Background: This in vitro study compares a novel calcium-phosphate etchant paste to conventional 37% phosphoric acid gel for bonding metal and ceramic brackets by evaluating the shear bond strength, remnant adhesive and enamel damage following water storage, acid challenge and fatigue loading. Material and Methods: Metal and ceramic brackets were bonded to 240 extracted human premolars using two enamel conditioning protocols: conventional 37% phosphoric acid (PA) gel (control), and an acidic calcium-phosphate (CaP) paste. The CaP paste was prepared from β-tricalcium phosphate and monocalcium phosphate monohydrate powders mixed with 37% phosphoric acid solution, and the resulting phase was confirmed using FTIR. The bonded premolars were exposed to four artificial ageing models to examine the shear bond strength (SBS), adhesive remnant index (ARI score), with stereomicroscopic evaluation of enamel damage. Results: Metal and ceramic control subgroups yielded significantly higher (p ˂ 0.05) SBS (17.1-31.8 MPa) than the CaP subgroups (11.4-23.8 MPa) post all artificial ageing protocols, coupled with higher ARI scores and evidence of enamel damage. In contrast, the CaP subgroups survived all artificial ageing tests by maintaining adequate SBS for clinical performance, with the advantages of leaving unblemished enamel surface and bracket failures at the enamel-adhesive interface. Conclusions: Enamel conditioning with acidic CaP pastes attained adequate bond strengths with no or minimal adhesive residue and enamel damage, suggesting a suitable alternative to the conventional PA gel for orthodontic bonding.
The distribution of chilled water flow rate in terminal unit is an important factor used to evaluate the performance of central air conditioning unit. A prototype of A/C unit has been made, which contains three terminal units with a complete set of accessories (3-way valve, 2-way valve, and sensors) to study the effect of the main parameters, such as total water flow rate and chilled water supply temperature with variable valve opening. In this work, 40 tests were carried out. These tests were in two groups, 20 test for 3-way valve case and 20 test for 2-way valve case. These tests were performed at three levels of valve opening, total water flow rate and water supply temperature according to the design matrices establis
... Show MoreThis study examines the causes of time delays and cost overruns in a selection of thirty post-disaster reconstruction projects in Iraq. Although delay factors have been studied in many countries and contexts, little data exists from countries under the conditions characterizing Iraq during the last 10-15 years. A case study approach was used, with thirty construction projects of different types and sizes selected from the Baghdad region. Project data was gathered from a survey which was used to build statistical relationships between time and cost delay ratios and delay factors in post disaster projects. The most important delay factors identified were contractor failure, redesigning of designs/plans and change orders, security is
... Show MoreThe research work is "The passive voice as a grammatical phenomenon in four selected textbooks". The research deals with the grammatical phenomenon passive in German. The research consists of two parts, the theoretical and the empirical part. The present research work is divided into 3 sections:
The first section includes the definition of passive, passive types, process passive, state passive, passive with modal verbs, and other types of passive. The second section provides illustrations of the four selected textbooks. The third chapter presents the passive voice in textbooks, namely German language teaching for foreigners by Dora Schulz and Heinz Griesbach, Delfin von Aufderstrasse H. and others, Em von Balme, M. and others and
... Show MoreBackground: The objectives of this study are to evaluate the effect of addition of Multi-Wall Carbon Nano Tubes (MWCNTs) of different concentrations (0.05 mg.mL-1,0.25 mg.mL-1,0.5 mg.mL-1and1 mg.mL-1) on dimethyl sulphoxide DMSO and distilled water (DW) on tooth enamel. It intends to evaluate enamel microhardness in (Kg. m-2) pre and post the application of Multi-Wall Carbon Nano Tubes (MWCNTs). Materials and Methods: Thirty specimens prepared for the present study to measure the hardness of the enamel. Results: The results showed that a significant increase in the enamel microhardness for groups 0.05 mg/mL (group B), 0.25 mg/mL (group C), 0.5 mg/mL (group D) and 1 mg/mL (group E) compared with control group (group A) in dimethyl sulphoxi
... Show MoreThis study aims to evaluate and compare the cytotoxicity and biocompatibility of a modified heat-cured acrylic denture base material containing 15% phosphoric acid 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate ester (PA2HEME) with those of nonmodified PMMA. Discs with a diameter of 12 mm and a thickness of 2 mm were prepared using a heat-cured PMMA denture base material and divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group was modified with 15% phosphoric acid 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate ester (PA2HEME). The modified and nonmodified materials were tested via FTIR, and the effect of modification on surface roughness was evaluated with AFM. An in vitro test was conducted to examine the cytotoxicity and biocompatibility of heat-cured acry
... Show MoreBackground: Sex variations in coronary artery disease (CAD) are well documented. However, sex differences in coronary artery calcium (CAC) and its role in the detection of coronary artery stenosis remain controversial. Objective: To assess the impact of sex variation on coronary artery calcification and its efficacy in predicting coronary artery stenosis. Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study including 230 consecutive patients with suspected CAD (120 men and 110 women) referred for coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA). The study analyzed sex-based differences in the sensitivity and specificity of coronary artery calcification (CAC) for detecting moderate to severe stenosis across various coronary arteries
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Abstract
Due to the lack of previous statistical study of the behavior of payments, specifically health insurance, which represents the largest proportion of payments in the general insurance companies in Iraq, this study was selected and applied in the Iraqi insurance company.
In order to find the convenient model representing the health insurance payments, we initially detected two probability models by using (Easy Fit) software:
First, a single Lognormal for the whole sample and the other is a Compound Weibull for the two Sub samples (small payments and large payments), and we focused on the compoun
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