Association between polymorphisms in the IL-1β, TNFRSF11B, CASP1, and IL-6 genes and orthodontic-induced external apical root resorption

Orthodontic-induced external apical root resorption (EARR) is a severe condition affecting the roots of the teeth, whose genetic causes have been inconclusive to date. The aim of the present study was to assess the influence of selected single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) IL-1β, TNFRSF11B, CASP1, and IL-6 genes on post-orthodontic EARR. A sample of 101 patients with clearly assessable orthopantomograms and lateral cephalometric radiographs taken before and at the end of the orthodontic treatment was used to evaluate the presence of EARR. The association between genetic polymorphisms and EARR was assessed with the Chi2 test. A binary logistic multi-level model was built to evaluate the ability of patient- and tooth-level variables to predict EARR occurrence. The overall prevalence of EARR resulted to be around 40%. Within the limitations of this study, a significant association was found between EARR presence and the SNP for the IL-1β gene but not for the TNFRSF11B, CASP1, and the IL-6 genes. The final multi-level model demonstrated that the SNP for the IL-1β gene increases the odds of developing EARR by around four times. Since there is currently no accurate method to determine which patients will develop EARR prior to orthodontic treatment, further studies are needed to investigate the predictive ability of further genetic variants on EARR development

Multifractal analysis of the electronic states in the Fibonacci superlattice under weak electric fields

Influence of the weak electric field on the electronic structure of the Fibonacci superlattice is considered. The electric field produces a nonlinear dynamics of the energy spectrum of the aperiodic superlattice. Mechanism of the nonlinearity is explained in terms of energy levels anticrossings. The multifractal formalism is applied to investigate the effect of weak electric field on the statistical properties of electronic eigenfunctions. It is shown that the applied electric field does not remove the multifractal character of the electronic eigenfunctions, and that the singularity spectrum remains non-parabolic, however with a modified shape. Changes of the distances between energy levels of neighbouring eigenstates lead to the changes of the inverse participation ratio of the corresponding eigenfunctions in the weak electric field. It is demonstrated, that the local minima of the inverse participation ratio in the vicinity of the anticrossings correspond to discontinuity of the first derivative of the difference between marginal values of the singularity strength. Analysis of the generalized dimension as a function of the electric field shows that the electric field correlates spatial fluctuations of the neighbouring electronic eigenfunction amplitudes in the vicinity of anticrossings, and the nonlinear character of the scaling exponent confirms multifractality of the corresponding electronic eigenfunctions.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

Use of standard computer packages in the analysis of the fuel injection process

W artykule przedstawiono ocenę możliwości wykorzystania programów Microsoft Excel i Matlab jako narzędzi do analizy wtrysku paliwa. Pomiary obejmowały badania stanowiskowe układu wtryskowego common rail. Rejestrowano przebiegi napięciowe sygnałów sterujących wtryskiwaczami oraz sygnały generowane przez fabryczny czujnik ciśnienia umieszczony w zasobniku. Po analizie dostępnych metod filtracji wybrano filtr Czebyszewa, jako narzędzie służące do usuwania zakłóceń ze zmierzonych przebiegów. Analiza wyników badań wykazała, że wtrysk powoduje istotne zmiany ciśnienia paliwa w zasobniku, które można wykorzystać do oceny pracy układu zasilania. Zastosowane ogólnodostępne pakiety informatyczne umożliwiają analizę, jak i prezentację graficzną wyników pomiarów.This paper presents the results of level analysis of the possibility of using Microsoft Excel and Matlab as a tool useful in the analysis of the fuel injection. Measurements included bench testing common rail injection system. Recorded voltage waveforms of control signals generated by the injectors and pressure sensor. Then, after an analysis of selected methods of filtration, as a tool for treatment of interference waveforms, Chebyshev filter is selected. Analysis of the results showed that the injection will change the fuel pressure in the tank, appropriate to its parameters. In addition, it was found that the used programs allow for the treatment, analysis and presentation of voltage signals underlying the assessment of injection

The Phase–Space Approach to time Evolution of Quantum States in Confined Systems: the Spectral Split–Operator Method

Using the phase space approach, we consider the quantum dynamics of a wave packet in an isolated confined system with three different potential energy profiles. We solve the Moyal equation of motion for the Wigner function with the highly efficient spectral split-operator method. The main aim of this study is to compare the accuracy of the employed algorithm through analysis of the total energy expectation value, in terms of deviation from its exact value. This comparison is performed for the second and fourth order factorizations of the time evolution operator