Search results

Points out certain ambiguities in the usage of some reliability parameters in their application to repairable systems and presents a digital simulation model for analysing their reliability. The proposed model is useful for assessing intended changes in systems design or improvements in operational and maintenance procedures on system reliability. Outlines different steps of a computational algorithm for solving the proposed model. Describes an illustrative application of the proposed model to a fleet of trainer aircraft.

The purpose of this paper is to find the reliability measures of Linux operating system connected in local area network (LAN).

The system has two different topologies, i.e. star topology (subsystem-1) and bus topology (subsystem-2), are placed at two different places, and connected to a server through a hub. Both the topologies have n clients. The system has partial failure and complete failure. The partial failure is of two type’s namely minor partial and major partial. The minor partial failure degrades the system whereas the major partial failure brings the system to a break down mode. The system can completely fail due to failure of server hacking and blocking.

By using supplementary variable technique and Laplace transformation, by taking different types of failure and two types of repairs the availability, non-availability, mean time to failure and cost analysis (expected profit) of the design system have been obtained.

In this research, a mathematical model of Linux operating system has been discussed from which one can check the behavioral analysis of the designed system.

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of the application of various models to estimate the reliability in railway repairable systems.

The methodology proposed by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), using homogeneous Poisson process (HPP) and non-homogeneous Poisson process (NHPP) models, is adopted. Additionally, renewal process (RP) models, not covered by the IEC, are used, with a complementary analysis to characterize the failure intensity thereby obtained.

The findings show the impact of the recurrent failures in the times between failures (TBF) for rejection of the HPP and NHPP models. For systems not exhibiting a trend, RP models are presented, with TBF described by three-parameter lognormal or generalized logistic distributions, together with a methodology for generating clusters.

For those systems that do not exhibit a trend, TBF is assumed to be independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.), and therefore, RP models of “perfect repair” have to be used.

Maintenance managers must refocus their efforts to study the reliability of individual repairable systems and their recurrent failures, instead of collections, in order to customize maintenance to the needs of each system.

The stochastic process models were applied for the first time to electric traction systems in 23 trains and to 40 escalators with ten years of operating data in a railway company. A practical application of the IEC models is presented for the first time.

Existing supply chain (SC) performance models are not able to cope with the potential of intensive SC digitalisation and establish a relationship between decisions and decision criteria. The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated knowledge-based system (KBS) that creates a link between decisions and decision criteria (attributes) and evaluates the overall SC performance.

The proposed KBS is grounded on the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (fuzzy AHP), which establishes a relationship between short-term and long-term decisions and SC performance criteria (short-term and long-term) for accurate and integrated Overall SC performance evaluation.

The proposed KBS evaluates the overall SC performance, establishes a relationship between decisions (long-term and short-term) and decision criteria of SC functions and provides decision makers with a view of the impact of their short-term or long-term decisions on overall SC performance. The proposed system was implemented in a case company where the authors were able to develop a SC performance monitoring dashboard for the company’s top managers and operational managers.

The proposed KBS assists organisations and decision makers in evaluating their overall SC performance and helps in identifying underperforming SC functions and their associated criteria. It may also be considered as a tool for benchmarking SC performance against competitors. It can efficiently point to improvement directions and help decision makers improve overall SC performance.

The proposed KBS provides a holistic and integrated approach, establishes a relationship between decisions and decision criteria and evaluates overall SC performance, which is one of the main limitations in existing supply chain performance measurement systems.

The current era of the fourth industrial revolution has attracted significant research on the use of digital technologies in improving construction project delivery. However, less emphasis has been placed on how these digital tools will influence the management of the construction workforce. To this end, using a review of existing works, this chapter explores the fourth industrial revolution and its associated technologies that can positively impact the management of the construction workforce when implemented. Also, the possible challenges that might truncate the successful deployment of digital technologies for effective workforce management were explored. The chapter submitted that implementing workforce management-specific digital platforms and other digital technologies designed for project delivery can aid effective workforce management within construction organisations. Technologies such as cloud computing, the Internet of Things, big data analytics, robotics and automation, and artificial intelligence, among others, offer significant benefits to the effective workforce management of construction organisations. However, several challenges, such as resistance to change due to fear of job loss, cost of investment in digital tools, organisational structure and culture, must be carefully considered as they might affect the successful use of digital tools and by extension, impact the success of workforce management in the organisations.

This chapter examines the manner in which a disaster-affected population of artisanal fishers relocated inland to new sites following the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 experienced and adapted to problems of water quality, scarcity, sanitation, and drainage. While numerous studies of conflicts over water tend to focus on issues of equitable access (see Anand, 2011), this chapter seeks to link the problem to the contested priorities driving land and resource use and access. I show how inland relocation negatively impacted households, making it harder to sustain livelihoods due to distance from the coast, while imposing new costs including that of commodified and scarce water, locational deficiencies, and the structural weaknesses of new housing. Placed in a historical context, the problem of water can be seen as an aspect of the long-term problem of ecologically unequal exchange pitting local artisanal fisher communities against an aggressively state-supported commercial fishery sector. The continuity I seek to hone in on is the pattern of imposing costs on fishers while enabling the alienation and privatization of coastal resources. Taking water not only as a vital substance presenting questions of access and quality but also as a problem of drainage and effluence enables a fuller consideration of how the unequal distribution of costs on poorer populations became legitimized in the name of recovery. At the same time, the chapter also highlights the manner in which fishers refused to remain docile subjects of power and used their agency and autonomy in adapting to and sometimes refusing the terms of relocation.

Rivers are very close to Indian culture and civilisation. Indians treat rivers as holy and connect them to their faith. Human-induced activities unintentionally pollute the water bodies. The present case revolves around an innovative social enterprise – PHOOL, which deals with the recycling of flowers offered by devotees at temples. Thus, preventing thousands of kilograms of floral waste from being dumped into rivers daily and polluting them. The idea was conceived to save the most revered river – the Ganges. These flowers are mostly loaded with pesticides and insecticides, which further merge with river water making it even more toxic, endangering marine lives. PHOOL collects flowers from various places of worship and recycles them into handcrafted incense sticks and biodegradable Styrofoam. This unique venture has also been patented for its process and technology of floral waste recycling. Their mission is to save and preserve the river Ganges and empower marginalised women by providing employment opportunities while at the same time giving a livelihood and a future to Indian child and the generations to come. The child could now afford schooling, in hopes of a better economic future in a healthier environment while maintaining all societal traditions. It is essentially a case of social entrepreneurship that aims to help readers understand the intricacies of starting and surviving a social enterprise and ensuring continual sustainability. To create the case, an interview was carried out with Ms Ekta Jain (Associate, Marketing and Communications, PHOOL), as well as a literature review and data were collected on the social enterprise and significant events that take place in the Indian social entrepreneurship ecosystem. PHOOL is a case on ensuring a balanced approach between the economy, environment and society. It aims at protecting and creating a balance between the environment, the economy and the society, generating a new inflow to the economy, providing a purpose in life for those most in need of it and a livelihood free from pollution and deprivation, and making the world a better place to live in. It is creating a balance between societal needs, the environment that requires protection, the economy and ensuring continuity.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how leading a childhood characterized by transnational mobility affects youths’ understanding of and relationship to their ethnic identity.

Study approach: This study examines the effects of transnational mobility on ethnic identity by focusing on the specific case of Indian Americans who grew up in the USA and Bangalore, a city in southwest India, before relocating to the USA for college. The analysis for this chapter comes from semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 20 transnational Indian American youth.

Findings: The data analysis reveals that by spending part of their childhood in India, transnational Indian American youth were able to learn more about their Indian ethnic identity, which helped them resolve issues related to their status as an ethnic minority in the USA, reframe how they define their ethnic identity, and reevaluate the status of their ethnic identity relative to their counterparts in the USA.

Originality: This study focuses on the unique case of Indian American youth who had a childhood characterized by transnational mobility. As such, this work contributes to the literature on children and youths’ transnational mobility through its focus on the migration patterns of relatively elite and socially privileged children and youth. Additionally, it adds to our understanding of the effects of migration between the USA and India by addressing how these processes affect children and youth. Last, it adds to the literature on Indian Americans by focusing on an understudied subpopulation within this group. The study motivates future research on the diversity that exists among transnationally mobile Indian American children and youth.

Looks at how immigration in the USA has changed so that by the late 1980s almost three‐quarters of a million legal immigrants were entering the country ever year, and how by the 1980s this had increased to 9 million! Investigates the changing birthrate by which foreign born residents now account for one in five births in the USA. Posits that Islam is the fastest growing religion and that the USA has metamorphosed from being a “Christian” country to be the most religiously diverse nation in the world.

This case describes the challenges faced by Amul in organising dairy farmers into a co-operative and creating continuous opportunities for value addition. Participants in the case discussion are required to review the developments in the organisation and recommend a strategy for the future.