Crude Oil and Motor Fuel: Fair Price Revisited
In April 2009, we introduced a model representing the evolution of motor fuel price (a subcategory of the consumer price index of transportation) relative to the overall CPI as a linear function of time. Under our framework, all price deviations from the linear trend are transient and the price must promptly return to the trend. Specifically, the model predicted that “the price for motor fuel in the US will also grow by 50% by the end of 2009. Oil price is expected to rise by ~50% as well, from its current value of ~$50 per barrel.” The behavior of actual price has shown that this prediction is accurate in both amplitude and trajectory shape. Hence, one can conclude that the concept of price decomposition into a short-term (oscillating) and long-term (linear trend) components is valid. According to the model, the price of motor fuel and crude oil will be falling to the level of $30 per barrel during the next 5 to 8 years.
Predicting Gold Ores Price
It was demonstrated that gold ores price can be predicted at a several year horizon. The prediction consists of three steps. First, we show that the difference between producer price index and the index for gold ores is characterized by the presence of sustainable mid-term trends. Second, the evolution of the difference is predicted at a five to ten-year horizon. Considering the PPI to be practically constant over the next decade, the above difference provides a direct prediction of the price index for gold ores.
Parboiled rice effluent: A wastewater niche for microalgae and cyanobacteria with growth coupled to comprehensive remediation and phosphorus biofertilization
Abstract The potential of microalgae and cyanobacteria for bioremediation of wastewater by nutrient uptake combined with simultaneous biomass production is a well recognized perception of today's world. The present study illustrates the treatment of a highly polluted wastewater generated during parboiling of paddy in rice mill industries, widely operational in developing countries where rice is the staple food crop, with the help of microalgal and cyanobacterial isolates capable of growing at high rates in parboiled rice mill effluent (RME). This endeavor leads to comprehensive bioremediation of the said effluent and subsequent use of the harvested biomass as slow release phosphorus biofertilizers and the treated effluent for crop irrigation. The RME-acclimatized algal consortium demonstrated highest growth in terms of fresh weight and greatest remediation efficiency at the end of 36 days' treatment of RME, with 93.9% phosphorus and 100% ammonia-nitrogen removal, 98.7%, 91.6% and 93.5% reduction in biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand and total dissolved solid, respectively, and an increment of 186 ± 0.3 mg L − 1 dissolved oxygen, bringing down the pollutants level well below the discharge limits suggested by Central Pollution Control Board, India. Additionally, microalgae in the consortium aggregated in clumps spontaneously in presence of the filaments of Phormidium sp. facilitating easy harvest. The RME-acclimatized algal consortium demonstrated highest accumulation of polyphosphate (poly-P) (0.76 ± 0.01% of dry weight) as well as highest release of phosphorus in non-sterile soil emphasizing the essential role of soil phosphorus solubilizing organisms to leach soluble phosphorus from the insoluble poly-P present in the biomass. The rice seedlings watered with treated RME also showed improved growth effect on shoot height and leaf width. The study results establish the suitability of RME as an excellent growth media for microalgae and cyanobacteria.