Abstract: Soil samples were collected from and around Alkomos cement factory, Alkomos town, Libya. Soil physiochemical properties were determined. In addition, olive leaves were scanned for their fungal content. This work can conclude that the results obtained for the examined physiochemical characteristics of soil in the area studied prove that cement dust from the Alkomos cement factory in Libya has had a significant impact on the soil. The affected soil properties are pH and total calcium content. These characteristics were found to be higher than those in similar soils from the same area. The increment of soil pH in the same area may be a result of precipitation of cement dust over the years. Different responses were found in each season and each site. For instance, the dominance of fungi of soil and leaves was lowest at 100 m from the factory and the evenness and diversity increased at this site compared to the control area and 250 m from the factory.
Abstract: Geographical routing protocol requires node physical
location information to make forwarding decision. Geographical
routing uses location service or position service to obtain the position
of a node. The geographical information is a geographic coordinates
or can be obtained through reference points on some fixed coordinate
system. Link can be formed between two nodes. Link lifetime plays a
crucial role in MANET. Link lifetime represent how long the link is
stable without any failure between the nodes. Link failure may occur
due to mobility and because of link failure energy of nodes can be
drained. Thus this paper proposes survey about link lifetime
prediction using geographical information.
Abstract: The problem of toughening in brittle materials
reinforced by fibers is complex, involving all of the mechanical
properties of fibers, matrix and the fiber/matrix interface, as well as
the geometry of the fiber. Development of new numerical methods
appropriate to toughening simulation and analysis is necessary. In
this work, we have performed simulations and analysis of toughening
in brittle matrix reinforced by randomly distributed fibers by means
of the discrete elements method. At first, we put forward a
mechanical model of toughening contributed by random fibers. Then
with a numerical program, we investigated the stress, damage and
bridging force in the composite material when a crack appeared in the
brittle matrix. From the results obtained, we conclude that: (i) fibers
of high strength and low elasticity modulus are beneficial to
toughening; (ii) fibers of relatively high elastic modulus compared to
the matrix may result in substantial matrix damage due to spalling
effect; (iii) employment of high-strength synthetic fibers is a good
option for toughening. We expect that the combination of the discrete
element method (DEM) with the finite element method (FEM) can
increase the versatility and efficiency of the software developed. The
present work can guide the design of ceramic composites of high
performance through the optimization of the parameters.
Abstract: In this paper, we study the rainfall using a time series
for weather stations in Nakhon Ratchasima province in Thailand by
various statistical methods to enable us to analyse the behaviour of
rainfall in the study areas. Time-series analysis is an important tool in
modelling and forecasting rainfall. The ARIMA and Holt-Winter
models were built on the basis of exponential smoothing. All the
models proved to be adequate. Therefore it is possible to give
information that can help decision makers establish strategies for the
proper planning of agriculture, drainage systems and other water
resource applications in Nakhon Ratchasima province. We obtained
the best performance from forecasting with the ARIMA
Model(1,0,1)(1,0,1)12.
Abstract: In oases, the surface water resources are becoming
increasingly scarce and groundwater resources, which generally have
a poor quality due to the high levels of salinity, are often
overexploited. Water saving have therefore become imperative for
better oases sustainability. If drip irrigation is currently recommended
in Morocco for saving water and valuing, its use in the sub-desert
areas does not keep water safe from high evaporation rates. An
alternative to this system would be the use of subsurface drip
irrigation. This technique is defined as an application of water under
the soil surface through drippers, which deliver water at rates
generally similar to surface drip irrigation. As subsurface drip
irrigation is a recently introduced in Morocco, a better understanding
of the infiltration process around a buried source, in local conditions,
and its impact on plant growth is necessarily required. This study
aims to contribute to improving the water use efficiency by testing
the performance of subsurface irrigation system, especially in areas
where water is a limited source. The objectives of this research are
performance evaluation in arid conditions of the subsurface drip
irrigation system for young date palms compared to the surface drip.
In this context, an experimental test is installed at a farmer’s field in
the area of Erfoud (Errachidia Province, southeastern Morocco),
using the subsurface drip irrigation system in comparison with the
classic drip system for young date palms. Flow measurement to
calculate the uniformity of the application of water was done through
two methods: a flow measurement of drippers above the surface and
another one underground. The latter method has also helped us to
estimate losses through evaporation for both irrigation techniques. In
order to compare the effect of two irrigation modes, plants were
identified for each type of irrigation to monitor certain agronomic
parameters (cumulative numbers of palms and roots development).
Experimentation referred to a distribution uniformity of about 88%;
considered acceptable for subsurface drip irrigation while it is around
80% for the surface drip irrigation. The results also show an increase
in root development and in the number of palm, as well as a
substantial water savings due to lower evaporation losses compared
to the classic drip irrigation.
The results of this study showed that subsurface drip irrigation is
an efficient technique, which allows sustainable irrigation in arid
areas.
Abstract: Oases are complex and fragile agro-ecosystems. They
have always existed in environments characterized by an arid climate,
scarcity of rainfall, high temperatures and high evaporation. These
palms have grown up despite the severity of the physical
characteristics thanks to the water's existence and irrigation practice.
The oases are generally spread along non-perennial rivers (wadis),
shallow water table or deep artesian groundwater. However, the
sustainability of oasis system is threatened by water scarcity and
declining of water table levels particularly in arid areas. Located in
the southern east area of Morocco, Tafilalet plain encompasses one of
the largest palm groves in the kingdom. In recent years, this area has
become increasingly threatened by water shortage and has seen a
sharp deterioration under the effect of several combined
anthropogenic and climatic factors. The Bayoud disease, successive
years of drought, Hassan Addakhil dam construction etc are all
factors that have affected both water and phoenicicole heritage of the
area. The objective of this study is to understand the interaction
between qualitative and quantitative degradation of groundwater
resources, and the palm grove dynamics, while reviewing the
assumption that groundwater resources contribute in a direct way to
the conservation of this oasis agroecosystem. A historical analysis
tracing both the oasis dynamics and the groundwater evolution has
been established. Data were collected from satellite images, surveys
with different actors (farmers, Regional Office for Agricultural
Development, Basin agency...). They were complemented by a
synthesis of numerous technical reports in the area. The results
showed that within 40 years, the thickness of the groundwater table
has dropped in 50 %. Along with this, there has been a downsizing of
date palm by 50 %. Areas with higher groundwater level were the
least affected by the downsizing. So we can say that the shallow
groundwater contribute significantly and directly to the water supply
of date palm through its root system, and largely ensures the oasis
ecosystem sustainability.
Abstract: Different strategies and tools are available at the oil
and gas industry for detecting and analyzing tension and possible
fractures in borehole walls. Most of these techniques are based on
manual observation of the captured borehole images. While this
strategy may be possible and convenient with small images and few
data, it may become difficult and suitable to errors when big
databases of images must be treated. While the patterns may differ
among the image area, depending on many characteristics (drilling
strategy, rock components, rock strength, etc.). In this work we
propose the inclusion of data-mining classification strategies in order
to create a knowledge database of the segmented curves. These
classifiers allow that, after some time using and manually pointing
parts of borehole images that correspond to tension regions and
breakout areas, the system will indicate and suggest automatically
new candidate regions, with higher accuracy. We suggest the use of
different classifiers methods, in order to achieve different knowledge
dataset configurations.
Abstract: OEE has been used in many industries as measure of
performance. However due to limitations of original OEE, it has been
modified by various researchers. OEE for mining application is
special version of classic equation, carries these limitation over. In
this paper it has been aimed to modify the OEE for mining
application by introducing the weights to the elements of it and
termed as Mine Production index (MPi). As a special application of
new index MPishovel has been developed by authors. This can be used
for evaluating the shovel effectiveness. Based on analysis, utilization
followed by performance and availability were ranked in this order.
To check the applicability of this index, a case study was done on
four electrical and one hydraulic shovel in a Swedish mine. The
results shows that MPishovel can evaluate production effectiveness of
shovels and can determine effectiveness values in optimistic view
compared to OEE. MPi with calculation not only give the
effectiveness but also can predict which elements should be focused
for improving the productivity.
Abstract: In order to efficiently solve the problems created by the deepening energy crisis affecting Europe and the world,
governments cannot neglect the opportunities of using the energy
produced by sun collectors. In many of the EU countries there are sun
collectors producing heat energy, e.g. in 2011 in the area of EU27
(countries which belong to European Union) + Switzerland altogether
37519126 m2 were operated, which are capable of producing 26.3
GWh heat energy. The energy produced by these sun collectors is
utilized at the place of production. In the near future governments
will have to focus more on spreading and using sun collectors.
Among the complex problems of operating sun collectors, this article
deals with determining the optimal tilt angle, directions of sun
collectors. We evaluate the contamination of glass surface of sun
collector to the produced energy. Our theoretically results are confirmed by laboratory measurements. The purpose of our work is to help users and engineers in determination of optimal operation
parameters of sun collectors.