Assessment of groundwater quality for irrigation using water quality index (IWQ Index) in Al-Kasik Subdistrict Northwestern, Iraq

This research work analysed groundwater quality in Al-Kasik district northeastern of Mosul city, Iraq. The area is agricultural land which uses well water for livestock watering and irrigation. Groundwater samples were collected from five wells during dry season to determine the following parameters: pH, electrical conductivity (EC25,), anions, cations, soluble sodium percentage (SSP), sodium absorption ratio (SAR), residual sodium carbonate (RSC) and potential salinity, permeability index and Kelly Ratio, IWQ index model was applied for the evaluation. The well water samples were evaluated for agricultural uses according to universal standard classification. Results indicated that most of the measured parameters were high especially electrical conductivity (5369μS/cm), with P. Salinity, Sodium, Calcium and Sulfate ions having 30.7, 15.3, 34.0, 29.3 meq. l-1 respectively. These have an effect on water quality hence considered being of very high salinity (C4) according to United State Salinity Laboratory (USSL). According to the water quality index (IWQ index), the analyzed water was specified as low restriction (LR) to Severe restriction (SR) for irrigation. Keywords: Water Quality; Groundwater; Quality Index; Water Quality Models

Pattern of Residential Water Demand Analysis for Maiduguri Metropolis, North-Eastern Nigeria

This study investigated the projected 50-year water demand of Maiduguri township from 2006 to 2056. The impact of socio-economic factors on water consumption pattern of the population was also assessed. Data were collected from 200 households using structured questionnaires and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS). The results show that on an average, a household in Jere and Maiduguri consumes an estimated 421.85l L/day while areas worst hit are new layouts and those covered by the phase 2 water treatment plant (yet to be completed). In addition, it was found that, gender, education, household size and income were statistically significant predictors of water demand. Furthermore, the results revealed that in 2006, the combined population of Jere and Maiduguri was 749,123, which was later projected to be around 3,618,579 by the year 2056. Similarly, water demand was estimated to rise to approximately 154,443 M3/day by the year 2056 to meet the water demand of the growing population. However, in 2006, the combined water supplied from Maiduguri water treatment plant and all the functional boreholes (public boreholes) stands at 31,973M3/day while in 2016 it rose to 43,811 M3/day. The increase was due to additional supplies obtained from boreholes provided by some Non-Governmental Organization (NGOs) in some locations across the two areas. It is noteworthy that water supplied in the year 2016 to the population was grossly inadequate to meet the household water demand. Therefore, with the projected water demand of about 154,443 M3/day by 2056, it is recommended that all existing water supply schemes including the proposed phase 2 of the Maiduguri surface water treatment plant designed to cover West end, Wulari, Bulunkutu and Maduganari areas to be completed to increase the supply. Service boreholes in newly established layouts should be put to operate at full capacity including the additional ones drilled. Also, the Dala Alamdari mini water works constructed by International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which is operated below its installed capacity due to poor management to be enhanced

Manẓūm ibn ʿĀshur (Ibn ʿĀshur's Poems)

The entire manuscript is available for download as a single PDF file. Higher-resolution images may be available upon request. For technical assistance, please contact [email protected]. Fieldwork Team: Dr. Mustapha Hashim Kurfi (Principal Investigator), Mohammed Bara’u Musa & Hauwa Usman (Local Project Managers), Adamu Mohammed, Abacha Kachalla, Abdrra’uf Abdullahi & Falmaa Madu Ibrahim (General Field Facilitators), and Haladu Mamman (Photographer). Technical Team: Prof. Fallou Ngom (Director African Studies Center), and Eleni Castro (Technical Lead, BU Libraries). These Collections of Fulfulde & Kanuri Ajami materials are copied as part of the African Studies Center’s African Ajami Library. Access Condition and Copyright: These materials are subject to copyright. All rights reserved to the author. For use, distribution or reproduction contact Professor Fallou Ngom ([email protected]). Citation: Materials in this web edition should be cited as: Kurfi, Mustapha Hashim, Ngom, Fallou, and Castro, Eleni (2019). African Ajami Library: Digital Preservation of Fulfulde & Kanuri Ajami Materials of Northeastern Nigeria. Boston: Boston University Libraries: http://hdl.handle.net/2144/38242. For Inquiries: Please contact Professor Fallou Ngom ([email protected]).Provenance / Custodial history: The owner is Bukar Mustapha. Born in the town of Yusufari in Yobe State (formerly Borno State) in northeastern Nigeria. The owner has an advanced Islamic education and serves as an Imām and Islamic cleric in Yusufari. His father, Goni Mustapha, was a renowned Islamic scholar, and Bukar's mentor. The owner does not recall the length of time the book has been with him, but he is certain that it has been with him no less than 15 years.This manuscript is a collection of Ibn ʿĀshur's poems in Arabic with extensive explicatory glosses in Kanuri Ajami. The Arabic text is written in a regular poetic style. This text is one of the famous works on Islamic jurisprudence, especially in the Mālikī School. Considered by most as an intermediate mid-level work on classical Islamic education in Nigeria, the text is a collection of poems addressing rulings on various forms of Islamic rituals. The text includes an introduction to the work, details on the kinds of ritual purifications necessary before engaging in spiritual rituals, ablution, required prayers, fasting, alms giving, and pilgrimage. Similar texts with glosses in Kanuri, Hausa, Fulfulde, and Tamashek exist. The text has no publication date. It is numbered. It is a complete unbound copy and is in good condition.The contents of this collection were developed with support of the Title VI National Resource Center grant # P015A180164 from the U.S. Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government

Life cycle assessment and environmental profile evaluation of lead-free piezoelectrics in comparison with lead zirconate titanate

The prohibition of lead in many electronic components and devices due to its toxicity has reinvigorated the race to develop substitutes for lead zirconate titanate (PZT) based mainly on the potassium sodium niobate (KNN) and sodium bismuth titanate (NBT). However, before successful transition from laboratory to market, critical environmental assessment of all aspects of their fabrication and development must be carried out in comparison with PZT. Given the recent findings that KNN is not intrinsically ‘greener’ than PZT, there is a tendency to see NBT as the solution to achieving environmentally lead-free piezoelectrics competitive with PZT. The lower energy consumed by NBT during synthesis results in a lower overall environmental profile compared to both PZT and KNN. However, bismuth and its oxide are mainly the by-product of lead smelting and comparison between NBT and PZT indicates that the environmental profile of bismuth oxide surpasses that of lead oxide across several key indicators, especially climate change, due to additional processing and refining steps which pose extra challenges in metallurgical recovery. Furthermore, bismuth compares unfavourably with lead due to its higher energy cost of recycling. The fact that roughly 90–95% of bismuth is derived as a by-product of lead smelting also constitutes a major concern for future upscaling. As such, NBT and KNN do not offer absolute competitive edge from an environmental perspective in comparison to PZT. The findings in this work have global practical implications for future Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) legislation for piezoelectric materials and demonstrate the need for a holistic approach to the development of sustainable functional materials

Bioremediation kinetics of pyrene by microbial consortium isolated from local polluted soil

