Digital Commons Network^™

Wastewater-Informed Public Health Intervention Playbook

Sustain Magazine

As the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic quickly spread from country to country and continent to continent in 2020, governments and scientists needed a way to track COVID-19 through populations in order to position public health interventions in the most impactful locations. Having a decision-based risk framework may help to guide policy creation that could minimize or prevent possible outbreaks and surges of infection within communities. The University of Louisville in partnership with Louisville’s Department of Public Health and Wellness tested this strategy in 2021 and 2022. This Wastewater-Informed Public Health Intervention Playbook describes the decisions and actions of that academic and public …

Science And Food Fictions: Agricultural Technologies, The Evolution Of The Modern Industrial Diet, And Calls For A Food Revolution, Tracey Daniels-Lerberg

Green Humanities: A Journal of Ecological Thought in Literature, Philosophy & the Arts

[First paragraph] Individual food choices are culturally and historically contingent practices that arise through an amalgamation of often hidden political, scientific, and economic policies that shape desire and influence access. Food, like all other man-made mechanisms of control and authority, has been used “as a political tool for […] subjugating (either economically or politically) other nations” according to William A. Dando, a professor at the University of North Dakota, who in 1975 urged American agricultural officials not to use food as “a weapon” against starving nations, something he feared was eminently possible given the economic and political climate of agricultural …

Minimizing Surface Run-Off, Improving Underground Water Recharging, And On-Site Rain Harvesting In The Kathmandu Valley, Ambika P. Adhikari, Keshav Bhattarai

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

Nepal's political institutions and administrative units were thoroughly restructured in 2015 with the promulgation of the new Constitution. Several rural areas were combined to meet the definition of urban threshold criteria to classify rural areas into urban categories. Accordingly, over 3,900 local political and administrative units were amalgamated into 753 units, of which, 293 units are classified as urban. Within these newly defined urban areas, many natural environments have been converted into impervious surfaces such as paved roads, sidewalks, and building roofs. These impervious surfaces have drastically increased the amount of surface run-offs-often termed as "urban floods"--under increasing precipitation caused …

Warming Of The Willamette River, 1850–Present: The Effects Of Climate Change And Direct Human Interventions, Stefan Talke, David Jay, Heida Diefenderfer

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Using archival research methods, we found and combined data from multiple sources to produce a unique, 140 year record of daily water temperature (Tw) in the lower Willamette River, Oregon (1881–1890, 1941–present). Additional daily weather and river flow records from the 1850s onwards are used to develop and validate a statistical regression model of Tw for 1850–2020. The model simulates the time-lagged response of Tw to air temperature and river flow, and is calibrated for three distinct time periods: the late 19th, mid 20th, and early 21st centuries. Results show that Tw has trended upwards at ~1.1 °C …

Permafrost Landscape History Shapes Fluvial Chemistry, Ecosystem Carbon Balance, And Potential Trajectories Of Future Change, Scott Zolkos, Suzanne E. Tank, Steven V. Kokelj, Robert G. Striegl, Sarah Shakil, Carolina Voigt, Oliver Sonnentag, William L. Quinton, Edward A.G. Schuur, Donatella Zona, Peter M. Lafleur, Ryan C. Sullivan, Masahito Ueyama, David Billesbach, David Cook, Elyn R. Humphreys, Philip Marsh

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Intensifying permafrost thaw alters carbon cycling by mobilizing large amounts of terrestrial substrate into aquatic ecosystems. Yet, few studies have measured aquatic carbon fluxes and constrained drivers of ecosystem carbon balance across heterogeneous Arctic landscapes. Here, we characterized hydrochemical and landscape controls on fluvial carbon cycling, quantified fluvial carbon fluxes, and estimated fluvial contributions to ecosystem carbon balance across 33 watersheds in four ecoregions in the continuous permafrost zone of the western Canadian Arctic: unglaciated uplands, ice-rich moraine, and organic-rich lowlands and till plains. Major ions, stable isotopes, and carbon speciation and fluxes revealed patterns in carbon cycling across ecoregions …

Study On Pollution Management And Pollution Emergency Of Offshore Oil Drilling Platform, Jun Shi

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Permafrost Landscape History Shapes Fluvial Chemistry, Ecosystem Carbon Balance, And Potential Trajectories Of Future Change, Scott Zolkos, Suzanne E. Tank, Steven V. Kokelj, Robert G. Striegl, Sarah Shakil, Carolina Voigt, Oliver Sonnentag, William L. Quinton, Edward A. G. Schuur, Donatella Zona, Peter M. Lafleur, Ryan C. Sullivan, Masahito Ueyama, David P. Billesbach, David Cook, Elyn R. Humphreys, Philip Marsh

