Objective This study evaluated the effects of adding titanium oxide (TiO2) nanofillers on the tear strength, tensile strength, elongation percentage, and hardness of room-temperature-vulcanized (RTV) VST50F and high-temperature-vulcanized (HTV) Cosmesil M511 maxillofacial silicone elastomers. Methods Two types of maxillofacial elastomers, VST50F RTV and Cosmesil M511 HTV, were used. Nano-TiO2 powder was applied as a nanofiller. A total of 120 specimens were fabricated, 60 each of VST50F and Cosmesil M511. The specimens of each type of elastomer were divided into three equal groups on which tests were conducted for tear strength, tensile strength, and hardness i.e., 20 specimens were used for each test. Each group of 20 specimens was further

Upper limb amputation is a condition that severely limits the amputee’s movement. Patients who have lost the use of one or more of their upper extremities have difficulty performing activities of daily living. To help improve the control of upper limb prosthesis with pattern recognition, non-invasive approaches (EEG and EMG signals) is proposed in this paper and are integrated with machine learning techniques to recognize the upper-limb motions of subjects. EMG and EEG signals are combined, and five features are utilized to classify seven hand movements such as (wrist flexion (WF), outward part of the wrist (WE), hand open (HO), hand close (HC), pronation (PRO), supination (SUP), and rest (RST)). Experiments demonstrate that usin

Fresh water production from saline or waste water utilizing solar stills is the secured future approach in water industry with low cost and no environmental pollution accompanied with low productivity. In this work, the effect of inserting different available materials in a passive Single Slope Solar SSS stills on their productivity is accomplished. Side by side tests are performed on a conventional still, and three SSS stills inserted with carbon filter media, Copper wire mesh, and Cellulose sheets. All these stills are symmetrical in dimensions with 0.5 m2 base area tested for 20mm water level. The stills have been manufactured, instrumented, and tested in July 2021 under DhiQar-Iraq climate conditions (latitude 31.2° N, longitude 46.34

The evolution of the Internet of things (IoT) led to connect billions of heterogeneous physical devices together to improve the quality of human life by collecting data from their environment. However, there is a need to store huge data in big storage and high computational capabilities.   Cloud computing can be used to store big data.  The data of IoT devices is transferred using two types of protocols: Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). This paper aims to make a high performance and more reliable system through efficient use of resources. Thus, load balancing in cloud computing is used to dynamically distribute the workload across nodes to avoid overloading any individual r

This research was carried out at University of Baghdad - College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences during the fall season of 2020 and spring season of 2021 in order to evaluate the effect of organic fertilizer and the foliar application of boron on the growth and yield of industrial potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.). Using factorial experiment (5*4) within Randomized Complete Block Design  with three replicates, the organic fertilizer (palm fronds peat) was applied at four levels (0, 12, 24, and 36 ton ha-1) in addition to the treatment of the recommended of chemical fertilizer. The foliar application of Boron was applied at four concentrations which were 0, 100, 150 and 200 mg (H3Bo3). L-1. The results Revealed a significant incr

The current paper examines the Arab EFL teacher view on the application of AI-based chatbots as a method of aiding writing instruction. It explores pedagogy, didactic difficulties and ethics. The overall aim is to clarify the perception that teachers have of AI chatbots as a useful tool in the writing process and to find out to what degree these perceptions are reflected in instructional decision-making and classroom behaviors. A quantitative study was conducted using a structured questionnaire that was given to forty Arab EFL teachers, using a sequential explanatory mixed-method design. To elaborate and contextualize the survey results, qualitative enquiry was implemented through semi-structured interviews with twelve teachers. Fin

Cover crops (CC) improve soil quality, including soil microbial enzymatic activities and soil chemical parameters. Scientific studies conducted in research centers have shown positive effects of CC on soil enzymatic activities; however, studies conducted in farmer fields are lacking in the literature. The objective of this study was to quantify CC effects on soil microbial enzymatic activities (β-glucosidase, β-glucosaminidase, fluorescein diacetate hydrolase, and dehydrogenase) under a corn (Zea mays L.)–soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) rotation. The study was conducted in 2016 and 2018 in Chariton County, Missouri, where CC were first established in 2012. All tested soil enzyme levels were significantly different between 2016 and 2018