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By hybridizing fibers, natural fibers are widely employed to substitute synthetic fibers in all feasible applications. The present study focuses on the development and characterization of hybrid Areca-Pineapple fiber epoxy composites with varied stacking sequences. Using the hand lay-up method, four types of stacking sequence-based epoxy composites were developed. ASTM standards were used to evaluate the mechanical and water absorption characteristics of the developed composites. Test results revealed that the ultimate tensile (53.433 MPa), flexural (60 MPa), compression (16.591 MPa), and Shore-D hardness (91) values were higher for three layers of pineapple fibers-based epoxy composites. At the same time, the three layers of areca fibers-based epoxy composites showed better impact (0.8 J) and water absorption properties (2.4%) due to the high amorphous contents of the fibers. Morphological studies carried out by a scanning-electron-microscope revealed stronger fiber-matrix bonding, resulting in higher mechanical test results.

Background Result Conclusion The recycling or decomposition of plastic waste poses challenges due to its non‐organic nature. As a consequence of the unregulated production of plastic goods, a substantial quantity of plastic garbage has been generated. There is an increasing demand for sustainable substitutes for synthetic petrochemical‐derived plastic products. The utilization of cake molds made from plastic materials has become increasingly prevalent and they have become widely employed household items. Bio‐based bowls have the potential to serve as viable alternatives to their plastic counterparts. This study involved the fabrication of a bio‐based healthy edible bowl mold using natural ingredients, including multigrain flour, refined flour (maida), jaggery, flaxseed, and fenugreek essential oil. A nutrient‐rich edible bowl was developed by using different weight percentages (ranging from 0% to 10%) of wheat bran (WB).The addition of WB to the nutritious bowl resulted in the lowest levels of water absorption and oil absorption compared with the control group. The enhanced nutritional bowl demonstrated notable antioxidant activity. The inclusion of wheat bran resulted in a further enhancement of antioxidant action, with an approximate increase of 28% observed. The protein value of the nutritious bowl came to be 13.17 g/0.1 kg of protein. It was also revealed from an early soil degradation test that the bowl that was created exhibited biodegradability.The findings of this study offer a potentially viable method for developing a more sustainable substitute for cake molds/bowls made from plastic materials. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "Digital Project Practice for Banking and FinTech" explores the evolving landscape of technology and digital transformation in the banking and Fintech sectors. It provides insights into project management in these sectors, focusing on automation, regulatory compliance, data integration, and customer behavior. The book's structure, with chapters written by different authors, offers a comprehensive overview of recent developments and best practices in project management for banking and Fintech industries. The book is recommended for project managers, business leaders, and individuals in various industries interested in understanding the impact of digital advancements on project processes and financial ecosystems. [Extracted from the article]

The primary purpose of this article is to demonstrate the execution of a successful short-term study trip to Southeast Asia and its influence on a student's cultural intelligence. This article discusses an academic component of an international study trip that was developed for sophomores at a private university in the New England region of the United States. In an attempt to internationalize, the university led students on a 2-week international trip to Malaysia and Singapore known as the Sophomore International Experience. The authors have developed a model that combines an academically rigorous curriculum that juxtaposes domestic events/experiences with those of the foreign country and propose that the trip gives students first-hand international experience that prepares them to develop a global perception. The article evaluates the validity of the proposed theory with the help of the Cultural Intelligence Scale that measures significance improvements in cultural intelligence after taking the trip.

This paper analyzes the nonlinear relationship between public debt and economic growth, and also estimates the threshold level for upper-middle income Asian countries for the period 1980 to 2021. The results confirm the nonlinear relationship with public debt threshold of 103.4% for the pooled sample. As for individual samples, the highest threshold recorded is 90.8% for Lebanon and the lowest is 15% for Kazakhstan. The results also reveal that nonlinear relationship can exist in both U-shape and Ո-shape, indicating that beyond a specific threshold level, public debt can support higher GDP growth or drag it down. 'Negative' growth, as noted in the literature, does not necessarily indicate that growth becomes negative, but slower. In addition, debt threshold does not exist by default for all the countries, and therefore, we could not find any threshold for Armenia and Azerbaijan. Another crucial finding is that pooled sample tends to provide higher threshold, compared to individual samples. Hence, it causes a misleading understanding among policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of institutions on poverty is approximated to show that an economy with a robust system to control corruption, an effective government, and a stable political system will generate conditions that foster economic growth. These conditions also minimize income distribution differences and reduce poverty. Theoretical links between institutions and poverty are also investigated.

This conceptual paper looks at dynamic capabilities as a specific type of knowledge that is geographically localized. Dynamic capabilities are knowledge-based processes that are developed over time by means of interactions among a firm's resource bundles and capabilities. Dynamic capabilities enhance a firm's capacity to leverage resources and organizational processes to increase profitability. Corporate headquarters were selected as a unit of analysis because of their knowledge-intensive nature. Empirical evidence suggests that just over 5% of headquarters relocate every year and that the reasons for the relocations go beyond tax incentives. It is argued that the geographical proximity of headquarters causes spillover of operational knowledge during interactions between managers. This operational knowledge includes various routines and contains dynamic capabilities. This paper links studies on dynamic capabilities and studies on geography of knowledge and headquarter relocations. The information gathered can help to explain why corporate headquarter relocations take place, and how firms may increase profitability by moving their headquarters to a location favorable to building particular dynamic capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main issues in planar perovskite solar cells are the coverage and crystallinity of the perovskite film on the PEDOT:PSS layer. To enhance these features, we introduced alkali metal halides (salts) as additives into the perovskite precursor solution used in a two-step preparation method. These alkali metal halides chelate with Pb2+ ions and enhance the crystal growth of PbI2 films, resulting in nanostructured morphologies. The nanostructured PbI2 films promote homogeneous nucleation and larger crystallite sizes, thereby enhancing the morphology and crystallinity of the perovskite films. The alkali metal halides recrystallize the small grains and passivate the grain boundaries and interface states, allowing effective charge generation and dissociation in perovskite films. Photoluminescence measurements indicated that perovskite films prepared with salt additives featured fewer charge traps and defects. The power conversion efficiency of the device incorporating a small amount of a salt additive increased by approximately 33%―from 11.4 to 15.08%. This device was more stable than a corresponding device prepared without the additive, with only 16.5% degradation occurring over a period of 50 days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of an increasing importance of emerging markets in firms' international strategies, this paper contributes to the still little researched topic of selection criteria used for international expansion when selecting among emerging markets. The existing literature on both International Market Selection (IMS) and emerging markets are reviewed in order to identify potentially important selection criteria. These criteria are then tested on a sample of professionals with work experience in business development functions at companies based in France. The results of the study indicate that 8 out of the 11 tested criteria are of major importance in IMS. One of these shortlisted criteria is less relevant for emerging markets, but another criterion not considered important in general is found relevant for emerging markets, constituting again a list of eight criteria that were identified as important when selecting a target among a group of emerging markets. Drawing on these findings, implications for managers with different kinds of responsibilities were identified to help them in the IMS process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relation between equity returns and fundamental variables by utilizing multifactor asset pricing models. Specifically, it incorporates several variables from prior empirical research to examine the impact of systematic risk on equity returns in the financial sector. The empirical results show that the explanatory power of systematic risk varies by models, but a positive relationship between systematic risk and returns is consistent. At the same time, the study reveals a significant relationship between equity returns and market value, book-to-market equity, earnings yield, leverage factors, sales-to-price ratio, book value per share, and earnings per share. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employee turnover remains to be one of the biggest human resource problems facing the Indian international call center industry. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive study of how the attitudes of call center employees toward different aspects of their work affect their intention to leave. Our specific contribution to the literature is in understanding the heterogeneity among employees and how this affects meaningful inference in studying employees' intention to leave. To achieve this goal, we compare and contrast between traditional ordinary least squares regression models that have been used in the extant literature with latent class analysis. Latent class analysis suggests the presence of three distinct groups of employees, thus confirming the heterogeneity present in the data. The three groups can be represented as the two polar groups, one keen on staying and the other keen on leaving, and a significantly large third group of employees who are unsure. We also find that the impact of different attitudes vary between groups in terms of both economic significance (magnitude of coefficients), and statistical significance. This study throws important light on the research on turnover and has significant research and practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the development of a large scale international study trip program developed by an AACSB accredited institution to enhance the global perspective of its students. Developed collaboratively between the College of Business, the College of Arts and Sciences and the university's Student Affairs division, the program has resulted in more than 750 students participating in international experiences in one of 18 trips throughout the world. This paper documents the development of this program and provides important insights for anyone planning to offer a similar experience to their students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of globalisation and with the advent of knowledge economies, organisational innovation has assumed a critical role in enhancing economic performance of firms. Proponents of the Resource Based View of the firm and its more recent extensions such as the Knowledge Based View and Dynamic Capabilities Theory have suggested that generation, diffusion and application of organisational knowledge could be the source of sustained competitive advantage and superior performance of firms. While there is near unanimity in accepting the vital role of innovation in a firm's performance, consensus on what constitutes organisational innovation and how to measure it has proven to be elusive so far. Most previous research in this area has conceptualised innovation through one or more dimensions of a firm's innovative capability using R&D of a firm only. The measurement of the construct has thus reflected this narrow conceptualisation with a single measure of R&D expenditure being the most often used proxy. This study utilises a broader definition of organisational innovation capabilities that includes the generation, dissemination and strength of innovative activity in a firm. The unique features of this study is that it uses multiple indicators of a firm's innovation profile along with lagged measures of market value using fixed effects panel data analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen-doped graphene-based aerogels with three levels of hierarchically organized pores were prepared via a simple environmentally friendly process, and successfully tested in supercapacitor applications. Mesopores and macropores were formed during the aerogel preparation followed by carbonization and its chemical activation by potassium hydroxide (KOH). These mesopores and macropores consist of amorphous carbon and a 3D graphene framework. Thermal treatment at 700 °C, 800 °C, 900 °C in N2 atmosphere was done to etch out the amorphous carbon and obtain a stable N-doped 3D graphene. Specific capacitance values obtained from the electrochemical measurements are in the range of 232–170 F× g−1. The thus fabricated structures showed excellent cyclic stability, suggesting that these materials have potential as electrodes for solid asymmetric supercapacitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]