Stabilization of Tropical Peat Soil from Sarawak with Different Stabilizing Agents

This paper describes a study on tropical peat soil stabilization to improve its physical properties by using different stabilizing agents. The samples were collected from six different locations of Sarawak, Malaysia, to evaluate their physical or index properties. Out of them, sample having the highest percentage of organic content has been selected for stabilization purposes. In this study, ordinary portland cement (OPC), quick lime (QL), and class F fly ash (FA) were used as stabilizer. The amount of OPC, QL, and FA added to the peat soil sample, as percentage of dry soil mass, were in the range of 5–20%; 5–20% and 2–8%, respectively for the curing periods of 7, 14, and 28 days. The Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) test was carried out on treated/stabilized samples with the above mentioned percentages of the stabilizer and the result shows that the UCS value increases significantly with the increase of all stabilizing agent used and also with curing periods. However, in case of FA and QL, the UCS value increases up to 15 and 6%, respectively with a curing period of 28 days but decreases rather steady beyond this percentage. Some UCS tests have been conducted with a mixture of FA and QL to study the combined effect of the stabilizer. In addition, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) study was carried out on original peat soil and FA, as well as some treated samples in order to study their microstructures

Breast cancer risk genes: association analysis in more than 113,000 women

BACKGROUNDGenetic testing for breast cancer susceptibility is widely used, but for many genes, evidence of an association with breast cancer is weak, underlying risk estimates are imprecise, and reliable subtype-specific risk estimates are lacking.METHODSWe used a panel of 34 putative susceptibility genes to perform sequencing on samples from 60,466 women with breast cancer and 53,461 controls. In separate analyses for protein-truncating variants and rare missense variants in these genes, we estimated odds ratios for breast cancer overall and tumor subtypes. We evaluated missense-variant associations according to domain and classification of pathogenicity.RESULTSProtein-truncating variants in 5 genes (ATM, BRCA1, BRCA2, CHEK2, and PALB2) were associated with a risk of breast cancer overall with a P value of less than 0.0001. Protein-truncating variants in 4 other genes (BARD1, RAD51C, RAD51D, and TP53) were associated with a risk of breast cancer overall with a P value of less than 0.05 and a Bayesian false-discovery probability of less than 0.05. For protein-truncating variants in 19 of the remaining 25 genes, the upper limit of the 95% confidence interval of the odds ratio for breast cancer overall was less than 2.0. For protein-truncating variants in ATM and CHEK2, odds ratios were higher for estrogen receptor (ER)-positive disease than for ER-negative disease; for protein-truncating variants in BARD1, BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, RAD51C, and RAD51D, odds ratios were higher for ER-negative disease than for ER-positive disease. Rare missense variants (in aggregate) in ATM, CHEK2, and TP53 were associated with a risk of breast cancer overall with a P value of less than 0.001. For BRCA1, BRCA2, and TP53, missense variants (in aggregate) that would be classified as pathogenic according to standard criteria were associated with a risk of breast cancer overall, with the risk being similar to that of protein-truncating variants.CONCLUSIONSThe results of this study define the genes that are most clinically useful for inclusion on panels for the prediction of breast cancer risk, as well as provide estimates of the risks associated with protein-truncating variants, to guide genetic counseling. (Funded by European Union Horizon 2020 programs and others.)Molecular tumour pathology - and tumour geneticsMTG1 - Moleculaire genetica en pathologie van borstkanke

EFFECT OF OPERATING PARAMETERS ON THE MINIMUM FLUIDISATION VELOCITY OF AN INCLINED FLUIDISED BED

Fluidisation phenomena in an inclined fluidised bed (IFB) systems are poorly understood and receive less attention as compared to that of vertical fluidised bed although in practice there are many fluidised bed systems not vertically oriented. The objective of this work is to investigate the effect of inclination angle, particle size and particle composition to the minimum fluidisation velocity (Umf). The experiments were conducted in a rectangular IFB of dimension, 7 × 50 cm fitted with a 2 mm thick metal distributor plate with 1 mm holes diameter (2.98 % opening area), water manometer, flow meter and compressor for fluidising air supply. The gradual decreasing velocity method was used to investigate the Umf. Three operating parameters were observed, namely angle of inclination, particle diameters and the compositions of mixed particles. The experimental results showed that the Umf of the particles is lower at higher angle of inclinations. The smaller particles have a lower Umf. The mixed sand with higher smaller particles mass fraction also has a lower Umf. Therefore, the effects of inclination angle and smaller particles mass fractions in the mixed sand to the Umf were observed to follow an inverse function, while, the particle size is linearly related to the Umf

Fluidized Bed Technology: It's Challenges in Industrial applications

After fluidized bed technology was first applied in the Winkler process for coal gasification in 1930's, then the development of fluidized bed technology growths very fast. In the recent years, fluidized bed technology has been applied in various industrial processes such as fluid catalytic cracking, gas-solid reaction, drying, particle classification and separation, dedusting, waste treatment, bioprocess etc. The rapid permeation of fluidization technique in Malaysia in the production of chemicals, petroleum and petroleum product, medicine, foods, pharmaceuticals, nuclear, polymers, fertilizer, powder, plastics, metals from their ores and separation, new fine and conventional materials as well as conservation of energy, and disposal of waste and environmental protection etc. has demonstrated its viability in present and future technology of our growing economic construction. However, our expectation to improve the efficiency of the processes has created the need for fresh innovations of the equipment and processes involved, which need adequate understanding of fundamentals. This paper shows several applications of fluidized bed technology in industrial processes and explains the advantages and disadvantages of the process, which offers innovation touch to obtain better result

Effect of alkali on tropical peat stabilized with different stabilizers

The paper presents the effect of alkali on tropical peat stabilized with ordinary portland cement (OPC), fly ash (FA) and different chemicals e.g., accelerator (a combination of 2.0% sodium sulfate, 0.5% sodium chloride and 0.1% triethanolamine); 2.6% aluminum sulfate; and 2.6% calcium sulfate. Various physical and engineering properties tests were conducted on original peat, FA and stabilized peat samples to check the effect of alkali and chemicals. Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) tests were carried out on treated (i.e., peat treated with 2% NaOH to reduce its acidity) and untreated stabilized peat samples with OPC, FA, and different chemicals for various curing periods. The results show that UCS value increases with curing periods and treated peat samples show better results than untreated peat for both OPC and FA stabilized peat samples. The highest UCS value was found on treated stabilized peat where calcium sulfate and OPC were used as stabilizers for 120 days curing period. In addition, specific gravity (Gs), pH, loss on ignition (N), Organic Content (OC) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) studies were also carried out on stabilized peat samples to investigate the stabilized behavior and micro-structure of the peat

Multi-wavelength Brillouin-Raman fiber laser generation assisted by multiple four-wave mixing processes in a ring cavity

A multi-wavelength Brillouin-Raman fiber laser (MBRFL) is generated by using a 7.7?km long dispersion compensating fiber which acts as both the Brillouin and Raman gain media. The MBRFL is pumped at 16?dBm with two Raman pumps at 125?mW. Eleven Stokes and anti-Stokes lines are generated with a line spacing of about 0.155?nm (~19.86?GHz) without any forward line reflection. By combining the backward and forward outputs, more lines can be generated, with narrower line spacings of about 0.077?nm (~9.93?GHz). The number of lines can be increased by having higher Brillouin and Raman pump powers. Since Raman amplification can be arranged at any wavelength region, the MBRFL can be obtained at any wavelength as long as all of the equipment and components are prepared in the proposed operational wavelength region

A canonical decomposition theory for metrics on a finite set

SIGLETIB Hannover: RO 8278(90-032) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman