NTPC Consultancy (India)

The development of cost-effective non-noble metal catalysts for the partial oxidation of methane (POM) remains a key strategy for producing hydrogen-rich syngas while mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. In this study, cobalt-supported alumina (Co/Al2O3) catalysts were prepared using 5 wt.% of Co and calcined at 600, 700, and 800 °C. Subsequently, Co/Al2O3 catalysts were promoted with 10 wt.% Mg, Si, Ti, and Zr at the optimized calcination temperature. The catalysts were systematically characterized by FT-IR, XRD, N2 physisorption, H2-TPR, and XPS analyses. Catalytic activity tests for POM of CH4 were conducted at 600 °C (CH4/O2 = 2 and GHSV = 14,400 mL g−1 h−1). Catalysts calcined at 700 °C (5Co/Al_700) exhibited the highest activity among unpromoted samples, with CH4 conversion of 43.9% and H2 yield of 41.8%. The superior performance was attributed to its high surface area and the abundance of reducible Co3+ species, generating a greater number of Co0 active sites. XPS results confirmed the structural stability of γ-Al2O3 and preserved Co–Al interactions across calcination temperatures, while promoters mainly modulated Co dispersion and redox accessibility. Among the promoted catalysts, the activity order followed: 5Co/10ZrAl > 5Co/10MgAl> unpromoted-5Co/Al_700 > 5Co/10SiAl > 5Co/10TiAl. Si and Ti promoted catalysts acquired less concentration of active sites and less activity as well. The concentration of reducible species as well as initial activity towards POM are comparable over Zr and Mg-promoted catalysts. However, earlier one has a higher edge of reducibility and sustained constant activity over time in a stream study. The Zr-promoted catalyst exhibited superior reducibility and remarkable stability, achieving 47.3% CH4 conversion and 44.4% H2 yield sustained over 300 min time-on-stream. TEM analysis of spent 5Co/10ZrAl indicated that Zr promotion suppressed graphitic carbon formation.

The case is about a prominent Indian public sector power company involved in the entire power generation value chain, encompassing fossil, hydro, nuclear and renewable energy sources. The organization is geographically divided into eight zones/regions: Central Region, DBF Region, Western Region-I, Western Region-II, Eastern Region-I, Eastern Region-II, Northern Region and Southern Region. In a conversation between Mr Anuj Kapoor, the Director of HR at this major power company, and Ms Abhika Choudhary, a researcher and academician, the discussion revolved around implementing human resources shared services (HRSS) within the organization. Initially undertaken to address manpower optimization challenges within HR functions, the complete transformation of HR functions through shared services gave Mr Kapoor valuable insights. Reflecting on this journey during the meeting with Ms Choudhary, he explored the entire spectrum from idea generation to implementation, including navigating resistance to change and post-implementation feedback. While Ms Choudhary diligently recorded the discussion to gain practical insights into the technological intervention in organizational HR functions, the flow of the conversation encountered a hurdle when delving into one specific post-implementation feedback from employees. This feedback pertained to the dichotomy of face or faceless HR in the era of HRSS within the company.

This work reports the fabrication of near-infrared (NIR) photodetectors based on laser-crystallized epitaxial germanium (100 nm) on silicon (001). The laser crystallized epitaxial germanium has an extracted dislocation density of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\approx 10$ </tex-math></inline-formula> <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">9</sup> cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">−2</sup> . Metal-Semiconductor-Metal photodetectors fabricated on these films using Cr/Au as contact showed remarkable responsivity values of 0.64 A/W at 1550 nm and 0.71 A/W at 1310 nm for a 1V bias. Au/Cr-Ge contact exhibited ohmic characteristics with a contact resistance of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\approx 340$ </tex-math></inline-formula> ± <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$13~\Omega $ </tex-math></inline-formula> . The devices showed a time response with a rise time (10%-90%) of 3 s and fall time (90%-10%) of 5.2 s. The obtained high value of dark current is reduced by one order after passivating the Ge layer below contact with TiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> (5 nm). TiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> based devices showed a contact resistance of 3400± <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$283\Omega $ </tex-math></inline-formula> . Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) was employed to map the surface potential across the MSM photodiodes to understand the current transport mechanisms. KPFM yields an Ohmic and Schottky contact in MSM diodes without and with TiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> passivation layer, respectively. With further improvement in the device architecture; and optimization of the laser crystallization conditions of Ge film; these devices can be used as a potential candidate for various low-cost NIR applications, like on-chip integration of photonic circuits.

Purpose This study aims to explain the linkage between employer branding and employee retention; a sequential mediation is hypothesized, where it is proposed that the relationship between employer branding and employee retention is sequentially mediated by person–organization fit (P-O fit) and organizational identification. Design/methodology/approach The sample belongs to 224 executive-level employees of the Indian power sector organization. The sequential mediation model is tested by using SPSS macro command of Preacher and Hayes. Findings The findings established that the relationship between employer brand and employees’ intention to stay is sequentially mediated by P-O fit and organizational identification. Practical implications The findings emphasize the role of employer brand on constructs such as P-O fit, organizational identification and intention to stay. In addition, the established mechanism emphasizes the role of P-O fit to realize the benefits such as organizational identification and employee retention. Originality/value Internal branding efforts may have a major impact on workforce attitude and behavior including engagement, job performance and retention. “Yet studies of the positive impact of employer brand on employee attitudes and behaviors, or of the factors that shape employer brand, are rare” (Charbonnier-Voirin et al., 2017, p. 2). Along the line of such gap, this study has taken up to test the unexplored sequential mediation mechanism between employer brand and employees’ intention to stay through P-O fit and organizational identification.

This article presents the sharing of reactive power between two converters of a doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) based wind energy conversion system interacting with the grid. The rotor side converter (RSC) control of DFIG is designed for sharing of reactive power at below rated wind speeds, which essentially reduces the amount of rotor winding copper loss. However, at rated wind speed, the RSC control is designed to maintain the unity power factor at stator terminals and to extract rated power without exceeding its rating. Further, the reduction in rotor winding copper loss due to reactive power distribution is demonstrated with an example. Moreover, the grid side converter (GSC) control is designed to feed regulated power flow to the grid along with reactive power support to DFIG and to the load connected at point of common coupling. Moreover, the GSC control is designed to compensate load unbalance and load harmonics. The battery energy storage connected at dc link of back-to-back converters, is used for maintaining the regulated grid power flow regardless of wind speed variation. The system is modeled and its performance is simulated under change in grid reference active power, varying wind speed, sharing of reactive power, and unbalanced nonlinear load using SimPowerSystems toolbox of MATLAB. Finally, a prototype is developed to verify the system steady state and dynamic performance. Moreover, system voltages and currents are found sinusoidal and balanced, and their total harmonic distortions are as per the IEEE 519 standard.

E-learning is on the rise continuously with day-to-day innovations in the technology. Now, one can see the increasing trend in the use of Mobile Learning, Virtual Reality, Games, Videos, Social Media, Interactive Tutorials, etc. as e-learning has become a life-long learning tool. E-learning uses the approach of – Anywhere, Anytime, Anyone. Use of internet, social networking groups are keeping people updated with the latest happenings around the world. Model of e-learning proposed in the chapter for implementation in the industries covers linkages with the various existing systems and provides an effective way to create a culture supportive of e-learning.