008873   Arya L D;Titare L S (Department of Electrical Engineering, SGSITS, Indore, M.P) : Risk of voltage collapse evaluation using radial basis function network. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2006, 87(Sept), 71-7.

Methoodology for voltage stability assessment accounting uncertainties in line parameters and of reactive power control variables settings has been presented. A probabilistic risk of voltage collapse, however small it may be, is always present, if system parameters and control variables are treated as random variables. Monte-Carlo simulation has been used to evaluate probabilities of voltage collapse for various operating conditions. Static voltage stability limit for various sampled values of system parameters and control variables have been obtained using continuation power flow methodology. Monte-Carlo simulation is a time-consuming process. Using the advantage of global search ability of the evolutionary methodologies, the evolutionary strategy based RBF network has been used to get probabilistic risk of voltage collapse. Training and testing instances have been generated using Monte-Carlo simulation. Developed algorithm has been implemented on 25-bus, 35-line standard test system.

5 illus, 5 tables, 18 ref

008872   Annapurna Devi N;Mohan Kumar C;Rama Naidu Y; Narasimha Rao M (Department of Chemical Engineering, Centre for Biotechnology, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam-530 003, Email: mnrmd_AU@yahoo.com) : Production and evaluation of biodiesel from sunflower (Helianthus annus) and nigerseed oil (Guizotia abyssinica). Asian J Chem 2006, 18(4), 2951-8.

Various vegetable oils have been explored to make biodiesel (long chain fatty acid alkyl esters) in order to substitute/supplement the dwindling supplies of conventional diesel fuels. Sunflower oil (Helianthus annus) and Nigerseed oil (Guizotia abyssinica) were transesterified with methanol using sodium hydroxide as catalyst to produce biodiesel. Blends of varying proportions of biodiesel and diesel were used to run a 4-stroke single cylinder internal combustion engine and significant improvements in engine performance and emission characteristics were observed. The results of the investigations clearly indicated that the partial substitution of diesel oil with biodiesel could be achieved with better performance and lower emission levels. This not only results in considerable economy but also decreases the usage of non-renewable and ecofriendly fuel.

3 illus, 4 tables, 11 ref

008871   Amirthagadeswaran K S;Arunachalam V P (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Government College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu-641 013) : Optimization of scheduling in job shops under cellular manufacturing environment using genetic algorithm. J Instn Engrs-Pt PR 2006, 86(March), 39-42.

Group Technology (GT) is a management philosophy that attempts to group products with similar design or manufacturing characteristics or both. Cellular Manufacturing System (CMS) is an application of Group Technology (GT) in which similar parts an identified and grouped together to take advantage of their similarities in design and manufacturing. In order to obtain the full benefit of the GT, it is important that cell design should be coupled with sound system of production planning end control. A job shop environment involving penally cost has been taken and cells have been formed. After forming the machine cells, Genetic Algorithm has been applied for scheduling and the results compared with the schedules suggested in earlier studies. A sample problem with 11 jobs and seven machines has been used for demonstration.

1 illus, 5 tables, 8 ref

008870   Ahmed S;Samanta R K;Pandey M M;Ansari A R (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal-462 007) : Windpower-A tool for optimum site matching of a wind turbine. J Instn Engrs-Pt MC 2006, 87(April), 51-6.

A number of potential sites are available for harnessing wind power all over the world. Experience has shown thai some of the wind power plants have failed completely or performed poorly because of the installed wind turbine systems do not match the wind characteristics of the specific site. Hence, there is a need for a systematic approach towards optimum siting of wind turbine generators. The production of electricity by a wind turbine generator at a specific site depends upon the mean wind speed and more significantly, the speed characteristics of wind turbine itself namely, cut-in, rated, and furling wind speeds at the hub height. There are different commercial models of wind turbine generators available with same kW rating and different speed parameters. These parameters affect the capacity factors at a specific site and subsequently affect the choice of optimum wind turbine generator for the site. The matching of wind turbine generators to the specific site based on cubic mean of wind speeds and Weibull statistical model for maximizing the capacity factor is presented in the form of a computer code called 'WindPower'. The computer code developed is a handy tool for any site with known wind data. The best wind turbine can be selected from available turbines for maximum power generation based on its capacity factor. The wind data of study site near Bhopal is used with the cut-in, rated and furling speeds of few commercial wind turbines as input for selection based on capacity factor.

3 illus, 2 tables, 8 ref

007935   Yadav M K;Bhar C (Dep of Mgmt Stud, Indian Sch of Mines, Dhanbad-826 004) : Productivity assessment of an opencast coal mine-a case study. J Mines Metals Fuels 2006, 54(1-2), 22-8,35.

Coal mining industry is a major contributor to the Indian gross domestic product and employment. Unfortunately, in recent past the productivity of Indian coal mining industry was not satisfactory. In India, productivity movement has made its impact on both manufacturing and service sectors, but the key area, i.e. coal mining industry has been overlooked right through the past two decades. The paper is based on a case study on productivity measurement; conducted at an opencast coalmine located in Jharia coalfield. The mine is using shovel-dumper combination for wining coal. The study covers the computation of partial productivities as well as total productivity of the mine. The total productivity highlights the productivity status of the mine at an aggregate level whereas partial productivities highlight the efficiency in the use of various resources. A statistical analysis among the different productivity indices has been carried out to identify the criticality of different input factors. Accordingly appropriate strategies can be devised for improving productivity of the mine.

2 illus, 6 tables, 6 ref

007934   Vishista K;Gnanam F D (Dep of Phys, Anna Univ, Chennai-600 025, Email: vishista@yahoo.com) : Effect of calcia on the densification and mechanical properties of sol-gel alumina. Trans Indian Ceramic Soc 2006, 65(1), 17-21.

Boehmite sol was prepared by hot water hydrolysis of aluminium iso-propoxide using nitric acid as the catalyst. Calcium nitrate to yield 5 to 20 vol% of calcium oxide was added to the boehmite sol. The sol was precipitated in ammonia, dried at 120°C and calcined at 500°C for 3 h. The calcined powder was milled at 230 rpm for 6 h. The powder was compacted into cylindrical pellets using a uni-axial press at 180 MPa and sintered at temperatures ranging from 1400° to 1600°C for 6 h. Mechanical properties such as hardness, fracture toughness and diametrical tensile strength for compacts containing variable amounts of calcium oxide were studied. There was a slight decrease in the density and hardness with increase in calcia content. Increase in the mechanical properties such as fracture toughness, flexural strength and diametrical tensile strength was observed with increase in calcia content.

