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Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering

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Articles 241 - 270 of 790

Full-Text Articles in Environmental Engineering

Classification Of Tactile And Motor Velocity-Evoked Hemodynamic Response In Primary Somatosensory And Motor Cortices As Measured By Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy, Mohsen Hozan, Jacob Greenwood, Michaela Sullivan, Steven M. Barlow Jan 2020

Classification Of Tactile And Motor Velocity-Evoked Hemodynamic Response In Primary Somatosensory And Motor Cortices As Measured By Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy, Mohsen Hozan, Jacob Greenwood, Michaela Sullivan, Steven M. Barlow

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an emerging technique in studying cerebral hemodynamics; however, consensus on the analysis methods and the clinical applications has yet to be established. In this study, we demonstrate the results of a pilot fNIRS study of cerebral hemodynamic response (HR) evoked by pneumotactile and sensorimotor stimuli on the dominant hand. Our goal is to find the optimal stimulus parameters to maximally evoke HR in the primary somatosensory and motor cortices. We use a pulsatile pneumatic array of 14 tactile cells that were attached to the glabrous surface of the dominant hand, with a patterned stimulus that …


Glucocorticoid Priming Of Nonviral Gene Delivery To Hmscs Increases Transfection By Reducing Induced Stresses, Andrew Hamann, Tyler Kozisek, Kelly Broad, Angela K. Pannier Jan 2020

Glucocorticoid Priming Of Nonviral Gene Delivery To Hmscs Increases Transfection By Reducing Induced Stresses, Andrew Hamann, Tyler Kozisek, Kelly Broad, Angela K. Pannier

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are under study for cell and gene therapeutics because of their immunomodulatory and regenerative properties. Safe and efficient gene delivery could increase hMSC clinical potential by enabling expression of transgenes for control over factor production, behavior, and differentiation. Viral delivery is efficient but suffers from safety issues, while nonviral methods are safe but highly inefficient, especially in hMSCs. We previously demonstrated that priming cells with glucocorticoids (Gcs) before delivery of DNA complexes significantly increases hMSC transfection, which correlates with a rescue of transfection-induced metabolic and protein synthesis decline, and apoptosis. In this work, we show …


Ultrasmall Mixed Eu−Gd Oxide Nanoparticles For Multimodal Fluorescence And Magnetic Resonance Imaging Of Passive Accumulation And Retention In Tbi, Badrul Alam Bony, Hunter A. Miller, Aria W. Tarudji, Connor C. Gee, Anandakumar Sarella, Michael G. Nichols, Forrest Kievit Jan 2020

Ultrasmall Mixed Eu−Gd Oxide Nanoparticles For Multimodal Fluorescence And Magnetic Resonance Imaging Of Passive Accumulation And Retention In Tbi, Badrul Alam Bony, Hunter A. Miller, Aria W. Tarudji, Connor C. Gee, Anandakumar Sarella, Michael G. Nichols, Forrest Kievit

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. TBI can have a long-term impact on the quality of life for survivors of all ages. However, there remains no approved treatment that improves outcomes following TBI, which is partially due to poor delivery of therapies into the brain. Therefore, there is a significant unmet need to develop more effective delivery strategies that increase the accumulation and retention of potentially efficacious treatments in the injured brain. Recent work has revealed that nanoparticles (NPs) may offer a promising approach for site-specific delivery; however, a detailed understanding of the …


Robotic Detection And Grasp Of Maize And Sorghum: Stem Measurement With Contact, Abbas Atefi, Yufeng Ge, James C. Schnable Jan 2020

Robotic Detection And Grasp Of Maize And Sorghum: Stem Measurement With Contact, Abbas Atefi, Yufeng Ge, James C. Schnable

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Frequent measurements of the plant phenotypes make it possible to monitor plant status during the growing season. Stem diameter is an important proxy for overall plant biomass and health. However, the manual measurement of stem diameter in plants is time consuming, error prone, and laborious. The use of agricultural robots to automatically collect plant phenotypic data for trait measurements can overcome many of the drawbacks of manual phenotyping. The objective of this research was to develop a robotic system that can automatically detect and grasp the stem, and measure its diameter of maize and sorghum plants. The robotic system comprises …


