Microbiological contamination by fungi impacts the quality and safety of wheat grain storage. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of cold plasma in restricting the growth of the fungus, Aspergillus niger, which was isolated from wheat grains. A dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) operating at atmospheric pressure generated cold plasma that was used to treat the fungus, and the impact of this treatment was investigated at various periods  1, 2, 4, 6, and 15 minutes. The results revealed a highly significant decrease in the growth and number of spores of Aspergillus niger compared to the controls. This study revealed an efficient technique for enhancing wheat grain storage that could be a foundation for further large-scale studies.

Polymer electrolytes were prepared using the solution cast technology. Under some conditions, the electrolyte content of polymers was analyzed in constant percent of PVA/PVP (50:50), ethylene carbonate (EC), and propylene carbonate (PC) (1:1) with different proportions of potassium iodide (KI) (10, 20, 30, 40, 50 wt%) and iodine (I₂) = 10 wt% of salt. Fourier Transmission Infrared (FTIR) studies confirmed the complex formation of polymer blends. Electrical conductivity was calculated with an impedance analyzer in the frequency range 50 Hz–1MHz and in the temperature range 293–343 K. The highest electrical conductivity value of 5.3 × 10^-3 (S/cm) was observed for electrolytes with 50 wt% KI concentration at room

In this work, As60Cu40-xSex thin films were synthesized, and the pulsed laser deposition method was used to study the effected partial replacement of copper with selenium. The electrical characteristics and optical characteristics, as indicated by the absorbance and transmittance as a function of wavelength were calculated. Additionally, the energy gap was computed. The electrical conductivity of the DC in the various conduction zones was calculated by measuring the current and voltage as a function of temperature. Additionally, the mathematical equations are used to compute the energy constants, electron hopping distance, tail width, pre-exponential factor, and density of the energy states in variation zones (densities of the energ

In this paper, thermal performance of a zig-zig solar air heater (ZZSAH) with and without using steel wire mesh on the absorber plate of the collector is experimentally investigated. The experimental work includes four inclination angles of the collector 20^o, 30^o, 45^o, and 60^o and four air mass flow rates of 0.03, 0.04, 0.06, and 0.08 kg/s under varieties of operating conditions of a geographic location of  Baghdad. New correlation equations of Nusselt number are obtained from experimental results for both types of collectors where the effect of varying of the inclination angle of collector taken into consideration in the experiment. The correlations show good agreement wi

Heterocyclic polymers / silica nanocomposite one of important materials because of excellent properties such as thermal , electrical , and mechanical properties , so that hybrid nanomaterial are widely used in many fields, in this paper nanocomposite had prepared by modification of silica nanoparticals by using acrylic acid and functionalized the surface of nanoparticles, and using free Radical polymerization by AIBN as initiators and anhydrous toluene as solvent to polymerize functionalize silica nanoparticles with heterocyclic monomers to prepare heterocylic polymers / silica nanocomposite and study electrical conductivity , The nanocomposite which had prepared characterized by many analysis technique to study thermal properties such

Shatt al-Arab is the only navigational artery in Iraq, extending from the city of Qurna to its mouth in the Arabian Gulf at the city of Al-Fao within the governorate of Basrah for a length of approximately 204 km. Its width ranges from 400 m to 2000 m, and its depth ranges from 8 m to 20 m. The southern part of it, 93 km long from Umm al-Rassas Island to Ras al-Bisha, represents the international border between Iraq and Iran, where the Thalweg line represents the border between the two countries, which is the deepest point in the riverbed (according to the 1975 Algiers Agreement). The western bank (the Iraqi side) within the common border of Shatt al-Arab is subject to continuous erosion, which leads to the shifting of t

Etoricoxib (EXB) is a highly selective cox-2 inhibitor which belongs to the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). EXB is a class II drug according to the biopharmaceutical classification system (BCS), which possess a very low aqueous solubility in water.  In the present study, many trials were made to improve the aqueous solubility and dissolution rate of EXB by solid dispersion technique.

Eighteenth EXB formulas were formulated as a solid dispersion using a variety of hydrophilic polymers (as carriers)   including poloxamer 407 (PXM 407), poloxamer 188 (PXM 188) and polyethylene glycol 4000 (PEG 4000) at different drug: polymer ratios (1:1, 1:3 and 1:5). These formulas were prepared by two methods; solvent

An isolate of Leishmania major was grown on the semisolid medium and incubated at 26ºC. The isolate was irradiated by He: Ne laser (632.8 nm, 10 mW) at exposure times (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30) minutes in their respective order. The unirradiated groups represent control group. Growth rate and percentage of viability were examined during six days after irradiation. The change in these two parameters reflects the effect of irradiation on the parasite. The results refers that the general growth effected by irradiation in comparison with un irradiation group, The growth rate of parasite decrease with increasing the exposure time in comparison with control group. Parasite viability decrease with irradiation and the percentage of living cell dec