Effect of silica coating combined to a MDP-based primer on the resin bond to Y-TZP ceramic

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of silica coating and 10-methacryloyloxydecyl dihydrogen phosphate (MDP)-based primer applications upon the bonding durability of a MDP-based resin cement to a yttrium stabilized tetragonal zirconia (Y-TZP) ceramic. Ninety-six Y-TZP tabs were embedded in an acrylic resin (free surface for adhesion: 5 x 5 mm(2)), ground finished and randomly divided into four groups (N = 24) according to the ceramic surface conditioning: (1) cleaning with isopropanol (ALC); (2) ALC + phosphoric acid etching + MDP-based primer application (MDP-primer); (3) silica coating + 3-methacryloyloxypropyl trimethoxysilane (MPS)-based coupling agent application (SiO(2) + MPS-Sil); and (4) SiO(2) + MDP-primer. The MDP-based resin cement was applied on the treated surface using a cylindrical mold (diameter=3 mm). Half of the specimens from each surface conditioning were stored in distilled water (37 C, 24 h) before testing. Another half of the specimens were stored (90 days) and thermo-cycled (12,000x) during this period (90d/TC) before testing. A shear bond strength (SBS) test was performed at a crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min. Two factors composed the experimental design: ceramic conditioning strategy (in four levels) and storage condition (in two levels), totaling eight groups. After 90d/TC (Tukey; p < 0.05), SiO(2) + MDP-primer (24.40 MPa) promoted the highest SBS. The ALC and MDP-primer groups debonded spontaneously during 90d/TC. Bonding values were higher and more stable in the SiO2 groups. The use of MDP-primer after silica coating increased the bond strength. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part 8: Appl Biomater 95B: 69-74, 2010.

The critical barrier to progress in dentine bonding with the etch-and-rinse technique

Objectives: The lack of durability in resin-dentine bonds led to the use of chlorhexidine as MMP-inhibitor to prevent the degradation of hybrid layers. Biomimetic remineralisation is a concept-proven approach in preventing the degradation of resin-dentine bonds. The purpose of this study is to examine the integrity of aged resin-dentine interfaces created with a nanofiller-containing etch-and-rinse adhesive after the application of these two approaches.Methods: The more established MMP-inhibition approach was examined using a parallel in vivo and in vitro ageing design to facilitate comparison with the biomimetic remineralisation approach using an in vitro ageing design. Specimens bonded without chlorhexidine exhibited extensive degradation of the hybrid layer after 12 months of in vivo ageing.Results: Dissolution of nanofillers could be seen within a water-rich zone within the adhesive layer. Although specimens bonded with chlorhexidine exhibited intact hybrid layers, water-rich regions remained in those hybrid layers and degradation of nanofillers occurred within the adhesive layer. Specimens subjected to in vitro biomimetic remineralisation followed by in vitro ageing demonstrated intrafibrillar collagen remineralisation within hybrid layers and deposition of mineral nanocrystals in nanovoids within the adhesive.Conclusions: The impact was realized by understanding the lack of an inherent mechanism to remove water from resin-dentine interfaces as the critical barrier to progress in bonding with the etch-and-rinse technique. The experimental biomimetic remineralisation strategy offers a creative solution for incorporating a progressive hydration mechanism to achieve this goal, which warrants its translation into a clinically applicable technique. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Stabilization of a (3+1)-dimensional soliton in a Kerr medium by a rapidly oscillating dispersion coefficient

Using the numerical solution of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation and a variational method it is shown that (3 + 1)-dimensional spatiotemporal optical solitons can be stabilized by a rapidly oscillating dispersion coefficient in a Kerr medium with cubic nonlinearity. This has immediate consequence in generating dispersion-managed robust optical soliton in communication as well as possible stabilized Bose-Einstein condensates in periodic optical-lattice potential via an effective-mass formulation. We also critically compare the present stabilization with that obtained by a rapid sinusoidal oscillation of the Kerr nonlinearity parameter.

Dissipation-managed soliton in a quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate

We use the time-dependent mean-field Cross-Pitaevskii equation to study the formation of a dynamically-stabilized dissipation managed bright soliton in a quasi-one dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). Because of three-body recombination of bosonic atoms to molecules, atoms are lost (dissipated) from a BEC. Such dissipation leads to the decay of a BEC soliton. We demonstrate by a perturbation procedure that an alimentation of atoms from an external source to the BEC may compensate for the dissipation loss and lead to a dynamically-stabilized soliton. The result of the analytical perturbation method is in excellent agreement with mean-field numerics. It seems possible to obtain such a dynamically stabilized BEC soliton without dissipation in laboratory.

SU(5)circle times Z(13) grand unification model

We propose an SU(5) grand unified model with an invisible axion and the unification of the three coupling constants which is in agreement with the values, at M(Z), of alpha, alpha(s), and sin(2)theta(W). A discrete, anomalous, Z(13) symmetry implies that the Peccei-Quinn symmetry is an automatic symmetry of the classical Lagrangian protecting, at the same time, the invisible axion against possible semiclassical gravity effects. Although the unification scale is of the order of the Peccei-Quinn scale the proton is stabilized by the fact that in this model the standard model fields form the SU(5) multiplets completed by new exotic fields and, also, because it is protected by the Z(13) symmetry.

Stabilization of bright solitons and vortex solitons in a trapless three-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate by temporal modulation of the scattering length

Using variational and numerical solutions of the mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii equation we show that a bright soliton can be stabilized in a trapless three-dimensional attractive Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) by a rapid periodic temporal modulation of scattering length alone by using a Feshbach resonance. This scheme also stabilizes a rotating vortex soliton in two dimensions. Apart from possible experimental application in BEC, the present study suggests that the spatiotemporal solitons of nonlinear optics in three dimensions can also be stabilized in a layered Kerr medium with sign-changing nonlinearity along the propagation direction.

Stabilization of a light bullet in a layered Kerr medium with sign-changing nonlinearity

Using the numerical solution of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation and a variational method, it is shown that (3+1)-dimensional spatiotemporal optical solitons, known as light bullets, can be stabilized in a layered Kerr medium with sign-changing nonlinearity along the propagation direction.

Effects of time-periodic linear coupling on two-component Bose-Einstein condensates in two dimensions

We examine two-component Gross-Pitaevskii equations with nonlinear and linear couplings, assuming self-attraction in one species and self-repulsion in the other, while the nonlinear inter-species coupling is also repulsive. For initial states with the condensate placed in the self-attractive component, a sufficiently strong linear coupling switches the collapse into decay (in the free space). Setting the linear-coupling coefficient to be time-periodic (alternating between positive and negative values, with zero mean value) can make localized states quasi-stable for the parameter ranges considered herein, but they slowly decay. The 2D states can then be completely stabilized by a weak trapping potential. In the case of the high-frequency modulation of the coupling constant, averaged equations are derived, which demonstrate good agreement with numerical solutions of the full equations. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Two-dimensional dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate bright and vortex solitons on a one-dimensional optical lattice

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Towards a UV completion of chameleons in string theory

Chameleons are scalar fields that couple directly to ordinary matter with gravitational strength, but which nevertheless evade the stringent constraints on tests of gravity because of properties they acquire in the presence of high ambient matter density. Chameleon theories were originally constructed in a bottom-up, phenomenological fashion, with potentials and matter couplings designed to hide the scalar from experiments. In this paper, we attempt to embed the chameleon scenario within string compactifications, thus UV completing the scenario. We look for stabilized potentials that can realize a screening mechanism, and we find that the volume modulus rather generically works as a chameleon, and in fact the supersymmetric potential used by Kachru, Kallosh, Linde and Trivedi (KKLT) is an example of this type. We consider all constraints from tests of gravity, allowing us to put experimental constraints on the KKLT parameters.

Self-trapping of a binary Bose-Einstein condensate induced by interspecies interaction

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A thermoporometry and small-angle x-ray scattering study of wet silica sonogels as the pore volume fraction is varied

Silica sonogels with different porosities were prepared by acid sono-hydrolysis of tetraethoxysilane. Wet sonogels were studied using small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The DSC shows a broad thermal peak below the normal water melting point associated with the melting of confined ice nanocrystals, or nanoporosity. The nanopore size distribution was determined from the Gibbs-Thomson equation. As the porosity is increased, a second sharp DSC thermal peak with onset temperature at the water melting point is apparent, which was associated with the melting of ice macrocrystals, or macroporosity. The DSC result could be causing misinterpretation of the macroporosity because water may not be exactly confined in very feeble silica network regions in sonogels with high porosity. The structure of the wet gels can be described fairly well as mutually self-similar mass fractal structures with characteristic length. increasing from similar to 1.8 to similar to 5.4 nm and mass fractal dimension D diminishing discretely from similar to 2.6 to similar to 2.3 as the porosity increases in the range studied. More specifically, such a structure could be described using a two-parameter correlation function gamma(r) similar to r(D-3) exp(-r/xi), which is limited at larger scale by the cut-off distance xi but without a well-defined small scale cut-off distance, at least up to the maximum angular domain probed using SAXS in the present study.

Some results on vector bundle monomorphisms

In this paper we use the singularity method of Koschorke [2] to study the question of how many different nonstable homotopy classes of monomorphisms of vector bundles lie in a stable class and the percentage of stable monomorphisms which are not homotopic to stabilized nonstable monomorphisms. Particular attention is paid to tangent vector fields. This work complements some results of Koschorke [3; 4], Libardi-Rossini [7] and Libardi-do Nascimento-Rossini [6].

On the reversed crystal growth of BaZrO3 decaoctahedron: shape evolution and mechanism

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A Joint Experimental and Theoretical Study on the Nanomorphology of CaWO4 Crystals

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)