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Increased reliance on major food crops has caused shrinking of the food basket. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to introduce underutilised fruit of Karanda (Carissa carandus L.) for its commercial exploitation.

The present study elucidates the physiological changes that prevail in the fruits of Karanda during its successive stages of growth and ripening. Changes in sugars, starch, proteins, phenols, amino acids, role of various enzymes and rate of ethylene and respiration has been used as parameters to access the physiological changes taking place.

Notable change was observed in its colour from green to deep blue/black, accumulation of sugars and proteins, degradation of starch, phenols and free amino acids. Cell wall degrading enzymes (polygalactouronase and pectin methylesterase) and antioxidant enzymes (catalase and peroxidase) showed their active role, while that of cell wall degrading enzyme cellulase and hydrolyzing enzymes (amylase and invertase) were not active during the growth and ripening of the fruit. Increased levels of respiration and ethylene production determined it to be a climacteric type of fruit.

The study does not provide information regarding the other nutritional parameters of the fruits like vitamins and minerals.

The physiological changes in relation to growth and ripening would be useful in determining the maturity indices for harvesting and utilization of this underutilised Karanda fruit.

Efforts have been directed to study the magnetic fluid based squeeze film behaviour between rotating porous circular plates with a concentric pocket. The porous housing is considered to be elastically negligibly deformable with its contact surface rough. The stochastic film thickness characterizing the roughness is assumed to be asymmetric with non‐zero mean and variance. Expressions for pressure distribution, load carrying capacity and response time are obtained in closed form. These expressions are numerically computed and the results are presented graphically as well as in tabular form.

This paper aims to improve upon the performance of magnetic fluid‐based squeeze film between transversely rough curved annular plates by embarking on a comparative study of the geometrical structure of the curved annular plates.

The objectives are met by mathematically modeling a magnetic fluid‐based squeeze film between transversely rough curved annular plates. The standard method is to solve the associated Reynolds' equation with appropriate boundary conditions by describing the random roughness through a stochastic random variable with non‐zero mean, variance and skewness. Results for bearing performance characteristics such as pressure distribution and load‐carrying capacity are numerically computed. In order to analyze the quantitative effect of the roughness, different geometrical structures of surfaces have been considered and the results are compared.

Certainly, the performance of the bearing with the magnetic fluid lubricant is comparatively better than the conventional lubricant. The findings indicate that although the effect of roughness is adverse in general, the adverse effect introduced by roughness and aspect ratio can be compensated for, to a considerable extent, by the positive effect of magnetization parameter in the case of negatively skewed roughness by choosing the curvature parameters properly.

From the industry point of view, this investigation will be definitely useful for improving the performance of the squeeze film based on magnetic fluid between transversely rough curved annular plates by minimizing the effect of roughness. Furthermore, it offers an additional degree of freedom from a design point of view in the form of the geometrical structure of the surfaces.

The paper presents significant information as it compares shapes and offers suggestions for the best improved performance from a bearing's longevity point of view. This study presents an approach for the enhanced performance of the magnetic fluid‐based squeeze film between transversely rough curved annular plates.

The purpose of this paper is to study and analyse the behaviour of a magnetic fluid-based squeeze film between rotating transversely rough porous annular plates, taking the elastic deformation into consideration.

The stochastic film thickness characterizing the roughness is considered to be asymmetric with non-zero mean and variance and skewness while a magnetic fluid is taken as the lubricant. The associated stochastically averaged Reynolds-type equation is solved with appropriate boundary conditions to obtain the pressure distribution, which in turn is used to derive the expression for the load-carrying capacity.

It is observed that the roughness of the bearing surfaces affects the performance adversely, although the bearing registers an improved performance owing to the magnetic fluid lubricant. Also, it is seen that the deformation causes reduced load-carrying capacity. The bearing can support a load even in the absence of flow, unlike the case of conventional lubricants.

The originality of the paper lies in the fact that the negative effect of porosity, deformation and standard deviation can be minimized to some extent by the positive effect of the magnetic fluid lubricant in the case of negatively skewed roughness by suitably choosing the rotational inertia and aspect ratio. This effect becomes sharper when negative variance occurs.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of surface roughness characterized by fractal geometry on squeeze film damping characteristics in damper of the linear rolling guide, which has not been studied so far.

The stochastic model of film thickness between rail and damper is established by using the two-variable Weierstrass–Mandelbrot function defining multi-scale and self-affinity properties of the rough surface topography. The stochastically averaged Reynolds equation is solved by using the variables separation method to further derive the film pressure distribution, the damping coefficient, the damping force and squeeze film time. The effect of surface roughness on squeeze film damping characteristics of the damper is analyzed and discussed through simulation.

By comparing cases of the rough surface for different fractal parameters and the smooth surface, it is shown that for the isotropic roughness structure, the presence of surface roughness of the damper decreases the squeeze film damping characteristics. It is found that roughness effect on the damping coefficient is associated with the film thickness. In addition, the vibration amplitude effect is negligible for the damper of the linear rolling guide.

To investigate the random surface roughness effect, the rough surface topography of damper of the linear rolling guide is characterized by using the fractal method instead of the traditional mathematical statistics method.

The purpose of this paper is to validate the technology acceptance model (TAM) and its extended form to understand the factors influencing internet banking adoption in Gujarat.

Extended TAM incorporates perceived security and social influence, important variables in internet banking literature. Using a questionnaire survey, data relating to the variables are collected from 284 individuals who are/were using internet banking services and subjected to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to establish validity and structural equation modeling (SEM) to identify important factors influencing internet banking adoption.

The empirical results of SEM showed that the extended TAM has higher predictability than the TAM in internet banking settings. The results highlighted that the intention to use internet banking is positively influenced mainly by perceived security, followed by other significant factors, namely, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and social influence.

The findings of this paper enable internet banking service providers to develop/modify new/existing internet banking services in order to achieve higher adoption rates of internet banking.

Additional incorporated variables in a new model considerably contribute to improving the understanding of internet banking adoption in Gujarat.

Social and economic disparities between racial/ethnic groups are a feature of the American context into which immigrants are incorporated and a key determinant of population health. We ask whether racial/ethnic disparities in diabetes vary by nativity and whether native-immigrant disparities in diabetes vary by race and over time in the United States. Using the 2000–2015 National Health Interview Survey, we estimate logistic regressions to examine the interaction of race/ethnicity, nativity, and duration in the US in shaping diabetes patterns. Relative to their native-born co-ethnics, foreign-born Asian adults experience a significant diabetes disadvantage, while foreign-born Hispanic, Black, and White adults experience a significant advantage. Adjusting for obesity, education, and other covariates eliminates the foreign-born advantage for Black and White adults, but it persists for Hispanic adults. The same adjustment accentuates the disadvantage for foreign-born Asian adults. For Black and Hispanic adults, the protective foreign-born effect erodes as duration in the US increases. For foreign-born Asian adults, the immigrant disadvantage appears to grow with duration in the US. Relative to native-born White adults, all non-white groups regardless of nativity see a diabetes disadvantage because the racial/ethnic disadvantage either countervails a foreign-born advantage or amplifies a foreign-born disadvantage. Racial/ethnic differentials in diabetes are considerable and are influenced by each group’s nativity composition. Obesity and (for the foreign-born) time in the US influence these disparities, but do not explain them. These findings underscore the importance of unmeasured, systemic determinants of health in America’s race-conscious society.

Recently, several studies have been performed on lap welding of aluminum and copper using friction stir welding (FSW). The formation of intermetallic compounds at the weld interface hampers the weld quality. The use of an intermediate layer of a compatible material during welding reduces the formation of intermetallic compounds. The purpose of this paper is to optimize the FSW process parameters for AA6063-ETP copper weld, using a compatible zinc intermediate filler metal.

In the present study, a three-level, three-factor central composite design (CCD) has been used to determine the effect of various process parameters, namely, tool rotational speed, tool traverse speed and thickness of inter-filler zinc foil on ultimate tensile strength of the weld. A total of 60 experimental data were fitted in the CCD. The experiments were performed with tool rotational speeds of 1,000, 1,200 and 1,400 rpm each of them with tool traverse speeds of 5, 10 and 15 mm/min. A zinc inter-filler foil of 0.2 and 0.4 mm was also used. The macrograph of the weld surface under different process parameters and the tensile strength of the weld have been investigated.

The feasibility of joining 3 mm thick AA6063-ETP copper using zinc inter-filler is established. The regression analysis showed a good fit of the experimental data to the second-order polynomial model with a coefficient of determination (R²) value of 0.9759 and model F-value of 240.33. A good agreement between the prediction model and experimental findings validates the reliability of the developed model. The tool rotational speed, tool traverse speed and thickness of inter-filler zinc foil significantly affected the tensile strength of the weld. The optimal conditions found for the weld were, rotational speed of 1,212.83 rpm and traverse speed of 9.63 mm/min and zinc foil thickness is 0.157 mm; by using optimized values, ultimate tensile strength of 122.87 MPa was achieved, from the desirability function.

Aluminium and copper sheets could be joined feasibly using a zinc inter-filler. The maximum tensile strength of joints formed by inter-filler (122.87 MPa) was significantly better as compared to those without using inter-filler (83.78 MPa). The optimum process parameters to achieve maximum tensile strength were found by CCD.

The effect of longitudinal surface roughness on the behaviour of slider bearing with squeeze film formed by a magnetic fluid has been analysed. The roughness of the bearing surface is modelled by stochastic random variable with non‐zero mean, variance and skewness. The concerned Reynolds' equation is stochastically averaged with respect to the random roughness parameter. Results for bearing performance characteristics such as load carrying capacity of the bearing, centre of pressure, frictional force and coefficient of friction for different values of α (mean), σ (standard deviation) and ε (measure of symmetry) are numerically computed. In order to investigate the quantitative effect of roughness on the performance characteristics, four shapes namely; plane slider, exponential slider, hyperbolic slider and secant slider for the lubricant film are considered. The results are presented in tabular form as well as graphically. It is observed that the bearing performance is significantly affected by all the three parameters characterizing the surface roughness.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.