The impact of undergraduate research experiences on students' academic development and retention in STEM fields is significant. Students' success in STEM fields is based on developing strong research and critical thinking skills that make it essential for students to engage in research activities throughout their academic programs. This work evaluates the effectiveness of undergraduate research experiences with respect to its influence on student retention and academic development. The cases presented are based on years of experience implementing undergraduate research programs in various STEM fields at Colorado State University Pueblo (CSU Pueblo) funded by HSI STEM Grants. The study seeks to establish a correlation between students' retention rates and academic development and students' involvement in undergraduate research experiences and programs during their academic journey. The work also delves into different mentoring approaches, including group-based and mentoring by individual faculty. This study provides the engineering and STEM education community with a deeper understanding of the advantages of undergraduate research experiences in enriching STEM and mentoring practices that can increase students' participation and mold their academic and professional character.
Periodontal disease is typically treated with mechanical debridement of the tooth surface. It may, however, be insufficient to eradicate pathogenic microorganisms on its own. Because of the microbial etiology of periodontitis, systemic or local antibiotic therapy is used as an adjunct treatment. The present study aimed to determine the effects of curcumin gel on Porphyromonas gingivalis. Eleven patients with stage II and III periodontitis were registered in the study. A double-blinded split-mouth design followed. Periodontal pockets were distributed into 2 groups; the test group received scaling and root planing along with curcumin gel, while the control group received scaling and root planing along with a placebo gel. Plaque index,
... Show MoreIn this research, we studied the multiple linear regression models for two variables in the presence of the autocorrelation problem for the error term observations and when the error is distributed with general logistic distribution. The auto regression model is involved in the studying and analyzing of the relationship between the variables, and through this relationship, the forecasting is completed with the variables as values. A simulation technique is used for comparison methods depending
This study found that one of the constructive, necessary, beneficial, most effective, and cost-effective ways to meet the great challenge of rising energy prices is to develop and improve energy quality and efficiency. The process of improving the quality of energy and its means has been carried out in many buildings and around the world. It was found that the thermal insulation process in buildings and educational facilities has become the primary tool for improving energy efficiency, enabling us to improve and develop the internal thermal environment quality processes recommended for users (student - teacher). An excellent and essential empirical study has been conducted to calculate the fundamental values of the
... Show MoreBackground: Antimicrobial prescribing patterns have an important role in the emergence of resistance, and community pharmacists have a substantial influence on this issue. Objective: To assess community pharmacists' behaviors and attitudes toward antimicrobial dispensing, determine their proportions and categories, and examine the underlying rationales for this practice. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey of community pharmacists in Iraq was conducted from June to August 2023, using a self-administered validated questionnaire. The attitudes, practices, and motivations driving the distribution of antimicrobials without a prescription (AWP) were explored in three areas. Results: A sizable proportion (61.6%) of respondents rejected
... Show MoreIn this study, the energy charging mechanism is mathematically modeled to determine the impact of design modifications on the thermofluidic behavior of a phase change material (PCM) filled in a triplex tube containment geometry. The surface area of the middle tube, where the PCM is placed, is supported by single or multi-internal frustum tubes in vertical triplex tubes to increase the performance of the heating and cooling of the system. In addition to the ordinary straight triplex tubes, three more scenarios are considered: (1) changing the middle tube to the frustum tube, (2) changing the inner tube to the frustum tube, and (3) changing both the internal and central tubes to the frustum tubes. The impact of adopting the tube desig
... Show MoreThis study concerns the role of activated carbon (AC) from palm raceme as a support material for the enhancement of lipase-catalyzed reactions in an aqueous solution, with deep eutectic solvent (DES) as a co-solvent. The effects of carbonization temperature, impregnation ratio, and carbonization time on lipase activity were studied. The activities of Amano lipase from Burkholderia cepacia (AML) and lipase from the porcine pancreas (PPL) were used to investigate the optimum conditions for AC preparation. The results showed that AC has more interaction with PPL and effectively provides greater enzymatic activity compared with AML. The optimum treatment conditions of AC samples that yield the highest enzymatic activity were 0.5 (NaOH (
... Show MorePurpose: To explore whether baseline matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-8 level in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) (exposure) can predict the outcome (reduction in probing pocket depth (PPD) (outcome)) of nonsurgical periodontal therapy (NSPT) (manual or ultrasonic or both) in patients with periodontitis (population/problem) after 3 months. Methods: Six databases (PubMed, Cochrane library, ProQuest, Ovid, Scopus, EBSCO) were searched for relevant articles published until 30 July 2021. Retrieved articles were passed through a three-phase filtration process on the basis of the eligibility criteria. The primary outcome was the change in PPD after 3 months. Quality of the selected articles was assessed using Cochrane Risk of Bias tool (RoB2
... Show MoreBackground: The interest in herbal extracts as antimicrobial agents has increased over the past few years in endodontic therapy. Nasturtium officinale (watercress) is a promising plant with great medicinal values. This study aimed to investigate the antifungal activity of watercress oil in combination with calcium hydroxide against Candida albicans as intracanal medicament. Materials and Methods: Candida albicans was isolated from patients with necrotic root canal or failed root canal treatment. The sensitivity of Candida albicans to different concentrations of watercress oil extract was determined by using the agar well diffusion method in comparison with calcium hydroxide paste. The agar plate method was used to determine the minimum fung
... Show MoreHeavy metals contamination in aquatic ecosystems is considered one of the most important threats of aquatic life. Submerge aquatic plants Ceratophyllum demersum in its non living form used for the removal of trace elements. This article studied the ability of the fine powder of C.demersum for the removal of some heavy metals (HM) like copper, cadmium, lead and chrome from aqueous solution with in variable experimental factors. The study occupy two treatments the first included different hydrogen ions pH within a range of 4, 5,6and 8 with a constant HM concentration (1000 ppm).While the second treatment represented by using variable HM concentrations within a range of (250,500,750and 1000 ppm) with a constant pH=7.In both treatments the a
... Show MoreThis work is the first study of the Curculionoidea fauna from Kurdistan region of Iraq, based on the intensive survey in different localities of Kurdistan from March 2016 to November 2017. In total, 41 species belonging to 28 genera, 21 tribes and 3 families were collected and identified, including 25 species newly recorded for the Iraqi fauna.
General distribution, collecting localities and methods, with plant association data for each species are given.