Many people around the world live in islands with mountainous lands. These people plant upland rice for their staple food. However, farming in these disadvantageous farms requires high input and gains low yield. One possible solution for improving productivity is by utilizing precision seeding. This study is focused on developing a robot for precision seeding of rice that is suitable for farming in rough terrain. A bioinspired human arm robot for picking seeds and making a hole on the ground was developed in accordance with Aalborg method for bioinspired design. Development of a mobile platform to carry the robot arm was done using hybrid wheel and leg (wheg) wheels and skid steering locomotion. The NugalBot could climb obstacle and perform precision rice seed singulation. However, the performance of the mechanisms for making hole and for covering the hole was dependent on the hardness of the soil.

Wood pellet production has become an advancing industry for the sake of reducing greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere especially, in European Union countries. Researchers and industry executives seek new methods and materials to improve the pelletization process. Rice hulls or husks has the potential to aid in wood pelletization as they possess high calorific values. This study focuses on using rice hull derived bio-oil from pyrolysis, which will also decrease ash content, as an additive to aid in the wood pelletization process. Using two groups of rice hull derived bio-oil as an additive in wood pelletization: Group 1 uses heavy bio-oil at 0.2 and 0.5% concentration plus a control group, and Group 2 uses bio-oil with light keys added from distillation process at 0.2% and 0.5% concentration plus a control group, we hope to increase durability and calorific value in wood pellets while producing at a lower cost.

Iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) is a frequent problem throughout many areas of the United States where soils are high in calcium carbonate (CaCO3), including the Blackland Prairie regions of Mississippi. The main objectives of this study were to 1) determine the effects of seven different cropping systems on IDC visual symptomology and grain yield in rainfed soybeans grown in calcareous soils, and 2) evaluate the effects of soil water tension (SWT) on IDC. Rotating soybeans with corn produced significantly higher yields for both tolerant and susceptible soybean varieties. IDC symptomology was worse, and yields were lower in cropping systems with lower average SWT, or wetter soils, throughout the growing season. Last, this study evaluated the use of multispectral imagery and apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa) to identify IDC-prone areas of a field for the site-specific implementation of management strategies that produced higher yields in the plot-scale study.

Anthropogenic activities including urbanization, rapid industrialization, deforestation and burning of fossil fuels are broadly agreed on as primary causes for ongoing climate change. Scientists agree that climate change over the next century will continue to impact water resources with serious implications including storm surge flooding and a sea level rise projected for North America. To date, the majority of climate change studies conducted across the globe have been for large-sized watersheds; more attention is required to assess the impact of climate change on smaller watersheds, which can help to better frame sustainable water management strategies. In the first of three studies described in this dissertation, trends in annual precipitation and air-temperature across the Commonwealth of Kentucky were evaluated using the non-parametric Mann-Kendall test considering meteorological time series data from 84 weather stations. Results indicated that while annual precipitation and mean annual temperature have been stable for most of Kentucky over the period 1950-2010, there is evidence of increases (averages of 4.1 mm/year increase in annual precipitation and 0.01 °C/year in mean annual temperature) along the borders of the Kentucky. Considered in its totality, available information indicates that climate change will occur – indeed, it is occurring – and while much of the state might not clearly indicate it at present, Kentucky will almost certainly not be exempt from its effects. Spatial analysis of the trend results indicated that eastern part of the state, which is characterized by relatively high elevations, has been experiencing decreasing trends in precipitation. In the second study, trends and variability of seven extreme precipitation indices (total precipitation on wet days, PRCPTOT; maximum length of dry and wet periods, CDD and CWD, respectively; number of days with precipitation depth ≥20 mm, R20mm; maximum five-day precipitation depth, RX5day; simple daily precipitation intensity, SDII; and standardized precipitation index, SPI were analyzed for the Kentucky River Basin for both baseline period of 1986-2015 and the late-century time frame of 2070-2099. For the baseline period, the majority of the indices demonstrated increasing trends; however, statistically significant trends were found for only ~11% of station-index combinations of the 16 weather stations considered. Projected magnitudes for PRCPTOT, CDD, CWD, RX5day and SPI, indices associated with the macroweather regime, demonstrated general consistency with trends previously identified and indicated modest increases in PRCPTOT and CWD, slight decreases in CDD, mixed results for RX5day, and increased non-drought years in the late century relative to the baseline period. The study’s findings indicate that future conditions might be characterized by more rainy days but fewer large rainfall events; this might lead to a scenario of increased average annual rainfall but, at the same time, increased water scarcity during times of maximum demand. In the third and final study, the potential impact of climate change on hydrologic processes and droughts over the Kentucky River basin was studied using the watershed model Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The SWAT model was successfully calibrated and validated and then forced with forecasted precipitation and temperature outputs from a suite of CMIP5 global climate model (GCMs) corresponding to two different representative concentration pathways (RCP 4.5 and 8.5) for two time periods: 2036-2065 and 2070-2099, referred to as mid-century and late-century, respectively. Climate projections indicate that there will be modest increases in average annual precipitation and temperature in the future compared to the baseline (1976-2005) period. Monthly variations of water yield and surface runoff demonstrated an increasing trend in spring and autumn, while winter months are projected as having decreasing trends. In general, maximum drought length is expected to increase, while drought intensity might decrease under future climatic conditions. Hydrological droughts (reflective of water availability), however, are predicted to be less intense but more persistent than meteorological droughts (which are more reflective of only meteorological variables). Results of this study could be helpful for preparing any climate change adaptation plan to ensure sustainable water resources in the Kentucky River Basin.

