Evaluating the Nature of Distractive Driving Factors towards Road Traffic Accident

For past two decades many researchers have been working on quantitative as well as qualitative study of distractive driving using different approaches. Road traffic accidents have been identified as the main source of human casualties and cause of damages to the economy and society, as millions of humans is killed every year in these accidents around the world. National-level studies in Pakistan reveal that a higher percentage of males in the age group from twenty to forty years lose their lives in road traffic accidents when compared with that of females. Due to these factors, it is alarming for a society, which is highly dependent on males such as Pakistan, as these losses put numerous families into the financial crisis that lead to poverty. This study envisaged identifying whether moods and emotions play any role in road traffic accidents of young drivers. The study reviews have shown various gaps in our understanding. For this purpose, qualitative interviews of young drivers who are university going and have met some road accidents in recent years in Pakistan had been conducted. Data from the interviews had been transcribed for analysis while maintaining the anonymity of the participants for confidentiality. Analysis of the transcribed data reveals various factors that contribute to road traffic accidents where major causes are distractions, different weather conditions, sleep deprivation, unsafe lane changes, night-time driving, and these factors are triggered by the behavior when youthful drivers engage in driving for sensation seeking and self-esteem. We conclude that it is just through the appropriation of a systems approach that coordinated countermeasures can be proposed and actualized to relieve driver mistakes caused by distraction

The influence of hydrated lime on moisture susceptibility of asphalt mixtures

Moisture damage is one of the major causes of premature failure of road pavements especially the pavements made using the flexible design concept. This failure occurs as a result of cohesion and adhesion loss between the binder and binder-aggregate interfaces respectively. One of the many ways of mitigating moisture damage effect is the use of anti-stripping agents like liquid polymers, Portland cement, hydrated lime, fly ash, flue dust, etc. Hydrated lime has been found to be one of the most efficient anti-stripping agents among all common additives to asphalt mixtures. Although the majority of research on the use of hydrated lime in asphalt mixtures has been carried out in the USA, the beneficial effects of hydrated lime have also been reported worldwide especially in Europe. In the UK, the use of hydrated lime only started in the early 2000’s and still needs a lot of research in terms of selection of aggregates which can be improved with the use of hydrated lime. Most of the aggregates used in the UK for asphalt mixtures are of good field performance and it is difficult to find aggregates with poor quality. That is the reason why for this research four aggregate types which are commonly used in the UK for flexible road payments are selected. One type of bitumen having penetration grade of 40/60 has been selected for the research. The four aggregate types include granite, limestone, basalt and greywacke. This research focuses on an in-depth investigation of hydrated lime performance against moisture damage in bitumen mastics and asphalts mixtures as a whole. The full project has been broken down into three parts. The first part is a component level study, the second is mixture level study and the third is the study of practical adhesion. In the component level study, the effect of hydrated lime is quantified in terms of adhesion properties between a range of aggregates and binder combinations. For the component level testing, the effect of hydrated lime is quantified by adding it to the bitumen to make a mastic. The test techniques which are used for the component level assessment includes rolling bottle test and surface energy measurement. The second part focuses on the performance of hydrated lime as a whole inside asphalt mixture as filler replacement. The idea behind this methodology is to evaluate the real effect of hydrated lime in the mixture because if hydrated lime is used as additional filler in the mixture it will alter the mixture volumetric rather than simply affecting the mechanical response of the mixture through the properties of the hydrated lime. SATS test has been used to quantify the effect of hydrated lime against moisture damage at mixture level. The third part of the research deals with the measurement of practical adhesion with and without moisture conditioning with the help of pull-off and peel-off test techniques called PATTI and Peel test. The effect of hydrated lime either in the mastic or in the mixture has been found to be aggregate type dependent. Granite aggregates showed a good improvement in the performance against moisture damage resistance with the use of hydrated lime. Limestone aggregate didn’t respond to the addition of hydrated lime in the light of most of the techniques considered in this research and the same applied to the basalt aggregates. Greywacke, on the other hand, responded well and showed an improved moisture damage performance with the use of hydrated lime. Another good thing observed in the results was the consistency between the results among the different test techniques. The results obtained in each technique are in line with each other and give the same conclusion for most of the combinations studied in this research. To conclude, the effect of hydrated lime highly depends on the type of aggregate, its origin and its mineral composition. The aggregates used in this study were either of moderate or good field performance. Although a good improvement in the moisture damage performance of some combinations was clearly observed, it is highly recommended to incorporate the aggregates having bad field performance to see how hydrated lime improves their performance. Keywords: Moisture Damage, Hydrated lime, Surface Energy, Adhesion, Asphalt Mixture, Rolling Bottles Test (RBT), Saturation Ageing Tensile Stiffness (SATS) Test, PATTI test, Peel test

