Environmental Health and Protection Commons^™

The Waterfall Crisis, Guiliana G. Grisaffi

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

While the Earth’s surface is 71% covered in water, that does not mean that one day all our water could be gone. The current global water crisis is not just a water crisis-it is a waterfall crisis. One wicked, terrible problem that leads to many other wicked problems, a waterfall crisis. Millions of women and young girls are taken out of work and school and instead forced to collect and gather fresh water for their families. Children are suffering from irreversible health consequences from toxic, contaminated water, an example of a health consequence is a lower IQ from lead poisoning. …

The Quantification Of Heavy Metals In Infant Formulas Offered By The Florida Wic Program, Naya Martin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many infants rely on the WIC program to provide their main source of sustenance in theform of infant formula. In 2016, about 86% of the eligible infant population participated in this program. Infants in Florida account for about 30% of participation in the Southeast. For this reason, it is necessary to ensure that the formulas offered by this program provide the best opportunity for an optimal health outcome.

Exposure to heavy metals can have detrimental effects on the development of infants and children. Arsenic, lead, and cadmium specifically have been commonly found in certain types of infant formulas. Significant exposures …

Global Air Quality Trekkers: Nandi Clean Kitchen Study, Samantha Dykhuis, Stephanie Schiavo, Avalin Senefeld

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Indoor air pollution is a widespread environmental health challenge sub-Saharan Africa and is the leading cause of premature death in many sub-Saharan African countries. This pollution is primarily caused by the burning of biomass fuels inside an enclosed kitchen in order to provide heat for cooking. Global Air Quality Trekkers is an undergraduate engineering team within the EPICS department at Purdue that began in fall 2016. Our objective is to create a kitchen design that utilizes natural ventilation to mitigate the amount of air pollutants present in these kitchens, specifically in the Nandi community of Western Kenya. This year, our …

Satellite-Based Monitoring Of Irrigation Water Use: Assessing Measurement Errors And Their Implications For Agricultural Water Management Policy, T. Foster, Taro Mieno, Nicholas Brozovic

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Reliable accounting of agricultural water use is critical for sustainable water management. However, the majority of agricultural water use is not monitored, with limited metering of irrigation despite increasing pressure on both groundwater and surface water resources in many agricultural regions worldwide. Satellite remote sensing has been proposed as a low-cost and scalable solution to fill widespread gaps in monitoring of irrigation water use in both developed and developing countries, bypassing the technical, socioeconomic, and political challenges that to date have constrained in situ metering. In this paper, we show through a systematic meta-analysis that the relative accuracy of different …

Hu Aquaponics Monitoring And Control System : European Annual Edunet Conference 2020, Rachel L. Fogle, Glenn P. Williams, Josh R. Krug

Harrisburg University Presidential Research Grants

The functional purpose of the HU Aquaponics Monitoring and Control System Project is to develop an environmental and plant monitoring and control system for the HU Aquaponics Lab, located in the Student Union. The project involves the design and implementation of technology that will regularly take measurements from the environment (e.g., air temperature, water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, etc). PLCnext Technology will systematically collect, store, and web-publish the measurement data for HU researchers and the public to use for scientific research.

Hot But Not Dry: Modest Changes In Water Relations For An Epiphytic Bromeliad In A Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest, Saúl Hernández-Robinson, Eric A. Graham, Olivia Hernández-González, Roberth Us-Santamaría, José Luis Simá, Fernando Arellano-Martín, José Luis Andrade

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Premise of research. Epiphytic bromeliads endure intense seasonal environmental changes in the canopy of dry tropical deciduous forests. The analysis of the physiological responses of these epiphytes to environmental changes can be useful in assessing their plasticity, vulnerability, and adaptations to such extreme habitats.

Methodology. We measured microenvironmental variables and water relations for plants of the epiphytic bromeliad Tillandsia brachycaulos in three microhabitats within the canopy of a dry tropical forest. We measured individual plants for seasonal and spatial differences in light, leaf temperature, osmotic potential, cell wall elasticity, and relative capacitance as indications of their physiological responses …

Forecasting Vegetation Health In The Mena Region By Predicting Vegetation Indicators With Machine Learning Models, Sachi Perera, Wenzhao Li, Erik Linstead, Hesham El-Askary

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Machine learning (ML) techniques can be applied to predict and monitor drought conditions due to climate change. Predicting future vegetation health indicators (such as EVI, NDVI, and LAI) is one approach to forecast drought events for hotspots (e.g. Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions). Recently, ML models were implemented to predict EVI values using parameters such as land types, time series, historical vegetation indices, land surface temperature, soil moisture, evapotranspiration etc. In this work, we collected the MODIS atmospherically corrected surface spectral reflectance imagery with multiple vegetation related indices for modeling and evaluation of drought conditions in the MENA …

Water Quality Assessment In The Occurrence Of Acanthaster Spp. (Crown-Of-Thorns Starfish, Cots) On Coral Reefs In Menjangan Island, Bali, Indonesia, Novia Arinda Pradisty, Eghbert Elvan Ampou, Rizki Hanintyo

Makara Journal of Science

Aquatic stressors are known to cause biological impairment that can result in biodiversity loss in several Marine Protected Areas (MPA), including in Menjangan Island, West Bali National Park. The objectives of this study were to correlate the changes in water quality parameters with the biological effect of Crown-of-Thorns starfish (CoTS) population dynamics and to assess the most applicable parameters for continuous environmental monitoring. Field observations and surveys were conducted three times in 2017, during the wet season, dry season and season transition, in order to assess the effect of seasonal variability. Redundancy Analysis (RDA) was performed to determine the relationship …

Second-Best Prioritization Of Environmental Cleanups, Jacob Lariviere, Matthew J. Mcmahon, Justin Roush

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

No abstract provided.

Spatiotemporal Variations Of City-Level Carbon Emissions In China During 2000–2017 Using Nighttime Light Data, Yu Sun, Sheng Zheng, Yuzhe Wu, Uwe Schlink, Ramesh P. Singh

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

China is one of the largest carbon emitting countries in the world. Numerous strategies have been considered by the Chinese government to mitigate carbon emissions in recent years. Accurate and timely estimation of spatiotemporal variations of city-level carbon emissions is of vital importance for planning of low-carbon strategies. For an assessment of the spatiotemporal variations of city-level carbon emissions in China during the periods 2000–2017, we used nighttime light data as a proxy from two sources: Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) data and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (NPP-VIIRS). The results …

Carbon Taxes And The Composition Of New Passenger Car Sales In Europe, Orkhan Nadirov, Jana Vychytilová, Bruce Dehning

Accounting Faculty Articles and Research

This paper examines the effectiveness of implementing carbon taxes to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from transport. Using the system Generalized Method of Moments estimator, we utilize cross-country analysis for the first time to study the impact of carbon taxes on the composition of petrol versus diesel passenger cars sold in 17 countries over the period 2013–2017. The results suggest that increasing carbon taxes affects consumer behavior, causing a significant shift from petrol to diesel fuel vehicles, controlling for factors such as the price of passenger cars, fuel price, interest rates, income level, population density, inflation, and vehicle stock.

Geochemical Characterization Of Base Metals In Stream Water And Sediments In The Caddo Lake Watershed, Cass, Harrison, And Marion Counties, Texas, Melinda S. Faulkner, Melanie L. Ertons, Joseph D. Watkins

Faculty Publications

The Caddo Lake watershed is located in northeastern Texas and encompasses much of Cass, Harrison, and Marion counties. The watershed is drained by major streams and tributaries flowing in an easterly direction over Eocene-aged rocks and sediments of the Wilcox and Claiborne groups, and empty into the western arm of Caddo Lake. Since 1995, Caddo Lake and some of its tributaries have been included on the State of Texas Clean Water Act 303(d) list by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for impairment due to mercury content in edible tissue, depressed dissolved oxygen, base metal concentrations, and low pH …

Assessment Of Switchgrass-Based Bioenergy Supply Using Gis-Based Fuzzy Logic And Network Optimization In Missouri (U.S.A.), Gia Nguyen, Erik Lyttek, Pankaj Lal, Taylor Wieczerak, Pralhad Burli

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Bioenergy has been globally recognized as one of the sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. An assured supply of biomass feedstocks is a crucial bottleneck for the bioenergy industry emanating from uncertainties in land-use changes and future prices. Analytical approaches deriving from geographical information systems (GIS)-based analysis, mathematical modeling, optimization analyses, and empirical techniques have been widely used to evaluate the potential for bioenergy feedstock. In this study, we propose a three-phase methodology integrating fuzzy logic, network optimization, and ecosystem services assessment to estimate potential bioenergy supply. The fuzzy logic analysis uses multiple spatial criteria to identify suitable biomass cultivating regions. …

Applying A Systems Approach To The Legacy Of Lead In Soil, Sara Perl Egendorf

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Lead (Pb) in soil is a global environmental issue. The particularly high lead concentrations found in surface soils have been emplaced by humans and bring with them life-altering and life-shortening effects for our species and countless others. While much of the general population is unaware of lead lurking in our soils, scientists from a range of backgrounds have generated a body of research documenting this ubiquitous phenomenon, arising from sources such as lead in gasoline, paint, industry, and incineration. Scientists have also explored ways to remediate soil and continue calling for efforts to limit toxicant exposure. Why, then, does this …

Correlations Between Soil Redness And Soil Properties That Affect Non-Native Annual Plant Distribution In Chaparral And California Sage Scrub, Madeline Blua

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Non-native annual plant species have degraded California Sage Scrub and chaparral and present obstacles to shrubland restoration. Red soil patches in chaparral and California Sage Scrub of San Bernardino and Riverside counties appear to support fewer non-native annual plants than non-red soils. The purpose of this study was to confirm differences in vegetation cover between red and non-red soils in shrublands and to use soil analyses to determine possible causes. During vegetation surveys conducted in April of 2018, it was confirmed that red soil sites had lower cover of non-native plants and higher cover of native plant species than the …

Suggestions For China’S Response To The Hns Convention, Yuhui Zhou

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Research On "Zero Discharge" Technical Route Of International Ship Pollutants, Zilin Zhen

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Study On The Mechanism Of Compensation Fund System For Shipping Oil Pollution Damage In China And International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds, Haiyue Shu

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Feasibility Study On Environmental Protection Reform Of Ship Stern Tube System Based On Water Lubrication, Yang Cui

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Long Term Air Quality Analysis In Reference To Thermal Power Plants Using Satellite Data In Singrauli Region, India, H. K. Romana, Ramesh P. Singh, D. P. Shukla

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The exponentially growing population and related anthropogenic activities have led to modifications in local environment. The change in local environment, evolving pattern of land use, concentrations of greenhouse gases and aerosols alter the energy balance of our climate system. This alteration in climate is leading to pre-mature deaths worldwide. This study analyses the air quality of Singrauli region, Madhya Pradesh, India for the past 15 years. Otherwise known as Urjanchal “the energy capital” of India has been declared as critically polluted by CPCB. The study provides an updated list of thermal power plants in the study area and their emission …