Remedy for Unproductive Researches and Disintegrated Information in Islamic Finance: ‘Riba Information Queries Digital Portal\u27

Islamic finance industry evolution and development has been a central concern to scholars, researchers, and managers alike. However for last few years, academia and practitioners have indicated on a serious note that the success and growth of Islamic finance is getting affected because of lack of integration and collaborative approach between different institutions and key actors. Fragmentation plagues the thought process thus saps research productivity, it further create deadlock in research innovation, and makes it hard to be responsive according to the industry and customer needs. In that case, it is essential to find an answer: How a valuable and impactful platform can be designed which can add knowledge to individuals, bankers and society aswell? Realizing the challenge of fragmented information and disconnected issues in Islamic finance sector, this research attempt to propose a solution which can assist Islamic bankers, Islamic finance education providers, shariah scholars, students and researchers in gathering information and conducting more useful and productive research

Using Polarized Spectroscopy to Investigate Order in Thin-Films of Ionic Self-Assembled Materials Based on Azo-Dyes

Three series of ionic self-assembled materials based on anionic azo-dyes and cationic benzalkonium surfactants were synthesized and thin films were prepared by spin-casting. These thin films appear isotropic when investigated with polarized optical microscopy, although they are highly anisotropic. Here, three series of homologous materials were studied to rationalize this observation. Investigating thin films of ordered molecular materials relies to a large extent on advanced experimental methods and large research infrastructure. A statement that in particular is true for thin films with nanoscopic order, where X-ray reflectometry, X-ray and neutron scattering, electron microscopy and atom force microscopy (AFM) has to be used to elucidate film morphology and the underlying molecular structure. Here, the thin films were investigated using AFM, optical microscopy and polarized absorption spectroscopy. It was shown that by using numerical method for treating the polarized absorption spectroscopy data, the molecular structure can be elucidated. Further, it was shown that polarized optical spectroscopy is a general tool that allows determination of the molecular order in thin films. Finally, it was found that full control of thermal history and rigorous control of the ionic self-assembly conditions are required to reproducibly make these materials of high nanoscopic order. Similarly, the conditions for spin-casting are shown to be determining for the overall thin film morphology, while molecular order is maintained