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Abstract We provide empirical evidence supporting the economic reasoning behind the impossibility of diversification benefits and the hedge attributes of cryptocurrencies remaining in force during the downside trends observed in bearish financial markets. We employ a spillover connectedness model driven by time-varying parameter vector autoregressions on daily data covering January 2018 to November 2022 to analyze spillover transmissions between conventional and digital markets, focusing on the role of stablecoin issuances. We study the stock, bond, cryptocurrency, and stablecoin markets and find very high connectedness, which varies over time in response to up/down trends in financial markets. The results show that during financial turmoil, cryptocurrencies amplify downside risks rather than serve as diversifiers. In addition to risky assets from conventional financial markets, cryptocurrencies champion the transmission of spillovers to digital and conventional markets. In contrast, changes in stablecoin issuances produce few shocks because of their pegged prices, but they facilitate investors’ switch from volatile cryptos to more stable digital instruments; that is, we observe a phenomenon designated by us as the “flight-to-cryptosafety.” We draw insightful conclusions, provoking new thinking regarding portfolio hedge strategies that could potentially benefit investors when searching for less volatile investment performance.

Background Diagnosis and recovery tracking of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is often challenging due to the lack of clear findings on routine imaging techniques. This also complicates defining safe points for returning to activities.Hypothesis/purpose Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) can provide information about cerebral venous oxygen saturation (CSvO2) in the context of brain injury. We tested the prediction that these imaging modalities would enable the detection of changes and recovery patterns in the brains of patients with mTBI.Study design In a case-control study, we recruited a cohort of 24 contact sport athletes for baseline QSM and resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) scanning. Two of those who subsequently experienced head impact with significant post-injury symptoms underwent scans at 3, 7, 14 and 28 days post-injury; one had a boxing match without classical mTBI symptoms were also followed-up on.Results The cohort baseline QSM measurements of the straight sinus were established. The two injured athletes with post-impact symptoms consistent with mTBI had susceptibility results at days 3 and 7 post-impact that fell below the 25th percentile of the baseline values. The per cent amplitude fluctuation quantified from rs-fMRI agreed with the susceptibility trends in the straight sinus.Conclusion QSM holds promise as a diagnostic tool for tracking mTBI progression or recovery in contact sport head injury.

AbstractThe impact of countries’ levels of financial sector development in influencing innovation and environmental quality cannot be overemphasized. However, studies on the tripartite relationships among financial sector development-innovation-environmental quality have produced mixed results, necessitating further research. This study, therefore, aims to investigate the impact of financial sector development on innovation and examine how financial sector development moderates the impact of environmental factors in influencing innovation. Relying on panel data spanning 1991–2014 for 27 selected industrialized countries, findings from the system generalized method of moment (GMM) suggest that higher financial development robustly increases innovation. Further evidence also shows that while higher energy consumption, renewable energy, and carbon dioxide emissions spur innovation, increases in ecological footprint lower innovations. However, a well-developed financial sector dampens the negative impact of ecological footprint on innovation while propelling the innovation-enhancing effect of carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption with no apparent impact on renewable energy. A key implication of the findings is that financial development has a far more significant effect on innovation in countries with high environmental degradation and energy consumption.

AbstractStudies on the tripartite nexuses among information and communication technology (ICT), financial development (FD), and banking sector efficiency have largely produced mixed findings. More importantly, how countries’ levels of ICT advancement moderate FD-banks efficiency interlinkages need to be re-assessed. By utilizing data from 48 African countries covering 2004 to 2021 in assessing the tripartite interlinkages, the empirical findings based on the system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) show that ICT goods imports significantly impact the banking sector positively in enhancing financial access to allocate finance efficiently: Individuals using the internet enhances the banking sector’s efficiency. Fixed telephone subscriptions, Mobile cellular subscriptions, and secured internet servers impact banking sector efficiency insignificantly. Financial formalization and informalization significantly impact banking sector efficiency positively, except in the case of ICT goods imports being added to the equation. On the moderating role of the ICT proxies, our finding showed that how ICT moderates the impact of FD on banking sector efficiency is conditioned on both the proxy of ICT and FD. Further findings show an inverted U-shaped relationship between individuals using the internet, ICT goods imports, and the banking sector efficiency nexus. The study discusses the implications for policy and makes key recommendations to improve ICT infrastructure and FD.

This paper aims to examine the potential for portfolio returns by adding together conventional and energy stocks with varying proportions. We examine the risk and return characteristics of a portfolio comprising energy and non-energy stocks from twenty countries. The period for daily data ranges from 2nd July 1999 to 2nd July 2021. We use multiscale Sharpe and VaR ratios to examine the risk and returns behaviour of a portfolio with varying composition between energy and non-energy stocks across different investment periods. Our results highlight optimal returns for the equally weighted portfolio during normal and crisis periods except COVID-19 during which more proportion of conventional stocks is preferred. Risk estimates advocate an equally weighted portfolio for all periods however risk varies with the holding period. These results carry useful investment implications during short- and long-run holdings of conventional and energy stocks in a portfolio.

This paper surveys the Linear Quadratic Estimation (LQE) and Model Predictive Control (MPC) discrete control methods applied to the Acrobot system. Both techniques aim to achieve and maintain a balanced position for the Acrobot. Through evaluation and comparison, we highlight their strengths, limitations, and potential applications, offering insights for future robotic control research.

The ingested foreign body is a very unusual etiology of liver abscess. This clinical scenario is infrequently reported in the literature. A 66-year-old male patient presented to the hospital because of abdominal pain along with 7 days of right upper quadrant pain and intermittent low-grade fever. He was living in an epidemiological area of Fasciola infection. Physical examination showed right hypochondria tenderness without guarding or rebounding. Laboratory results were significant for leukocytosis, predominant neutrophils, and increased inflammatory markers. The liver function tests were within normal limits. Abdominal ultrasonography and CT scan were consistent with a hepatic abscess spread from segment 4B to segment 3. The patient was preliminarily diagnosed with a parasitic hepatic abscess. After management with fluid infusion and antibiotics, the patient was discharged in stable condition. Two weeks later, on the follow-up visit, the patient reported intermittent low-grade fever had persisted. After consulting the CT scan, an abnormal high-attenuation linear structure was identified inside the liver lesion, which is suspected of being a foreign body. Laparoscopic surgery was performed, and a fishbone was removed from the abscess cavity. Perforation was not found in the stomach, duodenum, or in the bowel. One week later, their condition was fully resolved. Liver abscess due to a foreign body should be suspected when a patient has radiology findings suggestive of an abscess, but the clinical presentation does not indicate the common etiologies. Meticulous observation on abdominal CT scans or ultrasonography can help with diagnosis and guide treatment.