Heavy Metal Contamination Assessment in Near Surface Soils: A Case Study from Subarctic Region of Russia

Under the initiative of a routine ecological screening taken by the Russian state territories, soil surface assessment of heavy metals such as Cr, Cu, Ni, Mn, etc. was conducted in a city called Noyabrsk located in a subarctic region of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (YNAO) Russia. During survey a total of 321 soil samples were collected from different parts of the region including residential (237 samples), industrial (80 samples) and from background locations (4 samples) of the city. In order to determine the general ecological conditions of the area chemical analysis was conducted. Geostatistical tools along with other statistical techniques have been adopted to explore, analyse and map the obtained concentrations of the heavy metals. Results drawn have revealed some moderate - high anomalies of As, Cr and oil concentrations in industrial as well as in residential regions that can be a threat to public health. The aim of the paper is to assess the pollution status of urban soil and discuss the soil contamination sources for the future planning and management of Noyabrsk city. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd

Attitude of School-Based Nurses Towards Incorporating Advanced Dental Therapist in School Settings: Increasing Access to Care

Objectives: The disparities in access to dental care experienced by children of underserved families have been documented. Despite being largely preventable, oral diseases are highly prevalent. Around 3.5 billion people worldwide live with dental conditions.These conditions are associated with lower academics and missed school days among children. Dental therapy has a long history and is seen in multiple countries. Comparatively, dental therapy is in the early stages of implementation in the United States. Minnesota is the most diverse state to recognize dental therapists to practice in various settings. Commentary showcasing how a dental therapist works in a school-based setting while addressing the needs of children with dental disease, pain, and lack of access to dental care is provided. Method: Data were collected from participants without intervention through an anonymous Qualtrics® online survey. The collected data were analyzed to establish the level of support by school nurses based on the need seen in school children providing dental services by the Advanced Dental Therapist (ADT). Results: Survey results indicate that more than ninety percent of the school nurses agree that students are likely to miss school due to oral pain. Having a dental therapist position in schools will help increase access to dental care for students who do not have access to it. Conclusion: Utilizing an ADT in this role has been proven in some MN schools. Continued advocacy for kids is desperately needed to eliminate dental pain throughout our country, and ADTs can play an essential role in this

Interest Rate Changes and Islamic Stock Return with Wavelets: the Case of Indonesia

In a global economy, shocks affect many financial sectors including stock market through the discount factor of the cash flow model. As in the conventional stock market where global shocks play a significant role in influencing stock prices, it also occurs in the Islamic stocks. This paper investigates the linkage between interest rate and stock returns for Indonesia with the sample period from January 2005 to December 2012 in the time-frequency domain by using a number of cross-wavelet tools. The results reveal that the similar response of the Islamic and conventional equity finance to the global shock. In turn, the result depicts that the Islamic equity market is also sensitive to the monetary tools used in the conventional system. The results have useful implications for policy makers in the face of a global financial crisis to prevent the steep fall of stock market price by increasing or decreasing the interest rate. In other words, since interest rate changes have an impact in the stock market, harmonisation of monetary policies mainly in developed countries can contribute to a decrease in the contagion potential on the stock market

Combining Momentum, Value, and Quality for the Islamic Equity Portfolio: Multi-style Rotation Strategies using Augmented Black Litterman Factor Model

This study constructs active Islamic portfolios using a multi-style rotation strategy, derived from the three prominent styles, namely, momentum, value, and quality investing. We use the stocks that are consistently listed in the U.S. Dow Jones Islamic index for a sample period from 1996 to 2012. We also include two macroeconomic mimicking portfolios to capture the premiums of industrial production growth and inflation innovation, accommodating the economic regime shifts. Based on the information coefficients, we find the six-month momentum and the fractal measure as momentum factors; the enterprise yield (gross profit/TEV) and the book to market ratio as valuation factors; the gross profit to total assets, the return on capital, and the scaled total accruals as quality factors. We further construct active portfolios using the augmented Black Litterman (ABL) factor model to avoid the factor alignment problem, with the factor views predicted using Markov Switching VAR, MIDAS, and Bayesian Model Averaging. The out-of-sample performance of our portfolios can produce information ratios of 0.7 – 0.8 over the composite indices, and information ratios of 0.42 – 0.48 over the style indices, with the annualized alphas of 10 – 11%. Even when we put the constrained tracking error of 1% over the benchmark, our portfolios still produce information ratios of 0.9 – 1.2 before transaction costs, and 0.6 – 0.8 after transaction costs. We provide intuitive explanations for each premium changing over time, and suggest the promising strategy for Islamic equity investors to outperform the market

Combining Momentum, Value, and Quality for the Islamic Equity Portfolio: Multi-style Rotation Strategies using Augmented Black Litterman Factor Model

This study constructs active Islamic portfolios using a multi-style rotation strategy, derived from the three prominent styles, namely, momentum, value, and quality investing. We use the stocks that are consistently listed in the U.S. Dow Jones Islamic index for a sample period from 1996 to 2012. We also include two macroeconomic mimicking portfolios to capture the premiums of industrial production growth and inflation innovation, accommodating the economic regime shifts. Based on the information coefficients, we find the six-month momentum and the fractal measure as momentum factors; the enterprise yield (gross profit/TEV) and the book to market ratio as valuation factors; the gross profit to total assets, the return on capital, and the scaled total accruals as quality factors. We further construct active portfolios using the augmented Black Litterman (ABL) factor model to avoid the factor alignment problem, with the factor views predicted using Markov Switching VAR, MIDAS, and Bayesian Model Averaging. The out-of-sample performance of our portfolios can produce information ratios of 0.7 – 0.8 over the composite indices, and information ratios of 0.42 – 0.48 over the style indices, with the annualized alphas of 10 – 11%. Even when we put the constrained tracking error of 1% over the benchmark, our portfolios still produce information ratios of 0.9 – 1.2 before transaction costs, and 0.6 – 0.8 after transaction costs. We provide intuitive explanations for each premium changing over time, and suggest the promising strategy for Islamic equity investors to outperform the market