Weight Of Mixture Research Articles

The Mechanical Properties of Laterite Substituted with Cement and Bottom Ash

Bottom ash (BTA), a by-product of coal combustion in electric power plants, is commonly regarded as waste, presenting challenges in its management. Conversely, laterite, typically used in road construction, has become increasingly expensive due to its high quality. This study aims to investigate the mechanical properties of laterite replaced with BTA and cement. The replacement of BTA ranged from 10% to 50% of the dry weight of laterite, with cement contents of 1% and 3% of the dry weight of the laterite-BTA mixture. Experimental tests, including unconfined compressive strength (USC) and splitting tensile strength (STS), were conducted. The results indicate that replacing laterite with BTA and cement enhances strength by 2 to 8 times that of unstabilized laterite, with 20% BTA replacement yielding the highest strengths. This approach not only provides cost-effective road construction materials but also contributes to sustainable practices by conserving natural resources and reducing pollution.

Properties of cement screeds using recycled fine aggregates with respect to cement percentage

This article deals with the effect of 100% replacement of natural aggregate by recycled aggregate and at the same time the effect of cement percentage on the observed properties of cement screeds. For these purposes, concrete and brick recycled aggregate is used in combination with CEM I 42.5R Portland cement, constituting 10 %, 15 %, 20 % and 25 % of the mixtures weight. To determine the properties of the cement screeds, test intervals of 3, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days are set, during which changes in bulk density are monitored. Simultaneously, destructive tests are carried out on test beams of 4 × 4 × 16 cm in size. The results found that the use of recycled fine aggregates allows the production of lighter cement screeds, for example, for reconstruction. Potentially usable mixes appear to be those containing 15 %, 20 % and 25 % cement compared to recycled aggregate. For the contaminated recyclate fine fraction, the flexural strength has been shown to improve. However, this improvement is not reflected in an increase in compressive strength.

Cement Board Using Discarded Peanut Shell (Arachis Hypogaea)

This study investigates the use of powdered peanut shells as a sustainable alternative in cement board production. With the growing emphasis on eco-friendly construction materials, exploring alternative resources is essential. Cement boards were fabricated incorporating powdered peanut shells at varying percentages (5%, 10%, and 15% by weight) relative to the total weight of the cement mixture. The preparation involved calculating the sample volume, adjusting the mixture weight to account for the peanut shells, and setting the water-cement ratio to 0.46. The process included grinding the peanut shells, measuring all components, and thoroughly mixing them before molding. The mixtures were cured in a controlled environment to promote proper setting. The physical, mechanical, and thermal properties of the resulting boards were evaluated according to ASTM standards and analyzed using SPSS. Notably, the 5% mix achieved the highest density (1.60 g/cm³) and demonstrated excellent heat resistance, while the 15% mix exhibited the greatest thickness (1.24 cm) and lowest water absorption (10.99%). The 10% mix resulted in the highest compressive (11.28 MN/m²) and tensile strengths (0.24 N/cm²). The findings suggest that incorporating powdered peanut shells significantly improves the properties of cement boards, presenting a viable and sustainable construction option. Future studies should focus on optimizing these mixtures and assessing their long-term durability.

Glass fiber waste as a potential bitumen modifier and stabilizing agent in asphalt mixture.

The deterioration of Malaysia's flexible road pavements due to rutting and moisture damage presents a critical problem. Meanwhile, disposing of glass fiber wastes from manufacturing process further worsens environmental concerns. This research explores the feasibility of using glass fiber wastes as bitumen modifiers and stabilizers in stone mastic asphalt (SMA). The performance of SMA14 incorporating glass fiber waste using wet method and dry method were compared in this study. Bitumen 60/70 PEN was modified with varying percentages of glass fiber waste namely, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0% by weight of bitumen. The SMA14 mixture was modified with glass fiber waste at 0.3% by the weight of total mixture. The physical and rheological characteristic of modified bitumen binder were assessed using penetration, softening point, storage stability, viscosity, and dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) tests. The Marshall properties and performance of the SMA14 mixture incorporating glass fiber waste were evaluated. The findings demonstrate that glass fiber waste-modified bitumen exhibits enhanced penetration, softening point, viscosity, and rutting resistance compared to the unmodified sample. Adding glass fiber waste using dry method shows significant resistance to abrasion and rutting and demonstrates higher indirect tensile strength and TSR value.

