Fuzziness and Funds Allocation in Portfolio Optimization

Each individual investor is different, with different financial goals, different levels of risk tolerance and different personal preferences. From the point of view of investment management, these characteristics are often defined as objectives and constraints. Objectives can be the type of return being sought, while constraints include factors such as time horizon, how liquid the investor is, any personal tax situation and how risk is handled. It's really a balancing act between risk and return with each investor having unique requirements, as well as a unique financial outlook - essentially a constrained utility maximization objective. To analyze how well a customer fits into a particular investor class, one investment house has even designed a structured questionnaire with about two-dozen questions that each has to be answered with values from 1 to 5. The questions range from personal background (age, marital state, number of children, job type, education type, etc.) to what the customer expects from an investment (capital protection, tax shelter, liquid assets, etc.). A fuzzy logic system has been designed for the evaluation of the answers to the above questions. We have investigated the notion of fuzziness with respect to funds allocation.Comment: 21 page

Exploring Adult Patients’ Perceptions and Experiences of Telemedicine Consultations in Primary Care: A Qualitative Systematic Review

The COVID-19 pandemic transformed a gradual uptake of telemedicine, into a sudden worldwide implementation of telemedicine consultations. Primary care is a particular area affected and one where telemedicine consultations are expected to be the future. However, for effective long-term implementation it is vital that patient perceptions and experiences are understood. The aim of this qualitative systematic review was to explore the perceptions and experiences of adults who have used telemedicine consultations in primary care. Studies were identified through a search of four electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and CENTRAL) alongside reference list and citation searches. Quality assessment was conducted using the CASP checklist and data was synthesized using a simplified approach to thematic analysis. From 2492 identified records, ten studies met the eligibility criteria all of which were judged as either good or moderate quality. Three themes were identified which were potential benefits, potential barriers, and beneficial prerequisites for telemedicine consultations in primary care. Within these themes, sixteen sub-themes were identified with examples including accessibility and convenience for potential benefits, lack of face-to-face interaction and impersonal consultations for potential barriers, and continuity of care for beneficial prerequisites. Analysing these subthemes, four main recommendations for practice can be made which are to utilise continuity of care, offer both video and telephone consultations, provide adequate support, and that healthcare professionals should demonstrate an explicit understanding of the patient’s health issues. Further research is needed to explore and expand on this topic area and future research should be viewed as a continuous process

A Study Of Some Effects Of Water Chemistry And Light On Growth Of Betta Splendens

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A study of Arab and South Asian American men with immigrant-family origins in new-immigrant destinations.

This dissertation is an examination of Arab and South Asian American men’s (1) experiences and perceptions of discrimination and belonging in two non-traditional immigrant destinations in the United States (U.S.) south, and (2) their performance of masculinities in response to Muslim women’s experiences with Islamophobia. I use intersectional theory, theories of race and racism, theories of gender, theories on belonging, and grounded theory to analyze 23 qualitative semi-structured interviews with Arab and South Asian men who live in one large city and one rural town in the U.S. south. I find that upper-, middle-, and working-class Arab and South Asian men dismiss and downplay personal experiences with Islamophobia, despite reporting a wide-range of these experiences. Social-class position shaped how these men downplayed these experiences. I argue that these patterns have important implications for how scholars studying racism in America should address the position of intermediary racial categories—which include Arab and South Asian Americans. I also find that Arab and South Asian men performed hegemonic masculinities when women were the subjects of Islamophobic encounters or when discussing their potential experiences with Islamophobia. Interviewees reported a desire to control women in their lives to protect them from potential Islamophobic perpetrators and celebrated times when they or people that they knew physically confronted Islamophobic perpetrators who were targeting their women family members. This flatly contrasts their dismissive responses to Islamophobia committed against themselves or other men and has implications for emerging scholarship on complicit masculinities and intersectional studies of Islamophobia. Lastly, I find that upper class Arab and South Asian men reported a strong sense of belonging and connection to the community in the rural town when compared to men from the larger city and middle- and working-class men from the rural town. I found that these men had an easier time drawing on their relationships as mostly medical providers to the surrounding community as compared to other respondents without an occupational status representing privilege and status in the community

A summary of the published data on host plants and morphology of immature stages of Australian jewel beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) : with additional new records

A summary is given of the published host plant and descriptive immature stage morphology data for 671 species and 11 subspecies in 54 genera of Australian jewel beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae). New host data for 155 species and 3 subspecies in 17 genera including the first published data for 75 species are included

Stand development following two intensities of clearcutting for deer and timber production on the Catoosa Wildlife Management Area

Clearcutting is the primary silvicultural tool used by wildlife managers to increase the carrying capacity for white-tailed deer on many wildlife management areas. While the beneficial effects of this practice on carrying capacity are generally understood, its influence on stand structure and forest dynamics is poorly documented. To better understand the impacts of clearcutting, as well as those of prescribed fire, on both short and long term management objectives, a study was initiated on the Catoosa Wildlife Management Area (CWMA) near Crossville, Tennessee, to provide field documentation of the effects of both complete and diameter limit (3 inches dbh) clearcutting on the composition of regeneration and the structure of the developing stand. This information will be used as validation for an independently derived stand succession computer model developed as an earlier phase of the study. Two study sites, each approximately 40 acres in size, were established in an upland oak forest type, which is the dominant cover on the rolling uplands of the Cumberland Plateau as it occurs in Tennessee. At each site the following treatment plots (10 acres) were established: 1) a diameter limit clearcut removing all stems down to 3 inches dbh (following guidelines previously established by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency for this area), 2) a complete clearcut in which all trees over 6 feet high were either harvested or felled, and 3) a control in which there was no cutting. Each of these main treatment plots were subdivided into burned and unburned subplots (5 acres). Subplots are to be burned once regeneration begins to grow out of reach of deer. On each of the 5 acre subplots, 9 systematically arranged sample points were established providing plot center for concentric plots on which a pre-harvest inventory was made of: 1) merchantable timber (11.0 inches dbh and greater) on 1/5-acre plots, 2) pulpwood (stems between 3.0-10.9 inches dbh) on 1/20-acre plots, 3) sapling (stems between 6 feet high- 2.9 inches dbh) on 1/AO-acre plots, and 4) regeneration (stems less than 6 feet high) on 1/100-acre plots. Logging of merchantable timber was accomplished in the fall, winter, and spring of 1978-1979. A followup operation assured the cutting of all stems greater than 3 inches dbh on the diameter limit clear-cuts, and all stems over 6 feet high on the complete cuts. Twenty-four deer and rabbit exclosures, each covering one-fortieth of an acre were erected to monitor the influence of browsing on vegetation regrowth. After one growing season, a post-harvest inventory was conducted to characterize the stands that were developing. There was no significant difference in the composition and structure of the regeneration mix established in the complete and diameter limit clearcut treatments one year after harvesting. The usual pioneer species for this area, shortleaf pine and yellow-poplar were not present in the first year regeneration mix. Virginia pine was present but was of minor importance. Regeneration was largely from coppice. Although numbers, types, and height of sprouts varied considerably among species and size classes, most of the cut stems up to 5 inches dbh produced sprouts. Since most sprouting was from smaller stems, there was less sprouting on the diameter limit clearcut areas as most small stems were left standing. However, many of these leave-trees were damaged during the cutting operation and, although they comprise a significant portion of the new stand, they are of inferior quality. White-tailed deer were observed utilizing the skid trails and haul roads as travel routes. The sprouts of several species were browsed along these zones; preferred species being sassafras, blackgum, sourwood, red maple, and dogwood. Eastern cottontail rabbits were observed only in uncut control plots. First year results indicate that regeneration following clear-cutting on the Catoosa Wildlife Management Area will be largely from coppice, with little shift as to the serai position of the stand components. In general, the quality of the replacement timber stand will decrease as cutting intensity decreases. Preferential browsing pressure is apparent and may influence composition

Optimization of Electron-Beam Activated GaAs Switches

The use of electron induced luminescence (cathodoluminescence) in gallium arsenide offers the possibility to modulate the conductance of the material on a timescale of nanoseconds and with a pulse rate of MHz, through modulation of an electron-beam current. This ionization mechanism allows the utilization of semi-insulating GaAs in fast, high power closing and opening switches. The efficiency of the switches is determined by the hold-off voltage of the GaAs switches, and by the conversion efficiency of electron energy into (useful) photon energy. Studies of the dark-current and the electron-beam induced conductance in semi-insulating GaAs have been performed in order to obtain information on the performance of these switches. It was demonstrated that the contact configuration has a strong influence on the hold-off voltage. Particularly, it was shown that doping of the electron-beam irradiated contact region improves both hold-off voltage and switch conductance. The obtained results allow us to optimize electron-beam controlled GaAs switches with respect to efficiency

Field Emission and Breakdown Processes in Vacuum Gaps with SiO(X)-Coated Cathodes

Field emission of electrons is the major cause of electrical breakdown in high voltage systems in vacuum. The highest hold-off electric field of the carefully polished and cleaned stainless steel cathodes was increased to 70MV/m. Thin silicon monoxide, SiOx, cathode coatings reduced field emission and increased the hold-off field further. Coating the stainless steel cathodes with 2μ SiOx reduced the field emission current by at least two orders of magnitude at field of 50MV/m and increased the breakdown field to 140MV/m, doubling the breakdown voltage. The increase in hold-off voltage with SiOx coatings is discussed in terms of electron transport within the coating. Measurements indicate that current in SiOx at high fields is controlled by Frenkel-Poole electron emission from deep centers located about 1eV below the conduction band. Field emission current is limited at the coating-vacuum interface due to an accumulation of filled electron traps