The meteorite with a single total mass of 630 gm as a visible meteorite has fallen on 22 March 2021, at 10:00 a.m. in Al-Sherqat subdistrict within Salah Al-Din, northern Iraq; and therefore, was named Al-Sherqat meteorite by the authors. It is characterized by a uniform structure of coherent and medium degree of malleability. It is of a well-crystalline structure and not homogeneous in composition. The Al-Sherqat meteorite is composed of metallic phases of 7.6 gm/cm3 density exhibiting an oriented intergrowth of kamacite (α-FeNi) with taenite showing a Widmanstätten pattern on an etched polished section with the finest octahedrite kamacite bandwidth of less than 0.2 mm. It is composed of Fe (86.9 wt%), Ni (9.63 wt%), P (1.31 wt%), S (0.628 wt%), Ti (0.623 wt%), Co (0.446 wt%), Mo (0.146 wt%), Cr (0.103 wt%), Cu (0.141 wt%), V (300 ppm), Nb (220 ppm), W (53 ppm), Ag (50 ppm), Pb (30 ppm), Zn (20 ppm), Sb (16 ppm), Sn (10 ppm) and As (3 ppm). Al-Sherqat meteorite was structurally classified as an iron meteorite belongs to the plessitic group (Opl)) with octahedrite finest bands (less than 0.2 mm) of the kamacite lamellae. Kamacite platelets in Al-Sherqat meteorite are almost not a continuous plate network. Chemically, it belongs to the IIC type of magmatic group based on the amount of nickel (9.63%), where IIC is typically octahedrites has 9.3 – 11.5% Ni. The presence of kamacite, taenite, schreibersite, daubréelites, pentlandite, chromite, and wusite in Al-Sherqat meteorite are in accordance with IIC group of the iron meteorites. Al-Sherqat meteorite belongs to M-type considering a metallic core fragmented by impact asteroid. The most probable source of this meteorite is the core of an asteroid that melted early in its history.
Rare earth metal oxides (REMOs) have gained considerable attention in recent years owing to their distinctive properties and potential applications in electronic devices and catalysts. Particularly, cerium dioxide (CeO2), also known as ceria, has emerged as an interesting material in a wide variety of industrial, technological, and medical applications. Ceria can be synthesized with various morphologies, including rods, cubes, wires, tubes, and spheres. This comprehensive review offers valuable perceptions into the crystal structure, fundamental properties, and reaction mechanisms that govern the well-established surface-assisted reactions over ceria. The activity, selectivity, and stability of ceria, either as a stand-alone catalyst or as
... Show MoreRare earth metal oxides (REMOs) have gained considerable attention in recent years owing to their distinctive properties and potential applications in electronic devices and catalysts. Particularly, cerium dioxide (CeO2), also known as ceria, has emerged as an interesting material in a wide variety of industrial, technological, and medical applications. Ceria can be synthesized with various morphologies, including rods, cubes, wires, tubes, and spheres. This comprehensive review offers valuable perceptions into the crystal structure, fundamental properties, and reaction mechanisms that govern the well-established surface-assisted reactions over ceria. The activity, selectivity, and stability of ceria, either as a stand-alone catalyst or as
... Show MoreWhen the depth of stressed soil is rather small, Plate Load Test (PLT) becomes the most efficient test to estimate the soil properties for design purposes. Among these properties, modulus of subgrade reaction is the most important one that usually employed in roads and concrete pavement design. Two methods are available to perform PLT: static and dynamic methods. Static PLT is usually adopted due to its simplicity and time saving to be performs in comparison with cyclic (dynamic) method. The two methods are described in ASTM standard.
