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The purpose of this paper is to access the present situation of the Pakistani population that suffers from vitamin D deficiency.

A review-based study was conducted based on publications from Pakistan between the years 2008 and 2018. The publications were archived from Pub Med and Google Scholar databases. A total of 18 publications were shortlisted, based on the cutoff values of vitamin D sufficiency, insufficiency and deficiency.

As per the data, 38.5 per cent of the participants were males, 48.7 per cent were females and 12.8 per cent of the studies have not mentioned the genders of the participants. The cumulative results show that 58.17 per cent (95 per cent CI: 52.17, 64.16) of the population is vitamin D-deficient and 26.65 per cent (95 per cent CI: 21.63, 31.66) is insufficient in vitamin D. The highest level of vitamin D deficiency was reported from Sindh (62.15 per cent), followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (60.57 per cent), Punjab (51.75 per cent) and the Federal Capital (49.25 per cent). Moreover, Cochran’s Q test indicated considerable heterogeneity (p = >0.001) with regard to Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) prevalence found among samples from the selected studies.

The present analysis suggests that more than half of the Pakistani population suffers from VDD, which, thus, should be considered as an epidemic and treated likewise.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the stock market development in Nepal.

The study used Johansen cointegration approach to determine long-run relationship and VEC Granger causality test to check the causal relations between the variables. The sample covered annual time-series data for the period 1996–2020.

The results suggest that FDI plays significant positive role in the stock market development in the long-run but inversely affect in the short-run. Unidirectional causality running from FDI to stock market development is observed in the long-run and bidirectional in the short-run. There is an insignificant positive relationship between exchange rate and FDI in the short-run. Banking sector development complements stock market development in the short-run but act as a substitute in the long-run. The statistically negative coefficient of exchange rate imply that the appreciation of the home currency encourage the development of the stock market in the long-run.

The positive and statistical coefficients of cointegration results indicate that FDI complements the development of stock market in Nepal in the long-run. Furthermore, the depreciation of the domestic currency may potentially contribute to the foreign direct investments in Nepal.

Despite its devastating nature, the COVID-19 pandemic has also catalyzed a substantial surge in the adoption and integration of technological tools within economies, exerting a profound influence on the dissemination of information among participants in stock markets. Consequently, this present study delves into the ramifications of post-pandemic dynamics on stock market behavior. It also examines the relationship between investors' sentiments, underlying behavioral drivers and their collective impact on global stock markets.

Drawing upon data spanning from 2012 to 2023 and encompassing major world indices classified by Morgan Stanley Capital International’s (MSCI) market and regional taxonomy, this study employs a threshold regression model. This model effectively distinguishes the thresholds within these influential factors. To evaluate the statistical significance of variances across these thresholds, a Wald coefficient analysis was applied.

The empirical results highlighted the substantive role that investors' sentiments and behavioral determinants play in shaping the predictability of returns on a global scale. However, their influence on developed economies and the continents of America appears comparatively lower compared with the Asia–Pacific markets. Similarly, the regions characterized by a more pronounced influence of behavioral factors seem to reduce their reliance on these factors in the post-pandemic landscape and vice versa. Interestingly, the post COVID-19 technological advancements also appear to exert a lesser impact on developed nations.

This study pioneers the investigation of these contextual dissimilarities, thereby charting new avenues for subsequent research studies. These insights shed valuable light on the contextualized nexus between technology, societal dynamics, behavioral biases and their collective impact on stock markets. Furthermore, the study's revelations offer a unique vantage point for addressing market inefficiencies by pinpointing the pivotal factors driving such behavioral patterns.

The research paper is an effort to find out the behavior of Pakistani individuals toward usage of Takaful insurance. This paper aims to identify the factors, which influence investors’ intention toward the adoption of Takaful. Islamic finance is growing rapidly in the international market, especially in Islamic countries. Pakistan is an Islamic country, where the majority of the population is Muslim. Therefore, there is a great potential for Takaful exists in the country.

Both explanatory and descriptive research designs used for the research framework. The theory of planned behavior is the base theory and the model incorporates several factors such as relative advantage, compatibility, social influence, awareness and religiosity that may influence the adoption of Takaful. The primary data collected through the distribution of self-administered survey-based questionnaire, containing 23 items scaled at a five-point Likert scale. The non-probability snowball sampling and judgmental sampling techniques are used due to the scarce of Takaful users. The sample consists of 345 individuals (127 Takaful users and 218 non-users) living in the three main cities, namely, Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. The data are further analyzed and interpreted with IBM SPSS 21. The results are evaluated using descriptive statistics, reliability, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation and binary logistic regression models.

The research findings reveal that factors such as relative advantage, compatibility, social influence, awareness and religiosity have a significant impact on the behavioral intention of Takaful amongst a depicted sample of Pakistani people. Similarly, Takaful has great potential in the Pakistani market, but due to lack of awareness, Takaful share is far behind than conventional insurance. It is further suggested that Takaful operators must devise some policies and plan to spread awareness about Takaful and come up with more innovative products.

The Takaful operators must devise plans to aware people about Islamic insurance. The study provides implication to Takaful management; Takaful users; and more importantly, the regularity authorities to operate and successfully conduct Takaful applications. Further, they should advance Takaful operations and produce more innovative products. The study focuses on some factors while there are plenty of others, which should be studied accordingly. For future researchers and students, there is a great potential of other techniques and measures, which can be further used for analysis of Takaful business.

This research is a first attempt to trace out the behavior of Pakistani people about Takaful, using the above discussed factors. The behavioral intention is studied using users and non-users combination, which is never done before in the current setting.

