Resilient polymeric materials such as silicone elastomers are currently used for maxillofacial prostheses construction but the strength of these materials and their clinical performance need to be optimized with the addition of reinforcing fillers. This study investigates the effect of zirconia nanopowder addition on tear strength, tensile strength, elongation at break, Shore A hardness, surface roughness and cytotoxicity of VST-50 maxillofacial silicone. Silicone base was mixed with different amounts (1%, 2% and 3%) of zirconia nanopowder using a vacuum mixer. Silicone without filler was used as control for comparison. Scanning Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy were utilized to assess the efficiency of high-shear vacuum mixin

objective: To evaluate the influence of monolithic zirconia brand, thickness, and substrate color on color matching accuracy when optically coupled to abutment substrates. Methods: A total of 180 samples of two brands of monolithic zirconia [Prettau Anterior (PA), Ceramill Zolid FX Multicolor (CZ)] were prepared in three different thicknesses (0.8 mm, 1.5 mm, and 2 mm) with a standardized 10 mm diameter. Color properties of the samples were assessed using spectrophotometry at baseline and after coupling to three substrate types: standard dentin, discolored dentin, and titanium. Color differences (ΔE) were calculated and statistically analyzed by 3-way ANOVA and pairwise comparison ( α=0.05). Results: The brand and material thickness, at

Advancing the multi-scale performance of asphalt pavements requires innovative binder modifications that address limitations in rutting resistance, fatigue resistance, and durability across the binder, mixture, and structural levels. This study evaluates the performance of asphalt cement, mixtures, and pavement systems modified with a combination of polyethylene (PE) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The binder was modified using 4% PE and varying CNT contents (0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, and 2% by weight of the modified binder). Binder performance was assessed through conventional and rheological tests, including penetration, softening point, viscosity, performance grade (PG) evaluation, and master curve analysis. Mixture-level performance was eval

Rainwater harvesting could be a possible solution to decrease the consequences of water scarcity and energy deficiency in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). This study aims to calculate the water and energy (electricity) saved by rainwater harvesting for rooftops and green areas in Sulaimani city, KR, Iraq. Various data were acquired from different formal entities in Sulaimani city. Moreover, Google Earth and ArcMap 10.4 software were used for digitizing and calculating the total rooftop and green areas. The results showed that for the used runoff coefficients (0.8 and 0.95), the harvested rainwater volumes were 2901563 and 12197131 m³ during the study period (2005 – 2006) and (2019-2020). Moreover, by compa

In this paper, a compartmental differential epidemic model of COVID-19 pandemic transmission is constructed and analyzed that accounts for the effects of media coverage. The model can be categorized into eight distinct divisions: susceptible individuals, exposed individuals, quarantine class, infected individuals, isolated class, infectious material in the environment, media coverage, and recovered individuals. The qualitative analysis of the model indicates that the disease-free equilibrium point is asymptotically stable when the basic reproduction number R0 is less than one. Conversely, the endemic equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable when R0 is bigger than one. In addition, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to determine which

This work deals with kinetics and chemical equilibrium studies of esterification reaction of ethanol with acetic acid. The esterification reaction was catalyzed by an acidic ion exchange resin (Amberlyst- 15) using a batch stirred tank reactor. The pseudo-homogenous and Eley-Rideal models were successfully fitted with experimental data. At first, Eley-Rideal model was examined for heterogeneous esterification of acetic acid and ethanol. The pseudo-homogenous model was investigated with a power-law model. The apparent reaction order was determined to be (0.88) for Ethanol and (0.92) for acetic acid with a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.981 and 0.988, respectively. The reaction order was determined to be 4.1087x10-3 L0.8/(mol0.8.min) with