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In this study, the response of soft clay was assessed during electrokinetic consolidation. The laboratory-based experimental study was conducted in a custom-designed test set-up focusing on soft clay's engineering and physicochemical response during and at the end of the electrokinetic consolidation. Six electrokinetic consolidation tests were performed under self-weight for 24 h with different voltage gradients. The operational response was investigated by monitoring the electric current and the power consumed during the test. Further, the variation of ohmic heating, volumetric water content, and water potential was continuously measured. The efficacy in enhancing the engineering response is analysed by investigating cumulative discharge, surface settlement, water content, and undrained shear strength of the soft soil. At the end of the test, the effect of electrochemical reactions in altering the soft clay's pH, microfabric, and mineral phases was investigated. Finally, the quantification of the surface crack was investigated, and their dependence on the applied voltage gradient was established. The study results show substantial enhancement in the engineering characteristics of soft clay. It significantly accelerates the dewatering efficacy, increases the undrained shear strength and surface settlement, and reduces the water content of the soft clay irrespective of the applied voltage gradient. The electrokinetic consolidation increases the temperature of the soft clay. The measured surface cracks give the crack intensity factor of 1.95, 2.10, and 2.15% for the applied voltage gradient of 0.05, 0.10, and 0.15 V/mm, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the behavior of soft clay improved with a conductive jute geotextile-encased stone column was investigated, considering the effects of electrokinetic coupling. The study findings suggest that electrokinetic-coupled encased stone columns (e-ESCs) improve the dewatering efficiency, consolidation settlement rate, and shear strength of the soft clay compared to nonelectrokinetic encased columns. After the inclusion of e-ESCs, the time required to remove 50% of the total discharge was decreased by 92% compared to encased stone columns (ESCs). A significant decrease in the volumetric shrinkage and surface cracks was observed for e-ESC-improved soft clay. Further, due to anode corrosion during the process, brass electrodes experienced a 4.25% loss in weight at the end. The consumed power per unit weight of treated soil (Wh/kg) at the end of the test period was 24.03, 19.70, 20.10, and 23.38 Wh/kg for the e-ESC with mild steel, copper, brass, and aluminum anodes, respectively. The findings showed that the choice of anode material affects the characteristics of soft clay, such as undrained shear strength, pore water discharge, flow pattern, and moisture content. Further, a noteworthy modification in the physicochemical properties of clay was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmers are using different cladding materials for protected cultivation. This study was undertaken to test the suitability of different cladding materials for growing bell pepper. This study has investigated four types of protected cultivation structures with and without ventilation. The structure includes Structure-1 and Structure -2, which are made up of a shed-net and insect-net, respectively. However, the structure with the provision of different materials for ventilation includes Structure-3 and Structure-4, which are made up of polyhouse sheet, and ventilation was provided by the use of shed-net and insect-net, respectively. The soil temperature and moisture, along with the weather and vegetative parameters, were recorded to estimate the reference and crop evapotranspiration under each structure. Moreover, the recorded parameters were evaluated using multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM), incorporating two different weight criteria estimation methods. The obtained weights were further recalculated by Integrated Determination of Objective Criteria Weight (IDOCRIW) practice to improve the evaluation's accuracy. Further, the weighted rank of the structures is determined by the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and COmplex PRoportional ASsessment (COPRAS). The study found that Entropy and IDOCRIW with the TOPSIS and COPRAS method agree with the estimated benefit–cost ratio as both ranked Structure-4 as one rank (the most suitable) followed by Structure-3. The proposed MCDM methodology can be potentially applied for appropriate protected cultivation structures identification for different climatic conditions and crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tensile deformation behaviour of nuclear grade 304 L SS (PHWR calandria vessel material) was presented at temperatures 300 K to 1123 K and at three different strain rates. The deformation behaviour is influenced by the strain-induced martensitic transformation at 300 K, the occurrence of dynamic strain ageing (DSA) at intermediate temperatures (573–873 K) and the dominance of strain softening at high temperatures (973–1123 K). The occurrence of DSA caused anomalies in flow behaviour and ductility for the steel. At high temperatures, strain softening manifested in a rapid decrease in flow strength with increasing temperature and decreasing strain rate. Further, instantaneous (mi) and quasi-steady state strain rate sensitivity (ms) with strain were evaluated using strain rate jump tests. At low and DSA temperatures, the initial and quasi-steady transient response differs. Contrary to this, the value of mi is equal to ms at high temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturing flexibility is an essential organizational capability for supporting strategic intent of organizations that seek to outperform competitors in an environment of uncertainty. The specific nature of flexibility characteristics exhibited by different manufacturing organizations depends on their pursued organizational strategic goals. Organizations pursuing a mass production (or, defender strategy) will have a completely different perspective on manufacturing flexibility requirements for their products compared to those seeking differentiation (or, prospector strategy). There are no prominent studies to address the critical relationship between a specific strategy and the type of manufacturing flexibility resource; it should emphasize to remain stable, competitive and performance oriented. The objective of the current study is to draw and investigate the relationship between pursued organizational strategy and manufacturing flexibility. The theoretical framework considers manufacturing flexibility as a multi-dimensional construct with twenty dimensions (MF1–MF20), representing the various activities involved in a production system from procurement of raw materials from suppliers to different production processes in the core company to the distribution of finished products to market. All these twenty dimensions are studied with reference to the two strategy types, to establish the research framework in the form of the hypotheses (H1.a–H20.a and H1.b–H20.b). The findings of the empirical investigation on the data collected from 212 manufacturing firms operating in diverse sectors confirm adequate support for the developed research framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  Implementation of discrete sine transform (DST) is proposed, by folding the input data. This results in recursive structure, besides saving in the overall computation cycles. A simplified architecture to derive DST kernel has also been suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]