INVESTIGATE PERFORMANCE OF POLYMER MODIFIED ASPHALT MIXTURES

: In recent years, traffic loads have increased, and the sizes and loads of vehicles have become greater, thereby affecting the performance of asphalt pavements. Modified bituminous materials assist to add benefits to performance, maintenance and construction, in terms of better and longer lasting road, and saving in total road life cost. This study attempts to identify the influence of polymer modification in improving asphalt mixture performance. Three types of polymer resins were used, namely, Epoxy resin, Phenol resin, and Polyester resin. The physical properties of asphalt cement were tested by penetration and softening point. Apart from mix performance, the effect of modification on Marshall properties was studied. To estimate the tensile strength and evaluate the mixture’s susceptibility to temperature variations, three test temperatures were used (15, 30, and 45°C). Furthermore, modified mixtures were tested by measurement of static creep. Based on the study results, it was found that increasing the phenol or epoxy resin quantities in asphalt cement lead to an increase softening point and reduce penetration. Material properties can be improved by the incorporation of phenol and polyester resins, since recovery property can be improved. Moreover, using phenol resin in asphalt mixes can increase the resistance to deformation when exposed to traffic loading

Evaluation of structural properties of Baghdad-Baquba road pavements

Structural evaluation of the road pavements is an essential concept to ensure their efficiency to carry traffic loads and to archive the data for future usage especially in major highways. Baghdad-Baquba is an important interstate highway as it connects the capital of Iraq with Diyala governorate which is one of the biggest governorates in Iraq. In addition, this highway connects Baghdad city with several governorates in the north of Iraq. However, this highway exhibits low serviceability due to poor condition of its pavements. Therefore, the structure of the pavements must be evaluated to specify the causes those lead to the decrease in its serviceability and to propose the suitable rehabilitation methods. This study aims to adopt a field survey to extract a number of samples from selected section in this highway to evaluate the structural properties of the pavements based on laboratory testing. Four cores and one pit with 1×1 m dimensions were extracted from the pavements in the field. Several tests were implemented on these tests based on standard methods. The results of the tests were adopted to evaluate the capacity of the pavement based on AASHTO 1993 method. The results exhibited that the estimated applied traffic load exceeded the calculated allowable traffic load by more than 12 times which reflect the disastrous situation. Therefore, the study proposed to rehabilitate the pavements by reconstruction. The study proposed to construct three layers: asphaltic layer with thickness of 240 mm, granular base with thickness of 250 mm, and granular subbase with a thickness of 250 mm. The study stated that all layers must have superior quality with high elastic modulus to resist the predicated traffic load

Evaluation of Elasticity Modulus of Clayey Soil from Undrained Shear Strength

The modulus of elasticity represents the soil stiffness; it was used to design and analyze the foundation, slope stability, retaining structure, etc. It is one of the main input parameters used in the finite element method for analyzing soil behavior. The scope of this study is to evaluate the correlation between the modulus of elasticity (E) and the cohesion of the soil (cu) for the remolded and undisturbed samples of clayey soil so it can assess the effect of lateral confining pressure on the soil modulus of elasticity. The unconfined test is chosen for remolded soil to identify the stress-strain behavior. After the experimental utilized is done, the test is modeled using the finite element method to study several states of soil. The PLAXIS program is utilized, and the results are compared with the practical results. The mohr-Coulomb model is chosen for this study because it is commonly used. Based on the results throughout this study, it can be concluded the simulation using the Mohr-Coulomb model of PLAXIS software gives good results for representing the unconfined compression test, so that for soft clay, the ratio between modulus of elasticity and cohesion is equal to (Eu = 30 cu) for remolded clay and (Eu = 55 cu) for undisturbed clay. While for stiff clay, it was equal (Eu = 65 cu) for remolded and (Eu = 120 cu) for undisturbed clay. The modulus of elasticity for the undisturbed is higher than for remolded clay, so the difference is almost double in the case of stiff clay. The lateral confining pressure affects the modules of soil; however, for soft clay, the range of soil modulus in the case of the drained test was (5 to 25 MPa), while the range is higher for the undrained case (18 to 54 MPa). Moreover, for stiff clay, the range was equal (11 to 100 MPa) for a drained test and between (18 to 100 MPa) for an undrained case

Using soft soil models in geotechnical engineering: a review paper

Soil is considered a complicated material as, in general, the behavior under loading is non-linear in addition it is anisotropic material and its behavior is time-dependent. Various models were developed in the method of finite element for modeling the behavior of soil under different loading cases, and it must be known that no constitutive model is available that can simulate completely the actual soil behavior under all conditions. This paper attempts to investigate the soft soil model and present a discussion about the advantages and disadvantages for the purpose of giving an overview, and discussing the main finding of the previous studies regarding using the Soft Soil model in the numerical analysis of geotechnical engineering problems and applications. In this research, it was observed from the previous studies that the relation between the modified compression index (λ*) and unloading index (κ*) is from (5 to 10). The Soft Soil model gives a stiffer stress-strain behavior compared to Hardening model. Using this model for compressible soils needs a longer calculation time than other models as the material stiffness matrix was included in each calculation step. It shows satisfactory results in the analysis of the settlement of immediate and consolidation cases of foundation in clayey soil than the model of Mohr-Coulomb

Network pharmacology, molecular simulation, and binding free energy calculation-based investigation of Neosetophomone B revealed key targets for the treatment of cancer

