Introduction The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into healthcare introduces innovative possibilities but raises ethical, legal and professional concerns. Assessing the performance of AI in core components of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE), such as communication skills, ethics, empathy and professionalism, is crucial. This study evaluates how well ChatGPT versions 3.5 and 4.0 handle complex medical scenarios using USMLE-Rx, AMBOSS and UWorld question banks, aiming to understand its ability to navigate patient interactions according to medical ethics and standards. (...) Methods We compiled 273 questions from AMBOSS, USMLE-Rx and UWorld, focusing on communication, social sciences, healthcare policy and ethics. GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 were tasked with answering and justifying their choices in new chat sessions to minimise model interference. Responses were compared against question bank rationales and average student performance to evaluate AI effectiveness in medical ethical decision-making. Results GPT-3.5 answered 38.9% correctly in AMBOSS, 54.1% in USMLE-Rx and 57.4% in UWorld, with rationale accuracy rates of 83.3%, 90.0% and 87.0%, respectively. GPT-4 answered 75.9% correctly in AMBOSS, 64.9% in USMLE-Rx and 79.6% in UWorld, with rationale accuracy rates of 85.4%, 88.9%, and 98.8%, respectively. Both versions generally scored below average student performance, except GPT-4 in UWorld. Conclusion ChatGPT, particularly version 4.0, shows potential in navigating ethical and interpersonal medical scenarios. However, human reasoning currently surpasses AI in average performance. Continued development and training of AI systems can enhance proficiency in these critical healthcare aspects. (shrink)

Internet of Things-based environments pose various challenges due to their anytime/anywhere computing, and the efficient cryptographic based key management is one of the major challenges in Internet of Things. The key management life cycle consists of initialization, key generation, key registration, key backup, key update, key recovery, and key revocation. Our contribution in this paper is to summarize the state-of-the-art key management schemes and techniques in different scenarios, such as mobile ad hoc networks, wireless sensor networks, and the Internet of (...) Things environments. Further different issues related specifically to the Internet of Things environment are discussed and the causes and effects pertaining to the security breach for Internet of Things are identified. Furthermore, in this research work, we develop a novel permutation of threshold and identity-based key management schemes for the Internet of Things environment and have proposed future directions to counteract the attacks on confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and availability of security services in the Internet of Things environment and identified the two key management schemes, that is, identity and threshold schemes for Internet of Things, to resolve Internet of Things key management issues and maximum possible security services effective implementation. We evaluate our scheme with the help of mathematical and statistical techniques. (shrink)

This work identifies the influence of chaos theory on fractional calculus by providing a theorem for the existence and stability of solution in fractional-order gyrostat model with the help of a fixed-point theorem. We modified an integer order gyrostat model consisting of three rotors into fractional order by attaching rotatory fuel-filled tank and provided an iterative scheme for our proposed model as a working rule of obtained analytical results. Moreover, this iterative scheme is injected into algorithms for a system of (...) integer order dynamical systems to observe Lyapunov exponents and a bifurcation diagram for our proposed fractional-order dynamical model. Furthermore, we obtained five equilibrium points, including four unstable spirals and one saddle node, using local dynamical analysis which acted as self-exciting attractors and a separatrix in a global domain. (shrink)

Climate change has increasingly been recognised and associated with consumer behaviour: Practitioners are developing their strategies to reduce environmental degradation while increasing the management of sustainable consumption; it needs to better understand consumer attitudes and eco-friendly factors about the issue. Therefore, the current study focused to understand the effects of pro-environmental factors on individuals’ environmental attitudes through the lens of theory of planned behaviour in a cross-cultural setting. Moreover, present research focuses on the moderating role that religiosity plays in causal (...) pathways between certain determinants and intentions in this context. A multi-wave time-lagged research design was employed in this study, and university students from two developing countries were surveyed. The findings revealed pronounced similarities between the two examined countries. Overwhelmingly, pro-environmental factors examined were found to be positively related to attitude formation. Further results showed that attitude and subjective norms are significant predictors of the intention to purchase products with recycled packaging. Moreover, with the exception of perceived behavioural control, religiosity moderates the relationships between all the determinants of TPB and intention to purchase recycled packaged products. Present study offers insightful implications to management of these emerging and/or similar cultural markets regarding customer value for green products. Using TPB, present study broadened and deepen extant stream of literature on consumption of recycled packaged products in two highly emerging markets; Pakistan and Malaysia. (shrink)

A personalized recommender system is broadly accepted as a helpful tool to handle the information overload issue while recommending a related piece of information. This work proposes a hybrid personalized recommender system based on affinity propagation, namely, APHPRS. Affinity propagation is a semisupervised machine learning algorithm used to cluster items based on similarities among them. In our approach, we first calculate the cluster quality and density and then combine their outputs to generate a new ranking score among clusters for the (...) personalized recommendation. In the first phase, user preferences are collected and normalized as items rating matrix. This generated matrix is then clustered offline using affinity propagation and kept in a database for future recommendations. In the second phase, online recommendations are generated by applying the offline model. Negative Euclidian similarity and the quality of clusters are used together to select the best clusters for recommendations. The proposed APHPRS system alleviates problems such as sparsity and cold-start problems. The use of affinity propagation and the hybrid recommendation technique used in the proposed approach helps in improving results against sparsity. Experiments reveal that the proposed APHPRS performs better than most of the existing recommender systems. (shrink)

