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As publishers and academia swiftly head towards e-textbooks, it is important to understand how students feel about using e-textbooks as a primary learning tool. This paper discusses results of a small-scale study looking into how a group of language learners view and use e-textbooks as learning tools in ESL classrooms. The paper concludes by offering teaching implications that could ease integrating e-textbooks in language classrooms in a more effective and efficient manner.

This study aims to examine Malaysian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) Adoption of electronic government procurement (EGP) in the post-introduction phase as the portal was introduced in the early year 2000.

This study integrated electronic public services into two acceptance theories (the technology acceptance model [TAM] and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology [UTAUT] framework) and having a direct measurement of the criterion. Both TAM and UTAUT models measure the behaviour intention to use and indirectly measure the criterion of actual usage along with behavioural intention. Besides, this study conducted a systematic sampling survey in SMEs located in Klang Valley (the business hub in Malaysia).

The results confirm that effort expectancy, performance expectancy and social influences had a direct effect on the adoption of EGP in the private sector. Rather than the original UTAUT setup, the behavioural intention would influence user behaviour.

The implications and policy recommendations of these findings will be used by both SMEs and the government to improve the EGP delivery.

The gap with this study is at the time the Malaysian Government introduced e-procurement. The SMEs were quite new and had limited knowledge in the e-procurement during the introduction phase. Both SMEs and the government will use the implications and policy recommendations of these findings to improve the EGP delivery in the current post introduction phase.

This study investigates the flow and heat transfer in a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) ternary hybrid nanofluid (HNF), considering the effects of viscous dissipation and radiation.

The transport equations are transformed into nondimensional partial differential equations. The local nonsimilarity (LNS) technique is implemented to truncate nonsimilar dimensionless system. The LNS truncated equation can be treated as ordinary differential equations. The numerical results of the equation are accomplished through the implementation of the bvp4c solver, which leverages the fourth-order three-stage Lobatto IIIa formula as a finite difference scheme.

The findings of a comparative investigation carried out under diverse physical limitations demonstrate that ternary HNFs exhibit remarkably elevated thermal efficiency in contrast to conventional nanofluids.

The LNS approach (Mahesh et al., 2023; Khan et al., 20223; Farooq et al., 2023) that we have proposed is not currently being used to clarify the dynamical issue of HNF via porous media. The LNS method, in conjunction with the bvp4c up to its second truncation level, yields numerical solutions to nonlinear-coupled PDEs. Relevant results of the topic at hand, obtained by adjusting the appropriate parameters, are explained and shown visually via tables and diagrams.

Fractional calculus provides powerful tool to build more realistic and accurate mathematical models in economic field. This paper aims to explore a proposed fractional-order differentiated Cournot duopoly game and its discretized game.

Conditions for existence and uniqueness of the proposed game’s solution are derived. The existence of Nash equilibrium point and its local and global stability are obtained. Furthermore, local stability analysis of the discretized game is investigated. The effects of fractional-order on game’s dynamics are examined, along with other parameters of the game, via the 2D bifurcation diagrams in planes of system’s parameters are acquired.

Theoretical and numerical simulation results demonstrate rich variety of interesting dynamical behaviors such as period-doubling and Neimark–Sacker bifurcations, attractors’ crises in addition to chaotic attractors. The results demonstrated that the stability Nash equilibrium point of the game can be lost by period doubling or Neimark–Sacker bifurcations.

Oligopoly games are pivotal in the mathematical modeling of some substantial economic areas such as industrial organization, airline, banking, telecommunication companies, international trade and also macroeconomic analysis of business cycles, innovation and growth.

Although the Cournot game and its variants have attracted great interest among mathematicians and economists since the time of its proposition till present, memory effects in continuous-time and discrete-time Cournot duopoly game have not been addressed yet. To the best of author’s knowledge, this can be considered as the first attempt to investigate this problem of fractional-order differentiated Cournot duopoly game. In addition, studying more realistic models of Cournot oligopoly games plays a pivotal role in the mathematical investigation and better understanding of some substantial economic areas such as industrial organization, airline, banking, telecommunication companies, international trade and also in macroeconomic analysis of business cycles, innovation and growth.

The purpose of this study is to successfully implement microwave irradiation for the rapid synthesis of novel fluorescent dyes. The prepared dyes are then applied for printing of polyester and polyamide by silk screen printing process.

A series of new N′-(methylene)-2-imino-2H-chromene-3-carbohydrazide derivatives 3a–r were synthesised in excellent yield and high atom economy by the Knoevenagel condensation of salicylaldehyde derivatives 1 and cyano-N′-methyleneaceto-hydrazide derivatives 2 in the presence of piperidine catalyst. The optical properties of the synthesised compounds were recorded; all of the compounds were found to be fluorescent in 1, 4-dioxane solution; they all emitted blue light (440-460 nm). This work shows that the optical properties strongly depend on the nature of the substituent, and indicate which type of substituent is favourable for a given application. It confirms that iminocoumarin derivatives could lead to a new generation of fluorescent probes, prone to easy modification of their chemical structure. These synthesised dyes are used to print polyester and polyamide fabrics using synthetic thickener in the printing paste for silk screen technique.

The structures of synthesised dyes were established and confirmed for the reaction products on the basis of their elemental analysis and spectral data (MS, IR and 1H-NMR). The suitability of the prepared dyestuffs for traditional printing on polyester and polyamide fabrics has been investigated. The prints obtained using the synthesised dyes were found to possess high colour strength and excellent overall fastness properties but relatively low light fastness.

The synthesised fluorescent dyes were prepared by a simple reaction process in microwave. The optical properties for obtained dyes show include the fact that it will have various important applications. In addition, they were used for printing synthetic fabrics and were found to have good results.

The new fluorescent dyes’ system has excellent printing properties. Also they are superior in terms of yield, purity, colour strength and fastness properties which may lend them valuable commercial production.

The result of this work aimed to define the scope and limitation of the procedures for the synthesis of novel iminocoumarin dyes via a simple and economic way.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of the herbicide triclopyr, nitrogen and their combinations on Striga incidence and sorghum growth.

A greenhouse study was undertaken in season 2013. Sorghum cv Wad Ahmed, urea and triclopyr were employed. Treatments were arranged in a randomized complete design with four replicates.

Nitrogen alone suppressed the parasite completely early in the season. Triclopyr at 0.3 and 0.4 kg a.e. ha−1 reduced Striga emergence by 92.9 and 58.3 per cent early and late in the season, respectively. Triclopyr at 0.3 kg a.e. ha−1 applied subsequent to nitrogen at 43.8 kg ha−1 effected poor control of the parasite. Unrestricted Striga parasitism reduced sorghum height and chlorophyll content by 50.38 and 16.62 per cent, respectively. Triclopyr, nitrogen and their combination improved sorghum growth considerably.

The results suggest that the herbicide when applied subsequent to nitrogen afforded the most consistent performance and resulted in the highest suppression of the parasite.

This paper examines the impact of board ethnic diversity on the level of compliance with international financial reporting standards (IFRS) disclosures.

Using a unique hand-collected dataset from South Africa, we develop a comprehensive disclosure index against 570 mandatory requirements of IFRS. Further, we employ the fixed-effects model to investigate whether board ethnic diversity affects IFRS disclosures.

We document a significant positive association between ethnic minority directors and IFRS disclosure levels. Furthermore, we reveal that non-busy ethnic minority directors have a greater impact on IFRS disclosure levels than their busy counterparts. Additional analyses show that ethnic minority directors have less impact on IFRS disclosure levels when their number exceeds two. Companies with more ethnic directors on audit committees are more likely to comply with IFRS disclosure requirements and ethnic diversity increases accounting disclosures irrespective of the level of ownership concentration.

Our findings shed new light on the impact of board ethnic diversity on firms’ compliance with IFRS disclosure requirements. The results are robust to alternative econometric techniques, proxies and potential endogeneity concerns.

This paper aims to study the mixed convective process due to various dynamics, namely, inner rotating cylinders and upper-wavy wall movement for the first time.

The Galerkin finite element method together with the characteristic-based split scheme is applied to solve the governing system.

The main outcomes revealed that the direction of the rotation of the cylinders, radius and locations of the rotating shapes are beneficial controlling elements for the enhancement of heat transfer. Also, for all the considered cases, values of the Bejan number indicate that the fluid friction irreversibility is dominance compared to the heat transfer irreversibility. Further, average values of the heat transfer entropy, fluid friction entropy and total entropy are minimized in the case of fixed cylinders regardless of the cylinder radius.

