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This study aims to present a great deal of interest in researching plant-based phytopharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals as a possible alternative to synthetic medication, both to avoid their side effects and for financial reasons.

Mankind has used medicinal plants since the beginning of civilization. Nature has been explored as a source of therapeutic chemicals for thousands of years, and many modern drugs have been discovered from natural sources. The primary medical care system of resource-poor areas in India has continued to rely on traditional medicine as the most accessible and reasonably priced form of treatment.

Tinospora cordifolia is a plant that is frequently used in Ayurvedic and traditional medicine throughout India. Although almost all of its parts are used in conventional medical systems, the leaves, stems and roots are the most significant ones used medicinally. All forms of existence can benefit from the versatility of T. cordifolia. It includes a wide variety of compounds that impact the body.

The goal of this review is to provide a concise summary of the knowledge about the pharmacological, phytochemistry, botanical, ethnopharmacology, toxicity study, marketed products and patents of the T. cordifolia plant.

The transitional challenges to delivering a green growth economy, particularly for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), presented by the twin concerns of climate and biodiversity are considerable. This chapter examines the UK case, where extensive public and private investment is required, in combination, to deliver the UK Government’s desired green growth enabled by green innovation and business transition towards environmentally positive business models. The chapter draws on a contemporary literature review and qualitative interview evidence from UK financiers, entrepreneurial innovators and policymakers. We examine how they influence the emerging UK green finance escalator that relates to providing finance for green enterprise from an initial idea through to commercialisation, scaleup expansion and maturity. The findings suggest that this green transition requires a clear SME finance roadmap to deliver coherent public policy and regulation and sufficient knowledge of the environmental risks and opportunities presented. We provide a blueprint framework that can provide the finance for net zero and, beyond this, the wider environmental changes needed for a sustainable green economy transition.

Packaging-free shopping disrupts the usual retailing and consumption patterns in which packaging usually plays a central role. When manufacturers no longer offer predetermined packaging, how do retailers and consumers ensure packaging functions? Investigating the way packaging-free actors appropriate packaging functions during use is particularly important because they exert a new power over these functions, which can be challenging to appropriate. The purpose of this study is to contribute to a deeper understanding of why packaging-free shopping can be perceived as constraining.

Drawing from the literature on packaging functions and adopting Miller’s conceptual framework of appropriation, this research uses a qualitative method with a variety of discursive and visual data, including 54 interviews with experts from packaging-free product stores and consumers, 190 Instagram consumer posts and 428 in-store and at-home photographs.

This research shows that packaging-free actors jointly appropriate packaging functions through two modes of appropriation (assimilation and accommodation) each encompassing distinct strategies and highlights the misappropriation that actors can experience, especially when prioritizing one function over another.

This research contributes to the literature on packaging-free shopping, an emergent and growing trend that challenges conventional shopping models. The research reveals dark sides of packaging-free shopping – namely, the damaging effects on health and the environment and social exclusion. In particular, it discusses the ambivalence of the packaging-free shopping environmental function. This research also deepens insight into how individual acts of appropriation may lead to misappropriation.

We aim to examine two issues. First, we intend to identify the best performing expected return proxies. Second, we investigate whether the expected return proxies for individual stocks can track the corresponding realized returns during extremely good or extremely bad times of the economic environment related to business conditions, stock market valuation and broad market performance.

We construct four sets of expected return proxies, including: (1) characteristic-based proxies; (2) standard risk-factor-based proxies; (3) risk-factor-based proxies that allow betas to vary with firm characteristics and (4) macroeconomic-variable-based proxies. First, we estimate expected returns for individual stocks using newly developed methods and evaluate the performance of these expected return proxies based on the minimum variance criterion of Lee et al. (2020). Second, we regress expected return proxies and realized returns on indicator variables that capture the extreme phases of the economic environment. Then we compare the estimated coefficients from these two sets of regressions and see if they are similar in magnitude via formal hypothesis testing.

We find that characteristic-based proxies and risk-factor-based proxies that allow betas to vary with firm characteristics are the two best performing proxies. Therefore, it is important to allow betas to vary with firm characteristics in constructing expected return proxies. We also find that model-based expected return proxies do a reasonably good job capturing actual returns during extremely bad and extremely good phases of business cycles measured by leading economic indicators, consumer confidence and business confidence. However, there is a large gap between the adjustment of model-based expected returns and realized returns during extreme episodes of stock market valuation or broad market performance.

We examine four types of expected return proxies and use the newly developed methodology as in Lee et al. (2020) to see which one is the best. In addition, we document whether model-based expected returns from individual stocks adjust partially or fully to keep pace with actual returns in response to changing economic conditions. No prior studies have examined these two issues.

This study aims to understand the current production scenario emphasizing the significance of green manufacturing in achieving economic and environmental sustainability goals to fulfil future needs; to determine the viability of particular strategies and actions performed to increase the process efficiency of electrical discharge machining; and to uphold the values of sustainability in the nonconventional manufacturing sector and to identify future works in this regard.

A thorough analysis of numerous experimental studies and findings is conducted. This prominent nontraditional machining process’s potential machinability and sustainability challenges are discussed, along with the current research to alleviate them. The focus is placed on modifications to the dielectric fluid, choosing affordable substitutes and treating consumable tool electrodes.

Trans-esterified vegetable oils, which are biodegradable and can be used as a substitute for conventional dielectric fluids, provide pollution-free machining with enhanced surface finish and material removal rates. Modifying the dielectric fluid with specific nanomaterials could increase the machining rate and demonstrate a decrease in machining flaws such as micropores, globules and microcracks. Tool electrodes subjected to cryogenic treatment have shown reduced tool metal consumption and downtime for the setup.

The findings suggested eco-friendly machining techniques and optimized control settings that reduce energy consumption, lowering operating expenses and carbon footprints. Using eco-friendly dielectrics, including vegetable oils or biodegradable dielectric fluids, might lessen the adverse effects of the electrical discharge machine operations on the environment. Adopting sustainable practices might enhance a business’s reputation with the public, shareholders and clients because sustainability is becoming increasingly significant across various industries.

A detailed general review of green nontraditional electrical discharge machining process is provided, from high-quality indexed journals. The findings and results contemplated in this review paper can lead the research community to collectively apply it in sustainable techniques to enhance machinability and reduce environmental effects.

This study examines how production and environmental information transparency affect online consumer trust and their purchase intention for green agricultural products.

Using signaling theory, the study combines structural equation modeling (SEM) and necessary conditions analysis (NCA) to examine sufficiency and necessity. SEM analyzes the links between information transparency, online consumer trust and purchase intention, while NCA identifies the necessary conditions for building trust and purchase intentions among online consumers.

First, production information transparency improves general trust (GT), while environmental information transparency boosts both GT and swift trust (ST). Second, both GT and ST promote online consumers’ purchase intentions (OCPI). Third, production information transparency is necessary for GT, while environmental information transparency supports both GT and ST. Additionally, GT and ST are necessary conditions for OCPI. These findings indicate that production and environmental information transparency help enhance consumer trust, thereby increasing their purchase intentions.

The findings offer guidance for businesses in designing trust-building strategies and provide recommendations for policymakers on incentivizing transparency practices among green agricultural product producers.

This study extends signaling theory to the online consumption of green agricultural products. By combining SEM and NCA, it is the first to reveal the necessity and sufficiency conditions among production and environmental information transparency, trust and purchase intention.

This study aims to analyze the effect of energy consumption by energy source toward the price level of fossil fuels in Indonesia.

Using data from the Energy Institute and the World Development Indicator, this study applies the error correction model method to analyze the effect of energy consumption on price levels, both in the short and long run.

The results of this study show that the price of oil, which is one of the energy sources, has increased. In the long run, coal consumption increases oil prices, while geothermal consumption does the opposite. On the other hand, in the short term, only oil consumption increases oil prices. This study emphasizes the importance of renewable energy development, especially geothermal energy and hydroelectricity, for energy price stability in Indonesia.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the effect of Indonesian energy consumption on oil prices. In addition, this study breaks down the analysis of energy consumption by source, making it a valuable reference for the development of renewable energy in Indonesia.