Pyrene (Pyr), a toxic four-ring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) pollutant, is often found at a relatively high concentration in soil sediments of polluted sites. It has been used as a model substrate for higher molecular weight PAHs bioremediation studies. In spite of abundant works on isolation, characterization and application of PAHs degrader, information on bioremediation kinetics and optimisation of Pyr remediation is still very rare. Consequently, the present research aims at isolation and identification of major consortia of Pyr-degrading bacteria from a local polluted site; develops biodegradation kinetics under different operating parameters and investigate their remediation capability using different Pyr-spiked soils. A mixed culture was isolated from a hydrocarbon-contaminated soil by enriching with 1.5 ppm of Pyr as sole source of carbon and energy. The phenotype of mixed culture was identified by screening and biochemical methods. Inoculum was grown in nutrient broth supplemented with 0.75 ppm of Pyr for aqueous degradation, and with 100 ppm of Pyr in a mineral salt medium supplemented with 1% of yeast extract for the development of kinetics. Investigation was conducted on the degradation of Pyr in aqueous medium using different range of Pyr concentrations (10 ppm-100 ppm and 100 ppm-700 ppm) as carbon source and monitored over the period of 15 days. The progress of pyrene degradation was quantitatively monitored using HPLC. Surface response methodology was employed as a design tool in optimizing bioremediation of Pyr-spiked soils with various sets of operating conditions in a soil-slurry batch reactor. The initial screening from the mixed-culture showed 14 types of microbial strains isolated: 12 strains were identified biochemically as Bacillus cereus and the remaining 2 were identified as Enterobacter aerogenes. Degradation of 1.5 ppm and 3.0 ppm of Pyr and biomass growth in aqueous medium occurred within six days with a short lag period followed by log phase from day 2- day 6 with moderate specific growth rate, _ at 0.07 h 1 and 0.024 h 1 respectively. For both cultures, more than 90 % of Pyr was degraded during this log phase growth period and thus can be classified as"growth associated" degradation kinetics. Investigation on environmental factors showed that they grew well at mild acidic to neutral pH of 4 to 7 and did not grow at pH 8. In addition, the effect of temperature indicated that the culture grows favourably at a range of temperature of 20oC and 30oC and not with temperature of 40oC. Moreover, preliminary investigate from the culture media using GCMS revealed the metabolites of naphthalene, benzenepropanl, 1,4-benzenediol, benzoic acid, ethanone, 2(3H0)-Furanone, 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid, dibutyl phthalate and Di-n-octyl phthalate. From the results of the soil-slurry batch reactor,biomass growth was dependent on Pyr concentration and slurry's initial pH,but not soil/water ratio. A ratio of Pyr to soil of 1000 mg/kg and the initial pH of 5 resulted in the highest percentage of Pyr removal. There is linear relationship between initial pH and nal pH, while the soil/water has no effect on the growth of the biomass in the reactor. Probably due to the chosen range of soil/water ratio of (0.1-0.2) might provide adequate space for mixing and microbial mobility within the soil-slurry reactor. Initial screening of concentration shows that, the mixed culture could not grow above concentration range of (100 ppm-700 ppm). Subsequently, the concentration ranges of between (100 ppm-700 ppm) and (10 ppm-100 ppm) were used for the development of the kinetics. The result of degradation kinetics developed were fitted into Monod equation, with r2 0.67, and r2 0.68, respectively. However, degradation models of Haldane, Webb, Yano and Aiba could not describe the degradation kinetics of the mixed culture. Consequently,there is non-conformity of the mixed culture to Monod model, although the correlation. coeficient shows 67% and 68%, and fairly described by the Monod model,which describes microbial growth with respect to substrate depletion. Therefore,and probably, the mixed culture growth differently within the culture medium or perhaps their synergy on the growth substrate depends on different metabolites within the culture medium

ARTIFICIAL WETLANDS-AN EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR PRESERVATION OF ECO-SYSTEM OF GANGA RIVER

ABSTRACT This paper presents a study of an artificial wetland, at Warangal, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, used for the treatment of municipal wastewater. Such treatment processes are in great demand because of their satisfactory performance, low maintenance and operating costs and eco-friendliness. A free water surface type of artificial wetland was studied, with dimensions 20.0 m x 5.5 m, and a depth 0.4 m and the retention period of 7 days. Wetland vegetations consisted of emergent macrophyte Typha-latifolia. Removal efficiency of organic matter, nutrients and pathogens was observed for a period of one year. Removal efficiency of 70% COD, 65% Nitrate, 99% pathogens were achieved. The overall effluent quality was found to be acceptable for disposal into water bodies' and/or/reuse for irrigation. As the climate and typical raw wastewater quality are similar in Gangetic basin, this type of treatment may be most economical and feasible option for treating municipal and industrial wastewater in order to preserve the natural eco-system of Ganga River

Application of Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP) Technology in Geotechnical and Geo-Environmental Engineering: A Review

One of the most recent areas of research in geotechnical and geo-environmental engineering is bio-mineralization, a natural process in living organisms, also known as Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation. It is the formation of calcium carbonate from a supersaturated solution due to the presence of microbial cells and bio-chemical activities. In the process, microbes secrete metabolic products that reacts with ion in the medium to precipitate minerals. Through this process, soil improvement/remediation have been investigated and proven reliable with minute carbon print as compared to conventional binders. This paper presents an overview on the wide application of Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation in the areas of geotechnical and geo-environmental engineering with the mechanisms and factors influencing its performance explained. The work has also considered both laboratory and field scale researches conducted in these areas. The key contribution of this work is the compilation of different approaches in soil stabilization and remediation, via urease producing microbes, in single source. It also outlined different treatment dosages based on environmental conditions suitable to soil types