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The purpose of this paper is to understand when, how, and why service employees adapt the service encounter to meet the values and expectations of culturally disparate customers.

The authors tested the hypothesized framework utilizing a scenario-based experimental study. In total, a sample of 296 prospective restaurant service employees were asked to evaluate their willingness to adapt their behavior when faced with cultural differences as well as out group status. Furthermore, respondents were asked to assess their level of metacognitive cultural intelligence.

The authors found that both perceived cultural differences and out group status positively affect the service employee’s willingness to adapt their behavior. Further, cultural intelligence (CQ) positively moderates one of those two direct relationships.

The authors extend the literature on the service-adjustment process, as well as the managerial implications of service adjustment. The study is among the first to introduce the role of the service employees’ CQ in adaptation to an intercultural service encounter.

Single males and females are an under-studied segment of grocery shoppers. This study aims to compare the shopping habits of single males with single females and couples.

Structural equation modeling is used to analyze purchase history data for testing the effect of household type on shopping trip metrics and budget allocation to product categories.

Although single male shoppers differ on some trip metrics from females, differences are more pronounced between single shoppers, male or female, and couples. The study also confirms the mediating effect of trip metrics on the relationship between demographics and allocation of budget to grocery product categories.

The study contributes to the literature by identifying the differences and similarities between shopping behaviors of single males, single females and couples, developing an understanding of their budget allocation decisions to different product categories and testing and confirming that trip characteristics mediate the relationship between demographics and budget allocated to grocery products.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the application of a profit and loss sharing approach to tax increment financing (TIF) districts in the USA.

A survey based on this approach was distributed to representatives of community redevelopment authorities (CRAs) in the State of Florida to ascertain practitioner feedback.

Although a majority of the respondents did not feel it was possible for political, economic and legal reasons, some did feel that it was a practical, reasonable and sustainable approach to financing projects for economic development. Some responses were correlated, with others indicating that certain beliefs framed their answers to the questions.

The surveys were only distributed to CRAs in the State of Florida. Future research will need to include other CRAs in other states to make the findings more generalizable. In addition, the results are merely descriptive and are not an assessment of a successful application.

The need for more development in blighted areas of many cities across the USA will put emphasis on innovative approaches in financing this. The growth of Islamic finance in the USA and the regulatory framework for it might open a doorway for its application in this area.

This is the first attempt to apply an Islamic financing methodology to local economic development in the USA, with practitioner feedback.

Market discipline is an important part of financial regulation, under Basel II and III. This paper aims to provide evidence on market discipline in Pakistan. Specifically, the authors have analyzed the impact of CAMEL variables on costs of funds and deposit switching.

This study has used panel data related to different banking and macroeconomic variables. The sample period is 2004–2017 so it has covered the changing regulations that became binding for banks under Basel II and III. Quarterly data has been collected from the financial disclosure of publicly listed banks. The total number of banks in the sample is 26. Among these, 24 are publicly listed. Foreign banks have not been included because their activities in Pakistan are quite limited.

It has been found that efficiency, liquidity, asset quality and capital adequacy are negatively related to costs of funds for banks. Capital adequacy, liquidity and profitability are negatively related to deposit switching.

These results indicate the presence of market discipline and have generated valuable implications for bank managers and regulators.

In this study, the case of Pakistan is interesting. The country has experienced financial liberalization that sought to avoid government intervention and encourage a more “market-based” approach. This change in the system was made more pronounced by the privatization of nationalized banks, improvement in the market structure, reduction in barriers to entry and consolidation of smaller banks. As a result, the banking system has emerged as an important source of financing and it provides us motivation to look deeper into depositor discipline in banking sector.

This research is designed to investigate the presence of market discipline in the banking sector, across Balkan states in Europe. Specifically, the effects of CAMEL variables on the cost of funds and deposit-switching have been assessed.

The CAMEL method of bank evaluation has been applied as well as two measures for market discipline (costs of funds and deposit-switching behaviour). Data have been obtained for 10 Balkan states for the 2006–2019 period. For data analysis, ordinary least squares (OLS) and fixed effects models have been utilized. The generalized method of moments (GMM) method has been deployed as well as a dynamic panel model.

Evidence of market discipline has been found, in the form of a higher cost of funds in the context of capital adequacy (but not for other CAMEL variables). Evidence of market discipline in the form of deposit-switching, however, has not been found. In addition, it has been discovered that bank size and gross domestic product (GDP) growth lower the costs of funds for banks.

In the wake of the pandemic, banks need to prepare themselves for very difficult situations and relevant studies can provide help. Therefore, this research has contributed to the developing literature on this topic. In addition, the findings have important practical implications. Results show that banks should maintain adequate levels of capital if they want to control their costs of funds. Results also show that market discipline, in the form of higher costs of funds, can be imposed on banks to discourage excessive risk-taking. Findings highlight the value of appropriate policies and strong supervision of the financial industry. Findings also underline the importance of offering financial incentives to banks. For example, if banks know they will be able to avoid higher costs of funds by controlling their risk levels, they will avoid unrestrained risk-taking.

Unleavened bread (chapatti and roti) is the staple diet of people in the Indo‐Pak region, utilizing almost 90 percent of the wheat produced in the region. To improve the nutrition of chapattis, normally legume flour is used in the region. The purpose of the current study is to assess the nutritional quality and safety of chapattis supplemented with soy flour.

Wheat and soybean were procured and soy flour was prepared. Trypsin inhibitor contents and mineral contents of different flour and chapattis prepared were determined. Chapattis were prepared from different flour blends and whole wheat flour. To assess the quality and acceptability, the chapattis were presented to a panel of judges and the sensory evaluation was carried out for color, taste, aroma, chew ability, folding ability and overall acceptability characteristics. The data obtained for each parameter were subjected to statistical analysis to determine the level of significance.

The phytic acid and trypsin content were higher in un‐autoclaved soy flour supplement composite flour. The defattening of soy flour also increases the level of these anti‐nutrients in chapattis. The phytate and trypsin content of composite flour decreased as a result of baking. The protein, fiber and ash contents of composite flour increased while moisture content and nitrogen free extracts (NFE) decreased by the addition of soy flour. Mineral contents of chapattis except Mn increased by the incorporation of soy flour. The chapattis were found acceptable by the panel of judges at 10 percent replacement level of whole wheat flour by soy flour.

The results of the study indicate that 10 percent supplementation of soy flour in wheat flour was found acceptable by consumers as it did not affect the sensory attribute. For improved nutrition and to combat protein energy malnutrition, chapattis flour can be supplemented with soy flour.

The soy supplementation of wheat flour will improve the nutritional quality of the chapatti flour as soy flour is rich in high‐quality protein and mineral. The anti‐nutritional can be minimized or inactivated by autoclaving the soybean.

The objective of this study was to look closely at how domestic violence is represented in Pakistani drama serials to see if portrayals are reinforcing stereotypical and/or patriarchal values, or breaking the rigid norms.

With the help of dispositive analysis within the critical discourse approach, the prominent and non-dominant discourses about domestic violence were identified and discussed. Episodes from two popular drama serials, Kaisa Yeh Naseeban and Khaas, released in 2019, were watched with special focus on texts on domestic violence alongside objects and actions.

Analysis showed that both drama serials gave importance to socio-systemic and liberal humanist instrumentalism discourses, which describe domestic violence as a result of social structures and that abuse is used to assert control, respectively. However, some instances were noted where patriarchal values were encouraged.

As media has become a powerful tool of influence and awareness in the recent times, it is imperative that the content watched on it by millions of people be studied and analyzed. It is claimed that Pakistani drama serials with wide following and that are made on social issues around women aim to raise awareness and empower them. Domestic violence is a prevalent issue in Pakistan, and no research till date has examined representation of domestic violence on Pakistani popular media, which may influence response to domestic violence, which this paper aims to do.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and theoretically explain the general barriers to adopting lean construction practices in the construction industry regardless of the country or the company size or specialization, and to suggest future research studies in this field.

Systematic literature review was conducted to identify and explain the list of the barriers from scientific sources that were published before May 2018.

Twenty-nine barriers were identified and explained, and a proposed model to classify the sources of the barriers was chosen. Seventeen barriers were classified as internal environment-related barriers, five were labor-related, three were materials-related and four were exogenous barriers. In addition, some directions for the future research studies were suggested.

The barriers that are related to the advanced levels of lean construction (LC) implementations, to a specific location or to a specific LC tool were excluded.

This review will help to increase the understanding of the new concept of LC and might help to encourage the adoption of LC practices. Also, it might be useful for identifying the strategies to achieve successful application of these practices.