Traditional tree management is laborious and costly, thus this work aimed to study the performance of two different types of frond cutting saws (reciprocating saw and vibrating saw) and examine the two saws on five date palm varieties. Four parameters were examined, including cutting time for a single frond, the power needed for cutting a single frond, frond cutting productivity expressed as tree/h, and vibration conveyed to the worker’s hand. A field experiment was designed according to the nested randomized complete block design, including five date palm varieties as the main plot and the type of saw as a sub-plot. Means were compared using the least significant differences (LSD 0.05). Results indicated that Bream variety required the least time for frond cutting. The reciprocating saw exhibited efficiency in saving the time required for frond cutting, while the vibrating saw took significantly longer time needed for cutting a single frond. The highest number of fronds cut in one hour was recorded in Bream variety, again significantly higher than the number of other studied varieties. Moreover, the reciprocating saw achieved significantly higher productivity than the vibrating one, indicating that the productivity of the reciprocating saw is almost three times more than the vibrating saw. Maximum productivity was recorded in Bream variety, while the least was recorded in Tebarzal using the vibrating saw. Moreover, results indicate that the variety and the type of saw have a vital role in productivity since as the thickness of a frond increases, the cutting takes more time and ultimately reduces the number of date palms to be pruned per hour. Results also exhibited that vibrating saw reduced the consumed energy during frond cutting. Additionally, results revealed that the minimum power consumed by a vibrating saw was in Bream variety, while Tebarzal consumed the upmost energy when a reciprocating saw was used. Maximum vibration on X-axis was reported in Bream variety when a vibrating saw was used. Additionally, the reciprocating saw exhibited the highest vibration compared with the vibrating saw. Moreover, the reciprocating saw caused the lowest vibration in Tebarzal variety. Results indicated that the vibration imposed by both saws reached the maximum value in Bream variety. The vibrating saw resulted in the higher vibration toward Z axis, while the Reciprocating saw resulted in higher vibration toward X axis, which was more than eight times that recorded by the vibrating saw. Results indicate that vibration toward the Y axis increased significantly in Bream variety compared with others. Again, as in the situation with X and Z axis, the reciprocating saw exhibited the highest vibration compared to that resulted from using a vibrating saw which was more than three times the vibration caused by the vibrating saw.
The present paper attempts to establish a distinction between Exochomus negripennis (Er.) and E. quadripustulatus L., depending on the characters of femoral line, male genitalia and spermatheca.
Spent hydrodesulfurization (Co-Mo/γ-Al2O3) catalyst generally contains valuable metals like molybdenum (Mo), cobalt (Co), aluminium (Al) on a supporting material, such as γ-Al2O3. In the present study, a two stages alkali/acid leaching process was conducted to study leaching of cobalt, molybdenum and aluminium from Co-Mo/γ-Al2O3 catalyst. The acid leaching of spent catalyst, previously treated by alkali solution to remove molybdenum, yielded a solution rich in cobalt and aluminium.
A new application of a combined solvent extraction and two-phase biodegradation processes using two-liquid phase partitioning bioreactor (TLPPB) technique was proposed and developed to enhance the cleanup of high concentration of crude oil from aqueous phase using acclimated mixed culture in an anaerobic environment. Silicone oil was used as the organic extractive phase for being a water-immiscible, biocompatible and non-biodegradable. Acclimation, cell growth of mixed cultures, and biodegradation of crude oil in aqueous samples were experimentally studied at 30±2ºC. Anaerobic biodegradation of crude oil was examined at four different initial concentrations of crude oil including 500, 1000, 2000, and 5000 mg/L. Complete removal of crud
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One and two-dimensional hydraulic models simulations are important to specify the hydraulic characteristics of unsteady flow in Al-Gharraf River in order to define the locations that facing problems and suggesting the necessary treatments. The reach in the present study is 58200m long and lies between Kut and Hai Cities. Both numerical models were simulated using HEC-RAS software, 5.0.4, with flow rates ranging from 100 to 350 m3/s. Multi-scenarios of gates openings of Hai Regulator were applied. While the openings of Al-Gharraf Head Regulator were ranged between 60cm to fully opened. The suitable manning roughness for the unsteady state was
... Show MoreGeotechnical characterization of the sites has been investigated with the collection of borehole data from different sources. Using the data, grain size distribution curves have been developed to understand the particle size distribution of the alluvium present. These curves were further used for preliminary assessment of liquefiable areas. From geotechnical characterization, it has been observed that the soil profile in the two sites is dominated by sand and silty sand.Seed and Idriss (1971) approachhas been usedevaluatethe liquefaction potentialbydeterminationof the relation between the maximum ground acceleration (a max/g) valuesdue to an earthquake and the relative density of a sand deposit in the field. The results reveal that
... Show MoreThe skull is one of the largest bones in the body. It is classified into flat bones that maintain the important organic structures; which are the brain, eyes, and tongue. The skull is a strong support for preserving these organs but they are various according to the type of animals and the environments in which they live and the nature of their nutrition. There are many differences among living organisms in terms of the bones in the skull, their difference or disappearance and their length in the shape of the head. The samples were taken from the scientific storage in the Iraq Natural History Research Center and Museum; Cape hare Lepus capensis (Linnaeus, 1758) and Red fox Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus, 1758) and the study was conducted o
... Show MoreA program in Visual Basic language was designed to predict the type of radio storm that emitted from Jupiter at specific Local Time (LT) from two different Iraqi locations (Baghdad and Basra), such storms result from the Central Meridian Longitude (CML) of system ??? for Jupiter and phase of Io’s satellite (?Io). Some of these storms are related to position of Io (Io- A,B,C,D) and others are unrelated (non-Io-A,B,C,D) to its position. The input parameters for this program were user specified by determining the observer’s location (longitude), year, month and day. The output program results in form of tables provides the observer with information about the date and the LT of beginning and end of each type of emitted storm. Two Io-storm r
... Show MoreThis study was aimed to investigate the genetic variability of 26 rice genotypes and evaluation at two locations in Sulaimani governorate, Gaba and Chawtan which were completely different in their environmental condition during the season of 2019. The performances of the genotypes were analyzed at both locations as well as the average of both. Simple coefficients of correlation were used to assess the grain yield components and their relationships. Path analysis was used to determine the direct and indirect effects of such components on grain yield plant-1. The genotypes were grouped based on the agro-morphological features using cluster analysis. Almost all of the traits at both locat
... Show MoreBackground: This in vitro study evaluated the effect of canal dryness and flaring on the accuracy of two electronic apex locators for working length (WL) determination. Materials and methods: Sixty extracted teeth were used, after access opening was done, the occlusal surface was flattened to create stable reference point. The teeth were randomly divided into two equal main groups of flared and unflared group each one of 30 teeth. The flaring was done with Gates Glidden drills. The two main groups were further subdivided into two subgroups: dry canal and wet canal using 5.25% sodium hypochlorite groups, Electronic WL of each sample was determined using both Root ZX and i-Root apex locator. Consequently, histologic WL was determined by shav
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Nephrotoxicity is defined as rapid deterioration in kidney functions. It arises from direct exposure to drugs or their metabolites. Methotrexate is a famous chemotherapeutic drug with anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive properties. A high-dose methotrexate-induced renal dysfunction can be life threatening. Cyanocobalamin, one of the forms of vitamin B12, acts as a coenzyme in the conversion of homocysteine to methionine in the cytosol, and the conversion of methylmalonyl-CoA to succinyl-CoA in the mitochondrion. This study is designed to examine the effect of cyanocobalamin in two different doses each co-administered with methotrexate at 20 mg/kg induced nephrotoxicity in rat
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