Integration of capacitive deionization and forward osmosis for high water recovery and ultrapure water production: concept, modelling and performance analysis.

Forward Osmosis (FO), a membrane desalination technology and Capacitive Deionization (CDI), an electrically operated desalination technology, are numerically integrated utilizing four different configurations for the high-water recovery rate and ultrapure water production from brackish water resource. To minimize the wastewater rejection, the CDI desorption stream is continuously fed to the FO unit, efficiently recovering the remaining freshwater. To produce ultrapure water, freshwater stream obtained from FO is provided to the CDI cell, which adsorbs the remaining dissolved solute particles. These two configurations serve the purpose of both industrial as well as domestic water supply requirements. Continuing this concept, the formation of the other two configurations allows us to obtain fresh water and ultrapure water simultaneously and up to a 90% freshwater recovery rate for the areas with inadequate supply. The performance parameters to assess the integration are the Water Recovery Rate (WRR) and Specific Energy Consumption (SEC). The first configuration (CDI-FO), proposed for a high freshwater recovery rate, resulted in 79.33% WRR with an SEC of 0.689kWh/m3. While, for the second configuration (FO-CDI), 34.25% water was recovered as 2.87 ppm ultrapure water along with 34.25% freshwater. The third proposed configuration (CDI-FO-CDI) had a WRR of 79.33%, 14.67% of which was recovered as ultrapure water of concentration 2.86 ppm. The fourth configuration (CDI-FO-FO) developed for high water recovery, removed the maximum of water from the feed stream with a WRR of 91.33% and remained energy-efficient, consuming an SEC of 0.908kWh/m3.

Exploring the interwoven relationship: Property rights, financial freedom, government regulation, and stock market fluctuations in emerging economies - A novel system GMM perspective.

This study delves into the impact of formal institutions on stock market volatility within a selection of emerging economies. Specifically, it examines the role that formal institutions play in shaping this volatility. To accomplish our goal, we analyze panel data from 46 emerging nations spanning the years 2000-2019, utilizing system generalized method of moments (GMM), as well as random and fixed effect models for our estimations. The findings of this research validate the existence of a significant association between formal institutions and stock market volatility. Likewise, through dynamic panel estimation, we discover that formal institutions such as property rights, financial freedom, and government regulations have a notable negative effect on stock market volatility. Consequently, this study implies that formal institutions play a crucial role in reducing stock market volatility in emerging economies, fostering their development. The insights gained from this research encourage policymakers to view formal institutions as key influencers of stock market volatility. These results offer valuable guidance for emerging nations.

Effect of body weight at photostimulation on productive performance and welfare aspects of commercial layers.

OBJECTIVE: Due to current selection practices for increased egg production and peak persistency, the production profile, age at maturity, and body weight criteria for commercial layers are constantly changing. Body weight and age at the time of photostimulation will thus always be the factors that need to be adequately addressed among various production systems. The current study was carried out to determine the effects of pullets' body weight (low, medium, and heavy) on their performance, welfare, physiological response, and hormonal profile. METHODS: With regard to live weight, 150 16-week-old pullets were divided into three groups using a completely randomized design (CRD) and held until the 50th week. One-way analysis of variance was used to evaluate the data under the CRD, and the least significant difference test was used to distinguish between treatment means. RESULTS: In comparison to the medium and light birds, the heavy birds had higher body weight at maturity, an earlier age at maturity, and higher egg weight, eggshell weight, eggshell thickness, egg yolk index, breaking strength, egg surface area, egg shape index, egg volume, and hormonal profile except corticosterone. However, the medium and light birds had lower feed consumption rates per dozen eggs and per kilogram of egg mass than the heavy birds. Light birds showed greater body weight gain, egg production, and egg specific gravity than the other categories. At 20 weeks of age, physiological response, welfare aspects, and catalase were non-significant; however, at 50 weeks of age, all these factors-aside from catalase-were extremely significant. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study indicate that layers can function at lower body weights during photostimulation; hence, dietary regimens that result in lighter pullets may be preferable. Additionally, the welfare of the birds was not compromised by the lighter weight group.

Exploring the impact of energy consumption on poverty in Pakistan: evidence from the asymmetric ARDL approach.

This research work contributes to the literature by examining the role of energy consumption in mitigating poverty via decomposing energy consumption into its positive and negative components, covering the period spanning from 1985 to 2017. To accomplish this objective, this study employs the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) approach recently popularized by Shin et al., (2014). The NARDL approach is well-suited to our study becuase of its capability to delineate hidden asymmetries. The empirical findings reveal the prevalence of long-run associations among the studied variables. The outcomes show that an increase (decrease) in energy consumption combats (augments) poverty in Pakistan. The empirical findings underscore that the decreasing effect of energy consumption on poverty is found to be more promising than its increasing effect, both in the long and short run. Based on the empirical outcomes, we suggest that the policymakers, and other stakeholders should consider the asymmetric or nonlinear behavior of the studied variables for better poverty policy-making in Pakistan.

