Effects of Wood Preservatives on Physical Properties of Wood II. Effects of Different Salt Loadings of Copper-Chrome-Arsenic Composition

Effect of different salt loadings of copper-chrome-arsenic (CCA) preservative on shrinkage, swelling, and equilibrium moisture content at various relative humidities has been reported for Pinus roxburghii and Mangifera indica. At very low salt retentions, treated wood shows excessive shrinkage and swelling, which reaches a maximum and then falls off with increasing salt loadings. The two woods differ as to the position of these maxima. At higher retention levels, shrinkage and swelling are reduced, but the wood becomes more hygroscopic. The increased hygroscopicity is probably due to CCA salt and the additional water is held by the salt molecules deposited in the cell lumens. At low salt retentions, equilibrium moisture content is lowered at all relative humidities. The general sigmoid character of the adsorption curves is maintained at all levels of retentions

ANDROID - ARM BASED SWITCH CONTROL USING SMART PHONE

The main idea behind this proposal is to provide an ease off access to the user by providing full control over his/her entire home. Due to modern city life we never find time to check any of our electric appliances, switches, thermostats, air conditioners and so on, whether they are regularly switched off when not in use. This results in Energy wastage, security risk, and eventually leads to stress. In our method we suggest an ease off method by using an Android phone with minimal power specifications

Agronomic performance of Indian wheat varieties and genetic stocks known for outstanding chapati quality characteristics

The aim of the present study was to evaluate set of wheat genotypes in one location for their agronomic performance and chapati quality. The cultivars included the tall traditional wheat of the pre-dwarfing era, which were known to excel for chapati quality. This set also included varieties known to have good chapati quality, commercially grown wheats, advanced lines and genetic stocks excelling in one or other quality attribute. All these genotypes developed for different component traits were evaluated along with the recently released high yielding varieties to assess their quality. The mean chapati score of these genotypes revealed that the tall varieties had a distinct edge over others and are the best resource available for this trait. C306 had a high mean chapati score of 8.17 followed by C518, C591 and C273. The released varieties WG357, HD2733 and PBW343 were intermediate in chapati quality whereas the genetic stocks WH1103 and WH712 had lowest score in the group. Among other agronomic traits recorded the traditional varieties were tall and had lower yields than the recently released varieties. The tall varieties had a slightly higher test weight. The environmental conditions and the quantitative nature of the chapati quality did not auger well with the set of genotypes tested however, better and stable performance of the tall traditional varieties. C306 the wheat variety released in 1965 for cultivation has remained the best quality genotype over the years and was also established from this study

A Hybrid Differential Evolution Approach for Simultaneous SchedulingProblems in a Flexible Manufacturing Environment

Scheduling of machines and transportation devices like Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) in a Flexible Manufacturing System(FMS) is a typical N-P hard problem. Even though several algorithms were employed to solve this combinatorial optimization problem, most of the work concentrated on solving the problems of machines and material handling independently. In this paper the authors have attempted to schedule both the machines and AGVs simultaneously, with makespan minimization as objective, for which Differential Evolution (DE) is applied. Operations based coding is employed to represent the solution vector, which is further modified to suit the DE application. The authors have proposed two new strategies of DE in this paper which better suits the problem. We have developed a separate heuristic for assigning the vehicles and this is integrated with the traditional DE approach. The hybridized approach is tested on a number of benchmark problems whose results outperformed those available in the literature

Landing of Alopias pelagicus (Nakamura, 1936) at Visakhapatnam

Two specimens of the pelagic thresher shark Alopias pelagicus (Nakamura, 1936) were landed at Visakhapatnam Fishing Harbour on 28.06.2011. One specimen was male (Fig. 1) and the other was female. The male pelagic thresher shark measured 940 mm and weighed 900 g. The female measured 829 mm (caudal fin tip was absent) and weighed 750 g. The specimens were characterised by large eye size and very long upper lobe of caudal fin. According to Compagno (1984) and Fisher and Bianchi (1984), the pelagic thresher is ovoviviparous, with at least two young, born at a length greater than 96 cm

Cosecant Square Pattern Synthesis with Conformal Antenna Arrays

A modern high-speed aircraft will be installed with more than 25 antennas protruded from its structure for communication purpose, navigation, Instrumental Landing System etc. These multiple antennas can cause a considerable amount of drag that will ultimately affect the efficiency of aircraft. Nowadays, integration of antennas on the surface of the aircraft is very much essential. So conformal arrays are well suitable for such applications. In this work, spherical, cylindrical and conical shaped antenna arrays have been modeled and discussed in detail. Further, these antenna arrays have been utilized to generate Cosecant-squared shaped radiation pattern that have importance in radar and navigation applications. There is a significant difference in number of elements in linear and conformal array for the generation of cosecant squared radiation pattern. To bridge this gap, only certain elements, satisfying the constraints imposed on conformal antenna array are excited, and the cosecant squared radiation pattern is synthesized. The excitation parameters of the conformal array elements are optimized using DE & SSO optimization techniques. Simulation results validate that radiation of cosecant squared shaped pattern is possible with the excitation of less number of elements for the different conformal array. Besides simulation results, the ripple value is calculated in the main lobe, and it is possible to get less ripple with the different constraint for the different conformal array

Diversity, Distribution and Utilization Pattern of Economically Important Woody Plants Associated with Agro-Forestry in District Rajouri, J & K (Northwest Himalaya)

The extensive explorations carried out in the study area enabled us to identify 60 woody plant species (47 trees and 13 shrubs) associated with the agroforstry system. These species belonged to 48 genera and were distributed among 30 families. Rosaceae (11 spp.), Rutaceae (5spp.), Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Mimosaceae, Moraceae and Pinaceae (3spp. each) were the species rich. Maximum species were found between the altitudes 1000-1800m. Forty seven species were used as fuel, 30 as medicine, 22 as edibles, 13 as fodder, 7 as timber, where as 4 species were used for making agriculture implements. Only one species was identified as rare, 14 species occasional and remaining were common

Fishery, biology and stock assessment of spotted seer, Scomberomorus guttatus (Bloch & Schneider) off Andhra Pradesh

The fishery, biology and stock of the spotted seerfish, Scomberomorus guttatus (Bloch & Schneider) along Andhra Pradesh was studied during 2012-2014. The annual average landing of spotted seer during the period along Andhra coast was 2,614 t. Major contributors were trawlnets-1,104 t (42.2%) and gillnets-950 t (36.3%). Catches were higher during August-December. Length-weight relationship varied significantly between males, females and indeterminates. Growth was isometric in males and allometric in females and indeterminates. Overall sex ratio was 1:1.87. Length at first maturity was 38.9 cm. Peak spawning was observed during November-April. Higher Gonadosomatic index coincided with periods of peak spawning. Mature ovaries contained both maturing (0.41 mm-0.70 mm) and matured (0.71 mm-0.90 mm) ova. von Bertalanffy growth equation was Lt = 71.98 [1-e -0.23 (t + 0.0722)]. Natural mortality, fishing mortality and total mortality were 0.54, 0.49 and 1.03. Exploitation ratio was 0.48. Annual total stocks, biomass and Maximum Sustainable Yield were 8,546 t, 5,335 t and 2,747 t. A minor increase in yield and yield/recruit is possible by increasing the present level of fishing by 20%

Fishery, reproductive biology and stock status of the Indian mackerel Rastrelliger kanagurta (Cuvier, 1817), landed along the north-east coast of India

The fishery, biology and stock status of Indian mackerel, Rastrelliger kanagurta (Cuvier, 1817), landed along the north-east coast was studied during 2011-2014. The average annual catch was 52,206 t. Catch was more or less equally contributed by trawlers, gillnetters and seiners with average catch rates of 3.05 kg h-1, 22.74 kg unit-1 and 140.09 kg unit-1 respectively. Catch was positively influenced by wind speed and negatively by sea surface temperature and precipitation. Growth in males was isometric, while it was allometric in females and indeterminates. Females outnumbered males in the commercial catches. Length at first maturity varied between 18.32 and 18.86 cm. Peak spawning season was during July - October and February - April. Relative fecundity was 567.51 ova per gram body weight. von Bertalanffy growth equation obtained was: Lt = 27.72 [1-e -1.2 (t + 0.023)]. Length at first capture and life span estimated were 12.78 cm and 2.48 years respectively. Natural mortality, fishing mortality and total mortality were 2.06, 3.69 and 5.75, respectively with an exploitation rate of 0.64. Peak recruitment was found to be during September-October. Maximum sustainable yield and yield per recruit were 40,675 t and 14.74 g respectively which were obtained by increasing the present fishing effort by 20%, but at the increased fishing effort, the increase in yield was a meager 0.53%, which indicates that the present level of fishing can be continued

Solutions To Plate Problem With Constant Rigidity Using Singularity Functions

A new and novel method of solving problems of rectangular plates of constant stiffness using singularity functions is proposed. The working methods and manifestations of the use of singularity functions in plate analysis are presented. Use of singularity functions, to represent the loading and reactive forces and moments at the boundary, along with the finite difference equations for plates of constant stiffness, is the new direction of plate analysis proposed. Here for some problems of plates of constant stiffness, the method is to find mathematical solution to the basic partial differential equations (namely,) along with the representation of the load q in terms of singularity function to get a closed form solution is presented. The advantage of the proposed method over finite elements lies in the fact, that the solution can be found without the help of computers, In contrast, the need for a computer for even a simple problem in the finite element method is required. The solution of certain types of problems of plates with constant and variable stiffness for certain types of loading and boundary conditions is included to exemplify the technique of use of singularity functions