This review focuses on conservation agriculture (CA) and its effects on increasing the soil’s resistance to erosion. CA involves minimum soil disturbance (minimum tillage/ no-till), diversified crop rotation, and maintenance of the soil cover to increase soil fertility and reduce erosion. CA reduces soil loss by up to 90% and water erosion by approximately 50 to 70% from runoff as it increases the health of the soil, yield of crops, and water-retention capacity of the soil by incorporating soil organic matter and promoting biodiversity. Crop rotation prevents the replenishment and depletion of soil nutrients by atmospheric fixation of nitrogen/biological nitrogen fixation. Controlled traffic farming (CTF) is a new strategy in which travel

The contamination of soil with the wastes of oil industry products that are complex mixtures of hydrocarbons increased recently due to the large development of oil industries in Iraq. This study deals with the remediation of low permeability contaminated clayey soil by using the enhanced electrokinetic technique (EK). The contaminated soil samples obtained from Thi-Qar oil refinery plant in Al-Nassyriah city, where the byproducts of refinery plant are disposed into that site. The byproduct contaminant treated as total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) to avoid dealing and complexity of treating the individual minerals and compounds consisting the contaminant. The initial concentrations of TPH were (702.7, 1168, 1235) ppm in the contaminated s

Hydrophobic silica aerogels were successfully preparation by an ambient pressure drying method from sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) with different pH values (5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10). In this study, acidic HCl (1M), a basic NH4OH (1M) were selected as a catalyst to perform the surface modification in a TMCS (trimethylchlorosilane) solution. The surface chemical modification of the aerogels was assured by the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic studies. Other physical properties, such as pore volume and pore size and specific surface area were determined by Brunauer-Emmett- Teller (BET) method. The effect of pH values on the bulk density of aerogel. The sol–gel parameter pH value in the sol, have marked effects on the physical proper

The choice of gate dielectric materials is fundamental for organic field effect transistors (OFET), integrated circuits, and several electronic applications. The operation of the OFET depends on two essential parameters: the insulation between the semiconductor layer and the gate electrode and the capacitance of the insulator. In this work, the electrical behavior of a pentacene-based OFET with a top contact / bottom gate was studied. Organic polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and inorganic hafnium oxide (HfO2) were chosen as gate dielectric materials to lower the operation voltage to achieve the next generation of electronic applications. In this study, the performance of the OFET was studied using monolayer and bilayer gate insulators. To mo

The choice of gate dielectric materials is fundamental for organic field effect transistors (OFET), integrated circuits, and several electronic applications. The operation of the OFET depends on two essential parameters: the insulation between the semiconductor layer and the gate electrode and the capacitance of the insulator. In this work, the electrical behavior of a pentacene-based OFET with a top contact / bottom gate was studied. Organic polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and inorganic hafnium oxide (HfO₂) were chosen as gate dielectric materials to lower the operation voltage to achieve the next generation of electronic applications. In this study, the performance of the OFET was studied using monolayer and bilayer gate insulators.

In this study, the response and behavior of machine foundations resting on dry and saturated sand was investigated experimentally. In order to investigate the response of soil and footing to steady state dynamic loading, a physical model was manufactured to simulate steady state harmonic load at different operating frequencies. Total of 84 physical models were performed. The footing parameters are related to the size of the rectangular footing and depth of embedment. Two sizes of rectangular steel model footing were tested at the surface and at 50 mm depth below model surface. Meanwhile the investigated parameters of the soil condition include dry and saturated sand for two relative densities 30% and 80%. The response of the footing was ela

Stone columns are widely used globally due to theirversatility and relative wide applicability to treat different soil and foundation situations but much of the research undertaken to date has focused on their use in soft soils. In countries like Iraq the use of stone columns is still limited from a practical point of view, chiefly as many other soil conditions are commonly encountered. These include collapsible soils: soils that are prone to relatively rapid volume compressions (through collapse of metastable fabrics) that occur due to the action of load and/or increases in water content. Recent work has opened up the possibility to use stone columns in these soils by the use of encasement, thereby overcoming the impact of loss of lateral

The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of moisture concrete of clayey soil on the concrete slabs placed directly over it. This experimental study presents the mechanical properties of the concrete slab when placed on different clayey soil moisture content ranging from 0% to the optimum moisture content of 35%. The tests were performed on soil concrete specimens of 25*30*50 mm exposed to sprayed water curing conditions for 28 days. Tests of compressive strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity, crack depth and crack width were investigated through this paper. An ejection relationship between compressive strength of concrete and water content in the soil was observed, with a 26% increase with water increasing from 0% to 35%. T