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Plant-based meat analogues (PBMAs) hold significant promise as a sustainable solution to meet future protein demands, replicating the taste and nutritional value of meat. However, the present reliance on extrusion technology in PBMA production limits the exploration of more accessible and affordable methods. The current investigation aims to meet the market demand for a scalable and cost-effective processing approach by exploring saturated steam-assisted technology that could broaden the production volume of PBMAs, thereby supplementing protein security and planet sustainability.

A one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) approach is employed to evaluate the effect of ingredients and process conditions on the governing quality attributes (texture, colour and sensory).

Among the ingredients, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and nutritional yeast (NY) significantly enhanced the hardness and chewiness of saturated steam-assisted plant-based meat analogues (ssPBMAs) followed by potato protein isolate (PPI), defatted soy flour (DSF) and salt. The addition of PPI and DSF led to a decrease in lightness (L* value) and an increase in the browning index (BI). Sensory evaluations revealed that higher concentrations of DSF imparted a noticeable beany flavour (>20%), whereas PPI (30%) improved the overall sensory appeal. Increased levels of NY (10%) and MSG (5%) enhanced the umami flavour, enhancing consumer preference. Higher thermal exposure time (TTi) (45 min) and temperature (TTe) (120 °C) during processing resulted in softer products with reduced L* values. These findings establish a foundation for selecting and optimizing the ingredients and processing parameters in ssPBMA production.

The novelty of the current study includes process behaviour of selected ingredients such as PPI, NY, MSG, DSF, salt and adopted process conditions, namely, dough processing time (DPT), protein network development time (PNDT), TTi and TTe on the quality of ssPBMAs.

This study aims to examine the farmers’ awareness level and explores the factors, which may influence their adoption intention regarding solar powered pumps.

The study consist of a sample of 510 respondents selected from the rural region of Punjab (India) by using convenience sampling. Descriptive analysis, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis techniques have been used for the analytical purpose.

The study reveals that dimensions such as perceived benefit, perceived compatibility and government incentives have a significant impact on intention to use solar powered pumps, whereas high investment cost and lack of awareness regarding government subsidies are the main reason for non-adoption of the same.

The sample size has been selected on the basis of convenience sampling and has been taken from the rural area, which may affect its generalizability.

The present research is expected to be useful for the manufacturers, regulators, customers, commercial banks, product and service providers, and other environmental institutions.

The study has acknowledged various intentional factors, which influence the adoption decision of solar powered pumps. Therefore, the present study will be useful to formulate action plans to improve the environmental quality.

This chapter takes on the role of the metaverse in skill development, such as skilling, reskilling, and upskilling in the digital age. Metaverse is instrumental in revolutionizing skill development in the digital age and bringing the paradigm shift in learning. This chapter will cover the capability of the metaverse to transform the ways of learning and developing skills in the evolving digital landscape. Individuals can be part of tailor-made solutions for their needs through innovative methodologies and interactive experiences. This chapter takes through real cases to get deeper insights about conventional methods that transform how an individual experiences learning to acquire skills to get exposed to the rapidly changing digital world, allowing people to customize their learning experiences to adapt their unique requirements through cutting-edge methodologies and digitally responsive encounters. It then deliberates the importance of the metaverse in the individual-led industry in a manner that allows people to reach their potential. Individuals succeed in the evolution of the metaverse dynamic by continually upskilling granted to them.

The underlying research is an attempt to discover the factors responsible for influencing customer purchase intention towards solar water heaters.

Six dimensions have been considered to assess customer purchase intention towards a solar water heater. The primary data involves the responses collected from 695 respondents belonging to the north region of India using a convenience sampling technique. Structural equation modeling analysis has been employed to examine the dimensions' impact on customer purchase intention.

The results concluded that dimensions such as increasing energy prices, product knowledge and experience, financial support and subsidies, perceived cost, have a positive influence on customers' purchase intention of solar water heater except for the dimension of “solar water heater aesthetics”.

Due to the limited sample size, findings cannot be generalized for the large-scale population. Moreover, this study is only confined to the assessment of particular factors that are affecting the purchase intention of customers confined to solar water heaters only.

The present study will provide an advantage to organizations that are in the process of implementing solar energy products into working. Moreover, this research will also assist policymakers regarding the formulation of policies on solar energy products. An undue advantage of this would be the increasing adoption of a solar water heater by understanding the factors that impact customer purchase intention.

Considerably, this research, by filling up the gap in the existing studies, will empirically contribute to the customer purchase intention towards SWHs. Additionally, the results of the study will also endow an additive advantage to the existing firms.

This study aims to examine the impact of oil consumption on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and total factor productivity (TFP) in highly oil-consuming countries of the world from 1995 to 2019.

For this purpose, fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) are applied.

FMOLS and DOLS models reveal that oil consumption, human capital, population, trade openness and nonrenewable energy have a significant positive effect on CO₂ emissions. While information and communication technology (ICT), as proxied by mobile and natural resources, has a significant negative effect on CO₂ emissions. In the case of TFP, oil consumption, ICT and natural resources have a significant positive effect on the TFP. On the other hand, trade openness, population, human capital and nonrenewable energy have a significant negative effect on TFP. The results of this study can help to provide policy recommendations to reduce CO₂ emissions in studied highly oil-consuming countries of the world.

Due to the threat to sustainable development, climate change has become a major topic for debate around the world. The influence of oil consumption on CO₂ emission and TFP is less known in the available literature. Another significance of this study is that many researchers considered aggregate energy consumption to study this relationship, but the authors have studied the effect of energy consumption, particularly from oil in the top oil-consuming countries, which is a significant shortcoming of the present research.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the transient effects in a functionally graded photo-thermoelastic (TE) medium with gravity and rotation by considering two generalised TE theories: Lord–Shulman (LS) and Green–Lindsay (GL). The governing equations are derived in rectangular Cartesian coordinates for a two dimensional problem.

All the physical properties of the semiconductor are supposed to vary exponentially with distance. The analytical solution is procured by employing normal mode technique on the resulting non-dimensional coupled field equations with appropriate boundary conditions.

For the mechanically loaded thermally insulated surface, normal displacement, stress components, temperature distribution and carrier density are calculated numerically with the help of MATLAB software for a silicon semiconductor and displayed graphically. Some particular cases of interest have also been deduced from the present results.

The effects of rotation and non-homogeneity on the different physical fields are investigated on the basis of analytical and numerical results. Comparisons are made with the results predicted by GL theory in the presence and absence of gravity for different values of time. Comparisons are also made between the three theories in the presence of rotation, gravity and in-homogeneity. Such problems are very important in many dynamical systems.

Over the next decade, humanity is going to face big environmental problems, and considering these serious issues, businesses are adopting environmentally responsible practices. To put forward specific measures to achieve a more prosperous environmental future, this study aims to develop an environment-based perspective framework by integrating the Internet of Things (IoT) technology into a sustainable automotive supply chain (SASC).

The study presents a conceptual environmental framework – based on 29 factors constituting four stakeholders' rectifications – that holistically assess the SASC operations as part of the ReSOLVE model utilizing IoT. Then, experts from the SASC, IoT and sustainability areas participated in two rigorous rounds of a Delphi study to validate the framework.

The results indicate that the conceptual environmental framework proposed would help companies enhance the connectivity between major IoT tools in SASC, which would help develop congruent strategies for inducing sustainable growth.

This study adds value to existing knowledge on SASC sustainability and digitalization in the context where the SASC is under enormous pressure, competitiveness and increased variability.