Sharif Digital Repository

The study aimed to investigate the most effective leadership style that enhances the employees’ performance at the workplace and also evaluate the impact of leadership styles (Laissez-faire leadership, Transformational leadership, Transactional leadership,) on employees’ performance in the textile sector of Pakistan. The study explored the moderating role of Positive psychological capital to examine the relationship between leadership styles and employee performance. A quantitative research technique was used, and Data were collected from the lower to middle-level manager of the textile sector. The findings of this study showed that laissez-faire leadership has a significant but negative... 

The purpose of the paper is to develop a mathematical foundation for exploring the complex interaction of Coriolis and Lorentz forces with the electromagnetohydrodynamic (EMHD) flow of a power-law fluid inside a microchannel with wall slip condition. Both the Lorentz and Coriolis forces act orthogonally to each other. Mathematical modeling of the problem is based on a set of classical Maxwell and Navier–Stokes equations, which are subsequently solved numerically by employing an implicit finite difference methodology. The numerical solution thus obtained has been found to be in an excellent agreement correlation with the ones reported in the scientific literature, for some limiting cases. A... 

The heat transfer Magnetohydrodynamics flows have been potentially used to enhance the thermal characteristics of several systems such as heat exchangers, electromagnetic casting, adjusting blood flow, X-rays, magnetic drug treatment, cooling of nuclear reactors, and magnetic devices for cell separation. Our concern in this article is to numerically investigate the flow of an incompressible Magnetohydrodynamics micropolar fluid with heat transportation through a channel having porous walls. By employing the suitable dimensionless coordinates, the flow model equations are converted into a nonlinear system of dimensionless ordinary differential equations, which are then numerically treated for... 

Vortices grab the attention of many scientists while analyzing any flow model due to their importance in interpreting fluid mixing and mass transport phenomena. Since vortices exist in the natural environment, so researchers need to investigate them whenever they are encountered. Solar collectors, automobile cooling, engine applications, thermal management, and machine cutting, are just a few of the major areas in which most hybrid nanofluids could help to improve overall performance. The goal of this study is to demonstrate the highly complex dynamics of a Lorentz force, which governs the rotation of nanoparticles and the composition of the complex configuration of eddies inside the fluid... 

Nano-fluids have considerable importance in the field of thermal development that relates to several industrial systems. There are some key applications in recent construction systems flow, as well as microscale cooling gadgets and microstructure electric gadgets for thermal migration. The current investigation concludes the study of electrically conducting nano-fluid flow and heat transfer analysis in two-dimensional boundary layer flow over a curved extending surface in the coexisting of magnetic field, heat generation and thermal radiation. The small sized particles of copper (Cu) are taken as nanoparticles and water is assumed to be the base fluid. We used quasi-linearization and central... 

Short-term hydrothermal scheduling (STHTS) is a highly non-linear, multi-model, non-convex, and multi-dimensional optimization problem that has been worked upon for about 5 decades. Many research articles have been published in solving different test cases of STHTS problem, while establishing the superiority of one type of optimization algorithm over the type, in finding the near global best solution of these complex problems. This paper presents the implementation of an improved version of a variant of the Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (PSO), known as Accelerated Particle Swarm Optimization (APSO) on three benchmark test cases of STHTS problems. The adaptive and variable nature of... 

Short term hydrothermal scheduling (STHTS) is a non-linear, multi-modal and very complex constrained optimization problem which has been solved using several conventional and modern metaheuristic optimization algorithms. A number of research articles have been published addressing STHTS using different techniques. This article presents a comprehensive review of research published for solving the STHTS problem in the last four decades. © 2013 IEEE  

The pertinence and importance of Darcy-Forchheimer flows can be found in large spectrum of engineering, biological and technological mechanisms like solar absorption and filtration, drainage problems, solar cells, ground stream hydrology, solar panels, irrigation and so forth. The major concern of this study is to interpret that how much a Darcy-Forchheimer flow of a micro-structured fluid (e.g., micropolar fluid) within a channel is influenced by the combined effects of static and oscillatory pressure gradients. Numerical treatment is carried out via three steps explicit Runge-Kutta method. Impacts of the preeminent parameters on the flow, mass and heat transport features of the problem are... 

The term "vortex" refers to a region in a fluid where the flow spin around an axis line, which could be flat or curved. Vortices can twist, stretch, move, and interact in several situations, once they are formed. The angular and linear momentum, along with some energy and mass, are all noticeable in a rotating vortex. Descriptions of vortices developed in various flows include smoke rings, dust devils, cyclones, and the wind surrounding a tropical tornado. The existence of vortices in the natural environment makes it important for researchers to explore them when and wherever they are encountered. Magnetic field effects include numerous technical applications such as: B. Extraction of... 

Estimating the process capability index (PCI) for non-normal processes has been discussed by many researches. There are two basic approaches to estimating the PCI for non-normal processes. The first commonly used approach is to transform the non-normal data into normal data using transformation techniques and then use a conventional normal method to estimate the PCI for transformed data. This is a straightforward approach and is easy to deploy. The alternate approach is to use non-normal percentiles to calculate the PCI. The latter approach is not easy to implement and a deviation in estimating the distribution of the process may affect the efficacy of the estimated PCI. The aim of this... 

To compensate for drag increment due to the addition of nanoparticles to heat-transfer fluids, it seems that one could add drag reducer polymeric agents to these fluids. So, in this work, experiments were carried out for solutions of two types of polyacrylamide (FLOPAAM 3330S and FLOPAAM 3630S) at three distinct concentrations (25, 40, and 55 ppm), and TiO2-water nanofluid at concentrations of 0.015, 0.02, 0.025, and 0.03 L/L. The steady state turbulent convective heat transfer and the friction factor of the suspension of TiO2 in a dilute solution of very high molecular weight, polyacrylamide (hybrid fluid), in a coiled tube were analyzed. Experimental measurements were carried out from a... 

In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm that combines color and texture information of skin with cellular learning automata to segment skin-like regions in color images. First, the presence of skin colors in an image is detected, using a committee structure, to make decision from several explicit boundary skin models. Detected skin-color regions are then fed to a color texture extractor that extracts the texture features of skin regions via their color statistical properties and maps them to a skin probability map. Cellular learning automatons use this map to make decision on skin-like regions. The proposed algorithm has demonstrated true positive rate of about 83.4% and false positive... 

Sustainable technologies are the main concerns of the 21st century modified oilfield industries. The insufficiency of conventional drilling fluid formulations with a combination of hardly degradable hazardous chemicals as additives raise the demands of field-applicable innovative and environmentally friendly methods. Pistachio Shell discards as degradable wastes, which can intellectually apply in drilling fluid formulation. The experimental oilfield investigations of utilizing pistachio shell powder prove the significant enhancement of rheological properties, reduction of fluid loss and mud cake thickness in both API (Low Pressure —Low Temperature) and High Pressure—High Temperature (HPHT)... 

Understanding the population growth patterns of Spodoptera exigua on alternate host plants can provide valuable information for developing an effective pest management program. In this study, using age-specific lifetable indices, we evaluated the role of alternate crops commonly found in cotton agroecosystem of Pakistan to better understand population dynamics of S. exigua. The longest larval and pupal periods (16.35 and 9.95days, respectively) were observed on spinach, while the shortest periods were recorded on okra (13 days) and cauliflower (8.4 days), respectively. Relatively more female moths (61%) were produced on spinach with low rm (0.095) and λ (1.0997) while highest rm (0.120) and... 

Understanding the population growth patterns of Spodoptera exigua on alternate host plants can provide valuable information for developing an effective pest management program. In this study, using age-specific lifetable indices, we evaluated the role of alternate crops commonly found in cotton agroecosystem of Pakistan to better understand population dynamics of S. exigua. The longest larval and pupal periods (16.35 and 9.95days, respectively) were observed on spinach, while the shortest periods were recorded on okra (13 days) and cauliflower (8.4 days), respectively. Relatively more female moths (61%) were produced on spinach with low rm (0.095) and λ (1.0997) while highest rm (0.120) and... 

This article presents, for the first time, a comparative analysis of two different solution methodologies for the numerical investigation of flow and thermal behavior of Casson fluid through a channel having linearly extending lower wall while the upper wall is kept at rest. MHD Casson fluid boundary layer flow is supposed to be steady, laminar, viscous, and incompressible. We have taken into account the mixed convection effects, whereas the usual no slip condition has been imposed on both walls. The Navier–Stokes equations for the proposed model have been converted into nonlinear and coupled system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) by employing similarity variables, which are then... 

Performance evaluation of drilling fluids is essential for a successful drilling project, as they not only remove drill cuttings but also prevent undesired penetration or outflow of formation fluids by sealing off wellbore walls. However, concerns have been raised about the use of chemical additives in drilling fluids due to their toxicity and non-biodegradability. To this end, agricultural waste materials are recognized as a promising alternative as they are cost-effective, environmentally sustainable, and can be used as a substitute for lost circulation materials. Rice husk ash (RHA) has become popular as an additive due to its renewable characteristics, including its large surface area,... 

Interpreting the complex interaction of nanostructured fluid flow with a dipole in a duct, with peripherally uniform temperature distribution, is the main focus of the current work. This paper also sheds light on the changes in the Nusselt number, temperature profiles, and velocity distributions for the fully developed nanofluid flow in a vertical rectangular duct due to a dipole placed near a corner of the duct. A finite volume approach has been incorporated for the numerical study of the problem. It is interesting to note the unusually lower values of the Nusselt number for the higher values of the ratio Gr/Re. Due to the nanostructure in the fluid, an enhancement in the Nusselt number has... 

Heavy and extra heavy crude oils usually have a high weight percentage of asphaltene, which could induce many problems during production to refining processes. Also, asphaltene has the main role on the high viscosity of the heavy and extra heavy crude oils. In this paper, the effects of asphaltene characteristics on the crude oil rheological properties have been experimentally and theoretically investigated using different classes of the suspension models. For experimental investigation, the asphaltene was first precipitated from the original heavy crude oil and then 10 well-defined reconstituted heavy oil samples are made by dispersing the asphaltene into the maltene (i.e., deasphalted...