Ecosystems provide humans with services that include benefits from food, fresh water, climate regulation, and socio-economic assets. The Mesopotamian marshlands are among the largest wetlands in the Middle East and they provide various benefits. However, ecosystem services of the Marshlands are consistently undervalued in national economic analysis and decision making. This study focusses on the Central Marshes, the first National Park in Iraq, and is the first attempt at valuing a series of ecosystem services from a valuable natural ecosystem in Iraq. We adopted the Toolkit for Ecosystem Services Site-Based Assessment (TESSA) for the determination of biophysical and economic values of services at the site level. Data on key ecosystem se

Background: Prophylaxis methods are used to mechanically remove plaque and stain from tooth surfaces; such methods give rise to loss of superficial structure and roughen the surface of composites as a result of their abrasive action. This study was done to assess the effect of three polishing systems on surface texture of new anterior composites after storage in artificial saliva. Materials and methods: A total of 40 Giomer and Tetric®N-Ceram composite discs of 12 mm internal diameter and 3mm height were prepared using a specially designed cylindrical mold and were stored in artificial saliva for one month and then samples were divided into four groups according to surface treatment: Group A (control group):10 specimens received no surfa

The present research  investigates joints welding of 304L austenitic stainless steel using metal inert gas (MIG) welding method. The research explores the effect of process parameters (arc voltage, wire feed rate, and electrode wire diameter) on the mechanical properties of stainless steel.  The above variables are varied  respectively with 18.5, 19, 19.5 V, 116, 127, 137 mm/s, and 0.8, 1, 1.2 mm, with E308L as a filler electrode. The design matrix of the experiments was determined using the design of experiment (DOE) program Minitab 17 based on the levels of input elements used. The Taguchi orthogonal matrix methodology (Taguchi) technique was used to develop some empirical analysis for the maximum tensile strength and proper surface

In the present work, nanocomposite of poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) incorporated with functionalized graphene oxide (FGO) were fabricated using casting method. PVA was dispersed by varying content of FGO (0.3, 0.5, 0.8, 1 wt %). The PVA- FGO nanocomposite was characterized by FT‐IR, FE-SEM and XRD. Frequency dependence of real permittivity (ε’), imaginary (ε’’) and a.c conductivity of PVA/FGO and PVA/GO nanocomposite were studied in the frequency range 100 Hz- 1 MHz. The experimental results showed that the values of real (ε’) and imaginary permittivity (ε’’) increased dramatically by increasing the FGO content in PVA matrix. PVA/ FGO (1 wt %) nanocomposite revealed higher electrical conductivity of 6.4×10-4 Sm-1 compared to

Background: elastomeric impression materials are indicated when a high degree of accuracy is required, due to their excellent properties like details reproduction, dimensional stability and tear strength but with main two disadvantages those are their hydrophilicity as well as the absence of antibacterial activity. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of incorporation of 0.5% wt Ag-Zn zeolite into condensation silicone through the following tests; setting time, dimensional stability, reproduction of details, wettability, and hardness . Materials and methods: one hundred specimens were constructed of condensation silicone, divided into two groups for the first 50 specimens one0.5% by wt Ag -Zn zeolite was added, keeping the other fifty sp

The research targets study of influence of additives on sand mold’s properties and, consequently, on
that of carbon steel CK45 casts produced by three molds. Three materials were selected for addition
to sand mix at weight percentages. These are sodium carbonates, glycerin and oat flour. Sand molds
of studied properties were produced to get casts from such molds. The required tests were made to
find the best additives with respect to properties of cast. ANSYS software is used to demonstrate
the stresses distribution of each produced materials. It is shown that the mechanical properties of
casts produced is improved highly with sodium carbonates and is less with oat flour and it is seem a
few with glycerin additives

The electrospun nanofibers membranes (ENMs) have gained great attention due to their superior performance. However, the low mechanical strength of ENMs, such as the rigidity and low strength, limits their applications in many aspects which need adequate strength, such as water filtration. This work investigates the impact of electrospinning parameters on the properties of ENMs fabricated from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) solved in N, N-Dimethylformamide (DMF). The studied electrospinning parameters were polymer concentration, solution flow rate, collector rotating speed, and the distance between the needle and collector. The fabricated ENMs were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to understand the surface morphology and es

CdSe alloy has been prepared successfully from its high purity elements. Thin films of this alloy with different thicknesses (300,700)nm have been grown on glass substrates at room temperature under very low pressure (10-5)Torr with rate of deposition (1.7)nm/sec by thermal evaporation technique, after that these thin films have been heat treated under low pressure (10-2)Torr at (473,673)K for one hour. X-ray patterns showed that both CdSe alloy and thin films are polycrystalline and have the hexagonal structure with preferential orientation in the [100] and [002] direction respectively. The optical measurements indicated that CdSe thin films have allowed direct optical energy band gap, and it increases from (1.77- 1.84) eV and from

Samples prepared by using carbon black as a filler material and phenolic resin as a binder. The samples were pressed in a (3) cm diameter cylindrical die to (250)MPa and treated thermally within temperature range of (600-1000)oC for two and three hours. Physical properties tests were performed, like density, porosity, and X-ray tests. Moreover vicker microhardness and electric resistivity tests were done. From the results, it can be concluded that density was increased while porosity was decreased gradually with increasing temperature and treating time. In microhardness test, it found that more temperature and treating time cause more hardness. Finally the resistivity was decreased in steps with temperature and treating time. It can be c