This paper presents an experimental study of dry longitudinal single–pass turning of X155CrVMo12–1 steel using two cutting inserts with different rake angles. Initially, the model based on dimensional analysis was developed to estimate the main cutting force, while considering three dimensionless groups with six parameters. After experimental validation, the developed dimensional analysis-based model was further for the analysis of the cutting energy and specific cutting energy. Detailed analysis included the analysis of the effects of feed rate, depth of cut and rake angle on considered process performances. The observed correlations between cutting parameters and process performances were compared with the previously published experimental results. It has been observed that the depth of cut has the greatest influence on the main cutting force and cutting energy, while the feed rate has a slightly more pronounced effect on the specific cutting energy.

This study focuses on surface water around the south-western part of Nigeria. This research studies the lagoon's types and amounts of chemical and heavy metal pollutants. It also checks if the lagoon water is safe to use for household purposes. This study characterised the physicochemical parameters and heavy metals in one of the major accessible lagoons. Water samples were gathered during two seasons (wet and dry) in 15 different sampling and control areas and examined using accepted standard measures and methodology. The results showed no significant difference statistically (p>0.005) at 95% confidence between the obtained results from the sampling areas. The results show a pH range of 7.12 to 8.30 and 7.22 to 8.30, total suspended solids to be 25 to 41 mg/L and 28 to 34.5 mg/L, biochemical oxygen demand to be 0.89 to 2.08 mg/L and 0.01 to 1.61 mg/L, dissolved oxygen, 7.12 to 9.0 mg/L and 3.12 to 3.19 mg/L; chemical oxygen demand, 2.8 to 3.84 mg/L and 3.60 to 4.78 mg/L; copper, 0.01 to 0.19 mg/L and 2.23 to 5.04 mg/L; and cadmium, 0.01 to 0.15below mg/L and 3.61 to 5.32 mg/L for the wet and dry seasons, respectively. Some of the obtained results do not agree with the recommended standard quality of water by the World Health Organisation, as well as the Nigerian Standard for Drinking Water Quality; however, the lagoon is safe for public health, provided proper monitoring of human activities around it is done regularly.

Disasters are events that disturb and threaten people's lives caused by nature or/and non-natural factors as well as human factors that cause casualties and economic losses. The polemic of uneven assistance and delays in the event of a natural disaster is the most common thing that occurs during a natural disaster. Location Routing Problem is a continuation of the classical routing problem that combines strategic and operational decisions with the facility location problem and the vehicle routing problem. This study aims to determine the location of the distribution centre construction and the optimal route using the Hybrid Genetic Algorithm and Simulated Annealing methods with the objective function of minimizing total costs and minimizing maximum service time for the distribution of humanitarian aid natural disaster 2018 in Sigi Regency. Optimization is designed into two scenarios, namely the construction of two distribution centres and three distribution centres. The result show that construction of two distribution centres can be designed at locations D3 and D5 with a total cost of IDR405 609 000 and a maximum travel time of 25.921 hours, while the construction of three distribution centres can be done at locations DC1, DC4 and DC 5 or with a total cost of IDR605,778,000 and a maximum service time of 19.634 hours.

The situation with crude oil shipments from Kazakhstan to the European Union has seriously deteriorated since 24 February 2022 when Russia started its invasion of Ukraine. A series of different incidents, which complicated these deliveries, started soon after the beginning of the invasion and this has again brought to light the need to diversify the export routes for the Kazakh crude oil. In spite of numerous previous appeals, the dependence on the transit via the Russian territory only increased over the last years. This paper analyses the reasons for this increased dependence, considers the alternative routes and their attending circumstances and attempts to suggest potential ways out of this situation. Considering this topic, it is essential to mention that Kazakhstan is among the five top suppliers of crude oil to the European Union, and, at the same time, the European Union is the biggest importer of Kazakh crude oil.

The objective of this work is to evaluate the effect of maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene (MAPP) as coupling agent in polypropylene (PP)-based composites filled with ground wheat straw (WS) particles. The WS and the MAPP content in the composites was 10 wt% and 2 wt%, respectively. The samples were fabricated through melt compounding using a twin-screw extruder and then formed into dumbbell-shaped specimens by injection molding. The mechanical properties of neat PP and the composites with and without coupling were evaluated based on tensile and flexural tests and dynamic mechanical analyses (DMA). The experimental results showed that incorporating WS into the PP reduces its tensile strength by ~3 MPa, while improving its Young’s modulus by 0.14 GPa. The addition of MAPP compensated for the loss in tensile strength without affecting the modulus. Similar observations were made during the flexural tests as well, in which case, however, there was no loss revealed in the strength in the presence of WS due to the different types of load. The results of DMA analyses indicated an improved stiffness of WS-containing samples throughout the whole analyzed temperature range of 20-120 °C as a consequence of reduced chain mobility of PP caused by the stiff straw particles.

Internal erosion (IE) often occurs in poor graded sand, one of the traditional treatments is reducing the permeability by grouting. Today, nano-silica becomes a choice of grouting materials as its low viscosity and good penetration capacity. According to present literature, the effect of decreasing loss mass during IE after the improvement of nano-silica was rarely studied. One of the important reasons is that, mass loss during IE was previously focused and was weighed after filtering the effluent by electronic balance, more accurate weighing method should be studied after adding nano-silica which cannot be precisely weighed by electronic balance. In this paper, a new grading method is conducted to monitoring the particle size distribution in the effluent and illustrate the process of IE. Erosion time and permeability are also recorded and analyzed as comparison. The experimental results show that the grading method can monitor precisely the mass loss and the composition of the effluent, grading range of 1-1000 can be adopted to monitor the coagulation of silica gel particles (1-50 , average diameter 11±5 ) and fine sand particles (50-100 , average diameter 65±7 ), grading range of 1-1000 can be adopted to monitor the smaller coagulation of silica gel particles (concentrated in the range of 1-250 nm). Through grading method, the IE of nano-silica improved sand can be divided into three stages: Removal and release of unbonded nano-silica particles and unbonded fine particles; Movement and discharge of bonded particles; Expansion of pores and instability of the whole sample skeleton.

Noticeable increase in impact strength of recycled PET (RPET) was achieved using ethylene-butyl acrylate-glycidyl methacrylate (EBA-GMA) type reactive terpolymer (PTW). The decrease in stiffness and heat resistance due to reactive toughening was successfully compensated by thermal annealing. Based on the results, strong correlation can be shown between crystallinity and impact strength: increasing crystallinity results in reduced impact resistance at PTW contents higher than 5 m/m%, yet a 6-time increase compared to 100 % crystallized RPET was reached with 15 m/m% PTW content. Regarding heat resistance and stiffness, crystallinity appears to be the key parameter: above a critical value of 10 % crystallinity a sharp improvement of the properties can be noticed. Based on the results, properly choosing the elastomer ratio and post-crystallization conditions, post-consumer PET can be suitable for durable engineering applications as well.

The subgrade layer is the lowest pavement layer, which carries the loads transferred from the upper layers. Different researchers have studied the resilient modulus (Mr) of different subgrade soils for the fine-grained and coarse-grained soil types. The layer's resilient response mechanism was found to be different for those fine and coarse materials, and it is vital for improving the pavement performance and life constructed over it. The different parameters related to the soil that can affect the resilient modulus include moisture content, stress level, compaction degree, loading frequency, and matric suction characteristics. Due to the variability of the Mr result, a study is needed for each soil type and input parameter. The effects of these parameters on the Mr are reviewed and discussed in this paper. The results show that the water content beyond the optimum level and the increase in deviatoric stress decreased Mr. In contrast, the increase in confining stress, compaction degree, loading frequency, and matric suction was found to improve the Mr. During the wetting and drying of the soil, the Mr was improved in the drying process.

The accuracy of input data is a key issue in sound propagation model calculations. This paper aimed to assess the effect of building and land cover input data accuracy on CNOSSOS-EU sound propagation model outputs. Calculations were performed for a study site with a quite diverse land cover structure, located along a major road in Monor, Hungary. Nine test cases were defined based on building and land cover datasets with different accuracy. Comparing the results of the test cases to each other, it was found that in residential areas, the sound propagation model is more sensitive to the building data than to the land cover data. Therefore, it is recommended to use more detailed building input data in those areas, while using a land cover database with higher resolution than CORINE land cover data does not provide significantly better results. In non-residential areas, the influence of land cover input data on model results increases significantly.

For both heavy cargo Rail lines and High-Speed Lines, the railway industry continues to develop railway track design technologies. Within the past years, using an asphalt layer as a part of the railway track became so common as a support layer, it helps to reduce noise and vibration levels, reduce the thickness of the cross-sectional layers, reduce the lifetime maintenance, and many other great advantages. This paper will discuss the application of asphalt layers in railways, functionality, application fields, and types of asphalted trackbeds. Design requirements and parameters of asphalt layers, the mix design, installation process, and international experiences will be mentioned. Asphalt layers can improve the overall performance of the trackbeds and their behavior under repeated stresses of trains, the effect of asphalt layers on stress and strain ratios will be briefly discussed.