8 illus, 29 ref

007933   Verma P;Hari Prasad K S;Ojha C S P (Dept. of Civ Engng, Indian Inst of Technol, Roorkee) : Maccormack scheme based numerical solution of advection-dispersion equation. ISH J Hydraul Engng 2006, 12(1), 27-38.

The performance of MacCormack scheme coupled with an implicit finite difference scheme has been investigated while solving Advection-Dispersion equation for wide range of Courant and Peclet numbers. MacCormack scheme is chosen due to its simplicity. The advective part is solved by MacCormack scheme and the advective concentration so obtained is used in the dispersive part as source/sink term to obtain the final concentration. The results indicate that the scheme works very well for low and medium Peclet numbers. However, it produces overshoot and oscillations at high Peclet numbers. The effect of Courant number is insignificant at low and medium Peclet numbers. But at high Peciet numbers, the magnitude of overshoot and oscillations decrease with an increase in Courant number.

6 illus, 11 ref

007932   Venkateswara Reddy V;Sudarsana Rao H; Jayaveera K N (Dep of Civ Engng, J.N.T.U. Coll of Engng, Anantapur-515 002) : Effect of neutral salts present in water on strength and setting properties of concrete. Nat Envir Pollut Technol 2006, 5(2), 187-96.

The quality of mixing and curing water play a vital role in production and application of concrete. The effect of neutral salts on setting time and strength development of orconcrete is assessed under the laboratory conditions. The results indicate that NaCl in deionised water accelerates the initial as well as final setting process whereas the other salts such as KCl, Na₂SO₄ and CaCO₃, retard them at all concentrations. NaCl and KCl in deionised water increase the compressive strength and tensile strength of OPC specimens significantly at 28 days and 90 days, whereas Na₂SO₄ and CaCO₃ in deionised water decrease the strength nominally. The prominent effect of NaCl and KCl on the compressive strength and tensile strength is that they are slowly decreased in 90-day concrete specimens as compared to 28-day specimens. In case of the other two salts (Na₂SO₄ and CaCO₃) the trend in the variation of the compressive strength and tensile strength is exactly opposite. As time elapses, i.e., at 90-day, the decrease in the compressive strength becomes predominant and becomes significant in case of Na₂SO₄. By comparing all these four neutral category salts, it is evident that NaCl and KCl affect the compressive and tensile strengths positively, whereas, Na₂SO₄ and CaCO₃ affect them negatively. The negative effect goes on increasing with age. Between the last two salts, Na₂SO₄ is more dangerous and hence, a lot of care should be taken if it exists in the mixing water. Its concentration should not be more than 15g/L. Work analyses the hydration characteristics of concrete using the technique of X-ray diffraction (XRD).

6 illus, 3 tables, 11 ref

007931   Tripathy D K;Barai S V (Dep of Civ Engng, IIT, Kharagpur-721 302) : Partial cement replacement using crusher stone dust. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2006, 87(Aug), 44-6.

Crusher stone dust containing mainly of SiO₂ does not show cementitious property in presence of water. However, it can exhibit significant cementitious property when reacting with the byproduct of cement hydration at high temperature. The results for hardened property of mortar (compressive strength) under normal, hot water curing and autoclaving curing condition for cement replacement using crusher stone dust has been presented. It it shown that up to 40% cement replacement by crusher stone dust and autoclave curing gave same or better compressive strength than the mortar without replacement and normal curing.

3 illus, 3 tables, 4 ref

007930   Swamee P K (NO, Indian Inst of Technol Roorkee, Roorkee-247 667) : Delivery of horizontal canals. ISH J Hydraul Engng 2006, 12(1), 99-109.

Bakhmeteff in 1932 conceived the problem of delivery of canals and developed a tabular method of its solution. The method, though breakthrough then, lacks accuracy, as for uniform and critical flows, it approximates the discharge flow depth relationships by power laws. Furthermore, there is loss of accuracy on account of the double interpolation process involved in reading the tables. Reported herein are explicit equations of delivery of horizontal canals for various canal sections.

8 ref

007929   Sreeja P;Gupta K (Dep of Civ Engng, Indian Inst of Technol Bombay, Mumbai-400 076) : Modeling of detention tank gate system using frequency and time domain approach. ISH J Hydraul Engng 2006, 12(1), 110-20.

Detention tank with a gate control structure has been used for improved optimization of existing drainage system by actively controlling the flow during heavy rainfall event. This can be achieved by a suitable control strategy, which is used to automatically control the gate of the detention tank based on the set of desired feedbacks. With this in view, an effort has been made in the study to develop a dynamic numerical model, which can be used to propose control strategy for the operation of gates. Further, the desired response characteristics of the detention tank, which a hydraulic engineer should look for, based on the frequency domain approach has also been discussed.

7 illus, 15 ref

007928   Siva Srinivasa Murthy N;Janardhan Rao K; Thomas T G (Dep of ECE, Osmania Univ, Hyderabad-500 007, Email: nssm_shiva@yahoo.com) : A simple algorithm for the simulation of a direct digital synthesizer. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2006, (Jan), 97-101.

Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS) is the most recently developed frequency synthesis tool that has become an important design tool nowadays, which cannot be ignored by the architects of any system demanding frequency agility. The DDS is unique because it is digitally deterministic; the signal it generates is synthesized from a digital definition of the desired result. A DDS uses logic and memory to digitally construct the desired output signal and a data conversion device to convert it from the digital to the analog domain. Therefore, the DDS method of constructing a signal is almost entirely digital, and the precise amplitude, frequency, and phase are known and controlled at all times. Presents a clear explanation about the architecture of Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS). A simple algorithm has been developed for the simulation of Direct Digital Synthesizer. The results are simulated using MATLAB 6.5.

