Financial and monetary policy responses to oil price shocks: evidence from oil-importing and oil-exporting countries

In this study, we investigate the financial and monetary policy responses to oil price shocks using a Structural VAR framework. We distinguish between net oil-importing and net oil-exporting countries. Since the 80s, a significant number of empirical studies have been published investigating the effect of oil prices on macroeconomic and financial variables. Most of these studies though, do not make a distinction between oil-importing and oil-exporting economies. Overall, our results indicate that the level of inflation in both net oil-exporting and net oil-importing countries is significantly affected by oil price innovations. Furthermore, we find that the response of interest rates to an oil price shock depends heavily on the monetary policy regime of each country. Finally, stock markets operating in net oil-importing countries exhibit a negative response to increased oil prices. The reverse is true for the stock market of the net oil-exporting countries. We find evidence that the magnitude of stock market responses to oil price shocks is higher for the newly established and/or less liquid stock market

Can urban coffee consumption help predict US inflation?

Motivated by the importance of coffee to Americans and the significance of the coffee subsector to the US economy, we pursue three notable innovations. First, we augment the traditional Phillips curve model with the coffee price as a predictor, and show that the resulting model outperforms the traditional variant in both in-sample and out-of-sample predictability of US inflation. Second, we demonstrate the need to account for the inherent statistical features of predictors such as persistence, endogeneity, and conditional heteroskedasticity effects when dealing with US inflation. Consequently, we offer robust illustrations to show that the choice of estimator matters for improved US inflation forecasts. Third, the proposed augmented Phillips curve also outperforms time series models such as autoregressive integrated moving average and the fractionally integrated version for both in-sample and out-of-sample forecasts. Our results show that augmenting the traditional Phillips curve with the urban coffee price will produce better forecast results for US inflation only when the statistical effects are captured in the estimation process. Our results are robust to alternative measures of inflation, different data frequencies, higher order moments, multiple data samples and multiple forecast horizons

Genome-Wide Meta-Analysis of Five Asian Cohorts Identifies PDGFRA as a Susceptibility Locus for Corneal Astigmatism

Corneal astigmatism refers to refractive abnormalities and irregularities in the curvature of the cornea, and this interferes with light being accurately focused at a single point in the eye. This ametropic condition is highly prevalent, influences visual acuity, and is a highly heritable trait. There is currently a paucity of research in the genetic etiology of corneal astigmatism. Here we report the results from five genome-wide association studies of corneal astigmatism across three Asian populations, with an initial discovery set of 4,254 Chinese and Malay individuals consisting of 2,249 cases and 2,005 controls. Replication was obtained from three surveys comprising of 2,139 Indians, an additional 929 Chinese children, and an independent 397 Chinese family trios. Variants in PDGFRA on chromosome 4q12 (lead SNP: rs7677751, allelic odds ratio = 1.26 (95% CI: 1.16–1.36), Pmeta = 7.87×10−9) were identified to be significantly associated with corneal astigmatism, exhibiting consistent effect sizes across all five cohorts. This highlights the potential role of variants in PDGFRA in the genetic etiology of corneal astigmatism across diverse Asian populations

The genetics of myopia

Myopia is the most common eye condition worldwide and its prevalence is increasing. While changes in environment, such as time spent outdoors, have driven myopia rates, within populations myopia is highly heritable. Genes are estimated to explain up to 80% of the variance in refractive error. Initial attempts to identify myopia genes relied on family studies using linkage analysis or candidate gene approaches with limited progress. More genome-wide association study (GWAS) approaches have taken over, ultimately resulting in the identification of hundreds of genes for refractive error and myopia, providing new insights into its molecular machinery. These studies showed myopia is a complex trait, with many genetic variants of small effect influencing retinal signaling, eye growth and the normal process of emmetropization. The genetic architecture and its molecular mechanisms are still to be clarified and while genetic risk score prediction models are improving, this knowledge must be expanded to have impact on clinical practice

