Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Occurrence Of Microplastics In The Asian Freshwater Environments: A Review, Farah Akmal Idrus, Noradriena Mohd Fadhli, Mohd Nasarudin Harith

Applied Environmental Research

Microplastics pollution has become a worldwide common problem. Despite the growing numbers in researches regarding the microplastics, the understanding of microplastics in the freshwater environment are still less. This paper overviews the present knowledge and findings on the occurrence of microplastics in water and sediment of the freshwater environments in Asia. The review also covers the size distribution, polymers, morphological characteristics and sources of microplastics to the freshwater systems. Perspective of the adsorption of heavy metals on the microplastics to the freshwater systems are also discussed in this review.

Ecological And Human Health Risk Assessment Of Heavy Metals By Consuming The Aquatic Plant Species Near An Electronic Waste Open Dumpsite In Thailand, Thitima Parkpoom, Somsak Intamat, Uraiwan Phoonaploy, Lamyai Neeratanaphan

Applied Environmental Research

Heavy metals from electronic waste (e-waste) accumulate in the environment and can affect human health. The purpose of this study was to determine As, Cd, Cr and Pb concentrations in water, sediment and three species of edible aquatic plants (Ottelia alismoides, Ipomoea aquatic and Marsilea crenata) near an e-waste open dumpsite. Samples were collected from six sampling points surrounding an e-waste open dumpsite and heavy metal concentrations were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Bioaccumulation factors (BAFs), estimated daily intake (EDI), hazard quotient (HQ), hazard index (HI) and carcinogenic risk (CR) were evaluated in …

Assessing Vegetation Cover Change Using Remote Sensing: Case Study At Binh Duong Province, Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Huyen, Le Hoang Tu, Le Truong Ngoc Han, Vuong Thi Thuy, Dang Nguyen Dong Phuong, Nguyen Kim Loi

Applied Environmental Research

This study aims to present the application of remote sensing in monitoring vegetation change in Binh Duong Province, Vietnam. The study used Landsat 5 images in the year 2010 and Landsat 8 images in the years 2015 and 2020 to investigate the area of vegetation. The maximum likelihood classification method (MLC) was used to classify land cover and an accuracy matrix was computed to validate the classification results. The references data were collected to support classification and accuracy assessment processes including land use maps in 2010, 2015, and 2020. In addition, collected field points and UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) in …

Indoor Air Quality Through The Lens Of Outdoor Atmospheric Chemistry, Jonathan P.D. Abbatt, Douglas B. Collins

Faculty Contributions to Books

Outdoor atmospheric chemistry and air quality have been the topic of research that intensified in earnest around the mid-20^th century, while indoor air quality research has only been a key focus of chemical researchers over the last 30 years. Examining practices and approaches employed in the outdoor atmospheric chemistry research enterprise provides an additional viewpoint from which we can chart new paths to increase scientific understanding of indoor chemistry. This chapter explores our understanding of primary chemical sources, homogeneous and multiphase reactivity, gas-surface partitioning, and the coupling between the chemistry and dynamics of indoor air through the lens of …

Biochar From Empty Date Fruit Bunch As An Adsorbent To Remove Eriochrome Black T And Methylene Blue From Aqueous Solution, Houari Bella, Hayet Bendaikha

Applied Environmental Research

Date fruit has a significant role in Sahara countries' economies. In this study, a bunch of empty dates waste was used to produce biochar, which will be used to adsorb Eriochrome black T (EBT) and methylene blue (MB) dyes from aqueous solution. The dates bunch was washed, dried, and ground into small particles. Then it was heated in a muffle furnace at 850 °C. The biochar from empty date bunches (BEDB) characteristics before and after adsorption was determined by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The experiment has used different parameters notably initial concentration (25 …

A Novel Antibody-Dependent Mc-Lr Detecting Biosensor For Early Warning Of Harmful Algal Blooms (Habs), Stephanie Stoll

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Microcystins (MCs) are toxins produced by cyanobacteria commonly found in harmful algal blooms (HAB) occurring in many surface waters. Due to their toxicity to humans and other organisms, the World Health Organization (WHO) set a guideline of 1 µg/L for microcystin-leucine-arginine (MC-LR) in drinking water. However, current analytical techniques for the detection of MC-LR such as liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) are costly, bulky, time-consuming, and mostly conducted in a laboratory, requiring highly trained personnel. Therefore, an analytical method that can be used in the field for rapid determination is essential. In this study, an Anti-MC-LR/MC-LR/Cysteamine …

Ooi Biogeochemical Sensor Data: Best Practices And User Guide. Version 1.0.0., Hilary I. Palevsky, Sophie Clayton, Dariia Atamanchuk, Roman Battisti, Jennifer Batryn, Annie Bourbonnais, Ellen M. Briggs, Filipa Carvalho, Alison P. Chase, Rachel Eveleth, Rob Fatland, Kristen E. Fogaren, Jonathan Peter Fram, Susan E. Hartman, Isabela Le Bras, Cara C.M. Manning, Joseph A. Needoba, Merrie Beth Neely, Hilde Oliver, Andrew C. Reed, Jennie E. Rheuban, Christina Schallenberg, Michael F. Vardaro, Ian Walsh, Christopher Wingard

OES Faculty Publications

The OOI Biogeochemical Sensor Data Best Practices and User Guide is intended to provide current and prospective users of data generated by biogeochemical sensors deployed on the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) arrays with the information and guidance needed for them to ensure that the data is science-ready. This guide is aimed at researchers with an interest or some experience in ocean biogeochemical processes. We expect that users of this guide will have some background in oceanography, however we do not assume any prior experience working with biogeochemical sensors or their data. While initially envisioned as a “cookbook” for end users …

Biking In Indianapolis: An Ethnographic Analysis Of Obstacles And Solutions, Emory Lietz

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Indiana is known as the ""Crossroads of America"" for its historic investment in vehicle infrastructure. This focus on automobiles has shaped Indianapolis's urban landscape, to the dismay of many cyclists. Based on semi-structured interviews with a range of stakeholders in the Indianapolis cycling community, including urban planners, bike commuters, IndyGo employees, city government officials, and bike advocates, this project identifies and evaluates the current barriers that prevent Indianapolis residents from riding their bikes. These obstacles, which include infrastructural, safety, and social factors, make it more difficult than it ought to be to bike in Indy.

For my thesis project, I …

Image-Data-Driven Deep Learning For Slope Stability Analysis, Behnam Azmoon

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Landslides cause major infrastructural issues, damage the environment, and cause socio-economic disruptions. Therefore, various slope stability analysis methods have been developed to evaluate the stability of slopes and the probability of their failure. This dissertation attempts to take advantage of the recent advancements in remote sensing and computer technology to implement a deep-learning-based landslide prediction method.

Considering the novelty of this approach, this dissertation leads with proof-of-concept studies to evaluate and establish the suitability of deep learning models for slope stability analysis. To achieve this, a simulated 2D dataset of slope images was created with different geometries and soil properties. …

Maximum Likelihood Estimator Method To Estimate Flaw Parameters For Different Glass Types, Nabhajit Goswami

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Glass is commonly used in architectural applications, such as windows and in-fill panels and structural applications, such as beams and staircases. Despite the popularity of structural glass use in buildings, an engineering design standard to determine the required component or member strength for design loads does not exist. Glass is a brittle material that lacks a well-defined yield or ultimate stress, unlike ductile materials. The traditional engineering methods used to design a ductile material cannot be used to design a glass component. Glass fails in tension primarily due to the presence of microscopic flaws present on the surface that acts …

The Photo-Transformation Of Free Methionine In The Presence Of Surrogate And Standard Isolate Dissolved Organic Matter Under Sunlit Irradiation, Benjamin J. Mohrhardt

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Sulfur (S)-containing amino acids are key sources of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur involved in protein synthesis, protein function, and providing energy for microbial growth. Dissolved free and combined methionine is one of two S-containing amino acids incorporated into proteins and has been attributed to their stability and function. The oxidation of methionine has received considerable attention given its ubiquitous presence in most biological systems and has been associated with losses in protein function and pathological disorders. In natural waters, methionine is rapidly and selectively taken up by microorganisms to achieve cellular requirements of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. The abiotic transformation …

Fish And Invertebrate Use Of Restored Vs. Natural Oyster Reefs In A Shallow Temperate Latitude Estuary, Jonathan H. Grabowski, Christopher J. Baillie, Adam Baukus, Rachael Carlyle, F. Joel Fodrie, Rachel K. Gittman, A. Randall Hughes, David L. Kimbro, Juhyung Lee, Hunter S. Lenihan, Sean P. Powers, Kevin Sullivan

