Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Effect Of Catholyte Concentration On Current Production During Chocolate Industry Wastewater Treatment By A Microbial Fuel Cell, Diana Rahayuning Wulan, Suprihanto Notodarmojo

Makara Journal of Technology

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) use bacteria as a catalyst to oxidize organic and/or inorganic substrates and produce electric currents. Wastewater could function as an electron donor in the anode chamber and, thus, represents a very promising energy source. Catholytes, as electron acceptors, influence power production in MFCs by increasing the availability of electrons. The present research aims to determine the influence of catholyte concentration on current production in an aerobic two-chamber MFC. Aerobic treatment was carried out in the two-chamber MFC operated in an incubator at 37  1 °C with and without aeration in the cathode chamber. Wastewater from …

Evaluation Of Il-17a And Il-17f Gene Expression In Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells In Different Clinical Stages Of Chronic Hepatitis B Infection In An Iranian Population, Tannaz Akbari Kolagar, Seyed Reza Mohebbi, Fatemeh Ashrafi, Shahrzad Shoraka, Hamid Asadzadeh Aghdaei, Mohammad Reza Zali

Makara Journal of Technology

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one of the main causes of liver damage, which can also lead to chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection. More than 240 million individuals worldwide are chronic carriers of HBV. Among individuals with CHB who are untreated, approximately 15% – 40% will progress to liver cirrhosis or cancer. The interactions between HBV and host immune response play significant roles in the progression of CHB. CHB can be generally divided into four different clinical phases: immune tolerance (IT), immune clearance, inactive carrier, and Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-negative reactivation phase (ENEG). Many studies showed that interleukins …

Redesign Of Product Packaging With Kansei Engineering: Empirical Study On Small-Medium Enterprises In Indonesia, Amalia Suzianti, A. Aldianto

Makara Journal of Technology

Small-medium enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia have been proven to be one of the important pillars of the national economy. Unfortunately, some problems hinder their development, and one of the critical problems is the quality of product packaging. The packages of SME products are considered poor, dirty, and unattractive. Packaging problem is one of the factors why consumers are less interested in buying and why SME products always lose in the competition with other products. This study discusses how to employ Kansei engineering to design better SME product packaging with a focus on psychological (affective) aspects. This research concludes that there …

Effect Of Pvdf-Ca Ratio On Electrospun Membrane For Water–Oil Filtration Application, Mohamad Haziq Alias, Izan Izwan Misnon, Rajan Jose

Makara Journal of Technology

Oil spillage and generation of industrial water–oil wastewater mixture ignite a focus on filtration technology. Electrospinning technique provides a versatile route in producing tunable diameter and pores in nanofiber filtration membrane development. In this work, polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) and cellulose acetate (CA) electrospun membrane at different concentration ratios were synthesized for water–oil filtration application. The polymeric solutions were characterized using viscometer and conductivity testing, whereas the membranes were analyzed using contact angle, tensile test, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and filtration testing of oil (dichloromethane). Conductivity test showed a decreased conductivity along with decrement of CA ratio in the polymeric solution. …

Performance-Shaping Factors Of Personnel Performing Evacuation And Escape On Offshore Installations In Tropical, Norafneeza Norazahar, Nur Azizah Arryanie Morshidi, Arshad Ahmad, Wijayanuddin Mohd Ali

Makara Journal of Technology

Performance-shaping factors (PSFs) are used to address the strengths and weaknesses of workers performing escape and evacuation activities. These PSFs are time, environmental factors as stressors, complexity of activities, experiences and training, interaction between workers and emergency equipment, workers’ physical conditions, and procedures. This paper presents a survey work on fitness for the duty of workers performing basic offshore survival and emergency response training. The training provides credible scenarios of escape and evacuation in case of an emergency of offshore installations in tropical waters. The survey is conducted among participants of the tropical basic offshore safety induction & emergency training …

Wetting-Driven Formation Of Present-Day Loess Structure, Yanrong Li, Weiwei Zhang, Shengdi He, Adnan Aydin

