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
The current study is considered a field study to measure the level of satisfaction of the academic programs of Media Masters students. That was accomplished through surveying the attitudes of the students who are enrolled in the faculties of media at the following universities: (Petra University, The Middle East University (MEU), and Al-Yarmouk University). Those students were enrolled in the master’s program within the formal educational system during the second semester of the academic year (2015 – 2016). This survey aims to identify the services, facilities and academic programs provided by the concerned faculties. It, also, aims to identify the public relations, administrative, educational and services aspects of those faculties.
... Show MoreIn light of the increasing importance of interim financial statements they provided these lists of information that enables users of accounting information to make wise investment decisions and predict the company's activities in light of changes the updated rather than wait until the end of the year and accessing information provided by the annual financial statements. In light of this research has come to the most important set of conclusions the adoption of interim financial information has been audited by the external auditor to the availability of basic qualitative characteristics in the accounting information contained in the (appropriate and timely manner, reliability and comparability) and this in turn leads to the impact on reli
... Show MoreObjective: To determine the effectiveness of hypothermia on renal functions for patients undergoing
coronary artery bypass graft CABG surgery.
Methodology: A purposive (non-probability) sample of (50) patients undergoing Isolated coronary artery
bypass graft surgery consecutively admitted to the surgical ward, and they were followed up in the
intraoperative, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and in the postoperative (surgical ward). Post-operative renal function
test (glumeruler filteration rate (GFR) by using the Crockroft-Gault formula and serum creatinine level) was
determined first week post operative and post operative renal function was classified on the base of peak of
the serum creatinine level and decline of glomeru
Experimental investigations had been done in this research to demonstrate the effect of carbon fiber and Ceramic fillers contents on the tribological behaviour of (15% volume fraction) carbon-epoxy composite system under varying volume fraction, load, time and sliding distance. The wear resistance were investigated according to ASTM G99-05standard using pin on disc machine to present the composite tribological behaviour. The influence of three ceramic fillers, granite, perlite and calcium carbonate (CaCO3), on the wear of the carbon fabric reinforced epoxy composites under dry sliding conditions has been investigated. The effect of variants in volume fraction, applied load, time and sliding distance on the wear behaviour of po
... Show MoreYucca gloriosa Variegata L. is a stemless. The whole plant of Y. gloriosa L. has vast medicinal uses. TheNative Americans and North New Mexico used a tea from the leaves and roots to treat asthma, headache,wound healing. As well as it was being consumed as daily dietary. All part of Y. gloriosa L. is rich in saponinsteroidal glycosides. Saponin extracts are well-known to be highly toxic. Hence, present study was carriedout to investigate the toxicity of saponin and estimate the LD50 value which helps in determining the safedose range for the drug that be used, as well as to determine hematological aspects and examine histologicaleffect. Different concentrations of saponin extract were injected into male mice (10,000, 8000, 6000, 400
... Show MoreTillage tools are subject to friction and low-stress abrasive wear processes with the potential deterioration of the desired soil quality, loss of mechanical weed efficacy, and downtime for replacing worn tools. Limited experimental methods exist to quantify investigate the effect of wear-resistant coatings on shape parameters of soil-engaging tools. ASTM standard sand/rubber wheel abrasion and pin-on-disk tests are not able to simulate wear characteristics of the complex shape of the tillage tools. Even though the tribology of tillage tools can be realistic from field tests, tillage wear tests under field conditions are expensive and often challenging to generate repeatable engineeri
The aim of this study is to compare the effects of three methods: problem-based learning (PBL), PBL with lecture method, and conventional teaching on self-directed learning skills among physics undergraduates. The actual sample size comprises of 122 students, who were selected randomly from the Physics Department, College of Education in Iraq. In this study, the pre- and post-test were done and the instruments were administered to the students for data collection. The data was analyzed and statistical results rejected null hypothesis of this study. This study revealed that there are no signifigant differences between PBL and PBL with lecture method, thus the PBL without or with lecture method enhances the self-directed learning skills bette
... Show MoreThe aim of this study is to investigate the antibacterial capabilities of different coating durations of three nanoparticle (NP) coatings: molybdenum (Mo), tantalum (Ta), and zinc oxide (ZnO), and their effects on the surface characteristics of 316L stainless steel (SS). The coated substrates underwent characterization utilizing field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) techniques. The antibacterial efficacy of NPs was evaluated using the agar diffusion method. The FE-SEM and EDX images confirmed the presence of nano-sized particles of Mo, Ta, and ZnO on the surface of the substrates with perfectly symmetrical spheres and a uniform distribution of
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