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The purpose of this paper is to study very fast transient overvoltages (VFTOs) in the secondary winding of air‐cored Tesla transformers and also study the resulting electric field stresses.

An exhaustive model based on Multi‐conductor Transmission Lines (MTLs) theory has been used. The governing telegraphist's equations have been solved by Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method.

The results demonstrated that there are some overvoltages at the end and middle turns that should be considered in insulation design. The magnitudes of these overvoltages are several times more than the steady state value of the corresponding turn which cause very high electric field stresses.

The paper describes results obtained from an original and innovative implementation of FDTD method in transmission line modelling and is applied properly to air‐cored pulse transformers.

An iteration technique has been developed based on the Mickens iteration method to obtain approximate angular frequencies. This technique also offers the periodic solutions to the nonlinear free vibration of a conservative, coupled mass–spring system having linear and nonlinear stiffnesses with cubic nonlinearity. Two real-world cases of these systems are analysed and introduced.

In this paper, the truncated terms of the Fourier series have been used and utilized in every step of the iteration.

The obtained results are valid for whole ranges of vibration amplitude of the oscillations. The approximated results are compared with existing and corresponding numerical (considered to be exact) results which show excellent agreement. The error analysis has been carried out and shown acceptable results for the proposed iteration technique.

Effectiveness of the proposed iteration technique is found in comparison with other existing methods. The method is demonstrated by examples.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the free vibration behavior of a functionally graded (FG) rectangular plate under asymmetric boundary conditions using the coupled displacement field method (CDF), which is based on first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT).

The material properties of the FG rectangular plate vary continuously in the direction of thickness based on the power-law exponent form. The approach utilizes the CDF method, where the admissible trail functions are assumed for total rotations in both directions that satisfy various boundary conditions. Based on the coupling equations, the function for lateral displacement is derived in terms of total rotations. By utilizing the energy formulations, the undetermined coefficients are derived. The frequency parameters are obtained by minimizing the Lagrangian with respect to the undetermined coefficients.

The frequencies with respect to different parameters like aspect ratios (a/b), thickness ratio (h/a) and power-law (k) for all edges SCSS and SCSF boundary conditions are found. The effect of the parameters on the obtained frequencies is observed, and these frequency parameters are compared with other literature to validate the derived frequencies. The findings of the present formulation are in excellent accord when compared to other methods in the literature.

The energy formulations in the proposed method contain half the number of undetermined coefficients when compared to the Rayleigh–Ritz (RR) method, which simplifies the vibration problem significantly. The efficacy of the proposed method in finding the frequency parameters lies in reduced computational procedure when compared to other methods.

The house not only provides shelter and security but also is a reflection of human privacy. One of the important factors involved in house design is privacy. The current research is a case study that examines privacy's evolution in contemporary houses in Kerman using space syntax techniques.

This study is based on the quantitative approach of space syntax. A total number of 15 houses in Kerman built in three periods of Qajar, Pahlavi and the Islamic Republic, were examined for the space syntax indices using UCL DepthMap. The DepthMap outputs were also analyzed using one-way ANOVA.

The findings indicated that the arrangement of spaces in houses has altered over time from the 1920s onwards. There is a significant difference between houses of the Qajar, Pahlavi and the Islamic Republic eras, indicating a reduction in the hierarchy of access and reduced privacy in houses in the Islamic Republic.

Numerous factors affect privacy (e.g. confidentiality, interface spaces, quality of openings and visibility). Nevertheless, this study focused on the impact of spatial configuration on privacy. It can be stated that the design of houses from the Pahlavi period was gradually associated with changes in culture and modern architecture, leading to a decrease in privacy.

This study used space syntax to examine the evolution of privacy in contemporary Iranian houses. Since privacy is a substantial issue in the middle east communities, the findings can help designers and relevant organizations consider privacy as much as other comfort factors in the early stages of design.

Meeting the patients' requirements as customers of the health care sector is crucially important as a social responsibility. According to the resource constraints, only an efficient utilisation of health services can provide that purpose. This study aims to develop a quantitative assessment framework for radiology centres as a vital section in healthcare to translate the patients' requirements into service quality specifications. This would help to achieve quality improvement by emphasising the voice of customers.

A literature review is conducted to specify the service quality criteria and the patients' requirements related to healthcare and hospitals. Based on the experts' opinions, these criteria and requirements are later customised for the radiology centres. Moreover, the requirements are categorised into five dimensions of SERVQUAL. The interrelations between service elements are also determined through expert group consensus using Pearson correlation. Afterwards, by applying the QFD method, the relations between the requirements and criteria are explored. Additionally, a customer satisfaction survey is executed in Tehran public hospitals to prioritise these requirements and provide an importance-satisfaction analysis.

Based on the result of the case study, service elements are prioritised for improvement, and practical suggestions are provided using the Delphi technique for quality improvement. In addition, a cause-and-effect diagram is presented to highlight the improvement area and provide enhancement suggestions.

This study is the first empirical attempt to benefit from the VOC in evaluating and enhancing the quality of service delivered to radiology patients. In doing so, the study applies a hybrid approach of QFD and SERVQUAL as well as other tools to highlight the improvement area and provide enhancement suggestions. The findings can be readily used by the practitioners.

Traditionally, the banking and financial sectors have pioneered adoption of new technologies and business models. One important digital banking model that has proven its efficacy in recent times, is Digital-Only Banking (DOB) where consumers interact with their banks through digital channels only. Having detailed knowledge of what actually happens at the consumer level during the adoption of new digital models and technologies is paramount to the success of these technological initiatives. The present study aims to investigate DOB adoption behavior and possible barriers using a quantitative approach at the consumer level. A conceptual model is developed by extending the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, incorporating Trust (TR), Perceived Risk (PR) constructs and cultural moderators of Individualism (IDV) and Uncertainty Avoidance (UA).

For this study, an online survey instrument was created and administered in Iran. The research sample was selected through the application of purposive sampling. Data from 788 respondents were analyzed. The proposed model was tested using Partial Least Square.?.s Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM).

The results show that DOB adoption is positively influenced by Effort Expectancy (EE), Social Influence (SI), and Facilitating Conditions (FC), while PR negatively influences DOB adoption intention. Unexpectedly, the results indicate that TR has no significant impact on DOB usage intention. Additionally, this study demonstrates that with individuals having a low level of IDV, the relationship between PE and BI is stronger, and with individuals having a low level of UA, the impact of SI on BI is stronger. It also reveals that the impact of TR on BI is stronger in low individualistic cultures.

DOB providers should enhance support features of their services or provide facilities that make it simpler for users to accomplish online transactions. Here, in order to improve the UI/UX design of their apps, DOB product managers should carefully observe the technical guidelines of the operating systems of digital devices, such as the Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) for iOS and Material You for Android. Additionally, DOB providers should build partnerships with mega online retailers to provide hassle-free and easy to use payment solutions for consumers.

DOB, as a novel and business model, has been investigated in very few studies, especially regarding any which focus on its adoption. To fill this gap, this research investigates DOB adoption through a modified version of the UTAUT model. The findings of this study suggest that future research regarding DOB should consider sources of TR, types of non-adopters, and context. This study, as the first of its kind in DOB literature, also highlights the significant role played by cultural values in customer behavior regarding DOB adoption.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of microcredit on women’s empowerment in rural Bangladesh using the latest primary data.

Primary data have been collected by a household survey in the four districts of Bangladesh. Logistic regression is used to estimate the odd of improving women empowerment after participating in microfinance.

The results show positive impacts of microfinance on most of the selected indicators for women’s empowerment.

Lack of control groups and baseline data are the main limitation of this research. Future research can address this issue by selecting institutions with baseline data or control groups.

The findings of the study can help policy makers to adopt appropriate policies that integrate empowerment in development projects with women.

The results of this research could encourage more women to participate in microfinance activities and development projects.

This research provides the most updated data from a primary survey in Bangladesh. The authors also mitigate the possible selection biases by using a fixed-effects estimator.

This study examines the role of industry competition, market capitalization, and debt levels in the relationship between profitability and firm value (FV). The sample included companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in the manufacturing sector in 2017–2019. This study provides empirical evidence that the high level of industrial competition (IC), low level of market capitalization (market value of equity, MVE), and high levels of debt (debt-to-assets ratio, DAR) weaken the effect of profitability as measured by return on assets (ROA) on FV as measured by Tobin’s Q. Profitability is not even related to FV for firms facing high industry competition. In addition, profitability only has a marginal positive relationship with FV for firms with relatively small market capitalizations. These findings suggest that the relationship between profitability and FV is not monotonous but is influenced by the level of industry competence, market capitalization, and debt.

With rapid market customized demand and short development cycles, mixed production with multiple classes and variable batches has been popular, and its buffer allocation problem has become a new challenge. The mixed production cannot be analyzed based on the assumption of a stationary demand process which was typically used in previous studies. Furthermore, mixed production is still in human–machine cooperation mode where dynamic working efficiency because of workers’ fatigue causes uncertain processes. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to solve the buffer allocation problem in mixed production systems with multiple classes, variable batch sizes and worker fatigue considerations.

A dynamic modeling method of mixed production with multiple classes and variable batches is improved, which uses nonstationary demand processes to model the dynamic nature of multiple classes and variable batches. Human working efficiency decreasing due to fatigue is modeled as the time-varying service rate to represent human–machine cooperation. Furthermore, a parallel evolutionary algorithm that combines global and local search strategies parallelly is developed to solve the buffer allocation problem in mixed production for the first time.

Numerical examples demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed algorithm. The proposed algorithm achieves better solution quality than the state of art algorithms.

This study improves the dynamic modeling of mixed production to consider human factors and develops a hybrid algorithm to effectively solve the buffer allocation problem in dynamic mixed production.

The purpose of this paper is to examine e-service quality (E-SQ) of online shopping in Pakistan using “E-S-QUAL scale.” Moreover, in this study, the relationship of E-SQ with e-customer satisfaction (E-CS) and e-customer loyalty (E-CL) has been studied.

Following a quantitative research methodology, data were collected from 298 respondents using convenience sampling and survey research design was followed. In order to develop the model and test the hypotheses, structure equation modeling (SEM) was done through AMOS.

Findings indicate that all of the first latent constructs are significant where E-CS and E-CL (dependent variables) are influenced by E-SQ (independent variable). Using SEM, statistically fit structural model was developed on the basis of confirmatory factor analysis. The analysis shows that there is a strong positive relation between E-SQ and E-CS and E-SQ and E-CL.

Asian markets have been identified as the fastest growing e-commerce markets in present era. Similarly, retail sector in Pakistan is booming, at the same time an exponential increase is being observed in the number of internet users and online shopping. It is important for marketers and retailers to explore new horizons and enter the age of e-commerce for expansion of their businesses.

The increasingly wide use of the internet is influencing everything around the globe and these emerging e-commerce trends have tremendously changed the mode of shopping from brick and mortars to e-stores. The study explores the e-commerce and focuses on E-SQ and its impact on E-CS and E-CL in the context of a developing economy, i.e. Pakistan, uncovering the key dimensions and attributes.