In this paper the effect of the test method used in PLT in estimation of some mechanical soil properties was distinguished via a series of both test methods applied in a same site. The comparison of
... Show MoreIntroduction: The current study investigated the use of acid-treated rice husks to remove heavy metals and organic pollutants from water containing heavy metals (R2C and Cd2) and organic pollutants (phenol and atrazine). Methods: The adsorption effect of acid-treated rice husks was compared with other adsorbents such as activated carbon, chitosan, and bentonite clay. Result: both acid-treated rice husks and activated carbon were highly efficient materials, and thus, rice husks were established as a cost-effective alternative. It was revealed that acid treatment of rice husks enhanced adsorption capacity by half, and lead removal was nearly doubled. The most effective pH value for optimizing organic pollutants and heavy metals while
... Show MoreBiosorption is an effective method to remove toxic metals from wastewaters. In this study biosorption of lead and chromium ions from solution was studied using Citrobacter freundii and Citrobacter kosari isolated from industrial wastewater. The experimental results showed that optimum grwoth temperature for both bacteria is 30oC and the optimum pH is 7 &6 for C. freundii and C. kosari respectively. While the optimum incubation period to remove Pb and Cr for C. freundii and C. kosari is 4 days and 3days respectively. Also the biosorption of Pb and Cr in mixed culture of bacteria and mixed culture of Pb and Cr was investigated. Result indicate that uptake of Cr and Pb for C.freundii, C. kosari and in mixes culture of both bacteria is 58%, 53%
... Show MoreThis study was designed to determine the colonization of the in-use hand washing soaps in hospital settings. It is a comparative cross-sectional research in a surgical specialties and Baghdad teaching hospital in Baghdad, Iraq. Swabs from surfaces of bar soaps and from liquid soaps via their applicator tips; at the sinks of toilets of hospital staff and working rooms of the wards were taken in January 2008. Conventional microbiologic methods were used for culture of the swabs and identification of the isolates. Colonization was detected 60% and 15.9% in bars and liquid forms respectively. And this lead to the conclusion that bar soaps could be colonized with microorganisms excessively. Liquid hand washing soaps are more appropriate in ho
... Show MoreAspergillus fumigatus considered to be the most important species to cause respiratory infection cases in both humans and animals especially in cats in the last decades. In this study, we focused on the isolation and identification of Aspergillus fumigates by collecting 40 samples in deferent veterinary clinics and stray cats in Baghdad city, during the period (October 2021 to January 2022), all samples were cultured on Sabouraud dextrose agar and malt extract agar. The isolates identified by the laboratory methods, it’s depend on macroscopic and microscopic appearance. The results showed that (40) swaps taken from the pharynx of infected cats, included: Aspergillus fumigatus 16 (40%), Aspergillus spp. 7 (17.5%), Aspergillus niger
... Show MoreAdsorption techniques are widely used to remove certain classes of pollutants from wastewater. Phenolic compounds represent one of the problematic groups. Na-Y zeolite has been synthesized from locally available Iraqi kaolin clay. Characterization of the prepared zeolite was made by XRD and surface area measurement using N2 adsorption. Both synthetic Na-Y zeolite and kaolin clay have been tested for adsorption of 4-Nitro-phenol in batch mode experiments. Maximum removal efficiencies of 90% and 80% were obtained using the prepared zeolite and kaolin clay, respectively. Kinetics and equilibrium adsorption isotherms were investigated. Investigations showed that both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms fit the experimental data quite well. On the
... Show MoreProteinases (E.C.3.4.21) family are widely distributed in the nature; it was present in animals tissues , plants and microbial cell . Protease was purified from Zahdi seed (Phoenix dactylifera L.) by several steps included ammonium sulphite ppt (75%) saturation and dialyzed against the 80mM sodium phosphate buffer at pH 7.5 . The enzyme specific activity was 407.62 unit/mg protein. The obtained extract was purified by DEAE-Cellulose column followed by gel filtration through Sephacyl S-200 column .The enzyme specific activity ,yield and purification fold were 1873.49 unit/mg protein, 22.99 and 58.42% respectively. The results of protease characterization showed that the molecular weight was 25118 daltons as determined by gel f
... Show MoreNowadays, there is increased interest in the biosynthesis of microbial melanin related to their numerous biological functions and applications in many fields, especially in medical fields, including immune-modulating, antimicrobial antibiotic, antiviral antivenin, anticancer, antitumor activity, and anti-biofilm activity. Pyomelanin is a hydrophobic macromolecule that is typically dark brown or black in color, formed by the oxidative polymerization of phenolic or indolic compounds. Pyomelanin is reported to be safe for consumption, thus providing a crucial strategy for biocontrol of biofilm. Furthermore, natural pyomelanin is known as a potent antioxidant, photoprotective, and free radical scavenging. Objective: This study focuses on the
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