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Two forced-gradient ground-water transport tests were conducted in the Summers of 1989 and 1990 at Borden, Ontario. The tests were nearly identical in several respects and allow an assessment of the reproducibility of such efforts. In both experiments, carbon tetrachloride, tetrachloroethene, and a conservative tracer were injected as a pulse into the aquifer and monitored as they migrated towards an extraction well. Data were analyzed using moment techniques and fitted with a 1-D transport model accounting for physical nonequilibrium conditions for the sorbing solutes. Visual inspection and simulations of the results indicate that the tests are reproducible. However, results from the moment analyses are less conclusive, perhaps due to data truncation. The differences in the modeling results or the parameter estimates derived from them are likely to have resulted from differences in the experimental conditions or duration. Simulations conducted using either year's fitted parameters are essentially indistinguishable from a practical point of view.

A field lest to evaluate the applicability of an oxygon-releasing compound (ORC) to the rernediation of ground water contaminated with benzone and toluene was conducted in the Borden Aquifer in Ontario. Canada. Benzene and toluene were injected as organic substrates to represent BTEX compounds, bromide was used as a tracer, and nitrate was added to avoid nitrate-limited conditions. The fate of the solutes was monitored along four lines of monitoring points and wells. Two lines studied the behavior of the solutes upgradient and downgradient of two large-diameter well screens filled with briquets containing ORC and briquets without ORC. One line was used to study the solute behavior upgradient and downgradient of columns of ORC powder placed directly in the saturated zone. The remaining line was a control. The results indicate that ORC in both briquet and powder form can release significant amounts of oxygen to conlaminated ground water passing by it. In the formulation used in this work, oxygen release persisted for at least 10 weeks. Furthemiore, the study indicates that the enhancement of the available dissolved oxygen content of at least 4 mg/L each of the ground water by ORC can support biodegradation of benzene and toluene dissolved in ground water. Such concentrations are typical of those encountered at sites contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons; therefore, these results suggest that there is promise for ORC to enhance in situ biodegradation of BTKX contaminants at such sites using passive (nonpumping) systems to contact the contaminated ground water with the oxygen source.

Field tests of organic solute transport behavior have often been monitored using small-diameter wells (miniwells). To determine if experimental results could be significantly biased by sorption to, desorption from, or diffusion through sampling lines, dissolved concentrations of tetrachloroethene and carbon tetrachloride were measured in ground water samples collected simultaneously from the same spatial location during a forced-gradient test in the Borden aquifer using polytetrafluoroethene (PTFE) and stainless steel miniwells (1/8-inch O.D.). A semiautomated organic analytical system was used on-site to obtain real-time results, which avoided sample holding problems and permitted optimizing sampling times. The breakthrough curves (plots of concentration vs. time) for both organic compounds indicate that under the conditions of this experiment (low organic solute concentrations, short exposure time of sampling lines to the plume, adequate flushing of sampling lines) there is no significant difference between concentration histories (breakthrough curves) collected using a polytetrafluoroethene sampling line and those collected using a stainless steel sampling line. This suggests that organic solute tailing seen in this and also in a similar transport experiment previously conducted at the site is the result of transport processes in the aquifer rather than an artifact introduced by the PTFE miniwells.

This experiment describes resorption rate, light and electron microscopic appearance of the implant site, and tissue distribution and route of elimination of radioactivity from carbon-labelled polylactic acid implants. Fifty-six rats received abdominal implants and were serially sacrificed at 28, 56, 84, 112, 140, 154, and 168 days. Urine and fecal output was measured for radioactivity, along with implant site and several tissues at the time of sacrifice. Tissue distribution of activity was negligible. Resorption rate of the implant was linear with 63.2% remaining after 168 days. Elimination of radioactivity was via respiration, approximately 29.4% by this route. Histologically, the implant was invaded rapidly along septal defects or slowly on broad fronts. Invading cells were characterized either by large double-walled vacuoles or by large accumulations of mitochondria and microvesicles adjacent to the implant surface. The long duration of this type of implant may be an important consideration in surgical applications.

This paper examines the synthesis of a toughened elastomer fromVernonia galamensis seed oil by reacting vernonia oil with vernonia oil-derived suberic acid (octanedioic acid), and cross-linking the pre-polymer in the immediate presence of cross-linked polystyrene preparedin situ. The paper also demonstrates that the progress of reaction can be followed by monitoring the generation of hydroxyl groups using infrared spectroscopy. Analysis of some crystalline material on the cooler parts of the reaction vessels revealed the presence of component fatty acids of vernonia oil. Transmission electron microscopy characterization of the synthesized toughened elastomer suggests that vernonia oil-suberic acid polyester and polystyrene polymer are interpenetrating.