Digital Commons Network^™

Cost Modeling Of Provision C.3 Green Stormwater Infrastructure Requirements For Residential Development In Concord, California, James Henry Mizutani

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

To assist the city of Concord in achieving its housing goals as presented in its general plan, while still meeting the stormwater discharge requirements laid out in the city’s municipal discharge permit, I worked with local developers and consultants to create a spreadsheet modeling tool that allows housing developers to estimate the total cost of green stormwater infrastructure needed to comply with local regulations.

This report contains a summary of the conditions leading to the necessity of this tool, the steps the tool takes that go beyond existing models, a description of how the model operates, instructions on how to …

Positron Emission Tomography In Oncology And Environmental Science, Samantha Delaney

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The last half century has played witness to the onset of molecular imaging for the clinical assessment of physiological targets. While several medical imaging modalities allow for the visualization of the functional and anatomical properties of humans and living systems, few offer accurate quantitation and the ability to detect biochemical processes with low-administered drug mass doses. This limits how physicians and scientists may diagnose and treat medical issues, such as cancer, disease, and foreign agents.

A promising alternative to extant invasive procedures and suboptimal imaging modalities to assess the nature of a biological environment is the use of positron emission …

Moral Responsibility And Other Visceral Attitudes Of Western Michigan University Students Toward Food Waste, Quinn Heiser

Masters Theses

Despite the large number of people that go hungry on a regular basis in America, food waste remains a looming issue, globally and nationally. Both American college students and the universities themselves contribute a large portion to the national food waste totals. A dichotomy that is especially curious is the difference between students who live on-campus and whose main source of meals is the dining centers, versus students who live off campus and rely mainly on groceries to make meals independently. However, food waste has seldom been studied in the context of the fact that college is a major transition …

Predicting Seagrass Ecosystem Resilience To Marine Heatwave Events Of Variable Duration, Frequency And Re-Occurrence Patterns With Gaps, Paula Sobenko Hatum, Kathryn Mcmahon, Kerrie Mengersen, Kieryn Kilminster, Paul Pao Yen Wu

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Seagrass, a vital primary producer habitat, is crucial for maintaining high biodiversity and offers numerous ecosystem services globally. The increasing severity and frequency of marine heatwaves, exacerbated by climate change, pose significant risks to seagrass meadows. Aims: This study acknowledges the uncertainty and variability of marine heatwave scenarios and aims to aid managers and policymakers in understanding simulated responses of seagrass to different durations, frequencies and recurrence gaps of marine heatwaves. Materials and Methods: Using expert knowledge and observed data, we refined a global Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN) model for a specific case study on Halophila ovalis in Leschenault …

Water Management And Conservation In India Fostering Water Justice: Arguing For Adopting Just Sustainability In Water Governance, Gayathri D Naik Dr, Sanjay Shenoi P

Articles

The water sector is characterised by everyday water injustices where factors like social discrimination, economic disparities, and political preferences influence the determination of water resource access, allocation, and management. The increasing anthropogenic impacts on water resources and consequent threats to sustainability add to the water injustices, often impacting the poorer, socially downtrodden communities that bear the brunt of water scarcity and cannot afford alternatives. The current water governance patterns, prioritising equality over equity, fail to address the issues of water injustices created by social, political, and economic factors in water management and sideline the ecological impacts on water resources. Moving …

Field Implementation And Surveillance Of Gas Injection Enhanced Oil Recovery In The Bakken, Jin Zhao, Lu Jin, Nicholas A. Azzolina, Xincheng Wan, Steven A. Smith, Nicholas W. Bosshart, James A. Sorensen

EERC Publications, Papers, & Presentations

A series of activities were performed in this study to explore real-time visualization, forecasting, and control methods for improved reservoir surveillance during EOR processes.

A Pilot Study On Particulate Matter Concentrations From Cooking And Its Effects On Indoor Air Pollution In A Mexican American Household In Mission, South Texas, Usa, Sai Deepak Pinakana, Carlos Garcia Patlan, Esmeralda Mendez, Amit U. Raysoni

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

This pilot study focuses on particulate matter (PM) while cooking in a South Texan household. Dishes such as Beef, Burger, Fish, Chicken, Egg Sandwich, and Hotdog were prepared. Indoor PM levels were compared with outdoor PM levels. A DustTrak DRX was used to monitor the PM released during the cooking process. PM2.5 levels were highest while cooking beef, 162.79 + 209.62 μg m−3. Hot Dog preparation resulted in the lowest PM2.5 concentration of 27.72 + 5.58 μg m−3. Indoor PM2.5 levels were observed to be greater in contrast to outdoor levels when compared to the outdoor levels (96 words).

