Purpose: The research aim of this study is to provide an understanding of the elements that influence the overall FinTech adoption of Bangladesh’s State-owned commercial banks. Methodology: With a total sample size of 150, questionnaire surveys were used to collect the primary data sources.The entire consumer base that regularly uses FinTech was considered as a sample unit. Specific statistical techniques, such as ANOVA, correlation analysis and regression analysis, have been applied to analyze data based on categorized information in order to look into the factors influencing FinTech. Findings: The findings imply that the adoption of FinTech is extensively and favorably impacted by social effects, internet connectivity, and trust and security. However, FinTech adoption is negatively and insignificantly impacted by performance expectations and the regulatory environment. In order to do this, banks should increase public knowledge and understanding of financial services, carry out comprehensive user education programs, and collaborate with controlling bodies to establish a regulatory framework that is conducive to growth. Future scope of this research: To get a more complete picture of the broader FinTech industry, future research needs to involve private commercial banks, regulators, legislators, and FinTech vendors. Including more stakeholders can help paint a more accurate and comprehensive picture of the factors influencing FinTech adoption. This expanded focus will make it simpler to identify any variations in state-owned and private institutions' adoption patterns as well as the ways that legal and regulatory frameworks affect FinTech adoption.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) extend 5G network coverage by acting as mobile relays or onboard base stations (BSs) to connect with cellular BSs and user equipments (UEs). Their high mobility causes frequent Internet Protocol (IP) handoffs, affecting the quality of service (QoS) for connected devices. The 5G core network has improved with separate control and data planes, along with software-defined enhancements for better handoff management. However, centralized mobility management (CMM) still faces challenges like non-optimized routing and performance issues, especially in scenarios, like, UAV-assisted vehicular communication in smart cities and UAV-assisted remote construction and mining site. Distributed mobility management (DMM) is a promising alternative that decentralizes control plane anchors, improving scalability and efficiency. Existing DMM solutions, such as D-MIPv6, D-PMIPv6, D-SDN, and D-Routing, still require significant adaptation for seamless integration into UAV-assisted 5G networks. This paper integrates standard DMM schemes into UAV-based 5G networks, evaluates and analyses their performance across different UAV-assisted scenarios. Our findings indicate that for higher vehicular node velocity, longer pause times, lower handoff probability, and lower wireless link failure probability, U-SDN-DMM and U-D-Routing (UAV versions of SDN-DMM and D-Routing) perform best. However, in other conditions, these schemes become inefficient due to their high signaling costs.

Device-to-Device (D2D) communication, introduced in 3GPP Rel.12, promises enhanced spectral efficiency and reduced latency by enabling direct links between proximate user equipments (UEs). As 5G NR and emerging 6G systems increasingly rely on D2D for ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC), Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication, and massive Internet of Things (IoT) communication, optimizing mode-switching is critical for ensuring seamless application performance and network efficiency in real-world deployments. However, dynamic mode-switching between infrastructure mode (IM) and direct mode (DM) — based on network conditions — can inadvertently degrade application-layer throughput, especially for short flows. This paper presents a comparative analysis of throughput loss due to mode-switching, between Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Constrained Application Protocol with Block-wise Transfer (CBT). We model the loss probability and completion time for short transfers under mode-switch triggers and complement our findings through simulation in Simu5G. Our results reveal that CBT produces marginally better throughput than TCP for very short flows, going through mode-switch, with certain conditions being satisfied. However, as the application data size increases TCP outperforms CBT with an increasing margin. But both suffer throughput degradation without coordinated mode switching mechanisms. To address this, we propose two network-assisted algorithms—Packet-scheduling history aware Mode-switching Avoidance (PaMA) and Mode-switching history aware Resource Allocation (MaResA) that preserve application throughput without altering the 3GPP stack. In Simu5G, these algorithms demonstrate robust performance across diverse traffic patterns. Our work offers a scalable, standards-compliant solution to a key bottleneck in D2D deployment, paving the way for seamless integration of D2D into mainstream cellular networks.

Emerging economies like Bangladesh have experienced rapid economic growth over the past two decades, yet remain highly sensitive to internal and external economic shocks. This study examines the dynamic relationship between key macroeconomic indicators, including inflation, interest rates, money supply, credit growth, exchange rates, bond yields, and unemployment, and their impact on stock market performance and GDP growth in Bangladesh from 2010 to 2023. Using a robust methodological framework, the study applies multiple linear regression, Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) stationarity tests, Granger causality analysis, Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) diagnostics, and macroeconomic stress testing to assess both linear relationships and shock resilience. The results indicate that inflation exerts a weak but negative impact on stock returns while significantly boosting GDP. Unemployment reveals a counterintuitive positive association with both dependent variables. Most other macroeconomic variables, including interest rates and money supply, show limited statistical significance. Notably, bond yields Granger-cause GDP, highlighting the relevance of long-term rates in economic forecasting. Stress testing simulations underscore the economy’s resilience but expose capital market volatility under inflationary and currency devaluation scenarios. This study contributes to macro-financial literature by integrating econometric rigor with policy relevance in a frontier economy. The findings provide valuable insights for policymakers, investors, and analysts navigating Bangladesh’s evolving financial landscape.

Although many countries have already forayed into 5G deployment, 4G still comprises the largest share of mobile subscribers, especially in emerging economies such as India. In this paper, we quantitatively assess the diffusion characteristics of ‘pure’ 4G mobile communication in India using popular nonlinear diffusion models, and scrutinize the association of two external factors, namely Human Development and Urbanization, with formal and informal communication channels of diffusion, in the context of 4G. Our findings highlight the crucial role external factors play in the speed and pattern of 4G diffusion across India. Notably, the 4G diffusion is predominantly driven by informal communication channels, such as word of mouth and interpersonal signalling. Typically, in regions with lower levels of Human Development and Urbanization, the informal communication channels have a greater influence on the diffusion. However, as the levels of Human Development and Urbanization go up, the formal communication channels start gathering momentum. Thus, our preliminary study sheds light on how Human Development and Urbanization interact with formal and informal communication channels to shape the diffusion of 4G in emerging economies. Our findings could furnish valuable perspectives for policymakers and stakeholders toward refining their strategies concerning infrastructure deployment, socio-economic development, and regulatory interventions.

In infrastructure-deficient environments-such as tunnels, remote military zones, and mountainous emergency sites-wireless connectivity is often disrupted by blocked Line-ofSight (LoS) and sparse coverage. This paper proposes a unified downlink framework, combining UAV-mounted base station with passive reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS), and powerdomain NOMA, to restore communication in such scenarios. We formulate a mixed-integer problem to jointly optimize UAV placement, RIS phase shifts, analog beamforming, physical resource block (PRB) allocation, and power control, balancing throughput and energy efficiency. Our proposed solution algorithm comprises two phases: (1) joint configuration of beamforming, RIS tuning, PRB scheduling and UAV location using convex approximations; and (2) power tuning via geometric programming. Under realistic channel conditions, our method achieves up to 25% higher throughput and 18% lower power consumption over an orthogonal-access baseline, and around 6% higher throughput and 7% lower power over a zero-forcing benchmark with particle swarm optimization.

This paper examines the individual influence of mobile phone and household computer on national well-being, and investigates the presence of any differential effect of broadband internet when available on mobile phone (i.e., mobile-broadband) vis-à-vis household computer (i.e., fixed-broadband). We draw on the Technological Affordance Theory as the underlying theoretical framework, and utilize panel data for 85 countries to empirically test our model. The primary analysis is conducted using a two-way fixed-effect regression model. Our findings reveal that although mobile phone, in the absence of broadband internet, has no significant influence on well-being, the presence of mobile-broadband negatively moderates this relationship. Despite mobile-broadband expanding the range of affordances within mobile phones, such as continuous access to web, it leads to compulsive and fragmented use, thereby diminishing user’s well-being. On the other hand, household computer, in the absence of broadband internet, has a positive influence on well-being, and the presence of fixed-broadband further enhances this effect. Household computers afford intentional and cognitive engagement, and the presence of fixed-broadband enhances these affordances by enabling access to skill-development resources and economic opportunities, thereby amplifying their positive impact on well-being. Additional cohort-based analysis for countries belonging to different income groups reveals deeper insights into these relationships. Our study is among the first few to theoretically demonstrate and empirically verify the contrasting behavior of mobile phone vis-à-vis household computer in their impacts on national well-being, while highlighting the subtle interplay of broadband internet thereupon. Policymakers should take note of the above affordances dynamics associated with different ICT artifacts in order to prevent their potentially negative implications on national well-being.

