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The temperature estimation within asphalt concrete (AC) overlaid on cement-stabilized bases (CSB) is necessary for pavement analysis and design. However, the impact of different CSB gradations and rubberized CSB on AC temperature has not been thoroughly investigated. This study aims to clarify this effect by examining two types of CSB with nominal particle aggregate sizes of 25 mm and 31.5 mm, as well as the substitution of 5%, 10%, and 20% graded aggregates with rubber aggregates (RA) in CSB Dmax 25 using Ansys-based numerical simulations. The modelling also investigated 11 scenarios with different AC thicknesses (hAC) ranging from 6 to 26 cm. The results indicated that CSB Dmax 31.5 reduced the daily maximum temperature fluctuation at the bottom of the AC (∆TbottomAC) by approximately 8% compared to CSB Dmax 25. The inclusion of 5% RA in CSB Dmax 25 decreased ∆TbottomAC by up to 20%. Additionally, the rubberized CSB increased the maximum temperature gradient between the top and bottom of the AC (ΔTmaxAC) by 9.5% with 5% RA and a 6 cm AC thickness; however, this increase was insignificant when hAC exceeded 12 cm. This study also proposed the use of artificial neural network (ANN) models to predict the AC’s temperature distribution based on depth, the time of day, surface paving temperatures, and hAC. The proposed ANN model demonstrated high accuracy (R2 = 0.996 and MSE = 0.000685),which was confirmed by the numerical simulations, with an acceptable RMSE ranging from 0.28 °C to 0.67 °C.

Pelvic arteriovenous malformation is a rare vascular abnormality, espescially in male patients, and is difficult to treat because of its nature supplied by multiple arterial feeders. We report a 70-year-old male patient admitted due to symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Ultrasound was performed initially, and no other abnormalities were found other than an enlarged prostate. CT scan later demonstrated a pelvic arteriovenous malformation adjacent to the prostate, with multiple arterial feeders from the right internal iliac artery. Angiography confirmed the diagnosis, and transaterial embolization was successfully done. The symptoms disappeared several days later, and the patient remained asymptompmatic during follow-up.

Elevated hepatic ceramide levels have been implicated in both insulin resistance (IR) and hepatic steatosis. To understand the factors contributing to hepatic ceramide levels in mice of both sexes, we have quantitated ceramides in a reference population of mice, the Hybrid Mouse Diversity Panel that has been previously characterized for a variety of metabolic syndrome traits. We observed significant positive correlations between Cer(d18:1/16:0) and IR/hepatic steatosis, consistent with previous findings, although the relationship broke down between sexes, as females were less insulin resistant, but had higher Cer(d18:1/16:0) levels than males. The sex difference was due in part to testosterone-mediated repression of ceramide synthase 6. One ceramide species, Cer(d18:1/20:0), was present at higher levels in males and was associated with IR only in males. Clear evidence of gene-by-sex and gene-by-diet interactions was observed, including sex-specific genome-wide association study results. Thus, our studies show clear differences in how hepatic ceramides are regulated between the sexes, which again suggests that the physiological roles of certain hepatic ceramides differ between the sexes.

In this study, the authors present the design and development of a novel ultra-wideband coupled-line balun on a multilayer liquid crystal polymer substrate. The balun is designed using a quarter wavelength (λ/4) asymmetric broadside coupled line. The defected ground structure and a lumped phase compensation circuit are developed to achieve wide bandwidth performance for the balun. The balun has a measured bandwidth ratio of 23:1, from 80 to 1860 MHz. Within the operating bandwidth, the experimental results demonstrate that the balun achieves an input return loss of better than 10 dB, an insertion loss of better than 1 dB, an amplitude imbalance of better than ±0.4 dB and a phase imbalance of better than ±10°. The size of the balun is 40.64 mm × 40.64 mm or 0.22 λg × 0.22 λg, where λg is the guided wavelength at the centre frequency of 970 MHz.

The temperature estimation within asphalt concrete (AC) overlaid on cement-stabilized bases (CSB) is necessary for pavement analysis and design. However, the impact of different CSB gradations and rubberized CSB on AC temperature has not been thoroughly investigated. This study aims to clarify this effect by examining two types of CSB with nominal particle aggregate sizes of 25 mm and 31.5 mm, as well as the substitution of 5%, 10%, and 20% graded aggregates with rubber aggregates (RA) in CSB Dmax 25 using Ansys-based numerical simulations. The modelling also investigated 11 scenarios with different AC thicknesses (hAC) ranging from 6 to 26 cm. The results indicated that CSB Dmax 31.5 reduced the daily maximum temperature fluctuation at the bottom of the AC (∆TbottomAC) by approximately 8% compared to CSB Dmax 25. The inclusion of 5% RA in CSB Dmax 25 decreased ∆TbottomAC by up to 20%. Additionally, the rubberized CSB increased the maximum temperature gradient between the top and bottom of the AC (ΔTmaxAC) by 9.5% with 5% RA and a 6 cm AC thickness; however, this increase was insignificant when hAC exceeded 12 cm. This study also proposed the use of artificial neural network (ANN) models to predict the AC's temperature distribution based on depth, the time of day, surface paving temperatures, and hAC. The proposed ANN model demonstrated high accuracy (R2 = 0.996 and MSE = 0.000685),which was confirmed by the numerical simulations, with an acceptable RMSE ranging from 0.28 °C to 0.67 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]