Engineering Commons^™

Internationalization Context Of Arabia Higher Education, Salem Al-Agtash, Labib Khadra

Computer Science and Engineering

Internationalization in Arabia higher education space is expanding rapidly. It has taken different shapes with no systematic approach to evaluate its success and impact. By analysing patterns of mobility; trends; and forms of academic cooperation in Arabia, a framework for internationalization is introduced. The purpose is to guide efforts towards a strengthened position of higher education in the international dimension. Internationalization promotes the idea of making the university a dynamic cross-boarder educational environment. The higher education space in Arabia is analysed mainly in the internationalization perspective. The German Jordanian University is presented as an illustrative example. The objective is to …

Groundwater Irrigation System For Sustainable Agriculture, Peter Koros, Richard Matthews, Ciara Murphy

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Senior Theses

The aim of this project was to develop a prototype that may be a model to help relieve food insecurity in rural Liberia. This was accomplished by designing a groundwater extraction, recharge, and irrigation system to facilitate year-long crop-growth. The project was in partnership with BRAID Africa and a community in Zwedru, located in east Liberia, near the border of Côte D’Ivoire. During 2010 and 2011, a civil war broke out in Côte D’Ivoire and led to the citizens of the country taking refuge in Liberia (Leaf 2015). Many refugees have decided to stay in Liberia and are struggling to …

Experimental Investigation Of The Thermochemical Reduction Of Arsenite And Sulfate: Low Temperature Hydrothermal Copper, Nickel, And Cobalt Arsenide And Sulfide Ore Formation, Nicholas Allin

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Experiments were conducted to determine the relative rates of reduction of aqueous sulfate and aqueous arsenite (As(OH)₃,aq) using foils of copper, nickel, or cobalt as the reductant, at temperatures of 150ºC to 300ºC. At the highest temperature of 300°C, very limited sulfate reduction was observed with cobalt foil, but sulfate was reduced to sulfide by copper foil (precipitation of Cu₂S (chalcocite)) and partly reduced by nickel foil (precipitation of NiS₂ (vaesite) + NiSO₄·xH₂O). In the 300ºC arsenite reduction experiments, Cu₃As (domeykite), Ni₅As₂, or CoAs (langisite) …

Experimental Investigations Of Bio-Syngas Production Using Microwave Pyrolysis Of Uae’S Palm Date Seeds, Mahmmoud Muhammed Syam

Mechanical Engineering Theses

From the start of the industrial revolution, the continued need for energy has been the most crucial issue in human history. An energy crisis started at the beginning of the 1970s when the number of machines, which became an essential part of our life, increased rapidly. Scientists made a huge effort to discover new sources of energy, with ‘biomass’ being one of the main focuses of researchers as a new renewable source of energy. In this thesis, a non conventional method of heating, using microwave power in a pyrolysis process of biomass waste from palm trees (Allig’s date seeds) for …

Global Opportunities To Increase Agricultural Independence Through Phosphorus Recycling, Stephen M. Powers, R. B. Chowdhury, G. K. Macdonald, A, H.W. Beusen, A. F. Bouwman, S. E. Hampton, Brooke K. Mayer, M. L. Mccracklin, D. A. Vaccari

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Food production hinges largely upon access to phosphorus (P) fertilizer. Most fertilizer P used in the global agricultural system comes from mining of nonrenewable phosphate rock deposits located within few countries. However, P contained in livestock manure or urban wastes represents a recyclable source of P. To inform development of P recycling technologies and policies, we examined subnational, national, and global spatial patterns for two intersections of land use affording high P recycling potential: (a) manure‐rich cultivated areas and (b) populous cultivated areas. In turn, we examined overlap between P recycling potential and nation‐level P fertilizer import dependency. Populous cultivated …

The Professional Constructor, Full Issue, Volume 44, Number 01

The Professional Constructor

No abstract provided.

