Heavy metal (HM) pollution has long been a significant source of environmental deterioration and a problem for the safety of food. Iraqis prefer rice over any other food, and since heavy metals have a direct impact on health, their traces in rice have drawn particular attention. Before cooking rice, it is usual in Iraq to wash and soak it. Some 55 varieties of imported and local rice were sampled from Erbil city markets in 2022 with the aim of determining the concentration of As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb before and after soaking. Standard procedure of acid digestions was applied on the raw and soaked samples. The solutions were analyzed using ICPE-9820 Shimadzu. The mean concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb (in mg/kg) in the rice samples before soaking was 0.655, 0.170, 0.160, 0.387, 0.489, respectively and after soaking 0.421, 0.109, 0.115, 0.124 and 0.336, respectively. The concentration of As and Pb was found to be beyond the optimum level of 0.2 mg/kg codex standards for rice; whereas Cd and Cr were within the proposed level of codex standards. Moreover, local rice showed higher concentration of (Cd and Cr), whereas (AS and Pb) concentration in imported rice was higher. Further, results validated that rice soaking can decrease levels of As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb (32.5%, 40.2%, 27.9%, 61.6% and 31.3%, respectively). These findings suggest that soaking as a kitchen practice has efficiency to evaporate metals and has a great influence on the reduction of toxic heavy metals and thus reduces exposure to toxic metals in rice
Increasing demands on producing environmentally friendly products are becoming a driving force for designing highly active catalysts. Thus, surfaces that efficiently catalyse the nitrogen reduction reactions are greatly sought in moderating air-pollutant emissions. This contribution aims to computationally investigate the hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) networks of pyridine over the γ-Mo2N(111) surface using a density functional theory (DFT) approach. Various adsorption configurations have been considered for the molecularly adsorbed pyridine. Findings indicate that pyridine can be adsorbed via side-on and end-on modes in six geometries in which one adsorption site is revealed to have the lowest adsorption energy (
... Show MoreIt is the grace of God and his grace that he accepts repentance for his slaves, forgives their bad deeds in return for their misfortune, or offers them a good deed, but pardons many of them for free. Therefore, it is not long for God Almighty to forgive His mercy for many of His slaves and bring them to Paradise with no punishment or punishment, even if they have committed some sins, because of the multitude of their favorable navigational disadvantages, or even without gratitude thanks to him and him. With all this, some have overlooked the old and new on these things and amazed at the hadeeth ((God may have seen the people of the full moon and said do what you want, I have forgiven you)). Therefore, the scholars tried to answer some of
... Show MoreIn this work; copper oxide films (CuO) were fabricated by PLD. The films were analyzed by UV-VIS absorption spectra and their thickness by using profilometer. Pulsed Nd:YAG laser was used for prepared CuO thin films under O2 gas environment with varying both pulse energy and annealing temperature. The optical properties of as-grown film such as optical transmittance spectrum, refractive index and energy gap has been measured experimentally and the effects of laser pulse energy and annealing temperature on it were studied. An inverse relationship between energy gap and both annealing temperature and pulse energy was observed.
Tin dioxide doped silver oxide thin films with different x content (0, 0.03, 0.05, 0.07) have been prepared by pulse laser deposition technique (PLD) at room temperatures (RT). The effect of doping concentration on the structural and electrical properties of the films were studied. Atomic Force Measurement (AFM) measurements found that the average value of grain size for all films at RT decrease with increasing of AgO content. While an average roughness values increase with increasing x content. The electrical properties of these films were studied with different x content. The D.C conductivity for all films increases with increasing x content. Also, it found that activation energies decrease with increasing of AgO content for all films.
... Show MoreAs the prices of the fuel and power had fluctuated many times in the last decade and new policies appeared and signed by most of the world countries to eliminate global warming and environmental impact on the earth surface and humanity exciting, an urgent need appeared to develop the renewable energy harnessing technologies on the short-term and long-term and one of these promising technologies are the vertical axis wind turbines, and mostly the combined types. The purpose of the present work is to combine a cavity type Savonius with straight bladed Darrieus to eliminate the poor self-starting ability for Darrieus type and low performance for Savonius type and for this purpose, a three-bladed Darrieus type with symmetric
... Show MoreThe study aims to identify the metamemory and perceptual speed among College students, the correlation between metamemory and perceptual speed among College students, and to which extend does metamemory contribute to perceptual speed among College students. The sample consisted of group of students were selected randomly by the researcher from five-different disciplines at the college of education for pure sciences. To collect study data, the researcher utilized two scales: perceptual speed scale that has translated to Arabic language by (Al-Shraqawi, Al- Shaikh, and Nadia Abed Al-Salam (1993). The second scale is metamemory scale (2002) which has translated to Arabic by Abu Ghazal (2007). The results revealed that college students have
... Show MoreThe semiconductor ZnO is one of II – VI compound group, it is prepare as thin films by using chemical spray pyrolysis technique; the films are deposited onto glass substrate at 450 °C by using aqueous zinc chloride as a spray solution of molar concentration 0.1 M/L. Sample of the prepared film is irradiating by Gamma ray using CS 137, other sample is annealed at 550°C. The structure of the irradiated and annealed films are analyzed with X-ray diffraction, the results show that the films are polycrystalline in nature with preferred (002) orientation. The general morphology of ZnO films are imaged by using the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), it constructed from nanostructure with dimensions in order of 77 nm.
The optical properties o
This study aimed to develop an oral drug delivery system for gastro-retentive sustained drug release of baclofen by using a 3D printed capsular device since baclofen has a short half-life of 2.5 to 4 hours and has a narrow absorption window. Firstly sustained-release tablets of baclofen were formulated through the hot-melt extrusion of various thermoplastic polymers and direct compression of the extrudate, then a capsular device was designed and 3D printed to contain two air pockets to enable floating of the device and has four windows for drug release.
3D printing of the capsular device was done by an FDM printer using biodegradable PLA filament, and the sustained release tablets were inserted into the device to allow the medici
... Show MoreBackground: The roles of AI in the academic community continue to grow, especially in the enhancement of learning outcomes and the improvement of writing quality and efficiency. Objectives: To explore in depth the experience of senior pharmacy students in using artificial intelligence for academic purposes. Methods: This qualitative study included face-to-face individual interviews with senior pharmacy students from March to May 2023 using a pre-planned interview guide of open-ended questions. All interviews were audio-recorded. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Results: The results were obtained from 15 in-depth face-to-face interviews with senior pharmacy students (5th and 4th years). Eight participants were male, and seven
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