Reading Habits of Rural and Urban College Students in the 21st Century

Reading has been the object of empirical and theoretical investigations since the distant past and has been studied from every possible angle by researchers from different subjects such as psychology, sociology, education, media studies, and library and information science. The present study investigates the reading habits of rural and urban college students of Kashmir Valley. The sample was selected through statistical sampling formula and stratified random sampling technique was used to select students. A questionnaire was used as a data collection tool. The results reveal that a majority of the students has a positive attitude towards reading. Urban students show this attitude more than rural students. The urban students spend more time on reading than their rural counterparts. The urban students read more English and rural students read Urdu. The results also discover that urban students mostly read for information and rural students for education. The data further shows that the rural students read more about politics, religion, science and technology, and games and sports, whereas urban students read more about literature and business

Financing of Entrepreneurs in India: a New Dimension under Islamic Finance

Financing is one of the basic requirements of a project which Entrepreneur needs to start. Project financing is both for short term and long term. The sources from which the Entrepreneur can meet their financial needs for their project vary from country to country. In some countries, Institutions dealing in providing finance to Entrepreneurs share profits and losses and in some countries (like India) only profits are shared and losses are transferred to entrepreneurs. The former is called Mudarabah financing, which is currently working in more than 300 institutions in the world. Under this type of financing, risk is also shared and not transferred to entrepreneurs. This type of financing has shown tremendous success as far as entrepreneurship is concerned. While taking the pros and cons of this type of financing, the paper provides a comprehensive detail about its prospects and problems, as far as Indian entrepreneurship is concerned. It is explained in the paper how entrepreneurs can be through Islamic finance. As there are six ways for financing the entrepreneurs and all are explained in this paper

Are Islamic Finance Products and Services Islamic: A Perceptual Analysis from Malaysia and United Arab Emirates

Purpose- This paper aims to find the perception of stakeholders towards Islamic finance in Malaysia and United Arab Emirates. This is a comparative study to find the stakeholders perception across profession, age, gender and country.Design/methodology/approach- primary data has been used to complete this research, which was collected from Malaysia and United Arab Emirates. Data was collected from the stakeholders of Islamic finance which include customers, employees of Islamic banks, Shariah advisors, regulatory officers and others. The research methodology consists of one way-ANOVA and Independent samples T-Test. Findings- the results reveal that there is a difference in perception towards Islamic finance products and services across profession. But across age, gender and country, there is no difference of opinion towards products and services of Islamic finance.Research limitations/implications- sample from only two countries have been collected because of budget and time constraint. So research is just a sample to find the overall perception of stakeholders towards Islamic finance across countries.Practical implications- This study was conducted with the motive to find the perception of stakeholders, whether the products and services of Islamic finance are really Islamic? So this research is justifying whether Islamic banking is Islamic or not.Originality/value- the paper presents the findings of stakeholders towards Islamic finance products and services across profession, age, country and gender. It highlights what the people think about Islamic finance across the countries. Keywords- Perception, Stakeholders, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Islamic Finance Paper type- research paper

Gender Variations in Research Productivity: Insights from Scholarly Research

Abstract The variations in research productivity available in the scholarly world, between men and women, have always attracted the interest of many researchers across the globe. The present study aims to identify the differences in research productivity, patent creation, funding, collaboration, citation and impact between men and women across regions and disciplines over a period of time. After the comprehensive literature survey, results of various studies were correlated in a systematic manner for further analyses to reveal the findings and draw conclusions. The findings clearly depict that comparatively, males have a higher average productivity than females for all the performance indicators especially research productivity, patent creation, funding and collaboration across regions and disciplines; however, the gap is narrowing with the passage of time. The researchers have noted many factors, personal as well as academic, responsible for the limited productivity of women in research. Age, marriage, children and domestic workload are some personal factors badly affecting research productivity of women whereas less representation of women in higher education, low academic ranks, and fewer research funds are some of the academic factors affecting the research productivity negatively. In order to eliminate the gender differences in research productivity, some recommendations have been provided. Keywords Gender Variation; Gender Differences; Research Productivity; Research Performance; Research Output; Research Funding; Gender Bias; Research Impac

Islamic finance: more expectations and less disappointment

Islamic finance has faced a two-fold criticism from scholars; viz. constructive criticism and destructive criticism. Majority of the scholars criticize it with the intention to improve its overall development, but some scholars are more negative in their criticism. This paper proposes that Islamic banks (a component of Islamic finance) are not charitable institutions, but are the intermediary institutions that take care of investors’ expectations to keep the time value and return to their investments intact with the market fluctuations. The purpose of this paper is to provide better insight about Islamic finance so as to further improve this industry to achieve its long term goals and serve the society better. The paper also attempts to answer some of the common allegations imposed by scholars towards Islamic finance

Incentive Structure of Financing a Project: An Islamic Finance Approach

Financing is an important component in any project. Without finance, it is impossible to run any project as it is considered the lifeblood of the business. But due to the presence of predetermined rate of interest, economists have provided alternative approach for financing the project. In this paper a model using Profit and Loss Sharing (PLS) system and comparison of it with the conventional financing model is developed. Thrust in this paper is towards establishing a new theoretical reasoning why PLS system is less frequently used in Islamic banking in terms of net worth of the borrower. It has been argued that agency problem like moral hazard is still acute in PLS system. An idea has been discuss to solve this problem using game theoretic tool. Keywords: Entrepreneur, Financing, Project, PLS, Model JEL Classifications: D92, L2

Effect of Different Levels of Phosphorus and Sulphur on Seed & Stover Yield of Soybean (Glycine max L. Merill) under 'Eutrochrepts'

A field experiment was conducted at KVK, Srinagar during two consecutive kharif seasons of 2010 and 2011 to study the “Effect of phosphorus and sulphur on yield and quality of soybean (Glycine max L. Merill) under Eutrochrepts”. The experiment was laid down under 16 treatment combinations viz four levels of phosphorus (0, 30, 60, 90 kg P2O5 ha-1) and four levels of sulphur (0,15, 30, 45 kg S ha-1) in randomized complete block design with three replications .The soil of the experimental site was typic Eutrochrepts, silty clay loam in texture having pH 7.18, EC 0.18 dSm-1, organic carbon 0.74 per cent, available N, P, K 250.52, 11.45, 120.62, kg ha-1, respectively. Soil was sufficient in available Fe, Cu, Mn and deficient in available Zn and sulphur. Total and organic phosphorus content in soil was 345 and 173 ppm, respectively while as total and organic sulphur content was 232 and 162 ppm, respectively. Both seed and stover yield of soybean increased significantly due to individual as well as combined application of phosphorus and sulphur. Combined application of 45 kg S with 90 kg P2O5 produced highest seed (24.39 q ha-1) and stover (43.51 q ha-1) yield of soybean. Application of increasing levels of both phosphorus and sulphur resulted in a significant increase in macro and micronutrient content of soybean seed. With application of 90 kg P2O5 ha-1, maximum nutrient content of N, P, K, Ca, Mg and S in seed was 6.42, 0.56, 1.876, 0.324 0.440, 0.466 per cent, respectively while as Fe, Cu, Mn was 100.01, 2.86 and 3.74 mg kg-1, respectively

Rola jedwabnictwa w wypełnianiu Celów zrównoważonego rozwoju

The present study attempted to scenario analysis study of sericulture resource which would cover its significance and provide the entire gamut of mulberry silk in order to create appropriate planning and thereby playing a significant role in enhancing GDP of silk dominant regions of the economy. This review study analyses our present knowledge of the current scenario of sericulture sustainability, potential, growth and silk crafts of a silk producing regions with the aim of supporting the regions’ sustainable growth and development. It conducts bibliometric analysis of highly cited scientific research publications on sericulture sustainability using the Scopus and web of science databases. We investigate sericulture’s contribution in accomplishing UN Sustainable Development Goals, and we claim that a better knowledge of sericulture’s contribution to sustainable development is critical for assuring inclusive sustainable regional development.W niniejszym opracowaniu podjęto próbę analizy scenariuszowej zasobów serikultury, która obejmowałaby jej znaczenie i zapewniła całą gamę jedwabiu morwowego w celu stworzenia odpowiedniego planowania, a tym samym odegrania znaczącej roli w zwiększaniu PKB regionów gospodarki opartych na produkcji jedwabiu. Niniejsze badanie przeglądowe analizuje naszą obecną wiedzę na temat obecnego scenariusza zrównoważonego rozwoju hodowli jedwabiu, potencjału, wzrostu i rzemiosła jedwabniczego w regionach produkujących jedwab w celu wspierania zrównoważonego wzrostu i rozwoju regionów. Prowadzi analizę bibliometryczną często cytowanych publikacji naukowych na temat zrównoważonego rozwoju hodowli serów przy użyciu baz danych Scopus i sieci naukowej. Badamy wkład serihodowli w osiąganie celów zrównoważonego rozwoju ONZ i twierdzimy, że lepsza wiedza na temat wkładu tej hodowli w zrównoważony rozwój ma kluczowe znaczenie dla zapewnienia zrównoważonego rozwoju regionalnego sprzyjającego włączeniu społecznemu

Gender Variations in Research Productivity: Insights from Scholarly Research

Abstract The variations in research productivity available in the scholarly world, between men and women, have always attracted the interest of many researchers across the globe. The present study aims to identify the differences in research productivity, patent creation, funding, collaboration, citation and impact between men and women across regions and disciplines over a period of time. After the comprehensive literature survey, results of various studies were correlated in a systematic manner for further analyses to reveal the findings and draw conclusions. The findings clearly depict that comparatively, males have a higher average productivity than females for all the performance indicators especially research productivity, patent creation, funding and collaboration across regions and disciplines; however, the gap is narrowing with the passage of time. The researchers have noted many factors, personal as well as academic, responsible for the limited productivity of women in research. Age, marriage, children and domestic workload are some personal factors badly affecting research productivity of women whereas less representation of women in higher education, low academic ranks, and fewer research funds are some of the academic factors affecting the research productivity negatively. In order to eliminate the gender differences in research productivity, some recommendations have been provided. Keywords Gender Variation; Gender Differences; Research Productivity; Research Performance; Research Output; Research Funding; Gender Bias; Research Impac

Overlap in Web Search Results: A Study of Five Search Engines

This paper presents the results of an empirical investigation that measured the degree of overlap between the results retrieved through Google, Altavista, Hotbot, Scirus, and Bioweb using twenty queries in biotechnology. Among the selected search engines, Hotbot had the most overlap (followed by Google) with other search engines except Bioweb. Compound and complex queries produced more overlap than simple queries