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In view of increasing demand of halal foods and to properly address the needs of various types of consumers, the literary inquiries have sprung in this area since start of twenty-first century. However, the number of papers published in reputed journals is still pegged to the lowest ebb. This paper aims to systematically review all qualitative research papers, published in reputed journals, and to give specific directions to future researchers to move on and explore some other required areas.

The Campbell collaboration systematic literature review technique was adopted as methodology to screen out relevant studies. A total of 11 qualitative studies qualified the set criteria which have used various qualitative methodologies like interviews, focus groups, observations and netnography. The qualitative data were analyzed through nVivo software by adopting Spiggle’s steps of data analysis.

In these selected qualitative studies, around 24 main themes were extracted in total, out of which four themes were repeatedly discussed in most of these studies. Likewise, the details of geographical location of authors, type of methodology used, religious affiliation of respondents, type of journals, most prolific journals and citations of each paper were worked out and given in the form of result tables. Based on the importance of this fastest-growing global food market, it has been concluded that the qualitative research inquiries are still in infancy in this area, and more papers need to be published in reputed journals.

As per set criteria, only papers published in quality journals were included in this review; therefore, the main limitation of this review is that it has not included other qualitative papers published elsewhere.

The future researchers can use the results of this study in setting direction of their research in the area of halal food consumption. These results can be used by academicians to know about the extent of research conducted in this area, whereas marketers can make prudent policies based on these explored areas.

It is claimed to be the first systematic literature review on halal food consumption.

The ailing agriculture sector in Pakistan demands a supportive financial sector. The low adoption of Salam financing by Islamic banks does not match the potential demand. Empirical studies identified demand-led issues that led to a low proportion of Salam financing, but the exploration of supply-side constraints is overlooked.

This study has applied Interpretive Phenomenological Analyses on 20 interviews with the experts in the Islamic banking industry who play a role in decisions on Salam financing to the agriculture sector. The purpose of the study is to explore the determinants of low adoption of Salam financing by Islamic banks.

The experiences led to the major reasons for the low adoption of Salam financing categorized as intentions, attitudes and behavior control which corresponds to the theory of planned behavior.

This study is instrumental in exploring the supply-side constraints to Salam financing and helps find aligning theory to intervene via Islamic banking regulations.

The aim of this study is to (1) construct a standard framework for assessing the capability of bioenergy enterprises' digital green innovation partners; (2) quantify the choice of partners for digital green innovation by bioenergy enterprises; (3) propose based on a dual combination empowerment niche digital green innovation field model.

Fuzzy set theory is combined into field theory to investigate resource complementarity. The successful application of the model to a real case illustrates how the model can be used to address the problem of digital green innovation partner selection. Finally, the standard framework and digital green innovation field model can be applied to the practical partner selection of bioenergy enterprises.

Digital green innovation technology of superposition of complementarity, mutual trust and resources makes the digital green innovation knowledge from partners to biofuels in the enterprise. The index rating system included eight target layers: digital technology innovation level, bioenergy technology innovation level, bioenergy green level, aggregated digital green innovation resource level, bioenergy technology market development ability, co-operation mutual trust and cooperation aggregation degree.

This study helps to (1) construct the evaluation standard framework of digital green innovation capability based on the dual combination empowerment theory; (2) develop a new digital green innovation domain model for bioenergy enterprises to select digital green innovation partners; (3) assist bioenergy enterprises in implementing digital green innovation practices.

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of HEC digital library resources and services in the public sector universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan on the basis of research scholars' satisfaction and its impact on their research progress.

A descriptive survey research method was adopted in order to achieve the objectives of this study. A stratified random sampling technique was used to solicit data from both genders. Research scholars of MS/MPhil and PhD from 14 public sector universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were selected as sampled for this study. A structured questionnaire was developed to collect data and a five-point Likert scale was used to know the purpose and the satisfaction level of respondents with digital library resources. The impact of digital library on research and problems faced by them while using these resources was also measured by using a five-point Likert scale.

The results of this study indicate that near to one-fourth of the respondents used digital library resources two to three times a week for article writing and thesis or dissertation purposes. The study concluded that digital library provides effective resources and services to research scholars and also found a significant impact on their research progress at these universities. However, research scholars were not satisfied with the support of library professionals regarding the use of digital library resources. The study has identified several problems encountered by respondents in the use of digital library resources and services.

The findings of this study and their implications will be helpful for HEC authorities, universities libraries administrators, decision and policy makers and LIS professionals both in Pakistan and in other places. They should benefit from considering the experience of research scholars with digital library resources. This experience can help future subscriptions, training and use of these resources to maximize research scholars' success and achievement in their research activities.

The study is the first of its kind and an important source for knowing the effectiveness of digital library resources on research scholars' progress at Pakistani universities.

This paper demonstrates the application of a new multiaxial creep damage model developed by authors using stress traixiality to predict the failure time of a component made of 0.5% Cr-0.5% Mo-0.25% V low alloy steel. The model employs strain energy density and assumes that the uniaxial strain energy density of a component can be easily calculated and can be converted to multi-axial strain energy density by multiplying it to a function of stress trixiality which is a ratio of mean stress to equivalent stress. For comparison, an elastic-creep and elastic-plastic-creep FEA analysis is performed to get multi-axial strain energy density of the component which is compared with the calculated strain energy density for both cases. The verification and application of the model are demonstrated by applying it to thin tube for which the experimental data are available. The predicted failure times by the model are compared with the experimental results. The results show that the proposed model is capable of predicting failure times of the component made of the above-mentioned material with an accuracy of 4.0%.

