The Role of Central Banks in Sustaining Economic Recovery and in Achieving Financial Stability

Whenever a financial crisis occurs, threatening a possible financial meltdown, central banks have to be at the forefront in combating, neutralizing the crisis and restoring financial stability and economic growth. In this regards, the present sub-prime crisis which originated from the US highlights a few key issues for the Southeast Asian Central banks (SEACEN). This paper reviews the policy responses to the crisis which include exit policy strategies from stimulus monetary packages. To strengthen the soundness of the financial system, going forward, the paper also highlights counter-cyclical and macro-prudential regulations that central banks may want to actively look into. These include cross-border policy cooperation and coordination, particularly in the form of the college of supervisors.- SEACEN; -Central Banks; - Financial Stability; - Prudential Regulation; -Supervision.

Peripheral arterial diseases of the lower limbs

Peripheral arterial disease is a system wide disease process, usually manifesting itself in lower limb claudication or critical limb ischaemia. Great effort is made to reduce symptoms for claudication and prevent limb loss in patients with critical limb ischaemia. All patients have a higher cardiovascular risk profile, and risk factor modulation is key in reducing this and preventing early cardiovascular related mortality

Ascorbate-Deficient vtc2 Mutants in Arabidopsis Do Not Exhibit Decreased Growth

This is the final version of the article. Available from Frontiers Media via the DOI in this record.In higher plants the L-galactose pathway represents the major route for ascorbate biosynthesis. The first committed step of this pathway is catalyzed by the enzyme GDP-L-galactose phosphorylase and is encoded by two paralogs in Arabidopsis – VITAMIN C2 (VTC2) and VTC5. The first mutant of this enzyme, vtc2-1, isolated via an EMS mutagenesis screen, has approximately 20–30% of wildtype ascorbate levels and has been reported to have decreased growth under standard laboratory conditions. Here, we show that a T-DNA insertion into the VTC2 causes a similar reduction in ascorbate levels, but does not greatly affect plant growth. Subsequent segregation analysis revealed the growth defects of vtc2-1 mutants segregate independently of the vtc2-1 mutation. These observations suggest that it is the presence of an independent cryptic mutation that affects growth of vtc2-1 mutants, and not the 70–80% decrease in ascorbate levels that has been assumed in past studies.This research is supported by a grant from the Australian Research Council (BL, CSC, JFG) and a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council grant (NS; BB/G021678/1)

Effect of soaking of seeds in potassium silicate and uniconazole on germination and seedling growth of tomato cultivars, Seogeon and Seokwang

Experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of soaking seeds in potassium silicate and uniconazole on seed germination and seedling growth of two tomato cultivars. Tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill. ‘Seogeon and Seokwang’) seeds were put in a Petri dish filled with 15 ml of a solutions containing either 50 or 100 mg L-1 potassium silicate or uniconazole and were placed in an environment controlled chamber (25°C, 80% RH, dark) for 12 or 24 h. After the soaking treatment, seeds were washed in distilled water and were dried in a growth chamber (25°C, 80% RH, and in the dark) for 4 h. Seeds were sown in 288-cell (11 cc) plug trays containing a Tosilee medium and trays were layed out in a randomized complete block design on beds in a glasshouse. A nutrient solution was supplied uniformly for all treatments once a day through a sub-irrigation system. Soaking seeds in potassium silicate or uniconazole solution reduced germination percentage in both cultivars when compared to the control. In both cultivars, soaking treatment of uniconazole significantly reduced length of stem, hypocotyls, internode, leaf area and dry weight of stem and root, as compared to the control and other treatments. Root length increased significantly in all treatments when compared with the control. Hypocotyl length and plant height of 'Seogeon' seedlings were suppressed in the 100 mg L-1 potassium silicate treatment as compared to the control and water soaking. In contrast, height of ‘Seokwang’ seedlings increased by potassium silicate treatment. The chlorophyll fluorescence ratio (Fv/Fm) increased by low concentration of uniconazole treatment as compared to the control and other treatments. The growth of tomato seedlings was efficiently regulated by uniconazole 50 mg L-1 (12 h soaking) treatment.Key words: Chlorophyll fluorescence, plant growth retardants, plug plants, potassium silicate, seed treatment, silicon, uniconazole

Emerging importance of molecular pathogenesis of vascular malformations in clinical practice and classifications

Introduction: Vascular malformations occur during early vascular development resulting in abnormally formed vessels that can manifest as arterial, venous, capillary or lymphatic lesions or in combination, and include local tissue overdevelopment. Vascular malformations are largely caused by sporadic somatic gene mutations. This article aims to review and discuss current molecular signaling pathways and therapeutic targets for vascular malformations and to classify vascular malformations according to the molecular pathways involved. / Methods: A literature review was performed using Embase and Medline. Different MeSH terms were combined for the search strategy, with the aim of encompassing all studies describing the classification, pathogenesis and treatment of vascular malformations. / Results: Major pathways involved in the pathogenesis of vascular malformations are VEGF, Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK, Angiopoietin-TIE2, TGF- β and PI3K/AKT/mTOR. These pathways are involved in controlling cellular growth, apoptosis, differentiation and proliferation, and play a central role in endothelial cell signaling and angiogenesis. Many vascular malformations share similar aberrant molecular signaling pathways with cancers and inflammatory disorders. Therefore, selective anti-cancer agents and immunosuppressants may be beneficial in treating vascular malformations of specific mutations. The current classification systems of vascular malformations including the ISSVA classification are primarily observational and clinical, and are not based on the molecular pathways involved in the pathogenesis of the condition. / Conclusions: Several molecular pathways with potential therapeutic targets have been demonstrated to contribute to the development of various vascular anomalies. Classifying vascular malformations based on their molecular pathogenesis may improve treatment by determining the underlying nature of the condition and their potential therapeutic target

Thermoelectric properties of Al-doped mesoporous ZnO thin films

Al-doped mesoporous ZnO thin films were synthesized by a sol-gel process and an evaporation-induced self-assembly process. In this work, the effects of Al doping concentration on the electrical conductivity and characterization of mesoporous ZnO thin films were investigated. By changing the Al doping concentration, ZnO grain growth is inhibited, and the mesoporous structure of ZnO is maintained during a relatively high temperature annealing process. The porosity of Al-doped mesoporous ZnO thin films increased slightly with increasing Al doping concentration. Finally, as electrical conductivity was increased as electrons were freed and pore structure was maintained by inhibiting grain growth, the thermoelectric property was enhanced with increasing Al concentration. © 2013 Min-Hee Hong et al

FCS-MPC-Based Current Control of a Five-Phase Induction Motor and its Comparison with PI-PWM Control

This paper presents an investigation of the finite-control-set model predictive control (FCS-MPC) of a five-phase induction motor drive. Specifically, performance with regard to different selections of inverter switching states is investigated. The motor is operated under rotor flux orientation, and both flux/torque producing (d-q) and nonflux/torque producing (x-y) currents are included into the quadratic cost function. The performance is evaluated on the basis of the primary plane, secondary plane, and phase (average) current ripples, across the full inverter's linear operating region under constant flux-torque operation. A secondary plane current ripple weighting factor is added in the cost function, and its impact on all the studied schemes is evaluated. Guidelines for the best switching state set and weighting factor selections are thus established. All the considerations are accompanied with both simulation and experimental results, which are further compared with the steady-state and transient performance of a proportional-integral pulsewidth modulation (PI-PWM)-based current control scheme. While a better transient performance is obtained with FCS-MPC, steady-state performance is always superior with PI-PWM control. It is argued that this is inevitable in multiphase drives in general, due to the existence of nonflux/torque producing current components. © 1982-2012 IEEE

The Role of Central Banks in Sustaining Economic Recovery and in Achieving Financial Stability

Whenever a financial crisis occurs, threatening a possible financial meltdown, central banks have to be at the forefront in combating, neutralizing the crisis and restoring financial stability and economic growth. In this regards, the present sub-prime crisis which originated from the US highlights a few key issues for the Southeast Asian Central banks (SEACEN). This paper reviews the policy responses to the crisis which include exit policy strategies from stimulus monetary packages. To strengthen the soundness of the financial system, going forward, the paper also highlights counter-cyclical and macro-prudential regulations that central banks may want to actively look into. These include cross-border policy cooperation and coordination, particularly in the form of the college of supervisors

The Role of Central Banks in Sustaining Economic Recovery and in Achieving Financial Stability

Whenever a financial crisis occurs, threatening a possible financial meltdown, central banks have to be at the forefront in combating, neutralizing the crisis and restoring financial stability and economic growth. In this regards, the present sub-prime crisis which originated from the US highlights a few key issues for the Southeast Asian Central banks (SEACEN). This paper reviews the policy responses to the crisis which include exit policy strategies from stimulus monetary packages. To strengthen the soundness of the financial system, going forward, the paper also highlights counter-cyclical and macro-prudential regulations that central banks may want to actively look into. These include cross-border policy cooperation and coordination, particularly in the form of the college of supervisors