Civil Engineering Commons^™

Water Resources International Development: What On Earth Are We Doing?, Patrick Ray

All ECSTATIC Materials

Large agencies such as the World Bank, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the United Nations, regional development banks (such as the Asian Development Bank), and philanthropic organizations (such as the Rockefeller Foundation) are actively engaged in water resources development in low-income countries. Why? And what metrics do they use to decide if the investments of hundreds of millions or billions of dollars in water infrastructure projects are justified? And what accommodations do they tend to make for risks such as climate change? And what attention do they tend to give to questions of equity? I probably have no idea. But I’ve …

Evaluating Public Transit Accessibility In Albuquerque, New Mexico: A Fixed-Route Bus Service Analysis, Risa E. Gutierrez

Civil Engineering ETDs

This research analyzed how residential accessibility to fixed-route bus service in Albuquerque, New Mexico varies by distance, income level, and headway. A literature review investigated components of travel that might deter people from using public transit such as travel distance, sidewalk condition or availability, bus headway, lack of active travel in today’s society, personal and traffic safety, and access equity. Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping was used to determine if low-income neighborhoods have better or worse access to ABQ Ride bus stops relative to medium- or high-income neighborhoods. Residential land use was divided into three economic classes based on 2018 …

Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways, Marjolijn Haasnoot

All ECSTATIC Materials

• Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways (DAPP) is a decision making approach that explicitly includes decision making over time. The essence is proactive and dynamic planning in response to how the future actually unfolds.
• DAPP explores alternative sequences of decisions (adaptation pathways) for multiple futures and illuminates the path dependency of alternative strategies. It opens the decision space and helps to overcome policy paralysis due to deep uncertainty. There are different routes that can achieve the objectives under changing conditions (like ‘different roads leading to Rome’).
• Policy actions have an uncertain design life and might fail sooner or later to continue achieving …

Modeling Distributed Source Control Infrastructure At Neighborhood Scale For Mitigating Flood Risk In Amite River Watershed, Ahmad Amin Shefai

LSU Master's Theses

Flooding has always been a major threat to mankind. This is particularly true in urban areas due to urbanization-induced increasing impervious areas and subsequent increasing urban surface runoff, causing an increasing flooding risk to urban areas in spite of the fact that extensive flood control infrastructure has been constructed. The overall goal of this thesis is to present a distributed source control infrastructure-based approach for mitigating the flood risk. The new flood mitigation approach is demonstrated through the model implementation of a series of distributed source control infrastructure systems in the city of Denham Springs at a neighborhood scale. The …

An Approach To Counting Vehicles From Pre-Recorded Video Using Computer Algorithms, Mishuk Majumder

LSU Master's Theses

One of the fundamental sources of data for traffic analysis is vehicle counts, which can be conducted either by the traditional manual method or by automated means. Different agencies have guidelines for manual counting, but they are typically prepared for particular conditions. In the case of automated counting, different methods have been applied, but You Only Look Once (YOLO), a recently developed object detection model, presents new potential in automated vehicle counting. The first objective of this study was to formulate general guidelines for manual counting based on experience gained in the field. Another goal of this study was to …

Adaptive Water Infrastructure Planning For A Changing World, Sarah Fletcher

All ECSTATIC Materials

Water planners face the challenge of ensuring reliable water supply for people and the environment. Long-term changes and short-term variability in both the natural and social environments create large uncertainty in future water supply and demand. This makes it difficult to know when and how to adapt water systems through operational changes, policy, and infrastructure development. Adaptive planning approaches, in which planners defer action and respond as the system changes over time, have the potential to enable robustness to an uncertain future without unnecessary infrastructure development or policy changes. However, adaptive approaches may prevent planners from leveraging economies of scale, …

Adaptive Policy Design In Water Resources Systems Under Uncertain Climate And Human Stressors, Jon Herman