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Intensifying permafrost thaw alters carbon cycling by mobilizing large amounts of terrestrial substrate into aquatic ecosystems. Yet, few studies have measured aquatic carbon fluxes and constrained drivers of ecosystem carbon balance across heterogeneous Arctic landscapes. Here, we characterized hydrochemical and landscape controls on fluvial carbon cycling, quantified fluvial carbon fluxes, and estimated fluvial contributions to ecosystem carbon balance across 33 watersheds in four ecoregions in the continuous permafrost zone of the western Canadian Arctic: unglaciated uplands, ice-rich moraine, and organic-rich lowlands and till plains. Major ions, stable isotopes, and carbon speciation and fluxes revealed patterns in carbon cycling across ecoregions …

Evaluation Of Life Cycle Costs, Benefits, And Public Perceptions Of Greywater Reuse Systems For Supplementing Conventional Water Delivery, Sreeganesh Reddy Yerri

All Dissertations

The water utility industry is under enormous pressure to meet the challenges of increasing demands due to population growth, lifestyle changes, and depleting freshwater resources. The current and predicted future deficit scenarios challenge water supply managers to come up with a sustainable and reliable alternative source while making the supply infrastructure smarter and resilient. One such alternative source is the greywater that is available at the point of consumption itself. With certain limitations, there have been studies performed to evaluate the life cycle costs and expected monetary benefits of decentralized greywater reuse systems, but the public and health bureaus are …

Santa Clara Magazine, Volume 63 Number 1, Summer 2022, Santa Clara University

Santa Clara Magazine

16 - SHARED DREAMS Meet incoming University President Julie Sullivan, the first layperson and woman selected to lead SCU. Leslie Griffy

20 - BD KNOWS BEST Discovering who you really are, being grateful, and dinosaurs with BD Wong. Lauren Loftus.

22 - SWEPT AWAY Being homeless in Silicon Valley is particularly deadly. One professor explores why so many die in a land of such excess. Leslie Griffy .

28 - ON THE OUTSIDE A first-person account of being wrongly convicted, as told by Arturo Jimenez.

30 - BOOKED AND BUSY The secret behind the Hollywood success of so many Bronco …

Classifying Mixing Regimes In Ponds And Shallow Lakes, Meredith A. Holgerson, David C. Richardson, Joseph Roith, Lauren E. Bortolotti, Kerri Finlay, Daniel J. Hornbach, Kshitij Gurung, Andrew Ness, Mikkel R. Andersen, Sheel Bansal, Jacques C. Finlay, Jacob A. Cianci-Gaskill, Shannon Hahn, Benjamin D. Janke, Cory Mcdonald, Jorrit P. Mesman, Rebecca L. North, Cassandra O. Roberts, Jon N. Sweetman, Jackie R. Webb

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Lakes are classified by thermal mixing regimes, with shallow waterbodies historically categorized as continuously mixing systems. Yet, recent studies demonstrate extended summertime stratification in ponds, underscoring the need to reassess thermal classifications for shallow waterbodies. In this study, we examined the summertime thermal dynamics of 34 ponds and shallow lakes across temperate North America and Europe to categorize and identify the drivers of different mixing regimes. We identified three mixing regimes: rarely (n = 18), intermittently (n = 10), and often (n = 6) mixed, where waterbodies mixed an average of 2%, 26%, and 75% of the study period, respectively. …

Why We Should Reuse Wastewater, Bridget Sarver

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

As population and industry grow, the need to reuse wastewater is growing. Aquifers are often the dominant water supplies to surrounding areas. The levels of those aquifers are declining each year. Water loss affects many things like water wells, lakes, and rivers. Lakes and rivers that are used as water sources are seeing a decline in levels. Low water levels and drought occur because of the changing water cycle. Heavy rain and runoff can help refill lakes and rivers; however precipitation does not always fall back on the area that it evaporated from. By reusing wastewater, we will be saving …

Climate Projections Over The Great Lakes Region: Using Two-Way Coupling Of A Regional Climate Model With A 3-D Lake Model, Pengfei Xue, Xinyu Ye, Jeremy S. Pal, Philip Y. Chu, Miraj Kayastha, Chenfu Huang

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Warming trends in the Laurentian Great Lakes and surrounding areas have been observed in recent decades, and concerns continue to rise about the pace and pattern of future climate change over the world's largest freshwater system. To date, most regional climate models used for Great Lakes projections either neglected the lake-atmosphere interactions or are only coupled with a 1-D column lake model to represent the lake hydrodynamics. This study presents a Great Lakes climate change projection that has employed the two-way coupling of a regional climate model with a 3-D lake model (GLARM) to resolve 3-D hydrodynamics essential for large …

