Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of Deicing Materials On The Middle And Lower Passaic River Basins, New Jersey : A Geostatistical And Hydrochemical Analysis, Peter Joseph Soriano

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Regression analyses of major ion concentration, and specific conductance were compared on a decadal basis from field data of the 1960s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s to find if there is a statistically significant increase in calcium, chloride, and sodium compared to other major groundwater ions in the Middle and Lower Passaic River Basins. Time series graphical analyses, bivariate coefficient relationships, statistical prediction interval evaluations, and multivariate analyses were used to determine the significance of the individual ion concentration trends. Through ArcGIS, bedrock geochemistry was examined in correlation with well locations, ion concentrations, and road placements. GIS was used to …

Geostatistical And Hydrochemical Trends In The Upper Passaic River Basin : Impact Of Road Deicing Application, Connor Evan Firor

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Sodium chloride deicing salts have been used to remove snow and ice from roadways in the Northern United States since the early 1900s. Road deicing reduces accident rates, road delays, and improve road accessibility. While it is known that the use of road deicers is beneficial, road salts have also been shown to affect surface water and groundwater quality. This study conducted major ion concentration analyses on groundwater samples collected by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) for the Upper Passaic River Basin (UPRB). Results show that the contribution of chloride to total dissolved solids increased significantly by 2010. Trend …

How Do Polar Ice Sheets And Sea Level Behave Under A Changing Climate?, Sandra Passchier

Sustainability Seminar Series

Nearly 3 billion people live within 100 km of the coastline, many in large urban centers. In predictions of sea level rise, the future role of polar ice sheets is one of the most critical uncertainties under the present extreme rise in greenhouse forcing of the climate system. This talk will show how geoscientists address the Earth system processes involved in melting ice sheets under warmer climates, and introduce the objectives of an upcoming deepsea drilling expedition to the area with greatest ice loss in West Antarctica.

Sentiment Analysis Of Twitter Data With Hybrid Learning For Recommender Applications, Ketaki Gandhe, Aparna S. Varde, Xu Du

Department of Computer Science Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This paper proposes a sentiment analysis approach to extract sentiments of tweets based on their polarity and subjectivity, classify them and visualize results graphically. This helps to understand opinions of existing users that can be helpful in future recommendations. Our proposed approach entails a hybrid learning method for classification of tweets based on a Bayesian probabilistic method for sentence level models given partially labeled training data. For implementation, we use AWS to extract data from Twitter, store extracted data in MySQL databases and code Python scripts in order to implement the analyzer. The graphical models are viewed using IPython Notebook. …

Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematic (Stem) Enrichment Education For The K 6-8 School Children, Ingrid Witty, P Iranah, Pankaj Lal, Michelle Zhu, Nicole Panorkou, B Samanthula, Bt Wolde, P Burli, C Ragucci

Clean Energy and Sustainability Analytics Center Posters and Presentations

No abstract provided.

A Sub-Millennial Sediment Record Of Ice-Stream Retreat And Meltwater Storage In The Baltic Ice Lake During The Bølling-Allerød Interstadial, April Lynn Kelly, Sandra Passchier

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The rapid retreat of the Baltic Ice Stream and the development of the Baltic Ice Lake is assessed using data from sediment cores retrieved from three sub-basins in the southern Baltic Sea. Hydraulic piston coring by the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) recovered for the first time intact glacial lake sequences overlying diamictons and other ice-contact deposits at Sites M0063, M0064 and M0065. Based on the particle size and bulk sediment chemical composition the glacial lake sediments were subdivided into a proximal and a distal varve sequence. The origin of a dark, lithologically distinct horizon between the proximal and distal …

How Good Is Bicycling For The Environment?, Mark Chopping

Sustainability Seminar Series

Bicycling has been promoted as a means to reduce our dependence on climate-warming fossil fuel burning, clean the air in our streets, promote personal health, and fight widespread obesity. It is often postulated that there are obvious environmental benefits associated with increasing participation in cycling as a transportation alternative, since the bicycles’ fuel is the banana and/or the muffin. This presentation will discuss why mass bicycling might not be quite as good for the environment as you may imagine – though it is still very, very good indeed.

