Parties’ legal capacity in electronic commerce transactions

The aim of this article is to scrutinise the uncertainty of the Iranian Electronic Commerce Law (IRI ECL 2004) provisions especially on the issue of capacity of parties. Issues of parties’ legal capacity have been resolved in traditional contracts but they are still debatable in electronic commerce transactions. Under UK law, contracts formed by minors for things other than necessities are unenforceable against the minor but enforceable against the merchant (seller) while according to US uniform commercial code in online contracts capacity is not recognized as a legal excuse to nullify a contract. At the mean time, contracts made by incapacitate person is considered null under Iranian law. In spite of technical developments such as digital signatures and smart cards used in verifying the identity and capacity of parties in electronic commerce transactions, the legal certainty on capacity of parties is still questionable. The article also examines the application of traditional contract general rules on parties’ legal capacity in Iran to electronic commerce with reference to EU law. The EU law which is already at an advance stage serves a guide for future development of e-commerce law in Iran.     

A Multimodal Fusion Approach for Bullet Identification Systems

In the field of forensic science, bullet identification is based on the fact that firing the cartridge from a barrel leaves exclusive microscopic striation on the fired bullets as the fingerprint of the firearm. The bullet identification methods are categorized in 2‐D and 3‐D based on their image acquisition techniques. In this study, we focus on 2‐D optical images using a multimodal technique and propose several distinct methods as its modalities. The proposed method uses a multimodal rule‐based linear weighted fusion approach which combines the semantic level decisions from different modalities with a linear technique that its optimized modalities weights have been identified by the genetic algorithm. The proposed approach was applied on a dataset, which includes 180 2‐D bullet images fired from 90 different AK‐47 barrels. The experimentations showed that our approach attained better results compared to common methods in the field of bullet identification.     

Ex Ante and Ex Post Allocation of Risk of Illegality: Regulatory Sources of Contractual Failure and Issues of Corrective and Distributive Justice

The pursuit of welfare objectives through contract law rules could be exemplified in the case of illegality and subsequent nullity sanctions attached to a contract that violates certain regulatory rules. The effectiveness of contractual allocation of risk of illegality (regulatory prohibitions), therefore, varies, depending on which contract theory prevails. Maintaining the validity of a prohibited and failed contract, and allocation of the relevant risks, is crucially dependent on whether we adhere to a welfare or rights-based theory of contract. In this paper we argue that impossibility of ex ante and ex post allocation of risk of illegality is the logical outcome of the adherence to a welfare theory of contract law, as maintaining even a minimum validity of the failed contract would result in some welfare losses. According to this approach unjust enrichment could not be rectified because it would diminish the optimal enforcement of welfare objectives. On the other hand, and despite such prohibition and illegality, a rights-based theory would resist opportunistic and rent-seeking behaviour and would ensure the validity of the contract and just allocation of losses and gains, which arise from the failure of the prohibited contract.     

The application of the Khiyar al-‘Aib (option of defect) principle in on-line contracts and consumer rights

This paper scrutinises the legal protection of consumer rights in on-line contracts through the application of Khiyar al-??Aib (option of defect). Khiyar al-??Aib is a legal Islamic mechanism by which, one party, both parties or even a third party can nullify a contract, electronically or conventionally. Khiyar (option) means the authority to nullify a contract and Aib means defect. In fact, it is a right given to the purchaser to cancel the contract if he discovers that the object acquired has defect that diminishes its value. In on-line contracts, the consumer has no direct contact with the merchant and cannot easily verify the quality of the goods, thus creating a situation in which contracting parties are not at equal bargaining strength. Therefore, application of Khiyar al-??Aib (option of defect) would be helpful in protecting consumer rights in the virtual world. This paper explores the Islamic principles by taking Iranian laws as well as the European law as a point of reference.     

Does war destroy business? A review of empirical publications

The study investigates the economic dimensions of war. It considers empirical literature through structure review to explore the different effects of war on businesses. The scope of the study covers all geographical areas and studies dealing with any respective event in the 20^th and 21^st centuries. However, the study caters for quality, relevance, and recentness in publications. Hence, publications in 4*, 4, and 3 stars journals that are placed in Association of Business Schools of UK Guidelines in 2015 are reviewed. The study with its extant literature presents an important realization that against the stereo-typed opinion about war being devastating to businesses indicates that war affects in various dimensions, that is, positive, negative, or even no effects depending on the nature and place of business. Whereas businesses, in general, may be negatively affected in wartime, businesses critical to war may get an unprecedented boost. The study also indicates a dire need of developing a framework for investigating this important relationship on sound footings.     

Distributional Consequences of Globalisation: Empirical Evidence from Panel Data

This paper investigates the impact of globalisation on cross-country inequality using a large panel dataset. The findings reveal that location and capital are the main determinants of inequality; trade intensity and foreign direct investment make only a small contribution (approximately 4%). The relative contributions of trade and foreign direct investment to inequality have changed little over time and have certainly not increased at the same rate as the rise in global trade and investment activity. Hence, globalisation does not emerge as a significant factor in driving cross-country inequality. Differences emerge when countries are grouped by relative income, but the main findings persist.     

Preparation of Disappearing Inks and Studying the Fading Time on Different Paper Surfaces

Abstract: Disappearing inks have been used in different fields, but it may be abused in forgery and counterfeiting. This research was conducted on the preparation of disappearing inks using different concentrations of thymolphthalein, phenolphthalein, and their mixture. The prepared inks were applied to different types of handwriting papers. It was found that the handwriting stability increased by increasing thymolphthalein, phenolphthalein, or alkali concentration, but in the case of using 4 mL of 1 normal (N) NaOH, the handwriting stability of phenolphthalein and its mixture inks decreased. Deciphering of the faded handwriting was evaluated by different methods; using optical deciphering, the faded handwriting did not respond to the different light sources. All the faded handwriting was visible when treated with alkaline solution. There was no change in the faded handwriting when heated to 100°C; phenolphthalein and mixture inks containing 0.5 mL of 1 N NaOH became red when only Azhar and Xerox papers were heated to 150°C.