Effect of anodization on the surface characteristics and electrochemical behaviour of zirconium in artificial saliva

The paper is focused on elaboration of ZrO2 films on pure zirconium via anodizing inphosphoric acid with and without fluoride at constant potentials of 30 V and 60 V. Thestructure and composition of the films were investigated using scanning electronicmicroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The composition ofthe oxides formed at both potentials can be identified as monoclinic ZrO2. In addition to Zrand O, the layers formed in phosphoric acid contain phosphorus originating from thephosphoric acid. When the phosphoric acid solution contains NaF, fluorine is alsoincorporated into the oxide layer. The oxides formed at a higher voltage have greaterroughness than those formed at 30 V. Anodized samples exhibit smaller current densitiesduring anodic polarization compared to the as-received zirconium covered with native oxide.Fil: Romonti, Daniela E.. Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science; RumaniaFil: Gomez Sanchez, Andrea Valeria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales; ArgentinaFil: Milošev, Ingrid. Jožef Stefan Institute; EsloveniaFil: Demetrescu, Ioana. Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science; RumaniaFil: Ceré, Silvia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales; Argentin

OPTIMIZING LARGE COMBINATIONAL NETWORKS FOR K-LUT BASED FPGA MAPPING

Optimizing by partitioning is a central problem in VLSI design automation, addressing circuit’s manufacturability. Circuit partitioning has multiple applications in VLSI design. One of the most common is that of dividing combinational circuits (usually large ones) that will not fit on a single package among a number of packages. Partitioning is of practical importance for k-LUT based FPGA circuit implementation. In this work is presented multilevel a multi-resource partitioning algorithm for partitioning large combinational circuits in order to efficiently use existing and commercially available FPGAs packagestwo-way partitioning, multi-way partitioning, recursive partitioning, flat partitioning, critical path, cutting cones, bottom-up clusters, top-down min-cut

Safety and tolerability of bosentan in the management of pulmonary arterial hypertension

Endothelin receptor antagonism has emerged as an important therapeutic approach in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Bench to bedside scientific research has clearly shown that endothelin-1 (ET-1) is over-expressed in several forms of pulmonary vascular disease and plays an important pathogenetic role in the development and progression of PAH. Oral endothelin receptor antagonists (ERAs) have been shown to improve exercise capacity, functional status, pulmonary hemodynamics, and delay the time to clinical worsening in several randomized placebo-controlled trials. Bosentan, the first oral ERA, was approved in 2001 and since that time it has established a strong record of safety and efficacy in PAH. More recently, two additional ERAs, ambrisentan and sitaxsentan, have been approved for use. The objective of this review is to evaluate the available evidence supporting the efficacy, pharmacology, safety and tolerability, and patient-focused perspectives for bosentan, the first approved ERA for PAH. Ongoing and forthcoming randomized trials are also highlighted including the application of bosentan in combination with other PAH therapies