Temporary Impact Research Articles

Long-Run Trade Relationship between the U.S. and Canada: The Case of the Canadian Dollar with the U.S. Dollar

This study investigates the long-run relationship between the U.S. dollar and the Canadian dollar by analyzing the bilateral exchange rate induced by nominal and real shocks. The methodology centers on a structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model, including the analysis of impulse response and variance decomposition to account for the impact of nominal and real shocks on exchange rate movements. This study also decomposes real shocks into demand and supply factors from both Canada and the U.S. and compares their impacts on the nominal and real exchange rates. The results are compared to shocks driven by country-specific nominal factors. This study uses quarterly data from December 1972 to December 2023. The findings suggest that real shocks have a permanent impact on both the nominal and real exchange rates, compared to nominal shocks, which have a temporary impact. Country-specific real supply-side factors have a more significant impact than country-specific real demand-side factors. Country-specific nominal factors barely impacted the nominal and real exchange rates between the U.S. and Canada.

3D printed spiral tube-like cellulose scaffold for oral delivery of probiotics.

Introducing specific strains of probiotics into the gut microbiome is a promising way to modulate the intestinal microbiome to treat various health conditions clinically. However, oral probiotics typically have a temporary or limited impact on the gut microbiome and overall health benefits. Here, we reported a 3D printed cellulose-derived spiral tube-like scaffold that enabled high efficacy of the oral delivery of probiotics. Benefiting from the unique surface pattern, this system can effectively extend the retention time of loaded probiotics in the gut without invading nearby tissues, provide a favorable environment for the survival and long-term colonization of loaded probiotics, and influence the intestinal ecosystem as a dietary fiber after degradation. We demonstrate Roseburia intestinalis-loaded scaffold exerts noticeable impacts on the regulation of the gut microbiome to treat various gut-related diseases, including obesity and inflammatory bowel disease; thus, we provide a universal platform for oral delivery of probiotics.

IMPACT OF MAJOR CRISES ON CONTAINER SHIPPING IN TÜRKİYE: THE CASE OF THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK

The Covid-19 outbreak is a recent major crisis with a broad and lasting impact on the economy, health, and society, rather than an immediate and temporary impact. In the first months following the declaration of the pandemic, the container shipping sector in Türkiye was impacted by restrictions and quarantine measures. During this period, there were reductions in ship calls, slowdowns in ship operations, and losses in storage and warehousing services. Although container volumes in Türkiye were less impacted than the global average, the previously stable growth trend came to a halt. This study examines the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on container shipping in Türkiye as a case study. Relevant literature and statistical data were analyzed to provide a detailed examination of the specific impacts in Türkiye. In addition, the study aims to support national goals and increase resilience to future crises by providing recommendations for the stakeholders and national policy makers. These recommendations include the adoption of digitalization and blockchain technologies, regional expansion of maritime trade, considering storage strategies and developing logistics infrastructure.

Understanding parents' perceptions of children's exposure to unhealthy food marketing in digital and retail environments

Unhealthy food and non-alcoholic beverage marketing (UFM) adversely impacts children's selection and intake of foods and beverages, undermining parents' efforts to promote healthy eating. Parents' support for restrictions on children’s exposure to food marketing can catalyse government action, yet research describing parent concerns is limited for media other than television. We examined parents' perceptions of UFM and their views on potential policies to address UFM in supermarkets and on digital devices – two settings where children are highly exposed to UFM and where little recent research exists. We conducted in-depth interviews with sixteen parents of children aged 7-12 from Victoria, Australia, analysing the data thematically. Parents perceived UFM as ubiquitous and viewed exposure as having an immediate but temporary impact on children’s food desires and pestering behaviours. Parents were concerned about UFM in supermarkets as they viewed it as leading their children to pester them to buy marketed products, undermining their efforts to instil healthy eating behaviours. Parents generally accepted UFM as an aspect of contemporary parenting. Concern for digital UFM was lower compared to supermarkets as it was not directly linked to pestering and parents had limited awareness of what their children saw online. Nevertheless, parents felt strongly that companies should not be allowed to target their children with UFM online and supported government intervention to protect their children. While parents supported government policy actions for healthier supermarket environments, their views towards restricting UFM in supermarkets varied as some parents felt it was their responsibility to mitigate supermarket marketing. These findings could be used to advocate for policy action in this area.

