Engineering Commons^™

Thermal Comfort In Heated-And-Ventilated-Only Warehouses, Christian Taber, Donald G. Colliver

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Building energy codes and standards contain minimum requirements that provide a path to energy efficient buildings and building systems. ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1 and the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) are the main national building code models in the United States. Both Standard 90.1 and the IECC are updated on three-year cycles with the goal of reducing building energy consumption.

Variable Rate Irrigation Using A Spatial Evapotranspiration Model With Remote Sensing Imagery And Soil Water Content Measurements, Sandeep Bhatti

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Variable rate irrigation may help in intensification of agriculture by producing more yield per unit inputs. Real time spatial information about water balance components is important for designing VRI prescription maps. This work involved use of a spatial evapotranspiration model for studying spatial variability in an agricultural field at the Eastern Nebraska Research and Extension Center near Mead, Nebraska. Imagery from unmanned aerial systems and Landsat were used as input for the spatial evapotranspiration model. Other inputs into the model were soil water content measurements from neutron probes, weather data, crop data, previous irrigation prescriptions, and soil properties for the …

Soil Health Effects And Stakeholder Perceptions Of Manure And Woody Biomass Application To Cropland In Nebraska, Linda R. Schott

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Organic products that have historically been viewed as waste products may improve soil health by adding carbon (C) and nutrients to soil. Two such products are woodchips, generated from forest or rangeland management activities, and livestock manure. In Nebraska, eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana L.) is a native but invasive tree species inhibiting rangeland productivity. Livestock manure that is underutilized while inorganic fertilizers are imported for crop production presents a water quality risk by contributing to local- and regional-scale nutrient imbalances. Increasing the responsible use of livestock manure in crop fertility programs to improve sustainability of both livestock and crop farms …

Comparative Analysis Of Mosquito Trap Counts In The Peruvian Amazon: Effect Of Trap Type And Other Covariates On Counts And Diversity, George W. Peck, Fanny Castro-Llanos, Victor Lopez-Sifuentes, Erica Lindroth

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Efficient detection of multiple species of adult mosquitoes in various habitats using effective traps is a crucial 1st step in any disease prevention program. Novel trap types that target tropical vectors of human diseases require field testing in the habitat of the vector–disease system in question. This paper analyzes a series of mosquito trapping studies conducted at Mapacocha, San Juan Bautista District, Loreto, Peru, during August–September 2013 and April–May 2014. Six trap configurations were evaluated in forest and rural locations. Adult mosquito counts were analyzed using full Bayesian inference of multilevel generalized linear models and posterior probability point estimates of …

Lipid Extraction From Spirulina Sp. And Schizochytrium Sp. Using Supercritical Co2 With Methanol, Shihong Liu, Husam A. Abu Hajar, Guy Riefler, Ben J. Stuart

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Microalgae are one of the most promising feedstocks for biodiesel production due to their high lipid content and easy farming. However, the extraction of lipids from microalgae is energy intensive and costly and involves the use of toxic organic solvents. Compared with organic solvent extraction, supercritical CO₂ (SCCO₂) has demonstrated advantages through lower toxicity and no solvent-liquid separation. Due to the nonpolar nature of SCCO_2, polar organic solvents such as methanol may need to be added as a modifier in order to increase the extraction ability of SCCO₂. In this paper, pilot scale lipid …

Investigation Of Electrolytic Flocculation For Microalga Scenedesmus Sp Using Aluminum And Graphite Electrodes, Shihong Liu, Husam A. Abu Hajar, Guy Riefler, Ben J. Stuart

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Electrolytic flocculation using non-sacrificial electrodes with flocculants added was studied on harvesting Scenedesmus sp. In order to optimize the operating conditions of the electrolytic flocculation process and to quantify the amount of flocculants added, aluminum electrodes were first used in the process. It was found that under optimal conditions, the microalgae removal efficiency using aluminum electrodes could reach 98.5%, while 34.2 mg L^-1 of aluminum ions were released during the process. Different metal electrodes were also studied, but high microalgae removal efficiency was witnessed only using aluminum electrodes, indicating the influence of the aluminum ion in flocculation. When non-sacrificial …

