This study aimed to determine the optimal conditions for extracting basil seed gum in addition to determine the chemical components of basil seeds. Additionally, the study aimed to investigate the effect of the mixing ratio of gum to ethanol when deposited on the basis of the gum yield which was1:1, 1:2, 1:3 (v/v) respectively. The best mixing ratio was one size of gum to two sizes of ethanol, which recorded the highest yield. Based on the earlier, the optimal conditions for extracting basil seed gum in different levels which included pH, temperature, mixing ratio seeds: water and the soaking duration were studied. The optimal conditions were: pH 8, temperature of 60°C, mixing ratio seeds: water 1:65 (w/v) and soaking duration of 30 min

A simple, economical and selective method employing ion pair dispersive liquid−liquid microextraction (DLLME) coupled with spectrophotometric determination of carbamazepine (CBZ) in pharmaceutical preparations and biological samples was developed. The method is based on reduction of Mo(VI) to Mo(V) using a combination of ammonium thiocyanate and ascorbic acid in acidic medium to form a red binary Mo(V) thiocyanate complex. After addition of CBZ to the complex, extraction of the formed CBZ−Mo(V)−(SCN)6 was performed using a mixture of methylene chloride and methanol. Then, the measurement of target complex was performed at the wavelength of 470 nm. The important extraction parameters affecting the efficiency of DLLME were studied and o

Morphologies of ceramic hollow fiber membranes prepared by a combined phase-inversion and sintering method were studied. The organic binder spinning solution containing suspended Al₂O₃ powders was spun to a hollow fiber precursor, which was then sintered at elevated temperatures( 300 ˚C, 1400 ˚C, 25 ˚C) in order to obtain the Al₂O₃ hollow fiber membranes. The spinning solution consisted of polyether sulfone (PES), N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), which were used as polymer binder, solvent, respectively. The prepared Al₂O₃ hollow fiber membranes were characterized by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). It is believed that finger-like void formation in asymmetric ceramic membranes is initiated by hydrodynamically unstable vis

Identifying people by their ear has recently received import attention in the literature. The accurate segmentation of the ear region is vital in order to make successful person identification decisions. This paper presents an effective approach for ear region segmentation from color ear images. Firstly, the RGB color model was converted to the HSV color model. Secondly, thresholding was utilized to segment the ear region. Finally, the morphological operations were applied to remove small islands and fill the gaps. The proposed method was tested on a database which consisted of 105 ear images taken from the right sides of 105 subjects. The experimental results of the proposed approach on a variety of ear images revealed that this approac

Calcium-Montmorillonite (bentonite) [Ca-MMT] has been prepared via cation exchange reaction using benzalkonium chloride [quaternary ammonium] as a surfactant to produce organoclay which is used to prepare polymer composites. Functionalization of this filler surface is very important factor for achieving good interaction between filler and polymer matrix. Basal spacing and functional groups identification of this organoclay were characterized using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy respectively.  The (XRD) results showed that the basal spacing of the treated clay (organoclay) with the benzalkonium chloride increased to 15.17213 ⁰A, this represents an increment of about 77.9% in the

Electrospinning is a novel technique that can be used to produce highly porous fibers with highly tunable properties. In this research, this technique is adopted to prepare the electrospun nanofiber membrane for membrane distillation application. A custom-built electrospinning setup was made to prepare the nanofibers membrane. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer was used in the electrospinning process due to its high hydrophobicity. Electrospun (PVDF) nanofibers were tested in direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) process using 0.6 M sodium chloride as a feed solution. The resulting nanofiber membrane exhibited high performance in DCMD (i.e. relatively high water flux and high salt rejection). It has been found