Search results for: islamic finance in Europe

Authors: Ana Paula Esteves, Diego S. Caetano, Louise L. B. Lomardo

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This paper presents an approach on the advantages of using adequate coverage in the zenithal lighting typology in various areas of architectural production, while at the same time to encourage to the design concerns inherent in this choice of roofing in Brazil. Understanding that sustainability needs to cover several aspects, a roofing system such as zenithal lighting system can contribute to the provision of better quality natural light for the interior of the building, which is related to the good health and welfare; it will also be able to contribute for the sustainable aspects and environmental needs, when it allows the generation of energy in semitransparent or opacity photovoltaic solutions and economize the artificial lightning. When the energy balance in the building is positive, that is, when the building generates more energy than it consumes, it may fit into the Net Zero Energy Building concept. The zenithal lighting systems could be an important ally in Brazil, when solved the burden of heat gains, participate in the set of pro-efficiency actions in search of "zero energy buildings". The paper presents comparative three cases of buildings that have used this feature in search of better environmental performance, both in light comfort and sustainability as a whole. Two of these buildings are examples in Europe: the Notley Green School in the UK and the Isofóton factory in Spain. The third building with these principles of shed´s roof is located in Brazil: the Ipel´s factory in São Paulo.

Keywords: natural lighting, net zero energy building, sheds, semi-transparent photovoltaics

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Authors: Csaba Barnabas Horvath

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The Belt and Road initiative of China is one that can change the face of Eurasia as we know it. Instead of four major, densely populated subcontinents defined by Mackinder (East Asia, Europe, the Indian Subcontinent, and the Middle East) isolated from each other by vast, sparsely populated and underdeveloped regions, it can at last start to function as a geographic whole, with a sophisticated infrastructure linking its different parts to each other. This initiative, however, happens not in a geopolitical vacuum, but in a space of conflicting great power interests. In Central Asia, the influence of China and Russia are in a setting of competition, where despite the cooperation between the two powers to a great degree, issues causing mutual mistrust emerge repeatedly. In Afghanistan, besides western military presence, even India’s efforts can be added to the picture. In Southeast Asia, a key region regarding the maritime Silk Road, India’s Act East policy meets with China’s Belt and Road, not always in consensus, not to mention US and Japanese interests in the region. The presentation aims to take an overview on how conflicting great power interests are likely to influence the outcome of the Belt and Road initiative. The findings show, that overall success of the Belt and Road Initiative may not be as smooth, as hoped by China, but at the same time, in a limited number of strategically important countries (such as Pakistan, Laos, and Cambodia), this setting is actually a factor favoring China, providing at least a selected number of reliable corridors, where the initiative is actually likely to be successful.

Keywords: belt and road initiative, geostrategic corridors, geopolitics, great power rivalry

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Authors: Kenneth Christie

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Syria and Iraq are Arabian nightmares at the local, the regional and global levels in terms of human security and the protection of the vulnerable. Wracked by civil war, ethnic and political violence in the last 5 years in the case of Syria and 13 years in the case of Iraq, the body count now is staggering; the humanitarian crisis continues and there appears no end to this. A crisis that has claimed the lives of 200,000 people so far in Syria, sparked a humanitarian catastrophe fuelled violent Islamic extremism and exposed serious splits in the international community who appear to have no consensus. The international community’s failure to act is simply another sign of the desperate situation which has developed over conflicts that appears unsolvable in the immediate future and may be intractable in the long range. Three things are really at stake I’m going to argue in these continuing crises and how it will affect the human security dimensions of the conflict. Firstly, the protection of vulnerable individuals and civilians in the war, 2ndly, the dire consequences for regional instability as a result and thirdly the risks for minority and ethnic identities who are caught up in this, within and across these volatile borders. This paper will examine these elements and the consequences of the conflict in terms of human security, migration and development.

Keywords: human security, migration, Syria and Iraq, conflict and development

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Authors: Alicja Kot-Niewiadomska

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Securing sustainable access to raw materials is vital for the growth of the European economy and for the goals laid down in Strategy Europe 2020. One of the most important sources of mineral raw materials are primary deposits. The efficient management of them, including extraction, will ensure competitiveness of the European economy. A critical element of this approach is mineral deposits safeguarding and the most important tool - spatial planning. The safeguarding of deposits should be understood as safeguarding of land access, and safeguarding of area against development, which may (potential) prevent the use of the deposit and the necessary mining activities. Many European Union countries successfully integrated their mineral policy and spatial policy, which has ensured the proper place of mineral deposits in their spatial planning systems. These, in turn, are widely recognized as the most important mineral deposit safeguarding tool, the essence of which is to ensure long-term access to its resources. The examples of Austria, Portugal, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, discussed in the paper, are often mentioned as examples of good practices in this area. Although none of these countries managed to avoid cases of social and environmental conflicts related to mining activities, the solutions they implement certainly deserve special attention. And for many countries, including Poland, they can be a potential source of solutions aimed at improving the protection of mineral deposits.

Keywords: mineral deposits, land use planning, mineral deposit safeguarding, European practices

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Authors: Marco Khalaf Ayad Milhaail

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In thinking about the role of legal rules and their impact on social ethics and social structures, scholars have explored many issues related to gender, power, and ideology. First, it provides a framework for defining feminist legal studies through an overview of the field's evolution in terms of equality, rights, and justice. Secondly, it encourages those interested in equality, rights, and justice regarding women's issues to participate in international comparative law research. Third, we must emphasize that those seeking solutions to disability and discrimination must be aware of the need to confront the so-called undermining of culture. Therefore, an effective way for women to solve this problem is to rely heavily on international law, which establishes basic legal principles such as gender equality, rights, and justice and can help create a domestic environment. Woman has gained many advantages by adopting the law of Divorce in the Islamic Sharea. Any Egyptian woman can get divorce by letting her rightful rights and wealth to her husband in return for her freedom.

Keywords: stability, harsh environments, techniques, thermal, properties, materials, applications, brittleness, fragility, disadvantages, bank, branches, profitability, setting prediction, effective target, measurement, evaluation, performance, commercial, business, profitability, sustainability, financial, system, banks

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Authors: João Gago dos Santos, Paulo Pereira Almeida

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The present study intends to deepen and understand the reasons that led to the decline and disappearance of wooden construction systems in Portugal, for that reason, its use in history must be analyzed. It is observed that this material was an integral part of the construction systems in Europe and Portugal for centuries, and it is possible to conclude that its decline happens with the appearance of hybrid construction and later with the emergence and development of reinforced concrete technology. It is also verified that wood as a constructive element, and for that reason, an element of development had great importance in national construction, with its peak being the Pombaline period, after the 1755 earthquake. In this period, the great scarcity of materials in the metropolis led to the import wood from Brazil for the reconstruction of Lisbon. This period is linked to an accentuated exploitation of forests, resulting in laws and royal decrees aimed at protecting them, guaranteeing the continued existence of profitable forests, crucial to the reconstruction effort. The following period, with the gradual loss of memory of the catastrophe, resulted in a construction that was weakened structurally as a response to a time of real estate speculation and great urban expansion. This was the moment that precluded the inexistence of the use of wood in construction. At the beginning of the 20th century and in the 30s and 40s, with the appearance and development of reinforced concrete, it became part of the great structures of the state, and it is considered a versatile material capable of resolving issues throughout the national territory. It is at this point that the wood falls into disuse and practically disappears from the new works produced.

Keywords: construction history, construction in portugal, construction systems, wood construction

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Authors: Nurdan Tumbek Tekeoglu

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With rising importance in all over the world, crowdfunding has become a new financing and marketing method for film industry. Crowdfunding is a new practice in film industry for funding a film project by raising monetary contributions from a large group of people. By crowdfunding an estimate fund of 20 billion USD has been raised in 2015. Through the crowdfunding platforms not only the film makers, but also the entrepreneurs and nongovernmental organizations finance and market their projects. Among the prominent crowdfunding platforms in Turkey, we can list Crowdfon, Fonlabeni, Kickstarter, Indiego, Bi Ayda, and Fongogo platforms. In 2014 the Turkish film industry celebrated its 100th anniversary and reached its peak producing around 150-200 films a year reminding the brilliant years of Yesilcam period. In general feature films apply for crowdfunding. Until April 2015 more than 190 films applied for crowdfunding platforms. Crowdfunding has a promising future in Turkey, since donation traditions has an important place in Turkish culture traditionally. This paper is exploring the marketing of the crowdfunding platforms established in Turkey in order for the films meet their target groups during the pre-production period.

Keywords: crowdfunding, marketing of films, Turkey, Turkish film industry

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Authors: Li Yong

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Using the data of 135 financial institutions in China from 2018 to 2022, this paper deeply analyzes the underlying theoretical mechanism of artificial intelligence (AI) technology promoting financial development and examines the impact of AI technology on the digital transformation performance of financial enterprises. It is found that the level of AI technology has a significant positive impact on the development of finance. Compared with the impact on the expansion of financial scale, AI technology plays a greater role in improving the performance of financial institutions, reflecting the trend characteristics of the current AI technology to promote the evolution of financial structure. By investigating the intermediary transmission effects, we found that AI technology plays a positive role in promoting the performance of financial institutions by reducing operating costs and improving customer satisfaction, but its function in innovating financial products and mitigating financial risks is relatively limited. In addition, the promotion of AI technology in financial development has significant heterogeneity in terms of the type, scale, and attributes of financial institutions.

Keywords: artificial intelligence technology, financial development, China, heterogeneity

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Authors: Anđelka Stojanović, Ivan Mihajlović, Ivica Nikolić

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In the past years, due to the financial crisis and the tightening of conditions on the labor market, young people are facing great challenges in achieving financial independence and finding their place in society. Higher unemployment rates, poorer living conditions, separation from the labor market, and longer school-to-work transitions particularly affect rural youth and make significant differences between youth groups in rural and urban areas. Improving employability skills and development of instruments for further learning among young people “Not in Education, Employment, or Training” (NEET) should not be only the concerns of these people, already adequately be directed and supported by the institutions. According to the World Bank data, the share of youth not in education, employment or training (NEET), in the European Union in the past few years decreases but still shows a significant share in the total percentage of the youth population. In 2017 rate was 10.96% while in 2018 that value was 10.38%. When observing individual countries in Europe, especially those with lower incomes, this rate is much higher. It was concluded that this topic was not sufficiently elaborated and presented in the social and scientific environment. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to identify and systematize the problems of school-to-work transition among young NEETs living in rural areas as well as the initiatives for addressing their problems.

Keywords: NEET youth, risks and initiatives, rural youth, school-to-work transition

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Authors: Keroles Akram Saed Ghatas

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The political violence that characterized 1992 continued into 1993, creating a major security crisis for President Hosni Mubarak's government as the death toll and human rights abuses soared. Increasingly sensitive to criticism of 's human rights activities, the government established human rights departments in key ministries, beginning with the Foreign Office in February. Similar offices have been set up in the Justice and Agriculture Ministries, and plans to set up an office in the Home Office have been announced. It turned out that the main task of the law unit was to overturn the conclusions of international human rights organizations.President Mubarak was elected in a national referendum on October 4 for a third six-year term after being appointed on July 21 by the People's Assembly, an elected parliament overwhelmingly dominated by the in-power National Democratic Party will Mr. Mubarak ran unhindered. The Interior Ministry announced that nearly 16 million people cast their votes (84% of eligible voters), of which 96.28%. voted for presidential re-election.In 1993, armed Islamic extremists escalated their attacks on Christian citizens, government officials, police officers and senior security officials, resulting in casualties among the intended victims and bystanders. Sporadic attacks on buses, boats and tourist attractions also occurred throughout the year. From March 1992 to October 28, 1993, a total of 222 people lost their lives in the riots: 36 Coptic Christians and 38 other citizens; If one is a foreigner; sixty-six members of the Security Forces; and seventy-six known or suspected activists who were killed while resisting arrest. The latter was killed in airstrikes and firefights with security forces and at the site of planned attacks. On March 9-10, a series of airstrikes in Cairo, Giza, Qalyubiya province north of the capital and Aswan killed fifteen suspected militants and five members of the security forces.One of the airstrikes in Giza, part of Greater Cairo, killed the wife and son of Khalifa Mahmoud Ramadan, a suspected militant who was himself killed. The government agency Middle East News Agency reported on March 10 that the raids were part of a "broad confrontational plan aimed at ofterrorist elements"The state of emergency declared in October 1981 after the assassination of President Anwar el-Sadat was still in force in Egypt. The law, previously in effect continuously from June 1967 to May 1980, continued to grant the executive branch unique legal powers that effectively overrode the human rights guarantees of the Egyptian constitution. These provisions included wide discretionary powers in arresting and detaining individuals, as well as the ability to try civilians in military courts. The Cairo-based Independent Organization for Human Rights said so in a document sent to the United Nations in July 1993The human rights committee said the continued imposition of the state of emergency had resulted in "another constitution for the country" and "led to widespread misconduct by the security apparatus".

Keywords: constitution, human rights, legal power, president, anwar, el-sadat, assassination, state of emergency, middle east, news, agency, confrontational, arresting, fugitive, leaders, terrorist, elements, armed islamic extremists.

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Authors: Haitham Assiri, Priyadarsi Nanda

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The world is gradually entering the fourth industrial revolution. E-Government services are scaling government operations across the globe. However, as promising as an e-Government system would be, it is also susceptible to malicious attacks if not properly secured. This study found out that, in Saudi Arabia, the e-Government website, Yesser is vulnerable to external attacks. Obviously, this can lead to a breach of data integrity and privacy. In this paper, a Systematic Literature Review was conducted to explore possible ways the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can take necessary measures to strengthen its e-Government system using Blockchain. Blockchain is one of the emerging technologies shaping the world through its applications in finance, elections, healthcare, etc. It secures systems and brings more transparency. A total of 28 papers were selected for this SLR, and 19 of the papers significantly showed that blockchain could enhance the security and privacy of Saudi’s e-government system. Other papers also concluded that blockchain is effective, albeit with the integration of other technologies like IoT, AI and big data. These papers have been analysed to sieve out the findings and set the stage for future research into the subject.

