Microfinance is a preferred development tool in many developing countries around the world; however, the industry has been facing many challenges in recent years, including the attainment of financial sustainability. Therefore, this study is aimed at investigating the effect of employee turnover on the financial performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs). The study utilized unbalanced panel data of 1561 unique MFIs from 2010 to 2018. The data were then analyzed by conventional econometric techniques such as the pooled ordinary least squares, random (...) effects model, fixed effects model, Hausman–Taylor, and the two-step system generalized method of moments. Considering the linear relationship, it was discovered that employee turnover has a negative effect on the financial performance of MFIs. However, this relationship is dependent on the proxies of financial performance, legal status, location, profit orientation of the MFIs (for subsample analysis), and the technique(s)/model(s) employed in the analysis. Furthermore, the study did not find empirical evidence to support the quadratic relationship between employee turnover and the financial performance of MFIs. The outcome of this study advances important policy implications for concerned stakeholders. (shrink)

Social media is a prominent communication platform. Its active usage permeates all generations and it is imperative that the platform be fully optimized for knowledge transfer and innovation diffusion. However, there are several considerations regarding platform usage, including media affordances. Social media affordances enable users to interact with the world around them through features of modality, agency, interactivity, and navigation. Previous studies have indicated that social media affordances significantly influence user behavior and usage. However, research exploring the effect of social (...) media affordances on knowledge acquisition and the reduction of decision-making complexities is limited. Therefore, focusing on 179 paddy farmers in Malaysia, this study examined the effect of social media affordances on information quality, knowledge acquisition, and complexity reduction regarding innovation adoption decisions using a quantitative approach. This study’s findings reveal that social media affordances have a significant effect on perceived information quality, knowledge acquisition, and complexity reduction. (shrink)

The integration of cellular networks and vehicular networks is complex and heterogeneous. Synchronization among vehicles in heterogeneous vehicular clusters plays an important role in effective data sharing and the stability of the cluster. This synchronization depends on the smooth exchange of information between vehicles and remote servers over the Internet. The remote servers predict road traffic patterns by adopting deep learning methods to help drivers on the roads. At the same time, local data processing at the vehicular cluster level may (...) increase the capabilities of remote servers. However, global positioning system signal interruption, especially in the urban environment, plays a big part in the detritions of synchronization among the vehicles that lead to the instability of the cluster. Instability of connections is a major hurdle in developing cost-effective solutions for deriving assistance and route planning applications. To solve this problem, a self-localization scheme within the vehicular cluster is proposed. The proposed self-localization scheme handles GPS signal interruption to the vehicle within the cluster. A unique clustering criterion and a synchronization mechanism for sharing traffic information system data among multiple vehicles are developed. The developed scheme is simulated and compared with existing known approaches. The results show the better performance of our proposed scheme over others. (shrink)

The initiative to ensure oil-palm smallholders around the world participate in sustainable certification is increasing. Different efforts were strategised including increasing awareness and providing financial support. Despite that, the number of smallholders’ participation in sustainable certification is relatively low. This study embarked on the objective to identify the role of social structure, namely social interaction ties in affecting smallholders’ participative behaviours. Moreover, this study is also looking on the mediating impact of deliberative communication and responsible leadership in explaining the relationship (...) between the two previously stated constructs. Using a quantitative research design, this study collected data from 440 smallholders as its respondents. Samples were randomly selected, and questionnaires were distributed to obtain their responses. Data collected were then analysed using PLS-SEM to test the developed hypothesis. Accordingly, the findings indicate that social interaction ties have a significant impact on smallholders’ decisions to participate in sustainable certification. Furthermore, both deliberative communication and responsible leadership were proven to be significant mediators. This study provides insights on how smallholders’ participation in sustainable certification can be improved by tapping on the social structure elements as well as adopting deliberative communication and responsible leadership as a method to communicate and lead with the smallholders. This shall expand literature related to organisation psychology in rural areas and sustainability. (shrink)

Purpose The importance of smartphones in enhancing students learning, research and development is well-established in many published studies. Nevertheless, due to numerous challenges, Nigerian students are yet to reap from the benefits of smartphones in terms of accessing vital information for learning and development. Therefore, this study aims to develop a framework that will enhance Nigerian students’ ability to use smartphones for learning. Design/methodology/approach The SERVQUAL Theory Framework is adapted to actualize the research aim. Moreover, a qualitative research approach was (...) used to interview 60 students from 3 public universities in Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the interviewees, and the interview data were analysed using thematic content analysis. Findings The findings identified the critical constraints that deter Nigerian students from reaping the full potential of smartphones for learning. The constraints are categorized into three groups which include telecommunication companies’ hiccups, such as high cost of internet, poor network services and coverage; government obstacles, such as high tax policies, insufficient electricity supply and lack of basic infrastructure; and university barriers, such as unavailability of Wi-Fi connection for students, lack of equipped university libraries and poor management. Originality/value Thus, a holistic Framework for Enhancing Students Smartphones Learning Ability was established to provide fundamental recommendations to the Nigerian Government, telecommunication companies in Nigeria and Nigerian universities to tackle the pressing issues hindering Nigerian students from using their smartphones for learning. This will enhance the smartphone learning experience of Nigerian students. (shrink)

