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By 2003, there was a total of 176 Islamic banks around the globe with their total assets close to $147 billion. This article shows that this form of specialized banking may help in promoting growth in these developing economies. During the transition phase of a developing growth economy to a full fledged market based economy many structural changes are required in its financial institutions, especially since the role of a financial intermediary in supplying funds to growing new industries is crucial. At the same time, the potential for destabilization resulting from improper resource allocation, due to either faulty risk assessment or the design of the contract, could be significant. Also, this article examines the implementation of an Islamic banking system and how Islamic banks can provide liquidity and aid in the money creation process through offering transactions accounts with compensation for inflation to risk‐avoiding depositors.

The purpose of this paper is to improve the properties of shellac by blending with novolac and to study the thermal behaviour of the blends with an ultimate aim to use as surface coating material.

Novolac was synthesized by reaction of phenol with formaldehyde in a molar ratio of 1:0.8, in acidic condition. Blending of shellac with novolac was done in solution and films of the blends, prepared on glass slides and tin panels, were baked at 150°C for 15 minutes. Properties of the films were studied as per standard procedures.

Films of shellac‐novolac blends showed improvement in gloss and impact resistance compared to those of shellac alone. Gloss of blends increased with the increase in concentration of novolac and further increased on baking the films. Scratch hardness of shellac decreased on blending with novolac. Baked films of the blends showed resistance to heat and water. Films of shellac‐novolac blends were found to be more resistant to polar solvents compared to non‐polar solvents.

Shellac, prepared from kusmi seedlac, was used in the study. Besides shellac, dewaxed decolorized lac (DDL), dewaxed lac (DL) and bleached lac (BL) could also be used for study on blending with novolac.

Blending of shellac with novolac improved the film properties of shellac. The study suggests that the compositions can be utilised in developing formulations of coating material with improved properties for metal surfaces.

The formulations based on modification of shellac with novolac and study of the film properties utilising various instruments are novel. The formulations based on shellac and novolac can find applications in the field of surface coating with desired purposes.

The purpose of this paper is to see the effect in the properties of shellac on blending with rosin (another natural resin) and study their changes during storage.

Blending of rosin was done at seedlac (semi‐pure lac) stage. Shellac was then prepared by bhatta (Indian country) process, in the form of button lac. Physico‐chemical properties of the blends were studied at regular time intervals following standard procedures.

Improvement in the physicochemical properties of shellac was noticed by blending with rosin to a great extent; less degradation in the properties of blends was observed with storage compared to those of parent shellac.

Because rosin possesses very high fluidity and life under heat, exact value of flow and life under heat of rosin and its blends with shellac having high rosin content could not be determined.

The results give an idea to entrepreneurs, processors and industrialists of how much rosin is to be blended with shellac to bring improvements in its fluidity and life under heat for commercial exploitation, especially for inferior quality of shellac.

Systematic study has been done for the first time, as no quantitative data was available on the changes in the different properties of shellac which take place on blending with rosin.

The purpose of this study is to improve the coating properties of shellac–epoxidised novolac blends by treatment with melamine formaldehyde resin (MF) at ambient temperature for its use as a coating material.

Epoxidised-novolac resin was synthesised by epoxidation of novolac resin with epichlorohydrin. Novolac resin was synthesised by reaction of phenol with formaldehyde in acidic medium. Shellac was blended with the epoxidised-novolac resin in solution in varying ratios and treated the blends with MF resin in fixed ratio. Coating properties of the treated compositions were studied using a standard procedure. The compositions were characterised with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) spectroscopy.

Treatment of shellac–epoxidised-novolac blends with MF resin improved water and alkali resistance of the blends, besides enhancing gloss. Gloss in all the blends was uniformly increased on treatment with MF resin. Water resistance of the blends tremendously improved after treatment with MF resin. Contact angle of the blends against water increased while decreased against ethylene glycol and dioxane. The compositions were more resistant to polar solvent than non-polar ones, suggesting that the compositions shifted to hydrophobic (lipophilic) nature on treatment with the MF resin.

A specified concentration of MF resin was used in the study. Different concentrations of the MF resin can also be tried for treatment of shellac–epoxidised-novolac blends to see the effect of the resin on the blends.

Treatment of shellac–epoxidised-novolac blend with MF resin improved the coating properties of the blends. The formulation SeNB-64 is the best with high gloss, good impact, scratch hardness and water resistance, and hence can be used as coating material for metal surfaces.

Blending of shellac with epoxidised-novolac resin and treatment of the blends with the MF resin was done for the first time. The formulation SeNB-64 can be used as coating material for metal surfaces.

The purpose of this paper is to argue for an integrative model of social enterprises (SE) and social marketing (SM) to usher in desirable change, instead of the currently adopted either/or approach. We offer the shadow framework to integrate these two paradigms in the context of peace-building organizations.

Using purposive sampling strategy, 19 cases of peacebuilding initiatives were identified and reviewed from secondary sources. Ashoka Fellows working in the domain of peacebuilding, along with a few other exemplary cases across the globe were considered.

We found an emerging typology of three forms in the organizational responses to peacebuilding initiatives: (a) pure charity-driven work, (b) dual structure of charity plus business enterprises, and (c) social enterprises with distinct revenue model.

