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Articles 811 - 840 of 1183

Full-Text Articles in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Gis-Based Environmental Modeling With Tangible Interaction And Dynamic Visualization, Anna Petrasova, Brendan Harmon, Vaclav Petras, Helena Mitasova Jun 2014

Gis-Based Environmental Modeling With Tangible Interaction And Dynamic Visualization, Anna Petrasova, Brendan Harmon, Vaclav Petras, Helena Mitasova

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

We present a new, affordable version of TanGeoMS, a tangible geospatial modeling and visualization system designed for collaboratively exploring how terrain change impacts landscape pro­ cesses. It couples a physical, three-dimensional model of a landscape with geospatial modeling and analysis through a cycle of scanning and projection. Multiple users can modify the physical model by hand while it is being scanned; by sculpting the model they generate input for modeling of geophysical processes. The modeling results are then visualized by projecting images or animations back on the physical model. This feedback loop is an intuitive way to evaluate the impacts …


Calibration Of Simulation Platforms Including Highly Interweaved Processes: The Maelia Multi-Agent Platform, Romain Lardy, Pierre Mazzega, Christophe Sibertin-Blanc, Yves Auda, José-Miguel Sanchez-Perez, Sabine Sauvage, Olivier Therond Jun 2014

Calibration Of Simulation Platforms Including Highly Interweaved Processes: The Maelia Multi-Agent Platform, Romain Lardy, Pierre Mazzega, Christophe Sibertin-Blanc, Yves Auda, José-Miguel Sanchez-Perez, Sabine Sauvage, Olivier Therond

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The MAELIA project develops an agent-based modeling and simulation platform to study the environmental, economic and social impacts of various regulations regarding water use and water management in combination with climate change. An integrated modelling approach has been used to model the investigated social-ecological system. MAELIA combines spatiotemporal models of ecologic (e.g. water flow and plant growth) and human decision-making processes (e.g. cropping plan), socio-economic dynamics (e.g. land cover changes). Due to the diversity and the interweaving of the processes considered, the calibration and evaluation of such a multi-agent platform is a scientific challenge. Indeed, many parameters can reveal to …


An Environmental Modeling Language For Agents And Fields, Kor De Jong, Merijn De Bakker, Derek Karssenberg Jun 2014

An Environmental Modeling Language For Agents And Fields, Kor De Jong, Merijn De Bakker, Derek Karssenberg

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Environmental modeling involves manipulating environmental attributes represented in soft­ware by agents, fields or both, but most modeling environments are designed to be especially useful for either agent-based or field-based modeling. Agent-based and field-based modeling environments have different properties with respect to their ease of use and how well both agents and fields can be represented and manipulated. Most agent-based modeling environments require the modeler to use a general purpose object oriented programming language like Java to express models, while field-based modeling environments often implement a high level, domain specific imperative language based on map algebra, or extent a general purpose …


An Integrated Approach For Including Social Capacities, And Economic Valuation In Risk Assessment Of Water Related Hazards In Uncertain Scenarios, Carlo Giupponi, Vahid Mojtahed, Animesh K. Gain, Stefano Balbi, Claudio Biscaro Jun 2014

An Integrated Approach For Including Social Capacities, And Economic Valuation In Risk Assessment Of Water Related Hazards In Uncertain Scenarios, Carlo Giupponi, Vahid Mojtahed, Animesh K. Gain, Stefano Balbi, Claudio Biscaro

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

We propose a conceptual framework, KR-FWK (i.e. KULTURisk Framework from the name of the European project within which it originated) and its implementation methods SERRA (Socio-Economic Regional Risk Assessment) for integrated (physical and economical) risk assessment, and economic valuation of risk prevention benefits on multiple receptors. The KR-FWK and the SERRA approach are characterised by: (i) integration of physical-environmental dimensions and the socio-economic ones in risk assessment; (ii) consideration of the role of social capacities (adaptive and coping capacity) in reducing risk and related costs, (iii) quantitative (even monetary) assessment of risks and of the benefits of risk reduction measures, …


