Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Biochar As A Means Of Water Purification In Haiti, Caolan Keenan

Honors Projects

Our research set out to determine if biochar, a compound made by burning organic plant matter in a low oxygen environment, would be a suitable means of removing E. coli populations from contaminated water collected from the Grand River in Allendale, MI using simple materials to construct a filter that could be constructed and used in Haiti. Previous research has shown biochar to be effective at trapping bacteria and other contaminants in the porous surface and by binding other non organic contaminants. We constructed multiple iterations of these filters using gravel, sand, and biochar and ran three live tests with …

Quantifying The Extent Of Wildfire Impacted Streams In The Western United States, Grady Ball

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Beginning in the mid-1980s, the number of fires and acres burned by wildfire in the United States has grown at an explosive rate. Several factors, anthropogenic and natural, have converged to create a new era of high frequency, high intensity fires, which is predicted to continue until at least mid-century. Investigations into wildfire impacts have largely focused on post-fire impacts on terrestrial systems, while effects on aquatic ecosystems have been underrepresented. The growing threat of fire to streams has accelerated the need for germane information regarding the spatial extent of fire impacts on watersheds and post-fire impacts to aquatic systems. …

Law Library Blog (June 2019): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Molecular Rotation In 3 Dimensions At An Air/Water Interface Using Femtosecond Time Resolved Sum Frequency Generation, Yi Rao, Yuqin Qian, Gang-Hua Deng, Ashlie Kinross, Nicholas J. Turro, Kenneth B. Eisenthal

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

This paper presents the first study of the rotations of rigid molecules in 3 dimensions at the air/water interface, using the femtosecond time resolved sum frequency generation (SFG) technique. For the purpose of this research, the aromatic dye molecule C153 was chosen as an example of a molecule having two functional groups that are SFG active, one being the hydrophilic −−C==O group and the other the hydrophobic −−CF₃ group. From polarized SFG measurements, the orientations of the two chromophores with respect to the surface normal were obtained. On combining these results with the known relative orientation of the two …

Informing Water Use Decision-Making For Waterfowl And Agricultural Production On A Ranch Along The North Platte River, Nebraska, Douglas R. Hallum P.G.

Conservation and Survey Division

In 2014, operators of a ranch along the North Platte River approached Conservation and Survey Division seeking expertise to interpret data collected on their ranch. The interpretations inform ranch decisions to accomplish operators’ goals. This publication documents the work by: 1) characterizing the ranch, 2) summarizing data collected, 3) characterizing hydrogeology of the site and the adjacent reach, and 4) conceptualizing groundwater/surface water interaction.

The ranch is a recreation property and a migratory waterfowl refuge with a few general goals: 1) develop and maintain high-quality wet meadow habitat, 2) maximize the extent and duration of surface water on the property …

Fy 2019 Umass Amherst Water & Steam Data By Building, Ezra Small

Campus Data

Each year, UMass Amherst Utilities publishes this spreadsheet which has the monthly and annual building water and steam consumption of each metered building on campus.

Preservation Protocols For Maintaining Species Stability Of Arsenic, Chromium, And Selenium In Water Samples, Contessa Lowery

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Water quality has become an increasing concern in recent years. The environmental challenges surrounding water quality include the presence of dissolved metals and their potential impact on human health and the environment. The challenge is exacerbated because many important metals have multiple oxidation states, which affect the health and environmental behavior of the metal. Many metals are known carcinogens and increased anthropogenic effects have inexorably made metals’ accumulation an imposing threat. Analytical instrumentation has advanced in many areas, making it now possible to measure very low concentrations of multiple elements in water. Current interest is determining the chemical speciation of …

Carbon Dioxide Measurement In Irish Blanket Peatlands: An Assessment Of Pool-Soil Flux Variability, Mariya Radomski, Alan Gilmer, Vivienne Byers, Eugene Mcgovern

Articles

Peatlands have been recognised as having a significant role in the mediation of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels with direct implications for global climate change. Longitudinal in situ measurement systems for CO2 concentrations in blanket peatland ecosystems are difficult to implement where the nature of terrestrial–aquatic connectivity and hydrodynamics have a significant effect on the carbon cycle. The need for greater data on CO2 concentrations and flux monitoring in these settings has been well recognised. However, applying the most appropriate monitoring approach presents a special challenge. This paper sets out the development of a direct method for field based longitudinal …

Assessment Of Quantity And Quality Of Microplastics In The Sediments, Waters, Oysters, And Selected Fish Species In Key Sites Along The Bombong Estuary And The Coastal Waters Of Ticalan In San Juan, Batangas, Emilyn Q. Espiritu, Sophia Angeli Sn Dayrit, Annabel Soledad O. Coronel, Natasha Sophia C. Paz, Pilar Isabel L. Ronquillo, Virgil Christian G. Castillo, Erwin P. Enriquez

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Microplastics (or MPs; < 5 mm in size) pollution is largely unstudied in the Philippines. From an environmental sustainability standpoint, it is important to understand the characteristics, abundance, and environmental fate of plastic debris of various sizes, and these include microplastics that are not more easily and readily detected. In this study, we assessed the extent of microplastics contamination in the sediments, waters, oysters, and selected fishes found in the rivers and coastal areas of Ticalan, Batangas, which were identified from water quality parameters as Class C and CS, respectively. The microplastics were extracted from these samples by chemical digestion of the matrix, series of filtration, and separation by flotation through a density gradient to finally isolate the microplastics which were not dissolved by chemical digestion. The isolated samples were imaged by optical microscopy and characterized based on their descriptive attributes. The results showed the presence of microplastics in all the samples tested, which were found mostly in the form of filaments, fragments, films, and pellets – with most showing weathered, degraded, or angular and irregular surfaces. Identification was done through spectral matching of the Fourier transform infrared spectra of isolated fragments with that of known plastics, although identification in some cases is made uncertain by possibility of degradation of the plastics in the environment. The majority of the isolates showed signature absorption bands of the C-H stretching vibrations of polyethylene-based plastics.

Fabrication Of Hierarchically One-Dimensional Znxcd1-Xs/Nitio3 Nanostructures And Their Enhanced Photocatalytic Water Splitting Activity, Ling Wang, Guorui Yang, Silan Wang, Jianan Wang, Muhammad Salman Nasir, Caiyun Wang, Shengjie Peng, Wei Yan, Seeram Ramakrishna

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

Hierarchically one-dimensional nanomaterials represent a kind of promising catalyst for photocatalytic of hydrogen generation, where the photoinduced charge carriers can effectively separate and be engaged in the target reaction. Herein, we report the synthesis of hierarchically one-dimensional ZnxCd1-xS/NiTiO3 nanofibers and the investigations of their photocatalytic performance. These well-designed nanofibers demonstrate a typically one-dimensional heterostructure with an excellent continuity, and the element mapping, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy collectively confirm the ZnxCd1-xS nanoparticles being decorated on the surface of NiTiO3 nanofibers successfully. The ZnxCd1-xS/NiTiO3 nanofibers exhibit enhanced efficiency in photocatalytic hydrogen production under visible light, compared with the ZnxCd1-xS/TiO2 nanofibers. …

Designed Conducting Polymer Composites That Facilitate Long-Lived, Light-Driven Oxygen And Hydrogen Evolution From Water In A Photoelectrochemical Concentration Cell (Pecc), Mohammed Alsultan, Khalid Zainulabdeen, Pawel W. Wagner, Gerhard F. Swiegers, Holly Warren

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

Light-driven water-splitting to generate hydrogen and oxygen from water is typically carried out in an electrochemical cell with an external voltage greater than 1.23 V applied between the electrodes. In this work, we examined the use of a concentration/chemical bias as a means of facilitating water-splitting under light illumination without the need for such an externally applied voltage. Such a concentration bias was created by employing a pH differential in the liquid electrolytes within the O2-generating anode half-cell and the H2-generating cathode half-cell. A novel, stretchable, highly ion-conductive polyacrylamide CsCl hydrogel was developed to connect the two half-cells. The key …

General Π-Electron-Assisted Strategy For Single-Atom (Ir, Pt, Ru, Pd, Fe, And Ni) Electrocatalysts With Bi-Functional Active Sites Toward Highly Efficient Water Splitting, Weihong Lai, Li-Fu Zhang, Wei-Bo Hua, Sylvio Indris, Zichao Yan, Zhe Hu, Binwei Zhang, Yani Liu, Li Wang, Min Liu, Rong Liu, Yunxiao Wang, Jiazhao Wang, Zhenpeng Hu, Hua-Kun Liu, Shulei Chou, Shi Xue Dou

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

Both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are crucial to water splitting, but require alternative active sites. Now, a general pelectron- assisted strategy to anchor single-atom sites (M=Ir, Pt, Ru, Pd, Fe, Ni) on a heterogeneous support is reported. The Matoms can simultaneously anchor on two distinct domains of the hybrid support, four-fold N/C atoms (M@NC), and centers of Co octahedra (M@Co), which are expected to serve as bifunctional electrocatalysts towards the HER and the OER. The Ir catalyst exhibits the best water-splitting performance, showing a low applied potential of 1.603V to achieve 10 mAcm@2 …

Electrocatalytically Inactive Sns2 Promotes Water Adsorption/Dissociation On Molybdenum Dichalcogenides For Accelerated Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution, Yaping Chen, Xingyong Wang, Mengmeng Lao, Kun Rui, Xiaobo Zheng, Haibo Yu, Jing Ma, Shi Xue Dou, Wenping Sun

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

Molybdenum dichalcogenides, in particular, MoS2 and MoSe2, are very promising nonprecious metal-based electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acidic media. They exhibit inferior alkaline HER activity, however, due to the sluggish water dissociation process. Here, we design and synthesize new molybdenum dichalcogenide-based heterostructures with the basal planes decorated with SnS2 quantum dots towards enhanced alkaline HER activity. The electrochemical results reveal that the alkaline hydrogen evolution kinetics of molybdenum dichalcogenides is substantially accelerated after incorporation of SnS2 quantum dots. The optimal MoSe2/SnS2 heterostructure delivers a much lower overpotential of 285 mV than MoSe2 (367 mV) to reach a current …