Parsing shocks: real-time revisions to gap and growth projections for Canada

The output gap - the deviation of output from potential output - has played an important role in the conduct of monetary policy in Canada. This paper reviews the Bank of Canada's definition of potential output, as well as the use of the output gap in monetary policy. Using a real-time staff economic projection dataset from 1994 through 2005, a period during which the staff used the Quarterly Projection Model to construct economic projections, the authors investigate the relationship between shocks (data revisions or real-time projection errors) and revisions to projections of key macroeconomic variables. Of particular interest are the interactions between shocks to real gross domestic product (GDP) and inflation and revisions to the level of potential output, potential growth, the output gap, and real GDP growth.Economic development ; Economic conditions - Canada

Radioekologija mora i upravljanje otpadom na Jadranu

This paper gives a review of marine radioecology research in the Adriatic area carried out by the Radiation Protection Unit of the Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health. Measurements of radioactivity in the Adriatic started in 1963 as a part of an extended monitoring programme of radioactivity in Croatian environment. The main sources of radioactive contamination of the Adriatic Sea are the fallout from past nuclear weapon testing conducted in the atmosphere and the Chernobyl accident. In 2005, the activity concentrations of fission radionuclides were detectable at very low levels in all environmental samples collected on the Adriatic. The 90Sr data obtained from long-term monitoring were used to estimate the upper limit of the Adriatic seawater turnover time, which turned out to be (3.4±0.4) years. Detailed knowledge about seawater circulation, including the turnover time is essential for planning an overall communal and other wastewater management on the Adriatic coast. The paper concludes with the prospects for future marine radioecological investigations.Dan je pregled i opis radioekoloških istraživanja jadranskog područja koja provodi Jedinica za zaštitu od zračenja Instituta za medicinska istraživanja i medicinu rada. Mjerenja radioaktivnosti na Jadranu započela su godine 1963. kao dio proširenog programa monitoringa radioaktivnosti okoliša u Hrvatskoj. Glavni izvori radioaktivne kontaminacije Jadranskog mora jesu fallout (radioaktivni ispadak) prouzročen atmosferskim probama nuklearnog oružja te čornobiljska nesreća. Godine 2005. koncentracije aktivnosti fisijskih radionuklida u uzorcima iz okoliša skupljenim na Jadranu bile su detektabilne na vrlo malim razinama. Podaci za 90Sr dobiveni dugoročnim monitoringom poslužili su za procjenu gornje granice boravka morske vode u Jadranskom moru, koja je procijenjena na (3,4±0,4) godine. Detaljna saznanja o cirkulaciji morske vode, uključujući i srednje vrijeme boravka morske vode izuzetno su potrebna pri planiranju cjelokupnog upravljanja komunalnim i drugim otpadom na jadranskoj obali. Prikazana su planirana buduća radioekološka istraživanja

Establishment and long-term maintenance of primary intestinal epithelial cells cultured from the rainbow trout,Oncorhynchus mykiss.

A novel method for the establishment and long-term maintenance ofex vivocultures from intestinal regions of the rainbow trout,Oncorhynchus mykiss(Walbaum), is reported. Adherence of cells was observed within hours, epithelial island formation recorded at 48 h and rapid proliferation with confluence achieved between 9-14 days. In addition to metabolic characterisation, basic morphology of growing cells was characterised using histology, immunofluorescence, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER). Regional differences in intestinal ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) and 7-ethoxycoumarin-O-deethylation (ECOD) activities in these primary grown enterocytes were compared following exposure to model inducers [i.e.α-NF,β-NF, B(a)P] which demonstrated significant differences. Regional differences in dietary uptake and metabolism of contaminants can therefore be studied in thisin vitrosystem to increase our understanding of fundamental processes, while concurrently providing a means to reduce the number of fish required for biological studies in line with the principles of the 3Rs (Reduce, Refine and Replace).This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper

Mucosubstances of the digestive tract mucosa in northern pike (Esox lucius L.) and european catfish (Silurus glanis L.)

digestive tract mucosa in northern pike (Esox lucius L.) and european catfish (Siluru

On the solar wind control of cusp aurora during northward IMF

[1] The location of cusp aurora during northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions and the solar wind control of that location are explored. The cusp aurora is imaged by the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration\u27s (IMAGE) Far Ultraviolet Instrument (FUV). Predicted locations of the cusp aurora were computed by assuming anti-parallel reconnection between the observed IMF orientation and the 1996 Tsyganenko model magnetopause magnetic field. While the majority of anti-parallel reconnection sites tailward of the cusp, when mapped to the ionosphere, coincide with the observed cusp aurora, the anti-parallel merging hypothesis cannot explain certain aspects of the observations, including its location dependence with IMF + By

Comment on "Energetic particle sounding of the magnetospheric cusp with ISEE-1" by K. E. Whitaker et al., Ann. Geophys., 25, 1175–1182, 2007

No abstract available

First IBEX observations of the terrestrial plasma sheet and a possible disconnection event

The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission has recently provided the first all-sky maps of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) emitted from the edge of the heliosphere as well as the first observations of ENAs from the Moon and from the magnetosheath stagnation region at the nose of the magnetosphere. This study provides the first IBEX images of the ENA emissions from the nightside magnetosphere and plasma sheet. We show images from two IBEX orbits: one that displays typical plasma sheet emissions, which correlate reasonably well with a model magnetic field, and a second that shows a significant intensification that may indicate a near-Earth (similar to 10 R(E) behind the Earth) disconnection event. IBEX observations from similar to 0.5-6 keV indicate the simultaneous addition of both a hot (several keV) and colder (similar to 700 eV) component during the intensification; if IBEX directly observed magnetic reconnection in the magnetotail, the hot component may signify the plasma energization

Evidence of Multiple Reconnection Lines at the Magnetopause from Cusp Observations

Recent global hybrid simulations investigated the formation of flux transfer events (FTEs) and their convection and interaction with the cusp. Based on these simulations, we have analyzed several Polar cusp crossings in the Northern Hemisphere to search for the signature of such FTEs in the energy distribution of downward precipitating ions: precipitating ion beams at different energies parallel to the ambient magnetic field and overlapping in time. Overlapping ion distributions in the cusp are usually attributed to a combination of variable ion acceleration during the magnetopause crossing together with the time-of-flight effect from the entry point to the observing satellite. Most "step up" ion cusp structures (steps in the ion energy dispersions) only overlap for the populations with large pitch angles and not for the parallel streaming populations. Such cusp structures are the signatures predicted by the pulsed reconnection model, where the reconnection rate at the magnetopause decreased to zero, physically separating convecting flux tubes and their parallel streaming ions. However, several Polar cusp events discussed in this study also show an energy overlap for parallel-streaming precipitating ions. This condition might be caused by reopening an already reconnected field line, forming a magnetic island (flux rope) at the magnetopause similar to that reported in global MHD and Hybrid simulation