Standardisation of partial strength connections of extended end-plate connections for trapezoid web profiled steel sections

Traditionally, connections are usually classified as pinned or rigid although the actual behaviour is known to fall between these two extreme cases. The use of partial strength or semi-rigid connections has been encouraged by codes and studies on the matter known as semi-continuous construction have proven that substantial savings in steel weight of the overall construction. The objective of this paper is to develop a series of standardised partial strength connections tables of extended end-plate connections for trapezoidal web profiled steel (TWP) sections. The range of standard connections presented in tabulated form is limited to eight tables comprised of different geometrical aspects of the connections. These tables could enhance the design of semi-continuous construction of multi-storey braced steel frames. The connections are presented in the form of standardised tables which include moment capacity and shear capacity after considering all possible failure modes. A method proposed by Steel Construction Institute (SCI) which take into account the requirements in Eurocode 3 and BS 5950:2000 Part 1 were adopted to predict the moment capacity and shear capacity in developing the tables. A series of tests have been carried out to validate the results of the standardised tables. The test results showed good agreement between theoretical and experimental values. It can be concluded that the proposed standardised tables for TWP sections is suitable to be used in the design of semi-continuous construction

A comprehensive review of ethnobotanical plants used by the people of Pir Panjal Range in (Jammu Division) Union Territory Himalaya of Jammu and Kashmir- India

The current paper provides a taxonomic inventory of the medicinal plant species collected by the author during the last one decade from Pir Panjal range in (Jammu Division) Himalaya of Union territory Jammu & Kashmir- India. The inventory records a total no of 76 medicinal species belonging to 45 families of the total taxa were recorded for the medicinal Purposes. The inventory is expected to provide baseline scientific data for further studies on plant diversity in Jammu division and can be used to facilitate the long-term conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plant resources in the Himalaya region, and among all the families Cucurbitaceae and Euphorbiaceae were found to be most dominant families in term of the species in the areas with 06 species, followed by Polygonaceae and Rosaceae

Shop floor planning and control in integrated manufacturing systems

The implementation of a shop floor planning and control system is a prerequisite in establishing an effective computer integrated manufacturing system. A shop floor control system integrates management production goals with the capabilities and limitations of the manufacturing plant. Shop floor planning begins with a long term rough cut capacity plan and evolves into near term, capacity requirements and input/output plans. Shop floor control provides a status of in-process operations and a measure of the plants success in executing the plan. Effective use of technology on shop floor increases the efficiency of the manufacturing plant. Simulation is an important tools in accomplishing this. The use of simulation for planning and control of shop floor activities is a natural out growth of its application for the design of systems. Simulation, when used for production planning and control, is a useful vehicle for providing the discipline necessary for effective shop floor control in integrated manufacturing systems

DEVELOPMENT OF A SOFT PNEUMATIC ACTUATOR FOR MODULAR ROBOTIC MECHANISMS

Soft robotics is a widely and rapidly growing field of research today. Soft pneumatic actuators, as a fundamental element in soft robotics, have gained huge popularity and are being employed for the development of soft robots. During the last decade, a variety of hyper-elastic robotic systems have been realized. As the name suggests, such robots are made up of soft materials, and do not have any underlying rigid mechanical structure. These robots are actuated employing various methods like pneumatic, electroactive, jamming etc. Generally, in order to achieve a desired mechanical response to produce required actuation or manipulation, two or more materials having different stiffness are utilized to develop a soft robot. However, this method introduces complications in the fabrication process as well as in further design flexibility and modifications. The current work presents a design scheme of a soft robotic actuator adapting an easier fabrication approach, which is economical and environment friendly as well. The purpose is the realization of a soft pneumatic actuator having functional ability to produce effective actuation, and which is further employable to develop modular and scalable mechanisms. That infers to scrutinize the profile and orientation of the internal actuation cavity and the outer shape of viii the actuator. Utilization of a single material for this actuator has been considered to make this design scheme convenient. A commercial silicone rubber was selected which served for an economical process both in terms of the cost as well as its accommodating fabrication process through molding. In order to obtain the material behavior, \u2018Ansys Workbench 17.1 R \u2019 has been used. Cubic outline for the actuator aided towards the realization of a body shape which can easily be engaged for the development of modular mechanisms employing multiple units. This outer body shape further facilitates to achieve the stability and portability of the actuator. The soft actuator has been named \u2018Soft Cubic Module\u2019 based on its external cubic shape. For the internal actuation cavity design, various shapes, such as spherical, elliptical and cylindrical, were examined considering their different sizes and orientations within the cubic module. These internal cavities were simulated in order to achieve single degree of freedom actuation. That means, only one face of the cube is principally required to produce effective deformation. \u2018Creo Perametric 3.0 M 130\u2019 has been used to design the model and to evaluate the performance of actuation cavities in terms of effective deformation and the resulting von-mises stress. Out of the simulated profiles, cylindrical cavity with desired outcomes has been further considered to design the soft actuator. \u2018Ansys Workbench 17.1 R \u2019 environment was further used to assess the performance of cylindrical actuation cavity. Evaluation in two different simulation environments helped to validate the initially achieved results. The developed soft cubic actuator was then employed to develop different mechanisms in a single unit configuration as well as multi-unit robotic system developments. This design scheme is considered as the first tool to investigate its capacity to perform certain given tasks in various configurations. Alongside its application as a single unit gripper and a two unit bio-mimetic crawling mechanism, this soft actuator has been employed to realize a four degree ix of freedom robotic mechanism. The formation of this primitive soft robotic four axis mechanism is being further considered to develop an equivalent mechanism similar to the well known Stewart platform, with advantages of compactness, simpler kinematics design, easier control, and lesser cost. Overall, the accomplished results indicate that the design scheme of Soft Cubic Module is helpful in realizing a simple and cost-effective soft pneumatic actuator which is modular and scalable. Another favourable point of this scheme is the use of a single material with convenient fabrication and handling

Does Human Capital Expedite Economic Development? The Case of Pakistan

The population merely is not a guarantee of the economic development of a country. The human capital increases the productivity of the workforce and develops the good working environment characterized by commitment and motivation. The low level of the human capital is viewed as one of the factors that may hinder the process of economic development in low developed countries. This conjecture seems working in Pakistan. This study is an endeavor to examine how human capital influences the economic development of Pakistan by using the time series data for the period (1971-2009). For the data analysis, the bound testing approach to co integration within the framework of the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) was used. The empirical results of all the proxies of human capital except ‘expenditure on education’ supported the hypothesis