Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

To Rebate Or Not To Rebate: The Influences And Deterrents For Residential Customers To Participate In Water Authority Rebates, Meagan Virginia Oldham

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

The depletion of aquifers and reduced surface water flows are a growing concern for water managers. Educational outreach and incentives to promote conservation have been a growing trend over the past couple of decades in the arid Southwestern United States, including Albuquerque, New Mexico. Rebates for the installation of water efficient appliances and xeric landscape conversions are a couple of ways that water authorities incentivize their residential consumers to do their part at home to conserve water. This study involves a survey sent to a random sample of 2,215 Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority residential customers, with a 31% …

Enhanced Acidity Of Acetic And Pyruvic Acids On The Surface Of Water, Alexis J. Eugene, Elizabeth A. Pillar, Agustín J. Colussi, Marcelo I. Guzman

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Understanding the acid–base behavior of carboxylic acids on aqueous interfaces is a fundamental issue in nature. Surface processes involving carboxylic acids such as acetic and pyruvic acids play roles in (1) the transport of nutrients through cell membranes, (2) the cycling of metabolites relevant to the origin of life, and (3) the photooxidative processing of biogenic and anthropogenic emissions in aerosols and atmospheric waters. Here, we report that 50% of gaseous acetic acid and pyruvic acid molecules transfer a proton to the surface of water at pH 2.8 and 1.8 units lower than their respective acidity constants pK_{a …}

Comparative Microbial Community Dynamics In A Karst Aquifer System And Proximal Surface Stream In Northwest Arkansas, Josue Rodriguez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Northwest Arkansas has well-developed karst systems, with numerous sinking streams and springs. Karst conduits make it easy for contaminants to enter groundwater systems, degrading the water quality and destroying fragile karst ecosystems. With the increase of urbanization, potential threats in the form of fecal contamination may prove to be more of a problem. The purpose of this research is to compare the difference between microbial communities within two different settings, a karst aquifer and a surface stream. The microbial communities within Blowing Spring Cave and Little Sugar Creek were detected and identified in water and sediment samples. Samples were also …

Development Of Electroforming Method For Coating Of Polymer Membranes By Graphene Oxide, F. R. Sultanov, Ch. Daulbayev, B. Bakbolat, Z. A. Mansurov

Eurasian Journal of Physics and Functional Materials

The current research is focused on development of electroforming method for coating of porous membranes by graphene oxide. A mixture based on polymethylmetacrylate dissolved in acetone and graphene oxide was pumped through the syringe pump onto the needle and high voltage was applied to both electrodes, one of which was on a glass plate, and the second was a needle thereby forming fibers, which coated the surface of membrane uniformly. The main parameters and concentrations of used polymer for uniform and complete coating of the surface of membrane are studied. Surface morphology of coated membranes was studied by SEM.

Single-Stage, Venturi-Driven Desalination System, Brandon Proetto

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Water demand is increasing at a rapid pace due to population increase, industrial expansion, and agricultural development. The use of desalination technology to meet the high water demands has increased global online desalination capacity from 47 million m^3/d in 2007 to 92.5 million m^3/d as of June 2017 [49]. Membrane and thermal processes are the two mainstream desalination categories used worldwide for desalination plants. Reverse Osmosis (RO) is the most widely used membrane process and it has become the dominant technology for building desalination plants over recent decades. Thermal distillation, however, has become less and less competitive due to its …

Adaptive Fluid Simulation Using A Linear Octree Structure, Sean A. Flynn

Theses and Dissertations

An Eulerian approach to fluid flow provides an efficient, stable paradigm for realistic fluid simulation. However, its traditional reliance on a fixed-resolution grid is not ideal for simulations that simultaneously exhibit both large and small-scale fluid phenomena. Octree-based fluid simulation approaches have provided the needed adaptivity, but the inherent weakness of a pointer-based tree structure has limited their effectiveness. We present a linear octree structure that provides a significant runtime speedup using these octree-based simulation algorithms. As memory prices continue to decline, we leverage additional memory when compared to traditional octree structures to provide this improvement. In addition to reducing …

Microtextural Studies Of Feldspar In Ordinary Chondrites, Jonathan A. Lewis

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Ordinary chondrites contain an important record of events that took place during the earliest period of solar system evolution. These include primary processes, such as chondrule formation, and secondary processes, those that affected asteroids after accretion and modified primary components. Secondary processes include aqueous alteration, thermal metamorphism, and shock effects from impact events. Secondary minerals can provide insight into the chemical and physical conditions that affected their parent asteroids. Feldspar is known to be a secondary mineral that crystallized during thermal metamorphism. The goal of this work is to use the formation and evolution of feldspar to elucidate the conditions …

Crown Ether Effects On The Location Of Charge Carriers In Electrospray Droplets: Implications For The Mechanism Of Protein Charging And Supercharging., Haidy Metwally, Lars Konermann

Chemistry Publications

"Native" electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry (MS) aims to transfer proteins from solution into the gas phase while maintaining solution-like structures and interactions. The ability to control the charge states of protein ions produced in these experiments is of considerable importance. Supercharging agents (SCAs) such as sulfolane greatly elevate charge states without significantly affecting the protein structure in bulk aqueous solution. The origin of native ESI supercharging remains contentious. According to one model, SCAs trigger unfolding within ESI droplets. In contrast, the "charge trapping model" envisions that SCAs impede the ejection of charge carriers (e.g., NH₄⁺ or Na …

Application Of Ultraviolet Light Emitting Diodes For The Advanced Oxidation Of Guar Gum, Andrew W. Davenport

Theses and Dissertations

Guar Gum (GG) is one of the problematic water pollutants connected to hydraulic fracturing. There is a pressing need to investigate appropriate unit operations that can be employed to protect the aquatic environment. This study investigated the use of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in the advanced oxidation process (AOP) of GG. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal provided mixed results, depending on the concentration of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in solution, and was between (0-95%) for H₂O₂-to-GG ratios between 7.0 and 176.3 g H₂O₂/g GG. COD removal was greatest at the …

Assessing Responses Of Betula Papyrifera To Climate Variability In A Remnant Population Along The Niobrara River Valley In Nebraska, U.S.A., Through Dendroecological And Remote-Sensing Techniques, E. Bumann, T. Awada, B. Wardlow, M. Hayes, J. Okalebo, C. Helzer, A. Mazis, J. Hiller, P. Cherubini

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Water In Society: An Interdisciplinary Course To Support Undergraduate Students' Water Literacy, Cory T. Forbes, Nicholas Brozovic, Trenton E. Franz, Diane E. Lally, Destini N. Petitt

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Water Scarcity: Sudan, Catherine Priebe

Global Issues in Public Health

Water scarcity is an environmental global problem that will only become more pressing as time goes on. It is a public health issue that affects every continent, although certain areas of the world are facing more serious water scarcity than others such as Sudan. Populations that are more vulnerable to the effects of water scarcity are the poor, women, children, and those living in areas of political unrest. For example, South Sudan’s urban water systems have been damaged during recent warfare. Water scarcity is also an issue that disproportionately affects women who are forced from a young age to travel …

Expeditious Green Synthesis Of Versatile Organic Compounds By Diverse Methods, Bimal K. Banik

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Synthesis of organic compounds requires organic solvents and reagents to promote them. Very often, toxic solvents are used for this purpose. Many organic reactions require molar proportion of reactants and reagents to accomplish the goal. Some reactions require longer reaction times and produce products without control of stereochemistry. Therefore, development of facile and effective organic reactions under environmentally friendly conditions is necessary. In this perspective, several reactions are discussed that are performed by microwave-induced reactions, catalytic procedures, in the absence of any solvents, one-pot method and in water. Important reactions are chosen to investigate the feasibility of conducting these reactions …

Tracing Water Masses With 129i And 236u In The Subpolar North Atlantic Along The Geotraces Ga01 Section, Maxi Castrillijo, Núria Casacuberta, Marcus Christl, Christoph Vockenhuber, Hans A. Synall, Maribel I. García-Ibáñez, Pascale Lherminier, Géraldine Sarthou, Jordi García-Orellana, Pere Masqué

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Pathways and timescales of water mass transport in the subpolar North Atlantic Ocean (SPNA) have been investigated by many studies due to their importance for the meridional overturning circulation and thus for the global ocean. In this sense, observational data on geochemical tracers provide complementary information to improve the current understanding of the circulation in the SPNA. To this end, we present the first simultaneous distribution of artificial 129I and 236U in 14 depth profiles and in surface waters along the GEOVIDE section covering a zonal transect through the SPNA in spring 2014. Our results show that the two tracers …

Plant Community Response To Disturbances In Nebraska Sandhills Upland Prairie, Josiah D. Dallmann

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Historically, disturbances shaped prairie ecosystems both directly through events like fire and soil moving by animals, as well as indirectly through dynamic rainfall patterns and periodic flux in seed availabilities. We hypothesized that the implementation of several distinct disturbance events in Nebraska Sandhills upland prairie would have measurable effects on plant community composition. We implemented mid-spring fire, soil disturbance in the form of disking, seed addition of native forbs on disked plots, as well as early summer supplemental watering (to mimic minor rainfall events during abnormally dry periods) during 2016 and 2017. Plant community response during the first and second …

