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Consumptive Water Use At The Mirage Hotel And The Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino In Las Vegas, Nevada, Johann A. Feller

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Las Vegas Valley is one of the driest regions in the southwest United States. Due to limited water supplies from the Colorado River, rainfall, and groundwater sources, the water requirements of the valley’s growing population is slated to surpass the current available water supply. The purpose of this comparative study is to quantify the amount of consumptive water used at a major Las Vegas resort/casino in one year. This, being of importance, because of the resort/casino industry’s role as one of the largest, most visible, and most resource intensive industries in the Las Vegas valley. The goal of this …

Sustainability Issues For Agriculture In Western Australia, Anne Bennett, Ross Kingwell, Ross George

Agriculture reports

This paper describes briefly the main challenges to the sustainability of agriculture in Western Australia and outlines some means of responding the the challenges: market-based approaches; agricultural and environmental research and development; accelerated adjustment; and global and national policy initiatives. Challenges include: land resource quality (salinity, soil acidity), biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, water availability, food safety, and pests and diseases.

Determining The Factors That Control Respiration And Carbon Use Efficiency In Crop Plants, Jonathan M. Frantz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In the literature on plant respiration, there are two viewpoints concerning the source of respiratory control: supply (photosynthate availability) or demand (temperature dependent) limitations. While different studies indicate the primary dependency for respiration is either the supply or demand side, the two paradigms cannot both be true. The relative importance of each paradigm may depend on a number of factors including period of time during which respiration is measured, phase of plant development, environmental conditions, and species.

Studies were performed using continuous CO₂ gas-exchange instrumentation to monitor short- and long-term changes in whole canopies of lettuce, tomato, soybean, and …

Age-Specific Reproduction By Female Laughing Gulls (Larus Atricilla), Richard A. Dolbeer, Glen E. Bernhardt

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The age at which female gulls first reproduce is poorly documented. We examined plumage and reproductive organs of Laughing Gulls (Larus atricilla) collected from May–August 2000–2001 at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, to determine age-specific reproductive effort. Each gull was classified as one year old (hatched in previous year), two years old, or ≥3 years old on the basis of color patterns of the hood and tail feathers and fifth primary flight feather. For females, each ovary was examined to determine if postovulatory follicles were present. In 2000 and 2001, the first gulls with postovulatory follicles were recorded …

Depositional Characteristics Of 7Be And 210Pb In Southeastern Michigan, D. Mcneary, M. Baskaran

Environmental Science and Geology Faculty Research Publications

The depositional fluxes in the bulk and dry fallout as well as the concentrations of ⁷Be and ²¹⁰Pb in aerosols were measured for a period of 17 months at Detroit, Michigan. The bulk depositional fluxes of ⁷Be and ²¹⁰Pb varied between 3.11 and 63.0 dpm cm⁻² yr⁻¹ (mean of 11.4 dpm cm⁻² yr⁻¹) and 0.35 and 10.3 dpm cm⁻² yr⁻¹ (mean of 1.41 dpm cm⁻² yr⁻¹), respectively, and this variability in the depositional fluxes is attributed to the frequency and amount of precipitation and seasonal variations …

Fisheries Research Report No. 140 - The Western Rock Lobster Fishery 1997/98 To 1998/99, C F. Chubb, E H. Barker

Fisheries Research Reports

This report is the latest in a series covering the West Coast Rock Lobster Managed Fishery (formerly the West Coast Rock Lobster Limited Entry Fishery), Western Australia’s largest and most valuable fishery. These reports form an historical record of fishery data and information documented season by season for use by industry and research personnel now and in the future. The reports provide information on catch, fishing effort and biology; value of the product and licences; input costs (fuel, bait, etc.); changes in fishing practices, gear, technology and boats and management/legislative changes. By necessity, the information contained herein is summarised from …

One Hundred Years Of Environmental Pollution At Chattanooga Creek: A Review Of Selected Studies, Connie C. Kennedy

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

When studying local Chattanooga history, one cannot ignore the issues of pollution in the city and the environmental degradation of the Chattanooga Creek. Throughout the past one hundred years, the Chattanooga Creek was subjected to multiple inputs of pollutants, beginning with animal wastes in the early 1900s, coal tar from government operated coke ovens during the WWII era, and large amounts of industrial wastes in the latter part of the century. Today the creek is officially closed to the public but the status of its water and sediments remains dangerously polluted. Several research projects throughout the past two decades have …

The Tragedy Of The Rivers: Building Authority Over The British Water Environment, Kevin B. Vichcales

Dissertations

"The Tragedy of the Rivers: Building Authority over the British Water Environment" examines the problem of rivers as common public resources in modern Britain. Viewed historically, the enduring problem of environmental pollution control in Britain has been the establishment of regulating authority over aspects of nature that are regarded simultaneously as economic resources, public utilities, and public amenities. Legislators, subject to pressure from industrial polluters, political parties, and advocates for environmental quality, sought at different times to locate authority at local, regional, national and extra-national levels. Each effort failed to resolve the issue of authority over the environment, because administrative …

