Search results for: Tarek M. Mahmoud

Authors: Mahmoud Karimi, Golmohammad Khoobbakht

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This study focuses on the exergy flow analysis in the transesterification of waste cooking oil with methanol to decrease the consumption of materials and energy and promote the use of renewable resources. The exergy analysis performed is based on the thermodynamic performance parameters namely exergy destruction and exergy efficiency to investigate the effects of variable parameters on renewability of transesterification. The experiment variables were methanol to WCO ratio, catalyst concentration and reaction temperature in the transesterification reaction. The optimum condition with yield of 90.2% and exergy efficiency of 95.2% was obtained at methanol to oil molar ratio of 8:1, 1 wt.% of KOH, at 55 °C. In this condition, the total waste exergy was found to be 45.4 MJ for 1 kg biodiesel production. However high yield in the optimal condition resulted high exergy efficiency in the transesterification of WCO with methanol.

Keywords: biodiesel, exergy, thermodynamic analysis, transesterification, waste cooking oil

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Authors: Nidal H. Abu-Zahra, Mahmoud Algazzar

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In this research, n-dodecylthiol was added to P3HT/PC70BM polymer solar cells to improve the crystallinity of P3HT and enhance the phase separation of P3HT/PC70BM. The improved crystallinity of P3HT/PC70BM doped with 0-5% by volume of n-dodecylthiol resulted in improving the power conversion efficiency of polymer solar cells by 33%. In addition, thermal annealing of the P3HT/PC70MB/n-dodecylthiolcompound showed further improvement in crystallinity with n-dodecylthiol concentration up to 2%. The highest power conversion efficiency of 3.21% was achieved with polymer crystallites size L of 11.2nm, after annealing at 150°C for 30 minutes under a vacuum atmosphere. The smaller crystallite size suggests a shorter path of the charge carriers between P3HT backbones, which could be beneficial to getting a higher short circuit current in the devices made with the additive.

Keywords: n-dodecylthiol, congugated PSC, P3HT/PCBM, polymer solar cells

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Authors: M. Mourad, K. Mahmoud

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Recently hybrid vehicles have become a major concern as one alternative vehicles. This type of hybrid vehicle contributes greatly to reducing pollution. Therefore, this work studies the influence of electrification phase of hybrid electric vehicle on emission of vehicle at different road conditions. To accomplish this investigation, a simulation model was used to evaluate the external characteristics of the hybrid electric vehicle according to variant conditions of road resistances. Therefore, this paper reports a methodology to decrease the vehicle emission especially greenhouse gas emission inside cities. The results show the effect of electrification on vehicle performance characteristics. The results show that CO₂ emission of vehicle decreases up to 50.6% according to an urban driving cycle due to applying the electrification strategy for hybrid electric vehicle.

Keywords: electrification strategy, hybrid electric vehicle, driving cycle, CO2 emission

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Authors: Hasan S. Mahmoud, Salwa M. Beheiry, Vian Ahmed

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In light of the repercussions of the 2008 global economic crisis, the response of the United Arab Emirates economy and growth, and the vast construction activities that are undergoing, there is a need to investigate the relationship between construction activities and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This study aims to investigate the causality relationship between the construction industry in the United Arab Emirates and the GDP of the country in the last decade. For that, this study will investigate the relationship between the growth of the GDP and the growth of construction activities and their value addition to the economy. To ascertain this relationship, Granger Causality method is used to identify the causality between the time-dependent series.

Keywords: construction value addition, Granger causality, growth of gross domestic product, United Arab Emirates

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Authors: Mahmoud I. Syam, Osama K. El-Hafy

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With lack of student motivation, there will be a little or no real learning in the class and this directly effects student achievement and test scores. Some students are naturally motivated to learn, but many students are not motivated, they do care little about learning and need their instructors to motivate them. Thus, motivating students is part of the instructor’s job. It’s a tough task to motivate students and make them have more attention and enthusiasm. As a part of this research, a questionnaire has been distributed among a sample of 155 students out of 1502 students from Foundation Program at Qatar University. The questionnaire helped us to determine some methods to motivate the students and encourage them to study such as variety of teaching activities, encouraging students to participate during the lectures, creating intense competition between the students, using instructional technology, not using grades as a threat and respecting the students and treating them in a good manner. Accordingly, some hypotheses are tested and some recommendations are presented.

Keywords: learning, motivating, student, teacher, testing hypotheses

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Authors: Muhammad M. A. S. Mahmoud

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Natural gas sweetening process is a controlled process that must be done at maximum efficiency and with the highest quality. In this work, due to complexity and non-linearity of the process, the H₂S gas separation and the intelligent fuzzy controller, which is used to enhance the process, are simulated in MATLAB – Simulink. The new design of fuzzy control for Gas Separator is discussed in this paper. The design is based on the utilization of linear state-estimation to generate the internal knowledge-base that stores input-output pairs. The obtained input/output pairs are then used to design a feedback fuzzy controller. The proposed closed-loop fuzzy control system maintains the system asymptotically-stability while it enhances the system time response to achieve better control of the concentration of the output gas from the tower. Simulation studies are carried out to illustrate the Gas Separator system performance.

Keywords: gas separator, gas sweetening, intelligent controller, fuzzy control

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Authors: Tarek S. Duzan, Abdulaziz F. Ettir

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Wave velocities, Core and Log petrophysical data were collected from recently drilled four new wells scattered through-out the Dahra/Jofra (PL-5) Reservoir. The collected data were analyzed for the relationships of Wave Velocities with rock property such as Porosity, permeability and Bulk Density. Lots of Literature review reveals a number of differing results and conclusions regarding wave velocities (Compressional Waves (Vp) and Shear Waves (Vs)) versus rock petrophysical property relationships, especially in carbonate reservoirs. In this paper, we focused on the relationships between wave velocities (Vp , Vs) and the ratio Vp/Vs with rock properties for shallow marine libyan carbonate reservoir (Real Case). Upon data analysis, a relationship between petrophysical properties and wave velocities (Vp, Vs) and the ratio Vp/Vs has been found. Porosity and bulk density properties have shown exponential relationship with wave velocities, while permeability has shown a power relationship in the interested zone. It is also clear that wave velocities (Vp , Vs) seems to be a good indicator for the lithology change with true vertical depth. Therefore, it is highly recommended to use the output relationships to predict porosity, bulk density and permeability of the similar reservoir type utilizing the most recent seismic data.

Keywords: conventional core analysis (porosity, permeability bulk density) data, VS wave and P-wave velocities, shallow carbonate reservoir in D/J field

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Authors: Noha Al Majid, Said Mazer, Moulhime El Bekkali, Catherine Algani, Mahmoud Mehdi

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A low noise figure (NF) and high linearity V-band Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) is reported in this article. The LNA compromises a three-stage cascode configuration. This LNA will be used as a part of a WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Network) receiver in the millimeter-wave band at 60 GHz. It is designed according to the MMIC technology (Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit) in PH 15 process from UMS foundry and uses a 0.15 μm GaAs PHEMT (Pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility Transistor). The particularity of this LNA compared to other LNAs in literature is its very low noise figure which is equal to 1 dB and its high linearity (IIP3 is about 22 dB). The LNA consumes 0.24 Watts, achieving a high gain which is about 23 dB, an input return loss better than -10 dB and an output return loss better than -8 dB.

Keywords: low noise amplifier, V-band, MMIC technology, LNA, amplifier, cascode, pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (PHEMT), high linearity

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Authors: Amal Hentati, Mbarka Selmi, Tarek Kormi, Julien Baroth, Barthelemy Harthong

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The impact of uncertainties on the performance assessment of shallow foundations is often significant. The need of the geotechnical engineers to a more objective and rigorous description of soil variations permitting to quantify these uncertainties and to incorporate them into calculation methods led to the development of reliability approaches. In this context, a mechanical-reliability coupling was developed in this paper, using a program coded in Matlab and the finite element software Abaqus, for the bearing capacity assessment of shallow foundations. The reliability analysis, based on the finite element method, assumed both soil cohesion and friction angle as uncertain parameters characterized by normal or lognormal probability distributions. The inherent spatial variability of both soil properties was, then, taken into account using 1D stationary random fields. The application of the proposed methodology to a shallow foundation subjected to a centered vertical loading permitted to highlight the proposed process interest. Findings proved the insufficiency of the conventional approach to predict the foundation failure and a high sensitivity of the ultimate loads to the soil properties uncertainties, mainly those related to the friction angle, was noted. Moreover, an asymmetry of both displacement and velocity fields was obtained.

Keywords: mechanical-reliability coupling, finite element method, shallow foundation, random fields, spatial variability

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Authors: Mahmoud Huleihil

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In this study, the performance of a thermodynamic gas cycle of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) power generation is considered and presented in terms of power efficiency curves. The dissipation mechanisms considered include: fluid friction modeled by means of the isentropic efficiency of the compressor, heat transfer leakage directly from the hot reservoir to the cold heat reservoir, and constant velocity of the MHD generator. The study demonstrates that power and efficiency vanish at the extremes of both slow and fast operating conditions. These points are demonstrated on power efficiency curves and the locus of efficiency at maximum power and the locus of maximum efficiency. Qualitatively, the considered loss mechanisms have a similar effect on the efficiency at maximum power operation and on maximum efficiency operation, thus these efficiencies are reduced, even for small values of the loss mechanisms.

Keywords: magnetohydrodynamic generator, electrical efficiency, maximum power, maximum efficiency, heat engine

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Authors: Mustapha Mahmoud Dif, Fouzia Benali-Toumi, Mohamed Benyahia, Sofiane Bouazza, Abbes Dellal, Slimane Baha

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L. multifida is applied to treat rheumatism and cold and has hypoglycemic and anti-inflammatory properties. The present study is to optimize the extraction of phenolic compounds in Algerian Lavandula multifida. The influences of parameters including temperature (decoction and maceration) and extraction time (15min to 45 min) on the flavonoids concentration are studied. The optimal conditions are determined and the quadratic response surfaces draw from the mathematical models. Total phenols were evaluated using Folin sicaltieu methods, total flavonoids were estimated using the Tri chloral aluminum method. The maximum concentration extracted, for total flavonoids, equal to 0.043 mg/g was achieved with decoction and extraction time of 41.55 min. However, for total phenol compounds highest concentration of 0.218 mg/g, is obtained with 45 min at 49.99°C.

Keywords: L multifidi, phenolic content, optimization, time, temperature

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Authors: Mohammed Mahmoud Osman Ahmed, Akram Mohammad

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Flame dynamics in heated quartz glass channels of various aspect ratios (2,5,10,15) were experimentally investigated. A premixed Propane-air mixture was used for the reported experiments. Regarding micro-combustion, flame quenching is considered to be the most crucial problem to overcome first. Experiments were carried out on four channels with different aspect ratios. The results show that at a very low equivalence ratio ϕ=0.4, there is no flame inside the channels. The FREI condition (Flame with repetitive extinction and ignition) was overcome by increasing velocity and by making the channels more in contact with the external heater. The flame tested inside the channels at different locations for V=0.3 m/s or higher below V=0.65 m/s. The effects of equivalence ratio and flow velocity on the characteristics of combustion in the channels were examined. Different ways of flame propagation were observed in the current investigations based on how they appear as planar, concave and convex flames.

Keywords: flame stabilization, combustion, flame dynamics, small-scale channels, external heater

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Authors: Manely Ansary Mood, Farzaneh Aziizi, Mahmoud Akbarian

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This investigation included 130 cats diagnosed with FIP (Feb 2021-March 2022) in Iran, 74 with effusive FIP, and 56 with non-effusive FIP. The patients' initial dosage regime consisted of a subcutaneous injection of GS-441524 was 6-15mg/kg-every 24h (based on the wet or ocular and neurologic signs). The minimum treatment period was twelve weeks, extended in animals that still had abnormal lab values, clinical signs, and sonographic findings. The outcomes of the 130 cats that completed the duration of treatment (14 died, 116 cured) were checked and recorded. Clinical, sonographic, and laboratory responses were checked and compared on days 28, 56, and 83 of treatment. 2 of the 116 cured cats relapsed within observation days. At the time of this publication (May 2022), 114 of the studied patients remained healthy. We could conclude that GS-441524 appears to be an effective option for FIP treatment, and also, to the base of our knowledge, this is the first report for group treatment of infected cats of FIP with GS-441524 in Iran.

Keywords: FIP, cat, GS-441524, treatment

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Authors: Ouahiba Taamallah, Tarek Litim

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The study deals with the burnishing effect of AISI 52100 steel and parameters influence (Py, i and f on surface integrity. The results show that the optimal effects are closely related to the treatment parameters. With a 92% improvement in roughness, SB can be defined as a finishing operation within the machining range. Due to 85% gain in consolidation rate, this treatment constitutes an efficient process for work-hardening of material. In addition, a statistical study based on regression and Taguchi's design has made it possible to develop mathematical models to predict output responses according to the studied burnishing parameters. Response Surface Methodology RSM showed a simultaneous influence of the burnishing parameters and to observe the optimal parameters of the treatment. ANOVA Analysis of results led to validate the prediction model with a determination coefficient R2=94.60% and R2=93.41% for surface roughness and micro-hardness, respectively. Furthermore, a multi-objective optimization allowed to identify a regime characterized by P=20 Kgf, i=5 passes and f=0.08 mm.rev-1, which favors minimum surface roughness and a maximum of micro-hardness. The result was validated by a composite desirability D_i=1 for both surface roughness and microhardness, respectively. Applying optimal parameters, burnishing showed its beneficial effects in fatigue resistance, especially for imposed loading in the low cycle fatigue of the material where the lifespan increased by 90%.

Keywords: AISI 52100 steel, burnishing, Taguchi, fatigue

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Authors: Aisha Tarek Noour, Nick Hubbard

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Blended e-Learning (BL) is proving to be an effective pedagogical tool in many areas of business and management education, but there remains a number of barriers to overcome before its implementation. This paper seeks to analyse the views of lecturers towards BL according to Self-Determination Theory (SDT), and identifies the opportunities and challenges for using BL in Logistics Education in an Egyptian higher education establishment. SDT is approached from a different perspective and the relationship between intrinsic motivation (IM), extrinsic motivation (EM), and amotivation (AM) is analysed and related to the opportunities and challenges of the BL method. The case study methodology comprises of a series of interviews with lecturers employed at three Colleges of International Transport and Logistics (CITLs) at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, Maritime and Transport (AAST&MT) in Egypt. A structured face-to-face interview was undertaken with 61 interviewees across all faculty positions: Deans, Associate Professors, Assistant Professor, Department Heads, Part-time instructors, Teaching Assistants, and Graduate Teaching Assistants. The findings were based on "content analysis" of the interview transcripts and use of the NVivo10 software program. The research contributes to the application of SDT within the field of BL through an analysis of the views of lecturers towards the opportunities and challenges that BL offers to logistics educators in Egypt.

Keywords: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, amotivation, autonomy, competence, relatedness, self-determination theory and blended e-learning

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Authors: Mahmoud Timar, Javad Joukar Borazjani

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A dynamic organization helps the management to overcome both internal and external uncertainties and complexities of the organization with more confidence and efficiency. Regarding this issue, in this paper, the influence of organizational culture factors over organizational learning components, which both of them are considered as important characteristics of a dynamic organization, has been studied in three subsidiary companies (production, consultation and service) of National Iranian Oil Company, and moreover we also tried to identify the most dominant culture in these three subsidiaries. Analysis of 840 received questionnaires by SPSS shows that there is a significant relationship between the components of organizational culture and organizational learning; however the rate of relationship between these two factors was different among the examined companies. By the use of Regression, it has been clarified that in the servicing company the highest relationship is between mission and learning environment, while in production division, there is a significant relationship between adaptability and learning needs satisfaction and however in consulting company the highest relationship is between involvement and applying learning in workplace.

