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The objective of this study is to understand how Arab entrepreneurs in Israel redress the disadvantage of the intersectionality of place and race by setting up their businesses in markets beyond their ethnic enclaves as well as by pursuing opportunity entrepreneurship and the role human values play in this process.

Using the portrait value questionnaire, a survey of Arab entrepreneurs in Israel was conducted. Multiple linear regressions were run to generate the findings.

The authors find that educated and non-conforming Arab men in Israel, driven by stimulation and universalism, successfully neutralise the intersectional disadvantage of place and race through entrepreneurship.

Care is advised in the generalisation of findings of this research to other intersectional communities as they emerge from the unique context of Arab entrepreneurs in Israel.

Education, stimulation and universalism facilitate entrepreneurial success beyond Arab ethnic enclaves whereas conformity suppresses it.

With the right attributes and values, marginalised individuals can emerge from the disadvantage of the intersectionality of place and race.

The study advances the intersectionality discourse from “what it is” and “what it does” to “what can be done about it”. It identifies the attributes and values that help Arab entrepreneurs in Israel to remedy their intersectional disadvantage.

Agriculture sectors in China and India are going through rapid changes. There is a shift in demand pattern, significant changes in the supply chain, greater competition due to opening up of the domestic and external markets and fuller integration with rest of the economy. These developments have impacted traditional agriculture and its institutional underpinning. Latter are being transformed and new institutions are coming into existence. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper discusses the changes in economy and the agricultural sector, explores institutional responses in terms of various producer organizations in the two countries, and examines their adequacy for the coming phase of agricultural development in China and India.

The co-existence of various farmer organizations will sustain for a long period in both China and India. Overall, they have benefitted agriculture producers, and more particularly the surplus generating farmers. However, the incompatibility between these and the vast and growing small farm sector is not disappearing. Next set of institutional reforms should address this critical question of “reaching the unreached.”

China and India are the world’s two largest countries in terms of population as well as agricultural population. They share a lot of common features. This paper discusses the changes in agricultural sector, explores institutional responses in terms of farmer organizations, and examines their adequacy for the coming phase of agricultural development in China and India, which has never been seen before.

The purpose of the article is to develop an equation to accurately represent OCV as a function of SoC with reduced computational burden. Dependency of open circuit voltage (OCV) on state of charge (SoC) is often represented by either a look-up table or an equation developed by regression analysis. The accuracy is increased by either a larger data set for the look-up table or using a higher order equation for the regression analysis. Both of them increase the memory requirement in the controller. In this paper, Gaussian exponential regression methodology is proposed to represent OCV and SoC relationships accurately, with reduced memory requirement.

Incremental OCV test under constant temperature provides a data set of OCV and SoC. This data set is subjected to polynomial, Gaussian and the proposed Gaussian exponential equations. The unknown coefficients of these equations are obtained by least residual algorithm and differential evolution–based fitting algorithms for charging, discharging and average OCV.

Root mean square error (RMSE) of the proposed equation for differential evolution–based fitting technique is 35% less than second-order Gaussian and 74% less than a fifth-order polynomial equation for average OCV with a 16.66% reduction in number of coefficients, thereby reducing memory requirement.

The knee structure in the OCV and SoC relationship is accurately represented by Gaussian first-order equation, and the exponential equation can accurately describe the linear relation. Therefore, this paper proposes a Gaussian exponential equation that accurately represents the OCV as a function of SoC. The results obtained from the proposed regression methodology are compared with the polynomial and Gaussian regression in terms of RMSE, mean average, variance and number of coefficients.

This paper aims to determine the best conventional degumming technique for use by rural farmers practicing Eri silk fiber production in Kenya.

Three conventional silk degumming methods (water, soap and alkali) were analyzed under the factors, namely, time, pressure and degumming media, following the multilevel factorial design of experiments. The effect of variables on degumming weight loss was determined. The effects of the conventional degumming methods that produced complete sericin removal on chemical structure, surface morphology, thermal properties, crystallinity and fiber strength on Eri silk fibers produced in Kenya were then determined. The optimal degumming condition was then evaluated.

Soap and water degumming led to incomplete sericin removal. Alkali degumming media had the most effect, especially when pressure cooked at 103 kPa. Increasing time during alkali degumming beyond 30 min did not to have any major difference on degumming loss (at p 0.05). There were no major changes in chemical and thermal properties after degumming. However, the tensile strength and elongation deteriorated especially on alkali medium. Decreasing degumming time in alkali medium from 120 min to 30 min reduced the strength loss from 45% to 33%. Optimal degumming was found to be in an alkali media at 103 kPa for 30 min.

There is very little information available on Eri silk fibers produced in Kenya. Results of this study provide an optimized conventional degumming procedure suitable for small scale farmers in rural areas practicing Eri silk fiber production.

This case describes the challenges faced by Amul in organising dairy farmers into a co-operative and creating continuous opportunities for value addition. Participants in the case discussion are required to review the developments in the organisation and recommend a strategy for the future.

Nowadays, the competition is not only emerging from within the banking sector, but nonbanking companies like nonbanking financial companies (NBFCs) and FinTech are also growing in size and numbers, offering innovative financial products and services, giving a stiff competition to Indian banks. Thus, this study aims to investigate whether competition from within and outside the banking sector enhances or reduces the financial stability of the banking industry.

