Copper is a cheaper alternative to various noble metals with a range of potential applications in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. However, copper nanoparticles have major limitations, which include rapid oxidation on exposure to air. Therefore, alternative pathways have been developed to synthesize metal nanoparticles in the presence of polymers and surfactants as stabilizers, and to form coatings on the surface of nanoparticles. These surfactants and polymeric ligands are made from petrochemicals which are non- renewable. As fossil resources are limited, finding renewable and biodegradable alternative is promising.The study aimed at preparing, characterizing and evaluating the antibacterial properties of copper nanoparticles. Copper nanoparticles were prepared using gelatin biopolymer, CuSO4.5H2O ions and hydrazine as stabilizer, precursor salt and reducing agent respectively. However, vitamin C and NaOH solution were also employed as an antioxidant and pH adjuster. The synthesized copper nanoparticles were characterized using UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), zeta potential measurements powder, X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The UV-visible absorption spectrum confirms the formation of the CuNPs, which showed maximum absorbance at 583 nm. Results obtained from TEM indicated a decrease in size of particle from a low concentration to high concentration of the supporting materials. The optimum concentration of gelatin was found to be 0.75 wt%. The supporting materials used for this synthesis are biocompatible and the obtained products are stable in air. The synthesized CuNPs display promising antibacterial activities against B. subtilis (B29), S. aureus (S276), S. choleraesuis (ATCC 10708) and E. coli (E266) as gram positive and negative bacteria respectively.
Industrial development has recently increased, including that of plastic industries. Since plastic has a very long analytical life, it will cause environmental pollution, so studies have resorted to reusing recycled waste plastic (sustainable plastic) to produce environmentally friendly concrete (green concrete). In this research, producing environmentally friendly load-bearing concrete masonry units (blocks) was considered where five concrete mixtures were compressed at the blocks producing machine. The cement content reduced from 400 kg/m3 (B-400) to 300 kg/m3 (B-300) then to 200 kg/m3 (B-200). While (B-380) was produced using 380 kg/m3 cement and 20 kg/m3 nano-sil
... Show MoreBP algorithm is the most widely used supervised training algorithms for multi-layered feedforward neural net works. However, BP takes long time to converge and quite sensitive to the initial weights of a network. In this paper, a modified cuckoo search algorithm is used to get the optimal set of initial weights that will be used by BP algorithm. And changing the value of BP learning rate to improve the error convergence. The performance of the proposed hybrid algorithm is compared with the stan dard BP using simple data sets. The simulation result show that the proposed algorithm has improved the BP training in terms of quick convergence of the solution depending on the slope of the error graph.
This work aimed to study the effect of laser surface treatment on the mechanical characteristics and corrosion behaviour of grey cast iron type A159. Many technical applications used conventional surface treatment, but laser surface hardening has recently been used to enhance the surface properties of many alloys. The mechanical characteristics, including microstructure, microhardness, and wear resistance of A159 grey cast iron, were studied, in addition to corrosion behaviour. The experimental laser parameters in this work were 0.9, 1.2, and 1.5 KW power with continuous wave carbon dioxide lasers with scanning speeds of 10 and 12 mm/s were used. The results found that phase-transitional alterations in microstructure were influenced by lase
... Show MoreMultiple Sclerosis (MS), is a common autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system. Currently, there is no cure for MS, and most treatments involve the use of immunosuppressive drugs that can have adverse effects or increased toxicity. Cannabis, commonly known as marijuana, is a product of the Cannabis sativa, and for several centuries has been used as an alternative medicine in many cultures. Cannabis sativa produces over 421 chemical compounds, including about 80 terpenophenols named phytocannabinoids, and include both psychotropic THC and non-psychoactive CBD. In the currently study, we show that a combination therapy using THC and CBD results in amelioration of EAE, a
The map of permeability distribution in the reservoirs is considered one of the most essential steps of the geologic model building due to its governing the fluid flow through the reservoir which makes it the most influential parameter on the history matching than other parameters. For that, it is the most petrophysical properties that are tuned during the history matching. Unfortunately, the prediction of the relationship between static petrophysics (porosity) and dynamic petrophysics (permeability) from conventional wells logs has a sophisticated problem to solve by conventional statistical methods for heterogeneous formations. For that, this paper examines the ability and performance of the artificial intelligence method in perme
... Show MoreMost drugs undergo some metabolism in the liver before excretion by the kidneys or bile. Thus, it is not surprising that liver injury may be provoked due to its exposure to various drugs and compounds. Drug-induced cholestatic liver injury may occur particularly under conditions of increased drug concentrations, genetic alterations in expression of enzymes or transporters. Additionally, the drug-induced cholestasis can be caused by direct toxic effects of drugs or their metabolites on different hepatic cell types or through an immune-mediated process. Amoxicillin/ clavulanic acid, an antibiotic that is therapeutically utilized for the treatment of a number of bacterial infections. Omega-3 fatty acids are unsaturated fatty acids that have ro
... Show MoreThe effect of time (or corrosion products formation) on corrosion rates of carbon steel pipe in aerated 0.1N NaCl
solution under turbulent flow conditions is investigated. Tests are conducted using electrochemical polarization
technique by determining the limiting current density of oxygen reduction in Reynolds number range of 15000 to 110000
and temperature range of 30 to 60oC. The effect of corrosion products formation on the friction factor is studied and
discussed. Corrosion process is analyzed as a mass transfer operation and the mass transfer theory is employed to
express the corrosion rate. The results are compared with many proposed models particularly those based on the
concept of analogy among momentum, heat,
In this research local wheat peel was used as an adsorbent surface for removal of Azure B (AB) dye from the aqueous solution. The adsorption process was performed at different experimental parameters, equilibrium time, temperature, ionic strength and solution pH. The isotherms of adsorption are of H-type as compared with Giles curves and the adsorption data were coincide with Freundlich equation. The adsorption kinetic data were analyzed using pseudo- first and second order kinetic models. The effect of temperature was studied and the amount of dye adsorbed was found to increase with the increasing of temperature from 25 to 50 oC. The values of thermodynamic functions like enthalpy and entropy have been estimated. The quantity of adso
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