Who’S Lurking In Your Lagoon? First Occurrence Of The Invasive Hydrozoan Moerisia Sp. (Cnidariahydrozoa) In New Jersey, Usa, Dena J. Restaino, Paul Bologna, John Gaynor, Gary A. Buchanan, Joseph J. Bilinski

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Coastal estuaries represent areas of high biological invasions by virtue of their economic importance as ports. We report on the first occurrence of the non-native hydrozoan Moerisia sp. in coastal New Jersey, USA. Through the use of artificial settling plates, several diminutive, unknown cnidarian polyps were isolated. Initial morphological assessment indicated that two of the unknown polyps were keyed to Moerisia. We then used universal cnidarian primers to amplify and sequence the 16S rDNA mitochondrial locus for molecular identification. Upon evaluation and editing of sequences, two of the unknown polyps were identified as belonging to a group of unresolved Moerisia …

Be-10/Be-9 Ratios Reflect Antarctic Ice Sheet Freshwater Discharge During Pliocene Warming, Rachel D. Valletta, Jane K. Willenbring, Sandra Passchier, Chiara Elmi

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Along glaciated margins, ratios of meteoric cosmogenic beryllium‐10, ¹⁰Be, normalized to its stable isotope, ⁹Be, reflect an environmental signal, driven ultimately by climatic change. We explore the application of this isotopic pair as a proxy for East Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics. We analyze ¹⁰Be/⁹Be in middle Pliocene glaciomarine sediments offshore the Wilkes Land Region (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Site U1361A) and examine our new record alongside existing biochemical/geochemical records (Ba/Al, opal %_wt, εNd, and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr). ¹⁰Be/⁹Be ratios reach local maxima during pulsed, mild warming events and …

Invasive-Plant-Removal Frequency—Its Impact On Species Spread And Implications For Further Integration Of Forest-Management Practices, Bernabas Wolde, Pankaj Lal

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

For a given invasive plant species and control method, effective invasive plant eradication requires regular monitoring and management. While most previous studies characterize invasive plant species, develop appropriate control methods, or prioritize species for management using aggressiveness and other considerations, few study why some forestland owners are less likely than others to regularly remove invasive plant species. Such information is useful in prioritizing and targeting forestland owners who are at greater risk for invasion, with the stands threatening adjacent forestlands. Towards this end, we surveyed 1800 forestland owners in Virginia and Texas. We use data on forestland owners’ socioeconomics and …

Seasonal Differences In Trace Element Concentrations And Distribution In Spartina Alterniflora Root Tissue, Huan Feng, Yu Qian, J. Kirk Cochran, Qingzhi Zhu, Christina Heilbrun, Li Li, Wen Hu, Hanfei Yan, Xiaojing Huang, Mingyuan Ge, Evgeny Nazareski, Yong S. Chu, Shinjae Yoo, Xuebin Zhang, Chang Jun Liu

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The present study uses nanometer-scale synchrotron X-ray nanofluorescence to investigate season differences in concentrations and distributions of major (Ca, K, S and P) and trace elements (As, Cr, Cu, Fe and Zn) in the root system of Spartina alterniflora collected from Jamaica Bay, New York, in April and September 2015. The root samples were cross-sectioned at a thickness of 10 μm. Selected areas in the root epidermis and endodermis were mapped with a sampling resolution of 100 and 200 nm, varying with the mapping areas. The results indicate that trace element concentrations in the epidermis and endodermis vary among the …

Projected Trends In Climate Extremes In The Passaic River Basin Based On Bias-Corrected And Spatially Downscaled Global Climate Model Simulations, Archana Prasad

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Global Climate Models (GCMs) are increasingly becoming useful tools for predicting future climatic changes. These GCMs typically employ large spatial scales while municipalities may experience varied impacts at the local level. By downscaling and bias-correcting GCM outputs, more accurate predictions concerning specific regions can be made. The Multivariate Adaptive Constructed Analogs (MACA) models provide daily precipitation and temperature information for point localities by modifying coarse resolution data from GCMs to a higher spatial resolution. In this study, trends in climate extremes over the Passaic River Basin (PRB) between 1981-2005 are estimated based on three MACA models (bcc-csm1-1m, CCSM4, and MRI-CGCM3). …

Molecular Ecology And Management Of Nuisance And Invasive Marine Species : Chrysaora Chesapeakei, Moerisia Sp., And Gonionemus Vertens, Dena J. Restaino

