Recent phosphorus (P) pollution in the United States, mainly in Maine, has raised some severe concerns over the use of P fertilizer application rates in agriculture. Phosphorus is the second most limiting nutrient after nitrogen and has damaging impacts on crop yield if found to be deficient. Therefore, farmers tend to apply more P than is required to satisfy any P loss after its application at planting. Several important questions were raised in this study to improve P efficiency and reduce its pollution. The objective of this study was to find potential reasons for P pollution in water bodies despite a decrease in potato acreage. Historically, the potato was found to be responsible for P water contamination due to its high P sensitivity and low P removal (25–30 kg ha−1) from the soil. Despite University of Maine recommended rate of 56 kg ha−1 P, if soil tests reveal that P is below 50 kg ha−1, growers tend to apply P fertilizer at the rate of 182 kg ha−1 to compensate for any loss. The second key reason for excessive P application is its tendency to get fixed by aluminum (Al) in the soil. Soil sampling data from UMaine Soil Testing Laboratory confirmed that in Maine reactive Al levels have remained high over the last ten years and are increasing further. Likewise, P application to non-responsive sites, soil variability, pH change, and soil testing methods were found to be other possible reasons that might have led to increases in soil P levels resulting in P erosion to water streams.
Using zooplankton as bioindicators, this study evaluates the ecological condition of the Euphrates River in Iraq's Babylon Province. Site 1 (North Hillah, next to the old Babylon ruins), Site 2 (Hillah city center), Site 3 (South Hillah, close to Al-Mahaweel), and Site 4 (near Al-Kifl town) were the four monitoring locations chosen along the river. The highest and lowest averages of the measured physical and chemical factors indicate temperature (25.1°-29.4°), pH (7.2-7.9), electrical conductivity (EC) (940 µS/cm-1241µS/cm), total dissolved solids TDS (591 mg/L-789mg/L), dissolved oxygen (DO) (5.6 mg/ l-7.1 mg/L), biological oxygen demand (BOD5) (2.4mg/L-4.2 mg/L), nitrate (1.3 mg/L–3.2 mg/L), nitrite (0.04 mg/L–0.13 mg/L),
... Show MoreAn analytical model in the form of a hyperbolic function has been suggested for the axial potential distribution of an electrostatic einzel lens. With the aid of this hyperbolic model the relative optical parameters have been computed and investigated in detail as a function of the electrodes voltage ratio for various trajectories of an accelerated charged-particles beam. The electrodes voltage ratio covered a wide range where the lens may be operated at accelerating and decelerating modes. The results have shown that the proposed hyperbolic field has the advantages of producing low aberrations under various magnification conditions and operational modes. The electrodes profile and their three-dimensional diagram have been determined whi
... Show MoreThe current research aims at finding out how to properly and correctly manage waste and solid waste and reduce the difficulties faced by all countries. However, it is becoming increasingly acute in developed cities because their economies are growing rapidly. It is necessary to identify the modern methods used in developed countries in managing wastes. The use of modern waste management techniques is a coordinated effort by international agencies within the borders responsible for them. The problem of the study can be identified in the lack of clarity of environmental management procedures in place. The importance of the research contributes to providing greater capacity to the administrative and technical leadership in the municipality
... Show MoreIn the present work, the nuclear shell model with Hartree–Fock (HF) calculations have been used to investigate the nuclear structure of 24Mg nucleus. Particularly, elastic and inelastic electron scattering form factors and transition probabilities have been calculated for low-lying positive and negative states. The sd and sdpf shell model spaces have been used to calculate the one-body density matrix elements (OBDM) for positive and negative parity states respectively. Skyrme-Hartree-Fock (SHF) with different parameterizations has been tested with shell model calculation as a single particle potential for reproducing the experimental data along with a harmonic oscillator (HO) and Woods-Saxo
... Show MoreThe wake potential and wake phenomena for swift proton in an amorphous carbon target were studied by utilising various dielectric function formalisms, including the Drude dielectric function, the Drude–Lorentz dielectric function and quantum dielectric function. The Drude model results exhibited a damped oscillatory behaviour in the longitudinal direction behind the projectile; the pattern of these oscillations decreases exponentially in the transverse direction. In addition, the wake potential extends slightly ahead of the projectile which also depends on the proton coordinate and velocity. The effect of electron binding on the wake potential, characterised by the ratio to 0.1, has been studied alongside the Drude–Lorentz dielectric
... Show MoreConcentrations of uranium were measured in this study for twenty soil samples from four areas with different depths (soil surface-20-40-60-80)cm .The study regions include Missan Governorate (Al-Iskan area,Al-Shibbana area ,Hai-Al Moualimin Al Jadied area ,Sector 30 area). The Uranium concentrations in soil samples measured by using fission tracks registration in (CR-39) track detector that caused by the bombardment of (U-283) with thermal neutrons from (241Am-Be) neutron source that has flux neutron thermal of (5 ×103 n cm-2 s-1). The concentrations values were calculated by a comparison with standard samples. Through out the result, it was found that averages of uranium concentrations in soil samples were as the following : Al - Iskan
... Show MoreThis study examines the vibrations produced by hydropower operations to improve embankment dam safety. This study consists of two parts: In the first part, ANSYS-CFX was used to generate a three-dimensional (3-D) finite volume (FV) model to simulate a vertical Francis turbine unit in the Mosul hydropower plant. The pressure pattern result of the turbine model was transformed into the dam body to show how the turbine unit's operation affects the dam's stability. The upstream reservoir conditions, various flow rates, and fully open inlet gates were considered. In the second part of this study, a 3-D FE Mosul dam model was simulated using an ANSYS program. The operational turbine model's water pressure pattern is conveyed t
... Show MoreThe research aims at conducting a follow-up evaluation of a number of strategic projects implemented by the Directorate of Public Municipalities, one of the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Municipalities and Public Works. The sample included (35) varied strategic projects implemented in most Iraqi governorates. Buildings, municipal buildings, minarets, massacres, multi-story parking, paving and rehabilitation of streets and residential neighborhoods. The difference between the actual and planned times and costs of these projects was then measured and analyzed. These projects were used as a tool for collecting data and information. The questionnaire included four axes, each representing one of the parties to the project, whi
... Show MoreThis work investigates experimentally the effect of using a skirt with a square foundation of 100 mm width resting on dry gypseous soil (i.e., loose soil with 33% relative density), and subjected to an inclined load. Previous works did not study the use square skirted foundation rested on gypseous soil and subjected to inclined load. The investigated soil was brought from Tikrit city with 59% gypsum content. Standard physical and chemical tests on selected soil were carried out. Model laboratory tests were carried out to determine the effect of using a skirt with a square foundation on the load-settlement behavior of gypseous soil and subjected to inclined load with various Skirt depth (Ds) to foundation width (B) ratio
... Show More