Search

In this work, the impact of thiourea (TU) concentration (0.1, 0.15, and 0.2) M on the structure, surface topography, and morphology of CdS-PVA nanocomposites NCs thin film was investigated. Crystal structure (XRD) results revealed that all films had a polycrystalline structure of CdS phase with the presence of PVA wide peak at 2θ 22°. The crystallite size was increased (10–14) nm with an increase in the TU concentrations. The AFM results revealed that the film's roughness and the Root Mean Square (RMS) roughness was increased as TU concentrations increased. The FESEM results showed that the surface morphology of CdS-PVA films tends to be porous structures, and the pore size increases with the increase of TU concentration. The fabricated CdS-PVA nanocomposite gas sensors were tested at operating temperatures of (100, 200, and 300) °C. The results showed a high sensitivity for NO2 gas at an operating temperature of 200 °C for the TU concentration of 0.2 M and the sensitivity increased as the NO2 gas concentration increased. The novel results are connected with the fabrication of CdS-PVA nanocomposites as good nitrogen dioxide sensors.

In this research, CdS/PVA nanocomposites films were prepared on glass substrates using the chemical bath deposition (CBD) method. The effect of thiourea (TU) concentrations (0.1, 0.15, and 0.2) M on the crystal structure, topography, morphology and optical characteristics of the prepared nanocomposites film was investigated. The crystal structure from (XRD) results of all films was seen to be polycrystalline structure in nature of cubic phase for CdS, and presents a wide peak of 2θ about 22o for PVA polymer. The CdS-PVA nanocomposites film crystallinity was enhanced and the crystallite size was increased from (10–14) nm with the increase of TU molar concentrations from (0.1–0.2) M and the (111) plane is the favored orientation. The AFM results revealed that the film roughness and root mean square roughness were increased with the increase of TU concentrations. The surface morphology results from FESEM micrographs showed that the CdS-PVA nanocomposites film surface tended to be porous at all TU concentrations and the pore size increases with TU concentration. The optical absorbance and Transmittance spectra revealed that the fundamental absorption edge blue was shifted towards the short wavelengths and higher energies with the increase of TU molarity concentration. However, the absorption coefficient values were greater than 104 cm-1 and the energy gap was raised from 2.13 eV to 2.43 eV for 0.1 and 0.2 TU concentrations. It can be concluded from these results that the porous CdS-PVA nanocomposites film was suitable for photovoltaic and gas sensing applications.

The fuel combustion in diesel engines can be improved by adding nanomaterials to the fuel which result in an reduction in pollutant emissions and enhance the quality of fuel combustion. The engine performance and soot nanoparticles characteristics were evaluated in this study with adding nanoparticles of copper oxide (CuO2) to the rapeseed methyl ester (RME) and diesel under variable engine speeds. The addition of CuO2 to the RME significantly improve brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and decline the brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) by 23.6% and 7.6%, respectively, compared to the neat RME and diesel fuel. The inclusion CuO2 nanoparticles into the RME and diesel led to decrease the concentration and number of particulate matter (PM)by 33% and 17% in comparison with neat RME and diesel without nano additives, respectively. Moreover, PM is significantly decreased by 31.5% during the RME combustion in comparison with neat RME and diesel under various engine speeds. It was also obtained that the number of emitted particles (npo) reduced by 23.5% with adding nanoparticles to the RME in comparison with diesel, while the diameter of soot nanoparticles (dpo) increased by 8.6% in comparison with diesel. Furthermore, the addition CuO2 to the RME decreased the size and number of particles more than to the diesel fuel.

Nanocomposites materials of silver (Ag) with polyethene oxide, venal polyalcohol and polyvinyl pyrrolidone were synthesized by chemical reduction method using trisodium citrate (TSC) as a reduction agent. Silver based nanocomposites deposited as a film by dropcasting technique on (2x2 cm2) glass substrates. The effect of polymer matrix type on the optical properties (surface plasmon resonance, transmission and direct and indirect bandgap) were investigated. It was observed from the absorption spectra of the various synthesized materials that the type of polymer used in the preparation process significantly influences the location of the plasmonic absorption peak and the amount of the energy gap.

In this study, the environmental characteristics of Al-Hillah River were studied using geoinformatics applications, which is one of the geospatial techniques (GST). Applying this methodology, a geographic information system was developed, and it was supplied with laboratory data for the physical and chemical properties of 16 parameters for 2021. These data were linked to their spatial locations, using radar imagery of the Digital Elevation Model (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission), and Landsat ETM+7 satellite image. The results indicated that Al-Hillah River was affected by the liquid discharges of factories, cities, and farms spread on its sides, especially in the cities of Sadat Al-Hindiya, Al-Hillah, and Al-Hashimiyah. The seasonal changes in the climate affected some characteristics, including water temperature, pH, turbidity, total dissolved solids, and total hardness. The study showed that the concentration of sulfate (SO4) has risen above the permissible limits for the waters of Iraqi rivers. There are relatively high hardness and alkalinity values, but they were within the permissible limits. The study also showed that most of the results of environmental parameters that were used in the laboratory, were within the permissible limits of Iraqi water, except for sulfates. The justification for conducting this study is to help government agencies and decision-makers to adopt a correct vision for development projects that serve Babil Governorate. Also, it is the first time that the environmental characteristics of Al-Hillah River are studied using geoinformatics applications.

Nipah Virus (NiV) first identified in Malaysia in 1998, was found to be a highly pathogenic re-emerging paramyxovirus able to produce febrile encephalitis and respiratory sickness for which there are no vaccinations or approved therapies present. Pteropus species bats act as the main natural reservoir. NiV comes under level-4 in biosafety and most commonly spreads through Pteropus fruit bat saliva or excrement, or through close contact with intermediate hosts such as pigs. This virus is predominantly common in Southeast Asia and is considered one of the deadliest viruses in the world with the highest mortality rates. Different strains of the virus were found to display different epidemiological and clinical features. In order to contain outbreaks, quick diagnosis and infection control measures are needed. For diagnosis and surveillance, varieties of serological and molecular diagnostic approaches have been developed. Here, the authors review the current concepts in NiV genome, structure, replication, epidemiology, different viral strains, pathogenesis, clinical signs and symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, vaccines and prevention in human beings.

Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD) is a rare genetic disorder affecting the function of motile cilia in several organ systems. In PCD, male infertility is caused by defective sperm flagella composition or deficient motile cilia function in the efferent ducts of the male reproductive system. Different PCD-associated genes encoding axonemal components involved in the regulation of ciliary and flagellar beating are also reported to cause infertility due to multiple morphological abnormalities of the sperm flagella (MMAF). Here, we performed genetic testing by next generation sequencing techniques, PCD diagnostics including immunofluorescence-, transmission electron-, and high-speed video microscopy on sperm flagella and andrological work up including semen analyses. We identified ten infertile male individuals with pathogenic variants in CCDC39 (one) and CCDC40 (two) encoding ruler proteins, RSPH1 (two) and RSPH9 (one) encoding radial spoke head proteins, and HYDIN (two) and SPEF2 (two) encoding CP-associated proteins, respectively. We demonstrate for the first time that pathogenic variants in RSPH1 and RSPH9 cause male infertility due to sperm cell dysmotility and abnormal flagellar RSPH1 and RSPH9 composition. We also provide novel evidence for MMAF in HYDIN- and RSPH1-mutant individuals. We show absence or severe reduction of CCDC39 and SPEF2 in sperm flagella of CCDC39- and CCDC40-mutant individuals and HYDIN- and SPEF2-mutant individuals, respectively. Thereby, we reveal interactions between CCDC39 and CCDC40 as well as HYDIN and SPEF2 in sperm flagella. Our findings demonstrate that immunofluorescence microscopy in sperm cells is a valuable tool to identify flagellar defects related to the axonemal ruler, radial spoke head and the central pair apparatus, thus aiding the diagnosis of male infertility. This is of particular importance to classify the pathogenicity of genetic defects, especially in cases of missense variants of unknown significance, or to interpret HYDIN variants that are confounded by the presence of the almost identical pseudogene HYDIN2.

Many metaheuristic approaches are inherently stochastic. In order to compare such methods, statistical tests are needed. However, choosing an appropriate test is not trivial, given that each test has some assumptions about the distribution of the underlying data that must be true before it can be used. Permutation tests (P-Tests) are statistical tests with minimal number of assumptions. These tests are simple, intuitive and nonparametric. In this paper, we argue researchers in the field of metaheuristics to adopt P-Tests to compare their algorithms. We define two statistic tests and then present an algorithm that uses them to compute the p-value. The proposed process is used to compare 5 metaheuristic algorithms on 10 benchmark functions. The resulting p-values are compared with the p-values of two widely used statistical tests. The results show that the proposed P-test is generally consistent with the classical tests, but more conservative in few cases.

In the present study nickel oxide NiO thin films of thickness ranging about 250e350 nm which were prepared on glass substrates by using chemical spray pyrolysis as a simple and low cost method. The impact of thickness and aqueous solution molarity concentration on the crystal structure and optical characteristics were investigated. The results showed that the deposited films is homogenous and have a good adherent to the glass substrates. The crystal structure results showed that all films have polycrystalline in nature, of rock salt phase, and the preferential orientation is an along (111) plane. The diffraction intensity was increased with the increase in spray solution concentration, leading to the enhancement of the crystallinity and an increase in the crystallite size from 9.7 nm to 28.5 nm and reducing the dislocation density from (104.3-12.2) × 1016 line/m². While the results of AFM results show that the grain size (D) enlarges with increasing molarities concentration. Transmittance spectra confirm that the optical transmittance is of the direct allowed type, while the value of transparency ranged from moderate to weak value and decrease when the spray solution molar concentration and film thickness increases. Whereas the forbidden energy gap was decremented with the increment of molarity concentration of spray solution and film thickness from 3.85 to 3.15 eV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hereditary cystic kidney diseases comprise a complex group of genetic disorders representing one of the most common causes of end-stage renal failure in childhood. The main representatives are autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease, nephronophthisis, Bardet–Biedl syndrome, and hepatocyte nuclear factor-1beta nephropathy. Within the last years, genetic efforts have brought tremendous progress for the molecular understanding of hereditary cystic kidney diseases identifying more than 70 genes. Yet, genetic heterogeneity, phenotypic variability, a lack of reliable genotype–phenotype correlations and the absence of disease-specific biomarkers remain major challenges for physicians treating children with cystic kidney diseases. To tackle these challenges comprehensive scientific approaches are urgently needed that match the ongoing “revolution” in genetics and molecular biology with an improved efficacy of clinical data collection. Network for early onset cystic kidney diseases (NEOCYST) is a multidisciplinary, multicenter collaborative combining a detailed collection of clinical data with translational scientific approaches addressing the genetic, molecular, and functional background of hereditary cystic kidney diseases. Consisting of seven work packages, including an international registry as well as a biobank, NEOCYST is not only dedicated to current scientific questions, but also provides a platform for longitudinal clinical surveillance and provides precious sources for high-quality research projects and future clinical trials. Funded by the German Federal Government, the NEOCYST collaborative started in February 2016. Here, we would like to introduce the rationale, design, and objectives of the network followed by a short overview on the current state of progress.

H. pylori infection causes peptic ulcer, chronic gastritis, mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma, and gastric carcinoma. It has several virulence factors such as cytotoxin-associated gene A(cagA) and the induced by contact with epithelium antigen (iceA). We aimed to explore the relationship between cagA and iceA of H. pylori and gastrointestinal diseases. One hundred and eighteen patients who attended Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Unit at Zagazig University Hospitals, Egypt, were included in this study. Two gastric biopsies were collected and evaluated by rapid urease test (RUT) and PCR. cagA and iceA genes were amplified by PCR. We found that 54 patients (45.76%) were positive by both RUT and PCR. cagA and iceA genes were present in 57.4% and 46.29% of the studied patients, respectively. cagA was the most prevalent gene in gastritis (33.3%) and peptic ulcer (68.7%). iceA1/iceA2 positive genes were the most prevalent in gastric cancer (75%). iceA1 gene was present in 38.7% of cagA positive cases, but iceA2 gene was present in 45.2% of cagA positive cases. iceA1/iceA2 positive genes were present in 29% of cagA positive cases. In conclusion, cagA and iceA genes could be used as markers for severe gastrointestinal diseases. iceA gene was strongly related to cagA gene.

In this paper, we present some numerical methods for solving systems of linear FredholmVolterra integral equations of the second kind. These methods namely are the Repeated Trapezoidal Method (RTM) and the Repeated Simpson's 1/3 Method (RSM). Also some numerical examples are presented to show the efficiency and the accuracy of the presented work.

This work examines numerically the effects of particle size, particle thermal conductivity and inlet velocity of forced convection heat transfer in uniformly heated packed duct. Four packing material (Aluminum, Alumina, Glass and Nylon) with range of thermal conductivity (from200 W/m.K for Aluminum to 0.23 W/m.K for Nylon), four particle diameters (1, 3, 5 and 7 cm), inlet velocity ( 0.07, 0.19 and 0.32 m/s) and constant heat flux ( 1000, 2000 and 3000 W/ m 2) were investigated. Results showed that heat transfer (average Nusselt number Nuav) increased with increasing packing conductivity; inlet velocity and heat flux, but decreased with increasing particle size.Also, Aluminum average Nusselt number is about (0.85,2.2 and 3.1 times) than Alumina, glass and Nylon respectively. From optimization between heat transfer and pressure drop through packed duct, it is found thatfinest ratio (Nuav / ?p) equal to (19.12) at (Dp = 7 cm, inlet velocity = 0.07 m/ s and 3000 W/m2 heat flux) with Aluminum as packing material.

The effect of discharge voltage of a discharge tube were investigated.The discharge voltage (700,800,900,1000,1100,1200) volt were applied under pressure of helium gas was (7Pa) and the inter electrode distance was (130mm). The measurements were achieved without and with parallel magnetic field of (25 mT). The electron temperature calculated from Id – Vd characteristics curves of double Langmuir probe. Results of electron temperature indicated that the behavior of electron temperature decreased with increasing the discharge voltage with and without the magnetic field.But their values at (B=0) was smaller than the corresponding values at (B=25 mT).

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to calculate the profitability and comparative advantage of tomato production in Iraq by using policy analysis matrix (PAM). The study was carried out by taking primary data through deliberate sample from tomato producing area in karbala province . the secondary data were taken from all sources related to study(official directorates, sale agencies …etc) .The result showed that the revenues wereID 750000 I on in private prices , and the costs of tradable inputs in private prices were ID 28930 ton of production and the cost of domestic resources were ID 230315.8 on of production in private prices ,and the private profits were ID 490754 .2 on of production .The revenues in social prices were ID 615960 on of production and the cost of tradable inputs in social prices were ID16503.9 ton of production and the cost of domestic resources in social prices was ID 234068.78 on of production and the social profits were ID 365387.3 on of production The results also showed that there is a comparative advantage in tomato production in Karbala province as the value of DRC was 0.39 and the commodity system was subsidized by the government according to PSR value which was 20.35%.

This work examines numerically the effects of particle size, particle thermal conductivity and inlet velocity of forced convection heat transfer in uniformly heated packed duct. Four packing material (Aluminum, Alumina, Glass and Nylon) with range of thermal conductivity (from200 W/m.K for Aluminum to 0.23 W/m.K for Nylon), four particle diameters (1, 3, 5 and 7 cm), inlet velocity ( 0.07, 0.19 and 0.32 m/s) and constant heat flux ( 1000, 2000 and 3000 W/ m 2) were investigated. Results showed that heat transfer (average Nusselt number Nuav) increased with increasing packing conductivity; inlet velocity and heat flux, but decreased with increasing particle size.Also, Aluminum average Nusselt number is about (0.85,2.2 and 3.1 times) than Alumina, glass and Nylon respectively. From optimization between heat transfer and pressure drop through packed duct, it is found thatfinest ratio (Nuav / Δp) equal to (19.12) at (Dp = 7 cm, inlet velocity = 0.07 m/ s and 3000 W/m2 heat flux) with Aluminum as packing material.

Copyright of Journal of Kufa - Physics is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this research Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanostructure thin films have been prepared by chemical bath deposition method on a deferent thickness of seed layer (1,2 and 3)layers which deposited by sol-gel spin coating technique. Structural and optical characteristics were investigated as a function of the seed layer thickness using x-ray diffraction and UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The results showed that the TiO2 thin films have a polycrystalline structure in nature with anatase phase and tetragonal crystal structure. The dislocation density, the number of crystallite and the strain of the prepared films were also investigated. The optical properties results showed that the thin film transmittance decrease with increasing the thickness of the seed layers, where the transmittance highest value was in the visible region about 53% at wave length 531 nm. The increasing of number of seed layers that lead to increase the thickness of the seed layer and the thin film which leads to increase the films absorbance. The energy band gap of allowed direct transition was decreased with the increase of the number of seed layers (thickness) from 3.378 eV to 3.067 eV with increase the thickness from 105.7nm to 156.6 nm for one layer and three layers respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pure and Ti doped ZrO 2 thin films were prepared by chemical spray pyrolysis method on a glass substrate at 450 °C. XRD results reveal that pure and doped films had polycrystalline structure in nature with tetragonal phase and highly oriented along (011) plane. The crystallite size was increased with increasing Ti content from 17.6 nm to 25.3 nm. SEM images of ZrO 2 and ZrO 2 :Ti thin films showed that the surface seems relatively homogeneous, and the EDX spectra confirm the stoichiometry of the prepared films. AFM measurements showed that the average roughness values were increased after doping with Ti. Optical transmittance of the deposited films high value was about (50%) and decreased with increasing of dopant concentration. The optical band gap decreased from 4.30 eV to 3.01 eV with increasing of Ti content. The ZrO 2 and ZrO 2 :Ti (8%) thin films were investigated as NO 2 gas sensor, the results showed a maximum response was at 250 °C and had a stable behavior for detecting NO 2 gases. The doped ZrO 2 film illustrated a higher response than that of the pure film. The sensing mechanism was modeled according to the oxygen–vacancy mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Kufa - Physics is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Kufa - Physics is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

P-type mixed oxides (CuFeO 2 and CuFe 2 O 4 ) transparent conducting thin films have been successfully deposited on p-type Si (111) substrates at 450 °C by spray pyrolysis deposition (SPD) and annealed at 800 °C for 2 h. The crystal structure, surface morphology and electrical property have been investigated. It is observed that the CuFeO 2 and CuFe 2 O 4 thin films as deposited and annealed, have polycrystalline hexagonal structure and the crystallite size increases by annealing processes. The electrical property of the Ni/CuFeO 2 /Si Metal–Semiconductor–Metal (MSM) photo detectors was investigated using the current–voltage ( I – V ) measurements. The barrier heights ϕ Β of Ni/CuFeO 2 /Ni MSM thin films of as deposited and annealed on Si substrates were calculated and its values are 0.478, 0.345 eV, respectively with an applied bias voltage of 3 V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]