We describe a simple, compact, inexpensive thermal cycler that can be used for the polymerase chain reaction. Based on heat transfer with air to samples in sealed capillary tubes, the apparatus resembles a recirculating hair dryer. The temperature is regulated via thermocouple input to a programmable set-point process controller that provides proportional output to a solid state relay controlli...

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the suitability of air-abrasive technology for fissure caries diagnosis and conditioning the occlusal tooth surface before sealing. Methods: Eighteen patients (age range 6-15 years) with 66 permanent molars with darkened fissures were examined for caries by visual inspection (VI), laser fluorescence (LF), and air abrasion (AA). AA was used as a referen...

The aim of this in vitro study is to compare the microleakage of a root perforation sealed with MTA (mineral trioxide aggregate) (group M) to that sealed with MTA following Er:YAG laser irradiation (group ML). Forty-two recently extracted human monoroot teeth were used. Two cavities were prepared on each root surface. Randomly, on each root, the exposed dentine of one cavity was irradiated prio...

We present herein an experimental study on the ice-nucleation kinetics of two recently introduced aqueous supercooling modalities—oil-sealed isobaric and isochoric supercooling. A series constant-cooling rate experiments compare apparent nucleation temperatures pure water supercooled under these modalities with conventional open-air supercooling, demonstrating that both methods significantly en...

This paper puts forward one kind of air-fuel ration control method which integrates improved Elman neural network with normal PI control. It constructs a model of the single LPG electro-plating engine and simulation platform for air-fuel ration controlling with GTPower software which seamless connect to Matlab/Simulink based on JL1P39FMB single cylinder engine and develop the electronic fuel-in...

We present a detailed study of the interface morphology of an electro-deposited (ED) Ni/Cu bilayer film by using off-specular (diffuse) neutron reflectivity technique and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The Ni/Cu bilayer has been electro-deposited on seed layers of Ti/Cu. These two seed layers were deposited by magnetron sputtering. The depth profile of density in the sample has been obtained fr...

Contrary to expectation, we demonstrate that spider dragline silk spun experimentally under water displays greater stiffness and higher resilience compared to silk spun "naturally" into air. We suggest that this consequence of extended wet-spinning is due to increased molecular orientation resulting from extension of the mobile phase.

This report describes the development of a hand-powered centrifuge to determine hematocrit values in low-resource settings. A hand-powered centrifuge was constructed by using a salad spinner. Hematocrit values were measured by using the hand-powered device, and results were compared with those of a benchtop centrifuge. The packed cell volume (PCV) measured with the hand-powered device correlate...