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Knowledge of explosives sorption and transformation processes is required to ensure that the proper fate and transport of such contaminants is understood at military ranges and ammunition production sites. Bioremediation of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX), and related nitroaromatic compounds has met with mixed success, which is potentially due to the uncertainty of how energetic compounds are bound to different soil types. This study investigated the dissolution and sorption properties of TNT and RDX explosives associated with six different soil types. Understanding the associations that explosives have with a different soil type assists with the development of conceptual models used for the sequestration process, risk analysis guidelines, and site assessment tools. In three-way systems of crystalline explosives, soil, and water, the maximum explosive solubility was not achieved due to the sorption of the explosive onto the soil particles and observed production of transformation byproducts. Significantly different sorption effects were also observed between sterile (gamma-irradiated) and nonsterile (nonirradiated) soils with the introduction of crystalline TNT and RDX into soil-water systems.

Background The delivery of standardized self-report assessments is essential for measurement-based care in mental health. Paper-based methods of measurement-based care data collection may result in transcription errors, missing data, and other data quality issues when entered into patient electronic health records (EHRs). Objective This study aims to help address these issues by using a dedicated instance of REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture; Vanderbilt University)—a free, widely used electronic data capture platform—that was established to enable the deployment of digitized self-assessments in clinical care pathways to inform clinical decision making. Methods REDCap was integrated with the primary clinical information system to facilitate the real-time transfer of discrete data and PDF reports from REDCap into the EHR. Both technical and administrative components were required for complete implementation. A technology acceptance survey was also administered to capture physicians’ and clinicians’ attitudes toward the new system. Results The integration of REDCap with the EHR transitioned clinical workflows from paper-based methods of data collection to electronic data collection. This resulted in significant time savings, improved data quality, and valuable real-time information delivery. The digitization of self-report assessments at each appointment contributed to the clinic-wide implementation of the major depressive disorder integrated care pathway. This digital transformation facilitated a 4-fold increase in the physician adoption of this integrated care pathway workflow and a 3-fold increase in patient enrollment, resulting in an overall significant increase in major depressive disorder integrated care pathway capacity. Physicians’ and clinicians’ attitudes were overall positive, with almost all respondents agreeing that the system was useful to their work. Conclusions REDCap provided an intuitive patient interface for collecting self-report measures and accessing results in real time to inform clinical decisions and an extensible backend for system integration. The approach scaled effectively and expanded to high-impact clinics throughout the hospital, allowing for the broad deployment of complex workflows and standardized assessments, which led to the accumulation of harmonized data across clinics and care pathways. REDCap is a flexible tool that can be effectively leveraged to facilitate the automatic transfer of self-report data to the EHR; however, thoughtful governance is required to complement the technical implementation to ensure that data standardization, data quality, patient safety, and privacy are maintained.

Dry and wet physical separation processes were tested at Yuma Proving Ground to remove depleted uranium (DU) from soil. Four sample locations were tested that had varied uranium concentration, weathering, and aging of fired, DU residues. Reduction of soil DU concentration was achieved using simple vibratory or agitated screening techniques. For soils into which the DU had been recently fired, these techniques were successful at removing a large fraction (>70 percent) of the total uranium present (by mass). A heavy liquid separation process based on a water/sodium polytungstate solution was tested. This produced a sinking fraction that contained nearly 100-percent uranium and uranium oxide by mass for the less weathered soils. However, this type of wet separation is not currently practical for field use. A water-based separation process using an angled vibrating table to facilitate gravity transport of separated DU was also tested. This method produced a fraction of concentrated uranium along with fractions of soil particles with reduced densities. However, this process required extensive particle size separation prior to use and produced a contaminated waste stream that required secondary treatment. The extent to which DU and DU residues could be removed from the Yuma soils depended on the extent of soil weathering and corrosion of the DU alloy.

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