Background The use of lengthy, detailed, and complex informed consent forms is of paramount concern in biomedical research as it may not truly promote the rights and interests of research participants. The extent of information in ICFs has been the subject of debates for decades; however, no clear guidance is given. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the perspectives of research participants about the type and extent of information they need when they are invited to participate in (...) biomedical research. Methods This multi-center, cross-sectional, descriptive survey was conducted at 54 study sites in seven Asia-Pacific countries. A modified Likert-scale questionnaire was used to determine the importance of each element in the ICF among research participants of a biomedical study, with an anchored rating scale from 1 to 5. Results Of the 2484 questionnaires distributed, 2113 were returned. The majority of respondents considered most elements required in the ICF to be ‘moderately important’ to ‘very important’ for their decision making. Major foreseeable risk, direct benefit, and common adverse effects of the intervention were considered to be of most concerned elements in the ICF. Conclusions Research participants would like to be informed of the ICF elements required by ethical guidelines and regulations; however, the importance of each element varied, e.g., risk and benefit associated with research participants were considered to be more important than the general nature or technical details of research. Using a participant-oriented approach by providing more details of the participant-interested elements while avoiding unnecessarily lengthy details of other less important elements would enhance the quality of the ICF. (shrink)

This article proposes an analysis of changes implemented during Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's administration (20032003), which displayed bias against changes and introduced schemes to justify the systems it upheld. Transmutations wrought during Abdullah's tenure may have been neither substantial nor totalizing, but within the conservative paradigm which had long gripped national politics, Abdullah's deviations were significant nevertheless.

Contemporary Islamic management scholars have agreed that values are embedded in quality management. Their agreement is grounded on the famous prophetic tradition encouraging diligence in work, uttered more than 1400 years ago, which has been narrated authentically. However, little studies have specifically indicated its application in quality management activities. As quality management is initiated in the West, little attention has been given to Islamic perspective of the discipline. However, as the Japanese had successfully implemented quality management in their cultural value (...) perspective, many parties come to acknowledge the significance of values. In the literature, various Islamic values have been linked to quality management practice. While studies analyzing and categorizing them is limited, several values are redundant or being termed differently, though they are similar in crux. This article compiles the values and categorizes them depending on similar bases of Quranic verses or Prophetic traditions. The categorization proposes a set of Islamic values related to quality management practice, based on a simple frequency analysis matrix. Finally, this article concludes with prospects for future research. (shrink)

Due to its structure, language is open to change with the differentiation of time and events. The importance of language, which has a great importance in interpersonal communication, is much more privileged for Muslims who shape their civilizations according to the Qur’ān. Because the language in question in this medium is not only an element that completes human relations, but also the language of religion with divine characteristics, which communicates with people through revelation and belongs to the supreme creator. It (...) is normal for a language, which is considered to be a social phenomenon, to be constantly open to change due to meaning expansion, meaning narrowing or meaning distortions. It is possible to change the language in proportion to the development of the human mind. However, if the “language of religion” is in question, it is extremely important in terms of the universal messages it carries that the concepts it contains should not be expanded or distorted in order to preserve the purity of that religion. It is certain that the change that will occur in the words of the Qur’ān will affect its interpretation and thus religious life. In a realm where revelation is fixed and unchangeable, time and understanding are variable, what matters to us is how much we are in harmony with the first and essential meaning given to the concepts in our effort to understand the Qur’ān. In this article, with the revelation of the revelation, the expansion of the concept of mustad‘af to gain new political meanings, a case which almost all commentators have agreed on until today, has been analyzed, especially in the last century. The concept of mustad‘af, which is mentioned in four verses in the Qur’ān and is rarely included in the hadiths, basically represents the people who have not had the opportunity to migrate to live their faith, who were persecuted by deniers and oppressors and whose right to worship was taken away. The concept of mustad‘af, which basically means “weak, belittled and oppressed”, gained a religious content with Islam and preserved it. While the concept has been used in a narrow sense in the Sunni world until today and did not develop any meaning, it found a wide place in the Shiite world and underwent new meaning expansions. After the period of Hulefa-i Raşidîn, the Shiites accepted themselves as victims of the treatment they received by the political powers and named themselves as mustad‘af, and they produced a literature of victimization from there. This concept, which is used by Shiite scholars for people who sometimes do not fall into blasphemy and shirk, and sometimes believe in Allah and His Messenger, although they are not subject to the sect of shia, has been made available for new meanings with the change of world politics after the modern period. In the 19th century, the “social justice” and “equality” discourses of communism affected the Islamic world as well as the whole world. In addition to the establishment of many “left”-centered political parties in the Islamic world, contemporary Muslim thinkers were also influenced by this, and after a while many Islamic values started to be considered as left-wing. Especially before the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979, the proletariat and bourgeois conflict was evaluated as an affiliate and mustad‘af, and it was hoped that the neglected masses would be converted to Islam with this new discourse. Those who have an imperialist and capitalist character, covet the wealth of third world countries and do all kinds of evil against them. Those who were left weak, exploited and stripped of their resources were regarded as mustad‘af. Again, the dictators who came to power against the will of the Muslims were evaluated as mustaqbir and the masses of the people as mustad‘af. It is possible to read a historical or religious text through any ideology. However, the fact that should not be ignored here is that if every word and concept in the Qur’ān loses its meaning in the medium and culture in which it descended, the language of religion and therefore all values belonging to religion will evaporate over time. (shrink)

