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The purpose of this paper is to introduce a novel intensity-modulated fiber optic sensor for real-time intrusion detection using a fiber-optic microbend sensor and an optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR).

The proposed system is tested using different scenarios using person/car as intruders. Experiments are conducted in the lab and in the field. In the beginning, the OTDR trace is obtained and recorded as a reference signal without intrusion events. The second step is to capture the OTDR trace with intrusion events in one or multiple sectors. This measured signal is then compared to the reference signal and processed by matrix laboratory to determine the intruded sector. Information of the intrusion is displayed on an interactive screen implemented by Visual basic. The deformer is designed and implemented using SOLIDWORKS three-dimensional computer aided design Software.

The system is tested for intrusions by performing two experiments. The first experiment is performed for both persons (>50 kg) in the lab and cars in an open field with a car moving at 60 km/h using two optical fiber sectors of lengths 200 and 500 m. For test purposes, the deformer length used in the experiment is 2 m. The used signal processing technique in the first experiment has some limitations and its accuracy is 70% after measuring and recording 100 observations. To overcome these limitations, a second experiment with another technique of signal processing is performed.

The system can perfectly display consecutive intrusions of the sectors, but in case of simultaneous intrusions of different sectors, which is difficult to take place in real situations, there will be the ambiguity of the number of intruders and the intruded sector. This will be addressed in future work. Suitable and stable laser power is required to get a suitable level of backscattered power. Optimization of the deformer is required to enhance the sensitivity and reliability of the sensor.

The proposed work enables us to benefit from the ease of implementation and the reduced cost of the intensity-modulated fiber optic sensors because it overcomes the constraints that prevent using the intensity-modulated fiber optic sensors for intrusion detection.

The proposed system is the first time long-range intensity-modulated fiber optic sensor for intrusion detection.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of board diversity (e.g. nationality, gender and educational level) on financial performance for a sample of banks listed in 11 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region.

This paper uses the system generalized method of moments estimation approach on the data of banks listed in the MENA countries over the period 2011–2018 to investigate the relationship between board diversity and financial performance. Also, the findings are supported by additional robustness tests, including ordinary least squares, fixed and random effect techniques.

The empirical results show that there is a significant relationship between board diversity and financial performance in banks. Specifically, the findings demonstrate that board diversity related to nationality has a significant positive impact on bank performance. The findings also show an insignificant association between gender and educational level diversity and bank performance. The robustness analysis supports the findings of the baseline model.

The study provides multi-country evidence on the importance of board diversity in the MENA region and it sheds light on possible tracks for future reforms aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of the board’s functions.

This paper extends the existing literature by providing empirical evidence on the association between board diversity and financial performance of banks in the MENA countries. This paper also provides preliminary evidence on the importance of board diversity to influence financial performance.

This paper covers the development of a multidimensional contract administration performance model (CAPM) for construction projects. The proposed CAPM is intended to be used by the industry stakeholders to measure the construction contract administration (CCA) performance and identify the strengths and weaknesses of the CCA system for running or completed projects.

The research design follows a sequential mixed methodology of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. In the first phase, contract administration indicators were collected from relevant literature. In the second phase, an online questionnaire was prepared, and data were collected and analyzed using the crisp value of fuzzy membership function, and structural equation modeling (SEM). The fuzzy set was chosen for this study due to the presence of uncertainty and fuzziness associated with the importance of several key indicators affecting the CCA performance. Finally, SEM was used to test and analyze interrelationships among constructs of CCA performance.

The data collected from 336 construction professionals worldwide through an online survey was utilized to develop the fuzzy structural equation model. The goodness-of-fit and reliability tests validated the model. The study concluded a significant correlation between CCA performance, CCA operational indicators, and the process groups.

The contribution of this paper to the existing knowledge is the development of a fuzzy structural equation model that serves as a measurement tool for the contract administration performance. This is the first quantitative structural equation model to capture contract administration performance. The model consists of 93 Construction Contract Administration(CCA) performance indicators categorized into 11 project management process groups namely: project governance and start-up; team management; communication and relationship management; quality and acceptance management; performance monitoring and reporting management; document and record management; financial management; changes and control management; claims and dispute resolution management; contract risk management and contract closeout management.

This study aims to show the dyeing behaviour of polyester fabrics using four novel heterocyclic disperse dyes.

The four dyes were synthesized based on 5, 5'-(1, 4-phenylene) bis (1, 3, 4-thiadiazol-2-amine) as a diazonium compound. The UV/Vis absorption spectroscopic data of these disperse dyes while dyeing polyester fabrics were investigated. Following this, the dyeing properties of these dyes on polyester fabrics were investigated under acid condition.

The results showed that increasing the dyeing temperature from 80°C to 100°C led to an increase in dye uptake for all dyes, but further increases of the temperature to 130°C led to higher dye uptake for dye 3 as the dye exhaustion increased by about 50% from 55.9% to 91.4%.

This study is important as it introduces new dyes for the dyeing of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibres with colours that range from yellowish orange to bluish yellow and scarlet red and all with excellent brightness, levelness and depth of shade.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether audit committee characteristics, in particular audit committee size, audit committee activity and audit committee gender diversity, are associated with financial performance in Egyptian banks. The second purpose of this paper is to explore the moderating role of board gender diversity on the relationship between audit committee characteristics and financial performance.

A multiple regression analysis is used to estimate the moderating role of board gender diversity on the relationship between audit committee characteristics and financial performance of a sample of Egyptian banks during the period between 2018 and 2022.

The results indicate that audit committee size has a negative and insignificant effect impact on return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE), respectively. The results also indicate that the audit committee gender diversity has a significant positive impact on ROA and ROE, respectively. Regarding audit committee activity, the number of board meetings has a negative and insignificant effect on ROA and ROE, respectively. Regarding gender diversity as a moderating variable, in general there is a positive effect of gender diversity on the relationship between audit committee characteristics and financial performance.

The study was limited to 20 banks in one country, but it sets the tone for future empirical research on this subject matter. The study also relied on one moderating variable, which is board gender diversity. This study provides an avenue for future research in the area of corporate governance and financial performance in other emerging countries, especially other African countries.

This study provides useful insights for managers and policymakers to better understand which audit committee characteristics can best encourage a company to improve financial performance. Furthermore, regulators should ensure that banks strictly adhere to corporate governance principles to build a strong banking industry capable of achieving economic development.

Banks will benefit equally from valuable qualities across demographic groupings in society by having females on the audit committee and appropriate audit committee meetings. Additionally, if audit committee members are correctly selected, banks with more females in audit committee and suitable audit committee meetings can successfully contribute to strengthening financial performance and social welfare of diverse segments of society. A culture of good banking governance must emerge to improve bank financial stability and, as a result, greater stability and economic growth.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study is, perhaps, the first to examine the moderating role of board gender diversity on the relationship between audit committee characteristics and financial performance in Egyptian banks. This study adds to the literature by investigating such an issue in a developing economy that operates in a different context than those in developed countries.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of strategic leadership (SL) on business operational resilience (OR) in the hotel industry in Egypt, namely, during and after the pandemic. This investigation also aimed to explore the mediating function of crisis response strategies (CRSs) and organisational e-readiness (Oe-R) in this relationship.

The researchers conducted a cross-sectional study using a questionnaire as the primary data collection method. Using partial least squares structural equation simulation (PLS-SEM), the study used a comprehensive sample that targets the general managers of all five-star hotels in Egypt.

Results indicated that SL has a positive impact on CRSs and Oe-R. Furthermore, the results reveal a positive influence of Oe-R on both CRSs and hotel OR. On the other hand, CRSs do not influence hotel OR. The findings showed that CRSs fully mediate the link between SL and OR. However, CRSs do not serve as a mediator between Oe-R and OR. Furthermore, the findings showed that Oe-R partially mediates the link between SL and both OR and CRSs.

The study yields unique and valuable theoretical and practical insights to guide hotel leaders and managers towards adaptive recovery and resilience in turbulent and crisis-ridden environments by demonstrating that the combined mediating function of CRS and Oe-R is more effective in strengthening the relationship between SL and OR.

This study represents a pioneering investigation that establishes a correlation between SL and OR, either through direct or indirect means. The research examines the involvement of CRSs and Oe-R as collaborative mediators in this relationship. Previous studies undertaken in the hotel industry and service sector have not investigated this specific element.

This paper aims to investigate the role of lean talent management (LTM) as a novel approach for optimising creativity in architectural design firms (ADFs) towards achieving divergent heritage sustainability (DHS).

To achieve the abovementioned aim, a mixed qualitative and quantitative methodology is designed to accomplish three objectives. First, investigating the relationship between heritage and urban development; types of heritage and the role of LTM in enhancing creativity in ADFs. Second, presenting and analysing six heritage-related case studies to assess the need for creative solutions based on extent of deterioration in three different places in Egypt. Third, outlining the results of a survey questionnaire conducted with a representative sample of ADFs in Egypt to investigate the role of LTM towards optimising creativity in ADFs for achieving DHS.

The extent of deterioration increased for modern heritage than old heritage. Conventional approaches adopted by ADFs failed to develop built environments that can bridge the gap between the diverse identities. Creativity was not optimised when talent management (TM) was integrated solely and architects failed to develop appropriate solutions. LTM use architects to allow expression of arts towards heritage sustainability through the built environment, in which they feel associated with physical heritage. Consequently, individuals’ intangible heritage is preserved in which they will less deteriorate the physical heritage. Hence, LTM is a paradigm shift that has a great potential for DHS.

The survey questionnaire and case studies focused on the Egyptian context because the region is in critical need for effective creative solutions and for such research that is unprecedented in investigating this gap. However, findings are absolute and could be used at any country sharing the Egyptian context and wishing to achieve a DHS approach.

The research work presented in this paper is novel in approach as it integrates two divergent fields and highlights the concept of DHS with its threefold approach. In addition, the concept of LTM is proposed as a novel paradigm shift in which it has received scant attention especially relating to heritage sustainability. The proposed ideas represent a synthesis that is novel and creative in thought and adds to the existing body of knowledge for future research in LTM and DHS.

Public construction authorities need to evaluate the level of competition in the submitted bids for a certain project before awarding the contract. A lack of adequate competition is a reason for rejecting all bids and reissuing an invitation to bid for the project. This paper aims to present an analysis of the adequacy of competition in public construction projects.

The paper uses five competition indicators to correlate the level of competition effect obtained with the number of contractors competing for the project. The analysis is based on the bid opening results for 917 public construction projects in Jordan that include 6,309 bids, with an average number of 6.88 bids per project.

The results illustrate that there is an improvement in the competition effect over the five analyzed competition indicators as the number of bidders increases. However, the rate of improvement decreases with the increase in bidders. The empirical analysis performed does not support the proposition that an optimum number of bidders exists in competitive bidding for construction projects or the proposition that a higher number of bidders may lead to higher bid prices. However, the indicators developed in this study found that at least 5 bidders are recommended and after 8 bidders, the rate of improvement continues at much slower rate.

The current research presented a multifaceted method for assessing the minimum number of bidders needed to ensure a competitive bidding process. Moreover, the research used actual data from 917 public projects.

One of the main theories regarding the relationship between government expenditure and gross domestic product (GDP) is Wagner’s law. This law was developed in the late-19th century by Adolph Wagner (1835–1917), a prominent German economist, and depicts that an increase in government expenditure is a feature often associated with progressive states. This paper aims to examine the validity of Wagner’s law in Egypt for 1960–2018. The relationship between real government expenditure and real GDP is tested using three versions of Wagner’s law.

To test the validity of Wagner in Egypt, law time-series analysis is used. The methodology used in this paper is: unit-root tests for stationarity, Johansen cointegration approach, error-correction model and Granger causality.

The results provide strong evidence of long-term relationship between GDP and government expenditure. Moreover, the causal relationship is found to be bi-directional. Hence, this study provides support for Wagner’s law in the examined context.

It should be noted, however, that there are some limitations to this study. For instance, in this paper, the government’s size was measured through government consumption expenditure rather than government expenditure due to data availability, which does not fully capture the government size. Moreover, the data available was limited and does not fully cover the earliest stages of industrialization and urbanization for Egypt. Furthermore, although time-series analysis provides a more contextualized results and conclusions, the obtained conclusions suffer from their limited generalizability.

This paper aims to specifically make a contribution to the empirical literature for Wagner’s law, by testing the Egyptian data using time-series econometric techniques for the longest time period examined so far, which is 1960–2018.

The economic consequence for adopting accounting standards is one of the growing and valuable topics in accounting research. The purpose of this paper is to address the question whether the adoption of Islamic standards that are issued by Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFIs) has a positive effect on the level of earnings management (EM) in the Islamic banks (IBs) setting. The authors measure, in general, the impact of AAOIFI for adopter and non-adopter banks. This paper furthermore investigates whether IBs adopting AAOIFI as compulsory or as voluntary adopters, in general, are being less engaged in earnings manipulation.

Using empirical data from 143 IBs across 26 different countries from 2014 to 2018, the paper uses a linear regression model and probit regression analysis that group the banks investigated in this paper into adopters and non-adopters. Additional probit regressions were performed to test to what extent the status of AAOIFI adoption (compulsory or voluntary adopters) has an impact of EM.

The adoption of AAOIFI generally is associated with a reduction in the EM level. Furthermore, adopter IBs for AAOIFI is least involved in EM as compared to non-adopter IBs. In addition, the findings of this paper indicate that IBs across countries that mandate AAOIFI standards are less engaged in earnings manipulation as compared to other IBs in countries that adopt AAOIFI as voluntary standards.

The results reported in this paper provide insights to central banks and regulators regarding the prominence of mandates of AAOIFI standards for IBs to enhance the trust level of stakeholders by reducing the unethical behavior (EM). In addition, this paper supports the applicability of AAOIFI standards for IBs rather than the conventional standards such as IFRS or local GAAP.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the findings are unique at two levels. First, the paper provides evidence on the economic consequences of using AAOIFI in the context of IBs which was not explored by previous research. Second, the paper extends the investigation of the impact of AAOIFI adoption for adopters verses non-adopters, as well as for mandatory verses voluntary adoption of AAOIFI.