The University of Basrah (Arabic: جامعة البصرة Jāmi'at Al Basrah) is situated in the city of Basra, Iraq. For historic reasons the final -h is retained on Basrah in the name of the university.Founded in 1964 to meet the needs of southern Iraq, the University of Basrah was at first affiliated with the University of Baghdad, but in 1964 it became an independent body. Today the University consists of fourteen colleges located on three campuses around the city of Basra, with research facilities and student halls of residence (dormitories).The University awards the degrees of BA, BSc, Higher Diploma, MA, MSc and PhD.
Hydrogen is a clean, carbon-free energy carrier, but the development of materials with high hydrogen-storage capacity remains a key challenge. Here, we use density functional theory calculations to design MgO-like biphenylene networks with 1D nanotube, 2D sheet, and 3D porous structures and evaluate their hydrogen-storage properties. All three structures are dynamically stable and exhibit wide band gaps of 4.29–4.82 eV. Hydrogen molecules preferentially adsorb on Mg sites through charge polarization, with adsorption energies of −0.10 to −0.12 eV/H2 at one H2 per Mg site. At double loading, the adsorption energy remains near −0.09 eV/H2 for the 1D and 2D structures but decreases to −0.075 eV/H2 for the 3D structure due to steric hindrance within the confined pores. All three structures achieve a gravimetric capacity of 9.09 wt%, while the volumetric capacity depends strongly on structural topology, reaching 128.14 g/L for the 1D nanotube. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations show thermally activated H2 desorption above 150 K without structural degradation. These results demonstrate that dimensionality engineering can effectively tune hydrogen-storage performance.
PurposeThis study examines the impact of inclusive human resource practices (IHRP) and inclusive leadership (IL) on employee performance (EP) and employee learning (EL) in public hospitals in Basra, Iraq. It also explores the mediating effect of work engagement (WE) and the moderating influences of proactive personality (PP) and positive affective tone (PAT).Design/methodology/approachDrawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory and social exchange theory (SET), the study evaluated a moderated mediation model using survey data collected from 320 employees across three public hospitals in Basra, Iraq. The relationships among variables were analysed using a two-stage approach that combines Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) with artificial neural networks (ANN).FindingsThe results indicate that WE mediates the effects of IHRP on both EP and EL, and the effects of IL on EL, whereas the indirect path from IL to EP was not supported. PP was found to enhance the effects of both IHRP and IL on WE. Additionally, PAT positively influenced the relationships between WE and outcomes but negatively impacted the IL-WE connection at elevated levels. ANN analysis revealed that IHRP and PP exhibit greater predictive salience than WE.Practical implicationsThe findings highlight the importance of incorporating PAT alongside PP in the design of IHRP and IL development initiatives, particularly in high-pressure public healthcare environments.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the existing literature by integrating COR and SET in a moderated mediation framework. It employs PLS-SEM and ANN to effectively combine theoretical evaluation with predictive validation in resource-scarce healthcare contexts.
The crosslinked biopolymers along with metal oxide nanoparticles are biodegradable source of controlled drug release. In this research work, the natural and synthetic biopolymers, oxidized starch (OS) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) were crosslinked by using borate ions to prepare hydrogel 3D matrix. The zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) were integrated by immersion method by using different concentrations (0, 1
Carbon dioxide (CO2), a major industrial by-product, poses significant environmental challenges, highlighting the need for efficient strategies to convert it into value-added products. Although extensive research has explored chemical and electrochemical CO2 utilization, many existing methods rely on toxic reagents, costly metals, and harsh reaction conditions, limiting their scalability and commercial applicability. To address these challenges, this study develops a novel enantioselective electrocatalytic system using COF-366 modified with l-proline and coated with low-cost Cu metal, overcoming limitations of prior methods that rely on toxic reagents, expensive metals, and harsh conditions. The integrated design leverages COF-366 as a CO2 adsorptive matrix, Cu as the active catalytic center, EG/ChCl as a dual solvent-electrolyte, and l-proline as the chiral inducer, enabling efficient electro-organic carboxylation of 1-phenylethan-1-ols 1(a-m) with CO22(a) to yield phenylpropanoic acid derivatives 3(a-m) with 90-97% yields under mild, sustainable conditions of room temperature, atmospheric pressure, 1-hour reaction time, and 10 mA applied current. The COF-366-LP@Cu catalyst and EG/ChCl DES exhibit excellent reusability over 10 cycles with minimal activity loss and are comprehensively characterized by FT-IR, SEM, EDS, BET, TGA, XPS, and CV, while products are confirmed via melting point, 1H/13C NMR, and CHN elemental analyses.
Addressing contaminated water from various industrial practices has become a pressing concern. Methylene Blue (MB) dye is a prevalent industrial pollutant used in printing, dyeing, textiles, paper, plastics, and leather production. This study employed an efficient, cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and abundant adsorbent to remove Methylene Blue. Bentonite has been utilized as an adsorbent under varying dosages, acidity (pH), agitation, and salinity of contaminated wastewater. The adsorption capacity is enhanced by increasing the surface area and pore volume of the bentonite particles when they are transformed into nanoparticles. The adsorption capability increased with higher doses (10-50 mg) and longer shaking times (10-40 min), as well as with the concentration of the contaminated dye (5-25 ppm), but it decreased with rising pH values (2-12). The impact of temperature on the adsorption process was examined within the range of 25-55 degrees C. The results indicated that the adsorption capability is largely unaffected by wastewater salinity up to 10,000 ppm. The maximum adsorption capacities achieved under optimal conditions were 24.25 mg/g for micro-bentonite (mu B) and 40.75 mg/g for nano-bentonite (nB), respectively. FTIR was employed to examine the adsorption of methylene blue dye by bentonite. BET, BJH, T-plots, and AFM analyses were conducted to determine the surface area, pore volume, pore diameter, and mean particle diameters for micro and nano bentonite. The results correlated more accurately using the Freundlich isotherm compared to the Langmuir and Tempkin models, due to its superior regression value (R2). The most suitable kinetic model for this investigation was the pseudosecond-order, in contrast to the pseudo-first-order, Elovich, and intra-particle diffusion models.
