The evaluation of an organophosphate thermosetting resin for use in a high temperature resistant composite and a study of chemistry of ionomer cements

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Two different research projects were investigated for this thesis, which has consequently been presented in two parts. PART 1 An attempt has been made to improve the high temperature performance of phenol-formaldehyde thermosets by modification of their structure with inorganic phosphate groups. Transesterification of tri-phenyl phosphate with resorcinol has given a resorcinol phosphate resin, which cured with hexamethylenetetramine. A pilot scale batch of this resin has been made and used in high temperature stability studies. Post-cured resorcinol phosphate resin-chrysotile asbestos (30: 70) moulded bars retained 59.5% of their flexural strength after ageing at 523K for 1000 hr in air. Similar phenol-formaldehyde composite bars aged under identical conditions retained only 5.3% of their initial flexural strength. The utility of the resorcinol phosphate resin composite as a commercial product is limited, since the bars had a much lower initial flexural strength (30.85 MNm-2) than the phenol-formaldehyde resin composite bars (108.5 MNm-2). Thermogravimetry and isothermal heating studies have indicated that the degradation of resorcinol phosphate resin was greatly accelerated by chrysotile asbestos, which may catalyse a bond re-organisation process that has been tentatively proposed as a mechanism for the fragmentation of the resin. PART 2 Recently an ionomer dental cement (ASPA), prepared from aqueous poly(acrylic acid) and an ion-leachable aluminosilicate glass, has been developed. The system has been extended by studying other aqueous polymers. The factors influencing the gelation and the properties of the set cements have been examined. Poly(carboxylic acids) with hydrophobic, or no pendant substituents were found to be the most satisfactory polymers for preparing water stable cements. To study the influence of the nature of the cation and polymer structure on the gelation and water stability of ionomer cements, a wide range of metal oxide-polyacid products have been studied. The formation of water stable cements depended markedly on the type of oxide and polyacid employed and appeared to involve factors such as the co-ordination geometry and radius of the cation and the nature of the cation-polyanion bonding in the matrix. A comparison between the water stabilities of ASPA cement and poly(acrylic acid)-CaO, Al2O3, or Al(OH)3 cements has shown that the chemistry of ASPA cement is more complex than has been hitherto reported. Stability constants have been determined for Ca 2+ and Cd 2+ with poly(acrylic acid) and ethyl ethylene-maleic acid copolymer by a potentiometric titration method developed by Gregor and modified by Mandel and Leyte. The stability constants obtained in 1.0M NaNO3 at 298.2 ± 0.2K were: for poly(acrylic acid), with Cat2+, log b1 Ca2+ PAA ~ -3.35 with Cd2+, log Bav Cd2+ PAA = -2.30 for ethylene-maleic acid copolymer, with Cat2+, log b1 CA2+ EMA ~ -4.05 with Cd2+, log Bav Cd2+ EMA = -1.95 The log b1 values probably had little precise meaning, although to a first approximation, log b1 Ca2+ PAA > log b1 Ca2+ EMA The determined stability constants have been used with limited success in predicting the water stabilities of the corresponding metal oxide-polyacid cements.National Research and Development Corporatio

vivo antibacterial efficacy of ultrasound after hand and rotary instrumentation in human mandibular molars

Abstract The purpose of this prospective, randomized, singleblind study was to compare the in vivo antibacterial efficacy of a hand/rotary technique versus a hand/ rotary/ultrasound technique in mesial root canals of necrotic mandibular molars. The hand/rotary group consisted of 16 mesial roots prepared with a hand/ rotary technique. The hand/rotary/ultrasound group consisted of 15 mesial roots prepared similarly, followed by 1 minute of ultrasonic irrigation per canal with an ultrasonic needle in a MiniEndo unit and 15 mL/canal of 6.0% sodium hypochlorite. Canals were sampled before and after instrumentation and after 1 minute of ultrasonic irrigation. Samples were incubated anaerobically on reduced blood agar for 7 days at 37°C, and colony-forming units (CFUs) were counted. The addition of 1 minute of ultrasonic irrigation resulted in significant (p ϭ .0006) reduction in CFU count and positive cultures (p ϭ .0047). Logistic regression analysis indicated the addition of ultrasonic irrigation was 7 times more likely to yield a negative culture. (J Endo

A new hammer to crack an old nut : interspecific competitive resource capture by plants is regulated by nutrient supply, not climate

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Reproducibility of findings in modern PET neuroimaging: insight from the NRM2018 grand challenge

