In this work, mesoporous silica SBA-15 was prepared and functionalized with amine groups (i.e., NH2) to form NH2/SBA-15. The curcumin (CUR) was encapsulated into the surface and pore of NH2/SBA-15 to create CUR@NH2/SBA-15 as an efficient carrier in drug delivery systems (DDSs). The three samples (i.e., SBA-15, NH2/SBA-15, and CUR@NH2/SBA-15) were characterized. The study investigated the effect of the carrier dose, initial CUR concentration, pH, and contact time on the CUR loading efficiency (DLE%) via adsorption. The best DLE% for the SBA-15 and NH2/SBA-15 were found to be 45% and 89.7%, respectively. The Langmuir isotherm had a greater correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.998 for SBA-15. A pseudo-secondorder kinetic model seemed to fit well with R2 = 0.9998 for SBA-15 and R2 = 0.9993 for NH2/SBA-15. A phosphate buffer solution (PBS) with a pH of 7.4 was utilized to study the CUR release behavior. As a result, the full release after 72 h was found to have a maximum of 82.6% and 41.2% for SBA-15 and NH2/SBA-15, respectively. The first-order, Weibull, Hixson-Crowell, Korsmeyer-Peppas, and Higuchi kinetic release models were applied. The Weibull model estimated the kinetics of the CUR release from SBA-15 and NH2/SBA-15 with R2 = 0.814 and 0.808, respectively.
For businesses that provide delivery services, the efficiency of the delivery process in terms of punctuality is very important. In addition to increasing customer trust, efficient route management, and selection are required to reduce vehicle fuel costs and expedite delivery. Some small and medium businesses still use conventional methods to manage delivery routes. Decisions to manage delivery schedules and routes do not use any specific methods to expedite the delivery settlement process. This process is inefficient, takes a long time, increases costs and is prone to errors. Therefore, the Dijkstra algorithm has been used to improve the delivery management process. A delivery management system was developed to help managers and drivers
... Show MoreThe study is devoted to both static and earthquake response analysis of retaining structures acted upon by lateral earth pressure. Two main approaches were implemented in the analysis, namely, the Mononobe-Okabe analytical method and the numerical Finite element procedure as provided in the ready software ABAQUS with explicit dynamic method. A basic case study considered in the present work is the bridge approach retaining walls as a part of AL-Jadiriya bridge intersection to obtain the effects of the backfill and the ground water on the retaining wall response including displacement of the retaining structure in addition to the behavior of the fill material. Parametric studies were carried out to evaluate the effects of several factors
... Show MoreIn this paper, CdS/Si hetrojunction solar cell has been made by
Chemical Bath Deposition (CBD) of CdS thin film on to
monocrystalline silicon substrate. XRD measurements approved that
CdS film is changing the structure of CdS films from mixed
hexagonal and cubic phase to the hexagonal phase with [101]
predominant orientation. I-V characterization of the hetrojunction
shows good rectification, with high spectral responsivity of 0.41
A/W, quantum efficiency 90%,and specific detectivity 2.9*1014
cmHz1/2W -1 .
Biosorption of lead, chromium, and cadmium ions from aqueous solution by dead anaerobic biomass (DAB) was studied in single, binary, and ternary systems with initial concentration of 50 mg/l. The metal-DAB affinity was the same for all systems. The main biosorption mechanisms were complexation and physical adsorption of metallic cations onto natural active functional groups on the cell wall matrix of the DAB. It was found that biosorption of the metallic cations onto DAB cell wall component was a surface process. The main functional groups involved in the metallic cation biosorption were apparently carboxyl, amino, hydroxyle, sulfhydryl, and sulfonate. These groups were part of the DAB cell wall structural polymers. Hydroxyle groups (–O
... Show MoreBragg Reflectors consist of periodic dielectric layers having an optical path length of quarter wavelength for each layer giving them important properties and makes them suitable for optoelectronics applications. The reflectivity can be increased by increasing the number of layers of the mirror to get the required value. For example for an 8 layers Bragg mirror (two layers for each dielectric pair), the contrast of the refractive index has to be equal to 0.275 for reaching reflectivity > 99%. Doubling the number of layers results in a reflectivity of 99.99%. The high reflectivity is purely caused by multiple-interference effects. It can be analyzed by using different matrix methods such as the transfer matrix method (TMM) which is the
... Show MoreWhen the guard honey bees, Apis mellifera L., form a clump at the hive entrance or on the flight board, the oriental hornet, Vespa orientails L., either creeps toward the clump or hovers over it in order to take a bee. Once the hornet creeps, only few bees facing the hornet become alert, rock their heads and antennae, open their wings, and take a posture of defense. The rest of the clump stays listless without any signal of concern. However, the clump stays dense and the defending bees do not detach themselves neither from the rest of the clump nor from each other. For this reason, it is very difficult for the hornet to grab a bee unless the latter makes a “mistake” by detaching herself from other adjacent bees. If the hornet grabs s
... Show MoreAn experiment was carried out by using post in kalar horticulture Station/Sulaimania province on soil taked from once region sields during growing season of 2008-2009. The objective was to study adding increasing levels of urea fertilizer which is (0.0, 0.20, 0.40, 0.80) gm/Pot and superphosphate fertilizer which is (0.0, 0.24, 0.48) gm/pot in some chemical properties of grain for wheat IPA 95. This experiment was carried out by completely randomized design (CR D) with three replications. Results in dictated of clear increase in all the studied characteristics (concentration for each nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and carbohydrate percentage with increasing levels of fertilizers).
Liquid-crystalline organic semiconductors exhibit unique properties that make them highly interesting for organic optoelectronic applications. Their optical and electrical anisotropies and the possibility to control the alignment of the liquid-crystalline semiconductor allow not only to optimize charge carrier transport, but to tune the optical property of organic thin-film devices as well. In this study, the molecular orientation in a liquid-crystalline semiconductor film is tuned by a novel blading process as well as by different annealing protocols. The altered alignment is verified by cross-polarized optical microscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry. It is shown that a change in alignment of the