The second paper, "Soil Stabilization Using Geopolymer Mortar" by S Kumaravel, S Selvamuthukumar and Ilango Sivakumar, studies soil stabilzation using geopolymer mortar. The study aims at achieving improved bearing capacity for shallow foundations on clays considering actual soil constitutive behavior. For the test, soil samples were collected from two different sites and their properties along with load bearing capacity were determined. Fly ash class F and GGBS 10% replacement for fly ash were used in the experiment. Sand used was in surface dry condition. Mixture of sodium hydroxide solution and sodium silicate solution was chosen as alkaline activator. Geopolymer mortar cubes were prepared using 1:3 proportions of fly ash and locally available graded sand similar to standard sand. To the dry mix of fly ash and sand, alkaline solution was added and mixed well. After mixing different materials, it was observed that fresh fly ash-based geoploymer mortar was viscous and cohesive. Cube tests were performed on geopolymer mortar to know its compressive strength. Mortar was added to the soil sample to stabilize the soil and tested further. The stabilized soil using geopolymer mortar improved the bearing capacity of both soils, indicating it as an effective soil stabilizer.

The third paper, "Behavior of Steel Beam-Column Connection Subjected to Cyclic Loading: An Analytical Study" by Suraj Koneri and Sachin R Kulkarni, understands the hysteretic behavior of semirigid steel beam-column joint under repeated loading. Under wind or seismic excitation, a structure sways to and fro, thus applying cyclic loading on its various components. A steel structure with beam and columns would also undergo cyclic loading under such excitations. The authors have chosen three different steel joint connections: the first model extended end plate connection without stiffeners; the second model extended end plate connections with stiffeners; and the third model with seat and cleat angle connection. The analysis was carried out by applying cyclic loads to study hysteretic behavior, energy dissipation characteristics and stiffness degradation of the connections. The modeling was done using ABAQUS software. For validation, one numerical example was considered from literature. The experimental results obtained through tests indicate that addition of stiffeners against cyclic loading changes the behavior of hysteretic curves. The behavior of hysteretic curves of model 2 and model 3 are stable as compared to model 1. The energy dissipation of model 1 is less as compared to model 2 and model 3. The stiffness of the connection starts degrading after each cycle of load.

The last paper, "Piled Raft Foundation of Tall Buildings: A Parametric Study" by Ritesh Kumar and Rajendra J Thakai, studies the effect of variation of different parameters in pile raft foundation and analyzes the behavior of pile raft foundation for pressure load on raft. Further, the effects of coefficient of subgrade reaction of soil and pile stiffness on settlement are also determined. For the case study, one G+22 storey RCC building located in seismic zone V is selected and modeled using ETABS software. The analysis is carried out using IS code 875 for wind conditions and seismic load as per IS code 1893 conditions. The building selected is a regular one. The pile raft foundation is analyzed using STAAD foundation software. Parametric analysis is carried out by varying thickness of raft, spacing of piles, modulus of subgrade reaction, diameter of piles and length of piles. The results indicate that for high-rise buildings on soft clay, pile raft foundation behaves better than conventional foundations in reducing settlement. Differential settlement reduces with increase in stiffness of piles for raft foundation. Total differential settlements of pile raft foundation also decrease with increase in pile length and pile diameter. When the subgrade modulus of soil increases, the pile diameter and length also increase, then there is a reduction in settlement of foundation.