Search results

Risk is primarily managed by developing the right strategies. Effective alignment of lean and agile strategies is always challenging for practitioners to create firm’s competitiveness. The purpose of this study is to comprehend the behavior of these fundamental supply chain (SC) strategies by using the Triple-A framework.

Sample data is collected from 257 SC professionals serving in manufacturing firms through a self-administered structured questionnaire. The statistical technique used to perform hypotheses testing is structural equation modeling.

This study discloses a few critical attributes of lean and agile strategies while attempting to create strategic alignment and gain maximum benefits out of it. One of the key findings is that a lean strategy finds it challenging to create adaptability. However, better alignment among the market priorities and operational capabilities may improve risk management capabilities.

This study posits various vital insights for strategy-makers. For instance, it is advised to the operations managers that lean resources are usually never capable of adopting change but can be aligned with the market changes to create a SC risk management capability for the firm.

This is an original research with various useful insights for SC operations strategy-makers and academic researchers as it reveals a key empirical evidence of past vital concepts.

This paper aims to describe the lived experiences of modern urban mothers in Pakistan as they navigate shared motherhood responsibilities with family elders. This paper brings to light their feelings, fears and ambitions towards safeguarding the environment for the future of their children, by reconciling ancient traditions of their female elders with contemporary sustainable consumption practices.

This phenomenological study explores lived experiences of urban mothers through in-depth personal interviews. Their discourse explores sharing childcare responsibilities with family matriarchs, negotiating “green” parenting strategies between intergenerational parenting partners.

Navigating life through the intersections of modernity and tradition and ethical choices and consumerism, urban mothers integrate wisdom of their ancestors into their modern lives to mitigate the environmental degradation of today.

This study sheds light on a unique genre of green mothers, termed as the traditionally green eco-mom, which allows modern mothers and their female elders to synchronously adopt sustainable childcare behaviours that overcome intergenerational barriers by reconciling contemporary lifestyles with traditional wisdom.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the existing mechanism of school management committees (SMCs) and to propose an improved framework for strengthening its process and outcomes. In 2005, the Education and Literacy department, Government of Sindh decentralizes the administrative and operational authorities to school level in the form of SMCs. These committees have been vested with several roles and responsibilities in accordance with the objective of SMCs set in by government in assistance with different international donor agencies.

The purposively selected respondent that includes 35 stakeholders among which 25 stakeholders has been interviewed individually while other ten has been interviewed in the form of two focused groups consisting of five members each. The findings based on the interviews are analyzed using the thematic analysis. This study analyzes the formation of SMCs, roles and responsibilities of members, Allocation SMC funds and its utilization methods. The study includes the challenges faced by these committees in school administration and operations with their recommendations for overcoming such challenges. Some common challenges include limited financial resources, interference of landlords and potential people of the community, limited administrative authorities and lack of interest of government toward government schools.

The recommendations have been categorized into three broad themes: strengthening of mechanism, strengthening through functions, roles and responsibilities and revising SMC fund allocation and its utilization.

The study proposed an improved framework for strengthening the process and outcomes of SMC.

Financial inclusion plays an essential role in today’s modern era. There has been a growing recognition that financial inclusion is an important enabler in poverty reduction. It is an essential tool in enabling inclusive growth and reducing poverty. This study aims to identify the barriers that limit customers to use digital financial services (DFS) in Pakistan. Second, this study aims to spread awareness of DFS and benefits of digital financial inclusion and services to retain customers in Pakistan. Third, the study purposes to retain old customers toward DFS in Pakistan.

This study is qualitative phenomenology study. The data were collected through interviews (i.e., online or face-to-face, depending on participants convenience). The sample comprised respondents with different age and different nature of work. Before conducting actual interviews, the interview questions were validated by three experts working in the State Bank of Pakistan in the relevant field. The interviews took from those individuals who were have digital financial account, but not using it due to some reasons. Data analysis carried out by using the NVivo software to deliver the themes after analyzing the data by querying, visualizing and coding.

The study categorized s6 themes as second order themes including dependency, illiteracy, lack of trust, cost, lack of access to financial services and financial instability by emerging 16 subject themes as 1st order themes. It including financial illiteracy, digital illiteracy, lack of knowledge, depend on spouse, depend on parents/children, depend on siblings, fear, security issues, privacy issues, lack of internet access, lack of account access, unemployment, low income, high expenses, other cost and transaction cost. These barriers limit DFS adoption and its use. This study found that 90% respondents were financial illiterate and 80% respondents do not have the knowledge of new recent e-payment system.

However, this study contributes to reducing these barriers and spreading knowledge about financial inclusion and DFS. From a managerial perspective, additional attention needs to be devoted to the adoption of financial inclusion and innovation in DFS.

Lean and agile strategies are two basic supply chain paradigms that strategist decouples based on their internal and external environment. This study aims to identify the influence of market orientation (MO) and quality management (QM) deployment on the supply chain strategies. Furthermore, this study also seeks empirical evidence of the impact of these core strategies on creating risk management capabilities.

Quantitative research technique is deployed to explain the phenomenon. The data was gathered through a structured scale questionnaire from supply chain professionals working at different manufacturing firms. Valid data of 134 respondents is then analyzed through partial least squares structural equation modeling for further empirical understanding.

The outcome of the research indicates that MO capability; as an external drive is a key to make an operational strategy. QM as an internal control is more prone to formulating a lean strategy (LS). Another important finding is that LS does not complement risk management capabilities especially in an uncertain market condition.

The study suggested concrete implications for risk management through the right mix of lean and agile supply chain strategies. There are some good insights for the supply chain policy-makers working in a developing country.

This study will provide empirical evidence for managing supply chain risk through an effective strategy making.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effectiveness of Project Based Learning (PBL) in comparison to the prevailing English language pedagogy.

The pre-test/post-test experimental design with one control and one treatment group was used to complete the study that was carried out for 12 weeks. In all, 140 female students enrolled in Grade-XI at a public college in Karachi, Pakistan, were randomly divided into the two groups to compare the traditional pedagogy with the proposed PBL method. The participants in the experiment and control groups were taught the same prescribed curriculum using the PBL and traditional pedagogy, respectively.

The study shows PBL to be a better instructional method as compared to the existing traditional pedagogy for teaching compulsory English at public colleges. The participants in the experiment group who were taught through PBL performed better on different curriculum areas as established through the pre- and post-test scores; and they were also found better motivated towards the English course. The data analyses and interpretation suggests that PBL can easily replace the conventional pedagogy and can improve compulsory English teaching – learning practices and outcomes at public colleges in Pakistan.

One major limitation was that the PBL methodology was to focus around the curriculum content; and, finally, assess students on the lines as they need preparation for the state-held end of year examinations which serve as the qualification for admission to undergraduate study at universities. The present study was carried out at just one institution comprising female only population; hence the results need validation at other institutions having male or mixed populations. The study cultivated a culture among language teachers for experimenting with different pedagogies, consequently, alongside PBL other language pedagogies may be tried to improve teaching- and learning of compulsory English. The study demonstrated that there is an interest in teachers and learners both for improving current practices and culture. Also, the required resources and that enable this desired change are available within the existing academic set up.

This study attempts to solve a serious problem faced by teachers and learners pursuing English course at colleges. It tests out a pedagogy that teachers may adopt within the existing setups.

The students graduating from tertiary education institutes in Pakistan desperately need good language and communication skills for further education and career. Due to ineffective language teaching, these students are unable to develop the needed language skills, and consequently miss out on different opportunities.

This paper is among the foremost experimental study undertaken to reform language teaching at public colleges in Pakistan. It proposes a practical solution to replace the traditional pedagogy and enables teachers and students to engage in teaching learning of English more meaningfully.

One of the most pressing problems of our times is the supply of adequate quantities of drinking water in areas not bestowed with abundant natural resources. Studies have shown the desalting of seawater to be economically sound for certain localities. Of all the available methods, the multi‐stage flash distillation is a proven method. The MSF type desalination plants may be operated independently (single purpose) or linked to power stations (dual purpose). In the MSF type desalination plants, the largest single item of cost is heat exchanger tubes. Design studies have shown that about one‐tenth of a square foot of condensing surface is required to produce one gallon of fresh water per day. For a combined capacity of one billion gallons per day at ¼ sq. ft. of tube, a tube length of 80,000 miles would be required. In MSF type desalination plants, the initial capital cost swallows up to 33% of the money, operating costs about 21% and the remaining 26% goes on power. The colossal amount of heat exchanger surface required in MSF type plants makes it mandatory to investigate new condenser tube materials which may provide ease of fabrication, maximise economy and be abundantly available.

The purpose of this study is to explore the heat transfer enhancement in copper–water nanofluid flowing in a diagonally vented rectangular enclosure with four discrete heaters mounted centrally on the sidewalls and a square-shaped embedded heated block in the influence of a static magnetic field.

Four discrete heaters are mounted centrally on each sidewall of the rectangular enclosure that embraces a heated square block. A static transverse magnetic field is acting on the vertical walls. The Navier–Stokes equations of motion and the energy equation are modified by incorporating Lorentz force and basic physical properties of nanofluid. The derived momentum and energy equations are tackled numerically using the successive over-relaxation technique associating with the Gauss–Seidel iteration technique. The effects of physical parameters connected to dynamics of flow and heat convection are explored from streamlines and isotherms graphs and discussed numerically in terms of Nusselt number.

The effect of the embedded heated square block size and its location in the enclosure, nanoparticles volume fraction and the intensity of the magnetic field on flow and heat transfer are computed. Compared with the case when no heated block is embedded in the enclosure, in free convection at Ra = 106, the average local Nusselt number on the wall-mounted heaters is attenuated by 8.25%, 11.24% and 12.75% when the enclosure embraced a heated square block of side length 10% of H, 20% of H and 30% of H, respectively. An increase in Hartmann number suppresses the heat convection.

The enhancement in the convective heat is greater when the buoyancy effect dominates the viscous effects. Placing the embedded heated block near the inlet vent, the lower temperature zone has reduced while the embedded heated block is at the central location of the enclosure, the high-temperature zone has expanded. The external magnetic field can be used as a non-invasive controlling device.

The numerically simulated results for heat convection of water-based copper nanofluid agreed qualitatively with the existing experimental results.

The models could be used in designing a target-oriented heat exchanger.

The paper includes a comparative study for three locations of the embedded heated square. The optimal results for the centrally located heated block are also performed for three different sizes of the embedded block. The numerically simulated results are compared with the published numerical and experimental studies.

In order to evaluate the suitability of aluminium alloys for engineering applications in Arabian Gulf Water a joint corrosion research program between the University of Petroleum & Minerals (UPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and OFZS, Austria, was initiated in 1978. Considerable interest in aluminium and its alloys, particularly 5000 series, for marine applications has been shown in recent years. Aluminium alloys having low copper and zinc contents and alloys containing Mg have shown good application potentials in marine environments. Recent attempts to improve the corrosion resistance of AI‐Mg alloys by alloy modifications and optimising the corrosion resistance and mechanical properties have met with some success. Several records obtained from OTEC heat exchangers and Aluminium Association desalination plants show promising application potentials of aluminium and certain aluminium alloys. In view of the rapid growth of desalination technology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a great demand has been placed on the understanding of the corrosion behaviour of important engineering materials in local environments, and the need for development of alternate materials. A field test rig was therefore built in co‐operation with CFZS, Austria and installed at the UPM (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia) beach in 1978 for long term corrosion testing. This paper describes the results of a joint test program on the corrosion of aluminium and selected aluminium alloys in Arabian Gulf Water obtained from test rig, and laboratory studies.

The purpose of this paper is to present the investigation of the pressure-driven flow of aluminum oxide-water based nanofluid with the combined effect of entropy generation and radiative electro-magnetohydrodynamics filled with porous media inside a symmetric wavy channel.

The non-linear coupled differential equations are first converted into a number of ordinary differential equations with appropriate transformations and then analytical solutions are obtained by homotopic approach. Numerical simulation has been designed by the most efficient approach known homotopic-based Mathematica package BVPh 2.0 technique. The long wavelength approximation over the channel walls is taken into account. The obtained analytical results have been validated through graphs to infer the role of most involved pertinent parameters, whereas the characteristics of heat transfer and shear stress phenomena are presented and examined numerically.

It is found that the velocity profile decreases near to the channel. This is in accordance with the physical expectation because resistive force acts opposite the direction of fluid motion, which causes a decrease in velocity. It is seen that when the electromagnetic parameter increases then the velocity close to the central walls decreases whereas quite an opposite behavior is noted near to the walls. This happens because of the combined influence of electro-magnetohydrodynamics. It is perceived that by increasing the magnetic field parameter, Darcy number, radiation parameter, electromagnetic parameter and the temperature profile increases, and this is because of thermal buoyancy effect. For radiation and electromagnetic parameters, energy loss at the lower wall has substantial impact compared to the upper wall. Residual error minimizes at 20th order iterations.

The proposed prospective model is designed to explore the simultaneous effects of aluminum oxide-water base nanofluid, electro-magnetohydrodynamics and entropy generation through porous media. To the best of author’s knowledge, this model is reported for the first time.