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This study aims to identify the determinants of customers' green purchasing behaviors. First, the study examines the relationship between green self-identity (GSI) and green peer influence (GPI) on green purchase behavior (GPB). Second, it examines the relationships between both GSI and GPI, and purchasing behavior mediated by green consumption values (functional value (FV) and social value (SV)). Third, it investigates the moderating effect of customer disidentification (CDI) on the relationships between GSI and both green consumption values. Finally, it investigates the indirect relationships between GSI and purchasing behavior moderated by CDI.

A quantitative study is conducted using a survey of 204 Egyptian buyers of organic food products. AMOS and Hayes's PROCESS macro are used to test the hypotheses under investigation.

The customer's peer influence and GSI are found to have a positive impact on green purchasing behavior. Additionally, the mediating impact of values and the moderating impact of CDI are also confirmed.

This study helps organic food companies in identifying the determinants of customers' green purchasing behavior. The results of the study will guide the efforts of green marketing professionals in promoting green products in the Egyptian market.

Since the notion of green consumption is still in its infancy, there is a need for further exploration on the green consumption concept to better understand customers' predictors of that type of consumption; accordingly, the current research was conducted.

This paper aims to present the fatigue life behaviour of upper arm suspension. The main objectives are to predict the fatigue life of the component and to identify the critical location. In this analysis, three aluminium alloys were used for the suspension, and their fatigue life was compared to select the suitable material for the suspension arm.

CAD model was prepared using Solid Works software, and finite element analysis was done using ANSYS 14.0 software by importing the Parasolid file to ANSYS. The model is subjected to loading and boundary conditions; the authors consider a vertical force with constant amplitude applied at the bushing that connected to the tire, the others two bushing that connected to the body of the car are constraint. Tetrahedral elements given enhanced results as compared to other types of elements; therefore, the elements (TET 10) are used. The maximum principal stress was considered in the linear static analysis, and fatigue analysis was done using strain life approach.

Life and damage are evaluated and the critical location was considered at node 63,754. From the fatigue analysis, aluminium alloys 7175-T73 (Al 90%-Zn 5.6%-Mg 2.5% -… …) and 2014-T6 (Al 93.5%-Cu 4.4%-Mg 0.5%… …) present a similar behaviour as compared to 6061-T6 (Al 97.9%-Mg 1.0%-Si 0.6%… … .); in this case of study, these lather are considered to be the materials of choice to manufacture the suspension arms; but 7175-T73 aluminium alloys remain the material with a better resistance to fatigue.

By the finite element analysis method and assistance of ANSYS software, it is able to analyse the different car components from varied aspects such as fatigue, and consequently save time and cost. For further research, the experimental works under controlled laboratory conditions should be done to determine the validation of the result from the software analysis.

This paper aims to explore the asymmetric effect of liquidity risk (LR) and Shariah board size on bank financial stability for a panel of Islamic banks (IBs) based in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Southeast Asian countries over the 2006–2019 period.

This paper uses the asymmetric nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) error correction model insofar as it allows assessing not only whether IBs with large boards outperform their peers with reduced boardrooms but also unveiling the potential asymmetries between LR and stability.

The findings show that while increasing the number of the Shariah board members does not impact the financial stability of IBs in both the short and long runs its decrease appears to enhance their stability in the long run. The findings also show that a hike, as well as a fall in LR, significantly influences the stability in the long run, which underlines the role that LR plays in bank financial stability.

A prominent line of future research may consist in extending the country sample to cover more representative full-fledged IBs based on different regions, which allows the breakdown of the sample into GCC-based and non-GCC-based IBs. Doing so is interesting in terms of governance implications. Another extension would consist in considering additional sources of risk to stability.

IBs should enhance their expertise, which helps them diversify their funding strategy and cater for liquidity solutions. They also must establish a better Shariah governance framework to contain their risk-taking behavior that ultimately contributes to achieving financial stability.

This paper contributes to the empirical literature in Islamic banking by performing a model that simultaneously accounts for both short- and long-run asymmetries in the relationship between the financial stability of full-fledged IBs, the LR and the size of the Shariah supervisory board.

The study investigated the effect of marketing communications’ dimensions on brand loyalty in the banking sector.

The study adopted the quantitative research approach which relied on the explanatory design due to the nature of the hypotheses tested. The convenience sampling technique was used to pull 377 customers of a branch of a commercial bank in Ghana. Furthermore, the PLS-SEM technique was deployed to assess the measurement model and test the research hypotheses.

Results show that the following dimensions of marketing communications are significant predictors of brand loyalty: direct marketing, public relations and sales promotion. The exception is advertising, which had an inverse relation with brand loyalty.

The results provide significant pointers to banks’ management that they should deploy a variety of marketing communication channels other than intensive advertising to reach and persuade customers.

The study illustrates the latest effort to extensively provide insights into how commercial banks could leverage marketing communication tools to sustain loyalty in an emerging economy that is intensively competitive.

The purpose of the study is to examine performance differentials in the hospitality industry through organisational culture.

The study adopted the positivism philosophy, thus relying on the quantitative approach. A structured questionnaire was deployed to gather data from 162 sampled respondents.

The study finds that mission, involvement and consistency as dimensions of organisational culture have a significant positive relationship with performance of the hotels. However, adaptability as an organisational culture dimension has no statistically significant relation with performance.

Through this study, key stakeholders in the hospitality industry will understand that deploying organisational culture in businesses is important in enhancing performance of businesses.

The study is underpinned by the organisational excellence theory, and its main contribution to the literature is by proposing that when firms deploy excellent cultural attributes, their performance will improve.

The purpose of this study is to explore the feasibility of utilizing agricultural (almond shell, rice husk and wood) waste biochars for partial cement replacement by evaluating the relationships between the physiochemical properties of biochars and the early-age characteristics of cement pastes.

Biochars are prepared through the thermal decomposition of biomass in an inert atmosphere. Using varying percentages, biochars are used to replace ordinary Portland cement (OPC) in cement pastes at a water/binder ratio of 0.35. Characterization methods include XPS, FTIR, SEM, TGA, BET, Raman, loss-on-ignition, setting, compression and water absorption tests.

Accelerated setting in biochar-modified cement pastes is attributed to chemical interactions between surface functional groups of biochars and calcium cations from OPC, leading to the early development of metal carboxylate and alkyne salts, alongside the typical calcium-silicate-hydrate (C-S-H). Also, metal chlorides such as calcium chlorides in biochars contribute to the accelerate setting in pastes. Lower compression strength and higher water absorption result from weakened microstructure due to poor C-S-H development as the high carbon content in biochars reduces water available for optimum C-S-H hydration. Amorphous silica contributes to strength development in pastes through pozzolanic interactions. With its optimal physiochemical properties, rice-husk biochars are best suited for cement replacement.

While biochar parent material properties have an impact on biochar properties, these are not investigated in this study. Additional investigations will be conducted in the future.

Carbon/silicon ratio, oxygen/carbon ratio, alkali and alkaline metal content, chlorine content, carboxylic and alkyne surface functional groups and surface areas of biochars may be used to estimate biochar suitability for cement replacement. Biochars with chlorides and reactive functional groups such as C=C and COOH demonstrate potential for concrete accelerator applications. Such applications will speed up the construction of concrete structures and reduce overall construction time and related costs.

Reductions in OPC production and agricultural waste deterioration will slow down the progression of negative environmental and human health impacts. Also, agricultural, manufacturing and construction employment opportunities will improve the quality of life in agricultural communities.

Empirical findings advance research and practice toward optimum utilization of biomass in cement-based materials.

The purpose of this paper is to study and analyze the Iranian policy towards the Middle East (ME) and its consequences on Egypt.

This study uses the national interest approach and system analysis approach as analytical framework.

Several areas are points such as pillars of the Iranian National strategy, pillars of the Iranian policy in the ME and the concept of the Iranian National Security.

Iran is one of the most important and influential regional powers in the Middle East that affects dramatically regional security and stability. The paper analyzes Iranian policy in the ME and its determinants. In this context, this study deals with the Iranian strategy and Iranian interests. It focuses on the impact of Iranian policy on Egypt and its national security from a comprehensive perspective.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic provides the scope to conduct online classes in the university teaching methods. This study aims to investigate the impact of technology self-efficacy on students' behavioral intention on the effectiveness of online learning.

This study was conducted with 323 university students using the online survey platform. Data analysis was acquired by implementing the partial least squares technique to obtain the results.

The findings revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic affects technology self-efficacy. Technology self-efficacy has a significance on perceived usefulness (PU) and ease of use, which influences students' behavioral intention to use online learning effectively. The results identified that user innovativeness facilitated the relationship between PU and behavioral intention to use online learning efficiency.

This study has a significant insight into the higher educational institutes and academia that lessons from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on technology self-efficacy toward online learning effectiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to prepare, characterise and evaluate nano-emulsions of copolymers of various compositions as eco-friendly binders for flexographic ink industry.

Various nano-emulsions of copolymers were prepared using styrene (St), butyl acrylate (BuAc), acrylic acid (AA) and acrylamide (AAm) monomers by means of a conventional seeded emulsion polymerisation technique, using K2S2O8 as the initiator. The characterisation of the prepared emulsions was performed using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A selection of copolymers was formulated with pigments and additional ingredients, as water-based flexographic inks. The inks were characterised for their viscosity, pH, degree of dispersion, water resistance and colour density.

It was found that the low viscosity of the prepared copolymers may reduce the film thickness of the flexographic inks and may also increase the spreading of the ink on the surface. As a result, stable modified polyacrylate-based latex with improved physico-mechanical properties were obtained. The prepared latexes were showed improving and enhancing in water resistance; gloss values, and the print density that ranged from 2.06 to 2.51 and the maximum gloss values (39 and 48) were also obtained. Also, these binders provide excellent adhesion properties for both the pigment particles and the base paper.

This study focuses on the preparation of new water-based copolymer nanoparticles and their use as eco-friendly binders for flexographic ink industry.

The ink formulations developed could find use in industrial-scale printing.

Eco-friendly environment ink formulations for printing on paper substrates are novel.

While most e-commerce studies focus on the understanding of online customer behaviour, mainly adoption and purchase behaviours. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between e-commerce and individual performance. The authors test the role of systems, information and service quality in e-commerce use and user satisfaction. Trust may become an important aspect for a consumer’s decision making, based on this the authors identify the effect of the role of trust on e-commerce use, user satisfaction and its impact on individual performance. This research has theoretical and managerial implications, since the protagonism of e-commerce is increasing in both academia and industry.

The authors apply a research model that integrates information systems success dimensions and user behaviour in the form of trust. The empirical approach was based on an online survey questionnaire of 437 individuals from Portugal.

The results reveal that overall quality and overall trust are important to explain use and user satisfaction in the context of e-commerce, which further leads to individual performance. The findings indicate that a higher level of use and user satisfaction increase individual performance.

The authors integrate information systems success dimensions and overall trust to understand the significance of e-commerce individual performance. The authors expect the results to enrich the understanding of the importance of considering both technological and behavioural factors to increase the success of e-commerce.