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In this study, a tool has been designed and developed for learning about the concept of lag order within a dynamic model, which can be used in any teaching classes on statistics and financial data computation. To show a solution for a complex and multi-step process of finding the optimal lag order for multiple variables data series based on an information criterion a module using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) for Microsoft Excel (MS Excel) is being developed. This module can be used for estimating a multivariate dynamic model as well as determining the optimal lag order of such a model.

The purpose of this study is to provide quantitative information on the growth of Islamic finance literature. The study focused on publishing trends, countries producing research on Islamic finance, key authors, major contributing organizations, authorship patterns, keywords and articles with the highest citations.

Bibliometric analysis is applied to analyse the growth and publishing trends in Islamic finance literature. The Web of Science (WoS) database was used to extract bibliometric data covering the period 1939–2019 for Islamic finance literature.

The study finds that Islamic finance research has gained remarkable momentum in the literature. However, such growth is largely manifested in Malaysia because of a conducive atmosphere for this type of research. Interestingly, the study finds that the three most productive journals are located in the UK and Malaysia, while Professor M. Kabir Hassan from the University of New Orleans, the USA appears to head the list of authors with 23 publications on Islamic finance.

This study provides up-to-date literature on the current state of Islamic finance in the world; as a result, it supports the development of policies by the Islamic finance industry. The findings of the study also serve as a reference point for Islamic finance training and educational institutions.

Islamic finance is an emerging financial discipline; as such, there is a need for more awareness of this financial system in the world. Muslim-majority countries, especially Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Pakistan and Bahrain, have to include Islamic finance in their curriculum and establish research institutions and research journals. In addition, Arabic language journals should be indexed in WoS and/or Scopus to provide a high-quality publication platform. This study provides a more comprehensive bibliometric analysis on the growth of Islamic finance literature (1939–2019) in the WoS database; most of the prior studies have covered relatively few areas of focus and a lower range of years in some cases.

This paper aims to demonstrate how the new generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool ChatGPT changes knowledge work for individuals and what are the implications of this change for companies.

Based on 22 interviews from informants across different industries, the authors conducted an inductive analysis on the use and utility of ChatGPT in knowledge work. Based on this initial analysis, they discovered different ways in which ChatGPT either augments human agency, makes it redundant or lacks capability in that regard.

The authors develop a 2 × 2 framework of algorithmic assistance, which demonstrates four ways in which ChatGPT (and generative AI in general) interacts with knowledge workers, depending on the usefulness of ChatGPT in particular tasks and the type of the task (routine vs creative).

Based on the insights from the interviews, the authors propose a set of actionable questions for individual knowledge workers and companies from four viewpoints: skills and capabilities; team structure and workflow coordination; culture and mindset; and business model innovation.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to identify and analyze the use of ChatGPT by knowledge workers across different industries.

Recently, there has been a shift toward the embodied energy assessment of buildings. However, the impact of material service life on the life-cycle embodied energy has received little attention. We aimed to address this knowledge gap, particularly in the context of the UAE and investigated the embodied energy associated with the use of concrete and other materials commonly used in residential buildings in the hot desert climate of the UAE.

Using input–output based hybrid analysis, we quantified the life-cycle embodied energy of a villa in the UAE with over 50 years of building life using the average, minimum, and maximum material service life values. Mathematical calculations were performed using MS Excel, and a detailed bill of quantities with >170 building materials and components of the villa were used for investigation.

For the base case, the initial embodied energy was 57% (7390.5 GJ), whereas the recurrent embodied energy was 43% (5,690 GJ) of the life-cycle embodied energy based on average material service life values. The proportion of the recurrent embodied energy with minimum material service life values was increased to 68% of the life-cycle embodied energy, while it dropped to 15% with maximum material service life values.

The findings provide new data to guide building construction in the UAE and show that recurrent embodied energy contributes significantly to life-cycle energy demand. Further, the study of material service life variations provides deeper insights into future building material specifications and management considerations for building maintenance.

The paper reports a study that was intended to develop a self-assessment instrument to measure high school students' readiness for pursuing independent online learning.

