Search results for: Tanka Nath Dahal

Authors: S. M. Gupta, Vanita Aggarwal, Som Nath Sachdeva

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The work reported through this paper is an experimental work conducted on High Performance Concrete (HPC) with super plasticizer with the aim to develop some models suitable for prediction of compressive strength of HPC mixes. In this study, the effect of varying proportions of fly ash (0% to 50% at 10% increment) on compressive strength of high performance concrete has been evaluated. The mix designs studied were M30, M40 and M50 to compare the effect of fly ash addition on the properties of these concrete mixes. In all eighteen concrete mixes have been designed, three as conventional concretes for three grades under discussion and fifteen as HPC with fly ash with varying percentages of fly ash. The concrete mix designing has been done in accordance with Indian standard recommended guidelines i.e. IS: 10262. All the concrete mixes have been studied in terms of compressive strength at 7 days, 28 days, 90 days and 365 days. All the materials used have been kept same throughout the study to get a perfect comparison of values of results. The models for compressive strength prediction have been developed using Linear Regression method (LR), Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Leave One Out Validation (LOOV) methods.

Keywords: high performance concrete, fly ash, concrete mixes, compressive strength, strength prediction models, linear regression, ANN

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Authors: S. P. Sharma, Som Nath Saha

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This paper deals with the analytical investigation of thermal and thermohydraulic performance of double flow solar air heaters with corrugated and flat plate absorber. A mathematical model of double flow solar air heater has been presented, and a computer program in C⁺⁺ language is developed to estimate the outlet temperature of air for the evaluation of thermal and thermohydraulic efficiency by solving the governing equations numerically using relevant correlations for heat transfer coefficients. The results obtained from the mathematical model is compared with the available experimental results and it is found to be reasonably good. The results show that the double flow solar air heaters have higher efficiency than conventional solar air heater, although the double flow corrugated absorber is superior to that of flat plate double flow solar air heater. It is also observed that the thermal efficiency increases with increase in mass flow rate; however, thermohydraulic efficiency increases with increase in mass flow rate up to a certain limit, attains the maximum value, then thereafter decreases sharply.

Keywords: corrugated absorber, double flow, solar air heater, thermos-hydraulic efficiency

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Authors: S. P. Sharma, Som Nath Saha

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This paper presents the performance, based on exergy analysis of double flow solar air heaters with corrugated and flat plate absorber. A mathematical model of double flow solar air heater based on energy balance equations has been presented and the results obtained have been compared with that of a conventional flat-plate solar air heater. The double flow corrugated absorber solar air heater performs thermally better than the flat plate double flow and conventional flat-plate solar air heater under same operating conditions. However, the corrugated absorber leads to higher pressure drop thereby increasing pumping power. The results revealed that the energy and exergy efficiencies of double flow corrugated absorber solar air heater is much higher than conventional solar air heater with the concept involving of increase in heat transfer surface area and turbulence in air flow. The results indicate that the energy efficiency increases, however, exergy efficiency decreases with increase in mass flow rate.

Keywords: corrugated absorber, double flow, exergy efficiency, solar air heater

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Authors: Sanjeev Kumar, S. K. Nath

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Proper selection of welding parameters for getting excellent weld is a challenge. HAZ simulation helps in identifying suitable welding parameters like heating rate, cooling rate, peak temperature, and energy input. In this study, the influence of weld thermal cycle of heat affected zone (HAZ) is simulated for Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) using Gleeble ® 3800 thermomechanical simulator. A (Micro-alloyed) MA steel plate of thickness 18 mm having yield strength 450MPa is used for making test specimens. Determination of the mechanical properties of weld simulated specimens including Charpy V-notch toughness and hardness is performed. Peak temperatures of 1300°C, 1150°C, 1000°C, 900°C, 800°C, heat energy input of 22KJ/cm and preheat temperatures of 30°C have been used with Rykalin-3D simulation model. It is found that the impact toughness (75J) is the best for the simulated HAZ specimen at the peak temperature 900ºC. For parent steel, impact toughness value is 26.8J at -50°C in transverse direction.

Keywords: HAZ simulation, mechanical properties, peak temperature, ship hull steel, weldability

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Authors: Sharmila Dahal Paudel

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Background: There are around twenty-four thousand to twenty-eight thousand Female Sex Workers in Nepal. FSWs are the vulnerable groups for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections which directly and indirectly ease to reduce the quality of life of such groups. Due to their highly marginalized status, FSWs in Nepal have limited access to information about reproductive health and safe sex practices. The objectives of the study are to assess the quality of life of female sex workers and the factors affecting them. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study with methodological triangulation was conducted among 108 FSWs on the basis of service record of selected organization of Pokhara valley. The complete enumerative sampling was used to select FSWs. Structured interview schedule, WHOQOL-BREF and in-depth questionnaire were used to collect the data. The descriptive and inferential statistics were used to interpret the result. Results: The mean age of participants were 23.44 years and the mean quality of life score was 174.06 ranging from 56.54 to 370.78. Among the domain scores, the mean score is highest in social domain (55.89) followed by physical (45.42), psychological (39.27) and the environmental (34.23). Regarding the association of QOL with socio-demographic, occupation and health-related variables, the multi-linear regression suggests that the satisfaction with occupation was highly significant with the total QOL score (B=-50.50, SE=10.46; p= <0.001) and there is negative relation between QOL and feeling of exploitation and facing STI problems. This means those who feels exploited have significantly less QOL comparing with those who did not feel the same. In correlation analysis, all the domains are positively co-related with each domain which is found to be significant at 1% level of significance. Conclusion: The highest mean score was in social domain, and the lowest is in environmental domain which suggests that the items included in environmental domains could not be utilized or hindrance were there.

Keywords: FSWs, HIV, QOL, WHOQOL-BREF

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Authors: Birendra Kumar Jha, Mingma L. Sherpa, Binod Kumar Dahal

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Background: The metabolic syndrome is emerging as a major public health concern in the world. Urbanization, surplus energy uptake, compounded by decreased physical activities, and increasing obesity are the major factors contributing to the epidemic of metabolic syndrome worldwide. However, prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its risk factors are little studied in Terai region of Nepal. The objectives of this research were to estimate the prevalence and to identify the risk factors of metabolic syndrome among adults in Terai region of Nepal. Method: We used a community based cross sectional study design. A total of 225 adults (age: 18 to 80 years) were selected from three district of Terai region of Nepal using cluster sampling by camp approach. IDF criteria (central obesity with any two of following four factors: triglycerides ≥ 150 mg/dl or specific treatment for lipid abnormality, reduced HDL, raised blood pressure and raised fasting plasma glucose or previously diagnosed type 2 diabetes) were used to assess metabolic syndrome. Interview, physical and clinical examination, measurement of fasting blood glucose and lipid profile were conducted for all participants. Chi-square test and multivariable logistic regression were employed to explore the risk factors of metabolic syndrome. Result: The overall prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 70.7%. Hypertension, increased fasting blood sugar, increased triglycerides and decreased HDL were observed in 50.7%, 32.4%, 41.8% and 79.1% of the subjects respectively. Socio-economic and behavioral risk factors significantly associated with metabolic syndrome were gender male (OR=2.56, 955 CI: 1.42-4.63; p=0.002), in service or retired from service (OR=3.72, 95% CI: 1.72-8.03; p=0.001) and smoking (OR= 4.10, 95% CI: 1.19-14.07; p=0.016). Conclusion: Higher prevalence of Metabolic syndrome along with presence of behavioral risk factors in Terai region of Nepal likely suggest lack of awareness and health promotion activities for metabolic syndrome and indicate the need to promote public health programs in this region to maintain quality of life.

Keywords: metabolic syndrome, Nepal, prevalence, risk factors, Terai

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Authors: Hamid R. Chabok, Demetrios N. Christodoulides, Mercedeh Khajavikhan

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In recent years, acousto-optic (AO) lenses with tunable foci have emerged as a powerful tool for optical beam shaping, imaging, and particle manipulation. In most current AO lenses, the incident light that propagates orthogonally to a standing ultrasonic wave converts to a Bessel-like beam pattern due to the Raman-Nath effect, thus forming annular fringes that result in compromised focus response. Here, we report a new class of AO dynamic lensing based on generating a 3D-variable refractive index profile via a z-axis-scan ultrasound transducer. By utilizing the co- /counter propagation of light and acoustic waves that interact over a longer distance, the laser beam can be strongly focused in a fully controllable manner. Using this approach, we demonstrate AO lenses with instantaneous extended depth of field (DoF) and laterally localized dynamic focusing. This new light-sound interaction scheme may pave the way towards applications that require remote focusing, 3D micromanipulation, and deep tissue therapy/imaging.

Keywords: acousto-optic, optical beam shaping, dynamic lensing, ultrasound

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Authors: Sitaram Dahal

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Sustainable Development, a universal need for the present generation and the future generation, is an accepted way to assure intra and inter-generational equity. International movements like Rio Earth Summit 1992, Stockholm Conference 1972, Kyoto Protocol, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proclaim the need of sustainable globe. The socio- economic disparity prevailing in the society shows that the indigenous peoples are living life far below poverty line. These indigenous people, aboriginal social groups sharing common cultural values and with a unique identity, are away from development being merely focused on the growth. Though studies suggest that most of the indigenous practices are often environment-friendly, alert about the plunging trend of the practices. This study explores the trend of intergenerational transmission of indigenous profession of pottery making of Kumal community (Meghauli Village Development Committee of Chitwan district) and factors affecting the trend. The SD indicators - contribution of IP to well-being of pottery makers had been query in the study. The study reveals that the pottery making profession can stand sustainable in terms of environment and socio-economic capital compared to modern technologies. However, the number of practitioners has been decreasing and youths hardly show interest to continue their indigenous profession. The new generations are not in a stage of accepting pottery in complete profession, that challenges the social and cultural sustainability of the profession. Indigenous profession demand people investments over modern technology and innovations. The relative investment of human labour is dramatically high with the indigenous profession. In addition, the fashion and innovations of market rule challenge the sustainability of the pottery making profession. The practice is limited to small cluster as a show piece at present. The study illustrates the market driven unsustainability of indigenous profession of Kumal community.

Keywords: professional unsustainability, pottery making, Kumal Community, Indigenous Professoin

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Authors: Biswajit Seal, Dushyant Kumar, Shambhu Nath, A. B. Raju

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Extension of blast furnace campaign life is highly desired for blast furnace operators mainly because of reduction of operating cost and to avoid capital expenditure cost. Tata Steel Ltd, Jamshedpur plant operates seven blast furnaces with combination of old and new technologies. The focus of Tata Steel Ltd is to push for increasing productivity with good quality product and increasing campaign life. This has been challenging for older furnaces because older furnaces are generally equipped with less automation, old design and old equipment. Good operational practices, appropriate remedial measures, and regular planned maintenance helps to achieve long campaign life of old furnaces. Good operating practices like stable and consistent productivity, control of burden distribution, remedial measures like stack gunning and shotcreting for protection of stack wall, enhanced cooling system, and intermediate stack repair helps to achieve long campaign life of old blast furnaces. This paper describes experiences with the current old equipment and design of Tata Steel’s D Blast Furnace for campaign life extension.

Keywords: blast furnace, burden distribution, campaign life, productivity

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Authors: Rituparna Nath, Shawn J. Marshall

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Glaciers are one of the main sensitive climatic indicators, as they respond strongly to small climatic shifts. We develop a flow line model of glacier dynamics to simulate the past and future extent of glaciers in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, with the aim of coupling this model within larger scale regional climate models of glacier response to climate change. This paper will focus on glacier-climate modeling and reconstructions of glacier volume from the Little Ice Age (LIA) to present for Athabasca Glacier, Alberta, Canada. Glacier thickness, volume and mass change will be constructed using flow line modelling and examination of different climate scenarios that are able to give good reconstructions of LIA ice extent. With the availability of SPOT 5 imagery, Digital elevation models and GIS Arc Hydro tool, ice catchment properties-glacier width and LIA moraines have been extracted using automated procedures. Simulation of glacier mass change will inform estimates of meltwater run off over the historical period and model calibration from the LIA reconstruction will aid in future projections of the effects of climate change on glacier recession. Furthermore, the model developed will be effective for further future studies with ensembles of glaciers.

Keywords: flow line modeling, Athabasca Glacier, glacier mass balance, Remote Sensing, Arc hydro tool, little ice age

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Authors: Ashish Kumar Pathak, Ritika Sharma, Vishal Nath, Sudhir Pratap Singh, Rakesh Tuli

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Litchi is a sub-tropical fruit crop with genotypes bearing delicious juicy fruits with variable seed size (bold to rudimentary size). Small seed size is a desirable trait in litchi, as it increases consumer acceptance and fruit processing. The biochemical activities in mid- stage ovules (e.g. 16, 20, 24 and 28 days after anthesis) determine the fate of seed and fruit development in litchi. Comprehensive ovule-specific transcriptome analysis was performed in two litchi genotypes with contrasting seed size to gain molecular insight on determinants of seed fates in litchi fruits. The transcriptomic data was de-novo assembled in 1,39,608 trinity transcripts, out of which 6,325 trinity transcripts were differentially expressed between the two contrasting genotypes. Differential transcriptional pattern was found among ovule development stages in contrasting litchi genotypes. The putative genes for salicylic acid, jasmonic acid and brassinosteroid pathway were down-regulated in ovules of small-seeded litchi. Embryogenesis, cell expansion, seed size and stress related trinity transcripts exhibited altered expression in small-seeded genotype. The putative regulators of seed maturation and seed storage were down-regulated in small-seed genotype.

Keywords: Litchi, seed, transcriptome, defence

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Authors: Rahul Paul, Kedar Nath Das

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The field of machine learning (ML) is experiencing rapid development, resulting in a multitude of theoretical advancements and extensive practical implementations across various disciplines. The objective of ML is to facilitate the ability of machines to perform cognitive tasks by leveraging knowledge gained from prior experiences and effectively addressing complex problems, even in situations that deviate from previously encountered instances. Reinforcement Learning (RL) has emerged as a prominent subfield within ML and has gained considerable attention in recent times from researchers. This surge in interest can be attributed to the practical applications of RL, the increasing availability of data, and the rapid advancements in computing power. At the same time, optimization algorithms play a pivotal role in the field of ML and have attracted considerable interest from researchers. A multitude of proposals have been put forth to address optimization problems or improve optimization techniques within the domain of ML. The necessity of a thorough examination and implementation of optimization algorithms within the context of ML is of utmost importance in order to provide guidance for the advancement of research in both optimization and ML. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the application of metaheuristic evolutionary optimization algorithms in conjunction with RL to address a diverse range of scientific challenges. Furthermore, this article delves into the various challenges and unresolved issues pertaining to the optimization of RL models.

Keywords: machine learning, reinforcement learning, loss function, evolutionary optimization techniques

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Authors: Anurag Kumar Pandey, Tapan Kumar Nath, Santanu Dhara

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Polluted water by industrial effluents or dyes has become a major global concern, particularly in developing countries. Such environmental contaminants constitute a serious threat to biodiversity, ecosystems, and human health worldwide; thus, their treatment is critical. The usage of nanoparticles has been discovered to be a potential water treatment method with high efficiency, cheap manufacturing costs, and green synthesis. Carbon dots have attracted the interest of researchers due to their unique properties, such as high water solubility, ease of production, great electron-donating ability, and low toxicity. In this context, we synthesized iodine-doped clove buds-derived carbon dots (I-CCDs) for the Fenton-like degradation of environmental contaminants in water (such as methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine-B (Rh-B) dye). The formation of I-CCDs has been confirmed using various spectroscopy techniques. I-CCDs have demonstrated remarkable optical, cytocompatibility, and antibacterial capabilities. The C-dots that were synthesized were found to be an effective catalyst for the reduction of MB and Rh-B utilizing NaBH4 as a reducing agent. UV-visible spectroscopy was used to construct a detailed pathway for dye reduction step by step. As-prepared I-CCDs have the potential to be a promising solution for wastewater purification and treatment systems.

Keywords: iodine-doped carbon dots, wastewater treatment and purification, environmental friendly, antibacterial

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Authors: Shraddha Acharya, Sharad Kumar Sharma, Ratna Bhattarai, Bhagwan Maharjan, Deepak Dahal, Serpahine Kaminsa

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Background: Drug-resistant (DR) tuberculosis (TB) continues to be a threat in Nepal, with an estimated 2800 new cases every year. The treatment of DR-TB with second line TB drugs is complex and takes longer time with comparatively lower treatment success rate than drug-susceptible TB. Delay in treatment initiation for DR-TB patients might further result in unfavorable treatment outcomes and increased transmission. This study thus aims to determine median time taken to initiate second-line treatment among Rifampicin Resistant (RR) diagnosed TB patients and to assess the proportion of treatment delays among various type of DR-TB cases. Method: A retrospective cohort study was done using national routine electronic data (DRTB and TB Laboratory Patient Tracking System-DHIS2) on drug resistant tuberculosis patients between January 2020 and December 2022. The time taken for treatment initiation was computed as– days from first diagnosis as RR TB through Xpert MTB/Rif test to enrollment on second-line treatment. The treatment delay (>7 days after diagnosis) was calculated. Results: Among total RR TB cases (N=954) diagnosed via Xpert nationwide, 61.4% were enrolled under shorter-treatment regimen (STR), 33.0% under longer treatment regimen (LTR), 5.1% for Pre-extensively drug resistant TB (Pre-XDR) and 0.4% for Extensively drug resistant TB (XDR) treatment. Among these cases, it was found that the median time from diagnosis to treatment initiation was 6 days (IQR:2-15.8). The median time was 5 days (IQR:2.0-13.3) among STR, 6 days (IQR:3.0-15.0) among LTR, 30 days (IQR:5.5-66.8) among Pre-XDR and 4 days (IQR:2.5-9.0) among XDR TB cases. The overall treatment delay (>7 days after diagnosis) was observed in 42.4% of the patients, among which, cases enrolled under Pre-XDR contributed substantially to treatment delay (72.0%), followed by LTR (43.6%), STR (39.1%) and XDR (33.3%). Conclusion: Timely diagnosis and prompt treatment initiation remain fundamental focus of the National TB program. The findings of the study, however suggest gaps in timeliness of treatment initiation for the drug-resistant TB patients, which could bring adverse treatment outcomes. Moreover, there is an alarming delay in second line treatment initiation for the Pre-XDR TB patients. Therefore, this study generates evidence to identify existing gaps in treatment initiation and highlights need for formulating specific policies and intervention in creating effective linkage between the RR TB diagnosis and enrollment on second line TB treatment with intensified efforts from health providers for follow-ups and expansion of more decentralized, adequate, and accessible diagnostic and treatment services for DR-TB, especially Pre-XDR TB cases, due to the observed long treatment delays.

Keywords: drug-resistant, tuberculosis, treatment initiation, Nepal, treatment delay

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Authors: Narendra Nath Patra

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Several recent studies reinforce the existence of a thick molecular disc in galaxies along with the dynamically cold thin disc. Assuming a two-component molecular disc, we model the disc of NGC 6946 as a four-component system consists of stars, HI, thin disc molecular gas, and thick disc molecular gas in vertical hydrostatic equilibrium. Following, we set up the joint Poisson-Boltzmann equation of hydrostatic equilibrium and solve it numerically to obtain a three-dimensional density distribution of different baryonic components. Using the density solutions and the observed rotation curve, we further build a three-dimensional dynamical model of the molecular disc and consecutively produce simulated CO spectral cube and spectral width profile. We find that the simulated spectral width profiles distinguishably differs for different assumed thick disc molecular gas fraction. Several CO spectral width profiles are then produced for different assumed thick disc molecular gas fractions and compared with the observed one to obtain the best fit thick disc molecular gas fraction profile. We find that the thick disc molecular gas fraction in NGC 6946 largely remains constant across its molecular disc with a mean value of 0.70 +/- 0.09. We also estimate the amount of extra-planar molecular gas in NGC 6946. We find 60% of the total molecular gas is extra-planar at the central region, whereas this fraction reduces to ~ 35% at the edge of the molecular disc. With our method, for the first time, we estimate the thick disc molecular gas fraction as a function of radius in an external galaxy with sub-kpc resolution.

Keywords: galaxies: kinematics and dynamic, galaxies: spiral, galaxies: structure , ISM: molecules, molecular data

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Authors: A. Ravinder Nath, D. Jaya Prakash, T. Venkateshwarlu, P. Raja Rao

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The introduction of novel practices in research and innovation management at the university are likely to make a real difference in improving the quality of life and boost the global competitiveness for sustainable economic growth. Establishment a specific institutional structure at the university level provides professional management and administrative expertise to the university’s research community by sourcing out funding opportunities, extending guidance in grant proposal preparation and submission and also assisting in the post award reporting and regulatory observance. In addition to these it can involve in negotiating fair and equitable research contracts. Further it administer research governance to provide support and encourage collaborations across all disciplines of the university with industry, government, community based organizations, foundations, and associations at the local, regional, national and international levels/scales. The partnerships in research and innovation are more powerful and far needed tools for knowledge-based economy, where the universities can offer the services of much wanted human resources to promote, foster, and sustain excellence in research. In addition to this the institutes provide amply desired infrastructure and expertise to work with the investigators, and the industry will generate required financial resources in a coordinated manner. Further it is possible to carryout high-end applied research and synergizes the research capabilities and professional skills of students, faculty, scientists, and industrial work force.

Keywords: collaborations, competitiveness, contracts, governance

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Authors: Lok Raj Joshi, Naveen Prakash Shah, Sharad Kumar Sharma, I. Ratna Bhattarai, Rajendra Basnet, Deepak Dahal, Bahagwan Maharjan, Seraphine Kaminsa

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Context: Tuberculosis (TB) is a significant health issue in Nepal, a country with a high burden of the disease. Despite efforts to control TB, there is still a gap in the notification of TB cases, which hinders effective control and treatment. This paper aims to address this notification gap and proposes strategies to improve TB control in Nepal. Research Aim: The aim of this research is to understand and address the tuberculosis notification gap in Nepal. The focus is on enhancing the healthcare system, involving the private sector and communities, raising awareness, and addressing social determinants to achieve sustainable TB control. Methodology: The research methodology involved a review of existing epidemiological data and research studies related to TB in Nepal. Additionally, consultation with an expert group from the TB control program in Nepal provided insights into the current state of TB control and challenges in addressing the notification gap. Findings: The findings reveal that only 55% of TB cases were reported in 2022, indicating a significant notification gap. Of the reported cases, only 32% and 19% were referred by the private sector and community, respectively. Furthermore, 20% of diagnosed cases were not treated in the initial phase. The estimated number of cases of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR TB) was 2,800, suggesting a low diagnosis rate. Among the diagnosed MDR TB cases, only 60% were receiving treatment. Additionally, it was observed that 20% of diagnosed MDR TB cases were from India and not enrolling in TB treatment in Nepal, indicating a high rate of defaulters. Theoretical Importance: The study highlights the importance of adopting a holistic strategy to address the notification gap in TB cases in Nepal. It emphasizes the need to enhance healthcare infrastructure, raise awareness, involve the private sector and local communities, establish effective methods to trace initial defaulters, implement TB interventions in border regions, and mitigate the social stigma associated with the disease. Data Collection and Analysis Procedures: Data for this study was collected through a review of existing epidemiological data and research studies. The data were then analyzed to identify patterns, trends, and gaps in TB case notification in Nepal.

Keywords: TB, tuberculosis, private sector, community, migrants, nepal

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Authors: Akhilendra Nath Tiwary

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Vindhyanchal is a very famous pilgrimage and tourism site in the west of Mirzapur city of Uttar Pradesh State in India. The city in east is a commercial center for cotton, metal ware and carpets. Among the Hindu population, it is believed that the primordial creative forces of the GOD and the power of the GODDESS make respective triangles which superimpose opposite to each other as hexagram at a point or node (Bindu (point) +Vasini (located) or Vindhyavasini, located in a point/node). Mirzapur city has served as a natural connecting point between north and south India. Before independence of India from Britain in 1947, it was a flourishing commercial center. Post-independence, the negligence of planning authorities and nexus of bureaucrats and politicians started affecting its development. In the meantime, emergence of new industrial cities as Kanpur, Agra, Moradabad, etc., nearer to the capital city of Delhi, posed serious challenges to the development of this small city as many commercial and business activities along with the skilled workforce started shifting to these new cities or to the relatively bigger neighboring cities of Varanasi in east and Allahabad in west. In the present paper, the significant causes, issues and challenges in development of Vindhyanchal is discussed with geographical perspective. An attempt has been made to find out the ways to restore the lost glory of the city as a center of pilgrimage, tourism, and commerce.

Keywords: cultural node, pilgrimage, sacred, Vindhyan triangle, ommercial centre

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Authors: Reshmita Nath

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In this study, we investigate the spatiotemporal characteristics of drought in India and its impact on agriculture during the summer season (April to September). For our analysis, we have used Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) datasets between 1982 and 2012 at six-month timescale. Based on the criteria SPEI<-1 we obtain the vulnerability map and have found that the Humid subtropical Upper Middle Gangetic Plain (UMGP) region is highly drought prone with an occurrence frequency of 40-45%. This UMGP region contributes at least 18-20% of India’s annual cereal production. Not only the probability, but the region becomes more and more drought-prone in the recent decades. Moreover, the cereal production in the UMGP has experienced a gradual declining trend from 2000 onwards and this feature is consistent with the increase in drought affected areas from 20-25% to 50-60%, before and after 2000, respectively. The higher correlation coefficient (-0.69) between the changes in cereal production and drought affected areas confirms that at least 50% of the agricultural (cereal) losses is associated with drought. While analyzing the individual impact of precipitation and surface temperature anomalies on SPEI (6), we have found that in the UMGP region surface temperature plays the primary role in lowering of SPEI. The linkage is further confirmed by the correlation analysis between the SPEI (6) and surface temperature rise, which exhibits strong negative values in the UMGP region. Higher temperature might have caused more evaporation and drying, which therefore increases the area affected by drought in the recent decade.