Healthcare workers in Pakistan are still fighting at the frontline to control the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 and have been identified as the earliest beneficiaries for COVID-19 vaccination by the health authorities of the country. Besides, the high vaccination rates of frontline healthcare workers are essential to overcome the ongoing pandemic and reduce the vaccines hesitancy among the general population. The current research employed the theory of planned behavior to investigate the COVID-19 vaccination behavior among FHWs in (...) Pakistan as well as the predictors of such behavior. Following the epidemic control and prevention policies, a sample of 680 FHWs were accessed to fill in the questionnaire evaluating the components of the TPB. Moreover, the potential role of anticipated regret and perceived susceptibility on COVID-19 vaccination behavior was also assessed. The partial least square structural equation modeling results revealed that the TPB components, as well as the AR, have positive associations with the COVID-19 vaccination behavior. The results further confirmed that PS positively affects the anticipated regret, attitude, and subjective norm to vaccinate against SARS-CoV-2. The perceived susceptibility also has a positive association with COVID-19 vaccination behavior through the mediation of anticipated regret, ATT, and SN. Our findings highlighted the importance of COVID-19 vaccination among healthcare workers, which can be applied to reduce vaccine hesitancy among the general public. (shrink)

The Community of Shared Future for Mankind (CSFM) concept is a comprehensive Chinese proposal for a better future of mankind. In this article, we provide a comprehensive analysis of this concept by focusing on its origin, evolution and philosophical foundation. This article deals with the origin and evolution of the CSFM concept. We show that the concept originated during the presidency of Hu Jintao, who initially used it for the domestic affairs of China. However, the usage of the concept was (...) later extended from domestic to international affairs. Though Hu Jintao conceived the CSFM concept, it is president Xi Jinping who became its greatest advocate. We explore the CSFM concept’s development and evolution into one of the most influential, diverse and dominant concepts of international relations under president Xi. Furthermore, the article explores the philosophical foundation of the CSFM concept. We argue that although CSFM concept is seen as a 21st century Chinese idea, the roots of the concept can be traced back to much earlier time in history. The concept is based on three major philosophical thoughts: Marxism, Confucianism and the philosophy of Mencius. We show that the CSFM concept is greatly influenced by Marx’s ideas such as the transformation of the world, the free association of producers, historical materialism and dialectics. We also point to a number of Confucian principles that are adopted by the CSFM concept. The CSFM concept not only adopts Confucian principles but also extends their scope from the individual level to international relations. Similarly, we also highlight that the CSFM concept is influenced by Mencius’ concepts such as universal brotherhood, responsibility towards the betterment of the world, humane governance, free trade, equal sharing of wealth and the conservation of natural resources. (shrink)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are revolutionising key sectors such as healthcare, finance, and governance, while raising ethical challenges, including algorithmic bias, privacy violations, and environmental sustainability. Dominant Western ethical paradigms, such as Luciano Floridi’s Information Ethics, emphasise procedural integrity and transparency but often lack spiritual and metaphysical grounding prevalent in global traditions. Most approaches to Islamic ethics for AI have employed Maqasid al-Shariah (objectives of Islamic law) and Qawaid Fiqhiyya (legal maxims), that apply legal principles to ethical questions but face (...) limitations in addressing the complexities of emerging technologies especially that they, initially, were developed to address problems in Islamic law and not in Ethics. This paper introduces the prospects of Taha Abdurrahman’s I’timāni (trusteeship) framework as a unified ethical model for AI technologies. Rooted in the concept of divine trust (amana), the framework integrates three foundational covenants—Ontological, Epistemological, and Existential—offering a comprehensive vision of human responsibility toward God, knowledge, and creation. This approach provides ways to prioritise moral accountability with actionable governance strategies, as we demonstrate its practical applicability. We show that from the Islamic perspective, a philosophy of ethics approach is not only more appropriate, but more promising and comprehensive than ones based on jurisprudential rulings, as combating the ethical concerns of data-driven AI in a neoliberal environment requires an overhaul in worldview with cross-cultural respect and care for all. (shrink)

Drawing on social cognitive theory and social information processing theory, this study investigated how organizations' efforts to embody environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) shape consumer perception of a green corporate image through employees' environmental passion and pro-environmental behavior (PEB). To test our hypotheses, we collected multisource time-lagged data from 214 employee–customer dyads from hotel and banking sector organizations in Pakistan. The findings show that organizations' green corporate image is a function of their efforts to engage in ECSR activities as demonstrated (...) through employees' environmental passion and PEB. These findings have important implications in the environment and management domains because it can help organizations draft useful strategies to counter environmental degradation and generate a green corporate image in customers' minds through employees' green behavior. (shrink)

A migrant state, like the four Gulf States, is fragile because most of its residents are non-citizens who might return to their own countries out of fear or lack of economic incentives, or be expelled for any reason by the rulers of the migrant state. Due to law-based discrimination, a migrant state does not treat foreign nationals with the same respect as its native-born population. As a result, migrant workers, regardless of how much money they earn, do not develop the (...) same bond and sense of loyalty to a migrant state as they do to their home country. (shrink)

This paper develops the aesthetics of authority as an independent normative framework for evaluating power. Moving beyond conventional reliance on legality and morality, the paper argues that authority must also be judged by its visual and emotional imprints on human life. Through examples from war, governance, environmental stewardship, economic organization, and social hierarchy, the paper shows that power manifests in aesthetic forms that shape how nations perceive dignity, order, and degradation. It introduces key distinctions—such as the static versus kinetic aesthetics (...) of military power and the notion of optical oppression—to demonstrate how institutions and practices generate beauty or ugliness in public life. The analysis contends that aesthetic judgment possesses a degree of objectivity, particularly in the near-universal revulsion toward scenes of suffering and destruction, and that such judgment can condemn actions even when they are legally or morally justified. By reframing authority as an aesthetic phenomenon visible in everyday environments and political conduct, the paper proposes that aesthetic responsibility is not secondary to governance but integral to it. (shrink)

The study seeks to explore the impact of the P4C approach in 7th grade Turkish course on students’ critical thinking dispositions and questioning skills using a convergent parallel mixed design procedure. With the aim of converging the findings to gain a comprehensive understanding of the research topic, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analyzed simultaneously. For a sample of fifty students, qualitative data were gathered through reflective diaries and a question quadrant, while quantitative data were collected through a (...) pre-test and post-test via Critical Thinking Disposition Scale (CTDS). The findings point out to the fact that the P4C approach had a positive influence on students’ critical thinking dispositions and fostered an environment that encouraged students to think critically and ask meaningful questions. (shrink)

A brief view of history presented in this commentary supports a grim conclusion. Predation recedes only when power asymmetry collapses—when targets acquire deterrent power, competitors impose costs, or resistance raises acquisition risks. Moral systems, much less law, do not defeat predation; power does. Trump’s era is therefore not a moral low point but a diagnostic moment. It shows Western predation operating without disguise, apology, or metaphysical cover.

The current study investigates whether tournament incentives motivate chief executive officer to be socially responsible. Furthermore, it explores the role of sub-national institutional contingencies [i.e., state-owned enterprises vs. non-SOEs, foreign-owned entities vs. non-FOEs, cross-listed vs. non-cross-listed, developed region] in CEO tournament incentives and the corporate social responsibility performance relationship. Data were collected from all A-shared companies listed in the stock exchanges of China from 2014 to 2019. The study uses the baseline methodology of ordinary least squares and cluster OLS regression. (...) Moreover, firm-fixed effects regression, two-stage least squares regression, and propensity score matching deal with the endogeneity problem and check the robustness of the results. The results provide reliable evidence that tournament incentives motivate CEOs to be more socially responsible. On the other hand, sub-national institutional contingencies positively affect the association between CEO tournament incentives and CSRP. The findings have important implications for companies and regulators who wish to enhance CSP by providing incentives to top managers. (shrink)

The Melian Dialogue is not merely a story from ancient Greece. It describes a permanent problem in human affairs: what should a weaker nation do when confronted by overwhelming power? Submit and survive or resist and risk annihilation. Powerful states demand concessions from weaker ones in the name of security, as if weaker nations need none. -/- Here is the surprising part of the story. The Athenians and Melians debated whether the Melians should submit or face destruction, a debate that (...) was the focus of the story Thucydides wrote in dialogue form. I will rephrase that dialogue to highlight the arguments they presented for and against submitting to a powerful military force. (shrink)

This paper introduces the concept of the Minimal Paradise, a universal life infrastructure designed to guarantee that every household is free from destitution while preserving and expanding market-based innovation, entrepreneurship, and scientific progress. The paper argues that many political, economic, and moral theories were developed under conditions of genuine scarcity and therefore treated poverty, labor insecurity, and economic pressure as unavoidable features of civilization. Drawing on contemporary global productive capacity and purchasing-power-parity measures of world output, the paper contends that humanity (...) has entered a historical phase in which basic material security for all households is economically feasible. The Minimal Paradise is neither a welfare state, a redistributive project, nor a utopian blueprint. Rather, it is conceived as foundational social infrastructure, analogous to public roads, libraries, or communication networks. The paper distinguishes the Minimal Paradise from Creative Economics, the sphere of innovation, enterprise, science, engineering, exploration, and cultural production. Far from competing, these two domains are presented as mutually reinforcing: universal security expands human participation in creative and productive activity, while Creative Economics generates the wealth necessary to sustain universal security. The paper critically examines historical scarcity-based arguments advanced by thinkers such as Thomas Malthus, Bernard Mandeville, and Patrick Colquhoun, as well as contemporary objections regarding incentives, dependency, and labor supply. It argues that these perspectives underestimate the wealth-generating potential of a secure population and overlook the transformative effects of modern productive capacity. The Minimal Paradise is therefore proposed as an emerging civilizational development that reorients economic thought from scarcity management to the strategic cultivation of human potential. (shrink)

This commentary argues that the U.S. and India’s neighbors may actively hinder India's rise as a superpower. The competitors and rivals have numerous options, including imposing tariffs and trade barriers, reducing the exports of Indian goods and services, withholding essential exports to India, and curtailing remittances from Indian workers. Suppose India continues to advance despite obstacles. In that case, some rivals might even encourage separatist movements in Khalistan, Kashmir, and the Northeastern states (Assam, Nagaland, and others), which have tenuous geographical, (...) ethnic, and cultural ties to the mainland. (shrink)

A polymath is not someone who knows everything there is. A polymath is someone who acquires credible expertise in more than two or three fields, with in-depth knowledge in each. A polymath is, in fact, a polyexpert and not just a generalist. Unless you deeply understand two or three fields, you cannot be a polymath. A polymath is never a Jack of all trades but someone who devotes their life to knowledge and develops a multidimensional understanding of epistemic networks. Not (...) every century, let alone every generation, produces a Da Vinci or an Ibn Sina. But opposition to polymathy is crazy. (shrink)

The Duality Theory of the Single Universe (DT) proposes that reality emerges from the perpetual interaction of two primordial, irreducible forces: F1, the centripetal, integrative, and aggregative force, and F2, the centrifugal, dispersive, and differentiating force. Rejecting monism, pure randomness, and rigid binarism, DT argues that the observable universe arises from the dynamic tension and occasional synergy between these co-present forces. Drawing on religious traditions (Asha-Drugh, light-darkness, Yin-Yang), mathematics, social and legal systems, biology, physics, and cosmology, the theory reveals recurring (...) dual structures that reflect a deeper F1-F2 architecture. Foundational principles - sequential gradualism, duality interval, duality gap, alteration, and duality synergy - are offered to explain the emergence of ordered complexity. DT further posits that duality is a permanent feature of the created world and the primary epistemological lens through which human cognition interprets reality. DT offers an internally coherent model that reconciles ancient wisdom with modern inquiry, though it is not uniformly compatible with the standard model of particle physics. DT generates testable predictions and provides a generative compass for fields including artificial intelligence, legal philosophy, and institutional design. (shrink)

This article introduces the concept of the retention state, a new model of statecraft that emerges from the growing scarcity and strategic value of human capital. Drawing on global migration patterns summarized in an accompanying infographic, the article argues that migration is fundamentally a transfer of human capital rather than merely the movement of people. Contrary to common assumptions, more than 96 percent of the world's population remains in the country of birth, indicating that permanent migration across cultural boundaries is (...) the exception rather than the norm. As fertility declines and populations age across much of the world, human beings will become the most valuable productive asset, prompting an unprecedented global competition for talent. The article contends that the current migration system, in which recipient states receive adult human capital developed at the expense of sending states, is economically unsustainable and morally incomplete. It predicts a reversal in migration dynamics as developing economies increasingly retain and attract their own talent through entrepreneurship, investment, and opportunity rather than coercion. The retention state is presented as a normative and analytical framework through which states measure success not only by economic output but also by their capacity to cultivate, retain, and attract human capital while respecting human dignity, equal citizenship, and international cooperation. (shrink)

This paper delves into the profound and intricate relationship between Love (ishq) and Intellect (aql) within the philosophy of Muhammad Iqbal, a visionary poet and philosopher, aiming to reveal how these two forces shape the development of the human self (khudi) and contribute to the realization of spiritual and moral freedom. According to Iqbal, while intelligence is useful for getting to know things and thinking critically, love goes beyond reasoning and provides the spiritual and emotional depth needed to have a (...) closer relationship with God. While both intellect and love are essential faculties of the human experience, Iqbal frames them as complementary forces in a dynamic relationship, where intellect is analytical, cautious, and calculating, whereas love is intuitive, passionate, and self-transcendent. The main motto of this research is to show how Iqbal emphasizes the primacy of love in the process of spiritual awakening, while affirming that both faculties work in tandem, without negating reason, but asserting that reason alone cannot lead to spiritual awakening or transformative action. For Iqbal, it is ishq that fuels the soul’s courage, sacrifice, and divine connection, ultimately leading to the strengthening of khudi. Through a comparative and analytical approach, the study highlights Iqbal’s integration of classical Islamic thought with modern existential concerns, demonstrating how love becomes a cosmic principle, whereas intellect remains a useful yet limited tool. In conclusion, this research asserts that true selfhood and moral leadership emerge not from intellect alone but rather through a harmonized interplay in which love leads, and intellect follows. This equilibrium lies at the heart of Iqbal’s vision for the revival of humanity. (shrink)

In this article, we solve nonlinear systems of third order KdV Equations and the systems of coupled Burgers equations in one and two dimensions with the help of two different methods. The suggested techniques in addition with Laplace transform and Atangana–Baleanu fractional derivative operator are implemented to solve four systems. The obtained results by implementing the proposed methods are compared with exact solution. The convergence of the method is successfully presented and mathematically proved. The results we get are compared with (...) exact solution through graphs and tables which confirms the effectiveness of the suggested techniques. In addition, the results obtained by employing the proposed approaches at different fractional orders are compared, confirming that as the value goes from fractional order to integer order, the result gets closer to the exact solution. Moreover, suggested techniques are interesting, easy, and highly accurate which confirm that these methods are suitable methods for solving any partial differential equations or systems of partial differential equations as well. (shrink)

This Essay presents law’s evolution as a paradoxical union of the finite and the infinite. At any given point in time, law is a finite body of norms, which can be identified. At the same time, law’s evolution is infinite because rule-mutations that alter those norms are indeterminable. In modern legal systems, law’s evolution occurs under the constraining influence of master texts, which provide normative durability by enshrining the fundamental norms of a legal system and fortifying them against change. Despite (...) this stabilizing role, however, master texts are themselves open to mutations. Therefore, law’s evolution under the constraints of a master text mediates the paradoxical union of law’s finite and infinite nature. (shrink)

Cardiac disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Cardiovascular diseases can be prevented if an effective diagnostic is made at the initial stages. The ECG test is referred to as the diagnostic assistant tool for screening of cardiac disorder. The research purposes of a cardiac disorder detection system from 12-lead-based ECG Images. The healthcare institutes used various ECG equipment that present results in nonuniform formats of ECG images. The research study proposes a generalized methodology to process all formats of (...) ECG. Single Shoot Detection MobileNet v2-based Deep Neural Network architecture was used to detect cardiovascular disease detection. The study focused on detecting the four major cardiac abnormalities with 98% accuracy results were calculated. The work is relatively rare based on their dataset; a collection of 11,148 standard 12-lead-based ECG images used in this study were manually collected from health care institutes and annotated by the domain experts. The study achieved high accuracy results to differentiate and detect four major cardiac abnormalities. Several cardiologists manually verified the proposed system’s accuracy result and recommended that the proposed system can be used to screen for a cardiac disorder. (shrink)

The current research examines the possible outcomes of cronyism like organizational deviance, organizational cynicism, and counterproductive work behavior and also investigates the mediating variable violation of psychological contract among cronyism and its possible outcomes. Many studies have investigated the presence of organizational cronyism at the workplace and its impacts on certain variables. However, the outcomes observed in this study, i.e., OD, OCy, and counter-productive work behavior were not empirically investigated previously as per researchers’ knowledge. The second gap this study fills (...) is the mediating effect of VPC between the studied variables. Thirdly, the study was conducted in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan, which is almost the first attempt to investigate this phenomenon in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Data were collected from the employees working under different ministries of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan like education, forest, sports, information, local government, finance, and tourism. The data from 350 employees were collected through convenience sampling. The data collection process was conducted at two distinct time lags. Results show that OC significantly and positively relates with OD, OCy, and counter-productive work behavior, whereas VPC mediates the relationship among OC and OD, OC, and counter-productive work behavior. Employees enjoying special favors from the leadership seem to be more dedicated toward the organization than the employees who do not have this favor, and the ultimate result is negative for the organization. (shrink)

Given the dearth of research examining the distinctions across various facets of employee knowledge-hiding (KH) behaviors, there is little known about why and when leadership negatively influences playing dumb and evasive hiding but positively influences rationalized hiding. The present study fills this void by hypothesizing that employee justice orientation (JO) acts as a mediator of the associations of ethical leadership (EL) with different facets of employee KH behaviors. We also propose employee conscientiousness moderates the relationship of EL with JO and (...) the indirect relationships of ethical leadership with distinct variants of employee KH behaviors. The results based on time-lagged data from 387 employees provide support for the hypothesized relationships. Together, our research provides a more nuanced account of the influence of leadership on employee KH behaviors that can facilitate the development of more appropriate interventions to deal with the intricate problems related to employee KH behaviors. (shrink)

The crime is difficult to predict; it is random and possibly can occur anywhere at any time, which is a challenging issue for any society. The study proposes a crime prediction model by analyzing and comparing three known prediction classification algorithms: Naive Bayes, Random Forest, and Gradient Boosting Decision Tree. The model analyzes the top ten crimes to make predictions about different categories, which account for 97% of the incidents. These two significant crime classes, that is, violent and nonviolent, are (...) created by merging multiple smaller classes of crimes. Exploratory data analysis is performed to identify the patterns and understand the trends of crimes using a crime dataset. The accuracies of Naive Bayes, Random Forest, and Gradient Boosting Decision Tree techniques are 65.82%, 63.43%, and 98.5%, respectively, and the proposed model is further evaluated for precision and recall matrices. The results show that the Gradient Boosting Decision Tree prediction model is better than the other two techniques for predicting crime, based on historical data from a city. The analysis and prediction model can help the security agencies utilize the resources efficiently, anticipate the crime at a specific time, and serve society well. (shrink)

