This study explored the use of industrial acidic crude palm oil (ACPO) for biodiesel production, facing a significant obstacle due to its high free fatty acid (FFA) content, which complicates the biodiesel production process. Typically, esterification is employed to convert FFAs into fatty acid methyl ester (FAME). Herein, the effectiveness of tungstosilicic acid hydrate (TSAH) as an unsupported heteropoly acid (HPA) catalyst for FFA esterification in ACPO was investigated. The FFA content was reduced from 8.43% to 0.95% under optimum conditions (4 wt% catalyst dosage, a methanol to oil molar ratio of 10:1, 150 min and a temperature of 60°C). Noteworthy, the TSAH catalyst showed stability over 7
A single-crystalline semi-polar gallium nitride (11-22) was grown on m-plane (10-10) sapphire substrate by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. Three-step approach was introduced to investigate the grain size evolution for semi-polar (11-22) GaN. Such approach was achieved due to the optimized gallium to ammonia ratio and temperature variations, which led to high quality (11-22) oriented gallium nitride epilayers. The full width at half maximum values along (-1-123) and (1-100) planes for the overgrowth temperature of 1080°C were found to be as low as 0.37° and 0.49°, respectively. This was an indication of the enhanced coalescence and reduction in root mean square roughness as seen by atomic force microscopy. Surface analysi
... Show MoreBackground: Teachers are considered as dynamic force who take a pivotal position in any educational system. Since they may play a significant role in passing the preventive information and health promotion, it is important that their own oral health knowledge, attitude, and practices conform to the professional recommendations. The aim of this study was to evaluate oral health knowledge, attitude and practices among kindergarten teachers, and their impact on teachers’ oral health condition in Al-Rusafa Sector, Baghdad, Iraq. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted among 80 kindergarten teachers. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed among these teach¬ers. This questionnaire format contains two
... Show MoreCheckpoint inhibitors are a type of immune therapy used to treat different types of cancers. These drugs block different checkpoint proteins, for example, CTLA-4, PD-1, and PD-L1 inhibitors.
They block proteins that stop the immune system from attacking the cancer cells. Checkpoints are also described as a type of monoclonal antibody that antagonizes binding between B7 to CTLA-4 and PD-L1 to PD-1.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors are used to treat BARCA mutated triple-negative breast cancer (TNBCS) in patients who do not respond to chemotherapy, and also in the treatment of highly mutated and solid tumors such as brain tumors, liver, and pancreatic cancers.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors exhibit an effect on solid tumo
... Show MoreThree different types of nozzles (different wear rate) were used in this study. They are classified depending on the severity of their wear to three groups: new, worn and damaged nozzles. Those nozzles were spraying with the same application rate (303 l/ha) on two-year field trials; this was achieved by changing the spraying pressure for each group of nozzles in order to get the same application rate. This practice is usually done by operators of sprayers, who calibrate the sprayers on the same application rate every year without changing the nozzles, so they tend to reduce the spraying pressure in order to compensate the flow rate increase due to the nozzles yearly wear. Two types of
Cardiovascular disorders are refer to the class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels (arteries and veins). While the term technically refers to any disease that affects the cardiovascular system. Cholesterol is classified as a sterol (a contraction of steroid and
... Show MoreBackground: The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare centering ability and canal transportation of simulated S-shaped canals instrumented with four different types of rotary nickel-titanium systems. Materials and Methods: Forty simulated S-shaped canals in resin blocks were divided into four groups of ten each and were instrumented to an apical size 25 by different instrumentation technique using ProTaper Universal files (group A), ProTaperNext (group B), Reciproc (group C) and WaveOne (group D).Centering ability and canal transportation was measured at (11) measuring points from D0 to D10 bysuperimposion of the pre- and post-operative images obtained by using digital camera in standardized manner. An assessment of the canals
... Show MoreA histological study showed the wall of the stomach in Pica pica and Herpestes javanicus consists of four layers: mucosa, submucosa, muscularis externa and serosa. Also, the present study showed many differences in the histological structures of the stomach for each in both types. The stomach of P. pica consists of two portions: the proventiculus and gizzard, while the stomach of H. javanicus consists of three portions: cardiac, fundic and pyloric regions. The mucosa layer formed short gastric folds, named plicae. In the proventiculus of P. pica, sulcus is found between each two plicae, but the folds called gastric p
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