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Bending and shear rigidities of woven fabrics depend on fibre, yarn and fabric-related parameters. However, there is lack of research efforts to understand how bending and shear rigidities change in woven fabrics having similar areal density. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the change in bending and shear rigidities in plain woven fabrics having similar areal density.

A total of 18 fabrics were woven (9 each for 100 per cent cotton and 100 per cent polyester) keeping the areal density same. Yarns of 20, 30 and 40 Ne were used in warp and weft wise directions and fabric sett was adjusted to attain the desired areal density.

When warp yarns become finer, keeping weft yarns same, bending rigidity remains unchanged but shear rigidity increases in warp wise direction. When weft yarns are made finer, keeping the warp yarns same, both the bending and shear rigidities of fabric increase in warp wise direction. Similar results for fabric bending and shear rigidities were obtained in transpose direction. There is a strong association between fabric shear rigidity and number of interlacement points per unit area of fabric even when fabric areal density is same.

Very limited research has been reported on the low-stress mechanical properties of woven fabrics having similar areal density. A novel attempt has been made in this research work to investigate the bending and shear rigidities of woven fabrics having similar areal density. Besides, it has been shown that it is possible to design a set of woven fabrics having similar bending rigidity but different shear rigidity.

The purpose of this paper is to perform two-dimensional numerical simulation involving fluid-structure interaction of flexible filament. The filament is tethered to the bottom of a rectangular channel with oscillating fluid flow inlet conditions at low Reynolds number. The simulations are performed using a temporal second-order finite volume-based immersed boundary method (IBM). Further, to understand the relation between different aspect ratios i.e. ratio of filament length to channel height (Len/H) and fixed channel geometry ratio, i.e. ratio of channel height to channel length (H/Lc) on mixing and pumping capabilities.

The discretization of governing continuity and Navier–Stokes equation is done by finite-volume method on a staggered Cartesian grid. SIMPLE algorithm is used to solve fluid velocity and pressure terms. Two cases of oscillatory flow conditions are used with the flexible filament tethered at the center of bottom channel wall. The first case is sinusoidal oscillatory flow with phase shift (SOFPS) and second case is sinusoidal oscillatory flow without phase shift (SOF). The simulation results are validated with filament dynamics studies of previous researchers. Further, parametric analysis is carried to study the effect of filament length (aspect ratio), filament bending rigidity and Reynolds number on the complex deformation and behavior of flexible filament interacting with nearby oscillating fluid motion.

It is found that selection of right filament length and bending rigidity is crucial for fluid mixing scenarios. The phase shift in fluid motion is also found to critically effect filament displacement dynamics, especially for rigid filaments. Aspect ratio, suitable for mixing applications is dependent on channel geometry ratio. Symmetric deformation is observed for filaments subjected to SOFPS condition irrespective of bending rigidity, whereas medium and low rigidity filaments placed in SOF condition show severe asymmetric behavior. Two key findings of this study are: symmetric filament conformity without appreciable bending produces sweeping motion in fluid flow, which is highly suited for mixing application; and asymmetric behavior shown by the filament depicts antiplectic metachronism commonly found in beating cilia. As a result, it is possible to pin point the type of fluid motion governing fluid mixing and fluid pumping. The developed computational model can, thus, successfully demonstrate filament-fluid interaction for a wide variety of similar problems.

The present study uses a temporal second-order finite volume-based IBM to examine flexible filament dynamics for various applications such as fluid mixing. Also, it highlights the relationship between channel geometry ratio and filament aspect ratio and its effect on filament sweep patterns. The study further reports the effect of filament displacement dynamics with or without phase shift for inlet oscillating fluid flow condition.

The concept of poverty traps based on a critical threshold that distinguishes transitory from chronic poverty gives rise to a crucial policy distinction between cargo nets and safety nets. While safety nets are designed to prevent the non‐poor and transitorily poor from falling into chronic poverty, cargo nets are meant to help those who fall below the critical threshold to help them climb out of chronic poverty. The study attempts to determine the factors that affect a beneficiary artisan's decision to use the toolkits provided, i.e. to climb up using the cargo net of improved toolkits and become more active economically.

The paper is based on primary data collected from the supply of improved toolkits to rural artisans (SITRA) programme in 2001‐2002. It is performed on the dataset consisting of 6,788 observations (beneficiary artisans). Due to some missing data 700 observations could not be used. Thus, only 6,088 observations are considered for the purpose of the ordered logit analysis.

The paper develops the related concepts of conditional and structural rigidities restraining the movement and studies the role of these rigidities in determining the economic mobility of a beneficiary household when a climbing cargo net is provided. The paper finds that there is strong evidence that governments are confused about the concept of poverty reduction and alleviation strategies. The study reveals that narrower targeting on beneficiaries with lower conditional rigidities is better as they are more likely to use the toolkits and hence increase their income from craftsmanship and so promote both economic growth and poverty reduction.

The study focuses on a specific poverty alleviation programme. The findings are restricted to a special economic group at all India level. Nonetheless, the study highlights that a thorough understanding of the conditional and structural rigidities faced by a beneficiary artisan and how these affect his economic behaviour would be very useful in both designing and implementation of poverty reduction programmes.

This paper will be of value to researchers, policy makers seeking to gain better understanding of targeting. The paper observes that appreciation of significant conditional rigidities are useful while designing programmes – particularly while targeting the beneficiaries – structural rigidities are more important while implementing and monitoring these programs.

Based on definition and characteristic analysis, this paper seeks to propose a formation mechanism of knowledge rigidity, which is constituted by the effects of three precipitating factors: time‐effectiveness of knowledge, reinforcing effectiveness, and sunk cost effect in knowledge selection mechanism.

By presenting knowledge time‐effectiveness model, reinforcing effectiveness model, and knowledge selection mechanism, the paper theoretically analyzes firms' rigid behavior of knowledge application. Theories of increasing returns and sunk cost are introduced to explain the formation process of knowledge rigidity in firms. Two cases are presented to analyze the knowledge rigidity in industrial firms basing on the proposed models and mechanism.

First, the lifecycle of knowledge rigidity is dynamically defined by knowledge time‐effectiveness. Second, the degree of rigidity and firm's dependence on specific knowledge are enhanced by reinforcing effectiveness during the process of application. At the end of the life cycle, the sunk cost mainly hinders a firm's decision making to replace ineffective knowledge.

Quantitative research is needed to further explore the formation mechanism of knowledge rigidity and to present operational approaches for practitioners. The proposed models and mechanism are useful for understanding the knowledge rigidity and analyzing its formation mechanism in firms.

This paper provides theoretical support to realize knowledge rigidity in KM practice. Three indicators were proposed to evaluate the rigidity and action suggestions were given to help control knowledge rigidity in firms.

Causal analysis models and a formation mechanism are proposed to show how knowledge rigidity forms.

Rigidity of formation is an important concept in multi‐agent localization and control problems. The purpose of this paper is to design the control laws to enable the group to asymptotically exhibit the flocking motion while preserving the network rigidity at all times.

The novel approach for designing control laws is derived from a smooth artificial potential function based on an undirected infinitesimally rigid formation which specifies the target formation. Then the potential function is used to specify a gradient control law, under which the original system then becomes an orderly infinitesimally rigid formation.

The strong relationship between the stability of the target formation and the gradient control protocol are utilized to design the control laws which can be proved to make the target formation stable. However, the rigidity matrix is not utilized in the design of control law. Future research will mainly focus on formation control with the relationship of rigidity matrix.

The value of this paper is focused on the control laws design and the control laws could enable the group to asymptotically exhibit the flocking motion while preserving the network rigidity at all times. Also the detailed simulations and experiments are given to prove that the novel approach is available.

We study the distortions that downward nominal and real wage rigidity would induce to a flexible form of a notional, rigidity-free, distribution of wage change using the histogram-location approach. We examine alternative methods of generating the histograms that support the econometric search for rigidity distortions and implement our approach to inflation sub-periods that should be characterised by different patterns of nominal and real rigidities. We establish the general applicability of the approach to these sub-periods and find results consistent with expectations.

This study aims to reconceptualize performance evaluation styles and reveal their performance effects.

Based on a literature review, this study conceptualizes performance evaluation styles on two dimensions: priority of budgetary targets when setting performance criteria and use of accounting information for ex-post performance evaluation. This study discusses two concepts – budget rigidity and discretionary adjustments – to explain these two dimensions, and their optimal combination is then investigated by considering environmental uncertainty. The empirical analysis uses survey data from Japanese firms.

The results indicate that suitable combinations of budget rigidity and discretionary adjustments differ depending on environmental uncertainty. As expected, a combination of lower budget rigidity and higher discretionary adjustments is optimal in an uncertain environment. Contrary to expectations, a combination of higher budget rigidity and higher discretionary adjustments is optimal in a stable environment. Moreover, higher discretionary adjustments complement budgetary targets’ motivational effects, regardless of environmental uncertainty.

This study’s theoretical and empirical analysis suggests that it is difficult to understand the performance implications of performance evaluation styles without recognizing their multidimensionality and interdependencies. Moreover, the results demonstrate that discretionary adjustments in budget-based performance evaluations seem to act rationally in practice.

The purpose of this paper is to understand if organizations can leverage recovery/continuous improvement (RCI) capabilities and two competencies to mitigate manifest supply chain (SC) disruptions. Specifically, the authors examine how learning from previous experience and SC disruption-orientation affects organizations’ capability to recover/continuously improve once a SC disruption has manifested. In addition, knowing that organizational inertia likely exists during disruptions, the authors examine the mediating effects of routine rigidity on proposed relationships.

To determine how these antecedents impact an organization’s RCI capabilities, the authors collected survey data from 219 procurement managers and analyzed these records using structural equation modeling.

The results indicate that by fostering SC disruption-orientation and developing competencies to learn from previous experience, firms can enhance their RCI capabilities, which in turn improves operational performance. Furthermore, the authors demonstrate how routine rigidity mediates the positive effects these antecedents have on the RCI capabilities construct.

By developing these risk management (RM) tactics and managing routine rigidity, organizations broaden their continuous improvement capability, which enables practitioners to respond to and recover from manifest disruptions. When used in conjunction with other RM tactics, such as inventory and/or redundant capacity, organizations can address an array of disruption scenarios.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of two formal controls, namely target rigidity and process autonomy, on team adaptability and project success in new product development (NPD) projects. Target rigidity refers to performance goals that are non-negotiable once they have been set. Process autonomy refers to the extent to which a project team is free to choose ways to achieve its goals. Team adaptability is considered a key factor that explains the relationship between formal controls and project success.

Two separate models related to resource and cost measures are analysed, since different target types may influence managerial perceptions. This study uses data collected from a survey with 113 project managers as respondents.

The findings show that target rigidity and process autonomy support team adaptability. Furthermore, team adaptability mediates the impact of formal controls on project success. The effects are more pronounced for cost targets as compared to resource targets.

Firms can increase project success by using formal controls in such a way that they allow project managers to provide their teams with motivating guidelines (target rigidity) and discretion (process autonomy) to adapt to new circumstances.

This study reveals the impact of formal controls on NPD project success through team adaptability. A balanced use of target rigidity and process autonomy may help improving NPD project success.