The latest version of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT+) features several improvements compared with previous versions model, for example, definition landscape units that allow a better representation spatio-temporal dynamics. To evaluate new model capabilities in lowland catchments characterized by near-surface groundwater tables extensive tile drainage, we assess performance two SWAT+...

Ceramic floor tile systems can provide a durable finish; however, if internal stresses are allowed to accumulate in the tile system, fractured, buckled, and/or hollow-sounding tiles may develop. Using case studies of residential structures, this paper will discuss common perils that cause damage to ceramic floor tile systems and how these perils can be avoided through proper installation and ma...

In large and continuous state-action spaces reinforcement learning heavily relies on function approximation techniques. Tile coding is a well-known function approximator that has been successfully applied to many reinforcement learning tasks. In this paper we introduce the hyperplane tile coding, in which the usual tiles are replaced by parameterized hyperplanes that approximate the action-valu...

To protect human health, atrazine concentrations in finished municipal drinking water must not exceed a maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 3 microg/L, as determined by a specific monitoring regime mandated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Atrazine levels were monitored along tile-fed drainage ditches draining to a major drinking water source and used to predict MCL exceedan...

The watersheds of the Mississippi are some of the most intensively managed agricultural basins in the world. As such, they receive high loadings of nitrogen and export a large amount of nitrate to the drainage networks of the Mississippi River basin and coastal ocean. We find a positive correlation between fertilizer input and stream export of nitrogen. According to the correlation, 34% of appl...

In this paper we formalize the concept of square tiles with colored corners, a new kind of tiles closely related to Wang tiles. We construct aperiodic sets of square tiles with colored corners and several new aperiodic sets of Wang tiles using isomorphisms between tilings. The smallest aperiodic set of square tiles with colored corners we have created consists of 44 tiles over 6 colors.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my special and sincere gratitude to my advisor Dr. George Vachtsevanos for his persistent guidance and trust throughout my research. His enthusiasm for the career affected me greatly. I would also like to thank my co-advisor Dr. Bonnie Heck-Ferri and Wayne Daley, my project supervisor, for their support and technical discussions. Secondly, ...

We developed a new ordinary differential equation (ODE) to represent subsurface flows from hillslope with artificial drainage (tiling) into an adjacent channel. Our ODE is based on derived storage-discharge relationship high-resolutions HYDRUS3D simulations that solve 3D partial Richards' equations for (plot scale) internal surfaces, variable soil depth, hydraulic conductivity, and varying slop...

We introduce and study the number of tilings of unit height rectangles with irrational tiles. We prove that the class of sequences of these numbers coincides with the class of diagonals of N-rational generating functions and a class of certain binomial multisums. We then give asymptotic applications and establish connections to hypergeometric functions and Catalan numbers.