Allograft sterilization and processing: impact on biomechanical strength

The allograft used for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) must posses good biomechanical properties and it should have similar properties to the original tendon. During reconstruction the allograft must undergo proper sterilization and several sterilization methods have been used in the clinical practice. There are varations in the sterilization process and it has significant impact on the allograft tissue performance during ACL reconstruction. It is advisable to refrain from utilising grafts that have been exposed to radiation doses exceeding 15 kGy, as well as grafts that have undergone more than eight freeze-thaw cycles. Gamma radiation has disadvantages when compared to electron beam radiation in term of loss of mechanical strength

System and Method for Providing Visualization Aids for Effective Interval Management Procedure Execution

Methods and apparatus are provided for simulating an interval management (IM) procedure for an ownship aircraft and a target aircraft before the start of the performance of the IM procedure. The method comprises receiving an IM clearance message from air traffic control (ATC), parsing the received IM clearance message into parsed information components identifying the complexity of the IM clearance message based on the number of elements in the information components, generating a flight chart depicting the area over which the proposed IM procedure is to traverse using the mapping information wherein the flight chart includes a vertical view and a plan view, and simulating the IM procedure on the generated flight chart before any steps of the IM procedure are performed

Comparison of moisture and fracture damage resistance of hot and warm asphalt mixes containing reclaimed pavement materials

The present study evaluates moisture and fracture resistance performance of Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) and Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA) containing different percentages of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) materials. The HMA and WMA mixes with different percentages of RAP (i.e., 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40%) were designed using Marshall mix design. The warm mixes were prepared by adding 2% wax. Overall, 10 mixes (five HMA-RAP mixes, and five WMA-RAP mixes) were prepared in the laboratory. The moisture damage potential of different mixes was determined using Tensile Strength Ratio (TSR) test. Furthermore, fracture resistance of HMA-RAP and WMA-RAP mixes were evaluated using a Semi Circular Bending (SCB) test based on fracture mechanics principles. The analyses of results showed that addition of RAP increased TSR value of the mix, indicating that RAP may help in enhancing moisture damage potential of a mix. The TSR value of HMA-RAP mixes was found to be higher compared to WMA-RAP mixes for all RAP percentages, showing that WMA mixes are more prone to moisture damage compared to HMA mixes. The fracture resistance was found to be increasing with increase in RAP content in this research work. However, it is to be noted that improvement in fracture property with increase in RAP content may not be theoretically correct due to increase in stiffness characteristics. Such trend in the present research work may be attributed to absence of relaxation time in SCB testing protocol, unaccountability of post peak behaviour in the present research work and variability in material properties. Therefore, further investigation is needed in this direction to develop more understanding for such change before making further recommendation. Furthermore, the fracture resistance of HMA-RAP mixes was found to be better compared to WMA-RAP mixes. Overall moisture and fracture resistance performance of HMA-RAP mixes were observed to be better compared to WMA-RAP mixes. Moreover, Literature showed that asphaltic mixture containing RAP and WMA additive is highly influenced by amount of RAP and WMA added to HMA, type of WMA additive, source and nature of collected RAP etc. Therefore considering finding of current research work and reported literature in this area, inclusion of RAP in WMA mixes should be evaluated carefully before making further recommendation. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Laboratory performance of Recycled Asphalt Mixes containing wax and chemical based Warm Mix Additives using Semi Circular Bending and Tensile Strength Ratio tests

Durability and sustainability are two major requirements of the asphaltic pavement structure. Durability aspect may involve performance parameters such as fracture property, moisture sensitivity etc., whereas, sustainability aspect may involve utilization of Recycled Asphalt Pavement (RAP) and Warm Mix Additive (WMA) in the conventional asphaltic mixture. Though improvement in high temperature performance may be expected with the addition of RAP due to its stiffer nature, it may degrade intermediate temperature performance. Additionally, RAP utilization may also increase the mixing and compaction temperature during the construction phase. Therefore, researchers have recommended using different WMA additives to decrease production temperature of mixes containing RAP. Though the use of WMA additives with RAP may decrease mixing and compaction temperature, their effects on various performance parameters of the asphaltic mixture must be evaluated. Sufficient research works have been reported on the performance of RAP and WMA mixes at high temperature, however, so far, limited work is available on understanding effects of RAP and WMA additives on fatigue and moisture sensitivity of asphalt mixture. Therefore, the present research work aimed at evaluating intermediate temperature fracture properties and moisture sensitivity of asphaltic mixture containing RAP and WMA. Five different RAP contents (0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%), two different types of WMA additives (2% wax based "Sasobit" and 0.5% chemical based "Evotherm") and one without WMA additive (Control mixture) were considered. Fracture properties of different asphaltic mixture combinations were evaluated using Semi Circular Bending (SCB) test. Improvement in fracture property of Control mixture was observed with increase in RAP content, however, the addition of wax based and chemical based WMA additives showed an overall reduction in fractured resistance. Further, the asphaltic mixture containing wax based WMA additive showed better fracture performance compared to the corresponding mixture containing chemical based WMA additive. Similarly, moisture sensitivity of asphaltic mixtures was evaluated using Tensile Strength Ratio (TSR) approach. Addition of both WMA additives resulted in lowered Indirect Tensile Strength (ITS) under dry as well as wet condition. Though the addition of WMA additive showed a negative impact on moisture sensitivity, all mixture considered in the present research work passed the minimum TSR requirement. Therefore, wax and chemical based WMA additive may deem acceptable from moisture sensitivity point of view. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Effect of hydrogen addition on combustion and emissions performance of a high speed spark ignited engine at idle condition

The fuel depletion and environmental pollution have pushed studies on improving the combustion and emission characteristics of internal combustion engines with several alternative fuels. Expert studies proved that hydrogen is one of the prominent energy source which has exceptional combustion qualities that can be used for improving combustion and emissions performance of gasoline-fueled spark ignition engines. This paper introduced an experiment conducted on a single cylinder high speed gasoline engine equipped with a hydrogen injection system to discover the combustion and emissions characteristics with various hydrogen gasoline blends at idle condition. For this purpose, the conventional carburetted high speed spark ignition engine was modified into an electronically controllable engine with help of electronic control unit which dedicatedly used to control the ignition timings and injection duration of gasoline fuel

HYDROGEN ADDITION ON COMBUSTION AND EMISSION CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH SPEED SPARK IGNITION ENGINE- AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

The present article aims at characterizing the combustion and emission parameters of a single cylinder high speed SI engine operating with different concentrations of hydrogen with gasoline fuel. The conventional carburetted SI engine was modified into an electronically controllable engine, wherein ECU was used to control the injection timings and durations of gasoline. The engine was maintained at a constant speed of 3000 rpm and wide open throttle position. The experimental results demonstrated that heat release rate and cylinder pressure were increased with the addition of hydrogen until 20%. The CO and HC emissions were reduced considerably whereas NOx emission was increased with the addition of hydrogen in comparison with pure gasoline engine operation

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase immunocytochemistry in fine needle aspiration diagnosis of anaplastic large-cell lymphoma

Background: Anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) is a rare subtype of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) characterized by the presence of unusual giant cells. It is a CD30+lymphoma of T-cells lineage, which shows anaplastic lymphoma kinase-nucleophosmin (ALK-NPM) rearrangement. ALCL on fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) shows unusually large and bizarre tumor cells. Materials and Methods: All aspirates seen over a 6-year period from November 2009 to November 2015 in which a diagnosis of ALCL or Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) with bizarre giant cells were suspected on cytomorphology were prospectively selected. Twenty such aspirates were subjected to CD-30 and ALK-1 immunocytochemistry (ICC). Subsequent biopsy was available in all cases. Results: Out of 20 cases, seven cases, suspected to be ALCL on FNAC, were confirmed on biopsy. ALK-1 was positive in both cytology and biopsy of 6/7 of these. Two cases suspected to be ALCL on cytomorphology were HL (1) and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) (1) on biopsy, both of which were ALK-1 negative on cytology. Eight cases of HL and three cases of large-cell NHL, which were all ALK negative on cytology, were confirmed on biopsy. Conclusion: ICC for ALK and CD30 is useful in aspiration cytodiagnosis of ALCL. One CD30 positive DLBCL and one ALK negative ALCL showed concordant results of ICC on cytology and histology

Thank you reviewers – CytoJournal 2011

CytoJournal, with its continued contribution of scientific cytopathology literature to the public domain under open access (OA) charter, thanks its dedicated peer reviewers for devoting significant efforts, time, and resources during 2011. The abstracts of poster-platform submissions to the 59th Annual Scientific Meeting (November 2011) of the American Society of Cytopathology (ASC) in Baltimore, MD, USA, were peer reviewed by the ASC Scientific Program Committee