INVESTMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF ISLAMIC INVESTMENT PORTFOLIOS: EVIDENCE FROM SAUDI MUTUAL FUNDS AND GLOBAL INDICES

The study critically reviews the application of the Sharia investment screening process, from both Sharia and practical perspectives. In practice, there appears to be inconsistencies in the Sharia investment screening criteria among Islamic investment institutions, especially in terms of the tolerance level, as well as the changing of the Sharia rules. This certainly affects the confidence in the Sharia screening criteria standards, which might adversely affect the Islamic mutual funds industry. The non-income generating aspects, such as social and environmental concerns, are not incorporated in the contemporary Islamic investment screening process. This seems to be rather paradoxical, since it contradicts the Sharia-embedded ethical values of fairness, justice and equity. The thesis contends that external audits regarding the implementation of Sharia rules should be adopted to ensure the compliance of the investment with Sharia guidelines. Furthermore, it is desirable for Sharia boards to adopt corporate governance practice and take proactive roles, especially in Muslim countries, in order to influence companies to adopt Sharia-compliant investment practices. The tolerance levels of conventional finance activities of companies in Muslim countries should be re-evaluated and lowered in the Islamic investment screening criteria. This is partly due to the popularity and wide availability of Islamic banking and alternative Sharia instruments to interest-based finance, coupled with the fact that Muslim shareholders form the majority and hence, can vote to influence companies to adopt Sharia-compliant financing modes. In addition, the study provides empirical evidence that the Sharia screening process does not seem to have an adverse impact on either the absolute or the risk-adjusted performance of Islamic equity mutual funds in Saudi Arabia, compared to their conventional counterpart equity mutual funds and also compared to their market benchmarks. This is regardless of the geographical investment focus subgroup examined and the market benchmark used (whether Islamic or conventional). Furthermore, the systematic risk analysis shows that in most cases Islamic equity mutual funds in Saudi Arabia tend to be significantly less exposed to market risk compared to their conventional counterpart equity mutual funds, and compared to their conventional market benchmarks. Thus, the assumption that Sharia investment constraints lead to inferior performance and riskier investment portfolios because of the relatively limited investment universe seems to be rejected. This implies that Muslim investors in Saudi Arabia can choose Islamic investments that are consistent with their beliefs without being forced to either sacrifice performance or expose themselves to higher risk. The investment style analysis also shows that the Sharia screening process does not seem to influence Islamic equity mutual funds in Saudi Arabia towards small or growth companies compared to their conventional counterparts of similar geographical investment focus. Moreover, the study provides empirical evidence that the performance difference between Islamic and conventional socially responsible indices is insignificant despite applying different sets of screening criteria. However, Islamic indices tend to be associated with relatively lower systematic risk compared to their conventional socially responsible counterparts. Therefore, Islamic investment portfolios can be marketed to socially responsible investors who share similar beliefs in terms of excluding certain industries such as tobacco, alcohol, pornography, defense, etc., in spite of no financial filters being used by conventional socially responsible investors. This finding is especially appealing in Muslim countries where there are usually no mutual funds categorized as socially responsible, but rather Islamic. Moreover, the study also provides empirical evidence that incorporating conventional sustainability criteria into the traditional Sharia screening process does not lead to inferior performance or higher exposure to systematic risk. The results indicate that regardless of the restriction used - whether Islamic, socially responsible or Islamic socially responsible - restricted investment portfolios do not seem to be associated with inferior performance or higher exposure to risk. This finding opens the door for Sharia scholars and Muslim investors to reconsider broader social and environmental aspects as part of the Sharia investment screening process. With regards to investment style, Islamic and Islamic socially responsible indices seem to be skewed towards growth cap as compared to their conventional and conventional socially responsible indices, while Islamic socially responsible also leans towards a large cap. This implies that despite the performance similarity between, Islamic, conventional and conventional socially responsible indices, the returns driver of each type of investment tends to be different

The Determinants of Audit Report Lag: The Mediating Effect of Auditor's Reliance in Jordan

The association between corporate governance mechanisms and the reliance decision, and the impact of such decision on the timeliness of financial reporting is the subject of increasing public and regulatory interest. This study focuses, first, on examining the relationships between the effectiveness of board and audit committee and external auditor's reliance on the internal audit work. Second, it examines the impact of the reliance decision on the audit report lag. The data are obtained using secondary-data and survey-questionnaire methods. The sample size comprises 87 companies listed in Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) for the year 2009. The internal and external auditors of these companies are surveyed with a 34% response rate. Multiple regression results reveal a significant and positive relationship between the effectiveness of the audit committee and reliance decision. In addition, audit committee meetings with external auditor and audit committee’s review of internal audit function results have also a significant and positive association with reliance decision. Findings of this study also support the positive relationship between the overall quality of internal audit function and reliance decision. Regarding the impact of reliance decision on audit report lag, a significant but negative relationship between external auditor's reliance on the work of internal audit function and audit report lag is documented. This study supports the belief that the Jordanian external auditors are aware of the importance of relying on the internal audit work and evaluating the quality of this work before making the reliance decision as required by ISA 610. However, companies in Jordan still need to improve their internal audit function and support it with the necessary resources. Further, regulators in Jordan should mandate the companies to have an effective internal audit function

Corporate Governance and Information Asymmetry Among UAE Listed Companies

This study uses the framework of the agency theory to systematically investigate the relationship between corporate governance mechanisms; board of directors’ characteristics (board size, board independence, duality, board meetings, and director’s ownership) and audit committee size with the level of information asymmetry in UAE. The multiple regression analysis provides evidence that board size is significantly positive related to information asymmetry. While board independence, board meetings, directors’ ownership and audit committee size have a significantly negative association related to information asymmetry. The findings show that the information asymmetry among the United Arab Emirates (UAE) companies is high and the implementation of the Code of Corporate Governance more likely to be under developmen

EVALUATION OF MIGRATION GOVERNANCE IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The central idea of this thesis is to develop a migration governance framework that helps policymakers achieve a balanced, sustainable migration path for the UAE, by focusing on potential policies that strike a balance between benefits and costs implications of migration. The research is motivated by the growing debate on effective migration governance, which should be balanced through the simultaneous development of legal and institutional structures that support a migrant-friendly environment and policies that maximise the social-economic benefits of migration. A mixed-method research design is employed. Primary data was collected through structured questionnaire and is used with secondary data to provide a robust analysis of the effectiveness of the legal and institutional structures of migration governance and an empirical evaluation of the potential costs and benefits of migration in the UAE. The findings suggest that attracting relatively low-skilled migration may have a negative impact on the productivity of the UAE’s economy, potentially increasing youth unemployment, and worsening demographic inequality. The implication is that there are gaps in the policies which are designed to promote the positive experience of migrants in terms of their rights, as well as those which are designed to maximise the gains of migration. Consequently, this study proposes a three-dimension framework for evaluating the legal and institutional capacity aimed at creating a migrant-friendly environment and the associated economic, social and demographic outcomes. Crucially, the UAE’s index of migration governance, generated from the framework, shows that, compared to the standard benchmark, the UAE is less than half way towards developing migration policies that will lead to a balanced, effective migration governance system. The policy implications of the findings include the following. On promoting migrant-friendly environment, the focus should be on enacting universal labour protections, including the ratification of relevant international conventions that fully protect all classes of migrants. On maximising the net benefits of migration, policymakers should focus on policies that strategically shift the structure of the economy towards a high-skilled, knowledge-based economy, which is necessary for attracting high-skilled migrants with a consequent positive impact on productivity, employment and demographic stability

Investigating Secondary School Students’ Views Regarding the Use of Strategies and Difficulties They Face When Writing in English as the Second Language

Learning writing is an important element in language acquisition. Writing is one of the tools of communication and exchanges between cultures. Many students have a negative attitude toward writing and consider writing as the most difficult skill of all. Writing in English is an issue from which many non-native students suffer. This study aims to investigate students\u27 views toward the use of strategies and the challenges they face with writing in English. This study was conducted in one of the large female high schools in Al Ain. A 45 items structured Likert-scale questionnaire was developed. It was administered to 360 students to measure their views regarding writing difficulties and strategies. The questionnaire discovered that the vocabulary and language mechanics, especially punctuation, are the most serious problems students face when writing in English. However, the students also have spelling and grammar difficulties. Moreover, the study revealed that group work, brainstorming and planning are the best techniques that improve students\u27 writing. Some students use reading as one important strategy to improve their writing. In addition, students view writing in English as a very difficult skill and they become easily distracted when writing in English. The study showed that students prefer to write in an informal language rather than an academic language. Students consider that providing feedback is valuable, but they prefer receiving feedback from their friends more than from their teachers because teachers\u27 feedback is usually associated with marks. One important suggestion based on the study\u27s findings is to focus on punctuation, vocabulary and sentence structure from the early stage of learning writing skills. Another suggestion based on the results of the study is about giving feedback for all writing\u27s mistakes. Finally, this study suggested that strategies such as planning and brainstorming are crucial parts of writing successfully, and it should be taken as one of the most important components

Microarray Analysis of Arabidopsis Wrky33 Mutants in Response to the Necrotrophic Fungus Botrytis Cinerea

Plants are exposed to many environmental stresses that affect their growth and development. These stresses include biotic stresses (via organisms) and abiotic stresses (via environment). Plants respond to these stresses by transcriptional reprogramming and different signaling pathways. Arabidopsis thaliana has shown great sensitivity to the biotic stress Botrytis cinerea. The WRKY33 gene plays an important role in plant defense mechanism against this pathogen. The overall goal is to identify common regulated genes of wrky33 mutant and 35S:WRKY33 over expressing transgenic lines in response to B. cinerea; ultimately to improve plant stress tolerance in Arabidopsis. The specific aims are to: (1) identify Arabidopsis regulated genes in response to B. cinerea infection; (2) determine common up- and down-regulated genes in response to B. cinerea infection in Arabidopsis wrky33 mutant and 35S:WRKY33 overexpression lines; and (3) characterize the function of the common genes in response to B. cinerea. To achieve these objectives, a microarray-based analysis of Arabidopsis wild type, wrky33 mutant and 35S:WRKY33 overexpression line in response to B. cinerea will be studied for their regulation to disease and stress responses. The results of this study will help identifying the up- and down-regulated defense genes to these stresses and improving crop tolerance to these stresses. In addition, Arabidopsis expression profiling of defense-regulated genes in response to these stresses will help understanding how the plants respond to stress in field conditions. Overall, this can help introducing defense genes that make the crops more resistance to different stresses, particularly B. cinerea

THE IMPACT OF CLASSROOM DENSITY ON TEACHERS\u27 PERFORMANCE AND STUDENTS\u27 ACHIEVEMENT IN AL-AIN SCHOOLS : PERSPECTIVE OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

This quantitative study aimed at investigating the students\u27 and teachers\u27 perceptions about the effects of classroom density on teacher\u27s performance and student\u27s achievement in Al-Ain Schools. The study addressed the two research questions (a). To what extent classroom density impact teacher\u27s performance in Al-Ain Cycle Three Schools? (b) To what extent classroom density impact students\u27 achievement in Al-Ain Cycle Three Schools? To have an in-depth understanding of whether class density impacted teaching and learning students, the causal comparative study design was conducted to collect data via two questionnaires; one for teachers, and the other for grade 12 students. The findings of this study revealed that classroom density impacted both the teacher\u27s performance and students\u27 achievement negatively according to the perceptions of most teachers and students. The study grants some insights that help schools and all stakeholders improve teaching and learning by reducing the classroom density. It is recommended to take into consideration the classroom density and set rules that decrease the classroom density; set clear rules to the importance of availability of multifunctional halls and using multifunctional furniture, deliver non-traditional lessons and integrate technology in teaching and learning in classrooms in Al-Ain schools. The study is limited to grade twelve students in one academic year 2014 in one educational zone. It included one Cycle three school teachers

A Study of Factors Influencing the Occurrence of Algae Bloom (HAB) Along the Abu Dhabi Coast, UAE.

During last few years, the frequency of Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) has increased worldwide. The occurrence of HAB in the Gulf region has only recently been recorded in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Specifically, these occurrences have not been thoroughly investigated. This phenomena, was found to be associated with the increase in nutrient load, depletion of oxygen and a significant decrease in fish populations that is caused by a bloom of a certain phytoplankton species, results in economic and social problems. Therefore, the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD) has decided to conduct a study on different aspects of this phenomenon of which this thesis is part of. The purpose of this study is to address the following points: Comparison of the environmental parameters in different stations along Abu Dhabi Marine Costal areas Studying phytoplankton composition in two different stations known as fish kill phenomenon Isolation and Identification of phytoplankton cells known to be harmful Identification of common algal species and Harmful Algal Blooms in Abu Dhabi waters Identification of factors responsible for bloom formation Five stations were chosen along the coastal area of Abu Dhabi Emirate according to the environmental impacts they are recovering due to human activities. Water samples were collected at depths 0, 5 and 10 meters respectively. Nutrient analysis have took place with sea water samples beside measuring temperature, oxygen concentration, salinity and chlorophyll a. Nutrient analysis has taken place with sea water samples in conjunction with/in union with measuring temperature, oxygen concentration, salinity and chlorophyll a. Phytoplankton cells were collected using a net of pore size 10µm and have been identified. Sediment samples were collected using a Grab sampler. These samples were used for cyst identification. The results showed that many harmful species were introduced in the waters of Abu Dhabi and that many of the identified cyst species did not appear in the phytoplankton community. Moreover the fish kill station where blooms occurred indicated that the circulation of water is very slow. The reason is due to of the enclosed channel and the introduction of nutrient from the industries located along. The present study suggested carrying out, a strategic on this phenomenon and the harmful species that have been introduced to the area through the transportation of ballast water from the tankers of oil importing industrialized nations fleets to our waters. Another reason could be due to the increase of the human activities along the coasts. All the above reasons and others could lead to adverse consequences of this phenomenon

Probiotic Characterization of Lactic Acid Bacteria (Lab) Isolated From Dried Emirati Fish and the Health Promoting Benefits of Fermented Fish Sausages by Selected Isolates

Probiotics have great positive impacts on human health. Therefore, finding new probiotics possess novel probiotic characteristics would be greatly appreciated by medical, scientific and food industrial societies. This study aimed to isolate lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from traditionally dried fishes, assess their safety aspects, characterize their probiotic features, and investigate their potential health-promoting benefits of fish sausage fermented by selected LABs, in-vitro. Out of one hundred and fifty (150) isolates, 85 isolates were considered as a potential probiotic. The 85 isolates achieved a reduction under gastric juicy ranged from 0.5-5.2 log10 CFU/mL during 2h of incubation and they were more vulnerable toward oxgall compared with cholic and taurocholic acid. Out of 85 isolates, 29 isolates showing the considerable tolerances to gastrointestinal conditions and bile Salts. Out of 29 isolates, 13 isolates had remarkable tolerances and were selected for additional characterization as potential probiotic properties. 16s rRNA sequencing was implemented to identify (13) presumptive LAB isolates. All those isolates were identified as Enterococcus spp. Classified as following: 4 E. faecalis, 7 E. faecium and 2 E. durans. With respect to the safety assessment, all evaluated isolated shown no clear-halos which expressed as no hemolysis (gamma-hemolysis). All isolates were more susceptible to penicillin and ampicillin compared to other four tested antibiotics. According to evaluation assays of probiotic characterization; In general, 13 Enterococcus spp. Showed high cholesterol removal ranged from 6.5% to 59.1% during 24 h of incubation. The 13 Enterococcus spp. demonstrated a good percentage of autoaggregation ranging from 8.2 - 21.3 % and 29 - 67% throughout 3h and 24h of Incubation, respectively. The following 6 strains were selected to prepare functional fermented fish sausages: E. faecium MF047470, E. faecium MF047495, E. faecium MF047509, and E. faecium KY962874, E. faecalis KY962905, and E. durans KY962882. The amylase and glucosidase inhibition in fish sausages fermented by Enterococcus spp. Extended from 29.2% to 68.7% and from 23.9% to 41.4%, respectively, during 21 days of storage. The DH%, DPPH%, ABTS%, amylase and glucosidase inhibitions had a Positive correlation

Project implementation success and Change Management practices in Malaysian Government-linked companies (GLCs)

The purpose of this research is to address the practices of project change management in the context of Government-Linked Companies (GLCs) in Malaysia, focusing on Project Managers (PMs), Project Team Members (PTMs), Change Managers (CMs) and any other Top Managers involved in a project. Also, checking the validity of a number of critical success factors from Project Implementation Profile (PIP) in the context of GLCs in Malaysia. PIP is a comprehensive managerial tool that was introduced by Pinto and Slevin. Later Belout and Gauvereau have enhanced and re-tested it in their study. Government-linked companies were previously government agencies or public enterprises established to provide services for social purposes. The Malaysian Government considers the importance of the Government-linked companies’ (GLCs) role. Critical success factors (or CSFs) are the actions and processes that can be controlled or affected by management to achieve the goals set by an organization. Many studies has been conducted on Malaysian government-linked companies, but few focused on examining the validity of the critical success factors in these companies where these factors will lead to successful project implementation and assess in change management