COVID-19 pandemic and stock market performance: A comparative study of emerging economies.

The paper investigates the co-movement of COVID-19 pandemic and performance of stock markets of four emerging economies. The Quantile-on-Quantile regression model was applied to daily share prices of stock markets from March 13, 2020 to November 30, 2021 in these economies. The results indicate varied relationships across various quantiles of COVID-19 cases and share prices. Whilst both positive and negative relationships are established at different quantiles of share prices for Brazil and Kenya, negative co-movements are recorded for India and South Africa for all quantiles of share prices. The varying dependence between COVID-19 and stock markets provide critical insights to policy makers.

Impact of COVID-19 on China's business and economic conditions: the importance of quantile asymmetries.

China has remained a growth engine for the global economy for the last several years. In this study, we assess the impact of COVID-19 on China's business and economic conditions; employing the quantile-on-quantile (QQ) regression and the quantile causality approaches. These econometrics batteries suit our research postulation, as they are capable to delineate underlying asymmetries across the whole distribution, based on which we can infer whether the response of China's business and economic conditions towards COVID-19 is heterogenous or homogenous. Utilizing the novel business and economic conditions measures, we observed that COVID-19 had initially disrupted both business and economic conditions in China. However, they showcased recovery over time. Our in-depth analysis allowed us to infer that the effect of COVID-19 on China's business and economic conditions is heterogeneous across different quantiles, and there is reliable evidence of asymmetry. The outcomes of quantile causality in mean and variance corroborate our primary estimations. These findings educate policymakers, companies, and other stakeholders to understand the nuances of China's business and economic conditions vis-a-vis COVID-19 in the short-run and as time elapsed.

Energy mix with technological innovation to abate carbon emission: fresh evidence from Mexico applying wavelet tools and spectral causality.

The global warming issue arises from climate change, which draws scientists' attention toward cleaner energy sources. Among clean sources, renewables and nuclear energy are getting immense attention among policymakers. However, the significance of nuclear energy in reducing CO2 emissions has remained ambiguous, necessitating further research. Therefore, the present study draws impetuous attention to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals-7 (affordable clean energy) & 13 (climate change mitigation) by looking at the relationship between energy mix (fossil fuels, renewables, and nuclear), economic growth, technological innovation, and CO2 emissions in Mexico from 1980 to 2019 using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. In addition, to assess the direction of causality, this study applied wavelet techniques and spectral causality. The findings affirm that renewable and nuclear energy use and technological innovation tend to curb CO2 emissions, whereas fossil fuel consumption and economic expansion trigger CO2 emissions. The study lends support to the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) phenomenon in Mexico. The FMOLS and DOLS tests show that our long-run estimates are reliable. In different time scales, the wavelet coherence result is also consistent. Finally, the results of the spectral causality approach demonstrate a significant causal association between the variables tested at various frequencies. As a result, in order to achieve SDGs 7 and 13 and support an environmentally friendly ecosystem, Mexico's energy mix must be changed to renewables and nuclear.

Impact of COVID-19 and economic policy uncertainty on China's stock market returns: evidence from quantile-on-quantile and causality-in-quantiles approaches.

COVID-19 unexpectedly ensnared the entire world and wreaked havoc on global economic and financial systems. The stock market is sensitive to black swan events, and the COVID-19 disaster was no exception. Against this backdrop, this study explores the impact of COVID-19 and economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on Chinese stock markets' returns for the period spanning January 23, 2020 to August 04, 2021. The outcomes of the novel quantile-on-quantile regression analysis revealed that both COVID-19 and EPU had a significant negative impact on both Shanghai and Shenzhen stock market returns, while COVID-19 aggravated the level of economic uncertainty in both financial markets. The quantile causality approach of Troster et al. (2018) validates our main estimations. We conclude that COVID-19 and a high level of EPU enervated the returns of China's leading stock markets. Our study provides key insights to policymakers and market participants to determine the behavior of China's stock market returns vis-à-vis COVID-19 during the peak of the pandemic and beyond. Specifically, our findings apprise portfolio investors to augment their portfolio diversification fronts.

The impact of COVID-19 on the US renewable and non-renewable energy consumption: a sectoral analysis based on quantile on quantile regression approach.