Pariwisata, Masyarakat dan Kebudayaan: Studi Antropologi Pariwisata Pantai Marina di Pajukukang Bantaeng, Sulawesi Selatan

This article discusses the development of tourism with an anthropological approach to tourism in the Marina Pajujukang Bantaeng Beach, South Sulawesi. The results of this study indicate that: (1) Government efforts in developing marina beach tourism are trying to improve the human resources of the village of Baruga by conducting socialization and trying to complete facilities incomplete such as clean water filter (2) Community involvement in tourism development by supporting government programs for the advancement of marina beach tourism objects and participating directly in the development of Marina beach such as being a builder at the beginning of Marina beach construction until the Marina beach is like being security officer, janitor and waitress at a hotel in the Marina beach area. (3) The impacts felt by the community in developing the Marina beach are two, namely in the economic field for example increasing community income, opening new jobs and opening business opportunities for the Baruga village community while in the socio-cultural field there are two impacts namely positive and negative impacts. An example of the positive impact is the increasing public insight about tourist culture through the temporary negative impact that is starting to affect the local community on the culture of tourists who come to visit the Marina beach. This research is a qualitative descriptive study. Data collection techniques used were observation, interviews, and documentation. The data obtained is then processed using data analysis techniques such as data reduction, data presentation and conclusion making. And also the data validation using Member Check. From the results of research that has been found it seems that every development of tourism needs to be involved by all groups, especially the community, not just prioritizing investors. Because the essence of the success of the trip tour if the surrounding community enjoys economic results.

The heterogeneous air pollution response to shrunk socio-economic activities in 28 major northern cities of China

Heterogeneity in air quality response to implemented measures is apparent in many studies, yet the role of regional socio-economic features in the response mechanism remains unclear. This study uses empirical method to identify the direct impact of socio-economic factors on the response to interventions of economy. We constructed a counterfactual model using machine learning methods to quantitatively assess dynamic changes in air pollution based on multiple socio-economic drivers. We find that economy interventions have indeed had an apparent but temporary impact on air quality in northern China. NO2 concentrations decreased by 45.98%, 22.81%, and 0.2%, respectively, at different policy stages, while PM2.5 decreased by 38.66%, 21.63%, and 3.62%, respectively, on average. In contrast, O3 increased by 18.62% and then returned to normal levels. We also find the heterogeneous effect of air pollutants on human activity restrictions in cities with hierarchical socio-economic backgrounds. Highly industrialized cities face greater difficulties in reducing emissions, and cities with a higher urbanization rate may have a more urgent need to take action on O3 governance. Factors such as regional economic development level, industrial structure and urbanization should be considered as important indicators in the development of hierarchical environmental control policies. Our results shed light on the dynamic changes in air pollution due to reduced socio-economic activities, and the heterogeneity between cities should be taken into account when formulating future policies in response to major events and climate change.

Differential Impact of 0.01% and 0.05% Atropine Eyedrops on Ocular Surface in Young Adults.

