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This study aims to compare the nexus between donations to Islamic and conventional microfinance institutions (MFIs) and their credit risk, financial performance and social outreach.

The authors use fixed effects and two-step system generalized methods of moments models with internal instrumentation. The analysis is conducted on an international sample of 1,519 MFIs in 55 countries during 1999–2019.

Islamic MFIs receiving greater donations experience an increase in credit risk, whereas the opposite occurs among their conventional counterparts. Donations are associated with an improvement in the depth of outreach of Islamic MFIs, allowing them to serve a poorer client base, despite a simultaneous decline in the breadth of their outreach. On the other hand, donations improve both the depth and breadth of conventional MFIs outreach. Donations also exhibit a positive relation with productivity, efficiency and sustainability in conventional MFIs.

This paper addresses a gap in the literature on Islamic MFIs and their use of donor funds by examining how donations contribute to the quality of their credit portfolios, financial performance and social outreach. This study used Ahmed’s (2012, 2017, 2020, 2021) total factor productivity model to capture the impact of donations on the performance of MFIs.

Donations are found to contribute to positive financial inclusion outcomes for both Islamic and conventional MFIs, a promising implication for society and donors alike.

This paper addresses a gap in the academic literature on Islamic MFIs and their use of donor funds by examining how donations contribute to the quality of their credit portfolios, financial performance and social outreach.

The study aims to identify gender differences and similarities in the awareness of legal information resources and problems faced by legal professionals. Further, the study identifies the differences on the basis of gender, regarding the requirements in developing an online legal information system (OLIS) for the Indian environment.

The study was carried out in eight law libraries in Delhi using a structured questionnaire. Data were collected through the questionnaire having 27 questions including dichotomous (Yes/No), multiple-choice questions, rating and opinion questions. A need assessment survey was conducted using the structured questionnaire circulated among 750 respondents of eight institutions in Delhi. In total, 397 filled in questionnaires were received back. A total of 246 of the respondents were males and 151 females. The design and development of an OLIS went through five phases, i.e. preliminary preparation, designing and planning phase, development of OLIS covering preparation of software, data structures, metadata, search form, testing and implementation phase and maintenance.

The study found that 100 per cent of the female respondents were aware of online legal information resources. Maximum 28.4 per cent female respondents rated legal e-resources “very good”, whereas only 19.9 per cent male ranked them “very good”. Female respondents were found less aware about open access resources. In addition, of 246 male respondents, 213 (86.6 per cent) responded “Yes” about awareness of open access resources and 33 (13.4 per cent) marked “No”. In comparison, 116 (76.8 per cent) female respondents revealed they are aware of open access resources; 35 (23.2 per cent) were not aware of open access resources. Fifty-eight (23.6 per cent) male respondents were very dissatisfied, and 60 (24.4 per cent) completely dissatisfied. However, in contrast, 29 (19.2 per cent) female respondents were very dissatisfied and 24 (15.9 per cent) completely dissatisfied in using open access resources.

The study covers only eight institutions in Delhi, India. High courts and law universities in other parts of the country are not covered. In addition, OLIS contains a sample collection.

The study explores the inhibitions faced by female and male legal professionals. A suitable legal information system is developed to match the requirements of female legal professionals, research scholars and faculty members. The study is expected to address problems faced by female legal professionals in accessing the desired judicial and legislative information.

OLIS (www.olisindia.in) has been developed on the basis of a need assessment survey conducted on male and female legal professionals in India. No study has been conducted so far to compare the viewpoints of male and female legal professionals in India for developing an OLIS.

Seasonal influenza epidemics accounted for significant morbidity and mortality loads worldwide despite the availability of a safe vaccine as an efficient tool against severity of the disease. However, the uptake of the latter was sub-optimal. This study aims to identify predictors and barriers related to seasonal influenza vaccine uptake in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

A cross-sectional study enrolled 502 individuals attending primary healthcare centers in Bahrain for ambulatory care between July and August 2022. The data were collected using an interviews-based questionnaire which included questions on demographic data, knowledge and attitudes and practices toward influenza vaccine. The authors identified the barriers as well as the determinants of the vaccine uptake and its recommendation to others.

The mean age of participants was 35.07 years (SD = 13.9). Most of the respondents were Bahraini (86.5%) and 53.4 % were females. The results revealed that 34.1% have previous information about the influenza vaccine and 36.9% versus 69.9% are willing to receive the vaccine or advice it to others, respectively. Determinants of vaccine uptake were identified.

This study confirmed a sub-optimal influenza vaccine acceptance in the general community of Bahrain despite a global access in primary care. Health professionals need to be more proactive in mobilizing the community and particularly females toward influenza vaccination.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the structural, surface roughness and corrosion properties of the zirconium oxide thin films deposited onto SS304 substrates using the direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering technique.

DC sputtering at different powers – 80, 100 and 120 W – was used to deposit ZrO₂ thin films onto different substrates (Si/SS304) without annealing of the substrate. Atomic force microscope (AFM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Tafel extrapolation and contact angle techniques were applied to investigate the surface roughness, chemical compositions, corrosion behavior and hydrophobicity of these films.

Results showed that the thickness of the deposited film increased with power increase, while the corrosion current decreased with power increase. AFM images indicated that the surface roughness decreased with an increase in DC power. EDS analysis showed that the thin film has a stoichiometric ZrO₂ (Zr:O 1:2) composition with basic uniformity. Water contact angle measurements indicated that the hydrophobicity of the synthesized films decreased with an increase in surface roughness.

DC magnetron sputtering technique is infrequently used to deposition thin films. The obtained thin films showed good hydrophobic and anticorrosion properties. Finally, results are compared with other deposition techniques.

Halal supply chain management (HSCM) is an emerging business and research area; there is a need to motivate researchers towards exploring the links between HSCM and sustainable performance of the organisation. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop a conceptual framework in order to link the HSCM with sustainable performance.

This review based paper identifies eleven critical factors for effective management of the Halal supply chain (HSC) and provides a conceptual framework for an HSCM after due consultative inputs from experts. The exploratory paper tries to integrate success measures of HSCM through integrity, process quality and customer satisfaction to sustainable performance measures.

Halal label is considered just like a kosher label or a green label or an organic label, which provides confidence to consumers on the Halal aspect of products and services. Some part of the society thinks that Halal products carry a higher value; therefore, the industry wants to identify if HSCM is sustainable. The same is measured comprehensively through environmental performance, social performance and economic performance. Animal welfare, fair trade and perceived benefits, better quality, wholesome with ethical practices help in sustainable development.

This paper tries to contribute to the research of HSCM with sustainable performance measures being embedded in the system. The model, along with researchers, may also help managers of firms dealing with Halal products in understanding how much sustainable their organisation is. This research is from a non-Islamic, democratic country which is multicultural and has large numbers of Halal consumers.

Presented work gives comparative review of food supply chain (FSC) under various notions related to its conceptualisation, operationality and technological advancements in lieu with Industry 4.0 revolution. In Indian scenario, the impression of FSC seems in a scattered way that cannot be directly useful for an organisation, to overcome this scattering, a framework has been developed to consolidate the previous research works and exploration of new trends in food supply chain management (FSCM) in context to Indian scenario.

This article encapsulates the essence of various research articles and reports retrieved from databases of Emerald and Elsevier's Science direct, clustering the various notions related to FSC in Indian context. To visualise the one-sight view of related works, a pictorial representations have also been appended.

This article explains the general aspect of FSC and its linkage in context to Indian system. Presented work outlays both empirical and theoretical approaches trending from last 15 years. As research count in context to Indian FSC is lacking, so this work will be a road map for expedition in direction of FSCM, in era of research.

Findings and suggestion in this work can expanded in various industries related to food, helping to turn their fortune and enrichment of Indian FSC.

Food is binding word for all the commodities, and its effective supply chain management is a big boon for economy of country along with large employment generation for people directly/indirectly associated with this industry. This article covers a generalise approach from ground level framework to a level of advancement which fulfil technological aspects, future needs and upcoming trends in lieu to need of developing nation.

