Supply and demand for cereals in Nepal, 2010–2030:

This paper attempts to estimate the future supply and demand for cereals in Nepal. While there has been considerable research in the past examining the agricultural sector in Nepal, to the best of our knowledge there has been no analysis of the supply-demand scenario for food grains in the country. The analysis undertaken in this paper attempts to bridge this gap in the literature by estimating supply and demand models for the three most important cereals in Nepal's food basket: rice, wheat, and maize. The supply projections have been carried out on the basis of a single-crop production function model using data for the period 1995–2008. For estimating the demand function and projecting future demand, data from the Nepal Living Standards Survey II (NLSS II), undertaken in the year 2003/04, are used.cereal supply, cereal demand,

Corrosion of Reinforced Concrete and Its Protection

Concrete is used as construction material in the form of plain or reinforced concrete through out the world. It has to withstand the physical, chemical and environmental effects for fulfilling the durability characteristics. The environmental changes due to pollution, lack of main-tenance, poor quality of work, lack of supervision, use of defective materials etc have also taken a heavy toll of concrete structures. Among various factors affecting the reinforced concrete structures the atmosphere, water, salts are most common factors which play a key role for reinforcement corrosion. The damage due to corrosion is a serious effect upon the mechanical properties of concrete structures. Once the corrosion of reinforcement starts due to formation of oxide and if the structure is under load, the stress act-ing on it increases. In such case the ultimate tensile stress (UTS) exceeds and finally the structure fails. The present paper highlights the corrosion of rein-forced concrete structures, factors influencing corrosion of reinforcement, and its remedial measures to some extent

Isolation and Identification of Fungal Species and Scientific Preservation of World Heritage: Case of Fatehpur Sikri, Uttar Pradesh, India

Fungi play a considerable role for the deterioration and widely recognized as major bio-deteriogens of cultural heritage depending on climatic conditions, humidity level and surface material for fungal colonization. The weathering of stone monuments is significantly increased by endolitic fungi. Fungi can deteriorate different substrates via various physical and chemical mechanisms. Hyphal growth and penetration into the substrate can cause symptoms like discoloration, bio-pitting, cricketing, exfoliation and patina formation. On the other hand, chemical mechanism includes acid secretion, release of extracellular enzymes, pigment production, oxidation/reduction reaction reactions and secondary mycogenic minerals formation. These process can lead to serious, both esthetic and structural alterations which may be irreversible and could permanently impair artwork. Proper isolation and identification of fungi by different microscopic technique and in vitro biodegradation tests are pivotal in understanding complex bio-deterioration mechanism caused by fungal deteriogens. Bio-deterioration and bio-degradation studies require multidisciplinary approach and close collaboration of microbiologists, chemists and different personnel responsible for safeguarding of cultural property and artifacts, especially restorers and conservators. This article provides information on fungi infesting historical monument of Fatehpur Sikri and their management by biocidal compounds. Present investigation was conducted to evaluate the status of fungal decay of stone monuments of Fatehpur Sikri. A total of 06 fungal species were isolated from colored stains, patinas and biofilms produced on the surfaces of monuments of Fatehpur Sikri due to mechanism of bio-deterioration. The fungal species Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Cladosporium herbarum, and Rhizopus oryzae were prevalent.Acknowledgement Authors are gratitude to thanks Dr. Alok Tripathi, Director General, NRLC, Lucknow and Additional Director General, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi & Dr. M.K. Bhatnager, Director (Scientific Preservation), Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi & Shri Mangey Ram Superintending Archaeological Chemist, Archaeological Survey of India, Science Branch, Agra for their encouragement and guidance

Recovery of Acid and Ferrous Chloride from leach liquor of reduced ilmenite by hydrothermal process

Ilmenite is the most abundant mineral for the extraction of titanium. It contains more than 50% TiO2 along with iron, silica and alumina. The spinel structure of ilmenite (FeO.TiO2) is so that iron is bounded in the lattice of TiO2 matrix. To remove iron from the ilmenite is a major task for process metallurgists. Various processes have been applied to remove this iron. One of them is reduction and leaching. The carbon containing pellets and environment of jhama coal reduces the iron oxide to metallic state. This metallic iron in then leached in dilute hydrochloric acid (20 vol%) and a greenish color leach liquor is obtained. The pH of the leach liquor solution is found 0.31. This leach liquor contains hydrochloric acid and iron as ferrous chloride. These acid and solid mass was separated by hydrothermal process in the present investigation. The residue containing ferrous chloride was characterized with the help of XRD and EPMA. During experiment it was found that complete separation of HCl and FeCl2 has done. The final pH of separated HCl is found 1.66 and it is suitable for reuse in the leaching of reduced ilmenite and process make a loop. The purity of ferrous chloride is in line with commercial grade which is a sellable product

Utilization of roast reduced ilmenite leach liquor for ferrous chloride production by hydrothermal process

Ilmenite is the most abundant mineral for the extraction of titanium. It contains more than 50% TiO2 along with iron, silica and alumina. The spinel structure of ilmenite (FeO.TiO2) is so that iron is bounded in the lattice of TiO2 matrix. To remove iron from the ilmenite is a major task for process metallurgists. Various processes have been applied to remove this iron. One of them is reduction and leaching. The carbon containing pellets and environment of jhama coal reduces the iron oxide to metallic state. This metallic iron in then leached in dilute hydrochloric acid (20 vol%) and a greenish color leach liquor is obtained. The pH of the leach liquor solution is found 0.31. This leach liquor contains hydrochloric acid and iron as ferrous chloride. These acid and solid mass was separated by hydrothermal process in the present investigation. The residue containing ferrous chloride was characterized with the help of XRD and EPMA. During experiment it was found that complete separation of HCl and FeCl2 has done. The final pH of separated HCl is found 1.66 and it is suitable for reuse in the leaching of reduced ilmenite and process make a loop. The purity of ferrous chloride is in line with commercial grade which is a sellable product

Magnetohydrodynamics evolution of three-dimensional magnetic null in NOAA active region 11515 initiated using non-force-free field extrapolation

Peer reviewe

Radiological and clinical evaluation of cockayne syndrome: A case report

Cockayne syndrome (CS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by premature ageing (progeria), facial anomalies, cachectic dwarfism, mental retardation, cutaneous photosensitivity, and retinopathy, loss of adipose tissue and muscle, and neurological abnormality which are associated with the changes in the brain parenchyma. The findings of computed tomography scan and especially magnetic resonance imaging of the brain support the clinical diagnosis of CS. There is no permanent cure of this condition and death usually occurs in the 2nd or 3rd decade due to functional disability and multiple infections

Effect of Ambient Temperature on Calibration of Cooled Thermal Camera

Thermal cameras may be used under ambient conditions that differ significantly from the calibration conditions. The effect of ambient temperature on temperature measurement error is examined for MWIR and LWIR cooled thermal cameras. The facilities used include an environmental chamber and an extended area blackbody with temperature controller. Significant differences were observed in the temperatures measured by the cameras placed in different ambient temperatures, with reference to the set blackbody temperatures. Re-calibration was done to account for variations in ambient temperature from 5 ºC to on the outputs of the cameras. It was found that after such recalibration, the measurement error was within acceptable accuracy of ±1 °C