Informal Savings and Credit Institutions in the Urban Areas: The Case of Cooperative Credit Unions

Less developed countries are usually characterized by a dualistic financial system: the formal and informal credit system. One form of the latter is the Cooperative Credit Union (CCU), which at present finds shelter in the private and government offices as well as in public markets. Analysis presented in this paper points to the fact that the ten sample CCUs have performed well without government subsidies. Without regulation, they are more likely to introduce more innovations. However, to successfully develop a cooperative, a concerted effort should be developed among leaders.informal financial sectors, credit unions, credit program, credit market, savings

Mobilizing Science for Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security: Engaging the Southeast Asian Media

In the context of agriculture and food security, science innovations on mitigating and adapting to climate change are available, but these are not well shared with next users and end users (especially farmers) and the public due to inadequate coverage by the mainstream media, a powerful partner in communication and engagement. The urgent need for media practitioners to have an accurate, science-based understanding of climate change and enhance their skills on environmental reporting gave CCAFS-SEA the impetus to conduct a series of inter-Center media seminar-workshops for key Southeast Asian media practitioners in collaboration with NARS and national media partners. Overall, the media seminar-workshop series was participated in by 149 media professionals and 39 government information officers in SEA. The journalists came from print, broadcast (radio-TV) and web-based media outlets. This initiative was a critical first step in implementing CCAFS-SEA’s regional engagement and communication plan, pursued as a CGIAR inter-Center activity in collaboration with NARS and national media partners. The content of the two-day seminar-workshops focused on two major areas: science innovations in climate change, agriculture and food security and communicating climate change. Complementing the plenary sessions was a story ideas marketplace which primarily served as a venue for dialogue among participants and resource persons on possible stories to be developed and released in their respective media outlets. A half-day field tour exposed participants to climate change and agriculture R4D either by a CGIAR Center or a NARS partner and/or climate smart agriculture practices of a farming community. One of the outcomes of the SEA media workshop series in the Philippines is the forging of partnership with a private company, Metro-Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC), which provided volunteer funding a proposal of the Philippine Agriculture Journalists, Inc. and the Department of Agriculture (DA) to replicate the initiative in strategic regions in the Philippines. This is an unprecedented public-private-civil society partnership in communicating climate change, agriculture and food security in the Philippines. With six media seminar-workshops completed in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Vietnam and the Philippines, the next step for CCAFS-SEA would be to move the engagement process further with partners in the region

An inconvenient truth about the banana industry in Asia

The deadly Fusarium wilt (Panama wilt) Tropical Race 4 (TR4) disease has long emerged in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, and the Philippines. But of late, aggressive spread has been reported specifically in the Philippines and China, two major Cavendish producers in the world.This was an alarming revelation during the consultation-workshop on the ”Socio-economic Impacts of Fusarium Wilt Disease of Cavendish Banana in the Asia-Pacific Region” that was organized by the Food and Fertilizer Technology Center (FFTC), Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD), and the Banana Asia Pacific Network (BAPNET)-Bioversity International

Characterizing the quantum properties of ultralight dark matter -- an open quantum systems approach

Obtaining insight into the constituents of dark matter and their interactions with normal matter has inspired a wide range of experimental efforts. Several approaches, particularly those involving searches for ultralight bosonic dark matter (UBDM) fields, involve the use of quantum systems or measurements performed at the limits imposed by quantum mechanics. While a classical treatment of UBDM and its detectors is satisfactory, a fully quantum description would assist in developing future detection strategies. Here, we present an open quantum systems approach that accomplishes this while providing intuition into the quantum nature of the detection process itself. Furthermore, we apply the quantum theory of optical coherence to characterize the statistical properties of the UBDM field. Using representative examples, we show that this theoretical treatment has implications in uncovering signatures of the cosmological production mechanism of the UBDM field and its galactic merger history. By adapting tools from quantum optics, this work will help facilitate the creation of novel methods to extract astrophysically relevant information from correlation measurements

S.4.1 N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide levels predict incident pulmonary arterial hypertension in SSc

Introduction. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a major cause of mortality in SSc. NT-proBNP may be a useful biomarker of prevalent PAH but its role in screening for incident PAH has not been evaluated. Methods. Patients recruited into the Australian Scleroderma Cohort Study undergo annual echocardiography, pulmonary function tests (PFTs), 6-min walk test (6MWT) and have serum NT-proBNP measured (ElecsysproBNP II). The diagnosis of PAH is based on Dana point criteria at right heart catheterization (RHC). Patients with LV dysfunction or eGFR 36 mmHg, (ii) FVC/DLCO% >1.6 and no significant ILD, (iii) DLCO 189.2 pg/ml had a likelihood ratio of 26.4 for presence of PAH (c-statistic = 0.9; sensitivity 85%; specificity 97%). An NT-proBNP level 189.2 pg/ml and <82.9 pg/ml defining patients with a high and low likelihood of PAH, respectively. Further prospective studies are required in unselected patients in order to confirm these finding

