The Effect of Slope Geometry and Shoulder on Rutting Depth of Flexible Pavement

The slope and width of the road shoulder are important parameters in geometry of the road pavement. Therefore, it is important to comply with the requirements relating to the slope and width of the shoulders. So that by using the minimum width and slope of the shoulders according to regulations not only stresses and strains transferred to the lower layers will decrease, but also reduces damages in asphalt layers, base, and sub-base. Therefore, it is vital to conduct analyses which can bring good amount of accuracy in assessment of the stress and settlement due to shoulder width and slope. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of geometry of the shoulder on the performance and behavior of weak or strong pavement. For this purpose, numerical two-dimensional modeling of the road pavement (asphaltØŒbaseØŒsub-base) on which the axel load is placed was done using finite element method, ABAQUS, and the effect of the shoulder width and slope on the stresses and settlements caused by the strong and weak pavement have been studied. Also for verification of the software, several obtained field values are compared to each other. The results indicate that the increase in the width of the shoulders and the decrease in the slope will cause in decrease of the stress and settlements in different layers of the roadways. Thus, creating less steeper shoulder and wider pavement can reduce damages and will contribute to the increased safety and sustained life of the pavement.  &nbsp

Learning Complexity-Aware Cascades for Deep Pedestrian Detection

The design of complexity-aware cascaded detectors, combining features of very different complexities, is considered. A new cascade design procedure is introduced, by formulating cascade learning as the Lagrangian optimization of a risk that accounts for both accuracy and complexity. A boosting algorithm, denoted as complexity aware cascade training (CompACT), is then derived to solve this optimization. CompACT cascades are shown to seek an optimal trade-off between accuracy and complexity by pushing features of higher complexity to the later cascade stages, where only a few difficult candidate patches remain to be classified. This enables the use of features of vastly different complexities in a single detector. In result, the feature pool can be expanded to features previously impractical for cascade design, such as the responses of a deep convolutional neural network (CNN). This is demonstrated through the design of a pedestrian detector with a pool of features whose complexities span orders of magnitude. The resulting cascade generalizes the combination of a CNN with an object proposal mechanism: rather than a pre-processing stage, CompACT cascades seamlessly integrate CNNs in their stages. This enables state of the art performance on the Caltech and KITTI datasets, at fairly fast speeds

Interaction of subgrade resistance and dimensions of asphalt pavement surface cracks on propagation of secondary distresses

Reactions created in road construction and secondary distresses made in pavement are dependent on dimensions and geometry of cracks, resistance of subgrade and existing pavement layers. Thus, this essay assessed the effect of changes in crack’s geometry and also the amount of subgrade resistance on settlement in the cracking place. Since pavement layers thickness has a drastic effect on the resistance of the layers, cracks propagation and secondary distresses, in this essay, different types of strong, semi-strong, and weak pavements have been considered according to combination of different thicknesses for the pavement layers which are respectively wearing layer with the thickness of 5, 10, 20 centimeters, base course with thickness of 10, 20, 40 centimeters and sub base with thickness of 15, 30 and 60 centimeter. Also, as pavement can be constructed in grounds with different resistance and so subgrade resistance has an important role in pavement settlement  and distresses, in this essay, subgrade have been studied in three types of dense sand (strong soil), fine sand (semi-strong soil), and soft clay (weak soil) with different geotechnical properties. So, for preventing the mentioned problems, layers’ behavioral properties are considered as Mohr Coulomb-plastic and by three-dimensional modeling with finite element software of ABAQUS, we studied the degree of subgrade and cracked pavement surface settlement with different forms of cracking in different types of pavement and subgrade situations, like different thickness and behavioral properties. Then, to check results and validating software, by field observation, level of settlement in different cracking places was gathered and compared to the numerical results of the software. Results of finite element software show that by 25% increase in crack opening, the level of settlement of the surface layer and  the surface of subgrade would increase by 49% and 38% respectively. Also the level of the surface and subgrade settlement would rise by increase in crack depth; and the measurements for 25% increase in crack depth are 16% for surface and 13% for subgrade. In addition, by increasing in the width of crack in soils with different resistance, width line slope of crack-settlement in weak soil would be about triple compared to strong soil, and by increase in depth of crack in soils with different resistance, depth line slope of crack-settlement in weak soil would be about twice compared to strong soil. By the use of probabilistic analysis, It was determined that in 95% confidence interval, cracking on deformation of surface and subgrade, is significantly under the influence of subgrade type and as the subgrade weakens, the amount of deformation will increase more

Effects of different coatings, primers and additives on corrosion of steel rebars

In this research, methods of increasing the corrosion resistance of reinforced concrete were experimentally investigated. The study used silica fume and fly ash at optimized percentages of 10 and 25% by cement weight, polypropylene fibers at a ratio of 2.5% by volume of concrete, and a commercial corrosion inhibitor, 2-dimethylaminoethanol (Ferrogard 901), at 3% by cement weight. The corrosion resistance of three types of reinforcements, mild steel (STt37), AISI 304 stainless steel, and AISI 316 stainless steel, was investigated. The effects of various coatings, including hot-dip galvanizing, alkyd-based primer, zinc-rich epoxy primer, alkyd top coating, polyamide epoxy top coating, polyamide epoxy primer, polyurethane coatings, a double layer of alkyd primer and alkyd top coating, and a double layer of epoxy primer and alkyd top coating, were evaluated on the reinforcement surface. The corrosion rate of the reinforced concrete was determined through results of accelerated corrosion and pullout tests of steel-concrete bond joints and stereographic microscope images. The samples containing pozzolanic materials, the corrosion inhibitor, and a combination of the two showed significant improvement in corrosion resistance by 7.0, 11.4, and 11.9 times, respectively, compared to the control samples. The corrosion rate of mild steel, AISI 304, and AISI 316 decreased by 1.4, 2.4, and 2.9 times, respectively, compared to the control sample; however, the presence of polypropylene fibers reduced the corrosion resistance by 2.4 times compared to the control

Ethical Criticisms to Minors’ Marriage from the Perspective of the Individual and Social Life’s Principles

زمینه و هدف: عقد نکاح به عنوان یکی پایه‌های اساسی نظام خانواده، جایگاه مهمی در احکام و آموزه‌های اسلامی دارد. در همین راستا، عقد نکاح صغیره یکی از ابعاد متفاوت عقد نکاح است که موافقان و مخالفان زیادی دارد. با این حال، هدف اصلی پژوهشی حاضر، نقد اخلاقی نکاح صغیره است که از جنبه‌های مختلف جنسی، جسمی، فردی و اجتماعی مورد بررسی قرار می‌گیرد. سؤالی که مطرح می‌شود این است: مهم‌ترین نقدهای اخلاقی وارده بر نکاح صغیره از منظر اصول اخلاق زندگی فردی و اجتماعی کدام هستند؟ مواد و روش‌ها: روش مورد استفاده در این پژوهش توصیفی ـ تحلیلی است که متون حقوقی، مقالات و کتب، اسناد، احادیث و آیات قرآن را به عنوان منبع گردآوری اطلاعات انتخاب نموده است. یافته‌ها: عقد نکاح با توجه به این‌که تکلیف و دشواری همه‌جانبه‌ای برای صغیره می‌آفریند، نمی‌تواند واجد اصول اخلاقی باشد. همچنین نکاح صغیره به دلیل نقض برخی شرایط نکاح از جمله فقدان آگاهی و شناخت صغیره از زندگی زناشویی، نبود توانایی کافی جهت انتخاب همسر مناسب، عدم برنامه‌ریزی برای پرورش فرزندان و همچنین مطیع و منقادساختن صغیره در برابر زوج، ناقض اصول اخلاقی است و نمی‌تواند به طور مطلق قابل دفاع باشد.  نتیجه‌گیری: آموزش زنان و دختران جامعه و همچنین آگاه‌ساختن جامعه از تبعات جسمی، روحی و روانی نکاح صغیره می‌تواند آثار زیان‌بار اخلاقی نکاح صغیره را روشن نماید. همچنین از منظر حقوقی، قوانین حقوقی جدیدی نیاز داریم که بتواند از حقوق دختران و کودکانی که تحت شرایط اجبار خانواده و یا عدم آگاهی اقدام به ازدواج می‌نمایند، دفاع کند. ممانعت از نکاح صغیره می‌تواند باعث جلوگیری از برخی سوءاستفاده‌های جنسی بر علیه کودکان شود که توجه به این مسائل به مثابه رعایت اصول اخلاق فردی و اجتماعی نیز محسوب می‌شوند.Background and Aim: As one of the essential pillars of the family system, marriage possesses a significant position in the Islamic verdicts and teachings. In the same line, minors’ marriage contract is one of the different aspects of marriage contract and it has been opposed and defended by many persons. However, the primary goal of this research is ethical criticism of minors’ marriage which will be explored from various sexual, physical, individual and social aspects. The question that can be asked is that what are the most important ethical criticisms that can be imposed onto the minors’ marriage from the perspective of the ethical principles of the individual and social life? Materials and Methods: The study is a descriptive-analytical research and legal texts, articles and books, documents, hadiths and holy Quran’s ĀYĀT have been used as the sources of information gathering. Findings: Because of creating full-scale obligations and difficulties for minors, their marriage contracts cannot be signed in adherence to the ethical principles. Moreover, due to the violation of some of the marriage conditions, including the minors’ lack of recognition and awareness about marital life, insufficient ability for selecting the fitting spouses, not having a proper plan for rearing children and difficulty in becoming obedient to the husband, such a marriage contract breaches the ethical principles hence not absolutely defendable. Conclusion: Teaching the women and girls as well as the society as a whole about the physical, psychological and mental consequences of the minors’ marriage can clarify the detrimental and unethical outcomes of the minors’ marriage. Furthermore, we are in need of new regulations that can defend the rights of the girls and children who enter marriage contracts under the family’s coercion or their own unawareness. Prohibition of the minors’ marriage can prevent some of the sexual misuses of the children and consideration of these issues should actually lead to the observance of the individual and social ethical principles.   Please cite this article as: Zamani R, Saberian A, Rouhani Maghaddam M. Ethical Criticisms to Minors’ Marriage from the Perspective of the Individual and Social Life’s Principles. Bioethics Journal, Special Issue on Bioethics and Citizenship Rights 2020; 311-322

