Environmental Engineering Commons^™

The Role Of Ephemeral Stratification, Anoxia, And Entrainment In Mediating Spatiotemporal Trophic State Dynamics In A Lake Michigan Drowned River Mouth System (Mona Lake, Mi), Hayden Henderson

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Mona Lake, MI (a drowned river mouth system) has become eutrophic as result of cultural eutrophication. The integrated monitoring effort and subsequent modeling (LAKE2K) reported on here has shifted the management focus to internal phosphorus loads (60 percent of annual load, 90 percent of load during the stratified and anoxic period) as a necessary precursor to trophic state change. Sediment phosphorus release can yield extreme elevations (> 1 mgSRP/L) of bottom water soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), with blooms of potentially toxic cyanobacteria (largely Microcystis) occurring annually. Such blooms are ascribable to stochastic mixing and phosphorus entrainment to the surface waters, …

Improved Methods For The Quantification Of Viable Ascaris Suum And Application To Biosolids, Tanner Keyzers

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The current method for detection of Ascaris ova in biosolids and wastewater has several drawbacks including being labor and time intensive as well as being difficult to quantify viable ova that have larvated during treatment. The goal of this thesis was to improve several methods for the detection and quantification of Ascaris ova during long term-storage of biosolids including improvement of quantifying viable ova using a heat and bleach treatment to promote movement of larvae inside of ova, and comparison of the traditional microscopic method with qPCR and PMA-qPCR to prevent the false-positive results. Improved methods to promote movement of …

Design Of A Viability Test For Freshwater Prawn Aquaculture Of Two Different Macrobrachium Species In Aneityum, Vanuatu, Cameron Koizumi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

There is a unique opportunity for freshwater prawn aquaculture on the island of Aneityum in the Republic of Vanuatu. Aneityum has an abundance of fresh water, the streams and rivers on Aneityum are the natural habitat for a freshwater prawn species, Macrobrachium lar, and the people on Aneityum regularly work on projects using communal labor for the benefit of the community. Aneityum also hosts 40 – 120 cruise ships a year, bringing hundreds of thousands of tourists to Aneityum and the nearby islet Mystery Island which creates a readily available market in which to sell freshwater prawns.

The objective …

Urban Evapotranspiration In Water Scarce Regions Estimates For The Middle Rio Grande Basin, United States And Mexico, Jessica Alger

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Urban evapotranspiration (ET) in semi-arid and arid regions is an important component of the urban water cycle, especially in regions that have limited freshwater supplies. Understanding urban evapotranspiration in these regions is necessary for assessing and managing water resources and ensuring that conservation strategies are effective and sustainable. The objective of this study is to estimate urban ET in the Middle Rio Grande Basin to provide an understanding of evaporative water losses in semi-arid to arid urban environments for future water management decisions. The focus of this study is on the cities of El Paso, TX, US; Las Cruces, NM, …

Assessing Benthic Recovery In The Torch Lake Aoc, Anya Clare Leach

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Torch Lake, located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, was a site of copper ore processing from the 1860s through the 1960s. During this time, various mining by-products were deposited into the lake and along its shoreline, including mine tailings and associated heavy metals contaminants (e.g., copper). It was anticipated that natural sediment deposition would cover and attenuate toxic sediments over time, but a comprehensive assessment of the benthos has not been performed since a baseline survey conducted in 1999 and 2000. This study was conducted in 2018 to evaluate the current benthic community status as well as sediment composition and metal …

การลดก๊าซเรือนกระจกจากการอนุรักษ์พลังงานและการจัดการขยะมูลฝอยของอาคาร : กรณีศึกษาอาคารศูนย์การค้า, ณัฐวดี ปลื้มชิงชัย

