Electrochemical machining is one of the widely used non-conventional machining processes to machine complex and difficult shapes for electrically conducting materials, such as super alloys, Ti-alloys, alloy steel, tool steel and stainless steel.  Use of optimal ECM process conditions can significantly reduce the ECM operating, tooling, and maintenance cost and can produce components with higher accuracy. This paper studies the effect of process parameters on surface roughness (Ra) and material removal rate (MRR), and the optimization of process conditions in ECM. Experiments were conducted based on Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array (OA) with three process parameters viz. current, electrolyte concentration, and inter-electrode gap. Sig

The gamma dose rates and specific activity of 137Cs, 60Co and 40K in
samples of soil taken from places near the landfill radiation at Al-
Tuwaitha site were measured using a portable NaI(Tl) detector. The
results of gamma dose rates in samples were ranged from 52.6
nGy.h-1 to 131nGy.h-1. Then the specific activity of 137Cs, 60Co and
40K in soil were determined using high pure germanium (HPGe)
detector. The specific activities were varied from 1.9 to 115500 Bq.
kg-1 for 137Cs, from 6.37 to 616.5 Bq. kg-1 for 60Co, and from 3 to
839.5 Bq. kg-1 for 40K. The corresponding health risk for the annual
effective dose equivalent varied from 1.85×10-14 to 15.7mSv/y. The
results were compared with various internationa

Abstract: The use of indirect, all-ceramic restorations has grown in popularity among dentists. Studies have demonstrated that for indirect ceramic restorations to be effective over time, cement and ceramic must be bonded in a stable manner. Chemical, mechanical, and laser irradiation are among the methods used to precondition ceramic surfaces in order to increase bond strength.The objective of the study: This study was performed to investigate the roughness values and surface topography of lithium disilicate glass-ceramic treated with conventional methods and different Er,Cr:YSGG, and fractional CO₂ laser conditioning parameters.Material and methods:<

An atomic force microscope (AFM) technique is utilized to investigate the polystyrene (PS) impact upon the morphological properties of the outer as well as inner surface of poly vinyl chloride (PVC) porous fibers. Noticeable a new shape of the nodules at the outer and inner surfaces, namely "Crater nodules", has been observed. The fibers surface images have seen to be regular nodular texture at the skin of the inner and outer surfaces at low PS content. At PS content of 6 wt.%, the nodules structure was varied from Crater shape to stripe. While with increasing of PS content, the pore density reduces as a result of increasing the size of the pore at the fiber surface. Moreover, the test of 3D-AFM images shows that the roughness of both su

Background: Human semen contains high concentrations of fructose, zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) in bound and ionic forms for Zn and Cu. The presence of abnormal levels of fructose and those trace elements may affect spermatogenesis with regard to production, maturation, motility and fertilizing capacity of the spermatozoa.Objective: To evaluate the levels of fructose, Zn and Cu in seminal plasma in different groups of male infertility and to correlate their concentrations with various sperm parameters.Methods: The concentrations of fructose, Zn and Cu were measured in 114 semen samples from normozoospermic, oligozoospermic, astheno-zoospermic, and azoospermic men using the electrothermal-atomic absorption spectrometry for Zn and Cu determinatio

Background: Plasma-activated water (PAW) is considered one of the emerging strategies that has been highlighted recently in the food industry for microbial decontamination and mycotoxin detoxification, due to its unique provisional characteristics. Aim: The effectiveness of PAW for aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), ochratoxin A (OTA), and fumonisin B1 (FB1) detoxification in naturally contaminated poultry feeds with its impacts on the feed quality were inspected. Methods: PAW-30 and PAW-60 were utilized for feed treatment for six time durations (5, 10, 15, 20, 40 and 60 min) each. The alterations in the physicochemical properties of PAW after different time durations of plasma inducement and treatment with and without feed samples were monit

Objective: The goal of this research is to load Doxorubicin (DOX) on silver nanoparticles coupled with folic acid and test their anticancer properties against breast cancer. Methods: Chitosan-Capped silver nanoparticles (CS-AgNPs) were manufactured and loaded with folic acid as well as an anticancer drug, Doxorubicin, to form CS-AgNPs-DOX-FA conjugate. AFM, FTIR, and SEM techniques were used to characterize the samples. The produced multifunctional nano-formulation served as an intrinsic drug delivery system, allowing for effective loading and targeting of chemotherapeutics on the Breast cancer (AMJ 13) cell line. Flowcytometry was used to assess therapy efficacy by measuring apoptotic induction.  Results: DOX and CS-Ag

The study was planned to evaluate the effect of adding Guanidinoacetic acid in some characteristics of the sperm of the rams. This study was conducted in the animal field of the Animal Production Department / Faculty of Agricultural Engineering Sciences / University of Baghdad, for the period from 5/8/2018 to 28/2/2019. In this experiment, 3 rams were used at the age of 2-2.5 years and weighed 50-54 kg. The semen was collected early in the morning and once a week and the semen was pooled to remove the individual differences. The treatments were divided: GAA-free control group, treatment T1 (0.05 mg / 100 ml GAA), T2 treatment (0.1 mg / 100 ml GAA) and T3 treatment (0.2 mg / 100 ml GAA). The results of the study showed a significant decrease

Optical properties of chromium oxide (Cr2O3) thin films which were prepared by pulse laser deposition method, onto glass substrates. Different laser energy (500-900) mJ were used to obtain Cr2O3 thin films with thickness ranging from 177.3 to 372.4 nm were measured using Tolansky method. Then films were annealed at temperature equal to 300 °C. Absorption spectra were used to determine the absorption coefficient of the films, and the effects of the annealing temperature on the absorption coefficient were investigated. The absorption edge shifted to red range of wavelength, and the optical constants of Cr2O3 films increases as the annealing temperature increased to 300 °C. X-ray diffraction (XRD) study reveals that Cr2O3 thin films are a