Keywords: denison model, culture, leaning, organizational culture, organizational learning

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Authors: Rim Frikha, Nouha Bouayed, Afifa Sellami, Nozha Chakroun, Salima Daoud, Leila Keskes, Tarek Rebai

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Introduction: Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) defined as two or more pregnancy losses, is a serious clinical problem. Methylene-tetrahydro-folate-reductase (MTHFR) polymorphisms, commonly the variant C677T is recognized as an inherited thrombophilia which might affect embryonic development and pregnancy success and cause pregnancy complications as RPL. Material and Methods DNA was extracted from peripheral blood samples and PCR-RFLP was performed for the molecular diagnosis of the C677T MTHFR polymorphism among 70 patients (35 couples) with more than 2 fetal losses. Aims and Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the frequency of MTHFR C677T among Tunisian couples with RPL and to critically analyze the available literature on the importance of MTHFR polymorphism testing in the management of RPL. Result and comments: No C677T mutation was detected in the carriers of RPL. This result would be related to sample size and to different criteria (number of abortion), - The association between MTHFR polymorphisms and pregnancy complications has been reported but with controversial results. - A lack of evidence for MTHFR polymorphism testing previously recommended by ACMG (American College of Medical medicine). Our study highlights the importance of screening of MTHFR polymorphism since the real impact of such thrombotic molecular defect on the pregnancy outcome is evident. - Folic supplementation of these patients during pregnancy can prevent such complications and lead to a successful pregnancy outcome.

Keywords: methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, C677T, recurrent pregnancy loss, genetic testing

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Authors: Fortaki Tarek, S. Bedra

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In this paper, the effects of both uniaxial anisotropy in the substrate and high Tc superconducting patch on the resonant frequency, half-power bandwidth, and radiation patterns are investigated using an electric field integral equation and the spectral domain Green’s function. The analysis has been based on a full electromagnetic wave model with London’s equations and the Gorter-Casimir two-fluid model has been improved to investigate the resonant and radiation characteristics of high Tc superconducting rectangular microstrip patch in the case where the patch is printed on electric-magnetic uniaxially anisotropic substrate materials. The stationary phase technique has been used for computing the radiation electric field. The obtained results demonstrate a considerable improvement in the half-power bandwidth, of the rectangular microstrip patch, by using a superconductor patch instead of a perfect conductor one. Further results show that high Tc superconducting rectangular microstrip patch on the uniaxial substrate with properly selected electric and magnetic anisotropy ratios is more advantageous than the one on the isotropic substrate by exhibiting wider bandwidth and radiation characteristic. This behavior agrees with that discovered experimentally for superconducting patches on isotropic substrates. The calculated results have been compared with measured one available in the literature and excellent agreement has been found.

Keywords: high Tc superconducting microstrip patch, electric-magnetic anisotropic substrate, Galerkin method, surface complex impedance with boundary conditions, radiation patterns

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Authors: Maryam Abata, Moulhime El Bekkali, Said Mazer, Catherine Algani, Mahmoud Mehdi

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One major problem of most electronic systems operating in the millimeter wave band is the signal generation with a high purity and a stable carrier frequency. This problem is overcome by using the combination of a signal with a low frequency local oscillator (LO) and several stages of frequency multipliers. The use of these frequency multipliers to create millimeter-wave signals is an attractive alternative to direct generation signal. Therefore, the isolation problem of the local oscillator from the other stages is always present, which leads to have various mechanisms that can disturb the oscillator performance, thus a buffer amplifier is often included in oscillator outputs. In this paper, we present the study and design of a buffer amplifier in the mm-wave band using a 0.15μm pHEMT from UMS foundry. This amplifier will be used as a part of a frequency quadrupler at 60 GHz.

