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This study aims to investigate the relationship between corporate governance characteristics and the financial performance of both Islamic and conventional banks in the context of an emerging market, i.e. Malaysia.

This study includes 300 bank-year observations from Islamic and conventional banks over the period 2010–2021. The dynamic panel model (generalized method of moments [GMM]) was considered the primary estimation model that solves simultaneity, endogeneity and omitted variable problems as most governance variables are endogenous by nature. Hence, static models are considered biased after conducting the DWH test of endogeneity, and considering dynamic panel GMM is valid proven by Sargan and Hensen and first-order (ARI) and second-order (ARII) tests.

Based on the regression results, the authors discovered that board size, female participation in the board and director remuneration have a significant positive impact on bank performance, whereas board meetings have a significant negative impact. Furthermore, the board governance structure of commercial banks is found to be more passive than that of Islamic banks.

The study’s findings added a new dimension to governance research, which could be a valuable source of knowledge for policymakers, investors and regulators looking to improve existing governance mechanisms for better performance of conventional and Islamic banks.

The goal of this study is to add to the existing literature by focusing on the impact of female board participation and other board governance mechanisms in both conventional and Islamic banks on bank performance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine operational and stock performance changes around forced CEO turnovers caused by conflicts between corporate boards and CEOs over the strategic direction of the firm. In addition, the authors investigate whether changes in performance can be explained by board, CEO, or firm characteristics.

The authors apply propensity score matching to choose matching firms that do not forced CEO turnover but have similar characteristics with the sample firms. The authors compare their operating and stock performances. The authors apply both univariate analysis and multivariate regression analyses.

The authors find that the CEO turnovers caused by conflicts between corporate boards and CEOs over the strategic direction of the firms tend to be preceded by significant declines in a firm’s operating and stock performance and that corporate performance improves after turnovers. In addition, the authors find that an increase in long-term incentives and firm size and a decrease in turnover improve firm performance.

While the existing corporate governance literature emphasizes oversight as the main role of the board of directors and identifies the CEO as the leader who sets the strategic direction of the firm, in cases of conflict-induced forced CEO turnover, it is the board that sets the strategic direction. This paper is the first to provide evidence regarding the implications of conflict-induced forced CEO turnovers.

The relationship between idiosyncratic risk and stock return has been debated for decades; this study reexamined this relationship in the Pakistani stock market by using the quantile regression approach along with the prospect theory.

The present study is quantitative, and secondary data obtained from an emerging market are used. The quantile regression method allows the estimates of idiosyncratic risk to vary across the entire distribution of stock returns, i.e. the dependent variable. In this study, the standard deviation of regression residuals from the Fama and French three-factor model was used to measure idiosyncratic risk. Convenience sampling is employed; the sample consists of 82 firms listed on the KSE-100 index, with 820 annual observations for the ten years from 2011 to 2020. After computing results by using quantile regression, the study's findings, ordinary least squares (OLS) and least sum of absolute deviation (LAD) regression techniques are also compared.

The quantile regression estimation results indicate that idiosyncratic risk is positively correlated with stock returns and that this relationship is contingent on whether prices are rising or falling. Consistent with the prospect theory, the finding suggests that stock investors tend to avoid risk when they anticipate a loss but are more willing to take risks when they anticipate a profit. The results of the OLS and LAD regressions indicate that the method typically employed in previous studies does not adequately describe the relationship between idiosyncratic risk and stock return at extreme points or across the entire distribution of stock return.

These empirical findings shed new light on the relationship between idiosyncratic risk and stock return in Pakistani stock market literature.

The objective of this paper is to leverage a two-sided view of social capital to develop a model of board gender diversity and firm performance using social capital data from Northeast Regional Center of Rural Development.

The authors examine a large sample of 2,322 US publicly listed firms over the period 1996 to 2009. The final sample consists of 14,634 firm-year observations.

The authors find that when a firm's social network is not supportive of gender diversity, corporate boards have lower levels of female representation. The strength of a social network's social ties exacerbates the relationship between social capital and board gender diversity. The authors also report a negative relationship between female board membership and firm performance in social networks that are not pro-diversity. Robustness tests reveal that the authors’ social capital view of board diversity also applies to board ethnic diversity.

