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Salt stress is the major risk to the seed germination and plant growth via affecting physiological and biochemical activities in plants. Zinc nanoparticles (ZnNPs) are emerged as a key agent in regulating the tolerance mechanism in plants under environmental stresses. However, the tolerance mechanisms which are regulated by ZnNPs in plants are still not fully understood. Therefore, the observation was planned to explore the role of ZnNPs ( applied as priming and foliar) in reducing the harmful influence of sodium chloride (NaCl) stress on the development of spinach ( Spinacia oleracea L.) plants. Varying concentrations of ZnNPs (0.1%, 0.2% & 0.3%) were employed to the spinach as seed priming and foliar, under control as well as salt stress environment. The alleviation of stress was observed in ZnNPs-applied spinach plants grown under salt stress, with a reduced rise in the concentration hydrogen peroxide, melondialdehyde and anthocyanin contents. A clear decline in soluble proteins, chlorophyll contents, ascorbic acid, sugars, and total phenolic contents was observed in stressed conditions. Exogenous ZnNPs suppressed the NaCl generated reduction in biochemical traits, and progress of spinach plants. However, ZnNPs spray at 0.3% followed by priming was the most prominent treatment in the accumulation of osmolytes and the production of antioxidant molecules in plants.

The Operating Room Scheduling (ORS) problem is the task of assigning patients to operating rooms (ORs), taking into account different specialties, lengths, and priority scores of each planned surgery, OR session durations, and the availability of beds for the entire length of stay (LOS) both in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and in the wards. A proper solution to the ORS problem is of primary importance for the healthcare service quality and the satisfaction of patients in hospital environments. In this paper we first present a solution to the problem based on Answer Set Programming (ASP). The solution is tested on benchmarks with realistic sizes and parameters, on three scenarios for the target length on 5-day scheduling, common in small–medium-sized hospitals, and results show that ASP is a suitable solving methodology for the ORS problem in such setting. Then, we also performed a scalability analysis on the schedule length up to 15 days, which still shows the suitability of our solution also on longer plan horizons. Moreover, we also present an ASP solution for the rescheduling problem, that is, when the offline schedule cannot be completed for some reason. Finally, we introduce a web framework for managing ORS problems via ASP that allows a user to insert the main parameters of the problem, solve a specific instance, and show results graphically in real time.

The study used an asymmetric ARDL model to analyse the asymmetric (positive and negative shocks) impact of foreign direct investment, personal remittances, total reserves, gross savings, and information and communication technology on economic growth in Pakistan from 1976 to 2019. The short-run and long-run results of the asymmetric autoregressive distributed lag approach show that total reserves have a negative and non-significant influence on Pakistan's economic growth. Similarly, the results of asymmetric ARDL show that positive shocks in personal remittances have a positive and significant influence on Pakistan's economic growth, but negative shocks have a negative and non-significant impact in both the long-run and short-run. The findings of the gross savings show that a positive shock has a favourable and non-significant impact on economic growth in both the long-run and short-run. The investigated outcomes of foreign direct investment show that positive shocks have a detrimental and considerable impact on the economy of Pakistan in both the long-run and short-run. Furthermore, information and communication technology has a negative impact on economic growth in both the long-run and short-run. The government of Pakistan may adopt better policies to build the country's infrastructure by employing foreign investment more effectively.

Developing countries are facing the problem of environmental degradation. Environmental degradation is caused by the use of non-renewable energy consumptions for economic growth but the consequences of environmental degradation cannot be ignored. This primary purpose of this study is to investigate the nexus between energy consumption, economic growth and CO2 emission in Pakistan by using annual time series data from 1965 to 2015. The estimated results of ARDL indicate that energy consumption and economic growth increase the CO2 emissions in Pakistan both in short run and long run. Based on the estimated results it is recommended that policy maker in Pakistan should adopt and promote such renewable energy sources that will help to meet the increased demand for energy by replacing old traditional energy sources such as coal, gas, and oil. Renewable energy sources are reusable that can reduce the CO2 emissions and also ensure sustainable economic development of Pakistan.

Microencapsulation improves the stability of liquid food by moving it to a free form of powder. In the current study, Nigella sativa Oil (NSO) emulsion mixture was spray dried under various operating conditions, including inlet air temperature (IAT) of 130, 145, and 160 °C, wall material (WM), 10, 15, and 20%; feed rate (FR), 6, 9, and 12 mL/min; and needle speeds (NS) of 6, 8, and 10 s. The conditions of 130 °C (IAT), 15% (WM), 9 mL/min (FR), and 6 s (NS) produced the highest encapsulation efficiency (EE) of 89.51 ± 0.90%. At 160 °C (IAT), 15% (WM), 9 mL/min (FR), as well as 8 s (NS), the minimum EE was observed to be 79.15 ± 0.61%, and the maximum model predicted value of (EE) was 89.46 ± 0.80%. IAT has a substantial impact on EE while improving the oxidative quality of spray-dried microcapsule (SDM) samples. The SDM sample sensory scores fell within acceptable limits. Therefore, the spray-drying method developed from Nigella sativa Oil can be recommended for different fortifying food products.

Environmental degradations are mainly caused by the use of different energy resources for economic growth. This research examined the influence of energy consumption (coal consumption, oil consumption, and gas consumption) and economic growth on environmental degradation in Pakistan. This research used newly developed method dynamic ARDL simulations to scrutinize the actual influence of positive and negative change in the use of coal consumption, oil consumption, and gas consumption for energy and economic growth on environmental degradation in Pakistan. The examined results of dynamic ARDL indicate that economic growth, coal consumption, oil consumption, and natural gas consumption have positive impact on the environmental degradations in Pakistan both in short run and long run. It is suggested that environmental degradations can be reduced by promoting renewable energy sources for energy.

Globalization has contributed to several advances in technology including linking people around the globe and driving us to modern economies. With fast economic growth and industrialization progress, the negative impact of globalization on biodiversity can be easily ignored. Globalization is an undeniable factor in our planetary devastation from pollution to global warming and climate change. The major intention of our recent analysis was to examine the globalization, energy consumption, trade, economic growth, and fuel importation to determine the ecological footprint in Pakistan by taking the annual data variables from 1974–2017. A linear ARDL (autoregressive distributed lag) technique with limited information maximum likelihood and linear Gaussian model estimation were utilized to check the variables association. Outcomes show that in the long run, globalization, energy usage, trade, and GDP growth have consistently productive interactions with the ecological footprint, while an examination of fuel importation uncovers an adversative linkage to impacts on the ecological footprint in Pakistan. Similarly, the findings of short-run interactions also reveal that globalization, energy usage, trade, and GDP growth have constructive linkages; however, an examination of fuel importation also uncovers an adversative linkage to impacts on the ecological footprint. The outcomes of limited information maximum likelihood also expose that the variables of globalization, energy usage, trade, and fuel importation have productive linkages, while an examination the GDP growth uncovers an adversative linkage to the ecological footprint. Furthermore, the outcomes of the linear Gaussian model estimation also uncover that globalization and energy usage demonstrate a constructive linkage, while other variables reveal an adverse linkage to the ecological footprint. Environmental pollution is now an emerging issue which causes the climatic variations associated with greenhouse gases emissions. The Pakistani government must adopt new strategies to ensure that CO2 emissions are reduced in order to stimulate economic growth.

Bangladesh’s recent doorway to the spectacular growth trajectory is largely associated with the shared contributions of globalization, FDI, trade, economic growth, urbanization, energy consumption, innovation, and institutional quality that affect its natural environment. Earlier studies hardly incorporated these dynamics together especially innovation and institutional quality to examine their impacts on environmental degradation in Bangladesh. This study attempts to scrutinize the effect of globalization, foreign direct investment, economic growth, trade, innovation, urbanization, and energy consumption on CO 2 emissions in the presence of institutional quality in Bangladesh over the period 1972–2016 by utilizing dynamic ARDL simulations’ model by Jordan and Philips ( 2018 ). The investigated results depict that globalization; foreign direct investment, and innovation have a negative effect on CO 2 emissions in improving environmental quality while economic growth, trade, energy consumption, and urbanization positively impact CO 2 emissions and hence stimulate environmental degradation both in the long and short run. Besides, institutional quality measured by the political terror scale (PTS) affects CO 2 emissions positively and thereby degrades the quality of the environment in both the long and short run. Therefore, policy implication should go toward encouraging globalization, foreign direct investment and innovation; and the sensible utilization of income growth, trade potentials, energy consumption, urbanization and institution is required for the sake of environmental quality in Bangladesh.

This study aimed to examine the impact of the Theory of Planned Behavior on Malaysian luxury hotel selection. To achieve this objective, the study examined the influence of attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and fake reviews on the choice of luxury hotels in Malaysia. The study also investigates whether intention mediates the relationship between these variables and luxury hotel selection. The research method was quantitative in nature and to collect the necessary data, convenience sampling was used on an online questionnaire, resulting in 400 valid responses. The respondents were residents of Malaysia aged over 18 years old who had stayed at luxury hotels before, as they are qualified to answer the research objectives. For this study, four- and five-star hotels are considered as luxury hotels. The collected data were then analyzed using IBM SPSS version 26, using descriptive, regression, and mediation analysis through Hayes process. The results from the regression analysis revealed the predictive power of each variable, while the mediation analysis demonstrated that intention mediates the relationship between attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control in luxury hotel selection. According to this study, attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and fake reviews influence luxury hotel choices. Intention significantly mediates the association between attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, fake reviews, and luxury hotel choices.

PurposeThis study examines the link between ethical leadership and innovative work behavior. Also, drawing on the substitute for leadership theory, this study investigates the role of a follower's proactive personality in the relationship between ethical leadership and innovative work behavior (IWB). Similarly, this study further explores the role of psychological safety in this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe data for this study were collected from software development companies based in Islamabad, Pakistan. A total of 240 employees and their immediate supervisors were asked to participate in this study. Processes Macro and Amos were used to assess study hypotheses.FindingsUsing data from software companies in Pakistan, this study found that ethical leadership can be effective to enhance IWB in followers whose proactive personality is low, while this effect is limited in high proactive individuals. Furthermore, psychological safety mediates the main effect of ethical leadership on IWB as well as the interactive effect between ethical leadership and follower's proactive personality on IWB.Originality/valueThis study is among the first to investigate the moderating role of employees' proactive personality in the relationship between ethical leadership and followers' IWB. Secondly, draws on the substitute for leadership perspective, this study explains that how the role of ethical leadership can be less effective for high proactive individuals or how individual characteristics can substitute leadership behavior. Thirdly, this study deepens our understanding of the mechanisms linking ethical leadership to IWB by exploring the role of psychological safety as a mediator. Finally, our research is based on data collected from Pakistan might also add some new insights to the existing west-dominated literature.