Objectives To tailor composites of polyethylene–hydroxyapatite to function as a new intracanal post for the restoration of endodontically treated teeth (ETT). Methods Silanated hydroxyapatite (HA) and zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) filled low-density polyethylene (LDPE) composites were fabricated by a melt extrusion process and characterised using infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The flexural strength and modulus were determined in dry state and post ageing in simulated body fluid and fractured surfaces analysed by SEM. The water uptake and radiographic appearance of the experimental composites were also measured and compared with a commercially known endodontic fibre

This study investigates the potential of biogas recovery from used engine oil (UEO) by co-digestion with animals’ manure, including cow dung (CD), poultry manure (PM), and cattle manure (CM). The experimental work was carried out in anaerobic biodigesters at mesophilic conditions (37°C). Two groups of biodigesters were prepared. Each group consisted of 4 digesters. UEO was the main component in the first group of biodigesters with and without inoculum, whereby a mix of UEO and petroleum refinery oily sludge (ROS) was the component in the second group of biodigesters. The results revealed that for UEO-based biodigesters, maximum biogas production was 0.98, 1.23, 1.93, and 0 ml/g VS from UEO±CD, UEO±CM, UEO±PM, and U

Video copyright protection is the most generally acknowledged method of preventing data piracy. This paper proposes a blind video copyright protection technique based on the Fast Walsh Hadamard Transform (FWHT), Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), and Arnold Map. The proposed method chooses only frames with maximum and minimum energy features to host the watermark. It also exploits the advantages of both the fast Walsh Hadamard transform (FWHT) and discrete wavelet transforms (DWT) for watermark embedding. The Arnold map encrypts watermarks before the embedding process and decrypts watermarks after extraction. The results show that the proposed method can achieve a fast embedding time, good transparency, and robustness against various

The present study aims to identify wisdom-based thinking and its relationship to psychological capital. It further aims to find out the differences in the level of wisdom-based thinking and psychological capital according to the variables of gender and specialization (scientific, humanities). To achieve this, the study has been conducted on a sample of (380) male and female students. The two scales, wisdom-based thinking and psychological capital are implemented to the sample after being constructed by the researcher and after ensuring their psychometric characteristics' suitability for the study's aims. Results concerning the first aim have shown that there is a significant relationship among students. The second aim has revealed that t

In this paper, an analytical solution describing the deflection of a cracked beam repaired with piezoelectric patch is introduced. The solution is derived using perturbation method. A novel analytical model to calculate the proper dimensions of piezoelectric patches used to repair cracked beams is also introduced. This model shows that the thickness of the piezoelectric patch depends mainly on the thickness of the cracked beam, the electro-mechanical properties of the patch material, the applied load and the crack location. Furthermore, the model shows that the length of the piezoelectric patches depends on the thickness of the patch as well as it depends on the length of the cracked beam and the crack depth. The additional flexibil

In this paper, an analytical solution describing the deflection of a cracked beam repaired with piezoelectric patch is introduced. The solution is derived using perturbation method. A novel analytical model to calculate the proper dimensions of piezoelectric patches used to repair cracked beams is also introduced. This model shows that the thickness of the piezoelectric patch depends mainly on the thickness of the cracked beam, the electro-mechanical properties of the patch material, the applied load and the crack location. Furthermore, the model shows that the length of the piezoelectric patches depends on the thickness of the patch as well as it depends on the length of the cracked beam and the crack depth. The additio

In this study, a fast block matching search algorithm based on blocks' descriptors and multilevel blocks filtering is introduced. The used descriptors are the mean and a set of centralized low order moments. Hierarchal filtering and MAE similarity measure were adopted to nominate the best similar blocks lay within the pool of neighbor blocks. As next step to blocks nomination the similarity of the mean and moments is used to classify the nominated blocks and put them in one of three sub-pools, each one represents certain nomination priority level (i.e., most, less & least level). The main reason of the introducing nomination and classification steps is a significant reduction in the number of matching instances of the pixels belong to the c

Image compression is one of the data compression types applied to digital images in order to reduce their high cost for storage and/or transmission. Image compression algorithms may take the benefit of visual sensitivity and statistical properties of image data to deliver superior results in comparison with generic data compression schemes, which are used for other digital data. In the first approach, the input image is divided into blocks, each of which is 16 x 16, 32 x 32, or 64 x 64 pixels. The blocks are converted first into a string; then, encoded by using a lossless and dictionary-based algorithm known as arithmetic coding. The more occurrence of the pixels values is codded in few bits compare with pixel values of less occurre

Mammography is at present one of the available method for early detection of masses or abnormalities which is related to breast cancer. The most common abnormalities that may indicate breast cancer are masses and calcifications. The challenge lies in early and accurate detection to overcome the development of breast cancer that affects more and more women throughout the world. Breast cancer is diagnosed at advanced stages with the help of the digital mammogram images. Masses appear in a mammogram as fine, granular clusters, which are often difficult to identify in a raw mammogram. The incidence of breast cancer in women has increased significantly in recent years.
This paper proposes a computer aided diagnostic system for the extracti

OpenStreetMap (OSM) represents the most common example of online volunteered mapping applications. Most of these platforms are open source spatial data collected by non-experts volunteers using different data collection methods. OSM project aims to provide a free digital map for all the world. The heterogeneity in data collection methods made OSM project databases accuracy is unreliable and must be dealt with caution for any engineering application. This study aims to assess the horizontal positional accuracy of three spatial data sources are OSM road network database, high-resolution Satellite Image (SI), and high-resolution Aerial Photo (AP) of Baghdad city with respect to an analogue formal road network dataset obtain