An estimated 72 percent of people living in 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 principles—leading to the emergence of Islamic microfinance as a new market niche. Islamic microfinance represents the confluence of two rapidly growing industries: microfinance and Islamic finance. 2 It has the potential to not only respond to unmet demand but also to combine the Islamic social principle of caring for the less fortunate with microfinance’s power to provide financial access to the poor. Unlocking this potential could be the key to providing financial access to millions of Muslim poor who currently reject microfinance products that do not comply with Islamic law. Islamic microfinance is still in its infancy, and business models are just emerging. In a 2007 global survey on Islamic microfinance, CGAP collected information on over 125 institutions and contacted experts from 19 Muslim countries. The survey and a synthesis of other available data revealed that Islamic microfinance has a total estimated global outreach of only 380,000 customers and accounts for only an estimated one-half of one percent3 of total microfinance outreach. The supply of Islamic microfinance is very concentrated in a few countries, with the top three countries (Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan) accounting for 80 percent of global outreach. Nevertheless, demand for Islamic microfinance products is strong. Surveys in Jordan, Algeria, and Syria, for example, revealed that 20–40 percent of respondents cite religious reasons for not accessing conventional microloans. Islamic microfinance has the potential to expand access to finance to unprecedented levels throughout the Muslim world. This Focus Note provides an overview of the current state of the Islamic microfinance sector and identifies possible challenges to its growth. It is intended as an introduction to Islamic microfinance primarily for the donor community and other potential entrants into the market.

fac es. n. P a asu us mi ph urf based elements. Several types of nanocellulose can be found in 50 nm,9 whereas the typical length is several micrometers.10 drawback of their use in several applications, such as coating formulations (low solid content and high viscosity). The aggre-of NFCs in their dried form is r composite applications. To t solutions are studied but the hemical modification, trans-er functions thus limiting (or on of hydrogen bonds. ny processes of cellulose fiber estigated, as recently reviewed ly a few and very recent works fting of nanocellulose nano-

Othman MOHAMED

This study examines how product innovation contributes to the renewal of the firm through its dynamic and reciprocal relation with the firm’s competences. Field research in five high-tech firms of varying age, size, and level of diversification is combined with analysis of existing theory to develop the findings of the study. Based on the notion that new products are created by linking competences relating to technologies and customers, a typology is derived that classifies new product projects based on whether a new product can draw on existing competences, or whether it requires competences the firm does not yet have. Following organizational learning theory, these options are conceptualized as exploitation and exploration. These organizational learning concepts are used to gain a dynamic and path-dependent view of product innovation and firm development, and to reveal the unique nature and challenges of different types of product

We construct a new family of linear space-time block codes by the combination of rotated constellations and the Hadamard transform, and we prove them to achieve the full transmit diversity over a quasi-static or fast fading channels. The proposed codes transmit at a normalized rate of 1 symbol/sec. When the number of transmit antennae n =1, 2 or n is a multiple of 4 we spread a rotated version of the information symbol vector by the Hadamard transform and send it over n transmit antennae and n time periods; for other values of n, we construct the codes by sending the components of a rotated version of the information symbol vector over the diagonal of an nn space-time code matrix. The codes maintain their rate, diversity and coding gains for all real and complex constellations carved from the complex integers ring Z[i], and they outperform the codes from orthogonal design when using complex constellations for n > 2. The maximum likelihood decoding of the proposed codes can be implemented by the sphere decoder at a moderate complexity. It is shown that using the proposed codes in a multi-antenna system yields good performances with high spectral efficiency and moderate decoding complexity.

This e-book is devoted to Global Optimization algorithms, which are methods for finding solutions of high quality for an incredible wide range of problems. We introduce the basic concepts of optimization and discuss features which make optimization problems difficult and thus, should be considered when trying to solve them. In this book, we focus on

32 UNIVERSITE MOHAMMED V- SOUISSI

Abstract not found

Document Description

B.A. Karim, and W. Erskinetion. The cultivar was released in Morocco in 1999 for stable and higher yield and for combined resistance to rust [caused by