BIOTECHNOLOGY/AGROINDUSTRIAL

BIOTECHNOLOGY

 

‘Dexterity in action is the best evidence of application of technology’

Bhagavadgeeta [Chapter II, Stanza 50]

 

Biotechnology is an exciting area of human endeavour that encompasses a range of

sciences and technologies. They include -chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics,

molecular biology, genetics, microbiology,plant and animal cell culture, fermentations,

chemical engineering, biochemical engineering and process engineering. The

multidisciplinary nature of biotechnology is thus self-evident. Like the proverbial

elephant as recognised by the four blind men, biotechnology means many different

things to different people. Although variously defined, it is a new biological

approach to a wide range of industrial processes

 

Biotechnology as an activity has existed since ancient times. Then what is new?

The present excitement in biotechnology Is because we have begun to understand

and manipulate biological systems at the molecular level. As Arthur Kornberg put it

“DNA and RNA provide the script, but the enzymes do the acting”. Our ability to achieve controlled modifications of DNA is known as recombinant DNA technology.

These selective changes to DNA allow us to impart new/modified messages in a

variety of species. With this powerful tool at the molecular level, we are able to express

a desired property in a macromolecule, a bacterium, a cultured cell or an entire

organism.

CIVIL ENGINEERING

 

 

 

 

Structural Control: Basic Concepts and Applications

Y. Fujino,

T.T. Soongand B. F. Spencer Jr.

Abstract

Considerable attention has been paid to active structural control research in recentyears, with particular emphasis on alleviation of wind and seismic response. The technology is now at the stage where actual systems have been designed, fabricated and installed in full-scale structures. This tutorial paper presents an overview of some of the basic control concepts as applied to civil engineering structures, provides examples of current fullscale applications of the technology and indicates future directions.

Basic Concepts in Structural Protective Systems

In recent years, innovative means of enhancing structural functionality and safety against natural and man-made hazards have been in various stages of research and development.By and large, they can be grouped into three broad areas: (i) base isolation, (ii)passive damping and (iii) active control. Of the three, base isolation can now be considered a more mature technology with wider applications as compared with the other two(ATC–17 1993).Passive energy dissipation systems encompass a range of materials and devices for enhancing damping, stiffness and strength, and can be used both for natural hazard mitigation and for rehabilitation of aging or deficient structures. In recent years, serious efforts have been undertaken to develop the concept of energy dissipation, or supplemental damping, into a workable technology, and a number of these devices have been installed in structures throughout the world. In general, such systems are characterized by a capability to enhance energy dissipation in the structural systems to which they are installed. This effect may be achieved either by conversion of kinetic energy to heat or by transferring of energy among vibrating modes. The first method includes devices which operate on principles such as frictional sliding, yielding of metals, phase transformation in metals,deformation of viscoelastic solids or fluids and fluid orificing. The latter method includessupplemental oscillators which act as dynamic absorbers.

Among the current passive energy dissipation systems, those based on deformation of viscoelastic polymers and on fluid orificing represent technologies in which the U.S.industry has a worldwide lead.