Return-volatility linkages in the international equity and currency markets

This paper, which is motivated by the literature on international asset pricing and recent work on exchange rate determination, investigates dynamic relationshiops between major currency and equity markets. Using a multivariate GARCH framework, we examine conditional cross-autocorrelations between pairs of national equity markets and related exchange rates. This provides a parsimonious way of testing mean-volatility relationships in currency and equity markets and re-examining the robustness of relationships between equity markets, while controlling for exchange rate effects. We find that the relationship between currency and equity markets is bi-directional, significant, persistent, and independent of the relationship strictly between equity markets, and that it is better captured by the conditional second moments.international asset pricing; exchange rate determination; equity markets; relationships between currency and equity markets

Does hedging tell the full story? Reconciling differences in US aggregate and industry-level exchange rate risk premia

While the importance of currency movements to industry competitiveness is theoretically well established, there is little evidence that currency risk impacts US industries. Applying a conditional asset-pricing model to 36 US industries, we find that all industries have a significant currency premium that adds about 2.47 percentage points to the cost of equity and accounts for approximately 11.7% of the absolute value of total risk premia. Cross-industry variation in the currency premium is explained by foreign income, industry competitiveness, leverage, liquidity and other industry characteristics, while its time variation is explained by US aggregate foreign trade, monetary policy, growth opportunities and other macro variables. The results indicate that methodological weakness, not hedging, explains the insignificant industry currency risk premium found in previous work, thus resolving the conundrum that the currency risk premium is important at the aggregate stock market level, but not at industry level.exposure; currency risk premium; cost of equity; industry competition; international asset pricing

Return-volatility linkages in the international equity and currency markets

This paper, which is motivated by the literature on international asset pricing and recent work on exchange rate determination, investigates dynamic relationshiops between major currency and equity markets. Using a multivariate GARCH framework, we examine conditional cross- autocorrelations between pairs of national equity markets and related exchange rates. This provides a parsimonious way of testing mean- volatility relationships in currency and equity markets and re-examining the robustness of relationships between equity markets, while controlling for exchange rate effects. We find that the relationship between currency and equity markets is bi-directional, significant, persistent, and independent of the relationship strictly between equity markets, and that it is better captured by the conditional second momentsinternational asset pricing, exchange rate determination, equity markets, relationships between currency and equity markets

The Impact of an Immunization Training Certificate Program on the Perceived Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes of Pharmacy Students Toward Pharmacy-Based Immunizations

Objective: To assess the impact of a national immunization training certificate program on the perceived knowledge, skills and attitudes of pharmacy students toward pharmacy-based immunizations. Methods: The study design utilized a pre- and post- survey administered to pharmacy students before and after the American Pharmacists Association’s (APhA) Pharmacy-Based Immunization Delivery program. The primary outcome explored was a change in the perceived knowledge, skills, and attitudes of the pharmacy students. A five-point Likert scale (i.e. strongly agree = 5, strongly disagree = 1) was used for measuring the main outcomes, which was summated by adding the individual item scores in each section to form a composite score for each outcome. Results: The certificate training program resulted in a significant improvement in knowledge (38.5% increase in score, p\u3c0.001) and skills (34.5% increase in score, p\u3c0.001), but not attitudes (1% increase in score, p=0.210). Conclusions: The national immunization training certificate program had a positive impact on the perceived knowledge and skills of pharmacy students. However, no change was observed regarding students’ perceived attitudes toward pharmacy-based immunizations

Economic appraisal of hybrid solar-biomass thermophotovoltaic power generation

The techno-economic parameters that influence the commercial deployment of hybrid thermophotovoltaic (TPV) solar power generation are determined using annual system simulations. It has been found that a TPV cell price of E5/cm2 or less together with a TPV operating temperature under 800°C is required for a hybrid solar–biomass TPV power plant to be economically competitive with the state-of-the-art hybrid solar–biomass Rankine cycle power plants

Hybrid Solar Thermophotovoltaic-Biomass/Gas Power Generation System with a Spectrally Matched Emitter for Lower Operating Temperatures

Three conceptual designs have been developed for hybrid solar-biomass/gas thermophotovoltaic (TPV) system for a non-intermittent power generation which can operate at relatively low TPV operating temperatures. TPV cells with lower band gap has been chosen for this conceptual hybrid device. The low band TPV cell generates electricity at longer photonic wavelength which corresponds a lower operating temperature. The development methodology is presented for a spectrally matched emitter which emits maximum photonic energy in the 600°C -1000°C temperature range with correspondingly lower photonic energy emission in the 0°C -600°C range. This approach for spectral control in TPV systems requires fewer system components