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The purpose of the study was to produce a healthier, convenient and traditional ready-to-eat (RTE) snack option with increased nutritional value, using spent hen meat, dietary fibre (DF) and simple technological methods. The product was designed to be stable without refrigeration and be easily adoptable by local self-help groups, rural women and youth and entrepreneurs in urban and semi-urban areas.

Conventional binder used for making snacks, i.e. rice flour was partially replaced by different sources of antioxidant DFs, i.e. oat flour (T₁ – 10%), finger millet flour (T₂ – 5%) and amaranth flour (T₃ –15%) to prepare spent hen snack sticks (SHSS). The snacks were then packaged in low density polyethylene (LDPE) pouches and evaluated for their storage stability at ambient temperature for a period of 35 days. Their physico-chemical, sensory and microbiological quality was evaluated at a regular interval of 7 days. The proximate composition of developed SHSS was compared to commercially available snack products (chakli/murukku – snacks without meat).

The fibre-enriched SHSS showed significant improvement in nutritive value, as they contained more fibre (p = 0.001) and protein (p = 0.029) than control SHSS. When compared to commercially available snack product SHSS showed three-fold significant increase in protein (p = 0.000) and ash content (p = 0.001) and only 11%–12% total fat as compared to 31% fat in the market-available product. The most acceptable treatment in terms of overall sensory quality and nutritional aspects was T₃; however, T₂ was more shelf-stable during the storage period. The study showed that fibre-enriched snacks can be stored at ambient temperature for up to 35 days without substantial loss in physico-chemical, sensory and microbial quality. Hence, substituting rice flour with DFs can lead to the development of products with better sensory attributes and improved functionality.

The simplicity of the product in terms of composition, machinery and low production costs makes it an easily adoptable one by small-scale entrepreneurs, especially those belonging to semi-urban areas.

Incorporation of spent hen meat, a relatively cheap but abundant source of protein, in RTE products can serve as an effective way to alleviate protein malnutrition, whereas addition of fibre further improves the functionality of the product. The methodology can be easily taken up by small-scale entrepreneurs and create a market for snack-based functional meat products.

The purpose of this study is to examine the specific social media behaviours (SMB) that lead to major depressive disorder (MDD). The study also looks at the moderation effect of pandemic on social media usage among users.

Using a descriptive approach, the required data was collected from a sample of 629 social media users chosen through random sampling technique. An adopted structured online questionnaire was used to collect the data. The data collected was analysed by using univariate and multinomial regression techniques.

The findings of the study revealed that social media intensity, social media addiction (SMA), social media participation, social interaction and SMB had a positive impact on MDD, whereas social comparison had a negative impact. The pandemic situation has also been found to moderate the effect of social media usage on MDD.

This study will be supportive in disclosing behaviours and activities of students that impact their mental health adversely. This will also be helpful in dealing with specific stressors in the programs designed to cope with the depression. By adopting effective strategies to manage social media usage, the study would help to reduce the level of depressive symptoms among college students, significantly promoting healthy environments for students and, thus, contribute to social change.

Since the social media has both favourable and detrimental effects, the key for the users is to develop an awareness about the wise usage and to determine the alterations in the usage patterns that can help to reduce the behaviours associated with negative emotions and psychological distress.

Concrete-filled double skin tube (CFDST) columns are considered one of the most effective steel-concrete composite sections owing to the higher load carrying capacity as compared to its counterpart concrete-filled tube (CFT) columns. This paper aims to numerically investigate the performance of axially loaded, circular CFDST short columns, with the innovative strengthening technique of providing stiffeners in outer tubes. Circular steel hollow sections have been adopted for inner as well as outer tubes, while varying the length of rectangular steel stiffeners, fixed inside the outer tubes only, to check the effect of stiffeners in partially and full-length stiffened CFDST columns.

The behaviour of these CFDST columns is investigated numerically by using a verified finite element analysis (FEA) model from the ABAQUS. The behaviour of 20-unstiffened, 80-partially stiffened and 20-full-length stiffened CFDST columns is studied, while varying the strength of steel (f_yo = 250–750 MPa) and concrete (30–90 MPa).

The FEA results are verified by comparing them with the previous test results. FEA study has exhibited that, there is a 7%–25% and 39%–49% increase in peak-loads in partially stiffened and full-length stiffened CFDST columns, respectively, compared to unstiffened CFDST columns.

Enhanced strength has been observed in partially stiffened and full-length stiffened CFDST columns as compared to unstiffened CFDST columns. Also, a significant effect of strength of concrete has not been observed as compared to the strength of steel.

Agricultural waste and food sources are some of the pollutants of the environment. One of these wastes is the peel of fruits that cannot be consumed as food. In this regard, walnut husk (WH) and oleaster peel (PO) are known as two important sources of tannin and are bulky wastes. Because of the high percentage of tannin, these materials can be used as a natural source for the preparation of bio-mordant in the dyeing process.

In this study, Reseda and Madder were used as natural dyes in the presence of a mixture of two bio-mordants. WH and PO were selected as bio-mordant. All natural resources are extracted to obtain the juice. The phenolic percentage of tannin-containing extracts was evaluated and then it was used for wool yarns by premordanting method. The results of evaluating the fastness properties using the ISO method.

The most important achievement of this research is the use of agricultural waste in the dyeing process to reduce environmental pollution and create added value. All compounds rich in tannin have some phenolic components, therefore the amount of phenolic content of these extracts was evaluated. The effect of mixing the mordant on the color characteristics of the yarns was investigated and the results showed that changing the ratio of the combination of two mordant is effective on the K/S values. The results of evaluating the fastness properties using the ISO method showed that the washing, rubbing and light fastness in the presence of mordant is good, good and moderate, respectively.

In this paper, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, for the first time, the combination of two natural extracts obtained from agricultural waste has been used to create a new bio-mordant on fibers and improve stability.

The sharing economy is changing the way people use products and services, and the success of sharing-based apps like bicycle and automobile sharing has drawn a lot of interest across the world. The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors affecting the consumer's adoption of ride-sharing services.

With this aim, the current study integrates the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Expectancy Confirmation Model (ECM) with a further extension of consumer trust and social norms. Using a survey-based research design, data were collected from 558 respondents using multi-stage convenience sampling on 5 point Likert scale. Confirmatory factor analysis is conducted followed by structural equation modelling using IBM AMOS-22.

The findings of the study report crucial determinants for the consumer's continuance intention and actual use of these services. Perceived usefulness, consumer satisfaction, trust and subjective norms were found positively associated with the continuous intention to use ride-sharing services, whereas perceived ease of use was found to be insignificant. This study also highlights antecedents for the consumer's trust towards these services and found reputation, propensity to trust as a significant contributor whereas structural assurance was found insignificant to establish the trust among the users.

The research on consumer adoption towards ride-sharing services are meagre and this study adds the value to the field by integrating TAM and ECM model with further extension of consumer trust and social norms and empirically test the proposed model.

This study aims to examine the impact of boardroom diversity on the financial stability of Chinese financial listed firms. Boardroom diversity is quantified in the following aspects: relation-oriented diversity and task-oriented diversity.

Panel data on Chinese financial listed firms between 1998 and 2017 are used in this study. Panel regression is used to analyze the firm data for fixed effects and robust standard errors.

Task-oriented diversity of the board increases financial stability. Regarding the impact of boardroom diversity on firm risk, the results reveal that task-oriented diversity of the board reduces firm risk, which supports the predictions of this research. Regarding the moderating effect of state ownership on the relationship between boardroom diversity (task- and relation-oriented diversity) and financial stability, the results show that state ownership enhances the positive impact of the board’s task-oriented diversity on financial stability.

Task-oriented diversity of the board enhances the financial stability of Chinese financial listed firms. As existing studies on bank boards in China are limited, the findings of this research can be used when crafting policy initiatives to enhance financial stability.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the effect of boardroom diversity, particularly task- and relation-oriented diversity, on financial stability. It provides empirical support that boardroom diversity positively affects the financial stability of Chinese financial listed firms. This research also offers empirical evidence that state ownership enhances the positive impact of the board’s task-oriented diversity on financial stability.

This study aims to examine the links between carbon emissions, electric vehicles, economic growth, energy use, and urbanisation in 15 countries from 2010 to 2020.

This study adopts seminal panel methods of moments quantile regression with fixed effects to trace the distributional aspect of the relationship. The reliability of methods is confirmed via fully modified ordinary least squares coefficients.

This study reveals that fossil fuel use, economic activity, and urbanisation negatively impact environmental quality, whereas renewable energy sources have a significant positive long-term effect on environmental quality in the selected panel of countries.

The main limitation of this study is the generalisability of the findings, as the study is confined to a limited number of countries, and focuses on non-renewable and renewable energy sources.

Finally, this study proposes several policy recommendations for decision-makers and policymakers in the 15 nations to address climate change, boost sales of electric vehicles, and increase the use of renewable energy sources.

This study calls for a comprehensive transition towards green energy in the transportation sector, enhancing economic growth, fostering employment opportunities, and improving environmental quality.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and test an integrated model to examine the relationship between work engagement and three facets of perceived job performance (PJP). The authors argue that work engagement might not optimally improve PJP unless it is channelized through information and communication technology orientation.

Data for the present research were collected from higher educational institutes in the northern region of India by using a convenient sampling technique. Results of structural equation modeling (SEM) through AMOS 20 revealed that work engagement facilitates all three facets i.e. task performance, contextual performance and adaptive performance of teaching professionals. Furthermore, SEM results established the partial mediating effect of information and communication technology orientation between work engagement, task performance, contextual performance and adaptive performance.

Findings from present research contribute theoretically as well as practically to job performance and work engagement literature by giving insights to administrators and practitioners on how to improve the overall job performance of teaching professionals by enhancing their engagement and addressing their need for digital know-how.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to study the impact of work engagement and information and communication technology on the three facets of PJP using a diverse sample of 1030 teachers from universities in North India.

Soft actuators using pneumatic-chamber (PneuNet)-based designs have been of interest in the area of soft robotics with scope of application in the area of biomedical assistance and smart agriculture. Researchers have attempted to investigate multiple chambers in parallel to examine their deformation characteristics. However, there is a lacuna for investigation of the deformation characteristics of four parallel chambered soft actuators. The purpose of this study is to comprehensively investigate the different possible actuation scenarios and the resulting bending/deformation behaviours.

Therefore, in this study, a four-chambered PneuNet actuator is numerically investigated to evaluate the effects of pressurization scenarios and pressure levels on its performance, operating reaching and working volume.

The results of this study revealed that two-adjacent chamber equal pressurization and three-chamber pressurizations result in increased bending. However, two-opposite chamber pressurization reduces the bending angle with pressure levels in the lower pressure chamber. The maximum bending angle of 97° was achieved for single-chamber pressurization of 300 kPa. The two-adjacent chamber unequal pressurization can achieve a sweeping motion in the actuator along with bending. The working volume and reaching capability analysis revealed that the actuator can reach around 71% of the dimensional operating space.

The results provide fundamental guidance on the output nature of motion which can be obtained under different pressurization scenarios using the four-chambered design soft actuator, thereby making it a practical guide for implementation for useful applications.

The comprehensive pressurization scenarios and pressure level variations reported in this study will serve as fundamental operating guidelines for any practical implementation of the four-chambered PneuNet actuator.

Based on the extended theory of planned behavior, this study aims to examine potential intentions-related factors that affect Islamic tax compliance moderated by information and communication technology (ICT) adoption.

A quantitative cross-sectional design was used to distribute questionnaire sets to 975 working Muslim Omanis by using convenience sampling method. PLS-SEM was mainly used to examine the data.

All the factors determine behavioral intention to pay Islamic tax (BIIT), which significantly predicts Islamic tax compliance behavior (ITCB). However, perceived control behavior negatively determines intention. ICT adoption moderates the link between BIIT and ITCB.

This study offers both practical and theoretical implications that can guide efforts to promote Islamic tax compliance and advance our understanding of tax behavior within the ETPB framework.

This study accounted for crucial factors determining intention than earlier ones using the ETPB. Considering technological advancements, the study also assessed the moderating role of ICT between BIIT and ITCB.