Understanding the compatibility between spider silk and conducting materials is essential to advance the use of spider silk in electronic applications. Spider silk is tough, but becomes soft when exposed to water. Here we report a strong affinity of amine-functionalised multi-walled carbon nanotubes for spider silk, with coating assisted by a water and mechanical shear method. The nanotubes adhere uniformly and bond to the silk fibre surface to produce tough, custom-shaped, flexible and electrically conducting fibres after drying and contraction. The conductivity of coated silk fibres is reversibly sensitive to strain and humidity, leading to proof-of-concept sensor and actuator demonstrations.
Watermelon is known to be infested by multiple insect pests both simultaneously and in sequence. Interactions by pests have been shown to have positive or negative, additive or non additive, compensatory or over compensatory effects on yields. Hardly has this sort of relationship been defined for watermelon vis-à-vis insect herbivores. A 2-year, 2-season (4 trials) field experiments were laid in the Research Farm of Federal University Wukari, to investigate the interactive effects of key insect pests of watermelon on fruit yield of Watermelon in 2016 and 2017 using natural infestations. The relationship between the dominant insect pests and fruit yield were determined by correlation (r) and linear regression (simple and multiple) analys
... Show MoreHyperthyroidism or thyrotoxicosis occurs due to excess release of thyroid hormone. These hormones regulate the body’s energy balance and have effects on adipokine level. There are several reports suggesting interrelation between adipokines (resistin and leptin) with thyroid dysfunction. Objectives: This study was established to investigate the effect of thyroid hormones in hyperthyroidism state on the level of some adipokines, leptin and resistin; in comparison with control. Patients and Methods: The present study included 50 Iraqi female patients with hyperthyroidism with age ranged between 30-58 years and 30 healthy controls with age ranged between 30-53 years. Serum samples were collected from study groups. The levels of thyroid hormon
... Show MoreAbstract
Zigbee is considered to be one of the wireless sensor networks (WSNs) designed for short-range communications applications. It follows IEEE 802.15.4 specifications that aim to design networks with lowest cost and power consuming in addition to the minimum possible data rate. In this paper, a transmitter Zigbee system is designed based on PHY layer specifications of this standard. The modulation technique applied in this design is the offset quadrature phase shift keying (OQPSK) with half sine pulse-shaping for achieving a minimum possible amount of phase transitions. In addition, the applied spreading technique is direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) technique, which has
... Show MoreAA3003-H14 aluminum alloy plates were welded by friction stir welding and TIG welding.
Fatigue properties of the welded joints were evaluated based on the superior tensile properties for
FSW at 1500 rpm rotational speed and 80 mm/min welding speed. However, there is not much
information available on effect of welding parameters with evolution of fatigue life of friction stir
welds. The present study experimentally analyzed fatigue properties for base, FSW, and TIG welds
of AA 3003-H14 aluminum alloy. Fatigue properties of FSW joints were slightly lower than the
base metal and higher than TIG welding.
The objective of this in vivo study is to investigate the effects of 337.1 nm pulsed N2 laser on cellular immune response represented by lymphocyte transformation capacity and phagocytosis activity in laboratory animals. The samples include 60 adult male BALB/c mice, were divided into control group and experimental groups. The experimental groups were divided into two main groups according to the time period after N2 laser irradiation. Each group was divided into 9 subgroups which exposed to N2 laser radiation at different values of pulse repetition rates and exposure times. The results of immunological tests demonstrated that the exposure to 180 J/cm2 of N2 laser radiation induce adverse effect to cellular immune response. The results o
... Show MoreZinc sulfide (ZnS) thin films were deposited on glass substrates using pulsed laser deposition technique. The laser used is the Q-switched Nd: YAG laser with 1064nm wavelength and 1Hz pulse repetition rate and varying laser energy 700mJ-1000mJ with 25 pulse. The substrate temperature was kept constant at 100°C. The structural, morphological and optical properties of ZnS thin films were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM) and UV-VIS spectrophotometer.
Metal enhanced fluorescence (MEF) is an unequaled phenomenon of metal nanoparticle surface plasmons, when light interacts with the metal nanostructures (silver nanoparticles) which result electromagnetic fields to promote the sensitivity of fluorescence. This work endeavor to study the influence of silver nanoparticles on fluorescence intensity of Fluoreseina dye by employment mixture solution with different mixing ratio. Silver nanoparticles had been manufactured by the chemical reduction method so that Ag NP layer coating had been done by hot rotation liquid method. The optical properties of the prepared samples (mixture solution of Fluoreseina dye solutions and colloidal solution with 5 minutes prepared of Ag NPs) tested by using UV-V
... Show MoreThis work studies with produce of light fuel fractions of gasoline, kerosene and gas oil from treatment of residual matter that will be obtained from the solvent extraction process as by product from refined lubricate to improve oil viscosity index in any petroleum refinery. The percentage of this byproduct is approximately 10% according to all feed (crude oil) in the petroleum refinery process. The objective of this research is to study the effect of the residence time parameter on the thermal cracking process of the byproduct feed at a constant temperature, (400 °C). The first step of this treatment is the thermal cracking of this byproduct material by a constructed batch reactor occupied with control device at a selective range of re
... Show MoreThe first studies on shocks and vibrations were carried out at the beginning of the 1930s to improve the behavior of buildings during earthquakes. Vibration tests on aircraft were developed from 1940 to verify the resistance of parts and equipments prior to their first use. Flutter is a well-known example of dynamic aero elasticity, where when oscillation of structure interacted with unsteady aerodynamic forces the flutter will occur. Vibration on any structure without damping means that self-harmonic oscillation will occur, and in most cases the oscillation may start to increase until structural failure. This behavior is very similar to resonance phenomena if only the oscillation is being studied as a vibration case. In vibration suppre
... Show MoreObjectives: to compare health of mothers and neonatal among age groups, to find out the correlation between
age groups and mother and neonatal health.
Methodology: A descriptive study was carried out at delivery rooms of three teaching hospitals in Baghdad city
from Feb. 28th through May. 28th
, 2013. A purposive (non-probability) sample of 300 laboring women was selected
from delivery rooms categorized into three groups, group 1 (≤19) years, group 2 their age between (20-35) years
old and group 3 their age (≥35) years. The data were collected through the use of constructing questionnaire, an
interview technique with mothers and reviewing their medical records as means of data collection; The
questionnaire con