Resurgence of inflation: Assessing the role of Macroeconomic Policies

After decades of relative consumer price stability, inflation is now making a come-back as a central topic in economic and political discussions, against a backdrop of various policy challenges. The aim of this paper is to provide a nuanced assessment of the different channels through which monetary, fiscal and income policies can affect prices and output in a small open economy, as well as discuss which policy measures are desirable and practically feasible when such an economy experiences inflationary shocks. To do so, we adopt a comprehensive modelling approach and build an empirical stock-flow-consistent model using sectoral national account data for Denmark over the period 2005Q1-2020Q1. We then replicate the inflationary environment in which Denmark and several other countries are currently operating and introduce a monetary policy reaction which leads to a modest reduction in inflation at the cost of further contracting the economy. Taking monetary tightening as a forced policy response in the case of a small open economy with fixed exchange rate, we explore a number of policies that, within the current institutional and legal framework, can potentially mitigate the adverse effects of inflation. Specifically, we introduce fiscal interventions - in the form of tax cuts on income and production - along with wage- and price-based income policies. Our main conclusion is that a close coordination of fiscal and income policies can help reduce the effects of adverse shocks to income without increasing inflation. Finally, we address a question of political relevance by exploring the effects of different policies on public budget and debt. Overall, we find that of all the policies implemented, monetary policy has the most dramatic effects on public debt sustainability.Fil: Raza, Hamid. Aalborg University. MaMTEP. Aalborg University Business School; Denmark.Fil: Laurentjoye, Thibault. Aalborg University. MaMTEP. Aalborg University Business School; Denmark.Fil: Randrup Byrialsen, Mikael. Aalborg University. MaMTEP. Aalborg University Business School; Denmark.Fil: Valdecantos, Sebastián. Aalborg University. MaMTEP. Aalborg University Business School; Denmark

Water Defluoridation: Nanofiltration vs Membrane Distillation

Nowadays, fluoride contamination of drinking water is a major problem for various countries, because high concentrations of fluoride pose a risk of dental and skeletal fluorosis. Over past years, membrane nanofiltration (NF) has been proposed as convenient defluoridation technology. However, NF cannot be applied to water systems with high fluoride concentration, and the disposal of the membrane concentrate remains an issue. In this work, we compared a commercial polyester NF membrane and a polypropylene hollow-fiber membrane distillation (MD) module for their ability to remove fluoride ions from water in the presence of hardness ions and organic fouling agents. The NF membrane can offer more than 10 times higher water productivity than MD, under realistic gradients of temperature and pressure, respectively. Despite that, after reaching a concentration factor of about 3, fouling and scaling caused the flux to drop to about 80% with respect to its initial value. Moreover, F- retention decreased from 90% to below 80%, thus providing a permeate of scarce quality. MD was operated in the direct-contact mode on a polypropylene hollow-fiber membrane, which was charged with a hot feed flow (average T = 58 °C) on one side and a cooled (20 °C) permeate flow of distilled water on the other side. The concentration of fluoride ions in the permeate was always below the detection limit of our electrode (0.2 ppm), regardless of the fluoride concentration in the feed. Moreover, the MD module showed higher resistance to fouling and scaling than NF, and CaF2 crystals were recovered from the MD concentrate after cooling. These results suggest that the synergic combination of the two techniques might be beneficial for the purification of fluoride-contaminated water systems: MD can be used to further concentrate the NF retentate, thus producing high-purity water and recovering CaF2 crystals.Fil: Moran Ayala, Lucia Isabel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Paquet, Marie. University of Aalborg; DinamarcaFil: Janowska, Katarzyna. University of Aalborg; DinamarcaFil: Jamard, Paul. University of Aalborg; DinamarcaFil: Quist Jensen, Cejna A.. University of Aalborg; DinamarcaFil: Bosio, Gabriela Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Martire, Daniel Osvaldo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Fabbri, Debora. Università di Torino; ItaliaFil: Boffa, Vittorio. University of Aalborg; Dinamarc

Psychophysical and electrophysiological evidence for enhanced pain facilitation and unaltered pain inhibition in acute low back pain patients

The aim of this case-control study was to examine differences in neural correlates of pain facilitatory and inhibitory mechanisms between acute low back pain (LBP) patients and healthy individuals. Pressure pain tolerance, electrical pain detection thresholds, pain ratings to repetitive suprathreshold electrical stimulation (SES) and conditioned pain modulation (CPM) were assessed in 18 patients with acute LBP and 18 healthy control participants. Furthermore, event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to repetitive SES were obtained from high-density electroencephalography. Results showed that the LBP group presented lower pressure pain tolerance and higher pain ratings to SES compared with the control group. Both groups displayed effective CPM, with no differences in CPM magnitude between groups. Both groups presented similar reductions in ERP amplitudes during CPM, but ERP responses to repetitive SES were significantly larger in the LBP group. In conclusion, acute LBP patients presented enhanced pain facilitatory mechanisms, whereas no significant changes in pain inhibitory mechanisms were observed. These results provide new insight into the central mechanisms underlying acute LBP. Perspective: This article present evidence that acute LBP patients show enhanced pain facilitation and unaltered pain inhibition compared with pain-free volunteers. These results provide new insight into the central mechanisms underlying acute LBP.Fil: Vuilleumier, Pascal Henri. University of Bern; SuizaFil: Arguissain, Federico Gabriel. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Biurrun Manresa, José Alberto. Aalborg University; Dinamarca. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Entre Rios. Universidad Nacional de Entre Rios. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Entre Rios; ArgentinaFil: Neziri, Alban Ymer. University of Bern; Suiza. Regional Hospital of Langenthal; SuizaFil: Nirkko, Arto Christian. University of Bern; SuizaFil: Andersen, Ole Kæseler. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Arendt-Nielsen, Lars. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Curatolo, Michele. Aalborg University; Dinamarca. University of Washington; Estados Unido

MiDAS 4: A global catalogue of full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences and taxonomy for studies of bacterial communities in wastewater treatment plants

Microbial communities are responsible for biological wastewater treatment, but our knowledge of their diversity and function is still poor. Here, we sequence more than 5 million high-quality, full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences from 740 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) across the world and use the sequences to construct the ‘MiDAS 4’ database. MiDAS 4 is an amplicon sequence variant resolved, full-length 16S rRNA gene reference database with a comprehensive taxonomy from domain to species level for all sequences. We use an independent dataset (269 WWTPs) to show that MiDAS 4, compared to commonly used universal reference databases, provides a better coverage for WWTP bacteria and an improved rate of genus and species level classification. Taking advantage of MiDAS 4, we carry out an amplicon-based, global-scale microbial community profiling of activated sludge plants using two common sets of primers targeting regions of the 16S rRNA gene, revealing how environmental conditions and biogeography shape the activated sludge microbiota. We also identify core and conditionally rare or abundant taxa, encompassing 966 genera and 1530 species that represent approximately 80% and 50% of the accumulated read abundance, respectively. Finally, we show that for well-studied functional guilds, such as nitrifiers or polyphosphate-accumulating organisms, the same genera are prevalent worldwide, with only a few abundant species in each genus.Fil: Dueholm, Morten Kam Dahl. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Nierychlo, Marta. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Andersen, Kasper Skytte. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Rudkjøbing, Vibeke. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Knutsson, Simon. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Arriaga, Sonia. Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica; MéxicoFil: Bakke, Rune. University College of Southeast Norway; NoruegaFil: Boon, Nico. University of Ghent; BélgicaFil: Bux, Faizal. Durban University of Technology; SudáfricaFil: Christensson, Magnus. Veolia Water Technologies Ab; SueciaFil: Chua, Adeline Seak May. University Malaya; MalasiaFil: Curtis, Thomas P.. University of Newcastle; Reino UnidoFil: Cytryn, Eddie. Agricultural Research Organization Of Israel; IsraelFil: Erijman, Leonardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Etchebehere, Claudia. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas "Clemente Estable"; UruguayFil: Fatta Kassinos, Despo. University of Cyprus; ChipreFil: Frigon, Dominic. McGill University; CanadáFil: Garcia Chaves, Maria Carolina. Universidad de Antioquia; ColombiaFil: Gu, April Z.. Cornell University; Estados UnidosFil: Horn, Harald. Karlsruher Institut Für Technologie; AlemaniaFil: Jenkins, David. David Jenkins & Associates Inc; Estados UnidosFil: Kreuzinger, Norbert. Tu Wien; AustriaFil: Kumari, Sheena. Durban University of Technology; SudáfricaFil: Lanham, Ana. University of Bath; Reino UnidoFil: Law, Yingyu. Singapore Centre For Environmental Life Sciences Engineering; SingapurFil: Leiknes, TorOve. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; Arabia SauditaFil: Morgenroth, Eberhard. Eth Zürich; SuizaFil: Muszyński, Adam. Politechnika Warszawska; PoloniaFil: Petrovski, Steve. La Trobe University; AustraliaFil: Pijuan, Maite. Catalan Institute For Water Research; EspañaFil: Pillai, Suraj Babu. Va Tech Wabag Ltd; IndiaFil: Reis, Maria A. M.. Universidade Nova de Lisboa; PortugalFil: Rong, Qi. Chinese Academy of Sciences; ChinaFil: Rossetti, Simona. Istituto Di Ricerca Sulle Acque (irsa) ; Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche;Fil: Seviour, Robert. La Trobe University; AustraliaFil: Tooker, Nick. University of Massachussets; Estados UnidosFil: Vainio, Pirjo. Espoo R&D Center; FinlandiaFil: van Loosdrecht, Mark. Delft University of Technology; Países BajosFil: Vikraman, R.. VA Tech Wabag, Philippines Inc; FilipinasFil: Wanner, Jiří. University of Chemistry And Technology; República ChecaFil: Weissbrodt, David. Delft University of Technology; Países BajosFil: Wen, Xianghua. Tsinghua University; ChinaFil: Zhang, Tong. The University of Hong Kong; Hong KongFil: Nielsen, Per H.. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Albertsen, Mads. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Nielsen, Per Halkjær. Aalborg University; Dinamarc

Triangle Region

Traffic Days 2011 at Aalborg University, August 22, 201

Democratic culture gradually eroded

Critical discussion of the development of Aalborg University, drwing on 50 years' experience of working at the university.

A 0.76-pJ/Pulse 0.1-1 Gpps Microwatt IR-UWB CMOS Pulse Generator with Adaptive PSD Control Using A Limited Monocycle Precharge Technique

Document Version Author final version (often known as postprint) Link to publication from Aalborg University Citation for published version (APA)

A thermocatalytic perovskite-graphene oxide nanofiltration membrane for water depollution

A novel nanofiltration membrane, whose active layer consists of 98.6 wt% of a thermocatalytic perovskite with composition Sr0.85Ce0.15FeO3-δ (CSF), 1.0 wt% of graphene oxide (GO), and 0.4 wt% of a humic acid-like (HAL) crosslinker, was deposited over a commercial flat-sheet polyethersulfone support with good reproducibility by a simple 1-step coating procedure. The synergistic coupling of CSF and the crosslinked GO resulted in an improved catalytic activity for bisphenol A (BPA) abatement as a model pollutant. The thermocatalytic CSF/GO/HAL (GOT) membrane was tested in a nanofiltration crossflow apparatus with a model BPA solution and with a real urban wastewater treatment plant effluent. Its performances were compared with those of a HAL crosslinked GO (GOHAL) reference membrane. The GOT membrane presented high rejection towards BPA, antifouling properties, and stability under the filtration conditions. Moreover, when compared to the GOHAL reference, the thermocatalytic GOT membrane was able to reduce the concentration of BPA and the total organic carbon in the feed during filtration. Hence, the GOT membrane appears to have high potential in water treatment due to its multifunctional characteristics, which include molecular sieving, thermocatalytic oxidation of organic pollutants, and self-cleaning properties. Additionally, the membrane material showed no significant toxicity to the aquatic model organisms Raphidocelis subcapitata, Aliivibrio fischeri, and Daphnia magna at concentrations below 50 ppm.Fil: Bortot Coelho, Fabricio E.. Università di Torino; Italia. Liqtech International A/s; DinamarcaFil: Nurisso, Federica. Università di Torino; Italia. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Boffa, Vittorio. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Ma, Xianzheng. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Rasse Suriani, Federico Ariel Osvaldo. Aalborg University; Dinamarca. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Roslev, Peter. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Magnacca, Giuliana. Università di Torino; ItaliaFil: Candelario, Victor. Liqtech International A/s; DinamarcaFil: Deganello, Francesca. Istituto Per Lo Studio Dei Materiali Nanostrutturati, Rome; ItaliaFil: La Parola, Valeria. Istituto Per Lo Studio Dei Materiali Nanostrutturati, Rome; Itali