Used vegetable oil was introduced to transesterfication reaction to produce Biodiesel fuel suitable for diesel engines. Method of production was consisted of filtration, transesterfication, separation and washing. Transesterfication was studied extensively with different operating conditions, temperature range (35-80oC), catalyst concentration (0.5-2 wt. % based on oil), mixing time (30-120 min.) with constant oil/methanol weight ratio 5:1 and mixing speed 1300 rpm. The concentration of Fatty acid methyl esters (Biodiesel) was determined for the transesterficated oil samples, besides of some important physical properties such as specific gravity, viscosity, pour point and flash point. The behavior of methyl esters production and the physica
... Show MoreUsed vegetable oil was introduced to transesterfication reaction to produce Biodiesel fuel suitable for diesel engines. Method of production was consisted of filtration, transesterfication, separation and washing. Transesterfication was studied extensively with different operating conditions, temperature range (35-80oC), catalyst concentration (0.5-2 wt. % based on oil), mixing time (30-120 min.) with constant oil/methanol weight ratio 5:1 and mixing speed 1300 rpm. The concentration of Fatty acid methyl esters (Biodiesel) was determined for the transesterficated oil samples, besides of some important physical properties such as specific gravity, viscosity, pour point and flash point. The behavior of methyl esters production and the phys
... Show MoreAbstract Background: The human epidermal growth factor receptor 2(HER2) proto-oncogene is overexpressed or amplified in approximately 15%-25% of invasive breast cancers. Approximately 35% of HER2-amplified breast cancers have coamplification of the topoisomerase II-alpha (TOP2A) gene encoding an enzyme that is a major target of anthracyclines. Hence, the determination of genetic alteration (amplification or deletion) of both genes is considered as an important predictive factor that determines the response of breast cancer patients to treatment. The aims of this study are to determinate TOP2A status gene amplification in a set of Iraqi patients with breast cancer that have had an equivocal (2+) and positive HER2/neu by immunohistochemistry
... Show MoreA piezoelectric cantilever beam with a tip mass at its free end is a common energy harvester configuration. This article introduces a new principle of designing such a harvester that increases the generated power without changing the resonance frequency of the harvester: the attraction force between two permanent magnets is used to add stiffness to the system. This magnetic stiffening counters the effect of the tip mass on the efficient operation frequency. Five set-ups incorporating piezoelectric bimorph cantilevers of the same type in different mechanical configurations are compared theoretically and experimentally to investigate the feasibility of this principle: theoretical and experimental results show that magnetically stiffened harve
... Show MoreIn this paper, a single-phase boost type ac-dc converter with power factor correction (PFC) technique is designed and implemented. A current mode control at a constant switching frequency is used as a control strategy for PFC converter. The PFC converter is a single-stage singleswitch boost converter that uses a current shaping technique to reshape the non-sinusoidal input current drawn by the bulky capacitor in the conventional rectifier. This technique should provide an input current with almost free-harmonics, comply with the IEC61000-3-2 limits, and a system operates with near unity power factor. The other function of the boost converter that should be
accomplished is to provide a regulated DC output voltage. The complete designed
In this study, thermal characteristics of a two-phase closed heat pipe were investigated experimentally and theoretically. A two-phase closed heat pipe (copper container, Fluorocarbon FC-72 (C6F14) working fluid) was fabricated to examine its performance under the effect of input heat flux range of 250–1253 W/m2 , 70% fill charge ratio and various tilt angles. The temperature distribution along the heat pipe, input heat to evaporator section, and output heat from condenser were monitored. A comprehensive mathematical model was developed to investigate the steadystate heat transfer performance of a two-phase closed heat pipe. A steady state analytical model, is presented to determine important parameters on the design of two-phase close
... Show MoreThe steady state performance of the counter rotating floating ring Journal bearing is analyzed with isothermal finite bearing theory. The effect of different parameters affecting the performance of the bearing (namely speed ratio, clearance ratio and radii ratio), have been investigated. The load carrying capacity of the bearing increasing with decreasing the radii ratio (R2/R1) of the ring and clearance ratio (c1/c2), in the other hand, the coefficient of friction increases with increasing the clearance and radii ratios, while decreases with incre4asing the bearing to journal speed ratio (γ). It is shown during this work that different operating conditions are greatly enhanced the performance
... Show MoreStandardized uptake values, often known as SUVs, are frequently utilized in the process of measuring 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake in malignancies . In this work, we investigated the relationships between a wide range of parameters and the standardized uptake values (SUV) found in the liver. Examinations with 18F-FDG PET/CT were performed on a total of 59 patients who were suffering from liver cancer. We determined the SUV in the liver of patients who had a normal BMI (between 18.5 and 24.9) and a high BMI (above 30) obese. After adjusting each SUV based on the results of the body mass index (BMI) and body surface area (BSA) calculations, which were determined for each patient based on their height and weight. Under a variety of dif
... Show MoreBackground: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Clopidogrel, antiplatelet drug, has been widely used for management of CAD. Arylesterase, the activity of Paraoxonase-1 (PON-1), is mainly contributed in the biotransformation of clopidogrel to its active thiol form. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of receiving clopidogrel drug on the arylesterase activities in CAD patients. The effect of receiving clopidogrel drug on the antioxidant activity of arylesterase was also monitored by determination of malondialdehyde (MDA) level. Methods: One hundred CAD patients, who were followed-up for 5 days after reciving clopidogrel, and 50 healthy volunteers were included in our study
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