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Sustainable Management of Animal Waste in a Rural Setting in India
No full textFor centuries rural people in India have used animal waste as a source of biogas to be used for cooking purposes. The animal waste is usually shaped into cakes and dried in the open before use. However, this practice has both aesthetic and environmental issues. The open handling and drying of the cakes do not present an aesthetic view of the otherwise green land. Children are often exposed to these wastes that can expose them to diseases. In the rainy season, the water washes away the animal waste and guides it to the river or other water bodies and contaminates the water. This water is often the primary source of potable water. Even the energy obtained from the cakes is not sufficient enough for one family's cooking needs. This leads to additional requirement of expensive gas cylinders. However, families under the poverty line cannot afford gas cylinders and often fall short of gas. This study looks into the suitability, in terms of environmental, social and economic point of view, of a twelve-year old biogas plant in Akhbarpur, a village of Punjab, India, which has continuously provided cooking gas to a family of thirteen members. In addition to studying the technical requirements and present conditions, the owners of the biogas plant were interviewed to determine the effectiveness of the process from a social point of view. A cost analysis of the project determined a payback period of less than three years. This low-tech technology was found to be effective in providing sustainable source of energy in a small community. It was found that the main factor hindering the growth of such a project in a village community was mainly the lack of knowledge and personnel to handle the collection of animal waste and operation of the process. Lack of incentives from the government in the form of environmental credits was also determined to reduce the acceptability of the project
Some applications of the Hyperbolic Metric
No full textA Master of Science thesis in Mathematics by Khitam Zuhair Aqel entitled, "Some applications of the Hyperbolic Metric," submitted in June 2015. Thesis advisor is Dr. Yusuf Abumuhanna. Soft and hard copy available.This thesis is an expository of the hyperbolic geometry in general and the hyperbolic metric for several domains in particular. The thesis also focuses on the differences between the Euclidean geometry and hyperbolic geometry. Mainly, it focuses on the difference between the Euclidean area of triangle and the hyperbolic area. At the end, a new application of the hyperbolic metric is given. In specific, a new bound for the second coefficient of harmonic univalent maps is determined.
The thesis was written in such a clear way to make the subject accessible to people with average knowledge of mathematics.College of Arts and SciencesDepartment of Mathematics and StatisticsMaster of Science in Mathematics (MSMTH
Impact of Exclusive Bus Lanes on Traffic Performance in Urban Areas
No full textA Master of Science thesis in Civil Engineering by Amro Riyadh Abdulwahid entitled, "Impact of Exclusive Bus Lanes on Traffic Performance in Urban Areas," submitted in June 2015. Thesis advisor is Dr. Akmal Abdelfatah. Soft and hard copy available.In recent years, increased traffic congestion and shortage of available funds to build new roads have created a challenging situation. One of the possible solutions to this challenge is to manage the transportation infrastructure to operate at its maximum capacity. Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, has recently started its public transportation system, which is still under development. With the anticipated growth rates within the urban areas of Sharjah, there is a need for an efficient public transportation system. One of the possible approaches to improve the bus transit system performance in Sharjah is exclusive bus lanes (XBLs). Implementing XBL has been recognized as an effective strategy in the field of urban traffic congestion mitigation. This thesis provides a parametric study to investigate the impact of XBLs on urban road network performance under different traffic conditions using micro-simulation software, VISSIM, which is utilized to simulate different traffic scenarios. This thesis considers different traffic parameters such as demand-to-capacity ratio D/C, traffic turning percentages (through and left), bus headway, and bus direction. Results show that the XBLs are effective at D/C ratio of 0.80 or more. They also indicated that as the percentage of vehicles taking left turns decreases, the improvement percentage of the buses' travel time, intersection delay, and average speed increase and vice versa. XBLs were effective for the buses turning left for D/C ratio of 1.15 of the main road. The bus headway of 10 minutes had the least improvement percentages of the buses intersection delay for all D/C ratios while the bus headway of 15 minutes had the best improvement percentage of the buses' intersection delay for D/C ratios of 0.95 or less. The bus mode share that achieves the most benefit of the XBL is in the range of (10% - 15%) and (27% - 29%) for D/C ratios of 0.95 and 1.15, respectively. Furthermore, the performance of vehicles in adjacent lanes sacrificed after the implementation of XBLs for all D/C ratios and the average deterioration percentages of vehicles' travel time, intersection delay, and average speed are -5%, -11%, and -5%, respectively.College of EngineeringDepartment of Civil EngineeringMaster of Science in Civil Engineering (MSCE
Production of Batteries for Hybrid Cars
Get PDFA poster submitted in ENG 207 taught by Dr. David Prescott for the Fall 2014 semester.Decide on which type of batteries, between Lithium ion and Nickel metal hydride, is more efficient for the production process of hybrid cars
Virtual Trade and Growth
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to propose a model where trade has a direct and positive impact on growth rate of two trading nations beyond the level effect. We use the idea of virtual trade in intermediates induced by non- overlapping time zones and show how trade can increase the equilibrium optimal rate of growth. In this structure the trade impact goes beyond the level effect and directly causes growth. Typically standard models of trade cannot generate an automatic growth impact. Virtual trade may allow production to continue for 24x7 in separated time zones such as between US and India and that can lead to higher growth for both countries. Later we extend the model to incorporate accumulation of skill which becomes necessary for sustaining steady state growth
Miniaturized Low-Cost High-Performance Digital Radar
No full textA Master of Science thesis in Electrical Engineering by Mansour Taghadosi entitled, "Miniaturized Low-Cost High-Performance Digital Radar," submitted in May 2015. Thesis advisors are Dr. Lutfi Albasha and Dr. Hasan Mir. Soft and hard copy available.Digital radars offer added advantages and functionality such as higher stability and precision compared to conventional radar systems. By utilizing multiple receiver channels, digital array radars (DARs) are able to perform several functions such as tracking a specific target in space, while rejecting jammers from a certain angular location (known as spatial filtering). This is of interest in high clutter environments such as coastlines. This study aims to miniaturize a cutting-edge digital radar testbed implemented using discrete microwave components, developed earlier at the American University of Sharjah. The main objectives of the thesis are to achieve a level of practical portability for the system without compromising the overall performance and to maintain a low cost budget. Furthermore, this study presents several characteristics of digital radars and discusses the limitations and constraints faced during their design and implementation phases. The novel architecture design and implementation process of the miniaturized low-cost and high-performance S-band digital radar is presented. The proposed system is simulated through multiple software platforms including advanced design system (ADS) and advancing the wireless revolution's (AWR) visual system simulator (VSS). This report details the design and full-wave EM simulation of different types of filters specifically designed to be implemented in the radar testbed. It also explains the impedance matching procedure followed in order to minimize power losses. The overall system is first designed for the standard low-cost printed circuit board (PCB) technology, then simulated using the aforementioned software, and finally fabricated. The implemented radar testbed utilizes the stretch processing technique in order to achieve a high dynamic range over a wide signal bandwidth. The experimental measurements of the fabricated radar testbed verify a high in-band dynamic range of 75 dB across an instantaneous bandwidth of 600 MHz, corresponding to 0.25 meters of range resolution. The achieved high dynamic range is unique and has not yet been explored for the miniaturized scale of digital radar testbeds.College of EngineeringDepartment of Electrical EngineeringMaster of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE
Temperature Effect on the Mechanical Properties of Carbon, Glass and Carbon-Glass FRP Laminates
No full textExternally bonded fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) laminates are widely used to strengthen and rehabilitate reinforced concrete (RC) structural members in flexure and shear. Despite the clear and proven advantages of using FRPs over traditional materials, the greatest disadvantage to its wide utilization is the limitation in knowledge of the behavior of such composite materials after being exposed to high temperatures. The aim of this paper is to experimentally investigate the variation of mechanical properties in terms of the elastic modulus and tensile strength of composite carbon (C), composite glass (G) sheets and their hybrid combinations (CG) when exposed to different temperatures, ranging from 25C to 300C. All specimens were subjected to the specified temperature level for 45 min and left to cool down for 24 h prior to testing. Stress-strain relationships were plotted and the different observed failure modes were discussed. Based on the test results, the decrease in the mechanical properties of the composite C and G sheets was more severe than those of the composite hybrid CG sheets. In particular, the elastic modulus of the C, G and CG at 250C was reduced by about 28%, 26% and 9%, respectively and their tensile strength at the same temperature was reduced by about 42%, 31% and 35%, respectively, all as compared to room temperature values. Tested specimens failed in brittle rupture of fiber for low range of temperatures (100-150C) and by partial loss of epoxy adhesives followed by sheet splitting for high range of temperatures (200-250C). The calculated values of the mechanical properties of C, G and CG at elevated temperatures can be used as valuable input in computer modeling of RC members strengthened with externally bonded FRP laminates and subjected to elevated temperatures
Evaluating the Sustainability of Traffic Growth in Malaysia
No full textThis paper evaluates the sustainability of traffic growth in Malaysia.The number of registered vehicles is used as an indication of traffic growth.Also, the number of registered buses is considered as an indication of public transportation usage. The results indicate that the traffic growth is mainly due to increases in the private cars motorcycles, while the rate of increase for buses is very small.The percentages for passenger cars and motorcycles are increasing while the percentage of buses is slightly dropping down, which is a negative indication regarding the traffic growth in Malaysia. The trends for the rate of vehicles per capita, unit GDP, and unit length of the road network have been discussed. Most of the trends indicate that the current growth trends of traffic in Malaysia are unsustainable. The paper also provides some recommendations for the Malaysian government to maintain a sustainable traffic growth in the country
Investigating the use of green design parameters in UAE construction projects
No full textConstruction practices tend to have an adverse impact on the environment through their contribution to CO2 emission, increased waste and energy consumption. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has launched many initiatives to encourage green design over the past years and to work towards a sustainable community. Nonetheless, such initiatives require a considerable amount of time to penetrate the professional psyche and showcase real results that are easily utilised by the construction community. The aim of this research was to study the current degree of use of Green Design Parameters (GDPs) in the UAE construction projects and to identify the main constraints that hinder their application. To achieve the study's objective, a survey was designed and distributed to engineering design professionals in different consulting and contracting companies in the seven emirates of the UAE. Feedback from 112 projects was examined and statistically analysed. The analysis showed a degree of awareness and use of some key GDPs. Moreover, the data showed no correlation between the degree of using GDPs in a project and its cost and schedule. Not surprisingly, the lack of knowledge about green parameters and the lack of trust in recycled materials are the main constraints that featured in the responses