• Advances in environmental research
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.95-108
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• 2016

Urban geology is the study of urban geologic environments to provide a scientific basis for rational land use planning and urban development and provides information on geologic environments as a basis for city planners. Based on AEG recommendations, urban geological studies covered the urbanism and historical backgrounds, geological setting, engineering geological constraints and environmental assessments of understudied cities. The aim of this study is to provide a good view of urban geology of Tabriz city the capital of East Azerbaijan province in Iran. The topics of discussions about Tabriz city urban geology are included geologic (geomorphology, geology, climatology and hydrogeology), engineering geological (earthquake, landslide and geotechnical hazards investigations) and environmental characteristics (air, soil and water hazards assessment).The results of the urban geologic studies indicated that Tabriz city in terms of engineering geological and environmental constraints is at high risk potential and in terms of seismic activity and landslide instability is highly potential. In terms of air, soil and water pollution there are many important environmental concern in this city.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.281-293
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• 2014

The present work aimed to study the decolorization kinetics and characteristics of a selected azo dye under the influence of two key operational parameters including hydraulic retention time (HRT) and solid retention time (SRT). The decolorization efficiency and the two important criteria of k and normalized k (k/MLSS) were evaluated in lab-scale membrane sequencing batch reactors (MSBRs) at various HRTs of 48, 24 and 16 h (with constant SRT) and in addition, at various SRTs of infinity, 40 and 10 d (with constant HRT). According to the obtained results, both zero and first-order kinetics were properly fitted the decolorization profiles of the selected azo dye in all of the applied HRTs and SRTs. Increase of both HRT and SRT positively affected the decolorization efficiency. More MLSS concentrations corresponded to the lower HRTs and the higher SRTs resulted in higher decolorization rate constants (k). However, the effect of reducing the HRT was not compensated by increase of the MLSS concentration in order to reach higher decolorization efficiency. In addition, increase of the decolorization efficiency, as a consequence of the higher MLSS concentrations at longer SRTs, was restrained by decrease of the time-limited decolorization capability of biomass (represented by normalized k). Evaluation of both k and normalized k is suggested in order to have a more precise study on the decolorization kinetics and characteristics.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.405-421
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• 2020

Quayside container cranes are important delivery machineries located in the most frontiers of container terminals, where strong wind attacks happen occasionally. Since the previous researches on quayside container cranes mainly focused on the mean wind load and static response characteristics, the fluctuating wind load and dynamic response characteristics require further investigations. In the present study, the aerodynamic wind loads on quayside container cranes were obtained from wind tunnel tests. The probabilistic and spectral models of the fluctuating aerodynamic loads were established. Then the joint probabilistic distributions of dynamic wind-induced responses were derived theoretically based on a series of Gaussian and independent assumption of resonant components. Finally, the results were validated by time domain analysis using wind tunnel data. It is concluded that the assumptions are acceptable. And the presented approach can estimate peak dynamic sliding force, overturning moments and leg uplifts of quayside container cranes effectively and efficiently.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.359-370
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• 2023

Slime is produced by excavation during the installation of embedded piles, and it tends to mix with the cement paste injected into the pile shafts. The objective of this study is to investigate the strength and stiffness characteristics of cement pasteslime mixtures. Mixtures with different slime ratios are prepared and cured for 28 days. Uniaxial compression tests and elastic wave measurements are conducted to obtain the static and dynamic properties, respectively. The uniaxial compressive strengths and static elastic moduli of the mixtures are evaluated according to the curing period, slime ratio, and water-cement ratio. In addition, dynamic properties, e.g., the constrained, shear, and elastic moduli, are estimated from the compressional and shear wave velocities. The experimental results show that the static and dynamic properties increase under an increase in the curing period but decrease under an increase in the slime and water-cement ratios. The cement paste-slime mixtures show several exponential relationships between their static and dynamic properties, depending on the slime ratio. The bearing mechanisms of embedded piles can be better understood by examining the strength and stiffness characteristics of cement paste-slime mixtures.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.105-131
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• 2014

In this paper, the effects of variability of smear zone characteristics induced by installation of prefabricated vertical drains on the preloading design are investigated employing analytical and numerical approaches. Conventional radial consolidation theory has been adopted to conduct analytical parametric studies considering variations of smear zone permeability and extent. FLAC 2D finite difference software has been employed to conduct the numerical simulations. The finite difference analyses have been verified using three case studies including two embankments and a large-scale laboratory consolidometer with a central geosynthetic vertical drain. A comprehensive numerical parametric study is conducted to investigate the influence of smear zone permeability and extent on the model predictions. Furthermore, the construction of the trial embankment is recommended as a reliable solution to estimate accurate smear zone properties and minimise the post construction settlement. A back-calculation procedure is employed to determine the minimum required waiting time after construction of the trial embankment to predict the smear zone characteristics precisely. Results of this study indicate that the accurate smear zone permeability and extent can be back-calculated when 30% degree of consolidation is obtained after construction of the trial embankment.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.45-55
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• 2019

Climate change has significantly affected the rainfall characteristics which can influence the pollutant build-up and wash-off patterns from the catchment. Therefore, this study explored the influence of varying rainfall characteristics on urban and agricultural runoff pollutant export using statistical approaches. For this purpose, Mann-Kendall and Pettitt's test were applied to detect the trend and breakpoint in rainfall characteristics time series. In addition, double mass curve and correlation analysis were used to drive the relationship between rainfall-runoff and pollutant exports from both catchments. The results indicate a significant decreased in total rainfall and average rainfall intensity, while a significant increased trend for antecedents dry days and total storm duration over the study periods. The breakpoint was determined to be 2013 which shows remarkable trend shifts for total rainfall, average rainfall intensity and antecedents dry days except total duration. Double mass curve exhibited a straight line with significant rainfall-runoff relationship indicates a climate change effect on both sites. Overall, higher pollutant exports were observed at both sites during the baseline period as compared to change periods. In agricultural site, most of the pollutants exhibited significant (p< 0.05) association with total rainfall, average rainfall intensity and total storm duration. In contrast, pollutants from urban site significantly correlated with antecedent dry days and average rainfall intensity. Thus, total rainfall, average rainfall intensity and total duration were the significant factors for the agricultural catchment while, antecedents dry days and average rainfall intensity were key factors in build-up and wash-off from the urban catchment.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.33-38
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• 2010

The effects of fillers on the wet end dewatering and paper properties were investigated in order to confirm the possibility that the fillers can be used as a means for saving energy in papermaking process. The performance of GCC, PCC and talcs were evaluated. The dewatering in wire and wet press was improved by the increase of filler addition, but it was observed that the dewatering behavior was depended by the filler characteristics. PCC was superior to other fillers in the bulk, opacity, air permeability and stiffness while the lowest tensile and burst index were obtained. We found that the response on the wet end dewatering and paper properties were affected greatly by the filler characteristics including particle shape and size.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.1153-1179
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• 2015

This paper focuses on presenting modeling considerations and insight into the performance of typical straight, curved, and skewed box-girder bridges in California which form the bulk of the bridge inventory in the state. Three case study bridges are chosen: Meloland Road Overpass, Northwest Connector of Interstate 10/215 Interchange, and Painter Street Overpass, having straight, curved, and skewed superstructures, respectively. The efficacy of nonlinear dynamic analysis is established by comparing the response from analytical models to the recorded strong motion data. Finally insights are provided on the component behavioral characteristics and shift in vulnerability for each of the bridge types considered.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.67-80
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• 2023

Due to the nature of the conjunctive Cone Penetration Test(CPT), which does not verify the actual sample directly, geotechnical engineers commonly classify the underground geomaterials using CPT results with the classification diagrams proposed by various researchers. However, such classification diagrams may fail to reflect local geotechnical characteristics, potentially resulting in misclassification that does not align with the actual stratification in regions with strong local features. To address this, this paper presents an objective method for more accurate local CPT soil classification criteria, which utilizes C4.5 decision tree models trained with the CPT results from the clay-dominant southern coast of Korea and the sand-dominant region in South Carolina, USA. The results and analyses demonstrate that the C4.5 algorithm, in conjunction with oversampling, outlier removal, and pruning methods, can enhance and optimize the decision tree-based CPT soil classification model.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.511-515
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• 2000

The purpose of this experiment is to prepare ethylene propylene diene terpolymer(EPDM)/ acrylonitrile butadiene rubber(NBR) blend which represents good environmental resistant properties including favorable oil and ozone resistance. With incorporation of EPDM, NBR and other ingredients, the rubber and chemical additives were mixed by mechanical method such as Banbury mixer and open 2-roll mill. Then rubber vulcanizates were manufactured by hot press and mechanical properties, oil and ozone resistance of the test specimens were measured. The oil resistance and ozone resistance of EPDM and NBR, respectively, is remarkably improved by blending EPDM with NBR. The optimum results of oil and zone resistant characteristics were obtained at EPDM/NBR(=25/75 wt%) composition ratio.