Causal nexus between agricultural credit rationing and repayment performance: A two-stage Tobit regression

The probability that the beneficiary would default on future payments poses a great risk to extending agricultural credit. Also, previous research on farmers' repayment of agricultural credit emphasized that a high default rate is a growing concern, thereby becoming a tall order for financial institutions to lend to farmers. Similarly, past studies accentuate an increasing focus on socio-economic characteristics as factors that explain the repayment rate. The nexus between repayment rates and credit rationing has not been well analyzed. The effect of credit rationing on repayment rate was therefore investigated. The study, therefore, investigates the causal effects of credit rationing on loan repayment performance using a structured questionnaire to elicit information from selected 240 respondents via a three-stage method of sampling technique, and the instrumental variable Tobit technique to analyze the effect of credit rationing on repayment performance. The result showed that the majority (70.83%) of the respondents are males, the mean age was 51 years with an average education year of 12.65. The result of instrumental variable Tobit regression confirmed the endogeneity of rationing rate (Wald test of exogeneity = Wald Chi2 (1) = 67.26; Prob > chi2 = 0.000) at a 1% level of statistical significance. The result with a Log-likelihood function (265.62459) revealed that the ration rate, among others, with coefficients of 0.4335, was a crucial factor in ascertaining the rate of repayment at various significant levels of the arable crop farmers in the research area. The key finding is that credit rationing did have a significantly positive influence on agricultural credit repayment. The research concluded that the significance of credit rationing in influencing the likelihood of repayment rate, points to the vital significance of adequacy in rationing borrowers

Blood gases in pregnancy at sea level and at high altitude

Objective 1. To measure blood gases and minute ventilation in healthy women with normal pregnancies, compare with non-pregnant women both at sea level and at high altitude; 2. to relate the results at altitude with duration of residence there. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Antenatal clinics at sea level in Lima, Peru and at high altitude 4300m in Cerro de Pasco, Peru. Population A total of 304 normal pregnant women between 7 and 41 weeks of gestation were studied, including 112 who lived at sea level and 192 at high altitude (4300m). For comparison 38 non-pregnant women (19 at sea level and 19 at high altitude) were also studied. Methods Arterialised blood gases, haemoglobin, pulse oximetry and minute ventilation were measured once in each woman. Main outcome measures PO2, PCO2, pH, haemoglobin, oxygen saturation, arterial oxygen content and minute ventilation and their relationship to gestation. Results PO2, PCO2, bicarbonate, base excess and oxygen saturation were lower in pregnancies at high altitude compared with sea level; pH, haemoglobin, arterial oxygen content and minute ventilation were higher. At high altitude oxygen saturation and haemoglobin decreased towards term resulting in a fall in arterial oxygen content at the end of pregnancy. Women whose family had lived at high altitude for at least three generations maintained their oxygenation throughout pregnancy better than women whose family had lived there for less than three generations. Conclusions In pregnancy at high altitude maternal adaptation appeared adequate in the first trimester but declined towards term. However, maternal oxygenation was maintained in those whose family had lived longest at high altitude suggesting a beneficial adaptation to a hypoxic environment, occurring over generations

COHERENT 2018 at the Spallation Neutron Source

The primary goal of the COHERENT collaboration is to measure and study coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) using the high-power, few-tens-of-MeV, pulsed source of neutrinos provided by the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The COHERENT collaboration reported the first detection of CEvNS [Akimov:2017ade] using a CsI[Na] detector. At present the collaboration is deploying four detector technologies: a CsI[Na] scintillating crystal, p-type point-contact germanium detectors, single-phase liquid argon, and NaI[Tl] crystals. All detectors are located in the neutron-quiet basement of the SNS target building at distances 20-30 m from the SNS neutrino source. The simultaneous measurement in all four COHERENT detector subsystems will test the $N^2$ dependence of the cross section and search for new physics. In addition, COHERENT is measuring neutrino-induced neutrons from charged- and neutral-current neutrino interactions on nuclei in shielding materials, which represent a non-negligible background for CEvNS as well as being of intrinsic interest. The Collaboration is planning as well to look for charged-current interactions of relevance to supernova and weak-interaction physics. This document describes concisely the COHERENT physics motivations, sensitivity, and next plans for measurements at the SNS to be accomplished on a few-year timescale

Observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering

The coherent elastic scattering of neutrinos off nuclei has eluded detection for four decades, even though its predicted cross-section is the largest by far of all low-energy neutrino couplings. This mode of interaction provides new opportunities to study neutrino properties, and leads to a miniaturization of detector size, with potential technological applications. We observe this process at a 6.7-sigma confidence level, using a low-background, 14.6-kg CsI[Na] scintillator exposed to the neutrino emissions from the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Characteristic signatures in energy and time, predicted by the Standard Model for this process, are observed in high signal-to-background conditions. Improved constraints on non-standard neutrino interactions with quarks are derived from this initial dataset.445

Human pulmonary dirofilariasis: a review

The authors presented a detailed summary of the geographical distribution, clinical and pathological aspects of human pulmonary dirofilariasis. Although benign, this zoonosis, of which Dirofilaria immitis is the major etiological agent, represents a medical problem since it produces symptoms which may be confused with neoplasia and thus may subject patients to unnecessary thoracic surgery. Of 229 cases cited in the literature, only 17 were reported in Brazil, despite the existence of highly favorable conditions for the transmission of this infection in man. Thus it may well be that this parasitic infection remains underdiagnosed. Finally, the importance of a differential diagnosis between dirofilariasis and pulmonary neoplasia is emphasized in cases where there is a solitary subpleural nodule ("coin lesion") present. In addition, the development and improvement of modern immunological diagnostic techniques are essential to distinguish this benign disease from other pathological conditions and thus avoid unneccessary surgery. These techniques may reveal the true prevalence of this parasitic infection in our environment