Changes in contaminant fluxes resulting from aggressive remediation of dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) source zone were investigated at two sites, one at Hill Air Force Base (AFB), Utah, and the other at Ft. Lewis Military Reservation, Washington. Passive Flux Meters (PFM) and a variation of the Integral Pumping Test (IPT) were used to measure fluxes in ten wells installed along a transec...

Potential causalities due to airborne disease transmission and risk of chem-bio terrorism in commercial airliner cabins can be reduced by fast responses. Fast responses are only possible by using sensors at appropriate locations in the cabins. Cost, size and weight factors restrict the number of sensors that could be installed inside a cabin. Since release locations and seating patterns of pass...

High sensitivity methods such as next generation sequencing and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are adversely impacted by organismal and DNA contaminants. Current methods for detecting contaminants in microbial materials (genomic DNA and cultures) are not sensitive enough and require either a known or culturable contaminant. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) is a promising approach for detecting co...

Exposure to contaminants can affect survivorship, recruitment, reproductive success, mutation rates and migration, and may play a significant role in the partitioning of genetic variation among exposed and nonexposed populations. However, the application of molecular population genetic data to evaluate such influences has been uncommon and often flawed. We tested whether patterns of genetic var...

The health of Largescale Sucker (Catostomus macrocheilus) in the lower Columbia River (USA) was evaluated using morphometric and histopathological approaches, and its association with organic contaminants accumulated in liver was evaluated in males. Fish were sampled from three sites along a contaminant gradient. In 2009, body length and mass, condition factor, gonadosomatic index, and hematocr...

In the event of a contaminant release, atmospheric transport and dispersion (AT&D) models would be used to predict the path of the contaminant plume. If monitored contaminant concentration data are available, various assimilation techniques can be applied to incorporate the data into the transport and dispersion model, and thus, more accurately predict the plume path. We refer to this as the fo...

This work presents an approach to solve inverse problems in the application of water quality management in reservoir systems. One such application is contaminant cleanup, which is challenging because tasks such as inferring the contaminant location and its distribution require large computational efforts and data storage requirements. In addition, real systems contain uncertain parameters such ...

Leaching of heavy metals and other contaminants from soils poses a significant environmental threat as it affects the quality of downstream water bodies. Quantifying these losses is particularly important when employing phytoremediation approaches to reduce soil contamination, as contaminant escaping the system through leaching cannot be taken up by vegetation. Despite its undoubted importance,...

A mathematical model is developed to describe the contaminant transport, sorption, and biodegradation in saturated porous media. In the model development, sorption was accounted for as a kinetic process for the contaminant transport. In addition, a double Monod function was incorporated into the model to describe the biodegradation of contaminants and utilization of oxygen. In the description o...

Catchment contaminant loads vary with stream order as catchment characteristics influence inputs and in-stream processing. However, the relative influence and policy significance of these characteristics across a number of contaminants and at a national scale is unclear. We modeled the significance of catchment characteristics (e.g., climate, topography, geology, land cover), as captured by a n...