This study examines the opportunity presented by the COVID-19 pandemic for city planners and leaders to learn from the crisis and build resilient cities with long-term societal, economic, and environmental resilience against future disasters. The research focuses on the relationship between urban planning and policies and the extent of their resilience, particularly in response to pandemic-related disasters. The study evaluates the ability of the city of Baghdad to respond to the pandemic and identifies gaps in its resilience. The study uses the scorecard measurement instrument to examine the disaster resilience of cities, with a focus on governance and financial capability, disaster planning and preparedness, and disaster response and post-event recovery. The study finds that the primary gap between the level of governance and the financial capacity of the city of Baghdad is the lack of financial capacity and the inability to recognize and comprehend existing and future risk scenarios. The study also finds gaps in planning and emergency preparation, including the incorporation of green and blue infrastructure into policies, plans, and projects, and the inability of infrastructure to bear transportation, healthcare, and education facilities. Finally, the study identifies a gap in disaster response in terms of event management strategies, early warning, and training.
Activated carbon derived from Ficus Binjamina agro-waste synthesized by pyro carbonic acid microwave method and treated with silicon oxide (SiO2) was used to enhance the adsorption capability of the malachite green (MG) dye. Three factors of concentration of dye, time of mixing, and the amount of activated carbon with four levels were used to investigate their effect on the MG removal efficiency. The results show that 0.4 g/L dosage, 80 mg/L dye concentration, and 40 min adsorption duration were found as an optimum conditions for 99.13% removal efficiency. The results also reveal that Freundlich isotherm and the pseudo-second-order kinetic models were the best models to describe the equilibrium adsorption data.
ABSTRACT. A new three metal complexes of La(III), Ce(IV) and UO2(II) ions have been synthesized based on a Schiff base derived from the condensation of L-histidine and anisaldehyde. All prepared compounds were characterized by different spectroscopic techniques and Density-functional theory (DFT) calculations. The complexes were proposed to have an octahedral structure based on the investigated results. The optimized shape, numbering system, and dipole moment vector of Ligand and La, Ce, and UO2 (1:1) chelates were investigated. The Schiff base ligand and complexes exhibit moderate action against all of the bacteria tested, with P. aeruginosa, Klebsiella sp., and E. faecalis respectively being the order of inhibition.
... Show MoreThe behavior corrosion inhibition of aluminum alloy (Al6061) in acidic (0.1 M HCl) and saline (3.5% NaCl) solutions was investigated in the absence and the presence of expired diclofenac sodium drug (DSD) as a corrosion inhibitor. The influence of temperature and was studied using electrochemical techniques. In addition, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to study the surface morphology. The results showed that DSD acted as a powerful inhibitor in acidic solutions, while a moderate influence was observed with saline one. Maximum inhibition efficiency was 99.99 and 83.32% in acidic and saline solutions at 150 ppm of DSD, respectively. Corrosion current density that obtained using electrochemical technique was increased with temperat
... Show MoreGreen synthesis is depending on preparation of nano composited SiO2/V2O5 by using the modified sol-gel method depending on rice husk ash as a source for the extraction of silica gel and the product powder of nano composited SiO2/V2O5 characterization by many techniques such as X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and N2 adsorptions/desorption isotherms (BET). This study also includs the biological effectiveness of SiO2/V2O5 and its effect on inhibiting bacterial growth after the prepared nanomaterial was applied to wound dressings, which gave a promising result for its use as
... Show MoreIn this study, a low-cost biosorbent, dead mushroom biomass (DMB) granules, was used for investigating the optimum conditions of Pb(II), Cu(II), and Ni(II) biosorption from aqueous solutions. Various physicochemical parameters, such as initial metal ion concentration, equilibrium time, pH value, agitation speed, particles diameter, and adsorbent dosage, were studied. Five mathematical models describing the biosorption equilibrium and isotherm constants were tested to find the maximum uptake capacities: Langmuir, Freundlich, Redlich-Peterson, Sips, and Khan models. The best fit to the Pb(II) and Ni(II) biosorption results was obtained by Langmuir model with maximum uptake capacities of 44.67 and 29.17 mg/g for these two ions, respectively, w
... Show MoreHybrid architecture of ZnO nanorods/graphene oxide ZnO-NRs@GO synthesized by electrostatic self-assembly methods. The morphological, optical and luminescence characteristics of ZnO-NRs@GO and ZnO-NRs thin films have been described by FESEM, TEM, HRTEM, and AFM, which refers to graphene oxide have been coated ZnO-NRs with five layers. Here we synthesis ZnO-NRs@GO by simple, cheap and environmentally friendly method, which made it favorable for huge -scale preparation in many applications such as photocatalyst. ZnO-NRs@GO was applied as a photocatalyst Rodamin 6 G (R6G) dye from water using 532 nm diode laser-induced photocatalytic process. Overall degradation of R6G/ ZnO-NRs@GO was achieved after 90 minutes of laser irradiation while it ne
... Show MoreIn this research, the performance of asphalt mixtures modified with polyethylene polymer (PE) by adding 2%, 4%, and 6% percentages was evaluated. Two kinds of PE are employed: Low-Density PE (LDPE) and High-Density PE (HDPE). The semi-wet mixing technique (SWM) was conducted to avoid stability issue for PE-modified binder during storage condition. Many experimental tests were conducted to evaluate the ability of these mixtures to withstand the effects of loads and moisture. The hardness index of these mixtures was also measured to determine their resistance to the effects of high temperatures without causing permanent deformations. The results showed that adding PE led to a remarkable enhancement in the performance of PE-modified mixtures.
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