This study uses Non-linear Predictive Regression Analysis to analyze the effect of investor sentiment on the returns of the selected developing equity markets, including Brazil, South Africa, ...Indonesia, India, China, Russia, and Pakistan. The Principal Component Analysis is applied to construct an Investor Sentiment Index. In most selected countries, investor sentiment substantially affects contemporaneous market returns, and this effect remains persistent in the short term. However, it becomes less prominent over time. It suggests that stakeholders should give importance to the investors' sentiments while making investment decisions.
The research interest in sustainable and eco-friendly materials based on natural sources has increased dramatically due to their recyclability, biodegradability, compatibility, and nontoxic behavior. ...Nanocellulose contains chains of glucose residue and is an abundantly available green material. Recently, nanocellulose-based green composites are under extensive exploration and gained popularity among researchers owing to their lightweight, lost cost, low density, excellent mechanical and physical characteristics. These materials have also shown tremendous potential for applications in biomedical and numerous engineering fields. The mechanical properties of these materials play a vital role in effective utilization and their exploration for future applications. This review article comprehensively presents current developments, results, and findings in the arena of green and sustainable materials. Currently, the main problem is the large variability in their properties and qualities. Nanocellulose properties are influenced by various factors, including the fiber type, ecological conditions, manufacturing methods, and any alteration of the fiber surface. Finally, the review incorporates future challenges and opportunities in the field of nano cellulosic materials.
In the contemporary world, natural fibers reinforced polymer composite (NFRPC) materials are of great interest owing to their eco-friendly nature, lightweight, life-cycle superiority, ...biodegradability, low cost, noble mechanical properties. NFRPCs are widely applied in various engineering applications and this research field is continuously developing. However, the researchers are facing numerous challenges regarding the developments and applications of NFPRCs due to the inherent characteristics of natural fibers (NFs). These challenges include quality of the fiber, thermal stability, water absorption capacity, and incompatibility with the polymer matrices. Ecological and economic concerns are animating new research in the field of NFRPCs. Furthermore, considerable research is carried out to improve the performance of NFRPCs in recent years. This review highlights some of the important breakthroughs associated with the NFRPCs in terms of sustainability, eco-friendliness, and economic perspective. It also includes hybridization of NFs with synthetic fibers which is a highly effective way of improving the mechanical properties of NFRPCs along with some chemical treatment procedures. This review also elucidates the significance of using numerical models for NFRPCs. Finally, conclusions and recommendations are drawn to assist the researchers with future research directions.
•A comprehensive discussion on the economic, social, and environmental perspectives of NFRPCs.•An overview of different hybridization and chemical treatment technique for NFRPCs.•Emerging applications of NFRPCs are also analyzed by keeping in view the enviromental sustainbility.
Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are promising materials for sensing applications, due to their exceptional high performance in nano-electronics. Inherentely, the chemical and thermal ...responses of TMDCs are highly stable, hence, they pave way for real time sensor applications. This article proposes inceptively a stable and superfast humidity sensor using two-dimensional (2D) Molybdenum diselenide (MoSe
) through printed technlogies. The 2D MoSe
ink is synthesized through wet grinding to achieve few-layered nano-flakes. Inter digital electrodes (IDEs) are fabricated via screen-printing on Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate and thin film of MoSe
nano-flakes is fabricated through spin coating. The impedance and capacitance response are recorded at 1 kHz between temperature levels ranging from 20-30 °C. The impedance and capacitance hysteresis results are recorded <1.98% and <2.36%, respectively, ensuring very good repeatability during humidification and dehumidification. The stability of impedance and capacitance response are recorded with maximum error rate of ~ 0.162% and ~ 0.183%, respectively. The proposed sensor shows fast impedance response time (T
) of ~ 0.96 s, and recovery time (T
) of ~ 1.03 s, which has T
of ~ 1.87 s, and T
of ~ 2.13 s for capacitance. It is aimed to develop a high performance and stable humidity sensor for various monitoring applications.
The study is aimed to investigate the impact of investor sentiment on returns of selected emerging equity markets i.e., Brazil, India, China, Russia, Indonesia, and Pakistan using non-linear ...predictive regression analysis. Principal Component Analysis is used to generate investor sentiment index. Investor sentiment has a significant impact on current market returns and this influence is continued in the short run in most of the sample countries. However, the impact of sentiment is not much pronounced in the longer run. Therefore, decision-makers cannot ignore sentiments in at least the short run. The findings of this study may be helpful for investors to better understand the market trends under the influence of sentiments and portfolio managers and risk professionals can devise their strategies accordingly.
JEL: G02, G15, G24, M41
This paper investigates the effect of bank competition and financial stability on economic growth by examining panel-data
from 38 European countries over 2001 to 2017. Bank competition is measured ...with the Boone indicator, and bank stability with Z-scores and non-performing
loan ratios, all at the country level. This study employs a fixed-effect estimator, as well as a system generalized method of moment (GMM) estimator
to control unobserved heterogeneity, endogeneity, the dynamic effect of economic growth, and reverse causality in its estimation. Results show that
bank stability significantly contributes to economic growth in Europe. Economic growth falls during crisis periods (both the global financial crisis
and the local banking crisis), highlighting the importance of a resilient banking system during crisis periods. Moreover, empirical outcomes show that
lower banking competition supports economic growth and increases financial stability. This study provides a framework for banks and regulators to boost
economic growth through the channel of banking stability.
Gallium Nitride (GaN) remarkably shows high electron mobility, wide energy band gap, biocompatibility, and chemical stability. Wurtzite structure makes topmost Gallium atoms electropositive, hence ...high ligand binding ability especially to anions, making it usable as humidity sensor due to water self-ionization phenomenon. In this work, thin-film GaN based humidity sensor is fabricated through pulse modulated DC magnetron sputtering. Interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) with 100 μm width and spacing were inkjet printed on top of GaN sensing layer to further enhance sensor sensitivity. Impedance, capacitance, and current response were recorded for humidity and bio-sensing applications. The sensor shows approximate linear impedance response between 0 and 100% humidity range, the sensitivity of 8.53 nF/RH% and 79 kΩ/RH% for capacitance and impedance, and fast response (T
) and recovery (T
) time of 3.5 s and 9 s, respectively. The sensor shows little hysteresis of < 3.53% with stable and wide variations for accurate measurements. Especially, it demonstrates temperature invariance for thermal stability. Experimental results demonstrate fabricated sensor effectively evaluates plant transpiration cycle through water level monitoring by direct attachment onto leaves without causing any damage as well as freshness level of meat loaf. These properties of the proposed sensor make it a suitable candidate for future electronics providing a low-cost platform for real time monitoring applications.
Purpose
The current study investigates associations between mHealth apps and healthcare decision-making and health communication among informal caregivers in the US.
Design
Cross-sectional study ...employing secondary data.
Setting
The Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS5, Cycles 2 through 4, 2018 – 2020).
Sample
Self-identified informal caregivers (n = 1386; had mHealth apps = 61.3%, female = 63.2%, some college or more in education = 80.3%) who reported owning at least a smartphone or a tablet computer (i.e., ownership of a “smart device”).
Measures
Sociodemographic characteristics, reports of having mHealth apps, smart device utilization in healthcare decision-making and health communication.
Analysis
Accounting for the complex design features of the HINTS data, we constructed multiple hierarchical logistic regressions to compute adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI).
Results
Compared to caregivers without mHealth apps, those with the apps had higher odds of utilizing their smart devices to make a health-related decision, such as how to treat a disease or a medical condition (aOR = 1.65; 95% CI: 1.13-2.39, P < .01), or engage in health-related discussions with a healthcare provider (aOR = 2.36; 95% CI: 1.54-3.61, P < .001).
Conclusion
Having mHealth apps was associated with a higher likelihood of using smart devices in healthcare decision-making and health communication by informal caregivers. Empowering caregivers to make informed health-related decisions and communicate effectively with healthcare providers are both crucial to health promotion and well-being. Future studies should investigate facilitators as well as barriers to using mHealth apps and smart devices in health-promoting strategies involving informal caregivers.
In this paper, a compact microstrip feed inset patch sensor is proposed for measuring the salinities in seawater. The working principle of the proposed sensor depends on the fact that different ...salinities in liquid have different relative permittivities and cause different resonance frequencies. The proposed sensor can obtain better sensitivity to salinity changes than common sensors using conductivity change, since the relative permittivity change to salinity is 2.5 times more sensitive than the conductivity change. The patch and ground plane of the proposed sensor are fabricated by conductive copper spray coating on the masks made by 3D printer. The fabricated patch and the ground plane are bonded to a commercial silicon substrate and then attached to 5 mm-high chamber made by 3D printer so that it contains only 1 mL seawater. For easy fabrication and testing, the maximum resonance frequency was selected under 3 GHz and to cover salinities in real seawater, it was assumed that the salinity changes from 20 to 35 ppt. The sensor was designed by the finite element method-based ANSYS high-frequency structure simulator (HFSS), and it can detect the salinity with 0.01 ppt resolution. The designed sensor has a resonance frequency separation of 37.9 kHz and reflection coefficients under -20 dB at the resonant frequencies. The fabricated sensor showed better performance with average frequency separation of 48 kHz and maximum reflection coefficient of -35 dB. By comparing with the existing sensors, the proposed compact and low-cost sensor showed a better detection capability. Therefore, the proposed patch sensor can be utilized in radio frequency (RF) tunable sensors for salinity determination.
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