Digital Commons Network^™

Economic And Environmental Assessment Of Advanced Biofuels : Adoption Under Uncertainty, Farmer Willingness, And Land Use Implications, Pralhad Burli

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The production of biofuels offers the prospect of enhancing a country’s energy security by limiting petroleum imports and supporting domestic economic activity by bolstering agricultural and allied sectors. Additionally, advanced biofuels can reduce the reliance on food-grain based first generation ethanol, replace a part of our fossil fuel consumption, and potentially reduce environmental impacts through greenhouse gas emission reductions. However, the cellulosic biofuel industry has not developed as anticipated due to slow advancements in the technology for converting feedstock to fuel, improvements in vehicular efficiency, which has muted fuel demand, and lack of an assured year-round supply of feedstock that …

Tracing Sediment Erosion In The Yangtze River Subaqueous Delta Using Magnetic Methods, Can Ge, Weiguo Zhang, Chenyin Dong, Feng Wang, Huan Feng, Jianguo Qu, Lizhong Yu

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

We assessed the usefulness of magnetic properties for tracing sediment erosion in a deltaic environment. Surface and core sediments from the Yangtze River subaqueous delta were subjected to magnetic, granulometric, geochemical, and radionuclide analyses. Based on magnetic properties and particle size, the surface sediments can be divided into three groups. Groups I and II have a similar particle size distribution and geochemical composition, but the former has higher values of magnetic susceptibility (χ) and saturation isothermal remanent magnetization (SIRM). We interpret Group I as consisting of modern sediments, while Group II represents previously buried sediments that have undergone significant reductive …

Petrogenesis Of Pleisto-Holocene Basalts And Basaltic Andesites From Newberry Volcano, Oregon, John Mitchell Clay

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Newberry Volcano (43.7°N, 121.3°W) is a Cascade rear arc volcano in central Oregon that covers nearly 2,000 km² and represents a volume of roughly 200 km³ of mostly mafic magmas. This composite shield dramatically exceeds the volume of all other Cascade volcanoes, except for Medicine Lake Volcano in Northern California. Newberry began forming about 400 ka with the last eruption ending at 1.3 ka (Donnelly-Nolan et al., 2011). Proposed tectonic models that explain the origin of the volcano are as follows: 1. Mantle decompression melting from lithospheric extension (Xue and Allen, 2006); 2. Slab window or tear in …

Mineral And Bioclimatic Factors Controlling Soil Black Carbon Sequestration Potential Along An Elevational Gradient, Adam Fernandez

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Black carbon (BC) is formed by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuels, and biomass. It has been suggested due to its ubiquitous nature in soils that BC may act as a significant sink in the global carbon cycle. BC has been widely studied in a variety of soil and sediment types but spodosols (acid forest soils) have been underrepresented in the literature. In the present study, spodosol soil samples were collected along an elevational gradient (~500 to 1,200 m) from three different mountains in the White Mountain National Forest of New Hampshire. Total soil carbon was first measured using …

Watershed Sub-Basin Scale Forest Fire Impacts On Soil Chemistry : A Case Study In Delaware State Forest, Pennsylvania, Usa, Jason Scott Darley

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Forest fires can affect soil chemistry and soil properties depending on the fire intensity and type of biomass burned, changing the local environment. For this study, soil and ash samples were examined post-fire from the 16-Mile fire event in the Delaware State Forest, Pennsylvania, to understand the pedosphere chemistry within the watershed subbasin. The main goal of this project was to study the major and trace elements of ash and soil samples of the 16-Mile Fire in the burned area and compare to samples upstream and downstream of the watershed sub-basin. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy was conducted for major …

Geochemical And Particle Size Analysis Of East Antarctic Shelf Sediments Through The Eocene Oligocene Transition, Jennifer Joanne Light

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The Eocene Oligocene Transition (EOT) at ~34 million years ago (Ma), marked the global change from greenhouse to icehouse, and the establishment of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS). The timing involved with initiation of the EAIS and ice growth during the EOT is still poorly understood due to poor core recovery. The purpose of this study was to expand upon existing knowledge of EAIS dynamics by applying updated age models to geochemical and sedimentological records from three marginal shelf sites that contain Eocene and or Oligocene sediments. This study used inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and mass spectrometry …

Microfeatures Of Modern Sea-Ice-Rafted Sediment And Implications For Paleo-Sea-Ice Reconstructions, Kristen E. St. John, Sandra Passchier, Brooke Tantillo, Dennis Darby, Lance Kearns

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Distinguishing sea-ice-rafted debris (SIRD) from iceberg-rafted debris is crucial to an interpretation of ice-rafting history; however, there are few paleo-sea-ice proxies. This study characterizes quartz grain microfeatures of modern SIRD from the Arctic Ocean, and compares these results with microfeatures from representative glacial deposits to potentially differentiate SIRD from ice-rafted sediments which have been recently subjected to glacial processes. This allows us to evaluate the use of grain microfeatures as a paleo-sea-ice proxy. SIRD grains were largely subrounded, with medium relief, pervasive silica dissolution and a high abundance of breakage blocks and microlayering. The glacial grains were more angular, with …

Developing Sustainable Models Of Arsenic-Mitigation Technologies In The Middle-Ganga Plain In India, Sushant K. Singh, Robert Taylor, Haiyan Su

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study seeks to understand factors that guide the decision-making process to adopt and implement the available arsenic-mitigation technologies in rural areas in the middle-Ganga Plain in India. A total of 340 households comprising 2500 people were surveyed. Socio-economic and demographic factors, water and sanitation status, time spent and distance travelled to collect water, arsenic awareness, willingness to pay (WTP) for arsenic-free water, people's trust in others and in institutions, social capital in communities, and preferences for sustainable arsenic-mitigation options were investigated. Arsenic treatment units (filters) and piped water supply systems were the most preferred sustainable arsenic-mitigation options in the …

Identification Of Dynamic Outliers, Kangkana Sarmah Baruah

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Several methods for performing the identification of outliers are described when dealing with functional data. The methods studied include prediction intervals for detection of dynamic functional outliers as well as related methods from the functional data literature. A comparison of methods is performed using metrics for dynamic outlier identification. Simulations and applications to environmental studies illustrate the applicability of the methods. Results obtained from simulation and application to real dataset suggest that Dynamic Function-on-Function Regression is a preferable method for detecting dynamic outliers. This method can detect outliers at a very high identification rate. Identification rate of dynamic outliers increases …

Targeting Sav Restoration At Lake Mattamuskeet Using Gis And Landsat 8 Data, Lindsey Shanks

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Lake Mattamuskeet, a large, shallow lake on the coast of North Carolina, has undergone water quality degradation and submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) decline over recent years. Water depth and water clarity have been established as key drivers of SAV loss. To target locations for the restoration of SAV in the lake, an analysis that focuses on water clarity, water depth, and current SAV presence was developed. Two separate methodologies were conducted and compared to analyze water clarity in the lake. The first applied four years (2013-2016) of Landsat 8 imagery to a previously developed model that predicts water clarity from …

Antecedents And Consequences Of Csr Reporting By Corporations : The Role Of Management Strategy And Organization Characteristics, Rosita G. NuñEz

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

As consumers have become increasingly aware of sustainability issues, corporations find themselves facing the dual task of demonstrating to customers and investors that they are capable of meeting the challenge of addressing environmental concerns while increasing profits. Many corporations provide corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports, despite challenges from shareholders questioning the benefits. Firms in different sectors may have unique challenges. This may mean that the same extent of reporting will not be applicable to all businesses.

The main objective of this dissertation is to determine which characteristics identify firms that engage in CSR and reporting, and how the firm benefits …

Risks Associated With Harvesting And Human Consumption Of Two Turtle Species In New Jersey, Natalie R. Sherwood

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Snapping turtles and diamondback terrapins have unique life characteristics, making their populations’ survivorship heavily dependent upon the turtles that reach sexual maturity, limiting the harvest potential of turtles and making them vulnerable to exploitation. Therefore, this research tests mercury concentrations in diamondback terrapins and snapping turtles to determine if turtle meat should require human consumption advisories, and examines transport of mercury through the snapping turtle food web by testing prey items for mercury burden and mapping food webs using stable isotope composition.

