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Abstract This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of different pain mitigation methods during orthodontic debonding and to evaluate pain sensitivity across various regions of the dentition. A total of 144 participants (50 males and 94 females) with metal brackets were randomly assigned to one of four groups: High-Frequency Vibration (V), Cotton Roll (CR), Elastomeric Wafer (EW), and Open Mouth group (OM). Pain levels were measured using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) across different sextants of the dentition. The Kruskal-Wallis test and post hoc analyses were conducted to compare VAS scores between groups. The Mann-Whitney test was used to analyse sex-based differences. The V group, utilizing high-frequency vibration, had the lowest total VAS score, indicating superior pain relief compared to CR, EW, and OM groups. No significant difference was observed between the CR and EW groups. Median VAS scores were highest in the lower front sextant, followed by the upper front sextants, and lowest in the posterior regions, indicating greater pain sensitivity in the anterior regions during debonding. High-frequency vibration was the most effective method for reducing pain during orthodontic debonding, particularly in the anterior dental regions. Both CR and EW methods were also effective but to a lesser extent. These findings suggest that high-frequency vibration could significantly improve patient comfort during orthodontic procedures. Utilizing high-frequency vibration for orthodontic debonding can enhance patient comfort, especially in the more sensitive anterior dental regions, thereby potentially improving treatment compliance and experience. Trial registration: NCT05904587.

The structural, morphological, linear, and nonlinear optical properties of MoO3 thin films deposited by thermal deposition were measured. The effect of various thicknesses of films was studied. The structural and morphological parameters of films, determined by x-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and AFM images, are compared to the linear and nonlinear optical characteristics of these media. The bandgap of the prepared thin films was obtained from the diffuse reflectance spectroscopy spectra. The electron’s effective mass (me*/m0), linear refractive index (n0), and optical static and high frequency dielectric constant (ɛ0, ɛ∞) values were calculated by using the bandgap energy values. Increasing the thicknesses of thin films decreased the bandgap, increased the root mean square, and increased the size of nanoparticles and the nonlinear response of thin films. The high magnitude of n2 and β was because of MoO3 (300 nm-thickness), which were of the order of 10−5 cm2/W and 10−1 cm/W, respectively. The fluctuations in nonlinear responses observed at different thicknesses are attributed to d–d transitions and intraband scattering of equilibrium electrons influenced by laser radiation, as indicated by the nonlinearity data. The considerably elevated refractive nonlinearity values in the analyzed film materials suggest their potential for practical application in optoelectronic devices.

The study used remote sensing to manage and monitor wheat crop health in some gypsiferous soil units. Five sites cultivated with wheat and irrigated by a central pivot irrigation system were selected within gypsiferous soil units in some agricultural lands. Soil and plant samples were collected at the best spectral and vegetative growth stage (grain filling stage) from each site. Three samples of the plant and soil were collected with three replicates, resulting in a total of (5 × 3 × 3 = 45 samples for both soil and plant). Samples were prepared for conducting laboratory analyses Satellite imagery of the OLI type from the Landsat 8 satellite, acquired on 24/2/2020, was used to calculate the following spectral indices: NDVI, SAVI, OSAVI, GOSAVI, GDVI, NDMI, CMFI, LAI. The results showed a variation in the concentration of fertile elements in the soil and plants between the study sites, with the third site relatively outperforming the other sites. On the other hand, we observed a variation in the values of spectral indices between the study sites for all the spectral indices and an increase in values with the progress and increase in the size of the canopy cover to reach the best spectral growth stage at the stage of ear fullness, which is the stage of spectral stability and appropriate for monitoring crop productivity and assessing plant health. The results also concluded that NDVI and LAI are among the most important pieces of evidence that have a strong relationship with plant density and estimation of its general condition, as the relationship was strong logarithmic and linear with nitrogen, as the values of R2 reached 0.91 and 0.88, respectively, and the value of the coefficient of determination R2 reached with The phosphorus concentration was 0.67 and 0.67, respectively. Also, the use of spectral indices depends on the spectral bands that fall at the wavelength of 0.6-0.7 micrometers, which is the region where a high absorption process occurs if the vegetation cover is intact and healthy, especially the NDVI index.

Alkaline EDTA solution has been previously identified as an effective leaching agent for solubilising rare-earth oxalates. These oxalates are the product of an oxalic acid conversion leach dissolving monazite and redepositing the salt. Pervious work suggested a significant increase in recovery was observed between pH 8 and 10; we have demonstrated that, in an excess of EDTA, this is not the case, and the dissolution is similar. While demonstrating that, at a nominal solid loading of 100 g/L, 0.2 M EDTA solution produced the highest dissolution, elevated solids require an equivalent increase in lixiviant concentration driven by consumption. Very-high-solution concentrations (>50 g/L dissolved TREEs) were achieved at a high solid loading, indicating both that a solution equilibrium is yet to be reached and that a build-up of oxalate in the system (estimated at ~1 M) does not impact the leach efficiency. We have also demonstrated the recycling of EDTA to use in multiple stages as well as the ability to recover oxalate from this solution.

The volume of the stilling basin can be reduced, energy can be dissipated, and floods can be contained with the help of spillways. The aim of this Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study is to investigate how compound slopes change water flows through spillways. To measure turbulence, the Realizable k-ε model was used, and the multiphase volume of fluid (VOF) method was utilized to determine where air and water meet. Five models of spillways with different slopes (normal slope (MS1) = 30°, compound slope(MS2 and MS3) = 20°/39°, and compound slope (MS4 and MS5) = 39°/20°) were modelled and simulated using the ANSYS Fluent software to determine their flow characteristics. Numerical simulation results were compared to experimental results, and it was found that the CFD model captured the key flow aspects accurately. The numerical model carefully observes the several flow patterns (nappe, transition, and skimming) that emerged owing to variations in slope and geometry. When it comes to dissipating energy, models with a compound slope (39°/20°) do the best. When compared to the normal slope model (30°) with a step size of 10, the increase in energy dissipation is 14%. According to the findings, the TKE (turbulent kinetic energy) was elevated by the compound slope. The results of this research show that the spillway can be operated effectively and reliably under a wide range of flow conditions, fulfilling an important goal of the project.

The aim of this study is to investigate the antibacterial capabilities of different coating durations of three nanoparticle (NP) coatings: molybdenum (Mo), tantalum (Ta), and zinc oxide (ZnO), and their effects on the surface characteristics of 316L stainless steel (SS). The coated substrates underwent characterization utilizing field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) techniques. The antibacterial efficacy of NPs was evaluated using the agar diffusion method. The FE-SEM and EDX images confirmed the presence of nano-sized particles of Mo, Ta, and ZnO on the surface of the substrates with perfectly symmetrical spheres and a uniform distribution of the NPs. All groups demonstrated antibacterial activity, and the ability to inhibit the growth of Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus acidophilus bacteria. The ZnO group had the most potent antibacterial effect, followed by the Mo group, while the Ta group had the least effect. A direct-current (DC) plasma sputtering system was used to produce nano-coatings of high purity that were homogeneous, crack-free and showed no sign of delamination. Bacterial strains exposed to Mo, Ta, and ZnO coated surfaces exhibited a significant loss of viability in a time-dependent manner. The optimum sputtering time to ensure the best antibacterial properties and preserve the resources was 1 hour (h) for Mo, 3 h for Ta and 6 h for ZnO.

The adsorption method may be one of the environmentally friendly, economical, and effective techniques to remove phenol from wastewater using low-cost adsorbent activated carbon (AC). The effects of the initial concentration of phenol, temperature, and time of the adsorption on the phenol removal percent were studied. The maximum removal percentage of phenol was 63.73% of the initial 150 mg/l concentration obtained at 25°C. Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherm models have been applied to study the adsorption equilibrium. The results show that both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms fitted the equilibrium data better with a high correlation coefficient (R 2) and a maximum adsorption capacity of 108.70 mg/g. Thorough fitting of adsorption kinetics data followed the pseudo-second-order model. Thermodynamic parameters were calculated in the temperature range of 25–50°C. The results show that the adsorption process of phenol on AC is more favorable at low temperatures.

The study investigates photocatalytic advanced oxidation processes using iron-doped zeolite catalysts in heterogeneous Fenton reactions to degrade organic contents as chemical oxygen demand. The research revealed that the heterogenous photocatalytic Fenton process was the most successful treatment method under acidic circumstances and generated a greater rate of chemical oxygen demand degradation in a concise amount of radiation time. Compared to the heterogenous Fenton process with ultraviolet irradiation, it increased oxidation and was affected by catalyst load, power of hydrogen pH, hydrogen peroxide amounts, and temperature. The findings showed that the iron-doped zeolite catalyst, pH, and temperature significantly degraded the chemical oxygen demand. The experiment determined that the optimal conditions were obtained at a catalyst load of 0.07 g, pH of 3, with 20% excess of hydrogen peroxide, 40 °C in 2 hours for the ultraviolet/ iron-doped zeolite/hydrogen peroxide system that gave 99.84 % of the removal of the chemical oxygen demand. The heterogeneous photocatalytic Fenton method accompanied the reactions by hydroxyl radical production, which quickly reached its maximal reduction.

The process design using the Taguchi method for the heterogeneous Fenton oxidation reaction of organic pollutants in wastewater has been investigated. An analysis of variance was conducted for the experimental findings to determine the variables that significantly affect the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal. A linear model statistics analysis was implemented conditions to obtain optimal conditions. Moreover, a kinetics model was solved, and the thermodynamic study of the oxidation activation step was investigated. Finally, the simulation results showed that COD removal in the plug flow reactor was 95.39%, higher than in the mixed flow reactor.

Mobil Composition of Matter No. 48 (MCM-48) was used as a heterogeneous catalyst to produce glycerol oleates from the esterification of glycerol with oleic acid. MCM-48 was prepared using rice husk ash (RHA) as a silica source by a hydrothermal autoclave reactor. The prepared and characterized MCM-48 was successfully employed as a heterogeneous catalyst to produce glycerol monooleate in a batch reactor at different temperatures. The highest glycerol monooleate selectivity was 64.34% obtained at 140 °C. The conversion and selectivity to glycerol monooleate were compared with previous research that used a different type of heterogeneous catalyst.

Silica-based mesoporous materials are a class of porous materials with unique characteristics such as ordered pore structure, large surface area, and large pore volume. This review covers the different types of porous material (zeolite and mesoporous) and the physical properties of mesoporous materials that make them valuable in industry. Mesoporous materials can be divided into two groups: silica-based mesoporous materials and non-silica-based mesoporous materials. The most well-known family of silica-based mesoporous materials is the Mesoporous Molecular Sieves family, which attracts attention because of its beneficial properties. The family includes three members that are differentiated based on their pore arrangement. In this review, the major applications of the Mobil Mesoporous Molecular Sieves family, such as catalysts, adsorbents, and drug delivery agents, have been surveyed. Furthermore, the synthesis of the Mesoporous Molecular Sieves materials, the silica sources, the importance of templates, and the mechanisms of the synthesis are discussed herein. Members of this material family are characterized by many physicochemical properties that are closely related to their high silica content, crystalline structure, and pore arrangement. Commonly, the members of this family have large surface areas, high pore volumes, small pore sizes, and narrow and uniform particle size distributions. These properties enable numerous industrial applications and opportunities for scientific studies to further develop existing materials or manufacture new ones.

Urban land-cover change is increasing dramatically in most emerging countries. In Iraq and in the capital city (Baghdad). Active socioeconomic progress and political stability have pushed the urban border into the countryside at the cost of natural ecosystems at ever- growing rates. Widely used classifier of Maximum Likelihood was used for classification of 2003 and 2021 Landsat images. This classifier achieved 83.20% and 99.58% overall accuracies for 2003 and 2021 scenes, respectively. This study found that the urban area decreases by 16.4 % and the agriculture area decrease by 5.4% over the period. On the other hand, barren land has been expanded up to more than 7% as well as increasing in water land that should probably due to flooding (almost 15% more than 2003). To reduce the undesirable effects of land-cover changes over urban ecosystems in Baghdad and in the municipality in specific, it is suggested that Baghdad develops an urban development policy. The emphasis of policy must be the maintenance an acceptable balance among urban infrastructure development, ecological sustainability and agricultural production.

Some medications in aquatic media pose a serious environmental risk. Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) is a member of the sulfonamide group. Photocatalysis offers a promising technique to degrade organic pollutants into environmentally friendly substances. This study examined the effect of operating conditions (pH, time, and temperature) of the ultraviolet (UV)/TiO2 photocatalytic process on the degradation of SMX in an aqueous solution. Decreasing the pH value positively affects SMX degradation, and better removal values were obtained at a pH equal to 4. The optimum operating conditions for complete degradation in a solution containing 500 mg/L of SMX, TiO2 0.5 mg/L irradiation time of 420 min, and pH 4. Under these conditions, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) removal was 62.6% at a temperature of 25 ℃. The effect of temperature was studied at three temperatures (25, 40, and 60 ℃) with pH 4. The elevation of temperature increased the COD removal rate to 99.62% at 60 ℃. Finally, the results of the reaction kinetics study showed that a first-order kinetics model described organic contamination removal data over time, and the obtained activation energy was 42.195 kJ/mol.

In this study, the groundwater quality and spatial distribution of Basra province in the south of Iraq was assessed and mapped for drinking and irrigation purposes. Groundwater samples (n = 41) were collected from deep wells in the study area to demonstrate, estimate and modelling of Water Quality Index (WQI). The analysis of water samples integrated with GIS-based IDW technique was used to express the spatial variation in the study area with consideration of WQI. The phys-icochemical parameters including pH, sodium (Na+), electrical conductivity (EC), chloride (Cl-), total dissolved solids (TDS), calcium (Ca2+), nitrate (NO3-), sulfate (SO42-), magnesium (Mg2+), and bicarbonate (HCO3-) were identified for groundwater quality assessment. The results of calculated WQI classify groundwater into three sorts. The results of WQI showed that 2.5%, 2.5% and 95% of the groundwater samples were classified as poor/very poor/unsuitable for drinking, respectively. The GIS tools integrated with statistical techniques are utilized for spatial distribution and description of water quality. Cor-relation analysis of groundwater data revealed that some parameters have actually a relationship that is strong with the other parameters and they share origin source that is common. Multivariate statistical techniques, especially cluster analy-sis (CA) and factor analysis (FA), were applied for the evaluation of spatial variations of forty-one selected groundwater samples. Cluster analysis confirmed that some different locations of wells has comparable sourced elements of water pol-lution, whereas factor analysis yielded three factors which are accountable for groundwater quality variations clarifying more than 72 % of the total variance of the data and permitted to group the preferred water quality. MLP models were applied in modelling the water quality index. Comparing different result values of the MLP network suggested that the val-ues of MSE and r for the selected model are 0.1940 and 0.9998, respectively. Finally, it can be revealed that the MLP net-work precisely predicted the output, which is the WQI values.

The effects of ethanol-to-oleic acid molar ratio and ethanol purity on the yield of biodiesel production were investigated for the esterification of oleic acid. The esterification reaction was conducted in a batch system utilizing 13X zeolite as a catalyst. The molar ratio of ethanol to oleic was studied in a range of 1:1 to 12:1, and the ethanol purity ranged from 80 to 100%. The reaction was conducted at 70 ºC up to 120 min with catalyst loads of 5 wt.%. The yield of ethyl oleate increased from 9.56 % at the 1:1 ethanol-to-oleic molar ratio to 11.13% at the 3:1, then decreased as the ethanol-to-oleic molar ratios increased. The reported water yield was 20.56% at 1:1 and higher values of water yield (roughly, 26 to 27 %) were recorded when higher molar ratios of ethanol-to-oleic molar ratios were used. The results showed that the best ethyl oleate yield was 13.90% achieved at a 3:1 ethanol to oleic acid molar ratio and 100% ethanol purity, and the use of excess ethanol encourages a forward reaction. The conversion of oleic acid was enhanced by increasing the ethanol purity and optimizing the molar ratio of ethanol to oleic acid. The maximum oleic acid conversion was 55.60%, attained at 100% ethanol purity and a 3:1 molar ratio of ethanol to oleic acid. In addition, the kinetic model revealed that the values of the reaction rate constant were 0.00270 and 0.00108 L/mol. min at 70 ºC for the forward and backward reactions, respectively. Moreover, the obtained results of the kinetic model were consistent with the experimental results.

The dimensions of bubbles were measured in a stirrer tank electrochemical reactor, where the analysis of the bubble size distribution has a substantial impact on the flow dynamics. The high-speed camera and image processing methods were used to obtain a reliable photo. The influence of varied air flow rates (0.3; 0.5; 1 l/min) on BSD was thoroughly investigated. Two types of distributors (cubic and circular) were examined, and the impact of various airflow rates on BSD was investigated in detail. The results showed that the bubbles for the two distributors were between 0.5 and 4.5 mm. For both distributors at each airflow, the Sauter mean diameter for the bubbles was calculated. According to the results, as the flow rate raised, the bubble size for cubic distributors increased from 2.35 to 2.41 mm and for circular distributors from 2.76 to 2.88 mm.

Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) is a rare and highly aggressive hematologic malignancy derived from the precursors of plasmacytoid dendritic cells. Here the authors characterize the anti-tumor activity of allogeneic anti-CD123 CAR-T cells in preclinical models of BPDCN.

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of different pain mitigation methods during orthodontic debonding and to evaluate pain sensitivity across various regions of the dentition. A total of 144 participants (50 males and 94 females) with metal brackets were randomly assigned to one of four groups: High-Frequency Vibration (V), Cotton Roll (CR), Elastomeric Wafer (EW), and Open Mouth group (OM). Pain levels were measured using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) across different sextants of the dentition. The Kruskal-Wallis test and post hoc analyses were conducted to compare VAS scores between groups. The Mann-Whitney test was used to analyse sex-based differences. The V group, utilizing high-frequency vibration, had the lowest total VAS score, indicating superior pain relief compared to CR, EW, and OM groups. No significant difference was observed between the CR and EW groups. Median VAS scores were highest in the lower front sextant, followed by the upper front sextants, and lowest in the posterior regions, indicating greater pain sensitivity in the anterior regions during debonding. High-frequency vibration was the most effective method for reducing pain during orthodontic debonding, particularly in the anterior dental regions. Both CR and EW methods were also effective but to a lesser extent. These findings suggest that high-frequency vibration could significantly improve patient comfort during orthodontic procedures. Utilizing high-frequency vibration for orthodontic debonding can enhance patient comfort, especially in the more sensitive anterior dental regions, thereby potentially improving treatment compliance and experience. Trial registration: NCT05904587. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alkaline EDTA solution has been previously identified as an effective leaching agent for solubilising rare-earth oxalates. These oxalates are the product of an oxalic acid conversion leach dissolving monazite and redepositing the salt. Pervious work suggested a significant increase in recovery was observed between pH 8 and 10; we have demonstrated that, in an excess of EDTA, this is not the case, and the dissolution is similar. While demonstrating that, at a nominal solid loading of 100 g/L, 0.2 M EDTA solution produced the highest dissolution, elevated solids require an equivalent increase in lixiviant concentration driven by consumption. Very-high-solution concentrations (>50 g/L dissolved TREEs) were achieved at a high solid loading, indicating both that a solution equilibrium is yet to be reached and that a build-up of oxalate in the system (estimated at ~1 M) does not impact the leach efficiency. We have also demonstrated the recycling of EDTA to use in multiple stages as well as the ability to recover oxalate from this solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In this work, x(1H‐indol‐2‐yl)benzonitrile; where x = ortho or para were used to synthesize boehmite composites using one‐pot electrochemical method in the presence of NaCl as an electrolyte. The prepared composites were characterized using UV–vis, XRD, SEM, and BET. The measurements showed that the type of substituents (ortho, para) had an effect on the resulting nanostructure of the composites, which appeared in the form of nanosheets and nanoballs. The composites were used as materials to store hydrogen at different temperatures (77, 173, 223, and 273 K) under different pressures (10–90 bar) in order to determine the equilibrium pressure for each nanocomposite. The study demonstrated that the composite boehmite‐ortho‐(1H‐indol‐2‐yl)benzonitrile nano balls has a storage capacity of 3.82 wt% at an equilibrium pressure of 75 bar, while the composite boehmite‐para‐(1H‐indol‐2‐yl)benzonitrile nanosheets have the highest storage capacity of 4.49 wt% and an equilibrium pressure of 45 bar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]