Agile Workflows For Climate Impact Risk Assessment Based On The Ci:Grasp Platform And The Jabc Modeling Framework, Samih Al-Areqi, Anna-Lena Lamprecht, Tiziana Margaria, Steffen Kriewald, Dominik Reusser, Markus Wrobel Jun 2014

Agile Workflows For Climate Impact Risk Assessment Based On The Ci:Grasp Platform And The Jabc Modeling Framework, Samih Al-Areqi, Anna-Lena Lamprecht, Tiziana Margaria, Steffen Kriewald, Dominik Reusser, Markus Wrobel

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Analyzing and assessing potential impacts of climate change are critical and challenging tasks that require the processing of large and heterogeneous datasets. These analyses are particularly demanding because of the multi-scale and multi-objective nature of environmental modeling for climate change impact assessment. The Climate Impacts: Global and Regional Adaptation Support Platform (ci:grasp) is a web-based climate information service for exploring climate change related information in its geographical context. In this paper, we show how the agile workflow development style supported by the jABC process modeling and execution framework permits us to leverage the processes implemented in the ci:grasp platform to …


The Data Processing Inequality And Environmental Model Prediction, Steven V. Weijs Jun 2014

The Data Processing Inequality And Environmental Model Prediction, Steven V. Weijs

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Prediction in environmental systems, such as hydrological streamflow prediction, is a challenging task. Although on a small scale, many of the physical processes are well described, accurate predictions of macroscopical (e.g. catchment scale) behavior with a bottom-up mechanistic approach often remains elusive. On the other hand, conceptual or purely statistical models fitted to data often perform surprisingly well for prediction. The data processing inequality, from the field of information theory, says that processing data with statistical procedures can only decrease, and not increase the information content of the data. This seems to contradict the intuition that our knowledge of physical …


Managing Agricultural Landscapes For Favouring Ecosystem Services Provided By Biodiversity: A Spatially Explicit Model Of Crop Rotations In The Gama Simulation Platform, Hugo Thierry, Aude Vialatte, Jean-Philippe Choisis, Benoit Gaudou, Claude Monteil Jun 2014

Managing Agricultural Landscapes For Favouring Ecosystem Services Provided By Biodiversity: A Spatially Explicit Model Of Crop Rotations In The Gama Simulation Platform, Hugo Thierry, Aude Vialatte, Jean-Philippe Choisis, Benoit Gaudou, Claude Monteil

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The need to reduce the use of pesticides in agricultural ecosystems requires studying and developing new pest regulation methods. Individual-based models are useful to better understand how dynamics of insects interact with agricultural landscapes and to study the potential effects of alternative regulation methods, taking into account the spatial and temporal stochasticity of agricultural ecosystems caused by human management. Crop rotations and crop phenology have an important impact on the life cycles of populations of insects. We developed an individual-based model simulating the dynamics of an agricultural landscape from GIS data. The spatiotemporal stochasticity is simulated using typical landcover rotations …


Effect Of Video Camera-Based Remote Roadway Condition Monitoring On Snow Removal-Related Maintenance Operations, Seishi Yamagata Jun 2014

Effect Of Video Camera-Based Remote Roadway Condition Monitoring On Snow Removal-Related Maintenance Operations, Seishi Yamagata

Theses and Dissertations

Remote monitoring through the use of cameras is widely utilized for traffic operation, but has not been utilized widely for roadway maintenance operations. The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has implemented a new remote monitoring system, referred to as a Cloud-enabled Remote Video Streaming (CRVS) camera system for snow removal-related maintenance operations in the winter. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of the CRVS camera system in snow removal-related maintenance operations. This study was conducted in two parts: opinion surveys of maintenance station supervisors and an analysis on snow removal-related maintenance costs. The …


Evaluation Of Passive Force Behavior For Bridge Abutments Using Large-Scale Tests With Various Backfill Geometries, Jaycee Cornwall Smith Jun 2014

Evaluation Of Passive Force Behavior For Bridge Abutments Using Large-Scale Tests With Various Backfill Geometries, Jaycee Cornwall Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Bridge abutments are designed to withstand lateral pressures from thermal expansion and seismic forces. Current design curves have been seen to dangerously over- and under-estimate the peak passive resistance and corresponding deflection of abutment backfills. Similar studies on passive pressure have shown that passive resistance changes with different types of constructed backfills. The effects of changing the length to width ratio, or including MSE wingwalls determine passive force-deflection relationships. The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of the wall heights and of the MSE support on passive pressure and backfill failure, and to compare the field results …


Investigating Virtual Globes For A Prototype Community Archive Of 3d Subsurface Data, Derek C. Whitman Jun 2014

Investigating Virtual Globes For A Prototype Community Archive Of 3d Subsurface Data, Derek C. Whitman

Theses and Dissertations

Geoscience data sharing and processing is very advanced in terms of surface data. Subsurface data sharing has not received the attention that surface data sharing has received and so there are fewer applications or software packages which focus on it. This research is funded by the NSF EarthCube GEO Domain program in an effort to develop a continental-scale repository of 3D subsurface data to facilitate the sharing of complex 3D data and to enable the development of geoprocessing tools and workflows that operate on that data. The work in this thesis is a small part of the EarthCube project with …


Friction Bit Joining Of Dissimilar Combinations Of Advanced High-Strength Steel And Aluminum Alloys, Lile P. Squires Jun 2014

Friction Bit Joining Of Dissimilar Combinations Of Advanced High-Strength Steel And Aluminum Alloys, Lile P. Squires

Theses and Dissertations

Friction bit joining (FBJ) is a new method that enables lightweight metal to be joined to advanced high-strength steels. Weight reduction through the use of advanced high-strength materials is necessary in the automotive industry, as well as other markets, where weight savings are increasingly emphasized in pursuit of fuel efficiency. The purpose of this research is twofold: (1) to understand the influence that process parameters such as bit design, material type and machine commands have on the consistency and strength of friction bit joints in dissimilar metal alloys; and (2) to pioneer machine and bit configurations that would aid commercial, …


Current Bim Practices Of Commercial Mep Contractors, Bryan John Kent Jun 2014

Current Bim Practices Of Commercial Mep Contractors, Bryan John Kent

Theses and Dissertations

Building Information Modeling (BIM) use in the contracting industry has grown significantly in recent years. With this change in the construction industry, consensus has not been reached as to what BIM is, who is using it and what they are using it for. The purpose of this research was to determine current BIM practices of US-based commercial MEP contractors. Executive, middle management, and field personnel were interviewed to determine the current BIM practices in their companies. The majority of companies interviewed were using BIM and most were using it on a significant portion of their projects. The majority of MEP …


Analysis Of Long-Term Utah Temperature Trends Using Hilbert-Haung Transforms, Brent H. Hargis Jun 2014

Analysis Of Long-Term Utah Temperature Trends Using Hilbert-Haung Transforms, Brent H. Hargis

Theses and Dissertations

We analyzed long-term temperature trends in Utah using a relatively new signal processing method called Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD). We evaluated the available weather records in Utah and selected 52 stations, which had records longer than 60 years, for analysis. We analyzed daily temperature data, both minimum and maximums, using the EMD method that decomposes non-stationary data (data with a trend) into periodic components and the underlying trend. Most decomposition algorithms require stationary data (no trend) with constant periods and temperature data do not meet these constraints. In addition to identifying the long-term trend, we also identified other periodic processes …


Termediator-Ii: Identification Of Interdisciplinary Term Ambiguity Through Hierarchical Cluster Analysis, Owen G. Riley Apr 2014

Termediator-Ii: Identification Of Interdisciplinary Term Ambiguity Through Hierarchical Cluster Analysis, Owen G. Riley

Theses and Dissertations

Technical disciplines are evolving rapidly leading to changes in their associated vocabularies. Confusion in interdisciplinary communication occurs due to this evolving terminology. Two causes of confusion are multiple definitions (overloaded terms) and synonymous terms. The formal names for these two problems are polysemy and synonymy. Termediator-I, a web application built on top of a collection of glossaries, uses definition count as a measure of term confusion. This tool was an attempt to identify confusing cross-disciplinary terms. As more glossaries were added to the collection, this measure became ineffective. This thesis provides a measure of term polysemy. Term polysemy is effectively …


Water Pollution Source Identification, Daniel Blake, Dr. Brett Borup Apr 2014

Water Pollution Source Identification, Daniel Blake, Dr. Brett Borup

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Determining the degree to which a water source has been contaminated by a pollution source such as a wastewater treatment plant is a difficult problem that has often been considered too difficult or too expensive to solve. Employing fluorescence spectroscopy, a relatively inexpensive measurement, in testing samples obtained from wastewater discharge locations and from locations in the receiving water can help determine the presence of such pollution. Fluorescence spectroscopy generates excitation-emission matrices (EEMs) which can be used as fingerprints of organic pollution in a water source. Additionally, employing statistical methods can improve the ability to fingerprint pollution sources. These statistical …


High-Voltage Pulse Detection Using Optical Fiber Sensors, Leeland Woodard, Dr. Stephen Schultz Apr 2014

High-Voltage Pulse Detection Using Optical Fiber Sensors, Leeland Woodard, Dr. Stephen Schultz

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are a leading cause of the deaths of soldiers in militarized areas. Technology is being developed to disarm IEDs by coupling electrical energy in the blasting caps of the IEDs, but in order to do so effectively, a sensor needs to be capable of measuring the voltage potential between the leads of the blasting caps without altering the electric field between them. Slab-coupled optical fiber sensors (SCOS) are electric field sensing devices that have been developed at BYU and are best suited to solving this problem, as they have the capability to measure extremely large electric …


Assessing Water Quality Through Remote Sensing, Carly Hyatt, Dr. Gustavious P. Williams Apr 2014

Assessing Water Quality Through Remote Sensing, Carly Hyatt, Dr. Gustavious P. Williams

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Over the past year, I have gathered 25 Landsat images for calibration and processing and in-field measurements over 25 years to develop seasonal chlorophyll detection models for the north-central Utah region. High chlorophyll levels indicate large algal blooms and large nutrient loading. Knowing these trends can help agencies and management to mitigate nutrient loading and make changes to monitoring.


Unattended Remotely Operated Deep-Water Sediment Oxygen Demand Chambers, Drake Theodore Mailes Apr 2014

Unattended Remotely Operated Deep-Water Sediment Oxygen Demand Chambers, Drake Theodore Mailes

Theses and Dissertations

Dissolved oxygen (DO) depletion in a water body is governed by two primary mechanisms: biological oxygen demand (BOD) from the water column, and sediment oxygen demand (SOD) from sediments. SOD is the dominant oxygen sink in many water bodies; measurements show as much as 95% of oxygen consumption as attributable to SOD (Truax, Shindala, & Sartain, 1996). Measuring SOD in surface water impoundments is an essential component in evaluating and an important input for modeling the health of a water body. Traditional SOD measurement methods are difficult in deeper waters, such as in reservoirs or lakes, because traditional SOD measurement …


Strength Of Masonry Grout Made With Expanded Shale, Allison Tanner Mar 2014

Strength Of Masonry Grout Made With Expanded Shale, Allison Tanner

Theses and Dissertations

Light-weight aggregate has been used successfully for structural and non-structural applications, and its most common use has been in light-weight concrete. Limited research has been done on light-weight grout though and there are no standards in place. The research performed in this study is intended to increase the knowledge of light-weight grout specifically made with expanded shale aggregate. The research presented herein is a pilot study and consists of preliminary aggregate and grout testing that resulted in the mix design of six grout types: three fine grout designs and three coarse grout designs. Conventional normal-weight aggregate was employed in the …


Sensitivity Of Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy Measurements To Concrete Bridge Deck Properties, Hillary Mckenna Argyle Mar 2014

Sensitivity Of Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy Measurements To Concrete Bridge Deck Properties, Hillary Mckenna Argyle

