Transforming EPA Science to Meet Today's and Tomorrow's Challenges (2023) / Chapter Skim
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5 Acquiring and Applying Emerging Tools and Methods
5 Acquiring and Applying Emerging Tools and Methods
Pages 74-103
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From page 74... ...
Advancements in analytical chemistry techniques allow for discovery-driven identification of a broader range of substances to which people and ecosystems are exposed, and state-of-the-art sensor technology enables exposure assessment to be more individualized and spatially granular, instead relying on general population estimates. Greater computational power is now available to support the organization of extremely large datasets (referred to as big data)
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From page 75... ...
Exposure information is essential for assessing, preventing, and reducing risks to human health and ecosystems. Collection of better exposure data can provide more precise information regarding risk assessments within a One Environment–One Health framework and lead to improved public health and ecosystem protection, such as better characterization of high-risk populations.
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From page 76... ...
For example, extreme events, such as heat waves and wildfires, may have a substantial influence on atmospheric chemistry and the formation of pollutants, such as airborne particulate matter. EPA's website provides data collected from fixed-site air quality monitors, along with data visualization tools and reports on outdoor air quality from data collected at monitoring sites across the United States.2 Organic and inorganic compounds in the form of gases and in airborne particulate matter play a significant role in the formation of harmful air pollutants.
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in collaboration with several universities, have been conducting several measurements using mass spectrometers in addition to other state-of-the-art instruments through many aircraft- and ground-based campaigns over the years in different locations globally including the United States.3 Processes that generate these oxidized organics and ultrafine particles discovered from these measurements could be included in urban air quality models such as the CMAQ modeling system and the model outputs could be used to optimize the placement of mass spectrometers in regions that are most likely to be affected by urbanization, climate change, and air pollution. Finding: Organic compounds in the atmosphere play a significant role in the formation of harmful air pollutants that may affect populations in urban communities disproportionately.
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, calculating environmental concentrations via partition coefficients, and validating the devices for different chemicals. The utility of passive sampling devices could be tested in populations affected by airborne hazards, such as military personnel or populations affected by wildland fires and other natural disasters (NASEM, 2020b)
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NASA's MAIA mission engages a multi-disciplinary science team that includes epidemiologists and health professionals and is directly targeted at improving human health. MAIA will focus on globally dispersed large metropolitan "target areas" and will be an important proof of concept for future multi-scale systems that are intended to cost-effectively integrate air quality and public health information, satellite measurements, and chemical transport models.
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, and the agency provides guidance for low-cost air pollution monitors for indoor air quality (IAQ) (Williams, 2019)
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streams, showing the ever-growing interconnectedness between the human and natural environment and highlighting the need to study the impact of anthropogenic chemicals on our natural environment and the active involvement of EPA in those efforts (National Water Quality Program, 2021; USGS Water Resources, 2020)
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. SDWIS has been used in research studies including studies of environmental justice and drinking water quality regarding nitrate and arsenic violations across the United States (Foster et al., 2019; Pennino et al., 2020; Schaider et al., 2019)
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The development of an integrated, curated database that is continuously maintained for water quality monitoring and research should be a major goal of EPA in the coming years. EPA's Air Quality System, which has played a major role in boosting air quality research in the last decades, could be used as a model for this effort.
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From page 84... ...
Identifying Exposures Through Nontargeted Analysis Nontargeted analysis (NTA) is a qualitative analytical technique that utilizes chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry to identify novel or unknown candidate chemicals in environmental matrices (air, water, wastewater, soil, particulate matter, and biosolids)
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. Sensors for cardiovascular health, contaminants in water, air pollutants, and other indicators will provide real-time and targeted monitoring.
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In this era of big data, EPA has the opportunity to gain insights into air and water quality, chemical exposures and hazards, and cumulative risk in ways not previously possible. Recommendation 5-8: ORD should play a major role in developing integrated databases with collaborating organizations, such as the U.S.
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It also has authority over new chemicals in commerce that include certain forms of genetically engineered organisms. ORD, in turn, faces the challenge of providing effective approaches for human health and ecological risk assessments for planned open releases into the environment and monitoring to detect unintended impacts of biotechnology products.
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From page 88... ...
Advanced tools are becoming available for monitoring the distribution of genetically modified microorganisms in the open environment and the occurrence of the modified genetic materials outside of the host organism. Recommendation 5-9: ORD should strengthen and maintain its expertise in biotechnologies to evaluate and monitor the potential human health and ecosystem impacts of new biotechnology ap plications in a One Environment–One Health framework, as well as develop research opportunities for EPA to utilize these tools for environmental protection applications, such as waste remediation and pollution monitoring.
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Examples of the uses of participatory research by EPA and partner organizations include assisting with emergency response actions, evaluating new air-quality-sensors, assessing water quality, and contributing to environmental education (EPA, 2022d)
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DATA SCIENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING Recent advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science hold the promise of providing an array of research tools for supporting EPA's mission.15 Advances in computational power have enabled the aggregation and manipulation of massive datasets (see Box 5-1) to create sophisticated models for estimating physical, chemical, and biological phenomena.
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. Recent advances in applications for assessing chemical toxicity include: • Big Data16 Applications: Advances in experimental protocols (especially HTS)
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• Data-Driven Modeling: Analysis of big data requires the use of advanced tools, such as heter ogeneous and cloud computing and dynamic data curation and sharing with algorithms that handle data streams (Charikar et al., 2003; Liu et al., 2007)
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From page 93... ...
estimate how air pollutants respond to changes in atmospheric chemistry and meteorology. Advanced measurements and modeling techniques could help reduce uncertainties related to process-level understanding of complex interactions between natural and human systems governing particulate matter in different CTMs (Shrivastava et al., 2017b)
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It should maintain and enhance expertise enabling it to take full advantage of data management technologies as well as strengthening and leveraging partnerships with organizations across the network of state and local agencies, researchers, and other experts from public and private sectors, including academic institutions. SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER This chapter identifies a number of scientific and technological advances that ORD should consider in its research planning under the topics of environmental monitors and sensors, NTA, biotechnology, participatory research, and data science and machine learning.
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From page 95... ...
2022. It's a long way to the tap: Microbiome and DNA-based omics at the core of drinking water quality.
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2019. Advancing computational toxicology in the big data era by artificial intelligence: Data-driven and mechanism-driven modeling for chemical toxicity.
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2022. A systematic review of the use of silicone wristbands for environmental exposure assessment, with a focus on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
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2017. Direct human breath analysis by secondary nano‐electrospray ionization ultrahigh‐resolution mass spectrometry: Importance of high mass resolution and mass accuracy.
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2020b. Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations.
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2020. Patterns and predictions of drinking water nitrate violations across the conterminous United States.
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2019. Environmental justice and drinking water quality: Are there socioeconomic disparities in nitrate levels in U.S.
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2021.Associations between private well water and community water supply arsenic concentrations in the conterminous United States. Science of the Total Environment 787:147555.
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by big data and data-driven machine learning modeling. Drug Discovery Today 25(9)
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