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.
Contours extraction from two dimensional echocardiographic images has been a challenge in digital image processing. This is essentially due to the heavy noise, poor quality of these images and some artifacts like papillary muscles, intra-cavity structures as chordate, and valves that can interfere with the endocardial border tracking. In this paper, we will present a technique to extract the contours of heart boundaries from a sequence of echocardiographic images, where it started with pre-processing to reduce noise and produce better image quality. By pre-processing the images, the unclear edges are avoided, and we can get an accurate detection of both heart boundary and movement of heart valves.
Cuneiform texts are the most important sources for our knowledge of ancient history and in all political, economic, social and religious fields, as the ancients left us thousands of these texts, which were found through excavations, and hundreds of these texts were stolen and smuggled out of Iraq, and some of these texts were returned after the Jordanian government confiscated them and returned them to the Iraqi Museum. Most of these cuneiform texts were economic texts. In this research, a group of these confiscated cuneiform texts was studied (their number was six texts bearing the following museum numbers, respectively (160609 - 160103 - 160290 - 160102 - 206650 - 206637) dating back to the time of the king of the Larsa dynasty, Rim-Sin (
... Show MoreBackground: Metal ions can be released from metallic orthodontic appliances due to corrosion in the oral cavity; prophylactic mouthwashes may have an effect on ion release from orthodontic wires. Materials and Methods: Thirty six orthodontic sets of half maxillary fixed appliance with 2 types of arch wires SS and NiTi(Morelli) were constructed and immersed in 2 types of mouthwashes; Claradone (non-fluoridated) and Silver Care (fluoridated) for 28 days at 37°C, then the released Ni and Cr ionswere measured using atomic absorption spectrophotometer and compared statistically. Results: Ni ion release was higher from NiTi wire group than SS wire group for both mouthwashes and also was higher for Silver Care group than for Claradone group.
... Show MoreEnhancing quality image fusion was proposed using new algorithms in auto-focus image fusion. The first algorithm is based on determining the standard deviation to combine two images. The second algorithm concentrates on the contrast at edge points and correlation method as the criteria parameter for the resulted image quality. This algorithm considers three blocks with different sizes at the homogenous region and moves it 10 pixels within the same homogenous region. These blocks examine the statistical properties of the block and decide automatically the next step. The resulted combined image is better in the contras
... Show MoreThis study delves into the design optimization of a hydropower harvesting system, exploring various parameters and their influence on system performance. By modifying the variables within the model to suit different flow conditions, a judiciously optimized design is attainable. Notably, the lift force generated is found to be intricately linked to the strategic interplay of the bluff body's location, cylinder dimensions, and flow velocity. The findings culminate in the establishment of empirical equations, one for lift force and another for displacement, based on the force equation. Many energy harvesting approaches hinge on the reciprocating motion inherent to the structural system. The methodology developed in this study emerges as a pot
... Show MoreAt the time when many important political events and evolutions took place, the cinema has been pretty active, and witnessed the historical events before and after the two world wars and the cold war. During the first half of the 20th century, the cinema had great interest from the major countries and their politicians, as well as the commercial turnout of large companies to invest in that field for the profits. In the beginning of the 20th century, the major powers like the Soviet Union, the United States, Germany, Italy, England, and France started to compete in the development of their film industry and the investment of the new medium and the transformation of some famous works of fiction into films that perpetuate their cultur
... Show MoreThe phytoremediation technique has become very efficient for treating soil contaminated with heavy metals. In this study, a pot experiment was conducted where the Dodonaea plant (known as hops) was grown, and soil previously contaminated with metals (Zn, Ni, Cd) was added at concentrations 100, 50, 0 mg·kg-1 for Ni and Zn, and at concentrations of 0, 5, 10 mg·kg-1 for cadmium. Irrigation was done within the limits of the field capacity of the soil. Cadmium, nickel and zinc was estimated in the soil to find out the capacity of plants to the absorption of heavy and contaminated metals by using bioconcentration factors (BCFs), bioaccumulation coefficient (BAC) and translocation factor (TF). Additionally, BCF values of both Ni and Zn were l
... Show MoreWater scarcity is one of the most important problems facing humanity in various fields such as economics, industry, agriculture, and tourism. This may push people to use low-quality water like industrial-wastewater. The application of some chemical compounds to get rid of heavy metals such as cadmium is an environmentally harmful approach. It is well-known that heavy metals as cadmium may induce harmful problems when present in water and invade to soil, plants and food chain of a human being. In this case, man will be forced to use the low quality water in irrigation. Application of natural materials instead of chemicals to remove cadmium from polluted water is an environmental friendly approach. Attention was drawn in this research wor
... Show MoreThis article publishes seven cuneiform tablets in the collection of the Iraq Museum Baghdad. Six of the tablets have an Irisagrig/Al Sarraki provenance, the seventh is of uncertain origin. They are dated to the reigns of Amar-Suen (AS) and Ibbi-Suen (IS) of the Ur III Dynasty. The texts represent administrative texts of the governing institutions and account for economic activities including the assignment of female workers for wool plucking, the remuneration of canal work with barley and the selection of wool for textiles. Three tablets record offerings in respect of cultic observances, two of which describe the disbursement of foodstuffs for the king's monthly 83-63 offerings to the new moon.