Engineering Commons^™

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

In Situ Water Sensing Systems: Research On Advancements In Environmental Monitoring, Abigail Seibel

Honors Theses

In this work, two sensing systems were researched in order to improve in situ environmental monitoring. The first is a pH and Total Alkalinity sensor used to determine these characteristics of sea water. I explored the facets of this sensor over a 7-week internship with Dr. Ellen Briggs in her lab in summer of 2023. The second is a more holistic sensing system that reads temperature, turbidity, and pressure used for studying environmental characteristics of Alaskan bever ponds. Both systems were developed in close collaboration with scientists who are collecting data to better understand the impacts of climate change. Better …

Evaluating The Impact Of Oyster Reef Breakwaters On Hydrodynamics, Morphodynamics, And Sediment Transport Using Xbeach, Tabassum Islam

<strong> Theses and Dissertations </strong>

Alabama Port is a unique marsh and sandy beach shoreline. Since the 1950s, substantial erosion has occurred along this shoreline due to storms, wind-generated waves, and ship wakes. This research focuses on evaluating the effect of oyster reef breakwaters on wave height attenuation and sediment stabilization through numerical modeling (XBeach) under three different synthetic storm scenarios coupled with three unique sea level rise projections near Alabama Port. This has been accomplished by comparing a with and without project condition using XBeach in a two-dimensional (2D) mode by analyzing wave height, velocity, and cumulative bed-level changes at the study site. The …

Pollutant Forecasting Using Neural Network-Based Temporal Models, Richard Pike

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The Jing-Jin-Ji region of China is a highly industrialized and populated area of the country. Its periodic high pollution and smog includes particles smaller than 2.5 μm, known as PM2.5, linked to many respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses. PM2.5 concentration around Jing-Jin-Ji has exceeded China’s urban air quality safety threshold for over 20% of all days in 2017 through 2020.

The quantity of ground weather stations that measure the concentrations of these pollutants, and their valuable data, is unfortunately small. By employing many machine learning strategies, many researchers have focused on interpolating finer spatial grids of PM2.5, or hindcasting PM2.5. However, …

The Tidal Prism, Viable Eelgrass Habitat, And The Effects Of Sea Level Rise In Morro Bay, Kaden A. Caliendo

Master's Theses

The tidal prism, or the volume of water exchanged from the sea to an estuary from mean low to mean high tide, influences system hydrodynamics and ecological functioning. Since 1884, the tidal prism in Morro Bay, California has been estimated to be decreasing over time due to sedimentation from upstream practices. What is the current tidal prism in Morro Bay and how will that change with sea level rise? How will eelgrass respond to rising sea levels?

For this study, inexpensive tidal gauges were deployed at four locations in Morro Bay from March to August 2023 to measure spatially varying …

Radiation Exposure Calibration Of The Al2o3:C With Radium-226 And Cesium-137 Using The Osl Method, Selma Tepeli Aydin

All Theses

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dosimetry was utilized to calibrate Al₂O₃:C powder dosimeters, available commercially as the nanoDot® from Landauer Inc., and compare the dosimeter response to radium-226 (²²⁶Ra) and cesium-137 (¹³⁷Cs). The signal from the OSL was quantified using a microSTARii^® OSL reader also produced by Landauer Inc. Dose-response curves were developed for ²²⁶Ra and ¹³⁷Cs experiments (5 dosimeters each) at thirteen absorbed doses. Individual dosimeter response was tracked by serial number. Linear regression analysis was performed to determine if there were significant differences between the intercepts of the …

Food-Water-Energy Nexus In The Perspective Of Green Revolution, Green Energy, Legal And Institutional Framework: A Killian Based Adjusted Bootstrap Approach, Zia Ur Rahman

CBER Conference

Food and water energy is crucial for human well-being, sustainable development, and poverty reduction. The growing global demand driven by population growth, economic development, urbanization, changing diets, technological advancements, and climate change projections indicates a significant increase in the need for these resources. Understanding the intricate interdependencies between food, water, and energy is essential for effectively addressing these challenges and fostering a prosperous and sustainable future. Therefore, this study incorporated statistical data collected from the Pakistan Economic Survey and the World Governance Indicator from 1990 to 2022 to elucidate the complex connection between food, water, and energy.

Does Drought Stress Eliminate The Benefit Of Elevated Co2,/Sub> On Soybean Yield? Using An Improved Model To Link Crop And Soil Water Relations, Wenguang Sun, David Fleisher, Dennis Timlin, Chittaranjan Ray, Zhuangji Wang, Sahila Beegum, Vangimalla Reddy

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Crop simulation models are indispensable tools that facilitate studies to assess climate impacts and adaptation responses, but have not been adequately tested in terms of accurately predicting crop growth and water stress responses to high carbon dioxide concentrations [CO₂]. The soybean model, GLYCIM, previously modified with a coupled leaf-level gas exchange – energy balance model, was integrated with a two-dimensional convectivediffusive root growth module which linked soil and leaf water potentials with the regulation of stomatal conductance. We evaluated the accuracy of this modified GLYCIM using experimental data from a Free-Air CO₂ Enrichment (FACE) site, SoyFACE, and …

Dual Activation Of Peroxymonosulfate Using Mnfe2O4/G‑C3N4 And Visible Light For The Efficient Degradation Of Steroid Hormones: Performance, Mechanisms, And Environmental Impacts, Kitipong Poomipuen, Chainarong Sakulthaew, Chanat Chokejaroenrat, Athaphon Angkaew, Kanidrawee Techauay, Thapanee Poompoung, Kanokwan Teingtham, Piyaporn Phansak, Piyangkun Lueangjaroenkit, Daniel D. Snow

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Single activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) in a homogeneous system is sometimes insufficient for producing reactive oxygen species (ROS) for water treatment applications. In this work, manganese spinel ferrite and graphitic carbon nitride (MnFe₂O₄/g-C₃N₄; MnF) were successfully used as an activator for PMS under visible light irradiation to remove the four-mostdetected- hormone-contaminated water under different environmental conditions. The incorporation of g-C₃N₄ in the nanocomposites led to material enhancements, including increased crystallinity, reduced particle agglomeration, amplified magnetism, improved recyclability, and increased active surface area, thereby facilitating the PMS activation and electron …

Water-Energy-Food Linkages In Community Smallholder Irrigation Schemes: Center Pivot Irrigation In Rwanda, Ankit Chandra, Derek M. Heeren, Lameck O. Odhiambo, N. Brozovic

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Water, energy, and food are linked in intricate ways in irrigated agriculture and understanding the interplay of these components is crucial for sustainable and profitable crop production, particularly in smallholder setting such as in sub-Saharan Africa. This study evaluates water-energy-food linkages, engineering and economic performance, irrigation decision making, and challenges faced around water management in a community-based mechanized irrigation scheme in Rwanda. The research is the first to analyze such as scheme, which uses technology typically used by large farmers in a smallholder setting. The study investigates the variation in water requirements and the relationship and impacts of this variability …

Uncertainties In Retrieval Of Remote Sensing Reflectance From Ocean Color Satellite Observations, Eder I. Herrera Estrella

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Ocean Color radiometry uses remote sensing to interpret ocean dynamics by retrieving remote sensing reflectance (𝑅𝑟𝑠) from satellite imagery at different scales and over different time periods. 𝑅𝑟𝑠 spectrum characterizes the ocean color that we observe, and from which we can discern concentrations of chlorophyll, organic and inorganic particles, and carbon fluxes in the ocean and atmosphere. 𝑅𝑟𝑠 is derived from the total radiance at the top of the atmosphere (TOA). However, it only represents up to ten percent of the total signal. Hence, the retrieval of 𝑅𝑟𝑠 from the total radiance at TOA involves the application of atmospheric correction …

High-Energy Storm Events And Their Impacts On Carbon Storage In Tidal Wetlands Of South Carolina, Gavin Gleasman

All Dissertations

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations have been increasing at an accelerating rate for the past two centuries, profoundly impacting global climate change. Atmospheric CO₂ concentrations are influenced by the global carbon cycle through physical and biogeochemical pathways. Tidal wetland environments play a vital role in the global carbon cycle by offsetting atmospheric CO₂ concentrations through their natural physiochemical processes of high autotrophic productivity, allochthonous organic matter deposition, anoxic soils, and continuous accretion which promotes carbon sequestration with long-term storage at the land-ocean margin. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and United States Global Change Research …

The Association Between Drought Exposure And Respiratory-Related Mortality In The United States From 2000 To 2018, Yeongjin Gwon, Yuanyuan Ji, Jesse E. Bell, Azar M. Abadi, Jesse D. Berman, Austin Rau, Ronald D. Leeper, Jared Rennie

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Climate change has brought increasing attention to the assessment of health risks associated with climate and extreme events. Drought is a complex climate phenomenon that has been increasing in frequency and severity both locally and globally due to climate change. However, the health risks of drought are often overlooked, especially in places such as the United States, as the pathways to health impacts are complex and indirect. This study aims to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the effects of monthly drought exposure on respiratory mortality for NOAA climate regions in the United States from 2000 to 2018. A two-stage model …

Du Undergraduate Showcase: Research, Scholarship, And Creative Works, Caitlyn Aldersea, Justin Bravo, Sam Allen, Anna Block, Connor Block, Emma Buechler, Maria De Los Angeles Bustillos, Arianna Carlson, William Christensen, Olivia Kachulis, Noah Craver, Kate Dillon, Muskan Fatima, Angel Fernandes, Emma Finch, Colleen Cassidy, Amy Fishman, Andrea Francis, Stacia Fritz, Simran Gill, Emma Gries, Rylie Hansen, Shannon Powers, Jacqueline Martinez, Zachary Harker, Ashley Hasty, Mykaela Tanino-Springsteen, Kathleen Hopps, Adelaide Kerenick, Colin Kleckner, Ci Koehring, Elijah Kruger, Braden Krumholz, Maddie Leake, Lyneé Alves, Seraphina Loukas, Yatzari Lozano Vazquez, Haley Maki, Emily Martinez, Sierra Mckinney, Mykaela Tanino-Springsteen, Audrey Mitchell, Kipling Newman, Audrey Ng, Megan Lucyshyn, Andrew Nguyen, Stevie Ostman, Casandra Pearson, Alexandra Penney, Julia Gielczynski, Tyler Ball, Anna Rini, Christina Rorres, Simon Ruland, Helayna Schafer, Emma Sellers, Sarah Schuller, Claire Shaver, Kevin Summers, Isabella Shaw, Madison Sinar, Claudia Pena, Apshara Siwakoti, Carter Sorensen, Madi Sousa, Anna Sparling, Alexandra Revier, Brandon Thierry, Dylan Tyree, Maggie Williams, Lauren Wols

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

DU Undergraduate Showcase: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Works

Downstream Hydrochemistry And Irrigation Water Quality Of The Syr Darya, Aral Sea Basin, South Kazakhstan, Bagdat Satybaldiyev, Baimurat Ismailov, Nurbek Nurpeisov, Kairat Kenges, Daniel D. Snow, Arindam Malakar, Omirzhan Taukebayev, Bolat Uralbekov

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

New hydrochemical measurements from the Syr Darya provide insights into factors affecting the composition and quality of a major freshwater source replenishing the Aral Sea. This river is heavily used for power and irrigation and crosses territories of four Central Asia republics. It is intensely managed, draining several major tributaries, many reservoirs, and numerous irrigation distribution systems and canals. Analysis of seasonal changes in dissolved ion concentrations using geochemical diagrams, elemental ratios, statistical correlation, and equilibrium modeling allowed the characterization of mineral formation processes that control the dissolved chemical composition. Measured water hydrochemistry and composition type differs substantially from previous …

Improvement Of A Low-Cost Diy Wave Gauge, Matthew F. Virden, Nigel A. Temple, Bret M. Webb, Eric L. Sparks

The Journal of Extension

The impacts of waves on shorelines and nearshore ecosystems has highlighted the need for extension and other environmental professionals to have access to accurate and affordable wave measurements. The development of a low-cost DIY wave gauge improved the accessibility of these measurements; however, the original design was limited in battery life. Here, an improved version of the low-cost DIY wave gauge, the DIY Feather Wave Gauge, is presented with the same performance, longer battery life, smaller design, and cheaper cost along with tutorials, parts lists, and other resources. This new gauge has been used to improve shoreline management recommendations.

Filter-Based Air Sampler Capable Of Integration Into Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Robert M. Eninger, Stepanie A. Ohms, Jeremy M. Slagley

AFIT Patents

A filter-based air sampler, more specifically a filter-based air sampler capable of integration into small unmanned aerial systems is disclosed. The filter-based air sampler may include a filter assembly which has as its component parts: an open faced air intake component, a filter, and a filter support that has a central supporting grid. The filter assembly may joined to the housing of a fan, such as a centrifugal fan, with the supporting grid of the filter support being disposed over the air inlet of the fan.

Pan-Arctic Soil Moisture Control On Tundra Carbon Sequestration And Plant Productivity, Donatella Zona, Peter M. Lafleur, Koen Hufkens, Beniamino Gioli, Barbara Bailey, George Burba, Eugénie S. Euskirchen, Jennifer D. Watts, Kyle A. Arndt, Mary Farina, John S. Kimball, Martin Heimann, Mathias Göckede, Martijn Pallandt, Torben R. Christensen, Mikhail Mastepanov, Efrén López-Blanco, Albertus J. Dolman, Roisin Commane, Charles E. Miller, Josh Hashemi, Lars Kutzbach, David Holl, Julia Boike, Christian Wille, Torsten Sachs, Aram Kalhori, Elyn R. Humphreys, Oliver Sonnentag, Gesa Meyer, Gabriel H. Gosselin, Philip Marsh, Walter C. Oechel

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Long-term atmospheric CO₂ concentration records have suggested a reduction in the positive effect of warming on high-latitude carbon uptake since the 1990s. A variety of mechanisms have been proposed to explain the reduced net carbon sink of northern ecosystems with increased air temperature, including water stress on vegetation and increased respiration over recent decades. However, the lack of consistent long-term carbon flux and in situ soil moisture data has severely limited our ability to identify the mechanisms responsible for the recent reduced carbon sink strength. In this study, we used a record of nearly 100 site-years of eddy covariance …

Labile Carbon And Soil Texture Control Nitrogen Transformation In Deep Vadose Zone, Lidong Li, Jordan Shields, Daniel D. Snow, Michael Kaiser, Arindam Malakar

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Understanding transient nitrogen (N) storage and transformation in the deep vadose zone is critical for controlling groundwater contamination by nitrate. The occurrence of organic and inorganic forms of carbon (C) and nitrogen and their importance in the deep vadose zone is not well characterized due to difficulty in sampling and the limited number of studies. We sampled and characterized these pools beneath 27 croplands with different vadose zone thicknesses (6–45 m).We measured nitrate and ammonium in different depths for the 27 sites to evaluate inorganic N storage. We measured total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), hot-water extractable organic carbon (EOC), soil organic …

Globally Scalable Approach To Estimate Net Ecosystem Exchange Based On Remote Sensing, Meteorological Data, And Direct Measurements Of Eddy Covariance Sites, Ruslan Zhuravlev, Andrey Dara, André Luís Diniz Dos Santos, Oleg Demidov, George Burba

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Despite a rapid development of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) for carbon removal in recent years, the methods for evaluating NBS still have certain gaps. We propose an approach based on a combination of remote sensing data and meteorological variables to reconstruct the spatiotemporal variation of net ecosystem exchange from eddy-covariance stations. A Lagrangian particle dispersion model was used for upscaling satellite images and flux towers. We trained data-driven models based on kernel methods separately for each selected land-cover class. The results suggest that the proposed approach to quantifying carbon exchange on a medium-to-large scale by blending eddy covariance flux data with …

Role Of Social Determinants Of Health In Differential Respiratory Exposure And Health Outcomes Among Children, Jagadeesh Puvvula, Jill A. Poole, Yeongjin Gwon, Eleanor G. Rogan, Jesse E. Bell

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Background Attributes defining the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) are associated with disproportionate exposures to environmental hazards and differential health outcomes among communities. The dynamics between SDoH, disproportionate environmental exposures, and differential health outcomes are often specific to micro-geographic areas.

Methods This study focused on children less than 20 years of age who lived in Douglas County, Nebraska, during 2016–2019. To assess the role of SDoH in differential exposures, we evaluated the association between SDoH metrics and criteria pollutant concentrations and the association between SDoH and pediatric asthma exacerbations to quantify the role of SDoH in differential pediatric asthma outcomes. …

Unmanned Aircraft Systems For Precision Meteorology: An Analysis Of Gnss Position Measurement Error And Embedded Sensor Development, Karla S. Ladino

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

The overarching objective of this research was to enhance our comprehension of the three-dimensional precision of meteorological measurements obtained using small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Two complimentary experiments were conducted to achieve this objective.

The first experiment entailed the development and implementation of a system to determine the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) position accuracy on a UAS platform. This system was utilized to assess the static and dynamic accuracy of L1 and L1/L2 GNSS receivers in real-time kinematic (RTK) and non-RTK fix modes. Adjusted two-sample t-tests revealed significant differences in horizontal and vertical error between RTK and non-RTK receivers …

Using Unmanned Aircraft Systems To Investigate The Detectability Of Burmese Pythons In South Florida, Joseph Cerreta Ph.D., William Austin Ed.D., David Thirtyacre Ph.D., Scott S. Burgess Ph.D., Peter Miller

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

Burmese pythons are an invasive, non-native species of snake to southern Florida and attempts at eradicating the snakes had yielded mixed results. The current rate of detection had been reported as 0.05%. The purpose of this research project was to determine if a UAS equipped with a near-infrared (NIR) camera could be used to detect pythons at a higher rate when compared to a RGB camera. The approach involved collecting 55 images from RGB and NIR cameras, over carcass pythons at flying heights of 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 meters. A likelihood ratio consisting of a true positive rate …

Winter Dynamics Of Storm Water Management Ponds And Winter Tolerance In Three Aquatic Plant Species, Patrick Strzalkowski

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The vast majority of the research into the performance of stormwater management ponds (SWMPs) has been performed in warm regions or during the warmer seasons in temperate regions. It is presumed that SWMPs are inactive in the winter as any potential stormwater is trapped in snow and ice. The main goal of this thesis was to test this presumption and to study the dynamics and performance of three SWMPs during the winter. Remote water level loggers were installed into the three SWMPs and daily grab samples from the influents and effluents were taken and analyzed for total phosphorus (TP), chloride, …