• Cooperative Molecular Interaction-Based Highly Efficient Capturing of Ultrashort- and Short-Chain Emerging Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Using Multifunctional Nanoadsorbents

    Abstract: The short-chain and ultrashort-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are bioaccumulative, carcinogenic to humans, and harder to remove using current technologies. Herein, we report the development of nonafluorobutane-sulfonyl and polyethylene-imine -conjugated Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticle-based magnetic nanoadsorbents and demonstrated the novel adsorbent has the capability for highly efficient removal of six different short- and ultrashort-chain PFAS from drinking and environmental water samples. Reported experimental data indicates by capitalizing the cooperative hydrophobic, fluorophilic, and electrostatic interaction processes, NFBS-PEI-conjugated magnetic nanoadsorbents can remove ~100% short-chain perfluorobutanesulfonic acid within 30 min from the water sample with a maximum absorption capacity qm of ~234 mg g−1. Furthermore, to show how cooperative interactions are necessary for effective capturing of ultrashort and short PFAS, a comparative study has been performed using PEI-attached magnetic nanoadsorbents without NFBS and acid-functionalized magnetic nanoadsorbents without PEI and NFBS. Reported data show the ultrashort-chain perfluoropropanesulfonic acid capture efficiency is the highest for the NFBS-PEI-attached nanoadsorbent. Moreover, reported data demonstrate that nanoadsorbents can be used for effective removal of short-chain PFAS and ultrashort-chain PFAS simultaneously from reservoir, lake, tape, and river water samples within 30 min, which shows the potential of nanoadsorbents for real-life PFAS remediation.
  • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to host Regulatory Transformation Workshop in Bradenton, Fla.

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Jacksonville District Regulatory Division will be hosting a free Regulatory Transformation two-day workshop on August 27-28, 2025.
  • South Atlantic Division commander leaves Jacksonville District in sync with District's 'people and projects'

    PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – The commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (SAD) South Atlantic Division, Brig. Gen. Zachary L. Miller visited the Jacksonville District and multiple projects in South Florida.
  • Jacksonville District’s Ashley Foster Named USACE Emergency Manager of the Year

    Ashley Foster, an Emergency Management Specialist with the Jacksonville District, was named the 2024 USACE Emergency Management Specialist of the Year. She is recognized primarily for taking on additional workloads, revamping Jacksonville’s Emergency Operations Center’s (EOC) Planning Section and through her efforts in recruiting, training and leveraging technology.
  • Coupled Modeling to Support Evaluation of Mission-Assurance Risk from Disruption of Water Infrastructure

    Abstract: Coupled modeling refers to the combined use of hydraulic models, graphical models, and existing datasets to analyze water distribution networks. Most DoD installations already possess rich planning and asset management datasets that can be leveraged to provide deep in-sights into their water infrastructure; however, installations rarely use them for increasing the resilience of their systems. This study develops strategies for assessing, integrating, and analyzing these sources into a coupled model designed to inform installations’ water-infrastructure resilience planning, wargaming, and project generation. The performance of coupled models was evaluated for accuracy, specificity, interoperability with DoD systems, enterprise applicability, responsiveness to DoD policy, and decision support. The study team encountered a few implementation issues, but none affected the study’s timeline or funding. One issue was that the hydraulic modeling software, Innovyze Infowater, was purchased by AutoDesk, which should be considered for installations evaluating software purchases. Another issue was data accuracy; tests for data validation showed that some data were incorrect. Coupled approaches can help to better identify where these errors may be. Regarding the issue of model interoperability, by default, the models were not fully compatible for the model simulation or for geospatial data, but both were addressed in this study.
  • Bare Ground Classification Using a Spectral Index Ensemble and Machine Learning Models Optimized Across 12 International Study Sites

    Abstract: This research investigates a global approach to map bare ground across diverse geographies with an ensemble of spectral indices using optimal thresholds identified in testing to train and evaluate machine learning models to extract bare ground pixels from Sentinel-2 imagery. Twelve locations in four Köppen climate zones with data from two seasons were evaluated. Accuracy assessment showed a mean F1 score of 80% and a mean Overall Accuracy (OA) of 81% for random forest and an F1 score of 78% and OA of 79% for support vector machine. Higher accuracies were observed in climate region-based models with mean F1 = 84% in three of four climate zones. Low accuracies occurred in winter imagery with leaf-off tree cover or building materials similar to bare ground. This framework provides a global approach to map bare ground without need for high-density time-series or deep learning models and moves beyond locally effective methods.
  • Archaeogenomic Analysis of Chesapeake Atlantic Sturgeon Illustrates Shaping of Its Populations in Recovery from Severe Overexploitation

    Abstract: Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus ssp. oxyrinchus) has been a food resource in North America for millennia. However, industrial-scale fishing activities following the establishment of European colonies led to multiple collapses of sturgeon stocks, driving populations such as those in the Chesapeake area close to extinction. While recent conservation efforts have been successful in restoring census numbers, little is known regarding genomic consequences of the population bottleneck. Here, we characterize its effect on present-day population structuring and genomic diversity in James River populations. To establish a pre-collapse baseline, we collected genomic data from archaeological remains from Middle Woodland Maycock’s Point (c. 200–900 CE), as well as Jamestown and Williamsburg colonial sites. Demographic analysis of recovered mitogenomes reveals a historical collapse in effective population size, also reflected in diminished present-day mitogenomic diversity and structure. We infer that James River fall- and spring-spawning populations likely took shape in recent years of population recovery, where genetic drift enhanced the degree of population structure. The mismatch of mitogenomic lineages to geographical–seasonal groupings implies that despite their homing instinct and differential adaptation manifested as season-specific behaviour, colonization of new rivers has been a key ecological strategy for Atlantic sturgeon over evolutionary timescales.
  • Corps of Engineers hosts Lock and Dam 1 open house

    ST. PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is hosting an open house at Lock and Dam 1 on the Mississippi River near Minneapolis, Sept. 27.
  • The new edition of Crosscurrents is now available!

    The new edition of Crosscurrents is now available!
  • Mississippi River Commission to host 2025 Low Water Inspection trip as USACE marks 250 years of service

    VICKSBURG, Miss. – The Mississippi River Commission will conduct its annual Low Water Inspection Trip Aug. 15–22, 2025, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers observe its 250th anniversary year, commemorating a legacy of service to the nation.