This study investigated the effects of sonic and ultrasonic scaling on the surface roughness of five commonly used tooth-colored restorative materials for Class V cavities, including a flowable resin composite (Tetric Flow), a compomer (Compoglass F), a glass ionomer (Fuji II), a resin-modified glass ionomer (Fuji II LC Imp) and a resin composite (Z100). Twenty rectangular block specimens (16 x 6 x 1.5 mm) of each material were cured against matrix strips, then stored in artificial saliva for two months before performing the periodontal instrumentation. Each specimen was divided into two experimental zones, and both scaling treatments were performed on each sample. The surface roughness (Ra) of these materials was determined before and after the different instrumentations, and differences were evaluated with the use of a profilometer. Data were statistically analyzed using repeated measures of ANOVA with Tukey's multiple comparisons and paired t-tests at a significance level of 0.05. Significant increases in surface roughness of all test materials were recorded from both scaling treatments. With the exception of Tetric Flow, ultrasonic scaling had more adverse effects on the surface roughness of all test materials compared to sonic scaling. For the test materials Z100 and Tetric Flow, resin composites showed the least surface changes in both scaling treatments, while Fuji II glass ionomer demonstrated the greatest roughness after instrumentation. More importantly, the mean surface roughness values of several materials after instrumentation were above the critical threshold roughness of 0.2 microm.

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SUMMARYThis paper presents a general solution for performance evaluation of a tall building with multiple damped and undamped outriggers. First, general rotational stiffness (GRS) is proposed to model an outrigger that consists of the stiffness of perimeter columns and an outrigger connection and the damping of dampers in an outrigger. By utilizing the dynamic stiffness method, the GRS can be represented by complex stiffness in an outrigger element. To analyze the dynamic characteristics of a tall building with multiple outriggers, a dynamic transcendental equation is obtained from the combination of the GRS and dynamic stiffness method. The structural responses can be calculated through the Fourier transform based on this equation. Moreover, the GRS can also be blended into a finite element (FE) model to generate an augmented statespace equation for the analysis of the dynamic characteristics and structural responses. Applications to various outriggers are illustrated. In the numerical analysis, good agreements are found between the GRS and the FE that validates the proposed method, and the performances of various outrigger systems are evaluated parametrically. As the results of a tall building with multiple damped or undamped outriggers, the proposed method is capable of providing an optimally parametric design with respect to the position of outriggers, damping, and core-to-column and core-to-outrigger stiffness ratio.

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The performance aspects of a wireless "active" sensor, including the reliability of the wireless communication channel for real-time data delivery and its application to feedback structural control, are explored in this study. First, the control of magnetorheological (MR) dampers using wireless sensors is examined. Second, the application of the MR-damper to actively control a half-scale three-story steel building excited at its base by shaking table is studied using a wireless control system assembled from wireless active sensors. With an MR damper installed on each floor (3 dampers total), structural responses during seismic excitation are measured by the system's wireless active sensors and wirelessly communicated to each other; upon receipt of response data, the wireless sensor interfaced to each MR damper calculates a desired control action using an LQG controller implemented in the wireless sensor's computational core. In this system, the wireless active sensor is responsible for the reception of response data, determination of optimal control forces, and the issuing of command signals to the MR damper. Various control solutions are formulated in this study and embedded in the wireless control system including centralized and decentralized control algorithms.

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