Dust generation is generally considered a natural process in construction sites; ergo, workers ar... more Dust generation is generally considered a natural process in construction sites; ergo, workers are exposed to health issues due to fine dust exposure during construction work. The primary activities in the execution of construction work, such as indoor concrete and mortar mixing, are investigated to interrogate and understand the critical high particulate matter concentrations and thus health threats. Two low-cost dust sensors (Sharp GP2Y1014AU0F and Alphasense OPC N2) without implementing control measures to explicitly evaluate, compare and gauge them for these construction activities were utilized. The mean exposures to PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 during both activities were 3522.62, 236.46 and 47.62 µg/m3 and 6762.72, 471.30 and 59.09 µg/m3, respectively. The results show that PM10 and PM2.5 caused during the concrete mixing activity was approximately double compared to the mortar. The Latin Hypercube Sampling method is used to analyze the measurement results and to predict the exposure ...
In total, 44.3% of particle matter 10 (PM10) is fugitive dust, and one of the main sources of fug... more In total, 44.3% of particle matter 10 (PM10) is fugitive dust, and one of the main sources of fugitive dust generation in Korea is construction work (22%). Construction sites account for 84% of the total business places that have reported fugitive dust generation. Currently, the concentration of fine dust at construction sites is being remotely monitored by government inspection agencies through IoT sensors, but it is difficult to trust that appropriate fine dust reduction measures are being taken, because contractors can avoid taking these measures by submitting false reports or photos. In addition, since the fine dust monitoring system under government management is not an open platform and centralized system, residents near construction sites encounter difficulties in accessing information about fine dust. Therefore, in this study, we designed and constructed a blockchain network model to transparently and reliably provide network participants with the information associated with...
Purpose This study aims to spotlight and explore various determinants of Islamic social reporting... more Purpose This study aims to spotlight and explore various determinants of Islamic social reporting (ISR) in Islamic banks of Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach The authors have used firm size, firm profitability, firm age, board size and board independence as determinants of ISR. The authors collected data from Islamic banks listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange for the period 2012–2019. Multiple estimation techniques, i.e. fixed effect model, random effect model and one-step difference generalized method of moment (GMM), have been applied. Findings Random effect model was found to be more robust as compared to fixed effect model and one-step difference GMM. The results reported by the random effect model, preferred among the three, show that firm size, firm profitability, firm age and board size are important determinants of ISR in Islamic banks of Pakistan, while board independence does not determine social reporting for Islamic banks in Pakistan. Although social reporting in annual...
Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management
PurposeAs humanitarian logistics (HL) functions in complicated, changing and ambiguous situations... more PurposeAs humanitarian logistics (HL) functions in complicated, changing and ambiguous situations, all people, particularly the educated youth, have to know how to control the situation and assist victims, which are best achieved through formal education and training. Teaching at university has been extensively used in the context of business logistics. However, education in HL is a poorly researched field and, consequently, this article explores education for sustainable development in HL. The study addresses the following research question: How the teaching of HL at university can help to increase HL performance (HLP) and to reduce suffering.Design/methodology/approachA covariance-based structure equation modeling (CB-SEM) is implemented on the basis of confirmatory factor analysis.FindingsThe results show that the association between the explanatory variables and the dependent variable (HLP) is mediated by sustainability, and that the teaching of HL at university plays a vital ro...
International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues
The research paper attempts to investigate the connection between Ownership Structure and Audit C... more The research paper attempts to investigate the connection between Ownership Structure and Audit Committee Effectiveness on discretionary accruals in Pakistan. This study analyzed 5 years of data over the period of 2013-2017 of 169 listed firms of the Pakistan stock exchanges (PSX). The data is panel and it is analyzed with the random-effect regression to check the association between ownership structure and audit committee effectiveness on discretionary accruals. The findings of this article show that the effectiveness of an audit committee is very instrumental in bringing down the value of discretionary accruals. This paper confirms the view that audit committee effectiveness mitigates discretionary accruals in PSX listed firms, Furthermore, this study found no clue that blocks ownership, management ownership, foreign ownership and institutional ownership constrain discretionary accruals. To the best of researchers' knowledge, this empirical study is first of its kind in Pakistan. The present research study recommended and supports the recent amendment in Pakistan Corporate Governance Code about audit committee independence and expertise in reducing discretionary accruals.
Movement analysis of human body parts is momentous in several applications including clinical dia... more Movement analysis of human body parts is momentous in several applications including clinical diagnosis and rehabilitation programs. The objective of this research is to present a low-cost 3D visual tracking system to analyze the movement of various body parts during therapeutic procedures. Specifically, a marker based motion tracking system is proposed in this paper to capture the movement information in home-based rehabilitation. Different color markers are attached to the desired joints’ locations and they are detected and tracked in the video to encode their motion information. The availability of this motion information of different body parts during the therapy can be exploited to achieve more accurate results with better clinical insight, which in turn can help improve the therapeutic decision making. The proposed framework is an automated and inexpensive motion tracking system with execution speed close to real time. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated on a d...
Organotypic hippocampal slice cultures were used to model the effects of neuroinflammatory condit... more Organotypic hippocampal slice cultures were used to model the effects of neuroinflammatory conditions following an epileptic state on functional P2X7 receptors (Rs) of subgranular zone (SGZ) neural progenitor cells (NPCs). The compound, 4-aminopyridine (4-AP), is known to cause pathological firing of neurons, consequently facilitating the release of various transmitter substances including ATP. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) both potentiated the dibenzoyl-ATP (Bz-ATP)-induced current amplitudes in NPCs, although via different mechanisms. Whereas LPS acted via promoting ATP release, IL-1β acted via its own receptor to directly influence P2X7Rs. Thus, the effect of LPS was inhibited by the ecto-ATPase inhibitor, apyrase, but not by the IL-1β antagonist, interleukin-1RA (IL-1RA); by contrast, the effect of IL-1β was inhibited by IL-1RA, but not by apyrase. Eventually, incubation with 4-AP upregulated the number of nestin/glial fibrillary acidic protein/P2X7R immuno...
This study investigates the concept of ethical value proposition. In traditional marketing theory... more This study investigates the concept of ethical value proposition. In traditional marketing theory value proposition is primarily derived from the tangible valuables goods in the economies, that is delivered through the service, which has termed goods as dominant factor of value creation. However recent studies contradicting this concept, they claim that not the goods, but service is the base and core source of value and that value is exchanged through tangible/goods. This emergent ethical value propositions provides an interesting research point to further explore the concept of ethical value propositions through relationship managers of Islamic banking perspective. A qualitative phenomenological research design and thematic analysis method has been used in this study to make sense of the experiences of 6 relationship managers about the concept. The data is collected based on purposive sampling technique which is analyzed using QSR NVIVO 12 plus software. Based on the findings of this study a novel framework of value creation cycle is developed that shows that the concept of ethical value propositions that Islamic banks offers are service based and the associated value delivery process. The competencies of bankers and customers are bases of the offered ethical value propositions. This article provides a deeper understanding of ethical value propositions of Islamic banking products using phenomenological inquiry, which has not been explored before.
Purpose - Every country needs smooth, reliable, and efficient business growth, both domestically ... more Purpose - Every country needs smooth, reliable, and efficient business growth, both domestically and internationally. Nevertheless, every country differs in terms of its legal, political, cultural, and religious environments and backgrounds, and therefore possesses specific rules and regulations for launching international business. In this context, this research presents a comparative analysis of the good faith principle of Islamic contract law with existing civil and common law. Design/methodology/approach - Descriptive and analytical research methodology was adopted in this study in which relevant materials (verses) have been collected from the Holy Quran, Islamic books, different research papers, and web sites. Findings - This analysis reveals that the good faith principle of Islamic contract law is more business friendly, comprehensive, simple, and realistic, based on honesty and fairness in a business transaction. The good faith principle of Islamic contract law covers all stages of a contract. Research implications or Originality - The good faith principle comprises the prescribed laws, religious, and cultural-backed obligations, as well as trust and fair dealing. Therefore, the good faith principles of different regions, countries, cultures, and religions need to be investigated in order to increase the efficiency of international business. This study could provide a lesson for many lawmakers.
Education is no longer safe from attacks during times of armed conflict. In many regions of the w... more Education is no longer safe from attacks during times of armed conflict. In many regions of the world, armed groups intentionally target schools, teachers and students and violate the right of children to get an education. Such is the case in Pakistan, where militant violence and continued armed conflict has disrupted the education of hundreds of thousands of children, particularly girls. The present study addresses a call for a better understanding of how non-governmental organisations (NGOs) function and contribute to peace-building and development through the provision of educational services in conflict zones. Based on field research, the study finds that in spite of challenges, NGOs have been playing a vital role in providing educational services to the conflict-affected communities. Disseminating information, solutions for resuming education, improving school enrolment, psychosocial support and promoting quality education lies at the forefront of NGOs’ battle in the tribal areas of Pakistan. However, the state needs a comprehensive policy to protect education from violent attacks. Keywords: Pakistan; education; militancy; armed conflict; peace-building; development; NGOs
Dust generation is generally considered a natural process in construction sites; ergo, workers ar... more Dust generation is generally considered a natural process in construction sites; ergo, workers are exposed to health issues due to fine dust exposure during construction work. The primary activities in the execution of construction work, such as indoor concrete and mortar mixing, are investigated to interrogate and understand the critical high particulate matter concentrations and thus health threats. Two low-cost dust sensors (Sharp GP2Y1014AU0F and Alphasense OPC N2) without implementing control measures to explicitly evaluate, compare and gauge them for these construction activities were utilized. The mean exposures to PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 during both activities were 3522.62, 236.46 and 47.62 µg/m3 and 6762.72, 471.30 and 59.09 µg/m3, respectively. The results show that PM10 and PM2.5 caused during the concrete mixing activity was approximately double compared to the mortar. The Latin Hypercube Sampling method is used to analyze the measurement results and to predict the exposure ...
