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In this chapter, we describe the belief system of Izzat which is central among South Asian families. The idea of forced marriage is based upon the concept of Izzat or honor which is a cornerstone of family life in South Asian communities.

Rai (2006) suggests that South Asian community members are deeply affected by what others say about them. The closest English translations to Izzat and Sharam are honor and shame, respectively. Rai argues that Izzat and Sharam are mechanisms that safeguard patriarchal customs such as arranged marriage which are familiar to us from our own backgrounds as two Asian women. It is our belief that Izzat is the highest “context marker” (Pearce & Cronen, 1980) for forced marriages.

We will illustrate the concept of Izzat through two case vignettes and explicate theoretical ideas, based on Izzat to include Borzemyi-Nagy’s ideas about belief systems.

The research of Ryan Brown (2016) University of Oklahoma on “honour cultures” in the USA draws some parallels in gendered discourses about power of men over women. He suggests that high levels of murder rates as well as reluctance to address mental health issues are present in “honour cultures.” These ideas resonate with the strong influence of Izzat upon South Asian family and community systems which we have met in our practice. The development of our practice was in response to issues arising from our clinical work in these communities (Robinson, 2016).

We will explore the continuum of marriage to include forced, arranged and consensual marriage within the context of Izzat and compare with black African and African-Caribbean families.

We will also consider issues of cultural competence and expertness and how this interplays with strongly held belief systems such as Izzat. We will end with some clinical implications and pointers for practice.

Rapid urbanization and development of pilgrimage cities cause significant problems for the environment and society, leading to long-term challenges. Despite several discussions on city sustainability, the literature does not address some of the specific problems of pilgrimage cities. Hence, this study attempts at developing a method to examine the growth pattern and sustainability of pilgrimage cities in southern part of India.

The benchmarking method and the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability are considered to construct the Pilgrimage City Sustainability Index (PCSI). Appropriate variables and categories are identified through a literature review and expert opinion survey. The benchmark values of the variables are derived by contemplating the pilgrimage cities of Tamil Nadu, one of the states with the largest tourist arrivals in India. Subsequently, three prominent pilgrimage cities from Tamil Nadu were chosen for the case study and the method was tested.

The result reveals that the cities investigated are performing above average in the sustainability index, with slight variations in their dimension scores. While the category scores of cities assist in identifying macro-level issues, the variable scores provide an insight into micro-level issues. Furthermore, the gap analysis between the benchmark and the present value of each variable discloses the immediate area of attention in each city. Thus, the cities could set more specific targets, frame strategies and/or collaborate with matching cities to bridge these gaps.

This index assessment provides a comparison of the pros and cons of these pilgrimage cities and helps identify their demand and supply. Policymakers can find appropriate tools and approaches that aid in sustainable urban development and tourism management.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in emphasizing the application of the benchmarking method to assess the sustainability of Indian pilgrimage sites. With appropriate modifications, this method can be used in varied contexts across the globe.

The essential properties of active sports fabrics are moisture management, quick-drying, body heat management and thermal regulations. Fibre type, blending nature, yarn and fabric structure and the finishing treatment are the key parameters that influenced the performance of the clothing meant for sportswear. This study aims to investigate the effect of fibre blending and structural tightness factors on bi-layer sport fabric's dimensional, moisture management and thermal properties.

In this study, 12 different bi-layer inter-lock fabrics were produced. Polyester filament (120 Denier) yarn was fed to form the backside of the fabric, and the face side was varied with cotton, modal, wool and soya spun yarns of 30sNe. Three different types of structural tightness factors were considered, such as low, medium and high were taken for sample development. The assessment towards dimensional, moisture management and thermal properties was carried out on all the samples.

The polyester-modal blend with a high tightness factor has shown maximum overall moisture management capability (OMMC) values of 0.73 and air permeability of 205.3 cm³/cm²/s. The same sample has shown comparatively higher thermal conductivity of 61.72 × 10^–3 W m^-1 °C^-1(Under compression state) and 58.45 × 10^–3 W m^-1 °C^-1 (under recovery state). In the case of surface roughness is concerned, polyester-modal blends have shown the lowest surface roughness, surface roughness amplitude and surface friction co-efficient. Among the selected fibre combinations, the overall comfort level of polyester-modal bi-layer knitted structure with a higher tightness factor is appreciable. Polyester-modal is more suitable for active sportswear among the four fiber blend combinations.

The outcome of this study will help to gain a better understanding of fibre blends, structural tightness factor and other process specifications for the development of bi-layer fabric for active sportswear applications. The dynamic functional testing methods (Moisture management and Thermal properties) were carried out to simulate the actual wearing environment of the sports clothing. This study will create a new scope of research opportunities in the field of bi-layer sports textiles.