Reproductive medical technology has revolutionized the natural order of human procreation. Accordingly, some have celebrated its advent as a new and liberating determinant of kinship at the global level and advocate it as a right to reproductive health while others have frowned upon it as a vehicle for “guiltless exchange of sexual fluid” and commodification of human gametes. Religious voices from both Christianity and Islam range from unthinking adoption to restrictive use. While utilizing this technology to enable the married couple (...) to have children through the use of their own sexual material is welcome, the use of third party, surrogacy, and reproductive cloning are not in keeping with the sacrosanct principles of kinship, procreation through licit sexual intercourse, and social cohesiveness for building a cohesive family as uphold by both Christianity and Islam. To examine such larger issues emanating from these new ways of human procreation, beyond the question of legality, is a point which legal scholars in both Christianity and Islam, when issuing religious decrees, have not anticipated sufficiently. The article proposes to be an attempt to that end through a qualitative critical content analysis of selected literature written on the subject. (shrink)

From past to present, two significant system changes have occurred in the written Arabic language. The first of these is the differentiation of similar letters through dotting. From the early periods of Islam, dotting was widely used to distinguish similar letters, and over time, these dots became integra-ted with the letters they accompanied, forming the modern Arabic alphabet. The second change is the representation of vowel sounds, which correspond to vowels in other languages, using various symbols in written language. These (...) symbols have been used only in specific books and situations from their inception to the present day. All these efforts in these two areas were made to reduce pronunciation differences in words and sentences in Arabic script, and consequently, to minimize potential ambiguities in any word or sentence. Orthography (imlā’) is a science that was introduced with this aim. Unlike the efforts in dotting and vowel notation, the foundation of ort-hographic rules includes the addition, deletion, and substitution of certain letters to differentiate between words with similar spellings but different meanings, as well as rules regarding the conjunction and separation of cer-tain words. When these rules are examined, it is seen that some of them provide certain conveniences in determining sentence elements. In this con-text, the purpose of this study is to demonstrate the function of orthographic rules in determining sentence elements in written Arabic through examples, and to emphasize the linguistic importance of these rules. (shrink)

The aim of present paper is to introduce the concept of ‘expressive perception’ in Ernst Cassirer’s philosophical mythology. Having Cited Dorothy Emmet’s methodological objection, the author, by recalling Kantian aspect of Cassirer’s thought and referring to the concept of ‘expressive perception’, would make an attempt to reply on his part: according to Cassirer, this level of perceptive experience is the origin of the mythical form of thinking as a whole and, at the same time, is the original and irreducible altogether. (...) Thus, taking ‘mythical thought’ as an independent form of thinking, beside the ‘critical-empirical’ form of thinking, is, for one thing, completely cogent; for another, due to its dependency upon expressive form of perception, mythical thought would never be quite omitted, rather, keep living latently beneath the skin of mental life. In addition, author explains how much Cassirer owes, regarding to the concept of ‘expressive form of perception’, to Max Scheler. Avoiding to elaborate on Scheler’s detailed argument, Cassirer relies strongly on the consequences Scheler draws from his considerations in his work ‘Wesen und Formen der Sympathie’. Restating Scheler’s argument briefly should help in understanding Cassirer’s idea. (shrink)

