The aim of this study is to utilize the electromembrane extraction (EME) system as a manner for effective removal of zinc from aqueous solutions. A novel and distinctive electrochemical cell design was adopted consisting of two glass chambers, a supported liquid membrane (SLM) housing a polypropylene flat membrane infused with 1-octanol and a carrier. Two electrodes were used, a graphite as anode and a stainless steel as cathode. A comprehensive examination of several influential factors including the choice of carrier, the applied voltage magnitude, the initial pH of the donor solution, and the initial concentration of zinc was performed, all in a concerted effort to ascertain their respective impacts on the efficiency of zinc elimination. Two distinct carriers, namely tris(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (TEHP) and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (DEHP) were evaluated, in a tandem with utilization of 1-octanol. The results revealed essential role played by the applied voltage in augmenting the rate of mass transfer of zinc across the membrane. The best operating conditions were utilized for 1-octanol enriched with 1.0 vol.% bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate as a carrier, applied voltage of 60 V, initial pH of 5, initial zinc concentration of 15 mg L-1, extraction duration of 6 hours, and stirring rate of 1000 rpm. Surprisingly, operating under these meticulously devised conditions culminated in the outstanding removal efficiency of 87.3 %. In comparison with no applied voltage, a substantial enhancement in removal efficiency was observed, transcending from a meager 36.67 % to an impressive 87.3 % at 60 V, suggesting thus a tremendous potential of EME as an efficacious technique for the elimination of heavy metals.
Community detection is useful for better understanding the structure of complex networks. It aids in the extraction of the required information from such networks and has a vital role in different fields that range from healthcare to regional geography, economics, human interactions, and mobility. The method for detecting the structure of communities involves the partitioning of complex networks into groups of nodes, with extensive connections within community and sparse connections with other communities. In the literature, two main measures, namely the Modularity (Q) and Normalized Mutual Information (NMI) have been used for evaluating the validation and quality of the detected community structures. Although many optimization algo
... Show MoreThe technology of subsurface soil water retention (SWRT) uses a polyethylene trough that is fixed under the root zone of the plant. It is a modern technology to increase the values of water use efficiency, plant productivity and saving irrigation water by applying as little irrigation water as possible. This study work aims at improving the crop yield and water use efficiency of a cucumber plant with less applied irrigation water by installing membrane trough below the soil surface. The field experiment was conducted in the Hawr Rajab District of Baghdad Governorate in Winter 2018 for testing various trickle irrigation systems. Two agricultural treatment plots were utilized in a greenhouse for the compa
... Show MoreThis work deals with the effect of adding aluminum nanoparticles on the mechanical properties, micro-hardness and porosity of memory-shape alloys (Cu-Al-Ni). These alloys have wide applications in various industrial fields such as (high damping compounds and self-lubricating applications). The samples are manufactured using the powder metallurgy method, which involved pressing in only one direction and sintered in a furnace surrounded by an inert gas. Four percentages (0%, 5%, 10%, and 15%) of aluminum nanoparticles were fabricated, which depended on the weight of aluminum powder (13%) in the sample under study. To find out which phase is responsible for the reliability of the formation of this type of alloy and its porosity, X-ray diffr
... Show MoreThis paper presents a new design of a nonlinear multi-input multi-output PID neural controller of the active brake steering force and the active front steering angle for a 2-DOF vehicle model based on modified Elman recurrent neural. The goal of this work is to achieve the stability and to improve the vehicle dynamic’s performance through achieving the desired yaw rate and reducing the lateral velocity of the vehicle in a minimum time period for preventing the vehicle from slipping out the road curvature by using two active control actions: the front steering angle and the brake steering force. Bacterial forging optimization algorithm is used to adjust the parameters weights of the proposed controller. Simulation resul
... Show MoreThis research is devoted to investigating the thermal buckling analysis behaviour of laminated composite plates subjected to uniform and non-uniform temperature fields by applying an analytical model based on a refined plate theory (RPT) with five unknown independent variables. The theory accounts for the parabolic distribution of the transverse shear strains through the plate thickness and satisfies the zero-traction boundary condition on the surface without using shear correction factors; hence a shear correction factor is not required. The governing differential equations and associated boundary conditions are derived by using the virtual work principle and solved via Navier-type analytical procedure to obtain critica
... Show MoreBackground: The COVID-19 virus outbreak had a massive effect on many parts of people's lives, as they were advised to quarantine and lockdown to prevent the virus from spreading, which had a big impact on people's mental health, anxiety, and stress. Many internal and external factors lead to stress. This negatively influences the body's homeostasis. As a result, stress may affect the body's capacity to use energy to defend against pathogens. Many recent investigations have found substantial links between human mental stress and the production of hormones, prohormones, and/or immunological chemicals. some of these researches have verified the link between stress and salivary cortisol levels. The aim of this study is to measure salivary corti
... Show MoreIt is important to note that Posaconazole (POCZ) is a newly developed extended-spectrum triazole that belongs to BCS class II and has a solubility of less than 1µg/ml. In patients with a weakened immune system, POCZ has been shown to be effective as an antifungal treatment for invasive infections caused by candida and aspergillus species. The nano-micelles technique can be used to increase POCZ solubility. In order to increase their apparent solubility in water, nano-micelles are made by combining macromolecules that self-assemble into ordered structures capable of entrapping hydrophobic drug molecules in the interior domain. Dispersed colloidal systems, of which nano-micelles are a subset, are a large and diverse group. Composed of a p
... Show MoreLaser scanning has become a popular technique for the acquisition of digital models in the field of cultural heritage conservation and restoration nowadays. Many archaeological sites were lost, damaged, or faded, rather than being passed on to future generations due to many natural or human risks. It is still a challenge to accurately produce the digital and physical model of the missing regions or parts of our cultural heritage objects and restore damaged artefacts. The typical manual restoration can become a tedious and error-prone process; also can cause secondary damage to the relics. Therefore, in this paper, the automatic digital application process of 3D laser modelling of arte
In this paper, a cognitive system based on a nonlinear neural controller and intelligent algorithm that will guide an autonomous mobile robot during continuous path-tracking and navigate over solid obstacles with avoidance was proposed. The goal of the proposed structure is to plan and track the reference path equation for the autonomous mobile robot in the mining environment to avoid the obstacles and reach to the target position by using intelligent optimization algorithms. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) Algorithms are used to finding the solutions of the mobile robot navigation problems in the mine by searching the optimal paths and finding the reference path equation of the optimal
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