Aluminum oxide thin films were prepared by dc reactive sputtering technique using different mixing ratios of argon and oxygen gases (90:10, 70:30, 50:50, 30:70, and 10:90). These films were characterized to introduce their crystalline structures, surface morphology, and elemental composition. A progressive transition occurs from a predominantly amorphous to a highly crystalline Al2O3 film as the oxygen content in the Ar:O2 gas mixture is increased. Increasing the oxygen content leads to a progressive decrease in surface roughness, resulting in smoother and more uniform films with finer granular features. The oxygen-rich environments yield the smoothest surfaces, while argon-rich environments result in significantly rougher surfaces. These findings are critical for optimizing the sputtering process to achieve desired surface properties for various applications, as surface roughness profoundly impacts adhesion, optical properties, and device performance.
The present study develops the sorption model for simulating the effects of pH and temperature on the uptake of cadmium from contaminated water using waste foundry sand (WFS) by allowing the variation of the maximum adsorption capacity and affinity constant. The presence of two acidic functional groups with the same or different affinity is the basis in the derivation of the two models; Model 1 and Model 2 respectively. The developed Bi-Langmuir model with different affinity (Model 2) has a remarkable ability in the description of process under consideration with coefficient of determination > 0.9838 and sum of squared error < 0.08514. This result is proved by FTIR test where the weak acids responsible of cadmium ions removal
... Show MoreKamil, S.H. 2024. Effects of Aqueous and Alcoholic Extracts of Lemongrass, Cymbopogon citratus on Some Biological Aspects of the Fig Moth, Ephestia cautella. Arab Journal of Plant Protection, 42(3): 377-381. https://doi.org/10.22268/AJPP-001245 This study evaluated the effects of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of lemongrass on the third instar larvae of the date moth Ephestia cautella Walker (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). The results obtained showed that there were toxic effects of aqueous extract, which produced the highest mortality rate of 43.35% at 5% concentration72 hours after treatment, whereas the lowest mortality rate of 17% was obtained at 0.5% concentration, 72 hours after treatment. The LC50 was 0.082%. The results indicated
... Show MoreThe current study was conducted for studying the impact of cold plasma on the expression level of three genes that participate in the biosynthesis of the phenylpropanoid pathway in Ocimum basilicum. These studied genes were cinnamate 4-hydroxylase (c4h), 4-coumarate CoA ligase (4cl), and eugenol O-methyl transferase (eomt). Also, the cold plasma impact was studied on the essential oil components and their relation with the gene expression level. The results demonstrated that cold plasma seeds germination of the treated groups 2 (initially for 3 minutes and 3 minutes after 7 days) ,and group 3(initially for 5 minutes and 3 minutes after 7 days) were faster than the control group. Also, the height average of the mature plants of
... Show MoreStructure type and disorder have become important questions in catalyst design, with the most active catalysts often noted to be “disordered” or “amorphous” in nature. To quantify the effects of disorder and structure type systematically, a test set of manganese(III,IV) oxides was developed and their reactivity as oxidants and catalysts tested against three substrates: methylene blue, hydrogen peroxide, and water. We find that disorder destabilizes the materialsthermodynamically, making them stronger chemical oxidantsbut not necessarily better catalysts. For the disproportionation of H2O2 and the oxidative decomposition of methylene blue, MnOx-mediated direct oxidation competes with catalytically mediated oxidation, making the most
... Show MoreThis thesis was aimed to study gas hydrates in terms of their equilibrium conditions in bulk and their effects on sedimentary rocks. The hydrate equilibrium measurements for different gas mixtures containing CH4, CO2 and N2 were determined experimentally using the PVT sapphire cell equipment. We imaged CO2 hydrate distribution in sandstone, and investigated the hydrate morphology and cluster characteristics via μCT. Moreover, the effect of hydrate formation on the P-wave velocities of sandstone was investigated experimentally.
Sustainable vegetative management plays a significant role in improving soil quality in degraded agricultural landscapes by enhancing soil microbial biomass. This study investigated the effects of grass buffers (GBs), biomass crops (BCs), grass waterways (GWWs), and agroforestry buffers (ABs) on soil microbial biomass and soil organic C (SOC) compared with continuous corn (
Abstract This research investigates how activated carbon (AC) was synthesized from potato peel waste (PPW). Different ACs were synthesized under the atmosphere's conditions during carbonation via two activation methods: first, chemical activation, and second, carbon dioxide-physical activation. The influence of the drying period on the preparation of the precursor and the methods of activation were investigated. The specific surface area and pore volume of the activated carbon were estimated using the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method. The AC produced using physical activation had a surface area as high as 1210 m2/g with a pore volume of 0.37 cm3/g, whereas the chemical activation had a surface area of 1210 m2/g with a pore volume of 0.34 c
... Show MoreIn this work, monitoring of monthly variation (from May 2016 to October 2016) in the concentration of the metals (Co, Zn, Cd, Pb, Ni and Fe) from Al-Diwaniya city of Iraq. Investigation about the pollution with these metals was achieved from five selected sites locate in study area by flame atomic absorption spectroscopy. The results showed a wide variation in the levels of heavy metals from site to site and from month to month. A total of 180 surface soil samples were analyzed to detecting the pollution with selected samples. The resultsshowed that the highest concentration with Ni was 6.290 mg kg-1 while the lowest concentration detected with Ni was 0.080 mg kg-1. The results of pollution index (enrichment factor, contamination factor, po
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