In vivo aging of gutta‐percha dental cone

Gutta‐percha cone is the most widely used material for root canal filling. The in vivo aging of this cone focus on the degradation of its main organic component, trans‐1,4‐polyisoprene, was studied. Aged cones (25 samples) from 2 to 30 years of root canal filling were extracted from different patients in the occasion of retreatment by mechanical way. The information about the aging time was given by the patients. Gel‐permeation chromatography (GPC) and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were the analytical techniques used. Polyisoprene degrades with time of aging, but in a slow process. Decrease in polymer molar mass from 5.7 × 10⁵ to 1.7 × 10⁵ g/mol was observed in polyisoprene from cone after 30 years of root canal filling and inside a noninfected tooth. In tooth with caries and periodontal infection, the decrease in molar mass is higher (4.6 × 10⁴ g/mol in cone with 10 years of aging). The production of carbonyl and hydroxyl groups in the aged material indicates that the process is oxidative, even in closed teeth. In these cases, the oxygen could be provided from tissue fluid. The degradation mechanism is complex and depends on many factors, besides time of root canal filling. The dental problem caused by the aging could be the production and migration of cytotoxic substances to periodontal ligament and the reduction on the canal sealing property due to the polymer weight loss. Both of them could contribute to the root canal treatment failure. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100:4082–4088, 2006     

Reliability Analysis Applied on Land Subsidence Effects of Groundwater Remediation: Probabilistic vs. Deterministic Approach

The quantification of soil variability is one of the most important aspects in the geo-engineering context. The uncertainty analysis is the main part of the reliability assessment for which a quantitative evaluation was performed in this study. The Reliability Index and the Probability of Failure using the First-Order Reliability Method (FORM) represents both, an effective method which is easy to implement at the same time. This work analyzes possible effects of compaction induced into the aquifer of the Scarlino Plain, caused by the extension of the hydraulic barrier for groundwater remediation. The currently implemented vertical barrier is composed of 12 wells which reach the depth of 10 m. The improvement of the project involves the construction of a further 40 clusters, each consisting of a doublet which intercepts different depths (10 and 18 m). The models of the subsoil stratigraphy and of the groundwater were built using a numerical model. The groundwater flow and the piezometric surface in the current configuration of the barrier were studied and the project configuration was evaluated. Using the Aquitard drainage model, the land subsidence was estimated to calculate the maximum admissible displacement related to exhibited goods, the so called territorial vulnerability. The evaluation analysis was performed using a traditional deterministic approach, followed by a reliability method based on probabilistic models. Finally, the respective results were reported in a soil mapping with overlapping layers.     

Visual discovery of the correlation between BGP routing and round-trip delay active measurements

Inter-domain routing data and Internet active probing measurements are two types of information commonly available in huge datasets and subject to extensive, focused analysis. However, the study of the correlation between these two complementary types of information still remains one of the most challenging problems in today’s research in networking. In this paper we describe a metaphor for the visualization of the interplay between the routing information exchanged via BGP and the round-trip delay measurements collected by several geolocated probes. We implemented a prototype based on the above metaphor. Our prototype highlights both the Autonomous System topology and the latency associated with each AS-path over time. Further, it shows how probes are partitioned into clusters associated with each border gateway, based on observed traffic patterns. The resulting visualization allows the user to explore the dynamics of the correlation between the two types of information.     

On requirement verification for evolving Statecharts specifications

Software development processes have been evolving from rigid, pre-specified, and sequential to incremental, and iterative. This evolution has been dictated by the need to accommodate evolving user requirements and reduce the delay between design decision and feedback from users. Formal verification techniques, however, have largely ignored this evolution and even when they made enormous improvements and found significant uses in practice, like in the case of model checking, they remained confined into the niches of safety-critical systems. Model checking verifies if a system’s model \(\mathcal{M}\) satisfies a set of requirements, formalized as a set of logic properties \(\Phi\) . Current model-checking approaches, however, implicitly rely on the assumption that both the complete model \(\mathcal{M}\) and the whole set of properties \(\Phi\) are fully specified when verification takes place. Very often, however, \(\mathcal{M}\) is subject to change because its development is iterative and its definition evolves through stages of incompleteness, where alternative design decisions are explored, typically to evaluate some quality trade-offs. Evolving systems specifications of this kind ask for novel verification approaches that tolerate incompleteness and support incremental analysis of alternative designs for certain functionalities. This is exactly the focus of this paper, which develops an incremental model-checking approach for evolving Statecharts. Statecharts have been chosen both because they are increasingly used in practice natively support model refinements.     

