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This study aims to the optimization using three factors and three-level parameters (sliding speed [rpm], sliding distance [m/s] and load [N]) of design matrix were adapted to Box–Behnken design using design expert v8.0 software. Based on the parameters, to develop the linear regression equation and to find the significant considerable wear process parameters based on output responses like wear loss (WL) and coefficient of friction (COF) value of polymer matrix composites (PMC) specimen of Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS)/cellulose composite (80 wt% of ABS and 20 wt% of cellulose).

The fabrication of the ABS/cellulose composite sample was carried out by the simple hands-on stir process method. As per the American Society for Testing and Materials G99 standard, the sample was made by the molding process. The wear analysis was made by multi tribotester TR25 machine and validated the developed model by using statistical software design expert v.8.0 and numerical tools like analysis of variance. The surface morphology [field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) analysis] of the sample was also observed using the Quanta FEG-250 FESEM instrument.

The parameters like sliding speed, sliding distance and load are independently affected the COF value and WL of the 80% of ABS matrix and 20% cellulose reinforced composite material. The regression equations were generated by the coefficient of friction value and WL, which predicted the minimum WL of 80% of ABS matrix and 20% of cellulose reinforced composite material. The worn surface analysis result exposes the worn path and equal distribution of reinforcement and matrix on the surface of composite material.

The literature survey revealed a small number of studies available regarding wear analysis of ABS matrix and cellulose reinforced composite materials. In the present work, to fabricate and evaluate the wear performance of PMC (80% of ABS and 20% of cellulose) depends on the WL and COF value. The maximum and minimum COF value (µ) of 80% of ABS and 20% of cellulose composite material is 4.71 and 0.28 with the optimized wear process parameter by 1,000 mm of sliding distance, 0.25 (m/s) of sliding speed and 9 N of load.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss a linear vibratory part feeder for handling brake liners, typical sector-shaped components. Part feeders have been used in the industries for a long time to present the parts in a desired orientation. Berretty et al. (1999) discussed a class of mechanical filters that are capable of removing polygonal sections from the track of the feeder which are referred to as traps. The traps eliminate or reorient the parts until they reach the final desired orientation. A part feeder was developed using traps, to reorient the sector-shaped part to desired orientation. The desired orientation was the most probable natural resting orientation. The trap was mounted on a linear vibratory feeder. The adaptive part feeder developed was capable of identifying the size of the incoming part and adjust the trap to accommodate that. This set-up eliminates the use of different traps for different-sized sector-shaped parts and wastage of productive time in changing the traps for different sizes. A regression model was developed to predict the conveying velocity of part on the feeder.

A part feeder was developed using traps, to reorient the sector-shaped part to desired orientation. Acrylic material was found to be suitable for trap compared to aluminium. The adaptive part feeder developed was capable of identifying the size of the incoming part using proximity sensors. Depending on the size of the incoming part, the track width was adjusted dynamically with the help of a stepper motor, rack and pinion arrangement. A regression model was developed to predict the conveying velocity.

Typical brake liners in the size range of 40-60 mm (radius) were considered for developing the adaptive part feeder. Based on performance studies, the acrylic trap was found better than aluminium traps. The appropriate frequency and amplitude of vibration for maximum conveying velocity of the adaptive part feeder were found experimentally. Regression equation was developed to determine the conveying velocity based on input frequency and amplitude. The regression results were found to be in close agreement with the experimental results.

The developed part feeder is suitable for handling sector-shaped parts only.

This paper demonstrates an inexpensive adaptive part feeding device for handling sector-shaped parts which can be extended for handling other asymmetric parts also.

The unending ambivalence in the academic environment and the job market is detrimental to management graduates' wellbeing. The study looks into the possible intervening methods to enhance the wellbeing of students during difficult times. The study proposes spirituality development as means through which psychological resources like perceived employability and psychological capital are developed in an individual. This study also tries to identify how spirituality development leads to life wellbeing among management students.

Cross-sectional study was conducted among 212 management students from Kerala, India. Multi-stage random sampling was used to collect data. Structural equation modelling using IBM-AMOS was done to gain insights into the proposed relationships.

The results indicated that spirituality had a significant impact on the wellbeing of management students. Both perceived employability and psychological capital mediated the relationship between spirituality and life wellbeing.

The positive impact of developing spirituality among students is discussed in the paper with the theoretical underpinning of broaden and build theory. The findings suggest that colleges should try to make their campus climate more supportive of students' non-academic needs and open them to a spiritual environment especially during these challenging times.

The study is one of the first attempts to discern how spirituality development leads to an accumulation of psychological resources and life wellbeing among management graduates'.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the meaning of quality of life of elderly tobacco farmers in the perspective of agricultural nursing.

This was a qualitative study with a descriptive phenomenological design conducted in rural area of Jember from November until December 2013. Seven elderly tobacco farmers participated in this study by purposive sampling technique. Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interview and analyzed by using a qualitative descriptive method.

Six themes emerged from data analysis included physical condition, psychological condition, activity level, social relationships, environmental condition and worship activities.

The role of agricultural health nurses should be optimized to improve quality of life of elderly farmers by promoting the health status of elderly farmers and the health of workplace environment.

Elderly tobacco farmers reported decreased health and decreased energy and vitality. Tobacco farming was considered giving heavy workload, especially during harvest season. Participants were still actively participating in activities conducted in the community and eagerly doing worship activities. The environment conditions were described as the easiness of transportation, affordability of health care facilities, safe environment and tobacco storage effects during harvest season.

Defective parts in manufacturing is a serious issue faced by every manufacturer. Even after proper care in design, material selection and manufacturing of product, there exists a defective part. The purpose of this paper is to explore the quality of the manufacturing, and find the use of effective quality tools to reduce the part defect rate in an electrical parts manufacturing unit, thereby, reducing the replaced cost of defective parts.

With the help of quality initiatives, like total quality management (TQM) and Lean Six Sigma (LSS), the firms can produce quality product in each stage of production. The paper focuses on the primary data collected from the XYZ electric manufacturer.

The main finding of this case analysis is that by the effective use of quality tools, the defective part return rate can be reduced, because of which the firm can observe reduction in replaced cost of almost INR24 lakh. In addition, 10A switch part contributes more in replacement cost. Further, it adds to the 35 percent of the overall part rejection.

The study is more focused on particular type of switch product and can extend to other types of products. In addition, the analysis reveals the results of only 88 percent of the defective products.

The study provides results of the improved quality by effective use of quality tools and discusses the different types of defects in the electrical parts manufacturing. Introducing TQM and LSS to manufacturing can reduce the customer return rate to 1,300 parts per million (PPM) and even to 1,000 PPM in future.

The paper discusses the quality issues in the electrical manufacturer. Moreover, the case analysis briefs effective ways to improve the product quality and reduce the rejection rate.

The world is battling with one of the biggest health crisis caused by novel COVID-19. This paper aims to understand the effect of quarantine on the psychological health of college students and the coping strategies adopted by them.

The study adopted the interview method and focused on two crucial open-ended questions: how quarantine has impacted and what are the strategies adopted to overcome the same. The response was recorded through email and phone from a sample of 30 students.

Most of the students stated that they are going through issues like anxiety, depression, infection fear, ambiguity due to this pandemic and the lockdown related to it. However, they engage themselves with various activities that help them to combat this situation.

Education institutions can focus on conducting online fest and other events to engage students more productively. They can also focus on developing a wellness application to support these students. They can provide solutions and tips to balance mental health and wellness during these times.

Everyone knows about COVID-19 and the measures taken related to it, but not much about the impact of it on mental health. This paper discusses the negative impact of quarantine on students and coping strategies adopted by them. The strategies mentioned in the study can guide quarantined people, student community, parents, counsellors and academic facilitators to handle the situation in a better way.

This study aims to evaluate the development of composites made of epoxy (E) resin with different weight percentages of polypropylene (PP) and graphene oxide (Go) to form nanocomposite plates.

A hand lay-up process was used to develop 21 different composites, with varying concentrations of PP (5%–35%) and Go (5%–35%). A ternary composite of E matrix was produced by combining binary fillers PP and Go (5%–35%) in a 1:1 ratio to a (95%–5%) solution. With the help of adopting the melt condensation deal to extract Go, the modified Hummers method was used to make Go platelets.

Through field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction investigations, the particulate’s size and structural characteristics were identified. Based on the FESEM analysis of the collapsed zones of the composites, a warp-and-weft-like structure is evident, which endorses the growth yield strength, flexural modulus and impact strength of the composites.

The developed nanocomposites have exceptional mechanical capabilities compared to plain E resin, with E resin exhibiting better tensile strength, modulus and flexural strength when combined with 10% PP and 10% Go. When compared to neat E resin, materials formed from composites have exceptional mechanical properties. When mixed with 10% PP and 10% Go, E resin in particular displays improved tensile strength (23 MPa), tensile modulus (4.15 GPa), flexural strength (75.6 MPa) and other attributes. Engineering implications include automobile side door panels, spacecraft applications, brake pads and flexible battery guards.

Identifying the most probable natural resting orientation of a part, in automatic handling, helps in the effective design of feeder and orientation devices. For parts with complex geometries and topologies, it is not always intuitively apparent what the natural resting probability of each orientation is. The purpose of this paper is to determine, by theoretical methods, the probability of occurrence of each natural resting orientation of eight different typical sector shaped parts.

Probability of natural resting orientations were found using theoretical methods and drop test. Pearson's χ ² test was used to decide whether to accept or reject the expected data by comparing with the observed data.

Irrespective of dimensions and material, the most probable natural resting orientation was the same. Height of drop was influential in the probability of most probable natural resting orientation.

The research does not include objects with minimum thickness (i.e. 2D objects).

The paper shows that determining the most probable natural resting orientation will help designers to design the part feeders effectively.

This paper aims to present two-stage network models in the presence of stochastic ratio data.

Black-box, free-link and fix-link techniques are used to apply the internal relations of the two-stage network. A deterministic linear programming model is derived from a stochastic two-stage network data envelopment analysis (DEA) model by assuming that some basic stochastic elements are related to the inputs, outputs and intermediate products. The linkages between the overall process and the two subprocesses are proposed. The authors obtain the relation between the efficiency scores obtained from the stochastic two stage network DEA-ratio considering three different strategies involving black box, free-link and fix-link. The authors applied their proposed approach to 11 airlines in Iran.

In most of the scenarios, when alpha in particular takes any value between 0.1 and 0.4, three models from Charnes, Cooper, and Rhodes (1978), free-link and fix-link generate similar efficiency scores for the decision-making units (DMUs), While a relatively higher degree of variations in efficiency scores among the DMUs is generated when the alpha takes the value of 0.5. Comparing the results when the alpha takes the value of 0.1–0.4, the DMUs have the same ranking in terms of their efficiency scores.

The authors innovatively propose a deterministic linear programming model, and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, for the first time, the internal relationships of a two-stage network are analyzed by different techniques. The comparison of the results would be able to provide insights from both the policy perspective as well as the methodological perspective.

The purpose of this study is to quantify the free convective heat transfer around a vertical cylindrical electronic component equipped with vertical fins representing an antenna, contained in a closed cavity maintained isothermal. Its cooling is provided via a water-based copper nanofluid whose volume fraction varies between 0% and 10%. Its effective viscosity and thermal conductivity are determined with the Brinkman and Maxwell models.

The governing equation system has been solved by means of the volume control method based on the SIMPLE algorithm.

A Nusselt-Rayleigh correlation valid in the 3.32 × 10⁵ – 6.74 × 10⁷ Rayleigh number range is proposed. It allows the thermal sizing of the considered system used in high power electronics to ensure their correct operation in the worst conditions.

The proposed correlations are original and unpublished.