On the Ethicality of Islamic Banking’s Business Model

This paper scrutinizes the ethicality of Islamic banks’ (IBs’) business model by employing the ‘objectives of Islamic law’ (Maqāsid al-Sharī’ah). This necessitates developing an ethical framework to construe two primary injunctions of Islamic finance, namely ribā and gharar. The former embodies financial decoupling and unjust price gouging, while the latter involves asymmetric information and excessive risk-taking behavior. We empirically and theoretically illustrate that these unethical issues are still prevalent in the IBs’ modes of financing, despite the Sharī’ah-compliant endorsement of religious scholars (i.e., Sharī’ah Supervisory Boards). This affirms that ethicality is merely an impression management exercise of IBs instead of their true business identity. The way forward is to conceptualize IBs’ modes of financing beyond just Sharī’ah compliance by scrutinizing their ethical impact on society at large. This would require updating centuries old Islamic rulings (Fatāwā) on financial transactions and consulting finance academics and practitioners

Hepatobiliary Manifestations of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Hepatobiliary manifestations occur quite frequently in patients suffering from chronic ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease and carry with them considerable morbidity and mortality. Although the true incidence is difficult to determine, clinically, significant hepatobiliary disease occurs in 5%–10% of patients. At the present moment, the aetiology and pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease and its systemic manifestations remains speculative. For those hepatobiliary manifestations that respond to therapy of the underlying bowel disease, medical and/or surgical therapy must be aggressively pursued. More urgent research is required towards understanding the underlying cause(s) of the primary bowel disease and its systemic manifestations in order to improve the overall management of this condition

STRATIGRAPHY, PETROLOGY AND FACIES ASSOCIATIONS OF THE QUATERNARY SPIN KAREZ GROUP, HANNA-SPIN KAREZ AREA, QUETTA DISTRICT, PAKISTAN

The Hanna-Spin Karez area which comprises the Quaternary succession of the Spin Karez Group is located adjacent to the junction of Sulaiman and Kirthar Fold-Thrust Belts (Quetta Syntaxes), southwest of the Zarghun Trough in the northwestern Balochistan, Pakistan. The area comprises over 800 m thick conformable succession of the Quaternary age, covering surface area of ~30 km2. The succession has been named as the Spin Karez Group, which are further subdivide from base to top into three distinct lithostratigraphic units as: Hanna Lake Conglomerate, Hanna Red Clays and Spin Karez Conglomerate. The Hanna Lake Conglomerate comprises 200 m thick succession of boulder-pebble conglomerate. The Hanna Red Clays comprise over 500 m thick succession of dominantly red claystone rarely interbedded with siltstone and very fine-grained sandstone. The Spin Karez Conglomerate is composed of over 100 m thick succession of well-stratified and moderately- to well-sorted cobble/pebble conglomerate with occasional sandstone/siltstone lenses. The Triassic to Pliocene age older successions from the region's north and west provided the polymictic conglomerate, boulder to pebble size limestone, sandstone, chert, and conglomerate fragments. The Spin Karez Group comprises 15 types of gravel, sandstone and mudstone facies, which were grouped into 5 facies associations. The facies associations include braided channel deposits (FA-1), sheet-flood deposits (FA-2), floodplain deposits (FA-3), marginal lacustrine deposits (FA-4) and open-water lacustrine deposits (FA-5). The Spin Karez group evolved in three phases: i) Deposition of the Hanna Lake conglomerate started with the proximal and distal braided channel systems in the northern and southern parts of the study area respectively; ii) Deposition of the Hanna Red clays deposited in shallow lake with episodic sub-aerial exposure, providing reddish colour to the mud-dominant facies; iii) The depositional basin, once again, transformed to braided channel system, of the Spin Karez conglomerate, which evolved over the shallow water lake deposits of the Hanna Red clays.  The Spin Karez group was mainly controlled by continued subsidence and regional tectonics during the Quaternary period that accommodated the space for the small shallow basin (~30 km2) that stacked depositional systems

17β-Hy­droxy-17α-(hy­droxy­meth­yl)estr-4-en-3-one

The title compound, C19H28O3, the fungal-transformed metabolite of the steroid methyl­oestrenol contains four fused rings A, B, C and D. Ring A adopts a half-chair and the trans-fused rings B and C adopt chair confirmations; the five-membered D ring is folded like an envelope. In the crystal, adjacent mol­ecules are linked by O—H⋯Ocarbon­yl and O—H⋯Ohy­droxy hydrogen bonds into a layer structure

Dispelling the myth of a value premium: contrary evidence of Malaysian crony capitalism

This paper contradicts the existence of a universal value anomaly by studying Malaysia, a country with a unique institutional setting. We investigate this counter-example to attribute the anomaly to: 1) the leverage effect of value firms; 2) the investment pattern of growth firms; 3) the economic environment. We find that the value premium cannot be ascribed solely to risk as it is time varying and dependent on the attributes of the companies. Our results illustrate that small cap value firms perform relatively well during favourable economic conditions. In contrast, large cap growth firms perform better than their counterparts (i.e., large cap value firms) in economic upturns as they are preferentially awarded projects to revive the nation's growth

Case study of non-linear PV inverter devices attached to the LV distribution network

Every year, more and more solar power plants are connected to the grid, producing electricity in an environmentally sustainable manner. The increasing number of photovoltaic (PV) installations and their integration into the low voltage (LV) distribution network (DN) is having an impact in terms of power quality (PQ). For example, the voltage in the DN can sustain high distortion values. The impact of a PV installation on the LV network is analysed in this research. The field measurements were carried out over a 3-week period at a solar power plant with a total output power of 160 kW in an Estonian rural municipality. The measurement results provide the opportunity to look more closely at the effect of the solar power plant on the supply voltage of the LV DN. Parameters such as voltage variation within a one-minute period, the asymmetry of the voltages and the total harmonic distortion of the voltages are discussed here

Corn Planter Attachment Effects on Soil and Residue

In recent years, an increasing amount of Iowa row crops have been planted into soil left undisturbed from the prior year\u27s harvest. In 1994, one of five Iowa row crop acres was planted in a no-till system (NRCS, 1994). \u27Various planter modifications and attachments are marketed to assist planting into undisturbed soil. The attachments are sometimes used also after full-width tillage such as a field cultivation or disking. Planter operators use the attachments to improve planting by moving residue or uneven soil clods from the row area or to assist seed placement in wetter than ideal soil conditions. Row cleaners and strip tillage devices impact the amount of residue cover left over the row after planting. Coulters that till soil in the seed zone affect soil around the seed. Decisions on the use and management of com planter attachments can be made by considering their effect on residue cover over the row area and soil conditions in the seed placement zone within the row

4-[(Z)-(2-Eth­oxy-4-oxochroman-3-yl­idene)methyl­amino]benzene­sulfonamide monohydrate

In the mol­ecule of the title compound, C18H18N2O5S·H2O, the heterocyclic ring adopts a twisted conformation, while the aromatic rings are oriented at a dihedral angle of 45.46 (3)°. Intra­molecular C—H⋯O and N—H⋯O inter­actions result in the formations of planar five- and six-membered rings. In the crystal structure, N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the NH2 and SO2 groups through R 2 2(8) ring motifs, while C—H⋯O and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds result in the formation of R 2 1(7) ring motifs. N—H⋯O and O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the uncoordinated water mol­ecules, forming a polymeric network. A weak C—H⋯π inter­action is also present

Reliability and validity of WATCH: Warwick assessment instrument for clinical teaching

Objective: To determine the reliability, validity, feasibility, acceptability and perceived educational impact of WATCH: Warwick Assessment insTrument for Clinical teacHing among doctors in Pakistan.Study design: Cross-sectional research study.Place and duration of study: The College of Physicians and Surgeons, Pakistan, from September 2018 to August 2019.Methodology: Postgraduate trainees were asked to rate the clinical teaching sessions, using WATCH, which consists of 15 items. Percentage was used to calculate gender and participation from different specialties. Inter-item correlations of 15 items with individual mean scores, standard deviations and Cronbach\u27s Alpha were reported, including Friedman test, in order to observe the scores across multiple conditions. The Hotelling\u27s T2 test was used to test whether the answers provided by the study participants to the questionnaire were equal. Construct validity was determined using factor analysis while feasibility, acceptability, and educational impact was evaluated by seeking participants\u27 feedback on five semi-structured questions.Results: More than 80% ranked WATCH from good to excellent. Oveall 8 items were perceived as excellent, while 7 items received rating of good. Inter-item correlation ranged from 0.61 to 0.81. Cronbach Alpha was reported to be 0.975, with significant difference in mean scores of different items (Friedman\u27s Chi-Square=4285.54; p\u3c0.001). The Hotelling\u27s T2 test (21598.871 with F=185.249, df=14,2654; p\u3c0.001) indicated that the mean values of the responses of different questions in the instrument were statiscally different. Factor analysis indicated one factor accounting for 73.97 of variance. The majority (93%) of the participants found the instrument easy to complete, most participants (91.5%) indicated it as an acceptable method of assessment, and majority (90.8%) perceived that it can improve clinical teaching.Conclusion: WATCH demonstrated valid, reliable, feasible, and acceptable results for assessment of teaching of medical doctors and it can be used for providing feedback and rewarding teachers who excel in teaching. Key Words: Clinical teaching, Validity, Reliability, Feasibility, Medical students, Residents, Doctors