Manual inspection is a prevailing practice for quality assessment of poultry meat, but it is labor-intensive, tedious, and subjective. This thesis aims to assess the efficacy of an emerging structured illumination reflectance imaging (SIRI) technique with machine learning approaches for assessing WS and microbial spoilage in broiler breast meat. Broiler breast meat samples were imaged by an in house-assembled SIRI platform under sinusoidal illumination. In first experiment, handcrafted texture features were extracted from direct component (DC, corresponding to conventional uniform illumination) and amplitude component (AC, unique to the use of sinusoidal illumination) images retrieved from raw SIRI pattern images build linear discriminant analysis (LDA) models for classifying normal and defective samples. A further validation experiment was performed using deep learning as a feature extractor followed by LDA. The third experiment was on microbial spoilage assessment of broiler meat, deep learning models were used to extract features from DC and AC images builds on classifiers. Overall, this research has demonstrated consistent improvements of AC over DC images in assessing WS and spoilage of broiler meat and that SIRI is a promising tool for poultry meat quality detection.

Hydrology and water quality are affected by land use and climate changes. Mississippi’s diverse agro–ecosystem comprises of a range of land use land cover (LULC) including agriculture, forest, wetlands, urban, and grasslands. The objectives of this study were to investigate the impacts of various factors such as Best Management Practices (BMPs), wetlands, LULC, and climate changes on water quality and quantity. The hydrologic and water quality responses to dynamic LULC input in Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) were evaluated. Results showed that agricultural and forest expansion were major drivers of hydrologic and water quality changes in Big Sunflower River Watershed (BSRW), with agricultural expansion increasing runoff, sediments, and nutrients and forest expansion reducing these variables. The results showed that the integration of dynamic LULC and agricultural management operations in SWAT enables a more realistic representation of agricultural watersheds. Similarly, this study investigated the effects of wetland area changes overtime on surface and groundwater. Results demonstrated that 26% increase in wetland areas, reduced streamflow, sediments, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus by 2%, 37%, 13%, and 4% respectively as well as increased groundwater storage by 90 mm in selected sub–watershed. This highlighted the importance of preservation and restoration of wetlands to enhance the agro–ecosystem resilience to LULC change. Likewise, the effectiveness of BMPs in reducing sediment yield from critical areas within BSRW was assessed. Results demonstrated that BMPs reduced sediments by up to 50%, suggesting their usefulness in mitigating high sediment yield from agricultural areas. This study also assessed the impacts of climate change on streamflow and sediment loads and the role of waterbodies in mitigating those impacts. Results depicted a significant increase in future streamflow and sediment loads due to potential increase in precipitation and temperature. When waterbodies were simulated, projected change in annual streamflow was < 1%. However, the projected annual sediment loads reduced substantially by 44–46%, highlighting the role of waterbodies on watershed resilience to climate change. Overall, this dissertation study provides insights about the complex interactions between LULC, climate, anthropogenic activities, and water resources that can help to develop watershed management strategies to promote agricultural sustainability.

Human activity such as surface mining can have substantial impacts on the natural environment. Performing a Cumulative Hydrologic Impact Assessment (CHIA) of such impacts on surface water systems requires knowing the location and extent of these impacted streams. The Jurisdictional Determination (JD) of a stream’s protected status under the Clean Water Act (CWA) involves locating and classifying streams according to their flow regime: ephemeral, intermittent, or perennial. Due to their often remote locations and small size, taking a field inventory of headwater streams for surface mining permit applications or permit reviews is challenging. A means of estimating headwater stream location and extent, according to flow regime using publicly available spatial data, would assist in performing CHIAs and JDs. Using headwater point-of-origin data collected from Robinson Forest in eastern Kentucky along with data from three JDs obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), headwater streams in the Appalachian Coal Belt were characterized according to a set of spatial parameters. These characteristics were extrapolated using GIS to delineate headwater streams over a larger area, and the results were compared to the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD).

This thesis presents the business case for installing green roofs on movie theaters and shopping centers. These businesses can then derive increased profits from the environmental benefits of reduced energy use and increased stormwater retention. After presenting the basic design and benefits of a green roof, the thesis develops stand-alone business plans for a movie theater and shopping center. The author finds that green roofs are a profitable sustainability solution for the commercial enterprise.

Packed-bed digesters are an alternative to covered lagoon digesters for methane production and anaerobic treatment of dilute wastewaters such as dairy barn flush water. The physical media of packed-beds retain biofilms, often allowing increased treatment rates. Previous studies have evaluated several types of media for digestion of dilute wastewaters, but cost and media fouling have setback commercial development. A major operational cost has been effluent recirculation pumping. In the present effort, a novel approach to anaerobic digestion of flush dairy water was developed at pilot-scale: broken walnut shells were used as a low-cost packed-bed medium and effluent recirculation was replaced by reciprocation mixing to decrease pumping costs and the risk of media clogging. Three packed-bed digesters containing walnut shells as media were constructed at the on-campus dairy and studied for about six months. Over that time, several organic loading rates (OLRs), measured as both chemical oxygen demand (COD) and volatile solids (VS) were applied to the new packed-bed digesters to allow modeling of methane production. The influence of temperature on methane production was also investigated. Additionally, the study measured solids accumulation in the walnut shell packed-bed as well as the effectiveness and durability of walnut shells as packing media. Finally, a simple economic analysis was developed from the methane model to predict the financial feasibility of packed-bed digesters at flush water dairies under similar OLR conditions. Three methane production models were developed from organic loading: saturation-type (following the form of the Monod equation), power and linear. The models were evaluated in terms of regression analysis and the linearity of experimental to predicted methane production. The best model was then chosen to develop the economic predictions. Economic predictions for packed-bed digesters were calculated as internal rate of return (IRR) using the methane models along with additional input variables. Comparisons of IRRs were made using electric retail rates of $0.10 to $0.20 per kilowatt-hour and capital cost subsidies from zero to 50%. Sludge accumulation in the packed-bed was measured via change in porosity, and walnut shell durability was measured as the change in mass of representative walnut shells over the course of the study. The linear-type model of methane production from volatile solids OLR best represented this data set. Digester temperature was not found to influence methane production in this study, likely due to the small daily average ambient temperature range experienced (14°C to 24°C) and the greater influence of organic loading. Porosity of the walnut shell packed-bed decreased from 0.70 at startup to 0.34±0.06 at the end of the six-month study, indicating considerable media fouling. Sludge accumulated in each digester from zero at startup to 281±46 liters at termination. Walnut shells in the packed-bed lost on average 31.4±6.3% mass during the study period which may be attributed to degradation of more readily bio-degradable cellulose and hemi-cellulose within the walnut shells. Given the predicted methane production and media life, at present, the economic outlook for packed-bed digesters at commercial dairies is quite dependent on utility electrical rates, available subsidies and future improvements to packed-bed digester technology. The predicted IRRs ranged from below 0% (at 0% capital subsidy and $0.10/kWh) up to 25% (at 50% capital subsidy and $0.20/kWh) at large dairies (3000 milking cows). Increases in organic loading were not shown to necessarily increase IRR, particularly at OLRs above 10 g/Lliquid-d (as COD or VS). Ultimately, to better assess the value of packed-bed digesters for flush dairies, additional study is needed on topics such as sludge accumulation prevention, long-term walnut shell degradation, dairy barn flush water mixing, and more detailed economic analysis.