Engineering And Optimization Of An Aav Based Viral Vector To Limit The In-Vitro Expression Of Sars-Cov-2 Spike-Protein, Ronald Anderson Smithwick

Theses and Dissertations

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus-2, also known as SARS-CoV-2, is a newly emerged respiratory viral pathogen. The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 started in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 and rapidly transformed into a pandemic. Several vaccines have been developed and are available to the public on an unprecedented timeline, protecting individuals from a severe infection and saving precious lives. However, none of the vaccines can provide a sterile immunity, and the SARS-CoV-2 transmission cycle continues. Additionally, because of the mutation-prone RNA genome and immunological selection pressure, SARS-CoV-2 is rapidly mutating, especially the Spike(S) protein, and new viral strains are arising …

Indicators Of Political Instability In The Presence Of Rapid Urban And Youth Population Growth, Douglas W. Hubbard

Theses and Dissertations

Large and rapidly growing cities and other urban agglomerations have the potential to become incubators of political instability. This is especially true of rapidly growing cities which are located in countries that are also experiencing high rates of growth in their youth population. Rapid growth rates put stress on urban infrastructure and other institutions, and these stresses can cause major problems for both city and national governments. Knowing when these cities and countries may be trending toward their tipping points regarding political instability will help governments and international organizations develop and implement effective strategies to mitigate the risk of instability.

A Decision Analysis Framework To Consider Space Congestion In Orbit Selection, Anthony J. Correale

Theses and Dissertations

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is becoming more congested, which increases the risk to space missions. Decision makers will need to consider this increase in congestion as an increased risk within their mission engineering process. This thesis proposes a methodology to create and implement a value structure that quantitatively scores a range of orbits based on congestion factors of each orbit and how well each orbit meets mission requirements. This thesis demonstrates this methodology on a set of circular LEO orbits defined by altitude and inclination, and scores this illustrative scenario based on notional mission measures and expected number of encounters …

Hydrologic Profiles And Geospatial Trend Analysis Evaluating Recurrent Flooding At Coastal U.S. Air Force Installations, Dylan D. Bechen

Theses and Dissertations

Military installations are exposed to numerous threats, including a changing climate and the risk of recurrent flooding. The four components of recurrent flooding are sea-level rise, tidal fluctuations, storm surges, and precipitation. This research analyzed 40 years of historical precipitation and tidal data at 17 coastal U.S. Air Force installations using indicators of both peak and threshold exceedances to identify long-term temporal trends in the hydrologic components that make up recurrent flood risk, establishing an installation’s “hydrologic profile” which can be used to better inform decision makers when evaluating portfolio-wide adaptation strategies and prioritization of long-term infrastructure investments.

Surrogate Modeling Of Computational Aerodynamic Responses For A Generic Hypersonic Vehicle, Jacob R. Johanik

Theses and Dissertations

In the field of multidisciplinary hypersonic vehicle design, striking the balance between the accuracy and efficiency of a predictive aerodynamic response model is a significant challenge. In response to this challenge, the objective of this thesis is to evaluate the aerodynamic performance of a Generic Hypersonic Vehicle (GHV) using the technique of surrogate modeling Computational Fluid Dynamic data points across a large range of flight conditions. To accomplish this, the full CFD process was conducted by preparing the vehicle geometry, generating a grid, computing the flow, and post-processing the data. A three-dimensional, quasi-random distribution of 1000 points defined the design …

Deep Learning Approach To Multi-Phenomenological Nuclear Fuel Cycle Signals For Nonproliferation Applications, Preston J. Dicks

Theses and Dissertations

In order to reduce the time required for data analysis and decision-making relevant to nuclear proliferation detection, Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques are applied to multi-phenomenological signals emitted from nuclear fuel cycle facilities to identify non-human readable characteristic signatures of operations for use in detecting proliferation activities. Seismic and magnetic emanations were collected in the vicinity of the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) and the McClellan Nuclear Research Center (MNRC). A novel bi-phenomenology DL network is designed to test the viability of transfer learning between nuclear reactor facilities. It is found that the network produces an 84.1% accuracy (99.4% without transient …