All ECSTATIC Materials

Long-term planning of water resources systems must contend with severe uncertainty in future projections of hydroclimatic variability across multiple scales, as well as uncertainty in human behavior, such as land use and reservoir operation. This talk will review recent developments in adaptive policy design to meet this challenge, centered around the key question: how should we learn from, and react to, dynamic observations of hydroclimatic, human, and ecological variables to ensure long-term sustainability? Specific contributions will cover three areas: (1) adaptation of short-term control rules, enabling existing infrastructure to manage multiple objectives across a range of possible futures; (2) exploration …

P-Cresol Biogenesis During Bioremediation Aimed At Stimulating Chlorinated Solvent Dehalogenation, Alexis Gathings

LSU Master's Theses

The broad goal of the research described in this thesis was to better understand the potential for biologically mediated production of p-cresol in groundwater at a Superfund site located in south Louisiana. Previous literature reports that microorganisms known to carry out the transformation from L-tyrosine to p-cresol occur in diverse environments.

In the research described in this thesis, studies were conducted utilizing groundwater from the Superfund site during the course of enhanced in situ bioremediation practices aimed at stimulating reductive dehalogenation of chlorinated solvent contamination. Microbial communities established with groundwater sampled from the Superfund site were observed to …

Real Records Scaling Factors Optimization To Fit The Syrian Design Spectra Using Genetic Algorithm, Seraj Jdyd

Journal of the Arab American University مجلة الجامعة العربية الامريكية للبحوث

After selecting real seismic records it is necessary to scale these records to match the intensity of the earthquake expected for the site. Generally, scaling can be made by ground motions uniform scaling in time domain which is simply scaled up or down the ground motions uniformly to best match (in average) the target spectrum within a period range of interest. It’s an engineer’s job to find the best scaling factors to best match the target spectrum, which is a complex task, so we employed the Genetic Algorithm (GA) in finding those scaling factors to achieve the best results.

Genetic …

Effect Of Landfill Leachates On Some Water Quality Indicators Of Selected Surface Water And Groundwater At Ilokun, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria, Olorunwa Omofunmi, Adesola Satimehin, Abraham Oloye, Okwunna Umego

Makara Journal of Technology

This study was conducted to examine the impact of dumpsites on the quality of groundwater and surface water. The water samples and leachates were collected from dumpsites in respective zones. The physicochemical properties of the samples were examined and determined in accordance with the standards of the American Public Health Association. Results indicated that the groundwater and surface water that are close to the dumpsites have an electrical conductivity of 385 and 245 Sd/cm, total dissolved solids of 168 and 128 mg/L, a turbidity of 4.6 and 22 NTU, a total alkalinity of 103 and 50 mg/L, a total hardness …

Microstrip Filters: A Review Of Different Filter Designs Used In Ultrawide Band Technology, Hussain Bohra, Giriraj Prajapati

Makara Journal of Technology

In this study, optimization techniques applied in designing microstrip bandpass ultra-wideband (UWB) filters are presented. Optimization based on various defected ground structure techniques, resonator designs, and type of dielectric materials is discussed. Microstrip bandpass filters implemented at UWB frequency bands used in wireless communication systems have key features to control frequency response in passband and stopband. Optimization techniques are studied to attain optimum performance of bandpass microstrip filters to ensure minimum insertion loss, high selectivity, compactness, sharp transitions at cut-off frequencies, high return loss, and excellent linearity. Extensive study shows that proper selection of fabrication techniques and type of material …

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 …

Comparative Transport Of Legionella And E. Coli Through Saturated Porous Media In A Two-Dimensional Tank, Indrayudh Mondal, Jazlyn Acosta, Absar Alum, Brooke K. Mayer, Paul Dahlen, Morteza Abbaszadegan

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

This study investigated bacterial transport in a two-dimensional (2-D) tank to evaluate the bacterial behavior of Legionella pneumophila as compared to Escherichia coli under saturated flow to simulate aquifer conditions. The experiments were performed in a 2-D tank packed with 3700 in³ (60,632 cm³) of commercially available bagged play sand under saturated conditions. The tank was disinfected by backwashing with 10% chlorine solution and subsequently neutralized by backwashing with tap water containing sodium thiosulphate (Na₂S₂O₃) to ensure no chlorine residual. Bacterial transport was measured using samples collected from ports located at …

