This study synthesized nanocomposite photocatalyst materials from a mixture of Cu2O nanoparticles, ZnO nanoparticles, and graphene oxide (GO) through coprecipitation and hydrothermal methods. This study aims to determine the optimum composition of Cu2O/ZnO/GO nanocomposites in degrading methylene blue. The nanocomposite was synthesized in two steps: 1 the synthesis of Cu2O and ZnO nanoparticles through the coprecipitation method and the preparation of GO through the modified Hummer method. 2 The preparation of Cu2O and ZnO nanoparticles mixtures with GO through the hydrothermal method to form Cu2O/ZnO/GO nanocomposites. The adsorption-photocatalysis process of methylene blue was done with UV light from a halogen lamp. The characterization results indicated that the optimum composition was Cu2O/ZnO nanocomposite with a ratio of 1:2 and 10% of GO, which had a specific surface area of 35.874 m2 g-1, a pore radius of 19.073 nm, and a pore volume of 0.092 cm3 g-1, and a diameter crystalline of 31.19 nm. The degradation efficiency of methylene blue under UV light for 120 minutes were 82.0%, 86.0%, 91.4%, and 79.3% using the Cu2O/ZnO nanocomposites with GO of 1%, 3%, 5%, and 10%, respectively. These results indicated that Cu2O/ZnO/GO nanocomposites efficiently degrade methylene blue from textile dye waste.
Non-thermal (low-temperature) plasma may act as an alternative approach to control superficial wound and skin infections when the effectiveness of chemical agents is weak due to natural pathogen or biofilm resistance. In this paper an atmospheric pressure plasma needle jet device which generates a cold plasma jet is used to measure the effectiveness of plasma treatment against different pathogenic bacteria and to test the individual susceptibility of pathogenic bacteria to non-thermal argon plasma. It is found that, Gram-negative bacteria were more susceptible to plasma treatment than Gram-positive bacteria. For the Gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, there were no survivors among the initial 1x108C.F.U (Co
... Show MoreBackground: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected disease in tropical countries, including Iraq. Several studies have sought to examine chemotherapies for leishmaniasis treatment but most of them are of toxic and/or undesirable side effect, therefore, the need for investigating new fewer toxic therapies is essential. Aim of study: In this study, the cytotoxic effect of Artemisinin (ART), a novel herbal compound, was screened against the two forms, promastigotes and amastigotes, of the Iraqi isolate of Leishmania tropica, the causative agent of Baghdad boil. Material and methods: Different concentrations (1000, 500, 250, 125, 62.5, 31.25, 15.6 and 7.8) µM of Artemisinin were screened to investigate the leishmanic
... Show MoreIntroduction and Aim: Bacteriocins are antimicrobial peptides that have bactericidal and/or bacteriostatic activity against other bacteria. The aim of this study was to assess the antibacterial efficiency of Klebocin a K. pneumoniae bacteriocin, against biofilm formation by clinical isolates of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus MRSA. Materials and Methods: S. aureus isolated from clinical samples was identified according to vitek 2 system Antibiotic susceptibility test was performed according to disc diffusion method. Vitek 2 compact system was also used to detect MRSA strains. Agar well diffusion method was used to evaluate the antibacterial activity of klebocin from K. pneumoniae towards 11 strains of S. aureus by
... Show MoreEleven yoghurt samples were collected from local markets in Baghdad to isolate Lactobacillus buchneri. Only 3 isolates of L. buchneri were found and the isolate No. 3 was the most producer of bacteriocin. Bacteriocin was adsorbed 100% onto silicic acid at pH 6.0-7.0. Below or above these pH values, adsorption was decreased, ranging between 35 and 90%. Therefore, pH 6.0 was used for the purification procedure. The purification procedure including silicic acid adsorption/desorption and cation-exchange chromatography (CEC) resulted in a 11.11 fold increase in the final specific activity of pure bacteriocin (1176.47 Au/mg) compared to the culture supernatant which was 32.64 Au/mg. The molecular weight was determined to be about 3.4 kDa. The bac
... Show MoreNitrogen (N) is a key growth and yield-limiting factor in cultivated rice areas. This study has been conducted to evaluate the effects of different conditions of N application on rice yield and yield components (Shiroudi cultivar) in Babol (Mazandaran, Iran) during the 2015- 2016 season. A factorial experiment executed of a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) used in three iterations. In the first factor, treatments were four N amounts (including 50, 90, 130, and 170 kg N ha-1), while in the second factor, the treatments consisted of four different fertilizer splitting methods, including T1:70 % at the basal stage + 30 % at the maximum tillering stage, T2:1/3 at the basal stage + 1/3 at the maximum ti
... Show MoreIn this paper, the speed control of the real DC motor is experimentally investigated using nonlinear PID neural network controller. As a simple and fast tuning algorithm, two optimization techniques are used; trial and error method and particle swarm optimization PSO algorithm in order to tune the nonlinear PID neural controller's parameters and to find best speed response of the DC motor. To save time in the real system, a Matlab simulation package is used to carry out these algorithms to tune and find the best values of the nonlinear PID parameters. Then these parameters are used in the designed real time nonlinear PID controller system based on LabVIEW package. Simulation and experimental results are compared with each other and showe
... Show MoreThe plant licorice is considered important plants as nutritionally and medically and economically, as a rich in phytochemical, vitamins and minerals, and being widely available, Research indicated the presence of many nutrients such as (proteins, Carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals) as well as presence of Glycyrrhizin which responsible of sweet taste, that allowing the possibility to use it as natural intensity sweetener with few calories in Sweetening of many food. This research is aimed to study the Stability of Glycyrrhizin toward the various manufacturing conditions such as (thermal treatment, pH of foods and microwaves), so three factorial experiments was implemented to find out the Stability as following: 100C° - 121C° - Microwa
... Show MoreBackground and purpose: Animal model helps researchers to evaluate new treatment plan for human and understand pathological mechanism involved in a development of disease. The use of rats as an animal model for Alzheimer's research has become a favorite among researchers. Rats are capable in mimicking Alzheimer disease due to their intelligence and quick adaptation to nature. At present there are several methods that can be used to induce Alzheimer's animals, but each method has advantages and disadvantages. We need to learn other methods that can provide many advantages and few disadvantages. The Amyloid-beta 42 (Aβ-42) and Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) are thought to play an important role in the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease. Th
... Show MoreFrequency equations for rectangular plate model with and without the thermoelastic effect for the cases are: all edges are simply supported, all edges are clamped and two opposite edges are clamped others are simply supported. These were obtained through direct method for simply supported ends using Hamilton’s principle with minimizing Ritz method to total energy (strain and kinetic) for the rest of the boundary conditions. The effect of restraining edges on the frequency and mode shape has been considered. Distributions temperatures have been considered as a uniform temperature the effect of developed thermal stresses due to restrictions of ends conditions on vibration characteristics of a plate with different
... Show MoreIn the postmodern era, the graphic design styles showed a new visualization method when the graphic designers had changed the traditional conditions by using design elements with new technics for photos, collage and comics illustration. The researcher assumes that the graphic design styles were affected by the art's movement at that period throw the same perspective of view for the concept presented in the art pieces and their entire message. Therefore, the researcher chooses field was the period of 1945-1970 in the USA for the (pop-art and conceptual-art) and explored the main visual effects that expressed the visual dialogue and compared them with the most common design styles ant the same period and location, the results of selected e
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