In total, 44.3% of particle matter 10 (PM10) is fugitive dust, and one of the main sources of fug... more In total, 44.3% of particle matter 10 (PM10) is fugitive dust, and one of the main sources of fugitive dust generation in Korea is construction work (22%). Construction sites account for 84% of the total business places that have reported fugitive dust generation. Currently, the concentration of fine dust at construction sites is being remotely monitored by government inspection agencies through IoT sensors, but it is difficult to trust that appropriate fine dust reduction measures are being taken, because contractors can avoid taking these measures by submitting false reports or photos. In addition, since the fine dust monitoring system under government management is not an open platform and centralized system, residents near construction sites encounter difficulties in accessing information about fine dust. Therefore, in this study, we designed and constructed a blockchain network model to transparently and reliably provide network participants with the information associated with...
Purpose This study aims to spotlight and explore various determinants of Islamic social reporting... more Purpose This study aims to spotlight and explore various determinants of Islamic social reporting (ISR) in Islamic banks of Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach The authors have used firm size, firm profitability, firm age, board size and board independence as determinants of ISR. The authors collected data from Islamic banks listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange for the period 2012–2019. Multiple estimation techniques, i.e. fixed effect model, random effect model and one-step difference generalized method of moment (GMM), have been applied. Findings Random effect model was found to be more robust as compared to fixed effect model and one-step difference GMM. The results reported by the random effect model, preferred among the three, show that firm size, firm profitability, firm age and board size are important determinants of ISR in Islamic banks of Pakistan, while board independence does not determine social reporting for Islamic banks in Pakistan. Although social reporting in annual...
Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management
PurposeAs humanitarian logistics (HL) functions in complicated, changing and ambiguous situations... more PurposeAs humanitarian logistics (HL) functions in complicated, changing and ambiguous situations, all people, particularly the educated youth, have to know how to control the situation and assist victims, which are best achieved through formal education and training. Teaching at university has been extensively used in the context of business logistics. However, education in HL is a poorly researched field and, consequently, this article explores education for sustainable development in HL. The study addresses the following research question: How the teaching of HL at university can help to increase HL performance (HLP) and to reduce suffering.Design/methodology/approachA covariance-based structure equation modeling (CB-SEM) is implemented on the basis of confirmatory factor analysis.FindingsThe results show that the association between the explanatory variables and the dependent variable (HLP) is mediated by sustainability, and that the teaching of HL at university plays a vital ro...
International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues
The research paper attempts to investigate the connection between Ownership Structure and Audit C... more The research paper attempts to investigate the connection between Ownership Structure and Audit Committee Effectiveness on discretionary accruals in Pakistan. This study analyzed 5 years of data over the period of 2013-2017 of 169 listed firms of the Pakistan stock exchanges (PSX). The data is panel and it is analyzed with the random-effect regression to check the association between ownership structure and audit committee effectiveness on discretionary accruals. The findings of this article show that the effectiveness of an audit committee is very instrumental in bringing down the value of discretionary accruals. This paper confirms the view that audit committee effectiveness mitigates discretionary accruals in PSX listed firms, Furthermore, this study found no clue that blocks ownership, management ownership, foreign ownership and institutional ownership constrain discretionary accruals. To the best of researchers' knowledge, this empirical study is first of its kind in Pakistan. The present research study recommended and supports the recent amendment in Pakistan Corporate Governance Code about audit committee independence and expertise in reducing discretionary accruals.
