In recent years, there has been a significant increase in research demonstrating the new and diverse uses of non-thermal food processing technologies, including more efficient mixing and blending processes, faster energy and mass transfer, lower temperature and selective extraction, reduced thermal and concentration gradients, reduced equipment size, faster response to extraction control, faster start-up, increased production, and a reduction in the number of steps in preparation and processing. Applications of ultrasound technology have indicated that this technology has a promising and significant future in the food industry and preservation, and there is a wide scope for its use due to the higher purity of final products and the

The primary objective of this study was to identify the mechanisms for the development and propagation of longitudinal cracks that initiate at the surface of composite pavement. In this study the finite element program ANSYS version (5.4) was used and the model worked out using this program has the ability to analyze a composite pavement structure of different layer properties. Also, the aim of this study was modeling and analyzing of the composite pavement structure with the physical presence of crack induced in concrete underlying layer. The results obtained indicates that increasing the thickness of the asphalt layer tends to decrease the stress intensity factor, which may be attributed to the rapidly decrease of horizontal tensile st

Electrochemical machining is one of the widely used non-conventional machining processes to machine complex and difficult shapes for electrically conducting materials, such as super alloys, Ti-alloys, alloy steel, tool steel and stainless steel.  Use of optimal ECM process conditions can significantly reduce the ECM operating, tooling, and maintenance cost and can produce components with higher accuracy. This paper studies the effect of process parameters on surface roughness (Ra) and material removal rate (MRR), and the optimization of process conditions in ECM. Experiments were conducted based on Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array (OA) with three process parameters viz. current, electrolyte concentration, and inter-electrode gap. Sig

A field experiment was conducted at the field of the Dept. of Field Crop Sci. / College of Agriculture / University of Baghdad . The objective was to determine the values of relative constant of three – way and double crosses of maize . Ten inbreds were used and crossed during spring and fall seasons of 2009 to produce three - way and double crosses , and ten hybrids were taken from each group . The ten hybrids were grown and selfed during spring 2010 to produce 2 seed . Three way and double crosses were sown with their parents and 2 seed during fall 2010 in RCBD with four replicates . Leaf area , total dry matter , row/ear , grain/ear , grain weight and grain weight/plant of hybrids , parents and 2 plants were taken . Results showed that

Low grade crude palm oil (LGCPO) presents as an attractive option as feedstock for biodiesel production due to its low cost and non-competition with food resources. Typically, LGCPO contains high contents of free fatty acids (FFA), rendering it impossible in direct trans-esterification processes due to the saponification reaction. Esterification is the typical pre-treatment process to reduce the FFA content and to produce fatty acid methyl ester (FAME). The pre-treatment of LGCPO using two different acid catalysts, such as titanium oxysulphate sulphuric acid complex hydrate (TiOSH) and 5-sulfosalicylic acid dihydrate (5-SOCAH) was investigated for the first time in this study. The optimum conditions for the homogenous catalyst (5-SOCAH) wer

Accurate prediction and optimization of morphological traits in Roselle are essential for enhancing crop productivity and adaptability to diverse environments. In the present study, a machine learning framework was developed using Random Forest and Multi-layer Perceptron algorithms to model and predict key morphological traits, branch number, growth period, boll number, and seed number per plant, based on genotype and planting date. The dataset was generated from a field experiment involving ten Roselle genotypes and five planting dates. Both RF and MLP exhibited robust predictive capabilities; however, RF (R² = 0.84) demonstrated superior performance compared to MLP (R² = 0.80), underscoring its efficacy in capturing the nonlinear genoty

Aromatic hydrocarbons present in Iraqi national surface water were believed to be raised principally from combustion of various petroleum products, industrial processes and transport output and their precipitation on surface water.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were included in the priority pollutant list due to their toxic and carcinogenic nature. The concern about water contamination and the consequent human exposure have encouraged the development of new methods for
PAHs detection and removal.
PAHs, the real contaminants of petroleum matter, were detected in selected sites along Tigris River within Baghdad City in summer and winter time, using Shimadzu high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system.
Analysi

In Iraq most of the small buildings deployed a conventional air conditioning technology which typically uses electrically driven compressor systems which exhibits several clear disadvantages such as high energy consumption, high electricity at peak loads. In this work a thermal performance of air conditioning system combined with a solar collector is investigated theoretically. The hybrid air conditioner consists of a semi hermetic compressor, water cooled shell and tube condenser, thermal expansion valve and coil with tank evaporator. The theoretical analysis included a simulation for the solar assisted air-conditioning system using EES software to analyze the effect of different parameters on the power consumption of c

In this study, the genus Xylocopa Latreille, 1802 (Hymenoptera: Apidae) was revised. There were 4 species registered in our investigations: X. hottentotta Smith, 1854; X. olivieri Lepeletier, 1841; X. pubescens Spinola, 1838 and X. valga Gerstäcker, 1872, the first species was described as being found for the first time for the insect fauna of Iraq, which were obtained from Solanum melogena L. flowers. Key to the species was constructed and supported by figures of the main diagnostic characters and some morphological features, illustrated and compared with other species, which are recorded in the current survey.