Theses and Dissertations

Numerous methods have been developed to measure corrosion potential relating to chloride infiltration in concrete, including an emerging application of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). EIS involves measurements of electrical impedance to evaluate the corrosion potential of steel reinforcement in concrete. With EIS, current is injected vertically into the concrete bridge deck between the surface and the embedded reinforcing steel, usually the top mat, to evaluate the degree to which the reinforcing steel is protected from chloride infiltration by the entire bridge deck system. The objectives of this research were to 1) investigate the sensitivity of EIS measurements obtained at various …


Public Safety At Low-Head Dams: Fatality Database And Physical Model Of Staggered Deflector Retrofit Alternative, Edward William Kern Mar 2014

Public Safety At Low-Head Dams: Fatality Database And Physical Model Of Staggered Deflector Retrofit Alternative, Edward William Kern

Theses and Dissertations

Low-head dams can cause dangerous currents near the downstream face of the structure. Fatalities at low-head dams are poorly documented. This thesis introduces a website with an interactive map and database of fatalities at low-head dams in the United States. The purpose of the web site is to generate interest among the general public to increase support to remediate dangerous structures and to serve as a tool for public education. The user interface allows the general public to browse fatal incidents by geographic location and to read incident circumstances. The site allows submission of public contributions including all metadata needed …


Determining Dispersion Coefficients In Sewer Networks, Joshua G. Wagstaff Mar 2014

Determining Dispersion Coefficients In Sewer Networks, Joshua G. Wagstaff

Theses and Dissertations

This work determines a suitable value for a dispersion coefficient to be used in the One-Dimensional Advection-Dispersion equation to model dispersion within sewer collection systems. Dispersion coefficients for sewer systems have only recently begun to be studied, and there is not yet an established value that is commonly accepted. The work described in this paper aimed, through observational study, to find a suitable value to be used. Salt tracers were placed in two separate reaches of sewer line. The first line studied was a straight, linear reach of sewer that included three manholes. The tracer was placed in the first …


Multi-Rotor--Aided Three-Dimensional 802.11 Wireless Heat Mapping, Scott James Pack Mar 2014

Multi-Rotor--Aided Three-Dimensional 802.11 Wireless Heat Mapping, Scott James Pack

Theses and Dissertations

Traditional wireless site surveys produce a heat-map of link strength or quality over a target area, usually on the ground plane. In recent years research has gone into using aerial drones in network attack and surveillance, making three dimensional awareness of wireless coverage areas of interest. A multi-rotor drone and data collection module were built and tested as part of this research. Site assessments were conducted both in open space and near structures. Collected data was interpolated across the target area, and visualized as points and contours. These visualizations were exported to a Keyhole Markup Language (KML) for visualization in …


Development Of A Chloride Concentration Sampling Protocol For Concrete Bridge Decks, Sharlan Renae Montgomery Mar 2014

Development Of A Chloride Concentration Sampling Protocol For Concrete Bridge Decks, Sharlan Renae Montgomery

Theses and Dissertations

As the primary cause of concrete bridge deck deterioration in the United States is corrosion of the steel reinforcement as a result of the application of chloride-based deicing salts, chloride concentration testing is among the most common techniques for evaluating the condition of a concrete bridge deck. The objectives of this research were to 1) compare concrete drilling and powder collection techniques to develop a sampling protocol for accurately measuring chloride concentrations and 2) determine the number of chloride concentration test locations necessary for adequately characterizing the chloride concentration of a given bridge deck. Laboratory experiments on concrete drilling and …


Environmentally Friendly And Sustainable Stream Stability In The Vicinity Of Bridges, Evan David Cope Mar 2014

Environmentally Friendly And Sustainable Stream Stability In The Vicinity Of Bridges, Evan David Cope

Theses and Dissertations

This report was sponsored by the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) to determine if stream restoration structures could be used as scour countermeasures near state highways and bridges. Scour countermeasures that are effective in preventing erosion exist but that are not so friendly for aquatic organisms. UDOT is interested in finding a countermeasure that is both effective in preventing erosion while not harming aquatic organisms. Stream restoration structures are friendly for aquatic organisms but are prone to failure when flows exceed the design levels. David Rosgen has developed restoration structures that are friendly for aquatic organisms and that have provided …


