The short-term impact of government budgets on prices Evidence from macroeconometric models

This paper reviews the existing empirical evidence on the short-term impact on prices of fiscal variables and assesses it against new results from harmonised simulations, conducted with six well-established econometric models used by the ECB and five national central banks (NCBs) of the Eurosystem. The outcome is also compared with results from the European Commission and the OECD models. Overall, a broad consensus appears on the impact on prices of changes in individual government budget items in the euro area. In all cases, changes in government demand and in direct taxes paid by households have a limited impact on prices in the first year while, in contrast, changes in indirect taxes and employers’ social security contributions have a relatively large impact. The second year results show that the effects on prices usually take some time to materialise fully; in particular, they often become large for the public consumption shock.euro area, model simulations, fiscal policy, prices

The short-term impact of government budgets on prices; evidence from macroeconometric models

This paper reviews the existing empirical evidence on the short-term impact on prices of fiscal variables and assesses it against new results from harmonised simulations, conducted with six well-established econometric models used by the ECB and five national central banks (NCBs) of the Eurosystem. The outcome is also compared with results from the European Commission and the OECD models. Overall, a broad consensus appears on the impact on prices of changes in individual government budget items in the euro area. In all cases, changes in government demand and in direct taxes paid by households have a limited impact on prices in the first year while, in contrast, changes in indirect taxes and employersÂ’ social security contributions have a relatively large impact. The second year results show that the effects on prices usually take some time to materialise fully; in particular, they often become large for the public consumption shock.Euro area, model simulations, fiscal policy, prices

Studies on Air Injection in a Wastewater-Fed Subsurface Drip Irrigation System

In 2020, the Ogallala High Plains Aquifer supplied irrigation water for approximately 3.6 million hectares in Nebraska, making it the most irrigated state in the United States. Although Nebraska is highly dependent in groundwater, locations included in the Gering-Fort Laramie Irrigation District (border of Nebraska and Wyoming) rely on surface water resources. In addition to these conventional water sources, using non-conventional alternatives for crop production can be just as important during water shortage times such as the one that e occurred in 2019 with the collapse of the Goshen/Gering-Fort Laramie Canal. Feedlot runoff presents a great opportunity in Nebraska, but it can become a point source pollution of pharmaceutical and personal care products, which could be accumulated in plant tissues and soil. In Chapter 1, we tested how passive air injection to the wastewater-fed SDI system could improve crop yield by increasing soil oxygen content at the root zone. Therefore, the objective of Chapter 1 was to evaluate the effect of air injection on corn and sugar beets yield when using feedlot runoff irrigation in SDI. Results have shown that passive air injection has been effective increasing soil oxygen content in shallow depth. Air injection did not affect sugar beet yield or sucrose content in any growing season, but significantly increased corn yield in the 2021 growing season. In Chapter 2, we evaluated the effects of air injection into subsurface drip irrigation on the soil microbial diversity and the residual of antibiotic residues accumulated in soil pore water, soil, and plant matrices. The objective of Chapter 2 was to evaluate the effects of air injection on the reduction of antibiotic concentrations in the soil environment introduced by irrigation with feedlot wastewater. Results have shown that air injection was not effective in removing or treating antibiotics such as sulfamethoxazole or monensin Na. However, in air-injected sugar beet or corn plots, some microbes had a significantly higher abundance than in non-air-injected plots, revealing potential benefits for crop production. Advisor: Xin Qiao

Detecting Invasive Insects with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

A key aspect to controlling and reducing the effects invasive insect species have on agriculture is to obtain knowledge about the migration patterns of these species. Current state-of-the-art methods of studying these migration patterns involve a mark-release-recapture technique, in which insects are released after being marked and researchers attempt to recapture them later. However, this approach involves a human researcher manually searching for these insects in large fields and results in very low recapture rates. In this paper, we propose an automated system for detecting released insects using an unmanned aerial vehicle. This system utilizes ultraviolet lighting technology, digital cameras, and lightweight computer vision algorithms to more quickly and accurately detect insects compared to the current state of the art. The efficiency and accuracy that this system provides will allow for a more comprehensive understanding of invasive insect species migration patterns. Our experimental results demonstrate that our system can detect real target insects in field conditions with high precision and recall rates.Comment: IEEE ICRA 2019. 7 page

Inversión,Crecimiento y Desarrollo de la Economía Nicaragüense: La Inversión Privada en las Construcciones Verticales y su Incidencia en la Disminución del Desempleo 2009-2015

El tema principal sobre “inversión, crecimiento y desarrollo”, en el estudio abarca al sector construcción como una herramienta para medir el flujo de las inversiones privadas, y predecir inversiones futuras en el sector, para toma de decisiones de política económica

Meloxicam Decreases the Formation of Peritoneal Adhesions in an Experimental Surgical Model in Rats

Background: Inflammatory adhesions result from an inflammatory response of the peritoneum during an intra-abdominal inflammatory process secondary to thermal or mechanical injury, infection, radiation, ischemia, dissection, abrasion or foreign body reaction. Adhesions produce consequences such as: infertility, intestinal obstruction, and pelvic-abdominal pain. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of Meloxicam, a selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor, on the formation of postoperative peritoneal adhesions in an experimental animal model. Methods: Twenty female Wistar rats were submitted to laparotomy. Postoperative peritoneal adhesions were induced by scorching the serous surface of the colon. The animals were randomly divided into two experimental groups: one group received Meloxicam intramuscularly for 7 days, and the other served as a control group. They were sacrificed and evaluated at 15 days. Results: In the animals given Meloxicam, it was observed that a decrease in number (p = 0.018), severity (p = 0.004), extension (p = 0.011), density (p = 0.023), degree of inflammation (p = 0.002), vascular proliferation (p = 0.004) and fibrosis (p = 0.029) of adhesions, compared to the control group. Conclusion: In conclusion, this study demonstrated that the administration of Meloxicam intramuscularly significantly decreases the formation of postoperative peritoneal adhesions and, therefore, may be useful in their prevention. The effects of Meloxicam could not only be due to its anti-inflammatory action, but also to its effects on the expression of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor