Measurement of Wave Attenuation in Buried Plastic Water Distribution Pipes

Leaks in pipes are a common issue encountered in the water industry. Acoustic methods are generally successful in finding and locating leaks in metallic pipes, however, they are less effective when applied to plastic pipes. This is because leak-noise signals are heavily attenuated due to high damping in the pipe-wall and sound radiation into the soil. As result, high frequency leak noise does not travel long distances. To determine how far leak noise may travel in a pipe at any frequency, the attenuation of the wave responsible for leak noise propagation should be known. In this paper a new method to estimate this is described. The method is then applied to some measurements made on a bespoke pipe-test rig in the UK, and the results are compared with theoretical predictions.

Measurement of Radiant Energy using Pyroelectric Polymer/Ceramic Composite

Monitoring non-ionizing radiant energy is increasingly demanded for many applications such as automobile, biomedical and security system. Thermal type infrared (IR) sensors can operate at room temperature and pyroelectric materials have high sensitivity and accuracy for that application. Working as thermal transducer pyroelectric sensor converts the non-quantified thermal flux into the output measurable quantity of electrical charge, voltage or current. In the present study the composite made of poly(vinylidene fluoride) -PVDF and lead zirconate titanate (PZT) partially recovered with polyaniline (PAni) conductor polymer has been used as sensor element. The pyroelectric coefficient p(T) was obtained by measuring the pyroelectric reversible current, i.e., measuring the thermally stimulated depolarization current (TSDC) after removing all irreversible contribution to the current such as injected charge during polarization of the sample. To analyze the sensing property of the pyroelectric material, the sensor is irradiated by a high power light source (halogen lamp of 250 W) that is chopped providing a modulated radiation. A device assembled in the laboratory is used to change the light intensity sensor, an aluminum strip having openings with diameters ranging from 1 to 10 mm incremented by one millimeter. The sensor element is assembled between two electrodes while its frontal surface is painted black ink to maximize the light absorption. The signal from the sensor is measured by a Lock-In amplifier model SR530 -Stanford Research Systems. The behavior of the output voltage for an input power at several frequencies for PZT-PAni/PVDF (30/ 70 vol%) composite follows the inverse power law (1/ f) and the linearity can be observed in the frequency range used.

Color degradation of acrylic resin denture teeth as a function of liquid diet: ultraviolet-visible reflection analysis

The effect of different beverages on acrylic resin denture teeth color degradation is evaluated. Ten acrylic resin denture teeth brands were evaluated: Art Plus (AP), Biolux (BX), Biotone IPN (BI), Magister (MG), Mondial 6 (MD), Premium 6 (PR), SR Vivodent PE (SR), Trilux (TR), Trubyte Biotone (TB), and Vipi Dent Plus (VP). Teeth were immersed in staining solutions (coffee, cola, and orange juice) or artificial saliva (control) (n = 6) for 1, 7, 15, or 30 days. Specimen colors were evaluated spectrophotometrically based on the Commission Internationale d'Eclairage L*a*b* system. Color differences (Delta E) were calculated between the baseline and post-staining results. Data were evaluated by analysis of variance and Tukey test (alpha = 0.05). BI (1.82 +/- 0.95) and TR (1.78 +/- 0.72) teeth exhibited the greatest Delta E values, while BX (0.88 +/- 0.43) and MD (1.09 +/- 0.44) teeth were the lowest, regardless of solution and measurement period, and were different from BI and TR teeth (P < 0.05). Cola and coffee promoted higher denture teeth color alterations than orange juice and saliva (P < 0.05). Saliva generated the lowest denture teeth color alterations. Greater immersion times caused higher denture teeth color changes. The lifespan of removable dentures and the aesthetic satisfaction of several edentulous patients may be increased with the use of stain-resistant artificial denture teeth. (C) The Authors.

Effects of UV-B radiation on Lecanicillium spp., biological control agents of the coffee leaf rust pathogen

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

Effects of UV-B radiation on the antagonistic ability of Clonostachys rosea to Botrytis cinerea on strawberry leaf disc

Human activities are altering the concentrations of ozone in the troposphere and hence in the incidence of ultraviolet-B (UV-B) on Earth’s surface. Although representing only five percent of UV-B radiation striking the Earth's surface, this radiation has the potential to cause effects on biologically active molecules. Sensitivity to UV-B radiation is one of the limitations of biological control of plant pathogens in the field. The objectives of this work were to evaluate the effects of UV-B on several isolates of Clonostachys rosea, and the ability of an isolate of C. rosea, previously selected for its tolerant to UV-B radiation, to control Botrytis cinerea on strawberry leaves in controlled conditions (strawberry leaf discs). The germination of C. rosea conidia was inversely proportional to the irradiance. The most tolerant strain (LQC62) had relative germination of about 60% after irradiation of 4.2kJ/m2, and this strain was selected to be used in the subsequent studies. The data showed that even with exposure to UV-B radiation, C. rosea LQC62 controlled the pathogen. Conidial concentrations of strain LQC62 above 105 conidia/ml showed higher tolerance to UV-B radiation and increased ability to control more than 75% of the B. cinerea even with exposure to radiation. According to our results, in addition to showing less growth under UV-B, conidia of C. rosea had lower antagonistic ability. Further studies are needed to observe the tolerance of B. cinerea conidia to UV-B radiation and thereby prove that an environment with increased UV-B radiation may be favoring the pathogen due to a lower ability of C. rosea to control the pathogen in conditions of increased UV-B.