Objective. Glass-ionomer and resin-modified glass-ionomer cements are versatile materials with the ability to form a direct bond with tooth tissues. The aim of this study was to formulate a novel class of dental bio-interactive restorative material (pRMGIC) based on resin-modified glass-ionomer cements via the inclusion of an organophosphorus monomer, ethylene glycol methacrylate phosphate, with a potential to improve the mechanical properties and also function as a reparative restorative material. Methods. pRMGIC was formulated with modification of the resin phase by forming mixes of ethylene glycol methacrylate phosphate (EGMP; 0–40%wt) and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate monomer into the liquid phase of a RMGIC (Fuji II LC, GC Corp.).

The development of low profile gamma-ray detectors has encouraged the production of small field of view (SFOV) hand-held imaging devices for use at the patient bedside and in operating theatres. Early development of these SFOV cameras was focussed on a single modality—gamma ray imaging. Recently, a hybrid system—gamma plus optical imaging—has been developed. This combination of optical and gamma cameras enables high spatial resolution multi-modal imaging, giving a superimposed scintigraphic and optical image. Hybrid imaging offers new possibilities for assisting clinicians and surgeons in localising the site of uptake in procedures such as sentinel node detection. The hybrid camera concept can be extended to a multimodal detec

Classifying butterfly species is crucial in biodiversity studies and environmental monitoring. However, manual classification is often a laborious process that requires specialized expertise and is prone to error, especially when species have similar visual characteristics. To address these drawbacks, this paper presents a hybrid approach that combines machine learning with deep learning for feature extraction. To enhance the visibility of important features, preprocessing techniques such as background removal and binarization are applied to butterfly images. Feature extraction was performed using the SqueezeNet convolutional neural network, pretrained on the ImageNet dataset. By discarding the final classification layer, the networ

Background The Transportation Problem (TP) is a detailed model in operations study with applications in logistics, supply chain management, and resource allocation. The classical IBFS methods including North-West Corner, Least Cost and Vogel’s Approximation have competitive computational efficiency, but they are very sensitive to the structure of the problem and usually lead to a solution that is far from the global optimum. Classic enhancement strategies like the Generalized Distribution (MODI) and Stepping-Stone (SS) approaches have low computational complexity but may fall into a local optimum quickly, which makes them ineffective in large-scale or unbalanced problems. Methods We propose the first generic hybrid algorithm, calle

The utilization and incorporation of glass fiber-reinforced plastics (GFRP) in structural applications and architectural constructions are progressively gaining prominence. Therefore, this paper experimentally and numerically investigates the use of GFRP I-beams in conjunction with concrete slabs to form composite beams. The experimental design incorporated 2600 mm long GFRP I-beams which were connected compositely to concrete slabs with a 500 mm width and 80 mm thickness. The concrete slabs are categorized into two groups: concrete slabs cast using normal-strength concrete (NSC), and concrete slabs prepared using high-strength concrete (HSC). Various parameters like the type of concrete (normal and high-strength concrete), type of

The reinforced concrete column is designed to have a nominal axial resistance. Under different conditions like errors in design, and changing the use of the building from residential to public or storage (extra live loads), the reinforced concrete column will not be able to sustain the desired applied load, and the strengthening is required. This paper presents a finite element model to simulate and investigate the behavior of adding steel jacket to a preloaded and non-damaged reinforced concrete column. Depending on the loading state of the non-strengthened reinforced concrete column and the purpose of adding the steel jacket, two possible cases have been studied. In the first case, which is suitable to investigate the reinforced c