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The efficient speed controller is found to be an important requirement to run the motor for the brushless direct current (BLDC) motor. This requirement is considered as superior, as it may increase the operating speed and system efficiency. In the existing methods, proportional plus integral (PI) controller has been included because of its simple architecture. But the PI controller produces load disturbance, control complexity and some parametric (Proportional plus integral) variations. The purpose of this proposed controller is to overcome the problems produced by PI controller in BLDC motor.

The proposed BLDC motor is developed with fixed order H-infinity controller. In this architecture, both the weight functions and transfer functions were included to design the controller. This controller has been included in this BLDC to detect the rotor position. The optimal position of rotor is identified by introducing particle swarm optimization algorithm.

The torque that obtained in the motor is highly reduced by this proposed controller and also enhances the speed. The BLDC motor is modelled in a MATLAB environment.

The performance of the torque, speed and back electro-motive force is analysed and compared with the existing controllers such as fuzzy proportional plus integral plus derivative, sensing algorithm and fuzzy proportional plus derivative controller.

Simulation results show that the proposed technique gives better results than the other existing controllers.

This study seeks to examine country of origin (COO) and national loyalty effects on Lebanese consumers' quality perceptions, attitudes, and purchase intentions with respect to airlines serving Lebanon.

The research comprised formulation of a detailed questionnaire that was served to 360 persons via personal delivery and e‐mails. Statistical analysis of data employed chi‐square and ANOVA tests.

It was found that factors other than personal experience could impact customer perceptions when selecting the airlines of preference in which national loyalty was a key factor. An important finding was that, from the point of view of personal experience, demographic variables influenced customer perceptions, whereas otherwise the country of origin (COO) effect was predominant.

There was a direct implication that factors other than personal experience do impact customer perception when selecting the airlines of preference. The findings show disagreement with many scholars who give high importance to personal experience as a basis for selection. In this scenario, the majority of the respondents traveled on MEA and gave a good evaluation for the quality services provided by MEA. A different experimental setting would be required to determine the response of dissatisfied customers with travel on MEA.

The analysis of COO effect in selecting an airline by Lebanese consumers is the first of its kind of study in Lebanon and would contribute to the overall literature. It could also provide useful information to the airline industry and national aviation planners in Lebanon.

This study aims to examine country of origin (COO), price and brand effects on Lebanese consumers’ attitudes towards US products and brands while evaluating a low‐involvement product like chocolate.

The research comprised formulation of a detailed questionnaire that was served to 488 administered at various shopping malls across Lebanon. Statistical analyses of data employed included Pearson correlation and analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests.

The data supported both the hypotheses that respectively predicted that brand price was more important than COO in the evaluation of low‐involvement products. The data did not support the hypothesis that predicted a preference by Lebanese consumers for “Made in Lebanon” products, based on a similar observed preference for domestic products in developed nations.

The external validity of the findings are limited since an over‐exaggerated weight is provided for the “made in” label while in a real purchase situation; price as well as brand have a weight that is far superior to that of the COO. In today's business world several cues are already embedded in the brand name which limits the internal validity of the study; this includes the “made in” labels as external cues used by respondents while evaluating a particular chocolate brand regardless of the origin cue already dispatched by the brand itself.

The results have evidenced, if needed, the importance of taste when purchasing a particular brand. Hence, a Lebanese consumer would not mind choosing a Ghour chocolate bar instead of a Nestlé or even a Cadbury chocolate bar only if these three brands had equivalent attributes. Brand is the second attribute considered by consumers when choosing a particular chocolate. Thus, a successful approach for international marketers would be to build strong brand equity. The results provide extremely useful outputs to the marketing professionals.

This paper aims to get the optimal controller parameters of fractional order proportional integral derivative (FOPID)/proportional integral derivative (PID) i.e. K_p, K_i, K_d, λ and µ for designing controller in automatic voltage regulator (AVR) system.

A novel method is proposed to get the optimal controller parameters for designing controller in AVR system using improved Jaya algorithm (IJA). The time domain objective and regular integral error objectives are used to design the controller to estimate the performance of the AVR system based on optimal tuning FOPID/PID controller.

The proposed method captures time domain objective of the FOPID/PID controller design and demonstrates effective transient response and better control action. The efficient tuning of FOPID controller results in high superiority of control efforts.

The simulations of IJA-based FOPID/PID controller design method are performed in MatLab tool and compared with several methods in the recent state of the art and the same are observed to be robust for the AVR system.

