Arid and semi-arid areas are characterised by differentiation in meteorological conditions. Sometimes the rains are rare and not very intense and at other times they are dense and very intense, resulting in torrents that often lead to strong soil erosion. Most of the time, the losses occur at the solids level because the erosion effect is too high. In this study, we want to evaluate the transfer of solid sediments as a function of liquid transport in the basin of Wadi Zeddine at Ain Defla in Algeria. To understand this phenomenon, we used the data of liquid flows ( Q_l, m ³∙s ^–1) and concentration of suspended sediments ( C, g∙dm ^–3), transported in the river, the data collected by the NWRA (National Water Resources Agency), over 24 years have been used to find a relationship between these two quantities, to estimate the quantity of solid transport Q_s (kg∙s ^–1) in the watercourse of the catchment area studied. The results obtained show a good correlation between solid and liquid flows, with a correlation coefficient estimated at 90%, and the average annual sediment supply recorded at the outlet of the Wadi Zeddine watershed is estimated at around 88,048 Mg, which corresponds to 202 Mg∙km ^–2∙y ^–1/ erosion rate. This value is comparable to those found in other regions with similar hydrological regimes.

Investment casting is very well-known manufacturing process for producing relatively thin and multifarious industrial components with high dimensional tolerances as well as admirable surface finish. Investment casting process is further comprised of sub-processes including pattern making, shell making, dewaxing, shell backing, melting and pouring. These sub-processes are usually followed by heat treatment, finishing as well as testing & measurement of castings. Investment castings are employed in many industrial sectors including aerospace, automobile, bio-medical, chemical, defense, etc. Overall market size of investment castings in world is nearly 12.15 billion USD and growing at a rate of 2.8% every year. India is among the top five investment casting producers in the world, and produces nearly 4% (considering value of castings) of global market. Rajkot (home town of authors) is one of largest clusters of investment casting in India, and has nearly 175 investment casting foundries that is almost 30% of investment casting foundries of India. An industrial survey of nearly 25% of investment casting foundries of Rajkot cluster has been conducted in the year 2019-20 in order to get better insight related to 5 Cs (Capacity; Capability; Competency; Concerns; Challenges) of investment casting foundries located in the cluster. Specific set of questionnaires was design for the survey to address 5 Cs of investment casting foundries of Rajkot cluster, and their inputs were recorded during the in-person survey. The industrial survey yielded in providing better insight related to 5 Cs of foundries in Rajkot cluster. It will also help investment casting producer to identify the capabilities and quality issues as well as leads to benchmarking respective foundry.

The paper presents a methodology of modeling relationships between chemical composition and hardenability of structural alloy steels using computational intelligence methods, that are artificial neural network and multiple regression models. Particularly, the researchers used unidirectional multilayer teaching method based on the error backpropagation algorithm and a quasi-newton methods. Based on previously known methodologies, it was found that there is no universal method of modeling hardenability, and it was also noted that there are errors related to the calculation of the curve. The study was performed on large set of experimental data containing required information on about the chemical compositions and corresponding Jominy hardenability curves for over 400 data steel heats with variety of chemical compositions. It is demonstrated that the full practical usefulness of the developed models in the selection of materials for particular applications with intended performance in the area of application.