Search results

The Government of India is proposing the setting up of several new smart cities in the sub-continent. Being an over-populated country, space is at a premium. In congested areas high-rise buildings afford a solution. The purpose of this paper is to present new research involving architecture and computational fluid dynamics (CFDs) must be done at the screening stage of design plans before new cities are laid out. This is achieved in the present study involving a university residential campus with a population of 29,000 comprising of an assortment of high-rise buildings in complex terrain.

This paper uses a combination of instrument-fitted drone measurements – (equipped with a barometer, and sensors for obtaining temperature, relative humidity and altitude) along with a computational fluid dynamical analysis to yield deep insights into the ventilation patterns around an assortment of building forms.

This study was conducted in a residential complex in the campus of the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) India. Based on the deciphered wind velocity pattern, a human thermal comfort study was also conducted. It was concluded that the orientation of the buildings play a pivotal role in enhancing the ventilation rates inside a building. It was observed that a dominant eddy spanning a radius of approximate 34 meters was responsible for much of the air changes within the rooms – the smaller eddies had an insignificant role. This method of ascertaining eddy structures within a study area comprising of an assortment of buildings is essential for accurate prescriptions of glazing ratios on building facades.

The main research implications pertain to the use of smart ventilation methods in built up environments. The study shows how large eddies drive the momentum transfer and the air changes per hour with rooms in high-rise buildings in complex terrain. In monsoon-driven flows, there are well set preferred directions of wind flow and this enables the characterization of the fully eddy structure in the vicinity of tall buildings. Another research implication would be the development of new turbulence closure models for eddy structure resolution for flow around complex building forms.

This study introduces a novel protocol at the planning stage of the upcoming residential complexes in proposed smart cities in the sub-continent. The results may well inform architects and structural engineers and help position and orient buildings in confined spaces and also ascertain the optimal glazing ratio, which affects the ventilation pattern.

The results from this study can be used by town planners and architects in urban conurbations in the developing world. The results may well help lower heating ventilation and airconditioning loads. Energy-efficient buildings in developing countries are necessary because most of these have rapidly growing GDPs with a concomitant increase in energy consumption.

This novel study combining instrument mounted drone and CFDs shows for the first time how architects and town planners with a limited budget position and orient a group of buildings in a complex terrain.

While prior studies have highlighted the brighter side of technology adoption in improving human resource (HR) functions, the dark side pertaining to the adoption of technology in people management within organizations has gone relatively unnoticed. The current study tries to demystify the dark side of electronic human resource management (e-HRM) by examining banking institutions in India which are believed to have undergone several transformations in recent years.

This study adopts an inductive qualitative approach to examine the research problem. In total, 53 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the employees of eight public sector banks in India. The interviews were transcribed. The analysis of the data was done using the thematic analysis technique.

The findings of the study suggest that there is a stratification of the workplace in banking institutions into digital natives and digital migrants. This social stratification is based on technology adoption and usage which has further created problems in the form of knowledge hiding and perceived workplace conflicts.

The findings of the current study have important theoretical and managerial implications. It not only extends the current scholarship on the transtheoretical model of change but it also has strong managerial implications as it highlights the need for the adoption of customized e-HRM training curriculums for the workforce based on their age, education, work experience and expertise.

Current research on the dark side of e-HRM is inadequate. Furthermore, the evolution of banking institutions from being a typical bureaucratic organization into a hybrid one has not been examined in the context of e-HRM.

This paper aims to present an improvement to the power quality of the grid by using a colliding body optimization (CBO) based proportional-integral (PI) compensated design for a grid-connected solar photovoltaic-fed brushless DC motor (BLDC)-driven water pumping system with a bidirectional power flow control. The system with bidirectional power flow allows driving the pump at full proportions uninterruptedly irrespective of the weather conditions and feeding a grid when water pumping is not required.

Here, power quality issue is taken care of by the optimal generation of the duty cycle of the voltage source converter. The duty cycle is optimally generated by optimal selection of the gains of the current controller (i.e. PI), with the CBO technique resulting in a nearly unity power factor as well as lower total harmonic distortion (THD) of input current. In the CBO technique, the gains of the PI controller are considered as agents and collide with each other to obtain the best value. The system is simulated using MATLAB/Simulink and validated in real time with OPAL RT simulator, OP5700.

It was found that the power quality of grid using the CBO technique has improved much better than the particle swarm optimization and Zeigler–Nichols approach. The bidirectional flow of control of VSC allowed for optimum resource utilization and full capacity of water pumping whatever may be weather conditions.

Improved power quality of grid by optimally generation of the duty cycle for the proposed system. A unit vector tamplate generation technique is used for bidirectional power transfer.

The purpose of this paper is to compare some major National Quality Award/Business Excellence Models (NQA/BEM) in terms of the criteria employed and their relative weights. It shows that these models vary both in terms of criteria and their weights. Whereas some of them are changing weights frequently, others are almost static. It employs the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to allocate scores to 12 criteria identified in the model by Agrawal et al. (1998) to propose a modified quality award model similar to that. The six quality award models used in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, Japan and India are compared with the proposed model using AHP and their relative rankings are obtained.

First, a literature review is done to identify various quality award models globally, with their features being compared. Furthermore, paired comparison technique is used to rationalize the relative weights of proposed 12 criteria, and then AHP is again used to rank this proposed model with six major award models.

This paper shows that the six NQA models vary substantially on parameter weights. They do not include some relevant criteria to evaluate the organizational performance holistically. It also reveals how some models have been revising criteria weights very frequently, whereas others are static. In some models, the results get much higher weightage than enablers, and hence the performance may not be sustainable. The modified Agrawal et al. (1998) model is taken as a base model, with weights rationalized in it using the AHP. The rankings obtained using AHP reveal that proposed model scores over the other six prominent quality award models. The result also reveals that for organizational excellence, the quality of people plays a major role in the successful implementation of quality processes. Hence, it is very important to focus on improving the quality of people before expecting improvement in the quality of products and services.

The paired comparison results are based on the researchers’ own perception and do not consider interdependence among the criteria, which is a limitation of AHP. Analytic network process can be further explored to overcome the limitation. The proposed model has not been tested in a variety of real-world situations, which can constitute a scope for further work in the direction.

The proposed model framework and weightages evolved using AHP can provide a universally acceptable quality award model framework. The companies can adopt it with or without modifications to address their contextual adaptation. It can possibly become a standard model framework globally. This model does not capture the measurement of the softer aspects that impact the people quality. As people play an important role in the success of the implementation of any practice, hence measurement of people quality is another important aspect that can be further studied and researched.

This comparative study & analysis of National Quality Award/Business Excellence Models using AHP is presented for the first time. The authors have not come across any such studies in their literature review. This paper is an original conceptualization of the application of the AHP on the various Quality Award model parameters, and it has been submitted exclusively to JAMR for publishing.

In modern urban governance, rescue materials storage points (RMSP) are a vital role to be considered in responding to public emergencies and improving a city's emergency management. This study analyzes the siting of community-centered relief supply facilities.

Combining grey relational analysis, complex network and relative entropy, a new multi criteria method is proposed. It pays more attention to the needs of the community, taking into account the use of community hospitals, fire centers and neighborhood offices to establish small RMSP.

The research results firstly found suitable areas for RMSP site selection, including Hanyang, Qiaokou, Jiangan and Wuchang. The top 10 nodes in each region are found as the location of emergency facilities, and the network parameters are higher than ordinary nodes in traffic networks. The proposed method was applied in Wuhan, China and the method was verified by us-ing a complex network model combined with multi-criteria decision-making for emergency facility location.

This method solves the problem of how to choose the optimal solution and reduces the difficulty for decision makers. This method will help emergency managers to locate and plan RMSP more simply, especially in improving emergency siting modeling techniques and additionally in providing a reference for future research.

The method proposed in this study is beneficial to improve the decision-making ability of urban emergency departments. Using complex networks and comprehensive evaluation techniques, RMSP is incorporated into the urban community emergency network as a critical rescue force. More importantly, the findings highlight a new direction for further research on urban emergency facilities site selection based on a combination of sound theoretical basis as well as empirical evidence gained from real life case-based analysis.

1. Material reserve points are incorporated into the emergency supply network to maintain the advantage of quantity.

2. Build emergency site selection facilities centered on urban communities.

3. Use a complex network model to select the location of emergency supplies storage sites.

Material reserve points are incorporated into the emergency supply network to maintain the advantage of quantity.

Build emergency site selection facilities centered on urban communities.

Use a complex network model to select the location of emergency supplies storage sites.

The purpose of the study was to assess the nutritional and health status of Saharia and non-Saharia women.

The present study was undertaken to compare the nutritional status of Saharia versus non-Saharia women in Baran district, Rajasthan. The sample comprised married non-pregnant and non-lactating (NPNL) women (aged 18-35 years) from three groups, that is, Saharia (n = 100), non-Saharia (Meena tribe, n = 100) and general category (n = 30). The general category women, or reference group, were selected as the control group belonging to the same region. The data included general profile, physical measurement, biochemical hemoglobin estimation, dietary and nutrient intake assessment.

The mean hemoglobin value in Saharia (8.3 ± 1.4 g/dl) and Meena (8.1 ± 1.4 g/dl) women was found to be significantly lower (p < 0.01 at 99 per cent confidence level) than that of the reference group (9.5 ± 1.4 g/dl) and much below the standard value of 12 g/dl. Chronic energy deficiency (BMI < 18.5) was more prevalent in Saharia women (68 per cent) followed by Meena (∼24 per cent) than reference women (7 per cent). Only 29 per cent Saharia women were under normal BMI and majority of the reference group women (77 per cent) and Meena women (72 per cent) had normal BMI (18.5-24). Nutrient and dietary intake of both the tribal women groups were low when compared with suggested levels. In Saharia and Meena women, magnesium and thiamine were significantly higher (p < 0.01) and other nutrients were significantly lower (p < 0.01) than recommended dietary allowances.

Anemia is prevalent in all categories of women. Women’s health is poor especially among Saharia women who are still striving hard to meet the national health standards. A multidimensional approach is required to uplift the health status. Hemoglobin levels of all the women were found to be very low.