Optimization of Production Parameters for Fabrication of Gum Arabic/Whey Protein-Based Walnut Oil Loaded Nanoparticles and Their Characterization.

The encapsulation of fatty acids, including walnut oil, within complexes is a promising strategy to address challenges, for instance, low water solubility and susceptibility to oxidation while incorporating these oils into food products. Additionally, encapsulation can effectively mask undesirable odor and flavor. The current study focuses on the optimization of walnut oil nanoparticles (WON) using complexes fabricated from gum arabic and whey protein by applying a response surface methodology. The impact of three different independent variables were determined, such as surfactant mixture (33-66%), walnut oil (5-25%), and sonication time (60-300 s), under three distinct desired conditions (low, medium, and high) on four different responses, i.e., particle size, polydispersity index (PDI), moisture level, and encapsulation efficiency (EE). The findings of the present study indicate that the point prediction-based WON resulted in significantly low particle size (82.94 nm), PDI (0.19), moisture content (3.49%), and high EE (77.26%). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) study demonstrated the successful encapsulation of walnut oil and wall material into nanocapsules. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) verified the improved thermal stability property of WON after incorporation, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated that the WON had relatively fragile and smooth surfaces, along with the presence of few porous structures. The recorded experimental data from the existing study showed that the developed formulation of WON was potentially useful as a value-added ingredient for food industries.

Corrigendum to "Impact of Nigeria's industrial sector on level of inefficiency for energy consumption: Fisher Ideal index decomposition analysis" [Heliyon 7, Issue 5, May 2021, article e06952].

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06952.].

Development of Data-driven Machine Learning Models and their Potential Role in Predicting Dengue outbreak.

ABSTRACT: Dengue fever is one of the most widespread vector-borne viral infections in the world, resulting in increased socio-economic burdens. The WHO has reported that 2.5 billion people are infected with dengue fever across the world, resulting in high mortalities in tropical and subtropical regions. The current article endeavors to present an overview of predicting dengue outbreaks through data-based machine-learning models. This artificial intelligence model uses real-world data such as dengue surveillance, climatic variables, and epidemiological data and combines big data with machine learning algorithms to forecast dengue. Monitoring and predicting dengue incidences have been significantly enhanced through innovative approaches. This involves gathering data on various climatic factors, including temperature, rainfall, relative humidity, and wind speed, along with monthly records of dengue cases. The study functions as an efficient warning system, enabling the anticipation of dengue outbreaks. This early warning system not only alerts communities but also aids relevant authorities in implementing crucial preventive measures.

Physicochemical and Functional Properties of Moringa Seed Protein Treated with Ultrasound.

Functional and structural properties of Moringa protein concentrate (MPC), obtained from defatted Moringa oleifera seed, were investigated after treating it with an ultrasonic technique. For this purpose, dried M. oleifera seed powder was defatted and subjected to a simple protein precipitation method to generate a MPC with 73.2% protein contents. Then, a Box-Behnken design was applied to optimize the sonication treatment of MPC where ultrasound amplitude (20-80%), treatment time (5-25 min), and solute-to-solvent ratio (0.1-0.3 g/mL) were studied as factors that influence the protein solubility (PS), emulsion capacity (EC), and foaming capacity (FC) of MPC. The optimal conditions were amplitude of 58%, time of 18 min, and solute to solvent ratio of 0.18 g/mL. At these conditions, PS, EC, and FC were increased to 42, 33, and 73%, respectively, in comparison to untreated one. The structural modification by ultrasound was further confirmed by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy which illustrated the MPC modification through the changes in the peak width of amide-I band. Similarly, the intrinsic fluorescence spectral signature also showed a significant increase in the amino residues of MPC. In conclusion, the exposure of hydrophilic groups and the alteration of secondary and tertiary structures induced by ultrasonic treatment improved the functional characteristics of MPC.

Exploring the economic impact of institutional entrepreneurship, social Innovation, and poverty reduction on carbon footprint in BRICS countries: what is the role of social enterprise?

The world is facing challenges to reduce carbon emissions, the complex interplay between socioeconomic dynamics and environmental sustainability is of utmost importance. In the context of the BRICS nations-Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa-this study explores the intricate interactions between institutional entrepreneurship, institutional innovation, poverty reduction, social globalization, urbanization, and social entrepreneurship as well as their combined effects on the carbon footprint over the period of 1990 to 2021. This work examines the multi-dimensional interactions inside this nexus using a thorough analytical strategy that includes the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM), Three-Stage Least Squares (3SLS), and Robust regression approaches. Institutional entrepreneurship and innovation are the main forces behind institutional change and may have an impact on how people behave in terms of the environment. Strategies for reducing poverty frequently involve greater resource usage, which has an impact on carbon footprint. Examining social globalization's impact on carbon footprints is necessary given how it affects consumer habits and economic activity. Rapid urbanization is a dual problem because it spurs both increased energy demand and novel sustainability measures. With its emphasis on community-driven solutions, social entrepreneurship can provide regional solutions to reduce poverty and carbon emissions. The study's findings provide policymakers, practitioners, and researchers with insights into the complex web of socio-economic factors that underlies carbon footprint fluctuations. This research paves the way for informed policy decisions, sustainable business practices, and the pursuit of harmonious development that addresses both economic aspirations and environmental imperatives within the BRICS countries by illuminating the connections between institutional entrepreneurship, innovation, poverty reduction, social globalization, urbanization, social entrepreneurship, and carbon emissions.

Exploring the impact of public funds and eco-friendly innovations on reducing carbon pollution in North Africa.

The main objective of this study is to examine the impacts of green energy and public investment on the CO2 emissions in North Africa. Moreover, the study also tests the existence of the N-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis for North African countries between 1995 and 2018. These factors were analyzed using the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS), Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), and Pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimators to obtain estimations of heterogeneous parameters. The outcome of these tests and examinations showed that the N-shaped curve was confirmed. Secondly, The results of the study also demonstrate the effectiveness of renewable energy as an eco-friendly innovation in reducing carbon emissions. This finding highlights the positive impact that renewable energy sources can have in terms of emitting fewer carbon emissions compared to traditional energy sources. Moreover, public investment, which interprets government expenditure, and urbanization contribute to environmental degradation by increasing CO2 emissions in the case of North African countries. Furthermore, the findings also indicated a trade-off effect resulting from the correlation between CO2 emissions and economic development. Based on these findings, the study recommends that economic policymakers in North African countries prioritize transforming the structure of government expenditures to improve environmental quality, optimize the utilization of revenues from non-environmentally friendly energy resources to accelerate the energy transition, increase the exploitation of renewable energy, and promote environmental awareness in society. By implementing these recommendations, North African countries can balance economic growth and environmental quality while reducing their carbon footprint.

How natural resources depletion, technological innovation, and globalization impact the environmental degradation in East and South Asian regions.

Rapid economic expansion has caused resource depletion, globalization issues, and environmental deterioration. Globalization has highlighted East and South Asian mineral richness. This article investigates the effects of technological innovation (TI), natural resources, globalization, and renewable energy consumption (REC) on environmental deterioration in the East and South Asian region from 1990 to 2021. The cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) estimator is used to estimate short- and long-run slope parameters and dependencies across countries. The results demonstrate that many natural resources significantly enhance environmental degradation, while globalization, TI, and REC reduce emission levels in East and South Asian economies and that economic growth significantly degrades ecological quality. This research suggests that governments in the East and South Asian region develop suitable policies that promote the efficient use of natural resources via technological advancements. Furthermore, future policies regarding energy consumption, globalization, and economic development should be aligned with the aims of sustainable environmental development.

Effects of different levels of egg protein replacement in weaned diets on hematology, kidney functions, and immunity biomarkers.

Eggs are good sources of nutrients essential for the growth and development of infants. Introducing eggs as a weaning food can improve dietary adequacy in infants at risk for protein energy malnutrition (PEM). To evaluate the current objective, 72 pups (36 males and 36 females) were used to calculate the impact of various egg protein levels on blood parameters. Nonisonitrogenous and isocaloric pellet diets were offered to pups for 28 days using nine pups with three replicates according to a completely randomized design (CRD). The water intake and ad libitum diet were offered to weaned pups. The pups were randomly assigned to different concentrations of diet, which contained WF0, control diet, 14% of soybean protein; WF1, 14% of egg protein; WF2, 16% of egg protein; and WF3, 18% of egg protein, respectively. After weaning, the intraperitoneal injection with the drug (xylazine with ketamine) was used to anesthetize before killing on the 28th day. Blood samples were used to measure the blood metabolites. The results indicated that the concentration of red blood cells, white blood cells, serum triglycerides, and serum protein was significantly (p ≤ .05) increased in pups fed with high egg protein levels compared to the control. The highest platelet count was observed in the pups fed WF3 diet. In contrast, the amount of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase was significantly (p ≤ .05) reduced with increasing the level of egg protein in the diets of weaned pups. Immunity biomarkers (immunoglobulin A, immunoglobulin G, and immunoglobulin M) and kidney functions (creatinine and blood urine nitrogen) were nonsignificantly (p ≤ .05) increased in the pups fed a high level of protein due to a high biological value of soybean protein. Moreover, the concentration of immunoglobulin E in all pups remained unchanged. Egg protein in infant formula feed can be used for the growth and development of infants.

Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction of Protein from Moringa oleifera Seeds and Its Impact on Techno-Functional Properties.

Plant proteins can be an important alternative to animal proteins subject to minor modification to address sustainability issues. The impact of ultrasound application on the yield, techno-functional properties, and molecular characteristics of protein extracted from Moringa oleifera seeds was studied. For this purpose, a central composite design (CCD) was applied to optimize ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) parameters such as amplitude (25-75%), solute-to-solvent ratio (1:10-1:30), and pH (9-13) for obtaining the maximum protein yield. At the optimized conditions of 75% amplitude, 1:20 solute-to-solvent ratio, and 11 pH, a protein yield of 39.12% was obtained in the UAE process. Moreover, the best sonication time at optimized conditions was 20 min, which resulted in about 150% more extraction yield in comparison to conventional extraction (CE). The techno-functional properties, for instance, solubility, water (WHC)- and oil-holding capacity (OHC), and emulsifying and foaming properties of the protein obtained from UAE and CE were also compared. The functional properties revealed high solubility, good WHC and OHC, and improved emulsifying properties for protein obtained from UAE. Although protein from UAE provided higher foam formation, foaming stability was significantly lower.

Role of financial development, foreign direct investment inflow, innovation in environmental degradation in Pakistan with dynamic ARDL simulation model.

The purpose of this research is to determine the impact of innovation, economic growth, financial development, trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), electricity consumption, and urbanization on the environmental degradations in Pakistan. This study has employed the dynamic autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL), to investigate the actual change in the independent variables and its impact on the dependent variable through graphs. The findings demonstrate that energy consumption, GDP growth, urbanization, and trade negatively influence the carbon emissions in the short term. On the other hand, the findings indicate that in the long term, only GDP growth and trade had a significantly negative impact on emissions. Urbanization has a positive and considerable impact on the emissions of carbon dioxide in the long run. On the other hand, financial development and foreign direct investment (FDI) help reduce the environmental degradation in the short term and long term. Moreover, innovation positively affects the carbon emissions in both the long and short run. Policy recommendations are given based on the findings of this study.

Study protocol of DIVERGE, the first genetic epidemiological study of major depressive disorder in Pakistan.

INTRODUCTION: Globally, 80% of the burdenof major depressive disorder (MDD) pertains to low- and middle-income countries. Research into genetic and environmental risk factors has the potential to uncover disease mechanisms that may contribute to better diagnosis and treatment of mental illness, yet has so far been largely limited to participants with European ancestry from high-income countries. The DIVERGE study was established to help overcome this gap and investigate genetic and environmental risk factors for MDD in Pakistan. METHODS: DIVERGE aims to enrol 9000 cases and 4000 controls in hospitals across the country. Here, we provide the rationale for DIVERGE, describe the study protocol and characterise the sample using data from the first 500 cases. Exploratory data analysis is performed to describe demographics, socioeconomic status, environmental risk factors, family history of mental illness and psychopathology. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Many participants had severe depression with 74% of patients who experienced multiple depressive episodes. It was a common practice to seek help for mental health struggles from faith healers and religious leaders. Socioeconomic variables reflected the local context with a large proportion of women not having access to any education and the majority of participants reporting no savings. CONCLUSION: DIVERGE is a carefully designed case-control study of MDD in Pakistan that captures diverse risk factors. As the largest genetic study in Pakistan, DIVERGE helps address the severe underrepresentation of people from South Asian countries in genetic as well as psychiatric research.

How ICT and globalization interact with the environment: a case of the Chinese economy.

An era of rapid changes in the technological and economic aspects of developing and developed countries can have detrimental extortions on the environment around the world. From the perspective of globalization, the rapid development and growth can reroute to enhance the interaction between people, organizations, and countries across the globe including China through the usage of information and communication technology which in turn contributes to the economic growth of one side, whereas on the other side, it affects the environmental quality. Referring to this aspect, this study is focused to inspect the link between information and communication technology, and globalization with the facets of degradation in the environment that as CO2 emission and ecological footprint by keeping the view of economic growth prospects as well via using the EKC hypothesis. In our study, time-series data was employed from 1987 to 2020 for China using the Dynamic ARDL approach. Grounded on the findings of the study, economic growth from the sight of GDP fallouts in rising the emission of CO2 and EFP in the short and long run whereas GDP sqr cause decrease in the CO2 emission and EFP. Thus, this authorizes the presence of inverted U-shaped existence among GDP sqr, CO2 emission, and EFP. Therefore, this provides provision for the EKC hypothesis in China. Furthermore, ICT and globalization cause a decline in the emission of CO2 and EFP in the short and long run respectively. In combatting challenges linked to the environment, globalization, as well as ICT, is seen as a crucial factor based on the pieces of evidence in our study while the policy implications are also proposed in the paper.

Synthesis of Cinnamum zeylanicum and Acacia nilotica Extracts and Their Antibacterial Activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes.

Different plants are used medically and thofese therapeutic plants have great importance for healing contagious wounds. This herbal treatment is actually also a substitute of different antibiotics and having less side effects on intestinal systems of animals. The foremost concern of this study was to observe the antibacterial activity of Cinnamum zeylanicum and Acacia nilotica. Pathogenic bacteria obtained from wound samples and later identified by biochemical and molecular characterization. Methanol (an organic solvent) was used to extract Cinnamum zeylanicum and Acacia nilotica to check their antimicrobial exertion by using agar diffusion method. Different antibiotics such as, ampicillin, oflaxocin, ticarcillin and cefexime, showed their susceptibility toward antibiotics. The zone of inhibitions for antibiotic and plant extracts' antibacterial activity were measured. Pathogenic bacteria were identified as Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenesby molecular characterization. These bacteria showed susceptibility to antibiotics and also the plant extracts. Antibiotic oflaxocin showed maximum activity against these two pathogens (12.25 ± 0.44 and 12.375 ± 0.47) while antibiotic cefixime showed minimum effect (1.25 ± 0.28 and 0.625 ± 0.25). Plant extracts showed significant antibacterial activity with maximum activity (14 ± 0.9 by Acacia nilotica and 12 ± 0.5 by Cinnamum zeylanicum) in 100% solution. It can be concluded thatmethanolic extract of traditional therapeutic plants proved to be a promising source of antimicrobial agents against antibiotic resistant bacteria. Cinnamum zeylanicum and Acacia nilotica were observed to be competent as antibacterial tool against pathogenic bacterial strains.

Bacteriocin-mediated inhibition of some common pathogens by wild and mutant Lactobacillus species and in vitro amplification of bacteriocin encoding genes.

Lactobacilli are the most common probiotics used in food and other industries because of their capability of producing bacteriocins. Bacteriocins are compounds that are used to kill pathogenic microorganisms. As most bacteria have become resistant to synthetic antibacterial tools, the importance of using probiotics as antibacterial agents has increased. This work was done to check the bacteriocin effect on some common pathogens and the influence of mutation on the bacteriocin activity of Lactobacilli was also investigated. Four strains were isolated, identified from meat and pickles samples via culturing methods, staining, biochemical tests, and ribotyping. Preliminary tests, including Gram staining and catalase test, were done for the confirmation of Lactobacillus species. All strains were gram-positive and catalase-negative. Antibacterial activity was checked against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus thuringiensis, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella enteritis via agar well diffusion method. The mutations were done using ethidium bromide and the influence of wild and mutants were also checked. Interestingly, mutants developed more virulence than wild ones. It was also observed that they all were sensitive to pepsin. Protein estimation was done via Bradford method. Ribotyping of GCU-W-PS1 revealed 99 % homology with Lactobacillus plantarum and GCU-W-MS1 to Lactobacillus curvatus (99 % homology). Curvacin A, sakacin P, and plantaricin A genes were also amplified using specific primers. Gene sequence showed the presence of curvacin A gene in GCU-W-MS1. It was concluded that lactic acid bacteria could be used as antibacterial tools against common pathogens.

Globalization toward environmental sustainability and electricity consumption to environmental degradation: does EKC inverted U-shaped hypothesis exist between squared economic growth and CO2 emissions in top globalized economies.

The study inspects the inverted U shape of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis following the influence of economic growth on CO2 emissions and the reaction of electricity consumption and globalization toward CO2 emissions in top globalized economies. This study has taken the data of the top 9 globalized countries from 1990 to 2019 while adopting fully modified ordinary least squares and dynamic ordinary least squares panel cointegration approaches to determine the long run effects and Dumitrescu and Hurlin panel causality for the directions of the causality among the variables. According to the long-term findings of the research, economic growth and electricity consumption substantially contribute to CO2 secretions. On the other hand, the squared growth and globalization mitigate CO2 emissions and contribute to environmental sustainability. However, the inverse influence of squared growth on CO2 emissions shows the presence of the inverted U shape of the EKC hypothesis. Furthermore, Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality measures have shown the bi-directional causality of electricity consumption and economic growth with CO2 emissions and globalization with economic growth. At the same time, unidirectional causality exists from globalization to CO2 emissions, economic growth to electricity consumption, and electricity consumption to globalization. The study recommends long-term globalization and sustainable development projects to ensure environmental sustainability in these globalized economies.

The asymmetric effects of crops productivity, agricultural land utilization, and fertilizer consumption on carbon emissions: revisiting the carbonization-agricultural activity nexus in Nepal.

Agriculture plays an integral part in facilitating socioeconomic development in Nepal. However, it is also associated with environmental concerns which need to be controlled for the sake of ensuring environmental and agricultural sustainability in tandem. Against this backdrop, this current study aims to check whether shocks to the levels of agricultural productivity, land utilization for crop production, and fertilizer consumption influence the carbon dioxide emission figures of Nepal over the 1965-2018 period. The long-run associations between these variables are confirmed from the cointegration analysis. Besides, the outcomes from the asymmetric non-linear autoregressive distributed lag regression analysis show that crop productivity does not influence the emission levels in Nepal. However, a decline in the land area used for crop production purposes is evidenced to trigger higher emissions of carbon dioxide both in the short- and long run. On the other hand, higher fertilizer consumption is found to boost the short- and long-run carbon dioxide emission levels in Nepal. Accordingly, considering the objective of reducing agriculture-based emissions, this study recommends the Nepalese government to adopt policies that can enhance the productivity of low energy-intensive crop production, stimulate green agriculture and non-agriculture activities, and minimize the use of chemical fertilizers in arable lands.

Employee Voice: A Mechanism to Harness Employees' Potential for Sustainable Success.

Listening to employees' concerns reduces their dissatisfaction, but moreover, for an organization to achieve sustainable success, employees must raise their creative voice and give their input in decision-making without the fear of rejection in a psychologically safe environment. Ethical leaders facilitate such a participative style of management. A bureaucratic culture, as is generally encountered in Pakistan's work settings, poses real challenges to those who dare to speak up, therefore the importance of ethical leadership, leader-member exchange (LMX), and psychological safety cannot be neglected as coping mechanisms to sustain the employee voice for mutual gains. To investigate ethical leadership's mediating mechanisms and boundary conditions on voice behavior, we examined a moderated mediation model with the leader-member exchange as a moderator and psychological safety as a mediator. Grounded in social exchange theory (SET), the current study uniquely posits and tests that employees feel psychologically safe in the presence of an ethical leader with whom they have high-quality social exchanges. Data were collected from 281 employees from the public corporations and private enterprises of the petroleum sector of Karachi. Results of the analysis, through SPSS and AMOS, revealed that psychological safety mediated the relationship of ethical leadership and voice behavior, while the indirect effect of ethical leadership on voice behavior (via psychological safety) is stronger for those employees who enjoy high-quality exchanges with ethical leaders. LMX was also found to moderate the relationship between ethical leadership and voice behavior. Contributions, recommendations, and limitations of the current study and further research areas are also discussed. The study offers practical insight on the mechanism of ethical leadership on employee voice behavior and recommends leaders to develop social exchanges to improve voice behavior for sustainable success.

Renewable and non-renewable energy consumption driven sustainable development in ASEAN countries: do financial development and institutional quality matter?

Energy consumption for sustainable development has become a crucial issue in recent years. The anthropogenic effects of traditional energy sources (non-renewables) underscore the need for renewable energy and efforts to promote its adoption have comprised policy makers' strategies to achieve sustainable development. At the same time, institutional stability is a necessary element needed to meet the goal of sustainable development via improved management of resources and technology diffusion. The literature shows some contradictory findings on this matter and this study aims to clarify. Thus, this research scrutinizes the contribution of renewable and non-renewable energies in sustainable development while also taking into account financial development and institutional quality in ASEAN countries from 1980 to 2018. To assess for co-integration, a pooled mean group (PMG) regression technique is employed and the findings from this technique are verified by using fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS), dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS), and canonical cointegration regression (CCR) techniques in conjunction with other panel-based econometric procedures to evaluate the robustness of the model. The findings reveal a significantly positive influence for renewable energy and a significantly adverse impact for non-renewable energy with respect to sustainable development in ASEAN countries. In addition, the results indicate that institutional quality and financial development have adverse effects on sustainable development. Therefore, this research recommends sustainable management of non-renewables and greater promotion of renewables by strengthening institutional quality in ASEAN countries.