This study concerns the removal of a trihydrate antibiotic (Amoxicillin) from synthetically contaminated water by adsorption on modified bentonite. The bentonite was modified using hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (HTAB), which turned it from a hydrophilic to a hydrophobic material. The effects of different parameters were studied in batch experiments. These parameters were contact time, solution pH, agitation speed, initial concentration (C0) of the contaminant, and adsorbent dosage. Maximum removal of amoxicillin (93 %) was achieved at contact time = 240 min, pH = 10, agitation speed = 200 rpm, initial concentration = 30 ppm, and adsorbent dosage = 3 g bentonite per 1L of pollutant solution. The characterization of the adsorbent, modified bentonite, was accomplished using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller. The isotherm models were also investigated, and it was found that the Freundlich isotherm model fitted well with the experimental data (R2 = 94.77), which suggests heterogeneity in the multilayer adsorption of amoxicillin onto modified bentonite. The kinetics of the adsorption process were studied. The experimental data were found to obey the pseudo-first-order kinetic model (R2 = 95.1). Thermodynamic studies indicated that the adsorption process was physisorption and endothermic. Finally, the modified bentonite proved to be a good adsorbent for the removal of amoxicillin from contaminated solutions.
One of the most popular and legally recognized behavioral biometrics is the individual's signature, which is used for verification and identification in many different industries, including business, law, and finance. The purpose of the signature verification method is to distinguish genuine from forged signatures, a task complicated by cultural and personal variances. Analysis, comparison, and evaluation of handwriting features are performed in forensic handwriting analysis to establish whether or not the writing was produced by a known writer. In contrast to other languages, Arabic makes use of diacritics, ligatures, and overlaps that are unique to it. Due to the absence of dynamic information in the writing of Arabic signatures,
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This paper presents an intelligent model reference adaptive control (MRAC) utilizing a self-recurrent wavelet neural network (SRWNN) to control nonlinear systems. The proposed SRWNN is an improved version of a previously reported wavelet neural network (WNN). In particular, this improvement was achieved by adopting two modifications to the original WNN structure. These modifications include, firstly, the utilization of a specific initialization phase to improve the convergence to the optimal weight values, and secondly, the inclusion of self-feedback weights to the wavelons of the wavelet layer. Furthermore, an on-line training procedure was proposed to enhance the control per
... Show MoreBackground: Saliva is a specific bio-fluid with important biomarkers. Analyzing any alternation in these markers could give valuable information, in relation to oral health status parameters. The aim of this study was to investigate the level of α -amylase in unstimulated whole saliva of healthy, primary school children in relation to some oral health parameters. Materials and Methods: A questionnaires consisted of demography and medical histories of participants were filled by children families. Saliva samples were collected for 5- minutes between 9:00 -11:00 AM from 114 healthy students aged 6-13 years, divided into four age groups. Flow- rate, Plaque and Gingival Index were assessed and dentition status was investigated by DMFT/dmft
... Show MoreDue to restrictions and limitations on agricultural water worldwide, one of the most effective ways to conserve water in this sector is to reduce the water losses and improve irrigation uniformity. Nowadays, the low-pressure sprinkler has been widely used to replace the high-pressure impact sprinklers in lateral move sprinkler irrigation systems due to its low operating cost and high efficiency. However, the hazard of surface runoff represents the biggest obstacle for low-pressure sprinkler systems. Most researchers have used the pulsing technique to apply variable-rate irrigation to match the crop water needs within a normal application rate that does not produce runoff. This research introduces a variable pulsed irrigation algorit
... Show MoreSteady conjugate natural convection heat transfers in a two-dimensional enclosure filled with fluid saturated porous medium is studied numerically. The two vertical boundaries of the enclosure are kept isothermally at same temperature, the horizontal upper wall is adiabatic, and the horizontal lower wall is partially heated. The Darcy extended Brinkman Forcheimer model is used as the momentum equation and Ansys Fluent software is utilized to solve the governing equations. Rayleigh number (1.38 ≤ Ra ≤ 2.32), Darcy number (3.9 * 10-8), the ratio of conjugate wall thickness to its height (0.025 ≤ W ≤ 0.1), heater length to the bottom wall ratio (1/4 ≤ ≤ 3/4) and inclination angle (0°, 30° and 60°) are the main consid
... Show MoreThe numerical investigation has been performed to study the radiation affected steady state laminar mixed convection induced by a hot inner varied positions circular core in a horizontal rectangular channel for a fully developed flow. To examine the effects of thermal radiation on thermo fluid dynamics behavior in the eccentric geometry channel, the generalized body fitted co-ordinate system is introduced while the finite difference method is used for solving the radiative transport equation. The governing equations which used are continuity, momentum and energy equations. These equations are normalized and solved using the Vorticity-Stream function. After validating numerical results for the case without radiation, the detailed radiatio
... Show MoreEvaluating treatment effect on interferon-alpha in female patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: a case-control study