Analysis Of The Perspective On Syrian Refugees By Neighboring Countries, Norma Ghanem

Theses and Dissertations

Mass migration destabilizes neighboring states, opening the way for fragile state exploitation by enemies, including those that could undermine U.S. national interests. This study investigates an area of the Levant region, specifically countries neighboring Syria, and analyzes their perspective on Syrian refugees for the time frame of 1 June 2019 - 30 June 2020. This analysis may assist in forming policy and creating strategies to address refugee related issues, both domestic and international. There are three main questions addressed. The first inspects dominant refugee framing, the second explores sentiment (dis)similarity within each country and across countries, and the third investigates …

Assessing The United States Foreign Assistance Activities Impact On Violent Conflicts, Daniel F. Feze

Theses and Dissertations

The Global Fragility Act, H.R.2116 116th Cong. (2019), “directs the Department of State to establish the interagency Global Fragility Initiative to stabilize conflict-affected areas and prevent violence globally, and establishes funds to support such efforts”. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has identified deteriorating economies, weak or illegitimate political institutions, and competition over natural resources as causes of violence, extremism and instability (USAID, 2021). The agency gives priority to mitigating the causes and consequences of violent conflicts, instability and extremism and funds programs and activities to accomplish that (USAID, 2021). With this study, we aim to quantitatively assess …

Global Sporadic-E Climatological Analysis Using Gps Radio Occultation And Ionosonde Data, Travis J. Hodos

Theses and Dissertations

A climatology of sporadic-E (Es) derived from a combined data set of GPS radio occultation (GPS-RO) and ground-based ionosonde soundings is presented for the period from September 2006 to February 2019. The ionosonde soundings were measured using the Lowell Digisonde International (LDI) Global Ionosphere Radio Observatory (GIRO) network consisting of 65 sites and 13,141,060 total soundings. The GPS-RO observations were taken aboard the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) satellites and processed using two binary Es detection algorithms, totaling 9,072,922 occultations. The first algorithm is an S4 amplitude threshold calibrated to the occurrence of any blanketing Es …

Mathematical Modeling And Optimization Of Water Efficiency In Residential Buildings, Mahmoud Amin

Theses and Dissertations

Water scarcity is a global issue that is rapidly worsening. The domestic sector is one of the fastest-growing segments of world water usage. Many researchers have explored various approaches to promote sustainable uses of water, with Greywater (GW) recycling and utilization of innovative plumbing fixtures among the methods presented to reduce freshwater consumption for domestic usage. Nonetheless, previous studies have dealt with both means independently, with limited analysis of the integrated effect of utilizing GW recycling with innovative plumbing fixtures, both on quality of supplied water, as well as on cost of the integrated system. Accordingly, this research aims at …

Project Leanness Score: A Machine Learning Approach, Julia Said

Theses and Dissertations

The construction industry is known to have several inadequacies in resource utilization leading to cost and schedule overruns. One of the popular recent methods that attempts to eliminate these inadequacies is lean construction principles, techniques and tools. Lean construction is a philosophy, backed with principles and tools, aiming at maximizing value, eliminating waste, optimizing efficiency, and seeking continuous improvement. Lean construction techniques (such as pull planning, just-in-time delivery, fail safe for quality, etc.) are widely researched and well developed. However, their implementation in construction sites is tricky as their success depends on several other factors such as the level of …

Impact Of Rapid Urbanization, Climate Change, And Drainage Design On Urban Flash Floods In New Cairo, Egypt, Bassma Taher Hassan

Theses and Dissertations

Urban flooding is considered one of the most hazardous disasters in metropolitan areas, which causes growing risk on people’s lives, infrastructure and environment. Egypt witnessed an unprecedent extreme rainfall event in 2020 that caused more than four hundred injuries and major damage in properties and infrastructures affecting the economic and social aspects adversely. This was not the first extreme rainfall event causing catastrophic implications, over the past 5 years, New Cairo have been experiencing intense rainfall events almost every year that put the community in jeopardy. This research intends to investigate the main drivers prompting urban flash floods in New …

Analysis Of Non-Conventional Radiological Terrorism, James N. Padgett

Theses and Dissertations

Nuclear terrorism has been a risk since the dawn of the first atomic bomb. Though state sponsored nuclear weapons development is of concern for countries, non-state sponsored terrorism with radiological material can be of even greater concern. This stems from the fact that the material is under less stringent or no safeguards and can readily change hands between different terrorist groups or innocent civilians may accidently come into contact with the material.

Within this paper an analysis of previous accidents using orphan radiological sources, malicious use of orphan radiological sources, and how these sources could be used by terrorists is …

Energy Planning Model Design For Forecasting The Final Energy Consumption Using Artificial Neural Networks, Haidy Eissa

Theses and Dissertations

“Energy Trilemma” has recently received an increasing concern among policy makers. The trilemma conceptual framework is based on three main dimensions: environmental sustainability, energy equity, and energy security. Energy security reflects a nation’s capability to meet current and future energy demand. Rational energy planning is thus a fundamental aspect to articulate energy policies. The energy system is huge and complex, accordingly in order to guarantee the availability of energy supply, it is necessary to implement strategies on the consumption side. Energy modeling is a tool that helps policy makers and researchers understand the fluctuations in the energy system. Over the …

A Longitudinal Analysis Of Pathways To Computing Careers: Defining Broadening Participation In Computing (Bpc) Success With A Rearview Lens, Mercy Jaiyeola

Theses and Dissertations

Efforts to increase the participation of groups historically underrepresented in computing studies, and in the computing workforce, are well documented. It is a national effort with funding from a variety of sources being allocated to research in broadening participation in computing (BPC). Many of the BPC efforts are funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) but as existing literature shows, the growth in representation of traditionally underrepresented minorities and women is not commensurate to the efforts and resources that have been directed toward this aim.

Instead of attempting to tackle the barriers to increasing representation, this dissertation research tackles the …

The Effect Of Low Dose Penicillin On Tumor Development In ApcMin/+ Mice, Kinsey Ann Sierra Meggett

Theses and Dissertations

Antibiotics have been our most effective weapon against bacterial infections since their discovery in the early 1900s. Their use has been critical in reducing mortality rate from infectious diseases. However, in the last few decades, the overuse of antibiotics, beginning at an early age and into adulthood, has become a growing concern globally. Penicillin is one of many extensively used antibiotics in early childhood that has been used to treat childhood infections. Recent studies showed that exposure to low dose penicillin can have adverse effects leading to chronic illness such as diabetes, allergies, inflammation, and susceptibility to obesity, with the …

Performance Improvement Through Better Understanding Of Supply Chain Resilience, Amanda L. Femano

Theses and Dissertations

Businesses operate every day in a disruptive environment. Supply and demand uncertainty, natural disasters, global pandemics, and mishaps can all cause chaos to a supply chain’s flow. It is impossible to predict every disruption a supply chain may encounter. The best an organization can do to protect network performance is to build resilience in the supply chain and life-blood of its operations. Ensuring that a supply chain has the proper built-in mechanisms to resist and recover from disruptions is referred to as Supply Chain Resilience (SCR). While it is generally agreed that SCR can be improved through the implementation of …

Assessment Of Key Imperatives For Enhancing Precast Adoptability In Egypt, Mostafa Sameh

Theses and Dissertations

Precast Concrete’s modular application concept is a major construction method that has been used historically seen in various shapes, forms, and with a wide range of constituents. Examples include Ancient Egypt and China among several impressive structures in old civilizations. The major advantages of precast concrete lie in its adaptability, resilience, and versatility which makes precast concrete one of the most agile building materials. Precast concrete as we know it today has been introduced to our markets over the past several decades. Having similar advantages to that of old precast building methods, the road has been paved for wider use …

In-Situ Alloying Of Cucrfenitial High Entropy Alloy Using Spark Plasma Sintering, Yash P. Patil

