As part of the cultural season of the Environmental Research Center

Dr. Rana Riyadh Khaleel-lecturer in the Department of Environmental Pollution-ERC presented a lecture online using the ZOOM platform on Tuesday, 28/4/2020 at 12:30 pm entitled “The Effect of Surface Active Agents (Surfactants) on the Aquatic Environment”. The lecturer stated that surface active agents, surfactants, are one of the types of organic pollutants that seep into the water systems as a result of disposing domestic wastes (due to the use of industrial detergents) and industrial wastes (due to industrial activity). These pollutants can cause many health problems, and thus becoming a source of concern in current time.

Surfactants are characterized by their ability to weaken the performance of conventional treatment methods where they play a negative role in the processes of biodegradation of organic components, denitification of ammonium nitrogen and activated sludge. Thus, expecting that these agents can pass through wastewater treatment units in conventional plants to the aquatic environment such as (rivers, lakes, and sediments) and so, affecting aquatic organisms (affecting the entire food chain) or plants (affecting physiological activities and metabolism in plants when these agents are absorbed on their surface or transferred through their roots) or land (soil) due to the discharge of wastewater sludge containing these agents. The bioaccumulation of these agents is an environmental having negative effects on the biological components of the ecosystem (such as toxicity and endocrine balance disorder) at which their nature are toxic and carcinogenic (whatever their concentration are very low).

 The lecturer recommended the necessity to study these agents and monitor their fate and behavior in the environment, and find appropriate methods to treat them at a level that is fit to the approved environmental standards.

As part of the cultural season of the Environmental Research Center

Mrs. Zahraa Zahraw Farhan-Assist. lecturer in the Department of Environmental Pollution-ERC presented a lecture online using the ZOOM platform on Tuesday, 21/4/2020 at 12:30 pm entitled “Digital Platforms”. The lecturer stated that electronic platforms can be defined as an interactive educational environment that depends on the nature of its work on the use of numerous technologies, allowing more participants to communicate and interact with each other. These platforms are characterized by many advantages such as their ability to combining the advantages of electronic content management systems with online communication networks and contributing to the dissemination of various educational activities and achieving a communication between the teacher and the student, which lead to facilitating the process of exchanging ideas and opinions and sharing scientific content between the two sides of communication. Thus, positively reflecting in the achievement of high-quality educational outcomes. The lecturer demonstrated there have been many of these platforms where each of them having characteristics and advantages in terms of the performance and the number of participants as well as the allowed period of time for communication.

Because of the current conditions in terms of the spread of coronavirus and the complete disruption of official working hours in educational institutions, the lecturer recommended that the electronic platforms should be used (easy tools and do not need special skills) to ensure the continuing process of education and academic communication.

As part of the cultural season of the Environmental Research Center

 Prof. Miqdam T. Chaichan (lecturer in the Energy and Renewable Energies Technology Center-University of Technology) presented a lecture on Tuesday, 25/2/2020 at 11:30 entitled “Impact of Nanofluid and Nano-PCM on the Electrical Performance of Hybrid (Electro/Thermal) Collector”. The lecturer stated that solar energy is one of the largest types of renewable energy at the current time where it has become a strategic choice in providing electric energy or using it as an alternative energy to oil resources or natural gas since it is environmentally friendly (clean energy-free from pollution).

The process of converting solar radiation energy into electrical energy is carried out by using photovoltaic cells by which the amount of electrical energy produced from these cells depends on many designing and operational factors. In this lecture, the effect of ambient temperature on the performance of photovoltaic cells was discussed where experimental results showed that the increase of temperature affected negatively on the efficiency of electrical energy production. Therefore, the lecturer discussed through his practical experience in this field using an effective method to reduce this effect. This method was represented by the use of a cooling fluid containing nanomaterials that were recycled according to a system designed for this purpose. The experimental results showed that the surface temperature of photovoltaic cell decreased obviously, and thus the amount of electrical energy produced increased significantly when compared to the conventional system (without using the cooling system).

The lecturer recommended at the end of his lecture that scientific research is being continued in this field by looking for the other materials as cooling fluids or making appropriate

improvements in the designing or operating standards of the cooling system in order to obtain the optimum performance.

As part of the cultural season of the Environmental Research Center

  Assist. Prof. Dr. Sahar A. Amin-lecturer in the Department of Environmental Technology-ERC presented a lecture on Tuesday, 18/2/2020 at 12:00 entitled “Electromagnetic Spectrum and its Uses”. The lecturer stated that the electromagnetic spectrum is a general term that includes all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation starting from low frequencies such as radio, then medium frequencies such as visible light rays, to high frequencies such as X-rays, and ending with gamma rays. The electromagnetic spectrum consists of seven bands that include radio waves, microwave waves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet rays, X-rays and gamma rays. Each of these bands has different characteristics in terms of how they are formed, how they interact with matter and their practical applications. Gamma rays, X-rays and high-frequency ultraviolet rays are classified as “ionizing radiation” since their photons have enough energy to ionize the atoms, and thus affecting seriously the living organisms when exposed to more than the permissible limits according to the approved standards.

Despite the fact that the huge applications and uses of electromagnetic waves in various fields such as radar, satellites, radio, television, mobile phones, microwave ovens, thermo-detectors, treatment and diagnostics in the medical fields, optical fibers, sterilization of surgical instruments and operating theaters and etc. It has not been scientifically and practically proven in terms of the presence of the direct impact on human health, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). However, there is still a public concern about the potential health effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields.