Majority rule and minority shareholder protection in joint stock companies in England and Iran

Principally, joint stock companies are governed by the principle of majority rule, which means that while they are formed and continue to work through participation of every shareholder, only those who hold a majority of voting shares can make decisions in companies. The principle relies on contract and is often supported by company law. In the main, it is advantageous to companies, the Judiciary and the economy. It facilitates collective action, allows management to focus on the daily running of the company business and encourages corporate financing, which is decisively important for corporations. It also saves, by curbing minority actions, the courts’ time and the public budget. In one sense, however, it can also be dangerous to the rights and interests of minority shareholders. Using the majority rule, majority shareholders may fix for themselves private benefits or adopt policies which are poor and consequently harmful to companies. Such danger could discourage likely investors from investing their capital in companies and might undermine one of the main purposes of the corporation as an institution introduced by law and business practice to solve problems encountered in raising substantial amounts of capital. This research seeks to study in the light of English and Iranian company laws difficulties deriving from application of the majority rule for minority shareholders and possible ways and mechanisms which can be used to sensibly curb the occurrence of such difficulties. To this objective, it identifies four factors which can explain how and why the rule is liable to abuse by majority shareholders and examines the mechanisms provided by company laws of England and Iran which attempt to strike a balance between the rule of majority and interests of minority shareholders

A Maqasid-ul-Shari’ah Analysis of the Permissible Futures Trading in Islamic Financial Markets

Despite the widespread use of futures contracts as a risk mitigation instrument in the current financial markets, Islamic economies commonly feel uncomfortable with it for fear of its potential clash with the Islamic law of contracts. This research aims to justify only the futures trading that contributes to reducing investors’ financial risks. This paper argues that a risk-hedging futures contract can Islamically be justified if Shari’ah rules are construed in the light of its broader purpose, what is known as Maqasid-ul-Shari’a. A qualitative research methodology with a deductive interpretive approach is used in this study to analytically explore the role of Maqasid-ul-Shari’a in authorising permissible futures trading. The relevant data is collected from primary sources (Quran and Sunnah) and secondary sources (Islamic jurisprudence, textbooks, journal articles and review papers). By deploying the theory of Maqasid-ul-Shari’a, the prevalent Islamic jurisprudential approach is constructively reinterpreted to formulate general principles and guidelines under which futures trading can comfortably be approved. The study's overall findings suggest that on several counts of necessities, risk-hedging futures help Muslims preserve both the individual and the public wealth, safeguard the human self, honour and religion, facilitate their transactions and prevent future business conflicts. The Maqasid-ul-Shariah analysis of futures trading adds to the permissibility view that risk hedging futures trading should be recognised and declared as permissible not simply because they do not conflict with any prohibition or benefit the individual parties involved but also because they serve the broader interests of the public (al-masalih-al-aammah). This study is the first to analytically discuss the permissibility of futures trading under a combined reinterpreted guideline of Islamic jurisprudence and Maqasid-ul-Shariah

Why do Zakah Institutions in Sri Lanka Underperform?

Zakah as a compulsory worship obligation of Muslims has been practiced for several decades in an institutionalized form in Sri Lanka. Although the institutionalized mechanism contributes to some improvements in socioeconomic conditions, recent research highlighted that the impact of such a model is yet below the expected level. The institutional zakah practice in Sri Lanka has remained essentially informal lacking any state recognition or zakah specific regulation. This paper examined the contemporary challenges and root causes of the zakah institutions’ underperformance in Sri Lanka. This paper took a qualitative methodology and collected primary and secondary data through official documents, interviews, and published literature. The empirical findings of the paper reveal a threefold challenge that contributes to the inefficient institutional zakah performance, namely low collection, ineffective disbursement, and external hurdles. The paper suggests that the prolonged dominant informal and individualist zakah culture of Sri Lankan Muslims fails to actualize the designated goals of zakah and this in turn has contributed to the contemporary challenges. The paper highlights the need for developing an alternative jurisprudential methodology that has the potential to offer sensible remedies to the contemporary identified challenges. The paper suggests that zakah institutions must thoroughly re-evaluate existing zakah applications to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their zakah management systems. It is also suggested that it would be helpful to establish a National Zakah Consultative Body that can advise the government on adopting effective regulations or guidance relevant to zakah management for the Sri Lankan Muslim minority

Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BackgroundDisorders affecting the nervous system are diverse and include neurodevelopmental disorders, late-life neurodegeneration, and newly emergent conditions, such as cognitive impairment following COVID-19. Previous publications from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study estimated the burden of 15 neurological conditions in 2015 and 2016, but these analyses did not include neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11, or a subset of cases of congenital, neonatal, and infectious conditions that cause neurological damage. Here, we estimate nervous system health loss caused by 37 unique conditions and their associated risk factors globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2021.MethodsWe estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs), by age and sex in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2021. We included morbidity and deaths due to neurological conditions, for which health loss is directly due to damage to the CNS or peripheral nervous system. We also isolated neurological health loss from conditions for which nervous system morbidity is a consequence, but not the primary feature, including a subset of congenital conditions (ie, chromosomal anomalies and congenital birth defects), neonatal conditions (ie, jaundice, preterm birth, and sepsis), infectious diseases (ie, COVID-19, cystic echinococcosis, malaria, syphilis, and Zika virus disease), and diabetic neuropathy. By conducting a sequela-level analysis of the health outcomes for these conditions, only cases where nervous system damage occurred were included, and YLDs were recalculated to isolate the non-fatal burden directly attributable to nervous system health loss. A comorbidity correction was used to calculate total prevalence of all conditions that affect the nervous system combined.FindingsGlobally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer.InterpretationAs the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Subclinical Deep Vein Thrombosis; Role of Color Doppler Ultrasonography before Bariatric Surgery

Background and Aim: Obesity increases risk of venous thromboembolism due to increase in coagulation factors. Screening for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) before bariatric surgery can minimize the incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in these patients. This study aimed to determine the importance of color Doppler ultrasound before bariatric surgery to detect subclinical deep vein thrombosis in the patients. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive cohort study. The study population included candidates for bariatric surgery admitted to Modares and Loghman hospitals in Tehran (a bariatric surgery center in Iran) between March-20 and September-20, 2021. Patients were followed up for 30 days after surgery. Census sampling was used. Data were finally entered into SPSS-23 statistical software and analyzed by descriptive tests. Results: Among 125 patients in this study, 85 (64%) were woman. The patient’s mean and standard deviation of age and Body Mass Index were 33.68 ± 6.8 and 43.15 ± 4.9, respectively. Before surgery, all patients were evaluated for subclinical DVT and the results of the study showed that none of the patients had any evidence in favor of DVT. After the surgery, the patients underwent regular follow-ups for a month, but no positive cases of deep vein thrombosis were reported. Conclusion: In our study thromboembolic problems were rare in patients before obesity surgery. Therefore, routine ultrasound examination before surgery does not seem reasonable

Call for a hybrid model of Zakāh disbursement in Sri Lanka

This paper chiefly is focused on analyzing the disbursement system of Sri Lankan voluntary zakāh institutions. Although the institutionalization of zakāh has been in existence for several decades, its impact on the socio-economic condition of the Sri Lankan Muslim minority remains limited. According to some preliminary studies, the dominant consumption-oriented zakāh disbursement is a prime factor hampering the materialization of multiple socio-economic objectives of zakāh in the Sri Lankan pluralistic context. This study deployed the qualitative method along with content analysis to analyze the relevant data collected from the interviews and the existing literature on the subject. This study proposes that the current consumption-oriented distribution should be combined with the result-oriented distribution and carried out at all regional levels in a standard and well-planned manner that is capable to accommodate the investment and skill-oriented distributing systems. Such a hybrid mode of disbursement would contribute to realizing the broader objectives of zakāh for Muslim minorities in Sri Lanka

Land cover change mapping using a combination of sentinel 1 data and multispectral satellite imagery: a case study of Sanandaj county, Kurdistan, Iran

Land Cover Maps (LCMs) represent the integrated information about general status of a specific region, which are widely used as a baseline for many related purposes. This study aims to extract the land covers of Sanandaj County, Kurdistan, Iran, along with to highlight the occurred changes compared with an old map prepared by the Iranian Institute of Water and Soil in 2010. The combination model of Sentinel-1 and Landsat-8 satellite imageries was used for the dates 10/05/2017 and 11/05/2017, respectively. It is noted that based on the location of the study area we acquired Sentinel-1 data and a pair of Landsat-8 images. Using Sentinel Application Platform (SNAP) and Environment for Visualizing Image (ENVI) softwares all images were corrected, co-registered and stacked. The combination of RADAR, NDVI and thermal bands was utilized as the best combination for the visual interpretation, with which all land covers can be easily differentiated. However, with help of the Google Earth images the land covers (polygon by polygon) were checked and digitized. Results indicate that the visual interpretation of the combination model with the assist of Google Earth is a robust way to extract land covers, provided that the researchers have enough knowledge on the land covers of the study area. This study can be applicable for decision makers of Sanandaj City

Shallow Landslide Prediction Using a Novel Hybrid Functional Machine Learning Algorithm

We used a novel hybrid functional machine learning algorithm to predict the spatial distribution of landslides in the Sarkhoon watershed, Iran. We developed a new ensemble model which is a combination of a functional algorithm, stochastic gradient descent (SGD) and an AdaBoost (AB) Meta classifier namely ABSGD model to predict the landslides. The model incorporates 20 landslide conditioning factors, which we ranked using the least-square support vector machine (LSSVM) technique. For the modeling, we considered 98 landslide locations, of which 70% (79) were used for training and 30% (19) for validation processes. Model validation was performed using sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, the root mean square error (RMSE) and the area under the receiver operatic characteristic (AUC) curve. We also used soft computing benchmark models, including SGD, logistic regression (LR), logistic model tree (LMT) and functional tree (FT) algorithms for model validation and comparison. The selected conditioning factors were significant in landslide occurrence but distance to road was found to be the most important factor. The ABSGD model (AUC= 0.860) outperformed the LR (0.797), SGD (0.776), LMT (0.740) and FT (0.734) models. Our results confirm that the combined use of a functional algorithm and a Meta classifier prevents over-fitting, reduces noise and enhances the power prediction of the individual SGD algorithm for the spatial prediction of landslides