Credibility of design rainfall estimates for drainage infrastructures: extent of disregard in Nigeria and proposed framework for practice

Natural Hazards - Rainfall intensity or depth estimates are vital input for hydrologic and hydraulic models used in designing drainage infrastructures. Unfortunately, these estimates are...     

Simulating soil loss rate in Ekbatan Dam watershed using experimental and statistical approaches

Reservoir sedimentation resulting fromwater erosion is an important environmental issue inmany countries where storage of water is crucial for economic and agricultural development.Therefore,this paper reports results from analysis of the soil hydrological response,i.e.soil water erosion,to simulated rainfall resulting in sediment accumulation at the reservoir of Ekbatan Dam(Hamedan province,Iran).Also,another objective of this study was to simulate the future trends in reservoir sedimentation(soil loss rate;SLR)from indoor rainfall simulator data by multiple linear regression(MLR)and Artificial Neural Networks(ANNs).For this research,three sampling points with different types of soils were chosen including clayey sand soil(SC-SM),silty soil(ML),and clayey soil(CL).The input parameters were slope gradient(sin θ),soil type(St),water content(w),dry density(γd),shear strength(τ),unconfined compressive strength(qu),permeability(k),and California bearing ratio(CBR).Using MLR and ANN methods,7 models were developed with 2 constant predictors(i.e.sin θ and St)and 6 free predictors which were added in each step one by one.Among MLR models,model 5 with St,sin θ,γd,τ,w,and qu as input parameters was statistically significant.Among ANN models,model 4 with St,sin θ,?d,τ,and w as input parameters,9 nodes,and 1 hidden layer was statistically significant.The root mean square error(RMSE),mean error(ME),and correlation coefficient(R)values were 1.433 kg/m^2 h,0.0195 kg/m^2 h,and 0.698 for the MLRmodel and 0.38 kg/m^2 h,0.151 kg/m^2 h,and 0.98 for the ANN model,respectively.These results show that the ANN model could better predict the SLR in comparison to the MLR model.The results also demonstrate that shear strength,among the strength parameters,had a greater impact on the SLR than compressive strengths(qu and CBR).Last but not the least,the reservoir sedimentationwas estimated for all methods and compared with the observed data.The results indicate that the ANN model is more appropriate for forecasting/simulating the sediment yield for a small watershed.     

Application of weights-of-evidence and certainty factor models and their comparison in landslide susceptibility mapping at Haraz watershed, Iran

The main goal of this study was to investigate the application of the weights-of-evidence and certainty factor approaches for producing landslide susceptibility maps of a landslide-prone area (Haraz) in Iran. For this purpose, the input layers of the landslide conditioning factors were prepared in the first stage. The landslide conditioning factors considered for the study area were slope gradient, slope aspect, altitude, lithology, land use, distance from streams, distance from roads, distance from faults, topographic wetness index, stream power index, stream transport index and plan curvature. For validation of the produced landslide susceptibility maps, the results of the analyses were compared with the field-verified landslide locations. Additionally, the receiver operating characteristic curves for all the landslide susceptibility models were constructed and the areas under the curves were calculated. The landslide locations were used to validate results of the landslide susceptibility maps. The verification results showed that the weights-of-evidence model (79.87%) performed better than certainty factor (72.02%) model with a standard error of 0.0663 and 0.0756, respectively. According to the results of the area under curve evaluation, the map produced by weights-of-evidence exhibits satisfactory properties.     

Risk assessment of workers exposed to noise pollution in a textile plant

In order to assess the risks associated with worker’s hearing loss, due to exposure to noise pollution, at the Boroujerd Textile Factory a cross sectional study was conducted. 60 workers from the Spinning and Weaving workshops and official staff were randomly selected as case and control groups and their hearing were tested by audiometry. The audiometric results revealed that amongst workers being exposed to the noise pollution in the Spinning and Weaving Workshops there is a distinct increase in the number of cases of hearing loss at high frequencies. There also appears to be a slight bias towards hearing loss in the left ear, in preference to the right in addition, those who have worked for longer than 16 years are subjected to hearing loss even at low frequencies conversely, the office workers (the control group) seem to suffer little or no hearing loss at low frequencies at all, but after approximately 10 years of service there may be some hearing loss, but only at higher frequencies, which could be attributed to presbycusis. Also, the t-test (statistical hypothesis test) results verified the significant difference among both groups at high frequencies. The questionnaire results indicated that workers feel symptoms such as headache, no sense centralization, excitement, nervousness, vertigo. Hence, controlling procedures seem to be essential to protect workers from noise disorders.     

Early Berriasian ammonites from Shal, Talesh region (NW Alborz Mountains, Iran)

An early Berriasian (Berriasella jacobi Zone) ammonite fauna is described for the first time from the Alborz Mountains in northwest Iran. It has been collected from a section located near the village of Shal (Talesh region); in addition to rare phylloceratids, lytoceratids and Neolissoceras, the majority of ammonites belong to the neocomitid subfamily Berriasellinae. With the exception of a new genus and species, Taleshites fuersichi, these taxa are common in European and North African Tethyan successions. Associated calpionellids confirm the early Berriasian age of the ammonite-bearing levels.     

A study of the behaviour of brittle rocks subjected to confined stress based on the Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion

In this study the relationship between brittle rocks’ behaviour and uniaxial compression stress is obtained based on the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion and the behavioural characteristics of brittle rocks under uniaxial compression stress are investigated. According to the laboratory uniaxial compression tests on granite rocks, and also available results in the literature, required parameters in the study are obtained. It is indicated that the behaviour of brittle rocks which is affected by uniaxial compression is function of cohesion. In the other words, cohesion changes as the uniaxial compression increases. Also, in yield point where its stress is equivalent to the uniaxial compressive strength, the cohesion maximises. By suggesting a new viewpoint to the Mohr’s circle, normal stresses on failure plane, shear stresses tangential to the failure plane and hydrostatic stresses are investigated. Results show that, normal stress on the failure plane in yield point of the behavioural curve equals zero and shear stress tangential to the failure plane is maximum which is equal to the maximum rocks’ natural strength. Also, in this point the strength is equi-pressure, therefore the stress is of hydrostatic type.