Corporate Governance and Islamic Social Responsibility Disclosure In Kuwaiti Shariah Compliant Financial Institutions

This study examines the relationship between corporate governance characteristics and the extent of Islamic social responsibility disclosure in Kuwait. The annual reports of 40 Shariah-compliant financial institutions listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange in 2010 are examined. Four major corporate governance characteristics are investigated: 1) the existence of a Shariah supervisory board; 2) the number of board members; 3) the proportion of non-executive directors to the total number of directors on the board; and 4) role duality. The extent of Islamic social responsibility disclosure is measured using a self-constructed index. The index consists of 46 Islamic information items. Multivariate regression analyses are used to examine the relationships between these characteristics and the level of Islamic social responsibility disclosure. The results show that Shariah-compliant financial institutions disclosed 18% on average of the possible voluntary disclosure items. The findings report that Islamic social responsibility disclosure increases with the presence of a Shariah supervisory board, but decreases with role duality. Other corporate governance characteristics were found not to be significant in the study

IoT Traffic Management and Integration in the QoS Supported Network

This paper proposes: (i) a traffic flow management policy, which allocates and organises Machine Type Communication (MTC) traffic flows network resources sharing within Evolved Packet System (EPS), (ii) an access element as a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) gateway for providing an overlaying access channel between the Machine Type Devices (MTDs) and EPS and (iii) it addresses the effect and interaction in the heterogeneity of applications, services and terminal devices and the related Quality of Service (QoS) issues among them. This work overcomes the problems of network resource starvation by preventing deterioration of network performance. The scheme is validated through simulation, which indicates the proposed traffic flow management policy outperforms the current traffic management policy. Specifically, simulation results show that the proposed model achieves an enhancement in QoS performance for the MTC traffic flows, including a decrease of 99.45% in Packet Loss Ratio (PLR), a decrease of 99.89% in packet End To End (E2E) delay, a decrease of 99.21% in Packet Delay Variation (PDV). Furthermore, it retains the perceived Quality of Experience (QoE) of the real time application users within high satisfaction levels, such as the VoLTE service possessing a Mean Opinion Score (MOS) of 4.349 and enhancing the QoS of a video conference service within the standardised values of a 3GPP body, with a decrease of 85.28% in PLR, a decrease of 85% in packet E2E delay and a decrease of 88.5% in PDV

Epidemiological and nutrition transition in developing countries: impact on human health and development

Whereas common infectious and parasitic diseases such as malaria and the HIV/AIDS pandemic remain major unresolved health problems in many developing countries, emerging non-communicable diseases relating to diet and lifestyle have been increasing over the last two decades, thus creating a double burden of disease and impacting negatively on already over-stretched health services in these countries. Prevalence rates for type 2 diabetes mellitus and CVD in sub-Saharan Africa have seen a 10-fold increase in the last 20 years. In the Arab Gulf current prevalence rates are between 25 and 35% for the adult population, whilst evidence of the metabolic syndrome is emerging in children and adolescents. The present review focuses on the concept of the epidemiological and nutritional transition. It looks at historical trends in socio-economic status and lifestyle and trends in nutrition-related non-communicable diseases over the last two decades, particularly in developing countries with rising income levels, as well as the other extreme of poverty, chronic hunger and coping strategies and metabolic adaptations in fetal life that predispose to non-communicable disease risk in later life. The role of preventable environmental risk factors for obesity and the metabolic syndrome in developing countries is emphasized and also these challenges are related to meeting the millennium development goals. The possible implications of these changing trends for human and economic development in poorly-resourced healthcare settings and the implications for nutrition training are also discussed

Associative effects of activated carbon biochar and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on wheat for reducing nickel food chain bioavailability

Heavy metal stress and less nutrient availability are some of the major concerns in agriculture. Both abiotic stresses have potential to decrease the crops productivity. On the other hand, organic fertilizers i.e., activated carbon biochar (ACB) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) increase nutritional and heavy metal like Nickel (Ni) stress tolerance and provide immunity to plants for their survival in unfavorable environments. Previous studies have only looked at single applications of either ACB or AMF thus far. There is limited evidence of their synergistic effects, especially in plants growing in soil contaminated with nickel (Ni). To cover the knowledge gap of combined use of AMF inoculation (Glomus intraradices) and/or wheat straw biochar amendments on wheat growth, antioxidant activities and osmolytes concentration, present study is conducted. The use of either the AMF inoculant or the ACB alone resulted in improved wheat growth and decreased Ni uptake. Furthermore, sole AMF or ACB also reduced Ni stress effectively, allowing wheat to grow faster and reducing soil Ni transfer into plant tissue. In comparison to a control, adding ACB with AMF inoculant considerably increased fungal populations. The most significant increase in wheat growth and decrease in tissue Ni contents came from amending soil with AMF inoculant and biochar. Inducing soil alkalinization and causing Ni immobilization, as well as decreasing Ni phyto-availability, the combination treatment had a synergistic impact. These findings imply that AMF inoculation in ACB treatment could be used not only for wheat production but also for Ni-contaminated soil phyto-stabilization. (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Integral effects of brassinosteroids and timber waste biochar enhances the drought tolerance capacity of wheat plant

Drought stress is among the major threats that affect negatively crop productivity in arid and semi-arid regions. Probably, application of some additives such as biochar and/or brassinosteroids could mitigate this stress; however, the mechanism beyond the interaction of these two applications is not well inspected. Accordingly, a greenhouse experiment was conducted on wheat (a strategic crop) grown under deficit irrigation levels (factor A) i.e., 35% of the water holding capacity (WHC) versus 75% of WHC for 35 days while considering the following additives, i.e., (1) biochar [BC, factor B, 0, 2%] and (2) the foliar application of 24-epibrassinolide [BR, factor C, 0 (control treatment, C), 1 (BR1) or 3 (BR2) mu mol)]. All treatments were replicated trice and the obtained results were statistically analyzed via the analyses of variance. Also, heat-map conceits between measured variables were calculated using the Python software. Key results indicate that drought stress led to significant reductions in all studied vegetative growth parameters (root and shoot biomasses) and photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, b and total contents) while raised the levels of oxidative stress indicators. However, with the application of BC and/or BR, significance increases occurred in the growth attributes of wheat plants, its photosynthetic pigments, especially the combined additions. They also upraised the levels of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants while decreased stress indicators. Furthermore, they increased calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) content within plants. It can therefore be deduced that the integral application of BR and BC is essential to mitigate drought stress in plants.Peer reviewe

Predictors of failed attendances in a multi-specialty outpatient centre using electronic databases.

BACKGROUND: Failure to keep outpatient medical appointments results in inefficiencies and costs. The objective of this study is to show the factors in an existing electronic database that affect failed appointments and to develop a predictive probability model to increase the effectiveness of interventions. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted on outpatient clinic attendances at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore from 2000 to 2004. 22864 patients were randomly sampled for analysis. The outcome measure was failed outpatient appointments according to each patient's latest appointment. RESULTS: Failures comprised of 21% of all appointments and 39% when using the patients' latest appointment. Using odds ratios from the mutliple logistic regression analysis, age group (0.75 to 0.84 for groups above 40 years compared to below 20 years), race (1.48 for Malays, 1.61 for Indians compared to Chinese), days from scheduling to appointment (2.38 for more than 21 days compared to less than 7 days), previous failed appointments (1.79 for more than 60% failures and 4.38 for no previous appointments, compared with less than 20% failures), provision of cell phone number (0.10 for providing numbers compared to otherwise) and distance from hospital (1.14 for more than 14 km compared to less than 6 km) were significantly associated with failed appointments. The predicted probability model's diagnostic accuracy to predict failures is more than 80%. CONCLUSION: A few key variables have shown to adequately account for and predict failed appointments using existing electronic databases. These can be used to develop integrative technological solutions in the outpatient clinic

Exogenously applied ZnO nanoparticles induced salt tolerance in potentially high yielding modern wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars

Salinity stress is one of the potential threats that adversely affect the productivity of many cereal crops worldwide. Spraying plants with nano-Zn particles may lessen effectively such negative impacts on plants; yet its mode of action is still not well explored. This study was performed to evaluate the effects of spraying nano-Zn particles with varying concentrations (0, 20, 50 and 80 mg L-1) on two wheat cultivars irrigated with saline water (EC = 6.3 dS m-1) versus a non-saline one. The key results revealed that root and shoot weights decreased significantly under salinity stress conditions, while improved considerably with nano-Zn-particles foliar application up to 50 mg nanoZn L-1; thereafter significant reductions occurred. Also, shoot and root lengths as well as plant leaf area index improved considerably owing to this foliar application. Clearly, roots and shoots weights of wheat plants sprayed with nano-Zn particles under salinity stress conditions exhibited higher values than the corresponding ones that was grown under non-saline conditions without nano-Zn-particles applications. Unexpectedly, this foliar spray led to significant reductions in plant pigments and also in enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants in plants. Yet, this foliar spray enhanced formation of total soluble sugars and proline, and raised significantly Ca contents in wheat roots and shoots, and to some extent K contents. In conclusion, the foliar application of nano-Zn particles increased plant growth under salty stress conditions via two parallel processes, i.e., stimulating formation of osmolytes and stimulating nutrient uptake which may, in turn, increase plant metabolism. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CCPeer reviewe

Machine learning optimised hyperspectral remote sensing retrieves cotton nitrogen status

Hyperspectral imaging spectrometers mounted on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can capture high spatial and spectral resolution to provide cotton crop nitrogen status for precision agriculture. The aim of this research was to explore machine learning use with hyperspectral datacubes over agricultural fields. Hyperspectral imagery was collected over a mature cotton crop, which had high spatial (~5.2 cm) and spectral (5 nm) resolution over the spectral range 475–925 nm that allowed discrimination of individual crop rows and field features as well as a continuous spectral range for calculating derivative spectra. The nominal reflectance and its derivatives clearly highlighted the different treatment blocks and were strongly related to N concentration in leaf and petiole samples, both in traditional vegetation indices (e.g., Vogelman 1, R2 = 0.8) and novel combinations of spectra (R2 = 0.85). The key hyperspectral bands identified were at the red-edge inflection point (695–715 nm). Satellite multispectral was compared against the UAV hyperspectral remote sensing’s performance by testing the ability of Sentinel MSI to predict N concentration using the bands in VIS-NIR spectral region. The Sentinel 2A Green band (B3; mid-point 559.8 nm) explained the same amount of variation in N as the hyperspectral data and more than the Sentinel Red Edge Point 1 (B5; mid-point 704.9 nm) with the lower 10 m resolution Green band reporting an R2 = 0.85, compared with the R2 = 0.78 of downscaled Sentinel Red Edge Point 1 at 5 m. The remaining Sentinel bands explained much lower variation (maximum was NIR at R2 = 0.48). Investigation of the red edge peak region in the first derivative showed strong promise with RIDAmid (R2 = 0.81) being the best index. The machine learning approach narrowed the range of bands required to investigate plant condition over this trial site, greatly improved processing time and reduced processing complexity. While Sentinel performed well in this comparison and would be useful in a broadacre crop production context, the impact of pixel boundaries relative to a region of interest and coarse spatial and temporal resolution impacts its utility in a research capacity

Maternal hypoxia decreases capillary supply and increases metabolic inefficiency leading to divergence in myocardial oxygen supply and demand

Maternal hypoxia is associated with a decrease in left ventricular capillary density while cardiac performance is preserved, implying a mismatch between metabolism and diffusive exchange. We hypothesised this requires a switch in substrate metabolism to maximise efficiency of ATP production from limited oxygen availability. Rat pups from pregnant females exposed to hypoxia (FIO2=0.12) at days 10-20 of pregnancy were grown to adulthood and working hearts perfused ex vivo. 14 C-labelled glucose and 3 H-palmitate were provided as substrates and metabolism quantified from recovery of 14CO2 and 3 H2O, respectively. Hearts of male offspring subjected to Maternal Hypoxia showed a 20% decrease in cardiac output (P<0.05), despite recording a 2-fold increase in glucose oxidation (P<0.01) and 2.5-fold increase (P<0.01) in palmitate oxidation. Addition of insulin to Maternal Hypoxic hearts, further increased glucose oxidation (P<0.01) and suppressed palmitate oxidation (P<0.05), suggesting preservation in insulin signalling in the heart. In vitro enzyme activity measurements showed that Maternal Hypoxia increased both total and the active component of cardiac pyruvate dehydrogenase (both P<0.01), although pyruvate dehydrogenase sensitivity to insulin was lost (NS), while citrate synthase activity declined by 30% (P<0.001) and acetyl-CoA carboxylase activity was unchanged by Maternal Hypoxia, indicating realignment of the metabolic machinery to optimise oxygen utilisation. Capillary density was quantified and oxygen diffusion characteristics examined, with calculated capillary domain area increased by 30% (P<0.001). Calculated metabolic efficiency decreased 4-fold (P<0.01) for Maternal Hypoxia hearts. Paradoxically, the decline in citrate synthase activity and increased metabolism suggest that the scope of individual mitochondria had declined, rendering the myocardium potentially more sensitive to metabolic stress. However, decreasing citrate synthase may be essential to preserve local PO2, minimising regions of hypoxia and hence maximising the area of myocardium able to preserve cardiac output following maternal hypoxia