Understanding the compatibility between spider silk and conducting materials is essential to advance the use of spider silk in electronic applications. Spider silk is tough, but becomes soft when exposed to water. Here we report a strong affinity of amine-functionalised multi-walled carbon nanotubes for spider silk, with coating assisted by a water and mechanical shear method. The nanotubes adhere uniformly and bond to the silk fibre surface to produce tough, custom-shaped, flexible and electrically conducting fibres after drying and contraction. The conductivity of coated silk fibres is reversibly sensitive to strain and humidity, leading to proof-of-concept sensor and actuator demonstrations.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, progressive, inflammatory autoimmune disease of unidentified etiology, associated with articular, extra-articular and systemic manifestation that require long-standing treatment. Taking patient’s beliefs about the prescribed medication in consideration had been shown to be an essential factor that affects adherence of the patient in whom having positive beliefs is an essential for better adherence. The purpose of the current study was to measure beliefs about medicines among a sample of Iraqi patients with Rheumatoid arthritis and to determine possible association between this belief and some patient-certain factors. This study is a cross-sectional study carried out on 250 already diagnosed rheumatoid
... Show MorePsoriasis is a dermatological, chronic, immune-mediated condition. Psoriasis symptoms are not associated with physical burden only, but it may also have psychosocial effects on patients, diminished cognitive control, poor body image and impairments in everyday life. The value of quality of life is important since improving it is the principal goal for non-curative disease. The aim of the current study was to evaluate quality of life in a sample of Iraqi patients with psoriasis. This study is a cross-sectional study that involved 300 already diagnosed psoriasis patients who attended to the center of Dermatology and Venereology, Medical City/Baghdad. The mean age of patients was (35.156 ±10.549 years). The Arabic version of Dermatology Li
... Show MoreAn environmentally begnin second derivative spectrometric approach was developed for the estimation of the dissociation constants pKa(s) of metformin, a common anti-diabetic drug. The ultraviolet spectra of the aqueous solution of metformin were measured at different acidities, then the second derivative of each spectrum was graphed. The overlaid second derivative graphs exhibited two isobestic points at 225.5 nm and 244 nm pointing out to the presence of two dissociation constants for metformin pKa1 and pKa2, respectively. The method was validated by evaluating the reproducibility of the acquired results by comparing the estimated values of the dissociation constants of two different strategies that show excellent matching. As we
... Show MoreRare earth metal oxides (REMOs) have gained considerable attention in recent years owing to their distinctive properties and potential applications in electronic devices and catalysts. Particularly, cerium dioxide (CeO2), also known as ceria, has emerged as an interesting material in a wide variety of industrial, technological, and medical applications. Ceria can be synthesized with various morphologies, including rods, cubes, wires, tubes, and spheres. This comprehensive review offers valuable perceptions into the crystal structure, fundamental properties, and reaction mechanisms that govern the well-established surface-assisted reactions over ceria. The activity, selectivity, and stability of ceria, either as a stand-alone catalyst or as
... Show MoreBackground: Normal thyroid function is essential for neonatal growth and brain development. In a newborn infant with severe disease, endocrine regulation of hormones can be affected by abnormal metabolism. The assessment of thyroid parameters results in the recognition of a dysfunction and its association with disease severity. Objective: This study aimed to assess thyroid function profiles in critically ill neonates in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) compared with healthy controls. Additionally, we aimed to detect the presence of TD and its possible association with critical illness. Methods: A case-control study was performed in 100 neonates, comprising 50 sick neonates and 50 healthy controls. We measured thyroid functio
... Show MoreThe study aimed to identify the treatment of the press image of the Great Return Marches in the French international news agency AFP by knowing the most important issues, their direction and the degree of interest in them. The study belongs to the descriptive research, and used the survey method, within the context of the content analysis method, and the researcher relied on the content analysis form tool and the interview tool to collect data. The study population is represented in the photos published by the French News Agency about the Great Return Marches during the period (end of March / 2018 until the end of November / 2019. The researcher chose an intentional sample using the Complete Census method. The study material represented
... Show MoreStrives Total Productive Maintenance to increase the overall effectiveness of the equipment through the early involvement in the design and manufacture of equipment productivity. It also operates in an environment of simultaneous engineering work on the synchronization of activities to take advantage of early information by maintenance engineers, design, operation, and that helps to reduce the faults and facilitate future maintenance tasks.
Has adopted a search in the theoretical concept of the total maintenance productivity and concurrent engineering activities carried out during which the conjunction a
... Show MoreThe research involved a rapid, automated and highly accurate developed CFIA/MZ technique for estimation of phenylephrine hydrochloride (PHE) in pure, dosage forms and biological sample. This method is based on oxidative coupling reaction of 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH) with PHE in existence of sodium periodate as oxidizing agent in alkaline medium to form a red colored product at ʎmax )520 nm (. A flow rate of 4.3 mL.min-1 using distilled water as a carrier, the method of FIA proved to be as a sensitive and economic analytical tool for estimation of PHE.
Within the concentration range of 5-300 μg.mL-1, a calibration curve was rectilinear, where the detection limit was 3.252 μg.mL
The internet is a basic source of information for many specialities and uses. Such information includes sensitive data whose retrieval has been one of the basic functions of the internet. In order to protect the information from falling into the hands of an intruder, a VPN has been established. Through VPN, data privacy and security can be provided. Two main technologies of VPN are to be discussed; IPSec and Open VPN. The complexity of IPSec makes the OpenVPN the best due to the latter’s portability and flexibility to use in many operating systems. In the LAN, VPN can be implemented through Open VPN to establish a double privacy layer(privacy inside privacy). The specific subnet will be used in this paper. The key and certificate will
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