The authors are interested in the mixed convection case due to regular boundaries and hence this simulation purposes a first attempt to examine the mixed convective flow due to irregular wavy boundaries. This study considered various dynamics, namely, inner rotating cylinders and wavy-lid driven wall which makes it more attractive to the readers. Various cases based on radius of the cylinder and direction of the rotations together with several locations of the rotating shapes are taken into account which makes the current simulation is comprehensive. Various studies presented in this field are made by commercial software and these treatments need special conditions (having limitation) but the current solution methodology is based on a finite element method home-code. Various important impacts, are, also, examined, namely, inclined geometry, inclined magnetic field, thermal radiation and heat generation/absorption. The entropy of the current complex system is analyzed based on the second law of thermodynamics.

This paper aims to examine the determinant factors that influence the adoption of mobile banking by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Palestine. The aim of this paper has supported with the objectives to identify the role of mobile banking practices in enhancing sustainable growth and development of Palestine SMEs; determining the factors that influencing the SMEs as a service and products providers’ intention to adopt mobile banking and proposing a conceptual model for adoption mobile banking development by SMEs sectors in Palestine

Hypotheses were developed guided by the technology organisation-environment (TOE) model. The primary data was collected from 408 SMEs in Palestine using questionnaires and 8 interviews.

The empirical results are based on partial least squares analysis and statistical package for the social sciences. The findings presented in this paper reveal that SMEs factors, enabling environment and business model are the main determinant factors affecting the intention to adopt mobile banking by the SMEs sector in Palestine.

The main contribution of this study is the concise identification of the obstacles and facilitators to SMEs’ mobile banking, especially in developing countries. A suggestion for further study was made. The findings could be useful to policymakers, government institutions and agencies especially in Palestine and other development partners in designing and directing their policy intervention.

This study contributes significantly to the theoretical understanding of mobile banking through the development of a mobile banking framework for the SMEs’ sector in Palestine. A major contribution of this study is to the existing knowledge and literature in mobile banking by developing a TOE framework for providers (supply-side) factors in general and in particular in Palestine to fill the gaps in past studies.

The current paper aims to fill a gap in the literature by analyzing the nature of volatility on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100 index of the KSE, and develop an understanding as to which model is most suitable for measuring volatility among those used. The study contributes significantly to the literature as, compared with the limited previous studies of Pakistan undertaken in the past, it covers three types of data (i.e. daily, weekly and monthly) for the whole period from the introduction of the KSE 100 index on November 2, 1991 to December 31, 2013. In addition, to analyze the impact of global financial crises upon volatility, the data have been divided into pre-crisis (1991-2007) and post-crisis (2008-2013) periods.

This study has used an advanced set of volatility models such as autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity [ARCH (1)], generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity [GARCH (1, 1)], GARCH in mean [GARCH-M (1, 1)], exponential GARCH [E-GARCH (1, 1)], threshold GARCH [T-GARCH (1, 1)], power GARCH [P-GARCH (1, 1)] and also a simple exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) model.

The results reveal that daily, weekly and monthly return series show non-normal distribution, stationarity and volatility clustering. However, the heteroskedasticity is absent only in the monthly returns making only the EWMA model usable to measure the volatility level in the monthly series. The P-GARCH (1, 1) model proved to be a better model for modeling volatility in the case of daily returns, while the GARCH (1, 1) model proved to be the most appropriate for weekly data based on the Schwarz information criterion (SIC) and log likelihood (LL) functionality. The study shows high persistence of volatility, a mean reverting process and an absence of a risk premium in the KSE market with an insignificant leverage effect only in the case of weekly returns. However, a significant leverage effect is reported regarding the daily series of the KSE 100 index. In addition, to analyze the impact of global financial crises upon volatility, the findings show that the subperiods demonstrated a slightly low volatility and the global economic crisis did not cause a rise in volatility levels.

Previously, the literature about volatility modeling in Pakistan’s markets has been limited to a few models of relatively small sample size. The current thesis has attempted to overcome these limitations and used diverse models for three types of data series (daily, weekly and monthly). In addition, the Pakistani economy has been beset by turmoil throughout its history, experiencing a range of shocks from the mild to the extreme. This paper has measured the impact of those shocks upon the volatility levels of the KSE.