Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons^™

Total Mercury Determination In Muscle And Liver Tissue Samples From Brazilian Amazon Fish Using Slurry Sampling, João Vitor De Queiroz, José Cavalcante Souza Vieira, Izabela Da Cunha Bataglioli, Alis Correia Bittarello, Camila Pereira Braga, Grasieli De Oliveira, Cilene Do Carmo Federici Padilha, Pedro De Magalhães Padilha

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

This paper presents a slurry sampling method for total mercury determination by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) in tissue of fish from the Amazon. The tissue samples were lyophilized and macerated, and then the slurry samples were prepared by putting 20 mg of tissue, added to a solution containing Triton X-100, Suprapur HNO₃, and zirconium nitrate directly in sampling vials of a spectrometer. Mercury standard solutions were prepared under the same conditions as the slurry samples. The slurry samples and the mercury standard solutions were sonicated for 20 s. Twenty microliters of slurry samples were injected into …

Water Quality Trends Following Anomalous Phosphorus Inputs To Grand Bay, Mississippi, Usa, Marcus W. Beck, Kimberly Cressman, Cher Griffin, Jane Caffrey

Gulf and Caribbean Research

Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (GBNERR) is a 7500 ha protected area in Jackson County, MS. In 2005, a levee breach at a fertilizer manufacturing facility released highly acidic and phosphate—rich wastewater into the reserve. A second spill occurred in September 2012 following Hurricane Isaac. We used orthophosphate (PO₄^3-) concentrations to categorize the 2 events, post— events, and non—impact periods between the 2 spills. We examined spatial and temporal patterns in nutrients, chlorophyll, pH, and other parameters within and between monitoring stations. After the first event, pH at the Bangs Lake water quality station decreased to …

Understanding The Food Water Nexus: Characterizing The Impact Of Climatological Anomalies On Agrosystems, Patrick M. Wurster Jr.

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Climate variability at global and regional scales is escalating with increased atmospheric carbon and is expected to magnify the intensity and duration of meteorological extremes, especially droughts. From the many environmental stresses that diminish crop production (e.g., soil salinity, frost, soil erosion) drought is one of the most prevalent. This study focuses on the sensitivity of three key crops produced in the northwestern United States to climatological anomalies, while controlling for attribution using anomalies in price. The study differs from similar studies in that we focus on variability in production which captures both yield (tonnes/ha) and cropping area (ha), as …

Experimental Evaluation Of Uranyl Transport Into Mesoporous Silica Gel Using Fluorescence, Brandon M. Dodd

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated parameters that can affect the use of nanoporous silica gel as a media for accumulating a detectable amount of uranium. The unique fluorescence of the Uranyl (UO₂²⁺) ion was used to evaluate the transport kinetics and accumulation within silica gel in a static fluid and under pressure driven flow. The addition of fluid flow decreased the time constant from on the order of an hour to approximately 2s with a very low fluid velocity of 0.36cm/s. The 0.36cm/s fluid velocity was found to be the critical velocity above which there was no gain in …

Campus Sustainability Office Annual Report, 2017-2018, Campus Sustainability Office

Campus Sustainability Office Publications, Reports and Presentations

The Campus Sustainability Office 2017-2018 annual report.

An Interspecies Investigation Of Thyroid Plasma Hormone Concentrations, Histology, And Gene Expression, Emily A. Underwood

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A high prevalence of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs) has raised concerns as to the health and fitness of fish and wildlife. It is not well understood to what extent existing contaminants, many with continuing inflows into the environment, may impact fish populations. This study provides an initial characterization of thyroid endocrine-related effects in two indigenous fish species sampled from Great Lakes AOCs. Biomonitoring was conducted on a pelagic, top predator species, smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) and benthic, omnivorous brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) at 7 sites in spring and fall …

The Fossil Fuel Energy Industry Vs. The Endangered Species Act, Cody Willnerd

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

It was several weeks ago that the Congressional Republicans made a push to reform the landmark Endangered Species Act to make it more friendly to landowners and fossil fuel industries. They would do this by releasing species earlier on the ESA list than before and instead focus on species that are in the greatest of need of attention. The reform would also have agencies focus on the economic costs to deny listings of species, require the agency to listen towards states concerns, and limit payouts for attorney fees in ESA litigations. This would be incredibly damaging to many species that …

Building Our Way To A Better Future, Brad Shaner

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

The potential demolishing of the Clean Power Plan by the federal government in early October is looking like a losing fight in our war against carbon emissions at one of the biggest sources of these emissions. But we can continue to fight in this war and make an even bigger impact by focusing our efforts on the most ordinary and consistent thing in our modern lives; the buildings we live and work in. Some would say that high efficiency or green buildings are a commodity that only the wealthy individuals or businesses can achieve, but this doesn’t have to be …

A Forgotten Resource: Thorium, Daniel Rico

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

The year is 1945, the morning of August 6^th, 8:16am to be exact. The United States just dropped the world’s first militarized atomic weapon on Hiroshima, Japan. With this singular act the world virtually witnessed the end of its second world war, the birth of warfare like never before, and the foreseeable death of nuclear power. With this act an aura of negativity and destruction accompanied the word nuclear that it would likely never be rid of despite untapped high grade energy potential that can outweigh its military application. The bomb dropped on Hiroshima was composed of 64 …

Eliminate The Carbon Externality, Connor Mcfayden

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Before we do anything else, let’s establish two things: the global climate is changing at an alarming rate and the primary cause is human CO2 emissions. There is a worldwide scientific consensus on this fact. Even our own government, despite a remarkably vocal minority, has confirmed this. A report released this year by 13 government agencies identifies humans as the primary cause of global climate change and links this phenomenon to rising sea levels, increased incidence of droughts and floods, and the intensification of large storms. These events are the result of the carbon externality, the social costs of emissions …

Cardboard Ban Is An Investment Opportunity, John Schwaninger

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Lincoln’s cardboard ban was a hot topic in 2016, but 2017 has shifted focus to the city’s recycling education contract. Gone is discussion of Mayor Chris Beutler’s failed, revived and ultimately victorious struggle to reform Lincoln’s recycling program. In its place, an air of financial discomfort stagnates over the city’s already troubled budget.

The cardboard ban will take effect April 2018. The recycling education program was drafted in part to support the ban by educating households about recycling drop-off locations and sorting requirements. However, the recycling education contract’s $850,000 cost raised eyebrows, undermining Beutler’s earlier effort.

The recycling education contract’s …

Lithium-Ion Batteries: It’S Not About The Lithium, Jace Kranau

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Malnourished children and tired men chip away with ancient tools at Cobalt-containing rock for you to have the next best electronic device. The impoverished, artisanal workers of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) supply up to 25 percent of global Cobalt according to The Washington Post. The battery manufacturers don’t care. Their dominant thought is profit.

Artisanal workers are paid between two and three U.S. dollars a day. “We are suffering. And our suffering is for what?”, 29-year-old digger, Nathan Muyamba, told The Post.

The batteries in phones, laptops and for some, their cars, contain Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel …

Crop Productivity In The Ag Belt On Borrowed Time, Logan Winters

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Most people by now have heard the terms “climate change” and global warming. Many acknowledge that it’s a problem, but they may not know how it can impact them directly. This is especially true for those living in the middle of the country, because most of the media attention goes to the coastal impacts of climate change. While putting adequate focus on the coastal impacts is a good start, since the most widespread and severe impacts will be coastal, but there needs to be more talk and discussion about the future impacts over the middle of the country. One big …

Energy Star Tax Holiday Simply Advertising Gimmick, Lauren Klaasmeyer

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

In January of this year, Senator Harr introduced Legislative Bill 325. From 12:01 A.M. on the first Friday of October through midnight of the first Sunday, all Energy Star products less than $1500 will be exempt from sales and use taxes. The special interest group, Nebraska Retail Federation, proposed the idea to Senator Harr. There was no move to advance the bill last session, so it could be brought back up this coming session or amended to another bill. When speaking with people at the capitol, it was said that the main reason it was not advanced was because of …

How Innovative Companies Gain From A Cap And Trade Agreement, Lucian Montgomery

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

The purpose of both a cap and trade agreement and a carbon tax is to reduce emissions by setting a price on carbon. However, that is where the similarities end.

A cap and trade agreement gives a certain amount of allowances to each company that adds up to an emissions cap, allows companies to trade them. Companies only pay for carbon emissions if they produce more than the amount of allowances they are given, either by paying penalties to the government, or by buying more allowances from other companies. This creates a market for allowances, and based on demand, sets …

The Tax That Will Actually Do Something Is Not In The Current Bill, Steven Kirchner

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

If we are going to be talking about tax reform, we should be talking about solutions that will actually solve a problem. The combustion of fossil fuels has much more than environmental implications. Burning fossil fuels is a blatant catastrophe for our entire economic system. The current American energy market is entirely reliant on fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas). Negative externalities have flooded the American economic system because of the combustion of fossil fuels. A negative externality is a cost that indirectly affects someone outside of the economic transaction. That third party entity must bear the burden of …

Gmo Regulations Are Killing Biofuels, Megan Franklin

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Progress in creating profitable biofuels is being slowed down by strict regulations on genetically engineered (GE) crops (aka GMOs). Setbacks that biofuels face can be addressed with genetic engineering. However, public pushback and regulations make it extremely difficult to implement solutions. We should have more lenient regulations on GE crops so that we can speed up the progress of improving biofuels.

A genetically engineered crop is one that has DNA from a different species inserted into its own DNA. As a result from GE crop benefits, CO2 emissions were reduced by 26.7 billion kg in 2012, and poverty was alleviated …

Palm Oil: The Hidden Costs, Rachel Goehring

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

The growing demand for palm oil generates tens of billions of dollars in revenue and employs millions in Southeast Asian countries. The story is that conserving the rainforests from palm oil production puts this economy at risk, but only because the current formula does not account for the externalities of deforestation.

Recent Increase In Deadly Storms, Westin Longacre

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

These last few years have hit us with some devastating storms that continue to wreck havoc on our earth. We have been hit with multiple storms that are so strong that they are predicted to happen every 50 years, so is God punishing us? Or do we have something to do with this? This issue should be a huge concern to us because who knows how many more of these devastating storms we can handle. When looking at why these tragic storms are happening more frequently the main factor that is leading to these events is the increase in atmospheric …

Conductivity, Temperature And Depth (Ctd) Data For Deepend Stations, Cruise Dp04, August 2016, David English, Chuanmin Hu, April Cook, Tracey Sutton

DEEPEND Datasets

Conductivity, temperature and depth data from the ship's CTD, which was deployed at each of the DEEPEND stations. Depth of cast was variable, but extended from near-surface waters to below the euphotic zone. This data was used in the assessment of the water column's vertical structure, and for comparison with physical models. Data were collected on cruise DP04 in August, 2016.