Regional economic structure and heterogeneous effects of monetary policy: evidence from Indonesian provinces

We analyze how regional economic structures affect the impact of monetary policy on rates of inflation across 34 Indonesian provinces. The paper first applies structural factor augmented vector autoregressive model (SFAVAR) to all the 34 provinces based on monthly provincial data in order to measure the length and magnitude of responses of regional inflation to monetary policy shock, derived from the consequential impulse response functions of 34 provinces. In the second step, we analyze the impact of economic structures on the length and magnitude of regional inflationary responses of 34 provinces. We find that the impacts of monetary policy across regions are significantly influenced by economic structural variables such as manufacturing sector share to GDP, mining sector share to GDP, bank lending share to GDP and export share to GDP. In addition, we found the spatial lag, rate of inflation of neighboring provinces, is also statistically significant. In a similar fashion, economic structural variables such as manufacturing sector share to GDP, construction sector share to GDP and investment share to GDP are found statistically significant in explaining regional differences of monetary policy efficiency. Our findings imply economic structures of provinces have to be incorporated to designing monetary policy in Indonesia.

Leisure Behavior of Young Immigrants in Andalusia (Spain): The Process of Acculturation through Physical Activities and Sport

The purpose of this paper is to understand the role that physical activity and sport plays during leisure time (LTPAS) in the social integration of young immigrants (Africans, Latin-Americans, and Eastern Europeans) in Andalusia, Spain. Method: With this aim, Physical Activity and Sport Acculturation Index (PASAI) data were collected through a survey of the immigrant population aged 15–20. The final sample consists of 440 surveys. The average age was 17.6 (SD = 2.9). 48.4% of them were men, 72% were single, and 72.8% had secondary-level studies. In terms of generation, the second-generation population represented 25.8% of the total, the 1.5 generation 43.5%, and the first generation 30.7%. The questionnaire was voluntarily answered by immigrant students in classrooms and was completed in the second stage via random surveys of residential areas to cover the quota of age and origin. A regression analysis was applied in two phases, generating two models. The first included independent socio-demographic variables; the second included structural variables. Results: First, the results show that immigrants have a low participation rate in physical activity and sport during their leisure time. Second, generation and origin are the main variables that predict variation in physical and sport participation.

Assessment of the Coastal Sensitivity Using the CS Index in the Gulf of Gabes Tunisia; Southern Mediterranean Coast

Assessment of the coastal degradation using the coastal sensitivity index (CSI) in the microtidal environment (Gulf of Gabes, Tunisia) shows that 78.6% of the coast is under low to moderate sensitivity. Moderate sensitivity class includes the sheltered zones and the stable sea cliffs. The highest sensitivity was recorded in sandy beaches (12.7%) where the drift actions amplify littoral fragility and flood risk.The coastal sensitivity index (CSI) is resulted from the combination of eight ranked variables: (a) geomorphology (b) coastal slope (c) hinterland topography (d) facies (e) shoreline exposure (f) shoreline changes (g) tide (h) sea-level trend. Fifty six morphodynamic cells are deduced from a strictmorphologic classification of the studied coast. Each specified cell presents a numerical pattern according to the ranked physical and structural variables. Once managed, the beaches with the highest sensitivity are immediately disturbed. Littoral disturbance is irreversible when the foredune unit is damaged but sustainable remediation of coastal areas must emphasize with the adequate planning for the environmental rehabilitation.

What is Important? Morphological Asymmetries are Useful Predictors of Star Formation Rates of Star-forming Galaxies in SDSS Stripe 82

The morphology and structure of galaxies reflect their star formation and assembly histories. We use the framework of mutual information (MI) to quantify the interdependence among several structural variables and to rank them according to their relevance for predicting the specific star formation rate (SSFR) by comparing the MI of the predictor variables with the SSFR and penalizing variables that are redundant. We apply this framework to study ∼3700 face-on star-forming galaxies (SFGs) with varying degrees of bulge dominance and central concentration and with stellar mass M ⋆ ≈ 109 M ⊙−5 × 1011 M ⊙ at redshift z = 0.02–0.12. We use the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Stripe 82 deep i-band imaging data, which improve measurements of asymmetry and bulge dominance indicators. We find that star-forming galaxies are a multiparameter family. In addition to M ⋆, asymmetry emerges as the most powerful predictor of SSFR residuals of SFGs, followed by bulge prominence/concentration. Star-forming galaxies with higher asymmetry and stronger bulges have higher SSFR at a given M ⋆. The asymmetry reflects both irregular spiral arms and lopsidedness in seemingly isolated SFGs and structural perturbations by galaxy interactions or mergers.

