Two grades of paving asphalt with penetration of 46 and 65 are studied for determining changes in their physical and chemical properties caused by ageing.
The ageing process has been conducted on two petroleum paving asphalt cement using thin film oven test at 150, 163 and 175 C, and ageing time 5, 10,15, 20, 25 and 30 hours. The effect of ageing time and temperature on penetration, kinematic viscosity, softening point, solubility in trichloroethylene, heat loss and changes in chemical composition are investigated. The results of thin film oven test process indicte that the asphaltenes concentration of all aged asphalt increases with increasing ageing time, while the opposite was observed for polar-aromatic and naphthene-aromatic. The

Soils located above the groundwater table are generally unsaturated and possess negative pore-water pressures. A soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) that relates the water content of a soil to matric suction is an important relationship for the unsaturated soil mechanics. The SWCC essentially shows the ability of an unsaturated soil to retain water under various matric suctions. The filter paper method is a soil suction measurement technique. Soil suction is one of the most important parameters describing the moisture condition of unsaturated soils. The measurement of soil suction is crucial for applying the theories of the engineering behavior of unsaturated soils.In this paper, three soil samples were collected from three sites within

The biological effects of pulsed N2-laser on the old world screw-worm fly, Chrysomya bezziana Villeneuve in the pupal stage were investigated. Different laser parameters were involved in this work. The old pupae of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 days were exposed to laser radiation during 10, 30 and 60 second with repetition rate 10, 20 and 30 pulse/second. The percent of normal adults emergence (female and male) was investigated. The results showed that the adults emergence was highly decreased as the repetition rate and exposure time increased when the pupae irradiated for 1, 2 and 3 days old as compared with 4 and 5 days. The results also indicated that the pupal period was significantly increased of irradiated pupae for 1, 2, 3 and 4 days old, whi

In this part of programme , different bacterial isolates mainly Salmonella spp, Shigella spp and Escherichia coli were used for antagonism with Saccharomyces boulardii under different conditions . S.boulardii was grown under aerobic conditions and antagonized with young overnight nutrient broth cultures of test bacterial isolates and other kept in refrigerator for a week after full growth . Young cultures were more susceptible to antagonistic effect of yeast compared to old cultures and on isolates grown on solid medium for 24 hr. S.boulardii grown under aerobic and microaerobic conditions and antagonized with overnight broth cultures of test bacterial isolates , The results revealed that aerobic cultures of yeast had more inhibito

This study aimed to determine the effect of green bismuth oxide (BiO) NPs against multidrug-resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) from wound infections. Among 450 wound samples collected from patients admitted to the hospital, 200 P. aeruginosa isolates were identified. MDR strains of P. aeruginosa were detected by disc diffusion method. BiO NPs were synthesized using wild Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) strain and infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy techniques. The antibacterial effect of the NPs compared to antibiotics against MDR strains was evaluated using a standard disk diffusion method. BiO NPs were synthesized at 0.005 M concentration of solution. According to the SEM im

In this work, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were biosynthesized from leaves of Ziziphus mauritiana Lam. jujube plant in Iraq and tested against fungal pathogens. Extract of leaves of Z. mauritiana mixed with 10-3 M AgNO3exposed to slight sunlight for 3 days. Characterization of AgNPs was done using UV-visible spectroscopy, SPM (scanning probe microscopy) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The change of solution color from pale brown to dark brown and the exhibited maximum peak at 445 nm accepted as an indicator to biosynthesized AgNPs. Aqueous extract of Ziziphus mauritiana is considered as biological reduced and stabilized agent for Ag+ to Ag0. AFM showed the formation of irregular shapes of AgNPs. The biosynthesized silver nanoparticles ha

We describe the synthesis and characterization of a novel 2D-MnOx material using a combination of HR-TEM, XAS, XRD, and reactivity measurements. The ease with which the 2D material can be made and the conditions under which it can be made implies that water oxidation catalysts previously described as “birnessite-like” (3D) may be better thought of as 2D materials with very limited layer stacking. The distinction between the materials as being “birnessite-like” and “2D” is important because it impacts on our understanding of the function of these materials in the environment and as catalysts. The 2D-MnOx material is noted to be a substantially stronger chemical oxidant than previously noted for other birnessite-like manganese oxi

The study aimed to identify the effect of Total Quality Management on enhancing competitiveness through the opinions of employees of the front- rows of customer service in local Palestinian banks, the researcher adopted an analytical descriptive method through developing a special questionnaire to accomplish the study’s objectives and answer its questions. The study involved all the Palestinian local banks, with their scattered branches in West Bank. The study sample consisted of 3470 executive employees for banking services out of 4753 employees, in the rate of 73%, and the study sample reached (485) employees who were randomly selected working in the front -rows to provide services in the local Palestinian banks during the ye