2821 research outputs found
Sort by
Intangible assets disclosure and its impact on fair value in the banking sector : a comparative analysis between conventional and Islamic banks
Get PDFOver the last decades, due to the need for high quality financial information, the economy has generally moved from being industrial-based towards being more knowledge-based and, as a result, the intangible assets have become one of the crucial factors in promoting the value of firms. Accordingly, it can be stated that the intangible assets of the firm are the key factors for sustaining competitive advantage. Based on such awareness, the issues related to intangible assets become the focal concern for many industries, including the banking sector, as banks play an important intermediary role in the financial industry through which they transfer savings into productive investments. However, the issue of intangible assets could have more impact in the case of Islamic banks as their operations are based on Islamic financial principles that are derived from Islamic law. The reason for such expectations is that such adherence to Islamic law embeds the moral and ethical aspects in their business activities, which is considered the key intangible assets in attracting customers that wish to conduct their financial activities according to their belief. Therefore, this research aims to measure the disclosure of intangible assets and assess the impact of such disclosure on the fair value of Islamic banks compared to conventional banks. In order to fulfil the research aims, this research applies the content analysis to measure the level of intangible assets disclosure and utilises the regressions analysis to examine the impact of intangible assets disclosure on the fair value of examined banks. The research sample consists of 44 banks from the GCC region, where 22 are Islamic banks and 22 are conventional banks covering the period from 2006 to 2016. The key contribution of this study derived from bridging the existing gaps in the literature through providing empirical evidences that suggest that Islamic banks disclose higher level of intangible assets compared to conventional banks. The research outcomes, further, confirm that the disclosure of intangible assets has a positive and significant impact on fair value of the examined banks. In addition, this study empirically confirms that the extent of association between the disclosure of intangible assets and fair value is higher in the case of Islamic banks compared to conventional banks in the GCC region during the examined period. Accordingly, it can be stated that the outcomes of this research are consistent with the developed hypotheses and discussion of the theoretical framework. Therefore, it can be argued that this research study has been successful in achieving the research aims and objectives
Bolton Health Information Partnership
Get PDFAn increased emphasis on ensuring greater patient and public involvement within the health and social care agenda has created a greater need for information provision tailored towards the needs of patients and the wider public. Dawn Grundy, Paula Elliott and Amanda Stevens explain how a cross-sector partnership in Bolton is changing the way healthcare information is accessed
Flammability and thermal stability of unsaturated polyester resin based blends and composites
No full textUnsaturated polyester resin (UP), cured (crosslinked) with styrene, is probably the most widely used thermosetting resin in composites for marine, rail and construction sectors. However, a major drawback of cured UP is that it is highly flammable, largely owing to the copious amounts of flammable styrene evolved in a relatively low temperature depolymerization process, that burn with the production of a dense smoke. The chemical modification of the base resin or the crosslinker with halogenated elements, is the most common and effective method of rendering UP resin flame retardant. An alternative method of fire retarding is to blend UP with micro/nano particulate flame retardants (FR) or additional inherently flame retardant/char forming resins. This chapter discusses the effect of the FR blending component on the curing and morphology of the resin. The thermal stabilities and fire performances of the blends are also discussed
Structure-property relationships in structural glass fibre reinforced composites from unsaturated polyester and inherently fire retardant phenolic resin matrix blends
Get PDFThe effects of matrices from co-cured blends of an unsaturated polyester (UP) with inherently fire-retardant and char-forming phenolic resoles (PH) on the mechanical and fire performances of resultant glass fibre-reinforced composites have been investigated. Three different phenolic resoles with increasing order of compatibility with UP have been used. These are: (i) an ethanol soluble resin, (PH-S), (ii) an epoxy-functionalized resin (PH-Ep), and (iii) an allyl-functionalized resin (PH-Al). The mechanical properties of the composites increased with increasing compatibility with two resin types as might be expected, but not previously demonstrated. However, even with the least compatible resin (PH-S), the impact properties were unaffected and the flexural/tensile properties while reduced, were still acceptable for certain applications. Fire properties were however, in reverse order as previously observed in cast resin samples from these composites. Moreover, the reduction in flammability was less compared to those of the cast resin samples, reported previously, explained here based on the insulating effect of glass fibre reinforcement
A new paradigm for the dynamics of the early Universe
Get PDFThis paper invokes a new mechanism for reducing a coupled system of fields (including Einstein’s equations without a cosmological constant) to equations that possess solutions exhibiting characteristics of immediate relevance to current observational astronomy.
Our approach is formulated as a classical Einstein-vector-scalar-Maxwell-fluid field theory on a spacetime with three-sphere spatial sections. Analytic cosmological
solutions are found using local charts familiar from standard LFRW cosmological models. These solutions can be used to describe different types of evolution for the
metric scale factor, the Hubble, jerk and de-acceleration functions, the scalar spacetime curvature and the Kretschmann invariant constructed from the Riemann-Christoffel spacetime curvature tensor. The cosmological sector of the theory accommodates a particular single big-bang scenario followed by an eternal exponential acceleration of the scale factor. Such a solution does not require an externally prescribed fluid equation of state and leads to a number of new predictions including a current value of the “jerk” parameter, “Hopfian-like” source-free Maxwell field configurations with magnetic helicity and distributional “bi-polar” solutions
exhibiting a new charge conjugation symmetry.
An approximate scheme for field perturbations about this particular cosmology is explored and its consequences for a thermalisation process and a thermal history are
derived, leading to a prediction of the time interval between the big-bang and the decoupling era. Finally it is shown that field couplings exist where both vector and
scalar localised linearised perturbations exhibit dispersive wave-packet behaviours. The scalar perturbation may also give rise to Yukawa solutions associated with a massive Klein-Gordon particle. It is argued that the vector and scalar fields may offer
candidates for “dark-energy” and “dark-matter” respectively
A positive virtual ecosystem. The theory of change for Kooth. Executive Summary
Get PDFKooth is an online mental health service for children and young people*. Since its launch in 2004, it has grown with the children and young people who use it, its humanistic approach shaped by their demand and our clinical expertise.
Today it is a large, thriving and diverse community of young people who use it for multifarious reasons and in multifarious ways; importantly, they have the power to direct support themselves. They and are in control of their therapeutic journey. The service is full of choices in terms of how to get help, but also in terms of the therapeutic support available. As such, it is an extremely complex entity, perhaps reflecting the very nature of wellbeing and mental health.
As well as making this an extremely rich environment where young people actively choose to spend their time, it has also taken the service well beyond what today’s quantitative outcomes measures of mental health services can capture.
This paper signals the beginning of an important, ground-breaking journey to define the role and the impact of Kooth. We have explored, mapped and categorised activity within the service with a specific goal in mind: to define our Theory of Change. This describes the Kooth experience and the many routes in and out of the service, each reliant on our understanding of an individual’s unique building blocks for wellness.
The Theory of Change (ToC) is not a clinical model and nor does it seek to be. It is not there to show how we can address specific standalone symptoms. Instead it is a characterisation of the broad, person-centred, holistic work Kooth does every day.
It is also the foundation for a future set of mental health outcome measures, which will represent each child or young person’s journey
"Life doesn’t give you bumpers”: a coming or going of age in Juno and Boyhood
Get PDFThis article examines two twenty-first century films, Juno (2007) and Boyhood (2014), arguing that they are refreshingly different from most previous “coming of age” movies in the way that they avoid the usual clichés associated with such films. Whereas many earlier movies tend to make a single event the turning point in young characters’ lives, these two films deliberately wrong-foot the audience by steering round such predictable scenarios, and give a more credible depiction of characters in their ongoing dealing with the comings and goings of age, whether they are young or old. It is suggested that the films achieve this both in terms of their content and also in their structure, seeking to prioritize the fabula over the sjuzhet. They also have endings that are more “feminine,” avoiding the traditional, climactic male ending
Resilience and transparency in social systems
Get PDFThis paper draws on the literature of cybernetics to argue that the resilience of organizations can be diminished by an unconsidered maximization of transparency and accountability. In doing so it critically examines the concept of resilience, and the relationship of resilience to neoliberalism.
A conceptual analysis of resilience is carried out at two levels. Firstly, the use of the concepts of resilience, viability, transparency, accountability and neoliberalism is considered, together with the relationship between them. Secondly the management interventions that result from the application of these related ideas are critiqued from the perspective of cybernetics, and particularly of variety and black boxes.
It is shown that within complex social environments the unconsidered imposition of transparency and accountability as a management strategy may constrain the resilience of the organizations and individuals rather than enhance it. The use of data analytics enhances this tendency.
The theoretical analysis of the relationship between transparency and resilience offers a basis for carrying out empirical studies.
There are practical implications for organizational managers, employees and stakeholders, offering them a means of understanding the systemic threat posed by organizational design decisions which enhance transparency and accountability without taking into consideration the full range of interactions which act to maintain organizational viability.
The analysis provides a rationale for resisting the imposition of social policies inspired by neoliberalism.
The bringing together of the concepts of resilience, neoliberalism, transparency and accountability, and their exposure to cybernetic analysis, provides a novel perspective on resilience, and new insights into way that organizations maintain their viability
Remarkable Lives : Michelle Walker in conversation with Jerome Carson
Get PDFThe purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Michelle Walker.
In this single Case Study, Michelle gives a short background to the development of her depression and is then interviewed by Jerome.
Michelle sets out the reasons she developed depression. These map onto the research conducted by Brown and Harris some 50 years ago, showing how social factors can create a vulnerability to develop depression.
Single case studies provide us with one person’s narrative. That narrative is however unique and can often offer us insights that are lost in large statistical surveys.
Michelle found the CBT approach really helped her. However she should never have had to wait as long as she did for that help. Mental health services must respond quickly, even if only to offer a triage assessment.
Brown and Harris identified four key vulnerability factors for depression in women. Michelle met three of these. How many other women are in a similar situation and are suffering in silence?
We can learn a lot from the factors that helped Michelle recover from her depressive episode. Medication, CBT, the support of her mother, education and finding her soulmate and although she doesn’t say it, her own rugged determination and personal resilience
Adaptive threshold and optimal frame duration for multi-taper spectrum sensing in cognitive radio
Get PDFThis paper delivers an accurate approximation for adaptive threshold and optimal frame detection algorithms based on the robust multitaper
method aiming at an efficient spectrum sensing in cognitive radio systems. An appropriate adaptive thresholding allows for seamless
vacation of unlicensed secondary users from certain bands upon primary users’ requests, while arbitrary optimal frame detection contributes
to the computational and throughput demands. Simulation exercises corroborate the given analysis over Rayleigh channel and multiple-input
multiple-output configuration and emphasize the critical role of adopting applicable adaptive threshold and optimal frame detection policies