Digital Commons Network^™

Application Of Artificial Neural Network Algorithms For Irrigation Scheduling, Lisa Umutoni

All Dissertations

Neural networks have been extensively used in predicting soil water tension for improved irrigation scheduling and management. However, their lack of interpretability constrains their efficacy in grasping the nuanced patterns prevalent in soil water tension time series data. The first goal of this research was to develop interpretable deep neural network models for soil water tension prediction across multiple soil depths (0.15m, 0.3m, 0.46m and 0.6m) and prediction horizons (1h, 6h, and 12h). The Neural Hierarchical Interpolation for Time Series (N-HiTS) and Neural Basis Expansion Analysis Time Series (N-BEATS) models were used in this research. Historical soil water tension data …

Revised Draft Final Butte Treatment Lagoons (Btl) Groundwater Treatment System Routine Operations, Maintenance, And Monitoring (Om&M) Plan, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Final Quarterly Operations And Maintenance Report Butte Treatment Lagoon System – Third Quarter 2022, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Monsoon Variability On The Circulation Of The Near-Surface Indian Ocean And The Depth-Integrated Chlorophyll, Marufa Ishaque

OES Theses and Dissertations

The Indian Ocean experiences a strong semiannual reversal of monsoon winds, which determines the weather and climate of Asia, including freshwater fluxes between the atmosphere, land, and ocean. Studies and model projections suggest that the timing and intensity of the seasonal monsoon have already started to change, with more dramatic changes likely in the future. However, the impact of these changes on the Indian Ocean circulation system, including the inter-basin salt/freshwater transport between the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, remains unclear. To better understand how monsoon variability affects Indian Ocean circulation patterns, a Regional Ocean Modeling System simulation …

Urbanisation And Specifically Impervious Cover Alter Riparian Plant Communities In A Rapidly Urbanising Landscape In The Himalayas, Karma Jamtsho, Mark A. Lund, David Blake, Eddie Van Etten

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Impervious covers, such as roads, pavements, buildings, and parking lots, prevent water infiltration, thereby increasing surface runoff. The expansion of impervious cover along riverbanks in urban areas poses a significant threat to riparian ecosystems by altering species diversity and composition through hydrological changes. As dynamic ecosystems at the interface between aquatic and terrestrial environments, riparian areas play a crucial role in aquatic ecology, particularly in terms of biodiversity, bank stability, nutrient dynamics, and hydrological processes. Employing plot-based floristic sampling, this study investigated the effects of urbanisation, particularly impervious cover (quantified as PTIA, Percentage of Total Impervious Area), on riparian plant …

Incorporating Ecosystem Service Assessments Into Development Planning − Impact From A Dredging Project In South Australia On Seagrass, Sam Gaylard, Rachel Colella, Matt Nelson, Paul Lavery, Michelle Waycott

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Major infrastructure development is required for economic development and to improve human well-being, however conflict exists between developers and the community. Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is used in over 100 countries to evaluate potential impacts of major developments across environment, economy, and social benchmarks. However, EIA has been criticized for a lack of transparency and accountability, lack of consultation or participation and inadequate science. An ecosystem service assessment (ESA) recognizes the links between the environment and the socio-economic environment, resulting in a more holistic evaluation of potential impacts and effective community consultation. Despite this, its inclusion within EIA's is rare. …

Final Quarterly Operations And Maintenance Report Butte Treatment Lagoon System – Third Quarter 2023, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Final Quarterly Operations And Maintenance Report Butte Treatment Lagoon System – Fourth Quarter 2023, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Final Quarterly Operations And Maintenance Report Butte Treatment Lagoon System – Second Quarter 2023, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Revised Draft Final Quarterly Operations And Maintenance Report Butte Treatment Lagoon System – Second Quarter 2024, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Do Themes Improve Visitor Outcomes In Interpretive Programs?, Amber K. Hawes

All Theses

Thematic interpretation is widely promoted as being integral to an effective interpretive program. Some studies have suggested that thematic interpretation may enhance visitor outcomes; however, park visitor demographics have changed over the last decade, and others have suggested alternative approaches. In this study, we systematically observed live interpretive programs at 330 programs at 52 National Parks across the United States, monitored the extent and characteristics of theme usage, and collected visitor surveys immediately following each program. We used these data to determine the influence of the presence and characteristics of themes and theme questions on visitor outcomes. The results suggest …

Life Cycle Assessment Of The Cultivation Of Lettuce In A Hydroponic System Using The Nutrient Film Technique, Raquel Jordan

All Theses

Hydroponic systems are an emerging method of soilless crop cultivation typically done inside a greenhouse where nutrients are delivered dissolved in water rather than being supplied from the soil. Potential benefits of hydroponic systems include reduced irrigation requirements, higher crop yield per area, and the ability to grow crops year-round in nontraditional areas such as urban settings, cold climates, and sites with contaminated soil. However, hydroponic systems tend to have high energy requirements for lighting and climate control, which can yield significant environmental impacts. To explore the environmental impacts of cultivating lettuce in a nutrient film technique (NFT) hydroponic system, …

Small Stream Restoration In The Piedmont Of South Carolina: Comparison Of Evaluation Tools And Water Quality’S Effects On Salamanders, Camryn Lachica

All Theses

For many years, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) used the Guidelines for Preparing a Compensatory Mitigation Plan worksheets to guide pre-restoration evaluation and determine post-restoration mitigation credits in South Carolina. Recently, the USACE in South Carolina transitioned to the Stream Quantification Tool (SQT), which provides a more comprehensive assessment framework. Our first objective was to compare these assessment methodologies across different landscape types to determine what the SQT adds to mitigation calculations that were not considered in prior worksheets. We evaluated 16 streams in the Piedmont of South Carolina, with four replicates each of forested, suburban, urban, …

Heat Storage Using High Temperature Borehole Heat Exchangers, Jack Horvath

All Theses

The use of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power is growing, and with it comes an increased need to store excess energy when it is generated and release it on demand. Moderate temperature thermal energy storage in the subsurface is widely used to heat buildings, but high temperatures, greater than 120℃, are required to power generators that convert stored heat to electricity. High temperature heat can be generated from solar collectors or other means and then transferred to the subsurface using borehole heat exchangers (BHE). A BHE consists of a closed-loop pipe system used to circulate a …

Assessment Of Estuarine Respiration And Benthic Nutrient Fluxes In Mississippi Sound, Nur Pasha Sufian

Master's Theses

This study quantified seasonal and spatial variability of both water column and benthic respiration rates as well as benthic nutrient fluxes along the Mississippi Sound. Respiration was measured in recirculating incubation chambers using Firesting optical DO sensors (PyroScience GmbH), and changes in nutrient concentrations were assessed. Mean water column respiration rates ranged from 0.35 and 2.76 µM O₂ hr⁻¹, with the lowest rates in the winter and the highest in the summer while detectable nutrient concentrations (ammonium, (NH₄⁺), and soluble reactive phosphate (PO₄³⁻)) showed only slight decreases (< 1 µM) over all seasons. Sediment incubation chambers consistently had much greater oxygen declines than the water incubations and showed seasonal trends with the highest mean respiration rates measured in the summer and the lowest mean in the winter, with a range from 107.4 to 1514.9 µmol O₂ m⁻² hr⁻¹ (2.6 to 36.3 mmol O₂ m⁻² d⁻¹). Sediment incubations consistently showed increases in NH₄⁺ concentrations in the overlying water, resulting in calculated NH₄⁺ benthic flux rates of 0.73 to 379.01 µM N m⁻² hr⁻¹ with the lowest rates in the winter and highest rates in the summer. Although PO₄³⁻ concentrations were often below detection in cooler seasons, PO₄³⁻ flux also peaked during the summer (< 28.8 µmol P m⁻² hr⁻¹). In this study, temperature was a key regulator for estuarine respiration and benthic nutrient flux rates, and these rates were positively correlated with porewater nutrient concentrations and sedimentary organic matter. These findings illustrate that benthic respiration can contribute to water column hypoxia and that sediments serve as a source of nutrients to the water column. Overall, these findings provide us with valuable insight about the seasonal coupling of oxygen demand and nutrient flux in the Mississippi Sound and provide valuable baseline data for future biogeochemical modelling of hypoxia, eutrophication, and productivity.

