Environmental Engineering Commons^™

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

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

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

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

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

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 15^o increment of tip angles were …

Wastewater Treatment Fatty Acids For Biodiesel Production, Zachary Christman

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

Wastewater scum is the thick oily substance that floats on top of the primary and secondary tanks within a wastewater treatment plant. Scum has a 30% to 60% lipid content making it an excellent resource for the biodiesel industry. Also the use of scum would reduce the cost of current management practices such as landfill disposal or incineration. In this article there is an overview of lipid byproducts currently being produced at wastewater treatment plants today. This is followed by a presentation showing a full length process for turning wastewater scum into biodiesel raw material.

Effects Of Nutrient Level And Growth Rate On Mutation And Conjugation Processes That Confer Antibiotic Resistance To E. Coli, Mohammadreza Shafieifini

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) may enter surface water with the discharge of treated wastewater. Conjugation is a main mechanism for the horizontal gene transfer of ARGs from wastewater microbiome to the microbiome indigenous to surface water. However, little is known about how environmental factors affect the conjugation process of ARGs.

In this thesis, an extensive research related to spreading antibiotic resistance genes in the environment is reported. The project investigated how environmental parameters may affect the rate of dissemination of ARGs and in what extent the resistance level of the population is changed after mutation and conjugation event. The chemostat …

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

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

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

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

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 …

Biofiltration Of Volatile Organic Compounds Emitted At Ethanol Plants, Christopher Arthur Duerschner

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Ethanol manufacturing is an important and growing sector in the biofuels marketplace. At ethanol plants, the control of volatile organic compound containing emissions from fermentation tanks and distillers dried grains with solubles driers is accomplished through the use of air scrubbers and regenerative thermal oxidizers. The operation of these control units imposes substantial operating costs for the ethanol plant. Biotrickling filters have the ability to replace scrubbers and regenerative thermal oxidizers resulting in significant economic and environmental benefits. Two biotrickling filters were operated in parallel under acetaldehyde loadings ranging from 4 to 136 gm^-3hr^-1. To examine …

Theoretical Model For Shields Diagram And Its Application, Jichao Jiang

Department of Environmental Engineering: Theses and Other Student Research

The transition from the condition of “no motion” to initial sediment moment, defined as sediment initiation, has been related to practical engineering (channel degradation, stable channel design), oceanographic (dredging, pipelines, cables), sedimentologic (sediment mobility, transport rates), geologic (the hydraulic interpretation of paleoenvironments), geochemical (pollutant transport), and gained considerable interest since nineteenth century.

Shields diagram for sediment initiation in terms of critical shear stress is a classic problem in sediment transport, but it is still an empirical law without a simple and practical theory despite extensive research since the 1930s. Hence, this research presents a simple theoretical model for critical shear …

Unl-Cc Outdoor Education Center Master Plan, Marie Wagner

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The following report contains the work done by the group Griswold Engineering in completion of the Senior Design requirements for Civil Engineering and the Honors Requirements of the Project Manager. As the project manager, my job was to organize the project as a whole and to work alongside the Structural Engineer on the project. One of the main problems to overcome was the division of labor amongst the group. The project was originally conceived as a group project with one project manager and five other students to serve as the project engineers in each subdiscipline. Since this group only had …

Civil Engineering Design Of Cornhusker Council's Outdoor Education Center, Kelly Weiler

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

A team of geotechnical, structural, hydraulic, environmental, and transportation experts collaborated to provide engineering solutions to the Cornhusker Council in an effort to solve the current problems facing their Outdoor Education Center. This results of this project provided the structural design of three bridges on the property, transportation plans for two parking lots and roadway design, geotechnical recommendations for soil testing and erosion prevention, and an environmental and hydraulic analysis of the property. A major challenge in the design of this project is the consideration of the dangers and regulations that accompany the floodway and floodplain regions on site. Various …

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- …

Simulation Of Antimicrobial Resistance Gene Fate In Narrow Grass Hedges, Marzieh Khedmati

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Vegetative Filter Strips (VFS) are used for controlling the volume of runoff and decreasing the contaminants in runoff before entering the water bodies. Many studies investigated the role of VFS in sediment and nutrient removal, but little is known about their efficiency in the removal of emerging contaminants such as antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs). VFSMOD was used to simulate the efficiency of VFS in this regard. The objectives of this study were to calibrate the VFSMOD with some experimental data and asses the efficiency of the model in simulating the filter behavior in removing ARGs. The tests were conducted in …

Evaluation Of Selected Watershed Characteristics To Identify Best Management Practices To Reduce Nebraskan Nitrate Loads From Nebraska To The Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Troy E. Gilmore, Tiffany Messer, Daran Rudnick, Thomas Heatherly

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Nebraskan streams contribute excess nitrogen to the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin and Gulf of Mexico, which results in major water-quality impairments. Reducing the amount of nitrogen (N) exported in these streams requires the use of best management practices (BMPs) within the landscape. However, proper BMP utilization has rarely been statistically connected to potential controls of N export within watersheds, particularly precipitation and soil characteristics. In this study, 19 watershed variables were evaluated in five categories (hydrological, physiographic, point sources, land use, and soil properties) to determine the characteristics that influenced variable nitrate nitrogen (NO₃-N) concentrations in 17 Nebraska watersheds …

Quantifying And Correcting For Clay Content Effects On Soil Water Measurement By Reflectometers, Jasreman Singh, Tsz Him Lo, Daran Rudnick, Suat Irmak, Humberto Blanco-Canqui

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

The presence of clay particles increases the specific surface area of a soil and can affect the calibration of electromagnetic soil water sensors including reflectometers. To quantify and correct for this effect in two relatively new reflectometers, three TDR315 and three CS655 sensors were installed in each of five soils with clay content ranging from 5 to 49%. As the soils were dried in a temperature controlled room, sensor reported soil volumetric water content (θ_v) according to the factory calibration was compared against reference θ_v determined by weighing the soils. Sensor reported θ_v was similar to …

Aesthetics, Ethics, And Lose-Lose Dilemmas In The Anthropocen, Adam Liska

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Anthropogenic climate change will cause violence to increase globally, and nonlinear increases in sea level could cause a major escalation in global conflict. After 2100, a 22-meter sea-level rise is estimated here to dislocate two billion people from coastal areas. These impending civilization-changing events require us to again reevaluate our prevalent aesthetic preferences for luxury that produce a significant fraction of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Due to industrial inertia, a central dilemma discussed here is the contradictions between the goals and impacts of aesthetics and ethics. Either we lose our own well-being (a loss of high-emission aesthetics) for the benefit …

Deficit Irrigation Management Of Maize In The High Plains Aquifer Region: A Review, Daran Rudnick, Sibel Irmak, C. West, J.L. Chavez, I. Kisekka, T.H. Marek, J.P. Schneekloth, D. Mitchell Mccallister, V. Sharma, K. Djaman, J. Aguilar, M.E. Schipanski, D.H. Rogers, A. Schlegel

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Irrigated agriculture is a major economic contributor of the High Plains Region and it primarily relies on the High Plains Aquifer as a source of water. Over time, areas of the High Plains Aquifer have experienced drawdowns limiting its ability to supply sufficient water to sustain fully irrigated crop production. This among other reasons, including variable climatic factors and differences in state water policy, has resulted in some areas adopting and practicing deficit irrigation management. Considerable research has been conducted across the High Plains Aquifer region to identify locally appropriate deficit irrigation strategies. This review summarizes and discusses research conducted …

Biomaterial Substrate Modifications That Influence Cell-Material Interactions To Prime Cellular Responses To Nonviral Gene Delivery, Amy Mantz, Angela K. Pannier

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Gene delivery is the transfer of exogenous genetic material into somatic cells to modify their gene expression, with applications including tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, sensors and diagnostics, and gene therapy. Viral vectors are considered the most effective system to deliver nucleic acids, yet safety concerns and many other disadvantages have resulted in investigations into an alternative option, i.e. nonviral gene delivery. Chemical nonviral gene delivery is typically accomplished by electrostatically complexing cationic lipids or polymers with negatively charged nucleic acids. Unfortunately, nonviral gene delivery suffers from low efficiency due to barriers that impede transfection success, including intracellular processes such as …

Meaningful Learner Information For Mooc Instructors Examined Through A Contextualized Evaluation Framework, Kerrie Douglas, Mitch Zielinski, Hillary Merzdorf, Heidi Diefes-Dux, Peter Bermel

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Improving STEM MOOC evaluation requires an understanding of the current state of STEM MOOC evaluation, as perceived by all stakeholders. To this end, we investigated what kinds of information STEM MOOC instructors currently use to evaluate their courses and what kinds of information they feel would be valuable for that purpose. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 faculty members from a variety of fields and research institutions who had taught STEM MOOCs on edX, Coursera, or Udacity. Four major themes emerged related to instructors’ desires: (1) to informally assess learners as an instructor might in a traditional classroom, (2) to …

Grain Yield, Crop And Basal Evapotranspiration, Production Functions And Water Productivity Response Of Drought-Tolerant And Non-Drought-Tolerant Maize Hybrids Under Different Irrigation Levels, Population Densities And Environments: Part Ii. In South-Central And Northeast Nebraska's Transition Zone And Sub-Humid Environments, Suat Irmak, Ali T. Mohammed, William Kranz

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Information and data on newer drought-tolerant maize hybrid response to water in different climates are extremely scarce. This research quantified the performance of non-drought-tolerant (NDT) (H1) and drought-tolerant (DT) (H2, H3, and H4) maize (Zea mays L.) hybrids response to grain yield, crop evapotranspiration (ETc), basal evapotranspiration (ETb), ETc-yield production functions (ETYPF), and crop water use efficiency (CWUE) at three irrigation levels and two plant population densities (PPDs) at two locations (transition zone between sub-humid and semiarid climates at Clay Center (SCAL), Nebraska, in 2010 and 2012; and in a sub-humid climate at Concord (HAL), Nebraska, in 2010, 2011, and …

Nebraska Water Center Annual Report 2017-2018, The Nebraska Water Center

Nebraska Water Center: Administrative Materials

Contents

Introduction: Foreword • Director’s Letter by Chittaranjan Ray • Nebraska Water Center Overview and Timeline • Nebraska’s Top 10 Water Challenges

Research: Water Sciences Laboratory Overview • Nebraska Vadose Zone Program • Novel Nitrate Leaching Reduction • Ogallala Water Coordinated Agriculture Project (OWCAP) • Nebraska Water Productivity Report • USDA-NIFA Water End-User Grant • U.S. Geological Survey 104b Projects

Extension & Outreach: Bazile Groundwater Management Area • Platte River Basin Ecosystem Symposium • Testing Ag Performance Solutions (TAPS) • 2018 National Institutes for Water Resources Regional Symposium • Water Quality + Citizen Science • Nebraska Water and Natural Resources …

Patellar Tendon Morphology In Trans-Tibial Amputees Utilizing A Prosthesis With A Patellar-Tendonbearing Feature, Kai-Yu Ho, Michelle Harty, Jessica Kellogg, Kelly Teter, Szu-Ping Lee, Yu-Jen Chang, Gregory Bashford

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

A patellar-tendon-bearing (PTB) bar is a common design feature used in the socket of trans-tibial prostheses to place load on the pressure-tolerant tissue. As the patellar tendon in the residual limb is subjected to the perpendicular compressive force not commonly experienced in normal tendons, it is possible for tendon degeneration to occur over time. The purpose of this study was to compare patellar tendon morphology and neovascularity between the residual and intact limbs in trans-tibial amputees and healthy controls. Fifteen unilateral trans-tibial amputees who utilized a prosthesis with a PTB feature and 15 age- and sex- matched controls participated. Sonography …

Pawnee Dam Inflow Design Flood (Idf) Update And Stage-Frequency Curve Development Using Rmcrfa, Jennifer P. Christensen, Joshua J. Melliger

United States Geological Survey: Water Reports and Publications

Pawnee Dam is one of the ten Salt Creek Dams designed and built in the 1960s to mitigate flooding in Lincoln, Nebraska. This short paper illustrates the update of the Pawnee Dam inflow design flood (IDF) through calibration to recent high flow events and the development of its stage-frequency or hydrologic loading curve with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Risk Management Center Reservoir Frequency Analysis (RMC-RFA) model. The IDF update follows Engineering Regulation 1110-8-2, Inflow Design Flood for Dams and Reservoirs, including unit hydrograph peaking and two antecedent pool elevations. Background information on the original design of the dam …

Actual Evapotranspiration And Crop Coefficients Of Irrigated Lowland Rice (Oryza Sativa L.) Under Semiarid Climate, Koffi Djaman, Daran R. Rudnick, Yonnelle D. Moukoumbi, Abdoulaye Sow, Suat Irmak

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Lowland irrigated rice is the predominant crop produced in the Senegal River Valley characterized by very low annual rainfall, high temperatures, and low relative humidity. The Senegal River is shared by Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, and Guinea, and serves as the main source of irrigation water for the adopted double rice cropping system. Developing appropriate resource management strategies might be the key factor for the sustainability of rice production in the region. This study aims to estimate rice seasonal evapotranspiration (ETa), irrigation water requirement, and to develop rice growth stage specific crop coefficients (Kc) to improve rice water productivity. Field experiments …