Recent earthquakes in Pakistan demonstrated that the region is highly seismic. Masonry buildings constructed with stones, concrete blocks, and fired-clay bricks and concrete buildings were damaged during the 8 October 2005 Kashmir earthquake. This paper presents the seismic behavior of reinforced concrete and masonry buildings in northern part of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Kashmir during the earthquake. Most of the buildings were observed to be nonengineered or semi-engineered. The paper presents an overview of the 1937 Quetta building code and the 1986 and 2007 building codes of Pakistan. Lessons learned during the earthquake are also presented.

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In the present study, highly efficient catalysts based on corncob were synthesized for the esterification process. The synthesized catalysts were characterized by BET, XRD, and FT-IR. The effect of catalyst impregnation, carbonation, and sulfonation was studied in detail. The highest conversion of oleic acid (∼94.4%) was observed using a catalyst synthesized at H 3 PO 4 impregnation ratio = 1 and time = 5 h; carbonization temperature = 723 K and time = 8 h; sulfonation temperature = 393 K and time = 15 h. Further, the performance of the catalyst was studied for the esterification of fatty acids (FAs) and free fatty acids (FFAs) present in Karanja oil. The catalyst showed ∼90% conversion of FAs/FFAs within 2 h at 338 K using a molar ratio of 1:10 (FA to methanol)/ 1:20 (Karanja oil to methanol) and a catalyst loading of 10 wt %. Furthermore, the reusability test of the catalyst revealed that it can be used for 20 times in a batch reactor to give ∼90% conversion of the oleic acid.

The fundamental properties and applications of organic charge transfer complexes based on Pb(TCNQ)2 (Pb = lead, TCNQ = 7,7,8,8‐tetracyanoquinodimethane) and its fluorinated derivatives are relatively unknown. Here, a facile solid–liquid approach for the synthesis of Pb(TCNQ)2 and Pb(TCNQF4)2 is reported. These materials are thoroughly analyzed to obtain insights into their unique morphological, vibrational and optical properties, the latter extending across the UV–Vis–IR region. Subsequently, the catalytic potential of these materials is evaluated by employing a model redox reaction, which revealed two orders of magnitude higher catalytic activity of the fluorinated derivative over non‐fluorinated Pb(TCNQ)2 crystals. Overall, the work presented here adds a new member to the growing yet limited library of metal–organic charge transfer complexes and validates the outstanding redox catalysis performance of this group of materials.

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Mid-wave and long-wave infrared (MWIR and LWIR) detection play vital roles in applications that include health care, remote sensing, and thermal imaging. However, detectors in this spectral range often require complex fabrication processes and/or cryogenic cooling and are typically expensive, which motivates the development of simple alternatives. Here, we demonstrate broadband (0.43–10 μm) room-temperature photodetection based on copper tetracyanoquinodimethane (CuTCNQ), a metal–organic semiconductor, synthesized via a facile wet-chemical reaction. The CuTCNQ crystals are simply drop-cast onto interdigitated electrode chips to realize photoconductors. The photoresponse is governed by a combination of interband (0.43–3.35 μm) and midgap (3.35–10 μm) transitions. The devices show response times (∼365 μs) that would be sufficient for many infrared applications (e.g., video rate imaging), with a frequency cutoff point of 1 kHz.

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