Calcium-Montmorillonite (bentonite) [Ca-MMT] has been prepared via cation exchange reaction using benzalkonium chloride [quaternary ammonium] as a surfactant to produce organoclay which is used to prepare polymer composites. Functionalization of this filler surface is very important factor for achieving good interaction between filler and polymer matrix. Basal spacing and functional groups identification of this organoclay were characterized using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy respectively.  The (XRD) results showed that the basal spacing of the treated clay (organoclay) with the benzalkonium chloride increased to 15.17213 ⁰A, this represents an increment of about 77.9% in the

Healthcare professionals routinely use audio signals, generated by the human body, to help diagnose disease or assess its progression. With new technologies, it is now possible to collect human-generated sounds, such as coughing. Audio-based machine learning technologies can be adopted for automatic analysis of collected data. Valuable and rich information can be obtained from the cough signal and extracting effective characteristics from a finite duration time interval that changes as a function of time. This article presents a proposed approach to the detection and diagnosis of COVID-19 through the processing of cough collected from patients suffering from the most common symptoms of this pandemic. The proposed method is based on adopt

The study aimed to investigate the effect of different times as follows 0.5, 1.00, 2.00 and 3.00 hrs, type of solvent (acetone, methanol and ethanol) and temperature (~ 25 and 50)ºc on curcumin percentage yield from turmeric rhizomes. The results showed significant differences (p? 0.05) in all variables. The curcumin content which were determined spectrophotometrically ranged between (0.55-2.90) %. The maximum yield was obtained when temperature, time and solvent were 50ºC, 3 hrs and acetone, respectively.

After baking the flour, azodicarbonamide, an approved food additive, can be converted into carcinogenic semicarbazide hydrochloride (SEM) and biurea in flour products. Thus, determine SEM in commercial bread products is become mandatory and need to be performed. Therefore, two accurate, precision, simple and economics colorimetric methods have been developed for the visual detection and quantitative determination of SEM in commercial flour products. The 1st method is based on the formation of a blue-coloured product with λmax at 690 nm as a result of a reaction between the SEM and potassium ferrocyanide in an acidic medium (pH 6.0). In the 2nd method, a brownish-green colored product is formed due to the reaction between the SEM and phosph

This Paper aims to plan the production of the electrical distribution converter (400 KV/11) for one month at Diyala Public Company and with more than one goal for the decision-maker in a fuzzy environment. The fuzzy demand was forecasting using the fuzzy time series model. The fuzzy lead time for raw materials involved in the production of the electrical distribution converter (400 KV/11) was addressed using the fuzzy inference matrix through the application of the matrix in Matlab, and since the decision-maker has more than one goal, so a mathematical model of goal programming was create, which aims to achieve two goals, the first is to reduce the total production costs of the electrical distribution converter (400 KV/11) and th

     This paper describes the application of consensus optimization for Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) system. Consensus algorithm is usually conducted within a certain number of iterations for a given graph topology. Nevertheless, the best Number of Iterations (NOI) to reach consensus is varied in accordance with any change in number of nodes or other parameters of . graph topology. As a result, a time consuming trial and error procedure will necessary be applied
to obtain best NOI. The implementation of an intellig ent optimization can effectively help to get the optimal NOI. The performance of the consensus algorithm has considerably been improved by the inclusion of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). As a case s

The dynamic thermomechanical properties, sealing ability, and voids formation of an experimental obturation hydroxyapatite-reinforced polyethylene (HA/PE) composite/carrier system were investigated and compared with those of a commercial system [GuttaCore (GC)]. The HA/PE system was specifically designed using a melt-extrusion process. The viscoelastic properties of HA/PE were determined using a dynamic thermomechanical analyser. Human single-rooted teeth were endodontically instrumented and obturated using HA/PE or GC systems, and then sealing ability was assessed using a fluid filtration system. In addition, micro-computed tomography (μCT) was used to quantify apparent voids within the root-canal space. The data were statistically analys