Building upon previous theoretical research, we find a lot of merit in SEs adopting the SM toolkit. We contribute to theory building by showing the interaction between paradox theory and stakeholder marketing in the context of SEs dealing with wicked problems such as peacebuilding. Consequently, we propose a shadow social marketing (SSM) model that would camouflage the real offering of peace through an apparent offering that would be non-controversial in nature and result in moderate-importance small wins for the multiple stakeholders involved with conflicting interests.

From a managerial perspective, chances of success of the desired social change increases by complementing the efforts of SEs through the SM toolkit. Organizationally, although all the three forms of peacebuilding initiatives can benefit from systematic usage of the SSM, they need to reframe their efforts toward those that are not pro-peace, rather than preach to the converted. Consequently, the answer may lie in efforts at building cultural sensitivity to promote entrepreneurship amongst such target groups amongst such target groups in conflicting communities, with an organizational form that successfully marries SEs and SM.

Though previous scholarship mentions the need for finding complementarities between social marketing objectives and social enterprise missions, no paper yet has suggested a roadmap for achieving it. This paper highlights an integrative plan that, in this specific case of peacebuilding initiatives, or social enterprises in general, can leverage to evolve better organizational practices, improve financial sustainability and measurable impact to effect the desired social change.

The purpose of this paper is to improve the properties of shellac by blending with epoxidised novolac resin for its use as coating material for metal surfaces.

Epoxidised-novolac resin was synthesised by epoxidation of novolac resin, which in turn was synthesised by reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. The epoxidised-novolac resin was blended with different weight ratios of shellac ranging 10-50 weight per cent with an interval of 10 weight per cent. Films of the blends were studied for different coating properties using standard procedure.

Significant improvement in coating properties of shellac such as gloss, scratch hardness and impact resistance was observed on blending with epoxidised novolac resin. Resistance towards water and alkali increased, while acid resistance decreased, with the increase in concentration of epoxidised novolac resin in the blends. Contact angle measurement revealed that blends showed more resistance towards polar solvent than non-polar ones.

Epoxidised-novolac resin used in the study was synthesised of epoxy equivalent of 187. Epoxidised-novolac resin of different epoxy equivalent can also be synthesised and used for blending and studying the properties.

Blending of shellac with epoxidised-novolac resin improved the coating properties of shellac, which was further enhanced with the treatment of butylated melamine formaldehyde resin. The formulation can be used as coating material for metal surfaces.

Blending of shellac with epoxidised-novolac resin was done for the first time. The formulation can be utilised for developing coating material for metal surfaces.

Background: Insurance was discovered many centuries before Christ (BC). In the second and third millennia BC, Chinese and Babylonian traders traded risks. Insurance is now the backbone of the economy, but penetration is low in developing countries. Big data, internet of things (IoT), and InsurTech have recently ushered in the fourth industrial revolution in insurance.

Objective: This study examines the Indian challenges and solutions of using Big Data Analytics (BDA).

methodology: A SLR was used to extract themes/variables related to challenges and solutions in adopting BDA in the Indian insurance sector. Google Scholar was searched for relevant literature using keywords. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were used to filter the studies.

Findings: This study identified several barriers to BDA adoption in the Indian insurance industry. Policymakers could use the suggestions to improve insurance service delivery.

Practical implication: Insurers can understand the challenges, and accordingly, they can adopt the proposed solution in this study to enhance the insurance penetration in India.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought the global tourism to a standstill. Being a labor-intensive industry, tourism is the worst affected sector. Since the last few years, the concept of sustainability has become an integral part of planning and developing any destination. Through its strong multiplier effect, it supports a wide variety of jobs for every strata of society. Hence, without tourism the innumerable suppliers of goods and services to the industry would unable to sustain their business and livelihood. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a 22% fall in international tourist arrivals during the first quarter of 2020 and could lead to an annual decline of between 60% and 80% (UNWTO Report, May 2020). The purpose of the study is to understand the impact of the pandemic on key components of tourism and to determine the major challenging aspects in developing sustainable tourism post COVID-19. The chapter is based on qualitative research and a convenience sample was used for this study. To make the study more worthwhile data triangulation was used. The limitations of the study are confined to the city of Varanasi, India, workforce working in the tourism and allied sectors. The verdict of the chapter is to perceive how COVID-19 has adversely affected the tourism workforce. Also, to solve the challenges how there is a need to be decisive while planning sustainable tourism development and emphasize local people, the environment, and small-scale tourism businesses to make their survival possible post COVID-19.

The participation of women in contemporary non-state armed groups is an undeniable fact. In recent years, research in international politics has provided a more complex view of both the scale and nature of their contributions, as well as why women choose to engage in political violence – when they do indeed choose to do so. This chapter offers an overview of the literature in this area, while expanding the discussion towards new and emerging questions. In particular, the chapter seeks to engage a growing literature on the legal and social aspects of women's involvement in armed conflict. Discussing women's roles as perpetrators of atrocity and war crimes – including as agents of torture, sexual violence and genocide – it addresses concerns about the meaningful integration of gender into post-conflict and transitional justice processes. This includes discussions about agency and the problematic entanglement of victim/perpetrator narratives in the cases of female ex-combatants.