Strategies To Maintain Adequate Hotel Water Supplies, Deborah R. Popely

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Hotel guests can use 2 to 3 times more water than community residents. Hotels are water-intensive businesses, and water scarcity presents a pressing problem for managers who rely on an uninterrupted supply of water to meet guests' needs and maintain profitability. Using the resource-based view (RBV) as a conceptual framework, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies that hotel managers used to successfully maintain adequate water supplies in the Spanish Canary Islands, an historically arid site and a tourism destination. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and hotel water usage reports. Yin's 5-step approach of …

Knowing Water: Science And The Politics Of Knowledge Production Along The Saw Kill, Carlo Diego Raimondo

Senior Projects Spring 2018

Beginning with globally oriented ideological constructions of water as resource, this project explores the materiality of water and how it comes to understood within our current geological era. Specifically exploring the politics of scientific knowledge production, I follow the methodological processes of the Bard Water Lab as they monitor water quality of a local stream, exploring how different apparatuses of observation are utilized in order to make a stream a legible and knowable object.

Bottom-Up Adaptive Management And Stakeholder Participation For Clean Water And Healthy Soils In A Complex Social-Ecological System, Sarah Coleman

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Protection of water resources in a changing climate depends on bottom-up stewardship and adaptive management. From the ground up, a vital component is maintaining soil ecosystem services that regulate water, recycle nutrients, sequester carbon, provide food, and other benefits. Interacting spatial, social, and physical factors determine agricultural and stormwater management, and their impact on water. This dissertation explores these dimensions within a complex social-ecological system. The first chapter evaluates a participatory process to elicit solutions to complex environmental problems across science, policy, and practice. The second chapter studies on-farm soil assessment and its role in informing management decisions and supporting …

Understanding The Nature Of Nanoscale Wetting Through All-Atom Simulations, Oliver Evans

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The spreading behavior of spherical and cylindrical water droplets between 30Å and 100Å in radius on a sapphire surface is investigated using all-atom molecular dynamics simulations for durations on the order of tens of nanoseconds. A monolayer film develops rapidly and wets the surface, while the bulk of the droplet spreads on top of the monolayer, maintaining the shape of a spherical cap. Unlike previous simulations in the literature, the bulk radius is found to increase to a maximum value and receed as the monolayer continues to expand. Simple time and droplet size dependence is observed for monolayer radius and …

Analysis Of The Red And Green Optical Absorption Spectrum Of Gas Phase Ammonia, Nikolai F. Zobov, Phillip A. Coles, Roman I. Ovsyannikov, Aleksandra A. Kyuberis, Robert J. Hargreaves, Peter F. Bernath, Jonathan Tennyson, Sergei N. Yurchenko, Oleg L. Polyansky

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Room temperature NH₃ absorption spectra recorded at the Kitt Peak National Solar Observatory in 1980 are analyzed. The spectra cover two regions in the visible: 15,200 - 15,700 cm^-1 and 17,950 - 18,250 cm^-1. These high overtone rotation-vibration spectra are analyzed using both combination differences and variational line lists. Two variational line lists were computed using the TROVE nuclear motion program: one is based on an ab initio potential energy surface (PES) while the other used a semi-empirical PES. Ab initio dipole moment surfaces are used in both cases. 95 energy levels with J = 1 …

Water Dynamics And The Effect Of Static And Alternating Electric Fields, Mohammadmahdi Shafiei Alavijeh

Theses and Dissertations

Having a net dipole moment, water molecules tend to align with an external electric field. The re-orientation of water molecules to align with the field direction can result in structural and dynamic changes in liquid water. Studying these changes can help us to understand the role of an E-field in many biological systems, chemical reactions, and many technological advancements.

In short, the application of static electric fields causes molecules to stay aligned with the field, so, fewer hydrogen bonds break, and molecules have slower dynamics. This type of field can be used when the mobility of water molecules needs to …

Pharmaceutical Waste In Vermont: Results From A Survey On Purchasing, Use & Disposal, Christine Hart

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Pharmaceutical waste is an emerging form of waste with significant impacts on the environment. This study reports the results of a state-wide phone survey on pharmaceutical purchasing, use and disposal behavior among Vermont residents (n = 421). The objectives of this study were: 1) to compare the demographic nature of populations who purchase and use medicaton to those associated with leftover medication, and 2) to evaluate the impact of disposal behavior in Vermont and to recommend strategies to minimize pollution. The findings of this study showed that approximately 93% of survey participants reported purchasing of medication, 60% reported leftover medication …

Urban Lawn Microclimates Affect Reference Evapotranspiration, Kenton W. Peterson, Dale J. Bremer, Jack D. Fry

Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Reports

Grass reference evapotranspiration (ET_o) obtained from weather stations in open locations is often used to estimate irrigation requirements of turfgrass in local or regional urban lawns. However, the environments of urban lawns are often altered by surrounding buildings, trees, etc., to form various microclimates that may alter evapotranspiration (ET). Our research, which placed weather stations in urban lawns and nearby open swards of turfgrass, revealed ET_owas 41% lower in residential lawn microclimates than in nearby open turfgrass swards. Less ET within urban lawns than in nearby open swards suggests using standard historical weather data to estimate …

Watered Down: The Challenges Of Managing Water Resources In Montana, Beau E. Baker

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Like much of the American West, Montana sits in the cross hairs of climate change. State drought resiliency projects and cooperative watershed management are on the rise in the face of decreased snowpack, early runoff, precipitation variability and lower seasonal stream flows. Population growth, land use practices, recreation and tourism all contribute to pressures on state water supplies.

Montana is faced with the arrival of invasive species that threaten the ecological health of its lakes, rivers and streams. State budget constraints and depressed agency capacity are hurting our ability to fend off these threats. There’s a lack of public education …

The Development Of A Simplified Alkalinity Titration Analyzer, Reba Van Beusekom

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Alkalinity is the acid neutralizing capacity for water, meaning alkalinity measures how sensitive an aquatic system is to acidic inputs. Currently, there are various measuring systems for alkalinity available including chemical test kits, potentiometric techniques, and colorimetric methods. Commercially available products lack the ease of use combined with precision and accuracy desired for on-line process and environmental monitoring. The goal of this project is to develop a simplified alkalinity titration analyzer, called the easyTMT, to measure alkalinity with precision and accuracy comparable to the best conventional methods. The system, under development, uses the Tracer Monitored Titration (TMT) technique. TMT …

Aquifers Of Nebraska Ii: The Niobrara Aquifer, Dana Divine, Robert Matthew Joeckel, Sue Olafsen Lackey

Conservation and Survey Division

The marine shale, chalk, marl, and chalky limestone of the Niobrara Formation directly underlie Quaternary sediments in 23 counties from south-central to northeastern Nebraska. Nevertheless, the formation serves as an aquifer only in and around Cedar, Madison, and Nuckolls counties. Niobrara aquifer wells mostly supply irrigation, domestic, and livestock needs. Two hundred of the approximately 230 active registered wells in Nebraska that are screened entirely in the Niobrara aquifer are in Cedar County and environs. About another 200 wells in this area are screened in both the Niobrara aquifer and overlying Quaternary sediments. Wells screened entirely in the Niobrara aquifer …

The Potential For Phosphorus Release From Floodplain Soils: Temporal Variability And Management Strategies, Megan Amanda Reavis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Soils may contain large amounts of legacy phosphorus (P) due to past application of excess fertilizers, releasing P during runoff and flood events. As the level of P in soils increases, the release of P from the soils increases, but the temporal fluctuations of this release are not well known. Experiments were conducted to examine 1) the variability of soluble reactive P (SRP) release from the soil throughout a year and 2) the effect of repeated flooding and drying cycles on release rates. Soil cores were collected 7 times throughout a year from 2 sites within the Watershed Research and …

Shower Atomization, Chirag Ayappa Ravishankar,

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The research will help to design a shower for Dr. Chelson’s shelter, which can control the water flow, pressure and duration of the shower, which optimizes the utilization of water. The showers could be used in drought-hit areas where water is very scarce, as daily sanitation needs are necessary to keep a person safe and healthy without wasting water. The report from, World Health Organization shows that showers consume the most water. A timed shower could help resolve this issue through eliminating the wastage. Eco-friendly environmentalists may also be attracted to the showers, as their main purposes are to save …

Characterization Of Γ-Butyrolactone Rings: A Computational And Toxicological Study, Donald C. Kidd

Masters Theses

Given the declining state of the natural environment, identifying green methodologies in synthetic chemistry is becoming paramount. An under explored area of green chemistry, is the use of catalytic systems in green solvents. One interesting concept in green chemistry is the use of N-Heterocyclic Carbenes (NHCs) as organocatalysts.

Thiamine or vitamin B1 was one of the first NHCs recognized. Thiamine is required for carbohydrate metabolism and helps the cell produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Over the last 20 years NHCs have been found to be efficient catalysts in carbon-carbon bond forming reactions.

But to date, little research has been done exploring …

Water-Energy Sector Collaboration In The United States: Benefits, Barriers, And Climate-Change Implications, Cassandra J. Osterhoudt

Sustainability and Social Justice

The purpose of this report is to examine the impact of the water-energy nexus in the United States, and identify opportunities for increased collaboration between water and energy utilities. Through reviewing the regulatory history of both sectors, I explore how regulations on utilities align with the Porter Hypothesis, and the impacts the water-energy nexus will have moving forward, including under climate-change scenarios. The extent of collaboration between sectors has been relatively limited to states with progressive energy and water efficiency policies. This report identifies existing barriers and benefits to collaboration, and utilizes two case studies; California and Massachusetts. Results are …