In this research work, we formulate the phenomena of the financial system in the fractional framework to describe the complex nature of finance. The basic definitions and ideas of the Caputo-Fabrizio fractional operator are listed. We introduce a novel numerical technique for the dynamical behaviour of our fractional model. The oscillatory and chaotic behaviour of the model is studied with the variation of various input parameters on the model. We have shown that there exists strong oscillatory and chaotic behaviour in (...) the system; moreover, we highlighted the impact of fractional-order parameter on the model. The conditions for the local complex behaviour of the system are analyzed with the impact of certain parameters on the macroeconomic. Our findings suggest that the values of initial conditions, fractional order, and input parameters can lessen the chaos of the proposed financial system. (shrink)

In this paper, a positive organizational ethics -based framework is informed by the microfinance and socially responsible investing movements to capture the process of sustainable financial innovations. Both of these movements are uniquely characterized by the formation of positive ethical networks to develop sustainability innovations in response to external crises. The crisis–PEN–innovation framework proposed makes four contributions to the POE literature: positions corporate sustainability through a POE lens; formalizes the PEN construction through POE theory; proposes PENs are mobilized to respond (...) to external crises; and demonstrates how PENs facilitate sustainability innovations. The theoretical framework is tested using theory-guided process tracing in the sustainable banking sector to understand how sustainability innovations were realized. The findings are consistent with the crisis–PEN–innovation framework proposed. (shrink)

The Egyptian Sufi poet Mohammad ibn Sa‘îd al-Bûsîrî’s (d. 695/1296) work called Qasîdah al-Hamziyah, in which he tells the life of the Prophet, has attracted great attention in Muslim societies. The eulogy, which is met with interest by scholars dealing with the field of poetry and literature, is a text read in daily life in mawlid, ceremonies praising the Prophet, dhikr rings in sufi lodges, hadith lesson circles, and prayers. More than a hundred commentaries, annotations, tahmis, tastir and translations have (...) been written on the work. While many of these studies on Qasîdah al-Hamziyah have been conducted by renowned scholars, there are also scholars who have worked on the eulogy but are not mentioned in biographical sources. The subject of this study is one of the commentaries written about the eulogy and whose name is not found in the biographical sources. The name of the work written by Abdullah al-Shazelî al-Bahrî is Al-Cavâhir al-Seniyye fî Sharh al-Hamziyah. In this article, information was given about the name of the work, its belonging to the author, the date of copyright, its reason, the method of commentary, its style, its content, the sources used, and its features. Also, the critical edition of the three couplets’ commentary was written as a highly representative example. (shrink)

Muslims living in England are living in a predicament. On the onehand, they have to face the reality that the laws governing the family institutionare secular in nature. This poses a threat to their identity and freedom ofreligion. On the other hand, they are commanded by Islam to settle theirdisputes according to its laws and principles. However, this is unrealistic,simply due to the fact that the only recognized legal system in England isthe English Law. To circumvent this situation, certain Muslim (...) scholars andcommunities have established quasi-judicial courts, acting in the capacity ofmediators, counsellors, arbitrators and even judges, in order to settle maritaldisputes. These courts, known as Shariah councils, provide a modern approachto alternative dispute resolution, whereby Muslim families and individualscan have their disputes resolved amicably. It was also set up as a response forMuslims to adapt to life under the English secular laws in which they live in,that do not afford them the right of having a Sharʑah-based institution. Onesuch Shariah council offering a modern approach to settling marital disputesamicably is the Islamic Council of Europe. The researcher conducted anin-depth interview with the said council and was able to collect a couple ofarbitrational cases and analysed them in order to give a better understandinginto its inner workings, its structural set-up and operation. Hence, this paperaims to critically and juristically analyse them from an Islamic legal maximperspective while taking the Muslim minority context into consideration. (shrink)

Muslims in the U.S. are increasingly looking to integrate into its society while trying not to lose their identity as Muslims. They find themselves in a dilemma when it comes to the issue of congratulating and even partaking in the festivals of non-Muslims in the U.S. This issue has gained prominence and momentum after the event of 9-11, in which the Muslims wanted to show and prove their tolerance and acceptance towards others while trying to hold onto and maintain the (...) core principles of Islam. For this reason, this topic is a hotly debated issue in the U.S. and the West in general and a cause of division and confusion amongst Muslims. However, in order to justify their position and feel that they are following the teachings of Islam, they turned to the Islamic scholars, both in the West and the Muslim world, regarding the permissibility or prohibition of congratulating and partaking in non-Muslim festivals. This paper employs a qualitative methodology to analyse the fatāwā of permissibility and its effects on the Muslims living as minorities in the U.S. This qualitative method will give readers an insight, through a questionnaire that was conducted by the researchers, into how the Muslims in the U.S. perceive the issue of congratulating and/or partaking in the religious festivals of the non-Muslims. (shrink)

In this empirical study, we present two new models that are corporate ethics based. The first model numerically quantifies the corporate value index (CV-Index) based on a set of predefined parameters and the second model estimates the market-to-book values of equity in relation to the CV-Index as well as other parameters. These models were applied to Canadian companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Through our analysis, we found statistically significant evidence that corporate values (CV-Index) positively correlated with firm (...) performance. The results are even more significant for firms with low market-to-book values. Our empirical findings suggest that corporate ethics is vital for management, employees, shareholders, stakeholders, and the community at large. In addition, we have tested and confirmed five hypotheses that are used to illustrate corporate ethics behavior and performance. (shrink)

The canonical view of a 3‐domain (3D) tree of life was recently challenged by the discovery of Asgardarchaeota encoding eukaryote signature proteins (ESPs), which were treated as missing links of a 2‐domain (2D) tree. Here we revisit the debate. We discuss methodological limitations of building trees with alignment‐dependent approaches, which often fail to satisfactorily address the problem of ‘‘gaps.’’ In addition, most phylogenies are reconstructed unrooted, neglecting the power of direct rooting methods. Alignment‐free methodologies lift most difficulties but require employing (...) realistic evolutionary models. We argue that the discoveries of Asgards and ESPs, by themselves, do not rule out the 3D tree, which is strongly supported by comparative and evolutionary genomic analyses and vast genomic and biochemical superkingdom distinctions. Given uncertainties of retrodiction and interpretation difficulties, we conclude that the 3D view has not been falsified but instead has been strengthened by genomic analyses. In turn, the objections to the 2D model have not been lifted. The debate remains open. Also see the video abstract here: https://youtu.be/-6TBN0bubI8. (shrink)

Özet Dini bilginin temel kaynağı olan Kur’an ve Sünnet’in Peygamberimizden bize haber yoluyla intikal ettiği hususu izahtan vârestedir. Rasûlullâh demek, Allah’tan aldığı bilgiyi insanlara ileten elçi, haberci demektir. Bu nedenle Peygamberlerden bize ulaşan dini bilgiye de haber ya da haber-i resûl denilmiştir. Rasûlullâh’tan teşrî’ ile ilgili gelen her haber, duyanlar ve tevâtür yoluyla ulaşılanlar için bila şek vela ihtilâf, kesinkes doğru ve bağlayıcıdır. Ancak bazı haberlerin Rasûlullâh’a nisbeti kesin olmadığı için ya da nisbeti kesin olsa da delâleti kesin olmadığı için (...) o haberlerin ifade ettiği bilgi de kesin değil, zannîdir. Kimi güdümlü veya meselenin mâhiyetinden bihaber bazı kişilerin; dinde zanla amel edilmez gibi temelsiz iddialarını bir tarafa bırakacak olursak, zannî bilgi, kesin bilgi mucibince bağlayıcıdır. Zannî bilginin, birden çok ihtimal barındırıp ictihad alanı olması bu durumu değiştirmez. Nitekim furû-i fıkhın çoğu zannî bilgi ifade eden haber-i vâhid ve ictihada mebnidir. İctihad, İslam hukukunun çok geniş bir alanını kapsamaktadır. Âmil durumda olduğu kıyas başta olmak üzere mesâlih-i mürsele, istihsan, sedd-i zerayi, sahâbe kavlinin delil değeri, istıshab, istıslah ve örfü de göz önüne aldığımızda karşımıza devasa bir alan çıkmaktadır. Bu kadar büyük bir alanı kapsayan ve böylesine ehemmiyetli bir konunun her türlü ilgi, alaka ve araştırmayı hak ettiğini düşünüyoruz. Sınırlı naslarla, sınırsız ihtiyaç ve sorunlara çözüm bulabilmenin yegâne yolu ictihattır. Aynı zamanda ictihat, İslam’ın kıyamete kadar her çağda ve her toplumda yaşanabilmesinin de temelidir. Dolayısıyla Zannî bilgiyi ve ictihadı reddetmek, İslam hukukunu sosyal yaşamdan çekmek demektir. Bu çalışmada, zannî bilginin tanımına, kapsamına, delil değerine, ictihadın tanımına, zanniyâtlarda ictihad edebilmenin delillerine, ictihad edebilme ehliyetine, zannî bilginin ve ictihadın reddi durumunda ortaya çıkacak sonuçlara yer verilmiştir. (shrink)

