Nanoscale zerovalent iron (NZVI) for environmental decontamination:A brief history of 20 years of research and field-scale application

Environmental contamination continues to pose a serious threat to human health and the ecosystem. Over the next several decades, remediation research and business will be actively restoring both legacy and newly spilled sites in many countries worldwide. This chapter critically reviews the 20-year progress (1997–2017) in nanoscale zerovalent iron (NZVI) research and development from laboratory testing to pilot- and field-scale demonstrations. Several major areas of NZVI research, including (1) NZVI synthesis and reactivity, (2) aggregation, (3) transport in porous media, (4) polymer modification including carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), (5) toxicity, (6) sulfidation, and (7) use of electromagnetic fields to enhance remediation, are discussed. Additionally, we summarize important aspects of pilot- and field-scale NZVI applications from 27 peer-reviewed articles and credible reports including the types of contaminants and NZVI used; delivery techniques; injection concentration, rates, and durations; hydrogeological conditions of the sites; pre-operations (before NZVI application); unexpected phenomena (such as clogging) during or after NZVI application; and performance monitoring including the radius of influence, treatment efficiency, and rebound. Finally, this chapter links the past, present, and future of NZVI research and application to the remaining 15 chapters of this book

E-government implementation: A bird’s eye view of issues relating to costs, opportunities, benefits and risks

NoAfter more than a decade of comprehensive research work in the area of electronic government (e-government), no attempt has yet been made to undertake a systematic literature review on the costs, opportunities, benefits and risks that influence the implementation of e-government. This is particularly significant given the various related challenges that governments have faced over the years when implementing e-government initiatives. Hence, the aim of this paper is to undertake a comprehensive analysis of relevant literature addressing these issues using a systematic review of 132 studies identified from the Scopus online database and Google Scholar together with a manual review of relevant papers from journals dedicated to electronic government research such as Electronic Government, an International Journal (EGIJ), International Journal of Electronic Government Research (IJEGR) and Transforming Government: People, Process, and Policy (TGPPP). The overall review indicated that although a large number of papers discuss costs, opportunities, benefits and risks, treatment of these issues have tended to be superficial. Moreover, there is a lack of empirical studies which can statistically evaluate the performance of these constructs in relation to the various e-government systems. Therefore, this research would help governments to better analyse the impact of costs, opportunities, benefits and risks on the success of e-government systems and its pre-adoption from an implementation perspective