The financial determinants of gross international reserves: Evidence from the Philippines (2007-2014)

One of the significant factors of a country\u27s sustainability is the gross international reserves (GIR). It can be used as a buffer in case of fluctuations in a country\u27s currency and for purchasing of foreign goods. Recently, it was discovered that the changes of money supply and the behavior of net capital flows affect and/or determines the movement of a country\u27s GIR. The objectives of this study are to measure the level of significance of the said variables affecting a country\u27s GIR and to propose two more variables namely interest rate and exchange rate (REER). The results showed that money supply is the variable with the most significance when run with all four variables. Although the suggested variables turned out to be insignificant due to the number observations used, the proponents still believe that these variables can be used as determinants of GIR. In order to do this, further studies may be conducted to improve the results

Surface characterisation and photocatalytic performance of N-doped TiO2 thin films deposited onto 200 nm pore size alumina membranes by sol–gel methods

© 2015 Elsevier B.V. Membrane filtration is employed for water treatment and wastewater reclamation purposes, but membranes alone are unable to remove pollutant molecules and certain pathogens. Photocatalytically active N-doped TiO2 coatings have been deposited by sol-gel onto 200 nm pore size alumina membranes for water treatment applications using two different methods, via pipette droplets or spiral bar applicator. The uncoated and coated membranes were characterised by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX). Both coatings showed the presence of N-doped anatase, with a surface coverage between 84 and 92%, and nitrogen concentration (predominantly interstitial) of 0.9 at.%. The spiral bar applicator deposited coatings exhibit a thicker mud-cracked surface layer with limited penetration of the porous membrane, whilst the pipette deposited coatings have mostly penetrated into the bulk of the membrane and a thinner layer is present at the surface. The photocatalytic activity (PCA), measured through the degradation of carbamazepine (CBZ), under irradiation of a solar simulator was 58.6% for the pipette coating and 63.3% for the spiral bar coating. These photocatalytically active N-doped sol-gel coated membranes offer strong potential in forming the fundamental basis of a sunlight based water treatment system