The developed optimal FOPID/PID controller tuning using IJA optimization method is totally a new approach for the AVR system in the literature.

A unifying theme apparent at this year's Symposium was the need for balance when lifting the veil of bank secrecy: (1) the need to protect civil liberties versus the need to fight crime; (2) the bank's need to balance its role as policeman while furthering its commercial objectives; (3) the necessity of weighing international cooperation against the awareness that individual nations jealously guard their own legislative regime; (4) the dichotomy of technology that serves both to protect and penetrate secrecy; (5) the balance required when investigating crimes.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a new perspective by conceptualising country of origin (COO) from a management perspective, identifying the impact different COO constructs have in the context of fashion retailer and manufacturer businesses.

This qualitative study comprises a series of in-depth interviews with key informants from large-scale fashion retailers and manufacturers in the UK.

The major findings of this research demonstrate that COO is considered a strategic business imperative but manifests in a variety of ways depending on brand positioning, long-term strategic plans, expertise, and brand values, etc.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge about the importance of COO. The findings of this research will have practical implications for manufacturers and retailers, informing the debate on the value of the “Made in […]” epithet. Findings are limited to the UK fashion clothing industry.

This research presents a new perspective on the COO construct, addressing it from a management rather than consumer perspective. It argues that COO can be considered as a strategic dimension, which is manifested in a variety of ways. COO has been extensively researched from a consumer point of view but this research takes a new approach by presenting findings from a managerial point of view, with fashion manufacturing and retail branding as the context.

TikTok social media app has become one of the most popular forms of leisure and entertainment activities, but how hedonic consumption experiences (comprising fantasy, escapism, enjoyment, role projection, sensory, arousal and emotional involvement) of the TikTok app determine users' intention to use the app and its resulting impact on the actual usage behavior remains limited in the information systems literature, especially featuring the hedonic consumption perspective in entertainment industry.

This study employs uses & gratification theory to answer the “why” via predicting the role of hedonic consumption experiences that serve as gratifications to trigger technology acceptance behavior (especially, in form of users' behavioral intention to use the TikTok app and its further impact on usage behavior). This study utilizes the partial least squares-structural equation modeling approach to perform data analyses on 258 TikTok app users.

Our results provide a strong support such that users' playful consumption experiences (i.e. escapism, role projection, arousal, sensory experience and enjoyment) positively influence their intention to use the TikTok app and its resultant effect on users' actual usage of the app. In contrast, fantasy and emotional involvement fail to influence users' intention to use the TikTok app.

To the best of our knowledge, our investigation is one of the first studies to apply the hedonic consumption experiences as potential gratifications that derive users' intention and its subsequent influence on the actual usage of the TikTok app. Our study results would assist marketing and brand managers to redefine approaches and tactics to create effective strategies that implement essential determinants to increase behavioral intention among entertainment service providers.

The purpose of this study is to attempt to address the effect of country of origin (COO) from three different dimensions, namely, country image (CI) effect, COO image effect and awareness level about the COO of the brand and its resultant effect on product evaluation (PrEva). Further, the brand awareness, level of involvement and the COO interaction effect on consumer PrEva has also been studied to indicate the intensity of COO impact. Due to rapid globalization and reduction in trade barriers, major emerging economics from Asia witnessed entry of cross-border brands into their markets. India, as an emerging economy, has also followed the trend. In this backdrop, the present study is proposed for a better understanding of the effect of COO on PrEva.

The study has been conducted in India, and the mobile phone market has been taken as the hub of the study because of the presence of maximum cross-border companies in India. The study is built on existing literature on influence of COO, brand image (BI), awareness about brands, CI and product image on consumer’s evaluation of mobile phones. Seven theoretical constructs have been used to test the relationship between the COO and consumer PrEva for the selected product with the help of structural equation modeling technique.

The study shows that brand awareness for the class of mobile phones selected does not affect PrEva whereas CI, which is a general perception about the country from where the product originates, significantly affects consumers’ PrEva. Results also show that COO does not act as a mediator between CI and PrEva even though COO has a significant negative direct effect on PrEva. Thus, from this study, the learning for marketers in this price segment for mobile phones in emerging markets is that consumers are more sensitive to features per price than any other influencers. So, BI and/or COO are not sufficient conditions for product success in emerging market like India.

The findings are outcomes of an empirical study conducted in mobile handset industry of India based on the sample set of urban consumers in the city of Kolkata, India. It is quite possible that there may be other issues relevant to other parts of the country. This may influence the degree of association studied herein. Hence, the results may be treated with caution in terms of the generalizations of the same to other regions and countries. The study may, in future, be done by including questions related to price sensitivity and perception about features of the mobile phone hand-sets. This may give a clearer picture about the influences of these factors on PrEva of mobile phones in emerging markets. Finally, this study should be repeated in other major emerging markets to test the general applicability of the theoretical model and the empirical results introduced in this paper.

For the low-end mobile handset market, general country characteristics from where the product originates reduce the importance of specific product attributes in evaluating the product. We may further conclude from the present study that the country’s overall image can be an effective tool to influence the consumer PrEva process. To be competitive in an emerging country like India, multinational firms should promote the overall country’s image to cement relationship with target consumers.

Moreover, Ahmed and d’Astous (1996) viewed that several empirical research have independently focused on the impact of COO on the country, product or brand level, but there is lack of an integrated approach in this regard to capture different propensity of effects of COO at different levels. To our knowledge, it is one of the first attempts to analyze consumers’ PrEva of mobile phones in an emerging market.

The main purpose of this research is to empirically test how animosity, religiosity, and ethnocentrism interact to affect judgment about US products and purchase action of consumers in a progressive Islamic country like Malaysia. There are many studies that have been conducted in conservative Islamic countries such as Iran, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

The product chosen for this research is US fast food restaurants. A questionnaire was constructed and responses were obtained from 410 Malaysian consumers from different ethnic backgrounds. The authors tested the framework using structural equation modeling (SEM).

Based on the test results, the authors conclude the following significant relationships: animosity on purchase action of consumers, ethnocentric tendencies on animosity of consumers, religiosity on ethnocentric tendencies of consumers, religiosity on animosity of consumers, ethnocentric tendencies of consumers on judgment of foreign product, foreign product judgment of consumers on purchase action, and animosity and ethnocentrism play mediating roles.

The current study adds significantly to the body of knowledge on consumer behavior, especially the roles of animosity, religiosity, and ethnocentrism. The findings can help marketing managers to formulate appropriate strategies when consumers decide to boycott US products.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the heat transfer and flow enhancement of an Al₂O₃-water nanofluid filling an inclined channel whose lower wall is embedded with periodically placed discrete hydrophobic heat sources. Formation of a thin depletion layer of low viscosity over each hydrophobic heated patch leads to the velocity slip and temperature jump condition at the interface of the hydrophobic patch.

The mixed convection of the nanofluid is analysed based on the two-phase non-homogeneous model. The governing equations are solved numerically through a control volume approach. A periodic boundary condition is adopted along the longitudinal direction of the modulated channel. A velocity slip and temperature jump condition are imposed along with the hydrophobic heated stripes. The paper has validated the present non-homogeneous model with existing experimental and numerical results for particular cases. The impact of temperature jump condition and slip velocity on the flow and thermal field of the nanofluid in mixed convection is analysed for a wide range of governing parameters, namely, Reynolds number (50 ≤ Re ≤ 150), Grashof number ( 103≤Gr≤5×104), nanoparticle bulk volume fraction ( 0.01≤φb≤0.05), nanoparticle diameter ( 30≤dp≤60) and the angle of inclination ( −60°≤σ≤60°).

The presence of the thin depletion layer above the heated stripes reduces the heat transfer and augments the volume flow rate. Consideration of the nanofluid as a coolant enhances the rate of heat transfer, as well as the entropy generation and friction factor compared to the clear fluid. However, the rate of increment in heat transfer suppresses by a significant margin of the loss due to enhanced entropy generation and friction factor. Heat transfer performance of the channel diminishes as the channel inclination angle with the horizontal is increased. The paper has also compared the non-homogeneous model with the corresponding homogeneous model. In the non-homogeneous formulation, the nanoparticle distribution is directly affected by the slip conditions by virtue of the no-normal flux of nanoparticles on the slip planes. For this, the slip stripes augment the impact of nanoparticle volume fraction compared to the no-slip case.

This paper finds that the periodically arranged hydrophobic heat sources on the lower wall of the channel create a significant augmentation in the volume flow rate, which may be crucial to augment the transport process in mini- or micro-channels. This type of configuration has not been addressed in the existing literature.