Resilient polymeric materials such as silicone elastomers are currently used for maxillofacial prostheses construction but the strength of these materials and their clinical performance need to be optimized with the addition of reinforcing fillers. This study investigates the effect of zirconia nanopowder addition on tear strength, tensile strength, elongation at break, Shore A hardness, surface roughness and cytotoxicity of VST-50 maxillofacial silicone. Silicone base was mixed with different amounts (1%, 2% and 3%) of zirconia nanopowder using a vacuum mixer. Silicone without filler was used as control for comparison. Scanning Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy were utilized to assess the efficiency of high-shear vacuum mixing as filler dispersion method and the surface topography, respectively. Both SEM and AFM images showed that the zirconia nanopowder were distributed fairly well within the polymer. Statistically, highly significant increase in tear strength, tensile strength and hardness with non-significant decrease in elongation at break and non-significant increase in surface roughness were seen with 1% and 2% groups. Whereas with 3% group, there was significant improvement in tear strength, tensile strength and hardness but there was significant undesirable decrease in elongation and increase in roughness. Cytotoxicity test revealed that the addition of zirconia nanopowder was nontoxic to Rat Embryonic Fibroblast (REF) cells and there was non-significant change in the cell viability of all study groups after 24- and 72-hours incubation periods. In conclusion, the addition of 2% by weight nano zirconia to VST-50 maxillofacial silicone could be beneficial in enhancing its performance.
The study aims to examine the classroom activities of the developed English course (Flying High) for the high school first-grade students, identify creative thinking skills appropriate for this grade, and show the extent the classroom activities involve these skills from the female- teachers ‘point of view. The study adopted the descriptive survey method. The study community consists of all (50) English female-teachers who teach high school first grade in Arar city during the academic year (1440 -1441 A.H, the first semester). The study was applied to all respondents. The researcher used a questionnaire as a study tool. The study revealed that the female-teachers reported their disagreement and refusal of the classroom activities in th
... Show MoreThe research aims to evaluate the suppliers at Diyala general electric industries company conducted in an environment of uncertainty and fuzzy where there is no particular system followed by the company, and also aims to use the problem of traveling salesman problem in the process of transporting raw materials from suppliers to the company in a fuzzy environment. Therefore, a system based on mathematical methods and quantity was developed to evaluate the suppliers. Fuzzy inference system (FIS) and fuzzy set theory were used to solve this problem through (Matlab) and the problem of the traveling salesman in two stages was also solved by the first stage of eliminating the fuzzing of the environment using the rank function method, w
... Show MoreThe unconventional techniques called “the quick look techniques”, have been developed to present well log data calculations, so that they may be scanned easily to identify the zones that warrant a more detailed analysis, these techniques have been generated by service companies at the well site which are among the useful, they provide the elements of information needed for making decisions quickly when time is of essence. The techniques used in this paper are:
- Apparent resistivity Rwa
- Rxo /Rt
The above two methods had been used to evaluate Nasiriyah oil field formations (well-NS-3) to discover the hydrocarbon bearing formations. A compu
... Show MoreThe influx of data in bioinformatics is primarily in the form of DNA, RNA, and protein sequences. This condition places a significant burden on scientists and computers. Some genomics studies depend on clustering techniques to group similarly expressed genes into one cluster. Clustering is a type of unsupervised learning that can be used to divide unknown cluster data into clusters. The k-means and fuzzy c-means (FCM) algorithms are examples of algorithms that can be used for clustering. Consequently, clustering is a common approach that divides an input space into several homogeneous zones; it can be achieved using a variety of algorithms. This study used three models to cluster a brain tumor dataset. The first model uses FCM, whic
... Show MoreBackground: Scientific education aims to be inclusive and to improve students learning achievements, through appropriate teaching and learning. Problem Based Learning (PBL) system, a student centered method, started in the second half of the previous century and is expanding progressively, organizes learning around problems and students learn about a subject through the experience of solving these problems.Objectives:To assess the opinions of undergraduate medical students regarding learning outcomes of PBL in small group teaching and to explore their views about the role of tutors and methods of evaluation. Type of the study: A cross-sectional study.Methods: This study was conducted in Kerbala Medical Colleges among second year students
... Show MoreThin films of zinc selenide ZnSe have been prepared by using thermal evaporation method in vacuum with different thickness (1000 – 4000) Ao and a deposited on glass substrate and studying some electrical properties including the determination of A.C conductivity and real, imaginary parts of dielectric constant and tangent of loss angle. The result shows that increasing value of A.C conductivity with increasing thickness and temperature, and increasing capacitance value with increasing the temperature and decrease with increasing frequency . Real and imaginary parts of dielectric constant and tangent of loss angle decrease with increasing frequency
In this work, the influence of the annealing temperature on the optical properties of the thin films Cadmium Sulphide (CdS) has been studied. Thin films of Cadmium Sulphide (CdS) were made using the Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) method. The optical properties of annealing temperatures (as deposited, 200, 250, and 300 ) were scrupulous. The UV/VIS spectrophotometer investigated optical parameters such as transmission, the coefficient of absorption and energy gap of the films for the range (400-110 nm) as an assignment of the annealing temperature. The optical properties were calculated as a function of annealed temperature: absorption, transmission, reflection, band gap, coefficient of absorp
... Show MoreThe herbal remedy individually or in combination with standard medicines has been used in diverse medical treatises for the cure of different diseases. Pumpkin seed oil is one of the recognized edible oil and has substantial medicinal properties due to the presence of unique natural edible substances. Inflammation is an adaptive response that is triggered by noxious stimuli and conditions, which involves interactions amongst many cell types and mediators, and underlies many pathological processes. Unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) can influence inflammation through a variety of mechanisms, and have been indicated as alternative anti-inflammatory agents to treat several inflammatory skin disorders. Pumpkin seed oil is rich in (UFAs), that its t
... Show MoreCement is a major component in oil and gas drilling operations that is used to maintain the integrity of boreholes by preventing the movement of formation fluids through the annular space and outside the casing. In 2019, Iraq National Oil Company ordered all international oil and gas companies which are working in Iraq to use Iraqi cement (made in Iraq) in all Iraqi oil fields; however, the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and compressive strength results in this study show that this cement is not matching with American Petroleum Institute (API) standards.
During this study, barolift was used to improve the properties of Iraqi cement used in oil wells at high pressure and high temperature (HPHT). Barolift (1 g) was added to cement admixt
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