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The purpose of this paper is to find applicable Islamic pricing benchmarks (IPBs) instead of the market interest rates which are currently used in Islamic finance as benchmark.

The suggested model (Islamic pricing benchmark model (IPBM)) obviously reveals the feasibility and practical effectiveness of a substitute to London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and as an evaluator tool to suggested investment projects. The model is a suggested mechanism which could be used as an alternative choice to the conventional borrowing based on the forbidden Riba or on interest. The suggested IPBM depends on estimating the rate of return for any project on consideration of the cash flows in future which is expected to be relative to the invested capital.

The IPBM approach might be applied to financial tools, where the fund owner bears the loss since it is not because of negligence. An instrument to help identify the investment for target rates of return (as an alternative choice to LIBOR) to identify a breakeven point based on expected cash flows for the project to be financed instead of based on seeking the indicators of interest or Riba (as LIBOR). This feature of the IPBM model as an Islamic benchmark renders it as a Shariah pricing mechanism for the Islamic financial products.

The IPBM could be used as a financial instrument to assist in identifying the investment for the target return rates to determine a breakeven point based on expected cash flows for the project to be funded instead of being based on seeking the interest indicators or Riba (as LIBOR). This feature as an Islamic benchmark is considered as a Shariah pricing mechanism for the Islamic financial products. In particular, the proposed model incorporates the Shariah parameters. In that, it is hoped that the Islamic financial instruments will be more comprehensive in their Shariah compliance and thereby may bring more credibility to the Islamic financial system in general.

This paper highlights several important issues related to the IPBMs in Islamic financial institutions which are not widely discussed among researchers. This study contributes to finding an alternative IPB for the Islamic financial products which is currently using the conventional interest rate (LIBOR) as its benchmark. The current study provides empirical evidence for the possibility of relying on the IPBM as an Islamic benchmark to price Islamic financial transactions.

This paper aims to investigate the influence of the determinants (pricing, type of structure, Shariah auditing, Shariah risk and Shariah documentation) and the sukuk legitimacy among Islamic financial institutions using a qualitative approach. The paper further explained the significance of the determinants on legitimacy, evaluated the relationship between sukuk characteristics and sukuk legitimacy and examined the moderating effect of Shariah Supervisory Board (SSB) on the relationship.

The study used a purposive sampling technique to select the target respondents required for the survey (semi-structured interview). This technique is applied by selecting members of SSBs among Islamic financial institutions. A total number of ten members are selected as the sample size for the study based on their experience and basic knowledge of Fiqh Al-Mua’malat and its application in Islamic financial institutions.

The findings revealed that the determinants have a significant impact on the sukuk legitimacy, meaning that there is a positive and significant relationship between the determinants and the sukuk legitimacy. In addition, this study indicates the empirical evidence of the moderating effect of SSB on the relationship between the determinants and the sukuk legitimacy.

This study has added to the literature by examining the determinants of sukuk legitimacy while evaluating the moderating effect of SSB on the relationship. Besides, this might add benefits to the numerous Islamic financial institutions relating to the amendment of its regulatory frameworks with the view to pushing the sukuk market investors to move toward asset-backed structure. In addition, the SSB in central banks must also focus its attention regarding the sukuk legitimacy and its application among the various Islamic financial institutions.

This study has added a new discussion to the body of knowledge, i.e. examining the sukuk legitimacy and its relationship with sukuk determinants; hence, an approach that is not widely discussed in the previous studies. Furthermore, conducting such research in the field of Islamic finance provides novelty in the literature among both emerging and developed economies including Malaysia. This is because to the best knowledge of the researchers, there was no empirical study (within the literature) that combined these variables and evaluated their empirical significance. Accordingly, this would enlighten the Islamic Ummah and propel the society’s intensity toward contributing to knowledge and might further provide clarification on the determinants and the sukuk legitimacy to prospective scholars, precisely on the moderating effect of SSB on the relationship between determinants and legitimacy of sukuk.

The aim of the study is to examine the intention of students toward the online education system with emphasis on online examination in higher education. The study investigated different constructs that have an influence on the use of the online platform for learning to the specific domain that mitigates the personal needs of the learners outside the physical class boundaries.

Data were collected through a self-administered structured questionnaire in a single cross-sectional survey from 430 students of higher educational institutions in India. The partial least square approach was used for path modeling to examine the relationships in the proposed research model using Smart PLS-3.3.2.

Attitude, ease of use and usefulness have a significant relationship with the behavioral intention to use the online education system. However, nature of residential status, use of devices and use of network have an insignificant impact on the intention to use the online educational system.

Though the study focused on the technology acceptance model (TAM) to examine the relationship in the proposed model, there is a need to consider the other constructs such as perceived behavioral control, past experience, etc. in future studies.

This paper identified the major determinants of students' intention to adapt to the online education system with special reference to the examination system and proposed a direction to encourage the higher education students to use online education as an alternate of physical classroom education.

This research navigates the confluence of data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to revolutionize the management of urban services in smart cities. The study thoroughly investigated with advanced tools to scrutinize key performance indicators integral to the functioning of smart cities, thereby enhancing leadership and decision-making strategies. Our work involves the implementation of various machine learning models such as Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machine, Decision Tree, Naive Bayes, and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), to the data. Notably, the Support Vector Machine and Bernoulli Naive Bayes models exhibit robust performance with an accuracy rate of 70% precision score. In particular, the study underscores the employment of an ANN model on our existing dataset, optimized using the Adam optimizer. Although the model yields an overall accuracy of 61% and a precision score of 58%, implying correct predictions for the positive class 58% of the time, a comprehensive performance assessment using the Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUC-ROC) metrics was necessary. This evaluation results in a score of 0.475 at a threshold of 0.5, indicating that there's room for model enhancement. These models and their performance metrics serve as a key cog in our data analytics pipeline, providing decision-makers and city leaders with actionable insights that can steer urban service management decisions. Through real-time data availability and intuitive visualization dashboards, these leaders can promptly comprehend the current state of their services, pinpoint areas requiring improvement, and make informed decisions to bolster these services. This research illuminates the potential for data analytics, machine learning, and AI to significantly upgrade urban service management in smart cities, fostering sustainable and livable communities. Moreover, our findings contribute valuable knowledge to other cities aiming to adopt similar strategies, thus aiding the continued development of smart cities globally.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of six variables: strategic focus; monitoring continuous improvement development; integration of continuous improvement; management of continuous improvement; involvement/engagement and learning; and knowledge sharing, on sustainability of continuous improvement capabilities in the context of the manufacturing industries in Penang, Malaysia. The paper determines the impact of organizational self‐assessment towards the relationship of these six factors and sustainability of continuous improvement capabilities.

The study opted for an exploratory study using the survey instrument to collect data. The questionnaire was published through the web and manual distribution. For the web survey, e‐mails were broadcasted to invite the random employees to participate in the e‐mail survey, where respondents were directed to answer the attachment that contained the questionnaire. Online survey method is chosen because it is convenient, time and cost effective to intact with the respondents who are dispersed in different geographical areas.

The paper provides empirical insights about how strategic focus, management of continuous improvement and learning/knowledge sharing positively influence on sustainability of continuous improvement capabilities in an organization. It suggests that organizational self‐assessment has a mediating effect on the relationship between strategic focus, learning/knowledge sharing and sustainability of continuous improvement capabilities.

The complex nature of the process of sustaining continuous improvement capabilities as a research topic places limitations on this study, particularly in the area of sample selection and data collection. The major sample selection at the manufacturing organizations is difficult because an organization's perception in terms of continuous improvement may not be the same, thus it is not easy to ascertain relevant sample characteristics.

The implications of this study highlighted that the most effective predictor for sustaining continuous improvement capabilities was strategic focus, in addition, this study provided insight into the mediating effect of organizational self‐assessment towards the effectiveness of sustaining continuous improvement capabilities in the manufacturing industry.

This paper fulfils an identified need to study how the effectiveness of sustaining continuous improvement capabilities can be developed.

Occupational exposure to dust is a major health and safety concern for workers in developing countries. Such laborers are often exposed to dust without being aware of its threat to their health. In the process of crushing stone, mineralogical materials are released into the environment. The material includes dust, fumes, ashes or other industrial waste which may constitute toxic elements. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the respiratory health problems of stone crushing industry workers in Bangladesh.

This cross-sectional descriptive research study was conducted by adopting a multi-method approach. Data were collected by use of a questionnaire survey, focus group discussions, in-depth interview and spirometric examinations. Focus group discussions and questionnaire surveys were conducted among 240 workers. The respondents were divided in six groups for the spirometric examination. The questionnaire was formulated by following standards set by the American Thoracic Society Division of Lung Disease questionnaire and European Coal and Steel Community. Data on respondent’s height, weight and smoking habits were collected by using a structured checklist. Meanwhile, lung functions were assessed by spirometry. A Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used to analyze the data.

The results show that there was a significant relation between respiratory problems and inhalation of dust and particulate matter and cigarette smoking. It also shows that coughing was the most common problem among the respondents. The majority of respondents suffered from obstructive types of respiratory problems.

Findings of the study reveals that chronic exposure to dust at stone crushing plants increases the risk of respiratory problems and the impaired lung function of workers. It also reveals that there is a significant relation between respiratory problems and inhalation of dusts and cigarette smoking. Raising awareness about health risks amongst workers could reduce these health hazards. The government should make a national policy for the prevention, control and elimination of silica exposure and silicosis. The results would help to raise awareness of the issue. Finally, it would raise awareness on respiratory health problems of workers at stone crushing industries in Bangladesh and help the government to make a policy for the prevention, control and elimination of silica exposure and silicosis, and thus enhancing public health policy and practices in the country.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and detect disclosure on the legitimacy identity of Sukuk structure in Shariah pronouncements. The study also examines the role of Shariah supervisory board on disclosure of legitimacy in Shariah pronouncements.

A total of 54 Islamic Sukuk in Malaysia representing the whole population were selected. Secondary data were used and sourced from Shariah pronouncements on Sukuk. Using descriptive statistics, the existence and the extent of existence of legitimacy disclosure on Sukuk in Islamic financial institutions in Malaysia were ascertained.

Using descriptive statistics, the existence and the extent of existence of legitimacy disclosure on Sukuk in Islamic financial institutions in Malaysia was ascertained. The research found that there is empirical evidence showing the effect of Shariah supervisory board on disclosure of legitimacy identity in Shariah pronouncements.

This study offers significant contribution to existing legitimacy of Sukuk structure literature. The study added a new discussion, i.e. legitimacy disclosure on the Sukuk. The study is intended to increase public awareness for legitimacy identity of Sukuk in the importance of Shariah compliancy not only in the form but also in substance. In addition, this study will give more benefits for Islamic financial institutions in the sense that they should amend some of their regulatory frameworks to push the Sukuk market investors to move toward asset-backed structure.

This study aims to contribute by expanding the existing literature on Sukuk return and volatility and exploring the implications of the Sukuk-exchange rate interactions.

This study examines the dynamic interactions of Sukuk with exchange rate in 15 countries, employing the Wavelet approach that considers both time and investment horizons.

The results reveal significant evolving coherence of Sukuk return and volatility with the underlying exchange rate. The relationship is more potent than what this study witnesses in their counterpart bond market. For Sukuk returns, the coherence is negative, whereas it is positive for volatility. Notably, the coherence is strong in the medium to long term and intensifies during extreme economic episodes, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings are further validated by comparing firm-level matched data for Sukuk and conventional bond.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that reports the dynamic relationship of Sukuk return and volatility with the underlying exchange rate in 15 countries. Collectively, this study unites valuable insights for faith-based active Islamic investors and cross-border portfolio managers.

The aim of this paper is to propose and verify a structured model for Islamic micro-finance in Bangladesh. The Islamic micro-investment model (IMIM) aims to harness the role of the Waqf/philanthropic sector to empower micro-entrepreneurs.

The researchers use the survey technique to investigate the micro-entrepreneurs’ intention to adopt the model. A total of 400 questionnaires are distributed with 207 responses being returned (51.75 per cent). In this study, a structural model is tested to examine the relationship of the behavioural intention to adopt Islamic micro-investment with the attitude towards behaviour, subjective norm, normative belief and behavioural belief.

The findings of the research show that, overall, the model fits the data and can be used to advance Islamic micro-finance in Bangladesh. However, out of the four hypotheses tested, only two are accepted vis-à-vis the influence of behavioural belief and normative belief on attitude and subjective norm, respectively.

The research suggests the need for an awareness programme on Islamic micro-finance and the role of Waqf in the economic empowerment of the populace.

The IMIM aims to harness the role of the Waqf/philanthropic sector to empower micro-entrepreneurs.

The model of Islamic micro-finance may empower poor micro-entrepreneurs and harnesses the potential of Waqf for socio-economic development, thereby, among others, reducing the cost of capital.

Only a few studies have been conducted on micro-finance from an Islamic perspective in Bangladesh. The IMIM, which has been developed by Muhammad (2012) and tested in Nigeria, is the first to be validated through an empirical study in Bangladesh. Thus, testing the viability of IMIM in the Bangladesh context will certainly add value for the clients, institutions and policymakers in Islamic micro-finance.