A Note on the Impact of the Canada-India Diplomatic Standoff on the Performance of Canadian Mutual Funds Investments in India

On June 18, 2023, Mr. Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen of Indian origin, was killed in Canada. On September 18, 2023, the Canadian Prime Minister, Mr. Justin Trudeau, accused the Indian Government of involvement in killing Mr. Nijjar in the Canadian Parliament. This accusation preceded and succeeded by other events, led to a significant diplomatic standoff that is still ongoing. We examine the impact of this event chain on the performance of daily returns of mutual funds based in Canada that are predominantly invested in Indian securities. Our results, controlled for general stock market returns, fund size, expense ratio, and interest rates, indicate that the events negatively impacted fund performance. Our study adds to the existing literature on the benefits of international diversification of mutual funds in disconnected markets. The findings of this paper suggest that political discord between two distinct and unrelated economies may impact profits and negate the advantages of international diversification. Our study is significant to professionals, particularly mutual fund managers, as it demonstrates the role of two countries’ political ties in affecting mutual fund returns

A Systematic Review of the safety of non-TNF inhibitor biologic and targeted synthetic drugs in rheumatic disease in pregnancy

Introduction: Despite increasing evidence to support safe use of tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) and other biologic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) during pre-conception/pregnancy, there remains a paucity of evidence regarding the safety and compatibility of other non-TNFi and novel targeted synthetic (ts)DMARDs during pre-conception/pregnancy. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review to determine the compatibility of these drugs in pre-conception, during pregnancy and post-partum period. // Method: Databases including; EMBASE, Pubmed (MEDLINE), and Cochrane were searched up to 23rd October 2020 to find relevant peer-reviewed papers, using keywords including; rheumatic disease, pregnancy, conception/pre-conception, lactation/breastfeeding, childhood and vaccination/infection, and commonly prescribed non-TNFi drugs and tsDMARDs. // Results: Our search yielded 1483 papers that were screened independently by two authors, and 109 full-text papers were eligible for final analysis. These studies reported 1291 maternal pregnancies exposed to non-TNFi bDMARDs and tsDMARDs with known outcomes, including 721 live births, 219 spontaneous miscarriages and 27 congenital abnormalities. Paternal exposures in 174 pregnancies had reassuring outcomes. A total of 48 breastfed infants were exposed to non-TNFi bDMARDs and no adverse events reported upon long-term follow-up. Fifteen infants exposed to bDMARDs received normal vaccination regimes, including live vaccines, and had normal developmental outcomes, without any complications or infections. // Conclusion: Overall, the findings are reassuring and do not suggest a cause for any major concerns or an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes for maternal or paternal exposures to non-TNFi bDMARDs or tsDMARDs. There were no major concerns for breastfeeding exposures to non-TNFi bDMARDs

Incorporating mindfulness: questioning capitalism

This paper engages with Buddhist critiques of capitalism and consumerism; and it challenges the capitalist appropriations of Buddhist techniques. We show how Buddhist modernism and Marxism/socialism can align, and how Engaged Buddhism spawns communalism and socially revolutionary impulses for sustainability and ecological responsibility within the framework of Buddhist thought and mindfulness traditions. Our case study of the Thai Asoke community exemplifies Buddhist communal mindfulness-in-action, explores successes and idiosyncrasies, and shows how communal principles can operate in such work-based communities

On the braiding of an Ann-category

A braided Ann-category \A is an Ann-category \A together with the braiding $c$ such that (\A, \otimes, a, c, (I,l,r)) is a braided tensor category, and $c$ is compatible with the distributivity constraints. The paper shows the dependence of the left (or right) distributivity constraint on other axioms. Hence, the paper shows the relation to the concepts of {\it distributivity category} due to M. L. Laplaza and {\it ring-like category} due to A. Frohlich and C.T.C Wall. The center construction of an almost strict Ann-category is an example of an unsymmetric braided Ann-category.Comment: 20 page

SONOLYTICAL PRODUCTION OF BIO-DIESEL FUEL FROM NON-EDIBLE VEGETABLE OIL

Joint Research on Environmental Science and Technology for the Eart