As limited research is done in Indian FSCM, this work to bridge this gap along with a well-defined framework which going to explore FSC. This work is going to be facilitation for researchers of this area as no major review for Indian context has not been published.

Multiplicity and conflicting Halal standards involve unnecessary repetition of testing for demonstrating the Halal integrity of the process and the product, thus making it difficult for the Halal commodities to get traction in international markets. The purpose of this paper is to suggest initiatives to facilitate harmonisation of Halal standards as to eliminate trade barrier of Halal and to assure the availability of Halal consumables to larger masses.

Ranking of the initiatives for the harmonisation of Halal standards taking in consideration the costs of accomplishment and associated benefits obtained has been done through the application of integrated Interpretive Ranking Process (IRP) and Fuzzy Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (Fuzzy TISM). This integrated methodology with the weighted criteria have refined the value of the net dominance of different variables, thereby increasing the efficacy of IRP in decision making.

Findings suggest that strengthening the strategic coordination and collaboration among competent HCBs is a significant initiative. This initiative needs to be undertaken to mitigate the conflict between HCBs. This necessitates to develop a common platform in making the collective decision for effectively controlling Halal businesses. Moreover, recognising competent HCBs will prompt the effective implementation and execution of Halal standards across the supply chain, and ease the global trading of Halal products. A framework has been conceptualised to enable harmonisation of Halal standards which intimates to develop globally agreed protocols for Halal practices.

The framework presented may act as a prelude to harmonise Halal standards and may positively affect the international trade of Halal commodities by phasing out the discriminatory and market-impeding standards.

A harmonised system may provide correct information to the stakeholders and may help in making an informed decision.

The purpose of this paper is to review the agriculture supply chain (ASC) literature along many dimensions which include but are not restricted to scope, objective, wastages, driver, obstacle, outcome, etc.

In total, 203 relevant and scholarly articles of various researchers and practitioners during 2000-2016 were reviewed. The information related to definition, research methodology, global research spread, supply chain strategy, various types of produce, author profile and year of publication of ASC were collected and analysed.

The information related to empirical research and viewpoint of various ASC drivers were captured, studied and analysed in detail. Although inventory policy, demand forecasting and ASC integration were found to be important areas of ASC, they were less focused, studied and researched.

Mainly post-harvest ASC of different agricultural produces were considered whereas products such as dairy, fishery and meat supply chains were not included in the study.

The paper provides an insight into various aspects of ASC in general and one can get a deeper and richer knowledge on it which will help in formulating effective strategies to design of an effective and efficient ASC. It uncovers the research gaps for the new future research paths. This systemic review is strongly felt to fill the gap in the ASC literature.

Motivated by the apparent presence of the “productivity paradox” of information technology (IT) in agri-food supply chain (SC), the purpose of this paper is to explore how IT capabilities affect agri-food supply chain performance (SCP). Specifically, this paper investigates the direct and indirect impacts of IT capabilities on agri-food SCP through interorganizational relationships.

This paper employs the questionnaire survey method based on relevant literatures. Data are collected from Chinese 265 core firms' agri-food SC. Structural equation modelling (SEM) is mainly employed for hypothesis testing and analysis.

The main findings are as follows. First, IT capabilities have significant direct impact on agri-food SCP. Second, IT capabilities enhance interorganizational relationships in the agri-food SC. Third, interorganizational relationships positively influence agri-food SCP. Last, interorganizational relationships are important path factors and mediate the indirect impact of IT capabilities on agri-food SCP.

This research is limited to a particular sample, that is, agriculture-related firms in Chinese agri-food SC. The results need to be generalized to encompass wider samples. Future research could in greater detail study the links among IT capabilities, interorganizational relationships and agri-food SCP.

The study's findings could provide practical reference value for agriculture-related firms to design appropriate strategies to solve the IT “productivity paradox” and improve agri-food SCP from the perspectives of IT capabilities and interorganizational relationships.

This paper constructs a newly developed framework based on the resource-based view (RBV) and relational view to examine the links among IT capabilities, interorganizational relationships and agri-food SCP, and innovatively verifies the mediating effect of interorganizational relationships on the impact of IT capabilities on agri-food SCP.