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Commercial and Islamic banks are important players in the UAE financial market. However, little is known about their financial distress because these financial institutions usually resolve financial distress within their own organisations, which means that outsiders cannot explicitly observe distress. The purpose of the research is therefore to identify the main drivers of financial institutions' financial distress.

The paper estimates a probability distress prediction model using the BankScope Database and the annual reports of UAE financial institutions submitted to UAE Security Exchange Authority. The paper also analyses the impact of macroeconomic information for forecasting financial institutions' financial distress.

The fundamentals of financial institutions in terms of cost income ratio, equity to total assets, total asset growth and ratio of loan loss reserve to gross loans (all these variables with a lag of one year) positively impacted the probability of financial distress in the next year. Recent findings for emerging economies have cast some doubt on the usefulness of macroeconomic information for financial institutions' risk assessment. Similar results are found for UAE financial institutions in predicting the probability of financial distress.

This is the first study to provide empirical evidence on the drivers of financial distress of commercial and Islamic banks in UAE during 2000‐2008, and to examine the extent of the financial distress that can be can be attributed to internal bank‐specific fundamental factors and external factors in the economy.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of global Moslem consumers on consuming halal products in international chain restaurants. The hypotheses are proposed based on the integration of theory of planned behavior (TPB) and identity theory–religiosity.

The survey method was used to test the proposed hypotheses by using PLS. A total of 296 out of 407 questionnaires were collected among global Moslem students in a big city of Indonesia.

The results indicate that perceived behavioral control and religiosity is the significant predictor of the intention to consume halal products in international chain restaurants. Surprisingly, attitudes toward halal products and subjective norms have no significant effects on their intention.

This study mainly investigates from international students’ perspectives, and future studies could diversify the respondents. Further, although the studies were done in the biggest Moslem populated country, conducting a multi-country study further validates the results of this study. Additional variables, such as personality or cross-cultural variables, could enhance the prediction of the developed model.

This study proposes religiosity as an important predictor of halal products consumption among global consumers, which increases the predictive capability of TPB. The results suggest that it is important for managers and governments all products targeted for global Moslem consumers to be halal certified.

This chapter focuses on discussing the Malaysian government's ‘No Plastic Bag Day’ campaign. This is due to the fact that consumers are accustomed to use plastic bag in their daily life activities. However, considering the hazardous impact on the environment, the government has banned the use of plastic bag in most of the states. While many consumers accepted this new rule whole-heartedly, many are still struggling to adopt it. This chapter highlights its journey of implementation and challenges pertaining to this sustainability marketing campaign in Malaysia.

Energy consumption in transportation accounted for over 29% of total final consumption (TFC) of energy and 65% of global oil usage, and it is highly connected to mobility. Mobility is essential for access to day-to-day activities such as education, leisure, healthcare, business activities, and commercial and industrial operations. This study examines the energy consumption for the transport industry, and the level of renewable energy development in some selected Sub-Saharan African (SSA) nations. This study relied on previous publications of government, reports and articles related to the subject matter. Vehicle ownership is fast increasing, particularly in cities. Still, it begins at a relatively low level because the area is home to countries with the lowest ownership rates worldwide. In its current state, the energy sector faces significant challenges such as inadequate and poorly maintained infrastructure, dealing with increasing traffic congestion in cities, large-scale imports of used vehicles with poor emission standards that affect air quality in cities, a lack of safe and formally operated public transportation systems, and inadequate consideration for women and disabled mobility needs. Motorcycle and tricycle are dominating the rural areas, accounting for a substantial amount of this growth. Aviation is the largest non-road user of energy, and this trend is predicted to continue through 2040 as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grows and urbanisation expands. This study revealed the energy consumption for the transport industry, and the level of renewable energy development in some selected SSA. Rail and navigation lag behind current global levels. The usage of biofuel and rail transport was recommended.

There is a misconception that Hajj and Umarah is just a worship matter and the consequences of suspending these religious gathering due to the pandemic is only limited to delay of going Saudi Arabia to perform it. However, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the impact of the pandemic in Hajj and Umrah by exploring its impact on different stakeholders affecting its disruption due to the pandemic.

This is a library-based study that uses qualitative method to explore the impact of COVID-19 on Hajj and Umrah. Thus, provisions of Quran and hadith on Hajj and Umrah were examined as primary data for the research to establish the importance of the rituals in Islam. Guidelines set by Hajj regulators and instruments enabling them in that behalf were examined likewise. In addition, content analyses were made of relevant secondary data from published sources including articles, books, newspapers and web resources that embody scholarly, scientific and religious views on the issue being studied.

It is realised that in the first year of the pandemic, while Umrah is entirely suspended, Hajj was scaled back and performed by 10,000 people altogether, a tiny segment of the over two and half million that partook in the ritual previously. Hajj and Umrah have been greatly inhibited and jeopardised by the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in religious, social, economic, psychological effects on the eligible but affected Muslims and Muslims countries. Along these lines, recommendations were accordingly proffered on the way forward to better Hajj and Umrah management.

It is anticipated that the findings of the research would assist policy makers to comprehend the impact of the pandemic on Hajj and Umrah to ensure that the policies they make in this regard would adequately cover every aspect affecting the stakeholders which is deliberated in this research. It is also expected that the recommendations provided in this paper will assist stakeholders of Hajj and Umrah to grasp the importance of taking precautions for any crisis similar to COVID-19 when it happens.

