Nature and Properties of Earthquake Energy and Waves and their Contribution to Liquefaction Aspects at Adani Port During 2001 Bhuj Earth Quake

During Bhuj earthquake of 2001, certain distinct phenomenon in coastal saturated granular deposits were observed causing extensive distress to Adani Port facilities. An attempt is made to analyse the root cause by examining nature and properties of earthquake energy, geometry of earth and the origin of energy and propagation of waves, including excess pore water pressure contributed by Pwave. Although pile raft system were less damaged due to liquefaction, the tests showed extensive loss of load capacity. These aspects are presented in this paper

Estimate the Magnitude and Nature of Distress the Various Structures Have Undergone Due to Recent Bhuj Earthquake

On January 26, 2001 one of the most destructive earthquakes ever to strike India occurred in Gujarat. More than 13,000 lives were lost in this earthquake. Several civil engineering sections have undergone moderate to severe distress. In this paper two cases of one port at Adani and a salt factory which has undergone severe distress has been covered

Composite nanoclay-hydroxyapatite-polymer fiber scaffolds for bone tissue engineering manufactured using pressurized gyration

A novel fabrication of polymer composite fibers using polycaprolactone (PCL), montmorillonite nanoclay (MMT-Clay), and nano-hydroxyapatite-clay (HAP MMT-Clay) is reported for bone tissue engineering applications. Using a pressurized gyration (PG) setup, polycaprolactone (PCL) fibers incorporated with in situ mineralized HAP MMT-Clay and MMT-Clay were investigated. Using the novel fabrication method, we were able to successfully manufacture HAP-nanoclay-PCL fibers. Further, 3D scaffolds made using the prepared fibers were able to enhance bone growth, cell viability, and proliferation. The results demonstrated that the polymer fiber scaffolds are biocompatible, and the cells were able to thrive and differentiate on the fiber scaffolds. A significant increase in cell viability, osteogenic differentiation, ECM formation, and collagen formation was observed with PCL HAP MMT-Clay fibers scaffolds compared to the behaviors in PCL fibers. Further, the intracellular ALP levels increased with PCL HAP MMT-Clay fiber scaffold, indicating enhanced osteogenic differentiation of MSCs. This work shows a promising outlook for the future of manufacturable composite nanoclay polymer fibers incorporated as scaffolds for bone tissue engineering applications

Effects of preservation method on canine (Canis lupus familiaris) fecal microbiota.

Studies involving gut microbiome analysis play an increasing role in the evaluation of health and disease in humans and animals alike. Fecal sampling methods for DNA preservation in laboratory, clinical, and field settings can greatly influence inferences of microbial composition and diversity, but are often inconsistent and under-investigated between studies. Many laboratories have utilized either temperature control or preservation buffers for optimization of DNA preservation, but few studies have evaluated the effects of combining both methods to preserve fecal microbiota. To determine the optimal method for fecal DNA preservation, we collected fecal samples from one canine donor and stored aliquots in RNAlater, 70% ethanol, 50:50 glycerol:PBS, or without buffer at 25 °C, 4 °C, and -80 °C. Fecal DNA was extracted, quantified, and 16S rRNA gene analysis performed on Days 0, 7, 14, and 56 to evaluate changes in DNA concentration, purity, and bacterial diversity and composition over time. We detected overall effects on bacterial community of storage buffer (F-value = 6.87, DF = 3, P < 0.001), storage temperature (F-value=1.77, DF = 3, P = 0.037), and duration of sample storage (F-value = 3.68, DF = 3, P < 0.001). Changes in bacterial composition were observed in samples stored in -80 °C without buffer, a commonly used method for fecal DNA storage, suggesting that simply freezing samples may be suboptimal for bacterial analysis. Fecal preservation with 70% ethanol and RNAlater closely resembled that of fresh samples, though RNAlater yielded significantly lower DNA concentrations (DF = 8.57, P < 0.001). Although bacterial composition varied with temperature and buffer storage, 70% ethanol was the best method for preserving bacterial DNA in canine feces, yielding the highest DNA concentration and minimal changes in bacterial diversity and composition. The differences observed between samples highlight the need to consider optimized post-collection methods in microbiome research

