Does religion influence entrepreneurial behaviour?

Religion cannot be ignored in assessing the range of cultural and institutional influences that impact on entrepreneurial activity. This article integrates key themes from sociology of religion in the context of emerging ideas about religion and entrepreneurship in order to highlight key research questions. New institutional theory is discussed as a potentially useful lens for viewing the range of means through which religious expression and institutions might support entrepreneurship. A macro-level empirical investigation of societal indicators of religious affiliation and regulation of religion alongside Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data highlights particular data correlations and mediating influences. A significant association between entrepreneurial activity and evangelical or Pentecostal Christian religious affiliation is found, along with evidence that the impact of religion on entrepreneurship is mediated through pluralism and regulation. In discussing these findings further, the article proposes a more integrated conceptual framework for understanding the link between religious drivers and entrepreneurship, alongside institutional mediation. This forms the basis for further research, focusing on individual experience rather than aggregate associations and exploring in further depth of the mediating impact of institutional arrangements

Seafloor character and sedimentary processes in eastern Long Island Sound and western Block Island Sound

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2006. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geo-Marine Letters 26 (2006): 59-68, doi: 10.1007/s00367-006-0016-4.Multibeam bathymetric data and seismic-reflection profiles collected in eastern Long Island and western Block Island Sounds reveal previously unrecognized glacial features and modern bedforms. Glacial features include an ice-sculptured bedrock surface, a newly identified recessional moraine, exposed glaciolacustrine sediments, and remnants of stagnant-ice-contact deposits. Modern bedforms include fields of transverse sand waves, barchanoid waves, giant scour depressions, and pockmarks. Bedform asymmetry and scour around obstructions indicate that net sediment transport is westward across the northern par of the study area near Fishers Island and eastward across the southern par near Great Gull Island.This work was supported by the Coastal and Marine Geology Program of the U.S. Geological Survey, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, and the Atlantic Hydrographic Branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Double Diffraction Dissociation at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider

We present results from a measurement of double diffraction dissociation in $\bar pp$ collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The production cross section for events with a central pseudorapidity gap of width $\Delta\eta^0>3$ (overlapping $\eta=0$) is found to be $4.43\pm 0.02{(stat)}{\pm 1.18}{(syst) mb}$ [$3.42\pm 0.01{(stat)}{\pm 1.09}{(syst) mb}$] at $\sqrt{s}=1800$ [630] GeV. Our results are compared with previous measurements and with predictions based on Regge theory and factorization.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, using RevTeX. Submitted to Physical Review Letter

Search for Gluinos and Scalar Quarks in ppˉp\bar{p} Collisions at s=1.8\sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV using the Missing Energy plus Multijets Signature

We have performed a search for gluinos (\gls) and squarks (\sq) in a data sample of 84 pb$^{-1}$ of \ppb collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 1.8 TeV, recorded by the Collider Detector at Fermilab, by investigating the final state of large missing transverse energy and 3 or more jets, a characteristic signature in R-parity-conserving supersymmetric models. The analysis has been performed `blind', in that the inspection of the signal region is made only after the predictions from Standard Model backgrounds have been calculated. Comparing the data with predictions of constrained supersymmetric models, we exclude gluino masses below 195 \gev (95% C.L.), independent of the squark mass. For the case \msq \approx \mgls, gluino masses below 300 \gev are excluded.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Diffractive Dijet Production at sqrt(s)=630 and 1800 GeV at the Fermilab Tevatron

We report a measurement of the diffractive structure function $F_{jj}^D$ of the antiproton obtained from a study of dijet events produced in association with a leading antiproton in $\bar pp$ collisions at $\sqrt s=630$ GeV at the Fermilab Tevatron. The ratio of $F_{jj}^D$ at $\sqrt s=630$ GeV to $F_{jj}^D$ obtained from a similar measurement at $\sqrt s=1800$ GeV is compared with expectations from QCD factorization and with theoretical predictions. We also report a measurement of the $\xi$ ($x$-Pomeron) and $\beta$ ($x$ of parton in Pomeron) dependence of $F_{jj}^D$ at $\sqrt s=1800$ GeV. In the region $0.035<\xi<0.095$, $|t|<1$ GeV$^2$ and $\beta<0.5$, $F_{jj}^D(\beta,\xi)$ is found to be of the form $\beta^{-1.0\pm 0.1} \xi^{-0.9\pm 0.1}$, which obeys $\beta$-$\xi$ factorization.Comment: LaTeX, 9 pages, Submitted to Phys. Rev. Letter

A Study of B0 -> J/psi K(*)0 pi+ pi- Decays with the Collider Detector at Fermilab

We report a study of the decays B0 -> J/psi K(*)0 pi+ pi-, which involve the creation of a u u-bar or d d-bar quark pair in addition to a b-bar -> c-bar(c s-bar) decay. The data sample consists of 110 1/pb of p p-bar collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.8 TeV collected by the CDF detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider during 1992-1995. We measure the branching ratios to be BR(B0 -> J/psi K*0 pi+ pi-) = (8.0 +- 2.2 +- 1.5) * 10^{-4} and BR(B0 -> J/psi K0 pi+ pi-) = (1.1 +- 0.4 +- 0.2) * 10^{-3}. Contributions to these decays are seen from psi(2S) K(*)0, J/psi K0 rho0, J/psi K*+ pi-, and J/psi K1(1270)

Search for lepton flavor violating decays of a heavy neutral particle in p-pbar collisions at root(s)=1.8 TeV

We report on a search for a high mass, narrow width particle that decays directly to e+mu, e+tau, or mu+tau. We use approximately 110 pb^-1 of data collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab from 1992 to 1995. No evidence of lepton flavor violating decays is found. Limits are set on the production and decay of sneutrinos with R-parity violating interactions.Comment: Figure 2 fixed. Reference 4 fixed. Minor changes to tex

Search for Kaluza-Klein Graviton Emission in ppˉp\bar{p} Collisions at s=1.8\sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV using the Missing Energy Signature

We report on a search for direct Kaluza-Klein graviton production in a data sample of 84 ${pb}^{-1}$ of \ppb collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 1.8 TeV, recorded by the Collider Detector at Fermilab. We investigate the final state of large missing transverse energy and one or two high energy jets. We compare the data with the predictions from a $3+1+n$-dimensional Kaluza-Klein scenario in which gravity becomes strong at the TeV scale. At 95% confidence level (C.L.) for $n$=2, 4, and 6 we exclude an effective Planck scale below 1.0, 0.77, and 0.71 TeV, respectively.Comment: Submitted to PRL, 7 pages 4 figures/Revision includes 5 figure

Measurement of the average time-integrated mixing probability of b-flavored hadrons produced at the Tevatron

We have measured the number of like-sign (LS) and opposite-sign (OS) lepton pairs arising from double semileptonic decays of $b$ and $\bar{b}$-hadrons, pair-produced at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The data samples were collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) during the 1992-1995 collider run by triggering on the existence of $\mu \mu$ and $e \mu$ candidates in an event. The observed ratio of LS to OS dileptons leads to a measurement of the average time-integrated mixing probability of all produced $b$-flavored hadrons which decay weakly, $\bar{\chi} = 0.152 \pm 0.007$ (stat.) $\pm 0.011$ (syst.), that is significantly larger than the world average $\bar{\chi} = 0.118 \pm 0.005$.Comment: 47 pages, 10 figures, 15 tables Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Consumer trust and confidence in the compliance of Islamic banks

Islamic banks compete with traditional (non-Islamic) banks for customers. This article aims to provide insight into why some Muslims choose to bank with Islamic banks in Pakistan, while others do not. Specifically, it addresses the questions: to what extent are trust and confidence active influencers in the decision-making process, are they differentiated or are they one of the same? Also how does the Pakistani collective cultural context further complicate the application of these concepts? For the purposes of this article trust refers to people and their interpersonal or social relations whereas confidence concerns institutions such as banks. Drawing on interviews with Muslim consumers in Pakistan, this study provides further insight into consumer behaviour within financial services and specifically Islamic banking and contributes to our theoretical understanding of the concepts of trust and confidence