Movement analysis of human body parts is momentous in several applications including clinical dia... more Movement analysis of human body parts is momentous in several applications including clinical diagnosis and rehabilitation programs. The objective of this research is to present a low-cost 3D visual tracking system to analyze the movement of various body parts during therapeutic procedures. Specifically, a marker based motion tracking system is proposed in this paper to capture the movement information in home-based rehabilitation. Different color markers are attached to the desired joints’ locations and they are detected and tracked in the video to encode their motion information. The availability of this motion information of different body parts during the therapy can be exploited to achieve more accurate results with better clinical insight, which in turn can help improve the therapeutic decision making. The proposed framework is an automated and inexpensive motion tracking system with execution speed close to real time. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated on a d...
Organotypic hippocampal slice cultures were used to model the effects of neuroinflammatory condit... more Organotypic hippocampal slice cultures were used to model the effects of neuroinflammatory conditions following an epileptic state on functional P2X7 receptors (Rs) of subgranular zone (SGZ) neural progenitor cells (NPCs). The compound, 4-aminopyridine (4-AP), is known to cause pathological firing of neurons, consequently facilitating the release of various transmitter substances including ATP. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) both potentiated the dibenzoyl-ATP (Bz-ATP)-induced current amplitudes in NPCs, although via different mechanisms. Whereas LPS acted via promoting ATP release, IL-1β acted via its own receptor to directly influence P2X7Rs. Thus, the effect of LPS was inhibited by the ecto-ATPase inhibitor, apyrase, but not by the IL-1β antagonist, interleukin-1RA (IL-1RA); by contrast, the effect of IL-1β was inhibited by IL-1RA, but not by apyrase. Eventually, incubation with 4-AP upregulated the number of nestin/glial fibrillary acidic protein/P2X7R immuno...
This study investigates the concept of ethical value proposition. In traditional marketing theory... more This study investigates the concept of ethical value proposition. In traditional marketing theory value proposition is primarily derived from the tangible valuables goods in the economies, that is delivered through the service, which has termed goods as dominant factor of value creation. However recent studies contradicting this concept, they claim that not the goods, but service is the base and core source of value and that value is exchanged through tangible/goods. This emergent ethical value propositions provides an interesting research point to further explore the concept of ethical value propositions through relationship managers of Islamic banking perspective. A qualitative phenomenological research design and thematic analysis method has been used in this study to make sense of the experiences of 6 relationship managers about the concept. The data is collected based on purposive sampling technique which is analyzed using QSR NVIVO 12 plus software. Based on the findings of this study a novel framework of value creation cycle is developed that shows that the concept of ethical value propositions that Islamic banks offers are service based and the associated value delivery process. The competencies of bankers and customers are bases of the offered ethical value propositions. This article provides a deeper understanding of ethical value propositions of Islamic banking products using phenomenological inquiry, which has not been explored before.
Purpose - Every country needs smooth, reliable, and efficient business growth, both domestically ... more Purpose - Every country needs smooth, reliable, and efficient business growth, both domestically and internationally. Nevertheless, every country differs in terms of its legal, political, cultural, and religious environments and backgrounds, and therefore possesses specific rules and regulations for launching international business. In this context, this research presents a comparative analysis of the good faith principle of Islamic contract law with existing civil and common law. Design/methodology/approach - Descriptive and analytical research methodology was adopted in this study in which relevant materials (verses) have been collected from the Holy Quran, Islamic books, different research papers, and web sites. Findings - This analysis reveals that the good faith principle of Islamic contract law is more business friendly, comprehensive, simple, and realistic, based on honesty and fairness in a business transaction. The good faith principle of Islamic contract law covers all stages of a contract. Research implications or Originality - The good faith principle comprises the prescribed laws, religious, and cultural-backed obligations, as well as trust and fair dealing. Therefore, the good faith principles of different regions, countries, cultures, and religions need to be investigated in order to increase the efficiency of international business. This study could provide a lesson for many lawmakers.
Education is no longer safe from attacks during times of armed conflict. In many regions of the w... more Education is no longer safe from attacks during times of armed conflict. In many regions of the world, armed groups intentionally target schools, teachers and students and violate the right of children to get an education. Such is the case in Pakistan, where militant violence and continued armed conflict has disrupted the education of hundreds of thousands of children, particularly girls. The present study addresses a call for a better understanding of how non-governmental organisations (NGOs) function and contribute to peace-building and development through the provision of educational services in conflict zones. Based on field research, the study finds that in spite of challenges, NGOs have been playing a vital role in providing educational services to the conflict-affected communities. Disseminating information, solutions for resuming education, improving school enrolment, psychosocial support and promoting quality education lies at the forefront of NGOs’ battle in the tribal areas of Pakistan. However, the state needs a comprehensive policy to protect education from violent attacks. Keywords: Pakistan; education; militancy; armed conflict; peace-building; development; NGOs
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