This article presents the simultaneous adsorption of bimetal Cu²⁺ and Zn²⁺ from an aqueous solution using activated carbon synthesized from a plum seed precursor by sulfuric acid and microwave activation: plum seeds chemically activated by 45% (w/w) sulfuric acid with 2:1 ratio for 4 h, then carbonized for 2 h at 700 °C and the product obtained activated in a microwave oven for 20 min at 700 W for final of activation. Plum seeds and activated carbon produced were characterized in terms of their physical and chemical composition using Brunauer–Emmett–Teller measurements, field emission scanning electr

Sheet piles are necessary with hydraulic structures as seepage cut-off to reduce the seepage. In this research, the computational work methodology was followed by building a numerical model using Geo-Studio program to check the efficiency of using concrete sheet piles as a cut-off or reducer for seepage with time if the sheet piles facing the drawdown technique. Al-Kifil regulator was chosen as a case study, an accurate model was built with a help of observed reading of the measuring devices, which was satisfactory and helped in checking the sheet piles efficiency. Through the study, three scenarios were adopted (with and without) drawdown technique, it was found that at the short time there's no effect of the drawdown technique on

Water quality planning relies on Biochemical Oxygen Demand BOD. BOD testing takes five days. The Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is increasingly used for water resource forecasting. This work designed a PSO technique for estimating everyday BOD at Al-Rustumiya wastewater treatment facility inlet. Al-Rustumiya wastewater treatment plant provided 702 plant-scale data sets during 2012-2022. The PSO model uses the daily data of the water quality parameters, including chemical oxygen demand (COD), chloride (Cl-), suspended solid (SS), total dissolved solids (TDS), and pH, to determine how each variable affects the daily incoming BOD. PSO and multiple linear regression (MLR) findings are compared, and their performance is evaluated usin

The accumulation of sediment in reservoirs poses a major challenge that impacts the storage capacity, quality of water, and efficiency of hydroelectric power generation systems. Geospatial methods, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS), were used to assess Dukan Reservoir sediment quantities. Satellite and reservoir water level data from 2010 to 2022 were used for sedimentation assessment. The satellite data was used to analyze the water spread area, employing the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) and Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI) to enhance the water surface in the satellite imagery of Dukan Reservoir. The cone formula was employed to calculate the live storag

Periodontitis is a dysbiosis-driven inflammatory disease in which a pathogenic subgingival biofilm disrupts the host–microbe equilibrium and promotes progressive loss of tooth-supporting tissues. While periodontal destruction has traditionally been explained mainly through the host immune response, increasing experimental and clinical evidence suggests that epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT)-like changes in the gingival epithelium may contribute to barrier failure and tissue remodeling during disease progression. EMT is characterized by reduced epithelial adhesion and polarity, alongside a shift toward a mesenchymal-like phenotype with enhanced motility and impaired epithelial barrier function. This narrative review focuses

Concrete columns with hollow-core sections find widespread application owing to their excellent structural efficiency and efficient material utilization. However, corrosion poses a challenge in concrete buildings with steel reinforcement. This paper explores the possibility of using glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) reinforcement as a non-corrosive and economically viable substitute for steel reinforcement in short square hollow concrete columns. Twelve hollow short columns were meticulously prepared in the laboratory experiments and subjected to pure axial compressive loads until failure. All columns featured a hollow square section with exterior dimensions of (180 × 180) mm and 900 mm height. The columns were categorized into

Pharmaceuticals have been widely remaining contaminants in wastewater, and diclofenac is the most common pharmaceutical pollutant. Therefore, the removal of diclofenac from aqueous solutions using activated carbon produced by pyrocarbonic acid and microwaves was investigated in this research. Apricot seed powder and pyrophosphoric acid (45 wt%) were selected as raw material and activator respectively, and microwave irradiation technique was used to prepare the activated carbon. The raw material was impregnated in pyrophosphoric acid at 80◦C with an impregnation ratio of 1: 3 (apricot seeds to phosphoric acid), the impregnation time was 4 h, whereas the power of the microwave was 700 watts with a radiation time of 20 min. A series o