Keywords: drought, agriculture, SPEI, Indo-Gangetic plain

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Authors: Vishwa Nath Maurya, Rama Shanker Sharma, Saad Talib Hasson Aljebori, Avadhesh Kumar Maurya, Diwinder Kaur Arora

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Present paper deals with problems of determining the relationship between the variables of corporate governance and financial performance of Islamic banks. Here, we dealt with the corporate governance in the banking sector, where increasing the importance of corporate governance, due to their special nature, as the bankruptcy of banks affects not only the relevant parties from customers, depositors and lenders, but also affect financial stability and then the economy as a whole. Through this paper we dealt to the specificity of governance in Islamic banks, which face double governance: Anglo-Saxon governance system and Islamic governance system. In addition, we focused our attention to measure the impact of corporate governance variables on financial performance through an empirical study on a sample of Islamic banks during the period 2005-2012 in the GCC region. Our present study implies that there is a very strong relationship between the variables of governance and financial performance of Islamic banks, where there is a positive relationship between return on assets and the composition of the Board of Directors, the size of the Board of Directors, the number of committees in the Council, as well as the number of members of the Sharia Supervisory Board, while it is clear that there is a negative relationship between return on assets and concentration ownership.

Keywords: correlation analysis, parametric estimation, corporate governance, financial performance, financial stability, conventional banks, bankruptcy, Islamic governance system

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Authors: Bishwa Nath Oli

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Nepal is highly impacted by climate change and adaptation has been a major focus. This paper investigates the gaps and coherence in national policies across water, forestry, local development and agriculture sectors, identifies their links to climate change adaptation and national development plans and analyzes the effectiveness of climate change policy on adaptation. The study was based on a content analysis of relevant policy documents on the level of attention given to adaptation and key informant interviews. Findings show that sectoral policies have differing degrees of cross thematic coherence, often with mismatched priorities and differing the paths towards achieving climate change goal. They are somewhat coherent in addressing immediate disaster management issues rather than in climate adaptation. In some cases, they are too broad and complicated and the implementation suffers from barriers and limits due to lack of capacity, investment, research and knowledge needed for evidence-based policy process. They do not adequately provide operational guidance in supporting communities in adapting to climate change. The study recommends to a) embrace longer-term cross-sectoral planning within government structures to foster greater policy coherence and integrated adaptation planning, b) increase awareness and flow of information on the potential role of communities in climate change, c) review the existing development sectors from the climate change perspectives, and d) formulate a comprehensive climate change legislation based on the need to implement the new Constitution.

Keywords: agriculture, climate change adaptation, forestry, policies

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Authors: S. M. P Manjula, Ishara Amarathunga, Aryan Nath Koura, Jaideepraj Rao

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Background: Laparoscopic D2 Gastrectomy for non metastatic advanced Gastric cancer (AGC) has become a controversial topic as there are confronting ideas from experts in the field. Lack of consensus are mainly due to non feasibility of the dissection and safety and efficacy. Method: Data from all D2 Gastrectomies performed (both Subtotal and Total Gastrectomies) in our unit from 2009 December to 2013 December were retrospectively analysed. Computor database was prospectively maintained. Pathological stage two A (iiA) and above considered advanced Gastric cancers, who underwent curative intent D2 Gastrectomy were included for analysis(n=46). Four patients excluded from the study as peritoneal fluid cytology came positive for cancer cells and one patient exempted as microscopic resection margin positive(R1) after curative resection. Thirty day morbidity and mortality, operative time, lymph nodes harvest and survival (disease free and overall) analyzed. Results: Complete curative resection achieved in 40 patients. Mean age of the study population was 62.2 (32-88) and male to female ratio was 23: 17. Thirty day mortality (1/40) and morbidity (6/40). Average operative time 203.7 minutes (185- 400) and average lymphnodes harvest was 40.5 (18-91). Disease free survival of the AGC in this study population was 16.75 months (1-49). Average hospital stay was 6.8 days (3-31). Conclusion: Laparoscopic dissection is effective feasible and safe in AGC.

Keywords: laparoscopy, advanced gastric cancer, safety, efficacy

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Authors: Rajesh Chakraborty, Dibyendu Das, Rabindra Nath Barman, Uttam Kumar Mandal

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In the present study, the objective is to find out the most effective zone causing soil erosion in the Gumati river basin located in the state of Tripura, a north eastern state of India using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and multi-objective optimization on the basis of ratio analysis (MOORA).The watershed is segmented into 20 zones based on Area. The watershed is considered by pointing the maximum elevation from sea lever from Google earth. The soil erosion is determined using the universal soil loss equation. The different independent variables of soil loss equation bear different weightage for different soil zones. And therefore, to find the weightage factor for all the variables of soil loss equation like rainfall runoff erosivity index, soil erodibility factor etc, analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is used. And thereafter, multi-objective optimization on the basis of ratio analysis (MOORA) approach is used to select the most effective zone causing soil erosion. The MCDM technique concludes that the maximum soil erosion is occurring in the zone 14.

