Synthesis, purification and characterization of new Chitosan Derivatives

Nearly 10 percent of the global landings of aquatic products consist of species rich in chitinous material. These include species such as shrimps, crabs , squids, cuttlefishes , oysters , clams, etc. Chitin and chitosan are polysaccha rides and attracted much attention in biomedical, pharmacological, agriculture and biotechnological fields. Chitin and chitosan were prepared in this project from crab shells by treating the clean shells first with 1M NaOH (at 100° C ) for one hour, in a process called deproteinization,secondly the product was then treated with 1M HCI for 30 min. in a process called demineralization. The yield is chitin which can be converted into chitosan by treating it with 50% NaOH at 100°C for 30 min. The composition of solid chitosan was studied qualitatively, and found h t amino acid (glycine) was binded to the biopolymer,chitosan. A ninhydrin test was used for such purpose. Investigation was carried out to assess the ability of chitosan in cleaning contaminated water with various metals,such as copper,nickel,cobalt,iron and chromium. This study shows that chitosan ability of metal removal can be express as: Co > Cu > Ni .The technique used for investigating metal removal was UV - Visible spectrophotometry. Through our study, it is found that the use of such technique alone in all detennination of the amounts of metals removed from contaminated water by chitosan has proved to be inadequate,and it is suggested that other techniques have to be applied ,like for example Atomic Ab orption technique. Chitosan (and its derivatives) membranes were obtained by pouring the chitosan viscous solution into a clean glass plate in a dust - free atmosphere and left to dry in the oven at 40°C. The FTIR. spectra of chitosan (and its derivatives) films were recorded on Bio - Rad -FTIR. spectrometer (lacated at UKM). Furthermore, these films were found to be effective in separating ionic solutions in electrochemical cells,and allow ions to move freely towards the appropriate electrode. The gas permeability of some of these films were also recorded. Further study is needed to fmd out more useful applications for the products (i .e.films,gellys,and solids) prepared during this project in various fields,e.g. medical and separation technology

Numerical and Experimental Investigations of Welded Butt Joints of (AISI304)

Simulation of welding process (TIG or GTAW) of butt joint using finiteelement analysis is presented. The base metal is ST(304). The numerical modeldeveloped by include moving heat source, temperature dependent materialproperties, phase change and transformation, and mechanical analysis. Theparameters studied numerically were welding current ranging between (80-150A)depending on, welding velocity, plate thickness (2.5mm -5mm), and material of theheat sink (carbon steel and copper). The numerical results show that increasing thewelding current with increasing of welding speed decreases the fusion zone area.Using copper plate underneath the welded plates acts as a dissipation heat sinkwhich generates stronger heat gradient compared with carbon steel plate. Theexperimental results show that increasing welding current leads to increasing themicro hardness, and the microstructure becomes smaller. Due to increasing coolingrate the microhardness have maximum value at the boundary between the Fusionzone and heat affected zone

Using Analysis of Pareto and Fault Tree to Parameters Simulated in Predictive Maintenance policies and Management Methods

The study was take place with statistical analyasis of available data about faults ( downtime DT, mean time between faults MTBF, mean time to repair MTTR) as dependant variables on fault frequency f as independent variables for fault modes of production equipments and operation times in the sudied period of 26 months. Then simulate it for 25 runs in order to obtain its average that makes the desired results to be more signifigant in generation of mathematical models, which represents the relationships between the predective different times and its comulated density functions. Pareto and Fault tree Analysis of the predictive results showed that the critical equipment (Turbine, Boiler, Condencer, and Generator) with its related faults mode will be a main problem which repeat their faults by 85.16% of the total repetition frequencies while three of them (Turbine, Generator, and Boiler) takes 82.43% of total down times

Pentapartitioned Single-Valued Neutrosophic Z-Numbers: Theory and Applications

This paper introduces a novel framework, Pentapartitioned Single-Valued Neutrosophic Z-Numbers (PSVNZNs), to model uncertainty in decision-making problems. By integrating the five-component uncertainty representation of Pentapartitioned Neutrosophic Sets (PNSs) with the reliability aspect of Z-numbers, PSVNZNs offer a comprehensive approach to tackle complex decision scenarios. A novel scoring function and various aggregation operators, including weighted arithmetic, geometric, and hybrid averages, are developed to facilitate decision-making processes. The proposed PSVNZN framework adheres to the properties of linear averaging operators. To demonstrate its practical application, a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem involving electric vehicle selection is considered. A graphical representation of the obtained scores further enhances the clarity and interpretability of the results

Optimizing Supply Chain Resilience: AI-Capabilities and Data-Driven Culture

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is widely regarded as the next frontier in creating business value, including the supply chain context. Anchored on the resource-based theory, this study investigates the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in enhancing supply chain resilience (SCR) and the mediating role of data-driven culture. Data were obtained from managers (n=136) in Middle East manufacturing firms to achieve the study objectives. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique was applied. The findings revealed that AI capabilities are a crucial value-adding practice that improves SCR. They also suggested that data-driven culture is a significant mediating factor in the relationship between AI capabilities and SCR. The findings can assist managers in devising suitable long-term strategies for integrating additional AI capabilities to boost SCR, especially firms navigating uncertain environments

Effect of pH and Electrolysis Time on Removal of Reactive Black B dye by Electrochemical Treatment

The electrochemical treatment was an effective technique in dye processing and it can be enforced to remove color from dye solution. An Experimental setup was made for electrochemical treatment of synthetically prepared Reactive Black B dye in batch mode operation using aluminum electrodes. Based on probability the operating parameters such as pH, Concentration, Electrolysis time, Retention time were determined from which the color removal efficiency (CRE) is optimized. The maximum color removal efficiency of Reactive black B dye was achieved at 98.23% for the concentration of 10mg/l.</jats:p

Suitable Methods for Solving COVID-19 Model in Iraq

Because the Coronavirus epidemic spread in Iraq, the COVID-19 epidemic of people quarantined due to infection is our application in this work. The numerical simulation methods used in this research are more suitable than other analytical and numerical methods because they solve random systems. Since the Covid-19 epidemic system has random variables coefficients, these methods are used. Suitable numerical simulation methods have been applied to solve the COVID-19 epidemic model in Iraq. The analytical results of the Variation iteration method (VIM) are executed to compare the results. One numerical method which is the Finite difference method (FD) has been used to solve the Coronavirus model and for comparison purposes. The numerical simulation methods which are Mean Monte Carlo Finite difference (MMC_FD) and Mean Latin Hypercube Finite difference (MLH_FD), are also used to solve the proposed epidemic model under study. The obtained results are discussed, tabulated, and represented graphically. Finally, the absolute error is the tool used to compare the numerical simulation solutions from 2020 to 2024 years. The behavior of the Coronavirus in Iraq has been expected for 4 years from 2020 to 2024 using the proposed numerical simulation methods