Background: This study was formulated to compare the effect of 5%hydrofluoric acid in comparison to 37%phosphoric acid with and without the application of silane on bond strength of composite to porcelain. Materials and Methods: Specimen preparation was divided in to two phases, metal-disks fabrication (8mm-diameter and 4mm-thickness) and ceramic veneering. Thirty two specimens were prepared, sandblasted with 50 μm aluminum oxide, and divided into four groups of eight samples. Groups I and III were etched with 37%phosphoric acid while groups II and IV were etched with 5%hydrofluoric acid; and groups I and II were silaneted while groups III and IV were not. Heliobond, and resin composite were applied to each specimen using a plastic transpa

Information about soil consolidation is essential in geotechnical design. Because of the time and expense involved in performing consolidation tests, equations are required to estimate compression index from soil index properties. Although many empirical equations concerning soil properties have been proposed, such equations may not be appropriate for local situations. The aim of this study is to investigate the consolidation and physical properties of the cohesive soil. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) has been adapted in this investigation to predict the compression index and compression ratio using basic index properties. One hundred and ninety five consolidation results for soils tested at different construction sites

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) characterized by insulin resistance (IR) and progressive decline in functional beta (β) cell mass partially due to increased β cell apoptosis rate. Pancreatic stone protein /regenerating protein (PSP/reg) is produced mainly by the pancreas and elevated drastically during pancreatic disorder. Beta cells are experiencing apoptosis that stimulate the expression of PSP/reg gene in surviving neighboring cells, and that PSP/reg protein is subsequently secreted from these cells which could play a role in their regeneration.

Objectives: To analyze serum levels of PSP/reg protein in T2DM patients and evaluate its correlation with the microvasc

     The ground state density distributions and electron scattering Coulomb form factors of Helium (4,6,8He) and Phosphorate (27,31P) isotopes are investigated in the framework of nuclear shell model. For stable (4He) and (31P) nuclei, the core and valence parts are studied through Harmonic-oscillator (HO) and Hulthen potentials. Correspondingly, for exotic (6,8He) and (27P) nuclei, the HO potential is applied to the core parts only, while the Hulthen potential is applied to valence parts. The parameters for HO and Hulthen are chosen to reproduce the available experimental size radii for all nuclei under study. Finally, the CO component of electron scattering charge form factors are also investigated. Unfortunately, there is no

   Gas lift is one of the most important artificial lift methods for increasing oil production, as wells often require this method after the reservoir's energy has decreased. In this research, an optimal gas lift system is designed for five horizontal wells in the Ahdab oil field, which suffers from low production. At the same time, water cut in some of these wells reaches 66%, while the productivity index is low in others, which makes the challenges clear, and a deep analysis is needed to find an optimal system. The Pipesim program is used to design the optimal gas lift system, which contains features that facilitate the implementation of the appropriate design and provide the ability to analyze and determine the optimal design v

In this research a theoretical study has been carried out on the behavior and strength of simply supported composite beams strengthened by steel cover plate taking into consideration partial interaction of shear connectors and nonlinear behavior of the materials and shear connectors. Following the procedure that already has been adopted by Johnson (1975), the basic differential equations of equilibrium and compatibility were reduced to single differential equation in terms of interface slip between concrete slab and steel beam. Furthermore, in order to consider the nonlinear behavior of steel, concrete and shear connectors, the basic equation was rearranged so that all terms related to materials are isol

Background and objectives: This study aimed at testing the effect of plastic sleeve or barrier, used to cover the guide of the light cure unit to prevent cross-infection, on the shear bond strength and site of bond failure of stainless steel and ceramic orthodontic brackets. Materials and methods: Forty orthodontic brackets; twenty stainless steel and twenty ceramic brackets bonded to forty extracted human maxillary first premolars using light cure adhesive cured with and without the use of a protective plastic barrier on the guide. Comparing the effect of this barrier on the shear bond strength and adhesive remnant index was performed using an independent t-test and Chi-square test. Results: The protective barrier had decreased the shear b

Feed Forward Back Propagation artificial neural network (ANN) model utilizing the MATLAB Neural Network Toolbox is designed for the prediction of surface roughness of Duplex Stainless Steel during orthogonal turning with uncoated carbide insert tool. Turning experiments were performed at various process conditions (feed rate, cutting speed, and cutting depth). Utilizing the Taguchi experimental design method, an optimum ANN architecture with the Levenberg-Marquardt training algorithm was obtained. Parametric research was performed with the optimized ANN architecture to report the impact of every turning parameter on the roughness of the surface. The results suggested that machining at a cutting speed of 355 rpm with a feed rate of 0.07 m