RG Majeed, AS Ahmed, Jornal of Al-Muthanna for Agricultural Sciences, 2023

Low grade crude palm oil (LGCPO) presents as an attractive option as feedstock for biodiesel production due to its low cost and non-competition with food resources. Typically, LGCPO contains high contents of free fatty acids (FFA), rendering it impossible in direct trans-esterification processes due to the saponification reaction. Esterification is the typical pre-treatment process to reduce the FFA content and to produce fatty acid methyl ester (FAME). The pre-treatment of LGCPO using two different acid catalysts, such as titanium oxysulphate sulphuric acid complex hydrate (TiOSH) and 5-sulfosalicylic acid dihydrate (5-SOCAH) was investigated for the first time in this study. The optimum conditions for the homogenous catalyst (5-SOCAH) wer

In this study, a factorial experiment was conducted using a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replicates to investigate the effects of silicon at four concentrations: 0, 2, 4, and 6 ml/L, designated as S0, S1, S2, and S3, respectively and a calcium-boron combination at three concentrations: 0, (0.5 g/L Ca-EDTA, + 10 mg/L B), and (1 g/L Ca-EDTA, + 20 mg/L B), designated as C0, C1, and C2, respectively. on the activity of antioxidant enzymes and some qualitative traits of fruits. The results indicated that the studied traits were significantly influenced by the factors. Silicon application notably increased enzyme activity, treatment S3 showed the highest activity levels for peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) rea

Yeasts are distributed in all environments and have been reported as potential biocontrol agents against various phytopathogenic fungi. To investigate their enzymatic and biological activities, 32 yeasts were isolated from 15 date vinegar samples. Evaluation of the antagonistic activities of isolated yeasts against the plant pathogens Fusarium oxysporium, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, and Macrophomina phaseolina indicated that there are two yeasts had the highest inhibitory effect against plant pathogens, these yeasts identified as Kluyveromyces marxianus and Torulaspora delbrueckii using traditional and molecular methods. These yeast isolates were tested for fungal cell wall degrading enzymes (in vitro), and results indicated that the

Palm vein recognition is a one of the most efficient biometric technologies, each individual can be identified through its veins unique characteristics, palm vein acquisition techniques is either contact based or contactless based, as the individual's hand contact or not the peg of the palm imaging device, the needs a contactless palm vein system in modern applications rise tow problems, the pose variations (rotation, scaling and translation transformations) since the imaging device cannot aligned correctly with the surface of the palm, and a delay of matching process especially for large systems, trying to solve these problems. This paper proposed a pose invariant identification system for contactless palm vein which include three main

Artificial intelligence (AI) is entering many fields of life nowadays. One of these fields is biometric authentication. Palm print recognition is considered a fundamental aspect of biometric identification systems due to the inherent stability, reliability, and uniqueness of palm print features, coupled with their non-invasive nature. In this paper, we develop an approach to identify individuals from palm print image recognition using Orange software in which a hybrid of AI methods: Deep Learning (DL) and traditional Machine Learning (ML) methods are used to enhance the overall performance metrics. The system comprises of three stages: pre-processing, feature extraction, and feature classification or matching. The SqueezeNet deep le

Artificial intelligence (AI) is entering many fields of life nowadays. One of these fields is biometric authentication. Palm print recognition is considered a fundamental aspect of biometric identification systems due to the inherent stability, reliability, and uniqueness of palm print features, coupled with their non-invasive nature. In this paper, we develop an approach to identify individuals from palm print image recognition using Orange software in which a hybrid of AI methods: Deep Learning (DL) and traditional Machine Learning (ML) methods are used to enhance the overall performance metrics. The system comprises of three stages: pre-processing, feature extraction, and feature classification or matching. The SqueezeNet deep le

The adsorption of hexavalent chromium by preparing activated carbon from date seeds with zinc chloride as chemical activator and granular date seeds was studied in a batch system. The characteristics of date seeds and prepared activated carbon (ZAC) were determined and found to have a surface area 500.01 m²/g and 1050.01  m²/g , respectively and  iodine number of 485.78 mg/g and 1012.91  mg/g, respectively. The effects of PH value (2-12), initial sorbate concentration(50-450mg/L), adsorbent weight (0.004-0.036g) and contact time (30-150 min) on the adsorption process were studied . For Cr(VI) adsorption on ZAC, at 120 min time contact, pH solution 2 and 0.02  adsorbent  weight  will ach

This field experiment was conducted at Research Station B, Department of Horticulture and Landscape Engineering, College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Baghdad, Jadiriyah during the fall season of 2019-2020 to evaluate the effect of cultivation dates and soil fertilization source on the growth, yield and quality of broccoli. A split plot design within the RCBD design with three replicates was applied as the Max F1 hybrid broccoli seedlings were transferred to the field at two dates 25, Sep. 2019 and 15, Oct. 2019, which were symbolized as A and B, respectively, and occupied at the main plot. After two weeks of cultivation, the soil fertilizers were applied three times during the season in 20 days between each applicati

The consumption of fresh fruits has increased nowadays due to the lifestyle of the consumers. Maintaining the quality and nutritional value of cut fruits during storage is difficult compared to whole fruits. Deterioration of internal and external quality usually occurs in freshly harvested fruits. It is necessary to use different techniques to maintain the quality and increase the shelf life of the freshly cut product. This research studied the effect of treating apple slices with cold plasma once and with filtered water again on quality characteristics (hardness, moisture content, sugar content, carbohydrate content, and color) after being stored for five days. The best treatment was determined using two different pressures of the plasma j