Application of smart power grid in developing countries

Smart grid, which is extensively new topic, is the next generation of power grid. Future modern grid will manage all parts of electrical power grid from generation to transmission and distribution by using intelligent methods. Smart grid progress in some developing countries is same to developed ones. In other parts of developing world, research works and pilot projects are newly started. Therefore, in the present work, a study of applied efforts in developing countries by regarding infrastructure of smart grid works was proposed. The analyses show that some countries like China, India and Brazil are pioneer on smart grid in developing world. As a conclusion, a progress pattern based on smart grid development in these three countries is proposed

Effects of protein-based biopolymer on geotechnical properties of salt-affected sandy soil

Salt-affected soils cannot meet the needs of engineering projects due to their deficiency in providing desirable geotechnical properties. Cement stabilization is widely used to improve the engineering properties of salt-affected soils, but cement has many backward effects, especially on the environment, limiting its application as a binder. This study evaluates the potential effects of salt on protein-based biopolymer treated sand. The influence of salt content, biopolymer content, and curing time on the strength and stiffness development of salt-affected sand was explored with unconfined compressive strength (UCS) testing. The UCS results showed that an increase in casein biopolymer content led to an increase in the unconfined compressive strength and stiffness; however, the addition of salt had a reverse effect on UCS results. By adding 2% casein solution, the compressive strength reached 1021.34 kPa, which is significantly greater than that of untreated soil with a value close to zero. When the salt content rose from 0.5 to 10% (for 2% casein content), a substantial strength loss (more than 48%) was observed in the UCS value from 978 to 501 kPa. This might be due to the salt existence in soil which adversely affected the biopolymer connections by blocking the bonds and bridges with soil particles. This adverse effect was gradually mitigated by the biopolymer increment until adding 3.5% sodium caseinate, then a higher percentage of the biopolymer was involved in further enhancement of compressive strength. Microscopic observation revealed that sodium caseinate acted as a binding agent between soil particles, while salt disrupted the sodium caseinate performance. To evaluate the physical properties of the sandy soil, permeability and wind tunnel tests were conducted. The inclusion of sodium caseinate as a protein-based biopolymer resulted in lowering the hydraulic conductivity and increasing the erosion resistance of salt-affected sand. Curing time had positive effects on strength development, increasing the erosion resistance, and reducing the permeability. Overall, sodium caseinate could adequately improve the engineering properties of salt-affected sand

Scientific Profiles in the field of Biomarkers (2000-2010)

Biological marker is a term used in many scientific fields and was introduced as a measurable element or a clinical indicator in the abnormal biological processes, pathological condition, or pharmacological intervention. Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-E) from database of Web of Science (WoS) was used to extract all publication indexed as a topic of “Biomarkers” during a period of eleven years through 2000-2010. Extracting of data was restricted to the tag of topics (TS = Biomarkers) from advanced search menu. A total number of 37397 records were extracted on 5 May 2013 and went under analysis. In this study the papers originated jointly by multiple authors from different countries were defined as ones for each country. The study showed that the number of publication in the field of biomarkers showed an increase through the period of study. The number of publication in 2010 was greater than 10 times in 2000. More than 98% of publication was in English. The majority of publication (68%) was in the form journal article. Harvard University, sharing 1,128 papers in the field, was the most prolific university among institutes. The USA contributing 33% of world’s profile in the field was the most productive country. Based on the Bradford’s scattering law, the journal of “Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers Prevention” publishing 3.12% of world’s publication was the most prolific journal among core journals. Analysis of data concluded that oncology was the most interesting subject area of scientists in the field of Biomarkers through the last decade