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2020 The Authors Present-day loess, especially Malan loess formed in Later Quaternary, has a characteristic structure composed of vertically aligned strong units and weak segments. Hypotheses describing how this structure forms inside original loess deposits commonly relate it to wetting-drying process. We tested this causal relationship by conducting unique experiments on synthetic samples of initial loess deposits fabricated by free-fall of loess particles. These samples were subjected to a wetting-drying cycle, and their structural evolutions were documented by close-up photography and CT scanning. Analysis of these records revealed three key stages of structural evolution: initiation (evenly distributed cracks appear …

A Mathematical Framework For Estimating Risk Of Airborne Transmission Of Covid-19 With Application To Face Mask Use And Social Distancing, Rajat Mittal, Charles Meneveau, Wen Wu

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2020 Author(s). A mathematical model for estimating the risk of airborne transmission of a respiratory infection such as COVID-19 is presented. The model employs basic concepts from fluid dynamics and incorporates the known scope of factors involved in the airborne transmission of such diseases. Simplicity in the mathematical form of the model is by design so that it can serve not only as a common basis for scientific inquiry across disciplinary boundaries but it can also be understandable by a broad audience outside science and academia. The caveats and limitations of the model are discussed in detail. The model …

Non-Conventional Vehicles As A Way Towards Carbon Neutrality In Iceland, Julia Sokolowska

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Paris Agreement’s chief objective is to protect the Earth and its inhabitants from a point of no return, when the effects of climate change will be so intense that they will shift the equilibrium of ecosystems. The distinctiveness of this international environmental treaty is that it does not impose climate change mitigation measures, but rather allows nation states to create their own set of measures, the NDCs, to reach the global warming of ‘well below 2oC’ by the end of the century. Thus, Iceland has submitted its own NDC, the Climate Action Plan 2018-2030, which has an ambitious goal of …

Design And Experiment Of A Sun-Powered Smart Building Envelope With Automatic Control, Qiliang Lin, Yanchu Zhang, Arnaud Van Mieghem, Yi-Chung Chen, Nanfang Yu, Yuan Yang, Huiming Yin

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research

A novel sun-powered smart window blind (SPSWB) system has been designed and developed for the smart control of building envelopes to achieve the optimal internal comfort with minimum energy expenditure. Its self-powered sensing, controlling, and actuation significantly simplify the installation and maintenance of the system. The energy is harvested by the attached thin-film photovoltaic cells, after which it is voltage-regulated for the permanent storage into a rechargeable battery with 55% energy efficiency. The excessive heat absorbed by the solar cells is dissipated by a PVdF-HFP porous coating with more than 9% temperature reduction. The smart control of the energy harvesting …

Numerical Study Of Paraffin Wax Melting In A Cavity With A Gradient Of Hot Wall Inclination, Agus Dwi Korawan

Makara Journal of Technology

The melting of a phase change material (PCM) in a cavity with a gradient of hot wall inclination was simulated numerically using five models, namely, Model-A, Model-B, Model-C, Model-D, and Model-E with gradients of −2, −4, ∞, 4, and 2, respectively. The PCM was paraffin wax, which was melted using an enthalpy porosity technique with a pressure-based method. Model-A was found to be the best model. For the completion of the melting process, the models were assigned with the liquid fraction of 1. Model-A required the shortest time, followed by Model-B, Model-C, Model-E, and Model-D, respectively. Compared with Model-C, Model-A …

Photovoltaic Systems On Dairy Farms: Financial And Renewable Multi-Objective Optimization (Farmoo) Analysis, Michael Breen, J. Upton, Michael D. Murphy

Publications

No abstract provided.

