Thermodynamic characterization of a non-commercial emulsifying agent for asphalt emulsion.

The objective of the present work was to characterize a non-commercial emulsifying agent: dodecylpyridinium thiocyanate (C12PCNS). This study was carried out by conductimetry technique in the temperature range 25-50 °C. Assuming the system conforms to the pseudo-phase separation model, change of standard Gibbs free energy, ΔG, enthalpy, ΔH, and entropy of micellization, ΔS, were estimated.

Multicenter laboratory evaluation of the MB/BacT Mycobacterium detection system and the BACTEC MGIT 960 system in comparison with the BACTEC 460TB system for susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

In this multicenter study, the reliability of two nonradiometric, fully automated systems, the MB/BacT and BACTEC MGIT 960 systems, for testing the susceptibilities of 82 Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains to isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol, and streptomycin was evaluated in comparison with the radiometric BACTEC 460TB system. The arbitration of discrepant results was done by the reanalysis of the strain, the determination of the MIC, and the molecular characterization of some resistance determinants. The overall level of agreement with BACTEC 460TB results was 96% with the MB/BacT test and 97.