Engineering Commons^™

Integrated Mobile And Web-Based Application For Enhancing Delivery Of Hiv/Aids Healthcare Information In Tanzania, Ibrahim Mwammenywa

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

This study aims to develop an integrated e-health platform for enhancing delivery of HIV/AIDS healthcare information in Tanzania, which consists of a mobile application and a web-based system. The study is based on the system's functional and non-functional requirements for an e-health system for delivery of HIV/AIDS healthcare information. The Rapid Application Development (RAD) model was adopted during the system development. The system requirements were modelled into Data Flow Diagram (DFD) in order to obtain the clear flow of the HIV/AIDS healthcare information between the clients and HIV/AIDS healthcare practitioners. With the use of different software development tools and environment …

Land Use/Cover Change And Their Impacts On Streamflow In Kikuletwa Catchment Of Pangani River Basin, Tanzania, Upendo Msovu

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Streamflow perturbation is highly prevalent in Kikuletwa catchment. However, little is known concerning land use/cover change (LULCC) with regard to streamflow perturbation in the catchment. This study aims to detect the historical and predict future LULCC and assess their impacts on streamflow amounts using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. Supervised classification of Landsat imagery data for 1985, 2000 and 2015 years was done in ERDAS 14 Imagine software. Future prediction of LULCC was done using Module for Land Use Change Evaluation (MOLUSCE) tool, a QGIS plug-in. An accuracy ranging from 79% to 82% was obtained for all …

Remediating Soil For Successful Vegetation Establishment Along Nebraska Highways, Shad Mills, Martha Mamo, Walt Schacht, Humberto Blanco-Canqui

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

Vegetation along roadsides is important to prevent soil erosion, provide habitat, and filter water running off the road. Vegetation close to the pavement along highways in Nebraska does not readily establish and persist. It is thought that the sodium and bulk density are the driving factors behind the lack of vegetation. After a construction project the shoulder is seeded into the compacted soil, and during winter salts can accumulate in the soil because of deicing agents being used. The purpose of our study was to determine if the sodium and bulk density are the driving factors of the vegetation cover. …

The Potentials Of Faecal Sludge Treatment Using Local Conditioners In Tanzania: A Review, Doglas Benjamin1

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Worldwide, every day human beings generate millions of tons of Faecal Sludge (FS), which is rich in water, nutrients, energy, and organic compounds. Yet FS is not being managed in a way that permits us to derive value from its reuse, while at the same time, millions of farmers struggle with depleted soils and lack of water. In most of the developing countries, energy for cooking is mainly derived from cutting of trees, either as wood or charcoal. Resource recovery and reuse from FS can create livelihoods, enhance food security, support green economies, reduce waste and contribute to cost recovery …

Reviewing The Potential And Constraints Of Modified Technology Options For Faecal Sludge Management In Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, Amour Seleman

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Cities in the developing world face the challenge of safe management of faecal sludge because of rapid population growth that overwhelms the sanitation infrastructure and services. In developing countries, only 50% of faecal sludge (FS) generated is safely managed the remaining portion is haphazardly disposed of in the environment risking public health and environment. In response to the urgent need for safely managed sanitation services, technological options for containment, desludging and transportation of FS are being modified. This paper reviewed current desludging practices and the potential of modified technological options for addressing FSM at containment, desludging, and transportation in Dar …

Evaluation Of The Mechanisms And Effectiveness Of Nano-Hydroxides, Wood And Dairy Manure-Derived Biochars To Remove Fluoride And Heavy Metals From Water, Anna Rose Wallace, Wenjie Sun Dr, Chunming Su Dr

Civil and Environmental Engineering Theses and Dissertations

The development of effective treatment processes for the removal contaminants, such as fluoride and heavy metals, from polluted water have been urgently needed due to serious environmental health and safety concerns. In this dissertation, a variety of materials including various (hydro)oxide nanomaterials, biochars and surface modified biochar were studied to evaluate their effectiveness and mechanism on removing fluoride or mixed heavy metals from water.

In the Chapter 2, this study investigated the adsorptive removal of fluoride from water using various (hydro)oxide nanomaterials, focusing on ferrihydrite, hydroxyapatite (HAP) and brucite, which have the potential to be used as sorbents for surface …

Widening Of Reinforced Concrete Bridges – Extension Of Pier Cap Beams With Cfrp Composites, Cheng Tan

Dissertations - ALL

Increase in traffic load dictates widening highway bridges rather than construction of new bridges, as it offers an economical solution. Highway bridge widening is usually accomplished by the construction of additional new bridge piers, however, large amount of construction work and extensive use of heavy plant and machinery could result in very high cost. For limited widening of bridges, e.g. addition of one driving/emergency lane, extension of the pier cap beam offers an attractive solution. Due to additional load resulting from the widened bridge, strengthening of extended cap beams may be needed. In addition, depending on the strength of the …

Using Nano- And Micro- Structural Materials For Concrete Environmental Applications, Hala Nabeel Elia

Theses and Dissertations

Utilized globally in the construction industry, concrete is an integral component of homes, roads, airports, skyscrapers, and tunnels. Traditional concrete components are cement, fine aggregate (sand), coarse aggregate (gravel or crushed stone), and water. When cement and water compound together they will make a paste which binds all the aggregates together to make the concrete. Unfortunately, every one ton of cement manufactured emits 0.9 ton of CO2into the air. The goal of this two-part work was to obtain an environmentally friendly concrete. The first part used supplementary cementitious materials (SCM), fly ash and silica fume, to create concrete with high …

Retrofit Of Corroded Corrugated Metal Culverts Using Gfrp Slip-Liner, Rahulreddy Chennareddy

Civil Engineering ETDs

Culverts are water conveyance structures, typically used to allow water flow and maintain a balance between the flow streams without interrupting structures such as highways and bridges. Corrugated metal pipes (CMPs) have been used as culverts in North America since the 1950s because of their low cost and simple construction method. Today, the corrosion of CMPs is a major problem faced by all U.S. Departments of Transportation. There is an urgent need to provide an efficient solution, one that is corrosion-resistant, to retrofit thousands of corroded CMPs across the country. High specific strength, high strength to weight ratio, corrosion resistance, …

A Cloud Service Composition Optimization Based On Hnn, Huili Zhang, Zhihe Li

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: With the rapid development of Cloud service application, how to effectively optimize the composition of Cloud services on cloud platform and improve the overall performance of cloud platform system have become an urgent research issue. In order to improve the efficiency of Cloud services, a combined optimization model based on Hopfield neural network is proposed. The problem of Cloud services is modeled. The problem is expressed as Hopfield Neural Network energy model for optimization, and a PSO group algorithm with Cauchy disturbance is designed to improve the Hopfield model. The experimental comparison shows that the method can improve …

The Mechanical Development For An Autonomous Forest Service Robot, James P. Walker

Honors College Theses

Georgia’s forests are under threat from numerous invasive species of plant, both herbaceous and woody. A primary factor in the invasive potential of any given non-native plant is the lack of natural predators and rapid reseed and regrowth cycles. To combat invasive plants, this thesis proposes an artificial, robotic predator to provide a means of controlling invasive species. Although autonomous robots are currently being developed for similar agricultural purposes, none have emerged for forestry related tasks, such as proposed in this work. The chassis, inspired by rocker bogie and similar suspension systems, has been redesigned to have eight wheels, to …

The Method Summary Of Generating Large-Scale Artificial Population In An Artificial Society, Yuanzheng Ge, Zhichao Song, Rongqing Meng

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The generation of large-scale artificial population is the fundamental data of high-resolution agent-based artificial society. By the comparison of typical artificial population models, the basic elements, generating methods, and evolving rules, the development of artificial society, generation of population database, the establishment of spatial-temporal relationship, evolving rules of behavior, and reconstruction of social relationship are analyzed. Furthermore, data-driven method and open interface framework of artificial population are discussed, and the future direction and development are listed.

An Exploration Of Neural Networks In Enhanced Resolution Remote Sensing Products, Jordan Paul Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Scatterometry and radiometry are used to obtain measurements of Earth properties with extensive spatial coverage at daily or near-daily temporal resolution. Their measurements are used in many climate studies and weather applications, such as iceberg tracking, ocean wind estimation, and volumetric soil moisture measurements. The spatial resolution of these data products ranges from a few kilometers to tens of kilometers. Techniques to enhance the spatial resolution of these products help reveal finer scale features, but come at the cost of increased noise. This thesis explores the application of neural networks as a possible method to handle the noise and uncertainty …

Effect Of Sewage Sludge And Wastewater Recirculation On The Degradation Of Municipal Solid Waste In Bioreactors, Afroza Ayub

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management is the major environmental and economical concern for the world. Among all the MSW management alternatives, sustainable Bioreactor has potential to solve environmental and economic concerns related to organic waste. This potential of Sustainable Bioreactor can be enhanced by accelerated decomposition of waste. Accelerated decomposition of organic fraction of MSW can be achieved by the addition of nitrogen rich, macro and micro nutrients such as sludge and manures. Several studies have been conducted by using sludge as inoculum for degrading organic fraction of MSW in the anaerobic digester. However, this study is to compare the …

Effect Of Chicken Manure On Methane Production From Msw In Lab Scale Anaerobic Reactors, Md Tauhidul Islam

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

One of the major problems of urbanization is the production of a huge amount of Municipal Solid Waste. The cities and metropolitan areas are generating more and more solid waste and these wastes are filling up the landfill rapidly. Creating new landfills after a few years is not a solution as there is not much space in urban areas. Moreover, making the landfills far away from cities is not economically viable as longer hauling distance increases the cost. In this scenario, Bioreactor landfill is a viable solution to this problem. Bioreactor landfills can save a lot of space and it …

A Governance Perspective For System-Of-Systems, Polinpapilinho F. Katina, Charles B. Keating, James A. Bobo, Tyrone S. Toland

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The operating landscape of 21st century systems is characteristically ambiguous, emergent, and uncertain. These characteristics affect the capacity and performance of engineered systems/enterprises. In response, there are increasing calls for multidisciplinary approaches capable of confronting increasingly ambiguous, emergent, and uncertain systems. System of Systems Engineering (SoSE) is an example of such an approach. A key aspect of SoSE is the coordination and the integration of systems to enable ‘system-of-systems’ capabilities greater than the sum of the capabilities of the constituent systems. However, there is a lack of qualitative studies exploring how coordination and integration are achieved. The objective of this …

Synthesis Of Metakaolin-Based Geopolymer And Its Performance As Sole Stabilizer Of Expansive Soils, Rinu Ann Samuel

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Expansive soils have been stabilized using conventional soil stabilizers such as lime and cement for many decades. These conventional stabilizers form cementitious productions that enhance the strength properties and reduce the swelling and shrinkage potential of expansive soils. However, the energy-intensive production operations of conventional soil stabilizers release substantial amounts of harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In addition, conventional soil stabilizers are also prone to durability issues, which make them somewhat ineffective as long-term solutions. Furthermore, the use of calcium-based stabilizers cause excessive swelling and shrinkage in sulfate-bearing subgrade soils due to the formation of highly expansive minerals like …

Optimisation Of Rice Fertiliser Composition Using Genetic Algorithms, Retno Dewi Anissa, Wayan Firdaus Mahmudy, Agus Wahyu Widodo

Knowledge Engineering and Data Science

There are so many problems with food scarcity. One of them is not too good rice quality. So, an enhancement in rice production through an optimal fertiliser composition. Genetic algorithm is used to optimise the composition for a more affordable price. The process of genetic algorithm is done by using a representation of a real code chromosome. The reproduction process using a one-cut point crossover and random mutation, while for the selection using binary tournament selection process for each chromosome. The test results showed the optimum results are obtained on the size of the population of 10, the crossover rate …

Analyzing Impacts Of Transportation And Non-Transportation Activities On Human Health With An Advanced Platform For Collecting Travel And Physical Activity Data, Raed Abdullah Hasan

Dissertations

Recently much attention is paid to the lack of physical activities that may cause the health problems in many counties. Travel activities provide a certain amount of physical activities, and the active transportation, such as walking and cycling, becomes more important as an essential element of transportation. The active transportation is expected to contribute to improving human health by reducing cardiovascular disease, obesity, and premature death. However, detailed relationship between the transportation choices and human health has not been well understood. Therefore, there is a need for investigating traveler behaviors and how their choices affect physical activities and public health. …

Drivers Of On-Farm Performance Of Irrigation Water Management Practices: Empirical Evidence From Eastern Arkansas, Jacob Askey

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Unsustainable agricultural practices are putting a strain on freshwater supplies in many parts of the world. More efficient irrigation techniques are going to be critical to feed a growing population. Data from the 2016 Arkansas Irrigation Survey was used to assess the adoption of three Irrigation Water Management (IWM) practices: multiple inlet rice irrigation, tailwater recovery, and storage reservoirs. Results indicate that these practices do not always lead to reported pumping time reductions, a proxy for water use savings. Large variations in pumping time reduction are observed across producers for all three practices. A Tobit model was used to examine …

Evaluation Of Reducing Cement Content In Ndor Class R Combined Aggregate Gradations, Miras Mamirov, Jiong Hu, Yong-Rak Kim

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

The main objective of this research project was to achieve a cement reduction on Nebraska slip-form pavement concrete through aggregate particle packing optimization. A literature review was conducted to examine different aggregate optimization tools, quality control tests, and historical data of Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) pavement mixtures. It was found that the Modified Toufar Model has good potential in optimizing particle packing and predicting packing degrees. The combined aggregate void content test was found to be useful to experimentally justify optimized aggregate gradations. The Box Test with a modified index and image analysis tool for surface void estimation was …

On-Site Design Of A Water Filtration System In Rural Ghana, Donald Eugene Long

Construction Management

Agbokpa is a rural community in southern Ghana with no access to clean or running water. Villages without access to water face significant hurdles in obtaining an education and developing their communities’ infrastructure and economy. In August of 2019 Cal Poly students Eugene Long, Fletcher Podosek, and Mason Nolan traveled with professors Paul Redden and Dr. Nathan Heston to Agbokpa to fix this problem. The team spent three weeks living in the village and constructing a water tower, pumping system, and filtration system that communally serves the village. The team worked with local craftsmen and sourced nearly all equipment and …

Exploring Convergence Of Snake Skin-Inspired Texture Designs And Additive Manufacturing For Mechanical Traction, Catherine Sue Tiner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research focuses on the understanding, development, and additive manufacture of a 3D printed snake skin-inspired texture pattern. The design functionalities of snake skin were determined through the study of the snake species Python Regius otherwise known as the ball python. Each scale of a snake has hierarchical texture with hexagonal macro-patterns aligned on the ventral surface of the skin with overriding anisotropic micro textured patterns such as denticulations and fibrils. Using a laser-powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process, 420 stainless steel samples were 3D printed which closely resemble the above described directional texture of natural snake skin. This printed surface …

Nematode Populations As Affected By Residue And Water Management In A Long-Term Wheat-Soybean Double Crop In Eastern Arkansas, Lucia Emperatriz Escalante Ortiz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Soybeans (Glycine max) are one of the major row crops in the United States, particularly in Arkansas. Soybean cyst nematode (SCN, Heterodera glycines) and southern root-knot nematode (RKN, Meloidogyne incognita) are two of the most damaging pests that cause major economic losses in soybeans. Little is known concerning the effects of common and alternative agronomic practices on nematodes in fields with nematode population densities below threshold levels. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of the combination of tillage (conventional tillage and no-tillage), irrigation (irrigated and non-irrigated), wheat (Triticum aestivum) residue burning (burned and no burned), …

Development Of Forward Osmosis Based Separations: A Novel Approach In Membrane Technology, Yu-Hsuan Chiao

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Tackling the worldwide severe water shortage, the membrane technology is considered to be the most efficient approach and hence, used widely as a cost-effective sustainable solution. “Forward osmosis (FO)” has been the major attention in recent time. FO uses osmotic pressure as the driving force to draw the water passing the membrane and achieve the desired separation performance. In general, it is considered to be a process with tremendous potential to resolve the present-day water shortage with extremely low energy consumption. However, the challenges of membrane and draw solution regeneration associated with FO processes must be conquered prior to their …

The Travel And Tourism Competitiveness Index: Examining The Reciprocal Relationship Among The Ttci Factors Relative To Porter’S (1998) Diamond Model And Airline Passenger Seat Capacity For The Countries Of The World, Hani Abdullah

Theses and Dissertations

The current study tested the application of Porter's (1998) diamond model of international competitiveness to the travel and tourism (T&T) industry by examining the relationship among the 14 factors of the travel and tourism competitiveness index (TTCI) to the model's four dimensions. The assignment of TTCI factors to these dimensions was guided by Dwyer and Kim (2003) and Ritchie and Crouch (2010). The study also examined the relationship between TTCI factors and airline passenger seat capacity, which was measured as the per capita annual average of weekly available seat kilometers. The sample comprised 136 countries, which represented 70% of the …

3d Tunnel Inspection With Photogrammetric And Hybrid Systems, Michael Mett, Heiner Kontrus, Nina Müller, Stefan Eder

Shotcrete for Underground Support XIV

The trend in tunnel assessment is towards comprehensive 3D measurement, either based on high quality digital imagery (photogrammetric systems) or the combination of laser and photo systems (hybrid systems). With digital 3D data, quantification and categorization of damage to the tunnel surface as well as the determination of thickness or volumes of layers (e.g. shotcrete) can performed in a comprehensive, fast and economic way.

The faster such tunnel assessment can be executed on site, the lower are the tunnel block times and environmental impairments related to the building measures. The costs for the operating companies can be significantly reduced as …

Water Pipeline Leakage Detection Based On Machine Learning And Wireless Sensor Networks, Yang Liu, Xuehui Ma, Yong Tie, Yinghui Zhang, Jing Gao

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

The detection of water pipeline leakage is important to ensure that water supply networks can operate safely and conserve water resources. To address the lack of intelligent and the low efficiency of conventional leakage detection methods, this paper designs a leakage detection method based on machine learning and wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The system employs wireless sensors installed on pipelines to collect data and utilizes the 4G network to perform remote data transmission. A leakage triggered networking method is proposed to reduce the wireless sensor network’s energy consumption and prolong the system life cycle effectively. To enhance the precision and …

Microwave Assisted Synthesis Of Binary Metallic Oxides For Catalysis Applications, Abdelrahman Mostafa Kamal, Sherif Bahgat, Mohammed Hammam, M. A. Radwan, M. A. Sadek, Hany A. Elazab

Chemical Engineering

Herein, versatile, and reproducible method to prepare binary metal oxides via microwave assisted synthesis. Catalysts are substances that basically speeds up chemical reactions. Ideally, bonds are formed between the catalysts and the reactants. Also, catalysts permits formation of products from the reactants. These formed products, splits off the catalyst without affecting or changing it. Catalytic kinetics studies the correlate chemical reaction rate with some properties of reactants and/or products for instance; temperature, concentration and pressure. The aim of the project is to prepare pure and bi-metal iron based catalyst by co-precipitation method and to characterize the prepared sample using X-ray …

Self-Sensing And Self-Healing ‘Smart’ Cement-Based Materials – A Review Of The State Of The Art, Dhanada Mishra Phd, Jing Yu, Christopher Leung Phd

International Conference on Durability of Concrete Structures

The paper reviews recent research on self-sensing and self-healing cement-based materials as part of Smart Civil Engineering Infrastructures. Incorporated in Structural Health Monitoring systems, these materials are likely to play an important role in making future infrastructure robust, resilient and sustainable. Smart or intelligent cement-based materials have attracted extensive attention in the last decade or so with strong implications for improving structural durability and service life. Additions of carbon fibres, carbon nano-tubes and various nano-powders giving cement-based matrix electrical properties used for self-sensing have been known for over a decade and a half. In addition, the strong capacity of Strain-Hardening …