This study sheds light on strategies for retaining skilled pharmacists in Pakistan's pharmaceutical sector, offering valuable insights for both academia and industry stakeholders by investigating the impact of human resource management practices, including training and development, compensation and rewards, job performance, and job satisfaction, on employee retention. It also examines the moderating role of career growth in this context. Theoretical foundations are grounded in international migration theories and social exchange theory, providing a comprehensive framework for the study. A cross-sectional survey (...) design was used to collect data from 254 pharmacists in southern Punjab, Pakistan. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed for data analysis. Findings reveal that training and development, compensation and rewards, job performance, and job satisfaction all have significant direct effects on employee retention. Additionally, career growth acts as a crucial moderator, strengthening the relationship between training and development and job performance, as well as compensation and rewards and job satisfaction in relation to employee retention. Theoretical implications emphasize the importance of tailored training programs, fair compensation practices, and career growth opportunities. Practical recommendations include creating a positive work environment, rewarding high-performing employees, and fostering career development. Future research directions encompass longitudinal studies, the influence of organizational culture and technology, regional variations, and additional factors affecting retention. (shrink)

A Theory of Universal Democracy empowers cultures and communities across the world to custom design democracy in consonance with their traditional values. For example, the book makes concrete proposals for Muslim countries to democratize their constitutions without accepting Western values and without violating the principles of Islamic law. More importantly, Universal Democracy further develops the idea of Free State, which the author first presented in his previous book, The Extinction of Nation-States (Kluwer, 1996). The proposed fusion of Universal Democracy and (...) Free State is designed to revolutionize the classical theory of government and to offer a new paradigm that accommodates both universality and uniqueness. Scholars, teachers and students of international law, constitutional law, legal theory, and Islamic law will find this book a source of valuable ideas. (shrink)

A Theory of International Terrorism studies Islamic militancy in the geopolitical contexts of Chechnya, Kashmir, Palestine, and the September 11 attacks on the United States. These contexts have shaped a global ontology of Islamic terrorism, which asserts that puritan Islam is inherently violent and Muslim militants are addicted to carnage. This ontology is significantly changing international law. It defends the preemptive war on terror and disregards civil liberties, prescribing extra-judicial killings, torture, renditions, indefinite detentions, and numerous other human rights violations. (...) These normative shifts are considered inevitable to suppress Muslim militants. Questioning these shifts, the book argues that the policy of no negotiations with Muslim militants is contrary to the UN Charter. It also argues that terrorism cannot be eradicated unless the Nation-State evolves into the Free State, a concept developed in The Extinction of Nation-States (1996) and A Theory of Universal Democracy (2003). Universities, governments, and international organizations will find this book a source of valuable information. (shrink)

This chapter seeks to trace the changing relations between India and Pakistan, paying particular attention to how the changing political influences in both countries have affected the cricket teams and the cricketing relations between them. More specifically, the chapter examines the recent decline in relations which is acutely influenced by Pakistan’s worsening security situation as a result of increased terrorist activity in the country following the war on terror. This was most dramatically demonstrated in the attack on the Sri Lankan (...) cricket team which subsequently led to Pakistan losing the right to hold cricket matches at home. It also manifested itself in the Mumbai attacks that led to the severance of cricket relations between India and Pakistan in 2008. Relations have also been affected by the dramatic rise of extremist Hindu ideology in India and more specifically under Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party government since 2014. An analysis of these political changes is key to understanding the plummeting cricketing relations between India and Pakistan. Where in the past support from the Asian bloc had guaranteed Pakistan would not be isolated, today the rupture in political relations with India has meant Pakistan has been increasingly sequestered. There have also been significant economic changes that have seen the meteoric rise of India as the financial powerhouse of the global cricketing world. This has meant that India is able to use the withdrawal of cricketing relations as a means of further punishing and isolating Pakistan. (shrink)

Online forums have become the main source of knowledge over the Internet as data are constantly flooded into them. In most cases, a question in a web forum receives several responses, making it impossible for the question poster to obtain the most suitable answer. Thus, an important problem is how to automatically extract the most appropriate and high-quality answers in a thread. Prior studies have used different combinations of both lexical and nonlexical features to retrieve the most relevant answers from (...) discussion forums, and hence, there is no standard/general set of features that could be effectively used for relevant answer/reply post classification. However, this study proposed an answer detection model that is exclusively relying on lexical features and employs a random forest classifier for classification of answers in discussion boards. Experimental results showed that the proposed answer detection model outperformed the baseline technique and other state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms in terms of classification accuracy on benchmark forum datasets. (shrink)

On taking the common distinction between the legal and the ethical as a point of departure, and in an effort to understand Marshall's approach to self-interest, and thereby to his conception of an ethics of commerce, I read three of his essays in the light of some non-technical writings of Frank Hahn and three other Cambridge intellectuals. My larger project connects self-interest and self-deception to a possible ethics of theorizing in economics, and thereby to the ethics of the relationship between (...) the theorist and the theorized, the analyst and the analyzed. (shrink)

Academic dishonesty that involves the use of any prohibited means for gaining unfair advantage academically has become a global problem in educational institutions. Limited studies have been conducted to explore the significance of personality with reference to academic misconduct. The present study was conducted to find out the different personality correlates as well as predictors of Academic Dishonesty. For this purpose 232 students of undergraduate and graduate courses from different faculties of University of Karachi, Pakistan, with ages ranging between 18-35 (...) years participated in the study. Big Five Inventory 1 was used to measure personality and English version of Academic Dishonesty Tendency Scale2 was used to measure academic dishonesty. Also five questions were developed to measure one more dimension of academic dishonesty which has been observed in local universities i.e., the tendency towards influencing teachers. For statistical analysis, correlation and regression analysis were conducted. Some personality types were found to be associated, and predictors of different dimensions of academic dishonesty. (shrink)

South Asia is one of the most densely populated regions of the world, where despite a slow growth, agriculture remains the backbone of rural economy as it employs one half to over 90 percent of the labor force. Both extensive and intensive policy measures for agriculture development to feed the massive population of the region have resulted in land degradation and desertification, water scarcity, pollution from agrochemicals, and loss of agricultural biodiversity. The social and ethical aspects portray even a grimmer (...) picture of the region with growing poverty mainly, amongst small farmers, food scarcity, and overall poor quality of life. This article reviews the historical perspective of agriculture development in the region and gives a panoramic view of the policy initiatives and their environmental as well as social and ethical spin-offs. The aim is to explore the environmental and ethical dimensions of the agricultural development in South Asia and recommend a holistic approach in formulating plans and programs to combat environmental degradation, hunger, and poverty resulting from unsustainable agricultural practices. (shrink)

The distinction between assets and ideas lies at the core of the misunderstanding between Islam and secularism, the strongest version of which is unfolding in the United States. Muslims view Islam as knowledge-based (intellectual) property, not an idea. Secularists reduce Islam to a mere idea, reserving the notion of intellectual property for literary and artistic works, inventions, patents, films, computer programs, designs, trademarks, and trade secrets. Muslims elevate the knowledge-based assets of Islam to the highest level of protection, more than (...) the intellectual work of any scientist, artist, or corporation. Even in the face of a rising tide of secularism throughout the world, they refuse to consign their religion to the marketplace of ideas, a place where ideas are depreciated and trashed. This clash of understanding between Islam as an idea and Islam as intellectual property breeds mutual mistrust between secularists and Muslims. (shrink)

This Article explores the process of discovering legal scholarship. One may read, read, and read cases and statutes and articles to generate one's own piece of scholarship. But research, though necessary, does not produce durable scholarship. Lasting scholarship is like discovering penicillin. It is like capturing a fleeting revelation. It is an experience reported in language. True legal scholarship is researched poetry of the highest order. Rumi, Frost, Keats would have been great legal scholars. (This article might benefit new law (...) professors who are striving to make their scholarship float in the ocean of words.). (shrink)

This volume, the fifth in the 501 Law series, offers another 100 laws on various topics, ranging from barbarism to beyondism. The Aztec volume captures the dynamic tension between the creation script and human civilization. Humans fight animals, nature, and among themselves. But they create beautiful cultures and civilizations. The Aztecs sacrificed humans to please gods they trusted and worshipped. Pleasing gods or a single God is a notable human impulse. The Aztecs also built pyramids, sophisticated engineering structures, and aqueducts (...) to harness swamps and waters. They battled the conquistadors, who did not think highly of the Aztecs. The killings were ferocious on both sides, even though the Aztecs carried the cross to the Mount. The human civilization is progressing toward leaving the Earth and discovering something more powerful than the human brain. (shrink)

The Blue Volume is the first of the five volumes of the 501 Laws series. 501 Laws is not an extension of any legal system. Each law in this book captures obligations, rights, and powers from nature, statutes, constitutions, judicial opinions, religions, psychology, cultures, archaeology, architecture, engineering, linguistics, medicine, mathematics, physical sciences, and global poetry and literature. The examples offered in the laws are suggestive but by no means exhaustive. They activate the reader’s mind to other instances where the law (...) furnishes insight and instruction. Much like a short story, each law triggers elusive questions and conflicting answers, which take the readers on a path of imagination anchored in their firsthand experiences. (shrink)

Grounding on person–job fit theory, we examined perceived overqualification relation with counterproductive work behavior by identifying job boredom as a mediator and job crafting as a moderator. Hierarchical linear regression and Hayes’ PROCESS macro-method were used to assess hypotheses in a three-wave survey of 317 textile sector employees. The findings show that perceived overqualification is positively related with CWBs. This study further examined the mediating function of job boredom and the moderating impact of job crafting in the association between perceived (...) overqualification and CWB. The findings suggest that job crafting moderates the positive relation between perceived overqualification and job boredom and the indirect connection between perceived overqualification and CWB via job boredom. The model was tested using 3-wave data; however, since the data were attained from a single source, questions of common method bias cannot be ruled out. Managers should look for changes in employee attitudes and promptly modify employees’ positions when they indicate that they have more experience, abilities, and talents required for their roles in their organizations. (shrink)

This work explores whether the nation-state is a useful concept under contemporary international law. It begins with an analysis of Grotius's masterpiece The Law of War and Peace, tracing the historical development of the nation-state. It then argues that due to increased interdependence among the peoples of the world, the nation-state has become dysfunctional in serving the needs of global life. Emphasizing a world without borders, the book offers the concept of the Free State that allows the free movement of (...) goods, services, capital, information and the peoples of the world. International legal scholars, diplomats, policy makers and foreign affairs experts will find this book particularly interesting. (shrink)

Since the creation of Pakistan the foundation of the Idea of Pakistan has been a matter of academic and political debate. There is a difference between the two spheres. The academic debate allows a room to discuss popular and unpopular ideas and respect the contrary views. The ideology of Pakistan, political system of Pakistan and the constitution of Pakistan have always been discussed and debated amongst scholars. The purpose of this research is to explore the famous presidential address of Allama (...) Iqbal at the annual session of Muslim League in 1930. There are many perceptions about the address delivered by Iqbal, such as he demanded a separate homeland for Muslims of India or not. This research will explore the facts of Iqbal’s speech of Allahabad and will attempt to do justice to his words which have been misinterpreted by some spheres. (shrink)

Alexander Pope, an English poet of the Enlightenment, coined the phrase “to err is human,” which captures a fundamental reality of the human condition. Life is replete with errors. We use a good deal of caution and resources to prevent mistakes. Still, we make errors and suffer from their undesirable effects. Errors can be costly, so we are vigilant in detecting and correcting them, which require significant resources. Some mistakes in life change us fundamentally, physically, psychologically, emotionally, socially, and financially. (...) Still, humans remain upbeat about mistakes, regarding them as instructive experiences and a profitable source of learning, creativity, and solving problems. Errors can be roughly grouped as human and non-human errors. Human errors are errors that humans generate. Contrastingly, other forces, including lifeforms and inanimate objects, generate non-human errors. Humans may have to confront non-human errors just as other lifeforms and objects may have to suffer from human errors. Humans live in a vast wilderness of errors, some of their own making and others not. This treatise primarily focuses on human and non-human errors that humans detect, correct, or live with when they find no other option. (shrink)

Artificial intelligence (AI) agents such as chatbots and personal AI assistants are increasingly popular. These technologies raise new privacy concerns beyond those posed by other AI systems or information technologies. For example, anthropomorphic features of AI chatbots may invite users to disclose more information with these systems than they would otherwise, especially when users interact with chatbots in relationship-like ways. In this paper, we aim to develop a framework for assessing the distinctive privacy ramifications of AI agents, especially as humans (...) begin to interact with them in relationship-like ways. In particular, we draw from prominent theories of privacy and results from human relational psychology to better understand how AI agents may affect human behavior and the flow of personal information. We then assess how these effects could bear on eight distinct values of privacy, such as autonomy, the value of forming and maintaining relationships, security from harm, and more. (shrink)

This paper presents an examination of the relationship between the presence and composition of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) committee on the corporate governance board and CSR decoupling. Using a sample of listed firms drawn from 41 countries, we found that the presence of a CSR committee on the corporate board is negatively associated with CSR decoupling. We also noted that the nature of the industry to which a firm belongs, a firm's level of CSR orientation, and corporate governance quality (...) strengthen such association. Further analysis of the relationship between the structure of the CSR committee and CSR decoupling shows that larger CSR committee size and a greater independence and longer tenure of its members negatively affect CSR decoupling. Our results are robust to various alternative specifications and offer important research and managerial implications. The findings of this study contribute to the growing literature on corporate governance and CSR. (shrink)

Amar Bhidé’s Uncertainty and Enterprise: Ventures Beyond the Known, contributes handsomely to many registers: it contributes in the main to risk and uncertainty, to industrial organization, to probability theory but obliquely, to history of postwar economic thought more directly, to narratology in considerable measure, to pedagogy most certainly, especially as it revolves around the so-called “case-based method,” to epistemology by implication, to name only a select few. Furthermore, by virtue of style and format, the book can also be seen, and (...) used, as a general text to orient the lay reader (not to speak of business school students as well as budding economists seeking mainstream credentials) into the disciplinary room Bhidé sees and calls as his own. (shrink)

This paper presents four theorems that connect continuity postulates in mathematical economics to solvability axioms in mathematical psychology, and ranks them under alternative supplementary assumptions. Theorem 1 connects notions of continuity (full, separate, Wold, weak Wold, Archimedean, mixture) with those of solvability (restricted, unrestricted) under the completeness and transitivity of a binary relation. Theorem 2 uses the primitive notion of a separately continuous function to answer the question when an analogous property on a relation is fully continuous. Theorem 3 provides (...) a portmanteau theorem on the equivalence between restricted solvability and various notions of continuity under weak monotonicity. Finally, Theorem 4 presents a variant of Theorem 3 that follows Theorem 1 in dispensing with the dimensionality requirement and in providing partial equivalences between solvability and continuity notions. These theorems are motivated for their potential use in representation theorems. (shrink)