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We investigate the profitability and risk management in banking in two prominent countries in Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Egypt and Lebanon, where banks operate under market-oriented economic regimes. The study covers the 1990s which witnessed banking sector reforms towards a more efficient financial system. Noting the differences in the structure of the banking system and the monetary changes in Egypt and Lebanon, we investigate the impact of liquidity, credit, and capital on bank profitability in each country's banking sector. Based on our findings, we draw conclusions on the strength of risk management practices and enforcement of banking regulations.

This work encompasses the various laboratory-based and portable methods evolved in recent times for sensitive and selective detection of ethylene for fruit-ripening application. The role of ethylene in natural and artificial fruit ripening and the associated health hazards are well known. So there is a growing need for ethylene detection. This paper aims to highlight potential methods developed for ethylene detection by various researchers, including ours. Intense efforts by various researchers have been on since 2014 for societal benefits.

The paper focuses on types of sensors, fabrication methods and signal conditioning circuits for ethylene detection in ppm levels for various applications. The authors have already designed, developed a laboratory-based set-up belonging to the electrochemical and optical methods for detection of ethylene.

The authors have developed a carbon nanotube (CNT)-based chemical sensor whose performance is higher than the reported sensor in terms of material, sensitivity and response, the sensor element being multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) in comparison to single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT). Also the authors have developed infrared (IR)-based physical sensor for the first time based on the strong IR absorption of ethylene at 10.6 µm. These methods have been compared with literature based on comparable parameters. The review highlights the potential possibilities for development of portable device for field applications.

The authors have reported new chemical and physical sensors for ethylene detection and quantification. It is demonstrated that it could be used for fruit-ripening applications A comparison of reported methods and potential opportunities is discussed.

Appearance has two meanings. On the one hand, appearance is about the physical qualities of a person being of certain height, weight, complexion and having a particular hair, eye and skin colour as well as choice and style of dress and attire. On the other hand, appearance has a social dimension, as those physical qualities of a person are interpreted, rated and judged, and attributed varied meanings and values across different settings. Appearances can influence the experiences of individuals in the workplace in both positive and negative ways: Positive, when they are mobilised as a resource that increases the influence and advantage of individuals on others; and negative, when individuals are discriminated or disadvantaged on the basis of their appearance. Drawing on a Bourdieusian conceptual repertoire, this chapter delves into this duality of appearance and frames appearance both as a resource (a form of carnal capital) and a source of symbolic violence. As appearance is an aspect of an individual's self-identity in the workplace, this chapter explores appearance and intersectionality across gender, ethnicity, class and sexual orientation at work. Appearance is examined as a cross cutting category of diversity as both privilege (carnal capital) and disadvantage (symbolic violence).

Building social capital between groups of people and developing social enterprises that integrate social goals into commercial business models are rapidly adopted as innovative poverty relief mechanisms across countries. Together, the translation of social relationships into increased accessibility to resources, and the entrepreneurial dynamics resulting in additional services and goods, are thought to meet the survival and developmental needs of poor families and communities. However, the socio-economic contexts, in which new public policies and initiatives have been taken, vary from country to country. In China, its strong Confucian culture, state-led development strategy, weak civil society, and hierarchical social relationships have contributed to a value structure of social capital, but decreased the efficiency of business practice in social enterprise. This chapter presents a case study of Rural Cooperative Program, a poverty relief initiative in China’s southwest Guizhou Province. With the introduction of China’s new policies in welfare and rural development, this chapter presents evaluation results of whether social enterprises and entrepreneurship can improve poor villagers’ socio-economic wellbeing and promote sustainable development of poor rural villages in China, and to what extent social capital has been mobilized to facilitate the Rural Cooperative Program.

Universities across the globe have had to rethink how the significant resources devoted to learning, teaching, and assessment might be reconfigured to better support student learning across different modes of delivery. A focus on ‘flexibility’ in assessment arrangements supports the need to be responsive to the requirements of a changing and increasingly uncertain higher education landscape across Africa and elsewhere in the world. This chapter explores how professors and lecturers in higher education can deliver effective assessment processes that meet the demands of online and blended learning environments. Flexibility in assessment is about responding to students’ individual learning needs as well as the needs of the curriculum. The key is making assessment relevant to the students. The proliferation of learning technologies and tools, coupled with the increasing diversification of student profiles and pathways through programmes, provides the context for developing flexible assessment. Here technology is a key enabler for personalised and active blended learning experiences. This chapter considers practical ideas and strategies for inclusive, authentic, and flexible assessment task design, delivering effective feedback, and ensuring quality and consistency within assessment processes – all of which are relevant in an era of COVID-19 pandemic disruptions in higher education.

The purpose of this paper is to examine public perception of factors relevant in sentencing decision making for juvenile school shooters with a history of familial abuse, peer victimization, and school intervention.

Through the use of school shooting vignettes, 298 college-aged participants were randomly assigned to one of eight experimental conditions which differed based on the inclusion of the independent variables.

Results revealed no significant differences among the groups on the sentencing recommendations (i.e. psychiatric placement and incarceration). However, correlational analyses indicated that participants’ generally perceived they were influenced by the perpetrator’s history of peer victimization and the level of intervention offered by school personnel when the shooter was bullied. Further regression analyses suggested that participant characteristics such as race, gender, and prior experiences with bullying were among the most powerful predictors of agreement with sentencing recommendations.

Implications of the current findings raise questions as to the influence of peer victimization in civil and criminal court proceedings and its associated impact on the juvenile justice system, the educational system, and society’s desire for justice.

This study ambitiously ventures into exploring and understanding the relevant sociological, academic, and legal factors in addressing acts of school violence.

In this paper, we argue that work should be recognized as “commons.” We call for a new approach to how managers define their role and responsibility regarding the problem of work flexibility and of its societal implications. We argue that, in the global and digitized economy, it is in the best interest of all the company’s stakeholders that managers choose combinations of work arrangements and human resource policies considering the externalities of these decisions. Managers’ responsibility spans to the costs and risks that the broader social system of organizational stakeholders will bear because of their decisions. When labor market institutions are “thin,” it is management’s responsibility to contribute structuring and shaping them, so that the interests of workers, independent of the work arrangements, are considered.