Although there are several established frameworks for health and safety in construction, there are inadequate health and safety conditions at informal construction sites, and no framework has been designed to address this problem. The purpose of this paper is to develop a validated framework for health and safety risk management (HSRM) in informal construction sites with the aim of supporting Sustainable Development Goals 3, 8 and 11 of the 2030 Agenda, which are to ensure everyone enjoys a healthy life and to create inclusive, secure, robust and sustainable cities and human settlements, respectively.

The study is based on HSRM questionnaire survey and interviews with construction workers working on informal construction sites in Tanzania. A total of 13 health and safety specialists in construction were specifically chosen to validate the proposed framework for HSRM in informal construction to determine its applicability, efficacy and adaptation.

The validation results demonstrated that all of the suggested metrics within the framework for HSRM in informal construction scored higher than the test value, proving the framework’s feasibility

This research adds to the body of knowledge on the issue in a never-before-seen setting. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first empirical study in Tanzania to develop and validate a framework for HSRM in informal construction.

This study investigates the dynamic interdependence between Islamic and conventional stock markets in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies and the influence of global financial uncertainties on this interconnection.

The study employs the time-varying parameter vector autoregressions (TVP-VAR) technique and analyzes daily data from December 1, 2008 to July 14, 2021.

The research reveals robust interconnectedness within individual countries between Islamic and conventional stock markets, particularly during crises. Islamic stock markets exhibit greater susceptibility to spillover effects compared to conventional stocks. The UAE and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) stock markets are identified as net transmitters of spillovers, while Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait receive more spillovers than they transmit. Global financial uncertainty measures (GVZ, USEPU and UKEPU) positively influence financial market interconnectedness, with EVZ exhibiting a negative impact while VIX and OVX remain statistically insignificant.

Investors and portfolio managers in Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait should carefully evaluate the UAE and KSA markets before making investment decisions due to the latter's role as net transmitters in the region. Additionally, it is emphasized that Islamic and conventional stocks should not be considered interchangeable asset classes for risk hedging.

Investors must be aware that Islamic and conventional stocks cannot be used as an alternative asset class to hedge risk.

The present article offers valuable insights for practitioners and researchers delving into the comparative analysis of Islamic and conventional stock markets within the GCC context. It enhances our comprehension of the dynamic interdependence between Islamic and conventional stock markets in the GCC economies and the impact of global financial uncertainties on this intricate relationship.

This study aims to provide a comprehensive bibliometric investigation of the antecedents to financial stability in Islamic banking, a transition economy with a volatile stock market focusing on banks following the Shariah approach.

The data for this analysis was extracted from the Scopus database, which combines a comprehensively crafted abstract and citation database with augmented data and linked scholarly works across various disciplines. It quickly finds relevant research and provides access to reliable data and analytical tools. This study deploys “bibliometrix 3.0,” a biblioshiny R-package for influential structure and the VOS viewer for intellectual structure.

The investigation’s main findings revealed that 1,910 documents were published from 1987 to 2022. Published manuscripts received 39,050 citations, with an average of 10.18 citations per year. However, the instructed empirical research was experienced during 2009 and 2020, while earlier periods (1987–2008) were relatively inactive where banking was considered protective in the presence of BASEL-II capital accords regulations. While the International Journal of Bank Market has been at the top of the list to publish articles related to the area under investigation, the Journal of Banking and Finance is ranked one of the most cited articles. Malaysia has been at the top of the list of countries to research Islamic Sharia compliance principles in the banking industry, and International Islamic University Malaysia has produced enough evidence in this regard. The intellectual structure provided essential foundations for future research, and the bibliometric coupling approach was used.

While most of the banking research has been conducted to determine the banking business efficiency, risk and profitability, little focus is given to financial stability and that too concerning the Islamic banks. Therefore, researchers need to investigate this horizon from an Islamic banking point of view and focus on key issues that discriminate between Islamic and conventional banks in determining their stability level.

Briefly, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study would be the first to provide bibliometric information about financial stability keeping in view the sample data from banks with the Shariah approach. Furthermore, the proven analysis demonstrates a novel contribution that financially stable Islamic banks might strengthen the financial industry and overall economy.

The study presented healthcare service quality, lean thinking and Six Sigma to enhance patient satisfaction. Moreover, the notion of machine learning is combined with lean service quality to bring about the fundamental benefits of predicting patient waiting time and non-value-added activities to enhance patient satisfaction.

The study applied the define, measure, analyze, improve and control (DMAIC) method. In the define phase, patient expectation and perception were collected to measure service quality gaps, whereas in the measure phase, quality function deployment (QFD) was employed to measure the high-weighted score from the patient's voice. The root causes of the high weighted score were identified using a cause-and-effect diagram in the analysis phase.

The study employed a random forest, neural network and support vector machine to predict the healthcare patient waiting time to enhance patient satisfaction. Performance comparison metrics such as root-mean-square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and R2 were accessed to identify the predictive model accuracy. From the three models, the prediction performance accuracy of the support vector machine model is better than that of the neural network and random forest models to predict the actual data.

Lean service quality improvement using DMAIC, QFD and machine learning techniques can be generalized to predict patient waiting times. This study provides better realistic insights into patient expectations by announcing waiting times to enable data-driven service quality deliveries.

Prior studies lack lean service quality, Six Sigma and waiting time prediction to reduce healthcare waste. This study proposes lean service quality improvement through lean Six Sigma (LSS), i.e. DMAIC and machine learning techniques, along with QFD and cause-and-effect diagram.