Vehicle and Labor Requirements for Yard Waste Collection

Curbside collection of yard waste material is costly because the amounts collected per residence are small compared to the total waste stream and time is wasted driving by non-setting-out residences. In this paper, mathematical models are presented capable of estimating route time based on the distribution and amount of materials collected, and route and collection method characteristics. A method is presented that uses route time, set-out rate, and average set-out amount to estimate vehicle and labor requirements for compost curbside collection programs. The effect of collection practice on vehicle and labor needs is also explored. © 1997 ISWAYeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Pre-defined roles and team performance for first year students

A framework for managing and guiding student teams in a first-year engineering course is compared to less structured but commonly used methods. In the new framework, students take on rotating roles during laboratory projects throughout the semester. Furthermore, teams submit three versions of each report: rough draft, draft, and final. Finally, students complete peer evaluation on-line. On-line student and faculty surveys and multiple focus groups were used to evaluate the framework, which was employed in 3 sections of a 16 section first-year engineering course. Results indicate that, compared to the other common team scenarios, the framework results in improvements in students’ self-appraisal of their teaming abilities at the end of the semester, students writing a greater variety of laboratory report sections, student teams more quickly entering the “performing” stage of the team adjustment phases, and more students taking on a leadership role at least once during the semester. The framework produced no reduction in free riders or increase in laboratory report quality, at least as reported by students

A Hybrid Flipped First Year Engineering Course

A hybrid flipped course has been used for two years in a first year engineering course at Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, USA. In the Fall 2013 semester there were 12 sections of 20 – 25 students. The course is considered a “hybrid” because the textbook and a majority of the homework exercises are delivered online. The course is considered “flipped” because students are quizzed (online) on the course ebook before material is covered in class. This allows instructors to focus on more advanced and active learning during class time. The purpose of this paper is to describe the hybrid flipped course format in detail, focusing on the ebook and online homework. The results of surveys of students and instructors are used to explore the functionality of hybrid flipped courses. Levels of satisfaction with the online aspects of the course were high amongst students and teachers. Pathfinder was somewhat successful at getting students to prepare for class, primarily by creating an atmosphere of expected preparation, which was accentuated by the fact that graded online exercises were required prior to class. While a number of active learning techniques were employed in the Fall 2013 semester, more are envisioned for future course offerings

Service Learning Without Borders – Turning Peanut Shells to Fuel Briquettes in the Gambia

The need of firewood in the Gambia is leading to rapid deforestation. An engineering student team in our program was funded to convert peanut shells, an abundant agricultural waste from the country, into fuel briquette. By consulting the local contacts, the students developed a series of pressing devices and processes for the purpose. Then they compared the strength, burning rate and duration of burning of the briquettes, as well the difficulties to obtain binder and process the material. They finally settled to an easy to follow recipe and a very simple device to press the loose shells to briquettes. In the January of 2012, a student team went to 8 remote villages in rural Gambia. They demonstrated the briquetting process to the local people. The team was warmly received and all villages agreed to try out the method so they could preserve the dwindling forest while supporting the growing community

Strategies for Using Online Practice Problems

PathFinder is an active website coded in html, asp.net, c#, JavaScript, xml, and MathML. The website assembles ebooks on the fly from an xml database. The ebooks have randomly selected and generated exercises that are automatically graded. Instantaneous feedback is provided to both students and professors regarding performance on on-line exercises. PathFinder is used to deliver an ebook to a first year introductory engineering course. In Fall 2013 12 sections of 20 – 25 students each used the Pathfinder ebook. This provides an opportunity to investigate the effectiveness of on-line practice problems. PathFinder provides on-line practice problems that students can work before completing scored problems. Practice problems can be similar or related to the student’s scored problem. A similar practice problem is identical to the scored problem (same problem statement), but the given input values are different. A related practice problem is different from the scored problem, both in input values and problem statement. Four sets of four problems each were used to investigate 4 scenarios. Scenarios were randomly applied such that each student was exposed to all four scenarios, but on different sets of problems. In all scenarios the fourth problem had no practice problem, so it could be used as a test of the effectiveness of the practice problems provided for the first three problems. In the first scenario, no practice problems were provided. In the second, three similar practice problems were provided. In the third, three related practice problems were provided. In the fourth, the first problem had a similar, the second a related, and the third no practice problem.The effectiveness of each scenario will be evaluated using (1) student scores on the fourth problems, (2) survey questions completed by students after finishing each series of four questions, and (3) examination performance on related problems. The results are expected to provide feedback that can be used to select one scenario for providing practice problems in the future

Enhancing a Building Information Model for an Existing Building with Data from a Sustainable Facility Management Database

This study investigates the feasibility and benefits of transferring data between Autodesk Revit (used for building information modeling (BIM)) and BUILDER SMS (used for sustainable facility management (SFM)). Two data transfer methods were evaluated using a case study; one involved entirely manual data transfer, the other a combination of manual and automatic. Of the data transfer methods evaluated, the manual/automated hybrid was determined to be the best option, especially when regular updates are envisioned. The case study produced an enhanced BIM model that can be used to support sustainable facility management, called here an SFM-enhanced BIM model. An integration workflow is proposed for efficiently creating future SFM-enhanced BIM models. A focus group of facilities management professionals evaluated the case study BIM model. The focus group was most interested in the visualization capabilities—e.g., filtered views for condition assessments—and the ability to view the BIM model on a tablet/mobile device during on-site operation and maintenance activities

PathFinder: Affordable and Effective Web-books for First Year Engineering Courses

This paper describes the implementation of PathFinder (https://pathfinder.rowan.edu/), a website that facilitates the creation and dissemination of affordable web-books for college students. The purpose of this paper is to describe its implementation in an introduction-to-engineering curriculum at a public university in the north east, and to discuss the use of Pathfinder (or similar websites) in first and second year engineering courses in general. The PathFinder website allows professors to create, maintain, and access an electronic database of engineering topic folders. Each folder contains information on a single topic and may contain an article and other content, e.g., variables, equations, images, videos, exercises, and references. Articles contain links to content in other folders. Chapters are special articles that aggregate content from multiple folders to communicate complex topics. A PathFinder web-book contains multiple chapters with student exercises for each chapter. Each chapter is easily customized for individual institutions. Thus, professors can easily create additional articles, chapters, and exercises. When a student accesses a web-book chapter, PathFinder assembles content on the fly from the latest and most up-to-date information in its database. Students easily navigate chapters by scrolling or using links to jump to any heading, table, figure, equation, or example. Chapters are associated with BEFORE and AFTER exercises. Students complete BEFORE exercises before the professor covers the associated chapter in class; thus, PathFinder promotes a flipped classroom. Students complete AFTER exercises after a chapter is covered in class, i.e., AFTER exercises are homework. Exercises can be multiple-choice or calculation-based. They are chosen from banks, so each student gets a different set of exercises. PathFinder randomly selects the input values of calculation-based exercises, so even when two students get the same exercise they cannot simply copy answers. Exercises are graded automatically, freeing graders to spend more effort on higher-level assignments, e.g., reports. PathFinder provides web-books to three introductory, multidisciplinary engineering courses, each with 16 or 17 sections. This paper outlines the creation of PathFinder content, the implementation of PathFinder in courses, the merits of its use, and how it or similar web-book systems can be adopted by first year engineering programs

THE USE OF COAL COMBUSTION BY-PRODUCTS FOR IN SITU TREATMENT OF ACID MINE DRAINAGE

In 1994 a demonstration project was undertaken to investigate the effectiveness of using CCBs for the in situ treatment of acidic mine water. Actual injection of alkaline material was performed in 1997 with initial positive results; however, the amount of alkalinity added to the system was limited and resulted in short duration treatment. In 1999, a CBRC grant was awarded to further investigate the effectiveness of alkaline injection technology (AIT). Funds were released in fall 2001. In December 2001, 2500 tons of fluidized bed combustion (FBC) ash were injected into the wells used in the 1997 injection project. Post injection monitoring continued for 24 months. During this period the mine chemistry had gone through a series of chemical changes that manifested as stages or ''treatment phases.'' The mine system appeared to be in the midst of reestablishing equilibrium with the partial pressure of mine headspace. Alkalinity and pH appeared to be gradually increasing during this transition. As of December 2003, the pH and alkalinity were roughly 7.3 and 65 ppm, respectively. Metal concentrations were significantly lower than pre-injection levels, but iron and manganese concentrations appeared to be gradually increasing (roughly 30 ppm and 1.25 ppm, respectively). Aluminum, nickel, and zinc were less than pre-injection concentrations and did not appear to be increasing (roughly <PQL, 0.02 ppm, and 0.1 ppm, respectively). Arsenic and boron were not identified in concentrations that were of concern for protecting freshwater aquatic communities; however, selenium was well above the CCC and MCL. Overall, this project has been successful at achieving water quality improvement goals and providing valuable insight and information about the chemistry of this technology. In addition, there were obvious improvements observed in the receiving environment--benthic habitat recovery and the return of fish species. However, additional monitoring is needed to determine the duration of the treatment and to evaluate the applicability of the treatment technology