Hydrologic Dynamics of the Ground-Water-Dependent Sian Ka’an Wetlands, Mexico, Derived from InSAR and SAR Data

The 5,280 km2 Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve includes pristine wetlands fed by ground water from the karst aquifer of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. The inflow through underground karst structures is hard to observe making it difficult to understand, quantify, and predict the wetland dynamics. Remotely sensed Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) amplitude and phase observations offer new opportunities to obtain information on hydrologic dynamics useful for wetland management. Backscatter amplitude of SAR data can be used to map flooding extent. Interferometric processing of the backscattered SAR phase data (InSAR) produces temporal phase-changes that can be related to relative water level changes in vegetated wetlands. We used 56 RADARSAT-1 SAR acquisitions to calculate 38 interferograms and 13 flooding maps with 24 day and 48 day time intervals covering July 2006 to March 2008. Flooding extent varied between 1,067 km2 and 2,588 km2 during the study period, and main water input was seen to take place in sloughs during October–December. We propose that main water input areas are associated with water-filled faults that transport ground water from the catchment to the wetlands. InSAR and Landsat data revealed local-scale water divides and surface water flow directions within the wetlands.

Geochemical determination of the fate and transport of injected fresh wastewater to a deep saline aquifer

Deep well injection into non-potable saline aquifers of treated domestic wastewater has been used in Florida for decades as a safe and effective alternative to ocean outfall disposal. The objectives of this study were to determine the fate and transport of injected wastewater at two deep well injection sites in Miami Dade County, Florida, USA. Detection of ammonium in the Middle Confining units of the Floridan aquifer above the injection zone at both sites has been interpreted as evidence of upward migration of injected wastewater, posing a risk to underground sources of drinking water. Historical water quality data, including ammonia, chloride, temperature, and pH from existing monitoring wells at both sites from 1983 to 2008, major ions collected monthly from 2006 and 2008, and a synoptic sampling event for stable isotopes, tritium, and dissolved gases in 2008, were used to determine the source of ammonium in groundwater and possible migration pathways. Geochemical modeling was used to determine possible effects of injected wastewater on native water and aquifer matrix geochemistry. Injected wastewater was determined to be the source of elevated ammonium concentrations above ambient water levels, based on the results of major ion concentrations, tritium, dissolved noble gases and 15N isotopes analyses. Various possible fluid migration pathways were identified at the sites. Data for the south site suggest buoyancy-driven vertical pathways to overlying aquifers bypassing the confining units, with little mixing of injected wastewater with native water as it migrated upward. Once it is introduced into an aquifer, the injectate appeared to migrate advectively with the regional groundwater flow. Geochemical modeling indicated that CO 2-enriched injected wastewater allowed for carbonate dissolution along the vertical pathways, enhancing permeability along these flowpaths. At the north site, diffusive upward flow through the confining units or offsite vertical pathways were determined to be possible, however no evidence was detected for any on-site confining unit bypass pathway. No evidence was observed at either site of injected wastewater migration to the Upper Floridan aquifer, which is used as a municipal water supply and for aquifer storage and recovery.

Armed Groups and Violence in Paraguay

Armed violence in Paraguay is not a recent phenomenon. During the second half of the XX Century, Paraguay saw the rise of a larger number of underground, revolutionary movements that sought the overthrow of the Alfredo Stroessner’s (1954-1989) government. From among those movements emerged the Partido Patria Libre (or, Free Fatherland, also known for its acronym PPL), made up of a two branches: one legal and the other one, operational. The latter was based on people’s power, as represented by “Ejército del Pueblo Paraguayo” (or, the Paraguayan People’s Army, with acronym EPP). After EPP broke with PPL in March 2008, this Marxist-oriented revolutionary project, which was apparently oriented to put an end to the social, political and economic inequalities in Paraguay, began to carry out markedly criminal activities, which included bank robberies, kidnappings, assassinations, terrorist attacks and armed confrontations. Its strategies and modus operandi utilized by the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC). Paraguay features a farm sector in a state of crisis, in which cattle-ranchers, peasants and agro-exporting companies live in a constant strife. The Paraguayan Departments that are the most affected by this situation are Concepciόn, San Pedro, Canindeyú y Caazapá, which also suffer from a weak government presence. This deficiency has made these departments ripe for drug-trafficking activity by Brazilian groups such as Primer Comando Capital (i.e., First Capital command), also PCC and Comando Vermelho, (i.e., The Red Command). That is why many peasants, now recruited by EPP, have joined the drug-trafficking business and that, not only as marihuana growers but as “campanas” (i.e., early warning sentinels) for the organization. This helps shape their attitudes for their future involvement in all areas of drug-trafficking. Paraguayan society is the result of social inequity and inequality, such as those resulting from a lack of opportunity. Although Paraguay has successfully recovered from the last world economic crisis, economic growth, by itself, does not ensure an improvement in the quality of life. As long as such economic and social gaps persist and the government fails to enact the policies that would result in a more just society and toward EPP neutralization or containment, the latter is bound to grow stronger. In this context, the situation in Paraguay calls for more research into the EPP phenomenon. It would also seem necessary for Paraguay to promote an open national debate that includes all sectors of society in order to raise consciousness and to induce society to take actual steps to eliminate the EPP, as well as any other group that might arise in the immediate future. EPP has strong connections with the Frente Patriόtico Manuel Rodríguez in Chile and other armed groups and peasant movements in other countries of this region. Although most governments in the region are aware that the armed struggle is not a solution to current problems, it might be worth it to hold a regional debate about armed or insurgent groups in Latin American to seek common strategies and cooperation on dealing with them since the expansion of these armed groups is a problem for all.