The 5G standard is aimed at supporting Quality of Service (QoS)-constrained traffic types, enabling new services to be reliably built into scenarios such as industrial automation and smart cities. The support comes via a strong emphasis on resource virtualization in the form of slices. Due to the strong QoS constraints of each slice, determining how to actually split the radio resources among different slices, while considering simultaneously the priority of slices, network efficiency, and each slice's target QoS, is very challenging. In this paper, we propose a radio resource scheduling scheme, designed on the basis of a strong theoretical analysis, to address the challenges. We formulate a Chance-constrained optimum resource allocation problem, which is then converted into a low complexity deterministic knapsack problem utilizing the concept of effective bandwidth. The performance analysis proves that our proposal is better in efficiency than the existing schemes, under different network conditions and QoS constraints. Results clearly show the effectiveness of our scheme in the considered 5G scenarios.

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the relationship of female participation in labor force with the cybersecurity maturity of nations and the enabling role of e-government development in moderating the same. Design/methodology/approachThe authors have conducted fixed-effects regression using archival data for 149 countries taken from secondary sources. Furthermore, the authors have grouped the sample countries into four levels of cybersecurity maturity (unprepared, reactive, anticipatory and innovative) using clustering techniques, and studied the influence of their interest variables for individual groups. FindingsResults show that female participation in labor force positively influences national cybersecurity maturity, and e-government development positively moderates the said relationship, thereby enabling the empowerment of women. Practical implicationsEncouraging broader participation of women in the labor force and prioritizing investments in e-government development are essential steps that organizations and governments may take to enhance a country's cybersecurity maturity level. Originality/valueThis study empirically demonstrates the impact of the nuanced interplay between female participation in labor force and the e-government development of a nation on its cybersecurity maturity.

Understanding the role of e-government in driving governments’ development agenda has received attention from academicians and policymakers. Despite this, there is a dearth of research focusing on the higher-order impact of e-government at a macro level, such as sustainable development goals. This paper explores the relationship between e-government maturity and gender inequality (SDG 5). Drawing on empowerment theory, we examine how e-government maturity may help reduce gender inequality in the country. Moreover, based on institutional theory, we look at the potential role of government effectiveness in influencing the impact of e-government maturity on gender inequality. The study uses publicly available data from well-known sources. We provide empirical results supporting the proposed relationships using two-way fixed effect regression on a balanced panel dataset of 139 countries from 2003 to 2020. Our findings suggest a significant negative relationship exists between e-government maturity and gender inequality. Additionally, government effectiveness provides a considerable moderation effect between e-government maturity and gender inequality. We also validate our results through robustness checks. This study contributes to the literature on e-government impact and the role of institutional factors in realizing the benefits of e-government. Based on the findings, we provide implications for both research and practice.

Exploiting the tension between the two dynamics of quantum theory (QT) in the Wigner's Friend thought experiment, we point out that the standard QT leads to inconsistency in observed probabilities of measurement outcomes between two superobservers: Wigner and his Student. To avoid such inconsistent predictions of QT, we hypothesize two distinct perspectives. The first one is "absoluteness of measurement (AoM)," that is, any measurement process is an absolute event irrespective of other observers and yields a single outcome. The other is "nonabsoluteness of measurement (NoM)" as the negation of AoM. We introduce an operational approach, first with one friend and then with two spatially separated friends, to test the validity of these two perceptions in quantum theory without assuming the details of the experiment. First, we show that the set of probabilities obtainable for NoM is strictly larger than the set obtainable for AoM. We provide the simplest scenario so far, involving a single quantum preparation and one unitary operation by a superobserver that can demonstrate correlations incompatible with AoM. Remarkably, in the scenario with spatially separated observers, we present a strict hierarchy among the sets of probabilities observed in the following three theories: classical or local realist, quantum theory with AoM, and quantum theory with NoM.

