The Complex Reaction of Monetary Policy to the Exchange Rate

We estimate a flexible non-linear monetary policy rule for the UK to examine the response of policymakers to the real exchange rate. We have three main findings. First, policymakers respond to real exchange rate misalignment rather than to the real exchange rate itself. Second, policymakers ignore small deviations of the exchange rate; they only respond to real exchange under-valuations of more than 4% and over-valuations of more than 5%. Third, the response of policymakers to inflation is smaller when the exchange rate is over-valued and larger when it is under-valued. None of these responses is allowed for in the widely-used Taylor rule, suggesting that monetary policy is better analysed using a more sophisticated model, such as the one suggested in this paper

The complex response of monetary policy to the exchange rate

We estimate a flexible non-linear monetary policy rule for the UK to examine the response of policymakers to the real exchange rate. We have three main findings. First, policymakers respond to real exchange rate misalignment rather than to the real exchange rate itself. Second, policymakers ignore small deviations of the exchange rate; they only respond to real exchange under-valuations of more than 4% and over-valuations of more than 5%. Third, the response of policymakers to inflation is smaller when the exchange rate is over-valued and larger when it is under-valued. None of these responses is allowed for in the widely-used Taylor rule, suggesting that monetary policy is better analysed using a more sophisticated model, such as the one suggested in this paper

Inflation targeting in an open economy : nonlinearity, asset prices and interest rates

Inflation targeting has been the central focus of monetary policy since early 1990s as more than 60 central banks across the countries target it explicitly, others target it implicitly. However, how precisely does the central bank target inflation in practice? Does monetary policy always only respond to inflation or does it also react to asset prices and open economy variables? This thesis models these aspects of monetary policy primarily focusing to the UK inflation targeting regime. The empirical results are significant. First, monetary policy in UK is forward looking. It responds to deviations of inflation from the target, to the output gap and to asset prices misalignments. The policy reaction to inflation is strongest followed by the reaction to the output gap, the foreign interest rate, the exchange rate, house prices and share prices. Second, monetary policy is nonlinear because (a) it has deflationary bias, (b) it responds to asset prices only when asset prices misalignments are high, and (c) it responds to the output gap only when it does not respond to inflation and asset price misalignments. Third, policy response to exchange rates does not depend on inflation regime while the reaction to inflation does depend on the exchange rate regime. Fourth, policy response to inflation is asymmetric and it aims to keep inflation within a range rather than pursuing a point target of 2.5%. Fifth, neither the exchange rate misalignment nor the foreign interest rate alone can capture the open economy effects; policy responds to both variables.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceNepal Rastra Bank (central bank of Nepal)GBUnited Kingdo

Nonlocal cancellation of multi-frequency-channel dispersion

We present an investigation of the temporal correlation of time-energy entangled photon pairs propagating through multi-frequency-channel dispersive media, in which photon spectra spread over multiple discrete frequency channels with dispersions. We have observed more complex coincidence structures including double coincidence envelopes and dependence on frequency detuning that are absent in the single-channel case. Our results on the correlation of the time-energy photonic entanglement in dispersive media with channel divisions would impact the fields of quantum metrology and communication.United States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Information in a Photon Program (Army Research Office Grant W911NF-10-1-0416

Herbimycins D-F, Ansamycin Analogues from \u3cem\u3eStreptomyces\u3c/em\u3e sp. RM-7-15

Bacterial strains belonging to the class actinomycetes were isolated from the soil near a thermal vent of the Ruth Mullins coal fire (Appalachian mountains of Eastern Kentucky). High resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HR-ESI-MS) and ultraviolet (UV) absorption profiles of metabolites from one of the isolates (Streptomyces sp. RM-7-15) revealed the presence of a unique set of metabolites ultimately determined to be herbimycins D-F (1–3). In addition, herbimycin A (4), dihydroherbimycin A (TAN 420E) (7), and the structurally distinct antibiotic bicycylomycin were isolated from the crude extract of Streptomyces sp. RM-7-15. Herbimycins A, D-F (1–3) displayed comparable binding affinities to the Hsp90α. While the new analogues were found to be inactive in cancer cell cytotoxicity and antimicrobial assays, they may offer new insights in the context of non-toxic ansamycin-based Hsp90 inhibitors for the treatment of neurodegenerative disease

The Native Production of the Sesquiterpene Isopterocarpolone by \u3cem\u3eStreptomyces\u3c/em\u3e sp. RM-14-6

We report the production, isolation and structure elucidation of the sesquiterpene isopterocarpolone from an Appalachian isolate Streptomyces species RM-14-6. While isopterocarpolone was previously put forth as a putative plant metabolite, this study highlights the first native bacterial production of isopterocarpolone and the first full characterisation of isopterocarpolone using 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy and HR-ESI mass spectrometry. Considering the biosynthesis of closely related metabolites (geosmin or 5-epiaristolochene), the structure of isopterocarpolone also suggests the potential participation of one or more unique enzymatic transformations. In this context, this work also sets the stage for the elucidation of potentially novel bacterial biosynthetic machinery

Joint Effects of Residual Hardware Impairments and Channel Estimation Errors on SWIPT Assisted Cooperative NOMA Networks

In this paper, we investigate the effects of residual hardware impairments (RHIs), channels estimation errors (CEEs) and imperfect successive interference cancellation (ipSIC) on the cooperative nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) system over Nakagami-m channels, where the amplify-and-forward (AF) relay can harvest energy from the source. The exact expressions for outage probability and ergodic sum rate are derived in closed-form. In addition, the asymptotic outage analyses in the high signal-to-noise (SNR) regime are carried out. The results show that the outage probability exists an error floor due to the existence of CEEs and compared with RHIs, CEEs have a more serious impact on the system outage performance. The close simulation results of Monte Carlo verify the accuracy of our theoretical derivation. Finally, the performance of energy efficiency is examined with RHIs, CEEs and ipSIC

Structure Determination, Functional Characterization, and Biosynthetic Implications of Nybomycin Metabolites from a Mining Reclamation Site-Associated \u3cem\u3eStreptomyces\u3c/em\u3e

We report the isolation and characterization of three new nybomycins (nybomycins B–D, 1–3) and six known compounds (nybomycin, 4; deoxynyboquinone, 5; α-rubromycin, 6; β-rubromycin, 7; γ-rubromycin, 8; and [2α(1E,3E),4β]-2-(1,3-pentadienyl)-4-piperidinol, 9) from the Rock Creek (McCreary County, KY) underground coal mine acid reclamation site isolate Streptomyces sp. AD-3-6. Nybomycin D (3) and deoxynyboquinone (5) displayed moderate (3) to potent (5) cancer cell line cytotoxicity and displayed weak to moderate anti-Gram-(+) bacterial activity, whereas rubromycins 6–8 displayed little to no cancer cell line cytotoxicity but moderate to potent anti-Gram-(+) bacterial and antifungal activity. Assessment of the impact of 3 or 5 cancer cell line treatment on 4E-BP1 phosphorylation, a predictive marker of ROS-mediated control of cap-dependent translation, also revealed deoxynyboquinone (5)-mediated downstream inhibition of 4E-BP1p. Evaluation of 1–9 in a recently established axolotl embryo tail regeneration assay also highlighted the prototypical telomerase inhibitor γ-rubromycin (8) as a new inhibitor of tail regeneration. Cumulatively, this work highlights an alternative nybomycin production strain, a small set of new nybomycin metabolites, and previously unknown functions of rubromycins (antifungal activity and inhibition of tail regeneration) and also provides a basis for revision of the previously proposed nybomycin biosynthetic pathway