This study aims to investigate how abusive supervisor affects knowledge hiding (KH). Specifically, this study investigates employee silence as a mediating mechanism between abusive supervision and employees’ KH. Further, psychological ownership is examined as a buffer between abusive supervision and employee silence.

KH has become a major issue for both manufacturing and service sectors. Therefore, this study collected data from 322 employees working in manufacturing and service sectors through “Google Forms” during COVID-19. The respondents were contacted through LinkedIn platform between January and July 2021.

This study noted that when employees working in high-power distance cultures perceive their leaders/supervisors as abusive, they avoid confrontation and engage in silent behavior, which positively affects their KH behavior. However, employees with a high level of psychological ownership are less likely to respond to their abusive supervisors through silence because such employees feel a greater sense of belongingness and prefer to benefit their organization.

This study used a cross-sectional design that restricts causality. However, the findings of this study suggest management to focus on leadership style to minimize KH at the workplace.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to explore the underlying mechanism (employee silence) and boundary condition (psychological ownership) to explain the association between abusive supervision and KH.

The purpose of this paper is to present a selective wet‐etching method of boron doped low‐pressure chemical vapour deposition (LPCVD) polysilicon film for the realization of piezoresistors over the bulk micromachined diaphragm of (100) silicon with improved yield and uniformity.

The method introduces discretization of the LPCVD polysilicon film using prior etching for the grid thus dividing each chip on the entire wafer. The selective etching of polysilicon for realizing of piezoresistors is limited to each chip area with individual boundaries.

The method provides a uniform etching on the entire silicon wafer irrespective of its size and leads to economize the fabrication process in a batch production environment with improved yield.

The method introduces one extra process step of photolithography and subsequent etching for discretizing the polysilicon film.

The method is useful to enhance yield while defining metal lines for contact purposes on fabricated electronic structures using microelectronics. Stress developed in LPCVD polysilicon can be removed using proposed approach of discretization of polysilicon film.

The work is an outcome of regular fabrication work using conventional approaches in an R&D environment. The proposed method replaces the costly reactive ion etching techniques with stable reproducibility and ease in its implementation.

Following the unceasing pressure on companies to adopt sustainable business practices to mitigate climate effect, this study aims to examine corporate governance (CG) attributes and role of activist investors in influencing extensive sustainability practice for firms in the developed and emerging climes.

Using a panel ordered probit regression analysis for 368 companies over 2016 to 2019, the study examined CG attributes that drive extensive corporate sustainability practice. The study addressed endogeneity bias using STATA Extended panel ordered probit regression model with endogenous covariates.

The result showed CG attributes is critical for firms, and activist investors play a critical role in driving extensive sustainability practice. Findings further reveal the extent of adoption is relatively low in the emerging climes but showed sign of improvement over the years examined.

The study focused mainly on larger firms operating in different sectors globally. Hence, findings cannot be generalized for small sized entities.

The study provides an insightful explanation regarding the extensive sustainability practices and the vital role assumed by activist investors.

The increasing number of companies responding to Carbon Disclosure Project and consequent improvement in scores indicates a corporate commitment to ensuring a sustainable future.

This research offers significant insights to the extent discussion on attributes of CG critical for sustainability practice. The findings ascertain useful tools to aid the continued adoption of sound sustainability practices around the globe.

To fabricate submicrometer thin membrane of silicon nitride and silicon dioxide over an anisotropically etched cavity in (100) silicon.

PECVD of silicon dioxide and Silcion nitride layers of compatible thicknesses followed by thermal annealing in nitrogen ambients at 1,000°C for 30 min, leads to stable membrane formation. Anisotropic etching of (100) silicon below the membrane through channels on the sides has been used with controlled cavity dimensions.

Lateral front side etching through channels slows down etching rate drastically. The etching mechanism has been discussed with experimental details.

Vacuum sealed cavity membranes can be realised for micro sensor applications.

The process is new and feasible for micro sensor technologies.

The concept of Takaful has a long history. It is linked with the era of Prophet Muhammad 1,400 years ago. The globalization and development of socio-economic systems have made business activities more complex in response to emerging human needs and requirements. Similarly, Takaful insurance has fully commercialized and become an important indicator of the international financial market. The purpose of this study is to understand the Takaful mechanism and progression of its procedures to date since its inception.

This study seeks to examine the origin, evolution and historical developments of Takaful mechanism, operations, models and governing framework with extant literature review from previous studies and current practices.

The modern Takaful insurance first began in Sudan back in 1979. The Takaful operations must abide by the Sharia laws and work under the supervision of the Sharia Supervisory Board. Since its evolution, Sharia scholars have introduced various Takaful models that are going to be explained in this study. Moreover, several Islamic organizations, including the “Islamic Financial Services Board” and the “Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions,” have provided guidelines and supervision to develop and strengthen the Takaful industry further. The study acknowledges Takaful as a growing insurance industry with huge potential and promising future in both Pakistan and the international market.

During the analysis, various deficiencies and loopholes were identified, which are responsible for the unmatched growth of conventional insurance. They can be eliminated with the joint efforts of industrial players, Sharia scholars and Takaful insurance companies. Hence, Islamic scholars and academic researchers are encouraged to develop and modify the current practices of Takaful mechanism according to current market demands and consumer approach. The research efforts will help Takaful operators to develop more innovative Takaful products adhering Sharia compliance. Consequently, it will help to access more consumer market and further enhances the Takaful growth.

This study is an effort to provide a basic understanding of the mechanism of Takaful models. The study helps to comprehend how Takaful models have evolved and been modified over the course of time. Moreover, it provides a base for further development and improvement in current practices of Takaful models, which will result in increased progress for the Takaful industry.