Past studies suggest that the Islamic …nance system is only weakly linked or even decoupled from conventional markets. If this statement is true, then this system may provide a cushion against potential losses resulting from probable future …nancial crises. In this article, we make use of heteroscedasticity-robust linear Granger causality and nonlinear Granger causality tests to examine the links between the Islamic and global conventional stock markets, and between the Islamic stock market and several global economic and …nancial shocks. Our …ndings reveal evidence of signi…cant linear and nonlinear causality between the Islamic and conventional stock markets but more strongly from the Islamic stock market to the other markets. They also show potent causality between the Islamic stock market and …nancial and risk factors. This evidence leads to the rejection of the hypothesis of decoupling of the Islamic market from their conventional counterparts, thereby reduces the portfolio bene…ts from diversi…cation with Sharia-based markets. A striking result shows a connection between the Islamic stock market and interest rates and interestbearing securities, which is inconsistent with the Sharia rules. The results also suggest that modeling Islamic stock markets should be done within a nonlinear VAR system and not through a regression equation.

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Abstract.This study employs fourteen global economic and financial variables to predict the return of the Islamic stock market as identified by the Dow Jones Islamic stock market. It implements alternative forecasting methods and allows for nonlinearity in the multivariate predictive regressions by estimating time-varying parameter models. All the methods fail to forecast the returns of the Sharia-based DJIM index over the out-of-sample period. The forecasts are weak at best, with only four predictors the three-month Treasury bill rate, inflation, oil price and return on the S&P500 index outperforming the benchmark autoregressive model of order one. The study suggests that the DJIM return is best predicted by an AR(1) model, and that future research should aim at analysing whether the performance of the linear autoregressive model can be improved by using nonlinear methods

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In sport settings, imagery is regarded as one of the most popular and effective techniques to enhance the learning strategies and performance of skills. However, its effect on the correction of improper technique such as landing, which causes injury, is not clear. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of imagery on knee and hip flexion angle during jump landing in women. The landing motions were captured from 40 female physical education students (height: 166.05 ± 7.52 cm; mass: 55.75 ± 9.23 kg; age: 20.45 ± 1.66 years) using a 3-dimensional technique at 60 Hz by 3 video cameras. There was a significant difference between no imagery (27.04 ± 2.40°) and imagery (22.98 ± 1.95°) on knee valgus angle, and also, there was a significant difference between no imagery (44.88 ± 13.46°) and imagery (62.35 ± 8.34°) on the knee flexion angle (p ≤ 0.001). There is, in addition, a significant difference between the effect of no imagery (28.60 ± 4.88°) and imagery (39.73 ± 7.29°) on hip flexion angle (p ≤ 0.001). It seems that imagery can be used to correct motions and movements. Based on this finding, we concluded that imagery, probably, can be used as a training strategy to change athletic motion; however, the authors suggest further investigation into the efficacy of imagery in the prevention of anterior cruciate ligament injury.