Flooding: Risk Assessment And Its Interaction With Population & Environmental Health, Shivendra Srivastava

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Flood events have significant implications for both population and environmental health. This dissertation aims to explore flood risk and its interaction with humans and the environment. The key questions addressed in this dissertation include improving the existing flood risk framework to better assess population vulnerability and associated risk. Additionally, it explores how interactions among risk components vary across spatial scales and regions, and how these variations influence overall flood risk. The dissertation also investigates how to design a vulnerability component specific to flooding within flood risk estimation. Finally, it answers whether flood-specific vulnerability differs for a population compared to vulnerability …

On The Origin Of Green Finance Policies, Theodor Florian Cojoianu, D. French, Andrea G. F. Hoepner, Sheenan L., Anh Vu

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Despite the rising number of green finance policies, the socioeconomic determinants shaping them remain largely unexamined. Drawing from the literature analysing the relationship between regulation, market development and institutional economics, we contend that green finance policy adoption is driven by both market-based and institutional factors. Using a survival analysis approach to understand the levers influencing green finance policy adoption across 188 countries from 2000 to 2019, we find that exposure to the fossil fuel industry predominantly drives the initial issuance of green finance policies. The positive effect of fossil fuel commercial financing on the adoption of green finance policies exists …

Health And Weather In Unfavourable Environments: Exploring The Historical Dynamics Of Colonial Medical Meteorology In Nineteenth-Century Tropical Asia, Fiona Williamson

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Medical meteorology had a long precedent in medical thought across Eastern and Western traditions. This article considers the tradition of medical meteorology that was favoured by Western doctors in the nineteenth century, which was often applied within colonial contexts to the understanding of new climates and how they might impact on human health. Looking at British-held tropical and sub-tropical colonies of the Straits Settlements and Hong Kong respectively, medical meteorology was stimulated by the new pathological and atmospheric conditions that European explorers and settlers now inhabited in the name of the British Empire. They brought with them concepts of disease …

Ocean-Ice Sheet Interactions During Super-Interglacial Mis 31: Comparison Of Rock Magnetic Records From The Scotia Sea (59.1°S) And Fram Strait (76.5°N), Olga Libman-Roshal

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT) was a period spanning ~1.2-0.7 Ma when glacial-interglacial cyclicity changed from 41 kyr obliquity paced to 100 kyr eccentricity paced cycles with increased glacial-interglacial contrast post-MPT. Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 31 was a “super-interglacial” within the MPT and occurred in the recent geological past (1.08-1.06 Ma). During MIS 31, the tectonic configuration resembled the present day, but Earth’s orbital parameters were marked by maximum values of eccentricity and obliquity while atmospheric CO2 remained at pre-industrial levels (below 280 ppm). MIS 31 therefore offers a valuable baseline for testing the impacts of modern anthropogenic CO2 levels combined …

Assessing Effectiveness Of Runnel Restoration In New England Salt Marsh Habitats, David M. Burdick, Grant Mckown, Gregg Moore, Jenny Gibson, Wenley Ferguson, John Herbert, Nancy Pau, Susan Adamowicz, Geoff Wilson

Faculty Publications

Rising sea levels that increase flooding in salt marshes recovering from hydrologic impairments is reducing nesting habitat for salt marsh sparrows. Abandonment of colonial farming practices (1600s through 1900s) has resulted in large, waterlogged basins characterized by shallow depressions (pannes) dominated by short-form Spartina alterniflora and unvegetated megapools that are subsiding. A relatively new technique designed to provide regular tidal flooding and drainage to the waterlogged basins that have formed on the marsh is runnelling – creation of shallow hydrologic features on the marsh surface. Will runnels result in revegetation of pannes and pools with productive perennial grasses that are …

Highly Contaminated Sediments From The Gowanus Canal (New York) Superfund Site: An Environmental Forensic Approach, Michael A. Kruge, Kevin K. Olsen, Eric A Stern, Maria Mastalerz, Albert Permanyer

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The 2.5 km long Gowanus Canal (Brooklyn, NY, USA) is a severely contaminated urban waterway dating from the mid-19th century, listed as a US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Superfund site since 2010. Applying an environmental forensics approach to the extensive USEPA data set, we detect systematic variations in parent PAH ring number distributions in the canal sediments, as well as an extraordinary enrichment in organic carbon. We subjected a supplemental sample set to a more detailed analysis by quantitative pyrolysis-GC-MS, Rock-Eval pyrolysis, and organic petrology. With these sensitive methods, we can confirm the alkyl-PAH fingerprint of coal tar (a legacy …

Re: Comment Letter For Clark Tailings Consolidated Waste Management Area (Ctcwma) Site Investigation Quality Assurance Project Plan Revision 01 (Dated June 6, 2025), Emma Rott

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Tackling Data Quality Challenges In Remote Sensing: Solutions For Reliable Urban Heat Island Analysis, Wei Xia, Aqil Tariq, Hesham El-Askary, Rana Waqar Aslam, Elgar Barboza, Dmitry E. Kucher, Youssef M. Youssef, Habib Kraiem

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Urban heat islands (UHIs) pose critical challenges to public health, energy demand, and environmental sustainability, particularly in rapidly expanding urban regions. This study examines the complex relationship between building configurations and integrated green spaces, as well as their combined impact on thermal regulation. It focuses on addressing data quality issues commonly encountered in remote sensing applications. Using high-resolution multispectral and thermal imagery, we developed an integrated modeling approach that captures the collective influence of built form and green infrastructure on urban microclimates. A key finding is the significant linear inverse relationship between green space coverage and land surface temperature, underscoring …

Green Innovation: Optimizing The Potential Of Plastic Waste As An Alternative To Fossil Fuels, Hani Alfiyani, Evi Gusmayanti, Nelly Wahyuni

Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development

Plastic bag waste has the potential to be converted into alternative fuel oil through the pyrolysis method. This study applies the principle of thermal pyrolysis, conducted without oxygen, at the Edelweis Integrated Waste Management Site. The purpose is to analyze the characteristics of fuel oil derived from plastic bag waste based on parameters such as density, viscosity, calorific value, and acid number, as well as to estimate the potential fuel oil yield from plastic bag waste in Pontianak City. The results show that the density, viscosity, and calorific value of the produced fuel oil meet or closely approach standard requirements. …

Revised Draft Final Uniform Federal Policyquality Assurance Project Plan, Hydrogeologic, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Adaptive Crop Switching For Irrigated Agriculture In Response To Climate Change In The Western U.S., Shahryar Fazli, Wenzhao Li, Surendra Maharjan, Rejoice Thomas, Aqil Tariq, Hesham El-Askary

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Adaptive irrigation strategies are crucial for balancing water use, economic viability, and food security in the arid Western United States. However, as a key indicator vital in regulating agricultural productivity and crop irrigation, water use efficiency (WUEc) is becoming increasingly complex to estimate due to climate change. This study explores the critical role of key meteorological drivers, such as maximum temperature (tmax) and vapor pressure deficit (vpd), and their impacts on crop-specific WUEc. Future impacts are also assessed through integrating machine learning models with climate projections from the CMIP6 framework under SSP2–4.5 and SSP5–8.5 scenarios to forecast WUEc trends from …

Reviving The Lost Art: Historical Foundations And Future Pathways For Bespoke Service In Luxury Retail, Andrew Burnstine

Faculty and Staff Publications & Presentations

The mid-20th century witnessed a zenith of deeply personalized, bespoke service within iconic luxury specialty retailers. This paper critically analyzes the foundational principles of this historical bespoke service model, extending Service-Dominant (S-D) Logic and retail evolution theory, to propose a robust framework for its modern revival. Employing a rigorous qualitative, multiple-case study approach, grounded in extensive historical and media analysis of four archetypal American and British luxury boutiques, and uniquely informed by an insider-ethnographic perspective on the central case exemplar ("Martha's"), the study distills six core principles: Profound Client Knowledge, Visionary Curation & Styling, Anticipatory & Proactive Service, The Exclusive …

Datasets Associated With Caballero Et Al. (2025): Sentinel-3 Coastal Analysis Ready Data (S3card): An Operational Framework For Coastal Water Applications, Cassia B. Caballero, Vitor S. Martins, Rejane S. Paulino, Thainara M. A. Lima, Elliott Butler, Eric Sparks

Research Data

This dataset provides access to twelve .zip archives containing pre-processed tiles from the S3CARD (Sentinel-3 Coastal Analysis Ready Data) framework. Each archive corresponds to a 2.5° × 2.5° coastal grid that includes an AERONET-OC (Aerosol Robotic Network – Ocean Color) station used for validation in Caballero et al. (2025). The data include atmospherically corrected, glint- and adjacency-corrected surface reflectance images derived from Sentinel-3 OLCI imagery.

Each tile includes:

- 21-band surface reflectance images in GeoTIFF format (valid water pixels only)

- Metadata files with acquisition geometry and processing details

These datasets support reproducibility and enable users to evaluate the S3CARD …

The Nature Of Anthropogenically Driven River Drying: Spatiotemporal Causes And Consequences, Eliza Inez Gilbert

Biology ETDs

Streambed drying naturally occurs in over 60% of rivers and streams worldwide. Climate change and human regulation of surface and groundwater have increased drying in naturally intermittent systems and caused perennial systems to transition to intermittency, impacting water security, water quality, and biodiversity. To understand human-induced drying dynamics, we used 12 years of daily drying data along a 154-km regulated reach of the Rio Grande. We conceptualized river drying as a regime analogous to the natural flow regime paradigm and quantified drying magnitude, rate of change, and duration. Although linear models predicting drying magnitude and rate of change were uninterpretable, …

High Spatial Resolution Crop Type And Land Use Land Cover Classification Without Labels: A Framework Using Multi-Temporal Planetscope Images And Variational Bayesian Gaussian Mixture Model, Minh Tri Le

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Previous studies often combined high spatial resolution data (e.g., PlanetScope) with wider spectral range data (e.g., Sentinel-2) and relied on supervised classification methods to produce land use and land cover (LULC) maps. This study proposed a new unsupervised framework to generate crop type and LULC maps at high spatial resolution (< 5 m) using available PlanetScope data solely without requiring ground truths. We used PlanetScope surface reflectance images and their derived spectral indices during growing seasons to create multi-temporal input features, which were fed into an unsupervised Variational Bayesian Gaussian Mixture Model (VBGMM). The VBGMM, unlike the traditional unsupervised classification methods, (1) first estimated optimal parameters that are most suitable based on the input features and then (2) assigned pixels to the cluster with maximum posteriori probability of a mixture of several Gaussian distributions. The crop type and LULC maps were then generated by labeling the derived clusters using the best possible assignment method, referring to the existing crop type or LULC products. We evaluated the produced PlanetScope-based crop type and LULC maps using true labels, corresponding reference maps, and other unsupervised classification methods. The results demonstrated the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed framework in mapping crop types and LULC at 3–5 m pixels across various ecosystems, climate zones, and human-managed landscapes. The spatial patterns of PlanetScope-based maps were (1) highly comparable with all the reference datasets at 10–30 m spatial resolution and (2) better than the traditional GMM and K-means clustering methods. The VBGMM produced classification maps with high confidence, yielding class probabilities above 0.9 for over 90 % of all study areas. The area percentage for all crop type and LULC classes agreed well with their reference maps, with R2 of 0.95 and RMSE of 1.04 %. The confusion matrices using true labels indicated that PlanetScope-based maps achieved a higher overall accuracy of 84 % than the supervised referenced maps of 81 %. Besides, the entropy comparison showed that our framework-based maps were better at capturing fine-scale features such as developed areas within cities that commonly mix with open space and vegetation, deforestation and cropland conversion in South America, smallholder croplands in Africa and Asia, and generating homogeneous crop fields in North America. This study further highlighted the potential for future research to implement our proposed framework to generate timely and extensive annotated datasets, which can be used for operationally training machine learning models to map crop types and LULC, track deforestation, detect wildfires, and delineate flooded areas at larger scales using medium/coarse Earth observations.