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The main goal is to investigate the effect of size and location of opening and column size on the punching shear strength. Openings are often needed in order to install mechanical and electrical services. This process takes away part of the concrete volume which is responsible for resisting the shear forces and any unbalanced moment. Furthermore, the application of rectangular columns in flat slabs is commonly used in practice as they provide lateral stiffness to the building. They are also utilised in garages and multi-storey buildings where these elongated cross-sectional columns reduce the effective span length between adjacent columns.

This research is a numerical-based investigation that is calibrated based on a thirteen previously tested and numerically calibrated slab specimens with no openings. A parametric study is conducted in this study to consider the effect of other parameters, which are the size and location of opening and the rectangularity ratio of column in order to evaluate their effect on the punching shear capacity. A total of 156 models are developed to study these factors. Additionally, the predicted shear carrying capacity of the simulated slabs is calculated using the ACI318–19 and Eurocode (EC2-04) equation.

The presence of openings reduced the punching shear capacity. The small opening's location and orientation have almost no effect except for one slab. For slabs of large openings, the presence of openings reduced the punching capacity. The punching capacity is higher when the openings are farther from the column. The numerically obtained results of slabs with rectangular columns show lower punching capacity compared to slabs of squared columns with the same length of the punching shear control perimeter. The punching capacity for all slabs is predicted by ACI318–19 and Eurocode (EC2-04) and it is found that Eurocode (EC2-04) provided a closer estimation.

The slabs considered for calibration were reinforced with four different punching shear reinforcement configurations, namely; ordinary closed rectangular stirrups, rectangular spiral stirrups, advanced rectangular spiral stirrups and circular spiral. Generally, there has been limited research on concrete flat slabs with openings in comparison with other subjects related to structural engineering (Guan, 2009) and no research on punching shear with openings of slabs reinforced with these reinforcement schemes. The available research focussed on the effects of openings on the flexural behaviour of reinforced concrete slabs includes Casadei et al. (2003), Banu et al. (2012) and Elsayed et al. (2009). In addition, experimental tests that examined slabs supported on rectangular columns are very limited.

In 1989, Muslims' concern with freedom of speech and ineffective attempts to prevent the publication of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses not only crystallised a ‘Muslim consciousness’ but also shed light on the fragmentation of Muslim mobilisation and the lack of ‘communal unity’ that prevented Muslims from having a representative national organisation to lobby the government. In 1997, the institutionalisation of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) under the auspices of a New Labour government filled this gap and empowered Muslims to participate in British governance. In this regard, the MCB has established itself as a key authoritative intermediary between Muslim communities and the British Government, playing a crucial role in the advancement of Muslims' social and religious rights while raising awareness of discrimination and socio-economic disadvantage. In light of this development, this chapter will provide an analysis of the evolution of the British state's engagement and cooperation with the MCB between its launch under New Labour in 1997 and the present. Taking a historical perspective, this chapter will first briefly explain that the implementation of the MCB was meant to overcome the fragmentation and existing divisions within Muslim communities, which were deprived of an effective national representative organisation to represent Muslim interests. It will then underline the fruitfulness of cooperation between the government and the MCB, which coincided with the heyday of multiculturalism and resulted in significant advancements for Muslims in terms of religious rights. The chapter will then depict the British state's shifting relationship with the MCB and disinclination to cooperate with this organisation following the terrorist attacks of 2005.

Utilizing the social cognitive theory, this study aims to suggest that organizations that promote high-performance work practices (HPWPs) are instrumental in fostering an individual's affective commitment to change through the explanatory process of an individual's readiness to change. In addition, high adaptive leadership would also strengthen HPWPs and readiness to change relationships.

This study tested the hypotheses using a temporally segregated research design across three time waves (n = 337).

This study found support for the direct, mediating, moderating and mod-med hypotheses. The results of this study corroborate that a high adaptive leadership and an organization implementing HPWPs set the stage for creating an individual's affective commitment to change via their readiness to change.

The current study integrates the change management, leadership and HRM literature by suggesting a unique mechanism and boundary conditions that advance research and practice in an individual's willingness and acceptance to change. Based on the study's findings, the authors suggest theoretical and practical implications for research and practice.

This study explores the practical application of the Shariah screening process and how it could be enhanced by converging the same with the ethical screening of stocks.

This study adopts a qualitative research methodology by combining the qualitative descriptive approach and content analysis.

The findings of this research suggest that there is scope to converge ethical screening of stocks with Shariah Screening as the lex loci applicable to Shariah screening is derived from Shariah, which considers ethics as part of determining its rules.

The data from this study reveal several practical applications, the ultimate goal of which is to help the policymakers and stakeholders understand the relevance of the Shariah screening of stocks and get a streamlined screening process, paving the way to enhance the same using ethical screening criteria to develop its function to become much more relevant irrespective of the denomination of faiths.

This is original research, which is expected to contribute to understanding the extent to which Shariah screening can be enhanced by integrating the ethical stock screening dimension to it.

Leadership’s dark side has been on the rise, negatively affecting organizations. The phenomenon, however, is not as simple as it seems. Based on social exchange and conservation of resource theories, current research aims to explore the impact of psychological entitlement on despotic leadership, ultimately leading to instigated workplace incivility. Moreover, emotional exhaustion was tested as a mediator and Islamic work ethics as a moderator.

This study aims to examine the effect of dark side of leadership and for this, the survey approach was used to collect data from 402 bankers from Pakistan’s twin cities (Islamabad and Rawalpindi).

The results showed that psychological entitlement leads to despotism and despotic leaders become a reason for instigated workplace incivility. Results also showed that emotional exhaustion mediated, and Islamic work ethics moderated the relationship.

Bankers have a demanding job which is further exacerbated by despotic leaders feeling psychologically entitled and instigating employees toward uncivil behaviors as they experience emotional exhaustion. Despotic leaders need to be dealt with to reduce instigated incivility and Islamic work ethics can also aid in improving employee behavior.

Literature available on both antecedents and effects of the leadership’s dark side is limited, and this study strives to contribute by extending the literature available on psychological entitlement, despotic leadership and instigated workplace incivility relationships.

This study aims to theoretically discuss and empirically test the mediating mechanism of psychological distress and the moderating effects of Islamic work ethics (IWE) in the relationship between despotic leadership and adaptive performance.

A three-wave survey was used to gather the data from middle managers and their supervisors of construction firms in Pakistan. The final sample consisted of 304 respondents and data analysis was performed through SEM analysis.

Despotic leadership enhances employees’ psychological distress which results in a negative impact on adaptive performance. In addition, IWE played a buffering role in mitigating the harmful impacts of despotic leadership on adaptive performance.

The study is among the pioneers that have investigated how despotic leadership impacts employees’ adaptive performance via the underlying mechanism of psychological distress through the conservation of resources and social exchange theory lens.