Geometrical Effect of Under-reamed Pile in Clay under Compression Load Numerical-Study

Recently, the use of deep foundations has increased as a result of the expansion in the construction of high-rise buildings, train tracks, and port berths. As a result of this expansion, it was necessary to use deep foundations that have low cost, high bearing loads, low settlement, and construction time, and such foundations are subjected to different types of loads such as lateral, vertical compression, and tension loads. This research paper will present one of the most important types of deep foundations that are aptly used in such structures and the most important factors affecting their bearing capacity and settlement in stiff clay. This type of deep foundation is called an under-reamed pile. The factors used in this study are pile length to diameter ratio L/D = 30, bulb diameter ratio (Du/D = 1.5, 2, 2.25, and 2.5), number of bulbs (N = 1, 2, and 3), and spacing ratio (S/D = 2 to 8). To investigate the effects of these parameters and obtain optimal results, the PLAXIS 3D was used. The analysis shows that the increase in bulb diameter increases the bearing load by 43%. Bulb spacing controls the failure mechanisms, whether cylindrical shear failure or individual failure and increases the capacity by 66% and 99%, respectively, for two and three bulbs when the bulb spacing becomes S/D = 8. When the number of bulbs increases to three, the capacity increases by 90%. If each bulb works individually, the bearing capacity double

Fisiologi Daya Adaptasi Kedelai (Glycine Max (L.) Merr.) Terhadap Cekaman Ph Rendah Dengan Al Tinggi

Two AI-tolerant genotypes (KB 44001 and Genjah Jepang) and two AI-sensitive genotypes of soybean (Kedelai Lumut and KB 46015) were subjected to Al concentration (1.50 mM Al with pH 4.0) in hydroculture for 3 weeks; the growth and their physiological responses were identified by measuring the changes of pH media, NO3ˉ /NH4+ uptake, ion absorption and organic acid content in the tissues. The result revealed that Al-tolerant genotypes soybean show a much better growth than the sensitive genotypes. Moreover, the tolerant genotypes showed the different responses to Al stress; they changed the pH media more significantly, accumulated less Al in the roots and accumulated more oxalate acid than the sensitive genotypes. Both the tolerant and sensitive genotypes had similar pattern n in N03ˉ /NH4+ uptake and other cation uptake. The results suggested that tolerance of soybean genotypes to Al toxicity is associated with their ability in the exclusion AI

FISIOLOGI DAYA ADAPTASI KEDELAI (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) TERHADAP CEKAMAN pH RENDAH DENGAN Al TINGGI

Two AI-tolerant genotypes (KB 44001 and Genjah Jepang) and two AI-sensitive genotypes of soybean (Kedelai Lumut and KB 46015) were subjected to Al concentration (1.50 mM Al with pH 4.0) in hydroculture for 3 weeks; the growth and their physiological responses were identified by measuring the changes of pH media, NO3ˉ /NH4+ uptake, ion absorption and organic acid content in the tissues. The result revealed that Al-tolerant genotypes soybean show a much better growth than the sensitive genotypes. Moreover, the tolerant genotypes showed the different responses to Al stress; they changed the pH media more significantly, accumulated less Al in the roots and accumulated more oxalate acid than the sensitive genotypes. Both the tolerant and sensitive genotypes had similar pattern n in N03ˉ /NH4+ uptake and other cation uptake. The results suggested that tolerance of soybean genotypes to Al toxicity is associated with their ability in the exclusion AI

Enteropathogen antibody dynamics and force of infection among children in low-resource settings.

Little is known about enteropathogen seroepidemiology among children in low-resource settings. We measured serological IgG responses to eight enteropathogens (Giardia intestinalis, Cryptosporidium parvum, Entamoeba histolytica, Salmonella enterica, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholerae, Campylobacter jejuni, norovirus) in cohorts from Haiti, Kenya, and Tanzania. We studied antibody dynamics and force of infection across pathogens and cohorts. Enteropathogens shared common seroepidemiologic features that enabled between-pathogen comparisons of transmission. Overall, exposure was intense: for most pathogens the window of primary infection was <3 years old; for highest transmission pathogens primary infection occurred within the first year. Longitudinal profiles demonstrated significant IgG boosting and waning above seropositivity cutoffs, underscoring the value of longitudinal designs to estimate force of infection. Seroprevalence and force of infection were rank-preserving across pathogens, illustrating the measures provide similar information about transmission heterogeneity. Our findings suggest antibody response can be used to measure population-level transmission of diverse enteropathogens in serologic surveillance

The efficacy of oral azithromycin in clearing ocular chlamydia: mathematical modeling from a community-randomized trachoma trial.

Mass oral azithromycin distributions have dramatically reduced the prevalence of the ocular strains of chlamydia that cause trachoma. Assessing efficacy of the antibiotic in an individual is important in planning trachoma elimination. However, the efficacy is difficult to estimate, because post-treatment laboratory testing may be complicated by nonviable organisms or reinfection. Here, we monitored ocular chlamydial infection twice a year in pre-school children in 32 communities as part of a cluster-randomized clinical trial in Tanzania (prevalence in children was lowered from 22.0% to 4.7% after 3-year of annual treatment). We used a mathematical transmission model to estimate the prevalence of infection immediately after treatment, and found the effective field efficacy of antibiotic in an individual to be 67.6% (95% CI: 56.5-75.1%) in this setting. Sensitivity analyses suggested that these results were not dependent on specific assumptions about the duration of infection. We found no evidence of decreased efficacy during the course of the trial. We estimated an 89% chance of elimination after 10 years of annual treatment with 95% coverage

Kuantitas dan Kualitas Kecambah Sengon pada Beberapa Tingkat Viabilitas Benih dan Inokulasi Rhizoctonia sp.

Quantity and Quality of Sengon Sprouts at Some Levels of Seed Viability and Rhizoctonia sp. InoculationThe purpose of this research was to evaluate the quantity and quality of sengon sprouts with several levels of  seed viability and inoculation of Rhizoctonia sp. Materials used was three lots of sengon seed with different levels of viability obtained from Forest Management Unit Pare - Kediri and  Rhizoctonia sp. isolate cultured on PDA media. The treatments tested were 3 levels of seed viability  and 4 levels of Rhizoctonia sp. inoculum. The results showed that seeds with higher viability levels (seed germination = SG 87 and 83 %) produce more sprouts, indicated by the germination percentage which was significantly higher than that of  seeds with lower viability. Rhizoctonia sp. inoculation decreased the number of sprouts, indicated by the germination percentage which was significantly lower. The attacked of Rhizoctonia sp. on sengon sprouts was not associated with the level of seed viability, the lowest inoculum levels (3 corkborer 10-1 ml media) caused high percentage of seedlings death (57%) even  at the seed with high level of viability (SG 87%). The quality of the sprouts were not influenced by the level of seed viability, indicated by the length of roots and hyphocotil of normal sprouts which was not significantly different of sprouts from the seed with higher viability level (SG 87%, root length  2,71 cm, hypocotile length 3,00 cm) than that of the seed with lower viability level (SG 56%, root length  2,38 cm, hypocotile length 2,66 cm)

Mekanisme Serangan Patogen Lodoh pada Semai Pinus (Pinus merkusii)

Attack Mechanism of Damping-off Pathogens of Pinus merkusii SeedlingThe study aims to determine the attack period of damping-off pathogen, i.e.  F. oxysporum and  R. solani, on  P. merkusii, as well as studying the role of cellulolytic and pectolitic enzymes in the attack mechanism of both damping-off  pathogens. Attack period determined by inoculated the two pathogenic fungi to seed or some age level of  P. merkusii seedlings. Cellulolytic enzyme activity, represented by cellulase-C1, was determined by spectrophotometric techniques. Pectolitik enzyme activity, represented by polygalacturonase, determined by iodometric techniques and growth of the two pathogenic fungi in the medium containing pectin. The results showed that the attack period of damping-off pathogen, i.e. F. oxysporum and R. Solani, on P. merkusii seedling started from seed to 7-week old seedling, the 8-week old seedlings were free from damping-off. Both pathogens showed cellulase-C1 activity, and the enzyme activity in F. oxysporum is higher than that in  R. solani. Iodometric technique could not detect the polygalacturonase activity of two fungal pathogens, presumably because  P. merkusii stem seedling substrate  which used in testing was too few. Nevertheless the two pathogenic fungi grew more intensively in medium containing pectin shown by higher mycelial dry weight than in media without pectin, and it shows the that the fungi capable to degrade pectin using pectolytic enzymes and use the carbon produced for growth

The ‘ins and outs’ of colonoscopy at Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre, South Africa: A practice audit of the outpatient endoscopy unit

Background. In South Africa, there are no national guidelines for the conduct or quality assessment of colonoscopy, the gold standard for investigation and diagnosis of bowel pathology.Objectives. To describe the clinical profile of patients and evaluate the practice of colonoscopy using procedural quality indicators at the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre (WDGMC) outpatient endoscopy unit (OEU).Methods. We conducted a prospective, clinical practice audit of colonoscopies performed on adults (≥18 years of age). A total of 1 643 patients were included in the study and variables that were collected enabled the assessment of adequacy of bowel preparation, length of withdrawal time and calculation of caecal intubation rate (CIR), polyp detection rate (PDR) and adenoma detection rate (ADR). We stratified PDR and ADR by sex, age, population group, withdrawal time and bowel preparation. CIR, PDR and ADR estimates were compared between patient groups by the χ2 test; Fisher’s exact test was used for 2 × 2 tables. A p-value <0.05 was used. Benchmark recommendations by the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE)/American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Task Force on Colorectal Cancer (CRC) were used in this audit to assess individual endoscopist performance and that of the endoscopy unit as a whole.Results. The mean age of patients was 55.7 (standard deviation (SD) 14.4; range 18 - 91) years, ~60% were female, and the majority (75.5%) were white. Of the outpatients, 77.6% had adequate bowel preparation (ASGE/ACG benchmark ≥85%). The CIR was 97.0% overall, and screening colonoscopy was 96.3% (ASGE/ACG benchmark ≥90% overall and ≥95% for screening colonoscopies). The median withdrawal time for negative-result screening colonoscopies was 5.7 minutes (interquartile range (IQR) 4.2 - 9.3; range 1.1 - 20.6) (ASGE/ACG benchmark ≥ 6minutes), and PDR and ADR were 27.6% and 15.6%, respectively (ASGE/ACG benchmark ADR ≥25%). We demonstrated a 23.7% increase in PDR and 14.1% increase in ADR between scopes that had mean withdrawal times of ≥6 minutes and <6 minutes, respectively. Although the number of black Africans in the study was relatively small, our results showed that they have similar ADRs and PDRs to the white population group, contradicting popular belief.Conclusions. The WDGMC OEU performed reasonably well against the international guidelines, despite some inadequacy in bowel preparation and lower than recommended median withdrawal times on negative-result colonoscopy. Annual auditing of clinical practice and availability of these data in the public domain will become standard of care, making this audit a baseline for longitudinal observation, assessing the impact of interventions, and contributing to the development of local guidelines

Strong Decays of Strange Quarkonia

In this paper we evaluate strong decay amplitudes and partial widths of strange mesons (strangeonia and kaonia) in the 3P0 decay model. We give numerical results for all energetically allowed open-flavor two-body decay modes of all nsbar and ssbar strange mesons in the 1S, 2S, 3S, 1P, 2P, 1D and 1F multiplets, comprising strong decays of a total of 43 resonances into 525 two-body modes, with 891 numerically evaluated amplitudes. This set of resonances includes all strange qqbar states with allowed strong decays expected in the quark model up to ca. 2.2 GeV. We use standard nonrelativistic quark model SHO wavefunctions to evaluate these amplitudes, and quote numerical results for all amplitudes present in each decay mode. We also discuss the status of the associated experimental candidates, and note which states and decay modes would be especially interesting for future experimental study at hadronic, e+e- and photoproduction facilities. These results should also be useful in distinguishing conventional quark model mesons from exotica such as glueballs and hybrids through their strong decays.Comment: 69 pages, 5 figures, 39 table

A cross-sectional survey of water and clean faces in trachoma endemic communities in Tanzania

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Face washing is important to interrupt the transmission of trachoma, the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide. We aimed to assess the household and personal factors that affected water use and face washing practices in Kongwa, Tanzania.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted a household water use survey in 173 households (329 children) in January, 2010. Self reported data on water use practices, observed water in the household, and observed clean faces in children were collected. Contingency table analyses and logistic regression analyses were used to measure associations between unclean faces and risk factors.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that women are recognized as primary decision makers on water use in a household, and respondents who reported laziness as a reason that others do not wash children's faces were significantly more likely to have children with clean faces. Washing was reported as a priority for water use in most households. Sixty four percent (95% Confidence Interval = 59%-70%) of children had clean faces.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Attitudes toward face washing and household water use appear to have changed dramatically from 20 years ago when clean faces were rare and men made decisions on water use in households. The sources of these attitudinal changes are not clear, but are positive changes that will assist the trachoma control program in strengthening its hygiene efforts.</p