Development And Regional Application Of Sub-Seasonal Remote- Sensing Chlorophyll Detection Models, Carly Adeline Hyatt Mar 2014

Development And Regional Application Of Sub-Seasonal Remote- Sensing Chlorophyll Detection Models, Carly Adeline Hyatt

Theses and Dissertations

Remote sensing has been used as an effective chlorophyll-a detection method in inland lakes and reservoirs. Concentration estimates of chlorophyll-a approximate the amounts of algae and phytoplankton in a body of water, can indicate the existence of large blooms and high nutrient loading, and can be used as an indicator of water quality. These biomasses pose potential threats to the quality of the water and the local environment by depleting oxygen, influencing the taste of the drinking water and detrimentally affecting aesthetics and recreation. Deer Creek Reservoir exhibited eutrophic tendencies in the early 1990's, caused by phosphorus pollution. This was …


Condition Assessment Of Concrete Bridge Decks: Sampling And Testing Of Decommissioned Bridges On Interstate 15 In Utah, W. Spencer Guthrie, Brian A. Mazzeo Feb 2014

Condition Assessment Of Concrete Bridge Decks: Sampling And Testing Of Decommissioned Bridges On Interstate 15 In Utah, W. Spencer Guthrie, Brian A. Mazzeo

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The objectives of this research were to obtain samples of four decommissioned concrete bridge decks that were replaced as part of the Interstate 15 (I-15) CORE project in Utah County and evaluate their condition using both non-destructive and destructive testing techniques. Because the decks were not returned to trafficking, extensive destructive testing could be performed. The testing was important for providing information about long-term deterioration mechanisms that occur in Utah bridge decks. Furthermore, because each of the sampled decks had been surfaced with an asphalt membrane-overlay system, testing the decks provided useful information about the efficacy of this rehabilitation approach …


Integrated Composite Reinforcement And Passive Damping Of Plywood Panels, Keith Steurer, Dr. Fernando Fonseca Feb 2014

Integrated Composite Reinforcement And Passive Damping Of Plywood Panels, Keith Steurer, Dr. Fernando Fonseca

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Composite reinforced plywood can be used in lightweight structures as well as high performance sporting equipment such as skis, skateboards and snowboards. Composite skins are adhered to the wood core to increase the stiffness of the plywood with very little addition in weight. The possibility exists to use a viscoelastic damping layer as the adhesive to increase adhesion strength between the composite skins and the plywood and create passive constrained layer damping in the composite reinforced plywood. This research investigated the damping performance of composite reinforced plywood using a viscoelastic adhesive.


Isotruss™ -Reinforced Concrete Beams, Justin Marshall, David Jensen, Fernando Fonseca Feb 2014

Isotruss™ -Reinforced Concrete Beams, Justin Marshall, David Jensen, Fernando Fonseca

Journal of Undergraduate Research

When a reinforced concrete beam is loaded it tends to sag or deflect. Because of this deflection, the bottom fibers of the beam are in tension while the top is compressed. Reinforcement (rebar) is placed in beams to resist tensile forces which concrete cannot support. Rebar can have adverse effects under certain conditions. If the concrete cracks, the steel will rust and expand causing increased cracking and strength loss. Other potential problems stem from steel’s density, magnetic properties and conductance. Currently, much research is being done in the area of composite reinforcement to solve these problems. Recent thesis research done …


Manufacturing And Testing A Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Beam-To- Column Connector, Patrick J. Sedivy, Dr. Fernando S. Fonseca Feb 2014

Manufacturing And Testing A Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Beam-To- Column Connector, Patrick J. Sedivy, Dr. Fernando S. Fonseca

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Pultruded Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) structures are an attractive alternative to steel which is corrosive and heavy. However, FRP beams and columns cannot be connected using conventional methods such as bolting or welding. Anthony G. Cockbain demonstrated the potential of a monolithic sleeve connector.1 Although Cockbain’s research showed much promise for the sleeve connector, there were still several problems. The manufacturing process was extremely labor intensive and the connector needed to be stronger.