Environmental aquatic flows are seldom free of vegetative influence. However, the impact of submerged vegetation on the hydrodynamics and mixing processes in aquatic flows remains poorly understood. In this thesis, I present ...

The mammalian gastrointestinal (GI) tract harbors a complex microbial ecosystem with hundreds of bacterial species at total levels as high as 10¹¹⁻¹² cells/g tissue. These bacteria play an important role in the health of ...

Ongoing efforts to mitigate climate change include the understanding of natural and engineered processes that can impact the global carbon budget and the fate of greenhouse gases (GHG). Among engineered systems, one promising ...

The engineering properties of soils are highly affected by clay content and clay-water interactions. However, existing macro-scale continuum models have no length scale to describe the evolution of the clay microstructure ...

Rainfall is a major process transferring water mass and energy from the atmosphere to the surface. Rainfall data is needed over large scales for improved understanding of the Earth climate system. Although there are many ...

With an annual per capita consumption of one cubic meter, concrete is the most manufactured material on Earth. But concrete subject to sustained load creeps, like chewing gum, at a rate that deteriorates the durability and ...

Hydrated organic thin films are biological or synthetic molecularly thin coatings which impart a particular functionality to an underlying substrate and which have discrete water molecules associated with them. Such films ...