Digital Commons Network^™

Legacy And Current Pesticide Residues In Syr Darya, Kazakhstan: Contamination Status, Seasonal Variation And Preliminary Ecological Risk Assessment, Daniel D. Snow, P. Chakraborty, B. Uralbekov, B. Satybaldiev, J. Brett Sallach, L. M. Thornton Hampton, M. Jeffries, A. S. Kolok, Shannon L. Bartelt-Hunt

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

The Syr Darya is one of two major rivers in Central Asia supplying critical fresh water to the Aral Sea. In spite of the river’s importance and agriculturally-intensive history, few studies have provided a modern evaluation of and the occurrence of pesticide residues potential effects to aquatic life. The primary goal of this investigation was to determine seasonal variations in ambient concentrations of modern and legacy pesticides in bottom sediment and water of the Syr Darya in Kazakhstan (KZ) downstream from an agriculturally-intensive watershed in Uzbekistan. Grab samples and passive samplers were used at five remote sampling stations during June …

Research Of Visualization Of Road Guide Sign Panel Based On Combination Of Guiding Information, Zhongming Niu, Huang Min, Yuan Yuan, Li Min

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: In order to realize the intelligent management of road guide signs, a method of visualization of road guide sign panel based on the flexible combination of guiding information was proposed. As a consequence of analysis for structures of guide sign panel, the message on the guide sign panel was decomposed into guiding information, and then visualization function was proposed. The panel style was determined by the physical and logical topology of guiding intersection dynamically with the help of guide sign system database. Then the composition of geography information and guiding information was utilized in the process of visualization …

Commodity-Based Freight Activity On Inland Waterways Through The Fusion Of Public Datasets For Multimodal Transportation Planning, Magdalena I. Asborno

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Within the U.S., the 18.6 billion tons of goods currently moved along the multimodal transportation system are expected to grow 51% by 2045. Most of those goods are transported by roadways. However, several benefits can be realized by shippers and consumers by shifting freight to more efficient modes, such as inland waterways, or adopting a multimodal scheme. To support such freight growth sustainably and efficiently, federal legislation calls for the development of plans, methods, and tools to identify and prioritize future multimodal transportation infrastructure needs. However, given the historical mode-specific approach to freight data collection, analysis, and modeling, challenges remain …

Flood Prediction Using Artificial Neural Networks: Empirical Evidence From Mauritius As A Case Study, A. Z. Dhunny, Reena H. Seebocus, Z. Allam, Mohammad Yasser Chuttur

Knowledge Engineering and Data Science

Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) has been well studied for flood prediction. However, there is not enough empirical evidence to generalize ANN applicability to small countries with microclimates prevailing in a small geographical space. In this paper, we focus on the climatic conditions of Mauritius for which we seek to investigate the accuracy of using ANN to predict flooding using locally collected data from 11 meteorological stations spread across the country. The ANN model for flood prediction presented in this work is trained using 20,000 climate data records, collected over a period of two years for Mauritius. Our input climate features …

Water Environment Comprehensive Forewarning For Waterlogged Area In Huainan Based On Weber-Fechner Law, Pei Wenming, Zhang Hui, Ju Changhua, Yao Suping, Ren Yongle, Ma Mengxiao, Qiu Kuanbiao

Coal Geology & Exploration

In area with high groundwater level in the east of China, long-time underground coal mining results in a large subsidence water area on the surface. The risk of water environment pollution in subsidence waters is increasing gradually with the influence of human activities. According to Weber-Fisher law, this paper took Panji waterlogged area of Huainan as the research object, selected the water quality evaluation indexes closely related to the water environment of the waterlogged area, analyzed the water environmental conditions of the waterlogged area in different periods, and quantitatively reflected the time and the area of the water environment quality …

Analysis Of Performance Measures Of Traffic Incident Management In Utah, Mitchell Gregory Hadfield

Theses and Dissertations

In 2009 the Federal Highway Administration published a report regarding a Focus States Initiative that had been conducted with 11 states to discuss the development of national Traffic Incident Management (TIM) standards. Performance measures were defined, and a national TIM dashboard created, but very little data has been added to the dashboard since. In this research study, performance measures of the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) TIM program were analyzed. Data availability was first assessed to determine whether these performance measures could be calculated. It was determined that crash response data available from the Utah Highway Patrol (UHP) could be …

Truck Routing Application, Adam Miller

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

This application aims to provide dispatchers with an accessible tool to assist them in routing a fleet of trucks in the most ecient way. The vehicle routing problem is a notoriously complex and inecient problem to solve, yet dispatchers are tasked with solving it every single day by hand. Rather than radically transform a dispatcher’s time-sensitive workflow, my application seeks to provide them with a simple, powerful tool that can supplement their daily duties. This application will ultimately help dispatchers perform their jobs more eciently and contribute to the reduction of fuel consumption, carbon emissions, and vehicle maintenance costs.

Sybil Attack Detection Scheme Design In Zigbee Network, Meigen Huang, Bin Yu, Zhiyin Kong

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Aiming at the problem of Sybil which attacks and destroys the resource allocation, routing discovery and data aggregation in ZigBee network, a scheme to detect Sybil attacks was proposed. The scheme established a doubt mechanism of Sybil node to mark child nodes in the same location as well as communication distance inconsistent geographical distance. The scheme designed a identified processes of Sybil node via father joint legal neighboring nodes transmitting a random number to the suspected Sybil nodes on different channels simultaneously, identifying Sybil nodes by its correctness. Safety analysis and experiment results show that the proposed scheme has …

Research On Simulation Optimization Of Container Terminal’S Machinery Configuration, Zhaohui Duan, Bingliang Song

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The optimization of the machinery allocation under the double constraints of maximized efficiency for loading and unloading processes and optimal machinery usage, and the optimal configuration of bridge cranes under discrete operation modes for a single ship were instigated through modeling with the simulation software Extendsim. It was found that the real-time recording method is a more straightforward and convenient way to investigate the optimal mechanical configuration and double constraints lead to different but more reasonable results than that was obtained under the single constraint on the best mechanical configuration. Due to the discrete characteristics of the bridge crane …

Saving The Memories In The Framework Of Social Heritage Conservation In Egyptian Villages, Dalia Shebl Said

Architecture and Planning Journal (APJ)

Social memories is a part of our heritage. One of the complex challenges which facing our intangible heritage is how to deal to various forms of social meaning, special memories that form a distinguished culture in our community. Social heritage is heavily related to three factors; time, place and human. The research takes a case study Al-Shakluba village that focuses on the non-materialistic aspects of social and culture heritage that increases recognition with intangible values and plays an important role that how people interact with social and cultural environments and the importance of these values that impact on the ways …

Robotic Navigation Map Construction With Ultra-High Resolution Volumetric Grid, Bingchuan Jiang, Wan Gang, Li Feng, Zhang Wei, Zhenfa Yang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: According to the requirements of specific application of robotic localization and navigation, a spatial modeling method of the robotic navigation map with ultra-high resolution volumetric grid model is proposed. The geographic spatial three-dimensional grid model is combined with the robotic navigation map and the consistency of spatial span, grid cell and data organization is analyzed. The characteristics of the robotic navigation map, the source and classification of the data, and the difference and relationship between SLAM are analyzed in detail. The robotic spatial data sets are discretized with the ultra-high resolution volumetric grid units as the data organization units. …

Spatio-Temporal Data Organization Model Of Unified Ground And Aerial Battlefield And Its Application, Li Feng, Wan Gang, Bingchuan Jiang, Xuefeng Cao

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Aiming at the requirement of battlefield environment data in joint operations, a spatio-temporal data organization model of unified ground and aerial battlefield based on grid division is proposed in this paper. The sphere grid division is adopted to divide the space to extend to the time dimension. Also, the spatio-temporal grid coding is designed. The field and object are combined to build the BSTD organization model, where the sphere layer and sphere volume grid unit are used separately as the reference space to quantitatively describe the field, and the spatio-temporal grid coding is adopted to describe the …

Recent Shrinkage And Fragmentation Of Bluegrass Landscape In Kentucky, Bo Tao, Yanjun Yang, Jia Yang, S. Ray Smith, James F. Fox, Alex C. Ruane, Jinze Liu, Wei Ren

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

The Bluegrass Region is an area in north-central Kentucky with unique natural and cultural significance, which possesses some of the most fertile soils in the world. Over recent decades, land use and land cover changes have threatened the protection of the unique natural, scenic, and historic resources in this region. In this study, we applied a fragmentation model and a set of landscape metrics together with the satellite-derived USDA Cropland Data Layer to examine the shrinkage and fragmentation of grassland in the Bluegrass Region, Kentucky during 2008–2018. Our results showed that recent land use change across the Bluegrass Region is …

Changes In The Exposure Of California’S Levee-Protected Critical Infrastructure To Flooding Hazard In A Warming Climate, Iman Mallakpour, Mojtaba Sadegh, Amir Aghakouchak

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Levee systems are an important part of California's water infrastructure, engineered to provide resilience against flooding and reduce flood losses. The growth in California is partly associated with costly infrastructure developments that led to population expansion in the levee protected areas. Therefore, potential changes in the flood hazard could have significant socioeconomic consequences over levee protected areas, especially in the face of a changing climate. In this study, we examine the possible impacts of a warming climate on flood hazard over levee protected land in California. We use gridded maximum daily runoff from global circulation models (GCMs) that represent a …

A Multi-Objective Optimization Model To Minimize The Gap In Accessibility To Multi-Use Paths While Maximizing The Economic Efficiency Of Active Transportation Investments For Fresno, California, Chih-Hao Wang

Mineta Transportation Institute

This research examines the accessibility to multi-use paths in a variety of neighborhoods in Fresno, California. This study aims to develop a multi-objective optimization modeling framework to be used by decision makers in transportation and policy to maximize the total accessibility to multi-use paths across the city while minimizing the gap between low- and high- accessibility neighborhoods by an optimal allocation of active transportation. Researchers calculate accessibility to multi-use paths by measuring the total length of multi-use paths (walkway and bikeway) a resident could reach from their own Census block group with a 30-minute cycling ride. The study employs a …

Advancing Ecohydrology In The 21st Century: A Convergence Of Opportunities, Andrew J. Guswa, Doerthe Tetzlaff, John S. Selker, Darryl E. Carlyle-Moses, Elizabeth W. Boyer, Michael Bruen, Carles Cayuela, Irena F. Creed, Nick Van De Giesen, Domenico Grasso, David M. Hannah, Janice E. Hudson, Sean A. Hudson, Shin'ichi Iida, Robert B. Jackson, Gabriel G. Katul, Tomo'omi Kumagai, Pilar Llorens, Flavio Lopes Ribeiro, Beate Michalzik, Kazuki Nanko, Christopher Oster, Diane E. Pataki, Catherine A. Peters, Andrea Rinaldo, Daniel Sanchez Carretero, Branimir Trifunovic, Maciej Zalewski, Marja Haagsma, Delphis F. Levia

Engineering: Faculty Publications

Nature-based solutions for water-resource challenges require advances in the science of ecohydrology. Current understanding is limited by a shortage of observations and theories that can further our capability to synthesize complex processes across scales ranging from submillimetres to tens of kilometres. Recent developments in environmental sensing, data, and modelling have the potential to drive rapid improvements in ecohydrological understanding. After briefly reviewing advances in sensor technologies, this paper highlights how improved measurements and modelling can be applied to enhance understanding of the following ecohydrological examples: interception and canopy processes, root uptake and critical zone processes, and up-scaled effects of land …

Kytc Maintenance Field Operations Guide Supplement, Bryan Gibson, Candice Y. Wallace, Nancy Albright, Christopher W. Van Dyke, Steven Douglas Kreis

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is tasked with managing an asset portfolio that includes over 27,500 miles of roadway and 9,000 bridges. Keeping these assets in sound condition demands significant effort from KYTC’s Division of Maintenance, which includes activities ranging from mowing and litter pickup to cleaning out culverts and performing emergency roadway work. Despite the immense responsibilities shouldered by Maintenance personnel, until this project the Cabinet’s 12 districts lacked a systematic method for capturing and recording maintenance activities. Through a series of workshops held in each KYTC’s district with Section Engineer and Maintenance Supervisors, researchers at the Kentucky Transportation …

User-Rated Comfort And Preference Of Separated Bike Lane Intersection Designs, Christopher Monsere, Nathan Mcneil, Rebecca Sanders

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Improved bicycle infrastructure has become increasingly common in the United States as cities seek to attract new riders, including the demographic who do not feel comfortable riding with motor vehicle traffic. A key tool in designing low-stress networks is the use of separated or protected bicycle lanes, and intersections are the critical links. This paper presents an analysis of the perceived level of comfort of current and potential bicyclists from 277 survey respondents who rated 26 first-person video clips of a bicyclist riding through mixing zones, lateral shifts, bend-in, bend-out, and protected intersection designs. A total of 7,166 ratings were …

Economically Viable Methods For Wildfire Protection For Residential Homes In Santa Barbara County, Ryan F. Chiment

Construction Management

Santa Barbara County experiences wildfires often, with fourteen major wildfires occurring in the last thirty years. Title 24, Part 9 of the California Building Code establishes the minimum building requirements for fire protection in residential construction, but there are many ways to protect a home from wildfires that go beyond the minimum requirements established in the building code. The goal of this paper is to assess the perceived increase in value to Santa Barbara County homeowners of wildfire protective measures for their homes, and to determine realistic methods for wildfire protection that are within the budget of these homeowners. This …

Conceptual Design Of A South Pole Carrier Pigeon Uav, Kendrick M. Dlima

Master's Theses

Currently, the South Pole has a large data problem. It is estimated that 1.2 TB of data is being produced every day, but less than 500 GB of that data is being uploaded via aging satellites to researchers in other parts of the world. This requires those at the South Pole to analyze the data and carefully select the parts to send, possibly missing out on vital scientific information. The South Pole Carrier Pigeon will look to bridge this data gap.

The Carrier Pigeon will be a small unmanned aerial vehicle that will carry a 30 TB solid-state hard drive …

Improved Marching Cubes Algorithmand Its Three-Dimensional Meteorological Simulation, Shuoben Bi, Lu Yuan, Xiaowen Zeng, Mingyue Lu, Yonghua Zhang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Methodof obtaining intersection points of isosurface and vowex by linear interpolation in original Marching Cubes algorithm has been replaced by the method of trisecting element boundaries. The problem of linear interpolation not suitable for meteorological data simulation is therefore solved and the number of triangular facets in isosurfacemapping is effectively reduced. While reducing redundancy and improving mapping speed, the quality of isosurface mapping is further improved. The improved Marching Cubes algorithm is applied to the simulation of meteorological model data, i.e., the isosurface of WRF data, and good results are obtained in both the speed of image rendering and …

Rainfall Manipulation Experiments As Simulated By Terrestrial Biosphere Models: Where Do We Stand?, Athanasios Paschalis, Simone Fatichi, Jakob Zscheischler, Philippe Ciais, Michael Bahn, Lena Boysen, Jinfeng Chang, Martin De Kauwe, Marc Estiarte, Daniel Goll, Paul J. Hanson, Anna B. Harper, Enqing Hou, Jaime Kigel, Alan K. Knapp, Klaus S. Larsen, Wei Li, Sebastian Lienert, Yiqi Luo, Patrick Meir, Julia E.M.S. Nabel, Romà Ogaya, Anthony J. Parolari, Changhui Peng, Josep Peñuelas, Julia Pongratz, Serge Rambal, Inger K. Schmidt, Hao Shi, Marcelo Sternberg, Hanqin Tian, Elisabeth Tschumi, Anna Ukkola, Sara Vicca, Nicolas Viovy, Ying-Ping Wang, Zhuonan Wang, Karina Williams, Donghai Wu, Qiuan Zhu

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Changes in rainfall amounts and patterns have been observed and are expected to continue in the near future with potentially significant ecological and societal consequences. Modelling vegetation responses to changes in rainfall is thus crucial to project water and carbon cycles in the future. In this study, we present the results of a new model‐data intercomparison project, where we tested the ability of 10 terrestrial biosphere models to reproduce the observed sensitivity of ecosystem productivity to rainfall changes at 10 sites across the globe, in nine of which, rainfall exclusion and/or irrigation experiments had been performed. The key results are …

Nature-Inspired Electrode Materials For Next Generation Sustainable Energy Storage, Mikhail Miroshnikov

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Despite revolutionizing the world of portable electronics, the contemporary lithium-ion battery (LIB) suffers from challenges associated with the cost, safety, and environmental impact of transition metal oxide-based intercalation cathodes. To alleviate these issues, naturally occurring organic molecules may serve as sustainable alternatives to traditional inorganic cathode materials. The electrochemical properties of organic compounds are derived from redox-active functional groups containing oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur. Additionally, these functional groups are capable of coordinating metal ions beyond lithium, allowing for compatibility with sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) and other earth abundant metal-based energy storage systems. However, despite competitive performance against commercialized cathode materials, much …

Guidelines For Sustainable Construction Methods To Build Over Difficult Topographies, Israa R. Fadel, Marwan Halabi, Hiba Mohsen, Maged Youssef

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

Sustainable construction development is a recent term that is required to create an eco-friendly built environment using renewable and recyclable resources and to reduce energy consumption and waste within protecting the natural environment. This term means such an improvement that pleases the current requirements without limitation of the prospect of sustaining requirements in future. Many problems face builders while executing projects, especially these projects were decided to be built over difficult topographies, such as rivers, falls, inclinations, caves, ridges, cliffs, and mountains. Construction challenges to build a project over a difficult topography are diverse starting by executing piles, retaining walls, …

Monitoring Participatory Approaches In Mediterranean Waterfront Developments (El Mina, Lebanon; Alexandria, Egypt; And Antalya, Turkey), Sima El-Cheikh, Mary Felix, Nabil Mohareb, Ibtihal Y. El-Bastawissi

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

Public participation is an important tool for communities to influence development decisions for public spaces in general and waterfronts in particular. In coastal cities, waterfronts are an important touristic attraction and are affected by social and economic issues. Users’ activities and responsiveness to waterfront projects are affected by the development types and methods. This study is part of ongoing research aiming to evaluate the participatory approach methods in the waterfronts of Mediterranean cities. It examines three coastal cities that have developed differently based on sustainable development studies. This study is a top–down approach that investigates the applied phases and methods …

To What Extent Does The Eddy Covariance Footprint Cutoff Influence The Estimation Of Surface Energy Fluxes Using Two Source Energy Balance Model And High-Resolution Imagery In Commercial Vineyards?, Ayman Nassar, Alfonso F. Torres-Rua, William Kustas, Héctor Nieto, Mac Mckee, Lawrence Hipps, Joseph Alfieri, John H. Prueger, Maria Mar Alsina, Lynn Mckee, Calvin Coopmans, Louis Sanchez, Nick Dokoozlian

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Validation of surface energy fluxes from remote sensing sources is performed using instantaneous field measurements obtained from eddy covariance (EC) instrumentation. An eddy covariance measurement is characterized by a footprint function / weighted area function that describes the mathematical relationship between the spatial distribution of surface flux sources and their corresponding magnitude. The orientation and size of each flux footprint / source area depends on the micro-meteorological conditions at the site as measured by the EC towers, including turbulence fluxes, friction velocity (u_star), and wind speed, all of which influence the dimensions and orientation of the footprint. The …

The Impact Of A Smartlab Implementation On Rural Schools In North Dakota, Tonya M. Greywind

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This mixed methods quasi-experimental phenomenological study investigated the impact that a SmartLab® implementation had on four rural schools in the state of North Dakota. This study featured semi structured interview questions for facilitators, semi-structured focus group questions for students, and a digital literacy pre and post assessment (DLA) that was administered to students. This study looked at student learning in terms of twenty-first century skills, teacher and student perspectives in terms of student learning as well as teacher perspectives on the impact of the SmartLab® on their own teaching methods.

Two facilitators from two of the four schools were interviewed …

Assessing The Potential For Greater Solar Development In West Texas, Usa, Dale D. Devitt, M. H. Young, J. P. Pierre

Life Sciences Faculty Research

As population and economies continue to grow on a global scale, so too does the demand for energy. To improve reliability and independence of energy supplies, the U.S. and many other countries are seeking internally-sourced renewable energy; solar is one such renewable-energy source that meets these criteria. However, all energy sources exert some environmental impacts. In the case of solar, direct impacts stem mostly from alteration of land needed to host infrastructure. Understanding the environmental upside and downside potential of solar energy systems allows a more comprehensive, side-by-side comparison with different energy sources. In this article, we focus on the …

The Artificial Leaf: An Investigation Into The Sociotechnical Integration Of New Solar Energy Innovations, Alexandra K. Treml, Jamie M. Mears

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Increasing global demand, combined with the volatility of fossil fuels, has called for a large-scale increase in renewable energy production. Photovoltaics hold significant potential, but by nature, solar energy is intermittent and lacks dispatchability. Researchers around the world are working to create innovative solutions that utilize semiconductors found in solar cell technologies in new ways. This project harnesses photoelectrochemical water-splitting, which uses light energy to dissociate water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. When the water-splitting device is submerged in saltwater and illuminated by sunlight, oxygen and hydrogen gas are produced on opposite surfaces, and can be either released or stored …

Campuspartner: An Assistive Technology For Pedestrians With Mobility Impairments, Cynthia R. Zastudil

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Route-planning applications such as Google Maps and Apple Maps are used by millions of people each month. However, these mapping applications are optimized for vehicle navigation, and although they provide pedestrian routing, the route customization options aren’t sufficient for pedestrian users, especially those with mobility impairments. CampusPartner is an assistive mobile application that was designed with the purpose of supporting people with mobility impairments in planning and previewing their walking routes. By viewing routes in advance, users can see an overview and detailed information about them as well as turn-by-turn instructions. CampusPartner integrates existing services, GraphHopper, OpenStreetMap, and Mapbox, to …