Forecasting Inflation through Econometrics Models: An Empirical Study on Pakistani Data

This article aims at modeling and forecasting inflation in Pakistan. For this purpose a number of econometric approaches are implemented and their results are compared. In ARIMA models, adding additional lags for p and/or q necessarily reduced the sum of squares of the estimated residuals. When a model is estimated using lagged variables, some observations are lost. Results further indicate that the VAR models do not perform better than the ARIMA (2, 1, 2) models and, the two factor model with ARIMA (2, 1, 2,) slightly performs better than the ARIMA (2, 1, 2). Although the study focuses on the problem of macroeconomic forecasting, the empirical results have more general implications for small scale macroeconometric models. Key words: Modeling and Forecasting Inflation, ARIMA, VAR The Information Technologist Vol.2(1) 2005: 15-2

Recyclable superparamagnetic adsorbent based on mesoporous carbon for sequestration of radioactive Cesium

Novel and recyclable superparamagnetic adsorbent Fe3O4-O-CMK-3 was synthesized by in situ growth of nanometer sized magnetite particles (m-NPs) on the surface of mesoporous carbon at low temperature (70 degrees C) using ecologically-benign materials. Structural characterization by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirmed the formation of 20 nm thick oxidized mesoporous carbon layers around the magnetic NPs. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) results revealed dense carboxylic and phenolic groups on the surface of Fe3O4-O-CMK-3. Because of these abundant polar groups the Fe3O4-O-CMK-3 had stronger adsorption affinity towards Cs than did magnetic mesoporous carbons O-Fe-CMK-3 synthesized by impregnation, and Fe-O-CMK-3 synthesized by co-casting, even in the presence of high concentrations of competing cations (K+,Na+, Ca2+ and Sr2+). The Fe3O4-O-CMK-3 adsorbent reached a steady state quickly (<5 min) with maximum adsorption capacity of 205 mg g(-1) which is sufficiently higher than other magnetic adsorbents (usually lower than 110 mg g(-1)) reported in the literature. The synthesized nanostructure adsorbent could be retrieved in a few seconds using an external magnet and reused at least six times for contaminant removal. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.1111sciescopu

Superparamagnetic nalidixic acid grafted magnetite (Fe3O4/NA) for rapid and efficient mercury removal from water

A new nanomaterial, nalidixic acid grafted magnetite (Fe3O4/NA), was synthesized via a chemical reaction with nano sized magnetite particles. The Fe3O4/NA was superparamagnetic at room temperature and could be separated by an external magnetic field. The presence of mercury in groundwater in wide scale industrial areas of the world has been a huge problem and the prepared Fe3O4/NA nanoparticles showed a high adsorption capacity towards Hg(II) as compared to bare magnetite particles. The high adsorption capacity of NA grafted Fe3O4 (9.52 mg g(-1) was due to the increased adsorption sites in the magnetite-nalidixic acid (Fe3O4/NA). The sorption equilibrium data obeyed the Langmuir model while kinetic studies demonstrated that the sorption process of Hg(II) followed well the pseudo second order model. Since the Fe3O4/NA showed (over 99.8%) removal of the initial 1000 ppb Hg(II) within 60 min, it should be practically usable for Hg(II) contaminated water. The desorption of Hg(II) loaded on Fe3O4/NA could be successfully achieved with 0.001 M HCl containing 0.3 M thiourea, and the sorbent exhibited excellent reusability.1175sciescopu