To evaluate the effect of low-concentration (0.01% and 0.05%) atropine eyedrops on ocular surface characteristics in young adults. Twenty-six myopic students aged 18 to 30 years were randomly assigned to receive either 0.01% or 0.05% atropine once nightly for 14 days, followed by cessation, with a ≥14-day interval between each administration. Assessments were conducted one, two, seven, and 14 days after using atropine with corresponding timepoints after atropine cessation. Tear meniscus height and first and average noninvasive keratograph tear film breakup time (NIKBUT-first, NIKBUT-average) were measured using Keratograph 5M, whereas the objective scatter index (OSI) was measured by OQAS II devices; the ocular surface disease index (OSDI) score was also obtained. The mean OSI peaked after two days of administration of 0.05% atropine (β = 0.51, P = 0.001), accompanied by significant decreases in NIKBUT-first (β = -7.73, P < 0.001) and NIKBUT-average (β = -8.10, P < 0.001); the OSDI peaked after 14 days (β = 15.41, P < 0.001). The above parameters returned to baseline one week after atropine discontinuation (all P > 0.05). NIKBUT-first and NIKBUT-average reached their lowest points after 14 days of 0.01% atropine administration (NIKBUT-first: β = -4.46, P = 0.005; NIKBUT-average: β = -4.42, P = 0.001), but those significant changes were diminished once atropine treatment stopped. Young adult myopes experienced a significant but temporary impact on the ocular surface with 0.05% atropine administration, whereas 0.01% atropine had a minimal effect. The investigation of the ocular surface effects of different concentrations of atropine may inform evidence-based clinical decisions regarding myopia control in young adults.

Did Emotional Intelligence Traits Mitigate COVID-19 Uncertainty Effects on Financial Institutions’ Board Decision-Making Process?

This study uses a qualitative research mixed methods design to explore the Coronavirus pandemic’s uncertainty effect on mature board governance practices and a board decision processes framework within 16 large Australian financial services entities. Findings provide support for two effects. Firstly, the Coronavirus pandemic had led to a hesitation effect on the board members on-going journey of developing a conscious sense of ‘self’ and awareness. Secondly, the skills and diversity of personalities of directors comprising the board has a positive impact on the effectiveness and success of strategic decisions. The ongoing ambiguity impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on effective board decision-making processes was investigated. The board members expressed confidence in the Australian financial services sector’s ability to overcome the global Coronavirus pandemic’s temporary uncertainty impact on board decision processes frameworks. Future research may extend the focus to senior executives’ or owners’ EI personality traits to investigate the relationship between such individual’s or teams’ traits and ongoing effective board decision-making processes during uncertainty in either developing or developed countries or a cross-cultural study.

The temporary impact of COVID-19 on semen deoxyribonucleic acid fragmentation.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is characterized by impact on different systems of human body. Recently, several anti-COVID vaccines have been developed. In our study, we included two groups of males: GROUP1, anti-COVID vaccinated males, n = 46, and GROUP2, n = 43, non-vaccinated males, who all fell ill with the Coronavirus infection. A level of semen DNA fragmentation was characterized by Sperm DNA Fragmentation Index (SDFI) that was calculated before infection and compared with data at every month after laboratory recovery. The Mann-Whitney test was used to establish differences between parameters, with p <0.05 considered significant. Compared with the pre-COVID baseline we registered significant increasing of SDFI in each group of participants: 35.3 ±4.7% vs 18.6 ±5.8% in GROUP1, p = 0.0009, and 41.8 ±5.6% vs 19.2 ±6.1% in GROUP2, p = 0.0006. At the 2nd month after recovery SDFI in GROUP1 and GROUP2 continued to grow and reached its peak to 40.6 ±6.4% and 49.7 ±7.2% respectively. Thereafter SDF indexes in both Groups started to decrease, normalizing at the 7th month after COVID-19 recovery in GROUP1 and at the 9th month in GROUP2. COVID-19 causes a gradual increase in semen DNA fragmentation, which peaks at the 2nd month after recovery and is more pronounced in unvaccinated men. Normalization of SDFI occurs no earlier than at the 7th month in vaccinated and at the 9th month in non-vaccinated men.