A Discovery Of Social Impact Categories For The Sustainable Design Of Engineered Products And Their Consideration By Industry Professionals, Andrew Taylor Pack

Theses and Dissertations

Sustainable design is often practiced and assessed through the consideration of three essential areas: economic sustainability, environmental sustainability, and social sustainability. For even the simplest of products, the complexities of these three areas and their trade-offs cause decision making transparency to be lost in most practical situations. Additionally, the models and tools available to consider social sustainability are severely underdeveloped. This thesis is separated into three parts: 1) a design tool to consider all three aspects of sustainability simultaneously, 2) a literature survey to characterize social impact as it relates to products, and 3) interviews with engineering professionals regarding how …

A Data-Driven Approach For Modeling Agents, Hamdi Kavak

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Agents are commonly created on a set of simple rules driven by theories, hypotheses, and assumptions. Such modeling premise has limited use of real-world data and is challenged when modeling real-world systems due to the lack of empirical grounding. Simultaneously, the last decade has witnessed the production and availability of large-scale data from various sensors that carry behavioral signals. These data sources have the potential to change the way we create agent-based models; from simple rules to driven by data. Despite this opportunity, the literature has neglected to offer a modeling approach to generate granular agent behaviors from data, creating …

Horizontal Flow Loop Design For The Study Of Drill String Rotation Effects On Cuttings Transport, David C. Rathgeber

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Exploration and Production companies are continually focusing more time, energy and resources into Extended Reach Drilling in order to maximize reservoir production while minimizing both environmental impact and development costs. These long laterals (2:1 Measured Depth: True Vertical Depth) are often more difficult to drill and can be severely impacted by inadequate drilling practices. Cuttings transport efficiency is a critical parameter of Extended Reach Drilling operations, and poor wellbore cleaning can lead to excessive torque, drag, and several other serious downhole problems.

Although many studies have been performed that identify the importance of drill string rotation on cuttings movement, there …

Using Theoretical And Experimental Particle Packing For Aggregate Gradation Optimization To Reduce Cement Content In Pavement Concrete Mixtures, Miras Mamirov

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of aggregate particle packing optimization and cement reduction on Nebraska slip-form pavement concrete performance. A literature review was conducted to examine different aggregate optimization tools, quality control tests, and historical data of Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) mixtures. It was found that the Modified Toufar Model has good potential in optimizing particle packing and predicting packing degrees. The combined void content test was found to be useful to experimentally justify optimized aggregate gradations. Two specific pavement concrete workability tests, i.e., the Box Test and the VKelly Test, were used …

Production Of Secondary Organic Aerosol During Aging Of Biomass Burning Smoke From Fresh Fuels And Its Relationship To Voc Precursors, A. T. Ahern, E. S. Robinson, D. S. Tkacik, L. E. Hatch, Kelley Barsanti, C. E. Stockwell, Robert J. Yokelson, Multiple Additional Authors

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

After smoke from burning biomass is emitted into the atmosphere, chemical and physical processes change the composition and amount of organic aerosol present in the aged, diluted plume. During the fourth Fire Lab at Missoula Experiment, we performed smog‐chamber experiments to investigate formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) and multiphase oxidation of primary organic aerosol (POA). We simulated atmospheric aging of diluted smoke from a variety of biomass fuels while measuring particle composition using high‐resolution aerosol mass spectrometry. We quantified SOA formation using a tracer ion for low‐volatility POA as a reference standard (akin to a naturally occurring internal standard). …

Poster Session 1, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

• 1.1 Evaluating Soil Characteristics in Rural and Urban Areas
• 1.2 Use of eDNA in Detection of Multiple Salamander Species in Eastern Kentucky Streams
• 1.3 Evaluation of biomass and filtration method on eDNA detection of fantail darters (Etheostoma flabellare)
• 1.4 The Impact of Agricultural Development on Nutrient Contamination Hotspots Within a Small, Intermittent Watershed at EKU’s Meadowbrook Farm, Madison County, Kentucky
• 1.5 How Does Drought Length Impact the Runoff and Nutrient Storm Response in an Agricultural, Intermittent Catchment in Central Kentucky?
• 1.6 Analyzing Sanitary Sewer Overflow Sensitivity to Storm Characteristics
• 1.7 Evaluating Soil Properties in No-Till and Conventional Tillage Systems
• 1.8 …