University Faculty and Staff Publications

Coastal marine habitats continue to be degraded, thereby compelling largescale restoration in many parts of the world. Whether restored habitats function similarly to natural habitats and fully recover lost ecosystem services is unclear. In estuaries, oyster reefs have been degraded by multiple anthropogenic activities including destructive fishing practices and reduced water quality, motivating restoration to maintain oyster fisheries and other ecosystem services, often at relatively high cost. We compared fish and invertebrate communities on recently restored (0–1 year post-restoration), older restored (3–4 years post-restoration), and natural oyster reefs to determine if and when restored reefs support functionally similar faunal communities. …

Application Of Artificial Intelligence For Co2 Storage In Saline Aquifer (Smart Proxy For Snap-Shot In Time), Marwan Mohammed Alnuaimi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technology have grown in popularity. Smart Proxy Models (SPM) are AI/ML based data-driven models which have proven to be quite crucial in petroleum engineering domain with abundant data, or operations in which large surface/ subsurface volume of data is generated. Climate change mitigation is one application of such technology to simulate and monitor CO2 injection into underground formations.

The goal of the SPM developed in this study is to replicate the results (in terms of pressure and saturation outputs) of the numerical reservoir simulation model (CMG) for CO2 injection into …

Integrating Deep Learning And Hydrodynamic Modeling To Improve The Great Lakes Forecast, Pengfei Xue, Aditya Wagh, Gangfeng Ma, Yilin Wang, Yongchao Yang, Tao Liu, Chenfu Huang

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The Laurentian Great Lakes, one of the world’s largest surface freshwater systems, pose a modeling challenge in seasonal forecast and climate projection. While physics-based hydrodynamic modeling is a fundamental approach, improving the forecast accuracy remains critical. In recent years, machine learning (ML) has quickly emerged in geoscience applications, but its application to the Great Lakes hydrodynamic prediction is still in its early stages. This work is the first one to explore a deep learning approach to predicting spatiotemporal distributions of the lake surface temperature (LST) in the Great Lakes. Our study shows that the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural network, …

Ozonized Biochar Filtrate Effects On The Growth Of Pseudomonas Putida And Cyanobacteria Synechococcus Elongatus Pcc 7942, Oumar Sacko, Nancy L. Engle, Timothy J. Tschaplinski, Sandeep Kumar, James Weifu Lee

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Background

Biochar ozonization was previously shown to dramatically increase its cation exchange capacity, thus improving its nutrient retention capacity. The potential soil application of ozonized biochar warrants the need for a toxicity study that investigates its effects on microorganisms.

Results

In the study presented here, we found that the filtrates collected from ozonized pine 400 biochar and ozonized rogue biochar did not have any inhibitory effects on the soil environmental bacteria Pseudomonas putida, even at high dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations of 300 ppm. However, the growth of Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 was inhibited by the ozonized biochar filtrates at …

Testing The Influence Of Water Depth In Design Of Created Oyster Reef For Living Shoreline Applications, Peter Vien

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Living shoreline stabilization has become a popular practice in shoreline restoration and bank protection; however, there are still many uncertainties regarding effective site design using living materials. For example, natural wave-breaks may be formed of created reefs, but the optimum water depth for hydrodynamic influence may differ from the preferred depth to ensure organism recruitment. The objective of this research is to understand how water depth relative to the crest of submerged artificial oyster reef structures influences nearshore hydrodynamic processes and sediment transport or retention in nearshore areas. A field study, sited in a microtidal estuary on the Atlantic coast …

Application Of Biologically Activate Carbon For Treatment Of Sulfide-Laden Groundwater, Jessica Cormier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Small-system water purveyors must overcome many challenges to provide an adequate and safe water supply to its consuming public. This dissertation reports on research related to the application of biologically activated carbon (BAC) media filters for the treatment of well water to remove disinfection by-product (DBP) precursor matter, measured as dissolved organic carbon (DOC), at two treatment plants serving a small community water system. Four research questions were investigated individually in discrete, yet interconnected studies at two water treatment facilities processing groundwater that contained hydrogen-sulfide (~1.2 mg/L) and dissolved organic carbon (~2.0 mg/L). The first study revealed that BAC filters …

Assessing Machine Learning Utility In Predicting Hydrologic And Nitrate Dynamics In Karst Agroecosystems, Timothy Mcgill

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Seasonal hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico and harmful algal blooms experienced in many inland freshwater bodies is partially driven due to excessive nitrogen loading seen from agricultural watersheds. Within the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin, many areas are underlain with karst features, and efforts to reduce nitrogen contributions from these areas have had varying success, due to lacking a complete understanding of nutrient dynamics in karst agricultural systems. To improve the understanding of nitrogen cycling in these systems, 35 months of high resolution in situ water quality and atmospheric data were collected and fed into a two-hidden layer extreme learning machine …

Evaluating Essential Processes And Forecast Requirements For Meteotsunami-Induced Coastal Flooding, Chenfu Huang, Eric Anderson, Yi Liu, Gangfeng Ma, Greg Mann, Pengfei Xue

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Meteotsunamis pose a unique threat to coastal communities and often lead to damage of coastal infrastructure, deluge of nearby property, and loss of life and injury. The Great Lakes are a known hot-spot of meteotsunami activity and serve as an important region for investigation of essential hydrodynamic processes and model forecast requirements in meteotsunami-induced coastal flooding. For this work, we developed an advanced hydrodynamic model and evaluate key model attributes and dynamic processes, including: (1) coastal model grid resolution and wetting and drying process in low-lying zones, (2) coastal infrastructure, including breakwaters and associated submerging and overtopping processes, (3) annual/seasonal …

Implementation And Usage Of Low-Cost Turbines For Power Generation In Water Networks, Luis Javier Ortiz Osornio

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The following APP is part of an investigation and development, carried out to design, and implement a hydroelectric turbine of horizontal axis, in order to generate electrical energy in rural areas, utilizing existing infrastructure or natural waterways such as irrigation canals, piping, rivers and streams. Every industrialized country, as well as, most of the developing nations, have a stake in agriculture and thus access to the infrastructure required for irrigation purposes. Artificial irrigation canals offer advantages such as a clean continuous flow, with the possibility of flow regulation: this together with their vast availability as agricultural infrastructure constitute the main …

Sources Of Variability And Uncertainty In Food-Energy-Water Nexus Systems, Heydi Calderon-Ambelis, Deepak R. Keshwani

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

A nexus approach contributes to the strategic allocation of resources to secure food, energy, and water for the world population. Integrated models considering the complex interactions across food, energy, and water (FEW) enhance decision-making and strategic planning towards resilience. However, a significant number of the existing integrated models leave unaddressed the inherent variability and uncertainty present in the FEW sectors. Here, we review the importance of characterizing variability over spatial and temporal scales and the importance of decreasing the uncertainty present within a FEW nexus systems. The review also discusses existing modeling tools that address variability and uncertainty on single …

Comparison Effect On Biogas Production From Vegetable And Fruit Waste With Rumen Digesta Through Co-Digestion Process, Anika Tasnim, Muhammad Rashed Al Mamun, Md Anwar Hossen, Md Towfiqur Rahman, Md Janibul Alam Soeb

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Biogas is the best renewable energy as it can be produced from any biomass for example any plant or living organism. The purpose of this research was to produce biomethane from co-digestion of vegetable and fruit waste with rumen digesta through anaerobic digestion process. In this research, two trials of experiment were conducted. Each trial has three different sample with different mixing ratios. Raw materials used in the experiment was rumen digesta of goat and cow, potato, capsicum, cucumbers, onions, radish, cauliflower, carrot, leafy vegetables, apple, banana, and papaya. In each sample, 1200 gram of raw materials were used. Hydraulic …

Evaluation Of Snow And Streamflow In The National Water Model With Analysis Using Machine Learning, Engela Sthapit

Dissertations and Theses

Snow has great influence on land-atmosphere interactions and snowmelt from the mountains is a vital water source for downstream communities dependent on snow fed lakes, rivers and streams. This study explored the snow and streamflow prediction capabilities of process-based numerical prediction and data-driven machine learning models.

The overall goal of this study was to understand the deficiencies in the NOAA’s National Water Model (NWM) to represent snow, subsequently streamflow, and recognize the areas where it could be improved for future model developments. The goal was also to evaluate if the recent advancements in machine learning techniques is useful for predicting …

Data Fusion And Synergy Of Active And Passive Remote Sensing; An Application For Freeze Thaw Detections, Zahra Sharifnezhadazizi

Dissertations and Theses

There has been a recent evolvement in the field of remote sensing after increase of number satellites and sensors data which could be fused to produce new data and products. These efforts are mainly focused on using of simultaneous observations from different platforms with different spatial and temporal resolutions. The research dissertation aims to enhance the synergy use of active and passive microwave observations and examine the results in detection land freeze and thaw (FT) predictions. Freeze thaw cycles particularly in high-latitude regions have a crucial role in many applications such as agriculture, biogeochemical transitions, hydrology and ecosystem studies. The …