Composite slabs are gaining wide acceptance in many countries as they lend themselves to faster, lighter and more economic in construction buildings. The strength of composite slabs system relies on the bonding action between the concrete and the steel deck, the shear connections and the cross-sectional resistance of steel beam. However, structural behaviour of composite slab is a complex phenomenon and therefore experimental study is often conducted to establish the actual strength of the structure under ultimate load capacity. The main objective of this study is to determine the structural behaviour of composite slab system until ultimate limit state. Total of two specimens are examined in order to obtain failure mechanism of the composite structure under full load capacity. A new design approach of composite slab for roofing system are proposed in this study to construct a composite slab system that can float in the water but not wash away by flood. The lightweight materials in this composite construction are cold-formed steel and foam concrete. The system focuses on the concept of Industrialised building system (IBS) to reduce the cost and construction time.

The role of digital library resources (DLRs) in accelerating academic and research productivity has been acknowledged worldwide. The purpose of this study is to empirically explore the use of DLRs as a predictor of satisfaction and research productivity in the context of Pakistan to examine its impact on engineering research productivity.

Given the research objectives, the most suitable methodology for this study is survey. The tool used for gathering the research data on the frequency of usage, purpose, satisfaction level and impact of DLRs usage on research productivity was questionnaires.

The findings of this study showed that the frequency of use of DLRs and purposes of DLRs significantly contributed to the research students’ satisfaction and research productivity. In addition, a significant relationship was found between the predictors (DLRs purposes, DLRs frequency) and outcome variables (users’ satisfaction and research productivity). Thus, all five hypotheses are supported. The findings of this study further suggested the provision of information sources by university libraries to support research efforts and make a scientific knowledge-based society in the country. The findings are also significant for Higher Education Commission (HEC) authorities, university library administrators, Library and Information Science professionals/information providers to develop e-resources and formulate effective usage policies through which they could make effective use of DLRs.

The rationale of the present study is to fill the gap by empirically investigating the association of users’ satisfaction and research productivity with two dimensions of DLRs, namely, DLRs usage frequency and purposes of DLRs usage.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the academic scientists’ scholarly use of information sources, the disciplinary differences in their use and the barriers encountered, particularly while using journals.

A quantitative research design based on the survey method was used to achieve the objectives of this study. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to all the academic staff of three disciplines – science, life sciences and pharmacy. Together, they constituted 24 departments of the University of the Punjab. This oldest and largest public sector university was selected as a sample.

The findings showed that e-journals, e-reports and online reference sources were frequently used. The disciplinary differences were found with regard to the use of e-journals and e-books. Users of e-journals lacked skills of advanced searching and were not able to determine the quality of e-journals. Respondents faced certain barriers in usage such as payment of e-journal articles not available through the Library, slow internet speed and lack of information literacy instructions program.

Previous researchers conducted studies that were focused mostly on the academic scientists’ perceptions and the extent of electronic information sources’ use. Researchers in Pakistan mostly examined students and research scholars’ use of electronic information sources and very few studies were conducted to investigate academic scientists’ scholarly information seeking behavior. This study is valuable, as it investigated the scholarly use of information sources by academic scientists and particularly disciplinary differences in their use, digital literacy skills and the barriers encountered while using e-journals.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the usage patterns of e-books among the students of social, agricultural, and engineering sciences; demonstrate how e-books are used by students for various purposes; explore the main reasons for using e-books; and uncover the major issues being encountered by students while using e-books in Pakistani Universities.

During May to July 2014, a convenient sample technique was adopted, and a close-ended questionnaire was used as a survey tool for 300 graduates (BSc honor) and postgraduate (masters and MS) students in the age group of 21-60 years. In this study, the respondents’ gender, age, educational level and major disciplines were individual contextual variables. The data collection process was successfully completed with a 100 per cent response rate. SPSS-19 was utilized for testing the reliability of the instrument, as well as descriptive and inferential statistics (Chi-square test).

The results show that the adoption of e-books has reached a level where they have become an integral component of academic library services. The results of this study verify the previous findings that the students are relying on e-book adoption for various academic and research purposes. Comparatively, male students, postgraduate students and those between the ages of 21 and 40 years are more frequently e-book users. In addition, the percentage of e-book readership among engineering students on a “daily basis” is greater than the students of agricultural and social sciences. They prefer reading e-books because of the following reasons: to support research endeavors and improve academic performance; and the e-format is quick to read and easy to manage. Insufficient e-contents, lack of personal computers and the variety of e-book formats are the major constraints in the effective utilization of e-books for learning, education and research needs. The study has concluded that e-books have a key role in the set-up of academic libraries and information resources in Pakistan, though further development of e-book readership capabilities and building of e-book collections are required to support users’ needs, and a parallel investigation into their most effective usage is also required.

This empirical research is a first and unique study that systematically and quantitatively compares the relationship between respondents’ e-books usage with their individual contextual variables in the perspective of academic libraries in Pakistan.