Surface roughness and mechanical properties of maxillofacial prosthetic silicone elastomers subjected to outdoor weathering in Malaysian environment

Silicone elastomers are widely used for fabricating maxillofacial prostheses to rehabilitate craniofacial defect. However, the average service life of a silicone elastomer can be influenced by local weather condition. In clinical practice, it is noticed that hot and humid weathers further affects the lifespan of silicone material in terms of surface degradation and tear, thereby frequent replacement of the prostheses is required. So, the aim of this study was to evaluate the surface roughness, tensile strength, and percentage elongation of different silicone elastomers subjected to outdoor weathering in the Malaysian environment. An in-vitro experimental study was performed on 120 type-II dumbbell-shaped specimens (non-weathered=15, weathered=15) made from three room temperature vulcanized (A-2000, A-2006, and A-103) and one heat temperature vulcanized (M-511) silicone (Factor II, Inc., AZ, USA) materials. For 6 months, weathered specimens were subjected to outdoor weathering in customised exposure rack, while the non-weathered specimens were kept in a dehumidifier at 25°C ± 1°C and 50 ± 5% relative humidity. Afterwards, surface roughness was measured using a profilometer (Surfcom Flex, Tokyo, Japan); tensile strength and percentage elongation was determined using Universal Testing Machine (Shimadzu, Japan). Independent t-test and one-way ANOVA was performed to compare means of the tested properties between nonweathered and weathered specimens within each silicone group, and weathered specimens among the different silicone groups respectively. After subjected to outdoor weathering at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia, only A-2000 silicone elastomer showed a statistically significant difference in surface roughness between non-weathered and weathered specimens (p=0.005). The silicone materials (A-2000, A-2006, and M-511) showed a statistically significant difference in tensile strength and percentage elongation values (p<0.05) after outdoor weathering compared to the non-weathered specimens. In terms of tensile strength and percentage elongation, all the elastomers were adversely affected by weathering, except for A-103 silicone which demonstrated the least changes. A-2000, A-2006, and M-511 showed higher values of mechanical properties but showed more changes after weathering. For Malaysian weather, A-103 can be suggested as a suitable silicone based on the least changes to its mechanical properties after weathering. However, the higher mechanical properties of A-2000, A-2006, and M-511 make them a viable option as well despite their significant changes after weathering. So, the clinicians need to decide whether to use A-2000, A-2006, and M-511 silicone for higher mechanical properties, or A-103 for better resistance in the Malaysian environment based on their cases

Performance Analysis of YOLO-based Architectures for Vehicle Detection from Traffic Images in Bangladesh

The task of locating and classifying different types of vehicles has become a vital element in numerous applications of automation and intelligent systems ranging from traffic surveillance to vehicle identification and many more. In recent times, Deep Learning models have been dominating the field of vehicle detection. Yet, Bangladeshi vehicle detection has remained a relatively unexplored area. One of the main goals of vehicle detection is its real-time application, where `You Only Look Once' (YOLO) models have proven to be the most effective architecture. In this work, intending to find the best-suited YOLO architecture for fast and accurate vehicle detection from traffic images in Bangladesh, we have conducted a performance analysis of different variants of the YOLO-based architectures such as YOLOV3, YOLOV5s, and YOLOV5x. The models were trained on a dataset containing 7390 images belonging to 21 types of vehicles comprising samples from the DhakaAI dataset, the Poribohon-BD dataset, and our self-collected images. After thorough quantitative and qualitative analysis, we found the YOLOV5x variant to be the best-suited model, performing better than YOLOv3 and YOLOv5s models respectively by 7 & 4 percent in mAP, and 12 & 8.5 percent in terms of Accuracy.Comment: Accepted in 25th ICCIT (6 pages, 5 figures, 1 table

Combination of skin flap and silicone prosthesis for rehabilitation of a large orbital defect: A case report

Exenteration surgery greatly affects a person in terms of function, esthetics, and psychological trauma. In such cases, restoration by silicone orbital prosthesis is a well-accepted treatment option. However, this is a difficult task, necessitating personalized design of method for each patient. This case report describes the technique for fabrication of a silicone orbital prosthesis for a male patient with left orbital defect due to exenteration of a Grade 3 squamous cell carcinoma of the left eye and surrounding tissues. The patient was delivered with a satisfactory silicone orbital prosthesis having good retention and finish. Multidisciplinary management and team approach are crucial in providing precise and effective rehabilitation for improving the patient's quality of life and help them return to their normal social life

Flowering Behavior and Selection of Hybrid Potato Clones through LXT Breeding Approaches

