The Influence of Directors’ Diversity and Corporate Sustainability Practices on Firm Performance

Mohammad Shahansha MOLLA,Mohammad Tariq HASAN,Mahadi Hasan MIRAZ,Mohammad Tahlil AZIM,Md,Kaium HOSSAIN 한국유통과학회 2021 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.8 No.6

This study aims to examine the relationship between directors’ diversity (DIRDIV) and financial performance (FP) with a particular focus;on the moderating effect of corporate sustainability practices (CSP). The study analyzes a sample of 104 firms listed on the Bursa Malaysia;for the period from 2015 to 2017. Directors’ diversity is measured by the Blau index, and Tobin’s Q is used as a proxy of FP of the firms;while the content analysis method is adopted to measure CSP. The study also employs three control variables, namely, board size, firm size,;and leverage. Panel corrected standard errors (PCSE) estimator model has been used to test the hypotheses by STATA software. It is found;that directors’ diversity in terms of independent and non-independent directors significantly and positively affect the financial performance;of the firms. Furthermore, this study reveals that CSP significantly moderates the relationship between directors’ diversity and financial;performance. This study suggests that the government and regulatory bodies should put more emphasis on diversifying the board and follow;up the mandatory CSP to enhance financial performance of the firms, which is likely to ensure their long-term survival and to reduce the;risk of collapse in the future.

Study of Alanine-73 and Aspartate-9 of HLA-C Locus in Saudi PsoriasisPatients, Using Sequence-specific Primers (PCR-SSP)

Mohammad Tariq,Abdullah Abanmi,Fahad Al Harthi,Rokaiyah Al Agla,Haseeb Ahmad Khan 한국생화학분자생물학회 2005 BMB Reports Vol.38 No.3

Modeling and Forecasting Saudi Stock Market Volatility Using Wavelet Methods

Tariq S. ALSHAMMARI,Mohd T. ISMAIL,Sadam AL-WADI,Mohammad H. SALEH,Jamil J. JABER 한국유통과학회 2020 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.7 No.11

This empirical research aims to modeling and improving the forecasting accuracy of the volatility pattern by employing the Saudi Arabia stock market (Tadawul)by studying daily closed price index data from October 2011 to December 2019 with a number of observations being 2048. In order to achieve significant results, this study employs many mathematical functions which are non-linear spectral model Maximum overlapping Discrete Wavelet Transform (MODWT) based on the best localized function (Bl14), autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model and generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) models. Therefore, the major findings of this study show that all the previous events during the mentioned period of time will be explained and a new forecasting model will be suggested by combining the best MODWT function (Bl14 function) and the fitted GARCH model. Therefore, the results show that the ability of MODWT in decomposition the stock market data, highlighting the significant events which have the most highly volatile data and improving the forecasting accuracy will be showed based on some mathematical criteria such as Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE), Mean Absolute Scaled Error (MASE), Root Means Squared Error (RMSE), Akaike information criterion. These results will be implemented using MATLAB software and R- software.

Assessing Metal Content in Halophila stipulacea Seagrass as an Indicator of Metal Pollution in the Northern Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

Tariq Al-Najjar,Mohammad Wahsha,Mwaffaq Al-Khushman,Maroof Khalaf,Kyle Hardage,Wissam Hayek,Khalid Abu Khadra,Adina Paytan 한국해양과학기술원 2021 Ocean science journal Vol.56 No.4

To assess the utility of the seagrass (Halophila stipulacea) for biomonitoring of metal pollution, seagrass samples were collected from four sites along the Jordanian coast of the Gulf of Aqaba between April and July 2017. Concentrations of trace metals (Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Zn, and Pb) in leaves, rhizomes, and roots were compared to published data on sediment trace metal and organic carbon content at the same sites to assess the degree of their fidelity in recording local trace metal pollution. The results of this study indicated that the roots of the seagrass H. stipulacea accumulated higher metal concentrations of Cd, Pb, Cr, Ni, Zn, Mn, and Fe than rhizomes and leaves. Concentrations in H. stipulacea varied significantly between sites for Mn, Fe, Zn, Cd, and Pb but not for Cr and Ni. Higher levels of seagrass trace metals in the Hotels Area and Old Phosphate Port sampling sites compared to other sampled sites are likely related to the sites' proximity to tourist and boating activity and city infrastructure which may contribute to metals accumulating in the tissues of this seagrass. In contrast to other studies, when all the data are considered, no clear trend between sediment metal concentration and seagrass metals is observed, suggesting physiological control on metal uptake by H. stipulacea and thus limiting the utility of H. stipulacea for biomonitoring of pollution.

Synthesis and characterization of polyurethane based on aliphatic diisocyanate and stiff chain extenders

Mohammad Zuber,Khalid Mahmood Zia,Muhammad Ashair Iqbal,Zahida Tariq Cheema,Muhammad Ishaq,Tahir Jamil 한국화학공학회 2015 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.32 No.1

The present research work was performed to study the properties of polyurethanes (PU) based on ali-phatic diisocayanate and the effect of chemical structure of chain extenders. Two series of PUs were synthesized via twosteps polymerization technique. The PU samples constituted on hexamethylene diisocayanate (HDI), hydroxy-termi-nated polybutadiene (HTPB) and blends 1, 4 butanediol (BDO)/bisphenol A (BPA) and or 1, 4 butanediol (BDO)/bisphenol S (BPS) were prepared. Structural characterization was done using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopyduring and after the synthesis. The FTIR analysis confirmed the existence of proposed bisphenol A (BPA) and bisphe-nol S (BPS) based PU structures. Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) analysis gives information about the thermaltransition of all the polymer samples. Because of the difference of polarity between hard and soft segments of PU,microphase separation can occur. The degree of phase separation in the prepared PU was confirmed using scanningelectron microscope (SEM) technique. The SEM techniques present a distinctive chance to directly visualize the mor-phology of the polyurethanes.

miR-139 modulates MCPIP1/IL-6 expression and induces apoptosis in human OA chondrocytes

Mohammad Shahidul Makki,Tariq M Haqqi 생화학분자생물학회 2015 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.47 No.-

IL-6 is an inflammatory cytokine and its overexpression plays an important role in osteoarthritis (OA) pathogenesis. Expression of IL-6 is regulated post-transcriptionally by MCPIP1. The 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of MCPIP1 mRNA harbors a miR-139 ‘seed sequence’, therefore we examined the post-transcriptional regulation of MCPIP1 by miR-139 and its impact on IL-6 expression in OA chondrocytes. Expression of miR-139 was found to be high in the damaged portion of the OA cartilage compared with unaffected cartilage from the same patient and was also induced by IL-1β in OA chondrocytes. Inhibition of miR-139 decreased the expression of IL-6 mRNA by 38% and of secreted IL-6 protein by 40%. However, overexpression of miR-139 increased the expression of IL-6 mRNA by 36% and of secreted IL-6 protein by 56%. These data correlated with altered expression profile of MCPIP1 in transfected chondrocytes. Studies with a luciferase reporter construct confirmed the interactions of miR-139 with the ‘seed sequence’ located in the 3′ UTR of MCPIP mRNA. Furthermore, miR-139 overexpression increased the catabolic gene expression but expression of anabolic markers remained unchanged. Overexpression of miR-139 also induced apoptosis in OA chondrocytes. Importantly, we also discovered that IL-6 is a potent inducer of miR-139 expression in OA chondrocytes. These findings indicate that miR-139 functions as a post-transcriptional regulator of MCPIP1 expression and enhances IL-6 expression, which further upregulates miR-139 expression in OA chondrocytes. These results support our hypothesis that miR-139-mediated downregulation of MCPIP1 promotes IL-6 expression in OA. Therefore, targeting miR-139 could be therapeutically beneficial in the management of OA.

Neighboring Cage Fish Farming Affecting Water and Seabed Quality of the Jordanian Northern Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

Mohammad, Al-Zibdah,Firas, Oqaily,Tariq, Al-Najjar,Riyad, Manasrah The Korean Society of Oceanography 2008 Ocean science journal Vol.43 No.1

Environmental qualities of coastal water and bottom sediment were assessed at Jordan's northernmost tip of Gulf of Aqaba to evaluate possible impacts of the bordering fish pen cages in Eilat. Results showed significant differences between surface and bottom water in the chemical and physical variables in the different months of the year (2004-2005). Chlorophyll a was also significantly higher in bottom water when compared to that of the offshore water. Nitrate and ammonia were significantly higher in bottom water than the surface water at each individual station. The upper 2 cm of sediment sample recorded higher values of total phosphorus and organic matter. Seasonality affected the content of total phosphorus, organic matter, redox potential and color especially at the sediment layer below 3 cm of the sediment core. The present investigation showed slight modification of water and sediment qualities but no clear sign of eutrophication was observed. However, to maintain sustainability of healthy environmental conditions at the northern tip of Gulf of Aqaba potentials of any possible environmental risks arising from the fish farms or any other coastal investment should be carefully considered.

Evaluating AI Techniques for Blind Students Using Voice-Activated Personal Assistants

Almurayziq, Tariq S,Alshammari, Gharbi Khamis,Alshammari, Abdullah,Alsaffar, Mohammad,Aljaloud, Saud International Journal of Computer ScienceNetwork S 2022 International journal of computer science and netw Vol.22 No.1

The present study was based on developing an AI based model to facilitate the academic registration needs of blind students. The model was developed to enable blind students to submit academic service requests and tasks with ease. The findings from previous studies formed the basis of the study where functionality gaps from the literary research identified by blind students were utilized when the system was devised. Primary simulation data were composed based on several thousand cases. As such, the current study develops a model based on archival insight. Given that the model is theoretical, it was partially applied to help determine how efficient the associated AI tools are and determine how effective they are in real-world settings by incorporating them into the portal that institutions currently use. In this paper, we argue that voice-activated personal assistant (VAPA), text mining, bag of words, and case-based reasoning (CBR) perform better together, compared with other classifiers for analyzing and classifying the text in academic request submission through the VAPA.

Seasonal Changes of Water Properties and Current in the Nothernmost Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

Riyad Manasrah,Mohammad Zibdah,Firas Al-Ougaily,Najim Yusuf,Tariq Al-Najjar 한국해양과학기술원 2007 Ocean science journal Vol.42 No.2

Seasonal changes of tide signal(s), temperature, salinity and current were studied during the years 2004-2005 in the northernmost Gulf of Aqaba, which is under developmental activities, to obtain scientific bases for best management and sustainability. Spectrum analysis revealed permanent signals of tide measurements during all seasons, which represented semidiurnal and diurnal barotropic tides. The other signal periods of 8.13, 6.10-6.32, 4.16 and 1.02-1.05 h were not detected in all seasons, which were related to shallow water compound and overtides of principle solar and lunar constituent and to seiches generated in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. Spatial and temporal distribution of temperature, salinity and density showed significant differences between months in the coastal and offshore region and no significant differences among the coastal sites, between the surface and bottom waters and between coastal and offshore waters. Therefore, the temporal and spatial variation of water properties in the northernmost Gulf of Aqaba behave similarly compared to other parts. The coastal current below 12 m depth was weak (3-6 cms-1) and fluctuated from east-northeastward to west-southwestward (parallel to the shoreline), which may be related to the effect of bottom topography and/or current density due to differential cooling between eastern and western parts in the study area, and wind-induced upwelling and downwelling in the eastern and western side, respectively. The prevailing northerly winds and stratification conditions during summer were the main causes of the southward current at 6 and 12 m depths with average speed of 28 and 12 cms-1, respectively.

Neighboring Cage Fish Farming Affecting Water and Seabed Quality of the Jordanian Northern Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

Al-Zibdah Mohammad,Oqaily Firas,Al-Najjar Tariq,Manasrah Riyad1 한국해양과학기술원 2008 Ocean science journal Vol.43 No.1

Environmental qualities of coastal water and bottom sediment were assessed at Jordan’s northernmost tip of Gulf of Aqaba to evaluate possible impacts of the bordering fish pen cages in Eilat. Results showed significant differences between surface and bottom water in the chemical and physical variables in the different months of the year (2004-2005). Chlorophyll a was also significantly higher in bottom water when compared to that of the offshore water. Nitrate and ammonia were significantly higher in bottom water than the surface water at each individual station. The upper 2 cm of sediment sample recorded higher values of total phosphorus and organic matter. Seasonality affected the content of total phosphorus, organic matter, redox potential and color especially at the sediment layer below 3 cm of the sediment core. The present investigation showed slight modification of water and sediment qualities but no clear sign of eutrophication was observed. However, to maintain sustainability of healthy environmental conditions at the northern tip of Gulf of Aqaba potentials of any possible environmental risks arising from the fish farms or any other coastal investment should be carefully considered.