Development Of Bragg Fiber Sensor For Corrosion Detection, Cai Hui Tan

Student Works (2020-2029)

Steel corrosion has posed one of the major structural defects in the civil society today. Conventional methods for corrosion monitoring involve high maintenance cost and destructive methods with low accuracy. Recently, Fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) sensor with its high sensitivity in measuring strain and temperature have been widely studied and used in structural health monitoring (SHM). A non-destructive corrosion detection approach based on FBG sensors was developed and tested to monitor corrosion in this research work. The principle of FBG sensing is based on Bragg wavelength shifts that from the corrosion process that induced strain on the FBG due to …

Interdisciplinary Education Outreach With Traffic Sensor Build Kits, Sarah V. Hernandez, Mariah B. Crews

Civil Engineering Teaching and Learning

The goal of this project was to attract K-12 students to transportation engineering careers through STEM outreach programs. To accomplish this goal, the object of the project was to design and implement maritime freight oriented educational outreach activities centered on traffic sensing technologies for middle, high school, and first-year college students. In MarTREC Project 5011 (Evaluating the Performance of Intermodal Connectors), the research team designed a low-cost, easily implementable LiDAR and Bluetooth sensor bundle that was capable of detecting, characterizing, and tracking freight trucks as they traveled to and from inland waterway port areas. The sensor provided data necessary to …

Multimode-Interference Based Optical Fiber Sensor For Civil Structures Monitoring, Sue Ping Chew

Student Works (2020-2029)

The thesis describes the experimental investigations on the multimode interferencebased fiber sensors using single mode multimode single mode (SMS) and multimode single mode multimode (MSM) structures as a sensing device for structural health monitoring (SHM) applications. Both sensor structures were fabricated, characterized and tested for detecting strain and vibration in civil infrastructures. The proposed SMS structure comprises of a short segment of multimode fiber (MMF), which were fusionspliced by two single mode fibers (SMFs) at both terminals. On the other hand, MSM was fabricated by splicing SMF with MMF at both ends. A new packaging technique for the SMS structure …

Long-Term Durability Of Solar Photovoltaic Modules, Chibuisi Chinasaokwu Okorieimoh, Brian Norton

Conference papers

Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels experience long-term performance degradation resulting in lower like-per-like efficiencies and performance ratios when compared with their initial performance. Manufacturers of solar photovoltaic modules usually guarantee the life span for more than 20 years. It is therefore necessary to track and mitigate degradation of PV modules over this period to satisfy such guarantees and beyond this period to identify maintenance and repair requirements. Degradation of solar PV modules makes them less efficient, less reliable and, ultimately, inoperative. This paper reviews relevant literature to discuss:

• Causes of efficiency reductions in photovoltaic cells

• Ways to achieve long-term durability of …

Comparison Of Different Power System Resilience Assessment Methods, Jian How Sam Chan

Student Works (2020-2029)

Climate change has been given significant attention in recent times, calling for more ideas to address issues stemming from extreme weather events. Until climate change can be slowed down and ultimately be reversed, it is an imminent objective to find solutions for the mitigation and prevention of the effects of catastrophic weather events. History has a record of the devastation caused by such events on electrical power infrastructures. While electrical power systems have conventionally been designed and built to weather everyday conditions, confronting cataclysmic high-impact, low-probability events will require more resilient attributes. Power systems are often deemed as the backbone …

Backing Up Into Advocacy: The Case Of Smartphone Driver Distraction, Robert Rosenberger

The Journal of Sociotechnical Critique

For the last decade, I’ve been studying the topic of the driving impairment of smartphones. While this began as an exclusively academic project, it has increasingly compelled public engagement. One example of this came in an opinion piece I wrote in 2018 in response to a new traffic law. I take the opportunity here to fill out the academic backstory of this particular op-ed, reflect on how this larger project has evolved to include an unanticipated public-facing edge, and abstract some lessons about public writing.

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Spring 2020, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge. The senior design competition helps focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects on …

The Impact Of Pev User Charging Behavior In Building Public Charging Infrastructure, Ahmad Almaghrebi

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) play a significant role in the development of green cities since they generate less pollution than conventional vehicles. To promote PEV adoption and mitigate range anxiety, charging infrastructure should be deployed at strategic locations that are readily accessible to the public. Nebraska is working on the expansion of charging infrastructure around the state; however, stakeholders face several difficulties in trying to minimize irregular charging behaviors. Most electric vehicle users plug in and leave their vehicles for an extended time at public parking lots designated for PEVs. Some users even leave their vehicles for longer than 24 …

Tech Comm Eagle Eye-Tracking Control System, Gabiella Lail, Robert Shaw, Hunter Smatla, Matthew Gary