Generation Of 360 Degree Point Cloud For Characterization Of Morphological And Chemical Properties Of Maize And Sorghum, Suresh Thapa

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Recently, imaged-based high-throughput phenotyping methods have gained popularity in plant phenotyping. Imaging projects the 3D space into a 2D grid causing the loss of depth information and thus causes the retrieval of plant morphological traits challenging. In this study, LiDAR was used along with a turntable to generate a 360-degree point cloud of single plants. A LABVIEW program was developed to control and synchronize both the devices. A data processing pipeline was built to recover the digital surface models of the plants. The system was tested with maize and sorghum plants to derive the morphological properties including leaf area, leaf …

Copper Complexation By Dissolved Organic Matter In Arid Soils: A Voltametric Study, Spencer M. Steinberg, Vernon F. Hodge

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Research

A voltammetric method was used to estimate the complexing capacity of water extracts from both desert soils sampled at the root zone of creosote and salt cedar plants, and in soils from interspace or background regions where no vegetative influence was apparent. The copper complexing capacity of water extracts of these desert soils was influenced by contact time and pH. In soils from the root zones of creosote and salt cedar plant, copper complexation capacities at pH 8 were from 5 µM to 60 µM after five min contact periods, while 18 h contact periods yielded copper complexation capacities of …

Genetic Engineering In Agriculture Curricula For Grades 9-12, Tyson Sorensen, Olivia Horning, Kelsey Hall, David Francis, Joshua Dallin

Browse all Datasets

This is a curriculum package that was developed for teachers to be able to integrate genetic engineering and biotechnology concepts, skills, and career applications into their classrooms. This package was developed as part of the LEARN workshop entitled "Genetic Engineering: Workshop for Teachers." This curriculum package includes five full units of instructions with lesson plans, presentation resources, and other resources for teachers. This package is intended for students in grades 9-12.

Each unit is complete with the corresponding slides found in the main Genetic Engineering PowerPoint. Teachers have the liberty to cover the material on an as-needed bases based on …

Linking Lignin Source With Structural And Electrochemical Properties Of Lignin-Derived Carbon Materials, Wenqi Li, Yan Zhang, Lalitendu Das, Yikai Wang, Mi Li, Namal Wanninayake, Yunqiao Pu, Doo Young Kim, Yang-Tse Cheng, Arthur J. Ragauskas, Jian Shi

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Valorization of lignin to high-value chemicals and products along with biofuel production is generally acknowledged as a technology platform that could significantly improve the economic viability of biorefinery operations. With a growing demand for electrical energy storage materials, lignin-derived activated carbon (AC) materials have received increasing attention in recent years. However, there is an apparent gap in our understanding of the impact of the lignin precursors (i.e., lignin structure, composition and inter-unit linkages) on the structural and electrochemical properties of the derived ACs. In the present study, lignin-derived ACs were prepared under identical conditions from two different lignin …

Water, Energy, And Carbon Footprints Of Bioethanol From The U.S. And Brazil, Mesfin Mekonnen, Thiago L. Romanelli, Chittaranjan Ray, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Adam Liska, Christopher M. U. Neale

Adam Liska Papers

Driven by biofuel policies, which aim to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increase domestic energy supply, global production and consumption of bioethanol have doubled between 2007 and 2016, with rapid growth in corn-based bioethanol in the U.S. and sugar cane-based bioethanol in Brazil. Advances in crop yields, energy use efficiency in fertilizer production, biomass-to-ethanol conversion rates, and energy efficiency in ethanol production have improved the energy balance and GHG emission reduction potential of bioethanol. In the current study, the water, energy, and carbon footprints of bioethanol from corn in the U.S. and sugar cane in Brazil were assessed. The …

Fractionation And Characterization Of Lignin Streams From Unique High-Lignin Content Endocarp Feedstocks, Wenqi Li, Kirtley Amos, Mi Li, Yunqiao Pu, Seth Debolt, Arthur J. Ragauskas, Jian Shi

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Background: Lignin is a promising source of building blocks for upgrading to valuable aromatic chemicals and materials. Endocarp biomass represents a non-edible crop residue in an existing agricultural setting which cannot be used as animal feed nor soil amendment. With significantly higher lignin content and bulk energy density, endo-carps have significant advantages to be converted into both biofuel and bioproducts as compared to other biomass resources. Deep eutectic solvent (DES) is highly effective in fractionating lignin from a variety of biomass feedstocks with high yield and purity while at lower cost comparing to certain ionic liquids.

Results: In the present …

Developing Serious Games In Engineering Education: Innovation At The Nexus Of Food, Energy, And Water Systems, Nathan Rice

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

At a time when food, energy, and water (FEW) are of the utmost concern to the security and health of the world, an initiative has begun to understand the interactions between these systems. The goal of Innovation at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems (INFEWS) is to bring together research fields that typically work in their own silos to solve complex problems increasing the resiliency and sustainability of the FEW system. Stemming from this initiative was a project to produce an educational immersive simulation game to teach youth about how their food is produced, systems thinking, and sustainable …

Invasion Of The P Elements: Tolerance Is Not Futile, Colin D. Meiklejohn, Justin P. Blumenstiel

Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Organisms are locked in an eternal struggle with parasitic DNA sequences that live inside their genomes and wreak havoc on their host’s chromosomes as they spread through populations. To combat these parasites, host species have evolved elaborate mechanisms of resistance that suppress their activity. A new study in Drosophila indicates that, prior to the acquisition of resistance, individuals can vary in their ability to tolerate the activity of these genomic parasites, ignoring or repairing the damage they induce. This tolerance results from variation at genes involved in germline development and DNA damage checkpoints and suggests that these highly conserved cellular …

A Review On Bioconversion Of Agro-Industrial Wastes To Industrially Important Enzymes, Rajeev Ravindran, Shady S. Hassan, Gwilym A. Williams, Amit K, Jaiswal

Articles

Agro-industrial waste is highly nutritious in nature and facilitates microbial growth. Most agricultural wastes are lignocellulosic in nature; a large fraction of it is composed of carbohydrates. Agricultural residues can thus be used for the production of various value-added products, such as industrially important enzymes. Agro-industrial wastes, such as sugar cane bagasse, corn cob and rice bran, have been widely investigated via different fermentation strategies for the production of enzymes. Solid-state fermentation holds much potential compared with submerged fermentation methods for the utilization of agro-based wastes for enzyme production. This is because the physical–chemical nature of many lignocellulosic substrates naturally …

Using Net Groundwater Extractions For Farm Level Groundwater Sustainability Monitoring, Daniel J. Howes, Morgan Whinery, Eric Limas, Dan Vink

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

The Cal Poly Irrigation Training and Research Center (ITRC) has developed a method for computing net groundwater extraction and recharge at the farm level for district management and regulation of sustainable/safe yields. This method is called Net To/From Groundwater (NTFGW). Net groundwater extraction is preferred for assessing sustainable yield in unconfined aquifer systems over direct metering of gross groundwater pumping. A recent pilot project with the Lower Tule River and Pixley Irrigation Districts’ Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) compared actual metered groundwater pumping, surface deliveries, and evapotranspiration to the NTFGW outputs on 19 farms within the GSAs over a 3-year period …

Electrochemical Hydrogenation Of Acetone To Produce Isopropanol Using A Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Reactor, Chen Li, Ashanti M. Sallee, Xiaoyu Zhang, Sandeep Kumar

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Electrochemical hydrogenation (ECH) of acetone is a relatively new method to produce isopropanol. It provides an alternative way of upgrading bio-fuels with less energy consumption and chemical waste as compared to conventional methods. In this paper, Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) hardware was used as an electrochemical reactor to hydrogenate acetone to produce isopropanol and diisopropyl ether as a byproduct. High current efficiency (59.7%) and selectivity (>90%) were achieved, while ECH was carried out in mild conditions (65 degrees C and atmospheric pressure). Various operating parameters were evaluated to determine their effects on the yield of acetone and …

Assessing The Relationship Between Groundwater Nitrate Concentrations And Environmental Variables Through Repeat Sampling And Statistical Machine Learning: Dutch Flats, Nebraska, Martin Wells

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Nitrate-contaminated aquifers are common in landscapes dominated by agricultural land use. Health concerns related to consuming nitrate-contaminated groundwater are well documented and continued research aimed at decreasing concentrations is critical. A 1990s U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study focused on groundwater characteristics in the Dutch Flats area of western Nebraska. Agricultural-related practices were determined to largely influence groundwater recharge and nitrate concentrations ([NO₃^-]). Since the conclusion of the USGS study, a transition to more efficient irrigation technology has been observed in this region. The emphasis of this 2016 study was to resample several well nests examined in 1998 …

Causal Loop Development Activity, Ali Mirchi

All ECSTATIC Materials

Students will work in groups to develop a causal loop diagram (CLD) to illustrate the structure and expected behavior of the fictional water short state of Nevizonato facilitate qualitative discussion of expected outcomes of a proposed water management strategy. This activity requires familiarity with systems thinking and system dynamics modeling. CLDs are introduced as a fundamental systems thinking tool for conceptual modeling.

Advancing The Open Modeling Interface (Openmi) For Integrated Water Resources Modeling, Caleb A. Buahin, Jeffery S. Horsburgh

Publications

The use of existing component-based modeling frameworks for integrated water resources modeling is currently hampered for some important use cases because they lack support for commonly used, topology-aware, spatiotemporal data structures. Additionally, existing frameworks are often accompanied by large software stacks with steep learning curves. Others lack specifications for deploying them on high performance, heterogeneous computing (HPC) infrastructure. This puts their use beyond the reach of many water resources modelers. In this paper, we describe new advances in component-based modeling using a framework called HydroCouple. This framework largely adopts the Open Modeling Interface (OpenMI) 2.0 interface definitions but demonstrates important …

Cover Crops Have Negligible Impact On Soil Water In Nebraska Maize–Soybean Rotation, J. Burdette Barker, Derek M. Heeren, Katja Koehler-Cole, Charles Shapiro, Humberto Blanco-Canqui, Roger W. Elmore, Christopher A. Proctor, Suat Irmak, Charles A. Francis, Tim M. Shaver, Ali T. Mohammed

Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

One perceived cost of integrating winter cover cropping in maize (Zea mays L.) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotation systems is the potential negative impact on soil water storage available for primary crop production. The objective of this 3-year study was to evaluate the effects of winter cover crops on soil water storage and cover crop biomass production following no-till maize and soybean rotations. Locations were near Brule (west-central), Clay Center (south-central), Concord (northeast), and Mead (east-central), Nebraska, United States. Treatments included crop residue only (no cover crop) and a multi-species cover crop mix, both broadcast-seeded before …

Plant Community Composition, Floristic Quality, And Establishment Of Roadside Revegetation In Nebraska, Usa., Jonathan M. Soper

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Roadside revegetation poses a challenge and opportunity for biodiversity conservation, as the land area occupied by roadsides is not expected to decline in the future. In the context of roadside revegetation activities in rural regions dominated by agricultural land uses, revegetation efforts can establish plant communities that offer unique species that would otherwise be absent on the landscape. To determine the efficacy of roadside revegetation efforts in 1) providing plant communities of high biodiversity value and 2) meeting the expectations of roadside revegetation managers for establishment, we quantified botanical composition, floristic quality, and success in seeding efforts to meet manager …

Water Hammer Protection For Pumped Turnouts On Aging Pipelines, Charles M. Burt, Zachary C. Markow

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

Water hammer in an irrigation district pipeline is typically caused by sudden changes in turnout flow rates. A sudden shutoff of a booster pump, or a rapid closure of a turnout valve, can potentially cause surge damage. The problem occurs if the pressure exceeds the pressure rating of the pipeline. As pipes age, their pressure rating typically declines. This report describes three different solutions that utilize a combination of these techniques/devices to provide district pipeline protection from water hammer.

Comparison Of Nitrogen Fertigation Management Strategies For Center-Pivot Irrigated Maize In The Sub-Humid Area Of China, Jingjing Li, Wenjing Zang, Yaojun Li, Derek M. Heeren, Haijun Yan

Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

In the sub-humid region of Northeast China, increasing use of center-pivot irrigation systems has caused increased interest in sprinkler fertigation technology in maize production to improve nitrogen (N) use efficiency and protect the environment. However, the lack of fertigation strategies for maize cultivation restrains the adoption of sprinkler fertigation technology. A field experiment was carried out in a sub-humid region of Northeast China on maize to determine the effect of different fertigation management strategies on plant growth, grain yield and nitrate content in the soil during the maize growing season. Three N rates (200, 160, and 120 kg N ha …

An Evaluation Of Unmanned Aerial System Multispectral And Thermal Infrared Data As Information For Agricultural Crop And Irrigation Management, Mitch Maguire

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Spatial irrigation management has been steadily advancing over the last several years. A current issue with managing irrigation spatially on sub-field scale is the inability to readily collect the spatial field data necessary to properly manage irrigation. Multispectral and thermal infrared imagery used in informing irrigation management decisions was previously collected by satellite and manned aircraft remote sensing platforms. These remote sensing platforms pose issues concerning economic feasibility, revisit intervals, and weather factors that inhibit the collection of data. Recent developments in unmanned aerial systems, which provide an additional means of collecting multispectral and thermal infrared data, have the potential …

Portable Flux Tower Deployments Field Campaign Report, M. S. Torn, L Kuepper, S. C. Biraud, D. P. Billesbach

Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Contents

Acronyms and Abbreviations...................................................................... iii

1.0 Summary ....................................................... 1

2.0 Results ........................................... 1

3.0 Publications and References ................................................. 2

4.0 Lessons Learned .................................................................... 2

Developing An Integrated Model For The Corn, Ethanol, And Beef Systems Using A Loosely Coupled Web Framework, Ryan Anderson

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

With the global population approaching 9 billion people by the year 2050, the world’s food, energy, and water (FEW) resources must be used more intelligently to provide for everyone. While we understand how individual FEW systems behave using modeling, we cannot understand the full environmental and production impacts of decisions in each system without understanding how they are all linked together. An approach to coupling these systems is starting with identifying a few highly interconnected FEW systems. The corn, ethanol, and beef systems are large economic and agricultural drivers in the Midwest United States and are highly linked. Many individual …

Tradeoffs In Model Performance And Effort For Long-Term Phosphorus Leaching Based On In Situ Field Data, Ryan P. Freiberger, Derek M. Heeren, Dean E. Eisenhauer, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Guillermo Baigorria

Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Phosphorus and N are critical nutrients for agriculture but are also responsible for surface water enrichment that leads to toxic algal growth. Although P loading to surface waters has traditionally been thought to occur primarily in surface runoff, contributions from subsurface transport can also be significant. The primary objectives of this research were to evaluate several methods of representing macropore flow and transport in a finite element model using plot-scale infiltration and leaching data and to compare several models of various levels of complexity to simulate long-term P leaching. To determine flow and transport parameters, single- and dual-porosity models in …

A Low-Cost Method For Collecting Hyperspectral Measurements From A Small Unmanned Aircraft System, Ali Hamidisepehr, Michael P. Sama

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are a relatively new tool for collecting remote sensing data at dense spatial and temporal resolutions. This study aimed to develop a spectral measurement platform for deployment on a UAS for quantifying and delineating moisture zones within an agricultural landscape. A series of portable spectrometers covering ultraviolet (UV), visible (VIS), and near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths were instrumented using a Raspberry Pi embedded computer that was programmed to interface with the UAS autopilot for autonomous data acquisition. A second set of identical spectrometers were fitted with calibrated irradiance lenses to capture ambient light during data acquisition. Data …

U.S. Agro-Climate In 20th Century: Growing Degree Days, First And Last Frost, Growing Season Length, And Impacts On Crop Yields, Meetpal Singh Kukal, Suat Irmak

Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Significant air temperature changes have occurred globally during the 20th century, which are spatially variable to a considerable degree and these changes can have substantial implications in agroecosystem productivity. The agroclimate indicators that are responsible in these contexts are first fall frost (FFF), last spring frost (LSF), climatological growing season (CGS) length, and heat accumulation (growing degree days, GDD). We explore spatial and temporal trends associated with these indices across the continental U.S. (CONUS) during 1900–2014 using datasets collected at 1218 sites. On average, FFF has been occurring later (by 5.4 days century⁻¹), and LSF has been occurring …