Background. To identify the most common retention protocols practiced by Iraqi orthodontists using a specially designed e-survey. Furthermore, this study aimed to assess the effect of sociodemographic factors on the participant’s choice. Methods. Two hundred and twenty-five questionnaires with 23 multiple choice questions were sent to members of the Iraqi Orthodontic Society. The questionnaire was organized into four sections representing information about sociodemographic status of the orthodontists, factors affecting the selection of the retention system, commonly used retainers in the upper arch and lower arch, and duration of the retention system. The chi-square test was used to test the significant association between differe

This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of conventional ingredients replacement with alternative ingredients on growth performance, carcass quality, nutrient digestibility and intestinal microbial of broilers. One hundred twenty Cobb500 broiler chicks were randomly assigned to four diets. Corn, soybean meal and fish meal were replaced with rice waste, meat and bone waste and black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) at 0, 10, 30 and 50% to form four treatments. Body weight gain, feed conversion ratio and digestibility of crude protein and fat were improved in broilers fed the replacement diets. Feed intake was not affected by the treatments suggesting that the replacement diets were well accepted by the chicken. Escherichia coli was decre

By optimizing the efficiency of a modular simulation model of the PV module structure by genetic algorithm, under several weather conditions, as a portion of recognizing the ideal plan of a Near Zero Energy Household (NZEH), an ideal life cycle cost can be performed. The optimum design from combinations of NZEH-variable designs, are construction positioning, window-to-wall proportion, and glazing categories, which will help maximize the energy created by photovoltaic panels. Comprehensive simulation technique and modeling are utilized in the solar module I-V and for P-V output power. Both of them are constructed on the famous five-parameter model.  In addition, the efficiency of the PV panel is established by the genetic algorithm

Information systems and data exchange between government institutions are growing rapidly around the world, and with it, the threats to information within government departments are growing. In recent years, research into the development and construction of secure information systems in government institutions seems to be very effective. Based on information system principles, this study proposes a model for providing and evaluating security for all of the departments of government institutions. The requirements of any information system begin with the organization's surroundings and objectives. Most prior techniques did not take into account the organizational component on which the information system runs, despite the relevance of

The Na Bop-Pu Sap Pb-Zn ore bodies represent a typical vein-type lead-zinc deposit situated in the Cho Don area and are currently being extracted for their lead and zinc resources. This deposit is characterized by its significant scale and quality and is considered one of the prominent lead-zinc deposits in the Cho Don area. Despite its significance, this deposit has not received adequate attention, resulting in limited knowledge of its geology, mineralization, and deposit genesis model. To address this knowledge gap, our study utilized several methodologies, including field surveying, ore mineral analysis under a microscope, and S and Pb isotopic geochemistry. By employing these approaches, we were able to obtain specific insights

Hydrated lime has been recognized as an effective additive used to improve asphalt concrete properties in pavement applications. However, further work is still needed to quantify the effect of hydrated lime on asphaltic concrete performance under varied weather, temperature, and environmental conditions and in the application of different pavement courses. A research project was conducted using hydrated lime to modify the asphalt concretes used for the applications of wearing (surface), leveling (binder), and base courses. A previous publication reported the experimental study on the resistance to Marshall stability and the volumetric properties, the resilient modulus, and permanent deformation at three different weather temperatures. This

The present study aimed to synthesize selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) using aqueous extract of black currant as a reducing agent. The green synthesized black currant selenium nanoparticles (BCSeNPs) were identified by color change. The characterization of SeNPs was achieved by Ultraviolet-visible (UV–VIS) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X–ray diffraction analysis (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). These tests were used to detect: stability, morphology, size, crystalline nature, and functional groups present on the surface of BCSeNPs. The results revealed appearance of the brick-red color indicating the specific color of selenium nanoparticles, and UV-Vis spectroscopy showed band absorbanc

