The impact of disasters and terrorism on the stock market

The growing number of negative events worldwide, among them natural disasters, artificial disasters and terrorism, has led the public to focus attention on the impact of such events on the economy and the capital market. This research examines the effects of natural disasters, artificial disasters and terrorism on the stock market in order to reveal profit opportunities. In this research, we collected data on 344 significant events that received media attention and examined the differences between the three types of events using the Pessimism Index. Some of the results include the following: (1) natural disasters cause the greatest damage to the economy, whereas terrorism causes the least damage; (2) natural disasters exhibit the highest level of severity, whereas artificial disasters have the lowest severity. The research reveals some opportunities for investors to obtain arbitrage profits. During natural disasters, the stock index decreases on the day of the events and on the two subsequent days. Therefore, investors should short sell the index on the day of the disaster and hold it for 2 days. On the contrary, during artificial disasters or terrorist incidents, the index drops only on the day of the event and the next day, so investors should short sell the index on the day of the disaster and hold it until the end of the first working day following the incident

Evaluation of Erythrocyte Zinc Protoporphyrin/Heme Ratio for Iron-Deficiency Anemia in Pregnant Women

To evaluate the diagnostic values for detecting iron depletion and for predicting anemia, the erythrocyte zinc protoporphyrin(ZPP) and ZPP/heme ratio were measured using a hematofluorometer and compared with the serum ferritin and blood hemoglobin levels in 136 randomly selected pregnant Korean women. A significant decline in mean hemoglobin and serum ferritin levels and an increase in ZPP/heme ratio level were observed as pregnancy advanced. During the third trimester, 41.7 % of pregnant women were found to have hemoglobin concentrations below 11 g/100ml. 61.0 %, 58.5 % and 48.8 % of the third trimester group demonstrated an abnormal ZPP/heme ratio, serum ferritin and ZPP levels, respectively. The ZPP/heme ratio showed good negative logarithmic correlation with the serum ferritin (r = -0.51). The diagnostic sensitivity and positive predictive value of ZPP/heme ratio for evaluating iron depletion and the risk of anemia compared favorably to those of serum ferritin. It was concluded that the operational simplicity and low cost of erythrocyte ZPP/heme ratio measurement in addition to good diagnostic efficiency offer a procedure for the primary screening test of iron depletion in pregnancy or other risk groups

The Sorting Process as a Tool for Promoting the Demand of Heterogeneous Customers

The present study concerns product diversification. The products differ in size, shape, flavor, fat content, etc., so that the producer can more specifically modify the particular product to the unique requirements of nonhomogeneous customers. The mathematical model assumes diversified demands of nonhomogeneous consumers for an initial unsorted item. The sorting process generates a better match between customer requirements and the actual supply of sorted products. Thus, the implementation of sorting costs allows for an increase in customer demands by adopting product characteristics that are closer to customer needs and tastes. The study also considers the pricing policy for diversified products in order to determine if price discrimination is preferable for attaining the manufacturer’s goal of profit maximization

ONLINE ADVERTISING DEVELOPMENT AND THEIR ECONOMIC EFFECTIVENESS

Recent years are a testimony to the astonishing development of the Internet, an increasingly important factor in current lifestyle. Internet advertising, as well, has seen a similar development, since marketers' online advertising budgets are growing as the years go by. In this study, I passed questionnaires to Israeli businesses and checked whether there is a difference in efficiency between two of the following types of online advertisement: banner advertisement and pop-up advertisement. I also characterized the respondents with respect to their preferred type of advertisement. The results of the latter showed that the number of clickers on banner advertisement is higher than that of pop-up advertisement, and that its efficiency rates are higher as well. In addition, the characterization of advertisers gave that the probability to advertise a banner advertisement is higher if the manager is either a female, married, older than 40 and employed in the construction, Car Dealership or wedding industry.</jats:p