Measuring The Environmental Attitudes Of Children In Grade 4: A Study In Clark County, Amir Khawaja

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to examine whether there is an increased positive effect on children's attitude when they are taught about the environment in an outdoor/hands-on setting versus an indoor traditional classroom setting. The study focused on grade four students in the Clark County School District. Half of the group was comprised of students that were taught about the environment using traditional classroom learning materials while the other half consisted of students that were taught using the outdoor/hands-on approach. In order to test the results, the students were given a survey. The questionnaire created by Malkus and Musser …

The Development Of Relationships Between Constituent Concentrations And Generic Hydrological Variables, Carmen T. Agouridis, Dwayne R. Edwards

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The collection and analysis of samples from storm events constitutes a large portion of the effort associated with water quality research. Estimating concentrations or loads from these events is often difficult. The equipment necessary to analyze the samples and the required laboratory resources are typically significant expenses incurred by the researcher. One potential method to reduce these costs is through the development of generic relationships between concentrations and easily measured variables such as dimensionless flow rate or time. The benefits recognized from such an effort include a reduction in the number of required samples, resulting in a reduction in cost. …

Analysis Of Anion Distributions In The Developing Strata Of A Constructed Wetland Used For Chlorinated Ethene Remediation, Joshua D. Kovacic

Theses and Dissertations

Perchloroethene (PCE), Trichloroethene (TCE) and their degradation products are among the most common organic groundwater contaminants in the United States. Constructed wetlands utilizing upward flow harbor reduction-oxidation conditions that have demonstrated the potential to promote both partial and total mineralization of PCE and TCE through the process of natural attenuation. Organic acid and inorganic anion concentrations are indicative of reduction-oxidation processes that drive chlorinated ethene degradation. These analytes were investigated to assess their development within three vertically stratified regions of a constructed wetland cell at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base fed by groundwater contaminated with PCE and TCE. Data collected during …

Remote Sensing Systems Optimization For Geobase Enhancement, Steve J. Paylor

Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. Air Force is in the process of implementing GeoBase, a geographic information system (GIS), throughout its worldwide installations, Air Force GIS needs can be augmented by imagery from aerial and satellite platforms. Imagery has greatly improved over the past several years and provides high resolution coverage of features on earth. Various imagery types will significantly increase GeoBase usefulness in a range of mission requirements, Potential Air Force uses of imagery include identifying heat loss, environmental monitoring, command decision-making, and emergency response, The research develops a decision tool to determine the appropriate imagery for a given Air Force Application, …

Modeling Corrosion In Oxygen Controlled Lbe Systems With Coupling Of Chemical Kinetics And Hydrodynamics: Quarterly Progress Report 12/1/02- 2/28/03, Samir Moujaes, Yitung Chen

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

The Lead-Bismuth eutectic (LBE) has been determined from previous experimental studies by the Russians and the European scientific community to be a potential material that can be used as a spallation target and coolant for the AAA proposed application.

Properly controlling the oxygen content in LBE can drastically reduce the LBE corrosion to structural steels. However, existing knowledge of material corrosion performance was obtained from point-wise testing with very limited density. The transport of oxygen and corrosion products, their interaction and variation of corrosion/precipitation along the flow are not well understood.

The first subtask of this project involves using a …

Status And Trends In Water Quality And Living Resources In The Virginia Chesapeake Bay: Rappahannock River (1985-2001), Daniel M. Dauer, Harold G. Marshall, Kent E. Carpenter, John R. Donat, Michael F. Lane

Status and Trends for Virginia Chesapeake Bay

This summary includes materials provided by Rick Hoffman of the Chesapeake Bay Program of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Environmental information regarding other important conditions in Chesapeake Bay (e.g. submerged aquatic vegetation, fisheries, chemical contaminants) has been reported previously (Chesapeake Bay and its Tributaries: Results of Monitoring Programs And Status of Resources; 2002 Biennial Report of the Secretary of Natural Resources to The Virginia General Assembly).

The Virginia Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries continue to show some environmental trends indicating progress toward restoration of a more balanced and healthy ecosystem. However, the Bay system remains degraded …

Status And Trends In Water Quality And Living Resources In The Virginia Chesapeake Bay: York River (1985-2001), Daniel M. Dauer, Harold G. Marshall, Kent E. Carpenter, John R. Donat, Michael F. Lane

Status and Trends for Virginia Chesapeake Bay

This summary includes materials provided by Rick Hoffman of the Chesapeake Bay Program of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Environmental information regarding other important conditions in Chesapeake Bay (e.g. submerged aquatic vegetation, fisheries, chemical contaminants) has been reported previously (Chesapeake Bay and its Tributaries: Results of Monitoring Programs And Status of Resources; 2002 Biennial Report of the Secretary of Natural Resources to The Virginia General Assembly).

The Virginia Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries continue to show some environmental trends indicating progress toward restoration of a more balanced and healthy ecosystem. However, the Bay system remains degraded …

Status And Trends In Water Quality And Living Resources In The Virginia Chesapeake Bay: James River (1985-2001), Daniel M. Dauer, Harold G. Marshall, Kent E. Carpenter, John R. Donat, Michael F. Lane

Status and Trends for Virginia Chesapeake Bay

This summary includes materials provided by Rick Hoffman of the Chesapeake Bay Program of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Environmental information regarding other important conditions in Chesapeake Bay (e.g. submerged aquatic vegetation, fisheries, chemical contaminants) has been reported previously (Chesapeake Bay and its Tributaries: Results of Monitoring Programs And Status of Resources; 2002 Biennial Report of the Secretary of Natural Resources to The Virginia General Assembly).

The Virginia Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries continue to show some environmental trends indicating progress toward restoration of a more balanced and healthy ecosystem. However, the Bay system remains degraded …

Diagnosing Ancient Diphyllobothriasis From Chinchorro Mummies, Karl J. Reinhard, Otto Urban

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Diphyllobothrium pacificum has been reported as a human parasite from coprolites and skeletons in Peru and Chile. Our analysis of Chinchorro mummies from Chile provides the oldest evidence of D. pacificum directly associated with human mummies. These mummies date between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago. The basis for our diagnosis is presented. We find that the size of the eggs in the mummies is smaller than other discoveries of D. pacificum. We suggest that this is due to the peculiar circumstances of preservation of parasite eggs within mummies and the release of immature eggs into the intestinal tract as the …

Development Of A Systems Engineering Model Of The Chemical Separations Process: Quarterly Progress Report 11/16/02- 2/15/03, Yitung Chen, Randy Clarksean, Darrell Pepper

Separations Campaign (TRP)

Two activities are proposed in this Phase I task: the development of a systems engineering model and the refinement of the Argonne code AMUSE (Argonne Model for Universal Solvent Extraction). The detailed systems engineering model is the start of an integrated approach to the analysis of the materials separations associated with the TRP Program. A second portion of the project is to streamline and improve an integral part of the overall systems model, which is the software package AMUSE. AMUSE analyzes the UREX process and other related solvent extraction processes and defines many of the process streams that are integral …

Terrain Influences On Severe Convective Storms Along The Pine Ridge From East Central Wyoming To Northwest Nebraska, Richard Bann, Michael Weiland, Ray Mcanelly

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Severe convective weather in the warm season is a common occurrence in the high plains. The storms in the high plains are produced primarily by synoptic and mesoscale features which have been described by Doswell (1980) and Maddox et al (1981). In addition to the weather parameters involved in producing severe convective weather, local terrain can also be a factor. The effects of the large scale Rocky Mountains on development of severe thunderstorms are well known. Since the early to mid 1980s, small scale terrain has been shown to have an effect on the development of severe convective weather, primarily …

A Comprehensive Review Of The Ecological And Human Social Effects Of Artificial Feeding And Baiting Of Wildlife, L. Dunkley, M.R.L. Cattet

Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre: Newsletters and Publications

In recent years, events within Canada and the United States have drawn attention to potential negative consequences of feeding and baiting wild animals, especially enhanced transmission of infectious diseases such as bovine tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease. This report was prepared to gather available science-based information on the ecological and human social effects of artificial feeding and baiting of wildlife into one readily accessible document. The contracting agencies, Parks Canada and Saskatchewan Environment, recognize that an objective review of existing literature may help to answer questions and concerns within and outside the agencies, and help to guide subsequent decision-making concerning …

Temporal Genetic Variation In A Coyote (Canis Latrans) Population Experiencing High Turnover, Christen Lenney William, Karen Blejwas, John J. Johnston, Michael M. Jaeger

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Coyotes (Canis latrans) are mobile, adaptable canids found in a wide range of habitats across North America, with range extensions into previously unoccupied areas in the western and eastern United States. Although long-distance dispersal capabilities in both sexes (Harrison 1992) and relatively large proportions of transient coyotes that do not exhibit fidelity to a single territory (typically 13–34% of a population— Andelt 1985; Windberg and Knowlton 1988) suggest that coyotes exist as a panmictic population, other aspects of coyote behavior may increase the likelihood of local population structure.

Experimental And Modeling Studies Of Formation Of Products Of Incomplete Combustion And Chlorocarbon Incineration, Roman Brukh

Dissertations

The two-stage combustor facility was used to investigate the process of chlorocarbon incineration and formation of products of incomplete combustion. For this purpose methylene chloride was used as a chlorine-containing compound. The propose of this research was to obtain a better understanding of the incineration process of chlorocarbons, such as methylene chloride, especially regarding its destruction efficiency and formation of products of incomplete combustion. For measuring near-real time very low concentrations of benzene and methylene chloride, on-line microtrap gas chromatography system was used.

