Performance of techniques used for re-attachment of endodontically treated crown fractured teeth

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the fracture strength of three techniques used to re-attach tooth fragments in sound and endodontically treated fractured teeth with or without fiber post placement. Material and methods: Ninety human lower incisors were randomly divided into three groups of 30 teeth each. In group A teeth were not subjected to endodontic treatment; while teeth from groups B and C were endodontically treated and the pulp chamber restored with a composite resin. All teeth were fractured by an axial load applied to the buccal area in order to obtain tooth fragments. Teeth from each group were then divided into three subgroups, according to the re-attachment technique: bonded-only, buccal-chamfer and circumferential chamfer. Before the re-attachment procedures, fiber posts were placed in teeth from group C using dual cure resin luting cement (Duo-Link). All teeth (groups A-C) had the fragments re-attached using a same dual cure resin luting cement. in the bonded-only group, no additional preparation was made. After re-attachment of the fragment, teeth from groups buccal and circumferential chamfer groups had a 1.0 mm depth chamfer placed in the fracture line either on buccal surfaceor along the buccal and lingual surfaces, respectively. increments of microhybid composite resin (Tetric Ceram) were used in subgroups buccal chamfer and circumferential chamfer to restore the chamfer. The specimens were loaded until fracture in the same pre-determined area. The force required to detach each fragment was recorded and the data was subjected to a three-way analysis of variance where factors Group and Re-attachment technique are independent measures and Time of fracture is a repeated measure factor (first and second) and Tukey`s test (alpha = 0.05). Results: The main factors Re-attachment technique (p = 0.04) and Time of fracture (p = 0.02) were statistically significant. The buccal and circumferential chamfer techniques were statistically similar (p > 0.05) and superior to the bonded-only group (p < 0.05). The first time of fracture was statistically superior to second time of fracture (p < 0.001). Conclusions: The use of fiber post is not necessary for the reinforcement of the tooth structure in re-attachment of endodontically treated teeth. When bonding a fractured fragment, the buccal or circumferential re-attachment techniques should be preferable in comparison with the simple re-attachment without any additional preparation. None of the techniques used for re-attachment restored the fracture strength of the intact teeth. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tidal friction in close-in satellites and exoplanets: The Darwin theory re-visited

This report is a review of Darwin`s classical theory of bodily tides in which we present the analytical expressions for the orbital and rotational evolution of the bodies and for the energy dissipation rates due to their tidal interaction. General formulas are given which do not depend on any assumption linking the tidal lags to the frequencies of the corresponding tidal waves (except that equal frequency harmonics are assumed to span equal lags). Emphasis is given to the cases of companions having reached one of the two possible final states: (1) the super-synchronous stationary rotation resulting from the vanishing of the average tidal torque; (2) capture into the 1:1 spin-orbit resonance (true synchronization). In these cases, the energy dissipation is controlled by the tidal harmonic with period equal to the orbital period (instead of the semi-diurnal tide) and the singularity due to the vanishing of the geometric phase lag does not exist. It is also shown that the true synchronization with non-zero eccentricity is only possible if an extra torque exists opposite to the tidal torque. The theory is developed assuming that this additional torque is produced by an equatorial permanent asymmetry in the companion. The results are model-dependent and the theory is developed only to the second degree in eccentricity and inclination (obliquity). It can easily be extended to higher orders, but formal accuracy will not be a real improvement as long as the physics of the processes leading to tidal lags is not better known.

