Investing In The Future: A Holistic Examination Of Personal And Behavioral Influences On Cryptocurrency Investment, With A Focus On Social Influence And Crypto Expert Guidance

The research aimed to investigate the influence of personal and behavioral factors on cryptocurrency investment, with the introduction of social influence and crypto expert recommendations as moderators to augment the impact of these factors. Utilizing the snowball sampling technique, a survey was conducted with a sample of 349 cryptocurrency investors in Pakistan. The study employed Smart PLS 3.3M3 for moderated mediation analysis of the survey data. Results indicate that personal and behavioral factors significantly and positively impact cryptocurrency investment. Profit expectation serves as a positive mediator in the relationship between personal and behavioral factors and cryptocurrency investment. Additionally, social influence and crypto expert recommendations positively moderate the relationship between personal and behavioral factors and the perception of cryptocurrency investment. This study contributes to the existing literature by empirically validating the roles of personal and behavioral factors, social influence, and expert recommendations in shaping perceptions of investment in the unregulated cryptocurrency industry, particularly in the context of developing countries

Towards the Utilization of Parallel Programming to Speed up RAM Forensics

Memory forensics uses volatile digital artifacts as evidence about criminal activities. Analyzing captured memory dumps for volatile data requires time and effort. This paper studies the utilization of parallel programming to speed up RAM forensics. It presents a performance-based evaluation of parallel programming in the domain of memory forensics and compares sequential and parallel approaches to speed up the memory analysis process. First, it evaluates the sequential approach and uses it as a base case for further parallel approaches. Second, it evaluates two of the parallel approaches that can be performed on a typical user machine. Our experiments evaluate the use of two parallel programming paradigms: the in-process parallelization approach using OpenMP, and the inter-process parallelization approach using MPI. Our results compare the performance of the sequential approach, OpenMP thread-based approach, and MPI process-based approach. Experimentations compare the performance of three scenarios using six files of different sizes and various numbers of threads and/or processes. The results show that the use of MPI is slightly better than OpenMP approaches on the use of 2 and 4 processes/threads. However, when the number of processors/threads is increased to 8 and 16, OpenMP slightly outperforms the MPI approach. Additionally, the parallelization approach using OpenMP and MPI provides 3X to 5X speed up over the traditional sequential approach. Moreover, it is worth mentioning that this speed-up is achieved on traditional user machines without the use of HPC computers

The Role of Fintech on Bank Risk-Taking: Mediating Role of Bank’s Operating Efficiency

Fintech revolutionized the traditional banking business models in emerging countries. The effect of fintech on banks’ operating efficiency and risk-taking behavior is still inconclusive. The study is aimed at exploring the effect of fintech products on banks’ operating efficiency and risk-taking behavior. The study used a quantitative research approach by collecting secondary data from annual reports of 50 commercial banks from emerging countries, namely, China, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, for the period 2014 to 2021. The study used panel data for path analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the theoretical mediation model by using STATA. The results show that the fintech product reduces the bank’s risk-taking behavior by enhancing the bank’s operating efficiency. The path analysis results show that operating efficiency mediates the relationship between fintech products and bank risk-taking behavior in emerging countries. The paper offers useful recommendations for central bank and commercial bank policymakers. The study is also beneficial for commercial banks that use fintech solutions to increase operational effectiveness and reduce risk. The study is the first empirical investigation into the connection between the growth of fintech products, bank operational effectiveness, and risk-taking behavior in developing nations

Slurry Activation for Enhanced Surface Redox Reactions in CMP

A novel add-on hardware device is placed near the point of slurry dispense that can instantaneously activate slurry performance during polishing via megasonic irradiation. This new technology (Flucto-CMP® is able to overcome the inherent polisher-slurry weaknesses such as wafer-level defects, process vibrations, cost of ownership, slurry waste, remval rate (RR), and RR selectivity. Flucto-CMP® has been successfully applied to various types of CMP slurries resulting in significant increases in the removal rates of copper, SiC, borosilicate hard mask, ILD, TiN, and silicon carbide through chemical alteration of the passivation layer needed for material removal. Specifically, for copper CMP, using Flucto-CMP®, we see an up to 31% boost in RR which is well correlated with the amount of reactive oxidizing species generated through irradiation as well as the measured relative indentation depth of the passivation layer. In addition to boosts in RR, for copper, we see a 50X drop in the variance of shear force and a 5X drop in the variance of normal force when Flucto-CMP® is used. This dramatic reduction in process vibration for copper soft-landing processes ought to reduce wafer-level defects. Much greater rate improvements are observed when polishing SiC, and borosilicate hard masks

What You Need to Know About Personality Disorders

Having a personality disorder is different from simply having personality quirks. Quirks or eccentricities are considered normal; however, when certain dominant personality traits interfere with healthy psychological functioning, a personality disorder might be the cause. This volume provides readers with all the information they need to know about personality disorders, including how to assess, diagnose, treat, and manage the varying signs and symptoms of the 10 personality disorders currently recognized. The latest installment in the Inside Diseases and Disorders series, this book offers a complete overview of the history, diagnosis, and treatment of personality disorders. Using recent scholarship and case studies, it also explores the impact these disorders can have on patients and their families.https://digitalcommons.lewisu.edu/psychology_fac-books/1003/thumbnail.jp

Optical measurements on a budget: A 3D-printed ellipsometer

Ellipsometry is an optical analysis technique that is useful for characterizing the physical properties of a thin-film system. Light reflected from a sample surface undergoes a change in polarization due to phase delay and anisotropic reflection. This enables one to perform non-destructive measurements of film thickness, surface roughness, refractive index, and other optical constants. Ellipsometric techniques are particularly convenient for characterizing coatings or films in the semiconductor and optics industries. However, these techniques may be inaccessible to undergraduate students and educators due to the prohibitive cost of ellipsometers and similar instrumentation. In response to this roadblock, we describe the construction of a simple, inexpensive, manually operated, rotating analyzer ellipsometer (RAE). Required materials include a laser pointer, polarizing film, photometric detector, and a 3D-printed opto-mechanical framework, which are all readily accessible at most institutions. The instrument\u27s performance was evaluated by comparing thickness measurements of tetraethyl orthosilicate films to those determined by a commercially available reflectometer. An average film thickness difference of 0.77% was measured using the two instruments

Design of “Low Stress” Post-CMP Cleaning Processes for Advanced Technology Nodes

The Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) process can cause various defects, and they can be classified as mechanical (i.e., scratching), chemical (i.e., corrosion), or physiochemical (i.e., adsorbed contaminants) according to the mechanism of formation. Traditionally, a contact cleaning method involving a poly-vinyl alcohol (PVA) brush is used to transfer cleaning chemistry to the substrate of interest as well as provide the necessary mechanical energy for defect removal. While this process is effective in contaminant removal its reliance on shear forces can induce secondary defect modes, such as scratching. To minimize the aforementioned induced defectivity during contact p-CMP processes, the implementation of non-contact modalities has become of the utmost importance. This work will focus on the rationale design of p-CMP cleaning systems for emerging materials such as SiC, carbon-doped oxides, and metals. Soft cleaning chemistry structure (i.e., shape and charge), and processes play a critical role in cleaning efficacy under low stress conditions

Developing a community-based local food system in Will County, Illinois: Insights from stakeholders ’viewpoints

The interest in and enthusiasm for shifting food systems to community-based and local trajectories have increased exponentially over the past decade. Part of the appeal of community-based, local food systems is their potential to secure access to heal­thy food for local communities, expand sustainable farming practices, promote local food economies, and advance environmental and food justice. Inter­actions and collaborations within the spectrum of the food system’s stakeholders—from farmers to local officials and organizations to local businesses and residents—are the cornerstone for effective food systems tailored to their community’s needs. An increasing number of food system studies have applied stakeholder assessment approaches to map out complex situations among multiple stakeholder groups with different values and viewpoints regard­ing food system change. However, despite being an essential and influential political unit to target, counties have received very little attention in food system studies, as researchers and practitioners often focus on the federal and state levels of inter­vention to design food policies. This study examined the food system in Will County, Illinois, by applying the advocacy coalition framework and using a qualitative, semi-structured survey to engage a diverse set of stakeholders. The answers to the survey questions offered insights into three overlapping and divergent Will County stakeholder viewpoints (Pragmatic, Environmental and Food Justice Advocate, and Visionary), with the intent of informing and enacting food system transformation at the county level. The discussion within this paper focuses on coalition-building and collaboration between formal and informal groups to empower local communities to develop a dis­tinctive food system identity that promotes com­munity support, collaborative networks, and food justice at the county level

Utilizing an α,β-Unsaturated Dicarboxylic Acid for a Defect Initiated Residue Removal During Cu post-Chemical Mechanical Planarization Cleaning

The development of post-Chemical Mechanical Planarization (p-CMP) cleaning processes is critical for the continued miniaturization of Integrated Circuit (IC) and logic device architecture. In order for further extension of Moore’s Law the minimization of critical defects is essential. This work focuses on the development of surface-active cleaning chemistries via the implementation of an α, β-unsaturated dicarboxylic acid additive to create synergy at the liquid-brush-wafer interface. More specifically, the implementation of Itaconic Acid (ItA) will chemically activate an organic residue (i.e., Cu(I)-BTA film) resulting in effective removal at significantly reduced CoF. This work demonstrates that the conjugated structure present in ItA significantly enhances the removal of organic residues at the surface of a Cu substrate without the expense of effective SiO2 removal resulting in little to no p-CMP cleaning induced defectivity