Keywords: Mm-wave band, local oscillator, frequency quadrupler, buffer amplifier

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Authors: Jana Daher, Ammar Olabi, Elie-Jacques Fares, Samer Kharrroubi, Tarek Gherbal

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It has been previously suggested that the perception and acceptability of fluids significantly varies between exercise and non-exercise situations. The study investigates the influence of different types of sports on the taste perception and acceptability of a commercial sports drink. A sample of Gatorade – red orange flavor was evaluated pre and post exercise by 34 male university athletes (20 weightlifters, 14 runners) recruited from the American University of Beirut. Urine samples were collected from the participants to test for hydration. Sensory testing examined the change in the intensity of sweetness, saltiness, sourness, and the thirst-quenching ability of the drink as well as its acceptability with respect to the type of sport practiced. Results indicated that the acceptability of the drink increased as the hydration status of the athletes decreased (p<0.01). No significant change was found in the perception of the sensory attributes between exercise and non-exercise conditions. However, there were significant differences between the two sports groups in the ratings of the thirst-quenching ability of the drink where runners’ ratings increased after exercise while weightlifters’ ratings decreased after exercise (p<0.01). These findings suggest that exercise has a larger effect on the acceptability and overall liking of the beverage compared to other sensory attributes. An enhanced liking of the beverage is key for optimal replenishment of lost fluids and electrolytes after exercise.

Keywords: hedonic, liking, sweetness, thirst-quenching

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Authors: Tarek M. Alguhane, Ayman H. Khalil, M. N. Fayed, Ayman M. Ismail

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The retrofitting of existing buildings to resist the seismic loads is very important to avoid losing lives or financial disasters. The aim at retrofitting processes is increasing total structure strength by increasing stiffness or ductility ratio. In addition, the response modification factors (R) have to satisfy the code requirements for suggested retrofitting types. In this study, two types of jackets are used, i.e. full reinforced concrete jackets and surrounding steel plate jackets. The study is carried out on an existing building in Madinah by performing static pushover analysis before and after retrofitting the columns. The selected model building represents nearly all-typical structure lacks structure built before 30 years ago in Madina City, KSA. The comparison of the results indicates a good enhancement of the structure respect to the applied seismic forces. Also, the response modification factor of the RC building is evaluated for the studied cases before and after retrofitting. The design of all vertical elements (columns) is given. The results show that the design of retrofitted columns satisfied the code's design stress requirements. However, for some retrofitting types, the ductility requirements represented by response modification factor do not satisfy KSA design code (SBC- 301).

Keywords: concrete jackets, steel jackets, RC buildings, pushover analysis, non-Linear analysis

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Authors: Mahmoud Owais

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Public Transit (P.T) is very important means to reduce traffic congestion, to improve urban environmental conditions and consequently affects people social lives. Planning, designing and management of P.T are the key issues for offering a competitive mode that can compete with the private transportation. These transportation planning, designing and management issues are addressed in the Transit Network Design Problem (TNDP). It deals with a complete hierarchy of decision making process. It includes strategic, tactical and operational decisions. The main body of TNDP is two stages, namely; route design stage and frequency setting. The TNDP is extensively studied in the last five decades; however the research gate is still widely open due to its many practical and modeling challenges. In this paper, a comprehensive background is given to illustrate the issues and challenges related to the TNDP to help in directing the incoming researches towards the untouched areas of the problem.

Keywords: frequency setting, network design, transit planning, urban planning

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Authors: Tarek M. Alguhane, Ayman H. Khalil, M. N. Fayed, Ayman M. Ismail

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A 15-storey RC building, studied in this paper, is representative of modern building type constructed in Madina City in Saudi Arabia before 10 years ago. These buildings are almost consisting of reinforced concrete skeleton, i. e. columns, beams and flat slab as well as shear walls in the stairs and elevator areas arranged in the way to have a resistance system for lateral loads (wind–earthquake loads). In this study, the dynamic properties of the 15-storey RC building were identified using ambient motions recorded at several spatially-distributed locations within each building. After updating the mathematical models for this building with the experimental results, three dimensional pushover analysis (nonlinear static analysis) was carried out using SAP2000 software incorporating inelastic material properties for concrete, infill and steel. The effect of modeling the building with and without infill walls on the performance point as well as capacity and demand spectra due to EQ design spectrum function in Madina area has been investigated. The response modification factor (R) for the 15 storey RC building is evaluated from capacity and demand spectra (ATC-40). The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate the expected performance of structural systems by estimating, strength and deformation demands in design, and comparing these demands to available capacities at the performance levels of interest. The results are summarized and discussed.

Keywords: seismic assessment, pushover analysis, ambient vibration, modal update

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Authors: Mahmoud Jumah

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This paper presents the circumstances and decision making in case of change management in any industrial processes, and the effective strategic planning ensured to provide with the on time completion of projects. In this specific case, the Front End Engineering Design and the awarded Lump Sum Turn Key Contract had provided for full control and ownership of all Liquid Metering Skids by Controlling Team. The demarcation and location were changed, and the Ownership and Control of the Liquid Metering Skids inside the boundaries of the Asset Owner were transferred from Controlling Team to Asset Owner after the award of the LSTK Contract. The requested changes resulted in Adjustment Order and the relevant scope of work is an essential part of the original Contract. The majority of equipment and materials (i.e. liquid metering skids, valves, piping, etc.) has already been in process.

Keywords: critical path, project change management, stakeholders problem solving, strategic planning

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Authors: Doaa S. Mahmoud, Nivin M. Ahmed, Salwa H. El-Sabbagh

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The rheometric characteristics and physicomechanical properties of bentonite / acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) were investigated. The influences of adding bentonite (Bt) and / or modified bentonite (organo-Bt) to the rubber were observed. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that the rubber chains may be confined within the interparticle space and the Bt particles presented a physical dispersion in NBR matrix. Bentonite (Bt) was modified with tetra butyl phosphonium bromide (TBP) in order to produce organo-Bt. The modification was carried out at 0.5, 1 and 2 cation exchange capacity (CEC) of bentonite. Results showed that the maximum torque of organo-Bt / NBR composite increases at high bentonite loading. The scorch time (tS2) and cure time (tC90) of the organo-Bt / NBR composites decreased simultaneously relative to those of the neat NBR. The prepared composite exhibited significant improvement in mechanical compared with that of neat NBR.

Keywords: acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber, bentonite, composites, physico-mechanical properties

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Authors: Wided Bakari, Patrce Bellot, Mahmoud Neji

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With the development of electronic media and the heterogeneity of Arabic data on the Web, the idea of building a clean corpus for certain applications of natural language processing, including machine translation, information retrieval, question answer, become more and more pressing. In this manuscript, we seek to create and develop our own corpus of pair’s questions-texts. This constitution then will provide a better base for our experimentation step. Thus, we try to model this constitution by a method for Arabic insofar as it recovers texts from the web that could prove to be answers to our factual questions. To do this, we had to develop a java script that can extract from a given query a list of html pages. Then clean these pages to the extent of having a database of texts and a corpus of pair’s question-texts. In addition, we give preliminary results of our proposal method. Some investigations for the construction of Arabic corpus are also presented in this document.