Haematological Indices of Male Albino Rats Given Oral Doses of Energy 3000 Herbal Mixture

The study aimed to investigate the effect of Energy 3000 herbal mixture on some haematological indices in male albino rats. The study was conducted using twenty male albino rats which were divided into four groups of five rats per group. Group 1 served as control and was given feed and water only. Groups 2 to 4 were administered 0.2, 0.4, 0.8ml/kg body weight (bw) of the herbal mixture. This treatment was done for 28days, after which blood samples were collected for the measurement of haematological indices. Results obtained were subjected to statistical analysis. The results obtained show that energy 3000 herbal mixture at the dose of 0.8ml/kg bw significantly (P<0.05) increased the WBC (from 5.0 to 10.0) 109/L, Hb (from 11.7 to 12.2) g/dl and platelets (from 200.1 to 224.5) 109/L when compared to the control. The result suggests that energy 3000 herbal mixture caused significant changes in haematological changes in haematological indices of male albino rats.

Effect of Partial Replacement of Wheat Flour by Flour from Extruded Sunflower Seed Kernels on Muffins Quality.

The use of new types of raw materials to improve the quality and nutritional value of products is an important trend in flour confectionery. Flour from extruded sunflower seed kernels (FESSK), the by-product of oil production, was used as a new ingredient in muffin formulation. Analysis of physicochemical and nutritional properties of muffins prepared with FESSK, which was added in the amounts of 5, 10, and 15% to the total weight of mixture of wheat and rye flours, as well as their sensory evaluation, wereperformed. According to the sensory evaluation, the muffins with FESSK had a pleasant, nutty and sunflower aroma, and the best results were shown by muffins with 10% of FESSK. Addition of FESSK, 10%, led to an increase of the content of protein by 24.7%, fat by 16.9%, fiber by 23.3%, ash by 16.9%, and a decrease of content of total carbohydrates by 5.2% and sugars by 16.2%. Enriched muffins had improved texture characteristics, particularly, smooth, crack-free surface, soft, and elastic crumb with well-developed porosity and small, evenly distributed, thin-walled pores. The FESSK could be recommended as an ingredient for improving the nutritional and technological properties of flour confectionery products.

SFPL: Sample-specific fine-grained prototype learning for imbalanced medical image classification

Imbalanced classification is a common and difficult task in many medical image analysis applications. However, most existing approaches focus on balancing feature distribution and classifier weights between classes, while ignoring the inner-class heterogeneity and the individuality of each sample. In this paper, we proposed a sample-specific fine-grained prototype learning (SFPL) method to learn the fine-grained representation of the majority class and learn a cosine classifier specifically for each sample such that the classification model is highly tuned to the individual’s characteristic. SFPL first builds multiple prototypes to represent the majority class, and then updates the prototypes through a mixture weighting strategy. Moreover, we proposed a uniform loss based on set representations to make the fine-grained prototypes distribute uniformly. To establish associations between fine-grained prototypes and cosine classifier, we propose a selective attention aggregation module to select the effective fine-grained prototypes for final classification. Extensive experiments on three different tasks demonstrate that SFPL outperforms the state-of-the-art (SOTA) methods. Importantly, as the imbalance ratio increases from 10 to 100, the improvement of SFPL over SOTA methods increases from 2.2% to 2.4%; as the training data decreases from 800 to 100, the improvement of SFPL over SOTA methods increases from 2.2% to 3.8%.

