Principals play an important role in preparing self-reliant and benevolent students who become lifelong learners, contribute to their nation, and serve society as ethical citizens. Strong character based on desirable moral values can heighten our lives exceedingly. Whilst weak or poor character can have disastrous effects on us as humanity is going through the complexities of the 21st century at social, economic, and individual levels. This qualitative study used a semi-structured interview design to explore the perceptions and practices of principals from ten private schools of Lahore regarding students' character building. This was done using a purposefully selected sample and a self-constructed semi-structured interview guide. The analysis of the data revealed that most of the principals considered the central purpose of education is to groom students' whole personalities according to the Islamic moral values considering them as the universally beneficial virtues. Research outcomes provided us with the information about principals' practices used in secondary schools from a conducive environment to the curriculum, helping in cultivating a community of virtue. This study's findings related to the formation of students' characters can be beneficial for society, policymakers, school administration, parents, teachers, and learners.

Sustainable asymmetric market conditions’ development and volatility in stock returns play a vital role in investment decisions during a global financial crisis. Rational investment decisions and portfolio diversification can have the optimum returns. However, portfolio diversification through Islamic stock returns is perceived as a model of safer flight than that of conventional stocks. In the present study, the GARCH (1,1) - (Mean and Variance equations) has been employed to predict the impact of asymmetric market conditions on returns and volatility of Islamic stock markets (Dow Jones Islamic Market Malaysia (DJIM), Dow Jones Islamic Market Indonesia (JKII) and Dow Jones World Islamic Index (DJWI) Benchmark), and Conventional stock markets (Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE-China), Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE-India) and Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSE-Pakistan), during the global financial crisis. The analysis reveals that the bullish effect was higher in all stock markets. Overall results suggested that Islamic stock markets have a sustainable impact of asymmetric market conditions on returns and volatility of Islamic stock markets & conventional stock markets during the global financial crisis. The asymmetric market conditions in stock markets are strongly recommended for economic globalisation during a global financial crisis.

The textile and clothing (T&C) sector plays an important role in the growth and industrial development of emerging economies. Work stress is a real concern for organizations with no immunity for the T&C sector. It hampers individual as well as organizational work performance that ultimately places a significant hurdle in achieving competitiveness in the market. This study aims at exploring the antecedents and consequences of work stress and how different causes of stress influence perceived stress among the employees of the textile and clothing organizations in Pakistan. Data were collected from 1470 employees of 24 organizations. Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10) and two researcher-developed instruments (34 items and 22 items each) were used for the data collection. Information gathered was analyzed by PLS-SEM (partial least squares structural equation modelling) technique. Statistically significant results were found for the antecedents, namely, work-family conflict, role clarity, work characteristics, social working environment, managers’ support at work, and training and career development, with work-family conflict as the most significant, and for the consequences, namely, psychological, emotional, physical, performance, and behavioral with psychological effect as the most significant. The findings of the study could help managers, designers, planners, and ergonomists in making more informed and proactive decisions while attempting to prevent or control the stress phenomenon in the T&C sector. Moreover, the study highlights the need for gaining more in-depth insight into the work-stress phenomenon proactively so that the effectiveness of intervention strategies might be assured.

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Background: There has been a misperception that menopausal women automatically lose interest in sexual life. At menopause, women have low estrogen levels; the vagina becomes thinner with less lubrication resulting in discomfort and lack of sensation with dyspareunia. There was a lack of standardized scales to measure the severity of menopausal symptoms and their effect on the healthrelated quality of life (HRQoL). So, in the 1990s menopausal rating scale (MRS) was developed to measure the severity of these problems. The MRS scores will be correlated with sexuality among postmenopausal women in this study.