BACKGROUND: SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) is considered a highly infectious and life threatening disease. OBJECTIVE: The present paper aims to evaluate various aspects of preventive measures and clinical management of the scheduled visits for orthodontic patients to the dental clinics during the outbreak of COVID-19, and to assess how orthodontists dealt with this challenge. METHODS: Orthodontists in private and public clinics were invited to fill a questionnaire that addressed infection control protocols and concerns about clinical management of patients in the clinics during the pandemic. Frequncies and percentages of the responses were obtained and compared using Chi-square tests. RESULTS: About 77% of those working in private clinics, a

This study was set out to investigate factors affecting labor productivity on construction in the north of Iraq (Kurdistan) and to rank all the factors based on engineers, contractors, and designer’s opinions. 76 factors were analyzed based on previous literature and a pilot study. Next, by using online Google Form, a questionnaire form was created and sent to people who have experience in the construction industry. Afterward, the questionnaire form was sent to targeted people by email and social media apps. Factors were divided into nine groups “Management, Technical and Technology, Human and Workforce, Leadership, Motivation, Safety, Time, Material and Equipment, and External”. However, 202 respondents participated in this study,

Software-defined networks (SDN) have a centralized control architecture that makes them a tempting target for cyber attackers. One of the major threats is distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. It aims to exhaust network resources to make its services unavailable to legitimate users. DDoS attack detection based on machine learning algorithms is considered one of the most used techniques in SDN security. In this paper, four machine learning techniques (Random Forest, K-nearest neighbors, Naive Bayes, and Logistic Regression) have been tested to detect DDoS attacks. Also, a mitigation technique has been used to eliminate the attack effect on SDN. RF and KNN were selected because of their high accuracy results. Three types of ne

<p>In the mobile phone system, it is highly desirable to estimate the loss of the track not only to improve performance but also to achieve an accurate estimate of financial feasibility; the inaccurate estimate of track loss either leads to performance degradation or increased cost. Various models have been introduced to accurately estimate the path loss. One of these models is the Okomura / Hata model, which is recommended for estimating path loss in cellular systems that use micro cells. This system is suitable for use in a variety of environments. This study examines the comparison of path loss models for statistical analysis derived from experimental data collected in urban and suburban areas at frequencies of 150-1500 MHz

It is well known that drilling fluid is a key parameter for optimizing drilling operations, cleaning the hole, and managing the rig hydraulics and margins of surge and swab pressures. Although the experimental works represent valid and reliable results, they are expensive and time consuming. In contrast, continuous and regular determination of the rheological fluid properties can perform its essential functions during good construction. The aim of this study is to develop empirical models to estimate the drilling mud rheological properties of water-based fluids with less need for lab measurements. This study provides two predictive techniques, multiple regression analysis and artificial neural networks, to determine the rheological

Water pollution has created a critical threat to the environment.‎‎ A lot of research has been done ‎recently to use surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to detect multiple pollutants in water. This study aims to use Ag colloid nanoflowers as liquid SERS enhancer. Tri sodium phosphate (Na₃PO₄) was investigated as a pollutant using liquid SERS ‎based on colloidal Ag ‎nanoflowers. The chemical method was used to synthesize nanoflowers from silver ‎ions. Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) were employed to characterize the silver nanoflowers. This ‎nanoflowers SERS action in detecting Na₃PO₄ was reported and analyzed

Crime is one of the most severe challenges facing States, and strives to find preventive measures, reduce its seriousness, and prevent them; due to developments, crimes have increased, and emerging new patterns of crimes, there is an urgent need to prevent crimes and reduce their effects. Modernizing its punitive system and diverting it to correctional rehabilitative justice to redress the prejudice caused by the crime and rehabilitate the convicted person by using alternative measures to short-term imprisonment. This research emphasizes alternative sanctions' value to minimizing short-term imprisonment penalties and their impact on societal security through several goals like, the negative consequences, justifications, and alternatives