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Introduction: Cost competitiveness, customer focus, and sustainability compliance are essential for new-age firms to survive and succeed in the VUCA market environment. This study examines how automobile corporations have improved cost competitiveness, productivity, and product quality.

Purpose: This study examines the importance of cost competitiveness, customer focus, and sustainability compliance for the long-term survival of organisations in VUCA markets, looking at the practical efforts made by automobile corporations to enhance cost competitiveness, productivity, and quality.

Methodology: The study utilises a comprehensive analysis of the strategies and initiatives implemented by the selected automobile companies. It involves a review of relevant literature, case studies, financial data analysis, and interviews with key industry experts, providing a holistic understanding of the actions taken by these organisations to achieve their goals.

Findings: The study reveals that cost competitiveness, customer focus, and sustainability compliance are critical factors for the long-term survival and success of organisations in the automotive industry. The analysed automobile companies have undertaken practical efforts to improve cost competitiveness, enhance productivity, and ensure high-quality products, enabling them to navigate the challenges and maintain a competitive edge.

Significance: The findings of this study contribute to a deeper understanding of the importance of cost competitiveness, customer focus, and sustainability compliance in the automotive industry. It highlights the need for organisations to constantly monitor both qualitative and quantitative profit to avoid complacency and ensure long-term efficiency. The study’s insights are relevant to businesses operating in other sectors, as they face similar challenges in the VUCA market environment.

This paper comprehensively addresses the influence of chopped strand mat glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) patch configurations such as geometry, dimensions, position and the number of layers of patches, whether a single or double patch is used and how well debonding the area under the patch improves the strength of the cracked aluminum plates with different crack lengths.

Single-edge cracked aluminum specimens of 150 mm in length and 50 mm in width were tested using the tensile test. The cracked aluminum specimens were then repaired using GFRP patches with various configurations. A three-dimensional (3D) finite element method (FEM) was adopted to simulate the repaired cracked aluminum plates using composite patches to obtain the stress intensity factor (SIF). The numerical modeling and validation of ABAQUS software and the contour integral method for SIF calculations provide a valuable tool for further investigation and design optimization.

The width of the GFRP patches affected the efficiency of the rehabilitated cracked aluminum plate. Increasing patch width WP from 5 mm to 15 mm increases the peak load by 9.7 and 17.5%, respectively, if compared with the specimen without the patch. The efficiency of the GFRP patch in reducing the SIF increased as the number of layers increased, i.e. the maximum load was enhanced by 5%.

This study assessed repairing metallic structures using the chopped strand mat GFRP. Furthermore, it demonstrated the superiority of rectangular patches over semicircular ones, along with the benefit of using double patches for out-of-plane bending prevention and it emphasizes the detrimental effect of defects in the bonding area between the patch and the cracked component. This underlines the importance of proper surface preparation and bonding techniques for successful repair.

This study aimed to review various existing methods for improving the quality of recycled concrete aggregates (RCAs) as a possible substitution for natural aggregates (NAs) in concrete. It is vital as the old paste attached to the RCA weakens its structure. It is due to the porous structure of the RCA with cracks, weakening the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between the RCA and binding material, negatively impacting the concrete's properties. To this end, various methods for reinforcement of the RCA, cleaning the RCA's old paste and enhancing the quality of the RCA-based concrete without RCA modification are studied in terms of environmental effects, cost and technical matters. Furthermore, this research sought to identify gaps in knowledge and future research directions.

The review of the relevant journal papers revealed that various methods exist for improving the properties of RCAs and RCA-based concrete. A decision matrix was developed and implemented for ranking these techniques based on environmental, economic and technical criteria.

The identified methods for reinforcement of the RCA include accelerated carbonation, bio deposition, soaking in polymer emulsions, soaking in waterproofing admixture, soaking in sodium silicate, soaking in nanoparticles and coating with geopolymer slurry. Moreover, cleaning the RCA's old paste is possible using acid, water, heating, thermal and mechanical treatment, thermo-mechanical and electro-dynamic treatment. Added to these treatment techniques, using RCA in saturated surface dry (SSD) mixing approaches and adding fibres or pozzolana enhance the quality of the RCA-based concrete without RCA modification. The study ranked these techniques based on environmental, economic and technical criteria. Ultimately, adding fibres, pozzolana and coating RCA with geopolymer slurry were introduced as the best techniques based on the nominated criteria.

