The development of civilization entails the need to find new technological solutions leading to products with new properties. Allies in these efforts are microorganisms that have developed skills to synthesize products with properties of interest to the industry, environmental remediation or water treatment. The evolution of the omics approaches brought new tools to explore the microbial diversity and microorganisms’ potential. These new methodological approaches are readily used in both industrial and environmental microbiology. This Special Issue collects research papers as well as review articles addressing recent advances on applied and environmental microbiology. The review articles critically discuss the importance of biopolymers, specifically xanthan gum, to improve soil properties and the importance that microorganisms of poorly explored environments, such as caves, may have in the production of new bioactive compounds. The microbiological aspects of wastewater treatment and occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes in wastewater and sludge are studied in two research papers. These works demonstrate the effect that treatment conditions may have in the modulation of the water bacterial communities and how treated wastewater may impact the receiving environment in terms of pollution with antibiotic resistance genes. Additionally, the influence that an invasive species (alligator weed) may have on wetlands organic matter accumulation and bacterial communities was studied, being demonstrated that the presence of the invasive weed affects the wetland microhabitat both in terms of organic matter content and bacterial communities structure.

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Geotechnical engineering is a key element linking engineering construction with the earth, including foundation engineering, slope engineering, tunnel engineering, mining engineering, etc. To promote the sustainable development of geotechnical engineering, it is necessary to fully utilize the bearing capacity of rock and soil mass; reduce the amount of building materials with high carbon emissions, such as concrete and reinforcement; and minimize the workload. To achieve engineering construction objectives, it has become a hot topic of global concern to modify rock and soil mass; improve the anti-floating, anti-flood, and anti-seismic capabilities of geotechnical engineering; and avoid polluting, damaging, and influencing the ecological environment around geotechnical engineering sites. The aim of ‘Advancing Sustainability in Geotechnical Engineering’ was to require geotechnical engineers to actively respond to various natural disasters, implement energy conservation and emission reduction, and achieve friendly, coordinated and sustainable development of geotechnical engineering and the ecological environment during the investigation, design, and construction processes. In addition, in this Special Issue, we hope to showcase original and innovative research papers highlighting the most challenging new methods, materials, equipment, and techniques relevant to promoting sustainable development in geotechnical engineering.

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This open access volume collects emerging issues in Environmental and Civil Engineering, originating from outstanding doctoral dissertations discussed at Politecnico di Milano in 2021. The advanced innovative insights provided are presented with reference to the relevant sustainable development goals (SDGs), hoping that scientists, technicians and decision makers will find them as a valid support to face future sustainability challenges. Indeed, the fast evolution of our society often falls short in properly taking into consideration its relationship with the environment, which is not only the primary source of any resource and the sink of all the wastes we generate throughout our activities, but also the cause of most of the loading and constraints applied to structures and infrastructures. The lack of a proper consideration of the relationship between the needs of both the society and the environment may lead to strong disequilibria, generating a large amount of threats for a robust, resilient and continuous development. In this perspective, the SDGs set by the United Nations represent the criteria to revise our development model, towards the ability to conjugate different needs to build a safe relation between anthropic activities and the environment. Civil and Environmental Engineering plays a relevant role in providing methods, approaches, risk and impact assessments, as well as technologies, to fulfil the SDGs. Research in these fields may in fact provide technical knowledge and tools to support decision makers and technicians in: (i) planning mitigation and adaptation actions to climate change, extreme weather, earthquakes, drought, flooding and other natural disasters; (ii) designing efficient and sustainable strategies for resources exploitation, minimizing the impact and the unequal distributions; (iii) increasing the safety of structures and infrastructures under exceptional loadings and against the deterioration due to their lifecycle; (iv) adopting a holistic risk management approach and appropriate technologies to reduce pollution and environment deterioration, which increase vulnerability; (v) providing a safe drinking water and sanitation system to protect human health.

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This volume contains the proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing (CPT’22), held in Bologna, Italy, 8-10 June 2022. More than 500 authors - academics, researchers, practitioners and manufacturers – contributed to the peer-reviewed papers included in this book, which includes three keynote lectures, four invited lectures and 169 technical papers. The contributions provide a full picture of the current knowledge and major trends in CPT research and development, with respect to innovations in instrumentation, latest advances in data interpretation, and emerging fields of CPT application. The paper topics encompass three well-established topic categories typically addressed in CPT events: - Equipment and Procedures - Data Interpretation - Applications. Emphasis is placed on the use of statistical approaches and innovative numerical strategies for CPT data interpretation, liquefaction studies, application of CPT to offshore engineering, comparative studies between CPT and other in-situ tests. Cone Penetration Testing 2022 contains a wealth of information that could be useful for researchers, practitioners and all those working in the broad and dynamic field of cone penetration testing.