Rapeseed Stand Count Estimation At Leaf Development Stages With Uav Imagery And Convolutional Neural Networks, Biquan Zhao, Chenghai Yang, Yeyin Shi, Qingxi Liao, Guangsheng Zhou, Chufeng Wang, Tianjin Xie, Zhao Jiang, Dongyan Zhang, Wanneng Yang, Chenglong Huang, Jing Xie, Jian Zhang Jan 2020

Rapeseed Stand Count Estimation At Leaf Development Stages With Uav Imagery And Convolutional Neural Networks, Biquan Zhao, Chenghai Yang, Yeyin Shi, Qingxi Liao, Guangsheng Zhou, Chufeng Wang, Tianjin Xie, Zhao Jiang, Dongyan Zhang, Wanneng Yang, Chenglong Huang, Jing Xie, Jian Zhang

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Rapeseed is an important oil crop in China. Timely estimation of rapeseed stand count at early growth stages provides useful information for precision fertilization, irrigation, and yield prediction. Based on the nature of rapeseed, the number of tillering leaves is strongly related to its growth stages. However, no field study has been reported on estimating rapeseed stand count by the number of leaves recognized with convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery. The objectives of this study were to provide a case for rapeseed stand counting with reference to the existing knowledge of the number of leaves …


Optimal Depth Jump Height Quantified As Percentage Of Athlete Stature, Curtis L. Tomasevicz, Ryan Hasenkamp, Jack W. Ransone, David Jones Jan 2020

Optimal Depth Jump Height Quantified As Percentage Of Athlete Stature, Curtis L. Tomasevicz, Ryan Hasenkamp, Jack W. Ransone, David Jones

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Purpose: An individual’s optimal depth jump platform height provides a resistive force which allows an athlete to rebound with substantial velocity resulting in maximum power exertion. The objective of this investigation was to show that the optimal platform height in a depth jump can be quantified as a percentage of individual body stature which can serve as measurable quantified value. Although athlete height is not highly correlated to power ability nor does a universal height exist, this value can provide a basis for a rehabilitation or strength and conditioning program. The desired intensity of a program can be prescribed as …


Comparison Of Object Detection And Patch-Based Classification Deep Learning Models On Mid- To Late-Season Weed Detection In Uav Imagery, Arun Narenthiran Veeranampalayam Sivakumar, Jiating Li, Stephen Scott, Eric T. Psota, Amit J. Jhala, Joe D. Luck, Yeyin Shi Jan 2020

Comparison Of Object Detection And Patch-Based Classification Deep Learning Models On Mid- To Late-Season Weed Detection In Uav Imagery, Arun Narenthiran Veeranampalayam Sivakumar, Jiating Li, Stephen Scott, Eric T. Psota, Amit J. Jhala, Joe D. Luck, Yeyin Shi

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Mid- to late-season weeds that escape from the routine early-season weed management threaten agricultural production by creating a large number of seeds for several future growing seasons. Rapid and accurate detection of weed patches in field is the first step of site-specific weed management. In this study, object detection-based convolutional neural network models were trained and evaluated over low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery for mid- to late-season weed detection in soybean fields. The performance of two object detection models, Faster RCNN and the Single Shot Detector (SSD), were evaluated and compared in terms of weed detection performance using mean …


Temporal Trend Analysis Of Meteorological Variables And Reference Evapotranspiration In The Inter-Mountain Region Ofwyoming, Vivek Sharma, Christopher Nicholson, Antony Bergantino, Suat Irmak, Dannele Peck Jan 2020

Temporal Trend Analysis Of Meteorological Variables And Reference Evapotranspiration In The Inter-Mountain Region Ofwyoming, Vivek Sharma, Christopher Nicholson, Antony Bergantino, Suat Irmak, Dannele Peck

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Long-term trends in reference evapotranspiration (ETref) and its controlling factors are critical pieces of information in understanding how agricultural water requirements and water resources respond to a variable and changing climate. In this study, ETref, along with climate variables that directly and indirectly impact it, such as air temperature (T), incoming solar radiation (Rs), wind speed (u), relative humidity (RH), and precipitation (P), are discussed. All variables are analyzed for four weather stations located in irrigated agricultural regions of inter-mountain Wyoming: Pinedale, Torrington, Powell, andWorland. Non-parametric Mann􀀀Kendall (MK) trend test and Theil–Sen’s slope estimator were used to determine the statistical …


Classification Of Tactile And Motor Velocity-Evoked Hemodynamic Response In Primary Somatosensory And Motor Cortices As Measured By Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Jan 2020

Classification Of Tactile And Motor Velocity-Evoked Hemodynamic Response In Primary Somatosensory And Motor Cortices As Measured By Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an emerging technique in studying cerebral hemodynamics; however, consensus on the analysis methods and the clinical applications has yet to be established. In this study, we demonstrate the results of a pilot fNIRS study of cerebral hemodynamic response (HR) evoked by pneumotactile and sensorimotor stimuli on the dominant hand. Our goal is to find the optimal stimulus parameters to maximally evoke HR in the primary somatosensory and motor cortices. We use a pulsatile pneumatic array of 14 tactile cells that were attached to the glabrous surface of the dominant hand, with a patterned stimulus that …


Review—Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes As Optical Sensors For Biological Applications, Eric M. Hofferber, Joseph A. Stapleton, Nicole M. Iverson Jan 2020

Review—Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes As Optical Sensors For Biological Applications, Eric M. Hofferber, Joseph A. Stapleton, Nicole M. Iverson

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Since the discovery of the band gap fluorescence from single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) many advancements have been made towards the use of these unique fluorophores as optical biosensors in vitro, ex vivo in vivo. Attention has been given to these pure carbon structures due to their photostability, tunable properties, and bright near infrared emission that falls in the tissue transparency window. This review highlights some of the major advancements in the field of SWNT biosensors over the last two decades with a focus given to recent advances in biological applications.


Predicting Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons In Field Soils With Vis–Nir Models Developed On Laboratory-Constructed Samples, Nuwan Wijewardane, Post Doc Research Associate, Yufeng Ge, Natasha Sihota, Thomas Hoelen, Toni Miao, David C. Weindorf Jan 2020

Predicting Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons In Field Soils With Vis–Nir Models Developed On Laboratory-Constructed Samples, Nuwan Wijewardane, Post Doc Research Associate, Yufeng Ge, Natasha Sihota, Thomas Hoelen, Toni Miao, David C. Weindorf

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Accurate quantification of petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) is required for opti- mizing remedial efforts at oil spill sites. While evaluating total petroleum hydro- carbons (TPH) in soils is often conducted using costly and time-consuming lab- oratory methods, visible and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (Vis–NIR) has been proven to be a rapid and cost-effective field-based method for soil TPH quantification. This study investigated whether Vis–NIR models calibrated from laboratory-constructed PHC soil samples could be used to accurately estimate TPH concentration of field samples. To evaluate this, a laboratory sample set was constructed by mixing crude oil with uncontaminated soil samples, and two field …


Representing Organic Matter Thermodynamics In Biogeochemical Reations Via Substrate-Explicit Modeling, Hyun-Seob Song, James C. Stegen, Emily B. Graham, Joon-Yong Lee, Vanessa A. Garayburu-Caruso, William C. Nelson, Xingyuan Chen, J. David Moulton, Timothy D. Scheibe Jan 2020

Representing Organic Matter Thermodynamics In Biogeochemical Reations Via Substrate-Explicit Modeling, Hyun-Seob Song, James C. Stegen, Emily B. Graham, Joon-Yong Lee, Vanessa A. Garayburu-Caruso, William C. Nelson, Xingyuan Chen, J. David Moulton, Timothy D. Scheibe

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Predictive biogeochemical modeling requires data-model integration that enables explicit representation of the sophisticated roles of microbial processes that transform substrates. Data from high-resolution organic matter (OM) characterization are increasingly available and can serve as a critical resource for this purpose, but their incorporation into biogeochemical models is often prohibited due to an over-simplified description of reaction networks. To fill this gap, we proposed a new concept of biogeochemical modeling—termed substrate-explicit modeling—that enables parameterizing OM-specific oxidative degradation pathways and reaction rates based on the thermodynamic properties of OM pools. Based on previous developments in the literature, we characterized the resulting kinetic …


Within-Field Variability In Granular Matrix Sensor Data And Its Implications For Irrigation Scheduling, T. Lo, H.C. Pringle Iii, Daran Rudnick, Geng Bai, L. Jason Krutz, D.M. Gholson, Xin Qiao Jan 2020

Within-Field Variability In Granular Matrix Sensor Data And Its Implications For Irrigation Scheduling, T. Lo, H.C. Pringle Iii, Daran Rudnick, Geng Bai, L. Jason Krutz, D.M. Gholson, Xin Qiao