Keywords: blockchain, data integrity, e-government, security threats

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Authors: Ebrahim Mansoori, Datin Joriah Muhammad

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Recent studies in finance have focused on the effect of external variables on working capital management. This study investigates the effect of corruption indexes on firms' working capital management. A large data set that covers data from 2005 to 2013 from five ASEAN countries, namely, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines, was selected to investigate how the level of corruption in these countries affect working capital management. The results of panel data analysis include fixed effect estimations showed that a high level of countries' corruption indexes encourages managers to shorten the CCC length. Meanwhile, the managers reduce the level of investment in cash and cash equivalents when the levels of corruption indexes increase. Therefore, increasing the level of countries' corruption indexes encourages managers to select conservative working capital strategies by reducing the level of NLB.

Keywords: ASEAN, corruption indexes, panel data analysis, working capital management

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Authors: Rizwana Tabassum

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Introductive Statement: Delay in budget releases is often cited as one of the biggest bottlenecks to smooth and efficient service delivery. While budget release from the ministry of finance to the line ministries has been expedited by simplifying the procedure, budget distribution within the line ministries remains one of the major causes of slow budget utilization. While the budget preparation is a bottom-up process where all DDOs submit their proposals to their controlling officers (such as Upazila Civil Surgeon sends it to Director General Health), who consolidate the budget proposals in iBAS++ budget preparation module, the approved budget is not disaggregated by all DDOs. Instead, it is left to the discretion of the controlling officers to distribute the approved budget to their sub-ordinate offices over the course of the year. Though there are some need-based criteria/formulae to distribute the approved budget among DDOs in some sectors, there is little evidence that these criteria are actually used. This means that majority of the DDOs don’t know their yearly allocations upfront to enable yearly planning of activities and expenditures. This delays the implementation of critical activities and the payment to the suppliers of goods and services and sometimes leads to undocumented arrears to suppliers for essential goods/services. In addition, social sector budgets are fragmented because of the vertical programs and externally financed interventions that pose several management challenges at the level of the budget holders and frontline service providers. Slow procurement processes further delay the provision of necessary goods and services. For example, it takes an average of 15–18 months for drugs to reach the Upazila Health Complex and below, while it should not take more than 9 months in procuring and distributing these. Aim of the Study: This paper aims to investigate the budget distribution practices of an emerging economy, Bangladesh. The paper identifies challenges of timely distribution and ways to deal with problems as well. Methodology: The study draws conclusions on the basis of document analysis which is a branch of the qualitative research method. Major Findings: Upon approval of the National Budget, the Ministry of Finance is required to distribute the budget to budget holders at the department level; however, budget is distributed to drawing and disbursing officers much later. Conclusions: Timely and predictable budget releases assist completion of development schemes on time and on budget, with sufficient recurrent resources for effective operation. ADP implementation is usually very low at the beginning of the fiscal year and expedited dramatically during the last few months, leading to inefficient use of resources. The timely budget release will resolve this issue and deliver economic benefits faster, better, and more reliably. This will also give the project directors/DDOs the freedom to think and plan the budget execution in a predictable manner, thereby ensuring value for money by reducing time overrun and expediting the completion of capital investments, and improving infrastructure utilization through timely payment of recurrent costs.

Keywords: budget distribution, challenges, digitization, emerging economy, service delivery

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Authors: Osama Amer, Yaser Abdel-Aty, Mohamed Abd El Hady

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The present paper illustrates an experimental approach to provide understanding of the mechanical behavior and failure mechanisms of different typologies of unreinforced three-leaf masonry walls of historical Islamic architectural heritage in Egypt. The main objective of this study is to investigate the propagation of possible cracking, ultimate load, deformations and failure mechanisms. Experimental data on interface-shear and compression tests on large scale three-leaf masonry wallets are provided. The wallets were built basically of Egyptian limestone and modified lime mortar. External wallets were built of stone blocks while the inner leaf was built of rubble limestone. Different loading conditions and dimensions of core layer for two types of collar joints (with and without shear keys) are considered in the tests. Mechanical properties of the constituent materials of masonry were tested and a database of characteristic properties was created. The results of the experiments will highlight the properties, force-displacement curves, stress distribution of multiple-leaf masonry walls contributing to the derivation of rational design rules and validation of numerical models.

Keywords: masonry, three-leaf walls, mechanical behavior, testing, architectural heritage

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Authors: Javier Sanchez Vidal, Ciarán Mac An Bhaird, Brian Lucey

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This study examines the decision by firm owners not to apply for intermediated debt due to a perception that their application will be rejected. Based on a sample of SMEs in 9 European countries over the period 2009-2011, we examine potential explanatory factors for borrower discouragement, including firm, macroeconomic, regulatory and banking industry variables. Compared with firms that applied for bank loans, discouraged borrowers are smaller, younger, have declining turnover and an increasing debt/assets ratio. Perceived willingness of banks to lend rather than the company’s own credit history is more important to encourage applications. Perceptions of refusal are procyclical and may be self-perpetuating. Increased concentration in the banking sector reduces discouragement, indicating the importance of relationship banking. Transmission of macro effects through the banking system and economic environment may also lead to higher levels of discouragement. A good regulatory scheme is also advisable, either for the lenders or the borrowers (overall the good ones).

Keywords: entrepreneurial finance, discouraged borrowers, banking, financial crisis, eurozone

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Authors: Medya Fathi

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Moving toward sustainable development is among today’s critical issues worldwide that make all industries, particularly construction, pay increasing attention to a healthy environment and a society with a prosperous economy. One of the solutions is to improve buildings’ energy performance by cutting energy consumption and related carbon emissions, eventually improving the quality of life. Unfortunately, the energy demand for buildings is rising. For instance, in Europe, the building sector accounts for 19% of the global energy-related greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions, the main contributor to global warming in the last 50 years, and 36% of the total CO2 emissions, according to European Commission 2019. The crisis of energy use demands expanding knowledge and understanding of the potential benefits of energy-efficient buildings. In this regard, the present paper aims to critically review the existing body of knowledge on improving energy efficiency in buildings and detail the significant research contributions. Peer-reviewed journal articles published in the last decade in reputed journals were reviewed using the database Scopus and keywords of Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Energy Performance, Energy Consumption, Energy Efficiency, and Buildings. All contributions will be classified by journal type, publication time, country/region, building occupancy type, applied strategies, and findings. This study will provide an essential basis for researchers working on missing areas and filling the existing gaps in the body of knowledge.

Keywords: sustainability, energy performance, energy efficiency, buildings, review

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Authors: Sara Lamari, Toufik Madani

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This study aimed to explore the relationship between reproduction performances and coat characteristics of Montbéliarde cows born in Algeria or imported from Europe during the hot season in Algeria. Hair coat traits (hair coat color, Hair Weight, hair length, the number of hair per unit area, total hair diameters and hair medulla diameters) were estimated in 18 imported cattle and 49 locally born cows. These traits were measured in an area of 20cm below the dorsal line in the center of the thorax. Results showed that hair coats were significantly different between locally born and imported cows. Imported cows had whiter coats when compared to locally born cows for Montbéliarde cows. A significant effect of total hair diameter was observed on the interval from calving to conception (IC) for imported Montbéliarde cows, suggesting less incidence of heat stress on reproduction efficiency of cows with thin diameter hair coats. Montbéliarde cows with short hair coat registered significantly more number of mating per conception (2, 28±1, 93 Vs. 1,67±0,92) and IC (98,04±78,81Vs 74.53 ± 35.60 days) when compared to cows with long hairs. Hair works as a temperature regulator in association with muscles in the skin and may affect reproduction performances during hit stress season. It can be assumed that the length and a total diameter of hairs for the Montbeliarde breed appears to be related to their reproductive efficiency.

Keywords: hair coat, reproduction, Montbeliarde cow, hot season

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Authors: Gintaras Mitrulevičius

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This text, which is based on the conference report, seeks to briefly examine the relationship between the concepts of social democracy and democratic socialism, drawing attention to the essential aspects of its development and, in particular, discussing the contradictions in the relationship between these concepts in the modern period. In the preparation of this text, such research methods as historical, historical-comparative methods were used, as well as methods of analyzing, synthesizing, and generalizing texts. The history of the use of terms in social democracy and democratic socialism shows that these terms were used alternately and almost synonymously. At the end of the 20th century, traditional social democracy was transformed into the so-called "new social democracy." Many of the new social democrats do not consider themselves democratic socialists and avoid the historically characteristic identification of social democracy with democratic socialism. It has become quite popular to believe that social democracy is a separate ideology from democratic socialism. Or that it has become a variant of the ideology of liberalism. This is a testimony to the crisis of ideological self-awareness of social democracy. Since the beginning of the 21st century, social democracy has also experienced a growing crisis of electoral support. This, among other things, led to her slight shift to the left. In this context, some social democrats are once again talking about democratic socialism. The rise of the ideas of democratic socialism in the United States was catalyzed by Bernie Sanders. But the proponents of democratic socialism in the United States have different concepts of democratic socialism. In modern Europe, democratic socialism is also spoken of by leftists of non-social democratic origin, whose understanding is different from that of democratic socialism inherent in classical social democracy. Some political scientists also single out the concepts in question. Analysis of the problem shows that there are currently several concepts of democratic socialism on the spectrum of the political left, both social-democratic and non-social-democratic.

Keywords: democratic socializm, socializm, social democracy, new social democracy, political ideologies

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Authors: Yosra Mefteh Rekik

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A computational agent-based model of financial markets stresses interactions and dynamics among a very diverse set of traders. The growing body of research in this area relies heavily on computational tools which by-pass the restrictions of an analytical method. The main goal of this research is to understand how the stock market operates and behaves how to invest in the stock market and to study traders’ behavior within the context of the artificial stock markets populated by heterogeneous agents. All agents are characterized by adaptive learning behavior represented by the Artificial Neuron Networks. By using agent-based simulations on artificial market, we show that the existence of heterogeneous agents can explain the price dynamics in the financial market. We investigate the relation between market diversity and market efficiency. Our empirical findings demonstrate that greater market heterogeneity play key roles in market efficiency.

Keywords: agent-based modeling, artificial stock market, heterogeneous expectations, financial stylized facts, computational finance

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Authors: Adel Fatima Zohra, Guendouz Abdelkader

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The solitary sector seems to appear nowadays as a third sector along the private and public ones, because of their ineptitude to take in charge the social exigency of the society regarding the lack in their local assets and the weakness of their financial institutions. The role of this sector is promoting a set of activities in the field of the charity, without aiming neither the individual profit nor a power practice. With the rise in the need of domestic resources, it is possible to count on the Zakat funding to realize some investment projects in order to develop the local society in many sectors as health, agriculture … etc. In the Islamic financial system, the Zakat is likely one of the most important instruments in financing the local development with the respect of the “Charia” rules: the amount of the Zakat is 2.5% of a wealth equivalent of each 85 gr of gold possessed since one year at least. In Algeria a fund of Zakat, was created since 2003 as an alternative to the public finding of development. This fund is a religious and social institution under the supervision of the ministry of religious affairs. This supervision covers two tasks: the first is traditional witch concern the distribution and the forwarding of the zakat to the poor people, and the second is modern concerning the financing of microcredits in the aim to enhance social and economic development. In this paper, we try to highlight the main role of the Zakat fund and its impact on the both social and economic development in Algeria.

Keywords: dogmatic instrument, solidary sector, zakat fund, micro project

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Authors: Aghasadeghi MR., Bahramali G., Sadat SM., Sadeghi SA., Yousefi M., Khodaei K., Ghorbani M., Sadat Larijani M.

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Background:The emerging COVID-19 pandemic is a serious concernfor the public health worldwide. Despite the many mutations in the virus genome, it is important to find an effective vaccine against viral mutations. Therefore, in current study, we aimed at immunoinformatic evaluation of the virus proteins immunogenicity to design a preventive vaccine candidate, which could elicit humoral and cellular immune responses as well. Methods:Three antigenic regions are included;Spike, Membrane, and Nucleocapsid amino acid sequences were obtained, and possible fusion proteins were assessed andcompared by immunogenicity, structural features, and population coverage. The best fusion protein was also evaluated for MHC-I and MHC-II T-cell epitopes and the linear and conformational B-cell epitopes. Results: Among the four predicted models, the truncated Spike protein in fusion with M and N proteins is composed of 24 highly immunogenic human MHC class I and 29 MHC class II, along with 14 B-cell linear and 61 discontinues epitopes. Also, the selected protein has high antigenicity and acceptable population coverage of 82.95% in Iran and 92.51% in Europe. Conclusion: The data indicate that the truncated Spike-M-N SARS-CoV-2form which could be potential targets of neutralizing antibodies. The protein also has the ability to stimulate humoral and cellular immunity. The in silico study provided the fusion protein as a potential preventive vaccine candidate for further in vivo evaluation.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, immunoinformatic, protein, vaccine

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Authors: Christine Ivy A. Nogot

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Under the colony of Spain for more than three centuries, the Philippines has a deep-rooted structure of Western ideologies and colonialism. The late 19th century, the period of Enlightenment, created a significant impact on our history when a group of middle-class Filipino men were sent to Europe to study. They were called Ilustrados, a Spanish word for erudite. They were the enlightened; the well-educated, intellectual scholars. Their writings provide intellectual grounds for the awakening of national consciousness that eventually prompted national movements and revolutions. They helped to establish a postcolonial society. In the modern era, Miguel Syjuco, a Filipino expatriate, wrote a novel and titled it Ilustrado. It is a representation of the liberal mind of the diasporic author in contemporary discourse. It provides a critical examination of the ilustrado in transition through the character of Miguel, who is also an expatriate writer. Using Syjuco’s award-winning novel as the primary text and anchored on Said’s concept of Orientalism, this paper examines how the depiction of features of the Eastern world is presented in the literary discourse. This paper looks into Said’s concept of orientalism as a hegemonic discursive structure and shows how Western superiority influences the Eastern culture in literary discourse. It explores Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony to explore Said’s argument that Western powers conquer the orient through culture and ideology. This paper presents how dominant ideologies and the social context redefine the ilustrado in the contemporary era.

Keywords: cultural hegemony, ilustrado, orientalism, postcolonial

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Authors: Mostafa Jafari

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Religious tourism is the core strategy of shaping Iranian's life-style. Why and How? This paper answers to this question. Theoretical base: From strategic marketing point of view, Life style is pattern of believes values, interests and acts. Strategy can be defined as a set of continuous important decisions. Here, strategy is making decisions about the target place and vehicle of touristic travel due to reform and redefine the self-identity and shaping life style. Methodology: Target society of this research is the selected residents of three provinces at northwest of Iran. The data collection instrument is interview and questionnaire and the collected data analysis by SEM (structural Equation Modeling) and LISREL software. Results: The primary results show that variety of touristic travels play an important role on shaping new life style of Iranian people. The target places of touristic travel (Europe, USA. Japan and etc.) are at the second priority. The number of foreign friends is at the third position. The fourth criteria are the number of travels. Among all kind of touristic travels the religious tourism from competitive point of view plays the main role. Findings: The geometry of Iranian life style are shaping and reshaping through some domestic and international tourism strategies particular religious strategy. During the dynamic trend of identity redefine, so many Iranians put the quantity and quality of their touristic travel on the first priority.

Keywords: religious tourism, core strategy, shaping life style

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Authors: Raja Al-Ghamdi

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This paper aims to systematically assess the translation of key cultural texts. The paper, therefore, proposes a modification of the discourse analysis model for translation quality assessment introduced by the linguist Juliane House (1977, 1997, 2015). The data for analysis has been chosen from a religious text that has never been investigated before. It is an overt translation of the biography of Prophet Mohammad. The book is written originally in Arabic and translated into English. A soft copy of the translation, entitled The Sealed Nectar, is posted on numerous websites including the Internet Archive library which offers a free access to everyone. The text abounds with linguistic and cultural phenomena relevant to Islamic and Arab lingua-cultural context which make its translation a challenge, as well as its assessment. Interesting findings show that (1) culturemes are rich points and both the translator’s subjectivity and intervention are apparent in mediating them, (2) given the nature of historical narration, the source text reflects the author’s positive shading, whereas the target text reflects the translator’s axiological orientation as neutrally shaded, and, (3) linguistic gaps, metaphorical expressions and intertextuality are major stimuli to compensation strategies.

Keywords: Arabic-English discourse analysis, key cultural texts, overt translation, quality assessment

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Authors: Fehmeen Anwar, Ujala Liaqat

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For over half a century, U.S. and the Soviet Union have been at daggers drawn with each other. Both leading powers of the world have been struggling hard to surpass each other in military and other technological fields. This neck-to-neck competition turned in favour of U.S. in the early 1990s when USSR had to face economic stagnation and later dismemberment of several of its states. The predominance of U.S. is still evident to date, rather it continues to grow. With this proposed defence program i.e. Anti-Ballistic Missile System, the U.S. will have a considerable chance of intercepting any nuclear strike by Russia, which re-asserts U.S. dominance in the region and creating a security dilemma for Russia and other states. The question is whether America’s recent nuclear deterrence project is merely to counter nuclear threats from Iran and North Korea or is it purely directed towards Russia, thus ensuring complete military supremacy in the world. Although U.S professes to direct its Anti-Ballistic Missile System (ABMS) against the axis of evil (Iran and North Korea), yet the deployment of this system in the East European territory undermines the Russian nuclear strategic capability, as this enables U.S. to initiate an attack and guard itself from retaliatory strike, thus disturbing the security equilibrium in Europe. The implications of this program can lead to power imbalance which can lead to the emergence of fundamentally different paradigm of international politics.

Keywords: Anti-Ballistic Missile System (ABMS), cold-war, axis of evil, power dynamics

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Authors: Ummi Sholihah Pertiwi Abidin, Khusnul Hajar Nuansari

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Human resource is one of the most important components that can not be separated from communication fields, either in a large community like a mass or narrow ones such as an institution, office, group and even family. Human resource is an asset which is often used as a tool to achieve certain goals. Therefore, development of human resources is essential for improving skills and character of a person especially at the time that has entered globalization era. People are required to be able to compete both in the local and international arena, no matter what. This paper raised topic related to human resource development solution by a unique educational leadership and communication skill improvement through a linguistic approach. Here the authors want to go by form of public speaking method applied in Modern Islamic Boarding School Darussalam Gontor as the extracurricular activity that is using three languages, they are: Indonesian as the mother language or the nation language of the students, Arabic and English as the second language and Gontor’s mean to supply its students to be able to conquer the globalization needs. This implementation produced the establishment of great leaders through confidence growing to speak in public by adjusting the listener context. In linguistic term, it will help enhancing verbal and nonverbal communication skills and so forth in owning a lot of vocabulary.

Keywords: public speaking, Gontor, language, leadership

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Authors: Benjamin Bae

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This study investigates the relationship between the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the performance of banks in a number of Middle East countries. We examine whether performance levels and audit qualities play any role in adopting the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Middle East banks. This study hypothesizes that, in general, banks with high performance and audit quality measures tend to adopt the IFRS than low-performing banks, as the adoption of a new standard takes lots of time and expenses, which could be an additional burden to them. The results show that three hypotheses are strongly supported whereas the cultural factor hypothesis is not. Banks with high ROA and ROE tend to adopt IFRS than low-performing banks. Big banks are also more likely to adopt IFRS than small or medium-sized banks. Contrary to the hypothesis, the Islamic bank status as a cultural factor has some positive impact on the adoption of the banks in the region. Overall, this research adds to our understanding of the bank’s performance. First, evidence on the relationship between the adoption of IFRS and the bank’s performance should be useful to investors. Second, the findings of this study provide financial statement users with useful information about the bank’s performance measures.

Keywords: IFRS, financial performance, audit quality, culture, firm size

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Authors: Amir Shafiq, Asif Shahzad, Shabbar Mehmood, Muhammad Saeed, Hamid Mustafa

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Legislation includes the law or the statutes which is being reputable by a sovereign authority and generally can be implemented by the courts of law time to time to accomplish the objectives. Historically speaking upon the emergence of Pakistan in 1947, the intact laws of the British Raj remained effective after ablution by Islamic Ideology. Thus, there was an intention to begin the statutes book afresh for Pakistan's legal history. In consequence thereof, the process of developing detailed plans, procedures and mechanisms to ensure legislative and regulatory requirements are achieved began keeping in view the cultural values and the local customs. This article is an input to the enduring discussion about implementing rule of law in Pakistan whereas; the rule of law requires the harmony of laws which is mostly in the arrangement of codified state laws. Pakistan has legal plural civilizations where completely different and independent systems of law like the Mohammadan law, the state law and the traditional law exist. The prevailing practiced law in Pakistan is actually the traditional law though the said law is not acknowledged by the State. This caused the main problem of the rule of law in the difference between the state laws and the cultural values. These values, customs and so-called traditional laws are the main obstacle to enforce the State law in true letter and spirit which has caused dissatisfaction of the masses and distrust upon the judicial system of the country.

Keywords: consequences, implement, law, Pakistan

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Authors: A. V. Popa, C. Barna, V. Mihalache

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Being the largest port at the Black Sea and functioning as a civil and military nodal point between Europe and Asia, Constantza Port has become a potential target on the terrorist international agenda. The authors use qualitative research based on both face-to-face and online semi-structured interviews with relevant stakeholders (top decision-makers in the Romanian Naval Authority, Romanian Maritime Training Centre, National Company "Maritime Ports Administration" and military staff) in order to detect potential vulnerabilities which might be exploited by terrorists in the case of Constantza Port. Likewise, this will enable bringing together the experts’ opinions on potential mitigation measures. Subsequently, this paper formulates various counter-terrorism policies to enhance the robustness of Constantza Port under potential terror attacks and connects them with the attributions in the field of critical infrastructure protection conferred by the law to the lead national authority for preventing and countering terrorism, namely the Romanian Intelligence Service. Extending the national counterterrorism efforts to an international level, the authors propose the establishment – among the experts of the NATO member states of the Wider Black Sea Region – of a platform for the exchange of know-how and best practices in the field of critical infrastructure protection.

Keywords: Constantza Port, counter-terrorism policies, critical infrastructure protection, security, Wider Black Sea Region

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Authors: Abdullateef Abdulkarim Jimoh, Muhammad Lawal A., Usman Muhammad, Hamisu Abdullahi, Nuhu Abdullahi Jega

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Smart city projects can be aided by urban development policies in public facilities, but economic resources to finance urban system reorganization is an issue to various governments. This is further compounded with the impact of the slowing down of national economies. The aim of this paper is to emphasize the need to prioritize the economic benefits of smart city projects and, specifically, in towns transforming into cities like Birnin kebbi. The smart-city projects can aim at developing a new form of ‘‘modernity and civilization’’ of the productive economy. This study adopts the descriptive statistical approach to identify the key performance indicators (KPI) for tracking the progress of cities and its developmental objectives. It has been established that numerous aspects of the modernization policies can enhance the competitiveness of territories, particular in aspects of social cohesion, the diffusion of knowledge, creativity, accessibility, etc.

Keywords: economy, economic policy, public facilities, smart city, urbanization

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