Hookah smoking has become very popular in Iraq among women and men. Hookah tobacco contains natural radioactive elements, such as radon, radium, and uranium, as well as toxic elements, such as polonium, which are released during the combustion of tobacco and are inhaled by smoking. Most reviews focus on hookah tobacco, and only a few have investigated the blood of hookah smokers. In this study, a CR-39 detector was used to measure radon, radium, and polonium concentrations and conduct risk assessments in female hookah smokers of different ages. The results show that the concentrations of radon-222, polonium-218, and polonium-214 varied between 61.62 and 384.80, 5.45–33.64 on the wall of the can, and 2.43–15.00 Bq/m3 on the surface of the detector, respectively. The effective radium-226 concentration varied between 4.52 and 56.31 Bq/kg. The absorbed effective dose varied between 1.55 and 9.71 mSv/y, which is within the recommended limit (3–10 mSv/y) by International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). The average case of lung cancer 107.91 cppp, which exceeds the European Union (EU) limit (96.9–104.8 cppp). The rates of radon activity and radon exhalation from the intake of a natural radionuclide due to hookah smoking in a female’s blood were calculated and discussed. This study aimed to establish preliminary results on the risks of radioactivity concentrations and assess the dose in the blood of women who smoke hookah and assess the possibility of developing cancer.
The study discussed here deals with the isolation of Aspergillus niger from palm dates, the formal and the most famous fruit in Iraq, to test and qualify this fungus isolate for its ability to produce citric acid. Submerged fermentation technique was used in the fermentation process. A.niger isolated from “Zahdi” Palme dates was used in the study of the fermentation kinetics to get the production efficiency of citric acid. Kinetics of CA production via fermentation by A. niger S11 was evaluated within 432 h fermentation time and under submerged conditions of 11% (w/v) sucrose, 5% (v/v) inoculum size, pH 4, 30 °C and 150 rpm. The maximum citric acid produced was (37.116 g/l). Kine
This investigation aims to explore the potential of waterworks sludge (WS), low-cost byproduct of water treatment processes, as a sorbent for removing Congo Red (CR) dyes. This will be achieved by precipitating nano-sized (MgAl-LDH)-layered double hydroxide onto the surface of the sludge. The efficiency of utilizing MgAl-LDH to modify waterworks sludge (MWS) for use in permeable reactive barrier technology was confirmed through analysis with Fourier transform infrared and X-ray diffraction. The isotherm model was employed to elucidate the adsorption mechanisms involved in the process. Furthermore, the COMSOL model was utilized to establish a continuous testing model for the analysis of contaminant transport under diverse conditions.
... Show MoreAlthough its wide utilization in microbial cultures, the one factor-at-a-time method, failed to find the true optimum, this is due to the interaction between optimized parameters which is not taken into account. Therefore, in order to find the true optimum conditions, it is necessary to repeat the one factor-at-a-time method in many sequential experimental runs, which is extremely time-consuming and expensive for many variables. This work is an attempt to enhance bioactive yellow pigment production by Streptomyces thinghirensis based on a statistical design. The yellow pigment demonstrated inhibitory effects against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus and was characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy which showed lambda maximum of
... Show MoreThe objective of this study is to examine the properties of Bayes estimators of the shape parameter of the Power Function Distribution (PFD-I), by using two different prior distributions for the parameter θ and different loss functions that were compared with the maximum likelihood estimators. In many practical applications, we may have two different prior information about the prior distribution for the shape parameter of the Power Function Distribution, which influences the parameter estimation. So, we used two different kinds of conjugate priors of shape parameter θ of the <
... Show MoreElectrochemical oxidation in the presence of sodium chloride used for removal of phenol and any other organic by products formed during the electrolysis by using MnO2/graphite electrode. The performance of the electrode was evaluated in terms fraction of phenol and the formed organic by products removed during the electrolysis process. The results showed that the electrochemical oxidation process was very effective in the removal of phenol and the other organics, where the removal percentage of phenol was 97.33%, and the final value of TOC was 6.985 ppm after 4 hours and by using a speed of rotation of the MnO2 electrode equal to 200 rpm.