Search results

The purpose of this study is to assess the operational efficiency of Arab stock markets during the past decade in order to anticipate their ability to compete in the future. The study provides estimates of the operational efficiency of Arab capital markets by analyzing how well they use all the information available and other financial resources to generate earnings.

The purpose of this paper is to establish a grey clustering evaluation model based on center-point triangular whitenization weight function to evaluate the situation of urban low-carbon transport development (LTD). The study results intend to provide some theoretical basis and tool support for transport management departments and related researchers who are engaged in low-carbon transport (LT).

The study uses analytical hierarchy process based on expert investigations to determine the weight of each criteria, classifies the grey clusters based on center-point triangular whitenization weight function, calculates the membership of each development criteria and ranks the development level of all dimensions.

The research results of case city show that low-carbon technology is in “poor” level, transport facility is in “superior” level, low-carbon policy and environmental coordination is in “intermediate” level, transport management is in “good” level and the overall LTD level is in “intermediate” level.

Reducing the carbon emissions of urban transport and achieving LT is the key to promote urban sustainable development, the scientific judgment of transport development situation is the premise of promoting LTD. Therefore, based on the practices of LT in China, the study systematically clarifies LTD from five dimensions of reflecting LTD.

From the perspective of sustainable development, the evaluation index system of LTD is built with five dimensions consisting of low-carbon technology, low-carbon policy, transport facility, transport management and environmental coordination. Then assess the LTD by using the grey clustering evaluation model based on center-point triangular whitenization weight. This paper presents a new research idea for LTD evaluation.

The purpose of this paper is to review phytochemical potential of acacia and its associated health advantages. Acacia a moderate-sized, deciduous tree and recognised as health-promoting species because of availability of essential bioactive components. The bioactive compounds such as tannins, flavonoids, alkaloids, fatty acids and polysaccharides (gums) present in the plant parts of acacia, namely, bark, leaves, flowers, fruits, twigs and seeds, have medicinal value and thus are used to overlay the formulations of plant-based drugs and value-added foods.

Major well-known bibliometric information sources such as Web of Science, Scopus, Mendeley and Google Scholar were searched with keywords such as “nutrition value of acacia”, “bioactive compounds”, “health benefits”, “processing and safety” were chosen to obtain a database of 1,428 papers. The search considered papers in the English language from the past 18 years of publication in journals (2004–2022). The article selection process consisted of the screening of titles and abstracts, based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Articles that did not have acacia components as a study objective were taken into consideration for exclusion. A final database of 87 scientific sources was made after sorting and classifying them according to different criteria based on topic relevance, country of origin and year of publication. Articles with other random descriptors were also searched to complement the discussion of the results obtained.

The literature reflected that acacia contains all necessary phytochemicals like polyphenols, flavonoids, terpenoids, glucosinolates, alkaloids and carotenoids along with essential macro, micro-nutrients. Furthermore, processing methods such as soaking, cooking, roasting and dehusking significantly reduced the anti-nutritional factors present in acacia seeds of different species. This review also focused on the processing methods that are used to eliminate or lower down the anti-nutritional factors from the seeds. Previous findings related to acacia plant parts with respect to food development are explored and mentioned.

This review emphasised mainly on recent studies that had been reported on ethnomedical acacia plants therapeutically, commercially and exponentially for further studies to increase the utilisation in food processing.

Sorghum is a vital cereal crop and staple food for many peoples around the globe having good nutritional and health-promoting bioactive compounds and recently received great attention as gluten-free food. However, sorghum grains contain low β-glucans contents, dietary fibre polysaccharides with great technological and disease prevention properties, and improving the concentration of these compounds in sorghum is very important. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the physicochemical and starch properties of high β-glucan sorghum inbred line (Tabat-NL) in comparison with two commercial cultivars (Wadakar and Tabat-C).

Grain samples of sorghum cultivars: white colour and low tannin cultivar (Tabat-C), red colour and high tannin sorghum, and new inbred line of white sorghum cultivar (Tabat-NL) were carefully cleaned, examined for physical properties (colour, hectolitre and 1,000 kernel weights, and endosperm texture), and ground to flour and assessed for chemical composition (moisture, protein, ash, carbohydrate, sugars, fibre and β-glucan contents). The starch was extracted and investigated for morphological characteristics and functional properties.

The results showed that Tabat-NL grains contain significantly (p=0.05) higher values of 1,000 kernel weight, hectolitre weight, total carbohydrate, amylopectin, dietary fibre and β-glucan compared to Tabat-C and Wadakar. Tabat-NL starch had greater (p=0.05) gelatinization temperature, viscosity, bulk density, and water and oil holding capacities and lower (p=0.05) acidity compared to Tabat-C and Wadakar.

The outcomes of this study demonstrated that Tabat-NL grains had an excellent marketing and milling properties, health-promoting and disease-preventing potentials, and technological features for uses in functional and speciality foods.

To the best of our understating, this is the first study on the evaluation of sorghum cultivar with high β-glucan content and could thus provide the bases for further development and application of this important food grains.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between adjustment, social support and satisfaction with life for expatriate spouses. The sample consists of European diplomatic spouses, residing all over the world.

This is a quantitative study. The sample consists of European diplomatic spouses, residing all over the world. The sample consists of 268 participants: 231 females and 44 males.

The findings of this study reveal that there was a significant relationship between adjustment and emotional and instrumental support as well as satisfaction with life. Furthermore, a multiple regression was performed to predict the level of satisfaction with life. Both adjustment and emotional support were statistically significant and they explained nearly 50 percent of the variability in participant’s satisfaction with life.

The limitations of the paper include, for example, method bias, language and geographic location.

Foreign Ministries within the European Union (EU) will be in a better position to improve their expatriate programs and policies. Furthermore, this study indicated that the well-being of diplomatic spouses can be enhanced by considering how social support is provided, the level of adjustment and satisfaction with life.

This study highlights the importance for diplomatic spouses to belonging to various groups, and group membership serves as a means to gain access to social networks. Therefore, being part of support groups of other expatriate spouses can aid cross-cultural adjustment.

Little is known about diplomatic spouses. This paper will be an important first step in examining the relationship between adjustment, social support and satisfaction with life for the spouses of diplomats working for the Foreign Ministries within the EU and European Economic Area.

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) is a rich source of nutrients as compared to the major cultivated cereal crops. However, major factors which limit its utilization are the presence of anti-nutritional factors (phytate, tannins and polyphenols) which lower availability of minerals and poor keeping quality because of higher lipase activity. Therefore, this paper aims to focus on the impact of different processing methods on the nutrient composition and anti-nutritional components of pearl millet.

This is a literature review study from 1983 to 2017, focusing on studies related to pearl millet processing and their effectiveness in the enrichment of nutritional value through reduction of anti-nutritional compounds.

From the literature reviewed, pearl millet processing through various methods including milling, malting, fermentation, blanching and acid as well as heat treatments were found to be effective in achieving the higher mineral digestibility, retardation of off flavor, bitterness as well as rancidity problems found during storage of flour.

Through this review paper, possible processing methods and their impact on the nutrient and anti-nutrient profile of pearl millet are discussed after detailed studied of literature from journal articles and thesis.