Engineering Commons^™

Synthesis And Evaluation Of Naturally Occuring Halogenated Bipyrroles In A Relevant Marine Species, Fundulus Heteroclitus, Kimberly Sheree Foster

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Halogenated dimethyl-2-2'-bipyrroles (HDBPs) have recently been discovered in seabird eggs and have been shown to bioaccumulate in trophic organisms. HDBPs are suspected to be biogenic in nature, derived from evidence of marine natural products that are persistent in the environment and widespread in the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean. The HDBPs exhibit chlorinated and brominated substitution patterns that closely resemble anthropogenic pollutants like the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Environmental health concerns exists regarding these naturally occurring HDBPs because several of these analogs were shown to induce the cytochrome P4501A (CYP1A) gene through activation of …

Research Methodologies: A Look At The Underlying Philosophical Foundations Of Research, Nathapon Siangchokyoo, Andres Sousa-Poza

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Quantitative and qualitative research methodologies have had their greatest share of debates dating back to the 1970s. Researchers have long argued over the underlying philosophical features between the two methodologies and their ability to derive knowledge (Onwuegbuzie & Leech, 2005, Sale, Lohfeld, & Brazil, 2002; Powell, Mihalas, Onwuegbuzie, Suldo and Daley, 2008; Sechrest and Sidani, 1995). More recently, modern researchers have argued that the integration of quantitative and qualitative methods into a single methodology (known simply as mixed methods research) allows researchers to answer questions otherwise unobtainable (Carey, 1993). The emergence of mixed methods research has gained increasing popularities in …

Thermal Stability Characteristics Of Fisher-Tropsch And Hydroprocessed Alternative Aviation Fuels In A Fixed Bed Reactor, Sergio Quintero

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Growing prices, limited supply, and public concern about greenhouse gases associated with crude-derived jet fuels have led to development of renewable alternatives which must be compatible with the worldwide civilian and military aviation infrastructure, which were designed for operation with Jet-A/JP-8. Any alternative fuel should not have negative effects on the aircraft engines and fuel systems, especially from a thermal stability perspective, since any adverse effect of the physical properties, and chemical composition, including existence of trace elements, of those fuels may only be revealed after extensive operation, resulting in higher life-cycle maintenance and operation costs. This study considered four …

Team Science: Research 2012, University Office For Research, South Dakota State University

State of Discovery South Dakota State University's Research Magazine

CONTENTS:

Wheat [Page] 2
Nutrition [Page] 4
Health Sciences [Page] 5
Mathematics and Statistics [Page] 6
Biofuels [Page] 8
Photovoltaics [Page] 10
Mountain Lions [Page] 12
GISc Center of Excellence [Page] 14
By the Numbers [Page] 16

Development Of Strategies To Minimize The Release Of Trace Elements From Coal Waste Sources, Mohammad Rezaee

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

To assess strategies aimed at minimizing the release of trace elements and the impact of disposal of coal waste materials on the environment, two long-term leaching experiments of up to five months duration were performed using waste materials from two plants cleaning high and low sulfur bituminous coal. The tests evaluated the mobility of major trace elements under different disposal scenarios: (i) a static leaching test designed to simulate the quiescent conditions encountered by coal waste material stored under water in a stable impoundment, and (ii) a dynamic test to simulate waste materials exposed to the atmosphere, either in variable …

Risk Management In Reservoir Operations In The Context Of Undefined Competitive Consumption, Yunus Salami

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dams and reservoirs with multiple purposes require effective management to fully realize their purposes and maximize efficiency. For instance, a reservoir intended mainly for the purposes of flood control and hydropower generation may result in a system with primary objectives that conflict with each other. This is because higher hydraulic heads are required to achieve the hydropower generation objective while relatively lower reservoir levels are required to fulfill flood control objectives. Protracted imbalances between these two could increase the susceptibility of the system to risks of water shortage or flood, depending on inflow volumes and operational policy effectiveness. The magnitudes …