13 illus, 2 tables, 6 ref

007927   Singh V K;Singh R K (Dep of Ceram Engng, Banaras Hindu Univ, IT Varanasi-221 005) : Effect of polyvinyl pyrrolidone on strength and some other properties of cement. Trans Indian Ceramic Soc 2006, 65(1), 41-8.

Effect of polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) addition in the ordinary cement and mortar mixes on the properties such as setting time, heat of hydration, compressive and tensile strength has been studied by adding 0.5 to 5.0% additive by weight of cement. Hardness has been determined using the Vickers indentation method and the fracture toughness of cemetitious bond and flexural strengths have been determined using three point bending system. Corrosion resistance of resulting products has been tested against each of 0.1 N and 1.0 N of HCl and H₂SO₄ and seawater. FTIR and X-ray diffraction techniques have been employed to determine the phase compositions of the material. The polymeric phase is interspersed in cement and causes decrease in water absorption; also its interaction with hydrating cement phases results in the additional bond formation, leading to the increase in strength.

3 illus, 5 tables, 36 ref

007926   Singh S K;Lal R;Nathalia V (Dep of Civ Engng, Punjab Engng Coll, Chandigarh-160 012) : Oil-structure interaction in RCC farmed buildings. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2006, 87(Aug), 52-5.

Study was undertaken to find the effect of soil-structure interaction in multi-storeyed building frames. The analysis of a 2D RCC building frame was done with and without soil - structure interaction. Spring analogy method was adopted in which appropriate spring constants were introduced at the foundation level replacing the fixed foundation condition and analysis was done to include the interaction effects. After soil-structure analysis, results revealed that structural response had changed. The results were compared in terms of axial loads, total settlement and differential settlement for interactive and non - interactive analysis.

2 illus, 9 tables, 11 ref

007925   Singh P K;Singh V;Yadav S (Dep of Civ Engng IT BHU, , Varanasi-221 005) : Effect of opening on behaviour of the infilled frames with and without continuous lintel band. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2006, 87(Aug), 32-7.

In the past few decades singnificant amount of expermental work has been carried out in different parts of the world to understand the behaviour of infilled frames. But in the previous reported works on filled frames with opening, effect of lintel band over opening is not prperly covered. Objective of the study was to understand behaviour of the brick masonry (BM) infilled reinforced concrete (RC) frame having shear connection between BM infill and the RC frame, and opening having isolated lintel and continuous lintel band. Three infilled frame models were tested for this purpose. The first model was BM infilled RC frame without opening. The second model was BM infilled RC frame with opening having continuous band. The third model was BM infilled RC frame with opening having isolated lintel. Shear connection between the enclosing frame and the infill was provided by the offsets in the alternate courses of the BM and casting the concrete after the BM was cast. Experimental results of the three types of frames under static loading were compared and it is concluded that due to higher load at first crack, more number of cracks at ultimate load, higher stiffness, strength and energy absorption capacity, the RC frame with opening having continuous lintel band was far more superior to infilled RC frame with openine having isolated lintel.

10 illus, 4 ref

007924   Singh J;Kothari M;Jain S K;Kumar V (Dep of Agric Engng & Fd Technol, S.V.B.P.U.A.&T., Meerut-250 110) : Delineation of salt affected areas of Muktsar district, South-West Punjab using landsat-TM and IRS-ID LISS-III data. Ann Biol 2006, 22(1), 13-7.

Poor water management coupled with inadequate drainage in the irrigated tracts of the arid and semi-arid regions leads to salinity. Space born multispectral data have been found to be extremely useful in deriving information on salt affected soils. The study, reported here, reveals that the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon salt affected areas were delineating using satellite remote sensing data for Mukstar district in south-west Punjab. Digital data of Landsat TM and IRS-ID LISS-III acquired on May 15, 1997, November 11, 1997 and November 28, 2003 were analyzed using digital image processing software ERDAS Imagine 8.5. for delineation of salt affected areas the unsupervised classification approach was used. In multispectral image, each pixel has a spectral signature determined by the reflectance of that pixel in each of the spectral bands. In this study, unsupervised classification approach with 15th clusters and a 95% confidence threshold has been performed. The result was an image with 15th groups of pixels each represented by different colours. It was observed that the last class i.e. 15th class falls under salt affected soils. The pre-monsoon May 15, 1997 salt affected area was found to be 8715.46 ha and also for post-monsoon November 28, 2003 salt affected area was found to be 15223.85 ha for muktsar district.

3 illus, 6 tables, 6 ref

007923   Sharma H K;Sharma P N (Dep of Civ Engng, Natn Inst of Technol, Kurukshetra-136 119) : Anchorage zone stress assessment of pre-stressed concrete beams. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2006, 87(Aug), 7-2.

The state of stress induced in the anchorage zone of post-tensioned pre-stressed concrete beams is complex and three-dimensional in nature. Considering concrete to behave as a heterogeneous and elastic material, three-dimensional stress analyses are carried out in the investigation to study anchorage zone stress distribution pattern. Experimental investigations conducted on a number of geometrically similar beam models further verify and substantiate analytical solution. Reasonably good agreement between analytical and experimental results allow increased confidence in mathematical simulation. The reported results demonstrate significance of heterogeneity of concrete in three-dimensional stress analyses which is found to be of paramount importance in the determination of anchorage zone stresses.

4 illus, 1 table, 13 ref

007922   Sayadi A R;Monjezi M;Sadeghbeigi M (Fac of Eng., Tarbiat Modarres Univ, Teheran, Iran) : Modeling and preliminary resource estimation of the Cheshmeh Zard gold deposit. J Mines Metals Fuels 2006, 54(1-2), 11-15.

The Chesmeh Zard gold deposit, situated in the north-west of the country, is one such deposit. In this case, a combination of ore deposit modeling and conventional resource estimation methods have been used to add value to the existing data and to increase the perceived prospectivity of the finds. Presents the results of the prefeasibility modeling and preliminary resource estimation for the Cheshmeh Zard project. The exploration of this deposit is according to a new policy of Geological Survey of Iran (GSI), i.e. contnuation of exploration up to prefeasibility study phase, which is funded by government and the obtained results are available for public. This policy along with other facilities provided by government can motivate potential investors. The total ore resource was calculated to be 340,000 t of which 40% is oxide with an average grade of 3.76 g/t and with a metal content of 520 kg. By increasing the cut-off grade of gold from 1 g/ton to 2 g/ton, the average grade increases 2.5 times however the metal content is reduced by 75%.

