Evaluation of seismic fragility of structures—a case study

The present paper attempts to evaluate the seismic fragility for a typical elevated water-retaining structure. The structure is analysed for two cases: (i) empty tank; and (ii) tank filled with water. The various parameters that could affect the seismic structural response include material strength of concrete and reinforcing steel, effective prestress available in the tank, ductility ratio and structural damping available within the structure, normalised ground motion response spectral shape, foundation and surrounding soil parameters and the total height of water available in the tank. Based on this case study, the seismic fragility of the structure is developed. The results are presented as families of conditional probability curves plotted against peak ground acceleration (PGA) at two critical locations. The procedure adopted, incorporates the various randomness and uncertainty associated with the parameters under consideration.     

Lipid composition ofNeurospora crassa

The lipids ofNeurospora crassa, isolated in pure form from freeze-dried mycelium, were found to contain squalene, sterol esters, triglycerides, free fatty acids, geranylgeraniol, free sterols, carotenoids, cardiolipin, phosphatidyl ethanolamine, phosphatidyl choline, phosphatidyl serine, and phosphatidic acid. The above compounds were isolated in pure form by column and thin layer chromatography and were characterized by infrared spectroscopy and chromatographic mobilities. Fatty acid moieties were characterized by gas liquid chromatographic retention times of their methyl esters relative to those of authentic standards. The fatty acid composition of the triglycerides was found to be similar to that of phosphatidic acid, cardiolipin, and lecithin.     

Observation of Meyer-Neldel relation for non-isothermal crystallization in Se<Subscript>70</Subscript>Te<Subscript>30</Subscript> and Se<Subscript>70</Subscript>Te<Subscript>28</Subscript>M<Subscript>2</Subscript> (M = Ag,Sb, Zn) glasses

In the present paper, we report the applicability of Meyer-Neldel rule for pre-exponential factor of non-isothermal crystallization in Se₇₀Te₃₀ and Se₇₀Te₂₈M₂ (M = Ag, Sb, Zn) glasses using DSC technique. We have observed strong correlation between pre-exponential factor K ₀ and activation energy of non-isothermal crystallization E _c for the present glasses.     

Vitamin A fortification: Recent advances in encapsulation technologies

Vitamin A is an essential micronutrient whose deficiency is still a major health concern in many regions of the world. It plays an essential role in human growth and development, immunity, and vision, but may also help prevent several other chronic diseases. The total amount of vitamin A in the human diet often falls below the recommended dietary allowance of approximately 900–1000 $\mu$g/day for a healthy adult. Moreover, a significant proportion of vitamin A may be degraded during food processing, storage, and distribution, thereby reducing its bioactivity. Finally, the vitamin A in some foods has a relatively low bioavailability, which further reduces its efficacy. The World Health Organization has recommended fortification of foods and beverages as a safe and cost-effective means of addressing vitamin A deficiency. However, there are several factors that must be overcome before effective fortified foods can be developed, including the low solubility, chemical stability, and bioavailability of this oil-soluble vitamin. Consequently, strategies are required to evenly disperse the vitamin throughout food matrices, to inhibit its chemical degradation, to avoid any adverse interactions with any other food components, to ensure the food is palatable, and to increase its bioavailability. In this review article, we discuss the chemical, physical, and nutritional attributes of vitamin A, its main dietary sources, the factors contributing to its current deficiency, and various strategies to address these deficiencies, including diet diversification, biofortification, and food fortification.     

Synthesis and Humidity Sensing Properties of NiO Intercalated Polyaniline Nanocomposite

The exercising cooperative and interfacial properties of metal oxide and conducting polymer as a sensing material for humidity detection was the focal point of this study. In this piece of work nano sized NiO and its composite with polyaniline has been prepared. The cooperative effects of NiO on stuructural, morphology, humidity sensing behaviour of PANI has been investigated. Prepared materials were characterized by infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM),UV–VIS spectroscopy and Four probe techniques. The result reveals that the NiO strongly influences on polymer chain, crystallinity, stability, electrical and optical properties of PANI, which improves its viability in technology development. Finally, PANI/NiO was used for electrochemical humidity sensing of a closed atmosphere. The result reveals that 100 times increase in sensitivity of PANI due to the presence of NiO nano particles. Finally, the results indicate that the impact of NiO on PANI makes it promising perspective materials for humidity monitoring of closed chamber with improved sensing parameters over several method and materials.     

Life Cycle Assessment of Wire Rope Used in Crane Application in a Steel Plant

Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention - Wire rope is an important part of any crane. Failure of wire rope may lead to major loss in terms of life and cost. Wire rope failures are attributed by...     

Maximum likelihood estimates of mean and variance of occupation radiation doses subjected to minimum detection levels

Data collection and its analysis in the field of nuclear safety is an important task in the sense that it powers the improvement of safety as well as reliability of the plant. Thus, occupational exposure data analysis is presented to measure the safety or reliability of radiation protection of a given facility. It also is required as a basic input in making decisions on radiation protection regulations and recommendations. A common practice in radiation protection is to record a zero for observation below minimum detection limit (MDL) doses, which leads to an underestimation of true doses and overestimation of the dose-response relationship. Exposure data (both external and internal) are collected by monitoring each individual and this kind of monitoring generally is graded as low-level monitoring. So, in such low-level monitoring, the occurrence of exposure below MDL invites statistical complications for estimating mean and variance because the data are generally censored, i.e observations below MDL are marked. In Type I censoring, the point of censoring (e.g. the detection limit) is 'fixed' a priori for all observations and the number of the censored observations varies. In Type II censoring, the number of censored observations is fixed a priori, and the point of censoring vary. The methodology generally followed in estimating mean and variance with these censored data was the replacement of missing dose by half the MDL. In this paper, authors have used the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) approach for the estimation of mean and standard deviation. A computer code BDLCENSOR has been developed in which all these MLE-based advanced algorithms are implemented. In addition to the MLE-based method, an expectation maximisation algorithm has also been implemented. The code is written using Visual BASIC 6.0. The paper describes the details of the algorithms adopted for handling such censored data to estimate bias free mean and standard deviation.     

Analysis of groundwater quality using fuzzy synthetic evaluation

This paper reports the application of fuzzy set theory for decision-making in the assessment of physico-chemical quality of groundwater for drinking purposes. Methodology based on fuzzy set theory used to express the quality of water in the imprecise environment of monitored data and prescribed limits given in a non-probabilistic sense. Fuzzy synthetic evaluation model gives the certainty levels for the acceptability of the water based on the prescribed limit of various regulatory bodies quality class and perception of the experts from the field of drinking water quality. Application of fuzzy rule based optimization model is illustrated with 42 groundwater samples collected from the 15 villages of Ateli block of southern Haryana, India. These samples were analysed for 16 different physico-chemical water quality parameters. Ten parameters were used for the quality assessment using this approach. The analysis showed that four samples were in "desirable" category with certainty level of 35-58%, 23 samples were in "acceptable" category whose certainty level ranged from 37 to 75% and remaining 15 samples were in "not acceptable" category for drinking purposes with certainty levels from 44 to 100%. This concludes that about 64% water sources were either in "desirable" or "acceptable" category for drinking purposes.     

Study of the distribution of ²²⁶Ra in ground water near the uranium industry of Jharkhand, India

Ground water is the principal source of drinking water in the rural areas of India. With the aim of determining, the contribution of (226)Ra to natural background radiation through drinking water exposure pathway near an operating uranium mining industry at Jaduguda, Jharkhand state of eastern India, the (226)Ra activity concentrations were measured in potable ground water. The water analysed, both tube well and well water, was collected in areas near the uranium industry and away. The (226)Ra concentration was measured by emanometric technique. The (226)Ra level in ground water was ranging between minimum detection limit of 3.5 mBq l(-1) and a maximum of 208 mBq l(-1). The analysis of variance reveals that there is insignificant statistical variation in the median (226)Ra concentration up to a distance of >10 km from the mining complex. Variation in concentration of (226)Ra in sources is attributed to the local geochemistry and environmental factors. The (226)Ra concentration was significantly elevated in natural artesian wells in the vicinity of uranium mineralised hill and it varies from 53.4 to 754 mBq l(-1). The WHO [Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality. Third Edition, Vol. 1, Recommendation (2004)] guideline value of 1000 mBq l(-1) has not been exceeded in any of the sources investigated.