Climate Projections Over The Great Lakes Region: Using Two-Way Coupling Of A Regional Climate Model With A 3-D Lake Model, Pengfei Xue, Xinyu Ye, Jeremy S. Pal, Philip Y. Chu, Miraj Kayastha, Chenfu Huang

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Warming trends in the Laurentian Great Lakes and surrounding areas have been observed in recent decades, and concerns continue to rise about the pace and pattern of future climate change over the world's largest freshwater system. To date, most regional climate models used for Great Lakes projections either neglected the lake-atmosphere interactions or are only coupled with a 1-D column lake model to represent the lake hydrodynamics. This study presents a Great Lakes climate change projection that has employed the two-way coupling of a regional climate model with a 3-D lake model (GLARM) to resolve 3-D hydrodynamics essential for large …

Our Streets: Increasing Equity In Active Transportation Planning Through Community Outreach, Jordan Hoy

Master's Projects and Capstones

ABSTRACT Significant research has demonstrated that active transportation infrastructure is essential for the growth and livability of San Francisco: it increases access to economic opportunities, promotes overall improved public health, encourages mobility without contributing to roadway congestion, prevents traffic injuries and fatalities, and supports the sustainability goals of the city. Despite the fact that communities of color will benefit the most from active transportation infrastructure development, historical disenfranchisement in tandem with a lack of diverse representation within public participation contributes to an inequitable distribution of walking and biking investments throughout the city of San Francisco. While research shows that Black …

A Circular Economy Approach To Improve E-Waste Recycling In California: Economic Potential And Policy Options, Kripa Shah

Master's Projects and Capstones

The higher consumption rates of electronic devices along with their short life cycles and few repair options poses a huge challenge for E-waste industries to manage them effectively. E-waste comprises of hazardous materials and toxic constituents that can affect the environment and public health through improper disposal. However, they also contain few valuable materials that, if recovered, can reduce the dependence on virgin raw materials. Circular economy has the potential to utilize these valuable materials and gain environment and socio-economic benefits. The research explains how the adoption of a circular economy approach can help improve the E-waste recycling in California …

Reactive Thin Film Polymers And Thin Film Composite Membranes For The Rapid Screening Of Uranium Isotopes, Abenazer W. Darge

All Dissertations

Traditional radiochemistry approaches for the detection of trace-level alpha-emitting radioisotopes in water require lengthy offsite sample preparations and do not lend themselves to rapid quantification. Therefore, a novel platform is needed that combines onsite purification, concentration, and isotopic screening with a fieldable detection system. My dissertation research objective was to develop novel reactive thin polymer films and thin film composite membranes for the selective separation of uranium from environmental water followed by direct isotopic analysis by alpha spectroscopy. Chapter 1 reviews progress made on uranium separation from aqueous matrices and discusses methods used for the determination of isotopic composition.

Chapter …

Flow Characteristics Through Granular Soil Influenced By Saline Water Intrusion: A Laboratory Investigation, Sudip Basack, Ghritartha Goswami, Hadi Khabbaz, M Karakouzian

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

The coastal geoenvironment initiates saline water intrusion into the freshwater aquifers, producing a geohydraulic problem. Such intrusion not only contaminates the fresh groundwater resources, making them unsuitable for human use, but also alters the hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer materials, which affects the coastal groundwater flow, influencing the water resources planning and management. Past investigations reveal that the groundwater flow can be linear or nonlinear depending upon the hydraulic gradient. Thus, the coefficients of nonlinear hydraulic conductivities are affected by saltwater intrusion. The present study focuses on an in-depth laboratory investigation into the influence of saltwater submergence on the nonlinear …

Water Storage Analysis And Design Portfolio For Nocaima, Colombia, Philip Bortz, Lola Martin Uribe, Claudia Newell, Gisselle Paz-Ortiz

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Senior Theses

In partnership with Santa Clara University Frugal Innovation Hub and the Institución Universitaria of Politécnico Grancolombiano, the project aims to provide a single household, self-managed, water storage solution for residents of rural Nocaima, Colombia. Currently, the impacts of climate change and the lack of a sufficient community water system threaten the water security of rural Nocaima and the livelihoods of its residents. Proposed are two rainwater collection and storage systems, one including slow sand filtration and tank storage system, and the other a retention pond that will not be filtered. Components of the solutions include collection, storage, and filtration systems, …

“La Ultra Periferia De Un País Periférico”: La Política Estratégica Litífera En Jujuy: Los Objetivos, Los Instrumentos, Y Los Desafíos / The Ultra Periphery Of A Periphery Country: The Strategic Policy Towards Lithium In Jujuy: The Objectives, The Instruments, And The Challenges, Max Kaye

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La transición energética hizo cobrar nueva importancia a los yacimientos metalíferos y no metalíferos y generó un nuevo patrón de demanda, especialmente para el caso del litio. Los actores importantes en la cadena de valor de las baterías de ion-litio intensificaron su control sobre cada etapa de sus negocios, y las políticas de los países abundantes en litio son cruciales para determinar cómo afecta a sus territorios esta carrera por el litio. Jujuy, una provincia que podría considerarse periférica de la Argentina, declaró el litio como un recurso estratégico en 2011. La provincia creó ciertos instrumentos para ejercer mayor control …

Streamlining Project Development Through Planning & Environmental Linkages, Karen Hadley, Brett Lackey

Purdue Road School

As transportation agencies continue to explore ways to be more efficient in the project development process, they are embracing integrated methodologies like planning and environmental linkages. This tool is practical, yet highly effective and inclusive, and teams across the country are experiencing its value. This presentation will highlight a variety of use cases, discuss lessons learned and best practices, and specifically address how planning and environmental linkages can be applied in Indiana and the Midwest.

Biogeosciences Perspectives On Integrated, Coordinated, Open, Networked (Icon) Science, D. Dwivedi, A. L.D. Santos, M. A. Barnard, T. M. Crimmins, A. Malhotra, K. A. Rod, K. S. Aho, S. M. Bell, B. Bomfim, F. Q. Brearley, H. Cadillo-Quiroz, J. Chen, C. M. Gough, E. B. Graham, C. R. Hakkenberg, L. Haygood, G. Koren, E. A. Lilleskov, L. K. Meredith, S. Naeher, Z. L. Nickerson, O. Pourret, H. S. Song, M. Stahl, N. Taş, R. Vargas, S. Weintraub-Leff

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

This article is composed of three independent commentaries about the state of Integrated, Coordinated, Open, Networked (ICON) principles in the American Geophysical Union Biogeosciences section, and discussion on the opportunities and challenges of adopting them. Each commentary focuses on a different topic: (a) Global collaboration, technology transfer, and application (Section 2), (b) Community engagement, community science, education, and stakeholder involvement (Section 3), and (c) Field, experimental, remote sensing, and real-time data research and application (Section 4). We discuss needs and strategies for implementing ICON and outline short- and long-term goals. The inclusion of global data and international community engagement are …

Persistence And Mitigation Of Pfas Within Concrete Stormwater Drainage Infrastructure, Jason R. Mcdonald

Theses and Dissertations

The persistence, fate, and transport of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, which have been shown to have adverse effects on human health, have been previously studied in environmental media such as soils and groundwater. This study investigates concrete, a medium that is rarely studied but frequently present in instances where PFAS originating from AFFF releases and spills have occurred. Used heavily throughout aviation firefighting, AFFF poses environmental hazards due to the length of PFAS degradation and toxicological implications, thus its classification as a forever chemical. From the very limited reports to date, studies have suggested very slow release from concrete, potentially …

Increasing Heat-Stress Inequality In A Warming Climate, Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, John T. Abatzoglou, Jan F. Adamowski, Jeffrey P. Prestemon, Bhaskar Chittoori, Ata Akbari Asanjan, Mojtaba Sadegh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Adaptation is key to minimizing heatwaves' societal burden; however, our understanding of adaptation capacity across the socioeconomic spectrum is incomplete. We demonstrate that observed heatwave trends in the past four decades were most pronounced in the lowest-quartile income region of the world resulting in >40% higher exposure from 2010 to 2019 compared to the highest-quartile income region. Lower-income regions have reduced adaptative capacity to warming, which compounds the impacts of higher heatwave exposure. We also show that individual contiguous heatwaves engulfed up to 2.5-fold larger areas in the recent decade (2010–2019) as compared to the 1980s. Widespread heatwaves can overwhelm …

Designing And Implementing A Novel Graduate Program To Develop Transdisciplinary Leaders In Urban Sustainability, Megan M. Wallen, Ingrid Guerra-Lopez, Louay Meroueh, Rayman Mohamed, Andrea Sankar, Pradeep Sopory, Ryan Watkins, Donna R. Kashian

Biological Sciences Faculty Research Publications

Urban settings, where >50% of the world's population resides, are increasingly faced with environmental challenges that threaten their sustainability. Aging infrastructure, water and air pollution, and increasing recognition of environmental injustices highlight the need for professionals to employ complex scientific reasoning across disciplines where they can effectively address the multifaceted issues of urban sustainability. Here we present an innovative model for preparing the next generation of public, private, and academic leaders to address complex problems in urban sustainability. Specifically, we outline the design and implementation of an integrated, adaptable graduate training program, with the goals of science leadership, curriculum relevancy, …

Machine Learning Approach To Simulate Soil Co2 Fluxes Under Cropping Systems, Toby A. Adjuik, Sarah C. Davis

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Graduate Research

With the growing number of datasets to describe greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, there is an opportunity to develop novel predictive models that require neither the expense nor time required to make direct field measurements. This study evaluates the potential for machine learning (ML) approaches to predict soil GHG emissions without the biogeochemical expertise that is required to use many current models for simulating soil GHGs. There are ample data from field measurements now publicly available to test new modeling approaches. The objective of this paper was to develop and evaluate machine learning (ML) models using field data (soil temperature, soil …

Tolle Lege Works Published In 2022, Mcquade Library

Bibliographies

Compiled Tolle Lege bibliography of works published by members of the Merrimack College Community in 2022. Works include journal articles, books, book chapters, conference presentations and posters, and more.

Modelling Of Radiological Health Risk In Water From Abstraction Well Close To A Hypothetical Radioactive Waste Repository In The Accra Plains, Paul Essel, Mark Amo-Boateng, Dominic Otoo, Thomas Tetteh Akiti

Applied Environmental Research

This study evaluated the integrity of the geosphere of the Accra Plains to host a radioactive waste disposal facility for Ghana’s radioactive waste materials. The study thus assessed the migration of radioactive contaminant from a hypothetical radioactive waste disposal facility through the geosphere to the biosphere in the Accra Plains. The Accra Plains is predominantly underlain by schist rocks, hence the hydrogeologic parameters of schist rock from literature were used as input data. AMBER software was used to develop a model to estimate the peak total annual effective dose from all the radionuclides at various receptor locations. The endpoint of …

Effects Of Substrate Types On Nitrogen Removal Efficacy And Growth Of Canna Indica L., Arunothai Jampeetong, Pakawat Janyasupab

Applied Environmental Research

Constructed wetlands (CWs), a cost effective technology for wastewater treatment, consist of substrates and wetland plants, which should be selected carefully to gain highest treatment efficiency. However, studies on plant growth and responses to different types of substrates are very few. This study aims to assess the effects of substrate types on growth and root morphology of Canna indica L. and nitrogen (N) removal. Twenty-four similar sized approximately 1 month old C. indica plants were selected and grown on different substrates (gravel, pumice and biochar). All plants were supplied with a standard growth medium to which 14 mg L-1 NH4+, …

Petrogenic And Biogenic Inputs Of N-Alkanes Along Shoreline Of The Caspian Sea In The Mazandaran Province, North Of Iran, Seyed Raheb Hosseini Bizaki, Ahmad Reza Rabbani, Alireza Riyahi Bakhtiari, Mitra Cheraghi, Parisa Babaie

Applied Environmental Research

The Caspian Sea is the largest lake in the world and is facing an increasing risk of contamination. Sea-based and land-based hydrocarbons inputs are the most critical pollutants of the Caspian Sea. In the present study, n-alkanes and related diagnostic ratios were used to identify the sources of hydrocarbon contaminants in surface sediments along the southern coastal area of the Caspian Sea in Mazandaran province. 27 surface sediment samples were collected from a depth of 5 meters under sea level. Contaminant’s compositions were extracted by Soxhlet apparatus and analyzed by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. According to the results, the total …

Risk Assessment Of Total Mercury (T-Hg) In Commercial Seafood Marketed In Bangkok, Thailand, Irwan Ramadhan Ritonga, Sujaree Bureekul, Penjai Sompongchaiyakul

Applied Environmental Research

Seafood is recognized as the high protein source of human consumption. However, it is hampered by mercury contamination. The objectives of this study are to determine total mercury (T-Hg) levels in edible portions of commercial seafood available in Bangkok’s supermarkets, and to evaluate the potential risks from mercury through seafood consumption. Total 32 species, including 22 fish, 4 cephalopod and 6 shellfish, were purchased from super-markets. Fish samples were dissected in 3 parts comprised of flesh, gill and viscera. While, cephalopod and shellfish were separated for edible tissues. The samples were digested in hot acid and were determined using cold-vapor …