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The purpose of this paper is to prepare and optimize the preparation conditions of some new hydrogels and in addition, evaluate their water absorbance at different mediums and their ability to remove ions from aqueous solutions.

Cellulose was extracted from depithed bagasse at two different pulping conditions; 3 and 6 hours cooking times, pulp (I) and (II), respectively. These pulps, in addition to cotton linter for comparison, were grafted with acrylamide followed by cross‐linking with glutaraldehyde. The networks were partially hydrolyzed and the structures of products (before and after hydrolysis) were studied using FTIR, SEM, TGA and X‐ray. The optimum preparation conditions were identified, before and after hydrolysis, to achieve maximum absorbance and the ability of prepared hydrogels to remove ions from solutions was investigated.

Maximum level of absorption was recorded using hydrogels prepared with monomer concentration =0.8 mol/l, cross‐linker concentration =0.01 mol/l, reaction time =2 hours and temperature =65°C. Hydrogels prepared using pulp (I) showed the best absorbance behavior and a tendency to remove ions from water.

The ability of the prepared gels to remove ions from water could be further investigated to evaluate the ability of their use in a multi‐filtration system for water treatment.

This piece of work has suggested a simple way to convert an agricultural waste to hydrogel able to remove metal ions from water.

Consuming this type of waste reduces the risks resulting from its burning in some countries, such as Egypt, that produce large amounts of it.

In this paper, low cost hydrogels, with expected value in water treatment, were prepared using agricultural wastes. They have shown better reactivity than gels prepared using pure cellulosic materials (cotton linter).

In an extreme and intentional institutional void, African refugees in Israel are bricoleuring by building an entrepreneurship market next to an “open” detention camp. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how refugee entrepreneurs overcome institutional voids through bricolage in an illegal marketplace outside the detention camp.

In order to deal with the question of why and how people act entrepreneurial under extreme circumstances, the interpretive/social constructionist paradigm is applied in form of the multiple stories milieu case study pattern. Data were gathered via official reports, interviews and observations.

Outside the detention camp it is via bricolage that entrepreneurs address the economic detour in the intentional institutional void. At a place which is meant to make asylum seekers leave Israel by coining them “infiltrators” and by “making their lives miserable,” bricoleurs attend their own and the needs of fellow detainees providing goods and service and community space.

By contextualizing entrepreneurial practices, the paper contributes to the understanding of refugee entrepreneurship by demonstrating how refugees – within the pressure and constraints of context – initiate entrepreneurial activities. Theoretically the paper extends knowledge of minority entrepreneurs who are acting as bricoleurs, explaining how their entrepreneuring can be a kind of space creation process.

In the age of global warming where there is a need to go green in various sectors of life, it is also an urgent need for different IT industries and companies to incorporate green agenda. The green agenda is also dependent on human behavior. Therefore, it is equally important to explore the factors that positively affect green computing behavior. In this regard, contextual considerations are important. Thus, the purpose of this study is to explore the green computing intent and behavior of heavy IT users, i.e. librarians underpinning the theory of planned behavior.

The study was based on a quantitative research design. A total of 181 survey-based online questionnaires were filled by Pakistani university librarians. The proposed hypothetical model was tested using structural equation modeling in SmartPLS v3.2.

The study findings confirm that attitude and perceived behavioral control have a significant positive impact on the intention to adopt green computing behavior (GC behavior) among academic librarians. The findings further reveal that green computing awareness proved a strong predictor of green computing behavior, as it not only affects GC behavior but also impacts positively on attitude and perceived behavioral control that ultimately affects GC behavior through intention.

The study argues that green computing behavior is dependent on several predictors that can be deployed to develop a positive behavior towards green computing. The study is important as it is the first time conducted on one of the heavy IT user groups, i.e. librarians.

The purpose of this research paper is to predict sustainability-driven entrepreneurship intention among university students in the developing market (Pakistan).

The target population of this study was university students in Pakistan. According to UNDP (2017) report, Pakistan has the largest youth population. More than 64% of the total population (210 million) is below 30 years of age. If trained properly, this huge chunk of the population could become a source of intellectual capital for the development of the nation. The quota based on age sampling technique was used to collect the data from university students in Karachi because more than 64% of the Pakistan population is below 30 years of age.

The findings reveal that university entrepreneurial support has a strong influence on attitude toward sustainable entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial self-efficacy.

The role of university entrepreneurial support, environmental concern and students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy are vital factors in sustainability-driven entrepreneurship. This study enriches the literature of green entrepreneurship helping to understand university students’ intention for sustainable entrepreneurship. The outcome of this study would help strategists and environmental academicians to guide university students regarding the launch of sustainable ventures.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to explore the effects of environmental concern on entrepreneurial intention among university students in the context of a developing country – Pakistan.

This study aims to critically analyze the fundamentals of the current major Islamic Finance (IF) instruments and contracts in light of both the foundations of IF and the concept of substance over form in the accounting conceptual framework. Such analysis is believed to be necessarily for the IF institutions to provide better and more genuine service to their customers.

To achieve the study purpose, the methodology is based on theoretical analysis and analytical review of the major IF contracts.

The IF industry needs to focus on the economic substance of the products offered to their clients. In developing and promoting their products, IF institutions need to focus on the ultimate and substantial goals of Islamic Sharia rather than re-packaging existing conventional products under different arrangements and formats to make them appear as Sharia-compliant to their clients. Both religious scholars and IF professionals need to engage in much deeper analysis and understanding of the substantial design of IF instruments and the concept of usury in modern economy.

This paper does not intend to develop a comprehensive framework for the design of IF instruments to meet the economic substance and ultimate goals of IF principles or measure such economic substance. However, that is definitely a subject for further research.

By applying concepts like substance over form from other business fields such as the accounting theoretical framework to the IF instruments and contracts, we should gain better understanding and practical implications of these instruments and figure out ways to improve their design to be more consistent with and better serve the ultimate goals of the Islamic Sharia.

Undoubtedly, saving the environment and avoiding environmental damage is one of the major challenges facing any government. The purpose of this paper is to add to the accumulative knowledge in the field through investigating the different factors affecting the adoption of newly developed water filters by Egyptian farmers to reduce the massive air pollution resulting from burning rice straw. Such investigation will help in achieving a deep and reflective understanding of current adoption practises by Egyptian farmers.

To understand the different factors that might have an impact on the adoption of newly developed water filters by Egyptians, a survey research strategy as well as a focus groups mechanism were conducted employing triangulation methodology in which quantitative and qualitative data were collected based on a post-positives approach. This quantitative study was performed in five local councils in Al-Sharqiyah Governorate, one of the biggest governorates in rice production in Egypt, based on a questionnaire built on some parameters related to Egyptian farmers’ perceptions of clean water. Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences to analyse the collected data and evaluate the ability to promote the newly developed filters.

The findings indicated that the adoption of water filters by Egyptian farmers is affected by two groups of factors, namely personal factors and water-related factors. With regard to this, it was found that age, cost, farmers’ attitudes towards using water filters, farmers’ trust in the water pipes systems, and the usefulness of the filters have a positive impact on water filters adoption by Egyptian farmers. The findings also indicate that water filters adoption by Egyptian farmers has a positive impact on a farmer’s intention to buy a water filter and their intention to share a water filter with others.

The paper will provide great benefits for entrepreneurs, policy makers, practitioners, and researchers though providing a clearer view and deep understanding for the issues related to different factors affecting the adoption of newly developed water filters by Egyptian farmers.

This research adds to the relatively limited empirical research that has been conducted on water management in south Mediterranean counties. Moreover, the findings and results of this study will provide great assistance and benefit to business owners, practitioners and governmental agencies concerned with water management in south Mediterranean countries since it reveals a number of dynamics and potential scenarios that should be taken into consideration.

New N‐halamine polymeric compounds were prepared by reacting cyanuric acid and polyacrylonitrile. Grafting of acrylonitrile monomer onto cotton linters was carried out and the product was reacted with cyanuric acid and finally was chlorinated. Cyanoethylation of polyvinyl alcohol was performed using acrylonitrile monomer to give polyvinylcyanoethyl ether, which, in turn, was reacted with cyanuric acid. The biological activity of the various chlorinated compounds obtained was examined against Gram (+) and Gram (−) bacteria using columns and dishes methods. A high disinfecting power of the chlorinated compounds obtained was observed. Thus, the bacteria was deactivated after the first cycle without contact with the product. All of the compounds prepared were insoluble in water and most of inorganic solvents. These compounds were also found to be very stable and did not decompose to give any toxic compounds. Thus, the chlorinated compounds prepared had no harmful effects on humans.

Employee position is acknowledged as central in service brand management to achieve competitive advantage. Hence, this study aims to illustrate the importance of brand role clarity (BRC) and employee brand commitment (EBC) by investigating the moderating role of EBC on the relationship between BRC and employee brand equity (EBE) in Islamic banking.

Data is collected from 259 respondents who are involved in Islamic banking. Proportionate stratified random sampling was used to select bank branches for the study, and simple random sampling was adopted to choose respondents within these bank branches.

Building on the insight obtained from data analysis, the results of this study demonstrate that the EBC strengthens the significant relationship between employee BRC and EBE. It indicates that EBC is vital in affecting the employee BRC on EBE.

The importance of BRC and EBC has been widely discussed in the literature that both of these variables are essential sources of EBE. However, empirical studies on the combined effect of EBC and BRC on EBE have not been considered in past studies.

This study aims to analyze the contagious effects of economic policy uncertainties in the USA on the economies of its important trading partners, such as Japan, Canada, Mexico and the Eurozone.

In the study using the uncertainty index created by Baker et al. (2016), the interaction between variables was analyzed with structural VAR (SVAR) models.

According to the results obtained from the analysis, economic policy uncertainties in the USA had significant effects on the economies of its high-volume trading partners. The internal debt crisis experienced in the Eurozone after the 2008 crisis caused the European Central Bank to respond to the economic policy uncertainties in the USA with contractionary monetary policies, unlike other countries. In addition to these results, Mexico, which has a more fragile economic structure than other countries in the analysis, was more impacted by increasing uncertainties, as expected.

The present study aimed to bring a new perspective to the literature by evaluating the contagiousness of local uncertainty in the globalizing world and the monetary policies implemented as a precaution against this situation on an empirical plane.

The purpose of this paper is to offer a comprehensive overview of challenges and risks of the Internet of Things (IoT) in supply chain management (SCM) and provide a structured framework for classifying and analyzing the relevant literature to deduce insights for research and practice.

A systematic literature review (SLR) of 102 peer-reviewed journal articles on the topic of IoT in SCM was conducted.

This review identifies, categorizes and describes the relevant literature regarding the dimensions time and specificity. The resulting framework contains a holistic overview including focus areas and relations of macro-environmental, network-related and organizational challenges and risks. Furthermore, this review represents a conceptual framework for future research, considering the multidisciplinary body of the subject and provides an analysis of the timeline of literature, journals and used methodologies.

This study offers valuable insights into IoT and its impact on applications, processes and the structure of organizations and supply chains (SCs). The identification of challenges and risks helps to prepare for changes in the future because of the disruptive nature of this technology.

The originality of this paper lies in the synthesis of the fragmented body of literature of IoT challenges and risks for SCM. The derived framework and identification of relations and research gaps provide the foundation for further research to evaluate the relations between challenges and risks and offer solutions.