Aim To develop a low-density polyethylene–hydroxyapatite (HA-PE) composite with properties tailored to function as a potential root canal filling material. Methodology Hydroxyapatite and polyethylene mixed with strontium oxide as a radiopacifier were extruded from a single screw extruder fitted with an appropriate die to form fibres. The composition of the composite was optimized with clinical handling and placement in the canal being the prime consideration. The fibres were characterized using infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and their thermal properties determined using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The tensile strength and elastic modulus of the composite fibres and gutta-percha were compared, dry and after 1 month storage in simulated body fluid (SBF), using a universal testing machine. The radiopacity of the fibres was determined using digital radiography. The interaction of the composites with eugenol was evaluated and compared with gutta-percha. Data of the tensile test were submitted to two-way anova and Bonferroni tests (P < 0.05). Results The endothermic peaks obtained from the DSC studies showed that the melting point of the HA/PE composites ranged between 110.5 and 111.2 °C, whereas gutta-percha exhibited a melting point at 52 °C. The tensile strength and elastic modulus of the silanated HA/PE composites were significantly higher than those of gutta-percha (P < 0.0001) under dry conditions and 1 month storage in SBF. The gutta-percha in eugenol showed a significant increase in the polymer molar mass, whereas the silanated HA/PE composites were unchanged. Radiological evaluations demonstrated that silanated HA/PE fibres were sufficiently radiopaque. Conclusion Promising materials for endodontic applications have been developed, offering relevant benefits over the traditional materials in terms of mechanical and chemical properties
Our aim was to investigate the changes in the myocardium stiffness index for patients suffering from systemic hypertension, and to assess their left ventricular performance. We studied 263 hypertensive patients and 166 healthy subjects as a control group. By using conventional Doppler echocardiography, the following parameters were measured—Left ventricular end diastolic diameter, left ventricular end systolic diameter, transmitral early velocity, isovolumic relaxation time, and isovolumic contraction time. Tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) was used in the measurements of the early mitral annular velocity (Ea) and the diastolic stiffness was obtained by calculating the ratio E\Ea\LVIDd. Index myocardial performance (IMP) was calculated
... Show MoreLiterature on the use of the first-person pronoun in abstracts and conclusion sections of final-year projects is limited. In case of Algerian Master students, it is too scant. The present paper aims at filling this gap through a study concerned with students’ and engagement in their final projects (memoirs). This quantitative study examines the use of “we” and its various types, “our- us-I, my, the researcher” in memoirs chosen at random from the d-space portal of the University of Adrar, southern Algeria. Sixty-five papers, submitted in the fields of Linguistics or didactics between 2015 and 2020 and representing nearly half of the whole memoirs’ depository at the library’s d-space, constituted the corpus of study. The des
... Show MoreBreast cancer has got much attention in the recent years as it is a one of the complex diseases that can threaten people lives. It can be determined from the levels of secreted proteins in the blood. In this project, we developed a method of finding a threshold to classify the probability of being affected by it in a population based on the levels of the related proteins in relatively small case-control samples. We applied our method to simulated and real data. The results showed that the method we used was accurate in estimating the probability of being diseased in both simulation and real data. Moreover, we were able to calculate the sensitivity and specificity under the null hypothesis of our research question of being diseased o
... Show MoreAbstract
The logistic regression model is one of the nonlinear models that aims at obtaining highly efficient capabilities, It also the researcher an idea of the effect of the explanatory variable on the binary response variable. &nb
... Show MoreThe competition in the hotel sector, globalization and the development of new information have forced the sector to continuously seek new techniques and arrangements to remain competitive through hotel industry companies, including Benchmarking and the application of this method in the hotel sector. The selection of the Rashid International Hotel by the Ministry of Tourism as a leading hotel or benchmark for comparison of other hotels in Iraq, and the selection of two hotels in Baghdad for comparison, namely (Ishtar International Hotel, Baghdad International Hotel) and the choice also by the Ministry of Tourism, N is to correct the course of practice to manage the cost and diagnosis of the weakness of the strengths and weaknesses in the
... Show MoreThe role of the green areas lies in being one of the systems that plays the vital role in achieving the environmental dimension besides the socio-cultural body and the economic dimension in the hidden value of ecosystem services. However, many developing countries are characterized by a state of low community environmental awareness, which coincides with the basic need for land for housing and other uses, to take precedence over nature protection strategies. In the absence of clear planning and long-term planning strategies, all this led to abuses and violations of urban land use. In Iraq, the situation became more apparent due to the political, security and social conditions that followed the year 2003. Hence, the resea
... Show More: The Aluminium (Al) material emerged as a plasmonic material in the wavelength ranges from the ultraviolet to the visible bands in different on-chip plasmonic applications. In this paper, we demonstrate the effect of using Al on the electromagnetic (EM) field distribution of a compact hybrid plasmonic waveguide (HPW) acting as a polarization rotator. We compare the performance of Al with other familiar metals that are widely used as plasmonic materials, which are Silver (Ag) and Gold (Au). Furthermore, we study the effect of reducing the geometrical dimensions of the used materials on the EM field distributions inside the HPW and, consequently, on the efficiency of the polarization rotation. We perform the study based o
... Show MoreStable new derivative (L) Bis[O,O-2,3;O,O-5,6(carboxylic methyliden)]L-ascorbic acid was synthesized in good yield by the reaction of L-ascorbic acid with dichloroacetic acid with ratio (1:2) in presence of potassium hydroxide. The new (L) was characterized by 1H,13C-NMR, elemental analysis (C,H) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR). The complexes of the ligand (L) with metal ion, M+2= (Cu, Co, Ni, Cd and Hg) were synthesized and characterized by FTIR, UV-Visible, Molar conductance, Atomic absorption and the Molar ratio. The analysis evidence showed the binding of the metal ions with (L) through bicarboxylato group manner resulting in six-coordinated metal ion.