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.
Thin films of pure tin mono-sulfide SnS with thicknesses of (0.85) μm were prepared by chemical spray pyrolysis technique and annealed for two hours with 673K.The effect of annealing on structural and optical properties for films prepared was studied. X-Ray diffraction analysis showed the polycrystalline with orthorhombic structure. It was found that annealing process increased the intensity of diffraction peaks. Optical properties of all samples were studied by recording the absorption and transmission  
... Show MoreThe attached Cyanophyta community is a model for monitoring aquatic systems and interpreting environmental change in aquatic systems. The present study aims to conduct a seasonal study on Cyanophyta attached to the concrete abutments of three bridges (Al-Jadriya Bridge, Bab Al-Moadam Bridge, and Al-Muthanna Bridge) in the Tigris River within the city of Baghdad, central Iraq (from October 2021 to June 2022). The study included the quality of Cyanophyta and, the eleven environmental parameters (water temperature, electric conductivity, salinity, pH, total alkalinity, Calcium, Magnesium, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, total phosphorus, and total nitrogen). Monthly samples were taken from the water under each bridge from three sa
... Show MoreThis study discusses risk management strategies caused by pandemic-related (Covid-19) suspensions in thirty-six engineering projects of different types and sizes selected from countries in the middle east and especially Iraq. The primary data collection method was a survey and questionnaire completed by selected project crew and laborers. Data were processed using Microsoft Excel to construct models to help decision-makers find solutions to the scheduling problems that may be expected to occur during a pandemic. A theoretical and practical concept for project risk management that addresses a range of global and local issues that affect schedule and cost is presented and results indicate that the most significant delays are due to a
... Show Morehis study aimed to investigate the usability of Recycled Concrete Aggregate (RCA) in warm mix asphalt (WMA) as the implementation of sustainable construction technology. Five replacement rates (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%) were tested for the coarse fraction of virgin aggregate (VA) with 3 types of RCA: untreated RCA, HL-treated RCA, and HCL-treated RCA. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were performed to investigate the surface morphology for both treated and untreated RCA. The optimum asphalt cement content for every substitution rate was determined using Marshall mix design method. Thereafter, asphalt concrete specimens were prepared using the optimum asphalt cement content, followed by the evaluation of their performance prope
... Show MoreA field experiment was carried out to find out the effect of some herbicides(Pallas, Crash, U46) on the companion weed to three cultivars of the oat crop (Shefa, Hamel, and Pimula) and the yield and its components of these cultivars. The results showed the superiority of the two treatments of spraying weed herbicides (T1 and T2 ) by giving the best results, as they recorded the lowest number of weed plants after 30 days of spraying reached 1.44 and 1.67 plant/m2 . Besides, the lowest weed dry weight was 0.11 and 0.00 g/m2, and the highest inhibition percentage in dry weight was 98.44% and 100.0% of the two treatments, respectively. The treatment T2 was also superior by giving the highest control percentage of 93.28% compared to the compari
... Show MoreThe antimicrobial activity of ginger extracts ( cold-water, hot-water, ethanolic and essential oil ) against some of pathogenic bacteria ( Escherichia coli , Salmonella sp , Klebsiella sp , Serratia marcescens, Vibrio cholerae , Staphylococcus aureus , Streptococcus sp) was investigated using Disc diffusion method , and the results were compared with the antimicrobial activity of 12 antibiotics on the same bacteria . The results showed that the ginger extracts were more effective on gram-positive bacteria than gram-negative . V. cholerae and S. marcescens,were the most resistant bacteria to the extracts used , while highest inhibition was noticed against Streptococcus sp (28 mm) . The ethanolic extract showed the broadest antibacterial ac
... Show MoreIntroduction: Salivary melatonin is a critical antioxidant that contributes to oral health by mitigating oxidative stress. Psychological stress linked to thumb sucking may disrupt oral homeostasis, leading to conditions such as dental caries and fungal infections. Aim: This study explores the relationships between thumb sucking, salivary melatonin levels, dental caries, and the presence of Candida albicans (CA) in children. Materials and methods: A case-control study was conducted with 60 children aged 4-5 years at the University of Baghdad’s College of Dentistry. Participants were divided into thumb-sucking (n=30) and non-thumb-sucking (n=30) groups. Salivary melatonin levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunoso
... Show MoreThe measurement of vitamin B1 in pure and pharmaceutical formulations was proposed by using a straightforward and sensitive spectrophotometric approach. Sulfacetamide (SFA) is diazotized, then coupled with vitamin B1 in alkaline media to produce a colored azo dye complex with a stability constant of 5.597 × 105 L/mol. The product is stable, with a maximum absorption wavelength of 489.5 nm, molar absorptivity of 10108 L/mol∙cm, Sandell's sensitivity of 0.0334 μg/cm2, detection limit of 0.0135 μg/mL, and Beer's law being observed over the concentration range of 0.2–20.0 μg/mL. The stability constant and stoichiometry of the produced azo dye were calculated using the continuous variation (Job's) and mole ratio methods. The suggested ap
... Show MoreThis study introduces a series of single and pile group model tests subjected to lateral loads in . multilayered sand from Karbala, Iraq. The aim of this study is to investigate: the performance of the pile groups subjected to lateral loads; in which the pile batter inclination angle is changed; the effect of pile spacing (s/d) ratio, the influence of using different number of piles and pile group configuration. Results revealed that the performance of single negative (Reverse) Battered piles with inclination of 10° and 20° show a gain of 32% and 76 % in the ultimate lateral capacity over the regular ones. For pile groups, the use of a combination of regular, negative and positive battered piles in
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