Crab shells were used to produce chitosan via the three stages of deproteinization, demineralization and deacetylation using sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid under different treatment conditions of temperature and time. The produced chitosan was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIRS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), high – resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM), electron dispersion spectroscopy (EDS), dynamic light scattering (DLS), Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The adsorption behavior of chitosan to remove arsenic (As) and copper (Cu) from electroplating wastewater was examined by batch adsorption process as a function of adsorbent dose, contact time and temperature. The FTIR, XRD, HRSEM and EDS analyses confirmed, respectively, the presence of –NH2 and –OH functional groups, with amorphous/crystalline phases, crystallinity index of 69.54%, needle-like morphology and Carbon (C), Oxygen (O) and Nitrogen N) in the produced chitosan. While DLS, BET and TGA showed, respectively, that the produced chitosan has an average particle size of 729nm, is moderately polydisperse, has12.67 m2/g surface area, mesoporous in nature, and with thermal stability of up to 1430C. The optimum adsorbent dose, contact time and temperature values to remove As and Cu by chitosan were 15mg, 45 minutes, 333K and25mg, 60 minutes, 349K,respectively. Under the employed conditions, chitosan though has a low surface area, displaying high adsorption capacity for both metal ions. The adsorption isotherm data were better fitted to the Jovanovic isotherm model while the kinetic data fitted best to the pseudo-second order model. The thermodynamic studies established that the adsorption was feasible but endothermic in nature. This study shows that chitosan adsorbents purify electroplating wastewater.
Thirty five samples were collected from patients (1-30) years old, suffered from, infected skin , rushes, boils , oral thrush, anal & vaginal itches. Candida albicans 57.3% (20 isolates) and Candida tropicalis 22.5% (8 isolates) Aspergillus fumegatus 11.5% (4 isolates) Aspergillus nigar 8.7%(3 isolates) , were isolated & identified from these samples. Alcoholic & water hot extracts of the punica granatum (Pomegranate) peels as well as the dried powder were prepared. The anti-fungal activity of the extracts was evaluated by means of the agar-well diffusion assay. The extract exhibited potent activity against yeast. The Minimum inhibitory concentra
... Show MoreRare earth metal oxides (REMOs) have gained considerable attention in recent years owing to their distinctive properties and potential applications in electronic devices and catalysts. Particularly, cerium dioxide (CeO2), also known as ceria, has emerged as an interesting material in a wide variety of industrial, technological, and medical applications. Ceria can be synthesized with various morphologies, including rods, cubes, wires, tubes, and spheres. This comprehensive review offers valuable perceptions into the crystal structure, fundamental properties, and reaction mechanisms that govern the well-established surface-assisted reactions over ceria. The activity, selectivity, and stability of ceria, either as a stand-alone catalyst or as
... Show MoreIn this research, cyclic compounds derived from 2- furfural mercaptan (oxazole, triazoles) were synthesized, and their biological efficacy was measured and compared with standard drugs. Also, their effectiveness as anti-oxidant was measured and compared with ascorbic acid as a standard substance. Some of the synthesized compounds were deduced with good efficacy. © 2021 Sami Publishing Company. All rights reserved
Amoebas live freely in different climates and parts of the world. Several species of Free Living Amoeba (FLA) are capable of causing serious as well as fatal infections in human beings. The aim of this study was to identify and compare genotypes of water-polluting FLA in major rivers and lakes of Iraq and compare them with FLA isolates from Iran and Turkey. For this purpose, the study included 20 water samples from the Tigris River, Euphrates River , Najaf Sea and Dukan lake in Iraq, 20 water samples from Marivan, Velasht, and Soleimanshah lakes and Caspian sea in Iran, and 20 water samples from Sabanca, Seyfi , Hazar and Yay lakes in Turkey. The samples were studied by culture methods, invert microscope, and molecular methods.
... Show MoreThe present study aims to convert obsidian rocks into spongy gravel for the use in the production of lightweight and heat insulating concrete. The rocks were burned at 960°C to achieve maximum swelling of the samples, then broken into gravel and sand sizes. For comparison purposes, two other types of aggregates were used, namely pumice and basalt. The main physical tests, such as specific gravity, bulk density, porosity, and water absorption were performed. For testing the resistance of samples to alkalinity, KOH and Na OH solutions were used. The results showed that the obsidian sample gave the best specifications, where its specific gravity was 0.33, while the values were 1.1 for pumice and 2.7 for basalt, with the
... Show MoreAn extracellular β-galactosidase from the thermophilic fungus Rhizomucor
Pusillus IB8 has been purified via several steps included precipitation by ammonium
sulphate at 80 % saturation, DEAE- Cellulose Ion exchange chromatography and gel filteration on sepharose CL-6B column. The Final purification folds and the yield of the enzyme were 42.5 and 24.8 % respectively. The purified β-galactosidase has an optimum pH for its activity between 4.5 to 5, while the optimum pH for enzyme stability was between 5 to 5.5. Futhermore, it was found that the optimum temperature for its activity was 60 C°. The purified enzyme retained approximatly 98% of its original activity when incubated at 60 C° for 60 min. However, 25 % of its activity was
The plant Borago officinalis, which belongs to the Boraginaceae family and Celebrated as borage, is one of the useful medicinal plants cultivated in Iraq. It was used in olde medicine in Iraq, Irane, Syria and Europe for management of various diseases. It is commonly used as an atonic, tranquilliser, management of cough, sore throat, pneumonia, swelling, inflammatory diseases, antioxidant, and anticancer. This project provides the first comprehensive research done in Iraq to study the phytochemicals and the methods of extraction and isolation of active constituents from Borago officinalis cultivated in Iraq. The plant was harvested in spring from AL-Rifai, Nassiriyah city, IRAQ in February 2019.were w
... Show MoreThis research aims to investigate the color distribution of a huge sample of 613654 galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Those galaxies are at a redshift of 0.001 - 0.5 and have magnitudes of g = 17 - 20. Five subsamples of galaxies at redshifts of (0.001 - 0.1), (0.1 - 0.2), (0.2 - 0.3), (0.3 - 0.4) and (0.4 - 0.5) have been extracted from the main sample. The color distributions (u-g), (g-r) and (u-r) have been produced and analysed using a Matlab code for the main sample as well as all five subsamples. Then a bimodal Gaussian fit to color distributions of data that have been carried out using minimum chi-square in Microsoft Office Excel. The results showed that the color distributions of the main sample and
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