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This paper aims to examine and compare the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows on bank deposits in aggregate as well as at the level of conventional and Islamic banks in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries. The study also tests hypotheses of direct and indirect impacts of FDI flow and FDI stock on bank deposits.

Static and dynamic panel generalized methods of moments (GMM) estimation techniques are applied to analyze a large data set of 491 commercial banks (422 conventional banks and 69 Islamic banks) across 18 MENA countries between 1993 and 2017 (12,275 year observations).

Empirical results indicate that inflowing FDI flow and FDI stock have a significant negative direct impact on deposits of MENA banks. The results lend support for the direct channel hypothesis for the effect of FDI on bank deposits and find no evidence in support of the indirect channel hypothesis. FDI inflows affect bank deposits directly via increased FDI-related excessive competition in the banking market. Deposits from conventional banks appear to be more affected than those from Islamic banks. The variation may due to the fact that Islamic banks have fewer multinational corporations (MNC) customers than conventional banks and therefore are less sensitive to fluctuations in FDI.

From this analysis, this study concludes that foreign investments have a higher productivity than local investments in MENA region. Attracting more FDI is aimed at increasing overall national productivity through competition. However, governments would be wise to enact such a policy to maximize benefits and minimize potential harm to local industry. Furthermore, FDI policy should encourage small to medium-size banks and firms (SMEs)’ participation and linkage with multinational banks and MNCs, while upgrading research and development institutions and innovation activities to help SMEs to benefit from potential spillovers from foreign presence in the industry. In addition, the linkage and connection between SMEs and foreign firms should be strengthened and promoted by government policy.

This study is the first of its kind to examine the effect of FDI inflows on bank deposits. It also provides an in-depth quantitative analysis of the impact of FDI flow and FDI stock, separately, on bank deposits for both conventional and Islamic banks. It distinguishes between direct and indirect channels through which FDI inflows may affect bank deposits. The study analyzes 25 years of panel data for 491 banks (12,275 year observations) and uses both static and dynamic panel GMM estimation techniques to analyze the data.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and compare the impact of oil and gas prices changes on bank deposits at the aggregate as well as at the level of commercial and Islamic banks in Qatar over the period 2000–2016.

Using the BankScope Database as well as bank-level balance sheet and financial statements data, the authors use one-step system GMM dynamic model to examine and compare the association between oil and gas prices changes with bank deposits in Qatar. The authors also test hypotheses of direct and indirect impacts of oil and gas prices changes on bank deposits.

The results indicate that oil and gas prices changes have a direct impact on deposits of banks at the aggregate level in Qatar. However, the authors find that oil and gas price changes significantly affect deposits of Qatari commercial banks directly prompting enhanced lending by banks and the consequent business activities in the economy, while their impact on the deposits of Qatari Islamic banks is indirect, i.e. the impact is permeated through the macroeconomic and institutional characteristics of the country that are reinforced by the growing expectations and commercial sentiment of the country. The authors find that significant association between oil price changes and deposit growth during the global financial crisis 2008 has been distorted. However, the authors find that there was a sharp rise in the deposits of Islamic banks during the period of global financial crisis.

The results of this study necessitate policy measures that can counter the effects of changes in oil and gas prices on the effectiveness of bank deposits.

It is widely recognized that oil and gas prices and the level of production are of great importance to the economic development of oil and gas exporting countries. So far, however, no econometric study has been reported in the literature which analyses and compares the impact of oil and gas prices changes on bank deposits of commercial and Islamic banks and also at the aggregate level in any of the oil-exporting economies. Thus, this study provides the first empirical evidence on distinct direct and indirect channels through which oil and gas prices changes may affect bank deposits.

To report on research on the alternative surface finish “direct gold on copper”, including reaction mechanism, methods of deposition and end uses.

Examines the deposition reaction of the electroless flash gold plating bath, and the effects of the copper surface roughness and deposition time on the deposit and solderability characteristics.

Direct immersion gold is only partially immersion and mostly electroless in deposition mode. The surface is applicable to soldering for both leaded solder and lead‐free solders. The surface is also wire bondable.

The paper offers details of a new alternative surface finish for use in printed circuit board fabrication as well as in packaging applications. The paper shows the electroless deposition mode of the process. The finish is ideally suited where Rf losses must be minimized. It is suitable for soldering as well as for wire bonding.

To review the issues surrounding the outsourcing of payroll.

