The Stability of Islamic Finance main focus is on the question of the sources of financial instability which seems inherent in the conventional system. As a core component of this focus, the book will consider episodes of turbulence and instability in a historical context recalling the occurrence of such events from mid-19th century to the present. It will present various theoretical explanations along with solutions and alternative financial systems that avoid instability provided by various scholars dating back to mid-19th century to present. The book then will present and discuss the architecture of an Islamic financial system and show that at its core, this system shares many characteristics of an stable financial system proposed by Western scholars throughout history to avoid the inherent instability of the present dominant system. Particular emphasis will be placed on the present financial crisis and its causes as well the financial crisis of the 1997 in Southeast Asia, Russia, and Latin America relating these episodes to the fundamental features of the dominant system. The debt crisis of the low income countries will also be part of this discussion. It will then argue that these crises could be mitigated under an Islamic system or any other system with similar architecture.
Contains 32 papers from the following seven 2013 Materials Science and Technology (MS&T'13) symposia: Innovative Processing and Synthesis of Ceramics, Glasses and Composites Advances in Ceramic Matrix Composites Advanced Materials for Harsh Environments Advances in Dielectric Materials and Electronic Devices Controlled Synthesis, Processing, and Applications of Structure and Functional Nanomaterials Rustum Roy Memorial Symposium: Processing and Performance of Materials Using Microwaves, Electric and Magnetic Fields, Ultrasound, Lasers, and Mechanical Work Solution Based Processing for Ceramic Materials
Approaches on carbon dioxide (CO2) emission reduction in metal production by improved energy efficiency in life cycle fuel use, reductions in carbonate-based flux/raw material usage, as well as finding thermodynamically feasible reactions leading to lower emissions. Energy saving techniques for extraction and processing of ferrous and nonferrous metals and other materials Capture, conservation, and use of heat generated from processing
With recent outbreaks of multiple large-scale financial crises, amplified by interconnected risk sources, a new paradigm of fund management has emerged. This new paradigm leverages “embedded” quantitative processes and methods to provide more transparent, adaptive, reliable and easily implemented “risk assessment-based” practices. This book surveys the most widely used factor models employed within the field of financial asset pricing. Through the concrete application of evaluating risks in the hedge fund industry, the authors demonstrate that signal processing techniques are an interesting alternative to the selection of factors (both fundamentals and statistical factors) and can provide more efficient estimation procedures, based on lq regularized Kalman filtering for instance. With numerous illustrative examples from stock markets, this book meets the needs of both finance practitioners and graduate students in science, econometrics and finance. Contents Foreword, Rama Cont. 1. Factor Models and General Definition. 2. Factor Selection. 3. Least Squares Estimation (LSE) and Kalman Filtering (KF) for Factor Modeling: A Geometrical Perspective. 4. A Regularized Kalman Filter (rgKF) for Spiky Data. Appendix: Some Probability Densities. About the Authors Serge Darolles is Professor of Finance at Paris-Dauphine University, Vice-President of QuantValley, co-founder of QAMLab SAS, and member of the Quantitative Management Initiative (QMI) scientific committee. His research interests include financial econometrics, liquidity and hedge fund analysis. He has written numerous articles, which have been published in academic journals. Patrick Duvaut is currently the Research Director of Telecom ParisTech, France. He is co-founder of QAMLab SAS, and member of the Quantitative Management Initiative (QMI) scientific committee. His fields of expertise encompass statistical signal processing, digital communications, embedded systems and QUANT finance. Emmanuelle Jay is co-founder and President of QAMLab SAS. She has worked at Aequam Capital as co-head of R&D since April 2011 and is member of the Quantitative Management Initiative (QMI) scientific committee. Her research interests include SP for finance, quantitative and statistical finance, and hedge fund analysis.
This timely book addresses key challenges faced by policy makers and the house-building industry in a post-credit crunch world. It examines the implications for households, the housing market, the economy, as well as for government's policy choices. Challenges of the Housing Economy: an international perspective brings together experts from around the world to examine recent housing market trends. The contributions reveal common long-term trends in housing markets worldwide. Despite differences in supply conditions and the role of planning, there is a trend toward rising house prices that has created significant barriers to home ownership for young households while increasing the wealth of older generations. The financial crisis had a differential impact on housing markets but in many countries where mortgage finance became severely constrained, house prices fell and there was a dramatic fall in housing construction. The falls in house prices in these countries have ostensibly improved affordability but the housing markets have been dominated by the lowering of loan to values applicable to new mortgages which has further raised the hurdles to potential first-time purchasers. At the same time as young households are increasingly rationed out of owner-occupation, public sector expenditure cut-backs in many countries result in limited new social housing. Instead, value for money imperatives will mean new funding models for affordable housing that require greater use of public-private partnerships. The private rented sector could potentially meet the demand for the new generation of long-term renters. However, there are doubts – in the UK at least – that this sector will be able to expand significantly or provide an appropriate type and standard of housing. This is an essential advanced text for students and researchers of land economy and land management; property and real estate; housing policy; and urban studies.
Fatigue of Materials covers a broad spectrum of topics that represent the truly diverse nature of the subject that has grown to become a key area of scientific and applied research. Constituting an international forum for the materials industry, the book provides the perspectives of operators, engineers, and researchers regarding all aspects of current and emerging technologies for materials.
A thoroughly updated version of a key practitioner text, this new edition includes a treatment manual of cognitive-behavioural therapy for Bipolar Disorder which incorporates the very latest understanding of the psycho-social aspects of bipolar illness. Updated to reflect treatment packages developed by the authors over the last decade, and the successful completion of a large randomized controlled study which shows the efficacy of CBT for relapse prevention in Bipolar Disorder Demonstrates the positive results of a combined approach of cognitive behavioural therapy and medication Provides readers with a basic knowledge of bipolar disorders and its psycho-social aspects, treatments, and the authors’ model for psychological intervention Includes numerous clinical examples and case studies
Business & Economics/Project Management An exclusive portal to the methods and tools the ROI Institute uses to determine return on investment in project management To survive this modern age of financially skeptical «show me the ROI» investors, it is a crucial step for companies to develop an effective project management strategy in order to stay ahead of the curve and achieve success. Project Management ROI takes the guesswork out of determining how to monetarily value projects by teaching the time-tested Return on Investment (ROI) methodology. It presents these results-based concepts in a methodical, reproducible manner that project managers, executives, and analysts can use as a validated reference for future projects. This book focuses on an array of measures to forecast project value and collect data during and after implementation, including reaction, learning, application and implementation, impact, return on investment, and intangibles. Project Management ROI: Is the first book from the renowned ROI Institute to focus on project management ROI Provides both the tools and methodology for measuring the ROI of project management investments Will help project managers discover the value of specific project management solutions to justify project expenditures
Pollutants, Human Health and the Environment is a comprehensive, up-to-date overview of environmental pollutants that are of current concern to human health. Clearly structured throughout, the main body of the book is divided by pollutant type with a chapter devoted to each group of pollutants. Each chapter follows a similar format to facilitate comparison and discussion. For each pollutant, the authors describe the sources, pathways, environmental fate and sinks as well as known toxicological effects. Importantly, the second chapter on heavy metals and other inorganic substances deals with trace element deficiencies which can have serious problems for human health. Some rocks and soils are naturally low in some trace elements and intensive agriculture over the past half century has effectively mined many trace elements reducing their levels in soils and crops. The final chapter is a discussion about the various risk assessment frameworks and regulations covering the main pollutants. Comprehensive, up-to-date coverage of environmental pollutants of concern to human health Clearly divided into pollutant type with each chapter devoted to a different pollutant group Clearly structured throughout with the same format for each chapter to help facilitate comparison and discussion and enable readers to prioritise chemicals of concern Description of the sources, pathways, environmental fate and known toxicological effect Includes contributions from leading researchers and edited by a team of experts in the field
Sustainable Steel Buildings reviews steel and its potential as a sustainable building material and shows how steel can be used to deliver buildings and structures with a high level of sustainability. The book's main focus is on the advantages and disadvantages of steel and how those characteristics can be used under a range of international certification systems (DGNB, LEED, BREEAM, openhouse etc).