Insects have a vital role in solid waste composting process. Insects are detritus feeders that enhance changing the physical and chemical properties of decomposed materials during composting processes. This behavior makes insects excellent organisms in recycling of organic matter. The present study assesses the success of insects’ population in relation with the degradation of solid waste. The study was carried out in the glass house facility of the College of Science, Salahaddin University in Erbil City, Kurdistan region of Iraq, using household organic waste. During composting process, three stages of lifecycle of insects were observed and recorded. The total number of insects reached to 1268 individuals, belonging to the orders Coleoptera and Diptera, class Insects. Diptera individuals were the most abundant insects with 95.4% of the total belonged to four families (Muscidae, Calliphoridae, Ulidiidae and Milichiidae). Coleoptera individuals represented 4.6% of the total number, belonging to three families (Promecheilidae, Staphylinidae and Salpingidae). The measured physicochemical characteristics of the compost included: pH, EC, moisture, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, total phosphorous and organic matter. The pH value of the composts ranged from 7.79 to 7.97. Organic carbon content and organic matter content ranged from 20.16 to 26.99 % and 34.67 to 46.23 %, respectively. It can concluded that household waste compost is not just a waste but has the potential to be transformed into a good quality organic fertilizer through composting. Composting can convert solid organic waste into a valuable added material.
Urotensin-II (UII), a pluripotent vasoactive cyclic peptide, exhibits the progression of cardiovascular diseases and the glucose metabolic disorder of insulin resistance. Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is entirely associated with insulin resistance. This study aimed to demonstrate the association of UII with insulin resistance in diabetic and non-diabetic subjects. A total of 73 male and female subjects aged 40-60 years were recruited in this case-control study. They included 35 non- diabetic subjects with a body mass index of (BMI) ≤ 25 and 38 patients with Diabetes Mellitus and BMI ≥ 25. UII levels were assessed beside other vasoactive and clinical parameters. The results re
... Show MoretA novel synthesis procedure is presented for preparing triethanolamine-treated graphene nanoplatelets(TEA-GNPs) with different specific areas (SSAs). Using ultrasonication, the covalently functionalizedTEA-GNPs with different weight concentrations and SSAs were dispersed in distilled water to prepareTEA-GNPs nanofluids. A simple direct coupling of GNPs with TEA molecules is implemented to synthesizestable water-based nanofluids. The effectiveness of the functionalization procedure was validated by thecharacterization and morphology tests, i.e., FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, EDS, and TEM. Thermal conduc-tivity, dispersion stability, and rheological properties were investigated. Using UV–vis spectrometer, ahighest dispersion stability of 0.876
... Show MoreHerein, the interfacial polymerization method has been used for the synthesis of PPy/NaVO3 composites with different compositions of NaVO3 (10 %, 20 %, 30 %, 40 % and 50 %) as an efficient electrode material for supercapacitors. The successful formation and composition of the as-prepared composites (PV1-PV5) were confirmed by FTIR, XRD, EDX, and SEM analysis. The electrochemical properties were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanometric charge–discharge measurement (GCD), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in 0.5 M H2SO4 electrolyte. As compared to other, the PV4 composite exhibit excellent specific capacitance of 391 F g−1 at a current density of 0.75 A/g with good cycling stability of ∼59 % after 1000 cycle
... Show MoreThe antibacterial activity of Capparis spinosa L. extracts obtained from Baghdad was evaluated against six clinical bacteria isolates of Helicobacter pylori. The results presented in this work demonstrated that the leaves extract showed a significant effect against bacteria as compared to the root and fruit extracts at 100 mg/ml concentration, with inhibition zone ranging from 12.0 to 30.7 mm in each bacteria strain. The end results of GC-MS analysis indicated that the ethanol extracts of caper have a lot of active chemical compounds, including twenty-five, eighty-two and sixty-eight phytoconstituent compounds, that are distinguished in the extracts of roots, leaves and fruits with C. spinosa L. respectively. I
... Show MoreThis study conducted an analytical investigation on the behavior of concrete beams with openings reinforced by glass-fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars. In this study, five proposed beams reinforced by GFRP bars as flexural and shear reinforcement with openings were numerically examined. The variables were the opening orientation (vertical and horizontal) and the number of openings. These openings were located within the flexural zone of the proposed beams. The result shows that the vertical openings had a significant effect over the horizontal openings on reducing the ultimate load and increasing the mid-span deflection compared with the control beam. Moreover, the results showed t