The creation and characterisation of biodegradable blend films based on chitosan and polyvinyl alcohol for application in a range of packaging is described. The compatibility between the chitosan and PVA polymers was good. Composite films had a compact and homogeneous structure, according to the morphology analysis. The mechanical test result of PVA/CH at concentrations 5% showed, that The higher values of TS recorded in sample (p1, with 40 MPa) while the lower values appeared in sample (p9, with 22.09 MPa), the TS decreased gradually as the amount of PVA increased in blend film. While the blend film of pure Chitosan exhibits a poor mechanical strength which makes it a poor candidate for packaging but Blending CH with PVA together improved

The present paper is an experimental study to improve the productivity of the conventional solar still. This done by modifying conventional still in a way that the distilled basin is larger than distillation basin, thus providing an increase in the condensation surface and speeding up the condensation process. Moreover, increase in the dimensions of the distilled base helps coupling reflective panels to the distilled base to reflect incident solar radiation to the distillation basin. For this purpose , two solar stills were made, one conventional designand another made according to the proposed design. The two solar stills were tested during the period from February to July 2009 under varying weather conditions of Basra, Iraq (latitude o

 A particle swarm optimization algorithm and neural network like self-tuning PID controller for CSTR system is presented. The scheme of the discrete-time PID control structure is based on neural network and tuned the parameters of the PID controller by using a particle swarm optimization PSO technique as a simple and fast training algorithm. The proposed method has advantage that it is not necessary to use a combined structure of identification and decision because it used PSO. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive PID neural control algorithm in terms of minimum tracking error and smoothness control signal obtained for non-linear dynamical CSTR system.

The aim of this study to evaluate the effects of die holes diameter and speed of die on the performance of machine and feed pellet quality. Machine productivity (Kg.h-1), consumed power (kW), pellet durability (%) and pellet bulk density (g.cm-3) was studied. The study factors consisted of three diameter of die holes (3, 4, and 5 mm), and three speeds die (280, 300, and 320 rpm). Results showed with increasing of die holes diameter from 3 to 4 and to 5 mm give a significant increase in machine productivity, while consumed power, pellet durability and pellet bulk density a significant decreased. By increasing the die speed, from 280 to 300 then to 320 rpm, the machine productivity increased significantly, while consumed power, pellet durabil

    Soft clays are generally characterized by low shear strength, low permeability and high compressibility. An effective method to accelerate consolidation of such soils is to use vertical drains along with vacuum preloading to encourage radial flow of water.  In this research numerical modeling of prefabricated vertical drains with vacuum pressure was done to investigate the effect of using vertical drains together with vacuum pressure on the degree of saturation of fully and saturated-unsaturated soft soils.  Laboratory experiments were conducted by using a specially-designed large consolidometer cell where a central drain was installed and vacuum pressure was applied. All tests were conducted

An essential tool for studying the web is its ability to show how energy moves through an ecosystem. Understanding and elucidating the relationship between species variety and their placement within the inclusive trophic dynamics is also beneficial. A food web ecological model with prey and two rival predators under fear and wind flow conditions is developed in this article. The boundedness and positivity of the system’s solution are established mathematically. The stability and existence constraints of the system’s equilibria are examined. The proposed system’s persistence limitations are established. Additionally, the bifurcation analysis of every potential equilibrium is examined using the Sotomayor theorem. To describe the

CdS and CdTe thin films were thermally deposited onto glass substrate. The CdCl2 layer was deposited onto CdS surface. These followed by annealing for different duration times to modify the surface and interface of the junction. The diffraction patterns showed that the intensity of the peaks increased with the CdCl2/annealed treatment, and the grain sizes are increased after CdCl2/annealed treatment

The toxicity of insecticide dichlorvos (90%) was tested in ovaries of mosquito fish using three sublethal concentrations (0.3, 0.6, 0.8 µg/L) and studied their effects on the means of body and ovary weights, gonadosomatic index, ovum size and ova number. Results showed that there was a significant (P<0.05) decrease in body and ovary weights, ovum size and ova count. However, there was no significant (P<0.05) difference in gonadosomatic index in treated groups with the three concentrations of dichlorvos compared with the control group. This study was added evidence on the ovular toxicity of dichlorvos concerning its effect on fish production as well as reduction in the means of productive offspring and their survival.