Mean Reversion of Real Exchange Rates and Purchasing Power Parity in Turkey

The important concept of purchasing power parity (PPP) has a number of practical implications. Our central objective is to examine the stationarity of Turkey’s real exchange rates to test for the empirical validity of PPP. Our results from conventional univariate unit root tests fail to support PPP. However, when we use the empirical methodology developed by Caner and Hansen (2001), which allows us to jointly consider non-stationarity and non-linearity, we find evidence of non-linear mean reversion in Turkey’s real exchange rates. This implies that PPP holds in one threshold regime but not in another.Turkey, purchasing power parity, real exchange rate, unit root, non-linearity

Work-Family Conflict in Korean-Americans

Work-family conflict research has been lacking in regard to cross-cultural studies, with research being primarily composed of Western samples and studied by Western researchers (Poelmans, 2003). Similarly, demographics in America (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008) make no distinction on generations of Asian-Americans, categorizing these populations under one construct such as Japanese or Korean. While the research is limited, several personal accounts of 1st and 2nd generation Korean-Americans (Gaertner, 2012; Kim, Huhr & Kim, 1993; Takeshita & Leong, 2007; Zeon, 1994) show the need to distinguish between the generations. This study explored the relationship between perceived work/family demand and work-family conflict, and how ethnicity and collectivism affected this relationship. Perceived work/family demand was explored as a mediator for the relationship between ethnicity and work-family conflict and between collectivism and work-family conflict. Results indicated that collectivism was a significant mediator of the relationship between demand and work-family conflict, whereas ethnicity was not

A Simple Kinetic Analysis of Syngas During Steam Hydrogasification of Biomass Using a Novel Inverted Batch Reactor with Instant High Pressure Feeding

A newly designed inverted batch reactor equipped with a pressure-driven feeding system was built for investigating the kinetics of syngas during the steam hydrogasification (SHR) of biomass. The system could instantly load the feedstock into the reactor at high temperature and pressure, which simulated the way to transport the feedstock into a hot and pressurized gasifier. Experiments were conducted from 600 °C to 700 °C. The inverted reactor showed very high heating rate by enhancing the carbon conversion and syngas production. The kinetic study showed that the rates of CH4, CO and CO2 formation during SHR were increased when the gasification temperature went up. SHR had comparatively lower activation energy for CH4 production. The activation energies of CH4, CO and CO2 during SHR were 42.8, 51.8 and 14 kJ/mol, respectively

Foreign Output Shocks and Monetary Policy Regimes in Small Open Economies: A DSGE Evaluation of East Asia

East Asia’s small open economies were hit in varying degrees by the sharp drop in the output of major industrial countries during the global financial and economic crisis of 2008-2009. This highlights the role of monetary policy regimes in cushioning small open economies from adverse external output shocks. To assess the welfare impact of external shocks on key macroeconomic variables under different monetary policy regimes, we numerically solve and calculate the welfare loss function of a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model. We find that CPI inflation targeting minimizes welfare losses for import-to-GDP ratios from 0.3 to 0.9. However, welfare under the pegged exchange rate regime is almost equivalent to CPI inflation targeting when the import-to-GDP ratio is one while the Taylor-type rule minimizes welfare when the import-to-GDP ratio is 0.1. We calibrate the model and derive welfare implications for eight East Asian small open economies.Trade channel, Import-to-GDP ratio, small open economies, welfare, exchange rate regimes, inflation targeting, Taylor rule, foreign output shock

Foreign Output Shocks and Monetary Policy Regimes in Small Open Economies: A DSGE Evaluation of East Asia

East Asia’s small open economies were hit in varying degrees by the sharp drop in the output of major industrial countries during the global financial and economic crisis of 2008-2009. This highlights the role of monetary policy regimes in cushioning small open economies from adverse external output shocks. To assess the welfare impact of external shocks on key macroeconomic variables under different monetary policy regimes, we numerically solve and calculate the welfare loss function of a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model. We find that CPI inflation targeting minimizes welfare losses for import-to-GDP ratios from 0.3 to 0.9. However, welfare under the pegged exchange rate regime is almost equivalent to CPI inflation targeting when the import-to-GDP ratio is one while the Taylor-type rule minimizes welfare when the import-to-GDP ratio is 0.1. We calibrate the model and derive welfare implications for eight East Asian small open economies.

Selective Laser Sintering of Zirconia with Micro-Scale Features

Recent work in Selective Laser Sintering of ceramics at the University of Texas at Austin demonstrates the capability to produce zirconia parts with fine features. Zirconia powder was pre-processed into spherical particles, laser sintered with a sacrificial polymer binder, infiltrated and post-sintered to higher density. Optical micrographs show that hole sizes of 180 /-tm are possible in fully ceramic components.Mechanical Engineerin

Opto-mechanical characterization of sclera by polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography.

Polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PSOCT) is an interferometric technique sensitive to birefringence. Since mechanical loading alters the orientation of birefringent collagen fibrils, we asked if PSOCT can be used to measure local mechanical properties of sclera. Infrared (1300 nm) PSOCT was performed during uniaxial tensile loading of fresh scleral specimens of rabbits, cows, and humans from limbal, equatorial, and peripapillary regions. Specimens from 8 human eyes were obtained. Specimens were stretched to failure at 0.01 mm/s constant rate under physiological conditions of temperature and humidity while birefringence was computed every 117 ms from cross-sectional PSOCT. Birefringence modulus (BM) was defined as the rate of birefringence change with strain, and tensile modulus (TM) as the rate of stress change between 0 and 9% strain. In cow and rabbit, BM and TM were positively correlated with slopes of 0.17 and 0.10 GPa, and with correlation coefficients 0.63 and 0.64 (P < 0.05), respectively, following stress-optic coefficients 4.69, and 4.20 GPa-1. In human sclera, BM and TM were also positively correlated with slopes of 0.24 GPa for the limbal, 0.26 GPa for the equatorial, and 0.31 GPa for the peripapillary regions. Pearson correlation coefficients were significant at 0.51, 0.58, and 0.69 for each region, respectively (<0.001). Mean BM decreased proportionately to TM from the limbal to equatorial to peripapillary regions, as stress-optic coefficients were estimated as 2.19, 2.42, and 4.59 GPa-1, respectively. Since birefringence and tensile elastic moduli correlate differently in cow, rabbit, and various regions of human sclera, it might be possible to mechanically characterize the sclera in vivo using PSOCT

Coarsening model of cavity nucleation and thin film delamination from single-crystal BaTiO3 with proton implantation

The layer splitting mechanism of a proton implanted single crystal ferroelectric BaTiO3 thin film layer from its bulk BaTiO3 substrate has been investigated. The single crystal BaTiO3 thin film layer splits as the hydrogen gas diffuses and the internal cavity pressure increases. Ripening mechanism driven by the pressurized hydrogen in the implantation-induced damage zone makes coarsening of the cavities and causes the delamination of the thin layer during the annealing. A unique criterion relation of blister nucleation and evolution has been derived and a simplified debonding criterion is proposed in terms of dimensionless parameters based on the force equilibrium condition. A numerical simulation of two-bubble evolution and delamination of thin film is performed using a finite element method