Pull-out behavior of post installed rebar connections using chemical adhesives and cement based binders

This study investigated the effectiveness of several types of adhesives used in post-installed rebar connections as a bonding agent between steel reinforcement bars and old concrete under pull-out test. The cylindrical samples (96 + 24 Nos) of 15 dia. × 30 cm with anchors rebar of varying diameter (8, 10, 12 mm) with different embedded length (10, 15 and 20 × rebar diameter). The control (24 Nos) was the cast in-place rebar concrete specimens while other samples (96 Nos) were post rebar-installed concrete specimen of varied bonding agents-chemical adhesives (Sikadure-31CF and EPICHOR 1786) or cement-based binders (mortar, ultra-high performance self-compacting concrete (UHPSCC). The findings showed that the use of the adhesives and UHPCC pull-out load values were in close proximity while they all outperformed mortar bonded specimens. The pull-out load (bond strength) increases with

Color Removal from Synthetic Dye And Textile Wastewaters Using Adsorbent Prepared From Psyllium Husk

Penyingkiran warna dari efluen tekstil telah diberikan banyak perhatian dalam beberapa tahun lepas oleh proses penjerapan menggunakan adsorbents kos rendah. Dalam kajian ini, bahan penjerap sekam psilium/CoFe2O4 (PH/CFO), disintesiskan melalui satu langkah mudah laluan refluks dan telah digunakan sebagai bahan penjerap untuk penyingkiran warna dari pelarut pencelup sintetik dan air buangan tekstil. Kajian kelompok menunjukkan bahawa kecekapan penyingkiran terbaik bahan penjerap berada di pH 9.0, suhu 30oC (untuk pelarut sintetik) dan 40oC (untuk air buangan tekstil), kadar goncangan sebanyak 150 rpm (untuk pelarut sintetik) dan 280rpm (untuk air buangan tekstil), dan masa sentuh 2 jam. Bahan penjerap PH/CFO menunjukkan kecekapan penyingkiran lebih tinggi pada kecekapan awal pencelup yang tinggi. Pada masa yang sama, kecekapan bahan penjerap bertambah dengan berkurangnya jumlah bahan penjerap yang digunakan. Data eksperimen berpadanan baik dengan model Langmuir dengan keupayaan jerapan satu lapisan 188.7mg/g. Penjerapan ilmu kinetik didapati mengikuti model kinetik pseudo- aturan kedua. Analisis saiz partikel dan pemerhatian SEM disediakan dan dibelanjakan penjerap telah dijalankan, analisis saiz zarah menunjukkan taburan saiz zarah yang homogenus untuk kedua-dua sampel. Pemerhatian SEM menunjukkan bahawa zarah pewarna yang didepositkan seragam ke permukaan PH/CFO penjerap. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Color removal from textile effluents has been given much attention in the last few years by the adsorption process using low cost adsorbents. In this study, psyllium husk/CoFe2O4 adsorbent, (PH/CFO), was synthesized by a simple one-step refluxing route and was used as adsorbent for the removal of color from synthetic dye solution and textile wastewater. The batch experiments showed that the best removal efficiency of the adsorbent was at pH 9.0, temperature 30oC (for synthetic wastewater) and at 40oC (for textile wastewater), shaking rate 150 rpm (for synthetic wastewater) and 280rpm (for textile wastewater), and at contact time 2 hours. The PH/CFO adsorbent showed higher removal efficiency at higher initial dye concentrations. At the same time, the adsorbent efficiency was increasing by decreasing the amount of adsorbent used. The experimental data fitted well with the Langmuir model with a monolayer adsorption capacity of 188.7mg/g. The adsorption kinetics was found to follow pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The particle size analysis and SEM observations of prepared and spent adsorbent where carried out, particle size analysis showed a homogenous particle size distribution for both samples. SEM observations showed that the dye particles deposited uniformly onto the surface of PH/CFO adsorbent

Exploring engineering properties of waste tire rubber for construction applications-a review of recent advances

A sizeable amount of tire rubber waste is generated due to the increasing number of road automobile users all over the world. The accumulation of this waste in the open area poses environmental threats and therefore requires suitable treatments. The use of waste obtained from tire rubber as a construction material could contribute to a circular economy, while at the same time be an eco-friendly method of minimizing the depletion of raw materials used for the development of building materials. This study aims to show the impact of crumb rubber (CR) on the properties of concrete. This review covers the environmental consideration of fresh and hardened properties of composites developed using waste tires. The results show that the plastic nature of CR with suitable admixture led to increasing slump value and consequently enhanced the CR concrete workabilit

Exploring engineering properties of waste tire rubber for construction applications - a review of recent advances

A sizeable amount of tire rubber waste is generated due to the increasing number of road automobile users all over the world. The accumulation of this waste in the open area poses environmental threats and therefore requires suitable treatments. The use of waste obtained from tire rubber as a construction material could contribute to a circular economy, while at the same time be an eco-friendly method of minimizing the depletion of raw materials used for the development of building materials. This study aims to show the impact of crumb rubber (CR) on the properties of concrete. This review covers the environmental consideration of fresh and hardened properties of composites developed using waste tires. The results show that the plastic nature of CR with suitable admixture led to increasing slump value and consequently enhanced the CR concrete workability

Thermal insulation and mechanical characteristics of cement mortar reinforced with mineral wool and rice straw fibers

