Effectiveness of bagasse ash for performance improvement of asphalt concrete pavements

AbstractThe performance of asphalt concrete pavements (ACP) is greatly related to the rate of rutting. Stone dust is mostly used as a filler in ACP. Bagasse ash being cementitious in nature, and costless waste can also be used as a filler. The overall aim is to select a suitable filler for better performance of asphalt concrete pavements. The effectiveness of locally available bagasse ash is examined as a filler for asphalt concrete in terms of its effect on job mix formula, stability, rutting depth, the rise in temperature, and cost of asphalt concrete. All tests are performed as per AASHTO standards. The bagasse ash asphalt concrete showed a reduction in rutting depth, temperature rise, and cost as compared to that of the stone dust asphalt concrete without disturbing the job mix formula. Hence, bagasse ash can be helpful for the performance enhancement of asphalt concrete pavements

Common Histopathological spectrum of Posterior Fossa Tumors in Pediatric Age Group

Objective:  To know about the common posterior fossa tumors in the pediatric age group on basis of Histopathology in Neurosurgery Department, Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar. Material and Methods:  This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the department of MTI Hayatabad medical complex Peshawar from January 2017 to January 2020. We included a total of 52 patients who operated for posterior fossa tumors and biopsy reports were observed to know the histological pattern of the tumor. We included all those patients who have posterior fossa tumors except those tumors which involved or arise from brain stem and infections. The data was collected and analyzed using SPSS version 21. Results:  Our study shows that the mean age was 6 years with a standard deviation ± 2.81. Fifty-eight percent of children were male and 42% of children were female. Histopathologic patterns were analyzed as 48% of children had Medulloblastoma, 25% of children had Astrocytoma, 19% of children had Ependymoma, 8% of patients had other histopathologic patterns. Conclusion:  Our study concludes that common histopathologic patterns of posterior fossa tumors in children were medulloblastoma (48%), Astrocytoma (25%), ependymoma (19%) respectively

Experimental Investigation of Compressive Strength and Infiltration Rate of Pervious Concrete by Fully Reduction of Sand

The aim of the study is to investigate compressive strength of pervious concrete by reduction of fine aggregate from zero to 100%, additionally investigate infiltration rate of pervious concrete. Experimental study has conducted at Cecos Engineering University Peshawar. The pervious concrete samples were produced for 7 and 28 days. Compressive strength of pervious concrete indicated higher reduction of the sand reduces compressive strength and almost 50% compressive strength decreased by reduction of 100% sand from the design mix. On the other side, infiltration rate for 28 days shows direct relation above 40% reduction of sand and highest 273% of infiltration rate by reducing 100% sand from the design mix. The 90% reduction of sand from concrete give considerable compressive strength of 2150 psi and infiltration rate of 165.79 inch/hour, which can be recommended for pavements of parking and walking area

Evaluation of the effectiveness of English language teaching in English language institutes in Mardan

AbstractThe scope of English language is widening day by day. There are various English language institutes working in Mardan city. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the course content, class activities and adopted teaching methods in these language institutes. For this purpose, we distributed questionnaires among 76 students of different language institutes seeking their perception regarding the courses. We came to know that the courses were least effective due to the teachers’ ineptness, their focusing more on the content than on the students’ needs, and because of the unavailability of the proper resources for effective language practices at the institutes. However, some of the students at these institutes were found quite satisfied with their improvement in accent and pronunciation. As a whole, the language institutes in Mardan need to do a thorough overhauling of their practices to help students’ achieve their language goals satisfactorily

Cutaneous leishmaniasis in Karak, Pakistan: Report of an outbreak and comparison of diagnostic techniques

A total of 339 patients with clinically suspected cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) were studied from March to April, 2010 in three villages of Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan where an epidemic of the disease was in question. Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), 78.17% (265/339) were observed having CL. Microscopically, however, only 43.06% (146/339) were diagnosed with the disease. This study reports and confirms epidemic of CL in both gender of all ages in the area. Females (70.94%) were noted to be predominantly affected as compared to males (29%). Clinically, 12.38% of patients had more than three lesions, 29.20% had two lesions, while 58.40% had only single lesion. Most lesions were found on exposed surfaces of the body (predominantly hands, face and feet). The present study confirms that PCR was more sensitive than microscopic examination.Key words: Epidemic, cutaneous leishmaniasis, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), microscopy, Pakistan

Modelling and Simulation of a Manipulator with Stable Viscoelastic Grasping Incorporating Friction

Design, dynamics and control of a humanoid robotic hand based on anthropological dimensions, with joint friction, is modelled, simulated and analysed in this paper by using computer aided design and multibody dynamic simulation. Combined joint friction model is incorporated in the joints. Experimental values of coefficient of friction of grease lubricated sliding contacts representative of manipulator joints are presented. Human fingers deform to the shape of the grasped object (enveloping grasp) at the area of interaction. A mass-spring-damper model of the grasp is developed. The interaction of the viscoelastic gripper of the arm with objects is analysed by using Bond Graph modelling method. Simulations were conducted for several material parameters. These results of the simulation are then used to develop a prototype of the proposed gripper. Bond graph model is experimentally validated by using the prototype. The gripper is used to successfully transport soft and fragile objects. This paper provides information on optimisation of friction and its inclusion in both dynamic modelling and simulation to enhance mechanical efficiency

Course Contents of English Language Textbooks and their Relevance to Learners’ Culture in an Islamic Context

The study is an attempt at analyzing the cultural authenticity of the course contents of English as a foreign language at International Islamic University Islamabad. This study assumes that these course contents increase cultural barriers for the learners who belong to a different set of cultural values and religious and educational background. It traces the limitation of foreign textbooks writers because of their unawareness of the local culture and the social, educational and religious environment. The study on the one hand questions the suitability of such textbooks for the learners (mostly from religious institutions) and on the other hand gives proposals for the development of English textbooks based on indigenous or Islamic culture. Usually, the evaluation of course contents is descriptive in nature and is done to describe or find out a problem rather than to address it. To bring an improvement in course contents is the basic goal of course evaluation. Although, it would be irrelevant to manipulate a problem statement for this type of research yet ignoring the student factor in writing English text books and selecting these books without doing a prior research into the needs analysis of the learners can be cited as the main problem which inspired the study. This study adopts both a descriptive as well as a prescriptive approach. It analyses the contents to see what is there in the contents and what is required for the learners from a cultural perspective. On the basis of its two fold description the study has given suggestions as to what should be an ideal situation for the selection, adaptation and development of English language textbooks for the learners. The main hypothesis of the study was that there was no cultural relevance between the objectives of the learners for learning English, their social and educational background and the contents of the course book. The inappropriateness of the theories that advocate the inclusion of target language culture in language courses as an essential factor for teaching and learning English in every situation and for all learners is the secondary hypothesis of the study. The study has narrowed down its focus to the cultural relevance of the course contents being taught at the IIUI, the communication gap between the authors and the target learners, and to give suggestions regarding the possibility to include the learners’ culture in English language courses.   The study adopts a first glance evaluation in the light of guidelines provided by pedagogical theorists and deliberately avoids learners’ response method (in which learners responses are measured) because of the   researcher’s own interest in the impressionistic evaluation. The main purpose of the study was to bring the learners in the lime light of focus to make teaching of English more learners’ centered, to create awareness among the teachers, policy makers and course designers to consider learners needs in the process of textbooks selection and development. The study proves that the themes, setting, characters and worldview, presented in the contents of the book represent a foreign and unfamiliar world for the learners. The study suggests that the learners would be more motivated to learn English if language were presented in the context with which the learners could identify themselves. Keywords: language, English, Culture, Textbooks, Learner

Biotransformation of ß-estradiol isolated from Sonchus eruca

The biotransformation of ß-estradiol (1,3,5-estratriene-3,17,ß-diols) by Bacillus subtillus resulted in four metabolites which were (1) 3,5-estratriene-3-ol–17–one, (2) 1,3,5-estratriene-3,16,17-triol, (3) 1,3,5,7- estratetra-ene-3-ol-17-one and (4) 1,3,5,6, estratetra-ene-3-ol-17-one. The structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic techniques. Compound 3 showed good inhibitory activity against lipoxygenase enzyme.Key words: Microbial transformation, ß-estradiol (1,3,5-estratriene-3,17,ß-diols), Bacillus subtillus, Aspergillus niger, lipoxygenase

Myoglobin-Based Classification of Minced Meat Using Hyperspectral Imaging

Minced meat substitution is one of the most common frauds which not only affects consumer health but impacts their lifestyles and religious customs as well. A number of methods have been proposed to overcome these frauds; however, these mostly rely on laboratory measures and are often subject to human error. Therefore, this study proposes novel hyperspectral imaging (400–1000 nm) based non-destructive isos-bestic myoglobin (Mb) spectral features for minced meat classification. A total of 60 minced meat spectral cubes were pre-processed using true-color image formulation to extract regions of interest, which were further normalized using the Savitzky–Golay filtering technique. The proposed pipeline outperformed several state-of-the-art methods by achieving an average accuracy of 88.88%