Application of the Indigenous evaluation framework to a university certificate program for building cultural awareness in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

This paper presents a case example of the Indigenous Evaluation Framework as applied to a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education pilot program. Indigenous methodologies include knowledge and data that are inclusive of historically marginalized groups, are highly meaningful, valid, and useful for all. A paradigm shift from Western evaluation methodologies to Indigenous evaluation is necessary when evaluating STEM programs that are committed to increasing recruitment, retention, and graduation of students from historically marginalized groups. This paper describes the use of the Indigenous Evaluation Framework during the first two years of the newly created Environmental Stewardship of Indigenous Lands program at the University of Colorado Denver. We discuss the importance of the Indigenous Evaluation Framework and how it informs the development and continued improvements to the program that also provides agency to program leads and participants.

Predicting nonpoint stormwater runoff quality from land use.

Evaluating the impact of urban development on natural ecosystem processes has become an increasingly complex task for planners, environmental scientists, and engineers. As the built environment continues to grow, unregulated nonpoint pollutants from increased human activity and large-scale development severely stress urban streams and lakes resulting in their currently impaired or degraded state. In response, integrated water quality management programs have been adopted to address these unregulated nonpoint pollutants by utilizing best management practices (BMPs) that treat runoff as close to the source as possible. Knowing where to install effective BMPs is no trivial task, considering budget constraints and the spatially extensive nature of nonpoint stormwater runoff. Accordingly, this paper presents an initial, straightforward and cost-effective methodology to identify critical nonpoint pollutant source watersheds through correlation of water quality with land use. Through an illustrative application to metropolitan Denver, Colorado, it is shown how this method can be used to aid stormwater professionals to evaluate and specify retrofit locations in need of water quality treatment features reduce, capture and treat stormwater runoff prior to entering receiving waters.

Measurement of colloidal phenomena during flow through refractive index matched porous media.

Colloidal phenomena in porous media, natural or engineered, are important in a breadth of science and technology applications, but fundamental understanding is hampered by the difficulty in measuring colloid deposit morphology in situ. To partially address this need, this paper describes a static light scattering apparatus using a flow cell filled with refractive index matched (RIM) porous media, allowing real-time measurement of colloidal phenomena as a function of depth within the flow cell. A laser interacts with the colloids in the pore space and their structures, but not with the RIM media. The intensity of scattered light is measured as a function of scattering angle, which allows characterization of colloid deposit morphology as a fractal dimension and a radius of gyration. In parallel, fluid discharge rate and pressure drop are recorded to determine permeability, a key parameter for any application involving flow through porous media. This apparatus should prove useful in any application requiring characterization of colloidal phenomena within porous media. Additionally, this paper describes how to use granular Nafion as RIM porous media.

Colloid Deposit Morphology and Clogging in Porous Media: Fundamental Insights Through Investigation of Deposit Fractal Dimension.

Experiments reveal a wide discrepancy between the permeability of porous media containing colloid deposits and the available predictive equations. Evidence suggests that this discrepancy results, in part, from the predictive equations failing to account for colloid deposit morphology. This article reports a series of experiments using static light scattering (SLS) to characterize colloid deposit morphology within refractive index matched (RIM) porous media during flow through a column. Real time measurements of permeability, specific deposit, deposit fractal dimension, and deposit radius of gyration, at different vertical positions, were conducted with initially clean porous media at various ionic strengths and fluid velocities. Decreased permeability (i.e., increased clogging) corresponded with higher specific deposit, lower fractal dimension, and smaller radius of gyration. During deposition, fractal dimension, radius of gyration, and permeability decreased with increasing specific deposit. During flushing with colloid-free fluid, these trends reversed, with increased fractal dimension, radius of gyration, and permeability. These observations suggest a deposition scenario in which large and uniform aggregates become deposits, which reduce porosity, lead to higher fluid shear forces, which then decompose the deposits, filling the pore space with small and dendritic fragments of aggregate.

Zinc leaching from tire crumb rubber.

Because tires contain approximately 1-2% zinc by weight, zinc leaching is an environmental concern associated with civil engineering applications of tire crumb rubber. An assessment of zinc leaching data from 14 studies in the published literature indicates that increasing zinc leaching is associated with lower pH and longer leaching times, but the data display a wide range of zinc concentrations, and do not address the effect of crumb rubber size or the dynamics of zinc leaching during flow through porous crumb rubber. The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of crumb rubber size using the synthetic precipitation leaching procedure (SPLP), the effect of exposure time using quiescent batch leaching tests, and the dynamics of zinc leaching using column tests. Results indicate that zinc leaching from tire crumb rubber increases with smaller crumb rubber and longer exposure time. Results from SPLP and quiescent batch leaching tests are interpreted with a single-parameter leaching model that predicts a constant rate of zinc leaching up to 96 h. Breakthrough curves from column tests displayed an initial pulse of elevated zinc concentration (~3 mg/L) before settling down to a steady-state value (~0.2 mg/L), and were modeled with the software package HYDRUS-1D. Washing crumb rubber reduces this initial pulse but does not change the steady-state value. No leaching experiment significantly reduced the reservoir of zinc in the crumb rubber.

Static light scattering resolves colloid structure in index-matched porous media.

Colloidal phenomena play an important role in natural porous media, where they influence soil structuring, contaminant migration, filtration, and clogging. Several methods are available to measure pore space geometry within porous media, but these methods have limited applicability when the relevant physical, chemical, or biological processes are dominated by dynamic colloidal phenomena. Here we report a new technique to quantify colloid aggregate structure as a fractal dimension using static light scattering within index-matched porous media (granular Nafion). We validate the method by obtaining consistent results for scattering in suspensions and in porous media, and verify that multiple scattering at environmentally relevant colloid concentrations does not affect the determination of fractal dimension. We also observe restructuring of aggregates during homogenization in the porous media, indicated by an apparent increase in fractal dimension, which can be explained by an analysis of the fluid shear stress caused by repeated inversions of test tubes either containing or not containing granular media. This technique will permit progress in obtaining fundamental descriptions of colloidal phenomena in porous media.

Hydrodynamic and chemical factors in clogging by montmorillonite in porous media.

Clogging by colloid deposits is important in water treatment filters, groundwater aquifers, and petroleum reservoirs. The complexity of colloid deposition and deposit morphology preclude models based on first principles, so this study extends an empirical approach to quantify clogging using a simple, one-parameter model. Experiments were conducted with destabilized suspensions of sodium- and calcium-montmorillonite to quantify the hydrodynamic and chemical factors important in clogging. Greater clogging is observed at slower fluid velocity, consistent with previous investigations. However, calcium-montmorillonite causes 1 order of magnitude less clogging per mass of deposited particles compared to sodium-montmorillonite or a previously published summary of clogging in model granular media. Steady-state conditions, in which the permeability and the quantity of deposited material are both constant, were not observed, even though the experimental conditions were optimized for that purpose. These results indicate that hydrodynamic aspects of clogging by these natural materials are consistent with those of simplified model systems, and they demonstrate significant chemical effects on clogging for fully destabilized montmorillonite clay.

Hydrodynamic aspects of particle clogging in porous media.

Data from 6 filtration studies, representing 43 experiments, are analyzed with a simplified version of the single-parameter O'Melia and Ali clogging model. The model parameter displays a systematic dependence on fluid velocity, which was an independent variable in each study. A cake filtration model also explains the data from one filtration study by varying a single, velocity-dependent parameter, highlighting that clogging models, because they are empirical, are not unique. Limited experimental data indicate exponential depth dependence of particle accumulation, whose impact on clogging is quantified with an extended O'Melia and Ali model. The resulting two-parameter model successfully describes the increased clogging that is always observed in the top segment of a filter. However, even after accounting for particle penetration, the two-parameter model suggests that a velocity-dependent parameter representing deposit morphology must also be included to explain the data. Most of the experimental data are described by the single-parameter O'Melia and Ali model, and the model parameter is correlated to the collector Peclet number.