Triticale is being evaluated as a substitute for corn in animal feed and as a forage crop for Florida. Storage of triticale seed is difficult in Florida's hot and humid climate, and more information about the relationships between equilibrium moisture content (EMC) and equilibrium relative humidity (ERH) at constant temperature (sorption isotherms) of triticale is needed to develop improved storage methods. Therefore, the primary research objective was to measure the EMC for triticale seed at different ERH values at three different constant temperatures (5°C, 23°C, and 35°C) using six desiccation jars containing different saturated salt concentrations. The secondary objective was to determine the best fit equation describing these relationships. The six saturated salt solutions provided relative humidity (RH) values of 11%, 23%, 33%, 58%, 75%, and 84% at 25°C. An average of ten weeks was required to reach equilibrium when the initial moisture content (MC) of the seed was 13.35% (wet basis). The results of this experiment were used to develop three prediction equations, (modified Henderson, modified Chung-Pfost, and modified Oswin equations) representing the relationship between ERH and EMC. The results show that the modified Chung-Pfost equation represented this relationship most accurately, with a standard error of 2.4% and a coefficient of determination obtained from the scatter plot for the predicted vs. measured RH (R2) equal to 0.99. Overall, this result will aid the development and improvement of drying and storage methods for triticale seed.
The main aim of this research paper is investigating the effectiveness and validity of Meso-Scale Approach (MSA) as a modern technique for the modeling of plain concrete beams. Simply supported plain concrete beam was subjected to two-point loading to detect the response in flexural. Experimentally, a concrete mix was designed and prepared to produce three similar standard concrete prisms for flexural testing. The coarse aggregate used in this mix was crushed aggregate. Numerical Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was conducted on the same concrete beam using the meso-scale modeling. The numerical model was constructed to be a bi-phasic material consisting of cement mortar and coarse aggregate. The interface between the two c
... Show MoreReliability analysis methods are used to evaluate the safety of reinforced concrete structures by evaluating the limit state function 𝑔(𝑋𝑖). For implicit limit state function and nonlinear analysis , an advanced reliability analysis methods are needed. Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) can be used in this case however, as the number of input variables increases, the time required for MCS also increases, making it a time consuming method especially for complex problems with implicit performance functions. In such cases, MCS-based FORM (First Order Reliability Method) and Artificial Neural Network-based FORM (ANN FORM) have been proposed as alternatives. However, it is important to note that both MCS-FORM and ANN-FORM can also be time-con
... Show MoreBackground: The antimicrobial resistance is one of the most serious and expanding health problems world -wide in the last decades. The esbl escherichia coli. (extended – spectrum beta-lactamase e.coli) represents an important aspect of it .Objectives: To get an overview on the esbl e.coli prevalence profile in general. Also to assess the antibiotic sensitivity of esbl e. coli trying to specify the most effective antibiotics in combating this micro-organism.Methods: this study tries to focus on this problem in Iraq which through a prospective study approach by taking 35 clinical samples from various sources (urine, blood, abscess, eye ,vagina ,stool and others),and after confirming the presence of e.coli, the presence of esbl e.coli and
... Show MoreThis study discussed the effects of doping with silver (Ag) on the optical and structural properties of
CdO nanoparticles at different concentrations 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 wt% prepared by the precipitation method. The
materials were annealed at 550˚C for 1 h. The structural, topographical, and optical properties were
diagnosed by X-ray diffraction analysis, atomic force instrument, and visible and ultraviolet spectrometers.
The results show that the average diameter of the grains depends on the percentage of added silver to the
material, as the diameter decreased from 88.8 to 59.7 nm, and it was found that the roughness increased from
5.56 to 26.5. When studying the optical properties, it was noted that th
A new human-based heuristic optimization method, named the Snooker-Based Optimization Algorithm (SBOA), is introduced in this study. The inspiration for this method is drawn from the traits of sales elites—those qualities every salesperson aspires to possess. Typically, salespersons strive to enhance their skills through autonomous learning or by seeking guidance from others. Furthermore, they engage in regular communication with customers to gain approval for their products or services. Building upon this concept, SBOA aims to find the optimal solution within a given search space, traversing all positions to obtain all possible values. To assesses the feasibility and effectiveness of SBOA in comparison to other algorithms, we conducte
... Show MoreMulti-spectral satellite images of the Landsat satellite by the tow sensitive Thematic Mapper (TM) and Thematic Mapper Enhancement (ETM+), which covered the study area located south east of Iraq. In this research; used the sixth thermal spectral band (Thermal Band) for study the water cover in the AlRazzaza Lake located within the province of Karbala. We intended to study the cover a case of the study area, used satellite images showing the status of region during the period from 1990 to 2001 and 2007. From this study we conclude that cover the water of the study area change in sequence case to decrease during these years.
Assessing water quality provides a scientific foundation for the development and management of water resources. The objective of the research is to evaluate the impact treated effluent from North Rustumiyia wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) on the quality of Diyala river. The model of the artificial neural network (ANN) and factor analysis (FA) based on Nemerow pollution index (NPI). To define important water quality parameters for North Al-Rustumiyia for the line(F2), the Nemerow Pollution Index was introduced. The most important parameters of assessment of water variation quality of wastewater were the parameter used in the model: biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen dem
The Sequencing Batch Reactor system (SBR) is a major component of the municipal wastewater biological treatment system and water reclamation that provides high-quality water that could be reused in restricted plants that which require large quantities of water despite the lack of water. The research aims to investigate the performance of a pilot plant SBR unit under real operation conditions that was installed and operated in Al-Rustamiya Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), Baghdad, Iraq. Results showed that the BOD5/COD ratio of the raw wastewater was within the average value at 0.66 emphasizing the organic nature of the influent flow and hence the amenability to biological treatment. The results also ensured that the treatment pro
... Show MoreThe study was conducted to measure diatom species diversity in the lotic ecosystem across the Wasit Province for 12 months. The quantitative study of diatoms (phytoplankton) was investigated in the Tigris river. The density of algae was ranged from 60989 cell×103/l to 112780.82 cell×103/l in the five sites. These algae were belonging to 39 genera. The richness index values ranged from 1.53 at site 5 in January 2016 to 6.34 at site 1 and June2015. Shannon-Weiner diversity index (H´) was 2.33 in February 2016 and 3.72 in June 2015 both values at site 3, whereas Evenness index was 0.54 at site 5 in March2016 and 0.98 at site 1 in both August2015 and May2016. The lack of homogeneity of the appearance of species indicates the dominance of a
... Show MoreSodium adsorption ratio (SAR) is considered as a measure of the water suitability for irrigation usage. This study examines the effect of the physicochemical parameters on water quality and SAR, which included Calcium(Ca+2), Magnesium(Mg+2), Sodium (Na+), Potassium (K), Chloride (Cl-), Sulfate(SO4-2), Carbonate (CO3-2), Bicarbonate (HCO3-), Nitrate (NO3-), Total Hardness (TH), Total Dissolved Salts (TDS), Electrical Conductivity (EC), degree of reaction (DR), Boron (B) and the monthly and annually flow discharge (Q). The water samples were collected from three stations across the Tigris River in Iraq, which flows through Samarra city (upstream), Baghdad city (central) and the end of Kut city (downstream) for the periods of 2016-201
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