OQ (Oman)

The continuously changing environments of businesses are forcing organizations to continuously look for approaches and enablers that will help them survive. However, although the rapid change in technology seems to cause great pressure on businesses, emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blook Chain, Internet of Things (IoT) and Data Analytics have proven to be effective and efficient enablers for entities to make profit, cut costs, enhance innovation, build and strengthen competitive advantages and ensure growth and sustainability. Indeed, there is huge necessity for businesses to innovate and adopt cost-efficient and scalable business models that assure the achievement of the entity's strategic objectives in the Digital Era. Therefore, entities are urged to ensure digital integration into their business's transactions.

Quantum computing are breakthroughs aimed to revolutionize several sectors, although they also present considerable cybersecurity threats. Quantum computers can manage quite greater quantities of information than the most powerful conventional supercomputers and has the capability to do complex computations. Despite being in the early stages of development, quantum computers have the potential to be regarded as cybersecurity concerns. Quantum computing is a phenomenon that should be seen as a technology primed to facilitate significant innovations in the future, while also presenting different concerns. The quantum cybersecurity threat encompasses data breaches of sensitive health and financial information, challenges to the integrity of digital assets, and vulnerabilities in the encryption supporting cryptocurrencies, among other possible risks. This review paper focuses on quantum computing and its effects on different security methods in the present generation. It covers the quantum computer threats to cryptography, post quantum cryptography and a comparison of different approaches to cryptography. This work also analyzes machine learning and AI in quantum security and its challenges and trends for the future. The literature review has incorporated references from more than 25 reputed Scopus-listed journal and conference proceeding.

Proactive corrosion monitoring programs are playing a key role in determining the operating life and health of capital assets. One of the most critical programs that is being implemented in oil and gas processing facilities is the integrity operating window (IOW) program. The challenge in implementing IOW programs is centered around rendering a full cycled corrosion management strategy that is communicated through an auto-generated alarm system. A team of engineers from Oman was successful in overcoming this challenge by implementing a real-time IOW program using digitalization tools and pre-set IOW key performance indicators.

Advancements in productivity throughout history led to continuous improvements in standards of living; ultimately if current generations had not known more than their ancestors, their standards of living would not have been very different from their ancestors. Respectively, long term economic growth and development are largely dependent on understanding the sources of productivity. Recent literature has identified institutional quality as a significant factor in explaining different productivity levels across countries; therefore, this study provides insight from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region which has not been previously explored in this context. The main objective of this study is to investigate the association between institutional quality and economic growth for a developing high-income region with a distinct economic structure. The study also determines the total factor productivity (TFP) for Oman using the Solow model. Findings suggest different dimensions of institutional quality have a heterogeneous impact on productivity, while the indicator on contract enforcement and property rights had a positive impact on productivity, the indicator on regulatory quality had a negative effect. Ultimately, these findings provide a guide to policymakers in the GCC on factors that promote growth and those that hinder it.

This paper reviews the contribution of tocopherols and tocotrienols (tocols) to food quality as well as their bioactivity and health-promoting properties, which have attracted researchers and food technologists. Tocols are lipophilic phenolic antioxidants encompassing tocopherols that are characterized by a saturated side chain and tocotrienols with an unsaturated isoprenoid side chain. Tocols are natural constituents of several foods like dairy, vegetable oils, nuts, and grains. Their presence in foods, namely, as food additives, helps prevent lipid oxidation, which negatively affects the sensorial quality of foods, and even the nutritional value and safety. Supplementation of animals’ diets with tocopherols has proven its effectiveness in preserving fresh color and flavor of the meat. Although alfa-tocopherol displays much higher vitamin E activity than other tocols, health outcomes have been reported for tocotrienols, thus calling for more studies.

Abstract Islamic banking is one of the fastest growing segments of the financial sector in developing countries. Rapid growth of this segment is accompanied with claims about its relative resilience to financial crises as compared to conventional banking. However, little empirical evidence is available to support such claims. Using data fromPakistan, where Islamic and conventional banks co‐exist, we compare the behaviour of Islamic and conventional banks during a financial panic. Our results show that Islamic bank branches are less prone to deposit withdrawals during financial panics, both unconditionally and after controlling for bank characteristics. The Islamic branches of banks that have both Islamic and conventional operations tend to attract (rather than lose) deposits during panics, which suggests a role for religious branding. We also find that Islamic bank branches grant more loans during financial panics and that their lending decisions are less sensitive to changes in deposits. Our findings suggest that greater financial inclusion of faith‐based groups may enhance the stability of the banking system.

The sub-prime lessons have left many unpleasant policy challenges, and the emerging dilemma for the policy-making community is that while there are no easy answers to many of these complex questions, in the absence of clearer policy positions on most of them the financial systems may continue to remain vulnerable. The general perception, that ‘saving finance’ is critical to ‘save market capitalism’, has allowed a process of ‘destructive creation’ in finance, with mushrooming growth in financial innovations or ‘weapons of financial mass destruction’, which in turn has increasingly weakened the link between ‘finance and growth’ while also creating unsustainable pressures on the policy-makers to ensure that ‘capital’ remains as the only winner in a market economy all the time. This paper calls for appropriate regulatory and policy responses to enhance the congenial influence of finance on economic growth as well as to better balance the interests of ‘capital’ and ‘labour’ in any market economy.

Abstract This paper empirically examines the factors that influence foreign investors to engage in foreign direct investment (FDI) in Oman. One hundred and six foreign equity ventures participated in the study. The analysis of the data reveals that political and economic stability are the two most important motives for investing in Oman. Contrary to expectations, purchasing power of customers, market size, and availability of low‐cost inputs are the least desirable factors, respectively. The statistical analysis indicates that all motives do not equally appeal to all foreign investors from different countries. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.