Background:The demand for esthetic orthodontic appliances is increasing so that the esthetic orthodontic archwires were introduced. This in vitro study was designed to evaluate the surface roughness offiber-reinforced polymer composite (FRPC) archwires compared to coated nickel-titanium (NiTi) archwires immersed in artificial saliva. Materials and Methods:Three types of esthetic orthodontic archwires were used: FRPC (Dentaurum), Teflon coated NiTi (Dentaurum) and epoxy coated NiTi (Orthotechnology). They were round (0.018 inch) in cross section and cut into pieces of 15 mm in length.Forty pieces from each type were divided into four groups; one group was left at a dry condition and the other three groups were immersed in artificial saliva (pH=6.75 ± 0.015) at 37ºC for 1, 14 and 28 days intervals. The AFM was used to evaluatesurface analysis of all samples.ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, LSD and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to identify and localize the source of differences among the groups. Results:At each immersion period, FRPC wires exhibited the highest Ra among the study groups, except at 28 days immersion period where the Teflon coatings were the roughest. On the other hand, the least rough surfaces were the epoxy coatings when compared to analogous esthetic archwires, except at 1 day immersion period where the Teflon coatings had the least roughness. However, statistically non-significant differences were found between Teflon and epoxy at the dry condition and the 1 day immersion. Conclusions:The epoxy coated archwires are the best and the most appropriate esthetic orthodontic alignment archwires in term of the least surface roughness initially and over the course of study period.
In this paper, thin films of undoped and nickel oxide (NiO) doped titanium dioxide (TiO2) were prepared using the chemical spray pyrolysis deposition (CSP) technique, with different concentrations of nickel oxide (NiO) in the range (3-9) wt%. The morphological, structural, electrical, and sensing properties of a gas of the prepared thin films were examined. XRD measurements showed that TiO2 films have a polycrystalline structure. AFM analysis showed that these films have a regular structure both before and after doping . The roughness of these films decreased after adding impurities but then the opposite of that took place. The electrical and gas sens
... Show MoreUsing a mathematical model to simulate the interaction between prey and predator was suggested and researched. It was believed that the model would entail predator cannibalism and constant refuge in the predator population, while the prey population would experience predation fear and need for a predator-dependent refuge. This study aimed to examine the proposed model's long-term behavior and explore the effects of the model's key parameters. The model's solution was demonstrated to be limited and positive. All potential equilibrium points' existence and stability were tested. When possible, the appropriate Lyapunov function was utilized to demonstrate the equilibrium points' overall stability. The system's persistence requirements were spe
... Show MoreIn this work, metal oxide nanostructures, mainly copper oxide (CuO), nickel oxide (NiO), titanium dioxide (TiO2), and multilayer structure, were synthesized by the DC reactive magnetron sputtering technique. The effect of deposition time on the spectroscopic characteristics, as well as on the nanoparticle size, was determined. A long deposition time allows more metal atoms sputtered from the target to bond to oxygen atoms and form CuO, NiO, or TiO2 molecules deposited as thin films on glass substrates. The structural characteristics of the final samples showed high structural purity as no other compounds than CuO, NiO, and TiO2 were found in the final samples. Also, the prepared multilayer structures did not show new compounds other than th
... Show MoreAn electrocoagulation process has been used to eliminate the chemical oxygen demand (COD) from wastewaters discharged from the Al-Muthanna petroleum refinery plant. In this process, a circular aluminum bar was used as a sacrificial anode, and hallow cylinder made from stainless steel was used as a cathode in a tubular batch electrochemical Reactor. Impacts of the operating factors like current density (5-25mAcm-2), NaCl addition at concentrations (0-2g/l), and pH at values (3-11) on the COD removal efficiency were studied.
Results revealed that the increase in current density increases the COD removal efficiency, whereas an increase
Mesoporous silica (MPS) nanoparticle was prepared as carriers for drug delivery systems by sol–gel method from sodium silicate as inexpensive precursor of silica and Cocamidopropyl betaine (CABP) as template. The silica particles were characterized by SEM, TEM, AFM, XRD, and N2adsorption–desorption isotherms. The results show that the MPS particle in the nanorange (40-80 nm ) with average diameter equal to 62.15 nm has rods particle morphology, specific surface area is 1096.122 m2/g, pore volume 0.900 cm3/g, with average pore diameter 2.902 nm, which can serve as efficient carriers for drugs. The adsorption kinetic of Ciprofloxacin (CIP) drug was studied and the data were analyzed and found to match well with
... Show MoreThere is an interesting potential for the use of GFRP-pultruded profiles in hybrid GFRP-concrete structural elements, either for new constructions or for the rehabilitation of existing structures. This paper provides experimental and numerical investigations on the flexural performance of reinforced concrete (RC) specimens composite with encased pultruded GFRP I-sections. Five simply supported composite beams were tested in this experimental program to investigate the static flexural behavior of encased GFRP beams with high-strength concrete. Besides, the effect of using shear studs to improve the composite interaction between the GFRP beam and concrete as well as the effect of web stiffeners of GFRP were explored. Encasing the GFRP
... Show MoreThe present study focuses on synthesizing solar selective absorber thin films, combining nanostructured, binary transition metal spinel features and a composite oxide of Co and Ni. Single-layered designs of crystalline spinel-type oxides using a facile, easy and relatively cost-effective wet chemical spray pyrolysis method were prepared with a crystalline structure of MxCo3−xO4. The role of the annealing temperature on the solar selective performance of nickel-cobalt oxide thin films (∼725 ± 20 nm thick) was investigated. XRD analysis confirmed the formation of high crystalline quality thin films with a crystallite si
In the present study, the effectiveness of a procedure of electrocoagulation for removing chemical oxygen demand (COD) from the wastewater of petroleum refinery has been evaluated. Aluminum and stainless steel electrodes were used as a sacrificial anode and cathode respectively. The effect of current density (4-20mAcm−2), pH (3-11), and NaCl concentration (0-4g/l) on efficiency of removal of chemical oxygen demand was investigated. The results have shown that increasing of current density led to increase the efficiency of COD removal while increasing NaCl concentration resulted in decreasing of COD removal efficiency. Effect of pH was found to be lowering COD re