THE DEVELOPMENT AND ASSESSMENT OF AN ANALYTICAL STRUCTURAL MAINTENANCE DESIGN SYSTEM FOR ROADS

Previous work at Plymouth has shown the deflected shape as measured by the Deflectograph can be used to estimate the thickness of surfacing. This thesis extends the earlier work to develop relations between deflected shape and the stiffness and thickness of pavement layers. A literature study has been carried out to identify the factors causing the deterioration of flexible pavements. The literature study also assesses the various pavement evaluation equipment that is available and describes various methods of analysis and the interpretation of the pavement surface deflection shape that have been proposed. The properties of the materials of the various layers of the flexible pavement have been reviewed. Various structural models of a pavement are considered and the study indicates that the finite element method provides a most accurate prediction of actual pavement response to a moving wheel load. A 3D finite element model of a flexible pavement has been produced and partially validated with data obtained from the TRRL. A Fortran Programe has been developed to convert absolute deflections predicted by the 3D model into equivalent Deflectograph deflections. The model has been used to carry out parametric study to establish appropriate relationships between the deflected shape and material properties of the pavement layers. Relationships have been established to determine the thickness, modular ratio and modulus of the pavement layers and its support subgrade from measurement of the deflected shape. An Analytical Pavement Evaluation and Design System has been set up based on the relationships. The system has been validated by comparing the material properties obtained from the laboratory testing with those predicted by the design model using the Deflectograph measurements obtained from local roads with measurement of layer thickness and subgrade strength measured in-situ

Role of high resolution ultrasonography of peripheral nerves in leprosy patients

INTRODUCTION: Leprosy mainly affects skin and nerves. Involvement of nerves causes serious disabilities and deformities. Clinical assessment of nerves is very subjective. High resolution ultrasonography of nerves serves as an important objective method of evaluation of peripheral nerves. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to study the clinical spectrum of leprosy patients and to assess the peripheral nerves clinically and then through high resolution ultrasound. To correlate the ultrasound findings with clinical findings. MATERIALS AND METHOD: In this observational study, 30 newly diagnosed leprosy patients and 30 age and sex matched controls were included. An informed written Consent, detailed clinical history, thorough clinical examination and routine investigations were done for patients. Ultrasound and colour Doppler examination were done for both patients and controls. All the data obtained were analysed statistically. RESULTS: Out of 30 patients studied, males and females were in the ratio of 3:2 with mean age of 34.9 years. 14 patients were in Borderline tuberculoid, 6 in Borderline lepromatous, 5 in Lepromatous and 5 in pure neuritic leprosy. Ulnar nerve (62%) was most frequently involved. The nerves were significantly thicker in the leprosy patients with higher mean cross sectional area when compared to controls. (ulnar p< 0.005) . Colour Doppler showed increased vascularity in 13 nerves of patients with reactions. Positive Correlation was observed for clinical thickness of nerve and ultrasound findings like cross sectional area and echotexture (p <0.05). CONCLUSION: High resolution ultrasound and colour Doppler examination of peripheral nerve could be a useful technique in diagnosis and follow up of leprosy patients. This study emphasizes the importance of ultrasound of nerves as an additional tool in management of leprosy patients

Dramaturgies of Humour in the Performance of Protest

The article analyses three instances of artistic activism from the 21st century in terms of their dramaturgies of humour. The cases examined are the procession of "the human gorging society" by Viennese collective Rebelodrom in 2013, the 2012 lecture-performance "The Return of Border Brujo" by Chicano performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña and the ongoing Tracking Transience project by US-American artist Hasan Elahi. By extending the concept of dramaturgy from theatre theory to the study of protest and activism in the public sphere, and by interpreting the chosen artistic actions as protest, the article seeks to contribute to humour research from a perspective that focuses on its performative dimension, rather than on its functions or effects alone. The term "dramaturgies of humour" refers here to both principles of ordering as well as of unfolding an idea, which inform an act as humorous. In these instances of artistic activism, humour does not simply mark one characteristic or component of protest, but is indeed the embodied, performed means through which the protest is constituted. The article employs a reading of Mikhail Bakhtin’s work on the grotesque, and in doing so, adapts the concept originally developed in relation to literary texts to the study of artistic activism. Such a focus on the dramaturgies of humour leads to two notable insights: first, that protest using a ludic aesthetic creates and sustains a highly ambivalent relation between activists and their opponents, specifically through a playful questioning of the logic of protest in terms of opposition. Second, the dramaturgy of humour in protest reveals a strong historicity: each of the examples reference the past in sophisticated ways, and the shifting narratives of memory are integral to humour as a link between memory and imagination

