Econometric modeling for transaction cost-adjusted put-call parity: evidence from the currency options market

Due to the mispricing of options, no-arbitrage condition put-call parity (PCP) violations lead to inefficiency in the currency options market. Through transaction costs, the effects of these violations are reduced to negligible levels, indicating that PCP is not a sufficient condition for an options market efficiency test. Thus, this study developed a transaction cost-adjusted put-call parity (TC-Adj-PCP) econometric model to examine the efficiency of options markets. The fundamental analysis of the proposed model concludes that transaction costs represent an omitted variable for the PCP model, where the uniqueness of this variable is demonstrated under PCP in the context of options market efficiency. The novelty of the TC-Adj-PCP model resolves controversial transaction costs issues for traders and researchers

World currency options market efficiency

The World Currency Options (WCO) began in July 2007 on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) with the new features. These options are designed for monthly maturity with smaller contract size than the existing currency option contract which matures quarterly. As a result, the volume of trading has soared, increasing the efficiency of option prices. The objective of this study is to analyse the early stage performance of WCO market. We adapt the no-arbitrage put-call parity (PCP) relationship based econometric approach with accommodating all potential time series problem to examine the WCO market efficiency. The overall results strongly suggest that WCO market is efficient even though it is young and in the settling curve

Use of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and cyclonic separator for simultaneous NOx and PM reduction in DI diesel engines

This study presents the results of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and cyclonic separator for simultaneous oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) reduction in a direct injection (DI) diesel engine under different engine loads and speeds. There is a significant NOx reduction by EGR, but PM is hugely increased, especially at high EGR rate-high load conditions. A significant reduction in PM is achieved by the use of cyclonic separator without deteriorating other emissions. At high speed-high load conditions, the cyclonic separator has a greater efficiency. Both NOx and PM reduce simultaneously when EGR and cyclonic separator are used together. Using cyclonic separator with high EGR rates, a remarkable NOx reduction is possible keeping the PM level significantly lower than non-EGR level

LOW INSERTION-LOSS NANOPHOTONIC MODULATORS THROUGH EPSILON-NEAR-ZERO MATERIAL-BASED PLASMON-ASSISTED APPROACH FOR INTEGRATED PHOTONICS

Electro-optic/absorption Modulators (EOM/EAMs) encode high-frequency electrical signals into optical signals. With the requirement of large packing density, device miniaturization is possible by confining light in a sub-wavelength dimension by utilizing the plasmonic phenomenon. In plasmon, energy gets transferred from light to the form of oscillation of free electrons on a surface of a metal at an interface between the metal and a dielectric. Plasmonic provides increased light-matter interaction (LMI) and thus making the light more sensitive to local refractive index change. Plasmonic-based integrated nanophotonic modulators, despite their promising features, have one key limiting factor of large Insertion Loss (IL) which limits their practical potential. To combat this, this research utilizes a plasmon-assisted approach through the lens of surface-to-volume ratio to realize a 4-slot-based EAM with an extinction ratio (ER) of 2.62 dB/μm and insertion loss (IL) of 0.3 dB/μm operating at ~1 GHz and a single slot design with ER of 1.4 dB/ μm and IL of 0.25 dB/ μm operating at ~20 GHz, achieved by replacing the traditional metal contact with heavily doped Indium Tin Oxide (ITO). Furthermore, the analysis imposes realistic fabrication constraints, and material properties, and illustrates trade-offs in the performance that must be carefully optimized for a given scenario. Besides the research investigates optical and electrical properties of constituent materials through techniques such as atomic layer deposition (ALD) for depositing thin films, spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), and Hall measurements for optical and electrical characterization respectively

CONTROL OF STEMPHYLIUM BLIGHT (Stemphylium botryosum) OF ONION THROUGH SELECTED FUNGICIDES AND PLANT EXTRACTS FOR SEED PRODUCTION

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Agriculture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka in Partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE (MS) IN PLANT PATHOLOGYA field experiment was conducted at the research farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh during the rabi season of 2007-08 to study the control of stemphylium blight (Stemphylium botryosum) of onion for seed production through some selected fungicides, plant extracts and micronutrients. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 3 (three) replications. An onion variety BAR! Piaj-l was used in the experiment. Treatment of onion bulb followed by foliar spraying with nine treatments comprising Rovral 50WP, Dithane M-45, Ridomil Gold, Bavistin 50WP, Cupravit 50WP, Neem leaf extract and Alamanda leaf extract along with micronutrients and Control were explored in the experiment. In in vitro experiment (cup method) Rovral 50WP proved to be the best in controlling the radial mycelium growth of Stemphylium botryosum. In field condition, bulb treated with Rovral 50WP (0.2%) followed by foliar spraying at 7 days interval starting from onset of the diseases minimized disease incidence, severity and increased seed yield followed by Dithane M-45. Neem leaf extract showed better performance than Alamanda leaf extract in controlling Stemphylium blight of 'onion. The micronutrient along without spraying of fungicides and plant extracts had significant effect compared to control

Photocatalytic Activity: Experimental Features to Report in Heterogeneous Photocatalysis

Heterogeneous photocatalysis is a prominent area of research with major applications in solar energy conversion, air pollution mitigation, and removal of contaminants from water. A large number of scientific papers related to the photocatalysis field and its environmental applications are published in different journals specializing in materials and nanomaterials. However, many problems exist in the conception of papers by authors unfamiliar with standard characterization methods of photocatalysts as well as with the procedures needed to determine photocatalytic activities based on the determination of “apparent quantum efficiencies” within a wavelength interval or “apparent quantum yields” in the case of using monochromatic light. In this regard, an astonishing number of recent research articles include claims of highly efficient (photo)catalysts or similar terms about materials with superior or enhanced efficiency for a given reaction without proper experimental support. Consequently, the comparison of the efficiencies of photocatalysts may result as being meaningless, especially when reports are only based on expressions determining (1) a reaction rate per weight of catalyst or its surface area, (2) quantum efficiencies or quantum yields, and (3) turnover frequencies or turnover numbers. Herein, we summarize the standards needed for reporting valuable data in photocatalysis and highlight some common discrepancies found in the literature. This work should inform researchers interested in reporting photocatalysis projects about the correct procedures for collecting experimental data and properly characterizing the materials by providing examples and key supporting literature

MFA 2010: 59th Midwest Finance Association Annual Conference

This paper tests the impact of transactions cost specification on deviations from lower boundary and put-call parity properties. Using PHLX traded foreign exchange options, prices for puts and calls are matched to the nearest five minutes. The results indicate how boundaries on the arbitrage profit function determined by alternative measures of transactions costs can impact the interpretation of deviations from distribution free properties of options such as put-call parity

Influence of transaction costs on foreign exchange option contracts: intra-daily tests

This paper tests the impact of transactions cost specification on deviations from lower boundary and put-call parity properties. Using PHLX traded foreign exchange options, prices for puts and calls are matched to the nearest five minutes. The results indicate how boundaries on the arbitrage profit function determined by alternative measures of transactions costs can impact the interpretation of deviations from distribution free properties of options such as put-call parity

Advanced Heteroatom Doped Nanocarbon Materials as Platinum Catalyst Supports for Fuel Cells

The pressing demand for high performance, operationally stable and inexpensive electrocatalyst materials for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) has spurred significant research and development interest in this field. Until now, fuel cells based on commercially available Pt/C electrocatalysts have not met some of the technical challenges to the widespread commercial adoption of PEMFCs. The main issues associated with the commercial validity of PEMFCs are the high cost and inadequate long term operational stability of Pt/C catalysts typically used to facilitate the inherently sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Therefore, the replacement of Pt/C with novel and more effective catalyst materials is critical. These expensive precious metal catalysts make up a large portion of the overall PEMFC stack cost and suffer degradation under harsh potentiodynamic conditions. Therefore, careful electrocatalyst design strategies must be developed to reduce the cost of ORR catalysts with sufficient activity and stability to meet the technical targets set for the use of PEMFCs. In this work, two approaches are applied to develop new electrocatalyst materials for PEMFCs. The first is to design unique sulfur-doped graphene (SG) and sulfur-doped CNT (S-CNT) supports with the objective of replacing the traditional carbon black to enhance stability toward carbon corrosion. The second is to deposit Pt nanoparticles and nanowires onto SG and S-CNT with the objective of exceeding the activity and stability possible with conventional catalysts. These two catalyst technologies are developed with the ultimate objective of integrating the Pt electrodes into membrane electrode assembly (MEA) to provide excellent PEMFC performance. The first study focuses on the use of SG prepared by a thermal shock/quench anneal process as a unique Pt nanoparticle support (Pt/SG). These materials are subjected to a variety of physicochemical characterizations and electrochemical investigation for the ORR. Based on half-cell electrochemical testing in acidic electrolyte, Pt/SG demonstrated increased ORR activity and unprecedented stability over the state-of-the-art commercial Pt/C, maintaining 87% of its electrochemically active surface area following accelerated durability testing. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations highlighted that the interactions between Pt and graphene are enhanced significantly by sulfur doping, leading to a tethering effect that can explain the outstanding electrochemical stability. Furthermore, sulfur dopants resulted in a downshift of the Pt d-band center, explaining the excellent ORR activity and rendering SG as a new and highly promising class of catalyst supports for electrochemical energy technology and PEMFCs. The beneficial impacts of SG support can be utilized by growing more stable nanostructures such as Pt nanowires on SG to further improve the activity and stability of Pt catalysts. Toward this end, we carried out the direct growth of platinum nanowires on SG (PtNW/SG) by a simple, surfactant free solvothermal technique. The growth mechanism, including Pt nanoparticle nucleation on SG, followed by nanoparticle attachment with orientation along the direction is also highlighted. PtNW/SG demonstrated increased Pt mass activity and a specific activity that is 188% higher than state-of-the-art commercial Pt/C catalysts. Most notably, under a harsh potentiodynamic condition (potential cycles: 3000, potential range: 0.05 to 1.5 V vs RHE), PtNW/SG retained 58% of its electrochemically active surface area and 67% of its ORR activity in comparison to Pt/C that retained less than 1% of its surface area and activity and so failed. Given the evidence that SG is a promising support for Pt catalysts, the next logical step is to investigate the influence of sulfur on catalytic materials. Accordingly, we study the effects of sulfur on the electrochemical activity and stability of various SG supported platinum nanowires (PtNW/SGs). To investigate the influence of sulfur, a series of SG materials with varying sulfur contents ranging from 0.35 to 3.95 at% are investigated as Pt nanowire catalyst supports. Based on the physico-chemical characterizations, electrochemical measurements and DFT calculations, the amount of sulfur is shown to significantly affect the electrokinetics of the Pt nanowires. The best ORR kinetics are observed for the Pt nanowires supported on graphene with 1.40 at% sulfur. At higher sulfur contents, further enhancements are not observed, and in fact, leads to a loss of activity. At lower sulfur contents, the beneficial role of sulfur does not have a marked impact on performance so that the characteristics and performance more closely resemble that obtained with undoped graphene supports. Obviously, the beneficial effect of sulfur dopant species can be utilized by doping sulfur into other types of carbon supports such as CNT (S-CNT). Finally, we report on the synthesis, characterization and electrochemical evaluation of S-CNT-supported Pt nanowires (PtNW/S-CNT). PtNW/S-CNT synthesized by a modified solvothermal method demonstrated an increased mass activity and a specific activity 570% higher than state-of-the-art Pt/C. The stability of PtNW/S-CNT is also shown to be very impressive through accelerated degradation testing. Only insignificant changes to the electrochemically active surface area (ECSA, 93% retention) and mass activity (81% retention) of PtNW/S-CNT are observed over the course of cycling, in contrast to sizable losses observed with commercial Pt/C (<1% retention in ECSA and mass activity) under same conditions

