The survival of dried spores of A.flavus, Penicillia Spp., and Cladosporia Spp.inoculated into multivitamins and folic acid tablets were examined at different compression pressures.Survival of fungal spores decreased with increasing compression pressure. The level of survival at particular pressures was shown to depend on the size of the contaminating fungal spores.The lethal effect of tabletting was attributed to shearing forces upon the contaminating spores generated by interparticulate movement. This hypothesis was supported by the dependence of survival upon spore size.

Key words: Fungal spores, microbial contamination.

Permanent deformation (rutting) of asphalt mixtures is one of the major forms of distress. Aggregate gradation is one of the most important factors affecting the permanent deformation of asphalt mixtures. Other variables are also important to understand their effects on the mixture such as temperature, binder content and compaction level. For this purpose 6 different aggregate gradations have been chosen and each one of them has been manufactured / tested with different variables. The results showed that at relatively low temperature there is little effect of aggregate packing on the permanent deformation. However, as the temperature increases the effect of gradation becomes apparent, in that the better the packing the better the resistance

In this research, nanofibers have been prepared by using an electrospinning method. Three types of polymer (PVA, VC, PMMA) have been used with different concentration. The applied voltage and the gap length were changed. It was observed that VC is the best polymer than the other types of polymers.

Different solvents (light naphtha, n-heptane, and n-hexane) are used to treat Iraqi Atmospheric oil residue by the deasphalting process. Oil residue from Al-Dura refinery with specific gravity 0.9705, API 14.9, and 0.5 wt. % sulfur content was used. Deasphalting oil (DAO) was examined on a laboratory scale by using solvents with different operation conditions (temperature, concentration of solvent, solvent to oil ratio, and duration time). This study investigates the effects of these parameters on asphaltene yield. The results show that an increase in temperature for all solvents increases the extraction of asphaltene yield. The higher reduction in asphaltene content is obtained with hexane solvent at operating conditions of (90 °C, 4/1

The segmentation of aerial images using different clustering techniques offers valuable insights into interpreting and analyzing such images. By partitioning the images into meaningful regions, clustering techniques help identify and differentiate various objects and areas of interest, facilitating various applications, including urban planning, environmental monitoring, and disaster management. This paper aims to segment color aerial images to provide a means of organizing and understanding the visual information contained within the image for various applications and research purposes. It is also important to look into and compare the basic workings of three popular clustering algorithms: K-Medoids, Fuzzy C-Mean (FCM), and Gaussia

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare regional bond strength at middle and cervical thirds of the root canal among glass fiber-reinforced composite (FRC) endodontic posts cemented with different cements, using the push-out test to compare the performance (retention) of two types of luting cements; polycarboxylate cement and Zinc phosphate cement used to cement translucent fiber post and to compare the result of the push-out test at different storage times;1 week ,1month and 2 months. Materials and methods: Ninety caries-free, recently extracted single-rooted human teeth with straight root canals was used in this study, The root canals were endodontically instrumented at a working length of 0.5 mm from the apex by m

The production of biodiesel generates soap impurities that hinder biodiesel performance and complicate its purification. This study presents a novel approach for soap removal from biodiesel using NiO–doped ZnO nanoparticle (NP) adsorbent. The NPs are synthesized using a gliding arc discharge (GAD) method as a non-thermal plasma source (NTP). NiO doping reduced the bandgap energy by 74%, reduced the crystallite size, and increased the surface area by 78%, entailing lattice strain and structural modifications. Soap removal efficiency was 99.7% for NiO–doped ZnO within 16 min, compared with 95.5% for ZnO. Soap uptake as high as 2320 mg/g NiO–doped ZnO was reported, which could be equally fitted by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms su

This study aimed to assess the efficiency of Nerium oleander in removing three different metals (Cd, Cu, and Ni) from simulated wastewater using horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland (HSSF-CW) system. The HSSF-CW pilot scale was operated at two hydraulic retention times (HRTs) of 4 and 7 days, filled with a substrate layer of sand and gravel. The results indicated that the HSSF-CW had high removal efficiency of Cd and Cu. A higher HRT (7 days) resulted in greater removal efficiency reaching up to (99.3% Cd, 99.5% Cu, 86.3% Ni) compared to 4 days. The substrate played a significant role in removal of metals due to adsorption and precipitation. The N. oleander plant also showed a good tolerance to the uptake of Cd, Cu, and Ni ions fr

This work presents an investigation on the fabrication and characterization of Fe doped zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) of 1:1 M ratio of Zn:Fe (Fe/Zn-ZIF-8) and adsorption performances of acquired materials. The synthesized Zn-ZIF-8, Fe-ZIF-8, and Fe/Zn-ZIF-8 materials were characterized for the phase structure, morphology, elemental analysis and surface area by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray (EDX), and BET surface area, respectively. The results revealed the adsorption capacity was enhanced by incorporation of Fe into ZIF-8 structure. The CR dye adsorption capacities were 287, 219, and 412 mg/g for Zn-ZIF-8, Fe-ZIF-8, and Fe/Zn-ZIF-8 adsorbers, respectivel