The Bulletin, Undergraduate Catalog 2015-2016 (2015)

https://red.mnstate.edu/bulletins/1098/thumbnail.jp

The Bulletin, Undergraduate Catalog 2013-2014 (2013)

https://red.mnstate.edu/bulletins/1096/thumbnail.jp

Undergraduate Bulletin, 2016-2017

https://red.mnstate.edu/bulletins/1100/thumbnail.jp

The Bulletin, Undergraduate Catalog 2014-2015 (2014)

https://red.mnstate.edu/bulletins/1097/thumbnail.jp

Inter-Calibration of Satellite Passive Microwave Land Observations from AMSR-E and AMSR2 Using Overlapping FY3B-MWRI Sensor Measurements

The development and continuity of consistent long-term data records from similar overlapping satellite observations is critical for global monitoring and environmental change assessments. We developed an empirical approach for inter-calibration of satellite microwave brightness temperature (Tb) records over land from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E) and Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) using overlapping Tb observations from the Microwave Radiation Imager (MWRI). Double Differencing (DD) calculations revealed significant AMSR2 and MWRI biases relative to AMSR-E. Pixel-wise linear relationships were established from overlapping Tb records and used for calibrating MWRI and AMSR2 records to the AMSR-E baseline. The integrated multi-sensor Tb record was largely consistent over the major global vegetation and climate zones; sensor biases were generally well calibrated, though residual Tb differences inherent to different sensor configurations were still present. Daily surface air temperature estimates from the calibrated AMSR2 Tb inputs also showed favorable accuracy against independent measurements from 142 global weather stations (R2 ≥ 0.75, RMSE ≤ 3.64 °C), but with slightly lower accuracy than the AMSR-E baseline (R2 ≥ 0.78, RMSE ≤ 3.46 °C). The proposed method is promising for generating consistent, uninterrupted global land parameter records spanning the AMSR-E and continuing AMSR2 missions

Green transition and voluntary planning: an integrated approach for a climate-responsive territorial governance

Large European cities, over the years have been the driving force for the development of tools and policies for reducing CO2 emissions and the promotion of climate adaptation and mitigation actions. Leading cities that are paving the way for this "green revolution" and that represent the best examples of integration of climate and energy policies into urban planning in Europe can be identified among some of the major cities of Northern Europe, such as Malmö, Stockholm, Antwerp, Amsterdam or Rotterdam. Additionally, the EU urban agenda specialized the climate and energy transition policies on the target of medium and large cities, which are considered as a major leverage to achieve climate targets. The main focus of this research is to identify the role and the contribution that smaller cities (i.e. with less than 5,000 inhabitants) can provide to the EU climate and energy commitments. The research hypothesis is that the current approach defines an imbalance between large cities and metropolitan areas, ignoring the larger part of the EU territory characterised by small and fragmented settlements. In this scenario, tools and monitoring campaign still not refer to clearly identify the relevant contribution coming from small municipalities, characterized by weaknesses in terms of technical capacity, capacity of attracting private investments for implementing actions. This class of municipalities, became the subject of this PhD project, considering that they account for 84% of all Local Administrative Units (LAUs) and cover 68% of the total area of LAUs among EU27 countries. The European Union (EU) policy framework on energy, climate, and environment, currently enshrined in the European Green Deal [5], and supported by the new Leipzig Charter on sustainable cities, sets a comprehensive reference for implementing interventions aimed at reducing carbon emissions and driving the "green" transition. Since 2008, the Covenant of Mayors initiative in Europe (CoM) has been supporting local authorities willing to take local action against climate change through a bottom-up voluntary approach. CoM signatories commit to developing and implementing a Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP) to meet their energy and climate targets, and to report key information and figures from SECAPs. The CoM played a pioneering role in dealing with energy and climate considerations at local level, which were neglected for long by urban planning. Analyzing the role of city networks within the climate-responsive processes, the CoM initiative was selected due to the voluntary approach and the relevant engagement of small municipalities (5653, as of December 2023). Specifically, the CoM among the other city networks, it is well defined to translate in practice the commitments of its signatories with a plan, the SECAP. Against this background, the aim of this research is to define, within the CoM initiative, a reference framework oriented to direct the implementation of sectoral policies (urban development, mitigation of natural risks, social inclusion, economic development and employment, etc.) through the “engineering of the complexity”, i.e. the principles of sustainable development posed on regional planning and the governance of territorial transformations. In particular, this framework has to refer to territorial and urban development policies (at EU and international level), understood as tools capable of directing and governing the transformations of the territory at the appropriate scales. The proposal aims to implement a holistic approach, enabling a context-based systemic view by providing robust decision support systems (DSS) for the implementation of sustainable and climate-responsive actions. In the development of the methodological framework, a fundamental role must be assigned to the monitoring phase, which represents the "weak bond" of territorial planning processes, as it is often ineffective in describing a system of actions that explicitly states coherence with the desired scenarios and is accompanied by indicators capable of describing progress and objectives achieved. Such a methodological framework also provides an operational perspective in order to address the issue of unsolved dualism between mitigation and adaptation measures, which are sometimes contradictory to each other. The organic approach to which this research looks at would make it possible to identify any conflict situations in order to resolve them at an operational level. This may be achieved through intervention strategies that ensure adequate complementarity since, on a theoretical level, it can be argued that the more effective the mitigation activities are, the less costly the adaptation measures will be. The PhD thesis is structured according to the model of a collection of four published papers, that detail the contents described above. Conclusions include the final discussion of the overall results achieved in the four studies described in the relevant chapters. The perspective of the main research objectives is highlighted, proposing a comprehensive overview of the specific findings of each published paper. The doctoral conclusions include the limitations and future perspectives emerging from this research experience

The Italian Experience of the Covenant of Mayors: A Territorial Evaluation

European climate policy, since the 1990s, has developed incrementally and supported programs, plans and actions for sustainable, clean and secure energy. Additionally, climate-change adaptation issues have been tackled through Mayors Adapt since 2016. The Covenant of Mayors (CoM), a volunteer movement of local administrators established in 2008, set a target of a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020. The CoM has launched a new season on energy planning in Europe based on Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs), defining actions for selected intervention sectors. The aim of the work was to evaluate the state of the Italian CoM signatories, assessing the results achieved in terms of the Municipalities involved (CoM signatories), the SEAPs developed and the Monitoring Reports submitted. Specifically, the analysis of the Monitoring Reports data represents a relevant step needed in order to formulate some critical appraisals concerning the performance level of CoM adoption at a national scale, in terms of the commitment levels, goals achieved and actions completed or in progress. The paper also compares national figures with a regional detailed survey developed for the Basilicata Region. It represents a benchmark useful for interpreting the general results derived from the CoM official data and a marker for pointing out suggestions for improving the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) adoption procedures

Downscaling GLDAS Soil Moisture Data in East Asia through Fusion of Multi-Sensors by Optimizing Modified Regression Trees

Soilmoisture is a key part of Earth's climate systems, including agricultural and hydrological cycles. Soil moisture data from satellite and numerical models is typically provided at a global scale with coarse spatial resolution, which is not enough for local and regional applications. In this study, a soil moisture downscaling model was developed using satellite-derived variables targeting Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) soil moisture as a reference dataset in East Asia based on the optimization of a modified regression tree. A total of six variables, Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) and Advanced SCATterometer (ASCAT) soil moisture products, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) Digital Elevation Model (DEM), and MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products, including Land Surface Temperature, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, and land cover, were used as input variables. The optimization was conducted through a pruning approach for operational use, and finally 59 rules were extracted based on root mean square errors (RMSEs) and correlation coefficients (r). The developed downscaling model showed a good modeling performance (r = 0.79, RMSE = 0.056 m(3)center dot m(3), and slope = 0.74). The 1 km downscaled soil moisture showed similar time series patterns with both GLDAS and ground soil moisture and good correlation with ground soil moisture (average r = 0.47, average RMSD = 0.038 m(3)center dot m(3)) at 14 ground stations. The spatial distribution of 1 km downscaled soil moisture reflected seasonal and regional characteristics well, although the model did not result in good performance over a few areas such as Southern China due to very high cloud cover rates. The results of this study are expected to be helpful in operational use to monitor soil moisture throughout East Asia since the downscaling model produces daily high resolution (1 km) real time soil moisture with a low computational demand. This study yielded a promising result to operationally produce daily high resolution soil moisture data from multiple satellite sources, although there are yet several limitations. In future research, more variables including Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) precipitation, Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) soil moisture, and other vegetation indices will be integrated to improve the performance of the proposed soil moisture downscaling model.ope

Pharmacoinformatics-based identification of transmembrane protease serine-2 inhibitors from Morus Alba as SARS-CoV-2 cell entry inhibitors

Transmembrane protease serine-2 (TMPRSS2) is a cell-surface protein expressed by epithelial cells of specific tissues including those in the aerodigestive tract. It helps the entry of novel coronavirus (n-CoV) or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the host cell. Successful inhibition of the TMPRSS2 can be one of the crucial strategies to stop the SARS-CoV-2 infection. In the present study, a set of bioactive molecules from Morus alba Linn. were screened against the TMPRSS2 through two widely used molecular docking engines such as Autodock vina and Glide. Molecules having a higher binding affinity toward the TMPRSS2 compared to Camostat and Ambroxol were considered for in-silico pharmacokinetic analyses. Based on acceptable pharmacokinetic parameters and drug-likeness, finally, five molecules were found to be important for the TMPRSS2 inhibition. A number of bonding interactions in terms of hydrogen bond and hydrophobic interactions were observed between the proposed molecules and ligand-interacting amino acids of the TMPRSS2. The dynamic behavior and stability of best-docked complex between TRMPRSS2 and proposed molecules were assessed through molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Several parameters from MD simulation have suggested the stability between the protein and ligands. Binding free energy of each molecule calculated through MM-GBSA approach from the MD simulation trajectory suggested strong affection toward the TMPRSS2. Hence, proposed molecules might be crucial chemical components for the TMPRSS2 inhibition