In the current study, Neosetophomone B (NSP–B) was investigated for its anti-cancerous potential using network pharmacology, quantum polarized ligand docking, molecular simulation, and binding free energy calculation. Using SwissTarget prediction, and Superpred, the molecular targets for NSP-B were predicted while cancer-associated genes were obtained from DisGeNet. Among the total predicted proteins, only 25 were reported to overlap with the disease-associated genes. A protein-protein interaction network was constructed by using Cytoscape and STRING databases. MCODE was used to detect the densely connected subnetworks which revealed three sub-clusters. Cytohubba predicted four targets, i.e., fibroblast growth factor , FGF20, FGF22, and FGF23 as hub genes. Molecular docking of NSP-B based on a quantum-polarized docking approach with FGF6, FGF20, FGF22, and FGF23 revealed stronger interactions with the key hotspot residues. Moreover, molecular simulation revealed a stable dynamic behavior, good structural packing, and residues’ flexibility of each complex. Hydrogen bonding in each complex was also observed to be above the minimum. In addition, the binding free energy was calculated using the MM/GBSA (Molecular Mechanics/Generalized Born Surface Area) and MM/PBSA (Molecular Mechanics/Poisson-Boltzmann Surface Area) approaches. The total binding free energy calculated using the MM/GBSA approach revealed values of −36.85 kcal/mol for the FGF6-NSP-B complex, −43.87 kcal/mol for the FGF20-NSP-B complex, and −37.42 kcal/mol for the FGF22-NSP-B complex, and −41.91 kcal/mol for the FGF23-NSP-B complex. The total binding free energy calculated using the MM/PBSA approach showed values of −30.05 kcal/mol for the FGF6-NSP-B complex, −39.62 kcal/mol for the FGF20-NSP-B complex, −34.89 kcal/mol for the FGF22-NSP-B complex, and −37.18 kcal/mol for the FGF23-NSP-B complex. These findings underscore the promising potential of NSP-B against FGF6, FGF20, FGF22, and FGF23, which are reported to be essential for cancer signaling. These results significantly bolster the potential of NSP-B as a promising candidate for cancer therapy

Seek, and ye shall find: Accessing the global epidemiological literature in different languages.

The thematic series Beyond English: Accessing the global epidemiological literature in Emerging Themes in Epidemiology highlights the wealth of epidemiological and public health literature in the major languages of the world, and the bibliographic databases through which they can be searched and accessed. This editorial suggests that all systematic reviews in epidemiology and public health should include literature published in the major languages of the world and that the use of regional and non-English bibliographic databases should become routine.Published versio

Charge collection properties of TowerJazz 180 nm CMOS Pixel Sensors in dependence of pixel geometries and bias parameters, studied using a dedicated test-vehicle: the Investigator chip

This paper contains a compilation of parameters influencing the charge collection process extracted from a comprehensive study of partially depleted Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors with small (<25 um$^2$) collection electrodes fabricated in the TowerJazz 180 nm CMOS process. These results gave guidance for the optimisation of the diode implemented in ALPIDE, the chip used in the second generation Inner Tracking System of ALICE, and serve as reference for future simulation studies of similar devices. The studied parameters include: reverse substrate bias, epitaxial layer thickness, charge collection electrode size and the spacing of the electrode to surrounding in-pixel electronics. The results from pixels of 28 um pitch confirm that even in partially depleted circuits, charge collection can be fast (<10 ns), and quantify the influence of the parameters onto the signal sharing and amplitudes, highlighting the importance of a correct spacing between wells and of the impact of the reverse substrate bias

Sol‐Gel‐Derived Ordered Mesoporous High Entropy Spinel Ferrites and Assessment of Their Photoelectrochemical and Electrocatalytic Water Splitting Performance

The novel material class of high entropy oxides with their unique and unexpected physicochemical properties is a candidate for energy applications. Herein, it is reported for the first time about the physico‐ and (photo‐) electrochemical properties of ordered mesoporous (CoNiCuZnMg)Fe₂O₄ thin films synthesized by a soft‐templating and dip‐coating approach. The A‐site high entropy ferrites (HEF) are composed of periodically ordered mesopores building a highly accessible inorganic nanoarchitecture with large specific surface areas. The mesoporous spinel HEF thin films are found to be phase‐pure and crack‐free on the meso‐ and macroscale. The formation of the spinel structure hosting six distinct cations is verified by X‐ray‐based characterization techniques. Photoelectron spectroscopy gives insight into the chemical state of the implemented transition metals supporting the structural characterization data. Applied as photoanode for photoelectrochemical water splitting, the HEFs are photostable over several hours but show only low photoconductivity owing to fast surface recombination, as evidenced by intensity‐modulated photocurrent spectroscopy. When applied as oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalyst, the HEF thin films possess overpotentials of 420 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² in 1 m KOH. The results imply that the increase of the compositional disorder enhances the electronic transport properties, which are beneficial for both energy applications

Angular analysis of B0→K∗(892)0ℓ+ℓ−B^0 \to K^\ast(892)^0 \ell^+ \ell^-

We present a measurement of angular observables, $P_4'$, $P_5'$, $P_6'$, $P_8'$, in the decay $B^0 \to K^\ast(892)^0 \ell^+ \ell^-$, where $\ell^+\ell^-$ is either $e^+e^-$ or $\mu^+\mu^-$. The analysis is performed on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $711~\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ containing $772\times 10^{6}$ $B\bar B$ pairs, collected at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the asymmetric-energy $e^+e^-$ collider KEKB. Four angular observables, $P_{4,5,6,8}'$ are extracted in five bins of the invariant mass squared of the lepton system, $q^2$. We compare our results for $P_{4,5,6,8}'$ with Standard Model predictions including the $q^2$ region in which the LHCb collaboration reported the so-called $P_5'$ anomaly.Comment: Conference paper for LHC Ski 2016. SM prediction for $P_{6}'$ corrected and reference for arXiv:1207.2753 adde