Stability of AgIII towards Halides in Organosilver(III) Complexes

The involvement of silver in two-electron AgI/AgIII processes is currently emerging. However, the range of stability of the required and uncommon AgIII species is virtually unknown. Here, the stability of AgIII towards the whole set of halide ligands in the organosilver(III) complex frame [(CF3)3AgX]- (X=F, Cl, Br, I, At) is theoretically analyzed. The results obtained depend on a single factor: the nature of X. Even the softest and least electronegative halides (I and At) are found to form reasonably stable AgIII-X bonds. Our estimates were confirmed by experiment. The whole series of nonradiative halide complexes [PPh4][(CF3)3AgX] (X=F, Cl, Br, I) has been experimentally prepared and all its constituents have been isolated in pure form. The pseudohalides [PPh4][(CF3)3AgCN] and [PPh4][(CF3)3Ag(N3)] have also been isolated, the latter being the first silver(III) azido complex. Except for the iodo compound, all the crystal and molecular structures have been established by single-crystal X-ray diffraction methods. The decomposition paths of the [(CF3)3AgX]- entities at the unimolecular level have been examined in the gas phase by multistage mass spectrometry (MSn). The experimental detection of the two series of mixed complexes [CF3AgX]- and [FAgX]- arising from the corresponding parent species [(CF3)3AgX]- demonstrate that the Ag-X bond is particularly robust. Our experimental observations are rationalized with the aid of theoretical methods. Smooth variation with the electronegativity of X is also observed in the thermolyses of bulk samples. The thermal stability in the solid state gradually decreases from X=F (145 °C, dec.) to X=I (78 °C, dec.) The experimentally established compatibility of AgIII with the heaviest halides is of particular relevance to silver-mediated or silver-catalyzed processes

Risk of hyperkalemia in patients with moderate chronic kidney disease initiating angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers : a randomized study

Background: Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers are renoprotective but both may increase serum potassium concentrations in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The proportion of affected patients, the optimum follow-up period and whether there are differences between drugs in the development of this complication remain to be scertained. Methods: In a randomized, double-blind, phase IV, controlled, crossover study we recruited 30 patients with stage 3 CKD under restrictive eligibility criteria and strict dietary control. With the exception of withdrawals, each patient was treated with olmesartan and enalapril separately for 3 months each, with a 1-week wash-out period between treatments. Patients were clinically assessed on 10 occasions via measurements of serum and urine samples. We used the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel statistics for comparison of categorical data between groups. Comparisons were also made using independent two-sample t-tests and Welch's t-test. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed when necessary. We used either a Mann-Whitney or Kruskal-Wallis test if the distribution was not normal or the variance not homogeneous. Results: Enalapril and olmesartan increased serum potassium levels similarly (0.3 mmol/L and 0.24 mmol/L respectively). The percentage of patients presenting hyperkalemia higher than 5 mmol/L did not differ between treatments: 37% for olmesartan and 40% for enalapril. The mean e-GFR ranged 46.3 to 48.59 ml/mint/1.73 m2 in those treated with olmesartan and 46.8 to 48.3 ml/mint/1.73 m2 in those with enalapril and remained unchanged at the end of the study. The decreases in microalbuminuria were also similar (23% in olmesartan and 29% in enalapril patients) in the 4 weeks time point. The percentage of patients presenting hyperkalemia, even after a two month period, did not differ between treatments. There were no appreciable changes in sodium and potassium urinary excretion. Conclusions: Disturbances in potassium balance upon treatment with either olmesartan or enalapril are frequent and without differences between groups. The follow-up of these patients should include control of potassium levels, at least after the first week and the first and second month after initiating treatment

Electrophilicity of neutral square-planar organosilver(III) compounds

Neutral Ag(III) complexes stabilised with just monodentate ligands are here unambiguously established. In a series of square-planar (CF3)3Ag(L) compounds with hard and soft Group 15 donor ligands, L, the metal center has been found to exhibit substantial acidity favouring apical coordination of an additional ligand under no coordination constraints

Climate Smart Villages: Key Concepts

Understanding the impacts of climate change on agriculture, associated landscapes and natural resources in general is crucial if local development efforts are to be tailored towards addressing the impacts of climate change. Simplification of scientific concepts can help local planners at different level to introduce and then mainstream strategies that have factored in the impacts from climate chang