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Designing an efficient routing protocol that opportunistically forwards data to the destination node through nearby sensor nodes or devices is significantly important for an effective incidence response and disaster recovery framework. Existing sensor routing protocols are mostly not effective in such disaster recovery applications as the networks are affected (destroyed or overused) in disasters such as earthquake, flood, Tsunami and wildfire. These protocols require a large number of message transmissions to reestablish the clusters and communications that is not energy efficient and result in packet loss. This paper introduces ODCR - an energy efficient and reliable opportunistic density clustered-based routing protocol for such emergency sensor applications. We perform simulation to measure the performance of ODCR protocol in terms of network energy consumptions, throughput and packet loss ratio. Simulation results demonstrate that the ODCR protocol is much better than the existing TEEN, LEACH and LORA protocols in term of these performance metrics.

The aim of this chapter is to highlight the importance of information and communication technology (ICT) knowledge (ICT-K) for female in socio-economic development in Middle East countries. Currently, men play major roles in the development of Middle East countries without heed being paid to women. The role for women is normally reserved to the home and child caring. Men continue to dominate power structures, education, finance, and travel. Overall levels of women’s ICT entrepreneurship are among the lowest in the Middle East although more women are studying ICT programs in the universities. Even statistics on the number of women entrepreneurs and women’s economic participation are often unavailable or incomplete in this region. Mainly, women’s entrepreneurship and economic participation are relatively limited due to gender-specific barriers to business creation and development, including cultural norms, civil law, or barriers in the business environment. This chapter investigates the challenges and constraints faced, and the support and opportunities available for these female entrepreneurs in ICT. This chapter also presents research on the growing phenomenon of female entrepreneurship in Middle East and suggests a number of ways in which institutions of state and trade – which often act as barriers to women practically running a business – could be overcome.

The purpose of this paper is to integrate conventional corporate governance (CG) mechanisms into the Islamic banking framework in order to examine their impact on Islamic banks (IBs) financial performance (IBFP) within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) context.

The study uses a sample of 22 full-fledged IBs operating in the GCC countries over an 11-year period from 2005 to 2015. Using panel data approach, the paper develops an empirical model consists of five CG mechanisms and three control variables. The model parameters are estimated using feasible generalized least squares framework.

The results show that five internal CG mechanisms have statistically significant relationship with IBFP, measured by Q-ratio. Insider shareholding is found to be positively associated with IBFP, while institutional and government shareholdings are found to be negatively related to Q-ratio, the results being consistent with the agency theory, strategic alignment theory and property rights theory, respectively. Moreover, the results reveal that large board size and CSR engagement negatively influence IBFP, once again lending support to agency theory and trade off theory, respectively. The control variables, namely, leverage, size and age are also found to have a statistically significant relationship with IBFP.

IBs are urged to ensure transparency in the provision of innovative products fundamentally in contrast to conventional banking products as well as cater to the untapped markets by weaving Islamic values into the existing CG fabric, as a feasible solution to remain competitive.

The paper examines the relationship between internal CG mechanisms and financial performance of listed and non-listed full-fledged IBs operating in the GCC countries.

Most studies focusing on the transformational leadership style present the conclusion that compared with other leadership styles tends to be associated with a lower level of workplace stress experienced by employees. Yet, the literature is by no means extensive enough to put the issue of the relationship between this style of leadership and employee stress to rest. Given that this is the case, the purpose of this paper is to assess the relationship between the transformational leadership style and the work stress (WS) of employees in the banking industry. The extent to which this relationship leads to employee burnout and the extent to which WS correlates with multiple factors, such as demographic characteristics (gender, work experience and marital status), are examined in this context.

