EXPLORING AND DEVELOPING ITEMS MEASURING SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP II (SLII)

Purpose of the study: This research intended to develop a valid and reliable survey instrument to measure Situational Leadership Model II (SLM II) through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), including the four quadrants, evidently describe the Situational Leadership aspects style which is; directing, coaching, supporting, and delegating. Methodology: A survey with an interval scale between 1 and 10. Using the extraction method of Principal Component with Varimax Rotation, the researcher performed the EFA procedure on construct elements using Amos 24.0. Bartletts’ Test of Sphericity and the sampling adequacy by (KMO) was performed also. Cronbach’s Alpha was applied to test the reliability of the retained items. Main Findings: The Bartletts’ Test of Sphericity is highly significant (sig. 000). Furthermore, the sampling adequacy by (KMO=0.889) is excellent. The four components have Cronbach’s alpha values with more than 0.7. Furthermore, Cronbach’s Alpha value for all 24 items also exceeded the threshold value of 0.7. The development scale and validation confirmed that the instrument is consistent and stable across samples. Applications of this study: This study was applied to the leading telecommunications companies in Jordan that are exclusively providing mobile phones and internet service. It Includes Orange, Zain, and Umniah. The study targeted all permanent middle managers of (JTS) who hold supervisory positions, heads of departments, directors of divisions, or directors who are supervising three or more subordinates. Novelty/Originality of this study: It adds a remarkable contribution to the measurement of the SLM II, mainly in the JTS context. The EFA outcomes formed a configuration that extracts four components of SLM II, which can be measured by 24 items established in this research, which reveals that the elements are applicable in this study

The impact of real estate, inequality and current account imbalances on excessive credit: A cross country analysis

The numerous financial crises in the 20th and 21st century demonstrate the role of excessive credit as the main instigator of financial crises. Could this excessive credit be natural byproducts of lingering economic ailments such as, income inequality, property bubbles and persistent current account imbalances? This study attempts to answer this question by applying the Least Squares Dummy Variable (LSDVC) and dynamic GMM estimations based on the data of ten countries from the year 2004 to 2012. Whilst past literature have investigated the effect of income inequality, dominant real estate sector and current account imbalances on excessive credit separately, this study extends the literature by examining the impact of all three variables on excessive credit aggregately. Our findings tend to indicate that there do exist a positive relationship between all three variables and excessive credit. However, we found that only income inequality and the real estate sector contribute significantly to excessive credit but current account imbalances only marginally do so. We also discovered that the contribution to excessive credit by the banking sector is just about twice the amount of all three variables combined. Our results serve as evidence for policymakers interested in reducing excessive credit by controlling all three variables as well as the banking sector

The impact of real estate, inequality and current account imbalances on excessive credit: A cross country analysis

The numerous financial crises in the 20th and 21st century demonstrate the role of excessive credit as the main instigator of financial crises. Could this excessive credit be natural byproducts of lingering economic ailments such as, income inequality, property bubbles and persistent current account imbalances? This study attempts to answer this question by applying the Least Squares Dummy Variable (LSDVC) and dynamic GMM estimations based on the data of ten countries from the year 2004 to 2012. Whilst past literature have investigated the effect of income inequality, dominant real estate sector and current account imbalances on excessive credit separately, this study extends the literature by examining the impact of all three variables on excessive credit aggregately. Our findings tend to indicate that there do exist a positive relationship between all three variables and excessive credit. However, we found that only income inequality and the real estate sector contribute significantly to excessive credit but current account imbalances only marginally do so. We also discovered that the contribution to excessive credit by the banking sector is just about twice the amount of all three variables combined. Our results serve as evidence for policymakers interested in reducing excessive credit by controlling all three variables as well as the banking sector

A critical look at an Islamic Gold investment account

This article assesses an Islamic gold investment account offered by an Islamic bank in Malaysia and analyses its pros and cons. We look into the product’s relative advantages and disadvantages compare to some other Islamic deposit products and conventional gold accounts. In process of the assessment we also come across some Shari’ah compliance related issues and some practices which needs to be scrutinized from Shari’ah, economic and social perspectives. Overall, our findings suggest the account to be worthwhile investment instrument for long-term saving instrument and promising venture at times of boom in gold prices. However, the account is considered as a risky and unfavorable investment when gold price is on fall or if the customer intends to keep his deposits for a brief period. Finally, we pose some questions to the reader to ponder upon about some possible implication of the product for the Islamic bank, its customer or the society at large

Effects of total chlorine free (TCF) bleaching on the characteristics of chemi mechanical (CMP) pulp and paper from Malaysian durian (DURIO ZIBETHINUS MURR.) rind

