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The presence of heavy metals in milk causes many acute and chronic physiological dysfunctions in human organs. The present study aims to investigate the heavy metals in cow's and buffalo's milk of two major cities, Karachi and Gujranwala, Pakistan to estimate metal intake by humans from this source.

In total, 48 milk samples from 2 cities were drawn from animals' udder to avoid contamination. Each sample was digested with nitric acid at 105 ^oC (degree Celsius) on a pre-heated electric hot plate to investigate the metals by atomic absorption spectroscopy (flame type). Air-acetylene technique analyzed chromium, cadmium and lead, and the hydride method analyzed arsenic in the milk samples.

The results revealed the highest mean lead concentration (19.65 ± 43.86 ppb) in the milk samples, followed by chromium (2.10 ± 2.33 ppb) and arsenic (0.48 ± 0.73 ppb). Cadmium was not detected in any sample, assuming cadmium's occurrence was below the detection level. The concentrations of all the metals in the samples of the two cities do not differ statistically. Lead concentrations in the buffalo's milk were higher than in cow's milk (p < 0.05). However, the concentrations of arsenic and chromium between buffalo's and cow's milk do not differ statistically. The present study reveals a lower level of metals in the milk than those conducted elsewhere. The mean concentrations of all the metals met the World Health Organization's (WHO) safety guidelines (1993).

Although cadmium causes toxicity in the human body, cadmium could not be measured because cadmium's concentration was below the detection level, which is 1 ppb.

This study will help reduce the toxic metals in our environment, and the sources of heavy metals, particularly from the industrial sector could be identified. The feed and water consumed by the milking animals could be carefully used for feeding them.

This study will help reduce the diseases and malfunction of human organs and organ systems since these heavy metals cause toxicity and carcinogenicity in humans. Arsenic and chromium cause cancer while lead causes encephalopathy (a brain disease).

The study reports heavy metal concentrations in the two attributes of four independent variables of raw milk samples that were scarcely reported from Pakistan.

Child malnutrition is a grave concern for Pakistan, as the country has one of the highest incidences of child stunting in the developing world. The present study examines the relative significance of parents' education on a child's nutritional status in Pakistan.

For analysis, the study has used data from Phase 7 of the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) (2017–2018). Since the dependent variable ranges from 0 to 1 (1 indicates not a stunted child, while 0 represents a stunted child), binary logistic regressions are used for the analysis.

The results show that mothers' and fathers' education positively contributes to a child's nutrition. However, mothers' education is considered more significant, especially in the long run. The mother's education categories are positive and significant in the long run, while only their higher education is positive and significant for the father's. Moreover, the magnitude of the effect also shows that the probability of stunting is less if the mothers are educated. The long-run coefficient for mothers' higher education is 0.752, while that of fathers' higher education is only 0.232.

The present study compares the importance of mothers' and fathers' education in child nutrition and concludes that the role of the mother is more crucial for child upbringing. There are rarely any studies that focus on the role of fathers' education in child nutrition and compare whose role, mothers' or fathers,' is more important for child well-being.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-06-2023-0483

Grounded in upper echelon (UE) theory, this study aims to examine the role of managerial competencies (business experience, financial literacy and digital literacy) in sustainable development strategy, with resource management as a mediator.

The empirical data collection is conducted through a survey completed by 297 top management teams of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in Pakistan. Structural equation modelling in Smart PLS is used to substantiate the hypotheses.

The findings reveal that financially and digitally literate managers significantly contribute to the sustainable development strategies of SMEs. However, experienced managers do not focus significantly on sustainable development strategies. Resource management partially mediates the nexus between financial literacy and sustainable development strategy, as well as between digital literacy and sustainable development strategy. In contrast, resource management does not mediate the nexus between business experience and sustainable development strategy.

This study recommends that SMEs should prioritize managers with digital and financial literacy over those with experience. SMEs led by a management team with digital and financial literacy are more effective in resource management for sustainable development practices, whereas experienced managers may not significantly prioritize managing resources for sustainability.

While research based on the UE theory significantly contributes to the body of knowledge on sustainable development, the role of managerial competencies, particularly business experience, financial literacy and digital literacy, in sustainable development strategy via resource management is neglected. This research fills this gap in the context of UE theory and thereby enriches the literature.

Knowledge management is a common practice in organizations, with empirical evidence suggesting that organizations value the breadth of their knowledge capabilities. This study investigated transformational leadership styles and their influence on knowledge management practices and organizational performance.

A quantitative survey was conducted, and data from 270 managers of Islamic banks in the United Arab Emirates were analyzed.

Transformational leadership (TL) considerably affects organizational performance and knowledge management capabilities (KMC).

This study offers critical insights into adopting knowledge management practices and discusses the theoretical and managerial implications of its findings. Furthermore, it elucidates the crucial impact of transformational leadership on organizational performance and KMC.

This study aims to investigate the impact of the transformational leadership style on the behaviour of restaurant employees. Also, it was aimed to investigate the effect of transformational leadership on trust and the effect of trust on altruistic intention and organizational commitment.

The study integrates insights from transformational leadership to provide a fresh perspective to advance comparative organizational behaviour research. To test the hypotheses, the authors conduct a multiple analysis with observations from Turkey getting staff in culinary department with a quantitative survey.

This study equips different professional entities in the food and beverage industry with useful, contextualized links between transformational leadership. According to results, the perspective of transformational leadership style affects the concepts of trust, altruistic value and organizational commitment positively. Charisma, moral modelling and individualized consideration had a significant effect on trust. Also, trust has a significant effect on altruistic intention and organizational commitment.

The present study incorporated confidence as a mediating variable; however, it is recommended that alternative scales be used in subsequent research endeavours. Future research endeavours may incorporate theoretical frameworks such as theory of planned behaviour or stimulus-organism-response.

Transformational leadership style is a good acquisition for restaurant employees. There is a healthier and safer job sharing in these restaurants. This can be interpreted as a more satisfied customer. A good leader has a great contribution to the future and sustainability of the business.

This research created a new model and examined employees’ views on the company and its management. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that charisma, moral modelling and individualized consideration had a significant effect on trust.

This assists in learning better service quality developing and business practices to augment culinary staff, thereby maximizing their valuable contributions to tourism growth. This research created a new model and examined employees’ views on the company and its management.

This study aims to analyse the impact of love of money, personality traits and peer influence on the ethical behaviour of graduate accounting students at the University of Ghana Business School.

This study used a quantitative research approach to sample postgraduate accounting students who completed a self-administered questionnaire on the variables of interest. Using partial least square–structural equation modelling, the hypothesized relationships were examined based on 328 appropriate responses received for the questionnaire.

The empirical findings suggest that peer influence and personality trait, extraversion positively and significantly influence unethical behaviour, whereas the personality traits, agreeableness and openness to experience have a negative and significant relationship with unethical behaviour. The study, however, does not find support for the hypothesized relationships between the love of money, personality traits (conscientiousness, neuroticism) and unethical behaviour.

The study contributes to the literature on unethical behaviour, highlighting how decision-making factors such as love of money, peer influence and personality traits, respectively, influence unethical behaviour explained by the self-justification concept under the social cognitive and moral reasoning theory. This could aid these potential managers in seeking higher reviews on ethical dilemmas. It could also aid the professional body and academics in Ghana particularly to intensify ethical education for students of the profession.

The study aims to investigate the impact of workplace ostracism (WO) and fear of the COVID-19 pandemic on the family life of restaurant employees. This research is based on the conservation of resources (COR) theory and work–family interface model to understand the theoretical underpinnings of mistreatment in the food sector during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study utilized a survey with a structured questionnaire to collect time-lagged data from 238 restaurant employees in the central region of Punjab province in Pakistan. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS tool with modern-day techniques like bootstrapping, process macro and SmartPLS.

The study reveals that perceived stress levels of the employees increase due to ostracism, leading to work–family conflict. Furthermore, the study found that employees who fear COVID-19 are less stressed by ostracism.

The study's significant contribution lies in demonstrating that the impact of ostracism in the workplace is quite different from what was expected. The results have shown that ostracism can reduce the perceived stress levels of employees, leading to a decrease in work–family conflict, especially in the presence of fear of COVID-19.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and test empirically a new holistic performance measurement model that integrates the best of current performance measurement frameworks and methodologies and builds upon the resource-based view to strategic management.

A survey collected responses from 379 top-, middle- and supervisory-level managers from 3 telecommunications service providers in Egypt. The hypothesized direct relationships were tested through multiple linear regression (using SPSS software), and the mediating effect was tested using the structural equation modeling technique (using AMOS software).

The results reveal that the proposed model is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring and managing holistic organizational performance. The results also reveal that Egyptian telecommunications companies have primarily emphasized the use of structural and relational capital to enhance their service quality (SQ) and performance outcomes (POs). Moreover, SQ was found to significantly and partially mediate the effect of organizational capitals (OCs) on POs.

The proposed model is a novel model that needs further investigation using various research designs and multiple research methods to assure its reliability and validity as a holistic performance measurement system.

The Egyptian telecommunications companies should efficiently manage and leverage all four components of OCs, especially the components of intellectual capital to improve their SQ and consequently enhance their POs.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research to study the relationships among OCs, SQ and POs, merge them in an integrated performance measurement model and test this model empirically in the Egyptian telecommunications setting.

This study aims to investigate the healthcare sector of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to explore the significance of servant leadership and collaborative culture in fostering social sustainability. The primary objective of this paper is to investigate how servant leadership and a collaborative culture contribute to social sustainability in health care in the UAE. With a focus on promoting well-being within healthcare organizations, the paper aims to uncover the synergies between servant leadership, collaborative culture, and social sustainability.

This paper conducted a multilayer literature review of existing literature on servant leadership, collaborative culture and social sustainability in health care, both globally and specifically in the UAE context, and a conceptual model was proposed.

Servant leadership proves to be a culturally pertinent and effective leadership model within the UAE due to its alignment with cultural values, emphasis on community support, and the robust health-care system that contributes to individual well-being. This combination establishes a solid foundation for fostering a healthy and sustainable society.

Limitations and implications are discussed. The current research has not identified the boundary conditions under which servant leadership and collaborative culture may be more or less effective. This could involve exploring industry-specific influences or contextual factors. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The research seeks to unravel the interconnections between servant leadership, collaborative culture and social sustainability. To the best of the author’s knowledge, none of the studies have explored the interrelationships of these constructs, particularly in the UAE context.

Internships are widely used as one of the best learning tools for professional practice. The purpose of this research paper is to comprehend to what extent the LIS interns become competent with practical tasks through this program, current facilities offered by the internship-offering institutions and their plan in this regard.

This study used a mixed-method approach. To examine LIS students’ practical experience, this study conducted a survey. Participants were 110 students having internship experience from the LIS bachelor’s degree offering universities of Bangladesh. For qualitative data, representatives of internship-offering institutions were interviewed.

Results indicate that there is a certain lack of coordination between theoretical knowledge with practical demonstrations. Some essential ICT-based tasks missed out from this program like library automation software (e.g. KOHA); online-based cataloging such as Machine Readable Cataloguing, Resource Description and Access; digital library software (Greenstone); Institutional Repository software (Dspace, EPrint, etc.); virtual library services; radio frequency identification, etc. which should be taken into consideration in internship modules. Including faculty members and practitioners is suggested for a model internship framework ensuring ever-advanced LIS education. There is no significant difference between interns’ gender with their satisfaction level.

The major limitation of this study is the absence of coverage of faculty perceptions regarding Internships. As in the higher education institution, the three stakeholder groups’ subsets, namely, faculty members, practitioners and students are parallelly important to take any initiative.

The input from interns will assist the industries in redesigning their modules in light of interns’ feedback to best prepare interns for the competitive job market.

Internship in LIS education is not a new research area; however, research attempts to show students’ experience along with organizations’ preparedness in offering internships is new in nature.