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This paper seeks to discuss the attitudes and beliefs of the Pakistani/Kashmiri community in Birmingham towards the cultural practice of consanguineous (cousin) marriage and health, and how an understanding of Pakistani/Kashmiri community views may help institute good practice for health care professionals.

A qualitative research study using eight gender‐ and age‐specific focus group discussions and eight in‐depth one‐to‐one interviews with participants who were in consanguineous relationships. All participants were from the Pakistani/Kashmiri community and residents of Springfield ward in Birmingham.

The findings illustrate Pakistani/Kashmiri attitudes towards consanguinity and health. There was awareness of still births and genetic conditions but a poor understanding of genetics; respondents were reluctant to accept the link between cousin marriages and birth issues and explanations for still births and impairments were largely attributed to the “will of God”. Female respondents were in favour of screening for genetic conditions but would not terminate pregnancies as this was contrary to Islamic ideas about pre‐destiny and all respondents wanted more medical and Islamic scholarly information on cousin marriage and how it is linked to disabilities. Clearly there is a need to improve healthcare outcomes and reduce infant mortality in the Pakistani/Kashmiri community.

Research findings correspond with previous studies that have explored ethnic minority knowledge and attitudes to health and healthcare services and the need for culturally competent services.

This paper presents some suggestions on effecting behaviour change in this important area.

Gaslighting a form of abusive manipulation both emotional and psychological is a growing phenomenon in recent times. However, as of yet, there is a scarcity of a valid and reliable instrument which can measure the severity of gaslighting in victims of interpersonal relationships abuse. The purpose of this study is the development of an instrument which can effectively measure gaslighting in victims and is psychometrically reliable and valid.

Since the aim of the study was the development of a scale first a sample of eight women who were victims of domestic abuse was taken for the focus group. Afterwards using purposive sampling a sample of 20 women for the pilot study and a sample of 150 women for the main study was taken with age range 18–40 (M = 23.38, S.D = 4.03). For the development of scale theoretical basis along with a focus group was conducted to establish an item pool. Afterwards, subject matter experts helped in establishing contend validity followed by Velicer’s minimum average partial (MAP) method and maximum likelihood factor analysis (FA) was performed for the establishment of the factorial structure of the instrument.

Velicer’s MAP method and Maximum Likelihood FA suggested two factor structures including peer disagreement and loss of self-trust. Instrument displayed high alpha reliability of α = 0.934, with α = 0.927 and α = 0.854, for the subscale, respectively.

Though all necessary steps were taken to minimize the limitations of the present study, however, some limitations do exist which needs to be addressed. The foremost limitation of the present scale is that it is being developed with only a female sample, however, the inclusion of a male sample in future studies can help in identifying whether men also are victims of gaslighting from peers and other family members or not. The second limitation is of validity though necessary validities have been established future studies should study on establishing further validities to further refine the instrument. Additionally, the scale has only been validated and tested on female samples future studies should be conducted on other specific groups or samples to develop norms. Moreover, testing the scale on other cultures could also help in establishing cross cultural validation of the instrument. Finally, though the scale assumes a higher level of scores suggests a higher level of victimization, a proper cutoff score can help in further identifying proper victims from the normal level of gaslighting.

The present instrument has its applicability in several domains the most important being in the criminal justice system as gaslighting comes under gaslighting and even in the UK is considered as a criminal offense. This instrument can help in determining the severity of gaslighting in victims. Likewise, it can be used in clinical settings for psychologists to identify possible cases of gaslighting victims which can enable them to provide specific help and treatment for them. Moreover, researchers can also benefit from the instrument as it can enable them to explore gaslighting with other possible variables which can help them explore the concept of gaslighting even further.

This paper is a novel study and has been completed with the purpose of evaluating the effects of gaslighting in victims of interpersonal relationships abuse as the earlier measures are either not psychometrically valid or cannot be generalized to a wider population. The present established scale is an effort to construct an instrument that can be used worldwide.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of materials, three dimensional (3D) structure and number of fabric layers on ultraviolet protection factor (UPF), air permeability and thickness of fabrics.

