Search results

A new way for business leaders to access targeted professional help is via fractional service providers. Fractional service providers can provide tremendous advantages, as they are much more closely associated with the company than outsourcing or consulting service providers, while being more cost effective than full-time employees. A fractional service provider that can be of particular benefit to startups and small businesses is a fractional CFO or Controller – who can provide an organization with the skills to perform all of the activities that a finance and accounting department should perform and provide a consistent leadership voice on all finance-related matters.

This paper first introduces fractional services and discusses how fractional service providers differ from outsourcing, consulting engagements and full-time employment. Then, it presents an explanation of why fractional service providers may be best suited to manage the finance and accounting functions in a small or medium-sized business. Finally, it discusses factors that business leaders should consider and best practices they should use when using fractional services.

Using a fractional CFO or Controller will provide an increased focus on the company’s financial health and allow the organization to perform (or oversee) all of the activities that a finance and accounting department should be performing. The scope of work a fractional CFO or Controller performs can be easily modified to meet the needs of the firm, Moreover, they require little direct management. As a result, a fractional CFO or Controller can often be a more cost-effective option than hiring for the finance and accounting function on a full-time basis.

In today’s world, organizations are increasingly seeking ways to maintain effectiveness while also being flexible in how human capital is used. This paper discusses one such flexibility: incorporating fractional service providers. The key premise of this paper is that fractional service providers, specifically fractional CFOs or Controllers, can be an extremely effective way for many organizations, especially small businesses and startups, to get more sophisticated help and guidance in finance and accounting-related matters – thereby acting as an excellent bridge between an ineffective finance and accounting function and creating such a function staffed by full-time employees.

The purpose of the present work is to introduce a wavelet method for the solution of linear and nonlinear psi-Caputo fractional initial and boundary value problem.

The authors have introduced the new generalized operational matrices for the psi-CAS (Cosine and Sine) wavelets, and these matrices are successfully utilized for the solution of linear and nonlinear psi-Caputo fractional initial and boundary value problem. For the nonlinear problems, the authors merge the present method with the quasilinearization technique.

The authors have drived the orthogonality condition for the psi-CAS wavelets. The authors have derived and constructed the psi-CAS wavelets matrix, psi-CAS wavelets operational matrix of psi-fractional order integral and psi-CAS wavelets operational matrix of psi-fractional order integration for psi-fractional boundary value problem. These matrices are successfully utilized for the solutions of psi-Caputo fractional differential equations. The purpose of these operational matrices is to make the calculations faster. Furthermore, the authors have derived the convergence analysis of the method. The procedure of implementation for the proposed method is also given. For the accuracy and applicability of the method, the authors implemented the method on some linear and nonlinear psi-Caputo fractional initial and boundary value problems and compare the obtained results with exact solutions.

Since psi-Caputo fractional differential equation is a new and emerging field, many engineers can utilize the present technique for the numerical simulations of their linear/non-linear psi-Caputo fractional differential models. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the present work has never been introduced and implemented for psi-Caputo fractional differential equations.

Investigation of the smoking model is important as it has a direct effect on human health. This paper focuses on the numerical analysis of the fractional order giving up smoking model. Nonetheless, due to observational or experimental errors, or any other circumstance, it may contain some incomplete information. Fuzzy sets can be used to deal with uncertainty. Yet, there may be some inconsistency in the membership as well. As a result, the primary goal of this proposed work is to numerically solve the model in a type-2 fuzzy environment.

Triangular perfect quasi type-2 fuzzy numbers (TPQT2FNs) are used to deal with the uncertainty in the model. In this work, concepts of r2-cut at r1-plane are used to model the problem's uncertain parameter. The Legendre wavelet method (LWM) is then utilised to solve the giving up smoking model in a type-2 fuzzy environment.

LWM has been effectively employed in conjunction with the r2-cut at r1-plane notion of type-2 fuzzy sets to solve the model. The LWM has the advantage of converting the non-linear fractional order model into a set of non-linear algebraic equations. LWM scheme solutions are found to be well agreed with RK4 scheme solutions. The existence and uniqueness of the model's solution have also been demonstrated.

To deal with the uncertainty, type-2 fuzzy numbers are used. The use of LWM in a type-2 fuzzy uncertain environment to achieve the model's required solutions is quite fascinating, and this is the key focus of this work.

This study aims to investigate the two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic flow and heat transfer of a fractional Maxwell nanofluid between inclined cylinders with variable thickness. Considering the cylindrical coordinate system, the constitutive relation of the fractional viscoelastic fluid and the fractional dual-phase-lag (DPL) heat conduction model, the boundary layer governing equations are first formulated and derived.

The newly developed finite difference scheme combined with the L1 algorithm is used to numerically solve nonlinear fractional differential equations. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the algorithm is verified by a numerical example.

Based on numerical analysis, the effects of parameters on velocity and temperature are revealed. Specifically, the velocity decreases with the increase of the fractional derivative parameter α owing to memory characteristics. The temperature increase with the increase of fractional derivative parameter ß due to a decrease in thermal resistance. From a physical perspective, the phase lag of the heat flux vector and temperature gradients τ_q and τ_T exhibit opposite trends to the temperature. The ratio τ_T/τ_q plays an important role in controlling different heat conduction behaviors. Increasing the inclination angle θ, the types and volume fractions of nanoparticles Φ can increase velocity and temperature, respectively.

Fractional Maxwell nanofluid flows from a fixed-thickness pipe to an inclined variable-thickness pipe, and the fractional DPL heat conduction model based on materials is considered, which provides a basis for the safe and efficient transportation of high-viscosity and condensable fluids in industrial production.

This study aims to investigate the approximate solution of the time fractional time-fractional Newell–Whitehead–Segel (TFNWS) model that reflects the appearance of the stripe patterns in two-dimensional systems. The significant results of plot distribution show that the proposed approach is highly authentic and reliable for the fractional-order models.

The Laplace transform residual power series method (ℒT-RPSM) is the combination of Laplace transform (ℒT) and residual power series method (RPSM). The ℒT is examined to minimize the order of fractional order, whereas the RPSM handles the series solution in the form of convergence. The graphical results of the fractional models are represented through the fractional order α.

The derived results are obtained in a successive series and yield the results toward the exact solution. These successive series confirm the consistency and accuracy of ℒT-RPSM. This study also compares the exact solutions with the graphical solutions to show the performance and authenticity of the visual solutions. The proposed scheme does not require the restriction of variables and produces the numerical results in terms of a series. This strategy is capable to handle the nonlinear terms very easily for the TFNWS model.

This paper presents the original work. This study reveals that ℒT can perform the solution of fractional-order models without any restriction of variables.

This study aims to analyze the impact of fractional derivatives on heat transfer and entropy generation during transient free convection inside various complex porous enclosures, such as triangle, L-shape and square-containing wavy surfaces. These porous enclosures are saturated with Cu-water nanofluid and subjected to the influence of a uniform magnetic field.

In the present study, Darcy’s model is used for the momentum transport equation in the porous matrix. Additionally, the Caputo time fractional derivative is introduced in the energy equation to assess the heat transfer phenomenon. Furthermore, the total entropy generation has been computed by combining the entropy generation due to fluid friction (S_ff), heat transfer (S_ht) and magnetic field (S_mf). The complete mathematical model is further simulated using the penalty finite element method, and the Caputo time derivative term is approximated using the L1 scheme. The study is conducted for various ranges of the Rayleigh number (102≤Ra≤104), Hartmann number (0≤Ha≤20) and fractional order parameter (0<α<1) with respect to time.

It has been observed that the fractional order parameter α governs the characteristics of entropy generation and heat transfer within the selected range of parameters. The Bejan number associated with heat transfer (Be_ht), fluid friction (Be_ff) and magnetic field (Be_mf) further demonstrate the dominance of flow irreversibilities. It becomes evident that the initial evolution state of streamlines, isotherms and local entropy varies according to the choice of α. Additionally, increasing Ra values from 10² to 10⁴ shows that the heat transfer rate increases by 123.8% for a square wavy enclosure, 7.4% for a triangle enclosure and 69.6% for an L-shape enclosure. Moreover, an increase in the value of Ha leads to a reduction in heat transfer rates and entropy generation. In this case, Bemf→1 shows the dominance of the magnetic field irreversibility in the total entropy generation.

Recently, fractional-order models have been widely used to express numerous physical phenomena, such as anomalous diffusion and dispersion in complex viscoelastic porous media. These models offer a more accurate representation of physical reality that classical models fail to capture; this is why they find a broad range of applications in science and engineering.

The fractional derivative model is used to illustrate the flow pattern, heat transfer and entropy-generating characteristics under the influence of a magnetic field. Furthermore, to the best of the author’s knowledge, a fractional-derivative-based mathematical model for the entropy generation phenomenon in complex porous enclosures has not been previously developed or studied.

The space fractional PDEs (SFPDEs) play an important role in the fractional calculus field. Proposing a high-order, stable and flexible numerical procedure for solving SFPDEs is the main aim of most researchers. This paper devotes to developing a novel spectral algorithm to solve the FitzHugh–Nagumo models with space fractional derivatives.

The fractional derivative is defined based upon the Riesz derivative. First, a second-order finite difference formulation is used to approximate the time derivative. Then, the Jacobi spectral collocation method is employed to discrete the spatial variables. On the other hand, authors assume that the approximate solution is a linear combination of special polynomials which are obtained from the Jacobi polynomials, and also there exists Riesz fractional derivative based on the Jacobi polynomials. Also, a reduced order plan, such as proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method, has been utilized.

A fast high-order numerical method to decrease the elapsed CPU time has been constructed for solving systems of space fractional PDEs.

The spectral collocation method is combined with the POD idea to solve the system of space-fractional PDEs. The numerical results are acceptable and efficient for the main mathematical model.

As a powerful mathematical analysis tool, the local fractional calculus has attracted wide attention in the field of fractal circuits. The purpose of this paper is to derive a new ℑ-order non-differentiable (ND) R-C zero state-response circuit (ZSRC) by using the local fractional derivative on the Cantor set for the first time.

A new ℑ-order ND R-C ZSRC within the local fractional derivative on the Cantor set is derived for the first time in this work. By defining the ND lumped elements via the local fractional derivative, the ℑ-order Kirchhoff voltage laws equation is established, and the corresponding solutions in the form of the Mittag-Leffler decay defined on the Cantor sets are derived by applying the local fractional Laplace transform and inverse local fractional Laplace transform.

The characteristics of the ℑ-order R-C ZSRC on the Cantor sets are analyzed and presented through the 2-D curves. It is found that the ℑ-order R-C ZSRC becomes the classic one when ℑ = 1. The comparative results between the ℑ-order R-C ZSRC and the classic one show that the proposed method is correct and effective and is expected to shed light on the theory study of the fractal electrical systems.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper, for the first time ever, proposes the ℑ-order ND R-C ZSRC within the local fractional derivative on the Cantor sets. The results of this paper are expected to give some new enlightenment to the development of the fractal circuits.

This paper aims to focus on the accurate analysis of the fractional heat transfer in a two-dimensional (2D) rectangular monolayer tissue with three different kinds of lateral boundary conditions and the quantitative evaluation of the degree of thermal damage and burn depth.

A symplectic method is used to analytically solve the fractional heat transfer dual equation in the frequency domain (s-domain). Explicit expressions of the dual vector can be constructed by superposing the symplectic eigensolutions. The solution procedure is rigorously rational without any trial functions. And the accurate predictions of temperature and heat flux in the time domain (t-domain) are derived through numerical inverse Laplace transform.

Comparison study shows that the maximum relative error is less than 0.16%, which verifies the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed method. The results indicate that the model and heat source parameters have a significant effect on temperature and thermal damage. The pulse duration (Δt) of the laser heat source can effectively control the time to reach the peak temperature and the peak slope of the thermal damage curve. The burn depth is closely correlated with exposure temperature and duration. And there exists the delayed effect of fractional order on burn depth.

A symplectic approach is presented for the thermal analysis of 2D fractional heat transfer. A unified time-fractional heat transfer model is proposed to describe the anomalous thermal behavior of biological tissue. New findings might provide guidance for temperature prediction and thermal damage assessment of biological tissues during hyperthermia.

The purpose of this paper is to find a simpler model for the reactance components in the high-frequency range on the premise of ensuring the accuracy.

In this paper, based on the fractional calculus theory and the traditional integer-order model, a reactance model suitable for high frequency is constructed, and the mutation cross differential evolution algorithm is used to identify the parameters in the model.

By comparing the integer-order model, high-frequency fractional-order model and the actual impedance characteristic curve of inductance and capacitance, it is verified that the proposed model can more accurately reflect the high-frequency characteristics of inductance and capacitance. The simulation and experimental results show that the oscillator constructed based on the proposed model can analyze the frequency and output waveform of the oscillator more accurately.

The model proposed in this paper has a simple structure and contains only two parameters to be identified. At the same time, the model has high precision. The fitting errors of impedance curve and phase-frequency characteristic curve are less than 5%. Therefore, the proposed model is helpful to improve the simplicity and accuracy of circuit system analysis and design.