Maintenance strategy in pavement performance evaluations using deflection model and site reconnaissance methods

This paper presents the results of a comparative study of a pavement evaluation for maintenance strategy option using deflection model and condition survey methods. Condition survey was carried out to visually assess the distress manifestations on the study section of the road. Test samples were collected at various locations within the road section, after which some engineering properties - natural moisture content, in-situ dry density, optimum moisture content, maximum dry density, and relative density, were determined for them. The pavement deflections at these locations were calculated using a deflection model. The representative rebound deflection, δrrd, was thereafter determined. A pavement rating score (PRS) of 61% was obtained from the condition survey, which suggests that the pavement is in good condition and thus requires overlay only. A representative deflection value of 0.4 mm obtained also suggests that the pavement is in good condition. These results show that the two methods corroborate each other and should be used together to evaluate road sections for the optimum road maintenance option.Keywords: Pavement evaluation, Condition Survey, Deflection Model, Pavement Conditio

Der Einfluss vom Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) auf die Muskelregeneration im Traumamodell mit Beinverkürzung und -distraktion

Unfälle mit einem Hochrasanztrauma können zu offenen Frakturen mit Weichteilverletzungen und dem Verlust von Knochensegmenten führen, dabei sind besonders die unteren Extremitäten betroffen mit Drohung eines Kompartmentsyndroms. In Vorversuchen konnte eine Verschlechterung der Muskelregeneration nach einem künstlich erzeugten Trauma festgestellt werden. Da es wenig Literatur über den Einfluss von VEGF auf die Muskelerholung gibt, wurde der Versuch erneut unter der Gabe von VEGF wiederholt. Wir konnten zeigen, dass die Gabe von VEGF zu einer signifikanten Reduktion des Bindegewebes in der Muskulatur und zu einer signifikanten Besserung der Muskelkrafterholung nach Trauma führte. Die Gefäßreaktion konnte nach 40 Tagen immunhistologisch nicht mehr nachgewiesen werden und somit neue Erkenntnisse zur Wirkdauer von VEGF gewinnen. Damit werden neue Hoffnungen in der Behandlung von Unfallpatienten mit schwerem Weichteiltrauma geweckt

Screening and assay of extracellular enzymes in Phomopsis azadirachtae causing die-​back disease of neem

Phomopsis azadirachtae is the causal agent of destructive die-​back disease of neem. The mol. mechanism of pathogenicity is not clear. Pectinases, cellulases, hemicellulases and ligninases have been extensively studied because of their plant cell wall degrading nature. Hence, this study describes the screening and assay of extracellular enzymes produced by the pathogen. The pathogenicity enzymes screened were: laccase, polygalacturonase, xylanase, amylase, cellulase, protease and lipase. A total of fifteen isolates of Phomopsis azadirachtae were from different agroclimatic regions of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh from diseased samples. The isolates were subjected to screening of the above mentioned enzymes on solid media supplemented with resp. substrates. All the isolates were found to produce polygalacturonase, laccase, protease and xylanase. Polygalacturonase and xylanase were further assayed in order to quantify the enzyme produced in all the isolates. In addn. to pathogenicity enzymes, isolates were also found to produce some industrially important enzymes such as L-​asparaginase and ureas

Sulphide Scavengers in Oil and Gas Industry – A Review

Upotreba čistača sulfida je često korištena praksa u poslovima proizvodnje i obrade u industriji nafte i plina. Posebno je zahtjevno istraživanje i razvoj novih kemijskih sastojaka prihvatljivih za okoliš i namijenjenih očuvanju zdravlja osoblja i učinkovitoj zaštiti materijala u raznim uvjetima. Ovaj članak uključuje ažuran pregled napora koje je industrija dosad uložila kako bi uporabom nekih kemikalija minimalizirala ili eliminirala različite probleme koje uzrokuje sumporovodik tijekom poslova bušenja na naftu i plin. Uspoređene su prednosti i mane uporabe različitih kemikalija za pročišćavanje sumporovodika iz isplake i proizvedenih fluida.The application of sulphide scavengers is a widely adopted practice in production and processing operations in the Oil and Gas Industry. Particularly challenging is the search and development of new chemistries, which is aimed at safeguarding the health of personnel and maintaining good protection of materials under a variety of conditions whilst being environmentally acceptable. This paper includes an up to date history of the efforts which have been put forth so far in the industry to minimize or eliminate the various problems caused by hydrogen sulphide during Oil and Gas drilling operations by the use of some chemicals. The advantages and disadvantages of using the various chemicals for scavenging hydrogen sulphide drilling fluids and produced fluids are compared

Point-of-care test for cervical cancer in LMICs

Cervical cancer screening using Papanicolaou's smear test has been highly effective in reducing death from this disease. However, this test is unaffordable in low- and middle-income countries, and its complexity has limited wide-scale uptake. Alternative tests, such as visual inspection with acetic acid or Lugol's iodine and human papillomavirus DNA, are sub-optimal in terms of specificity and sensitivity, thus sensitive and affordable tests with high specificity for on-site reporting are needed. Using proteomics and bioinformatics, we have identified valosin-containing protein (VCP) as differentially expressed between normal specimens and those with cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia grade 2/3 (CIN2/CIN3+) or worse. VCP-specific immunohistochemical staining (validated by a point-of-care technology) provided sensitive (93%) and specific (88%) identification of CIN2/CIN3+ and may serve as a critical biomarker for cervical-cancer screening. Future efforts will focus on further refinements to enhance analytic sensitivity and specificity of our proposed test, as well as on prototype development

Corrosion inhibition of oil-well steel (N-80) in simulated hydrogen sulphide environment by ferrous gluconate and synthetic magnetite

Izabrani, ekološki prihvatljivi spojevi željeza (sintetički magnetit i željezni glukonat), ispitani su kao usporivači djelovanja korozije čelika za naftne bušotine (N-80) pri koncetraciji sulfida od 50 mg/l, pH vrijednosti od 5,5 do 11,5, u uvjetima visoke temperature i visokog tlaka, i to (HTHP) metodom gubitka težine. Temperature tijekom ispitivanja bile su 66 °C (150 °F), 135 °C (275 °F) i 177 °C (350 °F), uz tlak od 20,7 MPa (3 000 psi), 34,5 MPa (5 000 psi) i 41,4 MPa (6 000 psi). Otkriveno je da je kompleks željeza bolji usporivač korozije od sintetičkog magnetita. Dokazana je učinkovitost usporavanja (IE) do 99,2% uz primjenu udvostručene doze pročistača (tj. kada je omjer sulfida i pročistača bio 1:2), neovisno o drugim čimbenicima, kao što su pH, temperatura i tlak. Postignuta je optimalna učinkovitost usporavanja (IE) sintetičkog magnetita do 75,1% samo u slučaju kada je omjer sulfida i pročistača bio 1:4, pri najnižoj vrijednosti pH u eksperimentu (pH 5,5), što nije poželjno za bušaću isplaku. Povećanjem pH smanjuje se učinkovitost usporavanja magnetita i najniža je pri vrijednosti alkalnog pH od 11,5.Selected environmentally benign iron compounds (synthetic magnetite and ferrous gluconate) have been evaluated as corrosion inhibitors for oil-well steel (N-80) in 50 mg/l sulphide concentration at various pH ranging from 5.5 to 11.5 and at High Temperature, High Pressure (HTHP) conditions by the weight loss method. The test temperatures were 150 °F, 275 °F and 350 °F respectively for pressures of 3 000 psi, 5 000 psi and 6 000 psi. The ferrous complex was found to be a better corrosion inhibitor compared to the synthetic magnetite. It exhibited up to 99.2% inhibition efficiency (IE) when the dose of the scavenger was doubled (i.e. when the sulphide to scavenger ratio was 1:2) irrespective of other factors such as pH, temperature and pressure. Whereas, the synthetic magnetite’s optimum inhibition efficiency (IE) was observed to be up to 75.1% only when the ratio of the sulphide to scavenger was 1:4 at the lowest pH of the experiment (pH 5.5) which is not desirable for a drilling mud. As the pH increases, the inhibition efficiency of the magnetite decreases and found to be lowest at the alkaline pH of 11.5

Single Spin Asymmetry ANA_N in Polarized Proton-Proton Elastic Scattering at s=200\sqrt{s}=200 GeV

We report a high precision measurement of the transverse single spin asymmetry $A_N$ at the center of mass energy $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV in elastic proton-proton scattering by the STAR experiment at RHIC. The $A_N$ was measured in the four-momentum transfer squared $t$ range $0.003 \leqslant |t| \leqslant 0.035$ \GeVcSq, the region of a significant interference between the electromagnetic and hadronic scattering amplitudes. The measured values of $A_N$ and its $t$-dependence are consistent with a vanishing hadronic spin-flip amplitude, thus providing strong constraints on the ratio of the single spin-flip to the non-flip amplitudes. Since the hadronic amplitude is dominated by the Pomeron amplitude at this $\sqrt{s}$, we conclude that this measurement addresses the question about the presence of a hadronic spin flip due to the Pomeron exchange in polarized proton-proton elastic scattering.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

High pTp_{T} non-photonic electron production in pp+pp collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 200 GeV

We present the measurement of non-photonic electron production at high transverse momentum ($p_T >$ 2.5 GeV/$c$) in $p$ + $p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV using data recorded during 2005 and 2008 by the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The measured cross-sections from the two runs are consistent with each other despite a large difference in photonic background levels due to different detector configurations. We compare the measured non-photonic electron cross-sections with previously published RHIC data and pQCD calculations. Using the relative contributions of B and D mesons to non-photonic electrons, we determine the integrated cross sections of electrons ($\frac{e^++e^-}{2}$) at 3 GeV/$c < p_T <~$10 GeV/$c$ from bottom and charm meson decays to be ${d\sigma_{(B\to e)+(B\to D \to e)} \over dy_e}|_{y_e=0}$ = 4.0$\pm0.5$({\rm stat.})$\pm1.1$({\rm syst.}) nb and ${d\sigma_{D\to e} \over dy_e}|_{y_e=0}$ = 6.2$\pm0.7$({\rm stat.})$\pm1.5$({\rm syst.}) nb, respectively.Comment: 17 pages, 17 figure

Evolution of the differential transverse momentum correlation function with centrality in Au+Au collisions at sNN=200\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV

We present first measurements of the evolution of the differential transverse momentum correlation function, {\it C}, with collision centrality in Au+Au interactions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200$ GeV. {\it C} exhibits a strong dependence on collision centrality that is qualitatively similar to that of number correlations previously reported. We use the observed longitudinal broadening of the near-side peak of {\it C} with increasing centrality to estimate the ratio of the shear viscosity to entropy density, $\eta/s$, of the matter formed in central Au+Au interactions. We obtain an upper limit estimate of $\eta/s$ that suggests that the produced medium has a small viscosity per unit entropy.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, STAR paper published in Phys. Lett.

The Orbital Stability of the Ground States and the Singularity Formation for the Gravitational Vlasov Poisson System

International audienceWe study the gravitational Vlasov Poisson system $f_t+v\cdot\nabla_x f-E\cdot\nabla_vf=0$ where $E(x)=\nabla_x \phi(x)$, $\Delta_x\phi=\rho(x)$, \rho(x)=\int_{\RR^N} f(x,v)dxdv, in dimension $N=3,4$. In dimension $N=3$ where the problem is subcritical, we prove using concentration compactness techniques that every minimizing sequence to a large class of minimization problems attained on steady states solutions are up to a translation shift relatively compact in the energy space. This implies in particular the orbital stability {\it in the energy space} of the spherically symmetric polytropes what improves the nonlinear stability results obtained for this class in \cite{Guo,GuoRein,Dol}. In dimension $N=4$ where the problem is $L^1$ critical, we obtain the polytropic steady states as best constant minimizers of a suitable Sobolev type inequality relating the kinetic and the potential energy. We then derive using an explicit pseudo-conformal symmetry the existence of critical mass finite time blow up solutions, and prove more generally a mass concentration phenomenon for finite time blow up solutions. This is the first result of description of a singularity formation in a Vlasov setting. The global structure of the problem is reminiscent to the one for the focusing non linear Schrödinger equation $iu_t=-\Delta u-|u|^{p-1}u$ in the energy space $H^1(\R^N)$