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This study aims to fabricate and investigate the tribological performance of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)-based composite materials reinforced with 0.5, 1 and 2 weight percentage of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) while keeping the weight percentage of vitamin C constant at 2% for each composite.

In this paper, the composites were fabricated using hot pressing, and the dispersion of GNP/vitamin C/UHMWPE hybrid composite was investigated by X-ray diffraction. Experimental trials were performed according to ASTM F732 on a reciprocating sliding tribometer (pin-on-disc) at human body temperature of 37 ± 1 °C, for a load of 52 N, to assess the role of these fillers on the tribological properties of UHMWPE against Ti6Al4V counter body material under dry and lubricating (human serum) environment.

In this study, it has been observed that friction and wear behavior of the developed composites improve with increase in weight percentage of GNP, and human serum adheres to the surface of the composite pins upon sliding, resulting in the formation of a film, which results in better wear resistance of the composite pins under human serum lubrication than dry sliding. Scanning electron microscope was used to investigate the worn surface morphological examination of the composite materials. Specific wear rate of 0.76 × 10⁻⁷ mm³/Nm was attained for 2 Wt.% GNP-filled composite under human serum lubrication.

The results indicate the compatibility of the composite material used in this study and suggested the in vitro implant application.

The presented work includes novel study of synergistic effect of GNP (which acts as a solid lubricant) and vitamin C (added as an antioxidant) on the tribological performance of UHMWPE under dry and human serum lubrication.

The study aims at providing a reliable system of real-time monitoring for underground mine and tunnels which detects any structural change in the network and reconfigures it for resuming the data delivery process. In high stress environments, e.g. underground mines and tunnels, real-time activity monitoring is an emerging issue. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) play a key role in ensuring the safety of people working in underground mines and tunnels. WSN not only provide real-time monitoring of underground environment but also detects any structural change in the network itself.

In this paper, results of empirical implementation of a re-configurable WSN, capable of self-healing approach, reconfigure the network connectivity upon failure or addition of nodes in the system. An open-source radio-frequency identification standard for WSN, named as DASH7, is used for practical implementation. The proposed system is capable of determining cluster breakage by sudden disruptions caused by roof falls, explosions and node failures, sensor coverage hole, node re-addition to the network and distress priority signal generation by the miner.

The proposed platform contributes to re-attain network state for establishing a communication link with fusion center in terms of: instant and accurate detection of collapse holes, acceptable error rate, time to re-attain network state, rapid distress signal propagation and low deployment cost. This platform is deployed in four different environments of anechoic chamber, hallway, outdoor and underground mine environment, to test the aforementioned scenarios using DASH7-compatible Bitsense Sensor Motes operating at 433 MHz. The effectiveness of the proposed approach has been experimentally validated for the single and multiple adjacent and disjoint node failures in all the four environments.

The number of monitoring systems was implemented for safety assurance in high stress environments before, but the novelty of our platform is long range, cost effectiveness, quick response to any structural change in the network, rapid and accurate data delivery using WSN operated on DASH7 protocol stack.

The purpose of this study is to provide a nuanced explanation of the linkage between entrepreneurial motivations, job attractiveness and growth of family-owned small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) using expectancy and institutional theories.

The data was collected from small family business owners and job seekers in the same companies during interview time using a simple random technique.

The study found that three EMs among small business owners play a pivotal role in family SME business growth in underdeveloped trade regions like China–Pakistan Economic Corridor. These firms are interested in investing in seaport-related commerce, restaurants or hotels and real estate business.

The government, small family business owners, universities and regional youth can use this applied research for their benefits alike.

The study contributes in multiple ways. First, the authors brought a unique context in the emerging economies context of an informal economy like Pakistan. Second, the authors have uniquely tested the moderating role of job attractiveness in the least developed regions. Finally, the authors have integrated family SMEs’ expectancy theory and institutional perspective.

To give insight into human resource (HR) policy makers of the impact of the abrupt change in working conditions as reported from their primary stakeholders – the employees.

Reported from a first-person point of view, 192 employees from Kuwait who are currently working from home were surveyed as to how the lockdown circumstances have impacted their conventional work expectations. The study compares the old working conditions (OWC) to the current working conditions (CWC) to give insight into the overall sentiments of the abrupt changes to the workplace.

It was found that most employees agreed that OWC need to be reviewed, and that the general sentiment was almost equally split on the efficiency of CWC in comparison to OWC, yet the majority was enjoying the flexible conditions. Moreover, the majority of respondents found that overall conventional work elements either remained the same or had been impacted positively rather than negatively. Also, if given an option of a hybrid model inclusive of partly working remotely and partly working on-site, a considerable majority reported that they are able to efficiently conduct atleast 80% of their work expectation. Finally, it was found that employee expectation is changing as they consider post COVID-19 conditions.

This research was conducted using virtual crowd-sourcing methods to administer the survey and may have been enhanced should other methods have been integrated for data gathering. Also, a more comprehensive phenomenological approach could have been incorporated to add a qualitative method to the investigation. This could have freed the results of answer limitation and experience bias. Moreover, it is good practice to involve both quantitative and qualitative elements to any research when possible. Finally, future research can benefit from a bigger pool of participants so as to gain a clearer picture.

This research will give policy makers a look at what needs to be reviewed/changed for a successful roll-out of remote work in accordance with their original strategies.

This study aims to use dynamic capability theory to investigate the effect of entrepreneurial orientation and dynamic capabilities (DC) on the firm’s entrepreneurial performance through strategic entrepreneurship (SE).

To address the research objective, the authors obtained data from larger organisations operating in an emerging Pakistani economy.

Findings reveal that, in emerging markets, DC are essential elements that influence the organisation’s opportunity-seeking and advantage-seeking behaviours to ensure the firm’s entrepreneurial performance.

The present study implies that training is needed for the managers and team leaders of emerging market corporates to think entrepreneurially by revising the strategic goals of the corporate.

SE-based executive training should also be compulsory for the top management teams, including the board of directors for larger firms.

SE is a critically important business concept and should be taught in the emerging market’s business schools as a course at the graduate level.

This paper strengthens entrepreneurship literature by using a unique context of an emerging market and suggests a unique SE-based framework for the firms operating in emerging markets.

The purpose of this study is to assess the e-readiness status of libraries in the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in terms of four dimensions – human resources, electronical infrastructure, network services and programs and enhancers of the networked world.

The study population consists of 11 libraries of the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, including the central library and 10 faculty libraries. The data collection instrument is a questionnaire prepared by the researchers that has been designed on the basis of the “e-readiness assessment of Iranian academic libraries model”. Depending on the respondents there are three parts to the questionnaire: questionnaire for managers, staff and information and communication technology (ICT) officials. Their reliability and validity have been proved.

The libraries of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences had an average to high status in terms of “human resources” with a score of 2.32, “electronic infrastructure” with a score of 2.48, “network services and programs” with a score of 2.09 and “networked world enhancers” with a score of 2.37 out of 4. In total, these libraries had an average to high status in terms of e-readiness, with a score of 2.29.

The findings of this study can help the library administrators and officials of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences to plan improvements to the situation of ICT.

This paper aims to test the theory that predicts differences in locus of control (LOC) by gender and the relationships between LOC and the performance of accounting students in a large South African university.

Confirmatory factor analysis was applied to test the applicability of Spector’s (1988) LOC scales as a first-order construct in this context. An exploratory factor analysis was then performed to provide a more fine-grained analysis of subordinate constructs. Three component categories were found to emerge from a test of this widely used LOC questionnaire. These component categories were classified as beliefs about the effectiveness of agency, beliefs about chance and beliefs about networks in the contribution to the attainment of outcomes in working contexts.

Further tests revealed that female accounting students demonstrate higher LOC in all the three categories. Females were therefore found to have significantly higher levels of both LOC and student performance; yet, the majority of tested items were not significant in their associations, and total LOC was not found to be associated with higher performance for female or male students. Certain individual items were, however, found to be associated with performance for male students. It is concluded that despite the predictions of seminal theory that predicts convergence around gender, or more egalitarian outcomes in high-skilled contexts over time, accounting student performance in this context might currently be dominated by females. This reflects a current general dominance of females in higher educational attainment and in employment numbers in educational contexts.

Limitations of the study include: first, the use of a single university; second, a sample of only first-year accounting students. It is not known whether these findings generalise beyond accounting students with similar university environments. This research is also not causal in nature. The statistical testing used in this study cannot indicate causality.

It is recommended that further research investigate the more fine-grained dimensions of LOC that can contribute to accounting student performance and that further qualitative or causal research is performed to “surface” the causal mechanisms that underlie these findings. The value of this research is in the fact that it tests theory that predicts differences in LOC and the relationships between LOC and performance in an important formative context of accounting.

Ascription theory together with human capital theory both predict that, over time, the scarcity of knowledge and skills in increasingly complex working contexts will “crowd out” the influence of arbitrary characteristics such as gender. The purpose of this paper is to test the extent to which job performance determinants of research productivity differ by gender in their contributions to research productivity, in the developing country (South Africa) context, in which gender and other forms of historical discrimination were previously endemic.

