The present study is considered a pioneer investigation that deal with the terrestrial brown garden snail Cornu aspersum (Müller), in Iraq. Cornu aspersum however is considered an exotic species in many parts of the world ,The species is most probably infiltrates with plants transferred from one place to another. The species has gained importance in many ways. Nutritionally, the species is consumed as food item in many countries, but in other cases it is considered as pest for the damage it causes when feeding on valuable plant shoots. It also has medical importance for its role and ability in healing wounds, burns and remedy of other skin problems. This snail species however may act as a vector for some parasitic nematodes that cause serious diseases. The species is also important in scientific research, usually referred to as ‘ecological indicator’ employed in environmental pollution problems such as the one caused by heavy metals. A great deal of research on this species has been carried out in different parts of the world, however, in Iraq, the scientific attention given to land snails in general and to Cornu aspersum in particular is rare and may be negligible in comparison with the research carried out on aquatic Mollusca species. A total of 1880 individuals of Cornu aspersum were collected from all sampling sites. The study was carried out for the period November 2007 to November 2008 on three sites within the Jadiriya district in Baghdad.. Growth, size classes and shell dimensions of Cornu aspersum populations, and their relationship with major environmental factors; ambient temperature; soil pH, moisture, texture; and the soil content of organic matter have been also investigated. Identification of the species was confirmed by the British Natural History Museum.The data were analyzed by means of standard statistical procedures.
Background/Objectives: Nonsurgical periodontal treatment (NSPT) is the gold-standard technique for treating periodontitis. However, an individual’s susceptibility or the inadequate removal of subgingival biofilms could lead to unfavorable responses to NSPT. This study aimed to assess the potential of salivary and microbiological biomarkers in predicting the site-specific and whole-mouth outcomes of NSPT. Methods: A total of 68 periodontitis patients exhibiting 1111 periodontal pockets 4 to 6 mm in depth completed the active phase of periodontal treatment. Clinical periodontal parameters, saliva, and subgingival biofilm samples were collected from each patient at baseline and three months after NSPT. A quantitative PCR assay was us
... Show MoreIn present work an investigation for precise hole drilling via continuous wave (CW) CO2 laser at 150 W maximum output power and wavelength 10.6 μm was achieved with the assistance of computerized numerical controlled (CNC) machine and assist gases. The drilling process was done for thin sheets (0.1 – 0.3 mm) of two types of metals; stainless steel (sst) 321H, steel 33 (st). Changing light and process parameters such as laser power, exposure time and gas pressure was important for getting the optimum results. The obtained results were supported with computational results using the COMSOL 3.5a software code.
Structural and optical properties of CdO and CdO0.99Cu0.01 thin
films were prepared in this work. Cadmium Oxide (CdO) and
CdO0.99Cu0.01semiconducting films are deposited on glass substrates
by using pulsed laser deposition method (PLD) using SHG with Qswitched
Nd:YAG pulsed laser operation at 1064nm in 6x10-2 mbar
vacuum condition and frequency 6 Hz. CdO and CdO0.99Cu0.01 thin
films annealed at 550 C̊ for 12 min. The crystalline structure was
studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) method and atomic force
microscope (AFM). It shows that the films are polycrystalline.
Optical properties of thin films were analyzed. The direct band gap
energy of CdO and CdO0.99Cu0.01 thin films were determined from
(αhυ)1/2 v
This study was design to investigate the dimensional stability of heat-activated acrylic resin with different methods of flask cooling (15 minutes rapid cooling, one hour bench cooling, four hours delayed deflasking, and 24 hours delayed deflasking) at different time intervals (immediately, two days, seven days, 30 days) after deflasking. Heat-activated acrylic resin was used to prepare acrylic samples. Then, measurement of the distances where achieved between the centers of selected marks in the acrylic samples. They were measured at different time intervals for different methods of flask cooling. The results showed that the group samples of the four hours and 24 hours of delayed deflasking was insignificantly different from the control an
... Show MoreRealistic implementation of nanofluids in subsurface projects including carbon geosequestration and enhanced oil recovery requires full understanding of nanoparticles (NPs) adsorption behaviour in the porous media. The physicochemical interactions between NPs and between the NP and the porous media grain surface control the adsorption behavior of NPs. This study investigates the reversible and irreversible adsorption of silica NPs onto oil-wet and water-wet carbonate surfaces at reservoir conditions. Each carbonate sample was treated with different concentrations of silica nanofluid to investigate NP adsorption in terms of nanoparticles initial size and hydrophobicity at different temperatures, and pressures. Aggregation behaviour and the
... Show MoreIn this work, nanostructure zinc sulfide (ZnS) thin films at temperature of substrate 450 oC and thickness (120) nm have been produced by chemical spray pyrolysis method. The X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) measurements of the film showed that they have a polycrystalline structure and possessed a hexagonal phase with strong crystalline orientation of (103). The grain size was measured using scanning electron microscope (SEM) which was approximately equal to 80 nm. The linear optical measurements showed that ZnS nanostructure has direct energy gap. Nonlinear optical properties experiments were performed using Q-switched 532 nm Nd:YAG laser Z-scan system. The nonlinear refractive index (n2) and nonlinear absorption coefficient (β) estimated for Z
... Show MoreUpper 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
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