The construction of highway infrastructure requires large quantities of construction materials and is an energy-intensive activity. Issues like scarcity of construction materials, increasing cost of materials, increasing cost of construction processes, and the emphasis on less polluting construction procedures have led to advancements in pavement construction practices. One such example is foamed bitumen technology. In this process, cold water is injected into a hot bitumen medium, which leads to drastic expansion of bitumen, forming a fine mist or foam. The performance of foam bitumen mixtures is influenced by the bitumen properties, as well as by the foaming process. This paper deals with research on the rheology of three different types of binders having low viscosity (in the range of 500 to 3 000 Poise at 60°C) on foaming characteristics. The water content and temperature also have significant effects on foam decay and the expansion ratio of foam. Results show that a low viscosity bitumen consumes less energy during the foam process compared to high viscosity bitumen. The conclusion drawn from this study is that the expansion ratio and half-life of foam bitumen depend on the rheology of the bitumen, as well as on the chemical composition of the bitumen. It was concluded that, with an increase in carbonyl and sulphoxide compound, the expansion ratio decreases and the half-life increases.

For preparing medium range weather forecasts, two global coarse resolution models at different resolutions were used at the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), India. In order to improve the forecasting skill, an ensemble prediction system (EPS) was implemented on experimental basis. For generating initial perturbations a breeding method was implemented. Experimental forecast runs with 8-member ensemble were carried out and results are analyzed for a monsoon season. The ensemble mean of rainfall forecasts shows that over the broad region of Gangetic Plains, the EPS brings out the monsoon activity (active and weak spell) reasonably well six days in advance. However, over the eastern parts of India, the ensemble mean rainfall is good only in short-range. The ensemble spread becomes quite large from about day-4 forecast and beyond. An examination of the rainfall pattern from day-1 to day-6 forecasts by the model and the ensemble spread shows there is no linearity in the increase of spread with the rainfall amount. The model has a systematic tendency to enhance rainfall activity over the central Bay of Bengal and eastern parts of India as the length of forecast is increased. At the same time, the model tends to dry up over the equatorial Indian Ocean region, however, in the high-resolution model, the same tendency is not seen. In circulation fields, the model also has large systematic errors. These results suggest that to obtain maximum benefit from the ensemble prediction system, the systematic biases in the model must be reduced as the breeding method only takes care of the uncertainties in the initial conditions.

En el National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forcasting (NCMRWF) de la India se utilizan dos modelos globales, a diferentes resoluciones, para preparar pronósticos de tiempo de rango medio. Para mejorar la habilidad de los pronósticos se implementó, de manera experimental, un sistema ensamblado de predicción (EPS). Se realizaron corridas de pronósticos experimentales con un ensamble de ocho miembros y los resultados se analizan para la temporada del monzón. La media de los pronósticos de precipitación del ensamble muestra que, sobre una amplia región de las planicies del Ganges, el EPS muestra la actividad del monzón (activo y débil) de manera razonablemente buena con un avance de hasta seis días. Sin embargo, en las partes orientales de la India la media de precipitación del ensamble es buena sólo en rango corto. La propagación del ensamble se hace bastante grande a partir del día 4 del pronóstico y más allá. El examen del patrón de precipitación del modelo y de la propagación del ensamble, para los días 1 a 6 de pronóstico, muestra que no hay relación lineal entre el incremento de la propagación y la cantidad de precipitación. El modelo tiene la tendencia sistemática de incrementar la actividad de precipitación sobre la parte central de la Bahía de Bengala y las partes orientales de la India al incrementarse la longitud del pronóstico. Al mismo tiempo el modelo tiende a secar la región ecuatorial del Océano Índico, sin embargo esta tendencia no se observa en el modelo de alta resolución. En los campos de circulación el modelo también tiene errores sistemáticos grandes. Los resultados sugieren que para obtener el máximo beneficio del EPS las desviaciones sistemáticas del modelo deben reducirse ya que el método de anidamiento considera únicamente las incertidumbres de las condiciones iniciales y no los errores relacionados con el modelo.

Scorpions can be considered living fossils because they have changed so little during the last 400 million years. They are venomous arthropods of the Arachnida class and regarded as relatives of spiders, ticks and mites. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the toxicity of Androctonus crassicauda (Olivier, 1807) venom and its effects on the acetylcholinesterase (AchE) activity and on electrolytes levels in rats. Animals were divided into seven groups of five rats each. Test groups received 250µg/kg of venom solution while control group was treated with 200µl of physiological saline solution (PSS). Blood samples were collected from the animals on the 1st, 2nd 4th, 8th, 12th, and 24th hours after subcutaneous injection of venom. Animals were monitored for 24 hours. Androctonus crassicauda venom significantly reduced AchE activity on the 12th hour when compared with control group. A statistically negative correlation between Na+ and K+ (p<0.05) and a positive correlation between Na+ and CL- (p<0.001) ions levels were observed after the administration of A. crassiccauda venom to rats. We can conclude that the differences in the electrolytes levels are due to acute renal failure, since elimination of toxin occurs primarily via the kidney.

Scorpions are venomous arthropods of the class Arachnida and are considered relatives of spiders, ticks and mites. There are approximately 1,500 species of scorpions worldwide, which are characterized by an elongated body and a segmented tail that ends in a venomous stinger. No specific treatment is available for scorpion envenomation, except for the use of antivenom. The current study aimed at comparing protein content and lethality of Androctonus crassicauda venom extracted by two different methods (electric stimulation and maceration of telsons). The LD50 calculated by probit analysis was 1.1mg/kg for venom obtained by electric stimulation and 39.19mg/kg for venom obtained by maceration of telsons. In the electrophoretic analysis, protein bands of the venom sample obtained by electric stimulation were between 12 and 53kDa (total: five bands), and those of venom extracted by maceration appeared as multiple protein bands, relative to the other venom sample. Low-molecular-weight proteins, revealed by western blotting, played an important immunogenic role in the production of antivenom. Lethality and protein levels varied according to the extraction method; venom obtained by the maceration technique showed lower toxicity than that obtained by electric stimulation.

Scorpion envenomation remains a real health problem in many countries. In scorpionism cases, it is often recommended that patients be treated with species-specific antivenom. Androctonus crassicauda venom has been used as antigen for antivenom production in Turkey, where this antivenom, called Turkish antivenom, has also been effective in the treatment of envenomation caused by species other than A. crassicauda. The present study aimed at determining the paraspecific effects and potency of the Turkish antivenom against Mesobuthus gibbosus (Brullé, 1832) venom. To assess the venom toxicity and the antivenom efficacy, we determined the Minimum Lethal Dose (MLD) and the Minimum Effective Dose (MED) instead of LD50 and ED50, respectively. Androctonus crassicauda antivenom was capable of neutralizing M. gibbosus venom (20 MLD). This was the first study indicating that A. crassicauda antivenom can be used for the treatment of Mesobuthus gibbosus stings, especially in Aegean Region, Turkey.

The aim of the present study was to analyze the parametric values of Androctonus crassicauda (Oliver, 1807), the most significant scorpion species in Turkey. For this purpose, 11 male and 11 female A. crassicauda specimens were collected from Sanliurfa region. The body parts most important for species identification were measured by using sensitive calipers. Differences between sexes were statistically significant for pectinal organ length (female: 7.50±1.26mm;male: 8.63±1.05mm; p=0.033), pectinal tooth count (female: 25.36±0.86;male: 33.36±0.80; p=0.000), and carapace width (female: 10.27±1.19mm;male: 9.09±0.73mm; p=0.000). However, body length (female: 90.09±14.74mm;male: 82.95±5.40mm), abdomen width (female: 12.09±1.90mm;male: 11.09±0.88mm), and metasoma length (female: 43.09±3.08mm;male: 44.63±6.50mm) were not significantly different between sexes.