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This paper examines the factors which impact the behavioral intentions toward cryptocurrency based on signaling theory.

Data were collected through online questionnaire, and responses from 223 individuals in Lebanon were analyzed through SEM technique using Amos 24.

The outcomes portrayed the positive effect of perceived benefits and trust in cryptocurrency on behavioral intentions toward cryptocurrency; while not supporting the hypothesized influence of herd behavior and regulatory support.

This paper is among the first studies to adopt Signaling Theory (ST) in the cryptocurrency behavioral intentions research. Moreover, it is of the initial efforts in Lebanon and Middle East in evaluating behavioral intentions to use cryptocurrency, and it provide insights for future researchers, crypto project owners, crypto investors and crypto trading platforms.

The purpose of this paper is to draw a map of the general features of epistemological and critical concerns in contemporary Islamic philosophy. This study will not be confined to the domain of academic philosophy or to those who are professionals in the field of philosophy.

The paper adopted the critical rational approach in dealing with contemporary Islamic philosophy in the Arab world. The scope will include scholars from different fields of epistemology who tried to present a “vision” of the attitude that should be adopted in facing the challenges of the age and the problems of the nation on the epistemological level or the political, economic and social levels.

There is a need for a philosophy of action and progress rather than a philosophy that is based on abstract ideas and theories and of words/rhetoric. The ethics required to accomplish this ought to identify the attributes of the citizen who can reach self-actualization through legitimate means based on a progress agenda with theoretical and philosophical foundations.

Because a critical rational approach can be dealt with from different perspectives, this paper will adopt the classification of the principal intellectual trends: the reformist, secular and liberal.

This paper covers a long time span to determine whether the philosophical projects have been effective.

This paper, which criticizes the philosophic projects that are theoretically unsound and that do not address real social problems (like poverty), argues the need for a philosophy of progress and action. This will lead to devising an agenda that addresses the challenges the society is facing and to finding alternative and creative solutions resulting in development.

Islamic finance is an alternative approach of financial intermediation based on risk-sharing and asset-backed operations, which evolved substantially in recent years in academic research raising the need for quantitative studies to address the intellectual development and scientific performance of this field. This study aims to provide quantitative statistics and comprehensive review of the key influential and intellectual structure of Islamic finance literature.

The authors apply the trending and cutting-edge quali-quantitative approach of bibliometric citation analysis. This study reviews 1,940 English studies and review papers published in scientific journals indexed by the Scopus database from 1983 to 2019. RStudio, VOSviewer and Excel’s software are used to analyze the collected data and apply the bibliometric tests.

The results identify the leading academic authors, journals, institutions and countries with relation to Islamic finance. The authors also propose six main research themes in this field, which are as follows: Islamic finance – fundamentals, growth and legitimacy; customer’s attitude and perception toward Islamic finance; accounting and social reporting of Islamic finance; performance and risk management of Islamic finance; Islamic financial markets; and efficiency of Islamic financial institutions. Lastly, the authors identify research gaps in the existing Islamic finance literature and present 24 future research directions.

The data in this study is confined only to the Scopus database of English papers and reviews. It also considers papers directly related to the field of Islamic finance.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first to address the literature of Islamic finance from a bibliometric aspect. The results of this study along with future research questions will help researchers and practitioners to further explore and stand on firm quantitative bases regarding the scientific development of Islamic finance.

The paper aims to clarify the effect of boriding on the corrosion behavior and mechanical properties of AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel.

The commercially available steel was subjected to a boriding treatment with Ekabor III powders at temperatures of 1,223-1,273 K with boriding durations of 2-4 h. Microstructural characterization of the steel was carried out with optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analyses. Static immersion corrosion tests were made using a 10 percent H₂SO₄ acid solution and salt spray tests were carried out in accord with the ASTM B-117 standard.

Grain boundary precipitation of carbides was observed in the transition zone beneath the boride layers. The corrosion resistance of the steel against the acid solution increased to about seven times its untreated value with the boriding treatment.

The boride coating improved the corrosion resistance of the AISI 304 stainless steel against acidic media, but suffered from spalling in the salt spray test. Future work will focus on improving the adhesion between the coating and the substrate by changing the parameters for the boriding process.

Pack boriding is a simple, environmentally friendly coating process and can be recommended for use in small and medium enterprises. The boride coatings deposited have potential in further improving the wear and corrosion resistance of stainless steels.

The outcome of the research is of great importance for the industry using wear- and corrosion-resistant coatings.

This paper aims to investigate the role of demographics and sector type in determining consumer preferences of Islamic micro-credit products, namely, Musharka and Murabha, versus conventional micro-credit financing in Egypt.

This research is a quantitative study that uses surveys on 1,125 current micro-credit consumers in Cairo and Upper Egypt using multi-staged cluster sampling technique. Descriptive and inferential analyses were used to explain results.

The study revealed the potential of Musharka mode of financing among micro-credit borrowers in Egypt, specifically in the manufacturing sector, followed by the trade sector. Although previous researches showed correlations between income, age and other demographic factors with consumer financing choices, the current research indicated no significance for consumer demographics in determining preferences of Islamic micro-credit contracts in Egypt. However, the sector type showed high potential in determining consumer choices of Islamic micro-credit contracts.

This paper advances knowledge in the domain of consumer behavior, specifically in bottom of the pyramid and subsistence markets that are under researched.

The results highlighted are important for micro-finance institutions, NGOs and policy makers, as they delve deeper into the consumer preferences for Islamic financial products and attempt to present innovative solutions toward poverty eradication.

This research is one of the few attempts to study and explain consumer preferences toward Islamic micro-credit products in Egypt, and the role of sectors in determining consumer choices for specific Islamic micro-credit contracts.

This paper aims to investigate the association between board gender diversity and bank risk taking in an emerging market context.

The association between female board directorship and bank risk taking is examined, while controlling for board characteristics, managerial, concentrated, family and government ownership. Two-stage regression with instrumental variables is used for a sample of banks listed in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries during 2002-2014.

Results show that banks with more female board directors invest in less risky positions; the association is attenuated when the regulatory capital is larger, providing protection against risky investments, and female directors tend to invest less in risky asset positions in Islamic banks relative to conventional banks.

The relevance of the findings stems from the recent initiatives undertaken by the Basel Committee to address deficient corporate governance structures that lead to bank breakdowns and the diversified economy of the fast-growing GCC market, relying on banking services in the aftermath of the oil price drop.

This paper provides novel evidence on the influence of board gender diversity on bank risk taking in an emerging market context. This paper fills a gap in prior research by examining bank-specific regulatory capital adequacy and Islamic banking aspects.

The current analysis produces the fractional sample of non-Newtonian Casson and Williamson boundary layer flow considering the heat flux and the slip velocity. An extended sheet with a nonuniform thickness causes the steady boundary layer flow’s temperature and velocity fields. Our purpose in this research is to use Akbari Ganji method (AGM) to solve equations and compare the accuracy of this method with the spectral collocation method.

The trial polynomials that will be utilized to carry out the AGM are then used to solve the nonlinear governing system of the PDEs, which has been transformed into a nonlinear collection of linked ODEs.

The profile of temperature and dimensionless velocity for different parameters were displayed graphically. Also, the effect of two different parameters simultaneously on the temperature is displayed in three dimensions. The results demonstrate that the skin-friction coefficient rises with growing magnetic numbers, whereas the Casson and the local Williamson parameters show reverse manners.

Moreover, the usefulness and precision of the presented approach are pleasing, as can be seen by comparing the results with previous research. Also, the calculated solutions utilizing the provided procedure were physically sufficient and precise.