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This paper aims to experimentally evaluate the performance of a parallel hybrid propulsion system for use in small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The objective is to combine all the individual components of the hybrid electric propulsion system (HEPS) into a modular test bench to characterize the performance of a parallel hybrid propulsion system, and to evaluate a rule-based controller based on the ideal operating line concept for the control of the power plant. Electric motor (EM) designed to supplement the power of the internal combustion engine (ICE) to reduce the overall fuel consumption, with the supervisory controller optimizing ICE torque.

The EM was able to supplement the power of the ICE to reduce fuel consumption, and proved the capability of acting as a generator to recharge the batteries drawing from ICE power. Furthermore, the controller showed that it is possible to reduce the fuel consumption with a HEPS when compared to its gasoline counterpart by running simulated representative UAV missions. The findings also highlighted the challenges to build and integrate the HEPS in small UAVs.

The modularity of the test bench allows each component to be changed to assess its impact on the performance of the system. This allows for further exploration and improvements of the HEPS in a controlled environment.

Teacher Education has been transforming throughout the world to cater to the emerging needs of quality education. Significant developments have taken place nationally and internationally in political, economic, and cultural fields, influencing education in general and teacher education in particular. The quality of education depends to a great extent on the quality of teachers. And, the quality of teachers depends on the way they are educated and trained. Pakistan has a vast education sector and a huge teaching force but teacher education in the country has not been keeping pace with modernization and development globally. Teacher education curricula, dissemination, evaluation and implementation revolved around traditional models for decades. However, there has been a growing realization to reform the teacher education system lately. The education policy (2009) of Pakistan indicates such realization on the part of the stakeholders. This chapter reports on an important teacher education reform program, which is based on collaboration between the government of Pakistan and the USAID. The Teacher Education Project (TEP), assisted by USAID, is a reform initiative that aimed at restructuring and modernizing teacher education in Pakistan. This chapter aims to provide insights into the objectives, importance and achievements of the project in terms of shaping the future direction of teacher education in Pakistan. It reports on the substantial structural and policy changes that took place in teacher education under the project. This chapter also highlights the possible challenges in the way of useful implementation and sustainability of this and similar education reform initiatives in Pakistan.

Drawing on the natural resource-based view (NRBV) theory, the study aimed to examine the mediating role of green innovation (GI) in the nexus between green human resource management practices (Green HRMPs) and sustainable business performance (SBP).

This study adopted the descriptive time-lagged research design. Data were collected from 278 managerial staff of five mining companies in Ghana at different waves within a 3-month interval. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data received using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) statistics (V. 26.0) and Smart PLS (V.4.0).

The study found that Green HRMPs significantly related more to economic performance (EP) than social performance (SP) but did not significantly relate to environmental performance (EnP). Moreover, the results revealed that GI partially mediated the nexus between Green HRMPs and both SP and EP but fully mediated the link between Green HRMPs and EnP.

The relevance of Green HRMPs in ensuring corporate sustainability has been largely established in the extant literature. However, there is an evidential dearth of studies in the literature concerning the mediating role of GI in the nexus between Green HRMPs and SBP, especially in developing economies context. Hence, this study serves as a significant contributing card from Ghana by advancing the NRBV theory.

The purpose of this research is to systematically scrutinize the influence of macroeconomic determinants on trade openness, through the lens of various trade theories, with a particular focus on the economies of the GIPSI countries – Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy.

This study investigates the macroeconomic factors influencing trade openness in the GIPSI economies from 1995 to 2020. Methods include stepwise regression (SR) for model selection, Pedroni panel cointegration test and panel regression results. The analysis uses advanced panel regressions, including FMOLS, Panel OLS and FEM. The long-term dynamics were tested using Pedroni cointegration, while Granger causality testing was used to examine the causal direction between the trade openness ratio and trade determinant.

The results show both long-term and short-term relationships between trade openness and (1) foreign direct investment, (2) labor force participation rate, (3) trade reserves and (4) trade balance. The researchers also detected unidirectional and bidirectional causality relationships between trade openness and these four factors. The study also revealed that trade reserves (TR) emerge as the most influential determinant of trade openness, and per capita income does not exhibit economic significance concerning the trade openness of GIPSI economies.

This research is conducted within the context of the GIPSI nations (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy). As such, the outcomes may not be universally applicable to other economic systems due to the distinct institutional settings and governance structures across different economic groups. Future investigations may explore the relationship between trade openness and its determinants by incorporating different variables.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study investigating the theory that suggested trade drivers drive the trade openness of GIPSI countries context. By focusing on GIPSI countries, the study offers a unique perspective on the dynamics of trade openness in economies that have experienced financial crises and stringent austerity measures.

Pakistan has experienced financial liberalization with rapid ups and downs in economic growth due to domestic issues during the last 2 decades. Motivated by inconclusive and conflicting time-driven findings about the performance of the business groups, this study examines the performance of business groups in Pakistan for a relatively long period from 2003 to 2018.

The study uses 3,821 firm-year observations from non-financial firms listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). For the estimation, pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) with industry- and year fixed effects and two-step system generalized methods of moments (GMM) are used.

The study finds that group-affiliated firms outperform independent firms in accounting performance, while underperform in market performance. The outperformance is mainly driven by medium-sized business groups, while underperformance is driven by small and large business groups. Further, the study documents that the underperformance in terms of market performance of firms affiliated with small and large groups is greater before the economic downturn, while outperformance in terms of the accounting measure of firms affiliated with medium-sized groups is greater during the economic downturn. These findings support our time-driven concerns. Overall, the authors' findings are consistent with institutional and transaction cost theories.

Business groups are important channels to reduce market inefficiencies. Business groups may enhance the affiliated firms' resources and resistance capacity through active utilization of the internal capital market, specifically when market conditions are not ideal for affiliates. However, effective utilization of internal capital markets depends on group size. Therefore, investors should deliberate on the size of business groups and diversification within business groups.

The authors extend the literature by providing fresh evidence related to the performance of business groups in the Pakistani context while accounting for the role of the size of business groups.

A definition of data called data as assemblage is presented. The definition accommodates different forms and meanings of data; emphasizes data subjects and data workers; and reflects the sociotechnical aspects of data throughout its lifecycle of creation and use. A scalable assemblage model describing the anatomy and behavior of data, datasets and data infrastructures is also introduced.

Data as assemblage is compared to common meanings of data. The assemblage model's elements and relationships also are defined, mapped to the anatomy of a US Census dataset and used to describe the structure of research data repositories.

Replacing common data definitions with data as assemblage enriches information science and research data management (RDM) frameworks. Also, the assemblage model is shown to describe datasets and data infrastructures despite their differences in scale, composition and outward appearance.

Data as assemblage contributes a definition of data as mutable, portable, sociotechnical arrangements of material and symbolic components that serve as evidence. The definition is useful in information science and research data management contexts. The assemblage model contributes a scale-independent way to describe the structure and behavior of data, datasets and data infrastructures and supports analyses and comparisons involving them.

Based on the extensive literature review and the research published in the context of Western countries, this study proposes that the entrepreneurship education, participation in entrepreneurial seminars at the universities and their involvement in the activities of innovation and incubation center of the universities may foster entrepreneurial intentions (EIs) among Emirati female graduating students.

To test the study’s hypothesized model, survey data are collected from 283 female graduating students of 19 public and private universities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The analysis of the data relies upon multiple hierarchical regression and moderation analysis in SPSS.

The results suggest that all three types of educational activities positively influence the women's EIs in the UAE. However, formal entrepreneurship courses are more effective than the participation in seminars and involvement in the activities of innovation/incubation center. The authors also found that perceived social support does not moderate the impact of education on EIs, which means that entrepreneurship education is equally effective in fostering EIs, no matter female students perceive low or high social support. On the other hand, results demonstrate that the level of gender stereotypes negatively moderates the impact of education on it. This implies that if a female student believes in a high gender stereotype, the impact of education on her EIs will be low and vice versa.

This study specifically focuses on women entrepreneurship and for the UAE only. However, the results can be generalized for female entrepreneurship, specifically for countries where governments are taking initiatives to foster female entrepreneurship. The study provides specific implications for the UAE public policy government.

As the Government of the UAE is keenly interested to boost up the women entrepreneurial behavior, the findings of the study support that in addition to entrepreneurship education, the government should also encourage the universities to arrange entrepreneurship seminars as these seminars also increase the EIs of women. In addition, the government and the universities should also focus on the involvement of women in the incubation centers/innovation park because the incubation centers can provide the practical exposure to the women in the new business start-ups.

This research is among the first, which benchmarks women EIs in the UAE.

This work aims to concentrate on the mixed convection of the stagnation point flow of ternary hybrid nanofluids towards vertical Riga plate. Aluminum trioxide (Al₂O₃), silicon dioxide (SiO₂) and titanium dioxide (TiO₂) are regarded as nanoparticles, with water serving as the base fluid. The mathematical model incorporates momentum boundary layer and energy equations. The Grinberg term for the viscous dissipation and the wall parallel Lorentz force coming from the Riga plate are taken into consideration in the context of the energy equation.

Through the use of appropriate nonsimilar transformations, the governing system is transformed into nonlinear nondimensional partial differential equations (PDEs). The numerical method bvp4c (built-in package for MATLAB) is used in this study to simulate governing equations using the local non-similarity (LNS) approach up to the second truncation level.

Numerous graphs and numerical tables expound on the physical properties of the nanofluid temperature and velocity profiles. The local Nusselt correlations and the drag coefficient for pertinent parameters have been computed in tabular form. Additionally, the temperature profile drops while the velocity profile increases when the mixed convection parameter is included to oppose the flow.

The fundamental goal of this work is to comprehend how ternary nanofluids move towards a vertical Riga plate in a mixed convective domain with stagnation point flow.