The best ground-based astronomical sites in terms of telescope sensitivity at infrared and submillimeter wavelengths are located on the Antarctic Plateau, where high atmospheric transparency and low sky emission are obtained because of the extremely cold and dry air; these benefits are well characterized at the South Pole station. The relative advantages offered by three potentially superior si...

Muslim-majority countries do not use formal financial services (Honohon 2007).1 Even when financial services are available, some people view conventional products as incompatible with the financial principles set forth in Islamic law. In recent years, some microfinance institutions (MFIs) have stepped in to service low-income Muslim clients who demand products consistent with Islamic financial ...

Purpose – Islamic finance and socially responsible investing (SRI) have been two of the most rapidly growing areas of finance over the last two decades. During this period, they have each grown at rates that far exceed that of the financial markets as a whole. The purpose of this paper is to find similarities and commonalities of both markets and identifies how both could benefit from each othe...

The San Francisco City Hall was open for all participants the whole evening. The building was fi rst open to public in 1915. Its dome, which owes much to Mansart‘s Baroque dome of Les Invalides, Paris, is the fi fth largest dome in the world. The City Hall was build by Arthur Brown Jr. who also designed San Francisco‘s War Memorial Opera House, Veterans Building, Temple Emanuel, Coit Tower and ...

Osteochondral lesions of the talar dome are commonly the result of ankle trauma. While the technique of surgical repair of ankle fractures has been well reported, there are no studies that correlate the presence or absence of talar dome lesions. A possible explanation for this may be lack of intraoperative inspection of the talar articular surface. This retrospective study evaluates the inciden...

The rhetoric of Islamic banking – exemplified in this opening quote by one of the industry’s most prominent pioneers – is derived from its historical evolution as a model of two-tier silent partnership. In fact, Islamic banks have mimicked conventional bank assets – from receivables to bonds, with credit sale and lease-backed debt instruments. In the meantime, Islamic banks have continued to re...

The concept of Islamic or Shariah-compliant finance is based on core tenets of Islam concerning property rights, social and economic justice, wealth distribution, and governance. One of the key features of the system is prohibition of riba (interest) and gharar (ambiguous contracts or deals) (Kabir and Mahlkrecht 2011, 74; El-Gamal 2009, 58–60). There is consensus among scholars that the prohib...