Factors Influence Intention to Opt for Islamic Investment Schemes Among Market Players

Employing theory of reasoned action with religiosity as its additional construct in the model, this paper is aimed at examining factors influence the intention of investors to opt Islamic investment schemes in Malaysia Islamic capital markets. As many as 120 questionnaires were collected from market players in Bursa Malaysia using online survey. Afterwards, the data collected were analyzed using structural equation model to reveal the relationship of variables tested in the proposed model. The result shows that religiosity and subjective norms appeared to be the significant factors affecting intention to choose Islamic investment schemes in Malaysia Islamic capital markets. Interestingly, despite its significant role shown in previous studies, this study has shown insignificant level of the attitude in predicting the intention behavior. The managerial implications are discussed in this paper

Social constructs in predicting corruptive attitudes and behavior from the theory of planned behavior perspective

Purpose: This research examines the attitude and behavior of corruption/fraud using the social construct, the theory of fraud triangle, Theory of Planned Behavior, and social psychology. Design/methodology/approach: The quantitative approach in this study was carried out by collecting survey data using a questionnaire instrument directly applied to 400 respondents in some cities in Indonesia. The analysis is conducted with SPSS, Wrap-PLS and Structural Equation Models (SEM). Findings: The results show that the attitude and corrupt behavior of the community can be influenced by the existence of social values in the form of community habits and community mindset that is reflected in the social construct variables. Practical implications: The study underlines the importance of corruption eradication, especially in public services and public education to avoid corrupt behavior. Originality/value: The examination was done by paying more attention to the possible effect of social construction on attitudes, subjective norms, and control of individual or group behavior, which in turn affect the intention to commit corruption.peer-reviewe

Effects of Ionospheric Asymmetry on Electron Density Standard Inversion Algorithm Applicable to Radio Occultation (RO) Data Using Best-suited Ionospheric Model

The "Onion-peeling" algorithm is a very common technique used to invert Radio Occultation (RO) data in the ionosphere. Because of the implicit assumption of spherical symmetry for the electron density (Ne) distribution in the ionosphere, the standard Onion-peeling algorithm could give erroneous concentration values in the retrieved electron density vertical profile Ne(h). In particular, this happens when strong horizontal ionospheric electron density gradients are present, like for example in the Equatorial Ionization Anomaly (EIA) region during high solar activity periods. Using simulated RO Total Electron Content (TEC) data computed by means of the best-suited ionospheric model and ideal RO geometries, we evaluated the asymmetry level index for quasi-horizontal TEC observations. This asymmetry index is based on the Ne variations that a signal may experience along its ray-path (satellite to satellite link) during a RO event. The index is strictly dependent on RO geometry and azimuth of the occultation plane and is able to provide us indication of the errors (in particular those concerning the peak electron density NmF2 and the vertical TEC) expected in the retrieval of Ne(h) using standard Onion-peeling algorithm. On the basis of the outcomes of our work, and using best-suited ionospheric model, we will try to investigate the possibility to predict the ionospheric asymmetry expected for the particular RO geometry considered. We could also try to evaluate, in advance, its impact on the inverted electron density profile, providing an indication of the product qualit

Crystal nucleation mechanism in melts of short polymer chains under quiescent conditions and under shear flow

We present a molecular dynamics simulation study of crystal nucleation from undercooled melts of n-alkanes, and we identify the molecular mechanism of homogeneous crystal nucleation under quiescent conditions and under shear flow. We compare results for n-eicosane(C20) and n-pentacontahectane(C150), i.e. one system below the entanglement length and one above. Under quiescent conditions, we observe that entanglement does not have an effect on the nucleation mechanism. For both chain lengths, the chains first align and then straighten locally. Then the local density increases and finally positional ordering sets in. At low shear rates the nucleation mechanism is the same as under quiescent conditions, while at high shear rates the chains align and straighten at the same time. We report on the effects of shear rate and temperature on the nucleation rates and estimate the critical shear rates, beyond which the nucleation rates increase with the shear rate. We show that the viscosity of the system is not affected by the crystalline nuclei.Comment: 9 page