Efectos de la irradiación con láser de diodo de 970 m sobre la morfología, la proliferación y la diferenciación de las células madre mesenquimales gingivales

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the morphology, proliferation, and differentiation of gingival mesenchymal stem cells (GMSCs) irradiated with a 970 nm Diode Laser (LLLT). It is essential to validate the efficacy of treatment, optimize irradiation conditions and guarantee the safety and quality of stem cells for future use in dental applications. Materials and Methods: GMSCs were cultured in standard conditions and irradiated with a Diode laser (970 nm, 0.5W) with an energy density of 9J/cm2. Cell proliferation was assessed with the WST-1 proliferation kit. GMSCs were differentiated into chondrogenic and osteogenic lineages. Cell morphology was performed with Hematoxylin/eosin staining, and quantitative nuclear analysis was done. Cell viability was monitored with trypan blue testing. Results: GMSCs subjected to irradiation demonstrated a significant increase in proliferation at 72 hours compared to the non-irradiated controls (p=0.027). This indicates that the 970 nm diode laser has a stimulatory effect on the proliferation of GMSCs. LLLT-stimulated GMSCs exhibited the ability to differentiate into chondrogenic and osteogenic lineages. A substantial decrease in cell viability was observed 24 hours after irradiation (p=0.024). However, after 48 hours, the cell viability recovered without any significant differences. This indicates that there might be a temporary negative impact on cell viability immediately following irradiation, but the cells were able to recover and regain their viability over time. Conclusions: This study support that irradiation with a 970 nm diode laser could stimulate the proliferation of GMSCs, maintain their ability to differentiate into chondrogenic and osteogenic lineages, and has minimal impact on the mor- phological characteristics of the cells. These results support the potential use of NIR Lasers in combination with GMSCs as a promising strategy for dental treatments. Keywords: Photobiomodulation; semiconductor lasers; Mesenchymal stem cells; Gingiva; Cell Proliferation; Safety.

Patient-reported oral function and psychological well-being outcomes of papillary thyroid cancer patients (PTC) after surgery: a cross-sectional study.

This study was performed to evaluate the differences in oral function and psychological well-being between patients with PTC after the gasless transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy vestibular approach (gasless-TOETVA) and patients with PTC after open surgery. PTC patients who underwent radical surgery from May 2021 to August 2022 were included in this study. Postoperative data on oral function and psychological well-being, including the Oral Health Impact profile-14 (OHIP-14) and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Form Y, were collected and analyzed. 212 patients were included in the analysis. Among them, 102 patients who received gasless-TOETVA were assigned to the gasless-TOETVA group, while the remaining 110 patients who underwent open surgery were categorized as the open group. Although the OHIP-14 score in the gasless-TOETVA group was higher than that of the open group from 6months to 1year after surgery (p = 0.012), the difference in OHIP-14 scores between the two groups disappeared 1year after surgery (p = 0.155). There were no differences between the gasless-TOETVA group and the open group in state-anxiety scores. However, the gasless-TOETVA group had significantly lower trait-anxiety scores than the open group at all follow-up time periods. Furthermore, within the gasless-TOETVA group, patients who were more than 1year post-surgery showed significantly increased trait-anxiety scores compared to those of patients who were less than 1year post-surgery (Δ = 3.4; p = 0.032). In contrast, the open group showed a decreasing trend in trait-anxiety scores, but there was no statistically significant difference between patients who had surgery less than 1year ago and those who had surgery more than 1year ago (Δ = - 2.2; p = 0.094). Gasless TOETVA had a temporary impact on oral function, but it did not alleviate the state of anxiety. Furthermore, we observed a significant increase in trait-anxiety scores among PTC patients who underwent gasless-TOETVA after 1 year.

Temporary impact on medical system and effectiveness of mitigation strategies after COVID-19 policy adjustment in China: a modeling study.

As China amends its "zero COVID" strategy, a sudden increase in the number of infections may overwhelm medical resources and its impact has not been quantified. Specific mitigation strategies are needed to minimize disruption to the healthcare system and to prepare for the next possible epidemic in advance. We develop a stochastic compartmental model to project the burden on the medical system (that is, the number of fever clinic visits and admission beds) of China after adjustment to COVID-19 policy, which considers the epidemiological characteristics of the Omicron variant, age composition of the population, and vaccine effectiveness against infection and severe COVD-19. We also estimate the effect of four-dose vaccinations (heterologous and homologous), antipyretic drug supply, non-pharmacological interventions (NPIs), and triage treatment on mitigating the domestic infection peak. As to the impact on the medical system, this epidemic is projected to result in 398.02 million fever clinic visits and 16.58 million hospitalizations, and the disruption period on the healthcare system is 18 and 30 days, respectively. Antipyretic drug supply and booster vaccination could reduce the burden on emergency visits and hospitalization, respectively, while neither of them could not reduce to the current capacity. The synergy of several different strategies suggests that increasing the heterologous booster vaccination rate for older adult to over 90% is a key measure to alleviate the bed burden for respiratory diseases on the basis of expanded healthcare resource allocation. The Omicron epidemic followed the adjustment to COVID-19 policy overloading many local health systems across the country at the end of 2022. The combined effect of vaccination, antipyretic drug supply, triage treatment, and PHSMs could prevent overwhelming medical resources.

Environmental impact of the explosion of the Nord Stream pipelines

Armed conflicts have, in addition to severe impacts on human lives and infrastructure, also impacts on the environment, which needs to be assessed and documented. On September the 26th 2022, unknown perpetrators deliberately ruptured the two gas pipelines Nord Stream 1 and 2 with four coordinated explosions near a major chemical munition dump site near the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. While the massive release of natural gas into atmosphere raised serious concerns concerning the contribution to climate change—this paper assesses the overlooked direct impact of the explosions on the marine ecosystem. Seals and porpoises within a radius of four km would be at high risk of being killed by the shockwave, while temporary impact on hearing would be expected up to 50 km away. As the Baltic Proper population of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) is critically endangered, the loss or serious injury of even a single individual is considered a significant impact on the population. The rupture moreover resulted in the resuspension of 250000 metric tons of heavily contaminated sediment from deep-sea sedimentary basin for over a week, resulting in unacceptable toxicological risks towards fish and other biota in 11 km3 water in the area for more than a month.

Stock returns and the Spanish flu, 1918–1920

We study the impact of the 1918 Spanish Flu on U.S. stock prices. Using a new weekly hand collected sample of 131 firms that traded on the NYSE, we examine the impact of the four waves of the flu on stock returns using panel regressions. We find that the second and fourth wave of the pandemic significantly lowered stock returns by 65.5 and 21.6 percent relative to the sample mean return, respectively. The large, but temporary impact of the virus on stock returns can probably be attributed to the fact that, unlike Covid-19, the flu hit the working age population particularly hard.

The effects of quantitative easing on Bitcoin prices

This study aimed to examine the impact of the US quantitative easing policy on Bitcoin Prices in 2017–2023. A Time-Varying Parameter VAR (TVP-VAR) model was constructed for discussing the price influence mechanisms of quantitative easing on Bitcoins. The study's empirical results showed that the impacts of quantitative easing policies on Bitcoin prices can vary over time, a temporary positive impact on Bitcoin prices through different channels was also observed. Furthermore, it was found to impose a long-term positive impact via the liquidity channel.

Dynamic trading with Markov liquidity switching

In this paper, we solve a continuous-time portfolio choice problem of an investor under a Markov jump linear system that effectively captures stochasticity in asset returns, price impacts, and market resilience. Specifically, the investor chooses his portfolio to maximize the expected excess returns netting risks and trading costs due to the price impacts in a Markov switching market. We show that the value function and the optimal feedback trading strategy can be expressed in terms of the solution of a coupled matrix Riccati differential system. The presence of the market resilience and the Markov switching results in the coupled Riccati system being non-canonical. We manage to establish a set of transparent sufficient conditions to ensure the well-posedness of the coupled system. Our numerical results indicate that the investor trades more (less) aggressively in a liquidity regime where the temporary price impact is low (high) and permanent price impact is high (low) with low (high) market resilience.