Influence of Carbon Fibers on the Rutting Susceptibility of Sustainable HMA Mixtures with Untreated Recycled Concrete Aggregates

This paper focuses on achieving sustainability to reduce the detrimental effect on the environment and the economic aspects by including several ratios of coarse recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) (25, 50, 75, and 100%) in asphalt mixtures. The methodology included testing all raw materials, the wheel tracking test to assess mechanical performance, and the Marshall design approach to determine the appropriate asphalt content. The outcomes demonstrated no discernible difference between the volumetric characteristics of the asphalt mixtures containing RCA and the control mix. Marshall's stability rose by 14.2% when 50% of the mixture contained RCA compared to the control combination. All combinations containing RCA were performed inferiorly to the control mixture regarding rutting. 19.63% was the greatest increase in rut depth for combinations made entirely of recycled concrete aggregate. Several percentages of 0.2, 0.25, and 0.3% carbon fibers were added to the total weight of the asphalt mixture to enhance rutting performance. Marshall's stability and resistance to rutting have significantly increased, attributable to the carbon fibers; nonetheless, the volumetric properties of the asphalt mixture have only slightly altered. The combinations with 0.3% carbon fiber reinforcement and 50% RCA showed the largest gain in Marshall stability, up 34.6% above the control mixture. The same combination had the strongest resistance to rutting, which was —39.08% higher than the control mixture.

Efficiency and mass optimization for space nuclear power systems with closed Brayton cycle loops

Space nuclear power systems should be strictly limited in mass and size. Lack of detailed designs, mass estimation in the general design phase usually relies on simple and empirical models that leave too much design margin from the limits. Accurate mass estimation of space nuclear power systems is key to minimize the design margin and maximize the system performance in the general design phase. In this paper, new mass estimation models are proposed for the main components of space nuclear power systems, including nuclear reactor, shield, turbine, compressor, heat exchanger, and thermal radiator. The mass estimation models are more accurate by incorporating principles of nuclear physics, thermal hydraulics, and structural mechanics to the component designs. Combined with thermodynamic models and genetic algorithm, the MEGREZ code is developed to optimize the system performance by setting efficiency and mass as dual objectives. The code verification results indicate that the deviations between and the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter project parameters and the code calculated values are only 0.4% for system efficiency and 2.1% for system mass. The optimization for the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter project shows that the optimal molecular weight of helium-xenon mixture is the minimum value for single-stage turbomachinery limits. Additionally, the impacts of potential technological degradation, such as increased heat exchanger thermal resistances, higher frictional factors, and decreased turbomachinery efficiency, on system performances are discussed. The results show that turbomachinery efficiency presents the strongest influence on the system-specific mass; a 0.04 reduction in the polytropic efficiency of the compressor or turbine results in more than a 10% increase in system-specific mass.

Impact of Date-Palm Fibers on Fine Soil’s Compaction and Strength Properties

This paper investigates the influence of date-palm fibers on the compaction and strength properties of fine soil. The laboratory tests, including specific gravity, compaction tests, and unconfined compression strength tests, were conducted, integrating different proportions (ranging from 0 to 2%) of date-palm fibers into the soil mixture. The palm fibers were divided into two distinct lengths (30 mm and 60 mm) to be mixed with the soil. Nine samples were prepared with varying proportions of date-palm fibers for the experimental investigation, aiming to specifically examine the influences exerted by both palm-fiber length and palm-fiber content on the soil's compaction and strength characteristics when mixed with date-palm fibers. The compaction test results demonstrate a decrease in the dry unit weight and an increase in the optimum moisture content by approximately 10%. Additionally, the length of the date-palm fibers impacts the optimum moisture content and the maximum dry unit weight of the soil mixture. In contrast, the unconfined compressive stress increased by about 30% with higher date-palm fiber contents. This increase in unconfined compressive stress due to increased date-palm fiber content is a significant finding, indicating improved soil strength. This finding holds the enhancing construction performance, sustainability, and cost-efficiency. In conclusion, this soil-fiber mixture shows suitable hydraulic applications. The utilization of natural materials in civil engineering demands the exploration of available natural fibers.

Preparation and Performance Evaluation of Castor Oil-Based Asphalt Regeneration Agent.

