A Primer on Islamic Finance: Definitions, Sources, Principles and Methods

Islamic finance is one of the most rapidly growing segments of the global financial system. However, despite the increasing importance of Islamic finance, particularly in developing economies in the Middle East and South-East Asia, religious and social complexity has acted against a fuller understanding by regulators, policymakers, researchers and practitioners. This paper provides a succinct and accessible analysis of the definition, sources, principles and methods of Islamic finance. This serves as a suitable starting point for further work into Islamic finance and many of the pressing regulatory, supervisory and competitive issues that remain as yet unaddressed

An Empirical Survey of Individual Consumer, Business Firm and Financial Institution Attitudes towards Islamic Methods

Islamic finance – financial institutions, products and services designed to comply with the central tenets of Sharia (Islamic law) – is one of the most rapidly growing segments in global financial services. However, despite its growing importance, it is only relatively recently that attempts have been made to evaluate the attitudes, perceptions and knowledge of current and potential consumers and providers of Islamic financial products and services. This article provides a synoptic survey of the comparatively few empirical analyses of attitudes, perceptions and knowledge of Islamic finance. Individual consumer, business firm and financial institution attitudes to Islamic finance are examined and briefly compared with the larger body of extant work on attitudes, perceptions and knowledge of conventional financial services and products

Evaluaci?n de los aprendizajes : concepto y finalidad en docentes y estudiantes de las instituciones educativas oficiales de b?sica secundaria y media vocacional del municipio de Dolores - Tolima, para el a?o 2013

104 P?ginasEl miedo que se refleja en los estudiantes a diario, en el momento en que van a ser evaluados, esto fue lo que condujo a la elaboraci?n de este trabajo ya que en los estudiantes de las instituciones educativas del municipio de Dolores como son: Antonia Santos, San Pedro, San Andr?s y San Jos?, siempre ha existido este miedo y estr?s al momento de presentar sus evaluaciones. Teniendo en cuenta que No hay un alumno igual a otro. No hay un curso igual al otro pero la presencia de esta anormalidad en lo general del estudiantado es com?n. Esta inconformidad fue estudiada y tomada como un reto: investigar porque los estudiantes deben ser evaluados, buscar el origen de estos miedos y rechazos a la evaluaci?n realizando una serie de cuestionamientos tanto en los docentes como en los estudiantes conducen a dar un diagn?stico y hacer una serie de conclusiones y recomendaciones sobre el tema que en un futuro permitan garantizar un buen resultado en las evaluaciones de los estudiantes.ABSTRACT. The fear is reflected in the students daily, at the time they are going to be evaluated, it was this that led to the development of this work as students in educational institutions in the town of Dolores as: Antonia Santos , San Pedro, San Andr?s and San Jos?, has always been this fear and stress when submitting their evaluations. Given that there is not a student like another. As there is no other path but the presence of this abnormality in the student is usually common. This disagreement was studied and taken as a challenge: to investigate because students must be evaluated, find the source of these fears and rejections evaluation through a series of questions both as teachers lead students to make a diagnosis and make a conclusions and recommendations on the subject in the future to guarantee a good result in the student evaluations.La Facultad de Educaci?n de la Universidad del Tolima, el director del trabajo y el jurado calificador, no son responsables de los conceptos ni de las ideas expuestas por el autor del presente trabajo. Art?culo 16, Acuerdo 032 de 1976 y Art?culo 29, acuerdo 064 de 1991, Consejo Acad?mico de la Universidad del Tolima.INTRODUCCION 1. PLANTEAMIENTO DEL PROBLEMA 1.1. DESCRIPCION DE PROBLEMA 1.2. FORMULACION DEL PROBLEMA DE INVESTIGACION 1.3. PREGUNTAS DE INVESTIGACION 2. JUSTIFICACI?N 3. OBJETIVOS 3.1. OBJETIVO GENERAL 3.2. OBJETIVOS ESPECIFICOS 4. MARCO REFERENCIAL 4.1. CONTEXTO HIST?RICO 4.1.1. Geograf?a 4.1.2. Contexto Socio ? Econ?mico. 4.1.3. Contexto Institucional 4.2. MARCO TEORICO 4.2.1. Concepto de evaluaci?n 4.2.2. Evaluaci?n Y Curr?culo 4.2.3. Evaluaci?n Y Calidad 4.2.4. Evaluaci?n cuantitativa y cualitativa: nociones constitutivas de la evaluaci?n. 5. DISE?O METODOLOGICO 5.1. SISTEMA METODOL?GICO 5.2. TIPO DE INVESTIGACION A REALIZAR 5.2.1. Participantes 5.2.2. T?cnicas E Instrumentos Empleados Durante Una Investigaci?n 5.2.3. Categor?as De An?lisis 5.2.4. Unidades De Estudio 5.2.5. Instrumentos de recolecci?n de informaci?n para la investigaci?n a realizar 5.2.6. Fases De Intervenci?n Investigativa. 5.2.7. Desarrollo De La Metodolog?a CONCLUSIONES REFERENCIAS ANEXO

How much dystrophin is enough: the physiological consequences of different levels of dystrophin in the mdx mouse

Splice modulation therapy has shown great clinical promise in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, resulting in the production of dystrophin protein. Despite this, the relationship between restoring dystrophin to established dystrophic muscle and its ability to induce clinically relevant changes in muscle function is poorly understood. In order to robustly evaluate functional improvement, we used in situ protocols in the mdx mouse to measure muscle strength and resistance to eccentric contraction-induced damage. Here, we modelled the treatment of muscle with pre-existing dystrophic pathology using antisense oligonucleotides conjugated to a cell-penetrating peptide. We reveal that 15% homogeneous dystrophin expression is sufficient to protect against eccentric contraction-induced injury. In addition, we demonstrate a >40% increase in specific isometric force following repeated administrations. Strikingly, we show that changes in muscle strength are proportional to dystrophin expression levels. These data define the dystrophin restoration levels required to slow down or prevent disease progression and improve overall muscle function once a dystrophic environment has been established in the mdx mouse model

Gu?a de buenas pr?cticas para gerenciar el proyecto "adecuaci?n y montaje de una planta productora de pavo relleno en la ciudad de Ibagu?"

229. Recurso Electr?nicoEste trabajo es una gu?a para la ejecuci?n exitosa de proyectos, tomando como ejemplo un proceso gerencial de un proyecto agroindustrial en la ciudad de Ibagu?, donde se establece una metodolog?a de trabajo encaminada a implementar dicho proyecto. El ejemplo pr?ctico que tiene esta gu?a es el indicar como planear, programar y controlar exitosamente la gerencia del proyecto ?Adecuaci?n y montaje de una planta productora de pavo relleno en la Ciudad de Ibagu?? y sirve de referente para la gerencia de otros proyectos similares tanto en el mismo sector econ?mico como en otros, en Ibagu? o en otras ciudades del pa?s.This work is a guide for the successful execution of projects, taking as an example a management process of an agroindustrial project in the city of Ibagu?, where a working methodology is established to implement this project. The practical example of this guide is to indicate how to successfully plan, program and control the management of the project "Adequacy and assembly of a stuffed turkey production plant in the city of Ibagu?" and serves as a reference for the management of other similar projects both In the same economic sector as in others, in Ibagu? or in other cities of the country

Cmah-dystrophin deficient mdx mice display an accelerated cardiac phenotype that is improved following peptide-PMO exon skipping treatment

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is caused by loss of dystrophin protein, leading to progressive muscle weakness and premature death due to respiratory and/or cardiac complications. Cardiac involvement is characterized by progressive dilated cardiomyopathy, decreased fractional shortening and metabolic dysfunction involving reduced metabolism of fatty acids—the major cardiac metabolic substrate. Several mouse models have been developed to study molecular and pathological consequences of dystrophin deficiency, but do not recapitulate all aspects of human disease pathology and exhibit a mild cardiac phenotype. Here we demonstrate that Cmah (cytidine monophosphate-sialic acid hydroxylase)-deficient mdx mice (Cmah−/−;mdx) have an accelerated cardiac phenotype compared to the established mdx model. Cmah−/−;mdx mice display earlier functional deterioration, specifically a reduction in right ventricle (RV) ejection fraction and stroke volume (SV) at 12 weeks of age and decreased left ventricle diastolic volume with subsequent reduced SV compared to mdx mice by 24 weeks. They further show earlier elevation of cardiac damage markers for fibrosis (Ctgf), oxidative damage (Nox4) and haemodynamic load (Nppa). Cardiac metabolic substrate requirement was assessed using hyperpolarized magnetic resonance spectroscopy indicating increased in vivo glycolytic flux in Cmah−/−;mdx mice. Early upregulation of mitochondrial genes (Ucp3 and Cpt1) and downregulation of key glycolytic genes (Pdk1, Pdk4, Ppara), also denote disturbed cardiac metabolism and shift towards glucose utilization in Cmah−/−;mdx mice. Moreover, we show long-term treatment with peptide-conjugated exon skipping antisense oligonucleotides (20-week regimen), resulted in 20% cardiac dystrophin protein restoration and significantly improved RV cardiac function. Therefore, Cmah−/−;mdx mice represent an appropriate model for evaluating cardiac benefit of novel DMD therapeutics

Mechanisms of base selection by human single-stranded selective monofunctional uracil-DNA glycosylase

hSMUG1 (human single-stranded selective monofunctional uracil-DNA glyscosylase) is one of three glycosylases encoded within a small region of human chromosome 12. Those three glycosylases, UNG (uracil-DNA glycosylase), TDG (thymine-DNA glyscosylase), and hSMUG1, have in common the capacity to remove uracil from DNA. However, these glycosylases also repair other lesions and have distinct substrate preferences, indicating that they have potentially redundant but not overlapping physiological roles. The mechanisms by which these glycosylases locate and selectively remove target lesions are not well understood. In addition to uracil, hSMUG1 has been shown to remove some oxidized pyrimidines, suggesting a role in the repair of DNA oxidation damage. In this paper, we describe experiments in which a series of oligonucleotides containing purine and pyrimidine analogs have been used to probe mechanisms by which hSMUG1 distinguishes potential substrates. Our results indicate that the preference of hSMUG1 for mispaired uracil over uracil paired with adenine is best explained by the reduced stability of a duplex containing a mispair, consistent with previous reports with Escherichia coli mispaired uracil-DNA glycosylase. We have also extended the substrate range of hSMUG1 to include 5-carboxyuracil, the last in the series of damage products from thymine methyl group oxidation. The properties used by hSMUG1 to select damaged pyrimidines include the size and free energy of solvation of the 5-substituent but not electronic inductive properties. The observed distinct mechanisms of base selection demonstrated for members of the uracil glycosylase family help explain how considerable diversity in chemical lesion repair can be achieved

Sequential NMR assignments of labile protons in DNA using two-dimensional nuclear-Overhauser-enhancement spectroscopy with three jump-and-return pulse sequences

Two-dimensional nuclear Overhauser enhancement (NOESY) spectra of labile protons were recorded in H2O solutions of a protein and of a DNA duplex, using a modification of the standard NOESY experiment with all three 90 degree pulses replaced by jump-and-return sequences. For the protein as well as the DNA fragment the strategically important spectral regions could be recorded with good sensitivity and free of artifacts. Using this procedure, sequence-specific assignments were obtained for the imino protons, C2H of adenine, and C4NH2 of cytosine in a 23-base-pair DNA duplex which includes the 17-base-pair OR3 repressor binding site of bacteriophage lambda. Based on comparison with previously published results on the isolated OR3 binding site, these data were used for a study of chain termination effects on the chemical shifts of imino proton resonances of DNA duplexes