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Agility is the dynamic capability of an organization which helps it to manage a change and uncertainties in the environment. The purpose of this research is to review the literature from the perspective of agility in Industry 4.0. This paper systematically reviews 381 relevant articles from peer-reviewed academic journals in the period of the last five years. The results show that agility is important for an organization to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies as it helps companies to cope with the changes that arise along with the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies. Further, it also indicates that by adopting Industry 4.0 technologies, companies can significantly enhance their agility capability into various aspects with different technologies. The technologies which enhance the agility are: smart manufacturing, internet of things, cyber-physical system, big data and analytics and cloud computing. On the other hand, important aspects of agility include supply chain, workforce, information system, facilities, management, manufacturing and technology agility.

Emissivity variations are one of the most critical challenges in thermography technologies; this is due to the temperature calculation strongly depending on emissivity settings for infrared signal extraction and evaluation. This paper describes an emissivity correction and thermal pattern reconstruction technique based on physical process modelling and thermal feature extraction, for eddy current pulsed thermography. An emissivity correction algorithm is proposed to address the pattern observation issues of thermography in both spatial and time domains. The main novelty of this method is that the thermal pattern can be corrected based on the averaged normalization of thermal features. In practice, the proposed method brings benefits in enhancing the detectability of the faults and characterization of the materials without the interference of the emissivity variation problem at the object’s surfaces. The proposed technique is verified in several experimental studies, such as the case-depth evaluation of heat-treatment steels, failures, and fatigues of gears made of the heat-treated steels that are used for rolling stock applications. The proposed technique can improve the detectability of the thermography-based inspection methods and would improve the inspection efficiency for high-speed NDT&E applications, such as rolling stock applications.

Reinforced cement concrete (RCC) is a versatile material that deteriorates over time due to corrosion when exposed to any surrounding aggressive environment. In order to avoid this ramification, many researchers have carried out different work to find the most feasible way to reduce corrosion. To tackle this at the initial stage itself, one such convenient method is through the application of inhibitors. These inhibitors have most applications in their use as an admixture. This review paper mainly focuses on the inhibitor and its types, the drawbacks of inorganic, commercial organic, and hybrid inhibitors, and application to RCC, and also provides detailed information on green corrosion inhibitors (GCI). In recent years, widespread attention has been paid towards the utilization of different natural plant components/parts in concrete structures. This review paper consolidates the work done by various researchers using different GCIs with the main focus on plant extracts as an additive to concrete or RCC specimens which will be significant to sustainable progress in the field of corrosion.

There are rare studies that have attempted to explore the association among green human resource management (GHRM) and organizational commitment in the existing literature. Besides, the mediating role of green human capital has also garnered little attention in the literature. Hence, the present study intends to address the research gap by extending the ability-motivation-opportunity theory (AMO) to determine the indirect and direct impact of GHRM in the dairy companies which has so far neglected in Pakistan. A convenience sampling technique was deployed to obtain data from 287 respondents through self-administered survey. SmartPLS (3.2.9) software was used to analyze the structural and measurement model. The results demonstrate the direct effect of green recruitment and selection and green training and development on organizational commitment. Also, green human capital contributes an essential role in mediating the effects of green recruitment and selection, green training, and development on organization commitment. The present study suggests that GHRM practices play a crucial role in the deployment of an environmental policy aimed at promoting green practices in the workplace. The findings provide guidelines to policymakers and managers regarding GHRM to promote environmental culture and employee green behavior at the workplace.

To mitigate the consequences of climate change, there is an increasing need to minimize the usage of fossil fuels, especially in the industrial sector because the majority of the industrial sector primarily rely on fossil fuels to meet their needs for heat energy, and a practical strategy to reduce reliance on fossil fuels is to use energy from the sun. Due to their environmental advantages, energy security, and viability as a potential substitute for fossil fuels, solar thermal collectors are acknowledged as promising technology to harness solar thermal energy fir process heating applications. This review is a thorough compendium and evaluation of contemporary literature on solar thermal collectors and their applications in industry. Apart from applications, this review paper also assesses the challenges and limitations currently hindering the global acceptance of this technology in the industrial sector.

In recent years, blockchains have obtained so much attention from researchers, engineers, and institutions; and the implementation of blockchains has started to revive a large number of applications ranging from e-finance, e-healthcare, smart home, Internet of Things, social security, logistics and so forth. In the literature on blockchains, it is found that most articles focused on their engineering implementation, while little attention has been devoted to the exploration of theoretical aspects of the system; however, the existing work is limited to model the mining process only. In this paper, a queuing theory-based model is proposed for understanding the working and theoretical aspects of the blockchain. We validate our proposed model using the actual statistics of two popular cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum, by running simulations for two months of transactions. The obtained performance measures parameters such as the Number of Transactions per block, Mining Time of Each Block, System Throughput, Memorypool count, Waiting Time in Memorypool, Number of Unconfirmed Transactions in the Whole System, Total Number of Transactions, and Number of Generated Blocks; these values are compared with actual statistics. It was found that the results gained from our proposed model are in good agreement with actual statistics. Although the simulation in this paper presents the modeling of blockchain-based cryptocurrencies only, the proposed model can be used to represent a wide range of blockchain-based systems.

The corrosion inhibition performance of Azadirachta indica leaves as a green corrosion inhibitor on Thermo Mechanically Treated (TMT) steel exposed to 1 M HCl and 1 M NaCl was investigated using weight loss, electrochemical, spectroscopic and surface analysis techniques. The results depicted that neem leaf powder was effective in inhibiting corrosion in TMT rebars. The findings from weight loss showed that, maximum inhibition efficiency of 93.264% (acidic) and 85.937% (salt) was attained for the highest concentration of inhibitor and using Artificial Neural Network, the corrosion rate was predicted, and the performance was assessed via statistical parameters to obtain an excellent fit model to data. The corrosion rate and polarisation resistance of steel at 13.628 mm/year, 24.8 Ω (acidic) and 0.27396 mm/ year, 366 Ω (salt) was obtained and the type of inhibitory mechanism was found via Tafel and Electrochemical Impedance spectroscopic analysis for the optimum concentration of inhibitor. The phytochemical compounds, heteroatoms and functional groups adsorbed on the surface of steel to hinder corrosion were identified through Gas-Chromatography Mass-Spectroscopy and Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopic techniques. Samples admixed with neem powder showed less visible cracks, pits and surface roughness formation as seen through Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy.

Background. Oral and oropharyngeal cancer is a debilitating disease with high morbidity and mortality. Depending on the site and extent of the involvement of the cancer and the type of treatment modality, these patients can develop pain, trismus, xerostomia, dysphagia, and taste disturbances, compromising them socially and nutritionally. The aim of the study was to evaluate malnutrition and quality of life in patients treated for oral and oropharyngeal cancer. Methodology. A cross-sectional study was conducted which included 97 patients treated for oral and oropharyngeal cancer. The quality of life of the selected patients was assessed by using a validated European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer’s Quality of Life Questionnaire, Head and Neck and Mandibular Function Impairment Questionnaire. Pre- and posttreatment weight of the patients were assessed, and weight loss of ≥10% of pretreatment weight was considered as malnutrition. The chi-square test was used to correlate the symptoms with the quality of life. A paired t test was used to assess the differences in weight before and after treatment, and a p value of <0.005 was considered as significant. Results. The most commonly reported symptoms were xerostomia (93.81%), pain (81.44%), and dysphagia (76.3%). A total of 40.2% of the individuals in the study had malnutrition. Malnutrition was comparatively lower in the group who had nutritional supplements. Conclusion. The quality of life in patients treated for oral and oropharyngeal cancer deteriorates immediately after the treatment; however, it significantly improves over time.

To apply a cascade-of-care framework to evaluate the effectiveness-by age of the child-of an intensified tuberculosis patient-finding intervention. From a prospective screening program at four hospitals in Pakistan (2014-2016) we constructed a care cascade comprising six steps: screened, positive screen, evaluated, diagnosed, started treatment, and successful outcome. We evaluated the cascade by each year of age from 0 to 14 and report the age-specific mean proportion and standard deviation. On average across all ages, only 12.5% (standard deviation: 2.0%) of children with a positive screen were not evaluated. Among children who had a complete evaluation, the highest percentages of children diagnosed with tuberculosis were observed in children 0-4 (mean: 31.9%; standard deviation: 4.8%), followed by lower percentages in children 5-9 (mean: 22.4%; standard deviation: 2.2%), and 10-14 (mean: 26.0%; standard deviation:5.4%). Nearly all children diagnosed with tuberculosis initiated treatment, and an average of 93.3% (standard deviation: 3.3%) across all ages had successful treatment outcomes. This intervention was highly effective across ages 0-14 years. Our study illustrates the utility of applying operational analyses of age-stratified cascades to identify age-specific gaps in pediatric tuberculosis care that can guide future, novel interventions to close these gaps.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the main pulse crops of Pakistan. The yield of chickpea is affected by a variety of biotic and abiotic factors. Due to their environmentally friendly nature, different nanoparticles are being synthesized and applied to economically important crops. In the present study, Trichoderma harzianum has been used as a stabilizing and reducing agent for the mycosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs). Before their application to control Fusarium wilt of chickpea, synthesized ZnO NPs were characterized. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed the average size (13 nm) of ZnO NPs. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated their spherical structure, and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) confirmed the oxide formation of ZnO NPs. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) described the size and shape of nanoparticles, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy displayed the presence of reducing and stabilizing chemical compounds (alcohol, carboxylic acid, amines, and alkyl halide). Successfully characterized ZnO NPs exhibited significant mycelial growth inhibition of Fusarium oxysporum, in vitro. In a greenhouse pot experiment, the priming of chickpea seeds with ZnO NPs significantly increased the antioxidant activity of germinated plants and they displayed 90% less disease incidence than the control. Seed priming with ZnO NPs helped plants to accumulate higher quantities of sugars, phenol, total proteins, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) to create resistance against wilt pathogen. These nanofungicides were produced in powder form and they can easily be transferred and used in the field to control Fusarium wilt of chickpea.