The instrument was developed through the following steps: (1) developing the draft, (2) checking the instrument's face validity and (3) testing the instrument's validity, reliability and discriminant capacity using PLS analysis.

The study has developed a tool to self-assess high school students' readiness for independent online learning. The instrument consists of 36 statement items and is statistically proven to have good reliability, construct and indicator validity and a discriminating power.

The instrument items were designed to fit the context of Indonesian high school students. However, only responses from high school students in rather urban areas were used to test the validity and reliability of the instrument. This could imply that the instrument is only accurate in urban settings.

As a result of the research, a tool to assess high school students' readiness for independent online learning has been created. To better prepare students for independent online learning endeavors, the school might use the results to enhance areas that need improvement.

The study succeeded in developing a contextualized self-assessment tool for measuring Indonesian students' independent online learning readiness.

This paper aims to analyze how a tangram activity improved students’ abilities to explain sustainability, articulate a positive perception of sustainable design and relate sustainability with innovation in engineering design.

The concept of paradigm shift was introduced in the classroom by using a tangram activity to help students understand that sustainable design requires out-of-the-box thinking. Instructors from three institutions teaching various levels of sustainability courses to engineering majors used the activity to introduce sustainable design, then measured the understanding and appreciation of the concepts introduced through the tangram activity with pre- and post-activity surveys.

Findings from the study indicate that students’ perceptions of sustainability significantly improved due to the activity, without regard to the institution. The activity also significantly improved students understanding of the connection between sustainability and innovation, across all three institutions, across all majors and across all years of study except second-year students. Improving engineering students’ views on sustainability may lead, over time, to changes in the industry, in which environmental performance is incorporated into the engineering design process.

Active learning approaches are needed for affective-domain learning objectives in the sustainability field for students to learn the necessary attitudes, values and motivations to implement sustainability in engineering design. Simple, easily implemented active learning techniques, such as the tangram activity presented here, can be implemented across the curriculum or to the public to introduce the paradigm shift necessary with sustainable design.

The purpose of this paper is to present the author’s method of conservative load spectrum (LS) derivation and close-proximity LS extrapolation applying a correction for measurement uncertainty caused by too low sampling frequency or signal noise, which may affect the load histories collected during the flying session and cause some recorded load increments to be lower than the actual values.

Having in mind that the recorded load signal is burdened with some measurement error, a conservative approach was applied during qualification of the recorded values into 32 discrete load-level intervals and derivation of 32 × 32 half-cycle arrays. A part of each cell value of the half-cycle array was dispersed into the neighboring cells placed above by using a random number generator. It resulted in an increase in the number of load increments, which were one or two intervals higher than those resulting from direct data processing. Such an array was termed a conservative clone of the actual LS. The close-proximity approximation consisted of multiplication of the LSs clones and their aggregation. This way, the LS for extended time of operation was obtained. The whole process was conducted in the MS Excel environment.

Fatigue life calculated for a chosen element of aircraft structure using conservative LS is about 20%–60% lower than for the actual LS (depending on the applied value of dispersion coefficients used in the procedure of LSs clones generation). It means that such a result gives a bigger safety margin when operational life of the aircraft is estimated or when the fatigue test for an extended operational period is programed based on a limited quantity of data from a flying session.

This paper presents a proposal for a novel, conservative approach to fatigue life estimation based on the short-term LS derived from the load signal recorded during the flying session.

This paper aims to assess whether the current eResearch Knowledge Centre’s (eRKC) research support practices align with researchers’ requirements for achieving their research objectives. The study’s objectives were to assess the current eRKC research support services and to determine which are adequate and which are not in supporting the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) researchers.

This study uses interviews as part of the qualitative approach. The researcher chose to use interviews, as some aspects warranted further explanation during the interview. The interviews were scheduled using Zoom’s scheduling assistant. The interviews were semi-structured, guided by a flexible interview procedure and supplemented by follow-up questions, probes and comments. The research life cycle questions guided the interviews. The data obtained were coded and transcribed using MS Excel. The interview data were analysed, using NVivo, according to the themes identified in the research questions and aligned with the theory behind the study. Pre-determined codes were created in line with the six stages of the research life cycle and applied to group the data and extract meaning from each category. Interviewee responses were assigned to groups in line with the stages of the research life cycle.