In total, 600 questionnaires were distributed to employees of government and non-government banks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in late 2017. The final sample comprised 250 complete sets, which were used in the analysis. The questionnaire consisted of four sections: transformational dimensions, WS, burnout and demographic profile. Before the authors proceeded to test the hypotheses developed in this study, the authors performed an exploratory factor analysis on the items designed to measure transformational dimensions, WS and burnout. Next, the authors performed confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

The results indicate that bank managers who use the transformational leadership style significantly increased the job-related stress of employees, indicating that bank managers who use a transformational leadership style increase the job-related stress of subordinate employees. However, the results in regard to the transformational leadership style show a significant though small positive effect on employee burnout, indicating that this type of leadership decreases employee burnout. Furthermore, job-related stress has a significant mediating effect in relation to the transformational leadership style and subordinate employees’ burnout. Finally, the results indicate that married status and a high level of work experience are each associated with lower job stress compared with unmarried status and a low level of work experience.

This research paper contributes to the literature by investigating transformational leadership in the banking industry – an industry of fundamental economic importance in Saudi Arabia and globally. The research results, unlike those reported in most other studies to date, strongly suggest that the transformational leadership style can be associated with a high level of workplace stress, thereby pointing to new conclusions about this style and its effects on the health and well-being of the majority of employees. The results of this paper should be carried forward in this research direction, as doing so has the potential to challenge and even override what have become assumptions about the positive effects of the transformational leadership style. The insights derived from this research paper, therefore, should benefit academics and practitioners who can reference the outcomes in designing programs to support the recruitment, selection and development of effective leaders in the banking sector – especially given the broader ramifications both for overall firm performance and for the well-being of the majority of the country’s employees.

The study aims to investigate the measurement model of four constructs, namely, spirituality at the workplace (SP), Islamic spirituality (ISP), organizational commitment (OC) and organizational citizenship behaviours (OCB). The study aims to contribute new knowledge to the existing literature whereby performance determinants comprising these constructs, serve to improve employee well-being which ultimately improves organizational performance.

Using disproportionate stratified random sampling, the survey data used for this empirical research were drawn from 482 employees working in takaful agencies in Malaysia. After yielding an instrument to measure SP, ISP, OCB and OC, principal component analysis (PCA) using SPSS and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using AMOS were carried out.

Good fit indices from CFA revealed that OC is explained by three variables, namely, normative, continuance and affective; SP is also explained by three variables comprising alignment with organizational values (AWOV), sense of community (SC) and meaningful work (MW); ISP is explained by three variables comprising belief, forgiveness and remembrance of Allah; and finally, OCB is explained by civic virtue, conscientiousness and altruism. The findings of this study will enable Islamic insurance companies to understand the importance of spirituality and Islamic spirituality on well-being and will further improve their function and performance by way of enhancing employees’ spirituality in the workplace. Moreover, Human Resource development professionals, organizational managers and government authorities may use the findings of this study to justify their efforts in designing appropriate learning and performance improvement interventions so that OC, OCB, IS and ISP among non-Muslim and Muslim employees can be monitored and further enhanced.

This study raises awareness on the importance of four critical constructs that can be used by corporate organizations, NGOs and other institutions, to justify their efforts in performance improvement interventions.

The effects of incorporation of Locusta migratoria (LM) powder at different levels (0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5%) on nutritional, qualitative and sensory properties of baked breads were investigated.

Chemical composition, mineral elements and functional properties of wheat flour, LM powder and their binary mixture systems were determined. The breads were assayed for proximate composition, minerals, amino acids profile, physical characteristics and sensorial properties.

LM powder have relatively high levels of protein (51.97% db), fat (23.15% db) and fibers (13.76% db). LM powder presented significantly (p ≤ 0.05) greater water absorption capacity (WAC), oil absorption capacity(OAC), emulsion activity (EA) and foam capacity (FC) as compared to wheat flour. Blending wheat flour with various levels of LM powder significantly (p ≤ 0.05) improved the functional properties of binary mixture systems. Protein, fat, fiber and ash contents of bread samples significantly increased with the addition of LM powder. No significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) were recorded in specific volume between control breads and those breads containing LM powder up to 2%. Breads fortified with LM powder contained higher values of essential amino acids than the limits of FAO/WHO pattern, with exception of lysine. Sensory evaluation results showed that bread samples with the addition of LM powder at levels 1–4% had high overall acceptability.

Limitations of our study are the lack of approved and professional programs about management, collection, harvesting, processing, marketing and consumption of edible insects; therefore, these results should be generalized implications for industry. This present study, therefore, provides useful data to support public health nutrition aimed at improving the nutritional health of populations through the promotion of bakery products enriched with LM powder.

The main findings of this study indicated that the addition of 1–4% of LM powder into wheat flour enhanced sensory and nutritional properties of produced breads.

It is concluded that the addition of LM powder improves the nutritional and sensorial properties of the produced bread when the wheat flour is substituted with 1–4% of LM powder.

Online learning gained ground during the pandemic and has continued to be used in the post-Covid era. Items related to online learning should be included in service quality assessment. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of service quality, which includes the online learning dimension, on student satisfaction in higher-education in a blended learning environment.

A total of 452 valid questionnaires were collected from business undergraduate students enrolled in public universities in Greece. A modified version of HEdPERF is used to evaluate service quality. Due to the extensive use of online learning, an additional dimension was added to the HEdPERF scale which focuses on online education, a field that has not yet been widely examined. Structural equation modeling is used to examine the relationships between service quality, and student satisfaction.

The research findings verify the six-structure scale of the HEdPERF instrument (non-academic aspects, academic aspects, reputation, access and programs issues and online learning), providing satisfactory results in terms of reliability and validity tests. Service quality dimensions such as academic aspects, access, program issues and online learning are the influential dimensions of student satisfaction in a blended learning context.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous study has expanded traditional service quality instruments to include the dimension of service quality of online learning.

This study aims to determine the direct and indirect effects of Islamic spirituality on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) Islamic perspective (OCBIP), identifying the role of spiritual and marketing strategy at work and organizational commitment to mediate the effect of Islamic spirituality on OCBIP.

The research population is all employees of Sidoarjo BRI Syari'ah Branch Office. Total sample involves 130 fulltime employees. Proportional random sampling technique is a selected technique. Data is collected directly from respondents. The analysis used in this study uses Partial Least Square.

The research results show that Islamic spirituality has no direct effect on OCBIP. Spiritual at work mediates the effect of Islamic spirituality on OCBIP; organizational commitment mediates the effect of Islamic spirituality on OCBIP.

The OCBIP variable is used as the originality in this study. Another finding in this research is the marketing strategy of sharia-based companies. There has not been a comprehensive examination of the influence of Islamic spirituality and marketing strategies on OCB with spirituality at work and organizational commitment as a mediating variable. This Islamic perspective is very important considering the majority of Indonesian citizens are Muslims.

This paper aims to investigation of processes for Pb²⁺ elimination from water/wastewater as a significant public health issue in many parts of world. The removal of Pb²⁺ ions by various nanocomposites has been explained from water/wastewaters. ZnO-based nanocomposites, as eco-friendly nanoparticles with unique physicochemical properties, have received increased attention to remove Pb²⁺ ions from water/wastewaters.

In this review, different ZnO-based nanocomposites were reviewed for their application in the removal of Pb²⁺ ions from the aqueous solution, typically for wastewater treatment using methodology, such as adsorption. This review focused on the ZnO-based nanocomposites for removing Pb²⁺ ions from water and wastewaters systems.

The ZnO-based nanocomposite was prepared by different methods, such as electrospinning, hydrothermal/alkali hydrothermal, direct precipitation and polymerization. Depending on the preparation method, various types of ZnO-based nanocomposites like ZnO-metal (Cu/ZnO, ZnO/ZnS, ZnO/Fe), ZnO-nonmetal (PVA/ZnO, Talc/ZnO) and ZnO-metal/nonmetal (ZnO/Na-Y zeolite) were obtained with different morphologies. The effects of operational parameters and adsorption mechanisms were discussed in the review.

The findings may be greatly useful in the application of the ZnO-based nanocomposite in the fields of organic and inorganic pollutants adsorption.

The present study is novel, because it investigated the morphological and structural properties of the synthesized ZnO-based nanocomposite using different methods and studied the capability of green-synthesized ZnO-based nanocomposite to remove Pb²⁺ ions as water contaminants.

The current review can be used for the development of environmental pollution control measures.

This paper reviews the rapidly developing field of nanocomposite technology.