Blaoui Mohammed Mossaab, Mokhtar Zemri and Mustapha Arab
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects of medium carbon steel microstructure on the tensile strength and fatigue crack growth (FCG) behavior.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects of medium carbon steel microstructure on the tensile strength and fatigue crack growth (FCG) behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve this aim, four different heat treatment methods (normalizing, quenching, tempering at 300°C and tempering at 600°C) were considered. Microstructural evolution was investigated by scanning electron microscopy. FCG rate tests were conducted on the resultant microstructures with compact tension specimens at room temperature by a standard testing method.
Findings
The results show that the normalized microstructure had the largest number of cycles to failure, indicating a high fatigue resistance, followed by the as received, tempered at 600°C, tempered at 300°C and quenched microstructure.
Originality/value
The paper shows the influence of the microstructure on the fatigue-propagation behavior with the definition of the Paris parameters of each heat treatment condition.
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Ayman A.E. Othman, Tarek M. Hassan and Christine L. Pasquire
Confining the development of the project brief to a certain stage hinders the interaction between the client and the designer. In addition, it inhibits the incorporation of the…
Abstract
Confining the development of the project brief to a certain stage hinders the interaction between the client and the designer. In addition, it inhibits the incorporation of the influential internal and external factors that may affect the project. In spite of the frequently adverse impact of change orders on project cost, time and quality, literature review and case studies showed that client organisations continue to use change orders to achieve their expectations and enhance their projects' performance principally because current construction management process instills an expectation that, change after a specified point is somehow outside the project brief rather than part of the ongoing development of that brief. This paper introduces the concept of dynamic brief development (DBD), a process that facilitates client satisfaction, meets the need to adapt to the brief developing factors for the benefit of the project and fulfils the desire to manage project change orders. In this paper, the need, aims and principles of the concept of DBD are explained and the factors driving brief development are identified. In addition, the rationale behind each factor is given and the case study sampling method is described.
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Edmund Evangelista, S.M.F.D Syed Mustapha and Farhi Marir
The purpose of the research was to explore the critical success factors (CSFs) that enable knowledge-sharing behaviors (KSB) among students and to determine if there are…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the research was to explore the critical success factors (CSFs) that enable knowledge-sharing behaviors (KSB) among students and to determine if there are differences in the CSFs that enable KSB among undergraduate, graduate or professional course students.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on primary data collection, surveying 281 students using a multiple-choice Likert-style scale.
Findings
Researchers found that factors such as knowledge culture (KC), perceived rewards (PR), quality of technology (QT), trust, networking ties (NT) and competitiveness were critical for KSB. In contrast, collective culture, subjective norms (SN) and the ability to share did not significantly impact KSB. The CSFs common among students at different educational levels were KC, PR, trust and competitiveness. KC was more important for undergraduates and professional course students but less significant for graduate students. Additionally, NT and the QT did not impact KSB among undergraduates.
Originality/value
While several studies have explored CSFs for knowledge-sharing behaviors among students at specific educational levels, there is a lack of comparative empirical research examining KSB and the CSFs affecting students at different educational stages. This study fills a gap in the literature by adopting a comparative approach and presenting common success factors for knowledge sharing among students at various educational levels.
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Mosab I. Tabash, Fatima Muhammad Abdulkarim, Mustapha Ishaq Akinlaso and Raj S. Dhankar
The paper examines the relationship between Islamic banking and the growth of the economy in Nigeria in both the short run and long run.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper examines the relationship between Islamic banking and the growth of the economy in Nigeria in both the short run and long run.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs quarterly secondary time series data for Islamic banking as well as major macroeconomic variables to study the contribution of Islamic banking to the economy of Nigeria. It employs autoregressive distributed lags (ARDL) and error correction model (ECM) approaches from 2013 quarter 1 up to 2020 quarter 2.
Findings
The results show that Islamic banking has a positive contribution to Nigeria's economy in both short run and long run, but this contribution is insignificant.
Practical implications
Policymakers should endeavor to redesign the country's financial architecture and come up with policies that can support the growth of Islamic finance sector. This will significantly strengthen Nigeria's position as one of the leading Islamic finance hubs in Africa.
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine the contribution of Islamic banking to the Nigerian economy according to the best knowledge of the authors.
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Student transitions from secondary to tertiary education have attracted global attention as universities and colleges of higher education seek to improve student retention. Over…
Abstract
Student transitions from secondary to tertiary education have attracted global attention as universities and colleges of higher education seek to improve student retention. Over the course of one academic year, I documented the transitional experiences of first-year male Emirati students at a college of higher education in a rural location of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In this paper I describe four categories of cultural border crossing experiences – smooth, managed, difficult, and impossible – with easier and smoother crossing experiences associated with close congruency (related to the students’ self-perceived attitude and scholastic preparedness as broadly reflected in their competence in their second language, English) between the predominantly Arabic life-world associated with Emirati families and government schooling and the dominant Western/English language culture in institutes of higher education. Additionally, I describe and evaluate students’ cultural border crossing experiences with some Foundation program faculty, finding that those teachers who developed a classroom culture based on Kleinfeld’s (1975) notion of ‘warm demandingness’ and caring rapport-building appeared to have the most positive impact upon the students. Implications from this research have the potential to positively impact both the student and faculty classroom experience in the Gulf tertiary classroom, in addition to improving overall student retention rates.
The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the needs to understand the barrier and determinant factors in knowledge sharing (KS), to find the common ones and subsequently to build…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the needs to understand the barrier and determinant factors in knowledge sharing (KS), to find the common ones and subsequently to build a general framework that can be referred to in designing a KS tool that addresses the common factors.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach comprises of two major steps which are to survey the past literature to determine the most common barriers and determinant factors from various unique KS domains and to qualify the factor as the common one based on its presence in at least three to five KS domains. The grounded theory is used to analyze the past literature and to perform categorization.
Findings
This paper helps in the summarization of categories and subcategories of barriers and determinants and demonstration on the mapping between them.
Research limitations/implications
This paper has not proved the actual use of the framework in building a KS tool based on the framework.
Practical implications
The common factors are based on at least 60 references of KS implementation such that it is useful for large area of application domains that require building KS tools.
Originality/value
This paper presents the understanding on the common factors and association between the barriers and determinants in building the general framework in which the application of the framework is demonstrated using actor network theory.
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Mohamed Hamour, Mohammad Hassan Shakil, Ishaq Mustapha Akinlaso and Mashiyat Tasnia
This paper aims to analyse the concept of form over substance and introduces the term substance gap to the literature. The substance gap is defined as the difference between the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyse the concept of form over substance and introduces the term substance gap to the literature. The substance gap is defined as the difference between the way a concept is expressed and its intended result. Besides, the study investigates the issue from both classical and contemporary viewpoints.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology adopted in this paper is descriptive research.
Findings
This paper has depicted the substance gap in contemporary contracts and found that form is equally important as substance in Islamic finance contracts. This paper offers a fresh outlook on form and substance to highlight the importance of the issue and its significance. The findings of the study will help researchers address the issue at its roots and help them to bridge the gap between the form and substance of Islamic finance contracts.
Originality/value
This paper investigates the substance gap in contemporary contracts that exists between the fiqh rules and conditions of an Islamic contract, and their development and construction. Further, the gap could also be attributed to the pressure to cope with a complicated modern finance environment.
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Mohammad A.A. Zaid, Man Wang and Sara T.F. Abuhijleh
The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the deeply rooted relationships between corporate governance (CG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure as two…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the deeply rooted relationships between corporate governance (CG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure as two complementary mechanisms used by companies to reinforce the link with stakeholders and whether the extent of CSR disclosures made by Palestinian non-financial-listed companies during the period from 2013 to 2016 is associated with CG practices.
Design/methodology/approach
Content analysis technique was used to extract and measure CSR information from annual reports of 33 companies listed on the Palestine Stock Exchange (PEX). Therefore, CSR disclosure index was constructed using 32 items divided into four categories as a measure of the extent of CSR disclosure in the firm’s annual reports. OLS regression was performed to test the association between CG and the extent of CSR disclosure in this longitudinal study.
Findings
Panel data reveal that the level of CSR reporting has slightly increased over the study period. Further, the results also show that the level of CSR disclosure is positively and significantly affected by board size and independence, while gender diversity has a positive but statistically insignificant influence. Additionally, CEO duality is negatively and significantly correlated with CSR disclosures.
Research limitations/implications
The study designs are limited to the Palestinian non-financial-listed firms. Furthermore, the generalisation of the findings might be restricted solely to the listed companies working in similar socioeconomic status.
Practical implications
The findings of this study can draw policy-makers’ attention in developing countries, particularly in the Arab world, to meet the increasing need for updating the regulatory and institutional framework in the vein of CG reform and the related regulatory policies to promote the efficiency of CSR practices.
Social implications
More efforts should be made to strengthen the awareness of the Palestinian listed companies of the advantages of CSR reporting on social reality. Thus, from a management perspective, companies have to take equally into account the financial and social outcomes of CSR activities.
Originality/value
Empirical evidence on the nexus between CG and CSR disclosure from countries affected by socio-political instability is extremely limited. This study bridges this research gap and contributes theoretically and practically to the CSR literature by providing empirical evidence from a developing country with a unique business environment.
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Imed Medhioub and Mustapha Chaffai
The purpose of this paper is to examine the herding behavior in GCC Islamic stock markets.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the herding behavior in GCC Islamic stock markets.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors followed the methodology developed by Chiang and Zheng (2010) to test herding behavior. Cross-sectional tests have been considered in this paper. The authors use both OLS and GARCH estimations to examine herding behavior by using a sample of GCC Islamic stock markets.
Findings
By applying monthly data for the period between January 2006 and February 2016 for five Islamic GCC stock returns (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE), results suggest a significant evidence of herd behavior in Saudi and Qatari Islamic stock markets only. When the authors take into account the existence of asymmetry in herd behavior between down- and up-market periods, evidence of herding behavior during down market periods in the case of Qatar and Saudi Arabia was found. In addition, the authors found that Kuwaiti and Emirates Islamic stock markets herd with the local conventional stock market, showing the interdependencies between Islamic and conventional markets.
Research limitations/implications
In this paper, the authors found an absence of herding behavior in some Islamic stock markets (Bahrain, Kuwait and Emirates). This is not the result of Shariah guidelines in these Islamic markets, but this is mainly due to the weak oscillations of returns which are very close to zero. In our future research, the authors could apply daily data and compare the results to those obtained in this paper by using monthly data.
Originality/value
This paper provides a practical framework in order to analyze the herding behavior concept for GCC Islamic stock markets. Its originality consists of linking the herding behavior to ethics and morality to verify whether the properties and guidelines of Islam are respected in Islamic stock markets. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other paper has treated the case of herding behavior in Islamic stock markets and taking into account the possible influence of the conventional market on the Islamic stock market that may impact herding behavior.
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Ayssar Nahle, Fadoua El-Hajjaji, Abdeslam Ghazoui, Nour-Eddine Benchat, Mustapha Taleb, Rafik Saddik, Abdelmalik Elaatiaoui, Mohammed Koudad and Belkheir Hammouti
The purpose of this paper is to study the inhibition effect of (6-phenyl-3-oxopyridazin-2-yl) acetohydrazide (GP4) on the corrosion of mild steel in acidic medium by gravimetric…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the inhibition effect of (6-phenyl-3-oxopyridazin-2-yl) acetohydrazide (GP4) on the corrosion of mild steel in acidic medium by gravimetric measurements, potentiodynamic polarization, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS).
Design/methodology/approach
Weight loss measurements, potentiodynamic tests and EIS were performed during this study.
Findings
(6-phenyl-3-oxopyridazin-2-yl) acetohydrazide (GP4) was found to be a very efficient inhibitor for mild steel in 1.0 M HCl solution, reaching about 85 per cent with inhibitor concentration 1.0 × 10-3 M at 303 K.
Practical implications
(6-phenyl-3-oxopyridazin-2-yl) acetohydrazide (GP4) was found to play an important role in the corrosion inhibition of mild steel in acidic solution.
Originality/value
This paper is intended to be added to the family of pyridazine derivatives which are highly efficient inhibitors and can be used in the area of corrosion prevention and control.