Potato breeding in Bangladesh is very challenging because it is grown in the short winter season, and flowering does not occur naturally, explaining why artificial lighting and extra care are needed. In addition, the breeding scheme is mainly focused on improving potato yield, followed by tuber quality. The goal of this study was to choose male parents, as well as the effect of environment, on flowering and fruit (berry) setting and to estimate the combining ability among promising BARI-released potato varieties in the second filial generation. Lines of seven Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) varieties were crossed with two BARI variety potato parents as the tester (Line &times; tester). The BARI Alu-86, BARI Alu-72, BARI Alu-73, and BARI Alu-53 were selected as the best male parents based on the abundance of pollen and fruit set. In both years, flower initiation days varied among clones. For the majority of the traits, such as plant height, tuber number, and yield per plant, the variance of general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) varied. The inheritance of the considered trait was predominant by non-additive gene action. Concerning general combining ability, for plant height, parents &lsquo;BARI Alu-41&rsquo; and &lsquo;BARI Alu-53&rsquo;, for stem per hill, &lsquo;BARI Alu-79&prime;, for tuber number, &lsquo;BARI Alu-37&rsquo;, and for yield, &lsquo;BARI Alu-37&rsquo; and &lsquo;BARI Alu-79&rsquo; contributed complementary favorable alleles. The specific combining ability indicated &lsquo;BARI Alu-37&rsquo; &times; &lsquo;BARI Alu-86&rsquo; and &lsquo;BARI Alu-77&rsquo; &times; &lsquo;BARI Alu-72&rsquo; were the best potential hybrid families for the production of improved genotypes of tuber yield and tuber number. This study will help to design a breeding program following potato population development and the selection of progeny before their utilization as progenitors

Flowering Behavior and Selection of Hybrid Potato Clones through LXT Breeding Approaches

Potato breeding in Bangladesh is very challenging because it is grown in the short winter season, and flowering does not occur naturally, explaining why artificial lighting and extra care are needed. In addition, the breeding scheme is mainly focused on improving potato yield, followed by tuber quality. The goal of this study was to choose male parents, as well as the effect of environment, on flowering and fruit (berry) setting and to estimate the combining ability among promising BARI-released potato varieties in the second filial generation. Lines of seven Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) varieties were crossed with two BARI variety potato parents as the tester (Line × tester). The BARI Alu-86, BARI Alu-72, BARI Alu-73, and BARI Alu-53 were selected as the best male parents based on the abundance of pollen and fruit set. In both years, flower initiation days varied among clones. For the majority of the traits, such as plant height, tuber number, and yield per plant, the variance of general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) varied. The inheritance of the considered trait was predominant by non-additive gene action. Concerning general combining ability, for plant height, parents ‘BARI Alu-41’ and ‘BARI Alu-53’, for stem per hill, ‘BARI Alu-79′, for tuber number, ‘BARI Alu-37’, and for yield, ‘BARI Alu-37’ and ‘BARI Alu-79’ contributed complementary favorable alleles. The specific combining ability indicated ‘BARI Alu-37’ × ‘BARI Alu-86’ and ‘BARI Alu-77’ × ‘BARI Alu-72’ were the best potential hybrid families for the production of improved genotypes of tuber yield and tuber number. This study will help to design a breeding program following potato population development and the selection of progeny before their utilization as progenitors

Dry Matter, Starch Content, Reducing Sugar, Color and Crispiness Are Key Parameters of Potatoes Required for Chip Processing

To make potato production more sustainable for smallholder farmers, product diversification through processing is critical. On the other hand, the processing sector mandated some stringent standards in order to maintain product quality, hence potato quality evaluations are required for chip processing industries. Specific gravity, starch, reducing sugars, tuber dry matter, and chip color are all important characteristics to consider for processing. This study was designed to find suitable potato varieties with satisfactory attributes for processing chips, in comparison with other processing potato varieties. Keeping this in mind, the study was performed during the winter season of 2019&ndash;2020 and 2020&ndash;2021 in Bangladesh. Six processing types of potato varieties viz. BARI Alu-25 (Asterix), BARI Alu-28 (Lady Rosetta), BARI Alu-29 (Courage), BARI Alu-68 (Atlantic), BARI Alu-70 (Destiny), and BARI Alu-71 (Dolly) were evaluated for different quality parameters (specific gravity, dry matter, starch content, reducing sugar, chip color, and crispiness). The result of the study showed an ample variation in the studied parameters among the potato varieties. Among the varieties, BARI Alu-28 (Lady Rosetta) and BARI Alu-29 (Courage) were found better for all the quality parameters, such as dry matter, starch, reducing sugar, chip color, and crispiness, and could be recommended for the processing industries

Dry Matter, Starch Content, Reducing Sugar, Color and Crispiness Are Key Parameters of Potatoes Required for Chip Processing

To make potato production more sustainable for smallholder farmers, product diversification through processing is critical. On the other hand, the processing sector mandated some stringent standards in order to maintain product quality, hence potato quality evaluations are required for chip processing industries. Specific gravity, starch, reducing sugars, tuber dry matter, and chip color are all important characteristics to consider for processing. This study was designed to find suitable potato varieties with satisfactory attributes for processing chips, in comparison with other processing potato varieties. Keeping this in mind, the study was performed during the winter season of 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 in Bangladesh. Six processing types of potato varieties viz. BARI Alu-25 (Asterix), BARI Alu-28 (Lady Rosetta), BARI Alu-29 (Courage), BARI Alu-68 (Atlantic), BARI Alu-70 (Destiny), and BARI Alu-71 (Dolly) were evaluated for different quality parameters (specific gravity, dry matter, starch content, reducing sugar, chip color, and crispiness). The result of the study showed an ample variation in the studied parameters among the potato varieties. Among the varieties, BARI Alu-28 (Lady Rosetta) and BARI Alu-29 (Courage) were found better for all the quality parameters, such as dry matter, starch, reducing sugar, chip color, and crispiness, and could be recommended for the processing industries

Dendrogram showing the grouping of turmeric genotypes based on all the trait’s performances over the years.

Dendrogram showing the grouping of turmeric genotypes based on all the trait’s performances over the years.</p