Literature review covering: the benefits of outsourcing payroll; duty of care from employer's perspective; how employers could maintain sufficient expertise and control to effectively oversee the outsourcing payroll processor; and essential tips to a successful outsourcing relationship.

Many employers are aware that payroll administration is very complex and tedious; therefore, it has become one of the most common outsourced functions. In addition, outsourcing payroll offers several benefits, such as avoiding internal revenue service (IRS) penalties, reducing costs, and enabling direct deposits. However, employers should keep in mind that outsourcing payroll is not the end of their responsibility regarding payroll related issues. The IRS makes clear that employers are the ultimate responsible party even though they outsource their payroll.

In order to succeed in outsourcing payroll, employers must select a right vendor, come up with a clear and straight‐forward contract, and maintain sufficient control and effective oversight of the outsourcing vendor. Fulfilling these key factors will guarantee that the payroll vendor will take care of their payroll needs for years to come. The payroll outsourcing vendor can be viewed as a long‐term partner. Therefore, it is essential for employers to maintain a positive relationship with the vendor. In other words, they need to develop a win‐win relationship with the outsourcing partner by following the seven important tips that are identified and discussed.

Illustrates the seven essential tips to a successful outsourcing relationship: identify a key staff liaison to the outsourced provider; let the outsource provider meet the staff; inform your staff of the outsource arrangement; view the outsource company as an extension of staff; communicate effectively; learn and take advantage of all services the outsourced provider offers; and be clear and realistic regarding expectations.

Is there an electronic banking (e‐banking) revolution in the USA? Millions of Americans are currently using a variety of e‐banking technologies and millions more are expected to come “online.” However, millions of others have not or will not. This paper explores factors that affect the of adoption or intention to adopt three e‐banking technologies and changes in these factors over time. Using a Federal Reserve Board commissioned data set, the paper finds that relative advantage, complexity/simplicity, compatibility, observability, risk tolerance, and product involvement are associated with adoption. Income, assets, education, gender and marital status, and age also affect adoption. Adoption changed over time, but the impacts of other factors on adoption have not changed. Implications for both the banking industry and public policy are discussed.

Ti-Al composite plates have been used in aerospace and other important fields for specific purposes in recent years. However, relatively few studies have concentrated on Ti-Al additive manufacturing because during additive manufacturing process the local fusion and mixing of Ti/Al are inevitable. These areas where Ti and Al are mixed locally, especially interface, could easily generate high residual stresses and cracks. This study aims to manufacture Ti-Al functionally graded material and investigate the interaction of interface.

In this study, Ti6Al4V/AlSi10Mg functionally graded materials were fabricated by laser based directed energy deposition (L-DED) and a strategy using V interlayer to relieve interfacial stress was investigated.

The area between the two materials was divided into transition zone (TZ) and remelting zone (RZ). The phase distribution, microstructure and micro-Vickers hardness of the TZ and RZ were investigated. Typical intermetallic compounds (IMCs) such as TiAl3, Ti3Al and Ti5Si3 were found in both composites. The addition of V interlayer promoted the homogenization of IMCs near interface and led to the formation of new phases like V5Si3 and Al3V.

The solidification process near the interface of Ti-Al functionally graded material and the possible generation of different phases were described. The result of this paper proved the feasibility of manufacturing Ti-Al functionally graded material by L-DED.

Most prudent public sector money managers look to a variety of financial services and investment instruments to improve their funds management. In the process, they realize that money management systems can also be profitable if chosen and used properly. These cash management services may be just what you need to help accomplish the goals you and your board have set for your library.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the identity and payment method verification procedures implemented by a number of popular massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) and online financial service providers (OFSPs) to determine if the systems they currently have in place are sufficient to uncover the identities of those who may wish to use such environments to conduct money laundering or terrorism financing activity.

The paper investigates whether the payment instruments or methods used by account holders to place funds into their account(s) hinder or assist investigators to expose the real‐world identity of the account holder. The paper then discusses whether it is feasible and/or desirable to introduce know your customer (KYC) and customer due diligence (CDD) legislation into virtual environments and illustrates an effective KYC approach which may assist MMOGs and OFSPs to correctly identify their account holders, should legislation be put in place.

