Permanent deformation, fatigue and thermal cracking are the three typical distresses of flexible pavement. Using hydrated lime (HL) into the conventional limestone mineral additive has been widely practiced, including in Europe, to improve the mechanical properties of hot mix asphalt (HMA) concrete and as the result the durability of the constructed pavement. Large number of experimental studies have been reported to find the optimum addition of HL for the improvement on HMA concrete mechanical properties, moisture susceptibility and fatigue resistance. Pavement in service is under complex thermomechanical stress-strain conditions due to coupled atmospheric and surrounding environment temperature variation and the traffic loading. To predict and analyse the performance of pavement structures the data only from uniaxial compressive test for the resilient modulus and permanent deformation would be not enough. However, so far, the data of HL modified HMA concrete under complex loading conditions are still not well informatively complete. To contribute new knowledge, this paper reports an experimental study of both uni- and tri-axial tests for the asphalt concrete using HL into mineral additive for the mixes designed for the applications of wearing, levelling, and base layers, respectively. All the tests were conducted under three controlled temperatures and four stress deviations. The test results have showed that, for all three types of mixes, the permanent deformation of the HL mixes is less than the ones of no HL addition. The degree of the improvement on permanent deformation resistance using HL is much pronounced at high stress deviation states. The results have also showed that the resilient modulus strongly depends on the temperature and stress deviation while the mixes of HL addition demonstrate higher rigidity. At last, mathematical characterization models have been proposed for the measured material properties. A numerical simulation case study has been performed to test and demonstrate the application of the proposed unified property model
This study investigated the prevalence of quinolones resistance proteins encoding genes (qnr genes) and co-resistance for fluoroquinolones and β-lactams among clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae. Out of 150 clinical samples, 50 isolates of K. pneumoniae were identified according to morphological and biochemical properties. These isolates were collected from different clinical samples, including 15 (30%) urine, 12 (24%) blood, 9 (18%) sputum, 9 (18%) wound, and 5 (10%) burn. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) assay revealed that 15 (30%) of isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin (≥4µg/ml), 11 (22%) of isolates were resistant to levofloxacin (≥8 µg/ml), 21 (42%) of isolates were re
... Show MoreThis research dealt with the subject of negotiation skills of employees in public relations departments which is one of many skills supposed to be available to these employees. These skills combined help in the success of the job of public relations departments; and give them an important and vital role within the roles distributed in the departments of any government institution wither is governmental or non-governmental.
Negotiation is a skill that requires intelligence, tact, culture, information, intuition, and knowing to use the means of communication to access the information that is useful in reaching satisfactory results
... Show MoreMicrofibers released by synthetic clothes have a significant negative effect on the environment. Several solutions have been proposed and evaluated for their effectiveness, but studies have failed to address the human-centered aspects of these products. In this research, the possibilities and needs from a consumer perspective for a new filtering system for domestic washing machines were examined. First, a quantitative (questionnaire) and a qualitative (interviews and observations) exploration were done to understand the desired requirements from a user perspective. Next, the acceptance of various existing solutions for microfiber catching was investigated. To verify these requirements, a new concept was designed and evaluated with a
... Show MoreSince the COVID-19 pandemic began, there have been concerns related to the preparedness of healthcare workers (HCWs). This study aimed to describe the level of awareness and preparedness of hospital HCWs at the time of the first wave.
This multinational, multicenter, cross-sectional survey was conducted among hospital HCWs from February to May 2020. We used a hierarchical logistic regression multivariate analysis to adjust the influence of variables based on awareness and preparedness. We then used association rule mining to identify relationships between HCW confidence in handling suspected
Background: Incorporation of chemical additives has long been a technique used to improve properties of the gypsum products. The purpose of this work was to study the effects of adding a combination of gum Arabic and calcium hydroxide to a type III dental stone and type IV improved die stone with different proportion. The effect on water/powder ratio, and surface hardness was determined. Material and method: Both material stone and die stone were blended with two proportion of additives so that each material was mixed twice but with different proportion of gum Arabic (0.1% and 0.2%) and calcium hydroxide (0.5 % and 0.3%). Data for hardness were subjected to two-way analysis of variance. Results: The results revealed that the chemical additi
... Show MoreTo evaluate the effects of the ShotBlocker and vibration device on pain intensity and patient satisfaction during subcutaneous (SC) insulin injections in hospitalized adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
In this randomized controlled trial, 102 patients with type II diabetes mellitus were randomly assigned into 3 groups: 35 patients in the ShotBlocker group, 36 patients in the vibration group, and 31 patients in the control group. ShotBlocker was applied immediately before and during the injection, while the vibration was applied fo
Historic cities such as Old Najaf are challenged with balancing the preservation of their cultural and architectural heritage against the pressures of modern urban development. Being one of the major religious centers for Shia Islam, Old Najaf receives annual millions of pilgrims and tourists, pressuring its infrastructure and threatening its historic façade. The aim of this study was to explore the viability of integrated approaches that balance heritage conservation with sustainable urban development, and lessons learned from international best practices, as well as stakeholder perspectives on this issue in the face of these challenges. This prompted the study to identify the challenges and opportunities for the heritage preservation and
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