The Nature of Exchange Rate Regimes

The impermanence of fixed exchange rates has become a stylized fact in international finance. The combination of a view that pegs do not really peg with the "fear of floating" view that floats do not really float generates the conclusion that exchange rate regimes are, in practice, unimportant for the behavior of the exchange rate. This is consistent with evidence on the irrelevance of a country's choice of exchange rate regime for general macroeconomic performance. Recently, though, more studies have shown the exchange rate regime does matter in some contexts. In this paper, we attempt to reconcile the perception that fixed exchange rates are only a "mirage" with the recent research showing the effects of fixed exchange rates on trade, monetary autonomy, and growth. First we demonstrate that, while pegs frequently break, many do last and those that break tend to reform, so a fixed exchange rate today is a good predictor that one will exist in the future. Second, we study the exchange rate effect of fixed exchange rates. Fixed exchange rates exhibit greater bilateral exchange rate stability today and in the future. Pegs also display somewhat lower multilateral volatility.

Fixed Exchange Rates and Trade

A classic argument for a fixed exchange rate is its promotion of trade. Empirical support for this, however, is mixed. While one branch of research consistently shows a small negative effect of exchange rate volatility on trade, another, more recent, branch presents evidence of a large positive impact of currency unions on trade. This paper helps resolve this disconnect. Our results, which use a new data-based classification of fixed exchange rate regimes, show a large, significant effect of a fixed exchange rate on bilateral trade between a base country and a country that pegs to it. Furthermore, the web of fixed exchange rates created when countries link to a common base also promotes trade, but only when these countries are part of a wider system, as during the Bretton Woods period. These results suggest an economically relevant role for exchange rate regimes in trade determination since a significant amount of world trade is conducted between countries with fixed exchange rates.

Using Ontology Fingerprints to evaluate genome-wide association study results

We describe an approach to characterize genes or phenotypes via ontology fingerprints which are composed of Gene Ontology (GO) terms overrepresented among those PubMed abstracts linked to the genes or phenotypes. We then quantify the biological relevance between genes and phenotypes by comparing their ontology fingerprints to calculate a similarity score. We validated this approach by correctly identifying genes belong to their biological pathways with high accuracy, and applied this approach to evaluate GWA study by ranking genes associated with the lipid concentrations in plasma as well as to prioritize genes within linkage disequilibrium (LD) block. We found that the genes with highest scores were: ABCA1, LPL, and CETP for HDL; LDLR, APOE and APOB for LDL; and LPL, APOA1 and APOB for triglyceride. In addition, we identified some top ranked genes linking to lipid metabolism from the literature even in cases where such knowledge was not reflected in current annotation of these genes. These results demonstrate that ontology fingerprints can be used effectively to prioritize genes from GWA studies for experimental validation

Virus Amplification

Sorghum is the fifth most produced cereal in the world and a source of nutrients for humans, feeding more than 500 million people in Africa and Asia [1]. It is grown commercially for food, animal feed, fiber and fuel in roughly 100 countries including U.S. [2]. Worldwide, feeding by 150 insect species causes substantial economic damage to sorghum [3]. Besides feeding damage, aphids such as the Corn Leaf Aphid vector Sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV), Sorghum mosaic virus (SRMV), Maize mosaic virus (MDMV) and Johnson grass mosaic virus (JGMV) [4]. These are Potyviruses, the largest group of the Potyviridae family with 176 members [5] and cause substantial yield losses to sorghum, sugarcane, and maize. SCMV, SRMV, and MDMV are closely related whereas JGMV is more distantly related to them [6]. All have an average 9.7 kb positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome encoding 10 mature proteins in a single large ORF [7]

Age Estimation of Burbot Using Pectoral Fin Rays, Branchiostegal Rays and Otoliths

Throughout much of its native distribution, burbot (Lota lota) is a species of conservation concern.  Understanding dynamic rate functions is critical for the effective management of sensitive burbot populations, which necessitates accurate and precise age estimates.  Managing sensitive burbot populations requires an accurate and precise non-lethal alternative.  In an effort to identify a non-lethal ageing structure, we compared the precision of age estimates obtained from otoliths, pectoral fin rays, dorsal fin rays and branchiostegal rays from 208 burbot collected from the Green River drainage, Wyoming.  Additionally, we compared the accuracy of age estimates from pectoral fin rays, dorsal fin rays and branchiostegal rays to those of otoliths.  Dorsal fin rays were immediately deemed a poor ageing structure and removed from further analysis.  Age-bias plots of consensus ages derived from branchiostegal rays and pectoral fin rays were appreciably different from those obtained from otoliths.  Exact agreement between readers and reader confidence was highest for otoliths and lowest for branchiostegal rays.  Age-bias plots indicated that age estimates obtained from branchiostegal rays and pectoral fin rays were substantially different from age estimates obtained from otoliths.  Our results indicate that otoliths provide the most precise age estimates for burbot

DIET OF JUVENILE BURBOT AND INSIGHT INTO GAPE LIMITATION

Throughout much of their distribution, Burbot (Lota lota ) populations are declining or have been extirpated.  Burbot in the Kootenai River, Idaho represent one such imperiled population.  In an effort to restore Burbot in the Kootenai River, managers have turned to conservation aquaculture.  However, no appreciable increase in natural recruitment has been observed in the system.  The lack of natural recruitment is believed to be partly due to a deficiency of high-quality prey.  As a result, we sought to i) describe the diet of juvenile Burbot, ii) evaluate the influence of Burbot mouth gape on diet and iii) estimate prey availability at release locations.  Burbot were stocked into two earthen ponds at the Boundary Creek Wildlife Management Area (BCWMA) and sampled weekly to evaluate diet.  Zooplankton were sampled weekly from each pond and from release locations of hatchery-reared Burbot (i.e., Kootenai River, Goat River, Boundary Creek, Deep Creek) to quantify prey availability.  Over the course of the study (~3 months), Burbot primarily fed on Cyclopoida.  Burbot never appeared to be gape limited and exhibited little variability in the size of zooplankton ingested.  Zooplankton densities at stocking locations were relatively low in comparison to BCWMA ponds.  Low zooplankton densities at release sites indicate that alternative management actions may need to be considered to enhance Burbot recruitment in the Kootenai River drainage