Study of the Heavy Elements of the Al-Kharazi Water Course Inside the University of Mosul

This study investigated the levels of heavy metal contaminants (copper, zinc, cadmium, and lead) in water samples collected from the Al-Kharazi watercourse traversing the University of Mosul campus over four seasons in 2022 and 2023. Water samples were taken from five stations along the watercourse and analyzed for dissolved and particulate phases of the heavy metals. The heavy metals have been extracted using a standard method and their concentrations in river water and sediments have been estimated using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The results showed mean concentrations of 0.0527 ± 0.0131 mg/L for cadmium, 0.0178 ± 0.0051 mg/L for lead, 0.0145 ± 0.002 mg/L for dissolved copper, and 3.232 ± 0.635 mg/L for zinc across all seasons. Substantial discrepancies were noted among seasons and across various sampling sites. At specific sites and during certain seasons, the levels of cadmium and lead were discovered to surpass the drinking water guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO). The research shows that there is a significant amount of heavy metal pollution, particularly cadmium, in the Al-Kharazi watercourse. This contamination is most likely caused by human activities in the university area. It is advisable to regularly assess and apply solutions to mitigate the risks of heavy metal contamination to both the aquatic environment and human health

Study of the Heavy Elements of the Al-Kharazi Water Course Inside the University of Mosul

This study investigated the levels of heavy metal contaminants (copper, zinc, cadmium, and lead) in water samples collected from the Al-Kharazi watercourse traversing the University of Mosul campus over four seasons in 2022 and 2023. Water samples were taken from five stations along the watercourse and analyzed for dissolved and particulate phases of the heavy metals. The heavy metals have been extracted using a standard method and their concentrations in river water and sediments have been estimated using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The results showed mean concentrations of 0.0527 ± 0.0131 mg/L for cadmium, 0.0178 ± 0.0051 mg/L for lead, 0.0145 ± 0.002 mg/L for dissolved copper, and 3.232 ± 0.635 mg/L for zinc across all seasons. Substantial discrepancies were noted among seasons and across various sampling sites. At specific sites and during certain seasons, the levels of cadmium and lead were discovered to surpass the drinking water guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO). The research shows that there is a significant amount of heavy metal pollution, particularly cadmium, in the Al-Kharazi watercourse. This contamination is most likely caused by human activities in the university area. It is advisable to regularly assess and apply solutions to mitigate the risks of heavy metal contamination to both the aquatic environment and human health

Adaptation to the Future Climate: A Low Carbon Building Design Challenge

In this paper an attempt has been made to assess the performance of an office building located in London (one of the case study buildings in CIBSE TM36: 2005) in relation to energy consumption, carbon emissions and potential for adaptability to the 2050s climate. Overheating is a particular issue in office buildings due to internal heat gains from computers and other electrical equipment. In addition, buildings in London are affected by the urban heat island, which is likely to intensify with warmer summer temperatures, reducing the capacity for night-time cooling of buildings. This paper proposes various passive design strategies which aim to address both mitigation (by reducing carbon emissions) and adaptation (by improving human comfort and reducing energy consumption)

Effects of palm oil supplementation in broiler diets

A study was conducted to determine the effects of varying palm oil levels (0 to 8%) in the diets on the performance of broilers under the warm humid tropical environment. Increasing palm oil levels resulted in corresponding rise in the dietary energy concentrations, and broilers fed on higher energy diets improved feed and energy consumption, daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio. Total carcass fat content was found to increase at higher levels of palm oil inclusions

Is Tiamat Really Mother Huber?

xvii, 247 hlm.; 23 c

Improvement of physicochemical properties of nanocolloidal carrier loaded with low water solubility drug for parenteral cancer treatment by response surface methodology

Nanoemulsions have been used as a drug carrier system, particularly for poorly water-soluble drugs. Sorafenib is a poorly soluble drug and also there is no parenteral treatment. The aim of this study is the development of nanoemulsions for intravenous administration of Sorafenib. The formulations were prepared by high energy emulsification method and optimized by using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Here, the effect of independent composition variables of lecithin (1.16–2.84%, w/w), Medium-Chain Triglycerides (2.32–5.68%, w/ w) and polysorbate 80 (0.58–1.42%, w/w) amounts on the properties of Sorafenib-loaded nanoemulsion was investigated. The three responses variables were particle size, zeta potential, and polydispersity index. Optimization of the conditions according to the three dependent variables was performed for the preparation of the Sorafenib-loaded nanoemulsions with the minimum value of particle size, suitable rage of zeta potential, and polydispersity index. A formulation containing 0.05% of Sorafenib kept its properties in a satisfactory range over the evaluated period. The composition with 3% Medium-Chain Triglycerides, 2.5% lecithin and 1.22% polysorbate 80 exhibited the smallest particle size and polydispersity index (43.17 nm and 0.22, respectively) with the zeta potential of −38.8 mV was the optimized composition. The fabricated nanoemulsion was characterized by the transmission electron microscope (TEM), viscosity, and stability assessment study. Also, the cytotoxicity result showed that the optimum formulations had no significant effect on a normal cell in a low concentration of the drug but could eliminate the cancer cells. The dose-dependent toxicity made it a suitable candidate for parenteral applications in the treatment of breast cancer. Furthermore, the optimized formulation indicated good storage stability for 3 months at different temperatures (4 ± 2 °C, 25 ± 2 °C and 45 ± 2 °C

Identification of a 3-Alkylpyridinium Compound from the Red Sea Sponge Amphimedon chloros with In Vitro Inhibitory Activity against the West Nile Virus NS3 Protease.

Viruses are underrepresented as targets in pharmacological screening efforts, given the difficulties of devising suitable cell-based and biochemical assays. In this study we found that a pre-fractionated organic extract of the Red Sea sponge Amphimedon chloros was able to inhibit the West Nile Virus NS3 protease (WNV NS3). Using liquid chromatography⁻mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, the identity of the bioactive compound was determined as a 3-alkylpyridinium with m/z = 190.16. Diffusion Ordered Spectroscopy (DOSY) NMR and NMR relaxation rate analysis suggest that the bioactive compound forms oligomers of up to 35 kDa. We observed that at 9.4 μg/mL there was up to 40⁻70% inhibitory activity on WNV NS3 protease in orthogonal biochemical assays for solid phase extracts (SPE) of A. chloros. However, the LC-MS purified fragment was effective at inhibiting the protease up to 95% at an approximate amount of 2 µg/mL with negligible cytotoxicity to HeLa cells based on a High-Content Screening (HCS) cytological profiling strategy. To date, 3-alkylpyridinium type natural products have not been reported to show antiviral activity since the first characterization of halitoxin, or 3-alkylpyridinium, in 1978. This study provides the first account of a 3-alkylpyridinium complex that exhibits a proposed antiviral activity by inhibiting the NS3 protease. We suggest that the here-described compound can be further modified to increase its stability and tested in a cell-based assay to explore its full potential as a potential novel antiviral capable of inhibiting WNV replication

Couches minces dures type Cr-Al-N pour outils de coupe du bois

Les outils de coupe pour l’usinage métallique sont très développés ces dernières années, ainsi plus 90% des outils en carbure et 10% des forets, tarauds en acier sont revêtus, tout en donnant des résultats intéressants, malheureusement cette tendance n’existe pas en usinage bois. Ce travail donc a pour objectif de développer des outils revêtus pour les tester en défonçage du bois de Pin d’Alep une essence très répandues dans le bassin méditerranéen. Notre étude se fera sur des outils de coupe en carbure revêtu en couches minces de CrN et de CrAlN à différent pourcentage respectivement d’Al déposé grâce à un bâti magnétron de marque Nordiko 3500.Les conditions de dépôts sont optimisés lors des précédents travaux, les essais d’usinage sont réalisés sur une défonceuse à commande numérique de marque Recordi. Le comportement à l’usure des outils modifiés est avéré très prometteur, on a constaté que les films en nitrure de chrome résistent d’une manière considérable par rapport aux outils en carbures. L’ajout de l’Aluminium n’améliore pas la résistance à l’usure mais contribue à la cristallisation des films

Preventive Effect of Pretreatment with Intravenous Metoclopramide on Incidence of Post Laparoscopic Surgery Nausea and Vomiting

Introduction: Common complications following anesthesia include Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), which leads to patient dissatisfaction and discomfort. The incidence of PONV after inhalational general anesthesia is up to 30% [1]. When anesthetics are used with no prophylaxis, and in certain high-risk patients, the incidence of PONV can reach up to 70% [2]. Furthermore, laparoscopic surgeries are associated with an even higher incidence of PONV (40%-75%) [3]. This makes PONV one of the most prevalent post-operational complaints [4].Methods: This case control study includes 79 patients with high PONV risk scores scheduled for laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anesthesia in Duhok hospitals. 40 patients received 8 mg (2ml) metoclopramide intravenously as pretreatment, while 39 patients received normal saline (2ml) as the control group. After 48 hours, we called patients and asked them about the incidence and severity of PONV.Result: statically insignificant differences in the incidence of PONV between both groups (p-value 0.91). The incidence of PONV in this study was (27.8%) which correlates with the PONV risk score mean (2.48) and was statistically significant with a p-value of less than 0.01 and a 95% confidence score (2.13, 18.32).Conclusion: PONV risk score is effective in the prediction of the incidence of PONV, and Metoclopramide is ineffective as a single drug in the prevention of PONV in high-risk patients

Developing a conceptual framework of knowledge transfer in Malaysia E-Government IT outsourcing: an integration with transactive memory system

Knowledge transfer has attracted much attention to researchers and practitioners in recent years since knowledge transfer has been considered as a critical determinant of an organization’s capacity to confer sustainable competitive advantage. Despite extensive research on knowledge transfer issues, there is a dearth of research that has explicitly focused on the role of transactive memory in enabling intra-organizational knowledge transfer in information technology (IT) outsourcing context, particularly e-government IT outsourcing. Although the information systems literature has recently acknowledged the role of transactive memory plays in improving knowledge processes, most of the research is still in the basic concept of transactive memory which is emphasized more on the individual level of analysis or rather in the small group of people. Besides, most of related research was done in the lab based on the physical, virtual task or memory recall tasks. None of empirical work has been done in integrating TMS in outsourcing context since most researchers used interpretive approach. Therefore, this paper attempts to fill this gap by applying positivist approach through operalization of identified factors that significantly give positive impact towards knowledge transfer between the vendors to the Malaysian Public Agencies as the client.. Drawing on several theoretical streams, this paper will propose an integrated conceptual framework of inter�organizational knowledge transfer with and integration of transactive memory system to facilitate knowledge transfer process between organizations which further can be used for research enhancement