FinTech Innovation: Review and Future Research Directions

This paper aims to survey the most recent theoretical and empirical literature on FinTech innovations in the financial sector. The purpose of this review is to investigate how FinTech Innovations are altering and reshaping the universe of financial service providers, and challenging traditional business models and infrastructures. This study summarizes the opportunities and challenges of FinTech Innovations and the implications to the legacy incumbent financial services companies. FinTech innovation fusions technological capabilities potentially provide innovative financial products and services to foster financial inclusion, streamline processes, and lower costs to clients. FinTech can bring greater competition and diversity in financial services. Further, this research interprets the findings from the lens of institutional theory to advance the theoretical understanding of social changes facilitated by FinTech innovations in revolutionary areas in banking (lending, payment), security trading (real-time settlement, automated investment), and insurance (personalized experience). The investigation points out the regulatory concerns highlighted in the scholarly works, suggesting collaboration is critical to enable multi-stakeholders to anticipate and foster pro-innovative, transparent regulations to deliver meaningful benefits to innovation and financial inclusion. Lastly, this review identifies future research areas to further enrich knowledge to create a future-proof, more efficient, and resilient financial ecosystem to enhance financial stability in the digital era

Indications of a Large Fraction of Spectroscopic Binaries Among Nuclei of Planetary Nebulae

Previous work indicates that about 10% of planetary-nebula nuclei (PNNi) are photometrically variable short-period binaries with periods of hours to a few days. These systems have most likely descended from common-envelope (CE) interactions in initially much wider binaries. Population-synthesis studies suggest that these very close pairs could be the short-period tail of a much larger post-CE binary population with periods of up to a few months. We have initiated a radial-velocity (RV) survey of PNNi with the WIYN 3.5-m telescope and Hydra spectrograph, which is aimed at discovering these intermediate-period binaries. We present initial results showing that 10 out of 11 well-observed PNNi have variable RVs, suggesting that a significant binary population may be present. However, further observations are required because we have as yet been unable to fit our sparse measurements with definite orbital periods, and because some of the RV variability might be due to variations in the stellar winds of some of our PNNi.Comment: 11 pages, 1 table, no figures. Accepted by the Astrophysical Journal Letter

Induced Magnetic Ordering by Proton Irradiation in Graphite

We provide evidence that proton irradiation of energy 2.25 MeV on highly-oriented pyrolytic graphite samples triggers ferro- or ferrimagnetism. Measurements performed with a superconducting quantum interferometer device (SQUID) and magnetic force microscopy (MFM) reveal that the magnetic ordering is stable at room temperature.Comment: 3 Figure

The Circumstellar Extinction of Planetary Nebulae

We analyze the dependence of circumstellar extinction on core mass for the brightest planetary nebulae (PNe) in the Magellanic Clouds and M31. We show that in all three galaxies, a statistically significant correlation exists between the two quantities, such that high core mass objects have greater extinction. We model this behavior, and show that the relation is a simple consequence of the greater mass loss and faster evolution times of high mass stars. The relation is important because it provides a natural explanation for the invariance of the [O III] 5007 planetary nebula luminosity function (PNLF) with population age: bright Population I PNe are extinguished below the cutoff of the PNLF. It also explains the counter-intuitive observation that intrinsically luminous Population I PNe often appear fainter than PNe from older, low-mass progenitors.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, accepted for ApJ, April 10, 199

Stokes Parameters as a Minkowskian Four-vector

It is noted that the Jones-matrix formalism for polarization optics is a six-parameter two-by-two representation of the Lorentz group. It is shown that the four independent Stokes parameters form a Minkowskian four-vector, just like the energy-momentum four-vector in special relativity. The optical filters are represented by four-by-four Lorentz-transformation matrices. This four-by-four formalism can deal with partial coherence described by the Stokes parameters. A four-by-four matrix formulation is given for decoherence effects on the Stokes parameters, and a possible experiment is proposed. It is shown also that this Lorentz-group formalism leads to optical filters with a symmetry property corresponding to that of two-dimensional Euclidean transformations.Comment: RevTeX, 22 pages, no figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Lamina-specific AMPA receptor dynamics following visual deprivation in vivo.

Regulation of AMPA receptor (AMPAR) expression is central to synaptic plasticity and brain function, but how these changes occur in vivo remains elusive. Here, we developed a method to longitudinally monitor the expression of synaptic AMPARs across multiple cortical layers in awake mice using two-photon imaging. We observed that baseline AMPAR expression in individual spines is highly dynamic with more dynamics in primary visual cortex (V1) layer 2/3 (L2/3) neurons than V1 L5 neurons. Visual deprivation through binocular enucleation induces a synapse-specific and depth-dependent change of synaptic AMPARs in V1 L2/3 neurons, wherein deep synapses are potentiated more than superficial synapses. The increase is specific to L2/3 neurons and absent on apical dendrites of L5 neurons, and is dependent on expression of the AMPAR-binding protein GRIP1. Our study demonstrates that specific neuronal connections, across cortical layers and even within individual neurons, respond uniquely to changes in sensory experience

Iwasawa Effects in Multi-layer Optics

There are many two-by-two matrices in layer optics. It is shown that they can be formulated in terms of a three-parameter group whose algebraic property is the same as the group of Lorentz transformations in a space with two space-like and one time-like dimensions, or the $Sp(2)$ group which is a standard theoretical tool in optics. Among the interesting mathematical properties of this group, the Iwasawa decomposition drastically simplifies the matrix algebra under certain conditions, and leads to a concise expression for the S-matrix for transmitted and reflected rays. It is shown that the Iwasawa effect can be observed in multi-layer optics, and a sample calculation of the S-matrix is given.Comment: RevTex 10 pages including 1 psfi

Optimal measurement precision of a nonlinear interferometer

We study the best attainable measurement precision when a double-well trap with bosons inside acts as an interferometer to measure the energy difference of the atoms on the two sides of the trap. We introduce time independent perturbation theory as the main tool in both analytical arguments and numerical computations. Nonlinearity from atom-atom interactions will not indirectly allow the interferometer to beat the Heisenberg limit, but in many regimes of the operation the Heisenberg limit scaling of measurement precision is preserved in spite of added tunneling of the atoms and atom-atom interactions, often even with the optimal prefactor.Comment: very close to published versio