Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Limiting Nutrient Contaminants From Agricultural Non-Point Sources: Nutrient Monitoring At Eku’S Meadowbrook Farm, Madison County, Kentucky, Walter S. Borowski, Jonathan M. Malzone

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Sources of contamination to U.S. waterways have largely shifted from industrial, point sources to agricultural and other non-point sources associated with common human activities. EKU’s Meadowbrook Farm explores best-practices in agriculture and animal husbandry that not only act to increase the efficiency of farm operations, but also to limit environmental effects such as the eutrophification of its neighboring watershed.

We recently started a collaboration with the Farm and the EKU Department of Agriculture, which are developing methods to sequester phosphorus and thus limit nutrient export to the adjacent Muddy Creek watershed. Our task is to quantify the amount of phosphorus …

Managing A Large Scale Project: Using Strengthsfinder In The Website Redesign, Laura Edwards, Cristina Tofan

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

After doing a library-wide StrengthsFinder assessment that highlighted the strengths of its individuals, EKU Libraries decided to put this strategy into practice by applying it to one of the most complex projects in the life of an academic library: the website redesign. This decentralized approach allowed project managers to align strengths-based teams with phases of the redesign that would most benefit from that team’s unique strengths.

Relationships Between Surface And Ground Water Velocities Determined From Dye Trace Experiments In Mcconnell Springs And Preston's Cave Spring, Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, Laura A. Norris, Cassie E. Simpson, Trent Garrison

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

In mature karst regions, water may flow through large subsurface conduits, expediting flow to surficial karst springs. In the fall of 2015, a dye trace was performed in the Middle Ordovician karst of Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky in order to measure ground water velocities. Other aspects of the study include (1) comparing these velocities to surface water velocities at discharge points (springs) and (2) comparing karst conduit velocities to granular velocities from previous studies in the region. The locations selected for study include (1) the “Campbell House Sinkhole," (2) McConnell Springs, and (3) Preston’s Cave Spring.

Role Of Ros And Rns Sources In Physiological And Pathological Conditions, Sergio Di Meo, Tanea Reed, Paola Venditti, Victor Manuel Victor

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

There is significant evidence that, in living systems, free radicals and other reactive oxygen and nitrogen species play a double role, because they can cause oxidative damage and tissue dysfunction and serve as molecular signals activating stress responses that are beneficial to the organism. Mitochondria have been thought to both play a major role in tissue oxidative damage and dysfunction and provide protection against excessive tissue dysfunction through several mechanisms, including stimulation of opening of permeability transition pores. Until recently, the functional significance of ROS sources different from mitochondria has received lesser attention. However, the most recent data, besides confirming …

Harmful And Beneficial Role Of Ros, Sergio Di Meo, Tanea Reed, Paola Venditti, Victor M. Victor

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are an unavoidable byproduct of oxygen metabolism and their cellular concentrations are determined by the balance between their rates of production and their rates of clearance by various antioxidant compounds and enzymes. For a long time ROS were thought to cause exclusively toxic effects which were associated with various pathologies, including carcinogenesis, neurodegeneration, atherosclerosis, diabetes, and aging. However, to date, it is known that while prolonged exposure to high ROS concentrations may lead to various disorders, low ROS concentrations exert beneficial effects regulating cell signaling cascades.

Patterns And Sources Of Anthropogenic Contaminants In The Otter Creek Watershed, Madison County, Kentucky, Elijah J. Wolfe

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Stream systems are often affected by anthropogenic activities that affect water quality and stream ecosystems. Land use typically determines the type and quantity of anthropogenic contaminants entering natural waters. The Otter Creek watershed (170 km²; Madison County, Kentucky) consists predominantly of pasture and rural housing, with some cropland. The basin also receives runoff from the town of Richmond and a sewage treatment plant operates within the watershed. We measured concentrations of nutrients (phosphate, ammonium, nitrate) and fecal microbes to discover levels of anthropogenic contaminants affecting water quality and to identify contaminant sources.

We sampled 4 times in the …

Patterns And Sources Of Anthropogenic Contaminants In The Otter Creek Watershed, Madison County, Kentucky, Elijah D. Wolfe, Walter S. Borowski, Jacob L. Robin

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Stream systems are often affected by anthropogenic contaminants that affect water quality and stream ecosystems. Land use determines the type and quantity of contaminants present in natural waters. The Otter Creek watershed (170 km²; Madison County, Kentucky) consists predominantly of pasture and rural housing, with some cropland. The basin also receives runoff from the town of Richmond and a sewage treatment plant operates within the watershed. We measured concentrations of nutrients (phosphate, ammonium, nitrate) and fecal microbes to discover levels of anthropogenic contaminants affecting water quality and to identify contaminant sources.

We sampled 4 times in the summer …

Non-Point Sources And Point Sources For Nutrient And Fecal Microbe Contamination In A Typical Upland Stream: Tates Creek, Madison County, Kentucky, Walter S. Borowski, Malcolm P. Frisbie

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Tates Creek (Madison County, Kentucky) is characterized by an oversupply of nutrients and fecal microbe contamination. Its watershed is dominated by pastureland and immature woodlands with scattered settlements served by septic systems, whereas, 5% of the watershed drains urban areas of Richmond, Kentucky. Creek waters are eutrophic and commonly display levels of Escherichia coli deemed unfit for human contact by United States Environmental Protection Agency standards. Both point and non-point sources existed for stream contaminants. A secondary sewage treatment plant (STP) discharged effluent into the creek until mid-2011 and was a point source for nitrate and phosphate. Pastureland likely contributes …