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In the age of digital media, customers have access to vast digital information sources, within and outside a company's direct control. Yet managers lack a metric to capture customers' cross-media exposure and its ramifications for individual customer journeys. To solve this issue, this article introduces media entropy as a new metric for assessing cross-media exposure on the individual customer level and illustrates its effect on consumers' purchase decisions.

Building on information and signalling theory, this study proposes the entropy of company-controlled and peer-driven media sources as a measure of cross-media exposure. A probit model analyses individual-level customer journey data across more than 25,000 digital and traditional media touchpoints.

Cross-media exposure, measured as the entropy of information sources in a customer journey, drives purchase decisions. The positive effect is particularly pronounced for (1) digital (online) versus traditional (offline) media environments, (2) customers who currently do not own the brand and (3) brands that customers perceive as weak.

The proposed metric of cross-media exposure can help managers understand customers' information structures in pre-purchase phases. Assessing the consequences of customers' cross-media exposure is especially relevant for service companies that seek to support customers' information search efforts. Marketing agencies, consultancies and platform providers also need actionable customer journey metrics, particularly in early stages of the journey.

Service managers and marketers can integrate the media entropy metric into their marketing dashboards and use it to steer their investments in different media types. Researchers can include the metric in empirical models to explore customers' omni-channel journeys.

Crops are increasingly affected by drought; hence, the current study explored the potential role of three desert endophytic fungi, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus terreus and Talaromyces variabilis, in conferring drought tolerance in tomato plants.

Preserved endophytic fungi from a Rhazya stricta desert plant were adopted to obtain the required fungal treatment; tomatoes received fungal treatments directly in plastic trays and subsequently in pots. Drought was applied using 15% of PEG-6000 at two stages: flowering and fruiting. The following parameters were measured: pollen sterility, growth characteristics, morphological analysis and biochemical analysis, including proline, gibberellic acid (GA3) and chlorophyll measurements; thus, the data were analyzed statistically using SPSS software.

All applied endophytes significantly promoted pollen viability and tomato yield under stressed and nonstressed conditions. Interestingly, these endophytes significantly enhanced the number of trichomes under drought stress and promoted tomato fruit quality. The colonized tomato plants accumulated a high proline level under drought stress but lower than un-inoculated stressed plants. Also, a significant rise in growth characteristics was observed by A. fumigatus and A. terreus under normal conditions. Moreover, both raised GA3 levels under drought-stressed and nonstressed conditions. Also these two endophytes enhanced chlorophyll and carotenoid contents under drought stress. Fruit characteristics were enhanced by nonstressed T. variabilis and stressed A. fumigatus.

The present endophytic fungi provide impressive benefits to their host in normal and drought-stressed conditions. Consequently, they represent valuable sources as sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives to mitigate drought stress.

In the developing countries, formal credit has dominant role for the development of agriculture sector. It increases the farmer's purchasing power for better farm inputs and agricultural technology for high crop productivity. The main purpose of this study is to examine the influence of socioeconomic characteristics of smallholder farmers for credit demand in Sindh, Pakistan.

A cross-sectional data set randomly collected from 90 smallholder farmers in Thatta district, Sindh, Pakistan, is examined. Descriptive statistics, correlation and the OLS regression method were used to demonstrate the important factors affecting the demand for formal credit.

The results revealed that formal education, experience of farming, landholding size, road access and extension contacts positively and significantly influenced the demand for formal credit.

This study is the first, to the best of authors' knowledge, to demonstrate the influence of various socioeconomic characteristics of smallholder farmers on demand for formal credit in Sindh, Pakistan. It also illustrates the imperative contribution to the literature regarding credit access and demand to improve the agricultural productivity.

This study aims to identify and compare the measurement models of earnings management (EM) appropriate to the Iranian Islamic banking system. The importance of reported profit figures has motivated business executives, who also perform financial reporting, to manipulate these figures. These measures are referred to as “earnings management,” which negatively influence the quality of reported earnings and financial statements' reliability.

In this study, four methods, namely, Jones (1991), modified Jones (Dechow et al., 1995), Kasznik (1999) and Kothari et al. (2005), were used to measure the EM index in 25 Iranian Islamic banks (IBs) registered with the Tehran Stock Exchange and/or the Central Bank of Iran. The study covered the period 2005–2020. Following the aforementioned methods, this research implemented templates that were repeatedly tested in subsequent studies using accruals to discover EM.

The results show that the Kasznik (1999) model is the preferred and compatible model with the Iranian Islamic banking system's accrual behaviour due to the consistency of the measurement coefficients with theoretical and previous research findings. Therefore, total accruals, including discretionary accruals and non-discretionary accruals, have the most correspondence with (1) property, machinery and equipment; (2) the change in cash flow from operating activities; and (3) the difference of change in revenue (ΔREV) and change in net receivable accounts (ΔREC).

This is the first investigation in the Iranian Islamic banking system. The research contributes to the Iranian Islamic banking system literature on the implements of EM, which could be appealed to in the context of developing countries like Iran. Finally, this study highlights the different EM capabilities in Islamic banking systems similar to the Iranian banking arrangement.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the state-of-the-art about sustainable tourism. Despite the significant growth of publications exploring sustainable tourism, the debate on the relationship between tourism and sustainability remains open. In addition, the sector faces the challenge of the 2030 Agenda, as the authors have not yet managed to curb environmental degradation and social disparities. This research needs to be comprehensively addressed to inform future steps and to identify sustainable tourism practices that will advance the goals of this action plan.

This study applies a mixed methodology, using a bibliometric analysis performed by VOSviewer and SciMat software of 311 articles from the Web of Science. In addition, it includes an in-depth analysis of trending research topics in the field during 2019 and 2020.

After 20 years of research on sustainable tourism, there is still significant dispersion of studied topics, frameworks and applications. The results show the evolution of research towards the study and measurement of sustainable change, social and cultural aspects and the development of responsible governance models.

New stakeholder relationships models require a methodological and technological framework. Further progress in sustainable tourism guided by the 2030 Agenda demands the establishment of worldwide recognised measurement indicators and policy frameworks.

With a mixed methodological approach and a special focus on the sustainable development goals (SDGs), this paper provides a “state-of-the-art” update to sustainability research in tourism. The results obtained have been associated with their contribution to achieving SDGs.

尽管探索可持续旅游业的出版物大幅增长, 但关于旅游业和可持续性之间关系的辩论仍然没有结束。此外, 该部门还面临着2030年议程的挑战, 因为我们还没有设法遏制环境退化和社会差异。这项研究需要全面解决, 以便为未来的步骤提供信息, 并确定可持续旅游的做法, 以推进本行动计划的目标。

本研究采用混合方法, 通过VOSviewer和SciMat软件对来自科学网的311篇文章进行文献计量分析。此外, 它还包括对2019年和2020年期间该领域的趋势性研究课题的深入分析。

经过20年的可持续旅游研究, 所研究的课题框架和应用仍然存在很大的分散性。我们的结果显示, 研究朝着研究和测量可持续变化、社会和文化方面以及发展负责任的治理模式的方向发展。

新的利益相关者关系模型需要一个方法学和技术框架。在2030年议程的指导下, 可持续旅游业的进一步发展需要建立世界公认的测量指标和政策框架。

通过混合方法和对可持续发展目标（SDGs）的特别关注, 本文为旅游业的可持续性研究提供了 “最先进 “的更新。获得的结果与他们对实现可持续发展目标的贡献有关。

A pesar del importante crecimiento de las publicaciones que exploran el turismo sostenible, el debate sobre la relación entre turismo y sostenibilidad sigue abierto. Además, el sector se enfrenta al reto de la Agenda 2030, ya que aún no se ha conseguido frenar la degradación medioambiental y las disparidades sociales. Esta investigación debe abordarse de forma exhaustiva para informar de los pasos futuros e identificar las prácticas de turismo sostenible que harán avanzar los objetivos de este plan de acción.

Este estudio aplica una metodología mixta, utilizando un análisis bibliométrico realizado por el software VOSviewer y SciMat con 311 artículos de la Web of Science. Además, incluye un análisis en profundidad de los temas de investigación de tendencia en el campo durante 2019 y 2020.

Después de 20 años de investigación sobre el turismo sostenible, sigue habiendo una importante dispersión de los marcos temáticos estudiados y de las aplicaciones. Nuestros resultados muestran la evolución de la investigación hacia el estudio y la medición del cambio sostenible, los aspectos sociales y culturales y el desarrollo de modelos de gobernanza responsable.

Los nuevos modelos de relaciones con los grupos de interés requieren un marco metodológico y tecnológico. Los nuevos avances en el turismo sostenible guiados por la Agenda 2030 exigen el establecimiento de indicadores de medición y marcos políticos reconocidos a nivel mundial.

Con un enfoque metodológico mixto centrado especialmente en los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS), este trabajo proporciona una actualización del “estado del arte” a la investigación de la sostenibilidad en el turismo. Los resultados obtenidos se han asociado con la consecución de los ODS.

The presence of heavy metals in milk causes many acute and chronic physiological dysfunctions in human organs. The present study aims to investigate the heavy metals in cow's and buffalo's milk of two major cities, Karachi and Gujranwala, Pakistan to estimate metal intake by humans from this source.

In total, 48 milk samples from 2 cities were drawn from animals' udder to avoid contamination. Each sample was digested with nitric acid at 105 ^oC (degree Celsius) on a pre-heated electric hot plate to investigate the metals by atomic absorption spectroscopy (flame type). Air-acetylene technique analyzed chromium, cadmium and lead, and the hydride method analyzed arsenic in the milk samples.

The results revealed the highest mean lead concentration (19.65 ± 43.86 ppb) in the milk samples, followed by chromium (2.10 ± 2.33 ppb) and arsenic (0.48 ± 0.73 ppb). Cadmium was not detected in any sample, assuming cadmium's occurrence was below the detection level. The concentrations of all the metals in the samples of the two cities do not differ statistically. Lead concentrations in the buffalo's milk were higher than in cow's milk (p < 0.05). However, the concentrations of arsenic and chromium between buffalo's and cow's milk do not differ statistically. The present study reveals a lower level of metals in the milk than those conducted elsewhere. The mean concentrations of all the metals met the World Health Organization's (WHO) safety guidelines (1993).

Although cadmium causes toxicity in the human body, cadmium could not be measured because cadmium's concentration was below the detection level, which is 1 ppb.

This study will help reduce the toxic metals in our environment, and the sources of heavy metals, particularly from the industrial sector could be identified. The feed and water consumed by the milking animals could be carefully used for feeding them.

This study will help reduce the diseases and malfunction of human organs and organ systems since these heavy metals cause toxicity and carcinogenicity in humans. Arsenic and chromium cause cancer while lead causes encephalopathy (a brain disease).

The study reports heavy metal concentrations in the two attributes of four independent variables of raw milk samples that were scarcely reported from Pakistan.

This study analyses the literature on artificial intelligence (AI) and its implications for the agri-food sector. This research aims to identify the current research streams, main methodologies used, findings and results delivered, gaps and future research directions.

This study relies on 69 published contributions in the field of AI in the agri-food sector. It begins with a bibliographic coupling to map and identify the current research streams and proceeds with a systematic literature review to examine the main topics and examine the main contributions.

Six clusters were identified: (1) AI adoption and benefits, (2) AI for efficiency and productivity, (3) AI for logistics and supply chain management, (4) AI for supporting decision making process for firms and consumers, (5) AI for risk mitigation and (6) AI marketing aspects. Then, the authors propose an interpretive framework composed of three main dimensions: (1) the two sides of AI: the “hard” side concerns the technology development and application while the “soft” side regards stakeholders' acceptance of the latter; (2) level of analysis: firm and inter-firm; (3) the impact of AI on value chain activities in the agri-food sector.

This study provides interpretive insights into the extant literature on AI in the agri-food sector, paving the way for future research and inspiring practitioners of different AI approaches in a traditionally low-tech sector.

Environmental tourism impacts are considered to be unbalanced. The implementation of environmental sustainability focuses on restoring a balance through environmentally responsible behavior. As Generation Z was found in recent studies to exhibit divergent levels of environmentally responsible behavior compared to other generations, but also to have intra-generational differences, this study aims to explore the underlying reasons and explanations behind their attitudes and behavioral attempts.

Four focus group discussions with young people belonging to Generation Z allow to probe deep into their environmental sustainability orientation.

The results of this study demonstrate that Generation Z’s environmental attitude is triggered by social pressure, social media, as well as by the COVID-19 pandemic. For their touristic behavioral intention, they concentrate predominantly on climate-friendly travel and on-site mobility, waste avoidance as well as emphasizing economic and social sustainability. By furthermore highlighting Generation Z’s responsibility ascription to the supply and the demand side, in addition to illustrating the demand for framework conditions to be created from governments and destinations, the knowledge scope on environmental sustainability is expanded.

In particular, this study enriches environmentally responsible behavior research by incorporating the perspective of Generation Z, while it deepens Generation Z’s behavioral understanding. Furthermore, the results of this study allow to derive implications for tourism policymakers.

环境旅游影响被认为是不平衡的。环境可持续性的实施侧重于通过对环境负责的行为来恢复平衡。由于最近的研究发现Z一代与其他几代人相比表现出不同的环境责任行为水平, 且存在代际差异, 本研究探讨了他们的态度和行为尝试背后的潜在原因和解释。

采用四个焦点小组与Z世代年轻人讨论, 深入探究他们的环境可持续性导向。

这项研究的结果表明, Z世代的环境态度是由社会压力、社交媒体以及COVID-19大流行引发的。对于他们的旅游行为意向, 他们主要关注气候友好型旅行和现场移动性, 避免浪费以及强调经济和社会的可持续性。通过进一步强调Z世代对供给侧和需求侧的责任归因, 并阐释政府和目的地对框架条件的需求, 扩大了环境可持续性的知识范围。

特别地, 本研究通过纳入Z世代的视角, 丰富了环境责任行为研究, 加深了Z世代的行为理解。此外, 本研究的结果可以为旅游政策制定者提供启示。

Los impactos medioambientales del turismo se consideran desequilibrados. La implementación de la sostenibilidad medioambiental se centra en restablecer el equilibrio mediante un comportamiento responsable con el medio ambiente. Estudios recientes señalan que la Generación Z muestra niveles divergentes de comportamiento responsable con el medio ambiente en comparación con otras generaciones, pero también presenta diferencias intra-generacionales. Este estudio explora las razones y explicaciones subyacentes a sus actitudes e intenciones de comportamiento.

Cuatro grupos de discusión con jóvenes de la Generación Z permiten profundizar en su orientación hacia la sostenibilidad medioambiental.

Los resultados de este estudio evidencian que la actitud medioambiental de la Generación Z está provocada por la presión social, medios sociales, así como por la pandemia del COVID-19. En cuanto a su intención de comportamiento turístico, se concentran predominantemente en los viajes respetuosos con el clima y la movilidad in situ, evitar residuos, así como en hacer hincapié en la sostenibilidad económica y social. Al destacar la responsabilidad que la Generación Z atribuye a la oferta y la demanda, además de inculcar la demanda para la creación de condiciones marco por parte de gobiernos y destinos, se amplía el alcance del conocimiento sobre la sostenibilidad medioambiental.

En particular, este estudio enriquece la investigación sobre el comportamiento responsable con el medio ambiente al incorporar la perspectiva de la Generación Z y profundizar en la comprensión del comportamiento de esta generación. Asimismo, los resultados de este estudio permiten desarrollar implicaciones para los responsables de las políticas turísticas.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) of China on investment opportunities in five ASEAN economies.

This paper employs advanced empirical approaches, such as Multivariate DCC-GARCH and Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) to test the research objective. The period of analysis involved monthly data from 2003 until 2019.

This paper provides evidence where the Malaysian stock market to be the least exposed to risks emanating from Chinese EPU, followed by Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia. Results for investment opportunities based on time horizon suggest, for a short-term holding period, investors are better off investing in Singapore and Indonesia, while, for medium-term holding periods, all ASEAN markets appear lucrative except for the Philippines.

From a managerial perspective, the outcome or findings of this study are expected to aid the retail and institutional investors in designing better strategies on diversifying a stock portfolio with different holding periods.

Theoretically, the findings of this study contribute fresh insights into an emerging strand of literature focusing on the transmission of regional policy. Methodologically as well, this study is a novel venture to the best of authors' knowledge.

This study examines the role of technology as a driver of sustainable tourism perceptions among Generation Z.

The work considers the perspective of locals in Pakistan and uses a multi-method, multiphase embedded research design approach.

The research findings demonstrated that technology has a positive correlation with the environmental, socio-cultural and economic dimensions of sustainable tourism perception among Generation Z. Therefore, technology could be considered a dimension of sustainable tourism perception for locals, but perceptions differ significantly depending on the size of the city of the participant. The results of the experimental design phase that utilized picture stimuli demonstrated a linear relationship between technology and sustainability and enhanced their definition and implementation for developing countries.

This research diverges from most past research on these topics by focusing on Generation Z, for whom digital media and technology play a crucial role and for whom these technologies are positively correlated with sustainability and its overall perception. Implications for policies and practices for emerging country governments are provided.