This study focuses primarily on blue chip firms due to data constraints. It will be interesting for future researchers to investigate a broader spectrum of firms from a broader perspective of diversity beyond the study’s gender and ethnicity findings. Furthermore, this study assesses the US context, and future research could investigate firm sociability in other national contexts.

This study contributes new insights to the discourse on gender diversity on corporate boards which stand to inform both policy and practice. The results of the study can inform the position of an industry association on board gender diversity, with guidance on how messaging across networks can be more effective should it account for the hidden bias that the authors uncover in the current study. From a manager's perspective, this study can help those managers and boards trying to enhance board gender diversity by providing a more complete understanding of the factors that can limit progress.

This study contributes a social capital view of board gender diversity to the growing literature of corporate governance, board diversity and local environmental influences on corporate policies.

The principle of the medial axis calculation is complicated and difficult to implement. Moreover, the accuracy is not high. Then, as the generated path has an endpoint at the boundary of the polygon, burrs may appear on the surface of the molded piece. This paper aims to improve the warpage deformation of SLM molded parts and the surface quality of molded parts, an improved mid-axis path generation algorithm is proposed.

First, the center point is calculated by the seed point growth method based on the distance transform, and the obtained medial axis has high precision and is suitable for simple polygons and complex polygons. Then, based on the extracted medial axis, a preliminary path is generated, the path is trimmed with MATLAB to remove the redundant path. Finally, a scan along the contour of the polygon is performed to improve the surface quality of the molded part.

The algorithm reduces the internal stress generated during the molding process by continuously changing the scanning direction of the path along the boundary curve of the scanning area, thereby reducing the amount of warpage of the molded part. The result of extraction has a higher precision and wider scope of application than other methods to extract central axis, such as the Voronoi diagram-based method. The path is trimmed to remove redundant paths and the polygon boundaries are scanned to further improve the surface quality of the molded part. The results show that warpage deformation of the proposed algorithm is significantly smaller than the other two methods, thus the forming precision is higher.

An improved medial axis path generation algorithm is proposed in this paper. The proposed method is applied to improve warpage deformation occurring in the SLM process. Seed point growth of distance transformation is used to extracted central axis. The result of extraction has a higher precision and wider scope of application than other methods to extract central axis, such as the Voronoi diagram-based method.

This study aims to find out the dynamic and causal long-run and the short-run relationship between energy consumption (electricity usage) and energy production (electricity creation) and also find out the relationship of these two variables based on past values for the SAARC nations (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal).

Vector auto-regressive (VAR), auto-regressive distributive Lag (ARDL) and Granger causality test have been used in this study to estimate the dynamic and causal relationship between variables.

The unit-root tests were found insignificant at a magnitude but significant at the initial difference. VAR test results were found insignificant, which means co-integration among variables exists, which was tested by ARDL approach. Results suggested that energy consumption has a short-run relationship with energy production, but it was found insignificant in the other way round. The results of this study also suggest that both variables cause each other in the long run.

This study was conducted in a limited environment as we do not have access to energy policies of SAARC countries, and also data access was limited; only five countries’ data was available. This study can help government bodies and policymakers to exchange the electricity across borders to diminish the electricity shortage in the SAARC region, as countries with abandoned resources can produce electricity at a little cost.

Penal data for this study was collected from World Development Indicators from the year 1971 to 2015.

This study aims to examine the effect of various forms of capital flows on financial stability in middle-income countries from 2010 to 2017 using the World Bank economy classifications of 121 economies.

Panel spatial correlation consistent approach was used in this study.

The findings provide convincing evidence that in middle-income countries, capital flows are positive and significant predictors of financial stability and that financial systems in advanced economies are more stable than those of emerging and developing countries. However, outward foreign direct investments are shown to have the largest potential for ensuring financial stability.

Globalization has fostered financial integration of nations, which is manifested in capital flows from lower-income countries to middle-income and upper-income countries and vice versa. These flows can lead to financial instability if not properly controlled. The authors show how the various forms of capital flows affect the financial stability in middle-income countries.

The purpose of this paper is to access the present situation of the Pakistani population that suffers from vitamin D deficiency.

A review-based study was conducted based on publications from Pakistan between the years 2008 and 2018. The publications were archived from Pub Med and Google Scholar databases. A total of 18 publications were shortlisted, based on the cutoff values of vitamin D sufficiency, insufficiency and deficiency.

As per the data, 38.5 per cent of the participants were males, 48.7 per cent were females and 12.8 per cent of the studies have not mentioned the genders of the participants. The cumulative results show that 58.17 per cent (95 per cent CI: 52.17, 64.16) of the population is vitamin D-deficient and 26.65 per cent (95 per cent CI: 21.63, 31.66) is insufficient in vitamin D. The highest level of vitamin D deficiency was reported from Sindh (62.15 per cent), followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (60.57 per cent), Punjab (51.75 per cent) and the Federal Capital (49.25 per cent). Moreover, Cochran’s Q test indicated considerable heterogeneity (p = >0.001) with regard to Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) prevalence found among samples from the selected studies.

The present analysis suggests that more than half of the Pakistani population suffers from VDD, which, thus, should be considered as an epidemic and treated likewise.

The purpose of this paper is to cover some aspects about the disposal and regulatory standard around the world toward hospital effluent discharge, its managements and treatment technologies that are adopted and best suitable nowadays.

Due to large and variety of antibiotics available in the market nowadays it is difficult to control its use, thereby risking the whole ecosystem and its components. The regulation pattern is variable depending upon the various factors in different countries. The permissible limit of these emerging pollutants found in sewage as compared to in hospital effluent streams having active pharmaceutical ingredients is very narrow and is a debatable issue.

The disparity in the available legislation for hospital waste management in different countries makes it difficult to compare pro’s and con’s of methods adopted. Strict laws need to be framed for hospital wastewater management and its treatment, as it contains harmful compounds in higher concentrations resulting in development of resistant genes. The guideline applicable nowadays makes it clear that, specific management guidelines with respect to HWW, but also indicate certain characteristics that can be represented to specify their nature and indicator.

Determination of effluent characteristic for each specialized treatment need to be analyzed for meeting the framed regulatory standards. Up-gradation of existing treatment facilities, adopting new technologies and improving operation, maintained is a viable option. As there are no specific treatment schemes available hence combination and optimization of treatment methods may solve the problem to certain extent.

There is some flexibility also there so that law framework can be modified accordingly. For any health facilities direct discharges into natural water bodies it effluent need to follow national discharge standards. These are quite strict as compared to indirect standards and generally not meet by such facilities. This is quite logical because they are not being monitored or treated by municipal systems.

The law indicates that hospital needed to collect and treat effluent according to the treatment standards. But on other hand the law was made making it consideration about the HWW collection in water bodies.

The best way of management as described, is to treat HWW onsite-dividing into primary, secondary and tertiary. The document also provides details about sludge disposal, possible reuse, including the application of new and innovative treatment technologies for HWW. It also provides guidance for minimum approach for HWW management because developing countries patients do not have proper sanitation facilities.

This study aims to evaluate cognitive, personal and environmental factors affecting investors’ behavioral intentions (BI) to invest in ṣukūk (Islamic investment certificates) in Pakistan.

Data from 462 participants were collected through survey-questionnaires by using the convenient sampling technique. Hypothesized proposed relationships among the constructs were examined by applying the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique through smart partial least squares.

Compatibility, internal influence, external influence and intrinsic motivation were found to be significant predictors of investors’ BI to invest in ṣukūk. In addition, it was found that the religious aspect not only affects investors’ BI positively but also works as a moderator in the relationships between BI and both internal and external influence.

The results are quite helpful for ṣukūk issuers and regulators to consider cognitive, personal and environmental factors that might enhance the adoption of ṣukūk, especially among Muslim investors.

This study is among the few research studies that shed light on investors’ BI to invest in ṣukūk. Using social cognitive theory, the study investigates the cognitive, personal and environmental factors influencing ṣukūk adoption, which were previously unexplored. In addition, this is the first study that unveils the influential factors of ṣukūk adoption in Pakistan, a Muslim-majority country.