Electricity consumption and economic growth: Evidence from Turkey

This study investigates the causal relationship between electricity consumption and real GDP in Turkey during the period of 1950–2000. Both of the series were found to be a stationary process around a structural break by the Zivot and Andrews test. Thus, two different methodologies have been employed to test the Granger non-causality: the Dolado–Lütkepohl test using the VARs in levels, and the standard Granger causality test using the detrended data. Both tests have yielded a strong evidence for unidirectional causality running from the electricity consumption to the income. This implies that the supply of electricity is vitally important to meet the growing electricity consumption, hence to sustain the economic growth in Turkey.     

Electricity consumption and economic growth: Bounds and causality analyses of OPEC members

This paper investigates the relationship between electricity consumption and economic growth for OPEC members. The bounds test yields evidence of a long-run relationship between electricity consumption and economic growth for all OPEC members. Causality results suggest that economic growth is dependent on electricity consumption in five countries, less dependent in three countries, and independent in three countries. Because these countries do not necessarily share similar political and economic traits, no single universal policy implication can be inferred from the results. The disparities across these causality results, therefore, stress the importance of formulating causality explanations while taking into account the particularities of individual countries rather than blindly applying the conventional interpretations.     

Structural breaks, energy consumption, and economic growth revisited: Evidence from Taiwan

This paper studies the stability between energy consumption and GDP for Taiwan during 1954–2003. We use aggregate as well as various disaggregate data of energy consumption, including coal, oil, gas, and electricity, to employ the unit root tests and the cointegration tests allowing for structural breaks. Our main findings are: First, though gas consumption seems to have structural breaks in the 1960s, after considering the structural breaks, the series is a stationary variable when Taiwan adopted its expansionary export trade policy. Second, we find that different directions of causality exist between GDP and various kinds of energy consumption. The empirical result shows unanimously in the long run that energy acts as an engine of economic growth, and that energy conservation may harm economic growth. Third, the cointegration between energy consumption and GDP is unstable, and some economic events may affect the stability. Overall, we do find the structural breakpoints, and they look to match clearly with the corresponding critical economic incidents.     

The human-centred movement: The British context

The cornerstone of the British human-centred tradition lies in the two notions, human machine symbiosis and socially useful technology. The contemporary tradition has its roots in the LUCAS PLAN of the 1970s and has recently been shaped by a number of European social and technological movements in Scandianvia, Germany, France, Ireland and Italy. The emergence of the information society places the human-centred debate in wider socio-economic and cultural contexts. The paper explores the shaping of the European dimension of the human-centred tradition and proposes a research agenda for social innovation for inclusive information society.     

The causal relationship between energy consumption and GDP in Albania,Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania: Evidence from ARDL bound testing approach

The purpose of this study is to investigate the causal relationship between energy and economic growth in Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania from 1980 to 2006 by employing energy use per capita, electric power consumption per capita and real GDP per capita variables. To examine this linkage, we use the two-step procedure from the Engle and Granger model: In first step, we explore the long-run relationships between the variables by using recently developed autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach of cointegration. Secondly, we employ a dynamic vector error correction (VEC) model to test causal relationships between variables. The bounds test yields evidence of a long-run relationship between energy use per capita and real GDP per capita and evidence of two-way (bidirectional) strong Granger causality between these variables only in Hungary. On the other hand, the ARDL bounds test results show that there is no a unique long-term or equilibrium relationship between energy consumption variables and real GDP per capita in Albania, Bulgaria and Romania. In other words, no cointegration exists between these variables in these three countries. The econometric analysis suggests that any causal relationships within dynamic error correction model for Albania, Bulgaria and Romania cannot be estimated.     

Causality relationship between the price of oil and economic growth in Japan

This paper investigates the relationship between the price of oil and economic growth in Japan during the period from 2000 to 2008 using an exponential generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (EGARCH) model. We employ a residual cross-correlation function (CCF) approach developed by [Cheung, Y.W., Ng, N.K., 1996. A causality-in-variance test and its application to financial market prices. Journal of Econometrics 72, 33–48]. The empirical results reveal that the economic growth rate Granger-causes the change of oil price in mean and variance and the change of oil price Granger-causes the economic growth rate in mean and variance. Previous studies have analyzed the response of economic activity to oil price shocks. However, we analyze the causality relations for both means and variances, and identify the direction of information flow and the timing of causation.     

因果图向故障树转换的研究

因果图模型可以表示整个复杂系统中各因素见的复杂因果关系,故障树是故障分析和安全可靠性分析的常用模型,如果因果图模型能够转换为故障树模型,将扩大因果图的应用范围,方便故障树建模。因此研究因果图向故障树的转换显得十分重要。文章在分析故障树与因果图概念和表示符号的基础上,提出了因果图转换为故障树的算法。通过因果图向故障树转换可以得到任何事件为顶事件的故障树模型,然后可以采用成熟的FTA方法进行分析,这样因果图模型中的一些问题也可以采用故障树的方法来解决。在假设因果图中的连接事件表示必然因果关系条件下,因果图可以转换为含有可能的因果关系的故障树。研究表明通过微因果树化,因果图可以转换为故障树,所以因果图模型具有广泛的适用性和应用前景。     

Antipsychotic Drug Aripiprazole Protects Liver Cells from Oxidative Stress

Antipsychotics used to treat schizophrenia can cause drug-induced liver injury (DILI), according to the Roussel Uclaf Causality Assessment Method. The role of oxidative stress in triggering injury in these DILI cases is unknown. We repeatedly administrated two second-generation antipsychotics, aripiprazole and olanzapine, at laboratory alert levels to study underlying mechanisms in stress prevention upon acute oxidative stress. The drugs were administered continuously for up to 8 weeks. For this, hepatoma Fao cells, which are suitable for metabolic studies, were used, as the primary hepatocytes survive in the culture only for about 1 week. Four stress responses—the oxidative stress response, the DNA damage response and the unfolded protein responses in the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria—were examined in H₂O₂-treated cells by antioxidant enzyme activity measurements, gene expression and protein quantification. Oxidant conditions increased the activity of antioxidant enzymes and upregulated genes and proteins associated with oxidative stress response in aripiprazole-treated cells. While the genes associated with DNA damage response, Gadd45 and p21, were upregulated in both aripiprazole- and olanzapine-treated cells, only aripiprazole treatment was associated with upregulation in response to even more H₂O₂, which also coincided with better survival. Endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced Chop was also upregulated; however, neither endoplasmic reticulum nor mitochondrial unfolded protein response was activated. We conclude that only aripiprazole, but not olanzapine, protects liver cells against oxidative stress. This finding could be relevant for schizophrenia patients with high-oxidative-stress-risk lifestyles and needs to be validated in vivo.     

复杂系统因果图合成建模方法研究

因果图应用中,专家首先要建立复杂系统的因果图模型。但是复杂系统因果图模型非常复杂,专家直接构造非常困难。因此如何使构造的因果图能更真实地反映实际,减少偏差,是值得研究的问题。针对复杂系统建模困难,提出了复杂因果图的合成方法,可以对同一专家构造的因果图以及不同专家构造的因果图分别采用不同的方法进行合成。并通过实例进行了说明。研究表明：复杂系统因果图合成建模法可行有效,简化了因果图的建模方法,为因果图处理专家知识提供了一条有效的途径。