Microbiological contamination by fungi impacts the quality and safety of wheat grain storage. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of cold plasma in restricting the growth of the fungus, Aspergillus niger, which was isolated from wheat grains. A dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) operating at atmospheric pressure generated cold plasma that was used to treat the fungus, and the impact of this treatment was investigated at various periods 1, 2, 4, 6, and 15 minutes. The results revealed a highly significant decrease in the growth and number of spores of Aspergillus niger compared to the controls. This study revealed an efficient technique for enhancing wheat grain storage that could be a foundation for further large-scale studies.
Due to the difficulties that Iraqi students face when writing in the English language, this preliminary study aimed to improve students' writing skills by using online platforms remotely. Sixty first-year students from Al-Furat Al–Awsat Technical University participated in this study. Through these platforms, the researchers relied on stimuli, such as images, icons, and short titles to allow for deeper and more accurate participations. Data were collected through corrections, observations, and feedback from the researchers and peers. In addition, two pre and post-tests were conducted. The quantitative data were analysed by SPSS statistical Editor, whereas the qualitative data were analyzed using the Piot table, an Excel sheet. The resu
... Show MoreIn the present work polymer electrolytes were formulated using the solvent casting technique. Under special conditions, the electrolyte content was of fixed ratio of polyvinylpyrolidone (PVP): polyacrylonitrile (PAN) (25:75), ethylene carbonate (EC) and propylene carbonate (PC) (1:1) with 10% of potassium iodide (KI) and iodine I2 = 10% by weight of KI. The conductivity was increased with the addition of ZnO nanoparticles. It is also increased with the temperature increase within the range (293 to 343 K). The conductivity reaches maximum value of about (0.0296 S.cm-1) with (0.25 g) ZnO. The results of FTIR for blend electrolytes indicated a significant degree of interaction between the polymer blend (PVP and PAN)
... Show MoreThe Ge0.4Te0.6 alloy has been prepared. Thin films of Ge0.4Te0.6 has been prepared via a thermal evaporation method with 4000A thickness, and rate of deposition (4.2) A/sec at pressure 2x10-6 Torr. The A.C electrical conductivity of a-Ge0.4Te0.6 thin films has been studied as a function of frequency for annealing temperature within the range (423-623) K, the deduced exponent s values, was found to decrease with increasing of annealing temperature through the frequency of the range (102-106) Hz. It was found that, the correlated barrier hopping (CBH) is the dominant conduction mechanism. Values of dielectric constant ε1 and dielectric loss ε2 were found to decrease with frequency and increase with temperature. The activation energies have
... Show MoreIn this paper, a simulation of the electrical performance for Pentacene-based top-contact bottom-gate (TCBG) Organic Field-Effect Transistors (OFET) model with Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and silicon nitride (Si3N4) as gate dielectrics was studied. The effects of gate dielectrics thickness on the device performance were investigated. The thickness of the two gate dielectric materials was in the range of 100-200nm to maintain a large current density and stable performance. MATLAB simulation demonstrated for model simulation results in terms of output and transfer characteristics for drain current and the transconductance. The layer thickness of 200nm may result in gate leakage current points to the requirement of optimizing the t
... Show MoreA series of batch demulsification runs were carried out to evaluate the final emulsified water content of emulsion samples after the exposure to microwave. An experimental study was conducted to evaluate the effects of a set of operating variables on the demulsification performance. Several microwave irradiation demulsification runs were carried out at different irradiation powers (700, 800, and 900 watt), using water-in-oil emulsion samples containing different water contents (20-80%, 30-70%, and 50-50%) and salt contents (10000, 20000, and 30000 ppm). It was found that the best separation efficiency was obtained at 900watt, 50% water content and 160 s of irradiation time. Experimental results showed that microwave radiation method can
... Show MoreIn this study a polymeric composite material was prepared by hand
lay-up technique from epoxy resin as a matrix and magnesium oxide
(MgO) as a reinforcement with different weight fraction (5,10,15,
and 20)% to resin. Then the prepared samples were immersed under
normal condition in H2So4(1 M) solution, for periods ranging up to
10 weeks. The result revealed that the diffusion coefficient
decreasing as the concentration of MgO increase. Also we studied
Hardness for the prepared samples before and after immersion. The
result revealed that the hardness values increase as the concentration
of MgO increase, while the hardness for the samples after immersion
in H2SO4 dec
To synthesize new hydrazone derivatives of naproxen with enhanced anti-inflammatory activity and devoid the ulcerogenic side effects. Hydrazones were synthesized by conjugation of naproxen hydrazide with seven natural and synthetic aldehyde and ketone by using glacial acetic acid as catalyst. The synthesis has been carried out following simple methodology in excellent isolated yields.The structure of the synthesized derivatives has been characterized by elemental microanalysis (CHN), FTIR Spectroscopy, and other physicochemical properties.The anti- inflammatory activity of the synthesized compounds was evaluated in vivo using the egg-white induced edema model in rats, and the results of the biological assay was found to be comparable to Nap
... Show MoreAsthma is a chronic respiratory disorder of airways characterized by inflammation, hyperresponsiveness, inflammatory cell infiltration, mucous secretion, and remodelling. Ammi majus is medicinal plant belong to family of Apiaceous which has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. This study designed to investigate of anti-asthmatic activity of alcoholic extract of Ammi majus in improvement of asthma. Forty-eight healthy female mice divided to six groups Group I: the negative control group (distal water only), Group II: Positive control group (ovalbumin group), Group III: Ammi majus (64 mg/kg/day) with sensitization, Group IV:Ammi majus (128 mg/kg/day) w
... Show MoreIn this research, we have added nano anatase TiO2 as a partial replacement of Portland cement by a weight percentage of (0.25 to 1%) for the development of properties for protection against bacteria. The control mix was made by using "the cement to sand" proportion about (1: 2.75) with the "water to cement" proportion of (0.5) to study the structure, porosity, water absorption, density, mechanical properties, as well as anti-bacterial behavior. Inspections have been done such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscope (AFM) for mortar. Experimental results showed that after the addition of Nano powders in cement mortar, the structural properties improved significantly with the development of hydration o
... Show MoreThe manganese doped zinc sulfide nanoparticles were synthesized by simple aqueous chemical reaction of manganese chloride, zinc acetate and thioacitamide in aqueous solution. Thioglycolic acid is used as capping agent for controlling the nanoparticle size. The main advantage of the ZnS:Mn nanoparticles of diameter ~ 2.73 nm is that the sample is prepared by using non-toxic precursors in a cost effective and eco-friendly way. The structural, morphological and chemical composition of the nanoparticles have been investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The nanosize of the prepared nanoparticles was elucidated by Scan
... Show More