B.P. Mathur, K.I. Arshak, D. Mc Donagh and A. Arshak
The dry development of a photoresist is modelled using the analytical solution of the Boltzmann equation. It is proposed that at very low pressure and in the presence of a…
Abstract
The dry development of a photoresist is modelled using the analytical solution of the Boltzmann equation. It is proposed that at very low pressure and in the presence of a magnetic field, the etch rate of the resist can be calculated by integrating the ion flux. The simulation results illustrates improvement in both microuniformity and macrouniformity when the resist is etched under these process conditions.
K.I. Arshak, D. McDonagh, B.P. Mathur and A. Arshak
In this paper, simulation of topography effects in photolithography is examined using the two‐dimensional PC based simulator called SLITS (Simulation of Lithography on Topographic…
Abstract
In this paper, simulation of topography effects in photolithography is examined using the two‐dimensional PC based simulator called SLITS (Simulation of Lithography on Topographic Substrates). This program uses FEA software (in‐house written) to solve wave propagation in a photoresist layer and a modified String Algorithm for photoresist development. The simulated results illustrates the effect of topography on the latent and relief images.
Thottasseri Haseena, Sibasis Hense, Prakash Babu Kodali and Kavumpurathu Raman Thankappan
Literature on packaged food consumption and associated factors in Kerala is limited. This study aims to find out consumption pattern of packaged food and the factors associated…
Abstract
Purpose
Literature on packaged food consumption and associated factors in Kerala is limited. This study aims to find out consumption pattern of packaged food and the factors associated with it among young adults in Kerala.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a cross-sectional survey among 384 young adults aged 18–30 years selected using multistage cluster sampling. Information on packaged food consumption and sociodemographic factors was collected using a structured, pre-tested interview schedule. Binary logistic regression analysis was done to find out the factors associated with packaged food consumption.
Findings
Among the participants, 85.7% (95% CI = 81.9%–88.9%) reported consuming packaged food at least once a week, and 45% (95% CI = 40.4%–50.3%) reported consuming packaged food more than two times a week. Individuals who were employed [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.71, 95% CI = 1.06–2.76], who consume packaged food without a fixed routine (AOR = 2.24, 95% CI = 1.18–4.28), those without previous attempts to reduce packaged food consumption (AOR = 3.45, 95% CI = 1.72–6.91) and those who preferred packaged food for their taste and flavor (AOR = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.09–2.74) had greater odds of consuming packaged food more than two times a week compared to their counterparts.
Originality/value
Packaged food is frequently consumed by more than 40% of young adults in Kerala. Efforts focused on individuals (such as building awareness and taxing packaged foods) are warranted to control packaged food consumption among young adults.
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Khaled M.M. Koriem and Mahmoud S.S. Arbid
This paper aims to design to evaluate the protective effect of vitamin E to ameliorate the disturbances in testosterone pathway and sperm quality of male rats induced by the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to design to evaluate the protective effect of vitamin E to ameliorate the disturbances in testosterone pathway and sperm quality of male rats induced by the glycosides vicine (V) and convicine (C) of Vicia faba.
Design/methodology/approach
Forty male albino rats were divided into five equal groups; control, paraffin oil, V (400 mg/kg) C (150 mg/kg)-treated group, vitamin E (100 mg/kg) + VC-treated group, and vitamin E (200 mg/kg) + VC-treated groups which injected intraperioneally (IP) with 0.5-ml saline, 0.5-ml paraffin oil,V (400 mg/kg) and C (150 mg/kg) of Vicia faba, vitamin E (100 mg/kg) + VC-treated groups, and Vitamin E(200 mg/kg) + VC-treated groups, respectively. Blood and testicular tissue were obtained after one month of the study. The male genital organs were calculated. Testosterone (Ts), luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-SO4), sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG),?-glutamyl transpeptidase (?-GT), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), 3ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3ßHSD), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), spermatozoa concentration, percent of mortality and abnormal sperms were evaluated.
Findings
The VC-treated group showed significant decrease (p < 0.01) in Ts, DHEA-SO4, G6PD, spermatozoa number and mortality percent, as well as, the male genital organs (testes, epidydemis, seminal vesicle, prostate and vasa deferentia) while significant increase (p < 0.01) was found in LH, FSH, SHBG, LDH, ?-GT, sperms monoclonal Ki-67, and abnormal spermatocytes levels compared with control group. Vitamin E co-injection with VC-treated group returned all these parameters to the normal values. The higher dose of vitamin E (200 mg/kg) was more effect than the lower dose (100 mg/kg).
Originality/value
Vicia faba contains V and C glycosides. The V and C glycosides in Vicia faba are hydrolyzed by intestinal microflora to aglycones divicine and isouramil, respectively. Divicine and isouramil are highly reactive compounds generating free radicals where divicine and isouramil are the main factors of favism. The V and C glycosides induced disturbances in testosterone pathway and sperm quality of male rats and vitamin E ameliorates these disturbances.
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Xavier Salamin and Doris Hanappi
Research on female expatriates has been substantially growing over the last decades and particularly in more recent years. Complementing previous thematic analyses of the…
Abstract
Purpose
Research on female expatriates has been substantially growing over the last decades and particularly in more recent years. Complementing previous thematic analyses of the literature, the purpose of this paper is to apply textual statistics and correspondence analysis to reveal the existing semantic structure of the field of research on female expatriates.
Design/methodology/approach
Using correspondence analysis, the authors explored textual data from the abstracts of 151 identified journal articles published in English since 1975. The authors obtained a graphical representation showing the various developmental stages of research on female expatriates.
Findings
The authors found that research follows a home-host country orientation and advances from an organizational focus toward individual-level studies. The authors identified various directions for future research and especially a strong need for more multilevel approaches to study men’s and women’s expatriate experiences and trajectories in various contexts.
Research limitations/implications
Only articles with abstracts entered the analysis, which in turn was dependent on the content and quality of these abstracts. This limitation has been addressed by thoroughly reading each article considered.
Originality/value
This review adopts an original method in research on (female) expatriates and more broadly management research. It enabled the authors to map out the development of key research themes over time. Based on this analysis, gaps in current research could be identified and clear directions for future research were formulated.
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S. Muralidharan, P. Chandrakumari, K. Madhavan, T. Vasudevan and S. Venkatakrishna Iyer
Introduction Amines have been known for a number of years as effective corrosion inhibitors. Their efficiency is attributed to the presence of the nitrogen atom acting as the…
Abstract
Introduction Amines have been known for a number of years as effective corrosion inhibitors. Their efficiency is attributed to the presence of the nitrogen atom acting as the active centre for the adsorption of organic molecules on the metal surface. Several aliphatic and aromatic amines have been reported to serve as effective corrosion inhibitors for iron and steel in acidic solutions. The nitrogen‐containing corrosion inhibitor exhibited a very good performance in hydrochloric acid, but very little effect in sulphuric acid. Hence a study of the mechanism by which the corrosion rate is reduced when these organic compounds are added to solutions is of interest. In this study the inhibition of corrosion of mild steel in HCl and H2SO4 has been studied using different electrochemical techniques. Results are reported and discussed.
Li Xianghong, Deng Shuduan, Fu Hui, Li Taohong and Mu Guannan
The purpose of this paper is to study the inhibition effect of Tween‐40 on the corrosion of cold rolled steel (CRS) in 1.0‐8.0 M HCl over the temperature range of 20‐50°C. It also…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the inhibition effect of Tween‐40 on the corrosion of cold rolled steel (CRS) in 1.0‐8.0 M HCl over the temperature range of 20‐50°C. It also aims to make an attempt to correlate both thermodynamic parameters and kinetic parameters with the inhibition effect.
Design/methodology/approach
The inhibition efficiencies of Tween‐40 are investigated by weight loss and potentiodynamic polarization methods.
Findings
Tween‐40 acts as a good inhibitor in 1.0 M HCl, and inhibition efficiency increases with the inhibitor concentration, while it decreases with HCl concentration and temperature. The adsorption of inhibitor on the CRS surface obeys the Langmuir adsorption isotherm equation. The inhibition effect is satisfactorily explained by both thermodynamic and kinetic parameters. Polarization curves show that Tween‐40 is a mixed‐type inhibitor in hydrochloric acid.
Originality/value
The experimental data have been treated with adsorption theory and kinetic equations successfully. Both the thermodynamic and kinetic parameters can be obtained, and used in explaining the inhibition effect satisfactorily.