Consumption of New Jersey diamondback terrapins and snapping turtles pose a health risk. 25% of Cape May and …

Provenance Tracing Of Glacial Sediment From The Foundation, Academy, And Recovery Ice Streams, Weddell Sea, Antarctica, Ashley Marie Cirone

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This project seeks to advance our understanding of Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics and to gain insight into the bedrock composition beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet by “fingerprinting” ice streams that drain into the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf. The Ronne- Filchner Ice Shelf is the second largest ice shelf in Antarctica and receives ice drained from both the West and East Antarctic Ice Sheets through a series of ice streams. In response to global warming, this sector has the potential to contribute dramatically to sea level rise, especially from the Recovery Catchment. Till samples were collected from lateral moraines adjacent to the …

Determining Late Pleistocene To Early Holocene Deglaciation Of The Baltic Ice Lake Through Sedimentological And Geochemical Analysis Of Iodp Site M0064, April Lynn Kelly

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

IODP Site M0064 within the Baltic Sea’s Hanô Bay was drilled to investigate the déglaciation history of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS) from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene. This research aims to better understand how déglaciation speed, SIS drainage patterns, and changes in relative sea level influences sediment deposition within the Baltic Ice Lake (BIL) on a high-resolution timescale. Site M0064 contains diamicton at -47 - 9 mbsf, followed by an upward transition to cm-scale grey thinly laminated rhythmites at -8 mbsf, and a sharp 2.5 cm thick dark brown organic layer at -7.87 msbf, transitioning to reddish-brown thinly …

An Antarctic Stratigraphic Record Of Stepwise Ice Growth Through The Eocene-Oligocene Transition, Sandra Passchier, Daniel J. Ciarletta, Triantafilo E. Miriagos, Peter K. Bijl, Steven M. Bohaty

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Earth’s current icehouse phase began ∼34 m.y. ago with the onset of major Antarctic glaciation at the Eocene-Oligocene transition. Changes in ocean circulation and a decline in atmospheric greenhouse gas levels were associated with stepwise cooling and ice growth at southern high latitudes. The Antarctic cryosphere plays a critical role in the ocean-atmosphere system, but its early evolution is still poorly known. With a near-field record from Prydz Bay, Antarctica, we demonstrate that Antarctic ice growth was stepwise and had an earlier onset than previously suggested. Prydz Bay lies downstream of a major East Antarctic Ice Sheet drainage system, and …

Nanoscale Measurement Of Trace Element Distributions In Spartina Alterniflora Root Tissue During Dormancy, Huan Feng, Yu Qian, J. Kirk Cochran, Qingzhi Zhu, Wen Hu, Hanfei Yan, Li Li, Xiaojing Huang, Yong S. Chu, Houjun Liu, Shinjae Yoo, Chang Jun Liu

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This paper reports a nanometer-scale investigation of trace element (As, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, S and Zn) distributions in the root system Spartina alterniflora during dormancy. The sample was collected on a salt marsh island in Jamaica Bay, New York, in April 2015 and the root was cross-sectioned with 10 μm resolution. Synchrotron X-ray nanofluorescence was applied to map the trace element distributions in selected areas of the root epidermis and endodermis. The sampling resolution was 60 nm to increase the measurement accuracy and reduce the uncertainty. The results indicate that the elemental concentrations in the epidermis, outer …

Grain Size And Organic Geochemistry Of Kattegat Sediment To Determine Paleoenvironments Of The Last Interglacial-Glacial Cycle, Taylor Ann Krolik

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Periods of glaciation followed by deglaciation are a result of the complex processes that drive climate on Earth. To understand these processes and the types of climate that they induce, sediment cores can be analyzed to extract data to determine depositional environment and relative sea level in an area. This project will investigate the particle size and organic geochemistry from a sediment core (IODP Expedition 347, Hole M0060A) taken outside the Baltic Sea, at Anholt Loch which is located in the southern Kattegat. The objective of this study is to better understand the depositional environment and relative sea level changes …

Hard Apple Cider In The New York Hudson Valley Region: A Tourism Study, Meghann Smith, Pankaj Lal

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Hard apple cider production is an emerging industry in apple-growing regions of the United States due to the growing popularity of local craft products in the alcoholic beverage industry. This study strives to understand how hard cideries may affect local product promotion, rural tourism, and agriculture’s economic viability in the Hudson Valley region of New York. Tourism is evolving towards travelling for experiential value; the hard cider industry can offer an authentic environmentally and historically significant experience. By identifying the consumers and their expectations, the possibilities for building tourism specifically surrounding products with regional significance expand significantly. In this study, …

Using A Mixed-Methods Approach To Understand Urban Children's Nature Conceptions, Ecological Worldviews And Environmental Perceptions And Preferences Before And After Attending An Environmental Education Program, Alejandra Maria Bozzolasco

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The main objective of this dissertation is to utilize multiple instruments to measure urban children’s nature conceptions, ecological worldviews, and environmental perceptions and preferences, and to determine whether they are impacted by an environmental education (EE) intervention. This information is critical today in light of growing urbanization that is considered a contributor to nature deficit disorder (NDD) in which children, particularly urban children, are growing up distanced from the natural world, thereby impacting children’s development, public health, and the environment. Urban children from northern New Jersey who attended the New Jersey School of Conservation’s (NJSOC) EE program participated in this …

Ferrate As A New Treatment Chemical For Removal Of Effluent Organic Matter (Efom) And Emerging Micro-Pollutants In Treated Municipal Wastewater For Water Reuse, Nanzhu Li

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Rapidly expanding population, escalating water consumption, and dwindling water resources make water shortage a crisis on a global level, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas or where water sources are highly contaminated. Water reuse, accomplished by a variety of water reclamation technologies, is a strategically sound approach to this crisis. In practice, secondary effluent that is the treated wastewater discharged from municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is a preferred reclaimed water source due to its high quality and stable quantity. However, various pollutants, effluent organic matters (EfOM) and emerging contaminants in particular, are still present in secondary effluent. They should …

Holocene Glacial Activity In Barilari Bay, West Antarctic Peninsula, Tracked By Magnetic Mineral Assemblages: Linking Ice, Ocean, And Atmosphere, Brendan Reilly, Carl Natter, Stefanie A. Brachfeld

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

We investigate the origin and fate of lithogenic sediments using magnetic mineral assemblages in Barilari Bay, west Antarctic Peninsula (AP) from sediment cores recovered during the Larsen Ice Shelf System, Antarctica (LARISSA) NBP10-01 cruise. To quantify and reconstruct Holocene changes in covarying magnetic mineral assemblages, we adopt an unsupervised mathematical unmixing strategy and apply it to measurements of magnetic susceptibility as a function of increasing temperature. Comparisons of the unmixed end-members with magnetic observations of northwestern AP bedrock and the spatial distribution of magnetic mineral assemblages within the fjord, allow us to identify source regions, including signatures for ‘‘inner bay,’’ …

An Assessment Of Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics From A Pliocene Polar Paleoclimate Archive, Melissa A. Hansen

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The potential impact of East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) response to warming over the next century is of major concern, particularly due to its influence on sea level rise. Efforts to understand its impact are limited due to the restrictions of short-term modeling, as well as the assumption that all ice behaves similarly across the EAIS, meriting the need for further study over longer time periods. The early Pliocene (5.33-2.58 Ma) is the most suitable period of time in which to assess EAIS dynamics because of its similarity to modern tectonic configuration and similar CO2 estimates (~400 ppm). Due to …

Enhancing Digestibility And Ethanol Yield Of Populus Wood Via Expression Of An Engineered Monolignol 4-O-Methyltransferase, Yuanheng Cai, Kewei Zhang, Hoon Kim, Guichuan Hou, Xuebin Zhang, Huijun Yang, Huan Feng, Lisa Miller, John Ralph, Chang-Jun Liu

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Producing cellulosic biofuels and bio-based chemicals from woody biomass is impeded by the presence of lignin polymer in the plant cell wall. Manipulating the monolignol biosynthetic pathway offers a promising approach to improved processability, but often impairs plant growth and development. Here, we show that expressing an engineered 4-O-methyltransferase that chemically modifies the phenolic moiety of lignin monomeric precursors, thus preventing their incorporation into the lignin polymer, substantially alters hybrid aspens’ lignin content and structure. Woody biomass derived from the transgenic aspens shows a 62% increase in the release of simple sugars and up to a 49% increase in the …

