Digital Commons Network^™

Solid Waste Management In Greater Khartoum City, Sudan, Roba Mahmoud

Student Theses 2015-Present

This study investigates the rising solid waste management (SWM) dilemma in Greater Khartoum City (GKC), a critical environmental and public health issue caused by fast urbanization and inadequate infrastructure, with historical linkages to Sudan's colonial and postcolonial growth. Chapter 1 describes the current problem using quantitative and qualitative data, demonstrating that GKC produces approximately 3,340 tons of waste each day, with 56% organic matter, 8% plastics, and 16% paper. Collection efficiency remains severely poor, at 31.5%. Informal recyclers known as Nakasha or Barkata collect approximately 7% of total waste, supporting roughly 3,900 people, whereas filthy open dumps and unsorted medical …

Novel Use Of Ped-Xrf For Identification Of Ccr In Fill Units And Comingled Media, Charla Barnes, Harris Byers, Eric Hageman

World of Coal Ash Proceedings

The EPA CCR Legacy Rule requires utilities to identify any areas of land on which noncontainerized accumulation of CCR is received, is placed, or is otherwise managed. While performing preliminary delineation efforts for implementation of the Legacy Rule, it has become apparent that not all encountered materials are easily identified through visual means. Depending on unit location, previous uses of the land underlying the potential CCR Management Units, and the type of native soils present, there may be uncertainty if an encountered material is CCR, native soil, or another non-CCR material. In cases where the color/texture of CCR fill is …

Red Lines, Green Blooms: Assessing The Effects Of Historical Environmental Disparity On Algal Communities In The Twin Cities, Mn, Georgia C. Akins

Environmental Studies Honors Projects

Redlining, a discriminatory housing policy from the 1930s, shaped lastng urban inequalites that may extend to environmental conditons. This study examines links between redlining and urban water quality in the Twin Cites using algal communites as indicators. Across 28 water bodies sampled in 2022 and 2024, physical, chemical, and biological metrics were compared by redlining grade. Results show limited relatonships between redlining and most variables, with only surface water temperature differing significantly. Nutrients and algal diversity were unrelated to redlining, instead reflectng present-day conditons. These findings suggest contemporary factors play a stronger role than redlining in shaping urban freshwater ecosystems.

Fossil-Fuels In A Decarbonized Country? Modeling The Drivers Of Icelandic Oil Sales, Inbal Armony

Environmental Studies Honors Projects

Although 100% of Iceland’s electricity comes from renewable energy sources, it still relies on fossil fuels for land transportation, marine transportation, aviation, and some industry. Understanding geographic nuances in oil use is critical to achieving Iceland’s goals of carbon neutrality by 2040. As the island has one primary urban center with two thirds of the population, information is lacking about oil use in non-Capital areas and a gap between state and municipal climate plans. Using newly available data of oil sales at the municipality-level in a Small Area Estimation model, we analyze drivers of oil sales across Icelandic municipalities. We …

Open Space Management Planning: A Framework And Case Study From Eagle Mountain City, Utah, Nathan K. Shumway

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Open Space Management Plans (OSMPs) are increasingly used by municipalities to guide the long-term stewardship of natural lands; however, little formal guidance exists regarding how these plans are structured, developed, or organized in practice. While numerous OSMPs are publicly available, their compositional logic, procedural workflows, and thematic priorities remain largely undocumented within academic literature. This study addresses that gap through a qualitative document analysis of fifteen publicly accessible OSMPs from the western United States, published between 2015 and 2024.

Using manual matrix-based coding in Microsoft Excel, each plan was analyzed through three lenses: structural composition, procedural development, and thematic content. …

The Cobalt Curse: Cobalt’S Role And Risks, Marley Jackowitz

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper examines the hidden environmental, geopolitical, economic, and social costs of the cobalt supply chain. Fueled by the demand for battery technology and electric vehicles, cobalt has become an essential element to the green energy transition. With the largest share of global cobalt deposits, the Democratic Republic of the Congo bears a disproportionate share of the industry’s harms. Cobalt mining in the DRC is marked by environmentally degrading practices and inhumane working conditions, compromising Congolese health, safety, and well-being. Chapter 1 discusses the environmental impacts of DRC cobalt mining and its adverse effects on public health. Environmentally degrading mining …

Urban Heat Mitigation In Newark, New Jersey Using Remote Sensing And Spatial Analysis, Ama Akowa Rhule

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This study examines urban heat patterns in Newark, New Jersey, using remote sensing and spatial analytics to support targeted mitigation strategies. Land Surface Temperature (LST) was derived from a Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager/Thermal Infrared Sensor (OLI/TIRS) scene acquired on July 28, 2025, representing a summer snapshot of surface thermal conditions. While urban heat island effects are typically considered long-term climatic phenomena, this study uses a single-date observation to capture spatial variability in temperature across the city. Land cover variables, including tree canopy and impervious surface fractions, were obtained from the National Land Cover Database (NLCD), and demographic variables, including …

Mineralogy, Geology, And Geochemistry Of The Mcafee Quarries And Greater Mcafee Area, Sussex County, New Jersey, Cristian J. Van Rossen

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The Franklin Marble is one of North America’s most famous geologic units, a result of its complex geology, diverse mineralogy, and significant ore deposits. While it has been widely studied, a location that has received little attention is that of the quarries at McAfee, Vernon Township, NJ. This study addresses this oversight by investigating the mineralogy, geology, and geochemistry of the marble and associated geologic units found in the area. Sample analysis consisted of physical and optical analysis as well as chemical analysis using SEM-EDS. Geochemical analysis using ICP-MS allowed for major, trace, and rare earth element concentrations of select …

Resilience By Living With The Land And Community: A Case Study Of A Local Food Forest, Olivia Beck

Honors Theses

Imagine a public space where food, leisure, outdoor activity, and community engagement occur in one place, all in an urban forest ecosystem. For many, this is a hopeful vision of the future, and that is exactly what the idea of an urban food forest provides. In agroecology, a food forest or forest garden consists of planting diverse edible plants and mimicking the patterns of natural ecosystems. The intricate planning and design ensure the forest is self-sustaining, much like a natural forest, making it very resilient once established. However, they face many challenges and take time to grow and develop to …

Hvsr-Based Resonance Analysis And Fault Zone Characterization In The El Paso Region, Alexandro Dominguez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR) analysis offers an efficient method for characterizing near-surface structure, resolving sediment thickness, and identifying fault-controlled basin geometry in regions with strong impedance contrasts. This study applies HVSR techniques to continuous ambient-noise recordings collected across the El Paso region, a tectonically active segment of the southern Rio Grande Rift where accurate subsurface mapping is essential for seismic hazard assessment. Ambient-noise windows were processed, spectrally smoothed, and stacked to obtain stable HVSR curves, from which fundamental resonance frequencies and corresponding sediment-thickness estimates were derived. Spatial patterns in these resonance frequencies reveal pronounced basin asymmetry, abrupt lateral …

Integrating Incentive Design And Spatial Prioritization For Climate-Smart Forestry Adoption In South Carolina, United States, Miah Maye Pormon

All Dissertations

Forests provide essential ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, water regulation, timber production, and habitat provision. However, increasing development pressures and land-use changes threaten forest persistence and long-run ecosystem service provision. Climate-smart forestry (CSF) practices, such as improved forest management and extended rotation, offer opportunities to enhance carbon storage, forest resilience, and economic livelihoods. The effectiveness of these practices depends on forest owners’ participation and the strategic allocation of financial resources or incentives. This dissertation develops an integrated framework that combines behavioral economic analysis and mapping to improve the design of current incentive programs. The first chapter employs the Contingent Valuation …

Evaluating The Rural/Urban Divide In Conservation: Methods Of Improvement In Conservation Programming Across Kentucky, Lauren Tackett

Honors College Theses

Kentucky’s lands and waterways have always defined the state. Our unique karst landscape, combined with the Appalachian Mountains and Ohio River, help characterize the state and its identity. However, across Kentucky conservation efforts within recent years have been under attack. Through legislation changes and policy challenges, various bills have sought to repeal Kentucky’s conservation efforts regarding water, soil, and land use. Furthermore, there has been a rise in environmental disasters within the state that cause long term issues for both rural and urban communities to contend with. The responsibility of land stewardship falls on a variety of entities but weighs …

Environmental Sustainability Assessment Of Field Phosphate Monitoring Methods For Creeks, Quintino Medi

All Theses

Creeks serve as conduits for water, nutrients, and contaminants to larger water bodies such as rivers and lakes, and their health is a key indicator of overall watershed water quality condition. Unlike rivers, creeks are under-monitored due to their small size, hydrological variability, and limited accessibility. Many technologies exist for monitoring phosphorus in surface waters. Technologies may be classified into two general categories: i) proxy real-time sensors, which record generic water quality parameters, and ii) chemical reagent-based assays, which quantify soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) in batch samples. There is a lack of studies that compare the features and benefits of …

Exploratory Proxy Occupational Health Risk Assessment On Pm2.5 Exposure Among Outdoor Personnel At International Ports Of Entry, Josdell Maria Guerra Ruiz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Despite growing public health concerns on PM2.5 exposure and its respiratory health effects, no documented evidence has been found on the application of proxy methods to perform occupational health risk assessments for PM2.5 exposure among outdoor personnel. The purpose of this research study was to conduct a descriptive and predictive occupational health risk assessment for cancer and non-cancer respiratory health outcomes related to PM2.5 exposure among outdoor personnel at targeted international ports of entry (IPOE). A total of 61 samples were collected, for 24 hours, at two targeted IPOEs (every sixth day) over 12-month period. Samples included measurements on PM2.5 …

Vulnerability Of Bass Populations To Our Changing Climate In The Mississippi River, Cameron Schreifels

Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)

Climate change is altering habitats and damaging bass populations throughout the Mississippi. The main factors of climate change affecting bass are shifts in water quality and significant weather events, which have increased bass vulnerability. With rising temperatures and eutrophication changing the way these bass hunt for their prey, it has made it easier for other non-native species to encroach on their habitat, which has led to bass further encroaching on other species due to climate change.  Given their economic importance and cultural significance, better management practices are needed to find new ways to protect them and ensure they remain a …

Volume 12 Full Text, Bjur Staff

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Front Matter And Table Of Contents, Bjur Staff

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Sustainability, Culture, And Higher Education: An Autoethnographic Sustainability Comparison Of The Sustainability Initiatives At The University Of Salzburg And Bowling Green State University, Madison Alt

Honors Projects

Human activity is already triggering damaging environmental tipping points (Lenton, 2020), emphasizing the need for sustainability in all aspects of development. Institutes of Higher Education (IHEs) have the power and responsibility to contribute to a more sustainable world (Parr et al., 2022). Bowling Green State University (BGSU) in Ohio, United States, and the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (PLUS) in Salzburg, Austria are two IHEs with multifaceted sustainability programs. While living and studying at BGSU and PLUS, I used autoethnography, a personal narrative approach, combined with public sustainability information to compare the sustainability initiatives at each university, and determine what …

Engineering Ferrate(Vi) For Water And Wastewater Treatment: Translating Science Into Technology, Zepei Tang, Zhenli He, Yang Deng

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Over the past five decades, ferrate(VI) (FeO42–) for water and wastewater treatment has remained largely at the laboratory scale, with limited pilot- and full-scale implementation. This gap between sustained research and scarce real-world deployment places the technology in the Valley of Death─a high-risk stage of development─and highlights the need for an engineering-centric approach to enable practical application. This article presents an engineering framework to guide the development and translation of ferrate(VI) technology for water and wastewater treatment. From a system perspective, ferrate(VI) technology comprises three core subsystems: generation, treatment, and solid–liquid separation. Technology maturity depends on both the advancement of …

Ski Industry Professionals In New Hampshire Are Worried About Climate Change, Jacklyn Tracy, Elizabeth Burakowski

Carsey Publications

In this brief, authors Jacklyn Tracy and Elizabeth Burakowski report the results of an online survey conducted in June 2025 with New Hampshire ski industry professionals to gain insight into how they perceive climate change. Understanding the perspectives on climate change is an important first step in working to preserve a vital industry to the state as temperatures rise and winters shorten. The results of the survey revealed that the majority of New Hampshire ski industry professionals are concerned about the effects of global warming on the ski industry in the state and believe more should be done to address …

Arum–D Nexus: Adaptive Reflexive Urban Metabolism For Complex Construction And Demolition Waste Governance In Bengaluru, Talat Naaz, Rosewine Joy

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

Urban material systems exhibit nonlinear dynamics governed by feedback, adaptation, and emergent coupling among institutions, markets, and behaviors. Construction and demolition (C&D) waste in Bengaluru is a great example of such complexity, where fragmented regulation, informal actors, and digital asymmetries coalesce into unstable waste flows and resource leakages. This study conceptualizes Bengaluru’s C&D waste system as a Complex Adaptive System (CAS), where institutional, market, behavioral, and metabolic subsystems co-evolve through nonlinear feedback interactions. A meta-analysis of secondary literature combined with benchmarking of government datasets is used to evaluate two key complexity indicators, i.e., response speed and feedback density. The advancement …

Searching Within Galaxies For The Earliest Signs Of Quenching With Spatially Resolved Star Formation Histories In Uvcandels Galaxies At Z < 0.3, Charlotte Olsen, Eric Gawiser, Charlotte Welker, Harry Teplitz, Kartheik Iyer, Xin Wang, Marc Rafelski, Rogier A. Windhorst, Anton Koekemoer, Anahita Alavi, Ben Sunnquist, Norman Grogin, Yicheng Guo, Christopher J. Conselice, L. Y. Aaron Yung, Kalina Nedkova, Bahram Mobasher, Ray A. Lucas, Vihang Mehta, Y. Sophia Dai, Jonathan P. Gardner

Publications and Research

Understanding the complicated processes that regulate star formation and cause a galaxy to become quiescent is key to our comprehension of galaxy evolution. We used eight well-resolved star-forming z < 0.3 galaxies from the UVCANDELS survey, where a total of 10 Hubble Space Telescope bands, including UV follow-up in UVIS/F275W, allow us to reconstruct the star formation histories (SFHs) of regions across each galaxy. This approach provides a powerful tool to explore the spatiotemporal connection between star formation and galaxy evolution. The spatial and temporal profiles of stellar mass and star formation rate (SFR) surface density were obtained from the SFHs of these regions. We measure scaling relations and projected radial profiles of regions within each galaxy at the time of observation and at 1 Gyr lookback time, noting possible trends in the evolution. By comparing the change in star formation over time, we can infer the timing and location of star formation and see early signs of star formation shutting off before quenching occurs. We compared the SFR density–stellar mass density scaling relations for individual galaxies as they evolve from 1 Gyr lookback time. The correlation lines pivot around a log-stellar mass surface density of 7.25 [M⊙ kpc−2], which may be evidence of a self-regulating process on these scales. Radial profiles of the galaxy logarithmic specific SFR (sSFR) show an overall decrease over 1 Gyr, but five galaxies show a greater change in log(sSFR) at the outskirts than the center, indicating a possible early onset of quenching in these galaxies.

Assessing Environmental Changes Before And After The 2018 Kilauea Eruption In Leilani Estates, Hawaii, Rokeya Akter Liza

Scholars Week

The 2018 Kilauea eruption in Hawaii significantly impacted the natural landscape, especially in the Leilani Estates region. The aim of this study was to analyze and compare the environmental conditions of before and after eruption by applying remote sensing techniques. Landsat 8 satellite imagery was used for two different time periods as before the eruption (February 2018) and after the eruption (March 2019). ERDAS Imagine was used to process these images to evaluate the changes in vegetation and land cover. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was calculated for both pre- and post-eruption images to evaluate vegetation changes. Higher NDVI …

Navigating Sustainable Burial In Southern Nevada, Kristen Gibson

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

Navigating Sustainable Burial in Southern Nevada investigates the accessibility of environmentally conscious end-of-life options for individuals throughout the region. Sustainable burial practices, including green burial, water cremation, and natural organic reduction, provide alternatives to traditional burial and cremation methods. Research was conducted through an analysis of Nevada statutes, local reporting, funeral service resources, and public discussions related to sustainable burial. The research revealed that although Nevada expanded legal recognition of sustainable burial by legalizing natural organic reduction, public access to clear information and available services remains limited. These findings informed the creation of a choose-your-own-adventure booklet designed to translate legal …

Trade Liberalization Under Safta And Bimstec: Evidence From A Cge-Gtap Case Study Of A Small Open Economy, Gita Bhushal, Pankaj Lal

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Regional trade liberalization via preferential agreements increasingly shapes economic outcomes in small open economies embedded in overlapping regional frameworks. This study evaluates the short-run economy-wide effects of tariff and non-tariff measure (NTM) reforms under the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) using a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model calibrated to the GTAP 10 database. Gravity-based estimates of ad valorem equivalents (AVEs) of NTMs are integrated into the CGE framework, enabling explicit modeling of regulatory barriers alongside tariff reductions. Policy simulations examine scenarios involving a 90 percent tariff …

Do Purpleair Monitors Democratize Data For The Environment?, Christopher Rick, Kyla Lorden

Student Publications

PurpleAir monitors may serve a vital role in marginalized or under-monitored communities nationwide. These low-cost monitors—roughly $300—give communities the ability to monitor their air quality at local geographies in ways that are infeasible for expensive, regulatory-grade air monitors. They also have the potential to aid community advocacy efforts around environmental and transportation policy by giving community members literal ownership over the monitoring, including precise locations, and philosophical ownership over the advocacy efforts. To determine the potential democratization of air quality data by PurpleAir monitors in socially disadvantaged communities, we analyze the sociodemographic characteristics of neighborhoods with PurpleAir monitors. We find …

The Importance Of Body Size And Spatial Scale In Modeling Winter Bird Distributions, Carissa M. Mobley

Student Publications

Birds’ annual cycles include biologically linked breeding and non-breeding seasons, yet most research and bird atlases focus exclusively on the breeding season. There have been very few winter bird atlas projects in North America, and none have been published for the northeastern United States. Short daylight hours and harsh weather limit winter survey coverage, making species distribution models (SDMs) essential for addressing spatial gaps.

I evaluated the optimal spatial scale for SDMs across bird species differing in body size and tested whether optimal scale varies with body mass. Using 16,967 eBird checklists collected during the first winter survey period (December …

Interspecific Overlap In Seabird Diet Throughout The Breeding Season, Alexis V. Berkey

Student Publications

Seabirds are central-place foragers that breed in multi-species colonies, providing an opportunity to study species coexistence. I quantified interspecific competition among four seabird species (common terns Sterna hirundo, Arctic terns Sterna paradisaea, Atlantic puffins Fratercula arctica, black guillemots Cepphus grylle) breeding in the Gulf of Maine in 2022, 2024, and 2025. I hypothesized that, throughout the breeding season, 1) seabird diet would change and 2) interspecific overlap in diet would increase. I compared diets across species and time using direct observation of prey feeds and stable isotope values of seabird egg membranes and blood, which provide …

Tornado Alley In A Changing Climate: The Eastward Shift, Kenny Reinhard

Best Integrated Writing

Reinhard argues that climate change is driving an eastward shift in Tornado Alley from the Great Plains toward the southeastern United States, increasing tornado frequency in more densely populated and less-prepared regions. It highlights how changing atmospheric conditions—such as increased moisture, instability, and wind shear—are contributing to this shift and emphasizes the need for improved preparedness and infrastructure in newly affected areas.

A Taxonomy Of Generative Models With A Focus On Diffusion Models And Denoising Techniques, Aditi Singh, Nikhil Kumar Chatta, Yuvaraj Vagula, Abul Ehtesham, Saket Kumar, Tala Talaei Khoei

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Diffusion models have emerged as a powerful class of generative models, demonstrating impressive results across visual domains such as image and video synthesis. This survey provides a comprehensive taxonomy of generative models, with a particular focus on diffusion models and their applications in enhancing visual fidelity for text-to-image and text-to-video generation. We discuss the theoretical foundations of diffusion models, including their formulation through stochastic differential equations, and analyze the forward noising and reverse denoising processes that enable stable training and high-quality generation. The survey further categorizes diffusion architectures, including pixel-space and latent-space models, and examines their design choices, training strategies, …