Background: Dental erosion is a common oral condition which results due to consumption of high caloric and low pH acidic food such as carbonated drinks and fruit juices. It is expected that these food types can cause irreversible damage to dental hard tissues and early deterioration of the dental restorations. So, this study aimed to evaluate and compare the erosive potential effects of orange fruit juice and Miranda orange drink on the microhardness of an orthodontic composite material. Materials and methods: Thirty discs with a thickness of 2 mm and a diameter of 10 mm were prepared from orthodontic bonding composite. The prepared discs were equally divided into three groups (n=10). Microhardness analysis was carried out both prior to

To enhance the structural performance of concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) columns, various strengthening techniques have been proposed, including the use of internal steel stiffeners, external wrapping with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets, and embedded steel elements. However, the behavior of concrete-filled stainless-steel tube (CFSST) columns remains insufficiently explored. This study numerically investigates the axial performance of square CFSST columns internally strengthened with embedded I-section steel profiles under biaxial eccentric loading. Finite element (FE) simulations were conducted using ABAQUS v. 6.2, and the developed models were validated against experimental results from the literature. A comprehen

A novel demountable shear connector for precast steel-concrete composite bridges is presented. The connector uses high-strength steel bolts, which are fastened to the top flange of the steel beam with the aid of a special locking nut configuration that prevents bolts from slipping within their holes. Moreover, the connector promotes accelerated construction and overcomes the typical construction tolerance issues of precast structures. Most importantly, the connector allows bridge disassembly. Therefore, it can address different bridge deterioration scenarios with minimum disturbance to traffic flow including the following: (1) precast deck panels can be rapidly uplifted and replaced; (2) connectors can be rapidly removed and replaced; and (

A hierarchically porous structured zeolite composite was synthesized from NaX zeolite supported on carbonaceous porous material produced by thermal treatment for plum stones which is an agro-waste. This kind of inorganic-organic composite has an improved performance because bulky molecules can easily access the micropores due to the short diffusion path to the active sites which means a higher diffusion rate. The composite was prepared using a green synthesis method, including an eco-friendly polymer to attach NaX zeolite on the carbon surface by phase inversion. The synthesized composite was characterized using X-ray diffraction spectrometry, Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy d

The cost-effective removal of heavy metal ions represents a significant challenge in environmental science. In this study, we developed a straightforward and efficient reusable adsorbent by amalgamating chitosan and vermiculite (forming the CSVT composite), and comprehensively investigated its selective adsorption mechanism. Different techniques, such as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), zeta potential analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer, Emmett, Teller (BET) analysis were employed for this purpose. The prepared CSVT composite exhibited a larger surface area and higher mesoporosity increasing from 1.9 to 17.24 m2/g compared to pristine chitosan. The adsorption capabilities of the

One of the recent significant but challenging research studies in computational biology and bioinformatics is to unveil protein complexes from protein-protein interaction networks (PPINs). However, the development of a reliable algorithm to detect more complexes with high quality is still ongoing in many studies. The main contribution of this paper is to improve the effectiveness of the well-known modularity density ( ) model when used as a single objective optimization function in the framework of the canonical evolutionary algorithm (EA). To this end, the design of the EA is modified with a gene ontology-based mutation operator, where the aim is to make a positive collaboration between the modularity density model and the proposed