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Expanding Underground - Knowledge and Passion to Make a Positive Impact on the World contains the contributions presented at the ITA-AITES World Tunnel Congress 2023 (Athens, Greece, 12 – 18 May, 2023). Tunnels and underground space are a predominant engineering practice that can provide sustainable, cost-efficient and environmentally friendly solutions to the ever-growing needs of modern societies. This underground expansion in more diverse and challenging infrastructure types or to novel underground uses can foster the changes needed. At the same time, the tunneling and underground space community needs to be better prepared and equipped with knowledge, tools and experience, to deal with the prevailing conditions, to successfully challenge and overcome adversities on this path. The papers in this book aim at contributing to the analysis of challenging conditions, the presentation and dissemination good practices, the introduction of new concepts, new tools and innovative elements that can help engineers and all stakeholders to reach their end goals. Expanding Underground - Knowledge and Passion to Make a Positive Impact on the World covers a wide range of aspects and topics related to the whole chain of the construction and operation of underground structures: Knowledge and Passion to Expand Underground for Sustainability and Resilience Geological, Geotechnical Site Investigation and Ground Characterization Planning and Designing of Tunnels and Underground Structures Mechanised Tunnelling and Microtunnelling Conventional Tunnelling, Drill-and-Blast Applications Tunnelling in Challenging Conditions - Case Histories and Lessons Learned Innovation, Robotics and Automation BIM, Big Data and Machine Learning Applications in Tunnelling Safety, Risk and Operation of Underground Infrastructure, and Contractual Practices, Insurance and Project Management The book is a must-have reference for all professionals and stakeholders involved in tunneling and underground space development projects.

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‘Geotechnical Engineering Challenges to Meet Current and Emerging Needs of Society’ includes the papers presented at the XVIII European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (Lisbon, Portugal, August 26 to 30th, 2024). The papers aim to contribute to a better understanding of problems and solutions of geotechnical nature, as well as to a more adequate management of natural resources. Case studies are included to better disseminate the success and failure of Geotechnical Engineering practice. The peer-reviewed articles of these proceedings address the six main topics: New developments on structural design Geohazards Risk analysis and safety evaluation Current and new construction methods Environment, water, and energy Future city world vision With contributions from academic researchers and industry practitioners from Europe and abroad, this collection of conference articles features an interesting and wide-ranging combination of innovation, emerging technologies and case histories, and will be of interest to academics and professionals in Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.

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‘Geotechnical Engineering Challenges to Meet Current and Emerging Needs of Society’ includes the papers presented at the XVIII European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (Lisbon, Portugal, August 26 to 30th, 2024). The papers aim to contribute to a better understanding of problems and solutions of geotechnical nature, as well as to a more adequate management of natural resources. Case studies are included to better disseminate the success and failure of Geotechnical Engineering practice. The peer-reviewed articles of these proceedings address the six main topics: · New developments on structural design · Geohazards · Risk analysis and safety evaluation · Current and new construction methods · Environment, water, and energy · Future city world vision With contributions from academic researchers and industry practitioners from Europe and abroad, this collection of conference articles features an interesting and wide-ranging combination of innovation, emerging technologies and case histories, and will be of interest to academics and professionals in Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.

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This eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contact

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This open access book provides insights into research topics related to geotechnical engineering simulations. With the development of computing power and artificial intelligence, research methods in geotechnical engineering are gradually shifting from field surveys and physical experiments toward simulation and prediction. Through simulations, it is possible to infer the impact of engineering structures on soil and rock masses, as well as their response to natural disasters such as earthquakes, landslides, and debris flows, allowing for early planning of mitigation measures. Inside, readers will find cutting-edge studies on microbial soil stabilization, finite element simulations, centrifuge modeling, and machine learning applications. Topics include advanced material characterization, predictive modeling of tunnels and slopes, AI-enhanced monitoring systems, and risk mitigation strategies for deep excavations and mining subsidence. These contributions illustrate how intelligent systems are optimizing both design and safety across a wide range of geotechnical scenarios. This volume is an essential resource for researchers, engineers, and graduate students seeking to leverage intelligent technologies for more efficient, accurate, and resilient geotechnical solutions. With its integration of theory, experimentation, and smart modeling, it offers a forward-looking perspective on the future of infrastructure in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.

