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Throughout the world, there has been a dramatic increase in the demand for functional food products. Owing to the health benefits of barley, its utilization was explored for the development of β-glucan rich functional instant talbina (porridge). The present research was, therefore, undertaken with an aim to optimize the extrusion conditions for development of instant talbina premix and evaluate its functional and quality characteristics.

The independent variables i.e. barrel temperature (105–125°C) and feed moisture (12–20%) were studied to determine their influence on the system parameter i.e. specific mechanical energy and product characteristics i.e. bulk density, breaking strength, water absorption index, expansion ratio, water solubility index, L*, a* and b* by employing a central composite rotatable design.

All the quality parameters were significantly (p < 0.05) influenced by independent variables. The regression models obtained for all the responses showed higher coefficient of determination (R² = 0.99). The optimum extrusion conditions obtained by numerical optimization for development of extrudates used for making instant talbina were moisture content (12%) and barrel temperature (105°C). Various functional, pasting, complexing index and physicochemical properties of instant talbina were improved by the addition of honey and milk. The instant talbina prepared from barley flour with the addition of milk and honey showed increase in the β-glucan content, resistant starch, antioxidant activity and decrease in glycemic index with improved overall acceptability.

As far as we could possibly know that very limited or not many studies have been carried out wherein the possibility of developing instant talbina (porridge) have been carried out. As a result, the current study has a lot of potential for the food industry to manufacture β-glucan rich functional instant talbina with improved antioxidant characteristics and low glycemic index.

The present research was envisaged with an aim to optimize the system and the product responses for the development of tomato pomace-incorporated corn-based extrudates employing central composite rotatable design and determine its proximate, lycopene, consumer acceptability and storage studies.

Lycopene-rich extrudates were developed from corn flour blended with different levels of tomato pomace. The independent extrusion variables, namely, feed composition (95:5 to 75:25), feed moisture (12–20%), screw speed (200–600 rpm) and barrel temperature (125–185 °C), were studied to determine their influence on dependent variables, namely, specific mechanical energy, hardness, water solubility index, lateral expansion, water absorption index, bulk density and color.

All of the quality parameters were significantly (p < 0.05) influenced by independent variables. The regression models obtained for all the responses showed high coefficients of determination (R2 = 0.85–0.95). The optimum conditions for the development of tomato pomace-incorporated corn-based extrudates were feed composition (90:10), feed moisture (14%), screw speed (300 rpm) and barrel temperature (170 °C). The moisture, fat and carbohydrate contents of the extrudates were significantly reduced, whereas protein, ash and fiber were significantly (p < 0.05) enhanced after the incorporation of tomato pomace. Aluminum laminates were found to be the suitable packaging materials for extrudates for a period of 120 days in comparison to high-density polyethylene packages.

As far as the authors could possibly know, scanty literature exists wherein the tomato pomace has been utilized for the development of lycopene-rich corn-based extruded snacks. Such extrudates with significantly higher fiber and lycopene contents than corn flour will serve as a suitable alternative for the development of shelf-stable ready-to-eat extruded snacks.

The demand for functional foods has been increasing tremendously throughout the globe and keeping in view the health beneficial properties of apricot fruit. The purpose of this study is to develop wheat flour based cookies enriched with apricot pulp powder in order to improve nutraceutical properties of cookies and dilution of gluten at the same time.

Cookies were prepared from wheat flour blended with apricot pulp powder at 0, 10, 15, 20 and 25% level and evaluated for proximate, functional, rheological, nutraceutical and sensory properties.

Fibre content of apricot powder-incorporated cookies (3.23%) was significantly (p < 0.05) higher at 25% level than control (1.64%). The water absorption and oil absorption capacities decreased significantly (p < 0.05) upon increasing level of apricot pulp powder. The ß-carotene content, antioxidant activity and total phenolic content increased significantly (p < 0.05) upon incorporation of apricot pulp powder. The thickness of cookies increased, however, diameter and spread ratio decreased with increase in the levels of apricot pulp powder. Lightness (L*) value decreased, while redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) increased when incorporated with apricot pulp powder. Cookies having 25% apricot pulp powder showed maximum hardness and overall acceptability.

To the best of our knowledge, the scientific literature on incorporation of apricot pulp powder in bakery products is scanty. As such the present research has a tremendous scope for the food industries to produce functional bakery products with antioxidant properties and diluted the gluten content at the same time.