Discovery Day - Prescott

Mobile eye-tracking systems provide usability research support as well as access to a wide range of robotics and technical communication research opportunities. Optical tracking systems are often prohibitively expensive and do not provide the mobility or flexibility needed for a variety of research application possibilities. Our team proposes building a simple mobile eye-tracking system to be used in-house at ERAU for heat-mapping, robotics, control systems, and various technical communication applications in a structured research environment. The mobile eyetracking system will become part of a larger research and hands-on technical communication usability lab and research center. The research team intends to …

Effects Of Collision Damage On The Ultimate Strength Of Fpso Vessels, Muhammad Zubair Muis Alie, Dian Ramasari, Taufiqur Rachman, Ristiyanto Adiputra

Makara Journal of Technology

Floating production storage offloading (FPSO) vessels are movable offshore structures. These structures are designed with large dimensions, and their decks are loaded with several types of equipment. During collision damage, the hull and deck parts loaded with equipment are severely affected. Therefore, the ultimate strength of FPSO vessels should be thoroughly checked and evaluated. The objective of the present study is to analyze the ultimate strength of FPSO vessels against collision damage characterized by hogging and sagging under longitudinal bending. The cross section of an FPSO vessel is modeled with elements composed of stiffened and unstiffened plates. The vessel length …

Ionic Conductivity And Electrochemical Properties Of Alginate–Nn4no3-Based Biopolymer Electrolytes For Edlc Application, Norfatihah Binti Mazuki, Nur Muhitul Jalilah Rasali, Bouchta Sahraoui, Ahmad Salihin Samsudin

Makara Journal of Technology

In this work, alginate doped with various contents of ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) as a solid biopolymer electrolyte (SBE) was prepared via casting by using distilled water as a solvent. Impedance studies on alginate–NH4NO3 SBE films were conducted via impedance spectroscopy. The lowest bulk resistance (Rb) showed that the maximum ionic conductivity of the sample containing 25 wt.% NH4NO3 at ambient temperature (303 K) was 5.56 × 10−5 S cm−1. The temperature dependence of ionic conductivity was evaluated, and results confirmed that electrolytes followed an Arrhenius behavior. The highest conducting sample was fabricated into an electrical double-layer capacitor and characterized in …

Synthesis Of Epoxy Monoethanolamide From Bauhinia Monandra Seed Oil, Adewale Adewuyi, Rotimi A. Oderinde

Makara Journal of Technology

In this study, we synthesized epoxidised monoethanolamide (EMA) from Bauhinia monandra seed oil (BMO) via a simple reaction route. In this process, BMO was transesterified to obtain a mixture of methyl esters, which was subjected to a urea adduct complexation reaction. The unsaturated methyl esters (BME) from the urea adduct complexation reaction were then epoxidised using performic acid produced in situ in a one-pot reaction system. The epoxidised methyl esters were converted to EMA by reacting them with monoethanolamine (1:10). The progression of the reaction was monitored using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and the …

Ethylene Carbonate And Polyethylene Glycol As Efficient Plasticizers In Cmc-Pva-Nh4no3-Based Polymer Electrolyte, Noor Saadiah Mohd Ali, Yuki Nagao, Ahmad Salihin Samsudin

Makara Journal of Technology

This study investigated the influence of plasticizers (polyethylene glycol [PEG] and ethylene carbonate [EC]) on the ionic conduction of CMC-PVA-NH4NO3. Blended biopolymer electrolytes (BBEs) based on carboxymethyl cellulose–polyvinyl alcohol (CMC-PVA) doped with ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) were obtained via casting solution technique incorporated with PEG and EC, which acted as plasticizers. Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was conducted to evaluate the effect of plasticization on the ionic conduction properties. The ionic conductivity improved from 1.70 × 10−3 S/cm for un-plasticized BBEs to 3.92 × 10−3 S/cm for plasticized BBEs with EC and 3.00 × 10−3 S/cm for plasticized BBEs with PEG. The …

Current Status Of Hydrothermal Treatment For Energy And Material Recovery Toward A Sustainable Post-Consumer Material Cycle, Baskoro Lokahita, Muhammad Aziz, Fumitake Takahashi

Makara Journal of Technology

The demand for energy-efficient and environmentally friendly municipal solid waste (MSW) processing has increased in developing countries. The thermochemical process offers a fast and reliable solution to reutilize or reduce the volume of MSW. Hydrothermal treatment is a novel MSW treatment technology that is compatible with high-moisture-content feedstock. It involves the thermal degradation of MSW in pressurized water or steam, which promotes the disintegration of cellulosic and polymer materials. Recent advances have shown effective MSW conversion into homogenous solid hydrochar with higher energy density. Alkali and chlorine content, which causes issues in combustors, was successfully removed due to the washing …

Liquefaction Potential Analysis Based On Nonlinear Ground Response On The Coastline Of Bengkulu City, Indonesia, Lindung Zalbuin Mase

Makara Journal of Technology

This paper presents the study of the seismic response and liquefaction potential of the coastal area of Bengkulu City during the September 2007 Sumatra earthquake. The study is conducted by collecting site investigation data (standard penetration test) and applying input motion to observe soil response. Synthetic ground motion is generated by considering the important aspects of earthquakes, including focal depth, epicenter, earthquake source, and site classification. The synthetized ground motion is then used as the input motion in the seismic response analysis. The results of this analysis are spectral acceleration and peak ground acceleration at each depth. The resulting spectral …

Comparison Of Phytoremediation And Filtration For Diamond-Mine-Tailings Water Treatment, M. Hafidhuddin Noor, Mijani Rahman, Akhmad Gazali, Nia Kania, Aulia Rahma, Erdina L.A. Rampun, Amalia E. Pratiwi, Muthia Elma

Makara Journal of Technology

The water pollution caused by diamond mine activities can kill aquatic life. In this work, we used phytoremediation and filtration to treat pond water polluted by the tailings of a diamond mine located in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. Einchhornia crassipes (water hyacinth) was utilized as the biomass for the phytoremediation process. Gravel (10–15 mm) and sand (0.1–1 mm) were used as filter media in the simple filtration setup, using an up-flow system (bottom to top). In the experiment, 16 L of diamond tailing water was poured into five phytoremediation reactors (each 60 L in volume), which were then tested over seven …

Neca Ghana Project, Michael T. Klee

Construction Management

Cal Poly’s motto is, “Learn by Doing" and for Cal Poly’s NECA Chapter, this isn’t simply a motto, but a directive for proactive change. For my senior project I will be leading the Cal Poly NECA chapter in the design, pre- fabrication and construction of a 5-7kw solar array, community center, ice production room and technology room in the remote fishing village of Agbokpa, Ghana. The solar array will power multiple industrial DC freezers, high efficiency LED lighting and charging stations while additionally powering water filtration and irrigation systems. Like many other fishing villages around the world, Agbokpa has no …

Analyzing Cost Effectiveness Of Photovoltaic Pavements, Ian N. Parks

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the largest consumer of energy within the Department of Defense (DoD). As such, the USAF is continually looking for ways to reduce consumption, as well improving network resiliency and assuring supply. One potential method for addressing these items is focusing on applications of renewable energy. A specific application of renewable energy that could greatly benefit the USAF if viable would be photovoltaic (PV) pavements. PV pavements would be able to capitalize upon the large swathes of pavements on Air Force (AF) installations, while not being hampered by other concerns such as clear zones …

Wireless Underground Communications In Sewer And Stormwater Overflow Monitoring: Radio Waves Through Soil And Asphalt Medium, Usman Raza, Abdul Salam

Faculty Publications

Storm drains and sanitary sewers are prone to backups and overflows due to extra amount wastewater entering the pipes. To prevent that, it is imperative to efficiently monitor the urban underground infrastructure. The combination of sensors system and wireless underground communication system can be used to realize urban underground IoT applications, e.g., storm water and wastewater overflow monitoring systems. The aim of this article is to establish a feasibility of the use of wireless underground communications techniques, and wave propagation through the subsurface soil and asphalt layers, in an underground pavement system for storm water and sewer overflow monitoring application. …