Digital Commons Network^™

The Fate Of Fraxinus Spp. In New Jersey : A Physioeconomic Evaluation Of The Forest System And Infrastructure Implications, Erik W. Lyttek

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Though the impacts of pest infestation on forested ecosystems vary, the natural factors that facilitate outbreaks are of concern across multiple disciplines across the USA, affecting such diverse fields as economics, ecology, hydrology, atmospheric sciences, and pedology. Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is a typical example of an aggressive invasive forest pest; it has proven difficult to eliminate, resistant to natural predators, and damaging to local flora. EAB has recently proliferated through the northern and mid-western forests of the USA, devastating the native population of ash trees (Fraxinus spp.), and has invaded an estimated 28% of all susceptible trees. In New …

Destruction Of Pfoa On Ion-Exchange Resin With Advanced Reduction Processes To Regenerate Resins For Addressing Pfoa Pollution In Drinking Water, Junkui Cui

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been globally incorporated into various industrial and consumer products since the 1940s. However, concerns about PFAS have gradually grown because of their prevalence, mobility, persistence, bioaccumulation, and adverse impacts on human and environmental health. Unfortunately, traditional water treatment processes inefficiently remove PFAS. Therefore, there is an urgent research need to develop innovative, technically viable, and low cost-treatment processes for the removal of PFAS in water.

Among the established PFAS treatment technologies, ion-exchange (IX) has been extensively applied to drinking water treatment practices due to its adsorption capability and technology maturity. However, IX is highly …

Road Salt-Induced Salinization Of The Upper Paulins Kill River In Newton, New Jersey, Kristine Emily Rogers

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Road salt application is a primary factor leading to the salinization of freshwater rivers and streams throughout the Northeastern United States and globally. Rising salinization within fresh water bodies is problematic because it can modify community structure and detritus processing within freshwater ecosystems, induce mortality among macroinvertebrates and other aquatic life, and mobilize metals that can pose harm to human health. Road salts also threaten surface and underground drinking water supplies, kill riparian vegetation, and corrode infrastructure, such as bridges and roads. This research examines 4 1⁄2 years of continuous water quality monitoring data collected from two sensor stations along …

Gaging Downstream Transport Of Cyanobacteria In The Raritan River Basin, Kyle R. Clonan

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Cyanobacteria dominated Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) have the potential to release toxic compounds harmful to human health. Few studies have examined the potential for cyanobacteria travelling from lacustrine HAB sources through fluvial systems used for potable water supply. The Raritan Basin Water Supply Complex (RBWSC) sources potable water for several utilities serving more than 1.5 million people in central New Jersey. The RBWSC features three lentic waterbodies with persistent HABs; discharges from these waterbodies all reach the downstream drinking water intakes. The objectives of this study were to 1) review the persistence of cyanobacteria during fluvial transport from upstream, cyanobacteria-dominated …

The Effects And Costs Of Changes In River Flooding In New Jersey, Yousef Alagrabawi

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The purpose of this research is to quantify the flood risks of rivers in various locations in New Jersey and how they have changed over time. This is important because the change is likely to continue over time as climate change continues. ArcGIS, HEC-SSP, and online sources such as Trulia (www.trulia.com) were used to understand where flooding is most likely to occur, which streets, and how many homes will be affected and estimate the cost of damages from a potential 100-year flood. I compiled information such as annual peak river discharge from the USGS river gages on the Delaware River …

Impact Of Adding Natural And Simulated Root Exudates On The Functioning Of Contaminated Soil, Bhagyashree P. Vaidya

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

No abstract provided.