The experimental system was validated using a known combustion reaction mechanism from literature. Modeling of combustion process …

Thermochemistry And Kinetics In Pyrolysis And Oxidation Of Oxygenated Chlorocarbons And Chlorinated Aromatics, Li Zhu

Dissertations

Thermochemical. properties, Δf_H°₂₉₈, S°₂₉₈, and Cp°(T) (5<=T/K<=6000), are determined using different ab inifio and density functional theory methods for three chloromethyl radicals, CH₂Cl, CHCl₂, CCl₃, all chlorobenzenes from monochlorobenzene to hexachlorobenzene, and all chlorophenols from ortho-, meta-, para-chlorophenol to pentachlorophenol. The B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) method is used in the structure optimization. The B3LYP/6-31G(3df,2p), QCISD(T)/6-3 I G(d,p), and CB S-Q methods are used in single point calculations of total electronic energies. Harmonic vibration frequencies are scaled for zero point energies and thermal corrections. Isodesmic reaction(s) are utilized at each calculation level to determine Δf_H°₂₉₈ of each species. Contributions to S°₂₉₈ and Cp°(T) from …

Reconsidering Restoration, Brian Hoffner

Theses

What does the process of ecological restoration actually produce? For some restoring nature is a point of no contention. By replacing ecosystems that have been damaged by human interference, humans are taking proper responsibility for their actions. However, the environmental ethics community is all but in agreement over humans' obligations to damaged ecosystems. Some in the field claim that it is human's responsibility to perform "wild gardening", through restorations, to "our" environments. While other philosophers insist that these acts produce "faked nature".

This thesis offers a compromise vision of the meaning of restoration. The author uses the concept of Autonomous …

Calibration Of Ysz Sensors For The Measurement Of Oxygen Concentration In Liquid Pb-Bi Eutectic, Xiaolong Wu, Ramkumar Sivaraman, Ning Li, Wei Hang, T. W. Darling, Yingtao Jiang, Woosoon Yim, Bingmei Fu

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

Although liquid lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) is a good candidate for coolant in the subcritical transmutation blanket, it is known to be corrosive to stainless steel, the material of the carrying tubes and containers. Such longterm corrosion problem can be prevented by producing and maintaining a protective oxide layer on the exposed surface of stainless steel. For this purpose, it is required to accurately control the concentration of oxygen dissolved in LBE. Currently, YSZ (Yttria Stabilized Zirconia) oxygen sensors, based on an existing automotive oxygen sensor, with molten bismuth saturated with oxygen as the reference, have been selected for oxygen-concentration measurement. …

An Economic Assessment Of The Potential For Predator Management To Benefit Puerto Rican Parrots, Richard M. Engeman, Stephanie A. Shwiff, Felipe Cano, Bernice Constantin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The Puerto Rican parrot is one of the ten most endangered birds in the world, with the only wild population comprised of 30-40 birds. Predation has been identified as one of the factors limiting Puerto Rican parrot productivity in the wild, and the loss of a very few birds can have a great impact on the species. Management of red-tailed hawks, and black rats, feral cats and Indian mongooses, as well as further management of pearly-eyed thrashers is potentially beneficial to the parrot population. Because funding for the recovery of this rare species is finite, an analytical examination of the …

Species-Rich Plantings Increase Biomass And Nitrogen Accumulation In A Wetland Restoration Experiment, John Callaway, Gary Sullivan, Joy B. Zedler

Environmental Science

Our test of the hypothesis that biomass and nitrogen would increase with more species-rich plantings simultaneously vegetated a salt marsh restoration site and demonstrated that on average, randomly chosen, 6-species plantings accumulated more biomass and nitrogen than the mean for 0- and 1-species assemblages, with the mean for 3-species assemblages being intermediate. In addition, we found that individual species (from the pool of eight native halophytes) differed in their functional capacity, with Salicornia virginica (Sv) and Jaumea carnosa contributing the greatest biomass when planted alone, while Triglochin concinna had the highest tissue N concentrations. When planted alone, Sv accumulated comparable …

State-Space Discretization Of The Kalinin-Milyukov-Nash Cascade In A Sample-Data System Framework For Streamflow Forecasting, Jozsef Szilagyi

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Comment On "A Reappraisal Of The Kalman Filtering Technique As Applied In River Flow Forecasting" By M. Ahsan And K. M. O'Connor, Jozsef Szilagyi

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Sensitivity Analysis Of Aquifer Parameter Estimations Based On The Laplace-Equation With Linearized Boundary Conditions, Jozsef Szilagyi

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.