56 research outputs found
Three Essays on U.S. Households Investment and Economic Behavior: Crypto Investments, Green Financial Advisory and Alternative Investment Decisions
No full textThis dissertation aims to expand our understanding of how innovative financial products, including cryptocurrencies, sustainable investments (ESG), and alternative investments, drive U.S. household financial decisions and how these decisions are associated with financial well-being, financial advisory fees, and economic and inflationary expectations of households. The findings of these papers provide new insights and policy implications for household investment behaviors if they invest in cryptos, ESG-related products, and alternative investments.
Each essay in the dissertation uses the theoretical framework to analyze the U.S. household’s investment behavior. The first essay employs the Salience theory of Choice under uncertainty (Bordalo et al., 2012) to explore the connection between household financial well-being and cryptocurrency investments using UAS data from 2015 to 2018. The Pooled regression model based on the Chow test determined the appropriate alternative models, which found that financial well-being lowers the probability of cryptocurrency investment decisions. The heteroskedasticity problem was addressed with the help of Bootstrapping, Feasible Generalised Least square (FGLS), and Robust HCCM. However, results were consistent after solving the heteroskedasticity problem, and households’ financial well-being was negatively associated with crypto asset ownership in their portfolios.
Further, the interaction of crypto investment and financial advice did not moderate the association between crypto ownership and households’ financial well-being. This indicates that financial advice gives general advantages but does not create significant changes between crypto ownership and financial well-being. Bitcoin literacy failed to demonstrate any difference in its positive relationship between crypto ownership and households' financial well-being regardless of crypto ownership status.
The second essay employs the Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) theory (Stern et al., 1999) to study financial advice, social preferences, and financial literacy on U.S. households' decisions to pay higher investment fees for sustainable investments. The analysis includes data from the 2021 National Financial Capability Study (NFCS) Investor Survey across 1,840 households, demonstrating that particular investors will accept premium fees supporting ESG initiatives. Individuals who explained that their social preferences describe their investment behaviors towards sustainable investing were statistically positively associated with high investment fees. Both investors with high objective and subjective financial literacy did not demonstrate significant relationships with their investment fees. However, a negative relationship existed between fees above 0.5% and 4% among participants who scored well on objective financial literacy measures. Implementing financial advisors as advisory investment fee providers showed a negative statistical connection to investment fees exceeding 0.5% to 4%. This research shows that understanding finances affects sustainable investment decisions through challenges to classical risk-return financial models.
The third essay employs prospect theory (Tversky & Kahneman, 1979). Household choices regarding alternative investments are explained by their economic and inflation expectations as measured in the United States. Households invest in high-risk opportunities such as private equity or hedge funds when they show optimistic economic expectations. Real estate and commodities have become favored investments by investors worried about inflation. Also, financial advisors can affect these decisions when households experience uncertainty about their expectations. This study employs Survey of Consumer Finance (SCF) data from 2010-2020 cross-sectional waves to examine household expectations and determine how economic and inflation expectations impact households’ alternative investment decisions.
These three essays and their theoretical views create future research potential by expanding the household financial decision literature through a complete understanding of U.S. household investment choices related to crypto, ESG, and alternative investments
Experimental investigation of solid by-product as sensible heat storage material: Characterization and corrosion study
No full textPublisher Copyright: © 2016 Author(s).The experimental investigation of water cooled electrical arc furnace (EAF) slag used as filler material in the storage tank for sensible heat storage application was demonstrated in this study. The physicochemical and thermal properties of the tested slags were characterized by using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microcopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and laser flash analysis, respectively. In addition, the chemical compatibility between slags and molten nitrate salt (60 wt. % NaNO3 and 40 wt. % KNO3) was investigated at 565 °C for 500 hrs. The obtained results were clearly demonstrated that the slags showed a good corrosion resistance in direct contact with molten salt at elevated temperature. The present study was clearly indicated that a low-cost filler material used in the storage tank can significantly reduce the overall required quantities of the relatively higher cost molten salt and consequently reduce the overall cost of the electricity production.Peer reviewe
Pyrrole-Based Multidentate and Pincer-Type Ligands: Synthesis, Coordination Chemistry and Catalysis
No full textNon-destructive inspection in industrial equipment using robotic mobile manipulation
No full textPublisher Copyright: © 2016 Author(s).MAINBOT project has developed service robots based applications to autonomously execute inspection tasks in extensive industrial plants in equipment that is arranged horizontally (using ground robots) or vertically (climbing robots). The industrial objective has been to provide a means to help measuring several physical parameters in multiple points by autonomous robots, able to navigate and climb structures, handling non-destructive testing sensors. MAINBOT has validated the solutions in two solar thermal plants (cylindrical-parabolic collectors and central tower), that are very demanding from mobile manipulation point of view mainly due to the extension (e.g. a thermal solar plant of 50Mw, with 400 hectares, 400.000 mirrors, 180 km of absorber tubes, 140m height tower), the variability of conditions (outdoor, day-night), safety requirements, etc. Once the technology was validated in simulation, the system was deployed in real setups and different validation tests carried out. In this paper two of the achievements related with the ground mobile inspection system are presented: (1) Autonomous navigation localization and planning algorithms to manage navigation in huge extensions and (2) Non-Destructive Inspection operations: thermography based detection algorithms to provide automatic inspection abilities to the robots.Peer reviewe
Genome-wide association studies for identification of stripe rust resistance loci in diverse wheat genotypes
No full textIntroduction: In North India, Puccinia striiformis f. sp. triticii (Pst), the causal agent of stripe rust, poses a significant challenge to wheat productivity. The frequent emergence of new virulent Pst strains has rendered many resistance genes ineffective. Hence, continuous identification and deployment of novel resistance genes are crucial for maintaining durable resistance and ensuring sustainable wheat cultivation.Materials and Methods: A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted on 652 elite, diverse wheat genotypes using 1,938 DArTseq SNP markers. Field evaluations were performed at the adult plant stage across four locations—Hisar, Karnal, Gurdaspur, and Khudwani—under natural disease conditions. Marker–trait associations were identified using General Linear Model (GLM), Mixed Linear Model (MLM), and FarmCPU approaches, considering loci with –log₁₀(p) ≥ 3 as significant.Results: Analysis revealed 27 genomic regions significantly associated with stripe rust resistance across environments. Among these, four loci were located on chromosomes 2B and 6B, and three on 6A. Several loci corresponded to resistance-related genes, including NBS-LRR, F-box, LRR, protein kinase, Ser/Thr_kinase, Znf_RING-CH, E3-ubiquitin ligase, and ABC transporter genes, suggesting their potential role in rust resistance mechanisms.Discussion: The study identified novel genomic regions associated with Pst resistance, providing valuable resources for wheat improvement. The functional annotation of these loci highlights their involvement in plant defense pathways. Conversion of these loci into breeder-friendly molecular markers will facilitate marker-assisted selection (MAS) and accelerate the development of durable stripe rust-resistant wheat cultivars suited to North Indian agro-ecological conditions
Preparation of nanofluids based on solar salt and boehmite nanoparticles: Characterization of starting materials: Characterization of starting materials
No full textPublisher Copyright: © 2016 Author(s).A nanofluid composed of Solar Salt (SS) and boehmite nanoparticles (A) in a concentration of 1% by weight, is proposed as thermal storage medium for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants. A wide characterization of the raw materials has been done, focused on their thermal stability and the nanoparticle primary size and shape among other properties such as its specific heat and crystalline structure. Some features of the final nanofluids have been also investigated: thermal stability, nanoparticle sizes and their distribution and specific heat. The showed results confirm that these materials are thermally stable in the working temperature range both individually and combined. In addition, the synthesis procedure implemented is effective to keep the nanoparticle sizes in the nanometric range (<100 nm). These findings mean the first step to carry on research and characterization of this nanofluid.Peer reviewe
The influence of mixing water on the thermophysical properties of nanofluids based on solar salt and silica nanoparticles
No full textPublisher Copyright: © 2016 Author(s).The use of nanofluids (NFs) based on Solar Salt (SS) and nanoparticles (NPs), either as Thermal Energy Storage (TES) material or as Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF), is attracting great interest in recent years. Many authors [1,3] have reported important improvements on the thermophysical properties (specific heat capacity cp,thermal conductivity k) of NFs based on SS and ceramic NPs. These improvements would lead to important savings and better performance of TES facilities on new Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants due to lower quantities of material required and smaller storage tanks. To achieve these advantageous features in the final NFs, it is essential to avoid NP agglomeration during their preparation. Different synthesis procedures have been reported: mixing of solid NPs within a SS solution by means of ultrasounds [1-3], direct mixing of solid NPs and molten salt [4]. In this work, NFs based on SS and 1% by wt. of silica NPs were synthetized from a SS-water solution and a commercial water-silica NF called Ludox HS 30% (Sigma-Aldrich). The influence of the mixing water volume (MW) on the cp of NFs was evaluated. With this aim, the cp of these samples was measured by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) both in the solid and the liquid state. In addition, the distribution of sizes was measured during the whole preparation process by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). Further information about sizes and uniformity of the final NFs was obtained from Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) patterns of the SS and final NF were performed.Peer reviewe
Developing new treatment modalities from poorly dissolvable antihypertensive: Courtesy delivery system design &niche technologies
No full textMost antihypertensive drugs have impaired dissolution rate and result from poorly aqueous solubility, polymorphic modifications, structure-based H-bond donor or acceptor anamolies. These physical attributes would have detrimental effects and may cause an entity out of the race from efficacious candidates. Nevertheless, compliance with the dissolution rate must be fulfilled under the regulatory mandate and serve as an assessment tool for product performance. The present reviews the niche technologies like electrospinning, spraying, or mesoporous methods that led to the generation of more dissolvable antihypertensives. Several drug delivery systems design allows the incorporation of surfactants, microenvironment dissolution rate modifiers, acidifiers that could improve the dissolution rate of antihypertensives are reviewed
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