Search

Cement clay interlocking (CCI) hollow bricks have been used as a construction material in many developed and developing countries. Many emerging and underdeveloped nations have utilised cement clay interlocking (CCI) hollow bricks as building materials. In India, Andhra Pradesh local makers prepare these cement clay interlocking (CCI) hollow bricks by simply mixing clay, cement, and sand in a traditional method, without following strict design criteria or rules. Previous research has demonstrated that the mechanical characteristics of CCI hollow bricks gathered from various locations in detailed manner respect to hand books on Civil Engineering as per Indian Standards. Bricks from one region had compressive strengths that were significantly lower than the other region Indian Community Standards. Various methods were employed in this investigation to enhance the mechanical characteristics of CCI bricks. New mix patterns were created with the use of sand, cement, and fly ash in this research paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The related literature reveal that the papers on environmental pollution do not sufficiently analyse the cement production which is an important determinant of air pollution and health problems by using econometric methods. To fill this gap, this paper aims to examine the relationship between cement production, air pollution, mortality rate, and economic growth by employing MS Bayesian Vector Autoregressive (MScBVAR) and Markov Switching Bayesian Granger causality (MScBGC) approaches from 1960 to 2017 for China, Brazil, India, Turkey and the USA. MSIA(2)-BVAR(1) model for China, MSIAH(2)-BVAR(3) models for India, MSIAH(3)-BVAR(2) for Brazil, and MSIAH(3)-BVAR(1) for Turkey, and MSIAH(2)-BVAR(2) for the USA were selected. The MScBGC results revealed that the cement production is granger cause of mortality rate, air pollution, and economic growth in all regimes for China, India, Brazil, Turkey, and the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Serbian Journal of Management is the property of Serbian Journal of Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Cement is a basic requirement of today's society and is the only thing that humans consume more volume than water, but cement manufacturing is the most energy- and emission-intensive process. Hence, the cement industry is currently under pressure to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions. Climate change mitigation strategies implemented in the industry leads to GHGs reduction, climate risks, pollutants, and another adverse impact on the environment. In order to implement climate change mitigation strategies in the cement industry, a careful analysis of barriers that hinder the emission reduction must be taken. However, most existing research on the barriers to mitigation measures is focused on developed countries. Among the most important emerging economies, India, the second-largest producer and consumer of cement, faces challenges to implement emission reduction measures. To bridge this gap, this paper identifies and evaluates the barriers and solutions to overcome these barriers in the context of India. This study employs a three-phase methodology based on fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) to identify barriers and solutions to overcome these barriers to climate change mitigation strategies adoption in Indian cement industry. Fuzzy AHP is employed to prioritize these barriers, and to rank solutions of these barriers, Fuzzy TOPSIS is employed. Ten Indian cement manufacturing industry is taken to illustrate the proposed three-phase methodology. Finally, the result of the analysis offers an effective decision support tool to the Indian cement industry to eliminate and overcome barriers to mitigation strategies adoption and build their green image in the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims at computing the efficiency of the cement companies in Indian scenario during the Pre- and Post period of recession by utilising Data Envelopment analysis. Linear program has been formulated by taking Risk (namely financial risk and business Risk) as inputs and Return (namely return on equity and return on assets) as outputs during the Pre- and Post-period of recession. The cement companies have been ranked according to their efficiency scores computed through the linear program. A further endeavour has been made in this paper to investigate whether the risk (namely financial risk or business risk) is having any impact on the efficiency score of the cement companies during the Pre and Post recession period by utilising multiple regression analysis. The study has also utilised the Spearman rank correlation to investigate if there is a significant difference between the ranks obtained by the cement companies during the pre and post period of recession. It is a very unique work in itself where the relationship between the risk and return has been explored to compute the efficiency score and to investigate whether risk is having any impact on the efficiency scores of the cement companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental regulation has traditionally been considered to have as detrimental impact on firm performance as it compels the complying firms diverting their resources from productive purpose to pollution abatement. Contrary to this, Porter hypothesis says that a well-designed environmental regulation, if implemented properly, may result in lower level of pollution with enhanced firm performance - a proposition called 'win-win opportunity'. The objective of the paper is two-fold. Firstly, to examine whether there exists any 'winwin opportunity' for Indian cement firms complying with environmental regulations. Secondly, to verify whether such 'win-win opportunity', if exists, can actually lead to pollution abatement. We assume Indian cement firms produce two outputs, cement as desirable output and pollution (CO2 emission) as bad output and measure firm performance by environmental efficiency defined as ability of the firms to simultaneously increase the desirable output and