An interactive environmental site assessment audit for Wagner Creek river basin clean up project

The primary purpose of this thesis was to design and create an Interactive Audit to conduct Environmental Site Assessments according to American Society of Testing Material's (ASTM) Phase I Standards at the Wagner Creek study area. ArcPad and ArcIMS are the major software that were used to create the model and ArcGIS Desktop was used for data analysis and to export shapefile symbology to ArcPad. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is an effective tool to deploy these purposes. This technology was utilized to carry out data collection, data analysis and to display data interactively on the Internet. Electronic forms, customized for mobile devices were used to survey sites. This is an easy and fast way to collect and modify field data. New data such as land use, recognized environmental conditions, and underground storage tanks can be added into existing datasets. An updated map is then generated and uploaded to the Internet using ArcIMS technology. The field investigator has the option to generate and view the Inspection Form at the end of his survey on site, or print a hardcopy at base. The mobile device also automatically generates preliminary editable Executive Reports for any inspected site.

Russia's Islam: Discourse on Identity, Politics, and Security

Despite the long history of Muslims in Russia, most scholarly and political literatures on Russia’s Islam still narrowly interpret Muslim-Slavs relations in an ethnic-religious oppositional framework. In my work, I examine Russia’s discourse on Islam to argue that, in fact, the role of Islam in post-Soviet Russia is complex. Drawing from direct sources from academic, state, journalistic, and underground circles, often neglected by Western commentators, I identify ideational patterns in conceptualizations of Islam and reconstruct relational networks among authors. To explain complex intertextual relations within specific contexts, I utilize an analytically eclectic method that appropriately combines theories from different paradigms and/or disciplines. Thanks to my multi-dimensional approach, I show that, contrary to traditional views, Russia’s Muslims participate in processes of post-Soviet Russia’s identity formation. Starting from textual contents, avoiding pre-formed analytical frames, I argue that many Muslims in Russia perceive themselves as part of Russian civilization – even when they challenge the status-quo. Building on my initial findings, I state that a key element in Russia’s conceptualization of Islam is the definition, elaborated in the 1990s, of traditional Islam as part of Russian civilizational history, as opposed to extremist Islam as extraneous, hostile phenomenon. The differentiation creates an unprecedently safe, if confined, space for Islamic propositions, of which Muslims are taking advantage. Embedded in debates on Russian civilization, conceptualizations of Islam, then, influence Russia’s (geo)political self-perceptions and, consequently, its domestic and international policies. In particular, Russian so-far neglected Islamic doctrine supports views of Islamic terrorism as a political and not religious phenomenon. Hence, Russia interprets both terrorism and counterterrorism within its own historical tradition, causing its strategy to be at odds with Western views. Less apparently, these divergences affect Russian-U.S. broader relations. Finally, in revealing the civilizational value of Russia’s Islam, I expose intellectual relations among influential subjects who share the aim to devise a new civilizational model that should combine Slavic and non-Slavic, Orthodox and Islamic, Western, and Asian components. In this old Russian dilemma, the novelty is Muslims’ participation.

The Study of Sonar for Imaging of the Solid-Liquid Interface Inside Large Tanks

Retrieval, treatment, and disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) is expected to cost between 100 and 300 billion dollars. The risk to workers, public health, and the environment are also a major area of concern for HLW. Visualization of the interface between settled solids and the optically opaque liquid is needed for retrieval of the waste from underground storage tanks. A Profiling sonar selected for this research generates 2-D image of the interface. Multiple experiments were performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of sonar in real-time monitoring the interface inside HLW tanks. First set of experiments demonstrated that objects shapes could be identified even when 30% of solids entrained in liquid, thereby mapping the interface. Simulation of sonar system validated these results. Second set of experiments confirmed the sonar’s ability in detecting the solids with density similar to the immersed liquid. Third set of experiments determined the affects of near by objects on image resolution. Final set of experiments proved the functional and chemical capabilities of sonar in caustic solution.

Integrated Surface-Ground Water Modeling in Wetlands With Improved Methods to Simulate Vegetative Resistance to Flow

This dissertation focused on developing an integrated surface – subsurface hydrologic simulation numerical model by programming and testing the coupling of the USGS MODFLOW-2005 Groundwater Flow Process (GWF) package (USGS, 2005) with the 2D surface water routing model: FLO-2D (O’Brien et al., 1993). The coupling included the necessary procedures to numerically integrate and verify both models as a single computational software system that will heretofore be referred to as WHIMFLO-2D (Wetlands Hydrology Integrated Model). An improved physical formulation of flow resistance through vegetation in shallow waters based on the concept of drag force was also implemented for the simulations of floodplains, while the use of the classical methods (e.g., Manning, Chezy, Darcy-Weisbach) to calculate flow resistance has been maintained for the canals and deeper waters. A preliminary demonstration exercise WHIMFLO-2D in an existing field site was developed for the Loxahatchee Impoundment Landscape Assessment (LILA), an 80 acre area, located at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wild Life Refuge in Boynton Beach, Florida. After applying a number of simplifying assumptions, results have illustrated the ability of the model to simulate the hydrology of a wetland. In this illustrative case, a comparison between measured and simulated stages level showed an average error of 0.31% with a maximum error of 2.8%. Comparison of measured and simulated groundwater head levels showed an average error of 0.18% with a maximum of 2.9%.