Keywords: soil erosion, analytic hierarchy process (AHP), multi criteria decision making (MCDM), universal soil loss equation (USLE), multi-objective optimization on the basis of ratio analysis (MOORA)

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Authors: Tanjibul Hasan Sajib, Sarmin Akhter Beauty, Palash Chandra Dev Nath

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This study attempts to uphold a report on an approach to establish design-development model for Bangladeshi handloom fashion industry. This paper uses quantitative research to develop the Bangladesh handloom sector to follow the Indian fashion industry. Moreover, the study will also consider primary and secondary sources of information to analyze the handloom sector’s development. It is motivated by the fact that, over this period, India’s fashion industry has developed, and become well-positioned in the international market. The Indian handloom-based fashion industry includes Jigmat Couture, Raw Mango, Bharatsthali and Southloom, Fabindia, Heirloom Naga, the Calico Guild, and REHWA society. Their New techniques are also already catching the international market’s attention. Based on that formula, handloom sector development is an effective decision for the Bangladeshi handloom sector. In fact, CAD implementation technique will help to develop this sector, which will be briefly discussed in the result and discussion part of this paper. On the other hand, old motifs and concept have been used for a long time; there is no development in the handloom products. This paper is prepared to improve the handloom sector through CAD-based design, and the effective thing is that it is a creative sector as the second employment after agriculture. So, if we take initiative to improve them, we can do it because Aarong, Aranya, Bibiana, Bibi Russell, Bishwo Rang, Kay Kraft, Anjan, and Sadakalo already use handloom fabric. So, if we apply the latest techniques in our fashion brands, we hope that from the local market to the international market will spread its popularity.

Keywords: handloom product, development in handloom, design-development model, CAD, photoshop, fashion industry

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Authors: S. Ghanaraja, Subrata Ray, S. K. Nath

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Particle reinforced Metal Matrix Composite (MMC) succeeds in synergizing the metallic matrix with ceramic particle reinforcements to result in improved strength, particularly at elevated temperatures, but adversely it affects the ductility of the matrix because of agglomeration and porosity. The present study investigates the outcome of tensile properties in a cast and hot forged composite reinforced simultaneously with coarse and fine particles. Nano-sized alumina particles have been generated by milling mixture of aluminum and manganese dioxide powders. Milled particles after drying are added to molten metal and the resulting slurry is cast. The microstructure of the composites shows good distribution of both the size categories of particles without significant clustering. The presence of nanoparticles along with coarser particles in a composite improves both strength and ductility considerably. Delay in debonding of coarser particles to higher stress is due to reduced mismatch in extension caused by increased strain hardening in presence of the nanoparticles. However, higher addition of powder mix beyond a limit results in deterioration of mechanical properties, possibly due to clustering of nanoparticles. The porosity in cast composite generally increases with the increasing addition of powder mix as observed during process and on forging it has got reduced. The base alloy and nanocomposites show improvement in flow stress which could be attributed to lowering of porosity and grain refinement as a consequence of forging.

Keywords: aluminium, alumina, nano-particle reinforced composites, porosity

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Authors: Sikiru Oluwarotimi Ismail, Hom Nath Dhakal, Anish Roy, Dong Wang, Ivan Popov

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The ultrasonically-assisted drilling (UAD) is a non-traditional technique which involves the superimposition of a high frequency and low amplitude vibration, usually greater than 18kHz and less than 20µm respectively, on a drill bit along the feed direction. UAD has remarkable advantages over the conventional drilling (CD), especially the high drilling-force reduction. Force reduction improves the quality of the drilled holes, reduces power consumption rate and cost of production. Nevertheless, in addition to the setbacks of UAD including expensiveness of set-up, unpredicted results and chipping effects, this paper presents the problems of insignificant force reduction and poor surface quality during UAD of hemp fibre-reinforced composites (HFRCs), a natural composite, with polycaprolactone (PCL) matrix. The experimental results obtained depict that HFRCs/PCL samples have more burnt chip-materials attached on the drilled holes during UAD than CD. This effect produced a very high surface roughness (Ra), up to 13µm. In a bid to reduce these challenges, different drilling parameters (feed rates and cutting speeds, frequencies and amplitudes for UAD), conditions (dry machining and airflow cooling) and diameters of drill bits (3mm and 6mm of high speed steel), as well as HFRCs/PCL samples of various fibre aspect ratios, including 0 (neat), 19, 26, 30 and 38 have been used. However, the setbacks still persisted. Evidently, the benefits of UAD are not obtainable for the drilling of the HFRCs/PCL laminates. These problems occurred due to the 60 °C melting temperature of PCL, quite lower than 56-90.2 °C and 265–290.8 °C composite-tool interface temperature during CD and UAD respectively.

Keywords: force reduction, hemp fibre-reinforced composites, ultrasonically-assisted drilling, surface quality

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Authors: Kedar Nath Nepal, Dyutiman Choudhary, Naba Raj Pandit, Yam Gahire

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Crop fertilizer recommendations are outdated as these are based on the response trails conducted over half a century ago. Further, these recommendations were based on the response trials conducted over large geographical area ignoring the large spatial variability in indigenous nutrient supplying capacity of soils typical of most smallholder systems. Application of fertilizer following such blanket recommendation in fields with varying native nutrient supply capacity leads to under application in some places and over application in others leading to reduced nutrient-use-efficiency (NUE), loss of profitability, and increased environmental risks associated with loss of unutilized nutrient through emissions or leaching. Opportunities exist to further increase yield and profitability through a significant gain in fertilizer use efficiency with commercialization of affordable and precise application technologies. We conducted participatory trails in Maize (Zea Mays), Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) and Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) in Mid Hills of Nepal to evaluate the efficacy of Urea Deep Placement (UDP and Polymer Coated Urea (PCU);. UDP contains 46% of N having individual briquette size 2.7 gm each and PCU contains 44% of N . Both PCU and urea briquette applied at reduced amount (100 kg N/ha) during planting produced similar yields (p>0.05) compared with regular urea (200 Kg N/ha). . These fertilizers also reduced N fertilizer by 35 - 50% over government blanket recommendations. Further, PCU and urea briquette increased farmer’s net income by USD 60 to 80.

