Structural analysis of energy market failure: Empirical evidence from US

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel UniversityThis thesis is concerned with the econometric modelling of gasoline prices in US. The intention is to characterize the market process in this crucial and significant industry. Overall we have been seeking to identify a mechanism to signal and measure market failure and consequently improve market performance. Firstly we examine the time series properties of gasoline prices using the criteria for perfect arbitrage to test market efficiency from the stationarity of price proportions. This is done by considering market efficiency across in different regions of the US, by applying a range of different stationary tests. In this analysis we collected a comprehensive data set of gasoline prices for all regions of the US mainland for the longest period available. Forni (2004), outlined reasons why the analysis of price proportions may be advantageous; especially when the sample is limited. Stationarity corresponds to a broad market, it is found here that the US gasoline market is on average broad. Except for the Gulf Coast and Lower Atlantic, which may be seen as economically and/or geographically separated, market structure in the rest of the US would not appear to be a problem Next we investigate possible long-run price leadership in the US gasoline market and the inter-relatedness of price behaviour relevant to a competitive market. Following Hunter & Burke (2007) and Kurita (2008) market definition is tested. This is done on an extended regional data set to Kurita and following the analysis in Hunter and Burke on a set of company data for the US.We analysed long-run price leadership through the cointegrated vector auto-regression (VAR) to identify key characteristics of long-run structure in the gasoline market. The analysis of the system of regional prices confirms problems with the Gulf Coast and Lower Atlantic, but also based on the finding that the cointegrating rank is less than N-1 using both types of data ( regional price data and company price data) and the findings on weak exogenity it is suggested that competition across the whole of the US is further limited. We applied further tests to company data on prices and quantity data to investigate further the need to regulate for potential anomalies and to capture more directly consumer harm. The variance screening method applied to recent weekly data indicates that there is too little variation in gasoline prices and this would seem to support the cointegration study. Furthermore we applied a dynamic disequilibrium analysis to attempt to identify long-run demand and supply in the gasoline market. Finding significant variables using the Phillips-Hansen fully modified estimation of the switching regression is necessary to distinguish two long-run equations (S&D). Moreover a comparison is made with a Markov Switching Model (MSM) of prices and this suggests a similar pattern of regime to the quantity information analysed in by our disequilibrium model

Through a mechanism-based approach, nanoparticles of cerium and yttrium may improve the outcome of pancreatic islet isolation

AbstractInsulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) is a global disease with high economic and social burden. A potential cure for type 1 diabetes is pancreatic islet transplantation. Despite recent improvements, islets are faced with various types of stress related to the isolation and transplantation procedure. Oxidative stress plays an essential role in cell damage during islet isolation and transplantation procedures. In this article, we hypothesise that a combination of cerium and yttrium oxide nanoparticles, as a power antioxidant with free-radical-scavenging activity, because of enhancing the survival or viability of cells in vitro can improve islet transplantation. No doubt, administration of this improvement can be used in diabetes treatment

Correlation of serum and salivary CA15-3 levels in patients with breast cancer

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between serum and saliva levels of cancer antigen (CA) 15-3 and to compare them between women with and without breast cancer. Study design: A case-control study was carried out on 61 women aged 28-69 years, including women with and without breast cancer (26 as part of the case study and 35 as part of the control group) conducted at the Emam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. CA15-3 levels were assayed in serum and unstimulated whole saliva by EIA. Unpaired t-test, one-way ANOVA and Pearson correlation were used as statistical analysis. Results: The salivary and serological levels of CA15-3 in the cancer patients were significantly higher (P <0.01) than the salivary and serum levels of healthy controls. They were also higher in stage 2 than in stage 1 in cancer patients. However, the saliva flow rate was significantly lower in the cancer patients (P <0.01). There was a significant positive correlation between serum and saliva CA15-3 concentration (r = 0.614) and also between serum concentration and saliva output of CA15-3 (r = 0.541). Conclusion: The results of the study suggest that salivary CA15-3 may have potential use in the initial detection of breast cancer in women

The comparison of self esteem between volunteer and non volunteer students in universities sport in Iran

