bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
STUDY OF MAGNETIC HARDENING IN Sm(Co1-xCux)5 ALLOY
Authors: Awan M. S. , Bhatti A. S. , Farooque M.
Published: January 2025

Magnetic hardening has been examined in the samarium (Sm), cobalt (Co) and copper (Cu) fused permanent magnets by correlating the magnetic properties with annealing temperature and microstructure of the samples. For the Sm(Co1-xCux)5 system, with various copper contents (x= 0, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5) the shape of initial magnetization curve indicated that the magnetic hardening process involved in these types of magnets consists of domain wall pinning type. This is consistent with the microstructure studies which show the existence of nonmagnetic Cu-rich precipitates in the Co-rich matrix. Copper substituted samples were annealed in the temperature range (300 â€“ 1000) oC for 3h under the protective atmosphere of argon (Ar) gas. Both cast and annealed samples prepared by tri-arc melting technique exhibit two-phase microstructure responsible for enhanced magnetic properties. Metallographic and surface studies were carried out using a digital optical microscope (OM). X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies confirmed that the alloys solidefied in the hexagonal crystal structure. The lattice parameters and unit cell volume increase with increasing Cu content. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) was used to examine the surface morphology, compositional variations, elemental segregations, formation and effect of annealing on the different phases. Later these parameters were related to the magnetic properties. Copper-rich phase precipitates in the Co- rich matrix may serves as the pinning centers for the domain wall motion. Introduction of these pinning centers improved the magnetic hardening of the alloy. Annealing the Cu-substituted alloy further improved the magnetic properties. During annealing, diffusion of copper played the key role for enhanced magnetic properties. It was found that both Cu substitution and subsequant annealing are the dominating factors determining the magnetic properties of these magnetic alloys.
DETERMINATION OF COBALT(II) AND NICKEL(II) WITH ISOAMYLXANTHATE AS A COMPLEXING REAGENT IN MICELLAR MEDIA
Authors: Shar G. A. , Soomro G. A.
Published: January 2025

Cobalt(II) and nickel(II) were determined spectrophtometrically using sodium isoamylxanthate as a complexing reagent in aqueous phase in the presence of anionic surfactant sodium dodecylsulphate (SDS). Beer's law was obeyed for Co(II) and Ni(II) over the concentration range 3.0-35 and 2.0-37 Î¼gmL-1 respectively. The Î»max, molar absorptivity and Sandell's sensitivity of Co(II) and Ni(II) were 360 nm and 416 nm; Îµ is 0.19 and 0.2 (Ã— 104 mol-1cm-1) 31.1 and 29.3 ng cm-2 respectively. Maximum absorbance at 1:2 (M: L) molar ratio suggested the formation of M(C6H11OS2)2 where M = Co(II) and Ni(II). The complex remained stable for more than 2 h. The optimized reagent concentration 0.5 % was used throughout the study. Surfactant concentration of 1.0 % SDS caused significant enhancement in absorbance. Maximum absorption was observed at 360 nm and 416 nm for Co and Ni complexes, respectively. The absorption maxima were obtained at optimized pH of 7.0. Validation of method has been made by comparing the results with Atomic Absorption Spectrometry; no significant difference was obtained between the two methods at 95 % confidence interval. The method is simple, accurate, economical and has been applied to the determination of cobalt(II) and nickel(II) in industrial wastewater, pharmaceutical and edible oil samples.
ESTIMATION OF SITE RESPONSE CHARACTERISTICS AT FOUR SITES OF SEISMIC MONITORING NETWORK IN PAKISTAN
Authors: Ahmed S. , Shah M. D. , Qaisar M. , Khan K.
Published: January 2025

The widely used approach proposed by Nakamura was adopted for the assessment of site response characteristic parameters namely; resonance frequency and amplification factor that are important for seismic hazard assessment and yield assessment in case of explosions. The technique involves calculation of spectral ratios of the horizontal to vertical components (H/V) of ambient noise recorded at sites of seismic monitoring network. The resonant frequency and amplification factor for four selected sites were estimated. The ambient noise at these sites have ground amplification factor of 1.2 â€“ 3.75 over the frequency range of 1.05 â€“ 4.90 Hz. The normalized spectral ratio reflects the dominant frequency and relative amplification of the selected sites. The amplification factors estimated for Sakesar and Fatehjang sites are higher than Nilore and Nurpur sites. These results are fully supported by the fact that calculated magnitudes of seismic events (local, regional and teleseismic) recorded at Sakesar and Fatehjang show higher values as compared to Nilore and Nurpur sites.
METHOD CORROBORATION FOR THE DETERMINATION OF HIGH CONCENTRATION OF CHROMIUM IN VARIOUS ALLOYS USING ATOMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROPHOTOMETRY
Authors: Khalid N. , Rahman S.
Published: January 2025

Atomic absorption spectrophotometric technique was employed to determine high concentration of chromium as usually found in alloys. Different instrumental parameters, such as wavelength, slit width, burner height and flow rate of fuel were optimized, for the minimum absorption signal with low background. The effect of cations (Al+3, Ca+2, Cd+2, Co+2, Cu+2, Fe+2, K+, Li+, Mg+2, Mn+2, Mo+6, Na+, Ni+2, Sr+2, V+5 and Zn+2) and acids (HCl, HNO3, HClO4 and H2SO4) on the determination of chromium under the optimized conditions was studied. The reliability of the procedure was cross-checked by analyzing the alloy samples with other analytical techniques such as spectrometry, ICP-ES and neutron activation analysis and comparing the results, which are in quite good agreement with each other. The developed procedure was successfully applied for the determination of chromium in various types of alloys.
CFD SIMULATION OF BUBBLE COLUMN REACTOR BY INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF TRAYS ON OVERALL GAS HOLDUP
Authors: Khan Arif , Sharif Samrana , K. Wardag A. N. , Chughtai I. R. , Al-Dahhan M. H.
Published: January 2025

In the current research work, CFD model has been developed to estimate overall gas holdup for co-current air-water system in a Trayed Bubble Column Reactor (TBCR), operating in bubbly flow regime. The TBCR considered in this study has 19 cm inner diameter and 274 cm length. Unsteady 2d-axi symmetric, Eulerian-Eulerian multiphase model with segregated solver has been considered while turbulence effects are introduced by using generalized k-Îµ model with the option of each-phase turbulence model. The effect of trays has been studied on overall gas holdup while liquid superficial velocity, trayâ€™s open area and bubble diameter have been kept constant. Simulations have been performed for various values of superficial gas velocities in the range of 1-8 cm/s and constant superficial liquid velocity of 0.5 cm/sec. The overall gas holdups found by simulations, have been compared with experiments [1] and with internationally published correlations for bubble column reactors by Kato et al. [5], Chen et al. [2] and Vinaya et al. [8], which shows a fair concurrence of the CFD results. It is found that overall gas holdup significantly increases by introducing trays to the column.
MODELING, SIMULATION AND CONTROL IN PROCESS INDUSTRY AND ITS RELEVANT IMPORTANCE
Authors: Rehman W. , Tahir M. S.
Published: January 2025

Modeling is an important tool to study and evaluate the behavior of the chemical process. Combination of simulation and control, it exhibits various characteristics of the process and provides the right direction to obtain the desired results from the chemical reactors. This paper discusses the various technical aspects of modeling, simulation and control in the process industries. The utilization and the relationship among the three techniques, modeling, simulation and control have been discussed. A case study is then presented for a batch reactor (in a sugar manufacturing plant) to use the modern techniques for modeling, simulation and instrumentation control. Presenting various scenarios on the above discussed techniques, the task has been dealt with comprehensively.
DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF GUI BASED INPUT FILE GENERATION CODE FOR RELAP
Authors: Anwar M. M. , Khan A. A. , Chughtai I. R. , Chaudri K. S. , Inayat M. H. , Hayat T.
Published: January 2025

Reactor Excursion and Leak Analysis Program (RELAP) is a widely acceptable computer code for thermal hydraulics modeling of Nuclear Power Plants. It calculates thermal- hydraulic transients in water-cooled nuclear reactors by solving approximations to the one-dimensional, two-phase equations of hydraulics in an arbitrarily connected system of nodes. However, the preparation of input file and subsequent analysis of results in this code is a tedious task. The development of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for preparation of the input file for RELAP-5 is done with the validation of GUI generated Input File. The GUI is developed in Microsoft Visual Studio using Visual C Sharp (C#) as programming language. The Nodalization diagram is drawn graphically and the program contains various component forms along with the starting data form, which are launched for properties assignment to generate Input File Cards serving as GUI for the user. The GUI is provided with Open / Save function to store and recall the Nodalization diagram along with Componentsâ€™ properties. The GUI generated Input File is validated for several case studies and individual component cards are compared with the originally required format. The generated Input File of RELAP is found consistent with the requirement of RELAP. The GUI provided a useful platform for simulating complex hydrodynamic problems efficiently with RELAP.
AIR POLLUTION CONTROL TECHNIQUES & A CASE STUDY OF INDUSTRIAL AIR EMISSIONS
Authors: Malik S. R. , Maqbool M. A. , Khan J. R.
Published: January 2025

Air pollutants are the most dangerous type of pollution and they effect our environment the worst. The main air pollutants are CO2, CO, NOx, SOx and particulate matter. These pollutants are causing some major environmental and health concerns. There are number of techniques to control these emissions to the atmosphere. The flue gas data of boilers and generators from ICI polyester industry is also included in this paper. The techniques in use to control the pollutants are discussed. One of the most common techniques is the switching of the fuel. The Natural gas emits almost 30 percent less carbon dioxide than oil, and just under 45 percent less carbon dioxide than coal. Emissions of particulates from natural gas combustion are 90 percent lower than from the combustion of oil, and 99 percent lower than burning coal. Natural gas emits virtually no sulfur dioxide, and upto 80 percent less nitrogen oxides than the combustion of coal. Similarly, use of compressed natural gas in vehicle reduces the amount of these emissions considerably. The other methods for the control and reduction of these emissions are combustion control techniques, Flue gas treatment and Fuel re-burning. NOx can be reduced considerably by combustion control techniques like Low excess air, staged air combustion, staged fuel combustion, external flue gas recirculation, Fuel induced recirculation and steam/water injection. The flue gas treatments like selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) are also used for reduction of NOx.
EFFECT OF PROCESS PARAMETERS AND INJECTOR POSITION ON THE EFFICIENCY OF NOX REDUCTION BY SELECTIVE NON CATALYTIC REDUCTION TECHNIQUE
Authors: Hamid A. , Mehmood M. A. , Irfan N. , Javed M. T. , Waheed K.
Published: January 2025

An experimental investigation has been performed to study the effect of atomizer pressure dilution of the reducing reagent and the injector position on the efficiency or the NOx reduction by a selective non-catalytic reduction technique using urea as a reducing agent. Experiments were performed with a flow reactor in which flue gas was generated by the combustion of methane in air at stoichiometric amount of oxygen and the desired levels of initial NOx (400-450 ppm) were achieved by doping the flame with ammonia. The work was directed to investigate the effect of atomizer pressure, dilution of urea reagent and the injector position. The atomizer pressure was varied from 1 to 3bar and 20-25% increase in efficiency was observed by decreasing the pressure. Effect of dilution of urea solution was investigated by varying the strength of the solution from the 8 to 32% and 40-45% increase in the efficiency was observed. Effects of injector position was investigated by injecting the urea solution both in co current and counter current direction of the flue gases and 20-25% increase in the efficiency was observed in counter current direction.
PROBABILISTIC SAFETY ANALYSIS OF LOSS OF COMPONENT COOLING WATER SYSTEM (LOCW) INITIATING EVENT FOR 300 MWE PWR NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS (NPPS)
Authors: Z. Arif H. M. , Kanwal S. , Habib U. , Rehman K.
Published: January 2025

The probabilistic safety analysis (PSA) is an important tool in ensuring the design safety of a nuclear power plant in relation to potential initiating events that can be caused by random component failures and human errors etc. It estimates the risk in the form of core damage frequency (CDF) and enables us to identify systems for which design improvements or modifications to operational procedures could reduce the probabilities of severe accidents or mitigate their consequences. LOCW initiating event analysis for 300 MWe PWR NPP was evaluated by using small event tree and large fault tree technique. The objective of this analysis was to compare the results of the LOCW initiating event with similar NPPs PSA results. The core damage frequency of LOCW initiating event comes out to be 1.08E-07/yr with total of eleven sequences out of which 06 sequences are leading to Core Damage (CD) state. The failure probabilities of SAF & SMF systems are comes out to be 8.27E-03 & 7.85E-03 respectively. The comparison of results with similar NPPs PSA results showed that the CDF contribution of LOCW is highly sensitive to the initiating event frequency. Similarly it is also observed that the CDF of LOCW event can be improved significantly by taking the credit of SMF after failure of SAF.
VALIDATION OF Cs TECHNIQUE IN SOIL EROSION AND SEDIMENTATION STUDIES
Authors: Saleem F. , Tufail M. , Sheikh M. R. , Zahoor R. , Iqbal N.
Published: January 2025

Soil is the basic constituent required for the production of plants and livestock and this necessary component is mostly affected by erosion worldwide. This factor neglected by most of the developing countries because of the longer time and larger manpower needed to estimates the actual rates of erosion by conventional methods. An alternate, economic and less time-consuming method being applied in many developed countries is the use of fallout radionuclides (FRN) in estimating not only erosion but also re-distribution within the catchment. For this purpose, the reference site was established at Lokot area 33o o 52â€™37â€N, 73 23â€™74â€E at altitude 1477 m above the mean sea level near the newly constructed Murree Motorway having the total 137 2 Cs inventory 4910 Bq/m with very smooth and well distributed profile along the depth. Mass Balance 1 and the Profile Distribution Model were applied to calculate the soil redistribution. The soil redistribution at fields in Pind Begwal, Islamabad area range from 116 to12.7 t/h/yr and at Savor village ranging from 127 to 24 t/h/yr. The permanently grassy patches in the same area have very low erosion (~ 2 t/h/yr). Five samples collected from the area along road construction site on main Murree Motorway have shown severe erosion of topsoil ranging from 176 to 0.7 t/h/yr. The samples collected from the deforested hill in the same area indicate the severe erosion of around 176 t/h/yr. In comparison to this location, the samples in the same area with forest/ permanent plant cover, value range from (erosion) 14 t/h/yr to deposition of 5.4 t/h/yr at different points. In general, the human induced activities are found to be the major source of erosion in this area.
CRUDE INCOMPATIBILITY PROBLEMS AT HEAVY CRUDE UNIT DESALTER
Authors: Kirmani Z. , Khurshid A. , Alam N. , Gul S. , Ahmed N.
Published: January 2025

