Development of a Cyberinfrastructure for Assessment of the Lower Rio Grande Valley North and Central Watersheds Characteristics

Due to an increase in urbanization in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV), there have been substantial modifications to hydrology causing a decline in water quality to the Laguna Madre watershed. The major concern is the inflow of freshwater from the North and Central waterways released to the Lower Laguna Madre which is designated as an impaired watershed for high concentrations of bacteria and low dissolved oxygen. The objective of this study is to perform a watershed characterization to determine potential pollution sources of each watershed by developing a cyberinfrastructure and collect a wide inventory of data. The objective will be achieved through the development of a Geographic Information System (GIS) database that will help to comprehend the major characteristics of each area contributing to the watershed supported by the analysis of the data collected. The watershed delineation is crucial for this study since it will determine the boundaries for each watershed promoting the identification of contributing potential sources of contaminants. Hidalgo Willacy Main Drain (HWMD) and IBWC North Floodway watersheds were found to have higher contribution of water impairments for their significant levels of water quality parameters along with non-point and point sources. Therefore, this study has facilitated the characterization of watersheds to better address water impairments

Development of a Cyberinfrastructure for Assessment of the Lower Rio Grande Valley North and Central Watersheds Characteristics

Lower Laguna Madre (LLM) is designated as an impaired waterway for high concentrations of bacteria and low dissolved oxygen. The main freshwater sources to the LLM flow from the North and Central waterways which are composed of three main waterways: Hidalgo/Willacy Main Drain (HWMD), Raymondville Drain (RVD), and International Boundary & Water Commission North Floodway (IBWCNF) that are not fully characterized. The objective of this study is to perform a watershed characterization to determine the potential pollution sources of each watershed. The watershed characterization was achieved by developing a cyberinfrastructure, and it collects a wide inventory of data to identify which one of the three waterways has a major contribution to the LLM. Cyberinfrastructure development using the Geographic Information System (GIS) database helped to comprehend the major characteristics of each area contributing to the watershed supported by the analysis of the data collected. The watershed characterization process started with delineating the boundaries of each watershed. Then, geospatial and non-geospatial data were added to the cyberinfrastructure from numerous sources including point and nonpoint sources of pollution. Results showed that HWMD and IBWCNF watersheds were found to have a higher contribution to the water impairments to the LLM. HWMD and IBWCNF comprise the potential major sources of water quality impairments such as cultivated crops, urbanized areas, on-site sewage facilities, colonias, and wastewater effluents

Dynamic fault tolerant grid workflow in the water threat management project

Achieving fault tolerance is an inevitable problem in distributed systems, with it becoming more challenging in decentralized, heterogeneous, and dynamic-environment systems such as a Grid. When deploying applications requires time-criticality, how to allocate resources for jobs in a fault-tolerant manner is an important issue for the delivery of the services. The Water Threat Management project is a research to find solutions for the contamination incidents problems in urban water distribution systems, and it involves the development of the cyberinfrastructure in a Grid environment. To handle such urgent events properly, the deployment of the system demands real-time processing without the failure. Our approach of integrating a fault-tolerant framework into a Water Threat Management system provides fault tolerance at the queuing stage rather than the job-execution stage by scheduling jobs in fault-tolerant ways. This includes the development of the batch queuing system in the Cyberaide Shell project. In addition, we present a dynamic workflow in the Water Threat Management system that can reduce the queue wait time in the changing environment

Metagenomics — A Technological Drift in Bioremediation

Nature has its ways of resolving imbalances in its environment and microorganisms are one of the best tools of nature to eliminate toxic pollutants. The process of eliminating pollutants using microbes is termed Bioremediation. Metagenomics is a strategic approach for analysing microbial communities at a genomic level. It is one of the best technological upgradation to bioremediation. Identification and screening of metagenomes from the polluted environments are crucial in a metagenomic study. This chapter emphasizes recent multiple case studies explaining the approaches of metagenomics in bioremediation in different contaminated environments such as soil, water etc. The second section explains different sequences and function-based metagenomic strategies and tools starting from providing a detailed view of metagenomic screening, FACS, and multiple advanced metagenomic sequencing strategies dealing with the prevalent metagenomes in bioremediation and giving a list of different widespread metagenomic organisms and their respective projects. Eventually, we have provided a detailed view of different major bioinformatic tools and datasets most prevalently used in metagenomic data analysis and processing during metagenomic bioremediation

