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Owing to the significance of a healthy lifestyle, we investigate the antecedents of the healthy lifestyle of young consumers in Sri Lanka. 658 structured questionnaires were collected from young consumers in Sri Lanka as part of the survey procedure. The judgmental sampling method is used to choose the respondents. The analysis makes use of both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings disclose a high degree of healthy lifestyle among young consumers in Sri Lanka. Further findings revealed that health consciousness, collective esteem, and neighborhood environment are the antecedents for a healthy lifestyle. As young consumers are more concerned about a healthy lifestyle, managers in certain industries such as food and beverages, hotels, and restaurants should adopt their products and services in line with a healthy lifestyle.

This paper aims to investigate the role of corporate governance on the bank profitability of Indian banks vis-à-vis South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations.

For the Corporate Governance Index, the authors examined board accountability, transparency and disclosure and audit committee, while Tobin’s Q, return on equity and return on assets are used to measure the bank’s profitability. The study used a two-stage analysis based on balanced panel data for robust findings. Sample of this study consists of 60 commercial banks from India and 60 banks from SAARC nations for the period of 2009–2021. This study used panel regression and a generalized method of moment approach using the CAMELS framework on banking industry-specific variables to determine their respective impacts.

The findings of this study suggest that board accountability is positive and significantly affects the profitability of banks as indicated by return on assets, return on equity and Tobin’s Q. In contrast, the audit committee has a positive and insignificant impact on return on assets, return on equity and Tobin’s Q, while transparency and disclosure have a negative and significant impact on these metrics. Furthermore, the country dummy result shows a significant positive impact on all the bank performance parameters, implying that Indian banks have the highest degree of convergence with corporate governance as compared to other SAARC nations.

This study provides insight to the regulators, policymakers and financial institutions to evaluate the role of corporate governance in emerging economies. However, the findings of the study should be interpreted with caution, as the results are sensitive to the disparity between India and other SAARC nations' government policies, climatic circumstances and cultural or religious traditions.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to gauge the performance of Indian banks vis-à-vis SAARC nations using the CAMELS framework approach. Further, findings of this study suggest some novel evidence tying corporate governance quality with the profitability of banks among SAARC nations.

Durability of concrete can be enhanced by reducing the pore size/volume of pores or by entrapping the pores. This can be achieved by adding concrete admixtures that have particle size finer than cement. In this study, GNP, having particle size much smaller than cement, has been introduced/added to concrete mix to control the pore size in concrete to tape out the contribution of GNP in the durability enhancement of concrete.

Different concrete mixes, at various water–cement ratios and amounts of graphene, have been manufactured to produce concrete containing three different %ages of GNP, i.e. 0%, 0.05% and 0.1%. To demonstrate the effect on durability of the concrete through the addition of GNP, these concrete samples have been subjected to repeated Freeze-Thaw cycles. Followed by testing after 28 days of curing, including weight loss, water absorption and strength, which are directly related to the durability aspect of concrete.

It has been observed that the addition of GNP to concrete mixes reduces the weight loss and pore size distribution and enhances tensile and compressive strength of concrete, thereby increasing the durability of concrete in unfavorable circumstances like freeze-thaw i.e. alternate hot and cold weather conditions.

This investigation presents original piece of experimental work conducted on modified concrete (GNP-based concrete). The aim is to construct the civil infrastructure in deep-cold region with increased life span and better performance.

There are many areas of research that are untapped in Islamic banking, and human capital is one of them. This paper aims to systematical review the relevant literature on human capital and Islamic banking.

The review process involved a structured search using well-established academic databases, Scopus and Web of Science, resulting in the selection of relevant articles. The paper has been divided into three major themes, besides other discussions on the literature, including methods of measuring human capital, determinants of human capital and human capital and performance of Islamic banks.

A few pioneering studies have explicitly examined human capital in the Islamic banking domain, while others have encompassed it under the broader umbrella of intellectual capital. The most common method of measuring human capital is accounting based, while few have adopted disclosure and survey methods as well. There are few studies that explored the determinants of human capital having focus on corporate governance, while many of the studies have explored the nexus of human capital and financial performance.

This review strongly highlights the need for more focused research on human capital within the Islamic banking sector. As Islamic banking necessitates unique human capital characteristics, it is essential to delve deeper into this aspect. Furthermore, there is a call to expand the human capital index by incorporating comprehensive aspects relevant to Islamic banking. An important area that requires further exploration is the role of Shariah governance in shaping human capital development within Islamic finance, understanding the reasons behind the observed negative correlation.

Despite its significance, the relationship between human capital and Islamic banking has received limited attention. This review paper not only addresses this gap but also lays the groundwork for future studies in this important and emerging field.

The main aim of the study is to explore the volatility spillover effect of cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin) on inflation volatility in India.

A popular tool, the Bivariate GARCH model (BEKK-GARCH), to study the volatility spillover effect, is applied in the study. Monthly data of cryptocurrencies and inflation (WPI and CPI indices) are gathered from 2015 to 2021.

Significant short-term responsiveness of volatility of cryptocurrencies on the inflation volatility is found. In addition to this, the significant volatility spillover effect from the cryptocurrencies to the inflation volatility is found.

The findings of the current paper can be of use for inflation management, target inflation policies and policies to contain the volatility of cryptocurrencies. The significance of the current paper is relevant as governments worldwide are officially recognizing cryptocurrencies and starting the process of launching their official virtual currency.

No other study is observed on the topic. Hence, the contribution and novelty of the findings of the current paper are very high and add value to the nonexistent literature on the topic. Lack of the number of inflation observations (data of CPI and WPI are available only in monthly frequency) crimps the model estimation. As the cryptocurrencies become old, more data points will be available by design, and such problems can be resolved, and better model estimation may be possible.

The study analyzes the influence of corporate governance and ownership concentration levels on the cost of equity. Further, the authors extend the literature by investigating the moderating effect of ownership concentration levels (i.e. at 5%, 10% and 20%) on the relationship between corporate governance and the cost of equity.

The study applies several robust panel regression techniques to a sample of 114 active non-financial companies listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange from 2011 to 2016. Corporate governance was measured through a unique index comprising 30 governance attributes. The cost of equity was measured through the capital asset pricing model. Further, the authors construct three variables for ownership concentration levels, i.e. at 5%, 10% and 20%. To address the endogeneity problem, the one-lagged variable model and GMM approaches were also applied.

The results indicate that better corporate governance reduces the cost of equity, while ownership concentration at high thresholds would increase the cost of equity. Further, the authors find that ownership concentration at the 20% threshold moderates the relationship between corporate governance and the cost of equity. Thus, the authors argue that firms can minimize the risk faced by shareholders by implementing substantive corporate governance mechanisms. In addition, effective corporate governance mechanisms at high ownership concentration levels are imperative for managing the cost of equity.

The study reports novel evidence that ownership concentration at a high threshold moderates the effect of corporate governance on the cost of equity.