Fracture strength of class II slot cavities restored with polymerizable restorative materials

This study compared the fracture strength of Class II slot cavities restored with polymerizable restorative materials. Sixty, caries-free, posterior teeth were divided into five groups of 12 teeth. The Class II slot cavities were prepared. The teeth were restored with two packable composites (Filtek P60, Surefil), a microhybrid composite (Filtek Z250)and two ormocer (Definite, Admira). The restorations were then subjected to fracture resistance tests. The marginal ridges of the restorations were loaded at an angle of 13.5° to the long axis of the tooth in an Universal Testing Machine until failure. Analysis of mean forces indicated that, Filtek P60, Surefil and Filtek Z250 exhibited better performance than Definite and Admira. The tested resin composites differed in their mechanical properties. This study suggested that fracture behavior were highly influenced by the filler system. Overall, Filtek P60, Surefil, Filtek Z250, demonstrated good fracture resistance. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Polysiloxanol condensation and disproportionation in the presence of a superacid

Kinetics studies of the condensation of model hydroxyl-terminated oligosiloxanes, pentamethyldisiloxane-1-ol (MDH) and heptamethyltrisiloxane-1-ol (MD₂H), catalysed by protic complex of tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)borate in the toluene solution were performed. The dominating reaction was condensation, which was accompanied by disproportionation of oligosiloxanols. Water released in the condensation forms separate dispersed phase, but the phase separation and the presence of water does not affect the rate of the polycondensation. Both processes, condensation and disproportionation, show analogous kinetic laws being first order in silanol and half order in catalyst. They exhibit also similar values of activation parameters. The kinetics are explained by the formation of a reactive protic complex of silanol with borate being in fast preequilibrium with an unreactive complex including two borate molecules and the silanol molecules. The equilibrium lies to the side of the unreactive borate complex.     

Pointwise gradient estimates of solutions to onedimensional nonlinear parabolic equations

We present here an improved version of the method introduced by the first author to derive pointwise gradient estimates for the solutions of one-dimensional parabolic problems. After considering a general qualinear equation in divergence form we apply the method to the case of a nonlinear diffusion-convection equation. The conclusions are stated first for classical solutions and then for generalized and mild solutions. In the case of unbounded initial datum we obtain several regularizing effects for t > 0. Some unilateral pointwise gradient estimates are also obtained. The case of the Dirichlet problem is also considered. Finally, we collect, in the last section, several comments showing the connections among these estimates and the study of the free boundaries associated to the solutions of the diffusion-convection equation.     

Stable boundary layers in a diffusion problem with nonlinear reaction at the boundary

We prove the existence of nonconstant stable stationary solutions of an evolution problem with a nonlinear reaction acting on the boundary. These solutions present layers at certain points of the boundary. We also study the behavior of these solutions as the small parameter appearing in the equation approaches zero and show some stability properties of the profiles given by these equilibrium solutions.     

Algebraization of Spectral Problems in the Bargmann—Fock Representation

Examples of quasi-exactly solvable hamiltonians in the Bargmann—Fock representation are given. The existence of an invariant subspace is studied as a result of hidden symmetry of the spectral problem.     

Determination of styrene in olive oil by an automatic purge-and-trap system coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Summary A new gas chromatographic method using an automatic purge-and-trap system coupled to a GC with mass selective detection to analyze styrene at the parts-per-trillions (ng kg^–1) level is described. The method shows a good sensitivity and the detection limit is 10 ng kg^–1 with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 4.7% for 164 ng kg^–1 styrene in olive oil. This analytical method has been successfully applied to the analysis of styrene in extra-virgin olive oil from the European market.