A histopathologic study of direct pulp-capping with adhesive resins

The concentration of heat-shock proteins of 70 kD (HSP70) in heart tissue has been shown to increase during transient myocardial ischaemia and to persist during several hours of reperfusion. In this study the relationship between the local myocardial HSP70 concentration and blood flow was addressed for control physiological conditions and acute myocardial ischaemia. A specific aim of this study was to address the question of whether low flow areas under control physiological conditions have undergone a transient ischaemia during the preceding hours and thus may be in a state of hibernation or stunning. In 12 anaesthetized, open-chest beagle dogs (6 control and 6 with 60-min coronary artery stenosis) heart rate, mean aortic pressure, mean arterial partial pressure of O2 and partial pressure of CO2 averaged 85+/-16 beats/min, 94+/-14 mmHg, 102+/-17 mmHg and 39+/-6 mmHg, respectively. Regional HSP70 and myocardial blood flow (RMBF) were measured using an HSP70-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and the tracer microsphere technique, respectively, in samples of 250 mg wet mass. In the control group the mean RMBF was 1.06+/-0.59 ml.min-1.g-1 and the local HSP70 concentration was 7.08+/-1.03 microg/mg cytosolic protein. Myocardial HSP70 showed a blood flow-independent regional biological heterogeneity, equivalent to a coefficient of variation of 0.31. Local HSP70 concentrations did not differ (P>0.05) between control low and high flow samples, 6.16+/-1.0 vs 6.08+/-0.75 microg/mg cytosolic protein, respectively. However, after 60 min of coronary artery occlusion the local HSP70 concentration increased from 7.08 +/-1.03 to 13.43+/-3.19 microg/mg cytosolic protein (P<0. 001). There was a significant inverse relationship between the percent reduction of local blood flow and HSP70 (r=-0.56, P<0.001). From these results it is concluded that: (1) low flow samples under control physiological conditions are unlikely to be in a state of hibernation or stunning since their HSP70 concentration is normal and (2) the increase in the local HSP70 concentration during myocardial ischaemia reflects the degree of impairment of O2 delivery.     

Methacrylic acid–acrylamide-g-poly(ethyleneterephthalate) fibres for urea hydrolysis

This paper presents the results of urease immobilization onto methacrylic acid–acrylamide grafted poly(ethyleneterephthalate) fibres. The graft yield strongly affected the maximum activity of the immobilized enzyme up to a value of 70·2%. Higher grafting caused a decline in urease activity and led to the degradation of the fibres. The minor changes observed in K_m and V_max demonstrated that the conformational changes existed during immobilization were not extensive. However, 70·2% methacrylic acid–acrylamide-g-fibres containing urease were more stable towards acidic and alkaline pH, high temperature and storage conditions compared with free enzyme. Apart from the increase in stability to heat inactivation, the initial enzymatic activity of the urease–fibre system remained almost unchanged even after 40 repeated assays corresponding to 10 h of operation in 4 months, indicating the excellent durability of the system.     

General solution of one-dimensional,time dependent coupled heat flow systems

A new, powerful method of analysis, involving the combined use of finite integral transform and finite element techniques, is presented for the solution of time dependent heat flow systems composed of many one-dimensional elements connected through the nodes. This method leads to an eigenvalue problem which is not of the conventional Sturm-Liouville type. A procedure for the determination of the eigenvalues is described. The solution obtained is in the form of an infinite series and contains quasi-steady and transient terms. The general solution obtained can be applied in the mathematical modelling of many engineering applications such as the determination of the penetration of the daily temperature cycle into buildings, the analysis of heat transfer in array of extended surfaces in compact heat exchangers, and many others.     

A note on double lacunary statistical $$\sigma$$-convergence of fuzzy numbers

Quite recently, Sava? (Appl Math Lett 21:134–141, 2008), defined the lacunary statistical analogue for double sequence \(X=\{X_{k,l}\}\) of fuzzy numbers as follows: a double sequence \(X=\{X_{k,l}\}\) is said to be lacunary P-statistically convergent to \(X_{0}\) provided that for each \(\epsilon >0\)

$ P-\lim_{r,s}\frac{1}{h_{r,s}}\left | \{(k,l)\in I_{r,s}: d(X_{k,l },X_0)\geq \epsilon\}\right|= 0. $

In this paper we introduce and study double lacunary \(\sigma\)-statistical convergence for sequence of fuzzy numbers and also we get some inclusion theorems.

     

Decentralized observers with consensus filters for distributed discrete-time linear systems

This paper presents a decentralized observer with a consensus filter for the state observation of discrete-time linear distributed systems. Each agent in the distributed system has an observer with a model of the plant that utilizes the set of locally available measurements, which may not make the full plant state detectable. This lack of detectability is overcome by utilizing a consensus filter that blends the state estimate of each agent with its neighbors’ estimates. It is proven that the state estimates of the proposed observer exponentially converge to the actual plant states under arbitrarily changing, but connected, communication and pseudo-connected sensing graph topologies. Except these connectivity properties, full knowledge of the sensing and communication graphs is not needed at the design time. As a byproduct, we obtained a result on the location of eigenvalues, i.e., the spectrum, of the Laplacian for a family of graphs with self-loops.     

Activities of MFI-Supported Rhenium Catalysts for the Aromatization of Methane: Effect of Cationic Form of the Inorganic Carrier

MFI type inorganic carrier was used in two different cationic forms, hydrogen and calcium respectively. MFI-supported molybdenum and rhenium catalysts were prepared. The activities of the catalysts were compared for the aromatization reaction of methane. Higher activity values were attained with the catalysts supported on HZSM-5. Aromatics were also observed with the catalysts supported on CaZSM-5, despite their deficiency in acid sites. Highly dispersed rhenium is expected to be formed with the use of the inorganic carrier in calcium form. On the other hand, lower reaction rates were observed with rhenium supported on CaZSM-5, in spite of the improved dispersion of the active rhenium species on this catalyst. This was interpreted in terms of the critical role of the acid sites in the conversion of methane to aromatics, compared to the improved dispersion of the active metal.     

Łukasiewicz logic and Riesz spaces

We initiate a deep study of Riesz MV-algebras which are MV-algebras endowed with a scalar multiplication with scalars from \([0,1]\) . Extending Mundici’s equivalence between MV-algebras and \(\ell \) -groups, we prove that Riesz MV-algebras are categorically equivalent to unit intervals in Riesz spaces with strong unit. Moreover, the subclass of norm-complete Riesz MV-algebras is equivalent to the class of commutative unital C \(^*\) -algebras. The propositional calculus \({\mathbb R}{\mathcal L}\) that has Riesz MV-algebras as models is a conservative extension of ?ukasiewicz \(\infty \) -valued propositional calculus and is complete with respect to evaluations in the standard model \([0,1]\) . We prove a normal form theorem for this logic, extending McNaughton theorem for ? ukasiewicz logic. We define the notions of quasi-linear combination and quasi-linear span for formulas in \({\mathbb R}{\mathcal L},\) and relate them with the analogue of de Finetti’s coherence criterion for \({\mathbb R}{\mathcal L}\) .     

Graft copolymerization of an itaconic acid/acrylamide monomer mixture onto poly(ethylene terephthalate) fibers with benzoyl peroxide

A mixture of acrylamide (AAm) and itaconic acid (IA) was grafted onto poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fibers with benzoyl peroxide in aqueous media. The effects of polymerization conditions such as the temperature, polymerization time, initiator concentration, and monomer mixture ratio on grafting were investigated. The maximum graft yield was 76.1% with an AAm/IA mixture ratio of 90/10 (mol/mol). The graft yield was as low as 3% in the single grafting of IA, whereas the use of AAm as a comonomer increased the amount of IA that entered the fiber structure to 33.5%. An increase in the temperature from 65 to 85°C increased the grafting rate and saturation graft yield. However, an increase in the temperature above 85°C decreased the saturation graft yield. The graft yield increased up to an initiator concentration of 1.0 × 10^?2 M and decreased afterwards. The grafting rate was 0.65th‐ and 0.74th‐order with respect to the initiator and AAm concentrations, respectively. The densities, diameters, and moisture‐regain values of the AAm/IA‐grafted PET fibers increased with the graft yield. Similarly, there was an increase in the dyeability of the AAm/IA‐grafted fibers with acidic and basic dyes. The grafted fibers were characterized with Fourier transform infrared and thermogravimetric analysis, and their morphologies were examined with scanning electron microscopy. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 97: 1795–1803, 2005     

Synthesis and properties of chitosan-modified poly(vinyl butyrate)

Modification of chitosan by grafting of vinyl butyrate was carried out in homogeneous phase using potassium persulfate as redox initator and 1.5% acetic acid as solvent. The percent grafting and grafting efficiency were analysed and the high grafting efficiency up to 94% was observed. The effects of reaction variables such as monomer concentration, initiator concentration, temperature and reaction time were investigated. It was observed that the solubility of chitosan was markedly reduced after grafting with vinyl butyrate. The grafted product is insoluble in common organic solvents as well in dilute organic and inorganic acids. Characterization of the graft copolymers were carried out by using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) technics. Characteristic signal of carbonyl group was observed at 1,731 cm⁻¹ which belongs to the poly vinyl butyrate segments in the graft copolymer. The melting transition of the chitosan main chain in the copolymer shifted to 124°C from its original value 101°C. In addition to these, we have also studied topology of the graft copolymer and the SEM micrograph showed continuous homogenous matrix which means there is no phase separation.     

A Game Theoretical Approach for Improving the Operational Efficiencies of Less-than-truckload Carriers Through Load Exchanges

Less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation offers fast, flexible and relatively low-cost transportation services to shippers. In order to cope with the effects of economic recessions, the LTL industry implemented ideas such as reducing excess capacity and increasing revenues through better yield management. In this paper, we extend these initiatives beyond the reach of individual carriers and propose a collaborative framework that facilitates load exchanges to reduce the operational costs. Even though collective solutions are proven to provide benefits to the participants by reducing the inefficiencies using a system-wide perspective, such solutions are often not attainable in real-life as the negotiating parties are seeking to maximize their individual profits rather than the overall profit and also they are unwilling to share confidential information. Therefore, a mechanism that enables collaboration among the carriers should account for the rationality of the individual participants and should require minimal information transfer between participants. Having this in mind, we propose a mechanism that facilities collaboration through a series of load exchange iterations and identifies an equilibrium among selfish carriers with limited information transfer among the participants. Our time-efficient mechanism can handle large instances with thousands of loads as well as provide significant benefits over the non-collaborative management of LTL networks.