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Javeed Ahamed Golandaj and Karabasappa Gadigeppa Kallihal
Enormous amount of biomedical wastes (BMW) produced everyday across the world. Management of BMW depends on adherence to protocol. BMW management at generation point, definitely…
Abstract
Purpose
Enormous amount of biomedical wastes (BMW) produced everyday across the world. Management of BMW depends on adherence to protocol. BMW management at generation point, definitely, depends upon the awareness, attitudes and practises of health-care staff, the purpose of this study will assess the awareness, attitude and practise regarding different aspects of BMW.
Design/methodology/approach
An observational with appropriate checklists, and a cross-sectional study, involving questionnaires, was conducted during 7-24 January 2016. The existing system of BMW management, funds, resources, etc., knowledge, attitude and practises about BMW were assessed amongst 273 health-care workers in selected public health-care institutes of Karnataka.
Findings
Of 273 study participants, majority (54%) of them have not received any training pertaining to BMW. The results showed a poor level of knowledge and awareness of BMW management amongst health-care personnel. Merely, 43% of the participants correctly knew the categorization of BMW and its disposal in proper colour-coded bins/bags. Awareness is very poor amongst the lower age group, male participants, lab-technicians/pharmacists and supporting staff. Doctors were good at theoretical knowledge such as rules, legislation and public-health importance of BMW management than the practical aspects such as categorization and colour-coding. Further, the attitude of health-care staff is favourable about BMW. Immunization for hepatitis-B was very poor amongst waste handlers (43%).
Originality/value
As the awareness and practise regarding BMW management were poor across different health-care staff there is a need to conduct periodic training and regular monitoring with special focus on the proper use of personal protective equipment. Further, precautionary immunization should be provided, especially waste handlers and sanitary workers.
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G.S. Dangayach, Gaurav Gaurav and Sumit Gupta
The performance measurement system (PMS), recognized as an important tool for rapid improvement, has found wide applications in the larger organizations and has received a lot of…
Abstract
Purpose
The performance measurement system (PMS), recognized as an important tool for rapid improvement, has found wide applications in the larger organizations and has received a lot of research attention in recent past. PMS adoption in SMEs is low even though SMEs have realized its importance and benefits and are now ready to embrace PMS as a tool for improvement. This paper proposes a novel framework, called the footprint framework, for design and implementation of PMS for SMEs. The proposed framework overcomes some of the major barriers to adoption by simplifying the process of design and implementation of PMS.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical framework was conceptualized and its basis was tested for feasibility using an industry survey. The survey was analyzed using the statistical tools available in the SPSS 24.0 statistical analysis software, and the insights obtained from this analysis were used to shape the proposed framework. The framework was populated for small and medium manufacturing organizations (SMMOs) as a case study. Analytic hierarchy process was used to synthesize the data provided by the survey to build up the proposed framework and its components.
Findings
The footprint framework is a unique framework in the respect that it consists of a set of PMS suited to different company profiles that can be accessed quickly. Any SMMO that desires to determine its future PM requirements has simply to define its probable profile of the future in terms of size, business model and order winner and check the PMS appropriate to that profile from the footprint framework. Thus the SMMO can even prepare for its futuristic PM needs.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed framework overcomes some of the major barriers to adoption by simplifying the process of design and implementation of PMS. The main advantages of the footprint framework are its simplicity, ease of use, immediate implementation and a built-in knowledge bank.
Practical implications
This research has proposed a new PMS framework, an out of the box tool that makes it possible for the Indian SMMO to adopt PMS on an instant basis. The footprint framework combines the experience of several researchers and several practitioners to offer a ready-made starter kit that needs no other aid to implement a most appropriate PMS and leverage the industry PM best practices to build the performance measurement knowledge and expertise of the SMMO without going through a protracted learning or training process.
Social implications
This research has made a novel proposal for a PMS framework by proposing the footprint framework – a PMS framework that is not only an instant, out of the box solution for the SMMOs but also incorporates the know-how to implement the performance measurement complete with information on what to measure, how to interpret and what should be done to improve.
Originality/value
The proposed framework is simple to understand and removes a key barrier of PMS adoption for SMMOs. The user SMMO needs to state its size, business model and order winner from the available options, build up its PMS code, select the matching PMS from the framework and the SMMO is ready to implement the PMS.