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Evaluation Of Water Resources And Hydraulic Influences In The Restoration Of The Western Part Of The Mesopotamian Marshlands, Ali Kareem Al-Quraishi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to assess the water resources and water conveyance system of the western part of the Mesopotamian marshes (Al-Hammar marsh) as well as develop a water conveyance system to distribute water throughout the western Al-Hammar marsh. These processes are significant to identify the current restoration problems and help to create restoration strategies for the marsh. Also, proper management strategy to the Al-Hammar marsh is necessary to preserve the marsh ecosystem, irrigate lands, and provide domestic necessities in the villages.

The overall project is divided into three main chapters which address the current ecological and hydrological …

A Numerical Investigation Of The Implications Of Altered Channel-Floodplain Connectivity On Hydrodynamic Flood Wave Processes, Colin F. Byrne

Civil Engineering ETDs

With severely altered rivers throughout the developed world, hydrodynamic processes and floodplain connectivity have changed drastically. The research presented here focuses on quantification of two hydrodynamic processes: flood wave attenuation and channel-floodplain fluxes. Objectives of the three research chapters were to (1) evaluate how the ecosystem service of flood wave attenuation has changed with the implementation of river engineering practices as well as contemporary river restoration efforts, (2) describe the sensitivities of flood wave attenuation to contemporary and altered conditions, and (3) characterize channel-floodplain connectivity through lateral flux metrics. All chapter objectives were met using high-resolution, two-dimensional hydrodynamic modeling techniques …

Flood Risk Assessment Using The Updated Fema Floodplain Standard In The Ellicott City, Maryland, United States, Ranjeet Thakali, Ranjit Bhandari, Giles-Arnaud Arif-Deen Kandissounon, Ajay Kalra, Sajjad Ahmad

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Every Year, flooding causes a calamitous impact on the people, economy, and environment all over the world. In recent years, the flood-related damages have been increasing in the United States regardless of several investments in the flood control measures. Floodplain mapping is an important tool for management that aids in the planning of infrastructures within the floodplain zone. With the magnifying effects of climate change on the hydrological cycle the study of floodplain is becoming a key tool in the water management. Federal Emergency Management Agency has recently updated their floodplain standard as per the presidential executive order 2015 on …

Spatial And Temporal Study Of Heat Transport Of Hydrothermal Features In Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, Ruba A. M. Mohamed

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Monitoring thermal activity in Yellowstone National Park is required by the United States Congress to maintain the safety of the visitors and park service personnel and to protect the integrity of the park. This dissertation is part of a study initiated in the early 2000s to monitor the thermal activity in the park with focus on Norris Geyser Basin, the hottest geyser basin in the park. The study is considered the first multiple-year study in the basin which took place between August 2008 and October 2013. In this study, at least one thermal infrared image was acquired every year using …

Wave Energy Assessment In Southern Central Java Island And Control Method For Maximizing The Captured Power In Wave Energy Converters, Fatima Sultan Ghdayer Ali Alaryani

Theses

This thesis discusses the wave energy potential of the Indian Ocean on the south coast of Central Java Island, where no previous known similar study has been conducted. A control technique that involves a dynamic electrical model was established. The following objectives were achieved. The first was to determine the ideal location to implement wave energy conversion (WEC), and the second objective was to simulate the significant wave height by using the novel control method.

To achieve these goals, the following steps and procedures were implemented. Wave energy assessment was conducted for the Indian Ocean on the south coast of …

The Effect Of Plant Water Storage On Water Fluxes Within The Coupled Soil–Plant System, Cheng-Wei Huang, Jean-Christopher Domec, Eric J. Ward, Tomer Duman, Gabriele Manolia, Anthony J. Parolari, Gabriel Katul

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

In addition to buffering plants from water stress during severe droughts, plant water storage (PWS) alters many features of the spatio-temporal dynamics of water movement in the soil–plant system. How PWS impacts water dynamics and drought resilience is explored using a multi-layer porous media model.

The Effect Of The 2015 Earthquake On The Bacterial Community Compositions In Water In Nepal, Sital Uprety, Pei-Ying Hong, Nora Sadik, Bipin Dangol, Rameswor Adhikari, Antarpreet Jutla, Joanna L. Shisler, Patrick Degnan, Thanh H. Nguyen

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

We conducted a study to examine the effect of seasonal variations and the disruptive effects of the 2015 Nepal earthquake on microbial communities associated with drinking water sources. We first characterized the microbial communities of water samples in two Nepali regions (Kathmandu and Jhapa) to understand the stability of microbial communities in water samples collected in 2014. We analyzed additional water samples from the same sources collected from May to August 2015, allowing the comparison of samples from dry-to-dry season and from dry-to-monsoon seasons. Emphasis was placed on microbes responsible for maintaining the geobiochemical characteristics of water (e.g., ammonia-oxidizing and …

A Geo-Statistical Investigation Of Agricultural And Infrastructural Risk Factors Associated With Primary Verotoxigenic E. Coli (Vtec) Infection In The Republic Of Ireland, 2008–2013, Paul Hynds, Jean O'Dwyer, Una B. Fallon, Coilín Oscar Óhaiseadha

Articles

Ireland reports the highest incidence of verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) infection in Europe. This study investigated potential risk factors for confirmed sporadic and outbreak primary VTEC infections during 2008-2013. Overall, 989 VTEC infections including 521 serogroup O157 and 233 serogroup O26 were geo-referenced to 931 of 18488 census enumeration areas. The geographical distribution of human population, livestock, unregulated groundwater sources, domestic wastewater treatment systems (DWWTS) and a deprivation index were examined relative to notification of VTEC events in 524 of 6242 rural areas. Multivariate modelling identified three spatially derived variables associated with VTEC notification: private well usage (odds ratio (OR) …

Bioaerosol Deposition On An Air-Conditioning Cooling Coil, Yan Wu, Ailu Chen, Irvan Luhung, Elliott T. Gall, Qingliang Cao, Victor Wei-Chung Chang, William W. Nazaroff

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study is concerned with the role of a fin-and-tube heat exchanger in modifying microbial indoor air quality. Specifically, depositional losses of ambient bioaerosols and particles onto dry (not cooled) and wet (cool) coil surfaces were measured for different airspeeds passing through the test coil. Total, bacterial and fungal DNA concentrations in condensate water produced by a wet coil were also quantified by means of fluorescent dsDNA-binding dye and qPCR assays. Results revealed that the deposition of bioaerosols and total particles is substantial on coil surfaces, especially when wet and cool. The average deposition fraction was 0.14 for total DNA, …

Study On The Proceeding Of Hydraulic Problem Of Simulating Natural Fish Passage, Zhijuan Wang, Qingyuan Yang, Minghai Huang, Yong He

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

Fish passage in water conservancy projects is an important means of improving river connectivity, and reducing the impact on the ecological environment. Simulating natural fish passage, which aims at the purpose of the river ecological corridor by the means of ecological optimization on the structure and section type based on the traditional fish passage, is promoted and applied in recent years gradually. At the same time, the hydraulic research related to the simulating natural fish passage has made great progress. In this paper, we firstly collected and summarized the research experience of the domestic and foreign typical fish passage, analyzed …

Physically Based Modeling Of The Impacts Of Climate Change On Streamflow Regime, Nazmus Shams Sazib

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Understanding the implications of climate change on streamflow regime is complex as changes in climate vary over space and time. However, a better understanding of the impact of climate change is required for identifying how stream ecosystems vulnerable to these changes, and ultimately to guide the development of robust strategies for reducing risk in the face of changing climatic conditions. Here I used physically based hydrologic modeling to improve understanding of how climate change may impact streamflow regimes and advance some of the cyberinfrastructure and GIS methodologies that support physically based hydrologic modeling by: (1) using a physically based model …

Hydrothermal Monitoring In Yellowstone National Park Using Airborne Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing, C. M. U. Neale, C. Jaworowski, H. Heasler, S. Sivarajan, A. Masih

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

This paper describes the image acquisition and processing methodology, including surface emissivity and atmospheric corrections, for generating surface temperatures of two active hydrothermal systems in Yellowstone National Park. Airborne thermal infrared (8–12 μm) images were obtained annually from 2007 to 2012 using a FLIR SC640 thermal infrared camera system. Thermal infrared image acquisitions occurred under clear-sky conditions after sunset to meet the objective of providing high-spatial resolution, georectified imagery for hydrothermal monitoring. Comparisons of corrected radiative temperature maps with measured ground and water kinetic temperatures at flight times provided an assessment of temperature accuracy. A repeatable, time-sequence of images for …

Journal Of The Arkansas Academy Of Science - Volume 70 2016, Academy Editors

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Solar Irradiation Estimator Based On A Self-Calibrated Reference Solar Cell, Touria Hassboun, Lhoussain El Bahir, Youness Aite Driss, Mustapha El Adnani

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

In this paper we propose a concept for estimating solar irradiation based on measurements of the current, voltage, and temperature of a photovoltaic (PV) cell. The estimation of the irradiation is obtained by processing these measurements using a PV cell mathematical model combined with a PI controller. Since the PV cell current is very sensitive to the irradiance level, the principle of the method is to force the model to reproduce the same current as that measured on the cell by applying an appropriate irradiance as input, for measured temperature and voltage. The appropriate irradiance, which is the output of …

The Contribution Of Syntrophic Fatty-Acid Degrading Microbial Communities To Anaerobic Digester Function And Stability, Prince Peter Mathai

Dissertations (1934 -)

Anaerobic digestion (AD), the conversion of complex organic matter to methane, occurs through a series of reactions mediated by different guilds of microorganisms. AD process imbalances, such as organic overload or high organic loading rates (OLR), can result in the accumulation of volatile fatty acids (VFA) e.g., propionate, which must be degraded to maintain stable reactor function. VFAs are metabolized by syntrophic fatty-acid degrading bacteria (SFAB) in association with methanogenic archaea (collectively, syntrophic microbial communities, SMC). Despite their indispensable role in AD, little is known about the ecology of SFAB, especially under stressed conditions. To facilitate ecological studies, four quantitative …

Swift Fox Abundance Along The Heartland Expressway Corridor In Nebraska, Marc Albrecht

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Spatio-Temporal Patterns Of Water Table And Vegetation Status Of A Deserted Area, Limin Duan, Tingxi Liu, Xixi Wang, Yanyun Luo

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Understanding groundwater-vegetation interactions is crucial for sustaining fragile environments of desert areas such as the Horqin Sandy Land (HSL) in northern China. This study examined spatio-temporal variations in the water table and the associated vegetation status of a 9.71 km² area that contains meadowland, sandy dunes, and intermediate transitional zones. The depth of the water table and hydrometeorologic parameters were monitored and Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data were utilized to assess the vegetation cover. Spatio-temporal variations over the six-year study period were examined and descriptive groundwater-vegetation associations developed by overlaying a water table …

Advances In Aquatic Target Localization With Passive Sonar, John Thomas Gebbie

Dissertations and Theses

New underwater passive sonar techniques are developed for enhancing target localization capabilities in shallow ocean environments. The ocean surface and the seabed act as acoustic mirrors that reflect sound created by boats or subsurface vehicles, which gives rise to echoes that can be heard by hydrophone receivers (underwater microphones). The goal of this work is to leverage this "multipath" phenomenon in new ways to determine the origin of the sound, and thus the location of the target. However, this is difficult for propeller driven vehicles because the noise they produce is both random and continuous in time, which complicates its …

Pre-Processing Techniques Applied To Automatic Taxon Identification On Fish Otoliths, Ramon Reig-Bolaño, Pere Marti-Puig

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

This paper analyzes the characteristics of a rotation-invariant Feature space to be used in a classifier of fish otoliths, it is compared to two other Feature spaces, one with raw data and another with transformed data (using the Elliptic Fourier Descriptors EFD). Otoliths are found in the inner ear of fish. Their shape can be analyzed to determine sex, age, populations and species, and thus they can provide necessary and relevant information for ecological studies. The Automatic Taxon Identifier (ATI) is used to classify fish otoliths directly from a query image and is implemented on-line in a Public Database. This …

Biomechanical Properties Of Hemlocks: A Novel Approach To Evaluating Physical Barriers Of The Plant-Insect Interface And Resistance To A Phloem-Feeding Herbivore, Paul Ayayee, Fuqian Yang, Lynne K. Rieske

Entomology Faculty Publications

Micromechanical properties that help mediate herbivore access may be particularly important when considering herbivorous insects that feed with piercing-sucking stylets. We used microindentation to quantify the micromechanical properties of hemlock, Tsuga spp., to quantify the hardness of the feeding site of the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae. We measured hardness of the hemlock leaf cushion, the stylet insertion point of the adelgid, across four seasons in a 1 y period for four hemlock species growing in a common garden, including eastern, western, mountain, and northern Japanese hemlocks. Leaf cushion hardness was highest in the fall and winter and …

Analysis Of Enhanced Resolution Ers·1 Scatterometer Imagery Over The Canadian Boreal Forest, Clarence J. Wilson Iii

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The European Remote Sensing satellite, ERS-1, carries a scatterometer radar which measures the radar backscattering coefficient (rr.) over the entire earth. The primary purpose of this measurement is to determine wind speeds and directions over the ocean. Recently, however, scientists have begun considering the use of ERS-1 backscatter measurements over land surfaces (Mougin et a!., 1995; Kennett and Li, 1989a; Kennett and Ll, 1989b). The ERS-1 scatterometer measurement data provides 50 km resolution of these surfaces and repeated coverage every 4-10 days. While this temporal repetivity is very good, the spatial resolution is extremely low and thus limits applications of …

Overwintering Biology And Tests Of Trap And Relocate As A Conservation Measure For Burying Beetles, W. Wyatt Hoback, Adrienne Conley

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

Burying beetles are carrion beetles and utilize dead animal carcasses for feeding and reproductive efforts. They assist with decomposition, prevent the spread of disease, and reduce the number of pest species. The largest species of carrion beetle, the American burying beetle, is a federally endangered insect and its distribution has been reduced by 90%. The conservation of this species is important in maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Overwintering biology and trap and relocation were studied to determine how this beetle survives freezing temperatures and to find whether trap and relocation could be a suitable conservation management measure.

Trap and relocation is …

Assessing The Performance Of A Northern Gulf Of Mexico Tidal Model Using Satellite Imagery, Stephen C. Medeiros, Scott C. Hagen, Naira Chaouch, Jesse Feyen, Marouane Temimi, John F. Weishampel, Yuji Funakoshi, Reza Khanbilvardi

Publications and Research

Tidal harmonic analysis simulations along with simulations spanning four specific historical time periods in 2003 and 2004 were conducted to test the performance of a northern Gulf of Mexico tidal model. A recently developed method for detecting inundated areas based on integrated remotely sensed data (i.e., Radarsat-1, aerial imagery, LiDAR, Landsat 7 ETM+) was applied to assess the performance of the tidal model. The analysis demonstrates the applicability of the method and its agreement with traditional performance assessment techniques such as harmonic resynthesis and water level time series analysis. Based on the flooded/non-flooded coastal areas estimated by the integrated remotely …

Decentralized Collision Avoidance, Jayasri K. Janardanan

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Autonomous Robots must carry out their tasks as independently as possible and each robot may be assigned different tasks at different locations. As these tasks are being performed, the robots have to navigate correctly such that the assigned tasks are completed efficiently, while also avoiding each other and other obstacles. To accomplish effective navigation, we must ensure that the robots are calibrated to avoid colliding with any kind of object on its path. Each robot has to sense the obstacles on its path and take necessary corrective measure to avoid those obstacles. In a situation with multiple robots, robots may …

Efferent Copy And Corollary Discharge Motor Control Behavior Associated With A Hopping Activity, Wangdo Kim, António P. Veloso, Filipa João, Sean S. Kohles

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Hoppers respond not only to stimuli from the ground surfaces but also to cues generated by their own behaviors. This leads to desensitization because although the afferent and reafferent signals have distinct causes, they are carried by the same sensory channels. From a behavioral viewpoint, it may be necessary to distinguish between signals from the two causes especially when monitoring changes in the external environment separate from those due to self-movement. We were able to separate afferent sensory stimuli from self-generated, reafferent signals using an action oriented perception system and dynamic programming approach. This effort addressed the question of how …

Using Qual2kw As A Decision Support Tool: Considerations For Data Collection, Calibration, And Numeric Nutrient Criteria, Andrew J. Hobson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Surface water quality in the United States is managed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under direction of the Clean Water Act. Designated uses are required for all state waters. Numeric or narrative water quality standards provide measures to determine if each waterbody meets the intended use. Narrative standards typically include vague terminology that is difficult to interpret and this has led EPA to encourage states to develop numeric criteria for nutrients in all its streams, rivers, and lakes. These numeric nutrient criteria are intended to stave off the harmful effects of over-growth of aquatic plants which can result …

Compositional Characterization Of Soil Organic Matter And Hot-Water Extractable Organic Matter In Organic Horizons Using A Molecular Mixing Model, Ankit Balaria, Chris E. Johnson

Civil and Environmental Engineering - All Scholarship

Purpose Microbial decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM) is generally believed to be heterogeneous, resulting in the preferential loss of labile compounds such as carbohydrates and proteins and the accumulation of recalcitrant compounds such as lipids and lignin. However, these fractions are difficult to measure directly in soils. We examined patterns in the biomolecular composition of SOM and hot-water-extractable organic matter (HWEOM) by using a molecular mixing model (MMM) to estimate the content of carbohydrates, protein, lipids, and lignin.

Materials and methods Organic-horizon soils from Spodosols at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire, USA were analyzed for this …

Mercury Concentrations In Tropical Resident And Migrant Songbirds On Hispaniola, Jason M. Townsend, Christopher C. Rimmer, Charles T. Driscoll, Kent P. Mcfarland, Eduardo E. Inigo-Elias

Civil and Environmental Engineering - All Scholarship

Despite growing concerns over mercury (Hg) exposure to humans and wildlife on a global scale, little is known about Hg bioaccumulation in the New World tropics. From 2005 to 2011, we monitored Hg concentrations in blood of nine avian species occupying a geographic range of tropical wet broadleaf sites on the island of Hispaniola, including eight passerines (two Nearctic- Neotropical migrant and six resident species) and one top order predatory accipiter. Invertivorous songbirds were further differentiated by foraging guild, with six species of groundforagers and two species of foliage-gleaners. Blood Hg concentrations were orders of magnitude higher in birds sampled …

Time Scale Of Groundwater Recharge: A Generalized Modeling Technique, Makhan Virdi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Estimating the quantity of water that reaches the water table following an infiltration event is vital for modeling and management of water resources. Estimating the time scale of groundwater recharge after a rainfall event is difficult because of the dependence on nonlinear soil characteristics and variability in antecedent conditions. Modeling the flow of water through the variably saturated zone is computationally intensive since it requires simulation of Richards' equation, a nonlinear partial differential equation without a closed-form analytical solution, with parametric relationships that are difficult to approximate. Hence, regional scale coupled (surface water - groundwater) hydrological models make simplistic assumptions …

Estimating Water Flux And Storage Using Displacement Measurements In Saprolite At Depth, Clay Freeman

All Theses

Water storage in the soil is important for many hydrologic problems, but measuring how the storage changes at an appropriate scale remains a challenge. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the feasibility of estimating change in water content in soil by measuring vertical displacement in underlying soils. This approach is appealing because the averaging volume of the displacement scales with the depth at which the measurements are taken. This should result in measurements of changes in soil moisture that are averaged over regions 10s to 100s of meters across, a measurement scale that is much larger than that …