Geodiversity is the variety within abiotic natural elements that include: rocks, minerals, landforms, soil types, and water resources. Recently ecologists and naturalists recognized that there is close relationship between geodiversity and ecosystems. Huwaiza marsh is located south eastern Iraq within Lower Mesopotamian plain. The main rock bed units which crop out north east of the studied area comprises many types of rocks: conglomerate, sandstone, mudstone, siltstone and claystone belong to Bai Hassan, Mukdadiya and Injana Formations. The general elevation of the area ranges around 5 meters (a. s. l.) near the marsh and increase northeast to more than 100 meters (a. s. l.) and the Land forms are: cuesta, oxbow lakes, flood plain, water lake, shallow marshes, mud flats, and sand dunes. Soil (sediments) usually derived from north east rock bed units and from rivers, which are composed of gravel, sand, silt and silty clay. Huwaiza Marsh is provided by water resources from Musharah and Kahlaa distributaries in addition to Al- Teeb and Duwaireeg rivers which enter Al- Sanaf seasonal marsh, then after to Huwaiza Marsh. The later has 1377 km2 during rainy season and 650 km2 during dry season. Geodiversity created diverse ecosystems such as: desert (including sand dune), salt flat (sabkha), mud flats and aqueous ecosystem that provided good flora and fauna diversity of which wide range of plant and animal species use the area. Such geodiversity formed the foundation in creation three main terrestrial ecoregions in this area of Iraq. Huwaiza marsh and adjacent area can be used for scientific researches, education, traditional agricultural, ecotourism and for other sustainable developments. Vertebrate biodiversity comprises 27 mammals, 81 birds, 6 reptiles, 3 amphibians, and 9 freshwater fishes. The characteristic vertebrates of each habitat of Huwaiza marsh were indicated. Of interest among them is the presence of African Darter Anhinga rufa in Deep-water marsh habitat; Basra Reed Warbler Acrocephalus griseldis, Goliath heron Ardea goliath, and smooth coated otter Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli in shallow water marsh habitat.
Mn2O3 was coated onto reduced titania nanotubes by reverse pulse electrodeposition, showing smooth and homogenous deposits without covering the opening of the nanotubes.
novel spectrofluorimetric flow injection analysis (FIA) method was developed for the selective quantification of ascorbic acid via fluorescence quenching of serotonin hydrochloride. The system employs a custom-designed photometric array comprising 16 irradiation sources arranged in a dual-axis matrix—eight aligned horizontally and eight orthogonally, enabling multi-angle excitation and enhanced spectral resolution. Fluorescence signals were captured using a twin-pair solar cell detector, offering high sensitivity and minimal optical interference. The method exhibited a linear calibration range of 0.1–30 limit of detection (LOD) of 0.025 μ μ g/mL with a correlation coefficient (r mol /L, equivalent to 4.403 * 10 4 μ 2 ) of 0.9966, a g
... Show MoreMethicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the principal nosocomial causative agents. This bacterium has the capability to resist wide range of antibiotics and it is responsible for many diseases like skin, nose and wounds infection. In this study, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR was applied with ten random primers to examine the molecular diversity among methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates in the hospitals and to investigate the genetic distance between them. 90 Isolates were collected from clinical specimens from Iraqi hospitals for a total of 90 isolates. Only 10 strains (11.11%) were found to be MRSA. From these 10 primers, only 9 gave clear amplification products. 91 fragment l
... Show MoreNH3 gas sensor was fabricated based on deposited of Functionalized Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs-OH) suspension on filter paper substrates using suspension filtration method. The structural, morphological and optical properties of the MWCNTs film were characterized by XRD, AFM and FTIR techniques. XRD measurement confirmed that the structure of MWCNTs is not affected by the preparation method. The AFM images reflected highly ordered network in the form of a mat. The functional groups and types of bonding have appeared in the FTIR spectra. The fingerprint (C-C stretch) of MWCNTs appears in 1365 cm-1, and the backbone of CNTs observed at 1645 cm-1. A homemade sensi
... Show MoreThe ability of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) to uptake three pharmaceuticals (diclofenac, mefenamic acid and metronidazole) from two types of soil (clay and sandy soil) was investigated in this study to explore the human exposure to these pharmaceuticals via the consumption of beans. A pot experiment was conducted with beans plants which were grown in two types of soil for six weeks under controlled conditions. During the experiment period, the soil pore water was collected weekly and the concentrations of the test compounds in soil pore water as well as in plant organs (roots, stems and leaves) were weekly determined.
The results showed that the studied pharmaceuticals were detected in all plant tissues; their concentration
This paper presents a computer simulation model of a thermally activated roof (TAR) to cool a room using cool water from a wet cooling tower. Modeling was achieved using a simplified 1-D resistance-capacitance thermal network (RC model) for an infinite slab. Heat transfer from the cooling pipe network was treated as 2-D heat flow. Only a limited number of nodes were required to obtain reliable results. The use of 6th order RC-thermal model produced a set of ordinary differential equations that were solved using MATLAB - R2012a. The computer program was written to cover all possible initial conditions, material properties, TAR system geometry and hourly solar radiation. The cool water supply was considered time
... Show MoreErratum for Organic acid concentration thresholds for ageing of carbonate minerals: Implications for CO2 trapping/storage.
This work presents a completely new develop an analyzer, named NAG-5SX1-1D-SSP, that is simple, accurate, reproducible, and affordable for the determination of cefotaxime sodium (CFS) in both pure and pharmaceutical drugs. The analyzer was designed according to flow injection analysis, and conducted to turbidimetric measurements. Ammonium cerium nitrate was utilized as a precipitating agent. After optimizing the conditions, the analysis system exhibited a linear range of 0.008-27 mmol. L-1 (n=29), with a limit of detection of 439.3 ng/sample, a limit of quantification of 0.4805 mg/sample, and a correlation coefficient of 0.9988. The repeatability of the responses was assessed by performing six successive injections of CFS at concentra
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