Discussion : a fuzzy classification process for swelling soils [Transp. Infrastruct. Geotechnol. 10(3), 474–487]

This communication article presents a discussion of various fundamental points pertaining to the Toksöz Hozatlıoğlu and Yılmaz (2023) (the Authors) investigation [published in Transp. Infrastruct. Geotechnol. 10(3), 474–487], specifically scrutinizing the practical ramifications of employing the liquid limit (LL) parameter (by itself) to infer soil expansivity. Based on previous experimental investigations and their own independent analyses presented in this article, the Discussers demonstrate that without proper consideration of soil mineralogical activity, the sole reliance on the LL parameter (as adopted in the Authors’ investigation) is often not a reliable basis for performing soil expansivity assessments. Accordingly, the LL-based fuzzy classification approach reported by the Authors, despite addressing potential uncertainties arising from LL determinations by the Casagrande percussion-cup method, would, in itself, not lead to significantly more reliable soil expansivity assessments. As a way forward, a practical and more realistic classification framework for expansive soils based on equilibrium sediment volume measurements is presented and compared to the LL-based scheme adopted in the Authors’ investigation. Through this endeavor, it is demonstrated that the sole reliance on the LL parameter generally produces overly conservative soil expansivity rankings. © The Author(s) 2023

Modeling the compaction characteristics of fine-grained soils blended with tire-derived aggregates

This study aims at modeling the compaction characteristics of fine-grained soils blended with sand-sized (0.075–4.75 mm) recycled tire-derived aggregates (TDAs). Model development and calibration were performed using a large and diverse database of 100 soil–TDA compaction tests (with the TDA-to-soil dry mass ratio ≤ 30%) assembled from the literature. Following a comprehensive statistical analysis, it is demonstrated that the optimum moisture content (OMC) and maximum dry unit weight (MDUW) for soil–TDA blends (across different soil types, TDA particle sizes and compaction energy levels) can be expressed as universal power functions of the OMC and MDUW of the unamended soil, along with the soil to soil–TDA specific gravity ratio. Employing the Bland– Altman analysis, the 95% upper and lower (water content) agreement limits between the predicted and measured OMC values were, respectively, obtained as +1.09% and −1.23%, both of which can be considered negligible for practical applications. For the MDUW predictions, these limits were calculated as +0.67 and −0.71 kN/m3, which (like the OMC) can be deemed acceptable for prediction purposes. Having established the OMC and MDUW of the unamended fine-grained soil, the em-pirical models proposed in this study offer a practical procedure towards predicting the compaction characteristics of the soil–TDA blends without the hurdles of performing separate laboratory compaction tests, and thus can be employed in practice for preliminary design assessments and/or soil– TDA optimization studies. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

The essential role of hippocampo-cortical connections in temporal coordination of spindles and ripples

The predominant activity of slow wave sleep is cortical slow oscillations (SOs), thalamic spindles and hippocampal sharp wave ripples. While the precise temporal nesting of these rhythms was shown to be essential for memory consolidation, the coordination mechanism is poorly understood. Here we develop a minimal hippocampo-cortico-thalamic network that can explain the mechanism underlying the SO-spindle-ripple coupling indicating of the succession of regional neuronal interactions. Further we verify the model predictions experimentally in naturally sleeping rodents showing our simple model provides a quantitative match to several experimental observations including the nesting of ripples in the spindle troughs and larger duration but lower amplitude of the ripples co-occurring with spindles or SOs compared to the isolated ripples. The model also predicts that the coupling of ripples to SOs and spindles monotonically enhances by increasing the strength of hippocampo-cortical connections while it is stronger at intermediate values of the cortico-hippocampal projections

Antiinflammatory and Antinociceptive of Hydro Alcoholic Tanacetum balsamita L. Extract

The use of herbs to treat disease is accompanied with the history of human life. This research is aimed to study the anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive effects of hydroalcoholic extract of aerial parts of "Tanacetum balsamita balsamita". In the experimental studies 144 male mice are used. In the inflammatory test, animals were divided into six groups: Control, positive control (receiving Dexamethason at dose of 15mg/kg), and four experimental groups receiving Tanacetum balsamita balsamita hydroalcoholic extract at doses of 25, 50, 100 and 200mg/kg. Xylene was used to induce inflammation. Formalin was used to study the nociceptive effects. Animals were divided into six groups: control group, positive control group (receiving morphine) and four experimental groups receiving Tanacetum balsamita balsamita (Tb.) hydroalcoholic extract at doses of 25, 50, 100 and 200mg/kg. I.p. injection of drugs or normal saline was performed 30 minutes before test. The data were analyzed by using one way Variance analysis and Tukey post-test. Aerial parts of Tanacetum balsamita balsamita hydroalcoholic extract decreased significantly inflammatory at dose of 200mg/kg (P<0/001) and caused a significant decrease and alleviated the nociception in both first and second phases at doses of 200mg/kg (p<0/001) and 100mg/kg (P<0/05). Tanacetum balsamita balsamita extract has the anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive effects which seems to be related with flavonoids especially Quercetin

An objective framework for determination of the air-entry value from the soil–water characteristic curve

The air-entry value (AEV) suction, marking the transition between saturated and unsaturated soil mechanics, is arguably the most important parameter interpreted from the soil–water characteristic curve (SWCC); its accurate determination being essential for the prediction of unsaturated soil properties. The AEV is commonly obtained by a subjective and time-consuming graphical construction. This micro-article proposes an objective framework, developed based on a practical mathematical translation technique, for the AEV determination. Explicit equations for the AEV are derived based on eleven well-established SWCC fitting functions, covering a wide range of functional complexities. In addition to its objective nature (providing unique interpretations of the AEV), the proposed framework complements numerical implementations of unsaturated soil constitutive models. © 2021 The Author(s

Soren: Adaptive MapReduce for Programmable

Abstract. InrecentyearstheMapReduceprogrammingmodelhasbeen widely used for developing parallel data-intensive applications. As a result of its popularity, there exist many implementations of the MapReduce model on different parallel architectures including on massively parallel programmable GPUs. A basic challenge in implementing a MapReduceruntimesystem is thewide diversityof applications developed based onthemodel.Thatmeans afixedimplementationoftheMapReduceruntime system may become suboptimal for some classes of applications. In this paper, we propose an adaptive framework for MapReduce on GPUs which is capable of monitoring key characteristics of applications and dynamically executing them efficiently in one of the three variations of the MapReduce engine it implements. Our preliminary results show that our adaptive method can significantly improve performance for many MapReduce applications (including a 11x performance speedup in one case) compared to a state-of-the-art MapReduce implementation on GPUs.

Biopolymer stabilization of clayey soil

This study investigates the efficacy of sodium alginate (SA), xanthan gum (XG), guar gum (GG) and chitosan (CS) — each applied at five different solid biopolymer-to-water mass ratios (or dosages) and cured for 7 d and 28 d — on the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) performance of a high plasticity clayey soil. Moreover, on identifying the optimum biopolymer-treatment scenarios, their performance was compared against conventional stabilization using hydrated lime. For a given curing time, the UCS for all biopolymers followed a rise–fall trend with increasing biopolymer dosage, peaking at an optimum dosage and then subsequently decreasing, such that all biopolymer-stabilized samples mobilized higher UCS values compared to the unamended soil. The optimum dosage was found to be 1.5% for SA, XG and CS, while a notably lower dosage of 0.5% was deemed optimum for GG. Similarly, for a given biopolymer type and dosage, increasing the curing time from 7 d to 28 d further enhanced the UCS, with the achieved improvements being generally more pronounced for XG- and CS-treated cases. None of the investigated biopolymers was able to produce UCS improvements equivalent to those obtained by the 28-d soil–lime samples; however, the optimum XG, GG and CS dosages, particularly after 28 d of curing, were easily able to replicate 7-d lime stabilization outcomes achieved with as high as twice the soil's lime demand. Finally, the fundamental principles of clay chemistry, in conjunction with the soil mechanics framework, were employed to identify and discuss the clay–biopolymer stabilization mechanisms. © 2024 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Science