Contributions to the taxonomy of the Normanellidae (Copepoda, Harpacticoida): description of a new genus from the Brazilian continental shelf and re-assignment of Pseudocletodes vararensis Scott & Scott, 1893 (ex Nannopodidae)

A new genus and species of Normanellidae (Copepoda, Harpacticoida), Paranaiara inajae gen. et sp. nov., is described from the continental shelf off the northern coast of Sao Paulo State, Brazil. The new genus differs from the type genus Normanella Brady, 1880 and Sagamiella Lee & Huys, 1999 in its presence of lamelliform caudal rami, a maxillulary endopod represented by 2 setae, an unarmed maxillipedal syncoxa, and reduced setation on P2 enp-2 (without outer spine) and P3 enp-2 (with only 2 inner setae). All these apomorphic character states are shared with the genus Pseudocletodes Scott & Scott, 1893, formerly placed in the family Nannopodidae (ex Huntemanniidae) and here assigned to the Normanellidae. Pseudocletodes can be differentiated from Paranaiara by the loss of the P1 endopod and of the inner seta on P2-P4 enp-1, the presence of only 2 inner setae on P2 enp-2 (instead of 3) and only 1 inner seta on P4 exp-3 (instead of 2), the presence of a second inner seta on P4 enp-2 (instead of 1), the morphology of the fifth pair of legs which are not medially fused and have only 3 endopodal elements (instead of 4) in the male, and the well developed caudal ramus seta V (instead of rudimentary). It is postulated that prehensility of the P1 endopod was secondarily lost in the common ancestor of Paranaiara and Pseudocletodes. An updated family diagnosis of the Normanellidae and a dichotomous identification key to the 22 currently valid species are presented.

Slicing the metric space to provide quick indexing of complex data in the main memory

Searching in a dataset for elements that are similar to a given query element is a core problem in applications that manage complex data, and has been aided by metric access methods (MAMs). A growing number of applications require indices that must be built faster and repeatedly, also providing faster response for similarity queries. The increase in the main memory capacity and its lowering costs also motivate using memory-based MAMs. In this paper. we propose the Onion-tree, a new and robust dynamic memory-based MAM that slices the metric space into disjoint subspaces to provide quick indexing of complex data. It introduces three major characteristics: (i) a partitioning method that controls the number of disjoint subspaces generated at each node; (ii) a replacement technique that can change the leaf node pivots in insertion operations; and (iii) range and k-NN extended query algorithms to support the new partitioning method, including a new visit order of the subspaces in k-NN queries. Performance tests with both real-world and synthetic datasets showed that the Onion-tree is very compact. Comparisons of the Onion-tree with the MM-tree and a memory-based version of the Slim-tree showed that the Onion-tree was always faster to build the index. The experiments also showed that the Onion-tree significantly improved range and k-NN query processing performance and was the most efficient MAM, followed by the MM-tree, which in turn outperformed the Slim-tree in almost all the tests. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Image indexing and retrieval using an ART-2A neural network architecture

Traditional content-based image retrieval (CBIR) systems use low-level features such as colors, shapes, and textures of images. Although, users make queries based on semantics, which are not easily related to such low-level characteristics. Recent works on CBIR confirm that researchers have been trying to map visual low-level characteristics and high-level semantics. The relation between low-level characteristics and image textual information has motivated this article which proposes a model for automatic classification and categorization of words associated to images. This proposal considers a self-organizing neural network architecture, which classifies textual information without previous learning. Experimental results compare the performance results of the text-based approach to an image retrieval system based on low-level features. (c) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Nonlinear refractive index of RECOB (RE = Gd and La) crystals

The Z-scan technique is employed to obtain the nonlinear refractive index (n (2)) of the Ca(4)REO(BO(3))(3) (RECOB, where RE = Gd and La) single crystals using 30 fs laser pulses centered at 780 nm for the two orthogonal orientations determined by the optical axes (X and Z) relative to the direction of propagation of the laser beam (k//Y// crystallographic b-axis). The large values of n (2) indicate that both GdCOB and LaCOB are potential hosts for Yb:RECOB lasers operating in the Kerr-lens mode locking (KLM) regime.

