Sol-gel method was use to prepare Ag-SiO2 nanoparticles. Crystal structure of the nanocomposite was investigated by means of X-ray diffraction patterns while the color intensity was evaluated by spectrophotometry. The morphology analysis using atomic force microscopy showed that the average grain sizes were in range (68.96-75.81 nm) for all samples. The characterization of Ag-SiO2 nanoparticles were investigated by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Ag-SiO2 NPs are highly stable and have significant effect on both Gram positive and negative bacteria. Antibacterial properties of the nanocomposite were tested with the use of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria. The results have shown antibacterial effect of the Ag-SiO2 prepared as nanogel and nanopowder states, while the Ag-SiO2 nanopowder showed the highest capability against S. aureus. Both methods of biofilm showed an inhibition effect for Ag-SiO2 NPs, the synthetic Ag-SiO2 NPs showed highest inhibition effect on Gram positive bacteria S. aureus by using the biofilm microtiter method.
Automatic Programming Assessment (APA) has been gaining lots of attention among researchers mainly to support automated grading and marking of students’ programming assignments or exercises systematically. APA is commonly identified as a method that can enhance accuracy, efficiency and consistency as well as providing instant feedback on students’ programming solutions. In achieving APA, test data generation process is very important so as to perform a dynamic testing on students’ assignment. In software testing field, many researches that focus on test data generation have demonstrated the successful of adoption of Meta-Heuristic Search Techniques (MHST) so as to enhance the procedure of deriving adequate test data for efficient t
... Show MoreThis mini review provides an overview of methods for manufacturing expanded graphite (EGT) and the use of its composites with metal oxides in the field of photodegradation of dyes. Dyes from textile manufacturing represent a significant environmental pollution problem in waterways worldwide, highlighting the need for environmentally friendly and efficient technologies to remove dyes from industrial and local wastewater. Photodegradation technologies offer a low-cost, sustainable solution with minimal secondary pollution. Carbon-based materials, such as expanded graphite, are advantageous in enhancing catalytic activity. Accordingly, this review will explore the different fabrication techniques of expanded graphite and summarize the recent d
... Show MoreAbstract
The decision maker needs to understand the strategic environment to be addressed through different means and methods. It is obvious that there is a difference between the three strategic environments (conflict environment, peace environment, post- peace environment) in terms of inputs and strategies to deal with each one of them. There is an urgent need to understand each pattern separately, analyze its inputs, and identify the factors and variables that affect the continuity of this situation (conflict, peace, post-peace). It is not appropriate to identify treatment without diagnosis of the condition, so it is very important to understand the type of strategic environment to be dealt with it.
... Show MoreThis study aimed to compare the safety and efficacy of laser lithotripsy and pneumatic lithotripsy, the two most commonly used transurethral lithotripsy methods for treating bladder stones in children in Iraq. Between January 2013 and December 2016, 64 children with bladder stones were included in this prospective randomized study, after ethical committee approval and written consent from the children’s parents or caregivers were obtained. Patients were assigned randomly by computer software to two groups treated with either pneumatic cystolithotripsy or laser lithotripsy. A 9 Fr. semirigid ureteroscope was used to pass the lithotripter through and fragment the stone. A catheter of 8–12 Fr. was then introduced and kept in place
... Show MoreThe present study investigated the use of pretreated fish bone (PTFB) as a new surface, natural waste and low-cost adsorbent for the adsorption of Methyl green (MG, as model toxic basic dye) from aqueous solutions. The functional groups and surface morphology of the untreated fish bone (FB) and pretreated fish bone were characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS),respectively. The effect of operating parameters including contact time, pH, adsorbent dose, temperature, and inorganic salt was evaluated. Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin adsorption isotherm models were studied and the results showed that the adsorption of basic dye followed Freundlich iso
... Show MoreCloud computing offers a new way of service provision by rearranging various resources over the Internet. The most important and popular cloud service is data storage. In order to preserve the privacy of data holders, data are often stored in cloud in an encrypted form. However, encrypted data introduce new challenges for cloud data deduplication, which becomes crucial for big data storage and processing in the cloud. Traditional deduplication schemes cannot work on encrypted data. Among these data, digital videos are fairly huge in terms of storage cost and size; and techniques that can help the legal aspects of video owner such as copyright protection and reducing the cloud storage cost and size are always desired. This paper focuses on v
... Show More