Mining Pm2.5 And Traffic Conditions For Air Quality, Xu Du, Aparna S. Varde

Department of Computer Science Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Fine particle pollution is related to road traffic conditions. In this work, we analyze Particulate Matter with a diameter less than 2.5 micrometers, calledPM2.5, along with traffic conditions. This is done for multicity data to study the relationships in the context of environmental modeling. The goal behind this modeling is to support prediction of PM2.5 concentration and resulting air quality. We deploy data mining algorithms in association rules, clustering and classification to discover knowledge from the concerned data sets. The results are used to develop a prototype tool for the prediction of PM2.5 and hence air quality for public health …

Evaluating Sustainable Aspects Of Hazardous Waste Remediation, Melissa Ann Koberle-Harclerode

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The main objective of the research presented herein is to be a major contributor to the current international initiative to advance sustainability assessments for remediation projects by integrating methodologies from the environmental economics and social science disciplines. More specifically, the study aims to address some of the knowledge gaps related to conducting a comprehensive sustainability assessment for a remediation project. These knowledge gaps include: (1) there are few studies that include sustainability assessments of the variety of techniques and technologies implemented during site characterization; (2) the majority of sustainable remediation publications and assessment tools focus on evaluating the environmental impact …

Establishing A Vegetative Cap For Sustainable Stabilization Of Copper Contaminated Soils In Torch Lake, Michigan, Virinder Pal Singh Sidhu

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Extensive mining activities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the Upper Peninsula, Michigan have resulted in a number of contaminated sites with mine tailings. Several million metric tons of mine tailings were generated during the peak of copper (Cu) mining activities in this region. These tailings are called “stamp sands” because they were generated by crushing native Cu containing rocks, by a process known as stamping. The stamp sands were discharged into Lake Superior, other interior lakes and their shorelines, converting these areas into vast, fallow lands. The Cu contaminated stamp sands are being eroded back into …

University Authors, 2016, Montclair State University, Harry A. Sprague Library

University Authors

No abstract provided.

The Montclarion, February 4, 2016, The Montclarion

The Montclarion

Student Newspaper of Montclair State University

Magnetic Properties Of Sediments Of The Red River: Effect Of Sorting On The Source-To-Sink Pathway And Its Implications For Environmental Reconstruction, Thi Thu Hien Nguyen, Weiguo Zhang, Zhen Li, Jie Li, Can Ge, Jinyan Liu, Xuexin Bai, Huan Feng, Lizhong Yu

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

We conducted a mineral magnetic study of river bank and subaqueous delta sediments from the Red River, in order to examine the role of sedimentary sorting on the variation of sedimentary magnetic properties from source to sink. The magnetic mineralogy mainly consists of magnetite and hematite. Bulk sediment particle-size variations have a strong influence on magnetic properties, with the frequently used magnetic parameters χ fd %, χ ARM , χ ARM /χ, and χ ARM /SIRM exhibiting positive correlations with the < 4 μm fraction, while S-ratios are negatively correlated with this fraction. Compared with river bank sediments and shallow shoreface (< 5 m water depth) sediments, sediments from the deeper (>5 m water depth) part of the subaqueous delta have lower χ and SIRM values, a finer ferrimagnetic grain-size …

Morphodynamic Modeling Of Fluvial Channel Fill And Avulsion Time Scales During Early Holocene Transgression, As Substantiated By The Incised Valley Stratigraphy Of The Trinity River, Texas, Kaitlin Moran, Jeffrey Nittrouer, Mauricio Perillo, Jorge Lorenzo Trueba, John Anderson

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The Trinity River system provides a natural laboratory for linking fluvial morphodynamics to stratigraphy produced by sea-level rise, because the sediments occupying the Trinity incised valley are well constrained in terms of timing of deposition and facies distribution. Herein, the Trinity River is modeled for a range of base-level rise rates, avulsion thresholds, and water discharges to explore the effects of backwater-induced in-channel sedimentation on channel avulsion. The findings are compared to observed sediment facies to evaluate the capability of a morphodynamic model to reproduce sediment deposition patterns. Base-level rise produces mobile locations of in-channel sedimentation and deltaic channel avulsions. …