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The search for new techniques to teach English nowadays has been more than ever. These techniques have to be interesting and enjoyable in order to lower the anxiety levels of students when learning English (Bakhsh, 2016). That is why many scholars and teachers look forward to integrating technology into language teaching. Social media platforms (SMPs) are among these techniques since millions of people around the world utilize them for daily interaction. Yet, teaching English for specific purposes (ESPs) relies on learners’ needs and employs an eclectic approach in delivering its course content. For this reason, the current study reviewed articles that tackled the topic of teaching or learning ESP from SMPs so as to uncover their effect and the attitude or motivation of learners.

The researchers used the PRISMA flowchart model in order to identify, screen and include articles in the study.

The results revealed that SMPs are effective in teaching and learning ESP writing, speaking and vocabulary. Yet, the included studies showed that learners’ attitude toward SMPs is positive as they believe that they are motivating and interesting.

Some aspects of social media have turned out to be beneficial in the learning process and they need further investigation from ESP practitioners and scholars.

According to the study, it is crystal clear that the various social networks and platforms are beneficial and helpful for improving ESP productive skills.

The purpose of this study is to examine and review tayyiban indicators in the context of halal food production. In Islam, food produced or manufactured must be halal and tayyiban. Even though both halal and tayyiban are always mentioned together in the Quran, the halal aspect is highlighted more than tayyiban. The discussion of tayyiban’s indicators is still vague.

The study was adopted based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for the review of the current research which used two main journal databases, namely, Web of Science and Scopus. Accordingly, the search resulted in a total of 40 articles that can be systematically examined.

The results of review of these articles formulated five main themes: safety, nutrition, cleanliness, quality and authenticity. These five indicators are considered relevant enough in the context of halal food production to build a comprehensive tayyiban concept.

This study enriches the field of halal food research. The concept of tayyiban as a whole has been given limited attention in academic literature. At the end of this study, a number of recommendations are suggested for the reference of future scholars.

This chapter delves into how smart city innovations positively affect workforce efficiency, residents’ quality of life (QoL), and the delivery of services, particularly within the dynamic context of smart cities: innovation, development, transformation, and prosperity. It discusses the role of technologies like cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things, and intelligent transport systems in creating efficient, sustainable urban spaces that benefit the workforce and the broader community. The chapter highlights strategies for improving urban environments, ensuring workforce well-being, and fostering sustainable growth by examining the interplay between these technologies and urban living. The narrative emphasizes the necessity of ongoing innovation, policy support, and workforce adaptation, underscoring the importance of tailoring smart city initiatives to regional needs for maximal impact on employee performance, QoL, and service delivery. Additionally, it introduces a comprehensive framework designed to guide the development of next-generation smart cities. This framework integrates advanced technologies for optimized urban management and service provision, directly linking to enhanced employee performance through improved urban infrastructure and services. The strategic application of this framework aims to elevate economic prosperity and societal well-being, ensuring workforce efficiency is central to the urban development agenda. The enhanced employee performance, catalyzed by smart city innovations, is pivotal in driving economic vibrancy, social inclusivity, and environmental sustainability, shaping the future of urban development. This analysis will offer valuable insights for smart cities research and development in the Gulf Region, suggesting pathways for implementing these concepts to address the region’s urbanization and development challenges.

Current research efforts exhibit a surge imperative for a building information modelling (BIM) approach that embodies a repository of all relevant data of existing building components while monitoring and consistently recording numerous components’ functions throughout its lifecycle, especially in Egypt. This research paper aims to develop an integrated as-is BIM-facility management (FM) information model for the existing building’s components via a case study, depicting a repository for historical data and knowledge amassed from inspections and conveying maintenance decisions automatically during the FM practices.

The developed approach pursues four successive steps: data acquisition and processing of building components; components recognition from point clouds; modelling scanned point clouds; and quick response code information transfer to BIM components.

The proposed approach incorporates the as-is BIM with the building components’ as-is FM information to portray a repository for historical data and knowledge collected from inspections to proactively benefit facility managers in simplifying, expediting and enhancing maintenance decisions automatically during FM practices.

This paper presents a digital alternative to manual maintenance recordkeeping concerning building components to retrieve their as-is and historical data using a case study in Egypt. This paper proposes a broad scan to as-is information BIM approach for the existing building’s components to condone maintenance interventions using a versatile, affordable, readily available and multi-functional method for scanning the building’s components using a handheld tool.

The purpose of this study is to ascertain service quality (halal values, assurance, meal quality, reliability, security, system and traceability) and perceived risks (financial, quality, environment, social, time, psychology and health) and its influence on satisfaction, as well as trust concerning online halal food delivery system (OHFDS).

This study uses quantitative methodology, through an online survey, by using purposive sampling across a sample size of 423 respondents. The analysis of data was conducted using SmartPLS.

The results of the findings indicate that assurance and halal values have an influence on satisfaction, as well as trust; nonetheless, only reliability has an impact on satisfaction. On the other hand, perceived health and financial risks have negative influence on trust and satisfaction toward OHFDS. In addition, perceived psychological and financial risks are found to have negative impacts on trust of OHFDS.

The theoretical value of this study is the testing of perceived service quality and risks concerning OHFDS in the same model, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of its impact on trust and satisfaction toward the online food service delivery industry. The results of this study may appear as a starting point for researchers who wish to conduct further studies on the same topic.

This study suggests that the service providers need to boost their efforts in establishing high quality service and, simultaneously, reduce perceived risks, to develop satisfaction and trust toward OHFDS.

The long-term consequence of the business's achievement is that it makes it simpler for customers to have confidence in, be satisfied with and recommend the service providers to others.

A number of research investigations have been conducted among Muslims, specifically in the Asian region, which have yielded crucial data regarding consumer behavior toward halal products, such as food and tourism. This study, nonetheless, remains close with other studies on halal food, except that it adds together the knowledge of perceived quality and risks, as to gain a deeper understanding of the experience customers have on food, through online service delivery.

The purpose of this study is to formulate a governance and regulatory framework for Islamic crypto assets (ICAs). A balanced regulatory framework is required to protect consumers and to encourage digital Islamic finance innovation.

This study focuses on Indonesia and compares it to other countries, specifically Malaysia and the UK, using statutory, comparative and conceptual research approaches.

The ICAs are permissible (halal) commodities/assets to be traded if they fulfil the standards as goods or commodities that can be traded with a sale and purchase contract (sil’ah) and have an underlying asset (backed by tangible assets such as gold). Islamic social finance activities such as zakat and Islamic microfinance activities such as halal industry are backed by ICAs. The regulatory framework needed to support ICAs includes the Islamic Financial Services Act, shariah supervisory boards, shariah governance standards and ICA exchanges.

This study only examined crypto assets (tokens as securities) and not cryptocurrencies. It used regulations in several countries with potential in Islamic finance development, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and the UK.

The ICA regulatory framework is helpful as an element of a comprehensive strategy to develop a lasting Islamic social finance ecosystem.

The development of crypto assets must be supported by a regulatory framework to protect consumers and encourage innovation in Islamic digital finance.

ICA has growth prospects; however, weak regulatory support and minimal oversight indicate weak legal protection for consumers and investors. Regulating ICA, optimising supervision, implementing shariah governance standards and having ICA exchanges can strengthen the Islamic economic ecosystem.

The widespread lockdown restrictions brought by the global COVID-19 epidemic inculcated a culture of “work-from-home”. However, most rural areas lack reliable and effective community amenities including transportation, health and education, thereby impeding healthy living and productive employment. Therefore, the underlying goal of this research is to investigate the development of smart infrastructure (SI) in non-urban areas. However, governments' resource limitations must be addressed to develop SI, which urges the research on the potential for public-private partnerships (PPP) to supplement public sector resources when necessary.

This paper examined and evaluated the “benefits and enablers” and “barriers” to deploying PPPs to create SI in non-urban areas, using a thorough literature review, five expert interviews and analytic hierarchy process (AHP)-based questionnaire responses. The AHP technique and content analysis were used to analyse the results and generate the conclusions.

