New Approaches for Teaching Soil and Rock Mechanics Using Information and Communication Technologies

Soil and rock mechanics are disciplines with a strong conceptual and methodological basis. Initially, when engineering students study these subjects, they have to understand new theoretical phenomena, which are explained through mathematical and/or physical laws (e.g. consolidation process, water flow through a porous media). In addition to the study of these phenomena, students have to learn how to carry out estimations of soil and rock parameters in laboratories according to standard tests. Nowadays, information and communication technologies (ICTs) provide a unique opportunity to improve the learning process of students studying the aforementioned subjects. In this paper, we describe our experience of the incorporation of ICTs into the classical teaching-learning process of soil and rock mechanics and explain in detail how we have successfully developed various initiatives which, in summary, are: (a) implementation of an online social networking and microblogging service (using Twitter) for gradually sending key concepts to students throughout the semester (gradual learning); (b) detailed online virtual laboratory tests for a delocalized development of lab practices (self-learning); (c) integration of different complementary learning resources (e.g. videos, free software, technical regulations, etc.) using an open webpage. The complementary use to the classical teaching-learning process of these ICT resources has been highly satisfactory for students, who have positively evaluated this new approach.

Fate and Transport of Naproxen in a Sandy Aquifer Material: Saturated Column Studies and Model Evaluation

Naproxen-C14H14O3 is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug which has been found at detectable concentrations in wastewater, surface water, and groundwater. Naproxen is relatively hydrophilic and is in anionic form at pH between 6 and 8. In this study, column experiments were performed using an unconsolidated aquifer material from an area near Barcelona (Spain) to assess transport and reaction mechanisms of Naproxen in the aquifer matrix under different pore water fluxes. Results were evaluated using HYDRUS-1D, which was used to estimate transport parameters. Batch sorption isotherms for Naproxen conformed with the linear model with a sorption coefficient of 0.42 (cm3 g−1), suggesting a low sorption affinity. Naproxen breakthrough curves (BTCs) measured in soil columns under steady-state, saturated water flow conditions displayed similar behavior, with no apparent hysteresis in sorption or dependence of retardation (R, 3.85-4.24) on pore water velocities. Soil sorption did not show any significant decrease for increasing flow rates, as observed from Naproxen recovery in the effluent. Sorption parameters estimated by the model suggest that Naproxen has a low sorption affinity to aquifer matrix. Most sorption of Naproxen occurred on the instantaneous sorption sites, with the kinetic sorption sites representing only about 10 to 40% of total sorption.

Core-shell nanocomposites prepared by hierarchical co-assembly: the role of the carbon shell in catalytic wet peroxide oxidation processes

The diffraction pattern of Fe3O4 (not shown) confirmed the presence of only one phase, corresponding to magnetite with a lattice parameter a = 8.357 Å and a crystallite size of 16.6 ± 0.2 nm. The diffraction pattern of MGNC (not shown) confirmed the presence of a graphitic phase, in addition to the metal phase, suggesting that Fe3O4 nanoparticles were successfully encapsulated within a graphitic structure during the synthesis of MGNC. The core-shell structure of MGNC is unequivocally demonstrated in the TEM micrograph shown in Fig. 1b. Characterization of the MGNC textural and surface chemical properties revealed: (i) stability up to 400 oC under oxidizing atmosphere; (ii) 27.3 wt.% of ashes (corresponding to the mass fraction of Fe3O4); (iii) a micro-mesoporous structure with a fairly well developed specific surface area (SBET = 330 m2 g-1); and (iv) neutral character (pHPZC = 7.1). In addition, the magnetic nature of MGNC (Fig. 2) is an additional advantage for possible implementation of in situ magnetic separation systems for catalyst recovery.

