Parametric modeling of probability of bank loan default in Kenya

Commercial banks in Kenya are the key players not only in the financial market but also in spurring the economic growth that has been witnessed in the country in the recent past. Besides Safaricom and East Africa Breweries, the other top ten most profitable companies in Kenya are the Commercial banks. The biggest part of these huge profits emanates from the interests charged on loans they advance to their customers. If these loans non-perform, these blue chip companies will come tumbling down and the entire economy will be threatened. This makes the study on probability of a customer defaulting very useful while analyzing the credit risk policies. In this paper, we use a raw data set that contains demographic information about the borrowers. The data sets have been used to identify which risk factors associated with the borrowers contribute towards default. These risk factors are gender, age, marital status, occupation and term of loan. Results show that male customers have high odds (1.91) of defaulting compared to their female counter parts, single customers have a higher likelihood (odds of 1.48) of defaulting compared to their married customers, younger customers have high odds of defaulting unlike elderly customers, financial sector customers have equallikelihood of default as support staff customers and long term loans have less likelihood of defaulting compared to short term loans.Key words: The logistic model, the logit transformation, parameter estimatio

Results of a second season of Paleolithic survey in the Agig area: the Red Sea region of the Sudan

One of the contentious issues in paleoanthropology today concerns the geographic route/routes through which hominins (early humans) left Africa. The Nile corridor and the Strait of Bab al-Mandab (the southern Red Sea) are commonly cited as the likely routes by which hominins dispersed out of East Africa (Van Peer 1998; Derricourt 2005; Beyin 2006). However, the extent to which hominin movements remained confned to these regions is unclear. The western periphery of the Red Sea (WPRS) occupies a critical geographic location to be considered as an ideal region to assess the role of coastal habitats in hominin survival, and the facilitation of important transitions in human evolution, as well as the possibility of hominin dispersal out of Africa through a coastal corridor. As a coast-bound corridor linking the fossil-rich East African Rift system with Southwest Asia, the region may have hosted multiple hominin settlement episodes, and some of the inhabitants may have easily dispersed toward Eurasia from there (Beyin in press). Unfortunately, the region had seen little Stone-Age focused research in the past, hindering an informed assessment of its contribution to hominin survival and dispersal. With these questions and ecological scenarios in mind, in 2017, members of the current project launched ‘The Red Sea Paleolithic Project’ aimed at investigating the role of the WPRS in hominin survival and their movement out of Africa through documenting and studying Stone Age sites in the Red Sea coastal region of the Sudan. To this end, in the summer of 2017, the team carried out a three-week pilot exploration in the Agig and Khor Baraka districts of the Sudanese Red Sea region, which resulted in the documentation of fve sites and numerous low-density lithic scatters on diverse landscape settings (Beyin et al. 2019). The most conspicuous artefact class documented at the surveyed localities were what archaeologists commonly identify as bifaces or large cutting tools (mainly of the handaxe type) that are characteristic of the Acheulean technocomplex, dating to c. 1.7–0.3Ma (Ma = million years ago) in Africa (de la Torre 2016). Other encountered artefact types included points, scrapers, and prepared core products referable to the African Middle Stone Age (MSA, dating roughly to 300–50ka (ka = 1000 years ago) (Barham and Mitchell 2008). The fnds suggest that the region hosted multiple hominin occupation episodes since the Acheulean and MSA technocomplexes are generally thought to have appeared at different times alongside the appearance of distinct hominin lineages

Determination of nutritive value of citrus tree leaves for sheep using in vitro gas production technique

The nutritive values of leaves of Citrus grandis, Citrus aurantium, Citrus oranges, Citrus limon, and Citrus deliciosa were evaluated by chemical composition and in vitro gas production techniques. There were significant (p < 0.001) differences among citrus species in terms of chemical composition. Crude protein (CP) contents ranged from 123.0 to 148.3 g/kg DM. Neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) contents were varied with species in the range 219.4-355.4 and 215.0-278.8 g/kg DM respectively. Condensed tannin (CT) contents were ranged from 5.9 to 10.2 g/kg DM. The PEG addition significantly (p < 0.001) increased the gas production and some estimated parameters of citrus tree leaves. However, species showed variable responses to polyethylene glycol (PEG) treatment. There were also significant (p < 0.001) differences among species in terms of gas production and estimated parameters. The OMD and ME contents of citrus leaves without PEG supplementation were ranged from 66.5 to 73.3% and 9.8 to 10.9 MJ/kg DM respectively. The improvement in gas production, organic matter digestibility (OMD) and metabolizable energy (ME) with PEG emphasized the negative effect of tannins on digestibility. The increase (%) in the estimated OMD and ME contents ranged from 5.5 to 9.8% and 5.7 to 10.2% respectively. All citrus tree leaves studied in this experiment have potential nutritive values indicated by high crude protein content, OMD, ME and low fiber values

Extending structures I: the level of groups

Let $H$ be a group and $E$ a set such that $H \subseteq E$. We shall describe and classify up to an isomorphism of groups that stabilizes $H$ the set of all group structures that can be defined on $E$ such that $H$ is a subgroup of $E$. A general product, which we call the unified product, is constructed such that both the crossed product and the bicrossed product of two groups are special cases of it. It is associated to $H$ and to a system $\bigl((S, 1_S,\ast), \triangleleft, \, \triangleright, \, f \bigl)$ called a group extending structure and we denote it by $H \ltimes S$. There exists a group structure on $E$ containing $H$ as a subgroup if and only if there exists an isomorphism of groups $(E, \cdot) \cong H \ltimes S$, for some group extending structure $\bigl((S, 1_S,\ast), \triangleleft, \, \triangleright, \, f \bigl)$. All such group structures on $E$ are classified up to an isomorphism of groups that stabilizes $H$ by a cohomological type set ${\mathcal K}^{2}_{\ltimes} (H, (S, 1_S))$. A Schreier type theorem is proved and an explicit example is given: it classifies up to an isomorphism that stabilizes $H$ all groups that contain $H$ as a subgroup of index 2.Comment: 17 pages; to appear in Algebras and Representation Theor

Syzygies in equivariant cohomology for non-abelian Lie groups

We extend the work of Allday-Franz-Puppe on syzygies in equivariant cohomology from tori to arbitrary compact connected Lie groups G. In particular, we show that for a compact orientable G-manifold X the analogue of the Chang-Skjelbred sequence is exact if and only if the equivariant cohomology of X is reflexive, if and only if the equivariant Poincare pairing for X is perfect. Along the way we establish that the equivariant cohomology modules arising from the orbit filtration of X are Cohen-Macaulay. We allow singular spaces and introduce a Cartan model for their equivariant cohomology. We also develop a criterion for the finiteness of the number of infinitesimal orbit types of a G-manifold.Comment: 28 pages; minor change

Effects of Ketamine and Ketamine Metabolites on Evoked Striatal Dopamine Release, Dopamine Receptors, and Monoamine Transporters

Following administration at subanesthetic doses, (R,S)-ketamine (ketamine) induces rapid and robust relief from symptoms of depression in treatment-refractory depressed patients. Previous studies suggest that ketamine’s antidepressant properties involve enhancement of dopamine (DA) neurotransmission. Ketamine is rapidly metabolized to (2S,6S)- and (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine (HNK), which have antidepressant actions independent of N-methyl-d-aspartate glutamate receptor inhibition. These antidepressant actions of (2S,6S;2R,6R)-HNK, or other metabolites, as well as ketamine’s side effects, including abuse potential, may be related to direct effects on components of the dopaminergic (DAergic) system. Here, brain and blood distribution/clearance and pharmacodynamic analyses at DA receptors (D1–D5) and the DA, norepinephrine, and serotonin transporters were assessed for ketamine and its major metabolites (norketamine, dehydronorketamine, and HNKs). Additionally, we measured electrically evoked mesolimbic DA release and decay using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry following acute administration of subanesthetic doses of ketamine (2, 10, and 50 mg/kg, i.p.). Following ketamine injection, ketamine, norketamine, and multiple hydroxynorketamines were detected in the plasma and brain of mice. Dehydronorketamine was detectable in plasma, but concentrations were below detectable limits in the brain. Ketamine did not alter the magnitude or kinetics of evoked DA release in the nucleus accumbens in anesthetized mice. Neither ketamine’s enantiomers nor its metabolites had affinity for DA receptors or the DA, noradrenaline, and serotonin transporters (up to 10 μM). These results suggest that neither the side effects nor antidepressant actions of ketamine or ketamine metabolites are associated with direct effects on mesolimbic DAergic neurotransmission. Previously observed in vivo changes in DAergic neurotransmission following ketamine administration are likely indirect

Morphophysiological diversity of rhizobia nodulating pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.) growing in Ethiopia

Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.) is an important protein source grown in several tropical and subtropical countries, and is considered a multi-purpose plant that is resistant to the conditions where drought and salinity is a common phenomenon. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diversity of rhizobial isolates obtained from root nodules of pigeon pea plants grown in central and southern Ethiopia. A total of 116 nitrogen-fixing rhizobial strains were isolated. The bacterial isolates were characterized by 91 phenotypic traits including cultural characteristics, intrinsic antibiotic and heavy metal resistance, salt, pH and incubation temperature tolerance, and carbon and nitrogen sources utilization ability. Preliminary symbiotic properties of the isolates were also evaluated. The isolates were compared with seven reference strains of rhizobia by application of the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic means (UPGMA) using NTSYSpc Version 2.1 software program. The dendrogram constructed from cluster analysis of 91 phenotypic traits, grouped them into six clusters and eight un-clustered positions at 80% relative similarity. Cluster I contained 83% of the test isolates that were grouped together with the reference strains Bradyrhizobium japonicum (HAMBI 2314T) and Bradyrhizobium elkanii (LMG 6164), suggesting that pigeon pea is commonly nodulated by bradyrhizobia. Results from symbiotic effectiveness test revealed that majority of the isolates were found to be effective. Generally, this investigation demonstrated that rhizobial population nodulating C. cajan on the study area were phenotypically diverse and symbiotically effective. Furthermore, the result indicates the existence of strains in the collection, which can tolerate environmental stresses, thus can be developed into inoculant for pigeon pea inoculation and production in Ethiopia and beyond

Ramond-Ramond Fields, Fractional Branes and Orbifold Differential K-Theory

We study D-branes and Ramond-Ramond fields on global orbifolds of Type II string theory with vanishing H-flux using methods of equivariant K-theory and K-homology. We illustrate how Bredon equivariant cohomology naturally realizes stringy orbifold cohomology. We emphasize its role as the correct cohomological tool which captures known features of the low-energy effective field theory, and which provides new consistency conditions for fractional D-branes and Ramond-Ramond fields on orbifolds. We use an equivariant Chern character from equivariant K-theory to Bredon cohomology to define new Ramond-Ramond couplings of D-branes which generalize previous examples. We propose a definition for groups of differential characters associated to equivariant K-theory. We derive a Dirac quantization rule for Ramond-Ramond fluxes, and study flat Ramond-Ramond potentials on orbifolds.Comment: 46 pages; v2: typos correcte

Endothelial function in patients with familial Mediterranean fever-related amyloidosis and association with cardiovascular events

Objectives. Secondary amyloidosis is the most important complication of FMF and endothelial function is more severely impaired. Elevated asymmetric dimethyl arginine (ADMA) may mediate the excess cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk of this group. We aimed to compare endothelial function characteristics, including ADMA, in patients with FMF-related amyloidosis and primary glomerulopathies and to define risk factors for a CVD event. Methods. We undertook a cross-sectional study with prospective follow-up including consecutive patients with FMF-related amyloidosis (n = 98) or other non-diabetic glomerulopathies (n = 102). All patients had nephrotic-range proteinuria and normal glomerular filtration rate. Flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) was assessedand ADMA levels, CRP and pentraxin 3 (PTX3) were determined. Patients were followed for cardiovascular events. Results. Amyloidosis patients secondary to FMF showed higher levels of ADMA, CRP and PTX3 and lower FMD as compared with patients with other glomerulopathies. Cardiovascular events (n = 54) were registered during 3 years of follow-up. Increased ADMA levels and lower FMD were observed in patients with cardiovascular risk in both groups, but especially in individuals with amyloidosis.Conclusion. Patients with FMF-related amyloidosis have increased CVD event risk, probably related to the high ADMA levels, elevated inflammatory markers and decreased FMD measures observed in these patients