The objective of this research is to identify critical success factors (CSFs) of the reusable plastic packaging (RPP) system and to establish their interrelationship in the context of manufacturing ...industries. Fourteen CSFs were shortlisted by reviewing the literature and considering expert team inputs. To explore the mutual influence between the identified CSFs the Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) approach was applied. To strengthen link interpretation, ISM methodology was supported by the Total Interpretive Structural Modeling (TISM) approach. Further, to identify the factors with high driving power the Matrice d’Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliqués à un Classement (MICMAC) analysis was employed. It was concluded that three CSFs namely, ‘top management commitment’ ‘lean support,’ and ‘optimized inventory management’ were the critical ones with high influential power. This study aims to help the decision-makers in developing effective strategies for the implementation of the RPP system in the case sector for achieving sustainability.
•The critical success factors (CSFs) of reusable plastic packaging were identified.•The TISM approach was used for establishing the interrelationship between the CSFs.•The MICMAC analysis was used to identify CSFs have high driving power.•A CSF namely ‘Top management commitment’ was found to be the most significant.
The intensive research in the fifth generation (5G) technology is a clear indication of technological revolution to meet the ever-increasing demand and needs for high speed communication as well as ...Internet of Thing (IoT) based applications. The timely upgradation in 5G technology standards is released by third generation partnership project (3GPP) which enables the researchers to refine the research objectives and contribute towards the development. The 5G technology will be supported by not only smartphones but also different IoT devices to provide different services like smart building, smart city, and many more which will require a 5G antenna with low latency, low path loss, and stable radiation pattern. This paper provides a comprehensive study of different antenna designs considering various 5G antenna design aspects like compactness, efficiency, isolation, etc. This review paper elaborates the state-of-the-art research on the different types of antennas with their performance enhancement techniques for 5G technology in recent years. Also, this paper precisely covers 5G specifications and categorization of antennas followed by a comparative analysis of different antenna designs. Till now, many 5G antenna designs have been proposed by the different researchers, but an exhaustive review of different types of 5G antenna with their performance enhancement method is not yet done. So, in this paper, we have attempted to explore the different types of 5G antenna designs, their performance enhancement techniques, comparison, and future breakthroughs in a holistic way.
This investigation aims to propose a hybrid three-stage Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) - Artificial Neural Network (ANN) - Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) approach, together abbreviated as ...the SEANIS, for analyzing the factors influencing cloud computing adoption (CCA) services in the context of Indian private organizations. This study proposed new determinants, namely risk analysis and perceived IT security risk as an extension of the Technology Organization Environment (TOE) model. The data collected from the industry experts were analyzed using SEM and ANN approaches. The results of SEM revealed that trust (T), management style (MS), technology innovation (TI), risk analysis (RA), and perceived IT security risk (PITR) exercised a significant influence on CCA. The SEM results were taken as inputs for the ANN approach and ISM methodology. The results of ANN highlighted that perceived IT security risk, trust, and management style were the most important determinants for CCA. On the other hand, the ISM tool identified five factors, namely, decrease of internal systems availability (F1) (PITR cluster), utilization of internal resources (F14) (MS cluster), assurance of data privacy increases adoption rate (F16) (T cluster), innovativeness (F21), and previous experience (F22) (both from the TI cluster) as the top five significant variables with high driving power, among the 43 factors. The outcome of the hybrid approach is intended to guide the decision and policy-makers for easy evaluation of their organizational goals for choosing the most suitable computing environment for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their business performance.
•The adoption rate of cloud computing adoption (CCA) depends on the various factors.•Needs to be ranked for the effective and efficient decision-making process on CCA.•Analysis of the crucial factors/criteria influencing the CCA in the private organizations in the Indian context.•Three stage SEM-ANN-ISM methodology used for the research paper.
PurposeThis article aims to model the challenges of implementing artificial intelligence and machine earning (AI-ML) for moderating the impacts of COVID-19, considering the agricultural supply chain ...(ASC) in the Indian context.Design/methodology/approach20 critical challenges were modeled based on a comprehensive literature review and consultation with experts. The hybrid approach of “Delphi interpretive structural modeling (ISM)-Fuzzy Matrice d' Impacts Croises Multiplication Applique'e à un Classement (MICMAC) − analytical network process (ANP)” was used.FindingsThe study's outcome indicates that “lack of central and state regulations and rules” and “lack of data security and privacy” are the crucial challenges of AI-ML implementation in the ASC. Furthermore, AI-ML in the ASC is a powerful enabler of accurate prediction to minimize uncertainties.Research limitations/implicationsThis study will help stakeholders, policymakers, government and service providers understand and formulate appropriate strategies to enhance AI-ML implementation in ASCs. Also, it provides valuable insights into the COVID-19 impacts from an ASC perspective. Besides, as the study was conducted in India, decision-makers and practitioners from other geographies and economies must extrapolate the results with due care.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first that investigates the potential of AI-ML in the ASC during COVID-19 by employing a hybrid approach using Delphi-ISM-Fuzzy-MICMAC-ANP.
Resource scarcity and ecosystem damage are putting pressure on the mining industry to increase the circularity of its operations. This study analyses the critical challenges to a circular economy in ...the Indian mining industry, applying an integrated decision-making approach. The identified challenges were obtained from a detailed literature review as well as experts' opinions, and were then ranked. The interrelationships among the key challenges are established and classified into a cause-effect grouping. According to a structured analysis of the challenges to the circular economy in the mining industry of an emerging economy and their interrelations, the trade-off between the prices of virgin materials and secondary waste materials could jeopardize circular economy principles in the mining industry. Primarily, this article raises the importance of tackling the lack of clear governance measures and implementation of waste management reporting for a closed-loop related to developing circular economy principles in the context of an emerging economy. Thus, adequate governance measures regarding closed-loops are vital to ensure a sustainable balance between the supply and demand of secondary minerals and metals, which can address the trade-off mentioned. Some suggested directions for policymakers and managers have also been provided to help formulate appropriate strategies for a transition to the circular economy.
•This article fills the gap in utilizing a robust methodology to discuss the adoption of CE challenges in the mining industry.•Lack of governance measures and implementation of ideas/rules related to CE is the first challenge to be tackled by managers in the mining industry.•Governance measures should address close-loop CE actions for a sustainable balance between supply and demand of secondary minerals and metals.
Abstract Aluminium alloys find extensive use in various applications because of its advantage of strength-to-weight ratio,. However, the casting process introduces susceptibility to defects, and ...managing all parameters proves to be a complex task. Casting rejections often stem from one or more defects, with mold parameters, filling, and solidification processes being key contributors. When the molten metal of the Al-Si (A356) alloy is exposed to the atmosphere in a holding furnace, it develops an oxide layer on its surface. Turbulence in the molten metal leads to the formation of a double oxide layer, also known as bifilms. Gas entrainment occurs due to the turbulent movement of metal, resulting in the entrapment of gas in the molten metal and ultimately causing gas porosity in the final casting. Gas entrapment during the filling process leads to gas porosities during the solidification phase. This study aims to comprehend the factors influencing the formation of gas entrapment during the casting of the aluminium alloy Al-Si (A356). The experimental investigation utilizes Taguchi’s Design of Experiments (DOE) to explore the impacts of parameters such as pouring temperature (PoT), degassing time (DgT), and volume in the holding furnace (VoH) on the formation of gas porosity in casting 8. An experimental setup was created to produce tensile test rods and reduced pressure test (RPT) samples. The results were validated using the mechanical properties of the tensile test samples and the density of the Reduced Pressure Test (RPT) samples. Better the mechanical properties, fewer will be the defects in castings. Taguchi’s DOE is applied to analyse the results. The experimental findings indicate that a pouring temperature at level 1 (710°C), degassing time at level 1 (10 minutes), and volume in the holding furnace at level 1 (>450 kg) yield favourable castings. Confirmatory tests were conducted to validate the results, and they aligned with the experimental data.
•PIMs containing TODGA were used for actinide ion uptake and transport.•The trend of uptake was: Am3+>Pu4+>Th4+>UO22+.•The transport trend was similar though significant amount was held in the ...PIM.•The diffusion coefficients were lower than those obtained with SLM.
Polymer inclusion membranes (PIM) containing TODGA (N,N,N′,N′-tetra-n-octyl diglycolamide) were evaluated for the separation of actinide ions such as Am3+, Pu4+, UO22+ and Th4+ from acidic feeds. The PIMs were prepared using cellulose triacetate (CTA) as the polymer matrix and 2-nitrophenyloctyl ether (NPOE) as the plasticizer along with the diglycolamide carrier extractants and were characterized by conventional techniques such as XRD, thermal analysis and AFM. The PIM composition was optimized by a series of studies which involved variation in the CTA, NPOE and carrier concentration which suggested 58% TODGA, 30% NPOE and 12% CTA to be optimum. The uptake studies were carried out using feed solutions containing varying concentrations of nitric acid and showed the trend: Am3+>Pu4+>Th4+>UO22+.
Transport studies were carried out in a two-compartment cell where nitric acid concentration the feed was varied (1–3M) while the receiver compartment contained alpha-hydroxy-iso-butyric acid (AHIBA). The actinide ion transport efficiencies with TODGA containing PIMs followed the same trend as seen in the uptake studies. The AFM patterns of the PIMs changed when loaded with Eu3+ carrier (used as a surrogate for Am3+) while the regenerated membranes have displayed comparable morphologies. Diffusion coefficient values were experimentally obtained from the transport studies and were found to be 8.89×10−8cm2/s for Am3+ transport.
Sustainable Manufacturing (SM) has been a buzzword for manufacturing industries in present state of intense competition but the research in this field needs to be enhanced towards developing an ...integrated and comprehensive approach for its adoption. The main objective of this study is to address this need by identifying and quantifying the mediating effects in complex causal structures of various domains by means of path modeling. A partial least square–structural equation modeling (PLS–SEM) is proposed and tested using survey data of Indian engineering manufacturing industries, collected using SurveyMonkey platform by sending emails to 999 organizations. Actual responses received were 87 with 15 incomplete responses giving finally 72 responses with no missing data. The
p
value for social to environmental domain of 0.640 did not show satisfactory performance at 1% confidence level and indicated a need to address the activities under social domain. For rest hypothesis, the results indicated satisfactory performance of the model, even for “manufacturing and technology” domain which is the endogenous variable. The results of mediation analysis showed a
p
value of 0.645 for the mediation effect of social domain which is not satisfactory, implying no mediation effect whereas economical domain has a partial mediation effect at 1% confidence level, in the relationship between exogenous construct and target endogenous construct. This research is expected to provide a systematic approach for the enhancement of SM practices in manufacturing firms for further improving decision-making towards controlling environmental impacts of their activities.
The food supply chain (FSC), being a complex network, faces major issues such as traceability, food security, safety and sustainability. Blockchain technology (BLCT) is regarded as an innovative ...technology that can transform FSC by means of its traceable, irrevocable, tamperproof network. BLCT being a new technology, little work has been carried out on the FSC domain. The purpose of the study is to examine the most recent trends, benefits, challenges, and application of BLCT in the FSC and explore the comprehensive adoption and application of BLCT, stating how it helps to achieve a triple bottom line (TBL) and net zero in the supply chain. The methodology used in this article is a systematic literature review (SLR) comprising 55 papers spanning the years 2018 to 2022. The findings of the study state that BLCT helps to achieve food safety, security, and traceability and increases the performance of the FSC. It also contributes to achieving the TBL of sustainability which can further help to achieve net zero. Based on this work’s insight and observations, practitioners and academics can better understand how companies can implement BLCT and achieve TBL benefits in the FSC, which could eventually provide a path to achieving net zero.
The present paper deals with flat Friedmann–Robertson–Walker (FRW) model with two-fluid sources in fractal cosmology. One fluid in this model represents the Universe’s matter content, while the other ...is a radiation field that models the cosmic microwave background. To obtain the deterministic model, we used the pressure–density relationship for matter via the gamma law equation of state
p
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=
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γ
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1
)
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1
≤
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. The solutions of fractal field equations are obtained in terms of Kummer’s confluent hypergeometric function of the first kind. Some physical parameters of the models are obtained and their behaviour is discussed in detail using graphs.
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