Circular path and linear momentum method for seismic response analysis of vehicles

We propose a circular path and linear momentum method for the seismic response analysis of vehicles. This method considers the momentum induced by earthquake excitation and applies the concept of centripetal force acting laterally on the vehicle in addition to longitudinal forces. This method is valid for vehicles at rest as well as those moving at a range of speeds. The vertical responses are calculated using a quarter vehicle model. We also calculate the translational motion of the vehicle using a model with six degrees of freedom. Three vehicle types (car, bus, and truck) were used in the analysis. We compared the result with analysis of the response of a shaking vehicle from video footage recorded during the Gorkha earthquake. We used the input ground motion from 10 large earthquakes of moment magnitudes 6.7 to 9.0. All three components of the ground motion were used in the analysis. Vehicles at rest and moving at various speeds were analysed. The lateral and longitudinal responses of the vehicles were calculated for different vehicle speeds ranging from 0 to 30.0 m/s, PGA excitations and orientations of the vehicle

Ground motion characteristics of the 2015 gorkha earthquake, survey of damage to stone masonry structures and structural field tests

On April 25, 2015, a M7.8 earthquake rattled central Nepal; ground motion recorded in Kantipath, Kathmandu, 76.86 km east of the epicenter suggested that the low frequency component was dominant. We consider data from eight aftershocks following the Gorkha earthquake and analyze ground motion characteristics; we found that most of the ground motion records are dominated by low frequencies for events with a moment magnitude greater than 6. The Gorkha earthquake devastated hundreds of thousands of structures. In the countryside, and especially in rural mountainous areas, most of the buildings that collapsed were stone masonry constructions. Detailed damage assessments of stone masonry buildings in Harmi Gorkha had done, with an epicentral distance of about 17 km. Structures were categorized as large, medium and small depending on their plinth area size and number of stories. Most of the structures in the area were damaged; interestingly, all ridge-line structures were heavily damaged. Moreover, Schmidt hammer tests were undertaken to determine the compressive strength of stone masonry, brick masonry with mud mortar for normal buildings and historical monuments. The compressive strengths of stone and brick masonry were found to be 12.38 and 18.75 MPa, respectively. Historical structures constructed with special bricks had a compressive strength of 29.50 MPa. Pullout tests were also conducted to determine the stone masonry-mud mortar bond strength. The cohesive strength of mud mortar and the coefficient of friction were determined

A short glimpse on promising pharmacological effects of Begenia ciliata

Bergenia ciliata is a potent indigenous folk medicine that has been proved fruitful in the treatment of various adverse conditions of the body. The major chemical constituents of plant include tannic acid, gallic acid, glucose, metarbin, albumen, bergenin, (+)-catechin, gallicin. Bergenia ciliata was subjected to bioactivity analysis. The plant has antitussive, antiulcer, antioxidant, antibacterial, hypoglycemic, toxicological activity. It was observed that root and leaves extract were promising as antifungal agent. The root and leaves extract were effective against Microsporum canis, Pleuroetus oustreatus and Candida albicans.   All the extracts except chloroform extract of root and leaves of Bergenia ciliata were found to possess hypoglycemic activity in Streptozotocin (STZ) treated rats. The methanolic extract exhibited significant anti-tussive activity in a dose-dependent manner. B. ciliata bear potent anti-neoplastic activities that may have prospective clinical use as precursor for preventive medicine. Methanolic and aqueous B. ciliata rhizome extracts were found to possess antioxidant activity, including reducing power, free radical scavenging activity and lipid peroxidation inhibition potential. Bergenia ciliata extracts exhibit a narrow spectrum antibacterial activity. The results obtained thus suggest that extracts of B. ciliata have promising therapeutic potential and could be considered as potential source for drug development by pharmaceutical industries

Pharmacological activities of pyrazolone derivatives

Pyrazoline is a five member heterocyclic ring which is a versatile lead compound for designing potent bioactive agents. The review of the literature shows that the pyrazoline derivatives are quite stable and has inspired the chemists to synthesize the new pyrazoline derivatives. The past studies of pyrazoline derivative revealed that they are useful in pharmaceutical and agrochemical research. Pyrazoline derivatives display various pharmacological activities such as antitumor, antitubercular, antimicrobial, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant etc. and the pharmacological activities of different synthesized compound are reviewed in the present article

Assessment of COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal: A lockdown scenario analysis

The Government of Nepal issued a nationwide lockdown from 24 March to 21 July 2020, prohibiting domestic and international travels, closure of the border and non-essential services. There were only two confirmed cases from 610 Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests and no fatalities when the government introduced nationwide lockdown. This study aimed to explore the overall scenario of COVID-19 including spatial distribution of cases; government efforts, and impact on public health, socio-economy, and education during the lockdown in Nepal. We collated and analyzed data using official figures from the Nepalese Ministry of Health and Population. Nepal had performed 7,791 RT-PCR tests for COVID-19, the highest number of tests during the lockdown. It has recorded its highest daily rise in coronavirus infections with a total of 740 new cases from the total of 4,483 RT-PCR tests performed on a single day. Nepal had reported a total of 17,994 positive cases and 40 deaths at the end of lockdown. The spatial distribution clearly shows that the cases were rapidly spreading from the southern part of the country where most points of entry and exit from India are located. To contain the spread of the virus, the government has also initiated various preventive measures and strategies during the lockdown. The Government of Nepal needs to allocate more resources, increase its capacity to test and trace, establish dedicated isolation and quarantine facility and impose local restrictions such as a local lockdown based on risk assessment rather than a nationwide lockdown

PRODRUG AS A NOVEL APPROACH OF DRUG DELIVERY- A REVIEW

Prodrugs are bioreversible derivatives of drug molecules that undergo an enzymatic and/or chemical transformation in vivo to release the active parent drug, which can then exert the desired pharmacological effect. Prodrug design is a choice of approach in solving many of the problems like stability, toxicity, solubility, permeability and drug targeting that affect drug discovery and development. Prodrug design is fruitful approach for drug targeting by changing the physiochemical, biopharmaceutical or pharmacokinetic properties of drugs. About 10-14% of drugs approved worldwide can be classified as prodrugs. The present article takes a review of introduction, classification, applications of prodrug design in various areas of drug development and basic functional groups that are amenable to prodrug design.Keywords: Prodrugs, objectives, classification, application, functional groups, limitation

A REVIEW ON PHARMACEUTICAL PROCESS VALIDATION OF SOLID DOSAGE FORM [TABLETS]

The article gives an introduction and general overview on process validation of pharmaceutical tablet manufacturing process. Process Validation is one of the important steps in achieving and maintaining the quality of final product. Process validation emphasizes the role of statistical tools and analyses, knowledge, detection, and control of variability and thus gives assurance on consistency of quality product. The validation study provides the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility of the established and documented test methods employed by the manufacturer. Thus, validation is an essential part of the quality assurance. This review examines the need for pharmaceutical validation, the various approaches, process and steps to be monitored during tablet manufacturing process. Key words: Process Validation, Types, Validation Stages, Guidelines and Process.Â

Synthesis of ZnO Nanoparticles by Chemical Method and its Structural and Optical Characterization

In this report, ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) was synthesized by chemical method using Zinc Acetate dehydrate [Zn(CH3COO)2.2H2O)] as precursors and Ethanol and distilled water as solvent. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) was used to maintain the pH and helps to establish the NPs. The NPs are characterized by XRD, UV-visible spectroscopy and SEM image analysis. The XRD characterization gives the polycrystalline nature of ZnO NPs with the size ~23 nm and ~27 nm calculated by Scherrer’s method and Williamson–Hall method respectively. The crystalline size of these NPs calculated using XRD pattern is validated by SEM image analysis. Using the UV-Visible spectrophotometer and Tauc plot method, the optical band gap of ZnO is found to be 3.35 eV. The uniform size distribution of NPs shown in SEM image and strong UV absorption shown in UV-Visible spectra indicate that thus prepared NPs are highly desirable for photo-catalytic activity and detection applications. BIBECHANA 19 (2022) 90-9