The availability of a favourable investment climate and legal framework were identified as the significant factors among the “benefits and enablers” of adopting PPP in SI developments in non-urban areas, while low community acceptance of the private sector involvement, and community culture and values were identified as the significant factors among the “barriers”. These highlight the significance of removing barriers connected to community culture and “values”.

The findings and conclusions of this study provide a strong foundation to support the growth of SI in non-urban settings, facilitating more sustainable development that is more evenly distributed in the post-COVID-19 future.

Qardhul Hasan (QH) is a type of Islamic contract that prioritises benevolent aspects between beneficiaries and the fund provider. The effective management and distribution of QH can contribute to overcoming economic problems in society. This study aims to explore the potential to enlarge the sources of QH funding and QH financing in Indonesian Islamic banks. The paper proposes a framework for QH management in Islamic banks by identifying the sources of QH funds as well as the management and potential allocations of QH funds.

This study uses a descriptive analysis method with a framework-based review to discuss the strategy of optimising the sources, financing and management of QH in Islamic banks. The implementation of QH in the Islamic banking industry is described based on the previous literature and current phenomena.

To positively impact economic development, Islamic banks can collaborate with parties that are more focused on charitable activities and have greater resources to channel and use QH funds. This study also formulates a framework of QH funds management that prioritises efforts to multiply benefits for both the fund provider and the beneficiaries.

The descriptive method used in this paper comprises preliminary research to analyse the current phenomena and potential strategies that can be implemented. Future studies may use empirical data to strengthen the analysis.

The recommendations of this paper can be used by relevant social fund management institutions in collaboration with Islamic banking.

QH reflects not only the social aspects of Islamic banks and extends beyond their corporate social responsibility activities, its effective management will make a greater contribution to reducing the level of unemployment, poverty alleviation and supporting the country’s economic development.

This paper provides a framework that integrates financial institutions in maximising QH fund management to encourage greater benefits for the community. Although previous studies have mentioned the important role of QH, relatively few have considered how Islamic banks maximise its management.

The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the asymmetric effects of financial risk on Sukuk market development for a sample of Malaysian countries over the period of 2010–2021.

This study refers to the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) in determining the financial risk factors to be studied in addition to the Malaysia financial stress index (FSI) to capture changes in financial risk level. The authors use the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model to tackle the nonlinear relationships between identified financial risk variables and Sukuk market development.

The results suggest the existence of a long-run relationship between foreign debt service stability, international liquidity stability (ILS), exchange rate stability (ERS) and financial stress level with the Sukuk market development in Malaysia. Indeed, higher ILS and ERS will boost Sukuk market size, whereas higher foreign debt services and financial stress are negatively related to Sukuk market development. Findings also indicate that the long-run positive and negative impacts of identified financial risk components on Sukuk market development are statistically different. Taking into account the role of the Sukuk market in facilitating Malaysia’s economic growth, the country should aim to keep the foreign debt-to-GDP ratio at a sustainable level.

This study points to three possible directions for future research. The first is the differential impact of financial risk components on Sukuk issuance for different Sukuk structures. As more data becomes available in the future, this area could be further explored by conducting the above analysis for different combinations of Sukuk structures and currency denominations. In addition, future researchers could also consider exploring the variability of financial risk impacts through comparative studies of the leading Sukuk-issuing countries to account for differences in regulatory frameworks and supporting infrastructure.

This study provides valuable practical and policy implications for strengthening the growth of the Sukuk market. While benefiting from the diversification benefits of funding sources to finance private or government projects and developments, Malaysia should remain vigilant to global economic conditions, foreign exchange markets and financial stress levels, as all of these factors may significantly influence investor sentiment and the rate of return offered by Sukuk issuance.

The use of the NARDL approach, which investigates the long-run effects of financial risk factors on Sukuk market development in Malaysia, makes this study a valuable addition to the literature, as there has been little research into the asymmetric effects of those variables on Sukuk market development using samples from emerging Asian markets.