On the observation of inductive high-frequency impedance behaviour during the electrodeposition of Au—Sn alloys

Inductive high-frequency impedance behaviour is often observed in metal electrodeposition systems. This behaviour is typically attributed to equipment limitations or non-idealities in the cell set-up and electrical connections. Such instrumental artefacts would nevertheless be relevant to a frequency range which is expected to be well above that in which inductive behaviour is in fact observed (down to a few tens of Hz). In this paper some results on an acidic Au—Sn electrodeposition system are reported. Electrochemical impedance and potentiostatic transients were measured. These results suggest that the high-frequency inductive behaviour may be related to metal nucleation processes. A correlation is proposed between the pseudo-inductive potentiostatic nucleation transients and the pseudo-inductive behaviour of the impedance spectra.     

Surface properties of fluorinated hybrid coatings

A commercial perfluoropolyether containing alkoxysilane functionalities was employed to prepare organic–inorganic hybrid coatings by using the sol‐gel process in the presence of tetraethoxysilane. Contact angle analysis revealed a strong hydrophobic and oleophobic character of the coatings almost independently from the molecular weight of the starting fluorinated oligomer. Surface tension values were in the range of 14–16 mN/m, suggesting a preferential segregation of fluorinated segments onto the surface of the coating. Atomic force microscopy showed the presence very smooth surfaces permitting to neglect the contribution of the surface roughness to wettability. Friction coefficient values were markedly lower with respect to the value of uncoated glass substrate. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 1483–1488, 2006     

Manufacturing of polypropylene laminates and related structural reorganization in the crystalline phase

The conditions for obtaining recrystallization in more ordered modifications are described for an uniaxially oriented sample of isotactic polypropylene, annealed with fixed ends. These recrystallization conditions are related to the conditions of a lamination process.     

Comparative study of homogeneous and heterogeneous styrene polymerizations with Ni(acac)2/MAO catalytic system

Styrene polymerization was carried out with Ni(acac)₂/MAO and Ni(acac)₂/SiO₂/MAO. The influence of reaction parameters (Al/Ni mole ratio, catalyst concentration, temperature and time polymerization) on styrene polymerization was evaluated. It was observed that both catalytic systems were affected by reaction parameters and that the heterogeneous catalyst presented higher activity than the homogeneous one. Polystyrenes with different molecular weight, stereoregularity and polydispersity were obtained. These results suggest that different active catalyst species could have been present. In addition, two types of methylaluminoxane (MAO) with different molecular weights were also evaluated as cocatalyst. As a result, the catalyst activity and stereospecificity were strongly affected by the MAO type.     

Dynamic Parameter Identification Based on Lagrangian Formulation and Servomotor-type Actuators for Industrial Robots

International Journal of Control, Automation and Systems - This article presents the design of a parameter identification model for industrial manipulator robots. This model includes the dynamics...     

High power GaN‐HEMT SPDT switches for microwave applications

In this article, the design, fabrication, and on‐wafer test of X‐Band and 2–18 GHz wideband high‐power SPDT MMIC switches in AlGaN/GaN technology are presented. The switches have demonstrated state‐of‐the‐art performance and RF fabrication yield better than 65%. Linear and power measurements for different control voltages have been reported and an explanation of the dependence of the power performances on the control voltage is given. In particular, the X‐band switch exhibits a 0.4 dB compression level at 10 GHz when driven by a 38 dBm input signal. The wideband switch shows a compression level of 1 dB at an input drive higher than 38 dBm across the entire bandwidth. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2009.