In the present work, it had been measured the concentration of radon gas (C_Rn) for (10) samples of cement used in constructions before and after painting them using enamel paint, purchased from the local markets, to see the extent of its ability to reduce emissions of Rn-222 in the air. These samples were obtained from different sources available in the local markets in Baghdad and other provinces. The measurements were done by the American-made detector (RAD7). The results showed that the highest C_Rn in the air emitted from cement samples after coating was in the cement sample (Iranian origin) where the concentration was (58.27 Bq/m³) while the lowest C_Rn was found in building material samples

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) have gained much attention as biodegradable polymers, many efforts are being made to minimize the cost of PHAs by finding cheap carbon source depending on the type of microorganism and fermentation conditions. The aims of this study were to evaluate the effects of different glucose concentrations and other important conditions on the PHA production by Bacillus cereus isolated from soil. Polyhydroxyalkanoates PHAs accumulated by soil microorganisms were examined by screening the isolated bacteria using Sudan B Black and Nile Blue staining process. A Gram positive strain was identified using the 16s rRNA gene, deposited in the NCBI GenBank sequence database. Different growth conditions (favorite glucose concentrat

In the case where a shallow foundation does not satisfy with design requirements alone, the addition of a pile may be suitable to improve the performance of the foundation design. The lack of in-situ data and the complexity of the issues caused by lagging in the research area of pile foundations are notable. In this study, different types of piles were used under the same geometric conditions to determine the load-settlement relationships with various sandy soil relative densities. The ultimate pile capacity for each selected pile is obtained from a modified California Bearing Ratio (CBR) machine to be suitable for axial pile loading. Based on the results, the values of Qu for close-ended square pile were increased by 15

In the present work, radon gas concentrations in different surface soil samples in Baghdad governorate were measured using RAD-7 detector. The results have been shown that, the Radon gas concentrations ranged between (41.67±1.78Bq/m3), to (185.67±4.22Bq/m3), a map showing the distribution of the concentration of radon in selected areas was defined to identify areas with high pollution level. The reason for the high concentration of radon is that these surface soil samples are taken from agricultural areas. It is also known that fertilizers contain uranium levels as well as areas bombed in wars in the country. It is worth noting that all radon concentrations in Baghdad governorate are below the recommended minimum of 200-300Bq/m3) (Inte

The placement of buildings and structures on/or adjacent to slopes is possible, but this poses a danger to the structure due to failures that occur in slopes. Therefore, a solution or improvement should be determined for these issues of the collapse of the structure as a result of the failure of the slopes. A laboratory model has been built to test the impact of some variables on the bearing capacity factor. The variables include the magnitude of static axial load applied at the center of footing, the depth of embedment, the spacing between geogrid reinforcement layer and the numbering of the geogrid sheet under the footing, the inclination angle of slope clayey soil (β), the spacing between the footing's edge and the slope's end (b/H). Th

The aim of this research work is to study the effect of stabilizing gypseous soil, which covers vast areas in the middle, west and south parts of Iraq, using liquid asphalt on its strength properties to be used as a base course layer replacing the traditional materials of coarse aggregate and broken stones which are scarce at economical prices and hauling distances. Gypseous soil brought from Al-Ramadi City, west of Iraq, with gypsum content of 66.65%, medium curing cutback asphalt (MC-30), and hydrated lime are used in this study. The conducted tests on untreated and treated gypseous soil with different percentages of medium curing cutback asphalt (MC-30), water, and lime were: unconfined compression strength, and one dimensional confine

Cyanobacteria are prokaryotic photosynthetic communities which are used in biofertilization of many plants especially rice plant. Cyanobacteria play a vital role to increase the plant's ability for salinity tolerance. Salinity is a worldwide problem which affects the growth and productivity of crops. In this work three cyanobacteria strains (Nostoc calcicola, Anabaena variabilis, and Nostoc linkia) were isolated from saline soil at Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate; North Egypt. The propagated cyanobacteria strains were used to withstand salinity of the soil and increase rice plant growth (Giza 178). The length of roots and shoot seedlings was measured for seven and forty days of cultivation, respectively. The results of this investigation showed

In this study, the relationship between the bare soil temperature with respect to its salinity is presented, the bare soil feature is considered only by eliminating all other land features by classifying the site location by using the support vector machine algorithm, in the same time the salinity index that calculated from the spectral response from the satellite bands is calibrated using empirical salinity value calculated from field soil samples. A 2D probability density function is used to analyze the relationship between the temperature rising from the minimum temperature (from the sunrise time) due to the solar radiation duration tell the time of the satellite capturing the scene image and the calibrated salinity index is presented. T