Search results

AA2014 is a copper-based alloy and is typically used for production of complex machined components, given its better machinability. The purpose of this paper was to study the effects of variation in weight percentage of ceramic Al₂O₃ particulates during electrical discharge machining (EDM) of stir cast AA2014 composites. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examination was carried out to study characteristics of EDMed surface of Al₂O₃/AA2014 composites.

The effect of machining parameters on performance measures during sinker EDM of stir cast Al₂O₃/AA2014 composites was examined by “one factor at a time” (OFAT) method. The stir cast samples were obtained by using three levels of weight percentage of Al₂O₃ particulates, i.e. 0 Wt.%, 10 Wt.% and 20 Wt.% with density 1.87 g/cc, 2.35 g/cc and 2.98 g/cc respectively. Machining parameters varied were peak current (1-30 amp), discharge voltage (30-100 V), pulse on time (15-300 µs) and pulse off time (15-450 µs) to study their influence on material removal rate (MRR), tool wear rate (TWR) and surface roughness (SR).

MRR and SR decreased with an increase in weight percentage of ceramic Al₂O₃ particulates at the expense of TWR. This was attributed to increased microhardness for reinforced stir cast composites. However, microhardness of EDMed samples at fixed values of machining parameters, i.e. 9 amp current, 60 V voltage, 90 µs pulse off time and 90 µs pulse on time reduced by 58.34, 52.25 and 46.85 per cent for stir cast AA2014, 10 Wt.% Al₂O₃/AA2014 and 20 Wt.% Al₂O₃/AA2014, respectively. SEM and quantitative energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis revealed ceramic Al₂O₃ particulate thermal spalling in 20 Wt.% Al₂O₃/AA2014 composite. This was because of increased particulate weight percentage leading to steep temperature gradients in between layers of base material and heat affected zone.

This work was an essential step to assess the machinability for material design of Al₂O₃ reinforced aluminium metal matrix composites (AMMCs). Experimental investigation on sinker EDM of high weight fraction of particulates in AA2014, i.e. 10 Wt.% Al₂O₃ and 20 Wt.% Al₂O₃, has not been reported in archival literature. The AMMCs were EDMed at variable peak currents, voltages, pulse on and pulse off times. The effects of process parameters on MRR, TWR and SR were analysed with comparisons made to show the effect of Al₂O₃ particulate contents.

The organizational environment can influence how employees experience meaningfulness. This study examines the mediating role of meaningful work between organizational ethical climates and the affective well-being of employees. We also test for the moderating role of self-regulatory traits in this relationship.

Partial least squares – structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the hypothesized model using responses from 430 working professionals. Recommended robustness checks were conducted before model assessment and hypotheses testing.

The findings suggest that a caring ethical climate is positively related to affective well-being. Meaningful work dimensions, i.e. unity with others, inspiration and balancing tensions partially mediate the relationship between the caring climate and affective well-being. Integrity with self and balancing tensions fully mediate the negative effect of an instrumental climate on affective well-being. Positive mediation of unity with others and negative mediation of reality were observed between a law and code climate and affective well-being. Moderating effects of self- and other-orientation and self-monitoring were also observed.

The study presents significant insights, however, a few limitations must be discussed. The study has relied on cross-sectional data which may be addressed in future studies.

In times when organizations are spending in large amounts in ensuring meaningful work and employee well-being, this study suggests internal mechanisms that can bring positive impact in employees' work life. Leaders should assess how employees perceive the ethical climate of the organization in order to provide better meaningful work opportunities to the workforce.

Having meaningful work and experiencing affective well-being are significant for a collective betterment of society. Meaningful work encourages individuals in identifying how their work if affecting the society. A affectively happy workforce is essential in building a mentally healthy society.

This study contributes to the investigation of organizational factors that help employees find meaning in their work. Based on ethical climate theory, this study highlights how organizations can redesign and modify their ethical climates to provide opportunities for employees to experience meaningful work and improve their affective well-being.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of Yoga Nidra in mitigating stress. This study has also investigated the impact of demographic profiles such as age, marital status and gender on stress.

The sample selected for this study consists of 200 respondents. The two groups were divided into the study: control and experimental groups. The data has been collected from the respondents pre and post-test administration of Yoga Nidra intervention within an interval of one month. The subjects have been instructed to practice Yoga Nidra. There is one follow-up at an interval of one month to assess the level of stress.

It has been observed that the stress level of participants reduced after administrating the intervention of Yoga Nidra. The findings suggested that Yoga Nidra is an effective mechanism in mitigating stress.

The limitation of this study is that it might be possible that the respondents would have also practiced any other yogic techniques. Therefore, it is difficult to examine the impact of one yogic technique independently on stress.

The implication of this study exists in promoting the health of the people by improving the well-being at a minimal cost. It also results in saving the medical expenditure of the people.

The practice of Yoga Nidra helps to improve the well-being of people. Ultimately, it has an impact on boosting the economy of the nation as a whole by reducing the medical expenses incurred in treating people suffered from various diseases.

This study is novel, which helps to make the society free from distress. It provides an effective stress management mechanism that provides relaxation at physical, mental and emotional levels. It ultimately results in saving medical expenditure and cost incurred in the treatment of various kinds of diseases.

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.

There has been a substantial increase in the implementation of programmes that aim to enhance the livelihoods of rural people by organizing them into groups, emphasizing women towards achieving women empowerment, which is one of the key goals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study aims to assess the impact of participation in self-help groups (SHGs) under the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) on the political empowerment of rural tribal women in India.

This study is based on primary data collected using a multistage random sampling method. Field research is conducted in the state of Jharkhand, primarily focusing on women belonging to the scheduled tribe category. The propensity score matching technique derives the results using the psmatch2 command in STATA.

The results show a significant positive change in women's access to voting rights, awareness of various government schemes and entitlements, political awareness and participation, campaigning during elections and leadership positions after participation in SHGs under NRLM.

The existing literature indicates that research on the empowerment of tribal women through participation in SHGs is scant. This study makes a novel contribution by examining the effectiveness of participation in SHGs under NRLM on the political empowerment of tribal women in rural India. This study will provide significant insights to the government, policymakers, practitioners and researchers working on SHGs and tribal women’s empowerment.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-06-2023-0489

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of high-k material HfO₂ as a buffer layer for the fabrication of metal-ferroelectric-insulator-silicon (MFeIS) structures on Si (100) substrate.

RF-sputtered Pb[Zr0.35Ti0.65]O₃ or (PZT) and plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposited HfO₂ films were selected as the ferroelectric and high-k buffer layer, respectively, for the fabrication of metal-ferroelectric-insulator-silicon (MFeIS) structures on Si (100) substrate. Multiple angle ellipsometry and X-ray diffraction analysis was carried out to obtain the crystal orientation, refractive index and absorption coefficient parameters of the deposited/annealed films. In the different range of annealing temperature, the refractive index was observed in the range of 2.9 to 2 and 1.86 to 2.64 for the PZT and HfO₂ films, respectively

Electrical and ferroelectric properties of the dielectric and ferroelectric films and their stacks were obtained by fabricating the metal/ferroelectric/silicon (MFeS), metal/ferroelectric/metal, metal/insulator/silicon and MFeIS capacitor structures. A closed hysteresis loop with remnant polarization of 4.6 µC/cm² and coercive voltage of 2.1 V was observed in the PZT film annealed at 5000 C. Introduction of HfO₂ buffer layer (10 nm) improves the memory window from 5.12 V in MFeS to 6.4 V in MFeIS structure with one order reduction in the leakage current density. The same MFeS device was found having excellent fatigue resistance property for greater than 1010 read/write cycles and data retention time more than 3 h.

The MFeIS structure has been fabricated with constant PZT thickness and varied buffer layer (HfO₂) thickness. Electrical characteristics shows the improved leakage current and memory window in the MFeIS structures as compared to the MFeS structures. Optimized MFeIS structure with 10-nm buffer layer shows the excellent ferroelectric properties with endurance greater than E10 read/write cycles and data retention time higher than 3 h. The above properties indicate the MFe(100 nm)I(10 nm)S gate stack as a potential candidate for the FeFET-based nonvolatile memory applications.

This study aims to further the understanding of employees’ engagement by explaining their organizational commitment through their perception of the availability of work-life benefits in the organization. This study also investigates the mediating role of job satisfaction in this context.

The model was tested on the primary data collected in two phases from 270 teaching professionals in higher education institutes in Northern India. Barren and Kenny’s algorithm and hierarchical regression analysis were used to test the hypotheses.

The results reveal that employees’ perception of work-life benefits strongly influences their organizational commitment. Also, the results support that employees’ job satisfaction mediates the above-mentioned relationship.

Self-reported data could be considered as a key limitation of this study and for more accurate results supervisors’ (line managers) perspective could also be included in future studies. Also, in addition to perceived work-life benefits, supervisors’ support could also have an impact on employees’ commitment, thus its inclusion in the model could draw a clearer picture.

This research has two key contributions: first, it adds to the limited literature examining the employees’ engagement issues in the academic sector. Second, this research is one of, if not the first, to investigate perceived work-life benefits among third-level teaching staff in India to explain employees’ commitment to their organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of human resource development (HRD) practices on perceived operational and market performances in the software companies in India, and also the mediating effect of operational performance in the relationship between HRD practices and market performance.

Data were collected from 516 professionals working in 37 software companies in India. Partial least square (PLS) was used to test the proposed structural equation model.

The findings reveal that the HRD practices significantly affect market performance. However, operational performance, as a mediator, was found to have a crucial role in transferring the effects of HRD practices to market performance.

The findings of this study are in line with the theory of HRD which suggests a positive relationship between HRD and organizational performance.

The results suggest that to enhance the market performance, organizations need to enhance operational performance by meticulously designing and implementing the series of HRD practices.

This study is one of its kind to overcome the limitations of earlier studies to examine the effect of comprehensive dimensions of HRD on operational and market performance.

The purpose of the paper is to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric analysis and systematic review to examine the research landscape of women empowerment through participation in self-help groups (SHGs), identifying the eminent contributors, intellectual communities and future research agenda in the field of SHGs and women empowerment.

The global works of literature related to the theme of SHGs and women empowerment between 1998 and May 6, 2022 were scanned for bibliometric analysis and systematic review. A total of 176 English language documents from the Scopus database were extracted. Bibliometric analysis is conducted using Biblioshiny and VOSviewer software.

This study finds that SHGs are paramount in achieving rural women’s empowerment multidimensionally. Found that India is the most contributing country with 136 documents, and Ranjula Bali Swain and Fan Yang Wallentin are the most cited authors in the research field of SHGs and women empowerment. In addition, the paper proposes a comprehensive conceptual framework to portray rudimentary antecedents of women’s empowerment achieved through participation in SHGs.

This bibliometric analysis, along with a systematic review demonstrating a framework encapsulating the principal dimensions of women empowerment and their indicators, will be helpful to practitioners, government, policymakers and researchers working in the area of SHGs and women empowerment.

This study recognizes numerous significant contributions by eminent scholars and presents a concise review of the literature for novice researchers working in the area of SHGs and women empowerment.