Keywords: high efficiency fertilizers, urea deep placement, briquette polymer coated urea, zea mays, brassica, lycopersicum, Nepal

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Authors: Prodipta Bhowmik, Poulami Saha, Preety Mehra, Yogesh Soni, Triloki Nath Jha

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In India, the smart city concept is growing day by day. So, for smart city development, a better traffic management and monitoring system is a very important requirement. Nowadays, road accidents increase due to more vehicles on the road. Reckless driving is mainly responsible for a huge number of accidents. So, an efficient traffic management system is required for all kinds of roads to control the traffic speed. The speed limit varies from road to road basis. Previously, there was a radar system but due to high cost and less precision, the radar system is unable to become favorable in a traffic management system. Traffic management system faces different types of problems every day and it has become a researchable topic on how to solve this problem. This paper proposed a computer vision and machine learning-based automated system for multiple vehicle detection, tracking, and speed estimation of vehicles using image processing. Detection of vehicles and estimating their speed from a real-time video is tough work to do. The objective of this paper is to detect vehicles and estimate their speed as accurately as possible. So for this, a real-time video is first captured, then the frames are extracted from that video, then from that frames, the vehicles are detected, and thereafter, the tracking of vehicles starts, and finally, the speed of the moving vehicles is estimated. The goal of this method is to develop a cost-friendly system that can able to detect multiple types of vehicles at the same time.

Keywords: OpenCV, Haar Cascade classifier, DLIB, YOLOV3, centroid tracker, vehicle detection, vehicle tracking, vehicle speed estimation, computer vision

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Authors: Tek Nath Subedi

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Violent activities used previously to erupt in specific societies owing to unequal, oppressive and unjust social practices have crossed out of their usual place of occurrence and entered the peace-zones such as schools and universities. The recent history of Universities in Nepal is marked with violent activities of students targeting to professors and other university officials. A student in a university is supposed to involve in scholarly activities and cooperate the teacher so as to achieve the academic degree and to enhance knowledge. Besides, the relationship between a teacher and a student is supposed to be the most sacred, which, in other words, is explained as the relationship between deity and devotee in a spiritual ground, carer and the kid in a moral ground, and mutually dependent in a functionalist view. Above all, the interdependence between teacher and student is illustrated as the two sides of the same coin. But the targeted attack on teachers and the degrading relationship between university and students raises serious questions on what makes a student violent and why the academia is terrorized. Therefore, this research aims to find the nexus of deviant activities of students to other social, political, economic and cultural areas of their life. To find possible answer of a few analytical questions, this paper takes an in-depth interview into consideration based on a snowball sampling and inquires some professors and officials how and why they are terrorized. It also reaches to some students who have witnessed or been part of any terror, following the same research method and ask them why violence has become recurring in the university and how university can be converted into a peace-zone. This research has simply hypothesized that the terror-inspired activities carried out by students in the university are the extended version of their deviant activities out of the university premises. But, it was found that the deviant activities of students were connected in particular to their culture and political identity.

Keywords: deviance, relationship, student, teacher, terror, university

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Authors: Subhasisa Nath, David Waugh, Graham Ormondroyd, Morwenna Spear, Andy Pitman, Paul Mason

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Wood is one of the most sustainable and environmentally favourable materials and is chemically treated in timber industries to maximise durability. To increase the chemical preservative uptake and retention by the wood, current limiting incision technologies are commonly used. This work reports the effects of single pulse CO2 laser-incision and frequency tripled Nd:YAG percussion laser-incision on the characteristics of laser-incised holes in the Radiata Pine. The laser-incision studies were based on changing laser wavelengths, energies and focal planes to conclude on an optimised combination for the laser-incision of Radiata Pine. The laser pulse duration had a dominant effect over laser power in controlling hole aspect ratio in CO2 laser-incision. A maximum depth of ~ 30 mm was measured with a laser power output of 170 W and a pulse duration of 80 ms. However, increased laser power led to increased carbonisation of holes. The carbonisation effect was reduced during laser-incision in the ultra-violet (UV) regime. Deposition of a foamy phase on the laser-incised hole wall was evident irrespective of laser radiation wavelength and energy. A maximum hole depth of ~20 mm was measured in the percussion laser-incision in the UV regime (355 nm) with a pulse energy of 320 mJ. The radial and tangential faces had a significant effect on laser-incision efficiency for all laser wavelengths. The laser-incised hole shapes and circularities were affected by the wood anatomy (earlywoods and latewoods in the structure). Subsequently, the mechanism of laser-incision is proposed by analysing the internal structure of laser-incised holes.

Keywords: CO2 Laser, Nd: YAG laser, incision, drilling, wood, hole characteristics

Procedia PDF Downloads 202