A comprehensive radial velocity error budget for next generation Doppler spectrometers

We describe a detailed radial velocity error budget for the NASA-NSF Extreme Precision Doppler Spectrometer instrument concept NEID (NN-explore Exoplanet Investigations with Doppler spectroscopy). Such an instrument performance budget is a necessity for both identifying the variety of noise sources currently limiting Doppler measurements, and estimating the achievable performance of next generation exoplanet hunting Doppler spectrometers. For these instruments, no single source of instrumental error is expected to set the overall measurement floor. Rather, the overall instrumental measurement precision is set by the contribution of many individual error sources. We use a combination of numerical simulations, educated estimates based on published materials, extrapolations of physical models, results from laboratory measurements of spectroscopic subsystems, and informed upper limits for a variety of error sources to identify likely sources of systematic error and construct our global instrument performance error budget. While natively focused on the performance of the NEID instrument, this modular performance budget is immediately adaptable to a number of current and future instruments. Such an approach is an important step in charting a path towards improving Doppler measurement precisions to the levels necessary for discovering Earth-like planets.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures, published in Proc. of SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 201

The impact of agricultural activities on water quality: a case for collaborative catchment-scale management using integrated wireless sensor networks

The challenge of improving water quality is a growing global concern, typified by the European Commission Water Framework Directive and the United States Clean Water Act. The main drivers of poor water quality are economics, poor water management, agricultural practices and urban development. This paper reviews the extensive role of non-point sources, in particular the outdated agricultural practices, with respect to nutrient and contaminant contributions. Water quality monitoring (WQM) is currently undertaken through a number of data acquisition methods from grab sampling to satellite based remote sensing of water bodies. Based on the surveyed sampling methods and their numerous limitations, it is proposed that wireless sensor networks (WSNs), despite their own limitations, are still very attractive and effective for real-time spatio-temporal data collection for WQM applications. WSNs have been employed for WQM of surface and ground water and catchments, and have been fundamental in advancing the knowledge of contaminants trends through their high resolution observations. However, these applications have yet to explore the implementation and impact of this technology for management and control decisions, to minimize and prevent individual stakeholder’s contributions, in an autonomous and dynamic manner. Here, the potential of WSN-controlled agricultural activities and different environmental compartments for integrated water quality management is presented and limitations of WSN in agriculture and WQM are identified. Finally, a case for collaborative networks at catchment scale is proposed for enabling cooperation among individually networked activities/stakeholders (farming activities, water bodies) for integrated water quality monitoring, control and management