Attock Refinery Limited (ARL) is based at Rawalpindi, Pakistan and operates a 40,000 Barrels per Stream Day (BPSD) refinery. The Heavy Crude Unit (HCU) of ARL is a fully integrated two-stage 10,000 BPSD Atmospheric and 5,700 BPSD Vacuum Distillation Unit. A 3-stage desalter designed to reduce salt and BS&W content from 2,000 parts per thousand barrels (PTB) and 2% to less than 5 PTB and 0.1% respectively, is part of HCU. The feedstock is a composite blend of 14 local Heavy Crudes received at the Refinery. Although in the past this desalter had been giving good performance, over the last one year, period since August 2005, at least nine shutdowns of the unit took place due to salt slippage and consequential tube leakages at the overhead Crude-Naphtha vapor Heat Exchanger where partial condensation of naphtha takes place. Final condensation is achieved in trim condenser. High salted water carry-over with the crude caused increased hydrolysis, formation of Hydrochloric acid and increase of tail water chlorides. Salt contents at the outlet of 3rd desalter at times increased up to 400 PTB with 3.2% BS&W during the above mentioned upsets, as compared to normal 5-10 PTB. Fallout from this loss of desalter control was the creation of large quantities of slop due to draining of strong water oil emulsion from the desalters. Individual crudes of the blend were analyzed for affinity of water and emulsion stability. It was observed that 3 of the 14 crudes formed very strong while the remaining crudes formed weak oil water emulsion, which easily separated water from oil in desalter without any operational problem. Study was further narrowed down to one crude evaluation. Alkaline earth metallic naphthenate surfactants were detected and isolated as responsible for the strong water oil and sediments emulsion. The isolated crude was next withdrawn from the Heavy Crude blend. As soon as it was isolated and its ratio in heavy crude tank came down to 0.7 %, the problem began to be controlled, along with other operational measures taken, namely, increase of demulsifier dosage 50 liters/day in first desalter vessel and also 10 liters/ day in third desalter vessel, start of low chlorides tail water injection in desalter wash water, discontinuation of ammonia injection, and addition of Neutralizer and Filmer. This paper gives a detailed analysis of the problem and how it was successfully tackled by the Engineers & Chemists at ARL.
PERVAPORATION OF ETHANOL/WATER MIXTURE USING POLYMERIC MEMBRANE
Authors: Munir M. , Qureshi A. H. , Sanaullah K.
Published: January 2025

Pervaportion is the selective evaporation and separation of one component of liquid stream by membrane, which is in direct contact with liquid mixture. This makes pervaporation more energy efficient process. For this study pervaporation apparatus was designed and developed in line with criteria presented in the literature on the subject. Polymeric membrane obtained from Shangai Megavision, China was used in the membrane cell. The membrane unit can also be used for reverse osmosis, gas separation, ultra and nano filteration by simply replacing membrane with other membrane compatible for the selected process. Experiments were performed to separate water from amixture of water/ ethanol. Change in concentration of retentate (feed stream going back to feed tank from membrane cell) with time at different temperatures 60o C, 70o C and 80o C was observed. Moreover, effect of temperature on flux was also studied.
ANALYSIS OF CONTROL ROD STUCK INITIATING EVENT AT PAKISTAN RESEARCH REACTOR-2 BY USING PSA
Authors: Quddus A. , Ahmed A. , Raza S. S. , Waheed K. , Chaudhary K. S. , Akram Z.
Published: January 2025

Probabilistic Safety Analysis (PSA) is an analytic method used for nuclear reactors safety. Large developments have been made in this field for better understanding about risks of those events about which there is often very little information is known. This analysis is being increasingly used to complement the deterministic approach in nuclear safety. This paper presents the work and results of level-1 PSA performed for Pakistan Research Reactor-2 (PARR-2) located in PINSTECH Complex Nilore, Islamabad, Pakistan. Event tree was drawn to study the response of the system against initiating event while fault tree were used for modeling of failure of the safety of system. Generic and maintenance data of PARR-2 were used to calculate the frequencies of the accident that may cause core damage. Thus the total frequency of core damage for control rod as initiating event was found to be 1.25E-06per reactor year. These results were used to identify the system and components of PARR-2 that are important for the safety the reactor.
Influence of Footing Shapes and GWT on Bearing Capacity and Settlement of Cohesive Soil Beneath Shallow Foundations
Authors: Khalid M. , Sardar A. , A. JAFFAR S. T.
Published: January 2025

Footing shapes and ground water table (GWT) greatly affect the bearing capacity and settlement ofcohesive soil. A series of laboratory experiments and simulation techniques are performed to investigatethe effect of footing shapes and GWT on bearing capacity and settlement in cohesive soils. Resultsshowed that by increasing the depth of footing, bearing capacity of cohesive soil increases whilesettlement and stress influence zone decreases. In case of square footing when depth of footing isincreased from 1m to 2.2m bearing capacity also increased from 26.45kPa to 27.90kPa; while settlementand stress influence zone decreased from 0.30mm to 0.20mm and 1.2m to 0.60m, respectively. In case ofrectangular footing when depth of footing is increased from 1m to 2.2m bearing capacity increased from26.25kPa to 27.60kPa; while settlement and stress influence zone decreased from 0.60mm to 0.49mmand 1.53m to 1.15m, respectively. On the basis of high stress influence zone, critical footings are furtherselected to study the effect of GWT. It is observed that GWT does not affect the bearing capacity whenits level is below the footing bottom, while settlement keeps on decreasing with the depth. A Soil StructureInteraction (SSI) model is proposed by comparing different built-in Finite Element Method (FEM) basedmodels in Geo-5 software. Among the studied SSI models, Modified Elastic Model and Modified MohrCoulomb Model proved to be more realistic models in terms of settlement, shear stress and effectivestress
Detection of Disease Onset in Rice Plant Leaves in Monochrome Light
Authors: Basit A. , Ali Z.
Published: January 2025

