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

The electrical properties of polycrystalline cadmium telluride thin films of different thickness (200,300,400)nm deposited by thermal evaporation onto glass substrates at room temperature and treated at different annealing temperature (373, 423, 473) K are reported. Conductivity measurements have been showed that the conductivity increases from 5.69X10-5 to 0.0011, 0.0001 (?.cm)-1 when the film thickness and annealing temperature increase respectively. This increasing in ?d.c due to increasing the carrier concentration which result from the excess free Te in these films.

The global rise in temperature and the desert climatic conditions prevalent in Middle Eastern countries have exacerbated rutting distress in heavily trafficked highways. Conventional asphalt binders with a high-temperature performance grade (PG 70) have proven inadequate under such extreme conditions, necessitating the development of modified binders with enhanced high-temperature performance. While polymer modification using styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS), an elastomeric polymer, and ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), a plastomeric polymer, has been widely studied, limited research provides a direct comparison of their effectiveness at both the binder and mixture levels under extremely high-temperature conditions. This study addresses this gap

Beta-irradiation effects on the microstructure of LDPE samples have been investigated
using Positron Annihilation Lifetime Technique (PALT). These effects on the orthopositronium
(o-Ps) Lifetime t3, the free positron annihilation lifetime 2 t , the free-volume
hole size (Vh) and the free volume fraction (fh) were measured as functions of Beta
irradiation - dose up to a total dose of 30.28 kGy.
The results show that the values of t3, Vh and fh increase gradually with increasing Beta
dose up to a total dose of 1.289 kGy, and reach a maximum increment of 17.4%, 32.8% and
5.86%, respectively, while t2 reachs maximum increment of 211.9% at a total dose of 1.59
kGy. Above these doses, the values show nonlinear changes u

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The objective of this study is to determine the efficacy of class V Er:YAG laser (2940 nm) cavity preparation and conventional bur cavity preparation regarding Intrapulpal temperature rise during cavity preparation in extracted human premolar teeth. Twenty non carious premolar teeth extracted for orthodontic purposes were used and class V cavity preparation was applied both buccal and lingual sides for each tooth .Samples were equally grouped into two major groups according to cavity depth (1mm and 2mm). Each major group was further subdivided into two subgroupsof ten teeth for each (twenty cavities for each subgroup). TwinlightEr:YAG laser (2940 nm) with 500mJ pulse energy, P.R.R of 10 Hz and 63.69 J/cm2 energy density was used. The ana