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

อาคารศูนย์การค้าเป็นหนึ่งในอาคารพาณิชย์ที่มีการปล่อยก๊าซเรือนกระจกในปริมาณที่สูงมากต่อปี ทุกกิจกรรมในอาคารสามารถเป็นแหล่งกำเนิดของการปล่อยก๊าซเรือนกระจก ทั้งการใช้พลังงานและการเกิดขยะมูลฝอย งานวิจัยนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษาการใช้พลังงานและการจัดการขยะมูลฝอยในอาคาร โดยใช้การประเมินคาร์บอนฟุตปริ้นท์องค์กร เพื่อลดการปล่อยก๊าซเรือนกระจกจากมาตรการอนุรักษ์พลังงาน และการจัดการขยะมูลฝอยจากข้อเสนอแนะ ทั้งนี้ ได้ทำการศึกษากิจกรรม จากอาคารศูนย์การค้าในเขตเทศบาลนครนครราชสีมาจำนวน 5 อาคาร ใช้ระยะเวลาศึกษาและรวบรวมข้อมูลเป็นระยะเวลา 1 ปี (ตั้งแต่เดือนมกราคมถึงธันวาคม พ.ศ.2561) จากการศึกษาพบว่ากิจกรรมหลักที่ปล่อยก๊าซเรือนกระจกในทุกอาคารคือการใช้พลังงานไฟฟ้า โดยปริมาณการใช้พลังงานมีความสอดคล้องกับขนาดของพื้นที่ เช่นเดียวกับการปล่อยก๊าซเรือนกระจกเพิ่มขึ้นตามขนาดพื้นที่อาคารอย่างมีนัยสำคัญ และเศษอาหารเป็นสัดส่วนที่พบมากที่สุดในสัดส่วนของขยะมูลฝอยที่จะถูกส่งกำจัดยังหลุมฝังกลบ จากการศึกษามาตรการอนุรักษ์พลังงานและวิเคราะห์ MAC จะแสดงผลประโยชน์การลงทุนของมาตรการอนุรักษ์พลังงานดังกล่าว ทั้งประโยชน์ในแง่สิ่งแวดล้อมที่จะสามารถลดก๊าซเรือนกระจกและในแง่ทางเศรษฐศาตร์ที่จะลดต้นทุนในการดำเนินกิจการ การศึกษาทั้งหมดไม่ว่าจะเป็นแนวทางการประเมินคาร์บอนฟุตปริ้นท์องค์กร (CFO), การวิเคราะห์ Marginal Abatement Cost (MAC), การวิเคราะห์มาตรการอนุรักษ์พลังงาน และแนวทางการจัดการขยะมูลฝอย จะเป็นข้อมูลตัวอย่างที่อาคารศูนย์การค้าทั่วไปสามารถนำไปปฏิบัติเพื่อช่วยลดการปล่อยก๊าซเรือนกระจกในอาคารได้เช่นเดียวกัน

การปรับปรุงพื้นผิวตะแกรงกรองตะกอนเพื่อลดการเกาะติดของฟิล์มอินทรีย์สำหรับระบบหมุนเวียนน้ำเพื่อการเลี้ยงสัตว์น้ำ, เหมือนตะวัน อ่อนน้อม

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

งานวิจัยนี้เป็นการศึกษาการปรับปรุงพื้นผิวตะแกรงกรองตะกอนของเสียจากระบบหมุนเวียนน้ำเพื่อการเลี้ยงสัตว์น้ำด้วยวัสดุนาโนเพื่อป้องกันการเกาะติดของฟิล์มชีวภาพ โดยช่วงแรกเป็นการศึกษาการปรับปรุงพื้นผิวด้วยแนวทางต่างๆ ผลการทดลองพบว่าการพ่นเคลือบด้วยอนุภาคซิลิกาขนาดนาโนลงบนพื้นผิวตะแกรงหนา 1 ชั้นทำให้พื้นผิวตะแกรงมีสมบัติความไม่ชอบน้ำยิ่งยวดโดยวัดค่ามุมสัมผัสบนพื้นผิวได้มากกว่า 150º ซึ่งเพิ่มขึ้นจากการวัดบนพื้นผิวตะแกรงแบบปกติ 30º ในขณะที่การสังเคราะห์ชั้นเลเยอร์ดับเบิลไฮดรอกไซด์ที่แทรกด้วยสเตียเรตไอออนสามารถเพิ่มค่ามุมสัมผัสได้เพียง 16º ทั้งนี้การปรับปรุงพื้นผิวทั้งสองแนวทางส่งผลให้พื้นที่การไหลของน้ำลดลงไม่เกินร้อยละ 5 และ 6 ตามลำดับ สำหรับการศึกษาประสิทธิภาพการทำงานของตะแกรงที่ปรับปรุงพื้นผิว พบว่าโครงสร้างของอนุภาคซิลิกาขนาดนาโนและชั้นเลเยอร์ดับเบิลไฮดรอกไซด์มีความคงทนอยู่บนพื้นผิวตะแกรงได้สูงสุด 15 และ 10 วัน ตามลำดับ ภายใต้อัตราการไหลของน้ำที่ 750 ล./ชม. การทดลองช่วงสุดท้ายเป็นการประยุกต์ใช้หน่วยแยกตะกอนกับน้ำเสียจากระบบการเลี้ยงสัตว์น้ำ พบว่าประสิทธิภาพในการแยกตะกอนของตะแกรงปกติ ตะแกรงที่สังเคราะห์ชั้นเลเยอร์ดับเบิลไฮดรอกไซด์และแทรกด้วยสเตียเรตไอออน และตะแกรงที่พ่นเคลือบด้วยอนุภาคซิลิกาขนาดนาโนมีค่าเฉลี่ยร้อยละ 59 52 และ 65 ตามลำดับ ทั้งนี้ตะแกรงที่พ่นเคลือบด้วยอนุภาคซิลิกาขนาดนาโนสามารถป้องกันการสะสมของตะกอนและการเกาะติดของฟิล์มชีวภาพบนพื้นผิวตะแกรงได้นานกว่าตะแกรงปกติ 7-10 วัน ดังนั้นการปรับปรุงพื้นผิวตะแกรงให้มีสมบัติความไม่ชอบน้ำยิ่งยวดจึงเป็นแนวทางในการพัฒนาหน่วยแยกตะกอนในระบบหมุนเวียนน้ำเพื่อการเลี้ยงสัตว์น้ำให้มีประสิทธิภาพในการป้องกันการเกิดฟิล์มชีวภาพเพื่อเพิ่มระยะเวลาการทำงานได้ดียิ่งขึ้น

การประยุกต์ใช้เถ้าลอยและกากคอนกรีตในการผลิตฉนวนกันความร้อนและกำแพงกั้นเสียง, ชัชพงศ์ ณ ป้อมเพชร