Regeneration agents play a critical role in modifying the mechanical properties and durability of RAP asphalt mixtures. This paper aimed to develop a castor oil-based asphalt regeneration agent. The effects of this regeneration agent on the pavement performance of laboratory-aged asphalt and an RAP asphalt mixture were comparatively studied by a series of laboratory tests. For the developed castor oil-based asphalt regeneration agent, the weight ratio of the castor oil to dibutyl phthalate was determined as 1:4. Moreover, the regeneration effectiveness of the castor oil-based regeneration agent was tested on three laboratory-aged asphalt binders and an RAP asphalt binder; the penetration, softening point and ductility of the RAP asphalt binder recovered to 83 dmm, 50.3 °C, and more than 100 cm, respectively. The optimum content of the regeneration agent was 5% by the weight of the aged asphalt binder. Furthermore, the castor oil-based regeneration agent could effectively restore the pavement performance of an RAP asphalt mixture. In this study, the RAP percentage can reach up to 60% by the weight of the HMA mixture using the castor oil-based asphalt regeneration agent according to the Chinese specification.

Bimodal semantic fusion prototypical network for few-shot classification

Few-shot classification learns from a small number of image samples to recognize unseen images. Recent few-shot learning exploits auxiliary text information, such as class labels and names, to obtain more discriminative class prototypes. However, most existing approaches rarely consider using text information as a clue to highlight important feature regions and do not consider feature alignment between prototypes and targets, leading to prototype ambiguity owing to information gaps. To address this issue, a prototype generator module was developed to perform interactions between the text knowledge of the class name and visual feature maps in the spatial and channel dimensions. This module learns how to assign mixture weights to essential regions of each sample feature to obtain informative prototypes. In addition, a feature refinement module was proposed to embed text information into query images without knowing their labels. It generates attention from concatenated features between query and text features through pairwise distance loss. To improve the alignment between the prototype and relevant targets, a prototype calibration module was designed to preserve the important features of the prototype by considering the interrelationships between the prototype and query features. Extensive experiments were conducted on five few-shot classification benchmarks, and the results demonstrated the superiority of the proposed method over state-of-the-art methods in 1-shot and 5-shot settings.

Healing response of cold recycled asphalt mixtures with electric arc furnace slag under microwave heating and re-compaction

The objective of the present paper is the assessment of the healing efficiency of a thermomechanical treatment (microwave heating and re-compaction) on cold recycled asphalt mixtures. The asphalt mixture specimens were fabricated with different electric arc furnace slag (EAFS) contents to improve the mixtures' microwave susceptibility. The healing response was then assessed in terms of recovery of their initial indirect tensile strength. Furthermore, statistical analysis was conducted by means of a three-way analysis of variance to determine the influence of temperature, re-compaction energy, and EAFS content on the healing capability of the mixtures. Although re-compaction and heating in the ranges studied do not themselves cause healing, the combination of both produced excellent healing performance. The optimal content of EAFS was established at 5% of EAFS over the weight of the asphalt mixture.

Modified interactive multiple model particle filter for terrain referenced navigation with classification error minimisation strategy

AbstractThe authors propose an innovative solution to address challenges in terrain‐referenced navigation (TRN). The suggested solution is the interactive multiple‐model particle filter with a classification error minimisation strategy (IMM‐CPF) based on decision theory. TRN is a technique that estimates position by comparing measured terrain altitude to the digital elevation model and critically depends on obtaining accurate altitude measurements. However, these measurements can be easily contaminated to not only from sensor errors but also from vegetation effects. The TRN measurement noise model is characterised as a multi‐modal density, and it reveals an overlap between two density functions, with the mixture weight parameter varying based on surface environmental conditions. This variability can potentially degrade estimation accuracy. The proposed approach integrates truncated likelihoods into the mode estimation process to enhance mode estimation capability using a classification error minimisation strategy. The proposed strategy is based on decision theory and has been modified to be suited in the IMMPF form. The effectiveness of the proposed IMM‐CPF method is verified through simulations conducted under diverse surface conditions, demonstrating significant improvements in estimation accuracy compared to conventional algorithms. Furthermore, the significance of this method is presented in terms of computational cost and robustness.

