Abstract This research investigates how activated carbon (AC) was synthesized from potato peel waste (PPW). Different ACs were synthesized under the atmosphere's conditions during carbonation via two activation methods: first, chemical activation, and second, carbon dioxide-physical activation. The influence of the drying period on the preparation of the precursor and the methods of activation were investigated. The specific surface area and pore volume of the activated carbon were estimated using the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method. The AC produced using physical activation had a surface area as high as 1210 m2/g with a pore volume of 0.37 cm3/g, whereas the chemical activation had a surface area of 1210 m2/g with a pore volume of 0.34 c

Specialized hardware implementations of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) can offer faster execution than general-purpose microprocessors by taking advantage of reusable modules, parallel processes and specialized computational components. Modern high-density Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) offer the required flexibility and fast design-to-implementation time with the possibility of exploiting highly parallel computations like those required by ANNs in hardware. The bounded width of the data in FPGA ANNs will add an additional error to the result of the output. This paper derives the equations of the additional error value that generate from bounded width of the data and proposed a method to reduce the effect of the error to give

The Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) algorithm is the most popular algorithm to estimate the Angle of Arrival (AOA) of the received signals. The analysis of this algorithm (MUSIC) with typical array antenna element ( ) shows that there are two false direction indication in the plan
aligned with the axis of the array. In this paper a suggested modification on array system is proposed by using two perpendiculars crossed dipole array antenna in spite of one array antenna. The suggested modification does not affect the AOA estimation algorithm. The simulation and results shows that the proposed solution overcomes the MUSIC problem without any effect on the performance of the system.

The study aims to investigate the antimicrobial activity of propolis obtained from different regions of Iraq compared with that of propolis obtained from Iran. Samples were investigated for their antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Eschericha coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Bacillus cereus , Staphylococcus epidermidis and Candida albicans using standard antimicrobial assays. Marked variations in the antimicrobial activity of the different propolis samples were observed, the method of extraction selected gives the highest antimicrobial activity and the best alcohol concentration using in the extraction of propolis , then the crude extract of propolis showed synergistic effect with some antibiotics in

Polymers have the ability to extract water after they have been added to the mortar or concrete mixture. They provide the absorbed water during hydration functioning as internal water source. Absorption polymers can absorb up to hundred times of their own weight of pure water.This research deals with the use of water absorption polymer balls in concrete and study the volumetric change of these mixes and compared the results with reference mix (without polymers). Samples were cured both in air and in water for the mixes to compare results which show that samples in air behave for expansion while sample in water acted for shrinkage.

If we go beyond the technical aspects of the Web 2.0, and we focus specifically on its interactive characteristics, we may say it represents not only a fundamental shift in the structure of the press institutions and its practices but also a shift in the relationships that existed, previously, between the press and the audience. Web 2.0 has enabled the newspapers to renovate their representations and practices of the profession and opens to the new horizons either in terms of readership or advertising revenues. Parallel to that it also has empowered the user to transcend the passivity he has always been confined in and has become a more active participant in the creation and generation of media contents even though this practice is somew