Effect of CFRP Retrofitting on Seismic Vulnerability of Reinforced Concrete Frame Structures in Pakistan

The objective of this research work is to study the effect of CFRF retrofitting on the seismic vulnerability of typical reinforced concrete structures in Pakistan. Pakistan is located in high seismicity zone as it lies on seismic fault line which divides the area in such a way that half of it lies in Eurasian plate and other half lies in Indian plate. After the massive earthquake of Kashmir 2005 most of the structures failed because of the high seismic vulnerability of existing structures. After 2005 event, earthquake zones were also changed to a higher hazard level, hence increasing the seismic demand on the existing structures that were constructed prior to the earthquake 2005. This research accounts for the seismic vulnerability assessment of reinforced concrete frame structures in Pakistan and the effect of retrofitting on these structures. After carrying out a detailed survey of Pakistan a hypothetical reinforced concrete frame structure, typologically similar in construction practices in Pakistan is designed and modelled in Perform 3D to study the effect of lateral forces on these structures. Seismic vulnerability curves are computed using Capacity Spectrum Method and the effect of seismic forces on existing structure is studied. In order to improve the seismic performance the joints of RC frame structure are retrofitted using CFRP which are the critical elements for structural performance. By using the confined properties of concrete through CFRP, an analytical curve is developed again using the same procedure. These curves are compared and the effect of retrofitting is studied

Yield potential study of Capsicum annuum L. under the application of PGPR

Plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPR) play an important role in the healthy growth and yield improvement of different crops. The use of PGPR includes various groups of bacteria that live freely in the soil and has ability to enhance the growth of various crops through diverse mechanisms. This study was conducted to evaluate the yield enhancing effect of PGPR on Bell Pepper (Capsicum annuum). This study was conducted in the experimental fields of FMC United (Pvt) Limited at Sahiwal, Pakistan during the winter under controlled tunnel in the cropping season 2013-14. The various formulations of PGPR (Klebsiella sp. + Burkholderia sp. + Panibacillus sp. + Bacillus sp.) was applied after every 20-30days interval in the field of Bell Pepper to study their effects on per acre yield. Data was recorded and statistically analyzed to evaluate effects of PGPR on bell pepper yield. Results showed consistent per acre yield increase with the increase of PGPR formulations. Significant genotypic and phenotypic correlations were also found between yield per treatment and yield per acre. Higher yield per treatment and yield per acre was recorded at 6-litre/acre application of PGPR formulation. It was concluded that use of PGPR could be helpful to improve the health of crop with increased yield of this important vegetable. It is proposed that further evaluation at multiple locations and compositions will help to chalk out a comprehensive application protocol of PGPR bacteria on vegetable as well as field crops

Characterization and efficiency assessment of PGPR for enhancement of rice (Oryza sativa L.) yield

Background: Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) play an important role in phosphorous solublization, nutrient uptake and crop productivity. A variety of PGPR and their combinations were supplemented to rice crop for evaluation of their effects on plant height, filled grain per panicle, tillers per plant, 1000 grain weight, panicle length and yield per acre.    Methods: Roots of sugarcane plants and their adhering soil samples were used as an isolation source for PGPR. The nursery plant roots of local rice varieties i.e. Super Basmati and Basmati-515 were inoculated with isolated PGPR formulation. Data was recorded and statistically analyzed to determine analysis of variance, genetic correlation, path coefficient and principle component. Results: 5 out of 11 bacterial strains produced high indole acetic acid (IAA). Other 6 were either average or low producers of the acid. The strains selected for maximum amount of phosphorous solublization were CEMB-22 (Klebsiella sp.) and CEMB-15 (Burkholderia sp.) with best IAA production. It was found that higher genetic advance, heritability, genotypic and phenotypic correlation have positive direct effects on yield properties of rice.Conclusion: Yield of rice can be enhanced by the application of CEMB-22+CEMB-15 PGPR in combined formulation

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care

Genetic polymorphism in proinflammatory cytokines in bronchiectasis

Bronchiectasis is a disease characterised by chronic bronchial sepsis and exerts considerable morbidity in those affected. In approximately 50% of cases the aetiology is unknown (idiopathic), raising the possibility of genetic predisposition. Cytokines such as IL-1, IL-6, IL-8 and TNFα are potent neutrophil recruiting molecules and are abundant in bronchiectatic secretions. Cytokine polymorph isms can lead to constitutively high production, and have been associated with a number of chronic inflammatory states. Hypothesis: Gene polymorph isms associated with high cytokine production predispose to idiopathic bronchiectasis (IB). Aims and objectives: To determine if high production alleles of cytokines IL-1β, IL6, IL8, TNF and IFNG are associated with idiopathic bronchiectasis (I B). Frequencies of these alleles were compared in patients with IB, bronchiectasis of known cause and normal controls. Allele frequencies in IB were also correlated with clinical markers of disease severity. Methods Following ethical approval, prospectively recruited patients underwent extensive clinical. phenotyping. IB was established as a diagnosis of exclusion. Allele frequencies for candidate genes were determined by PCR, with control allele frequencies available from local blood donors. Comparisons were made by Chi Square tests. Results: 189 patients (95f, 94m), mean (SO) age 66.11 (11.52) years were recruited including 82 (43%) idiopathies, No differences in the candidate allele frequencies were found between IB with 200+ controls and bronchiectasis of known cause group (n=1 06). Within idiopathic group, IL8+781T, IL6-174C, and IL1B-511T alleles were significantly associated with daily sputum production. In addition, IL8+781T and IL6-174C were associated with high exacerbation frequency and positive Pseudomonas aeruginosa culture. IL-1 B+3953T was significantly under- represented in those with daily sputum production and positive Pseudomonas status. Conclusions: Gene polymorphisms predisposing to high cytokine production were not found to be associated with lB. Several alleles were found to significantly associated with more severe disease. Independent confirmation is required in an adequately powered study.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Long-term sustainability and resilience enhancement of building portfolios

The role of community building portfolios in socioeconomic development and the growth of the built environment cannot be overstated. Damage to these structures can have far-reaching consequences on socioeconomic and environmental aspects, requiring a long-term perspective for recovery. As communities aim to enhance their resilience and sustainability, there is a cost burden that needs to be considered. To address this issue, this paper proposes a community-level performance enhancement approach that focuses on optimizing the long-term resilience and sustainability of community building portfolios, taking into account recurrent seismic hazards. A Gaussian process surrogate-based multi-objective optimization framework is utilized to optimize the cost objective while considering performance indicators for resilience and sustainability. The proposed framework involves using performance-based assessment methods to evaluate the socioeconomic and environmental consequences under stochastic and recurrent seismic hazard scenarios. These evaluated indicators are then used to efficiently optimize the community resilience and sustainability, taking into account the retrofit costs. Finally, approximate Pareto-optimal solutions are extracted and utilized for decision-making. In summary, this paper presents a novel approach for optimizing the long-term resilience and sustainability of community building portfolios by considering recurrent seismic hazards. The proposed framework incorporates performance-based assessment methods and multi-objective optimization techniques to achieve an optimal balance between cost, resilience, and sustainability, with the ultimate goal of enhancing community well-being and decision-making in the face of seismic hazards

RESPONSE OF COMPOSITE BRIDGE GIRDERS EXPOSED TO REALISTIC FIRE SCENARIOS USING A DEEP LEARNING BASED APPROACH

This paper presents an accurate and predictive framework for evaluating composite bridge performance under realistic fire scenarios by exploiting CFD-FE coupling and advanced ANN modelling capabilities. A series of realistic fire scenarios are developed by conducting CFD simulations. Various parameters affecting the fire behaviour are included in CFD model such as bridge soffit height, fire intensity, and fire location along the bridge span. The time temperature history obtained from CFD simulations is coupled with Finite Element (FE) model to analyse the structural performance of composite bridges with different thicknesses of fire protective coatings. While performing CFD and FE simulations is a tedious and computationally expensive task, an ANN model is trained on simulation data to provide rapid predictions of structural fire response of composite bridges. The ANN model proposed in this study predicts crucial parameters such as failure time, failure temperature and vertical displacement behaviour for assessing structural performance and safety of composite bridges during fire events. This enables fire safety engineers to quickly evaluate the structural response under numerous fire scenarios and corresponding design alternatives, resulting in an efficient decision-making tool in bridge fire design and fire safety assessment

Electrophoretic deposition of polyvinyl alcohol, C–H NRs along with moringa on an SS substrate for orthopedic implant applications

Metals are commonly used in bone implants due to their durability and load-bearing capabilities, yet they often suffer from biofilm growth and corrosion. To overcome these challenges, implants with enhanced biocompatibility, bioactivity, and antimicrobial properties are preferred. Stainless steel (SS) implants are widely favored in orthopedics for their mechanical strength and cost-effectiveness. To address the issues related to SS implants, we developed composite coatings using synthetic biopolymer polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), calcium hydrate (C–H) nanorods for improved bioactivity and antibacterial properties, and Moringa oleifera to enhance osteogenic induction. These coatings were deposited on 316L SS through electrophoretic deposition (EPD), providing protection against body fluids and enhancing the corrosion resistance of the SS. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the presence of the desired tobermorite crystal structure, while scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed nanorod-like C–H structures, a film thickness of 29 microns, and a hedgehog-like morphology in the composite particles. The coated sample demonstrated a contact angle of 64°, optimal for protein attachment and cellular uptake. Additionally, the coating exhibited strong adhesion with less than 5% damage observed in cross-cut hatch testing and appropriate surface roughness for protein attachment. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) assessed the thermal response of the materials. The coating also showed antibacterial activity against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Furthermore, the sample exhibited rapid bioactivity by forming a hydroxyapatite (HA) layer within 24 hours, with 35.4% degradability within 24 hours and 44.5% within 48 hours. These findings confirm that the composite film enhances the biocompatibility, bioactivity, and antibacterial properties of SS orthopedic implants in a cost-effective manner

An In Vitro Study of the Photodynamic Effectiveness of GO-Ag Nanocomposites against Human Breast Cancer Cells

Graphene-based materials have garnered significant attention because of their versatile bioapplications and extraordinary properties. Graphene oxide (GO) is an extremely oxidized form of graphene accompanied by the functional groups of oxygen on its surface. GO is an outstanding platform on which to pacify silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs), which gives rise to the graphene oxide-silver nanoparticle (GO-Ag) nanocomposite. In this experimental study, the toxicity of graphene oxide-silver (GO-Ag) nanocomposites was assessed in an in vitro human breast cancer model to optimize the parameters of photodynamic therapy. GO-Ag was prepared using the hydrothermal method, and characterization was done by X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-rays Analysis (EDAX), atomic force microscopy and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. The experiments were done both with laser exposure, as well as in darkness, to examine the phototoxicity and cytotoxicity of the nanocomposites. The cytotoxicity of the GO-Ag was confirmed via a methyl-thiazole-tetrazolium (MTT) assay and intracellular reactive oxygen species production analysis. The phototoxic effect explored the dose-dependent decrease in the cell viability, as well as provoked cell death via apoptosis. An enormously significant escalation of 1O2 in the samples when exposed to daylight was perceived. Statistical analysis was performed on the experimental results to confirm the worth and clarity of the results, with p-values < 0.05 selected as significant. These outcomes suggest that GO-Ag nanocomposites could serve as potential candidates for targeted breast cancer therapy