scholarly journals Evaluation of the Environmental Risk of Contaminated Materials: Advice on the Most Appropriate Environmental Remediation Techniques

Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 164
Author(s):  
Catarina Pinho ◽  
Rita Fonseca ◽  
Júlio Carneiro ◽  
António Araújo
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Environmental Remediation ◽  
High Capacity ◽  
Potentially Toxic Elements ◽  
Geochemical Characterization ◽  
Industrial Unit ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Interstitial Waters ◽  
Background Area

This work addresses the contamination of the sediments of an alluvial plain and riverbed of a tributary of the San Francisco River, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, by potentially toxic elements from an industrial unit of metallic alloys production. This area was subdivided into four areas (A1, A2, A3, and A0 (background area)) where sediment samples have been collected followed by geochemical characterization and spatial distribution of the contaminants. This characterization was based on the (1) analysis of dissolved elements in the interstitial waters, (2) identification of exchangeable and carbonates bounded fractions, and (3) leaching tests using deionized water adjusted to the local pH. This analysis revealed high levels mainly in Cd, Pb, and Zn, in the interstitial waters and in the more soluble phases of sediments. The comparison between the levels of these elements in the leached extracts and the more soluble fractions corroborates the high capacity of these elements to be leached from the alluvium following precipitation episodes. The geochemical characterization and spatial distribution of the contaminants will allow, in the near future, a choice of the most appropriate environmental remediation technique(s) for the environmental requalification of this area.

scholarly journals The potential of trace elements mapping in child’s natal tooth by laser ablation-ICPMS method

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aneta Olszewska ◽  
Anetta Hanć
Keyword(s):  
Trace Elements ◽  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Quantitative Assessment ◽  
Toxic Elements ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Perinatal Period ◽  
Potentially Toxic Elements ◽  
Metal Exposure ◽  
Icp Ms ◽  
Distribution Of Trace Elements

Abstract Purpose Tooth enamel might provide past chronological metabolic, nutritional status and trace metal exposure during development. Thus, the trace elements distribution embedded in tooth tissues represents an archive of the environmental conditions. The choice of biomarker is estimated as critical to the measurement of metal exposure. Natal teeth are defined as teeth being present at birth. Methods LA-ICP-MS provides a quantitative assessment of spatial distribution of trace elements in a natal tooth. The objective of the current study was to compare concentrations of building and other elements in a rare but reliable and valid biomarker - natal tooth. Results It have been reported presence of potentially toxic elements: Pb, Cu, Mn, Cd, Ni distributed in prenatally and perinatally formed enamel and dentine. Conclusions Analyses of deciduous enamel can provide answers into individuals’ earliest development, including critical pre- and perinatal period.

scholarly journals The Use of Tailings to Make Glass as an Alternative for Sustainable Environmental Remediation: The Case of Osor, Catalonia, Spain

Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 819
Author(s):  
Pura Alfonso ◽  
Oriol Tomasa ◽  
Luis Miguel Domenech ◽  
Maite Garcia-Valles ◽  
Salvador Martinez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Remediation ◽  
Toxic Elements ◽  
Glass Structure ◽  
Glass Production ◽  
Potentially Toxic Elements ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Waste Materials ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Melting Temperatures

Tailings from the Osor fluorite mines release large amounts of potentially toxic elements into the environment. This work is a proposal to remove these waste materials and use them as a raw material in the manufacture of glass. The chemical composition of the tailings was determined by X-ray fluorescence and the mineralogy by X-ray diffraction. Waste materials have SiO2, Al2O3 and CaO contents suitable for a glass production, but Na as NaCO3 has to be added. Two glass formulations, with 80–90% of the residue and 10–20% Na2CO3, have been produced. The crystallization temperatures, obtained by differential thermal analysis, were 875 and 901 °C, and the melting temperatures were 1220 and 1215 °C for the G80-20 and G90-10 glasses, respectively. The transition temperatures of glass were 637 and 628 °C. The crystalline phases formed in the thermal treatment to produce devitrification were nepheline, plagioclase and diopside in the G80-20 glass, and plagioclase and akermanite-gehlenite in the G90-10 glass. The temperatures for the fixed viscosity points, the working temperatures and the coefficient of expansion were obtained. The chemical stability of the glass was tested and results indicate that the potentially toxic elements of the tailings were incorporated into the glass structure.

scholarly journals Spatial Distribution and Health Risk Assessment of Potentially Toxic Elements in Surface Soils of Bosten Lake Basin, Central Asia

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (19) ◽  
pp. 3741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Long Ma ◽  
Jilili Abuduwaili ◽  
Wen Liu
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Linear Model ◽  
Geographically Weighted Regression ◽  
Toxic Elements ◽  
Potentially Toxic Elements ◽  
Weighted Regression ◽  
Lake Basin ◽  
Total Organic Matter ◽  
Bosten Lake

A geographically weighted regression and classical linear model were applied to quantitatively reveal the factors influencing the spatial distribution of potentially toxic elements of forty-eight surface soils from Bosten Lake basin in Central Asia. At the basin scale, the spatial distribution of the majority of potentially toxic elements, including: cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), thallium (Tl), vanadium (V), and zinc (Zn), had been significantly influenced by the geochemical characteristics of the soil parent material. However, the arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), antimony (Sb), and mercury (Hg) have been influenced by the total organic matter in soils. Compared with the results of the classical linear model, the geographically weighted regression can significantly increase the level of simulation at the basin spatial scale. The fitting coefficients of the predicted values and the actual measured values significantly increased from the classical linear model (Hg: r2 = 0.31; Sb: r2 = 0.64; Cd: r2 = 0.81; and As: r2 = 0.68) to the geographically weighted regression (Hg: r2 = 0.56; Sb: r2 = 0.74; Cd: r2 = 0.89; and As: r2 = 0.85). Based on the results of the geographically weighted regression, the average values of the total organic matter for As (28.7%), Cd (39.2%), Hg (46.5%), and Sb (26.6%) were higher than those for the other potentially toxic elements: Cr (0.1%), Co (4.0%), Ni (5.3%), V (0.7%), Cu (18.0%), Pb (7.8%), Tl (14.4%), and Zn (21.4%). There were no significant non-carcinogenic risks to human health, however, the results suggested that the spatial distribution of potentially toxic elements had significant differences.

Understanding the idiosyncrasies of real persistent memory

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 626-639
Author(s):  
Shashank Gugnani ◽  
Arjun Kashyap ◽  
Xiaoyi Lu
Keyword(s):  
Data Structures ◽  
Evaluation Studies ◽  
High Capacity ◽  
Memory Module ◽  
Study Guides ◽  
Free Data ◽  
Persistent Memory ◽  
Benchmark Suite ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Internal Architecture

High capacity persistent memory (PMEM) is finally commercially available in the form of Intel's Optane DC Persistent Memory Module (DCPMM). Researchers have raced to evaluate and understand the performance of DCPMM itself as well as systems and applications designed to leverage PMEM resulting from over a decade of research. Early evaluations of DCPMM show that its behavior is more nuanced and idiosyncratic than previously thought. Several assumptions made about its performance that guided the design of PMEM-enabled systems have been shown to be incorrect. Unfortunately, several peculiar performance characteristics of DCPMM are related to the memory technology (3D-XPoint) used and its internal architecture. It is expected that other technologies (such as STT-RAM, memristor, ReRAM, NVDIMM), with highly variable characteristics, will be commercially shipped as PMEM in the near future. Current evaluation studies fail to understand and categorize the idiosyncratic behavior of PMEM; i.e., how do the peculiarities of DCPMM related to other classes of PMEM. Clearly, there is a need for a study which can guide the design of systems and is agnostic to PMEM technology and internal architecture. In this paper, we first list and categorize the idiosyncratic behavior of PMEM by performing targeted experiments with our proposed PMIdioBench benchmark suite on a real DCPMM platform. Next, we conduct detailed studies to guide the design of storage systems, considering generic PMEM characteristics. The first study guides data placement on NUMA systems with PMEM while the second study guides the design of lock-free data structures, for both eADR- and ADR-enabled PMEM systems. Our results are often counter-intuitive and highlight the challenges of system design with PMEM.

scholarly journals Applications of chemical imaging techniques in paleontology

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 1040-1053 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanhong Pan ◽  
Liang Hu ◽  
Tao Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Trace Elements ◽  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Chemical Imaging ◽  
Specific Technique ◽  
Heterogeneous Chemical ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
Organic Biomarkers ◽  
Available Technology ◽  
Near Future

AbstractChemical imaging techniques, based on a combination of microscopy and spectroscopy, are designed to analyse the composition and spatial distribution of heterogeneous chemical complexes within a sample. Over the last few decades, it has become an increasingly popular tool for characterizing trace elements, isotopic information and organic biomarkers (molecular biosignatures) found in fossils. Here, we introduce the analytical principle of each technique and the interpretation of the chemical signals, followed by a review of the main applications of these techniques in paleontology. We also demonstrate that each technique is associated with pros and cons, and the current limitations and obstacles associated with the use of each specific technique should be taken into account before being applied to fossil samples. Finally, we propose that, due to the rapid advances in the available technology and overall trends towards more multi-disciplinary studies in paleontology, chemical imaging techniques can be expected to have broader applications in paleontology in the near future.

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