This study was aimed to find and test biological methods for reducing the aggregation of plastics such as PS in the environment  and study the ability of Greater Wax worms larvae (Galleria mellonella) to eat PS that similar in the its structure to beeswax .Weight loss, morphology changes ,FTIR spectroscopy  and GC-mass analysis were performed which showed changes in chemical properties of the PS due to degradation. In this study  the percentage of weight loss was 33% in the PS treated with G. mellonella. FTIR of PS frass showed the disappearance of aromatic cycle band that was found in the origin PS at region more than 3000 cm-1. Also The PS frass samples from wax worms larvae revealed the creation of a new O-H stretching alcohol

     The deposition process and investigation of the physical properties of tungsten trioxide (WO3) thin films before and after gamma irradiation are presented in this paper. The WO3 thin films were deposited, using the pulse laser deposition technique, on glass substrates at laser energies of 600mJ and 800mJ. After deposition, the samples were gamma irradiated with Co60. The structural and optical properties of polycrystalline WO3 thin films are presented and discussed before and after 5kGy gamma irradiation at the two laser energies. X-ray diffraction spectra revealed that all the films consisted of WO3 crystallized in the triclinic form; the dislocation density and lattice strain increased with the absorbed dosage of gamma

To find out a simple and efficient equation to estimate maize ear grain weight on farm (in situ), twenty three maize crosses along with two synthetics were grown in the field. On the experimental farm of the Dept. of Field Crop Sci., College of Agric., Univ. of Baghdad, seeds of twenty five maize genotypes were grown in the fall season of 2013 with three replicates. At dough stage of the kernels, five naked ears of each experimental units were measured for length and maximum diameter. This will sum up 125 ears of the trial. The volumes of ears were calculated as cylinder (length× r2× 3.1416). Grain weight of all ears were determined after harvesting and drying to 15% grain moisture. A constant was calculated by dividing ear grain weight b

A piezoelectric cantilever beam with a tip mass at its free end is a common energy harvester configuration. This article introduces a new principle of designing such a harvester that increases the generated power without changing the resonance frequency of the harvester: the attraction force between two permanent magnets is used to add stiffness to the system. This magnetic stiffening counters the effect of the tip mass on the efficient operation frequency. Five set-ups incorporating piezoelectric bimorph cantilevers of the same type in different mechanical configurations are compared theoretically and experimentally to investigate the feasibility of this principle: theoretical and experimental results show that magnetically stiffened harve

In the present study, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were prepared using a simple low cost method synthesized cold plasma at different exposure time . The nanoparticles were characterized using UV-Visible spectra, X-ray diffraction (XRD). The prepared AuNPs showed surface Plasmon resonance centered at 530, 540,and 533 nm. The XRD pattern showed that the strong intense peaks indicate crystalline nature and face centered cubic structure of gold nanoparticles for all samples were prepared .The average crystallite size of the AuNPs was 20-40 nm. Morphology of the AuNPs were carried out using FESEM. Observations show that the AuNPs synthesized we well dispersed with and particle sizes ranging from 9 to 31 nm with spherical shapes which are cle

In this contribution, density functional theory-based calculations have been carried out to assess the electronic, photocatalytic and optical properties of Ce1-xTixO2 system. Ti incorporation leads to a decrease of Ce 4f states and enhancement of Ti 3d states in the bottom of conduction band. Furthermore, it was found that doping ceria with Ti-like transition metals could evidently shift the absorption of pure CeO2 towards higher wavelength range. These findings can provide some new insights for designing CeO2-based photocatalysts with high photocatalytic performance. To the best of our knowledge, this investigation calculates Mullikan’s charge transfer of Ce1-xTixO2 system for the first time. Charge transfer reveals an ionic bond between