Rice is one of the most important crops in the world because of its vast usage irrespective of age andgender. Machine vision and image processing techniques are widely used to detect diseases in plantleaves. In this paper, a prototype system is developed for rice disease onset detection from images inmonochrome light. Initially, images of leaves of rice plant are acquired in controlled environment. Afterpreprocessing, local binary patterns and local ternary patterns are extracted as features of the image.Support vector machine and k-nearest neighbors are applied as classifier to identify the healthy anddiseased image. Training is completed on 70% of the images while testing is done on the remaining 30%images. Experimental values of the results are 0.94, 0.93, 0.98 and 0.93 for Precision, Sensitivity,Specificity and F1 Score respectively. Overall accuracy of the method is 93.55%. The results showencouraging performance of the proposed method.
Performance Modeling and Analysis of Secure Registration Process of CPEs in IEEE 802.22 WRAN Cognitive Radio Network
Authors: Afzal H. , Mufti M. R. , Ahmed K. T. , Rehman M. , Yousaf M. , Qaseem D.
Published: January 2025

The proliferation of wireless technologies has affected the radio frequency spectrum which is a limited natural resource. Increase in the development of diverse wireless technologies is creating a spectrum shortage problem. The usage of radio frequency spectrum is not uniform because, some of the licensed spectrums remain vacant most of the time. A cognitive radio (CR) is one of the solutions to address this problem. Meanwhile, the popularity of cloud computing has attracted the researchers to get its benefits for the efficient utilization of cognitive radio networks (CRNs). Both of these technologies can be integrated to form a new type of network called cognitive radio cloud network in which security is one of the major issues in CRNs. This paper presents the analytical framework to perform analysis of the registration process of Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) with the base station in Wireless Regional Area Network (WRAN) in addition of the cloud platform for applying the security. The performance is investigated by comparing the scenarios of keeping the security features on and off in the system. The numerical results confirm that the proposed system works well, when security is kept on.
Model-Based Seismic Inversion to Delineate Tight Carbonate Reservoirs, Dhulian Area, Upper Indus Basin, Pakistan
Authors: Arshad Z. , Shakir U. , Hussain M.
Published: January 2025

Development of new technologies and integration concepts are required for remunerative exploration and effective exploitation of hydrocarbons. Seismic inversion is one of these latest techniques which allows accurate prediction of reservoir litho-facies and distribution of petrophysical properties (e.g., clay volume and porosity) within intricate corridors. Seismic inversion is a technique that brings out purposeful information from seismic data for reservoir characterization. In this study, an effort has been made to establish a correlation between the conventional method for exploration of hydrocarbons and post-stack model-based seismic inversion. The research work done on Dhulian area mainly exhibits complex features due to the compressional regime. Petrophysical analysis has indicated reservoir formations at the level of Paleocene and Eocene formations and has shown fair potential of hydrocarbon accumulation in Sakesar Limestone as compared to other zones. Structure studied through geology and literature review is popup anticline with thrust faults which is also clearly delineated on seismic data. Seismic Attribute analysis provides a clearer image of the subsurface, highlighting reservoir qualities and indicating the presence of hydrocarbons at the level of Paleocene and Eocene formations. Contour maps and 3D depth maps show structure is deepening towards North-East and is shallow in South-West. Estimated porosities from seismic inversion also give adequate limestone porosities for Sakesar Limestone to be a reservoir. Geo-statistical analysis is applied to establish a relationship between well-log data and seismic data to study rock properties and has shown a good correlation coefficient between them.
Impact of Inner Dopants on Structural, Optical and Mechanical Properties of Unadulterated L-Threonine Manganese Acetate
Authors: Ahamed N.I. , Anburaj D.B. , Nedunchezhian G.
Published: January 2025

In this work, equal molar ratio of L-Threonine and Manganese Acetate (LTMA) and 0.2 molar of Zn2+, Cd2+ and Pb2+ doped LTMA single crystals were grown in aqueous solutions using slow evaporation technique. These crystals were subjected to various studies including single crystal X-ray diffraction, powder X-ray diffraction, FTIR, UV-vis, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and microhardness test. The cell length and interfacial angles α, β, and γ of the grown crystals were determined. EDX study confirms the placing of dopant ions Zn2+, Cd2+ and Pb2+ in the host material LTMA. FTIR analysis reported the functional group and UV-vis was carried out to study the optical behavior of the grown crystals. UV-vis studies determined the increasing energy band gap from 4.6 eV to 6.5eV and transmittance spectrum determined the lower cutoff wavelength of the grown crystals as 267 nm for the pure LTMA and ~200 nm for the doped LTMA crystals. Mechanical behavior of the crystals was studied by Vicker’s Microhardness study and their roughnesses were also reported.
Cultural Heritage of Pakistan: Conservation Problems and Techniques for its Protection
Authors: Saeed T.
Published: January 2025

Pakistan is one of the fortunate countries of the world which possesses earliest socio-political history that goes back to Paleolithic. Its continuation has been expected to the significant period of about 2 million old from today. The areas of this Paleolithic culture have been found in the Potohar (or Pothohar) plateau, the area in and around district Rawalpindi, Punjab province of Pakistan, predictable to have been the most primitive habitat of the human species. This region in fact had played an active role in the evolution of human history since remote antiquity. This is the land where a number of ancient civilizations, cultures, religions art and architecture developed from prehistoric period to the Muslim period including British colonial era. The historical period monuments are well known ranging from the caravan serais (Inn) and baolis (step well) along the ancient routes, to historical forts, religious and secular buildings of Hindu, Muslim and Sikh periods, rock shelters, pre and historic mounds, graveyards and sacred ponds in the region. During the British Colonial rule “Archaeological Survey of India” was formed in the year 1860 for archaeological researches. At the time of independence of Pakistan, new department with the name “Department of Archaeology & Museums” (DOAM) was created to perform same functions and obligations.  Since its inception the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan has been performing its activities until 2011 when in sequel of 18th constitutional Amendments, all sites and monuments along with technical and financial resources were transferred to respective provinces.
Insight into the Local Atomic Structure Order and Luminescence of Rare Earths
Authors: Khan Latif Ullah , Khan Zahid Ullah , Umar Muhammad Abdullah
Published: January 2025

The rare earth (III) complexes are remarkable photoemitters in visible to near-infrared spectral region, manifesting wide photonic applications in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), telecommunications, optical lasers, display devices, optical quantum memories and medical diagnostics. In order to get detailed insight into the photo-physical characteristics of the luminescent rare earth complexes, it is very important to probe the local chemical environment/electronic structure of the trivalent rare earth ion sites. The X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (XAFS) is very efficient to probe the RE3+ ions from oxidation state/electronic structure in the X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES) range to the local atomic structure order around the photoabsorber in extended region (EXAFS). In this work, we explored the electronic and local atomic structure of the typical RE3+ β-diketonate complexes, [Eu(TTA)3(H2O)2] and [Gd(TTA)3(H2O)2], TTA: 3-thenoyltrifluoroacetonate by XANES, EXAFS fit and continuous Cauchy wavelet transform (CCWT) analyses. The optical properties are discussed based on the local structural evidences of RE3+ site obtained from the quantitative analysis of the XAFS data. The visualization of visible emission under irradiation with hard X-ray beam demonstrated that the [Eu(TTA)3(H2O)2] complex can be an efficient new generation X-ray organic scintillator.
Role of In-Service Inspections in Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs)
Authors: Khan M. , Awan M.U.F. , Lal K. , Gulab M. , Ahmed S. , Ahmed Z.
Published: January 2025

The National Centre for Non-destructive Testing (NCNDT) since its inception in 1995 has been providing Pre-Service Inspections (PSI) and In-Service Inspections (ISI) services to the nuclear power plants (NPPs) in the country. In Pakistan, a total of six NPPs are operational with a cumulative capacity of 3620 MWe. All the efforts are made to ensure the safe and reliable operation of NPPs and the provision of an uninterrupted supply of electricity to improve the life of the common man. While extreme care is taken during the design, construction and commissioning of the structures, systems and components, a constant health monitoring system has to be ensured throughout the life (i.e., 40-50 years) of NPPs in accordance with the design parameters. The plant-specific codes & standards explain the ISI methods and acceptance criteria for critical life-limiting components, pressure boundary components and welds etc. Recently remotely controlled, advanced mechanized inspection systems for the inspection of reactor pressure vessels (RPV) and steam generators (SGs) have been procured. These systems are being used during the re-fueling outages (RFOs) of NPPs. Different conventional and non-conventional NDT methods were used for inspection. The components where unacceptable indications are revealed by ISI are repaired, replaced, or isolated. The baseline data generated during PSI is used for the comparison and surveillance. The observations made during ISI are subjected to thorough review and analysis by qualified experts to obtain assurance that unacceptable degradation in component quality is not occurring and it remains fit for service.
Some Historical Briefs and Outlooks of the Chemical and Biological Acid Leaching of Uranium Ores
Authors: Bhatti Tariq M. , Tuovinen O.H.
Published: January 2025

The purpose of this paper is to briefly review early developments in the chemical and biological acid leaching of uranium ores in Portugal, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and Pakistan. Uranium exists in tetravalent (U(IV)) and hexavalent (U(VI)) oxidation states in igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary mineral deposits. Acidic ferric sulfate is a chemical oxidant of tetravalent uranium and is regenerated from ferrous iron in the leachate and produced also from pyrite (FeS2, cubic), marcasite (FeS2, orthorhombic), greigite (Fe3S4) and pyrrhotite (Fe1-xS) by acidophilic Fe- and S-oxidizing bacteria and archaea. The hexavalent uranium is soluble in sulfuric acid solution (lixiviant) and is recovered in downstream hydrometallurgical processing to produce a concentrate (yellowcake). The acid bioleaching reactions are optimal at pH 1.5-3 as the low pH facilitates proton attack on minerals and alleviates the precipitation of metals in the leachate and on mineral surfaces. Uranium is extracted from ores on a commercial scale using heap, dump, and stope leaching processes. In some operations other metals can also be recovered as byproducts in the process.
Quenching of Fluorescent ADS680HO molecule with Eco-Friendly Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles
Authors: Tangod Vadiraj
Published: January 2025

In this work, we have collected spectroscopic optical fluorescence and absorption spectra of the highly fluorescent laser dye molecule ADS680HO in different spectroscopic grade solvents with and without the amalgamation of eco-friendly synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNP’s), which resulted in the spectral intensities displaying quenching in the fluorescence and absorption intensities. It attributes the shape, dimension and bonding between the AgNP’s and ADS680HO molecules, as well as the transfer of energy among the fluorescent probe and AgNP’s. Fluorescence quenching of dye has innumerable uses for progress in cutting-edge bio-molecular labeling, fluorescence patterning and cancer treatment with chemotherapy.
Absorption and Fluorescence Mechanisms of Red Mega 480 Laser Dye Coupled with Silver Nanoparticles
Authors: Dadami Sunanda , Tangod Vadiraj
Published: January 2025

Herein, we used the chemical reduction method to synthesize silver nanoparticles. The characterization of synthesized particles is done using UV-Vis, SEM, and TEM techniques, which reveal sizes in the range of 4–12 nm. In this particular instance, the optical absorption spectra of synthesized silver nanoparticles produced a maximal spike in the 400–410 nm region. This spike is attributed to surface plasmon resonance. The spectra of emission and absorption intensities of the exceptionally brilliant laser Red Mega 480 dye in alcohol solvents with the addition of silver nanoparticles indicate quenching. This is related to the size, shape, and transfer of energy between silver nanoparticles and dye. The quenching of fluorescence intensity in the presence of nanoparticles with Red Mega 480 dye leads to advancements in biomolecular labeling, printing technology, 3D graphics, glossy painting, fluorescence patterning, and cancer treatment.
The optical properties of isolated colloidal particles, and in particular their dependence on particle size effects, have been intensively investigated through Mie’s scattering theory. In the present case, the absorption spectra of silver nanoparticles of size 4–12 nm have a maximum peak in the range 400–410  nm, respectively, related to the plasmon resonance formed due to the nanosized silver nanoparticles. This absorption band (surface plasmon resonance, SPR) results from interactions of free electrons confined to small metallic spherical objects with incident electromagnetic radiation. The observed plasmon resonance band shows the silver nanoparticles are spherical in shape.
Optical absorption and fluorescence of the highly fluorescent laser dye Red Mega 480 in alcohol solvents with the attachment of silver nanoparticles show quenching in absorption and fluorescence intensities. This is due to size, shape, coupling between silver nanoparticles and dye, and energy transfer between silver and dye. Quenching of fluorescence in the presence of nanoparticles for Red Mega 480 leads to many applications, especially advancements in biomolecular labeling, fluorescence patterning, and chemotherapy in cancer treatment.
Effect of Sutural Pattern on Shell Shape: A Case Study Including Two Ammonite Subfamilies from the Western India
Authors: Roy Pinaki
Published: January 2025

Shell morphology of ammonites and its connotation with ecological constraints has long been a matter of debate. The present study involves comparison of shell morphology with sutural complexity between Eucycloceratin and Reineckein ammonites of Kutch and Jaisalmer from India. Statistically significant differences between fractal-dimensions (Df), whorl expansion rate of evolute and involute shells are interpreted. There is also a correlation between the flank’s shape and complexity of suture. The planulate shells show highest Df value and the lowest ones are found in whorl cross section with convex flanks. It may also be stated that sutural complexity is not the primary function to resist shell implosion and is thereby related to bathymetry.
ROLE OF MAGNETIC FIELD AND DENSITY GRADIENTS IN RAYLEIGH-TAYLOR INSTABILITY OF LASER PRODUCED PLASMAS
Authors: Ayub M. K. , Mahmood S.
Published: January 2025

Hydrodynamic equations of laser produced plasmas are presented and solved to calculate the linear growth rate of Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI) by using normal mode analysis. The growth rates of RTI are calculated in the absence and presence of the external magnetic field. The growth rates are presented graphically against the perturbation wavelength for different angles between the wave vector and initial horizontally directed magnetic field. The dependence of RTI growth rate on the interface density gradient and ablation effects is also investigated. It is found that growth rate of RTI is decreased in the presence of magnetic field; interface density gradient and ablation effects in laser produced plasmas. The numerical results are also presented and found to be in good agreement with the experimental observations.
ATTACK TREE BASED CYBER SECURITY ANALYSIS OF NUCLEAR DIGITAL INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL SYSTEMS
Authors: Khand P. A.
Published: January 2025

To maintain the cyber security, nuclear digital Instrumentation and Control (I&C) systems must be analyzed for security risks because a single security breach due to a cyber attack can cause system failure, which can have catastrophic consequences on the environment and staff of a Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). Attack trees have been widely used to analyze the cyber security of digital systems due to their ability to capture system specific as well as attacker specific details. Therefore, a methodology based on attack trees has been proposed to analyze the cyber security of the systems. The methodology has been applied for the Cyber Security Analysis (CSA) of a Bistable Processor (BP) of a Reactor Protection System (RPS). Threats have been described according to their source. Attack scenarios have been generated using the attack tree and possible counter measures according to the Security Risk Level (SRL) of each scenario have been suggested. Moreover, cyber Security Requirements (SRs) have been elicited, and suitability of the requirements has been checked.
DETERMINATION OF RETARDATION FACTORS FOR ADSORPTION OF CESIUM, COBALT AND STRONTIUM ON THE SOIL OF PINSTECH WASTE DISPOSAL AREA
Authors: Iqbal T. , Rashid F.
Published: January 2025

The adsorption of cobalt, cesium and strontium on the soil of PINSTECH radioactive waste disposal area was studied to find the adsorption parameters and retardation factors. Standard batch adsorption experiments were performed for three known concentrations of nitrate solutions of stable nuclides by equilibrating them with soil samples. The treated/equilibrated solution concentrations were measured on adsorption spectrophotometer (Hitachi Model Z8000) equipped with Zeeman background corrector using flame automization mode. Masses adsorbed were calculated by the difference of initial and equilibrated solution concentrations. The adsorption isotherms were obtained by plotting the values of masses of nuclides adsorbed per unit mass of soil versus equilibrium solution concentrations that resulted into straight lines. The Freundlich adsorption parameters were calculated from the slope and intercept of straight lines. The calculated parameters were then used to find the retardation factors at different equilibrium solution concentrations.
A REVIEW OF RESEARCH ON COMMON BIOLOGICAL AGENTS AND THEIR IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT
Authors: Mashiatullah A. , Qureshi R. M. , Qureshi R. M.
Published: January 2025

Biological agents are unique class of microorganisms which can be used to produce the disease in large populations of humans, animals and plants. If used for hostile purposes, any disease-causing microorganism could be considered a weapon. The use of biological agents is not a new concept and history is replete with examples of biological weapon use. Before the 20th century, biological warfare took on three main forms by deliberate poisoning of food and water with infectious material, use of microorganisms or toxins in some form of weapon system, and use of biologically inoculated fabrics. Four kinds of biological warfare agents are bacteria, viruses, rickettsiae, fungi. These are distinguished by being living organisms, that reproduce within their host victims, who then become contagious with a deadly multiplier effect, bacteria, viruses, or fungi or toxin found in nature can be used to kill or injure people. Biological agents may be used for an isolated assassination, as well as to cause incapacitation or death to thousands. These biological agents represent a dangerous military threat because they are alive, and are therefore unpredictable and uncontrollable once released. The act of bioterrorism can range from a simple hoax to the actual use of biological weapons. Biological agents have the potential to make an environment more dangerous over time. If the environment is contaminated, a long-term threat to the population could be created. This paper discusses common biological agents, their mode of action in living organisms and possible impact on the environment.
COMPARISON OF RHEOLOGICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF MODIFIED POLYPROPYLENE â€“ SHORT GLASS FIBER COMPOSITES
Authors: Shahid S. , Ali A. , Khan M. N. , Khan M. B.
Published: January 2025

Short glass fiber (SGF) reinforced composite materials were principally fabricated using polypropylene (PP) as thermoplastic matrix. Short glass fiber and polypropylene frequently suffer from lack of adequate fiber-matrix adhesion. This problem was addressed by grafting polypropylene (PP) with maleic anhydride (MA) in the presence of benzyl peroxide (BPO) as an initiator. The results revealed that by increasing fiber contents from 5 to 40 %, tensile strength increases while elongation at break decreases. Rheological behavior was found to be pseudoplastic, whereas viscosity increases by increasing SGF contents. A decrease in die swell was observed with increase in SGF contents.
SYNTHESIS OF TRANSITION METAL OXIDE NANOCRYSTALS BY COST EFFECTIVE HYDROTHERMAL PROCESS
Authors: Durrani S. K. , Khan Y. , Khan M. R. , Haq M. A.
Published: January 2025

Simple and cost effective hydrothermal process was used for synthesis of nanocrystals of transition metal oxides such as manganese oxide (Î±-MnO2), nickel oxide (NiO) and zinc oxide (ZnO). These nanocrystals were synthesized through hydrothermal decomposition under autogenous pressure condition using metal nitrates and ammonium hydroxide salts in aqueous solutions. The percent yield of synthesized selective oxide products was very good at pH values (> 3.2-3.5 for Î±-MnO2 and 9-9.6 for NiO and ZnO) irrespective of the solvent composition. The synthesized products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Brunauer-Emmet-Teller analysis (BET). The XRD results indicated that the synthesized MnO2, NiO and ZnO had body centered tetragonal, cubic and wurtzite structures having crystalline size 68Â±0.74, 33Â±0.14 and 54Â±0.38 nm respectively. However, the average crystalline sizes derived from BET method were found higher than XRD values indicated the agglomeration of nanocrystals. SEM analysis revealed the thickness of MnO2 nanowires and NiO nanobelts were in range of 50-90nm and 20-40nm respectively whereas the diameter of ZnO nanorods was about 80- 200nm and lengths of over 8-12Î¼m.
VARIETALS RESISTANCE AND SUSCEPTIBILITY IN MUSTARD (BRASSICA CAMPESTRIS L.) GENOTYPES AGAINST APHID MYZUS PERSICAE (SULZER) (HOMOPTERA: APHIDIDAE)
Authors: Sarwar M. , Ahmad N. , Khan G. Z. , Tofique M.
Published: January 2025

The exploitation of resistant cultivars is an imperative, simple, practical and flexible way to cope with insect pests incidence. Thirty genotypes of mustard (Brassica campestris L.) were tested for their resistance and susceptibility to aphid Myzus persicae (Sulzer) exposed under natural field conditions. Data on pest tolerance of genotypes were judged by quantitative traits such as number of aphids on each infested plant and mean dry weight of seeds per genotype. Studies observed the discrepancy in overall rates of pest invasion and seed yield contained by trailed mustard genotypes. Agati sarson (P), S-9-S-97-100/45 and S-9-S-97-100/45 were the least damaged genotypes showing their moderate resistance. Amongst other genotypes, MM-I/01-5, MM-I285 and MM-I/01-6 were the most damaged showing oversensitive response. Although the majority of genotypes were found vulnerable to pest, Agati sarson (P) and S-9-S97-100/45 due to their lowest hypersensitive response toward aphid contamination and increased pods yield could be used for the development of essential resistance in mustard plant. A marked mode of damage inflicted by aphid on the crop was noticed and the abiotic factors contributing variations in aphid infestation levels during both growing seasons were determined. Knowledge about the host plant resistance investigated can facilitate growers to choose the most appropriate cultivars as pest control strategy.