• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.12
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• pp.271-282
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• 2021

In recent years, a significant number of empirical studies have examined the relationship between export and economic growth in India. However, this study analyses the relationship between exports and economic growth through the time series model. The main aim of this study is to investigate the causal relationship between exports and economic growth in India. The VAR model was used for the period 1961 to 2015 after verifying the stationarity of the variables through using Augmented Dickey-Fuller and Phillip-Perron tests. The Indian export sector has been found to have a significant and positive impact on economic growth and other long-term economic activities. The study also employed the Granger causality test to check the direction of causality and found that RXGS, RGDP, RPFC, and RGFC had a unidirectional relationship and RXGS and RMGS had a bidirectional relationship in long run. Also, the findings of this study suggest that a steady-state between exports and economic growth can be achieved in India over a long period. The overall outcome of this study provides a testimony of the fact that the export sector plays a vital role in economic growth in India and also leads to the long-term growth of other economic activities.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.1047-1054
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• 2021

University academicians are playing a significant role in nation building and striving hard to impart quality education to students and also instill moral and ethical values in them. The current study aims to determine the relationship between work-life balance (WLB) and satisfaction among academicians. For the study purpose, 154 academicians from different universities with varied designations were selected randomly from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Pareek et al. (2011) constructed and validated a scale to gather responses from respondents with the aim of understanding WLB in relation to satisfaction. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to interpret the results to make the study more authentic and valuable. The study's findings revealed that (i) all facets of WLB have positive relationships with one another, resulting in workplace satisfaction; (ii) the result also reflects that male faculty members have a lot of pressure and responsibility in the universities than the female faculty members which reflect that male are more prone to dissatisfaction in comparison to the dfemale faculty members (iii) the factor personal needs is having the high degree of correlation followed by the social needs. Results indicate that WLB plays a crucial role to provide satisfaction and surely ignite new information in the contemporary knowledge of work life balance among the Saudi Arabian Universities.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.9
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• pp.11-22
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• 2021

This study investigates the long-run relationship between the de jure economic, political, and social globalization and foreign direct investments in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to establish whether policies that foster trade and investment relations among geographical entities can help revive the GCC countries from the prevailing economic debacles of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study is driven by the GCC's quest to fully overcome the economic challenges occasioned by the outbreak of the global pandemic and position itself as the most potent regional economic bloc in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The study employs the panel data of the six GCC countries of Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Saudi Arabia from 1971 to 2017. The findings of the panel fully modified ordinary least square regression estimation show that the de jure economic and social globalization have a significant positive impact on the region's foreign direct investment inflows. The impact of the de jure political globalization on foreign direct investment is statistically significant but negatively signed. Based on the preceding findings, we offer some holistic policy recommendations to the GCC region as recipes for timely recovery from the economic impact of COVID-19 and beyond.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2020.12a
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• pp.50-59
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• 2020

The 21st century is witnessing a rapid growth of tall buildings in urban centers globally to create more urban space for an anticipated urban population. Tall buildings, however suffer from incessant delays and sometimes total abandonment. Consequently, this study investigated and ranked the causes of delay in tall building projects, while focusing on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Initially, 36 common delay causes investigated globally were categorized into 9 groups, and then further ranked utilizing the Relative Importance Index (RII) through a questionnaire survey. Tall building professionals in the GCC countries (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar) were contacted. The respondents' categories include Consultants, Contractors, and Clients' Representatives/Facility Managers. The results reveal that the top three causes include "client's cash flow problems/delays in contractor's payment", "contractor's financial difficulties", and "poor site organization and coordination between various parties". The findings from this study could help construction professionals develop guidelines and controls for delay mitigation, as well as support them in risk-based decision making in the planning of tall building projects.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.91-100
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• 2020

This study aims to find out the legalization status of a central Shariah regulatory authority for the Islamic banks in Bangladesh. In this regard, the central bank can legalize the existing Centralized Shariah Board for Islamic Banks of Bangladesh (CSBIB) or form a new Centralized Shariah Supervisory Board (CSBB) under the management of the central bank in Bangladesh. Based on the data obtained by the semi-structured interviews, this research finds diversified opinions regarding the legalization of CSBIB or the formation of a new CSBB. Initially, without the law, it would be difficult to form CSSB under the central bank as the Islamic banks and banking environment are still not ready. In addition, it is difficult to legalize the existing CSBIB because the format of its structure is different from the CSSB structure in Malaysia and Bahrain. The existing banking company act authorizes the central bank to provide circulars regarding banking issues and it will be considered as an act. The central bank can legalize the existing CSBIB or form a new CSSB through a circular which will be helpful to monitor the overall Shariah issues. The presence of a CSSB will fulfill the expectations of all Islamic banks, and the concerned stakeholders.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.60 no.4
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• pp.106-111
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• 2017

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency among infants with neonatal indirect hyperbilirubinemia (NIH); compare G6PD-deficient and G6PD-normal patients regarding hyperbilirubinemia and need for exchange transfusions (ET); and assess risk factors for ET and kernicterus. Methods: This is a case-control retrospective study. Medical records of NIH patients admitted to the Pediatric Department, Salmaniya Medical Complex, Bahrain, between January 2007 and June 2010 were reviewed. Data on sex, age at presentation, hospitalization duration, need for ET, hemoglobin (Hb) level, reticulocyte count, direct Coombs test, serum total and indirect bilirubin levels, thyroid function, blood and urine cultures, G6PD status, and blood groups were collected and compared between the G6PD-deficent and G6PD-normal patients. Results: Of 1,159 NIH patients admitted, 1,129 were included, of whom 646 (57%) were male. Among 1,046 patients tested, 442 (42%) were G6PD deficient, 49 (4%) needed ET, and 11 (1%) had suspected Kernicterus. The G6PD-deficient patients were mainly male (P<0.0001), and had lower Hb levels (P<0.0001) and higher maximum bilirubin levels (P=0.001). More G6PD-deficient patients needed ET (P<0.0001). G6PD deficiency (P=0.006), lower Hb level (P=0.002), lower hematocrit count (P=0.02), higher bilirubin level (P<0.0001), higher maximal bilirubin level (P<0.0001), and positive blood culture result (P<0.0001) were significant risk factors for ET. Maximal bilirubin level was a significant risk factor for kernicterus (P=0.021) and independently related to ET (P=0.03). Conclusion: G6PD deficiency is an important risk factor for severe NIH. In G6PD-deficent neonates, management of NIH should be hastened to avoid irreversible neurological complications.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.131-135
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• 2015

Since April 2012, more than 1,600 laboratory-confirmed human infections with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) have been reported, occurring primarily in countries in the Arabian Peninsula; the majority in Saudi Arabia. The MERS outbreak in Korea, which began in May 2015 through the importation of a single case who had recently traveled to Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. As of November 28th, 186 secondary and tertiary cases had been reported; 38 deaths, mainly associated with underlying chronic illnesses, were reported. One case was exported to China and has been recorded as the first MERS case in China. Thirty-seven confirmed cases were associated with the index case, who was hospitalized from May 15 to May 17. Emergency room at one of the nation's largest hospitals had been affected by hospital-to-hospital and intra-hospital transmissions of MERS-CoV, resulting in an outbreak of 90 infected patients. The vast majority of 186 confirmed cases are linked to a single transmission chain associated with health facilities. The median age of patients is 55 years, with a range of 16 to 87 years. The majority (61%) of patients are men. Twenty-five (14%) of the cases involve healthcare workers. The overall median incubation period was six days, but it was four days for secondary cases and six days for tertiary cases. There has been no evidence of airborne transmission and sustained human-to-human transmission in communities. Intensified public health measures, including contact tracing, quarantine and isolation of all contacts and suspected cases, and infection prevention and control have brought the MERS-CoV under control in Korea. Since 4 July no new cases have been reported.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.315-324
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• 2022

The goal of this study is to understand better the relationship between hospital bed occupancy rate and cost rigidity as a proxy for the degree of hospital bed congestion, as well as the relationship between the risk of changes in hospital bed occupancy rate and congestion cost, targeting public hospitals. As public hospitals for analysis, we selected hospital projects from the Public Enterprises Survey Reports published by the Department of Public Enterprises, Ministry of Finance, and obtained unbalanced panel data consisting of 1,505 hospitals and 15 years, totaling 12,595 hospitals and years. The analysis revealed that the risk of changes in the bed occupancy rate increases the degree of cost rigidity and leads to a decrease in the variable cost ratio; furthermore, an increase in the bed occupancy rate decreases the degree of cost rigidity and leads to an increase in the variable cost ratio. These findings suggest that although public hospitals are taking managerial actions to avoid congestion costs, congestion costs resulting from higher bed occupancy rates have not been eliminated. The regression analysis results show that even if congestion costs arise as the occupancy rate increases, they are covered by the increase in revenue associated with the increase in the occupancy rate.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.273-285
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• 2022

Using data from a departmental profit and loss management questionnaire survey conducted for a group of hospitals consisting of various establishment entities, this study evaluates the effectiveness of departmental profit and loss management practices, such as break-even analysis, based on objective performance data. The study also examines whether the implementation of departmental profit and loss accounting is still effective in improving profitability in the financial year 2021 and whether the effectiveness of the implementation of departmental profit and loss accounting is robust. This study reconfirmed that the implementation of departmental profit-and-loss accounting has a positive effect on objective financial performance in hospitals and that the effect of improving profitability can be enhanced by implementing it monthly with high frequency and regularity and by using the accounting results more actively. It was also found that the department's implementation of break-even analysis had a positive impact on financial performance, which was enhanced by more active use of the data. Given the current economic climate, a hospital organization's active participation in income statement management, not only for the hospital as a whole but also for each department, would be an effective management activity.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.93-108
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• 2022

Adequate nutrition in early life is proposed to shape a child's future health by launching the growth trajectory in the proper direction, which helps to avoid negative metabolic programming effects. Protein intake during infancy and early childhood is of great importance, as it plays a key role in infant metabolic programming and the future risk of obesity. Breastfeeding provides the best nutrition in early life, with many benefits tailored for the baby, including the appropriate quantity and quality of proteins. Considering the high prevalence of childhood, and subsequent adult, obesity in the region, a virtual Middle East expert consensus meeting was held to discuss an effective approach for managing childhood obesity. Leading pediatric experts from Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates participated in the meeting. The experts discussed, debated, and agreed on certain directions, including the importance of educating parents, endorsing breastfeeding, and ensuring optimum quantity and quality intake of proteins in early life. This expert consensus may serve as the starting point for healthcare professionals in the region who are interested in shaping a healthy future for the generations to come.