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In the current practice for the design of the building structure is done by considering the footing as fixed based. The mid-rise buildings having variation in storey height from 3- to 10-storey were selected for the research. In this research, analysis was done to study into the interaction between the seismic response of RC-framed buildings and the soil-structure for various soil types. To study the linear responses of the structures, the model was developed in FEM software SAP2000. The underneath soil was modelled by using direct method, where the soil is considered as solid element. The considered depth of soil was considered 30 m and the viscous spring dashpot were applied to avoid the reflection of seismic waves in soil medium along the effective horizontal soil boundaries. The seismic response variables such as maximum lateral deflection, inter-storey drift and fundamental time periods have been studied. SSI amplified the lateral deflection, inter-storey drift and time period of structure shifting the performance level from life safety to near collapse level. Fundamental time period of the first mode was increased by 23 % for very soft soil. The maximum lateral deflection of 10-storey building for very soft soil was amplified up to 282 % for Kobe and the performance level was shifted from life safety (1.5 %) to collapse level for all the considered model for soil type D . The performance level of structure was checked against the different soil types on varying storey height and finally a simplified method has been proposed to incorporate the effects of SSI in fixed base structures.

Dragon fruit is an emerging fruit in Nepal. The covered area of this fruit has been expanding during the last few years. Vegetative propagation through stem cutting is the easiest and cheapest method for large-scale propagation to produce genetically identical plants. Synthetic rooting hormones have proven to be effective, but their high cost limits their use. Therefore, more research in vegetative propagation using natural substances is needed. The purpose of this study was to investigate how natural substances and synthetic hormones affect the rooting and vegetative growth of dragon fruit stem cuttings in Khumaltar, Lalitpur. The experiment was developed from September 4, 2020 to January 19, 2021. Three treatments were evaluated in a completely randomized design (CRD) with five replications: i) no hormone application (control), (ii) Aloe vera gel (1 mL cutting-1), and (iii) indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) powder (0.5 g cutting-1). Root and shoot growth were evaluated. The results showed that the aloe vera treatment produced the highest number of shoots (2.2) and roots (9.9), similarly to the IBA treatment. The aloe vera treatment considerably increased shoots (30.35 cm) and roots (25.92 cm) length, coinciding with an increase in root (4.55 g) and shoot (102.6 g) weights compared to the other treatments. However, there were no significant differences in shoot diameter in all the treatments. Finally, natural substances that are locally available, such as Aloe vera gel, could be used as an efficient root promoting substance for dragon fruit cuttings.

In most of the countries, the irregular building construction is popular for fulfilling both aesthetic and functional requirements. However, the evidence of past earthquakes in Nepal and the globe demonstrated the higher level of seismic vulnerability of the buildings due to irregularities. Considering this fact, the present study highlighted the common irregularities and its effect on reinforced concrete building response. The effect of structural irregularities was studied through numerical analysis. The geometrical, mass and stiffness irregularities were created by removing bays in different floor levels and removing the columns at different sections respectively. In this study, the numerical models were created in finite element program SAP2000. The structural performance was studied using both non-linear static pushover and dynamic time history analysis. The results indicate that the level of irregularities significantly influenced the behavior of structures.

Retrofitting is a method of renovating/repairing and strengthening the weak structure that was affected due to the excessive load on structure during any uncertainty load like earthquake or due to end of service life of the infrastructure. The objectives of this paper are to design reinforced concrete and fiberreinforced polymer jacketing of failed columns of an existing building, after addition of two more storey in previous design and to compare suitability of before mentioned methods of retrofitting. The presented work also describes design procedure of reinforced concrete, carbon fiber reinforced polymer jacketing for strengthening existing columns. This study is fruitful to gauge suitability of the two retrofitting methods for weakened structural members. The existing buildings in Nepal designed as using Mandatory Rules of Thumb are most vulnerable types of building; to mitigate further crack in structural members with appropriate type of retrofit will be considered with proper management of construction related to post-earthquake activity. After analysis and design of existing building its extremely necessary to plan construction management for economic and safety concern. Most cases of such projects will lead improper work without proper construction management leading uneconomic and prolonging of completion of project.

Social entrepreneurship is a mix of sectoral innovation and resource availability by which social problems are treated as the ones handicapping a societie’s needs. It is a new dimension of the business sector. In Nepal, like everywhere in the world, a model of social entrepreneurship has been developed by several social innovators. The main aim of this research is to analyze the sectoral social entrepreneurship and innovation practices in Nepal. This paper is based on scientific review with reference to the social entrepreneurship and innovation in the context of Nepal economy. This subject matter is highly recognized due to its broad scope in terms of educational innovation, business innovation, environmental innovation, social innovation, financial innovation, technical innovations, innovations in all the sectors of economy, and, finally, innovations in the living standard of Nepalese people. Nepal needs social and economic transformation, which can be made by building socially responsive citizens. Thus, the context of Nepal suggests an opportunity for sectoral and structural innovations. Social innovations can make Nepal smart and strong. So, the government should create the environment for the social enterprise sector in Nepal.

Drought, mostly, is major limitation of rainfed lowland rice. Varieties that can escape or tolerate moisture stress are desirable for increasing production and contributing food security of the country as rice is most consumed among the cereals and contribute largely in total cereal production. With objective of identifying early maturing and high yielding rice genotypes having potentiality to escape or tolerate moisture stress, a total of twenty rice genotypes tested in a Randomized Complete Block design. Statistical analysis revealed that genotypes were highly significant for most of the traits under observation. Green super rice genotype HHZ10-DT7-Y1 was found superior in performance for most of the measured morphological traits viz. highest grain yield, thousand grain weight and biomass yield, but found statistically at par with Hardinath- 3 (check) in maturity. Similarly, HHZ1-DT3-Y1-Y1 recorded highest harvest index, number of filled grains/ panicle, earliest days to flowering and maturity. Yield advantage of HHZ lines, except HHZ25-DT9-Y1-Y1, over check was 19 to almost 45 %, and 28.51 to 56. 22% more than national average grain yield in rainfed condition. Water table was lower, and recorded none after 6th week of measurement. Plant height, panicle length, thousand grain weight, harvest index, days to flowering, days to maturity were identified as important traits for future grain yield improvement program based on their heritability study.