Learning from Neighbors

When payoffs from different actions are unknown, agents use their own past experience as well as the experience of their neighbors to guide their current decision making. This paper develops a general framework to study the relationship between the structure of information flows and the process of social learning. We show that in a connected society, local learning ensures that all agents obtain the same utility, in the long run. We develop conditions under which this utility is the maximal attainable, i.e. optimal actions are adopted. This analysis identifies a structural property of information structures -- local independence -- which greatly facilitates social learning. Our analysis also suggests that there exists a negative relationship between the degree of social integration and the likelihood of diversity. Simulations of the model generate spatial and temporal patterns of adoption that are consistent with empirical work

Self-Organization in Communication Networks

We develop a dynamic model to study the formation of communication networks. In this model, individuals periodically make decisions concerning the continuation of existing information links and the formation of new information links, with their cohorts. These decisions trade off the costs of forming and maintaining links against the potential rewards from doing so. We analyze the long run behavior of this process of link formation and dissolution. Our results establish that this process always self-organizes, i.e., irrespective of the number of agents, and the initial network, the dynamic process converges to a limit social communication network with probability one. Furthermore, we prove that the limiting network is invariably either a wheel network or the empty network. We show in the (corresponding) static network formation game that, while a variety of architectures can be sustained in equilibrium, the wheel is the unique efficient architecture for the interesting class of parameters. Thus, our results imply that the dynamics have strong equilibrium selection properties

Learning from Neighbors

When payoffs from different actions are unknown, agents use their own past experience as well as the experience of their neighbors to guide their current decision making. This paper develops a general framework to study the relationship between the structure of information flows and the process of social learning.We show that in a connected society, local learning ensures that all agents obtain the same utility, in the long run. We develop conditions under which this utility is the maximal attainable, i.e. optimal actions are adopted.This analysis identifies a structural property of information structures -- local independence -- which greatly facilitates social learning. Our analysis also suggests that there exists a negative relationship between the degree of social integration and the likelihood of diversity.Simulations of the model generate spatial and temporal patterns of adoption that are consistent with empirical work.diversity;diffusion;social integration;Royal Family;conformism;connected societies;locally independent agents

Isobutane/butene alkylation on microporous and mesoporous solid acid catalysts: probing the pore transport effects with liquid and near critical reaction media

This is the published version. Copyright 2008 Royal Society of ChemistryThe alkylation of isobutane with 1-butene was investigated on microporous (β-zeolite) and mesoporous (silica supported heteropolyacids) catalysts in a slurry reactor. The reaction was investigated in the range of 25–100 bar and 15–95 °C in liquid phase and in near critical reaction media with either dense CO2 or dense ethane as diluent, partially replacing the excess isobutane. At 75 °C, the selectivity towards trimethylpentanes (TMP) in the liquid phase is 70%+ initially, but decreases with time on all the catalysts investigated. While near-critical reaction mixtures were employed in order to enhance pore diffusion rates, the conversion and selectivity profiles obtained with such mixtures are comparable to those obtained with liquid phase reaction mixtures in both microporous and mesoporous catalysts. This implies that pore diffusion effects play a limited role at higher temperatures (75–95 °C). In contrast, the liquid phase results at sub-ambient temperatures indicate that the catalyst is deactivated before the TMPs diffuse out of the pores, indicating that pore diffusion effects play an important role in the deactivation process at low temperatures. Our results suggest that novel approaches that enhance the pore-diffusion rates of the TMPs at lower temperatures must be pursued

Self-Organization in Communication Networks

We develop a dynamic model to study the formation of communication networks. In this model, individuals periodically make decisions concerning the continuation of existing information links and the formation of new information links, with their cohorts. These decisions trade off the costs of forming and maintaining links against the potential rewards from doing so. We analyze the long run behavior of this process of link formation and dissolution. Our results establish that this process always self-organizes, i.e., irrespective of the number of agents, and the initial network, the dynamic process converges to a limit social communication network with probability one. Furthermore, we prove that the limiting network is invariably either a wheel network or the empty network. We show in the (corresponding) static network formation game that, while a variety of architectures can be sustained in equilibrium, the wheel is the unique efficient architecture for the interesting class of parameters. Thus, our results imply that the dynamics have strong equilibrium selection properties.networks;learning;coordination;self-organization;path-dependence

Conceived conclusions in favour of GM cotton? - a riposte to a paper in Science

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