Model Studies on Footing Beam Resting on Geogrid Reinforced Soil Bed

Geogrid reinforcement below foundation (resting on layered soil conditions having less bearing capacity) to support footing has considerable effect on shear, settlement and cost reducing alternative to conventional method of support. Therefore, in the present paper, a 2D finite element soil- foundation interaction modeling of a square footing has been carried out to investigate the effect of types of geogrid on sttlement, contact presseure and elastic strain.  Performance level of geogrids made from three different types of polymer polypropylene, polyester and non-polymer (PP, PET and NP) have been analysed. Foundation system consists of a square footing beam resting on layered soil conditions (upper compacted and lower loose). Geogrid reinforcement is provided between upper dense soil and lower loose soil and has been assumed to have finite bending stress and, therefore, idealized as a beam. Both soil layers are also assumed to have finite bending stresses. Analysis is carried out by using a computer software program ANSYS with a two dimensional linear 8-noded isoparametric element. The result of analysis is compared with both the systems (foundation system with geogrid reinforcement & without geogrid reinforcement) and optimum thickness and optimum depth of placement of geogrid reinforcement have been found. It is found that use of geogrid and the types of geogrid affect the behavior of the foundation system significantly. Keywords: Footing beam; Geogrids; Settlement; Contact Pressure

Sweeping of the fetal membranes and its effect on duration of pregnancy in low risk cases

Background: This study aimed to determine effectiveness of sweeping of membranes on the duration of pregnancy at term, and its effect on maternal and neonatal outcomes.Methods: In this prospective study, 145 women with uncomplicated pregnancy at 39 weeks or more gestation who were attending regular ANC clinic, were recruited for study, out of them 60 were cases (sweeping group) and 85 were control (no sweeping group). Primary outcome measure was occurrence of spontaneous labour and total duration of pregnancy. Other outcome measures included were interval of onset of labour from membrane sweeping, incidence of premature rupture of membranes, total duration of active labour, mode of delivery, rate of caesarean section and causes, and neonatal and maternal outcome.Results: There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups regarding maternal age, parity and bishops score at recruitment. There was a significant difference observed in spontaneous labour rate and interval time between recruitment to delivery in groups. There was no significant difference regarding mode of delivery, maternal and fetal outcomes.Conclusions: Membrane sweeping is a safe procedure that reduces the incidence of post-term pregnancies if applied at term

Randomised controlled trial and health economic evaluation of the impact of diagnostic testing for influenza, respiratory syncytial virus and Streptococcus pneumoniae infection on the management of acute admissions in the elderly and high-risk 18- to 64-year-olds

Please cite the published version which is available via the DOI link in this record.Western industrialised nations face a large increase in the number of older people. People over the age of 60 years account for almost half of the 16.8 million hospital admissions in England from 2009 to 2010. During 2009-10, respiratory infections accounted for approximately 1 in 30 hospital admissions and 1 in 20 of the 51.5 million bed-days.HTA ProgrammeNational Institute for Health Research (NIHR

LES-based Study of the Roughness Effects on the Wake of a Circular Cylinder from Subcritical to Transcritical Reynolds Numbers

This paper investigates the effects of surface roughness on the flow past a circular cylinder at subcritical to transcritical Reynolds numbers. Large eddy simulations of the flow for sand grain roughness of size k/D = 0.02 are performed (D is the cylinder diameter). Results show that surface roughness triggers the transition to turbulence in the boundary layer at all Reynolds numbers, thus leading to an early separation caused by the increased momentum deficit, especially at transcritical Reynolds numbers. Even at subcritical Reynolds numbers, boundary layer instabilities are triggered in the roughness sublayer and eventually lead to the transition to turbulence. The early separation at transcritical Reynolds numbers leads to a wake topology similar to that of the subcritical regime, resulting in an increased drag coefficient and lower Strouhal number. Turbulent statistics in the wake are also affected by roughness; the Reynolds stresses are larger due to the increased turbulent kinetic energy production in the boundary layer and separated shear layers close to the cylinder shoulders.We acknowledge “Red Española de Surpercomputación” (RES) for awarding us access to the MareNostrum III machine based in Barcelona, Spain (Ref. FI-2015-2-0026 and FI-2015-3-0011). We also acknowledge PRACE for awarding us access to Fermi and Marconi Supercomputers at Cineca, Italy (Ref. 2015133120). Oriol Lehmkuhl acknowledges a PDJ 2014 Grant by AGAUR (Generalitat de Catalunya). Ugo Piomelli acknowledges the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada under the Discovery Grant Programme (Grant No. RGPIN-2016-04391). Ricard Borrell acknowledges a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral grant (IJCI-2014-21034). Ivette Rodriguez, Oriol Lehmkuhl, Ricard Borrell and Assensi Oliva acknowledge Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación, Spain (ref. ENE2014-60577-R).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

International genome-wide meta-analysis identifies new primary biliary cirrhosis risk loci and targetable pathogenic pathways.

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a classical autoimmune liver disease for which effective immunomodulatory therapy is lacking. Here we perform meta-analyses of discovery data sets from genome-wide association studies of European subjects (n=2,764 cases and 10,475 controls) followed by validation genotyping in an independent cohort (n=3,716 cases and 4,261 controls). We discover and validate six previously unknown risk loci for PBC (Pcombined<5 × 10(-8)) and used pathway analysis to identify JAK-STAT/IL12/IL27 signalling and cytokine-cytokine pathways, for which relevant therapies exist