Understanding The Impact Of Microplastic Contamination On Soil Quality And Eco-Toxicological Risks In Horticulture: A Comprehensive Review, N. P. Gayathri, Geena Prasad, Vaishna Prabhakaran, Vishnu Priya

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The horticulture sector, essential for global food production, confronts significant challenges with prevalent pollutants, mainly microplastics. The presence of microplastics in the food chain has induced physiological stress and a multifactorial food safety concern. The complexity of the problem, arising from intricate interactions among microplastics, organisms, and ecosystems, poses a substantial challenge to food safety, necessitating an immediate strategic perspective due to the associated risks to human health and eco-toxicology. Significant knowledge gaps persist regarding their impact on terrestrial ecosystems, especially in horticulture. This study addresses the urgent need to comprehend the implications of microplastics on soil health, eco-toxicological risks, …

Remediating History: A Review Of Restoration For Creeks Polluted From Historical Mining Sites, With The Red Boy Mine As A Primary Case Study, Kara Atiyeh

University Honors Theses

I conducted a literature review to examine the key aspects of restoring watersheds affected by pollution from historical mining. This review is then applied to a case study discussion of the Red Boy Mine and Clear Creek remediation project in Granite, Oregon. The goal of this discussion is to explore how an analysis of site conditions along with current literature on management practices can help guide these projects. Thousands of abandoned hard rock mines remain throughout the country, and many pose serious environmental health effects. Heavy metals like cadmium, nickel, and copper are brought to the surface from mining activity, …

Hydroponic Nutrient Solution Temperature Impacts Tulane Virus Persistence Over Time, Gayatri R. Dhulappanavar, Kristen E. Gibson

Food Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Controlled environment agriculture (CEA), or indoor agriculture, encompasses non-traditional farming methods that occur inside climate-controlled structures (e.g., greenhouses, warehouses, high tunnels) allowing for year-round production of fresh produce such as leaf lettuce. However, recent outbreaks and recalls associated with hydroponically grown lettuce contaminated with human pathogens have raised concerns. Few studies exist on the food safety risks during hydroponic cultivation of leaf lettuce; thus, it is important to identify contributing risk factors and potential mitigation strategies to prevent foodborne transmission via hydroponically grown produce. In this study, the concentration of infectious Tulane virus (TV), a human norovirus surrogate, in hydroponic …

High Rates Of Erosion On A Wave-Exposed Fringing Coral Reef, Damian P. Thomson, Shannon Dee, Christopher Doropoulos, Melanie Orr, Shaun K. Wilson, Andrew S. Hoey

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Erosion is a key process in shaping the physical structure of coral reefs, yet due to erosion being semi-cryptic and difficult to quantify, information remains limited. Here, we investigate erosional processes along Ningaloo Reef, an extensive fringing coral reef in Western Australia. We employed both direct and indirect methods to measure erosion in wave-exposed reef slopes and protected lagoonal habitats. Direct measurements of erosion on coral blocks were among the highest found globally, with total erosion of 3.07 kg m−2 yr−1 (4% from micro, 0.6% from macro, and 94% from external), whilst indirect rates were estimated at 2.4 ± 0.20 …

Agricultural Groundcover Update May 2024, Justin Laycock

Natural resources published reports

• In May, over 9% (1,410,000 ha) of the arable farmland in the south-west of Western Australia had less than 50% vegetative groundcover, which is inadequate to prevent wind erosion.
• Northern grainbelt had the highest risk of wind erosion and over 26% of this farmland had inadequate groundcover, predominantly found on landscapes known for sandy soils.
• About 1.3% (208,900 ha) of arable land had a high to very high risk of wind erosion because groundcover was less than 30%. Half of this land was in the West Midlands Ag Soil Zone.

Agricultural Groundcover Update April 2024, Justin Laycock

Natural resources published reports

• In April, over 12% (1,876,000 ha) of the arable farmland in the south-west of Western Australia had less than 50% vegetative groundcover, which is inadequate to prevent wind erosion.
• Northern grainbelt had the highest risk of wind erosion and over 26% of this farmland had inadequate groundcover, predominantly found on landscapes known for sandy soils.
• About 1.5% (238,900 ha) of arable land had a high to very high risk of wind erosion because groundcover was less than 30%.