The reproducibility of findings is a compelling methodological problem that the neuroimaging community is facing these days. The lack of standardized pipelines for image processing, quantification and statistics plays a major role in the variability and interpretation of results, even when the same data are analysed. This problem is well-known in MRI studies, where the indisputable value of the method has been complicated by a number of studies that produce discrepant results. However, any research domain with complex data and flexible analytical procedures can experience a similar lack of reproducibility. In this paper we investigate this issue for brain PET imaging. During the 2018 NeuroReceptor Mapping conference, the brain PET community was challenged with a computational contest involving a simulated neurotransmitter release experiment. Fourteen international teams analysed the same imaging dataset, for which the ground-truth was known. Despite a plurality of methods, the solutions were consistent across participants, although not identical. These results should create awareness that the increased sharing of PET data alone will only be one component of enhancing confidence in neuroimaging results and that it will be important to complement this with full details of the analysis pipelines and procedures that have been used to quantify data.ISSN:0271-678XISSN:1559-701

Spider Movement, UV Reflectance and Size, but Not Spider Crypsis, Affect the Response of Honeybees to Australian Crab Spiders

According to the crypsis hypothesis, the ability of female crab spiders to change body colour and match the colour of flowers has been selected because flower visitors are less likely to detect spiders that match the colour of the flowers used as hunting platform. However, recent findings suggest that spider crypsis plays a minor role in predator detection and some studies even showed that pollinators can become attracted to flowers harbouring Australian crab spider when the UV contrast between spider and flower increases. Here we studied the response of Apis mellifera honeybees to the presence of white or yellow Thomisus spectabilis Australian crab spiders sitting on Bidens alba inflorescences and also the response of honeybees to crab spiders that we made easily detectable painting blue their forelimbs or abdomen. To account for the visual systems of crab spider's prey, we measured the reflectance properties of the spiders and inflorescences used for the experiments. We found that honeybees did not respond to the degree of matching between spiders and inflorescences (either chromatic or achromatic contrast): they responded similarly to white and yellow spiders, to control and painted spiders. However spider UV reflection, spider size and spider movement determined honeybee behaviour: the probability that honeybees landed on spider-harbouring inflorescences was greatest when the spiders were large and had high UV reflectance or when spiders were small and reflected little UV, and honeybees were more likely to reject inflorescences if spiders moved as the bee approached the inflorescence. Our study suggests that only the large, but not the small Australian crab spiders deceive their preys by reflecting UV light, and highlights the importance of other cues that elicited an anti-predator response in honeybees

Harnessing learning biases is essential for applying social learning in conservation

Social learning can influence how animals respond to anthropogenic changes in the environment, determining whether animals survive novel threats and exploit novel resources or produce maladaptive behaviour and contribute to human-wildlife conflict. Predicting where social learning will occur and manipulating its use are, therefore, important in conservation, but doing so is not straightforward. Learning is an inherently biased process that has been shaped by natural selection to prioritize important information and facilitate its efficient uptake. In this regard, social learning is no different from other learning processes because it too is shaped by perceptual filters, attentional biases and learning constraints that can differ between habitats, species, individuals and contexts. The biases that constrain social learning are not understood well enough to accurately predict whether or not social learning will occur in many situations, which limits the effective use of social learning in conservation practice. Nevertheless, we argue that by tapping into the biases that guide the social transmission of information, the conservation applications of social learning could be improved. We explore the conservation areas where social learning is highly relevant and link them to biases in the cues and contexts that shape social information use. The resulting synthesis highlights many promising areas for collaboration between the fields and stresses the importance of systematic reviews of the evidence surrounding social learning practices.BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship (BB/H021817/1

Dominance relationships and coalitionary aggression against conspecifics in female carrion crows

Funding: European Research Council (ERCStG-336536 FuncSpecGen to J.W.), the Swedish Research Council Vetenskapsrådet (621-2013-4510 to J.W.), Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (to J.W.) and Tovetorp fieldstation through Stockholm University.Cooperation is a prevailing feature of many animal systems. Coalitionary aggression, where a group of individuals engages in coordinated behaviour to the detriment of conspecific targets, is a form of cooperation involving complex social interactions. To date, evidence has been dominated by studies in humans and other primates with a clear bias towards studies of male-male coalitions. We here characterize coalitionary aggression behaviour in a group of female carrion crows consisting of recruitment, coordinated chase, and attack. The individual of highest social rank liaised with the second most dominant individual to engage in coordinated chase and attack of a lower ranked crow on several occasions. Despite active intervention by the third most highly ranked individual opposing the offenders, the attack finally resulted in the death of the victim. All individuals were unrelated, of the same sex, and naive to the behaviour excluding kinship, reproduction, and social learning as possible drivers. Instead, the coalition may reflect a strategy of the dominant individual to secure long-term social benefits. Overall, the study provides evidence that members of the crow family engage in coordinated alliances directed against conspecifics as a possible means to manipulate their social environment.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe