Response of Stock Markets to Monetary Policy: An Asian Stock Market Perspective

We estimate the response of Asian stock market prices to exogenous monetary policy shocks using a vector error correction model. In our paper, monetary policy transmits to stock market price through three routes: money by itself, exchange rate, and inflation. Our result points to the fact that stock prices increase persistently in response to an exogenous easing monetary policy. Variance deposition results show that, after 10 periods, the forecast error variance of beyond 53% of the Tehran Stock Exchange Price Index (TEPIX) can be explained by exogenous shocks to the US dollar-Iranian rial exchange rate, while this ratio for exogenous shocks to Iranian real gross domestic product was only 17%. We argue that such evidence can be accounted for by an endogenous response of the stock prices to the monetary policy shocks

Factors influencing students’ intention to use internet for academic purposes

This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing students’ intention to use the Internet for academic purposes amongst 204 final year business students in public universities in Malaysia.This study integrated theory of planned behavior (TPB) and theory of acceptance model (TAM) as the base model toward that purpose.The research model employs the variables from both theories namely attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, intention, and behavior.A multiple regression analysis provides empirical support for the applicability of integration of TPB and TAM in predicting students’ intention to use the Internet for academic purposes.Results of the study show that attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and perceived usefulness are statistically significant in influencing intention to use the Internet for academic purposes.Based on the results, it can be concluded that students’ intention to use the Internet for academic purposes could be predicted from their attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and perceived usefulness at 49% level.In view of the results, several implications and recommendations are discussed

Preparation and characterization of chlorhexidine modified zinc-kaolinite and its antibacterial activity against bacteria isolated from water vending machine

Access to the portable drinking water is of paramount importance and remains major challenge globally. Water vending machine (WVM) could supplies drinking water to the community but the bacterial growth in WVM is of great health risk requires urgent attention. Chlorhexidine zinc-modified kaolinite (C-Zn-Kao-t1) was prepared, characterized and studied to inhibit the growth of isolated bacteria from WVM. The material was prepared by attaching chlorhexidine (0.5âmmol/L) on Zn-loaded kaolinite in which the loading capacity of Zn on the kaolinite (Kao-t1) satisfied 50% of cation exchange capacity of the kaolinite. The materials were characterized using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray and dispersion behaviour analysis. The C-Zn-Kao-t1 did not cause any structural changes on the original structure and morphology of the kaolinite. The antibacterial activity of the materials was studied using disc diffusion technique (DDT) and minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) against bacteria isolated from WVM which are Stenetrophomonas maltophilia and Bacillus cereus as well Escherichia coli ATCC 11229 as a comparison. Based on these antibacterial assays, C-Zn-Kao-t1 sample has the highest DDT and the lowest MIC values against all bacteria (accept the MIC value for E. coli) showing its excellent antibacterial activity against bacteria isolated from WVM. Further test on cytotoxicity towards human fibroblast cells in vitro showed that 0.5âmg of the C-Zn-Kao-t1 is cytocompatible towards HSF 1184 cells. This concludes that chlorhexidine modified zinc-kaolinite are not cytotoxic and can be embedded safely in WVM in preventing bacteria contamination