Electronic structure and chemical bonding in the ground states of Tc(2) and Re(2)

Multiconfiguration second-order perturbation theory, including relativistic effects and spin-orbit coupling, has been employed to investigate the nature of the chemical bonding in the ground state of Tc(2) and Re(2). The Tc(2) ground state is found to be a 0(g)(+) state, with an effective bond order (EBO) of 4.4, and a dissociation energy of 3.25 eV. The Re(2) ground state is a 1(g) state, with EBO = 4.3. Almost degenerate to it, is a 0(g)(+) state (T(e) = 77 cm(-1)), with EBO = 4.1. Experimental evidence also indicates that the ground state is of 1(g) nature. The dissociation energy is computed to be 5.0 eV in agreement with an experimental estimate of 4 +/- 1 eV.

Photoswitches and Luminescent Rigidity Sensors Based on fac-[Re(CO)(3)(Me(4)phen)(L)](+)

The fac-[Re(CO)(3)(Me(4)phen)(trans-L)](+) complexes, Me(4)phen = 3,4,7,8-tetramethyl-1,10-phenanthroline and L = 4-styrylpyridine, stpy, or 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene, bpe, were synthesized and characterized by their spectroscopic, photochemical, and photophysical properties. The complexes exhibit trans-to-cis isomerization upon 313, 334, 365, and 404 nm irradiation, and the true quantum yields can be efficiently determined by absorption changes combined with (1)H NMR data. For fac-[Re(CO)(3)(Me(4)phen)(trans-bpe)](+) similar quantum yields were determined at all wavelengths investigated. However, a lower value (phi(true) = 0.35) was determined for fac-[Re(CO)(3)(Me(4)phen)(trans-stpy)](+) at 404 nm irradiation, which indicates different pathways for the photoisomerization process. The photoproducts, fac-[Re(CO)(3)(Me(4)phen)(cis-L)](+), exhibit luminescence at room temperature with two maxima ascribed to the (3)IL(Me4phen) and (3)MLCT(Re -> Me4phen) excited states. The luminescence properties were investigated in different media, and the behavior in glassy EPA at 77 K showed that the contribution of each emissive state is dependent on the excitation wavelength. The photochemical and photophysical behavior of the complexes were rationalized in terms of the energy gap of excited states and can be exploited in photoswitchable luminescent rigidity sensors.

Excited-State Dynamics in fac-[Re(CO)(3)(Me(4)phen)(L)](+)

Excited-state dynamics in fac-[Re(CO)(3)(Me(4)phen)(cis-L)](+) (Me(4)phen = 3,4,7,8-tetramethyl-1,10-phenanthroline, L = 4-styrylpyridine (stpy) or 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene (bpe)) were investigated by steady-state and time-resolved techniques. A complex equilibrium among three closely lying excited states, 3IL(cis-L), (3)MLCT(Re -> me4phen), and (3)IL(Me4phen), has been established. Under UV irradiation, cis-to-trans isomerization of coordinated cis-L is observed with a quantum yield of 0.15 in acetonitrile solutions. This photoreaction competes with radiative decay from (3)MLCT(Re -> Me4phen) and (3)IL(Me4phen) excited states, leading to a decrease in the emission quantum yield relative to the nonisomerizable complex fac-[Re(CO)(3)(Me(4)phen)(bpa)](+) (bpa = 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane). From temperature-dependent time-resolved emission measurements in solution and in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films, energy barriers (Delta E(a)) for interconversion between (3)MLCT(Re -> me4Phen) and (3)IL(Me4phen) emitting states were determined. For L = cis-stpy, Delta E(a) = 11 (920 cm(-1)) and 15 kJ mol(-1) (1254 cm(-1)) in 5:4 propionitrile/butyronitrile and PMMA, respectively. For L = cis-bpe, Delta E(a) = 13 kJ mol(-1) (1087 cm(-1)) in 5:4 propionitrile/butyronitrile. These energy barriers are sufficient to decrease the rate constant for internal conversion from higher-lying (3)IL(me4phen) state to (3)MLCT(Re -> Me4phen), k(i) congruent to 10(6) s(-1). The decrease in rate allows for the observation of intraligand phosphorescence, even in fluid medium at room temperature. Our results provide additional insight into the role of energy gap and excited-state dynamics on the photochemical and photophysical properties of Re(I) polypyridyl complexes.