• Asian Journal of Business Environment
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.5-15
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• 2018

Purpose - The research aimed to reveal real decisional behavioral of management institutes in India for social media marketing usage, and analyses of empirical elements of social media consumption pattern. Research design, data, and methodology - The investigation was based around a research methodology using quantitative analysis with appropriate statistical techniques on random surveys of consumers, detailed exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are applied to assess the empirical validity of the model and multiple regression employed using R studio edition to validate the reliability of the developed models. Results - A new conceptual framework is proposed - the management institutions decision model, providing a tool for effective and more focused decision-making strategies for developing better utilization techniques for social media. Management institutions have different requirements based upon objectives and resources available. The evidence suggests that the administrators need to be more aware of consumer indicators when targeting and designing social media marketing strategy. Conclusions - The research was based on samples and not the entire population of target consumers, providing limitations. As an inferential statistical method was chosen, the results might be susceptible to inaccuracy. The model developed from different age users, thereby providing rich perspectives into social media usage pattern.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.545-554
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• 2018

This study presents a novel method of improving the strength and stiffness of cold-formed steel (CFS) beams. Flexural members are primary members in most of the structures. Hence, there is an urgent need in the CFS industry to look beyond the conventional CFS beam sections and develop novel techniques to address the severe local buckling problems that exist in CFS flexural members. The primary objective of this study was to develop new CFS composite beam sections with improved structural performance and economy. This paper presents an experimental study conducted on different CFS composite beams with simply supported end conditions under four point loading. Material properties and geometric imperfections of the models were measured. The test strengths of the models are compared with the design strengths predicted by using Australian/New Zealand Standard for cold-formed steel structures. Furthermore, to ensure high precision testing, a special testing rig was also developed for testing of long span beams. The description of test models, testing rig features and test results are presented here. For better interpretation of results, a comparison of the test results with a hot rolled section is also presented. The test results have shown that the proposed CFS composite beams are promising both in terms of better structural performance as well as economy.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.31-37
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• 2013

Purpose - The present research has been undertaken to examine the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategies adopted by public and private sector banks in India. The initial part of research helps to identify the factors of overall satisfaction of customers. The study also tries to identify the key determinants of CRM of Indian banking. Research design, data, methodology - The present research uses a self-structured questionnaire having a reliability score of 0.817 to elicit responses from customers in New Delhi and surrounding areas in India to examine the CRM used by public and private sector banks for enhancing customer satisfaction. The scale had 32 questions covering customer perceptions related to overall satisfaction and factors contributing to CRM. Results - The results highlight that overall satisfaction comprises of two factors namely personalised Services; and reliability and dependability. The determinants of CRM as identified through survey are: Speed, safety and security; Employee CRM; on time services; customer targeting; and friendly and helpful staff. The results also highlight that safety and security was preferred to other factors by the respondents. Conclusions - The findings of this study show that in terms of performance private sector banks fared better in providing CRM services than public sector banks.

• International Journal of Costume and Fashion
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.53-64
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• 2013

Culture has played a pivotal role in fashion from time immemorial. The objective of this research is to explore the power of cultural affiliation in fashion. The selected study setting is the Kandyan Kingdom of Sri Lanka. The Kandyan Kingdom of Sri Lanka lasted almost 3 1/2 centuries from 1474-1815. The whole period faced different foreign cultural forces. As a result of such diverse cultural influences the Kandyan dress showed a hybrid formation of Western and South Indian and Sinhalese traditional sartorial features. Sewing techniques and unsewn dress arrangement methods were mixed together. The dress became an amazing blend of Eastern and Western dress items. They combined different aspects of foreign dress together to yield a unique result. The analysis comprises observational study of actual descriptions made by observer- participants, historical records, murals of the period review of ancient literature and research papers relevant to the subject. Reliability of the data was ensured. The pictorial data were cross checked from different literary sources. Many original sources were used. Results: Culture and fashion have strong interconnection. When features of culture change, trends of fashion are gradually correspondingly changed.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.299-307
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• 2017

The magneto-electro-elastic (MEE) material under thermal environment exhibits pyroelectric and pyromagnetic coefficients resulting in pyroelectric and pyromagnetic effects. The pyroelectric and pyromagnetic effects on the behavior of multiphase MEE sensors bonded on top surface of a mild steel beam under thermal environment is presented in this paper. The aim of the study is to find out how samples having different volume fractions of the multiphase MEE composite behave in sensor applications. This is studied at optimal location on the beam, where the maximum electric and magnetic potentials are induced due to pyroelectric and pyromagnetic effects under clamped-free and clamped-clamped boundary conditions. The sensor which is bonded on the top surface of the beam is modeled using 8-node brick element. The MEE sensor bonded on mild steel beam is subjected to uniform temperature rise of 50K. It is assumed that beam and sensor is perfectly bonded to each other. The maximum pyroelectric and pyromagnetic effects on electric and magnetic potentials are observed when volume fraction is ${\nu}_f=0.2$. The boundary conditions significantly influence the pyroelectric and pyromagnetic effects on electric and magnetic potentials.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.1288-1293
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• 2002

Four adult rams ($22.25{\pm}0.90kg$) were used in a $4{\times}4$ latin square design to evaluate the rations without ($T_1$) or with supplementation of sunflower acid oil at 5 ($T_2$), 10 ($T_3$) or calcium soap at 10% of dietary DM ($T_4$) on nutrient digestibility and balances of nitrogen, calcium and phosphorus. The basal ration contained 60 parts Brazilian napier grass hay and 40 parts concentrate mixture. The DM, CF, NDF and ADF digestibilities and nitrogen retention (g/d) decreased (p<0.01) by inclusion of sunflower acid oil at 5% of dietary DM. In addition, depression (p<0.01) in digestibilities of CP, nitrogen free extract (NFE), cellulose, hemicellulose, retention of calcium and phosphorus (g/d) were also observed with increasing the level of sunflower acid oil to 10% of dietary DM. The EE digestibility, total digestible nutrients (TDN) content and calcium retention (g/d) were significantly higher (p<0.01) for ration supplemented with calcium soap. It is concluded that sunflower acid oil supplementation in free form as low as 5% of dietary DM is deleterious to fibre digestion in sheep while as calcium soap, it can be fed up to 10% of dietary DM as an energy source without any adverse effect.

• Asian Journal of Business Environment
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.27-33
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• 2017

Purpose - The paper aims to explore the critical and uncover issues encountered to the supply-chain companies in launching halal based services in India. Research design, data, and methodology - After a meticulous review of relevant literature on the halal concept and halal logistics, researchers involved in a data collection by conducting semi-structured focus group interviews. Four groups with a maximum of 5 members each have chosen from the areas of transportation, warehousing, certification, and packaging. A total of 20 questionnaires were collected by applying purposive sampling method. Results - More than 95 percent of the chosen focus groups agreed that they know only about halal but don't have any exposure to halal logistics. The discussion has revealed that the adoption rate for halal transportation, warehousing, halal certification, and packaging is almost zero. The respondents were chosen only from transportation, warehousing, certification and packaging companies from south India which are operating throughout India. This research never attempts to be acquainted with the opinions of channel members who directly or indirectly involved in meeting customer demands. Conclusions - This is a ground-breaking effort aimed to study the critical issues related to Indian halal logistics which is beneficial to both logistic companies as well as to the academic world.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.7-13
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• 2018

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the limelight question 'why India should open arms for Islamic banking?'. Research design, data, and methodology - The paper is theoretical and conceptual in nature and provides results based on significant literature review. Results - This paper will start with the discussion why Islamic name does not make it only for Muslims?, then its features and how it can improve India's current economic situation. Also this study will analyze the ability of Islamic finance to act as Micro-finance tool by including people who does not participate in economic activities. This paper also concludes that why religious issue should be sidelined in order to accept Islamic finance for empowerment of Muslim and non-Muslim minorities which live in abject poor conditions. Conclusions - Islamic finance has lot of merits which cannot be ignored by only looking at the name and believing that it is only for Muslims. Indian economic system needs a financial system which will work for welfare and not for profit to help poor communities in coming out of poverty. Interest free loans and micro-finance tools are the only way to help below poverty line population to raise their income level.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.5805-5825
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• 2019

Smartphones are important platforms because of their sophisticated computation, communication, and sensing capabilities, which enable a variety of applications in the Internet of Things (IoT) systems. Moreover, advancements in hardware have enabled sensors on smartphones such as environmental and chemical sensors that make sensor data collection readily accessible for a wide range of applications. However, dynamic, opportunistic, and heterogeneous mobility patterns of smartphone users that vary throughout the day, which greatly affects the efficacy of sensor data collection. Therefore, it is necessary to consider phone users mobility patterns to design data collection schedules that can reduce the loss of sensor data. In this paper, we propose a mobility-based weighted adaptive opportunistic scheduling framework that can adaptively adjust to the dynamic, opportunistic, and heterogeneous mobility patterns of smartphone users and provide prioritized scheduling based on various application scenarios, such as velocity, region of interest, and sensor type. The performance of the proposed framework is compared with other scheduling frameworks in various heterogeneous smartphone user mobility scenarios. Simulation results show that the proposed scheduling improves the transmission rate by 8 percent and can also improve the collection of higher-priority sensor data compared with other scheduling approaches.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.679-690
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to comprehend western style in fashion and to contemplate the hybrid tendency reflected on western style, thereby to analyze the aesthetic characteristics of the hybrid tendency of western style. For such purposes, this study first examines western style historically, in order to analyze hybrid tendency reflected on western style, and conduct a case study by analyzing photographic materials of pr t- -porter collection since 1980s. The result of this study is as follows: the hybrid tendency reflected on western style are modification and fusion of regional culture, adaptation and composition of subcultures, and appropriation of sexual minority culture. (1) Modification and fusion of regional culture is expressed in ethnic items and patterns of embroidery, mixing Mexican and Spanish, American Indian and American cultural references. (2) Adaptation and composition of subcultures emphasize traditional or vintage western style by mixing characteristics of western and other subcultures. (3) Appropriation of sexual minority culture is expressed in rhinestone chaps and fetish corset, glitter rodeo suit, reminiscent of drag or queer cultural references. The result of this study will provide basis which can be utilized in the development and educational background of fashion design.