New Black Carbon Isotopes From The Eastern Tethys And Earth System Modeling During The Petm, Maurizia De Palma

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; ca. 56Ma) is a time when global temperatures greatly increased due to rapid carbon emissions. The event is marked by a negative carbon isotope excursion (CIE) that is observed in both marine and terrestrial records. However, the amount, rate, and source of the emitted carbon remains highly debated. This study investigates the response of the eastern Tethys, an understudied subtropical shallow marine environment, and assesses the climatic impacts during the PETM. An Earth system model of intermediate complexity (cGENIE) ran six “double-inversion” experiments with δ¹¹B and δ¹³C_carb forced onto the …

Assessing Potential Of Dual Use Solar Development In New Jersey Preserved Farmlands, Gary Ryan Chapman

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The dual use of farmland and the incorporation of solar energy has the potential to maximize the net returns per acre and utilization capabilities. Land is one of the most vital and nonrenewable resources that is often solely used for one purpose. This study focuses on analyzing three objectives: 1) To explore the potential of Agrivoltaic Farming (dual use) on preserved farmland in New Jersey. 2) To estimate the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of New Jersey’s dual use potential. 3) To generate sensitivity analyses of dual use solar and farm production in New Jersey. This study analyzed New Jersey’s …

A Study On Wind Farms In New Jersey : Life Cycle Assessment And Acceptance Of Wind Farms By The Tourists, Nawal Shoaib

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

New Jersey has taken steps to and aims to be carbon neutral by 2030. In order to achieve that a part of its Energy Master Plan focuses on building the wind energy sector. First part of this thesis presents a life cycle assessment on a hypothetical offshore wind farm 15 miles from the coast of New Jersey and compares the benefits of recycling the offshore wind farm at the end of its 20-year life cycle. The results indicated that 1) floating turbines cause less emissions than fixed turbines 2) recycling rotor will have a negative impact of 17% on the …

Determining The Feasibility Of A Sponge City Design On Montclair State University Campus, Megan Elizabeth Barron

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

In this project I examine the sponge city concept as a Low Impact Development (LID) approach to mitigating the adverse impact of stormwater runoff. LID techniques incorporate Green Infrastructure (GI) practices, which minimize the adverse impact of contemporary urban areas. Specifically, I am examining LID on the Montclair State University (MSU) campus within the context of stormwater runoff.

The Quad and the Quarry, two areas on the MSU campus, were selected for both their topographic depressions for containing runoff and for their built environment with large buildings and parking lots, an urban design feature that increase runoff. A 1/9 arc-second …

Gender Roles In Natural Resource Use In Madagascar, Sarahana Shrestha

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Understanding the role that gender plays in natural resource use is crucial for effective conservation efforts. While Madagascar is a priority for international conservation due to its high levels of endemism and unsustainable natural resource use, there is little information on how gender roles affect forest product use. This study uses over seven years of data on gender roles within the extraction, use, and sale of natural forest and marine resources near Madagascar’s largest national park to inform future conservation strategies. We found that gender significantly affects how one uses natural resources in Madagascar. Men were primarily responsible for the …

Arsenic : Risk, Exposure, Policy And Management, Nadia Binte Jamil

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Arsenic (As) contamination in drinking water is a global concern. About 150 million people from 70 countries in the world are at risk to health hazards associated with As contamination. In this study, we compared four As mitigation approaches practiced in Bangladesh and their costs. Our results show that intervention that is associated with the lowest cost of exposure reduction is testing and switching ($3/person), followed by intermediate wells ($28/person), deep tube wells ($143/person), and piped water supply system ($158/person). We then prioritized affected villages to reduce exposure and facilitate mitigation using three criteria: weighted exposure (mean As concentration x …

The Effect Of Climate Change, Human Activity, And Water Management Interventions On Environmental And Socio-Economic Outcomes In The Mekong Delta Region, Huynh Truong Gia Nguyen

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The Vietnam Mekong Delta (VMD) is the southernmost part of the Mekong River watershed basin and plays a critical role in Vietnam’s socio-economic and ecological wellbeing. Because of both climate change and anthropogenic activities, such as hydropower dam construction and overwhelming water extraction, the area has recently experienced severe droughts, changing rainfall patterns, and decreasing water resources, collectively heightening disaster risks. Understanding the interactions among these evolving factors is key to preserving resources in the VMD and similarly afflicted regions. Therefore, this dissertation included three objectives. The first objective was to estimate potential impacts of changes in the available water …

Distributed Energy Resources : An Assessment Of New Jersey’S Clean Energy Future, Mary Elizabeth Kenny

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The demand for renewable energy in New Jersey will continue to grow as economic opportunities and community support drive development. The effective integration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) will transform energy production, storage, and use. To achieve sustainable energy production, the current reliance on fossil fuels must be reduced and replaced with less carbon-intensive energy sources that optimize the electric grid. DERs help pioneer the path to a clean energy transition where the implementation of new renewable energy projects will diversify New Jersey’s energy portfolio and provide a more resilient, equitable, and independent energy source. This thesis investigates different perspectives …

A Geo-Economic Framework For Dune Construction And Long-Term Coastal Resiliency In New Jersey, Jesse Charles Kolodin

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Following the extensive coastal impacts (i.e., storm surges) caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the State of New Jersey chose to install large-scale engineered berm-dune structures as their main coastal resiliency strategy. Initially, the project was entirely funded with federal emergency relief funds, but will require state and local beachfront communities to pay a percentage costshare for future renourishment projects. The thesis specifically focuses on three adjacent beachfront communities within the barrier island stretch of Long Beach Island, NJ (i.e., Beach Haven, Long Beach Township, and Ship Bottom), all of which had been provided engineered dunes in 2016. Following installation, …

Understanding Combined Sewer Overflow (Cso) And Green Infrastructure Interaction In New Jersey : An Economic Analysis, Taylor J. Wieczerak

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

New Jersey, as a coastal area, has historically struggled with a variety of problems stemming from stormwater runoff, which have only grown more prevalent and harmful as urbanization and climate change have taken their toll. One such issue that has emerged in recent years is the prevalence of combined sewer overflows (CSOs). These sewer systems are common in urban areas in the United States and abroad, and increased urbanization has them not only obsolete but a persistent danger, as their discharges can contaminate waterways and affect human health. While municipalities across the United States are beginning to move towards mitigating …

Coastal Onlap/Offlap Amplification Due To Organic Sediment Accumulation And Degradation : Implications For Sea Level Reconstruction, Norjmaa Khosbaatar

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Coastal-plain depositional systems such as fluvial deltas are archives of past external (allogenic) forcing, such as sea-level variations, and their evolution can be described by two geomorphic boundaries: the alluvial-basement transition or upstream boundary, and the shoreline or downstream boundary. Patterns of landward/seaward migration of the shoreline (i.e., transgression/regression) and the alluvial basement transition (i.e., coastal onlap/offlap) in the rock record are often used for reconstruction of past sea-level changes. Theories for stratigraphic interpretation, however, need to be adapted to deal with internal (autogenic) processes that could play a significant role, but are to date largely unexplored. In particular, in-situ …

Effects Of Differing Environmental Conditions On Bacteriophage Jenika, Gerard Nasser

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The dynamic role of bacteriophage in different environmental areas poses important questions about viral interactions with and control of bacteria. Bacteriophage play a vital role in the evolutionary track of bacteria. The evolutionary role of bacteriophage is affected by lysogenic conversion, transduction, mediated gene transfer, and the exertion of selective pressures. The objective of this research was to determine if there were changes in growth of the bacterial host Mycobacterium smegmatis and its bacteriophage Jenika given isolated changes in environmental conditions. Growth of the host, M. smegmatis, was documented using changes in optical density and growth of one of its …

Effect Of Abiotic Factors On Enzyme Activity In Brownfield Soils, Diane Hagmann

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Several factors can influence soil function, including biotic and abiotic. Biotic factors are those that are living, like microorganisms. Abiotic factors are those that are non-living, and include heavy metals, organic contaminants, pH, and nutrients. Liberty State Park in Jersey City (N.J., U.S.A), is a 100-ha brownfield was once a major rail yard that was restricted public access in 1969. The site without any intervention of humans grew a forest. The primary objective of this dissertation is to understand the impacts of both inorganic and organic contaminants on soil function in addition to provide strategies that can override the negative …

