Soft clays are generally sediments deposited by rivers, seas, or lakes. These soils are fine-grained plastic soils with appreciable clay content and are characterized by high compressibility and low shear strength. To deal with soft soil problems there is more than one method that can be used such as soil replacement, preloading, stone column, sand drains, lime stabilization and Prefabricated Vertical Drains, PVDs. A numerical modeling of PVD with vacuum pressure was analyzed to investigate the effect of this technique on the consolidation behavior of fully and different depths of partially saturated soft soils. Laboratory experiments were also conducted by using a specially-designed large consolidmeter cell. Five tests were conducted with a vacuum pressure of about 40 kPa applied for a period of 30 days where the degree of consolidation reached 75% based on pore-water pressure distribution. The results showed that using vacuum pressure with vertical drains reduces the consolidation time by about 68%. Existence of an unsaturated soil layer decreases settlement of soil by about 22%, 32%, 425, 54% as the unsaturated depth increases by 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2L respectively and causes a rapid increase in soil pore-water pressure.
The importance of specifying proper aggregate grading for achieving satisfactory performance in pavement applications has long been recognized. To improve the specifications for superior performance, there is a need to understand how differences in aggregate gradations within the acceptable limits may affect unbound aggregate base behavior. The effects of gradation on strength, modulus, and deformation characteristics of high-quality crushed rock base materials are described here. Two crushed rock types commonly used in constructing heavy-duty granular base layers in the State of Victoria, Australia, with three different gradations each were used in this study. The gradations used represent the lower, medium, and upper gradation li
... Show MoreA microbial desalination cell (MDC) is a new approach to bioelectrochemical systems. It provides a more sustainable way to electrical power production, saltwater desalination, and wastewater treatment at the same time. This study examined three operation modes of the MDC: chemical cathode, air cathode, and biocathode MDC, to give clear sight of this system's performance. The experimental work results for these three modes were recorded as power densities generation, saltwater desalination rates, and COD removal percentages. For the chemical cathode MDC, the power density was 96.8 mW/m2, the desalination rate was 84.08 ppm/hr, and the COD removal percentage was 95.94%. The air cathode MDC results were different
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Although the subject of biofuels industry is linked directly to the energy sector, but has links and numerous indirect effects, in particular effects on the environment and agriculture, this study (opportunities and challenges of biofuels industry and impact on the development of the agricultural sector in developing countries) a modest step to identify the industry in detail and identify the types of products and raw materials entering, then define or limit the positive and negative impacts of this industry in General and for specific products In particular, detailed, and then flip all those effects on the agricultural sector in developing countries can benef
... Show MoreHyperthyroidism or thyrotoxicosis occurs due to excess release of thyroid hormone. These hormones regulate the body’s energy balance and have effects on adipokine level. There are several reports suggesting interrelation between adipokines (resistin and leptin) with thyroid dysfunction. Objectives: This study was established to investigate the effect of thyroid hormones in hyperthyroidism state on the level of some adipokines, leptin and resistin; in comparison with control. Patients and Methods: The present study included 50 Iraqi female patients with hyperthyroidism with age ranged between 30-58 years and 30 healthy controls with age ranged between 30-53 years. Serum samples were collected from study groups. The levels of thyroid hormon
... Show MoreABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Estrogens has traditionally been known as the female hormone, but this idea has been challenged in early 1990’s and an essential physiological role for estrogen in male fertility was identified. Phytoestrogens are naturally occurring non-steroidal plant chemicals that can act like the female hormone estrogen. The herbs ( anise alfalfa and vervain ) chosen in this study contain phytoestrogens. OBJECTIVE: Previous studies demonstrated controversy of the effects of phytoestrogens on the rat testes .Hence, the present investigation was undertaken to investigate the influence of typical dose of herbs containing phytoestrogen on the rat testis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-four apparently normal mature male rats we
... Show MoreA novel series of chitosan derivatives were synthesized via reaction of chitosan with carbonyl compounds and grafted it’s by with different amine compounds substituted hydrogen. The produced polymers were characterized by different analyses FTIR, 1HCNMR, XRD, DSC and TGA. Solubility in water as well as many solvent was investigated, antibacterial activity of chitosan and its derivatives against two types of bacteria E. coli and S. aureus was also investigated. The results showed that derivatives sort of have antibacterial activities against Esherichia coli (Gram negative) better than chitosan whilst compound IX has better antibacterial against Staphylococcus aureus (Gram positive). SEM analysis showed that increase of surface roughness wi
... Show MoreBackground: Celiac disease is an autoimmune chronic disease that affects the human’s intestine and subsequently reflects its effect on the entire body health by retardation the absorption and immune mediated complications cause the involvement of oral health. The present study intended to evaluate the impact of the histopathological disease activity upon dental enamel defects and dental caries.
Subjects and methods: Forty celiac-diseased patients aged 7-11 years were collected from 3 different teaching hospitals in Baghdad classified by means of the histopathological activity of the intestinal disease according to modified Marsh-Ros
... Show MoreIn this paper, a description of a design for new DES block cipher, namely DES64X and DES128X. The goals of this design, a part of its security level, are large implementation flexibility on various operating systems as well as high performances. The high level structure is based on the principle of DES and Feistel schema, and proposes the design of an efficient key-schedule algorithm which will output pseudorandomsequences of subkeys. The main goal is to reach the highest possible flexibility, in terms of round numbers, key size, and block size. A comparison of the proposed systems on 32-bit, 64-bit operating system, using 32-bit and 64-bit Java Virtual Machine (JVM), showed that the latter has much better performance than the former.
... Show MoreForeign direct investment (FDI) is one of the most practical types of foreign investment. FDI contributes to job creation, foreign exchange earnings and national income escalation, improving semi-skill and skilled labor. Based on our knowledge, this paper is the first study attempting to investigate the effect of political stability on the FDI in Turkey using an econometric approach. Achieving this objective, a co-integration analysis was conducted between the FDI and its determinants in the short-run and long-run including “macroeconomic indicators” and “Political Stability (PS)” in Turkey. Using annual data from 1974 to 2017 via Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model. The results confirm the positive correlation betwe
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