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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of four controllable parameters (fuel mixture, evaporation bubble point temperature, expander inlet temperature and condensation dew point temperature) of a solar-driven organic Rankine cycle (ORC) on the first-law efficiency, the exergetic efficiency, the exergy destruction and the volume flow ratio (expander outlet/expander inlet).

Nine experiments as per Taguchi’s standard L9 orthogonal array were performed on the solar-driven ORC. Subsequently, multi-response optimization was performed using grey relational and principal component analyses.

The results revealed that the grey relational analysis along with the principal component analysis is a simple as well as effective method for solving the multi-response optimization problem and it provides the optimal combination of the solar-driven ORC parameters. Further, the analysis of variance was also employed to identify the most significant parameter based on the percentage of contribution of each cyclic parameter. Confirmation tests were performed to check the validity of the results which revealed good agreement between predicted and experimental values of the response variables at optimum combination of the input parameters. The optimal combination of process parameters is the set with A3 (the best fuel mixture in the context of optimal performance is 0.9 percent butane and 0.1 percent pentane by weight), B2 (evaporation bubble point temperature=358 K), C1 (condensation dew point temperature=300 K) and D3 (expander inlet temperature=370 K).

In this research, the Taguchi-based grey relational analysis coupled with the principal components analysis has been successfully carried out, whereas for any optimized solution, it is required to have a real-time scenario that may be taken into consideration by the application of different soft computing techniques like genetic algorithm, simulated annealing, etc. The results generated are purely based on theoretical modeling, and, for further research, experimental analyses are required to consolidate the generated results.

This piece of research work will be helpful to users of solar energy, academicians, researchers and other concerned persons, in understanding the importance, severity and benefits obtained by the application, implementation and optimization of the cyclic parameters of the solar-driven ORC.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of turning parameters such as cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut on tool flank wear and machined surface quality of AISI 304 stainless steel during environment friendly turning under nanofluid minimum quantity lubrication (NMQL) conditions using PVD-coated carbide cutting inserts.

Turning experiments are conducted as per the central composite rotatable design under the response surface methodology. ANOVA and regression analysis are employed to examine significant cutting parameters and develop mathematical models for VB (tool flank wear) and R_a (surface roughness). Multi-response desirability optimization approach is used to investigate optimum turning parameters for simultaneously minimizing VB and R_a.

Optimal input turning parameters are observed as follows: cutting speed: 168.06 m/min., feed rate: 0.06 mm/rev. and depth of cut: 0.25 mm with predicted optimal output response factors: VB: 106.864 µm and R_a: 0.571 µm at the 0.753 desirability level. ANOVA test reveals depth of cut and cutting speed-feed rate interaction as statistically significant factors influencing tool flank wear, whereas cutting speed is a dominating factor affecting surface roughness. Confirmation tests show 5.70 and 3.71 percent error between predicted and experimental examined values of VB and R_a, respectively.

AISI 304 is a highly consumed grade of stainless steel in aerospace components, chemical equipment, nuclear industry, pressure vessels, food processing equipment, paper industry, etc. However, AISI 304 stainless steel is considered as a difficult-to-cut material because of its high strength, rapid work hardening and low heat conductivity. This leads to lesser tool life and poor surface finish. Consequently, the optimization of machining parameters is necessary to minimize tool wear and surface roughness. The results obtained in this research can be used as turning database for the above-mentioned industries for attaining a better machined surface quality and tool performance under environment friendly machining conditions.

Turning of AISI 304 stainless steel under NMQL conditions results in environment friendly machining process by maintaining a dry, healthy, clean and pollution free working area.

Machining of AISI 304 stainless steel under vegetable oil-based NMQL conditions has not been investigated previously.

The study has been aimed to search an appropriate process environment for simultaneous optimization of quality‐productivity favorably. Various surface roughness parameters (of the machined product) have been considered as product quality characteristics whereas material removal rate (MRR) has been treated as productivity measure for the said machining process.

In this study, three controllable process parameters, cutting speed, feed, and depth of cut, have been considered for optimizing material removal rate (MRR) of the process and multiple surface roughness features for the machined product, based on L₉ orthogonal array experimental design. To avoid assumptions, limitation, uncertainty and imprecision in application of existing multi‐response optimization techniques documented in literature, a fuzzy inference system (FIS) has been proposed to convert such a multi‐objective optimization problem into an equivalent single objective optimization situation by adapting FIS. A multi‐performance characteristic index (MPCI) has been defined based on the FIS output. MPCI has been optimized finally using Taguchi method.

The study demonstrates application feasibility of the proposed approach with satisfactory result of confirmatory test. The proposed procedure is simple, and effective in developing a robust, versatile and flexible mass production process.

