Engineering Commons^™

Land Use/ Land Cover Change Patterns And Trends In Two Dryland Regions, Omar Sulaiman Belhaj

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Development and climate change affect the environment in numerous ways and to varyingdegrees. This effect appears prominent and more influential in arid regions. Therefore, land use/ land cover in these regions experience profound changes such as plant cover decrease and extinction of some plant species. Also, land use/ land cover in these regions has critical impacts on the environment and its components, such as shrublands shrinking and losing the habitat of animal species. The degree of changes and effects reaches severe levels that become urgent to figure out the impacts and find solutions to stop or mitigate the negative consequences. …

The Drones' Impact On Precision Agriculture, Ibrahim Naji

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A study to assess the overall impact of drones in the agricultural sector. The specific goal of this research was to provide a drone system to ward off pestering birds from crops to allow for better growth and an increased yield. Along with providing a user-friendly coded drone system for farmers that is cost effective, this project has inspired other areas of use for the drone.

Evaluation Of Recycled Gypsum Application Dosages To Enhance The Water Infiltration Rate At Water Retention Ponds, Jorge Luis Navarrete

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The retention ponds play central role for efficient collection, removal, and drainage of rainfall runoff from surrounding streets to minimize flooding and damage. However, low percolating retention ponds may result in an extended ponding of water, abundance bacteria accumulations, mosquito breeding, environmental hazards, among others. The presence of clayey soils and soil sodicity reduces infiltration rates of retention ponds. To enhance the infiltration rate of ponds, it is proposed to use recycled gypsum (RG), as a soil amendment in retention ponds consisting of clayey soils to enhance low infiltration rates.

To evaluate the influence of RG in clayey soils as …

Effects Of Unweathered Or Soil Weathered Copper-Based Nanoparticles And Compounds On Soil Grown Bell Pepper (Capsicum Annuum) And Spinach (Spinacia Oleracea) Plants, Swati Rawat

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) find large scale industrial application because of their promising chemical, physical, electrical, magnetic, optical, and electronic properties. Copper-based ENP are used as gas sensors, in catalysts, electronics, semi-conductors, and in agriculture. They have been useful as agricultural amendments in the form of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers because of their antifungal and antibacterial properties. They also find application in electronics and sensors used in precision agriculture. Due to their massive production and use, ENPs are likely to be ubiquitous in the environment around us in the near future. Application of biosolids for fertilization and water from wastewater treatment …

High Fidelity Localization And Sensing For Cattle Analytics, Luis Carlos Bañuelos Chacon

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Global beef production is projected to reach approximately 60 million tons in 2015 and opportunities to increase efficiencies are significant with recent advancements in remote sensing. By economically monitoring the location and conditions of a herd such as feeding patterns, body temperature, heart rate, and other biometric information, the herd performance can now be enhanced through data-driven optimization. Next generation sensors provide high fidelity data on a wide range of measurable properties, and simultaneously, the wide adoption of these sensor systems in many consumer applications is leading to commoditization and reduced cost due to the associated economies of scale. Deploying …

Using Zeolite For Soil Moisture Retention And Salinity Control, Mark Torres

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

There is a great need in the desert southwest United States for exploring ways to save water in agriculture as it accounts for up to 90 percent of water consumption in many western states (USDA 2016). As surface water reaches critical lows the dependence on ground water has increased leading to the need for deeper wells with higher salt concentrations. The studies conducted for this research included using zeolites from the St Cloud Mining Company in Winston, New Mexico to determine the feasibility of using these zeolites to help and retain moisture in zeolite treated soils. The Volumetric Water Content …