The current eRKC research support services are aligned with the needs of HSRC researchers and highlight services that could be expanded or promoted more effectively to HSRC researchers. It proposes a new service, data analysis, and suggests that the eRKC could play a more prominent role in research impact, research data management and fostering collaboration with HSRC research divisions.

This study is limited to assessing the eRKC’s support practices at the HSRC in Pretoria, South Africa. A more comprehensive study is needed for HSRC research services, capabilities and capacity.

Assessment of eRKC followed a comprehensive interviewee schedule that followed Raju and Schoombee’s research life cycle model.

Zoom’s scheduling assistant may have generated Zoom fatigue and reduced productivity. Technical issues, losing time, communication gaps and distant time zones may have affected face-to-face interaction.

eRKC research support practices are rare in South Africa and most parts of the world. This study bridges the gap between theory and practice in assessing eRKC research support practices.

This paper aims to explore the Google Arts and Culture platform in terms of parameters used for categorizing the digital collections by it; the total number of items and their types; top contributing artists; top ten historical events and figures; and the top ten countries having maximum artworks.

An online method was used to collect the relevant data for achieving the objectives of the study. Data were harvested from the official website of Google Arts and Culture (https://artsandculture.google.com/) during the period of 15 May to 31 May 2018, and the same was tabulated in MS Excel for analysis and interpretation.

The findings revealed that Google Arts and Culture includes a total of 6,272 artists, 228 media and 121 art movements. Moreover, there are a total of 641 historical movements; 6,250 historical figures; 9,692 places; 3,226 museum views; 1,702 zoom views; 39,607 featured videos; and 5,528 featured stories; 122 items organized by color and 954 organized by time.

The present study is first of its kind that focuses on exploration of diverse arts and cultural heritages of different countries and by diverse artists made visible by Google Arts and Culture initiative. It will significantly reinforce the art and cultural heritage lovers to acquire the knowledge pertinent to various types of arts and cultures that prevailed in antiquity across the globe and also make aware the conservators about how to use digital technologies for efficient preservation and visibility of unique artworks, artists and the places whom they belong.

The world is confronted by various current development challenges, including global health security and climate change. The rapid growth of these challenges warned all nations regardless of their development or geographical position. As an emerging international power, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was among these nations and is viewed as a proactive key actor.

This review was conducted as a thematic synthesis from 27 studies, reports and publications along with authors' insights. Using MS Word and Excel programs, three stages of data exploration, extraction and synthesis and analysis were applied. Data gathering, analysis and thematization and compilation.

The UAE is giving significant attention to global health and climate change. Over the past 20 years, multipolicies, strategies and bodies were developed to lead the national, regional and global SDGs. Global health and climate change became the most two notable priorities on the government agenda and its strategic thinking is that both priorities can no longer be overlooked. Nationally, the UAE has made significant economic, scientific, social and health growth. Building a resilient and world-class healthcare system was one of six national priorities of the achieved UAE National Agenda 2021. Globally, UAE has proved its global health leadership by ensuring lasting and collective multilateral partnerships and collaborations that led to remarkable achievements in global health and climate change. Examples on the global scale: partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) to target billions of people of the world's population and ensure they get Universal Healthcare Coverage (UHC) without financial hardship, the partnership between UAE and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to establish the Global Institute for Disease Elimination (GLIDE) to fight diseases and put an end to polio. Additionally, the state's role in the COVID-19 global efforts such as vaccine development, supply chain and distribution targeted low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). The UAE has shown a constant commitment to climate change mitigation and building a sustainable ecosystem by hosting global organizations, leading initiatives, supporting countries and is now organizing the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) this year. Great opportunities can be exploited to promote the country's contributions through further investment in cooperation, research and technology for better knowledge, sound policies, and innovative solutions for all regional and global health and climate change challenges.

This review is a fresh evidence-synthesizing attempt to document the role of the UAE. This role is well placed to play an additional major role with all partners to address these pressing challenges by boosting its role, especially in the Middle East region and advancing a new regional-oriented revolutionary expanded developmental plan that centered on low-resource countries empowerment, multilateralism, intersectionality and lasting collaborations.