We compare, using data envelopment analysis (DEA), the performance of Islamic and conventional banks prior to, during and immediately after the 2008 financial crisis (2004-2009). There is no significant difference in mean efficiency between conventional and Islamic banks when efficiency is measured relative to a common frontier. A meta-frontier analysis (MFA), new to the banking context, howeve...

Introduction It is submitted that accepting Islamic Banking within the western regulatory framework has encountered many impediments. A conventional bank is an institution that holds a banking license issued by banks' regulatory authorities which authorizes the chartered institution to conduct fundamental banking services such as receiving deposits, making loans, providing and saving account se...

The present study tested the effect of the combined use of alcohol and water on driving-related cognitions and behavior. Seventy-four female students performed a driving simulator task after having consumed alcohol or a placebo. Additionally, half of the participants consumed 0.5 liter of water. It was hypothesized that combining alcohol and water could lead to an underestimated perceived intox...

Adolescents (N=2,272) from Hong Kong and the United States provided information regarding their depressive symptoms, cognitions (self-efficacy, negative cognitive errors, and hopelessness), and stressful events between 2 surveys 6 months apart. Depressive symptoms and hopelessness were higher, and self-efficacy and negative cognitive errors were lower in Hong Kong than in the United States. Cog...

The present prospective study evaluates the predictive value of 2 different types of dissociation (psychological and somatoform peritraumatic dissociation), and dysfunctional cognitions on symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at 6 months. Assessment of dissociation, PTSD symptoms, and dysfunctional cognitions took place in 49 participants approximately 3 weeks after a traumatic even...

The Multidimensional Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory (MPCI; Kobori & Tanno, 2004) is a promising new instrument developed in Japan to assess perfectionism cognitions regarding personal standards, pursuit of perfection, and concern over mistakes. The present study examined reliability and validity of the English version of the MPCI, the MPCI-E (Kobori, 2006), in a sample of 371 native English...

Dysfunctional cognitions may be associated with unhealthy eating behaviors seen in individuals with obesity. However, dysfunctional cognitions commonly occur in individuals with poor mental health independently of weight. We examined whether individuals with morbid obesity differed with regard to dysfunctional cognitions when compared to individuals of normal weight, when mental health status w...

Recently, there has been increased interest in the role of implicit cognitive processes in the development of addictive behaviors. In this study, the authors compared 3 indirect measures of alcohol-related cognitions in the prospective prediction of alcohol use in at-risk adolescents. Implicit alcohol-related cognitions were assessed in 88 Dutch at-risk adolescents ranging in age from 14 to 20 ...

AIMS To test whether an expectancy challenge (EC) changes implicit and explicit alcohol-related cognitions and binge drinking in young heavy drinkers. This is important for theoretical and practical reasons: the EC presents a critical test for the hypothesized mediational role of alcohol cognitions and the EC has been presented as a promising intervention to counter alcohol problems in heavy dr...

There has been growing awareness of the high prevalence of negative cognitions about the self in patients with persecutory delusions, and it has been proposed that paranoid fears build upon these perceived vulnerabilities. This study aimed to investigate for the first time a wide range of different conceptualisations of the negative self, and to examine associations with suicidal ideation, in p...