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Ecological communities are under constant pressure from anthropogenic disturbances. Marine and estuarine systems are affected by human use and development of both coastal land and the surrounding water. One consequence of this use is the deterioration of water quality, which can lead to changes in community structure and a loss of species richness. Another effect of increased usage of marine water ways in the introduction of invasive species. These non-natives also have the ability to change community structure and reduce ecosystem services. In particular cnidarians are able to thrive in degraded systems in part owing to their ability to tolerate …

Benthic Invertebrate Communities Of Barnegat Bay New Jersey : Effects Of Hard-Clam (Mercenaria Mercenaria L.) Aquaculture Grow-Outs On Benthic Communities, Rebecca Shell

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Plots of three treatment types (industry-standard screens with clams, screens without clams, and control) were installed at Sedge Island, Barnegat Bay, in 2012. 177 species from eight phyla were collected. Hard-clam plots had lower Shannon-Weiner Index values and higher sedimentary sorting coefficients as compared to both control treatments. ANOSIM identified benthic communities inside hard clam plots as statistically distinct from the two control treatments. There was no significant effect of treatment on functional groups assigned by burrowing depth. Seasonal peaks in May are clear for Polydora cornuta and Tritia obsoleta, as well as for suspension feeders and omnivores. All burrowing-depth …

Water Treatment Residual Coated Wood Mulch For Mitigation Of Toxic Metals And Phosphate From Polluted Urban Stormwater Runoff, Hanieh Soleimanifar

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Polluted urban runoff as a primary non-point pollution source poses a serious threat to urban human and ecological health. Various urban runoff pollutants challenge the exiting stormwater treatment systems. To support the development of a sound and sustainable urban stormwater management, this dissertation targets at transforming a common landscaping practice, i.e. mulching, into a new stormwater treatment technology through coating aluminum water treatment residual (Al-WTR) on the surface of wood mulch chips. WTR is an industrial waste produced from drinking water treatment plants and primarily comprises amorphous aluminum (hydr)oxides. The Al-WTR coating on the modified wood mulch enables the adsorption …

Life Cycle Analysis Of Sugarcane Bagasse And Switchgrass Under Dilute Phosphoric Acid Pretreatment And Simultaneous Saccharification And Cofermentation, Michael C. Fowler

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Under provisions of the Energy Independence and Security Act and the Renewable Fuel Standard, production of cellulosic ethanol is mandated to increase. Corn dominates the first generation ethanol industry in the United States. Already a high-demand crop, when subject to agricultural intensification, the carbon-neutrality potential associated with biofuels, and other environmental implications, fall into question. Sugarcane bagasse, a lignocellulosic byproduct of sugarcane manufacturing with limited economic value, and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), a native, perennial, high-yield crop, are alternative resources that might used to produce ethanol. Life cycle assessment of second generation feedstocks has focused exhaustively on global warming potential with …

Adapting Extension And Outreach Content To Audiences' Educational Interests, Bernabas Wolde, Pankaj Lal, Pralhad Burli, Pricila Iranah, John Munsell, Jianbang Gan, Eric Taylor

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

For various, largely unknown reasons, decision makers do not have equal interest in all Extension and outreach topics pertinent to a particular concept. This situation hampers Extension's ability to effectively deliver information and efficiently allocate limited resources. Using survey data, we identified heterogeneous preference for various topics related to the concept of woody bioenergy, our case study subject, and built profiles of forestland owners who expressed interest in topics that received above-average and below-average preference rates. Given our results, we argue for using this approach in objectively ranking audiences' educational interests in various forest and nonforest products and services and …

Morphometric Change Detection Of Lake Hawassa In The Ethiopian Rift Valley, Yonas Abebe, Menberu Bitew, Tenalem Ayenew, Clement Alo, Assegid Cherinet, Mulugeta Dadi

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The Ethiopian Rift Valley lakes have been subjected to environmental and ecological changes due to recent development endeavors and natural phenomena, which are visible in the alterations to the quality and quantity of the water resources. Monitoring lakes for temporal and spatial alterations has become a valuable indicator of environmental change. In this regard, hydrographic information has a paramount importance. The first extensive hydrographic survey of Lake Hawassa was conducted in 1999. In this study, a bathymetric map was prepared using advances in global positioning systems, portable sonar sounder technology, geostatistics, remote sensing and geographic information system(GIS) software analysis toolswith …

