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Events for November 19, 2008

  • Potential for Inland-Port Development in Los Angeles Basin Freight Transportation

    Wed, Nov 19, 2008 @ 11:30 AM - 01:00 PM

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

    University Calendar


    METRANS SeminarTitle: "Potential for Inland-Port Development in Los Angeles Basin Freight Transportation"Speaker: Dr. Mansour Rahimi, Associate Professor, USC Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering Date: Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 11.30amPlace: Lewis Hall (RGL) Room 103 ABSTRACT: Inland-ports have been mentioned as key elements of logistic hubs for integration into a more efficient regional intermodal goods movement system. This presentation introduces several existing inland port developments in different US urban networks. We then identify and analyze site location methods for inland ports in five counties surrounding the Los Angeles County, and their potential for integration into a regional intermodal goods movement system served by the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The analysis includes a single facility location model to define the location of a theoretical inland port to minimize the total truck-miles traveled. Then, we extended this model to a series of location-allocation models with up to six inland port locations included. A significant truck VMT reduction is achieved with this new concept, which follows the notion of a "satellite inland port" system. Congestion and air pollution could potentially be reduced in proportion to the VMT reductions. Implementation challenges and future research needs will be discussed. Lunch will be served--please RSVP to amgardne@usc.edu to reserve a spot.

    Location: Ralph And Goldy Lewis Hall (RGL) - 103

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Georgia Lum

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  • Sunlight-mediated disinfection of viruses in surface water:

    Wed, Nov 19, 2008 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    ...The role of reactive oxygen speciesDr. Tamar Kohn, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Swiss Federal
    Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), SwitzerlandAbstract:Waterborne pathogens in drinking and recreational water present a serious threat to public health worldwide. Pathogens enter water sources via the discharge of inadequately treated and raw wastewater. The situation is especially acute in developing countries, where an estimated 2.6 billion people lack access to proper sanitation facilities. Industrialized
    nations have also recognized waterborne pathogens as an emerging water quality problem. Up to 9 million cases of waterborne illnesses are estimated to occur annually in the US alone. Alarmingly, waterborne disease outbreaks are directly related to heavy rainfall events and are therefore considered a growing public health risk associated with the anticipated effects of global warming.Pathogenic viruses present a particular challenge for microbial water quality
    because they are excreted in very high numbers from infected patients, while their infectious dose can be very low. In surface water, sunlight-mediated disinfection is an important factor governing the survival of viruses. This naturally occurring disinfection process is also exploited for engineering applications, such as waste stabilization ponds. Sunlight-mediated inactivation can occur directly, via damage to nucleic acids by UVB
    light. In addition, inactivation can result from indirect damage of virus components by reactive oxygen species formed in the presence of sunlight and oxygen and sensitizers in the surrounding water sample (exogenous inactivation). While the role of direct damage has long been recognized, only little is known about the contribution of exogenous inactivation to overall virus disinfection.The goal of my work is to develop a quantitative and mechanistic understanding of exogenous virus inactivation in sunlit water. In experiments using a solar simulator, we investigated the sunlight-mediated inactivation of coliphages MS2 and PhiX174, two commonly used surrogates for human viruses. In this presentation I will illustrate the importance of different reactive oxygen species on virus survival and I will discuss the
    mechanisms which cause the viruses to lose infectivity. In addition, I will demonstrate how we are using this information to develop novel methods to distinguish between viable and inactivated viruses.

    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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  • Aerodynamic Separation and Invariant Manifolds: Recent Progress on a Century-old Problem

    Wed, Nov 19, 2008 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM

    Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

    University Calendar


    Aerodynamic Separation and Invariant Manifolds: Recent Progress on a Century-old ProblemGeorge HallerMechanical Engineering Department
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Cambridge, MAFlow separation--the detachment of fluid from a boundary-- is a major cause of performance loss in engineering devices such as diffusers, airfoils and jet engines. In a landmark 1904 paper on boundary layers, Ludwig Prandtl derived a criterion for flow separation from no-slip boundaries in steady two-dimensional incompressible flows. Despite widespread effort, however, no unsteady or three-dimensional extension of Prandtl's criterion has emerged in the fluid dynamics literature. In this talk, I discuss recent success in extending Prandtl's criterion to unsteady three-dimensional compressible flows as well as to slip boundaries. This new separation theory relies on advanced dynamical systems concepts such as nonhyperbolic invariant manifold theory and aperiodic averaging. Remarkably, these techniques render exact separation criteria that cannot be obtained from first principles. I show numerical and experimental results confirming the generalized separation criteria and discuss applications to flow control and pollution tracking.

    Location: Stauffer Science Lecture Hall, Room 102 (SLH 102)

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Jennifer Cantwell

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