Impact Of Covid-19 On Residential Waste Streams Of Montclair Township, Jeanne Huguette Perrine

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic has been found to have numerous impacts on day-to-day life, everywhere around the globe. One important sector which is particularly being affected is the waste management sector. Reports from the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) showed possible variations in the source and volume of solid waste generated due to the enforcement of lockdown by the authorities to contain the coronavirus outbreak (Kulkarni & Anantharama, 2020). Food waste specifically is one of the most discussed topics in the world nowadays. About one-third of the food produced for humans ends up in the trash (Nusaka, 2020). It …

Upstream Propagation Of Sea-Level Signals In Fluvio-Deltaic Environments : Time-Lags, And The Dynamics Of The Fluvial Surface, Madeline Pianta Kollegger

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The sedimentary record of fluvio-deltaic environments holds clues to past climate and sea level change. Although theories for stratigraphic interpretation generally rely upon the assumption that the fluvial surface responds uniformly to sea level changes, recent theoretical work suggests that changes in the relief and concavity of the fluvial surface can influence the propagation of sea level information upstream, and result in geologically long-lived lags in the system response. We test this theoretical result using measurements from an evolving experimental delta subject to sea-level cycles. As predicted by the theoretical results, during sea-level fall the relief increases and the fluvial …

Identification Of Ice-Rafted Debris In The Weddell Sea To Characterize Glaciation At The Eocene-Oligocene Transition, Josie Horowitz

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

At the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT), approximately 34 million years ago (Ma), the Earth’s climate changed from a warm greenhouse to a cooler climate which resulted in ice-sheet growth and stable continental-scale ice sheets in Antarctica. Hole 696B of the Ocean Drilling Program Leg 113 drilled in 650 m of water depth on the South Orkney Microcontinent spans the entire EOT. Cores 53R and 54R are dated at lower Oligocene (~33.1 to ~33.5 Ma) and total ~14 meters in thickness from ~549 to ~564 mbsf. Ice-rafted debris (IRD) in sediment cores gives insight into the extent of glaciation in West Antarctica, …

Community-Scale Beach Nourishment And Groin Construction Decisions Along Human-Modified Coasts : The Interplay Between Socioeconomics, Coordination, Tourism, And Shoreline Change, Arye Max Janoff

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

In response to coastal erosion driven by storms, sea-level rise, and local gradients in sediment supply, communities defend their homes and maintain beach recreation by widening beaches via soft engineering (i.e., beach nourishment) or hard engineering (i.e., groins). Past research has found that, at regional scales, the net effect of these interventions has in many cases not only counteracted historically observed beach erosion, but has reversed erosional trends, on average shifting shorelines seaward. While groins trap sediments locally at and upcoast of the structure relative to the direction of alongshore transport, however, they often have adverse downcoast impacts, resulting in …

Sustainability Of Hard Apple Cider : An Environmental And Socio-Economic Assessment, Meghann N. Smith

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Agricultural sustainability is a fundamental requirement for environmental conservation, food production, and food security. In order to achieve agricultural sustainability, it is essential that policies are put in place to support sustainable practices, and that agricultural institutions are provided access supporting knowledge and technology. With this integral support, stakeholders can be better prepared to avoid issues such as eroding biodiversity and environmental quality as well as prepare for the inevitable challenges of climate change. This dissertation investigates the challenges and opportunities involved with the development of the hard apple cider industry in the United States’ Northeast. Hard apple cider is …

Mining Social Media And Structured Data In Urban Environmental Management To Develop Smart Cities, Xu Du

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This research presented the deployment of data mining on social media and structured data in urban studies. We analyzed urban relocation, air quality and traffic parameters on multicity data as early work. We applied the data mining techniques of association rules, clustering and classification on urban legislative history. Results showed that data mining could produce meaningful knowledge to support urban management. We treated ordinances (local laws) and the tweets about them as indicators to assess urban policy and public opinion. Hence, we conducted ordinance and tweet mining including sentiment analysis of tweets. This part of the study focused on NYC …

Impacts Of Forest Fire On Stream Sediment : A Chemical Analysis Of The 16 Mile Fire In Delaware State Forest, Pennsylvania, Usa, Bernadette Rosario Calderon

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Wildfires, which will occur naturally or be produced from anthropogenic activities, are known to have significant impacts in most terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems such as streams. Following a wildfire, burning of soil and vegetation to ash can potentially lead to the input of contaminants such as trace elements into nearby aquatic streams. For this study, stream sediments were examined from the 16-Mile Fire that occurred in April 2016 at the Delaware State Forest, Pennsylvania, USA to determine major and trace elements present. While major and trace elements have been previously examined in soil from the 16-Mile Wildfire, stream sediments have …

Joint Use Of Advanced Oxidation Process (Aop) And Advanced Reduction Process (Arp) For Alleviation Of Leachate Organic Matter (Lom), Ali Albalgane

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Landfilling is the dominant municipal solid waste (MSW) management option in the United States and many other countries. Leachate management and treatment represent an essential component in sustainable management of landfills. However, leachate organic matter (LOM) present in landfill leachate challenges existing treatment practices. The long-term goal of this study is to develop innovative treatment technologies for mitigation of LOM impacts for supporting sustainability in waste management and wastewater treatment. The overall objective of this thesis research aimed to investigate technical performance of the joint use of advanced oxidation process (AOP) and advanced reduction process (ARP) for treatment of mature …

Modeling The Evolution Of A Coupled Barrier-Marsh-Lagoon System : Insights From The New Jersey Coastline, Christopher Tenebruso

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Barriers and their associated backbarrier environments protect populated centers and infrastructure from storm impacts, support biodiversity, and provide a number of ecosystem services. Despite their socio-economic and ecological importance, the response of coupled barrier-backbarrier environments to sea-level rise is yet poorly understood. Undeveloped barrier-backbarrier systems typically respond to sea level rise through the process of landward migration, driven by storm overwash, tidal fluxes, and inland marsh upland expansion. Such response, however, can be largely affected by development and engineering activities such as dredging and shoreline stabilization techniques (e.g., seawalls, groins, beach replenishment). To better understand the difference in the response …

Water Quality And Management Challenges In Urban New Jersey, Alessandra Rossi

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Exacerbation of extreme weather events and increasing urbanization are facilitating the pathway of pollutants towards the waterbodies with freshwater ecosystems being impacted more than terrestrial and marine ecosystems by anthropogenic stressors. We addressed here the three major threats to freshwater ecosystems, pathogens, litter, and eutrophication, integrating scientific findings with management inputs at the watershed level. We evaluated the relationship between environmental variables measurements and Escherichia coli counts with the intent to develop equations capable of predicting near-real-time E. coli concentrations in two riverine ecosystems to help decision makers in assessments of recreational safety. Results showed that the cumulative rainfall for …

Beliefs And Perceptions Of Millennials Pertaining To Climate Change And Sustainability, Rae Cade

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The purpose of this qualitative multi-case study is to explore the beliefs and perceptions of millennials on the subjects of climate change and sustainability. Some millennials pursuing an undergraduate degree in a non-environmental science field may lack knowledge pertaining to climate change and sustainability. The conceptual framework for this qualitative explanatory multi-case study is grounded in contributions from Henri Lefebvre, Nicholson-Smith (1991), and Simpson (2014) who explore how the notion of space has evolved in recent years, as well as researchers who are quantitatively studying climate change and sustainability. I conducted semistructured focus groups and drafted field notes from two …