Influence of Natural Zeolite and Paraffin Wax on Adhesion Strength Between Bitumen and Aggregate

Asphalt mixture that is used for the construction of flexible pavements is mainly composed of two constituents i.e. bitumen and aggregate. Sturdy adhesion among bitumen and aggregate is the sign of durability of asphalt pavements. Adhesion is considered as one of the most important factors for sustainable asphalt pavement. This is the motive why its miles utmost important to deeply understand the phenomenon of adhesion considering the effect of alternate in temperature, moisture conditions. In this study softer binder 80/100 was selected that has less adhesion compared to hard pen grades. Limestone aggregates which is commonly used for the construction of asphalt pavements has also been selected. Two types of modifiers (Zeolite and Paraffin Wax) were selected because of the extensive use in asphalt foaming and the polymer modified asphalt mixtures as temperature reducing agent. To investigate the strength of adhesive bond, Bitumen Bond Strength (BBS) was performed at different temperatures, in dry, and wet conditions. To quantify the effect of modifiers on penetration grade and softening point conventional testing is performed. For performance grading, the PG test was performed using Dynamic Shear Rheometer. The comparisons were developed among pull of tensile strength at dry and after 72hrs water conditioning while preserving the temperature at 25 .To check the effect of temperature BBS is performed at 15 . The results illustrate that 2% zeolite shows best results in terms of adhesion and performance grade while Paraffin wax has less adhesion and poor performance grade

Study the Effect of Substitution Filler on performance of Asphalt Mixture

The major distresses in asphalt pavements are rutting, fatigue, and adhesion loss (moisture susceptibility). In this research study, two substitution fillers (Cement and Lime) were used with two different aggregate quarries (based on minerals composition) to evaluate the relatively most beneficial combination of both fillers as well as an aggregate quarry to enhance the performance life of asphalt pavements, especially in under-developed countries. Four basic tests, (Asphalt Pavement Analyzer, Four Points Bending Beam, Dynamic Modulus, and Rolling Bottle Test) that used for the most desired properties of any asphalt pavement, were utilized to access the performance properties of modified asphalt mixture. Based on all laboratory test results this research study concludes that replacement of aggregate filler with hydrated lime and cement has a beneficial effect on asphalt mix performance and to save investment by using raw material. Substitution filler improves the high-temperature rut performance and intermediate temperature fatigue performance of asphaltic concrete mixture up to 25% to that of the conventional mixture. At the same time, substitution filler has more beneficial to improve 70% adhesion properties to that of the conventional mixture

Field Assessment of Non-nuclear Methods Used for Hot Mix Asphalt Density Measurement

Destructive nature along with the associated higher cost of the traditional core method used for hot mix asphalt density measurement has convinced researchers switching to some non-destructive technique for this purpose which is cost efficient as well. Earlier, nuclear density gauges were introduced for this purpose which was non-destructive as well. Since such devices were associated with the use of gamma rays, therefore, leading to safety and health issues. Last decade observed a revolution in asphalt density measurement technique with the evolution of non-nuclear density gauges. This research work is carried out with the objective to determine the efficiency and accuracy of a newly developed non-nuclear density gauge i.e. PQI-380 for field conditions as it needs its thorough evaluation prior to future uses in many of the developing countries including Pakistan. Density data obtained using standard core method and non-nuclear density gauge for 195 location confirms the satisfactory performance of the instrument. Results obtained show that the coefficient of correlation is near to 0.9. which refers to a strong correlation between the density data. Moreover, performance criteria e.g. root mean square error and mean absolute error between the density data set is also very low confirming the good measuring abilities of the device. Instrument performed well for repeatability analysis giving maximum coefficient of variance less than 5 percent

Computer Aided Design of a Low-Cost Painting Robot

The application of robots or robotic systems for painting parts is becoming increasingly conventional; to improve reliability, productivity, consistency and to decrease waste. However, in Pakistan only highend Industries are able to afford the luxury of a robotic system for various purposes. In this study we propose an economical Painting Robot that a small-scale industry can install in their plant with ease. The importance of this robot is that being cost effective, it can easily be replaced in small manufacturing industries and therefore, eliminate health problems occurring to the individual in charge of painting parts on an everyday basis. To achieve this aim, the robot is made with local parts with only few exceptions, to cut costs; and the programming language is kept at a mediocre level. Image processing is used to establish object recognition and it can be programmed to paint various simple geometries. The robot is placed on a conveyer belt to maximize productivity. A four DoF (Degree of Freedom) arm increases the working envelope and accessibility of painting different shaped parts with ease. This robot is capable of painting up, front, back, left and right sides of the part with a single colour. Initially CAD (Computer Aided Design) models of the robot were developed which were analyzed, modified and improved to withstand loading condition and perform its task efficiently. After design selection, appropriate motors and materials were selected and the robot was developed. Throughout the development phase, minor problems and errors were fixed accordingly as they arose. Lastly the robot was integrated with the computer and image processing for autonomous control. The final results demonstrated that the robot is economical and reduces paint wastage

Application of image analysis tools in Matlab to better estimate the degree of binder coverage in rolling bottles test

© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. In asphalt mixture, a strong affinity between binder and aggregates is of prime importance, especially under conditions susceptible to moisture damage. Out of various modifiers/additives used in the literature, the hydrated lime (HL) has been reported as most suitable for improving affinity between binder and aggregates. Therefore, this study attempted to quantify the affinity of HL modified mastics with different aggregates under moist conditions. Further, in order to measure the affinity, the rolling bottle test (RBT) was used, which is also reported as one of the best empirical techniques for assessment of moisture susceptibility. However, in the RBT, the assessment for affinity is generally made through visual inspection by two experienced operators as per a standard procedure which can also be the major drawback of this technique in terms of less reliability and repeatability. Thereby, to reduce this deficiency, the image analysis (with no special setup) was also carried out through the use of the MATLAB program. The results as obtained from image analysis were then compared with the results of visual observation. Both were found to be very similar to each other. Hence, the RBT could be used confidently for the comparison of different binder/aggregate combinations. Also, the RBT results indicated that the HL addition was beneficial with granite, basalt and greywacke aggregates, but it did not have any effect with limestone aggregates. Further, the 10% HL substitution was found to be more efficient than 20% HL substitution as both substitutions showed a similar effect in most of the studied combinations

Moisture susceptibility of hydrated lime modified mastics using adhesion test methods and surface free energy techniques

© 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Moisture damage is one of the major factors that has been reported to affect the performance of asphalt pavements which depends mainly on the bond strength between bitumen, aggregates and mineral filler. In the presence of moisture, this bond weakens and results in premature pavement failure. One of the many ways of mitigating moisture damage effects is the use of anti-stripping agents. Hydrated lime has been found to be one of the most efficient anti-stripping agents among the common additives used with asphalt mixtures. This study attempts to quantify the bond strength of hydrated lime modified mastics with different aggregates (granite and limestone) under moisture conditions using a combination of surface free energy techniques and conventional adhesion test methods. From the surface free energy technique, the moisture susceptibility was studied in the form of dry work of adhesion, work of debonding and various energy parameters. Two conventional techniques, the PATTI test and the rolling bottle test were used to assess bond strength under wet conditions. The results of all three techniques lead to the same conclusion that hydrated lime is an active filler that improves moisture damage resistance compared to the other natural fillers but that the improvement is highly dependent on aggregate mineralogy

Enabling synergy through ta’aruf in strategic planning with Ulul albab approach for Masjid Tepi Sungai

This document reports the ta’aruf or ice-breaking session among consultants prior to conducting desktop research and proposal for strategic planning of Masjid Tepi Sungai (MTS). Ta’aruf or introduction enables members of consultants to bridge the gap of differences so that they could work in the consultancy without any barrier. In consultancy, every member plays significant role in making the consultancy rigorous, holistic and complete

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely