Experimental feasibility study of using date palm oil as a bitumen Bio-Modifier in HMA pavement

This paper examines the effects of Date palm oil as a bitumen modifier on the compressive strength of bitumen and hot mixed asphalt (HMA) pavement. Date palm oil contains anti-oxidant isomers that have the potential to enhance the performance and durability of bitumen. The compressive strength test of asphalt pavement mixed with Date palm oil was performed in accordance with British Standards BS 1881: Part 116: 1983. The cube specimens of asphalt pavement were manufactured mixing with 0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, and 10% of Date palm oil out of total sample mass. The experimental results suggested that Date palm oil as a bitumen modifier reduced the compressive strength of HMA pavement. The findings of this paper urge for further experiments to understand the effects of Date palm oil on the asphalt pavements under long-term traffic load, environment and surface drainage

Tachyon Inflation in Teleparallel Gravity

We present a tachyonic field inflationary model in a teleparallel framework. We show that tachyonic coupled with the f(T) gravity model can describe the inflation era in which f(T) is an arbitrary function of torsion scalar T. For this purpose, dynamical behavior of the tachyonic field in different potentials is studied, it is shown that the tachyonic field with these potentials can be an effective candidate for inflation. Then, we discuss slow-roll conditions and show that by the appropriate choice of the parameters, the inflation era can be explained via this model. Finally, we argue that our model not only satisfies the result of BICEP2, Keck Array and Plank for the upper limit of $r < .012$ but also, the obtained value for spectral index $n_{s}$ is compatible with the results of Plank and also Plank + WMAP + HighL + BAO at the 68% confidence level.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Board Characteristics and Capital Structure in Malaysian Market

Using fifty nine construction companies listed in Bursa Malaysia in 2010, this study investigates the impact of selected board of directors' characteristics on the level of leverage in a firm. Debt to equity is used as a measure of leverage. The characteristics on the board of directors that we examine are board size, CEO duality, directors' ownership, and ethnicity of directors. We employ two variables (profitability, and firm size) to control the relationships: Findings show a significant interpretation of capital structure decision by these factors as a whole. Specifically, the outputs of the regression that we run show negative and significant relationships between director ownership, ethnicity of directors, and profitability of firm, and size of firm. While we find that duality role of the CEO as a chairman has a negative but insignificant relationship with leverage, our sample shows that the companies which had CEO duality are few compared to those which had separated roles between a CEO and a chairman. However, there is a positive and significant correlation between debt level in the companies and size of board of director

A pilot study on metabolic syndrome and its associated features among Qatari schoolchildren

Aim: This pilot study aimed to evaluate the individual features of the metabolic syndrome (MeS) and its frequency in Qatari schoolchildren aged 6-12 years. Background: MeS has a strong future risk for development of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Childhood obesity is increasing the likelihood of MeS in children. Methods: The associated features of MeS were assessed in 67 children. They were recruited from the outpatient pediatric clinic at Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar. Height, weight, and waist circumference were measured and body mass index was calculated for each child. Fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides (TG) were measured. MeS was defined according to the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-III) which was modified by Cook with adjustment for fasting glucose to ≥ 5.6 mM according to recommendations from the American Diabetes Association. Results: The overall prevalence of MeS according to NCEP-III criteria was 3.0% in children aged 6-12 years. Overweight and obesity was 31.3% in children aged 6-12 years, according to the International Obesity Task Force criteria. The prevalence of MeS was 9.5% in overweight and obese subjects. Increased TG levels represented the most frequent abnormality (28.4%) in metabolic syndrome features in all subjects, followed by HDL-C (19.4%) in all subjects. Conclusion: Increased TG levels and low HDL-C were the most frequent components of this syndrome. This study showed a significant prevalence of MeS and associated features among overweight and obese children. The overall prevalence of MeS in Qatari children is in accordance with data from several other countries. © 2011 Rizk et al.This work was supported by grant #CAS05001 from Qatar University, Qatar

CHRONIC LYMPHOBLASTIC LEUKEMIA DIAGNOSED BY PRIMARY CUTANEOUS LESION

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a malignant, low-grade, monoclonal disorder characterized by the accumulation of lymphocytes with variable clinical features. Cutaneous manifestations or leukemia cutis are non-specific, uncommon presentations of CLL and can present in many different ways. In this case report, we discuss a 76-year-old male who presented with skin lesions of the lower limbs and severe itching. Due to the lack of response to the treatment with topical corticosteroids, initial tests were carried out. Complete blood count results indicated lymphocytosis. Eventually Ultimately, the skin lesions led to the diagnosis of CLL. The patient was treated with bendamustine-rituximab (BR). After receiving the treatment, all cutaneous manifestations and generalized itching disappeared. This case highlights the importance of comparing similar cases of CLL presented with dermatological conditions in order to to understand proper management and practice

Inference of Mulla Sadra's Ethical Views in the Four Realms of Meta-Ethics

Meta-ethics is an important and fundamental part of ethical philosophy. Normative ethics discusses the ethical criterion and definition of happiness and obligation; but Meta-ethics deals with its background. In other words, it puts ethical propositions into philosophical questions in terms of meaning, cognition, and truth. In the intellectual system of transcendent wisdom, metaphysical issues and sheer philosophy are studied in order to help human beings to develop and transcend. In fact, human ethics and transcendence along with theology are two main goals of transcendent wisdom. In this regard, it is important to understand Mulla Sadra's views on meta-ethics as well as to discover and deduce it among Mulla Sadra's philosophical views. While defining meta-ethics, explaining its domains and asking main questions about each of these domains, the method of comparative study is used in this paper in order to provide the most appropriate and consistent possible answers to questions in the realm of meta-ethics - based on Mulla Sadra's views on the originality of existence Substantial motion and Union of Intelligent and Intelligible and so on.

Immunomodulatory and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Berberine in Lung Tissue and its Potential Application in Prophylaxis and Treatment of COVID-19

Natural products with known safety profiles are a promising source for the discovery of new drug leads. Berberine presents an example of one such phytochemical that has been extensively studied for its anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties against myriads of diseases, ranging from respiratory disorders to viral infections. A growing body of research supports the pluripotent therapeutic role berberine may play against the dreaded disease COVID-19. The exact pathophysiological features of COVID-19 are yet to be elucidated. However, compelling evidence suggests inflammation and immune dysregulations as major features of this disease. Being a potent immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory agent, berberine may prove to be useful for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. This review aims to revisit the pharmacological anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory benefits of berberine on a multitude of respiratory infections, which like COVID-19, are known to adversely affect the airways and lungs. We speculate that berberine may help alleviate COVID-19 via preventing cytokine storm, restoring Th1/Th2 balance, and enhancing cell-mediated immunity. Furthermore, the role this promising phytochemical plays on other important inflammatory mediators involved in respiratory disorders will be underscored. We further highlight the role of berberine against COVID-19 by underscoring direct evidence from in silico, in vitro, and in vivo studies suggesting the inhibitory potential berberine may play against three critical SARS-CoV-2 targets, namely main protease, spike protein, and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor. Further preclinical and clinical trials are certainly required to further substantiate the efficacy and potency of berberine against COVID-19 in humans

A Cultural-Discourse Perspective through the Strategies of Subtitling of American Films from English into Persian A case study of subtitling friends series

The research is based on the analysis of the American television series named Friends with the focus on the CSIs (Culture Specific Items) and how these differences have been handled by Persian translators who produced the subtitles. The analysis was based on the assumption that Iranian's culture is different from the US culture so people in these two countries may have problems in understanding CSIs if they are translated literally and if the subtitle translation is not adapted to the target audience. The research looked at the way subtitle translators involved with subtitling the American television series Friends had dealt with CSIs in when translating oral discourse into Persian. The 1main objective of this study has been to analyze different translation choices which are currently used by the translators in questions, dealing with CSIs where cultural differences between Iran and the US arise. The researcher has provided some questionnaires among university students of this field, some of the students were B.A. students of translation studies and some other were M.A. Students of linguistics. The research discovered that in the translation of CSIs, Synonymy and Naturalization are the most frequent strategies which are used and performed well, succeeding to help the Iranian audience to comprehend the cultural connotations associated with the CSIs. Also, the research discovered that high efficacy is obtained in translation

Meta-heuristic Optimization Algorithms for Predicting the Scouring Depth Around Bridge Piers

An accurate estimation of bridge pier scour has been considered as one of the important parameters in designing of bridges. However, due to the numerous involved parameters and convolution of this phenomenon, many existing approaches cannot predict scour depth with an acceptable accuracy. Obtained results from the empirical relationships show that these relationships have low accuracy in determining the maximum scour depth and they need a high safety factor for many cases, which leads to uneconomic designs of bridges. To cover these disadvantages, three new models are provided to estimate the bridge pier scour using an adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system. The parameters of the system are optimized by using the colliding bodies optimization, enhanced colliding bodies optimization and vibrating particles system methods. To evaluate the efficiency of the proposed methods, their results were compared with those of simple adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system and its improved versions by using the particle swarm optimization and genetic algorithm as well as the empirical equations. Comparison of results showed that the new vibrating particles system based algorithm could find better results than other two ones. In addition, comparison of the results obtained by the proposed methods with those of the empirical relations confirmed the high performance of the new methods