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Enhancing Agricultural Sustainability Under Climate Change: A Multi-Scale Framework Integrating Climate Extremes, Resource Efficiency, And Data-Driven Modeling, Shahryar Fazli

Computational and Data Sciences (PhD) Dissertations

Agricultural systems are increasingly challenged by climate variability, where shifting temperature regimes, hydrological variability, and the rising frequency of compound and cascading extremes threaten global food security and resource sustainability. Addressing these challenges requires integrated frameworks that bridge biophysical monitoring, predictive modeling, and adaptive decision-making. This dissertation develops a data-driven, multi-scale framework to quantify and enhance agricultural resilience by integrating remote sensing, climate analytics, and machine learning across the United States, with a focus on California and the Western U.S.

First, hyperspectral and thermal remote sensing data from EMIT and OpenET are integrated to characterize crop nitrogen–water interactions and assess …

Community-Based Well Testing And Outreach To Mitigate Human Health Risk From Unsafe Drinking Water, W. Adam Sigler, Katharine Sutphen, Margaret J Eggers, Kaleena Miller, Michelle Grocke-Dewey

Journal of Extension

Twenty-two percent of groundwater wells tested nationwide have one or more contaminants above a health threshold, yet many private well owners are unaware of these risks because they have not tested their water. Researchers piloted a community well testing clinic for education/outreach and surveyed participants about outcomes. Two months later, 75% of participants with high or intermediate health risk water quality results had taken action or intended to, indicating that community private well testing clinics can be effective in mitigating human health risks from contaminated drinking water.

Machine Learning Models For Estimating The Consumed And Remaining Useful Life Of Haul Trucks In An Open-Pit Mine In Peru, Marco Cotrina, Jairo Marquina, Mario Sandoval, Jose Mamani, Johnny Ccatamayo

Journal of Sustainable Mining

The purpose of this study was to develop a machine learning-based model to predict the consumed useful life and estimate the remaining useful life of haul trucks in an open-pit mining operation in Peru. A comparative analysis of multiple machine learning models was conducted, including multiple linear regression (MLR), random forest + PSO, support vector regression (SVR), gradient boosting machine (GBM), decision tree + PSO, and artificial neural networks (ANN-MLP). The models were evaluated using performance metrics such as R², RMSE, and MAE, selecting the optimal model to estimate the remaining useful life based on a theoretical lifespan …

Development Of A Spectral Index And Web Application For Automated Marble Quarry Monitoring: A Sentinel-2 Based Approach For Change Detection And Monitoring, Konstantinos Ntouros, Vasileios Drimzakas - Papadopoulos, Georgios Gkologkinas, Georgios Ntouros, Dimitrios Markou

Journal of Sustainable Mining

This study introduces an automated workflow to monitor marble quarry operations using Sentinel-2 satellite data, providing a cost-effective and efficient tool for regulatory oversight focused on environmental sustainability. At the core of this workflow is the Quarry Change Detection Index (QCDI), a new spectral index specifically developed to leverage the unique spectral characteristics of quarry sites, enhancing the detection of land cover changes associated with quarry expansion. To facilitate practical application, a web-based tool was developed using Google Earth Engine and Streamlit. The user-centric design of this platform features an intuitive interface, allowing users to easily select parameters, visualize data, …

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Final Insufficiently Reclaimed Sites Field Sampling And Investigation Plan: Bres No. 11 – Magna Charta Lessee Dumps, Mike Mcanulty

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Role Of Data Science Applications In Soil And Water Health, Payton Davis, Debabrata Sahoo, Dara Park, Brook Russell

Forestry and Natural Resources

Data science is an emerging field that can be incorporated into many disciplines, including environmental science. Data science can provide valuable information from data, enhancing the understanding of systems and environments. This publication is intended to give an overview of the different aspects of data science and how data science can be leveraged into and applied to soil and water health.

Oco-3 Meets Ecostress: Insights Into Ecosystem Diurnal Water-Use Efficiency From Co-Located Solar-Induced Fluorescence And Thermal Observations, Zoe Amie Pierrat, Thomas P. Kurosu, Abhishek Chatterjee, Joshua B. Fisher, Maggie Johnson, Le Kuai, Kanishka Mallick, Nicholas Parazoo, Benjamin Wiebe, Kerry Cawse-Nicholson

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Terrestrial ecosystem regulation of carbon and water fluxes is critical for constraining climate–biosphere feedbacks but remains poorly quantified across space and time. Here, we evaluate whether co-located observations from NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) and the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) can reproduce ecosystem water use efficiency (WUE) dynamics observed at FLUXNET sites across temporal scales, vegetation types, climates, and drought conditions. We created the ECOCO3 data set, which harmonizes OCO-3 and ECOSTRESS observations in space and time. ECOCO3 captures broad seasonal and diurnal carbon and water flux patterns including midday drought responses. Sampling sensitivity analysis …

Evaluating Peak Metamorphic Conditions Of The Kyanite-Bearing Rocks At Willis Mountain, Virginia, Usa, Emma J. Hunt, Peter Horvath, Connor R. Gregory, Jade D. Sabillon, Ethan H. Watson

Earth and Environmental Sciences Publications

Willis Mountain, near Dillwyn in central Virginia, is the world’s largest kyanite deposit located in the Chopawamsic Fm. of the Piedmont province. However, little is known about the temperature and pressure conditions under which the kyanite deposit and its surrounding rocks formed, compared with similar-aged rocks in the Blue Ridge province to the southwest. Willis Mountain is composed of kyanite-bearing muscovite schists to kyanite quartzites which contain up to 55% kyanite. The following methods were used to evaluate the metamorphic conditions, with multiple calibrations for each: phase equilibrium modelling; trace element thermometry (titanium in quartz and zirconium in rutile); garnet-biotite …

Geotechnical Enhancement Of Noncohesive Coal Mine Overburden Using Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation And Fly Ash Stabilization For Sustainable Pavement Applications, Atul Gautam, Laxmikant Yadu

Journal of Sustainable Mining

The majority of the waste generated from opencast mining, termed as overburden (OB), is dumped adjacent to the mine boundary and poses long-term stability issues. Various studies have been carried out to assess the risk of dump slope failure, and treatment strategies have been accordingly recommended to strengthen this OB dump. However, scant works are reported to sustainably utilize this OB for construction works. This study aims to quantify the performance of stabilized noncohesive coal mine OB collected from Gondegaon opencast mine (OCM) in India. Stabilization was achieved using two techniques, namely microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) through Sporosarcina pasteurii …

2026 Final Bpsou Backfill And Cover Material Quality Assurance Project Plan (Qapp), Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Final Reclamation Improvement Field Sampling And Investigation Plan: Bres No. 9 – Clark Street Dump, Mike Mcanulty

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Implementation Of The Trojan Sex Chromosome Approach In The San Juan River: Investigation And Validation Of Feminization Methods For Channel Catfish, Chad Teal

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Re: Approval Letter For The Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Final 2026 Interim Site- Wide Surface Water Monitoring Quality Assurance Project Plan (Qapp) (Dated August 28, 2026), Emma Rott

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Re: Approval Letter For The Final 2026 Interim Site-Wide Groundwater Monitoring Quality Assurance Project Plan (Dated August 28, 2026), Emma Rott

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Re: Approval Letter For The Uncontrolled Surface Flow Areas Drainage C 95% Design Remedial Action Work Plan, Molly Roby

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Re: Conditional Approval Letter For Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Final Diggings East Dewatering Treatability Study Pre-Design Investigation Work Plan (Pdiwp) (Dated September 8, 2026) And The 2026 Final Diggings East Dewatering Treatability Study Quality Assurance Project Plan (Qapp) (Dated September 8, 2026), Emma Rott

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Hydrothermal Alteration Mapping Of The Northern Coongan Greenstone Belt Using Remote Sensing Imagery, Meaza Bogale, Elias Woldeyohanis

Journal of Sustainable Mining

Archean greenstone belts are well known for their ore deposits, diverse lithostratigraphy, and well-preserved evidence from the early Earth. The Northern Coongan Greenstone Belt is an Archean greenstone belt that is part of the Eastern Pilbara Craton of Western Australia. The rock units of this area have the potential to be sources of valuable mineral deposits, which could be economically beneficial for extraction. Studies have been conducted in the northern Coongan greenstone belt, mostly using geological field methods and geophysical interpretations, excluding remote sensing methods for mapping mineral indices. Therefore, this study aims at providing surface mineral distribution maps and …

The Evolution Characteristics Of Gas Pressure Around Coal Seam Directional Long Extraction Boreholes With Nonlinear Extraction Negative Pressure, Zhang Qi, Jia Jinlong, Li Zhiguo, Zhang Longgang, Qin Zhengyuan, Zhang Weizhong, Li Jin

Journal of Sustainable Mining

Nonlinear pressure of coal seam gas in the directional borehole and surrounding areas affects extraction efficiency. A multi-field coupling numerical model, including gas desorption, diffusion, fracture seepage, and borehole extraction, is developed for the No. 3 coal seam of the GJH mine. Using the numerical simulation method of control variables, extraction was developed to investigate the nonlinear evolution of axial pressure gradients in directional long borehole and the spatiotemporal response characteristics of gas pressure. Results show that coal seam seepage pressure exhibits a nonlinear radial gradient attenuation around the borehole, evolving through rapid pressure change, stabilization, and slow adjustment. The …

Re: Request For Change To The Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Clark Tailings Consolidated Waste Management Area Site Investigation Quality Assurance Project Plan Revision 0 (2026 Update), Josh Bryson

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Approval Letter For The Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) 2025 Butte Reclamation Evaluation System (Bres) Site Specific Corrective Action Plans For Quadrant 2 (Dated July 22, 2026), Molly Roby

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Clark Tailings Consolidated Waste Management Area (Ctcwma) Site Investigation Draft Data Summary Report 2024 Surface Water, Groundwater, And Soil Characterization, Woodard & Curran

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Draft Final Insufficiently Reclaimed Sites Field Sampling And Investigation Plan: Bres No. 11 – Magna Charta Lessee Dumps, Mike Mcanulty

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Re: Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Draft Final Insufficiently Reclaimed Sites Field Sampling And Investigation Plan: Bres No. 9 – Clark Street Dump, Mike Mcanulty

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Mapping The Water Quality Of Jamaica Bay, New York (1996-2024): Principal Component Analysis And K-Means Clustering, Sneha Srivastava

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Jamaica Bay, located along the southeastern coast of New York City, acts as a biodiverse estuary of wetlands, meadows, and salt marsh islands. The purpose of this study is to analyze the water quality conditions of the region over time, comparing locations around the bay to identify hyperlocal features that influence larger trends in the hydrological system. Ten variables were used as water quality indicators, including total Kjeldahl nitrogen, salinity, pH, Secchi disk depth, and total phosphorus, among others, across five stations in the bay, between 1994 and 2024. After data cleaning and standardization methods were applied, principal component analysis …

Bayesian Network: An Explainable Artificial Intelligence (Xai) Approach To Human Performance Modelling For Control Room Operations, Houda Briwa

Theses

Alarm systems in process industry control rooms routinely exceed the performance targets set by standards such as EEMUA 191, placing operators under conditions where reliable performance is most difficult to achieve. Predicting how operators respond under such conditions is central to risk management, yet current Human Reliability Assessment (HRA) methods depend on expert judgement that is rarely tested against operational evidence, assume independence among factors known to interact, and do not explicitly represent the cognitive processes through which performance emerges. In Resilience Engineering terms, these methods encode Work-as-Imagined with limited means to assess how far expectations hold when work is …

Revised Draft Final Quarterly Operations And Maintenance Report: Butte Treatment Lagoon System – First Quarter 2026, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Sea-Level Rise And Regional Economic Adjustment On The U.S. Gulf Coast, Md A M Hasif, Juhee Lee, Robin A. Choudhury

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Sea-level rise (SLR) poses escalating risks to the U.S. Gulf Coast, where critical industries, infrastructure, and populations are concentrated in low-lying areas. This study estimates the short- and long-run economic effects of SLR using a panel autoregressive distributed lag-pooled mean group framework applied to county-level data from 26 coastal counties across five Gulf Coast states from 2005 to 2021. Over this period, mean sea level increased by approximately 11 cm on average across counties, with cumulative changes ranging from about 4 cm to over 24 cm and substantial cross-county variation, providing a meaningful empirical setting for identifying economic adjustment. We …

Long-Term Monitoring And Response Of Papaipema Sciata Bird (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) To Prescribed Fire In Michigan (Usa), Gregory J. Norwood, Logan M. Rowe, Brett A. Degregorio, David L. Cuthrell, Aaron D. Meredith, Steven M. Gray

The Great Lakes Entomologist

The Culver’s root borer moth (Papaipema sciata) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a rare Noctuid that requires Culver’s root (Veronicastrum virginicum) to complete its lifecycle within remnant native grasslands and open woodlands in the midwest and northeast United States. We report on 26 years of monitoring this species’ colonization of Culver’s root stems at Algonac State Park (ASP) in Michigan, where prairies have been maintained by prescribed fire since 1990. P. sciata is considered fire sensitive because eggs spend the dormant season in the combustible prairie litter and duff near host plants. The objectives were to determine the …

Spider Biodiversity And Insecticide Sensitivity Across Active And Restored Cranberry Bogs On Nantucket, Tyler J. Kulak

Graduate Masters Theses

Spiders are one of the most diverse groups of organisms on the planet with over 53,000 species described as of 2026. They provide a suite of ecosystem services including their regulation of problematic pests in agricultural systems, appearing in high biomasses across a breadth of ecological niches. While beneficial as pest regulators, they are also susceptible to the same management techniques as pest organisms and are especially vulnerable to chemical control. Cranberry production in Massachusetts likely benefits from spider ecosystem services, but diversity research on spiders in these systems is limited. This study compares the diversity of spider populations from …

Infrared Detectability Of Whale Species And Behaviors To Enhance Automatic Detection For Real-Time Vessel Strike Avoidance, Laura J. Howes

Graduate Masters Theses

Real-time detection of large whales at sea is critical for mitigating serious injury and mortality from ship strikes and other human activities such as seismic surveys, especially for endangered species such as the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis). Traditional marine mammal observers are limited by environmental conditions and human factors, necessitating a robust, 24-hour solution. This study investigates the efficacy of a novel onboard detection tool infrared (IR) technology to detect whale blows and body parts. While IR is a promising advancement, its performance under varying sea conditions (e.g., fog, humidity) and its ability to …