Characterization of a water-based paint for corrosion protection

Corrosion of steel rebars in reinforced concrete is one of the major problems in the construction industry. Carbonation reactions of concrete with carbon dioxide and, mainly, the chloride salts action are the main causes responsible for concrete degradation. Protective coatings help to improve the durability of concrete structures by acting as a physical barrier against the corrosion agents. Waterborne paints are usually used for concrete protection rather than solvent-based paints since they are less pollutant. The aim of this work is to investigate the influence of the pore size and porosity on the permeability of the paints films toward sodium chloride. Three characterization methods from membrane science were implemented to characterize paint coatings. The time-lag method was used to determine the permeability toward the sodium chloride and toward helium and argon, these for approximately 100% relative humidity. From the seven waterborne paints formulated, only one was found to be suitable for surface protection of reinforced concrete, since its permeability toward NaCl was smaller than 10⁻¹⁴ m² s⁻¹, the threshold value required by National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC) in Portugal. For the formulated paints, it was observed that the average pore size correlates well with the permeability toward sodium chloride. This is an important result since obtaining the permeability toward sodium chloride of corrosion protective paints is very time consuming, while the average pore size can be obtained in a much shorter time.     

Short communication: Genetic characterization of digital cushion thickness

Dairy cow lameness is a serious animal welfare issue. It is also a significant cause of economic losses, reducing reproductive efficiency and milk production and increasing culling rates. The digital cushion is a complex structure composed mostly of adipose tissue located underneath the distal phalanx and has recently been phenotypically associated with incidence of claw horn disruption lesions (CHDL); namely, sole ulcers and white line disease. The objective of this study was to characterize digital cushion thickness genetically and to investigate its association with body condition score (BCS), locomotion score (LOCO), CHDL, and milk production. Data were collected from 1 large closely monitored commercial dairy farm located in upstate New York; 923 dairy cows were used. Before trimming, the following data were collected by a member of the research team: BCS, cow height measurement, and LOCO. Presence or not of CHDL (sole ulcer or white line disease, or both) was recorded at trimming. Immediately after the cows were hoof trimmed, they underwent digital sonographic B-mode examination for the measurement of digital cushion thickness. Factors such as parity number, stage of lactation, calving date, mature-equivalent 305-d milk yield (ME305MY), and pedigree information were obtained from the farm’s dairy management software (DairyCOMP 305; Valley Agricultural Software, Tulare, CA). Univariate animal models were used to obtain variance component estimations for each studied trait (CHDL, BCS, digital cushion thickness average, LOCO, height, and ME305MY) and a 6-variate analysis was conducted to estimate the genetic, residual, and phenotypic correlations between the studied traits. The heritability estimate of DCTA was 0.33 ± 0.09, whereas a statistically significant genetic correlation was estimated between DCTA and CHDL (−0.60 ± 0.29). Of the other genetic correlations, significant estimates were derived for BCS with LOCO (−0.49 ± 0.19) and ME305MY (−0.48 ± 0.20). Digital cushion thickness is moderately heritable and genetically strongly correlated with CHDL.     

Behavior change through wearables: the interplay between self-leadership and IT-based leadership

Electronic Markets - Physical inactivity is a global public health problem that poses health risks to individuals and imposes financial burdens on already strained healthcare systems. Wearables...     

Distributed Control Strategy with Smith's Predictor in a Pilot-Scale Diabatic Distillation Unit

Intrinsic characteristics of distillation such as dead time and high nonlinearities do not allow the complete elimination of transient times when any external disturbance or set-point change occurs. Thus, aiming at the use of easy-tuning systems, a distributed-action control in trays of a diabatic distillation unit with Smith's predictor was implemented in the Simulink environment to further reduce transient times and out-of-specification product. The distributed-action strategy with Smith's predictor led to a reduction of 33.3 min (33 %) in the transient time of the top temperature control loop and 66 % in out-of-specification product, when compared with the conventional strategy, and thus is shown to be an efficient approach to increasing the productivity of distillation plants.     

Property of Self-Similarity Between Baseband and Modulated Signals

Mobile Networks and Applications - The increment of communication technologies and the development of signal processing require efficient identification techniques for communication...     

Leachability of degradation products from hard chairside reline resins in artificial saliva: Effect of water‐bath post‐polymerization treatment

The effect of a post‐polymerization treatment on the leaching of methacrylic acid (MA) and benzoic acid (BA) from the reline resins [Kooliner (K), New Truliner (N), Ufi Gel hard (U), and Tokuso Rebase Fast (T)] was evaluated. Specimens of each material were divided into two groups: Group C (control) – left untreated; Group WB (water‐bath) – immersion in water at 55 ± 1°C for 10 min. Specimens were placed in artificial saliva at 37 ± 1°C and, after 1‐, 3‐, 5‐, 24‐h and 3‐, 7‐, 14‐, and 30‐day intervals, aliquots were removed and analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography. Data were analyzed by using Wilcoxon, Mann–Whitney or Kruskal–Wallis tests (α = 0.05). At 1 h, the concentration of MA released from U control specimens was higher than those of the other ones, and decreased after 3 h. WB specimens released lower amounts of MA than control specimens only for material U, at the 1‐ and 3‐h periods. For all control specimens, concentrations of leached BA progressively decreased within 5 h and from 24 h to the end. WB specimens released significantly lower amounts of BA than did the control groups. The highest concentration of MA was leached from control specimens of Ufi Gel hard. Water‐bath post‐polymerization treatment caused a significant reduction in elution of BA. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Child-centered game development (CCGD): developing games with children at school

Children represent an increasingly relevant target group of the game industry. Nevertheless, they are rarely involved in development processes. This article introduces child-centered game development (CCGD) approaches for the game design within the context of the school. Therefore, suitable HCI approaches from user-centered and participatory design as well as educational principles and approaches were used as a foundation. The CCGD approaches illustrate how to guide the involvement and participation of children aged 10–14 years in school classes within the development process of games. Approaches for the analysis, conceptualization, and design phases were developed and applied.     

Extended Algorithms for Approximating Variable Order Fractional Derivatives with Applications

This paper proposes accurate and robust algorithms for approximating variable order fractional derivatives of arbitrary order. The proposed schemes are based on finite difference approximations. We compare the performance of algorithms by introducing a new formulation of experimental convergence order. Two initial value problems are considered and solved by means of the proposed methods. Numerical results are provided justifying the usefulness of the proposed methods.