Benchmarking financial development

Capitalizing on recent improvements in the availability of cross-country financial sector data, this paper proposes a standard methodology for benchmarking the policy component of financial development. Systematic controls are introduced to isolate main structural country characteristics and a principal components analysis is used to help identify a parsimonious set of ten"core"outcome indicators from a broader set of twenty seven potential indicators covering different dimensions of development in both financial institutions and financial markets. Such a broad-based approach helps reveal important determinants and regularities of the process of financial development. The paper also identifies some of the main data gaps that will need to be filled to allow further progress in financial benchmarking looking forward.Debt Markets,,Emerging Markets,Economic Theory&Research,Access to Finance

Nitrogen removal from urban wastewater by activated sludge process operated over the conventional carbon loading rate limit at low temperature

This study deals with nitrogen removal from urban wastewater employing the activated sludge process at low temperature. It aims at determining the performances and rates of nitrification, and characterising the autotrophic biomass (concentration and kinetic parameters) at 11°C and for F/M ratios higher than the conventional maximum value of 0.1 kg BOD5kg MLVSS-1d-1w (i.e. SRT around 15 d). To reach this objective, a study of a continuous activated sludge pilot plant operated under controlled conditions was undertaken for five months. Two methods were used: A combination of nitrogen mass balance on the continuous reactor and weekly tests in a separate batch reactorThe use of the Activated Sludge Model No 1 (ASM1) calibrated and validated with 6 intensive sampling test runs in the aeration tank of the pilot plant.Once it had been demonstrated that it was not possible to predict the nitrogen concentrations with the ASM1 default values recommended at 10°C, we modified 4 parameters to correctly simulate the 6 intensive sampling test runs: the autotrophic biomass maximum growth rate values (μA, maxi = 0.22 d-1 with a decay rate value of bA = 0.02 d-1), as well as three of the half-saturation constants (KNH=0.05 mg NH4-N ℓ-1, KOH=0.05 mg O2ℓ-1, and Ks=30 mg CODℓ-1). These modifications, implemented on the basis of more accurate predictions of nitrification and denitrification rates in the aeration tank, have reduced the errors of predictions for the main biological variables in the reactor and in the treated water. The sensitivity of the estimated parameter values to the accuracy of the initialisation conditions step has also been studied. It was shown that a mistake of underestimation of the sludge concentration by 6%, compared to the experimental value, has induced the overestimation of the maximum autotrophic growth rate by 7%.Keywords: activated sludge, nitrification, reaction rates, kinetics parameters, modelling wastewater treatment plant Water SA Vol. 31(4) 2005: 503-51

Effect of Strand Geometry and Wood Species on Strandboard Mechanical Properties

This study compared the performance of strandboards made from trembling aspen, a lowdensity hardwood species, with strandboards made from paper birch, a medium-density hardwood species. Strands were cut into three different lengths (78, 105, and 142 mm) and two thicknesses (0.55 and 0.75 mm) to compare the impact of species, strand geometry, specific surface, and slenderness ratio. Internal bond (IB), modulus of elasticity (MOE), and modulus of rupture (MOR) for flatwise and edgewise bending, compressive strength, and stiffness were all determined. Both species performed equally well in IB (0.73 MPa for both species combined). The highest MOE and MOR values in flatwise and edgewise bending were obtained for long, thin strands and were significantly lower for birch than for aspen panels (flatwise: 13.6 GPa and 99.2 MPa for aspen and 12.1 GPa and 85.5 MPa for birch; edgewise: 13.5 GPa and 66.3 MPa for aspen and 13.2 GPa and 65.7 MPa for birch). Short aspen strands resulted in the highest compressive properties, slightly higher than those of short birch strands (aspen: compressive strength 10.4 MPa and stiffness 1.22 GPa; birch: 10.8 MPa and 2.25 GPa, respectively). Strand length must therefore be a compromise between the need for high bending properties provided by long strands and the need for high compressive properties provided by short strands

Multi-scale characterization of monument limestones.

Among the parameters influencing stone deterioration, moisture and water movements through the pore network are essential. This communication presents differents methods to characterize stones and to determinate the water transfer properties. Results are analysed for two limestones having similar total porosity, but characterized by different pore networks. These different porous systems govern dissimilar water properties

Hopf monads on monoidal categories

We define Hopf monads on an arbitrary monoidal category, extending the definition given previously for monoidal categories with duals. A Hopf monad is a bimonad (or opmonoidal monad) whose fusion operators are invertible. This definition can be formulated in terms of Hopf adjunctions, which are comonoidal adjunctions with an invertibility condition. On a monoidal category with internal Homs, a Hopf monad is a bimonad admitting a left and a right antipode. Hopf monads generalize Hopf algebras to the non-braided setting. They also generalize Hopf algebroids (which are linear Hopf monads on a category of bimodules admitting a right adjoint). We show that any finite tensor category is the category of finite-dimensional modules over a Hopf algebroid. Any Hopf algebra in the center of a monoidal category C gives rise to a Hopf monad on C. The Hopf monads so obtained are exactly the augmented Hopf monads. More generally if a Hopf monad T is a retract of a Hopf monad P, then P is a cross product of T by a Hopf algebra of the center of the category of T-modules (generalizing the Radford-Majid bosonization of Hopf algebras). We show that the comonoidal comonad of a Hopf adjunction is canonically represented by a cocommutative central coalgebra. As a corollary, we obtain an extension of Sweedler's Hopf module decomposition theorem to Hopf monads (in fact to the weaker notion of pre-Hopf monad).Comment: 45 page

Video recording true single-photon double-slit interference

As normally used, no commercially available camera has a low-enough dark noise to directly produce video recordings of double-slit interference at the photon-by-photon level, because readout noise significantly contaminates or overwhelms the signal. In this work, noise levels are significantly reduced by turning on the camera only when the presence of a photon has been heralded by the arrival, at an independent detector, of a time-correlated photon produced via parametric down-conversion. This triggering scheme provides the improvement required for direct video imaging of Young's double-slit experiment with single photons, allowing clarified versions of this foundational demonstration. Further, we introduce variations on this experiment aimed at promoting discussion of the role spatial coherence plays in such a measurement. We also emphasize complementary aspects of single-photon measurement, where imaging yields (transverse) position information, while diffraction yields the transverse momentum, and highlight the roles of transverse position and momentum correlations between down-converted photons, including examples of "ghost" imaging and diffraction. The videos can be accessed at http://sun.iwu.edu/~gspaldin/SinglePhotonVideos.html online.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

Combination of intact, middle-up and bottom-up levels to characterize 7 therapeutic monoclonal antibodies by capillary electrophoresis – Mass spectrometry

Significant growth of biopharmaceuticals requires powerful analytical methods to better understand their structure by establishing a complete characterization. To this end, a combination of bottom-up, middle-up and intact molecule levels with a capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry coupling has been performed to have a comprehensive picture of monoclonal antibodies. In this study, 7 worldwide health authorities approved mAbs have been analyzed to get information about their charge heterogeneity, the identification of post translational modifications (PTMs), their location and relative quantitation. Intact mAbs isoforms have been partially separated in less than 12 minutes and enabled to have a global illustration of mAbs heterogeneity and high masses PTMs characterization notably major N-glycosylation forms. Particularly, 2X-glycosylated and 1X-glycosylated forms have been partially separated. To deepen characterize PTMs carried by the backbone structure, advanced investigations at a middle-up level have been performed. Limited IdeS proteolysis allowed to study independently Fc/2 and F(ab)’2 fragments. Following the same separation conditions, isoforms of these fragments have been separated and data interpretation allowed to disclose additional PTMs as K-clip, oxidations or deamidations. A second intermediate level has been examined by adding a reduction step to establish a more precise assessment of PTMs and isoforms from the F(ab)’2 fragment. This reduction step released the light chains from the Fd fragment to get only 25 kDa fragments to analyze. CE-ESI-MS coupling allowed to get more information particularly about low masses PTMs. The precise location and relative quantitation of each PTM has been investigated at the peptidic level induced by a tryptic digestion of the studied mAbs. The concordance of the results shows the efficiency of the CE-ESI-MS coupling to characterize mAbs and highlight the need of the multi-level combination to get a comprehensive characterization of biotherapeutics

Importance of collection in gene set enrichment analysis of drug response in cancer cell lines

Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) associates gene sets and phenotypes, its use is predicated on the choice of a pre-defined collection of sets. The defacto standard implementation of GSEA provides seven collections yet there are no guidelines for the choice of collections and the impact of such choice, if any, is unknown. Here we compare each of the standard gene set collections in the context of a large dataset of drug response in human cancer cell lines. We define and test a new collection based on gene co-expression in cancer cell lines to compare the performance of the standard collections to an externally derived cell line based collection. The results show that GSEA findings vary significantly depending on the collection chosen for analysis. Henceforth, collections should be carefully selected and reported in studies that leverage GSEA

Minières et ferriers du Moyen-Âge en forêt d’Othe (Aube, Yonne) : approches historiques et archéologiques

Entre Sens et Troyes, aux confins de la Bourgogne et de la Champagne, la Forêt d’Othe est un bon observatoire des pratiques sidérurgiques anciennes. Les activités d’extraction et de transformation ont laissé de nombreux témoignages dans les archives et, sur le terrain, des vestiges qui se comptent encore par centaines. Délaissant les archives monastiques et les forges sur l’eau des vallons depuis longtemps bien explorées, la présente enquête s’est intéressée aux seigneuries de l’évêque de Troyes et de la comtesse de Flandre, particulièrement bien éclairées pour les deux derniers siècles du Moyen Âge d’une part, aux plateaux forestiers d’autre part. Elle y a découvert qu’à la fin du Moyen Âge, on continue ici de produire du métal selon des procédés qui n’ont apparemment guère évolué depuis le VIe siècle avant J.-C.Between Sens and Troyes, within the borders of Burgundy and Champagne, the Forêt d’Othe attests many old iron workings. The extraction and transformation of iron has left evidence in the archives and hundreds of traces on the ground. Putting to one side the monastic archives and the water forges that have already been investigated, the present study tackles the seigniories of the bishop of Troyes and the countess of Flanders, particularly well documented for the last two centuries of the Middle Ages and the forest plateaux. It has been discovered that at the end of the Middle Ages, metal was produced according to processes' which hardly evolved since the 6th century BC.Das WaldgebietForêt d’Othe zwischen Sens undTroyes, an der Grenze von Burgund und der Champagne, eignet sich hervorragend für die Untersuchung der alten Eisenverhüttungstechniken. In den Archiven gibt es vom Abbau und der Verarbeitung zahlreiche Zeugnisse und auch vor Ort sind noch hunderte von Spuren sichtbar. Die vorliegende Untersuchung lässt die seit langem gut erforschten Klosterarchive und die Schmieden an den Wasserläufen in den Talmulden beiseite und beschäftigt sich mit den in den beiden letzten Jahrhunderten des Mittelalters besonders gut dokumentierten Herrschaftsgebieten des Bischofs von Troyes und der Gräfin von Flandern und den bewaldeten Hochebenen. Die Untersuchung hat gezeigt, dass sich die Metallproduktion am Ende des Mittelalters kaum von der im 6. vorchristlichen Jahrhundert unterscheidet