In Kenya, welding services are extensively employed in both the formal and informal sectors. The needs continue to increase with increasing population, infrastructure and vehicle fleet, and economic development. Welding need is even currently very important in support of …

The latest edition of Williams Textbook of Endocrinology edited by Drs. Shlomo Melmed, Kenneth S. Polonsky, P. Reed Larsen, and Henry M. Kronenberg, helps you diagnose and treat your patients effectively with up-to-the minute, practical know-how on all endocrine system disorders. Comprehensive yet accessible, this extensively revised 12th Edition updates you on diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity, thyroid disease, testicular disorders, and much more so you can provide your patients with the most successful treatments. Find scientific insight and clinical data interwoven in every chapter, reflecting advances in both areas of this constantly changing discipline, and presented in a truly accessible format. You’ll also access valuable contributions from a dynamic list of expert authors and nearly 2.000 full-color images to help you with every diagnosis. This title has everything you need to manage any and all the clinical endocrinopathies you may encounter. Rely on the one reference that integrates rapidly evolving basic and clinical science in a cohesive, user-friendly format, definitively addresses every topic in the field, and has remained a standard for more than half a century.Update your know-how and skills to diagnose and treat your patients most effectively with exhaustively revised content on diabetes, metabolic disease, thyroid cancer, fertility problems, testicular problems, weight issues, and much more. Apply reliable guidance on endocrine conditions of growing interest like hypothyroidism and testicular disorders, with dedicated new chapters that expound on the latest research findings. Overcome any clinical challenge with comprehensive and easy-to-use coverage of everything from hormone activity, diagnostic techniques, imaging modalities, and molecular genetics, to total care of the patient. Apply the latest practices with guidance from expert authors who contribute fresh perspectives on every topic.

The optimised design of project alternatives is a main challenge for the early stage of any real-world planning process. For participatory conservation planning procedures as required, e.g., by the CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) Ecosystem Approach, it is essential to involve concerned stakeholders – and their values – as early as possible. We argue that the utilisation of choice experiments offers an attractive solution to the problem of an optimised design of project alternatives. In particular, we report experiences from two case studies employing choice experiments to generate policy advice. In both case studies, the necessity of dealing with the ambiguities of participatory planning processes led to the adoption of a payment vehicle format that includes WTP and WTA attribute levels. Like several other studies, we found evidence of WTP/WTA disparities that argue for reporting both values to stakeholders and administrators.

This thesis addresses the problem of word sense disambiguation within the context of Swahili-English machine translation. In this setup, the goal of disambiguation is to choose the correct translation of an ambiguous Swahili noun in context. A corpus based approach to disambiguation is taken, where machine learning techniques are applied to a corpus of Swahili, to acquire disambiguation information automatically. In particular, the Self-Organizing Map algorithm is used to obtain a semantic categorization of Swahili nouns from data. The resulting classes form the basis of a class-based solution, where disambiguation is recast as a classification problem. The thesis exploits these semantic classes to automatically obtain annotated training data, addressing a key problem facing supervised word sense disambiguation. The semantic and linguistic characteristics of these classes are modelled as Bayesian belief networks, using the Bayesian Modelling Toolbox. Disambiguation is achieved via probabilistic inferencing.The thesisdevelops a disambiguation solution which does not make extensive resource requirements, but rather capitalizes on freely-available lexical and computational resources for English as a source of additional disambiguation information. A semantic tagger for Swahili is created by altering the configuration of the Bayesian classifiers. The disambiguation solution is tested on a subset of unambiguous nouns and a manually created gold standard of sixteen ambiguous nouns, using standard performance evaluation metrics.

The influence of climatic, policy and institutional-related (infrastructure, technology, institutional support) factors on the decline in maize output and yields and the subsequent deepening and broadening of food poverty in Kenya is discussed. This chapter provides lessons to enable a re-focusing of attention on ways to achieve sustainable investment in agriculture in order to improve the livelihoods of the majority of households in Kenya.

The influence of climatic, policy and institutional-related (infrastructure, technology, institutional support) factors on the decline in maize output and yields and the subsequent deepening and broadening of food poverty in Kenya is discussed. This chapter provides lessons to enable a re-focusing of attention on ways to achieve sustainable investment in agriculture in order to improve the livelihoods of the majority of households in Kenya.

Understanding the organization of the vertebrate retina has been the goal of many talented visual scientists during the past 100 years. With Cajal's (1892) anatomic descriptions of the cell types that constitute the retina in a number of vertebrate species, and with an early understanding of the role of visual purple in photochemistry in combination with psychophysical studies of adaptation and color vision, we had in the sixties the rudiments of an understanding of how the retina might be organized and functioning. To go further, though, we were beginning to need detailed information of neural circuits that underlie these functions. It was the advent of electron microscopy, microelectrode recording techniques, and pharmacology that then allowed us an era of very rapid advancement. The purpose of this Electronic Tutorial is to summarize these recent advances and to describe our present understanding, based primarily on anatomic investigations, of the Neural Organization of the Mammalian Retina. As time goes on we have been inviting other authors to write chapters on their speciality concerning the retina or other visual pathways. A great addition has been a section on Psychophysics of Vision which we hope will be of general information to all interested in learning the basics of visual perception.

Understanding the organization of the vertebrate retina has been the goal of many talented visual scientists during the past 100 years. With Cajal's (1892) anatomic descriptions of the cell types that constitute the retina in a number of vertebrate species, and with an early understanding of the role of visual purple in photochemistry in combination with psychophysical studies of adaptation and color vision, we had in the sixties the rudiments of an understanding of how the retina might be organized and functioning. To go further, though, we were beginning to need detailed information of neural circuits that underlie these functions. It was the advent of electron microscopy, microelectrode recording techniques, and pharmacology that then allowed us an era of very rapid advancement. The purpose of this Electronic Tutorial is to summarize these recent advances and to describe our present understanding, based primarily on anatomic investigations, of the Neural Organization of the Mammalian Retina. As time goes on we have been inviting other authors to write chapters on their speciality concerning the retina or other visual pathways. A great addition has been a section on Psychophysics of Vision which we hope will be of general information to all interested in learning the basics of visual perception.

Understanding the organization of the vertebrate retina has been the goal of many talented visual scientists during the past 100 years. With Cajal's (1892) anatomic descriptions of the cell types that constitute the retina in a number of vertebrate species, and with an early understanding of the role of visual purple in photochemistry in combination with psychophysical studies of adaptation and color vision, we had in the sixties the rudiments of an understanding of how the retina might be organized and functioning. To go further, though, we were beginning to need detailed information of neural circuits that underlie these functions. It was the advent of electron microscopy, microelectrode recording techniques, and pharmacology that then allowed us an era of very rapid advancement. The purpose of this Electronic Tutorial is to summarize these recent advances and to describe our present understanding, based primarily on anatomic investigations, of the Neural Organization of the Mammalian Retina. As time goes on we have been inviting other authors to write chapters on their speciality concerning the retina or other visual pathways. A great addition has been a section on Psychophysics of Vision which we hope will be of general information to all interested in learning the basics of visual perception.

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Products of gene modification have vast implications. Creating public awareness and disseminating information on the subject seeks to demystify some of the widely held falsehoods regarding genetically modified products.
This is an informative, thorough and easy to understand guidebook that aims to enlighten and debunk some of the commonly held misconceptions on products of gene modification and to give the reader a better understanding of the role genetic modification will play. The review sheds light on the safety, and application of these products in medicine, the food industry and other areas, especially those where genetic modification may represent a cheap, faster, credible, viable alternative in achieving sustainable development among resource-poor communities.

Women in Kenya are under-represented in the legal sphere, both as professionals in legal practice and in the judiciary. In particular, they have been excluded or marginalized in the higher courts and are more concentrated in the subordinate courts which have lower status and less attractive terms and conditions. There are various structural and institutional barriers to women’s selection and upward mobility in the judiciary, which need to be addressed. It is laudable that despite women being a minority in Kenyan judiciary, they have made their marks in terms of articulation of gender issues within the judiciary, particularly through the Kenya Women Judges Association and the Jurisprudence of Equality Project. The Constitution of 2010 has introduced important reforms in the structure and organization in the judiciary and have already produced some positive results. However, there is need for more concrete policies and measures specifically targeted at ensuring gender equality and equity in the Kenyan courts.

The paper shows that in the analysis of a queuing system with fixed-size batch arrivals, there emerges a set of polynomials which are a generalization of Chebyshev polynomialsof the second kind. The paper uses these polynomials in assessing the transient behaviour of the overflow (equivalently call blocking) probability in the system. A key figure to noteis the proportion of the overflow (or blocking) probability resident in the transient component,which is shown in the results to be more significant at the beginning of the transient and naturally decays to zero in the limit of large t. The results also show that the significanceof transients is more pronounced in cases of lighter loads, but lasts longer for heavier loads.

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Products of gene modification have vast implications. Creating public awareness and disseminating information on the subject seeks to demystify some of the widely held falsehoods regarding genetically modified products.
This is an informative, thorough and easy to understand guidebook that aims to enlighten and debunk some of the commonly held misconceptions on products of gene modification and to give the reader a better understanding of the role genetic modification will play. The review sheds light on the safety, and application of these products in medicine, the food industry and other areas, especially those where genetic modification may represent a cheap, faster, credible, viable alternative in achieving sustainable development among resource-poor communities.

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Products of gene modification have vast implications. Creating public awareness and disseminating information on the subject seeks to demystify some of the widely held falsehoods regarding genetically modified products.
This is an informative, thorough and easy to understand guidebook that aims to enlighten and debunk some of the commonly held misconceptions on products of gene modification and to give the reader a better understanding of the role genetic modification will play. The review sheds light on the safety, and application of these products in medicine, the food industry and other areas, especially those where genetic modification may represent a cheap, faster, credible, viable alternative in achieving sustainable development among resource-poor communities.

Poverty among women has been linked to r various social, cultural, economic, religious and political factors. This paper presents a sociocultural analysis of structural and psychological forces within social fabric that characterize the manifestation of male chauvinism against any affIrmative action to safeguard the interests of women. The focus is on the relationship between poverty and male violence as directed to women, in the process of which the women are treated and become junior partners in decision-making with regard to resource use, distribution, conservation and consolidation, within and outside the family.
The structural linkages between poverty and male violence against women arise from the fact that the overall impact of such violence is differential access to rights and opportunities by both sexes, denying women the various forms of autonomy in decision making and pursuit of many opportunities in order to compete at par with their male counterparts, especially within the context of income generation, property procurement and management. Under more equitable circumstances, women should own the products
of their labor, rather than having all the ownership rights vested in men, thereby depriving women of their rights in both the ownership and disposal of what they should otherwise be recognized as the major producers and rightful custodians. The empirical data from which the illustrations in this paper are drawn is based on a study of violence against women in Nairobi and Kajiado districts of Kenya By defmition, violence against women has been taken to include all gender-biased violence that
results or is likely to result in physical, psychological and other forms of harm or suffering to women. Violence against women can occur at the family, community and the wider
societal levels. The family-based violence covers physical, sexual and psychological violence within the family and specifically includes incest (against women and children), sexual abuse of female children in the household, marital rape, spousal violence and battering of women. At the community and wider societal levels, violence against women includes rape of women, rape of female children, various forms of sexual harassment, forced prostitution, women battering and denial of various social and economic rights.

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Products of gene modification have vast implications. Creating public awareness and disseminating information on the subject seeks to demystify some of the widely held falsehoods regarding genetically modified products.
This is an informative, thorough and easy to understand guidebook that aims to enlighten and debunk some of the commonly held misconceptions on products of gene modification and to give the reader a better understanding of the role genetic modification will play. The review sheds light on the safety, and application of these products in medicine, the food industry and other areas, especially those where genetic modification may represent a cheap, faster, credible, viable alternative in achieving sustainable development among resource-poor communities.

Scientific paper presented during the FIFTH ANNUAL REGIONAL WORKSHOP  ON THE THEME;`` WATER IS LIFE``. Abstract: The paper illustrates the health status of water in the human body in health and in disease situations and how body water content depends on many variables including age, sex, fat content,leaness of muscles ,the internal environment of body cells and the external envronmental air and  temperature.

Wildlife tourism is a driver of economic growth in Kenya, but there is a decline in wildlife population due to climate change, habitat degradation, diseases and natural resource use. Conservation of fauna takes place in protected areas with some animals living outside the parks. Northern Rangeland Trust has empowered women participation in wildlife conservation projects by establishing savings and credit cooperatives to encourage new businesses, and develop community development projects. Few women have taken up roles in conservation due to social and cultural restraints hence favoring men who are more active in conservation process. The researcher aims to explore the socio-cultural constraints to women involvement in Taita Taveta, analyze the position of women in the participatory process in conservation, and create a social design framework to increase the participation of women in wildlife conservation. Qualitative research will be employed in the study, with random sampling of participants in the community, twenty women from different households will be interviewed and data collected will be analyzed thematically to represent participation in conservation management. Women participation in wildlife conservation is well adopted in the country; most of the involvement however is not at the initial stage of the participatory process hence the need for social design innovation to identify the needs of women and their important role in conservation management.

The establishment of Christian missionary stations and the spread of Christianity, Western education and medical services were possible due to concerted efforts of the White missionaries and African teachers, evangelists and ‘dispensers’. However, role played by the pioneering hospital dressers and nurses in this endeavor has received little attention from scholars. The African nurses and dressers in the Church of Scotland Mission (CSM) now Presbyterian Church of East Africa, contributed a lot to the establishment and growth of not only the medical wing of CSM but to the expansion of education and Christianity in the their areas of jurisdiction during the colonial period. In order to complete the missionary story, the inclusion of the mission hospital nurses and dressers story to the existing literature is long overdue.. The pioneering nurses and nurses took advantage of their position to spread the Gospel, opened and taught in the school, were local opinion leaders beyond hospital confines and added voices to the socio-political and economic developments in their communities. Their diverse roles were beyond the hospital boundaries.

In developing countries, air pollution is increasing especially in urban centers. This has led to enhanced cases of cardio-respiratory diseases. According to World Health Organization, air pollution is estimated to cause about two million premature deaths worldwide annually. Additionally an estimated 800,000 premature deaths are caused each year by urban air pollution, a principle component of which is particulate matter. Studies have indicated that the levels and distribution of air pollution are highly dependent on the meteorology. This study was conducted based on this theory.
The study sought to examine the relationship between fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and selected meteorological variables over Kenya during the period 2001 to 2012. The data used included monthly rainfall, relative humidity, temperature and wind speed from synoptic stations and satellite air quality data from the period 2001 to 2012. Monthly Global 1o by 1o level-3 Aerosol Optical Depth data was obtained through Giovanni at 550 nm from MODIS-Terra Version. 5.1 and employed as PM2.5 proxy. Detailed monitoring of temporal and spatial patterns of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution and meteorological parameters was carried out using time series analysis and surfer software. Correlation, simple regression and multiple regression techniques were used to model PM2.5 concentrations and distribution as a function of meteorological conditions.
The results reveal that a correlation between PM2.5 and rainfall, temperature and wind speed yields reasonable negative relationship with the r-value ranging from -0.429 to -0.785. A positive relationship with RH is realized, r-value ranging between 0.081 and 0.269. Student t-test showed that the results were statistically significant at 95% confidence level. The variation of rainfall, relative humidity, wind speed and temperature on the average explains 47% of PM2.5 concentrations.
Keywords: Fine Particulate Matter, Pollution, Aerosol Optical Depth, Regression.

OBJECTIVES: The aim was to study dimensional time-dependence of resin/ionomer formulations from 5 min age to one month and to separate out the intrinsic setting shrinkage and hygroscopic expansion effects, by using non-aqueous and aqueous storage media, respectively. METHODS: Materials studied included: A: resin-, B: metal- and C: polyphosphonate-modified glass-ionomer cements [GICs]; and controls of D: poly-acid modified composite [compomer]; and E: resin-composite. Separate specimen groups (n = 5) were stored in different storage-media: (i) silicone fluid; (ii) de-ionized water. Experiments were repeated at 23 and 37 degrees C. Volumetric changes of specimens (4 mm diameter x 6 mm height) were obtained via accurate mass measurements (to 10(-4) g), using Archimedes principle, with silicone or water also used as the Archimedean fluid. These measurements were made periodically over a 30 day period, post fabrication. RESULTS: In silicone at 23 degrees C, all materials underwent further gradual intrinsic shrinkage (after 5 min from mix). This was highly significant (p < 0.05) for the RM-GIC (A). At 37 degrees C, however the RM-GIC expanded, indicating that its cure is temperature-sensitive. In water, at 23 and 37 degrees C, the shrinkage was either partially offset (materials C, D, E), or replaced by appreciable expansions (materials A and B). Differences between RM-GIC (A) and MM-GIC (B) were significant (p < 0.05). SIGNIFICANCE: The deployment of dual storage media made an important contribution to the separate analysis of the volumetric changes due to the on-going setting chemistry in these systems and the time-dependent effects of an aqueous environment.

The purpose of the study was to develop an in-depth  understanding of reactions of 40 urban and rural HIV-infected Kenyan women to HIV diagnosis. We employed narrative inquiry principles to guide this qualitative cross-sectional study. We conducted individual in-depth interviews using open- ended questions in April and May 2006. In this article we focus on women

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To explore structure and process factors which influence patients' perception of quality inpatient psychiatric nursing care at Mathari hospital. This was a cross-sectional study of 236 inpatients selected by stratified random sampling. Competence to give consent was determined by a minimum score of 24 on Mini Mental State Examination. Patients were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Differences in proportions of variables were determined by calculating confidence interval and summary chi-squared statistics. P-values of < or =0.05 were considered significant. Majority of patients (87%) were aged 20-49 years with 43% having stayed in the ward for over a month. Structure factors related to patients' perception of care included physical environment, being happy with the way the ward looked was significantly related to satisfaction with care (chi(2) = 5.506, P = 0002). Process factors significantly related to patients' satisfaction with care included nurses providing patients with information on prescribed medicines (chi(2) = 10.50, P = 00012). Satisfaction with care was positively related to ability to recommend someone for admission in the same ward (chi(2) = 20.2, P = 00001). Structure and process factors identified as influencing patients' perception of care were physical environment and nurses' qualities that fit within the characteristics of Peplau's Interpersonal Relations Theory.

To explore structure and process factors which influence patients' perception of quality inpatient psychiatric nursing care at Mathari hospital. This was a cross-sectional study of 236 inpatients selected by stratified random sampling. Competence to give consent was determined by a minimum score of 24 on Mini Mental State Examination. Patients were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Differences in proportions of variables were determined by calculating confidence interval and summary chi-squared statistics. P-values of < or =0.05 were considered significant. Majority of patients (87%) were aged 20-49 years with 43% having stayed in the ward for over a month. Structure factors related to patients' perception of care included physical environment, being happy with the way the ward looked was significantly related to satisfaction with care (chi(2) = 5.506, P = 0002). Process factors significantly related to patients' satisfaction with care included nurses providing patients with information on prescribed medicines (chi(2) = 10.50, P = 00012). Satisfaction with care was positively related to ability to recommend someone for admission in the same ward (chi(2) = 20.2, P = 00001). Structure and process factors identified as influencing patients' perception of care were physical environment and nurses' qualities that fit within the characteristics of Peplau's Interpersonal Relations Theory.