Optimal Leveraged Portfolio Selection Under Quasi-Elastic Market Impact

Dangers of Ignoring Market Friction When Leveraging Financial PortfoliosPortfolio leveraging is a standard industry practice to target higher fund returns, for example, in risk parity asset allocation. However, the existing models of optimal bet sizing fail to integrate analytically the impact on leveraged portfolio selection resulting from market liquidity issues. The paper “Optimal Leveraged Portfolio Selection Under Quasi-Elastic Market Impact” considers a market in which both temporary and permanent impact on trading prices are present with the former impact being sufficiently large relative to the latter. Our analytical conclusions, supported by a case study that uses even relatively more liquid U.S. exchange-traded fund assets, demonstrate that fund managers are ill advised to ignore market friction when leveraging to achieve target higher returns. Not only risk-adjusted returns significantly deteriorate, but also those losses become steeper when setting higher targets requiring increased levels of leverage. Moreover, leverage-constrained and less risk-averse investors ignoring liquidity costs ex ante face the most losses in expected utility ex post.

Did raising doing business scores boost GDP?

We use the time series variation in the World Bank’s “distance to frontier” estimates of the ease of doing business to assess the effects of changes in this variable on real GDP per capita. The use of Vector Autoregression techniques allows us to identify shocks to the Doing Business scores that are initially uncorrelated with GDP, thus addressing an important endogeneity problem that affects the cross-sectional literature on this topic. We report a robust finding that improvements in Doing Business scores have at least a temporary negative impact on GDP and find little evidence for a positive effect in the years following these improvements.

A longitudinal study of cannabis use and risk for cognitive and functional decline among older adults with HIV.

Cannabis use is rapidly increasing among older adults in the United States, in part to treat symptoms of common health conditions (e.g., chronic pain, sleep problems). Longitudinal studies of cannabis use and cognitive decline in aging populations living with chronic disease are lacking. We examined different levels of cannabis use and cognitive and everyday function over time among 297 older adults with HIV (ages 50-84 at baseline). Participants were classified based on average cannabis use: frequent (> weekly) (n = 23), occasional (≤ weekly) (n = 83), and non-cannabis users (n=191) and were followed longitudinally for up to 10 years (average years of follow-up = 3.9). Multi-level models examined the effects of average and recent cannabis use on global cognition, global cognitive decline, and functional independence. Occasional cannabis users showed better global cognitive performance overall compared to non-cannabis users. Rates of cognitive decline and functional problems did not vary by average cannabis use. Recent cannabis use was linked to worse cognition at study visits when participants had THC+ urine toxicology-this short-term decrement in cognition was driven by worse memory and did not extend to reports of functional declines. Occasional (≤ weekly) cannabis use was associated with better global cognition over time in older adults with HIV, a group vulnerable to chronic inflammation and cognitive impairment. Recent THC exposure may have a temporary adverse impact on memory. To inform safe and efficacious medical cannabis use, the effects of specific cannabinoid doses on cognition and biological mechanisms must be investigated in older adults.

A Record-Setting 2021 Heat Wave in Western Canada Had a Significant Temporary Impact on Greenness of the World’s Largest Protected Temperate Rainforest

Extreme climate anomalies are expected to become more frequent under climate change, and rare extreme events, such as the 2021 western North American heat wave, provide an opportunity for comparative empirical analysis of ecosystem resilience. This study evaluates anomalies in a remotely sensed enhanced vegetation index (EVI) in the aftermath of the record-setting western North American heat wave in 2021, with temperatures approaching 50 °C in coastal and interior regions of the Pacific Northwest. The results show that the forest ecosystems most affected were not necessarily those that experienced the highest absolute temperature values. Instead, the greatest reductions in greenness were observed across northern coastal temperate rainforests. Most affected were the cooler, very wet, hyper-maritime ecosystems that are normally buffered from large temperature fluctuation by a strong oceanic influence. In contrast, moisture-limited forests of the interior plateau of British Columbia, where most of the all-time record temperatures occurred, generally showed normal or even increased productivity during and after the heat wave. A putative explanation for this heat resistance of interior forests was normal or above average precipitation leading up to the heat event, allowing for transpirational cooling. Nevertheless, the data suggest that the largest protected coastal temperate rainforest in the world, with 6.4 million hectares, is comparatively more vulnerable to extreme heat waves, which are expected to become more frequent under climate warming, than other ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest.