Rutting assessment of crumb rubber modifier modified warm mix asphalt incorporating warm asphalt additive

Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA) as a green technology, permits production of asphalt mixtures at lower temperatures compared to conventional HMA; emissions and energy consumption reduction, were among the key success of this technology, thus, enhancing social, economic, and environmental sustainability. But due to the reduced production temperature, WMA are more prone to rutting, to improve the rutting resistance of WMA mixtures and minimize pollution resulting from waste rubber tire. Therefore, the effect of wet processed Crumb Rubber Modifier (CRM) on rutting depth of WMA mixtures incorporating 2.5% Sasobit by weight of base binders were assessed in the laboratory. In this study, the asphalt mixtures were fabricated in accordance with Superpave, using; crush granite aggregate of 9.5mm NMAS and the four binders that were produced by blending the PG 64 binder with different contents of 40 mesh size CRM (0%, 5%, 10%, and 15%, by weight of the base binder). Rutting depths of the mixtures were assessed on 150mm diameter and 70mm thick cylindrical samples using wheel tracker, the wheel tracking test were carried out at 45oC and 60oC, in accordance with BS 598 Part 110 (1998). Based on the results of wheel tracking tests, CRM could improve the resistance of the WMA mixtures to rutting. It was also found from statistical Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), that the two influence factors; CRM, and the test temperature both having p-values less than the assumed significance at 95% confidence level, therefore they have significant effect on rutting in WMA

STUDY ON THE GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND FEED CONVERSION RATIO OF LABEO ROHITA FED ON SOYBEAN MEAL, BLOOD MEAL AND CORN GLUTEN 60%

A seven weeks study was conducted to find out the growth performance and feed conversion ratio (FCR) for Labeo rohita fingerlings fed on reference and three test diets; test diet-1 (soybean meal), test diet-2 (blood meal), test diet-3 (corn gluten 60%). All the diets were iso-nitrogenous (30% crude protein) and iso-caloric (2700 kcal/kg). Fish were fed on 4% of wet body weight daily. Average body weight gain by Labeo rohita was highest for test diet-3 (10.1875 0.8839g), followed by test diet-2 (9.9762 0.859g), test diet-1 (8.83 1.442g) and reference diet (9.390 0.9226g). The best FCR value was (2.3167 0.872) for test diet-3, followed by test diet-1 (3.4636 0.697), test diet-3 (5.00 1.2728) and reference diet (3.927 0.1862)

Calpastatin (CAST) gene polymorphism in Kajli, Lohi and Thalli sheep breeds

Calpastatin-encoding gene (<i>CAST</i>) is located on the fifth chromosome of sheep and it plays an  important role in the development of muscles and in meat tenderness. The present study was conducted to  investigate a calpastatin (CAST) gene polymorphism in Pakistani Thalli, Lohi and Kajli sheep breed. Random blood samples were collected from 300 animals (100 samples from each Thalli, Lohi and Kajli breeds).  Genomic DNA was extracted using phenol-chloroform extraction method. A 622 bp CAST gene segment (exon 1C/1D region) was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using ovine specific primers. Restriction  fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) in the amplified fragments were studied using Msp1 restriction  enzyme. Frequencies of MM, MN and NN genotypes were found to be 77, 20 and 3% in Lohi breed and 68, 26 and 6% in Kajli breed respectively. In Thalli sheep, only the MM (80%) and MN (20%) genotypes were  detected. Chi-Square test (p < 0.05) showed that all the three populations used in this study were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. By comparing the results of this study with those of previous studies, it seems that the MM genotype is the dominant genotype and the M allele is the dominant allele in small ruminant breeds belonging to different geographical locations.Key words: Thalli, Lohi, CAST gene, Kajli, polymorphism, Msp1, PCR-RFLP

The Attenuation Capability ofSelected Steel Alloys for Nuclear Reactor Applications

Neutronsand gamma ray attenuation of different steel grades (SS304, SS304L, SS316L, SS430, a modified high manganese-nitrogen austenitic stainless steel, and developed cobalt-free Maraging steel) was measured to study their capability to be used as nuclear reactor materials. The hardness and microstructure of the studied steel alloys were carried out using Vickers hardness and optical microscope respectively.Neutron and gamma rays measurements were carried out using a narrow beam transmissions geometry method. Measurements and calculations of gamma ray attenuation coefficients were carried out at energies 238.63, 338.28, 583.19, 911.2, 968.97, 1173.23, 1332.49, and 2614.51 keV. The transmitted gamma rays were detected by the Hyper Pure Germanium detector (HPGe), while, the neutron flux emitted from 241Am-Be neutron source was used to measure the neutron removal cross section for both slow and total neutrons. The transmitted beam of neutrons was measured under a good geometric conditions using 3He counter.A good agreement between experimental data of mass attenuation coefficients and theoretical results calculated by the WinXcom computer program (version 3.1) was obtained

Isolation and characterization of starter culture from spontaneous fermentation of sourdough.

ABSTRACT Wheat flour dough samples were collected from different bakeries located in Faisalabad city, Pakistan. Spontaneous fermentation of dough samples was carried out for 24 h at 30°C in the laboratory. The isolates were Gram stained and the Gram positive were identified to genus level using morphological, physiological tests. Identification based on classical identification methods and API 50 CH assimilation profiles showed that the lactobacilli contained in sourdoughs belonged to three groups (Lactobacillus brevis, L. plantarum & L. fermentum). Yeasts were also characterized on the basis of morphological and biochemical criteria. Conventional identification methods and API 20 C AUX assimilation profiles revealed that Saccharomyces cerevisiae was the only yeast species present on the sourdoughs

The Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles from Avena fatua Extract: Antifungal Activity against Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici

Using plant extracts as eco-friendly reducing and stabilizing agents for the synthesis of nanoparticles has gained significant attention in recent years. The current study explores the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using the Avena fatua extract and evaluates their antifungal activity against Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici (Fol), a fungal plant pathogen. A green and sustainable approach was adopted to synthesize silver nanoparticles before these nanoparticles were employed for anti-fungal activity. The primary indication that AgNPs had formed was performed using UV-vis spectroscopy, where a strong peak at 425 nm indicated the effective formation of these nanoparticles. The indication of important functional groups acting as reducing and stabilizing agents was conducted using the FTIR study. Additionally, morphological studies were executed via SEM and AFM, which assisted with more effectively analyzing AgNPs. Crystalline behavior and size were estimated using powder XRD, and it was found that AgNPs were highly crystalline, and their size ranged from 5 to 25 nm. Synthesized AgNPs exhibited significant antifungal activity against Fol at a concentration of 40 ppm. Furthermore, the inhibitory index confirmed a positive correlation between increasing AgNPs concentration and exposure duration. This study suggests that the combined phytochemical mycotoxic effect of the plant extract and the smaller size of synthesized AgNPs were responsible for the highest penetrating power to inhibit Fol growth. Moreover, this study highlights the potential of using plant extracts as reducing and capping agents for the green synthesis of AgNPs with antifungal properties. The study concludes that A. fatua extract can synthesize antifungal AgNPs as a sustainable approach with robust antifungal efficacy against Fol, underscoring their promising potential for integration into plant protection strategies

Boundary-RL: Reinforcement Learning for Weakly-Supervised Prostate Segmentation in TRUS Images

