Search

This study proposes an 'implicit measure' of disagreement to investigate presence of any latent discord in the policy briefings of central banks across nations. We analyse Monetary policy statements of the Bank of Japan (Japan), Banco Central do Brasil (Brazil) and Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (Türkiye) on both specific as well as overall economic outlook by using novel text mining tools. Subsequently, we explore the relationship of the proposed measure of implicit disagreement with the accuracy of growth and inflation forecasts. Our findings confirm that disagreement/discord among policymakers over varied economic aspects provides signals to forecasters and helps in aligning their forecasts better. The results of this study indicate that disagreement too can be considered as a plausible criterion that can explain the forecaster's belief thereby playing a positive role in 'forecaster learning'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of ear acupuncture and NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) applications on weight loss. Methods: This study, planned as a prospective intervention study, was conducted between 15 March and 15 June 2018. A total of 60 patients with excess weight and obesity, who applied to the Acupuncture and Complementary Medicine Methods Application and Research Center of Ataturk University Faculty of Medicine, Family Medicine Department, were included in the study. Two groups of 30 people were formed and NLP was applied to one group and acupuncture was applied to the other group as 12 sessions with 15 days intervals. Results: 70% (n = 42) of the patients were female and 30% (n = 18) were male. The number of female participants was significantly higher in the ear acupuncture group (p <0.005). At the end of the study, mean weight loss in the groups was 7.07 ± 3.85 kg in the acupuncture group and 4.87 ± 2.55 kg in the NLP group (p = 0.016). Conclusions: Our study suggests that ear acupuncture and NLP applications provide the desired level of weight loss in obese patients, however ear acupuncture is a more effective method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]