The systems currently in place by all of the MMOGs investigated are wholly inadequate to successfully establish the real‐world identities of account holders. None of the information required at the account setup stage is verified and, therefore, cannot be reliably associated with an account holder in a real‐world context. It appears that all three of the MMOGs investigated are leaving the serious matter of identity and payment method verification to the organisations that assist in the sale and purchase of their in‐world currency such as third party currency exchanges and Internet payment systems (collectively referred to as OFSPs). However, many of these OFSPs do not have adequate systems in place to successfully verify the identities of their account holders or users either. The authors' experiments show that it can be a very simple process to open accounts and perform financial transactions with all of the OFSPs investigated using publicly available or fictitious identity information and a prepaid Visa® gift card. Although all five OFSPs investigated in this research claim to verify the identity of their account holders, and may already be subject to KYC and CDD legislation, their systems may need some work to ensure that an account holder or user is accurately identified before financial transactions can take place.

The authors believe that the electronic KYC approach discussed in this paper deals effectively with the challenges of global reach, anonymity and non‐face‐to‐face business relationships experienced by virtual environment operators, thereby assisting in the effective detection and possible prosecution of individuals who wish to use these platforms for illicit and illegal purposes.

Additive manufacturing (AM) or solid freeform fabrication (SFF) technique is extensively used to produce intrinsic 3D structures with high accuracy. Its significant contributions in the field of tissue engineering (TE) have significantly increased in the recent years. TE is used to regenerate or repair impaired tissues which are caused by trauma, disease and injury in human body. There are a number of novel materials such as polymers, ceramics and composites, which possess immense potential for production of scaffolds. However, the major challenge is in developing those bioactive and patient-specific scaffolds, which have a required controlled design like pore architecture with good interconnectivity, optimized porosity and microstructure. Such design not only supports cell proliferation but also promotes good adhesion and differentiation. However, the traditional techniques fail to fulfill all the required specific properties in tissue scaffold. The purpose of this study is to report the review on AM techniques for the fabrication of TE scaffolds.

The present review paper provides a detailed analysis of the widely used AM techniques to construct tissue scaffolds using stereolithography (SLA), selective laser sintering (SLS), fused deposition modeling (FDM), binder jetting (BJ) and advanced or hybrid additive manufacturing methods.

Subsequently, this study also focuses on understanding the concepts of TE scaffolds and their characteristics, working principle of scaffolds fabrication process. Besides this, mechanical properties, characteristics of microstructure, in vitro and in vivo analysis of the fabricated scaffolds have also been discussed in detail.

The review paper highlights the way forward in the area of additive manufacturing applications in TE field by following a systematic review methodology.

The purpose of this paper is to look at current discourse on the topic of crypto-currencies, more specifically Bitcoins, and their application to funding acts of terror. The paper clearly establishes the risks posed by this new payment technology and value transfer system to assist in the process of funding, planning and implementing acts of terror.

Publications, blogs and sites published and administered by terrorists groups and their supporters are examined to determine their interest in leveraging emerging payment and value transfer systems to facilitate the funding, planning and implementation of terror attacks. Press releases and other publications are also examined to determine whether crypto-currencies have been used by these groups in fund raising, fund transfer or recent terror attacks.

Although it is difficult to find concrete evidence of largescale use of Bitcoins and other crypto-currencies by terrorist groups and their supporters, there is strong evidence to suggest that they have been linked to a number of terror attacks in Europe and Indonesia. Supporters of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), jihadists and terrorist organisations are actively looking to and promoting the use of new and emerging technologies, such as Bitcoin, to mitigate some of the risks associated with traditional fund transfer methods. Some websites associated with terrorist organisations have started to collect donations in Bitcoins. Many Bitcoin ATMs and Bitcoin exchanges are located in countries that have seen significant numbers of foreign fighters join ISIS in the Middle East and are also positioned in countries that have seen increased risk of terror attack. These present a significant risk because they allow for the seamless, anonymous transfer of funds to and from terrorist groups and their supporters. The paper highlights the need for further in-depth research into reliable ways to circumvent the current difficulties experienced in differentiating illicit transactions from legitimate ones and establishing reliable means of attribution.

Using a document published by ISIS, which provides would-be jihadists detailed instructions on how they can get to Syria or Iraq without being detected, a set of models were created showing how this could be achieved using Bitcoins alone. From this scenario, red flag indicators and suspicious behaviour models have been created to determine whether they can be identified during detailed analysis of the Bitcoin blockchain which will be conducted in later stages of research.