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The purpose of this paper is to discuss free convection peristaltic flow in an asymmetric channel with nanofluid containing gyrotactic microorganism.

The governing equations for proposed model are simplified using “long wavelength and low Reynolds number approximation.” Numerical solutions have been presented for “velocity, pressure gradient, the solid volume fraction nanoparticles, temperature profile and density of motile microorganisms.” The effects of various flow parameters, i.e Hartmann number, the solid volume fraction of the nanoparticles amplitude ratio, Prandtl number, bioconvection Péclet number, bioconvection constant, bioconvection Rayleigh number are presented.

The author finds that the pressure rise increases with an increase in Hartmann number, Grashof number bioconvection, Rayleigh number and buoyancy ratio in the peristaltic pumping section.

The peristaltic flow nanofluid containing gyrotactic microorganism is explored in the literature for the first time.

This study aims to fabricate a multifunctional electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding composite fabric with simultaneous high-efficiency photothermal conversion and Joule heating performances.

A multifunctional polypyrrole (PPy) hydrogel/multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)/cotton EMI shielding composite fabric (hereafter denoted as PHMC) was prepared by loading MWCNT onto tannin-treated cotton fabric, followed by in situ crosslinking-polymerization to synthesize three-dimensional (3D) conductive networked PPy hydrogel on the surface of MWCNT-coated cotton fabric.

Benefiting from the unique interconnected 3D networked conductive structure of PPy hydrogel, the obtained PHMC exhibited a high EMI-shielding effectiveness vale of 48 dB (the absorbing electromagnetic wave accounted for 84%) within a large frequency range (8.2–12.4 GHz). Moreover, the temperature of the laminated fabric reached 54°C within 900 s under 15 V, and it required more than 100 s to return to room temperature (28.7°C). When the light intensity was adjusted to 150 mW/cm², the PHMC temperature was about 38.2°C after lighting for 900 s, indicating high-efficiency electro-photothermal effect function.

This paper provides a novel strategy for designing a type of multifunctional EMI shielding composite fabric with great promise for wearable smart garments, EMI shielding and personal heating applications.

The more precise decision map is important to generate better-fused image. Guided filter can preserve edge information effectively. The purpose of his study is to use guided filter to form the precise decision map and highly informatively fused image.

The dual tree complex wavelet transform is adopted to decompose the source images into high frequency and low frequency coefficients. Sum of modified Laplacian method is introduced as the focus metric in dual tree complex wavelet coefficients. The guided filter is guided by the dual tree complex wavelet coefficient when the sum of modified Laplacian is used as the input image. The output image of guided filter is used to produce the decision map to fuse dual tree complex wavelet coefficient of source images.

The sum of modified Laplacian of dual tree complex wavelet coefficient can be used as the guided image in guided filter to generate better decision map. Comparison with the other state-of-the-art methods illustrates that the proposed approach is more effective in fusing the multifocus images both visual performance and objective evaluation.

The sum of modified Laplacian of dual tree complex wavelet coefficient is introduced to be used as the guided image in guided filter to generate better decision map. This method is fast and effect to fuse the source images. Comparison with the other state-of-the-art methods illustrates that the proposed approach is more effective in fusing the multifocus images both visual performance and objective evaluation.

To investigate numerically the settling of small solid particles in a suspension of motile gyrotactic micro‐organisms in order to evaluate the possibility of using bioconvection to slow down settling and enhance mixing between particles.

Numerical computations are performed at the North Carolina Supercomputing Center utilizing an Origin 2400 workstation. A conservative finite‐difference scheme is used to discretize the governing equations. A staggered uniform grid with the stream function and vorticity stored in one set of nodes and the number densities of micro‐organisms and solid particles stored in another set of nodes is utilized. CPU time required to investigate plume development until it attains steady‐state for 36 × 36 uniform mesh is about 50 h.

It is established that small solid particles that are heavier than water slow down bioconvection. Extremely small particles (nanoparticles) that have negligible settling velocity do not have any noticeable impact on bioconvection, very large particles (that have negligible diffusivity), or very heavy particles (that have very large settling velocity) also do not have any impact on bioconvection because they simply settle at the bottom. However, if the particles are of the optimal size and density (gravitational settling must compete with Brownian diffusion to create an exponential number density distribution of solid particles with the maximum at the bottom of the chamber), these particles can effectively slow down bioconvection.

The question how solid particles may affect the wavelengths of bioconvection patterns requires further investigation.

The finding that solid particles slow down bioconvection may be important in using bioconvection to enhance mixing in fluid microvolumes.

The paper provides a model and numerical data about the effect of bioconvection on mixing of small solid particles. These data are valuable for researches working in fundamental fluid mechanics, multiphase flow, and applications of bioconvection.

In recent years, circular economy (CE) has come to prominence as an alternative to the classic approach of “make-use-dispose”. How companies can exploit the opportunities of CE to position themselves better are not well articulated in the literature. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to identify the barriers and opportunities of CE in the manufacturing sector through a socio-political, economic, legal and environmental perspective.

The study adopts a positivist approach, which is deductive in nature. A survey questionnaire was designed and distributed to manufacturing companies operating in the UK and EU. The study used FAME database and social networking platform LinkedIn to identify manufacturing companies. More than 200+ companies were approached for this study and data collection lasted over two months.

The study provides a comprehensive review of the CE literature and identifies a number of barriers and opportunities to CE implementation from a socio-political, economic, legal and environmental perspective. The findings highlight key barriers, opportunities and benefits of CE for the manufacturing industries operating in the UK and EU.

The findings are limited to 63 responses from the survey questionnaire distributed to manufacturing companies in the UK and EU. The present study aims to equip manufacturers with necessary understanding of the key opportunities and barriers to address the challenges encountered during the implementation of CE.

