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Performance of the structure depends on design, construction, environment, utilization and reliability aspects. Other factors can be controlled by adopting proper design and construction techniques, but the environmental factors are difficult to control. Hence, mostly in practice, the environmental factors are not considered in the analysis and design appropriately; however, their impact on the performance of the structures is significant along with the design life. It is in this light that this paper aims to perform the time-dependent performance analysis of reinforced concrete structures majorly considering environmental factors.

To achieve the intended objective, a simply supported reinforced concrete beam was designed and detailed as per the Euro Code (EC2). The time-dependent design parameters, corrosion parameters, creep and shrinkage were identified through thorough literature review. The common empirical equations were modified to consider the identified parameters, and finally, the time-dependent performance of reinforced concrete beam was performed.

Findings indicate that attention has to be paid to appropriate consideration of the environmental effect on reinforced concrete structures. In that, the time-dependent performance of reinforced concrete beam significantly decreases with time due to corrosion of reinforcement steel, creep and shrinkage.

However, the Euro code, Ethiopian code and Indian code threat the exposure condition of reinforced concrete by providing corresponding concrete cover that retards the corrosion initiation time but does not eliminate environmental effects. The results of this study clearly indicate that the capacity of reinforced concrete structure degrades with time due to corrosion and creep, whereas the action on the structure due to shrinkage increases. Therefore, appropriate remedial measures have to be taken to control the defects of structures due to the environmental factors to overcome the early failure of the structure.

The aim of this paper is mainly to handle the fuzzy uncertainties present in structures appropriately. In general, uncertainties of variables are classified as aleatory and epistemic. The different sources of uncertainties in reinforced concrete structures include the randomness, mathematical models, physical models, environmental factors and gross errors. The effects of imprecise data in reinforced concrete structures are studied here by using fuzzy concepts. The aim of this paper is mainly to handle the uncertainties of variables with unclear boundaries.

To achieve the intended objective, the reinforced concrete beam subjected to flexure and shear was designed as per Euro Code (EC2). Then, different design parameters such as corrosion parameters, material properties and empirical expressions of time-dependent material properties were identified through a thorough literature review.

The fuzziness of variables was identified, and their membership functions were generated by using the heuristic method and drawn by MATLAB R2018a software. In addition to the identification of fuzziness of variables, the study further extended to design optimization of reinforced concrete structure by using fuzzy relation and fuzzy composition.

In the design codes of the concrete structure, the concrete grades such as C16/20, C20/25, C25/30, C30/37 and so on are provided and being adopted for design in which the intermediate grades are not considered, but using fuzzy concepts the intermediate grades of concrete can be recognized by their respective degree of membership. In the design of reinforced concrete structure using fuzzy relation and composition methods, the optimum design is considered when the degree of membership tends to unity. In addition to design optimization, the level of structural performance evaluation can also be carried out by using fuzzy concepts.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a unified optimization design method and apply it to handle the brake squeal instability involving various uncertainties in a unified framework.

Fuzzy random variables are taken as equivalent variables of conventional uncertain variables, and a unified response analysis method is first derived based on level-cut technique, Taylor expansion and central difference scheme. Next, a unified reliability analysis method is developed by integrating the unified response analysis and fuzzy possibility theory. Finally, based on the unified reliability analysis method, a unified reliability-based optimization model is established, which is capable of optimizing uncertain responses in a unified way for different uncertainty cases.

The proposed method is extended to perform squeal instability analysis and optimization involving various uncertainties. Numerical examples under eight uncertainty cases are provided and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Most of the existing methods of uncertainty analysis and optimization are merely effective in tackling one uncertainty case. The proposed method is able to handle the uncertain problems involving various types of uncertainties in a unified way.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of reinforcement, inhomogeneity and initial stress on the propagation of shear waves. The problem consists of magneto poroelastic medium sandwiched between self-reinforced medium and poroelastic half space. Using Biot’s theory of wave propagation, the frequency equation is obtained.

Shear wave propagation in magneto poroelastic medium embedded between a self-reinforced medium and poroelastic half space is investigated. This particular setup is quite possible in the Earth crust. All the three media are assumed to be inhomogeneous under initial stress. The significant effects of initial stress and inhomogeneity parameters of individual media have been studied.

Phase velocity is computed against wavenumber for various values of self-reinforcement, heterogeneity parameter and initial stress. Classical elasticity results are deduced as a particular case of the present study. Also in the absence of inhomogeneity and initial stress, frequency equation is discussed. Graphical representation is made to exhibit the results.

Shear wave propagation in magneto poroelastic medium embedded between a self-reinforced medium, and poroelastic half space are investigated in presence of initial stress, and inhomogeneity parameter. For heterogeneous poroelastic half space, the Whittaker’s solution is obtained. From the numerical results, it is observed that heterogeneity parameter, inhomogeneity parameter and reinforcement parameter have significant influences on the wave characteristics. In addition, frequency equation is discussed in absence of inhomogeneity and initial stress. For the validation purpose, numerical results are also computed for a particular case.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the structure of employment in the most urbanized state in India during the period 1983-2010. The paper also analyses the determinants of growth of farm employment in urban areas in the state of Tamil Nadu.

The paper compares trends in employment in Tamil Nadu with that of the country as a whole. In order to see whether there is evidence of Lewisian labor transfer, the study examines labor transfer between sectors and percentage distribution of workers in the rural and urban areas.

The paper finds that employment in the entire non-agricultural sector slowed down in 2009-2010 compared to 2004-05 in Tamil Nadu. The share of employment in primary sector in urban areas increased more sharply, experiencing slow economic transformation in the post-reform years. The analysis reveals that rapid rural-urban transformation could be one reason for more people in the primary sector in urban areas.

Studying the employment structure at the district level, for which analyzing the district-level data collected and published by state’s Bureau of Economics and Statistics is required, would be helpful to discern a deeper influence of urbanization on structure of employment.

The results suggest that the issue needs further examination with analysis of the district-level data. Policy reforms should, therefore, be suitably oriented toward tapping the employment potential of both unorganized and organized segments in manufacturing, trade and services sectors. It is also necessary to ensure robust economic growth that creates decent jobs for all young educated people in the state.

The study explains the domination of farm employment in urban Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu is considered to be the most urbanized state in India. The reason for an increase in the share of primary sector employment in urban areas of Tamil Nadu is due to high urbanization in the post-reform periods.

Dhaka is one of the most populated megacities in the world with a total population of over 12 million and an area of 276sqkm (DCC, 2004). The city is situated at the center of the country and is surrounded by a river system comprising Buriganga, Balu, Turag, and Shitalakhya. The city has a long history dating from the Pre-Mughal, to the Mughal, and, finally, to the Bangladesh period. The growth of Dhaka basically started from the current extreme south and along Buriganga River and then it expanded earlier to the West (Hazaribagh) and the East (Gandaria) and later to the North (Mirpur). However, in the last few decades, the city experienced huge population growth and rapid industrial, commercial, business, residential, and infrastructure development, which have significantly expanded the physical feature of Dhaka. Still many of the development activities are taking place in an informal way within the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) area, the main part of the megacity.

The overarching aim of this chapter is to explore the existing status of mentoring in accounting firms in India and Malaysia, to understand whether or not mentoring is gendered in these country contexts, and to investigate the impact of the size of the firm and country context on mentoring. The mentoring framework is used as a theoretical lens to understand the orientation of principals and partners towards the existing and future mentoring support and activities of micro-sized, small-sized, medium-sized, and family-owned accounting firms operating in both India and Malaysia. Data obtained from 40 in-depth interviews (n = 20 in India and n = 20 in Malaysia) are analyzed using qualitative data analysis software NVivo12. The findings obtained from the study indicate that mentoring support exists informally in accounting firms, mentoring support offered and mentoring activities undertaken are gendered, and the nature, extent and type of mentoring offered in accounting firms varies according to the size of the firm in both countries. The chapter presents important practical, theoretical and methodological implications of the study for avoiding gendered mentoring practices in accounting firms.

This paper aims to propose an optimized overview of firefly algorithm (FA) over physical-natural impression of fireflies and its application in mobile robot navigation under the natural intelligence mechanism.

The brightness and luminosity are the decision variables in proposed study. The paper achieves the two major goals of robot navigation; first, the optimum path generation and, second, as an obstacle avoidance by co-in-centric sphere-based geometrical technique. This technique comprises the optimum path decision to objective function and constraints to paths and obstacles as the function of algebraic-geometry co-relation. Co-in-centric sphere is the proposed technique to correlate the constraints.

It is found that the present FA based on concentric sphere is suitable for efficient navigation of mobile robots at the level of optimum significance when compared with other approaches.

The paper introduces a novel approach to implement the FA for unknown and uncertain environment.

Venture capital and private equity.

This case is suitable for II MBA/Executive MBA (venture capital and private equity/entrepreneurship/business models/managing family business) courses.

Soliton is a technology and software services company with operations in India and the USA providing machine vision products and virtual instrumentation services. Soliton was started by Ganesh Devaraj in 1998 after his return from the United States after higher studies. Ganesh hails from a business family in Coimbatore that had interests in the textile spinning sector. The family had been in the textile business since the early 1940s and had revenues of Rs 400 million and employed about 700 people. Ganesh, not wanting to continue in the traditional family business, ventured into the technology sector using his academic and professional experience. His family was supportive of his venture and funded his company for the first two years of operation and for scaling up operations. Ganesh is now evaluating various sources of raising additional capital at a time when there was general slowdown in the automobile sector as a result of the global financial crisis.

The goal of this case study is to illustrate the complexities that exist in financing growth of companies in uncertain times. This following are the expected learning outcomes: discuss and understand the nuances between different sources of early stage funding: personal wealth, family, and angels; compare and contrast the differences between family funding and venture funding; and highlight the benefits and limitations of family funding.

Teaching notes are available.

A systems perspective of waste management allows an integrated approach not only to the five basic functional elements of waste management itself (generation, reduction, collection, recycling, disposal), but to the problems arising at the interfaces with the management of energy, nature conservation, environmental protection, economic factors like unemployment and productivity, etc. This monograph separately describes present practices and the problems to be solved in each of the functional areas of waste management and at the important interfaces. Strategies for more efficient control are then proposed from a systems perspective. Systematic and objective means of solving problems become possible leading to optimal management and a positive contribution to economic development, not least through resource conservation. India is the particular context within which waste generation and management are discussed. In considering waste disposal techniques, special attention is given to sewage and radioactive wastes.