The increasing demand for energy has encouraged the development of renewable resources and environmentally benign fuel such as biodiesel. In this study, ethyl fatty esters (EFEs), a major component of biodiesel fuel, were synthesized from soybean oil using sodium ethoxide as a catalyst. By-products were glycerol and difatty acyl urea (DFAU), which has biological characteristics, as antibiotics and antifungal medications. Both EFEs and DFAU have been characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique. The optimum conditions were studied as a function of reaction time, reactant molar ratios, catalyst percentage and the effect of organic solvents. The conversion ratio of soybean oil into pure EFEs was 76% after 10 h of reaction. The highest conversion yield of EFEs is obtained when the urea/soybean oil ratio was from 6.2 mmol to 1 mmol, while the highest production of DFAU is obtained when the ethoxide (as a catalyst)/soybean oil ratio is from 6.4 mmol to 1 mmol in hexane as the reaction medium.
This paper presents the non-linear finite element method to study the behavior of four reinforced rectangular concrete MD beams with web circular openings tested under two-point load. The numerical finite elements methods have been used in a much more practical way to achieve approximate solutions for more complex problems. The ABAQUS /CAE is chosen to explore the behavior of MD beams. This paper also studies, the effect of both size and shape of the circular apertures of MD beams. The strengthening technique that used in this paper is externally strengthening using CFRP around the opening in the MD beams. The numerical results were compared to the experimental results in terms of ultimate load failure and displace
... Show MoreThe research aims to analyze the television advertisement to monitor the indirect and underlying meanings behind the apparent significance in Zain’s “Ya Baghdad” Advertisement through sociological analysis, in accordance with the cultural analysis of Hofstede’s ‘Model of Cultural Dimensions’. Our choice of such a model in practical application over other models that may have provided more dimensions is due to its ability and verification in explaining cultural diversity and additionally the size of data and studies on the cultural dimension. This study’s aim is to verify the validity, stability and significance of this model before being adopted by Hofstede as a measurement tool. This model was used in order to analyze the rel
... Show MoreCrop diseases are usually caused by inoculum of pathogens which might exist on alternate hosts or weeds as endophytes. These endophytes, cum pathogens, usually confer some beneficial attributes to these weeds or alternate hosts from protection against herbivores, disease resistance, stress tolerance to secondary metabolites production. This study was therefore carried out to isolate potential crop pathogens which exist as endophytes on weed species in the University of Ilorin plantations. Green asymptomatic leaves were collected from 10 weed species across the plantations, and processed for their endophytic fungi isolation. Isolates were purified into pure cultures and used for molecular identification using the internal transcribed spac
... Show MoreThis paper presents a vibration suppression control design of cantilever beam using two piezoelectric patches. One patch was used as an actuator element, while the other was used as a sensor. The controller design was designed via the balance realization reduction method to elect the reduced order model that is most controllable and observable. the sliding mode observer was designed to estimate six states from the reduced order model but three states are only used in the control law. Estimating a number of states larger than that used is in order to increase the estimation accuracy. Moreover, the state estimation error is proved bounded. An optimal LQR controller is designed then using the estimated states with the slid
... Show Morelarization modulation plays an important role in polarization encoding in quantum key distribution. By using polarization modulation, quantum key distribution systems become more compact and more vulnerable as one laser source is used instead of using multiple laser sources that may cause side-channel attacks. Metasurfaces with their exceptional optical properties have led to the development of versatile ultrathin optical devices. They are made up of planar arrays of resonant or nearly resonant subwavelength pieces and provide complete control over reflected and transmitted electromagnetic waves opening several possibilities for the development of innovative optical components. In this work, the Si nanowire metasurface
... Show MoreThe current study includes (130) T2DM patients (group P) [51 males and 79 females with an ages range (35 to 55) and ages mean 49.89 years], they are sub-grouped into three categories according to their HbA1c value. patients with HbA1c less than 7 are considered as good controlled diabetic patients (30 patients) (group P1), while patients with HbA1c between 7 and 8 are considered as medium controlled diabetic patients (40 patients) (group P2), and the patient whom their HbA1c more than 8 are considered as uncontrolled diabetic patients (50 patients) (group P3). The patients group results are compared to control healthy subjects (35 subjects) (group C) [14 males and 21 Females with age range 45.51 years] matched for age, gender and BMI wer
... Show MoreAccurate calculation of transient overvoltages and dielectric stresses from fast-front excitations is required to obtain an optimal dielectric design of power components subjected to these conditions, which are commonly due to switching and lightning, as well as utilization of power-electronic devices. Toroidal transformers are generally used at the low voltage level. However, recent investigations and developments have explored their use at the medium voltage level. This paper analyzes the model-based improvement of the insulation design of medium voltage toroidal transformers. Lumped and distributed parameter models are used and compared to predict the transient response and dielectric stress along the transformer winding. The parameters
... Show MoreThe monthly time series of the Total Suspended Solids (TSS) concentrations in Euphrates River at Nasria was analyzed as a time series. The data used for the analysis was the monthly series during (1977-2000).
The series was tested for nonhomogenity and found to be nonhomogeneous. A significant positive jump was observed after 1988. This nonhomogenity was removed using a method suggested by Yevichevich (7). The homogeneous series was then normalized using Box and Cox (2) transformation. The periodic component of the series was fitted using harmonic analyses, and removed from the series to obtain the dependent stochastic component. This component was then modeled using first order autoregressive model (Markovian chain). The above a
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