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This study was conducted to analyze the effects of machining parameters on the specific energy consumption in the computerized numerical control lathe turning operation of a hardened alloy steel roll at low cutting speeds. The aim was to minimize its consumption.

The design matrix was based on three variable factors at three levels. Response surface methodology was used for the analysis of experimental results. Optimization was carried out by using the desirability function and genetic algorithm. A multiple regression model was used for relationship build-up.

According to desirability function, genetic algorithm and multiple regression analysis, optimal machining parameters were cutting speed 40 m/min, feed 0.2 mm/rev and depth of cut 0.50 mm, which resulted in minimal specific energy consumption of 0.78, 0.772 and 0.78 kJ/mm³, respectively. Correlation analysis and multiple regression model found a quadratic relationship between specific energy consumption with power consumption and material removal rate.

In the past, many researchers have developed mathematical models for specific energy consumption, but these models were developed at high cutting speed, and a majority of the models were based on the material removal rate as the independent variable. This research work developed a mathematical model based on the machining parameters as an independent variable at low cutting speeds, for a new type of large-sized hardened alloy steel roll. A multiple regression model was developed to build a quadratic relationship of specific energy consumption with power consumption and material removal rate. This work has a practical application in hot rolling industry.

Today substantial investments are made to improve the bottom line and cost of quality (CoQ) is a tool that identifies weaker areas where these investments should be directed. In literature, the authors find various CoQ models and their applications but it is deficient in providing a standard format of a “Quality Cost Procedure” for a CoQ program’s company-wide deployment. A procedure was thus developed and its effectiveness was evaluated implementation. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

CoQ program was implemented in the production department of a wood products’ manufacturer using the action research approach. Prevention, Appraisal and Failure Cost model was employed. Data collection was challenging, however, stakeholders were interviewed, data were acquired from Management Information System and various reports were reviewed for cost elements.

Total CoQ as a percentage of sales was found to be 11, while as a percentage of material cost was 15 percent. It was found through the implementation that development of a quality cost procedure is highly iterative in nature and a standard format is proposed in the Appendix. This procedure worked satisfactorily and the company is confident in moving to the next phase of company-wide deployment of CoQ Program.

A robust “Quality Cost Procedure” is developed, which not only helped the company but will serve CoQ implementers in their operational as well as tactical levels of management. CoQ implementation prior development of procedure brought conviction and accredited it. Practitioners can mold this procedure as per need, which will further enhance the body of knowledge on CoQ.

The purpose of this study is to provide a critical review on how the Khazanah’s Sukuk Ihsan was structured in compliance with the requirements for issuance of Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) sukuk set by the Securities Commission (SC) Malaysia.

To explain the structures and features of the Sukuk Ihsan, this study extracted important information from the sukuk’s Principle Terms and Conditions and Information Memorandum and presented them in a simple and easy-to-understand way. Next, this study refers to Part D: Requirement for Issuance, Offering or Invitation to Subscribe or Purchase Sustainable and Responsible Investment Sukuk of the SC’s Guidelines on Sukuk (revised edition: 28 August 2014) to assess the compliance of the sukuk in terms of eligibility of SRI sukuk issuer and SRI projects, use of proceeds, reporting and disclosure and independent assessment on SRI programmes. In addition, this study then compares the requirements stated in the SC’s SRI Sukuk Framework with the International Capital Market Association’s Green Bond Principles (GBP) and the USA’s Social Impact Bond (SIB) Act 2014.

The present study finds that the definition of eligible SRI sukuk issuer in the Guidelines on Sukuk seems to be more stringent compared to the one provided in the GBP and the US’ SIB Act. Nevertheless, the SRI Sukuk Framework provides a more comprehensive yet precise list of eligible SRI projects, covering both environmental and social aspects, compared to the GBP (which only focuses on broad categories of environmental projects) and also the USA’s SIB Act (explicitly outlines 13 social projects which are aligned with the US Federal Government’s agenda in tackling social illnesses). Indeed, the main difference between the eligible SRI sukuk projects and its conventional counterparts lies in its compliance to Shariah principles. It is also observed that a significant emphasis has been given on SRI legislations in ensuring proper reporting and disclosure provided to the SRI sukuk stakeholders together with critical evaluation on the impacts of SRI programmes provided by an independent assessor.

