Economic development in a contemporary setting encompasses a broad range of parameters. This balanced panel study of 30 countries uses two single-equation models to investigate the impacts of natural ...resource abundance, international trade, financial development, trade openness and institutional quality on two proxies for economic development – economic growth and a human development index. The data spans from 1990 to 2016 and the impact is assessed in aggregate as well as the countries' level of development in three groups – Lower-middle, Upper-middle and High Income Countries. Four panel estimation approaches are used: Fixed Effects (FE), Random Effects (RE), Panel Fully Modified Least Squares (FMOLS) and Panel Dynamic Least Squares (DOLS). While natural resource abundance has a significantly positive impact on economic growth, a primarily negative and insignificant effect on human development exists. Interestingly, international trade and broad money have significantly negative impacts on economic development. Trade openness’ positive effect exceeds that of institutional quality. The findings suggest that the variables have a stronger influence on economic growth as compared to human development.
•Broader view of economic development examined with inclusion of a human development index in addition to usual economic growth proxy.•Economic growth positively impacted by natural resource abundance, trade openness and institutional quality.•Natural resource abundance and trade openness had a respective negative and positive effect on human development.•International trade and financial development adversely affected economic development.
In the context of remarkable economic growth and financial development in the emerging economies of East Asia, this paper attempts to shed light on the ecological consequences (CO2 emission) of ...economic growth, foreign direct investment and financial development in the selected ASEAN-5 economies. Drawing on the data from 1982 to 2014, we employed a set of quantitative techniques for panel data analysis which entailed Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) and Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS) approaches. Our findings indicate that financial and economic development, as well as FDI, have a statistically significant long-run co-integrating relationship with environmental degradation (CO2 emissions) in the under analysis economies. It showed that in ASEAN-5 countries, economic growth, financial development and FDI leads to an increase in environmental degradation. The quadratic term for economic growth showed a negative impact on environmental degradation i.e. Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). Our key findings manifest and emphasise the importance of appropriate policies for more inclusive economic and financial development and sustainable foreign direct investment which does not impede on the environment.
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•Remarkable economic growth, financial development and FDI Influx weighs on the environmental quality in ASEAN.•Financial and economic development and FDI have a significant long-run relationship with environmental degradation.•Weak evidence of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC).•FDI leads to environmental degradation in ASEAN i.e. support for Pollution Heavens Hypothesis (PHH) in ASEAN.•Different aspect of financial development has varying impact on the Environmental degradation.
This study analyses the implications of oil prices shocks for the BRICS economies. We employed a time-varying structural vector autoregressive (TV-SVA) framework in which the sources of time ...variation are the coefficients and variance-covariance matrix of the innovations. The quarter frequency data for the period of 1987QII–2017QII is used for the empirical analysis. The key findings suggest that there are substantial differences and asymmetries in the response of these economies to oil shocks. These differences were profound between, and even within, oil exporters and importers. It shows that between major oil exporters i.e. Russia and Brazil the former's economy is rather more intensively influenced by oil prices shocks. Between the two largest net oil importers i.e. India and China, comparatively, the Indian economy seems to be rather more vulnerable to oil prices shocks in terms of their adverse effects on GDP, inflation and balance of trade. The dependence of economies on oil and an increasing level of consumption continue to pose policy challenges for prices and economic stability. The analysis on South Africa also shows negative impacts of oil prices shocks, however, the effects are comparatively more time-variant than other BRICS members. While these asymmetries indicate significant differences in the structure of these economies they also indicate venues of cooperation and stronger trading relationships to overcome the adverse shocks and mutual development.
•Substantial differences and asymmetries in the response of BRICS economies to the oil shocks.•Profound between and even within the oil exporters and importers.•Russian economy more intensively influenced by the oil shocks than Brazilian.•Indian economy more vulnerable to oil shocks than Chinese.•South African economy showing high Time Variant impact of oil shocks.•Increasing importance and consumption of oil in BRICS continue to pose new set of challenges.
Silica aerogels or xerogels are renowned dried gels with low density, high surface area, higher porosity, and better thermal stability which makes it suitable for aerospace, light weight structures, ...thermal insulation, and hydrophobic coatings. But brittle behaviour, low mechanical strength, and high manufacturing cost restrict its usage. Recently, the addition of various fibres like glass or carbon fiber is one of the best reinforcement methods to minimize the brittle behaviour. Supercritical drying technique usually used to develop aerogel that is expensive and difficult to produce in bulk quantities. Higher cost obstacle can be tackled by applying ambient pressure drying technique to develop xerogel. But researcher observed cracks in samples prepared through the ambient pressure drying technique is still a major shortcoming. The aim of this study is to systematically analyze the influence of silica gel fiber reinforcement on silica xerogels, encompassing morphology, mechanics, thermal behaviour, compression test, and thermogravimetric characteristics. The research used a low-cost precursor named Tetraethyl orthosilicate to synthesize low-cost composite Silica xerogel and glass and carbon fiber added to provide strength and flexibility to the overall composite. Silica gel works as binder in strengthening the xerogel network. The investigation employs scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to examine the morphology of the composites, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis to affirm hydrophobic characteristics, compression tests to assess mechanical strength, and thermogravimetric tests to study weight loss under different conditions. SEM results reveals that glass fibers exhibit lower adhesion to the xerogel network compared to carbon fibers. FTIR analysis confirms the hydrophobicity of the composite silica xerogel. Compression tests showed that, under a 48% strain rate, the carbon fiber composite demonstrates superior compressive stress endurance. Thermogravimetric tests revealed a 1% lower weight loss for the carbon fiber composite compared to the glass fiber composite. This work concludes that glass and carbon fiber together with silica gel particles successfully facilitated in developing flexible, less costly, hydrophobic, and crack-free silica xerogel composites by APD. These advancements have the potential to drive innovations in material science and technology across diverse industries.
The nexus between economic growth and energy consumption has been exhaustively explored, yet the empirical evidence and the theoretical points of view remain at odds. This study contextualises and ...capitalises on this discrepancy and examines the connection between non-renewable and renewable energy consumption and economic growth, considering the moderating impact of economic complexity, trade openness, FDI and institutional quality. We use a panel quantile regression model and data from 32 European countries in the period 1995–2014. Our key results show that economic complexity, renewable energy consumption, trade openness, FDI and institutional quality enhance economic growth. The results for non-renewable energy consumption showed both a positive and a negative impact in different quantiles, indicating that the consumption of renewable energy is in fact more effective for economic growth than the use of non-renewables. Our findings have far-reaching implications for stakeholders and policymakers working on sustainable economic growth and energy policy with a view to meeting the commitments made under the Paris Agreement (COP21).
•Economic complexity contributes to economic growth.•Trade openness, foreign direct investment and institutional quality enhance economic growth.•Renewable energy is more suitable for economic growth than non-renewable.•To honour Paris Agreement (COP21), renewable energy consumption should be encouraged.
Previous research that assessed the impact of exchange rate changes on the trade balance between the U.S. and U.K. assumed the effects are symmetric. In this paper, we add to the literature on the ...asymmetric J-curve phenomenon by considering the trade balance of 68 two-digit industries that trade between the two countries. We find short-run asymmetric effects of the real dollar-pound rate in almost all industries. However, short-run asymmetric effects were translated into significant long-run asymmetric effects in 25 industries. Indeed, the asymmetric J-curve hypothesis was supported in 18 industries.
This paper applies a N-ARDL framework to two longstanding inflation targeting policy regimes in order to assess the relation between oil prices dynamics and inflation expectations and the further ...consequences created by a proximal ZLB situation. The application is based on data from January 1994 to June 2018 for New Zealand and the UK. We focus on oil price shocks as a variable of interest and this was found to have an asymmetric effect on inflation expectations. One further key finding is that the real effective exchange rate has significant impacts on inflation expectations and this is indicative of an exchange rate pass-through to inflation via an inflation expectations channel. In general, we find that inflation, exchange rate, money supply, output growth, unemployment and fiscal deficit/surplus have significant implications for inflation expectations. Inflation expectations are also influenced by their past behaviour indicating adaptive inflation expectations. This study contributes to the debate on the inflation targeting at ZLB.
•Nexus between inflation and inflation expectations and consequences created by a proximal Zero Lower Bound (ZLB).•Oil shocks have an asymmetric effect on inflation expectations in the UK and New Zealand.•Significant impact of the output gap, labour market slack, fiscal stance, real effective exchange rate, money supply and cost (oil) shocks on inflation expectations.•Asymmetries in the response of inflation expectations in the Pre- and Post-ZLB periods as well as between the NZ and UK•Significant impact of real effective exchange rate on inflation expectations and evidence of exchange rate pass-through to inflation via an inflation expectations channel•Strong and significant evidence of persistence in inflation expectations in Pre & Post ZLB regimes.
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•Size of FPUF carrier significantly alters micro-environments for SND.•Middle sized carriers enhance nitrogen removal in micro-aerobic bioreactors.•Optimal sized carrier allows ...habitats of both nitrifiers and denitrifiers.•Ca. brocadia strongly co-aggregated with other bacteria in middle layer of carrier.•Smaller or larger carriers limit effective zones for denitrifiers or mass transfer.
In this study, effects of porous carrier’s size (polyurethane-based) on microbial characteristics were systematically investigated in addition to nitrogen removal performance in six microaerobic bioreactors. Among different sized carriers (50, 30, 20, 15,10, 5mm), 15mm carrier showed highest nitrogen removal (98%) due to optimal micro-environments created for aerobic nitrifiers in outer layer (0–7mm), nitrifiers and denitrifiers in middle layer (7–10mm) and anaerobic denitrifiers in inner layer (10–15mm). Candidatus brocadia, a dominant anammox bacteria, was solely concentrated close to centroid (0–70μm) and strongly co-aggregated with other bacterial communities in the middle layer of the carrier. Contrarily, carriers with a smaller (<15mm) or larger size (>15mm) either destroy the effective zone for anaerobic denitrifiers or damage the microaerobic environments due to poor mass transfer. This study is of particular use for optimal design of carriers in enhancing simultaneous nitrification-denitrification in microaerobic wastewater treatment processes.
Under natural conditions, plants constantly encounter various biotic and abiotic factors, which can potentially restrict plant growth and development and even limit crop productivity. Among various ...abiotic factors affecting plant photosynthesis, light serves as an important factor that drives carbon metabolism in plants and supports life on earth. The two components of light (light quality and light intensity) greatly affect plant photosynthesis and other plant’s morphological, physiological and biochemical parameters. The response of plants to different spectral radiations and intensities differs in various species and also depends on growing conditions. To date, much research has been conducted regarding how different spectral radiations of varying intensity can affect plant growth and development. This review is an effort to briefly summarize the available information on the effects of light components on various plant parameters such as stem and leaf morphology and anatomy, stomatal development, photosynthetic apparatus, pigment composition, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, antioxidants, and hormone production.
Viral infections are being managed therapeutically through available antiviral regimens with unsatisfactory clinical outcomes. The refractory viral infections resistant to available antiviral drugs ...are alarming threats and a serious health concern. For viral hepatitis, the interferon and vaccine therapies solely are not ultimate solutions due to recurrence of hepatitis C virus. Owing to the growing incidences of viral infections and especially of resistant viral strains, the available therapeutic modalities need to be improved, complemented with the discovery of novel antiviral agents to combat refractory viral infections. It is widely accepted that medicinal plant heritage is nature gifted, precious, and fueled with the valuable resources for treatment of metabolic and infectious disorders. The aims of this review are to assemble the facts and to conclude the therapeutic potential of medicinal plants in the eradication and management of various viral diseases such as influenza, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), herpes simplex virus (HSV), hepatitis, and coxsackievirus infections, which have been proven in diverse clinical studies. The articles, published in the English language since 1982 to 2017, were included from Web of Science, Cochrane Library, AMED, CISCOM, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Scopus, and PubMed by using relevant keywords including plants possessing antiviral activity, the antiviral effects of plants, and plants used in viral disorders. The scientific literature mainly focusing on plant extracts and herbal products with therapeutic efficacies against experimental models of influenza, HIV, HSV, hepatitis, and coxsackievirus were included in the study. Pure compounds possessing antiviral activity were excluded, and plants possessing activity against viruses other than viruses in inclusion criteria were excluded. Hundreds of plant extracts with antiviral effect were recognized. However, the data from only 36 families investigated through in vitro and in vivo studies met the inclusion criteria of this review. The inferences from scientific literature review, focusing on potential therapeutic consequences of medicinal plants on experimental models of HIV, HSV, influenza, hepatitis, and coxsackievirus have ascertained the curative antiviral potential of plants. Fifty‐four medicinal plants belonging to 36 different families having antiviral potential were documented. Out of 54 plants, 27 individually belong to particular plant families. On the basis of the work of several independent research groups, the therapeutic potential of medicinal plants against listed common viral diseases in the region has been proclaimed. In this context, the herbal formulations as alternative medicine may contribute to the eradication of complicated viral infection significantly. The current review consolidates the data of the various medicinal plants, those are Sambucus nigra, Caesalpinia pulcherrima, and Hypericum connatum, holding promising specific antiviral activities scientifically proven through studies on experimental animal models. Consequently, the original research addressing the development of novel nutraceuticals based on listed medicinal plants is highly recommended for the management of viral disorders.
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