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Outstanding features such as thermal conductivity and superior electrical conductivity of nanofluids unfold a new window in the context of their extensive applications in engineering and industrial domains. The purpose of this study to simulate numerically the magneto-nanofluid flow and heat transfer over a curved stretching surface. Heat transport is explored in the presence of viscous dissipation. At the curved surface, the convective boundary condition is adopted. Three different nanoparticles, namely, copper, aluminium oxide and titanium dioxide are taken into consideration because of easily available in nature.

The basic flow equations are framed in terms of curvilinear coordinates. The modelled partial differential equations are transformed into a system of non-linear ordinary differential equations by means of appropriate similarity transformation. The subsequent non-linear system of equations is then solved numerically by using the Runge–Kutta–Felhberg method with the shooting scheme via bvp4c MATLAB built-in function. Impacts of various physical parameters on velocity, pressure and temperature distributions, local skin-friction coefficient, local Nusselt number and wall temperature are portrayed through graphs and tables followed by a comprehensive debate and physical interpretation.

Graphical results divulge that augmenting values of the magnetic parameter cause a decline in velocity profiles and stream function inside the boundary layer. The magnitude of the pressure function inside the boundary layer reduces for higher estimation of curvature parameter, and it is also zero when the curvature parameter goes to infinity. Furthermore, the temperature is observed in a rising trend with growing values of the magnetic parameter and Biot number.

This research study is very pertinent to the expulsion of polymer sheet and photographic films, metallurgical industry, electrically-conducting polymer dynamics, magnetic material processing, rubber and polymer sheet processing, continuous casting of metals, fibre spinning, glass blowing and fibre, wire and fibre covering and sustenance stuff preparing, etc.

Despite the huge amount of literature available, but still, very little attention is given to simulate the flow configuration due to the curved stretching surface with the convective boundary condition. Very few papers have been examined on this topic and found that its essence inside the boundary layer is not any more insignificant than on account of a stretching sheet. A numerical comparison with the published works is conducted to verify the accuracy of the present study.

This study aims to present a unique hybrid metaheuristic approach to solving the nonlinear analysis of hall currents and electric double layer (EDL) effects in multiphase wavy flow by merging the firefly algorithm (FA) and the water cycle algorithm (WCA).

Nonlinear Hall currents and EDL effects in multiphase wavy flow are originally described by partial differential equations, which are then translated into an ordinary differential equation model. The hybrid FA-WCA technique is used to take on the optimization challenge and find the best possible design weights for artificial neural networks. The fitness function is efficiently optimized by this hybrid approach, allowing the optimal design weights to be determined.

The proposed strategy is shown to be effective by taking into account multiple variables to arrive at a single answer. The numerical results obtained from the proposed method exhibit good agreement with the reference solution within finite intervals, showcasing the accuracy of the approach used in this study. Furthermore, a comparison is made between the presented results and the reference numerical solutions of the Hall Currents and electroosmotic effects in multiphase wavy flow problem.

This comparative analysis includes various performance indices, providing a statistical assessment of the precision, efficiency and reliability of the proposed approach. Moreover, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is a new work which has not been explored in existing literature and will add new directions to the field of fluid flows to predict most accurate results.

Porous silicon (PS) was successfully fabricated using an alternating current photo-assisted electrochemical etching (ACPEC) technique. This study aims to compare the effect of different crystal orientation of Si n(100) and n(111) on the structural and optical characteristics of the PS.

PS was fabricated using ACPEC etching with a current density of J = 10 mA/cm² and etching time of 30 min. The PS samples denoted by PS₁₀₀ and PS₁₁₁ were etched using HF-based solution under the illumination of an incandescent white light.

FESEM images showed that the porous structure of PS₁₀₀ was a uniform circular shape with higher density and porosity than PS₁₁₁. In addition, the AFM indicated that the surface roughness of porous n(100) was less than porous n(111). Raman spectra of the PS samples showed a stronger peak with FWHM of 4.211 cm⁻¹ and redshift of 1.093 cm⁻¹. High resolution X-ray diffraction revealed cubic Si phases in the PS samples with tensile strain for porous n(100) and compressive strain for porous n(111). Photoluminescence observation of porous n(100) and porous n(111) displayed significant visible emissions at 651.97 nm (Eg = 190eV) and 640.89 nm (Eg = 1.93 eV) which was because of the nano-structure size of silicon through the quantum confinement effect. The size of Si nanostructures was approximately 8 nm from a quantized state effective mass theory.

The work presented crystal orientation dependence of Si n(100) and n(111) for the formation of uniform and denser PS using new ACPEC technique for potential visible optoelectronic application. The ACPEC technique has effectively formed good structural and optical characteristics of PS.

The present study aims to identify significant barriers to adopting prefabricated construction (PFC) in developing economies using a study in Sri Lanka and develop an integrated strategy framework to mitigate and overcome the obstacles.

The research process included a comprehensive literature review, a pilot study, a questionnaire survey for data collection, statistical analysis and a qualitative content analysis.

Ranking method revealed that all 23 barriers were significant. Top significant barriers include challenges in prefabricated component transportation, high capital investment costs and lack of awareness of the benefits of PFC among owners/developers. Factor analysis clustered six barrier categories (BCs) that fit the barrier factors, explaining 71.22% of the cumulative variance. Fuzzy synthetic evaluation revealed that all BCs significantly influence PFC adoption in Sri Lanka. Finally, the proposed mitigation strategies were mapped with barriers to complete the integrated framework.

The study outcomes are relevant to construction industry stakeholders of Sri Lanka, who are keen to enhance construction efficiencies. The implications can also benefit construction industry stakeholders and policymakers to formulate policies and regulations and identify mitigation solutions.

The study provides deeper insights into the challenges to adopting prefabrication in South Asian countries such as Sri Lanka. Furthermore, the integrated framework is a novel contribution that can be used to derive actions to mitigate barriers in developing economies.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.

The paper introduces and annotates periodical articles, monographs, and audiovisual material examining library instruction and information literacy.

Information about each source is provided. The paper discusses the characteristics of current scholarship, and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.

The information in the paper may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

Organisations are looking for a concept that can solve traditional as well upgraded production problems with current resources and technology, and this can be addressed by integration of lean six sigma (LSS) with Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies. This reduces complexity in the manufacturing process through digital technologies. Cyber physical system (CPS) is considered as primary I4.0 technology with which all other technologies are associated to extend. CPS can integrate with other prevailing manufacturing approaches like lean, LSS and so on. LSS, on the other hand, is a team-focussed performance improvement strategy which is widely used by the industries to identify problems, eliminate waste to meet customer requirements. The study aims at analysis of challenges for LSS and CPS integration.

Integrating LSS and CPS will solve both traditional and modern manufacturing problems. To integrate these technologies, organisational requirements need to be assessed. These requirements are posed as challenges in this study. Their priority weights are analysed, and challenges are prioritised using fuzzy Combinative Distance-based Assessment (CODAS) method. Sensitivity analysis is employed to assess the robustness of the results.

The result of this study enables top management to integrate LSS and CPS. In this study, 20 challenges were identified, and they are assessed to compute their relative assessment score. Requirement of new tools and methods with 0.6 score ranks first followed by interplay with big data and requirement of new communication protocol. The result highlighted the need for integration of LSS and CPS, proper utilisation of information and communication technologies, and cyber security management as the main impediments that need to be addressed to implement CPS in an LSS environment.

The analysis of challenges of LSS and CPS integration using MCDM tool is the original contribution of the authors.

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is receiving a tremendous attention as a modern process of streaming to improve the organizational ability and customer satisfaction. A successful LSS implementation is influenced by various factors and the execution of all the influencing factors simultaneously is a very difficult task for any organization. From the perspective of limitation of resources, this paper aims to present a basic issue in an LSS implementation of clustering complex and impacting factors into groups to achieve them in a stepwise manner. This paper aims to present a fundamental issue of clustering the complex and impacting factors of an LSS implementation into groups to achieve them stepwise.

A total of 40 relevant influencing factors toward an LSS implementation have been identified from the extensive literature review and duly validated with experts’ opinions. Integrated fuzzy set theory and decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) approach are demonstrated to explore the causal relationships among influencing factors of the LSS implementation. An empirical case analysis of an Indian manufacturing organization is carried out to illustrate the utilization of the proposed model.

The proposed framework effectively finds out the significance of each influencing factor of an LSS implementation and clustered into cause–effect groups. As per the results of the empirical case analysis, ten critical success factors (CSFs) of the LSS implementation are evaluated for the successful LSS implementation. Top management pays more attention to achieve them and implement them in a phase-wise approach under the limitations of accessible resources.

The presented framework provides an effective, precise and systematic decision support tool for recognizing CSFs of the LSS implementation. The organization, decision-makers, industrial practitioners and academic researchers may be able to comprehend the cause–effect relationship of the influencing factors of the LSS implementation. The exploratory nature and the single case study are two major limitations of this analysis. The developed model is heavily dependent on the experts’ opinions; hence, any bias in judgment will influence the final result.

This analysis is the first of its kind of effort, according to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to classify the influencing factors of LSS implementation into the cause–effect cluster. The outcomes of this analysis make the complexity of a problem easier in handling and assisting the decision-making.

Pakistan had never been a place of serious and nuanced debate and contestation of politics of postcolonial critique, that is, the continuity of economic, political, and cultural dependency of newly independent countries (NICs) on ex-colonizers as pointed out by neocolonialism, dependency theory, and postcolonial theory, respectively. Instead, Pakistan is presented by extant liberal academic literature as a “failed nation” and a state dominated by the military and plagued by religious extremism. As opposed to this, through the literary and activists writings of Aziz-ul-Haq, this chapter will try to illustrate how cultural contestation of the nation-building project postindependence from British rule was a lot more complex and interesting in Pakistan. This was so because the nation-building project of Pakistan was, on the one hand, an amalgamation of Indo-Persian, Arab, Indian, and Western colonial and civilizational influences and, on the other hand, entailed suppression of resilient local and national cultures of its constituent nationalities developed over centuries. This was later expressed in ethno-nationalist politics. However, when it came to the politics of the marginalized in the late 1960s, there were important political, theoretical, and literary insights which caused a change in the direction of political practice in Pakistan, which paralleled the politics expressed by writers like Fanon and early Subaltern Studies influenced by the Naxal Movement in India. The contestation and confusion arising from this dialectic also entered Pakistan's literary and cultural sphere. This chapter not only tries to give a different postcolonial critique of the failure of nation-building project in Pakistan but, though at a preliminary level, is an attempt to separate the original postcolonial theory in its radical tradition from contemporary postmodern/poststructuralist postcolonial theory marked with pessimism and resignation.