We propose Boundary-RL, a novel weakly supervised segmentation method that utilises only patch-level labels for training. We envision the segmentation as a boundary detection problem, rather than a pixel-level classification as in previous works. This outlook on segmentation may allow for boundary delineation under challenging scenarios such as where noise artefacts may be present within the region-of-interest (ROI) boundaries, where traditional pixel-level classification-based weakly supervised methods may not be able to effectively segment the ROI. Particularly of interest, ultrasound images, where intensity values represent acoustic impedance differences between boundaries, may also benefit from the boundary delineation approach. Our method uses reinforcement learning to train a controller function to localise boundaries of ROIs using a reward derived from a pre-trained boundary-presence classifier. The classifier indicates when an object boundary is encountered within a patch, as the controller modifies the patch location in a sequential Markov decision process. The classifier itself is trained using only binary patch-level labels of object presence, which are the only labels used during training of the entire boundary delineation framework, and serves as a weak signal to inform the boundary delineation. The use of a controller function ensures that a sliding window over the entire image is not necessary. It also prevents possible false-positive or -negative cases by minimising number of patches passed to the boundary-presence classifier. We evaluate our proposed approach for a clinically relevant task of prostate gland segmentation on trans-rectal ultrasound images. We show improved performance compared to other tested weakly supervised methods, using the same labels e.g., multiple instance learning.Comment: Accepted to MICCAI Workshop MLMI 2023 (14th International Conference on Machine Learning in Medical Imaging

Corrosion Mechanisms of 304L NAG in Boiling 9M HNO3 Containing Cr (VI) IONS

In this research, mechanisms of end grain corrosion of 304L NAG tubes in boiling 9M HNO3-containing Cr (VI) ions are reported to manage the corrosion of nuclear fuel reprocessing plant components sustainably. Specific heat treatments were applied to as-received specimens to produce phosphorus and/or sulphur intergranular segregation. End grain corrosion on heat-treated specimens and the effect of Cr (VI) concentration on 304L NAG tube [as received] were investigated. It has been reported that an increase in Cr (VI) ions leads to the acceleration of end grain corrosion due to high electrochemical potential. After systematic heat treatments of the 304L NAG specimens, it is concluded that the primary causes of heat-induced end grain corrosion are phosphorus or sulphur segregation to the grain boundaries. The key findings of this research are highly significant in terms of understanding the corrosion mechanisms and controlling the end grain corrosion of NAG steel in boiling HNO3 environment. This research work will help reduce power plant maintenance costs sustainably and will have significant impact on the delivery of long-term, clean, secure and tenable energy

Presenting signs and patient co-variables in Gaucher disease : outcome of the Gaucher Earlier Diagnosis Consensus (GED-C) Delphi initiative

© 2018 The Authors. Internal Medicine Journal by Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd on behalf of Royal Australasian College of Physicians.Background: Gaucher disease (GD) presents with a range of signs and symptoms. Physicians can fail to recognise the early stages of GD owing to a lack of disease awareness, which can lead to significant diagnostic delays and sometimes irreversible but avoidable morbidities. Aim: The Gaucher Earlier Diagnosis Consensus (GED-C) initiative aimed to identify signs and co-variables considered most indicative of early type 1 and type 3 GD, to help non-specialists identify ‘at-risk’ patients who may benefit from diagnostic testing. Methods: An anonymous, three-round Delphi consensus process was deployed among a global panel of 22 specialists in GD (median experience 17.5 years, collectively managing almost 3000 patients). The rounds entailed data gathering, then importance ranking and establishment of consensus, using 5-point Likert scales and scoring thresholds defined a priori. Results: For type 1 disease, seven major signs (splenomegaly, thrombocytopenia, bone-related manifestations, anaemia, hyperferritinaemia, hepatomegaly and gammopathy) and two major co-variables (family history of GD and Ashkenazi-Jewish ancestry) were identified. For type 3 disease, nine major signs (splenomegaly, oculomotor disturbances, thrombocytopenia, epilepsy, anaemia, hepatomegaly, bone pain, motor disturbances and kyphosis) and one major co-variable (family history of GD) were identified. Lack of disease awareness, overlooking mild early signs and failure to consider GD as a diagnostic differential were considered major barriers to early diagnosis. Conclusion: The signs and co-variables identified in the GED-C initiative as potentially indicative of early GD will help to guide non-specialists and raise their index of suspicion in identifying patients potentially suitable for diagnostic testing for GD.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio