Three essays on financial development macroeconomic volatility and monetary policy

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonThis thesis consists of three studies that cover topics in the increasingly in uential eld of nancial development and monetary policy. Chapters 2 and 3 explore the case of Brazil by (i) investigating whether (and how di¤erently) deposits in public and in private banks a¤ect economic growth over extremely long- time horizons using an uncommon econometric framework and (ii) revisiting the growth- nance nexus using a new econometric approach and a new and unique data set. More speci cally in Chapter 2 utilizes a PARCH framework and data for Brazil from 1870 to 2018 we nd that the main explanatory factors, solely in terms of their negative lagged indirect/direct (short-run) e¤ects on economic growth in Brazil, turn out to be the domestic nancial development indicators. Further, we nd robust evidence that the U.S. interest rate a¤ects growth positively both indirectly (via its volatility) and directly (both in the short- and long-run). Our results are robust to the inclusion of other economic variables i.e. trade openness and public de cit. We also argue that domestic nancial development in uences growth negatively in the short-run but positively in the long-run, whereas the impact of international nancial integration is positive in both cases. Furthermore, the impact of private and public ownership on economic growth tends to be both direct and indirect. However, our parameter estimations highlight the signi cantly higher (in absolute magnitude) negative indirect and direct short-run e¤ects of public banks (compared to those of private banks) on growth. Finally, trade openness and public de cit in uence output growth negatively in the short-run. Our results are robust to the inclusion of population, in ation, and authority score as well as dummy variables. Chapter 3 uses the smooth transition framework and annual time series data for Brazil (i.e. annual growth rate of gross domestic product (gdp), nancial development, trade openness and a set of political instability indicators) covering the period from a very long time window, from 1890 to 2003. The new data we use in this chapter is for political instability. Our research contributes further to the literature by extending the track of political instability back to the year of 1890. More speci cally, we constructed our own informal and formal political instability series from 1890 to 1919 (a period with high political uncertainty in Brazil). Our main ndings are that (a) nancial development has a mixed (positive and negative) time-varying impact on economic growth (which signi cantly depends on jointly estimated trade openness thresholds); (b) trade openness has a positive e¤ect, whereas (c) the e¤ect of political instability, both formal and informal, on growth is unambiguously negative. Finally, Chapter 4 continues the investigation on the empirical magnitude of the scal multipliers and its determinants in the U.S.. We estimate the e¤ects of unanticipated government spending shocks on output using quarterly U.S. data, 1986-2017. Our contribution is to estimate time-varying scal multi- pliers conditional on di¤erent states of the business cycle by smooth-transition estimation, characterising multipliers by the sign of the spending shocks

Transcriptomic Profiling of iPS Cell-Derived Hepatocyte-like Cells Reveals Their Close Similarity to Primary Liver Hepatocytes

Data Availability Statement: The data presented in this study are available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.Supplementary Materials are available online at: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/14/12/925#app1-cells-14-00925 .Human-induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs) have been shown to be useful for the development of cell-based regenerative strategies and for modelling drug discovery. However, stem cell-derived HLCs are not identical in nature to primary human hepatocytes (PHHs), which could affect the cell phenotype and, potentially, model reliability. Therefore, we employed the in-depth gene expression profiling of HLCs and other important and relevant cell types, which led to the identification of clear similarities and differences between them at the transcriptional level. Through gene set enrichment analysis, we identified that genes that are critical for immune signalling pathways become downregulated upon HLC differentiation. Our analysis also found that TAV.HLCs exhibit a mild gene signature characteristic of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, but not other selected cancers. Importantly, HLCs present significant similarity to PHHs, making them genuinely valuable for modelling human liver biology in vitro and for the development of prototype cell-based therapies for pre-clinical testing.This research was funded by an SBRI CRACK-IT InMutaGene Challenge 21 award and Testavec Ltd

Academic coaching as a pedagogy to facilitate the navigation of complexity across the health professions education continuum

Data availability statement: The original contributions presented in the paper are included in the article. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.Maintaining currency and managing complexity in a rapidly evolving healthcare environment requires health professionals to be competent in monitoring and regulating their own learning. While health professional educators can scaffold learners to develop this competency, maintaining these skills in the absence of ongoing, structured support can prove challenging. Academic coaching is a pedagogical approach that supports learners to develop as self-regulated learners. This longitudinal support can facilitate learners’ capacity to plan, monitor and evaluate their performance and apply these skills to novel contexts, which is needed to navigate the increasingly complex healthcare environment. In this paper, we introduce the intersecting concepts of self-regulated learning and academic coaching. We suggest ways that academic coaching can be used to support learners in the health professions to continually improve their practice and develop their capacity to cope with complexity. We draw on our experiences of implementing academic coaching into two medical programs in the UK and Australia (school-leaver and graduate entry programs, respectively) and offer considerations for implementing academic coaching across the health professions education continuum.The article processing charge for this publication was supported by a Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI) Publication Grant 2025

Association between total daily sedentary time and cardiometabolic biomarkers in older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Supplementary Materials are available online at: https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jpah/22/9/article-p1086.xml?content=supplementary-materials .Background: Older adults engage in the highest levels of sedentary behavior across all age groups. Yet, the extent to which sedentary time is associated with cardiometabolic health in older adults is unclear. This systematic review and meta-analysis examined associations between daily sedentary time and cardiometabolic biomarkers in older adults. Methods: Peer-reviewed articles which studied the association between daily sedentary time and ≥1 cardiometabolic biomarker in participants aged ≥60 years were eligible. Five electronic databases (PubMed, CINAHL, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and PsycINFO) were searched. Screening, data extraction, and study quality were undertaken independently by 2 reviewers. Meta-analyses were undertaken using random-effects models based on correlation and regression coefficients. Methodological quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute checklist. Results: Twenty-eight articles were included with sample sizes ranging from 30 to 62,754 participants. Increasing daily sedentary time was adversely associated with body mass index (Hedge g: 0.32; P = .001), waist circumference (Hedge g: 0.45; P < .001), body fat percentage (Hedge g: 0.61; P = .012), and fat mass (Hedge g: 0.30; P = .018). There were also unfavorable associations with systolic blood pressure (Hedge g: 0.37; P = .047), blood glucose (Hedge g: 0.30; P = .044), triglycerides (Hedge g: 0.36; P = .039), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (Hedge g: 0.34; P = .034). Conclusions: Increased daily sedentary time is adversely associated with body composition, systolic blood pressure, and blood biomarkers in older adults. Therefore, limiting sedentary behavior should be considered an important target in this population group for improved cardiometabolic health

Self-reported poliomyelitis vaccination and documentation in adults indicates high uptake: a digital German epidemic panel, December 2024

Data availability: Aggregated data is presented in the figures and tables of the manuscript. Due to data protection concerns, access to the individual-level data is restricted. Upon request anonymized data can be provided. Please contact the authors if you have any questions or require further information.Consortia: PCR-4-ALL study group: Xavier Casadevall i Solvas, Emine Kayahan, Mariam Mohamed Abdelsatta Bayoumi, Gregor Fritz, Zhiyuan Ma, Jeroen Lammertyn, Dragana Spasic, Lorenz Van Hileghem, Robin De Groote, Javier Martinez-Picado, Elisabet Fernández-Rosas, Sara Morón-López, Maria C. Puertas, Maria C. Garcia-Guerrero, Catia Nicodemo, Alessandro Bucciol, Stefano Landi, Chiara Leardini, Giulia Montresor, Khalidwa Shomali, Isti Rodiah, Felix Jenniches Helmholtz, Daniel Alexander Schulze & Vanessa Melhorn. MuSPAD study group: Monika Strengert, Alex Dulovic, Nicole Schneiderhan-Marra, Jana-Kristin Heise, Gérard Krause, Pilar Hernandez, Daniela Gornyk, Monike Schlüter, Tobias Kerrinnes, Gerhard Bojara, Kerstin Frank, Knut Gubbe, Torsten Tonn, Oliver Kappert, Winfried V. Kern, Thomas Illig, Norman Klopp & Gottfried Roller Michael Ziemons.Supplementary Information is available online at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-025-24865-9#Sec16 .Use of artificial intelligence tools: We used OpenAI's ChatGPT v2 to review and refine the R code for improved structure and functionality. For clarity and precision, the English language parts of this manuscript have been edited using DeepL Pro. The authors checked the output for correctness and take responsibility for it.Background: On 12 December 2024, the Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) recommended universal polio catch-up vaccination for children and adolescents up to 16, urging parents to check their children’s immunization status following detections of vaccine-derived poliovirus in wastewater. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) also advised healthcare professionals to ensure vaccination coverage in priority groups. Regional health authorities, called on all citizens to review their vaccination records to address any immunization gaps. We investigated vaccine uptake (documented / recalled) to improve estimates of immunity against poliovirus among the German population and gain insights into the proportion of undocumented vaccines. Methods: We conducted a survey in December 2024 using the eResearch System PIA (Prospective Monitoring and Management—App) to collect data on self-reported vaccine uptake among a German cohort. We calculated the frequency of vaccinations that were documented and undocumented, as well as the types of vaccines and the number of doses received. Vaccination status was classified as received ≤ 2 doses versus ≥ 3 doses of any polio-containing vaccine. We applied survey weights to calculate frequencies according the general German population (by age, sex, region) and logistic regression to examine the relationships between the vaccinations that were not documented but recalled, and the factors associated with these undocumented vaccinations. Results: Among 1,124 participants who completed the survey on vaccination uptake, 1,097 (96.9%) participants stated to have a vaccination record. A total of 823/1,124 (74.3%) reported having a vaccination record, where at least one poliomyelitis vaccine was documented, whereas 233 (19.0%) participants recalled at least one poliomyelitis vaccination without documentation or vaccination record. Of 1,124, 68 participants (6.7%) did not report any polio vaccination neither documented nor recalled without documentation. Among the 823 participants with documented vaccination and at least one vaccination, 592 (75.1%) received at least three doses of a poliomyelitis vaccine, with a decline in older age groups, less than three doses were reported by 164 (17.6%), and the remaining 7.3% (n = 67) did not have information on the number of doses administered. Of 2,768 documented vaccine doses, 898 (29.9%) were oral poliovirus vaccines (OPV) and 704 (26.2%) were inactivated poliovirus vaccines (IPV). In 1,166 vaccines (43.9%), the type could not be derived by the participants from the vaccination record. The odds of having a recalled vaccination (not documented) was higher in male and the older age groups compared to females and younger participants. Discussion: We found similar poliomyelitis vaccination uptake compared to other data sources e.g., of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Vaccine-derived immunity to poliomyelitis may be underestimated based on vaccination records only. There is a need to address potential gaps in health literacy and vaccination documentation. Efforts should be made to conduct continuous seroprevalence surveys in the population in response to emerging public health threats and deduce parameters to inform modelling infection dynamics in specific outbreak scenarios. Trial registration: The PCR-4-ALL cohort was registered in the German Clinical Trials Register on the 3rd of September 2024 (DRKS00034763).Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. Funded by the European Union. The PCR-4-ALL project has received funding under the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme ( grant agreement No 101095606). Additional funding has been provided by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) via RESPINOW (grant number 031L0298A) as well as by intramural HZI funds which supported this work as well as the initial funding for the MuSPAD Study from the Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (grant number SO-096)

Post-politics and the Anthropocene: towards a post-foundational environmental political theory

The concept of post-politics has played a key role in diagnosing Anthropocene discourse and showing how it has reinforced the managerial, technocratic, and market logics of much environmental politics. From the homogenising and naturalising discourse of humankind as a destructive species to the fetishisation of CO2 in carbon offsetting projects and the strategic mobilisation of emergency narratives: all partake in the depoliticisation of the environmental debate. Yet, the diagnosis has also been criticised for not giving enough leverage to alternative voices and for restricting the scope of what ‘proper’ political action can consist of. In this chapter, I show how a re-engagement with the sophisticated theoretical underpinnings of post-foundational political theory can provide us with the tools to move beyond these controversies. While defending the post-political thesis, I argue that a genuine post-foundational engagement with the Anthropocene should also recognise the altered, much more politicised historical conjuncture in which we live today

The influence of boundary conditions and interfacial slip on the time taken to achieve a nonequilibrium steady-state for boundary-driven flows

Data Availability: The data that support the findings of this study are available within the article and its supplementary material. Supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.60893/figshare.pof.c.8167160) containing full derivations of the underlying hydrodynamic solutions to the governing differential equations discussed in Secs. II and III is in the accompanying pdf file “supplementary material—Theory.” (https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Supplementary_Material_-_Theory/30705233). Further information containing supporting data and tables of data resulting from our simulations and analysis is contained in the file “supplementary material—Supporting Data.” (https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Supplementary_Material_-_Supporting_Data/30705230).In this study, we investigate the equilibration time to attain steady-state for a system of liquid molecules under boundary-driven planar Couette flow via nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulation. In particular, we examine the equilibration time for the two common types of boundary-driven flow: one in which both walls slide with equal and opposite velocity (⁠ ±û/2⁠), and the other in which one wall is fixed and the other moves with twice the velocity (⁠û⁠). Both flows give identical steady-state strain rates and, hence, flow properties, but the transient behavior is completely different. We find that in the case of no-slip boundary conditions, the equilibration times for the counter-sliding walls flow are exactly four times faster than those of the single-sliding wall system, and this is independent of the atomistic nature of the fluid, i.e., it is an entirely hydrodynamic feature. We also find that systems that exhibit slip have longer equilibration times in general, and the ratio of equilibration times for the two types of boundary-driven flow is even more pronounced. We analyze the problem by decomposing a generic planar Couette flow into a linear sum of purely symmetric and antisymmetric flows. We find that the no-slip equilibration time is dominated by the slowest decaying eigenvalue of the solution to the Navier–Stokes equation. In the case of slip, the longest relaxation time is now dominated by the transient slip velocity response, which is longer than the no-slip response time. In the case of a high-slip system of water confined to graphene channels, the enhancement is over two orders of magnitude. We propose a simple universal relation that predicts the enhanced equilibration time, which agrees well with our NEMD results for simple Lennard-Jones fluids and the water–graphene system. The implications of this significant speed-up in attaining steady-state, which is especially pronounced in the presence of slip, are discussed in general.The authors thank the Australian Research Council for a grant obtained through the Discovery Projects Scheme (Grant No. DP200100422) and the Royal Society for support via International Exchanges (Grant No. IES/R3/170/233). J.P.E. was supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) through their Research Fellowships scheme. D.D. was supported through a Shell/RAEng Research Chair in Complex Engineering Interfaces. The authors acknowledge the Swinburne OzSTAR Supercomputing facility and the Imperial College London Research Computing Service (DOI:10.14469/hpc/223) for providing computational resources for this work

Insects as models to study burn wound infection and wound microbiome

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonBurns are one of the most common and morbid of injury types. It leads to a multitude of complications, of which burn wound infection is the leading cause of mortality among burn patients. Due to the complexity of burn wound trauma and infection it cannot be accurately studied in vitro. Currently available animal models are costly, high maintenance and strictly ethically regulated. We developed an insect-based burn wound model using wax moth, Galleria mellonella has recently been established. It follows many of the hallmarks of burn wound trauma seen in humans and mammalian models, such as increase in survival after the administration of fluid resuscitation which involves giving the patient intravenous fluids to restore the fluid loss during the burn wound injury, increase in mortality with the increase of the burn surface area and a decrease in survival after a topical burn infection. This model is affordable, easy to maintain and handle and has no ethical regulation associated with it. The G. mellonella burn wound model has a potential to reduce and replace the use of mice in burn research. In this work, we established the G. mellonella burn wound model as a model for high throughput screening of probiotic bacteria. We showcase that application of both colonies and supernatant of Lactobacillus spp increases the survival in the G. mellonella burn wound model. Furthermore, we show that this model is capable of distinguishing between more and less therapeutically effective strains. The therapeutic efficacy was determined by comparing the effect of the treatment the wound with the probiotic bacteria on the survival of the wound infection in the G. mellonella. Additionally, we characterise a new burn wound probiotic C. acnes using this model and propose the carbon source competition as a potential strategy to modulate and treat wound infections by showcasing the importance of the glucose availability effect on the virulence of P. aeruginosa PA14 infection in the G. mellonella burn wound infection model. Lastly, we characterise the transcriptomic response of P. aeruginosa PA14 and A. baumannii AB5075 in the G. mellonella burn wound infection model and in the G. mellonella injection model, showcasing multiple overlaps of this model with other animal models and the transcriptomic response observed in human associated models and clinical isolates. The findings presented in this work not only further develop the G. mellonella burn wound model and establish it as a valid tool for high-throughput screening of burn wound probiotic treatments but also advance our understanding of the host-pathogen interactions in the burn wound infections which provides an alternative route to infection management. Furthermore, this research using G. mellonella will facilitate further replacement of the use of higher animals in research as well as facilitating more efficient mining for novel burn wound treatments

Privacy-Preserving Distributed Energy Management for Battery Energy Storage Systems over Time-Varying Networks

This article addresses the privacy-preserving energy management problem of battery energy storage systems (BESSs). An autonomous privacy-preserving distributed optimization (APPDO) scheme is developed over time-varying networks with the aim of regulating the power output of local BESS to fulfill the total load demand at the minimum economic cost under battery capacity constraints without privacy leakage. To this end, a linearly convergent distributed algorithm is proposed by combining the gradient descent algorithm with leaderless and leader-following consensus schemes. This algorithm is applicable to both islanded and grid-connected modes of BESSs. Furthermore, a novel privacy-preserving approach is constructed by injecting well-designed perturbation sequences into the data exchanged between neighboring nodes, making it effective against malicious eavesdroppers. Furthermore, a comprehensive analysis framework is established to evaluate the convergence, optimality, and privacy-preserving performance of the APPDO algorithm. Finally, numerical studies are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed APPDO scheme.10.13039/501100001809-National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number: 62303210 and 62188101); Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (Grant Number: JCYJ20241202125309014 and KQTD20221101093557010); 10.13039/501100012245-Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province (Grant Number: 2024B1212010002); Future Resilient Systems at the Singapore-ETH Centre; 10.13039/501100000266-Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council; Royal Society of the U.K.; Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany

Multi-sensor Particle Filtering for Nonlinear Complex Networks With Heterogeneous Measurements Under Non-Gaussian Noises

In this article, the multisensor particle filtering problem is investigated for a class of nonlinear complex networks with multirate heterogeneous measurements. The underlying complex networks are subject to non-Gaussian noises and randomly switching couplings, while the multirate heterogeneous measurements (including fast-rate binary measurements and slow-rate integral measurements) are transmitted to remote filters via imperfect wireless communication channels. Both the deterministic and stochastic channel gains, along with possible transmission failures, are taken into account to characterize the properties of wireless communication channels. The purpose of this article is to propose a channel-related filtering scheme in the particle filtering framework to address these engineering-oriented complexities. To achieve this, a mixture distribution is established to reflect the effects of randomly switching couplings and generate new particle candidates. By utilizing the Monte Carlo approximation method, two types of update expressions for importance weights are explicitly derived based on the channel properties and the likelihood functions. Finally, numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the viability and effectiveness of the proposed particle filtering algorithms.10.13039/501100001809-National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number: 62203016, 62425301, U2241214, 62373008 and 61933007); 10.13039/501100002858-China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant Number: 2021TQ0009); 10.13039/501100001809-Royal Society of the U.K.; Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany