Publications related to Soil retrogression and degradation

Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Flow and Hydrochemistry in Drainage Networks

Despite their high ecological value, non-perennial streams have received less attention than their perennial counterparts. This doctoral thesis addresses this disparity by advancing knowledge on the dynamics of the drainage density and hydrologic processes ...

EPFL2024

Stability and degradation of (oxy)nitride photocatalysts for solar water splitting

Sophia Haussener, Franky Esteban Bedoya Lora

Advancing towards alternative technologies for the sustainable production of hydrogen is a necessity for the successful integration of this potentially green fuel in the future. Photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical water splitting are promising concepts ...

2024

Improving planar optode lifetime: encapsulation and optical release of pH-sensing optodes and assessment of their lifetime in situ

Victoria Alexandrine Julia Suzanne Marthe Fay

PurposePlanar fluorescent optodes are important tools for probing key parameters, such as the soil pH, O2 level, and CO2 level, associated with the biology and biochemistry process in the rhizosphere. In this paper, we address an important limitation of ex ...

SPRINGER HEIDELBERG2023

Unidirectional penetration approach for characterizing sulfate attack mechanisms on cement mortars and pastes

Karen Scrivener, Qiao Wang, William Wilson

Degradation of cementitious materials by sulfate ions is commonly classified into chemical and physical sulfate attack. So-called "physical" attack dominates in many field situations, but laboratory testing focuses on "chemical" attack under full-immersion ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2023

Investigation and Mitigation of Moisture- and Potential-Induced Degradation Mechanisms of Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells and Modules

Olatz Arriaga Arruti

Photovoltaic (PV) technology is one of the most promising renewable energy sources. The PV market is dominated by crystalline silicon (c-Si) based technologies, thus ensuring their long-term performance is of paramount importance for manufacturers, investo ...

EPFL2023

Local electrochemical and thermal investigation of a segmented reversible solid oxide fuel cell and electrolyzer

Jan Van Herle, Stefan Diethelm, Audrey Désirée Wesoly, Zacharie Wuillemin, Hamza Moussaoui

A novel setup has been designed and mounted to investigate the local electrochemical and thermal behavior of a cell from a 4-cell short stack under reversible operation solid oxide fuel cell/solid oxide electrolyzer (SOFC/SOE). It consists in the partition ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2023

A Practical Influence Approximation for Privacy-Preserving Data Filtering in Federated Learning

Boi Faltings, Ljubomir Rokvic, Panayiotis Danassis

Federated Learning by nature is susceptible to low-quality, corrupted, or even malicious data that can severely degrade the quality of the learned model. Traditional techniques for data valuation cannot be applied as the data is never revealed. We present ...

2023

Insights into Electrocatalyst Transformations Studied in Real Time with Electrochemical Liquid-Phase Transmission Electron Microscopy

Vasiliki Tileli, Tzu-Hsien Shen, Robin Pierre Alain Girod

The value of operando and in situ characterization methodologies for understanding electrochemical systems under operation can be inferred from the upsurge of studies that have reported mechanistic insights into electrocatalytic processes based on such mea ...

Amer Chemical Soc2023

Learning Linearized Degradation of Health Indicators using Deep Koopman Operator Approach

Olga Fink, Sergei Garmaev

With the current trend of increasing complexity of industrial systems, the construction and monitoring of health indicators becomes even more challenging. Given that health indicators are commonly employed to predict the end of life, a crucial criterion fo ...

Research Publishing2023

Vegetation Drastically Reduces Wind Erosion: An Implementation of the RWEQ in the Mongolian Gobi Steppe

Charlotte Gisèle Weil

Soil loss prevention is an important ecosystem service for protecting human and environmental health. Using spatiotemporal climate and environmental data of the Eastern Gobi Steppe, a region missing from previous studies of Mongolian wind-based soil erosio ...

