Actual intervention and verbal intervention in the Chinese RMB exchange rate

Central bank communication has become a more and more important instrument for the monetary authorization to intervene its exchange rate. This paper investigates the impact of both verbal and actual intervention on the exchange rate of China's currency, which has become the second-used currency in international trade settlement. The empirical evidence indicates that the central bank communication can influence the exchange rate, but the efficient is quite weak. Moreover, the effect of verbal intervention on the exchange rate of the RMB is weaker than that of actual intervention. One possible explanation is that most of the statements made by the governor of central bank on the RMB exchange rate are neutral in China. Overall, this study identifies the difference between the actual and verbal intervention in exchange rate in China, the largest emerging economy in the world.

A language exchange program: sustainability innovation in language and culture engagement

Spanish Educational Laws have been promoting the widespread use of English; as a result, Spanish Uni versities are looking for ways to give students more international training in order to prepare them for a future that will increasingly involve global problems and partnerships. Therefore, the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain (UPM), and the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, Canada (UBCO) have come together to offer opportunities for international collaboration and learning, thus facilitating virtual encounters among Spanish and Canadian students. The Language Exchange Program between the UPM and UBCO acts as a model for sustainability innovation in language and culture engagement as the students can interact with native speakers in communication tasks. This interdisciplinary initiative supports the latest methodological principles observed in the Common European Framework for Languages, such as autonomous and life-long learning, self-assessment and peer-assessment as well as the incorporation of new technologies to the learning process. Additionally the ‘virtual’ mobility is provided at no extra cost. This article presents the preliminary results of two virtual exchange programs that have been offering varied forms of study which are venue-independent, and have clearly expanded the range of scenarios for the students on both sides by promoting collaborative work and cultural exchange.

A language exchange program: sustainability innovation in language and culture engagement

The Language Exchange Program between the UPM and UBCO acts as a model for sustainability innovation in language and culture engagement as the students can interact with native speakers in communication tasks. This interdisciplinary initiative supports the latest methodological principles observed in the Common European Framework for Languages [1], such as autonomous and lifelong learning, self-assessment and peer-assessment as well as the incorporation of new technologies to the learning process

Semiannual Report of the Secretary of State to Congress on the International Information and Education Exchange Program

Title Varies: U.S. International Information and Educational Exchange Program; International Information and Educational Exchange Program; Semiannual Report of the Secretary of State To Congress; International Educational Exchange Program

Effects of damming on population sustainability of Chinese sturgeon, Acipenser sinensis: evaluation of optimal conservation measures

The numbers of spawning sites for Chinese sturgeon have been drastically reduced since the construction of the Gezhouba Dam across the Yangtze River. This dam has blocked migration of Chinese sturgeon to their historic spawning ground causing a significant decline of the Chinese sturgeon population. We conducted a VORTEX population viability analysis to estimate the sustainability of the population and to quantify the efficiency of current and alternative conservation procedures. The model predicted the observed decline of Chinese sturgeon, resulting from the effect of the Gezhouba Dam. These simulations demonstrated the potential interest of two conservation measures: increasing spawning area and reducing predation on sturgeon eggs. The simulations also demonstrated that the actual restocking program is not sufficient to sustain sturgeon population as the artificial reproduction program induce the loss of more wild mature adults that the recruitment expected by the artificial reproduction.

New insights on integer-programming models for the kidney exchange problem

In recent years several countries have set up policies that allow exchange of kidneys between two or more incompatible patient–donor pairs. These policies lead to what is commonly known as kidney exchange programs. The underlying optimization problems can be formulated as integer programming models. Previously proposed models for kidney exchange programs have exponential numbers of constraints or variables, which makes them fairly difficult to solve when the problem size is large. In this work we propose two compact formulations for the problem, explain how these formulations can be adapted to address some problem variants, and provide results on the dominance of some models over others. Finally we present a systematic comparison between our models and two previously proposed ones via thorough computational analysis. Results show that compact formulations have advantages over non-compact ones when the problem size is large.

Some hypotheses on commonality in liquidity: new evidence from the Chinese stock market

In this article, we examine four specific hypotheses relating to commonality in liquidity on the Chinese stock markets. These hypotheses are (1) that market-wide liquidity determines liquidity of individual stocks; (2) that liquidity varies with firm size; (3) that sectoral-based liquidity affects individual stock liquidities differently; and (4) that commonality in liquidity has an asymmetric effect. Drawing on a two-year data set on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges comprising over 34 million and 48 million transactions, respectively, we find strong support for commonality in liquidity and a greater influence of industry-wide liquidity in explaining liquidity of individual stocks. Moreover, our results suggest that of the three main sectors - financial, industrial, and resources - the industrial sectors liquidity is most important in explaining individual stock liquidities. Finally, we do not find any evidence of size effects and document an asymmetric effect of market-wide liquidity on liquidity of individual stocks.

Industrial Material Exchange Service /

The Industrial Material Exchange Service (IMES) program is a free service designed to provide a mechanism for recycling and reusing unwanted materials. The exchange program maintains and distributes listings of materials both wanted and available provided by our participants. Through IMES, waste generators can be matched with waste users. Any material, either non-hazardous or hazardous that is available from one business yet has potential reuse by another, can be a part of the exchange. IMES functions as an information clearinghouse for industrial by-products, surplus materials, waste and other forms of unwanted industrial materials. The goal of the IMES program is to conserve energy, resources and landfill space by helping find alternatives to disposal of what might be a valuable material.

Imagined intergroup contact facilitates intercultural communication for college students on academic exchange programs

Imagined intergroup contact (Crisp & Turner, 2009) is a new cognitive intervention designed to improve intergroup relations. In two studies, we examined whether it could also facilitate intercultural communication among international students and host country natives engaged in a college exchange program. In Study 1, international students who had recently arrived in Italy and participated in an imagined contact session displayed increased self-disclosure toward, and improved evaluation of, host country natives. In Study 2, Italian students mentally simulated positive contact with an unknown native from the host country prior to leaving for the exchange. Results from an online questionnaire administered on their return (on average, more than 7 months after the imagery task) revealed that participants who imagined contact reported spending more time with natives during the stay and enhanced outgroup evaluation, via reduced intergroup anxiety. Implications for enhancing the quality and effectiveness of college student exchange programs are discussed.

Spectral anomalies of focused hollow Gaussian beams at the geometrical focal plane

On the basis of diffraction integral and the expansion of the hard-aperture function into a finite series of complex Gaussian functions, an approximate expression for spatially fully coherent polychromatic hollow Gaussian beams passing through aperture lens is obtained. Detailed numerical results indicate that remarkable spectral changes always occurs near the points where the field amplitude has zero value. The effects of truncation parameter, Fresnel number and the beam order on spectral shifts and spectral switches are investigated numerically. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Workshop on turtle bycatch mitigation for longline fisheries: experimental design and data analysis, 7-8 November 2007, San Ramón de Alajuela, Costa Rica

Large numbers of fishing vessels operating from ports in Latin America participate in surface longline fisheries in the eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO), and several species of sea turtles inhabit the grounds where these fleets operate. The endangered status of several sea turtle species, and the success of circle hooks (‘treatment’ hooks) in reducing turtle hookings in other ocean areas, as compared to J-hooks and Japanese-style tuna hooks (‘control’ hooks), prompted the initiation of a hook exchange program on the west coast of Latin America, the Eastern Pacific Regional Sea Turtle Program (EPRSTP)1. One of the goals of the EPRSTP is to determine if circle hooks would be effective at reducing turtle bycatch in artisanal fisheries of the EPO without significantly reducing the catch of marketable fish species. Participating fishers were provided with circle hooks at no cost and asked to replace the J/Japanese-style tuna hooks on their longlines with circle hooks in an alternating manner. Data collected by the EPRSTP show differences in longline gear and operational characteristics within and among countries. These aspects of the data, in addition to difficulties encountered with implementation of the alternating-hook design, pose challenges for analysis of these data.

A single amino acid defines cross-species reactivity of tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri) CD1d to human invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells

P>The non-classical major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecule CD1d presents lipid antigens to invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells, which are an important part of the innate immune system. CD1d/iNKT systems are highly conserved in evoluti