Geochemical Fingerprints Of Glacially Eroded Bedrock From West Antarctica: Detrital Thermochronology, Radiogenic Isotope Systematics And Trace Element Geochemistry In Late Holocene Glacial-Marine Sediments, Patric Simões Pereira, Tina Van De Flierdt, Sidney R. Hemming, Samantha J. Hammond, Gerhard Kuhn, Stefanie A. Brachfeld, Cathleen Doherty, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Geochemical provenance studies of glacial-marine sediments provide a powerful approach to describe subglacial geology, sediment transport pathways, and past ice sheet dynamics. The marine-based West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is considered highly vulnerable to ocean warming and sea level rise that is likely to cause its rapid and irreversible retreat. Studies of its past response to climate change are hence essential for projecting its future behaviour. The application of radiogenic and trace element provenance studies for past ice sheet reconstructions requires surveying the geographic variability of geochemical compositions of glaciomarine sediments. In this study, we characterize the provenance of the …

Outbreak And Extinction Dynamics In Stochastic Populations, Garrett T. Nieddu

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Each piece of work herein examines nonlinear population dynamics using methods from deterministic dynamical systems, stochastic processes and statistical mechanics. This dissertation is the compilation of three independent – but related – pieces of work: the first investigates an isolated population that is capable of maintaining multiple carrying capacities; the second project examines a stochastic Ebola model with a zoonotic disease reservoir; and the third looks at a basic disease-invasion model to characterize outbreak vulnerability and the connectedness of supposedly separate populations.

Each of these three chapters explore the interplay between interconnected systems, without explicitly modeling the elements that are …

Geochemical And Sedimentological Analysis Of Marine Sediments From Odp Site 696 And Implications For The Onset Of Antarctic Glaciation, Allison Paige Lepp

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The Eocene-Oligocene Transition (EOT) approximately 34 million years ago (Ma) marks the shift from the warm greenhouse conditions of the Eocene to today’s icehouse, and was accompanied by the establishment of the East and West Antarctic Ice Sheets. Details surrounding the timing, magnitude, and regional expansion of glaciation are poorly constrained primarily due to low core recovery and lack of reliable age models, and therefore warrant continued investigation. A recently updated age model applied to Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 696, located in the northwest sector of the Weddell Sea, indicates Core 55R represents a high-recovery succession encompassing the EOT. …

Mapping Ordinances And Tweets Using Smart City Characteristics To Aid Opinion Mining, Manish Puri, Xu Du, Aparna S. Varde, Gerard De Melo

Department of Computer Science Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This research focuses on mining ordinances (local laws) and public reactions to them expressed on social media. We place particular emphasis on ordinances and tweets relating to Smart City Characteristics (SCCs), since an important aim of our work is to assess how well a given region heads towards a Smart City. We rely on SCCs as a nexus between a seemingly infinite number of ordinances and tweets to be able to map them, and also to facilitate SCC-based opinion mining later for providing feedback to urban agencies based on public reactions. Common sense knowledge is harnessed in our approach to …

Integrating Interactive Computer Simulations Into K-12 Earth And Environmental Science, Michelle Zhu, Nicole Panorkou, Pankaj Lal, Sowmith Etikyala, Erell Germia, Pricilla Iranah, Bharath Samanthula, Debasmita Basu

Department of Computer Science Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This paper discusses our work in progress aiming to explore how computer simulations can be integrated into the K-12 curriculum of Earth and Environmental science. Several interactive simulations using Netlogo, a multi-agent modeling environment, and Scratch, a visual programming software are being developed with steerable parameters and the corresponding output plots for students to manipulate and interpret the results, respectively. Here, we present two simulations we designed on water cycle and discuss how these may help students learn about the distribution of water and its continuous move in the ecosystem.

University Authors, 2018, Montclair State University, Harry A. Sprague Library

University Authors

No abstract provided.

