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This study investigated the detailed optimization of wheat straw ash (WSA) as a pozzolanic material. Characterization of WSA as pozzolanic materials was carried out according to ASTM C618 and results indicated that WSA calcined at 700 [degrees]C for 2 h fulfilled ASTM C618 requirement and results were also confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of WSA samples. Effect of WSA on setting time, mechanical properties, alkali-silica reaction (ASR), hydration process, and microstructure of cement paste (CP) and concrete was studied. Compressive and flexural strength of concrete mixture containing 14% WSA was 7.5% and 19.5% more as compared to control mixture at 28 days respectively. ASR expansion of mortar prisms and hydration temperature was reduced due to WSA incorporation. XRD and scanning electron microscopy investigations of CP indicated that WSA improved the microstructure of CP and was effective in imparting the pozzolanic characteristics during hydration reaction at 7 and 28 days. Key words: wheat straw ash, strength activity index, heat of hydration, alkali-silica reaction, mechanical properties. Cette etude a porte sur l'optimisation detaillee de cendres de paille de ble (CPB) utilise comme materiau pouzzolanique. La caracterisation des CPB en tant que materiau pouzzolanique a ete effectuee conformement a la norme ASTM C618 et les resultats ont indique que les CPB calcinees a 700 [degrees]C pendant 2 heures repondaient a l'exigence ASTM C618 et que les resultats ont egalement ete confirmes par l'analyse par diffraction des rayons X des echantillons de CPB. On a etudie l'effet des CPB sur le temps de prise, les proprietes mecaniques, la reaction alcali-silice (RAS), le processus d'hydratation et la microstructure des pates de ciment (PC) et du beton. La resistance a la compression et a la flexion du melange de beton contenant 14 % de CPB etait, respectivement, de 7,5 et de 19,5 % superieure a celle du melange temoin a 28 jours. L'expansion de la RAS des prismes de mortier et la temperature d'hydratation ont ete reduites en raison de l'incorporation de CPB. Les etudes par diffraction des rayons X et la microscopie electronique a balayage (MEB) des PC ont indique que les CPB ont ameliore la microstructure des PC et ont transmis de facon efficace les caracteristiques pouzzolaniques pendant la reaction d'hydratation a 7 et a 28 jours. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : cendres de paille de ble, indice de l'essor de la resistance, chaleur d'hydratation, reaction alcali-silice, proprietes mecaniques., Introduction Concrete is a widely used construction material in the world due to its beneficial mechanical properties (Kene et al. 2011; Rao et al. 2014). It has been reported that [...]

Introduction. Cranioplasty is a standard neurosurgical procedure these days where surgeons repair a defect or deformity of a skull. This procedure can lead to fatal experiences after surgery. We encounter a similar experience we want to share. Case report. we present a case of 37 years 37-year-old patient who developed epidural fluid collection after cranioplasty. The patient deteriorated after surgery which we managed carefully and recovered later. Conclusion. Post-cranioplasty patients should be under observation and neurological deterioration should be kept in mind. Surgical intervention is not always needed and can be managed conservatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zinc (Zn) is an imperative micro-nutrient for plant growth and development. Zinc is deficient all over the world, particularly in the developing countries and Zn sulfate is supplied as a source of Zn fertilizer. However, maximum part of the applied Zn sulfate become fixed in the soil and unavailable to plant. Plant growth promoting bacteria improving the crop growth and yield on sustainable basis. Inoculation of bacterial strains used is an effective technology, but limited research is available under field conditions. Therefore, field experiment was conducted under irrigated and rainfed conditions to evaluate the inoculation effect of indigenous beneficial microbes (BM) on wheat growth, yield and Zn accumulation. Different treatment combinations (0, 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 kg Zn ha−1 without and with BM) were used on two wheat varieties (Wadaan-17 and Zincol-16). Results revealed that inoculating BM with chemical Zn fertilizer significantly (P ≤.05) boosted yield and Zn accumulation in grain and straw. In irrigated conditions, yield increased by 33%, Zn accumulation in grain by 141% and in straw by 98.2%, but in rainfed conditions, yield increased by 38.9% Zn accumulation in grain by 130% and in straw by 123%. Compared to Zincol-16, Wadaan-17 performed better in terms of yield and Zn accumulation under both irrigated and rainfed conditions. The study concluded that inoculation of certain BM might reduce the rate at which chemical Zn fertilizer was used in both irrigated and rainfed conditions and could be employed as potential bio-inoculants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gallium was substituted in Bi0.97K0.9Fe1−xGaxO3 (x = 0.00, 0.04, 0.08, 0.12, and 0.16) and synthesized using a simple citrate sol–gel technique. Structural, magnetic, dielectric, and optical properties were investigated. XRD patterns revealed two intense peaks (110) and (104) merged into a single peak for x = 0.08 and induced structural phase from rhombohedral to orthorhombic symmetry. Cell volume was decreased with the substitution of K-Ga up to x = 0.12. The crystallite size lies in the range of 17.90–45.71 nm. Bulk density was reduced from 2.36 to 2.24 g/cm3 because bigger ionic incorporation resulted in less diffusion at grain boundaries, increasing inner pores. The optical analysis confirmed that the Ga-O bond length was more significant than the Fe–O bond length, and the Fe–O bond length was stretched with Ga incorporation in BKFO. For x = 0.12, dielectric constant and dielectric loss decreased due to the Ga3+ ion's stable ion yield reduction of Fe3+ at octahedral sites. So, the hopping of electrons between Fe3+ and Fe2+ becomes tricky, and electron accumulation occurs at the interface of grain boundaries which hampers and decreases dielectric polarization. These results suggested that synthesized materials may be applicable in dielectric resonators, magnetic field sensors, and magnetoelectric coupling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brain tumor is an active research topic in the area of medical imaging due to only 36% survival rate. The malignant tumor is a more dangerous type of tumor. The recent facts and figures show that 700,000 American are living in brain tumor and from them, 30.25% tumors are malignant. The diagnosis at the initial stage can help to minimize the human mortality rate due to brain tumor. Several researchers of computer vision proposed computer-aided diagnosis systems for this purpose but they faced several issues such as low accuracy and higher computational time. In this work, an end-to-end optimized deep learning system for multimodal brain tumor classification is proposed. The BRATS datasets are utilized for evaluation. The contrast is enhanced at the very first step by using hybrid division histogram equalization along ant colony optimization approach and train a newly design nine-layered CNN model. The features are extracted from second fully connected layer and optimized through differential evolution and mouth flame optimization. The output of both methods is fused using matrix length approach and passed in multi-class support vector machine (MC-SVM). In the experimental process, suggested method achieved an accuracy of 99.06, 98.76, 98.18 and 94.6%, on BRATS 2013, BRATS 2015, BRATS 2017 and BRATS 2018, respectively. Comparing results with existing techniques shows the superiority of proposed technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the history of Indian classical music, particularly in instrumental genres, very few women could achieve success. The developments that did come about were observed over the past 150 years. Since the early 20th century, it became significantly more common for women to learn Indian classical music instruments. It was a component of a change to a new national consciousness. During the last 300-400 years, approx., Hindustani music originated in royal palaces. Musical compositions were meant for the amusement of the affluent section of society and the musicians who performed were all males of families among whom the art was passed down through the generations. The circumstances in Bangladesh were not any different. However, the trends are now beginning to change. In every avenue of art and culture, women take charge and demonstrate their successes, just like men. The musical intelligentsia believes there are some obstacles in Bangladesh for women who want to pursue a music career, but this is true for both men and women. Some obstacles are designed specifically for women naturally, but they are used elsewhere. This paper highlights and underlines the contribution of women musicians of Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brake pads are crucial for vehicle safety, converting kinetic energy to halt motion. They come in types like organic, semi -metallic, ceramic, and metallic. Beyond automotive, brake pads find application in industries such as aerospace, railways, manufacturing, and wind energy for controlled deceleration and safety. This study is primarily concerned with the quality and appropriateness of ceramic brake pads for automotive applications, which are an essential aspect of braking systems for vehicles. The performance characteristics of ceramic brake pads are well established, and this study explores the variables affecting their quality. Under high pressure, brake pad samples are prepared in the study using Powder Metallurgy (PM), which guarantees superior mechanical qualities by removing interface bonding problems. The samples are then sintered at 2850. Hardness, temperature resistance, wear resistance, and Electron Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) analysis are all included in the evaluation to ascertain the make-up and distribution of the materials in the brake pad. EDS sheds light on the degree of sintering and the presence of reinforcements. Heat resistance is evaluated using controlled thermal testing, while wear resistance and hardness are determined through Rockwell hardness testing and wear tests, respectively. These measurements are validated for use in automotive disc braking systems for vehicles and motorcycles. The findings are more reliable thanks to statistical analysis done with MINITAB. The study highlights research gaps in environmentally friendly materials, emerging technology impacts, and long-term brake pad durability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MRI segmentation and analysis are significant tasks in clinical cardiac computations. A cardiovascular MR scan with left ventricular segmentation seems necessary to diagnose and further treat the disease. The proposed method for left ventricle segmentation works as a combination of the intelligent histogram-based image enhancement technique with a Light U-Net model. This technique serves as the basis for choosing the low-contrast image subjected to the stretching technique and produces sharp object contours with good contrast settings for the segmentation process. After enhancement, the images are subjected to the encoder–decoder configuration of U-Net using a novel lightweight processing model. Encoder sampling is supported by a block of three parallel convolutional layers with supporting functions that improve the semantics for segmentation at various levels of resolutions and features. The proposed method finally increased segmentation efficiency, extracting the most relevant image resources from depth-to-depth convolutions, filtering them through each network block, and producing more precise resource maps. The dataset of MICCAI 2009 served as an assessment tool of the proposed methodology and provides a dice coefficient value of 97.7%, accuracy of 92%, and precision of 98.17%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]