reduce the bad output by same proportion. We adopt directional distance function approach to compute efficiency of the firms under regulated and nonregulated scenarios and compare the efficiency scores using Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test. We have used firm level input-output data of Indian cement industry from Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) for the year 1999-00 through 2004-05.Our estimates shows, under regulated scenario, mean (in) efficiency scores of the Indian cement firms for the year 1999-00 through 2004-05 are 0.3946, 0.2038, 0.2989, 0.2778, 0.3276 respectively. These efficiency scores imply that in the year 1999-00, Indian cement firms could simultaneously expand good output cement and reduce bad output carbon dioxide to an extent of nearly 40% without using inputs any more, if they strictly comply with the stipulated environmental standards meant for them. Therefore, a potential win-win opportunity does exist in the industry. However, Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test confirms that (in) efficiency scores are much higher under non-regulated scenario, implying higher feasible expansion of good output. Therefore, such win-win opportunity may not necessarily induce the Indian cement firms to spontaneously comply with the environmental regulation since regulation imposes a significant cost on them in terms of lower feasible expansion of the desirable output. Possibility of higher feasible expansion of the good output under non-regulated scenario may not motivate the firms for pollution abatement. We propose that the strategy of information disclosure might be of immense help for the regulatory authority to incentivize the firms in favor of pollution abatement. Since there is always very high monitoring and enforcement cost associated with environmental regulation, the strategy we proposed on the basis of our findings may be used while formulating environmental policy for the polluting industries, in general and Indian cement industry, in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid population growth and urbanization all over India have created a need for the development of infrastructure which ultimately increases the demand even to utilize the most problematic peats also. Peat is known for its poor load-bearing capacity and high compressibility traits, so any construction undertaken without taking due account of its properties may lead to dreadful consequences. In India, the study in context to peat has been done in a very limited way and which consists mainly of highlighting the zonal occurrence and to some extent evaluating its basic properties only. This paper addresses the efficacy of cement usage on the compressibility behavior of Indian peat. The assessment of the compressibility and consolidation properties of peat treated with different percentages of cement (5, 10, and 15% by weight of dry peat) and curing periods (0 and 14 days) is investigated through one-dimensional consolidation test. Peats collected were of four different ranges of organic content variation (20–76%) covering three different states in the North Eastern Region of India to finally comprehend the effect of varying organic matter in the process of treatment. The laboratory investigation reveals that the Indian peats undergo high compressibility (cc~1.43–3.72), very low rate of consolidation (cv~0.15–0.78 × 10-8 m2/sec), and large creep behavior (cα~0.02–0.07). However, the optimistic outcome observed after cement treatment is the decrease in the compression index (cc), coefficient of compressibility (av), coefficient of volume compressibility (mv), and increase in the coefficient of consolidation (cv). The pre-consolidation pressure (σ/p) is also increased with the percentage of cement content. Further, secondary compression (cα) measured at high stress level is found to be decreased with increasing cement content and finally becomes negligible. The effect of curing days brings a further conducive change in the compressibility and consolidation characteristics of cement-treated peat. Further, the presence of the high organic matter hinders the reaction process between peat and cement, thus affecting the rate of hardening process and eventually the overall improvement. Finally, the test results are complemented by pH, electric conductivity (EC), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analyses, which provide insight into the mechanism involved between peat and cement. The increased loss of mass that occurs after cement addition, studied through thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), indicates the formation of new cementitious materials that are responsible for the overall improvement of Indian peat. Since in India, this kind of study is totally new thus it will help engineers practically to handle peat of this region in a far better way eventually bringing a sort of understanding over the construction-allied issues beforehand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Sheltered natural carbonation can be similar between different climates. • Huge impact of curing on natural carbonation for very early age (i.e. 1 day) • Impact of curing is negligible for advanced curing age, regardless of cement type. • Strong impact of precipitation on natural carbonation. • The higher the number of rainy days, the lower the carbonation speed. This paper describes a unique international inter-laboratory study on the carbonation resistance of concrete prepared with different supplementary cementing materials. Concrete specimens – from 45 different concrete mixtures – prepared centrally in Lafarge Centre de Recherche (France) were shipped in a sealed condition to 4 other academia research laboratories (located in USA, Canada, India and China). The specimens were exposed to the ambient environments and atmospheric CO2 concentrations in the five locations, including Lafarge Centre de Recherche in France, in both sheltered and unsheltered condition for a period of 5 years. Measurements of carbonation depth were performed at periodic intervals, and the data was analyzed to assess the influence of climatic conditions on the resistance to carbonation. The results indicate that the general trend of carbonation is not much different irrespective of the macroclimate. Further, the number of rainy days seems to have a more significant influence on the progress of carbonation than the total rainfall in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents experimental studies conducted on two grades of High Performance Concrete (HPC) mixes of M70 and M80 using mineral and chemical admixtures in various proportions. The main purpose of this investigation is to develop confidence among user agencies in India to use mineral and chemical admixtures in a desirable proportion in most of the construction works. Overall, the paper highlights the usage of admixtures to achieve high strength concrete mixes, and from the experimental investigation, it is clear that mineral admixtures contribute effectively a lot not only for achieving durability, but also high strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the year 2015, Government of India introduced several amendments in Companies Act, 2013 thus making CSR expenditure mandatory for certain companies. In the light of these regulatory changes this study aims to explore the corporate social responsibility activities undertaken by Ambuja Cements Limited in Punjab region of India. Further it will also analyze the implications of these activities on general public in Punjab. The case study explores and documents the perception of various stakeholders of Ambuja Cements Limited in Punjab with context to its social responsibility initiatives in the area. Both primary as well secondary data were collected. Primary data was collected by conducting field visits to area around its manufacturing facilities. Also unstructured interviews were conducted to gain insights from company employees, government officials and general public. Secondary data was collected from annual reports, company websites, newspaper articles and other internet source. The case study documents the CSR initiatives undertaken by Ambuja in Punjab region of India. The study finds that Ambuja has made a lot of efforts over years towards benefiting the local communities by improving their quality of life. It has also rolled out several programmes towards making women in rural areas self dependent thus uplifting their social status. This paper improves understanding of how social responsibility initiatives can be implemented in a way to ensure sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The knowledge about the utility of fly ash is well known worldwide. Moreover, even though fly ash is widely and abundantly available in India, its optimal utilization is not yet achieved. This paper attempts to give clarity on the viable limit of fly ash in structural concrete. The study confirms the applicability of efficiency factor method in the mix design and strength prediction of concrete. Maximum usable fly ash percentage depends upon the strength of concrete and type of chemical admixture. Although the results presented herein may vary with change of constituent materials, type of concrete, type and power of concrete mixer, ... etc., the trend in results would remain similar and will be useful for both researchers and practicing engineers in concrete technology domain striving for sustainable construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to bring the different facets of explosives drivers with detailed impetus of major segments of driving input. Various inputs in term of planned production of coal and lignite along with infrastructure vision associated with steel, cement and other major and minor minerals. The total consumption of explosives is estimated to grow from a present level of 0.65 million tonnes to a level of approx over 13 million tonnes by the end of year 2026-27. Some thoughts have also been across at global and national level. Innovative explosive products are the area of concern in the days to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the formation of strategic groups in Cement, Automobile and Information Technology firms from emerging markets like India. Based on data of 140 firms during 2005-2010, firm's membership into different strategic groups is tested. Cluster analysis and one way ANOVA have been used to identify clusters and analyze statistically significant variables, which place a firm in one or other cluster. Except for the automobile industry, two clusters were formed in other industries. In the automobile industry, three clusters were formed. Different types of variables were responsible for cluster formation in different industries. This difference in significant variables is explained based on differences in industry growth rates and hence the demand- supply gap of products offered by firms belonging to different industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The in-situ deep cement mixing method is an established technique for improving the strength and reducing settlement of soft soil deposits. In practice, upon completion of the cement treatment, the improved ground will be left for curing over a specific period of time, before commencement of construction activities. In the case of deep mixing, curing takes place under the overburden pressures, at deeper depths. Studies on the influence of curing stress on the stress-strain and strength characteristics of cement stabilized clays are limited. The role of curing stress on the strength behavior of the cement treated soil is studied in this paper. Consolidated undrained triaxial compression tests performed on cement treated samples cured with and without stress are mainly focused. Marine clay from Ennore, near Chennai, India, excavated at a depth of 1.5 m was selected for the study. The range of cement contents selected were 10%, 15% and 20% with curing time of 28 days. The curing stresses adopted were 0, 50, 100 and 200 kPa. Additional tests were also conducted to study the effect of lower cement content of 5% and the effect of higher confining pressures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]