The effect of metal nanoparticles on the anaerobic digestion of sludge and the sludge bacterial community are still not well-understood, and both improvements and inhibitions have been reported. This study investigated the impact of 2, 10, and 30 mg/g TS silver and copper oxide nanoparticles (AgNPs and CuONPs) on the mesophilic anaerobic digestion of sludge and the bacterial community structure. The reactors were monitored for changes in tCOD, sCOD, TS, VS, biogas generation, and cell viability. Also, the relative abundance and taxonomic distribution of the bacterial communities were analyzed at the phylum and genus levels, including the genera involved in anaerobic digestion. Both AgNPs and CuONPs exhibited some inhibition on anaerobic digestion of sludge and biogas generation, and the inhibition was more evident at higher concentrations. CuONPs had a stronger inhibitory effect compared to AgNPs. After the introduction of AgNPs and CuONPs, cell viability initially decreased over the first two weeks but recovered after that. At high concentrations, AgNPs and CuONPs decreased the overall bacterial diversity, and inhibited the dominant bacterial species, allowing those in less abundance to flourish. The relative abundance of the bacteria responsible for hydrolysis and acidogenesis increased and the relative abundance of acetogenic bacteria decreased with higher AgNP and CuONP concentrations. The majority of the parameters measured for monitoring the anaerobic digestion performance and bacterial community were not statistically significant at 2 mg/g TS of AgNPs and CuONPs, which represents naturally present concentrations in wastewater sludge that are below the USEPA ceiling concentration limits.
Osteoporosis is a systemic disease of the skeleton, characterized by low bone mass and alteration in the micro-architecture of the bone tissue that lead to an increase in brittleness with the ensuing predisposition to bone fracture. Global statistics shows that women are more exposed to this disease than men and in particular at menopause. This study was designed to evaluate the use of some bone markers: serum osteocalcin (Ost), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), as bone formation markers, also parathyroid hormone (PTH), calcium and inorganic phosphate level, for the assessment of patients with osteoporosis and to evaluate their role in monitoring of several types of therapeutic interventions (such as bisphosphonates, hormonal replacement thera
... Show MoreThe uptake of Cd(II) ions from simulated wastewater onto olive pips was modeled using artificial neural network (ANN) which consisted of three layers. Based on 112 batch experiments, the effect of contact time (10-240 min), initial pH (2-6), initial concentration (25-250 mg/l), biosorbent dosage (0.05-2 g/100 ml), agitation speed (0-250 rpm) and temperature (20-60ºC) were studied. The maximum uptake (=92 %) of Cd(II) was achieved at optimum parameters of 60 min, 6, 50 mg/l, 1 g/100 ml, 250 rpm and 25ºC respectively.
Tangent sigmoid and linear transfer functions of ANN for hidden and output layers respectively with 7 neurons were sufficient to present good predictions for cadmium removal efficiency with coefficient of correlatio
... Show MoreHeuristic approaches are traditionally applied to find the optimal size and optimal location of Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) devices in power systems. Genetic Algorithm (GA) technique has been applied to solve power engineering optimization problems giving better results than classical methods. This paper shows the application of GA for optimal sizing and allocation of a Static Compensator (STATCOM) in a power system. STATCOM devices used to increase transmission systems capacity and enhance voltage stability by regulate the voltages at its terminal by controlling the amount of reactive power injected into or absorbed from the power system. IEEE 5-bus standard system is used as an example to illustrate the te
... Show MoreThe research focuses on how to reach a mechanism that assists experts, engineers, and others in the architectural & engineering project to verify the co-existence of values and sustainability constituents in it. Research problem shows a clear lack, locally, in the interest to establish a value system and a list that cares about comprehending building components whether considering sustainable building criteria. Hypothesis shows that in order to head towards the applicable sustainable approach of buildings, then a local assessment system should be established to evaluate buildings during its life cycle, and from which buildings would be categorized as sustainable or not. Research aims at establishing main and general
... Show MoreThis study aims at defining the concept of the fragile state, a term that came into existence in 2014, when the states that had internal Problems and external interventions were referred to as the failure states. However, the indicators for their designation and the criteria adopted are 12 indicators that address all aspects of the State’s duties vis-a-vis its citizens. The study examined the reasons that led to the continuation of Iraq within the fragile states, and the selection of the five years within the time limits of the study due to the factors that led to the decline of Iraq and falling back within the most fragile countries. The study dealt with the fragile state challenges to the media reality as a result of the change of it
... Show MoreThe present paper deal with the issue of the beginning of the culturally
renaissance in emirates of Arab Gulf from 1914-1945 between tow world war
has been attracting the attention of academic about the developments in many
fields in the Arab Gulf at this time.
The paper is divided into five sections. First section, deals with the
geographic importance for the Arab Gulf region. Second section, the economic
situations in the region before and after oil. The third section, talk for social
situations, like population, tribe and tribes in society, and immigration. The
fourth section, deals with the factors of rise the culture and political in the Arab
Gulf before discovery of oil period. The five section, the cultu
Random matrix theory is used to study the chaotic properties in nuclear energy spectrum of the 24Mg nucleus. The excitation energies (which are the main object of this study) are obtained via performing shell model calculations using the OXBASH computer code together with an effective interaction of Wildenthal (W) in the isospin formalism. The 24Mg nucleus is assumed to have an inert 16O core with 8 nucleons (4protons and 4neutrons) move in the 1d5/2, 2s1/2 and 1d3/2 orbitals. The spectral fluctuations are studied by two statistical measures: the nearest neighb