Environmental, Social And Governance Disclosure And Profitability: Gcc Banks’ Comparative Study

The main aim of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between Voluntary disclosure (VD) and profitability of publicly traded banks operating in the GCC region over the period 2007-2017. We incorporate stakeholder theory and agency theory to gain insights about VD and profitability. Based on stakeholder theory, agency theory and prior studies, we developed three hypotheses. The first hypothesis states that Islamic banks disclose more compared to conventional banks, the second hypothesis states that higher the VD, higher the bank’s profitability and the third hypothesis states that profitable banks engage more in VD. The sample covers 57 banks, out of which, 22 are Islamic and 35 are conventional banks. For this purpose, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors are considered as components of VD. Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE) and Tobin’s Q are used as measures of profitability. To find our results, we implemented two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator. The main findings of the thesis are: First, Islamic banks have low ESG disclosures as compared to conventional banks. Second, ESG disclosure affects all the measures of profitability inversely, which suggests that ESG activities are costly for GCC banks. Finally, we find that ESG disclosure is positively affected by accounting measures of profitability (i.e. ROA and ROE). This suggests that high profitable banks are more visible in the market, thus, they disclose more ESG information to meet the social norms, since, more information is essential to reduce the level of asymmetric information between managers, bank owners, and depositors. This thesis contributes to the literature in different ways: First, it enriches the literature on Islamic banks and VD as there is a lack of studies that dealt with this issue in the literature. Second, this is one of the first studies that compared between ESG disclosure in both Islamic and conventional banks and its relation to bank profitability. Third, up to the researcher’s knowledge, this is the first study that suggested a bi-directional relationship between ESG disclosure and bank profitability. This study is useful for all stakeholders and especially investors. As markets expand, it is essential that sufficient information is made available to market participants in order to facilitate their investment and financing decisions. Given our results that ESG disclosure is costly for banks in the GCC, it is important that policy makers put some rules to encourage banks to be more socially responsible

The Extent of the Application of Internal Auditing Standards in Iraqi Commercial Banks

Purpose: This research aims to identify the extent of application of internal auditing standards recognized in Iraqi commercial banks. Theoretical framework: the Iraqi commercial banks apply standards of Attribute for internal auditing issued by professional organizations, and that they apply the performance standards that must be taken into account when carrying out internal auditing work. Design/methodology/approach: In order to achieve these goals, an exploratory study was conducted according to which (48) questionnaires were distributed, of which (36) questionnaires were returned, and the researchers approved the questionnaire analysis on the SPSS statistical program. Findings: the result of the research is that Iraqi commercial banks apply internal auditing standards issued by international professional organizations. Research, Practical & Social implications: The senior management contributes to addressing the remarks of the internal auditor and taking appropriate measures to implement the suggestions and recommendations he makes. Originality/value: This study measures the effects resulting from adoption the international internal auditing standards in the performance of banking activities after the transition to IFRS in iraqi banks

T-helper cells as new players in ANCA-associated vasculitides

In anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody-associated vasculitides (AAV), several observations support a key role of T-helper cells (CD4+ T cells) in disease pathophysiology. An expanded population of effector memory CD4+ T cells in AAV patients may contribute to tissue injury and disease progression. In addition, functional impairment of regulatory T cells (TRegs) is reported in AAV patients. A fraction of TRegs have the capacity to differentiate into Th17 cells in the context of a proinflammatory environment. Therefore, nonfunctionality of TRegs described in AAV patients may be caused by their conversion into IL-17-producing cells that may contribute to granulomatous vasculitis. Further investigations directed at the plasticity of TRegs in AAV patients are warranted

NAR MEYVE KABUĞUNUN FİTOKİMYASAL İÇERİĞİ VE FARMAKOLOJİK ETKİLERİNİN İNCELENMESİ

Nar, eski çağlardan beri tarım ürünü olarak ekilen meyvelerden bir tanesidir. İran ve komşu ülkelerine özgü olan tür, Orta Asya bölgelerinden Himalaya, Anadolu, Orta Doğu ve Akdeniz bölgelerinde yayılış göstermektedir