The repercussions of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic go well beyond health concerns, affecting virtually every aspect of our lives, including daily energy consumption. Therefore, this study explores the impact of COVID-19 on renewable and non-renewable energy consumption in the USA, which has been severely affected by the recent pandemic. We conducted a detailed analysis of the energy consumption demands of various sectors in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Our in-depth analysis comprises two parts. Initially, we determine the monthly growth change by utilizing the month-on-month method. Subsequently, we used the quantile-on-quantile approach of Sim and Zhou (2015) on data spanning from December 2019 to August 2021 to explore the impact of COVID-19 on energy consumption across the whole distribution. The study's outcomes underscored that compared to renewable energy, non-renewable energy consumption was more affected by the COVID-19 lockdown, and the overall energy consumption (both renewable and non-renewable) remained low. These findings accentuate global strategic management tools to tackle COVID-19 cooperatively and restore the energy mix. Such measures are critical for energy access, security, and evenhandedness.

Phytochemical composition and In-vitro activity of ethanolic extract of Eucalyptus globulus leaves against multidrug resistant poultry pathogens.

Aim of the present study was to determine the In-vitro antibacterial activity of ethanolic extract of E. globulus leaves against common multidrug resistant poultry pathogens. Phytochemical analysis through HPLC revealed that kaempeferol (7.315min) followed by querecetin (6.655min) and myrecetin (3.655min). Percent area of kaempeferol (6826.88%) was highest, followed by myrecetin (5516.22%) and querecetin (163.748%). Phytochemical investigation of ethanolic extract of E. globulus leaves through GCMS showed highest retention time (min) α-pinene (20.43) and α-terpineol (20.15) accompanied by spathulenol (11.97), piperitone (11.04). The ethanolic extracts of E. globulus leaves showed a highest zone of inhibition against S. pullorum SP6; 20.64± 2.08, E. coli SE 12; 19.75± 2.83, C. perfringens type A (CPM38-01); 19.46± 2.02. The highest level of MIC of E. globulus noted were against S. gallinarum S22; 133.37±53.294, S. gallinarum S1; 130.20±45.10, S. gallinarum S4; 129.47±24.182, S. gallinarum S3; 126.83±72.392. In conclusion, the study confirmed that the ethanolic extract of E. globulus is composed of active ingredients having antibacterial activity and can be referred as an alternate to antibiotics.

Activity of ethanolic extract of Eucalyptus globulus leaves against multi drug resistant poultry pathogens in broiler chicks.

The present study was designed to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of E. globulus leaves in broiler chicks. Total (n=255) day-old chicks were segregated into five groups i.e. Pathogenic E. coli, S. pullorum, S. gallinarum and C. perfringens type A and control negative group. Each bacterial challenged (1x 107 CFU) group was divided into control positive, antibiotic, probiotic and E. globulus group. Experimental birds were exposed to E. coli, S. pullorum, S. gallinarum and C. perfringens type A at different ages. At 35th day of experiment the log reduction for each group was determined. The highest log reduction in E. coli and C. perfringens Type A colonies count were found in E. globulus (3.26) (2.33) treated group followed by antibiotic (2.85) (1.59) and probiotic (2.84) (1.50) respectively. The log reduction in S. pullorum colonies count was highest in E. globulus (2.50) followed by probiotic (2.24) and antibiotic (2.16). The S. gallinarum colonies count log reduction was found highest for antibiotic (2.84) followed by probiotic (2.48) and E. globulus group. The results of in-vivo experiment revealed that ethanolic extract of E. globulus has antibacterial activity and it can be used as a replacement to low level of antibiotics added in poultry feed.

Public Health Expenditures and Health Outcomes in Pakistan: Evidence from Quantile Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model.

OBJECTIVE: The provision of healthcare facilities remains high on the manifesto of various political parties in Pakistan and healthcare spending has witnessed a significant surge in the last two decades that is expected to positively influence health outcomes in the country. Therefore, this research aims to explore the effects of healthcare expenditures on the actual health status of the masses in Pakistan for the period 1995Q1 to 2017Q1. METHODS: We apply the Quantile Autoregressive Distributed Lag (QARDL) approach for estimation purposes. This is the most recent and emerging estimation technique in time series analysis. RESULTS: Our findings confirm that public healthcare spending significantly impacts health outcomes in Pakistan both in the short-run and long-run. Public healthcare spending improves life expectancy and reduces death rate and infant mortality. CONCLUSION: The study concludes that public healthcare is the main focus of the current regime. It is noticed that spending on healthcare significantly contributes to the health outcomes in Pakistan. These efforts by the government significantly promote life expectancy and drop down the mortality ratio in the country. Based on these notable facts, the government should allocate sufficient resources towards the latest healthcare technologies and equipment to optimize health outcomes in the country.