Responsible innovation in emerging markets' SMEs: The role of alliance learning and absorptive capacity

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Entrepreneurial alertness and business model innovation in dynamic markets: international performance implications for SMEs

Acknowledgement This research was supported by Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Research Fund. This research was financially supported by Queen Mary University of London.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Effect of encapsulated calcium carbide application at different growth stages on potato (Solanum Tuberosum L.) growth, yield and tuber quality

Plant growth substances play a vital role in growth and development of plants and have been implicated intensively and extensively in the vegetable production. In recent years, calcium carbide (CaC2) has proved to be a good source of acetylene (nitrification inhibitor) and ethylene (plant hormone). The experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of encapsulated calcium carbide (ECC) on the growth, yield and tuber quality of potato. ECC was applied @ 60 kg/ha for each treatment except control at different growth stages of potato (sprout development, vegetative growth, tuber initiation, tuber bulking) and their combinations. The results of this work revealed significant effects of ECC application on number of days to sprouting, number of leaves and stems, plant height, tuber size, yield, weight loss %, shrivillage % and reducing sugars of potato while sprouting percentage, disease incidence %, specific gravity, TSS, total starch, non-reducing sugars and total sugars could not demonstrate significant effects of ECC application. Moreover, it was concluded that different growth stages responded differently against ECC, however, vegetative growth stage showed remarkable effects on potato growth, yield and tuber quality compared to all other stages and their combinations. The enhanced growth, yield and quality of potato indicated the possible role of acetylene and ethylene at active growth stages

Detection & Distinction of Colors using Color Sorting Robotic Arm in a Pick & Place Mechanism

Color sorting Robot is one of the useful, costless and fastest systems in Industrial applications to reduce manual working time and provides less human mistake when manual system is undertaken. The objective of this project is to design an efficient, microcontroller based system that pick up right color of objects and put it down at right place to optimize the productivity, minimizing the cost of the products and decreasing human mistakes. The controller used is a PIC Microcontroller (18F452) having high speed performance, low cost and 32 K bytes program memory. It communicates with color sensor TCS 3200 and various motor modules in real time to detect the right color object and to control the arm movement. Designed system can pick objects of 1kG weight and arm can rotate up to 3600 . Also, the use of easily available components reduces the manufacturing and maintenance costs. The design is quite flexible as the software can be changed according to specific requirements of the user. This makes the proposed system to be an economical, portable and a low maintenance solution for industrial applications

Detecting fake news and disinformation using artificial intelligence and machine learning to avoid supply chain disruptions

Fake news and disinformation (FNaD) are increasingly being circulated through various online and social networking platforms, causing widespread disruptions and influencing decision-making perceptions. Despite the growing importance of detecting fake news in politics, relatively limited research efforts have been made to develop artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) oriented FNaD detection models suited to minimize supply chain disruptions (SCDs). Using a combination of AI and ML, and case studies based on data collected from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Pakistan, we developed a FNaD detection model aimed at preventing SCDs. This model based on multiple data sources has shown evidence of its effectiveness in managerial decision-making. Our study further contributes to the supply chain and AI-ML literature, provides practical insights, and points to future research directions

Analysis of chemical constituents in medicinal plants of selected districts of Pakhtoonkhwa, Pakistan

Alkaloids, flavonoids and saponins were determined in the Teraxacam officinale, Cichorium intybus and Figonia tritica. Quantative determinations of crude alkaloids, flavonoids and saponins (g kg-1) and their percentages (%) were determined in C. intybus, T. officinale and F. critica collected from Kohat, Mardan, Nowshera and Peshawar regions. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) study of the alkaloids, flavonoids and saponins were carried out with different solvent systems and color of the spot and Rf value of each constituent was determined. Among the samples of C. intybus, relatively higher contents of alkaloids (14 g kg-1) were found in the sample collected from Mardan region, followed by the sample gathered from Nowshera which is equal to 13.8g kg-1. Higher contents of flavonoids were found in C. intybus collected from Kohat region which was 23.48 g kg-1. The other remaining samples of C. intybus ranged in the decreasing order of 19.7, 17.2 and 10.0 g kg-1 for the ones collected from Nowshera, Mardan and Peshawar, respectively. The overall saponin contents remained almost low as compared to the alkaloid and flavonoid contents.Key words: Alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, TLC study, medicinal plants

Heavy metals and inorganic constituents in medicinal plants of selected Districts of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, Pakistan

Heavy metals such as Cr, Fe, Zn, Mn, Ni, Pb, Cu and Cd, and inorganic ions like HCO3-, CO32-, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl-, Na+, SO42-, NO3-, Fe2+ and F- were investigated in medicinally important plants: Taraxacam officinale, Cichorium intybus and Figonia critica, applying atomic absorption spectrophotometer techniques. In the studied herbs, there were variable amounts of heavy metals and inorganic ions. The purpose of this study was to standardize heavy metals contamination in various indigenous medicinal plants and to create awareness among the public regarding its safe use at collection areas (containing high level of heavy metals) and their adverse health effects.Key words: Medicinal plants, inorganic constituents, heavy metals, atomic absorption spectrophotometer

Phytochemical analysis of selected medicinal plants

Four medicinal plants including Ranunculus arvensis, Equisetum ravens, Carathamus lanatus and Fagonia critica were used for the study. All the plants were biologically active and were used for different types of ailments. Keeping in view their importance, this work was carried out to investigate the quantitative determination of their crude phytochemicals, vitamins and protein contents. The quantitative determination of crude phytochemicals (alkaloids, total phenols, flavonoids and saponins) vitamins (riboflavin, vitamin C, niacin and pectin) and protein were determined in the aforementioned herbs. The phytochemicals including alkaloids, total phenols, flavonoids and saponins were determined quantitatively using literature methods. Vitamins were measured using a UV/ visible spectrophotometer (UV- 1601 Shamidzu) and the protein was determined by the Micro KJeldahl’s method (Horwitz et al., 2000). The studied plants showed variable amounts of phytochemicals, vitamins and protein contents. The study is very important, in that it intended to show the contents of the studied medicinal herbs and also provide a scientific data base line which is of particular importance for the local practioners as well as for the local people using these herbs for a variety of body disorders.Key word: Phytochemical analysis, medicinal plants, Pakistan

Management of SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Key Focus in Macrolides Efficacy for COVID-19

Macrolides (e.g., erythromycin, fidaxomicin, clarithromycin, and azithromycin) are a class of bacteriostatic antibiotics commonly employed in medicine against various gram-positive and atypical bacterial species mostly related to respiratory tract infections, besides they possess anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome of coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It was first detected in Wuhan, Hubei, China, in December 2019 and resulted in a continuing pandemic. Macrolides have been extensively researched as broad adjunctive therapy for COVID-19 due to its immunostimulant abilities. Among such class of drugs, azithromycin is described as azalide and is well-known for its ability to decrease the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including matrix metalloproteinases, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-8. In fact, a report recently published highlighted the effectiveness of combining azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 treatment. Indeed, it has been underlined that azithromycin quickly prevents SARS-CoV-2 infection by raising the levels of both interferons and interferon-stimulated proteins at the same time which reduces the virus replication and release. In this sense, the current review aims to evaluate the applications of macrolides for the treatment of COVID-19.NC-M acknowledges the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the Horizon 2020 Program (PTDC/PSI-GER/28076/2017)