Theses and Dissertations

Primary objective of this research was to study the correlation between energy parameters (temperature, time and pressure) of spark plasma sintering (SPS) and design/structural properties (uniform distribution of elements, sever lattice distortion, density), indirectly proving consolidation of a stable High-entropy alloy (HEA) that consists of minimum of five elements. Therefore, powders of five principal elements (CuCrFeNiTi) and one minor element (Al) in near equimolar ratios were used for HEA consolidation using SPS but without mechanical alloying. Overall results demonstrated that the HEA was not generated using heterogenous solution of CuCrFeNiTiAl using SPS. This suggests that the mechanical alloying of CuCrFeNiTiAl …

Considering Social Impact When Engineering For Global Development, Hans Jorgen Ottosson

Theses and Dissertations

Every manufactured product has an environmental impact, a social impact, and an economic impact. As engineers, we should do our best to understand how our design decisions influence these impacts (the three pillars of sustainability), and at the same time make decisions that collectively lead to maximum positive impacts, or minimum negative impacts on the economy, environment, and society. Many times, engineers show interest and want to design for all three pillars of sustainability but are often constrained to focus on the environmental and economic aspects, leaving out social sustainability due to lack of understanding and resources. In practice, this …

Development And Validation Of The Itf Scale: An Investigation Of Airline Passengers’ Intention To Fly During A Global Disruption, Guangda Liang

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to develop and validate the ITF scale that measured airline passengers’ intention to fly during a global disruption. Based on the review of the literature, the researcher identified several dimensions, and each dimension was measured by question items. The target population of the current study was airline passengers in the United States who were at least 18 years old. A sample was collected using the convenience sampling. The questionnaire was distributed online. The ITF scale was validated using data collected from the online questionnaire. A factor analysis was performed. The results of the …

Assessment Of Carbon Dioxide Emission And Its Impact On High-Rise Mixed-Use Buildings In Egypt, Ahmed Salah Hamza

Theses and Dissertations

With Egypt's vision of 2030 focusing on sustainable development with a true emphasis on Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) emission reduction in the newly built cities and high-rise buildings, efforts are exerted on various levels towards accomplishing the vision’s goals. This is achieved through multiple tools and models associated with aiding the reduction of carbon emissions, yet not a clear one was introduced for the mixed-use buildings in Egypt.

Through this work, a significant gap was identified with respect to high-rise buildings carbon emission assessment in Egypt. This was a main driving force for this work in an attempt to …

Interactive Expert System For Budgeting World Bank Consultancy Projects, Yosra Rafat

Theses and Dissertations

Cost estimating and forecasting are key components of the budgeting of any construction project. However, conventional approaches may result in uncertainty and usually do not utilize the organizational knowledge of past projects. Ideally, performing a cost estimation under the best predictions of the relevant future conditions, is the best approach of economic analysis to evaluate the optimum value for money. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence techniques, there are now several Machine Learning (ML) methods that are being studied to capitalize on accuracy gains with regards to cost estimating techniques to increase reliability during the tendering phase. This research aims …

Engineering A Prophylactic Cap For Multi-Dose Vial Disinfection, Rebecca Lee Charboneau

Theses and Dissertations

Recently, multi-dose vials (MDVs) have demonstrated significant bioburden, with randomized studies revealing bacterial contamination rates up to 27%. When the proper protocol of disinfecting the vial diaphragm with a pre-saturated wipe is followed, MDV bioburden is eliminated. However, when this sterilization protocol is neglected, the susceptibility of MDV to house potential nosocomial pathogens intensifies. In this work, the usability and effectiveness of a novel device, referred to as the Vial Cap, are investigated to gauge the feasibility and acceptability of this device as a method of MDV disinfection. The usability of the Vial Cap was evaluated using principle human factors …

Testing And Performance Analysis Of A New Wireless Sensors Network (Wsn) System For Hurricane Monitoring, Jianing Wang

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers at the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) have developed the wireless sensor network system for the field measurement of hurricane wind and pressure on residential structures. A new version of the system is developed using the latest state-of-the-art technologies which performance is tested during the passing of hurricane Isaias (2020) and the Wall of Wind (WOW) at Florida International University (FIU). The old version system sensors were applied during hurricane Dorian (2019). For the three events, 25 pressure sensors and one anemometer were placed on the roof of a single-story house. Hurricane Dorian data was collected for 72 hours …