The main aim of this research is to introduce financing cost optimization and different financing alternatives. There are many studies about financing cost optimization. All previous studies considering the cost of financing have many shortcomings, some considered only one source of financing as a credit line without taking into account different financing alternatives. Having only one funding alternative powers, restricts contractors and leads to a very specific financing model. Although it is beneficial for the contractor to use a long-term loan to minimize interest charges and prevent a substantial withdrawal from his credit line, none of the existing financial-based planning models have considered long-term loans in their models or included a schedule of borrowed money and a repayment schedule with interest rates. The aim of this study is not only to eliminate the shortcomings of previous studies but also to incorporate a financing optimization model for various funding alternatives available to contractors in terms of funding sources and forms, cash provision times, interest rates and repayment options. This work proposes a financing optimization model, not only to remove the limitations but also to find optimal financing costs while offering the financing schedule without increasing the project duration and adjusting the starting times of the activities.
Background: Because of wide use of Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery (FESS) technique in the recent years and basic role of coronal computed tomography (CT) scan in demonstrating the normal drainage route of para-nasal sinuses, identifying the major patterns of inflammatory sinonasal disease and accompanied anatomical variations is essential for appropriate preoperative surgical planning. In review of publisthed literature, there is no data on CT patterns of chronic inflammatory sinonasal disease and their accompained anatomical variations of nose and PNS in our local population.Objectives: was to determine the frequency of CT patterns and variations in patients with sinonasal symptoms.Methods: This was a cross sectional descriptive st
... Show MoreDeveloping smart city planning requires integrating various techniques, including geospatial techniques, building information models (BIM), information and communication technology (ICT), and artificial intelligence, for instance, three-dimensional (3D) building models, in enabling smart city applications. This study aims to comprehensively analyze the role and significance of geospatial techniques in smart city planning and implementation. The literature review encompasses (74) studies from diverse databases, examining relevant solutions and prototypes related to smart city planning. The focus highlights the requirements and preparation of geospatial techniques to support the transition to a smart city. The paper explores various aspects,
... Show MoreThe water supply network inside the building is of high importance due to direct contact with the user that must be optimally designed to meet the water needs of users. This work aims to review previous research and scientific theories that deal with the design of water networks inside buildings, from calculating the amount of consumption and the optimal distribution of the network, as well as ways to rationalize the use of water by the consumer. The process of pumping domestic water starts from water treatment plants to be fed to the public distribution networks, then reaching a distribution network inside the building till it is provided to the user. The design of the water supply network inside the building is
... Show MoreThe increasing drinking water demand in many countries leads to an increase in the use of desalination plants, which are considered a great solution for water treatment processes. Reverse osmosis (RO) and electro-dialysis (ED) systems are the most popular membrane processes used to desalinate water at high salinity. Both systems work by separating the ionic contaminates and disposing of them as a brine solution, but ED uses electrical current as a driving force while RO uses osmotic pressure. A direct comparison of reverse osmosis and electro-dialysis systems is needed to highlight process development similarities and variances. This work aims to provide an overview of previous studies on reverse osmosis and electro-dial
... Show MoreIn this study, low cost biosorbent ̶inactive biomass (IB) granules (dp=0.433mm) taken from drying beds of Al-Rustomia Wastewater Treatment Plant, Baghdad-Iraq were used for investigating the optimum conditions of Pb(II), Cu(II), and Ni(II) biosorption from aqueous solutions. Various physico-chemical parameters such as initial metal ion concentration (50 to 200 mg/l), equilibrium time (0-180 min), pH (2-9), agitation speed (50-200 rpm), particles size (0.433 mm), and adsorbent dosage (0.05-1 g/100 ml) were studied. Six mathematical models describing the biosorption equilibrium and isotherm constants were tested to find the maximum uptake capacities: Langmuir, Freundlich, Redlich–Peterson, Sips, Khan, and Toth models. The best fit to the P
... Show MoreThe effects of nutrients and physical conditions on phytase production were investigated with a recently isolated strain of Aspergillus tubingensis SKA under solid state fermentation on wheat bran. The nutrient factors investigated included carbon source, nitrogen source, phosphate source and concentration, metal ions (salts) and the physical parameters investigated included inoculum size, pH, temperature and fermentation duration. Our investigations revealed that optimal productivity of phytase was achieved using wheat bran supplemented with: 1.5% glucose. 0.5% (NH4)2SO4, 0.1% sodium phytate. Additionally, optimal physical conditions were 1 × 105 spore/g substrate, initial pH of 5.0, temperature of fermentation 30˚C and fermentation dura
... Show MoreIn this study, biodiesel was prepared from chicken fat via a transesterification reaction using Mussel shells as a catalyst. Pretreatment of chicken fat was carried out using non‐catalytic esterification to reduce the free fatty acid content from 36.28 to 0.96 mg KOH/g oil using an ethanol/ fat mole ratio equal to 115:1. In the transesterification reaction, the studied variables were methanol: oil mole ratio in the range of (6:1 ‐ 30:1), catalyst loading in the range of (9‐15) wt%, reaction temperature (55‐75 °C), and reaction time (1‐7) h. The heterogeneous alkaline catalyst was greenly synthesized from waste mussel shells throughout a calcin
In this study, biodiesel was prepared from chicken fat via a transesterification reaction using Mussel shells as a catalyst. Pretreatment of chicken fat was carried out using non‐catalytic esterification to reduce the free fatty acid content from 36.28 to 0.96 mg KOH/g oil using an ethanol/ fat mole ratio equal to 115:1. In the transesterification reaction, the studied variables were methanol: oil mole ratio in the range of (6:1 ‐ 30:1), catalyst loading in the range of (9‐15) wt%, reaction temperature (55‐75 °C), and reaction time (1‐7) h. The heterogeneous alkaline catalyst was greenly synthesized from waste mussel shells throughout a calcin
The ion-pair formation method has been applied for the spectrophotometric determination of Cimetidine and Erythromycin ethylsuccinate, in bulk samples and in dosage form. The methods are accurate, simple, rapid, inexpensive and sensitive depending on the extraction of the formed ion-pair with brompthymol blue (BTB) as a chromogenic reagent in chloroform, use phthalate buffer of pH 5.5 and 4.0 for Cimetidine and Erythromycin ethylsuccinate respectively. The formed complexes show absorbance maxima at 427.5 nm and 414.5 nm for Cimetidine and Erythromycin ethylsuccinate respectively against reagent blank. The calibration graphs are linear in the ranges of 0.5-15 µg.mL-1 with detection limit of 0.222 µg.mL-1 for
... Show MoreA nano manganese dioxide (MnO2) was electrodeposited galvanostatically onto a carbon fiber (CF) surface using the simple method of anodic electrodeposition. The composite electrode was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Very few studies investigated the efficiency of this electrode for heavy metals removal, especially chromium. The electrosorption properties of the nano MnO2/CF electrode were examined by removing Cr(VI) ions from aqueous solutions. NaCl concentration, pH, and cell voltage were studied and optimized using the Box-Behnken design (BDD) to investigate their effects and interactions on the electrosorption process. The results showed that the
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