A Citizen-Science Approach For Urban Flood Risk Analysis Using Data Science And Machine Learning, Candace Agonafir

Dissertations and Theses

Street flooding is problematic in urban areas, where impervious surfaces, such as concrete, brick, and asphalt prevail, impeding the infiltration of water into the ground. During rain events, water ponds and rise to levels that cause considerable economic damage and physical harm. The main goal of this dissertation is to develop novel approaches toward the comprehension of urban flood risk using data science techniques on crowd-sourced data. This is accomplished by developing a series of data-driven models to identify flood factors of significance and localized areas of flood vulnerability in New York City (NYC). First, the infrastructural (catch basin clogs, …

Towards Simulation Of Complex Ocean Flows: Analysis And Algorithm For Computation Of Coupled Partial Differential Equations, Wenbin Dong

Dissertations and Theses

The hybrid CFD models which usually consist of 2 sub-models, develop our capability to simulate many emerging problems with multiphysics and multiscale flows, especially for the coastal ocean flows interacted with local phenomena of interest. For most cases, the sub-models are connected with direct interpolation which is easy and workable. It becomes urgently needed to investigate the inner mechanism of such model integration as this simple method does not work well if the two sub-models are different in governing equations, numerical methods, and computational grids. Also, it can not treat complex flow structures as well as the balance in mass …

Towards A Digital Twin For Characterising Natural Source Zone Depletion: A Feasibility Study Based On The Bemidji Site, Kaveh Sookhak Lari, Greg B. Davis, John L. Rayner

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Natural source zone depletion (NSZD) of light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPLs) may be a valid long-term management option at petroleum impacted sites. However, its future long-term reliability needs to be established. NSZD includes partitioning, biotic and abiotic degradation of LNAPL components plus multiphase fluid dynamics in the subsurface. Over time, LNAPL components are depleted and those partitioning to various phases change, as do those available for biodegradation. To accommodate these processes and predict trends and NSZD over decades to centuries, for the first time, we incorporated a multi-phase multi-component multi-microbe non-isothermal approach to representatively simulate NSZD at field scale. To …

Editorial: Coastal Flooding: Modeling, Monitoring, And Protection Systems, Valentina Prigiobbe, Clint Dawson, Yao Hu, Hatim O. Sharif, Navid Tahvildari

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Coastal flooding has received significant attention in recent years due to future sea-level rise (SLR) projections and intensification of precipitation, which will exacerbate frequent flooding, coastal erosion, and eventually create permanently inundated low-elevation land. Coastal governments will be forced to implement measures to manage risk on the population and infrastructure and build protection systems to mitigate or adapt to the negative impacts of flooding. Research in this area is required to establish holistic frameworks for timely and accurate flooding forecast and design of protection systems.

Recent Advancements In Electrochemical Conversion Of Carbon Dioxide, Nandan Nag, Amit Kumar, Sumit Sharma, Sandeep Kumar, Amit K. Thakur

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide into eco-friendly and clean products is a promising approach to eradicate pollution. Although carbon dioxide emission is inhibited by the advent of renewable sources of energy, it is present in the atmosphere and needs to be cleaned. The reduction of carbon dioxide from atmospheric gases can be accomplished by its adsorption and subsequent transportation to electrolytic chambers, where it is reduced to hydrocarbons, organic acids or carbonates. This review focuses on developing a three compartment electrochemical cell to reduce carbon dioxide used as a catholyte. Various factors affecting the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide and …

Modelling Of Radiological Health Risk In Water From Abstraction Well Close To A Hypothetical Radioactive Waste Repository In The Accra Plains, Paul Essel, Mark Amo-Boateng, Dominic Otoo, Thomas Tetteh Akiti

Applied Environmental Research

This study evaluated the integrity of the geosphere of the Accra Plains to host a radioactive waste disposal facility for Ghana’s radioactive waste materials. The study thus assessed the migration of radioactive contaminant from a hypothetical radioactive waste disposal facility through the geosphere to the biosphere in the Accra Plains. The Accra Plains is predominantly underlain by schist rocks, hence the hydrogeologic parameters of schist rock from literature were used as input data. AMBER software was used to develop a model to estimate the peak total annual effective dose from all the radionuclides at various receptor locations. The endpoint of …