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Even when located within the same field, multiple units of the same soil moisture sensor rarely report identical values. Such within-field variability in soil moisture sensor data is caused by natural and manmade spatial heterogeneity and by inconsistencies in sensor construction and installation. To better describe this variability, daily soil water tension values from 14-23 sets of granular matrix sensors during the middle part of four soybean site-years in the Mississippi Delta were analyzed. The soil water tension data were found to follow approximately normal distributions, to exhibit moderately high temporal rank stability, and to show strong positive correlation between …


Teacher Level Factors And Student Achievement In A Cyber-Enabled Engineering Education Professional Development Program, Wei Zakharov, Johannes Strobel, Heidi A. Diefes-Dux Jan 2020

Teacher Level Factors And Student Achievement In A Cyber-Enabled Engineering Education Professional Development Program, Wei Zakharov, Johannes Strobel, Heidi A. Diefes-Dux

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

This study investigates the impact of an elementary engineering education teacher professional development program on student learning. The results show a significant increase in students’ knowledge in science from pre- to post-test as well as in engineering design from grade two to grade four. Further, the study uses multilevel modeling to quantitatively analyze the impact of differences among teachers on the engineering design achievement of their students. Different predictive relationships between demographic and social capital factors at the teacher level and student achievement are identified and implications for educational policymaking and practices are discussed.


Predicting Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons In Field Soils With Vis–Nir Models Developed On Laboratory-Constructed Samples, Nuwan K. Wijewardane, Yufeng Ge, Natasha Sihota, Thomas Hoelen, Toni Miaso, David C. Weindorf Jan 2020

Predicting Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons In Field Soils With Vis–Nir Models Developed On Laboratory-Constructed Samples, Nuwan K. Wijewardane, Yufeng Ge, Natasha Sihota, Thomas Hoelen, Toni Miaso, David C. Weindorf

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Accurate quantification of petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) is required for optimizing remedial efforts at oil spill sites. While evaluating total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in soils is often conducted using costly and time-consuming laboratory methods, visible and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (Vis–NIR) has been proven to be a rapid and cost-effective field-based method for soil TPH quantification. This study investigated whether Vis–NIR models calibrated from laboratory-constructed PHC soil samples could be used to accurately estimate TPH concentration of field samples. To evaluate this, a laboratory sample set was constructed by mixing crude oil with uncontaminated soil samples, and two field sample sets (F …


Antibiotic Resistance Gene Profile Changes In Cropland Soil After Manure Application And Rainfall, Morgan A. Meyers, Lisa M. Durso, John E. Gilley, Heidi Waldrip, Lana Castleberry, Amy Schmidt Jan 2020

Antibiotic Resistance Gene Profile Changes In Cropland Soil After Manure Application And Rainfall, Morgan A. Meyers, Lisa M. Durso, John E. Gilley, Heidi Waldrip, Lana Castleberry, Amy Schmidt

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Land application of manure introduces gastrointestinal microbes into the environ- ment, including bacteria carrying antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Measuring soil ARGs is important for active stewardship efforts to minimize gene flow from agri- cultural production systems; however, the variety of sampling protocols and target genes makes it difficult to compare ARG results between studies. We used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods to characterize and/or quantify 27 ARG targets in soils from 20 replicate, long-term no-till plots, before and after swine manure application and simulated rainfall and runoff. All samples were negative for the 10 b-lactamase genes assayed. For tetracycline resistance, …


Setback Distance Impacts On Transport And Antibiotic Resistance Phenotypes Of Fecal Indicators, Morgan A. Meyers, Lisa M. Durso, John E. Gilley, Daniel N. Miller, Xu Li, Amy M. Schmidt Schmidt Jan 2020

Setback Distance Impacts On Transport And Antibiotic Resistance Phenotypes Of Fecal Indicators, Morgan A. Meyers, Lisa M. Durso, John E. Gilley, Daniel N. Miller, Xu Li, Amy M. Schmidt Schmidt

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Although the land application of livestock manure has numerous agronomic benefits, runoff from manured fields can degrade water quality. Setbacks instruct a minimum distance be maintained between manure application and surface waters. They are commonly used to manage nutrient contamination of surface waters; however, their utility for reducing microbial inputs remains unclear. Here we evaluated the efficacy of five setback distances in no-till wheat (Triticum aes- tivum L.) residue plots for reducing runoff fecal indicator concentrations from swine manure-amended fields. Also, since there is increasing interest in the use of water quality indicators to monitor antibiotic resistance in environmental sys- …


Innovative Extension Methods In The U.S. To Promote Irrigation Water Management, Daran Rudnick, Matt Stockton, Saleh Taghvaeian, Jason Warren, Michael D. Dukes, Amy Kremen, Christopher G. Henry, Jonathan Aguilar, Brenda Ortiz, Allan A. Andales, Chuck A. Burr, Xin Qiao, Wei‑Zhen Liang, Steven Walthour, Steve H. Amosson Jan 2020

Innovative Extension Methods In The U.S. To Promote Irrigation Water Management, Daran Rudnick, Matt Stockton, Saleh Taghvaeian, Jason Warren, Michael D. Dukes, Amy Kremen, Christopher G. Henry, Jonathan Aguilar, Brenda Ortiz, Allan A. Andales, Chuck A. Burr, Xin Qiao, Wei‑Zhen Liang, Steven Walthour, Steve H. Amosson

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Promotion and adoption of irrigation water management (IWM) technology, tools, and best management practices are important as water availability concerns are addressed. Traditional extension programs have relied on lecture presentations, field tours, fact sheets, and on-station demonstrations to promote IWM practices and tools. However, these platforms tend not to provide the experience and opportunity for growers to identify and become comfortable with innovative solutions, such as new technology. To address these challenges and to appeal to an ever-changing client base, innovative and locally relevant extension and outreach programs have been devised to engage and educate growers. This article describes some …


Accumulation And Release Of Nutrients By Immersed Stalks Collected On Selected Dates Following Harvest, John E. Gilley, David B. Marx Jan 2020

Accumulation And Release Of Nutrients By Immersed Stalks Collected On Selected Dates Following Harvest, John E. Gilley, David B. Marx

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

The concentrations of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) in runoff from cropland areas may be influenced by accumulation and release of P and N by stalk residues. A laboratory study was conducted to measure the effects of time since harvest and immersion period on accumulation and release of P and N by corn, soybean, and wheat stalks. Experimental variables included type of stalk material (corn, soybean, and wheat), time since harvest (six residue collection dates over an approximate 1-year period), and stalk immersion period (25 s (0.42 min), 250 s (4.2 min), 2500 s (42 min), 25,000 s (6.9 h), …


Effect Of Urea Fertilizer Deep Placement Days After Transplanting Using Brri Prilled Urea Applicator On Transplanted Boro Rice Yield, Muhammad Rashed Al Mamun, K. Naher, Md Towfiqur Rahman, Md Anwar Hossen Jan 2020

Effect Of Urea Fertilizer Deep Placement Days After Transplanting Using Brri Prilled Urea Applicator On Transplanted Boro Rice Yield, Muhammad Rashed Al Mamun, K. Naher, Md Towfiqur Rahman, Md Anwar Hossen

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Rice is the most important crop in the developing countries of Asia. In the south and south-east Asia, rain-fed and irrigated transplanted rice occupies nearly two-thirds of the rice-growing area and produces more than 80% of the rough rice. In these areas, prilled urea conventionally applied by farmers is very insufficient in the transplanted rice field, where severe losses occur (up to 60% of applied N) via NH3volatilization, denitrification, leaching, and runoff. Considering loss minimization, an experiment was conducted during the Boro season at Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) in Sylhet to evaluate the performance of BRRI Prilled …


Effect Of Rotary Blade Modification On Residue Retention Into Conservation Agriculture Practices, Md Talash Mahmud, Md Towfiqur Rahman, Md Mosharraf Hossain, Muhammad Ashik-E-Rabbani Jan 2020

Effect Of Rotary Blade Modification On Residue Retention Into Conservation Agriculture Practices, Md Talash Mahmud, Md Towfiqur Rahman, Md Mosharraf Hossain, Muhammad Ashik-E-Rabbani

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Conservation Agriculture (CA) has been a promising technique for better crop production. Manual seeding with conventional tillage practice is laborious and time consuming. However, Strip tillage (ST) method incorporating seeding machines minimizes human drudgery and optimizes the crop yield. Many problems associated with ST have been rectified e.g. tiny furrow backfill, inaccuracy of seed and fertilizer placement, leading to poor germination and curtailed outcomes. This article focused on the effects of residue retention for the rotary blades design on a versatile multi-crop planter (VMP). Four types of rotary blades of VMP differed by 15o increment of tip angles were …


Microbial Transport As Affected By Residue Cover And Manure Application Rate, Lisa M. Durso, John E. Gilley, Dave B. Marx, Chance A. Thayer, Brian L. Woodbury Jul 2019

Microbial Transport As Affected By Residue Cover And Manure Application Rate, Lisa M. Durso, John E. Gilley, Dave B. Marx, Chance A. Thayer, Brian L. Woodbury

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Manure is applied to cropland areas with varying surface cover to meet single- or multiple-year crop nutrient requirements. The objectives of this field study were to (1) examine microbial transport following land application of manure to sites with and without wheat residue, (2) compare microbial loads following land application to meet the 0, 1, 2, 4, and 8-year P-based requirements for corn, and (3) evaluate the effects of rainfall simulation run on microbial transport. Manure was added and incorporated by disking plots that were 0.75 m wide by 2.0 m long. Three 30 min simulated rainfall events, separated by 24 …


High‑Throughput Analysis Of Leaf Physiological And Chemical Traits With Vis–Nir–Swir Spectroscopy: A Case Study With A Maize Diversity Panel, Yufeng Ge, Abbas Atefi, Huichun Zhang, Chenyong Miao, Raghuprakash Kastoori Ramamurthy, Brandi Sigmon, Jinliang Yang, James C. Schnable Jun 2019

High‑Throughput Analysis Of Leaf Physiological And Chemical Traits With Vis–Nir–Swir Spectroscopy: A Case Study With A Maize Diversity Panel, Yufeng Ge, Abbas Atefi, Huichun Zhang, Chenyong Miao, Raghuprakash Kastoori Ramamurthy, Brandi Sigmon, Jinliang Yang, James C. Schnable

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Hyperspectral reflectance data in the visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared range (VIS–NIR– SWIR, 400–2500 nm) are commonly used to nondestructively measure plant leaf properties. We investigated the usefulness of VIS–NIR–SWIR as a high-throughput tool to measure six leaf properties of maize plants including chlorophyll content (CHL), leaf water content (LWC), specific leaf area (SLA), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). This assessment was performed using the lines of the maize diversity panel. Data were collected from plants grown in greenhouse condition, as well as in the field under two nitrogen application regimes. Leaf-level hyperspectral data were collected with …


Biomethane Production From Distillery Wastewater, Zachary Christman Jun 2019

Biomethane Production From Distillery Wastewater, Zachary Christman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Distillery wastewater treatment is a great ecological problem, for example, India produces 2.7 billion liters of alcohol that results in 40 billion liters of wastewater. However, this material can be seen as a resource since 11 million cubic meters of biogas at 60% methane could be produced in addition to cleaning the water. The distillery has two options of what to do with the biogas. The first is to use the biogas to fuel the distillery making the production plant more energy efficient and removing some of the need to buy natural gas. The other is to upgrade the biogas …


A Spatially Enhanced Data‐Driven Multimodel To Improve Semiseasonal Groundwater Forecasts In The High Plains Aquifer, Usa, A. Amaranto, Francisco Munoz-Arriola, D. P. Solomatine, G. Corzo Jun 2019

A Spatially Enhanced Data‐Driven Multimodel To Improve Semiseasonal Groundwater Forecasts In The High Plains Aquifer, Usa, A. Amaranto, Francisco Munoz-Arriola, D. P. Solomatine, G. Corzo

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

The aim of this paper is to improve semiseasonal forecast of groundwater availability in response to climate variables, surface water availability, groundwater level variations, and human water management using a two‐step data‐driven modeling approach. First, we implement an ensemble of artificial neural networks (ANNs) for the 300 wells across the High Plains aquifer (USA). The modeling framework includes a method to choose the most relevant input variables and time lags; an assessment of the effect of exogenous variables on the predictive capabilities of models; and the estimation of the forecast skill based on the Nash‐Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) index, the normalized …


Environmental And Occupational Impacts From U.S. Beef Slaughtering Are Of Same Magnitude Of Beef Foodborne Illnesses On Human Health, Shaobin Li, Jeyamkondan Subbiah, Bruce Dvorak Jun 2019