Keywords: Arabic, web, corpus, search engine, URL, question, corpus building, script, Google, html, txt

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Authors: Sana Eid, Ahmad S. Darwish, Tarek Lemaoui, Maguy Abi Jaoude, Fawzi Banat, Shadi W. Hasan, Inas M. AlNashef

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Addressing the growing challenge of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) pollution in water bodies, this study introduces natural deep eutectic solvents (NADESs) as a pioneering solution for the efficient extraction of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), one of the most persistent and concerning PFAS pollutants. Among the tested NADESs, trioctylphosphine oxide: lauric acid (TOPO:LauA) in a 1:1 molar ratio was distinguished as the most effective, achieving an extraction efficiency of approximately 99.52% at a solvent-to-feed (S:F) ratio of 1:2, room temperature, and neutral pH. This efficiency is achieved within a notably short mixing time of only one min, which is significantly less than the time required by conventional methods, underscoring the potential of TOPO:LauA for rapid and effective PFAS remediation. TOPO:LauA maintained consistent performance across various operational parameters, including a range of initial PFOA concentrations (0.1 ppm to 1000 ppm), temperatures (15 °C to 100 °C), pH values (3 to 9), and S:F ratios (2:3 to 1:7), demonstrating its versatility and robustness. Furthermore, its effectiveness was consistently high over seven consecutive extraction cycles, highlighting TOPO:LauA as a sustainable, environmentally friendly alternative to hazardous organic solvents, with promising applications for reliable, repeatable use in combating persistent water pollutants such as PFOA.

Keywords: deep eutectic solvents, natural deep eutectic solvents, perfluorooctanoic acid, water remediation

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Authors: Hanaa A. S. Oraby, Amal A. M. Hassan, Mahmoud M. Sakr, Atef A. A. Haiba

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Applying the profiling approach for the assessment of proteomic variations due to genetic modification of the Egyptian tomato cultivar "Edkawy", three complementary approaches were used. These methods are amino acids analysis, gel electrophoresis, and Gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The results of the present study Show evidence of proteomic variations between both modified tomato and its non-modified counterpart. Amino acids concentrations, and the protein patterns separation on the 1D SDS-PAGE were not similar in the case of transformed tomato compared to that of the non-transformed counterpart. These detected differences are most likely derived from the process of transformation. Results also revealed that the efficiency of GC/MS approach to identify a mixture of unknown proteins is limited. GC/MS analysis was only able to identify few number of protein molecules. Therefore, more advanced and specific technologies like MALDI-TOF-MS are recommended to be employed.

Keywords: GMOs, unintended effects, proteomic variations, 1D SDS-PAGE, GC/MS

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Authors: S. N. Al-Bahry, S. K. Al-Musharafi, I. Y. Mahmoud

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Recycled treated sewage effluents (TSE) is used for agriculture, Public park irrigation and industrial purposes. TSE was found to play a major role in the distribution of antibiotic resistant bacteria into the environment. Fecal coliform and enterococci counts were significantly higher during summer compared to winter seasons. Oman has low annual rainfall with annual average temperature varied between 15-45oC. The main source of potable water is from seawater desalination. Resistance of the isolates to 10 antibiotics (Amikacin, Ampicillin, chloramphenicol, gentamycine, minocylin, nalidixicacid, neomycin, streptomycin, Tetracycline, Tobramycin, and Trimethoprim) was tested. Both fecal coliforms and enterococci were multiple resistant to 2-10 antibiotics. However, temperature variation during summer and winter did not affect resistance of the isolates to antibiotics. The significance of this investigation may be indicator to the environmental TSE pollution.

Keywords: antibiotic resistance, bacteria, environment, sewage treated effluent

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Authors: Zaid Almahmoud, Rana Mahmoud

Abstract:

To mitigate the environmental impacts of throwing away plastic waste, there has been a recent interest in manufacturing and producing biodegradable plastics. Here, we study a new class of biodegradable plastics which are mixed with external natural additives, including catalytic additives that lead to a successful degradation of the resulting material. To recommend the best alternative among multiple materials, we propose a multi-objective AI model that evaluates the material against multiple objectives given the material properties. As a proof of concept, the AI model was implemented in an expert system and evaluated using multiple materials. Our findings showed that Polyethylene Terephalate is potentially the best biodegradable plastic substitute based on its material properties. Therefore, it is recommended that governments shift the attention to the use of Polyethylene Terephalate in the manufacturing of bottles to gain a great environmental and sustainable benefits.

Keywords: plastic bottles, expert systems, multi-objective model, biodegradable substitutes

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