Determination Of Construction Site Elevations Using Drone Technology, Yuhan Jiang, Yong Bai

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Image-based 3D-reconstruction techniques, such as drone photogrammetry, have been adopted to various construction operations. The challenge is determining the construction site elevation, which is the vertical distance from the ground to the camera, in real-time. This paper presents the research results of using two frame drone-based ortho-images to estimate the elevation of a construction site. This idea is derived from the stereo vision model for measuring distance of indoor scenes. The spatial resolution of the stereo vision is a positive correlation with its baseline, the distance between two cameras. However, a large baseline stereo cameras system is impossible for a …

Determining Ground Elevations Covered By Vegetation On Construction Sites Using Drone-Based Orthoimage And Convolutional Neural Network, Yuhan Jiang, Yong Bai, Sisi Han

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Three-dimensional (3D) surveying of a construction site using an image-based method may produce incorrect ground elevation results at vegetation-covered regions, because the light rays are reflected on the surface of vegetation in front of the “truth” ground. This paper presents a convolutional neural network (CNN) method to identify and locate static vegetation using drone-based high-resolution orthoimages. The developed CNN-based image classification models are supplemented with an overlapping disassembling algorithm to generate , , , or small-patches as model inputs. The training datasets are 10 pairs of orthoimage and label-image dataset. Experimental results show that cropping a high-resolution image into 9,025 …

Bs News November/December

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Bond Behavior Of Fabric Reinforced Geopolymeric Matrix-Concrete Joints, Feras Farid Tawfiq Abu Obaida

Civil and Environmental Theses

This research aimed to examine the potential use of a geopolymeric matrix as a sustainable alternative to commercial mortars in carbon fabric-reinforced matrix composites. Single-lap shear tests were conducted to examine the bond behavior at the fabric-matrix interface. Test parameters included the type of matrix (geopolymeric and cementitious matrices), the type of fabric (unidirectional and bidirectional) and the bonded length (50 to 300 mm). The geopolymeric matrix was a blend of fly ash/ground granulated blast furnace slag activated by an alkaline solution of sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide. The bond behavior of the geopolymeric-matrix specimens was characterized and compared to …

Level Of Science Achievement: Basis For The Production Of Strategic Intervention Materials (Sims), Febbie C. Verano, Sheena Mae T. Comighud

UBT International Conference

This research used the descriptive method to determine the level of Science Achievement of Grade VI Pupils: Basis for Production of Strategic Intervention Materials in Bayawan City East Central School, Bayawan City Division during the SY 2019-2020. The quantitative data were gathered from 134 pupils of Bayawan City East Central School, Bayawan City Division during the SY 2019-2020. Also, the researcher conducted a survey questionnaire. Descriptive method was used in this study. The statistical tools used in the analysis of the data were percentage, frequency, mean, weighted mean, and z-test. The study found out that the level of Science Achievement …

Seismic Activity And Essential Seismological Characteristics Of The Kosovo Territory, Shemsi Mustafa, Visar Krelani, Lulzim Beqiri, Besian Sinani

UBT International Conference

In this scientific work presented are Seismic basic characteristics. Reliable seismic hazard assessment depends mainly on the level of consistency, quality and amount of data in earthquake catalogues. The lack of good seismic activity data may often affect the quality of the assessment. This short review of the seismic activity affecting the territory of Kosovo throughout the time, points out that this region should be considered having high seismic hazard potential. Having in mind that in the last two decades, the region is undergoing very fast urbanization characterized with extensive infrastructure development and building modern high rise structures with different …

Pros And Cons For The Incineration Of Solid Waste, Kostandin Kristo

UBT International Conference

According to the latest calculations , the world is currently producing about 1.3 billion tons of garbage every year .Putting that in perspective , if we took all the human beings on the planet and placed them on an impossibly gigantic scale ,their combined weight would only be one –quarter of that amount . Unfortunately –or perhaps ominously is the better word –about 60 percent of this garbage will end up in landfills , which are multiplying globally as a pace that neraly matches the reproduction rate of the rat populations that live in them . Dumping and burying everything …