Building insulation is an essential requirement for buildings located in areas of varying temperature conditions. However, the conventional building insulation techniques accrue high cost and consume resources. This work aimed to evaluate the use of mineral wool and rice straw to improve Portland cement mortar’s thermal insulating properties. Samples of 40x40x160 mm mortar were produced with cement and sand, but varying mineral wool and rice straw constituents from 0 to 50% in weight. Water absorption, flexural and compressive strengths, thermal conductivity were performed in samples with and without mineral wool and rice straw addition.The microstructure of mortars was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was observed that reinforcing mortars with mineral wool and rice straw fibers yielded a significant drop in the mortar’s thermal conductivity, improving their insulative abilities. Although the addition of fibers, in turn, deferred the mechanical performance in some mixes, however, it was not too significant or below workable standards. The performed tests prove the feasibility of adopting the selected fibers for insulating Portland cement mortars

The SRG Rat, a Sprague-Dawley Rag2/Il2rg Double-Knockout Validated for Human Tumor Oncology Studies

We have created the immunodeficient SRG rat, a Sprague-Dawley Rag2/Il2rg double knockout that lacks mature B cells, T cells, and circulating NK cells. This model has been tested and validated for use in oncology (SRG OncoRat®). The SRG rat demonstrates efficient tumor take rates and growth kinetics with different human cancer cell lines and PDXs. Although multiple immunodeficient rodent strains are available, some important human cancer cell lines exhibit poor tumor growth and high variability in those models. The VCaP prostate cancer model is one such cell line that engrafts unreliably and grows irregularly in existing models but displays over 90% engraftment rate in the SRG rat with uniform growth kinetics. Since rats can support much larger tumors than mice, the SRG rat is an attractive host for PDX establishment. Surgically resected NSCLC tissue from nine patients were implanted in SRG rats, seven of which engrafted and grew for an overall success rate of 78%. These developed into a large tumor volume, over 20,000 mm3 in the first passage, which would provide an ample source of tissue for characterization and/or subsequent passage into NSG mice for drug efficacy studies. Molecular characterization and histological analyses were performed for three PDX lines and showed high concordance between passages 1, 2 and 3 (P1, P2, P3), and the original patient sample. Our data suggest the SRG OncoRat is a valuable tool for establishing PDX banks and thus serves as an alternative to current PDX mouse models hindered by low engraftment rates, slow tumor growth kinetics, and multiple passages to develop adequate tissue banks

Utilisation of an operative difficulty grading scale for laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background A reliable system for grading operative difficulty of laparoscopic cholecystectomy would standardise description of findings and reporting of outcomes. The aim of this study was to validate a difficulty grading system (Nassar scale), testing its applicability and consistency in two large prospective datasets. Methods Patient and disease-related variables and 30-day outcomes were identified in two prospective cholecystectomy databases: the multi-centre prospective cohort of 8820 patients from the recent CholeS Study and the single-surgeon series containing 4089 patients. Operative data and patient outcomes were correlated with Nassar operative difficultly scale, using Kendall’s tau for dichotomous variables, or Jonckheere–Terpstra tests for continuous variables. A ROC curve analysis was performed, to quantify the predictive accuracy of the scale for each outcome, with continuous outcomes dichotomised, prior to analysis. Results A higher operative difficulty grade was consistently associated with worse outcomes for the patients in both the reference and CholeS cohorts. The median length of stay increased from 0 to 4 days, and the 30-day complication rate from 7.6 to 24.4% as the difficulty grade increased from 1 to 4/5 (both p < 0.001). In the CholeS cohort, a higher difficulty grade was found to be most strongly associated with conversion to open and 30-day mortality (AUROC = 0.903, 0.822, respectively). On multivariable analysis, the Nassar operative difficultly scale was found to be a significant independent predictor of operative duration, conversion to open surgery, 30-day complications and 30-day reintervention (all p < 0.001). Conclusion We have shown that an operative difficulty scale can standardise the description of operative findings by multiple grades of surgeons to facilitate audit, training assessment and research. It provides a tool for reporting operative findings, disease severity and technical difficulty and can be utilised in future research to reliably compare outcomes according to case mix and intra-operative difficulty

The giant diploid faba genome unlocks variation in a global protein crop

Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).Increasing the proportion of locally produced plant protein in currently meat-rich diets could substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and loss of biodiversity1. However, plant protein production is hampered by the lack of a cool-season legume equivalent to soybean in agronomic value2. Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) has a high yield potential and is well suited for cultivation in temperate regions, but genomic resources are scarce. Here, we report a high-quality chromosome-scale assembly of the faba bean genome and show that it has expanded to a massive 13 Gb in size through an imbalance between the rates of amplification and elimination of retrotransposons and satellite repeats. Genes and recombination events are evenly dispersed across chromosomes and the gene space is remarkably compact considering the genome size, although with substantial copy number variation driven by tandem duplication. Demonstrating practical application of the genome sequence, we develop a targeted genotyping assay and use high-resolution genome-wide association analysis to dissect the genetic basis of seed size and hilum colour. The resources presented constitute a genomics-based breeding platform for faba bean, enabling breeders and geneticists to accelerate the improvement of sustainable protein production across the Mediterranean, subtropical and northern temperate agroecological zones.Peer reviewe