Archives-June... 

This paper presents the rehabilitation of a bridge (Zero bridge) which is constructed of old traditional construction material i.e. Wood (Timber). It includes the design considerations of substructure and superstructure of the bridge, Need for rehabilitation of bridge, difference between old and new design of bridge. Apart from the modern construction materials which are well documented in the codes of practice, Wood is an old traditional construction material which has proved to be durable, easy constructable , and effective for resisting earthquake loading as well.

Relationship of landscape position and soil properties to maize (Zea mays L.) yield was studied in coastal plain soils of Akwa Ibom state. The study aimed at assessing the physico-chemical soil attributes down the geomorphic surface as well as assessing the yield of maize in the respective landscape positions. A total of 3600 plant population (hybrid maize) were planted on 0.072ha in a Randomized complete block design. The traditional land preparation technique was employed after slashing the re-growth vegetation with cutlass. The trashes was left on the sites and allowed to dry for three weeks before burning. Pre-burn soil samples were taken before burning the trashes at the end of three weeks after slashing. The samples collected were analyzed in the laboratory for physico-chemical properties using standard methods (ASTM and IITA). Collected data were statistically analyzed and means of statistically significant parameters were separated using LSD (0.05). The results showed that sand particle of burnt and un-burnt soils were significantly different at 0-15cm of Upper slope (US) but not significantly different in other landscape positions (p<0.05). Soil pH in burnt soil was significantly different from the un-burnt soil (both at surface and sub surface) in the three landscape positions. Mean maize yields (with husk) was 0.09 and 0.11kg/ha ‘before’ and ‘after’ burning plots of US ; 0.12 and 0.16kg/ha in ‘before’ and ‘after’ burning plot of the middle Slope (MS) while the Bottom valley (BV) had 0.14 and 0.16kg/ha in ‘before’ and ‘after’ burning plots. Altogether, both husked and de-husked yields were higher in burnt plots than un-burnt plots. Along the slope, husked yield followed the order: BV (0.15kg/ha) > MS (0.14kg/ha) > UP (0.10kg/ha)) while de-husked yield also followed similar pattern but different magnitude.

The dye, Grey BL was adsorbed on an absorbent prepared from mature leaves of the Arasu tree (ficus relegosia) leaves powder(ALP). In order to understand the adsorption behavior of Arasu Biomass Carbon, batch type experiments, effect of PH Contact time, Carbon dose are conducted and properly examined. At PH 7 the dye studies could be removed effectively. The Isothermal data fitted with both Langmuir and Freundlich model. The adsorption processes followed the first order rate kinetics. Mathematical Equations have been designed for the wide range of applications. The results in this study indicated that Arasu Leaves Powder was an attractive candidate for removing dye from industrial effluent and waste water.

Lambani community has been ardent in retaining traditional symbols despite the influence of modern practices as evidenced by their female dress and adoration practices. These people respect the traditional values and practices. Alcohol liquor is being in use by Lambani community in many ceremonies. Offering of the liquor and receiving of liquor during some ceremonies is very important aspect often depict the status and standard of persons involved. These people have a long history of preparing their own liquor. They have their own special methods of brewing and distillation which is specific to specific tanda (abode). Being the persons engaged in trade, demand of liquor for other community people will also force these people to engage in preparation and supply of liquor. However, law of the land prohibits preparation and storage of liquor without government sanction and standards prescribed. Thus, authorities have targeted this community as being involved in crime of preparing illicit liquor. Involvement of specific community in specific crime needs to be dealt with the knowledge of social-anthropology. Accordingly a study of ceremonies involving utilization of liquor among 18 tandas of Karnataka has been conducted and socio-cultural significance of the factors involved has been discussed.

There are numerous limitations with the existing traditional authentication methods used to protect private data such as PIN/password which is easy to duplicate and forgotten. This paper proposes a novel methodology to protect private information by means of secured password administration system using biometric authentication. The system architecture and main modules are presented.

This work is carried out to provide a corrective analysis of a typical water pipeline network with varied flow rates/discharges in order to obtain adequate pressure that must be maintained to cause a pipeline grid balance in a distribution network of a closed conduit. The network was taken to be analogous to a direct-electrical circuit analogy of current flow, which provides a simplified approach to complex distribution network problems. The fluid in the conduit is in a steady-state, hence the work adopts the application of steady-state energy equations of Darcy Weisbach, Hardy Cross and Hazen Williams in the analysis of head losses associated with flow through pipeline of varying sizes, bends, fittings, and surface roughness.

There are many attempts to apply artificial neural networks in mechanical engineering field. In this work an attempt has been made to apply the artificial neural networks in the analysis of automotive tires. The study of tire performance and deformation are challenging owing to the non-linearity associated with geometry as well as composition of material. The tire material is a cord-rubber composite, its properties anisotropic in nature. The present attempt is to analyze the tire using artificial neural network. The tire deformation under various inflation pressures has been modeled by artificial neural network. To train the network, the experimental data has been used. It has been found that the artificial neural network can effectively be used in the analysis of pneumatic tires. The artificial neural network is employed to analyze the displacement of side wall of the tire for various pressures. The pressures are given as the input and the artificial neural network is trained with the displacement of ‘x’ and ‘y’ as the output target. The ultimate purpose of a finite element analysis is to create mathematical behaviour of an actual engineering system. In other words, the analysis must be an accurate mathematical model of a physical prototype. This model comprises all the nodes, element material properties, real constants, boundary conditions, and other features that are used to represent the physical system. In ANSYS terminology, the term model generation usually takes on the narrower nurturing of generating the nodes and elements that represent the spatial volume and connectivity of the actual system. Thus the model generation means the process of defining the geometric configuration of the model nodes and elements.

A new series of Cr(III) , Co(II), Fe(III) and Cu(II) complexes with the chalcone ligand were studied on the growth of Rhabdomyo sarcomas (RD) cell Line in human by using in vitro system and compared with anticancer drug cisplatin (cis-pt) as appositive control. The cancer cells were treated with different concentration and cis-pt after 72 hr. exposure time. The cytotoxic activity was tested by inhibition rate as parameter. The results showed significant differences (p<0.05) for each three treatments when the inhibition rates were increased. The synthesized compounds were tested for antimicrobial activity by cup plate diffusion method. The results indicate the enhanced activity of metal complexes over the parent ligands.

The use of sumac plant extract as corrosion inhibitor for ?-brass in nitric acid solution was investigated using weight loss, potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and electrochemical frequency modulation (EFM) measurements. It was found that sumac extract behaves as inhibitor. The inhibition efficiency increases with increasing sumac concentration, but decreases with raising the temperature. The adsorption of sumac on the ?-brass surface follows Langmuir's adsorption isotherm. The effect of the temperature on the corrosion rate of ?-brass in 1M nitric acid was studied. Potentiodynamic polarization studies showed that sumac extract is mixed type inhibitor and the results obtained from different techniques are in good agreement.

TiO₂ and TiO₂-SiO₂ nanocomposite was synthesized by sol-gel method at room temperature using titanium tetraisopropoxide with ethanol and water mixture as Titania source and Silicic acid as Silica source. Characterization of the product was carried out by means of X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (EDS), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR). An average grain size of ~13nm was obtained for TiO₂ and ~2nm for TiO₂-SiO₂, as estimated by the Debye-Scherrer’s equation. From the FTIR results, peaks were observed at 3408 cm^-1 and 1627 cm^-1 in both samples due to stretching and bending vibrations of -OH groups.