Browsing by Subject "construction"
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Item Developing Emission Factors of Fugitive Particulate Matter Emissions for Construction Sites in the Middle East(2015-04-20) Hassan, Hala Abdelrahman MedaniA major source of airborne pollution in the arid Middle East countries is the fugitive particulate matter (PM), a frequent product of wind erosion. The meteorological conditions and topography of this region makes it highly susceptible to wind-blown particles which raise many air quality concerns. Important tools for estimating the dispersion and deposition of dust particles, which also help in designing dust control procedures, are Air Quality Models (AQM). The cornerstone of every AQM system is an emission inventory, but these are only available currently for the European and North American domains, calling for an immediate need to develop similar knowledge for MEA. The increasing level of urbanization in Middle East countries has thrown the light on the airborne pollution caused by construction and earth work activities. The main scope of the present study is to develop fugitive particulate matter emission factors for construction sites in MEA and to evaluate the accuracy of the existing emission factors to apply for Middle Eastern hot and arid conditions. An experimental campaign along with dispersion modeling using the Fugitive Dust Model (FDM) were implemented in a construction site to examine the relation between the meteorological variables, concentrations and emission rates to understand the behavior of the fugitive dust emissions for MEA. The time period of this work was chosen while the construction site was at rest, where the only particles source was wind erosion of the loose soil. A data analysis was done, using the modeling results, to identify the effect of each meteorological variable (i.e. wind direction, wind speed, stability, .etc.) and its relation to emissions concentrations and rates. Considering the wind-speed dependence of the source emission rate, a power law function was obtained for the calculation of the emission rates. This function was used to re-run the FDM model and the results were evaluated compared to the on-site measured concentrations and to the emission factors reported in USEPA?s AP-42 (the related emission rates in this emission inventory have been developed mainly for open coal-mines). Surprisingly, our study showed that a very good agreement between the AP-42 emission factors and our calculations can be obtained if the former are slightly modified. The emission factors developed in this study have been confirmed and can be applied for the impact assessment of similar sources in Middle East and other dry-arid locations.Item Merit of Computer Game in Tacit Knowledge Acquisition and Retention for Safety Training in the Construction Industry(2012-02-14) Jain, Nidhi MahavirprasadAlthough many efforts have been exerted to increase safety on construction sites, it has never been easy to run a construction project with zero accidents. Previous research indicated that lessons learned from previous projects could help construction professionals prevent repetitive mistakes, but those lessons are based on individual experience, and therefore it is difficult to document and reuse them. Various web-based database systems were suggested to better manage this tacit knowledge in construction, but transforming someone's tacit knowledge into value for the next project using these systems is still challenging. Well-designed computer games often offer a number of constructive instructional features especially for young generations who have grown up in an era of computer games. Research in education reports that visual presentation facilitates the human's cognitive process. Would visual representation of tacit knowledge in a computer game help construction professionals acquire tacit knowledge and use it to reduce repetitive accidents on construction sites? In order to figure out whether visual presentation of accident cases in a computer game could improve tacit knowledge acquisition and retention, a prototype Xbox 360 computer game presenting accident scenes using 3D computer models was developed and tested with college students working in the field of construction management. The game had 3D construction site accident scenes with treasure boxes hidden and the players had to find the treasure boxes and read the information obtained from it. The treasure boxes were placed relative to the information they carried. The text part had the same accident scenes explained in text with details of what should have been followed to avoid the accident. Students from the field of construction management and civil engineering were requested to participate in the test. Each participant went through two accidents in text and two accidents in the game environment and answered a set of 16 questions based on the knowledge they gained. There was no time limit for the test. They also had to answer an exit question as to which training method they preferred. The participants were asked to come again on the seventh day to answer a set of 16 questions without going through any training to check the retention of knowledge. Statistically we can say that on an overall basis visual training had more correct answers than text for knowledge dissemination as well as retention. But there was no statistical difference seen in the number of correct answers obtained from dissemination and retention tests for text as well as visual training.Item The Cairo Dahshur boats(Texas A&M University, 2007-04-25) Creasman, Pearce PaulExcavations conducted in A.D. 1894 and 1895 by French archaeologist Jean- Jacques de Morgan at the funerary complex of the ancient Egyptian Middle Kingdom pharaoh Senwosret III on the plain of Dahshur revealed some unparalleled finds which included five or six small boats. These boats provide a unique opportunity in nautical archaeology??????to study contemporaneous hulls. Today, only four of the "Dahshur boats" can be located with certainty; two are in the United States, one in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh and one in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. The remaining two are on display in The Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Since their excavation these boats remained relatively inconspicuous until the mid-1980s when a study of the two hulls in the United States was conducted. However, the two boats in Cairo remained largely unpublished. This thesis combines personal observation and recording of the Cairo boats over two summers to reveal more unique characteristics of the hulls and will facilitate a future study of the group as a whole. Each boat is discussed individually and is further divided into its major components by order of construction.Item The Effectiveness of the Hybrid Graphical Representation Method in Visually Combining and Communicating Logical and Spatial Relationships between Scheduled Activities(2012-07-16) Nageeb, MeenaThis research endeavor investigated the possibility to combine the visual advantages of both graphical schedule visualization methods, the Linked Gantt Charts (LGC) and Flowline graphs (FLG), derived from the activity-based and location-based scheduling systems, to help resolve some of their shortcomings by capitalizing on their combined strengths. In order to accomplish the goal of the research, a graphical representation system that combines these two scheduling visualization methods, LGC and FLG, is developed. Afterwards, the research attempted to empirically validate the ability of the proposed tool to visually communicate and combine logical and spatial relationships between scheduled activities. This is compared to comprehending the same information by looking at a stand-alone LGC or FLG. The accuracy and time, of deciphering various details of a sample project schedule, are used as parameters to evaluate the proposed scheduling visualization tool, and compare it to the existing LGC and FLG systems. The Hybrid Graphical Representation (HGR) is the tool developed by this research to combine Linked Gantt Chart bars from the activity-based scheduling approach, and flow-lines from the location-based scheduling approach. The HGR concept is founded on the basic idea that both LGC and FLG share a common X-axis, Time. The only difference is in a LGC the Activities are listed on the Y-axis, while the FLG shows Locations on the Y-axis. This research proposed adding a third dimension to the FLG, listing the project Activities on a Z-axis. Viewing the HGR 3D graph from the top, the user will observe the Gantt bars with Time on the X-axis and the Activities listed on the Z-axis. Observing the schedule from the front view, the user will see the flow-lines developed from the location-based scheduling approach with Locations on the Y-axis and Time on the X-axis. After conducting a series of online surveys measuring the time and accuracy of using a prototype HGR schedule, it was found that the users were able to reap the benefits of both scheduling approaches (LGC and FLG), and visually link and communicate information concerning the activities' logical relationships and spatial relationships. However, it took the participants a relatively longer time to achieve that higher accuracy utilizing the HGR tool.