The global rise in temperature and the desert climatic conditions prevalent in Middle Eastern countries have exacerbated rutting distress in heavily trafficked highways. Conventional asphalt binders with a high-temperature performance grade (PG 70) have proven inadequate under such extreme conditions, necessitating the development of modified binders with enhanced high-temperature performance. While polymer modification using styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS), an elastomeric polymer, and ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), a plastomeric polymer, has been widely studied, limited research provides a direct comparison of their effectiveness at both the binder and mixture levels under extremely high-temperature conditions. This study addresses this gap by evaluating SBS and EVA at 2%, 4%, and 6% by weight of asphalt cement, with a focus on their rheological, chemical, and mechanical properties. At the binder level, properties examined included the physical properties: penetration, softening point, viscosity, mass loss due to aging, storage stability, and specific gravity. The Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR) was used to assess the high-temperature performance grade (PG) and conduct Multiple Stress Creep Recovery (MSCR) tests. The results revealed that SBS significantly enhanced high-temperature performance, with 4% SBS and 6% SBS achieving PG 100, compared to PG 70 for both the unmodified and EVA-modified binders. At the most critical testing temperature of 76 °C and the highest stress level of 3.2 kPa, SBS-modified binders exhibited the lowest non-recoverable creep compliance (Jnr) and the highest elastic recovery (R), significantly outperforming EVA-modified binders and the reference binder (RB). At the mixture level, dynamic creep testing confirmed the ranking of asphalt mixes in terms of resistance to permanent deformation, with the following order: 4% SBS > 6% SBS > 6% EVA > 4% EVA > 2% SBS > 2% EVA > unmodified mix. These results, further supported by ANOVA analysis, indicate that SBS-modified mixtures exhibited superior rutting resistance compared to EVA-modified and unmodified mixes. This study provides quantitative insights into the comparative performance of SBS and EVA in extreme hot climatic tempertures, reinforcing the superior effectiveness of SBS in enhancing high-temperature properties. Consequently, SBS emerges as the more suitable modifier for regions experiencing extreme hot climatic conditions. Field validation is recommended to confirm these laboratory findings in real-world applications.
Understanding, promoting, and teaching media literacy is an important societal challenge. STEM educators are increasingly looking to incorporate 21st century skills such as media literacy into core subject education. In this paper we investigate how undergraduate Computer Science (CS) students can learn media literacy as a by-product of collaborative video tutorial production. The paper presents a study of 34 third-year CS undergraduates who, as part of their learning, were each asked to produce three video tutorials on Raspberry Pi programming, using a collaborative video production tool for mobile phones (Bootlegger). We provide results of both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the production process and resulting video tutorials,
... Show MoreCiprofloxacin is widely used in treating adults infected with Gram-negative bacteria. It is contraindicated in children, growing adolescents and during pregnancy due to joint toxicity. Its toxicity concerning other organs needs to be clarified. Thus, this study was designed to study the possible cardiac damage induced by two selected doses of ciprofloxacin in juvenile rats.Eighteenth healthy juvenile rats (4 weeks old and their weight 30 ± 2 gm) were utilized in this study and divided into three groups. Group-I control; group II and group III, respectively injected IP with 25 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg ciprofloxacin every 12 hours for one week. Serum enzymes activities alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), cr
... Show MoreResearchers dream of developing autonomous humanoid robots which behave/walk like a human being. Biped robots, although complex, have the greatest potential for use in human-centred environments such as the home or office. Studying biped robots is also important for understanding human locomotion and improving control strategies for prosthetic and orthotic limbs. Control systems of humans walking in cluttered environments are complex, however, and may involve multiple local controllers and commands from the cerebellum. Although biped robots have been of interest over the last four decades, no unified stability/balance criterion adopted for stabilization of miscellaneous walking/running modes of biped
Specialized Escherichia coli (E. coli) isolates, called uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC), cause most of urinary tract infections (UITs). Once bacteria reached the urinary tract of the host, they have to adhere to the host cell for the colonization. For this purpose, bacteria have different structures including fimbrial adhesins. Most of the UPECs contain type 1 fimbriae encoded by fim operon (fimB, E, A, I, C, D, F, G, H) which is responsible for the adhesive ability in these isolates. Ninety-four isolates of UPEC were obtained from UTI patients in Baghdad hospitals and their diagnosis were confirmed by the PCR method using 16srDNA as a housekeeping gene. The UPEC isolates were tested for their ability of adherence to the urothelial cells obtai
... Show MoreUnder-reamed piles are piles with enlarged bases, which may be single bulb or multi bulbs. Such piles are suitable for resisting considerable soil movement of filed up ground, soft clay, and loose sand and have the advantages of increasing the soil strength and decreasing the displacement. In the present study, the finite element method was used to analyse the performance of a single pile with under-reamed bulbs of different shapes, that is, single cone, double cone, and half and full sphere, embedded in homogeneous, poorly graded sandy soil. The model of under-reamed pile was made of reinforced concrete and the bulb located at the middle of the embedded length of the pile. The dynami
In this study, (50–110 nm) magnetic iron oxide (α-Fe2O3) nanoparticles were synthesized by pulsed laser ablation of iron target in dimethylformamide (DMF) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) solutions. The structural properties of the synthesized nanoparticles were investigated by using Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, UV–VIS absorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The effect of laser fluence on the characteristics of these nanoparticles was studied. Antibacterial activities of iron oxide nanoparticles were tested against Gram-positive; Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative; Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Serratia marcescens. The results sh
... Show MoreThe study of Lake Hamrin is of enormous importance in understanding changes in water levels and their impact on the local environment. It helps to clarify the role of climatic and human factors in the decline of its water resources from 2013 to 2023 in order to ensure sustainable solutions. Satellite imagery from Landsat 8 is used, and processing is performed using ArcGIS Pro and ENVI. The normalized vegetation index (NDVI) is applied to show the changes in the vegetation cover and reveal the amount of change in the surface water area of the lake. It is noted that the water area changes in one year as it increases in the rainy season and decreases in the summer, and it also varies from one year to another with the difference in the amount o
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