Objectives: Maxillofacial silicone is used to restore abnormalities due to congenital or acquired causes. However, the quality of silicone is far from ideal. This study was aimed at assessing the influence of the addition of cellulose nanofibers (CNFs; several nanometers wide and 2-5 micro m long) on the physical and mechanical characteristics of maxillofacial silicone elastomers. Methods: Two CNF weight percentages (0.5% and 1%) were tested, and 180 specimens were divided into one control and two experimental groups. Each group was subdivided into six subgroups. In each subgroup, ten specimens subjected to each of the following tests: tearing strength, Shore-A hardness, tensile strength, elongation percentage, surface roughness, and color stability. The samples were additionally analyzed with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and field emission scanning electronic microscopy (FESEM). Results: The 0.5% CNF group, compared with the control group, exhibited highly significantly greater tearing strength, elongation percentage, hardness Shore-A, and surface roughness, and substantially greater tensile strength. However, color stability did not significantly differ between groups. The 1% CNF group showed significantly greater Shore-A hardness, tear strength, color stability, and surface roughness, and insignificantly lower tensile strength and percentage elongating values, than the control group. FESEM imaging revealed good CNF dispersion. The FTIR spectra indicated that CNFs interacted with silicon through surface functional hydroxyl groups. Conclusion: Addition of 0.5 wt. % CNF to silicone elastomers increased the material’s mechanical tensile strength, tear strength, elongation percentage, and hardness as long as it stayed within the acceptable range for clinical use. Surface roughness increased in direct proportion to the amount of nanofibers added. Moreover, addition of 0.5 wt. % CNF to silicone polymers had insignificant effects on color stability.
Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease highly prevalent worldwide. Recent studies have suggested a role for microbiome-associated gut–lung axis in asthma development. In the current study, we investigated if Resveratrol (RES), a plant-based polyphenol, can attenuate ovalbumin (OVA)-induced murine allergic asthma, and if so, the role of microbiome in the gut–lung axis in this process. We found that RES attenuated allergic asthma with significant improvements in pulmonary functions in OVA-exposed mice when tested using plethysmography for frequency (F), mean volume (MV), specific airway resistance (sRaw), and delay time(dT). RES treatment also suppressed inflammatory cytokines in the lungs. RES modulated lung microbiota and cause
... Show MoreThe present study deals with the story of Epidemic in two literary works issued in the same year (1947). One of them is a novel titled "Plague" written by the French writer Alber Kamo, the second is a poem of the Iraqi poetess Nazik Al-Malaekah. The research reflects a contrastive study of the war vision in the two works as both writers used science to serve literature by using Epidemic as a metaphor to refer to the dangers that the societies faced.
The problem of the present research lies in answering the question about the reason that makes the two writers use metaphor while narrating the issues of the society instead of mentioning them directly and illuminate what implications do the narrative style of Epidemic story have and
... Show MoreThe study aims to demonstrate the importance of instructional methods in teaching Arabic language as a second language or teaching the Arabic language to non-native speakers. The study is in line with the tremendous development in the field of knowledge, especially in the field of technology and communication, and the emergence of many electronic media in education in general and language teaching in particular. It employs an image in teaching vocabulary and presenting the experience of the Arabic Language Institute for Non-Speakers-King Abdul-Aziz University. The study follows the descriptive approach to solve the problem represented by the lack of interest in the educational methods when teaching Arabic as a second language. Accordingl
... Show MoreThe current study aims to identify the feeling of job alienation and organizational commitment among free lecturers in secondary schools, as well as to identify the significance of the differences in the feeling of job alienation according to the gender and the significance of the differences in organizational commitment according to the gender. It also aims to identify the correlation between the feeling of job alienation and organizational commitment. To achieve the objectives of the research, the researcher developed two scales: one consisted of (24) items to measure the vacancy in job alienation and the other consisted of (24) items to measure the organizational commitment. The two tools were applied to a sample of (200) male and fem
... Show MoreA series of coordination compounds of Zr(IV), Cd(II) and Sn(II) ions with 4-(((3-mercapto-5-phenyl-4H-1,2,4-triazole-4-yl)imino)methyl)-2-methoxyphenol, as a ligand has been successfully prepared in alcoholic medium. The prepared complexes were characterized quantitatively and qualitatively by using: elemental analysis CHNS, FT-IR spectroscopy, UV-visible spectroscopy, 1H and 13CNMR, atomic absorption measurements, magnetic susceptibility, thermal analysis)TG and DTG) and conductivity measurements. This ligand coordinates as a bidentate that to the metal ions through sulphur and nitrogen of (azomethine group) atoms. According to the spectral data, Cd(II)- and Sn(II)-complexes have coordination of 6 with octahedral geometry while the Zr(I
... Show MoreLe présent travail aborde la question de l’enseignement de traduction en tant que matière faisant partie du programme élaboré dans des Départements de Français au sein de certaines universités irakiennes, en particulier celle de Bagdad. La méthode d’enseigner suivie constitue une véritable problématique qu’on a bien diagnostiquée à partir de quelques années d’expériences, à la lumière des observations faites dans des cours de traduction professionnelle, et dans la perspective des citations et témoignages établies par des traductologues et pédagogues et principalement par Marianne LEDERER qui a établi la Théorie Interprétative de la traduction. Mais pourquoi l’enseignement lui-même poserait une telle probl
... Show MoreThe ability of insurance companies to achieve goals depends on their ability to meet customers' requirements, and this requires them to identify target markets and respond to needs and wishes of the markets, the skill is to convince the company to operate what is in the interest of the customer if he is convinced the customer service provided to him, he would repeat to deal with, and where the cost of maintaining existing customers is less than the cost of attracting new customers, the insurance companies that is working hard to maintain their customers, the more customer satisfaction with the services provided has increased loyalty and weakened the ability of competitors lured.
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This study comes as: The responsibility of the Iraqi newspapers in promoting the political culture inside society, an analytical study in newspapers: Al-Sabah, Al-Ittihad, Al-Aalam for 2/ 3/ 2013 to 31/ 3/ 2013 to spot light on the extent to which the three mentioned newspapers are compliance with the promotion of the political culture inside society which is seen as one of the essential requirements for the success and promotion of the democratic process inside society.
The study aims to: finding out the extent to which these newspapers are compliance with their responsibility in the promoting the political culture inside society; knowing the nature of their role in pr
... Show MoreHygienic engineering has dedicated a lot of time and energy to studying water filtration because of how important it is to human health. Thorough familiarity with the filtration process is essential for the design engineer to keep up with and profit from advances in filtering technology and equipment as the properties of raw water continue to change. Because it removes sediment, chemicals, odors, and microbes, filtration is an integral part of the water purification process. The most popular technique for treating surface water for municipal water supply is considered fast sand filtration, which can be achieved using either gravity or pressure sand filters. Predicting the performance of units in water treatment plants is a basic pri
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