Measurement incompatibility stipulates the existence of quantum measurements that cannot be carried out simultaneously on single systems. We show that the set of input-output probabilities obtained from d-dimensional classical systems assisted with shared randomness is the same as the set obtained from d-dimensional quantum strategies restricted to compatible measurements with shared randomness in any communication scenario. Thus, measurement incompatibility is necessary for quantum advantage in communication, and any quantum advantage (with or without shared randomness) in communication acts as a witness to the incompatibility of the measurements at the receiver's end in a semi-device-independent way. We introduce a class of communication tasks-a general version of random access codes-to witness incompatibility of an arbitrary number of quantum measurements with arbitrary outcomes acting on d-dimensional systems and provide generic upper bounds on the success metric of these tasks for compatible measurements. We identify all sets of three incompatible rank-one projective qubit measurements that random access codes can witness. Finally, we present the generic relationship between different sets of probability distributions-classical, quantum with or without shared randomness, and quantum restricted to compatible measurements with or without shared randomness-produced in communication scenarios.

Acknowledging the global relevance of controlling corruption, our study contributes to the existing body of literature by exploring the relationship between E-Government (EGOV) and Corruption Control at the EGOV subindices level. Toward this, we draw upon theoretical insights from Resource-Based View (RBV), Media Literacy Theory, Agency Theory, Information Quality, and Transaction Cost Theory to derive a set of testable hypotheses. Using a panel dataset comprising 102 countries, we employ a Linear Mixed Effects (LME) estimation method to thoroughly investigate and uncover the relative effectiveness of EGOV subindices in controlling corruption. Accordingly, we draw implications for theory, praxis and future research.

In this letter we consider the problem of certification of quantum measurements with an arbitrary number of outcomes. We propose a simple scheme for certifying any set of d-outcome projective measurements which do not share any common invariant proper subspace, termed here genuinely incompatible, and the maximally entangled state of two qudits. For our purpose, we focus on a simpler scenario, termed as one-sided device-independent scenario where the resource employed for certification is quantum steering. We also study robustness of our self-testing statements for a certain class of genuinely incompatible measurements including mutually unbiased bases which are essential for several quantum information-theoretic tasks such as quantum cryptography.

The main purpose of this paper is to especially examine the effect of diversification in both cases like naive portfolios and differently weighted portfolios and find out in which cases greater diversification effect is obtained. For this purpose the monthly closing prices of 179 companies listed in Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) for the period of Jan 2008 to Dec 2014 have been considered. The diversification effect is measured by the number of stocks, regressions of portfolio risk against number and concentration of stocks. The results show that greater diversification effect is obtained in naive portfolios and the dependence of portfolio risk on number of stocks is71.35% for naive portfolios and 70.75% for differently-weighted portfolios. The dependence of portfolio risk on concentration of stocks is 63.32% for naïve portfolios and 66.58% for differently-weighted portfolios. The results are statistically significant at 0.000 level which is less than 0.05 or 5% level. The findings of this paper will be useful for policy makers, all kinds of investors, corporations, and other financial market- participants.

Globally, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) incur considerable capital investments towards the acquisition of spectrum, deployment of mobile networks, and marketing and advertising of their mobile services to potential mobile subscribers. The extant literature, which is mainly conceptual, suggests that such capital investments impact the individual mobile subscriber base of MNOs. However, the extant literature lacks in quantitative explanation of such impacts. We address this lacuna by proposing an empirical framework using a novel panel dataset of the four largest MNOs of India, during the years 2009–2017. We find that capital investments in the spectrum (both contemporaneous and lagged) and mobile networks (lagged) positively impact the mobile subscriber base of MNOs in India. We observe that a “triggering effect,” such as the market rollout of 4G (fourth generation) services, leads to an initial slump in the mobile subscriber base of MNOs, which is counterintuitive and signifies the importance of early network-preparedness on the part of MNOs. We also find that, in the event of the aforementioned market triggers, MNOs’ firm-size and potential to invest in the spectrum, in addition to network-preparedness, are crucial for its survival.