Awareness And Implementation Of Solid Waste Management (Swm) Practices, Emerson N. Lalamonan, Sheena Mae T. Comighud

UBT International Conference

This research used the descriptive-correlational method to determine the level of respondents’ awareness and extent of implementation of Solid Waste Management (SWM) Practices in District 2, Bayawan City Division, Negros Oriental, Philippines for SY 2018-2019 in terms of the areas of segregation, reduce, reuse, recycle, and disposal. The quantitative data were gathered from 81 teachers and 189 students. Also, a survey questionnaire was utilized by the researcher. The statistical tools used in the analysis of the data were weighted mean, mean, and spearman rank correlation. The results revealed that the level of respondents’ awareness on SWM Practices as both perceived …

Building Materials And Environmental Indicators For Urban Planning-Exposure, Afrim Syla

UBT International Conference

Sustainable development is a key component in urban studies. The sustainability of buildings has become a headline topic in recent years. Buildings do not exist in isolation from their environment, however, but are integrated with infrastructure. In defining sustainable buildings, the issue arises how to incorporate the influences of not only user behavior, building design and technologies, but the associated infrastructure that comprises the entire built environment. The built environment considered here includes all buildings and infrastructure, and in this context, comprises approximately 10% of global GDP. The building and construction sector alone is not only the largest consumer of …

Transportation Demand Management Through Physical Improvements: The Case Of Pristina, Seda Hatipoğlu, Beni Kizolli

UBT International Conference

In developing countries, the fact that public transportation services have not exceeded a certain level increases the use of the private vehicle as a type of transportation in urban transportation day by day. Insufficient road and parking problem is a significant obstacle in the solution of traffic problems for years. The institutions responsible for solving traffic problems have often made intractable urban traffic problems with the understanding of the necessity of high-cost investments. In this context, despite the traditional understanding, "Transportation Demand Management" strategies developed within the framework of new approaches, evaluates the problem through the outline of existing infrastructure …

Water Reuse In Collective And Business Buildings, Blertë Retkoceri, Skender Bublaku

UBT International Conference

Kosovo is estimated to have limited surface and subsurface water resources and is classified as such in a group of water stress states. To meet the shortages of these resources but also for environmental and economic reasons, water reuse is now considered as a good opportunity to meet the shortages. Reuse is defined as the reuse of water used by objects, water that can be collected from roofs, other surface and groundwater in and around objects. This paper deals with Object IV on the UBT Campus in Lipjan and analyzes the feasibility of meeting the water requirement from the facility's …

Rehabilitation And Optimization Of The Water Supply Distribution Network Of Durrës, Andrin Kërpaçi, Ilir Abdullahu

UBT International Conference

The condition of the water supply and the actual functioning of the distribution network in Durres area are inadequate to sustain demand at an acceptable level of service for all the billing zones.The distribution network of Durres city is fed at one point (Xhafzotaj junction) for 300-350 l/s with an elevation of about 50 m asl. The planned new transmission line has a diameter of 700 mm and will bring extra 630 l/s.The water distribution systems are one of the vital urban infrastructures and their operationwith a high level of service are of high importance.Many phenomena in water supply systems …

The Effect Of Concrete Sample Size In The Compressive Strength Value Of Concrete, Erion Luga, Erion Periku, Paulin Sheperi

UBT International Conference

Concrete is one of the most widely used construction materials. Compressive strength is one of the most important properties of hardened concrete. Different codes use different standards to define the characteristic strength. Albania nowadays is adapting the EN standards, but previously it used to apply the local code KTP. According to KTP standards the concrete samples were cubic specimens of 200mm side length. This study is an attempt to analyse the relation between sample size and compressive strength values of concrete specimens. For this purpose, 4 concrete classes of C8/10, C16/20, C20/25, C30/37 and 5 different cubic sizes of 50, …