A precise evaluation of caries excavation endpoint is essential in clinical and laboratory investigations. Caries invasion differentiates dentin into structurally altered layers. This study assessed these changes using Raman spectroscopy and Vickers microhardness. Ten permanent molars with occlusal and proximal carious lesions were assessed and compared at 130 points utilizing four Raman spectroscopic peaks: phosphate v1 at 960 cm−1, amide I (1650 cm−1), amide III (1235 cm−1) and the C-H bond of the pyrrolidine ring (1450 cm−1). The phosphate-to-amide I peak ratio and collagen integrity peak ratio (amide III: C-H bond) of carious zones were calculated and compared in both lesions. The former ratio was correlated to 130 Vicke

Applications of remote sensing are important in improving potato production through the broader adoption of precision agriculture. This technology could be useful in decreasing the potential contamination of soil and water due to the over-fertilization of agriculture crops. The objective of this study was to assess the utility of active sensors (Crop Circle™, Holland Scientific, Inc., Lincoln, NE, USA and GreenSeeker™, Trimble Navigation Limited, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) and passive sensors (multispectral imaging with Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs)) to predict total potato yield and phosphorus (P) uptake. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with four replications and six P treatments, ranging from 0 to 280 kg P ha−1, as

Buildings such as malls, offices, airports and hospitals nowadays have become very complicated which increases the need for a solution that helps people to find their locations in these buildings. GPS or cell signals are commonly used for positioning in an outdoor environment and are not accurate in indoor environment. Smartphones are becoming a common presence in our daily life, also the existing infrastructure, the Wi-Fi access points, which is commonly available in most buildings, has motivated this work to build hybrid mechanism that combines the APs fingerprint together with smartphone barometer sensor readings, to accurately determine the user position inside building floor relative to well-known lan

Shadow removal is crucial for robot and machine vision as the accuracy of object detection is greatly influenced by the uncertainty and ambiguity of the visual scene. In this paper, we introduce a new algorithm for shadow detection and removal based on different shapes, orientations, and spatial extents of Gaussian equations. Here, the contrast information of the visual scene is utilized for shadow detection and removal through five consecutive processing stages. In the first stage, contrast filtering is performed to obtain the contrast information of the image. The second stage involves a normalization process that suppresses noise and generates a balanced intensity at a specific position compared to the neighboring intensit

This study concerns a new type of heat exchangers, which is that of shell-and-double concentric tube heat exchangers. The case studies include both design calculations and performance calculations.

       The new heat exchanger design was conducted according to Kern method. The volumetric flow rates were 3.6 m³/h and 7.63 m³/h for the hot oil and water respectively. The experimental parameters studied were: temperature, flow rate of hot oil, flow rate of cold water and pressure drop.

A comparison was made for the theoretical and experimental results and it was found that the percentage error for the hot oil outlet temperature was (- 1.6%). The percentage

The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), first reported in China, in December 2019 and since then the digestive tract involvement of  COVID-19 has been progressively described. In this review, I summed recent studies, which have addressed the pathophysiology of COVID-19-induced gastrointestinal symptoms, their prevalence, and bowel pathological and radiological findings of infected patients. The effects of gut microbiota on SARS-CoV-2 and the challenges of nutritional therapy of the infected patients are depicted.  Moreover, I provide a concise summary of the recommendations on the management of inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, and performing endoscopy in the COVID era. Finally, the COVID pancreatic re

In Algeria, education is compulsory for males and females. This foundational decision was taken right after the independence of the country in 1962. Soon after, in 1963, the central government decided the Arabisation of the whole educational levels starting from primary school till university. At the same period, illiteracy-eradication programmes were launched by the Ministry of Education to get rid of this post-colonial scourge. In the administrative department (or Wilaya) of Adrar, former Tuat, young males and females attend Quranic schools (Zawaya) well before any formal education, that is as early as 4-5 years of age. The adult people who are not enrolled in formal classes could sit for non-formal ones. However, actual measurements a

This new azo dye 3-((2-(1H-indol-3-yl) ethyl) diazenyl) quinoline-2-ol was subsequently used to prepare a series of complexes with the metal ions of Cr+3, Cu+2, VO+2, Mn+2and Mo+6. The compounds identified by 1H and 13C-NMR, FT-IR, UV-Vis, mass spectroscopy, as well as TGA, DSC, and C.H.N., conductivity, magnetic susceptibility, metal and chlorine content. The results showed that the ligand behaves in a bidantate, and that the complexes gave octahedral, excepting for VO+2 square pyramid was given, that all complexes are non-electrolytes. The effectiveness of mention the compounds in inhibiting free radicals was evaluated by the ability to act as an antioxidant was measured using DPPH as a free radical and gallic acid as a standard s