This study was conducted to explore the influence of fibre blend and structural tightness factor on the comfort level of sportswear and to find the suitable fibre blend for active sportswear clothing.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the behaviour of M40 grade of self-compacting concrete (SCC) with high volume of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) (50%) and recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) content up to 100% to assess the mechanical properties of SCC. As per guidelines of IS: 383 – 2016, the RCA can be replaced up to 20% of natural coarse aggregate up to M25 grade of concrete. This study assesses the mechanical properties of SCC beyond 20% of RCA content. Based on the experimental investigations, the compressive strength of mixes decreases as the content of RCA increases. It is found that concrete mixes with 20% RCA and shows the maximum compressive strength at 56 days.

The fresh properties as per EFNARC and IS: 10262–2019 guidelines, ultrasonic pulse velocity testing, mechanical properties and microstructure analysis have been conducted to evaluate the performance of SCC with RCA for practical applications.

From the experimental investigations, it is found that up to 50% of recycled coarse aggregate can be used for structural applications.

The environmental pollution and dumping of waste on green land can be reduced by effective utilization of recycled coarse aggregate and GGBS in the production of SCC.

The paper aims to use the Trilobal® polyester (Y cross-section) for producing fabrics suitable for fencing suits and evaluating their various properties.

Double weave structure was chosen to produce the samples by using six different face structures and two back structures divided into two groups according to the back structures. They were evaluated by their physical and mechanical properties such as tensile strength, puncture resistance, air permeability and humidity properties in horizontal and vertical wicking, drying rate and water vapor transmission.

Fencing sport recently is one of the most growing sports in the world, which necessitates special requirements and properties of fencing suit, either mechanical properties, which allow the easily and freely movement for the athlete, or the comfort properties that save the player’s effort and energy for a long time to improve his performance.

ANOVA test analysis showed highly significant results in some properties comparing back and face structures of the double weave fabric high correlation coefficient were found between packing density factor of produced fabric and the weft material types. The final results showed the produced sample that weaved with plain 1/1 for back structure and warp rib 2/2 for face structure achieved the best results, followed by the produced sample weaved with plain 1/1 for back structure and weft rib 2/2 for face structure compared with the other produced samples.

The best algorithm that was implemented on this Brazilian dataset was artificial immune system (AIS) algorithm. But the time and cost of this algorithm are high. Using asexual reproduction optimization (ARO) algorithm, the authors achieved better results in less time. So the authors achieved less cost in a shorter time. Their framework addressed the problems such as high costs and training time in credit card fraud detection. This simple and effective approach has achieved better results than the best techniques implemented on our dataset so far. The purpose of this paper is to detect credit card fraud using ARO.

In this paper, the authors used ARO algorithm to classify the bank transactions into fraud and legitimate. ARO is taken from asexual reproduction. Asexual reproduction refers to a kind of production in which one parent produces offspring identical to herself. In ARO algorithm, an individual is shown by a vector of variables. Each variable is considered as a chromosome. A binary string represents a chromosome consisted of genes. It is supposed that every generated answer exists in the environment, and because of limited resources, only the best solution can remain alive. The algorithm starts with a random individual in the answer scope. This parent reproduces the offspring named bud. Either the parent or the offspring can survive. In this competition, the one which outperforms in fitness function remains alive. If the offspring has suitable performance, it will be the next parent, and the current parent becomes obsolete. Otherwise, the offspring perishes, and the present parent survives. The algorithm recurs until the stop condition occurs.

Results showed that ARO had increased the AUC (i.e. area under a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve), sensitivity, precision, specificity and accuracy by 13%, 25%, 56%, 3% and 3%, in comparison with AIS, respectively. The authors achieved a high precision value indicating that if ARO detects a record as a fraud, with a high probability, it is a fraud one. Supporting a real-time fraud detection system is another vital issue. ARO outperforms AIS not only in the mentioned criteria, but also decreases the training time by 75% in comparison with the AIS, which is a significant figure.

In this paper, the authors implemented the ARO in credit card fraud detection. The authors compared the results with those of the AIS, which was one of the best methods ever implemented on the benchmark dataset. The chief focus of the fraud detection studies is finding the algorithms that can detect legal transactions from the fraudulent ones with high detection accuracy in the shortest time and at a low cost. That ARO meets all these demands.

This paper aims to investigate the current status of research output published in open access (OA) journals from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) countries from 2010 to 2019 and compare their performances in terms of OA research output.

Papers contributed by the researchers of BRICS countries were searched using an advanced search option in the Web of Science core collection database. The retrieved results were restricted to the “journal articles” published in the “English language” during the time period of 2010 to 2019. After that, the selected papers were again refined by using the “open access” section to identify the research output of BRICS countries published in OA journals.

Total 2,219,943 papers were published from BRICS countries, out of which 402,199 articles were published in OA journals and South Africa has published the highest number of research output in OA journals (31%). Although, there has been a constant increasing growth of research output published in OA journals in BRICS countries from 13,300 papers in 2010 to 82,310 articles in 2019. Engineering and Technology have published the maximum number of papers in OA journals. Researchers of BRICS countries mostly contributed their OA research output in journals published from the USA and Scientific Reports (UK) is identified as one of the leading OA journals. Additionally, among all the BRICS countries, China is found as the promising leader in terms of OA journals publications, the maximum share i.e. 71.25 per cent of total 402,199 OA journal publications have been produced by the highest number 137 (23.41%) of institutions of China and Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) is leading institution with 39,036 papers published in OA journals.

This study is limited to BRICS countries, but it offers theoretical implications for extending its scope to different countries. This study may be used for raising awareness of OA among researchers of BRICS countries and encouraging them to contribute their research work in OA journals. The findings of this study are useful and meaningful in understanding the comparative status of research across countries, disciplines, journals and institutions.

This is the first study in BRICS countries focusing on the research output published in OA journals.

Bioconcrete is widely believed to be environmentally beneficial over conventional concrete. However, the process of bioconcrete production involves several steps, such as waste recovery and treatment, that potentially present significant environmental impacts. Existing life-cycle assessments of bioconcrete are limited in the inventory and impact analysis; therefore, they do not consider all the steps involved in concrete production and the corresponding impacts. The purpose of this study is to extensively study the cradle-to-gate environmental impacts of all the production stages of two most common bioconcrete types (i.e. sludge-based bioconcrete and cement kiln dust-rice husk ash (CKD-RHA) bioconcrete) as opposed to conventional concrete.

A cradle-to-gate life-cycle assessment process model is implemented to systematically analyze and quantify the resources consumed and the environmental impacts caused by the production of bioconcrete as opposed to the production of conventional concrete. The impacts analyzed in this assessment include global warming potential, ozone depletion potential, eutrophication, acidification, ecotoxicity, smog, fossil fuel use, human toxicity, particulate air and water consumption.

The results indicated that sludge-based bioconcrete had higher levels of global warming potential, eutrophication, acidification, ecotoxicity, fossil fuel use, human toxicity and particulate air than both conventional concrete and CKD-RHA bioconcrete.

The contribution of this study to the state of knowledge is that it sheds light on the hidden impacts of bioconcrete. The contribution to the state of practice is that the results of this study inform the bioconcrete production designers about the production processes with the highest impact.

The main goal of this research is to describe the talent management process via social networking sites (SNS) in emerging economies of India and Mexico.

The chapter uses a conceptual approach to detail the subject matter and adopts two theoretical frameworks to enhance understanding of the topic.

India and Mexico have welcomed various forms of SNS as strategic organizational tools for talent management. In India, Orkut is adopted to attract technical employees, Facebook is used to source overseas applicants, and Linkedin is sourced for management professionals. In Mexico, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube predominantly provide applicants for young talent, while LinkedIn provides applicants for upper-level talent. This research also identifies the role of national cultures and data privacy laws in both these countries.

This research is a conceptual paper and any future research will benefit from having either empirical or qualitative research to substantiate the results.

Practitioners might also benefit from this chapter as it distinguishes how different cultures use SNS for recruitment practices. Some cultures prefer to use SNS predominantly for its social aspect while others favor its practicality value. Global managers may be interested to identify where social networks are easily accepted for work-related practices.

There seems to be a paucity of research on SNS in emerging economies. This chapter provides pioneer work in two emerging economies by identifying relevant statistics, developing a model, and listing current SNS. Thus this research helps fill the gap in the extant cross-cultural literature on SNS.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of organizational culture and leadership style on employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment and work motivation in the educational sector in the state of Qatar.

The study was conducted using a questionnaire with a sample size of 364 employees in the educational sector in Qatar. Data were analyzed using factor analysis, Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression, were employed to examine the relationships between the variables under investigation.

Significant positive relationships were observed between supportive culture and job satisfaction; supportive culture and organizational commitment; participative-supportive leadership and job satisfaction; directive leadership and job satisfaction; job satisfaction and work motivation; job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

This paper would help managers and policy-makers in the education sector to develop a better understanding of organizational culture and leadership styles and their influence on employee satisfaction, commitment and motivation.

The education sector is experiencing a fast growth in Qatar due to significant outlays by the government. This study is among the first in the country to understand the variables affecting employees’ performance in education sector.