Total 24 fabrics samples were developed using two 3D structures and two weft materials. In warp direction cotton (CT) yarn and in weft direction polypropylene (PP) and polyester (PET) were used. Air permeability, thickness and UPF testings were performed and relationship among fabric layers, air permeability, thickness and UPF was developed.

UPF and thickness of fabrics increases with number of fabric layers, whereas air permeability decreases with the increase in number of fabric layers. Furthermore, change of multilayer structure from angle interlock to orthogonal interlock having same base weave does not give significant effect on UPF. However, change of material from polyester (PET) to polypropylene (PP) has a dominant effect on UPF. Minimum of three layers of cotton/polyester fabric, without any aid of ultraviolet radiation (UV) resistant coating, are required to achieve good. Cotton/polyester fabrics are more appropriate for outdoor application due to their long-term resistance with sunlight exposure.

Long-term exposure to UV is detrimental. So, there is need of proper selection of material and fabric to achieve ultraviolet protection. 3D fabrics have yarns in X, Y as well as in Z directions which provide better ultraviolet protection as compared to two dimensional (2D) fabrics. In literature, mostly work was done on ultraviolet protection of 2D fabrics and surface coating of fabrics. There is limited work found on UPF of 3D woven fabrics.

The dynamics of the competitive performance of the small medium firms is an evolving field of research in the developing countries like India. The influence of the innovation on the competitive performance of the firms is still an evolving area in India. This paper aims to explore the influence of the innovation on the competitive performance. The study is based upon the agro-food processing industry of the Jammu and Kashmir state of India.

The paper is based upon the exploratory design. It uses quantitative as well as qualitative method for the firm level analysis of competitiveness. The aggregate index method has been used to construct the innovation competence and total competitive performance index. The regression analysis is used for describing the model based upon the primary data.

The results of the study provide for a significant relationship between the innovation competence and firm level competitiveness. It describes the position of the agro-food processing firms under study with respect to the innovation competence index score and total competitiveness performance index.

The paper provides for the managerial implications of strategically incubating the innovation-based competence for the firms in specific geographical areas. The policy implications in terms of developing specific clusters and incubators for incremental and radical innovations can be derived, in regional economies.

The paper discusses the issue of interaction of innovation competence and firm level competitiveness of the agro-food processing industry, which is dynamic, specifically in the developing states. The paper discussed unique methodology of using aggregate index method for defining the innovation competence and competitiveness for the firms where the consistency of data is a major issue for such a complex phenomenon.

This paper aims to investigate the influence of five environment-related factors on green restaurant patronage intention (IN) among restaurant patrons in Malaysiaxd.

The unit of analysis was individual restaurant patrons who dined at casual dining restaurants when the survey was conducted. Among the 600 questionnaires distributed, a total of 500 were deemed usable and sufficient for data analysis. Descriptive, reliability, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to analyze the data.

Respondents were concerned about the welfare and interests of others and demonstrated a positive attitude toward the environment and green purchasing. However, these three factors do not influence IN. Conversely, specific attitudes toward green restaurant practices and green purchase behavior determine such intention. This shows that a specific attitude measure serves as a better and closer predictor to predict a specific behavioral intention in a green restaurant setting, as compared to the general attitude measures. The results also indicated that green buyers who were engaged in purchasing green products will continue to dine at green restaurants in the future.

The finding provides an insight to the restaurant operators to access the feasibility of entering in the green market.

Although the predictive power of physiological factors such as environmental values, attitudes and behavior on the pro-environment-related behavior has been researched extensively in the past, very limited studies had investigated those factors simultaneously in the context of IN.

