Consideration of simple approaches for structural health monitoring of structures in developing countries - An overview

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is an advanced tool that revolutionizes the capability of a structure to act as a responsive system – detecting changes and responding with performance analysis. But, for developing countries, its need is undermined due to its costly deployment. However, contrary to the costly belief, its use is direly needed in densely populated developing countries. Therefore, a simple and cheaper technique (despite lesser precision and accuracy) can help in the early detection of damages in structures. Unfortunately, SHM implementation has been inadequate in developing countries, consequently, limited literature is available to assess. Therefore, the main goal of this literature review is to identify and analyze various SHM approaches and then propose a simple yet effective approach for achieving the basic amenities of SHM. By analyzing previous highly reputable journals, it was deduced that vibration-based approaches are the most cost-effective and simplistic to implement, which have resurged recently due to the increased use of computational tools that minimize extraneous data and provide efficient noise removal. The use of combination techniques in SHM can be cost-effective and accessible for developing nations, providing solutions for infrastructure sustainability

Influence of commercial formulation on the sorption and leaching behaviour of propyzamide in soil

Experiments compared sorption and leaching behaviour for the herbicide propyzamide when applied to two soils either as technical material or in the commercial formulation Kerb® Flo. Sorption was investigated in batch systems as well as using a centrifugation technique to investigate changes in pesticide concentration in soil pore water over incubation periods of up to 28 days. Studies with small soil columns compared leaching of technical and formulated pesticide for irrigation events (6 pore volumes) 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days after treatment. There were no differences in sorption of technical and formulated propyzamide when measured by batch systems. Sorption of technical material was significantly greater than that of formulated pesticide in sandy loam (p<0.05), but not in sandy silt loam when measured by centrifugation of soil incubated at field capacity. Partition coefficients measured by batch and centrifugation methods were similar after 1 day and those measured by centrifugation increased by factors of 5.3 to 7.5 over the next 4 weeks. The mass of propyzamide leached from soil columns ranged between 1.1±0.33% and 14.4±3.2% of the applied amount. For all time intervals and in both soils, the mass of propyzamide leached was significantly greater (two-sided t-tests, p<0.001) for the formulated product than for the technical material. Leached losses decreased consistently with time in the sandy loam soil (losses after 28 days were 14-17% of those after 1 day), but with less consistency in the sandy silt loam. There was a highly significant effect of formulation on the leaching of propyzamide through soil (two-way ANOVA, p<0.001) as well as highly significant effects of time and soil type (p<0.001). Results are consistent with modelling studies where leaching from commercial products in the field could only be simulated by reducing sorption coefficients relative to those measured with technical material in the laboratory

Simultaneous use of Piezoelectric Transducer as Actuator and Sensor in real-time applications

The role of piezoelectric actuators in application at micro and nano scale has been growing over the past three decades. Piezoelectric actuators have high displacement resolution and large bandwidth, therefore they are used in micro and nano scale control applications. Despite enormous research and development, there are challenges in the control of piezoelectric actuators - mainly due to the intrinsic non-linear properties of hysteresis, creep and external conditions dependant complex dielectric properties of piezoelectric material. A more recent development in the control of piezoelectric actuators is simultaneous actuation and sensing of piezoelectric actuators - also called as self-sensing. In this thesis the challenge of simultaneous use of piezoelectric material as actuator and sensor is addressed. A novel method for determining the actuator strain is proposed and experimentally tested. The thesis proposal is to assume a piezoelectric stack actuator as a parallel plate capacitor and to estimate the strain/displacement of the actuator from its capacitance. The capacitance signal is intended to be used as a feedback signal for displacement control purpose. The thesis work started from the scratch - where the proposal was very unclear and needed to be studied and tested experimentally. For experiments a test setup was needed which was designed and built in a clean room environment. In the test setup capacitance of the actuator was measured. A relationship between strain and capacitance was studied from the experimental data. For capacitance measurement a simple low-noise electric circuit based on Op-Amps was designed and built. Whereas strain of the actuator was measured using an interferometer (laser sensor). Charge amplifier was used to give the control signal to the actuator. The capacitance and strain data were acquired using Speedgoat hardware and analyzed in xPC target environment of Matlab. Results show that there exists hysteresis in the capacitance-strain graph, even when the control signal is provided from a charge amplifier. Piezoelectric actuator cannot be modelled as a parallel plate capacitor, due to the fact that piezoelectric material has complex dielectric properties which are control signal's amplitude and frequency dependant and that the resistance of the actuator changes with the strain as well

Impacts of Co-formulants on pesticide sorption and leaching through soil

A large variety of co-formulants are added to commercial pesticide formulations to enhance their biological effectiveness, but their impacts on the behaviour of active substances are largely unknown due to lack of regulatory measures concerning their use. The overall aim of this research was to investigate the impacts of co-formulants on pesticide sorption and leaching through soil. Leaching and sorption experiments were carried out using technical grade and commercial formulations of four different pesticides at various intervals from application in two soils from the Blackwood and Bishampton associations. The effects of formulation, residence time and soil type on the leaching behaviour of pesticides were all found to be highly statistically significant (p<0.001). Both solubility of the active substance and the type of formulation also influenced the effect of formulation on leaching behaviour of pesticides. The relative difference in mass leached between formulated and technical material of low solubility pesticides was less than that for pesticides with greater water solubility. Greater leaching losses of pesticide were observed from an emulsifiable concentrate (EC) formulation compared to suspension concentrate (SC) formulation for the fungicide azoxystrobin. Results from sorption and desorption experiments on propyzamide in the two soils showed that the batch-equilibrium method is not suitable to study the effect of formulation on pesticide sorption. Rather it is important to use a centrifugation technique under natural moisture conditions to characterise these interactions. The effect of formulation on sorption of propyzamide was highly significant (p<0.001) in sandy loam soil, but there was no effect of formulation in the sandy silt loam soil when characterised by a centrifugation technique. Results suggested that any effect of formulation on pesticide sorption was not sufficient to explain fully the effect of formulation on leaching behaviour. Two-site and three-site sorption models were applied and fitted the sorption phase of the experiment well. However, the models failed to describe the observed desorption behaviour of propyzamide. These results highlight gaps in the existing knowledge about the formulation effects on pesticide sorption and leaching through soil and suggest that these effects should be considered during the risk assessment of environmental fate and behaviour of pesticides

Counterterrorism in Public Opinion: A Cross Sectional Research in Punjab, Pakistan

Main objective of terrorism is to influence wide audience and creates state of fear among them Demand for scaled down of terrorism is foremost phenomenon in Pakistan Public pursued governments for not only sustainable terrorism policy but also react to affairs related to terrorism Present study aimed to collect general information regarding terrorism and government responses to terrorism in the light of public perspicacity A cross sectional survey was conducted with a sample size of 372 inhabitants from Punjab Pakistan The study demonstrated public feelings and thinking regarding responses to terrorism by government of Pakistan and role of military offensive actions Majority of the respondents shown confidence on military response to terrorism Political leadership s policies regarding counterterrorism were not highly appreciated by the public Political affiliation of the respondents affirmed the offensive action against all forms of terrorism Political affiliation significantly favors p 000 0 05 the demand that Pakistan army should be given full authority to control terrorism International assistance to counterterrorism was disproved by the people of Pakistan Demand of negotiation with militant was much significant p 001 0 05 among those who belong to religious organization

MULTIDISCIPLINARY MANAGEMENT OF METASTATIC NEUROENDOCRINE TUMOURS

A 65-year-old man presented to his GP with right upper quadrant abdominal pain and weight loss. Abdominal ultrasound showed multiple gallstones and some ill-defined liver lesions. Computer tomography scan diagnosed a terminal ileal lesion causing cicatrisation of the terminal small bowel but does liver abnormality. The patient was worked up with serum gut hormone profile and magnetic resonance imaging of the liver which demonstrated multiple liver lesions and biochemical suspicion of neuroendocrine tumour (NET). The patient underwent a right hemicolectomy and excision/ ablation of 44 liver metastases. He made a good post-operative recovery and remains disease free after 18 months. We also present a brief literature review regarding advances in the management of metastatic NET.Key words: Neuroendocrine tumours, Hepatic metastases, Radiofrequency ablation, Computer tomography, Magneticresonance imagin

Sustainability Analysis of Marble Sector in Buner

Marble is an ornamental stone, extremely popular for use as architectural and sculptural purposes. Nonrenewable marble resources in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan are mostly mined by conventional mining methods(producing irregular shaped blocks) instead of using mechanized mining producing regular shaped blocks.Conventional mining methods are more economical but are less environment friendly due to more quantity of wasteproduced. While, mechanized marble mining has a better recovery, reduces mining cost (processing and transportation)and is less environmentally hazardous. In this study a situation and sustainability analysis of marble mining operationsat Buner, the most productive marble mining cluster in KP, Pakistan, is carried out. Buner has about 1.4 billion tons ofmarble resources and contributes around 51 percent of total country’s marble production. Analytical Hierarchy Process(AHP) is used on the basis of key sustainability factors (economic, technical, social, environmental and safety) forselection of most sustainable mining methods. The analysis revealed that conventional mining is least sustainable andproduces maximum waste, cracks, irregular shaped blocks, high working faces, back break, rock falls and accidents. Itwas concluded and recommended that these conventional mining methods should be replaced with the more sustainablemining methods i.e. semi-mechanized (controlled blasting / expansion material) at sunny grey and get black marbledeposits and mechanized mining (rope cutting) at Bampokha No.1 and Chagharzai white marble deposits

Role of Waqf in poverty mitigation: A study from South Punjab Pakistan

This study investigated the mediating role of family well-being in the relationship between waqf and poverty mitigation. Using a cross-sectional design, data was collected from 350 respondents in a Malaysian context. The results showed that waqf practices have a direct positive effect on poverty mitigation and family well-being. Family well-being, in turn, partially mediates the relationship between waqf and poverty mitigation. The study provides evidence for the potential of waqf practices to improve family well-being, which can ultimately contribute to poverty reduction. The findings have important implications for policymakers, organizations, and Islamic philanthropists involved in poverty reduction efforts. Policymakers can promote and support waqf practices to mitigate poverty, while organizations can focus on initiatives that improve family well-being. The study highlights the importance of family well-being in poverty reduction efforts and provides valuable insights for poverty reduction strategies and initiatives