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The purpose of this paper is to study the wear behaviour of copper matrix composites reinforced with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) prepared by powder metallurgy route.

The CNTs were treated by sulphuric acid and nitric acid to deagglomerate the CNTs prior mixing with copper powder. The composites comprised 0 to 4 Vol.% pristine CNTs (PCNTs) and also after acid-treated CNTs (ACNTs). The optimum value (pure Cu, 3 Vol.% PCNTs, 3 Vol.% ACNTs) evaluated by micro-hardness test was selected for wear test analysis.

The results showed that the enhancement of hardness, weight loss, coefficient of friction, wear depth and surface roughness (Ra) was due to the effect of homogenous distribution of ACNTs in Cu matrix and significant bonding compared to pure Cu and Cu-reinforced PCNTs. The scanning electron microscopy micrograph of worn surfaces and wear depth of the specimens also showed that the addition of ACNTs in Cu resulted in better wear performances.

CNTs were treated prior processing to improve hardness and wear properties of Cu/CNTs composites.

This paper aims to investigate the vital characteristic of an innovative ceramic injection molding (CIM) process for orthopedic application with controlled porosity and improved tribological and mechanical properties which were affected by complex tribological interactions, whether lubricated like hip implants and other artificial prostheses. The main objective is to maximize the usage of palm stearin as a single based binder as the function of flow properties during injection molding process.

The binder used in this present study consists of 100 per cent palm stearin manufactured by Kempas Oil Sdn Bhd and supplied by Vistec Technology Sdn Bhd. The feedstock was prepared by using a Z-blade mixer (Thermo Haake Rheomix OS) and Brabender mixer model R2400. The feedstock prepared was injection molded using a manually operated vertical benchtop machine with an average pressure of about 5-7 bars. The firing step included the temporary holds at intermediate temperatures to burn out organic binders. At this stage, the green molded specimen was de-bound using a single-step wick-debinding method.

The maximum content of ceramic material is applied to investigate the efficiencies of net formulation that can be achieved by ceramic materials. The longer the viscosity will change with shear rate, the higher the value of n obtained instead. From the slope of the curves obtained in Figure 3, the value of n for the feedstock was determined to be less than 1, which indicates a pseudoplastic behavior and suitability for the molding process. Moreover, high shear sensitivity is important in producing complex and intrinsic specimens which are leading products in the CIM industry.

The feedstock containing HAp powder and palm stearin binder was successfully prepared at very low temperature of 70°C, which promoting a required pseudo-plastic behavior during rheological test. The single binder palm stearin should be optimized in other research works carried out, as palm stearin is most preferred compared to other polymeric materials that provided high energy consumption when subjected to the sintering process. Besides the binder is widely available in Malaysia, low cost and harmless effect during debinding process.

The purpose of the study is to analyse the occurrence and distribution of different tree species in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, as a baseline for further inventories, and estimate the biomass per species and plot. Furthermore, it aims to measure forest biodiversity using established formulae for tree species diversity index, richness, evenness and accumulative curve.

Field data were collected, including stratification of forest sample plots. Statistical analysis of the data was carried out, and locally appropriate allometric equations were applied for biomass estimation.

Representative circular 556 forest sample plots of 1,000 m² contained 13,135 trees belonging to nine tree species with a total aboveground biomass of 12,887 tonnes. Sixty-eight per cent of the trees were found between 2,600 and 3,400 masl; approximately 63 per cent had a diameter at breast height equal to 30 cm, and 45 per cent were less than 12 m in height. The Shannon diversity index was 1.82, and Simpson’s index of diversity was 0.813.

Rough terrain, long distances, harsh weather conditions and location of forest in steep narrow valleys presented challenges for the field crews, and meant that fieldwork took longer than planned.

Estimating biomass in Gilgit-Baltistan’s forests using locally developed allometric equations will provide transparency in estimates of forest reference levels, National Forest Monitoring System in Pakistan and devising Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation national strategies and for effective implementation.

This paper presents the first detailed forest inventory carried out for the dry temperate and semi-arid cold region of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.

This study aims to compare the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of different parts (tip, mid and base portion) of lemongrass leaves for application as a natural ingredient in the functional drink.

Lemongrass leaf powder was prepared from different parts of leaves and evaluated for nutritional composition. Additionally, the extracts of different portions of lemongrass leaves were analyzed for total phenolics, free radical scavenging activities, ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) and antimicrobial activities for their application in food products.

Tip portion of lemongrass leaf anticipated significantly (p < 0.05) higher contents of ash, protein, calcium, potassium and iron i.e. 6.2 mg/100 g, 18 mg/100 g, 340 ppm, 819 ppm and 32 ppm, respectively. Maximum (p < 0.05) phenolics (14.7 mg GAE/100 g), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydroxyl (86.3%) and FRAP (200 mmol/100 g) were observed in lemongrass leaf tip methanolic extracts. Moreover, lemongrass leaf tip hydro-methanolic extracts portrayed maximum zone of inhibition against E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus i.e. 16.7 and 18.2 mm, respectively.

This study demonstrated higher antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of the tip of lemongrass leaves as compared with mid and base portions, hence suggesting its role in the improvement of physicochemical, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of food products. Consequently, the application of lemongrass methanolic extract up to 10% remarkably enhanced the nutritional value and sensorial acceptance of the beverages.

The present research draws evidence from laboratory analysis of fresh lemongrass grown in Pakistan. The findings suggest that lemongrass methanolic extracts could be used as a nutritionally rich source of antioxidant activity in functional drinks.

The purpose of this study is to explore alternative models of substitutes for leadership. These alternative models are a leadership-only model, substitutes for the leadership-only model and substitutes for the leadership-mediated-effects model.

Four occupational groups were targeted, namely, PhD faculty of institutions of higher education, medical doctors who work in district headquarters’ hospitals, licensed pharmacists and certified engineers. Also, a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data, and 523 usable responses were received.

Partial least square path modeling was used for data analysis, and the results of structural models revealed that: the dimensions of transformational leadership significantly affected the followers’ outcomes; a few substitutes for leadership also significantly affected the followers’ outcomes; and, in some cases, substitutes for leadership significantly mediated the relationship between dimensions of transformational leadership and followers’ outcomes.

Findings of the study provide useful implications to improve the managerial practices of organizational leaders, work design strategies in organizations and overall organizational policies for effective functioning. Other developing countries with similar socio-economic status may use these findings to improve organizational functioning.

This study makes important contributions to the leadership literature. It tests three alternative models in the domain of substitutes for the leadership theory and tests the separate effects of dimensions of transformational leadership and substitutes for leadership on followers’ work outcomes. Further, it specifies the mediating effects of substitutes for leadership on the dimensions of transformational leadership and followers’ work outcomes. Most important, this study for the first time tests transformational leadership and substitutes for leadership concepts in Pakistani work settings and advances the theoretical and empirical literature in this local context.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the Shariah view on the legitimacy of requiring the entrepreneur to prove that he/she has complied with all business requirements in case the actual profit was below the expected profit in trust-based contracts such as mudarabah and musharakah.

This paper is part of the research which applies qualitative research approaches, including among others, content analysis, interviews, observations and descriptive analysis using fiqh muqaran (comparative analysis of jurists’ arguments) in few phases.

The study found that shifting the burden of proof to the fiduciary is the weightier view and necessary to ensure that both sides are protected. The considerations of protecting people’s wealth (ḥifẓ amwāl al-nās) and mitigating widespread greed (ṭamaʿ) are among the reasons for allowing elements such as ʿurf, tuhmah and dalālat al-ḥāl to be treated as bayyinah in trust-based contracts when the fiduciary is obliged to defend himself from litigation.

The study is meant to strengthen the practices of Islamic banks world wide.

Few protections can be applied for capital provider.

This study is meant to give solution in dealing with moral hazard of both parties, and to provide solution to the regulator for policy drafting and to increase confidence to the industry.

The finding is important in assisting the regulators in drafting the policy to protect both parties without neglecting the essence of trust-based contracts.

This research aims to investigate the direct and indirect (via creative self-efficacy [CSE] and thriving) effects of regulatory focus (RF) on employee intrapreneurship (EI) in Pakistan’s small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

A time-lagged (six weeks apart) design is used to collect data through self-administered questionnaires. The researchers retrieved 492 usable responses from frontline employees working in SMEs.

The results showed the positive direct and indirect (via CSE and thriving) effects of promotion focus on EI. As expected, the results showed negative direct and indirect effects of prevention focus on intrapreneurship. The follow-up analysis revealed the mediating effect of CSE is stronger for the promotion focus and intrapreneurship, and the mediating effect of thriving is stronger for prevention focus and intrapreneurship.

This study reveals the importance of RF facets as important predictors of EI. The study highlights the importance of intrapreneurship in emerging economies, but expecting such behavior from every employee is a fallacy. Thus, decision-makers in organizations can nurture prevention-focused employees to engage in intrapreneurship.

This is a pioneer study to include RF (promotion focus and prevention focus) in an emerging country – Pakistan – to reveal its significance in EI. It establishes CSE and thriving as mediating mechanisms between RF and EI for the first time to offer new insights into theory and practice.

This research aims to investigate relationship between workplace spirituality and employees' knowledge-hiding as mediated by organizational identification.

In this research, a time-lagged design is employed and multi-source data are collected through self-administered questionnaires. A sample of 305 focal respondents and 1,048 of the respondents' peers is used to test the hypotheses using AMOS (analysis of moment structures) 24.0.

The results reveal that two dimensions of workplace spirituality – meaningful work and values alignment –play significant roles in reducing knowledge-hiding in terms of workplace spirituality's three dimensions of evasive hiding, rationalized hiding and “playing dumb.” However, contrary to expectations, a sense of community has significant positive effects on the dimensions of knowledge-hiding. The study also reveals that organizational identification significantly mediates the relationships between the dimensions of workplace spirituality and those of knowledge-hiding.

This pioneer study introduces workplace spirituality (which differs from religious spirituality) and the significance of workplace spirituality in the workplace in the religious and conservative society of Pakistan. This study uses the lens of social identity theory (SIT) to establish for the first-time organizational identity as a mediating mechanism between workplace spirituality and knowledge-hiding to offer new insights for theory and practice.

This paper aims to investigate the corrosion behaviour of heat-treated and cryorolled Al 5052 alloys in different Cl⁻ ion concentrations.

NaCl solutions with concentrations of 0, 0.5, 3.5 and 5.5 per cent were selected. Samples were subjected to pre-heat treatment (annealing at 300 °C and solution treatment at 540 °C) and cryorolling up to 30 per cent reduction before undergoing corrosion tests. The corrosion behaviour of the samples was then investigated by potentiodynamic polarization. The microstructure of the corroded samples was evaluated under an optical microscope, and the percentages of pits on their surfaces were calculated.

The cryorolled samples had a lower corrosion rate than the samples that were not cryorolled. The cryorolled sample that underwent solution treatment showed the highest corrosion resistance among all the samples tested.

The commercial impact of the study is the possibility of using the cryorolled Al alloy in various ion chloride environment.

The obtained results help in understanding the corrosion behaviour of cryorolled samples under different heat treatment conditions.

This study aims to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership (EL) and new product development performance (NPDP) at the firm level (level 2) of analysis and employee’s creativity (EC) at the cross level (level 1) of analysis. It also examines the serial mediations of (1) intrinsic motivation (IM)-EC and (2) creative self-efficacy (CSE)-EC on the relationship between EL and NPDP.

A systematic random sampling technique was used to collect data through self-administered surveys from leaders and employees of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan’s IT sector. Analysis was conducted on net responses from 114 leaders and 476 employees.

The results revealed significant positive associations between EL and NPDP at the firm level of analysis and EC at the cross level of analysis. The results of the cross-level serial mediations show that (1) IM and EC, and (2) CSE and EC serially mediate the relationship between EL and NPDP.

This study is among the few to use the Coleman bathtub model to show top-down and bottom-up relationships. The study extends and complements the multilevel perspective on leadership and new product development research by simultaneously examining the relationships between EL and NPDP at the individual and firm levels.