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This open access book offers a timely guide to challenges and current practices to permanently plug and abandon hydrocarbon wells. With a focus on offshore North Sea, it analyzes the process of plug and abandonment of hydrocarbon wells through the establishment of permanent well barriers. It provides the reader with extensive knowledge on the type of barriers, their functioning and verification. It then discusses plug and abandonment methodologies, analyzing different types of permanent plugging materials. Last, it describes some tests for verifying the integrity and functionality of installed permanent barriers. The book offers a comprehensive reference guide to well plugging and abandonment (P&A) and well integrity testing. The book also presents new technologies that have been proposed to be used in plugging and abandoning of wells, which might be game-changing technologies, but they are still in laboratory or testing level. Given its scope, it addresses students and researchers in both academia and industry. It also provides information for engineers who work in petroleum industry and should be familiarized with P&A of hydrocarbon wells to reduce the time of P&A by considering it during well planning and construction.

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This open access book presents work collected through the Liquefaction Experiments and Analysis Projects (LEAP) in 2017. It addresses the repeatability, variability, and sensitivity of lateral spreading observed in twenty-four centrifuge model tests on mildly sloping liquefiable sand. The centrifuge tests were conducted at nine different centrifuge facilities around the world. For the first time, a sufficient number of experiments were conducted to enable assessment of variability of centrifuge test results. The experimental data provided a unique basis for assessing the capabilities of twelve different simulation platforms for numerical simulation of soil liquefaction. The results of the experiments and the numerical simulations are presented and discussed in papers submitted by the project participants. The work presented in this book was followed by LEAP-Asia that included assessment of a generalized scaling law and culminated in a workshop in Osaka, Japan in March 2019. LEAP-2020, ongoing at the time of printing, is addressing the validation of soil-structure interaction analyses of retaining walls involving a liquefiable soil. A workshop is planned at RPI, USA in 2020.

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This open access book presents work collected through the Liquefaction Experiments and Analysis Projects (LEAP) in 2017. It addresses the repeatability, variability, and sensitivity of lateral spreading observed in twenty-four centrifuge model tests on mildly sloping liquefiable sand. The centrifuge tests were conducted at nine different centrifuge facilities around the world. For the first time, a sufficient number of experiments were conducted to enable assessment of variability of centrifuge test results. The experimental data provided a unique basis for assessing the capabilities of twelve different simulation platforms for numerical simulation of soil liquefaction. The results of the experiments and the numerical simulations are presented and discussed in papers submitted by the project participants. The work presented in this book was followed by LEAP-Asia that included assessment of a generalized scaling law and culminated in a workshop in Osaka, Japan in March 2019. LEAP-2020, ongoing at the time of printing, is addressing the validation of soil-structure interaction analyses of retaining walls involving a liquefiable soil. A workshop is planned at RPI, USA in 2020.

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Cement and lime currently are the most common binders in building materials. However, alternative materials and methods are needed to overcome the functional limitations and environmental footprint of conventional products. This Special Issue dedicated to “New frontiers in cementitious and lime-based materials and composites” gathers selected reviews and experimental articles that showcase the most recent trends in this multidisciplinary field. Authoritative contributions from all around the world provide important insights into all areas of research related to cementitious and lime-based materials and composites, spanning from structural engineering to geotechnics, including materials science and processing technology. This Topical Collection is intended to foster innovation and help researchers and developers to identify new solutions for a more sustainable and functional built environment.

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Many dams and geotechnical engineering structures are built for hydraulic engineering purposes. Therefore, the safety of dams and geotechnical engineering structures is particularly important when it comes to the normal engineering operation. This Special Issue focuses on the safety evaluation of dams and geotechnical engineering structures in the hydraulics and hydrodynamics field. The relevant topics include static and dynamic analysis; reliability analysis; risk analysis; seismic analysis; safety precautions; safety monitoring; safety operation; and safety evaluation methods.

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Smart Geotechnics for Smart Societies contains the contributions presented at the 17th Asian Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (17th ARC, Astana, Kazakhstan, 14-18 August, 2023). The topics covered include: Geomaterials for soil improvement Tunneling and rock engineering Slope, embankments and dams Shallow and deep foundations Soil dynamics and geotechnical earthquake engineering Geoenvironmental engineering and frost geotechnics Investigation of foundations of historical structures and monitoring Offshore, harbor geotechnics and GeoEnergy Megaprojects and transportation geotechnics Smart Geotechnics for Smart Societies will be of interest to academics and engineers interested or involved in geotechnical engineering.

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The 5th conference on sustainability in civil engineering was held online on August 03, 2023, by the Department of Civil Engineering of Capital University of Science and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan. The major topics included green construction materials and structures, construction management, and resilient infrastructure and environment. A total of 133 submissions from the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Italy, Cyprus, China, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Malaysia, KSA, and Pakistan were received. All papers had undergone a comprehensive and critical double-blind review process. In total, 57 reviewers from 16 different countries reviewed papers. In the conference, nine9 speakers delivered keynote lectures, and 56 accepted papers were presented. Civil engineers from academia and industry shared their practical experiences and different research findings.

