Advanced Simulation Capability for Environmental Management (ASCEM) is an emerging state-of-the-art scientific methodological and computational framework for analyzing and predicting subsurface flow and contaminant transport in natural and engineered systems. ASCEM is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM). The ASCEM framework is designed to provi...

Benzylsuccinate synthase (bssA) genes associated with toluene degradation were profiled across a groundwater contaminant plume under nitrate-reducing conditions and were detected in significant numbers throughout the plume. However, differences between groundwater and core sediment samples suggested that microbial transport, rather than local activity, was the underlying cause of the high copy ...

Integument biopsy is a nondestructive method for sampling free-ranging cetaceans, which allows for the determination of both contaminant concentrations and biomarker responses. Cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP1A1) expression is induced by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and planar halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons such as the non-ortho and mono-ortho polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). CYP1A induction h...

A quantitative methodology is described for the field-scale performance assessment of natural attenuation using plume-scale electron and carbon balances. This provides a practical framework for the calculation of global mass balances for contaminant plumes, using mass inputs from the plume source, background groundwater and plume residuals in a simplified box model. Biodegradation processes and...

[1] As the incidence of groundwater contamination continues to grow, a number of inverse modeling methods have been developed to address forensic groundwater problems. In this work the geostatistical approach to inverse modeling is extended to allow for the recovery of the antecedent distribution of a contaminant at a given point back in time, which is critical to the assessment of historical e...

Children are at increased vulnerability to many environmental contaminants compared to adults due to their unique behavior patterns, increased contaminant intake per body weight, and developing biological systems. Depending upon their age, young children may crawl on the floor and may practice increased hand to mouth activity that may increase their dose-intake of specific contaminants that acc...

An integrated approach using biomarkers and contaminant levels in mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis L. was employed to assess chemical contamination in Greek coastal waters within the framework of the MYTIMED program. Biomarkers (metallothioneins, glutathione S-transferase, catalase, acetylcholinesterase and RNA:DNA ratio) have been previously described in mussels caged at 14 sites in coastal a...

Nondestructive sampling methods, such as removal of feathers for contaminant analysis, are desirable in ecological monitoring programs that seek to minimize the impacts of harvesting organisms. Although many reptiles are declining worldwide, nondestructive sampling techniques seldom have been employed for assessing contaminant exposure in these organisms. In this study, we examined the utility ...

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Hospital laboratory wastewater has been considered to significantly change the degree of contamination of especially the hospital wastewater. The present study investigated the hospital clinical laboratory wastewater and the pollution loads were assessed for pathogens, heavy metals, and organic materials. Composite samples were collected from clinical laboratory wastewater of a 350-bed hospital...