Community-based indigenous tourism, NGOs and indigenous poverty in Bangladesh

Indigenous peoples, with unique cultures and ways of life, often constitute the most vulnerable groups of society and may experience discrimination and marginalisation in many forms. Observing the growing quest to obtain first-hand experiences of indigenous cultures and lifestyles, many indigenous communities around the world have embraced tourism as a way forward for their socio-economic development, primarily to address their poverty. This is evident in the increasing focus on community-based tourism (CBT), indigenous tourism and their application together. Concomitantly, many development-oriented organisations, i.e. donors and NGOs, have incorporated tourism as an additional means of development, explicitly emphasising the inclusion of indigenous and/or host communities within the formal tourism economy. However, the outcomes of such involvement and interventions are sometimes questionable and previous studies in this regard have proved inconclusive, especially in the context of indigenous poverty alleviation in developing countries. This study thus aims to investigate the role of NGOs in alleviating rural indigenous poverty through the facilitation of community-based indigenous tourism (CBIT) involvement in a developing country context - Bangladesh. Fitting into the domain of critical theory, a qualitative case study approach was adopted where multiple methods, including semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and observations, were employed to collect empirical evidence from two indigenous communities in Bangladesh. Following this a thematic analysis was applied in analysing the qualitative data collected and developing the key findings. Findings show that NGO-facilitated tourism involvement has created some economic opportunities (e.g. income and employment, access to credit) that are limited in amount but significant considering the marginal conditions of the communities. Such involvement was to some extent also found to be contributing to the empowerment and reduced economic vulnerability of the communities. Simultaneously, the findings show that these benefits come along with several costs (e.g. creating external dependency, invasion of indigenous privacy, the threat of displacement) that overshadow the positive gains in many cases. The study reveals a dynamic interplay of multidimensional empowerment aspects moving beyond the mere economic aspect. While investigating the research issue, the findings observed a high interdependency between opportunity, empowerment and security. The thesis also examines a range of factors that restrict the indigenous communities (e.g. tensions, seasonality, market constraints, macro-environmental effects) and NGOs (e.g. strategic limitations and activity constraints) in operationalising tourism benefits. Finally, based on the empirical evidence and considering the existence of a development gap, the study concludes that NGO-facilitated tourism involvement (both direct and indirect) can make a contribution to indigenous poverty alleviation; however, this could best be viewed as an additional tool rather than an alternative tool to their traditional livelihood practices. This thesis contributes to the broader discussion of externally-facilitated tourism involvement for indigenous communities, as well as to the debate over the tourism-indigenous poverty nexus from such involvement. In doing so, the thesis reflects a combination of theoretical, conceptual and methodological contributions with associated practical implications. It incorporates the understanding of the key elements of stakeholder identification and salience theory (power, legitimacy and urgency) along with the poverty alleviation determinants (opportunity, empowerment and security) from the anti-poverty tourism research framework. The study demonstrates the utility of this conjoined conceptual approach that provides a conceptual schema to facilitate and extend our current understanding of the NGO-tourism-indigenous poverty nexus. The thesis also adds to our current understanding of community-based tourism from a non-western research perspective, and revealing the challenges and related opportunities in the conducting of research with indigenous communities, and by non-indigenous researchers