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

งานวิจัยนี้ศึกษาการใช้เถ้าลอยและกากคอนกรีตเป็นองค์ประกอบในการขึ้นรูปมอร์ตาร์ในลักษณะของการแทนที่ปูนซีเมนต์ และแทนที่มวลรวมละเอียดตามลำดับ โดยเถ้าลอยที่ใช้ในการศึกษา ได้แก่ เถ้าลอยถ่านหินลิกไนต์ เถ้าลอยถ่านหินบิทูมินัส และเถ้าลอยจากเตาเผาขยะชุมชน ส่วนกากคอนกรีตที่ใช้ในการศึกษาคือกากคอนกรีตจากโรงผลิตคอนกรีต งานวิจัยนี้ได้ศึกษาทั้งสมบัติทางเคมี และสมบัติทางกายภาพของเถ้าลอยและกากคอนกรีต รวมถึงสมบัติเพื่อการนำมอร์ตาร์ที่มีเถ้าลอยและกากคอนกรีตเป็นองค์ประกอบไปใช้ประโยชน์ ได้แก่ การรับแรงอัด สมบัติเชิงความร้อน และสมบัติเชิงเสียงของผลิตภัณฑ์ สำหรับเถ้าลอยและมอร์ตาร์ที่มีเถ้าลอยเป็นองค์ประกอบได้ศึกษาการชะละลายโลหะหนักด้วยวิธี Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedures (TCLP) วิธี Synthetic Precipitation Leaching Procedure (SPLP) และวิธี Waste Extraction Test (WET) เพิ่มเติม จากการศึกษาพบว่าเพื่อให้ได้มอร์ตาร์ที่มีความต้านแรงอัดตามมาตรฐาน มอก. 59-2561 จะสามารถใช้เถ้าลอยแทนที่ปูนซีเมนต์ได้ร้อยละ 25 - 50 สำหรับกากคอนกรีตสามารถใช้แทนที่มวลรวมละเอียดได้ถึงร้อยละ 100 ในด้านสมบัติเชิงความร้อนพบว่าผลิตภัณฑ์มีค่าสภาพการนำความร้อนอยู่ระหว่าง 0.08 – 0.33 วัตต์ต่อเมตรเคลวิน ซึ่งถือว่ามีสมบัติเป็นฉนวนกันความร้อนที่ดี แต่ในด้านสมบัติเชิงเสียงพบว่าผลิตภัณฑ์ยังมีสมบัติไม่ถึงเกณฑ์ของกำแพงกั้นเสียงที่การทางพิเศษแห่งประเทศไทยกำหนด สำหรับการศึกษาปริมาณโลหะหนักในเถ้าลอยพบว่าโดยส่วนใหญ่มีค่าไม่เกินมาตรฐานยกเว้นปริมาณตะกั่ว (Pb) และสารหนู (As) ในเถ้าลอยจากเตาเผาขยะชุมชนที่ชะละลายด้วยวิธี TCLP และเถ้าลอยถ่านหินลิกไนต์ชะละลายด้วยวิธี WET ตามลำดับ แต่เมื่อนำเถ้าลอยขึ้นรูปเป็นมอร์ตาร์พบว่าผลิตภัณฑ์มีปริมาณโลหะหนักโดยส่วนใหญ่ลดลงและมีค่าไม่เกินมาตรฐาน

Tsunamigenic Potential Of The Baiyun Slide Complex In The South China Sea, Linlin Li, Fengyan Shi, Gangfeng Ma, Qiang Qiu

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The Baiyun slide complex contains geological evidence for some of the largest landslide ever discovered in the continental slopes of the South China Sea. High-resolution seismic data suggest that a variety of landslides with varied scales have occurred repeatedly in this area. The largest landslide reconstructed from bathymetric and seismic data has an estimated spatial coverage of ~5,500 km² and a conservative volume of ~1,035 km³. Here, using geomorphological and geotechnical data, we construct a series of probable landslide scenarios and assess their tsunamigenic capacity. By treating the slides as deformable mudflows, we simulate the dynamics of …

Assessing Spatiotemporal Exposures To Transportation Pollutants In Near-Road Communities Using Aermod, Mayra Consuelo Chavez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Traffic-related air pollution has a profound impact on human health especially for residents living in near-road communities which are constantly exposed these air pollutants. A near-road community is expected to observe significant spatial and temporal variations in pollutant concentrations, as air pollution resulting from emissions from major highways decreases rapidly from the highway. This research conducted on-site traffic and air quality measurements on four critical transportations related air pollutants, PM2.5, PM10, NO2, O3, as well as emission and air dispersion modeling of transportation emission impacts in a near-road community. Using numerical models provided by the EPA, integrated with field measurements …

Incorporation Of Contaminated Sediment Into Environmentally Safe Concrete, Andrew Needs

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The research performed through this project provided some interesting results on how the different properties of the contaminated sediment can impact the strength of the new concrete.

Average three, seven, and fourteen-day strengths increased when comparing to the baseline mix developed for the experiment. Increases in strengths were notices in the ten and twenty-five percent soil replacement mixes. The largest increase was approximately thirty-three percent greater than the baseline average.