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Tunnelling for a Better Life contain the contributions presented at the ITA-AITES World Tunnel Congress 2024, which was held from 19-25 April 2024 in Shenzhen, China. As urbanization accelerates, the pivotal role of tunnels and underground spaces in fostering environmental sustainability and improving quality of life becomes ever more pronounced. These underground structures serve as sustainable solutions to the challenges posed by rapid urban growth. By seamlessly integrating into urban landscapes, they alleviate congestion, reduce pollution, and enhance overall mobility, thus contributing to a greener and more sustainable urban environment. Moreover, tunnels and underground works provide vital support for various urban functions, such as accommodating economic activities, providing safe shelters during emergencies or disasters, and facilitating efficient utility management. They address immediate urban needs and lay the foundation for a better and more resilient future. By focusing on the latest trends in tunnelling and underground engineering, and looking ahead to the era of low-carbon and intelligent technology, the papers in this book illustrate the transformative potential of tunnels and underground works in shaping a better life for present and future generations. The contributions cover a comprehensive range of topics on tunnel engineering, showcasing the latest advancements, insights, and innovations across the following areas: 1. Planning and General Aspects 2. Design and Methodology 3. Geotechnics, Geology and Geophysical Prospecting 4. Ground Stability and Consolidation 5. Support and Lining 6. Conventional Tunnelling 7. Mechanized Tunneling (TBM, shield) 8. Immersed Tunnels 9. Waterproofing and Drainage 10. Instrumentation and Monitoring/ Testing and Inspection 11. Digital and Information Technology 12. Machine Learning 13. Underground Caverns/Underground Space Use 14. Operational Safety, Maintenance and Repair 15. Contractual Practices and Risk Management Tunnelling for a Better Life is a must-read for professionals, engineers, owners, and other stakeholders worldwide in tunnelling and underground engineering.

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Tunnelling for a Better Life contain the contributions presented at the ITA-AITES World Tunnel Congress 2024, which was held from 19-25 April 2024 in Shenzhen, China. As urbanization accelerates, the pivotal role of tunnels and underground spaces in fostering environmental sustainability and improving quality of life becomes ever more pronounced. These underground structures serve as sustainable solutions to the challenges posed by rapid urban growth. By seamlessly integrating into urban landscapes, they alleviate congestion, reduce pollution, and enhance overall mobility, thus contributing to a greener and more sustainable urban environment. Moreover, tunnels and underground works provide vital support for various urban functions, such as accommodating economic activities, providing safe shelters during emergencies or disasters, and facilitating efficient utility management. They address immediate urban needs and lay the foundation for a better and more resilient future. By focusing on the latest trends in tunnelling and underground engineering, and looking ahead to the era of low-carbon and intelligent technology, the papers in this book illustrate the transformative potential of tunnels and underground works in shaping a better life for present and future generations. The contributions cover a comprehensive range of topics on tunnel engineering, showcasing the latest advancements, insights, and innovations across the following areas: 1. Planning and General Aspects 2. Design and Methodology 3. Geotechnics, Geology and Geophysical Prospecting 4. Ground Stability and Consolidation 5. Support and Lining 6. Conventional Tunnelling 7. Mechanized Tunneling (TBM, shield) 8. Immersed Tunnels 9. Waterproofing and Drainage 10. Instrumentation and Monitoring/ Testing and Inspection 11. Digital and Information Technology 12. Machine Learning 13. Underground Caverns/Underground Space Use 14. Operational Safety, Maintenance and Repair 15. Contractual Practices and Risk Management Tunnelling for a Better Life is a must-read for professionals, engineers, owners, and other stakeholders worldwide in tunnelling and underground engineering.

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Tunnelling into a Sustainable Future – Methods and Technologies contains the contributions presented at the ITA-AITES World Tunnel Congress 2025 (Stockholm, Sweden, 9-15 May 2025). The contributions cover a wide range of topics in the fields of tunnelling and underground engineering, including: 1. Innovating tunneling 2. Safety Underground 3. Use of underground space 4. Investigations and ground characterisation 5. Planning and design of underground space 6. Conventional tunnelling 7. Mechanised tunnelling 8. Complex geometries including shafts and ramps 9. Grouting and groundwater control 10. Instrumentation and monitoring 11. Operation, inspection and maintenance 12. Contractual aspects, financing and risk management 13. Impact from climate change Tunnelling into a Sustainable Future – Methods and Technologies will serve as a valuable reference to all concerned with tunnelling and underground engineering, including students, researchers and engineers.

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