Background: This in vitro study compares a novel calcium-phosphate etchant paste to conventional 37% phosphoric acid gel for bonding metal and ceramic brackets by evaluating the shear bond strength, remnant adhesive and enamel damage following water storage, acid challenge and fatigue loading. Material and Methods: Metal and ceramic brackets were bonded to 240 extracted human premolars using two enamel conditioning protocols: conventional 37% phosphoric acid (PA) gel (control), and an acidic calcium-phosphate (CaP) paste. The CaP paste was prepared from β-tricalcium phosphate and monocalcium phosphate monohydrate powders mixed with 37% phosphoric acid solution, and the resulting phase was confirmed using FTIR. The bonded premolars were exposed to four artificial ageing models to examine the shear bond strength (SBS), adhesive remnant index (ARI score), with stereomicroscopic evaluation of enamel damage. Results: Metal and ceramic control subgroups yielded significantly higher (p ˂ 0.05) SBS (17.1-31.8 MPa) than the CaP subgroups (11.4-23.8 MPa) post all artificial ageing protocols, coupled with higher ARI scores and evidence of enamel damage. In contrast, the CaP subgroups survived all artificial ageing tests by maintaining adequate SBS for clinical performance, with the advantages of leaving unblemished enamel surface and bracket failures at the enamel-adhesive interface. Conclusions: Enamel conditioning with acidic CaP pastes attained adequate bond strengths with no or minimal adhesive residue and enamel damage, suggesting a suitable alternative to the conventional PA gel for orthodontic bonding.
After 2003, Iraq underwent a profound political and economic transformation, accompanied by various challenges, including the burden of accumulated external debt. The post-regime government restructured Iraq’s debt within the framework of the ‘Paris Club’ and through bilateral negotiations with creditor countries. The debt rescheduling aimed to alleviate the financial burden and reintegrate Iraq into the global financial system, but this process was conditional upon implementing economic and political reforms. External political factors played a crucial role in debt rescheduling. Decisions regarding rescheduling were influenced by the political motives of major powers seeking to achieve strategic gains in Iraq. Additionally, t
... Show MoreBackground: Complete removal of filling material from the root canal is an essential requirement for endodontic retreatment. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate and compare the dissolving capabilities of various solvents (Xylene, Eugenate Desobturator, Eucalyptol, EDTA and Distilled water (as a control)) on four different types of sealer (Endofill, Apexit Plus, AH Plus and EndoSequence bioceramic sealer). Materials and method: Eighty samples of each sealer were prepared according to the manufacturers' instructions and then divided into ten groups (of 8 samples) for immersion in the respective solvents for 2 and 5 min immersion periods. Each sealer specimen was weighed to obtain its initial mass. The specimens were immersed in
... Show MorePhosphorus is usually the limiting nutrient for eutrophication in inland receiving waters; therefore, phosphorus concentrations must be controlled. In the present study, a series of jar test was conducted to evaluate the optimum pH, dosage and performance parameters for coagulants alum and calcium chloride. Phosphorus removal by alum was found to be highly pH dependent with an optimum pH of 5.7-6. At this pH an alum dosage of 80 mg/l removed 83 % of the total phosphorus. Better removal was achieved when the solution was buffered at pH = 6. Phosphorus removal was not affected by varying the slow mixing period; this is due to the fact that the reaction is relatively fast.
The dosage of calcium chloride and pH of solution play an importa
This paper presents a robust algorithm for the assessment of risk priority for medical equipment based on the calculation of static and dynamic risk factors and Kohnen Self Organization Maps (SOM). Four risk parameters have been calculated for 345 medical devices in two general hospitals in Baghdad. Static risk factor components (equipment function and physical risk) and dynamics risk components (maintenance requirements and risk points) have been calculated. These risk components are used as an input to the unsupervised Kohonen self organization maps. The accuracy of the network was found to be equal to 98% for the proposed system. We conclude that the proposed model gives fast and accurate assessment for risk priority and it works as p
... Show MoreFlexible job-shop scheduling problem (FJSP) is one of the instances in flexible manufacturing systems. It is considered as a very complex to control. Hence generating a control system for this problem domain is difficult. FJSP inherits the job-shop scheduling problem characteristics. It has an additional decision level to the sequencing one which allows the operations to be processed on any machine among a set of available machines at a facility. In this article, we present Artificial Fish Swarm Algorithm with Harmony Search for solving the flexible job shop scheduling problem. It is based on the new harmony improvised from results obtained by artificial fish swarm algorithm. This improvised solution is sent to comparison to an overall best
... Show MoreArtificial Intelligence Algorithms have been used in recent years in many scientific fields. We suggest employing flower pollination algorithm in the environmental field to find the best estimate of the semi-parametric regression function with measurement errors in the explanatory variables and the dependent variable, where measurement errors appear frequently in fields such as chemistry, biological sciences, medicine, and epidemiological studies, rather than an exact measurement. We estimate the regression function of the semi-parametric model by estimating the parametric model and estimating the non-parametric model, the parametric model is estimated by using an instrumental variables method (Wald method, Bartlett’s method, and Durbin
... Show MoreThis research aims to know the role and impact of participation in the capabilities of human resources programs, and for the purpose of measuring it has been determined the dimensions of these two variables by relying on standards for this purpose, was chosen as the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research / device supervision and scientific calendar as one of the important departments in the ministry and includes a large number of individuals at different organizational levels for the purpose of answering a questionnaire prepared for the purpose of measurement and access to the results and the achievement of the objectives of the research and which ha
... Show MoreThe proposal of nonlinear models is one of the most important methods in time series analysis, which has a wide potential for predicting various phenomena, including physical, engineering and economic, by studying the characteristics of random disturbances in order to arrive at accurate predictions.
In this, the autoregressive model with exogenous variable was built using a threshold as the first method, using two proposed approaches that were used to determine the best cutting point of [the predictability forward (forecasting) and the predictability in the time series (prediction), through the threshold point indicator]. B-J seasonal models are used as a second method based on the principle of the two proposed approaches in dete
... Show MoreThe deterioration of buried sewers during their lifetime can be affected by several factors leading to bad performance and can damage the infrastructure similar to other engineering structures. The Hydraulic deterioration of the buried sewers caused by sewer blockages while the structural deterioration caused by sewer collapses due to sewer specifications and the surrounding soil characteristics and the groundwater level. The main objective of this research is to develop deterioration models, which are used to predict changes in sewer condition that can provide assessment tools for determining the serviceability of sewer networks in Baghdad city. Two deterioration models were developed and tested using statistical software SPSS, the
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