Water scarcity is one of the most important problems facing humanity in various fields such as economics, industry, agriculture, and tourism. This may push people to use low-quality water like industrial-wastewater. The application of some chemical compounds to get rid of heavy metals such as cadmium is an environmentally harmful approach. It is well-known that heavy metals as cadmium may induce harmful problems when present in water and invade to soil, plants and food chain of a human being. In this case, man will be forced to use the low quality water in irrigation. Application of natural materials instead of chemicals to remove cadmium from polluted water is an environmental friendly approach. Attention was drawn in this research wor

Organophosphorus insecticide and growth regulator namely Ethephon (2-chloroethylphosphonic acid) are widely used as a ripening process accelerator and a cultivation duration inhibitor. Pomegranate extract (PPE) has recently been taken into consideration due to its pharmacological effects especially those associated with renal diseases. Thus, this study aims to investigate the possible protective effect of PPE against ethephon-induced nephrotoxicity in rats. In this study four groups of adult male rats were divided into control group, PPE 400 mg/kg group, Ethephon 250 mg/kg group, and finally, PPE + Ethephon group (treated with the same dose of PPE group and Ethephon group). In the current study, kidney function parameters (KIM-1, creatin

In order to implement the concept of sustainability in the field of construction, it is necessary to find an alternative to the materials that cause pollution by manufacturing, the most important of which is cement. Because factory wastes provide siliceous and aluminous materials and contain calcium such as fly ash and slag that are used in the production of high-strength geopolymer concrete with specifications similar to ordinary concrete, it was necessary for developing this type of concrete that is helping to reduce CO₂ (dioxide carbon) in the atmosphere. Therefore, the aim of this study was to study the influence of incorporating various percentages of slag as a replacement for fly ash and the effect of sl

Um-Al-Naaj region in Al-Hawiezah Marsh, Southern Iraq was chosen to study the environmental variations of some water characteristics during 2008, seasonally. The results showed clear seasonal changes in values of some environmental variables (temperature, depth, light penetration, turbidity, total suspended solids, pH, dissolved oxygen, reactive phosphate, reactive nitrite, and reactive nitrate), while there were no clear seasonal changes in electrical conductivity and salinity values. In addition, high nutrients concentrations and light penetration were noted. Statistical analysis showed significant positive relationship between air and water temperature; electrical conductivity and salinity. Water turbidity was significantly affecte

Bearing capacity of a concrete pile in fine grained cohesive soils is affected by the degree of saturation of the surrounding soil through the contribution of the matric suction. In addition, the embedded depth and the roughness of the concrete pile surface (expressed as British Pendulum Number BPN) also have their contribution to the shear strength of the concrete pile, consequently its bearing capacity. Herein, relationships among degree of saturation, pile depth, and surface roughness, were proposed as a mathematical model expressed as an equation where the shear strength of a pile can be predicted in terms of degree of saturation, depth, and BPN. Rel

Carbon nanoparticles are prepared by sonication using carbon black powder. The surface morphology of carbon black (CB) and carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) is investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The particles size ranges from 100 nm to 400 nm for CB and from 10 nm to 100 nm for CNPs. CNPs and CB are mixed with silicon glue of different ratios of 0.025, 0.2, 0.05, and 0.1 to synthesis films. The optical properties of the prepared films are investigated through reflectance and absorbance analyses. The ratio of 0.05 for CNPs and CB is the best for solar paint because of its higher solar water heater efficiency and is then added to the silicon glue . Temperature of cold water and temperature of hot water in storage tank were ta

In this research, the performance of electrocoagulation (EC) using aluminum (Al) electrodes with   Monopolar- parallel (MP-P), and bipolar - series (BP-S) arrangement for simultaneous removal of dissolved silica, and hardness ions (calcium, and magnesium) from synthetic blowdown water of cooling tower were investigated. The effects of current density, initial pH and time of electrolysis on the removal efficiency were studied in a batch stirred unit to find out the best-operating conditions. The obtained results for each target species are evidence that BP-S approach is the best for both electrodes configuration operated at a Current density of 1mA/cm² through 30 min of treatment and pH=10 with the removal of

Flexure members such as reinforced concrete (RC) simply supported beams subjected to two-point loading were analyzed numerically. The Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) was employed for the treatment the non-smooth h behaviour such as discontinuities and singularities. This method is a powerful technique used for the analysis of the fracture process and crack propagation in concrete. Concrete is a heterogeneous material that consists of coarse aggregate, cement mortar and air voids distributed in the cement paste. Numerical modeling of concrete comprises a two-scale model, using mesoscale and macroscale numerical models. The effectiveness and validity of the Meso-Scale Approach (MSA) in modeling of the reinforced concrete beams w

This study presents experimental and numerical investigations on seven one-way, reinforced concrete (RC) slabs with a new technique of slab weight reduction using polystyrene-embedded arched blocks (PEABs). All slabs had the same dimensions, steel reinforcement, and concrete compressive strength. One of these slabs was a solid slab, which was taken as a control slab, while the other six slabs were cast with PEABs. The main variables were the ratio of the length of the PEABs to the length of the slab (lp/L) and the ratio of the height of the PEABs to the total slab depth (hP/H). The minimum decrease in the ultimate load capacity was about 6% with a minimum reduction in the slab weight of 15%. In contrast, the maximum decrease in the