|
|
Description
When existing data are
insufficient, Cambridge Environmental may design and conduct research.
We are expert in elaborating and testing hypotheses, mindful at once of
the particular information sought, the value of that information, and
practical and scholarly means for generating it. Cambridge Environment
also develops methods for environmental or epidemiologic assessment,
typically by creating computer software.
Sample Projects
- Sponsored by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
(NJDEP), we developed expert system software to predict the
likelihood of groundwater contamination at sites where underground
storage tanks (USTs) were under removal. To develop this system, we
reviewed and analyzed records describing hundreds of USTs throughout
New Jersey. Roughly twenty chemical, soil, climatic, site
characteristic parameters were evaluated. Of these, we determined
that exceedance of soil standards for BTEX compounds (benzene,
toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes), the presence of ground cover,
and retarded contaminant transport time were significantly
predictive parameters. We used these parameters within the expert
system to develop a trigger criterion to determine the likelihood of
groundwater contamination at a given site (and hence the need for
groundwater sampling during removal of a UST). We codified this
expert system as an MS-DOS application that queried the user for
relevant data regarding a UST removal, processed the data within the
expert system, and provided the user with information regarding the
potential for groundwater contamination. In developing the expert
system, Cambridge Environmental worked closely with the NJDEP to
screen UST files, to develop the software interface, to familiarize
its staff with the operation and capabilities of the expert system
software, and to develop a users’ manual for the software program.
- In another research and development project, Cambridge
Environmental was funded by the National Institute of Occupational
Safety and Health (NIOSH) by means of a Small Business Innovative
Research (SBIR) Grant. NIOSH asked us to construct models of indoor
air pollutant dispersion in complex, interconnected buildings (such
as parts of a factory), and to incorporate these into an
easy-to-use, personal computer-based program. We responded by
developing a series of graphical elements within Simulink™, a
toolbox application of the Windows®-based program Matlab®. The
library of graphical elements includes icons of individual rooms
that can be linked together with flow (ventilation) elements.
Clicking on room elements provides the user with the ability to
specify contaminant sources and establish modeling parameters (such
as room dimensions). Multiple rooms are connected by flow element
icons, which are opened to specify rates of air exchange. Simulink™
transforms the underlying graphical Windows®-based interface into
the series of governing differential equations, which it then
numerically integrates to model contaminant concentrations as a
function of time. The project included extended field visits with
NIOSH personnel to demonstrate the use of the modeling system and to
gather suggestions and feedback for inclusion in the project report
and users’ manual.
- A private company sponsored our research on the potency of
asbestos as a cause of lung cancer. Existing estimates of this
parameter had not been updated to account for results from about a
decade of epidemiologic research; and prior attempts to combine
epidemiologic studies were only semi-quantitative. We assimilated
dose-response data from fifteen groups of asbestos-exposed workers
detailed in 22 publications, using maximum likelihood techniques to
obtain measures of the relationship between cumulative exposure to
asbestos and relative risk of lung cancer. Our meta-analysis (Lash,
Crouch, and Green, Occup. Environ. Med. 54:254-263, 1997) explored
sources of heterogeneity in the dose-response coefficient,
generating a potency estimate under a fixed-effect model and another
under a random effects model. These estimates were 24-fold smaller
and fourfold smaller, respectively, than the OSHA (1986) estimate
relied upon for rule-making.
- In another project, in collaboration with researchers from the
University of Massachusetts/Lowell, Cambridge Environmental studied
contaminant loading to the Massachusetts Bays via atmospheric
deposition. We developed detailed estimates of the rates at which
various nitrogen-containing compounds deposit to the Bays. We found
the atmospheric deposition of nitrogen to be small compared with
other loadings, but of potential importance during warm weather
months when surface waters are depleted of nitrogen. We also
evaluated measurements of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and
collected samples for an evaluation of mercury deposition.
Learn more
|