The study supported the need for better knowledge regarding the existing treatment techniques for RCA improvement. The outcomes of this research offer an understanding of each RCA enrichment technique's importance in environmental, economic and technical criteria.

The practicality of the RCA treatment techniques is based on economic, environmental and technical specifications for rating the existing treatment techniques.

This paper aims to study the influence of microparticles on the surface cavitation behavior of 2Cr3WMoV steel; microparticle suspensions of different concentration, particle size, material and shape were prepared based on ultrasonic vibration cavitation experimental device.

2Cr3WMoV steel was taken as the research object for ultrasonic cavitation experiment. The morphology, quantity and distribution of cavitation pits were observed and analyzed by metallographic microscope and scanning electron microscope.

The study findings showed that the surface cavitation process produced pinhole cavitation pits on the surface of 2Cr3WMoV steel. High temperature in the process led to oxidation and carbon precipitation on the material surface, resulting in the “rainbow ring” cavitation morphology. Both the concentration and size of microparticles affected the number of pits on the material surface. When the concentration of microparticles was 1 g/L, the number of pits reached the maximum, and when the size of microparticles was 20 µm, the number of pits reached the minimum. The microparticles of Fe3O4, Al2O3, SiC and SiO2 all increased the number of pits on the surface of 2Cr3WMoV steel. In addition, the distribution of pits of spherical microparticles was more concentrated than that of irregularly shaped microparticles in turbidity.

Most of the current studies have not systematically focused on the effect of each factor of microparticles on the cavitation behavior when they act separately, and the results of the studies are more scattered and varied. At the same time, it has not been found to carry out the study of microparticle cavitation with 2Cr3WMoV steel as the research material, and there is a lack of relevant cavitation morphology and experimental data.

An in-depth analysis of how senior managers in a large multinational corporation interpret their social and environmental responsibilities revealed that, notwithstanding formal corporate interpretations, discrepancies persisted in their interpretation of what was expected of them and how to implement it. Two fault lines emerged: (1) an instrumental versus a normative interpretation of corporate societal responsibilities, and (2) a focus on ‘doing less/no harm’ versus ‘doing more good’. This chapter introduces a theoretical framework that combines these fault lines to form four quadrants that each represent a different set of challenges managers face as they commit to improving their organisation’s impact on society. Rather than adjudicate between them, a holistic interpretation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) takes all four types into account. But the four types of challenges differ considerably in nature and thus in the strategic approach that is necessary to deal with them. In this chapter, each quadrant is discussed in detail. What characterises the issues in this quadrant, what mindset, and what strategy are necessary to address them? The chapter concludes with the observation that the framework, and the taxonomy of types of CSR challenges that it brings to the fore, creates greater awareness of how industries are confronted with different sets of challenges and thus need different strategic approaches. A better understanding of these differences may lead to more support, in particular for those managers who work in industries that face a disproportionate share of one particular type of challenges, the ‘nasty trade-offs’.

This paper aims to synthesize new screen-printing ink formula based on new derivatives of azo thiadiazol disperse dyes and evaluate their characteristics after being printed on polyester fabric substrates.

New dispersed dyes based on 1, 3, 4-Thiadiazole derivatives (dyes 1 and 2) were prepared and confirmed by different analyses, infrared (IR), mass and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and then formulated as colored materials in the screen-printing ink formulations. Printing pastes containing the prepared dyestuffs and other ingredients were used for printing polyester using screen-printing or traditional printing. The characteristics of printed polyester fabric substrates were measured by color measurements such as a*, b*, L*, C*, E, Ho, R% and color strength, as well as light, washing, crock and alkali perspiration fastness, and finally, the depth of penetration was evaluated.

The prepared 1, 3, 4-Thiadiazole derivatives (dyes 1 and 2) were obtained from the reaction of 5,5’-(1,4-phenylene)bis(1,3,4-Thiadiazole-2-amine) with resorcinol and m-toluidine as a coupling component. The suitability of the prepared dyestuffs for silk screen-printing on polyester fabrics has been investigated. The prints obtained from a formulation containing dye 1 possess high color strength as well as good overall fastness properties if compared to those obtained using dye 2.

The method of synthesis of the new dyestuffs and screen-printing ink provides a simple and practical solution to prepare some new heterocyclic disperse azo dyes, and they are formulated in the screen-printing inks for printing on a polyester fabric substrate.

The prepared disperse dyes based on 1,3,4-Thiadiazole derivatives (dyes 1 and 2) could be used in textile printing of polyester on an industrial scale.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting has been widely accepted as a vital tool for communicating with stakeholders on a range of social, environmental, and governance issues, but how companies define, interpret, apply, integrate, and communicate their CSR efforts and impacts in corporate reporting is anything but a straightforward task. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the concept of materiality in CSR reporting and demonstrate practical examples of good CSR and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reporting practices. We chose the aviation industry because of its economic relevance, constant growth, and future expected changes in the aftermath of COVID-19. In addition, airlines affect many of the SDGs directly and indirectly with contending results. This chapter is timely because of the growing willingness by companies to integrate CSR and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) thinking into the corporate strategy and business operations using materiality assessment and enhancing their competitive advantage and ability to maintain long-term value and because ESG and ethical investing have become part of the mainstream investing. Thus, this chapter contributes to an understanding of the wide range of existing and new reporting frameworks and regulations and reinforces the importance of discussing how this diversity of approaches can affect the work toward worldwide comparability of CSR and sustainability reporting.

Aero-engine exhaust plume length can be more than the aircraft length, making it easier to detect and track by infrared seeker. Aim of this study is to analyze the effect of free stream Mach number (M_∞) on length of potential core of plume. Also, change in infrared (IR) signature of plume and aircraft surface with variation in elevation angle (θ) is examined.

Convergent divergent (CD) nozzle is located outside the rear fuselage of the aircraft. A two dimensional axisymmetric computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study was carried out to study effect of M_∞ on potential core. The CFD data with aircraft and plume was then used for IR signature analysis. The sensor position is changed with respect to aircraft from directly bottom towards frontal section of aircraft. The IR signature is studied in mid wave IR (MWIR) and long wave IR (LWIR) band.

The potential plume core length and width increases as M_∞ increases. At higher altitudes, the potential core length increases for a fixed M_∞. The plume emits radiation in the MWIR band, whereas the aerodynamically heated aircraft surface emits IR in the LWIR band. The IR signature in the MWIR band continuously decreases as the sensor position changes from directly bottom towards frontal. In the LWIR band the IR signature initially decreases as the sensor moves from the directly bottom to the frontal, as the sensor begins to see the wing leading edges and nose cone, the IR signature in the LWIR band slightly increases.

The novelty of this study comes from the data reported on the effect of free stream Mach number on the potential plume core and variation of the overall IR signature of aircraft with change in elevation angle from directly below towards frontal section of aircraft.

About 70% of all aircraft accidents are caused by human–machine interaction, thus identifying and quantifying performance shaping factors is a significant challenge in the study of human reliability. An information flow field model of human–machine interaction is put forward to help better pinpoint the factors influencing performance and to make up for the lack of a model of information flow and feedback processes in the aircraft cockpit. To enhance the efficacy of the human–machine interaction, this paper aims to examine the important coupling factors in the system using the findings of the simulation.

The performance-shaping factors were retrieved from the model, which was created to thoroughly describe the information flow. The coupling degree between the performance shaping factors was calculated, and simulation and sensitivity analysis are based on system dynamics.

The results show that the efficacy of human–computer interaction is significantly influenced by individual important factors and coupling factors. To decrease the frequency of accidents after seven hours, attention should be paid to these factors.

The novelty of this work lies in proposing a theoretical model of cockpit information flow and using system dynamics to analyse the effect of the factors in the human–machine loop on human–machine efficacy.

Globally, there is a growing proportion of disabled people as a result of different circumstances. This growth generates attention and leads to ways to integrate the affected population into society. Addressing such disability and integration is particularly important at buildings level, enabling and expanding the scope of activities for people with disabilities (PWDs). The rising number of PWDs and the need to integrate them into society create a need for action to improve their living condition and integration into society. This study aims to examine the issue of accessibility for PWDs in higher education facilities in Qatar.

Addressing accessibility at buildings level is particularly important in higher education because it enables inclusion in training and education and increases the potential for productive engagement in society. The study aims to develop an objective tool to assess and measure accessibility in educational institutions. Five selected buildings were examined and evaluated at Qatar University based on proximity, multi-use, vertical and horizontal circulation availability. The survey respondents were randomly selected. An existing assessment method was used in surveying respondents, including those with and without disabilities.

A comparative study was conducted to explore the discrepancy between facility users with and without disability, indicating the gap in existing tools.

The developed tool generates the same outcome when conducted by different assessors, indicating the level of compliance and percentage met as a benefit, not a focus. It allows professionals and non-professionals with minimal experience to conduct the assessment.