Search results

This study aims to identify the barriers to building supply chain resilience and assess the contextual relationship between them in the Indian micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector for the post COVID-19 era.

Barriers to supply chain resilience were extracted from the extant literature and were evaluated using the grey sets and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) approach from strategic, tactical and operational business perspectives. The responses from experts on the identified barriers were collected through a structured questionnaire. The prominence-net effect results obtained after the DEMATEL application helped identify the most prominent barriers, their net cause and effect, and their correlation with each other.

A total of 16 barriers to resilience, identified from the literature, were considered for analysis. The findings of the study revealed that the lack of flexibility is the most critical causal barrier to building a resilient supply chain. Lack of planned resource management was also found to be an influential barrier. The study also identified the supply chain design, need for collaboration and technological capability as important factors for the MSME sector to focus on.

The study is limited to assessing barriers to the supply chain resilience of MSMEs in India. More extensive research may be needed to reveal the global trend.

The study is significantly important for the MSMEs looking to establish resilient supply chains. Managers can use the findings to identify the weak links in the supply chain for strategic and tactical planning and can take corrective actions.

The study pinpoints the key linkages between barriers that impede MSMEs to make their supply chains resilient and robust to mitigate the impact of future disruptions and adversities. The work may be used by practitioners to further their attention on the significant challenges.

This paper aims to present a systematic literature review (SLR) to investigate how supply chain risk management (SCRM) is applied to the healthcare supply chains and which improvement opportunities are being missed in this segment.

This SLR used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method to answer three research questions: (1) Which are the main gaps concerning healthcare supply chain risk management (HCSCRM)? (2) What is the definition of HCSCRM? and (3) What are the risk management techniques and approaches used in healthcare supply chains?

The authors present a complete summary of the HCSCRM body of research, investigating research strings like clinical engineering and high reliability organizations (HROs) and its relations with HCSCRM; (1) This research revealed the five pillars of HCSCRM; (2) The authors proposed a formal definition for HCSCRM considering all the literature blocks explored and (3) The authors generated a list of risks present in healthcare supply chains resulting from extensive article research.

The authors only reviewed international journal articles (published in the English language), excluding conference papers, dissertations and theses, textbooks, book chapters, unpublished articles and notes. In addition, the study did not thoroughly investigate specific countries' particularities concerning how the healthcare providers are organized.

The contribution of this article is threefold: (1) To the best of authors knowledge, there is no other SLR about HCSCRM published in the scientific literature by the time of realization of authors’ work, suggesting that is the first effort to fulfill this research gap; (2) Following the previous contribution, in this work the authors propose a first formal definition for HCSCRM and (3) The authors analyzed concepts such as clinical engineering and HROs to establish the building blocks of HCSCRM.

Gas pipelines are facing serious risk because of the factors such as long service life, complex working condition and most importantly, corrosion. As one of the main failure reasons of gas pipeline, corrosion poses a great threat to its stable operation. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the reliability of gas pipelines with corrosion defect. This paper uses the corresponding methods to predict the residual strength and residual life of pipelines.

In this paper, ASME-B31G revised criteria and finite element numerical analysis software are used to analyze the reliability of a special dangerous section of a gas gathering pipeline, and the failure pressure and stress concentration of the pipeline under three failure criteria are obtained. Furthermore, combined with the predicted corrosion rate of the pipeline, the residual service life of the pipeline is calculated.

This paper verifies the feasibility of ASME-B31G revised criteria and finite element numerical analysis methods for reliability analysis of gas pipelines with corrosion defect. According to the calculation results, the maximum safe internal pressure of the pipeline is 9.53 Mpa, and the residual life of the pipeline under the current operating pressure is 38.41 years, meeting the requirements of safe and reliable operation.

The analysis methods and analysis results provide reference basis for the reliability analysis of corroded pipelines, which is of great practical engineering value for the safe and stable operation of natural gas pipelines.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mechanical properties’ behaviors of woven composite cut-out structures with specific parameters. Because of the complexity of micro-scale and meso-scale structure, it is difficult to accurately predict the mechanical material behavior of woven composites. Numerical simulations are increasingly necessary for the design and optimization of test procedures for composite structures made by the woven composite. The results of the proposed method are well satisfied with the results obtained from the experiment and other studies. Moreover, parametric studies on different plates based on the stacking sequences are investigated.

A multi-scale modeling approach is suggested. Back-propagation neural networks (BPNN), radial basis function (RBF) and least square support vector regression are integrated with efficient global optimization (EGO) to reduce the weight of assigned structure. Optimization results are verified by finite element analysis.

Compared with other similar studies, the advantage of the suggested strategy uses homogenized properties behaviors with more complex analysis of woven composite structures. According to investigation results, it can be found that 450/−450 ply-orientation is the best buckling load value for all the cut-out shape requirements. According to the optimal results, the BPNN-EGO is the best candidate for the EGO to optimize the woven composite structures.

A multi-scale approach is used to investigate the mechanical properties of a complex woven composite material architecture. Buckling of different cut-out shapes with the same area is surveyed. According to investigation, 45°/−45° ply-orientation is the best for all cut-out shapes. Different surrogate models are integrated in EGO for optimization. The BPNN surrogate model is the best choice for EGO to optimization difficult problems of woven composite materials.

With the growing acceptance of renewable energy sources in the world, new energy sources are pursued and investigated by customers. In India, residential PV technology is in an early stage of development and very less in demand among households. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the major variables and its impact on customers purchase intention towards solar PV technology, especially in the context of central India.

Based on literature reviews, this study identifies six major independent variables having a relationship with purchase intentions. Using convenience sampling method, 413 customers’ data has been collected by the researcher and was investigated through structural equation modelling, using SmartPLS 2.0 and SPSS-20 software.

The study findings suggested that the construct promotional strategies, societal influence, customer awareness and government initiative plays an important role in generating customers purchase intention towards solar PV technology. While the constructs environmental concern and availability & cost having relationship, showed insignificant influence.

The study outcomes provide some valuable insights to the government and policymakers in designing their policies and strategies to increase customer involvement in solar PV technology. This study suggested that the service providers need to offer more benefits in the form of subsidies and schemes that motivate customers to willingly show their purchase intention.

The major contribution of this study is the empirical analysis of six independent variables, which affects the customer purchase intentions towards solar PV technology over available conventional energy sources in an emerging Indian market.

This paper aims to develop a simple and efficient plasma technology for the production of copper (I) oxide with the ability to control the morphology and size of Cu₂O particles. To achieve this goal, the phase composition of the precipitate formed was estimated, the composition and size of the obtained particles were determined and Pourbaix diagrams were constructed.

An integrated approach combining thermodynamic calculations and experimental research methods is used. The constructed Pourbaix diagram makes it possible to suggest the phase composition of the sediment. The use of cyclic voltammetry made it possible to establish the mechanism of deposit formation on the cathode during the treatment of the solution with contact nonequilibrium low-temperature plasma. The resulting product was examined using X-ray phase analysis and scanning electron microscopy.

The article presents the results of theoretical and experimental studies on the synthesis of copper (II) oxide. The influence of the parameters of plasma-chemical synthesis on the shape and phase composition of the deposits formed has been studied.

A plasma-chemical technology for obtaining copper oxide in the form of single crystals of a regular faceted shape is proposed. The mechanism of formation of copper oxide has been established by cyclic voltammetry. The constructed Pourbaix diagrams show the area of existence of the product.

This study aims to provide a systematic review about the Internet of Things (IoT) and its impacts on happiness. It intends to serve as a platform for further research as it is sparse in in-depth analysis.

This systematic review initially observed 2,501 literary articles through the ScienceDirect and WorldCat search engines before narrowing it down to 72 articles based on subject matter relevance in the abstract and keywords. Accounting for duplicates between search engines, the count was reduced to 66 articles. To finally narrow down all the literature used in this systematic review, 66 articles were given a critical readthrough. The count was finally reduced to 53 total articles used in this systematic review.

This paper necessitates the claim that IoT will likely impact many aspects of our everyday lives. Through the literature observed, it was found that IoT will have some significant and positive impacts on people's welfare and lives. The unprecedented nature of IoTs impacts on society should warrant further research moving forward.

While the literature presented in this systematic review shows that IoT can positively impact the perceived or explicit happiness of people, the amount of literature found to supplement this argument is still on the lower end. They also necessitate the need for both greater depth and variety in this field of research.

Since technology is already a pervasive element of most people’s contemporary lives, it stands to reason that the most important factors to consider will be in how we might benefit from IoT or, more notably, how IoT can enhance our levels of happiness. A significant implication is its ability to reduce the gap in happiness levels between urban and rural areas.

Currently, the literature directly tackling the quantification of IoTs perceived influence on happiness has yet to be truly discussed broadly. This systematic review serves as a starting point for further discussion in the subject matter. In addition, this paper may lead to a better understanding of the IoT technology and how we can best advance and adapt it to the benefits of the society.

The present study provides a comprehensive review of the advancements in five active heating modes for cold-proof clothing as of 2021. It aims to evaluate the current state of research for each heating mode and identify their limitations. Further, the study provides insights into the optimization of intelligent temperature control algorithms and design considerations for intelligent cold-proof clothing.

This article presents a classification of active heating systems based on five different heating principles: electric heating system, solar heating system, phase-change material (PCM) heating system, chemical heating system and fluid/air heating system. The systems are analyzed and evaluated in terms of heating principle, research advancement, scientific challenges and application potential in the field of cold-proof clothing.

The rational utilization of active heating modes enhances the thermal efficiency of cold-proof clothing, resulting in enhanced cold-resistance and reduced volume and weight. Despite progress in the development of the five prevalent heating modes, particularly with regard to the improvement and advancement of heating materials, the current integration of heating systems with cold-proof clothing is limited to the torso and limbs, lacking consideration of the thermal physiological requirements of the human body. Additionally, the heating modes of each system tend to be uniform and lack differentiation to meet the varying cold protection needs of various body parts.

The effective application of multiple heating modes helps the human body to maintain a constant body temperature and thermal equilibrium in a cold environment. The research of heating mode is the basis for realizing the temperature control of cold-proof clothing and provides an effective guarantee for the future development of the intelligent algorithms for temperature control of non-uniform heating of body segments.

The integration of multiple heating modes ensures the maintenance of a constant body temperature and thermal balance for the wearer in cold environments. The research of heating modes forms the foundation for the temperature regulation of cold-proof clothing and lays the groundwork for the development of intelligent algorithms for non-uniform heating control of different body segments.

The present article systematically reviews five active heating modes suitable for use in cold-proof clothing and offers guidance for the selection of heating systems in future smart cold-proof clothing. Furthermore, the findings of this research provide a basis for future research on non-uniform heating modes that are aligned with the thermal physiological needs of the human body, thus contributing to the development of cold-proof clothing that is better suited to meet the thermal needs of the human body.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate a cylindrical flow insert for a parabolic trough solar collector. Centrally placed and eccentric placed inserts are investigated in a systematic way to determine which configuration leads to the maximum thermal enhancement.

The analysis is performed in SolidWorks Flow Simulation with a validated computational fluid dynamics model. Moreover, the useful heat production and the pumping work demand increase are evaluated using the exergy and the overall efficiency criteria. The different scenarios are compared for inlet temperature of 600 K, flow rate of 100 L/min and Syltherm 800 as the working fluid. Moreover, the inlet temperature is examined from 450 to 650 K, and the diameter of the insert is investigated up to 50 mm.

According to the final results, the use of a cylindrical insert of 30 mm diameter is the most sustainable choice which leads to 0.56 per cent thermal efficiency enhancement. This insert was examined in various eccentric positions, and it is found that the optimum location is 10 mm over the initial position in the vertical direction. The thermal enhancement, in this case, is about 0.69 per cent. The pumping work demand was increased about three times with the insert of 30 mm, but the absolute values of this parameter are too low compared to the useful heat production. So, it is proved that the increase in the pumping work is not able to eliminate the useful heat production increase. Moreover, the thermal enhancement is found to be greater at higher temperature levels and can reach up to 1 per cent for an inlet temperature of r650 K.

The present work is a systematic investigation of the cylindrical flow insert in a parabolic trough collector. Different diameters of this insert, as well as different positions in two dimensions, are examined using a parametrization of angle-radius. To the authors’ knowledge, there is no other study in the literature that investigates the presented many cases systematically with the followed methodology on parabolic trough collectors. Moreover, the results of this work are evaluated with various criteria (thermal, exergy and overall efficiency), something which is not found in the literature.

The aim of the present study is to overcome some of the limitations of the FMEA method by presenting a theoretical base for considering risk evaluation into its assessment methodology and proposing an approach for its implementation.

Fuzzy AHP is used to calculate the weights of the likelihood of occurrence (O), severity (S) and difficulty of detection (D). Additionally, the prospect-theory-based TODIM method was integrated with fuzzy logic. Thus, fuzzy TODIM was employed to calculate the ranking of potential failure modes according to their risk priority numbers (RPNs). In order to verify the results of the study, in-depth interviews were conducted with the participation of industry experts.

The results are very much in line with prospect theory. Therefore, practitioners may apply the proposed method to FMEA. The most crucial failure mode for a firm's attention is furnace failure followed by generator failure, crane failure, tank failure, kettle failure, dryer failure and operator failure, respectively.

The originality of this paper consists in integrating prospect theory with the FMEA method in order to overcome the limitations naturally inherent in the calculation of the FMEA's RPNs.