The grading entropy concept can be adapted to the field of geotechnics, to establish criteria for phenomena such as particle packing, particle migration and filtering, through a quantified expression of the order/disorder in the grain size distribution, in terms of two entropy-based parameters. In this paper, the grading entropy theory is applied in some geotechnical case studies, which serve a...

A method of determination of high Zn and Pb concentrations by means of EDXRF (energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry) is presented. Zn and Pb concentration in soil samples from contaminated areas ranged within a limit of Zn: 800–2000ppm and Pb: 200–600ppm. Soil analysis was conducted directly after the samples had been dried and powdered, as well as in situ in polluted areas. Due to ...

A method for simultaneous determination of nine sulfonylurea herbicides in water and soil samples with solvent demulsification-dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction based on solidification of floating organic drop coupled with high perfomence liquid chromatography was established. 120 μL of 1-dodecanol as extractant and 400 μL of methanol as dispersing reagent were injected into the sample s...

We have developed commercially viable phytoremediation/phytomining technologies employing Alyssum Ni-hyperaccumulator species to quantitatively extract Ni from soils. The majority of Ni is stored either in Alyssum leaf epidermal cell vacuoles or in the basal portions only of the numerous stellate trichomes. Here, we report simultaneous and region-specific localization of high levels of Ni, Mn, ...

A method of moments (MoM) analysis is developed for electromagnetic scattering from a dielectric body of revolution (BOR) embedded in a layered medium (the half-space problem constituting a special case). The layered-medium parameters can be lossy and dispersive, of interest for simulating soil. To make such an analysis tractable for the wide-band (short-pulse) applications of interest here, we...

The source profile for soil in Hong Kong is important both for determination of the main air pollutant source in Hong Kong and for assessment of the impact of Asian dust storms on Hong Kong. Soil associated with different rock types have been sampled, and the concentrations of 19 chemical elements, Na, Al, Si, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, K, Ca, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb, Rb, Sr, Y and Zr, have been determined ...

Peats are geotechnically problematic soil due to their high compressibility and low shear strength. Cement is widely used for the stabilization of peat by deep mixing method (DMM). This paper presents the results of the model study of compressibility property of peats stabilized with cement columns formed by DMM. The results of consolidation test, scanning electron micrographs (SEM) and energy ...

Energy dispersive x-ray analysis was used to study the composition of certain protein body components in Cucurbita maxima cotyledons. The globoid crystal was rich in phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium. This elemental composition provides further evidence that the globoid crystal in squash cotyledon protein bodies is composed of phytin, a myoinositol hexaphosphoric acid salt of potassium and m...

The eco-toxicological indicators used to evaluate soil quality complement the physico-chemical criteria employed in contaminated site remediation, but their cost, time, sophisticated analytical methods and in-situ inapplicability pose a major challenge to rapidly detect and map the extent of soil contamination. This paper describes a sensor-based approach for measuring potential (substrate-indu...