Environmental And Occupational Impacts From U.S. Beef Slaughtering Are Of Same Magnitude Of Beef Foodborne Illnesses On Human Health, Shaobin Li, Jeyamkondan Subbiah, Bruce Dvorak

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Foodborne pathogens and occupational hazards are two primary safety concerns for U.S. beef slaughterhouses. The anthropogenic environmental impacts due to intensive resource use and pollution also exert threats to human health. Quantifying human health impacts from various sources remain a grand sustainability challenge for U.S. beef industry. We develop a framework to systematically estimate and compare human health impacts associated with U.S. beef foodborne illnesses from major pathogens and environmental impacts and occupational hazards from U.S. beef slaughtering on a common metric, disability-adjusted life year (DALY). Foodborne illnesses and occupational hazards are estimated by synthesizing published data and methodologies while …


Internal Design Of A Hydroponics Greenhouse For Tri Cycle Farms, Sarah Gould May 2019

Internal Design Of A Hydroponics Greenhouse For Tri Cycle Farms, Sarah Gould

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Hydroponics is the agricultural technique of growing plants without soil, using other growing media and added nutrients in a solvent. It is an attractive agricultural method over conventional agriculture because it is more water efficient, is less labor intensive, yields higher quality crops in less time, and is easier to control. According to the Digital Journal, “hydroponics crop value is anticipated to grow to USD 27.29 Billion by 2022 at an estimated CAGR of 6.39% from 2015 to 2020” (Sawant, 2016). Alongside this growing market acceptance for hydroponics, there is also a local demand that requires only a small transportation …


Ecological Co2 Flux Of A Green Roof Ecosystem And A Typical Grassland Ecosystem, Madeline Oxner May 2019

Ecological Co2 Flux Of A Green Roof Ecosystem And A Typical Grassland Ecosystem, Madeline Oxner

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Hillside Auditorium Green Roof is a low impact development feature on the University of Arkansas campus. It retains storm water and allows plants living on the roof to take up and transpire the water. Green roofs work to mimic natural ecosystems in urban environments. A key property is ecosystem respiration, which plays a large role in the global carbon cycle and is an important biologic activity indicator. The ecosystem respiration of Hillside Auditorium Green Roof was compared to a typical grassland ecosystem at the University of Arkansas farm to determine how closely the green roof is able to mimic …


Effectiveness Of Titanium And Iron Nanoparticles In Treating M. Aeruginosa For Harmful Algal Bloom Remediation, Natalie Von Tress May 2019

Effectiveness Of Titanium And Iron Nanoparticles In Treating M. Aeruginosa For Harmful Algal Bloom Remediation, Natalie Von Tress

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) are a growing issue worldwide, posing harm to both aquatic ecosystems and drinking water quality. This issue could be potentially mitigated using nanoparticle (NP) treatment, simultaneously removing cyanobacteria and associated cyanotoxins in HABs. This research seeks to discern the effectiveness of using titanium dioxide and iron (III) oxide NP treatment at removing cyanobacteria via flocculation and sedimentation. Each NP at 25 mg/L and 50 mg/L were used to treat suspended culture of Microcystis aeruginosa, the representative cyanobacteria, up to 72 hours. Cell concentration and morphology in the supernatant were measured via a Coulter counter and …


Wheat Strip Effects On Microbial Transport Following Variable Applications Of Beef Cattle Manure, Lisa M. Durso, John E. Gilley, David B. Marx, Chance A. Thayer, Bryan L. Woodbury Apr 2019

Wheat Strip Effects On Microbial Transport Following Variable Applications Of Beef Cattle Manure, Lisa M. Durso, John E. Gilley, David B. Marx, Chance A. Thayer, Bryan L. Woodbury

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Vegetative filter strips (VFS) consisting of perennial vegetation have been successfully used to reduce the transport of contaminants in runoff from land application areas. The effectiveness of a winter wheat strip, which may be more acceptable to producers, in reducing microbial transport was examined in this study. A 1.4 m wheat strip was used to allow direct comparison with experimental results obtained in previous studies. Beef cattle manure was applied to 0.75 m wide by 4.0 m long plots established on an Aksarben silty clay loam located in southeast Nebraska. Manure was added at rates required to meet the 0- …