Construction And Demolition Debris Recovery And Recycling In Orange County, Fl, Michael Stephen Toth Ii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 2008, the State of Florida established a recycling goal of 75% to be achieved by 2020. In response to the Florida goal Orange County (OC), Florida has made the development and implementation of an efficient strategy for landfill diversion of its solid waste a top priority. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) estimated that 23 % of municipal solid waste was generated by construction and demolition (C&D) activities in 2009, with only 30 percent of C&D debris being recycled. Therefore, OC decided to create a solid waste integrated resource plan (SWIRP) initially focused on the recovery and recycling …

The Allen Telescope Array Search For Electrostatic Discharges On Mars, Marin M. Anderson, Andrew P.V. Siemion, William C. Barott, Geoffery C. Bower, Gregory T. Delory, Imke De Pater, Dan Werthimer

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - Daytona Beach

The Allen Telescope Array was used to monitor Mars between 2010 March 9 and June 2, over a total of approximately 30 hr, for radio emission indicative of electrostatic discharge. The search was motivated by the report from Ruf et al. of the detection of non-thermal microwave radiation from Mars characterized by peaks in the power spectrum of the kurtosis, or kurtstrum, at 10 Hz, coinciding with a large dust storm event on 2006 June 8. For these observations, we developed a wideband signal processor at the Center for Astronomy Signal Processing and Electronics Research. This 1024 channel spectrometer calculates …

Geospatial Assessment Of Sustainable Built Infrastructure Assets And Flood Disaster Protection, Alper Durmus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research was initiated with a review and synthesis of infrastructure related to city and urban growth, built infrastructure to meet transportation needs and travel demand, and role of mass transit in reducing adverse impacts on the environment and greenhouse gas emissions. Floods are the most frequently occurring natural disaster in the world, which so far claimed millions of lives and resulted in billion-dollar economic costs. Built infrastructure assets in urban and rural areas are not spared from floods' aftermath. A major motivation for this thesis was the 2011 megaflood disaster of Thailand which devastated the green campus of Asian …

Solar Powered Water Purification System, Alina Carlson, Reece Kiriu, Andrew Nosé, Christopher Sugii, Erin Taketa, Alex Tamai

Mechanical Engineering Senior Theses

Santa Clara University's 2011-2012 Solar-Powered Water Purification System team is developing a solution to create a water distillation system, heated by solar troughs and solely powered by photovoltaic (PV) panels that can produce clean, drinkable water. This device would balance cost and efficiency to be marketable to lower-income locations, such as developing countries that suffer from shortages of clean water. In accomplishing this, the team will ensure that the system is sustainable and requires minimal maintenance.

Measuring Effectiveness Of Address Schemes For As-Level Graphs, Yinfang Zhuang

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

This dissertation presents measures of efficiency and locality for Internet addressing schemes.

Historically speaking, many issues, faced by the Internet, have been solved just in time, to make the Internet just work~\cite{justWork}. Consensus, however, has been reached that today's Internet routing and addressing system is facing serious scaling problems: multi-homing which causes finer granularity of routing policies and finer control to realize various traffic engineering requirements, an increased demand for provider-independent prefix allocations which injects unaggregatable prefixes into the Default Free Zone (DFZ) routing table, and ever-increasing Internet user population and mobile edge devices. As a result, the DFZ routing …

Experimental Investigations In Co2 Sequestration And Shale Caprock Integrity, Abiola Olukola Olabode

LSU Master's Theses

More than sixty percent (60%) of conventional hydrocarbon reservoirs which are potential CO2 repositories are sealed by tight shale caprock. The geochemical reactivity of shale caprock during CO2 diffusive transport needs to be included in the reservoir characterization of potential CO2 sequestration sites as slow reactive transport processes can either strengthen or degrade seal integrity over the long term. Several simulation results had predicted that influx-induced mineral dissolution/precipitation reactions within shale caprocks can continuously reduce micro-fracture networks, while pressure and effective-stress transformation first rapidly increase then progressively constrict them. This experimental work applied specific analytical techniques in investigating changes in …

Section 4: Energy Generation & Conversion, Asme Ectc Coordinating Committee

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Proceedings of the ASME Early Career Technical Conference, November 4-5, 2011. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia

pp. 137-194

Comparison Of Rechargeable Battery Technologies, Melissa Morris, Sabri Tonsunoglu

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Proceedings of the ASME Early Career Technical Conference, November 4-5, 2011. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia

Section 4: Energy Generation & Conversion; pp. 148-155

Catalytic Tri-Reforming Of Biomass-Derived Syngas To Produce Desired H2:Co Ratios For Fuel Applications, Devin Mason Walker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on upgrading biomass derived syngas for the synthesis of liquid fuels using Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS). The process includes novel gasification of biomass via a tri-reforming process which involves a synergetic combination of CO2 reforming, steam reforming, and partial oxidation of methane. Typical biomass-derived syngas H2:CO is 1:1 and contains tars that deactivate FT catalyst. This innovation allows for cost-effective one-step production of syngas in the required H2:CO of 2:1 with reduction of tars for use in the FTS. To maximize the performance of the tri-reforming catalyst, an attempt to control oxygen mobility, thermal stability, dispersion of metal, …

Aggregation Of Sediment And Bacteria With Mucilage From The Opuntia Ficus-Indica Cactus, Audrey Lynn Buttice

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Flocculants are commonly used in industrial settings where solid-liquid separations are desired including industrial and municipal wastewater management and potable water production facilities. Conventional flocculants include inorganic metal salts and synthetic organic polymers. The cost, availability, and harmful effects of the non-biodegradable nature of these flocculants have led to the widespread study of natural flocculants. Current natural flocculants being studied include polysaccharides cultivated from microbial extracellular matrix products and plant based materials. In this study, the mucilage of Opuntia ficus-indica cactus was evaluated as a natural flocculant for sediments and bacteria. The O. ficus-indica cactus is also known as the …

Water's Dependence On Energy: Analysis Of Embodied Energy In Water And Wastewater Systems, Weiwei Mo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water and wastewater treatment is a critical service provided for protecting human health and the environment. Over the past decade, increasing attention has been placed on energy consumption in water and wastewater systems for the following reasons: (1) Water and energy are two interrelated resources. The nexus between water and energy can intensify the crises of fresh water and fossil fuel shortages; (2) The demand of water/wastewater treatment services is expected to continue to increase with increasing population, economic development and land use change in the foreseeable future; and (3) There is a great potential to mitigate energy use in …

Dolphin Sound Production And Distribution On The West Florida Shelf, Peter Simard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an investigation of dolphin sound production and distribution off west central Florida. Although a wealth of information exists on the production of common sounds (whistles, echolocation) made by captive, trained dolphins, far less is known about free-ranging dolphin sound production and of unusual sounds. In addition, while inshore dolphin populations or communities are the subjects of research projects in many locations, dolphins in offshore waters are less commonly studied. The objectives of this dissertation were to contribute information on free-ranging dolphin sounds and continental shelf dolphin distribution.

While echolocation has been rigorously studied in captive, trained dolphins, …

Assessing The Reuse Potential Of Wastewater For Irrigation: The Removal Of Helminth Eggs From A Uasb Reactor And Stabilization Ponds In Bolivia, Matthew Eric Verbyla

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Extreme hunger, malnutrition, and the lack of access to sanitation are among the most pressing development challenges, but the world is not on track to meet the targets that have been established by the Millennium Development Goals. The integration of wastewater treatment and food production systems allows for the recovery of resources from wastewater, and can provide an important solution to meet the sanitation needs of growing urban populations and provide periurban farmers with a consistent supply of water and nutrients. Stabilization ponds have been long considered to be an appropriate technology for wastewater reuse systems in developing countries, but …

Free Troposphere Ozone And Carbon Monoxide Over The North Atlantic For 2001-2011, Aditya Kumar

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

Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Ozone (O3) are considered to be one of the most important atmospheric pollutants in the troposphere with both having significant effects on human health. Both are included in the U.S. E.P.A list of criteria pollutants. CO is primarily emitted in the source region whereas O3 can be formed near the source, during transport of the pollution plumes containing O3 precursors or in a receptor region as the plumes subside. The long chemical lifetimes of both CO and O3 enable them to be transported over long distances. This transport is important on continental scales as well, commonly …

Assessment Of Soil Erosion Vulnerability In Rural Communities In The Vicinity Of Motozintla De Mendoza, Chiapas, Mexico : A Physical And Sociological Approach, Selene B. González-Morales

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

Soil erosion is a natural geological phenomenon resulting from removal and transportation of soil particles by water, wind, ice and gravity. As soil erosion may be affected from cultural factors as well. The physical and social phenomena of soil erosion are researched in six communities in the upper part of Rio Grijalva Basin in the vicinity of Motozintla de Mendoza, Chiapas, Mexico. For this study, the USDA RUSLE model was applied to estimate soil erosion rates in the six communities based on the available data. The RUSLE model is based on soil properties, topography, and land cover and management factors. …

Assessment Of Water And Sanitation Infrastructure At Primary Schools In Rakai District, Uganda, Colin M. Casey

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

“Addressing water problems will help improve sanitation.” This relationship identified by a primary school teacher in Rakai District, Uganda, was a key component in understanding how water and sanitation technologies interact and how identified successes, challenges, and improvements would enhance schools’ water and sanitation condition. In this study, researchers and Ugandan counterparts visited 49 primary schools in Rakai District to assess the existing water and sanitation infrastructure of government and private schools. Researchers were specifically interested in learning which technologies were being used and why they were working or not. Through the development of a unique water and sanitation assessment …

Effective Water Treatment For Rural Communities In Suriname : A Comparison Of Point-Of-Use Ceramic Filters And Centralized Treatment With Sand Filters, Ashlee K. Vincent

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

For countless communities around the world, acquiring access to safe drinking water is a daily challenge which many organizations endeavor to meet. The villages in the interior of Suriname have been the focus of many improved drinking water projects as most communities are without year-round access. Unfortunately, as many as 75% of the systems in Suriname fail within several years of implementation. These communities, scattered along the rivers and throughout the jungle, lack many of the resources required to sustain a centralized water treatment system. However, the centralized system in the village of Bendekonde on the Upper Suriname River has …

Using Contingent Valuation To Estimate Willingness To Pay For Improved Water Source In Rural Uganda , Steven G. Wright

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

This research was conducted in August of 2011 in the villages of Kigisu and Rubona in rural Uganda while the author was serving as a community health volunteer with the U.S. Peace Corps. The study used the contingent valuation method (CVM) to estimate the populations’ willingness to pay (WTP) for the operation and maintenance of an improved water source. The survey was administered to 122 households out of 400 in the community, gathering demographic information, health and water behaviors, and using an iterative bidding process to estimate WTP. Households indicated a mean WTP of 286 Ugandan Shillings (UGX) per 20 …

Engineering Evaluation Of Multi-Beam Satellite Antenna Boresight Pointing Using Land/Water Crossings, Catherine Susan May

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Microwave Radiometer (MWR) on the Aquarius/SAC-D mission measures microwave radiation from earth and intervening atmosphere in terms of brightness temperature (Tb). It takes measurements in a push-broom fashion at K (23.8GHz) and Ka (36.5 GHz) band frequencies using two separate antenna systems, each producing eight antenna beams. Pre-launch knowledge of the alignment of these beams with respect to the space-craft is used to geolocate the antenna footprints on ground. As a part of MWR’s on-orbit engineering check-out, the verification of MWR’s pointing accuracy is discussed here. The technique used to assess MWR’s pointing involved comparing the radiometer image of …

Methamphetamine Administration Targets Multiple Immune Subsets And Induces Phenotypic Alterations Suggestive Of Immunosuppression., Robert Z. Harms, Brenda M. Morsey, Craig W. Boyer, Howard S. Fox, Nora E. Sarvetnick

Journal Articles: Regenerative Medicine

Methamphetamine (Meth) is a widely abused stimulant and its users are at increased risk for multiple infectious diseases. To determine the impact of meth on the immune system, we utilized a murine model that simulates the process of meth consumption in a typical addict. Our phenotypic analysis of leukocytes from this dose escalation model revealed that meth affected key immune subsets. Meth administration led to a decrease in abundance of natural killer (NK) cells and the remaining NK cells possessed a phenotype suggesting reduced responsiveness. Dendritic cells (DCs) and Gr-1(high) monocytes/macrophages were also decreased in abundance while Gr-1(low) monocytes/macrophages appear …

Isothermal Deformation And Modeling Of Ti-6al-4v, Vamsi Krishna Vempati

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Ti-6Al-4V has attractive properties such as high strength to weight ratio, good fatigue properties and excellent corrosion resistance and these properties have made this alloy an important material for the aerospace industry. In this thesis, the deformation behavior of Ti-6Al-4V with several processing histories, was studied by conducting isothermal constant strain rate compression tests over a temperature range of 829°C to 996°C (1525°F to 1825°F) and at strain rates of 10-2 s-1, 10-1 s-1 and 100 s-1. True stress versus true strain flow curves showed a peak stress followed by flow softening. The data was analyzed to obtain constitutive equations …

Use Of Exploratory Data-Mining Techniques To Analyze Associations Between Bone-Mineral Density And Relevant Clinical Parameters Of Gaucher Disease, Tingting Fu

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Gaucher disease (GD) is a monogenic disorder with autosomal recessive inheritance, which results from an acid lysosomal hydrolase, the beta-glucocerebrosidase deficiency. Clinical manifestations of the disease include anemia, thrombocytopenia, hepatosplenomegaly, and skeletal complications. Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) has been used to treat type 1 GD for more than a decade, and many patients have shown remarkable clinical responses to the treatment, with normalization of blood counts, reduction in liver and spleen size, and improvement in bone symptoms. Many researchers have tried to study the effectiveness of ERT, but previous research has been mainly based on some predetermined hypotheses and traditional …

Sensitivity Of Grass- And Alfalfa-Reference Evapotranspiration To Weather Station Sensor Accuracy, Dana O. Porter, Prasanna H. Gowda, Thomas H. Marek, Terry A. Howell, Jerry Moorhead, Suat Irmak

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

A sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine the relative effects of measurement errors in climate data input parameters on the accuracy of calculated reference crop evapotranspiration (ET) using the ASCE-EWRI Standardized Reference ET Equation. Data for the period of 1995 to 2008 from an automated weather station located at the USDA-ARS Conservation and Production Research Laboratory at Bushland, Texas were used for the analysis. Results

indicated that grass (ET_os) and alfalfa (ET_rs) reference crop ET were most sensitive to measurement errors in wind speed and air temperature followed by incoming shortwave (solar) radiation, and that data …

Swat: Model Use, Calibration, And Validation, Jeffrey G. Arnold, Daniel N. Moriasi, Philip W. Gassman, Karim C. Abbaspour, Michael J. White, Raghavan Srinivasan, Chinnasamy Santhi, Daren Harmel, Ann Van Griensven, Michael W. Van Liew, Narayanan Kannan, Manoj K. Jha

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) is a comprehensive, semi-distributed river basin model that requires a large number of input parameters, which complicates model parameterization and calibration. Several calibration techniques have been developed for SWAT, including manual calibration procedures and automated procedures using the shuffled complex evolution method and other common methods. In addition, SWAT-CUP was recently developed and provides a decision-making framework that incorporates a semi-automated approach (SUFI2) using both manual and automated calibration and incorporating sensitivity and uncertainty analysis. In SWAT-CUP, users can manually adjust parameters and ranges iteratively between autocalibration runs. Parameter sensitivity analysis helps focus the …