Oxadiazolyl-Pyridinium as Cationic Scaffold for Fluorinated Ionic Liquid Crystals

The synthesis and characterization of a new class of 1,2,4-oxadiazolylpyridinium as a cationic scaffold for fluorinated ionic liquid crystals is herein described. A series of 12 fluorinated heterocyclic salts based on a 1,2,4-oxadiazole moiety, connected through its C(5) or C(3) to an N-alkylpyridinium unit and a perfluoroheptyl chain, differing in the length of the alkyl chain and counterions, has been synthesized. As counterions iodide, bromide and bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide have been considered. The synthesis, structure, and liquid crystalline properties of these compounds are discussed on the basis of the tuned structural variables. The thermotropic properties of this series of salts have been investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and polarized optical microscopy. The results showed the existence of an enantiotropic mesomorphic smectic liquid crystalline phase for six bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide salts.

Analysis of rotation capacity of a novel 2R1T mechanism based on origami of thick panels

A foldable and symmetrical lower-mobility parallel mechanism was proposed based on Waterbomb origami of thick panels. It consists of a moving platform, a base plate and three deployable foldable legs between moving platform and base plate. Firstly, constraint wrenches of each leg were formulated based on screw theory and the results illustrated that the moving platform is in possession of two degrees of orientation freedom and one translational degree of freedom. Secondly, it was approved that base and moving platform are always symmetrical about a middle plane and the moving platform can rotate continuously about any axis chosen freely on this plane. Solving models including forward and inverse position problems were established to determine the maximum rotational angle and workspace. Finally, performance indexe of maximum rotational angle of the PM was analyzed, and effects of two structural variables to the performance were summarized. Conclusions obtained can provide a theoretical basis for the structural design and engineering application of this 2T1R parallel mechanism.

Modeling of Social Risks in the Labor Sphere

Modern society has developed in such a way that social reality is characterized by the significant dynamics of all processes and their uncertainty. Under such conditions, risk accompanies any purposeful activity of the social subject, and, in turn, the latter is aimed at reducing the uncertainty of its results. The purpose of this paper is to form the basis of a comprehensive study of social risks in the labor sphere and to develop practical recommendations for minimizing their negative consequences. In order to determine the main factors influencing the probability for the unemployed not to work in the specialty in which they have trained, we used the data of a micro-level survey on economic activity of the population to build linear regression models based on structural variables. As a result of applying the method of economic-mathematical modeling, in particular the basics of probability theory, the models of social risks of unemployment in terms of occupational groups and employment of unemployed persons outside of the specialty they have trained in were developed. The models developed made it possible to formalize and identify patterns of supply and demand dynamics of labor in terms of professions, as well as to identify the main factors influencing the change in the probabilistic characteristics of employment of unemployed persons outside of the specialty they have trained in.

Automatic Diagnosis of Mental Healthcare Information Actionability: Developing Binary Classifiers

We aimed to develop a quantitative instrument to assist with the automatic evaluation of the actionability of mental healthcare information. We collected and classified two large sets of mental health information from certified mental health websites: generic and patient-specific mental healthcare information. We compared the performance of the optimised classifier with popular readability tools and non-optimised classifiers in predicting mental health information of high actionability for people with mental disorders. sensitivity of the classifier using both semantic and structural features as variables achieved statistically higher than that of the binary classifier using either semantic (p < 0.001) or structural features (p = 0.0010). The specificity of the optimized classifier was statistically higher than that of the classifier using structural variables (p = 0.002) and the classifier using semantic variables (p = 0.001). Differences in specificity between the full-variable classifier and the optimised classifier were statistically insignificant (p = 0.687). These findings suggest the optimised classifier using as few as 19 semantic-structural variables was the best-performing classifier. By combining insights of linguistics and statistical analyses, we effectively increased the interpretability and the diagnostic utility of the binary classifiers to guide the development, evaluation of the actionability and usability of mental healthcare information.

Structuring tasks of control over driverless vehicles within intelligent transport systems

The relevance of the research topic is defined by the global level of significance of the problem of creation and safe operation of driverless transport on public roads. The research objective was to develop a mathematical model of the problem that allows forming a scientifically grounded strategy for driverless transport progress. The Zwicky Morphological Box method was used as a research method, which allowed building a structured set of intelligent transport system variants. Variables corresponding to the hard-surfaced road types, the level of informational support in the form of digital road models and the level of control tasks with increasing complexity were used as structural variables. A complex of tasks required to control traffic or driving in closed territories, on highways, suburban motorways passing through human settlements, urban streets, and yards has been defined. The control task complexes of each consecutive level include the task complexes of all the previous levels, and the digital road models of a higher level contain the digital models of all the previous levels. The analysis of the obtained results allowed building a trajectory of progressive development of the driverless vehicle focus area within the field of control task levels, road types, and their digital models.