The effects of bleaching process on the characteristics of pulp and paper produced from durian rind under chemi-mechanical pulping (CMP) method were investigated. All process and characteristic tests were conducted according to Malaysian International Organisation for Standardization (MS ISO) and Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI). Three (3) stages of peroxide (P-P-P) bleaching sequence through the Total Chlorine Free (TCF) bleaching process were applied to the unbeaten and unbleached durian rind CMP pulp. Bleached CMP durian rind pulp drainage time (32s) decreased (faster) and CSF freeness level (172.50ml) increased as compared to a control pulp. It was obtained that overall optical (brightness (66.36 %)) and mechanical characteristics (tensile index (38.33 Nm/g), tearing index (7.56 mN.m2/g), bursting index (2.42 kPa.m2/g), and number of folds (43)) of durian rind CMP 60 gsm paper sheet improved as the TCF bleaching process was applied to the unbleached CMP durian rind pulp

Comparative Analysis of Bunch Weight and Fruit-to-Bunch Ratio Between Dura and Tenera Oil Palm Varieties

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.), a vital crop in global agriculture known for its high oil yield, predominantly features two fruit types: Dura and Tenera. Despite their economic importance, there's a paucity of research on how these varieties differ in bunch weight and fruit-to-bunch ratio, key factors in optimizing oil palm cultivation and promoting sustainable practices. This study addresses this knowledge gap by examining the influence of Dura and Tenera fruit types on these parameters. We gathered data on bunch weight and fruit-to-bunch percentage from plantations cultivating both varieties. Our findings indicate Dura had a marginally higher mean bunch weight (18.88 kg) compared to Tenera (17.30 kg), and a similar trend was observed in the fruit-to-bunch ratio, with Dura at 73.29% and Tenera at 66.15%. These results suggest that the choice of fruit type should be a consideration in planting strategies. Further investigation is warranted into the genetic and environmental contributors to these observed disparities

Logic Mining Approach: Shoppers’ Purchasing Data Extraction via Evolutionary Algorithm

Online shopping is a multi-billion-dollar industry worldwide. However, several challenges related to purchase intention can impact the sales of e-commerce. For example, e-commerce platforms are unable to identify which factors contribute to the high sales of a product. Besides, online sellers have difficulty finding products that align with customers’ preferences. Therefore, this work will utilize an artificial neural network to provide knowledge extraction for the online shopping industry or e-commerce platforms that might improve their sales and services. There are limited attempts to propose knowledge extraction with neural network models in the online shopping field, especially research revolving around online shoppers’ purchasing intentions. In this study, 2-satisfiability logic was used to represent the shopping attribute and a special recurrent artificial neural network named Hopfield neural network was employed. In reducing the learning complexity, a genetic algorithm was implemented to optimize the logical rule throughout the learning phase in performing a 2-satisfiability-based reverse analysis method, implemented during the learning phase as this method was compared. The performance of the genetic algorithm with 2-satisfiability-based reverse analysis was measured according to the selected performance evaluation metrics. The simulation suggested that the proposed model outperformed the existing model in doing logic mining for the online shoppers dataset

The complete mitochondrial genomes of Pangasius nasutus and P. conchophilus (Siluriformes: Pangasiidae)

The catfish, Pangasius nasutus and P. conchophilus, are often misidentified between each other due to their similar morphology. Thus, the current study was conducted to differentiate them based on a molecular approach. The complete mitochondrial genomes of P. nasutus and P. conchophilus obtained from the Pahang River (Peninsular Malaysia) were sequenced, assembled, and annotated using next-generation sequencing (NGS). A 16,465 bp and 16,470 bp length mitogenome sequence of P. nasutus and P. conchophilus, respectively, was generated, each containing 13 protein genes, 22 tRNAs, and two rRNAs, typical of most vertebrates. This is the first report of the complete mitochondrial genome sequences of P. nasutus and P. conchophilus. These data are a valuable genetic resource for future studies of these two commercially important species

The complete mitochondrial genomes of Pangasius nasutus and P. conchophilus (Siluriformes: Pangasiidae)

The catfish, Pangasius nasutus and P. conchophilus, are often misidentified between each other due to their similar morphology. Thus, the current study was conducted to differentiate them based on a molecular approach. The complete mitochondrial genomes of P. nasutus and P. conchophilus obtained from the Pahang River (Peninsular Malaysia) were sequenced, assembled, and annotated using next-generation sequencing (NGS). A 16,465 bp and 16,470 bp length mitogenome sequence of P. nasutus and P. conchophilus, respectively, was generated, each containing 13 protein genes, 22 tRNAs, and two rRNAs, typical of most vertebrates. This is the first report of the complete mitochondrial genome sequences of P. nasutus and P. conchophilus. These data are a valuable genetic resource for future studies of these two commercially important species