Development of a Taxonomy of Keywords for Engineering Education Research

The diversity of engineering education research provides an opportunity for cross-fertilization of ideas and creativity, but it also can result in fragmentation of the field and duplication of effort. One solution is to establish a standardized taxonomy of engineering education terms to map the field and communicate and connect research initiatives. This report describes the process for developing such a taxonomy, the EER Taxonomy. Although the taxonomy focuses on engineering education research in the United States, inclusive efforts have engaged 266 individuals from 149 cities in 30 countries during one multiday workshop, seven conference sessions, and several other virtual and in-person activities. The resulting taxonomy comprises 455 terms arranged in 14 branches and six levels. This taxonomy was found to satisfy four criteria for validity and reliability: (1) keywords assigned to a set of abstracts were reproducible by multiple researchers, (2) the taxonomy comprised terms that could be selected as keywords to fully describe 243 articles in three journals, (3) the keywords for those 243 articles were evenly distributed across the branches of the taxonomy, and (4) the authors of 31 conference papers agreed with 90% of researcher-assigned keywords. This report also describes guidelines developed to help authors consistently assign keywords for their articles by encouraging them to choose terms from three categories: (1) context/focus/topic, (2) purpose/target/motivation, and (3) research approach.     

Assessment of air pollution sources in an industrial atmosphere using principal component and multilinear regression analysis

Aerosol samples collected in the industrial area of Estarreja, Portugal, were used to assess the source classes responsible for the particulate levels observed in the local atmosphere. Principal Component Analysis was applied separately to the concentrations of aerosol constituents and meteorological variables to obtain the number of Principal Components and to verify the influence of weather conditions on ambient air quality. The technique led to the conclusion that soil and transport emissions represent important aerosol sources even in this industrial environment. The quantitative contribution of each source class was calculated using Multilinear Regression Analysis; 37% of the aerosol mass had a soil origin, 8% was from sea spray, 18% resulted from transport emissions and 24% contained ammonium salts. Twelve percent of total suspended particle (TSP) mass could not be explained by any of the six Principal Components retained. Ammonium salts and two other minor Principal Components seem to result mainly from industrial emissions. More specific information about the contribution of each particular source was not possible with this technique.     

Microbiological quality of reclaimed water used for golf courses' irrigation.

Microbial quality of reclaimed water used for irrigation in two golf courses located in the southern Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) was evaluated. Bacterial indicators for faecal pollution (total and faecal coliforms, Escherichia coli and enterococci) were tested by membrane filtration using appropriate selective media. In addition, somatic E. coli bacteriophages, enteric viruses (entero-, hepatitis A and rota-) and Legionella pneumophila were also analysed. The results obtained showed that all wastewater treatment processes reduced adequately the number of indicator microorganisms although a significant correlation between pathogenic and indicator microorganisms tested was not found. L. pneumophila was detected by PCR but not confirmed by culture. Survival experiments of pathogenic microorganisms in aerosols and irrigated turf are conducted to determine the health hazards for the golf practice and to propose a microbial standard for wastewater used for irrigation of golf courses.     

Impact of land use on urban mobility patterns, emissions and air quality in a Portuguese medium-sized city

The main objective of this work was to evaluate the impact of urban development trends in mobility patterns of a medium sized Portuguese city and air quality consequences, using a sequential modeling process, comprising i) land use and transportation, TRANUS model; ii) road traffic air pollutants emissions, TREM model and; iii) air quality, TAPM model. This integrated methodology was applied to a medium sized Portuguese city. In order to evaluate the implementation of the methodology, a preliminary study was performed, which consisted on the comparison of modeled mobility patterns and CO and PM₁₀ concentrations with measured data used in the definition of the current scenario. The comparison between modeled and monitored mobility patterns at the morning peak hour for a weekday showed an RMSE of 31%. Regarding CO concentrations, an underestimation of the modeled results was observed. Nevertheless, the modeled PM₁₀ concentrations were consistent with the monitored data. Overall, the results showed a reasonable consistency of the modeled data, which allowed the use of the integrated modeling system for the study scenarios.The future scenarios consisted on the definition of different mobility patterns and vehicle technology characteristics, according to two main developing trends: (1) “car pooling” scenario, which imposes a mean occupancy rate of 3 passengers by vehicle and (2) the “Euro 6” scenario, which establishes that all vehicles accomplish at least the Euro 6 standard technology. Reductions of 54% and 83% for CO, 44% and 95% for PM₁₀, 44% and 87% for VOC and 44% and 79% for NO_x emissions were observed in scenarios 1 and 2, respectively. Concerning air quality, a reduction of about 100 μg m⁻³ of CO annual average concentration was observed in both scenarios. The results of PM₁₀ annual concentrations showed a reduction of 1.35 μg m⁻³ and 2.7 μg m⁻³ for scenarios 1 and 2 respectively.     

Impact assessment: tiering approaches for sustainable development planning and decision-making of a large infrastructure project

ABSTRACT

The objective of this paper is to analyze a tiering scoping approach developed to identify critical multidimensional sustainability issues and impacts of a large infrastructure project: the land transport project linking northern Brazil with a new port on Guyana’s coast. The Inter-American Development Bank awarded a technical assignment to develop the terms of reference of a country environmental assessment, a strategic environmental and social assessment and an environmental and social impact assessment of the project(s). The complexity of the issues at stake lead to the design of a tiered assessment process supported by wide-ranging participative sessions involving 170 individuals from Guyana and Brazil and from diverse sectors. The process identified ex ante conditionalities, critical factors for decision-making and valued socioenvironmental and governance components. Such complex and determinant planning initiatives for the future of a country need to be supported by comprehensive, well-sequenced scoping processes.     

Effect of chromium thickness on AuCr?nSi Schottky and AuCr?n?p+ Si BARITT diodes

The effect of chromium thickness on the barrier height of AuCr?nSi Schottky diodes and the current/voltage characteristics of AuCr?n?p+Si BARITT diodes is reported. The barrier height varies from 0.81 to 0.59 eV as the chromium thickness increases from zero (no chromium) to more than 200?