An Improved Data-Driven Multiple Criteria Decision-Making Procedure for Spatial Modeling of Mineral Prospectivity: Adaption of Prediction–Area Plot and Logistic Functions

Natural Resources Research - Assigning realistic weights to targeting criteria in order to synthesize various geo-spatial datasets is one of the most important challenging tasks for mineral...     

Kinetic Determination of Trace Amounts of Nitrite Using an Optical Chemical Sensor

An optical chemical sensor (optode) is proposed for the kinetic determination of nitrite ion. The optode was fabricated by the immobilization of methyl violet on a triacetylcellulose polymeric membrane. Methyl violet is covalently bonded to a transparent triacetylcellulose film. By immersion of the sensor into an acidic nitrite solution, the absorbance of the sensor at 596 nm decreases with time that is due to the reaction of nitrite with the immobilized methyl violet. A fixed time method of 15 min was used to monitor the reaction. The linear range for the determination of nitrite was 0.20–8.00 µg mL^?1 and the limit of detection was 0.08 µg mL^?1. The optodes were one‐shot, they had durability more than 2 months and were easily prepared. The optode was successfully applied to the determination of nitrite ion in spring water and sewage samples.     

DEM-aided study of Coulomb and Roscoe theories for shear band inclination

Acta Geotechnica - In general, there are two classical solutions in soil mechanics to predict the shear band orientation in dense granular materials: the Coulomb and Roscoe theories. The present...     

Conformal analysis of seepage below a hydraulic structure with an inclined cutoff

Conformal mapping techniques are used to obtain an exact solution for seepage flow below a hydraulic structure founded on permeable soil of infinite depth for a flat floor with an inclined cut-off at the downstream end. Results are presented for different values of b/s and θ. The exit gradient decreases considerably along a distance beyond the floor end with an increase in cut-off inclination. The maximum exit gradient decreases for θ = 10, 20 and 30° and starts increasing for θ = 45°. The uplift pressure decreases as θ increases. It is concluded that using an inclined cut-off increases the factor of safety in design against uplift and piping.     

Impacts of human activities and natural inputs on heavy metal contents of many coral reef environments along the Egyptian Red Sea coast

In order to monitor the heavy metals effect coming from both human activities and natural inputs on coral reef environments of the Egyptian Red Sea coast, metal concentrations in thirty- eight coral reef species and nearby sediment samples collected from seven studied sites were analyzed. Four sites represent impacted areas; included from south to north Hamrawein, Safaga and Hurghada Harbours and Ras El-Behar Area. Wadi El-Gemal represents natural input area while Qola'an and Kalawye Reefs are the control areas. Heavy metal contents were measured in both coral skeletons and nearby marine sediments. Both impact areas as well as natural inputs area recorded the highest values of metals compared with the control ones. However, heavy metal contents recorded high values in sediments of Hamrawein Harbour, while coral species recorded high values in Wadi El-Gemal area. Generally, metal variations in coral reef species reflect natural conditions and human activity. On the other hand, there are no clear relationships between concentrations of heavy metals in coral reef species and those in sediments.     

Nonlinear site response evaluation of earthquakes: A case study from Sirdjan Balvavard Bridge,Kerman province,Iran

The aim of this study is to illustrate the soil conditions encountered at the proposed bridge sites to analyze and evaluate the test conducted, submit recommendations regarding foundation design. At first by field investigation, the required data was collected and after primary processing the acceptable data was selected. For nonlinear analysis of elastic and rigid half space bed rock, standard hyperbolic model was selected and performed, and the results were compared. The study clearly showed that the effect of bed rock on soil behavior during earthquake is one of the main factors controlling prediction of ground response. A critical aspect of this work was to develop and use a computer code “Abbas Converter” developed by the authors that has several advantages, such as quick installation, acting as a connecter function between the used softwares which can generate the input data corresponding to a defined format and finally, the results of this computer code can be easily exported to the other softwares used in this study. Moreover this code can make it easy to solve the problems encountered.     

Assessing the seismic behavior of steel moment frames equipped by elliptical brace through incremental dynamic analysis (IDA)

Incremental dynamic analysis and nonlinear static pushover analysis are carried out on a performance-based design to determine the seismic demands and capacities of an elliptic braced moment resisting frame (ELBRF). The objective is to assess ductility, overstrength and response modification factors in a modern steel-braced structural system based on incremental dynamic analysis. This integrated system is connected to a beam and column with an appropriate length while providing enough architectural space to allow for an opening without having the common problems associated with architectural spaces in braced systems. Several different classes of buildings are considered on soil type II. Linear dynamic analysis, nonlinear static pushover analysis and incremental nonlinear dynamic analysis related to 12 records from past earthquakes are carried out using OpenSees software. The factors of ductility, overstrength and response modification are calculated for this system. The values of 9.5 and 6.5 are found and suggested only for the response modification factor for ELBRF systems in allowable stress and ultimate limit state methods, respectively. The fragility curves are plotted for the first time for this type of bracing, which contributes to the assessment of building seismic damage.