Currently, there is a great demand for those food products that are easy to prepare or ready for direct consumption. Making pear fruit/juice available round the year is desirous owing to pears' high-nutritional value and specific pleasant taste. Pear is, however, a seasonal fruit and under ambient conditions has a limited shelf life rendering it available as fresh fruit for a specific period.

The study aimed to optimize the spray drying process parameters using response surface methodology for the development of pear juice powder. The process variables included the inlet air temperature of 140–210°C, maltodextrin levels of 4–25%, atomization speed of 11,400–28,000 rpm, feed flow rate of 180–630 mL/hr, and feed total soluble solids (TSS) of 13–30°Brix. The dependent responses were powder yield, solubility, antioxidant activity {% 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging capacity}, dispersibility, hygroscopicity and particle density.

Among independent variables, inlet air temperature showed a predominant effect. The optimum processing conditions for the development of pear juice powder with optimum quality were 163.02°C inlet air temperature, 13.50% maltodextrin, 28,000 rpm atomization speed, 390.94 mL/h feed flow rate, and 25.5°Brix feed TSS. Under these optimum conditions, pear powder with desirable properties could be produced. The experimental and predicted values were found to be in agreement, indicating the suitability of the model in predicting optimizing responses of pear powder. Glass transition temperature of pear powder was found to be 36.60 ± 0.40°C, which is much higher than that of ambient temperature, suggesting better shelf stability.

The processing of pear fruit has resulted in the increased demand for pear juice powder in both domestic and international markets as a primer of new food products. The optimum conditions obtained in the current study could provide a new insight to the food industry in developing spray-dried pear powder of optimum quality. This can open up a new horizon in the field of food industry for the common masses of Jammu and Kashmir, India.

Apricots are not only nutritionally-rich but also possess pharmacological significance owing to their high antioxidant activity, and they are rich in vitamins, fibers, bioactive phytochemicals and minerals. Because of its immense organoleptic characteristics, apricot juice (AJ) is well accepted; however, it has a limited shelf-life, thereby demanding it to be converted into other shelf-stable form. One of the approaches is converting this juice into dehydrated powder. Amongst the various dehydration techniques available, spray drying is usually preferred; however, it involves the use of several independent variables, which need to be optimized, thus prompting to optimize the process to obtain spray dried apricot powder (SDAP) with improved quality.

The spray-drying process of apricot juice was done using the response surface approach. The process variables included the inlet air temperature of 135–220°C, gum arabic concentration of 4–25%, feed flow rate of 124–730 mL/h, feed total soluble solids (TSS) of 10-30°Brix and atomization speed of 11,400–28,000 rpm. The dependent responses were powder yield, hygroscopicity, solubility, moisture content, carotenoids (CT), ascorbic acid (AA), radical scavenging activity (RSA), lightness, wettability, bulk density, particle density and porosity.

Amongst all independent variables, inlet air temperature had most predominant impact on all the investigated responses. The optimum processing conditions for development of apricot powder with optimum quality were 190°C inlet air temperature, 18.99% gum arabic, 300.05 mL/h feed flow rate, 24°Brix feed TSS and 17433.41 rpm atomization speed. The experimental values were found to be in agreement with the predicted values, indicating the suitability of models in predicting optimizing responses of apricot powder. Flowability as Carr's index (CI) (22.36 ± 1.01%) suggests fair flow of powder. Glass transition temperature of powder was 57.85 ± 2.03°C, which is much higher than that of ambient, suggesting its better shelf stability.

To the best of author's knowledge, very limited or very few studies have been carried out on the spray-drying process for the manufacture of SDAP. The results of this investigation will open up new horizons in the field of food industry in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India or elsewhere in the apricot-growing areas of India.

In 1989, Muslims' concern with freedom of speech and ineffective attempts to prevent the publication of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses not only crystallised a ‘Muslim consciousness’ but also shed light on the fragmentation of Muslim mobilisation and the lack of ‘communal unity’ that prevented Muslims from having a representative national organisation to lobby the government. In 1997, the institutionalisation of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) under the auspices of a New Labour government filled this gap and empowered Muslims to participate in British governance. In this regard, the MCB has established itself as a key authoritative intermediary between Muslim communities and the British Government, playing a crucial role in the advancement of Muslims' social and religious rights while raising awareness of discrimination and socio-economic disadvantage. In light of this development, this chapter will provide an analysis of the evolution of the British state's engagement and cooperation with the MCB between its launch under New Labour in 1997 and the present. Taking a historical perspective, this chapter will first briefly explain that the implementation of the MCB was meant to overcome the fragmentation and existing divisions within Muslim communities, which were deprived of an effective national representative organisation to represent Muslim interests. It will then underline the fruitfulness of cooperation between the government and the MCB, which coincided with the heyday of multiculturalism and resulted in significant advancements for Muslims in terms of religious rights. The chapter will then depict the British state's shifting relationship with the MCB and disinclination to cooperate with this organisation following the terrorist attacks of 2005.

The purpose of this study is to conduct a bibliometric analysis to discover the published information on the subject of “Library Automation Software.”

This study is based on bibliometric research to analyze the growth of literature on the subject area “Library Automation Software.” The data were retrieved from the leading database Web of Science to analyze the scholarly publications on the topic during 2001–2022. To analyze the bibliometric data on the subject, the VOSviewer, Biblioshiny and MS Excel software were used.

Results manifest that the topic of “Library Management Systems” has been greatly used by several authors as a title to publish their research work. The USA emerged as the most productive country. The most used keywords to retrieve literature on the topic were “Library Automation,” “Library Management Systems,” “KOHA,” “Integrated Library Systems” and “Open Source Software.”

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first bibliometric study in Pakistan that has been conducted to measure the productivity of literature at the international level on library automation.

In Bangladesh, the banking companies have huge opportunity to capture market share by properly understanding the critical aspect of customer satisfaction. This paper mainly focuses on young generation as target group to find out their differential perception. This study aims to identify most influencing factors and determine their influencing power on young customer's satisfaction and retention in mobile banking.

It is a quantitative research with self-administered questionnaire as primary data collection instrument. Existing literature and published articles are reviewed as secondary data for hypothesis development. Out of 300 questionnaires, 279 usable questionnaires were returned and these collected data were analyzed by partial least square-structural equation model (PLS-SEM) with the use of Smart_PLS (V 327) to validate the model and test the hypothesis.

The findings of the research revealed that expense, responsiveness and relative advantage have significant influence while security and convenience have insignificant influence on satisfaction. But they are not directly related with loyalty although satisfaction and loyalty strongly related with each other.

Although mobile banking is not a new issue in Bangladesh, the use of PLS_SEM to measure young user's satisfaction as the customer of mobile banking is not available in literature. So, this paper is an attempt to fill up this gap. In spite of having some limitation the research provides some practical implication for banks with better strategic insight to design mobile banking services to yield higher customer satisfaction.

This study aims to examine the mediation effect of safety climate (SC) on the relationship between ethical leadership and employee health and safety in the oil and gas downstream sector in Ghana.

This study used a quantitative approach (survey) to collect data from 215 pump attendants at the fuel stations in the Accra Metropolis. The authors used PLS structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to test the research hypotheses in this study.

The results show that leaders’ adherence to ethical practices had a significant and positive effect on both their employees’ health and safety and SC in the workplace. Furthermore, the ability of leaders to use ethical practices to achieve a healthy and safe work environment was also contingent on the presence of a safe work climate.

This study highlights the need for leaders to pay specific attention to adhering to ethical rules and regulations and also promoting a safe climate in the workplace to guarantee the health and safety of employees.

This study presents a novel contribution to the literature by empirically demonstrating the contingency importance of SC in the quest of leaders leveraging ethical practices to promote the health and safety of employees in the workplace, which has not been discussed by previous studies.

In the evolving digital work landscape, where cyberloafing has become a notable challenge, this study aims to investigate the mechanisms through which organizations can effectively reduce such behaviors. Specifically, the research explores the role of employee adaptability in mitigating cyberloafing, taking into account the influences of temporal leadership, teamwork attitudes, and competitive work environments.

Utilizing the broaden-and-build theory and the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, we analyzed data from 245 employees through structural equation modeling (SEM) to investigate how various factors influence cyberloafing.

The results indicate that employee adaptability significantly mitigates cyberloafing and serves as a mediating factor between temporal leadership, teamwork attitudes, and the impact of competitive work environments on cyberloafing. Temporal leadership and teamwork attitudes positively correlate with increased adaptability, thereby reducing cyberloafing. Conversely, competitive work environments, while slightly enhancing adaptability, substantially increase cyberloafing.

The study contributes new insights into the dynamics of cyberloafing, emphasizing the critical roles of adaptability, teamwork attitudes, and temporal leadership in reducing such behaviors. It underscores the need for organizations to foster a supportive culture that minimizes competitive pressures and promotes teamwork and leadership strategies conducive to high productivity and minimal cyberloafing. This research offers practical implications for designing workplace strategies aimed at boosting productivity and curbing undesirable online behaviors during work hours.