This study was conducted to estimate some heavy metals cadmium, lead, nickel and iron in 15 samples of Iraqi honey with 3 replicates for each sample which were collected from apiaries near potential contamination areas in five Iraqi governorates, including Baghdad, Karbala, Babylon, Diyala and Salah al-Din. The atomic absorption technique was used to estimate the concentrations of heavy metals, the results showed that there were significant differences at (P≤0.05) between the concentrations of these elements in the honey samples, the highest concentrations of cadmium 0.123 mg/kg were recorded in Baghdad, near the petrochemical production complex, lead 4.657 mg/kg and nickel 0.023 mg/kg in Babylon near the power plant, iron was 1.863 mg/kg in Karbala near the waste collection and incineration plant, and all the concentrations of cadmium and lead in the studied honey samples were higher than the acceptable limits set by the European Commission Regulation.
Fiber Bragg Grating has many advantages where it can be used as a temperature sensor, pressure sensor or even as a refractive index sensor. Designing each of this fiber Bragg grating sensors should include some requirements. Fiber Bragg grating refractive index sensor is a very important application. In order to increase the sensing ability of fiber Bragg gratings, many methods were followed. In our proposed work, the fiber Bragg grating was written in a D-shaped optical fiber by using a phase mask method with KrFexcimer. The resultant fiber Bragg grating has a high reflectivity 99.99% with a Bragg wavelength of 1551.2 nm as a best result obtained from a phase mask with a grating period of 1057 nm. In this work it was found that the rota
... Show MoreThe aim of the present study is to investigate whether or not xanthine oxidase (XO)–derived reactive oxygen species (ROS) may play a role in the pathogenesis of alloxan (ALX)–induced diabetes in rats using the specific XO inhibitor and hydroxyl radical scavenger, allopurinol
The involvement of oxidative stress in ALX – diabetes was assessed by the measurement of plasma and various tissues lipid peroxides levels ( using thiobarbituric acid ( TBA ) reactive substances ). Furthermore, the ability of allopurinol to influence these and other biochemical parameters, including plasma and urine ketones levels were also investigated in diabetic rats.
Rats were divided into four groups: control, untreated diabe
... Show MoreOwing to their cost-effectiveness and the natural abundance of magnesium, magnesium-ion batteries (MIBs) were introduced as encouraging alternatives to Lithium-ion batteries. Following the successful synthesis of carbon nano-tube, its B and N doped derivatives which were doped with B and N enjoyed the attention of researchers as novel anode materials (AM) for MIBs. Here, we investigated a BC2N nano-tube (BC2NNT) as an encouraging AM for MIBs. To have a deeper understanding of the electrochemical properties, cycling stability, specific capacity (SC) and the adsorption behavior of this nano-tube, first-principles density functional theory computations were performed. By performing NMR calculations, we identified two types of non-aromatic hexa
... Show MoreBackground: In spite of all efforts, Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a fatal solid tumor with a poor prognosis as of its high metastasis and resistance to present treatments. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) such as erlotinib are efficient in treating NSCLC but the emergence of chemoresistance and adverse effects substantially limits their single use. Objective: in this study, the combination treatments of either 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG) or cinnamic acid (CINN) with erlotinib (ERL) were tested for their possible synergistic effect on the proliferation and migration capacity of NSCLC cells. Methods: In this study, NSCLC model cell line A549 was used to investigate the effects of single compounds and their combination on cell gro
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For criminal investigations, fingerprints remain the most reliable form of personal identification despite developments in other fields like DNA profiling. The objective of this work is to compare the performance of both commercial charcoal and activated carbon powder derived from the Alhagi plant to reveal latent fingerprints from different non-porous surfaces (cardboard, plain glass, aluminum foil sheet, China Dish, Plastic, and Switch). The effect of three variables on activated carbon production was investigated. These variables were the impregnation ratio (the weight ratio of KOH: dried raw material), the activation temperature, and the activation time. The effect factors were investigated using Central Composite Design
... Show MoreThe current paper examines the Arab EFL teacher view on the application of AI-based chatbots as a method of aiding writing instruction. It explores pedagogy, didactic difficulties and ethics. The overall aim is to clarify the perception that teachers have of AI chatbots as a useful tool in the writing process and to find out to what degree these perceptions are reflected in instructional decision-making and classroom behaviors. A quantitative study was conducted using a structured questionnaire that was given to forty Arab EFL teachers, using a sequential explanatory mixed-method design. To elaborate and contextualize the survey results, qualitative enquiry was implemented through semi-structured interviews with twelve teachers. Fin
... Show MoreThe influence of fiber orientation and water absorption on fatigue crack growth resistance for cold cure acrylic (PMMA) reinforced by chopped and woven -glass-fibers were investigated. A weight of 2 g for chopped fibers and the same weight for woven -glass-fibers (one layer) were used to prepare samples. Some of these samples would storage in dry condition; the others were immersed in water for 15 days. Fatigue test was carried out. The results shows that, for PMMA, the initial bending stress for dry specimen was 3.392 N/cm2 and the number of cycles were 1364, the initial bending stress for wet samples was 4.20 N/cm2, and the number of cycles was 2411. The samples would cut in two pieces because of the cracks would propagated fast during
... Show MoreThis paper presents an investigation to the effect of the forming speed on healing voids that inhabit at various size in an ingot. The study was performed by using finite element method with bilinear isotropic material option, circular type voids were considered. The closure index was able to predict the minimum press force necessary to consolidate voids and the reduction. The simulation was carried out, on circular cross-section lead specials containing a central void of different size. At a time with a flat die, different ratio of inside to outside radius was taken with different speed to find the best result of void closure.