Female visibility/representation in Saudi Arabia : a critical multimodal/discourse analysis of the 2013 IKEA catalogue and press discourses on Saudi Arabia

PhD ThesisThis study examines gender representation in Saudi Arabia using combined approaches of Multimodal Social Semiotics (MSS) and Critical Discourse Studies (CDS). The thesis conducts a critical analysis of both advertisements and media discourses. The former focuses on verbal and visual analysis of the 2013 IKEA catalogue (in Arabic and English), and the latter pertains to the verbal and visual discourse of ‘Western’ newspapers’ portrayal of Saudi Arabia in their coverage of this particular catalogue issue, i.e. removal of female images from the Saudi version. The aim of this study is to investigate both the discursive practices in the catalogue and in the press coverage so as to deconstruct the issue of female visibility in Saudi Arabia and how publication of the catalogue would provide a suitable discursive opportunity for stereotypical representation of Saudi Arabia as the ‘Other’. Two overarching questions guide the analysis in the thesis: (1) how were females represented in the 2013 Arabic IKEA catalogue, which was distributed in Saudi Arabia? (2) How do the examined newspapers discursively represent the social actors when reporting the exclusion of females? In light of these questions, the thesis undertakes a twofold analysis. The first is a verbal linguistic analysis of both the catalogue in Arabic and the news reports covering the issue. The subject of analysis for the linguistic representation of males and females in the Arabic version of the catalogue mainly examines the masculine and feminine forms in morphosyntactic categories, in order to determine the audience in the language used by the catalogue. A qualitative data analysis software tool, MAXQDA, is used to obtain accurate results that describe the frequencies of the examined variables. In terms of media discourse, approaches from CDS are utilized to analyze the discursive representation of the social groups involved. Following CDS notions of Self and Other representation (KhosraviNik 2015), the subject matter of this research involves examining how stereotypes of Self and Other, in terms of gender equality in Saudi Arabia, may have been applied by IKEA and in subsequent coverage of the perceived problem. Analytical tools from the Discourse Historical approach, Sociocognitive approach and Socio-semantic approach are incorporated in the analytical design to answer the research questions. The second part of the twofold analysis for this study is a visual analysis of the UK and Saudi editions of the 2013 IKEA catalogue as well as the images accompanying the news reports, based on the Multimodal Social Semiotic approach, mainly drawing on Kress and van Leeuwen’s Visual Grammar (1996, 2006). More specifically, the visual representation of social ii actors in the IKEA catalogues is examined in terms of how the social actors are positioned in the visual representation as well as the ways they would be related to the prospective viewer. Therefore, CDS tools are utilized to study lexical and grammatical choices in language while the visual characteristics are deconstructed through Multimodal tools. The findings reveal a sharp contrast between the textual and visual representations of females in the catalogues. Females are linguistically visible within the Saudi edition but are visually excluded, which revealed IKEA’s linguistic sexism. Conversely, linguistic and visual representations in the newspapers complement each other and reveal the ways in which news sources construct Saudi Arabia in the context of women’s rights, as certain negative themes associated with Saudi Arabia emerge, e.g. ‘backwardness’ and ‘the oppression of women’s rights’. The analysis further reveals that women’s rights is a common discourse in this context, with a tendency to be accompanied by discourses that perpetuate stereotypes of Saudi women being ‘oppressed’ and ‘invisible’. Such representations are inherently linked to a wider critique of Orientalism and negative Other representation of Islam in the mainstream ‘Western’ discourses on Saudi Arabia

B Cell Activation and Escape of Tolerance Checkpoints:Recent Insights from Studying Autoreactive B Cells

Autoreactive B cells are key drivers of pathogenic processes in autoimmune diseases by the production of autoantibodies, secretion of cytokines, and presentation of autoantigens to T cells. However, the mechanisms that underlie the development of autoreactive B cells are not well understood. Here, we review recent studies leveraging novel techniques to identify and characterize (auto)antigen-specific B cells. The insights gained from such studies pertaining to the mechanisms involved in the escape of tolerance checkpoints and the activation of autoreactive B cells are discussed. In addition, we briefly highlight potential therapeutic strategies to target and eliminate autoreactive B cells in autoimmune diseases