This work describes the enhancement of phenol red decolorization through immobilizing of laccase in chitosan and enzyme recycling. Commercial laccase from white rot fungus, Trametesversicolor (Tvlac), was immobilizedin to freshly prepared chitosan beads by using glutaraldehyde as a cross linker. Characterization of prepared chitosan was confirmed by FTIR and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Tvlac (46.2 U/mL) immobilized into chitosan beads at 0.8 % glutaraldehyde (v/v) within 24 hrs. Synthetic (HBT) and natural (vanillin) mediators were used to enhance dye decolorizoation. It was found that 89 % of phenol red was decolorized by chitosan beads within 180 min. in the absence of enzyme and mediator, while decolorization percenta

In this work, p-n junctions were fabricated from highly-pure nanostructured NiO and TiO2 thin films deposited on glass substrates by dc reactive magnetron sputtering technique. The structural characterization showed that the prepared multilayer NiO/TiO2 thin film structures were highly pure as no traces for other compounds than NiO and TiO2 were observed. It was found that the absorption of NiO-on-TiO2 structure is higher than that of the TiO2-on-NiO. Also, the NiO/TiO2 heterojunctions exhibit typical electrical characteristics, higher ideality factor and better spectral responsivity when compared to those fabricated from the same materials by the same technique and with larger particle size and lower structural purity.

Undoped and Co-doped zinc oxide (CZO) thin films have been prepared by spray pyrolysis technique using solution of zinc acetate and cobalt chloride. The effect of Co dopants on structural and optical properties has been investigated. The films were found to exhibit maximum transmittance (~90%) and low absorbance. The structural properties of the deposited films were examined by x-ray diffraction (XRD). These films, deposited on glass substrates at (400? C), have a polycrystalline texture with a wurtzite hexagonal structure, and the grain size was decreased with increasing Co concentration, and no change was observed in lattice constants while the optical band gap decreased from (3.18-3.02) eV for direct allowed transition. Other parameters

This study is concerned with the adsorption of Congo red from solution on the surface of Chaff. The adsorption isotherm is of L-curve type according to Giles classification and the experimental data were best fitted to Langmuir isotherm model. The adsorption phenomenon was examined as a function of temperature (25, 40, 55 oC). The extent of adsorption of Congo red on Chaff was found to increase with the increase of temperature (endothermic process). The basic thermodynamic functions have also been calculated. The effect of contact time was investigated and found that the adsorption process of dye on Chaff surface reached complete equilibrium within 90 min. The maximum uptake of Congo red by Chaff was found to be 92.9% at 25oC. The kineti

   Bacteria form complex and highly elaborate surface adherent communities known as biofilms.Biofilm have been shown to be associated with several human diseases ,and to colonize a wide variety of medical devices . The current study focuses on contribution of extracted genomic   DNA in  biofilm formation by   P. aeruginosa and  K. pneumoniae isolates   .The percentages of Pseudomonas aeruginosa recovery from drinking water  in this study were  10%(20 positive P. aeruginosa  samples ) and K. pneumonia.,  7%(14 positive K. pneumonia samples).The results showed that all P.aeruginosa and K. pneumoniae isolates (100%) were slime producer but in different degrees by forming  of black

It is well known that petroleum refineries are considered the largest generator of oily sludge which may cause serious threats to the environment if disposed of without treatment. Throughout the present research, it can be said that a hybrid process including ultrasonic treatment coupled with froth floatation has been shown as a green efficient treatment of oily sludge waste from the bottom of crude oil tanks in Al-Daura refinery and able to get high yield of base oil recovery which is 65% at the optimum operating conditions (treatment time = 30 min, ultrasonic wave amplitude = 60 micron, and (solvent: oily sludge) ratio = 4). Experimental results showed that 83% of the solvent used was recovered meanwhile the main water

     In this work, the detection of zinc (Zn) ions that cause water pollution is studied using the CSNPs- Linker-alkaloids compound that was prepared by linking extracted alkaloids from Iraqi Catharanthus roseus plant with Chitosan nanoparticles (CSNPs) using maleic anhydride. This compound is characterized by an X-ray diffractometer (XRD) which shows that it has an orthorhombic structure with crystallite size in the nano dimension. Zeta Potential results show that the CSNPs-Linker-alkaloids carried a positive charge of 54.4 mV, which means it possesses high stability.  The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) shows a new distinct band at 1708.93 cm-1 due to C=O esterification. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image

In this paper, the effect of wear in the fluid film journal bearings on the dynamic stability of rotor bearing system has been studied depending on the development of new analytical equations for motion, instability threshold speed and steady state harmonic response for rotor with offset disc supported by worn journal bearings. Finite element method had been used for modeling the rotor bearing system. The analytical model is verified by comparing its results with that obtained numerically for a rotor supported on the short bearings. The analytical and numerical results showed good agreement with about 8.5% percentage error in the value of critical speed and about 3.5% percentage error in the value of harmonic response. T

Yeasts are distributed in all environments and have been reported as potential biocontrol agents against various phytopathogenic fungi. To investigate their enzymatic and biological activities, 32 yeasts were isolated from 15 date vinegar samples. Evaluation of the antagonistic activities of isolated yeasts against the plant pathogens Fusarium oxysporium, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, and Macrophomina phaseolina indicated that there are two yeasts had the highest inhibitory effect against plant pathogens, these yeasts identified as Kluyveromyces marxianus and Torulaspora delbrueckii using traditional and molecular methods. These yeast isolates were tested for fungal cell wall degrading enzymes (in vitro), and results indicated that the

Moisture damage is described as a reduction in stiffness and strength durability in asphalt mixtures due to moisture. This study investigated the influence of adding nano silica (NS) to the Asphalt on the moisture susceptibility of hot-mix-asphalt (HMA) mixtures under different aging conditions. NS was mixed with asphalt binder at concentrations of 2%, 4%, and 6% by weight of the binder. To detect the microstructure changes of modified Asphalt and estimate the dispersion of NS within the Asphalt, the field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) was used. To examine the performance of Asphalt mixed with NS at different aging stages (short-term and long-term aging), asphalt mixture tests such as Marshall stability,