Research output was measured as published journal articles indexed by Thomson Reuters Institute for Scientific Information, ProQuest’s International Bibliography of the Social Sciences and the South African Department of Higher Education and Training, as well as conference proceedings publications, conference papers presented and published books and book chapters. Structural equation modelling, with critical ratio and χ² tests of path moderation were used to test theory predicting gender (sex) differences moderate the potential influence of certain intrinsic determinants of job performance on research productivity, as a form of academic job performance.

Gender is found to moderate the relationship between experience and research productivity, with this relationship stronger for men, who are also found to have higher research output. This is considered a paradox of sorts, as English and African home languages, which proxy racial differences in societal and economic disadvantages and unequal opportunities, are not significantly associated with research output differences. Findings further suggest none of the tested intrinsic effects are moderated by gender, contesting theory from general work contexts.

This research applied a cross-sectional design, and did not apply causal methods, instrumental variables or controls for endogeneity. Nevertheless, these are limitations shared with most research in the human resources field, which is constrained by the type of data available in organisational contexts. Further research might do well to investigate non-intrinsic influences on research productivity which may be vulnerable to differences in societal gender roles.

This research offers a novel perspective of research productivity and gender inequality in a developing country context of increasing diversity, which might offer useful insights into other contexts facing increasing diversity in higher education. The problem of gender-based inequality in research productivity is empirically identified, and little evidence is found to support the notion that intrinsic effects, including core self-evaluations, are at the heart of this problem. Arguably, these findings reduce the problem space around gender inequality in research productivity, in a context in which other forms of disadvantage might no longer manifest in research productivity inequality.

Health is one of the most basic human rights. Self-medication not only results in many risks, complications and mortalities but also remains a massive economic burden on governments’ pharmaceutical budgets, insurance companies and the general population. The importance of self-medication as one of the worldwide health problems, this paper aims to investigate the extent of this problem and related factors in Sanandaj, Iran in 2018.

This cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted on 838 people who referred to pharmacies in Sanandaj, Iran in 2018. The subjects were selected in 10 pharmacies, 84 in each, randomly. A self-constructed questionnaire was used to collect information about demographic features, prevalence and reasons for self-medication. The data was analyzed statistically by SPSS software.

The results show a high prevalence of self-medication, 73.70 per cent among people who referred to the pharmacies in Sanandaj during 2018. There was a significant correlation between self-medication and occupation, education level, age groups, chronic disease, smoking or reasons to refer to pharmacies (p < 0.05). Analgesics, antibiotics; non-steroid anti-inflammatory, cold and gastrointestinal medicines were the most commonly used medicines by the subjects. People with headache, cold, infection, stomach pain, toothache and dysmenorrhea were more likely to act self-medication than people with other complaints. Among people who do self-medication, (85.60 per cent) had already experienced satisfactory results after using medicines. Mild symptoms of the disease (74.11 per cent), availability of medicines (72.98 per cent) and easy access to medicine supplies in pharmacies (71.35 per cent) are other reasons for self-medication.

In general, the study had some limitations. One of the limitations was related to the research period i.e. spring and summer. So, it is suggested to conduct studies in other seasons, too. Furthermore, as the time of self-medication was the past three months, there was a probability of recall bias.

The prevalence of self-medication in Sanandaj is high and alarming, implementing educational programs about this issue is extremely required. Health policymakers should take all necessary steps to tackle self-medication efficiently.

This paper aims to analyse the weekday effect on the Nifty Shariah indices as per the Islamic calendar. The study is intended to know about the return and volatility of these indices during Ramadhan and non-Ramadhan days.

The study focuses on analysing the Nifty Shariah indices and Sensex daily returns collected from NSE India and BSE India, respectively, during the period of 1 August 2016 to 31 July 2022. Descriptive statistics are used to analyse the data, while the Ordinary Least Square method is used to determine the impact of weekdays on the Nifty Shariah indices. Additionally, the study applies the GARCH statistical model to examine the influence of Ramadhan on the returns and volatility of the Nifty Shariah indices.

All of the Nifty Shariah indices produced positive returns during the overall sample period. According to the study, Tuesday index returns outperform other weekdays. The GARCH model indicated that the coefficient values for the Nifty 50 Shariah and Nifty 500 Shariah indices were negative. Ramadhan has a strong negative effect on volatility, according to this study.

The outcomes of the research are beneficial for investors aiming to exploit daily or weekly price fluctuations, rather than pursuing extended investment periods. Furthermore, fund managers can employ these findings to shape trading strategies, and academics can examine the performance of Shariah indices in the Indian context. This enables devout investors to make significant financial choices, thus advancing ethical values in society and upholding standards of both public and private morality.