Turkey has been hosting a large number of Syrian refugees since 2011 and has allowed Syrians to integrate into the general education system alongside Turkish students since 2016. This situation suggests that Turkey offers a unique experience in the education of Syrian refugees. However, Syrian girls may face disadvantages in their education due to traditional gender roles. Based on this premise, this study aims to examine the educational processes of Syrian girls during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspectives of teachers, (...) parents, and the students themselves. Therefore, this research seeks to identify the educational experiences of Syrian girls during the pandemic period in Turkey and to evaluate the contribution of religious culture and ethics (RCE) teachers to their ability to receive proper education. The participants of this research, which followed a qualitative design, included 10 students, 5 parents, and 5 RCE teachers selected through snowball sampling. The study's findings reveal that Syrian girls encountered difficulties in accessing and continuing distance education effectively. The data obtained were analyzed by considering the educational challenges experienced by refugee girls during the quarantine period from the perspectives of students, parents, and teachers, and discussed within psychological, social, and cultural contexts. Among these challenges, economic hardships, technical deficiencies, inadequacies in the physical environment, and social adjustment problems emerged as prominent issues. It was found that Syrian refugee girls struggled with limited financial resources, a lack of technological devices such as tablets and computers, inadequate internet access, and a shortage of appropriate learning environments. They also experienced psychological challenges, including isolation and a longing for social interaction, along with shifts in family dynamics. On the other hand, it was observed that Syrian girls and their parents frequently communicated with religious, cultural, and moral education teachers to address these issues. A significant finding that distinguishes this study from similar ones is that Syrian refugee girls, through their participation in both distance and face-to-face education, began to adapt to Turkish culture and lifestyle. According to the perspectives of both students and teachers, Syrian refugee students have become more socially integrated compared to their parents. As a result, it can be concluded that RCE teachers have assumed new, supportive roles in the education of Syrian refugee students. (shrink)

Lifestyle refers to a set of personal and group behaviours related to normative and semantic aspects of social life. Any coherent set of behavioural patterns derived from religious teachings that exist in life can be considered a religious lifestyle. Considering that the dominant religion in Jordan is Islam, the present study focused on the Islamic lifestyle. In addition, given that the correct relationship between couples has been compared to life-giving blood in marriage, and since the quality of marital role plays (...) a determining role, the existence of communication skills in any of the couples can generate satisfaction and compatibility, whereas lack of awareness of these skills could cause misunderstandings and tension. Therefore, the current study aims to study the role of the Islamic lifestyle in communication skills of 250 Muslim couples of Jordan (Amman, Zarqa and Irbid) in 2022. Data were collected using questionnaires during four months, and the validity and reliability was confirmed. In addition, data analysis was performed in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Linear Structural Relations (LISREL) using mean tests and structural equation modelling. According to the results, Islamic lifestyle had a positive, significant effect on the improvement of communication skills in Muslim couples in Jordan (P-value: 0.76; T-value: 7.92). Therefore, it is recommended that more attention should be paid to this issue by families, researchers and cultural authorities in the country.Contribution: Our findings revealed that Islamic lifestyle improved communication skills in Muslim couples, which demands special attention. By adhering to the Islamic lifestyle, couples can influence each other’s knowledge, emotions, education and growth, and try to have a realistic understanding of each other’s desires, needs, living environment and perceptions that each has in life issues. Furthermore, they can organise their role in the common life in appropriate ways to prevent problems and solve them in the event of problems. (shrink)

This study examines the compilation process and source value of The Mufaddaliyyat, one of the most important anthologies of ancient Arabic poetry. The Mufaddaliyyat, compiled by Mufaddal al-Dabbī (d. 178/794), is known as the second major poetry anthology created after Mu‘allaqāt. The study explores the anthology's significance and place in Islamic literature in detail, covering topics such as the number of odes and verses, the compiler's background and controversies, linguistic contributions, transmitters, and commentaries.Compared to Mu‘allaqāt, The Mufaddaliyyat holds a unique (...) position in the anthology tradition due to its distinctive selection and organization process. The odes chosen through the critical lens of Mufaddal al-Dabbī enhance the literary value of the anthology and its significance among poetry collections. However, there are differing accounts regarding the number of odes and verses in the anthology. These discrepancies highlight the complexity of the compilation process and the changes it underwent over time.In general, various accounts describe the compilation process of The Mufaddaliyyat, the methods followed in creating the anthology, and the criteria for selecting the poems. Some accounts state that Mufaddal al-Dabbī initially selected 80 odes for Caliph Mahdi-Billah (d. 169/785) for educational purposes, which later increased to 128 odes. Other accounts suggest that Ibrahim b. Abdullah (d. 145/763) played a significant role in the anthology's compilation and that the odes he selected were used by Mufaddal al-Dabbī. These differences reflect the complexity of the compilation process and various perspectives. The diversity of these accounts is important for understanding the historical development of the anthology and how it was perceived in different periods.The Mufaddaliyyat holds great significance due to its primary source of odes and the use of its verses as references in various classical works. The anthology is considered one of the important texts in Arabic literature and demonstrates its literary value and linguistic contributions to Islamic literature. The verses in the anthology have been used for citation in many fundamental sources, reinforcing the anthology's reliability and source value.The Mufaddaliyyat has been examined in various studies through the linguistic features of the poems, the themes used, and the literary styles of the poets. In this study, the accounts of the compilation process of The Mufaddaliyyat are directly conveyed and explained from primary sources using the descriptive content analysis method. The various accounts and views about the compiler are examined in detail, and the accuracy and reliability of these accounts are assessed. Additionally, the statistics of the use of the anthology's verses in various classical works are presented, emphasizing its importance in the fields of Arabic language and literature and Islamic studies. This research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of The Mufaddaliyyat, allowing for a broader perspective on its place in Arabic literature. Thus, the study is expected to contribute to the wider recognition and understanding of The Mufaddaliyyat and serve as a guide for future studies on the subject.In conclusion, The Mufaddaliyyat, as one of the significant poetry anthologies of classical Arabic literature, holds great importance in Islamic literature. Compiled after Mu‘allaqāt, The Mufaddaliyyat consists of poems personally selected by its compiler and was prepared using a method previously untried in Arabic literature. In this context, while Mu‘allaqāt can be considered the first poetry anthology in classical Arabic literature, the anthology tradition can be said to have started with The Mufaddaliyyat. There are various disputes regarding whether all or only a part of the odes in The Mufaddaliyyat were selected by Mufaddal al-Dabbī. However, considering the preface of the Enbari commentary, regarded as the most reliable account of the anthology, it is understood that the views and accounts indicating Mufaddal al-Dabbī as the compiler are more accurate. Regardless of the compiler, the use of the verses in The Mufaddaliyyat for citation in many significant works of Islamic literature demonstrates the anthology's high source value and reliability. (shrink)

This book discusses Asian medicine, which puts enormous emphasis on prevention and preservation of health, and examines how, in recent decades, medical schools in Asia have been increasingly shifting toward a curative approach. It offers an ethnographic investigation of the scenarios in China and India and finds that modern students and graduates in these countries perceive Asian medicine to be as important as Western medicine. There is a growing tendency to integrate Asian medicine with Western medical thought in the academic (...) curriculum that has led to a gradual decline of Asian medical thought and practices. At the same time, there has been a massive rise in patent drugs, health products and cosmetics being sold under the brand names of Asian medicine or herbal medicine. Most of these drugs and health products do not follow the classical formulas found in the Asian medical texts. The book analyses these texts and concludes that contemporary Asian medicine rarely follows the classical texts, and in fact uses Asian medicine brands to sell Western health products and practices. With a particular focus on the formal and professional sector of Chinese herbal medicine and Indian ayurvedic medicine in urban areas, this book appeals to a broad readership, including undergraduate students and academics as well as non-experts. Md. Nazrul Islam is an Associate Professor in the General Education Office, United International College, Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University. He was a Visiting Associate Professor in the School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia (2015-16) during which time he completed this book manuscript. (shrink)

The Human Organ Transplantation Act came into officially force in Bangladesh on April 13, 1999, allowing organ donations from both living and brain-dead donors. The Act was amended by the Parliament on January 8, 2018, with the changes coming into effect shortly afterwards on January 28. The Act was revised to extend a living donor pool from close relatives to include certain other relatives such as grandparents, grandchildren, and first cousins. The Act was also revised to allow individuals to prioritize (...) family members in receiving their organs after their death. The aim of this paper is not to carry out an ethical analysis of the Act as a whole but only to focus on aspects relating to priority access for family members to organs. Despite Islam encouraging Muslims to be sympathetic, and to save the life of any member of humankind, saving the life of a relative through organ donation is even more highly valued. The collective and extended structure of the family impacts on the provisions of the Act that only allows Bangladeshis to legally donate their organs to save the lives of relatives and allows individuals to prioritize family members. Recent progress in the practice of organ transplantation raises a number of ethical dilemmas around the allocation of available organs in the context of organ scarcity. A key purpose of introducing incentive into the system of organ allocation is to increase the number of donations from living relatives and initiation of vital organ donations from brain-dead donors. However, allocation criteria based on a living organ donation incentive system would appear to be unethical because there is no provision in the Act with regard to financial compensation for a distant relative donor’s post-operative care in the absence of healthcare coverage. Receiving organs from a distant relative without giving financial compensation for post-operative care places them in a grave health condition and violates the biomedical principle of non-maleficence. An incentive system around brain-dead donors would appear to be ethical as the amended Act allows individuals to prioritize relatives in receiving their organs after death. This provision is intended to initiate the transplantation of vital organs from brain-dead donors as families might bear the cost of keeping the organs alive for transplantation. Regular reassessment of the impact of the Act is necessary to maximize the donation rate of transplantable organs using ethical means. (shrink)

Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority country, has a national organ donation law that was passed in 1999 and revised in 2018. The law allows living-related and brain-dead donor organ transplantation. There are no legal barriers to these two types of organ donations, but there is no legislation providing necessary costs and incentive measures associated with successful organ transplants. However, many governments across the globe provide different types of incentives for motivating living donors and families of deceased donors. This study assesses the merits (...) and demerits of incentive measures already in use around the world and proposes ethical measures that can promote organ donation in Bangladesh. The primary focus of this paper is to present an ethical analysis of the comparison of incentive measures on organ donation between Bangladesh and the Islamic Republic of Iran as two Muslim countries that operate organ donation for transplantation practices according to Islamic principles. In this paper, I mainly argue that providing a fixed bare minimum financial incentive measure to distantly related living donors and families of deceased donors will encourage Bangladeshis to donate organs in a manner that is ethically justifiable, morally permissible, and socio-economically appropriate. The government of Bangladesh should revise the existing biomedical law to include a provision related to incentive measures and set a strict policy to properly regulate these measures as key stewardship that can ethically promote organ donation for transplantation. (shrink)

This article examined the effect of culture and religiosity on perceptions of business ethics among students in a tertiary institution in Malaysia. A structured questionnaire was developed with scenarios on various aspects of business ethics, and self-administered to the students in the business studies program. The results from 767 respondents showed that there were significant differences among the Malays, Chinese, and Indian students on seven scenarios namely selling hazardous products, misleading instructions, selling defective products, padding expense account, taking sick to (...) take a day off, keeping quiet on defective products, and respond to supplier's take good care of clients attitude. There was also an association between culture and religiosity. The MANOVA results also showed that culture and religiosity have an effect on perceptions of business ethics. (shrink)

Organ transplantation from living related donors in Bangladesh first began in October 1982, and became commonplace in 1988. Cornea transplantation from posthumous donors began in 1984 and living related liver and bone marrow donor transplantation began in 2010 and 2014 respectively. The Human Organ Transplantation Act officially came into effect in Bangladesh on 13th April 1999, allowing organ donation from both brain-dead and related living donors for transplantation. Before the legislation, religious leaders issued fatwa, or religious rulings, in favor of (...) organ transplantation. The Act was amended by the Parliament on 8th January, 2018 with the changes coming into effect shortly afterwards on 28th January. However, aside from a few posthumous corneal donations, transplantation of vital organs, such as the kidney, liver, heart, pancreas, and other body parts or organs from deceased donors, has remained absent in Bangladesh. The major question addressed in this article is why the transplantation of vital organs from deceased donors is absent in Bangladesh. In addition to the collection of secondary documents, interviews were conducted with senior transplant physicians, patients and their relatives, and the public, to learn about posthumous organ donation for transplantation. Interviews were also conducted with a medical student and two grief counselors to understand the process of counseling the families and obtaining consent to obtain posthumous cornea donations from brain-dead patients. An interview was conducted with a professional anatomist to understand the processes behind body donation for the purposes of medical study and research. Their narrative reveals that transplant physicians may be reticent to declare brain death as the stipulations of the 1999 act were unclear and vague. This study finds that Bangladeshis have strong family ties and experience anxiety around permitting separating body parts of dead relatives for organ donation for transplantation, or donating the dead body for medical study and research purposes. Posthumous organ donation for transplantation is commonly viewed as a wrong deed from a religious point of view. Religious scholars who have been consulted by the government have approved posthumous organ donation for transplantation on the grounds of necessity to save lives even though violating the human body is generally forbidden in Islam. An assessment of the dynamics of biomedicine, religion and culture leads to the conclusion that barriers to posthumous organ donation for transplantation that are perceived to be religious may actually stem from cultural attitudes. The interplay of faith, belief, religion, social norms, rituals and wider cultural attitudes with biomedicine and posthumous organ donation and transplantation is very complex. Although overcoming the barriers to organ donation for transplantation is challenging, initiation of transplantation of vital organs from deceased donors is necessary within Bangladesh. This will ensure improved healthcare outcomes, prevent poor people from being coerced into selling their organs to rich recipients, and protect the solidarity and progeny of Bangladeshi families. (shrink)

Nazariyat, Journal for the History of Islamic Philosophy and Sciences, issued twice a year in English and Turkish (Nazariyat İslam Felsefe ve Bilim Tarihi Araştırmaları Dergisi), is a refereed international journal. It publishes original studies, critical editions of classical texts and book reviews on Islamic philosophy, kalām, theoretical aspects of Sufism and the history of sciences. The goal of Nazariyat is to contribute to the discovery, examination and reinterpretation of the theoretical traditions in the history of Islamic thought, by giving (...) special attention to the post-classical period of it. **ISSN: 2148-8088 E-ISBN: 2547-9415**. (shrink)

GREAT EMPIRES may come and go, but, like the tides, they leave behind a tangled assortment of treasures and trash. In the case of the British Empire, this included much that one might admire, but also a British Protestant morality that was codified in laws that persist to this day. Section 377 of the colonial Penal Code is a striking example. It classed consensual oral and anal sex as “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” and made it a crime (...) punishable with imprisonment for life. When the British administrators withdrew, they took their soldiers, but left their law books behind. Section 377 was recently repealed in India, but it is still very much on the books in Bangladesh. (shrink)

Çalışma İslam hukukunun çevre ve toplumların sahip olduğu tabi kay-nakları koruma konusunda öngördüğü düzenlemelerin fıkhi ve iktisadi boyutunu açıklamayı hedef almaktadır. Araştırmamız esnasında inceledeğimiz temel dini metinler ve bunlar arasında yaptığımız karşılaştırmalar bize İslam hukukunun çevreyi ve tabi kaynakları koruma ve geliştirmeye yönelik düzenlemelere sahip olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Bu çalışma gösteriyor ki İslam'ın ilkeleri ve şeriat çevreye önem vermeye, özen göstermeye, tüketimde orta yolu gözetmeye ve israf yapmamaya davet etmektedir. Aynı şekilde kalkınmaya ve yeryüzünü imar etmeye ve ekonomik yararlarını gerçekleştirecek (...) şekilde ümmetin kaynaklarını korumaya da davet etmektedir. (shrink)

PurposeThis paper aims to highlight the very recent cases of internet shutdown during the creation of Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and enactment of Citizenship Amendment Act and the detention under Section 66 (A) of Information Technology Act 2000.Design/methodology/approachThis study takes up a broad explorative discussion of the challenges posed to the consolidation of democracy in India due to frequent internet shutdowns for online communication and social media usages.FindingsAs findings, it is narrated that due to politically motivated reasons, India (...) compromises its commitment to the pluralism and diversity in views, in particular, individual rights to freedom of expression and opinion, enshrined in the constitution.Originality/valueRight to freedom of speech and expression has now taken a new shape due to the emergence and availability of the internet that enriches the quality of democracy. (shrink)

The results show that the Religious Courts play an important role in harmonising Islamic law with national development policies and international legal standards, particularly in the context of protecting the rights of women and children. However, challenges exist in harmonising interpretations of Islamic law with the principles of human rights and gender equality guaranteed by international conventions such as CEDAW. This research uses a qualitative approach with a case study method to analyse the relevance of Religious Court decisions related to (...) marriage to national development policies as well as their relationship to international law. Primary data was obtained through analysis of Religious Court decisions in several regions of Indonesia in the last five years covering marital issues such as divorce, polygamy, child custody, and division of joint property. Secondary data included national policy documents, such as the RPJMN, as well as international legal instruments such as CEDAW. This research identifies the need for progressive reforms in the Religious Courts system, including capacity building of judges in understanding international law, revision of the Compilation of Islamic Law, and strengthening co-operation between relevant institutions. The innovative contribution of this research lies in its in-depth analysis of how the Religious Courts can serve as a bridge between religious law, national development policy, and Indonesia's international obligations. (shrink)

One of the challenging problems in large scale cyber-argumentation platforms is that users often engage and focus only on a few issues and leave other issues under-discussed and under-acknowledged. This kind of non-uniform participation obstructs the argumentation analysis models to retrieve collective intelligence from the underlying discussion. To resolve this problem, we developed an innovative opinion prediction model for a multi-issue cyber-argumentation environment. Our model predicts users’ opinions on the non-participated issues from similar users’ opinions on related issues using intelligent (...) argumentation techniques and a collaborative filtering method. Based on our detailed experimental results on an empirical dataset collected using our cyber-argumentation platform, our model is 21.7% more accurate, handles data sparsity better than other popular opinion prediction methods. Our model can also predict opinions on multiple issues simultaneously with reasonable accuracy. Contrary to existing opinion prediction models, which only predict whether a user agrees on an issue, our model predicts how much a user agrees on the issue. To our knowledge, this is the first research to attempt multi-issue opinion prediction with the partial agreement in the cyber-argumentation platform. With additional data on non-participated issues, our opinion prediction model can help the collective intelligence analysis models to analyze social phenomena more effectively and accurately in the cyber argumentation platform. (shrink)

This article is a transcription of a dialogue between Mohammad Abu Sayem and John Cobb that took place on June 24, 2019. The major topic covered in the dialogue is the relationship between Cobb's environmental thought and theology.

The paper describes the design of an intelligent tutoring system for teaching Introduction to Computer Science-a compulsory curriculum in Al-Azhar University of Gaza to students who attend the university. The basic idea of this system is a systematic introduction into computer science. The system presents topics with examples. The system is dynamically checks student's individual progress. An initial evaluation study was done to investigate the effect of using the intelligent tutoring system on the performance of students enrolled in computer science (...) curriculum at Al-Azhar University, Gaza. The results showed a positive impact on the evaluators. (shrink)

The present study aims to examine the context of academic dishonesty of research students in a public university setting in Bangladesh. In this regard, the researchers conducted interviews with the concerned authorities of the university, i.e., Chairpersons of the Departments, Deans of the Faculties, Proctor of the University, and Director of Students Guidance and Counselling Cell in order to get an impression about the current practice of academic dishonesty by the students of that university; factors influencing these activities and recommendations (...) to uphold academic integrity among the students. The results showed that though there were several instances of academic integrity violation, negligible actions were taken against them due to the absence of an established policy on academic dishonesty. At the same time, the nonexistence of a course on academic integrity and research ethics in the curriculum is also responsible for this scenario. To mitigate this issue, all the concerned authorities strongly recommended formulating a central policy on academic dishonesty for promoting academic integrity and achieving university ranking success in global competitiveness. (shrink)

The Infectious Diseases Act entered into force officially on 14 November 2018 in Bangladesh. The Act is designed to raise awareness of, prevent, control, and eradicate infectious or communicable diseases to address public health emergencies and reduce health risks. A novel coronavirus disease was first identified in Bangladesh on 8 March 2020, and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued a gazette on 23 March, listing COVID-19 as an infectious disease and addressing COVID-19 as a public health emergency. The (...) gazette empowers the government to monitor the spread of infection. Despite there being an infrastructure of research ethics committees in almost all hospitals in Bangladesh, a lack of such committees in the clinical setting often forces healthcare professionals to allocate scarce healthcare resources to the task. These personnel are often either influenced by materialistic matters or guided by the emergency policies, without reaching a consensus on how to allocate scarce resources in times of need, especially in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ethical dilemmas often arise when a number of patients with COVID-19, especially in poor and middle-class areas, are denied care while elites are prioritized to receive such scarce resources. Resource allocation in healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh appears to be unethical and in direct conflict with the biomedical principles of non-maleficence and procedural justice. The findings of this study suggest that the Act needs substantive changes in the stipulation of policy directing hospitals in the provision of resource allocation framework. Furthermore, parliament should produce guidance outlining how to successfully implement the law with the aim of protecting public health in times of emergency, especially the COVID-19 pandemic. (shrink)

Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) have become a widely utilized medical technology for treating infertility worldwide. However, societies and countries have applied these technologies in accordance with their cultural practices and belief systems. This paper presents an overview of ART providers in Bangladesh and analyzes their online content in addressing potential infertile couples. Examining the topic within the context of socio-economic and public health challenges in Bangladesh, particularly overpopulation, poverty, and lack of education, the research conducted a web content analysis of (...) ART providers in Bangladesh from July 1 to September 1, 2023. Twenty active ART providers were identified using Google searches and an exploratory key. The analysis considered locations, landing page information, ethical standards, quality certification, foreign affiliations, and success rates. The findings revealed a concentration of centers in urban areas, raising concerns about equitable access. The absence of regulation and guidelines, coupled with the lack of ART clinic registration, highlighted potential risks to patient well-being. Landing page statements utilized highly emotive language and ambiguous terms, raising ethical concerns. The absence of explicit mention of quality standards, including ISO 9001:2000 certification, indicated potential gaps in transparency. Foreign affiliations were employed for credibility, raising concerns of misleading advertising. Limited and ambiguous reporting of success rates posed challenges for informed decision-making. Evident exploitative and commercialized practices raised concerns about potentially commodifying reproductive services. The study emphasizes the need for regulatory frameworks, transparency in reporting, adherence to ethical advertising, and increased cultural sensitivity to enhance the ethical standards of ART providers in Bangladesh. (shrink)