INVESTIGATION OF COLOR AND COD REMOVAL FROM WASTEWATER CONTAINING

Textile dye wastewater contains salts and trace elements beside dyestuff and suspended solid ( SS) content. Textile dye wastewater may cause important environmental problems due to high dye contents, important amount of suspended solid content and high chemical oxygen demand ( COD). Dyestuff used in textile dyed is known to be removed in traditional aerobic treatment systems. Recently advanced oxidation processes (AOP) like Fenton process have been successfully used in treatment of industrial wastewater that contains non-biodegredable and toxic matters. Especially Fenton oxidation has been applied for textile dye processes and decolorization of wastewater that contains dye. In this study optimum values were determined for parameters such as pH, Fe(+2) and H(2)O(2), temperature, slow mixing time doses for decolorization by Fenton Process of C.I. Disperse Yellow 119 and Disperse Red 167, two of disperse dyes whose production are increasing more and more everyday and which are used more commonly and intensively for dying polyester fiber. We also evaluated the removal efficiency of color and COD at these optimum conditions. The overall color and COD removal efficiencies were 99.70% and 98.70% for Disperse Yellow 119 and 97.20% and 96.10% for Disperse Red 167 under determined conditions, respectively

INVESTIGATION OF COLOR AND COD REMOVAL FROM WASTEWATER CONTAINING

Textile dye wastewater contains salts and trace elements beside dyestuff and suspended solid ( SS) content. Textile dye wastewater may cause important environmental problems due to high dye contents, important amount of suspended solid content and high chemical oxygen demand ( COD). Dyestuff used in textile dyed is known to be removed in traditional aerobic treatment systems. Recently advanced oxidation processes (AOP) like Fenton process have been successfully used in treatment of industrial wastewater that contains non-biodegredable and toxic matters. Especially Fenton oxidation has been applied for textile dye processes and decolorization of wastewater that contains dye. In this study optimum values were determined for parameters such as pH, Fe(+2) and H(2)O(2), temperature, slow mixing time doses for decolorization by Fenton Process of C.I. Disperse Yellow 119 and Disperse Red 167, two of disperse dyes whose production are increasing more and more everyday and which are used more commonly and intensively for dying polyester fiber. We also evaluated the removal efficiency of color and COD at these optimum conditions. The overall color and COD removal efficiencies were 99.70% and 98.70% for Disperse Yellow 119 and 97.20% and 96.10% for Disperse Red 167 under determined conditions, respectively

in agriculture

In this study, a combination of chemical precipitation, neutralization and ion exchange processes for an Organized Industrial District (OID) wastewater reclamation for reuse in agriculture was investigated. The parameters analyzed after treatment stages are agricultural irrigation standards. Optimum removal efficiencies for SS, COD, and fecal coliform bacteria were obtained as 96%, 31%, and 87%, respectively, when the pH value was adjusted to 11 in the chemical precipitation process. The average removal efficiency obtained for conductivity parameter was 90%, and the removal efficiencies for SO42- and Cl- were 71% and 96%, respectively, when the resin with 20 mL H-type/20 mL OH-type ratio was used in the ion exchange process. As a result of the study, the quality of the water treated by using chemical precipitation and ion exchange processes was enough to be reused in agriculture

of a drinking water distribution system in the Denizli City

Nowadays, continuous, healthy water supply and total water quality management have emerged as an important issue in engineering applications In a wide ranging assessment, the quality of the drinking water is being monitored in the distribution system, until it is supplied to the end user It includes regular sampling and testing performed for assessing compliance with guideline values The major purpose of this study was to monitor, evaluate and control the water quality in distribution system by using GIS to assess the drinking water quality in Denizli The drinking water necessity in Denizli is supplied from various drinking water sources as Gokpinar, Derindere, Kozlupinar and Benlipinar springs and more than 30 deep wells. The storage reservoir volume fed by the water sources vanes from 20 m(3) to 5500 m(3) Almost 56% of Denizli drinking water distribution system consists of asbestos cement and cast iron pipes The non-revenue water in the water supply system is about 50% In the old distribution systems, epidemic illness risk is at high rate and the free residual chlorine has to be kept at certain amount Therefore, the free residual chlorine amount has to be measured during the summer months against the epidemic danger The chlorine reacts with the organic matter and the amount decreases; it forms the carcinogenic trihalomethanes (THMs) In this study, three organic matter precursors, namely total organic carbon (TOC) concentration, UV absorbance at 254 nm and free residual chlorine concentration has been measured in 30 points at various parts of the Denizli city water distribution system and mapped by GI