Highly Modified Asphalt (HiMA) binders have garnered significant attention due to their superior resistance to rutting, fatigue cracking, and thermal distress under heavy traffic loads and extreme environmental conditions. While elastomeric polymers such as Styrene- Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) have been extensively used in HiMA applications, the potential of plastomeric polymers, including Polyethylene (PE) and Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA), remains largely unexplored. This study aims to evaluate the performance of reference binder (RB) modified with plastomeric HiMA asphalt in comparison to SBS-modified binders and determine the optimal polymer dosage for achieving an optimal balance between rutting resistance and fatigue durability. The experimental program involved modifying a base asphalt binder with SBS, PE, and EVA at dosages of 6%, 7%, and 8% by weight of binder. A comprehensive evaluation was conducted, including conventional tests (penetration, softening point, viscosity, mass loss, storage stability, and specific gravity) and rheological characterization using the Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR). The Multiple Stress Creep Recovery (MSCR) test was employed to assess high-temperature performance, while the Linear Amplitude Sweep (LAS) test evaluated fatigue behavior. Additionally, an Overall Desirability (OD) analysis was performed to integrate multiple performance criteria and establish a ranking for each modification. The results demonstrated that SBS-modified binders exhibited the most balanced performance, with SBS8 achieving the highest elastic recovery (52.87%) and superior fatigue life, exceeding 1,017,904 cycles at 2.5% strain. PE8 exhibited exceptional rutting resistance, reaching the lowest Jnr 3.2 value (0.0078 kPa−1); however, its limited elasticity (15.7% recovery) indicated reduced flexibility. EVA modifications demonstrated marginal improvements in fatigue resistance but failed to meet the AASHTO M332 criteria for high-traffic applications. The OD analysis ranked SBS8 as the most effective HiMA binder (OD score = 0.715), followed by SBS7 (0.588) and SBS6 (0.509). PE7 (0.354) and PE6 (0.337) demonstrated moderate performance, whereas EVA had the lowest desirability score (0.000). Based on these findings, SBS-modified binders are recommended for applications requiring a balance between fatigue and rutting resistance, whereas PE-based HiMA is more suitable for high-temperature regions where rutting is the primary concern. Further field studies are necessary to validate the long-term durability of plastomeric HiMA binders and optimize their use for specific pavement conditions.
Abstract Background: Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) is an angioproliferative neoplastic disorder that occurs in different epidemiological forms. Human Herpesvirus type 8 (HHV-8) is established as a causative agent of KS that has been mentioned in textbooks and literature. In the last two decades, KS cases were up searched through many Iraqi medical researches which have been published, but unfortunately, none of which had confirmed this association. Objectives: To assess the association of latent nuclear antigen-1(LANA-1) of HHV-8 among KS patients with clinicopathological parameters and to evaluate if this procedure is valuable for diagnosing this disease through the first immunohistochemical study in Iraq. Methods: This is a clinico-immunohis
... Show MoreObjectives: To assess nurses-midwives' knowledge about pain management during labor before and after implementation of educational program and to determine the effectiveness of educational program on nurses-midwives' knowledge about pain management during labor in Baghdad Maternity Hospitals.
Methodology: A quasi-experimental design has been conducted during the period of (February 27th 2019 through 2nd June 2019) on non-probability sample (purposive) consists of (44 Nurses/midwives') who are work in delivery room, the sample was exposed to pretest, educational program, posttest. The study was conducted in three Directories, (Baghdad Teaching Hospital) at medical city health
... Show MoreThis research deals with the attitude of oil press towards oil industry in the world and the extent of their concerns with the stages of oil industry relating to the abundance of oil and natural gas, as it is an international strategic and complementary industry. The researcher uses the survey method for content analysis of the initial article and the press news for two: years (2011-2012). The results if the study are as follows
1- Oil press is concerned with developing and the stages of the Arabic oil industry in the interest of OAPEC in the first place.
2- It is concerned with exploring, extracting, and marketing oil in the first place, then with refining operations in refineries and petrochemical plants in the second place, an
This article proposes a new technique for determining the rate of contamination. First, a generative adversarial neural network (ANN) parallel processing technique is constructed and trained using real and secret images. Then, after the model is stabilized, the real image is passed to the generator. Finally, the generator creates an image that is visually similar to the secret image, thus achieving the same effect as the secret image transmission. Experimental results show that this technique has a good effect on the security of secret information transmission and increases the capacity of information hiding. The metric signal of noise, a structural similarity index measure, was used to determine the success of colour image-hiding t
... Show MoreBackground: The clinical examination is one of the best suitable methods for diagnosis of low backache. Backache is one disease that the signs, clinical examination finding, and the results on imaging modalities not always related. The straight leg raising (SLR) and slump tests, can be used for diagnosis of lumber disc herniation.
Objectives: To compare the result of the slump test and SLR test in the diagnosis of lumber disc herniation.
Subjects and Methods: A prospective comparative study conducts on 280 patients in Al-Kindy teaching and private clinics complaints of backache, aging between 18-70 years old with acute or recurrent backache, sciatica pai
... Show MoreThe reconciliation of tax reconciliation is one of the legal methods used by the financial authority in Iraq, which is done with the taxpayer
The research dealt with the weakness of tax revenues for many reasons, including tax evasion, which led to the search for ways to reduce evasion to increase the tax revenue, and settlement reconciliation one of these means .
The research proceeded from the premise that the use of a more broadly settled settlement would govern the tax evasion of taxpayers.
The researchers used a series of studies and previous research, books and other sources related to the subject of research, and this was done through the theoretical framework, and the practical aspect that included the fin
... Show MoreThe current research aims to identify (the effect of CORT program on creative thinking for middle school students in the art education history of ancient art subject).
The research society continue of the5th of scientific students in ALsadreen secondary school of excellence which related of the Directorate of Education al-sader city, for the academic year (2015/2016), The sample was (35) students for each of the two groups (experimental and control). The equivalence between the research groups was carried out in the IQ variable, the age and the level of the father and mother.
The researcher used the experimental method of partial control and the post-test. If the course of
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