Amino-Modified Upcycled Biochar Achieves Selective Chromium Removal In Complex Aqueous Matrices, Kenneth Flores, Diego F. Gonzalez, Helia Magali Morales, Arnulfo Mar, Sergi Garcia-Segura, Jorge L. Gardea-Torresdey, Jason Parsons

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Chromium pollution of groundwater sources is a growing global issue, which correlates with various anthropogenic activities. Remediation of both the Cr(VI) and Cr(III), via adsorption technologies, has been championed in recent years due to ease of use, minimal energy requirements, and the potential to serve as a highly sustainable remediation technology. In the present study, a biochar sorbent sourced from pineapple skins, allowed for the upcycling of agricultural waste into water purification technology. The biochar material was chemically modified, through a green amination method, to produce an efficient and selective adsorbent for the removal of both Cr(VI) and Cr(III) from …

Santa Maria Climate Action Plan Recommendations: Building Energy And Transportation, Thomas Zimmerman, Elena Blewett

City and Regional Planning

The Santa Maria Climate Action Plan Recommendations addresses GHG emissions reduction for the largest sectors in the City of Santa Maria- Building Energy and Transportation. The project includes GHG forecasts and reduction targets from the City’s Draft 2020 Community-Wide Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report. The reduction targets are met through a series of actionable measures to help the City meet aggressive reduction targets by 2030 and 2045.

An Index Of Biotic Integrity For Macroinvertebrate Stream Bioassessment Conducted By Community Scientists, Patrick M. Edwards, Daniel Bedell, Shannon Hubler, Chad A. Larson, Kate H. Macneale, Elisa Mickelson, Chris Prescott, Elinore Webb, Jo Wilhelm

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Community science bioassessment has great potential to inform comprehensive stream management plans, but regional analytical tools are needed to evaluate macroinvertebrate data collected through community science programs. To this end, we modified a pre-existing professional index of biotic integrity (IBI) to create a community science IBI (CS-IBI), designed for stream macroinvertebrate data collected by community scientists with minimal training. We used data collected by both professional and community scientists to develop, calibrate, and validate the CS-IBI at 76 streamsites in the Puget Lowland andWillamette Valley ecoregions of the PacificNorthwest in theUnited States. Community science data were taxonomically coarser andmore variable …

Grazing Annual Pastures – Using Feed On Offer (Foo) As A Guide, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Animal production and livestock factsheets

Grazing management in winter and spring in South West Western Australia (SW WA) can manipulate the quality, quantity and composition of pasture. These pasture changes can increase livestock feed efficiency and productivity, reduce insect populations and improve pasture persistence. Seasonal grazing based on feed on offer (FOO) is described here to maximise stocking rate and pasture production.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development recommends using feed measurements and feed budgeting to increase productivity and reduce livestock health risks.

The Cultivation Of Ulva Lactuca In Jambiani, Zanzibar: A Case Study, Jazmine R. Compton

Anthós

This case study explores the feasibility of Ulva lactuca cultivation in Jambiani, Zanzibar, Tanzania. The seaweed farming industry in Zanzibar is facing challenges related to climate change that have resulted in increased rates of crop failure and decreased production. Cultivation of the green algae Ulva lactuca has been suggested as a potential solution due to its tolerance to extreme environmental conditions. In collaboration with Marine Cultures, this project has tested different cultivation methods typically used for red algae (Rhodophyta) species. Experimental plots of Ulva lactuca were established in Jambiani, Zanzibar using the floating line and off- bottom methods. At the …

Quality And Establishment Of Some Water-Conserving Turfgrass Species For Sustainable Development And Some Ecosystem Services In Arid Urban Environments, Fatemeh Kazemi, Mahmood Reza Golzarian, Seyedeh Maliheh Rabbani Kheir Khah

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Turfgrasses are essential landscape plants with social, environmental, and aesthetic services for urban ecosystems. However, more is needed to know how to establish them so that they can benefit from their ecosystem services in urban environments. This research examined some quality and morphological and physiological factors for the establishment and social and environmental service assessment of three warm-season turfgrasses, including Kikuyu grass (Pennisetum clandestinum), bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon), and buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloides), compared to the cool-season grass of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.). The experiment was split-plot in time, based on a randomized complete block design with eight replications. …

Using Bayesian Multispecies Models To Evaluate Fish And Invertebrate Detection Probability And Distribution In The Hypersaline Bahia Grande Tidal Basin, Roy M. Ulibarri, Catherine M. Eckert, David Hicks, David Montagne, Brandon Jones, David R. Stewart

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Objective

In 2000, the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge acquired the Bahia Grande (Texas) management unit, a space that had lain barren and arid for 70 years. A large cooperative partnership launched a restoration project to replenish the basin and recover its original tidal hydrology. In 2005, the construction of a pilot channel successfully restored water throughout the basin, and plans to eventually widen the channel were developed. Our study aims to evaluate an estuarine habitat restoration by assessing ecological drivers and the impacts on species diversity.

Methods

We evaluated species richness, detection/occupancy rates, and species–habitat relationships, and we estimated …

Hydrological Analysis Of Post-Fire Responses Within The Little Creek Watershed Of Swanton Pacific Ranch, Alexander Jeffrey Wiens

Master's Theses

Climate change and a growing wildland-urban interface are associated with an increase in the number and severity of wildfires. While severe wildfires do cause a costly and dangerous impact on the environment and the public, their after-effects comprise important subjects of study. In post-fire hydrologic studies, the reduced infiltration and plant cover that results from wildfires can commonly be associated with increased peakflows and erosion. Phenomena such as the flooding and debris flows in Montecito after the Thomas Fire in late 2017 can have important implications on infrastructure and human lives. Quantifying post-fire peak flows and flooding volumes has therefore …

Securing Tomorrow: Synergizing Change Management And Cybersecurity In The Digital Era, Sharon L. Burton

Publications

In the rapidly evolving business environment of 2024, organizational change management (OCM) leaders face unprecedented challenges driven by technological advancements, digital transformation, the integration of remote work, and a heightened focus on sustainability. This study examines the efficacy of traditional OCM models in addressing these modern complexities. Through a qualitative methodology employing an extensive literature review, the research identifies vital issues such as resistance to change, digital transformation imperatives, the shift to remote and hybrid work models, and the imperative for sustainable and ethical business practices. The study posits that while classical OCM frameworks offer foundational insights, there is a …

Berkeley Pit And Discharge Pilot Project Discharge System Operations Assurance Plan 2024 Update, Revision 1, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc., Wsp Environment & Infrastructure, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Nurturing Youth Climate Action: A Blue Carbon Perspective, Thomas Menkhoff, Chuen Kong Kevin Cheong

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

It was announced at the COP27 Climate Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt) in November 2022 that Amazon and Conservation International (with support from the Singapore Economic Development Board) will establish an International Blue Carbon Institute in Singapore. As Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, Grace Fu rightly pointed out during the launch in the Singapore Pavilion that “South-east Asia, with its vast stretches of mangroves and coastal ecosystems, has tremendous potential for blue carbon initiatives that will also support environmental protection, biodiversity conservation, and livelihoods and heritage of local communities” (The Straits Times, New blue carbon institute to be launched …

The Effect Of Carbon Pricing On Firm Performance: Worldwide Evidence, Tinghua Duan, Frank Weikai Li, Hong Zhang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Economists recommend combating climate change with carbon pricing; however, a major block to pricing emissions is concerns about economic costs. This paper examines the impacts of carbon pricing initiatives on the operating performance and market value of publicly listed firms around the world. Using the staggered enactment of carbon pricing initiatives across jurisdictions and a triple difference approach, we find a significant reduction in the profitability and value of carbon-intensive firms relative to low-emission firms after the enactment of carbon pricing policies. The reduction in firm profits is driven by both a decrease in sales growth and an increase in …

Assessing Impact Of Urban Densification On Outdoor Microclimate And Thermal Comfort Using Envi-Met Simulations For Combined Spatial-Climatic Design (Cscd) Approach, Shreya Banerjee, Rachel X.Y. Pek, Sin Kang Yik, Graces N. Ching, Xiang Tian Ho, Dzyuban Yuliya, Peter J. Crank, Juan A. Acero, Winston T. L. Chow

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Future urban planning requires context-specific integration of spatial design and microclimate especially for tropical cities with extreme weather conditions. Thus, we propose a Combined Spatial-Climatic Design approach to assess impact of urban densification on annual outdoor thermal comfort performance employing ENVI-met simulations for Singapore. We first consider building bylaws and residential site guidelines to develop eight urban-density site options for a target population range. We further classify annual weather data into seven weather-types and use them as boundary conditions for the simulations. Comparing such fifty-six combined spatial-climatic simulation outputs by analyzing Outdoor Thermal Comfort Autonomy, we report the influence of …

Draft Final Bpsou Unreclaimed Sites Anderson Shaft Remedial Action Work Plan (Rawp), Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Berkeley Pit And Discharge Pilot Project Downstream Field Sampling Plan 2024 Update, Revision 1, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

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

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

A Molecular Dynamics Study On The Destruction Mechanism Of Per And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Due To Ultrasound Technology, Bruno Bezerra De Souza

Dissertations

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of stable synthetic chemicals that are highly persistent and harmful pollutants to the environment and human health. PFAS have caused a strong public and regulatory response due to their ubiquitous presence in the environment and toxicity to humans. The application of ultrasound is one of the most effective treatment technologies for the mineralization of PFAS in contaminated water. However, this technology is treated as a black box causing the inability to be optimized. Therefore, there is a pressing need to investigate the intricate dynamics of PFAS degradation under ultrasound to unlock its …