Background: Prophylaxis methods are used to mechanically remove plaque and stain from tooth surfaces; such methods give rise to loss of superficial structure and roughen the surface of composites as a result of their abrasive action. This study was done to assess the effect of three polishing systems on surface texture of new anterior composites after storage in artificial saliva. Materials and methods: A total of 40 Giomer and Tetric®N-Ceram composite discs of 12 mm internal diameter and 3mm height were prepared using a specially designed cylindrical mold and were stored in artificial saliva for one month and then samples were divided into four groups according to surface treatment: Group A (control group):10 specimens received no surface polish and were subdivided into A1 (Giomer) and A2 (Tetric®N-Ceram). Group B: 10 specimens received polishing with Air polishing devise (APD) and were subdivided into B1 (Giomer) and B2 (Tetric®N-Ceram). Group C: 10 specimens received polishing with pumice and brush and were subdivided into C1 (Giomer) and C2 (Tetric®N-Ceram). Group D: 10 specimens were polished with pumice and rubber cup and were subdivided into D1 (Giomer) and D2 (Tetric®N-Ceram). Testing was done by means of profilometer and statistically analyzed using analysis of variance test (ANOVA), LSD and student t-test. Also samples were photographed by special orthoplane camera using light polarizing microscope. Results: The results showed a highly statistical significant difference in surface roughness among Giomer subgroups P<0.05. Also there was a highly significant difference P<0.05 when comparing Tetric subgroups according to type of surface treatment. Furthermore there was non-significant difference P>0.05 between groups according to the type of restorative material used. Conclusion: The use of prophylactic surface treatment significantly increased Giomer and Tetric ceram surface roughness and the use of rotating brush has shown the roughest surface among all other types of prophylactic protocols also Giomer had shown more surface roughness than Tetric ceram although the difference was not significant.
The shear strength of soil is one of the most important soil properties that should be identified before any foundation design. The presence of gypseous soil exacerbates foundation problems. In this research, an approach to forecasting shear strength parameters of gypseous soils based on basic soil properties was created using Artificial Neural Networks. Two models were built to forecast the cohesion and the angle of internal friction. Nine basic soil properties were used as inputs to both models for they were considered to have the most significant impact on soil shear strength, namely: depth, gypsum content, passing sieve no.200, liquid limit, plastic limit, plasticity index, water content, dry unit weight, and initial
... Show MoreThe Iraqi marshes are considered the most extensive wetland ecosystem in the Middle East and are located in the middle and lower basin of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers which create a wetlands network and comprise some shallow freshwater lakes that seasonally swamped floodplains. Al-Hawizeh marsh is a major marsh located east of Tigris River south of Iraq. This study aims to assess water quality through water quality index (WQI) and predict Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) concentrations in Al-Hawizeh marsh based on artificial neural network (ANN). Results showed that the WQI was more than 300 for years 2013 and 2014 (Water is unsuitable for drinking) and decreased within the range 200-300 in years 2015 and 2016 (Very poor water). The develope
... Show MoreThe Iraqi marshes are considered the most extensive wetland ecosystem in the Middle East and are located in the middle and lower basin of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers which create a wetlands network and comprise some shallow freshwater lakes that seasonally swamped floodplains. Al-Hawizeh marsh is a major marsh located east of Tigris River south of Iraq. This study aims to assess water quality through water quality index (WQI) and predict Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) concentrations in Al-Hawizeh marsh based on artificial neural network (ANN). Results showed that the WQI was more than 300 for years 2013 and 2014 (Water is unsuitable for drinking) and decreased within the range 200-300 in years 2015 and 2016 (Very poor water). The
... Show MoreBackground: Beta thalassemia is a typically autosomal recessive form of severe anemia which is caused by an imbalance of two types of protein (alpha and beta) subunits of hemoglobin. Oxidative stress imbalance is the equilibrium between pro-oxidant\antioxidant statuses in cellular system, which results in damaging the cells. Antioxidant is a chemical that delays the start or slows the rate of lipid oxidation reaction and it play a very important role in the body defense system against reactive oxygen species. The aims of this study were to recorded the oro-facial manifestations in beta thalassemic patients and assess the oxidative stress marker malondialdehyde in serum and salivs and their role in the pathogenesis of beta thalassemia and ev
... Show MoreThe effect of different Ti additions on the microstructure of Al-Ti alloy prepared by powder metallurgy was investigated. A certain amount of Ti (10wt%, 15wt%, and 20wt%) were added to aluminium and the tests like microhardness, density, scanning electron microscope (SEM), optical microscope (OM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) were conducted to determine the influence of different Ti additives on the Al-Ti alloy properties and microstructure. The results show that the grains of α-Al changed from large grains to roughly spherical and then to small rounded grains with increasing Ti content, the micro-hardness of the alloy increases with increasing Ti, and XRD results confirm the formation of TiAl3 intermetallic co
... Show MoreComputer vision seeks to mimic the human visual system and plays an essential role in artificial intelligence. It is based on different signal reprocessing techniques; therefore, developing efficient techniques becomes essential to achieving fast and reliable processing. Various signal preprocessing operations have been used for computer vision, including smoothing techniques, signal analyzing, resizing, sharpening, and enhancement, to reduce reluctant falsifications, segmentation, and image feature improvement. For example, to reduce the noise in a disturbed signal, smoothing kernels can be effectively used. This is achievedby convolving the distributed signal with smoothing kernels. In addition, orthogonal moments (OMs) are a cruc
... Show MoreIn recent years, there has been expanding development in the vehicular part and the number of vehicles moving on the roads in all the sections of the country. Arabic vehicle number plate identification based on image processing is a dynamic area of this work; this technique is used for security purposes such as tracking of stolen cars and access control to restricted areas. The License Plate Recognition System (LPRS) exploits a digital camera to capture vehicle plate numbers is used as input to the proposed recognition system. Basically, the proposed system consists of three phases, vehicle license plate localization, character segmentation, and character recognition, the License Plate (LP) detection is presented using canny edge detection
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