This paper contributes towards enriching the literature on the Islamic capital market, particularly on the integration between sukuk and social impacts investing. This paper was intended to highlight the important requirements in issuing SRI sukuk to various stakeholders of the Islamic capital market.

The authors hope to shed some lights on the unique features and structural applications of SRI sukuk and its importance in becoming an effective instrument to raise funds for social agenda of a country by providing a real and practical example.

This chapter The Grass Is Greener Where You Water It! delves deeper into explicating Employee Green Behaviour (EGB), which outlines the eco-friendly behaviours practiced by employees. The section provides a more thorough explanation of EGB, including its origins, theoretical foundations, and practical applications in a social and physical environment to create environmentally conscious workplaces. The in-role and extra-role of EGB are discussed to strengthen its execution, and its significance considering the present ecological exigency. This chapter outlines the five-features-hierarchical framework for EGB: Sustainability Initiatives, Non-Harmful Action, Resource Conservation, Peer Influence, and Individual Commitment. The environmental history, ecosystems, and biodiversity and their interaction with humans from the ancient period to the present day are provided. The later unit explores organizational plans to encourage EGB, focussing on the role of HR policies, practices, and systems in nurturing the culture of sustainability within organizations. This chapter reviews current studies on EGB, emphasizing the role of employee engagement, transformational environmental leadership, and corporate culture in promoting green practices. It contributes to the academic literature by analyzing EGB, its relevance, and the effects it can have on organizations and society. It is a great tool for academics, government officials, and business heads to make workplaces environmentally friendly.

Building on social exchange and deontic justice theory, this study aims to examine the relationship between supervisory justice (i.e. interactional, procedural and distributive) and conflict (i.e. relationship, process and task) through subordinates’ perceptions of psychological safety. Moreover, the authors hypothesize that interactional justice differentiation (IJD) within a workgroup at the group level interacts with supervisory justice at the individual level, affecting subordinates’ psychological safety and conflict.

Data were collected using a survey conducted among 378 service sector (banks, hospitals and universities) employees working under 54 supervisors.

Multi-level data analysis demonstrates that supervisory justice positively influences psychological safety, negatively affecting conflict. Moreover, psychological safety mediates the supervisory justice–conflict relationship. A cross-level interaction partially supports the conditional indirect effect of IJD in the supervisory justice–conflict relationship via psychological safety.

Following moral principles based on a deontic perspective, this study stretches the understanding of how to treat employees in a workgroup while creating a healthier working environment to minimize conflict fairly. This study extends the limited research on supervisory justice by conceptualizing employees’ perceptions of justice beyond an individual-level analysis.

This study aims to predict the financial performance of Islamic banks with sentiments of management from the textual information in annual reports.

The study uses data from 33 Islamic banks in six Islamic countries from 2006 to 2020. The authors estimate the model using the system GMM because it helps dealing with endogeneity problem, which are inherent in panel data.

The findings of the study reveal that there is a strong relationship between the sentiment expressed by management in annual reports and the current (future) financial performance of Islamic banks. The higher the positive sentiments of management, the better financial performance. In addition, the study also suggests that negative sentiments using term frequency-inverse document frequency is linked to a decrease in banks’ financial performance.

The study does not present the Islamic view on sentiment analysis in the context of Islamic scriptures due to the unavailability of a relevant dictionary.

The findings of the study suggest that developing accurate models with the help of textual information for performance prediction of Islamic banks help shareholders, regulators and policymakers avoid devastating events. Using textual information may also help reduce the information asymmetry between the management and shareholders, which may lead to more efficient bank supervision. The study can also help investors evaluate their prospective investments in the Islamic bank.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind that uses management sentiments for performance prediction of the Islamic banking sector. It may add a valuable contribution to the existing literature.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the world’s first social impact bond (SIB) and the lessons that can be learned for the Islamic finance industry to fulfil its true objectives.

The Peterborough SIB was recently announced to be successful in achieving its targeted social and investment outcomes, reducing recidivism by 9 per cent and paying back investors a 3 per cent pa return. The paper compares Peterborough SIB with socially responsible investment (SRI) sukuk in terms of form and substance, and finds that there are various lessons from the Peterborough SIB that can be useful for future development of Islamic financial products.

Innovative social financial tools such as SIB exemplify the true spirit of risk sharing and social responsibility, which is arguably missing in current practices of the Islamic finance industry. With the growing interest towards SRI strategies and increase in socially motivated investors, such financial tools may not only help the sustainable growth of the Islamic finance industry, but also fill in the gap between its theory and practice.

As such, the paper also proposes a social impact sukuk model which integrates the key aspects learned from Peterborough SIB. This includes prioritising social impact, measurable success indicators, data and management systems, flexible contracts, third sector integration, risk sharing and fostering the culture of innovation.

The findings can offer some practical insights in dealing with the issue of Islamic finance practice being overly concerned with its formal adherence with Islamic legal rules whilst neglecting its true fundamental values.

Pakistan's present war against extremists has many folds and sheds. The country's initial participation in the Afghan War in 1979 later gave birth to different extremist trends in the country. State patronage of the extremist Wahabi Islamists during the Afghan jihad opened another conflict in Pakistan, and things became more complicated. The combination of external and internal factors gave birth to the worst kind of conflict, which now has not only become dangerous for the country's own existence but also a major threat for global peace. The Afghan jihad initially started as a war against Soviet occupation and later became the hub of global jihad-war against infidels.

This chapter analyzes how external factors promoted internal contradictions in Pakistan due to which the country became not only an exporter of jihadis for the world but also the worst kind of sectarian conflicts, including. Shia–Sunni, Deobandi–Wahabi clashes, entered into in the past two decades. Such a strong link exists with Pakistan's official support to global jihad. Draft sectarian groups now head to head with their opponents have killed thousands of members of rival sectors, have strong support from external sympathizers, and have spread in the country. The well planned terrorist activities of these groups reflect the fact that support to these groups in the past is now leading to a severe crisis in Pakistan. The nexuses of these indigenous extremists like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen with external terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan of Tahir Yuldasher Chechen Guerilla War has led to several bloody clashes in the country and outside.

This paper aims to present an efficient design approach for the micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) accelerometers considering design parameters affecting the long-term reliability of these inertial sensors in comparison to traditional iterative microfabrication and experimental characterization approach.

A dual-axis capacitive MEMS accelerometer design is presented considering the microfabrication process constraints of the foundry process. The performance of the MEMS accelerometer is analyzed through finite element method– based simulations considering main design parameters affecting the long-term reliability. The effect of microfabrication process induced residual stress, operating pressure variations in the range of 10 mTorr to atmospheric pressure, thermal variations in the operating temperature range of −40°C to 100°C and impulsive input acceleration at different input frequency values is presented in detail.

The effect of residual stress is negligible on performance of the MEMS accelerometer due to efficient design of mechanical suspension beams. The effect of operating temperature and pressure variations is negligible on energy loss factor. The thermal strain at high temperature causes the sensing plates to deform out of plane. The input dynamic acceleration range is 34 g at room temperature, which decreases with operating temperature variations. At low frequency input acceleration, the input acts as a quasi-static load, whereas at high frequency, it acts as a dynamic load for the MEMS accelerometer.

In comparison with the traditional MEMS accelerometer design approaches, the proposed design approach focuses on the analysis of critical design parameters that affect the long-term reliability of MEMS accelerometer.

Politics has three contingent aspects, viz. a role‐play, a Majestic Art and a human social science. We may talk of the first aspect as just politicking. The second aspect was delineated by Aristotle as an art of doing vis‐a‐vis the art of making: He meant by the former a behavioural art and by the latter a productive art; and the third aspect represents a comprehensive analytical study of human social behaviour.