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This paper aims to investigate the influence of slurry concentration on the erosion behavior of AISI 5117 steel and high-chromium white cast iron by using a whirling-arm rig. In this study, the slurry erosion mechanism with particle concentration has been studied.

The tests were carried out with particle concentrations in the range of 1-7 Wt.%, and the impact velocity of slurry stream was 15 m/s. Silica sand with a nominal size range of 500-710 µm was used as an erodent. The study revealed that the failure mode was independent of concentration.

The results showed that the erosion rate decreases with the increase in particle concentration and the variation in the reduction depends on the material. It was found that the variation of fractal dimension calculated from slope of linearized power spectral density of eroded surface image for different concentrations can be used to characterize the slurry erosion intensity in a similar manner to the erosion rate. It was also found that the variation of fractal dimension versus concentration of sand has a general trend that does not depend on magnification factor.

Using the gravitational measurement and image analysis, the variation of the wear with slurry concentration has been analyzed to investigate the implicated mechanisms of erosion during the process.

This paper aims to examine the evolution in the quality of integrated reporting disclosures using the International Integrated Reporting Council’s (IIRC) seven guiding principles and the evolution of sustainable development goal (SDG) disclosures of a New Zealand company following its voluntary replacement of sustainability reports with integrated reports in 2014, to determine whether these disclosures are ceremonial or substantive.

Longitudinal qualitative content analysis of the case company’s 2014 to 2022 integrated reports was conducted using Ahmed Haji and Anifowose’s (2016) research instrument amended in line with the IIRC2021framework’s guiding principles and extending it to include the United Nations’ SDGs.

Disclosure progressively evolved from initially being ceremonial in 2014 for integrated reporting and in 2015 for the SDGs to being substantive for both by 2022.

This study showcases substantive and transparent disclosure and provides insights into corporate responses to SDGs. It urges managers to provide company-specific disclosures to mitigate concerns about the lack of transparency.

Poor reporting about SDGs may lead to potential conflicts with stakeholders. The findings show that integrated reporting is a useful corporate reporting tool to enhance transparency and enable stakeholders to better understand organisations’ engagement with the SDGs.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to present an empirical account of integrated reporting and SDG disclosure over time in an environment where integrated reporting has been adopted voluntarily. This paper delves into the substance of integrated reports and contributes to the academic debate on the quality of integrated reporting practice.

This study aims to synthesize a series of new anticorrosive pigments using a new technique called “core-shell”. This technique is based on depositing thin surface layer of expensive, efficient anticorrosive pigment on a cheap extender. This extender forms the bulk of the new pigments. The new pigments were constructed on cores of either waste silica fume or kaolin comprising 80-85 per cent of their chemical structure, and the ferrite shell was about of 20-15 per cent. Electrochemical studies were undertaken on two series of pigments for comparison between ferrites/silica fume and ferrites/kaolin pigment to show their performance, as the shells are different.

The different ferrites/silica fume and ferrites/kaolin pigments were characterized using different analytical and spectrophotometric techniques, such as X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Immersion test and electrochemical impedance measurements were done in 3.5 per cent NaCl.

The tests revealed that paint films containing Sr ferrite/silica and Ca ferrite/kaolin were the most effective in corrosion prevention.

Silica fumes have a large array of uses. These pigments can be applied in various industries such as painting, wooding coating, anti-corruption coating, powder coating, architectural paint and waterproof paints. Treated kaolin can be applied in many industries besides pigment manufacture and paint formulations; it can be applied as a reinforcing filler in rubber, plastics and ceramic composites.

The new pigments are considered ecofriendly materials, because using them converts a waste product and a natural ore to useful marketable product, leading to reducing cost and saving the environment at the same time.

In a modern business scenario, firms have implemented customer-centric approaches to enable customer relationship management (CRM) to trigger business excellence. Business strategies are modernizing business marketing operations that mainly focused on the retention of profitable customers. The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the impact of marketing strategies (MS), information technology support (IT-S) and knowledge sharing (KS) in the effect of CRM in the pharmaceutical sector of Punjab, Pakistan.

Data were collected from the field force of national and international pharmaceuticals companies (N = 263) through a convenience sampling technique. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to examine data in SmartPLS 3.2.6.

The results indicated that IT-S and KS mediate the relationship between MS and CRM. More specifically, MS positively develops CRM through IT-S and KS.

This research contributes to the existing literature of pharmaceuticals by disclosing the field-force (medical representatives) specific role in developing CRM performance between pharmaceuticals firms and health-care physicians that are mainly based on knowledge advancement and influence these firms to adopt customer-centric business approaches to gain a competitive advantage to drive firm profitability.

This paper aims to investigate the in vivo hypocholesterolemic property of fenugreek proteins (FP), Purafect-fenugreek protein hydrolysate (PFPH) and Esperase-fenugreek protein hydrolysate (EFPH) on high cholesterol (HC)-fed rats.

Rats were randomized into five groups: four were fed for four weeks a hypercholesterolemic diet and the tested products were given by gavage. The fifth group was taken as control (C) receiving the same diet without cholesterol.

Results showed that the elevated aspartate aminotransferase activity in HC group plasma was significantly corrected by FP and EFPH administration (−33 per cent; p = 0.0003). HC liver lipids and total cholesterol (TC) contents were not markedly affected by FP and EFPH. However, liver triglycerides (TG) contents trended to decrease in FP rats vs HC (p = 0.07), while, the TG decrease was significant in groups fed the proteins hydrolysates (p = 0.02). On the other hand, serum TC and TG decreased by 53 per cent (p = 0.0003) and 20 per cent (p = 0.04), respectively, in FP treated rats compared to HC group. This decrease was associated with a high fecal cholesterol excretion (2.5-fold higher in FP vs HC; p = 0.0001). Likewise, EFPH-treated rats exhibited lower TC compared to HC rats (p = 0.004). The very low density lipoprotins was the main affected fraction in these two groups, while there were no significant difference in apolipoproteins (Apo) B, A-I and A-IV contents between the different groups, except in FP group, where Apo A-I and A-IV decreased by 26 and 17 per cent, respectively, compared to C rats (p = 0.02). The high density lipoproteins (HDL) of rats treated with proteins hydrolysates showed a better antioxidant property compared to those of HC rats, which was accompanied with an increase in paraoxonase activity when compared to HC group.

Unlike PFPH which had almost no effect, FPs and EFPH could constitute a nutraceutical ingredient in cardiovascular disease management.

All over the world, Bangladesh is well known as a flood- and cyclone-affected country. But in the recent years the slow onset disaster of drought is more frequent in Bangladesh due to climatic as well as nonclimatic variability. As a consequence, agriculture along with its dependent farmers’ livelihoods tremendously experience its adverse impacts. Therefore, the main focus of this chapter is to discuss about drought, its effects on different sectors, and how in different levels a number of drought risk management actions are carried out to cope with this insidious disaster in the context of Bangladesh.

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that granting general amnesty to thousands of black-money holders in Bangladesh has failed to make any positive impact on the development of its securities market. Rather, such a move or mercy by the successive governments over the years has basically increased corruption in the country.

The article relies on both primary and secondary materials. An archival analysis of the materials has been carried out in this research.

The major findings are that whitening black money is legally flawed, morally indefensible and economically unsound; the ultimate outcome of the whitening opportunity appears to be the protection of corruption, the prevention of which is imperative for the sustainable development of the national economy of Bangladesh; and no credible evidence has been found to support the underlying assumption that this immunity offered over the past four decades has benefited the economy.

Its originality is evident in the analysis of the materials in a cohesive way to prove a hypothesis that the immunity granted to the black-money holders has been a flawed initiative of the successive governments of Bangladesh to increase investment.

This study aims to examine the effect of supply chain agility (SCA) on the export performance of the Pakistani textile industry. Despite being one of the leading manufacturing and exporting sectors, only a handful of the extant literature is found on the textile industry.

A structured questionnaire was prepared using the extant literature. Data was gathered from 146 respondents associated with the textile industry of Pakistan. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling after ensuring the reliability and validity of the data collected for this study.

This study provides several crucial insights for export-oriented firms. International entrepreneurial orientation and domestic competition are the crucial drivers for a firm’s agility. This study confirms that SCA has a significant impact on escalating export performance of the Pakistani textile industry in the international market.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the theoretical framework developed for this study is original and drawn from the extant literature. The findings of resulted from empirical testing of the theoretical model in the context of developing countries provide new information in the knowledge body.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the literature related to integrated reporting (IR) to develop insight into how IR research is developing and highlight the gaps in the existing research. This can provide a framework for asking more specific and directed research questions.

The study was based on a systematic literature review (SLR) of 102 articles published in eight journals between 2013 and 2022.

The academic literature has not yet covered all topics and fields of the IR. It highlights numerous areas where further robust academic research is required to guide developments in policy and practice. Scholars prefer the qualitative research approach. The majority of papers are concerned with IIRC framework and theories of legitimacy, institutional, agency, stakeholders and diffusion of innovations theory. Most studies use the context of South Africa, Australia and some European nations, and there has been a lack of comprehensive country studies.

A key limitation is that it is based on eight communication channels, but it provides opportunities for considerable further developments. Although the SLR itself ensures the objectivity of the present study, limitations can be found in the selection of papers and journals, as well as its limited focus on English-language literature. Current study has divided the IR research into six focus areas. Future study should also divide IR into additional categories, such as big data and IR, materiality disclosure in IR quality studies and assurance services and IR.

This paper outlined a future research agenda for how <IR> research could be improved. This research agenda can help researchers and academics to discover under-investigated topics and focus on developments of IR in different economies. It also might help regulators to develop some policies, models, strategies and frameworks for its future implementation. For managers, adopting and implementing IR in a company is likely to improve management quality by bringing an integrated perspective that is not solely focused on financial objectives. However, it also focuses on sustainability issues by integrating sustainability into the organization’s strategy and business model.

This research provides a better understanding of integrated report topics. This opens the debate for future research. By increasing IR practices, the transparency and accountability enjoyed by companies will increase, in addition to improving the organization’s image in society by providing stakeholders needs, focusing on sustainability issues, reducing the negative impacts of corporate activities on the environment and improving the life quality and well-being of society.

The paper provides the growing number of academic researchers related to IR with a foundation and agenda upon which they can build their research.

Environmental performance (EnPerf) needs to be critically studied so organizations can understand enhancing it. The purpose of this study is mainly to examine and explain the influence of beliefs and values of the human resources regarding religiosity (REL) and workplace spirituality (WS) on shaping an environmentally friendly work culture comprising environmental ethics (EE) and environmental passion (EP), to enhance EnPerf.

A survey methodology was used, and 316 responses were collected from the employees working in industries on the top list of polluting the environment using purposive sampling. Structural equation modeling was deployed to test the hypotheses.

This research is conducted to identify specific relationships of variables with the environment. It was discovered that WS affected EP and EE, positively affecting EnPerf.

This study guides organizations and their management to adopt WS, EE and EP, as these all increase EnPerf in the organization.

Not much work has been conducted on the environmental culture based on REL and WS, using the ability-motivation-opportunity theory. This research analyzes employees’ intrinsic factors, such as REL and WS, to develop EP and EE. Thus helping to comprehend how they can use to enhance EnPerf, which is the current priority for the organizations.