In the proposed model it is not required to assign individual response weights; no need to check for response correlation. FIS can efficiently take care of these aspects into its internal hierarchy thereby overcoming various limitations/assumptions of existing optimization approaches.

Entrepreneurship, family business.

MBA, executive MBA

PN Rao Fine Suits, famously known as the “best tailors” for men's suits and groom wear, started with their first shop in 1923 as a small business of a tailoring shop catering to the needs of the British ladies in Bangalore, India, and by 2013, had four showrooms spread across Bangalore and Chennai, with an annual turnover of INR360 million. Over the years, the patrons of PN Rao have grown not only in Bangalore but across the globe, from countries such as the USA, the UK, Germany, Japan, Denmark, Sweden and The Netherlands. The PN group had three business arms: the PN Rao showrooms, Rupasi and PN Rao Creations. This family business has survived nine decades in business, with the third generation of family now actively involved in the operations and expansion of the business. Chandramohan Pishe and Machender Pishe, the second-generation brothers in the business, believe in a conservative growth path for their brand, compared to the third-generation cousins, Naveen Pishe and Ketan Pishe. Naveen and Ketan are aware of the market opportunities and the competition and often look for the differentiator that their brand can offer. They are very enthusiastic about their future expansion plans and would like to open 100 showrooms by 2023, their centennial year. The market indicators are favourable and, if leveraged strategically, do offer opportunities to fulfil their expansion plans. Naveen and Ketan firmly believe in the need of instituting a family constitution as they move forward with their expansion plans. The second generation is not very confident of this idea, however, as they believe the family values to be strong enough to continue in the same fashion.

Understand the challenges of a small business and the importance of re-inventing by leveraging a mix of market opportunities to grow and sustain; to evaluate the need and importance of family constitution at the PN Rao Group to sustain, scale and govern in a manner so as to avoid any kind of future family business conflicts.

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In the aviation sector adversity faced by female pilots stemming from stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination are well documented. Such adversity in the workplace can cause occupational stress, which may be greater for female pilots, and this influences individual resiliency, impacting job performance and wellbeing. Resilience may be a mitigating factor for coping with occupational stress and individual resilience can be factored into an organisation’s resilience as a whole. When organisations face challenges, there is a need for resilience in order to survive and adapt during disruption and adversity. Resilience with respect to employee and workplace contexts includes both personal resources among the employees as well as workplace resources that are connected to the workplace and organisational environment. As resilience continues to emerge as part of a human capital management strategy, the need to understand the role of the workplace is magnified. For aviation, understanding resilience can potentially inform organisational interventions to address the known occupational stressors and workplace adversity to increase employee performance and well-being. The role of workplace adversity and perceptions of workplace resource availability including supportive environments are discussed in relation to how they influence employee resilience specifically in the aviation industry. The aim of this chapter is to define resilience specific to employee and workplace contexts, introduce personal and workplace resources to influence employee resilience, and discuss the role of occupational stressors specifically for women in male-dominated career fields such as aviation.

The main purpose of this paper is to produce high‐nitrogen martensitic stainless steels (HNMSS) using a conventional induction furnace with better mechanical properties and to improve the properties by thermo‐mechanical treatment (TMT).

Production of two types of HNMSS alloys with Chromium – 8.22 and 15.84 wt% was carried out using a conventional melting furnace. The theoretical nitrogen solubility of the produced alloys was calculated and compared with the actual nitrogen solubility of the alloys. The produced alloys were subjected to TMT, characterized by hardness measurement, tensile testing micro examinations in the as cast, hardened, TMT treated and TMT hardened and tempered conditions.

The actual nitrogen solubility achieved in the HNMSS specimens was in agreement with the calculated theoretical nitrogen solubility using thermodynamic relationships. Thermo‐mechanically treated specimens exhibited the break‐up and refinement of the original coarse cast structure by repeated recrystallization as fine grain size in the austenitic condition and reduced proportion of residual deformed δ ferrite. Thermo‐mechanically treated, hardened and tempered specimens showed higher hardness up to 525 VHN, with strength and toughness.

In the conventional melting process, purging nitrogen into the melt and increasing the percentage of nitrogen is the primary limitation and retaining the same into the solution during thermo‐mechanical treatment is the secondary limitation.

Work on melting of nitrogenated steels using controlled atmospheric conditions with special equipment was carried out earlier. This practice cannot be adopted on a commercial basis, where mass production is the prime requirement. Therefore, the uniqueness of this paper lies in communicating the melting practice of HNMSS using a conventional induction furnace followed by the optimum TMT. This takes the production and TMT of HNMSS into the commercial casting industry for mass production.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the coupled heat and mass transport of different shaped porous moist objects in a rectangular channel under the effects of convective drying. Numerical simulations were performed under turbulent conditions for cylindrical, triangular and rectangular shaped different food products in a two-dimensional channel.

Finite element method was used for the unsteady problem and, effects of drying air velocity (AV) and temperature on transport mechanism were evaluated. Three different food materials were used for the circular shaped object and drying performance of the products under different conditions was compared.

Results showed that, changing the air temperature has an important effect on drying for all shaped objects and all materials. The same effect was seen for the AV as, increasing the velocity had positive effects on drying. Two identical objects were placed in the channel one behind the other, and this configuration showed that location of the object in the channel is also important for drying. The moisture content in the object at the front is lower than in the object behind at the end of drying.

This paper can provide technical support to optimize drying performance in the industry with comprehensive data for the process.

The purpose of this paper is related with the comparative study between graphene-based glass fiber–reinforced polymer composites and without graphene composite on polymer matrix. The current study explains the result of amalgamation of 4 Wt.% graphene oxide (GO), in comparison to without graphene, on the mechanical strength of glass fiber/epoxy (GE).

A hand layup technique is used for the experimental study. For this, chemical synthesis process is approached based on Hummer’s theory. For mechanical testing of glass fiber–reinforced graphene composites and without graphene composites, American Society for Testing and Materials-3039 (ASTM3039) standards was adopted. Furthermore, comparatively, composites were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy.

Reinforcement of 4.0 Wt.% GO in epoxy matrix material showed 7.46% and 12.31% improvement in mechanical strength and elongation, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy results showed the influence of graphene cumulations in the failure of GO-reinforced GE (GO-GE) composites.

The inimitable things of graphene grounded nanofillers have encouraged in the world of material for their thinkable manipulation in glass fiber polymeric composites. In this work, for the first time, graphene is used as nanofiller in glass fiber epoxy coatings, and their fractography study is investigated.

Kerala is one of India's most advanced states in human development and other social indices. This study aims to look at the management education scenario in Kerala from a macro-perspective and examines the existing trends, major issues and present challenges facing the sector.

The study is driven by previously unexplored secondary data published by India's apex technical education regulator–All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). Qualitative and quantitative assessments are assimilated from the organization, dissection and categorization of unit-level data.

Business schools (B-schools) in the state are facing acute distress in enrolments. There are intra-regional variations in institution count and occupancy rates. The vast majority of the institutions have no accreditation at all. The entire sector is facing a protracted decline.

The study has relied primarily on descriptive statistics considering a single discipline within the higher education sector in Kerala. Future studies should look at other disciplines (engineering, medicine) simultaneously. Use of statistical methods like panel data regression would be beneficial to find hidden trends in cross-sectional and longitudinal time-series data.

Management education in Kerala is facing an existential crisis. This has implications for the state's economic development. The paper creates strong imperatives for government policymaking to forestall the complete decline of the sector.

A highly literate state with advanced human development indices need not be a suitable location for building a knowledge-based economy. Government policy has strong implications for the development and sustenance of higher education. The relationship between government and business schools are symbiotic.

The paper maps the progression of B-schools from local to global. A typology of privately funded B-schools is proposed. The conceptual framework advanced in this study can contribute to further literature development. The suggested policy initiatives are applicable not only to Kerala but also to other tightly regulated markets.

The construction industry is one of the most stressful industries. Thus, quantity surveyors (QSs) who work at sites frequently experience high levels of occupational stress. The gender of a QS also has a significant impact on his/her occupational stress. Hence, this study aims to investigate the management of occupational stress in QSs working at sites for contractors (hereinafter referred to as CQSs).

The study adopted a mixed approach using semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey for female and male CQSs to identify, validate and rank the stressors and symptoms of occupational stress in CQSs and the strategies of managing that stress based on their significance levels. Manual content analysis and the mean weighted rating were used to analyse the data collected.

Heavy workload was the most significant occupational stressor of CQSs, whereas sleeping disorders were their primary symptom of occupational stress. Establishing a proper work programme was identified as the most effective stress management strategy for male and female CQSs. This study shows that many site QSs are stressed owing to their heavy workloads and work obligations and that their stress-related attributes significantly depend on their genders.

This study is significant because no previous studies have been conducted on managing occupational stress in CQSs in male and female CQSs. The study findings can be used to identify the stressors and symptoms of occupational stress in CQSs early and use appropriate management strategies to enhance the work satisfaction and productivity of CQSs suffering from occupational stress.