Upper limb amputation is a condition that severely limits the amputee’s movement. Patients who have lost the use of one or more of their upper extremities have difficulty performing activities of daily living. To help improve the control of upper limb prosthesis with pattern recognition, non-invasive approaches (EEG and EMG signals) is proposed in this paper and are integrated with machine learning techniques to recognize the upper-limb motions of subjects. EMG and EEG signals are combined, and five features are utilized to classify seven hand movements such as (wrist flexion (WF), outward part of the wrist (WE), hand open (HO), hand close (HC), pronation (PRO), supination (SUP), and rest (RST)). Experiments demonstrate that usin

In this study, NAC-capped CdTe/CdS/ZnS core/double shell QDs were synthesized in an aqueous medium to investigate their utility in distinguishing normal DNA from mutated DNA extracted from biological samples. Following the interaction between the synthesized QDs with DNA extracted from leukemia cases (represents damaged DNA) and that of healthy donors (represents undamaged DNA), differential fluorescent emission maxima and intensities were observed. It was found that damaged DNA from leukemic cells DNA-QDs conjugates at 585 nm while intact DNA (from healthy subjects) DNA–QDs conjugates at 574 nm. The obtained results from the optical analyses indicate that the prepared QDs could be utilized as probe for detecting disrupted DNA th

One of the most opportunistic mycosis globally is the Candida ssp., which is considered as the most agent that cause nosocomial urinary tract infections (UTIs), oral candidiasis and genitourinary candidiasis. This study included 100 samples of Iraqi subjects suffering from urinary tract infections. Identification of Candida have been done by different methods such as; characteristic of colony on culture, gram stain, and microscopically. This study aimed to isolation and identification of Candida spp from urine sample of UTI patients and find the relevance of ages and blood group of patients with the infections rate, also determine the effect of age on ESR and CRP levels in the patients. The results showed the higher frequency of

       Iraq is a developing country with a high population. In Iraq, heavy metal and metalloid contamination has resulted from both industrialisation and environmental sources, providing serious health risks to the local population. We conducted one of the most comprehensive analyses on the current state of Iraq's heavy metal and metalloid pollution in this paper, which included water, soil, paddy, and rice. A study was carried out to determine the concentration of heavy metals including Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), Cobalt (Co), Magnesium (Mg), Aluminum (Al), and Copper (Cu) of 39 irrigation water samples, 75 soil samples, 75 paddy samples, and 75 rice samples in two Iraqi governorates (Diyala , and Salah al-

     The study of the chemical and physical factors that induce egg-laying is important for understanding mosquitoes' ecology. These substances may also help assess and control mosquito populations. With this in mind, we have highlighted the attractiveness of Culex pipiens gravid females concerning the containers' color and surface, which has enabled us to show that females of this species are always attracted to large containers of yellow. The ethological tests were made with four biopesticides on the attractiveness of C. pipiens females. It has been observed that the highest densities of the eggs are deposited in the container which contains the biopesticides extracts compared to that which includes the spring wat

SUMMARY. The objectives of the present study were to assess the possible predictors of COVID-19 severity and duration of hospitalization and to identify the possible correlation between patient parameters, disease severity and duration of hospitalization. The study included retrospective medical record extraction of previous coron avirus COVID-19 patients in Basra hospitals, Iraq from March 1st and May 31st, 2020. The information of the participants was investigated anonymously. All the patients’ characteristics, treatments, vital signs and laboratory tests (hematological, renal and liver function tests) were collected. The analysis was conducted using the SPSS (version 22, USA). Spearman correlation was used to measure the relations

Nefopam (N.F.) HCl is a non-narcotic centrally-acting, non-opioid benzoxazocine analgesic to relieve acute and chronic pain. It exhibits low bioavailability (about 36%) due to its first-pass degradation in the liver.

Intranasal administration has been used as a new route for targeting active brain sites and enhancing the bioavailability of N.F. HCl bypassing hepatic metabolism.

In situ gel of N.F. HCl was prepared by the cold method using different concentrations of Poloxamer 407, Poloxamer 188, HPMC K4M, Carbapol 934, and Hyaluronic acid polymers.