This study adds to the limited empirical literature on CE barriers and opportunities to manufacturing organisations operating in the UK and EU. The paper also identifies barriers and opportunities of CE from a socio-political, economic, legal and environmental lens.

The existing technology adoption model (TAM) has ignored the importance of social proof of credibility such as risk, security and privacy. Also, this study aims to provide understanding how the issues of usability such as interactivity, compatibility and credibility can influence the mobile banking (MB) adoption of commercial and Islamic banks. This study has offered two theoretical models which may be helpful to understand the importance of social proof of credibility during MB adoption.

It is exploratory study therefore the researcher used triangulation of qualitative methods such as online banking app reviews, focused group and semi structured interviews are used to understand the behavior of customers toward MB adoption.

Consumers are actively involved to take recommendations from close sources, experts, customers and crowd opinion using interactive social media platforms (SMPs). The purpose to gather information is to save from usability, risk, security and privacy issues, especially when customers share their personal and financial information with the purpose to use MB. Results reveal that people with disabilities require MB app that has adjustable size, color, text and functions. The usability issues such as system design, response time, aesthetics, personalization, installation and service quality influenced the use of MB in Islamic banks.

Present study has offered social proof as TAM which highlights usefulness and credibility as important factors that can create social proof on SMPs. This study provides rich insights regarding what initiatives are required to resolve the issues of usability such as interactivity, compatibility and credibility that can influence the MB adoption of commercial and Islamic banks. Another major contribution of this study is to explore the issues of MB for people with disabilities and suggest how they can improve the service quality of MB for people with disabilities.

The purpose of this paper is to understand US and Chinese young Millennials’ perceptions of and consumption behaviour towards sustainable apparel products.

Quantitative research was conducted, and empirical data were collected from 590 US college students and 379 Chinese college students.

For both US and Chinese young Millennials, this study provides consistent empirical results of the positive and significant effects of young Millennials’ apparel sustainability knowledge and personal values on consumer attitude towards sustainable clothing, which in turn positively and strongly impacts purchase intention. In addition, a cross-cultural comparative analysis reveals similarities and differences regarding apparel sustainability knowledge and values between young Millennial consumers in the US and China.

The scale of environmental and social impacts from global apparel production and consumption makes sustainability increasingly important in the contemporary business environment. Young Millennials in the US and China represent large and influential consumer segments for sustainable consumption. This study contributes to the literature by surveying young Millennials in the US (developed market) and China (emerging market) in a cross-cultural context. The study offers insights into the global apparel industry in developing strategies for expanding sustainable apparel markets in the US and China.

The purpose of this paper is to establish a two-stage grey cloud clustering model under the panel data for the multi-attribute clustering problem with three-parameter interval grey number to evaluation of agricultural drought resistance grade of 18 cities in Henan Province.

The clustering process is divided into two stages. In the first stage: Combining variance and time degree, the time weight optimization model is established. Applying the prospect theory, the index weight optimization model is established. Then, with the help of grey possibility function, the first stage of grey cloud clustering evaluation is carried out. In the second stage: the weight vector group of kernel clustering is constructed, and the grey class of the object is determined. A two-stage grey cloud clustering model under the panel data for the multi-attribute clustering problem is proposed.

This paper indicates that 18 cities in Henan Province are divided into four categories. The drought capacity in Henan province is high in the east and low in the west, high in the south and low in the north and the central region is relatively stable. The drought is greatly affected by natural factors. And the rationality and validity of this model is illustrated by comparing with other methods.

This paper provides a practical method for drought resistance assessment, and provides theoretical support for farmers to grasp the drought information timely and improve the drought resistance ability.

The model in this paper solves the situation of ambiguity and randomness to some extent with the help of grey cloud possibility function. Moreover, the time weight of time degree and variance are used to reduce the volatility and the degree of subjective empowerment. Considering the risk attitude of the decision makers, the prospect theory is applied to make the index weight more objective. The rationality and validity of the model are illustrated by taking 18 cities in Henan Province as examples.

Green supply chain management (GSCM) and the circular economy (CE) overlap but also differ. The purpose of this paper is to clarify linkages between these two concepts. It identifies mutual theory applications used to study GSCM and CE.

A systematic literature review is conducted to identify theories from GSCM and CE studies. A critical analysis explores the theories that can provide mutual applications between GSCM and CE fields. Propositions are developed.

In all, 12 theories are applied in both GSCM and CE studies. Several theories are only applied in GSCM studies, but can help to advance CE study. These theories include complexity, transaction cost economics, agency, and information theories. Each of the eight theories only applied to CE can potentially advance GSCM study.

The findings contribute to further theory development for both GSCM and CE study. A methodological review can advance theoretical development and cross-pollination in both fields.

This work is the first study to explicitly explore linkages of GSCM and CE from a theoretical perspective.

This study aims to obtain the more precise decision map to fuse the source images by Coefficient significance method. In the area of multifocus image fusion, the better decision map is very important the fusion results. In the processing of distinguishing the well-focus part with blur part in an image, the edge between the parts is more difficult to be processed. Coefficient significance is very effective in generating the better decision map to fuse the multifocus images.

The energy of Laplacian is used in the approximation coefficients of redundant discrete wavelet transform. On the other side, the coefficient significance based on statistic property of covariance is proposed to merge the detail coefficient.

Due to the shift-variance of the redundant discrete wavelet and the effectiveness of fusion rule, the presented fusion method is superior to the region energy in harmonic cosine wavelet domain, pixel significance with the cross bilateral filter and multiscale geometry analysis method of Ripplet transform.

In redundant discrete wavelet domain, the coefficient significance based on statistic property of covariance is proposed to merge the detail coefficient of source images.