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This study intends to explore the ideology of the West in The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid who successfully portrayed the impact of 9/11 to view the ideology of the West for the East (Muslims). Edward Said’s Orientalism is an idea that represents views of the West about the East that fails to understand the cultural differences and perceives the East as biased, and subvert being opposed to reality. This idea of the West is rooted in the history of colonization and racism. The study follows qualitative research in the literary work of The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid through the dialogues of Changez. The novel depicted Changez as a reluctant fundamentalist and he was encountered of being Muslim due to the violent acts of some extreme radicals, and gave rise to the racist ideology of Islamophobia of the West.

Purpose This study aims to predict ethical self-identity’s effect on consumer buying behavior of biodegradable bags. Moreover, a moderated mediation model is tested by analyzing the mediating role of attitude and the moderating role of religiosity to investigate buying behavior. Few studies have been conducted to explore moderated mediation to predict consumer behavior based on belief congruence and planned behavior theories, according to previous literature, indicating a literature gap in consumer behavior studies. Accordingly, the moderating role of religiosity in the relationship between ethical self-identity and purchase intention in the context of biodegradable bags was used to contribute to the consumer behavior literature. Design/methodology/approach The population of the study included literate consumers who are aware of biodegradable bags and keen to buy them. The data were collected from consumers of twin cities (Rawalpindi/Islamabad) via purposive sampling. The data were collected from 310 consumers five-time lags. Findings The findings suggest that ethical self-identity influences the buying behavior of consumers toward biodegradable bags. In this study, the theory of planned behavior provides greater implications to predict consumer buying behavior because the subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and attitude were found to have a significant influence on purchase intention, which further predicts the actual consumer behavior. Research limitations/implications The study’s sample was limited to one geographical area and the sample was limited to only biodegradable bags. Future studies may go for a cross-comparison of industries or multiple environment-friendly products to enhance the generalizability of the research. Practical implications This study provides useful insights to the companies of consumer-based brands to use eco-friendly practices from production to packaging and consumption. Environment-friendly consumers are ready to pay a premium price for environment-friendly products, which encourages decision-makers companies to cater to this niche market. Moreover, companies can focus on factors that influence their decision-making, such as ethical and moral values of responsibility, while planning their advertising strategies. Furthermore, the positioning of the environmental or consumer personal care products should be done by considering the personal disposition factors because they reinforce the actual behavior of employees. Social implications For researchers, this research opens new avenues for predicting consumers’ buying behavior by applying the theory of planned behavior in the plastic bag industry. This study provides useful insights to the companies of consumer-based brands to use eco-friendly practices from production to packaging and consumption. Originality/value The proclivity to buy biodegradable bags increased over time, providing opportunities to the companies to offer environmentally friendly products to an increasing number of customers. However, personal deposition factors, such as religiosity and consumer views, are less well understood in terms of predicting actual behavior. Few studies have been conducted to explore moderated mediation to predict consumer behavior based on belief congruence and planned behavior theories, according to previous literature, indicating a literature gap in consumer behavior studies.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an enormously crucial part in the modern world economy, demonstrating the most unique and incredible ground-breaking system. SMEs’ employment statistics and future worker needs make it a focus of policies among rising economies, and Pakistan is no exception. The working conditions in SMEs diverge from industry to industry; however, irrespective of the industrial categorization, the SMEs are failing to protect the workers’ rights in the perspective of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The interpretivism paradigm and purposive sampling, narrative inquiry, and analysis method have been adopted to gain in-depth knowledge of workers’ rights in SMEs concerning the SDGs. Results revealed that Pakistan-based SMEs argue to be financially weak and perceived as less equipped to adhere to the world’s standards. Highlighted issues in failure to adhere to worker’s rights include lack of financial resources, top management’s commitment, regulatory framework, SDG awareness, strategic planning, and the dire need for expert guidance and consultation in translating goals to work environments.

The corporate sector has paid attention to the concept of sustainable development since the emergence of this concept in the late 1980s and the adoption of Environmental Management Systems (EMS) by many organizations is the initiative of these organizations’ exact dimensions. The focus of this research is to compare the status of EMS adopter and EMS non-adopter organizations in terms of Environmental Performance, Occupational health and safety performance, Employee Satisfaction, Operational Improvement and competitive advantage. The overall environmental performance of EMS adopter companies was approximately two times higher than non-EMS adopter companies. EMS adopter organizations’ performance was almost two times better than non-EMS adopter organizations regarding occupational health and safety. The overall Employee Satisfaction level at non-EMS adopter organizations was about three times better than at EMS adopter organizations. The EMS adopter organizations were found to have about three times performance regarding operational improvement. Regarding the competitive advantage gained by the EMS adopter companies compared to the non-EMS adopter organizations, no significant difference was observed between these two categories of organizations. However, The EMS adopter organizations seem to have a slight competitive advantage over non-adopter companies.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of work-from-home (WFH) human resource (HR) practices on the performance of faculty under the drastic circumstances of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The population of the study included faculty members of the higher education institutions in Sialkot, Pakistan. The study filled the gap of scarce literature on the impact of various HR practices by HR officials while working from home during lockdown observed to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Based on reinforcement theory, this article proves that there is a significant relationship between HR practices (including training, performance appraisal, career planning, employee participation, job definition, compensation, and selection) and faculty performance. It also proves that there is a strong positive relationship between the two variables. The findings of this study provide a blueprint to improve HR practices for high performance by faculty in the higher education sector during WFH settings.

Auroral Emission Radio Observer (AERO) is a NASA H-TIDeS-funded 3U CubeSat mission with the main objective of observing Earth's radio aurora. AERO will conduct a three-month mission in polar orbit to measure the direction of arrival, frequency spectra, and occurrence rates of radio frequency emissions from Earth's aurora. AERO will also advance the technology readiness level (TRL) of its vector sensor payload. The vector sensor (VS) has six mutually orthogonal loop and dipole antennas that detect all six electromagnetic wave components. VS technology allows for direction of arrival calculations of signal sources with a single antenna in a compact space. To facilitate testing and performance studies of the VS payload, we have created an end-to-end simulation of the AERO data collection system that is designed to simulate and process synthetic voltage data from the VS. The VS simulator includes the following elements: modelling the spacecraft orbit, simulating auroral signals, and implementing real-time signal processing. A precise prediction of spacecraft orbit is created using AGI's Systems Tool Kit (STK), constrained to altitudes of 450 to 550 km and a noon/midnight polar orbit with a target local time of midnight. This model is used to generate the position of the spacecraft at a given time in the mission life. Simulated auroral radio point signals with various polarizations, intensities, and frequency spectra are used to simulate four major types of auroral radio emissions: Auroral Kilometric Radiation, Medium Frequency Burst, Auroral Hiss, and Auroral Roar. Stationary, grouped, and banded point sources are all explored as possible emission types. In addition to the spacecraft location and orientation, these point sources are superimposed with expected ambient radio noise and then split into a six-channel VS simulator which produces voltage time series data. The voltage signals are then put through a signal processing chain implemented on a field programmable gate array (FPGA). Implementing the FPGA results in a prototyped system that receives data in real-time as it is passing through the auroral zone which is simulated from the VS simulator. It executes signal processing calculations in parallel at the same moment that data is coming in from the VS. The AERO CubeSat's anticipated launch date is January 2022 and will perform the first localizations of Earth's auroral emissions. Ultimately, this end-to-end simulator will allow for the testing of advanced signal processing algorithms for the VS and assist in data analysis for the AERO CubeSat mission.