MDPI2022

Mechanical performance and upscaling of bio-improved soils

Ray Harran

Ecological awareness, pressing climate considerations and rising need for soil stabilization push forward the quest for alternative solutions in geotechnical engineering such as Microbially Induced Carbonate Precipitation (MICP). Precipitated crystals serv ...

EPFL2022

Distributed Fibre Optic Thermo-hygrometer for Monitoring the Concrete Curing

Luc Thévenaz, Kenny Hey Tow, Tiago Filipe Pimentel Das Neves

The moisture content in concrete is a critical parameter for most of the degradation processes such as shrinkage and cracking. In this paper, we present the first kilometre-range thermo-hygrometer for monitoring the concrete curing. ...

Optica Publishing Group2022

Drained Axial Pipe-Soil Resistance at Low Confinement Using Tilt Table and Direct Shear Tests

Roba Houhou

Establishing a reliable value for the axial pipe-soil interface resistance is critical for the design of offshore pipelines. Over the last few years, several independent research groups have modified existing methodologies or devised new testing setups to ...

ASCE-AMER SOC CIVIL ENGINEERS2022

Bioaccessibility of Organic Compounds Associated with Tire Particles Using a Fish In Vitro Digestive Model: Solubilization Kinetics and Effects of Food Coingestion

Kristin Schirmer, Florian Frédéric Vincent Breider, Dominique Grandjean, Benoît Jean Dominique Ferrari, Thibault Béranger Masset, Luke Christopher Harris

Tire and road wear particles (TRWP) account for an important part of the polymer particles released into the environment. There are scientific knowledge gaps as to the potential bioaccessibility of chemicals associated with TRWP to aquatic organisms. This ...

2022

Valorization of calcium phosphite waste as phosphorus fertilizer: Effects on green manure productivity and soil properties

Alexandre Buttler, Luca Bragazza, Thomas Guillaume, Mathieu Raymond Santonja, Mario Fontana

The potential to use calcium phosphite (Ca-Phi) as phosphorus (P) fertilizer may represent an effective recycling of P-containing by-products. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of Ca-Phi (38 kg P ha(-1)) on soil properties and ...

ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD2021

OUR COMMON SOILS: West Lausanne Urbanization as Anthropedogenesis, A Section through the Spaces and Times of Urban Soils

Antoine Vialle

Motivated by ever-increasing soil degradation and artificialization due to past and present urban growth dynamics, the current trend of spatial planning policies at the European and Swiss levels is promoting increased soil protection, by avoiding new devel ...

EPFL2021

Potential Induced Degradation Mechanism in Rear-Emitter Bifacial Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells Encapsulated in Different Module Structures

Christophe Ballif, Quentin Thomas Jeangros, Alessandro Francesco Aldo Virtuani, Olatz Arriaga Arruti, Luca Gnocchi

Recent studies showed that silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells can be prone to potential induced degradation (PID) when encapsulated with ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA). Here, to gain understanding in the role of EVA, we perform PID test in humid condit ...

IEEE2021

Studies on the mechanical evolution of compacted bentonite subjected to environmental actions

Jose Antonio Bosch Llufriu

Deep geological disposal is currently the most feasible option for the long-term isolation of radioactive waste, consisting in emplacing the waste into tunnels or drifts excavated at great depths in suitable geological formations. The use of bentonite, a h ...

EPFL2021

Riparian wetland properties counter the effect of land-use change on soil carbon stocks after rainforest conversion to plantations

Thomas Guillaume

Progressive conversion of tropical rainforests to agricultural monocultures in South East Asia increasingly affects landscape types such as riparian areas. The impacts of conversions on soil organic matter (SOM) vary with changing landforms. However, this ...

2021

Microstructure observations in compacted clays subjected to thermal loading

Lyesse Laloui, Melis Sütman, Roba Houhou

The response of clayey materials to thermal variation has been the subject of extensive studies, given the wide range of engineering applications which involve subjecting soils to substantial temperature fluctuations. A number of hypotheses have been propo ...

2021