Halal cosmetic products are considered as innovation and revolution in the cosmetic industry as they offer high-quality products that follow the halal compliance and meet the strict scientific guidelines. However, halal cosmetic brands are still facing challenges in their positioning and are unable to identify how to encourage customers to buy. Although there is an increasing awareness towards the use of halal cosmetics among the Generation Y consumers, the factors that might stimulus their purchase intention of halal cosmetics is still ambiguous. Besides, there is a lack of well-established study on the role of religious belief as a predictor to Generation Y consumers’ purchase intention. To address the gap, this study aims to propose a model to reveal the distinctive factors that influence the purchase intention of halal cosmetics among Generation Y in Malaysia.

The population for this study consisted of Generation Y consumers. A closed-ended questionnaire was used for data collection from a sample of 262 respondents. The proposed model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling.

This study discovered that ingredient safety followed by the halal logo is very important predictor for the purchase intention of halal cosmetic products among Generation Y consumers. Unexpectedly, this study finds that religious belief plays the least important role in purchase intention.

This study fills the gap in the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) by improving its limitation through considering the unbiased determinant of behaviour i.e. religious belief.

This study recommends cosmetics companies to position their products based on the importance of safety ingredient with halal logo as unique attributes of the product. It also suggests marketers to understand the right promotion strategy to be used in targeting the right market segment.

TPB is only based on cognitive processing and it ignores one’s needs/motivations prior to engaging in certain behaviour. Hence, this study looks into religious belief as a means of motivation and one of the important determinants of TPB.

This study aims to examine the hedge, diversifier and safe-haven properties of bonds against infectious disease-related equity market volatility (IDEMV), like COVID-19.

The authors apply wavelet coherence methodology on the daily data of IDEMV and bond market (US, UK, Japan, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Sweden, China and Europe) indices from 1 January 2000 to 14 February 2021.

The results show no significant co-movement between these bond indices and IDEMV, thus confirming that they serve as a hedge against IDEMV. However, during the turbulent period like COVID-19, the authors find that the US, UK, Japan, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Sweden, China and European bond markets act as safe-haven against IDEMV, whereas the UK, US, Japan and Canadian bond markets demonstrate an in-phase and positive co-movement with IDEMV during COVID-19, suggesting their role as a diversifier.

The study findings are important for investors and portfolio managers regarding risk management, portfolio diversification and investment strategies.

The authors contribute to the fast growing body of work on the financial impacts of COVID-19 as well as to ongoing consideration of whether a bond is a safe-haven investment.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of trade openness on the cost of financial intermediation and bank performance. Developed and developing countries are currently pursuing trade openness to achieve higher bank performance with less intermediation costs.

In attaining the study's objectives, several regression methodologies were employed (i.e. system generalized method of moments (GMM), fixed effect, pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) and vector error correction model (VECM)). The authors tested the hypothesis on data of 885 banks from BRICS countries, which span 18 years (2000–2017).

The results from this robust study showed that embedding higher trade openness reduces financial intermediation costs and improves banks' performance. The results remain robust following the use of different estimation methods and alternative variables as proxies. In addition, results were still valid upon considering bank level, industry level and country level as control variables. It was also observed that the relation pattern holds its rigidity during “good” and “bad” times (i.e. the global financial crisis).

The results provide better references for bank regulators, academics and policymakers to take advantage of the low financial intermediation costs resulting from trade openness.

The purpose of this review is to narrate the microbiological quality of variety of street foods which are largely consumed by the Bangladeshi people of all ages. However, these foods are prone to microbial contamination. Most of the vendors lack the awareness on hygiene during preparing, processing or handling the foods. The insufficiency in regular microbiological analysis further casts the possibility of disease onset. The need of microbial analyses of these foods also remains unclear to the consumers, which, in turn, results in microbial infections and intoxications remaining unnoticed.

The present review focused on the microbiological quality of the street foods projected from the locally conducted researches on street foods, and pondered on the possible management from a microbiological perspective for ensuring consumer safety.

This paper provides comprehensive information on the microbiological quality of street foods, requirement of maintenance of hygiene by the vendors and consumers and the necessity of adopting proper management during food preparation.

Demonstration of microbial prevalence in the street foods may bring imperative information on food safety and security. The conclusive message of this review is about the general consciousness on the microbiological aspects of street food contamination.