Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The impact of Shariah supervisory board and Shariah audit committee on CSR adoption at Islamic banks

Although corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an extensively studied topic, its determinants in the field of Islamic banking are scarce. In Bangladesh, CSR plays a vital role in gaining customer loyalty and confidence. Therefore, this research aims to identify and analyze the influence of the Shariah Supervisory Board (SSB) and the Shariah Audit Committee (SAC) on CSR adoption in Islamic banks in Bangladesh. The study population is managers and second managers of 160 Islamic bank branches of different commercial banks in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The sampling technique used is convenience sampling where the first available primary data source was used for the research without additional requirements. The study developed a survey questionnaire from examining previous related studies in Islamic banking and CSR context. The final sample size in this research was n = 309, indicating the survey response rate was about 97%. The study used SPSS 23.0 software to interpret the statistical findings, and the findings revealed that support from the SSB and the presence of a strong and effective SAC has a strong correlation with CSR adoption and significantly influence CSR adoption in Islamic banks in Bangladesh. Finally, the study proposes several significant and crucial policy guidelines for Islamic bank branches to adopt CSR activities.
The impact of cultural differences and group influence on the escalation of commitment

One of the most challenging decisions that a manager has to take is whether or<br>not to abandon a project which is not going well. Previous studies have looked at<br>different reasons for why individuals perserve with a troubled project. What the<br>previous research has failed to consider is how cultural differences might affect decision-makers’ willingness to continue or abandon a project. To better understand the factors<br>that might cause escalation of commitment, this dissertation investigates the influence<br>of cognitive factors and cultural differences on the escalation dynamics. Since most<br>decisions in the business world are made in groups, differences between individual and<br>group decisions are analysed as well. Overall, the findings indicate the salience of<br>certain cognitive factors in escalation behaviour, as previous researchers have found. <br>In addition, this study found that cultural differences can also affect the decision to<br>continue or abandon a project. Concerning the differences between the individual<br>and the group decisions, these results suggest that in terms of some determinants,<br>individuals from all cultures act the same, while with other factors the predisposition to<br>escalate depends on a person’s cultural background. The implications of these results<br>and different recommendations for both practice and further research are discussed. <br>
A Review of Influential Factors Affecting Undergraduate Students’ Creative Thinking

Creative thinking was listed among the skills that are required for upcoming graduating students’ entry-level careers which become more important to global industries. Due to the importance of this concept, the need to investigate undergraduate students’ creative thinking has been rising. This article presents an overview of influential factors on undergraduate students’ creative thinking. The influential factors were reviewed in two main aspects – contextual and individual levels. Researchers have investigated the relationship between educational setting and parental factors affecting creative thinking in the contextual aspect, while in the individual level aspect, researcher has investigated the relationship between intelligence and personality affecting creative thinking. Based on various recent studies and related theories, key factors that influence undergraduate students’ creative thinking are outlined along with a proposed conceptual framework. In the future, establishing and testing the proposed conceptual framework in terms of defining the influential paths and key factors affecting creative thinking will be conducted.
Analysis and Modelling of Work Stress Based on Experience in Chemical Industries in Kerala, India

This study examines the influence of factors responsible for work stress among the employees having different experience. The total number of participants for the study is 554 and the subjects were selected from profit making chemical industrial units in Kerala. Seven factors were identified with the existing literatures, and in consultation with safety experts for the evaluation of work stress. The instrument developed by using these factors had validity, unidimensionality and reliability. The response rate was 81.3%. It is observed that existence the factors responsible for work stress among all the employees irrespective of their experience . It is also observed that relatively higher amount of demand, low control and low support for the employees having 15-20yrs of experience. The factor model proposed is found good in predicting the work stress in chemical industries.
Terrorist Attacks and Strategic Consumption

Using a large representative sample of bank card transactions, this paper examines the impact of terrorist attacks on the household consumption structure choice between credit versus debit accounts. Compared with the baseline period, we document a daily increase of 0.19% more in the fraction of credit card spending out of total card spending for the attack-hit-city consumers than the non-attack-hit city consumers during the three weeks on and after the terrorist attacks. The incremental credit card usage is stronger for consumers who reside close to the attack location and after the attack events with severe outcomes. Consistent with the strategic choice mechanism, the consumption structure adjustment is immediate while not persistent. The adjustment concentrates among consumers with high liquidity constraints, high revolving credit card debt, unstable cash flows, and when the costs of using credit accounts are anticipated in the further future. The adjustment derives from a shift of debit account spending towards credit account spending, and consumers without credit cards do not significantly change their spending. We also document an increase in investments upon the terrorist attacks, driven by the lower-risk savings-related investments. The increased credit card spending ratio manifests in discretionary goods. Overall, our study highlights the real economic impact of terrorist attacks on household consumption through the strategic choice under economic uncertainty.
Why Remit? The Case of Bangladesh

The literature on remittances has mostly focused on finding the determinants and impacts of remittances. In this paper, present a simple theoretical model of remittance behavior that consider remittances as unidirectional flows from the migrant in a host country to the original household in the home country. This study test the theoretical predictions of this model using survey data from Bangladesh and quantify the results of the heteroskedastic Tobit for policy purposes. The findings of the theoretical model define two proxies for the bad state outcome and find some empirical evidence supporting altruism as a main motivation behind remittances. The number of other migrants belonging to the same household seems to play a crucial role in determining the remittance behavior. It also test the gender heterogeneity of the remitting behavior and find supporting evidence that female migrants seem to behave more altruistically than their male counterparts. This study contributes to the remittances literature by investigating the reaction of remittances to a bad state outcome on the receiving household rather than on the migrant. Therefore sending countries’ governments can affect remittances per migrant by targeting potential migrants. These governments need to be aware of the existing trade-off between the number of migrants belonging to the same receiving household and remittances per migrant.
Does Access to Internet Matter for Insurance Uptake? Evidence From India

Using the nationally representative Indian Human Development Survey- 2011-12 data, we find that access to internet is related to better risk management practices of Indian households given by higher insurance uptake. Internet access potentially generates twin benefits of improving awareness related to benefits of insurance products and helps in reducing transaction costs for the insurers. The study highlights the role of access to internet in improving development outcomes in India. Further, we find that access to internet increase the insurance uptake of urban households more than rural households and education remains a critical barrier for leveraging the development benefits of internet access. Finally, we find that access to internet is also positively associated with the extent of insurance purchased by the household, highlighting that digital inclusion in the form of internet access could be an instrument that can partially mitigate the common investment mistakes made by households in India.
Deconstructing Correctional Officer Deviance: Toward Typologies of Actions and Controls

This article reviews the scholarly research that has been conducted on the problem of correctional officer (CO) deviance. It then outlines the most dominant kinds of CO deviance and the solutions that have been proposed and, in part, implemented. In so doing, the author provides a typology of the categories of deviance and the variety of controls. The researcher concludes with several recommendations on how these findings might be utilized to further the research on this subject.
Occupational Standards of Direct Sales and Retailing Business Management in Knowledge Management and Learning Organization

This research studied was developed to the success of business operators engaged in direct sales occupation and to develop, manage knowledge, create learning organization of people involved in direct sales business occupation in Thailand in order to meet the standard internationally recognized in accordance with the occupational standard and according to the Individual Competency Standard Principle: ISO 17024, by using Questionnaires from sampling groups which are the business operators and people involved in direct sales business in Bangkok and its perimeter. SPSS Version 24 program is used in the descriptive statistical data analysis and that the data qualitative analysis is conducted by way of the in-depth interviews with focused group. It is found that the knowledge management of the people necessary for the direct sales business consists of (1) The analysis on the trend of consumers’ demands for products, procurement of products from standardized sources, product distribution center development, product transportation system development, procurement of new technology and innovation to add values to the products while on the aspects of the occupational ethics and the production standards and screening, checking the products shall be in compliance with the standards and requirements of laws which are important in the highest level, respectively, (2) Defining the marketing strategy by analyzing the target groups, controlling marketing strategy which is moderately important followed in the second place by the development of training and the creation of new knowledge, respectively, (3) Providing systematic payment channel and the use of electronic systems which are in moderately important level followed in the second place by the preparation of the details of the product items and the verifications on the accuracy of payment documents, (4) The analysis on the source of the standard products which are brought for distributions, respectively, (5) The aspect of the creation of a direct sales business network ranks the importance in a high level followed in the second place by the information technology system and public relations, respectively, (6) Team working ranks the importance in high level followed in the second place by the organization of group activities and knowledge management, respectively and (7) Product Warranty and creations of relationships with customers, factors on the organization of continuous marketing activities which mark the importance in moderate level followed in the second place by the creation of the sales team leaders, respectively.
The Dark Side of Management Connection: Evidence from Opportunistic Insider Trading

This study documents a significant increase in both trading activity and profitability of opportunistic top managers when a CEO develops a strong connection with subordinate executives through co-opting the executives who share social ties with him/her. This baseline evidence is robust to endogeneity concerns, alternative measures of management connection and insider opportunism, as well as controlling for other CEO and board attributes. Further analyses suggest that management connection increases opportunistic insider trading by inducing top management team to reduce voluntary disclosure quality, giving them access to a broad set of private information and relaxing legal barriers to insider trades. Increased insider opportunism in response to the CEO's connection with other top executives engenders less informative stock prices and depresses stock market liquidity. Finally, insider trades in firms with stronger management connection are more predictive of future stock returns.
9 – Peptide modification of polysaccharide scaffolds for targeted cell signaling

Publisher Summary Polysaccharides are excellent substrates as biomimetic scaffolds for use in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine since most are biologically inert and non-cell-adhesive, allowing these functions to be controlled through modification. Through specific modification with cell-signaling factors, such as peptides, proteins and growth factors, the cellular microenvironment can be defined. By engineering this environment—chemically, physically and mechanically—cell behavior can be controlled and tuned to specific functions, thereby leading to tissue organization and function. This chapter reviews the rationale for controlling the cellular microenvironment and the polysaccharides studied therein for ultimate use in tissue engineering and regeneration. The ideal scaffold mimics the extracellular matrix, defining an environment for the cells that has the appropriate properties to support cell viability, function, tissue formation and host tissue integration. Biomaterials have been designed to serve as temporary replacements of the ECM for tissue regeneration in vitro and in vivo. Both naturally-derived and synthetic polymeric materials have been investigated as scaffolds, with great emphasis placed on the morphology, porosity, mechanical and chemical properties.
Neural Networks Predictive Modeling for Football Betting

The aim of this paper is to explore neural network-based modelling strategies for football betting. A neural network model and a challenger model based on a traditional econometric approach introduced by Dixon were estimated on data from five national leagues results including France, Spain, Italy, Germany, England) Our results show that the Neural network-based model has better predictive accuracy compared with the traditional econometric models. Betting strategies were implemented using prediction outputs generated with both econometric and neural networks models. The latter provides with a better return over investment. Nevertheless, both approaches lead to losses in the long run.
In Sickness and in Wealth: The Impact of Leaders' Health on Markets

We study the effect of head of states' health on markets. We collect data on unexpected exits from office to determine whether these exits affect stock market returns across countries between 1923 and 2015. Health problems precede almost all unexpected exits. Unexpected exits lead to about 1% abnormal return, due mainly to extreme positive jumps following exits of autocrats and non-college leaders. To identify citizens' awareness of a leader's health problems, we collect data on rumors about health issues emerging prior to the leader's exit. The start of rumors generates about 1% negative abnormal returns. The health of leaders matters.
Under Italy's Sun or in an Economic Shadow - The Effects of Regional Banking Systems on Economic Development in the Italian Mezzogiorno Regions

Italy exhibits a very divided economy with an economic powerhouse in its northern regions and an economically less developed South. At the same time, the North of Italy is also characterized by a historically decentralized financial system with small and local banks that fit to the SMEs of the region's industrial sector. By means of correlated random effects-regressions for the 21 Italian NUTS2-regions, we show that this decentralized banking system helps northern Italy in buffering economic shocks from financial crises. The relative number of banks, the size of banks, and their focus on traditional interest rate business increase economic wealth and household incomes while reducing unemployment. We further find that the economically strong North did not enter a race to the bottom to its southern neighbors during and after the sovereign debt crisis and benefits from its more diverse banking system. Meanwhile, the southern regions could also not catch up.
Differential Effects of Multi-Dimensional Review Evaluations on Product Sales for Niche vs. Mainstream Products

To understand the effect of increasingly popular, multi-dimensional online reviews on product sales, we extend the overall-rating-based analysis by incorporating multi-dimensional ratings to examine how multi-dimensional review evaluations affect product sales for niche vs. mainstream products. We conduct complementary studies in two product categories (i.e., automobile and laptop) with different methods (three lab experiments, in addition to a panel data analysis of a unique proprietary data set). Our paper reveals three key insights to the emerging literature and phenomenon on multi-dimensional review systems: (a) the inter-dimensional rating variance is more negatively related to product sales for a mainstream product than for a niche product; (b) the intra-dimensional rating valence on the dominant dimension of a product is more positively related to product sales for a niche product than for a mainstream product; and (c) the intra-dimensional rating variance on the dominant dimension of a product is more negatively related to product sales for a niche product than for a mainstream product. Our research provides important managerial implications to the product providers and review platforms.
The Stochastic Reproduction Rate of a Virus

We consider an SIR model where the probability of infections between infected and susceptible individuals are viewed as Poisson trials. The probabilities of infection between pairwise susceptible-infected matches are thus order statistics. This implies that the reproduction rate is a random variable. We derive the first two moments of the distribution of Rt conditional on the information available at time t-1 for Poisson trials drawn from an arbitrary parent distribution with finite mean. We show that the variance of Rt is increasing in the proportion of susceptible individuals in the population, and that ex ante identical populations can exhibit large differences in the path of the virus. This has a number of implications for policy during pandemics.
Measuring Service Quality’s Impact on Customer Satisfaction in the Hotel Enterprises of Islamabad: Assistance with Five Dimensions

With the arrival of new government several novel policies are being made for the development of tourism in Pakistan, for this hotel industry can prove to be an emergent growing service sector with huge potential in Pakistan in coming decade. So far, it has already been an industry of exceedingly matured development. However, with the increase of the competition not only locally but globally, hotel industry of Islamabad must put forward good quality services to its customers since it is a well understood phenomena that service industry is viewed as a measure for market modernization. Several researches on service industry focus on the measurement of service quality. For hotel industry, which is one of general services industry, a methodically theoretical study about the hotel service quality management is having an important effect on the growth factor. This study proposes a method to evaluate the hotel service quality in Islamabad. Consequently, this study dedicates on evaluating the hotel service quality based on a survey of customer satisfaction. For conducting study Serena and Marriott Hotel International had chosen that are located in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Study on dynamic variation of three flavonoids contents in folium eucommiae harvested from different seasons

OBJECTIVE To establish a HPLC method to determine the contents of rutin、quercetin and kaemperal in folium eucommiae, and to ensure the best harvest season. METHODS Scienhome C18(150×4. 6mm,5μm)column with temperature at 25℃was used. The mobile phase was methanol and 0. 5%H3PO4,at a flow rate of 1. 0ml·min-1,and the detection wavelenth was 270nm. RESULTS The average recovery and RSD of the three flavonoids contents respectively was:rutin 98. 44%,1. 20%;quercetin 100. 81% ,0. 69%;kaemperal 98. 39%, 1. 00%. The content of flavonoids was highest in May. CONCLUSION Our method of HPLC is effective and the most suitable harvest season of folium eucommiae is May.
Investors' Assessment of the Dilution and Solvency Effects of Preferred Stock Instruments

Currently, GAAP requires dichotomous classification of financial claims as either liabilities or equity. Classifying financial claims is challenging when instruments have attributes of both liabilities and equity (i.e., hybrid instruments). In this study, we examine under what conditions that common equity investors assess one class of hybrid instruments – preferred stock – similar to liabilities or equity. Preferred stock is similar to liabilities because it is senior to common equity and thus reduces the claims of common shareholders on the net assets of the firm (a dilution perspective). Preferred stock also is similar to equity because it cannot cause bankruptcy (a solvency perspective). We use capital structure theory to identify entity-level economic characteristics that help distinguish both of these conditions in investors’ assessments of preferred stock. We perform two primary sets of analyses. First, we predict and find that investors assess preferred stock similar to (1) liabilities (equity) when expected financial distress costs are low (high) and (2) neither liabilities nor equity when expected financial distress costs are medium. Second, using a sample of firms that delist as an ex-post measure of financial distress, we predict and find that investors change their assessments of preferred stock over the five years prior to delisting, increasingly assessing preferred stock more like equity as financial distress costs increase. Standard setting implications are discussed.
A Novel measure of Political Risk and Foreign Direct Investment Inflows

This paper proposes a novel measure of political risk that confirms some of the findings documented in the Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) literature. Particularly, we confirm the positive relationship between political stability and its components on FDI inflows, and the moderating effect of natural resources on this relationship. The proposed political risk measure contains relevant, unique and incremental information not observed in the literature. For example, although this measure is highly correlated with the political risk rating of the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG), it contains unique information that explains FDI inflows beyond what is explained by the ICRG rating. A link to the database for our political risk rating for 150 countries covering 2000 to 2015 has been provided.