Information systems for adaptive shariah compliant financial services: defining adaptation constructs

Asymmetry of information in financial service creates excessive uncertainty termed gharar, which makes a financial transaction invalid (haram) in Islamic Law (Shariah). Information systems customised to shariah compliant financial service (SCFS) can make information flow more symmetric and can in turn reduce gharar. Based on information related to emergent SCFS design stakeholders i.e. financial regulators, bankers and customers make adaptation and migration decisions. However, unique nature of SCFS design requires adaptation (migration) of emergent SCFS in compliance to shariah. We discuss general service and SCFS literatures to define structural constructs of SCFS. We then discuss qiyas, which is the juridical principle of defining emergence for expansion in shariah rulings, and theory of deferred action, which is a design adaptability theory drawing in complexity. The adaptation construct for SCFS designs is defined and discussed in the joint framework of qiyas and theory of deferred action

A method for identifying communication breakdowns in user-interfaces

Businesses are increasingly communicating with their customers via web-based interfaces. However, users are experiencing a lack of guidance and support in the communication of these often complex services. This paper proposes a method for identifying where and why there is a breakdown in communication between the interface and the user. In creating the method, the importance and value of having such a method are considered and discussed, particularly for communication rich interfaces. The method is developed based on the results from user trials with a mortgage application interface using the existing evaluation method. Although the results from piloting the method suggest that it is useful for identifying communication breakdowns within the user-interfaces, more work is required before a definitive method can be produced. As a result of this study it appears that communication breakdowns are related either to the information within an interface or to the process

Significance of foundation-soil separation in dynamic soil-structure interaction

THe dynamic response of flexible surface strip-foundations allowed to uplift is numerically obtained for externally applied forces of a transient time variation. The soil medium is represented by an isotropic, homogeneous and linear half-space. The soil is treated by a time domain boundary element method, while the flexible foundation is treated by the finite element method. It was concluded that intermediate relative stiffness leads to moderate deformations when uplift is permitted. Very flexible footings produce higher deformations in unilateral contact compared to bilateral contact, and thus should be considered in their design. Unilateral contact does not significantly increase deformations for stiff footings subjected to concentrated central loading. However, relatively large deformation differences occur when the loading is eccentric, necessitating consideration of uplift in their design

Metallic oxide switches using thick film technology

Metallic oxide thick film switches were processed on alumina substrates using thick film technology. Vanadium pentoxide in powder form was mixed with other oxides e.g., barium, strontium copper and glass frit, ground to a fine powder. Pastes and screen printable inks were made using commercial conductive vehicles and appropriate thinners. Some switching devices were processed by conventional screen printing and firing of the inks and commercial cermet conductor terminals on 96% alumina substrates while others were made by applying small beads or dots of the pastes between platinum wires. Static, and dynamic volt-ampere, and pulse tests indicate that the switching and self-oscillatory characteristics of these devices could make them useful in memory element, oscillator, and automatic control applications

Delayed Access to Generic Medicine: A Comment on the Hatch-Waxman Act and the Approval Bottleneck

Prescription drug costs can be astronomical. The advent of generic drugs, which sell at substantially lower prices than their brand-name counterparts, can save consumers billions of dollars per year. The Hatch-Waxman Act, which governs the introduction of generic pharmaceuticals into the marketplace, produces an undesired side effect-the approval bottleneck. This Comment examines the approval bottleneck -a potential roadbolock to the generic drug approval process, and comments on attempts to alleviate the problem. This comment suggest that developments in statutes and case law have made leaps in attempting to alleviate the approval bottleneck problem. The Comment evaluate these developments, which include (1) the ability of a subsequent Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) filer to trigger the generic exclusivity period of the first ANDA filer; (2) the forfeiture provisions; (3) declaratory judgments and the relaxed declaratory judgment test; and (4) the rulings on covenants not to sue. Despite these attempts, however, the potential harm to consumers resulting from delayed access to generic medicines remain

Fault Testing for Reversible Circuits

Applications of reversible circuits can be found in the fields of low-power computation, cryptography, communications, digital signal processing, and the emerging field of quantum computation. Furthermore, prototype circuits for low-power applications are already being fabricated in CMOS. Regardless of the eventual technology adopted, testing is sure to be an important component in any robust implementation. We consider the test set generation problem. Reversibility affects the testing problem in fundamental ways, making it significantly simpler than for the irreversible case. For example, we show that any test set that detects all single stuck-at faults in a reversible circuit also detects all multiple stuck-at faults. We present efficient test set constructions for the standard stuck-at fault model as well as the usually intractable cell-fault model. We also give a practical test set generation algorithm, based on an integer linear programming formulation, that yields test sets approximately half the size of those produced by conventional ATPG.Comment: 30 pages, 8 figures. to appear in IEEE Trans. on CA

Arrhythmia induction using isoproterenol or epinephrine during electrophysiology study for supraventricular tachycardia

Background Electrophysiology study (EPS) is an important part of the diagnosis and workup for supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). Provocative medications are used to induce arrhythmias, when they are not inducible at baseline. The most common medication is the β1‐specific agonist, isoproterenol, but recent price increases have resulted in a shift toward the nonspecific agonist, epinephrine. Objective We hypothesize that isoproterenol is a better induction agent for SVT during EPS than epinephrine. Methods We created a retrospective cohort of 131 patients, who underwent EPS and required medication infusion with either isoproterenol or epinephrine for SVT induction. The primary outcome was arrhythmia induction. Results Successful induction was achieved in 71% of isoproterenol cases and 53% of epinephrine cases (P = 0.020). Isoproterenol was significantly better than epinephrine for SVT induction during EPS (odds ratio [OR], 2.35; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.14‐4.85; P = 0.021). There was no difference in baseline variables or complications between the two groups. Other variables associated with successful arrhythmia induction included a longer procedure duration and atrioventricular nodal re‐entry tachycardia as the clinical arrhythmia. In a multivariable model, isoproterenol remained significantly associated with successful induction (OR, 2.57; 95% CI, 1.002‐6.59; P = 0.05). Conclusions Isoproterenol was significantly better than epinephrine for SVT arrhythmia induction. However, epinephrine was safe and successfully induced arrhythmias in the majority of patients who received it. Furthermore, when atropine was added in epinephrine‐refractory cases, in a post hoc analysis there was no difference in arrhythmia induction between medications. Cost savings could thus be significant without compromising safety