16 illus, 7 ref

007921   Sahay N;Varma N K;Ahmad I;Sinha V K (Mine Ventilation Div, Cent Min Res Inst, Dhanbad-826 001) : Critical temperature-An approach to define proneness of coal towards spontaneous heating. J Mines Metals Fuels 2006, 54(1-2), 29-36.

Realistic knowledge of liability index/proneness of coal towards spontaneous heating is extremely useful in working out strategies for prevention and control of fire due to spontaneous heating in coal mines. In India, crossing point temperature is generally adopted for the above purpose. The method, though effective, defines only advanced stage of oxidation. Set of experiments in the laboratory, have defined a new index "Critical Temperature" which can categorize the coal in respect of their susceptibility towards spontaneous heating much in advance compared to the existing method/indices. The results when compared with crossing point temperature have shown good correlation.

4 illus, 6 tables, 16 ref

007920   S Gajalakshmi;Sankar Ganesh P;Abbasi S A (Cent for Pollution Control & Energy Technol, Pondicherry Univ, Pondicherry-605 014, Email: prof_abbasi@vsnl.com) : Bioprocessing and resource recovery of solid waste by low-income citizens. Indian J chem Technol 2006, 13(1), 24-9.

The know-how developed earlier by the authors for resource recovery from household wastes, crop wastes, and weeds was extended to subsistence farmers and householders in rural Pondicherry, India, with an objective of identifying technological, operational, and sociological problems which may be faced when transferring this know-how to similar rural populations in the developing countries. The aim of the study was also to refine the know-how for eliminating the problems. In the paper the results of solid waste management by composting-vermicomposting at 53 sites in four villages of Pondicherry are presented. At all sites the pH, temperature, and C/N ratio were systematically measured for process monitoring and control. The results establish the suitability of the know-how for easy adoption by low-income householders and its propensity to achieve pollution control with income generation.

6 illus, 28 ref

007919   Roy S K;Ghosh S K (NO, Cent Glass and Ceram Res Inst, Kolkata-700 032, Email: sujitkrroy@yahoo.co.in) : Elastic constants of interpenetrating phase alumina/aluminium composites. Trans Indian Ceramic Soc 2006, 65(1), 35-40.

Dense, pore-free interpenetrating phase Al₂O₃/Al composites were synthesized by a condensed phase displacement reaction between silica and aluminium, and their elastic costants were determined by an ultrasonic technique. Comparisons are made between the experimental data and analytical theoretical models of Voigt-Reuss (V-R) and Hashin-Shtrikman (H-S). Young's modulus of these composites obey both the V-R and H-S bounds but is better predicted by the Hashin-Shtrikman model. The H-S bounds for the bulk and shear moduli are very narrow and the experimental values are close to the limit calculated on the basis of alumina as the matrix phase. The microstructural features of these composites, namely, a limited variation in the phase content and somewhat larger range of contiguity values seem not to have any significant influence on the elastic behaviour of the composites. Poisson's ratio is essentially constant in these composites. Within a small range of phase composition used in this study, it can still be deduced from the results that the contiguity of the Al₂O₃ phase influences the elastic properties to an extent.

6 illus, 2 tables, 30 ref

007918   Rastogi A K;Patil S;Ukarande S K (Dep of Civ Engng, IIT, Bombay-400 076) : Periodic water waves on the shear flow in open channel. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2006, 87(Aug), 47-51.

Most of the analysis on wave-current rotational combine flow is based on linear variation in current whereas in practice, the current beneath waves is logarithmic. Alogarithmic profile is assumed a priori and Nanier-Stoke's equations for inviscid, incompressible flow are imposed upon by periodic boundary conditions. The stream function to the first and second order for the combine rotational wave-log current flow is derived. The explicit expression for celerity is also derived. The corresponding flow properties to the first order are derived which are applicable to the natural wave-current flows with logarithmic distribution underneath.

27 ref

007917   Rao D N;Murthy M R K;Rao S R M (NO, Osmania Univ, Hyderabad, Email: nag_rai8761@yahoo.com) : Recursive formulation for neural generalized predictive control. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2006, (Jan), 71-5.

Novel method of recursive formulation is embedded in Neural Generalized Predictive Control (NGPC) algorithm. The utility of this recursive solution is demonstrated with the help of simulation studies that shows that the recursive NGPC is more viable algorithm for non-linearities being effectively linearised by the controller. A comparison is made between NGPC and recursive NGPC, in order to investigate the recursive advantages.

8 illus, 7 ref

007916   Ramesh H;Mahesha A (Dept. of Appl Mechanics and Hydraulics, NITK, Surathkal-575 025) : Overview on planning and management of rural water supply. ISH J Hydraul Engng 2006, 12(1), 61-72.

Planning and management of rural drinking water supply scheme is reviewed and discussed by assessing sustainable yield using existing and proposed sources through community participation.

5 illus, 3 tables, 9 ref

007915   Pranav Kumar;Saikia K;Pandey S;Sarkar B C; Paul P R;Prasad B S (NO, Indian Sch of Mines, Dhanbad-826 004) : Geostatistical modelling of mica peridotite intrusive affected coal in seams of Putki Ballihary area, Jharia coalfield vis-a-vis possible resource utilization in cement industry. J Mines Metals Fuels 2006, 54(1-2), 16-21.

Mica peridoties occuring as igneous intrusive bodies in Jharia coalfield frequent the coal seams and associated strata extensively as sills, dykes and in various other forms of highly varibable geometirc shapes and dimensions. Such intrusion resulted in baking and burining of coal to a product locally called jhama. Provieas and application of statistical and geostatistical modelling techniques to the distribution of thickness of mica peridotite intrusive affected coal (i.e. jhama) in seams of Putki Ballihari area of Jharia coalfield. The study involves generation of lithologs of various boreholes, correlation of jhama thickness associated with coal seams in various borehole intersection and spatial variation modelling of jhama thickness for gaining an understanding of the distribution of its lateral continuity Frequency distribution analyses of thickness of jhama that are associated with coal seams XII and XIV revealed negative skewness supporting the dominance of higher value thickness. Computation of omini-directional experimental semi-variograms revealed regionalized phenomena. Modelling of omni-directional experimental semi-variograms provided a spherical function fit for thickenss indication that the thickness values are correlatable within the range of influence of semi-variograms and are independent beyond the range. Geostatistical estimation employing block krigning technique provided thickness spatial distribution maps of jhama associated with coal seams are of immense use for assesment of jhama reserves, determining conditions of jhama mining and also for providing possible alternative means to usage of jhama as fuel in cement industry.

6 illus, 3 tables, 8 ref

007914   Patra A K;Ramanathan S;Sen D;Mazumder S (Div of Solid St Phys, Bhabha Atom Res Cent, Trombay, Mumbai-400 085, Email: apatra@magnum.barc.ernet.in) : Characterization of porous titania and ceria ceramics by small angle neutron scattering. Trans Indian Ceramic Soc 2006, 65(1), 29-33.

Titania powder was prepared by a solution based hydroxide precipitation technique using the tetrachloride precursor and ammonia as the precipitating agent. Ceria powder was prepared by homogeneous precipitation method using cerium nitrate and hexamethylenetetramine. The particle size distribution of titania and ceria powders was measured by laser light scattering. The powder particles were found to follow a log-normal size distribution and the average size of the particles for both the powders was <126>0.7 microns. Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) was used to study the sintering behaviour and evolution of pore morphology in sintered compacts of titania and ceria by varying the sintering temperature/time. The SANS profiles were analyzed in the light of poly-disperse spherical pore model using log-normal size distribution. The pore sizes in both the ceramic compacts varied from 10 to 1000 nm and the mean value of the distribution shifted from a lower, 50 nm to a higher, 350 nm size. This trend could be attributed to both densification and grain growth occurring in the compacts with the progress of sintering.

6 illus, 3 tables, 14 ref

007913   Patel P V;Patodi S C (Dep of Appl Mechanics Fac of Technol and Engng, M S Univ of Baroda, Vadodara-390 001) : Distributed finite element analysis of laminated composites. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2006, 87(Aug), 17-22.

In recent years, fibre reinforced laminated composite plates have been increasingly used as structural elements in civil, military and aerospace fields because of their desirable properties such as high strength-to-weight ratio and high stiffness-to-weight ratio. Finite element analysis of large size composite laminate problem considering higher order shear deformation theory is highly computational intensive. Distributed computing is implemented for finite element analysis of laminated composite plate to improve computational efficiency. Substructure technique is used for distribution of computations on different computers connected in local area network (LAN) WebDedip environment, developed using Java technology, is used for distributed implementation. An example of simply supported layered composite plate is discussed to show effectiveness of distributed computing. A computational efficiency of about 60% - 80% is observed when the problem is implemented over three to six computers.

5 illus, 3 tables, 8 ref

007912   Patel P L;Pati D R (Deptt. of Civ Engng., Delhi Coll of Engng, Delhi-110 042) : Critical tractive stress of nonuniform and bimodal sediments. ISH J Hydraul Engng 2006, 12(1), 39-51.

Adequacy of existing relationship on critical tractive stress (CTS) of sediment mixtures have been checked with available data on unimodal and bimodal sediments. From the verification, it was revealed that Patel et al. (1999) method performs satisfactorily for unimodal and weakly bimodal sediments. However, the performance of the method is far from satisfaction for sediments having Bimodality Parameter B<62>1.7 and geometric standard deviation σ_g <62> 3.0, i.e. for highly bimodal and extremely nonuniform sediments. Patel et al. (1999) method, also, suffers from the limitation that the predictor for scaling parameter τ*_cσ was not adequately described by them. Parametric study has been carried out, in the study, to identify the parameters influencing CTS of the sediment mixtures with extreme nonuniformity and bimodality. Accordingly, Patel et al. (1999) method has been modified to make it applicable for both unimodal, weakly bimodal and strongly bimodal sediments. Also, a better predictor for scaling size, τ*_cσ has been proposed in terms of d_σ and τ_g.

6 illus, 13 ref

007911   Pandya B N;Faroz R S (Dep of Structural Engng, Sardar Patel Coll of Engng, Andheri West, Mumbai-400 058) : Effect of various parameters on fundamental natural period of reinforced concrete space framed structures. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2006, 87(Aug), 38-43.

Study carried out to compare the fundamental natural period (FNP) obtained by free vibration analysis of reinforced concrete buildings considering various configuration irregularities with the values of FNP obtained from empirical formulae given by Indian Standard Code IS 1893 (Part 1): 2002, International Building Code IBC 2000 and Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA 368. It was found that structural configuration irregularities tend to increase the FNP and that the IS 1893 (Part I): 2002 empirical formula gives FNP which is almost half the computed values. The IBC 2000 and FEMA 368 empirical formula gives FNP, which varies marginally from the computed values.

2 illus, 2 tables, 16 ref

007910   Neelamegam M;Dattatreya J K;Rajamane N P (Structural Engng Res Cent, (SERC), Chennai-600 113) : Influence of pore size distribution on the properties of concretes containing mineral admixtures. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2006, 87(Aug), 61-6.

Important engineering properties of concrete, such us, strength, stiffness, shrinkage and creep are known to be closely related to porosity and pore size distribution; the mercury intrusion porosimetry is now widely employed for pore size analysis by concrete technologists because it is one of the simplest techniques. The details of study undertaken at the Concrete Composites Laboratory of the Structural Engineering Research Centre (SERC). Chennai, on the influence of indigenous fly ash and silica fume on the pore structure, strength and transport properties of concrete has been presented.

5 illus, 4 tables, 22 ref

007909   Navin D P;Indumathy B;Murthy D S R;Rao G N M (Structural Engng Res Cent, , Taramani, Chennai-600 113) : Effect of internal pressure and bending on collapse load of elbows. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2006, 87(Aug), 27-31.

