Characterization of Alaskan Hot-Mix Asphalt containing Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement Material

In order to properly characterize Alaskan HMA materials containing RAP, this study evaluated properties of 3 asphalt binders typically used in Alaska, PG 52-28, PG 52-40, and PG 58-34, and 11 HMA mixtures containing up to 35% RAP that were either produced in the lab or collected from existing paving projects in Alaska. Various binder and mixture engineering properties were determined, including true high binder grades, complex modulus (|G*|), and phase angle (δ) at high performance temperatures, MSCR recovery rate and compliance, BBR stiffness and m-value, DTT failure stress and strain for binders, and dynamic modulus, flow number, IDT creep stiffness and strength for mixtures. Binder cracking temperatures were determined through Thermal Stress Analysis Routine (TSAR) software along with BBR and DTT data. Mixture cracking temperatures were determined with IDT creep stiffness and strength data. It was found that rutting may not be a concern with Alaskan RAP mix, while low-temperature cracking concerns may still exist in RAP mix in Alaska. A savings of $13.3/ton was estimated for a 25% RAP mix, with consideration of Alaskan situations. Many recommendations for future RAP practice and research are recommended based on testing results and cost analysis.Alaska Department of Transportation Statewide Research Offic

Performance of TenCate Paving Interlayers in Asphalt Concrete Pavements

As a continued effort of a previously completed project entitled “Performance of TenCate Mirafi PGM-G4 Interlayer-Reinforced Asphalt Pavements in Alaska,” this project evaluated two newly modified paving interlayers (TruPave and Mirapave) through overlay, dynamic modulus tests and low-temperature performance tests. A field survey was conducted to further evaluate the performance of three paving interlayers (G4, G50/50, and G100/100) applied to field sections constructed in May 2013 at Milepost 148–156 Richardson Highway in Alaska. Overlay test results indicate that asphalt concrete (AC) with paving interlayers (TruPave and Mirapave) shows lower reduction in peak load, suggesting better cracking resistance. The dynamic modulus measurement of AC with paving interlayers reveals more rational results from the IDT mode test than the AMPT method due to similar stress conditions in the paving interlayer. With paving interlayers, the temperature sensitivity and cracking potential of AC material were reduced according to the results from the IDT creep test. Field survey results confirm that all sections reinforced with paving interlayers (G4, G50/50, and G100/100) had better cracking resistance than the control section.TenCate Geosynthetics North Americ

Continued Field Evaluation of Precutting for Maintaining Asphalt Concrete Pavements with Thermal Cracking

In continuation of a previously completed project entitled Evaluate Presawn Transverse Thermal Cracks for Asphalt Concrete Pavement, this project was a further effort to understand important variables in the thermal cracking process through continued field monitoring of three precutting test sites in Interior Alaska. The test sites included (1) Phillips Field Road, precut in 1984 (≈ west ¼ mile of this road), (2) Richardson Highway precut in 2012 (≈ MP 343–344), and (3) Parks Highway precut in 2014 (≈ MP 245–252). Preliminary results at relatively short periods (up to 4 years) indicate that precutting is an economically promising way to control natural thermal cracks. Even short-term economic benefits appear to range between about 2% and 21%. The degree to which precutting works for an AC pavement appears to be a function of the thickness and general structural robustness of new construction. Shorter precut spacing, along with stronger and/or thicker pavement structures, looks promising with respect to crack control. Continuing evaluation and monitoring of test sections are needed to recommend an effective design methodology and construction practice for Alaska and cold areas of other northern states.Alaska Department of Transportatio

Kinetic and Chemical Modification Studies on Malate Dehydrogenase from E. coli

Malate dehydrogenase (MDH) is the enzyme which catalyzes the conversion of malate to oxaloacetate in the TCA cycle. The object of this research was to discipher the mechanism of the reaction and the function of the enzyme. MDH from E. Coli was purified and analyzed by chemical modification studies using diethylpyrocarbonate. Results indicate the existence of a histidine residue at the active site necessary for catalysis. From kinetic studies, a group required for catalysis with a pKa of 8.5 was observed, which we believe to be a histidine residue. These studies indicate that MDH from E. Coli has a chemical and kinetic mechanism similar to MDH\u27s from other sources

Food prices and obesity: long-run effect in US metropolitan areas

Once considered as a serious public health issue only in developed countries, now overweight and obesity have dramatically increased in low- and middle-income countries, especially in urban settings (WHO, 2008). The main purpose of this study is to explore the economic incentives for this rapid growth in obesity rates, by studying variations in obesity over time and across geographic regions in the United States. Although a number of researchers and policymakers have devoted significant resources to address the recent rapid rise in obesity in the United States, âthe prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased sharply since the mid 1970sâ (Centers for Disease Control, 2008) and most of this increase occurred in the 1980s and 1990s (Cutler, et al., 2003). More importantly, changes in food prices have also occurred over the past 30 years and have occurred simultaneously with the obesity epidemic (Finkelstein, et al., 2005). In this study, we investigate how the decline in food prices in the last three decades affects the long-run growth of obesity rates. We take the advantage of the large panel data that cover for the time periods with the fastest growth of obesity rates, by using metropolitan samples from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and information on prices of food at home and food away from home from these major metropolitan areas for years 1976 to 2001. Specifically, instead of using absolute food prices, we explore the impacts from changes in relative prices of food at home and food away from home (i.e. food prices relative to prices for a market basket of consumer goods and services in these metropolitan areas), as well as changes in prices of food at home and food away from home on the growth in obesity rates during this time frame. We also control for the changes in contextual factors and changes in value of female in these metropolitan areas. Our findings reveal the important fact that changes in relative food prices can explain about 20 percent of the obesity growth during this time period and such effect is more pronounced for the low-educated. The results of the study provide an interpretation of the long-run growth of obesity rates in urban settings.Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,

Effects on environmental impacts of introducing electric vehicle batteries as storage - A case study of the United Kingdom

This paper examines the potential environmental impact of using electric vehicle batteries as storage in relation to an energy system as it moves towards the goal of net-zero emissions in 2050. The electrified transportation sector is an inevitable step towards a more sustainable energy system to meet climate change mitigation. Large-scale deployment of electric vehicles increases electricity demand whilst simultaneously presenting an opportunity to use electric vehicle batteries to shift peak demand through vehicle to grid, battery swapping, and reuse of retired vehicle batteries. The environmental consequence of using electric vehicle batteries as energy storage is analysed in the context of energy scenarios in 2050 in the United Kingdom. The results show that using an electric vehicle battery for energy storage through battery swapping can help decrease investigated environmental impacts; a further reduction can be achieved by using retired electric vehicle batteries. Using an electric vehicle battery for energy storage through a vehicle to grid mechanism has the potential to reduce environmental impacts if the impact of cycle degradation is minimal compared with calendar degradation. This balance is dependent upon the lithium-ion chemistry, temperature and mileage driven

Tuning Pythia8 for future e+e−e^+e^- colliders

The majority of Monte-Carlo (MC) simulation campaigns for future $e^+e^-$ colliders has so far been based on the leading-order (LO) matrix elements provided by Whizard 1.95, followed by parton shower and hadronization in Pythia6, using the tune of the OPAL experiment at LEP. In this contribution, we test and develop the interface between Whizard3 and Pythia8. As a first step, we simulate the $e^+e^-\to q\bar{q}$ process with LO matrix elements, and compare three tunes in Pythia8: the standard Pythia8 tune, the OPAL tune and the ALEPH tune. At stable-hadron level, predictions of charged and neutral hadron multiplicities of these tunes are compared to LEP data, since they are strongly relevant to the performance of particle flow algorithms. The events are used to perform a full detector simulation and reconstruction of the International Large Detector concept (ILD) as an example for a particle-flow-optimised detector. At reconstruction level, a comparison of the jet energy resolution in these tunes is presented. We found good agreement with previous results that were simulated by Whizard1+Pythia6. In addition, the preliminary next-to-leading order (NLO) results are also presented. This modern MC simulation chain, with matched NLO matrix elements in the future, should be introduced to ILC or other future $e^+e^-$ colliders.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, LCWS 202

Effect of Bentonite Fining on Proteins and Phenolic Composition of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc Wines

Bentonite fining is widely used to remove excess proteins in white wine prior to bottling in order to prevent protein haze formation. However, bentonite fining could also remove beneficial compounds in wine, e.g.phenolic compounds that contribute to sensory properties of wine. In this study, impact of bentonite fining on the phenolic composition of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc wines has been investigated using fourdifferent bentonites: pluxcompact (PCT, Ca bentonite); bentolit (BTL, Na-Ca bentonite); pluxbenton (PBN, Na bentonite); and sperimentale (SPM, Ca-Na bentonite). Different bentonites showed similar efficienciesin removing haze-related proteins and resulted in significant decrease in total phenolic concentration.  Impact on phenolic composition varied depending on the type of bentonite. In this study, fining with Ca-Na bentonite (SPM) resulted in the lowest concentrations of caftaric acid and flavanols, particularly epicatechin gallate, gallocatechin, catechin and epicatechin, which could lead to reduced mouthfeel of the resultant wine. Results presented in this study provided additional information for winemakers to choose appropriate bentonite to remove proteins with a minimal effect on reduction of phenolic compounds

Targeted DNA demethylation of the Arabidopsis genome using the human TET1 catalytic domain.

DNA methylation is an important epigenetic modification involved in gene regulation and transposable element silencing. Changes in DNA methylation can be heritable and, thus, can lead to the formation of stable epialleles. A well-characterized example of a stable epiallele in plants is fwa, which consists of the loss of DNA cytosine methylation (5mC) in the promoter of the FLOWERING WAGENINGEN (FWA) gene, causing up-regulation of FWA and a heritable late-flowering phenotype. Here we demonstrate that a fusion between the catalytic domain of the human demethylase TEN-ELEVEN TRANSLOCATION1 (TET1cd) and an artificial zinc finger (ZF) designed to target the FWA promoter can cause highly efficient targeted demethylation, FWA up-regulation, and a heritable late-flowering phenotype. Additional ZF-TET1cd fusions designed to target methylated regions of the CACTA1 transposon also caused targeted demethylation and changes in expression. Finally, we have developed a CRISPR/dCas9-based targeted demethylation system using the TET1cd and a modified SunTag system. Similar to the ZF-TET1cd fusions, the SunTag-TET1cd system is able to target demethylation and activate gene expression when directed to the FWA or CACTA1 loci. Our study provides tools for targeted removal of 5mC at specific loci in the genome with high specificity and minimal off-target effects. These tools provide the opportunity to develop new epialleles for traits of interest, and to reactivate expression of previously silenced genes, transgenes, or transposons

Co-targeting RNA Polymerases IV and V Promotes Efficient De Novo DNA Methylation in Arabidopsis.

The RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) pathway in plants controls gene expression via cytosine DNA methylation. The ability to manipulate RdDM would shed light on the mechanisms and applications of DNA methylation to control gene expression. Here, we identified diverse RdDM proteins that are capable of targeting methylation and silencing in Arabidopsis when tethered to an artificial zinc finger (ZF-RdDM). We studied their order of action within the RdDM pathway by testing their ability to target methylation in different mutants. We also evaluated ectopic siRNA biogenesis, RNA polymerase V (Pol V) recruitment, targeted DNA methylation, and gene-expression changes at thousands of ZF-RdDM targets. We found that co-targeting both arms of the RdDM pathway, siRNA biogenesis and Pol V recruitment, dramatically enhanced targeted methylation. This work defines how RdDM components establish DNA methylation and enables new strategies for epigenetic gene regulation via targeted DNA methylation