The results show that identification tests are superimposed with references, solubility study shows that N.F. HCl is suitable to be administered intranasally; Compatibi

Software-defined networking (SDN) is an innovative network paradigm, offering substantial control of network operation through a network’s architecture. SDN is an ideal platform for implementing projects involving distributed applications, security solutions, and decentralized network administration in a multitenant data center environment due to its programmability. As its usage rapidly expands, network security threats are becoming more frequent, leading SDN security to be of significant concern. Machine-learning (ML) techniques for intrusion detection of DDoS attacks in SDN networks utilize standard datasets and fail to cover all classification aspects, resulting in under-coverage of attack diversity. This paper proposes a hybr

Test results of six half-scale reinforced concrete flat plates connections with an opening in the vicinity of the column are reported. The test specimens represent a portion of a slab bounded by the lines of contraflexure around the column. The tests were designed to study the effect of openings on the punching shear behavior of the slab-column connections. The test parameters were the location and the size of the openings. One specimen had no opening and the remaining five had various arrangements of openings around the column. All specimens were cast with normal density concrete of approximately 30 MPa compressive strength. The openings in the specimens were square, with the sides parallel to the sides of the column. Three sizes of ope

Since its first description as a cytotoxic agent, Olea europaea leaves extract gained significant popularity against human breast cancer, ethyl acetate extract of Olea europaea leaves obtained by acid hydrolysis method was evaluated in vitro as cytotoxic agent against new human breast cancer (AMJ13) cell line, using the MTT assay. One main pentacyclic triterpenoid; oleanolic acid, was isolated from leaves of Olea europaea by well-known two different methods, but not used for this compound before, the acidic hydrolysis method and basic acidic method. The presence of oleanolic acid was proved in both methods with qualitative and quantitative d

In this study, we have created a new Arabic dataset annotated according to Ekman’s basic emotions (Anger, Disgust, Fear, Happiness, Sadness and Surprise). This dataset is composed from Facebook posts written in the Iraqi dialect. We evaluated the quality of this dataset using four external judges which resulted in an average inter-annotation agreement of 0.751. Then we explored six different supervised machine learning methods to test the new dataset. We used Weka standard classifiers ZeroR, J48, Naïve Bayes, Multinomial Naïve Bayes for Text, and SMO. We also used a further compression-based classifier called PPM not included in Weka. Our study reveals that the PPM classifier significantly outperforms other classifiers such as SVM and N

Manganese sulfate and Punica granatum plant extract were used to create MnO₂ nanoparticles, which were then characterized using techniques like Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The crystal's size was calculated to be 30.94nm by employing the Debye Scherrer equation in X-ray diffraction. MnO₂ NPs were shown to be effective in adsorbing M(II) = Co, Ni, and Cu ions, proving that all three metal ions may be removed from water in one go. Ni(II) has a higher adsorption rate throughout the board. Co, Ni, and Cu ion removal efficiencie

Due to the huge variety of 5G services, Network slicing is promising mechanism for dividing the physical network resources in to multiple logical network slices according to the requirements of each user. Highly accurate and fast traffic classification algorithm is required to ensure better Quality of Service (QoS) and effective network slicing. Fine-grained resource allocation can be realized by Software Defined Networking (SDN) with centralized controlling of network resources. However, the relevant research activities have concentrated on the deep learning systems which consume enormous computation and storage requirements of SDN controller that results in limitations of speed and accuracy of traffic classification mechanism. To fill thi

The lower Cretaceous sandstones of Zubair and Nahr Umr formations are the main producing reservoirs in Subba oilfield in southern Iraq. Key differences in their petrophysical and depositional attributes exist affecting their reservoir characteristics. The evaluation of well logs and core porosity-permeability data show better reservoir properties in Nahr Formation. The Litho-saturation logs indicate greater thickness of oil-saturated reservoir units for Nahr Unr Formation associated with lower values of shale volume, and higher values of effective porosity. In addition, higher values of permeability for Nahr Umr Formation is suggested by applying porosity-irreducible water saturation cross plot. The reducing reservoir quality of Zub