Simulation of industrial gravity separation processes using a general purpose simulator

Gravity separation processes have been used in the mineral industry to separate particles under the action of hydr-odynamic and gravitational forces. Although these equip-ments are extensively used for tonnage processing in coal industry, their use has been now extended to waste trea-tment such as separation of valuable metallic matter from slag. However, these processes never run at their best due to lack of understanding of the process and the under-lying principles of separation. For efficient operation it is desirable that trial runs and pilot tests are conducted but these are often time consuming and expensive. Against this background, this paper attempts to show the capabi-lities of numerical simulation to gain a better under-standing of the process with a view to improve its performance.Data from different coal washeries are colle-cted to simulate the behaviour of the plants. Results of simulation utilizing jigging for coal washing is found to be in good agreement with the plant data. The same coal is also treated in other gravity separation processes in order to decide upon a particular washing circuit

Reach and Operating Time Correction of Digital Distance Relay

Current and voltage signals recieved from conventional iron core Current Transformer (CT) and Voltage Transformer plays very important role for correct operation of Distance Distance Relay (DDR). Increase in secondary burden connected to CT causes it to saturate at earlier stage. The saturated CT produces distorted secondary current, causing DDR to under reach and to operate by certain time delay. Rogowski Coils (RCs) are attaining increased acceptance and use in electrical power system due to their inherent linearity, greater accuracy and wide operating current range. This paper presents use of RC as an advanced measurement device suitable for DDR. Case study for validation of use of RC is carried out on low voltage system. The simulation results of Distance protection scheme used for protection of part of 220kV AC system shows excellent performance of RC over CT under abnormal conditions

A case of fracture talus with medial malleolus treated with headless screws and cancellous cannulated screws using single anteromedial approach

Talar fractures are complex injuries with an array of management options and complications. We present a case of talar fracture with medial malleolus fracture fixed via common anteromedial approach through the fracture site. The incidence of associated malleolar injury has ranged from 19% to 28% in prior studies. The skin condition is often poor and prone to swelling in such cases which makes the management challenging. Along with poor wound healing, joint stiffness, osteonecrosis and osteoarthritis of the ankle are complications affecting the outcome of the patient

Stability of Hill Slopes and Foundation Condition at Radio Astronomy Centre Ootacamand

Stability aspects of hill slopes and foundation considerations of Radio Astronomy Centre at Ootacamand are described. The analysis of slopes indicated that if joints are not covered, the material in joints may lose strength and the slopes may enter a state of instability. Footings with inclined legs were found to resist the horizontal forces, pull and overturning movements. Lime piles adopted for strengthening soft material at one of the tower locations were found to be effective

Trading Structure for Randomness in Wireless Opportunistic Routing

Opportunistic routing is a recent technique that achieves high throughput in the face of lossy wireless links. The current opportunistic routing protocol, ExOR, ties the MAC with routing, imposing a strict schedule on routers' access to the medium. Although the scheduler delivers opportunistic gains, it misses some of the inherent features of the 802.11 MAC. For example, it prevents spatial reuse and thus may underutilize the wireless medium. It also eliminates the layering abstraction, making the protocol less amenable to extensions of alternate traffic type such as multicast.This paper presents MORE, a MAC-independent opportunistic routing protocol. MORE randomly mixes packets before forwarding them. This randomness ensures that routers that hear the same transmission do not forward the same packets. Thus, MORE needs no special scheduler to coordinate routers and can run directly on top of 802.11. Experimental results from a 20-node wireless testbed show that MORE's average unicast throughput is 20% higher than ExOR, and the gains rise to 50% over ExOR when there is a chance of spatial reuse. For multicast, MORE's gains increase with the number of destinations, and are 35-200% greater than ExOR