The study uses Herfindahl–Hirschman index to measure market share and Z score to measure financial stability. The study further examines the role of NBFCs and FinTech companies in impacting the financial stability by introducing variables like innovation, cybercrimes, systemically important institutions, etc. Thereafter, panel regression has been applied.

Empirical results show a positive relation of market share with financial stability, implying that increased competition in the Indian banking industry erodes the market power, adversely affecting the profit margins which encourages banks to take more risk and which may impact financial stability. The study shows a positive impact of innovation on financial stability which implies that the competition is acting as an enabler for banks. The authors find a negative relation of systemic important NBFCs with financial stability. The authors observe a negative association of cybercrimes with financial stability, reflecting that competition emerging from FinTech sector has exposed banks to new risks.

The policymakers should make sure that the competition of banks with other financial institutions, such as FinTech sector, remains healthy; otherwise, it can jeopardize the entire financial system. It is for the policymakers to define a boundary for FinTech sector, as the development of this sector has exposed the banking industry to new kinds of risks potential to create financial instability. The banks should do a comprehensive check on the company to which it is granting loans, and the government should amend laws. Though big banks have huge potential, consolidations can pose challenges at a macroeconomic level.

FinTech firms are a new entrant in the financial world which are providing immense competition to the banking sector, and thus radically changing the entire financial system. Therefore, it is extremely vital to study and explore the role of NBFCs and the FinTech industry as the main variable to analyze bank competition, which to the best of the authors’ knowledge is completely missing in the previous studies.

The purpose of this study is to look into the hygroscopic and tribo-mechanical properties of a polypropylene/polyamide-6 (PP/PA6) blend and a PP/PA6/Boron sesquioxide composite.

The hygroscopic behaviour of the PP/PA6 blend and PP/PA6/Boron sesquioxide composite was studied using a water contact angle goniometer in this study. To validate the hygroscopic behaviour of the blend and composite, water contact angles and surface energy of the materials were investigated. Tensile strength and hardness tests were used to determine mechanical characteristics, and tribological experiments on a pin-on-disc tribometer were used to demonstrate the friction and wear rates of dry and water-conditioned blends and composites. The melting temperature of dry and water-conditioned composites was determined using DSC analysis.

The hygroscopic effect of the PP/PA6 blend was found to be minimal in the experiment, while it was relatively dominating in the PP/PA6/Boron sesquioxide composite. Tensile strength was found to be somewhat lower in blend and composite compared to virgin PP, whereas hardness was found to be higher in both blend and composite. The composite’s tribological testing findings were fairly outstanding, with the coefficient of friction (COF) and wear rates significantly reduced due to boron sesquioxide reinforcement. The reaction between boron sesquioxide and water molecules produced boric acid, which increased the tribological characteristics of the composite even further. Following 30 days of water conditioning, the weight of the blend increased by 3.64% and the weight of the composite increased by 6.45% as compared to the dry materials. After water conditioning, tensile strength reduced by 0.8% for the blend and 14.16% for the composite. Hardness was determined to be the same in the dry state and after water-conditioning for blend but dropped 1% for composite. As compared to blend, the COF and wear resistance of composite were 15.52% and 25.16% higher, respectively. After absorbing some water, the results increased to 28.57% and 34.9%, respectively.

The mechanical and thermal behaviour of polymer composites (particularly polyamide composites) vary depending on the surrounding environment. Tests were carried out to explore the effect of water treatment on the tribo-mechanical and thermal characteristics of PP/PA6/Boron sesquioxide composite. Water treatment caused polyamides to bind with water molecules, resulting in voids in the material. The interaction between boron sesquioxide and water molecules produced boric acid, which increased the tribological characteristics of the composite.

The objective of this paper is to identify dimensions of responsible consumption from consumer perspective and develop a reliable and valid measurement scale.

This paper has employed mixed methodology to develop items for responsible consumption. In first phase, experts' interviews were carried out to unearth the dimensions of responsible consumption. In second phase, quantitative survey was carried out to among consumers to measure their response. This was done using five-point Likert scale. The reliability and validity were ensured through empirical data online. Structural equation modeling was used to test the structural model.

The result showed that consumer perception of responsible consumption consists of five dimensions (Rationality, Sustainable Consumption, Local Consumption, Ethical Consumption and Minimalism). The result also showed strong relationship among satisfaction and responsible consumption dimensions.

It will help policymakers to measure and promote responsible consumption thereby improving environmental performance and reducing carbon footprint.

This is the first study to develop valid and reliable instrument for responsible consumption. The findings will have several implications both theoretical and practical for policymakers and society.

This paper aims at reviewing the extant knowledge management (KM) research field within a strategic alliance context to understand the historical roots, its temporal progression, current state and potential future in a meaningful way.

Data for this study was retrieved from the Scopus database using a systematic literature search process. The bibliometric characteristics of 393 research documents were analyzed using bibliometric and structured network analysis.

The findings of the study suggest that the publication in the field have been growing with an average rate of 8.48%. This analysis also lists the most productive and impactful authors, main outlets, and the most impactful secondary and primary publication in the field. In addition, the conceptual and intellectual structure of the research field was constructed and discussed.

This paper uses an objective and quantitative approach by reviewing the related publications and virtually included all the relevant publications in the analysis, which was seen to be uneconomical when doing traditional literature reviews.