Physical and acoustic sediment properties of sediment cores from the eastern equatorial Atlantic

To reconstruct the deep-water circulation for the last 3.5 Ma from deep-sea sediments of the eastern equatorial Atlantic, sea floor morphology, sub-bottom reflectors and the echo character have been mapped on the basis of 3.5 kHz records and sediment cores. Physical properties of sediments and synthetic seismograms derived from them enable us to decipher reflector sequences in environments of pelagic, current-resuspended and turbidity sedimentation. The individual reflectors originate from carbonate dissolution, hiatus, coarse sand layers and interferences. Those which are related to carbonate dissolution and hiatus provide evidence of water-mass boundaries by their distribution. Five phases of different deep-water circulation can be seen in the record of th elast 3.5 Ma, and these are related to climate history: 1. Between 3.7 Ma and 2.2 Ma a strong deep-water circulation indicates a northward flow of bottom water below 4200 m (AABW = Antarctic-Bottom Water) and a southward flow of deep-water above 4200 m (NADW = North-Atlantic Deep Water). 2. Between 1.6 and 1.4 Ma a southward flow of bottom water below 4500 m and a diminished southward flow above 4500 m can be detected. This water-mass geometry can be interpreted by an expansion of the NADW-masses and a displacement of the AABW-masses during the same time. 3. Since 1.4 Ma a northward flow of a bottom-water current developed again. This current flow created a leeside sediment ridge in the southern part of the Kane Gap and furrows in the northern part of it. 4. Between 400,000 and 200,000 yrs B. P. the oceanic and atmospheric circulation increased. The strengthened oceanic circulation caused and increase in carbonate dissolution, which is documented by a traceable reflector from 2800 m to 4500 m water depth. At the same time an increase of the atmospheric circulation caused a drastic rise in the pelagic sediment accumulation (> 100 %) through an intensification of upwelling. This runs parallel with a higher oceanic productivity in the northern equatorial divergence zone and an enhanced supply of fluvial and probably eolian sediments from the Senegal and Guinea. 5. Before 10,000 yrs B. P. an erosive northward flowing bottom-water current prevailed below 4500 m water depth. After 10,000 yrs B.P. the bottom-water flow was sluggish and non erosive.

(Table 2) Depth-age control points of ODP Site 177-1090

At Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1090 on the Agulhas Ridge (subantarctic South Atlantic) benthic foraminiferal stable isotope records span the late Oligocene through the early Miocene (25~16 Ma) at a temporal resolution of ?10 kyr. In the same time interval a magnetic polarity stratigraphy can be unequivocally correlated to the geomagnetic polarity timescale (GPTS), thereby providing secure correlation of the isotope record to the GPTS. On the basis of the isotope-magnetostratigraphic correlation we provide refined age calibration of established oxygen isotope events Mi1 through Mi2 as well as several other distinctive isotope events. Our data suggest that the d18O maximum commonly associated with the Oligocene/Miocene (O/M) boundary falls within C6Cn.2r (23.86 Ma). The d13C maximum coincides, within the temporal resolution of our record, with C6Cn.2n/r boundary and hence to the O/M boundary. Comparison of the stable isotope record from ODP Site 1090 to the orbitally tuned stable isotope record from ODP Site 929 across the O/M boundary shows that variability in the two records is very similar and can be correlated at and below the O/M boundary. Site 1090 stable isotope records also provide the first deep Southern Ocean end-member for reconstructions of circulation patterns and late Oligocene to early Miocene climate change. Comparison to previously published records suggests that basin to basin carbon isotope gradients were small or nonexistent and are inconclusive with respect to the direction of deep water flow. Oxygen isotope gradients between sites suggest that the deep Southern Ocean was cold in comparison to the North Atlantic, Indian, and the Pacific Oceans. Dominance of cold Southern Component Deep Water at Site 1090, at least until 17 Ma, suggests that relatively cold circumpolar climatic conditions prevailed during the late Oligocene and early Miocene. We believe that a relatively cold Southern Ocean reflects unrestricted circumpolar flow through the Drake Passage in agreement with bathymetric reconstructions.