Unveiling the link between physical activity levels and dementia risk: Insights from the UK Biobank study

BackgroundThere is limited information on the mixture effect and weights of light physical activity (LPA), moderate physical activity (MPA), and vigorous physical activity (VPA) on dementia risk. MethodsA prospective cohort study was conducted based on the UK Biobank dataset. We included participants aged at least 45 years old without dementia at baseline between 2006-2010. The weighted quantile sum regression was used to explore the mixture effect and weights of three types of physical activity on dementia risk. ResultsThis study includes 354,123 participants, with a mean baseline age of 58.0-year-old and 52.4 % of female participants. During a median follow-up time of 12.5 years, 5,136 cases of dementia were observed. The mixture effect of LPA, MPA, and VPA on dementia was statistically significant (β: -0.0924, 95 % Confidence Interval (CI): (-0.1402, -0.0446), P < 0.001), with VPA (weight: 0.7922) contributing most to a lower dementia risk, followed by MPA (0.1939). For Alzheimer's disease, MPA contributed the most (0.8555); for vascular dementia, VPA contributed the most (0.6271). ConclusionFor Alzheimer's disease, MPA was identified as the most influential factor, while VPA stood out as the most impactful for vascular dementia.

Germ-free status but not subacute polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure altered hepatic phosphatidylcholine and ether-phosphatidylcholine levels in mice

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic pollutants that pose a current ecosystem and human health concern. PCB exposure impacts the gut microbiome in animal models, suggesting a mechanistic link between PCB exposure and adverse health outcomes. The presence and absence of the microbiome and exposure to PCBs independently affect the lipid composition in the liver, which in turn affects the PCB disposition in target tissues, such as the liver. Here, we investigated microbiome × subacute PCB effects on the hepatic lipid composition of conventional and germ-free female mice exposed to 0, 6, or 30 mg/kg body weight of an environmental PCB mixture in sterile corn oil once daily for 3 consecutive days. Hepatic triacylglyceride and polar lipid levels were quantified using mass spectrometric methods following the subacute PCB exposure. The lipidomic analysis revealed no PCB effect on the hepatic levels. No microbiome effect was observed on levels of triacylglyceride and most polar lipid classes. The total hepatic levels of phosphatidylcholine (PC) and ether-phosphatidylcholine (ePC) lipids were lower in germ-free mice than the conventional mice from the same exposure group. Moreover, levels of several unsaturated PCs, such as PC(36:5) and PC(42:10), and ePCs, such as ePC(36:2) and ePC(4:2), were lower in germ-free than conventional female mice. Based on a KEGG pathway meta-analysis of RNA sequencing data, the ether lipid metabolism pathway is altered in the germ-free mouse liver. In contrast to the liver, extractable lipid levels, determined gravimetrically, differed in several tissues from naïve conventional vs. germ-free mice. Overall, microbiome × subacute PCB exposure effects on hepatic lipid composition are unlikely to affect PCB distribution into the mouse liver. Further studies are needed to assess how the different extractable lipid levels in other tissues alter PCB distribution in conventional vs. germ-free mice.

Configuration of a gravel-rubber geotechnical seismic isolation system from laboratory and field tests

We present the outcomes derived from controlled laboratory experiments on utilizing gravel rubber mixtures (GRM) as a geotechnical seismic isolation (GSI) stratum beneath the foundational structure of the EuroProteas prototype. The study encompassed three distinct GRM compositions characterized by varying rubber proportions relative to the total mixture weight (0%, 10%, and 30%) employed as the foundation soil. These GSI-structure systems were subjected to external harmonic forces applied atop the structure of EuroProteas across a broad spectrum of frequencies and force magnitudes. Preceding the commencement of field experiments, resonant column and cyclic triaxial compression assessments were conducted on specimens featuring identical rubber fractions and mean grain size ratios. Our laboratory tests revealed that an increase in rubber content resulted in a reduction of the shear modulus (Go) and an augmentation of the damping ratio (Do) while concurrently inducing a more linear character in the G/Go-logγ-D profiles. The findings derived from the laboratory examinations align closely with those ascertained from field investigations. Expressly, it was confirmed that a GSI layer with a thickness of 0.50 meters, composed of a GRM incorporating 30% rubber content, exhibited a discernible reduction in the overall stiffness of the GSI-structure system, accompanied by a corresponding alteration in its fundamental vibrational frequency. The enhanced damping within the system manifested through observable reductions in acceleration recordings and diminished strain development at the base of the GRM layer with 30% rubber content, encompassing a wide range of frequencies.

Ideology from topic mixture statistics: inference method and example application to carbon tax public opinion

Abstract Political opposition to fiscal climate policy, such as a carbon tax, typically appeals to fiscal conservative ideology. Here, we ask to what extent public opposition to the carbon tax in Canada is, in fact, ideological in origin. As an object of study, ideology is a latent belief structure over a set of issue topics—and in particular their relationships—as revealed through stated opinions. Ideology is thus amenable to a generative modeling approach within the text-as-data paradigm. We use the Structural Topic Model, which generates word content from a set of latent topics and mixture weights placed on them. We fit the model to open-ended survey responses of Canadians elaborating on their support of or opposition to a carbon tax, then use it to infer the set of mixture weights used by each response. We demonstrate this set, moreso than the observed word use, serves efficient discrimination of opposition from support, with near-perfect accuracy on held-out data. We then operationalize ideology as the empirical distribution of inferred topic mixture weights. We propose and use an evaluation of ideology-driven beliefs based on four statistics of this distribution capturing the specificity, variability, expressivity, and alignment of the underlying ideology. We find that the ideology behind responses from respondents who opposed the carbon tax is more specific and aligned, much less expressive, and of similar variability as compared with those who support the tax. We discuss the implications of our results for climate policy and of broad application of our approach in social science.

Recycling glass fiber-reinforced plastic in asphalt concrete production

&lt;abstract&gt; &lt;p&gt;Glass fiber-reinforced plastics (GFRP) have been produced in large quantities for over half a century and nowadays their waste has become a problem worldwide. Their recycling is difficult because they are predominantly manufactured from thermosetting matrices that are not suitable for secondary processing. Only few technologies are able to target full-scale utilization of residual mechanical performance at recycling, with the replacement of gravel in asphalt concrete being one of them. The possibility of introducing crushed GFRP (GFRP crumb) into asphalt concrete and its impact on mechanical characteristics have been investigated in our study. As the source of GFRP, road noise-protection fence was chosen due to large quantities of its waste accumulated in urban economy. Several approaches to produce crumbs were attempted with only shredding being successful. The GFRP crumb has provided excellent mechanical performance of asphalt concrete fabricated by standard routine. In particular, the improvement in compressive modulus was 40%, even under conditions of elevated asphalt concrete temperature at 50 ℃. Besides, introduction of GFRP crumb reduced the overall weight of asphalt concrete mixture, providing further reduction of a carbon footprint. The results obtained indicated that recycling of GFRP waste as replacement of gravel in asphalt concrete provides an economically and environmentally safe solution.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/abstract&gt;

Pengaruh Karakteristik Aspal Modifikasi Getah Pinus Terhadap Peluruhan Campuran Aspal Porus

A porous asphalt mixture is a type of pavement that allows water to drain through, thereby reducing the amount of surface runoff and improving road safety. To drain water quickly, porous asphalt is dominated by coarse aggregate so that the voids in the mixture become larger. Draindown, which is the loss of asphalt binder from the mixture, can cause blockages and reduce the ability of the pavement to drain rainwater. The use of modified asphalt is expected to increase the bonding between the asphalt and aggregate to withstand loading but meet draindown requirements. The pine resin used as an asphalt modifier in this study was 2%, 3%, 4%, and 5%, whereas the percentage of gumrosin was 4% by weight of the modified asphalt. Modified asphalt testing includes the penetration, softening point, ductility, and weight loss. The mixing process of the aggregate with modified asphalt was carried out at 160 °C with asphalt contents of 4.5%, 5%, and 5.5% by weight of the asphalt mixture. The results showed that the penetration value, ductility, and weight loss of the modified asphalt increased, while the softening point decreased with the addition of pine resin. In general, the physical properties of the modified asphalt have a significant effect on the draindown value. Referring to the draindown specifications of the porous asphalt mixture (0.3 %), this requirement is fulfilled in all modified asphalt compositions and asphalt contents used in this study.