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Problem Set 5: Particulate Transport

In this problem set you will be simulating particulate emissions from a single vehicle moving along a straight road with a cross wind. You will develop a particle tracking model to visualize the particulate plume and to compute atmospheric concentrations.

Problem Set 4: MATLAB Practice

This problem set is designed to give you some practice with MATLAB programming. You should develop your own programs rather than modify those handed out in class. The programming problems given here are based on simplified versions of the Exam 1 problems.

Problem Set 3: Thermal Analysis for a Small House

In this problem set you will be evaluating the energy performance of a house using a MATLAB model you construct. Your model will include heat gains and losses from heat conduction, convection, and radiation as well as heat gains from a thermostatically controlled furnace. You will be examining the effect of changing windows, and other structural components.

Problem Set 2: Species Competition

This problem builds on the class lectures about predator-prey ecosytems. Rather than predation, we consider two similar species competing for a common resource. We use the Lotka-Volterra competition model, which embodies the “competitive exclusion” principle:

"If two competing species coexist in the same niche in a stable environment then one species will eventually crowd out the other.”

Exercise 5: Science, Policy, and Public Opinion

Your assignment is to research the questions below, and be prepared to argue either side of each issue. The class will be divided into groups, one for each issue, and each issue group will be divided in half: one half will argue in the affirmative, the other in the negative. You will not know which argument you will be making until you arrive in class, so research both sides of the issues! At the beginning of class, you will be given time to prepare your statements. We will then stage a debate for each issue, in which groups respond to questions posed by a moderator

 

Lab 7: Rivers

This exercise will provide some hands-on experience with methods used for predicting flood frequency and magnitude. We will be using the US Geological Survey (USGS) website to retrieve historical stream gauge data of the sort used to predict the likelihood of flood events of particular magnitudes during a given time interval. Such predictions are the basis for numerous engineering, restoration and development projects in and around rivers.

We will retrieve data for a river in Oregon, use a spreadsheet to analyze the data, and assess the probability of occurrence of floods of particular magnitudes (in terms of discharge), or the likely magnitudes of events of a given recurrence interval. We will then repeat the exercise for the Taunton River in southeastern Massachusetts.

Lab 6: Geological Mapping

In this lab exercise on mapping, you’ll have the chance to get a fairly realistic picture of how geologists go about making a geological map. Think of the lab room as a land area of 10 km2 with no topographic relief. Assume that the land surface is the tabletops, but that there’s enough local relief for you to see bedrock outcrops (i.e. the rocks on the tables).

 

Exercise 4: Reading Geological Maps

This laboratory exercise will consist of a set of hypothetical geologic examples to familiarize you with the thought process you'll need to use in interpreting simple problems.

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