GIS and Introductory Environmental Engineering: A Way to Fold GIS into an Already-Existing Course

The use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) was implemented in the upper-division undergraduate technical elective Introduction to Environmental Engineering at Harvey Mudd College. Students integrated technical engineering skills, newly-learned geographical information system (GIS) skills, and the engineering design process, all in the context of the design of a debris flow barrier for a wilderness land parcel acquired by a local conservancy group. Junior and senior general engineering students, the majority of whom had no experience with GIS, were taught ArcGIS (a GIS mapping program) in the context of an Introductory Environmental Engineering course. Students learned how to map locations, find and download geo-encoded data, and join data layers, in order to graphically present toxic release hazards near their home towns. ArcGIS skills and knowledge were assessed through completion of homework problems, and through the students’ use of GIS data, software, and mapping during the design of a debris flow barrier for a local wilderness land parcel. Assignment #1 consisted of students learning how to map and characterize toxic releases near their hometowns; these data were downloaded into a spreadsheet for later use in the ArcGIS software package. In Assignment #2, the students used ArcGIS to analyze these data for the potential of water, soil, and atmospheric transport. In addition to the homework assignments, the student team completed a team-based design project involving the characterization of the wilderness site; acquiring relevant GIS data; and studying the physics of debris flow. The team produced alternative designs for the barrier and chose the best design by applying design metrics. The alternative designs and rationale for the chosen design were presented to the board of directors of the local conservancy group. Pre- and post-assessment data were gathered to analyze the success of the learning objectives. The design project in particular was useful in evaluating the students’ skill, knowledge and ease in using the GIS tools for analysis of the wilderness land parcel

Optimal and intelligent decision making in sustainable development of electronic products

Increasing global population and consumption are causing declining natural and social systems. Multi-lifecycle engineering and sustainable development address these issues by integrating strategies for economic successes, environmental quality, and social equity. Based on multi-lifecycle engineering and sustainable development concepts, this doctoral dissertation aims to provide decision making approaches to growing a strong industrial economy while maintaining a clean, healthy environment. The research develops a methodology to complete both the disassembly leveling and bin assignment decisions in demanufacturing through balancing the disassembly efforts, value returns, and environmental impacts. The proposed method is successfully implemented into a demanufacturing module of a Multi-LifeCycle Assessment and Analysis tool. The methodology is illustrated by a computer product example. Since products during the use stage may experience very different conditions, their external and internal status can vary significantly. These products, when coming to a demanufacturing facility, are often associated with incomplete/imprecise information, which complicates demanufacturing process decision making. In order to deal with uncertain information, this research proposes Fuzzy Reasoning Petri nets to model and reason knowledge-based systems and successfully applies them to demanufacturing process decision making to obtain the maximal End-of-Life (BOL) value from discarded products. Besides the BOL management of products by means of product/material recovery to decrease environmental impacts, the concepts of design for environment and sustainable development are investigated. Based on Sustainability Target Method, a sensitivity analysis decision-making method is proposed. It provides a company with suggestions to improve its product\u27s sustainability in the most cost-effective manner

Sustainability In Engineering And Engineering Education: A Comparative Study Of German And Saudi Arabian Industries

Sustainability has become a major concern in the fields of engineering and engineering education. Organizations such as UNESCO have defined goals for sustainable development in engineering. As engineers design, develop, and implement products and processes that impact the environment and society, their role in promoting sustainable development is vital. Addressing sustainability in engineering curriculum is needed to equip engineers with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to develop sustainable solutions in their respective areas, and it involves merging the teaching of technical skills with a systems-based approach that considers the broader environmental and economical context of engineering. This 1 Corresponding Author Talha Bin Asad [email protected] requires collaboration between different disciplines and stakeholders, including engineers, educators, policymakers, and industry. This study investigates the industry practices regarding sustainability goals and measures in two countries. Another point of inquiry is to find practical recommendations from engineers and project managers to inform engineering education curriculum in terms of knowledge and awareness of sustainability. Qualitative case study protocol was followed in this research, and participants from Germany and Saudi Arabia were interviewed online. Thematic coding was performed to extract meaning making descriptions from the interview transcripts. In response to the interview prompts, the participants shared their perspectives of sustainability in their area of engineering. Their recommendations towards the curriculum development included making UN sustainability goals a part of engineering curriculum, while still teaching students to adopt a ‘lean product development approach’ in their course projects, so that they learn the practical implementation of sustainability in engineering projects as well as in life

Knowledge-Based Expert System in Traffic Signal Control Systems.

Knowledge based expert systems (KBESs) have been developed in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). The aim of knowledge-based expert system is emulation and imitating social problems and then providing human-solving behaviour in complex real world tasks. The potentiality of such systems and their possibilities of application to transport problems have generated considerablely within the transport engineering field. Because of increasing transport demand which produces traffic congestion, safety problems and environmental degradation, the applications of knowledge-based expert system are likely to be the transport sector which are urban infrastructure design, transport planning, safety and maintenance, structures and equipment, vehicle scheduling, traffic monitoring and control especially in urban area and air traffic control. In spite of effectiveness and usefulness of such systems, they still include some problems such as those of knowledge representation and elicitation. In this paper, the concept of knowledge-based expert system is presented and some differences between knowledge-based expert systems and conventional computer programs are discussed. Also, basic structure of knowledge-based expert system and building knowledge-based expert system are described. Finally some developments and applications of expert system in traffic signal control field are identified and discussed

Modeling of chemical fate and transport in the environment

The Environmental Engineering discipline remains on the forefront of discovery due to advancements in computer technology, advancements in experimental methods and an ever increasing public interest in mitigating the harmful effects of the chemical process industry. Experimental methods have a critical role in defining environmental processes and effects but are limited in their ability to predict future environmental conditions. Conceptual and mathematical models are needed in order to evaluate the effect of environmental conditions far into the future as well as to extend and apply the knowledge gained from experimentation. Models can be used to predict chemical exposure levels, design environmental remediation procedures, and verify our understanding of natural phenomenon. Model development relies on the ability to better identify and characterize the governing processes of a system and to relax the assumptions imposed by historical models. Mathematical models must reflect the needs of those intended to employ them, as well as describe a physical system with an accuracy, as determined by nature, that distinguishes individual scenarios. Key to the successful modeling of environmental systems is to recognize which solution method is best applied, and how to best utilize a computer to implement such method. This research shall employ computer based solution methods to solve several important environmental problems of varying degrees of complexity, including; hurricane induced hazardous substance release scenarios (using the Mathcad mathematical modeling software), nutrient flux and redox dynamics within surficial sediments (using author developed code based upon published algorithms), and contaminant fate and transport through a sediment cap (using a finite element modeling approach, FEMLAB). Environmental systems will be mathematically described by a system of algebraic and/or partial differential equation. These mathematical models are then solved by an appropriate computer algorithm, including the use of 3rd party software and coded routines. Whenever possible, results are compared to literature values as verification. The product of the research includes the tools for modeling the specific environmental problems that have been addressed but also includes a comparative assessment of three very different approaches to modeling

Eco Global Evaluation: Cross Benefits of Economic and Ecological Evaluation

This paper highlights the complementarities of cost and environmental evaluation in a sustainable approach. Starting with the needs and limits for whole product lifecycle evaluation, this paper begins with the modeling, data capture and performance indicator aspects. In a second step, the information issue, regarding the whole lifecycle of the product is addressed. In order to go further than the economical evaluations/assessment, the value concept (for a product or a service) is discussed. Value could combine functional requirements, cost objectives and environmental impact. Finally, knowledge issues which address the complexity of integrating multi-disciplinary expertise to the whole lifecycle of a product are discussing.EcoSD NetworkEcoSD networ