This research supports the UN’s 2030 Agenda and its goals of ending poverty and hunger. Fruit and vegetable (FandV) lose their freshness and weight when stored at unsuitable temperatures and relative humidity. This study was conducted in Baghdad governorate, located at latitude 33.3128057 and longitude 44.3614875, in the Karrada region from February 27 to April 17, 2024. It compared the effectiveness of different storage technologies, including evaporative cooling, various air velocities, and diverse packaging methods, against sustainable and nonpackaging approaches. The study employed an air cooler with a volume of 2000 ft3/s and insulated packaging. Temperature and relative humidity were recorded in the storage environment every five seconds using an Arduino system equipped with a DHT-22 temperature and humidity sensor. Analysis of the data revealed that evaporative cooling significantly extended eggplant shelf life and reduced weight loss when combined with effective packaging methods. The average SLD of CPS1 was 11 days and the lowest average WL was 3.86% at an average temperature and relative humidity of 16.02° C and 92.9%, respectively. The average SLD of CPS2 was 8 days while that for WL was 7.23% at an average temperature and relative humidity of 21.76° C and 94.08%, respectively. The multiple regression model explained 63% of the data, and the temperature coefficient was lower than for relative humidity, meaning that it is more significant than RH under the conditions of this experiment.
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and sulphur foam added either at direct seeding or at transplanting decreased the effects of nematode (Meloidogyne javanica) on eggplant growth, and improved plant health. Experiments were conducted to study the possible interactions between the Mycorrhizal fungi (Glomus mossae and Gigaspora spp.) and sulphur foam to control M. javanica on eggplant at seed or seedling stage. Experiment at seed stage treated with Mycorrhiza or sulphur foam alone or together stimulated the growth and reduced Nematode infestation significantly. Treated plant at seedling stage increased plant growth and reduced the number of galls /gm of root system. The interaction between Mycorrhiza and sulpher foam treatments was not significant
... Show MoreEnvironmental Control Systems form one of the integral tasks of the designer, resulting from his/her acquaintance with the nature of sites and the way they are deployed to achieve modern space entity which is witnessing significant development in the field of interior design.Good deployment of these systems offer us, as designers, high potential and several varied solutions to configure internal spaces characterised as a fertile field of study and knowledge.The research problem was identified in the marginalisation of the importance of Environmental Control Systems as an important designing factor to achieve integrated design. The research problem was demonstrated in Chapter One, along with defining the objectives and formulating
In the present work effect of recycled heating and cooling on the values of concrete compressive strength due to high temperature of 4000C was studied.
The tests show that the percent of reduction in compressive strength of the samples which exposed to a temperature of 4000C for one cycle was 32.5%, while the reduction was 52.7% for the samples which were exposed to recycled heating and cooling of ten times .
Moreover a study of the effect of specimen sizes on the percentages of compressive strength reduction due to high temperature
... Show MoreThermal performance of closed wet cooling tower has been investigated experimentally and theoretically
in this work. The theoretical model based on heat and mass transfer equations and heat and mass transfer balance equations which are established for steady state case. A new small indirect cooling tower was used for conducting experiments. The cooling capacity of cooling tower is 1 kW for an inlet water temperature of 38oC, a water mass velocity 2.3 kg/m2.s and an air wet bulb temperature of 26oC. This study investigates the relationship between saturation efficiency, cooling capacity and coefficient of performance of closed wet cooling tower versus different operating parameters such wet-bulb temperature, variable air-spray water fl
The present study involves experimental analysis of the modified Closed Wet Cooling Tower (CWCT) based on first and second law of thermodynamics, to gain a deeper knowledge in this important field of engineering in Iraq. For this purpose, a prototype of CWCT optimized by added packing under a heat exchanger was designed, manufactured and tested for cooling capacity of 9 kW. Experiments are conducted to explore the effects of various operational and conformational parameters on the towers thermal performance. In the test section, spray water temperature and both dry bulb temperature and relative humidity of air measured at intermediate points of the heat exchanger and packing. Exergy of water and air were calculated by applying the exergy
... Show MoreThis study investigates the impact of agricultural investment policy—represented by agricultural loans and investment allocations—on rice crop production in Iraq over the period 2003–2023, employing the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model. Using time-series econometric analysis, the study confirms a short-term positive and statistically significant effect of financial support on rice output, while revealing statistically insignificant long-term effects. The presence of a cointegration relationship suggests long-term equilibrium between agricultural policy variables and rice production. However, the absence of causality in the Yamamoto-Toda test implies that structural and institutional inefficiencies may dilute the long-term i
... Show MoreThe present paper attempts to find out the role of developmental loans in promoting strategic crops especially the basis stemming from the problem of non - defining economic feasibility study and the negative or positive revenues of developmental loans, directed to Iraqi Agricultural sector in general and Basic strategic crops in particular which resulted in the difficulty of planning and future prediction to grant loans agriculturally directed in terms of quality and quantity and the arbitrary of distributing these loans .the strategic crops have been selected as sample of population where the sample of Basic strategic crops include wheat and barley .The paper has come to several of conclusions mainly are as follows :- the increase in n
... Show MoreA new light-weight nanocarbon prepared by spray-drying method to obtain particle size is 21.7 nm based of polylactic acid biodegradable film in antistatic packaging .Bio carbon (biochar) is obtained from plants and soils to naturally absorb and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere . Therefor it has been used to support biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) with to obtain 100% recyclable material.
Using plasticizer thymol of polylactic acid and biochar (bio carbon) as composites were prepared by a solution casting method with (0.5-10)wt% biochar. The composites characterized by FTIR, electrical conductivity, mechanical properties , contact angle and Colar and Brightness . Results show th
... Show MoreThe work was carried out in two stages. The first stage concerned
with study of silicon carbide (SiC) ratio (1.5, 2.5, 3.5, and 4.5 wt%)
effect on the Thermal conductivity of polyvinyl chloride (PVC); and
the second stage concerned with the UV – weatherizing (25, 50, and
75 hr), thermal aging (40, 50, and 60 °C), and rain- weatherizing (1,
2.5, and 4 hr) effect on the samples involved. Thermal conductivity
results proved that there was slight increase in thermal conductivity
by (SiC) loading; it increased from 0.17 W/m.K for PVC to 0.19
W/m.K for 4.5% SiC/PVC; where as it was systematically decreased
by UV- weatherizing, thermal aging, and rain- weatherizing. This
property is in a good agreement with gene
Modeling the microclimate of a greenhouse located in Baghdad under its weather conditions to calculate the heating and cooling loads by computer simulation. Solar collectors with a V-corrugated absorber plate and an auxiliary heat source were used as a heating system. A rotary silica gel desiccant dehumidifier, a sensible heat exchanger, and an evaporative cooler were added to the collectors to form an open-cycle solar assisted desiccant cooling system. A dynamic model was adopted to predict the inside air and the soil surface temperatures of the greenhouse. These temperatures are used to predict the greenhouse heating and cooling loads through an energy balance method which takes into account the soil heat gain. This is not included in
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