The performance of asphalt pavements is crucial due to heavy traffic loads from civil and industrial developments. Various additives and modifiers are used in flexible roads to improve their resistance to deterioration caused by climatic changes. From this context, modifying the asphalt binder with polymers is popular in asphalt pavement construction. The present research investigates the effect of Polyethylene (PE) polymers in powder form on the characteristics of asphalt mixtures since these polymers are composed of hydrocarbons. It is similar to asphalt binders, making them very effective in enhancing the performance of neat asphalt produced from the oil refinery. To confirm this, two types of PE, High-Density PE (HDPE) and Low-Density PE (LDPE), were blended with neat asphalt binder at different dosages of 0%, 2%, 4%, and 6% by the weight of asphalt binder. The physical tests, including penetration, ductility, softening point, and weight loss on heat, were conducted to examine neat and PE-modified binders' rheological properties, durability, and temperature sensitivity. Marshall stability, stiffness index, tensile strength, and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) were also employed to assess the performance of PE-modified asphalt mixtures. The findings reveal that incorporating PE into asphalt mixtures significantly improves their mechanical properties, and the most optimal results are achieved when using 6% of both HDPE and LDPE. Specifically, modifying the asphalt binder with the inclusion of 6% HDPE and LDPE presents a remarkable increase in stability of 167.6% and 150.9%, respectively, compared to conventional mixtures. The stiffness index is improved for HDPE and LDPE-modified mixtures, which offers these mixtures superior resistance to permanent deformation. The moisture damage resistance can be enhanced by modification of the asphalt binder with HDPE and LDPE, especially at the inclusion of 6%. SEM images of asphalt pavement demonstrate HDPE's superiority in terms of distribution and dispersion in asphalt binder. In conclusion, the properties of HDPE-modified mixtures are better than those of LDPE-modified and untreated mixtures.
Credit risk assessment has become an important topic in financial risk administration. Fuzzy clustering analysis has been applied in credit scoring. Gustafson-Kessel (GK) algorithm has been utilised to cluster creditworthy customers as against non-creditworthy ones. A good clustering analysis implemented by good Initial Centres of clusters should be selected. To overcome this problem of Gustafson-Kessel (GK) algorithm, we proposed a modified version of Kohonen Network (KN) algorithm to select the initial centres. Utilising similar degree between points to get similarity density, and then by means of maximum density points selecting; the modified Kohonen Network method generate clustering initial centres to get more reasonable clustering res
... Show MoreObjectives: Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1) is WNT/b-catenin pathway antagonist which plays a detrimental role in the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR). This research aimed to assess serum DKK-1 levels in diabetic patients who have and have not developed DR and, compare them with the control subjects finding out whether we can use it as an indicator for DR early diagnosis and to find out which one of the widely used two groups of antidiabetic treatments had the greater effect on this biomarker and hence on the progression of DR. Methods: The study participants were divided into two subgroups: First, 70 patients (36 male, 34 female) with type 2 diabetes mellitus, among them 35 patients diagnosed with DR and 35 with no evidence of DR, and s
... Show MoreGroundwater quality investigation has been carried out in the western part of Iraq (west longitude '40°40). The physicochemical analyses of 64 groundwater samples collected from seven aquifers were used in the determination of groundwater characterization and assessment. The concept of spatial hydrochemical bi-model was prepared for quantitative and qualitative interpretation. Hydrogeochemical data referred that the groundwater is of meteoric origin and has processes responsible for observed brackishness. The geochemical facies of the groundwater reveal that none of the anions and cations pairs exceed 50% and there are practically mixtures of multi-water types (such as Ca–Mg–Cl–HCO3 and Na+K–SO4–Cl water type) as do
... Show MoreBackground: The quality of drinking water is directly related to community health. Therefore, improving the quality of drinking reflects positively on the health situation in general. The studies that deal with the quality of drinking water in the city of Baghdad in terms of chemical or microbial content are very scanty. Objective: The current review highlights the most important studies and research articles that concern the quality of drinking water, both bottled water and tap water, in terms of chemical and biological contamination and chemophysical specifications for drinking water. Abstract: Studies have shown that drinking water in the city of Baghdad, especially tap water, contains certain levels of heavy metals,
... Show MoreDrilling fluid properties and formulation play a fundamental role in drilling operations. The Classical water-based muds prepared from only the Syrian clay and water without any additives((Organic and industrial polymers) are generally poor in performance. Moreover, The high quantity of Syrian clay (120 gr / l) used in preparing drilling fluids. It leads to a decrease in the drilling speed and thus an increase in the time required to complete the drilling of the well. As a result, the total cost of drilling the well increased, as a result of an increase in the concentration of the solid part in the drilling fluid. In this context, our study focuses on the investigation of the improvement in drilling mud Prepa
... Show MoreThis paper is interested in certain subclasses of univalent and bi-univalent functions concerning to shell- like curves connected with k-Fibonacci numbers involving modified Sigmoid activation function θ(t)=2/(1+e^(-t) ) ,t ≥0 in unit disk |z|<1 . For estimating of the initial coefficients |c_2 | , |c_3 |, Fekete-Szego ̈ inequality and the second Hankel determinant have been investigated for the functions in our classes.
Chitosan (CH) / Poly (1-vinylpyrrolidone-co-vinyl acetate) (PVP-co-VAc) blend (1:1) and nanocomposites reinforced with CaCO3 nanoparticles were prepared by solution casting method. FTIR analysis, tensile strength, Elongation, Young modulus, Thermal conductivity, water absorption and Antibacterial properties were studied for blend and nanocomposites. The tensile results show that the tensile strength and Young’s modulus of the nanocomposites were enhanced compared with polymer blend [CH/(PVP-co-VAc)] film. The mechanical properties of the polymer blend were improved by the addition of CaCO3 with significant increases in Young’s modulus (from 1787 MPa to ~7238 MPa) and tensile strength (from 47.87 MPa to 79.75 MPa). Strong interfacial
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