Terrorism Activities Influence on Financial Stock Markets: An Empirical Evidence from United Kingdom, India, France, Pakistan, Spain and United States

The study investigats the impact of terrorism activities on five economies (Developing and Developed) financial stock markets. Spain, United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, America and France were chosen for the analysis. The variables considered were terrorist activities and market return of the financial stock markets. Daily time series data for the period from 1st Jan 2001 to 31st Dec 2018 was analyzed by applying simple linear regression model to estimate the effects of terrorist activities on financial stock market returns of the selected countries. The results suggest that the market return is affected by the terror events and the model is overall statistically significant. The results of this study are consistent with findings of Freytag et al. (2009) and Basuchoudhary and Shughart (2010). Significant influence of terrorist activities on financial market returns offer financial markets stakeholders not only an understanding of the direction of market swing following terror factors on stock market but also offers guidance towards investment decision making and timing. Study further discussed how terrorism activities influence the overall market return

Using auxiliary data to model nonresponse bias The challenge of knowing too much about nonrespondents rather than too little?

The ADDResponse project (www.addresponse.org) explores the potential for using auxiliary data from multiple sources to understand and correct for nonresponse bias in general social surveys in the UK. Data from the census and other administrative sources together with consumer profiling data and geographic information about local neighbourhoods have been matched to data from Round 6 of the European Social Survey in the UK.1 Preliminary bivariate analysis suggests that a large number of these variables may be associated with response propensity and worthy of further investigation. Here we discuss some of the preliminary steps we have taken to try and identify the most likely candidates for nonresponse adjustment and compare the results from propensity models employing theory-driven vs. automated variable selection

Unlocking the deployment of spectrum sharing with a policy enforcement framework

Spectrum sharing has been proposed as a promising way to increase the efficiency of spectrum usage by allowing incumbent operators (IOs) to share their allocated radio resources with licensee operators (LOs), under a set of agreed rules. The goal is to maximize a common utility, such as the sum rate throughput, while maintaining the level of service required by the IOs. However, this is only guaranteed under the assumption that all “players”respect the agreed sharing rules. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive framework for licensed shared access (LSA) networks that discourages LO misbehavior. Our framework is built around three core functions: misbehavior detection via the employment of a dedicated sensing network; a penalization function; and, a behavior-driven resource allocation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that these components are combined for the monitoring/policing of the spectrum under the LSA framework. Moreover, a novel simulator for LSA is provided as an open access tool, serving the purpose of testing and validating our proposed techniques via a set of extensive system-level simulations in the context of mobile network operators, where IOs and several competing LOs are considered. The results demonstrate that violation of the agreed sharing rules can lead to a great loss of resources for the misbehaving LOs, the amount of which is controlled by the system. Finally, we promote that including a policy enforcement function as part of the spectrum sharing system can be beneficial for the LSA system, since it can guarantee compliance with the spectrum sharing rules and limit the short-term benefits arising from misbehavior

Dying at home: A qualitative study of the perspectives of older South Asians living in East London

South Asians constitute the single largest ethnic minority group in the United Kingdom, yet little is known about their perspectives and experiences on end-of-life care. Aim: To explore beliefs, attitudes and expectations expressed by older South Asians living in East London about dying at home. Methodology and methods: Five focus groups and 29 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 55 older adults (24 men and 31 women) aged between 52 to 78 years. Participants from six South Asian ethnic groups were recruited via 11 local community organisations. Data were analysed using a constructive grounded theory approach. Findings: Two key themes were identified. The theme of ‘reconsidering the homeland’ draws on the notion of ‘diaspora’ to help understand why for many participants the physical place of death was perceived by many as less important than the opportunity to carry out cultural and religious practices surrounding death. The second theme ‘home as a haven’ describes participants’ accounts of how their home is a place in which it is possible to perform various cultural and religious rituals. Cultural and religious practices were often seen as essential to achieving a peaceful death and honouring religious and filial duties. Conclusion: Older people of South Asian ethnicity living in East London perceive home as more than a physical location for dying relatives. They make efforts to adhere, but also adapt, to important social and cultural values relating to death and dying as part of the wider challenge of living in an emigrant society

Supernova-Remnant Origin of Cosmic Rays?

It is thought that Galactic cosmic ray (CR) nuclei are gradually accelerated to high energies (up to ~300 TeV/nucleon, where 1TeV=10^12eV) in the expanding shock-waves connected with the remnants of powerful supernova explosions. However, this conjecture has eluded direct observational confirmation^1,2 since it was first proposed in 1953 (ref. 3). Enomoto et al.^4 claim to have finally found definitive evidence that corroborates this model, proposing that the very-high-energy, TeV-range, gamma-rays from the supernova remnant (SNR) RX J1713.7-3946 are due to the interactions of energetic nuclei in this region. Here we argue that their claim is not supported by the existing multiwavelength spectrum of this source. The search for the origin(s) of Galactic cosmic ray nuclei may be closing in on the long-suspected supernova-remnant sources, but it is not yet over.Comment: 4 pages, 1 Figur

Forced dynamic dewetting of structured surfaces: Influence of surfactants

We analyse the dewetting of printing plates for gravure printing with well-defined gravure cells. The printing plates were mounted on a rotating horizontal cylinder that is half immersed in an aqueous solution of the anionic surfactant sodium 1-decanesulfonate. The gravure plates and the presence of surfactants serve as one example of a real-world dewetting situation. When rotating the cylinder, a liquid meniscus was partially drawn out of the liquid forming a dynamic contact angle at the contact line. The dynamic contact angle is decreased on a structured surface as compared to a smooth one. This is due to contact line pinning at the borders of the gravure cells. Additionally, surfactants tend to decrease the dynamic receding contact angle. We consider the interplay between these two effects. We compare the height differences of the meniscus on the structured and unstructured area as function of dewetting speeds. The height difference increases with increasing dewetting speed. With increasing size of the gravure cells this height difference and the induced changes in the dynamic contact angle increased. By adding surfactant, the height difference and the changes in the contact angle for the same surface decreased. We further note that although the liquid dewets the printing plates some liquid is always left in the gravure cell. At high enough surfactant concentrations or high enough dewetting speed, the dynamic contact angles in the structured surface approach those in flat surfaces. We conclude that surfactant reduces the influence of surface structure on dynamic dewetting