Studies three concepts of transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leaderships as three independent and individual dimensions. This field study is descriptive and correlative. Statistical population of this study is the volunteer students in universities' sport associations of 10 regions of the country. Among 73 universities, 17 had active sport associations. Based on Morgan table, 231 students were selected as statistical sample (n=231) from which the results of 208 questionnaires were analyzed. Bass and Avolio (1995) Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was used to measure managers' leadership style of the universities' sport administrations. This questionnaire includes 41 questions with 5-value Lickert scale (1=never to 5=always). Choosing satisfaction from experiencing as the most important dimension of satisfaction shows volunteers' high level of satisfaction from experiences they have acquired in universities sport associations. The reason of this fact is that sport activity in the association is long term in nature. Sport association provides the students an opportunity to experience and use their experiences in their sport and work life. This study illustrates that girls are more satisfied than boys in all satisfaction dimensions (especially acquiring experience, career, commitment, and material) in sport associations. Researches show that female students' satisfaction is more than male students' satisfaction and women's job satisfaction is more than men's job satisfaction. Thus, the higher degree of job satisfaction and experiencing in female students seems more justifying. Also, it's been cleared that sport students were more satisfied than other students in all satisfaction dimensions (especially acquiring experience, career, purposeful, and commitment

Nutrients as novel therapeutic approaches for metabolic disturbances in polycystic ovary syndrome

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine disorders among women. This disease is characterized by infertility, menstrual dysfunction, and hyperandrogenism. Also, PCOS is often associated with hyperlipidemia and impaired glucose tolerance, conditions that are associated with cardiovascular disorder, type 2 diabetes, cancer and hypertension. Evidence supports that some nutrients may affect the hormonal and metabolic disturbances of PCOS. Here in this study, we aimed to review the available literature that assessed the nutrients such as inostol, isoflavonids, resveratrol, vitamin D, and PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acids), known to influence the hormonal and metabolic disturbances of PCOS, along with the strategies and future directions of nutrient supplementations in such patients

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Using a Progressive Muscle Relaxation Technique on the Self-Efficacy of Breastfeeding in Mothers With Preterm Infants.

BACKGROUND Breast milk is a God-given gift that conveys a mother's love and compassion and that is made according to the needs and age of the child. Mothers who are interested in the welfare of their newborns tend to breastfeed their children. Training programs have been shown to improve breastfeeding self-efficacy in terms of both duration and amount. PURPOSE The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of using the progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) technique on the self-efficacy of breastfeeding in mothers with preterm infants. METHODS A clinical trial approach was used. Sixty mothers with preterm infants were randomly assigned to either the intervention or control group. The clinical trial ran for a period of 2 months for both groups. At 24-72 hours postpartum, the researcher used the Jacobson method to provide 30-45 minutes of individual training to the intervention group participants on PMR. Under the Jacobson method, mothers contract the 16 groups of muscles until they experience the feeling of pressure and then relax these muscles. The tools used in this study were the standard questionnaire of Dennis breastfeeding self-efficacy, which was completed by the participants at baseline, at the end of the fourth week, and during the eighth week. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. RESULTS No significant difference was observed between the intervention and control groups in terms of demographic variables (p > .05). Independent t tests found no significant difference between the two groups (p = .45) in terms of mean score of maternal breastfeeding self-efficacy at pretest and significantly higher scores for the intervention group than the control group at both 4 (p = .001) and 8 (p < .001) weeks posttest. Furthermore, the analysis of variance test showed significant differences in the mean score of breastfeeding self-efficacy for the intervention group between pretest and the first posttest and between the first posttest and the second posttest, respectively (p < .001). CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE Considering the effect of relaxation training on the breastfeeding self-efficacy of mothers with preterm infants, training and performing these exercises as an effective and low-cost method to improve the health of mothers, particularly mothers of preterm infants, are recommended. The PMR technique facilitates the self-efficacy of breastfeeding in mothers with preterm infants and should be considered as an effective strategy to improve nursing care and the provision of better support services for mothers who breastfeed their infants

Benefit of magnesium-25 carrying porphyrin-fullerene nanoparticles in experimental diabetic neuropathy

Diabetic neuropathy (DN) is a debilitating disorder occurring in most diabetic patients without a viable treatment yet. The present work examined the protective effect of 25Mg-PMC16 nanoparticle (porphyrin adducts of cyclohexil fullerene-C60) in a rat model of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced DN. 25Mg-PMC16 (0.5 lethal dose50 [LD50]) was administered intravenously in two consecutive days before intraperitoneal injection of STZ (45 mg/kg). 24Mg-PMC16 and MgCl2 were used as controls. Blood 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG), oxidative stress biomarkers, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) level in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons were determined as biomarkers of DN. Results indicated that 2,3-DPG and ATP decreased whereas oxidative stress increased by induction of DN which all were improved in 25Mg-PMC16-treated animals. No significant changes were observed by administration of 24Mg-PMC16 or MgCl2 in DN rats. It is concluded that in DN, oxidative stress initiates injuries to DRG neurons that finally results in death of neurons whereas administration of 25Mg-PMC16 by release of Mg and increasing ATP acts protectively