Long-term Stewardship of Mixed Wastes: Passive Reactive Barriers for Simultaneous In Situ Remediation of Chlorinated Solvent, Heavy Metal and Radioactive

This project report addresses one part of a 3-way collaboration between researchers (Drs. Robin Gerlach and Al Cunningham) at Montana State University's (MSU's) Center for Biofilm Engineering (CBE), (Dr. Brent Peyton at) the WSU/NSF IGERT Center for Multiphase Environmental Research (CMER) at Washington State University (WSU), and (Drs. William Apel and Frank Roberto at) the Biotechnology Department at the INEEL. Each part of this project is funded under a different contract with the Science Division of the US Department of Energy. The project is designed to evaluate the possibility to develop a subsurface remediation technology for mixed wastes at Department of Energy sites using a group of common soil bacteria of the genus Cellulomonas. We are seeking to gain a better understanding of microbial transformation of chromium, uranium, and carbon tetrachloride by Cellulomonas spp. in simulated subsurface environments

Danube Region data projects

The Danube Reference Data and Services Infrastructure (DRDSI) project currently provides access to more than 6,500 datasets, relevant for one or more Priority Areas of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR). These datasets can act as a solid foundation for integration of scientific knowledge into the policy making process on different levels (local, regional and international). From the perspective of macro-regional strategies, this would only be possible if data can be used across borders and domains, and put in the right context. Projects at regional, national, cross-border and macro-regional levels present a useful container to uncover stakeholders, expertise and data creation/sharing capacity for policy-making and research. This JRC technical report investigates the existing project databases and similar resources related to the EUSDR that describe such projects, as well as how this information may be presented in the DRDSI platform.JRC.H.6-Digital Earth and Reference Dat

Imaging Biologically Induced Mineralization in Fully Hydrated Flow Systems

A number of proposed technologies involve the controlled implementation of biologically induced carbonate mineral precipitation in the geologic subsurface. Examples include the enhancement of soil stability, immobilization of groundwater contaminants such as strontium and uranium, and the enhancement of oil recovery and geologic carbon sequestration via controlled permeability reduction. The most significant challenge in these technologies remains to identify and better understand an industrially, environmentally, and economically viable carbonate precipitation route.</jats:p

Long-Term Stewardship of Mixed Wastes: Passive Reactive Barriers for Simultaneous In Situ Remediation of Chlorinated Solvent, Heavy Metal, and Radionuclide Contaminants

The collaborative project was designed to evaluate the possibility developing a subsurface remediation technology for mixed wastes at Department of Energy sites using a group of common soil bacteria of the genus Cellulomonas. We have been gaining a better understanding of microbial transformation of chromium, uranium, iron minerals, and trinitrotoluene (TNT) by Cellulomonas spp. in simulated subsurface environments

Taxis Toward Hydrogen Gas by Methanococcus Maripaludis

Knowledge of taxis (directed swimming) in the Archaea is currently expanding through identification of novel receptors, effectors, and proteins involved in signal transduction to the flagellar motor. Although the ability for biological cells to sense and swim toward hydrogen gas has been hypothesized for many years, this capacity has yet to be observed and demonstrated. Here we show that the average swimming velocity increases in the direction of a source of hydrogen gas for the methanogen, Methanococcus maripaludis using a capillary assay with anoxic gas-phase control and time-lapse microscopy. The results indicate that a methanogen couples motility to hydrogen concentration sensing and is the first direct observation of hydrogenotaxis in any domain of life. Hydrogenotaxis represents a strategy that would impart a competitive advantage to motile microorganisms that compete for hydrogen gas and would impact the C, S and N cycles

Spectral Properties of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger Model

We present a study of the one dimensional Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model Hamiltonian by a diagrammatic perturbative method in the weak electron-phonon coupling regime. Exact computation of both the charge carrier effective mass and the electron spectral function shows that electrons are good quasiparticles in the adiabatic and antiadiabatic limits but novel features emerge in the intermediate regime, where the phonons and the electrons compare on the energy scale. Together with a sizeable mass enhancement we observe, in the latter regime, a spread of the spectral weight (among several transition peaks) associated with an increased relevance of multiphonons contributions at larger {\it e-ph} couplings. Accordingly electrons cease to be the good quasiparticles and an onset of polaron formation is favoured.Comment: To appear in Solid State Communications - 5 figure

Mobility of Source Zone Heavy Metals and Radionuclides: The Mixed Roles of Fermentative Activity on Fate and Transport of U and Cr

Predicting the potential migration of metals and radionuclides from waste pits and trenches will require understanding the effects of carbon and electron flow through these environments. Important aspects of this flow include the physiological activity of cellulolytic and non-cellulolytic fermentative microbial populations, as well as the subsequent activity of metal and radionuclide reducing bacteria. The activity of subsurface fermentative microbial populations is significantly understudied even though these organisms can affect contaminant migration by at least two mechanisms. In the first mechanism, products of the fermentation process can act as chelators for metals and radionuclides increasing their transport through underlying geological media. The second mechanism is the reduction and immobilization of metals and radionuclides since some fermentative bacteria have been shown to directly reduce metals and radionuclides, while their fermentation products can provide carbon and energy for respiratory metal reducing bacteria that can also reduce oxidized metals and radionuclides

Miniaturized differential scanning calorimeter with an integrated mass sensing system: first steps

In this paper, the first steps towards integrating a mass sensing system into an existing miniaturized ceramic DSC (differential scanning calorimetry) chip are presented. A vibration setup is developed based on the mass-dependent change in frequency of the DSC chip as an oscillating cantilever. A simulation model reveals that the resolution of the measurement can be improved by reducing the chip thickness. In this study, different measurement methods (acoustic, optical, and piezoresistive) are investigated. Three complete measurement systems are set up and evaluated with regard to their integration in the DSC chip. All presented measurement methods show promising results and already allow mass measurements with a resolution of 100 µg.</p