Since 2005, Malaysia has established several biobanks to keep in line with the advancement of biomedical research and development of biobanks in other countries such as the UK and the USA. Despite the establishment of several biobanks in Malaysia, little is known about the informed consent approach in biobanking research and its ethical challenges. This study aims to identify the approach in obtaining informed consent in the Malaysian biobanking for research and explore its ethical challenges. Using non-probability purposive sampling, an (...) in-depth interview with the key informants was conducted in Klang Valley. Based on the interviews, broad consent is the main approach used in obtaining informed consent in biobanking for research in Malaysia and five major ethical challenges were identified. These challenges include the informants’ opinion on the current informed consent approach, understanding participants’ rights, the role of the research ethics committee, biobanking governance in Malaysia, and informants’ knowledge and awareness. In summary, there is a lack of understanding among those involved in biobanking on the ethical, legal, and social aspects of biobanking for research in Malaysia. (shrink)

Unfounded—conspiracy and health—beliefs about COVID-19 have accompanied the pandemic worldwide. Here, we examined cross-nationally the structure and correlates of these beliefs with an 8-item scale, using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. We obtained a two-factor model of unfounded (conspiracy and health) beliefs with good internal structure (average CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.04), but a high correlation between the two factors (average latent factor correlation = 0.57). This model was replicable across 50 countries (total N = 13,579), (...) as evidenced by metric invariance between countries (CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMS = 0.07) as well as scalar invariance across genders (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03) and educational levels (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03). Also, lower levels of education, more fear of COVID-19, and more cynicism were weakly associated with stronger conspiracy and health beliefs. The study contributes to knowledge about the structure of unfounded beliefs, and reveals the potential relevance of affective (i.e., fear of COVID-19) and cognitive (i.e., cynicism) factors along with demographics, in endorsing such beliefs. In summary, we obtained cross-cultural evidence for the distinctiveness of unfounded conspiracy and health beliefs about COVID-19 in terms of their structure and correlates. (shrink)

Workplace productivity is badly affected by many negative factors such as narcissism, and sadism. In addition, paranoia and antagonism play an important role in increasing workplace incivility. Through emotional intelligence, such negative behaviors could be addressed by managers and their junior colleagues. The current study aims to investigate the parallel mediating role of paranoia, antagonism, and emotional intelligence on the relationship between narcissism, sadism, and workplace incivility. A survey approach was used. Primary data was collected in PLS-SEM. The population of (...) the study was all faculty members in higher education institutions in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region. A measurement model and structural model were developed. The measurement model demonstrated that convergent and discriminant validities were established. The structural model's findings revealed that narcissism, antagonism, and emotional intelligence were not mediated between narcissism and workplace incivility. Similarly, emotional intelligence did not play any mediating role between sadism and workplace incivility. This implied that emotional intelligence has no role in decreasing or reducing workplace uncivil behavior. (shrink)

Technology permeates all walks of life. It has emerged as a global facilitator to improve learning and training, alleviating the temporal and spatial limitations of traditional learning systems. It is imperative to identify enablers or inhibitors of technology adoption by employees for sustainable change in education management systems. Using the theoretical lens of organizational support theory, this paper studies effect of institutional support on education management information systems use along with two individual traits of self-efficacy and innovative behavior of academic (...) employees in British higher educational institutions. Data for this cross-sectional study were collected through a questionnaire completed by 591 academic employees of 23 universities from 10 cities in the United Kingdom. Partial Least Square structural equation modeling was used to analyze data with smartPLS 3.2.9 software. Results indicate that institutional support promotes self-efficacy and innovative behavior that help develop positive employee perceptions. The model explains a 52.9% variance in intention to use. Post-hoc mediation analysis shows that innovativeness and self-efficacy mediate between institutional support and employee technology adoption behavior. As opposed to student samples in past studies on educational technology, this study adds to the literature by focusing on academic employees. (shrink)