Samples of burnt clay from kilns in various parts of the country were tested for their cementatious qualities and found to have high silica contents.Results showed that additing upto 40% of the cly to portland cement produced good binders for mass concre and plaster work,particularly for low cost housing.

In the current study, the contribution of the major angiogenic mechanisms, sprouting and intussusception, to vascular development in the avian lung has been demonstrated. Sprouting guides the emerging vessels to form the primordial vascular plexus, which successively surrounds and encloses the parabronchi. Intussusceptive angiogenesis has an upsurge from embryonic day 15 (E15) and contributes to the remarkably rapid expansion of the capillary plexus. Increased blood flow stimulates formation of pillars (the archetype of intussusception) in rows, their subsequent fusion and concomitant delineation of slender, solitary vascular entities from the disorganized meshwork, thus crafting the organ-specific angioarchitecture. Morphometric investigations revealed that sprouting is preponderant in the early period of development with a peak at E15 but is subsequently supplanted by intussusceptive angiogenesis by the time of hatching. Quantitative RT-PCR revealed that moderate levels of basic FGF (bFGF) and VEGF-A were maintained during the sprouting phase while PDGF-B remained minimal. All three factors were elevated during the intussusceptive phase. Immunohistoreactivity for VEGF was mainly in the epithelial cells, whereas bFGF was confined to the stromal compartment. Temporospatial interplay between sprouting and intussusceptive angiogenesis fabricates a unique vascular angioarchitecture that contributes to the establishment of a highly efficient gas exchange system characteristic of the avian lung.

Hepatocellular carcinoma results when cancerous cells are localized in the liver. It is distributed globally with high prevalence in sub-Saharan African, southern Asia, China and Japan. Diagnosis is experimental and in many cases inaccurate due to unreliability of markers. Prognosis is poor and the cost of treatment prohibitive. Conventional radiation and chemotherapy lead to loss of hair, fertility and general weakening of the body's immune system increasing a patient's risk to infection. These observations underscore the need for improved, or additional methods of cancer diagnosis and management. We investigated the effect of polysaccharide rich Pleurotus pulmonarius fruit body extracts on progression of chemically induced hepatocellular carcinoma in CBA mice. Addition of Pleurotus pulmonarius extracts in diet delayed progression of carcinogenesis suggesting that these extracts may be useful as adjuvants to conventional cancer therapies.

OBJECTIVES: Marginal integrity is a major clinical problem in restorative dentistry. The aim of this study was to evaluate the applicability of an edge strength measurement device in an in vitro test to determine the force required to fracture flakes of material by a Vickers indentation at progressively increasing distances from an interface edge of bulk material. METHODS: Five representative resin-composites were investigated. Fourteen disks of specimens (12mm diameter x 2.5mm thick) were prepared for each material. These were divided into seven sub-groups corresponding to different edge-distances (0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9 and 1.0mm). An edge strength measurement device (CK10) (Engineering Systems, Nottingham, UK) was used. The mode of the failure of each specimen was examined under the integral microscope of the CK10. RESULTS: The force (N)-to-fracture at a distance of 0.5mm from the edge was defined as the edge strength. The highest failure force (edge strength) was observed for Tetric Ceram (174.2N) and the lowest for Filtek Supreme (enamel) (87.0N). Correlations between the failure-forces to fracture materials with edge-distance were regression analyzed giving coefficients (r) ranging from 0.94 (p=0.02) to 0.99 (p=0.01). Two modes of failure were observed: chipping and–generally at greater distances–cracking. SIGNIFICANCE: Edge strength is a definable and potentially useful parameter to characterize this aspect of clinically related behavior. A standardized distance of 0.5mm from the specimen's edge, when chipping failure prevails, is suitable and convenient as a reference point.

Stem borers are a major source of pre-harvest maize crop losses in Kenya and many Sub-Saharan African countries. This menace needs to be addressed if food security is to be realized in this region. Seven local isolates of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) strains were isolated from soils collected from Kakamega and Machakos districts in Kenya. They were screened for toxicity against 1st and 2nd instar larvae of Chilo partellus, Sesamia calamistis and Busseola fusca through laboratory bioassays on artificial and natural diets. On farm Bt toxin potency trials were carried out only in Machakos using isolate 1M which was isolated from the area. The various isolates showed differences in their toxicity to the three stem borers. Isolates 1M and VM-10 (from Machakos district) were found to be the most potent against C. partellus with larval mortalities of 100 % within 72 h. Their LD50 values were 0.004 mg/ml and 0.04 mg/ml respectively. The most toxic isolates against S. calamistis were, 44M, VM-10 and 1M, with larval mortalities of 73%, 64% and 62% respectively after 72h at a concentration of 8.6 mg/ml through artificial diet bioassays on 1st instar larvae. Isolates 44M and K10-2 showed high toxicity against B. fusca with larval mortalities of 20% by artificial diet bioassays and 44% by maize leaf bioassays respectively. Leaf disk bioassays with all the insect species showed higher larval mortalities than those done with the artificial diet bioassays indicating the larval preference of natural diet. However leaf disk bioassays with B. fusca recorded higher larval mortalities with sorghum than maize leaves. Field trial results obtained from Machakos district using a biopesticide made from isolate 1M indicated that it was highly effective in stem borer control.

OBJECTIVES: Marginal integrity is a major clinical problem in restorative dentistry. The aim of this study was to evaluate the applicability of an edge strength measurement device in an in vitro test to determine the force required to fracture flakes of material by a Vickers indentation at progressively increasing distances from an interface edge of bulk material. METHODS: Five representative resin-composites were investigated. Fourteen disks of specimens (12mm diameter x 2.5mm thick) were prepared for each material. These were divided into seven sub-groups corresponding to different edge-distances (0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9 and 1.0mm). An edge strength measurement device (CK10) (Engineering Systems, Nottingham, UK) was used. The mode of the failure of each specimen was examined under the integral microscope of the CK10. RESULTS: The force (N)-to-fracture at a distance of 0.5mm from the edge was defined as the edge strength. The highest failure force (edge strength) was observed for Tetric Ceram (174.2N) and the lowest for Filtek Supreme (enamel) (87.0N). Correlations between the failure-forces to fracture materials with edge-distance were regression analyzed giving coefficients (r) ranging from 0.94 (p=0.02) to 0.99 (p=0.01). Two modes of failure were observed: chipping and–generally at greater distances–cracking. SIGNIFICANCE: Edge strength is a definable and potentially useful parameter to characterize this aspect of clinically related behavior. A standardized distance of 0.5mm from the specimen's edge, when chipping failure prevails, is suitable and convenient as a reference point.

OBJECTIVES: Marginal integrity is a major clinical problem in restorative dentistry. The aim of this study was to evaluate the applicability of an edge strength measurement device in an in vitro test to determine the force required to fracture flakes of material by a Vickers indentation at progressively increasing distances from an interface edge of bulk material. METHODS: Five representative resin-composites were investigated. Fourteen disks of specimens (12mm diameter x 2.5mm thick) were prepared for each material. These were divided into seven sub-groups corresponding to different edge-distances (0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9 and 1.0mm). An edge strength measurement device (CK10) (Engineering Systems, Nottingham, UK) was used. The mode of the failure of each specimen was examined under the integral microscope of the CK10. RESULTS: The force (N)-to-fracture at a distance of 0.5mm from the edge was defined as the edge strength. The highest failure force (edge strength) was observed for Tetric Ceram (174.2N) and the lowest for Filtek Supreme (enamel) (87.0N). Correlations between the failure-forces to fracture materials with edge-distance were regression analyzed giving coefficients (r) ranging from 0.94 (p=0.02) to 0.99 (p=0.01). Two modes of failure were observed: chipping and–generally at greater distances–cracking. SIGNIFICANCE: Edge strength is a definable and potentially useful parameter to characterize this aspect of clinically related behavior. A standardized distance of 0.5mm from the specimen's edge, when chipping failure prevails, is suitable and convenient as a reference point.