Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for September
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Environmental Impact of Sewer Gases and Odor Mitigation in the City of Los Angeles
Fri, Sep 02, 2005 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
By Dr. Roshanak Aflaki
Wastewater Manager II
Wastewater Collection Systems Division
Los Angeles, CA ABSTRACTIn July 2001 the court granted a motion to intervene in an existing lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles (City) regarding sewer overflows. In addition to other requirements, the Case Management Order issued by the court stipulated that the City must investigate and mitigate all odor complaints and issues. The City has developed an extensive multi faceted Odor Control Program to address the City's complex odor problem. In this presentation, the source of odor and different methods of mitigation and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed. The City is currently using Public Outreach, Chemical Feed techniques, Maintenance Program and multiple Activated Carbon Scrubbers. In addition, within the next 2 years, the City will install seven air treatment facilities throughout the collection system. This presentation visits different aspects of the City's Odor Control Program.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 156
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Slice, Dice and Analyze Bacteria One Cell and one Atom at a Time
Fri, Sep 09, 2005 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Presented by:
Prof. Radu Popa, Ph.D.
Earth Science
USCAbstract:
Modern microanalysis in material sciences and in environmental sciences is dominated by three technological approaches: Mass Spectrometry (MS), High Resolution Electron Microscopy with EDS (HRTEM-EDS); and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). MS instruments have considerable analytical capabilities, yet, cannot probe samples at very small scales (such as 1 m); and thus are less helpful in studying individual microbes. HRTEM-EDS and AFM instruments can reveal structures at Angstrom scales but have considerable analytical limitations. Nano-Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (NanoSIMS) is an edge technology; an ion microprobe developed for the purpose of bringing together the benefits of high resolution imaging with the analytical capabilities of MS. Using NanoSIMS it is now possible to explore the chemistry and the isotopic composition of one bacterium cell, with 50 nm lateral resolution and 10-20 Å vertical resolution. We tested the limits of this technology by addressing physiological questions in individual microbes. The model organisms for this study are Cyanobacteria, a group of Prokaryotes with an impressive array of metabolic capabilities including N2-fixation, C-fixation and heterotrophy. In some filaments of Cyanobacteria such as Anabaena sp. certain cells named heterocysts are metabolically specialized. This specialization results in considerable biochemical differences between adjacent cells. We used NanoSIMS to measure this variability and to make kinetic analyses bacteria. Currently, NanoSIMS allows the physiologist study the metabolic performance of one microbe, and the micropaleontologist to distinguish abiotic from biogenic structures in ancient samples. In the near future ion microprobe instruments will also be used for chemical and isotopic characterization of samples in environmental studies, in astrobiology and in forensic analysis.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 156
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Bioengineering Approaches for Environmental Studies
Fri, Sep 23, 2005 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Presenter:Professor Ching-An Peng
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
University of Southern CaliforniaAbstractResonant acoustic fields used for enhancing gene delivery efficiency will be discussed in the first part of my talk. Another recently developed methodology for the incorporation of virus with quantum dots will be demonstrated as a potential imaging probes for the analysis of intracellular trafficking and cytoskeleton reorganization during virus entry. These bioengineering approaches used in my lab might be applied in the environmental field.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 156
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Bioengineering Approaches for Environmental Studies
Fri, Sep 23, 2005 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:Professor Ching-An Peng
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
University of Southern CaliforniaAbstractResonant acoustic fields used for enhancing gene delivery efficiency will be discussed in the first part of my talk. Another recently developed methodology for the incorporation of virus with quantum dots will be demonstrated as a potential imaging probes for the analysis of intracellular trafficking and cytoskeleton reorganization during virus entry. These bioengineering approaches used in my lab might be applied in the environmental field.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 156
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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The Enduring Consequences and Lesons of the Chernobyl Accident
Fri, Sep 30, 2005 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:Professor Najm Meshkati
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Viterbi School of Engineering
University of Southern CaliforniaAbstractIn the early morning hours of 26 April 1986, a testing error caused an explosion at the reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in northern Ukraine. The major consequences of Chernobyl fall into three categories: the physical impacts, in terms of health and environmental effects; the psychological and social impacts on the affected populations; and the influence of the accident on the nuclear industry worldwide. This accident caused a radioactive fire that burned for 10 days, releasing 190 tons of toxic materials into the atmosphere. The wind blew 70% of the radioactive material into the neighboring country of Belarus and the rest of the world, causing twenty-three percent (23%) of prime Belarusian farmland to become and to this day remains dangerously contaminated. At the time of the accident, about 7 million people lived in the surrounding area.According to a most recent speech on September 6, 2005, by Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, the Director General of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, "the first lesson that emerged from Chernobyl was the direct relevance of international cooperation to nuclear safety" and "nuclear and radiological risks transcend national borders -- that an accident anywhere is an accident everywhere." This presentation covers consequences and lessons of the Chernobyl accidents for the world's nuclear industry. Professor Meshkati, through an invitation from the United Nations, inspected and spent time in the control room of the only operating reactor (No. 3) of the Chernobyl in May 1997, studied the Sarcophagus and its environmental health hand safety problems for the EBRD, and visited the Exclusion Zone and the (deserted, ghost) town of Pripyat.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 156
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes