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Evolution of Shape Memory Effect, Superelasticity and Wear Properties of NiTi Shape Memory Alloys at Higher Temperature
No full textNITINOL is the most popular and economic shape memory alloy (SMA) used in various industries. The machinability and cold working ability of NiTi alloys are poor compared to conventional alloys. So to reduce the post-processing of the finished product with good homogenization of elements, the powder technology route (uniaxial press and sinter) was followed. Before sintering 450, 475, 500, 525, 550, 575 and 600 MPa compaction pressures were analysed by their green densities and the 600 MPa compacted pellet yielded the better density. Sintering was done at 950, 1000, 1050, 1100 and 1150 ℃ with the variation of sintering time 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 hr. The XRD and SEM studies showed that samples sintered at 950 ℃ have oxide phases with elemental Ni and Ni3Ti phases. For samples sintered at 1000, 1050 and 1100 ℃, NiTi and Ti2Ni formed as major phases with minor phases of βTi and Ni4Ti3 precipitates formed inside the NiTi matrix. Needle-shaped martensitic NiTi forms inside the austenitic NiTi matrix and was detected at a very high magnification of 5000x in SEM. Due to the impurities present in the Ar gas during fabrication TiO2 was formed. From the Differential Scanning Calorimetry study, it was found that an increase in sintering time and sintering temperature results in a faster shape memory response. Nanoindentation at room temperature shows that an increase in sintering time increases the young modulus and hardness up to 1100 ℃ and slightly falls at 1150 ℃. A step-like curve during nanoindentation at 100 ℃ shows the successful transformations in between B2 and B19’ phases. The wear rate decreases with an increase in speed, time and decrease in load. As per the atmospheric condition during wear TiO2 and NiO formed with in the wear track
Fault Resonance Process and its Implication for Active Fault Systems
No full textPlate tectonics is the main driving force for lithospheric deformation and occurrence of seismicity. In addition to the tectonic loading, various periodic exogenous stress perturbations (e.g., hydrological loading, snow-induced loading, reservoir-induced loading, atmospheric loading, etc.) also influence the fault dynamics and modulate the seismicity. However, the exact response and feedback mechanism related to the seismicity modulation to such exogenous stress perturbations remain elusive. Moreover, the contrast in seismicity modulation for different types of tectonic domains, including plate boundaries, stable plate interiors, or diffuse deformation zones on Earth, and the different exogenous processes involved in the seismicity modulation in planetary bodies and their natural satellites remains debated. Also, there is an absence of a unified model for the seismicity modulation linked to the planetary objects and their satellites based on the observational, theoretical, and mechanical framework. In the present work, a theoretical model (i.e., fault resonance destabilization model) has been developed incorporating rate-state-dependent friction to understand the fault dynamics and modulation of seismicity influenced by the various periodic exogenous stress perturbations. Further, the diversity in seismicity modulation in plate boundary, plate interior, or diffuse plate boundaries and other planets and their natural satellites is also investigated based on the observational and theoretical framework. Based on the fault resonance destabilization model, it has been observed that the slip of fault is resonated by the periodic exogenous stress perturbation, depending upon the stiffness of the fault and the critical period of excitation. The process also depends upon other several physical parameters, i.e., relative plate motion, effective normal stress, steady-state coefficient of friction, frictional parameter and critical slip distance. The impact of these physical parameters on fault resonance destabilization model has been thoroughly investigated and found that a strong amplification of shear stress and amplitude of velocity perturbation is perceived from the fault system with decreasing effective normal stress, frictional parameters, and an increasing relative plate motion. Whereas the steady-state coefficient of friction and critical slip distance has a minor role in the resonance destabilization model. Moreover, the presence of anomalous fluid-rich crust at deeper levels of the fault possibly places the fault segments in the conditional stable frictional regime, which is very sensitive to periodic exogenous stress perturbation and modulates the seismicity by fault resonance process. Further, it has been found that stable plate interior regions and diffuse deformation zones appear to be more sensitive to long-period seismicity modulation in response to naturally reported harmonic forcing, while short-period seismicity modulation appears to be less sensitive. In contrast, relatively faster-moving plate boundary regions are equally susceptible to both short-period and long-period seismicity modulation processes in response to stress perturbation from natural harmonic forcing. This demonstrates the capability of the resonance destabilization model in understanding the fault dynamics and seismicity modulation process on Earth. In addition, it has been shown from the gravity-induced resonance destabilization model that the effective area of the non-resonance domain increases with increasing gravitational acceleration, and the gravity-induced resonance destabilization model appears to be better in agreement with the diversity in seismicity modulation linked to planetary bodies and their natural satellites. Finally, it has been suggested that the present resonance destabilization model can produce comprehensive results linked to seismicity modulation by different exogenous processes in different planetary environments
Physical and Mechanical Characterization of Ti50Ni50-XFeX Shape Memory Alloy Fabricated by Powder Metallurgy Process
No full textShape memory alloys (SMAs) shows crystal structure transformation at low temperature. Due to this reason, the metals change their shape without any microstructural effect. Also, SMAs exhibit superior properties such as shape memory effects (SMEs) and superelasticity (SE), along with higher biocompatibility, higher corrosion resistance, low thermal conductivity, higher abrasion resistance, better fatigue resistance, and better processability. NiTi-based alloys with shape memory effect are used in different areas such as electronics, medicine, aerospace, robotics, and structural applications. Various techniques are used to alter the properties of binary NiTi alloys by adding different alloying elements. Compared to the binary NiTi alloy, the ternary TiNiFe alloy generally shows low temperature hysteresis, higher toughness, good mechanical properties, higher corrosion and wear resistance, radiopacity, and lower martensitic phase transformation temperatures. TiNiFe alloys are mostly used in aeronautical (e.g., heat-shrinkable hydraulic couplings and sleeves), couplings in jet fighters/aircraft and other engineering applications (like hydrogen storage materials and pipe couplings etc.) and actuator applications. In the present study, ternary Ti50Ni(50−X)FeX alloy (where X: 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 in at.%) has been prepared by the powder metallurgy method (mixing and with or without mechanical milling). To study the effect of the variation of Fe percentage, sintering temperature and various mixing methods on the microstructure and mechanical properties of TiNiFe alloy are investigated. The characterization of milled powders is carried out by High Temperature Differential Scanning Calorimetry (HTDSC), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) for thermal, phase and morphology analysis. Then the milled and unmilled powders were cold compacted at 600MPa pressure and sintered by conventional pressure-less sintering using Ar gas at 1050-1200 °C for 4 hours in a tubular furnace. Also, unmilled mixed powder was sintered in a SPS unit at 1000ºC for 5 min holding time and 50 MPa applied pressure at a heating rate of 50 ºC/min. The phase evolution, microstructure, shape memory effect, and physical and mechanical properties of the prepared alloy have been carried out using XRD, SEM, EDS, density, porosity, hardness, compression, indentation technique (shape memory effect), nanoindentation, and wear test. In investigation through milled routes, the 4 at.% Fe sample sintered at 1200ºC shows higher density, lower porosity, and a higher hardness value but higher compressive and yield strength values of the 4 at.% Fe sample sintered at 1150ºC were observed compared to other compositions and other sintered samples. Both 6 at.% Fe sample sintered at 1050ºC and 1200ºC shows a higher shape memory effect of 3.51% and 3.37%, respectively, than other compositions and other sintered samples. After heat treatment process, the 4 at.% Fe heat-treated sample shows higher relative density, lower porosity, higher hardness, and higher elastic modulus due to the presence of more amount secondary phases compared to other samples. But, the 10 at.% Fe heat-treated sample shows a higher shape memory effect, higher elastic recovery and higher COF value because of the more amount hard NiTi (B2) phase present than other samples. The abrasive and adhesive wear mechanisms are seen on the worn surface of the wear samples. Here, the observed NiTi phase and densification favoured the shape memory behaviours of the sample. In unmilled routes investigation, the 8 at.% Fe sample sintered at 1150ºC shows higher relative density, lower porosity, higher hardness, higher elastic modulus, and higher wear resistance due to the presence of more amount secondary phases. Still, the 2 at.%Fe sample sintered at 1050ºC shows a higher shape memory effect and elastic recovery value compared to other compositions and other sintering temperature samples because of more amount of NiTi (B19’) phase present. The overall wear mechanism of the FESEM analysis of the worn surfaces sample is mainly abrasive with minor adhesive in nature. Also, the delamination wear mechanism is seen on the worn surface of the wear samples. Again, the microstructural and phase analysis of the SPS sample includes the NiTiFe phase along with βTi, Fe2Ti and Ni-rich phases. The 8 at.%Fe sample shows higher relative density, lower porosity, higher hardness and higher wear resistance due to the presence of more amount secondary phases compared to other samples. The 8 at.%Fe sample shows a higher shape memory effect because more amounts of NiTi (B19’) martensitic phase are present compared to other samples
Experimental Investigation on Z-A’s Behaviour Against the Amalgamation of Short Pulsed Laser and in-situ Prepared Environments for Surface Functionalization Aspects towards Biological Performances
No full textThis research investigates the laser processing of tetragonal zirconia polycrystal-alumina (Z-A) composite, which exhibit its unique crack-clogging behaviour and exceptional mechanical robustness under stress. These properties make Z-A a promising material for load-bearing applications, particularly in the healthcare sector. Despite its potential, Z-A's intricate thermal properties and varying energy absorption rates present challenges for laser machining, particularly when processing thicker substrates. To address these challenges, the study explores the efficacy of step-down laser machining, comparing it to traditional laser machining, and evaluates its impact on ablation performance, surface morphology, and biological functionality. This work aims to bridge the gap between subtractive manufacturing and biomedical applications, offering a comprehensive exploration of advanced laser machining for Z-A. The research systematically examines four aspects: (i) a comparative analysis of traditional laser processing and step-down laser processing for thicker Z-A substrates, investigating the time-dependent ablation performance of short-pulse laser, shedding light on the mechanisms that differentiate these processes; (ii) the fabrication of a squircle pattern using laser step-down milling (LSDM) intended for potential use as a bone scaffold, while evaluating the influence of laser processing factors such as energy modulation and scan controller parameters under different environments (dry, gas, liquid, and solid); (iii) a detailed ceramography analysis of laser-ablated surfacesnto investigate surface morphology, polymorphic transformation, and crack behaviour; and (iv) an evaluation of the biological performance of LASs through in vitro tests, including apatite layer formation, wettability analysis, and cell proliferation studies. Key findings reveal that step-down laser processing outperformed traditional laser methods, achieving up to 36.14% higher ablation depth at specific energy levels, indicating its effectiveness for processing thicker Z-A substrates. The step-down approach also mitigated the narrowing effects of the Gaussian beam profile through scan track modulation. Among the auxiliary environments, dry, argon gas, and compressed air facilitated superior ablation efficiency and mechanical properties, while liquid and solid environments demonstrated reduced polymorphic transformations and preserved Z-A’s fundamental characteristics. Additionally, compared to all solid environment support in enhancing surface functionality by improving bioactivity, superior apatite layer formation, hydrophilicity, supporting factor for cell-surface interactions, cell proliferation, and fostered directional cell adhesion, increased proliferation, and higher metabolic activity compared to other conditions. The novelty of this research lies in its comprehensive exploration of LSDM under auxiliary environments, offering valuable insights into machining quality, surface characteristics, and biological assessments as a significant contributable aspect that bridges the gap between manufacturing and biomedical domains, providing a robust framework for leveraging laser-based subtractive manufacturing in healthcare industries by enabling its application in load-bearing implants and other healthcare solutions
Barium Ferrite Based Magnetic Adsorbents for Methyl Blue Dye Removal from Aqueous Solution
No full textUsing sophisticated adsorbent materials to clean harmful dye-contaminated water is rapidly gaining popularity. Among different adsorbents, magnetic ferrites-based adsorbents are gaining much attention because of their easy recyclability. BaFe12O19 (BaM) has applications such as adsorbent and catalyst. In this research work, BaM powder, BaM-chitosan composite, and BaM-chitosan-activated charcoal composites were prepared for methyl blue (MB) dye removal application. BaM powder was synthesized through sol-gel combustion, activated charcoal-modified sol-gel combustion and coprecipitation routes. Pure phase BaM was formed after calcination of precursor powder at 1000 ºC in sol-gel (SG-BaM) and activated charcoal modified sol-gel (SG- BaM-C) combustion route, 900 ºC in coprecipitation route (CP-BaM-900), respectively. To increase the magnetic properties of BaM, the coprecipitated precursor was also calcined at 1000 oC (CP-BaM-1000). X-ray diffraction (XRD) was utilised to analyse phases. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) surface area analysis, vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) were also used for the characterization. The surface area of SG-BaM-C powder determined by BET was 5.93 m2 g-1. The SG- BaM-C adsorbent has a saturation magnetization (Ms) of 56.8 emu g-1 and a coercivity (Hc) of 5176 Oe. The effects of pH, adsorbent dose, adsorption period, MB dye concentration, and temperature on MB dye adsorption were studied. It was found that Pseudo-second-order kinetics and the Sips isotherm model govern the adsorption process of MB by SG-BaM-C. The MB adsorption capacity of SG-BaM-C was 150.2 mg g-1 at a solution pH of 6.0 and temperature of 303 K. For CP-BaM-900 powder Ms of 67.7 emu g-1 and Hc of 5106 Oe was observed. CP-BaM- 900 ferrite particles with a surface area of 8.2 m2 g-1 was used for the adsorption and sunlight-induced photodegradation of MB dye. The CP-BaM-900 ferrite's optical band gap was 2.9 eV. The adsorption procedure tracked the pseudo-second-order model and satisfied the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. CP-BaM-900 particles showed the maximum Langmuir saturation adsorption ability of 223.86 mg g-1 at an initial MB solution pH of 5.7 and 303 K temperature. The free energy and enthalpy variations of the adsorption confirmed the spontaneous and exothermic process. For photocatalytic degradation using CP-BaM-900, about 73 % of degradation of MB was found within 3 h of sunlight-induced photocatalytic degradation. Reproduced BaM powder showed little loss in degradation efficiency after five cycles. Glutaraldehyde cross-linked BaM-chitosan composite beads (BaM-CS), were prepared in this work with 1000 oC calcined coprecipitation synthesised BaM powder (CP-BaM-1000). For BaM-CS beads, Ms of 52.2 emu g-1 was observed. The BET surface area of BaM-CS beads was 2.237 m2 g-1. Maximum MB adsorption capacity of BaM-CS adsorbent was observed at pH 6.0. To know the chemo-physical features of the adsorption route, the system's kinetics and isotherm behaviour were studied in detail. It was established that the temperature had a substantial impact on the adsorption process. The adsorption was found to be best characterized by the sips isotherm model and followed pseudo-second-order kinetics. Adsorption of MB through BaM-CS was an endothermic and non-spontaneous process. Maximum MB adsorption capacity of BaM-CS was 123.9 mg g-1 at pH of 6.0 and 323 K. The BaFe12O19-chitosan-activated charcoal composite powder (BaM-CS-AC-P) and beads (BAM-CS-AC-B) were made from CP-BaM-1000 powder. BAM-CS-AC-B composite bead had Ms of 25.83 emu g-1 and Hc of 2606 Oe, whereas BaM-CS-AC-P composite powder showed an Ms of 26.8 emu g−1, which was adequate for efficient magnetic separation of these adsorbents in water suspension. BAM-CS-AC-B composite bead with a BET surface area of 152.9 m2 g-1 and BaM-CS-AC-P composite powder with a surface area of 41.5 m2 g−1 were used for MB adsorption studies. The composite powder showed a maximum Sips adsorption ability of 254.6 mg g−1 at an MB solution pH of 6 and 323 K temperature. BAM-CS-AC-B beads showed a maximum Sips adsorption capacity of 371.6 mg g-1 at similar conditions. For both adsorbents, adsorption was spontaneous and endothermic. Both composites showed good adsorption capacity in five consecutive regeneration cycles
A Study on Drought Characterization and its Propagation Including Terrestrial Water Storage Dynamics under the Influence of Climate Variability
No full textRiver flows in peninsular India rely heavily on seasonal monsoon rainfall, leading to worsened water storage during dry periods or delayed monsoons. This exacerbates inter-state water disputes, particularly in the rain shadow regions of the Western Ghats, where lower rainfall (75.2 mm) and increasing drought frequency due to climate variability and anthropogenic perturbations intensify challenges. Droughts can be caused due to the deficiency of water from a variety of sources/components, including surface water, groundwater, and soil moisture. Accurately measuring and integrating individual water storage components is challenging, making Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data exceptionally valuable, as studies show TWS anomalies are well-suited for drought-related research globally. Therefore, it is proposed to use remote sensing data to help understand TWS dynamics and drought conditions in peninsular parts of India. First, this study analyzes changes in TWS across the entire Deccan Plateau (DP) and its RS region in response to climate variability from 2003 to 2016, with a specific focus on assessing the contribution of surface water storage (SWS), specifically reservoir storage, to TWS variability, highlighting the importance of SWS. Responses of TWSA and its different components to rainfall are evaluated using the time lagged correlation. Contribution of individual water storage components to TWSA are also estimated using the component contribution ratio (CCR) approach to identify the major contributors in these regions. Results showed that the increasing trend of TWS in 2003–2009 had reversed in 2010–2016 due to the reduction of climate moistening in both regions. Incorporating SWS and GWS into GLDAS-based TWSA estimation significantly improved its relationship with GRACE-based TWSA, vindicating their importance in both regions. Soil moisture storage and GWS were the two major contributors to TWS variability in these regions, with SWS also having a significant contribution, particularly in the RS region. Second, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is used to reconstruct the TWSA data and bridge the 11- month gap between GRACE and GRACE-FO, obtaining a continuous time series of TWSA from 2003 to 2021. The ANN model is developed by considering precipitation, evapotranspiration, reservoir water storage, GWS, SMS, and multivariate ENSO index (MEI) data as predictors and GRACE-based TWSA as target variable. This study also analyzes the influence of SWS and GWS on the accuracy of reconstruction in different sub-divisions, using three different scenarios of inputvariables. The reconstructed TWSA are used to characterize hydrological droughts in 11 sub-divisions, and their links to large-scale climatic oscillations are also analyzed using cross-wavelet transformation analysis. Finally, the propagation relationships among meteorological, hydrological, agricultural, and groundwater droughts are analyzed in South India (SI). Moreover, the influence of large scale teleconnection factors is also analyzed. Results from this study show that agricultural and hydrological droughts have the strongest relationship in SI. Generally, the propagation time is shorter between the agricultural and hydrological droughts, while it is longer for sub-surface region. There is relatively weak link between groundwater and hydrological/agricultural droughts in the SI. All three large-scale climatic factors (ENSO, PSO, and IOD) significantly contribute to drought propagation
Numerical Investigation of Power-law Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer around a Rotating Patterned Cylinder in Laminar Flow Regime
No full textThe present numerical investigation studies the momentum and heat transfer phenomena from a heated rotating patterned cylinder in a laminar flow regime. A sinusoidal surface topography and power-law fluid are considered to account for the surface pattern and fluid behavior. The range of parameters considered for the present study are pattern frequency, = 5 and 11 pattern amplitude, = 0.01 and 0.1 Reynolds number 5 ≤ ≤ 150; power-law index 0.4 ≤ ≤ 1.6 Prandtl number 1 ≤ ≤ 100 and rotational speed 0.5 ≤ ≤ 2. The study aims to determine the degree to which various macroscopic parameters, such as the drag and lift coefficients and the average Nusselt number, vary in relation to the Reynolds number, rotating speed, power-law index, and Prandtl number. The sliding mesh method is employed to handle the dynamic interface between solid and fluid. The streamlines, vorticity, and isotherm contours are drawn to visualize the flow and temperature field around the patterned cylinder. For a non-rotating patterned cylinder, small recirculation zones are observed over the trough, which are absent in circular cylinders. The size of these recirculation regions increase on increase in the power-law index and Reynolds number. When adding rotation to the cylinder, these recirculation zones move away from the cylinder and appear over the crest. When increasing the rotating speed of the cylinder, the front detached vortices disappear. In case of vortex shedding, a significant decrease in the frequency of vortex shedding occurs when adding topographical patterns. It is observed that, with an increase in rotational speed, vortex shedding can be suppressed for all fluid conditions considered here. The drag force acting on the patterned cylinder is seen to be reduced in comparison with a smooth circular cylinder. A significant reduction in drag can be achieved by choosing a suitable value of pattern frequency () and amplitude (). Higher values of surface patterns ( = 11, = 0.1) result a significant amount of drag reduction at a higher rotating speed. The behavior of the fluid has a considerable influence on the reduction of drag. It has been observed that shear-thickening fluid significantly contributes to drag reduction. The pattern frequency and amplitude significantly influence the average Nusselt number. With an increase in pattern frequency and amplitude, a progressive decrease in the average Nusselt number is observed. The shear-thinning fluid behavior helps to dissipate the heat from the cylinder to the surrounding fluid. Conversely, shear-thickening fluid behavior exhibits the opposite trend. Also, two correlations are provided to show the relationship between the average Nusselt number, the Prandtl number, the Reynolds number, the rotating speed, and the power-law index
Exploring Integrability and Advanced Analytical Methods for Various Higher-Order Partial Differential Equations Arising in Mathematical Physics
No full textNonlinear partial differential equations with constant and variable coefficients play a vital role in modeling the difficult physical phenomena in the various fields of science and engineering. Finding the analytical solutions to these equations is again a very difficult task because of the complexity of these models. However, these analytical solutions help us in studying the various physical and natural characteristics of the models. Integrable property is the key feature for these nonlinear models in order to obtain the analytical solutions, because integrability ensures the availability of analytical solutions. In this dissertation, we adopted Painlevé analysis and Lax pairs methods to verify the integrability of governing model equations. However, Painlevé analysis method is one of the trustworthy and easiest approach, which is very easy to implement in computer algebra. Painlevé analysis method also helps to construct the auto-Bäcklund transformations. Furthermore, the auto-Bäcklund transformation method based on Painlevé analysis method is applied to generate the numerous analytical solutions to these nonlinear model equations. By employing this approach, new kind of wave patterns which include kink-soliton, anti-kink soliton, periodic wave, kink-antikink wave, bell-shaped wave, anti-bell shaped wave, solitary wave, bright-soliton, dark soliton etc. are recognized for the governing models. It has been noticed that this method is an easy approach to solve the variable-coefficients nonlinear equations analytically. The Bell polynomials method is applied to generate the bilinear form of nonlinear equations. These bilinear forms can generate multi-soliton solutions with the help of Hirota bilinear method. With the help of bilinear representation, the bilinear Bäcklund transformations and Lax pairs can be easily generated. The bilinear form is the key feature of the Hirota bilinear method, however, the bilinear forms are highly non-trivial. To overcome the difficulty of finding bilinear forms, the simplified Hirota method is developed which is used to obtain the multi-soliton solutions to these equations. This method is the generalized version of Hirota bilinear method. Furthermore, the Paul-Painlevé approach method is adopted to generate the different kinds of analytical solutions. All the obtained results are expressed graphically to understand the physical phenomena of the models
Integrated Biological Approach in Dairy Wastewater Treatment: Removal of Organics, Nutrients and Solids
No full textUrbanization and industrialization have contaminated various water resources, but among all food industry dairy industry is one of the most water consuming industry. Million litres of dairy wastewater are generated daily during processing of various dairy products. In various stages of dairy products processing, it generates huge amount of wastewaters that contains organics, nutrients, fatty acids, proteins, total solids, etc in large concentrations. In view of this problem, present study aims to collect dairy wastewater and characterized to identify the toxic level and its problematic concern. Organics, nutrients and solids were selected as target pollutants whose remediation have been considered in various phases of this research work. Hydroponic rhizofiltration using Portulaca oleracea and Coleus scutellarioides with and without aeration were investigated in lab scale set up and proved successful in remediation of organics, solids and nutrients from dairy wastewater. Air circulation in treatment system empowered the process to dwindle total dissolved solids (TDS) (38.89-65.69%), total suspended solids (TSS) (30.78-79.04%), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) (56.18-81.75%), chemical oxygen demand (COD) (43.67-79.46%), total phosphorus (TP) (34.36-76.35%), phosphate (34.58-79.46%), total nitrogen (TN) (30.47-74.88%). But in control system the removal is minimal and pH increases as compared to treatment system due to photosynthetic activity performed by macrophyte. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) of leaf and root of macrophyte identified accumulation of nutrients in leaf and root. But adsorption of nutrients and organics by root is more as compared to shoot. The FTIR and UV-VIS analysis of dairy wastewater before and after treatment also confirms remediation of organics, nutrients and fatty acids. Rhizofiltration in root of macrophyte prevent toxic substance to transfer to trophic level of plants and make macrophyte an appealing possibility for phytoaccumulation. Hence the dairy wastewater after treatment can be reused in irrigation purposes and the macrophyte, can be reused as cattle feed. Also, the study investigated removal of organics, nutrients and total solids from dairy wastewater using macrophyte assisted integrated vermifiltration with hydroponic system. The research exhaustively explains the remediation of COD (79.23-83.74%), BOD (79.31-89.34%), TSS (76.31-81.79%), TDS (71.19-86.40%), TN (72.96-81.05%), TP (76.35-87.67%), phosphate (76.72-78.77%) from dairy effluent. Earthworm and plant combinedly perform symbiotic and synergistic activity to avoid clogging in the system. The treated effluent contain phosphate which is better for irrigation purposes. The SEM analysis of sand, vermibed also confirms deposition of nutrients in filter bed. Wastewater after treatment contains humic substance which is confirmed by humic acid analysis. The FTIR and UV-VIS analysis of wastewater before and after treatment confirms the remediation of organics, nutrients and fatty acid from wastewater. The study helps to treat dairy wastewater as well as reuse wastewater in various purposes such as in irrigation purposes, industrial reuse and the macrophyte used in treatment process can be reused for cattle feed
Leveraging Service Experience for Superior Consumer Engagement and Favorable Behavioral Intention in Private Healthcare Services
No full textIn the rhythm of dynamism and frugal innovation, the healthcare industry and health outcomes are rapidly converging on a ‘consumer-centric’ mode of service operations. The increasing competition in the private healthcare sector and ever-changing consumer expectations have heightened the responsibilities of healthcare managers to provide effective and satisfactory care. Policymakers have consistently sought innovative strategies to reduce perceptual gaps and enhance the quality of care of healthcare services. This led to the emergence of ‘Consumer Experience’ as an innovative metric for assessing modern service quality. Similarly, ‘Customer Engagement’ is understood as a process that adds value to an organization through both direct and indirect contributions from customers. It is considered a multi-faceted and complicated experience that cannot be reduced to a simple assessment of a consumer’s capacity to follow organizational instructions. The aim is to make consumers more responsible, accountable, and empowered to optimize their healthcare outcomes and experiences. Recently, consumer roles have undergone prolific changes. These changes can be partially attributed to the rise in disposable income of middle-class consumers, increased healthcare awareness/literacy, and usage of digital health platforms. There have been ongoing discussions about the efficacy and implementation of experience measures in appraising value-based care and participatory practices. However, a clear understanding of the impact of consumer experiences is impeded due to its conceptual nascency and limited organizational strategy. This study investigates the intricate relationships between consumer experience, engagement, satisfaction, and behavioral intention within healthcare services, with a specific focus on the mediating role of consumer satisfaction between engagement and behavioral intention. To empirically validate the proposed conceptual associations, Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed. Additionally, the study utilized the Fuzzy-TOPSIS method to prioritize and evaluate the performance of various dimensions of consumer experience. The results revealed that consumer engagement significantly influences behavioral intention, with consumer satisfaction serving as a crucial mediator in this relationship. As for implications, the study will be helpful for managers and policymakers to identify the strengths and weaknesses of various clinical touchpoints deployed across the healthcare continuum