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Recently, children are no longer considered the passive users of their spaces; they are rather treated as active participants in those spaces design, with their own experiences. The present research aims to investigate the impact of selected architectural variables of kindergartens' design on the child's attachment to the place. It also examines the multi-complex approach in dealing with children in experiments.

Spatial analysis and photographing methods were used to analyse the educational spaces in two kindergartens in Greater Cairo, Egypt. In measuring children's place attachment, the research depended on a complex participatory approach, which comprised interviews with children, story completion, children's drawings and visual questionnaires.

The results of this qualitative study highlight that the design of a kindergarten classroom's details plays a significant role in strengthening the child's place attachment. The results also stress that connection and exposure to nature supports the child's spatial values.

The authors argue that this paper is considered a good basis for including children as the architectural design decision-makers for their buildings, by shedding light on the architect–user relationship and its impact on the design process. It demonstrates how architectural design of child-oriented spaces can promote a child's self-identity and perception.

Today, businesses, organizations and governments attach great importance to digital transformation to meet the needs of their customers, business partners, and employees to adapt to the developing technology in recent years. Digital transformation, which is a challenging and mandatory process, has been and continues to be passed by institutions today. However, the successful management of this transformation without conflict can be realized by accurately detecting new communication technologies and examining, understanding, and implementing the transformation process in detail. This process will be painful, where radical changes will take place in the structure, processes, functions, and business models of the organization. Different challenges may be encountered in each of the startup, execution, and governance subprocesses examined in the digital transformation process. Many conflicts such as time and budget shortages, inadequate digital skills and lack of vision for digital customer processes, cybersecurity threats, human resource shortages, difficulty in managing technology, failure to achieve cloud structure integration, vision, and culture differences are the reasons why this process cannot be managed fluently and accurately. For businesses that focus on this goal, regardless of scale, digital transformation has become a necessity, not an alternative to choose. In this study, the digital transformation process and maturity model were discussed, and technological and digital conflicts were emphasized. It seeks to shed light on the work they will do by making recommendations for institutions to manage this process in the best way.

We consider the kernel-based classifier proposed by Younso (2017). This nonparametric classifier allows for the classification of missing spatially dependent data. The weak consistency of the classifier has been studied by Younso (2017). The purpose of this paper is to establish strong consistency of this classifier under mild conditions. The classifier is discussed in a multi-class case. The results are illustrated with simulation studies and real applications.

This paper aims to analyze the stability of laminated shells subjected to axial loads or external pressure with considering various geometries and boundary conditions. The main aim of the present study is developing an efficient combined method which uses the advantages of different methods, such as finite element method (FEM) and isogeometric analysis (IGA), to achieve multipurpose targets. Two types of material including laminated composite and sandwich functionally graded material are considered.

A novel type of finite strip method called isogeometric B3-spline finite strip method (IG-SFSM) is used to solve the eigenvalue buckling problem. IG-SFSM uses B3-spline basis functions to interpolate the buckling displacements and mapping operations in the longitudinal direction of the strips, whereas the Lagrangian functions are used in transverse direction. The current presented IG-SFSM is formulated based on the degenerated shell method.

The buckling behavior of laminated shells is discussed by solving several examples corresponding to shells with various geometries, boundary conditions and material properties. The effects of mechanical and geometrical properties on critical loads of shells are investigated using the related results obtained by IG-SFSM.

This paper shows that the proposed IG-SFSM leads to the critical loads with an approved accuracy comparing with the same examples extracted from the literature. Moreover, it leads to a high level of convergence rate and low cost of solving the stability problems in comparison to the FEM.

This paper aims to investigate the composition of lubricant and the enhancement of tribological properties using palm oil as a parent base oil mixed with an organo-zinc compound as an additive.

The oil samples were prepared by mixing organo-zinc compound additive, zinc dioctyldithiophosphate (ZnDoDP) and zinc diamyldithiocarbamate (ZDDC), at 0 to 3.0 Wt.% concentrations with commercialised palm oil which were then homogenised using an ultrasonic homogeniser. The oil samples were then tested for their oil properties through elemental analysis, their viscosity index, flashpoint and acid number. Next, the friction test was performed using a four-ball tribometer, and the worn surfaces of the balls were observed using a digital microscope.

The results showed that commercialised palm oil with 2.0 Wt.% of ZnDoDP had excellent characteristics regarding its lubricant properties, such as its viscosity index, coefficient of friction and wear compared to commercialised palm oil with the addition of 2.0 Wt.% of ZDDC.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to compare the effect of the concentration of ZnDoDP and ZDDC on the lubricant and triological properties of vegetable oil (palm).

This study aims to examine customer preferences toward Sharia hospitals and to provide a new viewpoint by looking at consumers’ perspectives on choosing health-care services. Despite the growing demand for halal products, halal services, particularly hospital and Sharia-based health-care services, receive very little attention in the literature compared to other Sharia-type services such as Sharia banking, insurance or even hospitality. Previous research on health care discussed under the Sharia perspective mainly focused on service quality, directing discussions to the service providers’ perspectives.

This study uses choice-based conjoint analysis to examine customer preferences toward Sharia health-care service. There are five attributes with three levels each. To reduce respondent fatigue, the authors used SPSS Orthoplan to generate an orthogonal factorial design, which resulted in 21 choice cards. Cross-sectional data were collected from an online survey using a platform from Populix, an independent panel survey provider, to ensure no sample selection bias. A total of 270 responses were obtained to represent Muslim populations across Indonesia.

The results showed that the highest preference is highly rated to the familiarity and certification of the hospital brand that implies trust and guarantees to add value with the existence of halal certification for hospitals. In addition, this study revealed that Sharia services have higher positive signals over the physical infrastructure in determining preferences. On the other hand, add-on components that support the integration of other halal industries, such as halal culinary tourism, halal tourism and integration with transportation and halal accommodation, are still minor in the current preference.

Previous research on health care discussed under the Sharia perspective mainly focused on service quality, which directs the discussions to the service providers’ perspectives. This study provides a new point of view by looking at consumers’ perspectives about their preferences and decisions to choose a Sharia hospital.

The purpose of this study is to explore the role played by digital channel integration in the town-centre shopping experience. It also explores how customers perceive the role of digital in the town-centres shopping journeys, improves shopping experiences and encourages positive future patronage behaviour. Ultimately, the aim is to identify the likely implications of a connected shopping experience on patronage intentions.

A qualitative research design using focus groups to explore customers' perceptions of connected town-centre shopping experiences was deployed. Then, data were analysed using thematic analysis to identify overarching themes.

Digital integration has the potential to serve discreetly different functions in the town-centre context: create interconnected information channels, facilitate improved connected shopping experiences, generate positive perceptions of a town, which subsequently shape future patronage intentions. The study also revealed expectations of digital integration are yet to be fully realised in the town-centre context and there are tensions between physical and digital domains to be overcome if digital integration is to positively influence patronage intentions.

The nature of exploratory research tends to pose questions and open out a problem rather than provide definitive answers. This study has sought to highlight key issues and also provide points of departure for future studies. The significance and generalisability of the results are limited by the size and nature of the sample.

This study provides theoretical contribution to the town-centre literature by expanding the understanding of consumers' perceptions of the role of digital integration in shopping journey experiences and unlocks insights into its potential impact on future patronage intentions. Practical considerations for integrating digital in the town centre to create more connected shopping experiences.

This study explores the effects of the performance and corporate risk-taking behaviour of agricultural firms. Despite its importance in mitigating climate change, the agricultural sector also faces global competition, market liberalisation, rapid technological advances and the starter of stricter quality and safety procedures, all of which require firms to take greater risks.

This study explores this relationship by applying generalised least square (GLS), random effect methodologies (REM) and generalised method of moments (GMM).

The findings report a favourable relationship between firm performance and corporate risk-taking using a sample of firms from an emerging market.

The effects of these results for management practice and recommendations for further research were examined.

While this empirical study used a sample focused on a single industry, most previous studies focused on multiple industries. The originality of this study is its analysis of how firm performance affects corporate risk-taking in the Malaysian agriculture sector.

This study aims to analyse three main questions within the Malaysian banking system: Are Islamic banks more competitive than conventional banks? What are the levels of competition for Islamic and conventional banking sectors pre, during and post the 2007-2009 global financial crisis? Does penetration of Islamic banks affect the competitive structure of conventional banks?

In measuring a bank competition, the author estimates the Panzar–Rosse H-statistic (PRH) method on 17 Islamic and 21 conventional banks in Malaysia over the period of 2004-2013. This is then followed by ordinary least squares (OLS) robust regression analysis to control Islamic banks’ penetration, bank-specific and macroeconomic factors.

Results from the PRH method (total revenue) suggest that Malaysian Islamic banks are relatively more competitive than their conventional counterparts. Furthermore, the author observes that the level of competition for both Malaysian Islamic and conventional banks increased tremendously during the 2007-2009 global financial crisis. This suggests the impact of the crisis on the level of competition for both banking systems. Finally, the OLS robust regression suggests that Islamic banks’ penetration has a significantly positive impact on the level of competition for conventional banks. The PRH estimation using total interest income indicates similar results, suggesting the robustness of these results.

This study reveals whether Islamic banks’ penetration is able to increase the level of competition within the conventional banking sector. Knowledge on this is important to the policymaker.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study using the PRH method in comparing the level of competition for Malaysian Islamic and conventional banks. Furthermore, this is the first study analysing the impact of Malaysian Islamic banks’ penetration on the level of competition for conventional banks.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of crime risk on housing prices at a national level in Malaysia during the period from 1988 to 2016.

A hedonic regression approach was used to estimate the Malaysian households’ valuation for crime risk. Specifically, the state-level property index on the state-level reported crime rate was regressed while controlling for state-level socioeconomic variables. The macroeconomic panel nature of the data set provides the merit to use a panel dynamic model instead of the traditional static panel data techniques (fixed effects or first difference).

Panel dynamic estimators consistently show a negative impact of crime risks on housing prices. The estimated elasticity of housing prices with respect to crime risks ranges from −0.141 to −0.166, in line with existing literature using micro level data. In fact, householders in crime hotspot states are willing to pay more for crime reduction compared to householders in non-hotspot states. The willingness to pay has also increased since the implementation of nationwide crime reduction plans in 2010.

This is the first study that has examined the Malaysian people’s willingness to pay to reduce crime. This information is important in determining the optimal level of government expenditures for public safety.

This is the first study to examine the relationship between crime rates and housing prices in Malaysia. This study contributes to the literature by examining the impact of crime rates on housing prices at a national level by using panel dynamic models. The macro level data results are consistent and complement the existing literature based on micro level data.