The Effects Of Reactant Concentration And Air Flow Rate In The Consumption Of Dissolved O2 During The Photochemistry Of Aqueous Pyruvic Acid, Alexis J. Eugene, Marcelo I. Guzman

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The sunlight photochemistry of the organic chromophore pyruvic acid (PA) in water generates ketyl and acetyl radicals that contribute to the production and processing of atmospheric aerosols. The photochemical mechanism is highly sensitive to dissolved oxygen content, [O₂(aq)], among other environmental conditions. Thus, herein we investigate the photolysis (λ ≥ 305 nm) of 10–200 mM PA at pH 1.0 in water covering the relevant range 0 ≤ [O₂(aq)] ≤ 1.3 mM. The rapid consumption of dissolved oxygen by the intermediate photolytic radicals is monitored in real time with a dissolved oxygen electrode. …

Estimation Of Number Of People Living In Developing Countries That Received Water From A Spring Source, Prapti Shinde

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the year 2000, 170 countries decided to stand together and solve some primary and common global problems like poor health, water, and sanitation. Obtaining access to safe drinking water is every individual’s right. The UN defines safe drinking water as “the water required for each personal or domestic use must be safe, therefore free from micro-organisms, chemical substances and radiological hazards that constitute a threat to a person's health” (UNDESA, 2014). This thesis focuses on identifying the number of people who potentially receive spring water from a piped source in rural mountainous areas. There are three significant steps and …

Fischer–Tropsch: Product Selectivity–The Fingerprint Of Synthetic Fuels, Wilson D. Shafer, Muthu Kumaran Gnanamani, Uschi M. Graham, Jia Yang, Cornelius M. Masuku, Gary Jacobs, Burtron H. Davis

Center for Applied Energy Research Faculty and Staff Publications

The bulk of the products that were synthesized from Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) is a wide range (C₁–C₇₀₊) of hydrocarbons, primarily straight-chained paraffins. Additional hydrocarbon products, which can also be a majority, are linear olefins, specifically: 1-olefin, trans-2-olefin, and cis-2-olefin. Minor hydrocarbon products can include isomerized hydrocarbons, predominantly methyl-branched paraffin, cyclic hydrocarbons mainly derived from high-temperature FTS and internal olefins. Combined, these products provide 80–95% of the total products (excluding CO₂) generated from syngas. A vast number of different oxygenated species, such as aldehydes, ketones, acids, and alcohols, are also embedded in this product range. …

Development And Application Of Decision-Making Tool For Rural Spring-Sourced Gravity-Fed Community Managed Water Systems, Oswaldo Galicia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

People all over the world still lack access to safe drinking water service. Those with access experience several issues during the first few years of installation that impede on their overall access. In order to improve water services, not only is a proper decision-making tool necessary, taking into account key factors that impact sustainable water service, but proper monitoring and evaluation is also important in ensuring service for the long term. There are several developed assessment tools used for monitoring and evaluation of water systems post-construction, applicable in various scenarios. However, there are only few tools available to facilitate the …

Behavior Of Non-Ductile Slender Reinforced Concrete Columns Retrofit By Cfrp Under Cyclic Loading, Wisam Amer Aules

Dissertations and Theses

In the Middle East region and many countries in the world, older reinforced concrete (RC) columns are deemed to be weak in seismic resistance because of their low amount of reinforcement, low grades of concrete, and large spacing between the transverse reinforcement. The capacity of older RC columns that are also slender is further reduced due to the secondary moments. Appropriate retrofit techniques can improve the capacity and behavior of concrete members. In this study, externally bonded Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) retrofit technique was implemented to improve the behavior of RC columns tested under constant axial load and cyclic …

Global Air Quality Trekkers: Clean Kitchen Study, Stephanie Schiavo, Samantha Dykhuis, Avalin Senefeld

Engagement & Service-Learning Summit

No abstract provided.

Dose Dispensing Tool For Pediatric Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, Miza Mwanza, Ebony N. Smith, Jamie H. Au, Wei Wei Buchsteiner

ENGS 89/90 Reports

There are no current second-line antibiotics for children with Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR TB). Current methods to treat pediatric MDR TB consist of splitting up adult formulated pills in accordance to the WHO’s recommended dosages, which depend on the weight and age of the child. This process is very inconsistent, tedious, and time consuming when using the state-of-the-art tools (kitchen knives, standard pill cutters). Under the sponsorship of Health Advocacy Innovations (HAI), we developed a mechanical tool that makes ingesting pills for child patients more convenient, consistent, and swift. Our dose-dispensing tool cuts pills into quarters, stores 30 pills, dispenses …

Effect Of Support, Preparations Methods, Ag Promotion And Nc Size On The Activity, Selectivity And Sintering Deactivation Of Supported Co Fischer-Tropsch Catalyst, Mahmood Rahmati

Theses and Dissertations

A series of silver-promoted, 20 wt% cobalt Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) catalysts supported on an alumina modified with 5 wt% silica were prepared using two methods: traditional incipient wetness impregnation (IWI) and a new solvent-deficient precipitation (SDP) technique. Catalysts containing silver promoter concentrations of 0.3, 0.6, 1.2, and 2.5 wt% were prepared using each of the two methods. Silver improved the reducibility of the cobalt significantly, lowering reduction temperatures by up to 100°C, and increasing the extent of reduction by up to 35%. Further, in both preparation methods, changing the silver loading altered the cobalt dispersion. The smallest Co crystallite size …

Hydrological Drought Persistence And Recovery Over The Conus: A Multi-Stage Framework Considering Water Quantity And Quality, Behzad Ahmadi, Ali Ahmadalipour, Hamid Moradkhani

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Hydrological droughts have considerable negative impacts on water quantity and quality, and understanding their regional characteristics is of crucial importance. This study presents a multi-stage framework to detect and characterize hydrological droughts considering both streamflow and water quality changes. Hydrological droughts are categorized into three stages of growth, persistence, retreat, and water quality variables (i.e., water temperature, dissolved oxygen concentration, and turbidity) are utilized to further investigate drought recovery. The framework is applied to 400 streamflow gauges across the Contiguous United States (CONUS) over the study period of 1950–2016. The method is illustrated for the 2012 US drought, which affected …

Implementing Unbiased Decision-Making In Construction: A Lean Approach, Somik Ghosh, Michelle Robinette, Howard Tapia

The Professional Constructor

Construction project-teams are frequently faced with the task of decision-making as part of their responsibility. The positive effects of the decisions made at various stages of the projects lead to improved project performances, while negative effects can hinder the performances. The project teams take up the task of decision-making surrounded by multiple criteria, which can be arduous and clouded with subjectivity. This paper presents an approach based on the Lean principle of providing more autonomy to the project-teams and supporting collaborative and decentralized process in pursuit of unbiased decision-making. This Lean way of decision-making is formalized as Choosing by Advantage …

The Santa Clara, 2019-02-28, Santa Clara University

The Santa Clara

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Stoniness On The Hydraulic Properties Of A Soil From An Evaporation Experiment Using The Wind And Inverse Estimation Methods, Nerea Arias, Iñigo Virto, Alberto Enrique, Paloma Bescansa, Riley Walton, Ole O. Wendroth

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Stony soils are distributed all over the world. The study of their characteristics has gained importance lately due to their increasing use as agricultural soils. The effect that rock fragments exert on the soil hydraulic properties is difficult to measure in situ, and is usually derived from the fine earth properties. However, the corrections used so far do not seem accurate for all types of stony soils. Our objective was to assess the adequacy of estimating the hydraulic properties of a stony soil from the fine earth ones by correcting the latter by the volume occupied by rock fragments. To …

Venezuela Undermines Gold Miner Crystallex's Attempts To Recover On Its Icsid Award, Sam Wesson

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Space Objects Classification And Characterization Via Deep Learning And Light Curves: Applications To Space Traffic Management, Roberto Furfaro, Richard Linares, Vishnu Reddy

Space Traffic Management Conference

Recent advancements in deep learning (e.g. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), Recurrent Neural networks (RNN)) have demonstrated impressive results in many practical and theoretical fields (e.g. speech recognition, computer vision, robotics). Whereas deep learning methods are becoming ubiquitous, they have been barely explored in SSA applications, in particular with regard to object characterization for Space Traffic Management (STM).

In this paper, we report the results obtained in designing and training a set of CNNs and RNNs for Space Object (SO) classification and characterization using light-curve measurements. More specifically, we provide a comparison between deep networks trained on both physically-based models (i.e. …

Nanosat Tracking And Identification Techniques And Technologies, Mark A. Skinner

Space Traffic Management Conference

Nanosats (and CubeSats, ‘Smallsats’, etc.) are of order 10 cm in size, and are at or near the limits of what can be tracked and characterized, using existing space surveillance assets. Additionally, given the CubeSat form-factor, they are often launched in large numbers (scores), and can be virtually identical. Thus are they difficult to track and to identify.

We have identified a number of technologies that future nanosat missions could employ that would enhance the trackability and/or identification of their satellites when on-orbit. Some of these technologies require active illumination of the satellite with electromagnetic energy, either in the radio …

Limits To The World’S Green Water Resources For Food, Feed, Fiber, Timber, And Bioenergy, Joep F. Schyns, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Martijn J. Booij, Rick J. Hogeboom, Mesfin Mekonnen

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Green water––rainfall over land that eventually flows back to the atmosphere as evapotranspiration––is the main source of water to produce food, feed, fiber, timber, and bioenergy. To understand how freshwater scarcity constrains production of these goods, we need to consider limits to the green water footprint (WFg), the green water flow allocated to human society. However, research traditionally focuses on scarcity of blue water––groundwater and surface water. Here we expand the debate on water scarcity by considering green water scarcity (WSg). At 5 × 5 arc-minute spatial resolution, we quantify WFg and the maximum sustainable level to this footprint (WFg,m), …

Theoretical Research On The Ploughing Rock Breaking Properties Of New Conical Pdc Cutter, Ju Pei, Wang Chuanliu

Coal Geology & Exploration

The researches on the conical PDC cutter are now focused on numerical simulation, field and laboratory tests, the theoretical analysis on its mechanical properties has not been reported. Therefore, the tensile shear rock breaking mechanism and cutting load distribution characteristics of the conical PDC cutter are described by numerical simulation, the theoretical formula of the cutting load is derived according to the energy balance principle. Results show that comparing with the conventional cylindrical PDC cutter, the rock breaking process of conical PDC cutter is more stable, the cutting load is influenced by the rock properties, the parameters of cutter structure, …

Magnetic Field Aided Indoor Navigation, William F. Storms

Theses and Dissertations

This research effort examines inertial navigation system aiding using magnetic field intensity data and a Kalman filter in an indoor environment. Many current aiding methods do not work well in an indoor environment, like aiding using the Global Positioning System. The method presented in this research uses magnetic field intensity data from a three-axis magnetometer in order to estimate position using a maximum – likelihood approach. The position measurements are then combined with a motion model using a Kalman filter. The magnetic field navigation algorithm is tested using a combination of simulated and real measurements. These tests are conducted using …