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The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of Muslim consumers on the Islamic Chamber Research & Information Center (ICRIC) Halal logo. In particular, the paper evaluates the main messages of the logo and describes the organization’s characteristics behind this logo.

This exploratory research conducts a semi-structured interview with visual aids method to identify the Malay Muslim’s perceptions toward the ICRIC Halal logo.

Results of the study indicate that the word “Halal” in Arabic characters is a very strong visual and emotional element of the logo because it is eye-catching and projects a strong image of credibility and trustworthiness. Using Islamic graphical design in a Halal logo can assist businesses to succeed in the marketplace. Simplicity, appropriate font type and size, suitable colors and total harmony of all elements make a Halal logo attractive and meaningful; the logo signals trust and mirrors the values of the organization.

This research used a qualitative research approach to analyze the perceptions of 25 Malay Muslim students.

Practical implications of this study provide a new window for all Halal certification bodies to realize the importance of the different elements of the Halal logo.

This research attempts to introduce a unique Halal logo that is approved by 57 Muslim countries. This unity assists religious consumers with various mathahib to purchase Halal products with confidence.

This pioneer study explores the Muslim consumers’ perceptions of a specific Halal logo in the marketplace.

Responding to emergency incidents by emergency response organizations such as fire, ambulance and police during large disaster and emergency events is very important. The purpose of this paper is to provide some insights into response patterns during the 2013 ice storm in the city of Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, using temporal and spatial analyses.

The City of Vaughan Fire and Rescue Service data set containing all responses to fire and other emergency incidents from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2016 was used. The 2013 Southern Ontario ice storm occurred from December 20, 2013 to January 1, 2014, and, for this study, December 20–31 is considered the “study period.” Temporal, spatial and spatiotemporal analyses of responses during the study period are carried out and are compared with the same period in other years (2009–2012 and 2014–2016).

The findings show that temporal patterns of response attributes changed significantly during the 2013 ice storm. Similarly, the spatial pattern of responses during the 2013 ice storm showed some major differences with other years. The spatiotemporal analyses also demonstrate significant variations in responses in the city during different hours of the day in the ice storm days.

This study is the first study to examine the spatiotemporal patterns of responses made by a fire department during the 2013 ice storm in Canada. It provides some insights into the differences between response volumes, temporal and spatial distributions during large emergency events (e.g. ice storm) and normal situations. The results will help in mitigating the number of responses in the future through public education and technological changes. Moreover, the results will provide fire departments with information that could help them prepare for such events by possible reallocation of resources.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many facets of urban life and operations, including emergency incidents. This study examines how COVID-19 has brought about changes in, and shifting patterns of, emergency incidents in the City of Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. This study aims to derive insights that could potentially inform planning and decision-making of fire and rescue service operations as further stages of the pandemic unfold.

Standard temporal analysis methods are applied to investigate the changes in the number and nature of emergency incidents, as recorded sequentially in the city's fire and rescue service incident report database, through various phases or waves of the pandemic and the associated public health measures that have been introduced.

The study analyses show a decrease in the number of emergency calls compared to previous reference years. Vehicle-related incidents show the highest decline, and changes in daily and hourly pattens are consistent with public health measures in place during each stage of the pandemic. The study concludes that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on demand for emergency services provided by the fire department.

The authors believe this is the first study applying temporal analysis on a city's emergency incident response data spanning various phases/waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis may be replicated for other municipal fire services, which can generate further insights that may apply to specific local conditions and states of the pandemic.

Islamic finance and Halal product sectors are thriving successfully. This chapter is a general review of the perception of Asian consumers on Islamic finance and Halal sectors in the global Halal economy.

The first section will briefly describe the Halal concept in both Islamic finance and Halal industries, and the growth of both sectors in Asian countries. The second part highlights the review of Asian consumers’ perception towards Islamic finance products and Halal products.

The review found that the consumers’ perception towards the Islamic finance products and Halal products is distinctive. This is due to the diversity of Asian countries in terms of geography, religion, culture, ethnic, school of thoughts (madzahib), income per capita and government’s involvement.

The third part of the chapter concentrates on planning towards Halal marketing, which involves the move and future challenges in different layers of industries to gear up and strengthen the Halal economy.

The construction industry is a key driver of economic growth. However, the adverse impacts of construction and demolition waste (CDW) resulted from the active construction projects on the economy, environment, public health and social life necessitates an appropriate control and management of this waste stream. Developing and promoting the construction and demolition waste management (CDWM) hierarchy program at the strategic level is essential.

This study aims to propose a hybrid decision model that hybridizes the Integrated Determination of Objective Criteria Weights (IDOCRIW) and weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS) under a fuzzy environment.

The proposed method ranks the potential strategic alternatives by the sustainable development criteria to improve the performance of CDWM. As indicated in the results, the fuzzy approach in the decision-making process enables the transformation of linguistic variables into fuzzy numbers that show uncertainty and ambiguity in real-world systems. Moreover, the close correlation between the final ranking of the proposed methodology and the average priority order of the strategic alternatives obtained by five different multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods implies the validity of the model performance.

This proposed model is an appropriate tool to effectively decide on the development of CDWM from a strategic point of view. It aims to establish an MCDM framework for the evaluation of effective strategies for CDWM according to the indices of sustainable development. Implementing proper operational plans and conducting research in CDWM has the highest priority, and enacting new and more stringent laws, rules and regulations against the production of CDW has secondary priority. This study contributes to the field by optimizing the CDWM by applying the top-priority strategies resulted from the proposed fuzzy hybrid MCDM methodology by the decision-makers or policy-makers to reach the best managerial strategic plan.

In the proposed methodology, the IDOCRIW technique is utilized and updated with the triangular fuzzy numbers for the first time in the literature to derive the weights of sustainable development criteria. The fuzzy WASPAS method is utilized for evaluation and providing a final ranking of the strategic alternatives.

This study aims to investigate the factors that motivate Muslim consumers to pay for halal-certified food.

Data were collected through a survey of 272 Muslim consumers in Malaysia. The data were analyzed using the partial least squares technique.

The results showed that animal slaughter, halal logo, food quality and religious commitment have a positive effect on the willingness to pay for halal food. Religious commitment positively moderates the relationship between storage and transportation and the willingness to pay for halal-certified food.

Policy makers as well as managers of halal food companies can benefit from this study which provides insight into ways to increase demand for halal food.

The findings contribute to the literature on halal foods by illustrating the factors that determine Muslim consumers’ willingness to pay for halal food. This study also extends the literature by testing the moderating role of religious commitment.

The purpose of this paper is to browse literature based on Aaker’s brand personality modal and highlight criticism on it. Furthermore, the study proposes an Islamic brand personality modal based on Islamic teachings.

Extensive research on Muslim characteristics based on Qur’an, hadith and scholarly work of traditional and modern scholars has been used to assess Aaker’s model. Expert opinions of faculty members from relevant field are also taken into consideration to propose Islamic brand personality model.

Aaker’s brand personality dimensions have been revised in the light of Islamic teachings. As a result, few pre-existing dimensions have been re-named and several new dimensions such as moral character and trustworthiness are also included.

Considering the gap found in literature, the need to conduct brand personality research in the service industry such as Islamic banks is highlighted.

Islamic brand personality model may help marketers effectively differentiate Islamic brands such as Islamic banks. It may also reinforce advertising techniques/tools to attract a large Muslim consumer market.

This paper is one of the early attempts to see brand personality from Islamic perspective.

Brand personality plays an important role in affecting customer satisfaction. The Muslim population is estimated to reach 30% of the world’s population, and it is considered as the fastest-growing religion in the world. To tap into this market, it is important to explore various aspects of business, in general, and marketing, in particular, from the perspective of Muslim consumers. The present research also attempts to do the same by proposing a conceptual model related to the brand personality of Islamic Banks, named, Islamic Banks’ Brand Personality (IBBP) and its impact on customer satisfaction.

This paper analyses the causal relationship that exists between the variables related to Islamic brand personality and customer satisfaction. For this purpose, data was collected quantitatively from 337 customers of different Islamic banks, through a self-administered questionnaire. The data analysis was conducted using SPSS and AMOS software. Factor analysis was performed to extract and decide on the number of factors underlying the measured variables of interest. Structural equation modelling was then used to examine the variables and the fitness of the proposed model.

The result revealed that five out of the total six hypotheses were supported. In this case, trustworthiness and Shariah compliance resulted in the strongest impact on customer satisfaction followed by sincerity and justice.

The positive significant impact of trustworthiness and Shariah compliance on customer satisfaction attests to the importance of these variables in the development of a strong brand personality in the context of Islamic banks. Policymakers of the financial industry in general and the Islamic financial service industry, in particular, may benefit from the findings of this study.

There is a dearth of research conducted on investigating the impact of brand personality-related variables on the Islamic banking sector. The present research did not only develop variables of IBBP but also empirically tested their effect on customer satisfaction. This paper, therefore, offers invaluable insight into IBBP with its impact on customer satisfaction.

This cross-sectional online survey in Oman in April 2021 aimed to assess university students' resilience, stress levels and meaning during the COVID-19 pandemic and identify characteristic profiles.

A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data from full-time students at one University in Oman. Outcomes included sociodemographic information, the brief resilience scale, the perceived stress scale-4 and the meaning in life questionnaire to explore the students' profiles.

A total of 964 students participated (response rate = 34.8%), of which 35% had low resilience scores. The average perceived stress, presence of meaning in life and search for meaning in life scores were 7.9 ± 2.3, 24.2 ± 6.9 and 24.9 ± 7.7, respectively. Cluster analysis identified three groups: low-risk and fewer impacts (cluster A, n = 503, 523%), moderate-risk and moderate impacts (cluster B, n = 160, 16.6%) and high-risk and more impacts (cluster C, n = 301, 31.2%). Cluster C students experienced more psychological problems and were at high risk during the pandemic.

The respondents' honesty is a possible error that could influence the results. Low response rates limit its generalizability, and cause-effect relationships among mental health outcomes cannot be discerned.

This study identified three distinct groups of students, each with different levels of severity in their health problems. There is an increased need for education and counseling to support students during this period, and university management should focus on implementing personal precautionary measures and providing high-tech, user-friendly platforms for students to enhance their learning.

These findings suggest that tailored strategies should be developed to address the unique psychological needs of each group. The study provides important information for university management to understand the pandemic's psychological impact on students and develop effective interventions to support their well-being.

One of the priorities of the health system is community health promotion. In this regards, proper development of programs and plans is needed to create a responsive system which leads to health promotion. The aim of this study was to identify the requirements for developing non-communicable disease (NCDs) programs based on CIPP (context, input, process and product) model.

This is a qualitative study. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 40 experienced informants in the field of NCDs. The interviewees were selected bases on pre-determined criteria which then were completed by snowball sampling. Analysis was carried out using a content analysis approach that led to identifying program development requirements in four dimensions of context, input, process and product.

Twenty-nine requirements of developing program were categorized in four domains of context, input, process and product. These requirements comprised of pilot studies, the existence of appropriate needs assessment, evidence-based programs, promoting organizational culture, adequacy of resources, identification of stakeholders and comprehensive cooperation and existence of an appropriate evaluation system.

Since this study was performed through a qualitative method, it is possible, some prerequisites of program development may not be encountered. But the extreme effort has been made to perceive diversity and different aspects.

The first study was in the field of appropriate requirements for program development in the context of a centralized health system in a developing country.