Poster Session

The New Kentucky Nitrogen and Phosphorus Risk Assessment Tool to Protect Water Quality, Tibor Horvath and others, USDA-NRCS, Lexington, KY Groundwater Phosphorus in Kentucky Relative to Karst, Groundwater Sensitivity, and Groundwater Physiographic Region, Caroline Chan, Kentucky Division of Water, Frankfort, KY Comparison of Irrigation Scheduling Based on Daily Water Use or Plant Water Demand of Container Grown Nursery Plants, Susmitha Nambuthiri and others, Dept of Horticulture, UK Arsenic Species in Broiler (Gallus gallus domesticus) Litter, Soils, Maize (Zea mays L.), and Groundwater from Litter-Amended Fields, Georgia Zeigler and others, Dept Plant and Soil Science, UK Cyberinfrastructure and Environmental Sensors in Kentucky Lake: A Virtual Observatory and Ecological Informatics System (VOEIS), Susan Hendricks and David White, Hancock Biological Station, Murray State University, Murray, KY Molecular Engineering of Auquaporin, Cui Ye and others, Dept of Chemistry, UK Trapping of Fluvial Sediment within Gravel and Cobble Substrates, Davis Huston and Jimmy Fox, Dept of Civil Engineering, UK Effects of Atrazine on Chemical Alarm Cue Response in Centrarchid Species, Ben Adams and Ben Brammell, Dept of Natural Sciences, Asbury University, Wilmore, KY The Fishes of Hickman and Jessamine Creek Watershed, Jordan Cox and others, Dept of Natural Sciences, Asbury University, Wilmore, KY Gene Expression in Sunfish as a Biomarker of Contaminant Exposure, Matthew Johnson and others, Department of Natural Sciences, Asbury University, Wilmore, KY Preliminary Assessment of Water Quality in a Restored Section of the Cane Run Watershed, Lexington, KY, Ann Freytag and others, Dept Plant and Soil Sciences, UK Groundwater Monitoring of Drinking Water Sources in Kentucky, 2000-2012: Comparison of Physiographic Regions, Albert Westerman and others, Kentucky Division of Water, Frankfort, KY Preliminary Results for the Statewide Groundwater Pathogens Study, Susan Mallette and Jessica Moore, Kentucky Division of Water, Frankfort, KY Arsenic Detection using Quartz Crystal Microbalance, Daniel Burriss and David Atwood, Dept of Chemistry, UK Spectral Characterization of 2-D Waterbodies from Leaf-Off Multispectral Imagery, Demetrio Zourarakis, Division of Geographic Information, Frankfort, KY Evaluation of Trichloroethylene Dechlorination and Selenium Capture in Aqueous Phase using Zero-Valent Iron Nanoparticles Synthesized In Situ from Exhausted Catalyst of Iron-Based Redox Polymerization, Sebastian Hernandez and Dibakar Bhattacharyya, Dept of Chemical and Materials Engineering, UK Watershed Based Planning in the Urban Wolf Run Watershed, Steven Evans, Third Rock Consultants, LLC, Lexington, KY Occurrence of Estrogenic Compounds in Surface Water, Sourcewater and Drinking Water in the Barren River Watershed, Roni Grigsby and others, Dept Public Health, WKU, Bowling Green, KY Analyzing Rainfall Based Climate Indices in Kentucky and Indiana, Karim Mohammad and others, Mechanical Engineering Dept, Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, IN Engaging Partners in the Cane Rune Watershed, Carol Hanley and others, College of Agriculture, U

Three red suns in the sky: A transiting, terrestrial planet in a triple M-dwarf system at 6.9 pc

We present the discovery from Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) data of LTT 1445Ab. At a distance of 6.9 pc, it is the second nearest transiting exoplanet system found to date, and the closest one known for which the primary is an M dwarf. The host stellar system consists of three mid-to-late M dwarfs in a hierarchical configuration, which are blended in one TESS pixel. We use MEarth data and results from the Science Processing Operations Center data validation report to determine that the planet transits the primary star in the system. The planet has a radius of ${1.38}_{-0.12}^{+0.13}$ ${R}_{\oplus }$, an orbital period of ${5.35882}_{-0.00031}^{+0.00030}$ days, and an equilibrium temperature of ${433}_{-27}^{+28}$ K. With radial velocities from the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher, we place a 3σ upper mass limit of 8.4 ${M}_{\oplus }$ on the planet. LTT 1445Ab provides one of the best opportunities to date for the spectroscopic study of the atmosphere of a terrestrial world. We also present a detailed characterization of the host stellar system. We use high-resolution spectroscopy and imaging to rule out the presence of any other close stellar or brown dwarf companions. Nineteen years of photometric monitoring of A and BC indicate a moderate amount of variability, in agreement with that observed in the TESS light-curve data. We derive a preliminary astrometric orbit for the BC pair that reveals an edge-on and eccentric configuration. The presence of a transiting planet in this system hints that the entire system may be co-planar, implying that the system may have formed from the early fragmentation of an individual protostellar core.Accepted manuscrip