Pharmaceuticals have been widely remaining contaminants in wastewater, and diclofenac is the most common pharmaceutical pollutant. Therefore, the removal of diclofenac from aqueous solutions using activated carbon produced by pyrocarbonic acid and microwaves was investigated in this research. Apricot seed powder and pyrophosphoric acid (45 wt%) were selected as raw material and activator respectively, and microwave irradiation technique was used to prepare the activated carbon. The raw material was impregnated in pyrophosphoric acid at 80◦C with an impregnation ratio of 1: 3 (apricot seeds to phosphoric acid), the impregnation time was 4 h, whereas the power of the microwave was 700 watts with a radiation time of 20 min. A series of experiments were conducted at constant mixing speed (300 revolutions per minute) to evaluate the effect of experimental factors likes, adsorption time, pH of diclofenac solution, diclofenac initial concentration, and dosage of activated carbon on removal efficiency. The design of experiments (version 13 Stat-Ease) was implemented using the central composite method to define the optimum effect of the process factors on the removal efficiency. The analysis of variance showed that the quadratic model for the experiment was significant with a very low probability value (P- value < 0.0001). The adjusted R2 of the model was 0.9826 and the predicted R2 was 0.9574. Whereas the optimum conditions suggested by the model for the process variable were found to be 150 min, 3.25 pH, 30 mg/L, 0.267g, for adsorption time, pH of diclofenac solution, diclofenac initial concentration, a dosage of activated carbon, respectively and the maximum removal efficiency was found to be 94.6%. The data obtained from the experiments were fitted with Langmuir and Freundlich models and the results show that the data was well fitted Langmuir model with R2 = 0.9685 as compared to the Freundlich model which has R2 = 0.93249. Likewise, the data was analyzed by pseudo first and second-order kinetic models and the results show that the adsorption on apricot-activated carbon was well adequate with the pseudo-second-order model.
We report here the observation of 16 µm superradiance laser action generated from optical pumping of CF4 gas molecules (which is cooled to 140 Kº by a boil-off liquid-N2) by a TEA-CO2 laser 9R12 line. Output laser pulses of 7 mJ and 200 ns have been obtained.
The effects of the permeation cement grout with fly ash on the sandy soil skeleton were studied in the present work in two phase; first phase the shear strength parameters, and the second phase effect of these grouted materials on volume grouted zone by injection (51) cm³ of slurry in sandy soil placed in steel cylinder model with dimension 15 cm in diameter and 30 cm in height. The soil sample was obtained from Karbala city and it is classified as poorly graded sand (SP) according to USCS. The soil samples were improved by cement grout with three percentages weight of water cement ratio (w:c); (0.1w:0.9c, 0.8w:0.2c, and 0.7w:0.3c), while the soil samples were dehydrated for one day
... Show MoreThe injection of Low Salinity Water (LSWI) as an Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) method has recently attracted a lot of attention. Extensive research has been conducted to investigate and identify the positive effects of LSWI on oil recovery. In order to demonstrate the impact of introducing low salinity water into a reservoir, simulations on the ECLIPSE 100 simulator are being done in this work. To simulate an actual reservoir, an easy static model was made. In order to replicate the effects of injecting low salinity water and normal salinity, or seawater, the reservoir is three-phase with oil, gas, and water. It has one injector and one producer. Five cases were suggested to investigate the effect of low salinity water injection with differen
... Show MoreThis paper focused on the stone matrix asphalt (SMA) technology that was developed essentially to guard against rutting distress. For this procedure, fibers play a racy role in stabilizing and preventing the drain down problem caused by the necessity of high binder content coupled with their strengthening effect. A set of specimens with cylindrical and slab shapes were fabricated by inclusions jute, polyester, and carbon fibers. For each type, three contents of 0.25%, 0.5%, and 0.75% by weight of mixture were added by lengths of 5, 7.5, and 10 mm. The prepared mixtures were tested to gain the essential pertained parameters discriminated by the values of drain down, Marshall quotient, rut depth, and dynamic stability. It
... Show MoreKinetics and mechanism studies of oxidation of some α-amino acids (Proline, Arginine, Alanine) (AA) by N-Bromosuccinimide (NBS) by using conductivity method was carried out. The kinetic study showed that the reaction was first order with respect to NBS and AA. The effect of addition of HClO4 to the reaction was negative on the rate of reaction. The reaction was carried out at different temperatures in which * * * , S , G were calculated. The rate of reaction of AA was as follows: Proline > Arginine > Alanine
In this study, a Hydroxyapatite (HA) coating was prepared on a titanium implant by an electrochemical deposition process. The titanium pre-treatment by anodizing in 1.65 mol/L sulfuric acid with (10V) at room temperature. The deposition was all conducted at a constant voltage of 6.0 V, for 1 h at room temperature. The coatings thus prepared were characterized with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thickness of the coated layer.The electrochemical deposition of HA occurred on the titanium as a cathode. Coated titanium by HA after anodizing revealed a good corrosion protection efficiency even at a temperature ranged (293-323) K in artificial saliva. Activation energy and pre-exponential factor (kinetic parameters) were calcul
... Show MoreAbstract Background The aim of this study was to identify differences in oral cancer incidence among sexes, age groups and oral sites over time in Iraqi population. Methods Data was obtained from Iraqi cancer registry, differences and trends were assessed with the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test and Regression test, respectively. Results In Iraq from 2000 to 2008, there were 1787 new cases of oral cancer registered, 1035 in men and 752 in women. Cancer at all oral sites affected men more than women. The Tongue other (ICD-02) is the most frequent site follow by lip (ICD-00). Conclusion The decrease in the percent of oral cancer incidence in Iraq not compatible with the high percent of exposure to the risk factors, Iraqi cancer regis
... Show MoreImitation learning is an effective method for training an autonomous agent to accomplish a task by imitating expert behaviors in their demonstrations. However, traditional imitation learning methods require a large number of expert demonstrations in order to learn a complex behavior. Such a disadvantage has limited the potential of imitation learning in complex tasks where the expert demonstrations are not sufficient. In order to address the problem, we propose a Generative Adversarial Network-based model which is designed to learn optimal policies using only a single demonstration. The proposed model is evaluated on two simulated tasks in comparison with other methods. The results show that our proposed model is capable of completing co
... Show MoreAfter the fall of the Iraqi regime in the 9th of April 2003, and after the disintegration of the country, political and party political chaos that had never been witnessed before, has now taken over. In the past 2 years, the American military forces had a primary role in spreading this chaos and disorder by applying a set of wrong measures and policies. This chaos that is still affecting the iraqi people was completely ignored by the USA even 2 years after the occupation, no serious steps have been taken in order to bring back order and security, on the other hand, most of the government institutions and its forces were disintegrated, along with the decision made by Paul Bremer of dismissing all the iraqi journals and the workers of the
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