TAKAFUL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES IN SAUDI ARABIA: AN EXPLORATION INTO POLICYHOLDER’S PERCEPTIONS AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

Takaful is the Islamic counterpart of conventional insurance, where it relies on a combination of tabarru (donation) and agency or profit-sharing. The takaful fund is considered a musharaka (partnership) among participants (policyholders). The relationship between the takaful operator and participants’ fund is based on either wakala contracts to manage the underwriting activities, and/or a mudaraba contracts to manage the underwriting or investment activities. Participants (Policyholders) in the takaful scheme are the main stakeholders; their equity consists of ownership of the underwriting activities and the investment funds. Participants’ relationship with Takaful Operators (TOs) depends on the percentage of the contributions premium they pay. They have a claim on assets of these funds in case of liquidation and they are entitled to have their claim paid if there is enough underwriting funds to finance payout; they are also entitled to share in the distribution of any investment and underwriting surplus. However, the only right that participants can exert on the takaful scheme is to disconnect their contractual relationship with the company in case of dissatisfactions. Participants’ undeserved rights might be due to management prioritizing interest towards shareholders as they are the main stewards of the takaful company. In other words, one of the main challenges faced in the takaful industry is shareholders and management discretions, power and activities due to the unclear structure of the takaful operational scheme. The Takaful operational scheme should follow the two-tier hybrid structure (mutual and proprietorship) as it has been identified by the prominent regulatory bodies such as AAOIFI and IFSB. However, almost all regulators, of which the Saud Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) is one, treat the TOs as a proprietorship, as it can be easily regulated and supervised which requires an identified share capital and shareholders. The main aim of this study, hence, is to recommend proper protection channels for participants, by conducting two parallel ways research, (i) exploring participants’ perceptions, knowledge, preferences and satisfactions levels about the service and products presented by the TOs in Saudi Arabia (ii) reviewing and comparing the current directives and laws imposed by the Saudi insurance regulatory authorities with the standards and polices imposed by the international insurance and takaful bodies. In fulfilling the aim of the study, primary data collection research was adopted through a survey questionnaire technique. The questionnaire was structured with 4 main dimensions (Disclosure, Knowledge, Preference and Satisfaction) with a total of 26 variables to cover the research objectives and themes. The survey questionnaire was distributed to 9 TOs in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A total of 300 out of 500 returned questionnaires were complete and found fit for analysis purposes. The data were analysed using various statistical analysis techniques ranging from simple frequency distribution analysis to the more advanced analyses such as non-parametric statistical analysis, Spearman’s correlation and multinomial logistic regression. In general, the results of the study show that participants’ overall perceptions and knowledge on TOs services and products is low, while participants reported high overall preferences which implies that participants are demanding more services from the TOs as they have more wants and needs. In term of satisfaction levels, participants reported a weak to moderate satisfaction levels, as a result of participants’ low perception, weak knowledge and high preferences which was obvious from the significant relationship between participants perceptions, knowledge and preferences as independent variables with participants’ satisfaction levels as dependant variables. In other words, in order for the TOs to satisfy their participants, they need to disclose more detailed information about different sorts of financial returns (investment return and underwriting surplus), as participants are financially motivated and there is no effect at all for religious motivation. The results of reviewing and comparing SAMA with the international insurance and takaful bodies, indicated that SAMA did not implement directive laws that address the takaful business nor any directive that address Shari’ah issues. Accordingly, it is highly recommended that SAMA adopts the well-established Corporate Governance and Market Conduct & Disclosure standards and polices that have been set by the international bodies such as AAOIFI and IFSB for better protection for the takaful participants in Saudi Arabia. The results of the research have established effective instrumental tools to measure the desired environment that should be available for the perspective policyholders and participants for their ultimate protection. These tools are based on participants’ perceptions, knowledge, preferences and satisfaction levels and based on the country’s regulatory assessments to support and protect participants’ and policyholders’ rights in the takaful fund

Diagnostic performance of isothermal strand displacement amplification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis IS 6110 in tissue samples

AbstractBackgroundVisualized histopathological findings in tissue samples are not specific for tuberculosis while mycobacterial cultures from such specimens have low yields and long turn around times. A rapid, sensitive method is therefore needed for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in paucibacillary tissue samples.MethodologyIn this paper, a total of 158 tissue specimens, including 42 culture-positives, were tested for the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by strand displacement amplification of DNA targeting the region of the insertion element IS 6110 and detected by a chemiluminescence based commercial platform (BDProbeTec™ ET System). The amplification results were correlated to histopathology, microscopy and microbiological culture.ResultsThe strand displacement amplification based assay showed low overall sensitivity (31.5%) but high specificity (97.5%) which varied across various tissue types. Only 35.7% of culture-positive biopsies were positive by the molecular assay. Some discrepancy were attributed to suboptimal performance of the traditional methods.ConclusionsThe assay is useful to rule in the disease in common tissue specimens (lung, pleura and lymph node); but less so in other tissue types. The poor sensitivity in tissue specimens necessitates careful interpretation of data generated by the assay in conjunction with a clinical suspicion of tuberculosis for making decision regarding empirical treatment. The complexity of the disease pathology along with the low bacillary load and clumping tendency require selection of more sensitive methods or gene targets

Protection and Savings Insurance Consumer Behaviour in Saudi Arabia

Purpose of the study; the main objective of the study was to find out the Protection and Savings insurance consumer behaviour in Saudi Arabia. The study aimed at exploring the reasons that can motivate the people in buying protection and savings insurance.   Methodology: To address the objectives of the study quantitative research strategy was used. The study is descriptive as well as quantitative in nature and is based on primary data collected from 300 users and non-users of insurance. The primary data was collected through a structured close-ended questionnaire developed in English and translated into Arabic language. Findings: The results show that people in Saudi Arabia are not much aware about the benefits of the P&S insurance, they do not have enough knowledge about it and they are not sure that P& S insurance is shariah compliant. The results also show that price do not influence much as well as the behaviour of insurance employees do not influence the demand. At this stage of insurance market development the customer seems to be indifferent to the online services of the insurance company. Besides, the reliance on family risk financial pool is discouraging the purchase of insurance. Other factors such as disposable income, government security system, and feeling of future risk for family influence the demand for P& S insurance. Managerial implications: Insurance market of Saudi Arabia is driven by compulsory lines of insurance namely, health insurance and motor insurance. P&S insurance is not purchased much. The results suggest the managers and policy makers should work on creating and spreading awareness about the risk for family in future, benefits of P&S insurance, insurance as an investment and most importantly that insurance in Saudi Arabia is shariah compliant. Keywords: Insurance, Muslim consumers, Saudi Arabia, Protection and Savings Insurance, Shariah la

Forecasting the Jordanian stock index: modelling asymmetric volatility and distribution effects within a GARCH framework

The modelling of market returns can be especially problematical in emerging and frontier financial markets given the propensity of their returns to exhibit significant non-normality and volatility asymmetries. This paper attempts to identify which representations within the GARCH family of models can most efficiently deal with these issues. A number of different distributions (normal, Student t, GED and skewed Student) and different volatility of returns asymmetry representations (EGARCH and GJR- -GARCH) are examined. Our data set consists of daily Jordanian stock market returns over the period January 2000 – November 2014. Using both the Superior Predicative Ability (SPA) and Model Confidence Set (MCS) testing frameworks it is found that using GJR-GARCH with a skewed Student distribution most accurately and efficiently forecasts Jordanian market movements. Our findings are consistent with similar research undertaken in respect to developed markets.</p

Detecting COVID-19 in X-ray Images using Transfer Learning

Accurate and speedy detection of COVID-19 is essential to curb the spread of the disease and avoid overwhelming the health care system. COVID-19 detection using X-ray images is commonly practiced at medical centers; however, it requires the intervention of medical professionals trained in diagnosing and interpreting medical imagining. In this paper, we employ deep transfer learning models to detect COVID-19 on a dataset of over 20,000 X-ray images. Our results on 5 pretrained models (VGG19, InceptionV3, MobileNetV2, DenseNet121, and ResNet101V2) show high performance of 99% without image augmentation, and 93\% when image augmentation is used

Fear of missing out (FoMO) among social media users: a systematic literature review, synthesis and framework for future research

Purpose – Research examining the “fear of missing out” (FoMO) is increasingly prominent, with a growing number of studies exploring this phenomenon. Despite the increased academic interest, no attempts have been made to synthesize extant knowledge on FoMO. There is limited holistic understanding of its conceptualization and operationalization. To address this gap, an exhaustive systematic literature review (SLR) on FoMO is presented. Design/methodology/approach – Systematic review protocols and content analysis was used to analyze and synthesize insights from 58 empirical studies obtained from four academic databases: Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed and PsycINFO. Findings – Significant diversity in prior research on FoMO was encapsulated in four themes. There are significant limitations in conceptualization of FoMO, along with narrow focus on geographic, methodological and contextual foci of prior studies. The authors propose a comprehensive framework and extensive gap-specific research directions to aid future research. Research limitations/implications – The SLR is limited in its consideration of empirical studies published in academic journal articles obtained from four databases. Social implications – The authors imply the critical need to ascertain motives for individuals’ excessive engagement with social media and the subsequent impact on well-being indicators (e.g. sleep quality) and functional impairments (e.g. addiction).publishedVersio

Cost-effectiveness analysis of surgical proximal femur fracture prevention in elderly: a Markov cohort simulation model

BACKGROUND Hip fractures are a common and costly health problem, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality, as well as high costs for healthcare systems, especially for the elderly. Implementing surgical preventive strategies has the potential to improve the quality of life and reduce the burden on healthcare resources, particularly in the long term. However, there are currently limited guidelines for standardizing hip fracture prophylaxis practices. METHODS This study used a cost-effectiveness analysis with a finite-state Markov model and cohort simulation to evaluate the primary and secondary surgical prevention of hip fractures in the elderly. Patients aged 60 to 90 years were simulated in two different models (A and B) to assess prevention at different levels. Model A assumed prophylaxis was performed during the fracture operation on the contralateral side, while Model B included individuals with high fracture risk factors. Costs were obtained from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and transition probabilities and health state utilities were derived from available literature. The baseline assumption was a 10% reduction in fracture risk after prophylaxis. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted to assess the reliability and variability of the results. RESULTS With a 10% fracture risk reduction, model A costs between $8,850 and$46,940 per quality-adjusted life-year ($/QALY). Additionally, it proved most cost-effective in the age range between 61 and 81 years. The sensitivity analysis established that a reduction of ≥ 2.8$11,000/QALY and $74,000/QALY, which is below the defined willingness to pay threshold. CONCLUSION Due to the high cost of hip fracture treatment and its increased morbidity, surgical prophylaxis strategies have demonstrated that they can significantly relieve the healthcare system. Various key assumptions facilitated the modeling, allowing for adequate room for uncertainty. Further research is needed to evaluate health-state-associated risks

Left lateral imaging position in routine myocardial perfusion practice

AbstractLeft lateral position in myocardial perfusion imaging has been described in the literature to reduce the incidence of diaphragmatic attenuation artifact, therefore improving the specificity of the test

Fractional Reverse Coposn's Inequalities via Conformable Calculus on Time Scales

This paper provides novel generalizations by considering the generalized conformable fractional integrals for reverse Copson's type inequalities on time scales. The main results will be proved using a general algebraic inequality, chain rule, Hölder's inequality, and integration by parts on fractional time scales. Our investigations unify and extend some continuous inequalities and their corresponding discrete analogues. In addition, when α = 1, we obtain some well-known time scale inequalities due to Hardy, Copson, Bennett, and Leindler inequalities

Improved results for testing the oscillation of functional differential equations with multiple delays

In this article, we test whether solutions of second-order delay functional differential equations oscillate. The considered equation is a general case of several important equations, such as the linear, half-linear, and Emden-Fowler equations. We can construct strict criteria by inferring new qualities from the positive solutions to the problem under study. Furthermore, we can incrementally enhance these characteristics. We can use the criteria more than once if they are unsuccessful the first time thanks to their iterative nature. Sharp criteria were obtained with only one condition that guarantees the oscillation of the equation in the canonical and noncanonical forms. Our oscillation results effectively extend, complete, and simplify several related ones in the literature. An example was given to show the significance of the main results