Introduction: The aim of this study was to compare the reliability and the agreement of the Pederson and Pernambuco difficulty indexes in predicting the surgical extraction difficulty of the impacted mandibular third molars. Materials and methods: A prospective observational cohort study was conducted on 83 patients who had undergone surgical removal of impacted mandibular third molar. The difficulty of extraction was determined preoperatively according to the total scores obtained from the Pederson and Pernambuco difficulty indexes, the operative difficulty was determined by the surgical technique and the duration of extraction. The accuracy of prediction of the surgical difficulty and

Exposure to cryogenic liquids can significantly impact the petrophysical properties of rock, affecting its density, porosity, permeability, and elastic properties. These effects can have important implications for various applications, including oil and gas production and carbon sequestration. Cryogenic liquid fracturing is a promising alternative to traditional hydraulic fracturing for exploiting unconventional oil and gas resources and geothermal energy. This technology offers several advantages over traditional hydraulic fracturing, including reduced water consumption, reduced formation damage, and a reduced risk of flow-back fluid contamination. In this study, an updated review of recent studies demonstrates how the

A design for a photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) assembly with a water-cooled heat sink was planned, constructed, and experimentally evaluated in the climatic conditions of the southern region of Iraq during the summertime. The water-cooled heat sink was applied to thermally manage the PV cells, in order to boost the electrical output of the PVT system. A set of temperature sensors was installed to monitor the water intake, exit, and cell temperatures. The climatic parameters including the wind velocity, atmospheric pressure, and solar irradiation were also monitored on a daily basis. The effects of solar irradiation on the average PV temperature, electrical power, and overall electrical-thermal efficiency were investigated. The findings i

In this study, the photodegradation of Congo red dye (CR) in aqueous solution was investigated using Au-Pd/TiO2 as photocatalyst. The concentration of dye, dosage of photocatalyst, amount of H2O2, pH of the medium and temperature were examined to find the optimum values of these parameters. It has been found that 28 ppm was the best dye concentration. The optimum amount of photocatalyst was 0.09 g/75 mL of dye solution when the degradation percent was ~ 96 % after irradiation time of 12 hours, while the best amount of hydrogen peroxide was 7μl/75 mL of dye solution at degradation percent ~97 % after irradiation time of 10 hours, whereas pH 5 was the best value to carry out the reaction at the highest degradation percent. In additio

Biologically active natural compounds are molecules produced by plants or plant-related microbes, such as endophytes. Many of these metabolites have a wide range of antimicrobial activities and other pharmaceutical properties. This study aimed to evaluate (in vitro) the antifungal activities of the secondary metabolites obtained from Paecilomyces sp. against the pathogenic fungus Rhizoctonia solani. The endophytic fungus Paecilomyces was isolated from Moringa oleifera leaves and cultured on potato dextrose broth for the production of the fungal metabolites. The activity of Paecilomyces filtrate against the radial growth of Rhizoctonia solani was tested by mixing the filtrate with potato dextrose agar medium at concentrations of 15%,

The present study aimed to determine the genetic divergence of seven maize genotypes (Al-Maha, Sumer, Al-Fajr, Baghdad, 5018, 4 × 1 single hybrid, and 4 × 2 single hybrid) under two varied levels of nitrogen fertilization (92 and 276 kg N ha-1). The experiment occurred in 2022 in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with a split-plot arrangement and three replications at the College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Baghdad, Iraq. The nitrogen fertilization levels served as main plots, with the maize genotypes allocated as the subplots. The results revealed that genetic variance was higher than the environmental variance for most traits, and the coefficient of phenotypic variation was close to the genetic va