Sobhi,Daniel; Prasada Rao,T(Regional research laboratory, 2006)
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Abstract:
Tailored ion imprinted polymer materials for the preconcentrative separation of noble metals. This study deals with the synthesis, separation,characterization and analytical application of the noble metals especially palladium and platinum. Platinum group metals(PGM) are currently receiving world wide attention. This group include Palladium(Pt),rhodium(Rh), ruthenium(Ru), iridium(Ir) and osmium(Os).PGM are used as catalysts for a wide variety of hydrogenation, oxidation, isomerization,cyclization,dehydrogenation and dehalogenation reactions.The corrosion resistance of PGM enables them to use in jewellery,electrical and glass industries,extrusion of synthetic fibres,manufacture of laboratory utensils,dental and medical devices. This study clearly establishes selective recovery of platinum from other noble and transition elements.
Thulaseedharan Nair, K; Dr. Bhasi, M(Cochin University of Science and Technology., September , 2008)
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Abstract:
In India, Food Security meant supply of food grains and the medium was
Public Distribution System. Public Distribution System (PDS) is a rationing
mechanism that entitles households to specified quantities of selected
commodities at subsidized prices. The Objectives of PDS are maintaining Price
Stability, rationing during times of scarcity, welfare of the poor, and keeping a
check on private trade. Kerala has registered remarkable improvement in
poverty reduction in general over the years among all social sections, including
scheduled caste and scheduled tribe population.
As part of the structural adjustment intended to reduce public expenditure,
PDS has been modified as Revamped PDS (RPDS) during 1992 and later on as
Targeted PDS (TPDS) in 1997, intended to target households on the basis of
income criterion, classifying people as Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above
Poverty Line (APL). TPDS provides 25Kg. of food gra.ins through the Fair Price
Shops per month @ Rs.3/- per Kg. of rice/ wheat to the BPL category and @Rs.8.90
and Rs.6.7O for rice and wheat respectively to the APL category of people.
Since TPDS is intended to target the poor people, the subsidy spent by the
government for the scheme should be beneficial to the poor people and
naturally they should utilize the benefits by purchasing the food grains
allotted under the scheme. Several studies have shown that there is underutilization
of the allotments under TPDS. Therefore, the extent of utilization of
TPDS in food grains, how and why remains as a major hurdle, in improving
the structure and system of PDS.
Livelihood of the tribal population being under threat due to increasing
degradation of the resources, the targeting system ought to be effective among
the tribal population. Therefore, performance of the TPDS in food grains, in
terms of the utilization by the tribal population in Kerala, impact thereof and
the factors, if any, affecting proper utilization were considered as the research
problem in this study.
The study concentrated on the pattern of consumption of food grains by the
tribal people, whether their hunger needs are met by distribution of food grains
through the TPDS, extent to which TPDS in food grains reduce their share of
expenditure on food in the total household expenditure, and the factors
affecting the utilization of the TPDS in food grains by the tribal population.
Going through the literature, it has been noted that only few studies concentrated
on the utilization of TPDS in food grains among the tribal population in Kerala.The Research Design used in this study is descriptive in nature, but
exploratory in some aspects. Idukki, Palakkad and Wayanad have more than
60% of the population of the tribals in the state. Within the three districts
mentioned above, 14 villages with scheduled tribe concentration were selected
for the study. 95 tribal colonies were selected from among the various tribal
settlements. Collection of primary data was made from 1231 households with
in the above tribal colonies.
Analysis of data on the socio-economic factors of the tribal people, pattern of food
consumption, extent of reduction in the share of expenditure on food among
the household expenditure of the tribal people and the impact of TPDS on the
tribal families etc. and testing of hypotheses to find out the
relation/association of each of the six variables, using the data on BPL and
APL categories of households separately have resulted in findings such as six
percent of the tribal families do not have Ration Cards, average per capita
consumption of food grains by the tribal people utilizing TPDS meets 62% of
their minimum requirement, whereas the per capita consumption of food
grains by the tribal people is higher than the national average per capita
consumption, 63% deficiency in food grains may be felt by tribal people in
general, if TPDS is withdrawn, and the deficit for BPL tribal people may be
82%, TPDS facilitates a reduction of 9.71% in the food expenditure among the
total household expenditure of the tribal people in general, share of food to
non-food among BPL category of tribals is 55:45 and 40:60 among the APL,
Variables, viz. household income, number of members in the family and distance
of FPS from tribal settlements etc. have influence on the quantity of rice being
purchased by the tribal people from the Fair Price Shops, and there is influence
of household income and distance of FPS from tribal settlements on the
quantity of rice being purchased by the tribal people from the open market.
Rationing with differential pricing on phased allotments, rectification of errors
in targeting, anomalies in norms and procedures for classifying tribal people
as BPL/APL, exclusive Income Generation for tribal population, paddy
cultivation in the landholdings possessed by the tribal people, special drive for
allotment of Ration Cards to the tribal people, especially those belonging to the
BPL category, Mobile Fair Price Shops in tribal settlements, ensure quality of
the food grains distributed through the TPDS, distribution of wheat flour in
packed condition instead of wheat through the Fair Price Shops are
recommended to address the shortcomings and weaknesses of the TPDS vis-avis
the tribal population in Kerala.
Description:
School of
Management Studies,
Cochin University of Science and Technology
Soja,Louis; Ravindranatha Menon,N(School of marine sciences, 2006)
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Abstract:
The study of bryozoans, an important group of coelomates in the marine environment is an integral part of faunistic investigations. Bryozones are an ancient, aberrant phylum of microscopic but fascinating and often beautiful animals that build intricate colonies sometimes resembling minicolonies. In this study taxonomy, bionomics and biofouling of bryozoans from the coasts of India and the Antarctic waters. The marine biofouling is found to be hazardous. Bryozoans are microscopic , sessile,colonical coelomates that are permanently fastened in exoskeletal cases or gelatinous material of their own secretion.It is hoped that this work would help the future researchers to devote attention on microbenthos of the continental shelf of India when samples are made available through collections conducted by any ocean going vessel. In the present work an extensive study on the bryozoan foulers that occur at five selected sites of the cochin estury had to be examined and since the hydrographic parameters such as salinity, temperature, pH and dissolved oxygen in the estury,vary greatly from that in the open ocean, a frequent monitoring of these parameters was essential.
Rajendran, C; Dr. Madhu, G(Cochin University of Science & Technology, September , 2011)
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Abstract:
Wind energy has emerged as a major sustainable source of energy.The efficiency of wind power generation by wind mills has improved a lot during the last three decades.There is still further scope for maximising the conversion of wind energy into mechanical energy.In this context,the wind turbine rotor dynamics has great significance.The present work aims at a comprehensive study of the Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) aerodynamics by numerically solving the fluid dynamic equations with the help of a finite-volume Navier-Stokes CFD solver.As a more general goal,the study aims at providing the capabilities of modern numerical techniques for the complex fluid dynamic problems of HAWT.The main purpose is hence to maximize the physics of power extraction by wind turbines.This research demonstrates the potential of an incompressible Navier-Stokes CFD method for the aerodynamic power performance analysis of horizontal axis wind turbine.The National Renewable Energy Laboratory USA-NREL (Technical Report NREL/Cp-500-28589) had carried out an experimental work aimed at the real time performance prediction of horizontal axis wind turbine.In addition to a comparison between the results reported by NREL made and CFD simulations,comparisons are made for the local flow angle at several stations ahead of the wind turbine blades.The comparison has shown that fairly good predictions can be made for pressure distribution and torque.Subsequently, the wind-field effects on the blade aerodynamics,as well as the blade/tower interaction,were investigated.The selected case corresponded to a 12.5 m/s up-wind HAWT at zero degree of yaw angle and a rotational speed of 25 rpm.The results obtained suggest that the present can cope well with the flows encountered around wind turbines.The areodynamic performance of the turbine and the flow details near and off the turbine blades and tower can be analysed using theses results.The aerodynamic performance of airfoils differs from one another.The performance mainly depends on co-efficient of performnace,co-efficient of lift,co-efficient of drag, velocity of fluid and angle of attack.This study shows that the velocity is not constant for all angles of attack of different airfoils.The performance parameters are calculated analytically and are compared with the standardized performance tests.For different angles of ,the velocity stall is determined for the better performance of a system with respect to velocity.The research addresses the effect of surface roughness factor on the blade surface at various sections.The numerical results were found to be in agreement with the experimental data.A relative advantage of the theoretical aerofoil design method is that it allows many different concepts to be explored economically.Such efforts are generally impractical in wind tunnels because of time and money constraints.Thus, the need for a theoretical aerofoil design method is threefold:first for the design of aerofoil that fall outside the range of applicability of existing calalogs:second,for the design of aerofoil that more exactly match the requirements of the intended application:and third,for the economic exploration of many aerofoil concepts.From the results obtained for the different aerofoils,the velocity is not constant for all angles of attack.The results obtained for the aerofoil mainly depend on angle of attack and velocity.The vortex generator technique was meticulously studies with the formulation of the specification for the right angle shaped vortex generators-VG.The results were validated in accordance with the primary analysis phase.The results were found to be in good agreement with the power curve.The introduction of correct size VGs at appropriate locations over the blades of the selected HAWT was found to increase the power generation by about 4%
Description:
Division of Safety and Fire Engineering,School of Engineering,Cochin University of Science and Technology
Rajan,R V; Seralathan,P(COCHIN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, November , 2006)
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Abstract:
The present study addresses to understand the sedimentological properties of the coasts of kodungallur and chellanam, central Kerala to bring out the relationship between the textural, mineralogical and geochemical characters with that of the respective environment. The grain size study of the beach ridge sediments from different pits has been investigated at close intervals, which enables to understand the grain size variations with depth. The sediment samples from various pits of the beach ridges indicate that the sediments range primarily from medium to very fine sand, well to moderately sorted, fine to coarse skewed and leptokurtic to platykurtic. The study area is considered as a prograding coast. Variations in grain size down the pit give three phases of beach building activities i.e.; a coarsening upward sequence in the bottom layers, a fining upward in the middle and coarsening upward in the top. Beach ridges are formed by swash built sediments with cross bedding and setting lag type sediments with seaward dipping/horizontal units.
Geochemical signatures in the study area have been brought out through the analysis of major and trace elements. Iron is significantly enriched and its control over many trace elements is evident. Copper, chromium, cobalt, lithium, lead and zinc show decreasing trend with depth, while sodium, potassium,strontium,nickel and organic carbon increases. The association of many trace elements with organic carbon has also been established. Dissolution of trace elements in anoxic environment, at depth and reprecipitation in the oxic layers, at near or subsurface, are the major mechanism that brought out the variation of certain environmentally sensitive elements
Rosabella,K Puthur; Sebastian,K L; Sugunan,S(Cochin University of Science and Technology, October , 2001)
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Abstract:
The thesis presents the dynamics of a polymer chain under tension. It includes existing theories of polymer fracture, important theories of reaction rates, the rate using multidimensional transition state theory and apply it to the case of polyethylene etc. The main findings of the study are; the life time of the bond is somewhat sensitive to the potential lead to rather different answers, for a given potential a rough estimate of the rate can be obtained by a simples approximation that considers the dynamics of only the bond that breaks and neglects the coupling to neighboring bonds. Dynamics of neighboring bonds would decrease the rate, but usually not more than by one order of magnitude, for the breaking of polyethylene, quantum effects are important only for temperatures below 150K, the lifetime strongly depends on the strain and as the strain varies over a narrow range, the life varies rapidly from 105 seconds to 10_5 seconds, if we change one unit of the polymer by a foreign atom, say by one sulphure atom, in the main chain itself, by a weaker bond, the rate is found to increase by orders of magnitude etc.
Bindu, J; Dr. Srinivasa Gopal, T K(Cochin University of Science and Technology., March , 2009)
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Abstract:
This study is the first of its kind in India, where in smoked and thermal
processed products have been developed using locally available wood as the
source of wood smoke and flavoring and a shelf life of one year has been
achieved. Retortable pouches of three layers, both imported and indigenous
were found suitable to store thermal processed products. Heat penetration rate is
quicker in retort pouches due to their thin profile in comparison to cans and
hence the total process time is lesser. The nutritional and sensory attributes of
the pouch products are better retained during processing. Hence these products
are more acceptable than canned products. lndian vegetarian food products and
fish curry products are available in the ready to eat form in the markets. Smoked
and thermal processed products have not gained an entry to the market and
hence this study will pave an opening for such products. Currently trade in tuna
products from India is meager compared to the global trade. ln India proper
utilization of tuna resources is yet to be achieved due to the lack of infrastructure
for handling and knowledge of value addition. The raw material cost is also less
due to the poor quality of the fish when landed. Hence, the availability of such
products will help in the trade of tuna products, improving the quality of raw
material landing and ultimately realizing a better value to the fishermen and
processors.