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Go to Editorial ManagerAn-Najaf Province is one of the most important cities in Iraq and is experiencing rapid population growth and continuous expansion of infrastructure, including residential buildings, hotels, bridges, and commercial centers. This study aims to establish a spatial database of gypsum content in soils across An-Najaf Province, including Najaf city center and Al-Kufa city, to support safe geotechnical design. A total of 464 boreholes and in situ test records were analyzed using Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques to assess the spatial variability of gypsum content. The adopted methodology comprised four main stages: data collection, georeferencing of geotechnical data, application of interpolation methods, and map generation. Nine geotechnical distribution maps were produced for depths of 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 35 m. Results indicated that the 0–4 m depth layer is predominantly moderately gypsiferous, with gypsum content ranging between 10–25%. The 4–8 m depth layer is mainly slightly gypsiferous, with values between 3–10%, while deeper layers from 8 to 35 m are very slightly gypsiferous, with contents ranging from 0.3–3%. These findings show that the near-surface layers (0–4 m) exceed the allowable gypsum content limit of 10%, which may pose potential risks to construction stability, particularly in combination with the high groundwater levels in the Najaf region.
Recently, methods have emerged to assess the vulnerability of groundwater to pollution, which has been adopted by many countries that depend on groundwater as an important and supportive resource for surface water to protect groundwater and monitor and control its pollution. Assessment methods adopt vulnerability maps and compare them with the real-life pollution map of the region. The study was conducted in Al-Teeb area, which is located in the northeast of Missan province, south of Iraq. This area is about 2450 km 2 . This study applied four models DRASTIC, GOD, SINTACS and Modified DRASTIC of vulnerability maps are analyzed using GIS technique and compared with the reality map which represent the nitrate concentration map as a basic comparison map; in order to choose the closest one with respect to the realistic acting. The results showed that 80.29 % of study area is classified under low vulnerability in DRASTIC method and moderate vulnerability in GOD, SINTACS and MD-DRASTIC which are covered 54.12 %, 83.18 % and 72.35 % of study area respectively. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to compare the four methods with the nitrate concentration map, where the correlation value for DRASTIC, GOD, SINTACS and MD-DRASTIC was 73.05, 49.79, 83.23 and 87.94 %, respectively. So, the MD-DRASTIC is represented the best technique for evaluating vulnerability map in the study area which can be recommended.
Several governments around the world announced new strategies regarding their construction industry. These strategies focus on reducing construction projects' time, cost and improving their impact on the environment. To achieving these goals within the proposed time scale, these authorities advise their stakeholders to start to implement different methods in project delivery such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), Geographic Information System (GIS), and many more. All these new technologies and methods will reduce human errors in the project lifecycle which will lead to reducing project waste. In addition, this will pave the road to automation in construction. Automation will help to mitigate the huge number of clashes and mistakes. Iraq an oil-depended country suffering from economic crises due to the considerable reduction in oil prices. This struggle must enforce the government to use this opportunity to solve current project problems such as project delays and budgets overrun and rethink how to reduce construction project time and cost. However, the applicability and understanding of these new methods and technologies need to be explored first among the Iraqi construction industry. This paper will investigate the understanding of automation in construction among different disciplines working with different experiences in the Iraq construction industry. The method of survey was used to sightsee their view regarding automation in construction understanding, benefits, and the challenges. The results reveal that there a positive view in terms of understating the meaning of automation in construction. In addition, several benefits are identified as the most effective gains if these new methods are implemented. Furthermore, more than a few challenges also have been acknowledged that need to be considered to increase the successfulness of implementing automation in construction.
Since the 1970s, rainwater harvesting has gained more attention, specifically in semi-arid and arid areas. It is essential to take into account how much water can be collected from a single catchment site. Rainfall that has been harvested provides an alternative source of water in the northern region of Iraq. Numerous scholars have developed and executed a range of strategies and guidelines to choose appropriate locations and methods for rainwater harvesting (RWH). However, choosing the optimal method or set of rules for the choice of site is challenging. This study's primary goal was to evaluate previous research regarding the selection of appropriate RWH locations in northern Iraq by assembling a list of the most important techniques and guidelines that evolved over the previous thirty years. The primary factors considered in the process of choosing acceptable locations for RWH were soil type, slope, land use/cover, rainfall, and runoff. A literature review for RWH indicated that these criteria were chosen more frequently and significantly, and the opinions of experts should be used to establish the weight of each criterion. The majority of studies select RHW sites using geographic information systems, hydrological models, and multi-criteria analysis.