Unfounded—conspiracy and health—beliefs about COVID-19 have accompanied the pandemic worldwide. Here, we examined cross-nationally the structure and correlates of these beliefs with an 8-item scale, using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. We obtained a two-factor model of unfounded (conspiracy and health) beliefs with good internal structure (average CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.04), but a high correlation between the two factors (average latent factor correlation = 0.57). This model was replicable across 50 countries (total N = 13,579), (...) as evidenced by metric invariance between countries (CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMS = 0.07) as well as scalar invariance across genders (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03) and educational levels (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03). Also, lower levels of education, more fear of COVID-19, and more cynicism were weakly associated with stronger conspiracy and health beliefs. The study contributes to knowledge about the structure of unfounded beliefs, and reveals the potential relevance of affective (i.e., fear of COVID-19) and cognitive (i.e., cynicism) factors along with demographics, in endorsing such beliefs. In summary, we obtained cross-cultural evidence for the distinctiveness of unfounded conspiracy and health beliefs about COVID-19 in terms of their structure and correlates. (shrink)

To determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding organ donation in a selected adult population in Pakistan.

The world is looking toward organizations for social responsibility to contribute to a sustainable environment. Employees’ organizational citizenship behavior for the environment is a voluntary environmental-oriented behavior that is important for organizations’ environmental performance. Based on social learning theory, this study examined the effects of responsible leadership in connection with OCBE by using a sample of 520 employees in the manufacturing and service sectors in China including engine manufacturing, petroleum plants, banking, and insurance sector organizations. Further, the roles of psychological (...) ownership and employee environmental commitment were used as mediators and moderators simultaneously. The direct, mediation, and moderation model results exposed a positive relationship between responsible leadership and OCBE via employee psychological ownership and employee environmental commitment. The study also revealed that the indirect effect is stronger when employees hold a higher employee environmental commitment. The theoretical and practical implications for environmental sustainability in respect of organizations as well as future research directions are discussed. (shrink)

People with learning disability sometimes display challenging behaviour. This can be managed by use of antipsychotic medication or behavioural therapy or both. There is no solid evidence, however, that these therapies are safe and effective. A randomised controlled trial of antipsychotic medication has been proposed to deliver such evidence. However, this presents difficult issues in the ethics of research with learning disabled people. In particular, is a trial the most efficient and fairest way to evaluate practice in this area? This (...) paper reviews the clinical situation, gives the rationale for the trial, and analyses the ethical arguments for and against such a trial. (shrink)

Given the dearth of research examining the distinctions across various facets of employee knowledge-hiding (KH) behaviors, there is little known about why and when leadership negatively influences playing dumb and evasive hiding but positively influences rationalized hiding. The present study fills this void by hypothesizing that employee justice orientation (JO) acts as a mediator of the associations of ethical leadership (EL) with different facets of employee KH behaviors. We also propose employee conscientiousness moderates the relationship of EL with JO and (...) the indirect relationships of ethical leadership with distinct variants of employee KH behaviors. The results based on time-lagged data from 387 employees provide support for the hypothesized relationships. Together, our research provides a more nuanced account of the influence of leadership on employee KH behaviors that can facilitate the development of more appropriate interventions to deal with the intricate problems related to employee KH behaviors. (shrink)

Writing the Mughal World: Studies on Culture and Politics. Muzzafar Alam and Sanjay Subrahmanyam. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011. Pp. xviii + 516. $89.50, £62 ; $29.50, £20.50.

The study of Sufism, the mystical aspect of Islam, known as taṣawwuf to those closer to the sources and practices, has come a long way since Richard Eaton compl.

Babur: Timurid Prince and Mughal Emperor, 1483–1530 By DaleStephen Frederic, xv + 242 pp. Price PB £18.99. EAN 978–1107107267.

This article situates the work of East India Company servant Alexander Dow (1735–1779), principally his writings on the history and future state of India, in contemporary debates about empire, religion and enlightened government. To do so it offers a sustained analysis of his 1772 essay ‘A Dissertation Concerning the Origin and Nature of Despotism in Hindostan’, as well as his proposals for the restoration of Bengal, both of which played an influential part in shaping the preoccupations with Mughal history (...) that dominated the contemporary crisis in the Company’s legitimacy. By linking these texts to his earlier work on ‘Hindoo’ religion, it will argue that Dow’s analysis of the relationship between certain religious cultures and their civic qualities was rooted in a deist perspective. It doing so it restores the enlightenment components of Dow’s thought, and their impact on the ideology of empire, in a crucial period of British expansion in India. (shrink)