The results from the forty percent replacement test showed a significant decrease in strengths when comparing against the baseline mix. A loss of about thirty percent was observed between the …

Prevention Of Harmful Algal Blooms By The Mitigation Of Phosphorus Nutrient Loading Via Filtration By Steel Wool And Activated Carbon, Ronald Simpson, Sara Kidd, Samantha Zidd

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) are a devastating ecological and economic consequence of the abundance of nutrient-rich agricultural runoff entering aquatic ecosystems (Baker et al. 2014). Bio-available phosphorus from synthetic fertilizers is one of the major nutrients contributing to this global issue. Previous studies indicated that dissolved phosphorus can be removed from an aqueous environment when passed through a composite mixture of granular steel wool particles and activated carbon (Erickson, Gulliver, and Weiss, 2007). In this project, we conducted experiments using higher quality concentration measurements to determine what grades of steel wool (SW-0000, SW-000, SW-00) and types of activated carbon (granulated …

Flood Inundation Mapping For Huron Creek, Houghton County, Michigan, Sarah Washko

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The 2018 Father’s Day Flood rattled the Houghton County, MI community. Thousands of dollars in damage to public and private property were incurred due to slope failure, scour and stagnant water. Though the flood was billed as a once-in-a-lifetime event, hazard mitigation planning has become essential, as extreme weather events are expected to become more frequent with a changing climate. While Federal Emergency Management Agency funding will provide detailed flood hazard maps in the future, mapping is expected to be several years out. To aid the City of Houghton community with immediate flood hazard mitigation planning, a hydraulic-based flood depth …

Design Of Plant Protection Uav Variable Spray System Based On Neural Networks, Sheng Wen, Quanyong Zhang, Xuanchun Yin, Yubin Lan, Jiantao Zhang, Yufeng Ge

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Recently, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have rapidly emerged as a new technology in the fields of plant protection and pest control in China. Based on existing variable spray research, a plant protection UAV variable spray system integrating neural network based decision making is designed. Using the existing data on plant protection UAV operations, combined with artificial neural network (ANN) technology, an error back propagation (BP) neural network model between the factors affecting droplet deposition is trained. The factors affecting droplet deposition include ambient temperature, ambient humidity, wind speed, flight speed, flight altitude, propeller pitch, nozzles pitch and prescription value. Subsequently, …

Free Polyethylenimine Enhances Substrate-Mediated Gene Delivery On Titanium Substrates Modified With Rgd-Functionalized Poly(Acrylic Acid) Brushes, Amy Mantz, Alice Rosenthal, Eric Farris, Tyler Kozisek, Eva Bittrich, Saghar Nazari, Eva Schubert, Mathias Schubert, Manfred Stamm, Petra Uhlmann, Angela K. Pannier

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Substrate mediated gene delivery (SMD) is a method of immobilizing DNA complexes to a substrate via covalent attachment or nonspecific adsorption, which allows for increased transgene expression with less DNA compared to traditional bolus delivery. It may also increase cells receptivity to transfection via cell-material interactions. Substrate modifications with poly(acrylic) acid (PAA) brushes may improve SMD by enhancing substrate interactions with DNA complexes via tailored surface chemistry and increasing cellular adhesion via moieties covalently bound to the brushes. Previously, we described a simple method to graft PAA brushes to Ti and further demonstrated conjugation of cell adhesion peptides (i.e., RGD) …

Genetic Diversity And Population Structure Of A Camelina Sativa Spring Panel, Zinan Luo, Jordan Brock, John M. Dyer, Toni Kutchan, Daniel P. Schachtman, Megan Augustin, Yufeng Ge, Noah Fahlgren, Hussein Abdel-Haleem

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

There is a need to explore renewable alternatives (e.g., biofuels) that can produce energy sources to help reduce the reliance on fossil oils. In addition, the consumption of fossil oils adversely affects the environment and human health via the generation of waste water, greenhouse gases, and waste solids. Camelina sativa, originated from southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia, is being re-embraced as an industrial oilseed crop due to its high seed oil content (36–47%) and high unsaturated fatty acid composition (>90%), which are suitable for jet fuel, biodiesel, high-value lubricants and animal feed. C. sativa’s agronomic advantages include …

Nucleic Acid Delivery To Mesenchymal Stem Cells: A Review Of Nonviral Methods And Applications, Andrew Hamann, Albert Nguyen, Angela K. Pannier

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Background: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent stem cells that can be isolated and expanded from many tissues, and are being investigated for use in cell therapies. Though MSC therapies have demonstrated some success, none have been FDA approved for clinical use. MSCs lose stemness ex vivo, decreasing therapeutic potential, and face additional barriers in vivo, decreasing therapeutic efficacy. Culture optimization and genetic modification of MSCs can overcome these barriers. Viral transduction is efficient, but limited by safety concerns related to mutagenicity of integrating viral vectors and potential immunogenicity of viral antigens. Nonviral delivery methods are safer, though limited …

The Development Of The Infews-Er: A Virtual Resource Center For Transdisciplinary Graduate Student Training At The Nexus Of Food, Energy, And Water, Luis F. Rodriguez, Anna-Maria Marshall, Dan Cotton, Richard K. Koelsch, Jacek Koziel, Deanne Meyer, Dan Steward, Jill Heemstra, Anand Padmanabahn, John Classen, Nathan J. Meyer, Benjamin L. Ruddell, Sean M. Ryan, Ximing Cai, Emad Habib, Peter D. Saundry

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Problems at the nexus of Food, Energy and Water Systems (FEWS) are among the most complex challenges we face. Spanning simple to complex temporal, geographic, social, and political framings, the questions raised at this nexus require multidisciplinary if not transdisciplinary approaches. Answers to these questions must draw from engineering, the physical and biological sciences, and the social sciences. Practical solutions depend upon a wide community of stakeholders, including industry, policymakers, and the general public. Yet there are many obstacles to working in a transdisciplinary environment: unfamiliar concepts, specialized terminology, and countless “blind” spots. Graduate education occurs in disciplinary ‘silos’, often …

Water Effects On Optical Canopy Sensing For Late-Season Site-Specific Nitrogen Management Of Maize, Tsz Him Lo, Daran Rudnick, Brian Krienke, D. M. Heeren, Yufeng Ge, Tim M. Shaver

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

The interpretation of optical canopy sensor readings for determining optimal rates of late-season site-specific nitrogen application to corn (Zea mays L.) can be complicated by spatially variable water sufficiency, which can also affect canopy size and/or pigmentation. In 2017 and 2018, corn following corn and corn following soybeans were subjected to irrigation×nitrogen fertilizer treatments in west central Nebraska, USA, to induce variable water sufficiency and variable nitrogen sufficiency. The vegetation index-sensor combinations investigated were the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), the normalized difference red edge index (NDRE), and the reflectance ratio of near infrared minus red edge over near …

Narrow Grass Hedge Effects On Microbial Transport Following Variable Applications Of Beef Cattle Manure, Lisa M. Durso, John E. Gilley, Dave B. Marx, Brian L. Woodbury

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

The effectiveness of a 1.4 m wide grass hedge in reducing microbial transport following manure application was examined in this study. 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 none or the 1-, 2-, or 4-year nitrogen requirements for corn. The transport of phages, total coliforms, E. coli, and enterococci was measured for three 30 min simulated rainfall events, which were separated by approximately 24 h intervals. The narrow grass hedge reduced total counts of …

Minimal Interspecies Interaction Adjustment (Miia): Inference Of Neighbor-Dependent Interactions In Microbial Communities, Hyun-Seob Song, Joon-Yong Lee, Shin Haruta, William C. Nelson, Dong-Yup Lee, Stephen R. Lindemann, Jim K. Fredrickson, Hans C. Bernstein

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

An intriguing aspect in microbial communities is that pairwise interactions can be influenced by neighboring species. This creates context dependencies for microbial interactions that are based on the functional composition of the community. Context dependent interactions are ecologically important and clearly present in nature, yet firmly established theoretical methods are lacking from many modern computational investigations. Here, we propose a novel network inference method that enables predictions for interspecies interactions affected by shifts in community composition and species populations. Our approach first identifies interspecies interactions in binary communities, which is subsequently used as a basis to infer modulation in more …

Principal Variable Selection To Explain Grain Yield Variation In Winter Wheat From Features Extracted From Uav Imagery, Jiating Li, Arun-Narenthiran Veeranampalayam-Sivakumar, Madhav Bhatta, Nicholas D. Garst, Hannah Stoll, P. Stephen Baenziger, Vikas Belamkar, Reka Howard, Yufeng Ge, Jiating Li

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Background: Automated phenotyping technologies are continually advancing the breeding process. However, collecting various secondary traits throughout the growing season and processing massive amounts of data still take great efforts and time. Selecting a minimum number of secondary traits that have the maximum predictive power has the potential to reduce phenotyping efforts. The objective of this study was to select principal features extracted from UAV imagery and critical growth stages that contributed the most in explaining winter wheat grain yield. Five dates of multispectral images and seven dates of RGB images were collected by a UAV system during the spring growing …

Agenator: An Open Source Computer-Controlled Dry Aging System For Beef, Soon Kiat Lau, Felipe Azevedo Ribeiro, Jeyamkondan Subbiah, Chris R. Calkins

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Dry aging of beef is a process where beef is exposed to a controlled environment with the ultimate goal of drying the beef to improve its quality and value. Comprehensive investigations into the effects of various environmental conditions on dry aging are crucial for understanding and optimizing the process, but the lack of affordable equipment focused on data collection makes it difficult to do so. The Agenator was thus developed as an open source system with a suite of features for investigating dry aging such as: measuring and recording relative humidity, temperature, mass, air velocity, and fan rotational speed; precise …

A Machine Learning Approach For Improving Near-Real-Time Satellite-Based Rainfall Estimates By Integrating Soil Moisture, Ashish Kumar, Raaj Ramsankaran, Luca Brocca, Francisco Munoz-Arriola

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Near-real-time (NRT) satellite-based rainfall estimates (SREs) are a viable option for flood/drought monitoring. However, SREs have often been associated with complex and nonlinear errors. One way to enhance the quality of SREs is to use soil moisture information. Few studies have indicated that soil moisture information can be used to improve the quality of SREs. Nowadays, satellite-based soil moisture products are becoming available at desired spatial and temporal resolutions on an NRT basis. Hence, this study proposes an integrated approach to improve NRT SRE accuracy by combining it with NRT soil moisture through a nonlinear support vector machine-based regression (SVR) …

High-Speed, High-Frequency Ultrasound, In Utero Vector-Flow Imaging Of Mouse Embryos, Jeffrey A. Ketterling, Orlando Aristizabal, Billy Y. S. Yiu, Daniel H. Turnbull, Colin K. L. Phoon, Alfred C. H. Yu, Ronald H. Silverman

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Real-time imaging of the embryonic murine cardiovascular system is challenging due to the small size of the mouse embryo and rapid heart rate. High-frequency, linear-array ultrasound systems designed for small-animal imaging provide high-frame-rate and Doppler modes but are limited in regards to the field of view that can be imaged at fine-temporal and -spatial resolution. Here, a plane-wave imaging method was used to obtain high-speed image data from in utero mouse embryos and multi-angle, vector-flow algorithms were applied to the data to provide information on blood flow patterns in major organs. An 18-MHz linear array was used to acquire plane-wave …

Factors Related To Intra-Tendinous Morphology Of Achilles Tendon In Runners, Kai-Yu Ho, Ari Baquet, Yu-Jen Chang, Lung-Chang Chien, Michelle Harty, Gregory Bashford, Kornelia Kulig

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to determine and explore factors (age, sex, anthropometry, running and injury/pain history, tendon gross morphology, neovascularization, ankle range of motion, and ankle plantarflexor muscle endurance) related to intra-tendinous morphological alterations of the Achilles tendon in runners. An intra-tendinous morphological change was defined as collagen fiber disorganization detected by a low peak spatial frequency radius (PSFR) obtained from spatial frequency analysis (SFA) techniques in sonography. Ninety-one runners (53 males and 38 females; 37.9 ± 11.6 years) with 8.8 ± 7.3 years of running experience participated. Height, weight, and waist and hip circumferences were recorded. Participants …

A Role For Nanoparticles In Treating Traumatic Brain Injury, Badrul Alam Bony, Forrest M. Kievit

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the main causes of disability in children and young adults, as well as a significant concern for elderly individuals. Depending on the severity, TBI can have a long-term impact on the quality of life for survivors of all ages. The primary brain injury can result in severe disability or fatality, and secondary brain damage can increase the complexities in cellular, inflammatory, neurochemical, and metabolic changes in the brain, which can last decades post-injury. Thus, survival from a TBI is often accompanied by lifelong disabilities. Despite the significant morbidity, mortality, and economic loss, there …

Rapeseed Seedling Stand Counting And Seeding Performance Evaluation At Two Early Growth Stages Based On Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Imagery, Biquan Zhao, Jian Zhang, Chenghai Yang, Guangsheng Zhou, Youchun Ding, Yeyin Shi, Dongyan Zhang, Jing Xie, Qingxi Liao

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

The development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and image processing algorithms for field-based phenotyping offers a non-invasive and effective technology to obtain plant growth traits such as canopy cover and plant height in fields. Crop seedling stand count in early growth stages is important not only for determining plant emergence, but also for planning other related agronomic practices. The main objective of this research was to develop practical and rapid remote sensing methods for early growth stage stand counting to evaluate mechanically seeded rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) seedlings. Rapeseed was seeded in a field by three different seeding devices. A …

Early Prediction Of Soybean Traits Through Color And Texture Features Of Canopy Rgb Imagery, Wenan Yuan, Nuwan Kumara Wijewardane, Shawn Jenkins, Geng Bai, Yufeng Ge, George L. Graef

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Global crop production is facing the challenge of a high projected demand, while the yields of major crops are not increasing at sufficient speeds. Crop breeding is an important way to boost crop productivity, however its improvement rate is partially hindered by the long crop generation cycles. If end-season crop traits such as yield can be predicted through early-season phenotypic measurements, crop selection can potentially be made before a full crop generation cycle finishes. This study explored the possibility of predicting soybean end-season traits through the color and texture features of early-season canopy images. Six thousand three hundred and eighty-three …

Heterologous Expression And Functional Characterization Of A Gh10 Endoxylanase From Aspergillus Fumigatus Var. Niveus With Potential Biotechnological Application, Josman Velasco, Bianca Oliva, Evandro Jose Mulinari, Leidy Patricia Quintero, Awana Da Silva Lima, Aline Larissa Goncalves, Thiago Augusto Goncalves, Andre Damasio, Fabio Marcio Squina, Adriane Maria Ferreira Milagres, Asmaa Abdella, Mark R. Wilkins, Fernando Segato

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Xylanases decrease the xylan content in pretreated biomass releasing it from hemicellulose, thus improving the accessibility of cellulose for cellulases. In this work, an endo-β-1,4-xylanase from Aspergillus fumigatus var. niveus (AFUMN-GH10) was successfully expressed. The structural analysis and biochemical characterization showed this AFUMN-GH10 does not contain a carbohydrate-binding module. The enzyme retained its activity in a pH range from 4.5 to 7.0, with an optimal temperature at 60°C. AFUMN-GH10 showed the highest activity in beechwood xylan. The mode of action of AFUMNGH10 was investigated by hydrolysis of APTS-labeled xylohexaose, which resulted in xylotriose and xylobiose as the main products. AFUMN-GH10 …