Search

The main objective of this study was to examine the combined effect of ground recycled concrete cement (GRC) and thermo-activated recycled concrete cement (TARC) on properties of mortar. The physical, chemical and microstructural tests were conducted to characterize GRC and TARC before mortar mixtures were produced. The microscopic morphology of GRC and TARC revealed uneven edges and a rough surface that is slightly porous. The GRC and TARC powders were used to replace cement in the range of 0-50% at increments of 10% by volume. The fresh, mechanical, microstructure, and durability characteristics of mortar were tested for different proportion of GRC and TARC as partial replacement of cement. The usage of GRC and TARC decreases the workability of mortar marginally. However, the mechanical performance of the mortar mixtures showed an increasing trend when GRC and TARC share increases in the mixture. Predominantly, compressive strength, bulk density, and ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) have all been increased by as much as 20% cement replacement. Furthermore, the incorporation of GRC and TARC enhances the mortar's durability properties. The microstructure analysis reveals that 20% replacement (GT20) mix has superior structural compactness. In general, partially substitution of GRC and TARC by ordinary Portland cement improves several characteristics of mortar. This will help solve the most prevalent problems that concrete produces, including the high embedded carbon dioxide creation, the high resource usage, and the high waste generation after demolition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart tourism can be thought of as a whole ecosystem of smart tourists, smart technologies, and smart businesses. There are more than 952 academic studies related to Smart Tourism in the Web of Science (WoS) database. Therefore, it would be useful to examine the conceptual structure and thematic development of Smart Tourism. This study is to analyze the field of smart tourism using scientific mapping methods. Bibliometric data of 489 articles were downloaded from the WoS. This paper first conducts a co-occurrence analysis using VosViewer to determine the prominent terms and connections between them. Then, a content analysis is performed using SciMat to gain a deeper understanding of the field and its evolution from 2013 to 2022 for Smart Tourism. In this context, strategic maps, thematic networks of topics, and an evolutionary map were obtained to understand the field better by using SciMAT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Chicken muscle is an important factor in meat quality and its development is controlled by a complex regulatory network. 2. The following study examined the expression of miR-30a-3p in Gushi chicken breast muscle tissue and found that it was differentially expressed at different embryonic stages, reaching a peak in the 14-day-old embryo (E14). 3. The effect of miR-30a-3p on chicken primary myoblasts (CPMs) was explored. Results from both cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU) showed that this can inhibit the proliferation of myoblasts, and through cell cycle experiments, the inhibition of myoblast proliferation was found, which may be due to G0/G1 arrest in the cell cycle. 4. The effect of miR-30a-3p on the differentiation of myoblasts was studied. The results showed that miR-30a-3p can promote the expression of MYOD, myogenin (MYOG), and myosin heavy chain (MYHC) genes to promote the differentiation of myoblasts. Through MYHC protein immunofluorescence experiments, it was found that miR-30a-3p can effectively increase the area of myotubes. 5. Finally, mRNA transcriptome data was analysed, which showed that miR-30a-3p has 51 potential target genes. Among them, forkhead box O3 (FOXO3), ankyrin repeat domain 1 (ANKRD1), and insulin-induced 1 (INSIG1) genes were differentially expressed at different developmental stages and were enriched in Gene Ontology (GO) terms, such as cell differentiation and cellular developmental process. The data showed that tyrosine 3-monooxygenase/tryptophan 5-monooxygenase activation protein gamma (YWHAG), BUB1 mitotic checkpoint serine/threonine kinase (BUB1), and growth arrest and DNA damage-inducible 45 (GADD45) genes were enriched in the cell cycle pathway. 6. It can be speculated that miR-30a-3p plays roles through these genes in myoblast development. This research provides information for further improving knowledge of the chicken muscle development regulation network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2008 global financial crisis and its aftermath have shown the ability to predict bankruptcy to be a vital management skill and that the methodologies used for that purpose should be as close to reality as possible. This study aims to develop a multiple criteria system to predict bankruptcy in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It combines cognitive mapping with the measuring attractiveness by a categorical based evaluation technique (MACBETH), resulting in a more complete and transparent process for evaluating SMEs and their risk of bankruptcy. What differentiates this framework is the fact that it is based on information obtained directly from managers and bank analysts who deal with this type of adversity on a daily basis. The results highlight the importance of financial and strategic aspects, among others, and demonstrate how cognitive mapping can improve the understanding of the decision situation at hand, while MACBETH facilitates the calculation of trade-offs among evaluation criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The austenite microstructure evolution and softening processes have been studied in a 23Cr–6Ni–3Mo duplex stainless steel, comprising equal fractions of austenite and ferrite, deformed in uniaxial compression at 1000 °C using strain rates of 0.1 and 10 s−1. The texture and microstructure evolution within austenite was similar in character for both the strain rate used. The observed large-scale subdivision of austenite grains/islands into complex-shaped deformation bands, typically separated by relatively wide transition regions, has been attributed to the complex strain fields within this phase. Organised, self-screening microband arrays were locally present within austenite and displayed a crystallographic character for a wide range of austenite orientations. The microband boundaries were aligned with the traces of {1 1 1} slip planes containing slip systems having high, although not necessarily the highest possible, Schmid factors. The slightly lower mean intercept length and higher mean misorientation obtained for the sub-boundaries at the higher strain rate can be ascribed to the expected more restricted dynamic recovery processes compared to the low strain rate case. Dynamic recrystallisation within austenite was extremely limited and mainly occurred via the strain-induced migration of the distorted original twin boundaries, followed by the formation of multiple twinning chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]