Pipe bends (elbow) are widely used in industrial piping systems to increase the system flexibility. These normally reduce the reaction forces and moments within the piping system and it becomes easier to satisfy the stress limits. This increased flexibility allows the elbows to accommodate large displacement arising from the differential movement. Clear understanding of the deformation and stress behaviour of elbows beyond elastic limit is important for determining the collapse load and ensuring sufficient safety margin. Non-linear finite element analysis has been carried out to study the behaviour of elbows and to evaluate the collapse load under combined internal pressure and in-plane bending. It was found that the capacity under closing mode is less as compared to the opening mode. The results also demonstrate the effect of internal pressure on the behaviour of elbows.

10 illus, 2 tables, 11 ref

007908   Nandagiri L;Bore Gowda S B;Shetty A (Dep of Appl Mechanics & Hydraulics, Natn Inst of Technol, Karnataka, Surathkal, Srinivasnagar P.O., Mangalore-575 025) : In situ characterization of unsaturated soil hydraulic properties of a leterite soil profile in coastal Karnataka. ISH J Hydraul Engng 2006, 12(1), 87-98.

Unsaturated laterite soil formations play an important hydrologic role in the West Coast region of India. However, very little information on the hydraulic/hydrologic properties of lateritic soils exists in literature. The study was taken up to characterize the unsaturated soil water retention curves and hydraulic conductivity function of a sandy lateritic soil profile located in the coastal district of Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka State. This was achieved by conducting a field internal drainage test involving measurements of soil moisture contents and soil water pressures at various depths within a 1.5 m deep soil profile over a period of 39 days. Soil moisture contents were measured using a sophisticated Time Domain Reflectrometry (TDR) probe and soil water suction pressures were measured using tensiometers. The water retention curve for each depth layer was characterized by fitting the popular van Genucthen model to observed moisture contents and suction pressures. Depth-wise differences in the shapes of the water retention curves were evident. Observed temporal variations in moisture content and suction pressures during internal drainage were analyzed using well-established procedures to calculate unsaturated hydraulic conductivity values.

5 illus, 2 tables, 13 ref

007907   Murali Krishna K;Raja Rajeswari K;Swamy G N (Dep of ECE, Andhra Univ, Visakhapatnam, A.P., Email: mkkasi@yahoo.com) : MIMO channel capacity measurement of uniform and exponential correlation matrix models. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2006, (Jan), 21-4.

Multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) systems are today regarded as one of the most promising research areas of wireless communications. This is due to the fact that a MIMO channel can offer a significant capacity gain over a traditional single-input single- output (SISO) channel. Studied the MIMO channel capacity using the uniform correlation matrix model and exponential correlation matrix model by analytical techniques.

3 illus, 2 tables, 10 ref

007906   Moulick S;Seshadri S (NO, Sch of Civ Engng Shanmugha Arts Sci Technol and Res Acad (SASTRA), Thanjavur-613 402) : Possible way of sizing scour valve in a water supply network. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2006, 87(Aug), 3-6.

In water supply network, the valves used for dewatering a portion of pipeline for maintenance or repair works are generally known as scour or blow-off valves. Focuses on designing scour valve based upon the time in which a given section of pipeline is designed to be emplied and upon the maximum stress generated. A generalised approach for determining type and nominal size of scour valve is presented along with a sample problem.

1 illus, 2 ref

007905   Morchhale R K;Ramakrishnan N;Dindorkar N (Regional Res Lab (CSIR), , Bhopal-462 026) : Bulk utilisation of copper mine tailings in production of bricks. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2006, 87(Aug), 13-16.

Investigations were carried out to develop stabilized cement copper tailing bricks using a waste generated by primary copper producing industry. The study reveals that good quality of stabilized bricks can be produced from a mixture of copper mine tailings and cement by adopting compressive moulding technique at a moulding pressure of 15 N/mm². Bricks of compressive strength of 2.9 N/mm² - 6.45 N/mm² were obtained after 28 days curing in a water pond at ambient temperature by varying cement content between 8% and 15%. The water absorption was in the range of 17.97% - 18.85%. Bricks of 3.5 N/mm² and 5 N/mm², crushing strength can be produced with cement content 9.59% and 12.60%, respectively, which will meet the requirement of IS: 1077-1992.

4 illus, 6 tables, 11 ref

007904   Mehrotra A;Srikanth R;Ramakrishnan A G (Dep of Electl Engg., Indian Inst of Sci, Bangalore, Email: mehrotra@ee.iisc.ernet.in) : A new coding scheme for 2-D and 3-D MR images using shape adaptive integer wavelet transform. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2006, (Jan), 38-42.

New Shape Adaptive Integer Wavelet Transform based progressive transmission coding scheme has been proposed for 2-D and 3-D MRI. The scheme consists of (a) extraction of shape information (b) Shape Adaptive Integer Wavelet transform (c) Intraband Wavelet encoding and (d) entropy coding. The proposed scheme results in improved performance of progressive transmission as compared to the conventional rectangular Wavelet transform coding schemes. The main contribution of the paper is it's unique approach which rejects the noisy background rather than considering it for lossy compression as proposed in most of the recent schemes. This rejection of unwanted information results in considerable decrease in bit rate. Another contribution is object based 3-D coding which is out of scope of baseline JPEG2000.

9 illus, 1 table, 10 ref

007903   Mani P;Kumar R;Chakravorty B (NO, Natn Inst of Hydrology (NIH) WALMI Complex, Phulwarisharif, Patna-801 505) : Effect of Embankment on river and its flow regime. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2006, 87(Aug), 23-6.

The construction of embankments leads to change in the natural course of river and therefore the river characteristics and flow conditions arc bound to change. There are opposite views on the issue of construction of embankments as flood control measures. Various studies conducted regarding performance evaluation of different embankment systems shows that the merits and demerits vanes from case to case and cannot be generalized. By confining the flow within the embankments, the flood plain storage is prevented and the total discharge is constrained to flow within the confinement. This increased discharge leads to increase in velocity and water level. All these changes, in turn, affect the river channel geometry, longitudinal profile and river morphology. The country side drainage is also prevented giving rise to the problems of drainage congestion at the junction of tributaries. Effect of embankments on river and its flow has been presented. The effect are grouped into three categories: effect on drainage pattern, river physical characteristics and flow characteristics for detailed discussion.

13 ref

007902   Majumdar S D;Kaviraj A K (NO, H & R Johnson (India) Ltd "Windsor" (7th Floor), C.S. T. Road, Kalina, Santacruz (East) Mumbai-400 098, Email: majumdar.sachidulal@hrjohnsonindia.com) : New generation binders for refractories and ceramic industries. Trans Indian Ceramic Soc 2006, 65(1), 49-55.

In recent years, process changes that have taken place in refractories as well as ceramic industries call for use of materials which can sustain stringent conditions and provide increased life during use at minium cost. Introduction of higher grade of special binders with the existing grade of raw materials may be a possible solution. Work has been carried out successfully to develop a number of binders, namely, calcium dialuminate cement, barium aluminate cement, magnesia based cement and develop applications of these binders along with siliceous sol, aluminium hydrate, etc. An attempt has been made to detail out the characteristics of these new binders, improved properties obtained from the finished products after their application and finally the effect of the same in the performance.

8 illus, 8 tables, 6 ref

007901   Krishna Rao E V;Krishna Mohan P G;Subbaiah P V (NO, V.R. Siddhartha Engng Coll, Vijayawada-520 007) : Performance of the split vector quantization of speech line spectral frequencies. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2006, (Jan), 87-90.

Describes a new method of efficient Split Vector Quantization (SVQ) of Line Spectral Frequency (LSF) Parameters for Speech Coding. This method is much better than the existing algorithms like LBG (LINDE, BUZO, GRAY) algorithm. The Speech signal is sampled at 8 KHz and converted into number of frames. Linear Predictive Coding (LPC) Parameters are calculated every frame. To overcome the complexity these LPC parameters consisting of 10 dimensional LSF's are splitting into three sub-vectors and each sub-vector is quantized separately using vector quantization. In the LSF quantization, performance of the Split Vector Quantizer is studied for splitting (3,3,4). The optimum codebook is prepared by using rawcodebook and hitbook procedure. By removing the unvoiced frames, the Split LSF vectors are quantized using optimum codebook and then the index is transmitted to the receiver. The index of the removed unvoiced frames is maintained and the same is introduced at synthesis to reconstruct the original signal. The number of bits/frame vs. Spectral Distortion (SD) is presented with removing unvoiced frames. It can be seen that average SD is very much less in the proposed SVQ algorithm for the split (3,3,4).

2 illus, 2 tables, 12 ref

007900   Kovacs F (Dep of Min and Geotechnology Fac of Earth Sci & Engng, Univ of Miskolec, H-3515 Miskole-Egyetemvaros, Hungary, Email: bgtkf@unimiskolc.hu) : Problems in the relationship between CO2 emissions and global warming. J Mines Metals Fuels 2006, 54(1-2), 3-10.

In the analysis of environmental conditions and impacts, the viewpoint that greenhouse gases, primarily anthropogenic (industrial, human) carbon dioxide play a determining role in the change of global temperatures, in the increase experienced in the last one and a half decade, has been given widespread publicity recently. Coal-fired power plants are the first to blame for the increase in atmospheric CO₂, concentrations in the last two centuries. The study indicates possibilities in increasing the efficiency of coal fired power plants, which would involve a considerable reduction in CO₂, emissions with an identical production volume of electrical energy. On the basis of the analysis of the amount of fossil fuels used, the amount of CO₂ emissions and changes in the concentrations of atmospheric CO₂, it is shown that no correlation can be proved between the factors investigated and changes in global temperatures.

11 illus, 20 ref

007899   Khullar N K (Dep of Civ Engng, P.A.U., Ludhiana-141 004) : Limiting capacity of wash load transport in channels. ISH J Hydraul Engng 2006, 12(1), 73-86.

Several relations have been proposed by various investigators for finding out the limiting wash load transport capacity of channels on the basis of data collected in rigid bed channels or on the basis of theoretical considerations. These relations are checked for their applicability for finding the limiting capacity of wash load transport through an alluvial channel by using the data collected on the transport of wash load through a laboratory flume having bed made up of coarse sediments and finally an analytical relationship is proposed for determination of the limiting capacity of wash load transport in alluvial channels.

7 illus, 2 tables, 11 ref

007898   Khatsuria R M (NO, , 5/4, Krutarth Society, off Satara Road, Pune-411 037) : Experimental studies on frictional resistance of flow over stepped spillway. ISH J Hydraul Engng 2006, 12(1), 128-34.

6 illus

007897   Kaushik N P;Ramasamy G (Dep of Civ Engng, Engng Coll, Kota-324 010) : Strength characteristics of compacted coal ash. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2006, 87(Aug), 56-60.

Thermal power stations are producing enormous quantity of ash as waste product. In India the estimated production of ash is 125 Mt/annum. Bulk utilization of ash is possible in geotechnical applications, such as, in the construction of embankments, as sub-base and as backfill material. For these applications, knowledge of compaction characteristics and shear strength parameters under various placement conditions is essential. The study, reported on the paper, examines these properties under various placement conditions. The study shows that bottom ash (BA) and mixture of flyash (FA) and bottom ash (BA) exhibit high shear strength and good compaction characteristics, strongly suggesting that coal ash can be used as construction material in geotechnical applications.

4 illus, 3 tables, 8 ref

007896   Gupta U M;Ojha C S P;Sharma N (Morph Directorate Cent Wat Commn, , New Delhi) : Vorticity with different shapes of submerged vanes. ISH J Hydraul Engng 2006, 12(1), 13-26.

At optimal angle of attack, vanes have the maximum strength of secondary circulation. For the same hydraulic condition, the maximum strength of vane induced secondary circulation also depends on their shapes. Optimal angle of attack in case of rectangular submerged vane with collar is very close to 40° where as in case of double curve vane type I, double curve vane type II, J1 type and J2 type vane is very close to 45°. Strength of vane induced secondary circulation in terms of moment of momentum depends upon various parameters. A dimensional analysis approach has been attempted to get dimensionless moment of momentum. The maximum strength of vane induced seconday circulation in terms of dimensionless moment of momentum is greater in case of recatngular vane than that in case of curved vanes in the same flow conditions and same height and length of vanes.

7 illus, 2 tables, 12 ref

007895   Gupta R;Bhave P R (Dep of Civ Engng, Visvesvaraya Natn Inst of Technol, Nagpur) : Design of water distribution network by a non iterative two stage optimization. ISH J Hydraul Engng 2006, 12(1), 121-7.

3 illus, 2 tables, 15 ref

007894   Gaikwad A N;Pasalkar N B (NO, Vishwakarma Inst of Technol, Pune, Email: ang2000@indiatimes.com) : Fingerprint verification using vector distance approach for minutiae matching. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2006, (Jan), 91-5.

Fingerprint is one of the most unique and vital biometrics features used in person identification. There are a number of methods proposed for minutiae matching by many researchers. There are two approaches in minutiae based matching: structural matching and point matching. In structural matching, the locations are mostly discarded and a graph, which codes the relative locations of minutiae, is constructed. The sub graphs around each minutia are used to build feature vectors. As the locations are discarded, alignment is not necessary. In point matching, two sets of minutiae code using their locations are aligned and the sum of similarity between the overlapping minutiae is calculated. The similarity between two minutiae is measured using the attributes of the minutiae. Alignment is an important problem in point matching in most of the system. Describes the identification of ridge bifurcation and implementation of fingerprint matching using minutiae distance approach. Discussed the implementation of vector distance approach for matching. This is a novel iterative approach that makes the matcher invariant to rotation, translation, and small amount of scale changes. It is found that the algorithm is simple and efficient and gives acceptable accuracy of the verification for low and medium level applications.

3 illus, 9 ref

007893   Ekambaram Naidu M;Sai Chand G (Dep of CSE, Sri Vidyanikethan Engng Coll A. Rangampet, Chandragiri Mandal, Tirupathi, Email: menaidu2004@yahoo.co.in) : Rajan transform and its uses in pattern recognition. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2006, (Jan), 64-70.

Formulation of a novel transform called Rajan Transform, which is a variant of FFT has been described.This transform was introduced in the year 1997 by Rajan [1], [2] on the lines of Hadamard Transform. Rajan Transform (RT) is a coding morphism by which a number sequence (integer, rational, real or complex) of length equal to any power of two is transformed into a highly correlated number sequence of the same length. It is a homomorphism that maps a set consisting of a number sequence, its graphical inverse and their cyclic and dyadic permutations, to a set consisting of a unique number sequence ensuring the invariance property under such permutations. This invariance property is also true for the permutation class of the dual sequence of the number sequence under consideration. A number sequence and it s dual are like an object and its mirror image. For example, the four point sequences x(n) = 3, 1, 3, 3 and y(n) = 2, 4, 2, 2 are duals to each other. Observe that the sum of each sequence is 10 and one sequence could be obtained from the other by subtracting the elements of the other sequence from 5, which is half of its sum. Since RT of a number sequence is an organized number sequence with a high degree of correlation, it is suitable for effective data compression. Describes in detail the techniques of using RT for pattern recognition purposes. For example, pattern recognition operations like extracting lines, curves, isolated points and points of intersection of lines from a digital gray or colour image could be carried out using RT based fast algorithms.

4 illus, 4 ref

007892   Doraiswamy K M (BSNL, , 3-6-385, Nagarjuna Jubilant Complex, Himayat Nagar, Hyderabad-500 029, Email: kmdoraiswamy@bsnl.in) : Convergence in telecommunications. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2006, (Jan), 55-6.

Convergence in telecommunications is taking place in three fronts; Services, Technology and Billing. All the three are fuelled by the expectations and demands of the customers. Analysed the behaviour of the customers and how it forced to converge different services and how the service providers are coping up with the requirement by adopting new technologies.

7 ref

007891   Datta D;Deb K (Deparment of Mechanical Engng Kanpur Genet Algorithms Laboratories (Ka, Indian Inst of Technol Kanpur, Kanpur, Email: ddatta@iitk.ac.in) : Design of optimum cross section for load carrying members using multi-objective evolutionary algorithms. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2006, (Jan), 57-63.

To reduce the induced undesired stresses, a power transmitting shaft or a load carrying beam should have its related area moment of inertia as large as possible. Similarly, to avoid early buckling and hence, to increase the capacity, a compressive load carrying strut should have a radius of gyration as large as possible. As the radius of gyration is directly proportional to the square root of area moment of inertia, a strut also should have its related area moment of inertia as large as possible. However, an increase in such moment of inertias comes with an increase in the transverse cross-sectional areas and hence, the weight of the members. Therefore, the maximization of moment of inertias should not take place at the cost of excessive weights of the members. Attempt has been made here to design optimum cross-sections for such load-carrying members, using a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm, for simultaneously maximizing moment of inertias and minimizing the cross-sectional areas. The success of the work has been shown through a few case studies.

16 illus, 12 ref

007890   Chakrabarti O P;Mallick D;Maiti H S;Majumdar R (NO, Cent Glass and Ceram Res Inst, Kolkata-700 032, Email: omprakash@cgcri.res.in) : Microcellular Si/SiC ceramics by replication of Indian dicotyledonous woods. Trans Indian Ceramic Soc 2006, 65(1), 23-8.

Three dicotyledonous woods of local origin (mango (Mangifera indica), jackfruit (Artocarpus integrifolia) and teak (Tectona grandis)) were transformed by pyrolysis into carbonaceous preforms and subsequently converted into microcellular Si/SiC ceramics by liquid Si-infiltration under vacuum. The pyrolyzed mango, jackfruit and teak were characterized in terms of pyrolysis weight loss, shrinkages, bulk density and microstructures. The end ceramics were found to be 91-98% dense with respect to theoretical densities (T.D.) with porosities in the range of 0.1-4.8%. SEM (in back scattered electron (BSE) mode) imaging confirmed the preservation of microcellular tissue anatomy of the precursor wood structure in the morphologies of the final ceramics. The microcellular Si/SiC ceramics from mango, jackfruit and teak exhibited excellent oxidation resistance during heating to 1350°C in flowing air, showing a marginal weight gain at the highest temperature. Si/SiC-mango was also characterized in terms of flexural strength, Young's modulus and hardness. These biostructural microcellular Si/SiC ceramics possess application potential in various structural ceramic sectors (e.g. mechanical pump seals, wear inserts, kiln support structures, heat exchangers etc.).

7 illus, 2 tables, 21 ref