Stochastic Event Alters Gelatinous Zooplankton Community Structure: Impacts Of Hurricane Sandy In A Mid-Atlantic Estuary, Paul Bologna, John Gaynor, Robert Meredith, Dena Restaino, Christie Barry

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Climate change has increased hurricane activity and intensity, leading to greater destructive forces impacting coastal communities. Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, USA, is a shallow Mid-Atlantic estuary with considerable anthropogenic development which shows vulnerability to elevated storm surges and coastal flooding. Gelatinous zooplankton were sampled monthly in the summer prior to Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, with the community dominated by 2 species, Chrysaora quinquecirrha and Mnemiopsis leidyi. These 2 species showed inverse distributions, with C. quinquecirrha dominating in the northern, lower-salinity region and M. leidyi abundant in the southern, high-salinity region of the estuary, with significant top-down control of M. …

Emergency Water Supply In Response To Natural Disasters, Yang Deng

Sustainability Seminar Series

Frequency and magnitude of natural disasters (e.g. hurricanes) increased globally over the past century. Clean water is a top priority for disaster-affected populations. However, existing emergency water treatment (EWT) methods are not all feasible or technically effective at many emergency situations. The recent Puerto Rican water crisis after Hurricane Maria highlights research needs and new challenges for new EWT technologies. This presentation will provide an overview of currently available EWT methods and then introduce the state of EWT research at MSU. Ferrate(VI) as an emerging treatment agent was recently investigated for the treatment of simulated disaster- polluted water. Results show …

Machine-Learning-Based Quantitative Estimation Of Soil Organic Carbon Content By Vis/Nir Spectroscopy, Jianli Ding, Aixia Yang, Jingzhe Wang, Vasit Sagan, Danlin Yu

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is an important soil property that has profound impact on soil quality and plant growth. With 140 soil samples collected from Ebinur Lake Wetland National Nature Reserve, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, this research evaluated the feasibility of visible/near infrared (VIS/NIR) spectroscopy data (350-2,500 nm) and simulated EO-1 Hyperion data to estimate SOC in arid wetland regions. Three machine learning algorithms including Ant Colony Optimization-interval Partial Least Squares (ACO-iPLS), Recursive Feature Elimination-Support Vector Machine (RF-SVM), and Random Forest (RF) were employed to select spectral features and further estimate SOC. Results indicated that the feature wavelengths …

Environmental Forensics Study Of Crude Oil And Petroleum Product Spills In Coastal And Oilfield Settings: Combined Insights From Conventional Gc-Ms, Thermodesorption-Gc-Ms And Pyrolysis-Gc-Ms, Michael A. Kruge, José Luis Gallego, Azucena Lara-Gonzalo, Noemi Esquinas

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

A representative set of five oil spill samples from four different regions displayed different product characteristics and different levels of weathering. Three of them were taken along shorelines affected by marine oil spill events, viz., Aboño and Prestige (Spain) and Deepwater Horizon (USA) and the other two were taken at inland oil spill sites (Angola and Kuwait). A multi-faceted environmental forensics approach revealed key molecular features. In addition to the conventional GC/MS analysis of saturated and aromatic fractions, the polar fractions also were analyzed, revealing a complex series of linear alkanones in those oil samples particularly enriched in aliphatics. Thermodesorption-GC-MS …

Biological Factors In The Stem Gender Gap, Yamina Nater-Otero

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The Gender gap in STEM is a long-term problem that has only recently been addressed. Research has just begun to delve into why so few women pursue university degrees in the STEM fields and even less enter the STEM workforce. This research will examine the evolutionary factors which contributed to the gender gap, such as offspring investment, greater investment in male offspring, and female risk aversion. Despite the fact that there are plenty of modern advances which should compensate for these factors, there are societal stigmas against women in the STEM workplace which allow the gender gap to continue. Societal …

Bridging Gaps Between Conservation Action And Policy On Small Island Developing States – Case Analog Of The Republic Of Mauritius, Pricila Iranah

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Mauritius, a small island state in the Indian Ocean, is a biodiversity hotspot with highly threatened forest ecosystems. It is also a country where environmental and conservation programs have been successful in the past. However, the issue of funding has received relatively less attention and national park systems are chronically underfunded. As part of assessing the potential for local funding, we assessed the demand for forest recreation. Recreation in forest ecosystems is one of the cornerstones of modern nature-based tourism. Tourism is increasingly a favored tool to promote conservation of natural forests, especially in developing countries where conservation financing can …