Does it pay to be ethical? Evidence from the FTSE4Good

The empirical mean-variance evidence comparing the performance of socially responsible investments (SRI) and conventional investments suggests that there is no significant difference between the two. This paper re-examines the problem in the context of Marginal Conditional Stochastic Dominance (MCSD), which can accommodate any return distribution or concave utility function. Our results provide strong evidence that there is a financial price to be paid for socially responsible investing. Indices composed of socially responsible firms are MCSD dominated by trademarked indices composed of conventional firms as well as by indices carefully matched by size and industry with the firms in the SRI indices. Zero cost portfolios created by shorting the SRI index and using the proceeds to invest in the conventional index generate higher average returns, lower variance and higher skewness than either of the two indices standing alone. They also MCSD dominate the SRI and conventional indices standing alone

Importance of the fund management company in the performance of socially responsible mutual funds

We compare the performance of a sample of UK based SRI funds with similar conventional funds using a matched pair analysis based on size, age, investment universe and fund management company (FMC). We find that both the SRI and conventional funds outperform the market index about 50% of the time, even after fees. Sub sample tests show that the SRI funds in our sample perform better in the pre and post financial crisis periods while underperforming during the financial crisis period. Importantly, we find that the FMC plays a major role in the outperformance of both SRI and conventional funds

Power Optimization of Combinational Quaternary Logic Circuits

Design of the binary logic circuits is restricted by the need of the interconnections. Interconnections increase delay, area and energy consumption in CMOS digital circuits. A possible solution could be here at by using a bigger set of signals over the same chip area. Multiple-valued logic can decrease the average power required for level transitions and reduces the number of necessary interconnections. In this paper we design various combinational circuits using quaternary logic. Various combinational circuit such as multi valued logic full adder using unique encoding technique, quaternary encoder and quaternary multiplexer. This design is target to reduce the transistor used to implement the circuit and dropping the power dissipation. Power optimization is achieved using MTCMOS technique. Simulation has been done in Tanner 13 EDA tool on BSIM3 180 nm CMOS Technology. DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.15026

Energy Efficient System for Wireless Sensor Networks using Modified RECHS Protocol

The area of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is one of the emerging and fast growing fields in the scientific world. This has brought about developing low cost, low-power and multi-function sensor nodes. Prolonged network lifetime, scalability, node mobility and load balancing are important requirements for many WSN applications. Clustering the sensor nodes is an effective technique to achieve these goals. Cluster-based routing protocol is currently a hot research in wireless sensor network. In this paper, we have added additional criteria for the selection of cluster heads in a Redundant and Energy-efficient Cluster head Selection Protocol(RECHS) and compared results with Energy Aware Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (EA-LEACH) protocol. This modified RECHS significantly increases the lifetime, reliability of the network. Simulation results show that comparison between two methods (Modified RECHS and EA- LEACH) for LEACH protocol on the basis of network lifetime (stability period), number of cluster heads are present per round, number of alive node are present per round and throughput of data transfer in the network. DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.15016

Abruptio placentae: impact of early treatment on maternal and fetal outcomes

Background: Haemorrhage is the leading cause for maternal mortality in India as well as the world. Abruptio placenta is the second most common cause of antepartum haemorrhage and it is associated with sudden, severe and devastating maternal and fetal complications. The main objective of this study is to study the impact of early treatment on maternal and fetal outcomes.Methods: This single center retrospective study includes all patients admitted at Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital, a tertiary referral hospital, diagnosed to have abruptio placenta (grade II and grade III) from 01 July 2019 to 31 December 2019. In this study a total of 48 cases were included and data regarding time duration between onset of symptoms and initiation of treatment, clinical course and maternal and fetal outcomes was noted.Results: A total of 5059 deliveries occurred over six months. The incidence of placental abruption was found to be 0.94%. Patients receiving early care (30 cases, 62.5%) were found to have significantly better maternal outcomes (p=0.006, Chi square test) as well as fetal outcomes (p=0.007, Fischer’s exact test) than patients who received delayed care (18 cases, 37.5%).Conclusions: Abruptio placentae is an obstetric emergency and early diagnosis as well as initiation of treatment plays an important role in curbing complications. Strengthening of peripheral centers, availability of multi-disciplinary approach and educating health care staff as well as patients form the cornerstones of improved maternal and fetal outcomes

A rare case of pregnancy with Sturge-Weber syndrome

Sturge-Weber syndrome is a rare sporadic neurocutaneous syndrome characterized by facial angiomas, ocular abnormalities (glaucoma and choroidal hemangioma), and leptomeningeal angioma. We report a case of Sturge Weber syndrome type I, associated with seizures, with gestational diabetes. She had successful labour outcome. Very few such cases have been reported in literature. The effect of pregnancy on neurological symptoms of Sturge Weber syndrome is not known.

Ependymoma in pregnancy: one suspicion can save a life

Ependymomas arise from ependymal cells that line the ventricles of the brain and the spinal canal. Ependymomas are relatively rare tumors accounting for 2-3% of all primary brain tumors in adults. We present this case of ependymoma to highlight the fact that aggressive management might be keystone in saving mothers life and even after surgical intervention, it is possible that the tumour recurs and may prove fatal. Maternal outcome in primary brain tumours in pregnancy largely depend on histologic grade of primary tumour and gestational age at which they present